6 Best Kept Music Marketing Secrets

Here’s a nice repost from our good friend Lior Shamir, Founder of We Are Listening, the international song contest platform for independent artists. Thanks to him for including Jango in his 6 best kept secrets.

So here goes…

1. Email Is The Holy Grail
Whether you’re tricking out your MySpace page or performing at your local venue, always think about what you can do to collect more email addresses. Believe me, there is nothing of greater importance than your email list. If you’re not using a professional email marketing service (EMS), you should start now. Mad Mimi is my favorite but I have also tried iContact (which I hated), MailChimp (which I liked) and Emma (which I loved but it’s a bit pricey).

2. Passive Radio Is Passé
Massive online radio sites get your music in front of targeted music fans. They are not your average passive radio listeners, they are music fanatics feverishly searching for music just like yours. Yeah, you have to pay for the privilege, but the exposure you get in return is guaranteed and trackable. In the music biz, it’s hard to find that kind of bang-for-your-buck value. Jango Airplay is the largest online radio promotion service that I know of. As a Jango affiliate, I regularly send artists in their direction. The feedback from these artists has been phenomenal.

3. Get Professional Help
Whether it’s your songwriting or your marketing (or anything else), never underestimate the value of expert advice. We Are Listening provides professional assessments for songs and lyrics. It’s what we know and what we’re good at. But you can find a service, coach or consultant for any project you wish to fast track to success. The humility required to ask for help and receive critical feedback is the mark of an independent artist and entrepreneur that people want to listen to and associate with. Personally, I can use all the help I can get!

4. Stand Out
You don’t have to be loud to stand out. The smallest touches can make a huge impact… and I don’t mean limited edition vinyls or glow-in-the-dark t-shirts. For example, I recently discovered that you can create your own custom M&Ms. It’s awesome. Imagine every M&M with your message and image on it, any colour scheme you like, and branded packaging. Great munchies at a gig. Lovely gift for any holiday.

5. Follow The Leaders
I can’t think of a better way to learn about the music industry and make great connections than by following individuals who have been there, done it, succeeded, and willing to share their experiences with you. For free. I recently published a post on the subject that should get you started:
14 Music Industry Leaders (You Should Follow)

6. Be An Outstanding Communicator
Most people are not. But it’s something that can be learned. Remember Secret #1 (Email Is The Holy Grail)? Well, that email list you’ve been growing is not worth a dime if you can’t put a compelling message together. Outstanding communicators stand out, lead and succeed. Are you an outstanding communicator?

Posted by Jango Airplay at 11:21 AM
Tags: Marketing Secrets, Song Contest, We Are Listening

Mike King teaches online music business courses for Berkleemusic.com, Berklee College of Music’s online school. He is also the author of the book Music Marketing: Press Promotion, Distribution, and Retail, out now on Berklee Press.

Anyone that has been following music business trends for the past few years is likely familiar with the high profile direct to fan campaigns (campaigns that focus on the monetization of an artist’s fan base directly) that Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Imogen Heap, and others have been involved with recently. As Mike Masnick put it in his 2009 NARM Keynote, the recipe for effective direct to fan campaigns can be boiled down to: Connecting with Fans (CwF) + Providing a Reason to Buy (RtB) = $$$. Makes sense, right? The difficulties arise when you consider that there are 5 million bands on MySpace, all of which are vying for the consumer’s attention. It’s easy for NIN and Radiohead to connect with fans, the skeptics’ note, as they have had years of major label support and hundreds of thousands of existing followers to work with. How can a developing artist in this climate differentiate themselves from all the other bands out there?

The answer can be slightly more nuanced than Masnick’s formula above, and to me, is based on a four key elements: 1) setting up an effective offer page on your site that is tailored to your marketing goals and where you are in your marketing cycle, 2) expanding your digital touch points through creative fan acquisition techniques, 3) integrating your online and offline marketing towards the same goal, and lastly, 4) once you’ve created your groundswell of support and fans, integrating effective 3rd party digital and physical marketing, sales, and distribution (such as Tunecore) outlets into the mix. Let’s illustrate these elements with two examples.

Example 1: Fanfarlo

Creating an Effective Offer Page Tailored to Acquisition

Although they were supported by NME in their hometown of London (who have called their release “a carefully orchestrated treat”), and have some high profile fans in the members of Sigur Rós, Fanfarlo found that they were having a tough time breaking into the US market. Fanfarlo’s music is undeniably great (aside: the first step, of course, in any marketing campaign is to have great music. Without this, any DTF marketing campaign will fail), and as such, the plan for breaking Fanfarlo relied a lot on getting as many folks to experience their music as possible, with the end goal of gaining enough interest to pack the Mercury Lounge in NYC (300 capacity).

The band initiated their acquisition-based campaign by looking at what assets and connections they could leverage. Fanfarlo developed a low-cost video, dug up some unreleased tracks, and recorded new acoustic versions. Of particular note, the band’s management reached out to Sigur Rós, who agreed to mention Fanfarlo in one of their emails to their fans.

Prior to any outreach from Sigur Rós, the band knew it was crucial for them to create an offer on their site that would make their music as accessible as possible, while at the same time create a degree of urgency. Again, as monetization was not the driving force behind their campaign at this stage in their marketing process, Fanfarlo decided the best course of action for building up their base was to provide curious potential fans with the opportunity to purchase their record for $1.00 (for a limited time), in exchange for an email address (which provided the band with permission to engage with these fans directly at a later date). They band adjusted their site accordingly, employing best practices with SEO and Web IA, and created an offer page dedicated to highlighting their music and making it easy to purchase via one click off the offer page. This was the result:

Offerpic

Along with the redesigned offer page on their site, the band adjusted all of their social media pages (visibility on MySpace, Wikipedia, Facebook, Last.fm, iLike, YouTube) with appropriate offer copy/images, and links to the offer on their proper site. Once all the backend was done and Fanfarlo was ready for the traffic, Sigur Rós hyped the band in an email to their fans and Fanfarlo essentially had an “offer you can’t refuse” waiting for them. In exchange, the band built up their email list, created a viral buzz on their new record, and not only had enough interest to pack the Mercury Lounge in NYC, they had to upgrade to the larger Bowery Ballroom!

Example 2: The Lights Out

Expanding Your Digital Touch Points through Social Media & Integrating Your Online and Offline Marketing

All marketing campaigns are different, and not everyone has the luxury of having support from major bands like Sigur Rós. But no matter where you are at in your career, core marketing principals hold true, particularly when it comes to effectively using social media to engage your fans and building up your base. The best example of social media campaigns are creative ideas that leverage the viral nature of social media to engage fans and effect change in not only the digital world, but in a band’s physical campaign as well (which of course is still incredibly important to any overall marketing campaign).

The Lights Out is a Boston-based band working to raise their hometown visibility and acquire new fans to positively impact their touring base throughout the Northeast. On the heels of an oppressive heat wave in Boston in mid August, the band initiated a Slush Puppie “flash mob” online marketing campaign. The band found the appropriate location for the event via polling their Twitter followers:

Pic2

Once the location was chosen, the band set up a Facebook event, which allowed them to update the status of the Slush Mob, get an idea on who was coming, and communicate directly with those that expressed interest.

Pic 3

The band then set up a Twitter hashtag (#), which organized all messaging around the event into a single live channel on Twitter search. The hashtag use also had the all-important added benefit of becoming a “viral generator” for the event, piquing the interest of the band’s follower’s fans, and influencing activity at a level outside of what the band could do with their fanbase directly.

Pic4

Once the existing fans were engaged in the event, Boston-based bloggers picked up on it, the market’s alternative weekly featured info on the event, and popular Boston-based event and social media Twitterers did the same.

Pic5

The band continued Tweeting from the event and after, and shared photos of the turnout using Twitpic:

Pic6

So, what did all this mean to the band’s stated goal of raising their visibility and acquiring new fans?

The data:

• 20% increase in unique web site visitors

• 24 times increase in daily twitter followers

• 3,352 impressions from media coverage

• 66,160 impressions from Tweets and Retweets

• 195 impressions from Twitpics

• Approximate Total: 70,000 impressions

New fans also direct-messaged the band, telling them how much they enjoyed the idea/their music and expressing interest in attending future gigs. And because this social media campaign included an offline component, new fans were able to bond with the band in a more personal way.

Again, all marketing campaigns are different, and should be employed in a way that focuses on the strengths and opportunities of the respective band. The specific tools will certainly continue to change as we move forward, but the principle of determining your core goal and engaging / developing your fan base to reach this goal will not. What’s particularly exciting to me is that artists have the option to market and distribute their music directly, with less gatekeeper involvement, than ever before. We’re in the early stages of direct to fan campaigns, but I think it is undeniable that there is a tremendous amount of growth potential in the segment – and is an area that artists, managers and others (forward thinking, artist-serviced based companies, for example) have to look at very closely.

Share your thoughts here on the TuneCore Blog!

Wayne Cohen is a veteran multi-platinum selling ASCAP hit songwriter, producer, educator, and owner of publishing/production company Stand Up Songs. He also teaches individual and group songwriting tutoring sessions at his NYC Stand Up Studio and via Skype.

Part I: To Co-Write or Not to Co-Write, that is the question…
…Whether it is nobler to toil by one’s self, or share your gift with another writer, thereby potentially exponentially expanding your songwriting and song networking reach. Well, the good news is that you can do both, which I like to do for several reasons.

I like to write by myself so that I feel I can really explore every aspect of an idea, so I won’t get lazy, and obviously, because it can be twice as lucrative if you write a hit alone.

But maybe you come up with a million melodies and no lyrics, or you have lyric ideas but no melodies, or maybe you’ve got a million melody and lyric ideas and can’t organize them enough to pull together a coherent song easily, or you’re a visionary producer/track writer/multi-instrumentalist but you need help with lyrics and or melodies; maybe you’re all of these and you just want a break from yourself. Have no fear, co-writing can be good for you. At worst, it might be a good way to get out of your own face for a while.

So I co-write, because it can be invigorating and create surprising results, and there are some obvious advantages: it expands your network for pitching, and expands your mind about the kinds of songs you can write. For me the beautiful thing about co-writing is that I don’t have to be all the people in the band I’m not (the female singer, the drummer, the amazing guitarist, etc.), and still can come up with something to be proud of – something I could never have predicted, or that either of us might have written, without a collaborator.

These days co-writing can come in several forms:

* Melodist meets lyricist
* Melodist meets lyricist meets track writer
* Melodist/lyricist meets track writer

With who and how to co-write:

I’ve always found it wise to collaborate with people who complement what my strengths. As much fun as it could be to be in the room writing with someone who does what I do, I find it’s more productive if you work with someone who does NOT do what you do (although I have written great songs with people who share my same strenghts and weaknesses, so go figure). The greatest thing about co-writing for me is that you generally can never predict what will come out of the experience.

An effective co-write requires mutual trust and respect between collaborators. To foster ‘singing the same song’ with my collaborators, after years of co-writing, I’ve found it useful to develop some simple ground rules which I call the COLLABORATOR’S CODE. Much of this is unspoken, but I find things go much better, and faster, if I have this in the back of my mind while working with a partner. Here in part one I’ll give you a preview of the code, and in part two I will delve into more code detail, and examine options for how to demo a co-written song.

But before we get to the code, I wanted to mention that when I collaborate I always like to think of it like I’m going to a party (which my mother taught me I should never do empty handed). So, rule number one is to always show up with an idea. This could be a subject, a title, a lyric, a melodic fragment (a hook is always good), basically anything that you feel passionate about that could be the basis of a breakthrough song. Having said that, I’ve shown up to plenty of co-writing sessions with an idea only to end up writing something completely unrelated. But it’s all good, ‘cuz if I don’t use an idea I just file it away, and the good ones always have a way of coming back to haunt me until they write themselves. If they don’t come back to me they probably weren’t worth much in the first place. But I find it’s better if you always bring SOMETHING to a co-write, even if you discard it.

This brings me to one of the trickiest, challenging, yet potentially rewarding aspects of co-writing, which is selling an idea to your co-writer. He or she, in effect, is the first audience for your song idea. It’s tricky because you want your co-writer to respect your ideas but to contribute as well. So my suggestion is to start by having some respect for your self and your collaborator by bringing an idea to a co-writing session that YOU like, so you can get behind selling it to your co-writer.

If you’re, deathly afraid of sharing what you think are ‘stupid’, ‘irrelevant’, ‘inconsequential’ or the ‘only great ideas I’ll ever have’, or if you think you’re ‘too good’ to co-write, check your ego at the door and GET ON WITH IT. Because, here’s the deal, no matter whether you write a #1 single or another song that sits on a shelf, you will LEARN something from the experience. Keep in mind, your co-writer is probably just as insecure or as much of an egomaniac as you are, so don’t be shy, you will still be who you are after you leave the room. And if worst comes to worst if you’re not happy with the results of the co-write you are within your rights to say, politely, to your co-writer (preferably followed by acknowledgement from them) that you’re going to take your idea back so you can write it by yourself or with someone else. So, even if all you learn is that you don’t want to co-write with that particular person again, you will gain an invaluable perspective on your place in the songwriting firmament, simply because you are sharing YOUR ideas with someone else who is listening and responding. But it’s also possible you will get something more from the experience, a great song.

But watch out, co-writing can inspire friendly (and sometimes not so friendly) competition. Some of my best work has come from passionate yelling and screaming interactions with co-writers fighting over a particular lyric or melody phrase. The right kind of creative tension can produce good work, but it has to have mutual respect at its’ core, otherwise it ends up being a grandstanding session that DOES NOT work.

I’m willing to try any collaboration once, if I or someone I respect (like a publisher, manager, producer, A&R person, music supervisor or artist) has a positive instinct about it. If you decide you want to co-write, I find it’s usually good to go with your gut about whether you think you’ll click with the other writer, however you should allow a small percentage of your co-writers to be with talents that you never thought would be compatible with yours, just to keep you on your toes. Some of the greatest records have resulted from unconventional hybrids, so for example, if you’re an acoustic singer/songwriter why not see if you can vibe with an urban track writer? You may end up with a hit record that neither of you could have written by yourself.

When I was signed to Sony Music I was put together with lots of co-writers and artists. Most of these bore good-not-great songs, but I still believe ‘nothing ventured nothing gained’. You just need to be sensible about your choices, before you make them.

Even if you do all the ‘right stuff’ to prepare for a co-write, don’t be too hard on yourself. There will be days when it just doesn’t happen, even if ‘on paper’ a co-write looks like it should work just fine. I find that I usually know within the first 30 minutes whether it’s going to work. A word to the wise: if it ain’t happening I think it’s better to politely say something like “It’s great to see you today, but I have to say I think we’ve both written better songs, so I’d like to call this complete, and move on to something else.” Be smart and size up the situation in advance. If you’re both track writers and neither of you write lyrics, it’s pretty clear that you either need to not collaborate, or to include a lyricist!

So, in summary, some advantages of co-writing:

Coming up with something you would never have thought of on your own and potentially expanding your creative and song networking scope. If, for example, if you’re a country songwriter, you might be able to expand your song networking scope by writing with an urban music track writer.

And here at long last, in usual order of my experience is the…

COLLABORATOR’S CODE:

1) Come with an idea (Preview and imagine the result)
2) Get (not too) comfortable, celebrate your differences
3) Discuss objectives (Why does this song need to exist?)
4) Collaborate on creation
a) Present ideas (let them go first!)
b) Decide who’s doing what? (melody, lyrics, track)
5) Dig down, stir it up, prove your passion
6) Keep the ball rolling (“ideas are usually a whisper, not a scream…”)
7) Strive for a tangible result (I like to know that I at least have a complete melody when I walk out of the room, with a title, so it does not have to be a complete song, just something that you can build on in the next session.)
Steps for next time

And when the song is done:

9) Define collaborators’ contributions (songwriter splits)
10) Decide how to demo it

New Developments in co-writing:

Lately the internet programs like Skype have made it possible to get the benefit of instant feedback and the spark of collaboration without having to spend time and money to travel. For example, I’ve been working with Riccardo Foresi, an artist from Italy. The first time we worked together he was in NY but lately he’s been back in Italy and we’ve been writing utilizing the video capability of Skype as if we’re in the same room. I find that it’s still better if you start the relationship (or the song) in the same room, but with our most recent song, the collaboration took place entirely online. Riccardo sent me some melodies and a track that he had started in Italy, for which I wrote a hook, title and lyric for the melodies in NYC, and then we tweaked it together over Skype. Truly an amazing experience.

By the way, you can hear some of these Skype session results by clicking here. And we chose tunecore to get Riccardo’s music out.

Next week:

The COLLABORATOR’S CODE in greater detail, including how to define collaborator’s songwriting contributions, and options for how to demo the co-written song.

Thoughts, questions or comments? Share them here!

You can contact Wayne here or by writing to wayne@standupsongs.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 9, 2009

Universal Music Group Distribution (UMGD) Expands Digital Services With Tunecore

Los Angeles, California, and Brooklyn, New York, July 9, 2009 — Universal Music Group Distribution (UMGD), the award winning sales and marketing division of Universal Music Group, the world’s leading music company, has entered into a strategic alliance with TuneCore, a leading digital music distribution company. The announcement was made today by Jim Urie, President & CEO of UMGD and Jeff Price, Founder & CEO of TuneCore.

As part of this agreement, TuneCore will provide and host distribution portals for UMG’s labels as well as partner labels and artists. Further, as an artist’s career grows, they may benefit from having a number of artist-discovery, marketing and upstreaming opportunities within the UMGD system.

This partnership further expands UMG’s growing portfolio of strategic media alliances, while enhancing the services and opportunities that UMGD provides partner labels and artists. UMGD will also provide TuneCore’s customers with a comprehensive menu of artist services, including licensing opportunities and professional audio mastering. Additionally, Guitar Center, also a TuneCore investor and strategic partner, will provide to UMGD access to its entire chain of over 200 nationwide as a non-traditional retail channel for the sale of physical product which includes select TuneCore Artist titles.

“Our agreement with TuneCore highlights UMGD’s commitment to a strong sales philosophy and long-term artist development,” stated Mr. Urie. “UMGD is uniquely positioned to provide the most flexible and comprehensive digital and physical distribution, sales and marketing services in the industry, all of which results in more profitable opportunities for both our labels and our artists.”

“Honestly, Universal is one of the most forward thinking record labels on the planet,” commented Mr. Price. “With this deal UMGD has truly changed the rules and the major label model by providing true choice for a musician. If an artist is doing well, there is a direct line through which UMGD can extend its hand or, via the existing TuneCore model, the artist can choose to continue to succeed on their own. It is the continuation of the shift to serve the musician.”

About Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the world’s leading music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the industry’s leading global music publishing operation.

Universal Music Group’s record labels include Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino, Universal Records South, and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world’s most popular artists and their recordings. UMG’s catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division; Bravado, its merchandising company; Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division; and Helter Skelter, its live music agency.

Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.

About TuneCore

TuneCore is a low, flat fee service that distributes music to iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and many other major download and streaming sites while taking no rights and no revenue from the sale of the music. Artists are building careers, selling significant volumes of music and generating revenue through TuneCore. Since its launch in 2006, TuneCore has distributed tens of thousands of albums and millions of songs to iTunes and other digital stores by Grammy winners and unsigned artists alike. TuneCore artists include Drake, Beck, Jay-Z, Aretha Franklin, Keith Richards, Public Enemy, Nine Inch Nails, Ricky Skaggs, Paul Westerberg, MGM Studios, Warren G, Bjork, Moby, High School Musical cast members, Ali Lohan, Cirque Du Soleil, Starbucks and tens of thousands more. TuneCore currently distributes between 150 – 250 release a day (more music is released in one day via TuneCore than any major record label over a year) and recently expanded its offering to distribute full-length films, TV shows, live concerts, documentaries etc to iTunes and more.

For more information on TuneCore, please contact Nick Loss-Eaton [nlosseaton@shorefire.com] or Matt Hanks [mhanks@shorefire.com] at Shore Fire Media, 718.522.7171.

http://www.tunecore.com

http://www.shorefire.com/clients/tunecore

tweak’s studio 11-2008

OK, so you are new. You have an idea of making and producing your own music. And you feel inspired. Perhaps you are a seasoned musician, tired of paying someone else to produce your music. Perhaps you are building a studio to record your band. Or you are into producing audio for video, film, podcasts. Maybe you have nothing more than a spark, the urge to create, a desire to fulfill a sense of artistic vision. It’s Cool. You are welcome at the lab. You have found the right place and good people. We are here to help you build your own recording studio, your own laboratory for creative projects that works perfectly within your needs and budget.
What is this Guide?
Consider the Guide as a classroom and each article a lesson.

The Guide is a series of articles. It starts with the core basics of modern music technology and progresses through advanced concepts of studio production. There are approximately 75 classes which you can see on the sidebar to the left.

All the rules have changed in the past few years for putting together a recording studio and they keep changing. It used to be that you needed expensive multi-track recorders and mixdown machines, a roomful of outboard gear and processors, and more cables than you would want to count. Of course, you still can make a large studio with tons of outboard gear (which sounds better than ever), or you can let computers and modern digital multi track machines replace hundreds of functions that used to require separate hardware units.

