Excerpted from Chapter 3, “From the Flying V to the Jazzmaster” from the new book, Electric Guitars: Design and Invention (Backbeat Books), this post gives a brief history of the invention of the humbucking pickup. Read More.
Excerpted from Spinal Tap: The Big Black Book, which dives into the times of ceaseless lyrical innuendo and grubby long hair shampooed by the gods of metal and conditioned by the angels of mercy. Read More.
If you are playing gigs, are you sure you’re not leaving revenue on the table? If you are writing songs, how can you best prepare so you’re not missing out on future income? The following management tips can help any musicians, songwriters, or producers make more money and better manage their material down the road. Read More.
Excerpted from The Bass Book, here’s a brief history of the Fender Precision bass – an instrument that revolutionized modern rock ‘n roll. Read More.
Excerpted from The Gibson 335 Guitar Book, take a glimpse into Eric Clapton’s heralded Gibson 335 hollowbody that was first featured with Cream and went on to garner $847,000 at auction in 2004. Read More.
The process of getting sound into and out of the computer is actually quite simple and is totally dependent on the science of sound, which we call acoustics. Read More.
Success onstage begins with comfort in your own skin and with your own music. Your identity when you perform live onstage has to come across as authentic to the audience. Read More.
Performing Rights Organizations aggregate the performing rights of writers and publishers and then negotiate licenses with all the users of music, collect the income from those licenses, and distribute that income. Read More.
I divide the people who make the music into five categories: musicians, songwriters, engineers, artists, and producers. Part I looked at the first three. Now we explore the artists and producers – and control freaks. Read More.
I divide the creative entities who make the music up into five categories: musicians, songwriters, engineers, artists, and producers. In this post we’ll look at the first three. Part II will explore the artists and producers. Read More.
One way to control the amplitude of a signal is by running it through a compressor, which turns down the volume each time the signal gets louder than a preset threshold. Understanding the functions of compression and panning are part of music production basics and will help you in the recording and mixing phases of your project. Read more.
Controlling volume is one of the most important elements in audio production. Understanding amplitude, volume, normalization, and automation are all part of music production basics and will help you in the recording and mixing phases of your project. Read more.
It never fails to amaze me that many people who identify themselves as record producers commence work on recording projects without knowing anything about the songs or artists they’re going to record. Yep, people are getting paid to make records without knowing a single note of the music they’re going to be working on. Read more.
Jay Frank, a former VP at Country Music Television and Yahoo Music, recently launched his own record company, called DigSin. Based in Nashville, DigSin, which stands for digital single, has a very unique business model: It promotes free downloads for life and a “360 of the song” deal. Read more.
Record production is comparable to a wide variety of jobs – from office manager to school teacher to film director to lion tamer (and clinical psychologist). But at its core, record production is mainly about being a conduit that helps the entire creative process flow – a record producer’s primary directive is to help the artist excel. Read more.