Just finished recording an album with a major producer. A review on the experience.

[anon_x731qvsnsyb8i]

(Sorry, shameless self-promo blog thing)

The hard work of the last 3 years is paying off.

Long story short, the reason why I asked if anyone here had a line to good microphones was because we (Malthus) recorded a full national release album from the 27th through the 3rd. As friends of mine can attest, as well as the KOLDmembers...I had Howie Beno in town to produce us (look up his wiki, has worked with Ministry, Trent Reznor, and a number of pop stars). The game-plan now is to finish post-production and shoot for a full album release by April. The album will be available on AmazonMP3, GooglePlay, iTunes and other online-mediums. We will be doing a limited run of CDs as they are not purchased often anymore and usually sit around. The focus would of course be the American market, but we are also catering to the Northern-European market. We are approaching Metal Blade, Nuclear Blast, Century Media and a couple other European labels.

I learned a lot from Howie. I already knew it, but as I suspected, the music industry has changed. According to professionals in pro-audio now, before you used to find a band by going to live shows and "going downtown" and stumbling upon them, or getting handed a free CD. NOW, youtube and streaming have replaced those mediums. People just do not go to shows anymore. The focus should ALWAYS be on the tangible recording first. It is what preserves your music into prosperity. Put all the money you can on a recording. Use the best microphones you can afford (AKGs, Neumanns, Sennheisers, etc) Don't do live shows unless for fun, or until there is a demand for one. Once information has disseminated online (your music WILL get copied and shared) THAT is when you start playing live. Almost a reverse from 20 years ago. This is what is making and breaking musicians now. Many have not evolved or adapted, opting to go the live show route which is often a waste of money, time, resources and energy. Nowadays, you need an audience first...and they like to stay at home.

We recorded the whole session using 3 cameras and a 4k which will be released also with the music.


Until the next music check in...

-Knightman.

 

[MACHater02]

Pretty cool, congrats!

 

[UCFRogerz]

Yeah congrats and good luck! Plan on pressing any vinyl?

 

[EweSeaEff]

Congratulations on the achievement and good luck with getting through post-production, etc.

Also, FYI, the film industry has changed too. They speak in them now! And, there's color! Amazing. I mean, I already knew that, but a conversation I had with Steven Spielberg confirmed it.

Oh, and the news has changed. Before, I'd be waiting every morning, almost breathlessly, for the neighborhood boy to ride by on his two-wheeled devil machine and chuck my copy of the newspaper to me. Now, there's this thing called the net (or something like that) and I have to do a log-in thing and all of the words appear on a screen. Simply amazing. I mean, I already knew it, but Bill Gates confirmed it.

Don't get me started on television. Did you know that there are like 3,000 channels that I have to pay for? Doesn't seem to matter whether I want them or not!

 

[cnsaguy]

[QUOTE="Mr. Knightman, post: 484041, member: 850"

People just do not go to shows anymore. The focus should ALWAYS be on the tangible recording first. It is what preserves your music into prosperity. Put all the money you can on a recording. Use the best microphones you can afford (AKGs, Neumanns, Sennheisers, etc) Don't do live shows unless for fun, or until there is a demand for one. Once information has disseminated online (your music WILL get copied and shared) THAT is when you start playing live. Almost a reverse from 20 years ago. This is what is making and breaking musicians now.[/QUOTE]

This sucks. As someone who grew up in the greatest era of heavy music (80's for you young tools) it sucks to hear that bands have to do this. Going to shows was the thing to do, fake ID and all. Live shows are where bands got to shine. I would rather watch a show from a band that may not be my cup of tea than stare at a monitor watching a well produced song/video from my favorite band. The times they are a changing..

/old man rant

 

[Bob the Citronaut]

You have to interact with other people at concerts. That's bad.

 

[anon_x731qvsnsyb8i]

[QUOTE="Mr. Knightman, post: 484041, member: 850"

People just do not go to shows anymore. The focus should ALWAYS be on the tangible recording first. It is what preserves your music into prosperity. Put all the money you can on a recording. Use the best microphones you can afford (AKGs, Neumanns, Sennheisers, etc) Don't do live shows unless for fun, or until there is a demand for one. Once information has disseminated online (your music WILL get copied and shared) THAT is when you start playing live. Almost a reverse from 20 years ago. This is what is making and breaking musicians now.

This sucks. As someone who grew up in the greatest era of heavy music (80's for you young tools) it sucks to hear that bands have to do this. Going to shows was the thing to do, fake ID and all. Live shows are where bands got to shine. I would rather watch a show from a band that may not be my cup of tea than stare at a monitor watching a well produced song/video from my favorite band. The times they are a changing..

/old man rant[/QUOTE]


I 100% agree. Live shows are still important, but they are now more to support a tangible album versus getting "noticed". Many musicians now don't get it though and waste tons of money going around playing shows in different cities...yet don't have any fan-base and play for pennies. Pushing the online presence increases the online fan-base thus increasing a demand to play live. That's the mentality studios and labels are going with now.

 

[anon_x731qvsnsyb8i]

Yeah congrats and good luck! Plan on pressing any vinyl?

Not a bad idea, get like maybe 50 or so pressed. Depends on if we get distribution or do it ourselves. We are trying hard to get distribution though.

 

[UCFKnight85]

Concerts are shit now too. I used to go to concerts and the intent was to drink a little, have fun, go deaf for 2 hours, and escape from your life for a while.

Now, concerts are just another reason for every goddamn idiot with a phone to hold them above their heads and record the entire time. Then stare down at their phones to post it online for absolutely no one to give a shit about it. And in between that, check your Facebook and text messages to see if anything of no importance needs to be checked.

