March 2009 Archives
In celebration of Musformations Data Loss Prevention Week, I have a tutorial on how to get your files down to the bare minimum when you need to transfer/back them up! You have finished mixing a song and the record is done but now you are left with a Pro Tools file of massive size! If you have not been consolidating and deleting files as you have been recording they can end up being 10 times or more the size they should be, wasting valuable Hard Disk space and money backing them up. I can often get a track with 15 GB down to 1.5-2.5 GB after performing these steps. These steps also enable you to easily recall a session or give it to another studio for further use NO MATTER WHAT AUDIO SOFTWARE THEY USE! This alleviates the headache of worrying about whether the next person working on the record can open your file. If they need to open it they can simply import all of your Audio Files and they will open. Click over the jump to read how to get your Pro Tools File to a more manageable size.
Do you often have the problem of a drummer cramping your Drum Micing style with cymbals being to close to his drums? About a decade ago, I figured out how to never worry about this problem again. I unscrewed a Shure SM 57, bent it at a 90 degree angle and affixed some gaffers tape to keep it in place. Since then I have had the easiest time micing Snare Drums, Hi-Hats, and Toms with 57's anytime I need to! There is no change in the sound or added noise, just hours of your life saved getting your mic under a Hi-Hat. Go to the jump to see how to do it! 
More in our never ending posts about Twitter! We last told you about #hashtags and how to use them, now we are going to introduce you to another tool using those cool little things. Meet WeFollow.com and find out what to do with it after the jump.
With all our recent talk about samples, the more music we listen to, the more we're finding awesome songs that people SHOULD sample and (unless we missed it) haven't. Take for instance this garage jam by Shag called "Stop and Listen" - the opening guitar riff (it almost sounds like synth!) is tailor made for sampling. I found this track on the awesome The Pebble's Box: Box of Trash, a collection of somewhat rare garage rock tunes from the 60's. If anyone decides to use this sample, let us know!
Even as we were preparing for Data Loss Prevention Week here at Musformation, tragedy struck me close to home: out of nowhere, one of my external drives inexplicably refused to mount and was not recognizable to my computer (I believe Alanis Morissette would call this "Ironic"). I restarted the computer, checked the cables, tried on different computers, checked the forums online, called the company and no luck. Now while I TRY and practice what we preach on this site, one of my band's newest (and fingers crossed) best songs was on said drive without a second backup (gasp!) Anyone who has ever had to face the data recovery "experts" knows that their pricing ($800 to POSSIBLY get your data back) is often akin to getting raped by some sort of large, hairy African beast in front of a ravenous crowd of your ex-girlfriends while waiting in line at a Brooklyn Post Office (ouch). After hyperventilating for a few minutes and then peeling myself off the floor, I did some research and found out about a program called DiskWarrior. DiskWarrior operates a little differently than most programs because it tries to read your hard drive's old directories and create new ones (the directories are often what gets damaged on these drives). Disk Warrior is not cheap (around $100) but it is FAR cheaper than data recovery and if it works for you only one time, it is still WELL worth it.
Whether you like dance music or not you have to admire the wave that has crashed over the scene, that is Deadmau5. It is by no coincidence that he has become one of the hugest artists in this genre. He has embraced many of the modern ideas of what a band should be in the modern age and it has paid off. After the jump we will go over what you can learn from him no matter what type of music you play. 
Sampling is frowned upon by many a musician. Many people are quite glad to see the days of P. Diddy's plagarising songs all over the radio gone. However one trick that is often mocked and underestimated is the simple reintrepretation or recontextualisation of a part being added to your latest track. After the jump we will go over a few techniques and explore this idea more deeply.
It is getting to the point that the iPhone is an essential studio tool. I just saw this amazing $3.99 app that will tune any instrument by just holding your iPhone up to the source. How well does it work? I just tried a Banjo, Ukelele, Melodica, and Acoustic Guitar with great results! If you have any odd instruments around and want to practice your pitch or tune them easier, I can't reccommend this App more highly. It even shows you a graph of where the fundamental falls on each instrument. Too cool!
Everyday it becomes harder for you to make money as a band. One of the few ways left is to monetize your bands music and content. YouTube is one of the best ways to do this now that they have a partner program. It works very simply, if you sign up with them and people watch your videos fequently, you will make money! You basically share in their ad revenue. Apply now!
Strapped for cash to get a Straplock? Don't want to tarnish a classic guitar by installing a modern implement of convenience on to a beautiful vintage axe? Have a Grolsch Beer handy? Producer Dean Rispler says "After years of trying so many different strap locks - and all of them either failing or being just so-so, the Grolsch system is the best. Plus if you have a vintage guitar, you don't want to change the strap buttons anyhow. And, the best part, it's the cheapest way to go." After the jump he will show us how it's done.
Many argue that iTunes has killed the album by allowing everyone to purchase songs individually. If you are on that side of the debate The Onion has spelled out the notes for your next debate. They have listed the 25 Records that you need to disable Shuffle for.
Anyone who has been around this business of music for a while knows the pleasure and joy of reading the Buddyhead Gossip Column. I guess since that Nine Inch Nails gig ended, these guys have realized they need to get back on the ball and stir things up a bit. I have always found this to be one of the greatest things on the internet and the latest installment does not dissapoint! Check it!
This month Rolling Stone and Kanye West's Blog are going all bats**t over Producer, The Dream's claim to be producing some of the biggest hits around in either 20 minutes or an hour. I want to discuss some of the disconnects with reality that this assertion makes. While his claim may be partially true, it is not the whole truth.
In celebration of Musformation's Data Loss Prevention Week, we will be giving you a very basic but important lesson today. A key point to avoid DATA loss is to know how to properly backup and point your file to the right places. The first lesson is to learn that Pro Tools, and many other platforms, store their files in a specific hierarchy. Many people make a huge data loss mistake when they simply backup the Session File. You have a few other folders that need to come with it:Session File- This is the actual file you click on to open your song.
Audio Files- This where the actual recorded Audio is located. A common mistake, especially for people coming from Garageband, is to think your Audio Files are stored within the session file, when in fact they are in this folder.
Fade Files- These are the files that join two Audio Files together to make a seamless transition between the two files and help avoid clips and pops. In most audio software, Fade Files are stored in a separate file than the audio.
Session File Backups- These are files that help you recover from a crash. Your Audio Software can be set to make a safety backup in case of a crash or you wish to go back past the number of Undos you are allowed.
Bounces/Rendered Audio/MIDI/Undo Data- All of these may also be in your session folder. Essential files for your project to play back properly are contained in these folders. Make sure you also back these files up for future use.
It's Musformation's Data Loss Prevention Week!One of our frequent sayings is: "If you don't have a backup, it doesn't exist!. While some of us have learned the hard way, if you haven't yet had a terrible accident with your precious data you worked so hard on, you are bound to very soon. The best time to backup your data? Yesterday. The second best time? Right now! It's dorky, it can take some organization, it takes time and money but it's an ESSENTIAL part of being in a successful band.
As a solo artist, it can be tough to stay fresh, get perspective or even just to finish a tune. Collaborations often are the best way to get the spark started and to give you new angles on your songs. PJ Harvey and John Parish have been working together (often quite successfully) for years and their new record A Woman A Man Walked By sounds fantastic (official release is 3/31). In part one of their electronic press kit they detail a little bit of what it's like to work together. Anyone who has heard To Bring You My Love knows that something amazing usually happens when these two get together.
Are you in a band that operates outside the pop mainstream? If so, you may be missing out on a huge potential for finding would-be fans for your record. After the jump, we will discuss some of the bigger sites and what they can do for you.
Covering other popular songs has been a HUGE part of music for as long as we can remember. Many artists get their big break with a cover song (either a live or studio version). While a great way to showcase your talent, pay homage to artists you appreciate and take advantage of people already knowing the song you are covering, there are some important things to remember. From our perspective, their are only two ways to do a cover: a close reading of the original or a complete revamp. The middle-ground is where all danger lies (how many people can sing like Jim Morrison yet how many dozens of people have attempted to play "Crystal Ship" and failed miserably?) One of our favorite examples of someone getting it right is the CocoRosie version of Kevin Lyttle's "Turn Me On".
We found a great little special from BBC on the inner workings of pop songs. The video takes a closer look at songs from ABBA, John Lennon and more to find out what makes them so memorable. Various songwriters give you some of their astute observations. Note: this site seems to hate the Firefox broswer, try Safari or Internet Explorer. 
Like many of you, I've bought quite a few old keyboards only to discover that the sounds previous users have programmed turned out to be real duds. My second Juno 106 was a great example - here is an amazing keyboard using an excellent synth engine but with horrible presets from another owner. If you are not an expert at synth programming then recreating sounds can be difficult.One generous user has provided an answer to our problems with the Juno 106 Librarian. This free program (for Mac and PC) allows you to change presents from your computer and communicate with your keyboard through midi connections. So now you can even download the original sound library that your Juno 106 came with so that it's like starting from scratch. Even better, you can save various libraries without having to worry about losing old sounds. The librarian can be found here and a page with original present sound samples can be found at synthmania.com. Although difficult to find, some users also occasionally post their custom preset libraries online to share, keep an eye for those if and when you can find them and let us know if you do!
One of the great things about the prevalence of in-home Digital Audio Workstations is that bands can now do nearly EVERYTHING themselves (and for cheap). Even in my own musical project, after a few years spent learning recording, mixing and production techniques, we went from being completely at the mercy of others (as well as the scarcity of our bank accounts), to having endless possibilities and ultimate control over our sound. One of the areas where we've decided to get some external input is mastering. Most people will confirm that mastering is an expert science and it's one of the reasons people usually specialize in it. Gaining perspective on music that you have spent SO much time on is damn near impossible. A good mastering engineer will be able to very quickly hear things that you've (consciously or not) stopped listening to a long time ago. While we do an occasional temporary mastering job at home with decent plugins like
Izotope's Ozone (shown in photo), for the final product, a real mastering engineer is what it's going to take. An expert engineer is never cheap, but in comparison, mastering is one of the least expensive parts of the recording process. Most people are aware Daft Punk use samples, but even we were shocked at some of these revelations. "Robot Rock" was a sample? A Barry Manilow song translates to actual music you can dance to? What's most shocking is how SO MANY of Daft Punk's songs are COMPLETELY sample based. This video in particular points out songs where they not only used direct samples, but used them as the basis for the entire song (in some cases hardly altering the original). Perhaps it's just me, but it makes me a little squeamish. Is it wrong to judge a band for this?
