Before the internet, band/artist promotion was done through your record label, if you could get signed to one. Now for the independent musician there are a host of tools to help you get your music out there, and heard. However these pose challenges and take as much dedication and attention to master as learning an instrument does.

The Big 3

There are certain resources that every artist must tap into. SoundCloud, Facebook and a Website, would be my top 3 to start with. Through these channels you can present who you are, your music, information potential fans might be interested, and gig listings. These are sometimes done through your own personal website but you need to let people know who you are, in this ocean of voices vying for attention and these channels serve that purpose. Getting attention is a two-way street, that’s the power of these resources. When starting out they allow you to directly contact fans and other artists. It’s not enough just to set up your own channels and expect the fans to find you.

Silver Linings

With SoundCloud it is important network in circles relevant to your area. Make sure you use all the metadata settings, including genre, be a specific as you can. The more accurate you are the more chance you have of fans finding your music. Leaving meaningful comments on artists tracks that YOU actually like is key. Just spamming and saying “check out my page” is a sure way to annoy. Likewise join groups of similar genres and try to post there regularly, this way music fans who use these services to discover new music will get to know your face (see below, avatar). Of course it goes without saying, only present work you are truly happy with. You may only get one chance at catching a fan so make it count. These methods take time, so don’t expect overnight success, but everyone starts from somewhere.

The Personal Touch

It’s important to have a personal website. For the personal touch we suggest Website Maker which allows website creation quickly and easily without previous knowledge of programming code. It allows to control all your data, now, and into the future. This is like your brand where you can show off all things you. The more locations on the web that relate to you and your work the easier it will be for people to find you.

Our old Friend

Talking about places where a potential audience could find you on the web, we cannot avoid to mention Facebook. Creating your own fan page and starting to involve your friends in the community-building process could be a good chance for you to get attention, also from people not necessarily connected to music but that are willing to support you in your passion. For this reason, you should use your Facebook page to offer a 360° experience about what you do: it could be very useful to post “behind the scenes” pictures of your recording sessions and sharing the status of your music project with this growing community of yours. Of course, you should then promote your gigs through the Events tool and you could also think of posting some of your music, periodically, on this page. Two more tips to grow your popularity on Facebook are: to try to connect with people, companies and places that have some sort of affinity with your activity and to ask your virtual fans to write a recommendation for your page, this could expand your popularity in unexpected ways.

No, not the Movie

When presenting yourself to fans, or just trying to get their attention, the first thing they may come across apart from your music is your avatar. Like everything that involves trying to connect with fans, this is incredibly important. We have all done it, you’re searching a service such as SoundCloud, trying to discover some new music and you’re faced with 1000′s of potential artists, all you have to go on initially is the avatar. Eyecatching or interesting images draw your attention and you investigate further. Of course the music is your main focus but you need to grab people’s attention first. When creating this image it’s paramount that the image works at thumb-nail size as well as other sizes. As such a photo is not always the best option. The image should be basic, use a minimal number of colours, and little or no text. Simple graphics or patterns always work best, when looking for inspiration we always browse the web for minimalist or pop art images, your creativity doesn’t have to be limited to just music! When working on the image always zoom in and out to make sure your efforts work at different scales. It is worth spending time on this, once completed you can use it in a coordinated way in all the channels you will be using. It’s your business card in a way. It also allows people to recognise you at a distance and helps make connections and increase your presense in these areas you frequent.

As a suggestion to correctly size your image for many platforms, or even better, create your own image from scratch, we suggest you to have a look at Photo & Graphic Designer, which allows you to edit and scale images in a very easy way, along with other great photo features.

MAGIX offers at the end of its great Like5 contest to all of the MAGIX Facebook fans Web Designer and four of its Top-Sellers for half of their purchase price. Just become a fan of MAGIX on Facebook and invite all of your friends to do so likewise. More information will then follow on Facebook.

Web Designer is a great all-rounder! This program enables the user to do graphic design, image optimization and online publishing. A variety of different templates, which can be completely customized in every detail, make learning the software easy and fast. Everything that is edited, customized and positioned on the screen will be displayed online in the same way: What You See Is What You Get (WSYIWYG). No knowledge of HTML or of content management systems is required in order to finally be able to publish your own Internet presence.

