Sharing your music.... When it's not very good

[Hink]

No service in my background, but my high school didn't have any doors on their bathrooms either, as over the years the school became more and more run down with rampant drug use, many, many fights, race riots, etc. so they finally removed doors to prevent stuff from happening in there, before I even showed up.

At least you had the option of holding it until you got home. When you were living in barracks, your only other option would have been to sneak into the bushes in the night with a shovel, dig a hole and shit into that. And believe me, nobody had the energy at the end of the day to be doing that.

I went over the very top bar (I had to stand on the second to last and the top one was a reach over my head). One cannot fathom that feeling without being there, no support, no net, no cables holding you...if you fell, you fell, if it was from the top your parents were getting 25k.

Do you reckon you'd have the mental toughness to do it today? I don't think I could do it physically and I'm sure I don't have that mental confidence any more, where physical challenges are concerned. But those courses made me almost fearless at the time. I used to sneak up after dinner in the summer, when it was still light, and do the course on my own. Without the PT instructors screaming at you, you have time to realise how stupidly dangerous it all is but you do it anyway.

Right around 1980, mothers pestered congress and got laws changed to make bootcamp more humane, and we saw it with new soldiers coming in.

Interestingly, I found the Regular Army training to be a lot softer than what I'd experienced in the Army Reserve as a civilian, first in basic training and then later, between my full-time stints, when training for Commandos. The scariest thing I had to do in Commandos was to go down a 25m cliff forwards (face first) on a rope that you weren't actually attached to, it just ran around and between your legs. We wore these sheepskin shorts and gloves to protect us from rope burns but if you lost concentration for a second or you got your foot jammed, you were going straight down to the rocks below. Great times!

The coolest thing is that I ended up running a platoon in Recruit Training (Boot Camp) as a LT. To see the changes in those kids over the course of 11 weeks was easily the greatest job satisfaction I had during my service. I worked my arse off - in the office at 6am (reveille), immaculately dressed, did pretty much everything with the recruits through the day and then still in the office at 10pm (lights out), usually in a fresh uniform after dinner. I've never worked so bloody hard in my life but I loved every minute of it.

mentally I dont know, physically no way...it would depend on the motivator.

As for how boot camp was, I have no idea what the experience was in Australia, just like you couldnt know how mine was... I also believe you were an officer. I think that might be why GS said it as he did...two types, those who went to boot camp and those who didnt. I was merely trying to describe what my experience was, there is no room for judgement or oneupmanship .

I do wonder if I would have got all I did out of bootcamp if it wasnt for the type of drill sgts I had...bootcamp was an amazing experience for me, less than two months out of high school. Honestly I think it would have been quite similar because a lot of that growth was also just from being there. It was also the scariest thing, I was just out of high school, away from home with no window to return home. But still those first few days were unbelievably life changing.

I then did something very stupid before going to fort hood, I got married (on black friday we made it about 3 years). That too though shaped me a lot, my young wife (she was 18 I was 19) and I left for Texas in my truck with all we could carry for a very long trip to the unknown, with 430 dollars between us. These things shaped me for life.

Another thing was as I said I was a very small kid (but I went to a very tough high school), my parents put me in self defense classes in grade school.* I came home from bootcamp for a couple weeks, I was in a car with friends, some local punks were giving my friends a hard time and then one yelled "hey is that Hinckley in the car afraid to come out?"

You dont get super jock at bootcamp without having massive physical changes to you appearance, I stepped out of the car, one of them commented on my haircut, but that was it, they got in their car and got out of there...the look on their face. Of course my firends all wanted me to Billy Jack on them, I didnt...but the look on those faces

Bootcamp taught me so much, it gave me confidence and tools I still use today...how tough bootcamp is is a personal thing, what truly matters is what you take from it imo...I went from a small boy to a man, a well tuned machined and you bet many is the time I have reminded myself of that and drawn from that. I do wonder how I would have survived my last 5+ years without that confidence, losing my wife the way I did and once again packing up for a huge move. But as can be witnessed here by many, I nailed it.

For me this is not a case of an inflated ego, this is pride, I accomplished something I should take pride in that.

* hand to hand combat the drill sgt asked if anyone had self defense/martial arts training, a few of us raised our hands. We had to relearn that...I'll never forget his words..."WE ARE NOT TEACHING YOU TO BE DEFEND YOURSELF, THIS IS HAND TO HAND COMBAT, WE ARE TEACHING YOU TO KILL".

[Hink]

You aren't making arguments on what's said, you're twisting things to attack a person.

Hello hello? Who's there? Pot calling kettle!

You seem to have a personal vendetta. It looks rather ugly and tasteless from here.

the biggest twist though, that post she responded too with that attack was 12 years old.

[BertKoor]

Yeah, I noticed that too. You'd have to scroll 4 pages back to see it from the point it was necro'ed.
Preoccupation and fury makes partially blind. Quite similar to love, actually

[harryupbabble]

my definition of "very good" is...
everything in my music collection.

that sounds overopinionated but
isn't that everybody else's
definition of "very good"?

i mean if it isn't very good then
what's it doing in your music collection?

so, i compare my music to what's in my music collection.
and i'm like "damn, my music isn't very good".
i have the ramones in my music collection.
my music is not even very good compared to the ramones.

but i'm working on it.
and right now, it's going to remain not shared.
thank me.
cos it's not very good.

[melomood]

Yeah, I noticed that too. You'd have to scroll 4 pages back to see it from the point it was necro'ed.
Preoccupation and fury makes partially blind. Quite similar to love, actually

and I,for one,think it's about you all just got a room

with free cable

[zerocrossing]

Don’t waste people’s time and contributing to the noise of the internet.

