Working With Drum Tracks

By Lori Spencer

 

A drum track is the portion of any sound recording devoted exclusively to the drums. In multitrack recording, what is called the “drum track” in fact usually will comprise several different tracks. Each part of the drum kit is be recorded with a separate microphone, and each microphone assigned a track on the mixing board. For example, one track may be just the snare drum, another may be the crash cymbal, and an overhead microphone captures ambient sound in the room. Mixed together, all of these various elements represent the drum tracks.

Many songwriters will use a drum track to help them create songs. Instead of programming a drum machine for a demo or trying to draw inspiration from prerecorded drum loops, songwriters often find …

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Music Industry Internships

By Lori Spencer

 

Many of today’s music industry experts originally began their careers as college interns. Music industry internships provide invaluable experience for young aspirants and offer a chance to learn the ropes of the music business. Types of music industry internships vary widely, from performing clerical tasks to working in promotions and marketing, or recording studio apprenticeships. Perks and bonuses may include free concert tickets and the opportunity to meet famous musical artists. Not all the work is glamorous, however; interns are frequently assigned menial jobs such as running errands, fetching coffee, answering phones and cleaning up the studio after hours.

Music industry internships can be the key that opens doors in a business that is notoriously difficult to break into. College students typically…(cont’d)

 

Read the whole story here: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-music-industry-internships.htm

Negotiating A Record Contract

By Lori Spencer

 

Recording contracts are legally binding agreements between an artist and the record label defining the rights, obligations and remedies for each party. A recording deal may just be for a single project, or on a “per album” basis, but most are long term commitments of three to seven years with periodic options to renew. As the record company is making a considerable financial investment in the costs of making and producing albums, they naturally expect a substantial return.

This tutorial covers many of the key points to negotiate in a record deal, but is not intended as legal advice. Always have an experienced entertainment law attorney review any record contracts before signing.

Step 1

Negotiate the most important thing first: who retains creative control – artist or record company? Artists will of course try to retain as much control over their own work as possible, but most major record label contracts reserve the right for the company to veto the artist’s choice of studio, producer, songs, musicians, cover art and the like.

Step 2

Discuss the length of the proposed contract. As record contracts generally sign artists for a certain number of records (not years), it could be a one-record deal or a six record deal. There is an option to renew after each album or period of time, usually at the record company’s option. “Options” are explained further in Reference 2.

Step 3

Have your contract clearly define the extent of exclusivity. While every recording contract engages the exclusive services of the performer or group (meaning you can’t make records for any other companies during the contract term), some labels will try to push this exclusivity clause too far and unfairly bind artists from doing other projects.

Step 4

Estimate a recording budget for each album under the recording contract and negotiate an appropriate advance. It’s important not to ask for too much upfront, because these advance monies are fully recoupable from the artist’s future royalties. Think of it like a loan, and never borrow more than you can realistically pay back in a reasonable amount of time (based on sales expectations).

Step 5

Have your manager or attorney negotiate the best possible royalty rate they can get in the contract. Most new artists receive a royalty rate of between 9-14%. Many record contracts increase the artist’s royalty rate by degrees with each subsequent album based on performance and sales figures. Advances and production budgets generally will also increase with each album under the contract.

Step 6

Hammer out the details of a song publishing arrangement if the artist writes their own material. Most record labels will want a piece of the publishing pie, as this generates a significant amount of revenue for the company. Sometimes the split is as much as 50/50 between the songwriter and record label.

Step 7

Make certain your contract clearly defines both parties’ rights and obligations in regard to artist merchandising, publicity, marketing, promotion, public performances, touring, tour support, control/maintenance of artist’s official website, and other fine points involved in a standard recording contract.

Tips

As all things must eventually come to an end, make sure the recording contract sets a clear procedure for termination of the deal. It should also spell out the legal remedies available if one or the other party defaults. Labels sometimes go bankrupt or out of business and sell the artist’s contract to another record label; your contract needs to cover all of these “what if” scenarios that could happen down the road.

You may also want to insert a “key man” clause that states if your A&R rep, producer, or a key person within the record label or band should leave, the contract may be terminated.

Warnings

A “sideman’s clause” is recommended if the artist wants to be free to do studio work with other artists, appear on benefit or compilation albums, movie soundtracks, etc. Even with such a clause the artist will still need permission from the record company before recording elsewhere, but without a sideman’s clause, the artist (or members of the band) would not be allowed to appear as a guest on any other albums.

