1. Right out of the gate - I have no outstanding musical proficiency on any instrument. I'm a self-taught guitar player and songwriter who took a whopping total of six voice lessons about twenty years ago. I'm no prodigy, nor super hard-working player. I'm not even really interested in learning to play or sing correctly, which may sound lazy - but I don't think it is. I just happen to be OK with my style(s) of doing what I do. That being said, I'm in no way suitable to be in anyone else's project. Because I don't speak the technical language of music very fluently, I'm a bit of a bag of rocks in a setting where people are calling out chords (or god forbid - numbers, here in Nashville). I suppose I could sing with people, but I usually don't want to, and that's that.
2. I don't care how anyone else thinks I'm supposed to be doing what I'm doing. This is a pretty big piece of the puzzle, from what I understand. It seems that artists today who have the backing of labels, management and that whole slew of other people I don't understand the roles of, all have this common denominator: they take direction. Of course, there are people who get around these parameters and do it their way, and to all kinds of critical acclaim. I, so far, am not one of these people. I'm not saying I don't have hope for things to come, but I've definitely paid the price for not just doing what I was told, when my alleged potential "success" was on the line. I wouldn't do it differently if given those same choices, but having the pink slip to my soul has meant that almost no one has heard my music. It boils down to this one point for me: why is your way better? If anyone can really answer that question for me, I'm open to the conversation. But if your reason includes anything to the effect of, "Because that's what worked for ___________"... I'm all set. I'm not trying to be like anyone else, so their art model won't work for me.
3. I'm embarrassed by self-promotion. I'm a member of the world, and I've moved out of the phase where I was a straight-up self-saboteur, but I'm nowhere near being the kind of artist that is comfortable with the endless stream of bragging that is expected when you make stuff. I am crazy proud of my work, and would love for people to check it out, but I'll be damned if I tun into a third-person-speaking ego-maniac who thinks their every action and thought merits applause. I see this happening to my peers, and it makes me feel so gross. Stop the madness, guys. We all know it's you writing your own bio. Please.
4. I loathe all but three recording engineers I have met in the wide world. There are a number of people I'd like to work with, but my track record with the trail of dead behind me is sordid at best. (For a longer explanation of why, read this.) This may not seem like a very big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it is, and here's why: in the absence of said engineer, and more importantly - the equipment that they bring to the table, I'm making my records by myself. Don't get me wrong, I love all that I'm learning along the way, but it takes for-fucking-ever. Also, I have like, no gear. If it weren't for the insane generosity of a few of my friends in the music community, I'd be tracking straight to GarageBand with a USB mic. So, I'm a famous borrower of mics and pre-amps (I finally have my own monitors, thank you), and I work when I can. My albums take an average of two years to be made by this process. All of that just to avoid being in the excruciating presence of the freakshow of know-it-alls that sadly populate the recording world.
*Special note - mastering engineers not included in this statement.
5. I've never co-written a song that I'd record for myself, nor do I do the work to have my songs recorded by others. I write anywhere from fifty to eighty-five songs per year. It's not a huge amount, but it's no small amount either. I'm in that awkward place of having far too many songs to ever record on my own albums, while also having no outlet for putting the rest of them to any real use. To boot, I occasionally co-write with other artists (usually at their request), and then pile those works on to the growing mound of Songs That Will Go UnRecorded. Something happens to me in the co-writing process that dilutes my emotion around the subject, and turns it into an exercise of what my brain knows how to do: build songs. It would be magical if any of the other people I've written with actually cut the songs themselves, but so far I'm zero for forty or so. Pretty crap-tastic numbers.
There you have it. I'm sure there are about seventy other reasons, but this is what I have today. I love what I do, it just doesn't pay the bills. With that, I'm off to work on an album that I started in December of 2009. I told you.
~buick audra
0 comments:
Post a Comment