Music Creativity

The Five Elements Needed For Music Industry Success

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 28 Nov 2015 13:11:00 +0000

You are about to learn the five critical elements that have fueled the success of all great musicians' careers. Until you possess these key elements for yourself, it will be nearly impossible for you to reach your musical dreams and build a successful career in the music business.

Read below to discover these five key elements and take action on the information you learn:

Music Career Success Key #1 - Don't Set Realistic Goals

All of the most well-known and successful musicians did not achieve their goals by thinking realistically about what seemed possible. On the contrary, they focused their mind like a laser ONLY on what they truly wanted. When you make your goals in line with the things you want most, you will be much more motivated to actually achieve them. More on this in a moment...

Think about this - out of the following choices, which choice would inspire you to put all your time and energy into growing a music career?:

Making a recording of a demo with a band and possibly playing a few shows around town.

OR

Writing chart topping songs for a killer band, then promoting your music by going on a massive world tour - playing to stadiums full of fans, earning tons of money from music sales alone and never working a regular job ever again.

Even if your goals in the music business are entirely unrelated to releasing music, the point still applies: don't let yourself accept anything less than what you truly want in your music career, just for the sake of being realistic. Life is too precious to live it by not doing the things you really desire. When you set goals for yourself that do not inspire you, it is nearly guaranteed that you will NEVER achieve the things you truly desire in music.

All the biggest rock stars are people just like you. They began small - whether it was broke without any idea how they'd make it in music, lacking in musical talent or not having a band to play with... Just imagine where they would be now, if they would have told themselves that their music career dreams were unrealistic or didn't seem possible. Well, of course they didn't... they followed their dreams and went on to achieve them!

You must do what they did. Start building your music career by focusing on what you WANT, not what seems possible.

Music Career Success Key #2 - Manifest Your Musical Dreams Into Reality Before They Actually Are Reality

Musicians who never achieve anything significant in this industry, build paths to their goals by starting from where they are in the present moment.

On the other hand, musicians who achieve great success do something completely different. They plan their music career by beginning from the end point of achieving their goals, and work backwards to the present day. They imagine themselves having already accomplished their major goals, then build their lives around this vision. This is a much more effective way of accurately determining the actions required for putting together your music career.

Music Career Success Key #3 - Start Living Or Start Dying

The two keys I mentioned above are critical for building a successful music career. With this in mind, you need more than just goals and a plan of action to realize your musical dreams. You have to take action each and every day to bring yourself closer to your goals. You might think this is common knowledge, but you would be shocked at how many musicians give up on their musical dreams simply due to lack of effort (in terms of taking physical action).

Visualize this scenario (I use this as inspiration for the professional musicians whom I mentor): You've just found out about a disease you contracted that requires major surgery. If you don't get this surgery, you are guaranteed to die in no more than half a year. To make matters worse, the surgery is extremely expensive and cannot be covered by your insurance company (also you can't borrow money to pay for it). So you have a decision to make: You can allow yourself to die, OR you can take whatever action is necessary to get the money needed for the surgery.

Certainly this example is extreme, but it is a perfect illustration of the kind of mindset you need to have in order to build a successful music career. Making big moves (by taking action) in your music career is completely different than sitting around waiting for things to happen for you (allowing yourself to 'die').

With this in mind, hard work/consistent action does not necessarily equal music career success, when you don't know exactly what you should be doing to reach your goals.

Music Career Success Key #4 - Have MASSIVE Reasons For Achieving Your Musical Goals

No matter what you do, something will always go wrong in your music career plans. Whenever you are faced with unexpected events in your music career, this is the time when your commitment will be put to the test. For instance, here are some challenging situations you could face:

Working at a day job you hate while regretting the fact that you never developed a music career backup plan to help you make a living doing what you love.
Playing at crappy bars all the time with your band because you don't know how to move to bigger venues.
Trying to record an album, but doing so at an extremely slow and frustrating pace because you never practiced developing your recording skills.
Working with unmotivated band members who are bringing you (and the entire band) down.
Not understanding how to attract more music fans to listen to the music you worked so hard to create.

Here is what you need to do in order to maintain your commitment and dedication to achieving your music career goals:

Take out the piece of paper you have that contains the list of your written goals (that you put together in key #1 above). Then beside each one write down the big REASONS you have for pursuing them. For every musical goal you have, answer this question: "Why do I want to achieve this?" Spend a lot of time thinking about this for each goal before you write down your response, and look over your goals/reasons two times every day.

When you do this, you'll develop the ability to maintain motivation and stay focused on the major reasons you have for reaching your goals. This will help you move forward in the difficult times when your dedication is put to the test.

Music Career Success Key #5 - Don't Try To Build Your Music Career Blindfolded

Once you are in possession of all 4 keys mentioned above, it's still possible that your music career will go nowhere. This occurs when you lack certainty about what to do to achieve success, are (unknowingly) sabotaging yourself or lack effective strategies to help you reach your musical goals. The last key required for building your successful career in the music industry is to train with a mentor who has experience helping musicians take their careers to the highest level.

A truly effective mentor will not simply tell you what you need to be doing in order to succeed in the music business. He will help you utilize all of the strengths you built while developing the first four keys and will keep you heading down the right path toward success, while preventing you from making the same mistakes that unsuccessful musicians make. Without this kind of training, you are essentially trying to build your music career with a blindfold on - completely oblivious to the best ways to succeed using your current skills and knowledge.

Now that you've learned the five keys that build the foundation of a successful music career, these are the steps you should take right now:

1. Focus on getting all the missing keys you do not currently possess.

2. Being working with an experienced music career mentor to quickly achieve your greatest musical goals.

The goal of Goley, Modoo Marble and Need for Speed

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 08 May 2014 05:44:00 +0000

Every game has an objective which is considered an essential factor for the game’s developer while developing the game, because he always puts this factor in front of his eyes to do his best make it look as realistic as possible inside of his game because the more it looks realistic the more it attracts players to it, so for the soccer fans for example, when they see the game looks similar to the real life sport in all its aspects, they would have the urge to try it. For the action movies fans, when they see a game that has accurate aspects of the action or horror movies, they will be more motivated to try it and this is what Joygame company highly consider while picking the games that will be published to its players and you can see this in Goley, Modoo Marble and Need for Speed. In Goley, you need to prove that you are a perfect coach who can hardly be beaten. For Modoo Marble, you need to collect as many cities as possible and build facilities on to make sure that any of your opponents pay as much as possible when they stand by them. For Need for Speed, you need to buy a car and customize it from the inside and the outside to race with it against strong drivers in order to prove that you're the king of roads in the world of Need for Speed

Renovating Your Home

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 12:30:00 +0000

To provide a household you may be attentive which will a product normally must have curing in your home. You might need a fence hand crafted, an alternative device added, and that covering mounted. Without the time period and skill of doing this your self, you should have the household revive expertise to a renovator.