Today your own website is a must. As an online business card to support your job application, as a storage medium for the wedding photos to be downloaded for other guests or simply as a self-designed mouthpiece to the world, online pages have in many professional and personal matters become indispensable. Nevertheless, many users still shy away from the topic and say that it is difficult to get your own website on the Net. Web Designer is the clear evidence that this not the case.

After loading the program, choose the option Brochures and occasional papers. On the right-hand side you’ll find a gallery where you can choose a design. In this example we’ll create a newsletter together. On the right side of the screen, click on the folder with the text ‘brochures, flyers (leaflet, pamphlet??) and newspapers’. The menu pops out and lets you browse through the many possibilities. When you’ve made a final choice, double click it and your choice will be displayed on the main screen. Now it’s time to fill the newsletter with contents and adapt it to your own taste.

The big advantage with Photo & Graphic Designer is that you don’t need any HTML- or DTP experience whatsoever. We have now chosen a theme and will now amplify the newsletter. Preferably use personalized stuff, it shows that you have made an effort. But that’s entirely up to you. Now you may edit the texts that come with the template either by typing in the template or by pasting the text into the template. You can do the same with the header. I simply clicked the header and replaced it with my own text. It couldn’t be easier. This will seem familiar to users of MAGIX Web Designer, because essentially it is the same process.

We want to replace the photo on top of the page with one of our own choice. Do that by pressing ‘disc design’ on the top right side of the gallery and browse to the folder which contains the image(s) you want to use. The entire folder will now be visible in Photo & Graphic Designer. If you scroll downwards, you can see a new blue folder which has the same name as the folder you imported your images from. Open this folder and drag-and-drop your image to the the top of the newsletter. If the image is too big Photo & Graphic Designer will prompt you to downsize the image. This is advisable if you want to send the newsletter by e-mail. Photo & Graphic Designer will now import and integrate the image into the newsletter. You have now made the first step towards making a professional newsletter. We will continue in the next article.

First of all you should pick a topic or theme for your album. Try to concentrate on an specific object or subject in each picture, we have chosen to take pictures of buildings in our walk in Berlin, with such great architecture it helps inspire the photographer. For each album you create it is very important to apply the same filter and similar effects to all the pictures, this makes the album look professional and flow better. Just because you have all these awesome effects doesn’t mean you should go crazy on every picture. After a while of using Camera MX you will get accustomed to what effects might suit what picture, even before you snap!

With Camera MX you can add the filters even before taking the picture, wow!. As well as being a great time saver, not having to do any editing later, it also allows you to be creative and experiment before committing the image to virtual celluloid Of course if you prefer, once you have taken your picture you can use one of the 16 filters available and the 8 different editing options to perfect your shot. For our first album we have used the sepia filter together with a touch of illumination and saturation. It seems to be a perfect combination to use on a day with not much light and as so gives that vintage style to all our series.

Taking pictures of historic buildings is an easy way to make a pretty album but it is also not very original. The beauty of having a camera always with you is that you can capture those interesting day-to-day moments that can make us smile and laugh. We also recommend that on your photo-walk you turn yourself to those things that are not so eye-catching at first sight. For example, the subject of our second album. Just a couple of minutes from the majestic Gendarmenmarkt we found these huge apartment blocks. Using a more daring filter, the lomo one, we get a pretty fancy result. A perfect contrast to of our first album.

This advice is very simple and easy to follow, so next time you are out with your phone don’t forget to consider them while taking your pictures, you will be amazed with the improvement!

MAGIX offers at the end of its great Like5 contest to all of the MAGIX Facebook fans PhotoStory on DVD and four of its Top-Sellers for half of their purchase price. Just become a fan of MAGIX on Facebook and invite all of your friends to do so likewise. More information will then follow on Facebook.

