blog

Free Hour Long Video Tutorial On Recording And Mixing

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:29:18 +0100

Here's one last final guest post from producer Gary Gray before we officially release our course "Mysteries Of Mastering Solved" next week. The course will be officially released on Tuesday, May 21st but is now available for pre-order between now and then. If you pre-order the course we're including several free bonuses including a free critique of one of your tracks from Gary Gray as well as a Skype consultation with Gary.

This course really turned out great! I say that about all my courses, but seriously, this course is amazing and packed with over four hours of incredible content. If you're at all interested in learning how to improve your tracks for licensing opportunities, I strongly encourage you to check out this course. Gary has decided to make one of the videos from the course free to preview (see below). I actually was hesitant to make this video available for free but Gary really wants everyone to get a feel for the quality and amount of detail included in our new course.

Check this video out below to see the quality of the content included in our course.

Pre-Order "Mysteries Of Mastering Solved" here:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/mastering-course.php

Gary, over to you...

It's a truth to say that great mixes, not mastered, can easily fail in the licensing world.

It's also a truth to say that not-so-great mixes, which then get mastered, also easily fail in the licensing world.

And deducing one step further - a poor recording job mixed and mastered by the best will suffer in the end and again, will easily fail in the licensing world.

Moral of this story?

In order to succeed in getting your music licensed you've got to know the true basic fundamental laws, theory and techniques regarding all three:

Recording

Mixing

And Mastering.

To start you on your way, I've produced a video which covers the first two points, Recording and Mixing; which is part of the course "Mysteries Of Mastering Solved." The full course will be released Next Week. Aaron and I have decided to make this video available to you now, for free. This is an hour long video called "Session Routing Architecture - How To Set Up A Workable Template." This video gives you a strong foundation on how to Record and Mix to Major Label Industry Standards without ever leaving your Home Studio. 100% of this course was video'd, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered in my own Home Studio. And if you're thinking I've got some fancy million dollar Home Studio (I wish!) I don't. In fact, I will bet you right now that many of your studios are better than mine! And that's the whole point of this course. It's not about the equipment, its' about knowing your trade. Aaron and I are concentrating on making great Producers and Engineers out of you, not on selling gear. We wanted to share this information with you immediately so that you can start improving your chances for licensing success right away. You won't find this information anywhere else in any other course. This is a ground-breaking, myth-busting, look into techniques used by top pros behind closed doors. .

The other two/thirds of the course deal mostly with MASTERING. And this is what will ultimately separate those who will be able to compete effectively in securing licensing deals from those who will have a much harder time at it.

So, as a gift from Aaron and me, enjoy this Free Video below! (There is a detailed digital poster "schematic" illustration of how to set up your sessions which accompanies this video which comes with the course)

Recording, Mixing and Mastering your music to Music Supervisor standards for licensing includes knowing and following an exact scientific approach to production, (which you will absolutely learn on the full course) along with your unique, individual artistic creativity (no one can teach you that, but if you know and apply the technical part of your trade without frustration and without wasted time and effort, you will be free to create to your full potential!)

During recent market research to selected markets around the world, I received some great feedback on the course. After helping a HowToLicenseYourMusic.com member, Nathan Steinke, with one of his projects, following the principals and guidelines in the course, here is the feedback I received from him within 24 hours of completing his first track applying these new principles and techniques:

Hi Gary!

"THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is going to fly off the shelves!

This music piece sounds great! I am really glad I met you and Aaron.

I have only showed a few people so far but the owner of Luckstock.com asked me if I would consider an exclusive licensing deal already! You are the man!

Enjoy the weather! It's finally "sort of" nice in Wisconsin.

Take care, Nathan"

So, as you can see, this course is specifically designed to teach you, without other disrelated subjects, how to get your recordings up to the standards necessary to get LICENSING DEALS.

As I said, the course itself will be released Next Week and we're making it available at a ridiculously low price. The course will be officially released on Tuesday, May 21st, but you can pre-order the course between now and then and also receive a free critique of one of your recordings as well as a free Skype consultation.

Pre-Order the course here:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/mastering-course.php

Our maiin goal is building a strong international base of educated and successful Independent Musicians, Singer, Songwriters, Producers, Composers and Engineers. We believe that you will be so satisfied with the knowledge and techniques that you learn on this course, and with your success in applying it, that you will direct more and more of your friends and fellow musicians to HowToLicenseYourMusic.com. This has been our successful strategy so far and as they say, if something is working, keep it going!

Good Luck!

Gary Gray

Los Angeles, California

May 2013

Inside Quincy Jones' Studio

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:37:24 +0100

In a couple days I'll be announcing details of my latest niche course, "Mysteries Of Mastering Solved". This course was created in collaboration with producer Gary Gray.

I'm really excited about this course because in addition to being a really important subject, Gary and I have put a LOT of work into this course. We started working on this several months ago and have created what I think is one of, if not the most comprehensive course available on the topic of mastering music as it relates to the music licensing industry. More details on that soon!

During the many conversations I've had with Gary about music and production over the last year or so, Gary has brought up his "friend" Quincy Jones a lot. Gary is always saying "Quincy this" and "Quincy that". Or "I was over at Quincy's last night and Quincy said this".... Or "one of the things Quincy always says is" .... You get the idea. Now to be honest, if I was friends with one of the world's most important and legendary music producers, I'd probably talk about him too! As a music producer, it doesn't get much better than that. Imagine being able to hang with someone like Quincy Jones who has been living and breathing music his whole life and has worked with many of the world's most iconic performers.

Now the other day when I was talking to Gary it occured to me that I really had know proof that Gary really had ever even met Quincy Jones, let alone been to his house and hung out with him. Gary had sent me a couple photos of him and Quincy together, but that could have just been at some sort of meet and greet event or even photos that were photo shopped for all I know! Now dont' get me wrong, I totally trust Gary and never really doubted him. But when we were talking the other day I sort of jokingly said, "Gary, do you really know ""Quincy"? "Are you sure you're not just hanging out with someone claiming to be Quincy Jones". I really was just joking. But a couple days later Gary sent me not one, but two home videos he shot with Quincy in his home and studio!

Now the quality isn't the greatest, these are just home videos that I'm assuming Gary shot with his smart phone when they were hanging out. But I thought I'd share them with you because they provide a really cool glimpse into Quincy's home and studio, and at last, I finally have proof that Gary really does know Quincy Jones!

So check these videos out!

This one is Gary and Quincy in Quincy's Home Studio:

And this one is an even longer video of Gary and Quincy hanging out in Quincy's house talking about music and cultures around the world:

The Music INDUSTRY

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:25:19 +0100

Today's post is part three in a three part series on the topic of mastering from producer Gary Gray. Gary and I recently created a course together all about mastering which we'll be releasing later this week calle "Mysteries Of Mastering Solved". Here's a sample video from the course that features an actual mastering session:

Over to you Gary.....

The Music INDUSTRY

Recently, while taking notes during a personal mentoring session with Quincy Jones, I stopped writing. All of a sudden, something he said hit me so hard I knew I would never forget it.

He said, “Gary, we’ve got to put Industry back into the Music Industry.”

