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Who Needs a Record Label?
There has never been a better time than now to be an independent artist. More easily and efficiently than ever, you can build a digital recording studio in your home, connect directly with fans through social media, and distribute your wares around the world through artist-friendly companies like CD Baby and Tunecore. It’s a DIY world,…
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Warming Up Your Digital Mixes
So you’ve just recorded and mixed your latest song digitally in Logic or ProTools, and gotten every little detail just the way you want it. But something, you decide, is “missing” from your mix. And it’s not just that — something actually seems to be wrong with it. Your ears detect it, and complain to…
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DIY: Echoes of the Echoplex
In 1982, I bought a used Maestro Echoplex, old and worn and scarcely functional, at a little music shop in Fairfax, Virginia. The store carried as much used stuff as new, and I paid all of $25 for this battered, little black box displayed under a glass counter. My friend assured me: “You have to…
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Album & Audience: Q&A with Kowtow Popof
As a contemporary songwriter, are you focused on making albums? Or just singles? Or are you emphasizing your live show, where you can reach your audience more regularly, with greater immediacy? Is creating “proper” albums still a part of your artistic plan? While the album has undergone dramatic change in recent years — the “devaluation” of…
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An Effective Artist Website in 5 Steps
If you’re a recording artist or author, what do you see as the purpose of your website? To educate? To inform? To advertise? Think again. While your site might do those things well, they alone are not enough. Your site must be a multi-dimensional representation of who you are as an artist. If it isn’t…
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DIY: The Mighty Tascam 388
The first recording band I was in made albums on an all-in-one portable studio with eight tracks of audio on 1/4-inch, analog tape. Having cut my teeth until then on various four-track cassette decks, I found this reel-to-reel, hard-wired hulk with close-to-pro EQ and signal routing to be something like a miracle. Next to other…
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