+1,000,000
(I'm so glad this is available again - it was taken down at one point...)
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
+1,000,000
(I'm so glad this is available again - it was taken down at one point...)
Chipping away at my next track. I’m going for hardware synth and electric bass on this one. The learning curve is killing me. But that BOUM is totally gonna be a key player.
Okay, time to pick your brains, or what's left of them after all of your noisemaking.
I'm finally getting over my mental obstacles and preparing some releases over my winter break. Likely one for the duo, and perhaps two or three of my own. Just curious on some ideas here, as I've never done this before.
For my own stuff, I have potentially three albums. One in the more upbeat synth vein (mostly beatless or minimal, but not formless drony ambient), a more classic ambient release, and my 'decay' series of strange recordings of deteriorated weird loopy stuff.
Two things I'm struggling with... release all three at once? Also, the decay stuff is very different than most of my other stuff. Should I put it out under a different project name? It's all going to be on the same bandcamp page, along with the duo's release. Most of my stuff is gonna be in the synth vein, the decay is likely a one-off - my reasoning for a different project name is if someone hears that first, they may think that's my main thing, and might not get around to the ambient stuff that will be my main thing. Thoughts/reasoning if you have any?
Bandcamp's the main platform, but if you have any good ideas on promo, that'd be appreciated, too. Total noob at this thing.
I'm finally getting over my mental obstacles and preparing some releases over my winter break. Likely one for the duo, and perhaps two or three of my own. Just curious on some ideas here, as I've never done this before.
For my own stuff, I have potentially three albums. One in the more upbeat synth vein (mostly beatless or minimal, but not formless drony ambient), a more classic ambient release, and my 'decay' series of strange recordings of deteriorated weird loopy stuff.
Two things I'm struggling with... release all three at once? Also, the decay stuff is very different than most of my other stuff. Should I put it out under a different project name? It's all going to be on the same bandcamp page, along with the duo's release. Most of my stuff is gonna be in the synth vein, the decay is likely a one-off - my reasoning for a different project name is if someone hears that first, they may think that's my main thing, and might not get around to the ambient stuff that will be my main thing. Thoughts/reasoning if you have any?
Bandcamp's the main platform, but if you have any good ideas on promo, that'd be appreciated, too. Total noob at this thing.
I think it depends on what specific goals you have with each project\release.
I suck at the promo\social media also since I don’t use any. I do have ghost accounts for my band’s facebook page though.
One of my best buddies is kinda « big » in the music booking\promo bizz and is always telling me that I’m doing it wrong. (he’s 100% on point, but I only have so much time and I %^&*% loathe social media with a passion)
Personally I wouldn’t release all the stuff at once, too much to digest in a short period of time. I would release at specific intervals. (once every month, 6 weeks). No reason to rush dropping albums IMO.
The downside to having a different names for different releases is doing even more promo and social media work.
If project A has an album out with 1000 listens on BC and you want release B on another name you have to start from zero. Personally, I dont mind artist doing different things on each release.
For my bands latest release, we only had a teaser post on FB with new banners and profile pics. Then release the next day on BC. We could have done more but, hey it is what it is.
My 2 cents.
Last edited:
All good ideas worth considering. If I went with the 'same artist' approach, I wonder if it may make more sense to do the decay album last, as I can kind of promote it as a 'different side' of me or whatever.
The social media work is what I'm not looking forward to, as I absolutely hate social media. The only reason I even have a FB acct is for music.
Is your stuff on any of the streaming services?
I've thought of making shore promo compilation videos for each. Thanks!
Promo YT vids are a big GO FOR IT. (it is the #1 thing my buddy is always telling to do, but I have zero video skills).
Then share on FB, IG and all that %?*&&. Fun Fun.
We decided as a band, that BC would be the only source to access our music. We avoided Spotify etc...because it kinda goes against our philosophy.
Does it hurt us? Probably, but we dont care.
Its really easy to get on those if you decide to do so.
For my solo stuff, it doesnt matter because nobody listens to it anyways.
My old band did the whole band pic bio promo kit. It made me want to puke every time. Interviews in mags, blogs. Its all so fake and depressing. 20 interviews at heavy mtl was torture, every second of it sucked.
I was the odd man out, as usual.
