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Mon 29 June 2009
05:03pm
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Here I have chosen 10 really great synths which are not only pretty decent for various sounds, but also free for you to use. I haven't written anything about each one, but I have tested and used them all out myself and I wouldn't put them here if I didn't think they were useful for use in your own music. Personally I feel the more VSTi instruments that you can call on to use in your music the better and these should be some of the first that you try out.
Click on the name of each one to visit the homepage where you can download them for free. I have provided a screenshot of each one for you. If you are new to VST Instruments then check out our
Beginners Guide to Using VST Instruments, if you need a free VSTi Host check out 
SAVIHost.
Click on the name of each one to visit the homepage where you can download them for free. I have provided a screenshot of each one for you. If you are new to VST Instruments then check out our
Beginners Guide to Using VST Instruments, if you need a free VSTi Host check out SAVIHost.
Synth 1
TAL-Elek7ro
Superwave P8
Rez (Click VST at top to find)
Crystal
KROLAR SX2
MOZI (Scroll down page to find it)
RXML
String Theory (Click VST at top to find)
Triangle II
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Fri 26 June 2009
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05:08pm
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I don't think anyone will disagree that your music working space needs to be comfortable, but we also want to make it so that everything in our workspace is easy to use, easy to reach and make us want to be in our music studio. To achieve this our music making area should be clean and free from clutter and also keeping it that way too. Sort out all your wires so that you don't have to keep going behind your equipment, if you have some cable ties it could be a good idea to use them to declutter too.
Most of us will be using software on a computer to make music and therefore clean and free from clutter doesn't just apply to the physical world, it also applies to our desktop environments too. To declutter our computer we should make sure that our software is easy to startup and get going quickly. Solve those computer problems and make our applications quick to get going by setting up the preferences to our liking. It might be worth creating a template file in your software too to allow you to get going as quickly as possible. We basically should streamline our computers ready for knuckling down to making some beats.
Whilst we are making music one thing that could improve our productivity during our precious music making time is to take away all the distractions from the room. For example games consoles and telephones could be removed and also internet could be disconnected to stop you from checking your email and social networks and getting distracted.
I'm not one to plan specific times to make music, but if your area is comfortable and it is quick and easy to start making music you are going to end up spending more time actually making music when you are in there and you won't have to plan specific times. You'll just be able to go and do it. By making your music making studio more comfortable and time friendly, you will probably improve not only your music making productivity but also your music too.
What do you do to improve your music making studio/area to improve your music making time usage?
Most of us will be using software on a computer to make music and therefore clean and free from clutter doesn't just apply to the physical world, it also applies to our desktop environments too. To declutter our computer we should make sure that our software is easy to startup and get going quickly. Solve those computer problems and make our applications quick to get going by setting up the preferences to our liking. It might be worth creating a template file in your software too to allow you to get going as quickly as possible. We basically should streamline our computers ready for knuckling down to making some beats.
Whilst we are making music one thing that could improve our productivity during our precious music making time is to take away all the distractions from the room. For example games consoles and telephones could be removed and also internet could be disconnected to stop you from checking your email and social networks and getting distracted.
I'm not one to plan specific times to make music, but if your area is comfortable and it is quick and easy to start making music you are going to end up spending more time actually making music when you are in there and you won't have to plan specific times. You'll just be able to go and do it. By making your music making studio more comfortable and time friendly, you will probably improve not only your music making productivity but also your music too.
What do you do to improve your music making studio/area to improve your music making time usage?
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Thu 25 June 2009
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03:18pm
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Over at our other site Remix Comps we have teamed up with Zenhiser to offer you the chance to win $150 worth of samples from their exciting and affordable range of sample packs.
Just head on over to
The Contest to find out all the details of how to enter.
Simply download the samplepack on the page which contains drum loops in various genres, bass loops, pads, fx and crashes from Zenhiser's sample libraries. Then using your music abilities cut them up, play with the samples and rework them into a 1 to 5 minute track using as much or as little of the provided samples as you want.
Remix Comps we have teamed up with Zenhiser to offer you the chance to win $150 worth of samples from their exciting and affordable range of sample packs.Just head on over to
The Contest to find out all the details of how to enter.Simply download the samplepack on the page which contains drum loops in various genres, bass loops, pads, fx and crashes from Zenhiser's sample libraries. Then using your music abilities cut them up, play with the samples and rework them into a 1 to 5 minute track using as much or as little of the provided samples as you want.
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Sun 21 June 2009
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11:43am
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Looking for somewhere to upload your music and get it heard by people? I've put together this list of places where you can upload your music today. All of them are free or have free versions of accounts. I have sorted them by how popular each site is, so expect more listeners at the sites which are listed higher up in the list.
