December 29th, 2010 – Hey everyone, hope your holidays are going well. With all the hubbub these past few weeks, I haven’t had much time to write music. The other day however, I got to record a bit with some friends which was a refreshing change from my normal work week. Yesterday, I sat down to polish a couple of my own songs, and it got me thinking about the phrase “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus!” (I often get cerebral with songwriting when I’m not in a particularly inspired mood).

I’m sure that if you’ve ever read tips on songwriting, they often suggest getting to the meat-and-potatoes of the song as soon as possible. Usually this means getting to the song’s title lyrics, or it could mean the chorus. Whether it’s a memorable lyric or musical phrase or sound, the idea is to grab the listener as soon as you can or risk losing their interest.

Of course, this advice really only applies for those who are trying to write hit songs. If you want to write songs for other people, the easier it is to sell it, the better. If you are writing songs to express yourself (the best situation to be in IMO), then ignore all of this and write from the heart.

Gary Ewer has posted a blog article (linked below) that examines the top 10 songs in the Billboard Hot 100. He breaks down when both the title of the song first appears in the lyrics, and when the chorus first appears. His examination seems to show that having your song title and/or chorus occur early does help a song’s initial popularity.

Is “Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus” Fact or Myth?

August 4th, 2010 – Last night, I watched a BBC documentary on Jeff Buckley and was reminded that, while I thought everyone knew who he was, many don’t. The first track I heard from him was a haunting cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. While many have covered the song, none have come close to the emotion that Jeff Buckley infused into it.

He was a troubled soul, struggling to simultaneously reconcile his artistry with his sudden stardom, and his admiration for and contempt of comparisons to his father, Tim Buckley. Unfortunately, I wasn’t exposed to Jeff Buckley’s music until after he had passed away, but his music has made a huge impact on my own songwriting.

If you’re interested in finding out more about him, check out the embedded part one of the documentary below. You can view the rest of the parts on Youtube as well. If you’re already a fan, it’s a must watch.

via Musformation

July 26th, 2010 – This weekend I was at the Tulalip Casino near Seattle playing the slot machines for the first time. It was fun and incredibly addictive. Why bring this up? Well one of the reasons that slot machines are so effective at luring and keeping gamblers is the sound.

The clicking that the rollers make as the bright graphics rotate, the ringing sound of coins dropping when you win; even my girlfriend kept humming the winning music. I was particularly attuned to the role that the sound of the slot machines because of the recent news about teenagers getting “high” to binaural audio.

Apparently kids are listening to it to get high without actual drugs, and parents and administrators are worried that binaural beats act as a gateway to hard drugs. If that’s the case, then what is the difference between what I heard in the casino (and pachinko parlors in Japan), and what these kids are listening to? In both situations, sound strongly affects our mood, and even physical responses.

To be honest, I’ve only used binaural audio (I use Pzizz) to fall asleep, but I’m not sure if it was successful due to the beats, the ambient sound effects, or a psychosomatic response. However, I am sure that the slot machine sounds worked, because I found my pockets quickly emptied. Have you used binaural beats? I’m interested in any effects you felt, if at all.

July 21st, 2010 – I know that many of us aren’t exactly releasing high profile music, and therefore aren’t worried about leaks. For those who attempt to earn a living by selling their music however, a leaked album can hurt sales and be bad for morale. Fans might download the album early and then when it’s officially out, forget to buy it.

Jesse Cannon ran into this problem when an album for a band he manages, Man Overboard, was leaked early. Instead of clamping down and getting litigious, he and the label devised a plan to leak it themselves and capture some of the excitement. In the end, sales were better than expected and they gained new fans. It’s an interesting look into how to deal with a leak right.

How Man Overboard Made Their Record Leak Turn Into A Good Thing

July 1st, 2010 – One of the most important things for an artist who is looking to make a living from his art, is control of a brand. This can be a band name, a stage name, or even the name of a studio business. Of course, with many of today’s artists becoming known through internet marketing efforts, it’s very important to make sure you can leverage your name online. What good is your band name if every variation of the domain name is taken, or if there are already 4 DJ’s out there with the same handle?

When you’re ready to start releasing music and are brainstorming names, it’s important that your fans can find you when they search for you. Of course, this is easier when your presence is where they expect. As a band, you should try to get your own domain name, make sure you reserve a MySpace account (even if it’s on the downward spiral, people still search there occasionally), Twitter account, and an account on sites like Reverb Nation.

I found ud.com through a web design site I normally visit, and it was suggested for searching names. It can search the domain name registry, and also sites like MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. It’s free, and a pretty useful tool when you’re coming up with names.

ud.com

June 22nd, 2010 – Okay, it seems a little weird to be editorializing on a game but Harmonix’s Rockband series is something different. Introducing what Konami did 10 years ago with the Guitar/Drum/Keyboard Mania series, to an American audience at the right time allowed Harmonix to tap into a video game market that isn’t just for kids anymore.

A decade ago, only children and hardcore gamers played video games. But contemporary consoles like the Wii and games tailored to subjects suitable for families and parties, have broken through that stigma and allowed the Rockband franchise to enter a receptive marketplace.

