An Indie Musician's Diary Volume 4: Album two in the making

Introduction

Never, ever, let what anyone else says about you define your limitations. It doesn't matter how prominent or powerful that person is, if they tell you that you are too young, too old, too ugly, or too this or too that to become what you think you can become, just tell them "We'll see!" and then prove them wrong. Not in anger, mind you. Just be yourself and pursue your dreams with diligence and leave them with their opinions in your rear view mirror.

I know this because, for the greater part of my life, I have been told that I'm ugly or that I am not good enough. My "chord progressions are unusual" or my voice is strange. I was beaten as a child and very lonely in my dysfunctional home. I had no ambition but a whole lot of longing to be creative in this broken heart of mine.

Today, I am whole and happy, however, and I am living my dream of being a music producer. I have learned to accept  that others have opinions about my limitations but I daily chase my possibilities for the pure fun of seeing what on earth is possible.

How close can each song I write get to what I am hearing inside of my head?  And can I present it professionally?  Sonic consistently?  That is the carrot hanging in front of, but ever slightly out of reach for, this donkey.

O.k. I guess I am a bit of a technical "nerd". So be it! 

"I may not be the best but I do my very best!" is my motto.

I'm fine with that. If other people reserve their awe for musicians/artists/producers with flashy titles, expensive clothes, good looks and a long list of honourable mentions and cash yielding projects it doesn't matter to me. I'm not comparing myself to anyone else than myself. I am not looking for other's praise. I'm here to make music for those who love it, ( a growing number of people). I just keep learning and loving what I do.

So why don't I just do it? Why write about it? The main idea behind the Diary series is to document what I am learning for my own history's sake and so that you and I can use these chapters as references, tips and stories to learn from. I hope they help you and encourage you in your music creation, too!

In Vol 1 -3 of An Indie Musician's Diary I shared some insight into what I was doing and learning as a newbie music producer and artist. Through those years I did my best but I made tons of mistakes and that's good, as a matter of fact. Because mistakes are what make you grow - if you reflect over them and adjust your steps in the future.

Making progress as a producer is like driving a car: It is always easy to see clearly as you look into your rear view mirror but you should never do it for longer periods of time as you drive along. If you do, you will lose sight of what is ahead of you and crash. Looking back, is important. I would never have mixed my first album the way I did with what I now know. I can hear that my voice was often a bit too harsh during the intro, My de-esser was way off. and I should have EQ:ed my voice better. I over-compressed EVERYTHING. I should have miked my electric guitars up to an amp instead of direct lining them and I should have exported only high quality wavs as backtracks for use in TV studios and placed them in HD music videos. (Just a few examples...) But I didn't know better then and that's o.k.

It is important to learn. You look in that rear view mirror to see the past things that went wrong but you turn your eyes forward to keep driving and get to your destination.

Psssst! Did you notice the new kind of book cover? This is to tell you that it is a new epoch in the Diary. A new album deserves a new cover.

My next destination is album number two, Abide. I have a rough idea where we are going to go with it, and I invite you to walk this project together with me.

I have a few things to do before I get started on Abide and this book about Abide: finalise the song Jesus, Jag Älskar Dig (and mix the English version of it too); master both; promote them and upload their respective music videos onto YouTube. When that has passed I hope to start the creative brainstorming process of the new album just about the time that I will become a grandma. 

Family comes first and my daughter should be having her baby towards the end of January so we'll see how fast/slow this album goes. And the Change My Mind book that went along with the first album is not quite done yet....so much to do and share with you!

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