Just saying this to tell you that Ive seen all sides of this music bizz.
Last edited:
My main question would be: What do you hope to achieve? Do you just want people to listen to your music? Do you want to sell your music? Is it just going to be people that you know like here or on other social media, or do you want to try and build an audience?
I can only speak from my own experience - I've been sharing my music for free online since around 2003 (myspace, audiostreet, etc.), my main outlet has been Soundcloud for about 11 years. I finally decided in 2018 to start a Bandcamp page to try and sell some music instead of just giving it away. I have only ever posted it on my Facebook / Instagram / Twitter accounts, or forums like this one. Most of my tracks from 10 years ago have about 2-300 plays, though one has 1300. One of my band pages on Bandcamp has been up for 3 years - I have 500 plays and 8 sales! Basically, the only people that have bought my music are friends and musician friends. I like for people to have the option certainly, but I'm not in this for the money, my goal is basically for people to listen to my music.
One interesting experience I had - someone I went to high school with whose band I played in (I was a couple of years younger) contacted me out of the blue and asked me to play on his album. I jumped at the chance, it was very challenging but also extremely rewarding. That track has the most plays of anything I've played on - 2000 in the first month or so, 5000 in three years. I asked what he did, he said Facebook but also sending out to various music blogs, including Link Removed which reviewed the album. Here's the crazy thing - the most recent track on my own page ended up getting a bunch of plays too! After 5 years it has 1500. Was it spillover from his track? Was my track advertised by someone else without me knowing it? I never figured it out. I have since put that track on Bandcamp - in the 10 months since I released it, only 37 plays and 2 sales, so I have obviously not mastered this system!
I think that YouTube is a good idea - a couple of my videos regularly get 100-200 views a day - I have no idea why! Possibly YouTube is suggesting it somewhere. You never know - so add tags to your description. Now if only I could figure this whole thing out and monetize it...
Yeah, it's not 2002 anymore. I don't plan on doing that. Thanks again.
Primarily, it's about listens, I don't really need the money. I think I just need to find out more about what effective options are out there, I certainly don't wanna half-ass it.
many good points made before mine . . .
in terms of the bandcamp thing, i've done as my name plus project name plus the "album title" (steuart liebig/default mode network + "xxxxxx") or just my name plus the title.
live duo/trio/quartet projects i do as the name of the ensemble plus the album title. the only downside to this is that it shows up as your name in the link.
i haven't sussed out how to do more than one page (and i need to because i have 14 or so compact discs that i need to make available on bc, but need to be separate).
i stopped worrying about plays a long time ago (mine are minuscule, of course). some things sell, which is always fun but a little embarrassing when it's my friends (i'd just give it to them for free).
i price according to the time/energy/money spent on the creation process.
my thought on the whole process is that it's a bit akin to an ongoing catalogue raissonné; i'm not worried about "cohesion," i'm concerned with putting out a document of my process (for whatever reason).
social media:
fb is kind of good, but there are *so many* people doing this stuff. ime, if you're lucky, you'll get some listens and a few sales (hey, i've saved enough to buy some cables!). sometimes people will cross-post if they like it enough. caveat, of course, is that you need to *be there* and interact, and be adept at pimping yourself (i am not). and it takes some time to build a "rep" . . . (and none of that is a guarantee)
ig, imo, is kind for worthless, as people have to go into the bio section for links—very inhospitable to someone who wants a quick fix. i post some alb pics, but that's about it.
yt is something that i haven't dealt with so far (aging luddite), but need to. everything of mine up there is other folks posting gig stuff, things cd baby posted of my albs or a few "sonic postcards" i put up there for grins.
tb is social media, in my view. that being said, i'll post stuff i've done to this thread cause y'all are fellow travelers (i.e. crazy) . . . the fodera thread, eh, not so much cause i'm a complete outlier there.
in terms of the bandcamp thing, i've done as my name plus project name plus the "album title" (steuart liebig/default mode network + "xxxxxx") or just my name plus the title.
live duo/trio/quartet projects i do as the name of the ensemble plus the album title. the only downside to this is that it shows up as your name in the link.
i haven't sussed out how to do more than one page (and i need to because i have 14 or so compact discs that i need to make available on bc, but need to be separate).