PhotoStory on DVD is a classic from the MAGIX product line: the program is easy to use and allows any PC-novice to develop from a loose stack of images an interesting slideshow. The software offers everything from the possibility to include music, and transition or camera movements to get more out of your photos. Whether these are memories from the last vacation, shots of grandma’s birthday or images from the last sporting event. With PhotoStory on DVD the best memories are not only preserved, quite the contrary. They are presented and highlighted according to the occasion they were taken at.

The work with this successful MAGIX software can easily be explained in three steps: First, drag the photo into the program. Then add effects, transitions, music, text, etc.. Finally, export the multimedia slideshow on the desired format. In addition to formats such as DVD or BluRay, which enables you to enjoy your slideshow at home on TV, it can also uploaded directly to Facebook and YouTube. The presentation on Tablet PCs and Smart Phones is, of course, also possible.

This week’s Music Monday features a great house track “Dusty Heart” from UK producer Melodi7. This prolific producer has been churning out strong productions over the last few months, one look at his SoundCloud page is evidence of that. Created using MAGIX Music Maker, as well as been a great dance-floor track, the production is also impressive, featuring a full vibrant mix, making use of the full sonic range. We had a chance to ask Melodi7 some questions about his working practice, here’s what he had to say.

You used MAGIX Music Maker to create your project. What drew you to the program and how does it help you in your work?

I was drawn to its simplicity to create the ideas I have in my head. All the features within MAGIX Music Maker allow me to bring these ideas to life.

How long have you been producing music and what drew you to it?

I have been making music now for over 10 years. I call it my hobby as music production is not the profession I am currently in. When I was younger I was listening to a genre called UK garage…I was inspired by a track MJ Cole made with Guy S’mone called “You’re Mine”. It was the first time I said, “I wish I had made that!” That’s when I come across MAGIX Music Maker for the PC and within time I perfected my tracks. Now I listen to a lot of Pryda and progressive house.

How did you come up with the idea for this project?

It all depends on how I am feeling at the time, usually the people around me would influence me in a big way. I wanted to make something that will just make people smile if they’re having a bad day or problems in their life.

What advise would you give other music makers who would like to go in the same direction?

The advice I would give to others is to first of all explore every genre of music, be original and push for passion and care with you’re music…create a feeling. Within time you will develop your own style to nurture and share with the world.

Good movies should, of course, be first of all a feast for the eyes. But without a good sound, there will be little viewing pleasure. Therefore, the ears should never be forgotten in a movie-production. That is to say that sound effects help to get more atmosphere into a movie. This is not only true for big Hollywood productions, but also for the ambitious amateur movie makers. Impressive results can often be achieved with simple means.

The sound designer of the first Star Wars series (1977-1983), Ben Burtt, used for example a distorted roar of an elephant to create the famous screech of an approaching TIE Fighter. Shots from the laser cannon were developed by hammering on pylon cables. And in order to give the lightsabers their characteristic sounds, Burtt’s mixed the sound of his old TV-set with an old 35mm projector. All these sound effects had the highest priority for the developer of the Star Wars series, George Lucas. He knew that his science fiction saga could only work if he was able to credibly portray the shown space environment. For this purpose he even founded his own company for special effects – the famous Industrial Light and Magic (ILM).

Even subliminal audio effects and musical passages are used in the Star Wars series. The entrance of the top villain Darth Vader or any imperial lackey is always musically accompanied by deep, almost military music passages. This effect is reinforced by the fact that almost every main character in the movie has their own theme. The theme music by John Williams, for example, can always be hard when Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia have to make important decisions.

Nowadays, the creation of audio effects is not so complicated anymore. An impressive score can be created in audio programs like Music Maker. Polishing sounds to the degree that they intensify the atmosphere of what is seen can be made with the MAGIX software Video Sound Cleaning Lab. The professional pro-audio technology within the software features powerful and convenient functions for editing and removing unwanted noise from your video’s audio track and will help you to get a little closer to these big Hollywood productions.

As usual, drag image material into the timeline. Movie Edit Pro provides 32 tracks, 99 in the PLUS version. At the beginning, most users will not use more than two or three tracks. However, once you get more familiar with the software you will come to appreciate the large number of tracks available. In this example, we will use ten tracks to create a collage. We need these tracks not only for the collage as such, but also for titles and music.

