Breaking Into The Music Industry

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First off, you should know that this article isn’t about any kind of secret formula or insider knowledge about how to make it in the music industry. In fact, you should be wary about reading any advice that claims to have… “the secret”.

Fact is that there are a lot of variables at play that determine who makes it and who doesn’t. A lot of these variables are random, and out of your control. But some variables are in your control and I’ve come to see time and again from artists and bands that somehow find a way out of obscurity (even if for a brief moment in time). You should know what you can’t control first. You can’t control things like cultural zeitgeists (what becomes new and cool, seemingly over night), nor can you control fortuitous happenstance (some A&R guy just happened to be at your performance, and happened to actually be listening, and happened to not be too drunk/just drunk enough to enjoy your act). Many artists often trace back their early success to such “lottery-winning” moments and can take no credit to such random success beyond simply buying a ticket along with the millions of others who also bought tickets.

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Tutorial: Animoog & Creating Wobble Bass

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Remember way back when wobble bass was all the rage? It was a heady time. Kids were getting started in synthesis with their very first iOS synth apps, Skrillex was a darling of all the awards shows, EDM was being heralded as the 2nd coming of Electronica, nothing like the late 90’s bubble-burst known as “Electronica.” Ah yes, I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was… yesterday, actually. Well, anyways, people still kind of like their wobble bass and iOS apps so why not give them a dose of neo-retro with a Animoog tutorial, mixed with a bit of wobbly-bassyness for good measure:

Self Mastered Music: A Common Tale of Triumph and Tragedy… But Mostly Tragedy

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music mastering

"Mastering Hell"

So, you’ve actually recorded your own music and gone through the arduous, though fulfilling, process of mixing it yourself… “so far, so good” you think. But now for the finishing touches, the dreaded MASTERING phase of your recording. Ah yes, the arcane yet fine art of polishing a, hopefully, already good sounding mix (rather than polishing a turd, one hopes?). The one stage of the recording that, rumor has it, even the most hardened DIY masters don’t dream of doing themselves. Dr Dre, Tiesto, Trent Reznor – none of them even come close to grappling with the mysteries of mastering, favoring instead to hand off their carefully considered mixes to, often, an anonymous engineer – crossing their fingers while putting their baby in the arms of a stranger. “WOW!” you exclaim to yourself, “If producers of that calibre don’t trust their ears at that stage, it must involve some kind of dark magic that a lowly unknown producer like myself shouldn’t even attempt!”
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Tutorial: Mixing With Separation EQ & Compression

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In this tutorial we will look at blending all of the elements that make up a track by using some basic EQ separation between individual tracks in a mix. We also touch upon using sidechained multiband compression to further distinguish parts in the mix which may otherwise conflict with eachother.

In particular, we look closely at separating the Kick Drum from the Bass Instrument so that each can stand out and be clearly defined in the mix.

Tutorial: Compression Settings Explained

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In this tutorial we look at the basics of compression, and how to effectively use the different compressor settings common to all compressors. Attack, Release, Ratio, and Threshold are explained and our example shows how to properly listen for the changes produced from these settings, focusing on the importance of Attack and Release settings in particular.