r/musicians

I drum in a Social Distortion and a Cars tribute band, and both are a blast.

Being a singer-songwriter has always been an interest since I was 4. Life choices hit… kindergarten, recess, juice boxes, the class hamster dying, etc. Life is mostly pretty good besides the normal stresses those things can bring sometimes. Music has always been in the background. Fast forward to 17 and through a turn of events I meet this somewhat well known musician / producer at the lunch table. He said I should send him some of my music and eventually invited me out to record with him in the band room, he got a famous drummer from 6th period to play on my song, it felt very epic. Fast forward a year and I decided to move my locker out to the C-wing in hopes of pursuing this whole thing. I can't help but think that I'm just kind of old to get started, not too old in general, just for getting started trying to make it as a singer-songwriter…

I replied to an ad looking for musicians to form a new band. The direction of the project was kind of vague. When they sent me songs they were working on, it didn't sound like a work in progress. It sounded like a fully realized project with a flawless recording. I suspect they sent me ai generated songs. Is this becoming more common now? I understand that home recordings can sound amazing nowadays. Plus, using virtual instruments are common to record a demo when you're just one person. But, when I listened to these songs, it just sounded fake. Am I being paranoid or has this happened to you?

My new band has a private party gig coming up and the guitar player wants us to use my Horizon monitor wedges.

Problem is, his PA puts out 800 watts and he says it doesn’t have a monitor out. Only A and B.

I haven’t seen his PA in a couple of years so I don’t remember much about it.

I’ve asked him to get me the specs. My wedges are either 140 or 190 RMS - I need to look at them to remember which one. Also, if I remember correctly they are 8 ohms.

He believes that since his PA “doesn’t put out 800 watts all the time” we will be fine.

My not completely informed opinion is that we’ll F up my speakers.

Assuming my numbers above are correct and assuming my worries are based in reality, how do I explain to him that it won’t work?

Or explain to me that it will work.

Edit for clarity:

He has an entire PA that we have used for several gigs - head, speakers etc.

He just wants to use my we dr es as monitors but I think his wattage is too high.

No, I can’t Google the equipment because I don’t know what brand and model PA he has.

No, I don’t need to rent speakers or a PA. We have a complete working PA system. He just suddenly wants monitors.

No, we don’t really even need monitors for this gig.

Pulled my wedges out of storage this morning and they are rates for 140 watts RMS.

I’m going to tell him if we suddenly need monitors then we’ll shop for some monitors that will work with his setup.

I was looking at another post in r/musicians and there were comments about singers being "a dime a dozen" or "they're just a singer do they don't really understand a musician's craft".

I (41f) am a vocalist but I also play other instruments. But I remember a jazz vocalist friend who doesn't play other instruments but who has an incredible voice and career, still encountered this mentality from her bandmates who were "serious jazz musicians unlike her." She had been developing her voice for years, studied vocal performance at postgrad level, and does a serious amount of maintenance and preparation of her voice to maintain her stamina.

Training and taking care of your voice is a craft. There's a lot of technique and skill that goes into a great vocal performance. The lead singer's voice can make or break a band.

The voice is an instrument and I question the motive or mindset behind the idea that it isn't. Sometimes I wonder if it's because vocalists are often female that it's under-valued.

Being a singer-songwriter has always been an interest since I was 17. Life choices hit… college, marriage, babies, business, etc. Life is mostly pretty good besides the normal stresses those things can bring sometimes. Music has always been in the background. Fast forward to 40 and through a turn of events I meet this somewhat well known musician / producer on the west coast. He said I should send him some of my music and eventually invited me out to record with him in CA, he got a famous drummer to play on my song, it felt very epic. Fast forward a year and I decided to move my family out to CA in hopes of pursuing this whole thing. I can’t help but think that I’m just kind of old to get started, not too old in general, just for getting started trying to make it as a singer-songwriter…

i’ve always wondered whether having the same artistic interests creates stronger compatibility or if it ends up becoming competitive/too emotionally intense. like does sharing music as a language deepen intimacy, or is it sometimes nicer being with someone outside of that world entirely? curious what musicians think genuinely works best for them and why.