First, select the images that you want to add to the collage and then arrange them in the timeline one after another. Click on the “Effects” tab in the Media Pool. In the menu that opens, go to “Design elements” and click on “Collages”. A number of options are available, but how to decide which one to choose? It’s easiest just to click through the different options. Click on a collage and then on the Play button below the preview monitor to generate a preview of the effect. This is how I will proceed in our example: in addition to the master shot, I will also use three picture-in-picture collages. I could do so manually, but why make things more difficult if the program can do everything automatically?

I will click on the collage of my choice and drag it to the beginning of my master shot. Movie Edit Pro automatically adds the three subsequent takes and puts them together including fade-ins. The result: an animated picture-in-picture effect. Not what you wanted? Simply undo the steps and try out a different collage – there are more than enough to choose from.

Another great feature in Movie Edit Pro is “Background design”. Right-click on a take in the timeline and select “Background design”. A selection is displayed to make a different color visible behind the video image or to insert a different moving image. I will select the second option “Use image file” and am presented with different backgrounds to choose from. Make your choice and click on “OK”. Nothing is visible yet. Go to “Size & Position” in the “Effects” tab. I will select “3D design” and then drag on the orange squares to reduce the size of the image. Now we can see how the selected image is displayed as a background image. It’s up to you how creative you want to be – Movie Edit Pro offers many options, that’s for sure!

MAGIX offers at the end of its great Like5 contest to all of the MAGIX Facebook fans Music Maker and four of its Top-Sellers for half of their purchase price. Just become a fan of MAGIX on Facebook and invite all of your friends to do so likewise. More information will then follow on Facebook.

Music Maker is a software from MAGIX which allows users with no prior musical knowledge to make their own music on the PC. The foundation of the program is simple and brilliant: audio snippets (loops) with sounds of different instruments and in different pitches can be arranged on the tracks by a simple drag-and-drop action. The quality of the loops is impressive and so is the variety of instruments, music styles and voices offered by the software.

After the first song-structure is done, Music Maker offers enough in-depth functions (BeatBox 2, MIDI Editor, Vandal SE, virtual mixer, FX rack, etc.) to impress even experienced users. At the same time, the handling of those functions is intuitive enough not to discourage the beginners, but rather to introduce them to these powerful tools. When the first song is composed, there is of course the possibility directly from the software to present the music to the world and upload it on the most popular Internet platforms like YouTube.

When working with video, photo, or music editing programs it can often be difficult to find and apply the effect you want. How can I create mirror images of objects in my photos? How can I pixelate the faces? How do I use a certain audio effect? Reading through long user manuals and instructions in PDF format can be a bit frustrating for the user because most often only the general functions are explained with no practical explanations of the actual workflow.

Our new video series “A Minute with MAGIX” provides a solution to this problem by offering users extra assistance in addition to the helpful user questions about specific effects or the Tips und Tricks that are already included in MAGIX programs.

Working with certain programs can be a pretty stressful experience for some people so it’s no wonder that they are constantly looking for answers anywhere they can find them. They visit forums, read question & answer boards, and often end up browsing YouTube to get information from “how to” videos. Sometimes people watch them out of simple interest, other times they are looking for help with a specific problem. Either way one thing is for sure: These videos are extremely popular! But even some of these “how to” videos are simply too long for people who are looking for quick answers to specific questions.

With this in mind we’ve decided to keep our videos “short and sweet” by making each of them about one minute long. They show how to get the most from MAGIX programs in easy, straightforward steps. Some of the videos provide tips for advanced users who want to apply complicated video or audio effects while other videos are aimed at beginners and provide clear and simple instructions on how to get quick results. After all, using the software should be as fun as it is productive!

As users work with a program it is only natural that they begin to ask themselves questions. Is there a way to get faster results? Is there a way to improve my workflow to get better results or perhaps even completely different results?

We’d like to answer those questions and what better way to do that than with short, informative videos? Check out our YouTube Channel to get the answers you’ve been looking for!

Here you can watch the latest addition to the “A Minute with MAGIX” series: