November 30th, 2010

How to prepare for a recording session – part 2

More ideas on how to prepare for a recording session.

Playing live and making a great record are very different things – A great live band has so much going for them. Performance, energy and passion can do wonders for a band. In the studio you can overdub parts and have thousands of options. Is there a way you can get the energy of your live performance and overdub on to that? Some singers sound better singing into an SM58 mic as psychologically it lets them feel like they are playing live. An exciting performance is vital – what can you do to make it feel like you are playing live? Some bands find it much easier to record if they see each other when playing. A guide vocal going when you are tracking other instruments is useful. Some people move as they would on stage as it helps the performance.

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

Get used to playing to a click (if you are going to use one) – Make sure your drummer practices this to get it tight. If you are recording without one you get the benefits of a what some consider to be a more energetic performance but it can make editing more difficult later.

Agree the best BPM’s – Work out the BPM’s for your songs so that you know they are correct before your get into the studio.  Nothing worse than having a half speed hardcore track or speed metal reggae.

Make decisions on sounds before you get there – Are you going to track with effects on and add them later? Are there certain sounds that work live that sound rubbish in the studio? Often you will need less extreme settings on effects than you may think.

Sort out your arrangements – Often live you can signal to the rest of the band for the lengths of sections and extend them as required. Make decisions about these sections and think about how songs end, will any need a fade?

Check your backing tracks – If you are using MIDI tracks you have prepared at home present them in an ordered way and check how they will be imported into the studio’s DAW. Make it easy for the engineer.

Backup everything – A friend of mine claims nothing exists unless its backed up in three places. I heard a story of someone who had made a fantastic album and had all the files on a hard drive, on the way home he tied the hard drive to his motorbike. When he got home his hard drive was destroyed leading to an expensive remixing session. Back up and you will be safe.

Bring a copy of the lyrics – Its always harder to double vocals if you sing a different lyric! Multiple copies are better, give one to the producer so they know were they are in each section of the song.

Bring in some tracks you like on CD – The sounds and mix on these can be used to help give the engineer an idea of what you want. I know your band is the most original thing ever and you don’t what to be pigeon holed etc but this will save you time (and money).

Build Relationships – Have some respect and treat the recording engineer well and you’ll probably get a better result. Also they will most likely know lots of people through what they do including record companies, managers, promoters and people involved in licensing.

Listen to the engineer – If they are recording in the studio they probably know the room well so listen to their advice on sounds, you don’t have to take it. Make sure you don’t compromise your artistic vision though.

Mastering – People forget about mastering but its essential if you want your finished tracks to compare well with others. Some recording studios do mastering, some don’t. There is an argument for getting the mastering done by someone with a fresh pair of ears and more specialist skills. Ensure you consider mastering as part of your overall budget. We will post a full blog about the mastering process in the future.

Get stems (individual tracks from the recording) – If you have the stems you can use them to offer for remixes and use them in syncing opportunities. You can also remix songs later if you are unhappy with any part of the sound.

There are many things to consider before spending money on recording but by preparing well you can get some excellent results.

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November 26th, 2010

How to prepare for a recording session – part 1

So you now have a great live show and you’re starting to build a fan base, the next thing you need is a great recording. You can record at home but sometimes its going to sound better in a pro studio, especially if you intend to record guitar amps and real drums. You only have one chance to make a first impression with a recording, so it had better be good.

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

The work of a quality engineer/producer can be the thing that elevates you above other bands, especially as a lot of people are using poor quality home recordings. Engineering is a real skill and when deciding if you are going to use a pro its worth asking yourself if you have the time to devote to learning this, which can take years. With Garageband or Reaper its easy to record at home but will this give you the results you’re looking for? Have you got a good room for recording in and have you got the mics, audio interfaces, outboard and plug-ins to get a good result? You can get some amazing sounds recording at home, but its not the right way for everyone.

Studio time isn’t cheap so here are some things you should do to prepare before recording. Preparation will save you time and saving time saves you money.

