Keep Your Fans!

Don't Ignore Your Fans on Social Media. Respond With Enthusiasm.

When you start posting frequently, fans and others will respond with comments of their own. Respond back, acknowledge them and be positive, enthusiastic and encouraging. If folks respond to your comments and you repeatedly ignore them, some are bound to take it personally. Always engage your fans. If they comment on a song or an album of yours, thank them and let them know you appreciate it. Tell your fan their comment made your day and in doing so you'll make their day. Just think - every day you can chat with dozens of total strangers, encouraging them to share your music with their friends and family. Do you realize the power of this? If a hundred people are following you, that's a hundred people you can ask, via your status update, to spread the word about your music. With social networking, you always have a crowd at your fingertips. Work the crowd. This will put you so far ahead of the pack as 99% of unsigned acts do not do this effectively.

Before you record

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.

This months Band of the Month is South Coast 80's tinged rockers; My Fallen Opera. Here is their interview!

Well done for winning Band Assists Act of the month! How would you describe the My Fallen Opera Sound?


GR - First off thank you for selecting us to be band of the month, we are very flattered to have been chosen. We would like to be thought of as an Electro - Goth - EBM band, a kind of English missing link between Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails.

JM – We have been influenced by many different bands and genres and believe that you can hear elements of them all in the music we produce.


"Big Mouth" is an awesome track can you let us in on the story behind it?


MFO - At its basic level it’s about having a strong desire to tell someone how you feel then feeling remorseful afterwards. We’ve all been there at some point.

You have such a pretty unique sound - was that a conscious decision? How did you come up with it?

GR- That's all down to John, he's like some music programmer mad scientist.

JM - I grew up with alternative music but would always prefer the remixes on the b sides of the singles etc. We wanted to try to create something that has these remix qualities. This is reflected in our writing process.


What is your writing process?

GR- Initially I'll come up with a chord progression on the guitar or synth and develop a melody from free forming lyrics over the top until I hit upon what I call a statement of intent for example take the chorus to Housedown with the chorus lyrics "Tonight while
you are asleep I'll creep up your stairs and burn your housedown." A clear statement of intent. From there. I'll develop the theme and structure and once I am happy I'll send the individual WAV files to John and let him work his magic.

JM – It’s a long process. Once I receive the files I will build on the elements and rework them, adding new synth parts and drums some times reworking the arrangement. Then the track is put to bed and revisited a month later to see if it needs any final tweeks and adjustments.



What do you find most difficult about being an unsigned act?

MFO - Getting people to listen. It was difficult before the internet for unsigned acts but now with the ease of the internet there is so much choice out there for the listener, a lot of great talent in all genres suffer from the overwhelming competition.


What is your top tip for other acts?

GR-To have integrity and stay true to your artistic vision, be respectful of other acts unsigned or otherwise and try not to take bad reviews to heart, sorry that was four tips.

JM – Have a good time writing music and write for yourself.

What is your fantasy band line up (Vocals, guitar, Bass and Drums)

GR- The answer to this question has been in constant evolution since I was 13, but right now...
Vocals - Trent Reznor - Nine Inch Nails.
Guitar - Matt Bellemy - Muse
Bass - Chris Wolstenholme - Muse, but if Chris was sick then Stefan Olsdal from Placebo
Drums - Dave Grohl

JM –
Drums and programming - Liam Howlett
Guitar – Josh Homme
Bass - Jeordie White
Vocal – Mark Hockings (mesh)



Tell us an amusing Band Story!

GR- It's not much of a story but it did make John laugh a lot. We got a review recently that
stated that my "Rapping"??? was not very good. I really thought I was the next Jay Z too.

JM- We met by chance at a night club when I saved Gordon from a fate worse than death!


Proudest moment so far in My Fallen Opera?

GR- I think completing our Three Stitches demo, John and I have been working on these tracks for quite a while and We are our biggest critics, so to have a finished product is great sense of achievement.

JM – Receiving positive positive comments from fans. Its great knowing that people get what we are doing!

What are your views on Band Assist?

MFO - We are in full support of Band Assist, it refreshing to come across a website that really cares about new artists and has their best intentions at heart.


What’s next for you?

MFO - With the demo finished we are in the process and submitting it to various websites and sending them the old fashioned way to a selected few labels who we feel represent us best. Then we'll just need wait and see if peopleenjoy what we do. We're trying to encourage people on our website www.myfallenopera.co.uk to let us know what they think about our music. Without interaction between the artist and the fans cyber space can be a lonely place.

Happy Halloween

Morning All and Happy Halloween

Just wanted to drop you all a short message and I know lots of you are gigging tonight and last night so hope it all went/will go well. We are still working through our review requests but make sure you let us know if you have any new stuff you want us to listen to.

Quick tip: Halloween is a great night to create an "event" as opposed to a gig. People love a reason to dress up (especially students) so why not make it a fancy dress gig. Get the venue involved with apple bobbing, special drinks and prizes. You could even throw in a "spooky cover" of MJ's Thriller!

Think outside the box and make an event not just a gig!

See you soon

Look out for our newsletter - landing in your inbox this week

BA

Got What it takes?

Hi All

So, a few people have contacted us and class themselves as “jobbing musicians” – people who just do must. So here’s a few tips for you serial muso types!

Being a musician is awesome. It’s almost a crime that people are allowed to play music for a living. But like crime, music doesn’t usually pay. To get the gigs that pay, and keep getting them, musicians need to exude a high level of professionalism that is often a lot less glamorous than the sexy life of a rock star. While these qualities might seem obvious, you’d be surprised at how many prima donnas out there don’t get it.

1) Follows directions well.

Because most musicians make a living playing music for other people, they have to be good at doing what those people want. If that sounds vague, it is. Whether you’re hired to play a wedding, write a jingle, perform as a sideman, be a studio musician, be a pit musician on Broadway (or your local community theater), you have to be good at taking directions.
More often than not, those directions are poorly communicated by people that don’t know music, but a professional musician knows how to translate any kind of instruction quickly, without getting frustrated, and make the client happy. Other times you’re getting quick directions from a music director that knows exactly what she wants, and your ability to adapt quickly is key. These are one way communications where there’s either no time to ask questions. Performing well in this type of scenario will get you recommendations and ultimately more work.

2) Well organized.

In a nutshell, keep a calendar and learn how to tell time. There’s nothing more frustrating or embarrassing than tardiness. In a world of great players scraping together £50 gigs to make ends meet, schedules are usually both busy and erratic. Everyone is trying to squeeze a rehearsal in before teaching a lesson and then get to a gig later that night. But if you can’t keep track of everything and be where you need to be on time, you’ll lose work. Plain and simple.
Additionally, you will probably need to keep track of a large amount of material. Many sidemen play in multiple bands and have to learn both original music by songwriters that hire them, and cover songs for weddings or corporate gigs. Storing all this music in your head gets easier with practice, but in the beginning you’ll need to learn how to organize it.
There’s a saying among musicians that goes something like this:
An amateur practices until he gets it right, a professional practices until he never gets it wrong.

