Neumann TLM 49

http://www.sweetwater.com/images/closeup/xl/1600-TLM49_detail1.jpg

The Neumann TLM 49, a large diaphragm cardioid condenser microphone. This microphone is versatile for almost any application you may have for it, whether it is studio, broadcasting, vocal or even instruments. The TLM 49 uses a K47 capsule, which is also used in the M49 and the U47. The capsule provides a cardioid directional pattern with characteristics of a super cardioid, due to the special capsule construction. When I first purchased it, I knew straight out of the box that very few could stand up to such a legendary vocal microphone. Therefore, I did the exact opposite and to start, recorded everything other than vocals. First off, I recorded a guitar cab with mild distortion. The frequency curve on the microphone gave it a nice presence while having less bite than expected. Next, I recorded an Epiphone EJ-200 placing the capsule towards the lower portion of the body pointing at the bridge. The sound was very warm with more presence in the mid-range. I continued to test the TLM 49 over multiple instruments including a banjo, slide guitar, cello, violin, xylophone, and a bass. Many of these instruments would normally require two microphones to capture the full spectrum of the instrument, but the Neumann held up to the test. All this at a great price. After testing every instrument, I have available in the studio I had to bring in a vocalist and see this microphones true ability. I called in my friend Luis who was excited to come and run some tests with me. From the very start, there was that famous brilliant sound with amazing clarity. I have a locker full of very well known vocal microphones and the Neumann blew most of them out of the water. It was the sound I was looking for which made all the difference to me. My signal path is a Universal Audio 710 Twin Finity pre amplifier running threw an Allen and Heath GL 2400 console converted by RME ADi8 interfaces. Overall, the TLM49 is a superior microphone that comes with a superior price. For most places, it sells for around $1,600 US Dollars, which is a large sum for a single microphone. It may not be suitable for most small home studio budgets, but it is always a good idea to have a Neumann in the locker. I rate this piece of gear a 5 out of 5 and would recommend it for professional vocal and instrumental recordings.

Sources

http://www.neumann.com/?lang=en&id=current_microphones&cid=tlm49_description

EQ Basic Tips

http://media.soundonsound.com/sos/aug07/images/InsideTrack_6a_pianoEQ.jpg

Once you have recorded all the best possible vocal performances down in you digital workstation, you are now ready to start the mixing process. Mainly the first thing to do depending on personal mixing taste, is to equalize the vocal takes that have been recorded. Typically, you would want to cut all the problem frequencies first instead of boosting the good ones. We start of first in the low-end frequencies with a High Pass Filter around 80Hz to 150Hz. By doing this we remove, any low-end rumble and usually these frequencies do not contain anything important. If you feel that your vocal lack body or sound to thin, then most likely you would need to apply a narrow band boost around 200Hz to 600Hz. This will give you vocals a bigger sound and not so weak sounding. If you find that your vocals sound to harsh or crunchy sounding, then you would need to cut frequencies around 2.5Khz to 4Khz. By cutting the frequencies, you will soften the vocal sound. To add brightness to the vocal without adding that harness sound you would have to boost around 6Khz and above using a wide band pass filter. If you feel your vocals are still sounding harsh then a good place to cut frequencies are from 1Khz to 2Khz. This will smooth out your vocals more. If you find that you are stuck trying to find a frequency that is bothering you, the best way to find out if busing a large narrow boost and swipe the frequency ranges. Once you find it, simply cut that frequency. These tips will not always apply to every vocal, since every person sings and sounds different from one another. These basic tips are good to know because most of the time these kinds of problems usually lie around the stated frequencies.

Business Plan

Warren Buffett is a philanthropist and investor that was born in August 30, 1939 in Nebraska. He is seen as one of the most successful inventors in the world.

He is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the most riches men in the world. The world and the investment industry have taken motivation from Warren unique way of viewing and buying stocks. Warren set up a goal for him to never lose money regardless of the conditions of the market and this is what has made him into the legend he is today.

