LANDR demo

thomasross20

Yeah it's more a personal achievement thing!

Clips above are very short... more on my website but those tracks have been worked on a lot more now. 

Market - very small instrumental rock, I guess. 

Existing fan base? Nil!

Promotion  & brand building? Difficult as I wont be doing this stuff live. I do have a YouTube channel which I plan to add some more videos to. Also contacted some online stations and a few mags but only got a few replies. Getting awareness seems to be THE most difficult part.

Cirrus

Yeah, it is, by far. It's always been tough but it's borderline impossible without a massive monetary investment these days.

thomasross20

All I can do is mail relevant stations and the like, keep doing YouTube videos, and chuck the album out on CDBaby and hope for the best. I don't plan on joining forums and spamming them with it lol. 

Cirrus

Consider publishing companies. One thing instrumental music does have an advantage for is background music in adverts, tv etc.

thomasross20

The next 80s game-type film they make is going to have a great soundtrack..........!

Seriously though, thanks!

horse

thomasross20;1004895" said:

All I can do is mail relevant stations and the like, keep doing YouTube videos, and chuck the album out on CDBaby and hope for the best. I don't plan on joining forums and spamming them with it lol. 

Funnily enough I'd say forums might be one of your few opportunities to get your material heard by people who might be interested - I would think most instrumental guitar albums are bought by guitarists, and forums might be one of the places you can try to generate some interest.

When starting from scratch with no following or vibrant scene to tap into I'd very much focus on enjoying the creative process and producing something you find personally rewarding above all else - there's loads of albums released every week that we're all mostly unaware of despite the backing of small labels, so the odds of making a splash are stacked fairly heavily against all of us and it often takes a long and concerted effort to get anywhere regardless of the quality of your material. Do it because you want to, regardless of any eventual success

Deijavoo

Mogwai, Russian Circles, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Toska....

All doing pretty decent as (mostly) guitar instrumental bands.

Satch, Vai etc.... sell less well these days.

Deijavoo

Aristocrats Tres Caballeros has done ok I believe plus it's far more interesting than the 80s style shredding stuff.

digitalscream

At the other end of things, Toska (Rabea Massaad's proggy side-project with the rest of the rhythm section from Dorje) seem to be doing pretty OK.

The album's excellent, too (OK, so they called it an EP, but it's longer than my band's album...so it gets called an album).

TimmyO

The closest person I can think of to what you're trying to do (that I know of) is Levi Clay and his Hellcat Molly album.

Similarly he has no plans to tour it, has relied on his name and status in the general sport-guitar (my term) scene to promote interest.

Maybe take a look at his channel and the album (it's on Spotify if you want to sample, and he sells CDs direct) and see how you think your stuff might compare?

Drew_TNBD

Cirrus said:

Drew_fx;1004379" said:

They're not the only ones who say that FWIW. Many mastering engineers request you do this.

When I've worked with mastering peeps I usually bring this up in the first conversation to see what they say. All the ones I've worked with (and it's not a massive list, but it includes Andy Jackson and Fluid Mastering and I consider those peeps to be pretty pro) or got quotes from have said that if it's part of the mix, they want it left on. And that makes sense to me, because when I mix into a bus compressor it informs all the other compression and balance choices within the mix. Take the master bus compressor off at the end and suddenly it isn't the same mix any more.

A couple of times I've also included a seperate folder of mixes with no bus compression, just in case they start listening and think I've fucked it all up. Thankfully it's never been necessary.

Not that I'm saying you're wrong, I've seen places that request you put nothing on the master bus. But since I usually do, I've just never got in touch with them - for right or wrong, I've always assumed that those people don't trust me to do it right! And I'd be the first to admit that I probably don't... but it's still my mix.

Ego! 

)

Not saying it's right or wrong either way really. Whatever is right for the project. Just saying that Nerine is a bit off base by saying that it's erroneous and stupid.

I mix into a bus comp. Usually the IK Multimedia BusComp because I like how aggressive it is.