Choose the studio wisely – As usual ask you friends who they have used and who they can recommend. Arrange a meeting at the studio and see if you and the engineer like the same sort of music, ask to hear examples of their work. Find out who they have worked with and ask for testimonials. Is the studio tidy and well organised? Just because people have great equipment it doesn’t mean they can make great records, better to work with people with great reputations.

Work out the costs – Think about how much time you will need, don’t forget that mixing can often can take as much time as the tracking. Does the studio have any special deals for certain times or do they just charge by the hour?  What happens if you run over the booked studio time? Ask the studio up front to avoid problems later on. Do they charge extra for CDR’s etc?

Don’t try and do too much – Its far better to get three songs really well recorded than ten rubbish ones. Work out realistically what you can get done with the engineer prior to the day of recording.

Bring spares and check your gear – Check you have spare batteries, strings, valves, drum heads etc. Don’t change your strings on the morning of the session and expect them to stay in tune. Get some decent drum heads on the kit and and make sure they are tuned correctly. If you don’t know how to tune them yourself get someone who knows how to do it. It will make such a difference to the quality of the recording. Check your equipment is working and make sure nothing in your amp rattles or is noisy, it may not be a problem live but in the studio you will really notice it.

Make a documentary as you go – Being in the studio is interesting, make sure you video what’s happening. You could even Ustream it to your fans. Blog and Tweet about your experiences and tell the story of the project. Involve your audience and they will be more likely to support you when the CD comes out.

Drink plenty of water – But avoid booze if you can’t handle it, singers should avoid dairy products. Have a drink to celebrate after you’ve recorded but remember you are paying by the hour so get the performance done first.

Be tight – The better you know the songs, the quicker you can record them. You should be able to play the songs in your sleep. Get your bass player and drummer to practice together for a session so that they can lock in the kick drum and the bass. Check all your parts work together in the rehearsal rooms, or at your home. If there are multiple vocal parts get the vocalists together and check the harmonies. Record your rehearsals on your phone and see if there are any areas you can improve. Are your guitar solos going to be improvised or worked out? Anything you can do to prepare in advance is useful.

More about preparing for the studio in part two of this post.

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November 19th, 2010

What makes a great live band?

The best gigs are life changing experiences, where a band connects with an audience in a very special way. Think of the best gigs you have been to then think about making your own bands shows as good. If you want to make a living as a musician in an age of free downloads live performance is one area of music industry growth, you can’t copy the experience of a once in life time live performance. It must be a given that you have promoted the gig first through social media and a Live Unsigned listing (more tips on that here). So what makes a great live band?

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

  • Energy, Confidence and Passion – If you don’t believe in what you’re doing no one else will. Never walk off stage until you have given everything. Even if you’re playing to 4 people. On a Tuesday. In Norwich. You never know who is watching and how influential they may be.
  • Great songs and a strong set list – Think of your set list as one overall composition, think about the tempos. You need to open with something great and finish with something great, hide lesser material in the middle. Think about the sounds you are using, don’t put similar tracks close together to avoid people getting bored.
  • Good Sound and Lighting – This is harder to do as you can’t control this so much at the early stages of your career, but you can turn up in time for a soundcheck, buy the sound person a beer and remember their name. Its amazing how much these little gestures affect your sound at a gig.
  • Connecting with the Audience – The hardest thing to do, but this will gain you the most fans. Talk to the audience about their local area to make the gig individual to them, ask questions and interact. Make it a special night for them and try and make eye contact with people if you can, look like you want to be onstage. Most people want to enjoy themselves, give them the opportunity.
  • Persistence – Sometimes being good live is about keeping going until you are great. Steve Martin‘s recent book about being a stand up comedian talks about how he was rubbish for the first few years until he got to the point where he had a great act. He wouldn’t give up and eventually he became the biggest thing in comedy, countless live performers can tell a similar story. Experience and practice counts for a lot, keep at it and you’ll find yourself as a live performer.
  • Learning from others – Go and see some great gigs and take note of what the best performers are doing, have a look in the Live Unsigned listings to find them.  Watch and learn from great performers like The Damned or Jay-Z or At The Drive-In on Youtube. Take from the best but always make it unique to you, that is what makes you special.

