New studio membership benefits

The studio membership program has been quite successful and has helped musicians get the assistance they need to complete their recordings and distribute their music to the world. Part of the new studio membership is the in-studio musician training that will give all studio members access to our staff to get assistance with every aspect of their musical career. This will include professional feedback for everything from composing songs to stage performance. The goal is to provide constructive feedback that will help musicians make critical decisions about their public appearance. Not just online, but in-person, which will help develop stronger relationships with managers, bookers, promoters, and most importantly the fans.

We have 2 options for studio membership right now and may add more in the future. Both options for membership come with our in-studio training. Paired with our online services, each member has access to our services wherever they are for any occasion. So if you have plans to work on music videos or start to plan your upcoming tour, we are here to assist you with every step of the process.

High and Low Pass Filters on Vocals

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EQ settings for vocals sometimes feels like you’re trying to find buried treasure. An endless task of moving knobs and listening to the changes just seems overwhelming. Then comes the conversation about filters on vocals that almost always arises in every session.

There are a few things you can do to improve your vocal recordings and get them to sit in a mix. The first is using filters on your EQ to tighten up the high and low end spectrum. Filters on most EQ plugins have 3 main settings.

1. On/Off

2. Frequency

3. Curve/Slope

The first is obvious, so moving on to the second. Frequency is the point where the filter starts to engage. This is the point in the EQ spectrum where the audio is starting to be lowered or attenuated. On a High-Pass Filter (HPF) you are allowing the high frequencies to pass as you filter out the low frequencies. On a Low-Pass Filter (LPF) you are allowing the low frequencies to pass as you filter out the high frequencies. When these are used properly, you can clean up a recording to focus on the audio spectrum that you do want in the mix.

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For example, when you set your HPF to 50Hz it is only starting to attenuate the frequencies at that point. How much attenuation is based on the third parameter, the curve or slope. This is measured in dB octaves that are listed as 6dB, 12dB, 18dB, 24dB, and 30dB. These are referred to as ordered harmonics and a 6dB curve is a 1st order harmonic. This means that the signal level drops 6dB per octave. A second order harmonic is a 12dB slope and the signal drops 12dB per octave. The higher the slope the more severe the drop in audio signal becomes and approaches a “brick-wall” response, which is not usually favorable to your audio signal.

For vocals I like to use a 12dB slope for both the HPF and the LPF. Sometimes I’ll use a different setting if the mix needs some tweaking. For the HPF I typically start around 80Hz and then adjust the frequency based on the tone of the vocalist and the style of the music. It does take some time to train your ears to recognize the sound that you want for a mix. I don’t recommend making these changes with the track in solo mode. It’s better to have your track in the mix and listen to how the EQ adjustments affect your track and mix. Using a HPF correctly can help cut down on the rumble in a vocal track and tame some of the plosives that may happen if your vocalist is too close to the mic.

The LPF on vocals can be a bit more difficult to dial in. In many cases, the vocal spectrum in the high frequencies is OK to leave in the mix. If you’re trying to cut down on sibilance, it’s best to use a de-esser. However, if you want to shape the vocal to reduce the amount of high frequencies it has in the mix then you can use a LPF to get the job done. I’ll usually start around 10kHz with a 12dB slope and then sweep the filter frequency up and down to find a spot that works for the mix. Rolling off these high frequencies can make more room in a mix for other instruments or backing vocal tracks. Depending on the arrangement of the music you can get a tighter sound by filtering out these higher vocal frequencies.

For more info and visual tutorials, check out my audio mixing master class.

5 Steps to Getting Your Music Licensed | Step 4

Now that you have created a web presence, you need to get into the public eye. Promoting your website and your music starts with good press. Find someone who will write a professional press release for you and your music. The press release should exemplify the unique qualities of your band and music. Focus should be on the sound and style of the music to draw in readers. To draw attention to the music, draw ties to influences and similar artists. Just keep it short. About 300 words is all the attention a reader will give a press release, so get to the point.