3) Good communication skills.

When dealing with people that don’t know anything about music and not much more about the business, you have to be able to lead most of the conversation. Offer suggestions, draw up contracts, and know how to say what you want without coming off as brash or greedy. Don’t be too proud to ask questions.
At the other end of the spectrum you’ll be dealing with other musicians. Show up to the first rehearsal with the music prepared. If it’s your gig or you are the music director, make sure your music is written neatly or created in a program like Finale or Sibelius. Make sure the sheet music communicates the road map of the tune clearly (repeats, coda, etc.). If you expect the other musicians to learn from a CD or MP3s, make sure they have the proper tracks and are aware of any key changes or cuts that are not on the recordings. These things will make the first rehearsal run as smoothly as possible.

4) Plays well with others.

This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised. Not only should you be able to play your butt off, you should be able to tone it down and play what’s called for in the music. Stereotypically speaking, guitar players are notorious for turning their amps up too loud and never shutting up. Singers zone out when they’re not singing and miss their entrances. Drummers are too loud. Horn players don’t listen to each other and sound sloppy as a whole section. This is all Music 101, but it’s often over looked.
While it’s very important to nail your solo, it’s more important to blend in with the ensemble or make the soloist sound better. Playing tastefully and in the appropriate style will get you more calls than being able to shred.

5) Prepared for the job.

Ultimately, the big difference between a professional and everyone else is preparation. This is the same in any field. A professional salesman is expected to know his product. A professional marketer is expected to know her target audience. A professional custodian is expected to know what kind of cleaner to use on what surface. Likewise, a professional musician is expected to show up for the gig with the right instruments, dressed appropriately, and prepared to nail the music. Let me repeat part of that. A professional musician dresses appropriately. Whatever the gig, make sure you know what to wear. Flip flops are probably a bad idea unless a grass skirt is involved.

In summary, if you want to establish yourself as a professional musician, step back and evaluate these five qualities. Music is a highly competitive field, and mastering your instrument is simply the first step to becoming a working musician. For those that want to take their craft to the next level, the thing that sets professionals apart from the rest is what they can do beyond playing their instrument.

Band Practice Tip

Get in Formation

We've all heard the old adage that you perform how you practice and that is certainly true. One thing some bands do to improve their rehearsals and shows is literally practice like you are playing a show. This means setting up the band room how you would be set up on stage. When my band used this technique I found us to be much more efficient on stage at shows because I was used to my surroundings and very comfortable with where everyone was. If you spend two months of rehearsal looking face to face at the drummer for cues to the changes and then you get on stage and you're not facing him anymore, there is a good chance you're going to feel a little disconcerted and possible miss some things. Knowing where everyone is on stage will make you that much more relaxed during shows which can be a big help.

Your Stuff is Being Stolen

Today, it is almost a given that STUFF you create will easily be copied and used by other people via the internet. And the BETTER your STUFF is, the MORE LIKELY it is to be copied. This applies to music, photographs, lyrics, poetry, trademarks and all varieties of creative stuff.

If you discover that your stuff is being used by someone else on their website, MySpace page or YouTube posting, it’s a good idea to contact the poacher and let them know that it’s YOUR STUFF they are using and let them know how you want them to treat your stuff. The treatment you request can range from:
* asking them to stop using your stuff and remove it from their site,
* asking for credit for your stuff,
* letting them how they can buy your stuff (if it’s for sale.)

The best case scenario is that you know the person using your stuff and can easily reach out to them to work out how and if you want your stuff used by them. Most of the time however, you may not know the person… BUT don’t rush to attack them too violently… because, these poachers could become your NEWEST and BIGGEST fans. Keep this in mind when you reach out to them, and make a pitch to sell your stuff (ie promote your upcoming gigs and CD’s) at the same time that you ask them to refrain from poaching. About 90% of the time, it’s possible to make this extra sale.

The worst case scenario is that the poacher ignores your attempts to contact them and continues using your stuff. If this happens, look through the ‘Terms of Service’ for the host website and follow the instructions it gives for notifying them of illegal use of copyrighted or trademarked property. To find the relevant Terms of Service, run an internet search on the hosting website’s Terms of Service. (for example: ‘MySpace Terms of Service’)

Be diligent and keep tabs on how and who is using your stuff!!

Get that gig

Doing live shows is an important part of anyone’s music career, it’s a great way of meeting your fans face to face and allowing them a different kind of contact with you. It’s also a great place to make CD sales and build up life long fans, as if you impress with a performance you’ve got a lot of power at that moment.

A problem many musicians face however is being able to get gigs to perform at. If you’ve never performed at a show before, what proof have you got to show venues you’re worth hiring? Thankfully there are ways around that, which is what I’m going to share with you in this article. May I say though, if you’ve never done a show before and are nervous about the whole thing, check out our post on dealing with gig nerves. There’s some good tips in there about getting shows to practice your live performances too, so have a look. But anyway, here are how to get your band booked (Also works for solo musicians).

Find Suitable Locations To Perform At

The first thing you need to do is compile a list of venues you would be willing to perform at. This may be because the venue has acts that play your style of music, or because you think it would be easily obtainable. Whatever the reason, list down the venue and the reason why you’ve chose it. It’d be easier if you categorise this list straight away, as this list will be one that you could potentially use throughout your career (Adding as you go along of course). You don’t want to make your list of venues too unrealistic, for example you#re not going to get to play the biggest venues in your country straight away. It is however realistic to play at popular local venues if you approach the venue right, so note them down.

You’ll want to note down all different types of venues, from clubs, to venues that run showcase nights, and maybe even raves. Places that do themed night and pubs also accept live acts sometimes, so don’t narrow your vision and only think about approaching the standard venues everyone else plays at. The good thing about thinking outside the box is that some of these places will actually pay non established acts where the ‘bait’ venues won’t. This is because these regular venues are over saturated with acts trying to perform there every week, so they don’t need to pay to get acts. Non conventional venues sometimes do.

Once you have a nice list of places you can potentially play at, the next stage is to find out how to get in contact with them.

Find The Venue’s Contact Details

This stage can be done while looking for places for your band booked to gig at. It’s best to get as many contact details for the venue as possible, you’ll be needing their name, their address, their phone number, and the email addresses for the people who take bookings (Or a general one if you can’t find that). Once again, add these to your files about venues you can get gigs at. Now we’ve got a selection of contact details, and we hopefully know who to talk to, we can approach the venue.

Approach The Club Or Venue

When it comes to approaching the venue, remember that you’re approaching them with a business proposition. That means you have to approach them in a professional manner, looking neat (If you’re meeting them in person) and talking to them in a respectful manner. Now I’m not saying you have to turn into something you’re not, you don’t have to meet them dressed in a suit if your look is more casual (You’re an independent musician after all, not a city worker). However, you should be aware that if you look a mess or act in an unattractive way, there’s very little chance they’ll want you to perform at and represent their venue.

