Transit Records – Label Recording Music Production

do they work for soundproofing and if not can someone give me tips on how to make good soundproofing for music recording

One thing to keep in mind i that you don’t want to be stuck in a room that is covered inside with very flammable plastic materials. That is the soundproofing mistake they made at the Station Nightclub in Rhode Island and 200 people died there.

When u call a record company what do you ask for?

It would depend on what department you needed. If you wanted to make one you would call singing. If you wanted to sell them you would call sales.

Basically music on hold refers to the business practice of playing pre-recorded music to fill the silence that would be heard by telephone callers that have been placed on hold. Music on hold means making customers listen to music while they are kept on hold. On hold music plays an important role in the progress and profits of the company. Mainly music on hold is used in customer services. Songs played are supplied in stereo format to allow easy burning onto compact disc, but the music is mastered in mono as used on telephone answering systems.

The arrangements of music are made simple purposely and are tempting and don’t over shadow any automated voice over messages. Instruments used in music which is being played on phones are selected specifically so that they sound good to the listener. The quality of the music also depends upon the source of music that is from where it has been uploaded. Files which are pre broadband sound worse than the higher bit rate which is used these days. Some versions deliver CD quality music. Various providers provide specific sound formats which can be purchased online also. The various considerations while using the concept of music on hold are equipments and formats to be used, source of music, styles of music and benefits of using this technique. The source of music is radio, off the shelf commercial CDs, stock music on hold CDs and custom designed music on hold. The equipments used on most of music on hold systems are integrated into a businesses telephone system via an audio jack on the telephone equipment labeled music on hold. Compact disc is mostly the source of music which is digital files. Few older systems use cassette tapes which are played on tape players. Radio is another source of music.

This is very easy to play as it is just like playing a local radio station. But for this due permission has to be taken else it is considered illegal. The radio stations offer provide the desired music format but there is no control over the specific songs that are played, some of which may be unpleasant to the callers. Music on radios is not licensed for music on hold systems. Also radio broadcasters do not have right to provide any such rights as radio broadcasters themselves obtain a usage license from the music title owner for the right to broadcast said music for limited and personal use. Re broadcasting of a radio program over a phone system may likely cause licensing and copyright problems for the owner of the music on hold system. Also radio stations play commercials which can be unpleasant to the caller. Also it is possible that a competitor commercial may be played, which would be challenging.

Kyle Newton
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/elements-of-music-on-hold-systems-397321.html

The computer revolution of the last ten years has radically changed the tools available for individual content creators. I recently spent an hour talking to Vicki Silbert of Bittybox, who recorded much of her indie album “Smalltime” in her home studio. I wanted to know what can really be accomplished these days with home recording, and can an indie project come anywhere close to the quality big budget recordings?

Indie Joe: Just to set the groundwork for this discussion, maybe you should tell us briefly about the Bittybox project?

Vicki Silbert: Sure… I had been through the whole band experience in the 1980’s. We played the Los Angeles club scene for 6 years, but we never had much opportunity to record. Years later I was making my living on the Macintosh computer and it occurred to me that maybe there was software for recording music. So I looked into that and sure enough there was! This was the start of Bittybox, I made a decision to learn about digital audio recording software and finally record an album.

I.J.: So you had no previous experience recording?

V.S.: Well, my band had been in the studio a couple of times. We recorded a pretty good single, and another time we spent way too much money to record a bad demo, but that was in the days of 24 track tape. We also did some 4 track cassette recording with a Fostex X-15. Don’t know if you’re old enough to remember those? Strangely enough we were happier with the X-15 recordings than when we paid a bunch of money to record with a producer. I guess it was partly that experience that led me try home recording. But no, I had no previous experience with recording on the computer, and I was certainly not an engineer. I didn’t even know what midi was at the time!

I.J.: How did you get started?

V.S.: I got on the internet and researched the different programs for audio recording. When you’re totally new to something it can be pretty confusing, and you don’t really have much to base a decision on. Ultimately I chose Digital Performer Software, mainly because of the Motu-Mac Mailing List. It’s a mailing list of Digital Performer users who network and help each other with the program. It looked like a great resource, which is what it turned out to be!

