Music geek alert… Until “Interdependence Suite” I used only one piano sound per release. But this time, I changed that up completely. For this release, I used four different piano libraries. I tested each of the four sound sets against each of my improvisations and tried to choose the one that sounded best. As you […]
If you play guitar, chances are you’ve been intrigued by the thought of playing the banjo as well. However, playing the banjo and the guitar are two different things. It can be done, but it also takes quite a bit of practice. If you are interested in making that transition from guitar playing to banjo
Meditations on Moving From Guitar Playing to Banjo Playing Read More »
Today’s guest post on making piano lessons awesome is by Catherine Palmer. Cate is a psychologist, writer, music teacher, and a huge geek. Her fields of expertise could be summed up in psychology, productivity, and education-related topics, while her interests are wide and ever-evolving. While it’s true that getting used to a certain routine can be
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
Mixing, mastering, & recording plugin essentials Read 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
Protecting Your Album Release – Copyright and More Read More »
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
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
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,
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
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
