The way a song sounds matters. If you don’t maximize the sonic quality of a track you are really missing out. In this video I am mastering a song by Texas Country singer songwriter Jeff Canada. In this breakdown we talk about:
finding the right fullness
tightening the song without loosing the punch
overall loudness
why a great master matters
Who doesn’t love a good Johnny Cash cover? If you know anything about me, you know that’s true for me. Most recently, I released a Johnny Cash cover, called “God’s Gonna Cut You Down," that was picked up for the end edits of an independent film. So when I reached out to Tom to stop by the studio and perform a song I was excited when I found out he was going to do a version of “Ring of Fire.”
2020 was a trying year for everyone. Eli Moore (Eli Moore Band on streaming) experienced a lot of change including a job change among other personal things. But amidst the change and difficulties he started thing of the the things that he hadn’t lost.
That’s how the idea for his latest release “I Didn’t Lose You” came about. “I write music for me first. Then I craft it for others,” says Eli Moore. It’s a form of therapy that helps you cope. And then hopefully can encourage others that hear it.
Chris Garcia is a singer/songwriter in Houston Texas. He is the lead guitar player and front man for Houston band Hiraeth.
The band is fairly new and hasn't released anything official yet but they are hard at work practicing and writing. Chris is primarily a neo-soul bluesy guitar player. That's his main bread and butter. When that combines with the other band members rock flavor you have a very interesting combination that will draw you in. We can't wait to hear more from them.
A lot people ask me what the difference is between a “mastered” song and an ""non-mastered” song. The best way I know to explain it is to let you HEAR it.
Mastering is about putting the last level of audio polish on a song. It’s about taking the Mix to the loudness level it can go while keeping the integrity of the Mix.
Being an artist or songwriter, wherever you are from, is hard. It's especially hard without a community of people. This community I’m talking about could be other songwriters or other people that bring skills to help you as a songwriter.
I am a producer and sound engineer. I make music, mix and master records. My goal is to work for an artist to make their music the best it can be. So this show idea came out of a desire to connect with more artist, in Houston specifically, and to learn from each other.
Bonner Rhae Rhoden is a singer/songwriter in Houston Texas. She released 2 singles in 2019, “Trail of Dust” and “Together” and is working toward releasing more songs in 2020.
When Bonner was young her mother made her take piano lessons for six years. A little later she was inspired to pick up a guitar when she saw Taylor Swift perform. It was inspiring for her to see a woman playing and singing. She tried to learn as many Taylor Swift songs as possible….
Today is the start of a new adventure for me. The world of content.
I work with local Houston songwriters, musicians and rappers so I had to think about how to connect us all and how to share a network of knowledge. I am convinced we have so much to learn from each other. So I created a podcast (which is also a YouTube series) called “Songwriter Snack Time.”
Recently, I was able to work for a client who is not only a client but also a part of our family. Connie Cassell Tuck (goes by “Connie Tuck” on iTunes) is a songwriter who lives in West Virginia. Connie is an experienced writer who penned a song that later became titled “Just What A Smile Can Bring.” I love working with lyricists and songwriters to help them take the words they have written and put music and melody to them.
As I work with more and more songwriters, I get asked this question: "How do I copyright my music, for real?" That's a good question and I do think it is important because it will raise the professionality of you as a songwriter (or band). Even in today's ecosystem, you still do need to officially copyright your songs and register them with the United States government. I was recently helping one of my songwriters copyright her songs and I decided to document the process and post it for anyone else that is considering the same thing.
“What do I do once I record my music?” This is the essential question I get asked a lot because most of the musicians I am working with are newer to the music industry. Even my experienced musicians do not have lot of time to look into all the next steps, because they are busy making music.
I decided to put all of the experience that I have gained in regards to this question here in one blog post, so that it can be a helpful reference for all of my musician friends. This is not an exhaustive list of tools.
The music industry is a people industry. Connecting with people that want to make great music is part of the reason I love doing what I do. Often times my wife will joke about how I become really good friends with my clients because creating music together is an intimate process and the time spent together creatively can really lead to close friendships. This was, and still is, the case with Jeff Canada.
I have a long history with Country music. Growing up in south Houston, we grew up around one of the largest rodeos in the country. Therefore, in our family van, if we weren’t listening to contemporary Christian radio we were definitely listening to country. Back then it was artist like Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Brooks and Dunn, etc.
Often times, as a songwriter or musician, the songs we create are first created in our mind. We have a vision for them far in advance to us actually booking studio time. Such was the case with Ben and Nina Carpenter. Well, Ben more than Nina. And if you know Ben and Nina, that’s funny, because Ben has never released music of his own and Nina has a history recording albums and even touring.
Making a song, for any songwriter or producer, is part mysterious and part science. There are times when inspiration hits and we primarily just go with our gut. But equally important, there is a common process that most people do not clearly think about. I often get asked by my new clients how long it takes to make one song. Many people underestimate what it takes to go through this process, so in an effort to help my audience understand my process, I wanted to outline what it takes to take a song from scratch to fully mastered.
Making music is pretty much my dream job. Making music with friends is pretty much...well, whatever is better than a dream job. AJ has a been a valued friend of Aaron and myself for a while, so when he came to us about recording a brand new acoustic EP, we were really excited. AJ’s vision for this EP was to create a collection of songs that really tapped into his singer-songwriter side.