Tom Jackson, a live music performance coach (he acts as a producer would in the studio, but live) talks about onstage “moments”. When the guitarist runs to the front of the stage or the singer climbs on to the PA stack, the things you remember from a gig that you tell your friends about. Try to have a moment in each song, something that happens that is interesting visually. Maybe you can sit down for a ballad or do one song with the singer in the crowd, what can you do to make each song special and connect with your audience? I know this sounds contrived but it can make all the difference between it being an average gig and one people will remember and tell their friends about through the echo chamber of social media.

These things make a great live band but the combination of them and how they apply to you is what makes your band unique. Think about what you want to see when you go to a gig as a member of the audience.  Treat your audience in the way you would be like treated as an audience member. Word of mouth about a great live act can spread very fast.

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November 15th, 2010

What bands need to agree upon before playing gigs

When you start a band often the last thing you think of is where you will be in a few months, let alone three years time. But what happens if you get offered a 3 month tour or record deal, will everyone be willing to quit their day job or leave their family behind? Its worth having a few conversations early on to avoid falling out at a later date.

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

How do you split the songwriting credits? Some bands simply credit the whole band, some the individual writers. Its interesting to note that bands who split the songwriting between the band tend to stay together longer (Radiohead do it this way). Bitterness can set in if a song is licensed to a film and written by a particular member of the band. Suddenly they start earning more money than everyone else. Make an agreement on this and stick to it, this sort of thing splits up bands.

Dividing the costs and paying for rehearsals need to addressed. Its never good when everyone in the band can pay for the practice apart from one person who “hasn’t got anything to put in”.  Financial tensions split up a lot of bands. Will any money you make be put into a band fund for future projects or split evenly?

Another big one is do you want to be a professional musician? This isn’t an option for everyone but what happens if the band grows to the point where its required to progress? Doing music as a career is often poorly paid and involves being away from home, family and partners for long periods. You are often working weekends when all your friends off work and vice versa. Do you want to spend a lot of time traveling but not actually seeing anything? Can you live on back stage food? If you need lots of sleep and privacy touring probably isn’t for you.

This is the excellent avant garde cellist Zoe Keating on touring:

Another valid question is what happens if/when someone wants to leave. Will the rest of the band be able to keep the name? What about the songs written together? What happens to any money you have made together (or any money owed)? Make sure the channels of communication are open between the band members.

Its always best to agree these things sooner rather than later, some upfront honest conversations can save a lot of problems. There will always be things that happen, individuals situations will change and artists can disagree on musical direction. Being in a band is a bit like going out with 3 or 4 people and relationships can be complex. You can’t agree on everything but do what you can to make it work by making some plans for the future.

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November 10th, 2010

How to make a multi camera live DVD

A live DVD is a fantastic item to sell on your web site, something most bands don’t have, and a great way for you to show off your fantastic live act to the world. To make it look professional (and keep your audience interested) you will need to use multiple cameras and this is normally expensive. There are ways to do this within the budget of most indie bands especially if you get your audience to help.

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

Flip hand held video cameras (and other similar models from Kodak etc) are cheap and you can get three for under three hundred pounds. This will allow you to make multiple camera live videos, much more exciting than one camera pointing at a stage. Using free software like iMovie on the Mac or the Sony equivalent on the PC you can then sync the video to the audio, cutting from camera to camera. Get the audio from the desk if possible and if you can get multi-tracks that is a real bonus so you can work on the tracks at home using your favorite digital audio workstation. For the best results try and get the use of the venue early to thoroughly sound check and set up the cameras. Make sure you have new batteries in the cameras, its easy to loose footage this way. Try and take a feed of audience noise if possible and take some footage of them as well, it really adds to the atmosphere if you have some footage of the crowd.  Amazingly some of the newer hand held video cameras are HD, making it easy to create high quality videos.