The household revive product internet business will now be a vital trade. That could be considering many of us love to phone call an important renovator and professional plumber you need to do mild family home auto repairs. Senior and senior citizens being solely commonly necessitate that expertise to a renovator. As expected, you can get do-it-yourselfers which are totally ideal for working on revive and even protection work from their home. Then again, possibly even how to make easy collectors might benefit from the to a gas heating engineer and electrical contractor designed for more complex things.

An important renovator together with a home and garden physician will be able to each of those do the job their own individual organisations nevertheless home and garden physician must have a very good contractor's drivers license. Because of this using an important designer and installer you need to do the same will definitely cost much more than in cases where a renovator was to help you work. This is often moreover how come approved pro's usually reject slighter family home revive employment. Concentrating on anyone to paint spots a living room, fit unique book shelves and revive an important waterless fence or quite heavy employment which includes Storm Damage Repair, Fire / Water Damage, Ice Dam Removal, have a look at http://idesigncorporation.com. To improve an alternative option to your residence and revive an important stairs, you will have the household revive expertise to a approved father and designer and installer.

An important renovator is known as a less pricey and even suitable preference designed for small-scale loved ones auto repairs. He can be an important jack-of-all-trades no one can do small-scale protection and even revive employment that your chosen father, gas heating engineer and electrical contractor would most likely regularly achieve, though cheaper. An important renovator is without a doubt decent with his hands and fingers. He can be in most cases self-taught, developing accomplished his particular go through and even know-how within some family home and even as a result of analyzing home and garden study materials.

The popular Song Online business

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 02:58:00 +0000

Consumers for example to speak about the song community generally set in any gas tank. Actually, the prevailing condition isn't an radical passing away with past precedent; in actual fact it is actually cyclical that our community has got a good and the bad. One can find ancient together with different factors behind it is actually pitiful popularity together with in doing my lowly belief, it all sorta has again directly to have. Any uncomfortable refuse, rot together with deformed artist/label rapport has long been recurring for decades as well as being these days more than antiquated - it is actually borderline villain. The typical 'old model' checklist bargain features any ingredients label using quite simply 90% within the across the world the law together with expectations that your specialist get wonderfully very pleased of a good tiny slice for 10% - that's when using the ingredients label engaging in any management - which i own at all times uncovered to generally be even more inspiring ın comparison to the almost all song.

During the areas within the arts there's an easy truthful product ready that will valuation any inspiring base and provides compensation over the distribution/promotional edge in the process. Such as, any video or graphic arts, this is a 50/50 version (grant or simply require) - fifty percent of into the specialist together with fifty percent of into the car dealer. Name my family effortless, I do know the fact that break! Talent together with business during a happy relationship... it will come to pass.

The prevailing recession during the song community can be assigned regarding criminal for downloading and also zero cost peer-to-peer Internet access that will copyrighted substances. That i respectfully don't agree the real key presumption. There is absolutely no records that will validate the huff, in actual fact even more different musicians and artists have already been learned thru those suppliers given that they'll access listeners together with put together cooling fan angles only on their. Different opportunities happen to be currently taking flight journey by just virtue within the reality that your song are being over heard. The place other than them is it possible get audio?

Any alright people who happen to be alongside peer-to-peer established solutions are definitely the same exact a person who happen to be denying advertising and marketing meant for untried different musicians and artists (ordinarily within the serious ingredients label point). Consumers at all times choose to take note of audio, which means that now let him or her choose together with download and install records. Actually, if he or she extremely get equipment these really enjoy, they can shop for it all, drive to the illustrates, shop for object together with most people should get what precisely they want to gain. In this world the place it is actually next to impossible to build broadcast execute together with one can find labor only one or two superior records regarding all specified let go, so why blame clients meant for seeking to take note of it all earliest, earlier than these shop for it all? You will get to try on any cologne prior to approximately smelling today, ideal? Ditto...

Certain could possibly mention the fact that sales and profits happen to be affordable because of the song that could be appearing place provided with thru monopolized pay-to-play terrestrial broadcast is certainly overly reliable, overly redundant together with you bet, mundane. They need some extent - superior deal with is not really what precisely it all was in the past. Clearly there was the perfect opportunity lake may have longer, in-depth negotiations related to song utilizing A&R consumers for checklist recording labels - possibly not related to phone numbers, lower part ranges, demographics or simply a medical procedure - related to SONG. A&R is not going to stand up in reality meant for 'afraid together with running' mutually may perhaps consider you will less than fully understand it all anyway examples of these fearful execs action.

During 2007, That i observe some form of concerns with our community mainly because scarcity of idea, intuition together with drive to adhere to thru utilizing different musicians and artists. Should a serious ingredients label electing is not going to place significant phone numbers to your organization's shareholders in it is actually very first let go, there does exist bit of that will hardly any prospect of a good follow-up checklist. Excess amount is certainly thrown released to your earliest hit bargain when isn't going to fingernail any bulls-eye, the funds is finished for any all-important following hit. Focus on demands... what precisely musicians and artists undertake their best job in those illnesses?

To your accurate reverse of condition position, believe that Warners or simply A&M during the '70s together with just how many worthwhile (together with certainly, certain undeserving) musicians and artists got following, 1 / 3 or simply latest prospects that will turn out your issue together with put together your followings. The ones musicians and artists the fact that stuck regarding have never gave up on reselling since they're beautiful. Terrific song came into this world together with established - these days terrific sums for revenue pursue to dans le but de during with brochure sales and profits because of the song resides regarding but they are still agencies own personal any worthwhile copyrights. It is actually a chance to get back to any longer observe, not frantic quarterly sales and profits with sandwich cutter machine traits or simply year-end super star launches.

A few years earlier Bono agreed on U2s guide within the Stone Community centre for Popularity by using a name that will life to your song community to believe during together with persist with any musicians and artists these warning sign. She safely and securely claimed when U2 was launched at this time with the earliest checklist, what are the real get shed and now have hardly any prospect of a job. Similar are usually says for all tracking musicians and artists that have already have longer, named opportunities in the business.

Usually do not get me wrong, My organization is pragmatic together with know the decision meant for bean display in any online business. It all basically has a tendency to my family the fact that if some of our online business is certainly go by just panic established a person who need ideas of (or simply definitely really enjoy) song, bit of should be expected within the song at this time or simply from now on. Revenue direction together with cost is certainly not usually song. Which means that, what's up with any ancient version song biz spiraling affordable? Any monkeys happen to be functioning any zoo!

Name my family wild, however , That i lose any visionaries this were at one time waiting during the substantial office chairs. The place are definitely the keen, fashionable checklist provider frontrunners the fact that have preferences together with guts? You no doubt know, visionaries for example Mark Hammond together with Ahmet Ertegun what person uncovered anonymous geniuses the fact that started to convert everything. These learned the fact that superior counted if ever the legumes were definitely to generally be counted.

A good old Director for Warner Brothers Reports a short time ago told me the fact that this position have very little regarding song. Such as, she was initially required often (by way of the shareholders for this guardian provider) just how many reports a precise specialist will provide on their after that let go as soon as the piece we hadn't quite possibly penned any records yet still!

