Rock band management
My name is Vasily Gustelev, I am one of the authors of the project “Music of the Invisible People”. I want to tell you about the management methods that I used during the creation of our new album. You will not find any know-how in the article; rather, this is an example of the use of popular techniques.
The biggest stumbling block when creating a music album is its financing. Project budgets start at one hundred thousand rubles, while you are strictly locked in the studio's schedule and you will work there strictly in the allotted time. If for musicians all this is a hobby and does not generate income, then the fundraising is a torment. From my experience in charity projects, I know that people are much more willing to help with their participation, the provision of their property, than with money. Therefore, we began to think about how to sign up so as not to pay. The studio provides us with three key values: the apparatus, the room and the experience. We began to collect these values separately according to our friends.
The idea began to be born after watching a video where gentlemen play in some kind of hangar:
')
Specifying the requirements for the room, we agreed that high ceilings and a large area of rooms are important to us. The thought came that you can search for a cottage with a second light, you can live and create in it, as Led Zeppelin did in your Bron Yr Aur. And as soon as this thought came to us, she no longer gave us peace of mind, she was so beautiful.
They began to look for such a cottage, and suddenly the director of a construction company came out at us and offered a great option: two houses with a rough finish, which are not selling well. Electricity, water and toilet are, the rest we get.
We have an experienced sound engineer in the group.
The problem with the equipment was partially solved by referring to the management of music stores and rehearsal bases. Some of the very expensive equipment was found simply among acquaintances: many men in childhood dreamed of being rock musicians, then they became business directors and bought the expensive vintage amplifier for money, hoping to play on it sometime in their free time. In the end, he usually decorates the room of this man.
There are two adjacent cottages in a rough finish. Available - two weeks of July. It is necessary to record a music album of ten songs.
Preparation for work
For task management, I use Wrike . First, the tasks are laconically laid out, forming an enlarged plan:
Then all the tasks must be detailed to the smallest detail. I use this method: I close my eyes and begin to present one of the working processes, pronouncing it out loud. Example:
I go to the studio. I take a bass guitar. I plug it into the processor, then another cable into the mixing console. The processor is plugged into an electrical outlet.
As a result of this understanding it becomes clear what should be from the equipment.
Another example:
I wake up in the morning and go to wash, then toilet, then breakfast, then rehearsal, then lunch, then surf the Internet, then record, then dinner, then I go to bed.
Thinking over each process, we understand that we have a process of on duty in the kitchen, purchasing and storing products, certain furniture. Reflecting further, it becomes clear that you can estimate the list of products and buy them not in the village where the house is located, but rather go to the store cheaper. Since there is no refrigerator, it is reasonable to divide stocks into perishable and non-perishable, and so on.
Just leave here a few notes, surely come in handy:
As a result, we received project documentation, the degree of elaboration of which allowed us to hope that we would not have to go urgently from the village to the city for some kind of adapter. Then everything is done according to the training manual: the responsible person with the deadlines is assigned to the task, the project curator regularly calls the people responsible for updating the project status, everything is forgotten, everything happens at the last moment, heroically and overcoming we populate and unfold.
The process of working on each song consists of the following steps:
The task was to build the work so that the studio would never stand idle. The greatest responsibility here lies with the producers, who must provide for each day the task for the musicians. I broke the work day into two-hour slots and made a work plan.
Further, this plan is implemented using Kanban boards. We take stickers with the names of songs and place according to their status. The plan defines deadlines and helps to understand the daily task for everyone. Thanks to the two-hour slots, we were able to avoid the problem when, for reasons of perfectionism, the musicians start recording one song all day. If they failed in two hours, we proceed further, otherwise a queue and congestion will form.
Of course, in the processes of creativity there are risks: the song can not be composed, the vocalist can not sing the voice, the bassist can not get the party. The atmosphere and atmosphere played a huge role in this. The house in which we worked is located between the cemetery and the airport (therefore, apparently, there were problems with its sale). We were worried that the hum of the airplanes would spoil the party, but this did not happen. On the contrary, low-lying aircraft created their magical mood.
It really helped that we could actually work around the clock. For example, the vocalist is working during the day, in the evening we are rehearsing a song, at night the drummer conjures over his installation. Imagine the atmosphere in which the drum parts were composed: at night, while everyone was asleep, he worked alone in an empty house, behind the fence of which there is a cemetery.
This album for us is now firmly connected with a delightful experience and a tremendous delight from the process. All participants recall this project with great warmth: the silence of the village, airplanes, peace of mind, the non-stop activity of their beloved.
