Band 101

[KKKKKocaine]

Band 101-

Well, I've decided to make a guide, for bands, from the bottom to the top, to help people with questions like "when do we need a manager?", "how do you produce a DIY album?"
I'm not sure how often I will update this, but I will be starting in the first 'issue', with the following topics.

Band - The Basics; Communication, direction and a marketing plan
Gig - The reason so many unsigned new bands barely get a look off the crowd.

Band- The basics.
Okay, so you've got the band together, all the people you need.
Now you need COMMUNICATION

Sounds obvious huh?
Well far too many bands bicker behind each others backs and moan without addressing the problem, bands need to have full input to work, if your not happy, you have to say, ignoring it will only make it worse.
Now every decision needs to be discussed by the band, just because the guitarist is a whizz at html doesn't mean he gets free range over the website design, nor does it mean the vocalist should do all the booking and managing.
You need 100% communication, this allows problems and issues to be in the open, and easily debatable, a problem shared is a problem halved, in most cases you can resolve any problems maturely with discussion.

DIRECTION
Another obvious but important factor, you need to all know what you are doing, what is your band going to sound like? What genre? Is this a pub covers band, a show band, a hobby group, or a serious project?
If one member wants to go a different direction, there is a problem, make the direction clear when you start, no-one can have any doubts, the same goes for the music you play.
At your first practice, it's sensible to choose about 4 covers to play, this should settle everyone in and give you something to do if your stuck for song idea's, make sure everyone knows them and that they are relevant to the genre, if your a metal head in a funk band, they don't need or want to be playing 'Lynch Pin' by Fear Factory, everyone needs adequate time to learn the songs and they need to be agreed on by the entire group.
Now, alot of bands form and decide to play cover gigs before they write their own material.
This is the biggest waste of time you can do, 4 covers, thats all you need to do, bring along some lyrics, some riffs and put material together once you are settled in, your not Metallica, so don't waste time trying to be them on stage, be your band, write your own material, everyones heard Metallica, if they wanted Metallica they would put a cd on or they would go see the real thing.

Writing your own material is the best thing to start off with, it gives you extra 'drive', "Woah, this is our song, we wrote it, we're a real band", record it on a cheap 4 track if you can, it'll sound bad but you can get the message across and listen to it yourself to gain extra enthusiasm.

Why spend 6 months being a cover band, then another 6 writing your own material, when you instead can spend 6 months writing your own material, and 6 months promoting and gigging with it.

MARKETING PLAN
Sorry, but if you immeadiately thought "I'm not sellout" after reading this title, you have no future in music unless your future happens to be playing for a bunch of drunk unemployed thugs on a saturday night at a crappy bar.
The marketing plan is essential, gone are the days in which you could be musicians, now you have to be business men also, get everything in contract form, gig payment details e.t.c.
Now that your direction is sorted, you need to work out how, it's no good saying "I want to be a big rockstar", you need to know how to become this.
How will you generate financing for your group?
How will you sort out promotion?
What comes after you finish writing the songs you need to gig?
Do you make an e.p. or just a demo?
Are you going to go D.I.Y? or will you be taking a route with a record deal?
What up and coming groups that are similar to yours could you help out and be helped by?
e.t.c. these are all important issues that need working out, it's not enough to write a catchy rock ballad, you need to know how to get it out to people and how to live whilst doing it.

GIGS -DO'S AND DON'TS
DO - Introduce yourself clearly, say where you from, the band name, and each song you are about to play.
DO - Thank the crowd, your manager/pub/the band that put you up after the gig, it's polite and proper to thank them for helping
DO - Go out after the gig and chat to the crowd, this creates good feelings, the crowd will go off and say "Hey, I'm friends with so and so from so and so band" (even if you just waved), they will also say "Oh well if your looking for a band I know so and so , from so and so band, I could get them to play", free publicity, just for dropping down and saying "hi" to a few people.
DO - Enjoy yourself, it will show and the crowd will have fun too
DO - Get the crowd into 'it', if the pit is empty, make a competition, "the best dancer gets a free cd" e.t.c., my band will be doing something similar this monday, halfway through the set a porn groove is being played, "the best moaner in the crowd gets a brand new, boxed ann summers vibrator" , weird, but fun and exciting, the crowd will love it, they get something for free by having a giggle.
DO - Co-operate with the sound engineer, before the gig ask what you can do to help and thank him for being such an integral part in this gig. I assure you this will get the best sound he can muster, Sound engineer is a thankless job, he'll love you for giving him the respect he deserves.

DO NOT - Expect the crowd to form a pit because you said "Everyone in the pit", until you have a large fanbase (i.e. your not longer the support slot) it won't happen, as cheap as it is, they need to be coaxed into opening up for you.
DO NOT - Play during the breaks between songs, this is when the vocalist needs to push the band on people, it's horrible to be at a gig when this happens, " Hey, so we're still <drum fill> thanks for all coming tonight and <guitar solo from random song> hope to see you there as well, our new <bass drum tests> of october, thank you, the next song <bass> enjoy yourselves"
DO NOT - Put yourself down after the gig, if you thought you sucked, save it, don't say "sorry, we were ****, you can get on with having fun now", it's just silly.

Back to some more basics, make sure you know everything about the gig, who is the promoter, what is the age allowed? Who will be providing backline e.t.c.
I played a gig today, two bands didn't turn up, we had to construct a backline out of random bits and peices, then the management came up and said "Sorry, but we're making this an over 18's only", thus we got 12 crowd members.

Well next issue, I'll be going into more gig tips, D.I.Y recording e.t.c.

[pikester]

Nice.

[RushHourSoul]

That is well good so far. Can't wait to read the rest. :thumb:

[opiate4themasses]

I like

[GuitarComet]

Great stuff!

[KKKKKocaine]

Issue #2

In this Issue we will be covering : D.I.Y. and the basics of recording deal's

D.I.Y.
No, not your ikea shelf, do it yourself recordings.
Isn't that hard and ****ty? No not really, it just takes a little more effort, if you can get good with some simple basic recording equipment and get some good mics, you can make an easily sellable product without spending £400 on a studio, instead, the £400 can be spent on buying cases, printing covers e.t.c.
A much more economical way to do things right?
I'm going to give a few tips on things to avoid, but the rest of the recording quality is up to you, it depends what your playing, as a general rule don't play it to friends and say "what do you think" sugarcoated opinions won't sell records.

1. Buried Vocals: Probably the single most important instrument on your CD is the lead vocals. The lead vocals intimately tell the story of your song and carry the main melody--you know, the one that people will be humming days after they hear your masterpiece. It's a shame then that the most important instrument in the mix is usually the most sonically neglected when bands mix their CD. So why do artists bury the vocals? Your guess is as good as mine, but I do have a couple of theories:

a.) Singer or rapper lacks confidence-- The singer in this scenario is so embarrassed at hearing their voice on tape (rightly or wrongly so) that they insist on mixing the vocals much lower than the music and/or processing them with a million different effects--to the point where the vocals are almost never discernable.

b.) Singer is the singer 'by default' --Here's what happens: The person in this scenario usually sings not by choice, but out of convenience or necessity (ie; no-one else will sing or they wrote all the songs.) They almost always play another instrument (and usually extremely well) and never consider themselves a singer first, but rather a drummer/singer or guitarist/singer etc. So, at CD mixdown, our guitarist/singer in this scenario says something like this:

"Whoa, I can barely hear my bitchin' guitar tracks. Let's turn 'em up a litle louder. Oh yeah, my lead guitar fills are coming up here, better turn them up a little louder, too. And don't forget, the solo has to be even louder than those tracks."

Before you know it, the vocals (and everything else for that matter) have been buried underneath a wall of guitars. Satisfied that his/her guitar tracks can now be heard in all their glory, the lead guitarist/singer doesn't even realize they've pushed the most important melodic/bonding element way out of the average listener's range of hearing.

c.) The artist mixes the CD himself and doesn't fully understand the technical process --In this golden age of technology, independent artists have more tools available to them than ever before. Recording technology found at the consumer level today is far more advanced and affordable than what was found in state-of-the-art recording facilities just 8 or 9 years ago. Its no wonder as technology advances and prices fall, our demand for tools like Sound Forge, Cubase & Logic Audio continues to soar. Unfortunately in our quest to have the biggest, baddest toys around, we sometimes neglect to learn how to use them properly, and its always apparent in a poorly mixed CD. Don't get me wrong, I'm a BIG proponent of doing it yourself (I've spent thousands of dollars in commercial recording studios over the years and will NEVER step foot in one again), but sometimes, for the sake of the project, it's always good to bring in other people who may understand things a little better than you. If you feel like there are some 'problem areas' in your mix, don't be ashamed to ask someone with a little more engineering experience for assistance. It may breathe new life into your mix instantly.

2. No Low End: Low-end (bass presence) gives a track power and depth. Boosting the low-end can instantly transform a thin, wimpy, amateur mix into a 1000 lb. monster that won't let you go. It puts the "pump" in dance, hip-hop & pop and gives rock music its 'balls' (power chords alone won't do it). If you find your mixes are sounding a little on the thin side, try pumping up the low and mid frequencies and watch your mix come alive. But be careful--too much low-end can muddy things up.

3. Karaoke MIDI: There's nothing worse than listening to a CD full of stiff MIDI noodlings--no processing, no reverb, no EQ....no feeling. Just cheesy, lifeless, quantized General MIDI (come on, do you really think that General MIDI electric guitar patch sounds real?). I've heard hundreds of these kinds of CDs over the years and I still cringe every time I hear one. And I'm not talking about electronica music, either--there's a BIG difference. I'm talking about music that's sounds like it was pulled right off the presets of a Casio keyboard. But the sounds alone aren't the only consideration here--the 'feel' of the music (or lack thereof) can greatly determine whether or not you retain a listener's attention. Overly-quantized sequences end up sounding sterile, boring, and uncompelling.

Solution? The tracks NEED some life; some realness; some soul; some passion. Add some real instruments and/or some good session players to the mix and watch a CD like this come to life. If you have to sequence your music, try using a "groove" quantize feature to give your patterns more of a human feel. Most sequencers today have this function and they're definitely worth checking out. Oh, yeah--and ditch the presets. I'm sure you can come up with something better anyway.