Exactly why would someone have always been That i also during the match? Have always been That i being able to help piece together any proverbial floor office chairs over the Titanic? Pitiful, That i mention allow it to sadly washing up bowl. Somebody's gotta persist to your superior together with condition within the song (and also song poppers) together with I do think it is actually my best position as being an 3rd party checklist supplier to carry out that. I do know earliest present the fact that song service providers happen to be cured for example lower part feeders. Take into account several years ago anytime Worldwide decided to buy away Interscope, A&M, Geffen in addition to a husband and wife many other recording labels? I saw it a couple of serious work lined up back in to come back regarded as. During dojo point in time, the fact that amounted that will over an individual yrs price for bookings (quite possibly for a longer period over the construction arrange utilizing pre-production, appointments together with these types of). As soon as the substantial merger went through together with among the many recording labels shed some sort of specialist That i was initially reserved to supply, That i were quite possibly identified as. Could be That i needn't have already been floored by just the fact that... what precisely, call any supplier any assignment has long been canceled? Nah. Just maybe these basically worked We'd found out about it all during the sells. Hhmmm...

In any case the fact that, That i quickly redefined my best job together with moved my best paradigm appreciably. That i concluded any song have for no reason, by chance okay affordable the item was initially any song That i was going to deliver just were definitely to have regarding. This business for song will carry out any song - possibly not and the second strategy approximately. No tail wagging doggy.

It had become for this point in time the fact that TikiTown galleries had become. Come to or simply Fabrication Productions uncovered an attractive place over the benefit for S . f . Bay the fact that made available the best your home abroad meant for musicians and artists with around the world. Any setting up together with museum-like room gives the becoming the fact that together inspires together with relaxes individuals who used up numerous your resides during galleries the fact that look like good appointed caves. Experiencing crafted galleries within the yard away a sufficient amount of circumstances, That i chosen that time We'd get some sort of feeling the place song is usually launched and just stress during the apparatus, which happens to be how people did it. Experimenting with numerous places together with may seem people in due course come to over the perfect for together realms - beast comforts together with state-of the-art acoustics.

These days, once using many of my best music heroes, Relating to engineered an agency the fact that carves released opportunities utilizing different musicians and artists that many of us have faith in. Those musicians and artists happen to be my best different heroes. Relating to kinds of song, people complement any Duke Ellington school of thought; "There are merely several different types of song - bad and the good. " My best competencies as the song supplier make it easy for my family so as to possess a assortment of different kinds of musicians and artists together with different kinds of song. This current year on their own, Relating to designed a difficult pebbles assignment, some sort of opera together with plenty of many other makes in the middle. For some of our provider, people carry out together with believe some of our intuition. Even though it turns out, some of our intuition usually do not stink!

To Be A Professional In The Music World

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 00:44:00 +0000

Beats Applications : the ultra-modern buzzword in your beats environment, making every one of us analysts in your particular field. Even if you could be a specialized, a student or maybe just following up on an activity through beats, you could be limit towards look enamored by your large future from beats applications. It again will allow you to design the photo album not to mention sounds repair spare zing not to mention group. With the help of beats applications, you can actually save, replica, edit, combin not to mention meet beats towards take up it again towards excellence. That will force you to which means wonderful in your big eyes with the pleasant spirit. Whatever also you can actually would like for the purpose of?

Web-based seems to have can be purchased being boon for everybody beats aficionados who would like to have fun with decent beats from a small part from also outrageous will cost you from Compact disks not to mention photos. From transfering beats applications, you can actually design the privately owned photo album. Believe it or not countless ınternet sites make available complimentary beats applications, that may be particularly effortless for newbies. So your out of date proverb who 'there are actually certainly no complimentary lunches in your world' will never make an application : around this is not to typically the beats environment.

Beats applications facilitates perhaps even hobbyist beats buffs prefer you and me towards have fun not to mention design a lot of our beats. You'll be able to problems, waves, echoes not to mention reverberations in the beats. Entire body will make a beats further peppy not to mention really adds even a feeling from taste there.

Let’s begin with typically the the very least desires for developing some beginning. You need a PERSONAL PC with the help of 1 GB RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (despite the fact entry level choices along the lines of 256 MB RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY will be wonderful first of all) not to mention 40 GB hard disk drive (If you have had reduced, do not ever mind- you'll be able to it again soon after). A one full speed should certainly in reality turn out to be 3. 8GHz or longer. This unique will allow you to give good results easily along applications allow most people who spare capability not to mention full speed to get results within your beats.

Most people should likewise own an connection to the internet towards save beats applications and various other items. Broadband connectivity is fabulous as well as nowadays budget friendly. With the help of broadband, typically the full speed with the save enhances sign in forums vehicle typically the beats mania.

Beats applications lets you through planning not to mention jazzing all the way up means does seem, cropping and editing not to mention converting beats from one component towards various along the lines of WAV, MUSIC, WMA, OGG, CDA, VQF, AAC and so. You'll be able to an outstanding sensible business card that is certain to have a relatively amazing effect on good not to mention modulation. Beats applications even lets you through removing beats by which you can actually replica audio tracks because of Compact disks to all your Pcs and next run it again. Whenever you gain knowledge of available strategies, you can come in for the purpose of various applications along the lines of MIDI converter, controller not to mention sequencer, Jukebox, MOD trackers, applications synthesizers, patch editors, multi-track audio applications not to mention samplers.

Desktop computer helped make up beats applications even takes you to a new environment for the most part. It happens to be a brilliant applications of which lets you through building, constructing bouquets, rendering notations not to mention houses in the area to all your beats. What's more , will provide who spare jazz to all your beats not to mention helps it to be further experienced.

Beats applications seems to have lasted practical for you and me to always be concerning a lot of our. Certainly no surprise you could be having families buying increasingly experienced in your particular field not to mention constructing waves in relation to their marvelous not to mention plastic activities. Most people much too are able to be part of typically the bandwagon. It happens to be hassle-free not to mention will never selling price a lot of. Let’s begin with a nice physical fitness. Solely browse the web-based not to mention save beats including your favorite songs. Design a particular photo album not to mention item it again to all your ideal big day. Therefore relax and luxuriate in typically the impressive twist offs that this crooning gives you.