So, what’s the best way to try to get shows for your band? I’d always advice ringing them first. If you phone them up and tell them you’re a musician who’s currently willing to perform at venues you can usually tell whether the venue is looking for performers or not. If they’re not, they’ll usually let you no very swiftly. If they are but is open to select people, you’ll have time to get in your sales pitch. If you impress with that, they may offer you a chance to come in and give in your demo or audition. If you fail to impress with your pitch, they’ll probably let you down.

Not all venues you ring will lead to anything else, in fact a lot of them probably won’t. But even if only a few do it’s been well worth your time. Getting your first few shows are the most important, as once you’ve got a few shows under your belt you’ll have leverage. You can then quote having performed at these venues when applying to do other gigs, and each time you do a bigger venue you can get a bigger one of the back of that.

Those venues that don’t want to let you perform, don’t scrub them off your list. As you get more well known, there’s a chance that these places will book you for gigs then.

If the venue’s local to you and you want to perform at a specific night, another option is to turn up at the relevant night with a demo. The night’s promoter or manager should be there looking over things, so find them and let them know you’d be willing to perform at their night. Give them your demo along with contact details and see what the response is.

Auditioning For Shows

Some venues will ask you to simply to give in a demo as an audition, and you should give them a copy of the tune you want to perform. In fact, you may want to give them a look at a few songs you could potentially perform and let them choose which ones are most suitable for the event they’re going to put on. Some places will want you to actually do a live audition to perform.

If you get a live audition, always make sure you go prepared. Make sure you’re punctual to the venue, and have all the material you need to carry out your trial successfully. Make sure you’ve rehearsed fully, and are ready for anything.

Once your audition is finished, they should usually be able to tell you if you were successful straight away. Sometimes however they may need to contact you at a later date so make sure they have your up to date contact details. Try and find out when they’re likely to contact you buy, and if you haven’t heard from them a day or two after that make sure you chase them up and find out what’s going on. Don’t harass them however, as annoy them and you’ve little chance of getting booked for the gig.

Join us on Facebook

Hello All
Just a quick one - we have joined Facebook. It is very early days but we need some friends. This will be a great place to interact with us and other acts in the same boat plus an awesome place to advertise.

Click Here

Raising the Bar

When I work with musicians both professional, part-time, and amateur more often than not they all have something in common. That is they are not marketing themselves to the outside world. Sure, some carry their business card and a few have a website. There are a few with a demo or even a CD they have recorded. The real problem is that they do not have a cohesive plan for raising their profile to meet their own goals.

A professional musician does not automatically get playing jobs. The phone isn’t ringing off the hook for their services. More often than not the person hiring the musician has people that he or she works with and knows. Going with an unknown or a new player is often not the first choice for the music director or contractor.

A part-time or amateur musician can really benefit from raising the profile especially if they want to acquire more playing jobs or move from volunteer work to paying jobs.

Word of mouth has its place and can be very helpful. The bottom line is that the musician needs to take steps to get out there and make themselves known to the world at large. That means developing and implementing a cohesive marketing plan and implementing it.

And don’t forget BA is your free resource so if you need any advice or tips just get in touch!!
Till next time!

F@*K the Press - Never Trust a Journalist!

Only Joking, the press used to be known as the enemy but for the unsigned acts they will pretty much be your best friend. However you need to go into interviews and press pieces with your eyes open. The amount of acts I have interviewed who mumble, giggle or sit in silence when you interview them is incredible. To be totally honest about 50-75% of the interviews I undertake I simply can’t do anything with. Again, to make it in this business you need to have a certain level of professionalism.

There are 2 core things that you need to keep in your mind every time you do an interview. Firstly and most importantly what do you want to get out of the interview? What is your aim? Secondly you need to think about why the press person is interviewing you and what do they want to get from you? The second part is usually pretty easy, they want readers to be interested in what you say and ultimately push their Magazine, Fanzine, etc. So they want interest and entertainment. The first part is core for you. What do you need to let them know? Are you playing a gig soon, hosting and event, releasing a CD – you simply must get this across and always have something to talk about.

To be totally honest you will always get a set of pretty similar questions but the true pro will do their home work. Read the publications previous interviews and prepare answers (loosely, don’t learn them parrot fashion). Have a few anecdotes to roll out, a few gig stories, a few interesting facts – sure you will end up rolling these out in most interviews but if you keep reinforcing your image people and potential fans will start to become familiar with you.
More Soon

The flying hip hop circus bats tied to the cage that breaks the dam with a 1000 lost souls uniting for the end of tims with the saving grace of all...

Long Band Names

I don’t recommend giving your band an excessively long name. I’m not referring to names with two parts like "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers"or "Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention" that flow — but rather the flat-out, unnecessarily long band names.
Here are some examples:

· When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water (9 words, 49 characters)
· The Presidents of the United States of America (8 words, 46 characters)
· …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (10 words, 44 characters including ellipsis)
· I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness (7 words, 35 characters)
· I Can Lick Any SOB In The House (8 words, 31 characters)

While "The Presidents of the United States of America" can be nicknamed and referenced as "The Presidents,"the rest of the names don’t have a lot of options unless you want to go the Excessively Long Acronym route.Here are some reasons to avoid a long name for your band:

· Does not flow in conversation
· Can be difficult to remember
· Often does not sound like a band name
· Website domain name will need to be different than your name (unless you want to make the mistake of using the actual long version) Note: There is a 67-character limit on domain names

I’d like to add that the occasional song or album with a long name is okay, but Fiona Apple went too far with her "When the Pawn" album title that is 450+ characters in length!

What do you guys think? Do they work?

Any other long band names that are worth noting?

Do you have a long-winded band name?

Its too LOOOOOUUUUDDDD!!!!!

Someone always plays too loud at band practice. It is one of those things that tears bands apart and makes band members hate one another. This is sad and we can add it to the long list of easy things to avoid that can be taken care of very easily. If someone is playing too loud the first thing to do is take it back to square one. Have only the drummer play and then add the main chord change instrument (probably rhythm guitar). Slowly turn the chord change instrument up until you have a good level. Then one by one add each new instrument and repeat this procedure until everyone is happy with the levels.

At times this is going to mean some people need to stand closer to their own amps or move them up to ear level to compensate for hearing loss and/or ego problems. This easy technique can make you sound better as well as save your bands relationship.

Top Tips on Recording Keyboards

Recording synths can be one of the most fun but sometimes excruciating experiences. Trying to get just what you want takes years to learn. We have assembled some tips from our years tweaking synths that are simple tips that make a big difference.

1. Split Up The Hands. Often times two hands of keyboard can be a little much in the mix. Record the two hands separately and see if both voicings are needed.

2. Play With The Sustain Pedal. Even on some Instruments you wouldn't expect, this can give you a sound you would never imagine. This can a tiny bit of magic you didn't think of before.

3. Record With A Preset, Tweak It After. One of the things amazing programmers do is get the sound in the ballpark with a preset and then tweak it later on and fine tune all the cool details after the part is recorded.

4. Try A Different Octave. Experiment with the octave the keyboards are played in. The movement up or down an octave can open up a mix and free it of clutter.

