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In my spare time outside of this business I like to make music. I recently began recording my first track of the year and decided to try out a new platform, Musiversal, to see if I could take it to the next level.
In short, it gave me everything I needed and more, and now I’m a big fan. I thought I’d take this opportunity to share my experience with you in the hopes it’ll get you hooked too.
What is Musiversal?
Musiversal is basically an online platform for hiring session musicians. Rather than simply relying on the same old samples you can access through production software, it allows you to hire session musicians to record real parts for your songs.
The site uses only top talent as its session musicians. There are some artists on there who have toured with major musical talent, so you know they’re credible musicians in their own right.
You can pick from a wide range of instruments, styles, and functions. Musiversal has you covered for bass, drums, vocals, keys, mixing, mastering, and a lot more. You have access to the right styles for your track and can listen to samples before making your selection.
How Does it Work?
The track I wrote is called “It’s True”. It’s about my feelings when I first met my wife, who is the love of my life. I’m sure it’s something many people can relate to. I chose a mix of rock and modern psychedelia, and recorded my vocals, acoustic guitar and midi instruments on my DAW.
What the song really lacked was decent bass and drum tracks. I searched for samples and loops on my DAW but nothing really fitted the mood. After taking a break to recoup I was hit by the almost too-perfect Facebook ad: Musiversal, record with real musicians. Better yet, it offered a 14-day free trial.
I jumped over to the website, took a look around, and decided it might be exactly what I was looking for. And with a 14-day free trial, there wasn’t much to lose. After the trial ends, you choose from one of the 3 subscription plans:
- Essential (5 sessions a month)
- Pro (unlimited sessions a month)
- Business (terms to be discussed directly)
I chose the Essential plan, created my account, and booked my first session within a few minutes. Each session is 30 minutes via Zoom, during which you discuss your track and requirements with your chosen musician.
As part of the process you access the musician’s availability, and upload any files if needed. This gives them the chance to listen to your track in advance so they can come up with some ideas. Obviously this is a big help with the relatively short meeting times.
Musiversal sends you an email confirmation, and then 24 hours before the session you get a Zoom link for the meeting and an Audiomovers link for the audio stream.
I started with drums and chose Nate Barnes. It’s safe to say Nate was a great guy to work with. I explained my direction and he nailed it in 3 takes. After listening to my song he even said it was catchy!
Nate sent me the drum audio files within 24 hours and that was that.
Next, I went with Pablo Arruda for the bass track. I followed the same process as before and sent him the audio files, this time with the drums included. Obviously, drums and bass are fairly synchronous instruments, so this was a big help.
In fact, I told Pablo that he could improvise whatever he felt would fit with the drum track. He said he was impressed with Nate’s skills and that he agreed this would be the best way forwards. Within 2 takes I had my bass track. Perfect!
What Happens Next?
Now that I’ve got the bare instruments down, including the next-level bass and drums, I’m working on my vocals a bit more. Once I’ve completed that, I’ll send it off for mixing and mastering.
I’ll probably use Musiversal for this too. While these services aren’t included in the subscription, they’re pay-per-mix and the prices are pretty reasonable.
In short, I’m a complete convert. I’ve been incredibly impressed with the level of service the musicians provided, and the benefit of working with such industry experts is that they bring their own knowledge to the table too.
Musiversal is arguably going to change the way we create music. It offers you the services of pro session musicians, something that was only reserved for a select few in the past.
So if you’re a musician looking to take your songs to the next level, why not give Musiversal a try? It’s super easy to understand, is highly accessible, and has loads of great musicians to choose from.