Pretty Awesome!
Is your system feeling a little buggy? Do you know if you have the latest CS update for Pro Tools? If not go under the "Help" menu and select "Check for Updates". It is that simple!
The Guardian has asked the above question to a number of popular songwriters. It seems none of them really have a clue but there is some great fundamental songwriting knowledge in this article. I really like Donovon's advice, "It helps to be in tune and to be
able to count to four. A lot of songwriters don't know how to count to
four."
Do you use your crash cymbal as a ride and bash it out with 8th notes non-stop? Are you never happy with the tone of it? Perhaps it is because you aren't using big enough cymbals. Crash cymbals smaller then 18" tend to not have the sustain and tone to keep a consistent note and fluctuate in the highs too much to keep a good solid sound. Especially during recording, 16" or less crash cymbals tend to fail to have the tone to work well for anything aside from accent shots. If you are wondering why Grohl, Bonham and Barker sound so fierce when they ride on a Crash cymbal, you can start there, and then get the skills to be them.
Wired editor Chris Anderson has been heard lately slinging around his "Freeconomics" idea for the music business. I have already argued against the logic to this argument indirectly. Today, on the always smart Guardian UK, writer Helienne Lindvall
sets forth a thorough destruction of this retarded philosophy. Since Anderson, is publishing a book on his Long Tail Theory, I am sure this will be a buzz theory throughout this biz for a while. Read two great articles so that you don't believe the hype!
Terry McBride, award-winning recipient at this years MIDEM, recently gave a lecture at Berklee where he made some interesting assertions. McBride postulated that very soon copywriting will be irrelevant. McBride, current CEO of Nettwork Music Group (who handles artist managment for some big names like Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies and SUM41), asserts that a song is an emotion (now there's a novel idea). He encourages many of his artists to record on their own labels and by doing so, McBride maintains that bands can offer more free downloads and in turn, sell more records. More bits of industry wsidom here. 
This week we have been focusing a lot on the economy and what it could mean for our industry. With the prospect of music being less of a get-rich-quick-scheme everyday, we will start to see a landscape of less "entrepreneurs" and "investors" indulging in hobby projects. It takes a real passion to keep pursuing a dream without the likely possibility of great financial gain. The prospect of one day getting rich off of your hobby is one of the few things that fuels the American dream we hold dear. In our youth, we are taught the Richard Cory fable of the man who has all this money but has a miserable day to day life and it later brings him to suicide and/or madness. So what is to become of those of us who pursue a career in the music business out of the love of it yet can no longer make the living we desire from music?Simian Mobile Disco have given us a great look at the interesting gear that they use live and how it is incorporated. Good to see (and not surprising) that the band uses a good deal of analog gear on stage. Take a look at how many labels they have written on their instruments - try to read that in the dark! In addition, notice how he mentions that THEY control almost all of the sound through sub mixes - the only thing the house is getting is a left and right. Certainly one way to avoid a horrible sound guy.
Apple has announced that iTunes will be instituting a variable pricing method. Employing 3 different pricing plans ($.69,.99,1.29) for song purchases. The Audio Punditry Brain(dead)trust are in a uproar over the idea of raising the price for music in an economic downturn. I think the criticism is a little short sighted. Anyone familiar with the concept of supply and demand, knows that this will most likely culminate in the pricing usually being $.69. Since the demand for music purchased by legal means is low, the labels will push the price down in hopes of selling more product. What is great about this whole supply and demand thing is you only lower the price if it is going to sell you more product. If that does not work the labels go back to their old game. In this case the labels and the customer both win! Remeber when we used to go to record stores and you would see a CD on sale for $9.99 instead of all the other CDs priced at $18.99? That was to sell more copies, not to give you a present! Did we all cry and wet the bed upon entering Record Town and seeing that site? How soon we forget!photo by flickr user Lauren DeVito
Steven Massey is a great plug-in designer. This is no secret to anyone who own the astoundingly cheap Massey Plug-ins. While being some of the cheapest plug-ins out there they are some of the highest quality!I have been in love with Tape Head and De-esser of late. He has given generously back to the audio community with a set of free utility plug-ins. Massey Tools contains some tiny overlooked utility plug-ins that can make your life much more easy:
- High Resolution Meter
- Slacker
- Listen
- Talkback
- Wet/Dry or Mono to Stereo
- MS Encoder
- Recall Notes
If you have ever wondered what you are missing by not using Ableton Live to DJ this video shows some of the full potential of the software. Best viewed in Full Screen mode!
Over at Absolutepunk.net, Rohan Kohli has crowdsourced an interesting question:Some people think that record labels have no business in the merch industry, which is a now-common occurrence with 360 deals having become the norm; what do you think?
It would be wise for members of the industry to not turn a deaf ear towards the insight of the comments in this thread, to see what fans feel about this practice.
As a Twitter user, you still may be confused about #hashtags and what purpose they serve. We have done the research for you and are going to explain how a Twitter hashtag and searching Twitter can help you. 
It's been a while since we've heard any news from the RIAA, but it looks like they're back again and this time they're bringing some heavy hitters with them. The lobbying group of the RIAA seems to have given up on its often fruitless lawsuit frenzy (at least temporarily) and is instead teaming with AT&T and Comcast to try and fight the evils of piracy. According to Pitchfork, as a sort of warning, AT&T will be sending "cover letters" to some of it's internet users using large amounts of bandwidth. While none of that sounds too scary yet, rest assure things will probably get more aggressive. The question is how hard the Internet Service Providers will be bullying for the RIAA considering they will be scaring away customers in DROVES.
It's news that many audiophiles have been waiting to hear. Thomson, one of the companies explicitly responsible for the MP3 file format is working on a new digital audio format. The file type, called MP3HD, is said to be a lossless compression file and is backwards compatible with MP3 file players (meaning it can be read on MP3 players, even if they can't read the new data). What this means is that the file sizes will be substuantial (even more substantial than high-quality MP3's, which as most of us know, are not small as it is). Thus far it appears that there is always a tradeoff: digital audio has limits of how much it can be compressed and loseless compression files are often very large in size.
Your mom loves your show. Your girlfriend gets SO HOT when she sees you sing. Your bandmates are convinced that Radiohead has never sounded as good as you guys did last night. Your manager swears your "big deal" is just around the corner. What do all these people have in common? They don't know what the hell they are talking about. Perspective (especially the impartial kind) from others is good, but no one knows your music like you do. You can't be there in the crowd to hear how you sounded and see how you looked, but luckily you can (with a little money) video tape yourself!
Samples are great. Everybody loves samples. Hearing them. Using them. Discussing them. What NOBODY likes is looking for them and sorting through them. Organizing samples and finding quality ones is the bane of existence for far too many people. Luckily, people like Cheebs make it easier. Over at Cheebs Beats they have listed six dirty sample blogs that have been scanned through and found to have some great samples. The samples "range from Soul to Jazz and beyond". Either way, anytime you can get someone to verify there are some good samples in there, it's worth your trouble to check it out.
The video quality is poor, but this is a clip that many people haven't seen and it certainly is worth a watch; just hearing Elliott Smith give us a little peek into his songwriting process can still give you chills. His humble approach to his own music and songwriting remains refreshing. The simplest songwriting advice is often the best and most overlooked: write music that YOU like because YOU like it - regardless of how others feel about it and most importantly how you PERCEIVE they will feel about it. Many a talented band have fallen by the wayside for following trends instead of their own ear.
Late 90's buzz band The Hellacopters apparently have access to a Icehotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden. A drum set made of ice makes an interesting sound.
Baltimore avant-rockers Celebration has decided to part ways with reputable label 4AD and release their music for free from here on out. Where as artists like Metric (who we discussed previously), Nine Inch Nails, and Radiohead have still monetized their music after leaving their respective labels, Celebration have taken a celebatory oath against being in bed with monetized music distribution. Their site already has two new songs streaming! (via Idolator)
Are you running on a limited amount of hard disk space? Do you routinely have less then 10% of your hard drives capacity to record with? If you are answering yes to these questions, you are also probably noticing Pro Tools is running REALLY slow when trying to record audio. If you are not recording long segments of audio (like a full band practice), a simple tweak under the preferences can get your PT system running much smoother. Simply go under "Preferences" and then "Operation", go over to the "Open Ended Record Allocation" (see picture) item and limit your recording down to the longest number of minutes you may ever run a track for (I use 10 minutes for safety, though I rarely go past 6). Note: This will make PT stop recording after how ever many minutes you specify, so if you are routinely leaving your PT system in record for long amounts of time (10 minutes and above) this setting can be devestating to the capturing of ideas. If you need to record a long piece of audio and you don't normally do that, it is a simple tweak to click back over to "Use All Available Space".
Way back in 2005, the intellectual mind of Indie Rock Ian Svenonius, proposed the idea that Indie Rock (and Electro-Clash) blew up from the rise of the Real Estate market. Astute writer Reihan Salam, has written an article on what that could mean for Indie Rock, now that Real Estate is in the dumps. While I assert that Grunge may be back, I personally think anyone who predicts indie rock tanking neglects the fact of the "once you go black you never go back" stickiness that Indie Rock grabs on to a listener with. It is such a broad and evolving genre it would be hard for it to collapse, especially as the Major Labels tone deafness continues to allow Indie Artists more access to exposure. Show me numerous cases of people going from buying vinyl by the ton and then deciding they'd rather listen to Flo Rida instead and I will eat my words.
BTW If you don't own Svenonious's genius book, The Psychic Soviet you are missing out on some of the best cultural musings ever set in pink covered print.
photo by flickr user yapsnaps
BTW If you don't own Svenonious's genius book, The Psychic Soviet you are missing out on some of the best cultural musings ever set in pink covered print.
photo by flickr user yapsnaps
Every band without a manager seems to always be looking for one. They think a manager is the answer to all of their problems when in reality, an inexperienced manager just brings you more problems. Well it looks like the robots just obsoleted all of the hack managers in the industry. Yesterday, I received word of what could be an awesome site for all of you slacker, unorganized musician types. There is a site called Bandize.com that looks to be the promise of your virtual band manager. It seems to have the ability to be your virtual kick in the ass for all of the things a modern band needs to accomplish. Scrolling around the tour of the site, I think this is going to be an amazing site to organize the chaos in bands. If you are interested in the details here is what is catching my eye:- Tour Management including mapping, show contacts, financial tracking, etc.
- Easy to use accounting facilities
- Social network syncing for many of the popular sites(Myspace, Facebook, Last.FM)
- Merch Management
- Contacts list
- Pivitol Tracker so everyone knows what needs to get done
- Keep track of reviews, logos, designs, art etc.
Here is an awesome video of how to generate a side chain gate off a drum track in Ableton. This trick is a great trick to try when feeling uninspired by your usual tricks.
I found this YouTube gem again recently and it never stops being interesting. In part one of a three part series, Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave) does a great demonstration of some of his pedals and discusses his approach to songwriting and how he achieves some of his amazing sounds. In a world where guitar playing seems to be continually more static and boring, more players should be watching things like this. When will more artists have the guts to show us insight into what's behind the musical curtain?
For any song that is in the pop music form, there are three elements that persist through any and every song. These are very important to understand if you are going to write or mix any song. Whether you are writing a Rock or Hip Hop song it is necessary to understand each element's place. It is important to understand each of their niches and knowing these terms can help you to to speak to other musicians with greater ease. Anyone who has ever owned a Casio Keyboard has seen these elements broken down in the presets for the back up band. If this all sounds crazy to you... Let's get started:
We have all heard that saying "trust your gut" before. It's thrown around in all sorts of inappropriate situations where it has very little relevance. Much like the time you slept with your girlfriends sister! When she was deciding whether to throw you out, her friends abused this saying and told her "trust your gut". While that may have turned out in your favor that is not a situation to trust one's gut, where as when writing a song, this is one of the best times to trust it. Yet, somehow we sometimes choose to use logic instead of our guts when writing songs. Let's discuss.
More security tips! Having your van stolen can be crippling to your band and tour. One of the oldest tricks in the book is to install a "killswitch" in your van. What is a killswitch? My high school auto shop teacher Mr. Amato described it like this:
"A killswitch is a hidden on/off switch where you cut off the gas line to your car leaving enough gas for a criminal to get your car started and have it stall out a few yards down the road. I like to call mine "Whoah Jack" instead of Lojack, because I come up with a rifle after he gets down the drive way and say "whoooooaaahhh Jack, where you think you're going????"
Now you may not have the rifle with you, but none the less, this is a great security measure. The killswitch is hidden somewhere in the van to throw the thief for a loop (just like we discussed last time), and grow the potential for them giving up and moving on. They are simple to install and any mechanic can do so for very little money. It is a small price to pay for the level of security it brings to you.
"A killswitch is a hidden on/off switch where you cut off the gas line to your car leaving enough gas for a criminal to get your car started and have it stall out a few yards down the road. I like to call mine "Whoah Jack" instead of Lojack, because I come up with a rifle after he gets down the drive way and say "whoooooaaahhh Jack, where you think you're going????"
Now you may not have the rifle with you, but none the less, this is a great security measure. The killswitch is hidden somewhere in the van to throw the thief for a loop (just like we discussed last time), and grow the potential for them giving up and moving on. They are simple to install and any mechanic can do so for very little money. It is a small price to pay for the level of security it brings to you.
Today we have a tweak that can save you hours of time and your ass in many a session. Pro Tools has that wonderful Auto Save function. The question is: are you taking advantage of it to it's fullest extent? This setting can be tweaked to be set at making a backup every minute as opposed to the 5 minutes set in the default. This is helpful in case you punched a singer in 12 times on a note, they singer finally hit the note, you moved on, but then your system crashes. No need to dig through takes upon recovery, just fire your system back up click on your most recent session file back up and it's there! The second tweak is to make the system keep the 99 most recent backups. This takes up very little disk space and can be very important when you realize the guitar part you had 45 minutes ago was much better then the silly improv solo you are working on right now. Simply go into your session file backup folder, sort the folder by "date modified" and click on a file from 45 minutes ago (or even better use the Import Session Data function) and there is your part. I also will ocassionally go on a bad experiment of tweaking a drum sound, after 45 minutes when I realize that I have had a terrible idea, I just do the as described above. The possibilities the Auto Save opens for you are endless. Start using it to it's fullest potential.
Since I just posted about Mr. Oizo, I was reminded about the pains of having your record obliterated by Pitchfork. The very wise folks at Idolator, have posted a great guide on how to react in such a situation. While being somewhat of the John Kerry school of reactionary PR, as opposed to the Barack school (we know how that turned out in both cases) of PR, I do tend to agree with this article. However the article may be underestimating The Decemberists prowess in this situation. They did a hell of a job standing up to Colbert, a man who is much more infallible than Pitchfork!
Mr. Oizo , whose new album Lambs Anger, has angered a few people, not coincidentally. I find it to be a great record. This may be my favorite EPK I have ever seen. Does not shed any insight into his musical process whatsoever though.
As a Synth enthusiast have you ever questioned the truth to some of these stories?
photo by flickr user daniel spils
- Laurens Hammond, inventor of the Hammond organ, was tone deaf and couldn't play.
- No recording was ever made of the Telharmonium, the first synthesizer.
- The Rhodes Chroma was actually designed by ARP.
- Prior to the creation of MIDI, Sequential Circuits had designed a serial bus for musical instruments which was much faster than MIDI.
- The prototype of the Moog Voyager Old School was stolen from Moog.
- Edgar Winter used to play with an ARP 2600 on a guitar strap.
photo by flickr user daniel spils
We have been focusing a lot on anti-theft measures for touring musicians lately. Last week we told you about bike locking your equipment but there is also another great use for a bike lock out on the road. Anyone with knowledge in the security business will tell you one of the best ways to thwart a thief is to surprise them. One of the best ways you can do this is to throw them for a loop, by giving them something they are not expecting. A cable bike lock wrapped around your drivers seat is something a would-be criminal does not encounter on a normal day of work. While we know many criminals are seasoned in the ways to get rid of The Club, a bike lock presents a different set of problems this thief may not be experienced in. This could be the difference between your whole van getting away or a few small pieces of equipment.
photo by flickr user Rex Roof
photo by flickr user Rex Roof
This random site has posted some AMAZING audio: 23 MP3's featuring JUST Bonham drum sounds recorded during the sessions for "In Through The Out Door". While not the final mixes, they sound absolutely incredible. If you're a drummer, it's nearly enough to make you quit - these rare tracks are a terrific example of pure tone, power and amazing beats. Bookmark this site for future moments of laughter to show to your friends when they start squawking about how Keith Moon was rock's best drummer. 
We love Pro Tools! But there are occasions we cannot believe they have never addressed some features we think they should! Since Musformation likes to think of itself as an optimistic, positive community, we want to help make Digidesign know what we want! Starting with this post I am going to be listing the "Pro Tools Features Wish List". Every so often, when we get a few suggestions I will find a way to deliver this list to Digidesign. If you have any suggestions to add to the list, please send them to me. I would like to start with a feature I have wanted ever since Pro Tools initiated the "Import Session Data" feature (coincidentally this is the subject of our Pro Tools Tip Of The Day). I, along with many of my fellow users, want an Erase All Automation Button! There is nothing worse then importing a mix into another song and taking the time to erase all of the automation from the last song, only forgetting one plug-in or an aux send, and hearing it a day later while listening back to the mix with headphones. Please Digi, just one simple button could give me back hours of my life in the future to devote to other things... You know, like finding other complaints about your wonderful software!
After listening to the last three U2 albums (especially the most recent one), I came to one simple and stark conclusion about the band: Bono is single-handedly ruining their legacy. U2 is without a doubt an incredible band whose musical contributions will outweigh any and all drivel they leak out from now until each member is dead and rotting in the grave, but it's getting REALLY bad. Last week we had an article on the philosophy of "Don't Tell Me How To Play My Instrument..." but let's make it clear that this also applies to singers. 
Anyone who has paid attention to cable news constantly hears how lobbyists affect every one of our civic leaders' decisions. We hear about donor influence everyday: the fears of Bill Cinton's Global Inititave donors swaying Hill's new job, Saxby Chambliss's abuses of power with sugar factories, and how important it was to John Podesta to keep lobbyists far from Obama during the transition of power. Lobbyists are blamed for so many things that are not for the greater good of the people, and instead for the good of corporate interests. If this is the case, why has one of the largest corporate entities in America, the music/film industry, never flexed their muscle to stop file sharing?
It's no secret the economy isn't what it used to be. In the two previous decades we have seen both economic downturns produce music movements that are rooted in anti-materialism and frugal living. Both the Grunge and New Wave movements were rooted in cheap, creative fashion choices, a resistance towards past days examples of bling-bling and a less superficial take on life . Are Heidi, Spencer, and Lauren going to have to run for The Hills the way Brandon, Brenda, and Dylan were run out of Beverly's own hills in the 90's?
Hipster Runoff, is some of the best full on retarded humor around. Despite the retardedness and neon all over the site, this article has many truths as well as being absolutely hilarious. He is correct! Your band does need to be a meme. But I would ask: what came first, the meme or the band? Don't meme's just happen as people talk about your band??? Alright now I am starting to sound like a kid in a chat room. Check out the hilarity here.
BTW, this may be the most genius thing I have seen in forever:
There are two groups of people who don't despise the Major Labels access and power: people who benefit from it and those who don't even know it exists. MyBandStock.com is a way around it. We are all being told of the promise of "the good will out" from the Internet and the increasingly level playing field that the Internet is bringing to the Music Business. This site empowers you "The Fans" to buy stock in the bands you would like to hear more from. If you find yourself stoned out of your mind in your friends parents basement saying things like:
"Mannnnnn, if you guys just had ugh like a recording budget and a promotion budget you could sound so much better then The Flaming Lips, your like... ugh, so much more, ugh... creative then them... ya know??? Who wants a Red Bull???"This site gives you the power to send out some Myspace bulletins (after you get your Red Bull for some energy), assemble an army and get it behind this band you believe in so much (if they have signed up for the site). Now you may have heard of sites like SellABand.com, who do something similar. The difference, and what I think makes MyBandStock.com much more exciting, is the stronger connection between fan and artist, rather then holding a share in the band, you know what you are getting in exchange. The band can choose the incentives they give to fans for each amount of share they take in their band, meaning they can designate a certain amount of shares buys a CD and a certain amount buys a T-Shirt and a CD. You could even go all Josh Freese, and offer buffet dinners for incentives. The site is young and now is a great time to get your band on it and get a head start on getting your band into the new music model.
