I did not expect the second song I ever produced to be on a major New York radio station. In fact, I wasn't sure it was good enough to be heard by anyone at all.
It wasn't the song itself that worried me. I felt really good about the writing part. But I didn't have the money to go to a real studio, hire real musicians, and have it produced by someone with experience. Instead, I toiled away for months in my flood-prone, subterranean, one-bedroom apartment, learning the intricacies of Logic Pro X from YouTube.
The first song I produced this way, "Perfect Rhythm," was my Frankenstein. It came out alright, but it was distinct from "Let It Ride" in that it was a lot of samples and there was no guitar. So nailing the tone and timing of this one would be an even bigger challenge.
I should also mention I was recording vocals on a $120 microphone and playing the guitar direct into a Focusrite interface. Not really an engineer's dream setup, but then again, I wasn't an engineer...
I was a "guerrilla producer."
At least, that's what I told myself. The most important thing in the world was to get my music out there and it didn't matter what obstacles stood in the way. I would find a DIY method of getting through them. No money. No bandmates. And if that means just barely reaching "listenable," then so be it. That's how my music would have to be heard.
This thought process was underlined by something that I still believe today: Marketing is equally, if not more important, than production. So, I would sacrifice production expenses to have a little bit to market with, otherwise no one would hear a note I wrote, and it would be functionally pointless.
Now, ideally, you have both—amazing music and a deep-pocketed record label who can take care of showing it to the world. Practically, I had neither. Or at least some serious deficiencies in both. But again, that couldn't stop me. I had to work with what I had.
And what I had was the song itself to lean on. But the only person I had to produce it was me. Thankfully, a really nice friend of mine remotely helped me mix and master the track for free. But I knew even he could only polish dog crap, not make bread out of it.
That's why I was surprised when I received an email back from WFUV's Alisa Ali, saying that she would be playing "Let It Ride" on 'NY Slice,' which showcases local NY artists. I'd heard it one day while I was driving, made a mental note, and emailed her when it "Let It Ride" came out.
I sent the email expecting no response. So it was really validating to me that she wanted to play it. I mean, WFUV wouldn't play complete crap, so the production must be decent-ish, right? And the song had to be as solid as I thought it was. Sure, you can argue the standards are lower for a local spotlight, but they're not low.
In my mind, I'd made it over the bar. I guerrilla-ed my way to listenable through obsessive effort and decent songwriting.
Today, I'm less critical of the song's production. It also helps that I made a conscious decision to sacrifice certain things at that time, accepted it, and have since moved on, using a "real" studio and engineer to complete my latest EP Depth Without Darkness. But I learned a lot through that year of producing and being completely 'guerrilla.' In fact, that's where the title of my album "Year One" came from.
But more on that in another post.
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P.S. You can get a super cool canvas print of the "Let It Ride" single artwork here in my merch store. I designed it myself from a picture I took of the world's fair, while I was hanging out in the skatepark adjacent to it. I altered the image and added the song name, as well as my artist name.
P.P.S. If you want to 'see' my song played on WFUV, check out this Instagram post.
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