I played very poorly at the last gig (last week). I was using my preferred guitar of the moment and my old faithful Fender amp, but the sound was all wrong. It may have been because the people were mostly pretty far back from the band. We were on a high-ish stage too.

The sound wasn't the usual warm subtle tone I am used to. It was stark & harsh. A poor tone limits what I can play. Some people dont understand that. I dont fully understand it myself but I cant change it.

Vopt 9 21 Setup Keygen Music. DiDO:) - - MOST POPULAR RE-PINS from cSw's HUMOR Board: Simple snare DRUM and. Drum Sheet Music For Beginners So, with all this in mind, let's see what these notes actually look. 'Drums' sink for the music studio in my dream home.

Fortunately everyone else was pretty good and we seemed to go down ok. Theres another gig next Wednesday. If I take a different guitar its as if I have given up on it. Like I dont trust it.

Not sure what to do at the moment. A bit of actual practice might help!

Oh dear.(sigh) the beginning of something is always the most awkward part.so I’m just going to break in by making conversation with my imaginary audience and if I get a reply, whoa! I’ll have to give my imagination some major credit! I thought I would start by commenting about one of a few amazing abilities music has. The ability to bring forth memories.

My earliest recollections of my personal taste in music began with those vinyl 45s. I had some stories such as Snow White and the 7 dwarfs put out by Disney accompanied by a reading book. I learned to follow along even though I couldn’t yet read by turning the page every time I heard the chime on the record.

I had also seen the Disney movie and learned the songs. When I was outside I naively thought if I just delicately held up my arms with first finger extended like Snow White did and sang beautifully/sweet enough, the birds would come land on my fingers.

(It didn’t work). Another favorite of mine was a Sesame Street record where Cookie Monster sang “C” is for Cookie, that’s good enough for me” and Ernie sang a different track that went “D,d,d, d, d is a vey nice letter, every day I like it better, that lovely letter called D,d,d, oh yeah! That lovely letter called D”. I remember taking a nap every day on the couch while my mother folded laundry and as I was dozing off, I’d hear “As the sands of the hourglass, so are the days of our lives” followed by the theme song tinkling it’s piano tune, dun, dun, dun, dun, DUN, dun dun, dun.”zzzzz”, sorry, don’t recall the rest as I was is Lala land. I recall skipping along a little golden book imaginary brick road that my brother, some kids my mother babysat and I had laid out down our hallway through the living room and into the kitchen. We would start at the beginning linking arm in arm saying, “Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road, (then sing-songy) Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road” I also remember my brother and I standing beneath the maple tree we so often swang from (rope swing) and climbed on and looking up as the seeds fell (they looked like bras fluttering down) and we would sing “Shake, shake, shake your boobies (instead of “booties”) while we shook our non-existing chests thinking we were getting away with something we weren’t supposed to say or do.

We would giggle like mad as we did. As I grew a little older, I remember listening to Pat Benetar on vinyl 45. “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and a song with a big green apple on the label of the vinyl with the song “My Sweet Lord” and I listened to them over and over and over. I have memories of riding to church with my dad on Sunday mornings headed to a late service at a different church. He would play 8 track cassettes in his truck and together we would sing, “King of the Road”. I knew it by heart. I recall my older sister and her two friends outside with her friends playing “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summers, pausing and rewinding the tape cassette as they were making up coordinated dance moves to the song.

I soon discovered my sister did not want me hanging out with her and her friends and she certainly didn’t want me imitating her dance moves. As I got into 5th grade I encountered stage fright after my friend convinced me to perform a dance with her to the song, Elvira, that she made up. I knew the dance well enough, but panicked on stage and zipped through the steps as fast as I could not minding time with the music and zipped off stage after all the steps were completed. She wasn’t too happy with me. I remember my fifth grade teacher, Mr. And all the things he used to do to shock his students (like scrape his nails across a chalkboard or slam a pile of books on the floor when all the students were looking down, quiet and concentrating on their quiz or test) trying to embarrass a classmate named Sherry by singing, “Sherry, Sherry baby”.

She would turn as bright red as a ripened tomato. As I got into Jr. High, roller skating was a favorite pastime and I loved the free feeling of gliding along on the wheels as my hair trailed behind out of my face and colored light swishing around the light gray floor while the BeeGees tunes were playing. The faster the song, the faster the skate, the freer I felt. More to come. Got to take a bit of a break. My Freshman year of high school was darkened near the end of the school year with sorrowful news.

A classmate of mine who was in my homeroom, whom I had been close friends with through Junior High and was in her mid-term of pregnancy, had gotten into a car crash that killed both her and her baby. Her brother had been the driver and was deeply affected by the whole incident. The whole school was saddened by these events. A friend of ours had selected the song, Free Bird, to play over the intercom in memory of her. Now whenever I hear that song, it brings me back to that memory. I remember when i was a freshman, there was a guy rumored to have interest in me (all I ever heard was rumors--no confirmation).

