When you upload a track to SoundCloud or Bandcamp, when you play your track to a non-musician friend, when you share your sounds with the world… Ask yourself: is your track a mature and developed musical expression or a first draft?

If you’re just starting out or you’re not too serious about your music, your first draft probably is your finished product. And maybe that’s ok.

But if you take pride in your craft you owe it to yourself to push past the first draft. The first track you mix, the first sing you write, the first attempt is not going to be your best.

Some of you might remember I’ve been working on a dance music project. Hovering around 135bpm. Quite a bit more uptempo from my usual fare. I started out doing some demos on my iPhone with iMaschine and Figure. Last year I got a bit more serious and started bashing out full-length tracks with Renoise, Massive and the Maschine drum library. I’ve almost finished the ninth track, and I’ll probably do one more before I start publishing.

See, it’s taken me that long to find my voice. It’s a new style with new tools and new objectives. The first track I made sounds ok, but it’s not really representative of how I want to express myself through this new lens. The first track was a first draft. With each new track I further develop mastery of my tools. With each new track I get better at finding the sounds that resonate with me.

Be in a hurry to make music and develop your skills. But don’t be in a hurry to express your aesthetic or tell your story before it’s fully formed. Share with people music that is ready to be shared.

-Kim.

Believe it or not, in my line of work I get to meet a lot of artists.

And I hear them say some funny things from time to time. Not ‘haha’ funny, either.

And every now and then, I hear someone use a variation of ‘wait and see’. It’s usually followed by something like ‘see if people like it’ or ‘see if I am good enough’ or ‘see if record labels like it’. You might recognise yourself saying something like this.

The context is often the artist’s decisions about their future. More specifically, it’s about their commitment to their art. The line of thinking is usually that their art is worth pursuing if it gets a response. If people like it, they’ll write some more songs. If record labels are interested, they must be on to something. If it makes money, it must be good.

Deep down, however, it’s a different story. These artists are looking for validation. They’re unsure of what they’re doing, and they’re looking for someone else to give them permission to follow their dreams. And they’re waiting for an excuse to take the easy road and give up.

What these artists lack is conviction.

It takes conviction to make a career in music. No-one’s going to believe in you until you believe in yourself. No-one’s going to support you until you show that you’re on a roll. No-one’s going to buy your music until you’ve given them a reason to fall in love with it.

Artists who wait for external support before making a commitment have it the wrong way around. You have to be committed first. It takes commitment to build support. There are no quick wins, you’ll get no instant gratification. It’s long hard work to reach out and connect with people, to earn their trust and admiration, to gain respect.

And of course your music has to be good. It doesn’t have to be pop, but it has to be a clear and effective expression of your creative direction. If you’re not sure if you’re good enough and you’re waiting for the world to tell you, let me shortcut that process for you: You’re not. You never will be. And that’s ok. There’s no such thing as ‘good enough’. You can always get better. You should always get better. If you think there’s such a thing as ‘good enough’, look inside your heart and ask yourself why you need someone else to tell you to work harder.

Artists don’t fail because they’re not good enough, or they didn’t have enough fans, or their music wasn’t mainstream enough.

Artists fail because they give up.

Artists that don’t give up know that success comes to them because they keep working when everyone else has clocked off for the day. Artists that don’t give up know that they have to lead from the front. They have to be the first to show passion and excitement and tenacity and empathy and love. Artists that don’t give up will do whatever it takes to get to the next level. In the face of detractors. In the face of doubting parents. In the face of indifference. In the face of predicted failure. In the face of boredom, of poverty, of exhaustion. And, most importantly, in the face of their own fear and insecurity.

We all experience fear throughout our careers (if you don’t, you’re not trying hard enough). Some of us keep fighting anyway.

Yoda famously said to Luke ‘Do or do not, there is no try’. He was talking about commitment. If you want to do it, do it. If you’re not good enough, get good enough.

If you want to wait and see what happens, switch the TV back on.

-Kim.

I’m sitting here at an open mic night.

I do it from time to time. There’s often a wide variety of talents. Some people have been writing and playing for a little while and are ready to take the next step. Some people are just looking for a stage and a little validation. Some people aren’t quite what I’d call musicians.

But they’re all having a go.

And these are the people we hear from. Those who build an audience. Those who gain respect among their peers. Those who make a living. Those who become household names. At all stages, the ones we hear about are the ones who have a go. And not just once or twice, but over and over again.

We don’t hear from the people who don’t have a go. They’re the people still sitting on the couch. Or sitting on the Internet. You’ll know them by the ones who bitterly pronounce the illegitimacy of other’s success. They’ll tell themselves stories about their own lack of success being because they don’t want to compromise their creative direction.

But, actually, they’re scared.

They’re scared of being judged. They’re scared of not being good enough. They’re scared of criticism. They’re scared that they won’t believe in themselves enough to take the blows and get right back up to keep fighting. They fear harsh and unforgiving judgement and yet they themselves deliver such harsh and unforgiving judgement without reservation.

