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Thursday, April 1, 2010

A Sideman's Journey

Don't know how I found this video but it's pretty cool. It's a trailer for an album by Klaus Voorman called "A Sideman's Journey." Klaus was one of those guys who was connected with The Beatles but always in the background. A talented graphic artist, he designed the famous "Revolver" cover, but he's better known as the bass player for Manfred Man, The Plastic Ono Band, and albums by John Lennon, George Harrison, Carly Simon and a host of other 70's rock artists. He was also once touted as a replacement for Paul McCartney in The Beatles after Macca left, which obviously never went that far.

You're probably thinking, "Here we go again with that 30 year old stuff again," and you're almost right except for one thing. Check out the way they're recording during the first couple of minutes of the video. They're in a studio without walls - a very large bedroom, if you will. Sure, where talking large format console here, but it's in the same room as the players and the engineers are wearing headphones.

Recording like this is as modern as it gets and the way 95% of us are recording these days. You have to love traditional studios and the sound you can get recording in them, but there's not many left and they're not coming back anytime soon.

This is a pretty good video. It's well edited and goes by quickly, and gives a pretty short, but candid look at the making of the album.


Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Hearing Loss From Aspirin??

Is nothing safe anymore? The American Journal of Medicine reports that the use of analgesics like aspirin and ibuprofen can substantially increase the risk of hearing loss, especially in men under 50.

In research that surveyed 27,000 men, it was determined that those who took analgesics more than twice a week, aspirin increased the chances of hearing loss by a third, ibuprofen by two-thirds and acetaminophen by a factor of 2. Acetaminophen is used in most over-the-counter cold and flu medications.

This can be bad news for musicians, producers and engineers everywhere. Anyone that's ever developed a "volume headache" from hours of loud music pounding out of the speakers knows that an aspirin is only too welcome at the end of the night. Now, we all have to think long and hard before taking any of the medications that once seemed so safe.


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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

6 Questions For Publisher Richard Feldman

Richard Feldman has lived a life of many successes in the music business, from hit songwriter for artists like Eric Clapton, to Grammy-winning producer for reggae legends Toots and The Maytals ("True Love")to founder and publisher of his own Artists First Music, to the current president of the American Independent Music Publishers association (which is well worth the $60 fee for online membership for anyone intending to make any money from songwriting or publishing).

Here's Richard's answers to our 6 questions:

1) How did you break into the business?
Steady grind, friends who made it before I did, and finally a #1 record
which I wrote for Eric Clapton ("Promises").

2) What makes you unique?
Perspective as a fan, player, writer, producer and business man.

3) Who was your biggest influence?
Several:
  1. JJ Cale and Leon Russell – humility in music and persona
  2. Authors - Graham /Dodd – whose philosophy on value investing applies to music as well as – stock picking
  3. Bill Willet - the guy I saw playing guitar for a bunch of girls when I was 12 years old.
4) What's the best thing about your job?
Not having to go through HR (Human Resources for you muso's who've never had a corporate job) reviews.

5) When and where were you the happiest?
On vacation - or when things click.

6) What's the best piece of advice you ever received?
Advice I heard from someone who was advised by producer Billy Sherrill that the most
important word in the music business is the word "NEXT".

Don't forget to check out my music business blog "Music 3.0". Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Justin Bieber's Formula

Yesterday on my Music 3.0 blog, I posted an excerpt from my Music 3.0 Internet Music Guidebook entitled, "The New Release Schedule" regarding how frequent releases are essential for success in today's music marketplace.

Now comes a post by Jay Frank on Hypebot analyzing the success of teen phoneme Justin Bieber and attributing his quick rise to fame as a result of having a lot of his music out there often, just as my excerpt described. In fact, Bieber had 2 full albums released in 9 months and a new video every 3 months, and this kept the fans interest stoked because there was always something new. This is the new paradigm for releases; a song or two every 6 to 12 weeks is a lot more effective than an album every year or two.

A couple of the other points of interest in the article are about Justin's songs, such as:
  • Short Intros - the longest intro to one of his songs is 14 seconds, but "One Time" is only 7 seconds before it gets to the meat of the song. Always a good thing if you want to your song to chart.
  • Chord Changes - There's not a lot of changes in his songs but according to Frank, they happen when it counts - at around the 2 minute mark. This is just about the time that a bridge would enter, so it makes sense. Good songs tend to have a bridge.
  • Repetition - If you want to chart, repeat the title over and over. In fact, in his hit "One Time," Bieber repeats the title 32 times in the song and the word "one" another 17.
I can't say that this is a great way to write a song, but it's certainly a formula that has worked over and over with pop material, for better or for worse. As always, be aware of the formulas, but take what works for you and leave the rest.

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Sunday, March 28, 2010

It Might Get Loud Again - Dynamically So

Last week I posted a great out-take from the film "It Might Get Loud" featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White. Here's another excerpt that features a great lesson for guitar players and another for musicians in general.

The lesson for musician's is that dynamics are so important in music and they can't be overlooked. "Whisper to the thunder," as Page says and displays during a solo look at "Ramble On." Dynamics are one of the secrets of success for any major act and Jimmy provides a great example here.

Guitar players should also check out Page's playing during this clip. No, not the notes, but how clean he plays with the volume turned back on the front pickup during the verse and B-sections, and then how it gets big, loud and raucous when the chorus hits and he switches to the rear pickup.

Enjoy watching a master!

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