The Professional Musician’s Code of Conduct

The Professional Musician’s Code of Conduct

by | Jun 25, 2019 | 12 comments

Image is everything in the music business. And I’m not just talking about artists. It’s important for everyone — artists, songwriters, musicians, composers, lyricists, producers, etc. Before a publisher, record label, music supervisor, blogger, playlist...
Preparing Your Mixes For Mastering

Preparing Your Mixes For Mastering

by | Jul 12, 2018 | 0 comments

Today, more and more self-recording musicians and studios are catching on to the value of using an independent mastering engineer to master their finished mixes.  At a minimum, an independent mastering engineer provides an additional, objective set of “ears” in a...
45-degree Angle When Recording Acoustic Guitar

45-degree Angle When Recording Acoustic Guitar

by | May 5, 2018 | 2 comments

I often recommend that people use a “45-degree angle” on the neck microphone as a starting point for recording acoustic guitar.  Just describing it in words can be a little confusing, so I put together this quick video to illustrate what I mean. I...
Re-learning The Art of Listening

Re-learning The Art of Listening

by | Apr 5, 2018 | 1 comment

When I was a kid, listening to music was a ritual. Whenever I got the chance, I would take a vinyl record out of its sleeve (yeah, I know, I’m showing my age!), place it on the turntable, and listen to it from start to finish, usually with my eyes closed, and often...
Slow Down To Speed Up

Slow Down To Speed Up

by | Mar 20, 2018 | 11 comments

We live in a face-paced society where everyone seems to want everything RIGHT NOW, if not yesterday. “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!” “Get 10,000 fans in 1 week!” “Make a Million dollars in 15 minutes!…while you...
UPDATED: Cakewalk Lives!!!

UPDATED: Cakewalk Lives!!!

by | Feb 23, 2018 | 12 comments

UPDATE, 2018-02-23: Cakewalk SONAR has been rescued from Gibson, and will continue to live on! See the article here. On November 17th, 2017, musical instrument conglomerate Gibson shocked the music-making community by announcing the total shutdown of one of their...
Who’s On First?

Who’s On First?

by | Nov 14, 2017 | 0 comments

Nancy and I have just returned from the annual TAXI Road Rally music convention in L.A. (our FOURTEENTH Road Rally in a row – can you tell we like them??? 🙂 ). At each year’s Rally, we do a ton of mentoring and teaching.  For example, at this year’s Rally, I did...
Getting Out of a Double-Booking Gracefully

Getting Out of a Double-Booking Gracefully

by | Oct 11, 2017 | 1 comment

One of the things that makes booking gigs overwhelming to some people is that there are a LOT of variables. That means there’s a lot to learn, a lot to “handle,” and a lot of points in the process where something can potentially go wrong. That’s why, for teaching...