Key Concepts

• record contract negotiation
• record contract deal
• recording artist contracts
• entertainment law contracts
• record deals contract
• artist record company

References

• Music Biz Academy: What’s A Record Deal All About? [http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/recorddeal.htm]
• YouTube: What to Expect in a Recording Contract [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v7GMpA5sVI&feature=related]
• YouTube: Record Deals and the Future of Music [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eg5JKPwLqI&feature=related]

User Bio

Lori Spencer has written professionally since 1986. She is the author of three nonfiction books, is writing her fourth and provides content for eHow and LIVESTRONG.COM. She also produces and hosts a weekly radio show. Her subjects of expertise include history, media, music, film and the performing arts.

Fix That Damned Skipping Record!

By Lori Spencer

 

If your treasured vinyl records are skipping, there could be several reasons why. Dirt, dust or other debris in the grooves of the record are the most common cause of record skips. Your turntable’s arm may need balancing, or the stylus could be worn out. The good news is that all of these problems can be fixed with a minimum of cost and effort. The bad news is, if the skipping is being caused by…

 

Continued at: http://www.ehow.com/how_8209913_fix-record-skips.html

Self-Producing Your Album: A Guide for Musicians

By Lori Spencer

 

Making a record is the first step on every musical artist’s path to success. Here’s how to save time and money in the studio by doing it yourself.

 

Read the rest of the story at

http://www.suite101.com/content/self-producing-your-own-cd-a-guide-for-musicians-a382500

How to Change Your Voice When Your Record Yourself

By Lori Spencer

 

Whether you’re a professional voice-over artist, a video gamer, or just want to spoof your friends with a prank call over VoIP, voice-changing software gets the job done. You can easily change your voice from young to old, male to female, high to low, and create your own game character voices using special effects — the possibilities are endless.

Many voice-changing (or voice-cloaking) software programs are available. Free programs tend to deliver poor sound quality and don’t offer many features. Pro versions $10 to a little more than $100, as of May 2011…

 

Continued at http://www.ehow.com/how_8406270_change-voice-record-yourself.html

How to Blend the Sound of a Guitar and Bass

By Lori Spencer

 

Achieving just the right blend between guitar and bass should be felt by the listener “like a warm hug” according to Manny Marroquin, mixing engineer on multiple platinum hits for John Mayerand other top recording artists. Think of the guitar as one arm and the bass as the other arm. The idea is to wrap both arms around the listener and engulf them, blending the two sources together to sound like one.

Effective microphone placement, the tone, instruments, amplification, style and rapport of the musicians themselves–and not studio wizardry–represent the keys to successfully blending bass and guitar.

Read more: How to Blend the Sound of a Guitar and a Bass | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/how_7339161_blend-sound-guitar-bass.html#ixzz1g8wzWNra

 

How to Get a Record Deal with DTP Records

By Lori Spencer

Disturbing tha Peace Records (DTP Records) was founded by rap artist Ludacris in 2000. DTP is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and receives major distribution through Island Def Jam Music Group. Based out of Atlanta, Georgia, the label — which also has an artist management arm — boasts an impressive roster of hip-hop and rap talent. Artistsinclude I-20, Lil’ Scrappy, Field Mob, Playaz Circle, Bobby Valentino, Shareefa, Willy Northpole and Lazyeye, among others. If you think you’ve got what it takes to join names like these, here’s how to effectively pursue a recording contract with DTP Records.

Read more: How to Get a Record Deal With DTP | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/how_8409215_record-deal-dtp.html#ixzz1N1H9VKye

How to Record From One CD Player to Another

By Lori Spencer

Many CD recorders designed for home stereo or studio use contain two built-in decks: one for recording, the other for playback. If your CD recorder has only one tray, however, it is still possible to copy discs the old fashioned way: dubbing from one component to another. By chaining the CD player and CD recorder together, you experience no signal or audio quality loss as you would using an analog tape deck. Even if you only have a portableCD player to use as the playback deck, the transfer should work fine so long as your CD player has compatible output jacks.

Read more: How to Record From One CD Player to Another | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/how_8398341_record-one-cd-player-another.html#ixzz1M9u9f9p1

Working as an Audio Engineer

By Lori Spencer

Audio engineering careers require versatility and the ability to adapt to working in a variety of sound formats and applications. One day, an engineer might be making an album for a major rock artist; the next day, he or she might be editing a film soundtrack or mixing a classical 120-piece orchestra‘s recording of Beethoven‘s Ninth Symphony. Jobs in sound engineering range include things such as running live sound at concerts, producing radio and television shows, creating sound for video games, performing audio post production or even designing entire public address (PA) systems and recording studios.

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