MySpace - We all know this one, still very much alive and almost essential for musicians to have a profile here.IMEEM - Change a standard account into a musicians account and you can start creating your artist profile.Last.fm - Allows you to see how many people are playing your tracks, you can also upload full tracks or clips.The Internet Archive - Not just music, but you can easily store your own music tracks on here for people to download.SoundClick - Upload your music, widgets for your music and genre separated charts based on plays.MP3.com - Upload your music for listening via streaming or download.Jamendo - Upload your music and release it under a Creative Commons license.OurStageReverbNation - Create your artist profiles and site includes loads of widgets giving you the ability to integrate your ReverbNation into Facebook, Bebo and more.PureVolume - Signup to create your artist profile and upload your tracks.SoundCloud - Allows you to upload, share and also receive tracks. Free users can upload 10 tracks for listeners.MusicForte - Caters to independent musicians and allows them to sell their music online inlcuding sheet music.Virb - This one is not just for music but there is a lot of people who do use it specifically for music.Amie Street - An interesting site where your music starts out being free and as it gets more popular it increases in price.TheSixtyOne - A site where listeners are playing a game for points and voting for your tracks if they like them.BroadJam - A social network where you can win prizes and explore licensing opportunities in TV and film.GarageBand.com - More of a review system, but your music will still get listens and therefore exposure.Fairtilizer - Upload your music and gives you a single player for all your sites and has charts based on plays.iSound - Upload your music, videos and photos and create an online profile.CCMixter - Upload your music if it is licensed under Creative Commons for others to download and remix.mTraks - Music community for independent artists to promote their traks.Humble Voice - Another place to upload your artistic creations, not just for music though.Jukebox Alive - Another place to upload your music to, list your gigs and publish your music bio.ArtistServer.com - Another place to upload your music and create an online presence.Unsigned.com - Create your online profile and from the name I presume it is best to be unsigned .Muzic - Upload your music and it could become the free and legal mp3 of the day in the mp3 jackpot.WorldSings - Upload your songs and the best 20 throught the year will get to compete in a song contest.Tribe of Noise - Get exposure for your music and get listened to by the industry.World's Best Producer - Battle to become the worlds best producer for each month throughout the year - mostly HipHop based.-
Sat 20 June 2009
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06:14pm
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Getting listeners to listen to your own music can be a tough job, especially when you're starting out and therefore we have to try to make use of all the tools that are at our disposal to get our music listened to. One of those tools we have to make use of is YouTube and all the other video sharing sites around the internet.
If you have some video footage of your latest gig or some other great footage then you should be all set and ready to upload some great videos but many of us don't have any video to hand. Not to worry though as we can easily and quickly put together a video containing a collection of pictures or photos instead for the eye candy and your music for the sound.
Here are a few ideas of the sort of images you could use to make your own videos to go with your music...VideoSpin from Pinnacle which is free to download and use. If you are on a Mac or using Linux then I am not sure of any alternatives but I am sure there is something similar out there which will work in the same way.
For my videos I used Windows Movie Maker as it is very simple and quick to use. All we do is import our chosen pictures and music and then arrange them on the storyboard at the bottom. We can also add some simple transitions between the images if we want by choosing Tools > Transitions and dragging the transition we want to the join in the storyboard between the images.
Once we are happy with the result in the preview video we can save the movie (which saves as a .wmv files in Windows Movie Maker) and upload it to our video sharing site account.
This method is not only quick and easy but also quite effective in getting extra listeners to find your music. Make sure you add an extra picture which has the URL of your web site or MySpace page so that viewers of the video can find out more about your music and that you also add the URL in the description of the video.
If you give some tracks away for free as I do, you could even put something along the lines of "If you like this track, download it for free from this website" to encourage them to get MP3 versions of the tracks. For the small amount of work I am sure you will find it worth it.
YouTube and all the other video sharing sites around the internet.If you have some video footage of your latest gig or some other great footage then you should be all set and ready to upload some great videos but many of us don't have any video to hand. Not to worry though as we can easily and quickly put together a video containing a collection of pictures or photos instead for the eye candy and your music for the sound.
Here are a few ideas of the sort of images you could use to make your own videos to go with your music...
- Album/single covers.
- Photo's of you/your band.
- Photo's from your latest gig.
- Your or your band's logo.
- Photo's from free stock photo web sites which fit your music.
VideoSpin from Pinnacle which is free to download and use. If you are on a Mac or using Linux then I am not sure of any alternatives but I am sure there is something similar out there which will work in the same way.For my videos I used Windows Movie Maker as it is very simple and quick to use. All we do is import our chosen pictures and music and then arrange them on the storyboard at the bottom. We can also add some simple transitions between the images if we want by choosing Tools > Transitions and dragging the transition we want to the join in the storyboard between the images.
Once we are happy with the result in the preview video we can save the movie (which saves as a .wmv files in Windows Movie Maker) and upload it to our video sharing site account.
This method is not only quick and easy but also quite effective in getting extra listeners to find your music. Make sure you add an extra picture which has the URL of your web site or MySpace page so that viewers of the video can find out more about your music and that you also add the URL in the description of the video.
If you give some tracks away for free as I do, you could even put something along the lines of "If you like this track, download it for free from this website" to encourage them to get MP3 versions of the tracks. For the small amount of work I am sure you will find it worth it.