Sometimes we would speak on the phone and he would mess around with his electric guitar while we were talking. I heard him playing 'Stairway to Heaven' and would ask him to keep playing it. I was amazed with his talent. Whenever I hear that song, I think of that moment. Round about my Junior year, I had a homeroom classmate who did take an interest and let it be known. He was sort of a dark and brooding fellow. Jeans, t-shirt, black leather jacket (also played electric guitar). Apparently, he always wanted to know what I was thinking when I was sitting in the window looking outside.

He called me sometimes and also wrote these amazing letters with such interesting character to his handwriting--long letters at that and many. He asked me out, but I was just not interested in anything but a friendship. He was more of a romantic than me. I wasn't ready for that kind of seriousness. I wasn't ready for kissing or any of that stuff. However, we remained friends. He was a huge fan of Pink Floyd.

He was the one who introduced me to Pink Floyd. I thought their music was a little bit creepy back then, but it grew on me. I recall one letter he wrote me, he said he was in a tent at night with his good friend (who was interested in my best friend) and they were listening to who else? Particularly, 'Wish You Were Here'. He said it made him think of me.

Now whenever I hear that song, I relate it to him. He used to walk with his friend very long distances to leave notes, roses and candy bars for me on an old 57 Chevy that my brother-in-law was trying to sell on our lawn (see what a stupid girl I was back then!) But then my dad took his truck and chased him and his friend down the road (cause he heard a noise outside) with a rifle in his truck and asked them if they had been on his property. They denied it. Wouldn't you?

He wanted me to watch some of the Pink Floyd videos, which I did and Whoa! That scene with the meat grinder just about turned my stomach. There were high school dances and all the gals lined up on one side of the dance line and all the guys lined up facing them about six feet away (except for the ones dancing away off making out). You'd think we were going to do the dosey doe, but no. There were regular favorite rock songs played each dance.

I recall this one girl, long bushy curly dirty blonde hair and she danced in a world all her own, rolling her head to the music, taking up her personal space and twisting her body (she was a dancer) to the music of a song I don't know the name of or the group, but I remember very key sounds of the song. I wish I knew what it was called. I don't hear it much on the radio. The guys jaws dropped.

She definitely had their audience. I met my now husband my Senior year. He had graduated from a different school a year before. He called me every morning and every night. We went on a number of dates and ironically lived just a short ways from each other, though we had never known each other until.well, too much to write here.got to keep some things personal. He had this really nice truck he and his dad had refurbished with a very unique, attractive 5 colored zigzag on the side of a conservative navy colored paint job.

I could hear the truck rumbling up my driveway before I ever saw it. However, he was a very conscientious driver and I was allowed to ride with him. He had an amazing stereo system and some incredible tweeters in his truck and he loved to adjust his radio balance, treble, etc for perfection and it sounded REALLY GOOD. I used to wear a sailor dress sometimes and I had long blonde hair/blue eyes and one day he wanted to play a song for me on his stereo, so he popped in tape of the Bellamy Brothers, 'Do You Love as Good as You Look'.

I must have turned the color of a tomato I was so embarrassed. One of the bands I just loved to listen to that he played on that stereo was The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, particularly Mr.

Bojangles and Fishing In the Dark---ahhh.they sounded soooo good on that stereo. I can still remember how my chest rumbled when the drums did their thing in Fishing in the Dark. Cool Change by the Little River Band was another favorite. At that time country hadn't been so pummeled into my music world as it had later been and I enjoyed some of it.

He and I attended a Clint Black concert, a Kathy Matthea concert, and a Vince Gill concert. Clint Black's Killin' Time and Put Yourself In My Shoes and Nobody's Home are three other songs that will forever emblazon him and that truck and those times in my mind. I drew the line with Dwight Yoakam's twangy country sound, dug my heals in, but eventually secretively grew to like him (Shhhh.my husband can't know). He pinned me down (haha, little personal joke there) and proposed to me around the Christmas after I graduated and we were married a year and five months later. Our dance song was Alabama's, 'Forever's as Far as I'll Go'. I dare say he meant it. He's still with me, lol!

I could go on, but I think this is a good place to stop. What songs do you hear that call up detailed memories for you? Where you were, who you were with, how it made you feel, and does it make you feel things all over again?

What powerful memories does music bring for you? Being a musician is subjective. Anybody can call themselves a musician today as I do so myself. But judgments and opinions aside, what truly makes you a call yourself one?

Is it the set of skills and techniques you've earned to show off? Or the music you claim to understand? Or a religion you think you embrace? My pursuit with 'meaning' in life has been tied to this idea of musicianship for a while. So it was only natural that this thought came up. And off late, I realised that the feeling of worthlessness has got me closer to the answer I was looking for. In the universe of music too, I feel the same way about it.

In the past few months I've been around with incredible musicians like Leslie Charles and Ramanan Chandramouli, I've been exposed to so much music. Different kinds of music, different philosophies as to what music means to somebody (take the album 'The Union' for example) and different ways of approaching how to create music. And I realised the truth as to how less I know about music and how less I chose to know about it (less being an understatement). Given that I identify my existence by using the word 'music', it was ironic that this realisation was an absolutely wonderful feeling.

Because my world of music just got bigger! In a recent study conducted by the University of Westminster, it has been found that there is crisis in mental health within the U.K. Music industry that is at alarming levels. The study, “” was commissioned. It looks at how having a career in the music industry impacts upon the mental health of musicians. 2,211 musicians took part in the study. Researchers Sally-Anne Gross and Dr.

