One Reason Why Radio Won't Play Indie Music
And What You Can Do About It
by Jeronimo Black
As I clicked on a popular music business forum, I was greeted with a question. "Why won't commercial radio play music by Indie Artists?"
My reply to this person was as follows:
"As a former Operations Manager and Music Director on both the Comm and Non-Comm sides, Let me break the reason down for you.
Commercial Radio needs ratings to get paid from advertisers. Most advertiser's, on radio, are ad agencies. Ad agencies base their "buys" (sponsorships) on a Cost per point ("CPP") basis. CPP is based on how many thousands of listeners a radio station can capture in a 15 minute period (or cume).
Many commercial radio [Program and Music] don't want to put thier ratings at risk, by airing an 'untested song' on the air. So what these commercial radio directors do, is, air music based on the national charts provided by Radio and Records, Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) and Billboard.
These charts are mainly influenced by the major labels via promotions and strategic alliances.
Your best best is to do like Knarles Barkley. Knarles Barkleys' single "Crazy" went #1 on the internet and radio couldn't help but to get them the single on the air.
Get your music on music submission sites, make some noise on the net, and get a CDBaby.com account so you can get your music on iTunes and start promoting."
I suggested this because the music business is going digital. Clear Channel has a partnership with GarageBand.com where they will feature a certain amount of new artists every week in on their website. Since Clear Channel is the biggest and most innovative broadcaster in the music business, it's just a matter of time before the other cowardly copy-cat broadcasters will follow suit.
The world is going digital, while radio continutes to operate using an analog business model. You can be successful in the music business if you change your marketing model from analog to digital.
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A guide to getting a sound and trouble shooting
A good sound starts from the fingers, through the pick-up to the guitar and out. If you don’t start there, you’re spinning in circles and end up with a transparent (fuzzy) sound without body and response. “Your fingers are your tone generators”. Not the amps or pedals. Those are tools to augment your expression. That’s what guitar lessons teach you, not teaching you a song without teaching you, and guiding you in technique.
And, if you learn a thing or two about trouble shooting “on the fly”, you’ll go down the line to find the problem with your rig. The same goes for finding your sound. When establishing your sound you start with your technique, through the pick-up on down to the amp. With trouble shooting on stage, you should start with the amp and go down the line back to you, which make’s sense. Since you’ve established your rig set up. As you’re trying to fix what was working, you back track.
This saves time and controls moods, besides the over all situation’s under control. Then, if and when you need to use a stage tech, you’ll have a template in which to explain what it is you require from the person “you” hire. There’s nothing more frustrating than hiring someone, that has no idea what it is you need or want. Imagine working for someone without a clue. A band leader who expects you to read his mind? Communication starts with a plan.
Good luck and sound good, where ever your muse takes you, find a clue.
Stay in touch for a more in depth study of the elusive art of tone. Whose tone is good? Someday maybe I’ll be able to dial in someone else’s tone and tell you for sure what the deal is!!!
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Monitoring in a music studio is, quite simply, the most important part of the studio set up. Your studio may contain the most advanced equipment available, but without accurate monitoring, you will never hear an accurate mix, which is kinda pointless, isn't it?!
So, what’s the difference between a good pair of hi fi speakers and true studio monitors?
Well. hi fi speakers exaggerate the lows, and often the highs, to create maximum impact. This can be good to listen to, but it’s seldom accurate. Studio monitors are designed to be very accurate to insure a real reproduction of what's actually being recorded. They’re also built to much sturdier and exacting standards than hi fi speakers, to cater for the vigourous demands of studio use.
Monitors must be very transparent sounding to enable you to mix parts of the music like vocals, bass and even reverb trails without each part colliding into one and other.
To fully understand the concept of monitoring, you must understand that it’s an art. It’s more than just conveniently placing a pair of speakers in the room.
We’re all different, as are studio monitors, and we use the ones with which we’re most comfortable and can best judge the mix. I've used Yamaha NS10s, Dyn-Audio and Tannoys over the years, but have settled with a pair of Alesis M1 active for near-field monitoring and a pair of Alesis Monitor Two’s for midfield monitoring. They're my personal preference and what I'm used to. There are more expensive monitors available on the market, but surprisingly accurate results can be achieved with less expensive monitors just by following a few simple rules.
