Tips on Setting up your Pedalboard

Not too long ago I came across a link to this amazing video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t80uF_GJPR4

This is probably as simple and comprehensive as it gets when setting up the effects chain on your pedalboard!

-Ian

Long Distance Relationship

Hello Fellow Readers,

It’s funny how most parents think that college is that time in life where their kids learn to make sense of the world, and at the same time realize that they can’t live in a place in which childish dreams predominate.  It’s also funny how I’m sitting at work here in Louisville in the last semester of my senior year and all I can think about is going back home and rehearsing all of the band’s new material.  

After a year and so of being physically separated as a band, our drive and motivation is stronger than it’s ever been.  During this time apart we have managed to write more music than we did during the time we were together, increase our Internet presence and put together the logistics of our marketing strategies for our debut release in 2011.

In the midst of great change, we have managed to pull through the current with our arms gripped tightly together, and this is something we are proud of, something we’d like to share.  We’d like to let you in on the details of what this experience has been like, as well as portray all the effort that has been put into this long distance relationship…

Motivation

            What is it that motivates you to focus your interest on figuring out how to make a living out of music?  If there really was an answer to that question, the feeling would probably be artificial. 

Joel describes it as a fire that burns within which needs to be fed by the feeling of playing live, creating music and making an impact on others through your music.  If that fire ever went out, life would become cold and dull.  When we started playing in 2007 we developed a passion to become better musicians and performers.  This passion gave birth to a new breed of friendship, comparable to a brotherhood.  We became a family determined to spend, if not the rest of our lives, the longest time to the best of our capacity being musicians and playing for those who enjoyed our music.  Being as motivated to carry on as we were, we came across the question:  How can we accomplish this lifestyle we desire so much?  The search for this answer gave rise to the learning process…

The Learning Process

            This is what I call “doing your homework”.  In theory it is the easiest concept, but in practice it requires a lot of time and energy on behalf of the entire team.  By team, I mean those in charge of administrating/managing/financing the band’s operations.  Some bands have a record label that does this part for them, but in our case, as well as the case of most independent bands, we carry out all these tasks on our own.

            Basically, this step consists of going over recent and current data on the music industry.  This data is made up of articles that have been published, books released, interviews and any other resource that you can think of having to do with the current state of the industry, specifically your niche market.  In our case, a large part of our time has been devoted to reading textbooks related to learning how to maneuver inside the industry as an independent band, books on the topics of touring, recording and producing music and self promotion are quite essential as well.  For a list of our personal recommendations, check out the bottom of this entry.

Implementation

            Nothing is achieved solely on obtaining knowledge from reliable sources unless you apply what you learn.  Implementing is taking control of your career on your own terms.  The interesting part about engaging in this industry is that a lot of the stuff you read, however recent it may be, is probably outdated once you put the book down.  I say interesting because this is an opportunity to analyze the current situation and tailor a plan that suits your needs.  The most exciting part of this career consists on making plans and setting goals, only to watch these plans change in the face of new knowledge that is picked up.  Every situation is unique and every decision is crucial. 

Music

            I leave this for last because it is the gasoline that fuels the fire I described above.  Your music is like your birth certificate, without it, there is no record you ever existed.  Our biggest accomplishment so far I believe is having finished writing all the songs for our first release.  Although it might not seem like much, it is the only aspect of this career that truly fills your heart.  It is the one intangible item that is yours to keep and nobody can take that away from you.  On its way via mail is the first contract we will ever sign as a band.  That contract assures us that by January 7, 2011, we will be at New Noise Recording Studios in Baltimore, Maryland, recording our first ever professional grade release.  Apart from feeling astonished by the idea of being there, and the impatience of waiting for that date to arrive, we see this as a challenge, given that 60% of the songs on that release we have never played together.

            It will be interesting to see how the music we have managed to record throughout this time comes to life when we begin rehearsing again on May of this year.  More exciting is the idea of playing live once again to our beloved Panamanian audience and seeing their reaction to our new material.  So many things to look forward to while I sit on this desk, during my work shift here at Louisville…

Thank you for letting us share this excitement with you.

-Ian

Gargage

Recommended Readings:

·         The Tour Book: How to Get Your Music on the Road, by Andy Reynolds

·         The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual for the Do-It-Yourself Musician, by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan

·         Guerilla Music Marketing Handbook: 201 Self-Promotion Ideas for Songwriters, Musicians and Bands on a Budget, by Bob Baker

·         This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring, by Ray Waddell, Rich Barnet, and Jake Berry

·         Tour Smart: And Break the Band, by Martin Atkins

Debut Album: CD vs. EP

Hello Bloggers!

Ok, so the time has finally arrived…  You’ve written enough songs you are proud and happy about, you have all practiced your instruments extensively and your band has enough years of experience playing in the local scene…

It’s time to put those demos to rest and get your asses in the studio!