4. Signal Distortion/Level Imbalances: What's a guaranteed way to get people screaming in pain after listening to your CD? Signal distortion--and not the cool, lo-fi, intentional kind, either. I'm talking about the kind that's caused by excessively "hot" signals clipping the meters on your multi-tracker. It's not pleasant, to say the least, and it can render your CD almost impossible to listen to.

5. Bad Drums: I love drums...big drums. I love groove. I love rhythm. It kills me to hear a great track ruined by bad drums. More specifically, badly programmed drums. Here's a controversial tip for all of you one-person rock/pop bands out there: If you don't understand drums, rhythm and how the drummer interacts with his kit, then don't program a drum machine by yourself....especially if your music of choice is rock, metal, punk, jazz or country! Hire a real drummer for your session or hire a professional programmer (and/or drummer) to program your drum patterns and sounds for you. I know that doesn't sound fair, but if you're not ready, then sit back and learn from those who know a little bit more about rhythm than you do. If you don't have the means to hire a live person to either program or play for you, there are also plenty of 'How-To" drum machine programming books out there that have "suggested" drum patterns for a number of different musical styles and they're usually in an easy-to-understand diagram form, too. A number of companies also offer MIDI drum grooves for sale (played and programmed by real drummers--some famous, some not) all queued up on floppy disks and ready for you to use with your own drum samples on your sequencer or computer at home, so check them out. My favorite solution? Acoustic Drum loop CDs with real patterns and fills played by real drummers (Drumkit from Hell, Joey Kramer Loops, Pure Drums, Discrete Drums).

A few things to try and avoid when doing any recording yourself, now you may think that this issue is a bit contradictory, D.I.Y. and record deals in one?

Well not really, I will leave the D.I.Y. vs record deal debate for later, but for the moment, you need D.I.Y. for that record deal.

Lets start with the very basics

RECORD DEALS - THE BASICS

First and foremost, the record company doesn't care if your the best musical band around and the music makes him want to do 90 on the highway again.
All the company cares is that it sells, they will put anything on (provided the right genre) as long as it sells, a great band that is true is useless if they can't show their total sales.

So, make sure, that you keep a record of every piece of merchandise you ever sell, make a note of how much you bring in, and how much profit you get from it also.

What about the timing? Major labels will be very aprehensive to sign a neo classical band because if you sound like your from 1984, your fans are probably from there too.

Is there a buzz about you? Are new people coming to your gigs? Or is it the same few people, are the gigs packed? or 30 crowders?

I'm sure you've guessed the most important point here, money and the potential for money, the record label is after money, if you have good sales, are at the right time and have a good buzz your going to make them money, the record label won't put out an album purely because they like the sound, sorry but it's not going to happen.

Now, I'm not going to go into anymore record deal tips, because at this stage, the band won't be looking for the deal with anyone major or even with anyone at all, this is mainly to dispell the notion of "Hey Harry, why don't we start a band? In two months I'm sure we could do a demo and get signed to <insert label>"

It's never going to happen, there's nothing wrong with shortlisting record companies for later on, in fact, it's a great idea, but don't get your hopes up for getting signed on your demo alone.

So, back to D.I.Y. and where it fits in with gigs, well, now you have a cd, a presentable one (no-one will buy a blank cd-r) you can start to sell it.

[KKKKKocaine]

The most important tip for increasing sales is this.

Go out into the crowd after the gig, take a pile of cd's with you, ask people if they want to buy them, offer to have them signed, this ALWAYS increases cd sales

Face it, being in a band is respected, people love to say "I know jimmy from the robots", signings and talking to people will make them want the album more, mainly just because they connect with you.
This always increases sales, if you just point to the merch stand you might sell about 5 if your lucky, this method can get a good 30 in a crowd of 100 people, if not more.
Don't let anyone stay on stage moving equipment, pay a couple of friends to do it for you, or the next band on.

How do I know this works?
Simple, I've had it done to me, I went from not wanting an album at all, to buying one simply because the band said they would autograph it, I loved the album when I got home though.

GIG TIPS

- Mailing lists, don't just leave it on a table with a pen, politely ask the guys working the door (or pay them £10) to make everyone who enters sign the mailing list.

- Similary, make a stamp with your band logo and website on, ask the bouncers to use it instead of pen squiggles, the people who came to the gig will have a mark for a day or so with your website on, how is that for promotion?

-Remember which songs get the crowd worked up the best, structure the setlist so that the crowd doesn't mosh for 20 minutes, then relax for 30, let the band and the crowd have lighter songs to rest with for a while, structure the gig so the setlist flows, don't just randomly write them down and hope for the best.
If instruments have to be changed for a song and rehooked up, ask the drummer and bassist to prehaps play a little groove through the duration?
Or spend the time talking about your album, thanking the crowd e.t.c.

- Take a quick glance at the 'types' of people coming to your gig, after a while, when you have garnered up a fan base, maybe you should use this as a means to design your merchandise? You don't want a goth design for emo kids now do you?

Next Issue : Cheap and free promotion, serious gig problems, e.g. the manager refuses to pay you, what to do and why.

[chumpradio]

Great guide so far KKKKKocaine.

[Guitar Symphony]

I'm lovin this. Hopefully I can get my guitarist to read this so we can become close as a group.

[bumskin]

Thanks dude. We're just starting out as a band and this is helping no end...I told them we didn't need 6 cover songs...

[Trigger_003]

*refers band mates to this page, hoping they will read it*

[RushHourSoul]

Hurry up with next issue! Also someone please sticky this, its good info

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

I needed that.

[KKKKKocaine]

GETTING SCREWED (NOTE: This is an article by Dick Hodgin)

Question: My band went to play a gig in another city and the club
wouldn't pay us the money he said he would. Is there anything I can do
about it?


There are lots of things you could do but I'm only going to talk about
the legal ones.

First. Did you have a signed contract specifying the terms and
compensation very clearly? If not, there it's going to be tougher for
you to document and prove the existence of the oral agreement. If you
do have a contract it's easier to force the club to live up to it's end
of the bargain.

The first thing I recommend is to try to negotiate with the
signer of the contract (or whoever you arranged the deal with). Why did
they not pay? Was there a disagreement about the terms of the gig? Did
your band hold up every part of your side of the deal? More than
likely, if there was a mis-understanding, there is usually some middle
ground in which to wrestle out a solution. If the club just suffered a
bad night, perhaps you could arrange to play on a better return gig and
get compensated a bit better for that one. If your band had problems
i.e.: didn't play the full set (s) didn't show up on time, played too
loud, damaged something, blah, blah blah,,,, then maybe you could work
out a settlement for not quite ALL that they owe you. Be flexible and
business like......Don't get personal!

If the club just plain screwed you, then you have to ask
yourself a question.

"Does my band ever want to play this club again?"

If the answer is "yes", then you've got a tough pill t o swallow. About
the only thing you can do is to try to reason with them . If that doesn't
work, just make sure that the problems are addressed and remedied for the
next engagement. There is no stone-cold-iron-clad way to keep yourself
from getting ripped off! Setting the stipulation that you'll be paid in
full before you take the stage can be tricky. You might face that
showdown right before you go on-stage and have to make the decision of
playing for your fans or sticking to your guns. If you go over all the
terms of the agreement again, including the ones that were the problems
last time, then the club knows your on the case and that you'll be
"looking" for any problems. If it looks like it's getting squirly, you
can pull out before the gig.

If the answer is "NO, we don't ever want to play this place
again," then you have a few more options. You can sue them. You can
hire an attorney to take care of it for you. Most attorneys will only do
this for a flat fee, although you may get one to do it for a percentage
of the amount you settle for.

If it's less than $3000.00 in North Carolina, you can sue them in
small claims court. Contact the courthouse in the county where the club
is located and get the paperwork to fill out for a small claims action.
You'll have to pay a filing fee ( usually less than $40.00 ) and a fee
for the sheriff to serve the papers. (About $5.00) You can add these
items in on the amount your claiming.

Make sure that you fill out the forms correctly. If you have a
family lawyer or someone that knows about such stuff that will help you
fill out the forms for free (or very little) then do it. That way you'll
know that the details are taken care of. I once sued a club in Small
Claims court only to have it thrown out because I didn't list the name of
the corporation that owned the club correctly.

One of the most important things about contracts is to make sure
that the person that is signing the contract has the authority to enter
into the agreement. If they are only an agent of another person, you
should make sure the agreement is between you and the person who is
actually going to be respoinsible for paying you. You have to remember
that you're contracting to play FOR someone. The place that you play is
just the location.

Once you've filed the claim, you'll have an opportunity to go in
and tell your side of the story. Small claim court judges and
magistrates are usually very receptive to the non-legal side of these
proceedings. This system was set up specifically for settling claims
without the lawyers getting involved. It's very informal, although I
was still pretty nervous the first time in. If the person you're suing
doesn't show up, or you win your case, you get a judgment against
them. That doesn't mean you get your money. It just means that you won
the judgment. There are a few other steps that have to be taken to
actually collect. ( and you may actually NEVER collect) The best thing
is that a judgment goes on the credit record of the person who it's
against, and it's a powerful weapon in the credit world. the judgment
stays on the credit report for SEVEN years! If they didn't have ****ty
credit before, they do now. One of the best rewards to this action is
that the word will get around that you don't let this **** slide!

There are some other actions that you can put into place. I
picketed a car dealership one time for 5 days after they jerked me around
on a deal, and then changed the numbers at the last second. It looked
pretty stupid at first for me to be out there, but the dealership that
started out laughing at me on Monday , had not sold a single car by
Friday. Picketing a club won't make many people stay away, but it does
raise awareness of your plight , and it warns other bands as to what
happened to you. Make sure you call the police department and tell them
before you just show up. There may be some ordinances that you have to
obey.

The other thing you can do is to get real big in that town and
play the competition. Or better yet, make the club that screwed you
realllllly beg before you give them the date. About the only thing
you'll get from this is some self satisfaction.

PROMOTION: For those of us who don't have 6 figure salaries.

