producing full time??

most (not all) of us here obviously want to make a living producing music, but has anyone here actually taken the risk of doing it full time? i know its really hard to do, especially if you're just making techno, but ive been thinking of doing this full time now, leave the job and just focus on releasing music.....after all this is what i want to do

i dont plan on just releasing techno, i want to be open to lots of other opportunities, cause honestly, i want to make whatever i want to make, wether it be hard techno, deep techno, minimal, hardcore/industrial, house, hip hop whatever.......

my question is, has anyone here started doing this or will start this anytime soon?

i wish

wouldn't have the balls... plus she'd shoot me.

the only way to produce techno full time iis to go on the dole. that way your rent gets paid, you get a bit of cash to pop outside to get some cigs every week and you can lock yourself away. but this isn't particualrly making a living is it? i think in non-commercial music you have to do lots of things to be able to do it full time. i have my djing, that brings in the cash and enables me to do everything else i want to do during the week - the site, the studio (but none of that brings in any money at all really). but what i suppose it does do is increase awareness of what i'm involved in, which then helps get a few dj gigs.

i'd say if you wanted to sit in a studio and produce music on a full-time basis, i'd need to be producing something in that studio that isn't techno. perhaps music for adverts or soundtracks.

shitty i know, but it's a reality.

true.. thats what mark did in the beginning with the old kinetec studio. and ant has done mtv stuff.. selling your soul to pay your bills is ok in my book.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rhythmtech

selling your soul to pay your bills is ok in my book.

---

I strongly disagree. Making (shitty) music to pay the bills takes fun and passion out of it and will only burn you out - the last thing that you wanna do after making crap for days on end is go BACK to the studio, it's the last place you'll want to be. Plus, you can't tell me that you're music doesn't get compromised by HAVING to do it to make money - this is precisely the reason that there are so many shitty releases - especially by bigger names - they release 2nd rate shit because they have to in order to eat and they know idiots will buy it.

machina

music for adverts can be pretty damn good tho. i'd hardly call it selling your soul if you make a mind bending electro track and the whole nation is bopping away to it in their front rooms.

i for one have an interest in sound engineering as a whole, not just writing techno and electro

yeah i was recently chatting to steve stoll annd he tells me he's stil making the odd techno track but now working on sample cd's and filmscores to pay the bills. i think this is wicked. certainly a direction i'd like to go in later on in life if the dj schedule ever gets the better of me. just basically make beautiful ambient music or work with sound effects during the week for films, create the odd sample cd and then, bam when you're feeling inspired, make some techno for nothing but pure satisfaction.

let's be honest, you're really not going to make good techno if you're thinking 'wow this beats gonna make me milllions!!!' hahaha

jesus people.. some of you really need to get out more :doh:

look at eric prydz... now thats selling your soul in style! but you still gotta respect the man totally for his better work...

whatever pays the bills is what i say. no point in staying totally underground if it doesn't put bread on the table... most top producers will do a commercially viable tune to make money.. AND THEY DESERVE EVERY PENNY OF IT cause they have the balls to do it.

I on the other hand will stick to my 9 to 5... speaking of which.. its way past my bedtime.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MARK EG

yeah i was recently chatting to steve stoll annd he tells me he's stil making the odd techno track but now working on sample cd's and filmscores to pay the bills. i think this is wicked. certainly a direction i'd like to go in later on in life if the dj schedule ever gets the better of me. just basically make beautiful ambient music or work with sound effects during the week for films, create the odd sample cd and then, bam when you're feeling inspired, make some techno for nothing but pure satisfaction.

let's be honest, you're really not going to make good techno if you're thinking 'wow this beats gonna make me milllions!!!' hahaha

---

i knew i was going wrong somewhere :lol: :lol: :lol:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MARK EG

let's be honest, you're really not going to make good techno if you're thinking 'wow this beats gonna make me milllions!!!' hahaha

---

damn, i gotta re-think my plans now :doh:

who defines selling your soul anyway?/???.... this is simply a purist approach. ok ill never make cheesyass vocal techno..... but if someone asked me to make sh*tty ringtones as a basic-living, i tihnk i would do it!!!! anything to keep out of an office!!! i make the odd commercial webpage... and while im doing so... although into graphics/art, i dont try to push any boundaries...just fire up any ol' site, just as long as the gaffers happy!!!

if i could get paid to expand my knowledge on musical equipment, which i always want to be doing, i would definatly do....

besides i already sold my soul to techno!!! member the simpsons!!!!!!