When I say the studio, I mean a REAL studio.  No, not that maze of cables, low-end amplifiers, cheap microphones, what have you, that’s in your basement (although I know of some very decent basement recording studios)!  I mean a studio that offers recordings of professional caliber.  Drums that punch through the mix, vocals that are clear and stand out, guitars that are substantial and pitch perfect.  It’s time to INVEST!  Put your money where your mouth is, get down to business!

I’m not going to get into the topic of recording techniques or studio professionalism.  That will be another blog for another day.  This blog is about a making a decision that will affect at least the first few years of your professional career if not more…

Do we launch a CD or an EP?

Well, let’s review the implications of each, and based on your situation, you will know what’s best for you and your band.

Before you read on, I’d like to emphasize that this is my not so professional opinion.  Everything is debatable.  Feel free to argue any point you disagree with.

CD

Your full-length debut album… Every artist’s dream!

By this time, you might have record label support.  They will take care of distributing your album digitally and placing it in as many retail stores as they can or want to.  If you are really lucky, they will help you figure out the details of the tour designed to promote this album.  They will also take care of putting out the PR Campaign as well as marketing and advertising around your album…What a breeze!

Now, if you DON’T have label support…

All the pressure is on you to carry out all of these activities in order to promote your album.  Everything is in your hands and it is quite a workload.

Of course, you can outsource all these responsibilities, and if you have a manager, he will be the head of the whole operation.  He will be in charge of hiring a tour manager, figuring out the best way to distribute your album and hire a marketing firm (specialized in promoting artists) to launch the PR Campaign and advertise.  Of course, as you might expect, the bigger his workload, the bigger his paycheck!

The disadvantage of launching a full length album before you are ready to do so (meaning you do not have the resources to properly promote it at your disposal), is that it has a high probability of flopping, dragging your returns and your reputation along with it.  This high probability of failure I attribute to the fact that it is you first CD.  Your music is young, and most of the time, the first material launched by any given artist does not portray the full talent capacity of that artist.  It is riskier in the beginning, because artists usually reach musical maturity in the later stages of their career (disclaimer: this is not always the case). With your first CD, you might end up paying a lot more than you expected and you will probably not get the return you wanted.  Also, the fact that your first album flopped probably does not look too good in your band’s bio or press release. 

An album is a commitment and it is a big deal in every artist’s career.  If you don’t take it seriously, nobody else will.  The trick here is to really put the work into marketing and promoting it as hard as you can.  If the album is great, it will speak for itself, and all your hard work will pay off.

EP

A compilation of your 4 to 8 best songs neatly packed into a nice sleeve or case which hopefully (meaning should!) have top of the notch artwork giving it the look it deserves.

Just because an EP is not a CD doesn’t mean it should have inferior sound quality.  This is still a serious project and commitment, just that, unlike the CD, there are lower expectations by record labels and by the overall public.  Yes, I know you are thinking, “What the hell is that supposed to mean!?”…I will tell you what it’s supposed to mean…

When you look at a band’s discography, you realize that by the time you started listening to it, it had already launched two EP’s and probably a full length album (disclaimer: this is not always the case).  You realize that your precious “discovery” has a pretty long history to it. 

The thing is, you never really paid attention to anything prior to when you started listening to them, and the reason they are now blasting away in your IPod is because they worked long and hard to get to where they are now.  There is a long line of misses behind every hit…

You are not disappointed at the fact that their previous work is kind of sucky, and this is what I meant by expectations.

If you launch an EP, and it doesn’t reach the “Billboard Hall of Fame”, your reputation is still intact.  An EP nowadays represents a “sample” of your music. 

In simple terms, it is a bigger deal if your CD flops than it is if your EP flops, and this is why…

It is all about “perception,” a term brand managers are very familiar with.  Nowadays it is probably more about the brand than it is about the music.  The reason all these programming companies send out “Beta” versions of their software is because they are aware that their product might have defects that they have not detected, and so by using the “Beta” label, they let customers know that what they are trying out is not the final version of the product.  This way, customers use the software with no expectations and are not disappointed if it is in fact defective.  The brand is not harmed.

An EP is “perceived” to be a “Beta” version of your music.  It is launching your product, without having to worry about consumer expectation.  To the consumer, meaning those individuals that only listen to the music and are not concerned about or aware of any work, effort or money invested by the artist, it is as simple as:

a)      Artists make CD’s.

b)      Artist’s have tours in which they play live around the country.

I’m not trying to say that the consumer is ignorant.  I mean, why would anyone who is not in the music industry want to know how it works?  The thing is, if you expose a CD to a consumer, they will associate what they hear with your brand, and as mentioned earlier, this is risky, because consumers will compare your work with the work of artists that have an entire discography behind them that has helped them shape their sound to what it is today.

