Name: mad
Name of Project: Why am I the only one here?
How Long has it Gone on?: About 3 - 4 years
Hurdles: New baby, serious health problems in my family
Initial Direction: I heard “The Man Left In Space” by Cosmograf, and thought this is something I could do - just work on songs whenever I had time. I initially thought about writing an album about going through a breakdown (something that I didn’t realise was happening to me until it was almost too late), hence the title. I wrote the initial ideas for around 4 songs and then a serious family illness just completely took away all my time and motivation. But I am resolved to sitting and writing some songs this year.
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[quote=“madpsychot, post:21, topic:246”]
…and then a serious family illness just completely took away all my time…[/quote]
I’ve been my father’s POA, health care rep, and taxi for going in 4 years now. I totally get this. 2016 (specifically the last three months) was the worst. I am sending you good vibes.
And us to you, Al. And to mad of course!
Cool thread cpt… it’s interesting to try to define this stuff…
- Your name
- The name of your project
- How long the project has gone on
- What hurdles (time, musicianship) you are facing
- Then describe the intial direction or purpose of this project
Emma 
Learning how to record/produce etc my own songs and overcome technophobia.
5 years ago I dived into this…
A real hurdle initially was my fear of technical stuff and brain freeze. I have really struggled to learn this stuff but have a dogged sense of determination. I’ve sometimes found gender to be a hurdle, it gets kinda lonely to fit in to what is essentially a boy’s club…
First of all, I was wanting to produce my songs myself, to replicate the sounds that I was hearing in my head… now I’m realising that I really do like an audience, it’s nice to have some people that enjoy what I do. But essentially, the music is for me, my own creative journey.
I’d like to re-visit some of my stuff this year and faux-finish it…
I’ve also been working on a project of crazy kid’s songs which I’m not quite sure where it’s going next but I’m trying to do illustrations for that too… so yeah, I really need to do some goal-setting, or that other big hurdle - age - will run me out of time!!
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I’ve always found this perplexing. With women’s historically gigantic role in music, it’s shocking to me how little representation there is from females in home recording. I’ve always wondered if this “boy’s club” sausage party is actually scaring girls away or if girls really just don’t get into home recording. In 10+ years on message boards, I’ve only seen a handful of active female participants. I’d welcome more ladies into the game. Too many dudes!
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What he said.
@Greg_L Yeah it’s a strange one… am not at all wanting to get into any gender debate here and I did double think before I mentioned it… but I have been really startled at the blatant sexism in the music industry/world, which seems to be almost a last bastion and not at all what I have found in the larger world. I’ve seen some really disgusting comments and there is still, now, a sense of incredulity, “you’re a woman? On a music forum??” I have had a heap of ‘walk away’ moments but I seriously want the knowledge plus I have become an audio nerd hehe. 
I try to fly beneath the radar…
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You won’t get any gender debate from me. I’m definitely on your side when it comes to sexism in any walk of life…
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new skin was my favorite track from the entire slate comp.
excellent work!
I’ll take any and all vibes that are good - thanks brother
In my experince THE important thing that determines when you finish something is the deadline you set for it. The work (almost) always takes the time you have to do it. If you set it to a year, it will be a year. If you have a month, then a month.
Of course the mindset is also crucial. No matter how long or short your deadline is, if you lack discipline then nothing will be done.
My first project “Three sides of a Tragedy I” took one year. I recorded and mixed in a small room at home, late at night for half an hour each day. With headphones and almost no experience. The only thing that made this happen was my mindset. I had no time to do it, but still managed. The quality of the mix can be improved but, nonetheless, I am very happy that I released it. It is possible that you never find that your mix is done. There is where the deadline comes in.
For the second part of the project I set my deadline for 5 months. 2 months have come by and I have 3 songs recorded and mixed already. The total is 7 songs. What I did is set a deadline, a studio time schedule and have a method I always follow when recording/mixing (again, maybe it does not turn out to be the perfect mix, but it will get as good as I can do it. Experience will make me better).
This is a very difficult discussion.
/Lukas
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Hear, hear. Really challenging sometimes to stay on target when Life imposes itself… I totally get how setting yourself a goal is a very useful tool. Probably not what I would want to do, however, simply because music-making is my refuge from my “normal” life, in which I run from one deadline to another without letup. Deadlines are what I want to escape from, so I just let things flow at whatever pace happens. Sometimes that results in long dry spells, like I had for a big piece of 2016…
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For me it was/is: do I want to struggle with deadlines or do I want to struggle with frustration?
A deadline does not need to be short. For example: one song per month. That should be doable. Make it two months if it is a problem. But do it. I have found myself watching bad TV series instead of working with my music just because there’s time… and then I regret it!
/Lukas
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I listened to this earlier today. Well done. I thought it had a Pink Floyd-ish feel to it. I shared the link with a friend who might like it.
Wonderful!