It's not just making a different type of music or expanding the boundaries of what it is you do - i think that working on soundtracks etc. is great and definately a worthy thing to do. BUT - i think that the whole concept of making music as your one and only source of income can generally lead to substandard results, no matter what type of music you are making. Stuff gets released all the time that really shouldn't be, and i think producers know when they've done something worthwhile, and when they've done something a bit average, but if you need to make money, the average stuff still pays the bills, so it gets released. It only does harm imo.

machina

very bloody interesting discussion if you ask me :clap: :clap: :clap:

yea i dont think think producing techno is an easy full time job.....i think like MArk, the idea of techno is a fulltime job.... studio+label+gigs+site+promotion, there are some real dedicated people out there.

but production wise, if you're lucky, and you know a few film students...things could expand from that, its something i dream of doing.. gettin paid for something you love!!! and respect to anyone who does it

Quote:

---

who defines selling your soul anyway?/???

---

Yeah...I think people tend to get pretty bloody precious about money and art. What the heck is wrong with doing art for money? It's still creative, it's still art. What's wrong with giving people what they want i.e. selling out? Someone's getting entertained, somebody else is getting paid.

Perhaps it's confusing the emotions that the music inspires by listening with it with the process of creation itself. It's possible to create something beautiful and magical for completely mercenary and cynical reasons, such as wanting to eat. Maybe it's like sausages and laws; those who like them shouldn't see how they were made.

I guess fans of music don't like the idea of it being just another service industry.

Daft Punk is an example I think I've referred to on this board on one occasion before, but he/they are an excellent point in case for how selling out can work:
1) Admitted in interviews that he actually doesn't like the disco house stuff he does, would much rather be DJing hard techno, but "it's the only thing I'm good at."
2) Process of creation often consists of borrowing big loops of material largely unaltered. Robot Rock is a good example - a listen to the original track it came from puts things in perspective (and disappointed a few people who compared the two for that matter).

So their attitude towards their own work and the process of creation itself could be described as cynical - should Daft Punk not exist?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rounser

Quote:

---

who defines selling your soul anyway?/???

---

Yeah...I think people tend to get pretty bloody precious about money and art. What the heck is wrong with doing art for money? It's still creative, it's still art. What's wrong with giving people what they want i.e. selling out? Someone's getting entertained, somebody else is getting paid.

---

Well, from a certain point-of-view, the problem is that you're potentially perpetuating stupidity and mediocrity. I think this is a different issue though - there's nothing wrong with making money from music - i just think that it can and often does lead to shit when it is a NECESSITY to make music, rather than something you do when you are feeling it.

machina

I understand and agree with what machina is saying. I would like to add that most music that is a NECESSITY in terms of an income, by nature of the process becomes formulaic and results in a bland and unimaginative format. Each song is "typical" and more akin to a jingle rather than an emotive expression.

Having said that, music for film or advertising or Pop-music requires this approach and is therefore a business orientation. Its unfortunate that this format of music is accepted as mainstream and generally what all other music is measured against. We get truly creative original compositions measured against a very low common denominator. Thats what economics does to everything we do in this day and age.

I have struck a happy medium whereby I work just enough hours in a physically intensive job (to provide money & exercise at the same time) which allows me to upgrade gear and pay bills without tying me down too much. I find that after doing this for a while I now have a great cycle with no guilt and plenty of opportunity for stimulation in order to create Live sets & tracks. I have tried many methods but this is by far the best set-up for me ever :)

I have never expected to live off my music financially....its purely for a lifestyle for me.

Quote:

---

Well, from a certain point-of-view, the problem is that you're potentially perpetuating stupidity and mediocrity. I think this is a different issue though - there's nothing wrong with making money from music - i just think that it can and often does lead to shit when it is a NECESSITY to make music, rather than something you do when you are feeling it.

---

I dunno man - aren't there plenty of people out there doing a good job of work they hate? Even creative work?

What about someone who likes techno, but hates the process of producing it, and does so anyway? What about someone who's a good producer, but hates the result, but knows that others like it?

It seems to me that people are very fast to couple the act of creation and the reasons for it with the result. Sure it's a huge advantage if you're into what you're making, but I don't think stupidity and mediocrity are necessarily the result if you're not, either...nor if you're just doing it for the money. Doing a good job regardless of those factors has a name; "professionalism".

For me music has always been about getting about and meeting new people, going new places and enjoying making music.

It's both a therapy and a drug. Im lucky, my job means that i work in studios and with artists all day long, and i can get to learn to play instruments.

Music already pays my bills for me, but not in a way that will give me fame and fortune.