advice – Alternative Student

My Musical Goals: 2022

In January of 2021 I made a list of music goals for the year. That December I looked back and saw that – miraculously – every single goal had been accomplished. Hoping for the same outcome, today I’ll be making a 2022 list.

1) Create a presence as a singer-songwriter. In 2021 I did a lot of performing, and that was fantastic. What I didn’t do was write new songs, record new music, or choose a name for my project (I perform as Luke Smith, but that’s too common). I did these things for Late Night Luke, but this year I’d like to do it for my acoustic project, too.

2) Create a presence as a producer. I did this a lot in 2021, so I mostly want to continue what’s worked: making videos, releasing songs, and creating microcontent. I plan on releasing more hip hop, collaborating more, and continuing to build a body of work.

3) Clarify brand / consistency. I’ve always had a slight musical identity crisis. For the longest time I was a singer-songwriter who did electronic music on the side, but for the last two years I’ve been a producer who’s a singer-songwriter on the side. I need to clarify who I am and spend my time accordingly. I am a combination of both, but I need focus.

4) Build / join more communities. One of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as a musician was booking and hosting a monthly songwriter showcase. I got to provide paid gigs to all my musician friends, meet new musician friends, and enjoy a great night of music. It was your classic win-win-win scenario. Unfortunately, it was axed due to covid, but I’d love to start it up again. I also want to host an open mic night and join or start a club for music producers.

Notably absent from this list is anything career related. It’s not that I don’t have career aspirations; I’m just focusing on one thing at a time. This year is about growth, connection, paying off debt, and learning as much as I can.

2021 Year End Review

This is not my typical experience, but I actually completed every musical goal I set at the begining of the year. I’m just as surprised as anyone.

My first goal was to be a singer-songwriter again. For most of 2020, I had zero shows. I stayed in my room making electronic beats, which I loved, but I missed my acoustic roots. This year I played a ton of shows, wrote new songs, and started recording an EP (my first singer-songwriter release since 2019).

My second goal was to collaborate with other artists. This mostly involved my friend Jplayin. I recorded two release for Jplayin, and had him as a featured rapper on two of my songs. I also got to work with Brandon and the Clubs, my former classmate. We dropped a Ke$ha-esque pop song. Stylistically it was a very different direction for me, but so fun to make. I had a blast working with both of them!

My third goal was to create consistent content. This mostly involved my weekly YouTube videos on songwriting and music produciton, which was then broken into microcontent for Instagram and Tik Tok, but I also peppered in the occasional blog post. I’m happy to say that I now have over 100 YouTube subscribers!

My fourth goal was to get an internship / volunteer, and this Fall I got an internship with the Minnesota Music Coalition. I got to assist with the Caravan Du Nord concert series and travel all across Minnesota, meeting tons of new artists and old favorites.

I’m also happy to share that I lost 30 pounds, finished 67 songs (mostly beats), and I officially graduated with my degree in Music Industry. I also started teaching guitar for the first time this Summer, which has been a fantastic way to make money while honing my craft.

I’m focusing on the good here, but I don’t want to give the impresison that I’m an unstoppable productivity machine that doesn’t make mistakes. This year was far from perfect, but despite my own flaws and battles, I was able to make things better for myself. I can only pray this trend continues and I keep moving forward.

Just Do It

I haven’t dropped a singer-songwriter track since May of 2019. Since then I’ve been working on other projects, releasing videos, and finishing up my degree. It’s easy to use busyness as an excuse, but it doesn’t tell the full story. As someone who has watched six hours of Squid Game in one day, I can tell you it’s not a lack of time.

A couple of months ago I was planning to buy a new microphone specifically for my singer-songwriter EP. I had been using an MXL 990 to record my acoustic ($100), and I was excited to upgrade. An unexpected expense ate that money up and I was frustrated. I didn’t feel like recording the old way, and I even considered shelfing the project until I had better gear. Also, I was toying with the idea of turning my EP into an album, possibly recording a full band and having a bigger release.

These two excuses gave me the instant gratificaiton of being able to delay my work, and it came with the added bonus that I could imagine my work being better for it. So I didn’t have to do anything in the present, but on a far distant day, I would have something amazing.

