If the pandemic didn’t give you the time you needed to do everything you wanted for your career, certainly during this holiday season, you can put aside some time to learn something new that will help grow your music goals for the new year.
So the first question is, “What is stopping you from pushing your music out to the world?” There are so many webinars and YouTube videos to help you with every aspect of your learning. These audio, recording, video & graphic skills will allow yourself to have full control of what you are releasing to the public. Let’s face it, the music has to sound great, so why let someone else decide the highs and lows of your creative productions.
I have asked a few musician friends who have recommendations for musicians to learn some new skills.
Here are some suggestions.
AUDIO/RECORDING
With so many audio programs out there, I find it is a MUST for musicians to know how to record and get those songs in a form that is ready for the public to hear. Musicians suggestions start with GarageBand (many have this on their regular computer programs), then Adobe Audition, AbletonLive or Logic Pro. Some tech-y musicians will want to learn ProTools but most of you will want to pick a more detailed learning network to professionally conquer your audio recording; that means going back to school or doing an online course. Just think of actually being in full control of your music creation! That should be enough to encourage you to check out the recording articles we have below!
VIDEOS
Professionally speaking, you really have to put out a video for every single you release to the public. Did you know that 87% of professional marketers use video as a marketing too?
Musicians keep are asking me, “How can I do make my own videos & get them up online?” The three most popular programs that YouTubers use to edit their videos are iMovie, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro. This first option is a perfect tool for beginners. If you get stuck, ask Mr. Google your question and you will get chat boards and YouTube videos to help you through the process. Also, I have seen a bunch of ads for learning simple video animation. You will want to mix up the type of videos you want feature with your audio releases.
Recently I saw a video that looked like someone took an iPhone while driving, then took the simple moving video of the drive and went back and placed their lyrics on a street sign, on the side of the bus and even replaced the copy on a billboard…all this while the song was playing! This was both creative and interesting to me and seems like this type of video footage is very inexpensive to do yourself. Think creative but simple. Some of the recommendation suggested for you to check out are: QUIK Pro, Adobe Premier Rush, InShot or WeVideo. (See the link to the article at the end)
BETTER GRAPHICS & PHOTOS.
Many of you may have Adobe Photo shop on your computers, but I find it has a definite learning curve and you may have to take some classes to get everything you need for your graphics. Music people are talking a lot about Canva. Canva Pro is without a doubt worth every penny! Access to premium templates & images is a bargain in itself. Next try PicMoney, Vectr or InkScape. Having good graphics will get an audience’s attention every time. Truthfully, sometimes I go direct to Google to pull ‘Free Images’ from the internet and then just save them as a jpeg. But to look even more profession, try a simple graphic program. Using your own photos will make you look even more professional.
So even if you took a few hours a week and concentrated on learning one (or a few) of the suggested programs, think of the money you are saving. There is NO EXCUSE anymore NOT TO HAVE great sounding songs, fantastic videos and imaginative graphics to draw new fans to your music releases. If you have a program you have found easy to conquer, please let me know at musicbizmentors@gmail.com
NEXT WEEK: Songwriting, Producing and making your own home studio.
THE ARTICLES HERE WILL HELP YOU EXPLORE NEW PROGRAMS YOU CAN LEARN AT HOME!
https://www.g2.com/categories/audio-editing
https://www.musicianonamission.com/best-free-audio-editor/
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/mobile-video-editing-apps
https://fixthephoto.com/best-free-graphic-design-software.html
https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/home-recording-studio-essentials/
https://www.aimm.edu/blog/equipment-beginning-music-producer-needs
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/mobile-video-editing-apps
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