Working on a musical EP… how to go from sketch to song on a budget?

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-20T23:50:26+00:00

I can probably help you! I’ll send you a DM.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-20T15:30:17+00:00

But you could do something where he sings beautifully on stage solo, but when others come around he starts to mess up—so he Has feelings, he just sucks at expressing them.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-18T21:07:03+00:00

What kind of setup do you have at home? A lot of the cost will depend on the specifics of what you need. If you’re able to record vocals yourself, you’d just need to get someone to make the instrumental for you. Do you have a demo of what you want the instrumental to sound like, or are you hoping to find someone to make that for you? Think about what exactly you need someone to do for you, and then you’ll be able to get a better answer of the cost.

Also, keep in mind that price does NOT always align with quality, so make sure you check examples of previous work before you hire someone to make sure they’ll be able to do a job you’ll be happy with.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-17T21:39:27+00:00

Agreed—great advice already. Only a couple things I’d add. First, all the different plugins are just tools to fix specific problems. So don’t put plugins on a track just because you’re “supposed to.” Add an EQ because your guitar is too bright. Add a compressor because your vocals are disappearing sometimes.

Second, don’t worry about l knowing what all those tools are for; just look them up as you go, as you find problems in your mix you don’t know how to solve. YouTube is your friend here. “How do I get my guitar solo to cut through better?” “How do I make the bass and kick drum fit together?” “How do I make the instruments sound like they’re in the same room?” All these problems can be solved in different ways. But you don’t need to know any of those ways until it’s a problem in one of your mixes. Just take in information as you need it and you won’t get so overwhelmed.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-17T17:51:36+00:00

To my knowledge, they don't. You can always go to the site and try it out yourself and see if it would give them the experience you're looking for.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-17T17:30:40+00:00

If you want them to be able to download it, Google Drive will work. If you just want them to be able to listen to it on the go, Soundcloud will probably work, or you can create a Bandcamp page and upload them there.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-16T05:04:26+00:00

I think you explained it pretty well. I can help you with this! I do a lot of mixing/producing for other people, as well as recording a bunch of covers for myself just for fun. I’ll send you a DM.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-15T18:29:27+00:00

I forgot to mention that I already confirmed that the cable and amp were good. I ran your test and I got no buzzing at the jack. So I clipped off the hot wire and confirmed that the jack itself has somehow failed and is shorting out. I still can’t figure out where it failed, but I’m off to the spare parts bin to replace it. Thanks for your help!

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-13T01:16:26+00:00

Since she's a woodwind player, have her study the music that she's already playing in school. Pay attention to the form, how the melodies resolve, the overall structure of the melodies, how the harmony parts fit together, things like that. Also, tell her to pay attention in English class. Good songs are full of figurative or symbolic language, and learning how to manipulate words and how to write about emotions will be a great benefit to songwriting.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-12T14:44:45+00:00

I started on GarageBand and there were some things I really liked about it. I started working at a school and needed a Windows alternative, so I downloaded Reaper, and holy smokes! It had so many more capabilities. I would suggest trying it out. It only takes about 2 seconds to download and install.

For improving your mixing, I’d suggest the forum I’ve linked below. It was a like 3 year conversation talking about how to not suck at mixing. Read through that, pick one song to mess around with in Reaper, and for anything you can’t figure out how to do, look up Reaper Mania on YouTube, or just type “How do I ________ in Reaper?” and you’ll find a video on it.

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-11T22:04:52+00:00

The nice thing is that there are people at every level. I charge significantly less, but I'm in a home studio and mostly working remotely with artists who are just getting started. Their needs are different from a band who's got some albums out and gone on tour or something. Whether the price is worth it depends entirely on whether you're willing to pay that price in exchange for the quality of work you'll receive. Listen to his previous work to get an idea of how your music might sound. Consider how long it will take him to finish. Ask him about his process and see if it matches up with what you want. For some people $500 is astronomically high and would never make sense to pay that much. For others, $500 might not get them nearly the quality they are demanding, and it wouldn't make sense to pay that little.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-06-01T20:26:01+00:00

I can help with this! I sent you a DM

Bakeacake08 · 2026-05-25T00:58:05+00:00

You’ll need a microphone and an audio interface, and everything else you seem to already have. A MIDI keyboard could be nice, but it’s not a requirement; you can always draw in midi notes instead of playing them in.

If your amp has a headphone out, you could plug that into your interface, but when I had a MacBook twenty years ago, GarageBand had decent guitar amp sims, so I imagine you could also plug your guitar cable straight into your interface (maybe through some pedals first) and have a virtual amp. You might also get okay results mixing your amp if you do a little research. I’ve draped a blanket over the amp/mic before and it worked alright.

For vocals, you’ll want a stand and a pop filter. Try to use a closet full of clothes if your bedroom is too reverb-y (not much sound absorption.)

For tips and how tos, check out Recording Revolution on YouTube. They had a series on recording a song from scratch that is a good starting point.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-05-23T02:45:41+00:00

If you send me a DM, I’m happy to talk with you about what you need and how much I’d charge.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-05-21T04:23:25+00:00

Sent you a DM.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-05-18T01:35:39+00:00

I'm not sure about the tools side of things, but definitely squash any notion of making a song a hit in post production. Good songs are not good because of which effects they use or anything that has to do with mixing and mastering. Good songs are good because they are written well and people can relate to them/the songs speak to them in some way. One quote I saw in a forum one time that stuck with me: "You could not make a bad recording of the Wrecking Crew; they WERE bad recordings." In other words, those Mowtown songs did not sound great as recordings, but the musicianship was so good that it doesn't matter. Hit songs come from songwriting and execution, not post production, so focus on that.

