I need your help: what should I blog about next?
And thanks so much for being here! What should I blog about next? — stan stewart (@muz4now) February 20, 2018
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Musician Tips
Tips and reviews for musicians from Stan Stewart (aka muz4now)
Mixing, mastering, & recording plugin essentials
I know that this post will be of interest to some of my readers. Frequently I am asked on social networks about my favorite plugins for recording and producing music. (To skip straight to the list of plugins, click this sentence.) Furthermore, while creating PresentSongs, I’ve had to streamline my recording setup. Knowing which audio
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Protecting Your Album Release – Copyright and More
Here’s the last post in this series. If you’re just joining us, you may want to go back and start at the beginning. But that’s up to you. Everything is ready for your album release. You’ve avoided my mistakes by budgeting, funding, self-care, arranging the songs, recording/mixing/mastering, marketing, and promoting your album. Now, it ‘s
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Promo and Discovery: Getting Your Songs Heard
Nice. You have an album release ready to be heard. Though there are a million ways to get your songs heard, only a few of them can be covered in this post. You already know about many free ways to get promo. Those include telling your friends/fans, sending an announcement to your mailing list, and sharing
Marketing Your DIY Album Release
This is the one you were waiting for, right? I made the most mistakes in my album release when it comes to marketing. Even if you think you have all of your publicity set up via social media or whatever, don’t assume that you’re done until you’re done. If you don’t take anything else from
Recording, mixing, and mastering your album
So far, the posts in this series have been fairly systematic. This is a much more random — and important based on my experience — set of thoughts about recording your album. The bottom line? If you’ve never recorded before, don’t assume that you can do it. Spend some time mentoring with a recording engineer,
Arranging songs for your album release
Just because you can write a catchy or beautiful song doesn’t always mean you will automatically be the best arranger, too. Or maybe orchestration just doesn’t interest you. Some wonderful composers and songwriters have reached out to me because they find arranging to be such a challenge. Since I enjoy creating fills, instrumental bridges, and
Inspiration for your album release
I made mistakes in my album release process. This is a post in a series of blogs to help you avoid those mistakes. This one is about maintaining your inspiration and health while getting ready to drop your new tunes. People often ask me either “What inspires you to write music/songs?” or “How do the
Funding Your Album Release
After you’ve checked the balance in your own bank account and the checkbook of your band mates, family and friends, you may find that you still need funds for your upcoming album. You’ve already budgeted for your album release based on the previous post in this series. Once you determine how much you can contribute to
Budgeting for your album release
The first mistake in the album release process I want to help you avoid is not having enough money to finish. I promised my album to my fans by a certain date. But I started several steps in the process too late to complete them. The first thing to budget is time. If you don’t