i stopped worrying about plays a long time ago (mine are minuscule, of course). some things sell, which is always fun but a little embarrassing when it's my friends (i'd just give it to them for free).
i price according to the time/energy/money spent on the creation process.
my thought on the whole process is that it's a bit akin to an ongoing catalogue raissonné; i'm not worried about "cohesion," i'm concerned with putting out a document of my process (for whatever reason).
social media:
fb is kind of good, but there are *so many* people doing this stuff. ime, if you're lucky, you'll get some listens and a few sales (hey, i've saved enough to buy some cables!). sometimes people will cross-post if they like it enough. caveat, of course, is that you need to *be there* and interact, and be adept at pimping yourself (i am not). and it takes some time to build a "rep" . . . (and none of that is a guarantee)
ig, imo, is kind for worthless, as people have to go into the bio section for links—very inhospitable to someone who wants a quick fix. i post some alb pics, but that's about it.
yt is something that i haven't dealt with so far (aging luddite), but need to. everything of mine up there is other folks posting gig stuff, things cd baby posted of my albs or a few "sonic postcards" i put up there for grins.
tb is social media, in my view. that being said, i'll post stuff i've done to this thread cause y'all are fellow travelers (i.e. crazy) . . . the fodera thread, eh, not so much cause i'm a complete outlier there.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
My and the gf tested positive for covid early this week (we’re fine. Basically flu kinda stuff), so I’ve been looking for stuff to do with my free time. Spent two days saving/filing away homemade samples for my M8. Had a few ‘error read’ messages, which just came down to naming conventions. Especially when jamming with eurorack stuff, I’m glad I had the foresight to record hours of stuff into Logic so I could transfer stuff into the M8. It’s able to deal with samples of pretty much any length, so I’m gonna try to incorporate some of that into some ‘cinematic’ type things. I apologize in advance that I’ll likely be sharing some of that stuff here 
*how many times can a moron use the word ‘stuff’ in a single post?!
*how many times can a moron use the word ‘stuff’ in a single post?!
Now I feel compelled to do a Fab Four looking tribute band of ambient stuff.
The Beatless
(would get smashed by search engine suggestions and lawyers)
@lordradish I'm with the "do Bandcamp, stagger releases, maybe do a video, don't stress about it" crew. Social media engagement only really works if you are actually engaging with people and building community, if you are working the "influencer" angle, or you were already successful before you were on social media. Musically I don't have a ton of interest in Instagram--I actually want to listen to stuff longer than a minute. Facebook I use socially but am quick to move to keep toxic stuff off my wall. Twitter is just pointless from a musical standpoint (I'm on there for work stuff mostly).
@dukeorock so sorry to hear about the Covid! That sucks! Now it's my turn to ask a stupid question: I have never really worked out a process for getting samples "prepared" for something. My Octatrack really wants to either live sample or have stuff prepared for it and I have never treated it properly in that respect. What do you actually do? Do you listen to hours and hours of those Eurojams or just pull out little parts randomly? Or something else?
@dukeorock so sorry to hear about the Covid! That sucks! Now it's my turn to ask a stupid question: I have never really worked out a process for getting samples "prepared" for something. My Octatrack really wants to either live sample or have stuff prepared for it and I have never treated it properly in that respect. What do you actually do? Do you listen to hours and hours of those Eurojams or just pull out little parts randomly? Or something else?
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Probably not the best answer, but I go through everything. Last round took me two days to sift through. I could do another month or more to get to everything
For me, most eurorack jams are fun and I hear cool sounds, but nothing that sounds like a ‘song’ or whatever. Sifting through that stuff and loading it into the Octatrack or M8 has been fruitful. I just chop up sections into chunks. Anywhere from 1 bar to 2 or more minutes, though usually not more than 8-10 bars. Bounce em, label em and put em in a folder
More good things to consider.... I'm gonna take a closer look at your BC page, to see it. Thanks!
Thanks. I def agree about Twitter being useless (unless one has tons of followers). I recently deleted my Twitter account, as it was mostly politics stuff (namely, people paying attention to the 1/3 of the country experiencing mass psychosis), and don't plan on returning. I have minimal to no presence on FB/IG, so I'm still not sure how much effort I wanna put into it.