I can't imagine how this hasn't been pulled from the net, since the web design looks like it was made before I was born. Anyway, there are a bunch of outtakes and isolated session audio that some archivalist must have leaked. Pretty damn cool!
It is being reported that Amy Winehouse's new record has been rejected by her label. Via Weltonline:
Amy Winehouse's new songs have been rejected by her record label. The 25-year-old singer - who recently spent three months in the Caribbean on holiday and working on new material - has been told to return to the recording studio because label bosses don't like her new reggae sound.If this is indeed the case, doesn't that just make her Lilly Allen?
Mark Ronson Production + Reggae + Overly Honest Lyrics =Mark Ronson Production + Soul + Overly Honest Lyrics =HMMMMMM??????
Before we gave you the lowdown on the Garmin versus the Tom Tom GPS war. Tom Tom has announced two new entry level (read: cheap) GPS systems that have incorporated the IQ Route Software of their more expensive models. Meet the ONE IQ Routes and XL IQ Routes! Now you have even less of a reason to tour without a GPS. (via Gizmodo)
photo by flickr user Jimmy_Joe
photo by flickr user Jimmy_Joe
Today we have a lesson that comes from blogger Brent Heber. He has a lesson on an essential skill for Pro Tools users; Importing Session Data. I remember the days before Pro Tools had this feature as being long, painful and frustrating. If you are not using this feature you should be and if you think by any chance you are not using this feature to it's full potential check out this lesson.
You see that ad to the left? Actually, that is the picture of the ad that is in our second column and it really is a genius piece of technology. You can have it too, if you so desire! The Amazon Store Widget can be pasted right to your bands website. But why would you want this? First off, you can sell your bands merchandise that is available on Amazon with this widget and earn an extra comission of 4-15% (depending on how well your store does). This is on top of what you already make from sales! You can also add all of the equipment you play, books, records, movies you like, etc. If your fans buy it after clicking on the link from your site, you get the comission. In an environment where it is increasingly harder for bands to make money, this is one way to help.
Here is an awesome video of DJ Richie Hawtin showing his DJ setup using Traktor . As someone who goes out and sees DJs on a regular basis but has no DJing experience this video was awesome for me to see how the DJs do the things I hear. As a producer this also gave me some great ideas for some effects in a song I am doing this week.
In a move that is making internet music listeners not too happy, Obama's heavily RIAA affiliated staff has sided with the RIAA in the case of SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum. This seems as if it could be the ultimate fear tactic in the attempts to thwart illegal downloading. The ruling would seek to get "statutory damages" (just because it says statutory does not mean it has anything to do with your backstage life-ed.)for illegal downloads. In plain english, they could try to get money for you from records you have downloaded in the past. The case has many hairy proceedings that have been summarised here.
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Yesterday I had The Racouteurs Consolers of the Lonely, blasting through the house. Hearing the amazingly clean strumming got me to thinking about some strumming techniques I often see guitarists forget. If you are going to be picking out individual notes in a part and want that articulation that you hear your favorite guitarists get (see The Raconteurs "Old Enough"), there are a few simple rules you can follow:- Lift your fingers from the freatboard FAST! Experiment and listen to the sound of how fast you release your fingers from the fretboard, it will build both your listening skills and guitar skills.
- Play directly behind the fret not on top of it(but not too far back in order to get proper intonation)
- Play far back on your guitar pick leaving a large tip.
- Life your pick up high after each pick. Listen and experiment till you find a cleaner note that rings the way you want to hear it.
The music industry continues to change and those who fail to realize it or refuse to accept it will be left behind. This is an interview from marketing guru Seth Godin featuring some astute observations on the music business, tackling subjects like: how many people are still not getting it right and how you can flow with the changes and make it work for you. Godin takes an interesting approach by thinking of music in terms of "tribes" (a theme from one of his books), and thinking smaller. Check out his lengthy interview here.
It looks like a hulking beast, but it may be a short term answer to the problem of not having a proper vocal booth. It's certainly not cheap (around 300 bucks), but Audio Geek Zine has a nice little review and reports that it actually (kind of) does it's job. Just by looking at the apparatus (and also noted in the review), it becomes quickly apparent that the most difficult part of using it might be figuring out how to mount it. Perhaps finally I can stop recording in my apartment's coat closet. 
As we discussed yesterday, theft is a big problem for musicians. One of the little and inexpensive things you can do to prevent your equipment from walking is to surprise would-be thieves with a bike lock. I have tons of equipment scattered throughout my home and studio that I have small locks on. If a thief is to pick my house at random they may not be prepared to deal with cutting a bike lock saving me from the hell of my Mac Pro taking a walk. A simple loop through all of your guitar and bass (or drums and keyboards) cases can make the difference in someone being able to simply grab and run, and them having to take minutes to struggle to pry your equipment away. These minutes can be the difference between someone spotting a thief in action and them going undetected. Bike locks are cheap, pick one up today to be safe and not sorry.
Here is a video (with a very annoying ad across it) of vocal coach Brett Manning going over some vocal coaching and warm ups with Hayley of Paramore . The video show the attention of detail and annunciation put into her vocal performances. Even though the band plays as adolescent music as can be, there is a level of thought and precision put into these performances that is to be reckoned with.
A lot of people have been buzzing about the Garageband lessons that Apple now sells. What actually goes on in these lessons? Gizmodo has a great little article with a tour.
Years ago, Jason McGerr was just a bad ass drum teacher. Now he drums in one of the most respected and compositionally amazing bands around. While his time is too in demand to be giving out drum lessons these days, here we have a YouTube where you can see him build one of his awesome, and complicated drumbeats. Notice the way he gets one limb right at a time to perfect this complex beat. This is an essential skill you should be using if you aren't already.
Tom Waits, is known for a lot of things. One of my favorite things about his music is his knack for using some of the most esoteric sounds imaginable. Over the years he has adopted many different esoteric materials into his instruments. A very kind and amazing person has given the internet The Tom Waits Library, a place where you can find a directory of all of the instruments on his amazing records over the years. Included in the descriptions are pictures, histories and descriptions. An essential read for any fan. If only we could have a directory of his awesome recording techniques.
Jack White is one of the few label owners who is taking advantage of the many new things the music industry can do for a band. However his latest business model is a throw back to the past, while still being unique in today's industry. Check out what he has to say:"If one of the bands working here says, 'Jack, there's a great band that played at the End on Friday night, you should check these guys out,' Saturday morning, they can come to Third Man Studios and we can cut a couple of songs. They can come back to the photo studio and we can take a photo of them. We can cut the acetate and run it down the block, and within three weeks, we can have a thousand copies of a 45 that they can sell at shows."photo by flickr user HammHawk
(via Tenessean)
Yesterday we talked about what to do when your Pro Tools system goes haywire. Today we have one of your final options when your system is acting screwy(sorry Mac only). Run an Archive and Install. This is where we replace the basic core of an Apple OS while leaving all of the files you have created: Apps, doucuments, and your PT files intact. This will replace the basic structure of your OS. If you are not farmiliar with this process we will give you a step-by-step instruction.
You already know that it's Back In Black week! To conclude this week we have found an amazing interview with Tony Platt discussing the recording of this record in great detail! He sheds lots of insight into the production idea behind this classic record and how the performances were achieved. Check it out!
Future Music, put up a new video of Freemasons playing with Native Instruments Maschine. The more I watch these videos, the more it become apparent this is going to be an amazing piece of gear for programming. The quality of the audio samples in this video sound amazing to my ears. After the jump we have a video showing the awesome potential for the controller being used with Ableton Live.
Working in PT we all have trouble from time to time. DAE errors plague our lives ocassionally. We have no idea where they came from and what the hell to do about them. Digidesign offers little help in their manual to make matter worse. In this article I will give you a few options of what to do when you have constant error messages and PT starts going to hell.
It is no secret there is a plague of thefts of touring bands equpment. Obviously, this can spell the end of many a band and set you back thousands of dollars. One thing to consider is the emerging technoligies for tracking stolen equipment. As prices of such equipment become lower and lower, we will soon be able to put small GPS tracking devices in our cases and easily track the scum who have stolen it. If you are a band whose livlihood is on the road, keep your eyes and ears to the ground and let us know if you hear of any great products to help in this dept.
The KLF aka The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu were a House Group from the early 90's who pioneered such genres as "Stadium House" and "Ambient House". Anyone musically conscience at the time knew many of their hit songs (whose videos we have complied after the jump). In addiction to pioneering many modern production techniques and genres of music, they gave the music industry two AMAZING moments. The first of which is the above YouTube where they decided instead of performing at the Brit Awards to have crust punks, Extreme Noise Terror perform instead, concluding the performance by opening fire upon the audience with a machine gun filled with blanks. This was their retirement from the music industry and one hell of a send off. The second thing they gave us is a true gift of both laughter and truth. The manual they published entitled How To Have A Number One The Easy Way. This manual now is a bit ancient (ba-dum-crash!) but still has some relevent information. I will caution you that you will probably not learn how to have a numbe one song from it. Aside from the few truths it does contain, it is absolutely hilarious and a must read for anyone who enjoys the humor of this silly industry.
Yesterday we learned that we need to stretch before we get started playing drums. However if you are going to be playing for a full day of rehearsals(yes, I said full day of rehearsals) you may need to go a little further then just stretching. Above we have a great video for warming up your arms once we sit down at the drum set. The one thing I would add to this video is to try playing some quarter note patterns between your two feet to get them into the game as well.
