Major scales are boring. Really, they are so overused and don’t always sound great. So what’s our alternative? Minor Scales Are Your Friend Today, we are going to break down one simple idea: writing melodies on minor chords. While it seems obvious, if you are in a major key, use the corresponding major scale. A...
Getting ready to master your music? Chances are you’ve heard of stem mastering. This alternative approach to stereo mastering has become increasingly common as more and more artists record their tracks in home studios with less than perfect room acoustics. So is it something you need for your next release? Read on to learn more...
Chords are super complex. How are you supposed to know what notes are in them? Over the past couple of blogs, we have been looking into the construction of scales and the idea of intervals. Using a similar concept to constructing scales, we will tackle chords and uncover how simple they really are. Scales Versus...
EQ DAY was AMAZING! We had just shy of 150 people show up and most of you stayed for the entire THREE-HOUR session! Seems like EQ is a topic that we can all nerd out about for a long time, and I think we probably could’ve talked about it for three hours longer! If you missed...
The most annoying comment I see in the online audio forums is a variation of this nonsense: “You should only use subtractive EQ and never boost more than 3 dBs” This is…for a lack of a better term…absolute bullshit. And I’m willing to fight anybody who follows this advice as gospel. It’s just plain wrong...
If you’re anything like my other students, you love to geek out about EQ. You may find it equally fascinating and frustrating. Frustrating when you can’t seem to find that muddy sound that’s throwing a blanket over your mix. Fascinating when you turn a knob or boost a frequency and your mix just jumps out...
Achieving a full-sounding mix can be a difficult task. Even if you have a well-arranged and professionally produced song, adding that depth and fullness we all love can seem impossible no matter how much you tweak your plug-ins and level your tracks. Sometimes it’s not about how well you level and process the tracks of...
Mastering your music can feel like a real victory, especially if you’re planning to put your music on streaming sites or make your music available for download. One of the biggest questions musicians face these days regarding mastering and streaming sites is whether creating different masters for different platforms makes sense. After all, different platforms...
Working on a team can be rewarding… It can also be difficult, unorganized, and even uncomfortable at times. This is especially true when you are working with other creative people who all have valid ideas that can clash. This could come in the form of producing a track with an artist or, in my usual...
This is fresh on my mind, so I’ll just come out and say it: SEO is pointless when you’re starting your business! We dug into SEO yesterday inside the Creative Business Bootcamp. I wanted to share some thoughts with you if you’re wondering what marketing strategy to choose to grow your audio/music business. I told my...