READY TO TAKE THE STAGE!

Here's some good advice for bands and solo artists before you next take the stage. This will not only help you come across as professional and ensure a good relationship with the venue, it will help make sure you are doing everything within your power to win new fans from each gig.

Playing live is your chance to personally meet and connect with your audience. Something that can't be done over the Internet.

Rules to take the stage by

[Resource http://jordantishler.wordpress.com/tag/bands/]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, indie, promote+your+music, live+music+promotion, indie, independent, musician

YOUTUBE IDOL

Who said singing karaoke couldn't get you signed! Well, probably no-one but it isn't the most obvious route one usually takes to be a successful commercial recording artist.

These crazy days of the new independent artist have enabled 18 year old Esmee Denters from Holland to go from singing karaoke in her bedroom to landing a major record deal and signing with Kelly Rowland from Destiny's child.

Esmee started her 'career' by uploading videos to YouTube of herself singing and soon found herself appearing on the front page of YouTube and getting so many views that YouTube's servers became overloaded.

Read the short history of Esmee's rise to fame

[Resource http://theutubeblog.com/tag/esmee-denters/]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, internet+music+marketing, you+tube+marketing, esmee+denters, indie, independent, musician

VIRAL VIDEO MARKETING

Tenth Street Entertainment’s independent music label Eleven Seven Music said Wednesday it plans to introduce its first viral video-marketing campaign, live from a concert by the Los Angeles band the Exies, in April. Promoters will give fans permission to shoot live videos from the event and upload them to the indie music label’s page on Zannel, which launched a mobile social networking site on Wednesday.

Read more about viral video marketing here

[Resource http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=21557&hed=Zannel+Takes+Social+Nets+Mobile§or=Industries&subsector=EntertainmentAndMedia]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, viral+music+marketing, indie, independent, musician

HOW TO BE A WORKING BAND

Playing gigs is one of the best ways to start building a following. Internet marketing is well and good but playing live is where many bands make their money.

Use the internet to help you build a fan base and communicate with your fans. Play live and this your oportunity to win people over, build up a following, sell Cd's and merchandise and earn money from performing.

We all have to start somewhere, so if you've practised enough to feel that you or your band are good enough to play in front of an audience, let's get you out there!

The basics are: put together a press kit and book a gig. Keeping yourself organised and following up venues are the keys to getting a gig. Read "How to Be a Working Band or Musician"

For a free step by step guide to booking your gigs the easy way - join the FREE "Tools For Success" program offered at this page.

Are you wanting to book Australian Gigs? Take the hassle out of booking with 100 Aussie Gigs.



[Resource http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/161239/how_to_be_a_working_band_or_musician.html]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, market+your+music, live+music, get+a+gig, live+music+promotion, independent, musician

FREE RINGTONE SOFTWARE

With all the usual ring tones available for phones, how 'bout creating your own unique ring tone with your songs for your fans.

The technology is here and BETA Records are providing the software to do it for free.


[Resource http://press.xtvworld.com/article17322.html]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, indie, internet+music+marketing, mobile+marketing, indie, independent, musician

ADVERTISE YOUR BAND ON MYSPACE

This something to get you started on MySpace. There's a few tips from MySpace users as to what has helped them market their music.

Find out what you should be doing, what works and what doesn't.

How to Advertise My Music or Band on MySpace

[Resource http://www.technologyevangelist.com/2006/08/how_to_advertise_my.html#comment-15976]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, internet+music+marketing, internet+music+marketing, myspace+music+marketing, indie, independent, musician

UK MARKET VS US MARKET

Scott Hoffman fom New York based 70's style rock and disco band the Scissor Sisters talks in this article about the US music market and why the Scissor Sisters can be virtually ignored in their home countries but adored in the UK and Australia.

An interesting look at the differences of the UK/European market and the US market.

Scissor Sisters looking for a little love at home

[Resource http://www.mlive.com/music/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/features-2/1173201669309520.xml&coll=5]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, indie, market+your+music, scissor+sisters, indie, independent, musician

HOW TO GET A GIG IN WALES

Here's a nice little resource I came across on the BBC website.

There's a How To Get A Gig article and if you're wanting to tour Wales, there's a bunch of handy venue links at the same site.


[Resource http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/howto/pages/get_a_gig.shtml]

GigShare-A FREE Global Network of Gigs and Resources

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, promote+your+live+music, free+gig+resource, live+music+wales, how+to+get+a+gig, indie, independent, musician

NINE INCH MARKETING

Seems that coming up with a unique and creative idea can get you more publicity mileage than traditional and expensive marketing campaigns.

With a strange but simple enough idea Trent Reznor from NIN has produced a sort of game, story, treasure hunt based on the Internet.

The idea or game has caught on and has a huge cult following around the world chasing and deciphering clues on various websites.

It all started from this NIN tour t-shirt.

Rolling Stone write about it here and this forum at EchoingTheSound you can read up on the history and story behind this marketing concept.