Both Rockband 1 and 2 are similar games. Other than the set lists and little tweaks driven by user feedback, the gameplay experience is largely unchanged. Rockband 3, however, marks an interesting leap into perhaps dangerous territory. The news that many seem to be focused on is the inclusion of a keyboard (that could potentially be used as a real MIDI controller, albeit with a very limited key range) and an available adapter that allows you to use real MIDI controllers you already have within the game. For me, however, the most interesting part of Rockband 3 is the new guitar controller (click here for Engadget’s breakdown of the controller options).

For those that are unfamiliar with it, here are the important bits: (1) the guitar now has frets, (2) each fret has 6 buttons in parallel mirroring the six strings of a guitar, (3) where the strum bar was before, there are six strings that are strummed or picked. The first interesting thing about this controller is that it’s similar to expensive and custom MIDI guitar controllers that have been created by the boutique and DIY builders. The price of the guitar peripheral itself is expected to be around $150, so expect a significant investment in Rockband accessories (kind of like real world instruments).

Here’s where it gets interesting though: in the “Pro” difficulty level of songs, the fretting will mirror the actual chord fingerings of the real song. That means you’ll be learning how to play the actual songs, with skills directly transferable to a real guitar. Or, if you want to spend some real money, Fender is releasing a Squier guitar that can be used in Rockband as a real, honest-to-goodness guitar with full on frets and strings. Potentially you could be playing a song in Rockband and have your guitar plugged in a real amp and be rocking on both your TV and your amp!

Now all this guitar business takes Rockband into weird territory. On the one hand, people have gravitated towards the series because without having musical skills beyond basic timing, you can still have a lot of fun playing “instruments” in a karaoke kind of way. While musicians play the game, it is still a lot of fun for non-musicians because they get the thrill of playing without the hassle of practicing technique for hours a day.

I understand why Harmonix went in this direction. After the first two Rockband games, they had to come up with something exciting. The drums have always been very realistic in Expert modes; you play pretty much exactly what the actual drum arrangement is. What’s next but to up the ante for the guitar?

But will gamers step up to the plate and take the leap into becoming an actual musician? Will Rockband 3 become an actual teaching tool? Combined with the new Rockband marketplace, I expect that artists will be rushing to get their songs released there and it would be a great marketing bullet-point for Harmonix to push the education angle. Why send your kid to guitar lessons when he can teach himself at home, all the while being tricked into thinking it’s only a game?

I think it will be interesting to see if, given the opportunity to learn to play guitar through the game, gamers will stick with learning the actual instrument. After all, how many people have started learning an instrument only to get discouraged and quit soon after? Will learning through the game motivate people, and perhaps make playing the guitar easier psychologically? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. As for me, I’ll definitely be picking up the game. I’ve always wanted to play Bohemian Rhapsody on the guitar.

What’s your take?

June 21st, 2010 – I’m finally back after suffering from internet withdrawals for the past few days. I had some problems with my ISP (doesn’t everyone?), but everything is back to normal. Anyway, 62 years ago today marked the release of the LP format to a wide commercial audience. Gizmodo has a cool post about the history of the LP. For you young whippersnappers who don’t know what an LP is, it allowed vinyl records to finally hold over 20 minutes of audio per side. That was pretty big news, and LPs exploded in popularity.

June 21, 1948: The First LP Is Released

Photo courtesy of Axis Records

June 17th, 2010 – Jeff Mills has released his new album Occurence on a disc that’s a CD on one side, and a vinyl pressing on the other. That means you could theoretically play the vinyl side on a record player. It looks like you’ll need to use a plug to hold the “record” in place though since the hole in the middle is made for a CD player rather than a record player. Still, it’s a great idea and has already created a lot of buzz. It’s a unique product that I’d imagine even casual fans will buy just to have as a curio.

Axis Records via Geekologie

June 8th, 2010 – MusicRadar reports that the star of the Youtube clip “Drummer at the Wrong Gig” has been interviewed by the Philadelphia weekly. One of the gems is that Steve Moore, the drummer, has contact with Mike Portnoy, one of his biggest idols. Apparently Portnoy Twittered that Moore was “his hero”; a compliment by anyone’s standards. Check out the MusicRadar link below for more, and if you haven’t watched the Youtube clip, I’ve embedded it below. It’s amazing!

via MusicRadar

June 7th, 2010 – Looking for new music and want to support up and coming independent artists? Are you an artist that’s looking for a way to leverage a positive user community? Check out Uvumi. While superficially similar to sites like MySpace Music and an endless list of other sites that allow artists to post their music and connect with fans, Uvumi combines a social element between users.

Not only can users listen to music from their favorite Uvumi artists, but they can compile shareable playlists; these playlists are viewable by others and are a strong suit of the site. By seeing what other fans of your favorite artist also like, you can find other artists you might like. On the artist side, the license you grant Uvumi is a limited license to promote your music while on the site. If you remove your music, it’s deleted from their servers and their rights to use it are terminated. Sounds like a very artist-centric set up and from reviews, Uvumi also seems to have a great community.

Uvumi via Lifehacker