A treble boost is usually the LAST thing that most guitarists need, but regardless, the rumor mill has it that Electro-Harmonix is releasing a nano-sized treble booster called the Screaming Bird. The original Screaming Bird was made in the 70's and came in a much different box. No word yet on how this guy sounds or a release date. We found one site in England that appeared to have it available, but we're skeptical since the pedal can be found no where else for sale. You have to hand it to them: while most companies seem to stand still, EH continues to try and innovate. 
"Don't Tell Me How To Play My Instrument And I Won't Tell You How To Play Yours"
(AKA "The Saying Of Insecurity")
The famous saying that made a million songs self-indulgent and unlistenable. The saying that has saved many fights but never helps a song become a better song. In all my years working with bands both big and small, this saying is inevitably the way a song/part goes right to hell. If there is any difference I have seen between bands that have fans and bands that can barely get their friends to come see them live it is one simple phrase. Click the jump and we will discuss further. (note: article is best read after reading this article)
If you paid attention last time, you now have a fresh new hard drive with Pro Tools 8 installed on it. This time we are going to go through some of the little extra things you can do to make your system run a little smoother, as well as getting some of your old settings and files over to your new, smooth running system. 
If you have the type of band that is "house broken" AKA can play quietly we have a great website for you! Concertsinyourhome.com is a website where bands who want to play house shows can get in touch with with people who would like to host them. While right now this site seems a bit geared towards the acoustic/folk circuit, this idea has huge potential for all genres. The bands I grew up playing in, did "basement shows" across the country in every "punkhouse" that would have us. With the help of the internet this movement has the potential to be stronger then ever. As someone who has hosted a handful of shows in their living room I can attest to how much fun this is and hopes this grows to be a strong movement.
Anyone who has ever played drums for more then a few minutes knows that it is exercise. This being the case many people do not treat it as such. Just like we learned in gym class: before doing anything that is considered exercise we need to stretch to avoid cramps and obtain optimal performance. Above are some great stretching exercises that can help you play longer without your wrists/hands hurting. Stretching can also help avoid permanent damage to your wrists from long practice hours. Learn it! Embed disabled so click here!
It's no secret last year was a huge year for My Morning Jacket . The band finally fullfilled its promise to become one of the most loved rock bands around with the release of Evil Urges . EQ Magazine did an excellent series of articles on what went into making this record. If you have heard this record there is a great insight into what went into making this fantastic record.
Bass Gear
Guitar Signal Paths
On The Recording
Bass Gear
Guitar Signal Paths
On The Recording
We now have a Facebook profile! We know how to get back to it! Now we gotta figure out how to work it! In this post we will discuss some of the features of a Band Page and how a Facebook page for your band is different then having a Facebook group.
I wonder if the board would ever award any of their artists money for losing 25% of their fanbase? <crickets>
(picture from Huffington Post)The idea that what the Major Label model is going through is an "environment change" and not a full on tone deafness is one of the most laughable assertions made in this financial crisis. The board deserves every loss they receive with that attitude.
As a record producer, I end up writing with many of the bands I
produce. I do not by any means write their songs as much as make many little suggestions. Now when I say writing, usually I am simply making small
suggestions such as "maybe we should be playing that part for 8 bars instead
of 16." I have probably done songwriting rehearsals with a couple
hundred bands in the past decade and there is one simple philosophy that
is one of the biggest catalysts to a band making the most of a song. Try Everything!
Counting Crows have announced the end of 18+ years chained to the many incarnations of Geffen Records. Both Lead Singer Adam Duritz, and TechCrunch's Michael Arrington have a very optimistic look on the world of endless possibilities the internet has opened up for the band. I could not agree more that we are about to see an exciting year of new business forms from numerous bands showing us the future of how a band can work without the BS of the Major Label system. (via TechCrunch)
Trent Reznor serves one great purpose in the world of music these days: a sober, honest voice through the bullshit. Granted, this is a lot better than what he uses his voice for musically these days (Ghosts sure did rule.... Wonder why? ugh, no vocals!). On his forum he has posted some thoughts on the BS Live Nation and Ticketmaster are trying to pull with this merger. Calling out the corps and saying that they will employ an auction system for the better tickets at each show, taking away the profitability from scalpers, and eBayers across the land. He also takes aim about the motivation of corporate shill losers supporting this merger. I will one-up Trenty and suggest you bash Eddie Van Halen over the head with a 6505 next time you see him for trying to help two of the most disgusting corporations in music take your hard earned cash. That's right, populism is musformation's commodity! Click the jump for text of Trent's good words!
Many singers complain that when they fly from one location to another they feel like they can't sing as well. Unfortunately, as you become in demand as a singer (or for that, matter most walks of life), it means you are going to do a lot more flying. Part of your life being the front person and getting all the attention now means you are sentenced to painful airplane flights. You will now be asking for more water then the flight attendants can handle, and subsequently running to the bathroom every ten seconds! Hope the attention is worth it!
Roger is probably one of the coolest people I have ever known. He is one of the few musicians who still has an amazing enthusiasm towards his instrument after many years of playing music. He also has the knowledge of the most avid collector/tech. He put out a record called The Truth In Me using only Moogs and a Mac to record into. It'd be great if he made the same type of video showing all the awesome things he does with his Solina String Machine. (via Synthtopia) (video from The Truth In Me after the jump)
Are you a young band putting your nose to the ground (AKA the dirty floor you're staying on)? Couchsurfing.com is here to help! The site is a very noble non-profit website, running on the kindness of others. The idea is that you should offer your home to fellow couchsurfers and they will offer them to you. This is great for you while on tour to get free place to crash after a long gig. As well, when you are home you can make friends with other bands and get to know other people, by having them stay with you. The site goes to great lengths to make sure the users on the site are safe and held to a standard of kindness and participation in a "do unto others" sort of philosophy. Best of all, it is an international site!
"Back In Black" week continues on! We told the guitarists yesterday: "If you can't play 'Back In Black'
you shouldn't be playing". People tend to take this as hyperbole but
this saying has a lot of truth to it. No matter what you think of AC/DC, you need to be able to play this song in time and with feeling before you are going to be able to play anything else properly. There are subtleties to the performance of this song that even intermediate players overlook. If you know what is good for you, click the jump and watch the fine lesson the most stereo typical looking "drummer d00d" of all time, will show you how to play the song. Once you are done with the lesson put the song on and see what you can find in a very attentive listen to the song.
Today we are going to do our first lengthy article on the right way to install Pro Tools 8. This article is for users of HD, LE or M-Powered. As long as you are using Pro Tools on a very regular basis and it is something you spend a lot of time, the steps we are going to outline in this tip are very important, and will help you have a smooth-running system. My PT8 system is a worry-free machine and I attribute it to a proper, overly-cautious installation and going above and beyond what Digidesign asks for. I invest the time to do an install properly at the beggining so the system runs smoothly later on when I am being creative. Whether you use a Mac or a PC this will be an informative article. If you have already installed Pro Tools 8 and are having problems this could really help you get your system on track. Click the jump and we will start.
Listening to music on Myspace, Facebook, Pure Volume etc. can be like nails on a chalk board. You just spent a ton of time and money perfecting your songs and they are now reduced to having cymbals resembling gremlin- sounding creatures and a bottom-end like an anorexic Olsen twin. Worst of all, this is how many of your potential fans are going to hear your music for the first time. It's enough to get you all Ian Curtis about life. Don't fret, we will show you there is hope if you just know what you are doing.
Boutique pedal gurus Z Vex have announced an inexpensive line of pedals called the Vextron Series. One pedal, simply called Distortion, contains part of the engine from their Box of Rox pedal and features switches for gain boost and sub frequency. The other pedal, the Masotron, is reported to be an all-purpose silicon fuzz and less-insane than the Fuzz Factory, which might actually be a good thing. Both pedals appeared at the '09 NAMM show and will be available in April at around $150 each. 
For every one band like The Travel Wilburys there are probably ten bands like Velvet Revolver, Audioslave or Zwan (read: NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED). Musical "Supergroups" rarely seem to work like we hope they would and Jack White's new band The Dead Weather seems to fall into the latter category as well. Featuring The Kills' Allison Mosshart and Queens of the Stone Age's Dean Fortita, the band sounds like a White Stripes B-side or a Raconteurs A-side (both of which aren't very exciting to us lately). Preview their new tracks here. 
Do you have a Gmail account? Well if not, get one now! It is free and is an essential tool for knowing what is being said about you on the Internet . Everytime someone writes something on the interweb about you it will show up in a daily summarised email or RSS feed to your Gmail. This will show you when you get an awesome review, someone talks about how much of a loser your drummer is, or puts your music up for illegal download in a blog. The uses for this feature are infinite but absolutely needed. To access this feature head go here. A great tip is if you are putting a name with one or more words to use quotations, for example the search I use on my own name is "Jesse Cannon" and "Cannon Found Soundation".
There is a saying that goes "If you can't play "Back In Black" you shouldn't be playing". People tend to take this as hyperbole but this saying has a lot of truth to it. No matter what you think of AC/DC, this song has some great exercises in it, that if mastered make it so you can easily play most rhythm guitar duties. No matter what genre you like, if you can learn the feel and proper techniques to these strums and study the small details in the playing of this song, you will be having an easy time playing a lot of what comes your way. Now many people who have played for years are probably looking at me like this is a worthless exercise. However, if you watch these videos and look at the small details you may find some small tricks that really show the great expressive playing that make this track sound so great.
Wire To The Ear, has a fantastic link to a great piece of software. Qwikn is a more evolved version of the popular Quick Keys program, which helps make shortcuts for Pro Tools. For $10.00 you get software that helps you easily remember key shortcuts and build your own. Everyday you aren't using quick key shortcuts is a day where you are losing up to an hours worth of time using long drawn out commands. Get Qwikn!
Mellisa Cross has achieved legendary status for her DVDs, The Zen Of Screaming in the Heavy Music world. Here someone has uploaded an awesome video of her working with Arch Enemy singer Angela Gossow. Whether you ever scream or not, Melissa brings very essential knowledge to the table of singing. This video shows some of the thought put into Ms. Gossow's screams, taking her technique very seriously. This is one of the reasons she is one of the few female singers in the Metal World who actually commands respect from the community as a whole.