1. The Power of Food

Members of the act Twelve:12 (www.twelve12.org) found themselves doing a 20-minute interview on a rock radio station in their hometown ... all for simply bringing breakfast to the disc jockeys.

"We stopped at a restaurant and ordered some omelets, bacon and biscuits to go, then brought them to a local station for the morning show hosts," says Eric Luedtke. "They talked to us on the air for 20 minutes about our music."

Eric points out that this happened in Madison, Wisconsin. "So we're not talking a small town where anyone can get on the radio just for knitting a nice sweater," he says.

Media people love free food, particularly morning jocks, who often don't have time to get a good breakfast on the way to work. Fill their stomachs and they just might reward you with some exposure.

2. Perform a Guerrilla Concert

Kenny Kinds of Blue Fortune (www.blue-fortune.com) performs what he calls a "guerrilla concert" before shows. He explains, "We find a location near where we'll be performing, like a market or cafe where a lot of people gather. Then we acoustically perform a couple of songs -- just long enough to tease people, hand out flyers, complimentary CDs, etc." Many of those unsuspecting people, of course, are inspired to attend Blue Fortune's show.

Are you overlooking simple ways that you can attract more people to your live shows?

3. Stamp of Approval

Here's a cool marketing idea from Corey Palmer of the band Monday Conspiracy. Like most club-playing musicians, his band gets booked at venues that stamp the hand of every patron who enters. Most bands don't give this common ritual a second thought. But not Monday Conspiracy.

"We had a stamp made that spells out our web site address," Corey says. "Before every show, we ask the manager if he or she would mind using our stamp at the door. Most managers say yes, which results in the entire crowd being temporarily branded with our web address."

And the results? "We've seen our web traffic jump quite a bit since we started doing this. People are less likely to forget our address with it stamped on their hands."

4. Happy Mood Ring to You

A few years ago, a band called Wordlove was drawing a pretty good crowd by playing music from the 1970s, complete with an image influenced by '70s pop culture -- disco-flavored funk, polyester jumpsuits, platform heels, lava lamps and disco balls. As well as the band was doing, the members wanted to go an extra step to create a bond with their fans.

They found the perfect gimmick: mood rings. Yes, those popular jewelry trickets from the '70s that changed color based on your emotional state. A band member bought 100 rings for $25 at a vintage clothing store. But they didn't just give them away for any reason. They sent them to fans as birthday presents.

On the band's mailing list sign-up form, fans were asked to write in their birth date. Then when the date arrived, each fan would receive a "groovy" card with a free mood ring taped to the inside -- compliments of Wordlove.

"Instead of the usual band mailing list garbage, each fan got something cool from the great new band he or she discovered some months earlier," says Shawn Fields, a former member of Wordlove and editor of Getsigned.com. "No hype. No desperate pleas for show attendance. Nothing to sell. Just a simple birthday card with a free gift. Our brand awareness factor shot up 110 percent--and so did our show attendance as word spread about the unique bond we had with our fans."

[KKKKKocaine]

5. The Eye Candy System

Nicola of Hot Cherry Records (www.cdbaby.com/nicolanyc) relates that after her live sets, she has two or three attractive girlfriends go out to audience. "One handles the CD sales and one or two circulate the mailing list and get names, addresses and e-mails," she explains. "Not to be sexist, since I am a woman myself, but this marketing strategy works for me."

She continues, "Women seem to be less threatening to both sexes than men, and that is why we have found this approach to work best. It enables us to come off the stage and immediately meet and greet people, without having to worry about selling and dealing with paper and mailing lists. It's a great system!"

How can you boost your mailing list sign-ups or improve your interaction with fans?

6. Print This

For the most part, using the Internet means doing away with paper and printing. Unless you come up with a cool idea like Bob Houlston has. To promote his guitar tips and tabs site, Bob invites visitors to print and distribute small fliers available at http://www.houlston.freeserve.co.uk/flier.htm

Great idea. In the past, I only considered printing fliers and physically handing them to people. But there is obviously another option: Have your fans print out and distribute the promotional items themselves. Basically, you've just created your own street team.

Considering doing this to promote your CDs or live shows. You can also ask fans to print coupons for discounts on recordings and admission fees.

7. Let Your Fans Help You

"One of the best tips is to appreciate and respect your fans," says singer-songwriter Nyree in an interview on the artistpro.com site. She is also the author of "Booking, Promoting and Marketing Your Music."

Nyree says that much of the good fortune she's enjoyed throughout her career came about because a fan got involved. For example, opening for Crosby, Stills & Nash, Santana and other high-profile artists happened because a fan knew somebody.

"When you try just to sell yourself it never works," she says. "But when somebody's really thrilled about something, they can sell it to anyone."

Nyree says a recent East Coast tour also happened because of her fans. "Some people saw shows I did in Palo Alto, and they asked me when I was coming to their town. My answer is always, 'I'll come to your town when you set something up, or help me set something up, because it's gonna be really hard for me to get something good on my own.'"

EXCUSES TO GET ON RADIO:

You don't have to be talking about your latest e.p. to be on the radio.

* A musician could hook up with a psychologist or music therapist to discuss the stress-reduction benefits of mellow jazz music.
* A traditional blues player who has either lived through or learned a lot about regional music history could pitch himself as an expert on local culture.
* A punk or metal band member could become an advocate for safe mosh-pit etiquette and offer to enlighten kids and their parents on common-sense advice when attending concerts.
* A rap singer might debunk myths about the genre and demonstrate that not all rap is about sex, drugs, violence and life on the streets.
* A country musician could team up with a fitness instructor and espouse the virtues of line dancing as a fun form of exercise.
* Become a music trivia expert. Do you know way too much about the Beatles? Or Elvis? Or the '50s, '60s or '70s? Or some other musical niche? If so, appoint yourself to be your area's media consultant on the topic.

By positioning yourself as an expert, you'll be invited to appear on a number of radio programs. Best yet, while you enlighten listeners on your topic, you can also work in plugs for your band or CD.


Next Issue : A mystery, Im going to spain for 2 weeks on friday, there shall be much delay.

[opiate4themasses]

awww dont go. Im loving these.

[ProfessorChaos]

haha, same here! It's awesome :thumb:

[thecabbagemassacre]

these are awesome. have a good trip :thumb:
hope to see some more articles once your back

[GuitarComet]

I'm not agreeing with the mailing list thing.

I think it's a bad idea.

[KKKKKocaine]

I'm not agreeing with the mailing list thing.

I think it's a bad idea.

Look at it this way, who is more approachable and more appeasing to your average gig goer?

A man who looks like johnny rotten with a raspy voice in cut jeans, or a girl?

It's a matter of who you trust your email with, the dodgy looking man, or the innocent girl.

I'm going to try and do one more article before I leave, however it all depends on if my guitarist can engage his power of critical thought.

Guitar : My exhaust has broken
Me: Get the X6 bus

*sigh*

[RushHourSoul]

Oi Mods this needs to be stickied

EDIT: someone stickied it while i was writing that post :upset:

[RushHourSoul]

I feel I should contribute to this with a few links:

Gigs:
http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/gig_page1.htm
Recording a demo:
http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/demo_page1.htm
Promoting a gig:
http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/promoting_page1.htm
Preparing a demo-package:
http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/demopack_page1.htm
Studio/Recording/Live:
http://www.sudeepaudio.com/lessons/tips.htm#home

Also some advice on recording: If you can't record drums (cos they sound rubbish or other reasons) then theres no harm in using a drum machine or drum sampling software. Fruity Loops is one of the best, you can import your own samples too. However it does cost money (I got it off the internet shhhh :p ) but there are a few free good drum programs out there.

Leaf drums is one:
http://www.leafdigital.com/Software/leafdrums/
I'm pretty sure it's still free but check it out anyway.

PC drummer:
http://www.pcdrummer.com/
This isn't free, however you can download a demo.

Yeh also to cut down on the "what PA should our band get.." threads:
http://www.giggear.co.uk/home/index.php?m=shop&prodid=2039
Check out the rest of the site too its really good.

[DruMMeR_BoY14]

definantly reading some of this stuff out at next band practice, thanks for all the info and tips Kocaine

[ScorpSath]

Yeah thanks alot.

[theslideparamita]

its a really good lesson. Great job. thanks.

[poormorris]

best. thread. ever.

[GuitarComet]

OK, you made your point.
But I wouldn't wanna have to deal with it on my computer.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

best. thread. ever.

Agreed.


Thanks for all the promotional tips. I'll hafta try them out.

[pinkboxers]

good thread!!!can we have more?!?!?!

[UntoldProphecy]

I agree this is a great thread, but can we avoid spamming it with stuff like "Great thread" etc. We all agree, but we dont want the thread to become 20 pages of "Great thread" and a few posts of real interesting "band stuff"

Just my 2 cents

[KKKKKocaine]

Im in spain at teh moment, more stuff coming soon when I get back, it sucks here, I need to be with my band heh :thumb:

[slowhand]

How about something about naming your band? I know it sounds simple, but it's really hard to find a name that would suit you and your bands. It's the probably the first thing people hear about you and it can easily kill you or exite the listeners.

[rockonarman]

this is pretty good stuff. i learned a thing or two myself.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

If you want a good band name, be sure to make it something that you all like. Base it on your feelings or beliefs, or what you sing about and stand for.

[moaner]

or, just something everyone agrees is just generally cool.

[KKKKKocaine]

RIght, next issue is sorted out, should be done the saturday I get back or the day after.

Band Naming and general band ethics.
Tour survival (I´ve been considering varying methods of now only keeping touring bands together, but stringing along a tight budget e.t.c., expect washing tips ;) )
A few more gig tips and general advice. :thumb:

[RushHourSoul]

w00t!

[artificial infection]

wow great..you've really elaborated the details which have always confuzzled my mind - Now I can actually explain to my band about some of this stuff :p

Great article you got..*is wondering if KKKKKocaine is in a big band :confused*

[moaner]

perhaps he's actually Brian May...

[X0senses_fail0X]

Heeeey.
Isnt it sunday?
wheres the update. :thumb:
I really cant wait for this tuff.

[Blink_Fan315]

lol same here

[KKKKKocaine]

BAND NAMING

Well, this is going to sound obvious, but the band name needs to be fitting.

You need to sound like your genre, if you play indie, don't call yourself
"Satans suicide rap"

You need to reach out to people through ad's and name dropping, if you have an ad on a website, death metallers will click, punkers will think "thats death metal....boring"

Imagine your first gig, you have posters all up over town, you go on stage to see 50 leather clad long haired bikers, lagers in hand, glaring a hole through your NOFX t-shirt.

Not a good sign huh?

The same goes for your song names and album names, as an indie band you wouldn't really be wanting to put "101 reasons my balls look good on your chin" as your debut album name.

It's all in image, you need to sound like you play mellow rock if you play mellow rock.

If you tour, you will be depending on this image to carry across, the second you leave your home town, the screaming fans (girlfriends, workmates, parents e.t.c.) won't be there to say "wanna come to 'Satans suicide rap' with me? they rock"

You need the right people coming to your gig.

As for deciding that name, well there are many ways, you could flip open a dictionary at a random page and use an unusual word, you could just sit and think, have a band session and think of buzz words, spider diagrams e.t.c.
As long as you all agree and it fits, then its fine.


TOUR SURVIVAL

Well this is what you joined a band to do, tour the country and get famous, spread your music to people and enjoy yourself.
It's also the hardest bit your band will face, a test of your character, commitment, and the bands friendship.

Let's face it, who here has been with a friend for more than a week?
You both get mighty tetchy don't you?
Well imagine this time, it's a ****ty little transit van, bad food, little sleep with litte quality, your constantly on the move.

It will put stress on the greatest of friendships, there is nothing that can be done about this ultimately, however litte things can be done to make it easier.

First off, calculate how much money you'll need, go to supermarkets, check out the prices of the best balanced (in terms of diet) foods you can, work out how many you'll need and account for buying a few extra.
Look into prices for spares for cars, and account for a little more than it costs.

These two simple bits of planning, will ultimately help you, you will have more than enough food, and money specialy put aside in case of your van breaking down, this will stop the basic tensions arising, and will cut down on frustration.

Now the tour is costing you a bomb anyhow, we're assuming this is your first, you've had to fork out for the transit van already, the overhead for a few venues, money is scarce, so there are a few money saving techniques.

SLEEPING

I shall be using David Hallamashire's Dig star system, although he meant it in a comical sense, it is a good indication of what you can expect when touring.

One Star (*)

One star digs are in fact, the back of the van. This is cold, damp, boring and horrible. Not unlike a bedsit. When you sleep in the van there is also nowhere to have a piss and so you have to revert to going out into the cold or using a milk bottle. Also like a bedsit.

It is also very inconvenient to have to share the van with the Roadie as there is nowhere to let out the funny smells, and as the Roadie lives on Vindaloo, the smells aren't very funny.

If you can survive the sub-zero temperatures and the funny smells coming from the Roadie, you will find that when you wake up it is raining. This is very odd, because you are in a van. However, when you look around you, you will find that the rain is coming from the roof of the van and falling in big blobs onto your sleeping bag. This is condensation. If the wet patch on your sleeping bag is not condensation then it is worth having a look to see what happened to the milk bottle someone used in the night.

Should you be lucky enough not to be sleeping in the van, it is always a good idea to wake up the members who are sleeping in the van by banging very hard on the door with the flat of your hand. This is very very funny. Or is, until the Roadie beats you to death.

Two Star (**)

The two star digs are a step up from sleeping in the back of the van. Not much. But better than nothing.

This is where you hire a single room in a Bed and Breakfast house and creep in one by one until all eight of the band are arranged on the floor in sleeping bags. This can be quite comfortable if you have left the Roadie in the van to make funny smells on his own. The only other problem being that seven people have to leave by the fire escape the next morning. In digs where more than one band are staying, the fire escape can resemble Oxford Street in the rush hour.

Three Star (***)

The three star band accommodation comes in the form of the Groupie. Or rather, the groupie's flat. As in the expression, "She's very accommodating." This accounts for the reason why so many sane, good looking musicians, end up with people that look as if they wrestle with bulls for a living. Anything is better than dossing in the van and it only takes a little prompting on your part to secure a bed for the night. The subtle approach is best. Something like: "Are we going to your place or what?", will generally get the idea across.

The problem with this form of accommodation is that you:

) Don't know when you are going to be beaten up by the lover who was supposed to be on night shift.

2) Don't get a lot of sleep.

3) Might catch something. (Cold, flu etc.)

Remember, when staying at a Groupie's flat it is always best to lie about everything. Give the guitarists name if you are the sax player. Give the wrong telephone number if you are asked for it and tell them you'll ring them when you get back to Sheffield/Nottingham/London etc. This may seem callous, but there will have been a lot of lying going on all night. ("I've never done this before." etc.)

It also lessens the possibility of the lover coming to Sheffield/Nottingham/London and smashing your teeth down your throat.

Four Star (****)

Four star band accommodation comes in the form of a cheap commercial Bed and Breakfast house, where you might have to share a room with two people you've never met before. Do not worry about this. The Irish navvy and the lorry driver will think it's you that is the lower life form. Which in some cases might be perfectly true. And it's always better than sharing the van with the Roadie.

NOTE: Nylon sheets are always used in these places so that everyone will get caught up in them, get friction burns, get electrocuted and fall out of bed so many times that they will be up and ready for breakfast by six.

It seems that people who snore are registered somehow and evenly distributed throughout the building so that if you do share a room it will be with a snorer. This must be to stop three snorers ending up in the same room and causing structural damage to the building.

Four star digs always have a toilet on the landing somewhere, but you can never find it when it's dark because all the doors look the same and the bulb on the landing doesn't work.

Five Star (*****)

[KKKKKocaine]

It should be remembered that five star digs = one star hotel.

Five star digs are the Pro Digs. This is a grubby Bed and Breakfast place where people in the entertainment professions congregate. This arrangement allows a lot of people with ego problems to tell lies all night. "We've been booked for Japan." "When I backed Paul Simon," etc. However, the various characters you will meet can be quite interesting.

The girls who look like Strippers are Dancers, and the ones who look like Dancers are Strippers. However, the Strippers are easily identifiable as they can spit further. The people who look as if they haven't eaten for three days are the band, and the miserable git in the corner who looks half dead is the club comedian.

Then there is always a 'Bobby Stallion', or someone with an equally macho name who is very old, wears a wig, a gold sovereign ring, a white poly-cotton-satin-silk shirt (with frill down front), Cuban heeled white shoes and bri-nylon flared trousers and expects you to have heard of him because he was 'Big in the sixties', as a singer.

He will tell you with great enthusiasm how he 'nearly' played the Palladium and is sometimes accompanied by his wife, 'Gloria Starling', who swears she is twenty seven and wears mini skirts even though she looks like Zelda out of the Terrahawks. They will then tell you about the time they had a B.M.W. but have had to economise and now have a Cortina Escort which is just big enough to hold their couple of 2 x 12 cabs and W.E.M. Copycat.

It is always worth listening to a Bobby Stallion life history at least once, then you can ignore the other hundred you will meet in your career.

One of the good things about a Pro Digs is that breakfast is served right up to 11.00 A.M. It doesn't make the breakfast any better but at least you'll be awake enough to avoid eating the funny bits.

As you can see, although it was put across in a humerous fashion, you won't be sleeping anywhere great, so take the oppertunity to make as many friends in area's as you can, don't be afraid to ask if your new found friend at the gig would let you sleep in his living room floor, chances are he will be more than happy to oblige.
Oh dear lord, here it comes, "Be wary of people you meet on the internet"
Yes make sure you don't wake up chained to the bed :thumb:
A living room will be warm and much nicer than the van, and free too, chances are the guy might feed you.
A good money saving technique.


WASHING THINGS

Heh, bet you were expected a section on re-stringing your guitar with chicken wire.

You can ill afford to use a laundrette, nor do you want to wander around stinking.

So here's the plan, you shall require, dirty clothes, body wash, and a sink.

Simple enough, you put the dirty clothes in the sink, wash them with hot water, then add a fair amount of the body wash, mix it all around, make sure to get it into armpits e.t.c., any place that would harbour evil odurs, then take it out of the sink, get rid of the water and put some clean hot water in, no body wash this time, then put the shirt in, clean off all the body wash so it doesn't itch when you put it on.

Then leave it to dry, in the morning it will smell neutral, which is good enough, and best of all it cost nothing, a nice activity to do at the groupies house, they will have a hairdryer so you don't have to wait a day to be able to wear it again.

SCOUT

Look through the area where you are playing, the music shops, check them out, ask them what they do about gig problems, or if they do anything, if you break your guitars head mid song, its always a good idea to know where to rent a new one.
Look through the area and see if there are any cheap hotels/food places, its nice to treat yourself once in a while, if you have the time, relax with the band, it will be much appriciated and will take some tension away from everyone

Hopefully, following these few tips will take some financial and emotion stress from the tour, other than that, the only thing you can do is remember, you are there to enjoy yourself :thumb:

RECORDING ON A BUDGET

If your just starting out and need a good method of getting a few songs on cd for promotion and presskits, but don't have the cash to record and press.
Here's an idea, a split record, this is what my band are doing, 3 songs each, this means that

a) Both bands pay for pressing, costs go right in half
b) When someone buys the cd to hear my band, they are exposed to the other band, and vice versa
c) It can create a strong tie between similar bands

Remember though, for this to be effective in promotion you need to be similiar in styles, deathmetal and indie on one cd won't work very well.

Use simple designs, logo's with few colours, the inlay should have nothing more than the bands websites and prehaps a short bio and mailing list details.
You probably won't make millions of pounds from this, so its best to keep costs low, this is more aimed at bands releasing their first recordings so no-one will grill you if you didn't have the best upcoming artist design for you.

At best you can probably recoup most of what you spent, think of it more as an oppertunity to get your name out in the scene rather than a financial move.

Another idea for this, may be to add a special bonus track, with your band and the other band doing a song together, just an idea.


