Heres a new remix for yall, no samples used in the beat, all original. Vocals are copyright Raheem and Ludacris and RCA/JIVE
Download high quality version here (Right Click and Save Target As..)
Oh and…Leave a comment 
Musician 2.0 – Time to upgrade ourselves
Raheem feat. Ludacris (AJ REMIX)
7 Common Mistakes To Avoid As A Musician 2.0
What’s your focus?
As a digital musician musician 2.0, your primary focus should always be on accumulating new fans, maintaining existing fans and satisfying all fans.
Easier said than done right?
Believe me, I know.
Background
In the beginning of this year, as a new year’s resolution, I decided to finally get off my ass and do something i’ve been putting off for a long time. It was then that I realized becoming a Ninja is a lot harder than it seems. After that realization, I tried my hand at quitting smoking. I did pretty well for a couple of hours.
After two failed attempts at sticking to a resolution but always a trooper, I felt like I should do something that would benefit my crew and my music: So I turned a room in my basement into a little recording studio.
Long story short, with Alex’s help, building the studio was a success and Redroom Records was alive.
However, what came after that was a different story.
We made full use of the studio, and in the next couple of months Redroom Records released a demo CD titled ‘All You See Is Red’. I still have a bunch of them left, collecting dust in my trunk. For anyone interested, theyre free. We also created a MySpace account, Blog, Facebook group, Facebook Fan Page, Reverbnation account, you name it. Our fanbase grew at a rapid pace initially, and it gave us a lot of confidence. What we really failed to do was maintain that leverage and continue to increase growth.
We felt like we did everything right but we were wrong.
NI Guitar Rig is fun
Figure 1
How I Use Native Instruments Guitar Rig In My Studio
I love the fact that I dont have to OWN a guitar amp to have some amazing guitar sounds at my disposal. I’ve been a Guitar Rig user since it first came out and if you play the guitar its the most fun you’ll ever have.
Its even more fun when you’re recording. One of the coolest features of Guitar Rig is the ability to assign MIDI parameters to almost ANY knob/fader/button in the entire program! This means you can use your midi keyboard to control say the on/off of a distortion pedal, or the expression of a wah-pedal. Its amazing how simple it is.
If you are running the stand-alone version of Guitar rig, go to File->Audio and Midi Settings -> MIDI and make sure your midi input is ON as shown in figure 1
Then you can right click on any knob/slider or button in Guitar rig, click “Learn” and then press/move the key or fader on your keyboard that you would like to assign to that controller. (figure 2)
Figure 2
If you have a keyboard with sustain and expression inputs it is absolutely perfect for recording. I usually have a wah and distortion running into a clean amp with my sustain pedal set to turn the distortion on/off and the expression pedal set to control the wah amount.
I was messing around with Guitar Rig earlier, and recorded a little tune, its all improvised on the guitar and all the arrangement was done in FL Studio.
Check it out, i know its not the greatest but it was fun as hell to do
2012, The Digital Music Revolution and the Death of the Record Label
I’ve done quite a bit of research on this because I am a big fan of conspiracy theories. I have a very wild imagination and conspiracy theories are perfect fuel for my imagination. Conspirators claim the world will come to an end according to an ancient Mayan calendar that ends on this specific year. Other religions also mention this same year, but it really is impossible to say what they really thought was going to happen in that year, or what is really going to happen.
The hype about 2012 these days is really because of a movie with the same name coming out tomorrow. Roland Emmerich depicts his vision of the end of the world in his latest addition to his obsession of ‘destroy the planet/human race’ movies. He is also behind ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ , ‘Godzilla’ and ‘Independence Day’ to name a few
This is not the first time people have hyped up about a global catastrophe.
Y2K anyone?
On the flip side, there are people who say that 2012 does not represent the END OF THE WORLD, however it does represent the end of a dark age. Hindus believe the same thing. They say the dark ages will end and a spiritual awakening will occur in the human race. This will be the beginning of a new consciousness, a new society, all living in harmony.
That sounds so much more appealing doesn’t it?
I personally want to believe this one, and honestly hope that it does come true.
