I Write Songs

The first time I ever sat down to write lyrics to one of the beats I made, I had no idea what to do.  I would listen to other music and look for tips on songwriting and I realized something… There is no one way to write a song.  So many people have so many different ways of doing it.  I watched an interview with Ludacris and they asked him how he writes his songs.  He said he gets the beats then he drives around in his car, listens to the beats, and writes to them.  My dad used to write songs as well.  He told me to sit and listen to the music and feel out the rythm and melodies and see what comes to my mind.  I thought that will work, but what about when I have specific lyrics and I need a beat to match them too?  All of these things led me to the conclusion that there really isn’t a certain way to write music.  In the beginning I wrote in a notebook with a pencil, but I came to realize that I love writing on my phone’s notepad because when I am recording, I can read it easily and not have to flip through papers.  I usually sit down, play the beat through on repeat and then go to work.  Depending on if I want the song to be based of the chorus or the verse, I will loop the beat for the duration of either or.  Its all about finding your own way that works for you. Here are a few things that I would recommend when it comes to writing:

1.) Get Comfortable

2.) Write somewhere that will bring out the feelings that you want in your song

3.) If you cant come up with any quality material, put everything down for a little bit and come back later

4.) Dont over-think your lyrics too much

5.) Find your own way of writing that fits YOU

Bandcamp

Bandcamp has become my favorite way to get music to fans.  I have not finished mine yet, but I am very excited to use it once I get some more songs recorded.  Bandcamp is slick and very easy to use.  For artists that are just starting out like me, Bandcamp is the way to go.  You can utilize the “tip jar” method where you have people pay whatever you want for your music or you can give it away for free.  You can also customize all of the imagery you want.  You can make a custom header, background, and upload all of your album art to make for a professional looking artist page.  It is also cool because it gives you all different types of stats about who is listening to your music and who is buying it.

My bandcamp is unfinished, but I will have music on here soon:

Dizzy Dave

Digilliterate

Digital literacy is defined in many different ways.  Basically it is the ability to navigate the web and find the information that you are looking for quickly and effectively.  For example: if you are doing a project for school or some type of job assignment and you need to research a large amount of information on the internet, The quality and efficiency of your work is measured by how literate you are in the digital world. I feel like growing up in the time that I did was perfect for becoming digitally literate.  Ever since middle school, my teachers and professors have kind of forced me to be efficient on the web.  Although, I never really had to check the credibility of sources that I found on the internet until college, but I am very glad that I learned that skill when I did.  There are many different aspects to digital literacy and some are not as obvious as others.  For instance: some people may think that they know what they are doing when they type in a search on wikipedia, but a lot of them don’t really realize that wikipedia is a website where ANYBODY can edit,  change, or manipulate the majority of articles within it.  I think that Google really is one of the best ways to navigate the web for information if you know how to use it correctly.  The “Advanced Search” option is incredible for if not all, most of your research needs.  You can modify your search to find exactly what your looking for by taking advantage of all of it’s different options.

Again, Google definitely can be hard to use if you don’t really know what your doing.. I found this video to explain that concept a little bit better:

The best way to improve your digital navigation skills is to practice.  Research some things that interest you, explore the internet, and have fun with it.

Connect-A-Fan

Connecting with fans is always going to be something that a musician has to worry about.  If a band or an artist cant get their music to their fans, what good are they?  You used to have to have a huge group behind you to promote you and get your music to the people, but in this day and age if you’re not doing it by yourself, you’re doing something wrong.  There are so many different ways to get your music heard and it is easy to take advantage of all of them.  TUNECORE is a great organization that can sell your music to all different types of distributers all over the world.  TOPSPIN MEDIA is a website where you can practice all types of different distribution methods.  They even let you sell your own tickets and you can scan them at the door with their Iphone app.  There are a million different ways to get your music heard and I feel like more and more are being created every day.  I also feel like it is good to find other ways to promote your self or make people want to buy your music.  For instance throwing some kind of bonus when people buy a hard copy of your album. Like a female artist who has her own perfume line could bundle the CD with the perfume.. or a rapper who has his or her own clothing line could throw some shoe laces in with his or her album.  I think little things like that are what are going to determine how successful you are in terms of fan appreciation.