Mike Walters is a NYC electronics hobbyist who builds some insane instruments and does some amazing circuit bending. His incredible Melloman won Keyboard Magazine's Keyboard of the Month a few years back and one of his stranger instruments, the Penatron is currently used by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. Mike's newest contraption is called the "Mike-O-Wave" and can be seen below:
Roland's Juno 106 is one of the most popular analog synths of all time (and for a good reason). Produced from '84-'88, the Juno 106 is known for its diverse sound capabilities, classic filters and most notably, its bass sounds. Used by artists as diverse as The Cure, Autechre, Prodigy, Fat Boy Slim and Underworld, the 106 is a great piece of gear that can still be had at a decent price (around $400). Get excellent bass and sound quality from home theater speakers made by a well-known speaker brand with a wide range of systems.
A strange concoction of YouTube edits creating some kind of hulking funk monstrosity. Interesting for sure, but let's hope this isn't the future of songwriting. Notice how at around 30 seconds in we're taking advice from a white dude about "the mother of all funk chords".
50 Cent and Rick Ross are apperently daring each other to kill one another. I guess Fity feels a little invincible since he has had like 9 lives or something (Ut oh!). So he went and got Rick Ross's baby mama in a little sex tape and put it on the internets. Why can't Axl and Slash be more inventive and settle their differences like this? Hip Hop continues to innovate the industry, don't let anyone tell you any different! The VERY VERY VERY NSFW Trailer is in the jump.
ARS Technica has published an article entitled Labels: Whatever The Future Of Music Is, It Isn't "Free" that has the Internet up in arms yet again over the labels standing up for their right to charge. Despite major labels propensity to being on the wrong side of history, this time they have a point. Popular opinion across the Internet today is that labels need to give up on charging for music and step down to subscription- or donation-based models. While it would be noble of them and inspire a major image change in our economic system, their neck has not been pinned by the boot quite yet. In any economic climate, it makes no sense to give something away for free when people will buy it. In every consumer environment there are many different personality types who still buy music as long as someone is charging.
The must-read-blog, The Music Think Tank, has up some awesome Creative Commons Licenced contracts for 360 Deals. Now whether you want to go anywhere near a 360 Deal is another story. These are a great education for bands and labels alike. I suggest anyone who has any interest in understanding where the industry may go check these out immediately.
Ah, nothing like when the label tells you to go back and write some more accessible material after you turn in your sophomore experimental record. The Klaxons, whose debut I find to be one of the better combinations of avant-pop of recent years, are getting eaten up by the blogs today by submitting to their dark label overlords who sent them back to the studio to clean up some of the material. As a producer, I am shocked by 2 things:
- Why on earth did they leak this information? I have been involved with quite a few releases where this has happened and usually we chalk it up to "recording more songs to choose from the best material" or "we just wrote some awesome new songs we need to add to the record" (read: the record company didn't hear a single in what we recorded the first time). Bad PR!
- The blogs always jump in and defend artist integrity and mention the instances of Marvin Gaye and Wilco, where the labels were wrong. The fact is there are MANY more cases where the objective ear of a producer and occasionally an A&R man/manager who actually has a good ear and saves a good record (see: the lie that the original version of Green Day's American Idiot was stolen). These occurrences are often kept behind closed doors or are even nipped in the bud in pre-production during a well-managed record. An objective perspective for nearly any band (and producer/record label) is needed for everyone in the creative process. It is very easy to lose your bearings and checks and balances when immersed in a years-long creative process. The problem is many people are given the title of being the "objective perspective" when their perspective isn't worthwhile, pertinent, or educated towards the subject at hand. Personally, I think Clive Davis was quite right about Kelly Clarkson's sophomore record - just look at the new one for proof. Now that she is back in Dr. Luke and Max's arms (just like Clive suggested), people can bare to listen to her again.
Well apparently it is Katy Perry week on Musformation! A lot of people of the side of gay rights aren't too keen on Katy Perry for her songs "UR So Gay" and "I Kissed A Girl". While the former has the usual negative association with the word "gay" prevlant in the teenage vernacular, the latter seems to be quite pro-gay. Everywhere I look there is another moronic, badly thought out rant against everything she stands for. While this may never have been the way she planned, in the long term, the gay community may be thanking this daughter of two pastors for her inadvertent work for gay rights.
It's official that Korg has released a new version of the MicroKorg called the MicroKorg XL. From the videos we've seen, it is difficult to compare how it stands up to the original MicroKorg (one of the most popular and most versatile keyboards of all time), but like many of you out there, we are anxious to find out. The clip (after the jump) is the best we've found to showcase the keyboard's sounds.
It is inevitable that anyone who writes music and/or lyrics is going to get writer's block. The question is not how to avoid it, but how to deal with it when it comes. One of the best tools I have found when dealing with lyrics is keeping a notebook. Whenever I get a lyric I like, or even just a song title that strikes my fancy, I write it down in a section of the notebook reserved exclusively for such things. 
Unless you are living under a rock you may have heard Facebook is taking over! Now nearly double the size of Myspace, Facebook is still not quite as friendly to bands, but with all those people on there, it is time to get your band on there. We will help you navigate through Facebook's confusing landscape and get a great profile for your band!
As if all the record stores closing weren't bad enough! Let's say you are the owner of an Android based phone, like The G1, and you are out at a record store shopping and see the new release from your favorite band. Instead of walking up to the front of the store and plunking down money, this app allows you to simply scan the barcode and it will search a handful of Torrent sites to see if it can just download it for you and have it waiting for you when you arrive at home. This is the type of thing that makes a record company executive need adult diapers during sleep.
Before you get excited about this app, I have to talk you down a bit:
1. It is not out yet!
2. It will probably never come out since Google does not want the headache of lawsuits that will come from this phone. However, since the Android software is open source, this opens loads of ways for people to get it on to their phone, bypassing the Android market.
3. Ugh, this is illegal, you know!
(via gizmodo)
Before you get excited about this app, I have to talk you down a bit:
1. It is not out yet!
2. It will probably never come out since Google does not want the headache of lawsuits that will come from this phone. However, since the Android software is open source, this opens loads of ways for people to get it on to their phone, bypassing the Android market.
3. Ugh, this is illegal, you know!
(via gizmodo)
Some genius has now made it so you can use one of Daft Punk's most overly-used samples on your keypad all night long. All of the words to the song are mapped out on individual keyboard triggered keys (kinda like)! I am sure this will be making it into DJ sets across the land like it was a bad Kanye revival! Check this out!
Having trouble getting the right "feel" for your drums/percussion in Reason? Depending on your setup and your approach to drums, this can be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. Some musicians seem very happy to play/write to loops, while others prefer it a little sloppy. There seems to be an endless debate on this from acoustic drummers, electronic musicians and a whole lot of others. One answer we ran across may be to "quantize your groove" for the best "feel". Check it out. 
If you are a Pro Tools user, odds are you have used fantastic plug-ins like Xpand, Hybrid and Structure. If you are a Pro Tools 8 user, you have now encountered all the amazing, new AIR plug-ins that come with your upgrade! Well, some awesome dudes have started a blog where almost everyday they upload killer sounding samples for Structure, as well as tips and techniques using this new suite of plug-ins. Go check out The AIR Users Blog.
With early 2009 brining the news of Kims, Etherea, and all of the Virgin Megastores closing (even the guy on the corner of St. Marks who sold all the Hip-Hop Tapes is gone now!), what will this mean for a city who thrives on its tourism? More economic bad news!
My friend Steve and I often discuss the difference between hearing and listening. There are some simple facts to face that as we get older our hearing is going to die. In addition to natural causes of aural death, there are other ways we inflict a slow suicide upon our hearing: standing by a drummers cymbal, iPod earbuds, unprotected concert going. These are our aural vices, and we pay a price for them. Does the damage we do to our hearing really matter for those of us who listen to music for a living?
Awesome recording blog and microphone database, Recording Hacks, has put an awesome detailed picture and written tour of Steve Albini's Electrical Audio Recording Studio. One of the coolest designed studios in the world as well as boasting one of the best mic collections ever.
Recently, Absolute Punk brought up a great question: are fan clubs obsolete or do they still have a purpose? In many ways, there are no longer things that artists offer as really "exclusive". The internet and "digitalization" of music has created a culture where more and more things are shared and often just given away for free. And many of the fan clubs of old were charging it's members, something that seems downright ridiculous in today's day and age. 
Idolator has a great collection of a bunch of very different songs written by songwriter Russ Ballard (not to be confused with Glen Ballard). It is interesting to hear all of the songs in one context and see the small stylistic things each have in common. What are you hearing?
Every so often we bring you the Forensics of a Popular Song. In this feature, we take a song that was played to death and figure out why it died that death.
Katy Perry "Hot N Cold"
Tempo: 133
Key: G
Length: 3:40
Lyrics
Katy Perry "Hot N Cold"
Tempo: 133
Key: G
Length: 3:40
Lyrics
If you're lucky enough to wear headphones at the office gig, check out this site where you can use your mouse or keyboard to create what sounds like a Justice or Daft Punk-inspired club hit. Extra points for the use of dark psychedelic graphics and quick-flash imagery. Can anyone identify the sexy vocal grunts? Our guess is George Michael.
The Daily Chorus, a really great source for which unsigned bands are hot and upcoming, has a great article written by John Zaremba of kick ass band Say When. As a member of a band who is on tour more then any band around he knows a thing or two about touring. Check out his very wise words and learn to not make routing mistakes when heading out on the road.
We are Twits! We Twitter! We have followers! We are following other Twits! We are a part of this totally awesome new social community and no longer have a social life! So, what else do we do? What are the tricks to promoting ourselves, managing our Tweeting time, and how do we sort through all these Tweets? Follow me!
GPS systems have become one of the most necessary pieces of gear in a touring bands arsenal. Having a good GPS system can be make a big difference in missing some shows, losing sleep, and taking a wrong turn that gets you way off track. We are going to look at some popular GPS systems and figure out which one is right for you.
Yesterday, I went and saw a great band called Darling play over at Don Hills in Lower Manhattan. They played an awesome set, and afterward I was saying hello to friends, and noticed the live show equivalent to talking while chewing a steak: the drummer didn't put together any of his drum set BEFORE he got on stage!
