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by Michael Laskow
Dear Passengers,
So, how did you do with last week's assignment? Did you come up with the five scenarios? Did you do the basic demos? And if so, were you surprised by how well the relatively simple demos worked?
You CAN do this guys and gals!
Here's a little inspiration to help you keep reading these articles I've been sending you. We send inter-office e-mails around to notify each other of deals that are happening. Here's one I got a week ago from ONE of my staffers. I've removed private phone #'s, company names, and e-mails to protect the privacy of the members mentioned, and to keep the companies from getting bombarded by 160,000 musicians! ;-)
Here's the latest . . .
- The following 6 members all had 1 song of theirs placed in the indie film "Mini's First Time" via &%#$. I believe each license fee was for $1000:
- Thomas Foyer - "Salsero Loco"
- Milt Reder - "Toreador Pants"
- Nick Kepics - "Uma Cobra Louca"
- Ed Hartman - "Beethoven's 9th Samba"
- Joe Lervold [aka Joel Evans] - "Until It Happens To You"
- Willy Dalton - "Free JB"
- Joe Carolus recently signed library publishing deals with two different companies.
- Greg Shearer
- Song "Vital Evidence" used in recent "Oprah Winfrey Show" [ABC]
- 2 songs placed in "Vampire Bats" [CBS] – stars Lucy Lawless
- Pat Flanakin's song "Hwo Dey Dey" placed in film "Van Vorst Park" – the song was used numerous times in the film and served as the end credit song as well.
- Don Julin – Recently re-joined TAXI after scoring deals with three different music libraries: All 3 deals came as a result of TAXI.
- Beau James Nokes – Signed song "Montusia" a faux mariachi tune he wrote 25 years ago and recorded a couple years ago, to a music library.
- Denny Earnest
- Had 8 of his songs [mostly Hawaiian/Reggae/Island tracks] placed in MTV shows such as "Real World" and "Road Rules."
- Is also about to sign a deal with &%#$ Records.
- Tony Howard – Song "Wasting My Time" to be used in a new Nickelodean TV show called "Just For Kicks" that will debut in 2006.
- Tom Toce – Signed song "You Make Me Laugh" with a Music Library.
- Richard Hunter – Signed 2 songs to a music library.
- Donna Britton – Signed 3 songs to a Music Library: Girlfriends To The Rescue, It Music Be Chemistry, Breaking My Heart
- Steve Multer
- 2 songs signed with a publisher.
- Song "It Ain't Over Til The Fat Man Swings" placed in the indie film "Have A Short Death."
- 3 songs signed with a Music Library.
- Michael Logozar Placed song "Ambient Night" in indie film "Van Vorst Park."
- Catherine Marie Charlton – Placed song "Ireland" in indie film "Van Vorst Park."
- Roger Mason – Signed a deal with &%$# Records for 11 songs, all Bluegrass tunes.
- Jimmy Morrison – Signed a guitar track "Fingernail Moon" to the a music library.
- Mark Davies – Signed 3 songs to a music library.
- Scott Kovarik has had placements in the following: Everwood, One Life To Live, the Young and the Restless, and the film Barely Legal.
You CAN do this too!
You probably noticed the words, "Music Library" mentioned a lot in that e-mail. Just to clarify, music libraries are essentially publishers.
What is amazing to me is that most of those tunes were probably done in home studios!
Don't have one? Wrong! You're reading this e-mail on a computer, right? That very same computer could easily be your studio.
I just got a Mac G4 laptop, and it came loaded with a free, fully functional version of Garageband 2 on it. Just for kicks, I fired up the demo, and showed it to my nine-year old daughter. Now, of course, she's a genius because she's my kid ;-), but I left the room for a few minutes and came back to find her re-mixing the demo song. It's that easy. For an old studio rat like myself to fall in love with a COMPUTER "studio" is really saying something.
The guys at Recording Magazine just started a new mag focused on GarageBand 2. I ran a couple of TAXI ads in it, so they sent me a freebie magazine (big spenders! ;-) I loved it, and give it Two Thumbs Up from Mikey. It's so helpful for people who are using GarageBand that I'm surprised Apple didn't publish a mag like this! I'm pretty sure you can buy the program for PC's too.