If your budget doesn’t stretch to your own set of cameras there is another way. Recently Radiohead unofficially sanctioned the release of an unusual bootleg video. Radiohead – Live In Praha is a video made up of footage taken by fans using phone cameras at a recent concert that has been sync’d to desk recordings from the concert. Fan crowd sourcing at its best. The community created and edited the video and posted it online via the torrent sites. All the band had to do was empower the fans by giving them the board tapes and allow the project to happen. Some bands would have tried to stop this happening but by allowing the community online to produce this the band have further bonded with their audience. The final video is a great sounding and truly authentic view of the experience of seeing a band live.

The first indie musician I’ve seen doing this is Matthew Ebel who has just released a video made in the same way, after a gig that he had a good desk recording of. He asked the audience to send him the footage and then a fan edited it together. He has decided to release the final edit as a DVD. This makes the fans who made the DVD cinematographers and gives him another income stream.

The footage you create using these methods can be sold as a DVD, used on youtube or even uploaded to a torrent site and given away free. Either way it will give you an edge over other bands in your genre and video footage is a great way of showing off your live potential to promoters and industry types.

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November 4th, 2010

7 ways fans can spread the word about your band

The most valuable thing you have as an indie artist is your fan base. If you are working on a budget ask your fans to help you, its amazing how people want to be part of what you’re doing. Remember to make them feel special by saying thank you and giving them exclusives like downloads and promotional items when they help. A personal thank you costs nothing but will empower a fan to dig in and support you. Here are some things your fans can do for you:

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

1 – Tell their friends online about your music – If each fan tells one person about your music it will double your audience. Different people have different groups of friends and word of mouth from a trusted friend is far more credible than any advertising. Ask fans to post about you in forums, tweet and blog about what you are doing. Don’t wait for it to happen, ask your fans to tell their friends. Marketers call this a “call to action” but it will only work if you have built goodwill with your fan base by treating them well.

2  – Get them to vote for you – The web is full of online competitions, why not ask your fans to vote for you and get their friends to as well. It always tends to be the band with the largest following that wins, so mention it across your social media and email list and see what happens.

3 – Suggest places to play – Its always hard to find great venues to play, so crowd source your touring. If you ask your audience where they want to see you there is more chance they will turn up! One thing that tends to happen is there are outbreaks of fans in particular places (maybe due to press or evangelical listeners). Find out where your fans are and go to them. This will reduce the chances of playing to an empty room ever again. You can even put posters for the gigs on your site and ask the audience to print them off and post them around town. Touring musicians often save money on hotels by staying at the homes of fans (and playing the odd house concert while they are there).

4  – Ask them to make content for you – Do you need a video or a T-Shirt or poster design? Ask your fans to make one for you, let them be involved and get them talking. Make it a competition and show the rest of your audience what is being created and publicly praise what is being done. Singer-Songwriter Jonathan Coulton‘s career was given a boost when his music was used on a fan created World Of Warcraft video on Youtube that had over 4 million views. One great fan made viral video can make a huge difference to your career.

5 – Distribute MP3′s – How much you want to do this depends on your attitude to copying your music. Some bands ask fans to burn copies of their CD to give to friends. This free promotion helps spread the word. Others have asked fans to upload music to file sharing sites which has lead to growth in the audience. As CD Baby founder Derek Sivers says “Obscurity is the enemy, not piracy”.

6 – Contact their local media on your behalf – Its one thing for you to contact your local radio station and press but if your fans are doing it for you it adds a lot of credibility. The Grateful Dead were famous for using this strategy in the 70′s, they said on the packaging of their records they didn’t have a lot of funds for advertising and would ask for the audience’s help.

7 – Raise money for charity – Raising money for a good cause unites people and is good for morale all round. It gives you something to talk to the press about and across social media. Get your fan base involved and do some good for the world. It will bring your audience together if you are all working towards a charitable cause and it indirectly spreads the word about your band.

