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While there are other reasons that I've been gravitating towards what I'm about to say, it was having seen not "Lady Gaga" but Stefani Germanotta as well as Bradley Cooper in their remake of "A Star Is Born" that actually precipitated my long-delayed decision
: A couple years back I quite sadly read Steven Pressfield's "Turning Pro". "Sadly" because while I was greatly inspired by his "The War Of Art", I had not read far before I knew full well that not only was I not a Pro, I was unlikely ever to become one as well.
That all changed right around 7:15 this last evening - Sunday, December 16th, 2018:
That is not a decision to be made lightly, but I will explain later just why it is not, as well as what it actually means not so much to be a Pro, but to become one.
I will say that before the sun sets on another day, I will have posted my first vocal demo track at the above site. I'm having trouble getting my "Dry" raw recordings mixed right so as to sound good when they're "Wet", that is, when they've had such effects as Reverb mixed into them.
I've been working on a full-length vocal CD for a while now. Quite likely I won't need to mix my Dry tracks at all were I to add a third mic placed about fifteen feet away so as to capture the room ambience.
Just now I emailed my piano EP's producer Pete Burnight to ask his recommendation for a battery-powered Electret Mic.
He lent me two such mics for my EP's recordings onto his portable four-track with TDK SA-X cassette tapes run at double speed - so as to diminish the Tape Hiss - then mixed them for me onto a DAT cassette.
More commonly known as "Condenser Mics", they require "Phantom Power" not so much as to power them rather to charge the two metal-coated membranes whose change in capacitance results in subtle AC current fluctuations. "Phantom" because very, very little actual current flows.
I want a battery-powered mic - Pete's were battery powered - because I regard amp-supplied power over the XLR cable to be Wrong In The Eyes Of The Lord.
That first demo track I'll record with my iPhone 7 and the mostly-excellent Pro Microphone iOS. "Mostly": I'll post a review on my above site Real Soon Now.
Steven Pressfield Dot Com while quick to answer pings leads my browser to spin for tens of minutes just now. I'll post links to both "Turning Pro" and "The War Of Art" after Pressfield's webmaster gives his box a Boot To The Head.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 17 2018, @02:23PM
I would love to see your contorted lying anus try to reconcile these two:
"The Very Best Coders Are Lazy" [soylentnews.org]
Elon Musk wants you to work 80 hours a week [soylentnews.org]
Here, this excuse will get you started: "Tech billionaire robber barons never hire the very best coders."
Eat yourself, you lying turd.
Fuck MDC
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 17 2018, @02:26PM (2 children)
I am so very very disappointed in you, Crawford. Your journalblogpost about day jobs does not once mention the side hustle. You are out of touch with the young people, old man.
Young people love free shit and shitty apps. While my day job is "finding a day job" I should totally like take up a side hustle where I code a shitty app to give free internet for life to millennial hipster yeastinfections.
One guess why I do not app an appy app to give free internet for life. Right. Comcast would sue me all the way into Fuck Me In The Ass Debtors Prison.
Enjoy singing on the street to pay Comcast, dickhead. I has freedom.
Fuck MDC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 18 2018, @09:19PM
You may "has freedom", but you don't "has job".
Salt On, Salty Spice.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday December 20 2018, @07:20PM
OK.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday December 17 2018, @06:24PM (11 children)
Luck to you, man. You're going to need a lot of it to even keep a roof over your head. The percent of musicians who don't need to hold down a day job as well is in the single digits and success is only loosely tied to skill.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 18 2018, @04:45AM
Michael David Crawford does not need skills. Michael David Crawford is the living embodiment of luck personified.
Michael David Crawford is so incredibly charismatic, total strangers throw money at Michael David Crawford just for existing.
Michael David Crawford is always successful at everything Michael David Crawford ever does all the time always.
Whenever Michael David Crawford is not successful, Michael David Crawford will lie and claim to be successful anyway.
Michael David Crawford done turned Pro for real.
Fuck MDC
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday December 18 2018, @07:22AM (9 children)
Could Do:
I can make roughly $15 an hour by singing for that whole hour at just one street corner.
That I go from corner to corner is mainly to avoiding irritating the people who work around each of them.
I've been looking for some new material to sing; from "A Star Is Born", Bradley Cooper's "Maybe It's Time" would work well for me:
Some of what Stefani Germanotta sings would work as well.