Here's a link for you to send your honey if you'd like to get a copy as a stocking stuffer: www.musicmakerpub.com. I think it's about 8 bucks – cheap thrill, and WELL worth it.
But my point is that ANY of you reading this can do your demos at home on your computers, and if you follow some simple rules, you can make great recordings.
Some of my favorite tips:
- Don't use dated sounding samples or drum loops. They're easy to spot, and nobody likes them. ;-)
- Go direct with your bass, and don't over-boost the bottom end. Add a little 2.5 khz if you need to hear the attack, but be careful.
- The kick drum and the bass should be roughly equivilant in volume, and should feel like they're "locked" together.
- The snare should be almost as loud, and keep the reverb (plate sound is always a good bet) decay time under a second. Snares that drown in their own echo are passe.
- Toms should be panned full left, center, and right, respectively, with a touch of reverb. Cymbals panned full left and right, but not too loud, and high-hat at 2 o'clock – also not too loud. Nobody ever loved a song because of the cymbals or high-hat. ;-) They're dangerous in unskilled hands, so watch it kids. They tend to make your mix sound thin and sizzle-y.
- Pan an acoustic guitar to the left, and counter-balance it with an electric on the right. Pan them WIDE.
- Do a stereo keyboard panned at 3 and 9 o'clock.
- Vocals should be panned straight up the middle (if you have them), and they should be prominent in the mix. Don't go nuts with the reverb on these either. It makes them sound dated.
- Backgrounds should be panned full left and right with a tad of compression, and a pinch of reverb.
- And finally, don't be scared of healthy levels. A touch of red shouldn't scare the hell out of you. If you don't hear distortion, you're probably okay.
- And after you've added everything to the mix, check your bottom end again (no, not your butt!), and then the vocal. Your mix should sound open, clear, fat, and punchy, with an easy-to-hear vocal. And don't under-mix the vocal just cuz you hate the sound of your own voice! ;-)
Alright, I know these are VERY basic rules, and the engineers on the list are going to send me gobs of e-mails telling me how I'm "wrong about this, or didn't include that." Save it guys, pleeeeeease! These are meant to be basic tips and not rocket science.
My wife just called to tell me I'm late for dinner (again), so I've got to run. But I promise to write again very soon.
And if I might, let me suggest that you tell your honey that you can make his or her Holiday shopping REALLY easy by just buying you your first membership to TAXI. If you're starting to get the impression that the stuff I'm telling you is achievable for you, then let us help you shape your music with the feedback we'll give you. It's really like having your own team of experts helping you every inch of the way. Tell them to go to: www.taxi.com to hook you up.
Thanks for letting me get that little plug in. I DO have a company to run when I'm not too busy writing to you! ;-)
Gotta go before my wife gets cranky. Actually, she's really very sweet, but why screw up a good thing?
Talk to you soon,
Michael
P.S. Next week I'm going to tell you exactly what music libraries do, and how you can use them to get yourself to that $150,000/yr. income level I told you about!
 Read Part Five
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"The dedication you have to your members is apparent."
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— Tom Kovacs,
TAXI Member
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"I recently got my first deal as a result of a submission to TAXI! I'm very excited to see that this actually works!"
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— George Leverett,
TAXI Member
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"With help from you guys, the music is pouring out and I'm having such fun! Thanks!"
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— Willie McCulloch,
TAXI Member
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"Thanks to you, I've recently signed a deal with a publisher in New York."
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— Rene Gely,
TAXI Member
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"Business is business, but TAXI has a heart. I wanted to send my praise to you for creating this "family" of members."
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— Tom Johnson,
TAXI Member
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"We appreciate all that you do and try to do to help us struggling songwriters!"
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— Pat Harris,
TAXI Member
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"I have been a member of TAXI for the last two years and have enjoyed all the perks membership has offered."
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— Dwight Nichols,
TAXI Member |
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"The best music I've ever heard has come from TAXI! We've used music from TAXI on ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO, Fox and many more."
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— Suzan Bader,
President,
DSM /All American Music Library
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"TAXI provided real access to a nearly inaccessible industry."
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— John Mendoza,
TAXI Member
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"I would like to thank Taxi for helping me and my partner and become more polished writers."
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— Liz Aday,
TAXI Member |
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