Posts by author:

Michael Gallant

Managing Your Online Videos

by Michael Gallant May 21, 2013

Slankard's online videos The prevalence of online videos brings up new questions when it comes to engaging with band mates and fellow artists. What’s appropriate to post and when? Plus, you never know what clips will show up where – say, an unflattering, low-res, audience-shot video of that embarrassing moment when you had a coughing fit and fell off the stage. Here are some tips from seasoned independent musicians to help you figure out how best to manage your own online video presence. Read more.

0 comments

Touring Tips For International Music Gigs

by Michael Gallant April 17, 2013

International music gigsWhether you’re driving north from the east coast to play a coffee shop in Montreal, bringing your electro-pop act to a string of clubs in Tokyo and Thailand, or presenting a midnight set at a jazz festival in Germany, performing music gigs abroad can be an incredibly rewarding and cool experience — but one that brings its own set of challenges. Here are tips from seasoned musical world travelers to help you make your international music gigs run as smooth as possible. Read more.

4 comments

Seven Strategies for Local Music Promotion

by Michael Gallant April 9, 2013

Seven Music Promotion StrategiesYou’ve spent countless hours writing, revising, and rehearsing, and now it’s time to take your material to the stage. While a tour bus, road crew, and booking manager are helpful when it comes to worldwide musical domination, gigging locally and building a live following, honing your chops, and refining your performances comes first. Here are music promotion strategies to help you get attention on a local level. Read more.

6 comments

Preparing For A Big Gig

by Michael Gallant March 18, 2013

Preparing For A Big GigThe CD release party for my new album was a big gig. Not only was it my first music performance at The Bitter End, it was also the first time I was introducing this collection of original music to friends, fans, and industry. I started preparing early, but it became obvious that simply running the tunes from the album wouldn’t be enough. After jamming through each song repeatedly, I wasn’t discovering anything new. Read more.

2 comments

Are You Ready to Work With a Music Publicist?

by Michael Gallant March 5, 2013

paper boyWhatever your instrument or genre, as an independent musician, I bet you’ve probably spent time gazing at the arts section of your local newspaper or favorite music magazine and wondered, “How can I get there?” While talent, hard work, business chops, persistence, and luck have a great deal to do with it, there’s another tool that can help — a good publicist. Read more.

14 comments

Food and the Recording Studio – A Serious Recording Tip

by Michael Gallant February 12, 2013

Bagels-thumbWhen my co-producer came in for day one of the session, I was surprised to see him carrying a gallon container of hot coffee in one hand and a bag full of bagels and donuts in the other. His explanation was simple but memorable: “When you’re producing a session, the $50 you spend on food for the musicians and engineer will be the best $50 you spend on the entire project.” Read more.

0 comments

Get a Great Live Mix – Eight Ways to Take Control of Your Live Sound

by Michael Gallant January 24, 2013

LiveMixDealing with live sound at a music gig can often range anywhere from a minor annoyance to a major catastrophe. Broken PA components, weird-sounding rooms, difficult on-site staff, or the lack of someone present who can actually mix live music can be just the tip of the iceberg. On the bright side, there are any number of tried and true ways to minimize your on-the-gig headaches when it comes to dialing in your live band sound. Here are just a few live sound tips to keep you sane — and sounding great. Read more.

15 comments

Practice Safe Sampling – Copyright, Licensing and Your Music

by Michael Gallant January 7, 2013

Last month, we shared some tips on using the Akai MPC series of samplers, drum machines, and sequencers to make masterful, sample-based music. But that came with a warning: “Don’t infringe on copyrights!” If your forte is creating beat-driven masterpieces that use other people’s work as source material, how do you ply your craft and share your art without getting in trouble? Let’s dive into the murky waters of legality and copyright ownership. Read more.

10 comments

Making Beats With the Akai MPC

by Michael Gallant December 5, 2012

When it comes to hip hop, few pieces of gear are more iconic than the Akai MPC series drum machine, sampler, and sequencer. Easily recognizable by its matrix of trigger pads, the MPC (Music Production Center or MIDI Production Center) has been used by some of hip hop’s greatest producers and by innovative music makers in countless other genres. Read more.

5 comments

Working the Crowd… Offstage

by Michael Gallant November 19, 2012

Before he goes on to play, Tony Bennett walks out and greets audience members in the foyer and thanks people profusely for coming to see his show. Outreach like that is really admirable. It shows appreciation and really creates a bond with audience members. I’m in favor of that approach with more of a human touch, not having the star being tucked away and untouchable. Read more.

9 comments

Stage Fright! Overcoming Music Performance Anxiety

by Michael Gallant September 11, 2012

Whether you call it stage fright, stage fear, pre-show jitters, or performance anxiety, getting nervous before a show is entirely normal amongst musicians, athletes, and all types of performers. Symptoms can range from the annoying to the incapacitating, and even a small amount of music performance anxiety can transform a gig from a wonderful experience to a painful ordeal. Luckily, there are quite a few resources and strategies to help you amp up the joy of performing and overcome stage fright. Read more.

18 comments

Artist Endorsement Deals – dos and don’ts

by Michael Gallant August 10, 2012

Visit any music store and you can’t miss the posters — “Rock Star X proudly plays Company Y’s guitars.” Or crack nearly any music trade magazine and you’ll see ads with well-known players singing the praises of the instruments and tools of their choosing. Such are the most visible manifestations of sponsorships and artist endorsement deals, symbiotic relationships between companies and music creators who use, and help promote, their products. And while many artist endorsement deals may seem like the stuff of high-visibility, world-touring acts, they can be helpful tools for a wide range of indie musicians as well. Read more.

7 comments

Gig Etiquette – Set-Up and Breakdown Habits To Live By

by Michael Gallant July 18, 2012

Nearly every touring musician has at least one story about load-in or breakdown gone awry — that emotionally scarring gig where the venue promised a full drum kit but only delivered a broken snare drum, the festival slot when you expected fifteen minutes to set up but only got fifteen seconds, or that sickening post-gig moment when you realized your vintage Les Paul had grown legs and walked out of the club, all by itself. Read more.

36 comments

Press Kit Fundamentals: You’ve Written A Press Release – Now What?

by Michael Gallant June 20, 2012

Sending your press release to everyone you know — or every music journalist you can find who has a public email address — is not the way to go, says veteran publicist Amanda Sweet. “Who you send to depends on what you’re sendings. When I was just getting started as a publicist, one journalist asked me, ‘Do you even know what I write about?’ I sheepishly told him, ‘No, I don’t.’ That taught me a valuable lesson about preparedness, and I learned my lesson fast.” Read more.

1 comment

How To Ace The Music Audition – Ten Tips To Make You Shine When It Counts

by Michael Gallant May 10, 2012

Whether you’re auditioning for the biggest pop act in the world or the smallest band that nobody outside of a five-block radius has heard of, treat all auditions with the same level of rigor. "If you can’t be professional on a small scale, then you can’t be professional on large scale," says Kern Brantley, bassist for Lady Gaga. "If you come into a wedding band audition wearing the wrong clothes and hitting wrong notes, you’re going to do the same thing when you get the chance to audition for a super star." Read more.

1 comment