Here at the open mic, the performers all chose to risk judgement. They all chose to trust their audience. And, unsurprisingly, their audience acknowledges and respects that trust and returns welcomingly and supportively.

We’re all human being here. We’re all insecure. We all doubt ourselves when we stumble. We all feel a little jealousy when we see the success of our peers. We all start out a little scared. But we’re also capable of trust, and we’re all capable of supporting and encouraging each other. If we’re going to achieve anything of note, we need to work together. We need to help each other.

People want to help you.

But you have to be open to it. You have to ask for help. Don’t be scared.

-Kim.

(If you can’t see the player above, click here to listen to the track)

Produced by Josh Freund

https://soundcloud.com/drakken

What I love:

This a really lovely reflective piece. It moves well, it says everything it needs to say, and it’s sweet to top it off. Maybe it’s a bit cliché to end an album with a track like this, but I couldn’t resist. It’s just lovely, and really needed to be part of this project. Compositionally, it’s a great study in thematic development too. I love the way the main theme is grown and extended and varied and recontextualised.

What could be better:

Some more natural room ambience and background would work well. At the moment it sounds like disembodied notes hanging in a shapeless, characterless room. I didn’t (and almost never) add any reverb in mastering, so the ambience you hear is the ambience of the original.

-Kim.

(if you can’t see the player above, click here to listen to the track)

Composed and performed by Adam Brock

Engineered by Justin Freund

What I love:

What can I say? Big vocal stacks, dusty old keyboards, overdriven guitars. The lighter upbeat sections contrast well with the heavier slower sections. When I first heard it, I had to doublecheck that it wasn’t by a band from around here – it’d fit in perfectly in the Melbourne indie scene.

What could be better:

The mix could do with some work. The vocals get a bit buried in a few spots, the snares needed some surgery to stop them chopping my head off, and there’s quite a bit of background noise.

This is a good example of a track that was mixed quite dark. Normally, it’s not a problem when a mixdown needs some tonal adjustment when it’s mastered. For mixes that are very dark, however, some common problems can emerge. When mixing the a reduced top end, it’s more difficult to hear the detail and nuance up there. Often this results in a dynamic range that’s inappropriately wide (resulting in sibilance). Sometimes – particularly in this case – the amount of top end boost required in mastering can also bring up background noise that was previously inaudible.

-Kim.

(If you can’t see the player above, click here to listen to the track)

Produced by Uko Abara

What I love:

This takes me back to 90s trip hop, but with a modern edge. The chopped up jazz sample and the dusty breakbeats go perfectly together in this track. It simply feels great.

What could be better:

A little more melody and overall variety and development would make a big difference. This track is about one concept – the combining of that jazz sample with that drum sound – but doesn’t really do much to explore beyond and develop the music.

-Kim.

(If you can’t see the player above, click here to listen to the track)

Produced by Karl Edwards-Clark

What I love:

Holy moly. This one starts out simply enough, but gets pretty ridiculous without much warning. It just kinda sneaks in under the radar. After a few minutes it’s turned from a regular polite dance floor track to an over-the-top self-indulgent synth jam. It reminds me a lot of Underworld’s King Of Snake. Of course, the production is top-notch.

What could be better:

Well, it could be a little shorter. Maybe just a bit? What do you think?

-Kim.

(If you can’t see the player above, click here to listen to the track)

Produced by Maz Doomsville

What I love:

This is a great modern take on dub reggae. That square wave LFO synth is just gritty enough to compliment the hats and the murky snare delays. Again, it’s all about the vibe. Get down and dirty!

What could be better:

The low wobbly bass is nice and deep, but tends to get lost a bit under the grit and character of the sounds further up the spectrum. Adding some tasteful overdrive or other subtle distortion would make a big difference. It’d also help the bass be audible on smaller speakers.

-Kim.

(If you can’t see the player above, click here to listen to the track)

Produced by Cory Richards

What I love:

This is where the album starts to get heavy. I’m a super fan of this kind of intricate programming. It’s like eating a delicious crunchy toasted sourdough. The stutter bass later in the track feel somewhat reminiscent of some of the more popular dubstep, but without getting silly. There are also some great synth lines that, with a bit more of a push, could be really epic.

What could be better:

The mix is really cluttered at times. It’s a difficult balance with this style of music though. The bass is probably a but too diffuse for this mix – a harder and more upfront bass would cut through the drums a lot better and give the mix a lot more bite. The kick and snare could also be snappier – make them shorter and give the transients more bite.

-Kim.

(If you can’t see the player above, click here to listen to the track)

Produced by Martin Finke

What I love:

The movement and momentum are really good here. I also like Martin’s approach to contour and development – the way the track builds and moves and turns through its four and a half minutes. I’m not usually a bit fan of gratuitous filter sweeps, but these ones are delicious and not overdone. Also, I think this track works really well at this point in the album. It retains some of the contemplative nature of the previous two tracks, but adds some tension and darkness. The drums in particular are more agitated and restless. And that pulsating synth that comes in halfway through really takes it to another place.

What could be better:

There’s not much to improve here. I’d welcome some more drama though. Higher highs, lower lows.

-Kim.