The problem with this of course is that I continue to do nothing. There are some situations where perhaps it would make sense to wait, but in my personal experience, it’s never been justified. Regardless of the gear you have, the idea that waiting is going to help you make something better in the future is flawed. Making stuff is how you get better. You can always get new gear later on, but in the meantime you can be improving for free.

Your reservation might be that you have a really good song or concept that needs to be exactly right before coming out. If that’s the case, you can write and release other things. Just don’t let that be an excuse and lose momentum. Also, it’s worth mentioning that songs I wanted to save two years ago, I wouldn’t even release now. Your tastes evolve as you keep creating.

So, after countless roadblocks and excuses, I’m finally recording my EP. It’s already an improvement from my last project, but I still find myself making excuses. It’s not going to be perfect, but it is going to be done, and that’s enough.

It Takes Practice

This Summer, I started teaching guitar lessons. It’s been interesting learning guitar again through beginners’ eyes and hearing their perspectives. A variation of this question comes up again and again: “What’s the secret?” When they’re struggling, beginner’s tend to think that they’re doing something wrong; they want a quick tip or trick that’ll resolve everything.

The answer I give rarely satisfies them, but it’s the only answer that’s true. “There’s no secret. You just need to keep practicing.” Practicing new material can be frustrating because we’re constantly rubbing up against our own limitations: hitting wrong notes, missing rhythms, and having to work on the same parts again and again. It can be a daunting process, but it’s how we grow.

Audio production and mixing is one of those areas where it’s tempting to think you can just have someone explain it to you and you’ll be able to execute it perfectly. Afterall, mixing is more of a technical skill. You’re turning knobs; you just need to know what everything does and then you’re good to go, right? Wrong. It’s more of an art than people realize, and an ear for mixing needs to be developed just like a musical ear.

This concept also applies to genres. Someone can absolutely crush it at lofi, but when they try to make EDM, they struggle. This comes from a lack of experience in that genre. There’s definitely mixing and sound design skills that carry over from genre to genre, but when writing in an unfamiliar style, you’ll have a lot of new questions. I often hear people say that they are bad at a particular genre. They accept it as an unchangable fact about themselves, when in reality they probably just haven’t practiced it enough.

So whatever it is that you want to improve about yourself, there is no secret sauce that will make everything easier. I only have one tip to give you: it takes practice.

Creative Offloading

Today I’m going to talk about something I learned in music school. It’s called “offloading” and it’s one of the reasons I was able to write 50 songs in 2020.

In songwriting you have these creative tasks: chord progressions, melodies, basslines, drum patterns, lyrics, sound design, etc. Offloading means to take one of these tasks and rather than generate it creatively, you offload it to a different source. This happens when you take a chord progression from another song, use a drum loop or MIDI pack, or anytime you load a preset. That’s offloading too since you’re offloading the sound design.

This is incredibly helpful for starting and finishing ideas. When you offload a task, you free up time and energy to focus on the next step. If you’re feeling uninspired, a drum or melody loop can be the kickstart you need. Rather than trying to create every piece of your music originally, it helps to decide what parts you want to write and what parts you want to offload.

You might hate the idea of offloading if you haven’t heard it before. It might feel like cheating. I used to feel that way, too. One of my buddies used to Google “Awesome chord progressions” and write songs that way. He even stole a progression from a YouTube ad. He wasn’t afraid to take inspiration wherever found it.

Over the years, I softened to the idea. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my biggest problem was my ego. I enjoyed being “creative” more than I enjoyed making songs. Offloading to me is about letting go of my ego and realizing that if I want to make captivating art, I need all the help I can get.

If you haven’t offloaded before, try offloading your least favorite part to write. If you’re a drummer and you love writing drums, offload the melody. If you love melodies and struggle with drums, offload the drums. If you’re really focusing in on sound design, design the sounds and offload the chords. For lyrics, you can even borrow rhymes. There’s a lot of possibilities and room to experiment.

If you feel guilty or think that it’s cheating, realize that it’s a collaboration. Pretend that your friend sent you the drum loop. They want you to use it. That’s why they made it, and honestly, that’s not far from the truth. Producer Com Truise said that sampling is “Collaborating at a distance.” And the big difference between sampling and using a loop (other than the legal difference) is that the creator of the Splice loop wants you to use it.