I started in the music industry as a SoundCloud rapper and learned how to mix/master and produce on my own over the years. I loved to invite people to my home studio and to make music together. Just to have fun, meet new people and to express ourselves. Since then I started to release seriously on Spotify and my numbers started to grow. I even started to work in the Music Industry to support my Artist Career.

We all know it’s very important to make connections in the industry. Over the years I got to know a lot of people who are Musicans or work in the industry like Singers, Rappers, Producers, Studio Owners, Bookers etc.

And most of the time I talked to people in the Music Business (especially smaller Artists and Producers) they had an Inflated ego. They always check out how many followers you got and if you are relevant enough. Even if you talk to them in person they don’t even follow you back on their socials. (Like bro you have 1k followers it is not that deep to follow me back) Sometimes I have more monthly listeners than them (I know that this is not the most relevant thing) and they still don’t want to connect or want to work together. They only care about you if you benefit them. And even if you talk to them in person they seem totally uninterested. I am quite outgoing but I just get blocked off.

Sometimes people only get interested in me if I can make them connections to others and they can use me for my benefits. Otherwise they don’t take me serious since I am a Rapper and not some Indie, Pop or Rock snob. Like what’s up with that? Rap music makes up a lot of Pop but if I don’t do some Radio music it doesn’t count?

I know it is an Industry and it’s like a shark tank. But I got into music because I loved to make songs with my friends for fun. Now I work in the Industry and as an Artist and most of the fun part turned into a pain in the ass. Everyone is only interested in Money and Cloud. And if you don’t benefit them they dgaf about you.

i've always wondered whether having completely opposite professional interests creates stronger compatibility or if it ends up becoming transactional/too practically grounded. like does one person handling all the finances deepen intimacy, or is it sometimes nicer being with someone who also has no idea what a W-2 is? curious what musicians think genuinely works best for them and why.

Im 17 and I've been drumming a few months in like a punk/posthardcore style is their any plateaus I should be wary abt when being self taught off YouTube I have the right technique and the drum kit but I just want to be wary of some things for the future

You want a smart link that lets people pre-save? There's a monthly charge for that.

You want people to actually see your posts on social media? You'll have to pay for that.

You don't want anyone to hack your precious instagram account do you? Better pay for meta verified for its "enhanced security". There's a monthly charge for that.

You want to have you music on disco.ac? There's a monthly charge for that.

You want to distribute your music? There's a monthly and yearly charge for that and we'll take a percentage of everything you make.

You want people to actually hear your music on Spotify? You'll have to pay for that.

You want to submit your music to playlisters? You'll have to pay for every submission and 90 percent of them will reject it.

There's is so much you need to pay for and I'm getting pretty tired of it.

Hey everyone.

I’ve been thinking lately that a lot of people using AI tools for music are sitting alone with their songs because every discussion eventually turns into “AI vs real musicians,” and honestly… it gets exhausting.

I’m not some “real producer” or industry person 😄
I’m just a pianist/violinist with a music background who happens to use AI because I can write music and hear arrangements in my head — but I absolutely cannot sing the way I hear things.( terrible singer 🤪😂)

So for me AI became less “generate content” and more “finally hear the songs that used to exist only in my head.”

And I’m probably not the only one.

So I’ve been thinking about maybe creating a small cozy Telegram group for people who actually make AUTHORIAL music this way:
\- writing their own lyrics,
\- concepts,
\- melodies,
\- weird genre experiments,
\- character songs,
\- emotional/soundtrack pieces,
\- and then using AI as part of the creative workflow.

Not a “500 generated tracks a day” spam place 😄
More like a small community where people can:
\- share songs,
\- discuss ideas,
\- give feedback,
\- help each other improve arrangements/prompts/structure,
\- and just talk about music without endless hate wars.

I’m not even making the group yet 😄
I just genuinely want to know if people here would actually be interested in something like that.

DM me if interested, please:) not sure if it’s relevant

I used to stick to just a few styles, but now I can find something I like in almost every genre. Is this common for other musicians? How has your listening or playing evolved with age?

So how is everyone

The title, basically. Trying to get a small band (just starting out) to play in a set which includes a few other bands, so they'd only be playing for about 20 minutes. I don't want to just offer them 'exposure,' although there will be a fair deal of that. What would be reasonable?