Music Goals 2018

[Seance]

How's everyone else doing?

As for my 2018 music goals, I've made a bit of progress making some visuals. And my annual hope/idea is to
set up some screening/performances where I show some of my abstract animations and improvise live music
for the soundtrack. I've looked into a few things. But nothing has crystallized into palpable specifics so far.
I've got a relatively good amount of visual material to project... now I just need to set up venues/occasions
and make it happen somehow.

I've applied to several film festivals. So far my work has been rejected by several and accepted by one.
My film Theoria will screen Nov. 9th at the Media City Film Festival. Unfortunately this isn't an
opportunity to play a live improvised soundtrack. Even so, it will be nice to get some of my work out there
and to meet some people doing creative stuff.


http://mediacityfilmfestival.com/mcff23 ... s-program/


I also sent an inquiry to a new local art gallery about the potential to have a screening/musical event.
So hopefully something like that can happen this winter.

[dubkitty]

well, i've gotten just about nothing accomplished this year other than finishing the chord changes for one of my shoegazey new tracks. my computer crapped out in June and i haven't been able to get it repaired or get the software i need installed. i got an AC15 which works pretty well, but my board is all torn up because it got too noisy; i'll have to get a proper power supply. what i really ought to do is put the electric guitars in their cases for awhile and leave my 000 and 12-string acoustics out so i'll write rather than noodle. i should also get a nice little notebook to write lyrics in. maybe next year. hopefully sometime before i'm dead. probably i should just get a little digital recorder thingy to grab ideas with.

[Seance]

what i really ought to do is put the electric guitars in their cases for awhile and leave my 000 and 12-string acoustics out so i'll write rather than noodle. i should also get a nice little notebook to write lyrics in. maybe next year. hopefully sometime before i'm dead. probably i should just get a little digital recorder thingy to grab ideas with.

Noodling is writing. Or at least it can be.

A notebook is a great idea. I try to carry one around at all times.
Never know when a scrap of words will stick in the teeth of my mind.
Nice to have a mental toothpick to work it out.

I know a lot of people use their smartphones for the note taking.
Just record rough sketch direct, mumble words, half-asleep into
the microphone.

Back in the dark ages I had a micro cassette recorder for such things.
Had two speeds... so speeding up the slow and slowing up the fast put
a pleasant blur that kept the critical mind from erasing half-baked ideas.

And of course Steel Pole Bathtub used a micro cassette recorder live.
Which I always liked (you could press fast-forward while playing to get
squelches and blurps).

[Paul_C]

I do all my recording into a Tascam DR-07 - I might be able to run a line out from my Katana into my PC, but I've never bothered to look into it

Once I've recorded something I can just transfer it via SD card to my PC (v. old Compaq with Vista for an OS!) and then muck about with it in Audacity, so my recording set up is pretty cheap

[coldbrightsunlight]

Having notebooks and easy access to recording is super helpful for creativity.

[dubkitty]

when i was young i had a Sony portable cassette recorder with a built-in mic that i used a lot.

[friendship]

I too still have my old mini cassette recorder from the days before cell phones. The voice memo app has replaced it, it's more convenient to use. My only wish is that I could activate it with one of the hardware buttons on the phone itself instead of having to unlock my phone, go to the app, hit record. I've missed a lot of potentially cool field recordings simply because the moment passed before I could hit record.

[friendship]

We're about four weeks away from the end of 2018. Fucking wild man. Though there's still time to make progress, I thought I'd review the past year:

My goal was:

I think I want to get back to the basics and focus on fundamentals. I put my electric guitars in their cases and put new strings on my classical.”

It sounds like a vague goal, because it is, so after some stalling early in the year I got more specific and started to address gaps in my music/guitar knowledge. Using mostly online resources, I've finally learned more music theory, something that has historically bewildered and intimidated me. A lot of concepts that were once confusing have become clear. I also have been using the Guitar Fretboard Workbook, which is teaching me a new approach to understanding guitar that's giving me a new appreciation for the instrument. Truthfully, I should have done this a long time ago, but I always assumed I was too stupid to understand, since I struggled with it in the past.

I was hoping that learning these things would result in making new music, but I'm okay with the lack of output since I went ham in 2017 and put out three albums. Looking back, this was a good year to take a "break" and grow as a musician. I'm proud of myself for giving it another shot and overcoming those hurdles.

How did your year shape up for you? What are you proud of? Anything you'd prefer to have done differently? Goals met/unmet?

Looking forward to making the Music Goals 2019 thread soon.

[voerking]

i left the full time band i had been in for the past six years as of the end of 2017.
i'm actually looking forward to playing live *less* this year.
i'm also hoping to get some less formal (as in, not necessarily practicing multiple times a week) projects in motion.
I like the idea of being more selective & more adaptable, musically.

basically, i'm sick of doing the same thing all the time & want some new musical adventures (as long as they don't take over my life).

i was pretty successful at achieving the above goals.
i have two releases from two separate projects finished that should be released sometime in 2019, and a recording session booked in January with a third project.
i only played live a handful of times this year (compared to probably 50 shows in 2017), but i have felt very fulfilled being selective & strategic.
weirdly, without a full time band, i'm busier than ever actually making music.

[Paul_C]

As from today I've put 86 pieces onto YouTube, which I consider a success.

I've continued to tweak my pedal chain through the year and feel like I'm fairly close to a settled line up.

Because of both the above, my next step is to explore in greater depth what is possible with what I have.