From the category archives:

Fast Forward

Being healthy on the road

by Carolyn Stanish February 2, 2012

Being healthy on the roadBeing healthy is not just about what you eat, it’s about how you live. Making a commitment to eating better and living a healthier life while on the road with your band can provide you with more energy, better moods, and greater self-esteem – all of which can positively affect your songwriting, performances, and relationships. Read more…

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Sing Me a Story – song collaboration with a big heart

by Disc Makers January 27, 2012

Sing Me a StoryIf you’re a songwriter looking to do something special for a youngster, here’s an organization worth checking out. Sing Me a Story is a program that gives children in hospitals, orphanages, and youth organizations around the world the chance to write and illustrate stories about anything they want – childhood memories, people they know, stories they’ve invented – it’s up to the child. Through Sing Me A Story’s network, these stories are distributed to songwriters, who turn them into songs. Read more…

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4 Steps to Convert Goals into Results

by Cheryl B. Engelhardt January 24, 2012

In the Key of Success"Goal" is such a ridiculous word. It’s a word that, once you put it in place, you automatically create its inverse: the possibility of failing to achieve it. The prospect of failure can be so scary that it becomes impossible to take action towards achieving your goal, and thus, the downwards cycle of mediocrity and spinning the wheels begins! Read more…

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Tips for Surviving and Thriving on Tour

by Michael Gallant January 18, 2012

Taking your music on the road is a great way to reach new audiences, see the world, and hopefully have a grand adventure — but any touring veteran will tell you that it’s not as easy as it looks. From maintaining peace amongst band members and staying healthy, to dealing with substandard accommodations and endless hours in transit, spending time on the road can present unique and unforeseen challenges. Read more…

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The 360 Deal – the music industry’s scary monster

by Andre Calilhanna January 17, 2012

It’s fun and easy to blame the woes of the world on major labels. After all, they’ve brought us The Pussycat Dolls, Milli Vanilli, and global warming. Oh yeah, there’s also the 360 record deal. 360 deals are common across all types of music labels, and music publishers are also in on the action with versions of their own. Not to be left out, concert promotion giant Live Nation also bangs the drum, having signed so-called 360 deals with the likes of Madonna and Jay-Z. Read more…

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Mastering Gear Overview

by Disc Makers January 10, 2012

Brian Lipski, who heads the dedicated group of audio engineers in the SoundLab Mastering Suite at Disc Makers, explains some of the basics about post-production mastering and the gear used in the process – either in your home studio or in a professional environment like the SoundLab. View video…

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Vocal Health Basics – How to Properly Care for Your Voice

by Keith Hatschek January 9, 2012

It seems that hardly a month goes by where a top singer isn’t forced to interrupt a tour, take a break, or undergo a medical procedure due to problems with their voice. Vocal health is often taken for granted, but once problems develop, they can stop a singer dead in his or her tracks, and in some cases require surgery and a lengthy post-surgery period of rest and recovery. Read more…

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Homemade Speaker Stands For Any Home Studio

by Mike Tarsia January 4, 2012

Disc Makers Home Studio Series, Volume 1: Building A Professional Home StudioRecipe for homemade speaker stands
When mixing, it’s good to have more than one pair of speakers as a reference. When I was setting up my workstation, I decided to pull out my trusty Tannoy PBM 6.5’s and place them next to the Mackie 624’s on top of my Argosy desk. This would complete my midsize near field speaker requirements, but I needed more space for the larger speakers. I looked around for speaker stands and almost died. Hundreds of dollars for a pair of stands. No way!
Excerpted from our new "Home Studio Series" guide, Building A Professional Home Studio
A no-skimping guide to turning your living room into an A-Room. Download your FREE PDF.

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Independent Success – An Interview with Sean O’Connell of Music Allies

by Rick Goetz December 16, 2011

Be great and be honest with the connection that you’re making. You’ve got to hustle and make your own destiny. But my biggest piece of advice is, team up with someone passionate to work with you. And that doesn’t mean someone from the music business. When you look at a lot of people I’ve worked with and look at who their managers are, they started as enthusiastic young people who didn’t have training in the music business… Read more…

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Press Kit Fundamentals – How To Write A Compelling Artist Bio

by Michael Gallant December 12, 2011

Samson MicAs creative and expressive musical artists, we’d like to believe our music speaks for itself. It does, of course, but a well-crafted artist bio is still a necessary part of your press kit and promotional efforts. In addition to giving the reader a glimpse into your musical career/journey/accomplishments to date, an engagingly written band bio can increase the chances of your music getting heard, whether you’re approaching music journalists for press coverage, creating an electronic press kit, or just trying to draw in casual visitors to your website. Read more…

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2012 Gear Guide: Four pieces of music gear priced under $300

by Keith Hatschek December 6, 2011

Samson Mic Time for our year-end round up of music equipment for your wish list that’ll offer outstanding value without breaking the piggy bank. We’ll take a look at music gear that includes an innovative router to help you make maximum use of your guitar pedals, a great USB microphone, an eight-track recorder, and a dock to help convert your iPad into a recording hub. To help me select this year’s picks, I consulted one of my own music tech gear gurus, Bob Furlong, Sales Engineer at Fort Wayne, IN-based Sweetwater Sound.
Read more…

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Who Hires Session Musicians?

by Bobby Owsinski and Paul Ill November 21, 2011

Since music today is recorded professionally everywhere – from bedrooms onto laptop programs like GarageBand to 2,500-square-foot near-perfect acoustical environments attached to control rooms loaded with recording gear worth millions of dollars – it’s safe to say that almost anyone making music will be able to hire you for a professional recording session. If you’re in demand, you’ll probably get all sorts of playing opportunities from sources you wouldn’t suspect. That being said, the top three sources for session work are contractors, producers, and highly respected session musicians. Read more…

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The Tip Jar Effect

by Scott James November 15, 2011

The Tip Jar EffectRemember the Seinfeld episode where George goes to give the guy a tip at the pizza place, but the guy doesn’t see him put it in the jar and he tries to reach in and take his money back?

It’s funny because most of us can relate to it (well, hopefully not the part about reaching back into the jar!). If we’re being totally honest, when most of us give someone a tip we want them to see us doing it. We want them to feel like they’re getting hooked up and a part of us wants to be acknowledged for making a contribution. Read more…

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12 Tips for Writing, and Selling, Great Jingles

by Michael Gallant November 10, 2011

Everyone has experienced it before — you see an advertisement on TV and three weeks later, you’re still humming the same catchy melody that playfully urges you to buy a soft drink, bring your car in for a new muffler, or change insurance companies. Such is the mysterious art of jingle writing.

Crafting words and music for the sole purpose of selling a product can be lucrative, creatively challenging, and fun — but how do you make the jump from indie songwriter, musician, artist, or producer to trusted messenger of a company’s brand? What do you do once you’ve actually landed your first gig writing commercial ad music? Read more…

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Finding money for your project – a look at Kickstarter and other fan-funding sites

by Keith Hatschek and Casey Newlin November 3, 2011

For decades, record labels have served as “banks” for musicians, loaning artists money up-front to write, record, and release their music. In the utopian scenario, this up-front money (an advance), would be paid back from the artist’s royalty earnings from album sales (recoupment), and everyone would walk away happy. Read more…

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