How can I make a living as a musician?

How can I make a living as a musician? Well, it's not as hard as you think.....if you're not afraid to work. I find most musicians overwhelmed with direction and what to do first. I've always been in favor of controlling your own destiny. A musician can make a very good living just on a local level. Yes, maybe you have to play 3-4 hours of cover music and the hours are late. However, putting $400 - $800 in your pocket at the end of the evening is nothing to be ashamed of. Also, if you have a cd of your original music available at every gig, you generate even more revenue. So often we get consumed with signing the big contract and touring the world, we forget about the obvious. That every musician has the ability to generate they're own revenue. Maybe a one man acoustic act or a full blown dance band. You decide. Hope to see you soon in the studio

Chris and Kevin
Digital Street Studio and Media Productions
Dover, Delaware

Big Studio vs. Small Studio

Having been guilty of this myself I had to write about it. So many times I see musicians caught up in the hype of the big out of town studio. Does the Big Studio offer an impressive resume? Probably. Does the Big Studio come with a hefty price tag? Probably. The real key to finding a good studio is not the resume or equipment list, it's the experience of the studio. Sure, using quality recording platforms like Protools helps, but it doesn't gaurantee quality. Just on a local level I've heard of bands spending upwards of $10,000 to $15,000 to complete their album (cd). WOW! A lot of that is the hourly rate of the studio. When you're paying $80.00 to $100.00/hr for studio time, it doesn't take long to add up. Also, not being well rehearsed will increase that number quickly. However, knowing what I know, it takes only a handful of things to make a quality recording. Quality song writing, talent, experience and gear. It doesn't matter if your on the 30th floor at Sony records or working out of your garage (Foo Fighters). If you know what you're doing, you can record anywhere and still maintain quality. Hope to see you soon in the studio.

Chris and Kevin
Digital Street Studio
and Media Productions
Dover, Delaware

SEO for Artists Website

Artists have websites, or facebooks, or reverbnation sites etc... but many artists do not know how to get there sites in the top spots on google. This is SEO or search engine optimization. Artists need to look at thier sites as a business and work daily to move thier position up the google ladder. The hardest part of this is developing some cyber real estate that the artist can dominate. Once you do get focused, a little SEO management and work could very easily increase your music sales and exposure so you can take your  career to the next level. Hope to see you in the studio

Chris & Kevin
Digital Street Studio
Dover DE

"I've tried everything"

"I've tried everything!" man, have I heard that before. Especially when it comes to getting broadcast volume from a mix. Most of the time it's adjusting the over-all levels of each track. Basically, try to keep your individual tracks at or below -4db. Also, keep your master fader right around -12 db. This will allow for much more headroom when it's time to master. Finally, don't go overboard with individual track compression, mainly attack and release. By pulling your levels down, you're only looking for enough compression to tighten. This will leave a lot of headroom when it's time to master. Hope to see you soon in the studio.

Chris and Kevin
Digital Street Studio
Dover, Delaware

Making Waves

Every engineer runs into the problem of strong signal gains or volume spikes. One way to combat this problem is at the source. Most of the time it's a strong vocal performance where the vocals have a lot of dymanics. Quiet sections that explode into loud outbursts. One approach is to back the tracking volume down and to apply compression. However, with compression, the attack and release have to be very subtle. Otherwise you will have audible sections where the compression is isolating the wave spikes. Another approach is to manually adjust the gain of the vocals. Once you have the vocal section that represents your ideal volume, highlight the sections you want to adjust. This can be done with most software today and does a great job leveling out the entire vocal take. The same holds true for other tracks as well. If you have balanced tracks, mixing and mastering will be much easier. Hope to see you soon in the studio.

