Mentoring Archives - Computer Music Production School; Audio Recording School; Audio School in Florida, Atlanta, Los Angeles or anywhere in the World

You are Closer to Music Success than you Think

“Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.” (Meister Eckhart)

Being creative, writing, performing, music business, and doing what you love seem to be the 1st things to give up in times of trouble. It can take forever to accomplish dreams & goals when you continually lose sight & balance in your day-to-day life.

As a creative artist, you must remember to keep functioning as if the ‘light’ has never stopped shining. The goal is to not pretend the ‘darkness’ does not exist. This will blind you from the sorrows of procrastination that lurk in the shadows… but instead, boldly walk through the ‘darkness’ with a torch that shines the vision of your dreams and goals that will ultimately lead to your music success.

Take the Tutorial: You are Closer to Music Success than you Think
1) When it gets dark, keep it simple, get some alone time and take a break.
2) Do something that you love, something you may tell yourself ‘I don’t have time for this’.
3) Take small steps to keep yourself busy. Build momentum with small accomplishments.

Keep your torch alive, keep dreaming when times are challenging. Not only will you stay motivated, you’ll also realize you’re a lot closer than you thought.

How to Focus on your Music Brilliance

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“What we must decide is perhaps how we are valuable rather than how valuable we are.” (Edgar Z. Friedenberg)

Record companies used to develop artists into the best writers, musicians, and performers. Today, I find artist’s are getting lost in the DIY. The catch? Without the ‘Do it Yourself’ Approach, nothing would get done for artists with no funding.. The challenge becomes how to recoup from the loss of focus, music creativity and inspiration.

Here’s How to Focus on your Music Brilliance:

What is it that you are truly brilliant at? What is it that you find yourself always thinking about during the day – which aspect of your ‘artistry’ is it? Do you hurry home every day to write more songs, write more music, to dance, to sing, to play an instrument, to work on setting up your music business? Whichever it is and whatever order you enjoy it in will determine your music brilliance, your musical value…

By spending time in areas you’re already valuable in, you can get to your goals quicker by finding others who can help you in the areas your uncomfortable in. It is proven that you are more efficient by doing the things you love and eventually, it can make the parts you don’t love flow much smoother… Through time, your talents will start to even out in all areas of the music process.

Either way though, you’ll need to Invest in your Music Business if you want to take your music from hobby to professional. Just remember, your daily focus is to not get lost in the process. When doing those things you don’t like to do always remember to make time focusing on what you love and you’ll find your passion just around the corner…

The Fame Drug; When Fame Addiction is a Block to Music Success

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“Fame encourages us to believe that if it hasn’t happened yet, it won’t happen. Fame is not the same as success, and in our true souls we know that. Fame, the desire to attain it, the desire to hold on to it, can produce the “How am I doing?” syndrome. This question is not “Is the work going well?” This question is, “How does it look to them?” Julia Cameron

Flip through a Rolling Stone magazine or watch the Grammy’s and you’ll soon discover the fame drug at work. It eats at the artist child within whispering, ‘You’re not good enough, your music sucks, you’ll never achieve music success.’ If you peruse these forms of entertainment you have to watch yourself and be careful with these destructive inner thoughts of fame addiction you might have. Be on guard. Always when you have a big project you’re working on or when starting a new music project, someone with more talent, more affluence and more fame will come across your path to try and discourage you. Be careful that you don’t compare your ‘newly hatched’ creative work with someone who has years of experience and a little fame under their belt. In other words, don’t compare your rough sketch drawing to a Van Gogh painting. Don’t compare your newly laced track to the latest Timbaland beat. Yes, it’s good to make sure your sounds are up to par and to study technique, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about comparing yourself to those that are famous and doing it so much that you doubt yourself. If you’re a student or have been doing music for ten years, you have to allow yourself time to be ‘just OK’. You have to let yourself make mistakes, you must allow your inner artist room to grow without comparison or judgment.