 Warren Buffet explains that to write an executive summary that will spark interest has to be clear and be understandable with the results that the plan will produce. To arouse the reader’s attention and have them take action, Warren explains that each executive summary must be all original content. It must also be easy for the reader to comprehend our goal without them having to read the entire document. Warren states that he has formats and guidelines to write a successful business plan. The summary must include a purpose, scope, methodology, results, and conclusions. Warren encourages when writing a business plan to use strong and positive language. Warren explains that this will bring reassurance and confidence to the information you are presenting, while still looking professional. He also explains that you should not read the entire business plan to the investor, you should say key points. This is because you want to leave the investor wanting more and curious to find out more, so he will read the entire business plan. His last tip is to place you self in the readers shoe. If you can honestly ready your paper and get excited from the content, then you have a good business plan, but if you do not then you still have work to do.

Tim Berry is the president of Palo A lot Software and co-founder of Borland International. He has graduated from Stanford with a MBA while receiving multiple honors from Notra Dame and Oregon University. He is seen as recognized specialist when it comes to business planning. He has made several appearances in shows like Fire in the Valley and Swaine and Freiberger's classic history of the PC industry. He has also written several business plan books like Plan as you go business planning. He has presented many seminars in thirteen different countries.

            Tim Berry explains a good presentation is an excellent way to communicate the core of the plan. According to Tim “A pitch without a plan is like a movie trailer without a movie.” A business plan does not stay the same forever. It is constantly changing as more information is gathering more information and as time passes. Tim explains that a good business plan is never finished. When you are going to project numbers to a person and you do not have enough or the write information, you need to make an educated guess. This educated guess must be backed up with information for instance how many sales do you project with this amount of customers.

Sources

http://www.ivanwalsh.com/business-development/warren-buffett-on-better-business-writing/

http://www.stockpickssystem.com/warren-buffett/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/83818

http://www.paloalto.com/uk/about_us/leadership/tim_berry

http://articles.bplans.com/writing-a-business-plan/a-standard-business-plan-outline/29

Primeacoustic: VoxGuard

http://www.primacoustic.com/voxguard.htm

When recording vocals, you are trying to capture a clean sound that does not have unwanted noises. This can be a hard thing to do if your room is not treated acoustically. An acoustical treated room is essential for recording professional vocals. This could cost you thousands of dollars to hire a professional acoustician to fix your recording room. Chances are that if you are visiting this blog and reading this post, you are trying to build a studio on a budget, or trying to find a cheaper route to acquiring that studio, you have always desired. Luckily, Primeacoustic has the perfect solution for your recording room. PrimeacousticVoxGuard. A VoxGuard is a microphone isolation panel that has high-density acoustical foam that sits behind the microphone to eliminate reflections. The large curved baffle creates an acoustical shield that stops reflections from bouncing on the wall and returning to the microphone. It does an excellent job in blocking all unwanted noise from being captured in the recording. This barrier is perfect for absorbing low-end frequencies.  The VoxGuard is able to enhance and not take away the ambience of the room while the vocal range is absorbed. The VoxGuard can be attached to any microphone stand such as tripods, studio booms and round base stands. The VoxGuard can be adjusted to a desired distance from the microphone to acquire the desired sound with the extension bar. This isolation panel is also very lightweight. It weighs about four pounds and is 18 inches wide, 15 inches tall and 7.5 inches deep. The VoxGuard is easy to move around to take on the road to various studios or wherever you need to record vocals. This is the perfect solution to capture great sounding vocals in any room, whether for music, film, TV, and field recording. has developed a near field absorber called the

Sources

http://www.primacoustic.com/voxguard.htm

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Primacoustic-VoxGuard-Microphone-Isolation-Panel-105918098-i1532537.gc

KRK Rokit - Affordable, Prosional Quality

When building a music studio, there are numerous pieces of gear you are going to rely on to run a session smoothly. The one piece of gear that is the heart and soul of your studio is the monitors. You will be constantly listening to your monitors to get your mix sounding perfect. The quality that your speakers can give, is going to result in the same quality your mixes sound. Professional sounding quality monitors can cost you a fortune. The price for professional monitors can go up to five thousand dollars for a pair. If you are building a studio on a budget, you probably do not have this kind of money to drop.

KRK Systems is known for creating professional sounding quality monitors for a good reasonable price. They have a line of monitors called Rockets. They range from six to ten inch speakers. The speakers that I personally use and would recommend would be the six-inch speakers. For a pair of these speakers it will cost you $400, which is not bad at all for the quality, these speakers produce. These monitors are two very active studio monitors.


