Radio Confidential Podcast

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Bob Lefsetz On Mediocricy

Another brilliant article from Bob Lefsetz. In his blog he wrote about the mediocrity of artist quality that seems to be running rampant these days. How true that the artists days seem to have less and less actual talent. Mr. Lefsetz says "In the dash for cash, it's all about shooting low, to the sweet spot, where most people live, so the purveyors can make money". I absolutely agree. Sounds like a very selfish thing to sell out for the quick buck. But clearly these artists aren't being selfish, because they are producing the quickest work that they think the majority will buy. True selfishness would be an artist that will only create and produce music that they want, not what the masses want. True art is an individual using a medium to express an idea. Its time to let selfishness back into mainstream music.

Sunday 22 May 2011

2011 Billboard Music Awards

So tonight's the big night, the annual Billboard Music Awards are back again. Slim pickings for this years top artist award if you want my opinion. Chances are Gaga will take the top spot, leaving Bieber alone with his line of nail polish wondering what went wrong. But he might still have a chance at male artist of the year, unless going through puberty is a requirement, in that case Gaga might win there too. But in all honesty I think that the awards to look out for tonight will be the digital categories, top digital download, top streaming song, and top digital media artist. With the majority of these artists fans' belonging to generation web, I am curious to see which artists have best marketed themselves for the web. Gaga does have over 32 million Facebook fans so she must be doing something right.

Saturday 21 May 2011

GooGoo for Gaga

With Canada enjoying a long weekend, happy that the world has survived another threatening doomsday prediction, Lady Gaga is getting ready to launch her album Born This Way on May 23rd. Gaga being the marketing genius that she is has already sold over 1 million copies of the single off that album. What a better time to release it than at the unofficial beginning of summer long weekends. Available for pre-order for $8.99 this album is going to be one of the 2011 summer hits. I myself will be picking up a copy just to see what all the fuss is about, but seeing the artwork for the soon to be released album I am not holding my breath. I understand in the digital age we are in that artwork is becoming less relevant, but honestly Gaga. A motorcycle doing a wheelie, with your head on the front handle bars like some old Cadillac with cattle horns mounted on the grill? For all the credit I give you about being a marketing genius and such, I can not for the life of me figure out what you were thinking. Maybe I will save myself the money and the eye sore and just download it.
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http://radioconfidential.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-12T17_14_12-07_00

http://radioconfidential.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-12T17_14_12-07_00

Be sure to tune in to our Podcast for discussions on the new music industry.

Home Recording Studios

So you want to build a home studio? Many people have been in your shoes, as one can tell from the endless sites dedicated to the does and don'ts of home studies. Page after page of people who have spent a fortune setting up their basement studios to find out that their needs could have been met at a fraction of the price. So where does one start? Well first things first, do you plan on developing an income with your studio? It is very possible depending on the work you plan on specializing in that a home studio will be perfect for your needs. If you plan on doing voice-over work or any dialogue for film/t.v than a small home studio would be perfect. All you'll really need is a small isolation booth for dialogue, a DAW and a few different mics. But if you plan on recording an eight piece band, chances are you'll want a dedicated space for your studio separate from your home, neighbors might not appreciate a rugged looking punk band coming and going at all hours of the night.

I've made a list of things to take into consideration before you make an investment. This list is more of a guideline for deciding if your goals can be met by a home studio or not.

1. Will you be exclusively recording your own music/audio, or will you be renting the space out?

2. What will your studio specialize in? (demos, genre, ADR, electronic music..ect)

3. How large a space do you need for the studio? (1-2 iso booths? 1 control rooom, storage?)

4.How many inputs will you require? (if 96 inputs are required, do you have the space?)

5. Are there zoning bylaws preventing you from running a business, or creating too much noise?

6. Is the power in your home capable of handling your requirements?

7. How much will the isolation of your space cost? (is it a detached home?)

8. Is there adequate parking for clients?

9. Is the space accessible for bringing gear in and out of? (basement, stairs ect)

10. Are you close to your target demographic? (rural, suburb, city)

11. Do you own or rent your home?

I hope these questions will help you in your decision, there is a long list of things to take into consideration before investing time and money. These questions merely scratch the surface of what you should be asking yourself when looking into creating a home studio. I recommend you take the time and do the research, honestly answering questions like these. If you do the preparation you can save yourself a big headache in the future. As I mentioned earlier, there are hundreds of sites dedicated to home recording, not all of them are reliable, but its a good place to see where others ran into problems along the way.

