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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.