Their frequency response ranges from 48Hz to 20kHz. The loudness that these speakers reach on a SPL is 107 dB. This is amazingly loud for the price of these monitors. Overall, the quality that is most important is the accuracy of these monitors. If your studio is fairly treated acoustically based on how I explained on my previous posts, these speakers will give you a very accurate mix. The last thing I will talk about is the design and colors of the KRK. These black and yellow monitors are very stylish and its colors definitely catch the eye of your clients.

Altogether, I believe you cannot go wrong with these speakers if you are building a studio on a budget.

Sources

http://www.krksys.com/krk-studio-monitor-speakers/rokit/rokit-6.html

http://www.guitarcenter.com/KRK-Rokit-Powered-6-Generation-2-Studio-Monitor--Each--105130256-i1401613.gc

Self Publishing In A Nut Shell

As time passes by, technology also evolves. Back in the day in the music industry, to get your music in the radio and profit from it, you had to go through a recording company. So that it can be heard, that recording company would take care of distributing the product and placing it in the right place. As times have changed, we can see that we do not need professional recording companies in order to record a professional sounding quality single. For example, Amazing quality sounding songs are being recorded in bedrooms. The same holds true for distribution. Self-publishing is more common these days. It is not difficult to do when you learn the right steps. You may even end up earning more then what you would with a traditional recording company. The first thing we must do when we have the final version of the song is to copyright it with the Library of Congress. This will insure the protection of our work and it is proof that we own it. The next step is to find an aggregator that will take care of distributing your song in the retail outlets. For example, in digital distribution, some of these retail outlets are iTunes, Amazon.mp3 and Rhapsody. The aggregator you select will usually take care of the collection of the royalties earned through digital distribution. If you plan to collect royalties from physical albums, it is wise to register with the Harry Fox Agency. This agency specializes in hard copies such as CDs. If you wish to collect royalties from performing rights then you would need to register with performing right organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. Another source of income is distributing your songs to stream in internet, apps, and radio. For example, if you utilize Pandora, you would need to register with Sound Exchange. Once your music is streamed, they will be in charge of monitoring and collecting your royalties. Once you get your music out there to all these outlets, you are going to need to promote and market your content so people will know it is out there. There are many ways to go about this, for instance, securing interviews, concerts, and blog exposure to name a few. In a few words, this is what you must do in order to self publish your work.

Sources

http://www.squidoo.com/music-self-publishing

http://ostimusic.com/blog/music-publishing/

http://www.ultraelectronicactive.com/selfpublish.html

Copyright Act of 1976 - Termination

Copyright is the ultimate protection for artists, musicians, and producer’s works. Because of this, it is wise to learn as much as possible regarding copyrights so you can defend and attack copyright infringers and other problems. Today I bring you some information that you may not have known about the Copyright Act of 1976. What most people know is that this act states the basic rights and fair use rights for copyright holders. What most people do not know is the termination rights that are in 17 U.S.C §. This amendment gave the right to songwriters and musicians to terminate or transfer copyrights after thirty-five years have passed. This is very helpful for those artists/musicians who gave their copyrights over to record labels and did not get much back in return. You can say that this is sort of a second chance. What this means is that in 2013, there is going to be many court cases regarding this subject since this is when the law goes into effect. Now, the next thing to look for is the fact that you cannot apply for this transfer if your work was made work for hire. For example if a recording studio contracted you to work on a song in their studio and they provided you the materials for you to work, then you cannot ask for the transfer or termination of the copyright. All work that you were paid to do was not yours, but of the label, unless stated otherwise in a contract. The next step is to give the record label or the publisher a notification of at least a minimum of two years before the thirty-five years have passed. Failure to do so will not make you eligible to participate in this process. A well known case that is an example of this took place in 2011, where Victor Willis, the lead singer of the group The Village People, is trying to acquire back the copyrights for songs such as “YMCA” and thirty three compositions which he created or co created. The problem with this is that his works where works for hire. Stewart L. Levy who represents the publishing companies in this case stated, “We hired this guy. He was an employee; we gave them the material and a studio to record in and controlled what was recorded, where, what hours and what they did.” As you can see, 2013 will be an interesting year in the music industry.

References

http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2011/09/the-new-legal-battle-over-song-rights/

http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2010/07/the-legal-issues-of-blogs-fair-use-and-attribution/

http://nysbar.com/blogs/EASL/2011/10/copyright_termination_rights_t.html

http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2008/09/federal-copyright-law-guns-n-roses-chinese-democracy/