I❤️ARR

I was sipping my coffee early this morning and I had thought occur to me for the need of this blogpost.

The Community is flourishing with amazing talents joining almost everyday. It feels magical that new members are attracted to this community. It simply means that the community members are radiating great energy and most importantly positivity.

Lately, there’s a number of community members who are excited about creating covers. This is a great sign. The best part is they are now ready to put themselves out there.

I remember one of the artists who was a guest in the I❤️ARR Podcast said “You have to be vulnerable at all times if you are an artist to put yourself out there”.

The wealth of talent that the community now has is a great sign. I thought this blog post should hopefully help those who do not know where to start.

This tips here are very suggestive and not prescriptive. This should hopefully help you trigger some creative thoughts to make your first ever cover awesome.

Think of a song that you like the most. If It was me, I would choose the one that I hum the most. Don’t pick something too complex. Go easy on yourself.

Rehearse it. Yep, no short cuts. Practice everyday. You have to nail it. There is no option. Think of it like you are recording with ARR Sir and you are practicing for it.

Think about which instrument would suit the best for your cover. Again, this could be very much as simple as a guitar or you could also go with a track and add your vocals. But choose the right one.

Team up with others who could make it awesome. We do have some amazing mixing enggrs in the community who would be very much looking forward to help. (Please do be mindful that they would already have their work projects plus a family life. So be considerate 🙂 ).

Plan your jam sessions. You could go with Zoom (free sign up) and free unlimited meeting time (for up to 2 people?) and it limits to 40 mins if it’s more than 2 (I could be wrong with the numbers). Try recording your jam sessions (It’s free – you can save it to your local hard drive. It will help you revisit the areas that you could do better).

Once you have got the audio side of things sorted, it’s time to look at the video.

Again, don’t go for shortcuts. It will show up in the outcome. You wouldn’t want your baby (cover) to be critically received.

Try not to use pictures – No one likes to see a slideshow.

Shoot your video in landscape mode (yes I emphasize – landscape mode)

Let the video be smooth – If possible invest in a gimbal (DJI – Osmo 3 mobile is a good one)

Let the transitions in your video be smooth.

Take time to make your video. Don’t be in a rush to release it. Do remember, people usually forget about your video a day or two later because someone else has come up with another one. So make a video that will leave an impression and will remain for a while.

Some of the software’s that you could use to edit are: iMovie (Mac) it’s free, Final Cut Pro (Trial is free for 3 months), Camtasia (Trial is free for 30 days I think). Editing does have learning curve. I have myself jumped online to take up a course on editing videos and I have to be honest I am still learning.

Ask for help – Yes. The Community does have amazing people who can help you with the video editing. Speak to Chander and get yourself connected to someone who could help you out.

After all this is a I❤️ARR Community initiative to realise a little dream that you might have had for a long time but you held back from progressing it.

If possible – please do use the I❤️ARR logo. This is only to spread the good word about our community.

Last but not the least, make it happen. Take the first step.

Hope this helps anyone who has been mulling with an idea and didn’t know were to start.

Good luck