I.J.: At that early stage did you think you would record a project for commercial release, or were you just experiementing?

V.S.: I always had the idea that I would record the album I had always wanted to release. I was actually way over-optimistic about how long it would take me to finish. I thought I would have a CD to release in 6 months, but it actually took me years!

I.J.: How many years?

V.S.: Don’t ask! I think I made pretty much every mistake in the book that home recordists make. I was working primarily with samplers and didn’t really know what was possible. So I spent endless hours programming drum tracks, all of which got thrown away in the end. Also the recording software is very deep and there are endless technical challenges and a huge learning curve. You have no idea when you start, what you’re getting into. Truthfully if I had any clue I probably wouldn’t have even tried!

I.J.: All the drum tracks got thrown out! How much of the stuff you recorded at home got used in the final album?

V.S.: I think maybe about half of my programmed tracks got used. We kept all the keyboard parts. Most of the programmed horn parts are still there under the one real horn part, there’s some programmed cello under what Novi Novog played on viola, one or two of the programmed bass parts got used, and some of the scratch vocals I recorded at home got used. Also a couple of my guitar parts made it onto the final CD but mostly it’s Ken Lasaine on guitar.

I.J.: Was this because the parts weren’t good enough or the recording quality wasn’t good enough?

V.S.: I really didn’t understand to what degree getting some live players would contribute to the final sound of the CD until after I started down that path. What really turned me away from trying to finish by myself was how long it was taking me. I started trying to record guitar parts, and realized that at the rate I was working the album would never get finished. I had played guitar back when I had my band, but hadn’t really kept up with it, so it was really a struggle for me. Once I got into the studio with some session players, it was like a huge weight lifted.

I.J.: So what do you think about the question of whether a home recording can stand up to the big budget projects?

V.S.: I’m sure there are people out there who have the skills that would allow them to do that successfully. It would be different for a band that just wants to make a record of the songs they play live, as opposed to a solo project like mine where all the parts had to be created from scratch. But unless someone involved has an audio engineering background it would be pretty hard to do a completely professional job in a home studio.

At least in my case, the decision to use some session players and an engineer in a real studio made a huge difference in the final outcome. And even so there are things that could have been better, but at some point you have to stick a fork in it…both because of the expense and because you totally burn out after a while. You just want to be done with it!

So in the end my “Smalltime” CD is about half home recording with samplers and half in the studio with real players. At least in this case that turned out to be a nice balance.

I.J.: Well thanks for taking the time to chat about the project!

V.S.: Yeah, you bet! Thanks for writing about it!

To hear music by Bittybox visit:

http://www.bittybox.com/

http://www.myspace.com/bittyboxdotcom

Indie Joe
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/doityourself-home-recording-an-interview-with-vicki-silbert-of-bittybox-131597.html

The guitar lessons of expert instructor Ben Edwards, even if they were nothing else, would still represent a breakthrough in technological innovation for learning the guitar. Many people who once upon a time would have been put off from learning the guitar or advancing to a higher level on the instrument can now use the power of 21st century technology and the magic of the Internet to have better odds of making new musical discoveries.

Such guitar lessons give whole new dimensions to the universe of mastering the guitar, regardless of what genres you want to play or do play. Whether you are a rocker, a country girl, a blues man, or fueled by classical gas, or anything else, there is something here that is likely to help you improve your playing.

A long time instructor, he became absolutely fed up with two things about all the traditional forms of guitar lessons: they were boring and none of them were comprehensive enough. Chord books did not teach you anything about lead playing. Books about playing lead left you in the dark about chord progressions, chord building, and playing rhythm.

Guitar player magazines would include lessons in everything, but these lessons were isolated and left the student needing to only hope he had played the lessons the right way; and if he had not, he ultimately harmed his guitar playing. Laying out a lot of cash over time for private guitar lessons could be frightening and discouraging, and once a lesson came and went the student never knew for sure if he remembered it correctly as he practiced alone.

