Songwriters and musicians.. Register your stuff!

Tonight I had a conversation with Laypig over at Layzpig.com.

We found out, after pouring over the legal verbiage of various Performing Rights Organizations (PRO). It appears you need to be careful when you publish your music online, and realize that what you post to various sites on the internet might become property of the public domain. Sure you will get exposure which could mean BIG BUCKS, but ya just might lose out if your stuck in a rut and can’t come up with new material.


So, if you have a song that you think is really good, and you did all the work on it yourself (or really love your band mate’s or co-writer’s and have that trust thing goin on) – ya just might not want to start showing your wicked new jams off till you have fully researched the details of what you might be losing.  In case you want to do a bit a researching yourself I have provided the links below:

Performing Rights Organiztion that I know of in the USA:

BMI
ASCAP
SEASAC

Self Publishing Sites that I know of so far (or feel like digging up at the moment):

Bandcamp
Soundclick
Riffworld
Ourstage
Public Record
Jango Online Radio
Songcast

OK, Im not Aesop, But! The moral of this post is: Read all the terms and services agreements you are getting ready to click before you click em… =)
[fbcomments]

How to record music at home using a windows computer

I have been writing songs since I first started playing guitar. This might give away my age, but I was making up my own funky lyrics for songs before Wierd Al ever met Dr. Demento and got sorta famous with My Bolongna.

As I got older I wanted to start recording my own music. I use to play around with two cassette tape decks back in the day. But then along came personal computers.

I tried Audacity and Kristal which are powerful free multitrack recording programs  in their own right. But they just didnt have enough juice for what I wanted to do.

I gave Reaper and Cubase a shot too. But they were on the other end of the spectrum and they were  just a little bit hard to get really good results with, considering the amount of time I was willing to put into them. Now there are people out there that really love all the software I mentioned above. But, after years of working in the IT field I learned a long time ago that looking for the easy way to do something isnt always a bad thing.

SOFTWARE: Sonoma Wire Works Said, “Let there be RIFFWORKS!”

Riffwords Standard

Riffwork’s is a free four track recording software suite. It will easily install on a Windows Xp later version of windows, they even have a Mac version. Just make sure you have the correct hardware to go with it. Below I have a link to Riffwork’s supported hardware page. Be sure you go there first and own a supported device before even downloading the software. I bought a Line 6 UX2 because it was on the hardware list. And it has to be one of the best investments I have ever made for recording music.

Riffwork’s comes with effects (echo,delay, reverb & more) and what has to be the absolute best free electronic drummers (IMHO) I have ever came across. You can even buy more drummers packs to expand the styles it will play. Time can be changed to 4/4 to 3/4 or just about any time signature you can come up with. Plus the multi-track and riff system it uses are extremely easy to use and it is easy to come up with impressive sounding tunes.

If you buy the full version (Riffwork’s Standard) you can unlock the ability to record up to 32 tracks at a time. This is one really cool and easy to use piece of software. Just be sure to read the hardware notes below.

Now for the Riffworks Kicker!

Let’s say you have came up with a song, did your vocals, tried to make you guitar or keyboard or whatever you might be using to do the backing tracks. But you just can’t come up with a bass line, keyboard solo, backing vocals etc… that you need to finish the song. YOU CAN POST IT WITH RIFFWORKS TO RIFFLINK and other musicians will most of the time add parts. And I’m telling you, a very high percentage of these musicians are extremely good and so talented you will wonder why your not paying big bucks for the session work. On a final note. Once you have your song finished Sonoma Wirework’s has provided Riffworld which is a website where you can easily post your finished masterpieces.

Hardware:

 

One of the most important issues with Riffwork’s is making sure you have the correct hardware to use with it.
I will post video tutorials on how I use this software to make my music.
So…  YA’ALL Come back now ya  hear!
[FBCOMMENTS]

New Album Dropped! – Remnants of a well spent youth

Remnants of a well spent youth is a collections of songs I have written over the last 30 years. They were recorded at home and over the internet with Riffworks, Audacity and Cubase – Songs tagged with collaboration were done with the help of friends I made on Riffworld.com and during my youth in the Santa Susana Knolls.

It was quite a learning experience figuring out what equipment to use to record these songs. And I stumbled across some great online communities – filled with talented, yet very helpful musicians. This blog contains links and info about these sites and the friends I met there.I will be posting more content on being a non – signed, self publishing, self publicizing internet musician.