5. Watch Your Releases. One of the thing that separates the men from the boys in the keyboard department is being neat with when you let go of the keys. While many can play notes on time, finnesing when you let go of each note is what makes a part really shine.

6. Check Your Image. Many synth patches aren't real stereo. Put your signal in mono and flip the phase on one side and make sure your synth patch isn't take up an unnecessary tracks and DSP.

7. Does It Need To Be Stereo? While many synth patches are true stereo with interesting image variations. Panning every synth in stereo will leave little room in your mix. Bounce or pan some synths to mono as you need to.

8. Use Filters. High pass and low pass filters are two of your biggest friends in getting synths to fit in a mix. Learn to tweak them as best you can for improved results.

9. Record Dry. Many synths can have cheap reverbs and delays on them. If you aren't in love with the effects on a synth patch take it off and apply them in the mix.

10. One Is Enough. One of the biggest beginner mistakes is to layers numerous synths on top of every part. Try to make all of your synths work with just one or two playing each part. Anything more can be a clutered mess.

Tips on Flyer

A flyer is one of the most basic tools that a band has for promoting shows and improving name recognition. For many bands, flyers are the only reliable way to promote, so it's worth the time to design and print a really high quality flyer. Here are a few tips for making a great flyer that can get more people to your band's shows.

1. Use the odd. By putting weird pictures and words in your flyer, you can attract attention; remember that people will see your flyer in passing, and that they won't necessarily stop to read it unless something on the flyer gives them a good reason to. Draw peoples' attention with something interesting, and the easiest way to find interesting is to find he weirdest thing you can. Some bands use shocking images on their flyers. If you're in a metal band and that's your audience, it's fine, just make sure you're not going to offend anyone that can call off your gig (like the owner of a venue).

2. If your band is touring, you only have to design one flyer. Leave a large blank section at the bottom of the flyer with WHEN and WHERE written in black, then fill these areas in when you've got a show booked and send them out to the venues and bands that you're playing with. If you can put a few around town before you play, that's even better. Using a single flyer lets you order a ton of high quality prints at a fairly low price.

3. Get your flyers professionally printed. They'll be way more likely to catch the eye than cheap, grayscale printed flyers, and if you order enough online you can get them for a pretty low price. They don't have to be the huge flyers, but getting a few glossies will help your band promote its shows and get more people to show up to the gig, which is the point of the flyer in the first place.

4. Make sure the relevant info's on the flyer. You'd be surprised at how often this is missed. Get the right info on the flyer, including other bands playing the show and the myspace or website information for every band involved (and the venue, if possible). This can be written in, in marker, it doesn't matter, it's just all got to be there. Use a weird description for your band's sound, and maybe even include a few reviews. Give people a reason to show up

Before you enter the studio

some more top tips to consider:

1. Make Sure The Mix Is Great – Mastering is not a time to make huge mix changes, it is instead accentuating what you have already done. While some engineers can perform miracles, don’t always expect you can “fix it in the mastering”. If you’ve gotten a great mix, you’ve made the mastering engineers job much easier. In addition, make sure everyone is happy with the mix before you send it up to the engineer. At your mastering session is the last place you want to be arguing about the level of the kick drum.

2. You Don’t Need To Normalize Or Get It As Loud As Possible – Keep in mind most Mastering Engineers like some head room. Even having your mix peaking 2db below zero is great. I regularly turn in mixes with peaks at -12db since that’s where I find my gain staging sounds good on the console I work on. The mastering engineer will have great gear to gain stage it as long as you go to a pro.

3. Make Sure The Bounce Is Done Properly – When bouncing your files, it is most common to do so in the WAV format. Pay attention and make sure that you are bouncing at the same sample rate you recorded at (if you recorded at 44.1 then make sure to do the bounce at 44.1) – and keep Bit Rates the same as well. Remember: do the least amount of processes to your audio as possible to prevent signal degradation. Make sure that Dithering is set to “None” and as we stated above, normalizing is not necessary. If you are using a compressor you like that really helps get the tone you want, feel free to bounce it with the compressor. However, also remember that your engineer will mostly likely have much better and higher quality gear than some of the plug-ins you’re probably using. If you are going to use compression on your bounced track (and many people choose not to) just make sure you don’t overdo it. Many people will make a compressed and uncompressed version so their mastering engineer can hear what they were going for but recreate it on better gear.

4. Come With An Open Mind – Keep in mind a mastering engineer is a objective perspective. They are giving you fresh ears and if you have listened to your mixes for a month before your date you may be used to the huge size of the bottom end but the mastering engineer may find this hugeness to be sloppy bottom end eating your mix. Thirty days later when you have fresh ears you may agree with him. Give the mastering engineer the benefit of the doubt but if you have a clear vision of what you want and they missed it, be sure to tell them!

5. Know Your Sequence Before You Arrive – You are going to be choosing song order and spacing for the song. When I worked as mastering engineer assistant I would constantly have bands making it up as they go along. You pay a high price to do this, since mastering time is not cheap and anyone with a copy of iTunes can use a playlist to test it out.

6. Email Your Engineer The Files Before You Meet With Them – If there is a problem with your mix bounce you don’t want to find out when it’s too late. Most engineers will take a quick listen to your mix earlier to make sure there are no egregiousness errors. If there are, having your bounce checked first could save you a lot of headache. Use a service like MegaUpload, Mobile Me to email your files to the engineer and you and the him/her will feel more at ease when the actual day comes around.

7. Have A Copy Online And With You – It’s much better to be overly cautious with backups. Even if you email the files to an engineer ahead of time, something can still happen to them. Make sure you take a copy with you and for extra protection, keep a copy somewhere online where you can get access to it. Most likely, you won’t need it, but with something this important, you’ll want to be sure.

8. Bring Reference Tracks – Sometimes you’ll be dealing with an engineer who understands your music and perhaps even appreciates it, but this is not always the case. For volume and style comparisons, you’ll want to bring in high quality MP3′s or WAV’s of other music you like or want to imitate so you can reference them to your own music. This will the individual mastering your record immensely and can show you how you fair with your heroes.

9. Skip The Sauce And Get Some Sleep – Just because you finished your record doesn’t mean it’s time to pop bottles yet. The night before your mastering session is not the time to get crunked up on booze. Save that for another date. Make sure you get plenty of rest so that you’ll be as fresh as possible. Listening to your music at loud volumes repeatedly and helping the engineer make the important decisions is the last thing you want to do while hungover. You have come too far at this point to screw it up, so just hold out until the mastering’s done to hit the bar.

10. Be Prepared With Money – Mastering sessions are almost always estimated beforehand, which means you can go over the time limit and over budget. Be prepared for this to happen and please be prepared to pay for services at the time they are rendered. Especially when dealing with a professional, you don’t want to look like an amateur when it comes down to business. This engineer is probably well connected and you don’t need anyone spreading the word that you are an irresponsible band or artist. Besides, it is not likely you will walk out of the session with a disc in your handle until you put down some cash. It’s time to end the cliche of musicians being cheap bums who are always broke – if you’re serious enough about your music to have it mastered, you should certainly have the money and then some.