Quincy was talking about a world-wide cultural trend he has observed since the mid 1990’s. A trend of declining hard work. A trend of less and less apprenticeships and mentorships. A trend of lowered work-ethic discipline. A trend which has taken root in, amongst other industries, our very own Music Industry. Ironically, the downtrend is exactly opposite to the uptrending innovations of the high-tech computer industry, which has seen astronomical product growth and previously unimaginable technical achievements during the same time period.

Quincy also pointed out that the declining trend within the Music Industry is not something that has taken hold of everyone; it is not so bleak that everyone is trapped within it. There are plenty of examples of people who work hard, who work ethically and who are excellent teachers and excellent students within our industry. It’s just that the overall international downward trend is undeniable.

Basically, he was describing a phenomenon I had already researched. And something I already knew.

Or did I?

The moment I realized that I didn’t really, fully understand what he was trying to get me to see – was the moment I stopped writing and started thinking hard about what he was saying.

My realization? If I really fully understood what he said, then I myself would more consistently

a. be working harder

b. be maintaining an even higher level of work ethic

c. be reaching even more aggressively for wisdom and education from those whom I admire and look up to in the industry

d. be sharing that wisdom even more with others and more effectively be helping the industry improve. (Which is one reason I decided to create the new course on Mastering with Aaron Davison)

And right here is where the power of a mentorship – or any form of effective education -- is invaluable: Being inspired to act on knowledge and acting on it effectively, consistently and with success out of personal pride and/or in order to show your mentor/teacher that you appreciate his or her efforts -- and especially to be able to share with others what you have learned. That is the true power of effective education. It can transform an entire industry, nation or world, one person at a time. When effective education is in place, the results speak for themselves. And that’s when a student can demonstrate that he or she actually understands a subject.

And truthfully, there is always room to learn more.

So when I sat down to write this Blog for HowToLicenseYourMusic.com on the subject of Mastering Music, the first thing that popped into my mind was the word Industry. Here is the dictionary definition of Industry that Quincy was talking about:

1. The habit of working hard and steadily.

The word Industry comes from the Latin word Industria; which means active, diligent.

Mastering

Mastering isn’t someTHING that you do, it is a process of THINGS (plural) that are done, with a specific purpose in mind, to a recording. That process is broken down into two main areas:

a. The Scientific Process and

b. The Artistic Process

– both working hand in hand.

The PURPOSE is to create a pleasant listening experience for the end-user, and to enhance not only the quality of the sound of the recording, but even more importantly - the emotional impact of the music itself for the listener.

And in order to carry out those processes, one must be Industrious. If one is to achieve the highest quality Mastering possible on any particular recording, there is an attitude, an approach – a WAY of mastering music that you will find is shared by all great Mastering Engineers. It’s a very professional and thorough approach to both the Scientific and the Artistic Process.

It can be summed up in two words: Quality Control. Quality Control is an approach of how you work. It can be developed. It can be taught. It can always be improved in an individual. And if you make it your priority, something very interesting will happen to your career. Though it will seem counter-intuitive, you will find yourself getting more done faster – and with much higher quality. Seems at first like it would slow you down. It doesn’t.

What slows down careers and people is a LACK of quality control.

I found this common denominator 100% prevalent amongst successful Mixing and Mastering Engineers. In fact, I found Quality Control playing a much larger role now than in the pre-digital recording era, back in the analog days. Why? Because of the number of choices available to anyone in any single digital mixing or mastering session are astronomical. So the need for Quality Control has increased tremendously. How much Quality Control does the pilot of a single engine Cessna airplane need to exercise. Quite a bit. But now – compare that to the amount of Quality Control needed to fly a 747. With technology comes not only freedom, but a greater need for discipline and control.

And so, in putting together this Blog, I realized that our industry is lacking an up-to-date definition of Mastering itself. Because what Mastering actually is has changed – even over the last 5 years.

In the real world today, there are four different approaches and applications of Mastering, but currently there is only one definition. I realized that a new definition was needed to clearly define each separate approach and application. Note: For the purpose of Licensing your own music, pay particular close attention to the fourth approach to Mastering.

OVERAL DEFINITION OF MASTERING

Mastering in the audio recording domain is a set of actions taken by the Mastering Engineer (or not - if the recording has passed his standards without Mastering) that governs the final outcome of how a recording will sound, with the final goal being to create a pleasant listening experience for the end-user, on any medium and to enhance not only the quality of the sound of the recording, but even more importantly - the emotional impact of the recording itself for the listener. Every action taken by the Mastering Engineer falls under one heading: Quality Control.

Mastering can be broken down into four separate activities all aiming for the exact same final goal: A pleasant listening experience for the end-user, listening on any medium and to enhance not only the quality of the sound of the recording, but even more importantly - the emotional impact of the recording itself for the listener. The four divisions of audio Mastering are:

1. TRADITIONAL (FINAL) ANALOG MASTERING

2. TRADITIONAL (FINAL) DIGITAL MASTERING

3. STEM MASTERING

4. INDEPENDENT MASTERING.

TRADITIONAL (FINAL) ANALOG MASTERING

“Mastering is the last creative step in the audio production process, the bridge between Mixing and Replication (or Distribution).” – Bob Katz “Mastering Audio – The Art and The Science” Second Edition. Focal Press. Traditional (Final) Analog Mastering is done in the analog domain as compared to the computer driven digital domain. In analog mastering, all (or most) of the gear used is tape-based and analog driven. This form of mastering is actually on the increase throughout the word, as the number of Vinyl records being manufactured, distributed and sold increases every year. In the U.K., the Mastering process is viewed more as the first step in distribution, whereas in the U.S., it is viewed more as the final step of recording. This term includes the word “Final” to distinguish traditional mastering approaches (done as a final step) from newer approaches of Stem Mastering and Independent Mastering.

TRADITIONAL (FINAL) DIGITAL MASTERING

“Mastering is the last creative step in the audio production process, the bridge between Mixing and Replication (or Distribution).” – Bob Katz “Mastering Audio – The Art and The Science” Second Edition. Focal Press. Traditional (Final) Digital Mastering is done in the digital domain as compared to the tape driven analog domain. In digital mastering, all (or most) of the gear used is digital-based and computer driven. This form of mastering is done by professional Mastering Engineers who receive stereo files of mixed sessions from Mixing Engineers and returns fully mastered files to the client. This form of mastering also includes adding meta-data, codes and tracking information to industry standards that helps identify and follow a recording through the international system of digital distribution and sales. This form of mastering can also be used as part of the process of creating a Vinyl record, and often is. In the U.K., the Mastering process is viewed more as the first step in distribution, whereas in the U.S., it is viewed more as the final step of recording. This term includes the word “Final” to distinguish traditional mastering approaches (done as a final step) from newer approaches of Stem Mastering and Independent Mastering.