 

[goodknightfl]

Last recording we did the recorder melted down...LOL

 

[crambone]

Are you miking your amps or playing direct these days? Care to share a rig rundown? Total guitar gear slut here.

Are you on TGP by chance?

 

[UCF11and1]

The question is: what percentage of the money are you going to donate to UCF?

 

[anon_x731qvsnsyb8i]

Are you miking your amps or playing direct these days? Care to share a rig rundown? Total guitar gear slut here.

Are you on TGP by chance?

I mic my amps with one Direct line. 2 amps used at the same time using 4 mics and in different rooms to prevent phase. 5 channels recording at once giving 4 different tones and a clean DI that can be given any tone in post. I used a Shure sm57 and Sennheiser e609 on a solid state circa 1992 Crate 1600xl at mid-gain. On a Peavey 5150 I used another e609 but used a royer 121 ribbon, about 60% gain. This gives more tonal and frequency representation on the analog end so the "loss" is less when converting to digital. Use the best mics you can rent/afford. A studio can have great post-production equipment but suck in the mic department...

 

[fabknight]

Are you playing devil music, Knightman?

 

[anon_x731qvsnsyb8i]

Are you playing devil music, Knightman?

Actually other people have called our genre "Prepper Metal" since the songs are pretty much Malthusian in nature. The album is a concept story where the songs are placed in an order to describe a man facing the inevitable end of society due to a catastrophe and the chaos and arnarchy that ensues. No demons or religion in my music. Picked a theme that ALL people, regardless of belief or background, can relate to...the fear of the lack of order.

 

[UCFKnight85]

THE END IS NIGH
DO NOT GET HIGH
YOU NEED YOUR WITS
THE NUKE NEVER QUITS
QUICK LOAD YOUR GUNS
THERES NOWHERE TO RUN!!

**interlude: slow breakdown on the heavy A string, industrial sounds in background*

 

[anon_x731qvsnsyb8i]

THE END IS NIGH
DO NOT GET HIGH
YOU NEED YOUR WITS
THE NUKE NEVER QUITS
QUICK LOAD YOUR GUNS
THERES NOWHERE TO RUN!!

**interlude: slow breakdown on the heavy A string, industrial sounds in background*

We actually tune a half-step down...so A-Flat.

 

[1ofTheseKnights]

Cookie Monster vocals or Metallica "yeah yeah yeah"?

 

[anon_x731qvsnsyb8i]

The question is: what percentage of the money are you going to donate to UCF?

Enough for 4 seats in the cabana.

I actually have a day-job and will never quit my career. Making money in music, especially metal, is no longer expected. Mostly it is just for residual income (few hundred a month on Mp3 and Merch). For example, many rock and metal tours are in the summer, right? Reason: Many of these signed musicians are teachers at schools to keep a steady check and support themselves in the off-months using funds from music (which is little).

 

[fabknight]

Actually other people have called our genre "Prepper Metal" since the songs are pretty much Malthusian in nature. The album is a concept story where the songs are placed in an order to describe a man facing the inevitable end of society due to a catastrophe and the chaos and arnarchy that ensues. No demons or religion in my music. Picked a theme that ALL people, regardless of belief or background, can relate to...the fear of the lack of order.

 

[cnsaguy]

Actually other people have called our genre "Prepper Metal" since the songs are pretty much Malthusian in nature. The album is a concept story where the songs are placed in an order to describe a man facing the inevitable end of society due to a catastrophe and the chaos and arnarchy that ensues. No demons or religion in my music. Picked a theme that ALL people, regardless of belief or background, can relate to...the fear of the lack of order.

God I hope the music is good.

 

[anon_x731qvsnsyb8i]

God I hope the music is good.

Well, our demo was horrid, which was frustrating because we had all the right musicians but no "outside" ear. The tightness and sonic presentation of this album will be on par with major label releases just because of the proper outside-ear and having someone guide us that has had 25 years of experience.

 

[UCFWayne]

Congrats on the recording! I hope you can find some success.

 

[UCFhonors]

It's amazing how the industry has changed.

For alittle economic mind blow:
Economics is based on the idea of scarcity. Heck math is based on limits which basically the same thing as scarcity. Soon, if it hasn't already happened, the amount of music available will be greater than what can possibly be consumed....

That's basically means an infinite amount music. That literally changes every part of the music industry.

I know a few musicians who are trying to be full time professional musicians. It's cool learning from them about their strategy to make it. Which is

1. Record an EP
2. Get a social media presence - website, YouTube channel ect
3. Crowd source a tour
4. Crowd source a LP.

These guys are just singer songwriters who would like to have a band but the cost of a band for touring forces them to go solo unless it's a local show. They also limit what accompanying instruments do on their EP. That changes the music.

"When the music changes, so does the laws." Plato.

 

[Happy Hands]

I already knew it, but as I suspected, the music industry has changed. According to professionals in pro-audio now, before you used to find a band by going to live shows and "going downtown" and stumbling upon them, or getting handed a free CD..

-Knightman.

It looks like me and the old lady are going to play "90's music producer" tonight. Stocked up on Zima and put the Riunite on ice. I need a blond wig so I can be one of the founding members of Nelson.

 

[crambone]

Do you use in-ears when you play live?
Do you have a pedalboard? If so, got a pic?

When used to use an amp in a live setting (was using a Vox AC15C1 or Fender Hot Rod Deluxe) I was using an Audix i5. Kind of a cheaper version of the tried and true SM57. Got it for free in a trade and it works pretty well.