Featured Image Caption: Digital Audio Workstation
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In today’s competitive world, establishing your name in the music industry as a musician is a very challenging and not straightforward path. Since there seem to be so many talented and incredible musicians out there, it is not easy to stand out and attract people. You need many other skills to get into the music industry.
Making good music is not just enough to create an admirable discography for yourself. This is what separates the underground indie musicians and artists from the highly successful mainstream artists. Smart marketing, money, and branding are non-musical elements that will help you further your music career.
Another thing to notice is that there is no money tree for music artists. So, you are in direct control of managing your marketing and project’s branding. You have to take care of your income as there is no fixed salary. This comprises fine-tuning your voice, pitch, and aesthetic and presenting yourself in front of the correct audience and people. These are some of the things you must take care of if you want to start your career as a musician and enter the music industry.
Now let us look at the important ingredients that will help a musician in kickstarting their musical journey:
- Digital audio workstations (DAWs)
- Networking
- Self-improvement
Let’s dive right in and look at these ingredients, starting with the technology that will help improve your voice and sound.
Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)
Learning how to work with a DAW can also help you communicate better with sound engineers and brand collaborators and members. Digital audio workstations are an essential tool for modern musicians. There is hardly any record out there today that was made without the use of a DAW. Mastering a DAW can help you in making high-quality tracks with the use of various plugins. Using a DAW can bring out new and unique textures to your music by using new effects and various synthesizers. You can also think of spontaneous ideas that come into your mind while working on music-making software. You can implement those ideas then and there on the DAW without having to write them on paper.
MIDI instruments can also be added to your digital audio workstation and use new sound effects while performing. Processes such as writing, mixing, recording, sequencing, mastering, and music production involve a DAW. Hence, it is impossible to build your career in music without learning how to work on a music production software popularly known as a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). When you are just a newbie in town and looking to begin your music career, you may not have access to music studios to handle these processes. Therefore, as a budding artist, you must learn how to do all these stages of making music by yourself. The best part about a DAW is that you can use it on your own laptop. There is many software out there for beginners to learn music production. Some of the best DAW for beginners are:
- Ableton Live
- Pro Tools
- Cubase Pro
- FL Studio
- Apple Logic Pro X
When you are doing all the mixing and recording all by yourself, you must have the functional knowledge of a DAW to be able to operate to its full potential. Different music-making software may have different user interfaces but the concept and crux of how sound and audio engineering works and how a DAW operates is almost the same everywhere.
Networking
It not about what you know but who you know! We have all heard this phrase somewhere or the other and we must agree it’s absolutely true. You need a lot of people other than your fans and audience in order to keep moving your career, such as writers, agents, managers, bloggers, and the list goes on.
Looking for genuine connections is a must for a music artist. And there is nothing wrong with finding connections with people in your niche to grow your careers mutually. You can build your network by looking for local venues, publications, and bands and be constantly in touch with them so that people will start recognizing you. And when next time they will require a performer, you will be their first choice. Contact a writer of a popular magazine or a newspaper and invite them to your gigs. Supporting local indie bands and artists is also a great way. It is easy to build a fan following and fetch a good crowd by doing these little things as they have a huge impact on your professional life. Infact, this kind of networking is at the core of growing any music career.
Self-improvement
A very important quality to inculcate is to be hungry for something new always. This is true for your music skills and your marketing strategies, branding, and other social skills. It would be best if you prioritized what is important in your life in order for self-improvement to occur. And it’s not just for musicians; self-improvement is necessary for any profession. Everyone loves a disciplined and punctual colleague to work with. Musicians should always keep working on their craft as new and talented singers debut all the time in the music industry. So, to keep an edge over others and to be in the game for longer, one must keep growing and keep learning to become a better musician and a better human as well.
To conclude, one must always think about improving oneself and implementing these skills in their life. Be it branding, marketing, or expanding your network. You must make a plan on how to integrate soft skills to build your brand so that people find it worthwhile to invest in your music.
By Seema Dobriyal
– With a rich experience of more than four years in advanced marketing and promotional strategies, she has mastered the techniques of Digital Marketing. From working with some of the top-ranking agencies to sharing her knowledge to help others, she makes sure to incorporate her learning in everything she does.
Member since July, 2021
View all the articles of Seema Dobriyal.
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