We all know and love Digg (in fact you should Digg this article if you like it), Thesixtyone.com has made a site that takes your music and people can Heart (aka Digg or I Like) a song if they like it, creating a virtual online chart! Right now it is littered with Stereogum and Hype Machine buzz bands, and it seems like this is the first time a site has actually done this right! If they start to make different categories for different musical interests it can really be something special on the net. The artists' music is all uploaded by the artist or record label themselves and licensed under Creative Commons. Get On It!
So last night I was up late doing the menial work on this site. Someone else in the room (I swear) downloaded the new Metric record Fantasies. Now, any of my friends who know me, know I hate music right now; I am excited by NOTHING. What I heard was a REAL record, an amazing record, like Dear Science amazing. This is a band that never impressed me (outside of a MSTRKRFT remix), that has made what I am sure will be a record on everyone's year-end Top 3 (it is March, we could have an amazing year). So what is the big deal? A blogger creaming all over a leaked record happens every 10 seconds, right? WELL, THEY ARE CHOOSING TO NOT RELEASE IT WITH AN AMERICAN LABEL AND THEY WILL STILL SELL A TON OF RECORDS!
Addicted to Vocal-Eze but can't ever find it? Can't live without your Slippery Elm Tea? Myvocalhealth.com is here to help get what you need to you easily. Offering Monthly and Quarterly Delivery plans. Where as if you want to place orders for products at your own pace go to Singercity.com.
FxPansion make a truly awesome VST to RTAS wrapper? What does this mean? It means you can use all of your favorite VST Plug-ins in Pro Tools. We all know Pro Tools can get a little generic since everyone has the same Plug-ins; this is one way to open up your options and start giving your own sound to your projects. There is a world of Plug-ins available for free on VST. This Plug-In has made my mixes so much more fun and creative, even with just the addition of Camel Phat to my palette. For just $99, this is an essential buy, since you will be opened up to a priceless world of Plug-ins.
We have compiled the definitive and up to date list of any Free RTAS you could want! Check it out here!
This awesome blog has mapped the 10 numbers of our numerical system to the tones of a piano. The result is a melody that plays Pi to 10,000 digits you can play in a few different keys or at random. Pretty damn cool! (via Idolator)
photo by flickr user fimoculous
Legal Advice from Andrew Dubber on Vimeo.
New Music Strategies, a blog of great ideas and insight into the music industry asked a great entertainment lawyers for some advice for musicians. This is some great basic knowledge that even if you have heard before, it may help to be reminded some of these fundamental ideas.
Native Instruments Maschine has hit the stores and people are getting them home and starting to make music with them. Maschine looks to me like a very promising piece to obsolete NI's own Battery and do a whole lot more! While we have all played with Battery and other groove boxes it is hard to get a grasp on what the full potential of this exciting new piece of gear. Let us take to YouTube to see it in action. Click the jump and we will get to work.
Already mentioned today, TuneCore is changing the face of the music industry everyday by giving small artists access to worldwide distribution at a small price. Wellroundedradio.net, is a site that does regular interviews with the movers and shakers of the industry. This interview is a great insight for any bands looking to go down the road of using any of these services to get their music online. 
A debate that has been waged for nearly a decade. Should you sum your mixes via analog or digital. Well, today Producer Alan Farmello has posted a comparison between his Analog summing chain and a straight digital mix. Check out the results and the waveform comparison he has posted and see which one sounds better to your ear. (via TapeLog)
Over on the King of Pop Punk's blog, Jason Tate, ponders a very astute question: why are labels not taking advantage of their full marketing potential?
Why don't labels include free download cards for other bands on their roster in the packaging of their CDs? It would seem reasonable that once you have found someone that actually still buys a CD, including free music so they can go find more music to buy, would be a logical next step.
Over on Oliver Chesler's always awesome blog, Wire To The Ear, he has the scoop on a service that can be a new way to get music you are not sure will sell on to iTunes and Amazon's music stores. This is perfect for labels back catalogs as well as rarities from your own band. As amazing a services TuneCore is, the upfront fee they charge seems a little depressing when you don't know if anyone is really going to buy a song from your band that has been defunct for the last 12 years. This could be a great answer for extending the catalog of many musicians careers into the digital world. (via Wire To The Ear)
Astute Reader and Amazing Vocal Coach Marissa Dockery, wrote in with a very solid point about Vocalists using Airborne and Emergen-C. Check it out below:
Regarding sickness and fancy over the counter remedies from a vocal perspective, I tend to think that less is more. Airborne, Emergen-C, and other vitamin cocktails are huge dosages of vitamins, which often dry out the throat and mouth, adding another obstacle to preexisting congestion. Small amounts of vitamin c (maybe 250 mg) every couple of hours while keeping well hydrated with room temperature water is a better approach. I also recommend tea, Epsom salt baths, keeping the body warm, resting, and eating well, staying away from dairy and sugar. Ideally, take a few days off if you can, you will be better for it.
Photo by flickr user Ateo Fiel
Muziic has launched an App(PC only) based off an iTunes like interface that use YouTube videos, as the source to stream music. Obviously the record industry is not happy about this, since it is well known that YouTube is one of the thorns in the side of the industries sales figures. It seems YouTube will also be quick to resist this new App considering it can help tarnish the sites graces with the Music Industry even more. We will see what the future holds for the app, I don't think the future is looking to bright without some expert legal help.
Gear breaking is one of the most frustrating things in our lives as musicians. The thing that is even more frustrating then your gear breaking: When you could fix it if you just had the broken part. Unfortunately, many manufacturers make you send in your gear to an authorized repairman just to get a stupid rubber band put back on your Turntable! Fret no more Instrumentalparts.com
is here to help. They will sell you many of the spare parts that make these headaches so painful. Click the jump to see a list of the manufacturers they carry.
Metronomes: The dreaded, soulless, torture devices inflicted upon musicians in order to make them march in line like teenagers into the cookie cutter, just like a Pink Floyd video. Well I am here to tell you if you wanna be a really tight musician, and be awesome at your instrument you are going to need to start playing to some sort of time keeper. Whether you are a Singer, Guitarist, Flutist, or Drummer, this article applies to you and your practicing habits. In this series I am going to tell you how to make playing in time fun, how to do it on the cheap, as well as why you must practice with a Time Keeper.
Jango, is a channel based online radio service that is now boasting an audience of 6 million listeners per month. It operates off a simple system where you can select a channel such as Justice, and they will play artists like Justice and other similar bands (very similar to Pandora). They are now encountering a bit of ire from some industry purists who are not happy about one of their newest monetization methods. They are now offering bands a "Pay-To-Play" method of getting their music on the site via their Airplay campaign. For the small fee of $30 you will be introduced into the site's playlist, and guaranteed 1,000 plays. The listeners is then presented with the chance to either delete the artist from regular play or promote them. If you receive 50 promotions you are graduated into regular airplay. While some find this a disgusting form of access, in a bands eyes this is a very cheap way to start marketing your music to fans who fall into your demographic. In fact we are hard pressed to find a better way to get introduced to listeners who are looking for new music by a band similar to yours. While some may find this to be payola we feel it evens the playing field and allows small artists the same chances as larger artists. Get on it!
As we all know there has been a lot of backing tracks going around! It seems the live tape of the inauguration has finally been unearthed.
Today over on The Daily Swarm, they have a link to an article where a blogger shows a graph that is supposed to illustrate which bands employ the use of a click and those who abstain. The article unfortunately neglects a few simple details. We are here to clean up this mess!
As the Grammy's were getting going last night, you may have tuned into 60 Minutes a few minutes before showtime. If so, you were treated to
a comically badly done cliche-ridden story on a band that is on top of the
world right now. However, towards the end of the show there was a tour of the bands
recording studio. In this piece there was some invaluable advice for bands big
and small. Whether you find their music to be melancholy snooze rock or worship
their every move, they show how a band on top of their own game is doing it by obiding by a few key policies. After the jump we will watch the videos and discuss the importance of what was said.
If you're not yet using Beat Repeat in Ableton Live, you should be. Ableton has made an official video that does a good job of explaining the details.
Numark has confirmed that they will in fact release their NS7 controller for Serato later this month. This is great news for everyone who is longing for their hardware and software to interact a little more harmoniously. This setup will offer simplicity with it's 1 USB cable connection to your computer and 24-bit audio in the interface. The motorized turntables are for 7 inches and it will be interesting to see how old-school vinyl hounds used to 12 inches of wax react to that. Synthtopia has more.
BC Rich has announced their new double neck guitar (click on the photo for a larger version), the Bich. One neck is a 6 string and the other a 12. The confusion you will have just looking at the guitar is only the beginning; just try and navigate all of the volume and tone knobs (there are 4 volume knobs and 2 for tone). We're still trying to figure out who would be caught dead playing this thing. Any ideas?
Many of us watched in October as the great No Depression magazine bit the dust bowl and killed it's print format. The company soon changed to a web model, but lack of money meant not enough left to pay actual writers. Now we have learned from Idolator that the site has transformed again to become an odd sort of blog/forum community. We still don't even understand completely what the site is trying to do, but have our hopes that they continue to do great work. All and all, it's a pretty modern design for the traditionalists that they are. If only we could have somehow seen this death to print coming, we might have had more time to prepare. It seems to be an endless quest for bass players: the perfect distortion. Luckily, there are a ton of options out there and some of them actually sound good (and better than your plug-ins if you can imagine that). Here is a nice little shootout with some options.
Most of us use Firewire on a daily basis, but as always, there is some misinformation out there about the technology and a few things people are doing wrong (I'm certainly guilty of it too). But when your gear gets trashed over something you could have done to prevent it, it's always frustrating. Audio Geek Zine takes aim at providing a few tips and some warnings. It's worth a read and can save you money by helping you treat your equipment well so that it might actually last for once. 
Some tour dates for the Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction shows have finally surfaced. Noticeably absent are any shows in NYC. They must know we hate going to New Jersey, ugh... For the full listing check here. 
Twitter! TWITTER! Tweeting! SRSLY! WTF?!?!? Yes, even your Dad is doing this right now. Old curmudgeons like John McCain are even doing this. Now everyone is telling you that you/your band has to join Twitter (does this mean you become a Twit???) or else you will never succeed and fail at all your hopes and dreams and end up a loser like, ughhhh, JOHN MCCAIN! Seriously though, I still hate Twitter and have committed the next few hours of my life to why we need to be on Twitter and how to get there. Let's do this together!