STEM MASTERING

Stem Mastering is actually a combination of both Mixing and Mastering. Stem Mastering consists of the Mastering Engineer receiving stem files (in this case the stem files, rather than being each individual instrument and/or vocal track exported separately, would be grouped stem files; that is – submixes of groups of instruments and/or submixes of groups of vocals pre-mixed by the mixing engineer, with each stem file starting at the exact same point, making it easy for the Mastering Engineer to quickly line them up and get to work) and taking those stem files and first Mixing them, and then Mastering them. Examples of stem file sub-mix groups would be: VOCALS (sometimes broken down into LEAD VOCALS and BACKING VOCALS), GUITARS, KEYBOARDS, BASS, DRUMS, ORCHESTRATION; or another example of stem file sub-mix groups would be: VOCALS and INSTRUMENTS. When the Mastering Engineer receives the stem files, he loads them up into his workstation and the first thing he does is Mixes the tracks to his taste. The Mastering Engineer may export a final stereo Mix of these sub-mixes prior to Mastering, or he may Master the stem files separately and export the combination of Mastered stem files as the final master of the song. The advantage of Stem Mastering for the client as well as the Mastering Engineer is that if the Mastering engineer hears something such as a problem with a vocal performance in the second chorus, let’s say – he might cut and paste something from the first chorus and use it instead – or if he hears a problem with the relationship between the guitars and the drums (let’s say the guitars were mixed too loud) – with Stem Mastering, he can bring the level of the sub-mix group of guitars down exactly where he feels they should be – rather than trying unusual situations to bring them down if he only had a single stereo mix down of the entire song. Rather than have to give the mix back to the Mixing Engineer and asking him to fix something and then send it back, the Master Engineer has more control over the final product, because, though he cannot mix individual items such as the Kick Drum or one particular Guitar, he can adjust GROUPS of instruments and/or vocals and achieve a product overall closer to his liking. The possible disadvantage is that the artist and/or mixing engineer might not like what the Mastering Engineer Mixes/Masters compared to their own tastes.

INDEPENDENT MASTERING

Independent Mastering is so named due to the fact that a new form of Mastering has evolved in the Music Industry; Mastering in Project Studios and Home Studios by Independent Musicians/Producers/Engineers. Due to various reasons; such as economic limitations (not being able to afford a pro Mastering Engineer), or perhaps due to personal pride in do-it-yourself workmanship, and perhaps due to the joy of learning and executing a new science and art form, or any other number of reasons, a new discipline has emerged – where Recording, Mixing and Mastering are done by the same person on the same equipment. Rather than trying to say that this is not a workable and successful assembly line for sound recordings (it very much IS) or that it violates the Traditional definition of Mastering, this newer approach -- which grows in members every year, has organically created its own niche and so requires its own definition. By observing this approach personally for more than ten years now, and by doing it myself for thousands of hours, I have been able to distill its essence down to a workable definition:

INDEPENDENT MASTERING

Independent Mastering is a set of actions, starting even before recording begins. Each action taken by the “Independent Mastering Engineer” (as compared to the “Traditional Mastering Engineer”) follows the same over-riding principal and approach as does all audio mastering: Quality Control. In this case, since the Recording Engineer, the Mixing Engineer and the Mastering Engineer are one in the same person, the Mastering procedures can be separated from Recording and Mixing procedures by purpose: when the engineer is initially capturing a sound on a medium, he is fulfilling the actions of a Recording Engineer. When he makes important adjustments that will majorly affect the final quality of that recording during tracking, he is carrying out the role of both “Recording Engineer” and “Independent Mastering Engineer.” When he is initially balancing the recorded sounds that have been captured, he is considered the “Mixing Engineer.” When he makes important adjustments that will majorly affect the final quality of that recording during mixing, he is carrying out the role of both “Mixing Engineer” and “Independent Mastering Engineer.” And finally, as in traditional Mastering, when he applies the final processes to a recording prior to sending it off for licensing opportunities and/or distribution, he is carrying out the role only of “Independent Mastering Engineer.” (Note that some “Independent Mastering Engineers” also employ the procedure of “Stem Mastering.”)

Examples: Before you start recording, you should carefully check the actual inherent noise floor levels of each instrument, mic, plug-in (that’s right plug-ins that you predict you will be using on that recording, if not already tested before in previous projects) or pre-recorded samples you are using for your project. Many times you will find some fascinating MASTERING problems that exist BEFORE RECORDING EVEN BEGINS! For instance, I was checking the optimum setting for a microphone before I recorded a vocal session the other day. I tried two different microphones to see which one would suit that project better. I found the one mic that sounded best for that job. I then test-recorded vocals with that mic (without the singer around, as these tests can take time and you don’t want a vocalist wasting their time on your job). By test-recorded I mean this:

a. I adjusted the input gain knob on the pre-amp slowly while test-recording, noting down where the settings were at any given moment by talking into the mic, stating what exactly I was adjusting at that moment, so I could listen to the effect of any change or adjustment during playback and know what was causing any good or bad effect on the signal being recorded.

b. Recording the mic without any vocals at all – just the “silence” of the room, while making both major and fine adjustments on the pre-amp; while noting down in writing what was being adjusted and how (including any numbers or readouts of the equipment or meters) at any given bar on the track.

c. I then played back the “silence” and listened very carefully for the quietest noise floor by turning the volume up considerably, paying very close attention that no sudden spikes of signal are sent to the speakers. I made a final note of where the “silent” mic signal was the quietest, with little or no noise being recorded onto that track. This revealed to me the best settings that would translate into the best Mastering for that recording. This is an example of carrying out the role of “Independent Mastering Engineer” PRIOR TO RECORDING.

You can find out about many more examples and exactly how to apply them in the course.

All four applications of Mastering utilize tools such as Compressors, Limiters, Multi-Band Compressors, Multi-Band Limiters, Soft Clippers, Maximizers, etc. A very clear and thorough definition for each along with visual graphics, videos and animation are included in the course so that you will UNDERSTAND what you are doing when you are preparing a Mix for Mastering, and if you so decide, when you Master yourself.

The upcoming course “Mysteries Of Mastering Solved” is so titled because

a) Mastering Music, as it is actually practiced in 2013 (and priorly) has not been codified and standardized in our industry, and so, the subject of Mastering presents itself as an ethereal cloudy mist of “secret knowledge” as it were. I guess another way of saying this is: the subject of Mastering Music hasn’t really fully presented itself ever. There are several pioneers who have done an incredible job of giving us glimpses beyond that mist; with two good examples being Bob Katz and Steve Massey.

b) As you will learn on the course itself, even amongst top Pro Music Industry Mastering Engineers, there are no set standards of 1. Loudness. 2. Monitor Levels and 3. Standard Step-by-Step Guidelines or Checklists for How To Master. (The course “Mysteries Of Mastering Solved” does contain both Guidelines and Checklists for How To Master). Each Mastering Engineer in the past was taught differently with a different philosophy, different goals and different priorities. Some are more workable and some less. This course standardizes the workable approaches to Mastering. You will also learn on the course that a certain related industry DOES have set standards for 1, 2 and 3 above – and you will learn why the Music Industry missed out and was not forged and maintained with the same standards. The good news is, and you will ALSO learn everything there is to know about this on the course – the industry is changing. Certain standards of loudness and monitoring levels and guidelines are beginning to arrive to our industry. Though it may take some time to implement them, one of my main goals through the release of the course, is to speed up that process internationally -- so that you no longer feel like you’re the only one who is frustrated, in the dark and has no clue as to what all the tutorials and articles are really trying to say. Believe me, you are not alone. Though the standards differ between the U.S. and Europe at this time (and a third independent standard is also taking hold) my belief and vision is that the world will see one International Standard of Loudness in the not-so-distant future. In fact, the U.S. and European governing bodies which are beginning to implement the two main standards are both finding that adjustments and changes need to be made – and they’re making them – towards the end of arriving at a fully workable system.

c) The word “Solved” is used because a few years ago the “Aha moment” hit home hard for me. It was when I discovered that I, like you, was a small part of a larger international community; a community plagued by chaos and a lack of standards, that I could actually start putting the puzzle together and separate the truth from the myths and help crack the “Mystery.”