To Drummers walk into a bar......

Some Musician Jokes for You

A young child says to his mother, "Mom, when I grow up I'd like to be a musician." She replies, "Well honey, you know you can't do both."

Q: Why do some people have an instant aversion to bass players?

A: It saves time in the long run.

Q: What's the difference between a folk guitar player and a large pizza?

A: A large pizza can feed a family of four.

Q: How can you tell when a singer is at your door?

A: The can't find the key, and they never know when to come in.

Q: How do you get a guitarist to play softer?

A: Place a sheet of music in front of him.

Q: What do you throw a drowning bass player?

A: His amp.

Q: How many vocalists does it take to screw in a bulb?

A: None. They hold the bulb over their head and the world revolves around them.

Q: How can you tell if the stage is level?

A: The drool comes out of both sides of the drummer’s mouth.

Q: What's the last thing a drummer says before he gets kicked out of a band?

A: "When do we get to play MY songs?"

Q: What do you call a musician with a college degree?

A: Night manager at McDonalds

Q: How do you know when a drummer is at your door ?

A: He speeds up when he’s knocking

Love/Hate relationship? Try Hate/Hate

Today, we are going to cover that strange, curious condition that afflicts most bands eventually. The formal medical term is "insecurity-induced musical estrangement syndrome," more commonly known as "I hate my %$#% [choose instrument player] and I'm going to beat his dumb ass disorder." How do you get along with people that drive you crazy? It's hard, but I have some ideas.Let me get this straight. One guy in your band shows up for gigs drunk. Another has developed a coke problem and, as a result, can't afford to pay his share of studio costs for your new CD. The other guy is always fighting viciously with his girlfriend and it negatively affects the band. The last guy acts like a spoiled 5-year-old, constantly complaining and implying that without him you'd be nothing. You just can't stand him. You, on the other hand, are perfectly normal and rational and can't understand why fate has determined that you must play in a band with these boneheads. Yet, when you play together, there's this THING that happens, this magic that has never been present in any other musical situation you've been involved in.

Does any of this sound familiar? It certainly mirrors some of the band experiences I've had over the years. Egos, drugs, dysfunctional relationships and plain old musical disagreements often get in the way of bands functioning at 100 percent and reaching their full potential. If your band is suffering through these kinds of problems, there are a few things you can do to try and improve your relationship with one another.No one ever said that being in a band is easy. It is really like a family, complete with all its positive and negatives. The key, though, is to remember that you don't have to love one another; you just have to get along. Rock and roll history is rife with examples of incredible bands who constantly fought with one another and are still here to talk about it. The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, The Kinks, Guns N' Roses, the Black Crowes, Megadeth and Black Sabbath are but a few.

The first step is to locate the problem. Sometimes it can be simple: the guitarist has a drinking problem. Other times, especially when it is primarily a clash of egos, it is much more complicated. Still, you obviously cannot fix the problem until you know what its origins are. You have to do some work to figure out why people behave the way they do. That may require more than just a prima facie understanding of human psychology and behavior. If necessary, read a psychology book or talk to a counselor. Do whatever it takes to get a grip on what the real root cause of the problem is.The next step is trying to fix it. Don't ever presume that just because you were the person who recognized the existence of a problem, you may not be partially to blame for it. Even if you are the "rational and responsible" guy in the band, you may have unwittingly contributed to the genesis of this problem. As with most disagreements, there's your side, my side, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

There are two critical components to working through any personal disagreement. The first is communication and the second is respect. Talking through a complicated issue is very difficult. The only way for it to work is for both sides to be willing to discuss their concerns rationally. Both parties must do everything possible to avoid getting emotional and upset or to take things personally. In theory, at least, it is in everybody's interest for people to get along. Don't push people's emotional triggers simply to upset them, as that ultimately benefits no one. Do everything you can to respect your bandmates and their position, even if you disagree with them. If people believe that you are trying to invalidate their opinions, chances are that they will respond by becoming defensive and you will accomplish nothing. Remember, your goal here is to find common ground and for all sides to be conciliatory. If your discussion degenerates into a screaming, insult-laden argument—or worse, a fistfight—you may be searching for new members in the morning (and getting some stitches tonight). If necessary, find a neutral third party to help you talk through your problems. Perhaps a counselor or your A&R person or manager can help.

Once you work through the major issues, the focus must be shifted onto relationship maintenance. This means revisiting issues as they crop up and also being willing to take on new problems early, before they grow bigger. All involved must be willing to have respectful, nonjudgmental band meetings frequently to work on that old cliche of "building bridges." If you respect each other and, maybe more importantly, respect what you each bring to the band, you will do what is necessary to ensure domestic tranquility.

A Cracking App for Every Guitar Player

Tuning the guitar has always been a bit of a drag for me. I can tune by ear, but to get to perfect pitch, I need a guitar tuner. I have used pitch pipes and tuning forks, but much prefer an electronic tuner. I have had many electronic tuners over the years, all of them a lot more expensive than my new one. Unlike any other tuner I have ever owned, I will not part with it. It stays with me, welded to me, wherever I go. My new tuner will not get lost or buried away in a cupboard.

Guitar Toolkit

Better still, my new tuner is also a metronome, tuning reference and chord library. The Guitar Toolkit iPhone App is the best guitar gizmo I have ever used. It has a really funky display and is now an essential part of my guitar kit. I have found it to be an inspirational and fun practice and tuning aid. The only drawback is that I can’t plug my guitar lead into my iPhone. I have tried, but hell, on my original iPhone, I can’t even slip a regular mini jack into it, without an adapter. If you are gigging, you might want to hang on to your normal tuner, with a socket. But for practice and showing off in front of your mates, the Guitar Toolkit comes highly recommended.

Is This the New Myspace?

This new site from NME (Well, it’s incorporated into their original site) is called NME Breakthrough. The whole point behind it is for up and coming musicians to showcase their material and get new fans. Although I only signed up yesterday and have been using it for a day and a bit, I’ve already seen enough to know what this site’s all about. Is NME Breakthrough the MySpace replacement everyone’s been waiting for? Unless they give the site a overhaul, make it more user friendly and add more unique features, I doubt it. Is NME Breakthrough worth using? Most defiantly! Let me explain…

Although the site is awkward to navigate (While I thought I was signing up for an artist page I was actually signing up to the NME site. I then had to sign up for an artist page separately afterwards, and when I signed in again later I found it hard to find my artist page to edit it) having a page on the site really does allow for mass exposure. How? Well, every now and then NME features artists on their high traffic home page. And I don’t just mean the NME

Breakthrough home page, I mean the NME home page! If you’re one of their featured artists on any given week, expect a flood of profile views and (If you’re good enough) potential fans.