On a related note, I have my own beliefs about the year 2012. Let me take a minute to share them with you.
This relates directly to all of us digital musicians, and the future music producer 2.0s
We are currently witnessing first hand, a revolution in the music industry. It is happening right under our noses. This is not a conspiracy, it is as real as it gets. This revolution is providing all of us digital musicians with an equal, unbiased opportunity to get heard. It is providing music enthusiasts with an unfiltered collection of music from all over the world.
The Internet
I don’t think I even have to mention Napster here, if you don’t know what Napster has done for online music, you should do some studying.
I started posting my own music online in 2000 using Mp3.com and Soundclick.com. I was making music for 5 years before Youtube showed up and took things to a next level. Youtube first showed up in 2005 and is now a household phenomenon. Anybody and their grand mother can be on youtube and all they need is a webcam. The point I’m trying to make is that everyone can be heard now.
If you are a digital musician, the next 3 years will be the most important of our lives.
It is the invention of the radio ALL OVER AGAIN except this time, everyone has their own radio station!
What do you hear on commercial radio these days? Just a few artists that big mogul record labels choose to promote. i.e., we hear what they want us to hear.
20 years ago, a10 year old kid would listen to the radio and never dream that he would be able to make his own songs from the comfort of his own bedroom, let alone have the whole world hear it!
Nowadays, a 10 year old kid can dazzle the world on Youtube with his drumming skills, a 17 year old aspiring singer can feel like a star because she actually has a million fans across the world.
I firmly believe I know for a fact that anyone that is interested in making music can do it. All you need is a computer and a couple of other very affordable items.
Another one of my beliefs is that if you are already making music, you can make a living.
The record industry is dying folks, but music is more alive than ever before. More and more independent labels are sprouting up, there are more musicians online than ever before.
Take these words in:
A record deal is not what you want.
Come Again?
Okay let me rephrase.
A record deal is NOT what you should be LOOKING for
Okay, so, what should I be looking for?
What you should really be looking for is to create a very strong online presence for yourself / your band. You will thank yourself in 3 years. I promise you if you start building your online presence NOW, and exploring the right avenues for online marketing and promotion (stay tuned for future blog posts), by 2012 you will have a loyal fan-base that will buy your music and support you, not only in your local area, but all over the world.
The possibilities for your band with a well presented website, a well written blog, active social network pages, like facebook, youtube and a twitter account (and a little bit of dedication and creativity) will prove to be much more beneficial in the coming years than spending time and money chasing after a dying record label.
Take your music career into your own hands, start making music that YOU love making. Stay away from the major labels, they will only try to bastardize your music and rob you of your creativity. Market yourself. With the help of the internet, the world is at your fingertips. LITERALLY.
The time to act is now.
My fellow musicians, THIS is the way of the music producer 2.0
By 2012, You will be too busy making music and running your own music business to care about the end of the world.
More to come,
Stay tuned!
-AJ
P.S If you make music, you can make money selling your music online. However, you have to make sure you have good quality music. That is absolutely essential. The fact that it is so easy to spread your music around naturally means that your music needs to sound professional. Keep up-to-date with this blog for a wealth of knowledge on mixing and making your music sound professional.
What is this 2012 obsession all of a sudden?
I’ve done quite a bit of research on this because I am a big fan of conspiracy theories. I have a very wild imagination and conspiracy theories are perfect fuel for it. Conspirators claim the world will come to an end according to an ancient Mayan calendar that ends on this specific year. Other religions also mention this same year, but it really is impossible to say what they really thought was going to happen, or what is really going to happen.
The recent hype about 2012 is primarily because of a movie with the same name coming out tomorrow. Roland Emmerich depicts his vision of the end of the world in his latest addition to his obsession of ‘destroy the planet/human race’ movies. He is also behind ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ , ‘Godzilla’ and ‘Independence Day’ to name a few.
This is not the first time people have hyped up about a global catastrophe.
Y2K anyone?
On the flip side, there are people who say that 2012 does not represent the END OF THE WORLD, however it does represent the end of a dark age. Hindus believe the same thing. They say the dark ages will end and a spiritual awakening will occur in the human race. This will be the beginning of a new consciousness, a new society, all living in harmony.
