Get Free Graphics and Album Covers!!

If you can’t design your own art but don’t have the money to pay for someone to design for you, don’t worry, there is still hope. One way of getting free graphic design is to ask any designer friends you may have to do you some. Depending on your relationship with them, they may do you a one off piece, or a whole series of free graphic design for your project.

If however you don’t know any designers, you can always find some online. There are many up and coming designers who would be willing to do free graphic design for you in exchange for getting their work seen. These designers can be found of forums, social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and via search engines.

When you approach someone to do you free design work, always make clear the benefit of them helping you with your project (Their work will be seen in shops, you will be digitally distributing the product to thousands of people, or whatever the case). DON’T however over hype how far you’ll be pushing your project, if you do and you fail to deliver, most likely you won’t be getting help from that designer again. It is often best to be honest (Even if you aren’t expecting to get your project that far) and let the designer make their own mind up about whether or not they’ll do free graphic design for you. If they like you and need to build up their portfolio, there’s still a good chance they’ll work with you.

One downside of getting free graphic design though is you can’t get everything your way. Some of these up-and-coming designers won’t have all the skills and knowledge a professional graphic designer will have, so may not be able to do everything you want. If this is the case you also won’t be able to complain that much as you’re not paying them for their services. Also as they’re not being paid, some graphic designers will work a lot slower and not to a set time line, as they may be focusing more on paid work or other non related priorities. Having said that, there are some very talented up and coming designers out there and it’s worth trying to get free graphic design from these up and coming designers.

Albums Dead? A Zombies View

Interesting views from rocker turned movie director Rob Zombie. He recently told AOL's Noisecreep that the full-album format has become impractical, forcing him and other artists to think of new ways to get their music out to the masses."I like the thought of the band writing, say, one song a month and putting it up there," Zombie said. "Say we've been on tour for six or eight months and we don't have time to stop and make a whole album. It would be cool to put out two or three songs we've written and then keep going just to keep it energized. And truthfully, when you make a new album ... you go, 'OK here's 11 new songs, five of which we'll never play live. And here's the two or three singles that will always be in the set.' So it could just be a different way to do business that's really sort of like the old way of doing things.

"Back in the '50s and '60s people weren't making albums, they were pressing singles and then an album was basically a collection of all the singles."Rob Zombie's new album, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2", sold 49,000 copies in its first week of release to debut at position No. 8 on The Billboard 200 chart.

This was less than 50 percent of the opening tally of Zombie's previous CD, "Educated Horses", which landed at No. 5 on the Billboard chart after premiering with 107,000 units back in April 2006.Whilst I agree that this is partially true, I think people still buy albums and like to hold a physical product. The advent of the internet and downloading has just made things more accessible and provides far more choice.

What do you think?

You Tube Record

Power to the Tube

Ok so yesterday we talked promoting yourself on YouTube. I just want to highlight the draw of YouTube. The latest Eminem song “love the way you lie” just smashed all previous records when it managed to get 6.6 million views in under 24 hours! That is astounding but what really builds this is that most people spend an average of 15 minutes on YouTube from first log-in. So 6.6 million people will have surfed through a few other areas of interest.

So get a YouTube presence - it could be more beneficial than your website at gaining new fans!

More soon

The Power of the Tube

So there are a huge number of ways to use YouTube to your advantage and help you gain a bigger audience. I will look at the key ways in future blogs and newsletters but right now I wanted to let you in on a quite novel and almost sneaky way of promoting your music. Now this does require a little bit of editing skill but nothing too strenuous and I am sure if you can’t do it some someone else will be able to assist. If you have a windows machine you may find that you already have “Windows Movie Maker” which will do the job perfectly.

The idea is relatively simple. You put your song/s as the backing track to a compilation and credit your acts in the video. So if you are a feisty Hip Hop act create a skate or BMX compilation then overlay your tracks. To really do well here ensure the video is on a topic that links to your type of music. So something people are generally interested in. This may involve a little bit of stereo typing but ultimately they are stereotypes for a reason. If you are not 100% sure then look around YouTube for other compilations and see what genre of music backs them.

The idea here is that on YouTube to find your act or your music the listener must search for your name or the song title. This means they must already know about you. So if you are a soundtrack to a video they are interested in then you have got them there in a different way. For Example – Say you are a fast paced rock band. You might choose to create a top 10 car crashes compilation (always popular) and apply your tracks to this. So when someone searches for this and sees top 10 it is likely to be selected. There is also a bit of psychology here as they will associate your music with the video subconsciously. So in the car crash example your music is directly linked to a adrenaline pumping awesome speed freak compilation.