Edwards decided to add dynamics never before seen in guitar lessons; not even in past attempts at DVD or VHS guitar playing videos (for these, too, lacked comprehensiveness unless one put out a ton of money to build a large library of them). Leveraging the Internet and the most modern digitization and videography technologies, he created a special all-in-one set of guitar lessons as well as some guitar tools, like an electronic guitar tuner, that could simply be downloaded and easily played over and over again anytime at ones convenience.

You will most likely not become a guitar virtuoso in one week (although maybe you will feel like it), and some people have tried this type of guitar lessons having very unrealistic expectations. But, such revolutionized guitar lessons will help you along much faster with more in-depth material and cheaper cost than any guitar lessons ever known before.

Perhaps that is why its best quality is simply that it makes you really want to practice the guitar, and not perceive guitar practice as a burden or chore. There are certainly more reasons now than ever before to begin learning guitar. It is truly getting easier for everyone, regardless of their age, education or experience.

Alan Largo
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/learning-how-to-play-guitar-quickly-488286.html

It’s a sad fact that most people, including piano players, regard music theory and harmony as some abstract concept that has very little to do with the songs they play on their pianos. Nothing could be further from the truth. Knowing music theory and harmony is the key to opening a whole new world of exciting insights into the songs we play, and enable us to do things on the piano we never dreamed we could do, to say nothing of enjoying the process a hundred times more.

What is music theory, and how can I benefit?

Here are just a few of the wonderful skills and insights a person benefits from by learning music theory:
How notation works — a huge advantage in sight-reading.

The hierarchy of rhythm — solving rhythm problems before they begin.

All kinds of scales — the “ladders of notes” every song is composed of. Major scales, 3 types of minor scales, chromatic scales, whole tone scales, modal scales.

How transposition and modulation works — playing songs in different keys, and getting from one key to another smoothly.

Complex time signatures, and what they tell you.

Perfect, major & minor intervals — helps ear training greatly.

Two-part and four-part harmony.

Figured bass such as IV, V7, ii6, I6/4, etc. and how it relates to chord symbols such as Fm7, F6, Dmaj7, etc.

Harmonizing melodies with all these chords.

Open & close voicing, inversions, secondary chords, form, cadences, non-harmonic tones, arranging for voices, arranging for brass, arranging for strings, transposing instruments, key relationships and many other exciting insights into the inner workings of music!

But what is harmony?

Harmony is a sub-set of music theory. It is a series of notes in combination, played simultaneously. Listen to your favorite songs, and pay close attention to the back-up vocals when they’re being sung along with the lead. Can you hear how the two vocal melodies differ in pitch? That’s harmony, and it’s highly possible that those back-up vocalists were chosen because of their strong ability to harmonize.

Singing a harmony, or rather picking one out on your own without written sheet music, is an almost inherent musical skill that many singers would die to possess. But harmony isn’t just the province of singers; it’s found in every single area of music. Any time a sound is layered on top of another sound and those sounds match each other in rhythm and melody (but not pitch), a harmony is created.

Harmony is made of intervals, and as such, it can be considered dissonant (scratchy, uncomfortable, like playing an E and an F at the same time) or consonant (pleasing or smooth). What makes a harmony pleasing or unpleasing, however, is extremely relative. In medieval times, only octaves and perfect fifths were considered harmonious, and any harmony that deviated from that was generally frowned upon. In modern western music, though, nearly everything is considered to be harmonious by someone. Fifths are still very popular in modern harmony but are now used in the most unlikely of places; heavy metal music, for example, frequently uses perfect fifths in the vocal harmony to create an eerie effect when layered on top of the more dissonant instrumentation.

Harmony, in addition to being consonant or dissonant, can also be subordinate or coordinate. Subordinate harmony, the tonal harmony used most frequently today, is a series of harmonies that are based on each other. The harmony moves in such a way that a resolution is somewhat predictable; you can hear this type of harmony in modern pop music, musical parts that flow very easily into each other and don’t leave the listener baffled as to the turn the song has taken. On the other hand, coordinate harmony is a series of harmonies that operate independently of each other. They do have some common relation, of course, but don’t typically move toward a goal, or predictable resolution. Renaissance musicians often used this type of harmony, and it’s capable of producing rich and moving textures within a piece of music.