Last spring we finished mixing and are currently working on the release of the album.
Many novice musicians have no clear idea how to distribute the resulting album, and send it to all platforms at the same time: on iTunes, Rutracker, Bandcamp and even upload it to Dropbox. I would like to devote a separate article to this, and now I will tell only briefly.
The most important metric for us is the amount of contact information for people from your audience. It is more important to receive your listener's email than its dollar via aytyuns. Therefore, I use Bandcamp to place music: a person can download our music by specifying 0 $ in the Price field, but he must leave the email. He will receive notifications about our concerts and new releases to this post.
Further, our task is to collect the audience in the communities (for example, in social networks) and send this traffic to the site with the release. When you learn how to work with this one stream of listeners, then it will be possible to make efforts to direct the flow of listeners to iTunes (because it’s convenient for listeners with iPhone) or Google Play (it’s convenient for androids).
About the Music of the Invisibles:
Idea
The biggest stumbling block when creating a music album is its financing. Project budgets start at one hundred thousand rubles, while you are strictly locked in the studio's schedule and you will work there strictly in the allotted time. If for musicians all this is a hobby and does not generate income, then the fundraising is a torment. From my experience in charity projects, I know that people are much more willing to help with their participation, the provision of their property, than with money. Therefore, we began to think about how to sign up so as not to pay. The studio provides us with three key values: the apparatus, the room and the experience. We began to collect these values separately according to our friends.
The idea began to be born after watching a video where gentlemen play in some kind of hangar:
')
Specifying the requirements for the room, we agreed that high ceilings and a large area of rooms are important to us. The thought came that you can search for a cottage with a second light, you can live and create in it, as Led Zeppelin did in your Bron Yr Aur. And as soon as this thought came to us, she no longer gave us peace of mind, she was so beautiful.
They began to look for such a cottage, and suddenly the director of a construction company came out at us and offered a great option: two houses with a rough finish, which are not selling well. Electricity, water and toilet are, the rest we get.
We have an experienced sound engineer in the group.
The problem with the equipment was partially solved by referring to the management of music stores and rehearsal bases. Some of the very expensive equipment was found simply among acquaintances: many men in childhood dreamed of being rock musicians, then they became business directors and bought the expensive vintage amplifier for money, hoping to play on it sometime in their free time. In the end, he usually decorates the room of this man.
Task
There are two adjacent cottages in a rough finish. Available - two weeks of July. It is necessary to record a music album of ten songs.
Preparation for work
For task management, I use Wrike . First, the tasks are laconically laid out, forming an enlarged plan:
- Musical equipment
- Optional equipment
- Furniture
- Household items
- List of personal items for group members
- To organize the Internet in the studio
- Entry and installation
- Compose music
- Record music
- Provide accommodation
- Collection and departure
Then all the tasks must be detailed to the smallest detail. I use this method: I close my eyes and begin to present one of the working processes, pronouncing it out loud. Example:
I go to the studio. I take a bass guitar. I plug it into the processor, then another cable into the mixing console. The processor is plugged into an electrical outlet.
As a result of this understanding it becomes clear what should be from the equipment.
Another example:
I wake up in the morning and go to wash, then toilet, then breakfast, then rehearsal, then lunch, then surf the Internet, then record, then dinner, then I go to bed.
Thinking over each process, we understand that we have a process of on duty in the kitchen, purchasing and storing products, certain furniture. Reflecting further, it becomes clear that you can estimate the list of products and buy them not in the village where the house is located, but rather go to the store cheaper. Since there is no refrigerator, it is reasonable to divide stocks into perishable and non-perishable, and so on.
Just leave here a few notes, surely come in handy:
Nutrition:
Breakfast - porridge with condensed milk, boiled eggs, sandwiches, tea
Lunch - soup like meat + pasta or potatoes, salad like cucumber + tomatoes
Dinner - rice \ buckwheat \ macaroni \ potato + chicken \ stew
The minimum diet for 12 people on 1 day
Breakfast cereal - 1 pack (kilogram)
Condensed milk for porridge 1-2 banks
Stews - 3 cans
Macaroni 3 packs
Shrimp rice - 3 boxes
In the afternoon - a stick of sausage, 2 canned food, 1 pate
Water
Tea, Coffee, Sugar
Personal items of participants:
Sleeping bag \ Inflatable mattress \ folding bed \ tourist foam
KLMN: Mug-Spoon-Bowl-Knife
Toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper, wet wipes, other intimate things
Towel, washcloth, shower gel
T-shirts, pants, socks
Slippers / slippers
A laptop
Mobile Charger
As a result, we received project documentation, the degree of elaboration of which allowed us to hope that we would not have to go urgently from the village to the city for some kind of adapter. Then everything is done according to the training manual: the responsible person with the deadlines is assigned to the task, the project curator regularly calls the people responsible for updating the project status, everything is forgotten, everything happens at the last moment, heroically and overcoming we populate and unfold.
