Posted by Strada | Posted in DIY | Posted on 06-05-2010
Rickshaw Records, maker of the Austin DIY ribbon microphone kit, have posted a Youtube video on how to make your own microphone shockmount. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of the fancy elastic-suspended microphone mounts in professional studios. If you buy one customized for your microphone, they can cost quite a bit of money. So why not make your own (admittedly less sexy) shockmount for around $8 in materials? The video below shows how it’s done. It’s a pretty easy project that will help out your recordings quite a bit if you suffer from thumps transmitted through the mic stand.
Posted by Strada | Posted in DIY | Posted on 13-01-2010
Right before the holiday period, I was sent this book by music entrepreneur Derek Sivers,to read and blog on how it could apply or not to my situation (producer/composer/songwriter).
Well damn it, it helped. Anybody who works in any creative field, painting, music, film, photo… always get these endless thoughts and questions. Is this good enough?, will I be able to live of my art one day?, quit my day job?, should I do more ‘commercial’ work?…. I have these questions constantly. MacLeod doesn’t tell you what to do nor does he have the solution to everything. He gives out his opinion an backs it up with examples that you can relate to.
Nobody can tell you if what you’re doing is good, meaningful or worthwhile. The more compelling the path the more lonely it is.[...]when you finally come up with The Big Idea, after years of toil struggle, and doubt, how do you know werger or not it is “The One”? Answer you don’t
Posted by Strada | Posted in Business, DIY | Posted on 23-12-2009
I wished I’d have guzzled lots less alcohol and fucked lots more. I sort of wish I hadn’t bitch-slapped a promoter who cheated me. But what good would the crystal ball have done? The journey is the destination as they say.
Try not to take yourself too seriously. Try not to be terribly precious — but it doesn’t hurt to be obsessive and dogged. To have some inner drive to get it right.
“Take the time to get things right.” Ike Turner taught me that.
I was always a big Ike Turner fan. Especially his obscure solo records from the 70’s. In 1990, I saw an Ike Turner Soul Revue gig in San Francisco at the Last Day Saloon. There couldn’t have been more than 20 people there. It was gloriously unorganized.Ike and his band played ProudMary like five times and then left the stage. Ike came out for the encore by himself and sang Alice Cooper’s Only Women Bleed at the Fender Rhodes. It was perverse, but oddly moving.
Posted by Strada | Posted in DIY | Posted on 19-12-2009
Photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, etc. They have a special way for show their work: “Portfolio”. Okay, we have something similar, known as “Demo Reel”.
Sound Designer Kyle Vande Slunt published at the amazing Audio Cookbook “The Guidelines for making a Sound Design Demo Reel” with really interesting tips and things to consider for make a sound design reel.
“The first thing that I discovered was that making a sound design demo reel sucks. Sucks hard. I think its much more difficult to make an audio reel than a visual one. You can’t demonstrate your skills with quick edits of 5 second clips being backed up by a song by your favorite artist. You have to make more considerations in your edits because you’re dealing with audio as well. You also have to show longer clips to let the sound design develop and be heard in context. In my research I noticed a lot of similarities and tried to implement the ideas I liked into mine.”
Here are some simple guidelines to consider for your sound design demo reel:
Posted by Strada | Posted in DIY | Posted on 14-11-2009
Nice little tool if you are a DJ or if you are still having trouble finding keys for your sample!
“Rapid Evolution“ is an advanced harmonic music library tool for DJs, designed to be used while you mix. It helps profile your songs by saving important properties, such as the BPM, key, time signature, styles, comments, and more.