While NME Breakthough is pretty much a standard “showcase your music and get thousands of fans” site, the fact it has the NME name behind it allows room for growth. The main reason I’d recommend signing up to this site is due to the possibility of getting featured on their main site. If it wasn’t for that feature I’d find it hard to recommend this site as it doesn’t offer anything new. The site layouts they give to signed up musicians are quite boring, and it’s all the same stuff you’ll find on other such sites (Stream your music, upload your pictures, show your tour dates etc). While you should still sign up and hope to be a featured artist, I wouldn’t pour buckets of time into this site.

Let's Rap about Rap

Ok so a few people have highlighted we have not featured any advice for rap acts for a while. So we put together these top tips for improvised raps but these hints could also be applied more generally to any genre to music.

Tip 1. One of the best rap tips is to listen to all styles of rap including east coast, west coast, UK, European, etc. It will benefit you to have a well-rounded background of the different kinds of rhyme schemes, terminology, flow structures, and deliveries of all different styles of rap. Pay close attention to the elements of each style. Listen to music closely is probably THE single most important rap tip to become a better rapper

Tip 2. Increase your vocabulary. Come across an interesting word that you don't know the meaning to? Look it up in a dictionary! If you do not have a dictionary and thesaurus, go out and invest in them. Find out an arsenal of similar words with your thesaurus to keep your raps fresh. Study the dictionary from time to time to learn new impressive words.

Tip 3. Make lists of rhyming words. This can be a greatly beneficial rap tip for your writing process! Make lists of words that rhyme with each other, including single words and groups of words. Always add to your list whenever you discover new words that rhyme in some way. Keep the list at hand when writing raps and refer to it when you need some quick ideas. This is a great rap tip to overcome writers block too. When you see lists of rhyming words, it will spark new ideas and enable you to move forward.

Tip 4. Experiment with different ways of beginning the writing process. If you are having trouble beginning writing your rap verses, try writing the hook (chorus) FIRST. Make sure your hook portrays the main idea of the song you are writing. Once you have the hook idea finished, writing the verses can be a lot easier!

Tip 5. Practice your timing. Here is one of the great little rap tips that I have used in the past. First, find an instrumental beat to rap to. Make sure it is something that you can vibe to and feel comfortable with. Now, start free-styling over the beat EVEN IF YOUR LYRICS DON'T MAKE SENSE! Just rap random words and attempt to make them rhyme. Come up with different kinds of flows and focus on nailing your timing. You see, this exercise isn't about your words, it is about working on improving the accuracy of your rhythm and "flow" to the beat.

Tip 6. Learn tricky verses from your favorite rappers, and practice them. Come across an amazing but tricky verse from an aspiring rapper? Learn the words (this should be easy to do because you probably listen to the song frequently anyway) and try to push yourself to imitate it. Start slow and piece by piece until you can rap the entire thing. This rap tip will help to build your memory, timing, stamina, and possibly speed (if it is a fast verse).

Tip 7. Record yourself often. If you do not already have it, invest in some recording equipment (a cheap mic and recording software will do). Record yourself rapping so you can listen to what areas need improvement. It is very important to hear yourself as you sound to others so that you can analyze your faults and become a better rapper!

Too Many Gigs?

It happens to us all but too many gigs for vocalists normally mean a subpar performance at latter gigs. Well fear not! Here is the Band Assist Voice Fixer!

3 tablespoons liquid honey
2 ounces of lemon juice (pure)
2 teaspoons of granulated sugar
1 Extra large cup

Boil water, add ingredients, pour hot water in cup, stir until honey is dissolved....drink it while it is hot and drink it as hot as you can stand without burning your mouth. Do this once every 2 hours on gig day and your scratchy throat will be clear."

I Give You Firax

Well it was a great month with some awesome new music. We had a massive variety from pop to hip hop, from country to thrash. It really does reassure us that there are still sdome awesome bands and artists out there and we want to help them get the recognition they want. I don't want to hear Cheryl Cole, The Saturdays or this year's X Factor winner on the radio. I want to hear The Calling Card, Speedbird and The Limelight (check out our reviews section at http://www.bandassist.co.uk/)

So this months competition was hard but our "Metal" reviewer let us all hear Firax and boy are we glad they did. These guys are the next metal band to make it. Hell, Band Assist even created a genre for them; "Groovecore"

Check them out at www.myspace.com/firaxband

Here is their interview:

BA: Well Done for winning Band Assists Act of the month! How would you descibe the Firax Sound?

Firax: The FIRAX sound is like a freight train without brakes powering along the railway lines of what you thought was metal until it breaks away and suddenly begins its own path down which there are no stop signs, there are no crossings just inhibited thrash rock metal that moves with the rhythm of everything you know that is right, you just didn’t know it until now.
It makes you feel dirty and greasy and think you know what’s coming. But you don’t.

BA: "Effigy of Hate" is an awesome track can you let us in on the story behind it? and how/who wrote it.

Firax: Effigy is very much Glyn’s song, but I like to think we all had some input. This was the first of our ‘groovy’ songs, the first one that had that ‘different’ sound to it.
The formation of the lyrics didn’t take any pushing or sleepless nights, they simply wrote themselves, and it was a story that Rhyd had needed to say for a long time.
When I (Rhyd) was younger, after a really bad year I was out with a couple of friends having, to the contrary, a good night. We were split up. I met some other friends and then I left the place I was in. I don’t remember the next 2 days. I was jumped outside, this I know from stories and what was in the paper. I don’t know how or why it started but all I know is that my head was stamped on. My face was kicked. My inside was bruised badly. I lost my teeth. I gained permanent scarring on my right eye. I suffered memory loss for a year.
It’s all in there if you listen.


BA: You have such a new sound - was that a conscious decision? how did you come up with it?

Firax: When we got together we just decided to try and take a big influence from the classic metal bands,Pantera, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, you know, it’s just pure chance that our individual styles happened to come together this way.
When a group of musicians get together, who are on the same playing field, who love the same thing, who have the same goal then great music is what will happen.
Of course, when we realised what we sounded like, we decided it was a good thing and are trying to keep it going!

BA: What is your writing process?

Firax: So far it’s been pretty different for every song! Sometimes one of us will come up with an entire song, and everyone else will add their stuff around it; sometimes we’ll say “let’s write a song about this, and this bitof it should sound like that”. Basically, if something sounds cool – whether it’s an idea or a riff – we’ll give it a go.


BA: What do you find most difficult about being an unsigned band?

Firax: We all had different answers to this but they are all valid so i guess we have about 3 things.
1) Unfortunately it appears that, due to various things like the recession, the days of going out to see any old band that happens to be on in your local are gone.
2) People/promoters completely ignoring us. Also, being unable to play a gig unless you bringa certain number of people
3) MONEY.It’s all funded by ourselves. Most gigs aren’t paid. We just do them because we love it.


BA: What is your top tip for other acts?

Firax: If you don’t enjoy it, you’re doing it wrong.
On a side note, try and have a lot of money,this band thing is really quite expensive!

BA: What is your fantasy band line up (Vocals, guitar, Bass and Drums)

Firax:This is definately something we could never all agree on! I guess thatis a good thing though, we all have different influences.

