Turn Up the Radio

Radio, such a beautiful medium in which we consume music for our entertainment pleasures in our downtime from life. The enjoyment of sitting there around the radio in a peaceful state of mind listening to the news, shows, and music with our love ones is a feeling like no other, There is no better feeling. Those days are gone, and the word radio in itself will soon become just a placeholder to describe the source in which sound is coming from.

Radio is not dead; it is just getting a make over like any other form of entertainment. Yes, we are no longer sitting around the radio like in the 1930’s, but that is because radio is not playing the music the fans want to hear. Being force to listen to certain songs is a dead art form, now it is more of a we want to hear this and you have to play it relationship between the fans and the radio stations. According to an article on Billboard.com, radio is competing with listener’s iPods now. Listeners now have options to whom they want to hear, when they want to hear them, and for how long.

This phenomenon is even changing what is being considered a song for radio in today’s music industry. Songs that are gaining popularity on sites like Youtube and Soundcloud would normally not be in consideration for airtime, but to keep ratings and sponsors these songs are being force on the commercial radio industry. This is giving more artist a chance to be on radio and giving the fan what they want to hear.

Now with all this going on in the radio world and with more and more people spending more time using their phones for listening devices instead of talking devices, internet radio is the new cash cow. Advertising companies is looking to capitalize on individuals more in the future. With Internet radio looking to make a more personal experience for the listener, advertising companies is looking to ride this wave into the future as told in an article on Forbes.com. If you are not a big fan of advertising ads directed towards you, then you are not going to like what is to come in the future, because they are coming for you and radio is their approach.

Making Money Before Making Money

Making Money Before Making Money

What is going on lovely people?  Can we talk about money?  It is the most important thing in the business world or the modern world, as we know it.  With this blog post, I want to focus on making money before making money in the entertainment industry. Everyone who is trying to get into the entertainment industry wants to make money.  No one wants to work for $0.  Everyone wants to make at least enough money to sustain everyday life at minimum.  This is where I feel the problem comes in.

Making money before making money can be summed up as financial knowledge in making money, keeping money and having your money make money. Artists tend to not know how to make money before making money.  They tend to just want to make money after the fact and get tricked into this by label advances.  Most record labels will not take the deals they offer artist themselves.  They understand that is no way to make money, but they feed on artist’s ignorance in finances. It is not until after years of not receiving the financial gain an artist believe they should have do they start looking into their contracts and deals.  By this time, there is nothing that can be done because they signed a contract that did not benefit them.

Artists need to understand that they are a business and a proper business plan with financial knowledge and a understanding of business structure on how to make money and where to invest money will ensure an artist’s financial longevity long after they left the business.  Financial knowledge will guarantee that no dollar is wasted on unnecessary paperwork, trademarks, copyrights and attorneys later in an artist career. The concept of  “Making Money Before Making Money” is financial knowledge before moving forward into the bigger picture; your dreams. This can be applied in any industry in the world. Without the knowledge and research of your industry, I can almost guarantee you will lose money after making money and who wants that? So go make money before making money.

The sources used to help fuel this wonderful blog post were Rich Dad Poor Dad, Successful Business Plan (Secrets & Strategies) and Entrepreneurial Finance.

Digital vs Analog

Here we are in the year 2014 still talking about which style of mixing is better, analog verses digital mixing and what it does to the sound quality of audio files. This argument or debate among engineers seems to be a bit pointless nonetheless if you ask me. Both sides make valid points when it comes to what they choose to use and why they feel one is better than the other. This is like guys debating which car is better a Cadillac or a Mercedes Benz. People will just have what they like and why they like it and this it. That is the beauty of Life, you have options and in the world of audio mixing we have a world of options. Even though I mix in the box (from my computer) I also like sitting behind the large console doing recordings and mixes. The feeling of being a mad scientist for sound quality is something I get when I am in a recording studio versus being at home mixing from my computer. The Power is in my hands.

Back in the 90’s this would not be much of a conversation to have because the world of recording and mixing music was mostly still being done on big analog consoles in large, luxury studios. Digital mixing was something that was new and still had a long road ahead and a lot of bugs to work out before it could be compared to the age old tradition of analog sound quality. Analog was the king of mixing since the beginning because there were no other options but now there is. Digital recordings and mixes have gotten better over the years and I now feel they are equal to or greater than analog when it comes to sound quality. There has been much success and plenty of hit records that have been mixed in the box. There has been much success and plenty of hit records that have been mixed on large consoles in the years since the inception of digital audio.

To sum it all up, the choice is yours; there is no right, wrong or better it is all in personal preference.

You can go and read these two articles to form your own opinion on the topic Digital vs Analog and Summing .

Invasion of the in Home Studio

Have you ever had the dream of being inside of a big luxurious recording studio creating the music you love, dream and live for as I do?  You still can, but you better hurry up before they are all gone. The invasion of the home recording studio, also known as a project studio, is underway.  Recording music is no longer what it used to be.  The days of going to the big recording studios, sitting behind the big soundboard are far and in between.  More and more artists are moving to a more do-it-yourself style of making music.  With today’s computers and plug-ins becoming increasingly powerful recording music from home is becoming increasingly easier.

Artists now have the power to create, produce and mix music in the comfort of their own home.  They are cheaper in cost and easy to build in any room of an apartment or home.  If done right and with the help of a mixing engineer (assuming we all have a friend that is a mix engineer and knows what he or she is doing), you can capture great sound recordings and mixes.  I would not suggest mastering in your home or project studio that is another animal in itself.  Because of this ability and the fact that it looks like it is not going anywhere soon the reason stated above makes the invasion seem real.

The invasion is real, but not as fast as everyone is thinking. Big name artists still use these big studios. Big record companies still use these larger studios with these huge soundboards to record and capture music. How else do you think they record those luxurious strings from a Philharmonic Orchestra you hear in the background of your favorite song?  Big recording studios offer creative freedom with fewer distractions.  They are being used in other industries like television and film.  So do I think they are going anywhere?  No and plus they are cool.     

You can read these articles to gather your own opinion Soundon Sound and ProSoundWeb.