This article originally appeared on The Ethan Hein Blog. I complain a lot on my blog about the traditional teaching of music theory. Fortunately, a better alternative exists: Everyday Tonality by Philip Tagg. Don’t be put off by the DIY look of the website; the book is the single best explanation I know of for how harmony works across…
We all know that touring has the potential to do some game-changing things for bands. In addition to getting a band tighter and more experienced musically, the right tour has the potential to bring industry attention and exposure to fans. But what’s often not talked about are the benefits that serious touring can give to…
+ Learning to record and mix at home? Check out Soundfly’s acclaimed online courses on mixing, production, and beat making — Subscribe for unlimited access. Sometimes, the best sounds are the ones you can’t predict. Predictability is a plague in music. It’s not uncommon to listen to 50 songs these days, and each one just blends…
Hydrophones enable us to record underwater, which is reason enough to worship and adore them. Better still, you can make your own very easily and cheaply. For the Canal Music tour (in 2009), I wanted to make myself a new hydrophone which included the pre-amp I made here. I have made hydrophones using piezo elements before, but…
+ Learning to record and mix at home? Soundfly’s online courses on mixing, producing, and beat making can help! Preview them all for free and subscribe for full access. One of the most essential mixing tips when working with low frequencies is to exercise the “less is more” approach. These days, low frequencies are more pronounced than ever…
+ Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. Whether you’re making pop, hip-hop, or EDM, chances are your music is going to include sub-bass. For those who aren’t familiar, sub-bass frequencies are low-pitched notes below approximately…
TL;DR: Here’s a new method for writing sheet music for piano that makes it easier to learn to play everyday songs. Traditional sheet music relies on symbols, scales and memorization and can be difficult to learn and read, so this new notation uses visual cues by showing “fingers and hands” on keys. It’s read from top to bottom with…
Learn the basics of how to create better mixes of your music, no matter where you record, with six weeks of insights from top sound engineers and personalized mentorship from industry professionals! Check out Faders Up: Modern Mix Techniques, and use the discount code at the bottom of this article to get 40% (that’s $200) off the…
Everyone wants major press placements. I get it. There’s a lot of clout that comes with a feature on Alternative Press, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, etc. However, in their quest to shoot straight to the top, emerging bands are missing a vital component to career growth: small, indie blogs. There are a lot of reasons…
The term “virtual reality” always reminds me of some cheesy ’80s or ’90s movie that involved chunky headsets and dreamed of a future with flying cars and household robots doing everyday chores. The actual reality is that we have self-driving cars (thanks, Tesla), household robots to whom we can ask questions, (“Alexa, stream Total Recall”), and…
