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Recording guitar and bass can be a fun time, but also an excruciating experience if you are missing some simple tidbits of knowledge. We assembled some of that knowledge so that you can easily get through the process.

Announcement - We Now Have a Forum!

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Finally! We now have a forum where you can discuss the new music business, gear, websites and promotion tactics for your music. Todd and I often talk about our disgust with many of the forums today in the music biz. Unfortunately, mods let trolls and negativity run rampant in fear of alienating their users instead of trying to create a positive and productive environment. Our goal with the Musformation Forum is to curate discussions that are positive and intelligent in the music community. Feel free to go there and discuss anything about music. Enjoy.
Thounds looks to be an interesting way to collaborate with other musicians online. With interesting social features the site looks like it can open up some fun opportunities.

Dropping the Bass In and Out

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Sometimes the right approach for the bass part of a song is to not have any bass at all. As the following examples demonstrate, delaying the entry of the bass or dropping it out for one section of a song can make the instrument's impact much more pronounced than maintaining a constant bass presence. Let's look at some variations of this approach.

First up is the Rolling Stones 1973 classic "Star Star" (AKA Starfucker). The band makes it through a full-verse before the bass comes in (33 seconds into the song), and it adds a nice subtle lift to the song as well as keeping the verse from getting repetitive. Note that this late entry differs from an introductory passage with just one or two instruments. In SF, the full band, including drums, is playing for the first verse except for the bass. The Stones use this approach in "Honky Tonk Women" as well, except that the bass enters in the chorus.

FredatConsole.jpgAfter beginning his career in France, Fred Kevorkian has been working in New York for over 20 years.  Initially an audio engineer at the internationally renown Sear Sound, he also has a thorough background in electronics as well as studio design.  Since branching off and working as a mastering engineer, Fred has worked with some incredibly impressive clientele including Ryan Adams, Iggy Pop, The White Stripes and The Walkmen.  Currently working out of Avatar Studios, we got together with Fred recently and dove deep into what mastering really is and how you can improve your recordings. 


Ok, we have to admit that this is pretty impressive. 
indie-band-survival-guide.jpgWhen we began Musformation, one of the first things we did is set out to see exactly what sort of material was out there for bands in 2010, both in print and online.  One of the first places many people recommended we try is was The Indie Band Survival Guide.  Universally recognized as ground zero for information on getting your group started and becoming successful, the IBSG was definitely an influence on the architecture of this site.  Recently, we sat down with Randy Chertkow, one of the esteemed authors, and got an earful on the music industry, money making opportunities and much more. 

Programming Note - Off Today!

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klaxonsalbum050610.jpgAnother summer Monday of slow news. We are taking the day to work on the Musformation book and getting together some awesome articles for you guys for the rest of the week. Happy Monday.
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Musformation is filled with a lot of information - the kind we believe can bring you ultimate success in the music business.  But just what do we do with this deluge of data and knowledge?  Even for us, the primary authors, it's often overwhelming.  With all the advice and options out there for how to improve your songwriting, shows, production and sales, it can be quite confusing as to what one should do next, where to spend money, how best to spend your time, etc. 

I didn't respect many of my teachers in high school, but one of my history teacher's favorite maxims my senior year was something I'll always remember: "Major on the major and minor on the minor."  What the hell exactly does that mean?  Choose the things that are most important to work on and don't sweat the smaller stuff.  If your band doesn't have a decent recording yet, it's probably not important that you spend all your time worrying about the type-face on your Myspace layout, or the 15th new t-shirt design for your band when you haven't released a new single in 10 months. 

Pick and choose your battles and don't get caught up in the minutia.  We provide a hell of a lot of information, but we're the first to say that it's not for everyone nor is all of it the most pertinent stuff you should be worrying about.  We want to put up all the data out there and let you decide what is worth doing and what is not.  Further, no one is in the exact same boat, so as songwriters, producers and artists ourselves, we must do the same. 

When getting bogged down with an enormous project or to do list, ask yourself: "is any of this going to make a significant impact on the goals for my music?"  If the answer is no, move on to something that is likely to produce significant results for your music.  Your music, like most everything else, is a business and you too should be looking out for that magic formula of maximum return on minimum investment.  

Programming Note - Off Today!