Here is a mix of what we decided :-
Vocals - Bruce Dickinson (Maiden)
Guitar - Marty Friedman (Megadeth)
Bass - Flea (Chilli Peppers)
Drums - Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater)



BA: Tell us an amusing Band Story!

Firax: Ah, what to pick? I would try to think of one not relating to Machin, but I’m not sure that’s possible! I think I’ll go for the one where we had a gig in a pub in Crumlin, and he managed to end up on Crumlin road, Pontypool! The other side of the mountain!


BA: Proudest moment so far in Firax?

Firax: Getting in to the top twelve of Hard Rock Hells young blood competition October 22nd without a doubt.
Obviously being artist of the month is pretty awesome!


BA:What are your views on Band Assist?

Firax: A cracking website that has definitely influenced us, providing us with food for thought. Our review on Band Assist is an inspiration and the other reviews on there have given us a great insight into what we are up against, and how unique we are.
With Band Assist, you get the sense that the reviews are actually being written by someone who has a genuine interest in new music.

BA:Whats Next for you guys?

Firax: World domination! If the public don't mind, that is.

Thanks for the great review, interview and for generally being a site full of "real" people trying their best for people like us!

Blocked? Get Help

Tricks To Beat Writer's Block

Write 10 Songs In 60 Minutes – There is no more powerful way to completely shut off your Writer's Blog problems any faster than sitting down with a stop watch and cranking out 10 songs (a verse and chorus at least). Try it. I GUARANTEE that you will beat Writer's Block and you will come out with 1 song worth keeping out of the deal.

Avoid Your Genre – I remember reading a Guitar World article on Ozzy Osbourne. All of his favorite songs had absolutely nothing to do with “metal”. Metal was a genre he helped create. In other words, he just made noise and people liked it. He didn't try to recreate his favorite music. He simply made his own. Our modern culture with all it's genres implies that you are supposed to be a “rock band” or a “country band”. I recommend writing as many songs outside of your genre as possible. (Once you write 10 R&B songs. Post on the forum. I'll help you turn them into nu-metal masterpieces).

Enjoy Writing Crappy Songs – Don't just tolerate writing bad songs. LIKE IT! I'm serious. Writing ANY song should be fun. Again, we are focusing on enjoying the process of writing and not worried about the result.

Hum Soul Songs While You Cook – I always try to do my Aretha Franklin impression when I cook. It ends up sounding more like a bad dream with Prince, but you get the idea. I should definitely keep my tape recorder in the kitchen. This is where all my best melodic ideas come.

Listen to Greatest Hits Albums – Pat Benetar and Human League are some of the best examples. Why? Because they have some great songs and they have some the most disgusting, vile sounds ever captured on their Greatest Hits. This illustrates that it's okay to write a bad song. It may end up on your greatest hits album some day!

Brainstorming - When you open your brain all the way up, it's amazing what happens. When you have no care in the world whether you are wrong or right, not dealing with ambition or ridiculous assumptions, and simply get your brain to go go go, you can do miraculous things. It's important to just open up and let loose. HAVE THE BALLS TO BE WRONG! It's okay. Write a terrible song and laugh about. Then write a funny song about how you wrote a bad song on purpose (it sounds like something that Tenacious D would )

Guitar Tuning Tips

Here's a few we found for all you guitarists out there

#1 - A Tuner Is Just a Gadget

Tuners are nice little devices. They tell you the frequency of the note a person has struck. The problem is strings go sharp when you first hit them and go flat immediately afterwards. This means that just because you got a string to land on “E” or whatever on the tuner doesn't mean when you strike it with 10x more (or less) force in the take that the string will go sharp.

#2 - Never Tune Flat

One of my favorite tactics that I use daily is to never turn the tuning peg flat. If I'm tuning the G string and I end up being a little sharp, I don't grab the tuning peg. I simply bend the G string HARD. There is always slack hiding in the string and a hard bend will yank that slack right out of there. If you leave this slack in there, it will slowly come out over time and the guitar will drift flat as you play it.

If you aren't so great at bends (it amazes me as a crappy lead guitar player that some really talented guitar players look like something is wrong with them when they attempt to bend a string!) it's okay to physically grab the string with your right and and pull on it a bit. You don't want to yank TOO hard, but you can probably pull a little harder than you think.

This one takes a bit of practice as you have to nail your pitch by SLOWLY turning the tuning peg sharper and sharper. (Kinda like when getting gas for your car. No one wants to go over the magic dollar amount in your head.) Of course, if you go too far, you should just bend the string, and repeat.

In rare occasions when you go too sharp and there isn't enough slack, always go way down so

you can come back up, bend the string, and tighten it some more. Repeat.

#3 - Stretch 'em Hard!

I see guitar players all the time who toss brand new strings on, tune up, and think they are ready to track. I'm not sure where they got that idea, but I'm positive all of 'em have fought through wild tuning fluctuations at first. I stretch strings AGGRESSIVELY. I always start with by placing my left hand over the 22th fret and press down pretty hard. My right hand will be under the 24nd fret pulling up. I give it a good, slow tug and attempt to pull everything I can out of that 23rd fret. Then I move down a fret and repeat. I do this for the entire guitar. I can do it pretty quickly and it's not a huge deal if you skip a fret here or there.

My right hand is usually fairly torn up, so I try to use some kind of cloth as padding.
If you take a guitar that was freshly strung and just tuned up without stretching, you can often pull a full step out of the thing. Some of that is going to be slippage in the tuning peg, obviously, but a nice chunk of that is slack that you would have had to deal with during tracking. Always stretch 'em!

#4 - Tune Up If You Have To Wait

While not an Earth shattering tactic, if I know I'm not tracking for a few hours, I'll go ahead and tune up an extra half step after doing all that stretching. Why? I figure the extra tension while I'm not doing anything will help work out a bit of the slack. It's probably not perfect, but it only takes a second. Anything that saves a ruined take is worth doing.

#5 - How Do You Tune?

I know there are quite a few guitar players that debate over how you should tune. Some guys claim they want the initial attack to land exactly on the note. The problem with this is the string will drop in pitch in a hurry immediately afterwards making sustained notes and chords go flat. Some guys claim you should wait a good three seconds to let the pitch fall. This will get the guitar in tune for the long sustained stuff, but the initial attack will always be a bit sharp.

I tend to take a hybrid approach. I like to give about one second to make sure the note just after the initial attack is in tune. This method is the best of both worlds approach for me. There are certain notes that I have to deal with during tracking, but this approach tends to be the most effective for me.

#6 - Take Note Of How You Play

I'm not sure why so many guys who smash their strings with the sledgehammer known as their right hand turn into delicate fairy princess mode when they stomp on the tuner, but it's an epidemic. Make sure you tune how you play. It'll save you decades of trouble.

#7 - Throw The Tuner Out

When it comes time to really get a guitar in tune, it usually takes a bit of abandonment of the tuner. The tuner is a good tool, but it can't compensate for problems with a guitar or with the hands. Almost everyone needs a little sweetening on the G string. (Usually this requires tuning it just a hair sharp, but not always.) The B and High E string are optional, but often benefit as well.