George Musgrave revealed that 71.1% of musicians have suffered from anxiety or panic attacks, while 68.5% have suffered with depression. Primary contributory major issues include: • money worries, due to juggling jobs and uncertain pay • poor working conditions The study also found musicians are more likely to be subjected to: • sexual abuse • bullying • discrimination • antisocial and unsympathetic working environments Additionally, musicians often don’t have sufficient income to allow them to get professional help. Is the leading UK charity for professional musicians, throughout their professional life. They help both at times of crisis, and of opportunity, providing much needed support at a crucial point in their career.

What happened? Have I really been too tired to write? Maybe it's because I've been busy, distracted, and uninspired.

Perhaps the few projects I've been working on have been enough.but I really do want to write. There's a song on the tip of my pencil just waiting for me to find the time to get it to paper. I wrote three songs for a specific project. I'd like to do two more for it. Somehow writing for someone else isn't as rewarding to me. When I write for me my brain goes on this journey like nothing else! It's hard to explain.

I've noticed that when I help with other people's songs my brain functions much more structured. Maybe uncertain?

I wonder if anyone else has every had this happen? Ah well, in time it will all be worth it.

When I was first creating music as a teen, I would do whatever I felt when I mixed, I had no fear, no method, just feel. None of these mixes were as they should be, but many of them were very vibey. Then I met a producer who mentored me 5 years and taught me all kinds of things about mixing. None were very easy to implement, but his ideas of sonic correctness, creating space, making room, what eq does, what makes a good mix, what makes a bad mix etc.

These ideas went whirling through my head, I decided 'he makes good productions, he knows what he's talking about' and began implementing such ideas when I mixed. I'm not saying these ideas were bad, but they took over, and I lost something. My mixes just got worse, and worse, and worse, I began to fear mixing, feel it was never ending, and never release my songs, I am still kind of at this phase, but I'm nearing the end of it. Recently, I've begun asking God to show me what it is I'm missing in my mixes, and whether or not you believe in the source this is how He has been changing my thought patterns and I'm hearing improvement. I feel like rather than the rigid philosophies that my producer taught me, the philosophies I get through faith are more life engaging and freeing. So here are some things I believe I have learned. They are true for me, and apply to me, decide for yourself if they may be true for you.

Do not FEAR your controls and do not believe in 'perfection'. There is no perfection, there are vibes and you are pulling them out of the frequencies you have to work with. If you strive for perfection you will nitpick and pull yourself out of a creative and inspired mindset and into a scientific and rigid one. Fool around, play with the controls, have fun, see what can be done.

You can't screw up what isn't right yet, just be sure to remember anything you may want to get back to before you tinker with it. Every sound has a shape, a thickness, a weight, a color, a coolness a warmth, a tone, use these to paint a picture. Rather than focusing on one single instrument at a time and thinking 'How can I bring that out' or 'I want to hear more of the umph of this sound' or trying to emulate things you imagined in your brain, try to listen as a whole and paint a picture. Once you get it in the ball park volume wise, what kind of picture do you have? Not giving you a feeling? What do your ears want to hear, and I don't mean idealistically. It's not what your brain wanted to hear when you wrote the song, or imagines on the radio, what does your brain want to hear from the real sounds coming out of your speakers.

Examples: There's no rhythm, I'm not feeling the beat. It all sounds apart from each other, there's no congruency. My voice is piercing. MIX FROM THE HEART. If you are trying to emulate something you've heard or a band you want to 'beat' or your motivation is to be the most 'slammin' or 'poppin' or whatever it is, you are probably not being very realistic and not getting very good mixes.

Center yourself, be honest, quench pride, now listen, and pull out something that is compelling. This is your chance to make yourself feel something from your creation, come to that with reverence, awe that you are allowed to do something so expressive and wonderful and now see what can be done! See what can be done!

LEAVE NOTHING OUT. Keep a watchful eye over your whole creation, don't let anything go left amiss, it's easy to think guitar and bass or voice and piano are all there is and then Mr.

Hi Hat or Ms. Snare are destroying your whole world. Be conscious of your entire creation from the commanding guitar solo to the sprinkles of a shaker. You can liken this to the love you would put into fine cooking or building a home, love your entire mix. And if you don't love a part?

Get it out, and replace it with something you do love. KNOW WHEN TO QUIT. Your brain is a divinely created machine, but it is still a machine and one that isn't even functioning at high capacity! (various reasons, wrong thinking, state of the environment, health etc) Sometimes the desire to finish is so strong that we keep going even when we know we aren't having fun, aren't feeling it, we're tight. It's always good to stop then, even if it's 5 or 10 minutes, just be peaceful, let your brain stop straining, get back to the essence of your song, all of mixing should be a joy, if it's a chore, stop. LISTEN HONESTLY. Sometimes I find myself mixing as I think about other things, mixing but focusing on the sounds and not the feeling, and the whole time I'm telling myself 'this is sounding pretty good, it's going alright, I'm making progress' but in reality I'm aimlessly making changes, mixing but not LISTENING.

