Am I mad?

[deadly_habit]

bitches

[karmacazee]

Hmmmm, I can see that people have thought this out a lot better than I have...

I have no delusions of grandeur, of 'making it big' so to speak. But you kow that feeling when you're about to sneeze, and it just doesn't happen?

I just want my fingers in as many musical pies as possible. It's the way forward for the modern musician IMO - do a bit of this and a bit of that. Play live, Produce, make sounbeds and soundtrack compilations (altough that is a bitch of an industry), teaching, field recording, live PA'ing, roadie-ing, learn how to fix equipment, promoting etc etc....

There's definitely money in gigging the pub circuit (I play guitar too), and I love getting paid the same as a week's bar wage for an hour and a half of singing. (Weirdly, you get paid a lot more when you play, say, a local pub rather than a night club in town...) Also busking can rake in a lot of cash!

However, I have seen some sense, and the idea of getting a bar job somewhere I actually like until I'm confident enough in my skills and my position is a bit of a no-brainer really. Application station!

I just can't be dealing with working as a barman for the rest of my life (I have no other skill apart from music...), not saying it's a terrible occupation and whatnot, and I don't let my job define me, but almost 10 years of it is starting to make me bitter towards humanity... heh.

Thanks for all the replies and for giving me some perspective, definitely a lot to think about still!

[snufkin]

Hmmmm, I can see that people have thought this out a lot better than I have...

I have no delusions of grandeur, of 'making it big' so to speak. But you kow that feeling when you're about to sneeze, and it just doesn't happen?

I just want my fingers in as many musical pies as possible. It's the way forward for the modern musician IMO - do a bit of this and a bit of that. Play live, Produce, make sounbeds and soundtrack compilations (altough that is a bitch of an industry), teaching, field recording, live PA'ing, roadie-ing, learn how to fix equipment, promoting etc etc....

There's definitely money in gigging the pub circuit (I play guitar too), and I love getting paid the same as a week's bar wage for an hour and a half of singing. (Weirdly, you get paid a lot more when you play, say, a local pub rather than a night club in town...) Also busking can rake in a lot of cash!

However, I have seen some sense, and the idea of getting a bar job somewhere I actually like until I'm confident enough in my skills and my position is a bit of a no-brainer really. Application station!

I just can't be dealing with working as a barman for the rest of my life (I have no other skill apart from music...), not saying it's a terrible occupation and whatnot, and I don't let my job define me, but almost 10 years of it is starting to make me bitter towards humanity... heh.

Thanks for all the replies and for giving me some perspective, definitely a lot to think about still!

judging from your tunes already on yourspace i'd say you have a pretty good chance of making something SPECIAL.

do it.

[snufkin]

by which i mean i like your stuff a lot if that last comment seemed at all coded.

[raffo]

you´re not mad. after listening to your tracks on myspace, i think you have great potential

[snufkin]

in fact, you don't have any 320s going do you?

[misk]

Plus, all this music stuff is for kids dood. I don't know if its chemical, biological, or what have u, but still. U gonna be dj grandpa spinning crystal cubes or whatever they're gonna have in 20/30 years?

ahaha, definitely funny imagery, but i'll have to disagree with you there. i'll be making weird electronic music till i die, though i might change the form in which i perform it. You just gotta act like an old mad scientist when you get old, then it's all good! invent the crystal cubes!

[youthful_implants]

Why don't you just try it for a bit and see how it works out?

Being independently motivated to write music all day long is actually quite hard, and not suited to everyone.

The people I know that live off of it, still spend far too long on youtube/stressing/xbox/being stoned/on forums than is actually healthy so you may get bored.

I always find that if you're not inspired, music is almost impossible.

[LURQ]

Work less hours at that bar while you search for your dream job in the music business. But don't just quit and live off savings.

[serox]

Thought of posting this in the SNH, but I reckon it's better suited for the production forum.

I'm thinking of quitting my job and devoting myself to my music. Well, not really thinking about it, more like pretty adamant about it. For a start, I've grown sick and tired of my job (been a barman and a waiter for 8 years), and I did a goddamn music degree in Uni!