Cirrus

Is that the ssl based one? If so, that's my go to as well, though I sometimes use the boz +10dB compex which feels a bit faster and more open when I can't jive with the Ik.

thomasross20

TimmyO said:

The closest person I can think of to what you're trying to do (that I know of) is Levi Clay and his Hellcat Molly album.

Similarly he has no plans to tour it, has relied on his name and status in the general sport-guitar (my term) scene to promote interest.

Maybe take a look at his channel and the album (it's on Spotify if you want to sample, and he sells CDs direct) and see how you think your stuff might compare?

I think you posted a link to his blog on here a while back? It's a great blog and I linked to it on my own blog!

Keep meaning to buy his CD!! I think it's more metal than anything but will check it. 

PolarityMan

horse said:

thomasross20;1004895" said:

All I can do is mail relevant stations and the like, keep doing YouTube videos, and chuck the album out on CDBaby and hope for the best. I don't plan on joining forums and spamming them with it lol. 

Funnily enough I'd say forums might be one of your few opportunities to get your material heard by people who might be interested -

I could count on one hand the people on here who have commented on my bands last album and ive been around since the computer music days. Most people just cant be fucked.

horse

PolarityMan;1005186" said:

horse said:

thomasross20;1004895" said:All I can do is mail relevant stations and the like, keep doing YouTube videos, and chuck the album out on CDBaby and hope for the best. I don't plan on joining forums and spamming them with it lol. 

Funnily enough I'd say forums might be one of your few opportunities to get your material heard by people who might be interested -










I could count on one hand the people on here who have commented on my bands last album and ive been around since the computer music days. Most people just cant be fucked.

True - but more people may have listened than commented, and it is at least a channel - I guess that gigging is your bands best way to raise awareness, but Tommy ain't doing that. There's no dream solution for most of us

thomasross20

We're all stuffed. Like I've said... never again after this lol..

I say that now...

Drew_TNBD

Cirrus said:

Is that the ssl based one? If so, that's my go to as well, though I sometimes use the boz +10dB compex which feels a bit faster and more open when I can't jive with the Ik.

Yeah it's the SSL one. Really like it.

Nerine

I don't know of any world class mix engineers that don't mix into a bus compressor. If you can mix properly, you DO NOT need to remove it for mastering.
If you're smashing the tits off and applying 15dB of GR on your master bus, then yeah. It's probably best without and you should maybe leave the mixing and mastering to humans that know what they are doing.
But telling people to remove what is in most cases a fairly fundamental element of the mix and it's balance is stupid.

If I remove my mix bus chain, hardware and software, the mix is then off. So how is that good advice to send an unbalanced mix to mastering? It fucks with the balance, the low end, the overall tone, ruins the automation, and just throws everything out. It's bad advice.

To me, they seem to be catering for the lowest common denominator where there is probably a great deal of inexperience involved.
I'm sure they don't want to receive a mix that is L2'd to piss and back, but making a blanket statement like "you should remove your mix bus compression before mastering" IS silly in my opinion.
It wouldn't surprise me if its propaganda that basically allows their mastering algo to be more effective/sound better/less destroyed.

CLA/Staub/Brauer/Wallace/Scheps/Marroquin et al are all removing their bus compressors before mastering yeah?

Yeah, course they are, Landr.

Sorry, @Drew_fx , I don't think my post is unbalanced, so we'll agree to disagree on this. But if a ME asked me to remove my mix bus compression before he had heard the mixes, I'd go find another ME.

I actually think Landr's statement is quite offensive to good mix engineers.
Almost like, guys... You've been doing it wrong. (FOR DECADES.)

Drew_TNBD

Nerine said:

But if a ME asked me to remove my mix bus compression before he had heard the mixes, I'd go find another ME.

Me too.

Snap

I don't think LANDR is aimed at anyone other than the novice or the hobbyist. People like me who have a basic (if that really) knowledge of mixing and mastering. The sort of person who will be impressed to hear that their quiet mix all of a sudden sounds pumping an loud.

Of course, the better way is to learn more about the whole thing, but LANDR are plugging into the do it quick routine. Its all marketin BS.