The following is a guest post by Niklas Blixt from Sweden.

Maximizing Productivity

I think most of you want to want to be as productive as possible. Not only do you want to make good music, you want to make a lot of it! Isn’t that true? I know that I want to! But sometimes it can be a bit tricky to find the time, especially if you’re not working full time with music. For example, I am a freelance drummer and I study music production. I need to find time to practice and study both.

To get things done you have to start using your time more wisely, eliminate procrastination and rid your time with distractions. I have found a tried and true way to maximize my productivity:  Meet “The Pomodoro Technique.”

What’s The Pomodoro Technique?

The technique is actually very simple. All you need is a timer or stopwatch. (e.g. a kitchen timer will do)

Here’s how it works: You decide a task you want to work on, set the timer to 25 minutes and get to it.

The key is to focus on the one thing you’ve decided to work on and try to get as much done before the timer goes off. You don’t really have to finish the task you’re working on, but when the timer goes off after 25 minutes, you stop doing what you’re doing and take a break for 5 minutes. The important thing here is to take an actual break.

If your working on a new mix, for example,  hit SAVE and walk away. Set the timer again to 5 minutes, grab a cup of coffee, talk a walk or read the paper. The important thing is to do something less “focus demanding” for 5 minutes.

After the break, set the timer again to 25 minutes and continue where you left of. When you’ve done four sets of 25 minutes in a row, with a 5 minute break in between, instead of taking a 5 minute break take a 15 minute break and so on.

Focus on What’s Important

While practicing this technique, I am finding myself getting MORE done in less time. Additionally, I’ve found that using this technique while practicing drums, I’ve gotten a lot better quicker than before. And how is this possible? The answer is focus.

By working in sets of 25 minutes you’ll start focusing in what’s important to get things done. While working on a mix, it’s easy to try out every plug-in on a track and before you know it you’ve spent 3 hours searching for an EQ for that vocal-track without really moving forward with the mix.

The point is to set short-terms goals, prioritize your tasks at hand and just get it done.

Avoid the Pitfalls

There is a few things to keep in mind to be successful with this technique. First, try to keep the 25 minute periods as uninterrupted as possible. Have a notepad beside you to write down things that come to mind that have nothing to do with what you’re working on for the moment. Just quickly write it down and then continue with what you were doing. Turn your phone on silent and ABSOLUTELY NO TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND E-MAIL CHECKING. You can check in on that during your breaks.

The second thing is to really take a break after 25 minutes. This can be a bit tricky at the beginning. But once you get the hang of it it’s amazing what a major difference it makes to really concentrate on one specific task for 25 minutes and then take a rest. And there is something magical about setting a deadline. It makes you concentrate and work a little more streamlined to achieve the goal you’ve set up.

The Bottom Line

I think we all want to be more productive when we work on things and we can all be more effective, we just have to learn how. And for me “The Pomodoro Technique” really works. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose!

For more in depth information visit: www.pomodorotechnique.com.

Love from Sweden,

Niklas J. Blixt – www.niklasjblixt.com

Photo Credit

We’re giving four lucky people the chance to win a copy of Quiztones for Mac!

The winners have been chosen!

Here are our four lucky winners of Quiztones for Mac, chosen at random:

• Duncan Whitcombe: “Ear training is awesome: I realised looking back that I did a rudimentary version of this myself well before dedicated ear training materials were available.  By the time I finished full time live music I could accurately find the exact 1/3 octave slider on the EQ within a second. This app looks great, I’d love to win a copy to recapture that accuracy.”
• Tylerwidman: “Sounds like a good tool for all engineers!”
• Terese: “Seems like a great idea and, as most great ideas are, it is quite nerdy as well! I look forward to winning a free copy!”
• Jenno_boro: “This program looks so helpful, I need to invest!”

Quiztones for Mac

Quiztones ($19.99 value, requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later) is a frequency ear trainer for amateur and professional audio engineers, producers, and musicians. Quiztones uses tones and frequency-altered noise and musical loops (including source material from your own music library) to train your ears and help develop more acute listening and frequency recognition skills.

• Sharpen your ears & frequency recognition skills
• Improve your mixing & EQ’ing chops
• Prevent noise & frequency buildup in your mixes & recordings
• Eliminate the need to sweep for frequencies

Quiztones for Mac is available on the Mac App Store or Audiofile Engineering Store.

Quiztones for iOS is available on the iOS App Store.

How to Win

For the chance to win, you need to do 3 things:

1. Leave a comment at the bottom of this page so we can contact you if you win.
2. At the bottom of Quiztones.net, click one of the social sharing buttons (+1, Like, or Tweet).
3. Post this tweet or Like Audiofile Engineering and SilverLake Studio on Facebook.

Four winners will be chosen at random.