Or you could balance it out, on the split record, we will be having Wrong Halo as light emo/punk and my band to compensate with post hardcore, we balance each other out nicely, so even though there are only three songs, no-one will walk away thinking "this sucks, its all too light/too screamy"

[DruMMeR_BoY14]

:lol:, great posts kocaine, loved the humour with it (should of claimed it as your own!)

[KKKKKocaine]

:lol:, great posts kocaine, loved the humour with it (should of claimed it as your own!)

http://members.lycos.co.uk/DaveFleming/stonedeaf.htm

The entire book is there, it never got published or something, funny as hell :thumb:

[X0senses_fail0X]

Great thread, Cant wait till the next one.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

Yes, a new issue!! I must read.

EDIT: Great job, and very funny. :lol: Just some questions about touring: How do you get hooked up to do it? How do you get gigs scheduled in far away states/places? How much extra money will you need to take along?

[KKinsane]

kool, next you should make a post about the actuall gig/festival survival and playing onstage (how to get BIG crowds going) etc how not 2 **** up etc and what to expect from the promoters of the gig and stuff.

Mini tip: try playing with the lights off, the lighting at a gig may be **** so you need to be able to play weather you can see or not. :thumb:

[the_only_singer]

Instead of plagiarizing stuff off of getsigned.com why dont you just give people the links?

here is one of the things you copied.
http://www.getsigned.com/demosins.html

[moaner]

because, dude, we're all to lazy to go there. and he never claims its his own when it aint.

fag...

[the_only_singer]

because, dude, we're all to lazy to go there. and he never claims its his own when it aint.

fag...

First of all grow up. Second of all he didnt say he didn't write it. He is going on as if he did. Its illegal to post copyrighted material and act as if he wrote it. Its much easier to give links. Besides getsigned.com has a lot more to offer than this thread does.

[KKKKKocaine]

First of all grow up. Second of all he didnt say he didn't write it. He is going on as if he did. Its illegal to post copyrighted material and act as if he wrote it. Its much easier to give links. Besides getsigned.com has a lot more to offer than this thread does.

Oh dear, I missed a link, lock me up and do me in the *** officer, I think it was blindingly obvious I didn't write the demo sin bit myself, especially seen as it's in an entirely different writing style to mine :rolleyes: (Call special Ed, a student has escaped)

Secondly, everyone go onto getsigned, try and find anything useful, you'll find some real gems, pity you have to battle through a crappy interface that involves reading 20 **** articles before you find the great one, getsigned only has alot of offer if it put's a new system in place, where you can go from page one of articles to page nine, rather than having to sift through them all.

Do you really think I would delibratly steal from getsigned and then in the next article and the one after, openly state who the great advice was from?

You really are a jealous little idiot.

To all the people with half a mind like this poster, The demosins bit is not something I wrote, something you probably already guessed though simply from comparing the differences in writing style.

EDIT: Just thought I'd ream this fellow a little more, lets assume for the moment that I did really steal it because I didn't think anyone used www.getsigned.com (I mean, its only a tiny site, 20 visitors a month huh?)

If you're going to point fingers, point it at yourself, ever watch a pirated dvd, listen to a pirated mp3? (you didn't need to download it , just listening is illegal)
downloaded one? downloaded a video on the net, been to porn whilst underage?
:eek: I can say with definate certainty, that you have done one of those, funny how criminals are quick to point fingers huh?

Let's consider why I may have missed putting the link up?
Could it be that I was preparing for a holiday? Packing things?
Could it be that I have the N.A.S.S.K.C open championships coming up soon that I'm training for?
Could it be that I'm working on material with my band for the split e.p.?

Could it be that everyone slips up? Meaning that maybe possibly in the hustle and bustle of writing these articles I forgot to press CTRL+V to paste the url?

Impudent.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

I think KKKKKocain is the winner here.

[Is Good Guitar!!]

Oh dear, I missed a link, lock me up and do me in the *** officer, I think it was blindingly obvious I didn't write the demo sin bit myself, especially seen as it's in an entirely different writing style to mine :rolleyes: (Call special Ed, a student has escaped)

Secondly, everyone go onto getsigned, try and find anything useful, you'll find some real gems, pity you have to battle through a crappy interface that involves reading 20 **** articles before you find the great one, getsigned only has alot of offer if it put's a new system in place, where you can go from page one of articles to page nine, rather than having to sift through them all.

Do you really think I would delibratly steal from getsigned and then in the next article and the one after, openly state who the great advice was from?

You really are a jealous little idiot.

To all the people with half a mind like this poster, The demosins bit is not something I wrote, something you probably already guessed though simply from comparing the differences in writing style.

EDIT: Just thought I'd ream this fellow a little more, lets assume for the moment that I did really steal it because I didn't think anyone used www.getsigned.com (I mean, its only a tiny site, 20 visitors a month huh?)

If you're going to point fingers, point it at yourself, ever watch a pirated dvd, listen to a pirated mp3? (you didn't need to download it , just listening is illegal)
downloaded one? downloaded a video on the net, been to porn whilst underage?
:eek: I can say with definate certainty, that you have done one of those, funny how criminals are quick to point fingers huh?

Let's consider why I may have missed putting the link up?
Could it be that I was preparing for a holiday? Packing things?
Could it be that I have the N.A.S.S.K.C open championships coming up soon that I'm training for?
Could it be that I'm working on material with my band for the split e.p.?

Could it be that everyone slips up? Meaning that maybe possibly in the hustle and bustle of writing these articles I forgot to press CTRL+V to paste the url?

Impudent.

:eek: My.... hero. :chug:

[moaner]

three cheers for KKKocaine, for trapsing through 30 pages of runbbish to find us the most helpful (and funny) things he can

I stand by my earlier comment, the only singer, however childish it may be

[KKKKKocaine]

Right, Now that the only singer has been dealt with, I'm stumped for idea's for the next issue, What would everyone like to see covered?

[RushHourSoul]

Maybe something to do with writing songs/lyrics? or recording albums or something.

[KKKKKocaine]

Maybe something to do with writing songs/lyrics? or recording albums or something.

Yeah I was thinking of doing a little bit on the recording process my band was using, well not just the recording process, but the method that we are preparing the songs for the e.p. but for me to go into great detail I might have to wait till monday to write it up.

[RushHourSoul]

sounds good

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

Could you answer the questions I posted earlier about touring?

[j0s1ah]

how much time do u guys spend w/ your bands when not playing?
my bandmates and i are best friends, so we always hang out...i'm j/w

[KKKKKocaine]

Could you answer the questions I posted earlier about touring?

Ok, so a bit on booking gigs and general tour planning in terms of venues and stuff?

[X0senses_fail0X]

Ways to find additional band members would be good.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

Ok, so a bit on booking gigs and general tour planning in terms of venues and stuff?

Yeah, thats pretty much what I was looking for. :thumb:

[moaner]

same here

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

how much time do u guys spend w/ your bands when not playing?
my bandmates and i are best friends, so we always hang out...i'm j/w

We are all best friends too. We hang out a lot.

[KKKKKocaine]

Hey sorry I didn't get the article up yesterday, I ended up getting into an argument with the band, but I should get it up in a couple of hours :thumb:
Sorry 'bout that.

[X0senses_fail0X]

Its cool, as long as theyre comin eventually! :thumb:

[casbah rocker]

Ways to find additional band members would be good.

Ya, that'd be good. Me and my band are trying to play some ska stuff but we lack horns. So our guitarist made of list of people in the school band that were friends with and gave them ska sampler cd's and asked if they were interested but nothings really happened yet.... So we kinda need help

[moaner]

"convince" them with empty promises of success and groupies....

[KKKKKocaine]

BOOKING GIGS-



Well, first we need a presskit, What's in a presskit? What kind of kit do you need?
http://www.getsigned.com/jeri75.html

. Clubs
Most of the booking personnel I've known over the years are busy people working in cramped offices with staff crowded behind desks stuffed into the same room. There is barely enough room for the file cabinets, let alone the hundreds of promotional packets that arrive each week. This reality demands that you make your statement quickly and succinctly. These people don't have time to read through a lot of paper. If you can't make your case in the first page, it is likely that they won't make it to the second, third or fourth pages where you've hidden all the "good stuff." The music has got to work double time and the first cut they play must drive them to listen further. If you primarily play clubs, your marketing begins before you even record your CD and create your promotional materials. Armed with the knowledge that you are soliciting the attention of people with very little time and short attention spans by necessity, your materials must hit their mark in an instant. Now you can plan the promotional pieces accordingly.

The One-Sheet is a great tool for this audience. Club bookers don't need a pocket folder full of paper that they will probably toss since the pocket folder doesn't fit in a regular sized file cabinet. A well-designed 8 1/2 x 11 page one-sheet is the most effective method of getting your point across to the club booker. On the front, include a short bio, a photo or the CD cover, a quote from a great review and the act's contact or booking information. The back of the one-sheet might have some additional quotes from reviews or even other club bookers; a discography, (list of your other recordings) if any; a list of some of your recent choice gigs; a list of radio stations that are currently playing the CD. If you add some information about the current CD such as song titles and times, recording information and backup musicians, the same one-sheet can be used to pitch the CD to radio as well. When doing a radio promotions campaign, you only need to send a cover letter, the CD, the One-Sheet.

Once you get the gig, the club will need photos and if you have them, some pre-written press releases. The One-Sheet is also great because it provides a concise biographical paragraph or two for the club's publicist to readily use without searching for the information or spending the time writing something new. The photos and press release can be sent along with your contract. If you have ready-made flyers or posters you can send those at the same time.


2. Theaters and Performing Arts Centers
Although the booking personnel at these venues are no less busy, the stakes are a bit higher and the requirements a bit more demanding. These folks often need to fit their bookings into a programming season and are looking for a slightly classier package incorporating more information. Slick or coated stock paper raises the bar and offers an attractive first impression. Pocket folders are acceptable here but don't over stuff them with frivolous paper. It costs you more to create and send and again, they won't have the time to sift through extraneous matter to find the important and persuasive information. Your bio should be concise and no longer than one page. Keep your type point size 10 point or larger. Edit if you think that a reduced point size will allow you fit more on the page.