This. Absolutely.

Sometimes I try to play my old tracks and boy, they are so weirdly mixed it's an instant no-go. Some ideas were hit or miss, but it's better to move on and make new, better tunes.

"Sharing on the internet" is also futile. If a track is good enough, a label will pick it and share all over the internet on its own.

Or not. I’m aware of many artists producing great work that never got any recognition, despite trying for a long time. Luck has a lot to do with it. I do agree, though, that posting on the internet is basically futile.

[vurt]

Don’t waste people’s time and contributing to the noise of the internet.

This. Absolutely.

Sometimes I try to play my old tracks and boy, they are so weirdly mixed it's an instant no-go. Some ideas were hit or miss, but it's better to move on and make new, better tunes.

"Sharing on the internet" is also futile. If a track is good enough, a label will pick it and share all over the internet on its own.

Or not. I’m aware of many artists producing great work that never got any recognition, despite trying for a long time. Luck has a lot to do with it. I do agree, though, that posting on the internet is basically futile.

does that not depend what you hope to achieve by doing so?
if you're hoping to make money/get gigs then maybe?

i started sharing years ago, as i wanted help, so giving a wip helped others see what i needed help with.
now i do it because after i stopped, a few people asked me to.
otherwise, im more than happy with the process, the output is a bi-product of that

[zerocrossing]

I just wanted to point out that I’ve recently listened to tracks from Jan and Vintage Pads that sounded as good as any commercial releases I’ve purchased. I’ve got a friend in England who sent me a track that’s still stuck in my head after one listen. Why aren’t they signed to a major label and raking in the cash is something I don’t understand.

[vurt]

oh there i agree totally, there are so many artists who deserve so much more. sadly i think that's always been the case, even when the major labels were willing to take chances, there was so much of the bands they did record that they then didn't promote, let alone the ones who got nothing.

[vurt]

i think all we can do in that situation, is give encouragement and appreciation that they shared it with us.
or if they have it, patreon/paypal a few dollars if you're able.

[zerocrossing]

Don’t waste people’s time and contributing to the noise of the internet.

This. Absolutely.

Sometimes I try to play my old tracks and boy, they are so weirdly mixed it's an instant no-go. Some ideas were hit or miss, but it's better to move on and make new, better tunes.

"Sharing on the internet" is also futile. If a track is good enough, a label will pick it and share all over the internet on its own.

Or not. I’m aware of many artists producing great work that never got any recognition, despite trying for a long time. Luck has a lot to do with it. I do agree, though, that posting on the internet is basically futile.

does that not depend what you hope to achieve by doing so?
if you're hoping to make money/get gigs then maybe?

i started sharing years ago, as i wanted help, so giving a wip helped others see what i needed help with.
now i do it because after i stopped, a few people asked me to.
otherwise, im more than happy with the process, the output is a bi-product of that

It took me a long time to realize that I’m happiest during the process, and most miserable when doing live shows, even though I’ve had some amazing experiences. I’ve never been able to make a decent living doing music, and I like sleeping in my own bed a lot.

From what I can see, the music industry is like a lottery where you can buy a ticket (get to a professional level) or just print a ticket. (F around with your computer and some software) I hear a lot of pop music that just sounds like pleasant sounds arranged in a non offensive way. It’s fine, but mostly it seems like execs are just being lazy and looking for the path with the least amount of risk. If you’ve managed to get enough subscribers on your YouTube channel, it really doesn’t matter how good or bad your music is. It’s a popularity contest. The best thing you can do is sell all your expensive gear and put it into advertising.

[zerocrossing]

oh there i agree totally, there are so many artists who deserve so much more. sadly i think that's always been the case, even when the major labels were willing to take chances, there was so much of the bands they did record that they then didn't promote, let alone the ones who got nothing.

What if there was some mechanism where there was not such a focus on superstardom? I’m no economist, but when you become something like a UI designer for games (my profession) you have your people who work on AAA releases, but also guys like me who make a decent living doing smaller or even independent games. I don’t need a mansion in the south of France and my own plane. I’m happy with a small condo in the suburbs and a trip to Florida every few years. There doesn’t seem to be such a position in the music business. Not as a musician writing original songs, at least.

[Hink]

[ghettosynth]

Don’t waste people’s time and contributing to the noise of the internet.

This. Absolutely.

Sometimes I try to play my old tracks and boy, they are so weirdly mixed it's an instant no-go. Some ideas were hit or miss, but it's better to move on and make new, better tunes.

"Sharing on the internet" is also futile. If a track is good enough, a label will pick it and share all over the internet on its own.

Or not. I’m aware of many artists producing great work that never got any recognition, despite trying for a long time. Luck has a lot to do with it. I do agree, though, that posting on the internet is basically futile.

Except that it's fun and satisfying to fill up other people's hard drives with nonsense.

[vurt]

Don’t waste people’s time and contributing to the noise of the internet.

This. Absolutely.

Sometimes I try to play my old tracks and boy, they are so weirdly mixed it's an instant no-go. Some ideas were hit or miss, but it's better to move on and make new, better tunes.

"Sharing on the internet" is also futile. If a track is good enough, a label will pick it and share all over the internet on its own.

Or not. I’m aware of many artists producing great work that never got any recognition, despite trying for a long time. Luck has a lot to do with it. I do agree, though, that posting on the internet is basically futile.

Except that it's fun and satisfying to fill up other people's hard drives with nonsense.

its what i do! and i do it the bestest!