Mixing and Mastering

The best news about the course for you is that whether you choose to Master yourself (actually not hard to do when you can cut through the “Mist And The Mystery”), or whether you decide to send your mixes out to be mastered, learning this material will make you a far better mixing engineer than you could imagine. So I should post that as a warning: Side Effects – you may experience intense loss of fatigue, worry, frustration and depression with a noticeable acceleration of speed, feelings of relief and more free time (more sleep!) while the quality of your mixing goes out the roof! So there, consider yourself warned.

You will soon learn how closely related Mixing and Mastering are. A lot closer than you may have thought previous. And you will also learn something very valuable and very close to home – you may not realize right now how much you already know about Mastering. Even if you only have a rudimentary grasp of digital recording, you are already well on your way to becoming a great Mastering Engineer. In fact, those who have more experience may find a need to “unlearn” a few things first in order to match and exceed the quality of Major Label Mastering.

We live during a very exciting period of Audio Recording history.

Both Aaron Davison and I are extremely fortunate in being able to connect with you so that we can help you navigate your way to success.

Good Luck!

Gary Gray

Los Angeles, California

May 2013

Mysteries Of Mastering Part 2

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:55:54 +0100

Today's post is the second in a three part series on the topic of mastering from producer Gary Gray.

Take it away Gary...

DITHERING: Deception or Dire Necessity?

One of the Mysteries of Mastering is Dithering. Start a conversation in a room full of audio engineers on the subject of Dithering. Oh boy. Watch out. You get two reactions; people who start gushing out complicated algorithmic mathematical equations late into the night, or closed mouth absolute total silence.

Ironically, it is on the subject of Dithering in Mr. Katz’ book “Mastering Audio – The Art and The Science,” that many students have walked away, frustrated, scratching their heads, wondering what it was they just read, and wondering how in the hell they were going to apply dithering to their own recordings. If you were one of those people, don’t feel alone.

I am not here to sell anything or to particularly endorse or denounce anyone or any product. I am here to share the honest results of my observations, experiments and research so that you can evaluate them for yourself and so that you can succeed better in your career, and in this case, do so by learning as much as you can about Mastering.

Though a few paragraphs earlier I named Bob Katz one of the heroes in our industry (which he is) -- like all heroes, he is not perfect. Out of the 325 pages of his excellent book, there is one chapter, Chapter 4 “Wordlengths and Dither,” from page 53 to page 64 that, in my opinion, based on my own observations, you can skip.

Skip? Yes. In fact, if you notice, I am not even offering you a definition of Dithering. Why? Because it will just trip you up and waste your time. If dithering were a key element or even had any part whatsoever in my own successes in Licensing Music, or in anyone’s success in Licensing Music – believe me, I’d be all over it like white on rice. You would be getting every possible detailed definition and “how-to’s” that I could get my hands on.

This is based not only on extensive research, but is based, with total confidence, on controlled experiments and tests that I conducted myself in order to answer this question: Is the action of Dithering necessary at all? Can you HEAR the difference between a dithered recording and an un-dithered recording? If I am trying to get my recordings shopped for licensing deals, do I need to know anything about dithering?

The answer to the last question above is No. The test? I used a technology that, ironically, I learned from Mr. Katz, called “the null test.” If you take a recording, duplicate it, line up both recordings perfectly on two separate tracks, and then reverse the phase of one of those two recordings, keeping the volumes identical -- when you hit play, you will hear: silence. If there are ANY differences between those recordings, you will hear something. If they are the same, you will hear nothing during a null test. That’s why it’s called a “null” test.

I took a mix and mastered it without dithering. I then exported the exact same mix again, without changing any mastering settings – except for one; I added dithering. I then took those two recordings, ensured they were lined up perfectly, put one out of phase, made sure the volumes were exactly the same, and I CRANKED UP my studio system louder than it’s ever been turned up before. I hit play – if there were ANY audible difference between those two recordings, I would have heard SOMETHING. The result? Silence. Pure silence all the way through the entire track – from beginning to end.

Interestingly, this was also confirmed independently through research by Steve Massey, an electrical engineer who owns and operates Massey Plugins, where he has designed and built several very popular audio plug-ins. Steve formerly worked for ProTools and Digidesign, designing and helping to build Pro-Tools plug-ins. Here is what Steve says about dithering:

“If dither makes such a perceptible improvement to fidelity, then shouldn't it be completely obvious when that plug-in gets latched into the correct slot and the audio is flowing through the correct path? Shouldn't the standard, somewhat flippant, internet forum answer of "Just use your ears!" be applicable here? It's not -- no one ever says this with regards to dithering. That's because, it's hard to stand behind such a statement with any confidence about a technology that does not exist.”

You can find out more about the results of my tests and more information about Mr. Massey in the course. (Note: I also learned that mp3’s are like snowflakes, which I did not know before. No two [even of the same source material] are created equal. When running the test on wav files, I heard absolutely nothing; silence. When running the test on mp3’s I heard something! Hours and hours of further testing revealed that it wasn’t the dithering that was making the difference on mp3’s – I got the exact same sound from two identical mp3 recordings, both with dithering and both without dithering. I found out that the compression algorithm of mp3 converters work in a random fashion.)

Dithering, then, is a perfect example of The Emperor’s New Clothes. And, unfortunately, the “procession” continues. Case in point: there is a website which “proves” that dithering is audible. And on that website – it is! However, if you miss the fine print, you will fail to notice that the recordings that were dithered were 8 bit recordings. No engineers today ever deal with anything close to 8 bit recording technology. 8 bit recordings are distorted and garbage. Was dithering once valid? Yes, in the early days of digital technology it was valid, but it is no longer a valid or necessary activity for anyone who is trying to land licensing deals. Whether it is necessary or valid for anyone today, I leave up to each individual engineer for experimentation and observation. Simply listen to dithered and undithered tracks, and decide for yourself. And yet, as I said, the “Emperor’s procession” continues: articles, forums, books, videos and authorities preaching the wisdom and importance of dithering.

Another test I conducted to see if dithering made any difference whatsoever was this: I kept reading that dithering was helpful on recordings that contained high frequency ambient passages, especially exposed, long, high-frequency legato notes with sibilance, such as cymbals and cymbal crashes with long reverb trails. Supposedly, dithering helps keep artifacts and dropouts from occurring on such passages.

