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Making the Band: A Kid’s Perspective

19 Responses (Add) | Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 8:35pm

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Alec is 13 years old. He goes by the handle iDrummer in our live community. He is a budding musician, and sent in these tips on how to get yourself or your band noticed.

  • People / Bandmates First, you’re going to need to know some people that are into your type of music. Some ways you could find people are to look around your school, work, and extra-curricular activities. Just start a friendly conversation, and let them know about your music. Usually, this takes some time to find the right people, because there are so many different people with varied tastes. You’re going to have to take your time. When you get around to the band part, mention that you’re looking to start a band, and that you wonder if they’re interested in joining. If his reply is no, ask him if he knows anyone that is musically talented. More than likely, he will know a few people if he plays an instrument. The more people you have, the more you will be taken seriously. Once you get the desired amount of people, make sure everyone is “ok” with their band members, so there are no disputes between one another. When you are all settled in with each other, come up with a name. This may be hard, but it’s important.
  • Recording / Covers Most artists start out their careers by doing cover songs (song written and recorded by other artists). You could go right into recording, but it’s good to know your band’s weaknesses and strengths in music. Start out with a couple of ,simple songs. Once you get the hang of how everyone plays then go for hard songs or start recording. Recording is a major deal. There are many ways to record. If you have some extra cash (as in like $2,000) then you can buy some “ok” recording equipment. Best chance you have to get good recording equipment is Guitar Center. Recording professionally is usually quite cheap. Before picking a recording place, do a little research on them. They may be really cheap, but they may have bad quality recording equipment. Also, they sometimes don’t supply you with instruments… which means you have to haul all your amp, guitars, drums, bass’s, cords. There are also two ways to record. There is 2-track and 4 track recording. 4 Track tends to come out with a better quality since you record one instrument at a time. 2-track is faster and is easier to do. In 2-track, you record the band first, and then the singer. 2-track is cheaper but lower quality.
  • Get your music out There are various way to get your music heard. One of the free ways is to put it on the Internet. Myspace, for example, is a great medium. You aren’t charged a dime to create an account or upload music onto your page. All of your friends can hear it, and you can gain fans. It’s best to have someone good with HTML and internet coding to help create your myspace, it makes it look more attractive and more official. Another great way to put your music online is via iTunes. It does cost you, but you can earn money off of it.
  • Shows / Venues After you get noticed, you might get offers from local bars to come play at night. Once again there are many ways to get shows. If you want to book shows, you’re going to have to impress whoever is in charge of booking talent. If you’re good enough, they might refer you to other venues. Even if you’re offered a show for no pay… it’s still a good way to earn a fan base. Another way to get bookings is to have your music sent to a record label. They might pick it up and listen to it. Send it to a bunch of record labels, instead of just one.
  • Marketing These is a very complex part… yet simple. I’ve been giving you marketing tips all along. Once you have a pretty big fan base, it’s time to decide if you want to market products. There are very simple ways online to create products for your band and sell them at shows / venues… or even on the street corner. Places where you can find free product creators is Zazzle or CafePress You can also set up an eBay store!

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19 Comments

Windows Vista Torrent

March 23rd, 2008
at 5:11am

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NJ Tech Geek

March 23rd, 2008
at 11:53pm

An Open Letter to American Express What Advice do you Give to Young Programmers?Making the Band: A Kid’s PerspectiveWhat do Bachelors Eat? Saudi Cuisine

ly32193

March 22nd, 2008
at 1:45pm

dude thats cool mad props

mattfox14

March 22nd, 2008
at 1:50pm

how come you can watch chris’s videos in higher quality?

boobyman

March 22nd, 2008
at 1:54pm

Can or can’t? If can’t, it’s probably because the streaming quality is equal to You Tube’s.

derekeverett

March 22nd, 2008
at 1:58pm

Doing it yourself & using the internet etc. & giving it away is the future for up & coming acts and songwriters. No question.

RocketCarProductions

March 22nd, 2008
at 1:59pm

Acctually doing it at home can be a bit of a problem without alot of money. Singing and guitars are not too hard if you have line in with a computer but non electrical insturments require many mics in orde to properly capture the sound.