If you try to be 100% creative in every area of your song, you’ll write a lot less songs. And honestly, no one cares if you do “everything yourself.” They’ll only know if you tell them, and if you feel the need to tell people, then maybe you don’t believe in the song to begin with.

My Musical Goals: 2021

I’m sitting in a room at my parents’ house right now, and I just finished a beat. I’m moving out soon and much of my stuff is packed. I’m listening to Tycho on headphones (Epoch). He’s been my go-to writing music ever since I started this blog in 2018. Since then, I’ve learned so much, and there’s a lot I want to accomplish. Here are my musical goals for 2021.

1) Be a singer-songwriter again. I started performing as a singer-songwriter in 2013, and because of the pandemic, I barely played in 2020. I found myself writing less for my singer-songwriter name and focusing more on beats and electronic music. I love writing electronically, but I want to come back to guitar and voice, too. There’s something personal and uniquely expressive about playing guitar and singing. In general, I want to sing more.

2) Collaborate with other artists. Working with people on Songs From Home was a really cool experience. I loved hearing my instrumentals come to life and the surprising directions they went. I haven’t worked with a rapper since 2014, and I really want to change that. I’ve been stockpiling rap beats and in February I’m going to start reaching out. I’m not trying to sell anything at first; I’ll be DMing talented locals with free beats and see if there’s any interest. In the future, I’d love to work with all kinds of singers and musicians.

3) Create consistent content. Every teacher, vlogger, YouTuber, and Gary V will tell you about the importance of content creation. I’ve done the random Instagram post, blog, or video, but it hasn’t been consistent in awhile. In 2018 I released a video and blog post every week for months and that was awesome; I want to return to that level of output. My goal now is to make a weekly YouTube video and take clips of it for microcontent on Instagram. I’m hoping to slowly build a following and get better at consistent creation.

4) Get an internship / volunteer. I graduated with my Bachelor’s of Science in Music Industry, and now I’m ready to be rich! And by rich I mean gainfully employed (but first, an internship). In my projects class I focused on the licensing side of music, but recently I’ve been interested in non-profits like Musicians on Call and the Harmony Project. I’m also excited for volunteer opportunities like working at Big Turn Music Festival. There’s a lot of people that need help and endless ways to get involved.

Whichever way I go, I’m excited to learn more about these fields and be part of a world I love. Thanks for following my journey!

Making a Lofi EP

This December I graduated college and I celebrated by releasing a lofi EP. I wanted something commemorative of the college experience, and what better way than by making chill beats to study / relax to? Not to mention, I love lofi. I dropped it during finals week in the hopes of attracting more student listeners.

I started the writing process in June. I know firsthand the annoyance of putting together an EP and not liking all of the songs. I usually handle this by releasing fewer songs or by writing more, but this time I tackled the problem upfront. I committed to writing 20 songs and only releasing the best. This helped me relax while writing since each song carried less weight. I wasn’t too hard about whether or not I liked what I had; my goal was to finish two demos a week, good or bad. This gave me more freedom to experiment.

After I had my 20 demos, I found several that I could eliminate instantly. They were good songs that didn’t fit the lofi aesthetic for varying reasons: too exciting, too high energy, too much dynamic range, and a few that I just wanted to develop into hip hop beats. Writing a lot of tracks made it easy to finish these ideas as they came along rather than scrapping them on the spot. Especially after I had a handful I liked, it was nice to write without any sense of needing it to be good or having it fit in a particular way.

I eliminated seven songs for genre reasons and one because it was a remix (Misty by Ella Fitzgerald). I wanted to have five to eight songs. There were some I planned to include from the start (Morning Dew, Breakfast Brew, Halloween Chillin), and for the others I relied on Instagram polls. I had eight songs selected, but as the deadline got closer I narrowed it down to five. I was on the fence about a couple and opted for quality over quantity. The project is only 9 minutes long, but I think I made the right choice.

I’m happy with the outcome and I hope you can enjoy these songs while studying, relaxing, drinking coffee, or watching the snow fall.