So I recorded some cymbal work with reverb – with a long reverb trail. And then I mixed and mastered the track with cymbal work and long reverb trails. I mastered two versions – one with dithering and one without. I cranked up the playback to see if the undithered version had any problems with artifacts or dropouts. I also listened to the dithered version. Any perceptible difference? None. (Note: you should perform this test on your own DAW, because all DAW’s, contrary to popular belief, are NOT created equal. Per tests I read about Pro Tools and Digital Performer, these two were the two lowest quality DAWs in this category. Does that mean you need to change your DAW? No. Has anyone had a licensing deal kicked back because of Dithering problems from their Pro Tools or Digital Performer DAW? NO! Again, I’m just sharing with you the results of my research. I myself use one of the highest quality DAWs on the market; Cubase. But that doesn’t mean I’ll get any more or less Licensing Deals than you.)

And the ultimate test? Without dithering, two recent recordings I mastered were played on National Radio, without a word from any quality control personnel regarding any lowered quality of my recordings due to no dithering, and a recording that I mixed and mastered (without dither) was accepted by one of the top Music Supervisors in Hollywood as a single on the prestigious Concord Records Label for a Dennis Quaid movie soundtrack album. I’ve never heard a Music Supervisor or Quality Control person ever complain about dithering, or ever exclaim how good a recording was because of the great dithering job! I’ve never even heard them say the word! And to me, no further tests are necessary.

If you actually read Chapter 4 on dithering in Mr. Katz book, you could easily (I’m not kidding) spend 4 to 6 hours (or more!) on those 12 pages, just trying to work out the super-complicated algorithmic mathematics regarding wordlengths and dithering. Dithering DOES, in fact, do something to the track; it’s just that what it does is mathematical and is not audible. The remainder of his book is incredibly workable and amazing, but, in my opinion, Chapter 4 is not a Chapter I would even bother to read.

But companies which make dithering plug-ins would rather not discontinue products that they are making money from, and authorities who tend to defend rather than observe continue to exist, so the Emperor’s procession continues.

And by the way, how Steve Massey discovered that dithering doesn’t make any difference at all was by mistake -- after one of his plug-ins was released internationally, a plug in that was designed to do automatic dithering; it was found to have been released with a bug in it, he quickly fixed the bug and re-released the updated version. However, the earlier version had been out for several months and had been being used by thousands of users all around the world, including top producers and engineers – without a single complaint. None of the end-users, nor Steve himself, noticed that the automatic dithering was not working. He only happened to find out by running complex algorithmic mathematical tests on the plug-in design. He fixed it because of his standards of service to his clients, not for audio purposes.

This then led Steve to discover more about the unnecessary science we call dithering. He summed it up nicely:

“If dithering makes no difference, how has the concept lived on for so long? I think because it is mathematically validated, it has allowed the engineers at pro audio companies to say, with confidence, to their marketing departments that the inclusion of dithering has made their product better over the competition. That's great! I imagine marketing people love positive specifications and catch-words which they don't have to create themselves. Anything that is easily quantified and can be succinctly composed into the marketing text is great for the unimaginative salesperson. Examples of such marketing-driven myths are common in the technology market. 64-bit floating-point audio! Awesome! How in the world could that not be better than 32-bit floating-point audio? 64 is twice the size of 32. Six Megapixels is of course better 5 megapixels! (Like with most bullet-points and talking points, these metrics ignore the subtleties and/or disregard all the other equally important elements that were compromised in reaching that isolated specification.)

“But, I think the primary reason dither lives on is because the public itself has embraced it wholeheartedly, beyond simple influences of marketing. Why? I believe it's a bit like humanity’s attachment to the supernatural. People seem to possess, myself included, an overwhelming desire to imagine their perceptions of the world to be more subtle and more magical than they actually are. Even though no one has ever truly witnessed the effects of dither, we have faith in its power. And, since it's impossible to prove or refute something that you cannot hear (or see, or touch), the ghost of dither lives on...” – Steve Massey

Steve designs, builds and distributes excellent plug-ins at Masseyplugins.com. All of his plug-ins come in a free version, with an open-ended never ending trial period. The paid versions have a few more options than the free, but all are excellent quality. I’m not trying to get you to buy his products – but I want you to know that I consider Steve a “hero” in our story and I believe that he is helping the community of International Independent Musicians and the Music Industry as a whole in a huge way. So, for that reason, I support his efforts.

I’m not saying that others won’t disagree with my findings. They may find valid reasons for dithering in some cases. What I’m doing is giving you workable information that will help you get your music licensed. Period.

Part 3 Coming Monday...

The Mysteries Of Mastering

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:07:55 +0100

Today's post is a guest post from producer Gary Gray on the topic of mastering. This is the first in a three part series of posts related to the topic of mastering. Gary and I have been working on a new course all about mastering for the last several months. I'll have more information on that course soon, but in the meantime, here is the first of several posts and videos I have for you related to the topic of mastering.

Over to you Gary....

This is not going to be a short blog. As many times as I tried to cut it down, make it shorter, edit and summarize it -- it just wouldn’t work. I mean I could have done it physically. But I couldn’t ethically do it.

The subject of Mastering Music is far too important to skimp over. For anyone who wants to make a living with music; especially someone like you who wants to license your own music, the subject of Mastering Music is VITAL. Simply put, you can’t continue to waste time knowing “just enough to be dangerous.” You will end up more frustrated, wasting more time and miss out on making money if you don’t learn this stuff right. It would be nice, but we don’t have a lot of time to waste. Whether you choose to master your music yourself, or whether you want to mix your music so that it can be confidently turned over on a consistent basis to a qualified Mastering Engineer that you hire – with the result of getting back exactly what you want [meaning – tracks that will get accepted by Music Supervisors and other professionals in the Music Licensing world] -- then the subject of Mastering must be thoroughly understood. Otherwise, its’ just more hit-and-miss, more frustrating nights, more questions than answers – all leading to a big cloudy, misty, foggy mystery; summed up in one or more of the following questions you constantly ask yourself:

“How the hell do I get this &$#* mix to sound like a commercial mix?!” or “I thought when I sent my mix to the Mastering Engineer that it would come back awesome. He won’t even master it. What did I do wrong?” or, “I got my mix back from a reputable Mastering Engineer but it just doesn’t sound like I thought it would,” or -- and more to the point, “How come I’m not landing more (or any) licensing deals?”

The good news is: It can be done. You can learn Mastering in a relatively short period of time.

How I Discovered Your Particular Dilemma

After spending 30 years in the Music Industry; with thousands of hours logged both on stage and in the studio, I sat down several months ago to do a “refresher course” myself on the subject of Mastering. I gathered up all the notes I had been taking over the years and placed all my notebooks in a pile and went through every one. I then spent approximately 200 hours doing new research and talking to colleagues of mine regarding any new trends or new advances in Mastering.

The main lessons I learned from my “refresher course” were eye-opening! NO WONDER you’ve been having trouble trying to crack the Mystery surrounding Mastering!

I found two surprises I was not expecting to find:

1. I’ve been Mixing and Mastering sound recordings myself and have done so successfully for some time, so I’m quite comfortable with the process itself. I’ve also been teaching Mastering to students one-on-one. Private students start their studies under me with what we call “a blank slate.” Meaning – regardless of the student’s previous experience, I teach all the basics from the bottom up very carefully, making sure all the definitions of important words are fully understood before diving in. Even if a student has previously studied with me, I still go through this process, because trying to skimp on the foundation of this (or any) subject is asking for big trouble down the road. I tell my students, “you cannot ‘over learn’ the basics of any subject. In fact the more times you study the basics, the better.”

So while preparing to teach this subject for HowToLicenseYourMusic.com members; a large general international audience of Indie Musicians, Singer/Songwriters, Mixing Engineers, Mastering Engineers and Home Studio & Project Studio Owners; I started out under the assumption (incorrectly) that the vast majority of people involved in the industry had the same thorough fundamental education regarding the BASICS of Mixing and/or the BASICS of Mastering that I had been fortunate to learn. I discovered my assumption was incorrect by doing market research on initial drafts of the course, sending them out around the world to people involved in the music industry; as I said, Singer/Songwriters, Mixing Engineers, Mastering Engineers and Home Studio & Project Studio Owners – and asking for feedback.

The first indication that important basic fundamental terms and concepts regarding mixing and/or mastering were not universally fully understood became clear within the first week of Market Research. I could see that my approach to teaching mastering online would need to parallel the way I teach my students face-to-face, one-on-one – start with a full and thorough education on BASIC terms and tools of the trade, and then teach exactly how to do each individual step of Mastering.

2. The second indication was an even bigger eye-opener for sure. During the 200 or so hours of recent online and face-to-face research (including interviews with industry pros), I read many blogs, watched many videos, looked through various other courses offered on the subject of Mastering, and spoke to experts. And then it hit me – some sources had very good material (and some not), but overall there was something BIG omitted. Missing were thorough, easy to understand definitions of the BASIC terminology and tools of Mixing and Mastering, with clear concise visual examples and aids. Again, some sources had very good approaches and materials, but no one source seemed to cover it all in an easy-to-grasp form for anyone from beginner to pro. No wonder the feedback I was getting showed a lack of a full grasp of the basics – and this was not just from beginners.

And proof of #1 and #2 above was the intense interest in the course Aaron and I were putting together. The interest was so high, I had people offering to pay for the market research information I had sent them! (Though I have bills to pay like everyone else, I am not motivated solely by money. My passion is to help others improve the Music Industry by researching and sharing workable approaches to achieving success. As Quincy Jones taught me personally, “If you chase money – it’ll run away.” I have my own saying, “For every dishonest dollar you accept, it’ll cost you two dollars to clean up your mess.”)

By far, the best overall source of information that does exist on Mastering is a book by Bob Katz called “Mastering Audio – The Art And The Science - Second Edition,” published by Focal Press. If this blog and my course helps Bob sell more books, the industry will be all the better for it – and so will you. That book is a bible. The only stumbling block to learning that book however, is if you are a beginner or if you haven’t had a LOT of experience in larger studios. Some of the concepts can go sailing over your head.

The fact that Bob Katz has taken so much responsibility for improving the quality of what we do and for helping to improve our overall industry, has inspired me to help him in that cause. If you haven’t had at least 5 years of experience in larger studios, I encourage you to read this blog (and if you can, take the course mentioned below) before reading Bob’s book.

What’s this course I’m talking about? There’s an upcoming course that Aaron Davison, the founder of HowToLicenseYourMusic.com and I are presenting on the subject of Mastering – it’s appropriately called “Mysteries Of Mastering Solved.” Whether you’re able to take the upcoming course or not, the purpose of this blog is to give you enough information about Mastering to open up your eyes (and ears!) to the truth about Mastering, and to help you on the road to separating the myths and false information about Mastering from consistently workable Step-By-Step procedures and approaches to getting the job done right every time, so that you can learn mastering yourself. Once you grasp for real the definitions and concepts of the BASIC terms and tools connected to the subject, you will find out that Mastering is actually far simpler than Mixing. Just as much or more work may go into Mastering, but technically, it is far simpler than Mixing.

The Emperor’s New Clothes

There exists in all disciplines and in all industries purported authorities (those who present themselves as authorities but are not), and actual experts. A big barrier in learning can sometimes be how to separate these two. And even then, when an actual expert is discovered, another separation may need to take place – you must be able to separate the information from that expert – you must discover which information is empirically true (truth which holds up under any test), from information which is not entirely workable or even false.

Rather than claim to be an authority or an expert (which I am not), I DO offer this: I have a voracious appetite for research and experimentation. I have dedicated a portion of my life to discovering and teaching workable, empirical truths regarding music and recording to students within the Music Industry. You can call me a “sonic scientist” or a “pre-sorter of workable knowledge in the field of recording,” but I am not and do not claim to be an authority or an expert. I would then have to stop experimenting and researching and I’d have to “defend” my philosophies and approaches. While doing your own research, remember this: accept only logical approaches which stand up to consistent testing and need no defense.

The industry changes. Technology grows. Markets change. Workable knowledge evolves with it.

So, really, I am more of an eternal student in that regard than a teacher – and what I do is share my findings in a way that others can use that information to enhance their knowledge and further their careers.

I constantly research videos, articles, forums, books, equipment and experts themselves, meticulously sorting the workable and truthful data from unworkable and false information.

I have many friends, students and clients around the world who are involved in the Music Industry. Almost all of them DON’T HAVE THE TIME TO DO WHAT I DO: Research and Experiment. And there I have found my niche.

So, with that said, let’s continue. You’ll notice that the heading to this section of the blog is entitled “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Well, speaking of purported authorities and the Music Industry, let’s review the plot of that famous tale by the Danish author Hanz Christian Anderson:

The Plot

A vain Emperor who cares for nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for their position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's ministers cannot see the clothing themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense; not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a hero (a child in the crowd, who has no vested interest in keeping up any pretense), blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but continues the procession.

You will see as you read this blog (and more so if you are able to take the course), that our Emperor (the collective heads of certain marketing machines within our industry), have been surrounded by a small handful of unscrupulous and/or uneducated consultants, sales people and various other purported authorities, who continue, to this day, the procession of deception – a procession of false information and unworkable approaches to Mixing and Mastering. And, in my opinion, many people have become unwitting victims; not so much out of wanting to appear unfit or stupid, but mostly due to a lack of time to do thorough research and/or a lack of knowing how to do thorough research -- and especially due to a lack of simple, accurate, easy-to-understand educational materials on the subject.

I see Bob Katz as one of the heroes in the crowd, and I applaud him for it. There are many people now taking up the cry that Bob initiated. He has done much for and is continuing to do much for improving our industry, especially in the area of standardizing metering, monitoring and loudness levels.

And with all due respect to Mr. Katz, and in alignment with separating the workable from the unworkable, even within expert texts, there has been one particular area of Mastering which has thrown many a willing student flat on their backs and back to swearing at their DAWs in frustration, promising to just drop the whole subject of Mastering when they attempt to crack the code of a veritable maze of extremely complicated descriptions of this one particular area of Mastering. Most people fail at cracking the code, scratch their heads and just keep doing the best they can at somehow learning the relationship between mixing and mastering. And some do try to apply this complicated tangle of instructions and a) either make sincere attempts to conquer it, or, b) like the tale of our infamous Emperor, they pretend to see the wonderful wardrobe that isn’t really there.

Part 2 Coming Friday....

Before And After Of My Track "Love Was A Game We Played"

Sat, 04 May 2013 15:28:40 +0100

I'm working on a new CD of all original material. My CD is being mixed and mastered by my friend and colleague, producer Gary Gray.

Gary and I created a course together last year called "How To Produce Music That Will Get Licensed And Make You Money" and we'll be releasing a new course soon about mastering called "Mysteries Of Mastering Solved". When it came time to find a producer for my CD I knew I wanted to work with Gary based on all the great conversations we've had about music over the course of the last year or so and all of the work of his I've heard.

Gary lives in California and I live in Chicago. I couldn't really afford to fly out to California to record the entire CD with Gary so instead I decided to do all the tracking in Chicago and then send Gary my files and have him mix and master everything in his state of the art studio.

We're about halfway through the CD and the results are fantastic! I thought I'd share with you all the before and after versions of one of the songs from my new CD, "Love Was A Game We Played". Here's the track as it sounded when I recorded it in Chicago and did a quick rough mix of the track:

And here's what the track sounds like after Gary worked his production and arranging magic:

Maybe I'm biased because it's my song, but I think Gary did an amazing job! Gary did a great job at bringing this track to life. Having your tracks mixed and mastered properly is critical. This can make or break your songs in terms of licensing opportunities. It has to be done right!

Next week I'm going to be posting several posts Gary has written about the topic of mastering in advance of the release of our new course, "Mysteries Of Mastering Solved". Gary has a lot to say about this topic and it's a really important topic to understand if you want to maximize your licensing potential.

We have a lot of free content for you, including an audio interview, several blog posts and a free video. So whether you buy the course or not, be sure to stay tuned to my site and newsletter if you want to learn about the art of mastering your tracks! The free content alone is going to be fantastic!

So stay tuned for those posts and in the meantime, if you haven't already, be sure to check out our course "How To Produce Music That Will Get Licensed And Make You Money".

Check out the first video in the course here:

Check out the trailer for our new course, "Mysteries Of Mastering Solved":

Success In Music And Your Mindset

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:09:34 +0100

Today I want to address a topic that is a little more esoteric than the technical aspects of the music business that I often discuss, but nonetheless is just as important. The topic is how to cultivate the right mindset for acheiving success in the music industry.

I really think to be successful in the music industry you need to have both talent and very thick skin, and the latter is probably the most important. You need to be extremely determined, ambitious and motivated. I know I'm not telling you something you don't already know, but let's think about what this really means and how it relates to you. Let's break it down, step by step.

The music industry is an industry a lot of people are drawn to because, let's face it, writing and playing music is an incredible amount of fun! And of course it also has a perception of being cool and if you're a guy playing music can help you meet girls, and if you're a girl I guess it can't hurt with meeting guys. Music is awesome and if you have a knack for it why wouldn't you want to share it with others.

Because of this coolness and fun factor a lot of people pursue music, both as a hobby and as a profession. This creates a lot of competition, on all levels. Everything from getting a good slot at a nightclub, or getting your song onto a TV show or Film, or landing a record deal, involve in one way or another, you competing with somebody else.

Now I don't think competition in its modern day form is insidious or bad. For the most part, here in the western world, we are not beating each other with clubs to get what we want. Competition has a tendency to make us work harder, and if embraced in a healthy way can make us better musicians and better people. When we know something isn't easy we tend to work harder for it and are forced to expand and grow and we also appreciate our success that much more when it happens.

It's when the inevitable rejections and setbacks we face get the best of us that the competitive nature of the music industry turns into an ugly and insidious thing. But if we cultivate the right mindset we can take these events in stride and move forward un-phased.

How??

A few years ago I ended what was nearly a six year relationship with my girlfriend at the time. After about six months or so of being single and not dating very much at all I asked a girl out who was drop dead gorgeous and to my surprise she said yes. We went out and I was a complete nervous wreck. I placed so much pressure on myself and on her to make this night a success that I came across as stilted and weird and I never heard from her again.

I was disappointed the next few days but I immediately realized what had happened. I then decided to cast a much wider net, so to speak. I started meeting girls online, in clubs, on the street, in trains. When I really opened my eyes I realized there were opportunities to meet girls literally everywhere. Over the next few months I started actively dating many different women and what happened was really amazing. I was meeting so many different women that I stopped looking at each date and interaction as such a big deal. This allowed me to be myself and just meet women being very present and in the moment and as a result my interactions were much more successful and enjoyable and I eventually met another girl who I ended up dating for about three years.

Why am I telling you this story? I think this same sort of strategy can be applied to anything and works particularly well when applied to your music career. When you're pursuing one or two opportunities it's easy to get discouraged when they don't work out. But if you're pursuing many different opportunities, not only are you exponentially increasing your odds that one of them will come through for you, but you will relax when you realize that there are many different ways to achieve success with your music. If you don't get your music on one show, pursue another. If you don't get booked into club x, pursue club z. This is the mindset you need. Don't worry about any one particular goal, pursue them all with equal fervor and enthusiasm and success will become a matter of when and not if.

How "Good" Should Your Tracks Be?

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:13:18 +0100

I recently was working with one of my clients who is trying to get their music licensed. This client asked me an interesting question. He has tracks that are pretty strong but they’re not quite ready as is. He asked me if I thought it was a “good idea” to finish mixing and mastering his tracks before he starts trying to license them. My response was that it was sort of like a guitar maker asking if they should put a headstock on their guitar before trying to sell it. Should you “finish”mixing and mastering your tracks? Of course!

If you are a freelance songwriter trying to license your own music, you are in business and you are creating a product. Your music is your product. Your music and your “product” need to be finished and ready to be presented to the marketplace WHEN YOU PRESENT IT. In the same way a guitar manufacturer or a car manufacturer or any other manufacturer can’t send out incomplete and unfinished products and expect people to buy them, you can’t either!

Whose job is it to know when your product is finished? It’s your job. It’s not the publisher’s job, it’s not the supervisor’s job, it’s not your mom’s job…. It’s yours. You need to know what the industry standards are for music that is licensed and you need to know and be confident that your music meets those standards.

How do you know when your music is ready? The same way you would make this determination for any other industry. You research the market. You listen to music that is being licensed and listen to what shows and what supervisors are picking for their productions. Stylistically there are a lot of variables and trends change. But production quality remains the same in the sense that it always need to “great” and needs to be what’s considered “broadcast quality”.

For an in depth education specifically on how to produce music that meets the production standards required for licensing in tv and films, check out my program “How To Produce Music That Will Get Licensed And Make You Money”. This is the most in depth program available specifically on the topic of music production as it relates to music licensing.