The Human Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:42:00 +0000

Introduction

The human voice is a dynamic instrument. It's also the very first musical instrument that ever existed on Earth. Its ability to articulate, communicate ideas, create beautiful melodies, and translate human emotion into sounds is unmatched in the animal kingdom. In this article we are going to go into some of the interesting ways the human voice is used and can be manipulated by its user to bring about a desired artistic outcome. I will also relate some of the information we'll discuss here to other ideas I've talked about in previous articles about tuning musical instruments to frequencies outside of the Equal-Temperament system. Because the human voice is a self-tuning instrument, in that it doesn't require knobs or other tools to change its tone or timbre, it's one of the easiest of all instruments to relate to the subject of microtonal music. It's also very important to relate it to microtonal music because, like the fretless bass or a violin, it's one of the few instruments which can access microtones by sliding across and between the notes of the Equal-Temperament system of tones. In a previous article I wrote, "so since any frequency can be considered a note so long as it's assigned a letter name or some other designation, and a scale is any set of allowable notes used in a composition, then any instrument, including the human voice, can be tuned or modulated to access the sonic material found only in microtonal music." Physiology: What Makes a Voice Unique? The sound of each individual's voice is entirely unique. Its uniqueness is due to the actual shape and size of an individual's vocal cords as well as the size and shape of the rest of that person's body, especially the chest and vocal tract. The manner in which the speech sounds are habitually formed and articulated adds another set of factors that determines vocal character. (It is this latter aspect of the sound of the voice that can be mimicked by skilled imitators.) Human spoken language makes use of the ability of the vocal cords to dynamically modulate themselves within certain parameters in a socially consistent manner. The most important communicative, or phonetic, parameters are the voice pitch (determined by the vibratory frequency of the vocal folds) and the degree of separation of the vocal folds.

Children learn to use all of these actions consistently during speech development. They learn to speak the difference between utterances by listening to and imitating the voices of the adults around them. They mimic these voices playfully because they are so much different from their own. Humans have vocal folds that can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, and over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of the chest and neck, the position of the tongue, and the tightness of otherwise unrelated muscles can be altered to give the voice a certain quality. Any one of these actions results in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Sound also resonates within different parts of the body, and an individual's size and bone structure can affect to a certain degree the sound produced by an individual.

Adult men and women have different sizes of vocal fold which reflects the male-female differences in larynx size. Adult male voices are usually lower-pitched and have larger folds and the female vocal folds are smaller - between 12.5 mm and 17.5 mm in length. The folds in both sexes are within the larynx. The folds are located just above the vertebrate trachea (the windpipe, which travels from the lungs). The difference in vocal folds size between men and women vary as well because of genetics causing men and women's singing voices to being categorized into types. For example, among men, there are bass, baritone, tenor and countertenor (ranging from E2 to even F6), and among women, contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano (ranging from F3 to C6). There are additional categories for operatic voices.

Basic Mechanics: The World's First Human Instrument

Singers use the human voice as an instrument for creating music. The vocal folds, in combination with the articulators, are capable of producing a highly intricate array of sound. The tone of voice may be modulated to suggest emotions such as anger, surprise, or happiness. Singers can also learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract. This is known as vocal resonation.

Vocal resonationis the process by which the basic product of phonation is enhanced in timbre, amplification, enrichment, enlargement, improvement, intensification, and prolongation. The end result of resonation is, or should be, to make a better sound. Or from my point of view to control sound better. There are seven areas along the path of air which leaves the body to produce a musical sound that are vocal resonators. In sequence from the lowest within the body to the highest, these areas are the chest, the tracheal tree, the larynx itself, the pharynx, the oral cavity, the nasal cavity, and the sinuses.

Another major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx, which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds (think ventriloquists and imitators). The primary method for singers to accomplish this is through the use of the Singer's Formant, which is a resonance added to the normal resonances of the vocal tract enabling the singer's voice to carry better over musical accompaniment. These different kinds of laryngeal function are described as different kinds of vocal registers.

Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal registers within the human voice. A register in the human voice is a particular series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds, and possessing the same quality. Registers originate in laryngeal functioning. They occur because the vocal folds are capable of producing several different vibratory patterns. Each of these vibratory patterns appears within a particular vocal range - consisting of a range of pitches - and produces certain characteristic sounds. The term register can also be used to refer to any of the following:

A part of the vocal range such as the upper, middle, or lower registers.

A resonance area such as chest voice or head voice.

A vocal timbre.

A region of the voice defined by vocal breaks.

A subset of language used for a specific purpose or in a particular social setting.

The Human Voice is a Microtonal Instrument: Counter-argument

According to a study published by the New Scientist, the twelve-tone musical scale, upon which some of the music in the world is based, may have its roots in the sound of the human voice during the course of evolution. Analysis of recorded speech samples found peaks in acoustic energy that mirrored the distances between notes in the twelve-tone scale.

In alignment with the previous statement, the only rational argument opposed to the idea that the human voice is a microtonal instrument comes from the thinkers at the Schiller Institute. The first point they make is that middle C must be set at the frequency 256 Hz. Why? Because the human voice shifts registers at key points of the musical scale when C=256. Currently, middle C is set to the frequency 261.63 Hz. This small alteration in the placement of middle C forces the human voice to strain at shifting registers at awkward places in the musical scale, thereby precipitating injury to the vocal cords. Instead, what theorists at the Schiller Institute suggests is that when C = 256, the human voice lines up perfectly with the musical scale in significant locations - specifically at the tri-tone and the half-steps in the musical scale. Instead what the Schiller Institute argues is that the voice should be mirroring in vocal registration the musical scale itself.

Although their thinking is well grounded in facts about the human voice, the one aspect of their position that irks me is how they are essentially arguing for a new tuning system to replace Equal-Temperament, where C=256. That they actually want another fixed standard where another set of 12 frequencies is all that comprise music and song is certainly bothersome.

Conclusion: The Human Voice is a Microtonal Instrument

The physiology and the basic mechanics of the human voice essentially determine that it is a microtonal instrument. Its ability to produce frequencies ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz with the ability to produce every single frequency and tone within that range.

Marc Avante is a musician, sound designer, and blogger. He is also the founder of the music project called Stereo Thesis. Stereo Thesis is a prototype sound design and music studio.

Tips of Increasing Your Overall Distribution of Music

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:23:00 +0000

It is the dream of every musician or artist to see their songs on top of the charts. Most of them ponder over the question how to sell music and increase their sales. However, with the increase of musicians and limited avenues to channel the music it is becoming impossible to do achieve that dream. That is the reason why you as the musician will have to device some ways to reach to the top of the game.

You will have to understand that it is literally impossible to sell your music on your own and you will have to come up with other ways to get your music out there in the market. There is the traditional mode of music distribution. If you choose to do this method you will need to use the record labels that will do it for you. This method involves the physical selling of your CDs. You will burn your songs in to CDs then the record label will take over to distribute the song to potential sellers that is, they will take your album that contains the list of songs and your details to the registered album sellers. You understand that you will have to sign to a record label for you to achieve this.

Another way that will reap you more sales is the digital music distribution that involves usage of the internet. This is better than the traditional way of distributing your songs because it saves you time and also money of doing so. This mode of distributing your songs has some great benefits too. You will get a wide platform of selling your music to many people. You know, many people in this time use the internet to do everything; you will be reaching people globally with this. For you to achieve the results you so desire you will have to use a professional music distributor because they know all about the market.