You've got to let your song take you on a journey, that means learning to space out, not having expectations, not dwelling on the last moment, not anticipating the next, but LISTENING. This is also a huge part of hearing the voice of God but that's for another blog and possibly another forum But yes these principles apply to life but they apply to mixing as well.

Being in the moment, having a still heart, closing your eyes and being taken off on a journey, this is how you will know if you are really getting what you want. I think sometimes it's easier to just pretend the journey is going how we want and not listen for fear of disappointment, but if you have faith you can correct the problems and achieve your goal, it's the only way to truly know what's wrong. You have to be unafraid to close your eyes and objectively listen and see if you are happy with the journey you've created, if not, don't fear the correcting process, it's how you grow as a mixer.

You tinker, honestly, and are unafraid to acknowledge the flaws. And DON'T be afraid to re record, sometimes you can't make a sound work because the sound ITSELF doesn't work. KNOW WHEN TO QUIT FOREVER. A mix can always be changed and made better, but usually by the time you have something you can really live with (if you're being honest with yourself and it gives you good feels every time you hear it) the audience would rather just have it than have you tinkering away forever. At some point you have to consider it good enough to put out there, and this is usually when you are already happy but your brain keeps wanting to go 'weeeeell. I mean maybe I could get that just a liiiiiiittttllleee more' or when you start to think it's ready but say 'well it doesn't sound like this band.' Or you get fearful people will compare it to *blank*.

At that point? Just put it out, if there's something wrong with it the people may tell you, but who cares, we get better at mixing by sharing mixes, you won't bust out of nowhere with perfect sounding songs, you will grow and grow and grow forever and ever. Most churchy mixing post ever hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahhahaahahahahaha Deal with it. I might make more of these as more come, let me know what you think my friends. Conceptual Writing workshop 101.

DEFINING CONCEPTUAL WRITING Conceptual writing is a form of “song writing” that involves a specific goal or message. Songs that are “conceptually based” are often built around subjects that are very important to the lyricist.

These songs are normally intended to be very serious in nature and are meant to send a powerful message to the listener. Conceptual writing is not just for musicians looking to push an agenda. It is also popular for musicians looking to create a more “fantastical” or “whimsical' world.

This is because “conceptual” songs often need to have a world “created” around them in order to be successful. The trick is using descriptive words and phrases that will trigger a visual concept clearly into your audience’s head. In order to begin writing with C.W. You must first have a “concept.” A concept is simply the driving idea of your story. It can be a person, situation, opinion, belief or anything you can think of that you passionately want to speak about. Great concepts can come from anywhere, a life event, movie, dream, video game or a personal experience.

For my example, the song I’m going to create is about “ someone having a hard time fitting in.” Once you have decided on your concept, the next step is to begin fleshing out the most significant parts of the story. Begin by answering the questions below in writing, in as few words as possible AND as precisely as possible. Who is your protagonist?

What is the plight or situation your protagonist is facing? Now that you have you protagonist, it’s time to create a basic back story and a brief summary of the history for your character.

Focus on the use of descriptions using metaphors, analogies and similes to flush out the elements in the story. If you find yourself having trouble defining your protagonist, start by asking yourself questions someone else might ask you about your character. What do they look like? What kind of personality do they have? Answering simple sample questions like these will give you building blocks that will help you flesh out, develop and most importantly help the listener connect to your song.

Finally, gleam out the most descriptive and exciting words to begin the creation of the song. Look for words that are empathic and vividly describe the protagonist’s world as colorfully as possible. MY BACK STORY EXMAPLE: A young male is constantly being forced to move from town to town because his parents job keeps causing them to move. PROBLEMS THAT ARISE: He has problems making and keeping friends.

He becomes socially awkward as well as guarded. He becomes distant and reclusive. Is often lonely and depressed. Has strong feelings of being different and misunderstood. THE LYRICAL & CREATION POCESS So far in this section I have been going over how to develop and flesh out the most important elements of your song. The reason this is done is so we can highlight the most significant and interesting aspects of your story. Remember, you are attempting to write more than just a song, you are trying to convey emotions to a total stranger.

Your job as a writer is to create a world for the listener that takes that person out of their world and into a world you created with your voice, mind and music. It is now time to begin writing lyrics using your notes and work from above. Keep your writing short and precise. Focus on writing one line at a time as if each sentence is it’s own individual story about your protagonist or a significant event in their life. SONG STRUCTURE & THEORY I am a strong believer that you do not have to construct your song with the traditional beginning, middle, end approach that most institutions teach. Songs themselves do not have to be in exact chronological order and they don’t even have to make perfect sense from a literal perspective. The goal of your music should always be to connect to the listener by “conveying the emotions” that will stimulate the mood and feelings you are trying to convey.

With that being said, for this method you are going to start dividing your work into three categories 1. Refrain Hook Chorus It is advised that you do not try to commit too much effort into writing just a chorus or just the refrain at this time. You will learn that the songwriting process is a fluid process with constantly moving and interchangeable parts. Meaning, a piece you originally wrote to be the intro, might actually work as the refrain, chorus, hook, etc. Now as a rule, most people say the best way to tell a good story is to start from the beginning. That is because people get confused easily when having a lot of details thrown at them at one time. Keep in mind “starting from the beginning” is a relative term and different people involved in a “situation” will have differentiating opinion as to when everything started.