On the other hand, if you expose an EP to the consumer, the consumer will have no expectations of it and they will see it for what it really is: your band’s first material ever released, the “Beta” version of your product.

Conclusion

This is the first material you will release.  You will invest heavily on obtaining professional quality in your recordings, however, this is not what the customer sees.  The customer is only concerned about what they listen to, and therefore perception is key. 

If you have had the good fortune of having a record label representative attend one of your shows, be blown away by your performance and actually sign you to their label, then you can count on them to help you out with distribution, promotion and creating the “buzz” for your production.  In this case, releasing a full-length album right off the bat would be a smart move because you have the tools to make it a success.

As an independent artist kicking off your career on your own, launching a full-length album right away would be very risky taking into consideration that you are competing with CD’s put out by record labels which have tools that they acquired through years of doing business and digging deep into the channels of the music industry.  You are in charge of promoting this album to the extent that record labels do, because if you don’t, it will most likely never get noticed.

Now, if you choose to launch your career with an EP, you have more liberty as to how you decide to promote and manage it.  It is not expected to be a big hit and so you can be more flexible with your promotion efforts.  Another positive is that if it is a big hit, you have blown every listener away and the success of your first EP could land you more opportunities.

So the decision is really up to factors such as at what stage of growth you band is at, how much capital you are willing to invest and how much promotion you can do.  An EP is more geared towards the band that is starting out ready to face the world with a sample of what they are capable of.  A CD is more geared towards the band that is farther along in their careers to the point that they are capable of putting in the work needed to make their production a success. 

-Ian Pescod

New My Space Layout

Hey Get ready for our new myspace layout!
www.myspace.com/gargage


And don't forget to visit us on 
www.reverbnation.com/gargage

Tune your Guitar!

hi everyone..! well, before starting to play your guitar you must tune it, so when you try to play some tabs, you can actually hit the rigth note here's al web page i found that might help you
http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/utilities/tuner/

thanks
Gg

How to make KASHINN!!($$$(MONEY)) (Online Distribution Services)

This is my personal opinion of online music distributors . If you are in a band or a solo artist of ANY genre you will find this article usefull!! let us know!

So you have a band and you are trying to get your name out there BUT you have NO IDEA of how the hell to put your songs on itunes, amazon, itunes japan and get your worldwide distribution going on! Well we just found an answer to your question! TUNECORE(http://www.tunecore.com/). Basically TUNEcore is one of the most reliable digital distributors of online music around the world, altho its pretty new, many artists find it really profitable. Tunecore will only charge you a one time fee that is 99 Cents per song and then a flat fee for the whole album! so lets say, for example, you want to put out there your 5 song EP you just recorded in your bathroom or with the best producer out there you just need to pay 99 cents per song (that is for those who never took Math 101 haha .99 +.99+.99+.99+.99= $4.95(I just had to do that on the calculator hahah)) and then pay the flat fee of 19.98 , you will end up paying a total of 28.89 with no hidden fees!!. Yeah sorry I forgot to mention that in that price you are getting distribution to Amazon.com, Itunes, Itunes Japan(you really wants this!! do you know how many people live in Japan?) and Nokia! so you can also sell ringtones!!.

There are other online distribution services such as CdBaby.com or SOngCastmusic.com that are really good for this distribution services but usually they will take profit out of your profit.

In my experience I find TUNEcore easier to use and manage, and its better to put all at once and then get more that to sell and then have some companies take out a percentage of what you win!

So i guess thats all for Online Distribution Services!!!!

Much Love,

R

Gg!!

*if you have any questions please email us @ gargagemanagement@gmail.com

Myspace.com/Gargage!!

T-Shirts 4 SALE

MERCHANDISE

Making T-Shirts to earn Money $$$

In My opinion is one of the most fun stuff you can do to earn money as a band, making T-shirts(I've been dreaming about this since we started the band). But if you think they will sell by themself...they wont. Its very probable that if you order 100 tshirts there will be a lot of them stuck with you until the end of times...or maybe until your mom needs some cloth to donate to the local church, or wipe the dirt from the front door, or stuff like that.

Find the right Timing

--------------------------------------------------------

You have to choose the right time and the right amount of T-shirts...I would say, per gig, because people get bored of the same disgn, and if you always perform in the same spots, is always the same people... and they already have the one you sold them on the last gig.

How To Begin

Maybe you can start buying some 8.5" x 11" transfer paper, and print your bands name or logo. or some design you've made, and iron it...and sell it by request, there's not a big earning, but its a secure way to earn something and promote your band. You can also throw them at the end of your show, to earn new followers.

This is my opinion, if you have something to share with us, maybe your own experience, we would be happy to hear it.

Thanks,

Gargage