Additional information such as lists of previous gigs, discography, awards, radio and television interviews and shows can be incorporated onto one general information sheet. Include a condensed quote sheet that takes the best comments from reviews you've received on one page. This allows the publicist quick access to information they can use for their season brochure, flyers and other publicity tools they will create using your material. All individual sheets should have your contact or booking information. Your photo should also have contact information. Promoters often only need a few posters, it doesn't make sense to send more than they'll actually use so ask before sending.
Theaters usually have a publicist on staff or working for the venue. They may request multiple copies of your CD, your photo and your pre-written press release. If you are on a label, work out a deal with the label for a below wholesale price for promotional copies to promote gigs. You can often work with the label's publicist to have promotional copies sent directly to local radio and print media when promoting tour dates. Either have the venue publicist contact the label or supply the label with upcoming tour date information yourself.

3. Print Media
Newspapers, magazines and newsletters are all trying to cram lots of information into finite amounts of space. Here again you want to get the biggest 'bang for your buck'. If you are going for a listing, simply send a short press release and your photo. When you send a great photo you may be lucky enough to get a caption beneath the picture giving the details of the gig. You may, however, be attempting to entice an editor to do an entire feature on your act. That takes phone call finessing and a fuller press packet. Mostly you need to have a good story that the paper's target audience will find interesting. If it is a daily paper, the audience is a very diverse general population. Your cover letter and press release need to extol the uniqueness of your act, your upcoming event or the release of the new CD. Include your CD when looking for a review or if the CD will enhance your chance of landing the feature or the interview. If you are simply promoting the gig, the press release and photo are probably enough.

Each media outlet has requirements for submission of materials and often there are multiple editors who are responsible for various sections of the paper, magazine or newsletter. Call first to get an understanding of the hierarchy or get a copy of the magazine or paper before submitting your material. It is always better to send material directly to the appropriate editor.

4. Radio
As I mentioned earlier, the CD and a one-sheet are the perfect promotional tools for radio. If you are creating a one-sheet specifically for radio, you might consider getting quotes from other radio music directors or DJ's who have positive comments about your CD that might entice other music directors to add the CD to their playlist. It is also very important that song titles and exact times are clearly printed both on the one-sheet and most importantly on the back of the CD cover. The one-sheet for radio should be more focused on the CD with recording information, backup players, perhaps ordering and distribution information, the CD cover rather than or in addition to the act's photo and a short bio of the act. When promoting a new CD, coordinating all of the graphics for both the CD and the one-sheet add a distinct organized look and allude to your professionalism. Radio personnel need just enough information to share something about the act and the recording with the listening audience. If your graphic artist is particularly clever, they might design the one-sheet to fold neatly into the CD case so it will always remain with the CD.

Keep your information concise. Provide user-friendly materials to spoon-feed your targeted recipient your most influential information. Tell your story quickly so the receiver gets an at-a-glance overview of who you are without having to work at it. These are key factors when attempting to win the attention of bookers and media personnel. There's a lot of competition out there, so make an impact with your materials so you can get you the gigs, get the interviews, get the reviews and get the airplay. Good luck!

[KKKKKocaine]

Here is an article from http://www.hitme.net/useful/interviews/blacktips.html
What makes a good presskit? If you're doing press on your own band, the big mistake I've seen is putting too much stuff in the presskit. Don't include the calendar listing from the Village Voice the one time you played CBGB's. Every band has played CBGB's. It's not a big deal. If you don't have a lot of press, don't feel the need to fill up the kit. Don't even announce that you were on some "Best Unsigned" CD compilation. I save those CDs, and often notice that years later I've still never heard of any of those bands.
If you don't already have a lot of press and a buzz going, just send out a tape and a bio. That's ALL that matters! If you do have a bunch of good reviews, excerpt the best lines so you can fit five reviews onto one page. Unless it's a rave review in a substantial magazine, just do a quote sheet for the bulk of them. I only need to see two or three pages to get the gist. Don't think "it's my one shot, I have to send them everything!" As a band goes on and gets better press, start weeding the smaller reviews out. There's no need to keep adding and adding. Save xerox costs. Save trees. Put together two pages of good stuff.
Most editors get 50-70 kits a day. They don't have time to sift through a 20-page package. They often skim your pressclips, save the bio and throw the rest away.


ON THE BIO:
Call someone at a label or a magazine and ask if they can send you some bios they've received. [Derek's tip: the labels' web sites and AOL sites have all their acts' bios online.] Read plenty of other bios and get some ideas of what to do, and what NOT to do.
The best bios I've seen are the ones that are written like a story, written editorially. Some small publications will run the bio as is. Knowing that, try to write it as editorially as possible. Check out some stories that people have written for magazines you like and get an idea for what makes a good lead. Remember the times you read all about an artist you had never heard of, just because the article was well-written. Put a couple descent quotes in there. Don't make the whole thing descriptive, like "The band is from Pennsylvania, where they all met in high school, blah blah." Nobody really cares. If you've got a local angle you can mention it, so that if someone from Pennsylvania is doing a story, they can pick up on that. If your lyrics are really interesting, excerpt a couple lines.
If you don't have a lot to say, keep it to one interesting sheet. You don't have to talk about the record. Show that you could do a good interview, cuz that's the most important thing. Every editor is reading a bio, going "Would I want to talk to these people?" If it sounds like they give good quotes, or you have interesting anecdotes, they'll want to talk to you. Realize that the first paragraph of your bio is like the first song on your tape. If that doesn't catch their interest, then the rest won't either. What makes the band a little different? If your mom is playing maracas on the last track, put it in the bio. Sure! Why not? Whatever you do, don't call yourself your hometown's "Best Kept Secret." That's SO awful! If you can't write your own bio, get someone to write it for you.
Your bio is your calling card. As long as your tape is good, and your bio is good, you're in fine shape. Everything else is kind of gravy.

ON PHOTOS:
Whenever a band does photos it's usually the weakest part of any band doing their own publicity. I see these horrible photos that some guy's girlfriend's next-door-neighbor's little sister's babysitter's dog-walker took. And it's usually a bunch of incredibly ugly 40-year old guys who are balding with ponytails standing in a row wearing leather. What they don't know is that a lot of magazines collect these really horrible photos and put them up on a hilarious "Wall of Shame." If you're not a good-looking band, don't ruin your chances by someone looking at it and getting turned off. If you're sending to a good magazine, they're probably not going to use it anyway, so put "Photo Available" on the package, and if they need it, they'll call.
If you are going to be doing a photo, spend some time and money on it. If it's not a great photo, don't send it out!
Get something really clear. Really imaginative. For God's sake, don't shoot yourselves standing up against a wall! Get a visually interesting background. A car, elevator, washing machine, anything. Make it high contrast black and white, never just shades of gray. Do this test: Take the photo and put it on a really crappy photocopier - the one down at the Indian deli. Put your copy back on the copier, and copy it again. Copy the copy of the copy. If you can STILL make it out, it'll probably reproduce OK in fanzines or reduced down to one square inch.



Now, I'm going to cover the things you ideally need to stop being screwed and to make sure everything goes ok.

1. A letter of confirmation, containing all the details, what bands will be playing, what time, the venue, payment e.t.c.

2. A contract copy, this will be the same as the letter, except it will have legal mumbo jumbo on and terms.

3.A Rider , This will sound weird, people ascociate the rider with a bowl of colour co-ordinated sweets, but really it is a list of things you need the venue to provide so you can play at your best, this isn't the time for extravegance, the venue will simply cross off anything they feel isn't needed, specify items such as free water e.t.c. Small items that will actually help.

It may also be an idea to put a note in somewhere about what you need in terms of technical preformance i.e. do you need the engineer to program lights? e.t.c.

Now, I am aware that many venues simply work by verbal contracts, this is bad, always get a written contract.

1) It makes you look more professional
2) It stops anyone from getting screwed.

On tour, you especially don't want a "misunderstanding" to occur, if a venue won't give a contract, Don't play, any venue that refuses a request to enter a written contract is obviously up to something dodgy.


Band Members.

A common mistake people often make when auditioning band members is to give them the place right away.
Even if you have no other applicants, let a week or so go just in case, the last thing you want is to hire a medicore player one week, and then turn down a great player the next because the slot is full.
It may be possible to provide two auditions for the musician, meeting a group of people who will be watching you with scrutiny will be nerve wracking for all but the best of us, so naturally, they will not play to their best, so always remember to give them a chance.

My band had a practice last satuday, it was my first time doing vocals, I however, had the reassurance that in my mind, I'm in charge, and if anyone pisses me off they shall be fired, but I know I didn't sing to my best, because I was nervous.

What should you play?
Well this depends, if you've just started a band, it's best to arrange to do a few covers (read: 2 or 3) We don't want to wind up at the YMCA playing covers for the rest of the career do we?
Always have some material on hand or a half written song to try out their creativity.
Anyone can play along to Metallica, you don't want someone who can play metallica, you want someone who can write music.
Hopefully, the few covers should loosen everyone up, then you can start on material.

If you are an established band with recordings already, then it's obvious, get them to practice your songs, provide recordings e.t.c.
But remember to be forgiving, you've can play the song whilst debating the pros and cons of STV (Subjective Theory Of Value), they probably are still a little fresh with the song, they may not know exactly when the bridge comes in e.t.c.

There are many places to advertise for musicians, the internet, however, is hit and miss.
Some sites are good, others are not, for example, I wouldn't give mx's classifieds a thumbs up, it just doesn't seem to work.
But then there are other sites out there that allow band pictures, and have much easier interfaces, it's really just a matter of testing the water.
Advertising in music shops is always a good method, don't forget to include an easy to remember email address.
Few people come into town with a pen a notepad, many times I've just dismissed ad's because I can't remember robot_chris+2k@lycosubermail.brs.com
Make it short and to the point, What you want, What style you play, What age, What area and any special notes (i.e. Bassist needed for Funk rock band in Whitby, 16-18, No timewasters, Band has self-produced e.p. and is currently preparing to tour)

Another method is word of mouth, tell your friends to be on the look out, we found our drummer because he was a friend of the bassists friend.

