Recently, we’ve been covering some of the software and hardware needed to start recording and mixing your own demos and songs. If you’ve been digging into home recordings, you may have already started to fiddle around with plug-ins. Plug-ins are everyone’s favorite/least favorite piece of gear. On the one hand, buying nice plug-ins is both…
When it comes to marketing your music on the internet, you must take a long-term perspective. At first, it might seem like getting coverage or reviews from bloggers has a low return on investment. But if you keep growing, and they keep growing, you’ll see huge benefits over time. It’s worth the initial effort you…
Have you ever come across some indie band making fantastic music without anyone listening? The reasons for this phenomenon are diverse, ranging from location to branding. However, it is almost a certainty that this band does not spend as much time as they should on marketing. Fair enough! Marketing seems like a big, complicated job…
As we all know, music is a matter of preference. Some people like rock. Others like country. Still others like a mix of everything. What sounds great to one person might sound unappealing to another. While there is music that appeals to the lowest common denominator – it’s called pop – just because you produce…
Some musicians have no self-awareness. Others are too self-critical. Finding that balance in between can be challenging. But if you’re taking the time to think about whether you’re talented enough to perform or not, then you probably do have a certain amount of self-awareness that enables you to see yourself – maybe not completely objectively…
As a musician takes to the streets, it’s usually with the hope of engaging the casual passerby and making a little bit of money for their hard work. Busking and street performing can be a lot of fun and it can even be a great way to get practice playing in front of an audience…
Many guitarists focus heavily on their fretting hand instead of their picking hand. This is natural, especially early on, when a player must make a deliberate effort to get their fretting hand and fingers in the right position, doing the right things. But in the long run, not working on your picking hand could limit…
When people start singing, one of their chief problems is a lack of “power.” Power means different things to different people. To some it is literally just lack of volume, to others it’s a tonal problem with a thin or nasally voice. Of course, to some extent your singing voice is determined by genetics and…
Money can be an ongoing challenge for musicians and studio engineers alike. But a musician can’t perform without instruments, and an engineer can’t record without studio gear. For some, taking out a loan might be a good way to get the ball rolling. For the most part, I don’t advise going into debt or securing…
Many guitarists are interested in building up their speed. It’s cool when you can pull it off, but the work you need to put in to get there isn’t necessarily glamorous. For the most part, it just requires persistence and diligence. Whether it’s sweep picking or speed picking, you must keep at it until you…
With Facebook Live rolled out to all users, live streaming on social media has never been more present than it is now. Almost every social media is incorporating it in some way. Instagram has live feeds, Twitter has live feeds, and now, so does YouTube. YouTube live streams are available to creators through the Creator…
Are you looking for a few apps to download and install on your mobile device? There are some cool apps out there for guitarists and musicians, from virtual amps and pocket studios to jam tracks and drum machines. Whatever it is you need, there’s probably a solution out there. If you’re the kind of person…
If you want to sell your music on as many different stores and platforms as possible, then you must distribute it. Distribution is more efficient and affordable than it’s ever been. There are many services to choose from, and while most of them are comparable, they aren’t exactly the same. This makes it difficult to…
Lately, I’ve been having lots of conversations with some of my close friends and band mates about how much time they spend working on their music and how it affects their perspective. These conversations stemmed from a talk with a band mate of mine who truly lives and breathes music. He practices and writes more…
Have you ever wondered how some musicians get cool special effects in their videos? Maybe they’ve inserted a background to make it look like they’re in space, or maybe they have text flying past them with a plain but strong colored background. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: The above effects and more…