You could decide to market your music yourself to increase your sales and popularity. There are very many available channels you can use to sell your music. One of the ways is usage of email and the social networks like Facebook to keep in touch with the people who want your music. These platforms give you an opportunity of selling songs to people. You could include your songs on iTunes where people can download them. This will save you the hustle of having to burn your songs and selling them. You could use the word of mouth that since time immemorial has been used to increase the popularity of the musician. You will achieve this by building a strong network. Again the social media can achieve this very well.

For you to successfully attain the goal of getting your songs played on every media house you will have to expand your team and get professionals to handle the distribution and the selling of the music. This is because you cannot attain the much desired success if you do it on your own.

Know Your Different Genres of Bass Music

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:14:00 +0000

Because the same elements occur across all genres of this style it's quite easy to get confused as to what is what. With the boom of technology, pretty much anybody with a midi controller and DAW (digital audio workstation) can start producing bass music. They then label it wrong and promote it all over the internet as dubstep when it may actually be drumstep, or neurofunk or neurohop.

Unlike other genres of music, this division of dance music is actually very easily identified. The quality that defines this type of music, is strangely enough, the tempo or the speed of the song. Here is a list of the most popular types of bass music and their tempos:

1. Dubstep is pretty much always at 140 BPM but drums are in half time which makes it feel a lot slower. The drums are usually swung as well. The kick and snare drum hits on every other beat. Artists include, Culprate, Nero, Flux Pavilion and Datsik.

2. Complextro is also at 140 BPM but the drums are not halved so it seems a lot faster. It's basically house music on steroids. The kick and snare drum hits on every beat instead of every other beat. Porter Robinson is a great example of a complextro artist.

3. Drumstep is typically at 160-170 BPM but the drums are also halved and highly syncopated giving this genre a groovy hip hop feel. Some artists include Noisia and Pendulum.

4. Drum and Bass is Drumstep's brother and shares the exact same qualities except the drums are kicking at full speed. Many drum and bass artists make drumstep so checkout Noisia and Pendulum once again. Camo and Krooked is another great artist to check out.

5. Moombahton and Moombahcore are set to a tempo of 110 BPM and incorporate elements of reggaeton. This genre is basically house music at a slower tempo.

6. The newest subgenre is neurofunk which is also sometimes called neurohop and can be mistakenly called glitch hop. This style is typically at about 90-100 BPM and incorporates swinging, syncopated drums with heavy modulated bass along with funky basslines and synths using notes of the blues or pentatonic scale. Neurohop has more of a hip hop feel than a funk feel but often times the two genres are combined.

So there you have it. Now you can pick these differences out like a pro and help others discern betwixt the two (don't you just love that word?) Dance on.

Make Your Karaoke Shows More Interesting

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:16:00 +0000

There are times when it might help to introduce some things to break up the monotony that can occur at a typical karaoke show. Offering props for the singers to use is commonly implemented by karaoke hosts. Below are some other suggestions.

Karaoke Contests These have gained an unsavory reputation. The absence of competent, impartial, judging is the main reason for this. Accusations of cheating and hurt feelings are very often the result of these contests. It's my recommendation that you should avoid contests altogether.

If the previous statement failed to dissuade you then at least try to follow this advice. Do plenty of advertising ahead of time. Nobody likes to show up for what they think is a standard karaoke night and have a contest sprung on them. Obtain judges who are not regulars of the establishment where the contest is to take place.

Make sure that the judges are prominently placed together in front of where the singers will be performing. Make it clear to the contestants precisely what the judging criteria is and the type of rating system that will be used. Display a list of the rules in several conspicuous places.

Karaoke Roulette This is undoubtedly the most popular game played at karaoke shows. The purpose of the game is to have the participants sing songs that they would never ordinarily sing. The songs are usually chosen by "luck of the draw".

Commonly the karaoke host will have tokens, with song titles on them, in a sack and each person must pull one out. They must sing the entire song to move on to the next round. Another option is to have all the players write the title of a song on a piece of paper and put it in a sack. Sometimes audience participation is used to obtain the song titles. This game is played entirely for its amusement value.

The Gong Show This is a good way to hold a contest while avoiding the hazards of a typical karaoke contest. Since the goal is to sound terrible the participants are unlikely to take it to heart. Costumes, props, and song parodies are all part of a gong show. After a minimum of one minute into a performance a judge may gong a contestant at which point they are escorted off the stage with a huge hook. The trick to winning is to make your act so interesting that the judges will not gong you. The eventual winner will be the most interestingly terrible performance.

Piano Sheet Music for Kids With Letters

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:25:00 +0000

Many parents search for piano sheet music with letters to relieve their kids of the pressures of reading music. There are good reasons for this: reading music is inherently hard and kids are often left confused and unable to enjoy playing. Hence the search for other "languages" for music besides musical notation, such as letters, numbers, and colors.

There are a few products that offer letters as a substitute for notes. It is very likely that you will have to put lettered stickers on your keys to give the child a visual reference point in order to make use of these methods.

The time honored tradition is to simply write the names (letters) of the notes directly above the notes (on the musical page) in question, giving the child at least a clue to the location of the note.

One advantage of this system is that it teaches the child the names of the keys (letters) as well as the physical sequence of actions required to play the song.

But there are disadvantages. Suppose your child is too young to know the alphabet securely? Letters are a little more difficult for children than numbers, as numbers are almost second nature to all kids.

Before selecting a method of avoiding reading music (numbers, letters) you might do well to rationalize for yourself why you are doing this.

The only reason to avoid reading music is that it is not pleasurable except to experts, and becoming expert is beyond a child and almost all adults.

Yet, the impulse is there to play music, just not through the medium of musical notation.

So your question should be, "What is the best way to avoid reading music?" rather than "Where can I find music with letters instead of notes?"

Step back a little and think about this: it is easier for a child to substitute numbers rather than letters for the notes of a song.

This is partly because numbers are usually learned much earlier than letters for a child, and thus are more firmly entrenched in their consciousness.

Numbers also have greater relevance to music theory, since numbers are the same as the classical intervals, and are used in chord symbols and in other ways in musical notation. Letters are used as well, but kids often become confused in the sequence of letters when taken out of context, but numbers are indelible.

Blues Scales Outcome With Heavy Metal Sound

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:56:00 +0000

"Metal is devil music". "Metal is demon praise music." Or even most awful "Heavy Metal is definitely the satanic force". Very often, these are the words that you'd get to hear coming from people relating to heavy metal.

And yet not a single person can really justify exactly what makes heavy metal the devil's music. What is the reasonable understanding of this kind of music that almost all folk marked this like the satanic music? For us to grasp that, we will need to go back on the background of rock metal.

A number of metal fans enthusiastically acknowledge that rock metal starts off with the United kingdom band Black Sabbath. Even so, you can find some people who thought the fact that it is established from Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Even so, Black Sabbath is victorious in the greater part on the vote.