Get the program this weekend only for just $39.97 (Normally $49.97)

More info here: http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/production-course.php

The Market Doesn't Lie

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:56:53 +0100

Today’s post is a guest post from professional sound designer, Greg Savage. Greg and I recently created a course together called “The Art Of Sound Design”, which is an in depth course all about the business of sound design. I’ll have more information about our course next week.

In the meantime… I asked Greg if he would write a guest post related to our course and the topic of sound design. Greg was kind enough to oblige me with the following article, “There’s A Market For Sound”.

Over to you Greg….

I just wanted to thank Aaron for allowing me to guest post on his website. I sat for many hours thinking of the right article to deliver. I wanted to present something that would touch the licensing community and maybe even give you a few “ah ha” moments.

I'm not going to dive into all the markets (in this post). Instead, i'm going to focus on what I feel relates to you all as music composers.

Do understand that as much as I love the craft, I'm also a businessman. I'm walking into this knowing that everyone may not agree with my views (I'm fine with that).

The New Music Composer

Today's music producer/composer (whatever title you want to use) moves at a fast pace. Everyone’s working on multiple projects (at once) and what once took years to learn now takes days or weeks.

People no longer exhaust their production tools, they want new sounds yesterday. In fact, a product isn't even marketable unless it comes with tons of sounds.

Originality is damn near non-existent. Everyone wants the sounds used for “insert hit song”. They aren't interested in how the sounds are made. What they want are the PATCHS/PRESETS/WAVS/LOOPS and they are willing to part with $ for them.

This is the average work flow for composers (new):

Buy a group of plush sounds → make a few compositions → buy more sounds → make new compositions → Hear popular songs ← Likes them, buys the corresponding sound packs → makes similar songs → hears about new plug in → buys it makes new songs

See how everything revolves around NEW SOUNDS. Everyone wants the latest and greatest.

It's not because they can't be original, originality just doesn't hold as much value.

Here's a perfect example for you.

There is a famous DJ/Producer named Skrillex. Everyone loves his growling bass’s, leads drums and other sounds. In fact most people call Dubstep bass’s → Skrillex Bass (it’s quite funny).

This happens in every genre with every notable producer/composer or artist.

“Where can I get that skrillex bass?”

“How do I get those Dr. Dre pianos”

“Where Can I get that Hendrix distortion”

See the numbers in that screenshot? That’s barely scratching the surface. There’s a huge market for this stuff.

Now type in your name. Notice a difference → exactly

Corporations Understand It

Companies use sound as a marketing tool all the time.

When you walk into Guitar Center and play with that new synth or workstation, the 1st thing you test is the presets.

When you read gear/software reviews they focus on sound 1^st, then everything else. The gear could have the most amazing features, but if the sound sucks....It goes nowhere, sound is everything.

I've been contracted by companies (like Akai) to supply drum loops, synths/bass patches (as well as other sounds) for their sample Cd’s, drum machine/synth units and software applications.

They understand and know the impact sounds have on their numbers. In most cases, I get an email that states something similar to this.

→ Hi Greg,

Were working on ~X~ and we're looking for sounds similar to → ~certain genre and/song~ ← blah blah dates, yada yada deadline.. Please let us know if you have time/are interested in contributing to this project.

Sometimes they're interested in original sounds other times… not so much. They want what's working in the world today. - That's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Sounds Great, But Not For Me

Look, I totally understand. I'm not saying switch your career or goals and become an unoriginal trend hopping lunatic. I'm just pointing out that there's a huge market for this and there's no reason why you shouldn't be using this market to create a little cushion for yourself. Original music is great, I love it, but it doesn't always pay. When it doesn't pay we get desperate, our self esteem dips and some of us even give up hope (because we're broke).

Some people take on a job just to make ends meet and wind up being consumed by the 9-5. Once that happens, you'll produce less music and you're have a lot of could of should of's.

I'd rather be an unoriginal, biting, trend hopping (insert whatever vulgarity you like) composer than engage in any line of work that deters me from my goals.

I don't care what anyone says, the market doesn't lie.

Enjoy The Journey

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:01:03 +0100

Do you ever feel like you’re so focused on trying to get to the “next level” or trying to accomplish specific goals that you forget to enjoy living your life day to day? Do you ever feel like your happiness is dependent on accomplishing specific goals, whether related to the music business or other areas of your life? Have you ever had the experience of wanting and desiring something to happen intensely only to realize shortly after achieving whatever it is you set out to achieve that your life isn’t really that much different after all?

I’m sure we can all relate to the above scenarios. Life is short and it happens in the moment, day by day. As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens when we’re busy making other plans”. When I was younger, I was intensely focused on “making it” in the music business. I would practice for hours and hours each day,I would spend hours making phone calls and booking gigs for the band I was in at the time. For awhile it was immense fun and there was a sense of passion that fueled me. Passion and motivation can be very healthy. But eventually that sense of passion and determination turned to disappointment and bitterness, for awhile. I can remember vividly being at gigs where not as many people showed up as I had hoped for and I would get visibly depressed and down because things weren’t going the way I thought they should. I was forgetting to just enjoy the experience, even if the experience wasn’t unfolding exactly the way I thought it should. As a result, something that started as a lot of fun turned into something that for awhile wasn’t enjoyable.

When you’re passionate about something and you care deeply about something, it’s hard to not experience moments of disappointment. I sometimes wish that I was content just working in wal-mart, renting a trailer and marrying the first girl that would put up with me. I’m not joking. I think there are people that are blissfully content living very simple, mundane lives. I’ve met many of them and in a way I envy them. But…. I’m not one of them. I’m not like that. I need to feel like I’m moving forward in life and in general , when I keep myself in check, I’m much happier when I have goals and things I’m working towards. I love having things I’m passionate about to work on when I get up every day. I F$/king love music. I love writing it, playing it , listening to it, talking about. I love it.

The challenge for me, and something I’ve become much better at over the last few years, is just staying focused on what I love about music. The feelings I’m able to express when I write it, the way it makes me feel when I listen to it, the thrill of hearing my music on television, the boost I get when I know that I’ve been able to help someone move forward with their own goals and yes, the thrill of getting paid for it.

I’ll never forget something my 10^th grade music teacher said to me in high school. We were sitting down one day at the piano and I’ll never forget it, he said, “Music gives you a reason to live”. What I didn’t know was at the time my music teacher said that he was dying of aids. This was probably about 1990 when aids and hiv treatments weren’t nearly as effective as they are now. My teacher passed away the following year. But think about that statement, “Music gives you a reason to live”. Wow. And from someone who knew he was dying, but he still had something that motivated him and helped him face each day, even though he knew his days were nearing an end.

Music has given me a reason to live and continues to be something that fuels me every day. Music is a gift. Don’t let your pursuit of making money from music get in the way of the sheer thrill and enjoyment of making and appreciating music. It’s hard sometimes when you’re focused on making it in the music business. It’s a challenge we all have to deal with and reconcile in our own ways, but try and stay connected with why you started making music in the first place. It’s easy to lose sight of that when you’re trying to pay your bills and just get by. But try to find some time each day, to just bask in the wonder that is music. Turn on one of your favorite songs and just listen. Forget about money and forget about deals for awhile and just focus on the music.