reyshizz » Tips

Putting a Mixtape Together: The Music

reyshizz — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:22:11 +0000

Step 1 – Concept & Create Music

Back in March 2010, I decided to do a Hip-hop Tribute. The idea was simple: write and record a track a day AND, on top of that, I would use instrumentals of tracks that were made from 1979 to 2009. The plan was 31 tracks in 31 days. Due to a minor hiccup, it ended up being 31 Tracks in 29 days. I’m just glad to say that I pulled it off.

Step 2 – Review and Critique

After the Hip-hop Tribute I had 31 new tracks to add to my collection. The question, “What do I do wth all these tracks?”, quickly presented itself to me. The first thing I could think of was posting all the tracks here on my blog. And I did, starting with this one. Once that was done, I listened to the tracks over and over then realized a couple of things…

It’s hard to digest 31 songs
I don’t like all the songs I did
Although the tracks were recorded in chronolgical order, I didn’t like listening to it in that order.

Step 3 – Make Decision and Put it All Together

With those three realizations I’ve decided to be selective with the tracks I put on the mixtape and reorder the track list so that it flows better. In doing so, I’ll come out with a cohesive product with only the cream of the crop. There’s nothing like being on the train nodding to your own shit.

(btw… I will be releasing the mixtape Hip-Hop Tribute soon so stay tuned)

Why You Shouldn’t Care How Other Artist Achieved Stardom

reyshizz — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:50:34 +0000

A while back ago, I did research on how some big name artists like, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, and Soulja Boy achieved stardom. I wanted to use what they did as a road map to guide my own path. What I soon realized was that repeating what they did would not guarantee the same results, mainly because it’s been done already.

Conventional wisdom says to find successful people in your field and do what they’ve done so that you too can be as successful. When you take a close look at history you’ll realize those people became successful because they’ve done something that no one has done before. Now I am not sayin that you don’t need a Website, Myspace page and mixtape. However, you do need to add an original touch that will make you stand out from the crowd.

Case Study

50 cent started re-mixing popular songs and hooks, making it his own. He would put these songs on a mixtape and release directly to the streets. He probably wasn’t the first to do this but there were several factors that made his execution original.

He made song he remixed more entertaining than the original. 50 Cent would do this by making fun of original song itself and/or other rappers on the track. This made the music a topic of conversation allowing it to spread easily.
His persona and real life situation. He got shot 9 times on one occassion and lived to rap about it.
The music was good. At the end of it all, the music is most important. He represented passion and skill on every track he made.

If you do exactly what 50 did I am almost certain you will not get the same results because

It has already been done
People will recognize this and call you on it
See #1

Conclusion

Instead of trying to do exactly what others have done, try to think of somethig new and creative that will get people talking about you. That “something” can be adding a unique element to a mixtape. Whatever you come up with, make it your own.

Reyshizz has a Crush

reyshizz — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:35:48 +0000

It’s true, I have a crush. Well, not really. I had a crush. This happens to me more often than I would like, after all I am human. When ever this occurs I take advantage of the situation and use the inspiration to write music.

No, I don’t actually confront my crush and reveal my feelings. That would be normal. I play the game like a champ and let the chips fall where they may. I’ll save those details for another post. This post is about using real life situations as a muse to write great music.

So, I had a crush (I’m over it now btw, well at least that one) and when I would talk to her, when ever it was, there would be a smile on my face. I know, pathetic. But it’s the truth. One day after a discussion I got in the writing mode and this came out:

I met her in November
She said her name was June
And when she speaks I swear the sun shines through
I mean she brightens up my days
My night times too
And reciprocates what I say times two
She feeds my curiosity
She’s my mind food
Take her away from me it would be a crime to…

That was about half of the first verse. (What do you think?) The funny thing is as this song continues, it turns sour. The brightness fades away and we part ways. Not that it has happened or that I want it to. It’s just that in my experience all things come to an end, and I acknowledge that in my music. I represent life, as I know it, in all of my songs. This is one example.

So my advice: Go, live, experience your experiences and write it about… I’ll be happy to listen (or read)

Everything You’ll Need to Release an Independent Album

reyshizz — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:32:36 +0000

I recently put out an independent album and it cost me money, time and more time. It doesn’t compare to the amount the industry spends, but it’s enough to talk about. The following is a list of everything* that went into releasing Making of a Man.