Friday 20 May 2011

Gaga Machine

 Watch out Oprah, is the new sheriff in town. Lady Gaga recently bumped Oprah out of the top spot in Forbes Magazines Celebrity Power list, earning an incredible 90million dollars in 2011. The list is calculated by earnings, media exposure and social media dominance. Oprah had held the number one position for four consecutive years before this, showing a shift in pop culture. Lady Gaga didn't do it alone though, with the help of her 32 million Facebook Fans (almost the entire population of Canada) , her single "Born this way" sold 1 million copies within five days! She has 12 million more Facebook fans than President Obama, now imagine a country ran by Gaga.....yeah kinda scary eh?! With her new album being released shortly, time will tell if she can keep her viral success going. But Gaga isn't the only one climbing the Forbes Power charts, Justin Bieber has moved into the number.3 slot closely followed by U2. Not surprisingly, musicians hold 6 out of the 10 top spots on the 2011 Forbes Celebrity Power List.
Truly this is a sign of the ages, as social media can make or break a musicians career.

Thursday 19 May 2011

Hearing Loss

 As I ride the streetcar across town everyday, I can hear everything from the latest Lady Gaga hit to the new dubstep song blaring from ear buds of young students, middle age business men and even the occasional TTC driver. With Ipods and mp3 players being the most common form of medium for listening to music these days, hearing loss is on the rise. An Ipod at half volume is around 95 d.b, which is just a little quieter than an impact gun used at your local auto repair shop. One or two hours of constant listening at full volume on your Ipod and you have sustained permanent damage. The average busy city street corner can reach volumes of 85-100 d.b. We are living in a culture of loud, being constantly bombarded by ear piercing noises. The boomer generation started to lose their hearing faster than they should have due to decades of concerts, and it seems that their children are at a greater risk. When one starts to lose hearing its usually the mid range that goes first, the treble that helps us understand consonants.

So for anyone who is interested in pursuing a career in the music industry, the protection of your money makers is essential. No one wants to have their record mixed by someone who can't hear how horrible it sounds. Or hire a session musician who can't tell he's constantly out of tune.  If an engineer can't hear 500-700hz than he is comparable to a surgeon with the shakes. Many professional performers will have their hearing tested twice a year, and sometimes have custom ear protection made specifically to conform to their ears. But why bother you ask? Well once you lose a certain frequency than its gone, but without the knowledge of what range you have sustained damage in, than you cannot tell if the problem lies with the musician or yourself. With recording technology becoming affordable to the vast majority of enthusiasts, many are deciding to record demos themselves, never letting the music pass a professional engineer before promoting it. If they have major hearing damage (as a huge number of musicians do) than the quality of the demo will be sub par. Possibly ruining the only chance they might of had.

I'm not here to preach, I'm simply stating the obvious. If someone has epilepsy, they are not allowed to drive an automobile until they are cleared by a doctor. The same should be said for audio engineers. If you have a dream to work in the industry, do yourself a favour and check your hearing. Maybe you'll save yourself a lot of time and money and realize that you should be doing it as a hobby. The bottom line is we live in a very noisy world, and our senses deserve to be protected. So buy a cheap pair of ear plugs, throw 'em in your pocket before you go and see your favorite death metal band play this weekend!

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Music Value

 As I sat wondering how to spend my leisure time last weekend, I wondered what would offer me the best value. Being a young artist going to school full-time, money is not something I can throw away every weekend, which I'm sure many of you can relate with. So entertainment with a good value is important to me, but as I learned not very important to the music industry.

I haven't seen a good movie in awhile I thought to myself....but thats probably cause there hasn't been many worth seeing. That and the average ticket cost for a movie is around $13! Not the best value for entertainment that will only last 90minutes or so, especially when for $8/month I can subscribe to Netflix and get unlimited access to movies. Then I thought about going to a club, catch a live show have a drink and call it a night. Well that sounds good in theory but, with cover being $10 at an average club, drinks being about $8 and no guarantee that the band will be any good I wasn't eager to risk it that night. So i thought I would download some music I've been meaning to get from Itunes, cook a nice meal with the remaining money I would have saved and have a peaceful night in.

 As I began my search for some interesting tunes for the night, I realized: 1) Itunes has raised the price of new releases to $1.29  and 2) .99cents/song is still a horrible deal!
At .99cents a song your full length album (assuming there are an average of 12 tracks) will cost you around $12. Roughly the same price distributors sell to stores at wholesale. But with Itunes, you get none of the artwork you would receive if purchased from a retail store, no lyrics, nothing. So lets do a little math and work this out:  Average song 4:00 x 12 = 48minutes so lets be fair and say that the average album has about 1 hour of music on it.  So 1 hour/music = $12.....Average computer game: $40,  playtime : 15/hours =  $2.60/hour............Netflix $8/month= unlimited viewing.