When you see this “TweakSpeak” Icon, you know important terms are defined or F.A.Q are answered.
What is a Recording Studio?
A Recording Studio is a number of devices that allow you to capture different “takes” of performances and assemble them into a finished audio product. It includes microphones, recorders, instruments, a mixer and audio processors. With the exception of microphones, these may come in software forms as well as hardware.
What is a Sequencer?
A sequencer is a computer application that allows you to record both digital audio and MIDI data and blend the sounds together in it’s software mixing console. There are editing tools that let you control every aspect of the production down to very fine details. Effects and processors of high quality are increasingly being added to these applications. The modern sequencer now can fulfill many recording studio functions that were possible only in expensive studios a decade a go.
Cakewalk SONAR Home Studio (Windows)
Sonar Home Studio 7 is the easiest way to turn your PC into a full-fledged music production studio. From start to finish, Sonar Home Studio will help you capture your creativity and share it with the world. With Sonar Home Studio you can record live instruments, vocals, or any audio source. You can easily edit audio, MIDI, and music notation. The updated Loop Explorer gives you the tools to build backing tracks faster than ever.
What is a multi-track recorder
A multi-track recorder is a recording device that allow you to record audio directly to separate tracks. Once all the tracks are added, they can be mixed down to a stereo master recording. Today’s digital multi-tracks have built in effects so you can add varying amounts to each track. The major difference between a hardware multi-track recorder and a computer sequencer is that the sequencer can record and edit MIDI data and the multi-track cannot.

Boss BR-1600CD 16-Track Digital Studio
The BR-1600CD Digital Recording Studio combines BOSS famous, easy-to-use interface with eight XLR inputs for recording eight tracks simultaneously. This affordable 16-track recorder comes loaded with effects for guitars and vocals; including COSM
What is MIDI?
MIDI is a form of computer data that keyboards and computers can send back and forth that turn on notes. You can write musical notes on a computer screen and the data turns notes on and off on the keyboard or sound module. Likewise you can play notes on your keyboard and the computer will “record” these commands to turn on and off notes.

We are not talking about a cheap, hissy, unprofessional sound, like we used to get with old 4 track cassette studios. Those days are gone. With the dawn of modern recording software (called sequencers), with their full-featured digital mixers built right into software, you can expect your sound to rival the big boys in the studios downtown. Yes. It’s true! For a modest investment in microphones, preamps, audio interfaces and software you can be well on your way. I’m going to tell you all about today’s gear, tell you what you need and what you don’t need, give you strategies for gear acquisition that are tried and true, and show you where you can save money and exactly where you should not compromise.

But don’t think just because you have the gear you will sound like a million bucks, automatically. No, my friend, it does not work that way. You need to understand music to write music and you need to know how to use the gear or software that you have as tools. Talent is important, and there are many talents required to make a full production. But that doesn’t mean you need to know how to play an instrument, like the keyboard, with proficiency.

Basically, we consider the studio itself to be a musical instrument. Like any instrument, you get good by practicing, trying different things, experimenting, mimicking, tweaking, mixing…. After a while, it dawns on you that making music is a craft, the mixer is its workbench, and the studio is it’s laboratory. You supply the creativity, your musicality, your quest for musical beauty. You capture your tracks then tweak it down to a work of art. This process is the focus of TweakHeadz Lab. The goal of the studio tweak is to create art in its highest form of expression.

The great masters of the recording arts learned their techniques by devoting their lives creating, capturing and tweaking sound. These secrets are hard earned, and used to be passed down from the pros to their apprentices at big studios. You would set up microphones, sweep the floor, run for coffee and take out the trash, then, one day they let you help them at the console. Those days are almost gone. TweakHeadz Lab is the modern day equivalent of that apprenticeship. If you read my articles carefully you will find many secrets of audio production. Of course, I don’t know everything, no person does. but I do know a lot. Enough to get you on your path.

In your recording studio, you get to have three roles–musician (as creator and performer), audio engineer, and producer. What stands between you and the masters is simply knowledge and experience. Their knowledge translates directly– the tools in the modern software studio have the same names and functions as the classic hardware machines in a pro facility and are used in the same way. The big studios downtown have compressors, limiters, vocal processors, delays, reverbs, equalization, multi track recorders, computer automation and massive consoles that hook it all together. If you have a modern software package or hardware digital multitrack, you have all these tools too. They know exactly when and how to use EQ to clean up a track, when to use compression, the precise place to put reverb in the mix, how to record vocals, guitars, drums and how to level everything to make a stunning audio image. I am going to be your guide to acquiring all these skills.
Tweak’s studio

Tweak’s Studio Oct 2007

I will tell you the things that you absolutely must know for music production in a clear, simple, even entertaining way. While much of this knowledge is technical, I’ll avoid bogging you down with unnecessary technical details. We are not flying to Mars here (except maybe musically), so we can have a little fun. After all, our music is something we want people to enjoy.

