Home Recording Basics: Choosing Studio Monitors

Selecting monitors for your home recording set-up is like choosing a pair of ears. Monitors determine how everything that goes down on tape, or, more likely, zeros and ones, is perceived. And that has a profound effect on how every aspect of a recording is going to sound. The most important factor, as always, is budget. The cost of individual monitors runs from less than $200 to more than $2,000. Most home recordists want to spend less than a grand, often significantly less, on monitor speakers, and that’s fine. There are several manufacturers...

Top 10 Metallica Songs of All Time

Championing a mix of thrash and metal that carried speed, volume and might, Metallica entered the scene in the early-‘80s and quickly became one of the greatest heavy music acts of all time. Now with the “Quebec Magnetic” DVD on the horizon and talk of the band heading back into the studio to start recording a new studio album, it seems the perfect time to look back on Metallica’s catalog and highlight some of their greatest songs and riffs. In that spirit, we present the Top 10 Metallica Songs of All Time. Add your picks to the comments section below, metallers!

New Artist Spotlight: Bill Gentry

Rather than flow in one direction, similar to a storyline in a single song, Bill Gentry’s life has veered in a dozen directions. The son of a minister who died when he was 2, Gentry won the state 4-H performance contest, got kicked out of his high school band, was kidnapped along with two of his colleagues in a rock band, served as president of his junior college class, ran for city council, launched a successful data-compiling company, interned for Sen. Sam Nunn in Washington, was lovingly told by his sister that she never wants to sing with him...

Dierks Bentley Dedicates a Day to CMA

Through the CMA Songwriters Series, fans around the United States and abroad continue to experience first-hand the creativity of those behind-the-scenes Nashville pros who write hits for the stars. At most of these shows, they benefit as well from hearing one participant who straddles both sides of the line between writing and performing. That honor went to Dierks Bentley when he performed in a Songwriters Series show Sept. 6 at New York’s Joe’s Pub. But he also devoted that morning to a visit to PS 103, the Hector Fontanez School, in the Bronx, where a CMA donation of $20,000...

Stone Alone: Keith Richards’ Solo Excursions

Yes, the Rolling Stones are back. A fascinating sideshow to the Stones drama over the years has always been - what’s Keith Richards doing? “Keef” has only released two bona fide solo albums - 1988’s Talk is Cheap and 1992’s Main Offender. And both remain gems of ramshackle rock’n’roll. But away from Mick Jagger and the Stones’ slow-moving juggernaut, Keith Richards has also played some interesting cameos. Around the time his Life autobiography was published in 2010, Richards’ put out...

What Are The Essential Features Of A Hit Record?

We have all heard those hit songs that can be considered ‘timeless classics’. Whether it’s a hip hop track, a rock classic or an 80’s power ballad, these songs share some essential features that ensure they will be on the airwaves for years to come. Obviously there is not one hard and fast rule for this as every song is different, but here is a list of features that many of these hit records share. A ‘catchy’ song - Starting with the obvious, a hit record must be a great song. Above all the melody must be strong, as this is what a listener focuses on and this ...

Indie Record Label Economics

Most indie record label owners are simply trying to get music they love heard by fans. They aren’t in it for the money. In addition to the above mentioned costs of getting a new release to market they have to cover multiple other expenses such as insurance, rent, payroll, travel and mechanical royalties. Making money as an indie label is no easy task. Needless to say, label owners give it a great deal of consideration before signing a new artist and committing to releasing their music. It does take a lot of money and resources to get a new release...

10 Reasons The ‘70s Was Rock’s Greatest Decade

Every generation has a soft spot for the decade in which it came of age. For rock and roll fans, however, it’s hard to argue that any decade surpassed the ‘70s, on a number of fronts. Post-Beatles and pre-MTV, the ‘70s occupied a sweet spot where rock and roll was played out on wide-open terrain, and on a field where “genre” had yet to become a catch-word. Below are 10 other factors that made that decade rock and roll’s best. Riffs, Riffs, and more Riffs. “Walk this Way,” “Black Dog,” “Iron Man,” “Smoke on the Water…

How to Create a Wet-Dry-Wet Amp Rig

There are approximately 19,372.3 different ways to use effects within a guitar rig. You can use inbuilt amp effects like tremolo and reverb. External pedals like wah-wahs and overdrives. Little units that actually plug directly into your guitar. Effects racks. Multi-effect floorboards. Even an iPad can be used inline with the rest of your gear to provide effects or even synth sounds. But there's one particular method which is preferred by many pro players, yet it's relatively unknown and definitely under-utilized by the average shredder in the street: the 'Wet-Dry-Wet' rig.

10 Things You May Not Know About Dave Matthews

The Dave Matthews Band have just released their eighth studio album, Away From The World and time Steve Lillywhite has returned as producer. Lillywhite previously produced the band's third album Before These Crowded Streets in 1998. Here we've taken the opportunity to list 10 anecdotes about Dave Matthews Band that might be news to you. Check them out, and leave your comments below the feature! 1. Reason for Taking up Acoustic Guitar - As you all know, Dave Matthews pretty much only plays acoustic guitar. He shared the reason for this in an interview...

A Closer Look At The Plight Of Uninsured Musicians

New York Magazine's recent story with Grizzly Bear exposed several economic realities of being an independent artist in today’s music business. The NYM went on to reveal that, “some band members don’t even have health insurance.” The Brooklyn-based rockers are far from being alone, as one third of full-time working musicians do not have health insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. For a look at the plight of uninsured musicians – and what's being done to address it – we spoke with Adam Huttler, a leading health care reform...

Live Review: Other Lives Stunning At El Rey

No band bridges the vast gap between Radiohead’s experimental brilliance and Sigur Rós’ symphonic splendor with the creative finesse of the Oklahoma-bred band Other Lives. It has taken nonstop touring — including opening for Radiohead on that band’s North American tour for much of early 2012 and two standout performances in Coachella this past April — plus support from influential radio stations such as KCRW, but the genre-bending outfit seems to have finally and fully emerged from the underground. Celebrating the quintet’s 10th anniversary, Other...

3 Kings of the Blues

They share a surname, they are all blues royalty, but there are many differences between B.B, Freddie and Albert King. Here is a key guide, with a basic recommendation – listen to all three. The 3 Kings, as they unsurprisingly become known, are among the most influential of all electric blues players. B.B. remains the King as the only surviving member, but Albert King and Freddie King were also hugely influential. In the ‘50s and ‘60s (and beyond), all 3 Kings did much to popularize electric blues, inspiring some of the most lauded players of modern times along the way…

Practical Music Theory

There's some debate among musicians and songwriters about the value of learning music theory. At one extreme are those who feel that learning a set of “rules” will only limit their creativity, and at the other end are those who are truly interested in understanding how the parts of a musical piece work together. Both extremes have some validity to their viewpoints, but they ARE extremes – most people fall somewhere in the middle. They see the value in knowing more than they do, but may be intimidated by the topic or may not see the value in knowing ...

Building Context for Your Creative Work

Why do you make music? Write books? Make films? You might know, you might not. Either way, you do it for a specific reason. Maybe it’s to explore. Maybe it’s to affect other people. Maybe it’s to inject a little fun and excitement into your life. That reason gives your creative work context. So does your interest in sharing what you do. If you share your work with your family, that’s context. If you share it with your friends and acquaintances, that’s context, too. If you share it with everyone you can, every chance you get, like an Energizer Bunny of sharing, that’s context,...