[Resource http://www.prohiphop.com/2007/03/def_jam_icon_la.html]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, internet+music+marketing, promote+music+online, market+your+music, indie, independent, musician

DISSECTING SONGS

Pandora Podcast Series is as it says, a series of Podcasts dissecting songs to find out what makes a particular song sound distinctive or give it that special sound.

Here's what they say:

"We thought it might be interesting for folks to learn more about what goes into songwriting. These podcasts are our attempt to give you an inside look at the techniques musicians use to put their signature on the music they write and perform."

Click here to subscribe to Pandora Podcast

[Resource http://blog.pandora.com/podcast/]

technorati tags:recording+techniques, recording+your+music, indie, independent, musician

NEW BUSINESS MODEL FOR NEW TECHNOLOGY

New business models are vital as technology changes the way people shop and purchase.

With many landmark music retail outlets disappearing fast (Tower Records in the US, Sam the Record Man in Canada) and owners of these type of stores say that "the music business is changing, and changing rapidly."

The bad news for retail outlets is good news for musicians, one of the biggest factors being that music is easily distributed over the Internet and does not require physical storage and shipping.

So while the music industry tries to catch up to these changes with a new business model, musicians have the world at their fingertips.

For some statistics and further reading from Canada's TheChronicleHerald read:

New business models vital as technology changes

[Resource http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/561147.html]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, internet+music+marketing, indie, indie, independent, musician

HOW TO MAKE AN AMATEUR RECORDING SOUND PROFESSIONAL

Uneven vocals, fake drums, overused reverb, muddy vocals...and the list goes on.

Don't let your recordings showcase your songs as being the work of a novice.

Here's how you can learn to recognize and address these traits in your own recordings, and produce more polished, professional mixes: 10 hallmarks of amateur recordings


[Resource http://www.hometracked.com/2006/12/22/10-hallmarks-of-amateur-recordings/]

technorati tags:independent+music+recording, home+recording, promote+your+music, demo+recording, professional+recording+techniques, indie, independent, musician

CREATING A BUZZ

There's no question that building a successful music career is a lot of hard work, but it can be done. You have control over your career and you can create your opportunities and create your own buzz. How? Here's some tips on: Creating your own gigs, getting press, getting your fan numbers up and networking.

Read this article Create A Buzz: If You Build It They Will Come!


[Resource http://www.xanga.com/Artistopia/574198048/create-a-buzz-if-you-build-it-they-will-come.html]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, indie, independent, musician

"TIME AFTER TIME" - THE INSIDE STORY

Get an insider look at a professional recording studio experience.

Producer/Engineer William Wittman remembers the techniques and equipment he used to record Cyndi Lauper's song "Time After Time".

This came from ProSoundWeb.com, community forum - Time After Time (the inside story)


Time After Time:

started in Record Plant Studio B which had an API and an MM1200.
Westlake monitors (in fact one of the very FIRST Hidley control rooms).

the studio had been rebuilt by the staff and was a medium sized but EXTREMELY live room.
Bouncy, splashy, diffused.. sounded like an empty warehouse. But GREAT.
But uncontrollable.
People either loved or hated recording in there.
I loved it.

We started that track with a Linn drum.

to that we overdubbed Rob Hyman playing a Juno 60 (which is the main synth) using its internal stereo chorus.
and at the SAME TIME, Peter Wood, playing a Memory Moog, doubling the basic part in real time.
To get some stereo variation, when the "horns" come in on the B-Verse ("You say , go slow..."), it's another Memory Moog part but it's double tracked, one on the left and one on the right.

The bass is Rob playing on I THINK a Prophet V (rev 1) but it COULD be the Memory Moog.

We also overdubbed Anton Fig playing the cross stick and bass drum, but the Linn shaker remains.
RE20 on the bass drum under some packing blankets.
KM-84 on the snare.
IN the mix I took the shaker (I just realised we always CALLED it a shaker, but actually it's the Linn Cabasa), through an Eventide Flanger to make it dance around in stereo a bit and get it out of the dead centre, where it was too demanding.
It sounded better being a little diffused... less artificial.

We did a pass of the guitar downstairs in Studio B... but this was very near the end of the record (it was the last song to go on) and we were due to move upstairs to the Mixroom

The guitar was Eric Bazilian's Strat through Record Plant's 50 watt Marshall 2x12 JMP combo.
It's got an 87 on it, probably compressed a bit with an La2a.
the first pass didn't seem to be "it".

The vocal is a U-47 - API 525 compressor.
the Verses were SO soft that I had the pre quite cranked up to get a good, full shot at It.
Then she'd hit the chorus and BAM.. distortion.
After experimenting a BIT with multiple mics and trying to ride the pre or A/B switch pres and other wanker-y, we ended up just overdubbing the choruses separately.

it DOES still have a kind of slightly distorted quality in the chorus, but that's also just part of how she SOUNDS in that range.
If you stick your ear in front of her mouth, you hear that sound.

