I follow the daily Seth Godin feed and today’s post applies well to this thread.

https://seths.blog/2022/10/caring-just- ... ht-amount/

My drummer recently commented that when we were young we had more time to practice but couldn't afford any gear and now we are too busy (work/kids, etc) so we don't have time to play/practice but we can finally afford decent gear. (we played live shows with microphone stands that were once lamps). I ...

Seems to me there are so many GREAT samples these days, I suggest to just pick one that has a feel you like and get playing. Yes, indeed! Choose one and get playing. If it falls short after a while, try something else. Don't spend so much time deciding what to eat that you go to bed hungry... I ...

Quick thought, here is a quick snippet of me screwing around without touching any settings, just pulled up the Steinway in logic which the original poster already owns and made up some stuff. https://soundcloud.com/blake-dirksen/piano/s-zk7WMrHf8cy?si=2f8ddcf83f65453a87e345aca44c85a7&utm_source ...

You can use the free Kontakt player but some sample libraries haven't paid the licensing fee so you have to upgrade to the "full" player for those to work. One place to start is pianobook. Hundreds of sample libraries to choose from and you can sort by whichever player interface you want to use (I ...

Fire my drummer? I would rather sound like crap and have my best friend at my side.

At least once a year I read a thread like this and am reminded how badly I want to get a 500 series rack and start playing with inserts. I have never ventured out of my basic interface and mixing in the box but would love to have some of the classic hardware without having to spend a fortune.

I'm a big fan of Pixelmator Pro. One time purchase, updates keep up with Mac OS updates and works work with my Photo's library.

Thanks for the comments. I was able to find a couple references and the best suggestion was to record a MIDI track playing the temp on a single note, and then beat map from that. Nice to have a grid to work from!

Fun track, I enjoy the vocals and flow of the song. I agree with others that the snare is super tinny and I find it distracting. I assume they are samples so perhaps try swapping out a different snare sample? There is also a lot of reverb and it hides some of the subtleties of the production. In ...

I have been struggling with managing tempo in Logic. Here is the situation. Band rehearses the song and have a rough tempo we want to use. Once we are ready to lay down a track we enter that tempo in the project so that the marks are close to the tempo played. Our drummer is amazing but hates ...

It is so fun watching kids discover music. And while there is a lot that is overly derivative, I am often pleasantly surprised at what my 7 year old daughter finds. I argue that pop music today is MUCH more diverse and interesting than it was in my youth (I'm in my early 40's). My youth had amazing ...

There are strong opinions on pitch correction but a couple things I do that I think help. - I always review the lead vocal note by note in logic pitch correct tool. I don't like how "one button" pitch correction work so I have found you have to go through note by note. I don't necessarily change ...

Nice work, in particular the guitar solo is fun. A couple quick thoughts. - To compete with other tracks you should do some pitch correction on the vocal. The vocal tone is cool, but the pitch problems distract from the song. - When you have the backup vocals going, I would try to have them either ...

I recommend Jeff Tweedy's book, How to Write One Song. Lots of fun exercises and examples. Short and easy to read.

Yea, 250 bucks is not a trivial amount of money. You can find a 500GB external SSD that would work great for around a hundred bucks and that is enough room for a lot of samples and virtual instruments.

I can't vouch for the one you posted but I keep my samples on an external SSD and it works great.

https://www.amazon.com/G-Technology-0G0 ... B0765QBGZZ

If my wife can stand being in the room while I am working on the song... it is usually a good one. If she gets up to be in a different room... probably not.

Great work, some very cool things going on in this track. In regards to the strings, I love the sound of strings sitting under a great rock song so I totally get what you are going for. I throw a cello in every track... much to the chagrin of my band. ;) However, I find it really hard to ever get to ...

While not directly about song writing, I really enjoyed the Kenneth Womack series about Sir George Martin. Lots of great stories of how particular songs and albums came together. A bit dry at times but if you like this forum, you will like these books. https://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Beatles-Producer ...

Software compatibility does suck. However, we also want our systems to improve and get new features so there is a balance between operating system upgrades and software compatibility. And while the Mac system isn't perfect, my work set up requires multiple computers because my software doesn't all ...

I have had a good experience with my nectar impact 61. My set up is similar to what you envision. The nectar is my light, cheap, thing to move around and tinker. The knobs/faders are occasionally handy but they are not a needed in my workflow (more of a mouse and keyboard guy). I have a Yamaha P60 ...

I would strongly suggest updating the laptop instead of trying to add RAM to a computer that is more than a decade old.

Sorry awjoe. I pulled the track from Soundcloud since I am working on the great suggestions from other posters above. I will share the link again once the project is done.