When we wish for fame what we are really wanting is acknowledgment and love. We seek affirmation as artists, “Is my music really good? Do people understand me?” Many artists have achieved high levels of success without becoming famous. So if this is one of your goals: Become a famous musician. Than beware. Striving to become famous is the fame drug that can hurt you more than help you. Yes, of course being famous is good. But it should only be a by-product of first being true to yourself, and becoming amazing at what you do. Being able to create something new and fresh and innovative. Wishing to attain fame only hinders this delicate process. How can you be true to yourself when you have one eye on your competition? How can you create something fresh when you’re worried about what people may think?

When on the fame drug, fame addiction sets in and you feel lost to it’s grip, discouragement leading to writer’s block then sets in. The best thing to do is go to your studio and create. Write a song, play with music production, sing, rap or write a song. Creativity for the pure love of art is the only thing that can snap you back to reality.

Music success is not fame. Music success is when you are doing what you love every day. Music success looks different on everyone – your success is not going to be another’s success. Every day make time to pat yourself on the back for staying focused, playing, practicing – reward yourself with every little step of progress. This is your personal music success.

Remember, 85% of people do not know how to stay focused and keep moving forward no matter what the obstacles in your path. You are among the 15% of successful musicians and music producers.

Tutorial: When Fame Addiction is a Block to Music Success
1) When listening, studying or watching other artists, identify the temptation to compare and stop the thinking patterns that follow. If possible, stop listening to others music the day or hours before working on your own music.
2) Go to your studio, turn everything on and just start. No matter what your mind tries to tell you, stick it out. Its like going to the gym. The first 15 minutes you fight with ‘why am I here, I can’t stand this, this is boring, etc’. But after 15 minutes it changes to ‘I forgot how much I love this, this feels great, so glad I stuck to it’. So it is the same with music. Just turn it on and keep going.
3) Read articles and books, watch movies and videos that encourage your goals and creativity – no matter how different they are from those around you. Make a note of info that discourages you or brings ‘comparison thoughts’. Being mindful of these things during a music project, song, deadlines, etc will help keep you creative and inspired.

The Obstacle in your Path

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“The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it” -John Ruskin
I once heard a story called, “The Obstacle in Our Path” that I want to share with you.

In ancient times, a king placed a boulder on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse on the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king saying that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder for the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand..

So what is the obstacle in your path? What’s the big boulder in the middle of your road to success?

The truth is we are all faced with some sort of obstacle along the way. For some it may be lack of money or education, for others a mental disability or kids to take care of. Whatever your obstacle is, don’t let it keep you from living your dream. No matter how long it takes, face that boulder head on and push it with everything you’ve got. Always remember, it’s the times when you want to give up but don’t, that you really see what you’re made of. Are you going to give up and quit or try harder, be more creative and dig your heels in?

It’s easy for us to commit to things that are easy or convenient but the result can be a long-term unhappiness with uncertainty of the cause. We can often cheat ourselves out of rewards simply wanting to avoid difficulty.

However, if we are willing to exert effort, we will reap great benefits.

The important lesson to remember is that work has its rewards. This is true in corporate settings, in your home, in your relationships, in every area of your life and especially music. If you are willing to pay the price, you can have the prize. The same principle applies to music production. If you are willing to work for the dreams in your heart you will be amazed by the person you will become in the process. If you want to reach any worthy goal at all or do anything significant, you will find you always have to go through a narrow place. Your narrow place may be walking away from negative relationships or putting yourself on such a tight budget you can no longer afford some of the small pleasures of life, such as a cup of coffee or a movie ticket. You may have to choose to work while others are entertaining themselves. These kinds of disciplines will squeeze you and press you, but they will also lead you to the broad places of success and prosperity. When you are pressed and squeezed to the point you feel you can hardly breathe, make sure to stay focused on the reward ahead.

Tutorial: The Obstacle in your Path
1) Find a nice quiet place to think undisturbed. Think through all the obstacles keeping you from your goal(s) of destination.. Write them down in no particular order. Do this as a brainstorming process. Get as much onto paper/document as possible.
2) After brainstorming, organize each obstacle by priority. Use a computer document for this task and save it in a location you will not forget.
3) Choose the top 2 obstacles interfering with your goals. Brainstorm 3 action steps you can take within the next 7-14 days. Follow this process for each obstacle and keep moving them out of your way..