Be smart about it and provide contact info and links back to your website. Possibly set up a show that the press release directs readers to attend. Break into the music scene with some gusto. Maybe throw a house party and play in your backyard or garage. Get a keg and invite folks over. People may not be familiar with your music, so it's a good idea to turn the event into a party.

How to book the right venue

Playing concerts is what we all love to do. Playing to empty rooms is never fun. Here are a few tips on how to get more people at your shows.

First, do a little bit of research on the venue that you want to play. Does the venue have a history of hosting musicians or music similar to the music you play? It is a good idea to go and see a show at any venue that you're considering before you book your own show at that venue. If you have a chance to talk to one of the bandmembers it's playing at the show, ask them questions like how easy it was to book the show and how much fun they had performing there. Gather as much information as you can about the venue before you even start to talk to the booking agent for the venue. Once you have a good idea of whether or not you want to book the show at a certain venue, that is when you contact the booking agent. You want to speak with them confidently about performing at their venue. Book a show far enough in advance so that you have time to do adequate advertising. You want people to come to your show so you need to give them time to plan on being at the show for the date that you are about to book. Most folks have plans for about 2 to 3 weeks in advance on weekends, which is probably the best night for you to try to book a show.

Next comes the hard part. You need to find a way to get people interested and aware that you were playing a show. Don't rely on the venue to do all the promotion for your show. You need to get out there and do some good old legwork and word-of-mouth promotion for your show. Get some posters made and find good places to put them up so they will be visible and draw people in to putting your show on their calendar. Just a little bit of good advertising and promotion will bring probably 10 to 15 folks to your show.if you get more that's awesome. However playing a show for a few people or a lot of people shouldn't matter or affect your performance. Even if one person comes to your show, put on the best show of your career.

Tips for performing live gigs

I've been out to see some local music this past month and wanted to make a few comments on stage presence and what to do when you're on stage. The first thing to remember is that you are the one on stage, so you provide the entertainment. All eyes in the room are on you, so be the artist and give the audience something to watch. The last show I went to see had two bands performing. The first band was impressive. The music had motion and a creative element that was engaging. The musicians were very emotional and it was obvious that they loved their music. The singer was dancing and really putting on a show. Bravo!

The second band started their set and all the musicians were standing still and starring down at their instruments. The singer started the set by saying, "This is a new song, so we may mess it up. Really hope you like it." These are horrible things to say when you're on stage in front of a crowd. It sounds like you don't rehearse and you're insecure about your own music. What do you care if anyone likes the music or not? Will you stop playing a song just because someone says they don't like the song? I certainly hope not. Everyone has a different taste in music, so some will like your tunes and some will not. That should have no relevance on how you compose and perform your music.

The attitude you have on stage transfers onto the crowd. If you're timid and nervous, the crowd will be shy about listening to you perform. When you show emotion and feel the music when you're on stage, it energizes the crowd and they open up to your music. Music is passionate by nature, so release the emotions that inspired you to compose the music and put on a good show for the audience. Please, rehearse your live performance! Don't just meet in your everyday clothes and robotically practice your songs, pretend you're on stage every now and then. Maybe set up a camera and video yourselves so you can see what you look like to the crowd. The stage performance is just as important as the music. Please, for the love of sanity, mute your amp while you tune your guitar. There is nothing that will kill a buzz faster than a lame guitarist plucking random strings to tune a guitar. You never hear a big time guitarist on stage tuning their guitar, so neither should you!

It's OK to talk to the crowd and get them amped up, but keep it short. Unless you're a natural stand up comedian, the longer you talk, the faster the crowd looses interest in your performance. Save the chit chat for after the show. If you need some guidance, just look up some videos on the web of your favorite bands performing live. Take notes on what they do well and how they keep the audience entertained and engaged in the performance. A good live show will propel your music career and news will spread of how impressive your live show can be. That's how you draw a crowd to your shows. Stop asking all your friends to come to each of your shows. You need to reach people you don't personally know.