Finish Your Songs with Fiverr!

In this article, I’m going to share my experience with Fiverr and how to avoid stepping stones to get the best out of it & finish your songs!

Make up your mind before you start looking for a pro to get the job done. Let’s take the singer as an example.

Make up your mind what kind of singer/style you want for your song. That speeds up the process. Not knowing what you are looking for is not really effective. Finding a singer is vague. Finding dirty rock vocals that sound like AC/DC is way more goal-oriented.

There are a lot of male and female vocalists on Fiverr. Just take some time and browse through them. Save the ones you think could fit as favorites and compare them. Pretty easy. 

Invest the time to find the singer you want. Do not settle for something ok. Do not compromise your artistic vision.

Having a singer you think is ok, will result in a song you find ok at best.

• Make up your mind before you start looking.
• Take your time with finding the right fit.

Contact your chosen singer, instrumentalist, or engineer before you place an order.

Introduce yourself and tell the person in a short and clear way what you are looking for and what you expect. One proven way is by giving them reference tracks that come close to your vision.

Just ask straight if they can get close to your reference track. Don’t beat around the bush. It’s your vision and your money so make sure the person is really the one that can help you make it real. 

That approach is best for both of you. Otherwise, you will hate to compromise on your song and the musician will feel shitty delivering a performance that won’t live up to your expectations. 

If you are dealing with a pro - clear and straight communication is key. Does this straight approach lead to some uncomfortable communication, chances are it’s not the right person. 

Pros know when to say no.

Now to the meat and potatoes! We need to work together. Making that smooth is not as hard as it seems. You expect top-notch results, that’s why you need to make sure your hired gun has everything to make the magic happen.

The minimum is to fulfill the requirements of your chosen musician. All requirements are usually listed in the description before you order.

Provide everything that will make the job easier for your pro. For example a rough vocal take. That’s what I did. I sang the vocals and provided the take for the singer. Yes, I pity him for having to listen to my take but the function of that take is to showcase my vision and to give a direction. The clearer that vision is prepared the better the result will be - easy. A written-down structure of the song is also a nice way to make communication easier.

For the mix/master engineer I made a static mix of my song. That means I just adjusted the stereo image and the levels of the tracks. The goal here is to give the engineer a picture of what parts you emphasize in a song. This prevents easy misunderstanding if a guitar lick should be super present or just subtle in the background. No matter how good the person is you are working with - no one can look into your head.

Give the musician the freedom to get into the creative process. Let’s stick with the singer for this example. Remember, the singer can do the task of singing better than you, therefore let him do the job. It will rarley be exactly as you imagined it all the time in your head. Most of the time it will be better. At least if the singer is great. Just be open to that.

• Fulfill the requirements of your chosen musician.
• Prepare everything to get your vision across as clear as possible.

We are all super excited when we first hear the results we waited for so long. Don’t let your emotions no matter if positive or negative influence your feedback. Chill down and listen again and again.

Make a list of things you do not like and what you want to be done differently. After that don’t do anything until the next day.

Listen again the next day and revisit your feedback list. Is it still so bad or good you thought it is? Do you find something else that you want to change or is something you thought needs a change just fine?

Don’t get caught up in impulsive behavior. Take your time and prepare your revision. It needs to be structured, clear, and complete. Nothing is more frustrating for anyone trying to help you and getting the job done than vague and incomplete feedback.

• Take your time
• Prepare your revision like you prepared the whole project - complete and clear

Always load the files in your DAW and check for clipping. A track that is recorded too hot is useless. Do not be Mr. Nice Guy on this. You are paying for the tracks. If you cannot use it, what's the point? Only accept usable tracks.

I had one bad service on Fiverr and that made me realize those two alarming signals.

One alarming signal is the endless-revisions offer.

It may suggest some kind of guarantee that with endless revision, at some point you will have the result you want. If someone just can’t pull it off, it doesn’t matter how often she/he tries again. Endless revisions also suggest that the person doesn’t value their time and doesn’t have too much trust in their own skills. 

In my case, I had the feeling the person doesn’t even try to meet my needs and fulfill my revisions requests. Be warned with the endless revision offer.

Another alarming signal is the too-good-to-be-true offer.

That can be a very low price or that the offer includes way too much. In my case, everything that was included was done half-assed. Most of the time, that will stand true. Rule of thumb: If you think this is too good to be true, it probably is. 

Using Fiverr as a musician is a great way to make your songs a reality. It is an awesome platform and connects people to create stuff. It is super easy to use too especially with the tips I listed above. 

Just make sure you realize that finishing songs is not like fixing a car. Don’t forget that this is a creative process after all. Giving your chosen artists freedom to get involved will usually result in a better overall outcome. Be ready to loosen up and be open to taking advice into account from someone who can probably do the asked task better than you. 

Try Fiverr and get in touch with the people you need. Don’t let your songs end up in the drawer. Make your music a reality!

Thank You for Your time and as always....

Play The Rad Way!

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