Artists and groups are going to have to start getting creative with the way they reach their fans.  Here’s what Stefan Lessard had to say about it:

The Importance Of A Web Presence

In this day and age, if you do not have a “web presence” you are a step down from most if not all of your competitors. Everybody spends time online whether its facebook, emailing, blogging, and the list goes on. It is important to be able to promote and market yourself on the internet because everybody uses it regularly. As they have grown, social networking websites like facebook have completely taken over the internet and it would be ridiculous to not be a part of that if you want to get material out there or network with other people. Effective communication to me is making absolute sure to get your message to the people that you want to get it to. For example, rather than filling my main facebook page with all of my musical material, I made an artist page for that. That way I can have a professional account and a social account. Also, as a musician, I believe it is important to take advantage of the other online sites that allow me to put my music and my other creations online, such as: soundcloud, tunecore, reverbnation, etc. That right there is 3 different sets of people that are now able to stumble on or search for my music. That is how people have to think if they want to be successful from now on and it doesn’t just apply to the music business.

Before all of these sites were created, it was a lot harder for the average musician to get his or her work out, but now it only takes a few clicks of a button and you can have your songs uploaded on the internet ready for listening.  I like the way the internet has changed a lot because now no matter what I know that I can have my music heard.

The way I do it is: put a song up on soundcloud or reverbnation, then go to facebook and post the links to a bunch of my friends pages. I just did that a few days ago and I got 215 plays in 2 days… That should tell you something.

                                                  

Mashin’ Up

This quarter for one of our midterms we had to do a mash up project.. We got a certain set of songs and we were told to use any kind of software to make these mash ups.  I chose pro tools to do mine on.  I mashed up Hot Sauce by Thomas Dolby and Crazy by Seal.  It actually turned out better than I thought it was going to. Here it is!

Also, I just put out my 2nd song up that I recorded on my new album.. It’s unfinished, but you can check it out HERE if you want.

YouTube it.

YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. Hurley went to the Indiana University Pennsylvania to study design, while Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  It was originally funded by a a venture capital firm (a firm dedicated to helping small businesses grow into large businesses) called Sequoia Capital.  They made an 11.5 million dollar investment to YouTube to get them started off.  In the beginning, the YouTube headquarters were located above a Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, CA.  The very first video that was uploaded to the sight was called “Me at the Zoo”

This is a video of Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo and it was uploaded on April 23rd, 2005.

In October, 2006 the Google empire bought YouTube for 1.65 million dollars. In 2008, YouTube made a deal with MGM, Lionsgate, and CBS that allowed those companies to post full length movies and TV shows.  It has only grown since then.  Look how far we’ve come from the “Me at the Zoo” video… Rebecca Black’s “Friday” acquiring 112 million views in less than a month, Artists getting record deals because of the videos they upload, guys all over the world can learn how to tie a tie in minutes, online TV series, streamable movies, and the list goes on.  YouTube was one of the most genius ideas that the world will ever see.  It can be used by every age group from toddlers to the elderly.  I will use YouTube as long as the internet is still around and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

So next time you hear about a hilarious online video or you want to hear your favorite song, YouTube it!

The Art of the Music Video

Without videos, the audience wouldn’t be able to see their favorite artists perform unless they went to a live show.  The world loves music videos because they add a visual to go along with the audio. Everybody used to love music videos, but ever since a few years ago, it seems like not very many people have been watching music videos anymore and as I’m sure you know, MTV got overran by reality tv shows. Did you know that the legal name isn’t even Music Television anymore? I heard they were going to change it to Media Television or something like that. Its ridiculous.  Anyway, nowadays I feel like without a music video, you are viewed as just another artist who learned how to use pro-tools, especially in the world of hip-hop. Lately, videos have evolved and the production work makes them some of the most appealing videos that I have ever seen.  For example:

This is Blueprint’s Radio Inactive video

Everything about that video is well done, not to mention the song is great.

This is Brother Ali’s Take Me Home video

Once again, amazing production and a great song.

Its good to see that people are really putting time into making music videos all they can be again.  I hope to produce my own videos someday.

Who I Am.

My name is Dave Autrey.  I am from White Bear Lake, Minnesota.  I have been in love with music ever since I can remember. I was the kid on the school bus who would ALWAYS have his headphones on.  At a young age, I fell in love with Hip Hop.  I loved the combination of raw lyricism and the hard-hitting beats. As I grew up, I started to feel the need to make my own music.  I tried to play the guitar and the drums, but I ended up quitting both.  My real passion was for Hip Hop so I began composing my own beats when I was 15 years old.  When I was 18, I started writing my own music and I realized that I wanted to do that for the rest of my life.  I am attending school at the Institute of Production and Recording to further my skills as an artist, master the art of engineering, and to become a knowledgeable music producer.

My School: