Random Thoughts On: Audio vs Visual

There's a lot of media that people spend their time consuming for entertainment or information. Two of the most common forms that compete are audio and visual, and it made me think of what makes people decide between them. There are strengths and weaknesses to both.

When listening to something, you can more easily multitask; you can drive, work, or do chores. But to enjoy it, you may need to multitask. Some people can be restless when they have nothing to look at or physically do. With something visual, you don't need to multitask. You can give your full attention to whatever you're watching. You can even use it to be creative and make new characters or storylines. There're a lot of people that do that with fan fiction.

I think I usually prefer visual things to audio. When I really want to pay attention to something, I need to be looking at it so that my mind doesn't wander. Sometimes, I listen to podcasts. But, if my eyes are doing nothing, my mind starts imagining things. I realize I didn't listen to the last 2 minutes of whatever it was, and I now have to rewind. The only time I can listen to a podcast or audiobook is when I'm doing something else, but something that doesn't take too much attention, like cleaning or cooking.

Usually, I listen to music while I do other things. But, If I'm doing schoolwork or writing, it's hard to listen to music with lyrics. I usually have to opt-in for an instrumental for focus. I wonder if music and words affect different parts of the brain. It also puts me in a better mood, so I'm more motivated to get things done. Win-Win!

I can sometimes watch something visual while working, but only as background noise. I may look for a minute or two to give myself a break, but otherwise, I'm focused on my work. For this, I'd usually put on a show I've seen a million times like Bob's Burgers or Friends.

I think music is the only thing I can listen to without doing anything else. Listening to music is different because I usually close my eyes, dance, or spend my time analyzing all my favorite parts of a song.

This also makes me think that most things I listen to can also have a visual component. Sometimes, the performance of the song is much better than just the song alone. So, which one would you rather have? If a new track from your favorite artist just dropped, would you go stream it first, or go to YouTube to watch the video? Do you like to just listen to the podcast/radio show or watch the video of the hosts talking to each other? Audiobook or movie?

Random Thoughts On: Quality vs Quantity

For a very long time, I've believed in the idea of quality over quantity. But recently, I've had to look at that idea again. If taken too seriously, this can result in not doing anything or not finishing anything. It comes with perfectionism; the thought of "It's not done until I make these little improvements" can be never-ending. But finishing things and moving on to new things is the best way to see your improvement. Now I'm not saying that quantity over quality is the answer either. I think there needs to be a balance between the two.

Putting quality first can be a good strategy when sending something to your boss or the public. You should always put your best foot forward and try to do your best work. In doing this, you wouldn't work on many projects since quantity isn't essential. You probably shouldn't post everything you create or send in something without checking and editing. Always proofread your emails, people.

But, you need to recognize when something is your best work when you've gone back and edited it to your liking. Here's a trick, If you made an edit that you change later and then change again, it's time to move on. You should only change the same part of your song, sentence, or phrase once or twice. This, of course, doesn't apply changes that need to be made to fix things. If you're a coder, and your program doesn't work, make as many changes as you need :).

If you're putting quantity first, this could hurt you if your work isn't as good. But this only applies to work that is being shown to represent you. So, it shouldn't be everything, but it should be a lot. This means you have to create much more than you plan to share. Make a lot and pick what's best.

Your first priority with your work doesn't have to be your only focus. It isn't quality over quantity or quantity over quality. A balance of both is the best way, at least in my opinion.

Random Thoughts on: Followers

I don't have a lot of followers across my social media. I still have under 1000 followers combined. But I want to change that so, I've started thinking of ways to gain more followers. At first, I thought maybe I should do what other people are doing; constantly posting and going live. But then I thought, "the followers I have now follow me for a reason." If I can figure out why that is, maybe I can maximize it.

This also made me think about why people follow others in the first place. Why do you follow your favorite artists, actors, and comedians on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok? It isn't just to see what they post. It's to feel connected to them. It's about community. If you're trying to gain fans, your first fans will be your friends and family. They're going to support you because they care about you as a person, not just about what you're selling. So, it should be similar for people who don't know you. When they follow you, it's because they want to see more of you. Not just more music. They can follow you on Spotify for that.

When people follow me, it usually isn't right after someone has liked my picture or video. It's after they heart a comment I posted. It's more about engagement than content. This explains how some people who don't post a lot can have huge followings. It's because they're active on other parts of the platform and engage with people. I even tested it out a little last night.

On TikTok, I had 6 followers and only a few videos. I then spent a couple of hours watching videos on my FYP, commenting and replying to comments. I also joined a Live and talked to the people there. Fun fact, when you follow someone on TikTok, Their comments show first on any video you see. After those 2 hours, I gained 11 followers. It's not a lot, but It's the most I've gained so quickly. So, I'm still going to increase the amount of content I post. But I'm also going to focus more on being engaged and "social" on social media. To be honest, this should have been more obvious to me. Otherwise, the only thing I'd end up doing is trying to sell to people when that should be just a tiny part of it.

This also makes me feel much better about being present on social media. I don't need a lot of posts or a fake personality to get people to follow. I can engage with people more directly most of the time. So, when I have something to sell, it won't be as awkward to post about it.

Random Thoughts On: Having Hobbies

I never liked calling music a hobby because I was always planning to make it my full-time job. It was more important to me than "Just a hobby." It wasn't a pastime or something I did when I didn't have anything better to do. I have a TV for that. But, it was something I liked to do outside of work, something to distract me from that stress and take my mind off of a bad day. So, it did serve some purpose of a hobby. But, because I was so passionate about it, I didn't have many others.

There're other things I love doing for fun. I like planting flowers, painting, knitting, or anything arts and crafts. But I hadn't done anything like that in a long time. My job took up a lot of my time, so anytime I had left went to music. Doing that led me to burn out really quickly. Because I saw it as a second job instead of a hobby, I didn't really have any hobbies.

But hobbies are good to have. Now that I can work on my music full time, I have to have something else to spend extra time on. If I don't, I'll be thinking about music nonstop. Everything will turn into what project I'm working on next, what goal I'm working toward, or how things are building to what I want. I don't like music to take over because I don't want to get tired of it, and I want to have a well-rounded life. Without hobbies, it's like listening to one song over and over. And getting a tune you like stuck in your head can get annoying.

This means going out more with friends, working on arts and crafts like I used to, trying new recipes when I cook, or just trying something new when I have the time. It's great to have a passion that you love and can put your time into. But I don't think a person should have a life with only one thing; especially, if it's something you don't actually love.

Random Thoughts On: Sound Design

One of my favorite parts of producing music is finding new sounds to use. Sometimes it's fun to try to take a sound and change it. You can even use a synthesizer and create one from scratch. I've been doing that more lately. There's even a Coursera class from Berklee about sound design I've been taking.

Any part of music that lets you be creative as possible is incredible to me. Justen Bieber released "Where Are You Now" in 2010 and was produced by Skrillex and Diplo. A few years later, I saw a video of Skrillex and Diplo explaining how they created the song, pretty much just breaking it down and talking about their process. There's a part of the song that sounds like strings mixed with a slide whistle. And they explained how they created that sound out of Justin's voice. I thought that was so amazing, and I wanted to try it for myself. The process, as they explained it, was to first pitch his voice up. Then they distorted it a bunch of different ways until it sounded like something they wanted to use.

I tried to do this too, but sound design isn't a strength of mine yet. There are so many areas of production, and this is one I'm starting to master now. I think the path I've gone on is a good one. I learned about the tools and sounds that came stock with FL Studio, and now I can create my own.

Many VST plugins in FL Studio and other DAWs have settings you can change to design their sounds. You can change the attack and release, add delay and change the curve of the wave. You can make it sound more hollow like a clarinet or more like a violin just by doing some of these things. I haven't created a brand new sound from scratch that I've used yet, but I'm working on it. I've mastered the basics, and now I feel I can do so much more. I can make something no one has done before or try something no one has thought of. Or at least something that hasn't been done in a long time. So, for now, I'm just going to keep going and see where it takes me.

Random Thoughts On: Styles of Writing

Every songwriter has their own style. Some are full of metaphors, others are straightforward. Some are fiction, while others are based on real life. Whatever the form is, it's meant to entertain and connect with emotion. Sometimes the song is relatable, but it doesn't always have to be.

One example of this is the song "Death Bed" by Powfu. This is a rap song coming from a guy who is sick and dying. He's talking about the time he wished he had left with his girlfriend. It is very emotional, but it doesn't come from a true story. A lot of people listening to the song may not relate to it directly. But they can connect to it while listening, the same way the artist did while writing. The artist wasn't dying and didn't know anyone who was. But when he wrote it, he created the story and thought about what it would be like if it were true.

This is an incredibly creative writing style because it's like writing a book or movie. Telling your own story and writing a song from your own emotion can be difficult. But, writing fiction with this much detail so that it is believable to the audience is very different. It's not something that I've done much, but it is fun to do because anything's possible. It also removes more limitations to art. Even if your life isn't as adventurous as a sci-fi show, you can still write sci-fi songs.

There's also the writing style of using one metaphor, telling the story of one event as it relates to another. An example of this song is "Russian Roulette" by Rihanna. In the song, Rhianna sings about being with her boyfriend, handing a gun back and forth to play the game, and how she feels. The lyrics are very descriptive about how the game is and what is going through her head. But the song itself isn't really about Russian roulette. It's about an abusive relationship.

With these lyrics, nothing else is said about their relationship, their lives, or their history. But being in that relationship felt the same way as sitting at a table, playing the game, until it ends.

Technically, this song could also be fiction (maybe the songwriter was never in a relationship like this) But, I have no knowledge that tells me it is. So, I'd say it's a metaphoric message that could be true. A song doesn't need to fit into a specific style, but I like thinking about different types to try. Whatever style you choose as a writer, the best thing is to have as few limits as you can.

Random thoughts on: Touring

A lot comes to mind when I think about touring. Artists travel from city to city, performing their shows. Sometimes it's for an album. Other times it's a combination of current & past work. For more well-known artists and bands, a concert can mean a sold-out arena with thousands of fans. For someone with a smaller following, a club with a few hundred fans may attend.

For arena-sized shows, artists sometimes create these thrilling experiences. With lights, background animations, choreography, and additional live musicians, artists make sure you're doing more than just listening to their music. They put on these spectacular shows to give their audience value for what they paid for. They have a crew of hundreds, pack up a couple trucks of equipment, and set up the stage.

However, sometimes this isn't necessary. Some shows have less added to them because just seeing an artist or hearing a great voice is enough. Or, if the music is slower or calmer, the vibe doesn't call for anything extra. Beyoncé may have more special effects than Sade because Sade tends to keep things simple. These shows are more like the ones for smaller artists.

When smaller artists do shows or go on tour, they may have a shorter setlist and a smaller production. Their fans come out to see them perform with energy, connecting with the audience, so they can enjoy music together. They may also be available after the show to talk to people in the audience, sign autographs, and take pictures.

As an artist, I think I'd like the smaller ones more. When I think of going to big concerts as a fan, I don't want to be in the back, forced to look at the show on the big screens on the side, because I can't see the stage. I wouldn't want my fans to either. I'd do smaller shows so I can connect with people and give them all a good experience. Of course, I won't be selling out arenas right away, but this is my perspective for now.

I haven't been on tour yet, but I am performing again. I mentioned before, my single "Human" will be out soon, and I have other songs I'll be performing as well. I'm not sure when I'll have my first tour, but I'm working on it. I've made so many plans for it in my head already, and I know how I'll get there.

Check the shows page to see when and where I'm performing next. I'm living in Philly right now, but I plan to come to NY and NJ soon. So, keep an eye out for that. If you want to be notified, sign up for my email list!

Random Thoughts on: Releasing Music

I am so excited that the time is finally here! I will be releasing my first single next month, and I hope you all go and listen. My single is called "Human." I'd describe it as an alternative R&B. This song is for all my fellow perfectionists and for anyone who is too hard on themselves for making mistakes. We're all human, and having love for ourselves is essential.

Releasing a song isn't as simple as I thought it would be. I thought I would just sign into my distributor and push my music through. But it's a lot more than that. Usually, I skip ads that I see, but an interesting one popped up on my Instagram feed. It was for CD Baby, a music distributor I have an account with and plan on using. The ad was for a free release plan generator. You can just put in the date you want to drop your single or album, and it gives you all the steps and dates you need to remember to have a successful release. The plan also includes tips on promoting, creating a pre-save link, and what to do on social media when it drops. I even forgot that I needed cover art *facepalm*.

These are all things I didn't even think of, but I'm glad I have now. I've been working on music to release for a while now. Some of it, including "Human," you may have heard me perform at one of my live or virtual shows. Unfortunately, getting a song ready for digital and radio distribution isn't as easy as having it ready to perform. But I'm not upset about that. Now I know. And now, I can show everyone and release future music more easily.

Anyway, the official release date of my music will be confirmed on social media this weekend! So, keep a lookout for that! If you don't follow me already, you can visit the foot of this page for the links to my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. My main goal for the weeks until and after the release is to tell as many people as possible. So if you're interested and you like it, share it! I'm also being a bit sneaky by using my blog to promote my song (mwahaha)

This song is meant to do good for people. It's supposed to be a reminder that it's ok to get things wrong. So, stop being hard on yourself and listen to it when it comes out.