Rules and Conditions

• To enter, carefully read the instructions above.
• You may only enter once.
• Make sure you use a valid email address when you comment so you can be contacted. Email addresses will not be made public.
• Quiztones for Mac requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later. If necessary, you can substitute your prize for a Quiztones iOS app.
• Entries will be accepted until February 21st at Midnight EST and the winners will be announced and contacted by February 25th.

This competition is sponsored by Audiofile Engineering.

Collaborating and recording with musicians from anywhere in the world is now a reality. For some, it’s actually a necessity. As recording gear becomes more affordable, musicians are recording from home more than ever before. You don’t have to live in Music City, USA to meet other musicians and create great music. In fact, I whole heartily believe that some of the best musicians are the ones that you haven’t heard of yet.

That being said, building a community and meeting other musicians isn’t always easy. There still requires a bit of leg work. The key to online collaboration is to be seen and heard. You have to create a presence online so that others can find you.

Whether you’re wanting to make money from your home studio, meet other musicians or just have fun creating music, here’s a list of 5 tools that every musician should sign up for and use:

1. Dropbox

Dropbox is currently what I personally use the most. It’s not only a great tool for sharing audio files among clients and other musicians, but it’s great for anything! To me, dropbox is the simplest and most flexible cloud service available. They offer free and pro accounts from 50GB to large team sharing accounts. Sign up here.

 2. Gobbler

The great thing about gobbler is that it’s a collaboration tool AND an audio back up service. If you haven’t had a hard drive crash on you yet, you will at some point. Gobbler helps put your mind at ease. You can set up your hard drives to back up automatically. Gobbler also makes it super easy to send large audio files. Audio back up and file sharing made easy.

Get a free 5GB Gobbler account right here.

 3. SoundCloud

SoundCloud is well on its way to becoming a leader in the social network of music. They’re in the business of…. well, sounds! SoundCloud gives musicians the opportunity to share their music with other musicians and eventually the entire world. Create a community, get critique on your latest mix, collaborate and share files with other musicians and promote your music – all in one place. Their custom widget is also great for sharing on other sites.

Follow me on SoundCloud here.

4. Indaba Music

Indaba is a Zulu word that refers to a gathering for sharing ideas. Indaba Music was launched in 2007 and have grown to be a leader in music creation, community and collaboration. Indaba has a basic, pro and platinum service available. They provide musicians from hobbyists to grammy winners with the tools to get noticed, get hired and get heard. Tools include everything from remix contests to an online DAW called Mantis.

Connect with me on Indaba Music here.

5. Kompoz

Kompoz considers themselves as the music collaboration social network. They offer a free account with basic benefits such creating your own personal profile and contribute and submit unlimited tracks. The Kompoz Plus account upgrades you to more audio format options, private sessions and a 15% discount to Abbey Road Mastering services. The cool thing about Kompoz is that they have a music player available on their site as well as an iPad and iPhone app that plays music from Kompoz members. It’s a collaborative radio station, if you will.

Sign up for a free Kompoz profile here.

Already using these services? Let us know! Leave your feedback and provide links to connect with you below:

In my opinion, 2011 had it’s ups and downs in the new music category. Among the really bad album releases (Lulu by Metallica comes to mind), there were also a handful of great ones.

So, what makes a great album? For me, a great album is one that I’m still listening to.

It’s the ones that you can’t take out of your stereo. The ones that get better each and every time you hear them.

In no particular order, here were my favorite picks in 2011: 

(Click on the album covers to listen and/or purchase)

1. The Decemberists – The King is Dead (Pictured Above)

The King is Dead was evidently recorded in a converted barn outside of Portland, Oregon. You can certainly tell that the barn inspired the very stripped down, honest and organic color of this album. Featured musicians includes R.E.M’s Peter Buck and Gillian Welch.

2. R.E.M – Collapse Into Now

With R.E.M’s recent announcement of calling it quits as a band, this record marks their last studio album. It’s a beautiful farewell in many ways. Special guest Patti Smith appears.

3. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

I mean, come on. It’s Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins. The entire album was recorded straight analog in Dave’s garage. Enough said.

4. Dream Theater – A Dramatic Turn of Events

I’ve always been a big fan of Dream Theater. Over the past couple of years, however, I lost interest. It seemed as if they were putting out albums so fast, I couldn’t even keep up. That is until this album came out. For me, the loss of Mike Portnoy and the addition of drummer Mike Mangini was a turn for the best for this band. A refreshing album. A dramatic turn of events in fact.

5. Oz Noy – Twisted Blues, Vol. 1

I just recently stumbled upon guitarist Oz Noy and picked up a few of his albums. He’s an absolute monster guitar player. Although listed as jazz, Oz’s music and style is too complex to be categorized into one genre. Twisted Blues, Volume 1 features a handful of stellar players including drummers Vinnie Colaiuta and Anton Fig.

What were some of your favorite releases in 2011? Leave your comments…

The great thing about collaborating online with musicians and artists is the opportunity to meet some exceptional musicians from around the world. Today’s artist spotlight happens to be one of those musicians.