To keep your listener from getting confused, it is my advice to start with either introducing your character or the “plight” first. THE CREATION OF VOCAL LINES & MELODIES To continue on at this point of the songwriting process, you must have a backing track, riff, beat or at least a prepared vocal melody to sing over. This is the point in the songwriting process where we take a long look at all of the ideas we fleshed out and begin to build verses, refrains, hooks etc. We have the subject; we know the plight, now its time to put his journey into words. If you can not seem to find the right words and you are stuck with the lyrical portion of the writing process, play the backing track, riff or melody on a loop a few times.

Begin to hum or sing notes over the backing track or melody without using real words. This is a great way to begin building the vocal lines and defining the “sound” for the song you are going for. (The challenge here is, you will have to replace the sounds you sang with real words that contain the same syllable count.

Some people find this method to be effective and easy while others find it near impossible.) *Try this fun exercise to get a better understanding of the method I am trying to teach. Think of one your favorite songs, make sure it’s one you know well. Now, hum the melody to yourself. Next, try I want you to make the song funny by changing the words. (Basically, think of any song from Weird Al Yankovic and boom!

There you go, you just wrote lyrics for a song! Not your traditional form of teaching, right? And, there you go. Unfortunately, I have gone about as far I we can without personally knowing your project and getting into complicated and boring music theory.

Hopefully, this workshop helped give you some tools and new ideas to help you in your songwriting journey. Thanks for reading. Just wanted to share some thoughts When I first started my career as a musician I was totally in to the electric bass. I did nothing but practice scales, playing techniques, walking lines, slap bass, motown lines, disco grooves – just about everything there was to learn. I studied for about 6 years to be as good as I could get and I remember me and my class mates being up all night jamming around on all kinds of music styles – jazz, fusion, experimental. It was absolutely wonderful:) Of course, all along this journey I always came back to my roots: alternative rock, hard rock, post grunge, indie rock/pop – the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Killers and so on music that just makes me feel alive!!

But what I would like to say here is that I had absolutely no interest in lyrics! I was always much more listening for the energy in songs, what the band together as a whole (lead singer included) could communicate as a soundscape, and that said I didn’t have the need to focus on the lyrics but much more on the melody that was sung.

I don’t know if any of you have had that same experience? Over the years I’ve been focusing more on my voice, taking lessons, getting interested in different techniques, and above all I’ve found out how fantastic it is for me to express myself with words!! It’s just the best, I love it when I’m in front of an audience (doesn’t matter if it’s 60 people or a thousand people, the feeling is the same.

And since I’ve discovered this to be the most important thing for me I’ve also grown a huge interest in lyrics. I write all my lyrics by myself and have found it to be really satisfying to tell stories about this and that. Sometimes it’s about things that I’ve experienced and sometimes it’s just a thought that comes to my mind or something someone tells me that I can elaborate on. Since I’ve grown this interest in lyrics I just wanted to share some lines from songs that I think is just amazing and has inspired me a lot.

It would be awesome if you’d like to share your thoughts on what the lyrics in songs means to you and maybe if you got any particular song writers that you find to stand out or anything else you want to share:) Lake of Fire This one I actually thought for a long time to be an original song by Nirvana. I even heard stories about how Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic had written the lyrics together how wrong was I!! It’s written by Meat Puppets as early as in 1984 as a promo single but ended up at Too High to Die released in 1994. What about these lines: Now the people cry and the people moan And they look for a dry place to call their home And try to find some place to rest their bones While the angels and the devils try to make them their own I appear missing Simply the best entrance to a song that I’ve ever heard. Queens of the Stoneage at it’s best!! The words, I’m pretty sure, are written by Dean Fertita but please correct me if I’m wrong;) Calling all comas, Prisoner on the loose.

Description: A spitting image of me Except for the heart-shaped hole where the hope runs out Read my mind I see the Killers as one of the most intricate indie pop/rock (whatever genre you choose) bands there is when it comes to arranging their tunes and taking unexpected turns. Listen to ‘When you were young’ and you’ll see what I mean! Brandon Flowers has called ‘Read my mind’ ”the best song he has ever written”. Since it’s been a decade ago (Sam’s Town, 2007) maybe he thinks he has written something even better now:) These are a few lines from Read my mind: The good old days, the honest man The restless heart, the Promised Land A subtle kiss that no one sees A broken wrist and a big trapeze Any particular lyrics you like? Any song writers that stands out? Anything else you wanna share? Oh, by the way, if you’re interested in some free music you can visit my website Take care everybody!!

Subject Matter Written, recorded & copyrighted in 2003, 'Borrowed Time' was inspired by an actual eventthe death of my boss Fred Marshall. Several years prior, Fred had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Once traditional treatment had failed, Fred received the bad news. There was little more medical science could do for him. For all practical purposes, he was living on borrowed time. He knew the 'what', but not the 'when'.

