Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Must......Post......Blog.......
Haven't written in a couple of days. Last post was on Christmas with the tune "Seven Headed Beast"....thought that was appropriate. Te he.
So. Some of the things that I do to promote my music include: Twitter, Facebook "fan" page, MySpace, BandCamp and SoundCloud. All of these places, with the exception of BandCamp, are hooked up together, or can be if you look around in the settings for them, such that when you tweet something on twitter, it goes to your MySpace, and Facebook pages.
Other places that I use to promote the tunes are: ReverbNation, Blogger (here), Promonetics.com, TuneCore, Behance, LinkedIn, YouTube, and my own web site(s).
ReverbNation is kind of cool in that there are charts and graphs and such that help track your progress, in fact as I write this my rank on the dance/electronica chart for the nation is: 791 and rising. Just checked, that number seems to be out of about 12,000 or so in the dance/electronica genre. Top 6.2% not too shabby.
Promonetics.com is primarily EBM, Darkwave, Industrial stuff. It's the underground of the underground. But if you are on there, people will subscribe to your promotions and hopefully will play your tunes somewhere around the world. The closest to me that I have found has been in Chicago....Not bad if they play the tunes.
Behance is usually reserved for graphic artists, but for some reason, you can post music there too. I just started there, so I can't say much about it. I do recommend it tho, as it is a platform for professionals.
LinkedIn is another professional platform, and again I just started there. I can say its resume oriented and there is little opportunity to show your work, unless you have it hooked up to Behance.
Many people use YouTube to showcase their music. It's an older platform for this, however, it is tried and true. I am a video cripple right now, as I need to re-learn as well as just get over my fear of posting there, but the nice thing about YouTube is that it's easy to post tunes on FaceBook.
Unless of course you are part of SoundCloud. SoundCloud (I reserved comment for later here) is a platform for showcasing your tunes, and spreading them like chunky peanut butter across the web. I highly recommend it. They give you a solid two full albums worth of space to start, and this can be upgraded for a paltry 29 euro a year. I have not found a real need to upgrade, except that I am now rotating the tunes in my profile.
Trent Reznor once commented on the value of having ones own website for an up and coming musician. It shows professionalism to those who are looking at you as an investment. I recommend it too, except make sure it's up and running smoothly.
Well, that's about it for this morning...have a wonder post holiday season.
David
HMM/TCM
So. Some of the things that I do to promote my music include: Twitter, Facebook "fan" page, MySpace, BandCamp and SoundCloud. All of these places, with the exception of BandCamp, are hooked up together, or can be if you look around in the settings for them, such that when you tweet something on twitter, it goes to your MySpace, and Facebook pages.
Other places that I use to promote the tunes are: ReverbNation, Blogger (here), Promonetics.com, TuneCore, Behance, LinkedIn, YouTube, and my own web site(s).
ReverbNation is kind of cool in that there are charts and graphs and such that help track your progress, in fact as I write this my rank on the dance/electronica chart for the nation is: 791 and rising. Just checked, that number seems to be out of about 12,000 or so in the dance/electronica genre. Top 6.2% not too shabby.
Promonetics.com is primarily EBM, Darkwave, Industrial stuff. It's the underground of the underground. But if you are on there, people will subscribe to your promotions and hopefully will play your tunes somewhere around the world. The closest to me that I have found has been in Chicago....Not bad if they play the tunes.
Behance is usually reserved for graphic artists, but for some reason, you can post music there too. I just started there, so I can't say much about it. I do recommend it tho, as it is a platform for professionals.
LinkedIn is another professional platform, and again I just started there. I can say its resume oriented and there is little opportunity to show your work, unless you have it hooked up to Behance.
Many people use YouTube to showcase their music. It's an older platform for this, however, it is tried and true. I am a video cripple right now, as I need to re-learn as well as just get over my fear of posting there, but the nice thing about YouTube is that it's easy to post tunes on FaceBook.
Unless of course you are part of SoundCloud. SoundCloud (I reserved comment for later here) is a platform for showcasing your tunes, and spreading them like chunky peanut butter across the web. I highly recommend it. They give you a solid two full albums worth of space to start, and this can be upgraded for a paltry 29 euro a year. I have not found a real need to upgrade, except that I am now rotating the tunes in my profile.
Trent Reznor once commented on the value of having ones own website for an up and coming musician. It shows professionalism to those who are looking at you as an investment. I recommend it too, except make sure it's up and running smoothly.
