That's going to be a great show - I wish I didn't live on the opposite coast!

We have added a page that contains the music contests that we know about, at this link: https://www.indiecollaborative.com/awards

Big congrats to Mak for his Grammy nomination this year. He will be performing at the IC Grammy weekend showcase on Feb 3 in North Hollywood!

You are more than welcome to the group, Mak! Hvala!

The spooky version at the top of song goes very well with the mood of the song. But I like how it transitions to the fatter stereo piano at the right moment.

I’d like to hear what that sounds like once you mix it

I think booking is one of the most difficult parts of the business for those doing original music. Unless you have a big following who will fill seats, most talent buyers are simply not interested. Word of mouth is usually the most effective way of cutting through the clutter and getting shows.

PS - recording other people’s vocals is a different thing because a lot of my job then involves keeping them motivated and feeling confident.

Nearly all the time I am recording my own vocals. For the lead vocal I normally sing the whole song all the way through a few times to warm up. It also gives me a chance to plan out the arc of my performance, I.e., the tone that I am going to use throughout the song. Once I feel warmed up and that my pitch is good, I will do a take for real. Then I usually put that on the playlist and do one or two more. Then I choose the take that is overall the best and move it to the timeline, keeping the other takes in the playlist. At that point I go through it line by line and punch in (with pre roll) any lines that bother me, or that I think I could do better. But I try not to do this too much because then you can lose the flow of the original take. Sometimes there’s a better version of that line in one of the other takes, so I audition those, too. I think the best results for me is when I have a single take that is 90% of the way there, and only need to fix 10% of it.

I’ll email you in a minute or two

I have to make a ride down to Florida in September. Would love to play the white horse on either the way down or up.

I can't wait to play White Horse again!

Great tip. So simple but I never thought of it. Volume permitting I guess the same would apply to almost anything!

I usually put comp/limiter like an LA-2A on individual buses, as required. They may not all need one, depending on the nature of the music. My standard subs are: Vocal Sub, BGV Sub, AcGuitar Sub, ElGtr Sub, String Sub, Key Sub, Wind Sub, Lead Sub, Bass Sub, Per Sub, Drum Sub I may not use every sub in every song depending on the instrumentation of the song. I don't put an LA-2A on every single sub. But anyway, doing this at the sub bus level allows the settings to be different for each one. This is way better than a one-size-fits-all approach by dropping one onto the master bus, which I usually avoid. If I ever do put a comp/limiter on the master bus it would be just a limiter and it will be used sparingly. Of course this is just me, doing my kind of music which is very acoustic in nature. If I were producing EDM or hard rock, everything would be different, for sure.

I have never tried that. Can you describe the process?

I started in the 1980s on tape. Back then I had a TEAC 4 and then 8 track tape deck. I had to sacrifice one track to write an FSK track that would allow my MIDI rig to be synched with the tape. I worked at Normandy Sound studio which had a big API console and 24-track tape. Back then there was no "seeing" anything. Edits had to be done either by punching in and redoing parts (which we still do today on computer), or by physically cutting the tape in order to remove a section. That was a real art form that I was never very good at. I've been using computer-based recording for about 20 years now. At the very beginning I used Cakewalk (MIDI only) in the early 90s. It morphed into SONAR when they added digital audio recording in the late 90s, I think. In 2007 I switched to Pro Tools, and never looked back. I used to do a lot of movie scores, and Pro Tools was the standard in that world, so it made sense to make the leap. Back then PT had terrible MIDI support. They had focused 100% on analog tracks - exactly the opposite of Cakewalk/Sonar, which were originally MIDI programs that were new to audio recording. But eventually they caught up. Today my home studio runs Pro Tools ultimate on a 2018 iMac, and my interface is a UAD Apollo-8p connected via Thunderbolt. But as a UAD user I am keeping my eye on LUNA, a DAW from UAD that's free for their hardware (runs only on Mac). It's new so it's not fully evolved yet, but it's worth keeping track of. I check it out every once in a while. Interestingly they copied most of the Pro Tools short cut keys to make transitioning easy. Eventually it will rival Pro Tools and it won't cost $70/month. In some ways it already outshines Pro Tools, because of their tight integration with their hardware. Apple showed us long ago that if you make both the hardware and the software you can do things that other people can't. That's true. Today all of these DAWs are all about sounding as much like the "old" analog gear as possible. They are getting closer and closer. I can't imagine not being able to see what I am doing. I like the sound of analog tape but I prefer working digitally. When I made DUST BOWL we recorded on analog tape but then transferred to Pro Tools for editing/mixing. On the record I just finished we did everything digitally using class A pre-amps and good condensors. I can't hear the difference any more. A few years ago the difference was much greater.

And even if it’s zero! Like online shows and TV shows.

I attended a taping of a MUSIC CITY ROOTS in July 2017, and they had top talent performing, of course. But one of the performers - I can't remember her name - was a lovely singer accompanied by another woman on guitar. She did about 12-15 minutes. The emcee introduced her in glowing terms, saying that she was a friend of the show, and was making her fourth or fifth appearance. She came out and sang beautifully, but she had the oddest stage presence that I've ever witnessed. She NEVER looked at the audience when she was singing, and I mean never. She mostly faced straight on and stood absolutely still - with her eyes closed. Occasionally she would look up at the ceiling, and then her eyes were open. When she looked back down again she immediately closed her eyes. During one song toward the end of her set the guitar player did a little solo jam that was cool. The singer abruptly and without explanation turned 90 degrees to her left and stared off into the wings of the stage, with her back to the guitarist. I am not kidding. She stood there like a stone. I could not believe what I was seeing. When the solo was over she turned to face the audience again to resume singing, immediately closing her eyes, of course. Between songs she would open them, but never once when she was singing and facing the audience. It was the weirdest stage presence I have ever seen. It was actually kind of creepy, and is absolutely NOT recommended.

Absolutely. It’s show biz!!