Learning music theory and harmony is not just an option you can take or leave: it is part and parcel of the “stuff of music”. No surgeon would ever say “I don’t want to learn all that stuff about the nervous system & the skeletal system and blood vessels and how the lungs and heart works and all that stuff — I just want to operate”.

And yet the majority of piano players ignore the very thing that would take them to the next level in their playing and knowledge — music theory & harmony.

Duane Shinn
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/music-theory-harmony-the-key-to-understanding-how-music-works-114771.html

To learn the piano online or offline, the general piano tutorials are almost the same. There are different piano tutorials for the beginners and for the ones willing to continue the mid-level or higher level of playing piano. Now to consider the piano tutorials for the beginners, first the different keys and their respective sounds are taught. To know how to place your fingers on the keyboard, the purpose of the black keys grouped in twos and threes etc are the introductions given in any piano tutorial. There are several finger positions such as placing your left hand on middle C position or using your right hand on middle C, which are demonstrated. Most of the good piano tutorials contain worksheet and readiness tests at the end of every chapter. This makes you realize the depth of your understanding the piano tutorial.

Most of the piano tutorials are designed for self-study and can be comfortably understood without the help of professionals overlooking you. Next level of the piano tutorials is to explain about the Staff, which has 5 lines and 4 spaces along with Treble Clef symbol used to indicate that you should use your right hand. The different notes, mostly accompanied with suitable images of self explanatory features are used in the piano tutorials. Once the basics are clear for the reader, a test to evaluate them is suggested. It is just a generalized outline about how the piano tutorials are organized and may vary with different piano tutorials. The correct interpretation of the notes is the main content of the piano tutorial for beginners as mistakes made in understanding the notes can turn disastrous. The introduction and explanation for half and quarter notes are given in the piano tutorials.

It is time for you to play the first song on your own once you have learnt the distinct sounds of each key. Most of the piano tutorials contain the notes of simple songs such as rhymes to encourage the learners to make it a success. Most of the beginners will find themselves use only one hand at a time; there are simple piano tutorials for guiding the learners to use both their hands. If you are doing offline piano tutorials with a teacher, then you would get more guidance from them about the finger positioning and more. Online piano tutorials are never left behind as they provide several audio and video clips along with the images to enable the students or readers get a clear idea in spite of not having a professional near them to guide.

Then the piano tutorials for higher stages are provided after the successful completion of each test. A good piano tutorial is always self-explanatory and proceeds step-by-step into playing the piano. A person should never proceed before they are confident with the previous piano tutorial. Several piano tutorials are scattered online, but it is always advisable to choose the right one and stick to a single piano tutorial instead of mixing up several ones.

John
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/piano-tutorials-an-outline-704861.html

In the past it used to be a cumbersome problem when you wanted to shoot with video equipment, the equipment was big and bulky and very expensive, there was no digital edited it was all done by analog edited, which when done you would loose the quality after each generation of copying the film. Digital revolution paved the way for film editing, it is highly flexible, the technology allows digital editing to create wondrous special effects, there is no loss of quality or the damaging effect of the original footage.

When the film is shot the footage which is called the initial footage is transferred to broadcast quality tape, it is then edited and give to the customer as a draft copy.

Videos are produced for fun and other videos are produced for commercial purposes, like advertisements, movies and music vids. When we are talking about a music video we are talking about a video clip which has music and give a visual interpretation of the song. Though music videos made specifically for television first appeared in the 1950s, the strong association between music and the video presentation of it started in the 1980s, with the launch of cable channels like MTV. A good producer will be able to choose the right music for your production.

With the advances in technologies in video equipment and the production sets it has given rise to many new film makers and has made it possible for many more people to get into this field and become a directory overnight and help their career move in a positive direction. The process of video production differs from one company to the next, there are certain procedures and stages that video production takes on. The actual place where filming takes place is the production stage, the pre-production stage can have a huge effect with the entire process of the video and film production.

Video production companies are firms that are engaged in the commercial production of video. In the post-production stage, video production companies are engaged in editing and duplication. Trade show videos suit companies that have complicated products where people need to see to see how it works and in what situations.

