Day 4, 1000 words once again! Lately I’ve been super busy working on different things, and I also can’t slack off on my daily blog post! The main thing I’ve been focusing on lately though has been my YouTube channels. I have two YouTube channels. One of them is my original one, which has just a little over two thousand subscribers. The other one is brand new, and only has five subscribers. I would have kept working on my main YouTube channel forever if I had the chance, but I lost the option to ever monetize that channel because pretty much all the tracks I posted when I was first starting out were over random beats that I liked, so they’ve all received copyright claims. They can still play but all revenue goes to the beat owner. The project I’m super into now is starting this new YouTube channel which will mainly focus on music tutorials. It’s also the main channel when all my official releases get posted from DistroKid and SoundCloud Repost Network whenever I distribute music through either one of them, so all of my music on there will be original. I intend to upload my beats on this new YouTube channel as well, after having distributed them through streaming and opted them in for YouTube content ID. That way I avoid having any of my beats stolen, which is something I’ve always been somewhat paranoid about, and I can also make money off any tracks that might be recorded over my beats and posted on YouTube, just like there’s copyright claims on my tracks now because of the beats I used. I can also upload the beats on my old YouTube channel which has a bit more subscribers, and since I can’t monetize that channel, I’ll just get the money content ID instead, due to the copyright claims which will be placed on those videos. It’s good that DistroKid and Repost Network both have whitelist functions so that I can add the link to the video from my new channel on there in order to avoid copyright claims from myself, so that I can eventually monetize this new channel, unlike the old one. Over the past month or two I’ve been putting together the basic equipment that I need in order to start making videos for my YouTube channel, now I just need to organize my ideas and make sure everything looks like a professional presentation. One thing I’ve been thinking about is dividing my videos between my two channels. The new channel would be the really professional one, where I’ll post my super polished tutorial videos, and on the other one I can just make videos showing the myself making beats, detailing my process, maybe making beats of different genres within different set time limits. I’m almost at the point of making a final decision on all this, and as a matter of fact I rendered my first video today. It was the second kind of video, I basically strapped my GoPro up to a shelf on the left of me, showing me making a rap beat on my MPC One in front of me. I also recorded the screen of my computer using OBS Streamlabs. I did this because I was using my MPC One in controller mode, so I wanted to showcase how what I was doing on the MPC was reflecting onto the MPC Beats software running as a VST within FL Studio. All of the audio was recorded as professionally as I could, I didn’t use the audio from the GoPro. Instead, the audio from my MPC is being recorded into another instance of FL Studio, where I also have a recording coming in for my voice, which is being recorded on the Rode NT1 microphone into the Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 audio interface. This way I can edit the sound of my voice and of the MPC audio separately, having the GoPro audio completely muted. This allows me to record my voice in great quality with the NT1, and my MPC audio is recorded right in FL Studio through the Focusrite Loopback system, so basically it’s recording whatever audio is coming from my computer. This includes my voice so it’s not really the isolated MPC audio, but I can just add my voice audio on top of that one to make my voice louder, which is usually what is needed. I also add some EQ and compressor to my voice after, just to make the audio as clear as possible. Since I have the MPC audio being recorded in this way it’s much clearer than if I was playing it off my speakers and using the GoPro audio of that. Hopefully whoever watches recognizes the work that was put into my videos because of the quality and wants to subscribe because of it. Overall, I just hope to be successful with this YouTube thing because it’s definitely what I’ve been the most focused on lately, other than just making music and learning about music in general. Every day I’m watching tutorials about everything from MPC and FL Studio, to Ableton, to guitar, to music theory, to midi and all sorts of connections, I feel like there’s no end to it! I don’t mind though, I’m enjoying all the learning to be honest, and it’s cool because it’s something I really see myself getting deeper into, I’ve even been learning about the world of modular synthesis, basically playing with voltage to create synth sounds and all kinds of trippy variations of those sounds. Music is just magical, how sounds can evoke feelings within us, without words, just with melody and rhythm. Even single notes evoke some feeling within us. Music is a universal language, and I guess I’m just trying to get as fluent as I can in it, speaking as honestly as I can. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me over time, and I pray God will bless my endeavors, with this YouTube thing and beyond. I hope we all succeed, and I hope we all have the courage to start chasing our dreams. I know I’ve waited too long, and I hope it’s not too late. I’ll make sure it’s not too late.