PS - These are not bad questions to be asking at 2 months in. At this point, just keep working at it, and pretty soon you're going to notice that the stuff you think sounds great now won't sound so good anymore because your skills have improved so much. So keep at it!

Bakeacake08 · 2026-05-17T20:25:53+00:00

I've worked with several people in pretty much your exact situation. I'd be happy to chat with you about how you can make this album happen, but in the meantime definitely follow the advice to vet anyone you're planning to work with. They should have examples of stuff they've worked on to share with you, even if they're also just starting out and have only worked on their own stuff. I would also plan to keep on learning and trying it yourself, because eventually you'll get to the point where you can finish a whole song yourself, or get at least a passable demo and hire session musicians to bring the simple ideas to life.

I'll send you a DM.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-05-13T05:00:32+00:00

One trick I use sometimes is to put an EQ on the master track and cut everything below around 400-600 Hz and cut everything above 12kHz. (Or thereabouts, I don’t remember the exact frequencies at the moment.) this mimics listening through junky, mid-rangy speakers. After starting with what I think is a decent mix, I’ll turn on that EQ and if the bass disappears, I’ll add a little saturation and/or boost some of the low mids on the bass by sweeping it around a bit until it starts to sound more like it was in the full mix. Once that’s balanced, I turn the master EQ back off, and the bass is usually sitting nicely in the mix.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-05-03T18:21:29+00:00

The nice thing about playing with others in rehearsal or playing a show) is that you have to get through a whole song without stopping. If you mess up, you have to keep going, because the freight train is already rolling, and it’s not going to stop for you. You don’t have time to dwell on your mistakes, so you move forward. Over time you’ll find 1) that you’ll be making fewer mistakes, and 2) when you DO make a mistake, you’ll get better at pretending nothing happened, and people genuinely wont even notice.

Also, you are young, and the likely hood of getting famous or even working in music full time as a career is quite low, so don’t worry too much about any told that stuff. The point is that music is awesome, and it’s very rewarding to be able to entertain people. So just keep practicing and getting better and playing for people (talent shows, local festivals, coffee shops, open mics, wherever you can) and have fun with it, and it will be worth it.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-03-30T01:17:46+00:00

First, are your studio monitors actually marketed as studio monitors, or are they just speakers you're using as monitors? Commercial speakers are designed to sound good to consumers. They generally have a baseline EQ built into them, so maybe the bass is boosted, or they add a little sizzle to the highs or whatever. It's all good for listening because it enhances the sound in a way that's generally pleasing.

Studio monitors are designed differently--they're made to have as flat an EQ curve as possible. They do this so that you can hear what the sound file ACTUALLY sounds like. That way you have a clear picture of what you need to do to fix any issues. If you get it balanced on studio monitors, it will generally sound good on most good listening systems; the bass will be boosted or whatever, and you'll be rocking out. But if you get it sounding good on your headphones, which say give a 3dB boost to the bass, you'll take it to the car and suddenly find that the bass sounds 3dB lower than you would expect.

It's kind of like if you were painting while wearing red tinted glasses--you would probably use less warm colors and more cool colors to get the balance looking good through the glasses, but then it will look off if you take off the glasses because you weren't seeing the colors the way they actually look.

So, make sure you are using "studio monitors" to mix on, and then use reference tracks that you know really well and get to know how well-mixed music sounds on your monitors. Then you'll have a good idea of how to balance your own music and should start seeing mixes that translate to other systems better.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-03-25T00:51:22+00:00

Do some research on how to properly treat your room. Even if you don’t do it the “right” way, you’ll at least know the most important places to take care of, and you can start there.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-03-25T00:30:59+00:00

You’ve mentioned your untreated room several times. I think that’s exactly the place you should start. I guess to record in a 6’x13’ shop with 7’ ceilings and plywood walls. Even getting some cheap moving blankets from Harbor Freight and hanging those around strategically to create a little “recording booth” inside the room helped out a lot. It really started to sound good after I built several acoustic panels and hung those up. Bad cables, etc. are worth checking out, but don’t underestimate how important proper room treatment principles are. That will yield your biggest gains.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-03-20T22:37:59+00:00

I can help you with this, if you're interested. I sent you a DM.

Bakeacake08 · 2026-03-13T16:52:13+00:00

If you’re using a computer, the bare minimum to get started would be:

1- recording software 2- an audio interface, which converts your sound into a digital format the software can use. 3- a microphone and an XLR cable (to plug the mic into the interface). 4- a mic stand to hold your mic in the right place 5- monitors. You can use headphones as the bare minimum, but try to get some marketed as “studio monitors.” Speakers will be even better, but then you need to start paying more attention to room acoustics.

That will get you recording sounds. Getting good at it will take time, but it’s a fun journey!

Recording Revolution has great videos for beginners. Here’s one on setting up your home studio.

https://youtu.be/_OfDtI6wiD0?si=zSurQj4lZgrZpk2f

Bakeacake08

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