All these things happen as a result of goodwill built up with a loyal audience. Make sure you reward them and say thank you and you will have a resource of immense value. Report and share success, its their success as much as yours. Remember none of these things will happen if you don’t ask your fans to help, do everything in your power to make it so its you and them against the world.

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November 2nd, 2010

10 merchandising ideas for bands

Merchandising, from T-Shirts to Posters to Notebooks is a vital income stream for bands, even more so in the age of free music. Give your audience an opportunity to support and promote you by giving them high quality things to buy.

Band screenprinting t shirts

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

1 – Use Cafe Press or Zazzle for small runs of  merchandise. Both these services (and others) offer the opportunity to upload a design and get it printed onto a variety of items from t-shirts to hoodies to mugs and even babygrows. It works well for small runs and its a fast easy way to add merchandise to your website by creating your own custom Zazzle/Cafe Press store. You don’t have to keep items in stock as they are produced on a bespoke basis but the amount you get in commission from each sale is relatively low. Great for a new band looking to sell their first merchandise.

2 – Use a screen printer for large runs of garments. Zazzle etc are great for small runs but if you want to make money on merchandise sales over 20 units (i.e. for a tour) the only way to do it cost effectively is through a screen printing company. If you’re ordering in bulk you’ll save money, although you may need to reduce the amount of colours in your design as this will keep costs low.  The main disadvantage is that if you order in bulk you will need to think carefully about the sizes and quantity of merchandise you will need, never easy in the early days of a band.

3 – Have a great logo (and keep it consistent across everywhere). When you think of the great T-Shirts – The Dead Kennedys logo, Grateful Dead, Exploited Skull, Motorhead England etc they are iconic. Is your design simple, effective and memorable?

4 – Make sure that the items you sell are the right ones for your band. If you are a hip indie band mouse mats are probably a bad, cheesy idea, if its for an ironic nerdcore band that plays its music on old consoles it could be perfect. There is a vast amount of options available, think about whether it will add to or take away from your brand. Is it something you would wear? You need to be proud of the merchandise you are trying to sell.

5 – Display your merchandise well both offline and online.  At gigs set up you merchandise table in a tidy way, get a board and pin some shirts up behind you and make it as easy as possible for people to shop from. Make sure your best stuff is the easiest to see! Have your merch page linked to clearly on your site and keep it simple. 3 great designs are better then 15 rubbish ones. Don’t forget to tell the audience you have merchandise to sell when you are on stage.

6 – Multi-Buys work really well. Offer your T-Shirts and merch at a reduced price if they spend more, 2 T-Shirts for £25 or £15 each or buy 2 and get the third free works really well.  Also when people buy merchandise make sure they sign up for the mailing list, keep building that audience.

7 – Work out how many you need in advance of any long tours. Its a nightmare getting screen printing done mid way through a tour then getting it delivered to a venue or hotel. Its always hard to gauge what you’ll need. Check your inventory well in advance and take note of what you’ve sold at previous gigs so that you can order effectively for the next shows.

8 – Have some free items to give away – stickers, badges or even guitar picks. Think of merchandise as another opportunity to connect with fans and promote yourself. Ask your fans to send you pictures of stickers in unusual places and post them on your site/blog/Flickr.

9 – Ask your fans what they want and in what sizes.  Use your blog, Twitter and other social media to ask what they want in terms of merchandise. They may have fantastic ideas you have never thought of. Why not ask them to design a T-shirt? This is about what they want to wear and to be associated with.

10 – Create special items for events and think about creating scarcity as this is another incentive to buy. Would your fans buy limited edition numbered, signed art prints of your album cover if you made them available? I know of a band who hand screen print their own environmentally friendly shirts. You can then make a video showing the making of these items and distribute it through social media, giving you something else to talk to press and bloggers about.

The merchandise you produce should reflect  the overall character of your music, make it relevant and in keeping with what your fans want and it can become a really useful revenue stream for your band.

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