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Hey Everyone...
It's summer and we are hard at work on our upcoming book. So today we are taking it to the beach and doing some work but tomorrow we will be back with new blog posts. Thanks and enjoy your day.
home_logo.jpgAfter an auspicious beginning where their first release just happened to be Peter Bjorn and John's Writer's Block, the independent label Almost Gold Recordings has turned nearly everything they've touched into, well, gold.  Some of the other amazing artists the label has already worked with include Black Kids, Harlem Shakes, Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Calvin Harris.  Considering all that, it only makes sense that Almost Gold would have some of the best A&R reps in the business.  Both friendly and insightful, Achal Dhillon is a gentleman well versed in the savviest details of the industry while still not coming across as the typical, disingenuous A&R creep.  We recently spoke with Achal in what turned out to be one of our best and most relevant interviews on the music industry yet.  
hughmac.jpgBlogger, artist, and now author of the amazing book Ignore Everybody, Hugh MacLeod is one of the leading authorities on the creative process.  Famous for his business card drawings (as seen above), Hugh gained a great deal of initial popularity through his always intriguing Gaping Void blog - filled with drawings and personal insights on art, creativity and a myriad of other topics.  In addition, MacLeod is an avid music fan with some keen insights on the industry, even appearing as a panel speaker at SXSW 2010.  This week we were lucky enough to pry Hugh away from his artistic endeavors long enough to record some of his piercing observations.  
seth-godin.jpgBest-selling author, widely-read blogger and universally recognized marketing guru, Seth Godin hardly needs an introduction.  If you read this site with any frequency you know that we  often attempt to incorporate his ideas and insights into music marketing and the industry.  If you haven't yet read any of his brilliant books, start with Linchpin - then go back to Tribes and Purple Cow - at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it will drastically change the way you look at the world and especially marketing.  Recently, Seth was generous enough to sit down and give us an interview, relaying some of his latest insights on music marketing, the creative process and the state of the music industry today.  Prepare to take notes.  
  
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Just a quick note everyone, we had a problem on Facebook where our posts would appear three times, that is now fixed. As well, We have given The Musformation Guide To Getting Your Band Somewhere a long needed update. This should be updated every Friday just like it used to be as we prepare it for it's book form!
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Another day ruined by a piece of Internet magic! Let Them Sing It is one of those pieces of technology that really does nothing but make you smile all day long as you watch your productivity go to hell, as you listen to your favorite singers sing whatever you may type in to a typepad. Give it a try and waste your life away.
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It is no secret that online radio is one of the best ways to promote your music. With services like Pandora, Last.FM, Jango, Blip.FM and other services not only can you get your music before the ears of listeners who like the type of music you make, but you can also get paid for your plays as you begin to dominate the online radio airwaves.






It all comes down to this. As you come down to entering the studio and then recording your songs you are now tasked with one of the most difficult balancing acts ever known to man (ok... well maybe to musicians). We have written countless articles on how to avoid many of the pitfalls many musicians fall into when they go to capture their material. Read on and make something great for us all to hear.









With everyday, as the gatekeepers die and the major labels lose power it becomes more and more about just having a great song. This being the case you better start brushing up on your skills! We have assembled a lot of advice and tools for you to use to write better songs on the other side of this link.






When trying to break your music out of your circle of friends and out to the whole world, you are inevitably going to have to take on the hat of doing some publicity for your own music. As you begin to take on this large task there is numerous bits of advice that you may have overlooked on how to do this effectively. We have assembled numerous articles on how to take over the world of music and get it out there.






Now that you actually have songs recorded you need to get them out to the world to be heard. With every day that passes more and more amazing tools become available for artists to do this without the help of a label. We keep an up to date guide of everything you could ever want to know about what you should do in order to make the right choice on how to get your music out to the world.






Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, YouTube all become more and more important everyday (well maybe not Myspace, but contrary to much chatter it is still important to know the most up to date ways to make Myspace feed your other pages). We keep musicians up to date with the most current ways to use all of these social networks to promote your music. If you are not reading our guides to social networks you are missing out on the crucial knowledge of how to promote your music with the most up to date techniques.






What separates the winners and losers is how well you handle playing live and then getting your show on the road. Playing live and touring may seem easy but there are countless pitfalls that one can encounted over time. We show you all the new tricks of the trade as well as wise advice that has been passed down over the years.






Managing a group of people and keeping everyone on the same page and motivated is one of the biggest make or break factors of any sucessful group. There are many emerging tools that can make this easier and we sort through them, all the while dispensing valuable advice on how to deal with your members with minimal chaos.






Getting covered by blogs is fast becoming one of the things that everyone wants to figure out. Sadly, there is not a lot of information out there on how to do just this. We have quite a few articles with the techniques we use to get the bands we work with on to some of the top blogs out there.