I haven't been one for setting New Year's Resolutions and goals and such. I find that in the past, when doing such things, I broke them nearly immediately after vowing to make this year different. To the point where I abandoned my To-Do lists and just let things come as go as they may.
But the last few years has found me feeling in a bit of a slump, so as once said; "If you want different results, you have to do things differently." So for 2022 I am going to try and be more conscience of some over all goals and work to be better organized. More present. More active and take back some agency. To that end, I would like to focus on three things:
Work more Collaboratively
Be a bit more formal in my collaborations. Not just ask a friend to put in a guitar part here and there. But to really seek out opportunities to collaborate more.
Seek out Bigger Projects
Time to look for more and bigger opportunities. Stick my neck out a bit more and get out of my comfort zone.
Invest more in People than in Tech
I have everything I need as far as tech. Could I update my Mac, interface, monitors, displays...? Sure. I was able to fix my A5 monitors and they are working well once again. With any Luck I can make this setup work for another year and update the entire studio in 2023.
Anyone else want to chime in with thier own thoughts on '22?
I had a large, somewhat open-ended project for about three months. I pumped out music like a demon...then it was done, and I...paused.
For me, pausing is deadly unless it’s a planned vacation or something. I took short trips to Nashville and Vegas. Those were fine, but this unplanned pause...bad. I’m still dealing with grief and loss. I know myself well enough to know that stopping is just not an option.
My plan for 2022 is to kick my own ass until it’s red and raw and go back to my routine. Work. Walk. Don’t isolate. Did I say work?
“Many musicians get paying work based on their ability to create believable orchestral simulations. Whenever musicians get paying work, that’s a Good Thing.”
I like your broad goals Kayle (and can definitely empathise with your position Larry). Mine, by contrast, are pretty specific.
1. Get a damn show or movie actually made. Some exciting rumblings just before Christmas, but… ya know.
2. Notwithstanding (1), keep on scriptwriting.
3. EastEnders (UK soap) LOVES my Sound on Screen project (easy-to-license audio clips of faux movies, TV shows and video games) and has single-handedly paid for it to date. But almost no-one else has heard of it. In 2022 I resolve to do much better at targeted advertising. EastEnders proves it works conceptually and the target audience can’t get enough of it, but they do need to know it exists. Also I should make a few new ones.
4. Give singer Laura a kicking to get her stuff properly out there. She has nearly 20,000 Twitter followers, yet is super-shy. We have about 20 songs already, but gotta GET EM OUT THERE. And keep making new ones. It is so much fun, easily my most enjoyable collaboration in all my decades. I genuinely think she’s a genius you know, and I found her before anyone else.
5. Notwithstanding (1) again, keep the sound work ticking over at the level I did this year - pays the bills without taking over my life, and allows me to do all the fun stuff guilt-free.
goals? Honestly hadn't given it a lot of thought lately. As with years before, I spent most of December trying to put together a plan to get back to me. And as with past years I abandoned it before the clock struck twelve on New Years Eve,
So thanks Kayle, for reminding me. And thanks Kayle and Larry and Guy for setting an example.
I suppose the reason I'm not setting goals is the same as the reason I've accomplished so little over the last couple years - lack of motivation (I understand pausing completely Larry!)
Here's a thought - I'll post my goals here, and then I become at least a little bit accountable. Now that's danger<G>.
My first goal should be to find a source of motivation. Maybe my only real goal, certainly the goal that starts things off.
And if that takes too long I fake it till I make it. I am going to set schedules for things I should be doing; 30 minutes of exercise, and 30 minutes practicing guitar, and a few minutes each night writing. Not exactly earth shattering, but I don't need earth shattering.
Not sure what kind of timer to set, but I think an hour in the studio would be helpful. It could be cleaning, it could be reviewing classes I've taken over the last couple years, it could be actually making music - I just need to get off the couch and in front of the DAW.
If I can get that going (should have said when eh?) then it is time to put some structure in place for the rest of it. At a family level I need to get back to meal planning, and getting the kids to do their laundry (how odd is it that of all the "adulting" tasks laundry is one I still do?) and just generally get the household functioning again. I'm not in danger of a visit from children's services, but the place is a mess, and I think that contributes to everyone's malaise.
Then it is time to once again swing for the fences, or reach for the brass ring, or whatever you like to say about stretch goals.
The studio is a complete disaster, four years of little to no attention has left piles of books, and boxes, and CDs, and junk all over the place. I'm not going to accomplish anything without getting organized and cleaned up. It is good enough for the hour a day thing, but not for real work. When things are back in order I need to review old projects and come up with a new, current, demo reel.
Wait, what's that you say? I have to distribute said demo reel??? I guess that might make sense after all.
So I guess the final goal for 2022 is to put the web site back up, at least enough to showcase the music, and get the reel into peoples hands, hands that can provide me with work. And time to focus on one (maybe two) markets instead of the scattershot approach. I am not going to put a number on this one, if I say five projects and I only get four it takes the wind out of my sales. Not worth the risk.
That sounds like a lot! It sounds like my plans for the last four new years. I may not accomplish all of it, there is even a chance (unlikely I think) I will accomplish none of it. At least this time I've made the goals small, measurable, and most important, within my grasp.
I like your plan, Kayle, especially the part about assigning productivity time. Keep us updated about how stringently you find yourself able to stick to
it. HNY!
“Many musicians get paying work based on their ability to create believable orchestral simulations. Whenever musicians get paying work, that’s a Good Thing.”
As someone who long ago stopped making music professionally in favor of a business systems career and is now semi-retired, my plan for 2022 is to complete my transition back from corporate to creative (tougher than I thought tbh). It means shutting down my systems consulting business, otherwise it's always "there just in case". It means further refining my music genre, my brand and my palette in order to find a place in an established niche market segment. My earlier 15 years of professional music had me writing jingles and arranging and writing music for TV shows across so many genres, I still feel rather lost in the genre forest. As a result, to keep me on track, my plan is to put aside anything I write that doesn't fit my defined personal brand and use that music to pursue library opportunities. I've also committed to learning the viola and cello so I don't have to rely on samples for my solo strings (or at least until I can earn enough to pay real people again, which would be an absolute joy).
My main challenge perhaps is forcing the time into every week. When I said to my wife, who is also mostly retired, "I want to retire from corporate life to focus on my music again" she only heard "I want to retire blah blah blah" and so is happy to make plans on my behalf at a moment's notice
Thanks for this thread, it was great to get it down in writing, happy New Year!
Hannes_F wrote: ↑Jan 02, 2022 1:02 pm
The venerable Nagarjuna quoted the Buddha: "Only two things are certain in life. One: You will die. Two: You don't know when".
In that sense I shall do those projects in 2022 that I always wanted to do, before time may run out. You never know!
Yep. It's why I continue to write songs and perform them, even though there is no viable commercial path to monetize them.
Charlie Clouser: " I have no interest in, and no need to create, "realistic orchestral mockups". That way lies madness."
I have started doing this slowly in the last 2 years and it has worked great. So far has been online collaborations with sessions musicians but has been going really well.
I've met two musicians in some improv jam sessions before covid and we started a musical live project of improvised music but the studio we would jam is closed and haven't found a place to play. :-(
I would like to collaborate more with areas that isn't just music, like visual, merch, logos, artwork, design, etc...
Nothing, NOTHING beats sitting in the same room and playing with other musicians. Second best, and I was surprised, is collaborating on line. You lose the zero-latency feedback, but you can still do good work. I've participated in a couple of on-line projects, and will be looking for opportunities to do so again.
