Head over to Google real quick and search for your band name. It should only take about 0.25 seconds so I’ll wait for you to come back…

Alright, is your band the first thing that comes up in the search results? Is it on the first page?

Anyone looking for info about your band, be it a fan or a promoter, will probably start with a Google search (and if you’re lucky, they might even spell your band’s name correctly). If they can’t find you easily in the search results, you’re missing out on new fans and gigs.

If your band isn’t coming up, what can you do? (more…)

Here is a great little rundown of the plugins on Sonicbids. This should give you a feel on how it works. Also enjoy the soothing, almost ethereal, music of Catherine Duc and the song “One Autumn Day”,  in the background of the highly instructional voice of Bob or QA Analyst.

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.

(more…)

The show is done, it’s 3 a.m., you’ve got your fifty bucks from the door, sold some t-shirts and you need to figure out where to land. You’ve got the band fund, but that’s gas money not to be parted with for a quick stay in a rat-den motel. What to do? Whatever your motivation is to seek out free lodging we came up with an idea that may help. It’s called Better Than The Van, a couch surfing social network for bands on tour (http:// www.betterthanthevan.com). Yes, we know social networks are very 2007 but it’s the best we can do.

Ok, back the post-show scenario. The show ends in say, Boise. Everyone splits and you didn’t meet a cool person the whole night. I understand sleep may not be too important. I now from experience. After all, you’re on tour so fly the flag of debauchery and do what thou whilst. But you’ve got that eight-hour drive tomorrow and you plan to hit Boise again hoping for a bigger turn out. What to do? (more…)

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.

(more…)

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…)