Grant it, Fred wasn't the first to receive a terminal prognosis & he wouldn't be the last. But, I couldn't help wondering.how does someone come to grips with that? What's it like to live with that knowledge? Questions worthy of a song, don't you think? I did In the end, Fred lost his battle with cancer.

The day of the funeral, our company closed so that everyone could attend. He was laid to rest in his hometown, several hours North of St. As you might expect, it was a very quiet drive back. Since I was a passenger.with the back seat to myself, I made good use of the time. I wrote the majority of this lyric. Given the circumstances, it seemed a fitting activity. Tip #1 - The music industry is a business.

• That's important to understand because.if you deal with it as anything other than a business, you will almost certainly fail. If you've had very little business experience or lack a basic understanding of how they operate, you need to learn. As I said above, you cannot succeed in something without first possessing a basic understanding of what it is.

• Talent, musical proficiency dedication to your goals & self-confidence are prerequisites, not your ticket to stardom. Think of them in as you would a college degree. The degree itself guarantees you nothing.other than the opportunity to compete for what you want. • Intangibles such as 'creative integrity' may have value to you & your peers, but NOT to a business. As a general rule, businesses care about 2 things - making money & saving money.

When you present yourself to industry representatives, keep that in mind. If you can convince them of your ability to accomplish one or both of those goals, that should get their attention. • If you're unclear about how someone might 'save' a record label money, I'll leave you with 2 examples: • Think about the huge growth of the pop, rap & hip-hop genres in recent years. The bulk of the music & arrangements for those genres is created via software & sampling. That means fewer session musicians, less studio time and lower overall cost of production. They're able to sell those CDs & downloads at a competitive price, but the profit margin is higher because of the lower production cost. Do you really believe that change in public buying habits was a lucky accident? • If you happen to be an artist with a huge online fanbase/following (Justin Bieber), that's tangible selling point. A huge ready-made fanbase means lower promotional cost for the label.again, saving them money.

Tip #2 - Beware of the 'Scamortunity' As you might guess, the term is meant to describe a scam disguised as an opportunity. • What does a scamortunity look like?

Not an easy question to answer, since they come in many forms. As a general rule, the more unbelievable the opportunity looks. • the more skeptical you should be • the more extensively it should be researched • the more reluctant you should be to participate In other words, if it seems too good to be true, it almost always is! Most cons (scams) are designed to take advantage of existing vulnerabilities. In the case of songwriter/musicians, those vulnerabilities are well known & numerous. Don't allow belief in yourself, belief in the uniqueness of your creations & desire for recognition to become liabilities in your quest for success. • Remember.the music industry is a business & should be dealt with as such. • In business, opportunities rarely come looking for you.

Don't expect them to seek you out in this industry either. With very few exceptions, they won't! Tip #3 - Nothing is owed to you. Many in this business develop the attitude that the world/industry owes them something. Simply put, that is not a productive mindset & will do nothing to further your career. • Countless hours of dedication to your craft, skills, talent & creative ability are prerequisites. Not entitlements! Virtually every one of your competitors (fellow musician/songwriters) has worked as hard as you have.sometimes harder.

Those prerequisites earn you the right to compete, nothing more. View them as you would a high school diploma. That diploma doesn't earn you money, it does get you a job & it won't guarantee admission to the college of your choice.

But without it, you don't even qualify to compete for those things, because the majority of your competitors have one. • Forget about concepts like fairness. The world of business is based on many rules, but fairness is not one of them. Tangible results rule the day. Tip #4 - For God sake, spend a couple dollars & get your finished material properly copyrighted. We're only too happy to spend hundreds of dollars on a smartphone that'll be obsolete next year. ATM fees, wireless streaming fees, credit card interest, bank overdraft fees, apps.all things that we've come to accept as unavoidable expenses.

BUT.when it comes to spending $35 to legally protect our own artistic creations, we'd rather not. That's the current U.S. Library of Congress online filing rate for multiple works by a single author. To the best of my knowledge, a Library of Congress registration is the only universally recognized method for proving legal ownership of a work. There are viable legal reasons for choosing this method & I encourage you to verify that for yourselves. Here are a number of direct links you may find useful: United States Copyright Office Why Should I Register My Work? FAQ page Copyright FAQ - Electronic Copyright Office tutorial - Online Copyright Registration - Tip #5 - Remember.it's all about the vocals!

It’s common for recording songwriters/bands to underestimate the importance of the primary vocal track. Bottom line.it’s 'Priority #1 ' and should be treated as such. To the ordinary listener, it’s the single most important thing. Non-musician listeners focus the majority of their attention on the vocal (singer).

Sureeverything else matters! Just not as much. Common Reasons for Substandard Vocals: Internal Band Dynamics - every member of a band wants to feel like their part is essential to the success or failure of a project. Unfortunately, nothing outranks the melody & the singer's presentation of it. Yesa strong vocal can benefit from a great musical arrangement. But, if the vocal’s substandard, the best arrangement/performance in the world won’t save it. When recording demos or finished material, vocals are one of the last things to be dealt with.

If you’re working in a pro studio, you’re probably paying an hourly rate. If that is the case, you should budget your session time carefully. You can’t afford to blow the majority of the budget on preliminary musical tracks. When that occurs, the natural tendency is to rush the vocal recordings. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen friends make this mistake! Remember, if that vocal isn’t done reasonably well, everyone loses.