Creative process
The process of working on each song consists of the following steps:
- IDEA Idea - the author determines the harmony, rhythm, throws a melody, looking for unusual details that together make up the idea and mood of the song;
- PROP General composition - the idea is worked out at rehearsals with musicians and overgrown with details, weak points are found;
- TEXT Writing text - not necessarily in this order, the text can be created in advance. However, the text is always “lapped” to the track in this place or vice versa;
- VOX Vocal line - a general idea of the vocal part is created, possibly without details;
- DESIGN Arrangement - the composition turns into a task for musicians. The author must explain in an understandable way how to play;
- DRAFT Draft recording - a rough recording is made by arrangement, which is transmitted to the vocalist for rehearsals.
- After that, the track can again go through points 4-5-6 if it finds flaws;
- REC Net Minus Record. If at the DRAFT stage a decent option is obtained that suits everyone, the group can immediately sign up clean;
- VREC Vocal Recording;
- AREC Record of additional parts - percussion, synthesizers, solo instruments.
Limitations:
- Texts are written by a dedicated person, doing this all day. Another member of the group can write texts.
- Three people produce tracks, but only two can work at the same time: one person works with a group. Producers work in a separate room, in headphones, do not bother anyone.
- The group is one, it is recorded and rehearses with the full composition, therefore it can work only on one track at a time.
- Sound engineer alone, can work no more than 14 hours a day. Without it, no final record is possible, but rehearsals and draft recording are possible.
- One vocalist, can work only from 11 to 21, can not work more than three hours in a row.
- The studio is one, and at one point in time one process works in it. This resource is the bottleneck of the whole process. If we could make several studios, the time savings would be about 30%
The task was to build the work so that the studio would never stand idle. The greatest responsibility here lies with the producers, who must provide for each day the task for the musicians. I broke the work day into two-hour slots and made a work plan.
Further, this plan is implemented using Kanban boards. We take stickers with the names of songs and place according to their status. The plan defines deadlines and helps to understand the daily task for everyone. Thanks to the two-hour slots, we were able to avoid the problem when, for reasons of perfectionism, the musicians start recording one song all day. If they failed in two hours, we proceed further, otherwise a queue and congestion will form.
Of course, in the processes of creativity there are risks: the song can not be composed, the vocalist can not sing the voice, the bassist can not get the party. The atmosphere and atmosphere played a huge role in this. The house in which we worked is located between the cemetery and the airport (therefore, apparently, there were problems with its sale). We were worried that the hum of the airplanes would spoil the party, but this did not happen. On the contrary, low-lying aircraft created their magical mood.
It really helped that we could actually work around the clock. For example, the vocalist is working during the day, in the evening we are rehearsing a song, at night the drummer conjures over his installation. Imagine the atmosphere in which the drum parts were composed: at night, while everyone was asleep, he worked alone in an empty house, behind the fence of which there is a cemetery.
What happened
This album for us is now firmly connected with a delightful experience and a tremendous delight from the process. All participants recall this project with great warmth: the silence of the village, airplanes, peace of mind, the non-stop activity of their beloved.
Last spring we finished mixing and are currently working on the release of the album.
How to distribute the album?
Many novice musicians have no clear idea how to distribute the resulting album, and send it to all platforms at the same time: on iTunes, Rutracker, Bandcamp and even upload it to Dropbox. I would like to devote a separate article to this, and now I will tell only briefly.
The most important metric for us is the amount of contact information for people from your audience. It is more important to receive your listener's email than its dollar via aytyuns. Therefore, I use Bandcamp to place music: a person can download our music by specifying 0 $ in the Price field, but he must leave the email. He will receive notifications about our concerts and new releases to this post.
Further, our task is to collect the audience in the communities (for example, in social networks) and send this traffic to the site with the release. When you learn how to work with this one stream of listeners, then it will be possible to make efforts to direct the flow of listeners to iTunes (because it’s convenient for listeners with iPhone) or Google Play (it’s convenient for androids).
About the Music of the Invisibles:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/290600/
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