Chris and Kevin
Digital Street Studio
Dover, Delaware

Food for thought

We consider ourselves very fortunate at Digital Street Studio because of our ability to record on more than one platform. That means if one system goes down, we still have the resources available to complete our sessions. Let's face it, in these tough economic times it's very hard for recording studios to survive. The last thing you need is your one and only recording software to go down. Sessions have to be cancelled and that my friends is not good for paying the bills. So,we offer up this food for thought. Find an inexpensive back-up. There are some very good hard disc recorders on the market that will allow for session tracking. This way, you always have the ability to generate revenue while maintaining quality. Hope to see you soon in the studio.

Chris and Kevin
Digital Street Studio
Dover, Delaware

What's does the future have in store for music?

What's does the future have in store for music?....The past of course. Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part but I really think you will see the return of retro sound. We're starting to hear it from the musicans themselves and from folks in the industry. I think we've reached a threshold where music is sounding lifeless and a lot of that is compression related. Also, I think bands and artist's alike want to be able to perform what they have recorded. Furthermore, don't be suprised to see the resurrection of vinyl. Yes, I said vinyl. More bands are starting to have limited runs made due to an increased demand. That tells me that change is coming. Now, will it be the 70's all over again, who know's? One thing is for certain, we've reached a turning point. Hope to see you soon in the studio.

Chris and Kevin
Digtal Street Studio
Dover, Delaware

How to get your drums to sound great in the mix.

I've been reading a few blogs lately talking about how to get your drums to sound great in the mix. Most of the information you read makes the process sound very involved. Well, yes it can be very involved and frustrating to get a snare to "pop" or a kick to "thump". Especially when it comes to final mixes. The key is in the beginning, before record is pushed and tracking begins. First, you need to have an environment for recording drums. Second, you need microphones that are ideal for tracking drums. Third, a talented drummer doesn't hurt. And last, you have to have a great sounding kit. Basically it's quality in and quality out. You will spend very little time trying to get a snare to "pop" and definiton from a kick if you take the time in the beginning. Hope to see you soon in the studio!

Chris and Kevin
Digital Street Studio
Dover, Delaware

Sometimes less is more

More often than not,  an acoustic guitar is the starting point when creating a song. Thats great! However, most acoustic players forget to take into consideration all of the other instruments. So we find ourselves strumming away creating the entire rhythm section. Well, once the song is complete, our first move is to record the song and add the missing pieces. Enter the drums. Normally the drums will carry the beat but what usually happens is a conflict. Once the high hat rhythm begins, we often find that our strumming does not match or conflicts with the high hat. The easiest fix is to simplify your strumming. Allow the drum and other intruments to fill in or to find their place in the mix. Another good fix but a little harder to acheive is to sink with the drums. This sounds great if the drums and strumming rhythm are sinked. May not be easy at first but practice will make perfect. Hope to see you soon in the studio.

Chris and Kevin
Digital Street Studio
Dover, Delaware

Save time editing drums

I've spent years in and out of recording studios. With that being said, much of that money was wasted. Well, I shouldn't say wasted, I did gain valuable experience. Unfortunately, due to our lack of experience and budget issues, our recordings suffered. Most times we shot ourselves in the foot before we even left the gate. What do I mean by that? We never had a solid foundation. In music, your foundation is what supports the entire song. In most cases it's your drums or percussion section. When your marketing your music to the people that matter, one of the first things they focus on is the tempo. If the tempo increases or decreases during a song, you might as well hand them a nail to drive into your coffin. What can you do? Well, try this little technique. Record scratch guitar and a rough vocal track in time to a metronome or click track. Once your satisfied everything is locked in, leave a 4 or 8 count to start the song. However, pull the click out completely once the scratch tracks come in. Your drummer will be able to focus on the music instead of worrying about an annoying cowbell or click track. As the song progresses you will be able to determine if the beat sways or stays in the pocket. Once tracking is complete and your satisfied that your drums are locked in tempo, editing will be minor. There will be no need to shift an offbeat kick or snare hit, your drums are locked in time. Also, by tracking this way you will save many hours of drum editing, which translates into less money spent. I hope this information helps.

Chris and Kevin
Digital Street Studio
Dover, Delaware