Most musicians – myself included – prefer to spend their time making music rather than promoting it. But a little promotion can go a long way, and is vital if you plan on making a living from songsmithery; so you’ll either need to outsource your promotional activities, or embrace the network…

Convenience Is King

If you want people to buy your music, you’ll need to give them a reason to part with their hard-earned cash, and you’ll need to make it easy for them to do so. Part of the success of iTunes is its ease of use, and its integration into the immensely popular Apple product range.

But Internet marketers know that a good contact list is more valuable than a once-off payment. Derek Sivers recommended this widget at Pledge Music, and although it’s still fairly rough around the edges, the idea is good – offer people a free mp3 in return for an email address, Facebook like or Twitter follow.

Adding Value

If you are serious about promoting your music online, you’ll see the advantage of this approach straight away. Building up a following is a long-term process, and if you don’t have time to do it yourself, you should hire someone who is good at it to do it for you. Email lists (and followers) are valuable because they open the door to communication with someone who is interested in you (at least to some extent)…and once you have someone’s attention, you can draw them in with new and interesting content.

It’s easier to get someone’s contact details than their credit card number, so giving a song in exchange is a very sensible way to begin a relationship with a potential fan…if you are a small or relatively unknown act, ‘what am I getting from my audience?’ is not as productive a question as ‘what am I giving my audience?’.

This Music Technology blog post was published

on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 4:02 pm

in the sales and promotion category.

The microphone is one of the most important pieces of gear in any studio; and any professional studio will have a large selection of different microphones, each suited to a particular task. But what should you do if you can only afford one?

Microphone Types

Broadly speaking, the two primary types of microphone are dynamic and capacitor – dynamic microphones are well suited to live performance and can operate without ‘phantom power’, whereas other types of microphone need some sort of extra amplification.

In the home studio, condenser microphones are generally favoured, as they tend to be far more sensitive than dynamic mics. Of course, there are plenty of dynamic mics used in studios too – the Shure SM57 and SM58 are practically ubiquitous – and are excellent at dealing with high SPL levels when recording loud instruments such as drum kits. But if you really can only afford one microphone for your studio, then a large-diaphragm condenser would probably be the way to go.

Tubes and Ribbons

Tube microphones come with their own tube-based power supply, which you plug your microphone into using a proprietary cable, and from there into your DAW with a standard XLR. Ribbon mics are also useful in some circumstances, but they are notoriously delicate… they can be destroyed simply by blowing into them, so vocalists need to be kept back a bit.

Microphone Pickup Patterns

Another detail to consider is that of pickup patterns – this determines the directionality of the microphone. An omni pattern means that the mic is sensitive to sound coming from all directions, which is probably not ideal for a small studio.

When recording a solo vocal or instrument, it’s usually best to use the cardioid pattern, which favours the front of the mic, and picks up very little from the rear. Many mics have pattern switches, so you can change according to the task at hand.

Quick Mic Choice

There’s a lot to learn about microphones, and it takes years of experience to know what mic works best for a given situation, for vocals, for guitar, for drums, for outdoor sitar recitals, for voiceovers… the list goes on (here’s a voiceover mic shootout at Recording Hacks – a good source of information for microphones).

But if you just want to get a decent mic without too much fuss and endless research, the following models have received good reviews from a lot of producers. Everyone has their likes and dislikes, but you won’t go far wrong with any of these (prices for rough reference – pick the one that suits your budget and go find it!).

Tube Microphones

Condenser Microphones

Dynamic Microphones

Matched Pair Microphones

This Music Technology blog post was published

on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 12:47 pm

in the music technology category.

As more and more people are producing music in their homes, the market for sample libraries is also growing. However, particularly in the realm of downloadable libraries – where the barrier to vendor entry is practically non-existent – it can pay to double-check whether the samples you use are actually cleared for commercial use…

Avoid Being Treated Like Royalty

There is a thread over at the SOS Forums that questions the origins of many sample libraries sold under the banner of ‘royalty-free’.

There may be a significant difference between free loops and samples and royalty-free samples. If you are releasing a track, you really need to be sure that everything on there is cleared for take off, so to speak – or it might come back to haunt you later (in the form of a copyright infringement suit).

The Benefit Of Cleared Samples

Generally, if you sample someone else’s work, you need to pay them publishing royalties for the right to use the recording. However, there are plenty of grey areas here – particularly if you sample something and then process it to the point where it’s entirely unrecognisable.

The advantage of royalty-free sample libraries is that you are supposed to be free to use them in your own tracks as you wish, for commercial purposes or otherwise (although generally not to resell them in another sample library). In these cases, the sample libraries should contain loops and sounds that were created specifically by the originator of the library.

Beware The Bad Library

However, there are some sample libraries sold under this aegis that may themselves not be entirely kosher; in fact, the instigator of the SOS thread pointed out that one of his e-lab libraries contained copyrighted samples taken directly from 60s and 70s soul records.

If you happen to use such samples and your song becomes a hit, the owner of the original copyright may try to claim against you – and if this happens, the company who sold you the library will probably just change their name and continue pushing their illicit goods to other unsuspecting producers. You, however, will probably still be liable for whatever damages may accrue.

Ideally, you should create your samples yourself from scratch – but of course, part of the benefit of sample libraries is to save yourself the trouble of doing just that. So, make sure that you use samples from reputable companies who have been around for a long time – anyone who has been in business for several years is probably above board, and sample packs reviewed in offline publications such as Computer Music or Music Tech Magazine can generally be trusted to be what they claim to be. Remember, anyone can rip a few beats off vinyl, set up a download site and take your cash, and pull up sticks overnight if they get called out. Caveat emptor…

This Music Technology blog post was published

on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 2:11 pm

in the digital music category.

The past week has seen the official unveiling of the iPhone 4 and the UK release of Dell’s Android-based Streak, both of which may be of particular interest to musicians. Although the Apple app store is more mature in terms of music production apps, there is a lot of potential in the Android arena too…

Winning Streak?

I recently covered some angles on the iPad for music production, and there is certainly a lot to be said for the larger screen in this context.

Dell, however, have seen the gap between the form factor of the current batch of Android smartphones (such as the Nexus One and HTC Desire) and that of Apple’s iPad – and they’ve jumped into that space with the introduction of the 5″ Streak.

Dell’s Winning Streak?

Is it a tablet or is it a smartphone? Judging by the photos on the Dell site, I would say the latter – it’s not even as wide as a credit card, and plenty of other smartphones/PDAs are hitting the 4″ mark on screen size anyway. It seems that this form factor is the limit of what is pocketable, and as it can be used as a phone, the Dell Streak could certainly be a useful ‘commuter DAW’.

Music Apps For Android

The Apple marketplace has a significant head start on Android, so it’s understandable that the quality and quantity of music production apps available for the iPhone (and iPad) is much better at the moment. However, Android is gaining momentum, and the open platform should allow for quicker development – and faster hardware is becoming available every month, something that the iPhone can’t match.

There aren’t a whole lot of ’serious’ music production apps on Android yet, but there’s still some fun to be had – such as Rock Out (guitar sim). One more sophisticated offering is the modular synth from Jasuto, which is now in the Android marketplace, and well worth a look…

This Music Technology blog post was published

on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 11:17 am

in the music technology category.