The Evil and Metal

A very important stage of the metal history is when Tony Iommi the guitarist from Black Sabbath began to take advantage of the devil's note to his song compositions. Down the line their creative technique on the tritone is going to make it as the group's trademark music. The tritone may also referred to as the devil's interval and the flatted Fifth.

The Catholic Church contemplated the tritone being satanic music so in fact it has been covered up with the christian church through the entire middle ages. From the United States, the tritone in the blues scales was actually regularly used by the Africans to express an individual's suffering due to being a slave.

And so the answer precisely why rock metal is regarded to be evil is because of the flatted 5th note also know as the devil's note.

Where the hick the phrase "rock metal" came from?

During Black Sabbath's very early career, these people were a blues jazz rock band and employed the blues scales tab. However due to the tritone these people were able to put together a completely new type of rock music. During that time, not a single person knows what kind of rock music Sabbath were playing. Till one day, somebody termed their rock music as Metal. Most believed the concept originated in the large manufacturers in the UK processing heavy metal ore.

The metal sooner progressed and was separated in a number of categories. It advanced from merely musically satanic to both musically also lyrically evil. The evil element is the best common subject to a lot of death metal and black metal bands during the 80's era up to present. But the truth is, quite a lot of metal music bands in these days don't use any demon's note and do not have evil verses yet still are regarded as a satanic. So why? Merely because their particular music is extremely loud, they've got lengthy hair, their wearing out black t-shirts (having skulls on them), and most of all, their skin is wrapped with tattoo designs! Crazy! Isn't it?

In my own perspective, there isn't such type of thing as satanic music. The flatted Fifth is actually a component of the blues scales and I simply appreciate the way it sounds. In my opinion the point that makes a song wicked would be the lyrics and not the note itself. Any kind of music might be demonic. It's possible to worship Satan by setting up satanic verses in a pop song, hip hop, orchestra, or perhaps even state anthem.

Songs About Famous People

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:06:00 +0000

It is not at all surprising that there are so many songs about famous people. From the earliest days of civilization, people have looked for ways to pay tribute to people in their lives, particularly to those who are considered cultural heroes. Artists capture their images in paint or clay, and for musicians and song writers, the best possible way for them to show how deeply they care about the contributions that a person has made to the world, or even just to them personally, is to use the art form that they are most familiar with.

American Pie - Don McLean This song pays tribute to several well-respected rock and roll celebrities who were killed in a tragic airplane crash on February 3, 1959. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were all killed in the crash. Their deaths were considered such a loss to the music world that the date became known as "the day the music died".

Candle in the Wind - Elton John Candle in the Wind was a song that was originally written in tribute to Marilyn Monroe, the iconic American movie star. The song originally used the words, "Goodbye Norma Jean", which the singer later changed to "Goodbye England's Rose" in tribute to Princess Diana after her death in an automobile accident.

All Those Years Ago - George Harrison George Harrison was a member of the iconic rock and roll band The Beatles. Although the group had broken up several years earlier, when John Lennon was murdered in New York City he wrote this tribute song in remembrance of the joy of their friendship and their work together.

Abraham, Martin and John - Dion Rather than being written about a single person, this song was written in tribute to four giants of social justice and progress, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, all of whom were killed by assassins.

Happy Birthday - Stevie Wonder Actually written as a protest song, Stevie Wonder penned the words to Happy Birthday as a reaction to the rejection by political leaders of a national holiday honoring the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the national civil rights leader.

King Tut - Steve Martin Certainly one of the most unusual songs written for a famous person, King Tut was a comedy song written and sung by the comedian Steve Martin. Though some of the song's lyrics are quite silly, the song was extremely popular and served to familiarize young people about some of the history of the ancient Egyptian ruler.

Biko - Peter Gabriel Steve Biko was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1970s. He was arrested after having taken part in a variety of anti-apartheid activities, and after his arrest he was beaten severely and taken to prison, where he died. The song is a tribute to him, and was featured in the movie Cry Freedom, which was about the activist's death.

Why You Can't Get Enough Practice Playing Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:27:00 +0000

"I don't have time for practicing." "Practicing is boring. I just want to play." "I hate practicing!" You may have heard (or used) these excuses yourself whenever the subject of practicing your guitar has ever come up, especially if you're an experienced player. I know I have. But if you're ever going to develop your skills as a masterful musician, you need to practice.

One of the most important tools you can have in life is a little word called "Patience." Why? Think of it this way: Do you think your favorite guitar heroes ever got where they are today by not having the patience to practice? Do you think Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai, Slash, etc. became the legendary guitarists they are without the discipline and the patience it takes to practice? I think not.

Sure it's fun to "just play," but to go from playing okay to playing extraordinary requires discipline. So let's talk about that for just a sec. Discipline doesn't have to be this chore that you are forced to do every day. It's a process of training yourself to be consistent. It's developing new routines that eventually become habits after only a few weeks. And when habits are formed via repetition, it becomes like second nature; it's no longer a chore.

Repetition is the key to good practice. If you are to learn anything on guitar, whether it be new or something you've known for a while and need to polish your skills, you need to utilize this invaluable tool called repetition. It's the bread and butter of good practice. And being able to play something more than a few times requires discipline.

Believe it or not, all your favorite guitar heroes play their solos, licks, riffs, etc. over and over and over and over and over... you get the picture. And not just on stage, either. The reason their playing sounds flawless isn't just because they're "just that good." It's because they've taking the time - the discipline - to play the same things constantly until they feel they've mastered them. Sitting on their tour buses, on their sofas at home, in the studio, during rehearsals; good guitarists play, but great guitarists practice what they play beforehand.

Taking Care of the Singing Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:30:00 +0000

It is important for singers to take care of their voices especially if they would like to make a lifetime career out of it. Even some famous singers and artists have experienced losing their voice because their vocal cords have been damaged or injured because of too much strain on it. Some singers may also develop certain diseases like cancer which could affect their throat and other parts of their speech organ that they also use in singing. However, with the right perspective and good health habits, people may be able to preserve their excellent voice quality even as they age.

People have only one set of vocal cords for their entire lifetime so singers have to do their best in taking care of it so that they may enjoy sharing their good voices through singing. They will be able to do this by keeping themselves in the best of health always. Singers have to eat good and healthy foods as well. They also have to do regular exercises and to get enough sleep so that bodies remain in top condition. Singers may have to avoid some types of food like spicy ones as the acid in their stomach may rise up going to their throat. They are also advised to avoid drinking alcoholic beverages and to refrain from smoking if that would be possible.

Singers who would like to succeed and stay long in the music industry also have to live healthy lifestyles. They need to get sufficient sleep so staying up all night should be done sparingly as their bodies need to recover from stress and to repair itself during the sleep process. A healthy body will enable singers to sing powerfully as well because they have the energy to do so. Singers have to consider these things in order for them to be able to take care of their singing voice and to enjoy having it for a long time as well.