Well, that's about it for this morning...have a wonder post holiday season.
David
HMM/TCM
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Am following "Waveformless" and ...
... another indie, amateur musician had commented on the fact that I got a plug for my blog from Assemblage 23's Tom Shear.
Well, the best I will do for him is to plug his blog right here, and right now. I have also added his blog as one that I am following.
It's called Single Cycle, and I hope that he adds me as a recommended reading as well.
Thanks,
David
HMM/TCM
Well, the best I will do for him is to plug his blog right here, and right now. I have also added his blog as one that I am following.
It's called Single Cycle, and I hope that he adds me as a recommended reading as well.
Thanks,
David
HMM/TCM
A few words on music theory:
As a new musician, one of the most helpful things that I have found is to make charts of the key scales.
Below is an example of the heptatonic blues scales:
Because I use Ableton 8 exclusively the sharps and flats are always considered sharps. For example A# and Bb are both the same frequencies anyway.
The way I use this is to pick a key, decide what tonic note I wish to start with (usually the key note), and read across the rows for the choices of notes that I am allowed to use.
Right now I have, depending on how you count, four or six distinct scale charts that I will use: Major, Minor, Phrygian (all the same scales really just shifted left or right), Hexatonic Blues, Gypsy Phrygian (very cool Arabic sounds from this one) and Harmonic Minor. Although I should explore the Melodic Minor Scale some time, it does not translate well into a single chart, as there are two aspects to it: ascending and descending.
After the purchase of a guitar, I thought to myself that the best way to learn the notes on the fretboard would be a similar table:
These tables have been indispensable for me in learning music theory.
David
HMM/TCM
Below is an example of the heptatonic blues scales:
W + W | W + ½ | ½ | ½ | W + W | W + ½ | ||||||
A | C | D | D# | E | G | A | |||||
A# | C# | D# | E | F | G# | A# | |||||
B | D | E | F | F# | A | B | |||||
C | D# | F | F# | G | A# | C | |||||
C# | E | F# | G | G# | B | C# | |||||
D | F | G | G# | A | C | D | |||||
D# | F# | G# | A | A# | C# | D# | |||||
E | G | A | A# | B | D | E | |||||
F | G# | A# | B | C | D# | F | |||||
F# | A | B | C | C# | E | F# | |||||
G | A# | C | C# | D | F | G | |||||
G# | B | C# | D | D# | F# | G# | |||||
Because I use Ableton 8 exclusively the sharps and flats are always considered sharps. For example A# and Bb are both the same frequencies anyway.
The way I use this is to pick a key, decide what tonic note I wish to start with (usually the key note), and read across the rows for the choices of notes that I am allowed to use.
Right now I have, depending on how you count, four or six distinct scale charts that I will use: Major, Minor, Phrygian (all the same scales really just shifted left or right), Hexatonic Blues, Gypsy Phrygian (very cool Arabic sounds from this one) and Harmonic Minor. Although I should explore the Melodic Minor Scale some time, it does not translate well into a single chart, as there are two aspects to it: ascending and descending.
After the purchase of a guitar, I thought to myself that the best way to learn the notes on the fretboard would be a similar table:
0 | E | A | D | G | B | E | |
1 | F | A# | D# | G# | C | F | |
2 | F# | B | E | A | C# | F# | |
* | 3 | G | C | F | A# | D | G |
4 | G# | C# | F# | B | D# | G# | |
* | 5 | A | D | G | C | E | A |
6 | A# | D# | G# | C# | F | A# | |
* | 7 | B | E | A | D | F# | B |
8 | C | F | A# | D# | G | C | |
* | 9 | C# | F# | B | E | G# | C# |
10 | D | G | C | F | A | D | |
11 | D# | G# | C# | F# | A# | D# | |
** | 12 | E | A | D | G | B | E |
13 | F | A# | D# | G# | C | F | |
14 | F# | B | E | A | C# | F# | |
* | 15 | G | C | F | A# | D | G |
16 | G# | C# | F# | B | D# | G# | |
* | 17 | A | D | G | C | E | A |
18 | A# | D# | G# | C# | F | A# | |
* | 19 | B | E | A | D | F# | B |
20 | C | F | A# | D# | G | C | |
* | 21 | C# | F# | B | E | B | C# |
22 | D | G | C | F | C | D |
These tables have been indispensable for me in learning music theory.
David
HMM/TCM
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