COMPARING CLEAN VS. DIRTY MIXES OF THE SAME SONG [Matt Sokol's New Daily Steem Blog Episode #010]

Album progress is happening in fits and spurts. It seems impossible to have any steady momentum on this indie rock project - I just work as hard as I can as the songs start sounding good whenever they are ready to.

I did something cool to give an example in this episode, sharing two very different mixes/arrangements for the same song. It's in the first section after the intro, I suspect that you'll enjoy that part if you make music.

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_{This is my new daily Steem Blog, now in beta mode!}

INTRO

My goal in life is to start a new genre. To inspire and invoke a new form of art into the world, sending ripples of creativity out into the universe for generations to come.

Right now I'm grinding out the early stages, working two jobs, starting an anarchist art collective, and recording + rehearsing a ton of new music. This daily Steem blog brings you the most useful lessons and ideas that I'm able to extract from each day of my crazy life.

It's kind of like a motivational blog, but with a lot more angst and confusion. Call me the anti-Tony Robbins. Lets do this:

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May 23, 2019

Arranging and producing a song is such a huge part of the sound.

I think arranging is really underrated these days. The arrangement is where you decide which instruments to use and how to use them. The same melody & chorus can sound very different when arranged differently. Then production adds another layer of complexity onto that.

Comparing Arrangements of The Same Song

For example, I have tried several arrangements of a song called “Taken For a Ride.” Here’s two different arrangements + productions of the verse:

Version 1 (Clean/Proggy version): https://soundcloud.com/heymattsokol/taken-for-a-ride-march-2019-demo-clean-version

Version 2 (Dirty Minimalist Version): https://soundcloud.com/heymattsokol/taken-for-a-ride-may2019-demo-mix2-crunchy

The first version has more musical ideas woven into it, it is compositionally dense. The second one is harsher and minimalistic, bringing out the core melody/ideas.

Neither version is clearly better than the other in my ears. That’s part of the magic of putting together the final album. 🧘🧘

On the mindset side of creating this album, I keep reminding myself that there’s no “beginning” or “end” to this process. By the time that this album is recorded, released, and promoted, I’ll be deep into some other project. I keep myself busy.

The goal is not to finish everything or to get to some kind of clean slate. Its to enjoy the process and do something worth doing with every day. 🎯🎯

This indie rock album is worth doing.

Shred Metal Collabs? Not Quite But Almost

I reconnected with Eric T. from Autocatalytica the other day…

We’ve been working on an album for over a year now. With 20 songs in the vault to complete, it’s an entire other ball of wax w/r/t making songs.

The style of this album is more heavily electronic, like my EP STELLAR WAVE, than the indie rock stuff. This means I can do the majority of the process “in the box” 💻 (i.e. with my laptop) and production binging at 3am is much more feasible.

Eric is a music savant and this album already sounds like nothing I have ever heard before.

I think it would be cool to release some of this music before the end of the year. I guess I’d better keep working…

Results of New Daily Steem Blog

This new “daily*” steem blog started about two weeks ago & I’m pleased to be able to say that I am keeping up with the concept so far.

_*ish

It feels nice to have my normal post format sorted out each day with this series, so I don’t have to always be rethinking what to do. A lot of what I post here is transcribed out of a handwritten notebook, so I don’t even have to use my laptop to do the whole thing.

By leaving lots of comments each day, I’m regaining my follower momentum (+2 followers since last post ). That’s good.

Becoming a “top steemian” is a part of my 12-18 month goals. What I am doing with this series is pretty good I think so far. I have a lot of work to do to really stand out within Steem again and get more attention. If I can iterate on this concept and make it even better, I think I can make some noise soon.

I have a lot of optimism about Steem right now… I talked about it in a recent post.

Working Jobs to Make Money

There are many work shifts coming up in the next three days. I make most of my money between Friday and Sunday, doing these shifts. There isn’t much friction for me in going to these jobs. I long ago lost that “music vs. real job” stigma.

For me jobs are the only real way to climb the financial ladder. I’d like to keep doing what I am currently doing for a few years, adding cashflow and paying off debts along the way. 💰💰

That means focusing on enjoying where I am now, rather than obsessing over the next steps in my path.

Of course it still isn’t always easy!

Mainly I use this motivation to get some rest and show up to work well-rested + ready to go.

I try to not work on music until the last minute before my job, cuz then I get into a bad mood about having to leave. Instead I cook or clean or even take a nap before my shift.

A shift might demand a lot of physical & mental energy for 3, 4, 5 hours. Food service isn’t easy!

Taking my job seriously makes it feel more worthwhile.

Overall, things feel well-balanced. I have been getting a lot of rest the last week and now I’m starting to feel it.

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BITE-SIZED FUN STUFF

What I’m Listening To: Modest Mouse - Paper Thin Walls

What I’m Drinking: Nitro Coffee from 42 & Lawrence

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