Finals Week Available Everywhere.

Covid-Class

I am in my final semester of college, and what a semester to go out on. I keep thinking that if I had graduated in the spring, I would have avoided a lot of hassle. At the same time, it’s a unique experience not everyone goes through. I have mixed feelings.

I’m a senior in the Music Industry program at MSU Mankato, and a lot has changed. Some classes are online, others in-person, but most are “Hyflex,” meaning students can decide whether to attend online or on campus. There are signs everywhere with slogans like “Maskup Mavs,” and reminders to social distance. It reminds me of propaganda from Fall Out or Bioshock (which makes it kind of fun).

Strangely enough, these guidelines are actually making my final semester easier. Because so many of my classes are online, I’m only on campus one day a week. This has allowed me to temporarily move back to Faribault. My expenses are down, so I can work less and focus on school.

While in Mankato I was working 30 hours a week and taking 17 credits. I didn’t have the time or energy for personal projects, so my creative pursuits took a backseat. Now that I have more free time, I can do well in classes and be creative. I know this year has been hard for most people, but for me it’s been a blessing in disguise. Since June, I have written more songs than I had in the past year, and this extra time has really forced me to prioritized what I want. There’s no excuses left for me, it’s either do the work or don’t.

I’m looking forward to what this final semester brings, and what adventures await me. I’m grateful to be where I am and I have a lot of hope for the future.

Deciding is Creating

I’m the type of person who wants to do a lot of creative projects, so many in fact, that the vast majority never get done. A lot of times I just don’t know where to start, so I don’t. What I’m learning again and again is that you need to be decisive to be creative. Creating involves making a choice, and if we find ourselves unable to choose, we’re unable to create.

In my Music Promotion class, we were given a video assignment. We had to make weekly videos, three to five minutes long, based on a prompt. The prompts were short and open for interpretation. I was excited to make some videos, but wasn’t quite sure where to begin.

If this had been a self-imposed project – like writing a song – I would have procrastinated and taken a lot of time to get the “best idea.” Since this was for class, I had a deadline. It forced me to make a decision and run with it. It wasn’t so important what I chose, so long as I chose. This resulted in me actually finishing projects in a timely manner. As the saying goes, “Done is better than perfect.”

One of the best parts about music school is having assignments that push you to create. Being graded is a great incentive, and you’re left with a product you’re happy you made. Unfortunately, we don’t have similar incentives for projects outside of school, so we’re left to our own devices.

I wrote before that I have a lot of ideas, but it’s easy to have a lot of ideas and do nothing. It’s the easiest thing in the world. You get a false sense of satisfaction, thinking of all the great things you will do – someday. In his book Anything You Want, Derek Sivers writes “To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed.” I have more unfinished songs than I can count, but when I do finish one, it’s always a win. Whether or not the song is good is less important than the fact that I’m finishing songs. It’s practice for creative decision making.

This is something I’m still working on, but if you want to write more songs, pick one tune and finish it. It doesn’t matter which one, what genre, or whatever. Make a decision, then it’s easy.

Getting Back Momentum

I haven’t posted in a hot minute, and it’s pretty clear I’ve lost traction. I used to post once a week, but it’s been months since I’ve done anything consistent. I’d like to put the blame on the fact that I’m taking a heavier load this semester, but the simple fact is I could be doing better.

One of the reasons I’ve failed is because I broke out of my routine. Last semester I had a large amount of free time every Tuesday, and I spent it in the library working on my blog. It wasn’t hard work – I liked writing and looked forward to it. I would fill up my tumbler from Jazzman’s Cafe, find a lo-fi playlist, and hide away in a corner of the library. I’d do my best to articulate my latest discovery or inspiration, and in doing so better understand it.

It’s hard to know why we stop doing things that make us happy. You’d think we wouldn’t need to worry about it, but we do. There will always be days where it’s easier to watch Netflix than work on a song, and even though songwriting will bring you joy, Netflix is easier in the moment. In the short term it’s inconsequential, but in the long term it makes you miserable. When I go a long time without creating, I’m just not as happy. Sometimes that unhappiness can cause me to sink into the things that caused it in the first place, but the cure requires an effort on my part. I have to get to work.