Meet Joel Bezaire

Joel Bezaire is a bass player from Nashville, TN.  He got his start during college in Jackson, MS in a band called Carbon.  They moved to Nashville trying to make it in the CCM industry.  After some moderate success, Carbon disbanded and Joel joined a couple of pretty successful bands named Fellow and Finna, both drawing label interest. Fellow, in fact, won a battle of the bands sponsored by Dez Dickerson (formerly of Prince’s legendary band The Revolution) and was able to record a demo produced by Dez. (Dez said to Joel after his Battle of the Bands performance:  “Thank goodness we finally found someone who can play that instrument”).  Upon receiving a long-awaited label offer, Fellow decided to disband rather than pursue music full-time.

Since then, Joel has been playing bass freelance.  His most consistent gig is for the renowned music program at his church, West End Community Church in Nashville, TN.  He also produced and mixed The Sinai Alliance worship project, and played on projects for artists such as Joe Gilder and Toby Baxley.  He has also been involved in many recordings for songwriter demos, as well as recordings for a toy company (remakes of popular songs to be included with their toys).

His Gear

Joel’s favorite bass is a 4-string Musicman Sterling.  He generally records direct through a VT Bass (Ampeg modeler) pedal, but occasionally mics an Ampeg cabinet as well.  He also has a Regal Acoustic Bass for sessions that require a more earthy tone.

As a drummer, I especially appreciate a solid bass player. Not only is Joel just that, he’s also a great guy who is available for session work and online collaboration. If you’re looking for a bass player for your next song or project, consider hiring Joel. You’ll be glad you did…

Learn more and get in touch with Joel right here.

2012!

First off, I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday season. It’s hard to believe it’s already January 4th, 2012!

Thank you for reading my rants, subscribing to the newsletter, liking my facebook page and following me on twitter. I really do appreciate the support and encouragement via your comments and emails.

And to all of my studio clients in 2011… thank you. Seriously, you are why this studio exists. Whether you decided to record an EP here or chose me to record your drum tracks via collaboration, you are why I do what I do. I wish all of you a very successful and productive 2012 in your music creating.

What’s New and on the Horizon?

I’m really excited about what 2012 has in store. Of course, there will most likely be things that aren’t planned. However, here’s a few things that’s new and in the works:

• New Drum Kit: I recently added a Pearl Reference series drum kit as the studio kit. What this means to you is that the kit is always set up and mic’d, meaning faster turn arounds. It also happens to sound killer.

• New Recording Gear: I’m excited to be implementing a few new pieces of recording gear including new preamps. What does that mean to you? Well, simply put: Better sounds and more inputs, which in turn means more options for drum tracks.

• Better Content, Bigger Community: My hope for the SilverLake Studio blog for 2012 is to stop writing as much. Yep, that means I need YOU! My goal for the blog going forward is to create a community of like-minded musicians, home recording enthusiasts and music lovers. I want YOU to write for the blog. Please contact me directly for more info and to be a part of things right now.

• For Hire: I’m actually looking forward to getting OUT of the studio more in 2012. Not only am I available for collaborative studio projects, I’ll also come to you! If you’d like to for me to come to your studio or hire me for your next gig – contact me right here to discuss options and availability.

• New EP: I’ve been collaborating with New York guitarist and composer, Cameron Mizell (as well as other fantastic musicians) on my first solo EP that I’m hoping to release in 2012…

What about you? What are some of your goals for the new year?

As a session musician, it’s always fun to promote other artists that are making things happen. That being said, I’ve started a new Artist Spotlight on the studio blog. In case you missed the last one, be sure to catch up on songwriter Marco Bucci out of Toronto.

This weeks artist recently released an album that I had a hand in helping with. Without further ado…

Meet Toby Baxley

Toby is a songwriter and recording artist and lives in Northeast Texas with his wife and two children. His original praise & worship music is published and distributed by PraiseCharts and is a demo artist for them, producing and performing the Acoustic Worship: Songs for Small Groups series.

In his home studio, Toby produces demos and full albums for other singer-songwriters who are tired of record companies being the gatekeepers of great music. In addition to his recent album, he has produced two other EP projects this year. He records, mixes, and masters in Sonar X1 and does a little bit of final editing in Reaper.

Online Collaboration

Here’s what Toby had to say about the collaboration process:

Collaborating with Travis was great! Travis took rough ideas that I would be embarrassed for anyone to hear and made them into something really great. He provided the foundation for me to build up some killer arrangements. I sent a couple of songs to him for which I had already programmed drums in EZDrummer and Cakewalk Session Drummer. Travis breathed new life into those songs with his fresh, live drums. I may have to eat nothing but beans and rice for a year, but I’m having Travis play every song on the next album I produce.

Here’s a track off of his recent album:

http://tobybaxley.bandcamp.com