Because you may be running your studio on a computer, we’ll cover that too. You need to know how to tweak your computer as well as you know how to tweak your musical score. Then there is the matter of Understanding MIDI and digital audio and how these work together (yes they ARE different). This is a core concept underpinning how the contemporary computer-based home studio works, so we’ll get to that first.

While knowledge is technical, results can be artistic. Think of it this way, in your hands is the most powerful musical instrument human beings ever invented. It is so powerful that human beings have only begun to tap into its possibilities. You can do 100 track scores with hundreds of instruments playing together if you want. Its as vast as your musical mind and has the capability of sounding better than your store bought CDs. If you have musical inspiration and technical know-how, you have the boundless universe of musical form at your fingertips. A dream? Yes, but with effort and a good guide, it’s a dream that comes true.

Don’t Just Read, Talk to People:

Browse down the left frame of this page to the topics you are interested in. At any time you can jump to a forum specifically devoted to the topic. At the bottom of nearly every class you will see a link that says:

Want to talk about this topic?
Join the discussion at Studio-Central!

Since this is the newbie topic the above link will take you directly to discussions among newbies. The Mic page takes you to the forum on Microphones. By jumping back and forth, you can read the basics here in the Guide, jump over to relevant questions and answers and learn really quickly.

How did I come up with these articles?

Well, I have been asked questions on building home studios for over 15 years. I have answered thousands of emails and wrote these so I could direct people to these answers rather than write everything out again.

Who is Tweak?

That’s me! I have studied music, philosophy and sociology and have a graduate degree in the latter. I’ve spent much of my life teaching by day and learning the recording arts by night. I’ve been doing recordings on computers since the first sequencers came out and as you see by the list, I have a lot to show you. I started this site back in 1996 and am constantly improving it, thanks to your support.

How You can support the TweakLab

If you like these articles and I have helped you out, may I suggest buying your gear at zZounds or SameDayMusic from my product links? Please enable your browser to accept cookies and I will get credit for anything you purchase at these stores. TweakHeadz lab is an expensive operation in both money and time and needs your support to survive. To those who have supported the TweakLab in the past, you have my thanks. With your help, this site has become what it is today.

Buying at zZounds or SameDayMusic is better than buying at many other stores. They both have an easy return policy on most items too, in case you have trouble with what you buy. What could be better? You get a great store, the right price, EZ returns and you support one of the best user supported sites on the internet.

President Obama Joins Feeding America And Other Leading Charities In The “United We Serve” Backpack ProjectPresident Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama joined hundreds of Congressional family members, Feeding America and four additional national nonprofit organizations at Ft. McNair in Washington DC to prepare 15,000 backpacks with books, healthy snacks, Frisbees and other items for the children of servicemen and women.

The event was part of “United We Serve,” President Obama’s call to Americans to engage in service projects and create meaningful impact in their towns and communities. The initiative was led by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency dedicated to fostering service in communities across the country.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this week’s TuneCore Facebook poll, many people seemed to have their favorite radio portals and there were lots of opinions about what it means for the future of radio. This is what I took away from it:

FM radio is certainly not dead, but the trend is decisively away from it. FM radio is facing competition from iPods, Satellitte, and increasingly online radio.

Satellitte has had slow success but was not mentioned much in our poll here. And obviously the iPod has been a game changer for how people listen to music, fully customizable and portable. But what is most interesting about our poll results was the number of different ways people find and sample new music.

People cited Last.FM, Pandora, Spotify, and many others, as online radio sources that play new music that they can’t find on traditional radio. Each of these services have very specific radio stations that can modified and edited. Services like Lala and Rhapsody are also great for finding new artists, where you can sample full streams and then download the full album right there. Compared to traditional radio online radio presents many more options for listeners.

The last point brought up was how can you, as an artist, get plays on the radio. While it is still difficult to get added to online station playlists, they are much more accessible then traditional radio. Full streams services such as Rhapsody, Lala, and Napster are available to you with TuneCore distribution… but you already knew that.

We are in the process of adding new tools to help you promote your music online that we hope you will be able to take full advantage of. Take a look at the posts on our Facebook page, maybe there is a radio station site you’ve never heard of!