Before a production company films the must take into account and calculate how long or how many days the filming will require, the reason for this is because they need to calculate the cost to create a budget. Many time people are looking for companies that can do everything from A-Z, but many companies cannot offer this, there are only a handful of companies that have this capability.

It may be possible to schedule some quick media training or suggest other ways to enhance their performance. Schools offer programs that introduce students to the world of digital video or media productions and the commercial technology on how to do this, the school helps the students create their vision for filming, animation, interactive tools or audio. When attending a video or media school they have the ability to provide environments for recording, creating and producing music.

David Marc Fishman
http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/amateurs-videos-and-production-companies-112192.html

With the number of mobile phones capable with Bluetooth technology rising the only group who are complaining are the people related to the music industry. Already finding it difficult to counter the threat of illegal music download from the internet and fake CDs, the analysts at music industry have another issue to resolve. As usual it looks beyond them!

The only reason for this is the fact that most people are just not aware that sharing music, pictures or any copyrighted content through Bluetooth devices installed in their mobile phones is illegal. This is part of the much larger issue of public awareness, but the fact remains that even those who are do it time and again despite the realisation that they are breaking a law. Needless to say, it’s a sad state of affairs.

But when a UK survey says that of the million under 10 children, all of them a proud mobile phone owner, none has a problem in sharing music through their Bluetooth mobile phones, well there is a serious problem at hand! The latest models introduced in the UK are armed with capabilities that allow sharing of digital music files.

Now with children under-10 forming a huge chunk of the group who are involved in this ‘racket’ the music industry is hapless! The children are actually not ‘aware’ of the illegality of their actions and even if they are there is no way to prove it, halting it is in the realm of improbability.

With the tough competition that is there in the mobile industry, all the mobile phone retailers are selling their wares at cheap rates. One can easily avail a cheap Bluetooth enabled mobile phone from either online or from any high street outlet. This might spell some bad times ahead for the already ailing music industry. They just need to keep their fingers crossed till 2007 when mobile music swapping system in mobile phones is expected to take off.

Adam Jaylin
http://www.articlesbase.com/cell-phones-articles/bluetooth-bites-music-industry-85182.html

I would like to take a moment to recognize all the Indie musicians out there. Amazingly, 20+ years ago it was not quite as easy to make it as an Indie musician. Luckily, for these folks, the new millennium has brought about many opportunities for these artists to make it big in the music industry without the assistance of a major record label or company. This is possible today because the music promotional ideas out there are limitless.

In case you are not familiar, an “Indie” or independent artists is one that is not affiliated or connected to any major label. There are basically two types of Indie musicians, ones who are waiting to get signed and those who don’t care if they ever do. Indie musicians who don’t care to be signed generally enjoy the do-it-yourself approach and use the available musician resources.

But why wouldn’t every musician want to be signed to a major label? And, are there other ways in figuring out how to promote your CD? Well, times they are a changing…If one is not signed to a record label, they are allowed more creative freedom and don’t have to answer to anyone. They pick their songs, they record them at will, they wear what they want and they play where they want. For some musicians, this is the life that they choose. Not everyone feels they need to be tied down to one particular label or company. As they say, to each their own…

There is such a thing as an independent label which are great musician resources. An independent record label operates on its own, without the funding of a larger, major label, traditionally. Then there are the independent labels that are started by established artists but typically are associated with a major label in some sort of way.

Another perk that Indie musicians experience these days, stems directly from technology. Historically, artists depended on major labels for help recording records and distributing them as well. Now, it is possible for Indie musicians to succeed on their own given they have the right talent and a true desire to succeed. It isn’t as expensive to record music, make CDs and distribute them online and to the world. Major labels are not the only people who know how to promote your CD.

Doing it yourself in the music industry and succeeding is absolutely within any artist’s reach. Hard work, determination and taking advantage of all the available resources out there is exactly the way to do it. It is o.k. if your goal to eventually to be signed but there is also no shame in doing it yourself.

Ty Cohen
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/doing-it-yourself-indie-artists-110742.html