Rob overdubbed the harmony vocal and that was that.

Then we moved up to the Mixroom, which had a customised Trident 56 in TSM.
we set up the same amp and Eric overdubbed the final guitar playing in the control room between the two speakers with the amp in the little overdub room.
At that point Cyndi mentioned Don't Stand So Close as a way to think about the verse guitar... since that said "chorus" to me, I put the Publison DHM-89 harmoniser on it and set it for a very short delay with a bit of pitch shift on each side, one side up the other down.

and that's the guitar chorusing.
If I SAW a DHM-89 I would probably remember just how i set it, but it was a kind of chorus-y ADT sound that i had sussed on the thing already.
I'd used it on a vocal on another record.
I don't think I'd used it on a guitar though.

In the final mix, I actually bring in the scratch track from downstairs in the "solo" section as an extra guitar.

the mix was fairly straightforward. I remember I did do a different delay for the chorus than for the verses so that the chorus would open up a bit.
again with a Publison DHM-89.

the stereo mix has an Audio&Design Recording Compex (F760x-RS) on it in a kind of "parallel" compression.
The TSM had a quad pan pot and a network that summed the rear quad busses into the front for stereo.
So I put the A&D on the REAR buss inserts and then could use the front-rear pan pots to determine how much a sound goes into the compressor.
I know I, for example, didn't put any shaker into the compressor, and had the vocal about half in half out.

The only reverb is an EMT250.

it's mixed (with no automation, just edits as necessary) to 1/4 15ips 456 at 6 over 250 nW/m on at ATR 102.
That was the multi alignment as well but at 30ips.

no NR.

and it was mixed very much on the big Westlakes, and fairly LOUD.
not on bookshelves.

I was CHECKING the mixes on ROR cubes (kind of like Auratones that don't suck), and when I'd listen on the ROR's I'd throw on 20:1 heavy compression... just to get an idea of what a car radio tuned to FM was going to be like.
Just as a quick, how's the vocal? how's the snare?" kind of thing.
Mostly I MIXED on the bigs.


[Resource http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/mv/msg/15674/220242/15109/#msg_220410]

technorati tags:music+recording+tips, recording+music, indie, independent, musician

ELIMINATING WRITER'S BLOCK

Want to eliminate writers block forever? This is from Corey Stewart.

Here s a link to a free e-Report called 11 Ways To Eliminate Writers Block FOREVER!


[Resource http://quikonnex.com/channel/item/26144]

technorati tags:eliminate+writers+block, song+writing, free+resources, indie, independent, musician

CREATING REALISTIC SEQUENCED DRUM PARTS

Drummers have long been the target of musician jokes and often regarded as replaceable, after all you can get a drum machine but you can't get a singing or guitar machine.

But finding an acceptable substitute for your drummer is not easy and many recordings require the sound of 'real' drums. Although a sequenced part will never be a perfect imitation, there are a number of things you can do to make it sound more convincing.

This article goes in to some detail about Creating Realistic Sequenced Drum Parts


[Resource http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct99/articles/20tips.htm]

technorati tags:recording+music, recording+drums, sequenced+drums, electronic+drums, indie, independent, musician

MAKE YOUR OWN VOCAL POP FILTER

For the definitive collection of DIY pop filter instructions visit HomeTracked where you'll find a method to suit your crafting abilities.

Needlepoint, coffee can lid, sock, gaffer tape, coat hangers and even fake fur!


[Resource http://www.hometracked.com/2006/05/28/homemade-pop-filters/]

technorati tags:make+your+own+pop+filter, vocal+tips, recording+vocals, indie, independent, musician

SCRIGGLE IT

Here's a website with what looks like some great free features for managing your fans, creating a EPK and creating a fan email list.

Check it out at Scriggle It

[Resource http://www.scriggleit.com/]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, internet+music+marketing, promote+music+online, indie, indie, independent, musician

FREE DIGITAL VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

Adobe has just launched a Web based video remix and editing technology. A partnership between Adobe and Photobucket integrates this new technology with the Photobucket user experience.

This will give the 35 million Photobucket users direct and free access to world-class digital video editing tools.

Click here for a tutorial on "Creating a Remix with Adobe"

[Resource http://remixtheory.net/?p=132]

technorati tags:independent+music+promotion, market+your+music, promote+your+music, music+promoter, photobucket+video+editing, free+music+marketing+tools, free+video+editing, indie, independent, musician

THE BASICS OF VOCAL HARMONY

Here's a podcast that will take you through some basics of vocal harmonising including : tutti harmony, unison singing, parallel and contrary motion, call and response.

When you've had a listen to the podcast, you can check then out audio examples which also include a description of the song's production qualities. Very nice!

Great stuff for budding producers, singers and recording enthusiasts.

The Basics of Vocal Harmony

[Resource http://blog.pandora.com/archives/podcast/2006/11/this_is_my_firs.html]

technorati tags:singing+techniques, music+production, music+recording+tips, recording+vocals, indie, independent, musician