RocketCarProductions

March 22nd, 2008
at 2:00pm

Don’t sign a contract DIY or DIE

mattfox14

March 22nd, 2008
at 8:26pm

ohh and yep i ment can’t lol

NileshFowdar

March 23rd, 2008
at 12:03am

Chris recorded this vid 2days ago!

Matt Sledge

March 22nd, 2008
at 9:47pm

If you send your music to a record label, make sure that it is a label that is compatible to the style of the music that you play. For example, if you play blues, it makes no sense to send your music to a label that specializes in metal.

I know it may seem like common sense, but it has to be said.

Make sure your contact information is EVERYWHERE. On the CD. On the jewel case. On the intro letter.

Make it look professional as possible – no hand-written notes!

One more thing – make sure there’s a tracklising for the CD. You think I am kidding, but I used to work in radio and took music submissions from local bands. A tracklisting was the #1 thing that was missing.

jaysstandish

March 23rd, 2008
at 1:15pm

actually i believe it is 67.34234523464572462905623674567-023486234672-346723-47623-04752-3467507620734652745-2340675724-67%

AmazeNYou

March 23rd, 2008
at 7:20pm

While iDrummer does offer some good points, I really must disagree with some of them. First, the number of people in your band is not what will get you taken seriously. Skill will get you taken seriously. Invest countless hours in what you play as this is the most important thing. Green Day has 3 members, SlipKnoT has 9… band size is not important for popularity, but is important for musicality. How you want the band to sound affects the number of musicians you need.

There also seems to be a craze of people recording BEFORE they ever do a show. This is completely insane in my opinion. The fact that you can make a half-decent recording (which, by nature is only the best performance out of many attempts) doesn’t mean your band is great and it certainly does not mean that you can perform these songs in a decent fashion.

These tips seem to be centered around making money and becoming famous… and though when I was 13 I probably would have felt the same way I really believe that “fame” is completely unimportant. Forget merchandising, record labels and fanfare… just have fun!!! Thats the whole point of music and why any of us love it so much.

Just my thoughts.

Jeff

March 24th, 2008
at 12:51pm

Some of this information is correct. I’m a lifelong musician who studied at one of the top music schools in the country. In addition to having played in numerous rock, blues, jazz, country, and r&b bands, I am involved in a recording studio here in Cincinnati where I serve as an engineer, producer, and technical consultant.

As a recording engineer, I can tell you that spending $2,000 on “professional” recording equipment at Guitar Center is not equal to “recording professionally.” While it’s true that digital technology has reduced the cost and learning curve of audio and video recording, these are simply the tools. Anyone can go out any buy a table saw, but do you know how to make anything with it?

If you want to be a musician, be a musician. Don’t try to be a recording engineer as well. Yes, you could save money, but in the end, you’d be better off paying someone to record you. You would have to move your equipment around, but kid, get used to that. I play gigs three to five nights a week, hauling a keyboard rig and amplifier. Sometimes I have to bring a PA system. Moving the equipment sucks, but you have to do it.

2 track vs. 4 track recording. Yikes. 4 track recordings were popular in the 80’s, when 4-track cassette tape machines became affordable. (The “analog” analog of today’s digital recording, if you will.) Computer based recording systems — and I’m assuming that’s what your $2,000 would buy — can record on as many tracks as you have physical inputs for. I regularly track on 16-24 tracks. This allows me to use multiple microphones and preamps for more flexibility during mixing.

Chris, I’m surprised this post made the cut. I realize there may not be many professional musicians or audio engineers in your community, but this is what I do day in and day out for a living. I certainly appreciate the spirit of the post; however, in the music business, it’s all about experience.

Jeff

March 24th, 2008
at 12:51pm

BTW – this is isorhythmic from chat. I pop in from time to time. Really enjoy your stream.

lampstink5

April 5th, 2008
at 2:48am

omg! Wow thats so awesome! I’m glad you informed us of that!

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