My Fuck! It's cold.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 18 2018, @01:35PM (8 children)
That assumes all hours pay equally, man. This isn't going to be the case. Slow times you'll get from zero to half that.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday December 19 2018, @05:34AM (7 children)
Sometimes I get twenty dollar bills, sometimes I get squat.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday December 19 2018, @10:39AM (6 children)
Ahh, good good. That's still not much of a living for a code monkey in your neck of the woods but playing a guitar certainly beats playing a cash register.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday December 19 2018, @08:43PM (5 children)
Fifteen is actually _better_ then what I typically make from clients these days.
There's all kinds of ways that doesn't have to be the case, such as placing paid advertising or sending Junk Mail, but all those ways do need some money up front.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday December 20 2018, @05:51AM (4 children)
You should have been charging more then. I never go below $60/hr (Usually several times that. $60/hr is my bare minimum on something whose duration can be predicted with reasonable accuracy.) to code unless I'm doing something gratis. I just will not do it. I may give my skills away at my whim but if you want to purchase them, you're going to get charged what I think they're worth.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday December 20 2018, @10:16AM (3 children)
The problem is finding clients
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday December 20 2018, @11:38AM (2 children)
Ahh, so you were going for effective rate over a month or week or whatever not actual rate vs time worked earlier. Roger.
In all truth I lot less than $60/hour if you consider a 40 hour work week. It's important to note that I do not work a 40 hour week and have no desire to either though. Being able to spend that time enjoying my life is worth a lot more to me than the money would be.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday December 20 2018, @07:22PM (1 child)
Lately I've been singing on the bus and train, not for tips but for the sheer joy of it.
Mostly that works well but on one particular bus someone asked me not to.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday December 21 2018, @02:05AM
Bound to happen. People enjoy both music and silence. Sooner or later someone was going to prefer the latter.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 18 2018, @03:46AM (1 child)
I've got a pair of the original Sony ECM-22P mics, used to use them to record touring blues bands in bars. Got some great cassette recordings on my Walkman Pro with Dolby B (later models also had Dolby C).
Mine not for sale, but look just like these, https://reverb.com/item/1798672-sony-ecm-22p-1970-s-condenser-mic-pair-mint-condition [reverb.com]
One minor problem, they were designed around a mercury battery which (as far as I can tell) is no longer available due, I suppose, to environmental concerns. I found an alkaline(?) in the same uncommon size that seems to work, but always wondered if it was as good as the original? Reminds me, I should check to see if I removed the batteries the last time I used the mics, wouldn't want them to leak and ruin the internal contacts...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @02:26PM
Electrostat mics and speakers are a fun and pretty easy hardware project if you can get access to a CNC router. Getting near professional quality takes a lot more time, money, and attention to detail, but you can get decent stuff and occupy some time quite easily/cheaply.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday December 18 2018, @04:33AM (2 children)
Electrets are like magnets, only they do it with electric fields instead of magnetic fields. I didn't know they were used for microphones.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 18 2018, @04:40AM (1 child)
Nice analogy, never thought of electrets that way. Magnets are used in other kinds of mics...so there are other parallels also.
Stretching my knowledge here -- electrets make nice mics because the membrane can be low mass (easily respond to high frequency)? While responding to magnetic fields requires iron or a conductive coil that are likely more massive(??)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday December 18 2018, @07:25AM
Melt the wax - it's hard and solid - pour it into a container that's charged on either side then upon cooling, the electric field will be "frozen into it". Now you can take away the charged plates yet the wax continues to have an electric vield.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 18 2018, @01:21PM (2 children)
Good morning and welcome to another glorious day of the Michael David Crawford Universe in the perpetually rainy Pacific Northwest. Here in the Michael David Crawford Universe, there are Soggy Fakejobs for all. Everyone can earn above Seattle Minimum Wage simply by singing in the street. Public restrooms are plentiful. Free soup kitchens are open on every other corner. Free internet access is beamed from the sky directly into your brain. Discount brothels will satisfy your every fetish. Discount housing is available to as many as want to live in Michael David Crawford Universe.
Yes indeedy. Life is perfect here in Michael David Crawford Universe.
Fuck MDC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 18 2018, @09:16PM (1 child)
The rules of humanity apply in the normal universe as well as in the MDC universe. Sadly, Salty Spice, you fail that test in all universes.
Salt On, Salty Spice.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday December 20 2018, @07:24PM
Honestly I'm not sure, but I wouldn't want to offend Mr. Spice unnecessarily.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Tuesday December 18 2018, @10:26PM