Friends,
 
Another what have we become thread.
 
Wiping a tear from my eyes, or was it crying in my beer... Not crying for me, but for the kid.
 
My young nephew (16 yo) just went to somewhere in Texas to try out for new stardom, record contract, life in the fast lane rock god legend status. Rich beyond means forever. Don't know what the company was doing the selection. There were several slots throughout the day, so he and my sister took the 7 am audition. Drove for 4 hours and showed up at 6 to get in first, and they said the line was already wrapped 4 times around the building with budding rock stars.
 
Total 10 thousand local applicants in the time slots, out of the woods from rural Texas. Each applicant processed with McDonald's efficiency. Max 30 seconds or less audition. Can sing one verse and one chorus if within the time slot, then kicked off the stage to process the next rock star.
 
The kid is incredibly talented. Writer, composer, singer. Has some sort of speech defect from birth that totally merges into greatness when he sings. Accomplished in 5 instruments and a one man band. Excellent engineer with the DAW.
 
Didn't make the grade. Judges said they could not reveal what they were looking for in the next cash generating juvenile.
 
So my problem in this is maybe what others have noticed over the years. Correct me if missing something subtle.
 
Was for me really lucky being in the ancient old school. If you could make ear splitting noise, there was little competition. You got the girls, you got the drugs. No HIV or Hep C. Rock N' Roll was glorious because it was glorious. Now it is an economic short term package. If you are lucky, you achieve the grade long enough to make someone else a few dollars before being cast out for the next economic source as soon as you are no longer cool.
 
Every home now has a recording studio. The media is totally buried in an endless stream of music. So much garbage is there that the real gems don't get a chance. My nephew was crushed by the rejection, but there is something happening in New York with only 100,000 applicants so far. Told him to forget it already. Was I right to do this? Advised him to go forward with a sustaining career and pursue music as an inspired hobby that does not turn into a chore. Play at open mics and make people happy. Wished him the greatest success in a music career, but tempered the advice to not rely on it as the main source of income if he needs to support a family. 
 
Regarding software, the kid asked about stereo phasers and flangers. Same thing I'd asked a long time ago, so we both got the same question.
 
I got delay, reverb, eq, compressors out the yin yang.
 
Revisiting my lost cause search for really good stereo units in the areas of phaser, flanger, chorus. Any current advice?
 
Poor kid is dealing with his first rejection. Glory up there in lights has just dimmed for awhile, and he is crushed.
 
Wait until he loses his first girl friend.
 
Best to all of you,
John

JohnKenn
Wait until he loses his first girl friend.

Those guys from d16 sell a nice phaser (Fazortan) and flanger (Antresol).
About your nephew, you gave him good advice on the combination of a sustaining career and a musical hobby. And if he's really talented, which often only means that sufficient people like his stuff, god knows his next YouTube video gets him where he wants to be. Recently, a Brussels born youngster did exactly that and his mixtrack pushed him to the number one spot in the UK charts.

Thanks Fleer,
 
Downloading the demos from d16.  AudioDamage has some nice units also for the wide stereo effects.
 
Good advice on going forward with YouTube also since the kid is starting to play with video. Could be the break he deserves if everything is presented right.
 
Best,
John

I have a day job that pays for my musical hobby of being a multi-instrumentalist. I remember one time I was playing the banjo with an orchestra of professional musicians during a Music Man production. During the intermission break I had a chance to talk with some of the horn players and they said I was in "the sweet spot". I get to play for fun. They're just hired guns with no emotional investment in their job, whereas I get to choose where I want to play just because I want to. THEY were jealous of ME! Caught me off guard, but I've come to be at peace with the idea that I'm not a professional musician, probably never will be, but I'm good enough and make people smile where ever I play. That's good enough for me.

Maybe being rejected for fame and fortune isn't such a bad thing. It's not like it was never going to happen. Now he'sf one of the  people who got rejected this time. The line of pwople who have that happen goes around the building more than 4 times. Love the music, learn as much as you can, don't give up and keep trying. That line is lots shorter. If he can write a song there will be room in the music biz for him.

I'd say his best bet is to avoid those 100,000 to 1 odds and create YouTube videos of himself.  It will allow him to showcase a lot more than a few seconds of his talents as well as being able to put all that you did about him into the description area.  If he's as good as you say, he'll start getting a following which just may catch the eye of someone that can get him a MUCH more intimate audition.
 
(Then, once he has that, he can get the girlfriend that screws everything up.  )

Those "open call" things are bullshizzle anyway. If got selected it would likely mean he sucked or they just wanted to mock him a la "America's Got Talent". The labels are garbage. Radio is junk. All the good music is underground.
 
Tell him to get some buds together, jam out on some covers, write some tunes, get a setlist together (and you to record a demo of them) then unleash themselves on the clubs.
 
The money comes from merch and CD's and whatnot and it only (if one is lucky) pays for expenses.
 
This is how it is done in the real world for real musicians and you do it because you love music and you like to have a bit of a party. The memories are worth it. If something bigger happens then great.
 
If he's THAT good and he's not a social reject (meaning he can play well with other musicians) he'll do fine.
 
Above all else he'll get laid. Just tell him to use protection and avoid the methos, crackos and junkies.

Friends,
 
Appreciate these feedbacks. The kid is still growing in his potential and has everything it takes with some more dedication. Still a diamond in the rough, but getting there. Thomas Edison's quote that success is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.
 
At the risk of embarrassing on a public forum, will send this link to him, because I think much can be gained hearing from others that have been through the ropes and can offer advice from moral example. Also that one distorted rejection among 10000 applicants doesn't mean you slit your wrists and give up on a dream.
 
YouTube publishing is very very valuable advice and I hope he follows through with this..
 
His Mom, my sister, said one of the applicants was an 18 year old girl. Said she thought she was hearing angels the kid was so etherial. Got rejected too. That's when the Mom after the audition asked in frustration what they were looking for. Replied that it was a secret. Likely a proprietary profile based on economic potential. How you look, is the song in the mode of this week's groove. Not likely having a lot of interest or respect for the kids or their talent. Vibe was company X is looking for a month shelf life cash cow, and they don't want company Z to know what they know.
 
Anyway, really good points to pass on that I know will be valued. Thanks guys.
 
John
 
 

I cut my first album in a major studio signed to a label that was kind of sorta well known (it was sub label of a big label so kind of sorta indie... kind of sorta not) when I was 17.
 
Hoo boy I was gonna strike 'er rich I tellz ya. I knew fer SHURE in a couple years I'd be flyin' on my own privamatized jet and there'd be babes in bikinis hanging of each arm AND my every vapid teenage word (which of course were all BRILLIANT in my young Beepo mind).
 
Didn't quite work out like that and I wasn't even in that band a couple years later. I did however cut much more, to me, significant material later on in smaller studios, toured extensively, played at least two gigs a month for many years, played in dozens of bands, learned a lot, grew up a lot more and... well had a pretty interesting life for a while.
 
Never made any real money and now I'm a crippled up fartknocker living hand to mouth but I still make music on my own terms and don't have any regrets. Well... except for that one broad.
 
Stupid broad.
 
Best advice I can give... learn a trade and/or skill that allows you to feed yourself, pay the rent, buy gear and take time off for the band whenever you want/need.
 
Otherwise it's gonna be a hard, hungry (and possibly homeless) road to "fame".