Investing in Yourself
- Malcolm Sounds
- Jul 18, 2022
- 3 min read
Investing in yourself is an important ingredient in having success at any goal you set. Whether it be your time, equipment purchases, or other sacrifices you make to get where you're supposed to be, it's an investment. In this post I will focus on my top four must-have investment/purchases in this post.
It's important to remember at the beginning of your journey you will more than likely be giving away your time, talent and in some cases products in order to introduce yourself and your brand to customers. Don't think of it as devaluing yourself or setting yourself up for failure. It's part of the grind sometimes, you're investing in yourself, even if it seems counterintuitive.
The first thing on my list of must-have's that I encourage you to invest in is a mentor/ consultant. A trusted professional to ask all the questions and that will help guide you through some of the tough stages of getting into the game. For me it was hard to find out where to go and what steps to follow to get my music heard by music supervisors. I had no idea how to access the "briefs" (tv and commercial opportunities looking for music), much less who to send it to once I found out. I had already invested in my education in music production (not necessary for everyone but it was my path) and invested my time in networking to make necessary connections once I got there, I still needed help to break in the industry. People who have made it are not shouting free advice from roof tops or looking for up-and-comers to share their knowledge, experience, trials and tribulation with. That is why I offer consultation services. I know how challenging it can be to navigate the world of the tv/movie/commercial music industry. A good mentor changes the game.
The second thing I had to have was a quality laptop. I can create anywhere I'm inspired to and it's also fully functional with all the other tools I use. I recommend investing in yourself when it comes to this purchase and make sure you have the required RAM, speed, storage, etc. for whatever program you plan to use to create with. Apple doesn't pay me so I won't mention what I use personally haha, but this was one area I insisted on investing in myself.. You'll want to make sure that you have access to high speed internet to be able to send and receive files/opportunities, upload to your social media and other internet locations.
The third thing I chose to invest in that makes a huge difference for producers like me who make music from a computer, is a high quality DAW. Your digital audio workstation is your most important tool and is the platform from which you'll do all of your composing, editing, recording, mixing and mastering. There are several to chose from. I am including a link to an article on 2022 Best DAW's from Music Radar:
The last thing I want to share that was a must-have investment in fulfilling my purpose is an Interface. I play several instruments so when I want the live-recorded sound I can record myself playing whatever instrument I chose for use in my DAW. This works by plugging the instrument/mic into my interface and recording the live audio. Then I can manipulate it as I would a program-generated instrument or digital sound. I currently use a Focusrite 18i20 with 18 input and 20 output. You can start with a smaller one, I used a 2i2 and solo in the early days and it worked well for fewer instruments.
here's the link to the interface I use: https://www.guitarcenter.com/Focusrite/Scarlett-18i20-USB-Audio-Interface-Gen-3-1500000280113.gc?cntry=us&source=4WWRWXGP&gclid=Cj0KCQjwidSWBhDdARIsAIoTVb2RUkArFJzE0ZEUhc7vRdED24DIlzObL8K73-Zng0DhfMySk0dhNy0aArnSEALw_wcB
here's a link to the solo:
I hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions or want to invest in yourself with that mentor/guidance to get you ready to pursue your purpose, I'm only a consultation call away. Stay blessed!
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