That sounds so much more appealing doesn’t it?
I personally want to believe this one, and honestly hope that it does come true.
On a related note, I have my own beliefs about the year 2012. Let me take a minute to share them with you.
This relates directly to all of us digital musicians, and the future music producer 2.0s
We are currently witnessing first hand, a revolution in the music industry. It is happening right under our noses. This is not a conspiracy, it is as real as it gets. This revolution is providing all of us digital musicians with an equal, unbiased opportunity to get heard. It is providing music enthusiasts with an unfiltered collection of music from all over the world.
Welcome
y!
I just wanted to take a quick second to introduce my vision for this blog
I have been producing music for about 9 years. I started off, like many other people, as a bored highschool kid with nothing better to do. I was a good kid, I chose to stay home behind locked doors for hours on end with my headphones on learning the ins and outs of production, recording, mixing and mastering. There were no resources like Youtube etc. at the time so forums were the ideal spot for someone like me to hang out. It was in these forums that I got acquainted with some very knowledgable people. You could say they were my ‘gurus’ in a way.
I began with Fruity Loops 3.0 (now FL Studio) with a passion for making Hiphop and R&B instrumentals. I sold a good deal of beats online under my old alias ‘Insidious Productions’. It is during this time that I learned the importance of online marketing and networking.
Since then, i’ve moved on to experimenting with other genres of music, creating scores for short films, trailers and advertisements.
The most common question I get from people that are just starting out is the infamous ‘Why don’t my tracks sound like the pros?’
Besides the fact that the pros have multi-million dollar recording studio budgets, there are still a LOT of little things that you can apply to your own home bred productions that can not only step up your quality tenfold, but also fool your listeners to think that you too are working in a multi-million dollar studio!
Aspiring digital musicians these days have a massive wealth of resources at their fingertips. I will give you exclusive insight into my own knowledge of producing, recording and mixing. On top of that, I will also let you into my personal collection of sounds and samples that I’ve collected or made over the years.
That being said, I hope all of you can use this blog as a stepping stone and a valuable resource on your road to becoming a professional music producer 2.0
Thanks, and stay tuned
-AJ
Hey!
I just wanted to take a quick second to introduce my vision for this blog. Forgive me for the length, let me get everything off my chest and then we can move on. (Or you can just skip right to the bottom and listen to a track i made, lol)
Me
I have been producing music for about 9 years. I started off, like many other people, as a bored highschool kid with nothing better to do. I was a good kid, I chose to stay home behind locked doors for hours on end with my headphones on learning the ins and outs of production, recording, mixing and mastering. There were no resources like Youtube etc. at the time so forums were the ideal spot for someone like me to hang out. It was in these forums that I got acquainted with some very knowledgable people. You could say they were my ‘gurus’ in a way.
I began with Fruity Loops 3.0 (now FL Studio) with a passion for making Hiphop and R&B instrumentals. I sold a good deal of beats online under my old alias ‘Insidious Productions’. I was always into music, producing my artists, doing shows, but failed to see the importance of creating and maintaining an online brand for our music. I realized this was a big mistake.
This is when I learned the importance of online marketing and networking. If you are a digital musician this is the most important thing.
Purpose
The most common question I get from music producers that are just starting out is the infamous ‘Why don’t my tracks sound like the pros?’
Besides the fact that the pros have multi-million dollar recording studio budgets, there are still a LOT of little things that you can apply to your own home bred productions that can not only step up your quality tenfold, but also fool your listeners to think that you too are working in a multi-million dollar studio!
Aspiring digital musicians these days have a massive wealth of resources at their fingertips. I will give you exclusive insight into my own knowledge of producing, recording and mixing, as well as the knowledge of other people that I have grown to admire over the years (whether they know it yet or not, you will hear from me guys). On top of that, I will also let you into my personal collection of sounds and samples that I’ve made over the years for my own personal use.
That being said, I hope all of you can use this blog as a stepping stone and a valuable resource on your road to upgrading yourself to musician 2.0. I know I will.
In the meantime, check out this track
Thanks, and stay tuned
-AJ