When monitoring, you're listening to the placement of sound, dynamics, eq, reverb trails, echoes and delays etc. Correctly placed monitors allow you to do this. Hi fi speakers, however good, do not!
A professional, well recorded mix will sound good on anything, and that is the single most important principle to remember. If you use a pair of hi fi speakers to monitor, your mix may well sound great to YOU on THOSE speakers, but I guarantee it won't sound great to others elsewhere!
So, the first rule is, don't use hi fi speakers to monitor.
Nearfield monitors are intended for mounting close to the listener. The idea is to improve the direct acoustic path between the speaker and the listener by making it shorter, thereby giving less opportunity for the reflected sounds to get back in and muddle things up. With nearfield monitoring, the surrounding acoustic environment becomes less of a problem. However, try to optimise the listening environment whenever possible and be aware of the effect that the size of the listening room can have on low frequency response. Usually, the smaller the room, the stronger the bottom end will be.
The ideal placement of speakers is out in the room, away from side and rear walls, and reflective surfaces like tiles, windows or table tops. Unfortunately, and particularly in home studios, this isn't always possible. So do what is practical with the environment you have.
The physical spacing between the speakers is very important, approximately 3 feet apart. A good set of monitors, if positioned correctly in a reasonably non-reverberant room, will give accurate results. There should be equal distance between the listener and either speaker. In other words, the listener and the two speakers are the three corners of a triangle with equal length sides. Both speakers must be turned in accordingly so that from your prime position, you see only the face of both speakers. Also, your ears should be level with the tweeters, so, if you're placement of the speakers is higher, perhaps on a shelf or wall mounted on brackets, then the speakers must be tilted down accordingly.
Most studios use monitor speakers in the horizontal position. This set-up will promote a strongly focused centre image, ideal for the vocalist, for example. And because the image width is narrower, the sounds can be placed with greater precision than when the speakers are placed vertically. Also, in the horizontal position, there will be much less chance of first reflections from the studio environment colouring your mix.
However, that isn't to say that monitors shouldn't ever be used in the vertical position. Indeed, some manufacturers recommend that in ‘perfect’ situations, they should be. With vertical placement you hear the mix with the deepest and widest soundstage possible. But this wide a dispersion pattern can add strong reflections to the sound you hear, muddying the mix, hence the preference for the horizontal position.
The rules for midfield monitors are the same as with nearfield, except that the three cornered triangle is much bigger, usually a minimum of 6 ft.
So, the second rule is, place the monitors correctly, read the instructions that come with the monitors and attain a better understanding of your listening environment.
When recording for any length of time, you will get listening fatigue, So take regular breaks every few hours. It’s amazing how differently things can sound when you return refreshed.
There is also an old saying; “If a song sounds great at low volume, it'll sound great at any level. But a song that sounds great loud will not necessarily sound great at a lower volume”.
Think also of the effect on your hearing over time when constantly listening at loud levels!
So, the third rule is, take regular breakes when recording, make your regular listening level a sensible one and listen at louder levels only occasionally, for feel and bass purposes.
There is of course, a place for the car stereo and hi fi in the process. When I'm happy with the mix, I listen on my hi fi and car stereo. If it still sounds good, then I can be confident that it’s a good mix.
So, the fourth rule is, a professional, well recorded mix will sound great on any system. So use your car stereo and hi fi to 'final check' your mix.
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If you are on a budget, but still want to buy a decent guitar, you should look into purchasing a used guitar. For little money you can buy a quality guitar that will be able to suit all of your needs.
Used Fender basses or used Fender Stratocaster guitars can be had for relatively cheap compared with buying a new one. This is the route that a lot of people go when they are looking for their first guitar. The best place to find a used guitar is at a music store that is specialized in selling second hand equipment. If you can't find a store like this in your area, you may also want to search the internet. There are hundreds of online stores that sell used instruments.
Used, cheap electric guitars are also a top seller. Brands like Ibanez, Squier or Epiphone can be found for very little money. Used Gibson guitars or a second hand Fender Stratocaster will cost you probably more, but will still save you a lot of money. In return you will get a top quality guitar which will last you a very, very long time!