Take whatever precautions are appropriate. When it’s all said & done, that vocal track will represent your song. Shoot for the highest quality you can reasonably achieve.

Tom Hoffman *This article is the result of a question posed on the Songstuff boards. John Moxey asked the question, these were my responses.

Well a while ago I shelved plans for an album due to life getting in the road. But here I am back again, in the early stages of planning an EP and an album with accompanying singles. For now I have a provisional timescale, with the plan to release the single in October, followed by an EP in November.

Hopefully then I will release singles and an album to follow in April / May. The tracks are mostly written for both EP and album and recording has begun. Tracks are being selected for EP and album as we speak, though at this point the track allocation is quite fluid.

The good thing is that there are loads of tracks to choose from. I have enough written for several albums, and with new tracks being written all the time. I've also re-worked a few older tracks recently, so I may include some of those. I'm looking forward to this!

'Hey, can you come play my party for free beer?!' 'If you come play guitar for me for $50 this time there will be more gigs to follow!' 'Do you have some unlicensed or royalty free music I can use for my video?' 'I can pay you in (insert social media platform) more followers if you do this for me.' Knowing one's value or worth is the best advice I could ever give anybody wanting to jump in this crazy music industry.OK, the end!!

Whew, thank goodness you don't have to read anymore! Seems so simple, right? Monetarily speaking, knowing your worth can be an incredible advantage to your career, or not knowing what your 'product's' value is can be a horrible disservice to you and your fellow colleagues.

This is what I mean. What we do in the music industry whether it be a song writer, jingle composer, player, artist, manager, booking agent, etc. Is entirely different than any corporate structure set in any other genre of business. 'If you use logic to understand this (music) business, your logic will soon be illogical.'

-Brent Lane *Oil Industrialist/Entrepreneur and Artist Patron There is no infrastructure to evaluate how much you should be making on a global scale. There isn't a chart on the internet to tell you how much you should be making. That certainly would make it a lot easier. From what I've learned, culture and the city you live in seem to set a standard. Granted I can only speak as an American understanding the evaluation process in music. Los Angles, New York, and Nashville are what I call the big 3. From there I would say the next tier cities could be an Austin, Texas or a New Orleans, Louisiana for example.

But the big three usually set the trends in the largest commercialized music markets (Pop, Rock, and Country). They also have more opportunities in all areas of music as well. How much should I charge for my services? It all depends on your culture, city, and what will you gain out of it. In Nashville, a guitar player hired to play some songs have a pretty standard base rate of a local show getting paid $150 and if there is travel involved no less than $200. But I've excepted gigs for a lot less. In corporate business suit and tie world they would ridicule you for taking a 75% cut.

I don't blame them. Let that percentage sink in. I didn't know what I was doing was undermining a system that would devalue and under appreciate a player that would be well deserved of a base pay of $150. Integrity in the market place is a concept that, in monetary terms, people will know what to expect. Consistency if you will and it even sets a bar predicated to a system that can establish tiers. For example, do those local shows for $150 and when you have the street credit eventually you can make the jump up to $200, then $225, and then so on, and so on!!!

Your culture may have something set in place. Isn't it funny? Do you ever wonder if somebody slapped a sign on your back that says 'will work for free' instead of 'kick me!' Know your worth. Set a standard. Educate yourself from other musicians/writers/engineers/blah/blah/ bah. Let those that have walked that path mentor you.

Help your community by establishing that your vocation as a creative is important to be worth given money. I had a coffee with a friend when I first started traveling to Nashville. I expressed that I didn't know my value or even when should I take a gig. I still use this rule to this day and I absolutely love it, and I think it applies here. After he mentioned base rates in Nashville he ended the subject by saying, 'Two out of three ain't bad.' Is the money good?

Do you like the music? Are they good people or are they fun to hang out with? 'If you can say yes to at least two of those.two out of three ain't bad.'

I've taken a few days off from practice to deal with various other matters. It's a very strange process indeed when you are your own teacher on an instrument with no set rules. Trying to balance possibilities of techniques with limited time to devote to developing muscle memory along the way is quite the challenge. Scales for both hands combined (in variation of fingering) Scales for left and right hand with great variance.

Having thumbs to target notes is an odd development for a guitarist. Everyday I set aside time for scales. Time for the left and time for the right. Playing out the various positions in one, two and three (even four) octave runs. There is little joy for me executing a simple scale nut it's a matter of building foundations for future playing.

I've spent no time playing the guitar or other instruments since acquiring the Linn. It's that addictive. I had purchased the upgrade to Guitar Pro 6 as it has settings that allow for eight strings. I thought that having gp6 might be useful writing my own exercise regiments and other things. Firstly Even though I can set up the linn for channel per row (as midi guitars are set up) GP6 refuses to accept 8string channel input.

So It's back to number pad and cursor buttons in order to input tab scores. Secondly GP6 refuses to convert piano scores into tablature. GP6 has turned out to be a huge waste of time and effort and money in regards to developing exercise material. BIAB has limited fretboard arrangement.

I'm left with. Standard Notation for practice material.

