Awhile ago I posted a video here on the Lounge advising artists to make a “Band Information Pamphlet” for their next show.  A few artists contacted me via Twitter about the idea and what their results using it were.  Sonicbids artist Chris Hodges even mailed me a copy of the one he put together using an MS Word template which he printed at Office Max for $0.38 apiece.  Chris also improved on the concept by including a slip of paper for fans to fill in their email address with instructions to  drop it in the tip jar.  Check out the video for a closer look:

Sonicbids members Selkow had the great idea to build a pamphlet with info about their band to pass out at shows.  Check the video below for a look at what they did:

A lot of people are striving for the dream to get out of the day job and move full time into a career in making music.  I’ve sure you’ve heard stories of people using wild and crazy marketing ideas to get attention, big name bands breaking away from major labels and weekend warriors leaving the desk job behind to become full time musicians.

So how do you do it, with your band, with your strengths? Well there is no single answer, every artist is going to need their own unique approach and it’s up to them to find what that is. Obviously having great music is first and foremost, but you also need to get people to listen. One trick is using the skills you develop in your day to day jobs to your advantage, and design your marketing campaign around those strengths.  Things like getting the grammar nut in the band working on copy and the really friendly one working the email list after the show is obvious. However thinking outside the box is the best way to survive in a music business whose box is constantly changing.  One thing to think about is combining skills sets of the different members of your musical team to create something greater than the separate items. For example if you’re a web designer and your guitar player works in sales. You can design a functional and effective way of selling music online more so then most. If you have a carpenter, an electrician, and an artist, you can design your own lighting system, and a killer, totally unique light show. (more…)

By Philip De Lancie

This article continues Line 6’s home recording series with a step-by-step exploration into recording software and interfaces. When you’re up and running, head over to the Line 6 Community to download free Reason ReFills, free drum loops and free backing tracks! More great articles to come! Bookmark the Line 6 Lounge and don’t miss a thing!

In the opening article of this series we looked at computers for home recording. This time we’ll look at a couple other essential ingredients of a home recording setup, touching briefly on the audio interface and then focusing on the software that turns a computer into a DAW (digital audio workstation).

Today’s DAW is a computer-hosted hardware/software combination that handles several related tasks:

Conversion – the changing of audio signals from external instruments and microphones into digital data on the way to the computer and back to analog signals on the way out.

Recording and Playback – the storing and playing back of audio data to/from the computer hard drive.

Synthesis and Sampling – the generation of “software instrument” sounds by the computer, either sampled (based on actual recordings) or synthetic (built by modifying and combining waveforms).

Sequencing – the storing and playing back of MIDI data that is used to play software instruments from the computer and also to control playback of external devices (e.g. a MIDI keyboard or sound module).

Editing – copying, cutting, pasting and otherwise modifying and reordering recorded sounds.

Effects – modifying recorded sounds or software instruments by applying reverb, chorus, distortion, etc. to make them sound more pleasing or to create a desired mood.

Mixing – combining and balancing all the recorded and software-generated sounds into a final mix, typically two channels (stereo) but possibly surround sound (e.g. 5.1), often using automation. (more…)

Since we launched our new plugin features that show song plays from Last.fm it reminded me of a program they launched to pay royalties to unsigned artists.  This got me thinking about what bands could do to get more airplay from Last.fm, Pandora, Yahoo Launchcast and other algorithm driven internet radio stations.  Basically SEO for internet radio.

I decided to look into Last.fm and how they pick “similar artists.”  If you can get your band to show up as a “similar artist” for a more popular band, the recommendation engine should push their listeners over to you.  To test this theory I took a look at Last.fm’s artist charts.  The number #1 band at the time was Coldplay.  If I’m correct, the bands that are similar to Coldplay should end up with more listeners than the similar artists for a lower ranked band.

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By Philip De Lancie

Vocals to drums, the right microphones ensure the best recordings. This article continues Line 6’s home recording series with an exploration into the most common microphone types, specs and applications. Big recording budgets, giant studios and seasoned engineers are becoming increasingly infrequent so be sure you’re making the right microphone choices. More great articles to come! Bookmark the Line 6 Lounge and don’t miss a thing!

Microphones are like people: each has its own distinct personality. So choosing one isn’t a matter of which is “best” but rather which gives the desired result for a given purpose. In fact, unlike other gear, where frequency response should always be as flat technically possible (what goes in is what comes out), mics are often chosen because of the way they color the sound of what’s being miced.

Studio engineers develop their mic-choosing skills by listening to a lot of different mics on a lot of different instruments. Home recordists don’t have that luxury. What we can do is look at the mic choices typically made by professional engineers for various instruments, try to understand why those choices seem to work well most of the time, and apply what we’ve learned to mics that are within our budget. To do that, it helps to start by understanding a bit about some basic technical concepts.

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This article was written by Chris McCown at Sweetwater. We’ve publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often! And now for some motivation.

If you’re like me, then your studio consists of a DAW (digital audio workstation software), a computer, an audio interface, a decent set of monitors, a nice selection of plug-ins, possibly an outboard mic preamp or two, and a couple of good mics. Maybe you have an outboard EQ or compressor, and you may even be using a nice master clock with high-end AD/DA converters. Hopefully some acoustic treatment is present on the walls and in the corners.

If this is you, you will definitely benefit from what I’m about to tell you, although I believe a summing mixer – which is the key term of this article – will be beneficial to anyone who records audio whether it’s in a small basement studio or a full-blown commercial production facility.

What is a “summing mixer”? A summing mixer is an analog device that takes multiple audio outputs from your digital-to-analog converter or audio interface, and mixes them in the analog domain. Essentially you’re taking your mix out of the computer/DAW digital domain, and stepping into the analog realm to create a mixed stereo track filled with high-headroom, spatially present glory. A summing mixer can be either a dedicated box, such as those from Dangerous Music, TL Audio, Audient, and other manufacturers, or it can be a compact or console-style analog mixer. (more…)