You may also be able to find used guitars at a flea market or garage sale. The best way to go about doing this is find a large flea market in your area, and frequent it as often as possible. You will eventually come across what you are looking for.
Many people have also turned to eBay in order to find a second hand guitar. EBay offers hundreds of guitars that you can bid on. The best thing about using this service is that you can keep an eye on each listing, and only purchase what you can afford.
A used guitar can be a great buy for anybody that is just learning, or anybody who simply wants a new guitar. In most cases you can buy a second hand guitar for half the price it would cost you when buying it brand new. Ok it probably will have some scratches on it, but the quality and the sound of the instrument will still remain the same and that's what counts!
If you know where to look, and stay persistent you should not have any problems at all finding a guitar that suits your needs. Remember, stay patient until you find the guitar that suits your needs and fits your budget.
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One might think that buying a piano would be fairly simple, play it and buy it if you like the sound. In a general sense this is true. But, when the brass tacks come out, it is very much not true. There are quite a few little items that come into play that, if ignored, will find you buying a pile of junk. The one very large rule to follow when considering the purchase of a piano is to have a Registered Piano Technician, not a piano tuner, check the thing out before you buy. Additionally, after he checks the piano out, allow some time for him to do a little research about what he has found.
Types of pianos
Before the ins and outs are gotten into consider the two types of pianos offered for sale. No electronic pianos here, just the real deal. There is the Grand piano and the up-right piano. Within each of these two types there are several sizes of piano. For the Grand piano type, the intermediary sizes include: parlor, baby, medium, semi-concert and concert. Each is generally distinguished by its length. Within the up-right piano category there are: spinet, consol, studio and professional.
Cars and food shopping
This comparison, when translated too shopping for a piano, is not all that far off the mark. If you consider shopping for a car, certain companies make a generally superior car, but certain models just don’t make it or brake down quite a bit. In other instances, a food company may sell its premium products for more, but changes just the tiniest of things and sells it under a store brand name. Most people would indicate that the German automobile manufacturers make a superior car, but where do they get some of their less critical parts? In each of these examples the same comparison could be made to pianos. The company may be in America or Germany, but is the company German owned and are the insides of the piano made by that company? Perhaps they are using a cheaper parts manufacturer from someplace where piano manufacturing is thought of as a pipe dream? All valid issues when choosing a piano, and good reasons to have you Registered Piano Technician along for an inspection, just like your car mechanic.
Who's good and who's not
Following the car analogy, good piano makers come in and out of favor over time. Volkswagen was hot when it came out, went out of favor and is back again. Thinking about pianos, Germany is generally hot for pianos although you’ll need to make sure who owns the company at the moment. The United States is generally good but in some cases they have been influenced by Asian companies outsourcing to them for cheaper parts (yes, you read correctly.) Japan and Korea were on the outs but they have slowly improved their quality through buying other non-Asian piano companies. The real important country to stay away from, at the moment, is any piano made in China.
Who, what, where and when
Chinas' poor reputation raises perhaps the most important aspect of this writing. There is a number on every piano. With this number your Registered Piano Technician can tell you everything you will need to know about that particular piano. Where it was made, who owns the company, when the company changed hands and where the actions were manufactured. The number is sort of like a VIN number for a car.
25,000 pianos and counting
Some have suggested that over the last two centuries there have been well over 25,000 brands of pianos. That is brands and not models, brands. With this in mind it is rather difficult to give a solid representation of what to look for when you are searching for that one piano based on brand. Not wanting to return to the car analogy, but, if you sit in the right car you just now that that car is the right one for you. A piano is pretty much the same idea. When you play it you just feel that the sound and action just works right for your fingers and ears. Remember that you are the one that will be hearing the piano the most. You are the one that needs to like its sounds.
A few word description on a few pianos
Baldwin-a good piano, Bechstien-high end, Boston –very good, Charles Walters –high quality, Knabe –medium quality, Kranich & Bach –current model not so good, Steinway – a good piano but sounds to taste, Yamaha – wonderful, Wurlitzer – not so ok. Thanks to marbeth.
Buying the piano
The real thing about buying a piano is to play it and enjoy the sound. Have it checked out buy somebody that really knows their stuff. You are buying the piano for yourself and not as an investment. Pianos hold little value except to the owner/player.
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