One final note, Make sure you get what you advertise for, if you advertise for a hard rock bassist, don't take a bassist who wants to play jazz, it sounds silly but often musicians simply apply for bands out of enthusiasm.
"I don't really like metal, but I want to be in a band"
It will lead to problems.

As before, suggestions for the next issue.

[KKKKKocaine]

I can't remember if I've covered this, but what about an Issue on the methods of preparing a song for a studio? From start to finish?

[Spliggity Splot(I got banned)]

yeah do that:thumb:

[anthrax0417]

and when will that be coming?

[RushHourSoul]

when he writes it, silly.

[KKKKKocaine]

when he writes it, silly.

Indeed, I started college yesterday, it's a 3 hour journey there and back, but it's easily worth it to go to the best music college in England.
And prehaps one of the top European ones, seen as kids from other countries are willing to pay thousands of pounds in fee's and accomidation just to go there.
So it might slow down the rate of articles slightly.

[j0s1ah]

3 hour drive? dang..what college?

[KKKKKocaine]

3 hour drive? dang..what college?

Leeds College Of Music.

[j0s1ah]

hmmi have never heard of it...the only music college i know is berkely...lol.

[DimebagDarrell]

Wow, :thumb: thats some great advice thats a great job.

[RushHourSoul]

I just started college, im a taking music A2 and a music tech AS! So far they're pretty good, and look promising.

[KKinsane]

next year im going northampton collage 2 study music, preformance side of things :)

dude try do this quick your thread rules

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

Maybe the next issue could have something to do with steps in writing songs and how to put it all together.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

Also, maybe something about on-stage preformance, and how to make a show memorable.

[moaner]

yeah, that'd be good... Theres more to a performance than playing well.

[ilikeyoubetterdead]

i really agree on something about steps to writing songs

my band can lay down some great riffs but we have a lot of trouble writing lyrics and when we do write them we sometimes have trouble attaching them to the songs or writing new music for them

[DaveTNG]

i really agree on something about steps to writing songs

my band can lay down some great riffs but we have a lot of trouble writing lyrics and when we do write them we sometimes have trouble attaching them to the songs or writing new music for them

123

great guide by the way.

[ilikeyoubetterdead]

ya this is an awsome forum

[dan_de_drummer]

thats good stuff man keep it up :thumb:

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

nice username. nice first post.

[moaner]

hey, leeds aint far from where i live... Do you need like GCSEs n A levels or grades to go to music college? I presume you do, but i didn't do a music GCSE because half od it was appreciating classical music, and i had huge pressure from my rents to do more acedemic subjects...

[KKKKKocaine]

hey, leeds aint far from where i live... Do you need like GCSEs n A levels or grades to go to music college? I presume you do, but i didn't do a music GCSE because half od it was appreciating classical music, and i had huge pressure from my rents to do more acedemic subjects...

For music tech, you need: 4 GCSE'S 1 in english, 1 in maths, the other two can be in anything.

For music preformance, I think you need something like grade 5ish in both theory and playing.

You can apply at any time, it's a very open college, my year group is made up of people from 16-40, yes, thats right, I said 40 heh, you could easily apply next year and get in, they aren't fussy about you being a couple of years older than normal.
Hope that helped, if not, I'll answer any more questions you have :)

An update on the next article, I found out something that could prove to be very amazing, Im going to investigate it more tommorrow, but the next issue should be accompanied by mp3 samples and detailed lists of what they were done with , to give an idea of what can be done, with simple equipment.

Simple meaning simple, some people say low budget and mean "no more than 500"

I mean, an £8 kareoke mic
A 4 cassette 4 track
Audacity
An amp with two mic inputs.

This may add up to around 200+, but then again, most people have the amp, the 4 track can be substituted with a minidisc player which im sure a few people have, and audacity is free :)

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

quite intreeging(sp?)

[FULL_CIRCLE23]

great thread man

[BassBud]

I'm new to this site and just read through this thread, very good info, I agree with almost everything that was said, however I'm not a big fan of saying the name of each and every song before you play it, what my band likes to do is tie 3 songs together,(very little, sometimes no palse inbetween the 3 songs if they tie together well) then a palse, talk to the crowd, and do the same thing again with the next 3 songs, and so on..... dead air on stage is what gets me, I hate it when a band finishes a song and then stops and looks around at eachother as to ask whats next, and never talking to the crowd, the crowd must feel like a part of the show and they must feel apreicated for coming to your show. I use to make set lists and group 3 songs together and then make notes of topics to cover during the breaks, (website, email list, CD's T-shirts, bar staff, club, etc...) I think that helps.

[KKKKKocaine]

Right, It's been ages since the update, but my band are preparing records for the E.P. however, whilst toying with my cheap 4 track and audacity, something came to light, it was near cd quality, Im going to try and record a proper track by track version of one of our songs and mix it tommorrow and see if DIY e.p.s can be done so cheaply, I'll also be going through the rest of the song writing process.
See you monday.

[spikeyjoey]

my drummer annoys me... she never wants to play any difficult songs... Im off to college in a year and we only have one practise a week so at this rate were never going to be up to gig standard :upset:

[moaner]

well, if she won't try anything hard you'll be up to gig standard sooner?

look on the bright side of things

maybe she just isn't very good... in which case you shouldn't be trying to make her do things she can't

[cliff_bass player]

make a book on it get lots of money.... its helped me heaps thanx.... :)

cliff

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

Simple Answer: Your drummer needs to get better or you need a new drummer.

[spikeyjoey]

well, if she won't try anything hard you'll be up to gig standard sooner?

look on the bright side of things



lol! fair enough. Yeah... i suppose... we finally convinced her to play a song with a difficult fill in it so its not all bad... (next step.. pantera!)

Nah id never kick her out.. the 3 of us are good friends so... its half the reason its such a bitch :p

[moaner]

kkkkocaine is online. Perhaps he's working n the next issue...

[doggonit]

i could be banned for saying this, but i feel the need to...

really, really helpful thread, probably the best about starting/promoting/working a band, ever! really, kkkkocaine, what's ur band's name? u mentioned going to spain... i'm wondeirng if u guys are getting big or something. plus, u'r going to music college! i'm so jealous... here in my country going to music college will cause volcanic eruptions of ego and pursuits in a family. i mean, it's badly appreciated here.

keep it up dude. we're all gonna need everything u post here. maybe someday we can form a ring of bands or somethign to help each other out here in mx? hehe... sounds like i have learn something from the posts. ;) :thumb:

[DruMMeR_BoY14]

Why the hell would someone be banned for saying that?

[KKKKKocaine]

eally, really helpful thread, probably the best about starting/promoting/working a band, ever! really, kkkkocaine, what's ur band's name? u mentioned going to spain... i'm wondeirng if u guys are getting big or something. plus, u'r going to music college! i'm so jealous... here in my country going to music college will cause volcanic eruptions of ego and pursuits in a family. i mean, it's badly appreciated here.

keep it up dude. we're all gonna need everything u post here. maybe someday we can form a ring of bands or somethign to help each other out here in mx? hehe... sounds like i have learn something from the posts.

My bands name is Bandage These Hearts, at the moment we're still working the local scene, getting our e.p sorted out and getting the name out, Spain was just a random holiday I was on.
Music college was a point of contention for my family, we had that big family debate "But Luke, Why can't you be a lawyer?"
I explained that I'd hate being a lawyer, I'd rather earn enough to live on and be happy, than earn three times that and wake up every morning thinking "God, I've got to find another job"

Right I'm doing the new issue today, sorry its been so latecoming, I spent all yesterday calling places, and then I spent the evening boxing in a gasplant social club, hardcore
:thumb:

[doggonit]

Why the hell would someone be banned for saying that?

for saying something like "great thread", thus flooding the thread. heh. :lol: i'm only kidding.

we're all waiting dude..... not that we mind, as long as they come thru. g'luck on ur band. i hope to start mine in a yr or two. or a month or two. or a week or two. maybe tomorrow... :confused:

[BassBud]

bandagethesehearts.com ??

[j0s1ah]

for saying something like "great thread", thus flooding the thread. heh. :lol: i'm only kidding.

we're all waiting dude..... not that we mind, as long as they come thru. g'luck on ur band. i hope to start mine in a yr or two. or a month or two. or a week or two. maybe tomorrow... :confused:
or an hour or 2?

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

for saying something like "great thread", thus flooding the thread. heh. :lol: i'm only kidding.




You should be banned.

[KKKKKocaine]

bandagethesehearts.com ??

Oh I wish, I'm not that rich. :p

Right, The Issue!

Preparing A Song From Conception, To Studio CD Duplication

Now, this issue will assume that you write your lyrics before anything else.

So you've just printed off those lyrics you wrote 10 minutes ago, a spur of the moment event.
Lyrics you love, with power, you've tweaked them, and you know how they should go.

What to do?

Well from here we can go two different routes, you can plonk the print out infront of the guitarists pizza bike and say "What can you think of to go with them"

In my opinion, the above is a bad idea.

My approach?
Get a mic, be it a pc mic or the mic you sold you short rib for, as long as you can hear the melody it will do, individual words don't matter.

Just sing into the mic, get a few recordings, dont worry if you don't get it perfect.

Send this file to the band members, ask them to work around that melody.

Hopefully, do this before the practice, give them a few days to come up with concepts.
This isn't restricting the band members ability to write music, they can do whatever they wish within the melody, the first method I described often results in a guitarist sending you a file of them playing with the words "its a bit fast"
You open the file to realise you can't even sing to that, you may as well disperse the band and call yourself Method Man to handle that speed.
This method however, ensures that the song will be at your speed and most likely the melody you are best at singing.

At the practice

Gather the concept ideas and put them together, it is usually best to work from Vocals ==> Guitar ==> Bass ==> Drums
Get the song put together, go through it a few times.

Put a recorder down, preferably posistioned carefully to get the best quality, in this case quality matters a little more.

Play back the recording, this will result in some "oohs" from the bandmembers, the bassist won't have heard the drummers latin breakdown during the bridge e.t.c.
This is the point in which all band members should comment on the song, is the bridge too long? Does the guitar solo overbear on the song? Would a line of lyrics be best changed?

