Pt.5 Working With Pros – The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your First Release 

By Daniel Nesci

So, you’ve decided that you want to get some external musicians/engineers or you’re still pondering the thought. This is all going to be about working with them, when to send your music, how to approach, how to respond to their rejection/acceptance of your music and paying their rates. 

Everything centres around professionalism and before you send anything to anyone you need to consider a lot of things from the perspective of whoever you’re reaching out to. Some questions to ask yourself before sending your music to someone:

• Has this person worked on a similar genre/artist? 

• Have they done what I’m asking of them in the past? 

• Am I willing to pay them for their time? 

• Is my music of a high enough quality for them to feel comfortable putting their name on the credits?

 

Ask those questions, if any of them are less than a definitive yes, go back and re-evaluate. When working with professionals there is no room to be half sure about these things and it’ll make the entire process so much more smooth if the foundations for your professional relationship start correctly. 

This first point I learnt the hard way – when to send someone your music and more importantly when not to. I remember being fifteen and sending a mix engineer (who had done some of my favourite records) a demo, I thought they’d want to hear the demo so we could book in advance and then I’d get all the final recordings done by the time he’d want to start. What I got back was less than ideal, I got a firm no with the addition of telling me why he didn’t want to work on it, “pitchy” was a word that has long stayed with me since and it’s a habit of mine now to scope new music over and over looking for pitchy parts. 

I’m not going to lie to you and say it’s a nice feeling but it was probably the best thing that could’ve happened early on in my writing journey. About 16 months later, I sent him a completely unrelated and different track, he mixed it and we’ve never worked on anything since. For me, I just wanted him to mix one song for me so I could right a wrong, but the lesson stands firm. Never send a professional your music before it’s properly recorded and could be hypothetically taken and worked on in that exact moment. Be patient and get it right so you can avoid being smacked down by a prominent figure you would’ve liked to work with. 

How do you handle something like that, it’s the exact same way you handle it when the reaction is the complete opposite and they’d like to work on it. You’re grateful they’ve taken a listen and taken the time to evaluate your music and make a decision. Unfortunately, you aren’t equals at this moment, you are an unproven artist asking an established one to put their name alongside yours on a release. They are going to make sure it’s good before they agree to anything. 

The best advice I ever got from anyone in the music scene is the same engineer who rejected me when I was 15 and worked with me later but this was it. It totally changed the way I viewed creating music.

“The best thing to remember is you guys don’t have to be incredible at everything and if you care about your music, you should put effort and attention into the stuff that matters.”

The last area I want to address is rates. Never expect anyone to do anything for free, ever. This is especially true if you are reaching out to someone really established, they will have their set rate for whatever the job you’re asking them to do. Don’t negotiate, don’t offer up favours, just pay it. Remember, they are trying to make a living too and you waste their time and come off a lot less professional if you’re trying to get their prices down. 

The main takeaways, don’t send something till it’s ready, just be patient. Take rejection and acceptance with grace and learn something from both scenarios. Finally, just remember the other side of this and consider the interactions from their perspective in regards to pay and quality. A name in music does mean a lot so pride yourself on the quality of music because you don’t have a name or anything else yet.

 

Previous/Following Articles:

Index

Part 1 – Logistics

Part 2 – Creating The Music

Part 3 – Perfection vs Completion

Part 4 – Should I Record DIY?

Part 6 – The Feedback Process

Part 7 – Release Cycles

Check Art As Catharsis’ latest releases on Bandcamp.

 

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