#8 - Tune Specific To The Chord

If one chord is giving you ultra-trouble, I recommend tuning to that chord and punching in. 95% of the time it's the player at fault, but you can compensate for that by tuning specifically to that chord. This is no different than a singer re-singing a phrase because of pitch. Take your time and get it right.

#9 - Can You Play A D Chord?

99% of all guitar players thing that playing a good ol' D chord is for babies. Then they start recording and can't the damn thing in tune. I've seen it happen hundreds of times. This happens to the seemingly best of guitar players. Usually, there is some much crappier guitar player in the band that can do it no problem. You may want to double check and make sure you can play a D chord in tune. The odds are not in your favor.

#10 - Practice Playing In Tune

I see plenty of guitar players who just obsess over flashy playing. I'm usually shocked by how few of them play in tune consistently. It's as if they never even thought about it. This is one reason why I love practicing guitar using an emulator through my studio monitors to drum loops. It forces me to play in tune and on time as if it were a real take. This skill is dramatically different from anything a person does in their practice area. It's something any serious guitar player SHOULD work on. If you aren't a guitar player, but just a recording guy, you should push this message. Make a big deal about this tuning business.

Selling Out or Moving up?

In the history of modern music there are plenty of well-known, almost classic examples of talented, inspired, oftentimes experimental musicians who at some point in their career have decided to change direction and to begin making commercially orientated music deliberately designed to have a wide mass appeal as possible – Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Phil Collins, even Metallica, and the list goes on.

When this happens to a well-known act, there is at least a sense of gratitude in their fans for the fact that a band had still managed to record and release a few albums where they sound like no-one else - genuine, sincere and unique. It's a different story when an unsigned band who you have known, whose music you have admired and who you have hoped would get signed so that a wider audience would hear their inimitable music, suddenly decides to abandon true creativity and makes a calculated move for pure commercial success. You start feeling melancholy knowing that their early material which was honest and daring will remain buried and undiscovered.

All musicians want to be signed and be successful, but all need to establish what their priorities are - to expand creativity and develop as serious musicians or to target the teeny or mainstream market in a hope to get a profitable record deal as well as recognition which most likely will be short-lived. What most people forget is that if you are really smart and not afraid of hard work you can still become successful and win respect as well. Real talent doesn't need to compromise much. A truly talented musician can still forge a long-lasting career out of music that he or she believes in, but this is what people forget when they are tempted by a quick reward.

The reason why most talented bands struggle for years without getting signed isn't because there is something wrong with their style or because their genre isn't 'in' or trendy. Sincerity has always been in fashion. A sincere musician will never stray in a wrong direction. He or she will never have to worry about style, gimmicks or publicity stunts. The only thing that talented and genuine bands need to work on are usually instrumental skill, clarity of expression and an ability to write in a way that people can easily remember their music, and if it's all in place, trends and fashions will not matter.

It is doubly disappointing when people try to sell out at a young age, because it will inevitably damage them both as musicians and individuals. It is often managers and A&R people who pressure young bands to write simple, trendy stuff and to sideline their truly creative and experimental ideas. If there are any young musicians reading this, I have only one thing to say to them - don't let other people's greed, vanity and short-sightedness ruin your talent and damage your self-respect.

Take COVER! or Not?

is an age old question. Should unsigned bands cover well known bands? Should you start or end with a much loved tune or simply stick to your own material.

I am in two minds here to be honest:

When a Cover Works:

In previous bands and projects we have often thrown a well known cover that everyone can get into - think "Whole lotta love" by Zepplin, "Paradise City" by Guns or "sex is on Fire" by the kings of Leon. They can really grab the audiences attention and make them engage with you then you can take them along the trip with your tunes or finish with a much loved song to end on a huge crescendo. Yep I have had some of my best audience reactions from playing covers live plus it's so easy to learn someone else's stuff.

The Problem

The problem is no matter how good your stuff is due to the audiences familiarity with the cover your material just won't stand up. You run the risk of people simply going away remembering that 1 song (albeit, an awesome rendition of it) and you can fast become the band/artist that covers "xxxxxx". I have also seen many a fine musician love the reaction to a cover that they throw in another, then another and soon your playing 50% original and 50% cover versions.
My 2 Cents (about 4p for us Brits)

I have a few feelings on this one:

1) have 2-3 create covers in your arsenal ready to bring out if a crowd is flagging and you want to grab their attention. Do not play them in consecutive gigs and replace them every 3-6 months, so you don't get too known for that song alone. The constants should be your material.

2) Make it different - many artists have changed a cover significantly and really made it their own. In fact many launch their careers in such a way. Look at Limp Bizkit with Faith, Robbie Williams with Freedom or the late Sid Vicious with My Way!

3) A little bit of honest plagiarism. Lets face it you probably have a few artists in your CD collection that most people won't have heard of but one or 2 of their songs are simply awesome on first listen. Why not cover them! DON'T Claim they are yours, just don't claim anything! This is honestly what Metallica did in their early days - they didn't have enough songs to fill a set so padded it out with obscure yet catchy covers.

Use covers sparingly and cleverly. Plus if you are going down the road of altering an original to make it your own be prepared to play it a fair bit, as people really latch onto this.

Good Luck

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The Importance of Websites!

We are often asked if in the times of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter whether you really need your own website. Our answer is always the same.Band websites are extremely important. Having your own domain name is also a key to your success. Let us show you just a few reasons why:

Band Website vs. MySpace/Facebook/Other
First of all, you never want to put all of your eggs in one basket. Relying on a service like MySpace, and not having your own website is extremely dangerous. Many bands think that due to MySpace's popularity, it's the website that they should focus all of their time and energy on. Yes, MySpace/Facebook,etc is important for musicians, but relying on someone else's service can be a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off. What would happen if MySpace was suddenly shut down? It's not as impossible as it may seem. Just think of all of the problems that MySpace has had, with predators using the social-media site for preying on people and how much trouble MySpace has gotten into with parental-control groups. Having your own site, and mailing listeliminates a lot of those issues because you have complete control of what happens to your site and gives you the ability to contact your fans, should something go wrong with MySpace (or similar sites). One other reason why it is important that you have your own domain name, is that it's usually much easier to remember than a MySpace URL!

Your Band's Domain Name
You want to have a domain name that is easy to remember; hopefully your band's name, if it is available. You'll want to put it on everything that your band puts out, postcard mailers, flyers, cds, t-shirts, everything! Matter of fact, make some t-shirts up and wear them all the time! You also want to make sure that every person you know, knows your web address. Make absolutely sure that your fans are told, many times a night, what your website is...and tell them to go there!
Registering Your Band's Domain Name
Registering your own domain name is no longer expensive (under £10/year for .com's). Some of the most popular domain registration sites out there also have web hosting available.

Awesome Performance

Now I am totally against any form of organised dance routine but a bit of choreography wouldn't go a miss here!!