Get clever with your marketing and you will really stand out.

More on You Tube Techniques soon

Winehouse Blunder

So constantly wrecked mess but incredibly talented Sid Vicious look-a-like; Amy Winehouse is in trouble again. This time she is said to have insulted the King of the Zulu Nation by getting drunk and falling asleep. This made us think of the amount of times we have reviewed bands and acts where one member is clearly smashed. Never a good idea - we know there is notmally a large amount of waiting around plus alcohol is a great wa to help stage fright but sadly it does not help performance.

You normally have 1 chance to impress people and if you are sloppy and a mess people won't want to see you again. Every gig is your wembley, you must build you base from day 1 and keep people coming back.

Before You Hit The Studio

One of the biggest wastes of money I come across when talking to unsigned acts is in their studio recorded demo. The amount of acts that listen back to it 1-2 months later and hate it and can spot a multitude of errors always amazes me. Why not take this a seriously as possible so you can have something to be proud of and that represents your sound! Most artists will listen back to older demos and hear areas for improvement but not in terms or recording quality and sound. So a few top tips I wish I knew before I first went in to the studio:

1) Singers/vocalists learn your words and melodies inside out – do not adlib as this can go one of 2 ways; awesome or terrible with 99% coming in the later category. You should know every word and every accent on every word. DO NOT ADLIB on a record!


2) Leave enough time. In 2 x 8 hour days you should be able to comfortably record 3 songs well. So many artists substitute quantity for quality. Do not push for 4-5 songs just get 3 done really well to a level you are 100% happy with them. I guarantee 95% of you reading this will ignore this point.

3) Ensure your equipment is working 100% before you get to the studio. Not buzzing or rattling as locating and fixing these issues takes up valuable recording time. This also means new stings, skins and leads.

4) If using Studio equipment, such as a drum kit, ensure you are happy with the sound before you get in there.


5) Tell the engineers exactly what sound/results you are after. Talk about records you like and what you want to be seen as. Are you a finely tunes, sweet pop outfit or a thrash, rough around the edges combo. They want happy customers who will recommend them so be very specific and define your sound.

6) Make sure you have spare strings, picks, skins, sticks – hell even back up guitars borrowed from other people if possible. You are in the studio to record and mix your tracks do not waste this time by rushing out to pick up these items.

7) Vocals. It is very common for rap artists (and metal screamers) to wrap their hands around the “ball” of their mikes – this looks cool on stage but totally destroys the sound in the studio. You can look cool onstage but you need to sound cool on record.

These are just a few from the top of my head – I will jot a few more down when I have time.

Last Night a DJ Saved my Life

Now I am sure you are aware that Band Assist (despite the name) is also for aspiring DJ’s, MC’s and pretty much anyone involved in music creatively. We have had a few questions and advice tips on how to make progress as a DJ. This can be a very lonely experience and few people totally acknowledge this. You practice, set up and mix stuff alone then, when you are on stage you spend most of the time on your headphones.

Anyway there do seem to be a few people asking how to move forward as a DJ. So as the resident Dance Music expert I thought I would throw out a few tips. The key is a perfect, innovative, high energy mix tape. Firstly consider where it is going to be played and tart it at that club – it is no use mixing some awesome underground tracks if the club only plays “hits”. Know your audience.

A mix tape needs to be 100% but is easy to create with you equipment. The best way is to attach it to a PC and use some software (most modern PC’s have Soundblaster – this has “Creative Labs” for this purpose) to record the CD and then simply burn it to CD.

The key to getting jobs/gigs is persevere and get you name out there. Send CD’s with a letter clearly explaining what you do and what you would like from the club. Then always follow up with a phone call. The issue is most DJ’s that get good club gigs keep them for a long time as they pay relatively well (ask an unsigned band what relatively well is!) and are well attended. The best way I have seen to get in there is to leave your details with the booker and tell them you live nearby and can be ready to go within 30 minutes. This way if (or more frequently when) they are let down you are ready to pounce on the opportunity.

Finally don’t just sit around and wait for that call, get out there. You need to get good at marketing your self and you music so that when you do get the gig people have a knowledge of you and this should help create more of a buzz that help you keep/win more gigs.

Good Luck