By Jhoni Jackson Putting together a multi-day event in your city requires a little knowledge of booking and who’s who in your local music scene, but it’s not the impossible feat some might imagine. Organizing a festival is within the reach of nearly anyone who’s willing to commit time to planning, researching, and learning. It’s…
+ The above video is taken from Soundfly’s course Unlocking the Emotional Power of Chords. Learn harmonic theory and maximize the emotional impact of your tracks. When “Crazy” hit in 2006, it seemingly came out of nowhere. CeeLo Green was known among hip-hop aficionados as a member of Goodie Mob. While the group had the heads’ respect, it didn’t always translate…
You may not have known this, but yesterday was International Jazz Day. Look around, and you’ll find a ton of jazz festivals happening right this moment worldwide — from Denton, Texas to Espoo, Finland, and not to mention New Orleans. On the surface, it might seem like jazz is doing just fine, chugging along and as…
+ Learning about synthesis? Soundfly’s got a definitive new course called Advanced Synths and Patch Design! Preview for free and subscribe for access. Without the internet around to provide an unbroken timeline of artistic events to a potentially endless landscape of wandering eyes, records that couldn’t achieve access to a viable fanbase in the 1980s have mostly, inevitably…
Nothing gets me thinking about sacrifice more than going out on the road. Everyone’s making sacrifices to be there. Leila and John are both working their day jobs remotely using wifi hotspots that don’t function all that well in the-middle-of-nowhere US. Lots of nowhere. And my written log feels like something out of Oregon Trail. Phil fractured…
House shows, and all sorts of DIY shows, are a great way to create an alternative, personalized space to hear live music in your community. If you aren’t near any good venues, need a place to host all-ages shows, or simply want to invite some people over to your house, apartment, backyard, roof, basement (you get…
Entrepreneurship in Music Series: 011 SONGTRADR CEO & Founder Paul Wiltshire Songtradr is a brand new marketplace platform for trading and licensing music rights. They only officially launched in March and are working to connect artists, labels, and rights-holders directly with production libraries and talent buyers across industries in a clean and simplified way. They’ve removed the…
Like many historically significant Japanese things (Zen Buddhism, character writing, the kimono, temple architecture), the shakuhachi originated in China. And while, like the parenthetically aforementioned items on this list, the shakuhachi can claim Chinese origin, over the course of its history, it has diverged and evolved quite differently from its Chinese relative, the xiao. The shakuhachi is an…
+ Master the tools and techniques of producing pro-level electronic music and audio in Ableton Live with Soundfly’s course, Intro to Music Production in Ableton Live. One of the dullest parts of production, but one of the most important for properly finishing a track, is preparing to mix it. If and when people think of music production…
May 16, 2015. That’s the day I graduate and enter the real world. I chose a path of music, one that most would say is not the safest in terms of job security and money. But looking out on my future, pushing my way into an industry everyone says is dying, I can’t help but…
A year or so ago, I felt in a rut musically. I’d just gotten back from tour and was totally spent. I’d been playing the same songs over and over again and couldn’t really move on. I needed to branch out, a way to inject originality and creativity back into my work. Basically, I was…
Eunbi Kim is a classical pianist with a flare for chasing down some pretty unexpected projects and, in the process, flipping the typical path of a concert performer right on its head. When I first met Eunbi, she had just returned from premiering Murakami Music in Houston, TX to rave reviews (like this one in the Houston Chronicle). Her multidisciplinary project explores the…
Happy Friday! This weekend has something for everyone! For the lovers out there, Happy Valentines Day! To the not-so-in-love, Happy Presidents’ Day! To the bitter and twisted, Happy Friday the 13th! And welcome to another Off Notes weekly round-up of the best the musical internet has to offer. I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s post to the lovers…
We recently sat down with the one and only Dustin Nelson, Marketing Director at New York City’s (Le) Poisson Rouge. He shared with us a ton of good tips and tools that an artist can use to get a booker’s attention, as well as what not to do. Check it out! You can find this…
About a year ago, I was fortunate enough to meet Jen Baron — a remarkable musician and passionate educator. Her zeal for teaching music as a means of building confidence and fostering self-expression in her students is nothing short of inspirational. Jen launched the Santa Barbara branch of Girls Rock just a few years ago and already it’s given hundreds…
Happy Friday! This week was full of musical announcements and discoveries from around the internet. Read on for our round up of the latest news on the music industry, crazy music videos, a spring reading list, and the smooth stylings of a young Bruce Willis! 1. Turmoil in Streaming Music Billboard: Sony pulled all their…
Entrepreneurship in Music Series: 001 The Cardboardbox Project Co-founders Aaron Seligman & Jonathan Achtman The Cardboardbox Project is a direct-to-consumer merchandiser who has eeked out a niche in both online and at-show sales for artists like Arcade Fire, Sigur Rós, Stars, Alexisonfire, Half Moon Run, The National, the list goes on.…
By Andreas Oskar Hirsch Köln or Cologne, Germany, offers a vivid scene with regards to experimental, new music, electronica, classical music, jazz, cross-border projects, improv, and more. To me, the city is quite well-connected to sonic exploration, research, and experiments. In German we call it, “Klangtüftelei,” which means working with sound in a playful and…
By Rowen Bridler The privilege of being a songwriter is that I never know when I’m going to be inspired with a new idea for a song, nor if I will have to push for that inspiration to show up in the first place. Some songs come about easily and others take lots of cajoling.…
Entrepreneurship in Music Series: 003 Hum Co-founder and Designer Aaron Shekey Hum is the simple-to-use, intuitive, and aesthetically brilliant app that is currently taking the entire songwriting (or “song-jotting”) world by storm. If you’re an urban-dwelling songwriter, perpetually on the go, and can’t sit still on your commute without those inspiration…
A jam session can be one of the best ways to build your network. My jam session in Brooklyn, Playground Sessions, brings together so many people on a regular basis. That session has sparked countless collaborations and performance opportunities. So here’s how you can go about starting your own. Step 1: Find a Space This…
So many important things happened out in the world of music this week, and we weren’t about to let a single one slip by unnoticed. From opera in living rooms, to the demise of mail-order music, to a fond harkening back to that time when Dave Matthews Band spilled poop on everybody, we’ve got all of the…
Here’s a situation many musicians experience on an all-too-regular basis: You get out of your day job, sit in traffic all the way home, load your gear, eat, maybe review some material, inch through more traffic and arrive at practice only to find the band “leader” isn’t ready or, worse, isn’t even there yet?!?! They…
Ever wonder how many songs there are called “Laura”? No? Well… we did. (You’re welcome.)