Through an odd and ugly twist of fate I've come in to some money which has I've had lying dormant for a few years in an account, fearing the guilt of living off money I haven't really earned... So I could fund myself through it, which, as I know, is a very lucky position to be in.

I know that I'll kick myself when I'm older if I don't...

Will it make me an arty twat?

Been thinking the same but I have a good job and would be retarded if I quit while in a recession.

[youthful_implants]

You just gotta act like an old mad scientist when you get old, then it's all good! invent the crystal cubes!

I think trends are being set by younger and younger kids. No time for the geezers.

Dont agree. The kids tend to burn out quickly while the seasoned pros who already know the pitfalls of money/fame/success are more likely to handle the pace.

All the really good DJs that i want to see that I can think of in any genre are over 35.

[misk]

^^^^

great post ill-esha! this sounds very similar to the experiences i've had when i worked with studios. though my experience in the professional world mostly comprises of sound, and not so much music, theres nothing like getting up early knowing you're going to be doing tamagotchi japanese to brazillian portuguese translation style ADR/overdubbing.

and the studio whos paying did you the favor of translating all the japanese to spanish - because spanish is EXACTLY the same as brazillian portuguese....


and saying that as a freelancer you're on call 24 hours a day, is the truest experience i've heard. I've gotten calls on christmas eve from radio show hosts who needed last minute production help.

[Rickmansworth]

funny thread... ive been going over this same dilemma in my head for the past few months.

i don't mind my job (its relevant to my degree and in the field i want to pursue at some point), however, im only a year out of uni and feel that this is the only time in my life where i could say screw it, pack up my bags, move somewhere cheap, get an ez part time job and start producing full time.

been thinking about going down to oz (bondi beach) and picking up a 20hr a week job, come january once my lease here in downtown denver expires.

[karmacazee]

It takes a constant, Type A (obsessed with productivity) personality to make it in this industry. If you want to make a living off music these days, unless you're in the top 2%, you have to constantly hustle in multiple sub-career streams just to make rent. I thought it would be romantic and exciting to do music for my living because it's my passion, but you know what? I have VERY LITTLE time to write my own music anymore. And when I do have time I'm burned the fuck out from editing audio all day long and don't really want to stare at a computer.

currently my living comes from

DJing (15%)
Recording/producing beats, demos etc for other artists (10%)
Music editing/scoring on a major network television show (60%)
Voice acting jobs such as narration for corporate website tours (10%)
Other random freelance jobs including teaching audio production (5%)

I get up around 730 am, head to the studio to work on the show 4 days a week. Squeeze my other contracts in on evenings and weekends. Have maybe 1.5 hours free in a day if I'm lucky. Go out of town for gigs sometimes and lose a few days there. Maybe every three weeks I'll get a full free day to work on tunes and usually that's interrupted by surprise jobs or having to oh, do the laundry and go to the bank and all the other crap I've put by the wayside.

Don't get me wrong!
I am blessed to be working. Especially in this fickle industry/recession.

But it takes a FUCKING LOT to drag myself back to the computer after doing it all day. And I spend a LOT of time listening to music I don't like. The worst had to be when I was hired to replicate this beat and got cut down for being too crisp and making it sound too good and had to roll back and purposely punch up resonant frequencies in the kick to make it sound shitty, boomy and lo-fi... etc. Or when this horribly untalented chick came in and wanted me to doctor up her "rap song". Or having to listen to muzak children's jazz DAY IN AND OUT.

..Or never doing anything except working! Because as a freelancer you're on call 24 hours a day.

On the bright side, I've got fucking flying fingers and expertise in Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase and Ableton. I get to gank sample libraries from work. I've become a Mac tech. So there are good points. But I wouldn't recommend it if you want to keep your energy and enthusiasm for making music.

Yeah, see, now that sound like heaven to me!

Want to swap places?

[karmacazee]

I always thought that getting a job as a car park attendant or night secuity guard would be good for producing. Just take yer laptop and bang out ideas, whilst getting paid for them...

My mate works night shifts as a security guard in the nearby industrial estate, and all he does is play x-box all night.

[dubstep909]

Am I mad = yes.