Lyrics – Music without lyrics is just music. I sequenced the track list in a way that makes sense and wrote the lyrics in the order they came to me. This part of the process is pretty easy in my opinion. It only takes time and the love you have for the music.

Beats – Lyrics without beats is like poetry… sort of. I was fortunate enough to find a friend who had a CD of finished beats laying around in his house and he gave it to me for free. If you don’t have a producer friend, you’ll have to buy instrumentals from producers, create your own or team up with producers via MySpace or Soundclick. When I got the instrumentals, I matched them to the lyrics. Some of the beats inspired me to write new lyrics, which is cool too. Finding the right beat may be frustrating but once you get it, you got it.

A Studio – Now that you have you lyrics and beats, you’ll need to record it. Last year I purchased the minimum of equipment a person would need to record quality souunding music in their home. The following configuration cost me around $700.

Microphone
Mbox Mini 2 audio interface
Mic stand
Portable Booth
Studio Monitors
Headphone

If you don’t want to buy all of that equipment you can go to a studio and pay an hourly rate for the time you spend there. I have a friend with a studio who charges around $25-$30 per hour. If you decide to go this route, I suggest practice your song to death so that you don’t waste a lot of money recording.

CD Art Work – At the minimum you’ll need an album cover of some sort. I decided to go the professional route and got a photographer and designer to help me create my album art. I paid $200 for a 3 hour session with a photographer. At the end of the session I selected a few of my favorite pictures and handed them to a designer to edit and style it. Luckily the designer was a friend of mine (I have a lot of friends), and we exchanged services, instead of money. If you don’t have the $$ for a designer or photographer, you can be creative and DIY (do it yourself). If you need access to a photographer or designer you can search on Craigslist or Elance for either.

CD Printing – If you do not want to create a physical CD you can skip this part. I used Ultra Entertainment to print and duplicate all my CDs. The way it works is the more you print the cheaper it is per CD. At the time it cost me $864 to print 1000 CDs and get 100 flyers made. The physical artifact is good to hand out or sell at shows.

Digital Music Distribution – There are plenty of services on the web that you can use to get your music on digital music platforms such as Amazon Mp3, Lala, or iTunes. The one I am familiar with is TuneCore. Right now they charge about $47 to distribute your album across all (or most) the online Digital Music Distribution sites.

And that about wraps it up. Hopefully this will help you in your music making endeavors. Good luck!

*I left out blood, sweat, and tears .. lol

Getting Real About Getting Plays

reyshizz — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:11:07 +0000

Everyone talks about going viral. That seems to be the new buzz word now-a-days. “Going viral” means to get a large number of hits, views, or plays on user generated media (e.g. Jill and Kevin’s wedding dance). For some reason everyone thinks if they post their song or video on YouTube, Facebook, Myspace or Twitter they will automatically go viral and get millions of hits. More often than not this isn’t the case.

When people happen to go viral it’s usually unintentional. Not to say that your next Youtube video won’t go viral, it’s just unlikely. But don’t mistaken me, continue to post your media where ever you’re allowed to, I’m only saying that you shouldn’t hold your breath.

So else how do I get plays?

Good question. My answer: pay for em’. The easier it gets for people to create music (or any other type of media) and put it online, the more people you’ll have creating music and putting it online. Which means your chance of getting heard will be drastically reduced. And it will only get worse as time goes by… exponentially worse.

Put your money where your mouth is…

So you think you’re hot shit? How much will you bet? I don’t know about y’all but I play to win. A couple of months ago I experimented with the site Jango.com. It’s pretty simillar to Pandora in that it lets people create a playlist based on the songs they like, which is great. What makes this site wonderful is that it allows independent artist to post their music up and pay for guaranteed plays (like radio stations claim they don’t do). For as little as $10 you can get 250 plays (which isn’t much but it’s a start).

Testing the waters

I tested the site paying $20 for the song Shoot Dice to be played 500 times. By the end of the 500 plays I gained 13 new fans. That’s a 2.6% conversion rate, which is average when considering all industries. So what does that mean for me?

My song got played 500 time (some patial plays as well)
I got a sense of what the conversion rate is for Shoot Dice
I got 13 new fans! For every fan you get Jango allows you to email them, which is a huge plus. (There is now a new feature that allows the fan to give you their e-mail address directly, which is a bigger plus)

Getting real

500 plays is cool to test the waters but now that I see some people will actaully sign up to become a fans I’m going to invest more. I know that a 2% conversion rate isn’t glamorous, but it’s real. Stop focusing on going viral and start getting real.