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Judging Your Own Music

   

Often the musicians hear their music differently than others. Mainly because they are the ones who created it and they notice every little detail. To eliminate the bias musicians have toward their music they can do a few things. First it is important to always listen to your music through monitors rather than speakers. This is because the monitors are brutal in the way that they show every intricate mistake. Even with professionals it almost never gets to the point where the song is perfect on the monitors because they always amplify faults. The main goal when doing this is to edit it until it’s the best it can be, and then hope that when it’s played through regular speakers it will sound much better. Speakers improve the sound quality because they contain bass, middle, and treble which evens out the sound.
     If it's just too hard to quibble over your own songs, then just ask a neutral friend or neighbor to listen to it and give you some feedback. After hours of listening to the same song a million times, it is likely that one could not even hear what is actually being played since the origional version is now etched into your brain forever.

Networking Your Music

Once the final recording has been made, all the band members are satisfied, and you've mastered your music then the next step is to market your music. It’s important to advertise your music otherwise no one will know that it even exists. The first method you could use would be to create a preview with only a couple songs and put it on a CD. Then you could distribute it by either selling it for about two dollars or just giving it away free as a promotional item. If making CDs is inconvenient, there another option.

     Social Networking sites are infested with millions of people a day which makes it the perfect way to get your music out there. Sites like MySpace Music and Reverb Nation are perfect for creating a page for your band where you and your fans can check you out at any time. On the page it will allow you to have a music player to holster your songs. Facebook is probably the most used site these days; however, it lacks the band page feature. The way to get around this is to make a group with the link to your page. Also people will definitely check it out if the link is posted as your status often enough.

Fun Effects On Your Music

    In today's music special effects are widely used on almost all types of music. These effects are meant to digitally alter the sound of the band, voice, instruments, or it can add artificial sounds. Some that people would recognize would be reverb. Adding a certain amount of reverb makes it seem like there is an echo such as there would be in a large room or hall. Rapers use reverb to echo their voice constantly to the point that it helps make a beat with their raping. Another commonly applied effect would be the phaser. The phaser effect adds a swooshing noise with slight distortion. It's generally used as a build up to a chorus or an intense verse. These and many more effects can be downloaded using the specific software that the user owns.

To listen to the phaser effect CLICK HERE

Proper Environment Condusive to Recording

     The most important thing to remember about recording is keeping everyone cool, calm, and collected. Playing the same song over and over again is very repetitive and tiresome so its vital to sustain the alive vibe of the room. Supply your singer or singers with oily foods or sprays to keep their voice from getting horse from so many repetitions. Always record everything played because you never know when its going to be perfect or not. Keep a cool temperature in the room to about 76 degrees Fahrenheit to reduce people from over heating and getting frustrated. When a band is tired or angry it is always evident in their recording. Stay relaxed and have patience even though by the end of the recording you will most likely hate the song and everyone who kept messing up.

Techniques of How to Record Band Members

     There are multiple ways of when to record the instruments of your band. None are wrong, but some sound better than others. One method of recording is to record everyone except the vocals at the same time. This will give you what people call a "live sound". Using this technique it is very difficult to manipulate since the sound from the other instruments are bleeding into your recording. This is the most simple but it also gives you the least quality recording since you can't improve on each specific part when editing.

     The other, better quality, way of recording is to record each person separately. In most studios this is the preferred way because the rooms are small and dedicated to each type of instrument. The pros of recording one at a time is that they can redo a performance easily without having to deal with getting the band back in sinc. Also, now you can reap the benefits of easily editing each specific sound with every minute detail without having extraneous sound. The cons of this type of recording is it takes much longer to finish the song. Also, it might be hard for the people playing because it might be hard for them to keep in time with the rest of the band while just listening to them through headphones rather than live where there is chemistry.

Techniques of Using/Placing Microphones

     Most bands starting out have just one or maybe two microphones for each instrument. When you listen to the playback and compare it to a professional recording, such as a band on I-tunes, the difference is monumental. Most people would just accept that their expensive equipment and studio is the reason that the average garage band doesn't have as good sound. Well you would happy to know that it's not always that case. One way of boosting your sound presence and overall quality is to use maybe three or four different kinds of mics placed at varying distances and angles. The combination of microphones usually consists of a condenser, dynamic, and ribbon microphone. Each of these are specially made to detect varying levels of tone. The mix of these mics will create a well balanced sound that isn't too tinny or too deep.

     This combination of microphones is usually used on guitar and bass guitar amplifiers. However it has been known to use different mics on drums and/or singing too. For instance, the snare drum might have three mics on order to pick up the light and soft hits, the deep tone, and the high pitched snap when it's hot hard. Again the purpose of all the mics is to create a well rounded sound. Just be creative and see what fits the specific sound type of the band. Remember nothing is wrong, only misplaced.