Blog
The 9 Deadly Sins of Music Websites
With so much interaction happening on social media these days, many musicians think that maintaining their own personal website is a thing of the past. But that couldn't be further from the truth! In fact, artist, musician, composer, and music company websites are...
Tech Tip: Recording Acoustic Guitar
One of the most common recording questions I receive from my clients and students is, “what’s the best way to record acoustic guitar?” Well, there are a lot of factors, but the first piece of advice I always give is to record the guitar with a microphone, rather than...
The Importance of “Woodshedding”
The other night, I was having a conversation with an old music buddy of mine about performances. Specifically, memorable, live music performances. We concluded that the ones that really stuck out for us and stood the test of time were the ones that were phenomenally...
Music Vs. Everything Else: It’s Not Either-Or!
I've been having an interesting conversation with one of my coaching clients lately. The topic is a common one among music people (and all creatives, for that matter): trying to resolve the "conflict" or the "incompatibility" between making our living from our...
Just Tell Me Which Button To Push!
There’s an interesting tendency I find among some home studio enthusiasts when I get into a discussion about recording with them: they’re looking for a “magic pill” or “silver bullet” that will suddenly make all of their recordings sound like blockbuster hits. They...
An Unconditional Valentine
Fett and I are not Valentine's Day people. It's not that we don't like to be romantic. (Actually, Fett is often mushier than me!) And it's not that we don't want to take the time to appreciate each other. We do this daily! We just don't need a pressure-filled,...
What We Can Learn From The Beatles’ Vocals On Abbey Road
Recently a Facebook friend of mine posted a link to a vocals-only mix of the Beatles’ 16-minute medley from the second side of their epochal swansong album, Abbey Road. That’s right: only their vocals. That in itself was enough to get me interested (okay,...
Be Kind To Your Hearing!
Nearly four weeks ago, I caught an ordinary cold. The next day, both of my ears were clogged up, which is pretty typical when I get a cold. After a couple of days of being aggravated with my clogged ears and not being able to hear very well (I do, after...
Gear Secrets: Tacoma Guitars
Back during my days as Technology Editor for the prestigious Performing Songwriter magazine, I attended a lot of music gear trade shows. I remember one year in particular, when I attended the Summer NAMM show in Nashville. Tacoma Guitars, based out of...
Recording Tip: Removing Reverb or Room Ambience from an Existing Recording
One of my recording students who owns a home studio recently asked me if there was any way he could remove some of the “reverb” from recordings he had made of some classroom lectures. In his case, “reverb” meant the ambient reflections from the room in which the...
Being Comfortable In Your Own Skin
A few months ago, Nancy and I attended a performance by seasoned songwriter and performer Cliff Eberhardt. We have admired Cliff for a couple of decades. Besides being a top-notch songwriter and guitar player, Cliff has one of those voices that just WORKS. It’s a...
Subscribe