Aside from correct diet, healthy lifestyles, enough sleep and regular exercises, singers also have to learn how to breathe properly. They will have to do this even while they are speaking because they should see to it that their vocal cords are not strained as this can cause damage. They also have to do their vocal scale practices the right way. Practicing will really help singers to become better but they have to do it properly so that they do not cause any injury to their vocal cords. Singers need to remember these things and to do them as well if they would like to maintain their singing voices over the years.

Toadies - Play Rock Music

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:45:00 +0000

Remember this band?... It seemed like the Toadies ruled the air waves back in the mid 90's, after the release of Rubberneck in 1994. One song off that album, "Possum Kingdom," has even achieved somewhat cult status in recent years with new generations. Every song on that album was great, and then they just disappeared. Interscope records put the kabosh on their follow up album "Feeler," which finally saw the light of day in 2010.

One of the things I always liked the most about the Toadies was the dark undertones in their music. I have frequently heard the Toadies called "alt-rock," but they really defy most labels. Part grunge, part heavy drinking bar band, part west Texas/ZZ Top boogie, there is a lot to like about this band.

Well, the band from Fort Worth, Texas is back again. This time with Play.Rock.Music. The band has said in interviews that they felt more freedom recording this record than any other, that's good news for us, as the Toadies are best when they are unbridled and doing what they do best.

The album starts out with "Rattler's Revival," a great rockin' opener that made me very optimistic about the rest of the tracks. I was further rewarded with the next song, "Low." This is my favorite on the album, a loud guitar rocker that makes you want to push the pedal down while your driving. This song has pumping guitar and rock steady drumming that goes back and forth from bass line only breaks, to dual guitar down strumming. Songs on the album like "Magic Bullet" and "Epic Castles" keep the tempo and energy up.

"Summer of the Strange" has that dark feel, and is all about losing control/hold. Lots of whining guitar and rumbling bass lines throughout.

The closest you get to "Possum Kingdom" on this release would have to be "Beside You." A creepy song that says even though "you don't really know me," that "I'll always be closer than you know."

"Sunshine" is a twisted ballad, and another track that takes you back to Rubberneck, this time reminding me very much of "I Burn." A slower tempo song with a rumbling bass line that builds into Vaden Todd Lewis's trademark singing/screaming. The whole song keeps building and pulling back, like the New York Dolls classic "Frankenstein."

The song "Animals" is another classic sounding Toadies tune, about our primal human urge. It's another rocker that repeats "Tonight we're just two animals." Lots of tempo switches and a booming chorus.

"Laments of a Good Man" is a less serious song that is filled with jerky guitar and call and response versus. The chorus switches into a Rollins Band type slow, driving groove... "It's so hard to be a man, to be a good man."

Another style stand out is "We Burned the City Down." This track is a full blown Texas blues/boogie track, complete with slide guitar. The theme is a nihilistic commentary current living, "no longer slaves to modern ways" we burned the city down...

The album ends with the slowest song (the only slow song... ) on the album, "The Appeal." At over six minutes, it's also the longest on the album. This track features some chorus effect guitar, and a bluesy backbeat. But don't worry, there are some good build ups, but it never goes over the top like the rest of the album. You almost need the rest by the time you get to this track.

At the end of the day, this is an overall impressive release. Play.Rock.Music. could have easily been the follow up to Rubberneck back in the 90's. I guess what I'm saying is that this is a Toadies album, a real one. Although it is their 5th release, it is IMHO by far the most vibrant and complete piece of work they have put out since their debut. It's nice to have a good rock and roll album come out, it seems like that seldom happens anymore.

Maintaining Voice Quality Through Good Health

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:36:00 +0000

Singers who would like to maintain the quality of their voices over the years have to maintain good health. Taking care of their voices comes as result of taking care of their physical and mental health as well. Poor health will result to lower immune system that may end up in infections. When the throat or any part of the speech organ is infected, singers may not be able to sing properly. When their vocal cords are injured or are damaged, they will not be able to do anything about it. As a result, they may lose their good voice altogether.

Singers who would like to maintain good health know that they will have to eat properly, sleep well and do regular exercises. They will have to keep their bodies strong so that they may be able to practice regularly and to perform with energy on stage. Singers have to maintain their mental health as well. The way that they think of themselves contributes to the self-confidence that they have to build. Singers have to believe in themselves in the things that they are capable of achieving. A healthy body and a healthy mind will help them attain success in their singing careers.

Singers have to include foods that are beneficial for their health like fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains. They also have to drink plenty of fluids especially warm water as much as possible. This may be more beneficial to them after they have practiced or performed rather than them drinking cold and caffeinated beverages. Although singers need to be sociable, they have to control their intake of alcoholic drinks as well. They also need to abstain from smoking and staying up too late. These things may prevent them from attaining the best health stance possible.

Singers who would like to succeed have to do some sacrifices in order to preserve the quality of their voices year after year and performance after every performance. The way they live their lives will affect their health in general. Thus healthy living will lead to healthier outlook in life as well. All of these things are interrelated as it basically affects the health of most people. Those who stay healthy and strong definitely can produce better sounds. They are also able to preserve their good voices until their old age.

However, there are excellent singers who find themselves in poor health after a few years and some of them have lost the excellent voice quality that used to have. For those who are making careers out of their singing talents, they have to keep themselves healthy so they may benefit from their singing throughout the ages.

The Improvisational Nature of My Music

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 28 May 2011 11:25:00 +0000

"Subtle material like those which exist in recordings of jazz and other improvisational music becomes more interesting and meaningful upon relistening."

- Brian Eno, The Studio as a Compositional Tool

This is one of the most interesting approaches to composition I use all the time. Although this is just a small part of what he says as a whole, the rest includes the idea that chance events and musical accidents left remaining in a studio recording - all things a composer didn't intend - take on an added significance when listened to over and over again on tape or CD. Without the opportunity or the sense of necessity that one must record over or edit out the accidents, the recordings of jazz, jam rock, and other forms of improvisational music can achieve an elevated sense of aesthetics unparalleled in other musical genres. This is especially true in music where performing the perfect take is what matters most during the recording process. In contrast, sometimes it's the chance events or musical accidents that become the reason why an audience listens, falls in love with a recording, and listens to it over and over again.

Similarly, outside of the studio environment the live performance can present the very same opportunity for an artist to experiment with one of their compositions, add or extend an improvised section thereby differentiating the performance from the recording, or perform with a passion way over the top of their norm and have that all come through on a recording of the live performance. With the live performance you have so many other elements that make it a unique experience because the live recording will often reflect how good the artist/composer really is, measure audience enthusiasm, and highlight the artist's personality and level of emotion on that specific performance. That's why I love live performance recordings so much for all of the reasons I mentioned above.

Now when it comes to the way I incorporate this practice of capturing or creating a chance event or musical accident, I like to sometimes start pieces from a short improvised piece of music. For example, I'll riff on a short melodic guitar solo I come up with, or I'll take an electronic drum pattern treated with an effect or a combination of two or more effects and record it. Depending on how excited I am about working on what I started with I'll continue working on other parts and build an entire piece around that original musical concept. All of it improvised and all of it immediate. I don't go through the trouble and delay of setting up and scheduling practice sessions to get it just right, looking for other musicians to play additional parts, or shelling out piles of money to hire an entire staff to get me from the conceptual stages to the finished product.

