My First Podcast Recording

Time to put in work.

Producer Professionalism

Professionalism is key when it comes to music production. I am talking about when trying to reach out to clients or getting in contact with labels. One key factor is distribution of music. Since there are so many ways of doing this you want people to take you serious when you talk with them. So how might you stay professional? Fist and foremost having an email address. You might be thinking that’s it, no but you need a professional name email. Don’t have an email that says bestbeerdrinker@gmail.com. That’s not something you want to talk to a serious label or distribution company with. Create an email address for professional work only. Having your name is a common way to be a professional. Here is an example of a professional email address: John.Doe@gmail.com. If your first and last name is taken put a number after your last name like a 1 or month you were born. Don’t go overboard with the numbers just add one number to differentiate you from the other taken email. Adding a signature to your ending message is another important element. A signature is something that you put at the end of an email to explain who you are.

Here is an example:

Respectfully Submitted

John Doe

Engineer/Producer

John.doe@gmail.com

That is really basic but it helps people look at how you present your work to them. Ok now you have a good email. Social networks are another way to get you a professional look. Make sure that you use the same name for every social network you are on. This helps people follow you quickly and easily on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. Having these social networks remain professional steer away from posting things you normally would on a personal social network. This can hurt your following and how people judge you if you are acting out. It can be time consuming to go into each and individual site so; a good way is link them together. This helps you to post one time and have that go to all of your sites. There are so many sites that can help you do this and I suggest doing this. I hope this helped to give you some guidance toward your producing career.

That is all,

 Mix Master Rozay out!

Pro Tools Session Organization

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This week I am going to be explaining the setup of a pro tools session. Being an organized engineer is one of the most important things of being an engineer. Not only does it make you look and be professional, it also helps if sending a session to another engineer. Sometimes the session is sent out to be mastered or another engineer may take the session over they need to see and know what things are. If you send them a session that’s not labeled, color-coded, or organized is not a good look for you. Now you don’t have to do these things at all but I would suggest that you take the time to setup a session and make it easier for you. A side note is that if you are going to be using the same type of session over and over, setup the session and save it as a template so all your setting save.

I will be explaining setup in Pro Tools so follow along if you are using this same software. One you have a blank session open figure out how many tracks you will need. Usually drums, synths, strings, vocal etc. This will depend on what music you are doing. I am explaining this as a hip-hop genre. After you have the number of tracks you need, create that amount of tracks. Next go to the mix window and begin the setup process. Here you can label all of the tracks however you would like. I usually do all of the drums, instruments, vocals, and master fader. Always have a master fader no matter what in any case that is very important. Once you have all the tracks labeled and in an organized manner, color-code them however you like. I usually have red for drums, instruments are green, and vocals break down from verse to hook being orange and yellow. This just help you know where and what things are once you begin editing and mixing a session. Next set your inputs to your microphone or whatever you are using. Set your outputs to your speakers. That’s it simple basics of making a session organized so when you begin recording you are ready to go.

Once you get familiarized and used to your software you find your own way of doing things. I figured that out being an engineer for myself. The way I set things up is how I am efficient and feel comfortable working. Every engineer has their own way of doing things. So keep working and making your session better for you. 

Stay tuned next week for more advanced session setups.

Q & A Interview Vlog

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Hello all here is a little Q & A about me and who I am. This gives you an idea of who I have worked with and what I have worked on. I also give a few tips and some experiences that I have had. Hope you ll enjoy. Mix Master Rozay out!

Promotion

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This week I am here to explain how to get the music you own on the right path. Before I go into any details I want to explain a little bit about what I am doing as of right now in present day. I am part of a group called Musical Mercenaries consisting of one artist, two beat makers, and myself the engineer. We are our own production team and have been becoming very successful. I am working with Chicago’s newest underground rapper named Chi Smitty. Chi Smitty has a big Youtube presence with lots of good music and 2 music videos. We are now working on his first 5 track EP Album that will be coming out in December. Not only will I be engineering the project but I will also be producing the entire album. We will distribute the songs through various websites and establish an official online media presence.

That’s a little about what I am doing and learning a lot as I go. I have never played the producer role in a big project like this, however it’s a long and grueling task that has a nice reward. So how do you get your music online officially? There are many steps that I advise you to take. First setup your ASCAP or BMI certification. What this does is protects the rights of your music so people can’t steal it and use it for themselves. It’s a very important thing to have for any artist or beat maker. Second check out Tune Core and CD Baby. This is the best way to distribute your music and eventually get paid. These sites are like an online manager, takes care of all the hard tasks of individually finding out how to get copyrights, put music on iTunes, and etc. Once you have those two things setup, its time to get social media sites. This is to help promote your music and attain a fan base. Now there are many websites and different ways to get you out to the world. I will leave the URL’s for the sites down below. So people do your homework and comment back for any questions. Stay tuned for next week when we begin basics of a mix session.

ASCAP: http://www.ascap.com/

Tune Core: http://www.tunecore.com/

CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/

(1st music video) I engineered the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7l7kIvZD8w

Newest Song I engineered the beat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIoPZKedLxQ

Introduction

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 Introduction to the blogging world, we are here to talk about audio my friends. This is a new thing for me but I am excited to let everyone know, that I take pride in working with music. Along with music comes the artist or band that you work with. Everybody that is in music is looking for that record deal. However, most people that are starting out have no idea how to get their name out to the public. This blog will give the average person the tools that you need to get started. Now a day’s people have the opportunity to just buy a microphone, laptop, and recording software. This gives them the free roam to record whatever they want when they want. Now this is a good idea if you are just trying to dabble around and don’t have the money to pay for a studio. To become a Producer and/or Engineer it’s more than just a microphone, laptop, and software. Anywhere you go, people want to hear the quality of the track and the vibe it has. The word on the street is that everybody says, “Everyone can rap now a days”. Why, because everything is becoming so inexpensive. The only thing that I can really advise for people is don’t do everything yourself. This means don’t make the beat, record yourself, or engineer yourself. If you do all of these things you will not find room for growth. It’s about collaborating with people finding a group of people who are into the same things as you. This music entertainment business is not something that can happen on your own. Take these things into consideration and make a team of people like I did. In my next post I will explain more and how to get started.