Tag: youtuber
DAY 2: 1000 WORDS (3rd attempt)
Day 2, 1000 words, let’s go! The main topic I wrote about yesterday was my music and how I’m slowly but surely becoming a much more professional musician, and what I’ve been doing to make that happen. I mentioned a few things such as mastering making beats on the MPC One, apart from FL Studio, which has always been my go-to program for beats, and leaving days off from getting stoned so that I have a much clearer head, which might not always be necessary for coming up with funky rhythms while in the zone, but is definitely needed at this point in order to try to promote my brand effectively. One thing I didn’t mention on my first post though, was that I’ve also started learning to play the guitar. When I was in high school my mom signed my brother and I up for guitar classes at the recreation center since she knew I was into music. I bought an acoustic guitar and we went to a few classes, but it didn’t materialize into anything. I just didn’t have the discipline back in those days, my mind was on a bunch of other crazy shit. I kept the guitar though, it’s just been sitting there in a storage room for all these years, so recently I had the idea of picking it back up and just finally getting down to business and learning to play it. After having watched tutorial after tutorial in order to learn the ins and outs of the MPC, which is basically a DAW inside of a groovebox, and eventually becoming quite comfortable with it, feeling like I’ve mastered it, I’ve become amazed at how much I enjoy learning about music, and how easy it is for me to learn as long as I enjoy what I’m learning. For so long, my idea of myself as a musician was that of a rapper, and a producer on the side, although I’ve always been able to pump out a lot more beats than songs. I’ve made trip-hop beats, techno beats, but never really released them, or even most of my hip-hop beats, since I just always preferred to promote the image of myself as a rapper. I never really look into things like mixing and mastering, or into getting the best quality equipment I could, I just stuck with what I knew, my laptop and USB mic, and FL Studio for beats. As long as I could rap good and it sounds good that’s good enough, right? That’s not necessarily the case. There’s a joy in learning and improving, and even though my music might be already good, there’s no telling how much better, cleaner or fuller it could sound with different effects and sounds, and with more experience with music in general. Music is a never-ending learning journey, just like life is, and I’m really excited to be immersing myself into it fully, like I should have done years ago. These days I no longer care about promoting myself exclusively as a rapper, as a producer, or as any other specific label. I’ve come to realize that I just love music, all kinds of music, and want to create as many different styles of it as I can! I’m a musician, a writer, and an artist, not just a rapper or producer. Recently I’m completed two instrumental albums which are basically ready for release now, just playing with some new mixing and mastering tricks I’ve been learning and they should be ready to go within a month or two. One is a techno/trance album which will be titled “life in color”, and the other is a chill, trip-hop type of album, titled “dawn of a new day.” I’m slowly releasing singles from both of them and they should drop around the same time, within a few months. I’ve also got my own solo rap album on the way, Rebel Spirit, and, having recently released our newest joint mixtape together, The Come Up 10, Kalvonix and I are already hard at work on our next project, The Come Up 11, with no signs of stopping anytime soon. Stress has always been a big part of my life, unfortunately, but it’s great to get back into doing things I love, to discover a newly refreshed love for music in all its forms. These days I usually make a beat or two, maybe one in FL Studio and one in the MPC, or I might even connect the MPC to my PC on controller mode and open up the MPC Beats program inside FL Studio, which allows me to combine sounds from my MPC and my computer to create a complex instrumental. I might be writing some rhymes to some of my beats, or practicing guitar, or watching tutorials on gear I don’t have (yet), preparing for my future in music. With God’s blessings and with all the positive energy I can possibly pour into this endeavor, I hope to go far now that I’m finally taking this seriously. A final message to anyone out there, it’s never too late as long as you’re willing to put in the work and get yourself back on your feet and back on track! Today I was experimenting with different possible setups for filming my YouTube tutorial videos. I need a camera facing me and a camera facing down at the MPC screen, since I’ll start the channel off with MPC tutorials. Unfortunately, the GoPro mount that I bought and just received today wasn’t long enough to film properly above the MPC screen without obstructing the way for me to play the pads, so I thought of using my phone to record the MPC from above, and to use the GoPro with the mount to film myself from the side. All of the audio, both from the MPC and from the Rode NT1 microphone, are going into the Scarlett 4i4 audio interface and being routed into FL Studio, so I only need to figure out the video side of things now and I should be good to go. I’m excited about this new venture, my YouTube channel, since it seems a bit more realistic than blowing up as a musician might be. Not saying I won’t make it in music, but if YouTube is an open door then there’s no point in not taking the risk, and hopefully it drives some viewers to my music as well, whether it’s on Spotify or Bandcamp, or even right on YouTube.
To be continued tomorrow on Day 3 of 1000 Words.
Much love
rebel eye
rebel eye 