And what do I get musically? I get all sorts of finished pieces and songs of varying levels of quality. Whether that quality consists of high or low recording, compositional, or vocal quality, it spans a wide range. But overall I succeed more than I fail to get a good result. Why do I do this? Because I almost exclusively work alone making music as a hobby, I test my ability to work on the spot and off the top of my head by improvising on my own recordings. When I make a mistake I usually don't edit or record over it unless it's absolutely hideous. But if it's small or even unusually pleasant I'll leave it in because it has a special something I would never have been able to plan on or create deliberately otherwise.

So in a nutshell, the improvisational nature of my music effectively consists of improvising from the beginning, recording the original concept, then soon afterward or much later adding tracks in a new unit of time. Whenever I add a new track I work as though the piece is new to me and devote my full attention to the new element I'm going to add. So every part I add becomes the only part I'm contributing, at least that's the game I play in my head, and I work that way up until I have to mix and master the piece to completion.

Is Hip Hop Dead, and Has It Ever Been Dead?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:43:00 +0000

Recently in an interview, Michael Dyson asked Queensbridge rapper Nas, "In 2006, you said hip hop is dead. [Currently] is it dead, or has your resurrection made it a living art form?"

Nas, in a rather verbose manner, finished by saying "I think right now it's on a respirator."

So why is it on a respirator instead of being healthy and alive? Well, many have nostalgic answers, pointing to rap music in the 80s and 90s, claiming that back then, we witnessed 'real hip hop'. And rap music right now, the music that promotes violence, sex, drugs and narcissism, is without a question 'fake hip hop'.

What these answers fail to neglect, of course, is that rap at its peak was as much about violence, sex, drugs and narcissism as it is today.

Yet, it's the same people who wistfully wish for the return of real rap on a Kool G Rap video that lament Rick Ross' new music; the same people who vibe to Inspectah Deck's Triumph verse that say Crooked I lacks subject matter, and the same people who love old school, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five rap that say party music is awful.

Going beyond music, many have gone one step further and criticized the entire hip hop culture as a whole. Recently, a skinny jeans trend in the culture became popular, and simultaneously, so did criticism about the anti rap-ness of it. A comment I see on YouTube ever so often is "Support real rap, and not that skinny jeans stuff". This, as I'm sure many can envision, is one of the comments I loathe the most on YouTube as the people making these comments clearly don't know about the origins of skinny jeans in the culture. Street clothing from the days of hip hop's inception included skinny jeans; ever heard of Run-D.M.C?

As can be seen, a lot of the principles of rap in the 80s and 90s are seen today. It's not the exact same, but rap is about evolution. Right now, the game isn't the same as it was a few decades ago. Sample laws have completely changed production, and the accessibility of the genre has increased, and as a result, so has the popularity and lucrativeness. Modern rappers are just adapting to current circumstances, and rap is evolving like it should. I think, soon, with rap losing its commercial appeal, will evolve again. But that doesn't make today's rap 'fake hip hop' or golden age rap 'real hip hop'.

The author is a hip hop fanatic who grew up in New York during the Golden Age era in the early 90s. Since then, he's been fanatically following the genre on all fronts for nearly two decades: old school hip hop, golden age hip hop, underground rap and even new rap music. If you want to learn more about the genre, or disagree with my article and want to debate, follow Rap Music Kings to comply with your needs..

Top Ten Beatles Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:52:00 +0000

The Beatles are arguably, wait, no argument, I think they are, the most important group in pop music history to date. Transforming the very way songs are written recorded and released, most, if not all popular music owes them a nod, and some a heavy debt. Before The Beatles songs were written in offices by professional songwriters and microphones at professional studios were placed with scientific accuracy at measured distances to the instruments and amplifiers. The Beatles broke ground in music video making, film making, and even starting their own record label and signing independent artists and has a retail shop selling clothing. You name a groundbreaking advance in pop music and they probably did a version of it at some point, including "sampling' sounds and found music to put into songs. You may be tired of hearing some of their songs, but they were both of and ahead of their time.

1- She Loves You - Single

The first time I heard The Beatles, it was probably this song. The palatable joy of these four mates making a racket and on their way up to the "topper-most of the popper-most" is infectious and still rocks and pops with youthful energy.

2- Run For Your Life- Rubber Soul

Here's the sharp tongued John threatening a girl with "death' (or at least saying "I'd rather see you dead... ") if she stays with another man. Not very PC in these times.

3- Tomorrow Never Knows - Revolver

This track is another John Lennon 'out of nowhere' original. Where he got the musical inspiration for this epic trance-like and rocking track, I don't know. He did tell engineer Geoff Emerick and producer George Martin that he wanted his vocals to sound like the Dali Lama singing from a mountain top. It sounds like that.

4- While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The White Album

George Harrison's songwriting was apparently never fully acknowledged by the elder Lennon and McCartney duo, but here is a timeless classic with amazing guitar by Eric Clapton, whom I've never been to fond of but here he burns. Maybe it has something to do with him shagging George's wife.

5- Twist and Shout - Please, Please Me

Ok, I know The Beatles didn't write this song, (Phil Medly and Beryt Russel composed it) but it is the quintessential John Lennon rocker vocal. This was the last song recorded for their UK debut album Please, Please Me and producer George Martin left it until last because he thought that John would blow out his voice and he was right and the results are beautiful.

6- Julie - The White Album

John's achingly beautiful song to his deceased mother, Julie. I have always been fascinated with the unique chord changes and haunting melody that this song evokes. This is John Lennon at his most venerable and tender. The double tracked guitar and vocal foreshadow Elliot Smith's whole recording style.

7- Day Tripper - Yesterday and Today

One of the ultimate guitar riffs ever put to tape. Someone, somewhere is playing it right now. This is a Lennon-McCartney collaboration, with John coming up with the guitar riff and choruses and Paul working on the verses.

8- Michelle - Rubber Soul

This song features a melodic bass solo played by Paul. The story goes that Paul wrote the song as a joke to entertain friends at parties grumbling fake French words while singing. John encouraged him to turn it into a proper song and voilÃï¿½, a classic song is born.

9- A Day In The Life - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

This song has to be on the list for many reasons. First, it is a true Lennon McCartney collaboration as the first third is written and sung by John, Paul sings and wrote the second third and then it returns to John as we approach the epic cacophonous symphonic outro. The song is unique in its arrangement, tempo changes, middle break and atonal orchestra build up, culminating in a final note that decays for a full 42 seconds.

10- Hey Jude - Let It Be

Does this song have the ultimate sing along outro? Maybe, but here's Paul seemingly effortlessly tossing of a timeless classic with the ease of only someone totally comfortable with their own musical genius. Hat's off to you, Sir McCartney.