As part of their week-long stint playing songs on David Letterman, U2 was asked to do a Top Ten List of things they have learned over the years (the Top Ten List being one of the shows long-standing traditions). Take a listen to The Edge's number 5 - nice jab!
Recently, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum announced that they will be opening a special Bruce Springsteen exhibit. Titled, "From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen", the exhibit is set to open April 1 and will run through 2010. After that crotch-slam during the Super Bowl halftime show, we should be building the man his own monument. More on the exhibit here.
As we all know your health is one of the biggest factors in how good many singers will be able to perform. Many musicians are big fans of a product by the name of Airborne, to boost their immune system. However they aren't aware of some small facts that can really help your health and save you some hard earned cash. 
As we told you before beloved Williamsburg venue Soundfix has succumb to neighborly pressure about the noise the venue brings to the neighborhood. It turns out they may still be able to have the ocassional instore/show. Amazing neighborhood blog/guide FREEwilliamsburg has the scoop.
One of the last ways a band/musician can still make money in this business is by getting licensed for commercial use. It is one of the many things bands always ask me how to do and no one seems to know. In stepsPump Audio! A website that cuts out any middle man and mystery and will get your music to people looking to license your music and make you money! Let us know your experiences using these guys or any other similar service in the comments!
There is a bit of a buzz on the internets about a Stanford Professor of Music's finding that the kids of today find MP3's more pleasing to their ears. Now before all the Audiophile curmudgeons pick up their pitchforks and head for the nearest Apple Store, we think Jonathon Berger may want to publish his results and methods. As we know you can make a conclusion match your hypothesis with very little effort. I am curious as to the quality of the turntables on down to the program material. There are a lot of variables to examine before we figure out that earbuds have made an entire generation deaf. Does anyone know where we can see these results????
Over at Beatportal.com they have an awesome symposium with a bunch of label heads of popular dance labels.They give some essential knowledge of what an artist and label can do in today's music climate. Check it!
Do you spend countless hours having to update all of your social networking sites? A new site called Ping.FM will give you back hours of your life! With just one message sent from a variety of mediums (Twitter, Facebook, SMS, Email and many more!) to their service, they will post it to a variety of social networks for you. With one message you can update your Blog, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and 30 more social networks! This can give you back tons of hours to do the things you really want to be doing with your life!
As a Record Producer, everyday of my life I watch guitarists put on a new pair of strings. You would be shocked how many guitarists do not string their guitars properly. Now you may be thinking "I'm no n00b at this, I know what I am doing". Despite all of your confidence, I have seen very seasoned players miss tiny little nuances that miss the mark. You may also be thinking that your guitar plays just fine. By stringing a guitar correctly, it will not only play better, but it will break less strings and also stay in tune FAR BETTER. Even if you have watched some of the popular YouTube videos, we have some essential info for you about what they miss. Click the jump for a quick tutorial.
While a bit old, this interview is fantastic! Conducted by Robert Henke famous for his work under the moniker Monolake
and being a strong collaborator with Ableton
on their Live
software. This interview shows the strength of when someone is really interested in the subject. Despite it's age, this is essential knowledge for anyone looking to release a record on vinyl this year. (via The Daily Swarm)
While they are still technically a "cover band", we now have entered the rubicon of bands using iPhone's as a main instrument in a band. Here we have The Mentalists covering MGMT's "Kids"
. I think in future listening I may be prone to Soulwax's remix of the song. The band uses Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth and DigiDrummer Lite to obtain their sound, however untill the drummer gets a little more tight they may want to consider programming the drums into iDrum. Jump for the video.
As we all know, the death of print is upon us! The paper Seattle Weekly decided one way to help stay afloat would be hiring some
celebrity bloggers. Not the worst idea, though they did get the result many
would expect: a musician is better heard then read. One hire has caught my eye, ex-Guns N Roses bassist Duff McKagan. During Duff's brief time at
this paper he has managed to prove that he is little more than your stereotypical aged rockstar. The part he has cast himself is the reformed rocker who has gotten sober and
discovered the joys of rock climbing. In his blog attempts to expose the rest
of the world, who experienced all of this years before "The Botox Years(AKA Velvet Revolvers formation)" as if they are some mind blowing revelations no
one has ever experienced before. The poor, little, punk rock Irish man doesn't
understand most people tried out things like sobriety and exercise while he was
busy getting drunk, doing ludes with Pauly Shore and playing in really
intellectual bands like The Fartz.
About three years ago I read a book called Freakonomics
, a paradigm-shifting expose, by Steven Levett and Steven Dubner.
I was particularly interested in their theory about how abortion lowers the
crime rate, after it ignited a huge controversy in the political world. He also
shows how many drug dealers make no real money, and the reasons real estate
agents never have you in their best interests. After reading it, I found the
real benefit of the book was to see the world in a new way.
We all know that YouTube is the new TV, and its no secret that an awesome video can get your band tons of easy promotion. With shrinking budgets and a more even playing field in the music business today it becomes harder and harder to get noticed. That said, if you have a little creativity you could make an awesome video to get your band noticed in one or two short days just using a little effort. With the advent of cheap editing software and digital video recorders, the playing field is even if you are creative enough. Below we will go over some examples. All of these videos are going to fall into two qualifications and can be done fast and on the cheap:
So Talk Boxes are obviously back in a big way. I have long been a fan ever since I was young and saw Bon Jovi using one in "Living On A Prayer"
I have sad news: the hundreds of dollars you spent on Friendbots, all the time you have spent adding cute girls to your profile, all the hours you spent making friends instead of writing better songs, it most likely isn't going to help. Once upon a time, A&R did look to see how many friends you had and you may have even fooled one into being interested in you, but for a long time now, everyone is on to this trick. We all know these aren't your real fans! Everyone knows what it looks like on a myspace page when you have rabid fans, as opposed to a bunch of people who have never heard your band. You think people are listening to you when you add them? The amount of time it takes to get 10 people in your bands demographic to listen to your band can be had much easier by going out into the outside world, playing shows, going to shows, talking to people about your band, or figuring out what the next effective marketing technique for your band may be. You are going to have to figure out something else since this one is dead.
Photo by flickr user marceatsworld
If you don't know who
Vincent Gallo is you may be kind of lucky. We love the movie Buffalo 66,
and think he lives a pretty hilarious life, but after sitting through The Brown Bunny
in theaters, it's difficult
to forgive him. Something a lot of people don't realize is he has recorded a
few records, some for one of our favorite record labels, Warp. Recently, a
website has been brought to our attention that shows the absolutely insane
assembly of vintage gear he owns. His music can be difficult to stomach, but it
does sound nice. It was rumored he owned 100 U47 microphones at one point, but
we believe that to be hyperbole. This site really is a must-see for
anyone into recording. Span some time here.
Since you are a musician, odds are you aren't making much money. If you are the rebellious musician then you hate the man and hate paying him a penny more then you have to. Well now you don't have to pay
him just to have the privilege of paying him 1/3 of your income! Details at our favorite consumer advocate blog Consumerist!
Have you ever wanted to know how much a piece of equipment you own is worth? Well most of us go on eBay and do a "completed items" search. What if that comes up short or you can't find your exact item? Now there is Prepal, a "blue book" style site with listing of gear prices. You can see the sample number and lots of vital statistics so you yourself can determine the quality of the info. This is a great utility for selling gear to friends or on craigslist. This can also be great when buying gear and you don't know the going rate for the item you are looking to purchase. It also links you directly to an eBay or SonicState search for that particular item if you want to buy one.
So as we all know, Apple announced they were
going to start selling lessons for Garageband. This is a fantastic idea and a
cheap way to learn some basic knowledge. The one part of I am questioning is
the artists section: most people who need lessons are young, like REALLY young.
Do we really believe teenagers think Sting, John Fogerty, Norah Jones, and Ben
Folds are cool? I was 13 in 1991, and even then I didn't know one person who
didn't think Sting was a douche, and now I am 31 and I still don't know anyone
who would want to emulate him. Now unless Apple knows something I don't, they
may be missing their demographic, and instead enlisting the artists they make
love to their plump 30 something hubbies to? I am curious to know others take
on this one.
Despite all the flack The New York Times gets for being behind the times or "in the tank" for every liberal ideal, occasionally they do these pretty amazing interactive videos on their website. This time around they have a really cool feature where they show you how a Martin Acoustic Guitar is made. Photo by Flickr user Morning theft
NSFW!!!! Cracked.com has one hell of a satire of our silly business. Go check out one of the most realistic and hilarious mockeries of what goes into a record.
If you are like me you are totally in love with Pro Tools 8! Though there definitely still some bugs. Pro Tools announced last week the latest CS update so get it while it's hot to get your system running better. It is available now in HD, LE, and M-Powered for Mac and PC.
If you have been paying the least bit of attention to music media the past few weeks you know Animal Collective have just released "Merriweather Post Pavilion"
. I know that some people wrote them off a long time ago as being too noisy and I was one of them. Despite having recorded one of the bands records, I always found them interesting, but compositionally a bit too chaotic. That has definitely changed, the new record finds the band doing what very few bands can do: write very weird, esoteric melodies and have them be AMAZING hooks. With all of that said they have put up their video for the first single of 2009 entitled "My Girls"
, a weirdo, Beach Boys on acid in 2008 dirge that is truly a unique song. Check out the video after the jump:
Most of the real reverb junkies out there are familiar with the great sounds you can achieve using Convolution Reverb, but many people overlook the one that comes built-in with the plugin pack for Logic. After using some third-party reverbs, I took a friend's advice and dove deeply into Logic's Space Designer plugin, which I initially assumed was garbage, but was thoroughly impressed. Not only are there many types of subtle reverbs/spaces to choose from, the quality is very impressive. Even more interesting is that Logic's Space Designer makes it easy for you to create your own files for the program. Known as IR's (impulse responses), Sound On Sound explains the easy way to record your own, allowing the uber dorks to get their most pristine reverb on. Perhaps it's time to finally sell that old plate sitting around your studio?
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