Sound Engineering

“A lot of people don’t understand that you can’t just pull out an old Casio keyboard and start making a beat and think that’s gonna compete,” says sync music producer Nick Phelps. “I wanna give people a fighting chance in the sync world. I wanna give people permission to stand out in their own way.”

Strange Magic’s Javier Romero shares his solo project’s evolution, how his new album holds up to pandemic realities, and how he keeps track of hundreds of “mumble jams” to feed his songwriting.

THE CANCELED SHOWS 5 includes footage from a BLM demonstration, sights/sounds from the UK, a Nashville rocker and a banjo-pickin song about an alien recorded in a sewer drain, apparently.

Hey arts-loving friends! Albuquerque’s Arts Hub is raising funds for artists impacted by the pandemic. Donate at their Facebook page or at their website at http://www.abqartshub.com/relief

Filmmaker Alejandro Montoya Marin is in the finishing stages of producing his second feature, Millennium Bugs. It was supposed to screen at SXSW, and Antonio was slated to participate on a panel about independent filmmaking — but a nasty pathogen has thwarted his plans.

“It was kind of surreal and didn’t sink in how crazy and legendary the room was when we were there. It almost doesn’t feel like OMG I was in the same room as Elvis and Johnny Cash; there is some kind of vibe in the room that I can’t describe.”

All I wanted to do was make a cigar box-style guitar, and in this town there were no cigar boxes to be found. The next best box to find for free were the torobako, the crates used to ship sanma from northern Japan to southern ports.

Guest Blogger Maggie Vail: “Musicians are leaders. Music has been at the forefront of every massive cultural movement from civil rights to feminism to anti war movements.”

Our advice for aspiring musicians and artists: 1) Trust your instincts and find a project where you can put some of that trust in the people you play with. It’s like magic. 2) Hold yourself and your collaborators to the “Don’t be a Dick” Golden Rule. 3) Surround yourself with kind people who inspire you.

Moments of discovery come when you are tuned-in and not thinking about your own performance. This can come naturally after playing with a band over time, but it’s also easy to become worn out from the repetition of playing the same songs over and over again.

Having a song roughly the same volume or intensity is a formula for disaster. You’re thinking, “Oh no, not me. I always make songs with interesting progressions, builds and changes in volume. I ain’t no noob.”

When my band would get together for practice and our guitar player would use more than one pedal we would point and laugh and say things like, “Get a load of him! He thinks he’s in Oktober People!”

Guest Blogger Larry Crane, founder and editor of Tape Op Magazine: Don’t try to work longer hours than you can really be productive during. I work 10-hour days. I’ve worked 14-hour days. Guess how much work we really got done in 14 hours? 10 hours’ worth.

The music industry is not going to end, of course. In fact, I feel positive that it could become the biggest it’s ever been. The demand for music is high. So what needs to be done to get there and how can musicians like me survive in the changing times?

How many solos, lead lines, or any number of other frequencies vanished into the ether because of shitty mixes, bad pedals, or somebody who doesn’t know the difference between gain and volume?

The info and agreement template in this Licensing Kit are aimed at helping filmmakers and musicians execute an agreement for a song to be included in a film or video.