 Seems to me that the music industry desperately needs to re-evaluate its pricing strategy. With less and less sales of music every year, the major labels should be scrambling to attract people back to music. But instead they seem to be oblivious to this fact that music is one of the most expensive entertainment forms available. In my opinion this is what happens when major companies are calling the shots in an industry evolving around art. They are relying on pricing maximization to justify their existence to the share holders, which is absolutely the biggest mistake they could make in a time when access to the net can provide anyone free music on demand. When a consumer realizes that the price outweighs the value of the product than they will turn to another source.

It is time to wake up!! With concert tickets at easily $100 for big acts and single songs going for $1.29 on itunes, no wonder people are turning elsewhere for entertainment. I believe the majors have driven the nail into their own coffin, and with their death will spawn an affordable new music industry. One that will not cost me an hours wage to listen to one hour of my favorite artist!

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Blake Phillips

The Harris Institute for the recording arts has been cooperating with the University of West Scotland to allow musicians the chance to come to Canada to promote themselves. This has allowed many musicians to gain access to a market that for many would be very costly to achieve. With technology rapidly changing the way musicians reach their fans, visibility online can be a great way to promote oneself, but cannot replace the live performance. I strongly believe that live performance will always be the foundation to a career as a musician. The International Musician Exchange has sponsored many Scottish musicians as well as Canadian talent.

The next upcoming talent to travel to our beautiful country is Blake Phillips. A young singer/songwriter Blake was chosen by a group of his peers to travel to Canada and show us what he's made of. A wonderful guitar player, Blake will be performing at a number of Toronto venues and interviewed by local media. Radio Confidential is pleased to announce that Blake will be appearing on our humble show.

His first appearance will be a FREE show at the Skal Bar on May 30th. A great chance for all to come and hear the best the University of West Scotland has to offer. Blake will then be touring the GTA playing at various gigs and checking out the sights. Radio Confidential would like to extend a warm welcome to Blake.

Without the cooperation of schools like this, and the dedicated people behind the scenes, Blake and many others like him would never have the chance to travel spreading their passion for music. With our recent election and a Conservative majority in power, many are saying that government grants that help support programs like this will disappear. I am not here to take sides, only time will tell what obstacles the arts programs will face in the future. I do know that without local support from people who share a passion for music, then we should roll over and give up now. If we do not take the time to explore the small venues, and hear the unknown artists than there will be no further need for programs like the International Musician Exchange Program. So come May 30th, I encourage you to make the effort to check out Blake Phillips, or any artists like him in your neighborhood!!

Recording Arts Schools

So you want to be a recording engineer? Where do you start? One of the most competitive industries in the world, is also one where a formal education is not always required. Many of the the most successful engineers and producers have never been to school, but simply started an internship or apprenticed under senior engineers. So is an education useless? Absolutely not, more and more large studios are only hiring interns that have had formal training, as they cannot spend the time to teach the basics. Time is money, and if they need to take the time to show a young intern how to setup a mic stand, or explain the difference between an XLR and a 1/4" connector, chances are they will not be impressed. 

If you have a basic understanding of recording gear, are comfortable being a goffer for the studio, and have a great personality than maybe you will get lucky and score a nice internship somewhere. If not than a recording arts school would be a great place to start. Which school should you attend? Here's where homework really pays off. Many many people who teach at these schools are just that, teachers, currently not working in the industry. Being a small community, having instructors that can provide contacts can pay dividends. Alumni, are there any? Do any of the graduates actually work in the industry, or is the only mic they touch the one they're using at the fast food drive thru window?

Monday 16 May 2011

Jack Richardson

The industry recently lost a passionate member, Jack Richardson. He was an acclaimed producer and an instructor at the Harris Institute for over 13 years. Although our team never had the pleasure of meeting him, we are very sorry to hear the news. Mr. Richardson took the time to pass on his extensive knowledge to the younger generation, something very rare in the industry. The Harris Institute will be organizing an event in his honor.

R.I.P

Home Studios

With the price of technology becoming more affordable day by day, home studios are popping up everywhere. I think that it is an amazing thing to have access to such creative tools, but a lot of people believe it is flooding the music industry with home-grown crap! What do you think?