In short, tweak the song, if the song doesn't have a hook or any feature that makes you want to listen again, it needs tweaking, now people will jump on me and say "Well we're not pop bands"

The fact of the matter is, a song without hooks, basicly translates to a song that isn't interesting, hooks could be a funk bassline, it could be deep lyrics, it could just be the way the song falls together in parts.

A hook isn't just a rap and pop convention, any song you listen too repeatedly has hooks.

As a band you want people to like your music, hooks make good music, learn to use them.

So now you've tweaked it.

We will now assume you will be using a recording studio, Recording studios cost money, yes, this is glaringly obvious, but far too many bands neglect preparing.

The song has been tweaked, Everyone has to practice their part, on their own, you need to be able to play your part in perfect time, especially the drummer, if your paying by the hour, you don't want to pay more money because you didn't practice.

Every penny you save in the studio, is a penny you gain towards printing the cd's.

Yes, you will get click tracks in the studio, but that wont help if you haven't practiced.

Individual Player notes

Vocals - Always accomodate vocals, having a room full of people staring at you through a glass window can be off putting, if it helps, have the rest of the band sent off to the pub for a while.

Bass - This needs to be played with confidence, if you play with your head down, it will show on the recording, play bass like every groove is your last.

Drums - The biggest problem, Dynamics, "So what if my snares quieter than the bass, you can amp it up cant you?"
Yes, it can be amped up, but hitting a snare with force, and hitting it quiety, when amped up to the same volume, sound different.
You can't make quiet sound loud, you need to practice your dynamics, drive the beat with your bass.

Note : Buy or Borrow "Music Tech Survival guide" it may look heavy going, but its a great book, not about music tech, but the best methods to get a good recording, like the things I've put above, it has all sorts of techniques from creating your own pop mic shields, to blocking silibants with a pencil, a must have.

Request for the engineer to give you a copy of the tracks in mp3 or wav format on a cd, this will mean at a later time you can fiddle with the tracks, you may get home and think "I wish we could have wah wah on the guitar track", well then, you can go home and do it.

Make sure the sound engineer gets decent breaks, this may sound silly, but when you listen to a band all day, you start to become less receptive to things like slight changes in sounds or out of tune sections.

If the recording sounds bad and the engineer requests that you have a few more hours e.t.c. accept it, you will have to pay of course, but it will be cheaper than redoing the entire song all over again somewhere else when you realise it would have taken just one more vocal take to get it perfect.


Getting It Duplicated

Shop around, don't go with the first place you see, compare quotes, some places specialise in bands and will do offers like "Free A3 poster for every 10 cd's"
A great promotional addition to the cd's.

See which would be best for you, slip cases or jewel cases, Do you really need a 12 page booklet, or could you save money and use a 4 page booklet instead?

Estimate how many copies you need, and look at pricing, You need to make a profit, but no-one will buy a debut band cd for anything more than £10.

If its your first cd, don't worry about getting rich, worry about breaking even and getting your name out, this is why an e.p. may be better than a full length album to start with, the costs will be lowered.

Remember to record cd sales, this is what Mr.Record Company wants to see, he wants to know if you can sell, also note down how fast they sold, if you get lucky and sell out a batch in a month, it will look even better.

Send some cd's off to magazines e.t.c., you may not get reviewed, but then again you might, some magazines even put reviewed songs on a cd, which is more promotion for you.
But never get downhearted by big magazine reviews, if its your first song and you only get 2 stars out of 5, remember, your competing with bands who have been doing this alot longer than you, and 2 stands for "could do better", it doesn't mean you suck, just keep trying at it.

Good Luck :)

[casbah rocker]

What do you recommend as a good price for a recording studio? And about how long do thin it would take to record per song if we do our homework before hand?

[KKKKKocaine]

What do you recommend as a good price for a recording studio? And about how long do thin it would take to record per song if we do our homework before hand?

Hmm, well if your American this may get confusing, what with currency values and the like.
But to me, for a band recording its first e.p. or Album, you don't want to spend more than £12 an hour.
For a 4 track, it's likely best to shoot for 7 hours (Sounds hefty for 4 tracks, but when your in the studio it will fly by, it'll be worth it as well, prepare a couple of extra songs just in case you whizz through in 5 hours, that way you have something to do with the other two)
But if anyones in the Leeds area I can point them in the direction of a very good studio for new bands.

Remember if it isn't perfect the first time, you may as well do it again.

[Vitriolic Rage]

Hmm, well if your American this may get confusing, what with currency values and the like.
But to me, for a band recording its first e.p. or Album, you don't want to spend more than £12 an hour.
For a 4 track, it's likely best to shoot for 7 hours (Sounds hefty for 4 tracks, but when your in the studio it will fly by, it'll be worth it as well, prepare a couple of extra songs just in case you whizz through in 5 hours, that way you have something to do with the other two)
But if anyones in the Leeds area I can point them in the direction of a very good studio for new bands.

Remember if it isn't perfect the first time, you may as well do it again.
:eek: You live in Leeds? So do I.
Do you go to Leeds College of Music, I'm off there next year.
I'm in a band, but we aren't recording a demo just yet.

[KKKKKocaine]

:eek: You live in Leeds? So do I.
Do you go to Leeds College of Music, I'm off there next year.
I'm in a band, but we aren't recording a demo just yet.

I live in huddersfield but Im a first year ND Music tech student at Leeds college of music.

[Vitriolic Rage]

I live in huddersfield but Im a first year ND Music tech student at Leeds college of music.
I should hopefully be starting that course at LCM next year.

[KKKKKocaine]

I should hopefully be starting that course at LCM next year.

You will definately enjoy it, it's a very relaxed atmosphere compared to other sixth forms, much longer breaks, I have 2 days off a week, Lessons and lectures are much more easy going, teachers don't demand stern respect, in fact my MIDI teacher was making fun of my Sound Manipulation teachers name.

"Must be awful being called Cockram, that is to break it up into **** and then Ram"
Great College.

[j0s1ah]

that last addition was good.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

Good issue Kocaine. What's the next one on and when is it coming?

[DruMMeR_BoY14]

maybe you should do something on album art?

[doggonit]

^not to be rude or anything, but if one can do something as artful as making music, why can't one design the sleeve too? or, plan to have a friend do it. i mean, it's a two way thing. the band gets a cool sleeve, the designer gets recognition, both sides happy. a step forward for both! maybe someone has a better idea.

umm, why not follow up with the essential part of all now... copyrights and the like? i mean, being a musician u have to know ur rights and what to do with it. u know, like the one i usually see in the sleeve, with funny name like "board stiff music", "blood onion music"... what are they for?

[veggie 3.14]

This is a brilliant thread, thanks. :thumb:

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

I say again: something on doing live shows/gigs, maybe?

[veggie 3.14]

I say again: something on doing live shows/gigs, maybe?
123

[KKKKKocaine]

3,000th post :eek:

What aspects of gigging in particular?

[RushHourSoul]

how about stuff like choosing your setlist and renting gear. What to do if the crowd isnt into you, what to do when you mess up, how to keep the gig alive etc

[veggie 3.14]

how about stuff like choosing your setlist and renting gear. What to do if the crowd isnt into you, what to do when you mess up, how to keep the gig alive etc
And maybe some tips on how to make a performance interesting?

Like um. Can't really explain what I mean.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

What to do and what not to do? How to get the crowd into it? How to look alive on stage? How to create energy? How to make the show memorable? etc...

[veggie 3.14]

What to do and what not to do? How to get the crowd into it? How to look alive on stage? How to create energy? How to make the show memorable? etc...
He put it into much better words than I ever could.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

dam straight

[KKKKKocaine]

What to do and what not to do? How to get the crowd into it? How to look alive on stage? How to create energy? How to make the show memorable? etc...

Ok I'll go into it, Have I addressed Selling music online on mp3 sites yet? If I haven't I can't believe it, and I shall do that too, I feel its a very important issue when it comes to unsigned bands.

[The Spliggity Splot]

who cares, just give a lesson on wut moshpit said:thumb:

[xthebassprincessx]

[now... all of that is super useful. if only i had a freakin' band to join.]

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

no, i don't believe you did the selling mp3 thing.

[KKinsane]

dude this is gonna be so helpful when my band starts gigging.

my friends band got ripped, £400 gb in the best studio in the UK (apparently) and they came out with half an album without mixing and no profit. a loss of around £300 altogether. and there only 15 lol

[The Spliggity Splot]

why didn't they just spend 100 bucks on a good sound card, and hook it up to one of yallz computer?

[DruMMeR_BoY14]

^^ thats what we're doing for our first e.p. our guitarist has a bit of a recording studio set up in his room (not much, just some inputs into his computer and a audio package), but its still does the job. the only thing we need are some drum mics.

[KKKKKocaine]

why didn't they just spend 100 bucks on a good sound card, and hook it up to one of yallz computer?

Because the sound engineer at the studio knows what he is doing better, he has more experience and equipment to call upon, he knows whether its best to punch in or record straight, he knows how much reverb will get you the CD sound you want e.t.c.

If you know about music tech and have a proper set up, mixer, multitrack, cassete recorder for mixdown, reverb unit e.t.c., then you can probably go for it, but your really cutting off your opertunities by only hooking up to a computer.

Either way though, I can recommend books that focus on specificly the basics of recording, i.e how far should the mic be, how should I record bass, what about pops on the mic? e.t.c.


my friends band got ripped, £400 gb in the best studio in the UK (apparently) and they came out with half an album without mixing and no profit. a loss of around £300 altogether. and there only 15 lol

That is a hell of a lot to pay for an album, we're having difficulty deciding how to record our e.p. but at the moment we may be looking to use a studio, for the 5 tracks it's going to set us back £70-90, so for a 12 track album we'd be looking at maybe £200.

If it was their first album, it's probably best just seeking out another studio (if you cannot take legal action) and getting a cheaper deal, I suppose from the event they have learned how sweet the music industry is.


no, i don't believe you did the selling mp3 thing.

Right I'll do the next issue on more gig stuff, and that debate.

[veggie 3.14]

Excellent!

[casbah rocker]

I'm gonna contribute my two cents worth is no one minds...
For gigging the important thing is to keep going, no one knows you screwed up unless you say so. Also if e