Bowie Production Theory: 4 Influential Things Bowie Did in the Studio
Listening back to David Bowie’s 1977 albums “Low” and “Heroes” gives both producers and songwriters ideas of how to experiment in the studio.
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Music for Practicing Scales and Modes
+ Learning to read and write music? Access hundreds of lessons from Soundfly’s online courses on music theory, songwriting, production, mixing and more — subscribe here. This article originally appeared on Ethan Hein’s blog. Are you trying to learn scales and patterns, but finding it hard to make yourself practice? Do yourself a favor, and practice over actual…
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30 Creative Songwriting Prompts Courtesy of Eno’s Oblique Strategies
+ 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. Oblique Strategies (subtitled: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas) is a deck of cards developed by artists Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno as a series of ideas to help break…
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From Discs to Digital: The Odd History of Music Formats
Physical formats have only been around since the 1870s — but in that relatively short amount of time, we’ve managed to come up with some pretty bizarre ways to release music. Each format on this list had its moment of usefulness. But looking back might make you ask “what were we thinking?” Regardless of how obsolete…
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12 Musical Works That You Didn’t Know Brian Eno Produced
Brian Eno is a producer, writer, and multi-instrumental musician, legendary both in his own right as a pioneer of ambient music, and in the work he’s done across his vast career with others, like Bryan Ferry’s band Roxy Music. He is perhaps best known in mainstream circles for his incomparable synthesizer and soundscapes work on…
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10 Rediscovered Minimalist Masterpieces from Japan, Thanks to YouTube
+ 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…
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What Is “Prepared Piano” and How Do You Notate It?
American composer John Cage was arguably the most prolific composer of prepared-piano music and is often credited as having invented the prepared piano, so to speak. While there were earlier instances of composers placing objects on the piano strings, or bypassing the keyboard in order to directly manipulate the strings in performance (most notably Henry…
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Keep ‘Em Guessing: A Bizarre Holiday Gift List for the Special Musician in Your Life
If you’re still wondering what to wrap up inside a box this holiday season, maybe your list could use a bit of outside the box thinking. We can help with that! Here’s a list of our favorite bizarre musical gifts for the loved ones in your life who deserve something a bit special this year! (If you…
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How Artists Are Using Pioneering Mobile Apps to Change the Music Game
In the last few years, many artists have taken their fans on a digital journey towards more immersive experiences by releasing content viewable, listenable, and navigable only in app form. Marketers will say that since 52% of all digital music listening now happens on mobile and tablet, artists should stick to digital forms of disbursement.…