Yes I can read notation but I'm slow as molasses in winter at it. I haven't had to read notation in a good 15 years or more. Oddly I've disabled some of the Instrument feature for now. I'm more about developing a organ/piano type of approach to the instrument. Without bend / slide and pressure sensitivity (yes velocity works without afterpressure pressure sensitivity) It becomes a more stable more uniformed control It also is much more the feel and expression one might attain on an actual piano (sort of). In regards to finding material other then scales. I've dabbled slightly in jazz standards but admit I've got a long way to go.

It's all about developing the muscle memory first. I've got a certain disdain for classical music that can't be wiped from my soul. Nonetheless the Bach preludes are proving themselves to be quite handy. When I first saw an image of starr labs z-board (same concept although it came out in 1990) my heart was aflutter. I'd dream of playing it night and day knowing I could never afford the $6000 price tag.

Oddly the z-board still has more features then the linnstrument..And I believe it to be easier to play due to the smaller 'keys'. I'm finding that new frontiers (at least for me) take a lot of time to get there. It's been 2 years since I last was here.

Happy to see that there are still people here who remember me I've never give up on writing or forgot this place. I was just in a really bad place and really thought about just giving up. I began to isolate myself from everyone. Positive thing about it is that I wrote a lote of stuff. Not soo much lyrics but just thoughts and feelings put on paper without any structure.

So myabe in time I'll rewrite them into lyrics. Allthough I think that some of them are a bit too depressing. Anyway too keep it short. I've found myself a new love a new job and moved too the other side of my country (I'm glad it's not such a big country ) And now I'm counting down to 30/03 cause if everything is going good I'll be a mom than from a baby girl. Not sure if I have it in me to be a perfect mother but I will love her with all my heart and do everything I can to keep her happy and safe and I hope that will be enough. For the first time in my life I'm just happy.

It feels that I am where I need to be and I found myself some peace. So a welcome back to myself on here and I hope I will stay now!

As I was sitting here today thinking, a thought crossed my mind. If you look at what's popular today, most of it has made a subtle, yet dramatic change. TV went to Reality TV. Motocross/Skateboarding, 'extreme sports' took things to a whole new level in the past decade or so after X-Games started.

News has gone 24/7. What did music do? It went to TV to create reality TV shows. It didn't change music (well it did, but I don't think it took it forwards really), just exploited a hole that needed to be filled in the Reality TV business. So, what has music done? I've heard bands pushing the envelope a little bit but nothing extreme.

What bands do you think are pushing the extremes? Does music need some sort of 'take it to the next level' awakening?

Hell, I don't know. What could music do to take it to the next level? It's just another day they say, Commercial in every way, Cling! Hear the ring of the till and the sleigh bells ring. It's just another day they say, Let's keep it simple. No frills, no thrills.

The sick, the scared, those in despair, Poor and them living in poverty some damaged in war, Is it just another day? Is this what they say? It's just another day they say, Let's keep it simple no frills, no thrills. Songs are sung at this wonderful day, Houses decorated; cards sent filled with greetings, Parties given in celebration.

It's just another day they say, Let's keep it simple no frills, mo thrills. So, I got a DAW setup - yeh, party time. I got all my plugins to link (well 99% of them) correctly - yeh, party time. I got a Novation Launchpad hooked-up and making noise- yeh, party time. But there hasn't been any time for a party You see 'between' each potential party-time of the first three lines, are a lot of things each respective company doesn't tell you. How could it with all the permutations of OS, DAW's, Plugins, Soundbank file types, Sound Card setups, Keyboards, Controllers etc. Well it could go a long way if truth be told!!!!!

Take this Presonus example; they offer you a list of compatible and tested 'external devices'. But if your 'things' aren't in the list, then you set them up manually. To do this you choose which category your 'thing' fits under: • New Keyboard • New Instrument • New Control Surface. But that creates a problem, since if your 'surface controller' acts as a Midi interface and you add it as a surface controller, it will not act as the Midi interface it is supposed to. So you have to add it as a keyboard. They don't tell you that, but they could (and if they do, I haven't been able to find it 'from them'). Then take the Novation Launchpad problem.

They made it to work with Ableton Live, so that DJ's could perform amazing live sets. DJ's seems to have united to the Launchpad and have been busy creating various maps etc that will allow them to use it with FL Studio, VDJ and a host of other DJ type programs. But it has the ability to be used like a Midi keyboard, just pads to hit instead of keys, and to organise the pads in the way you want (called mapping). So if you have EZDrummer, you can create a Midi drum track quite easily. But there's little help in this area, probably in one respect due to all the permutations of OS, DAW's, Plugins, Soundbank file types, Sound Card setups, Keyboards, Controllers etc. But it doesn't stop the frustration of knowing it 'will' do the job you want it to do, but taking a lot longer to work out how to.

Couple that with the hours spent going through say Youtube and people's so called tutorials that are just them showing off what they can make the Launchpad do without saying how, and finding out way, way down the line about how you setup the wrong permutations of connecting and routing a Midi external device.. You end up not feeling very much in the party mood. People create these amazing 'map' files, but they seem to omit where you put them to work. All these little types of things just mount up in frustration and time spent tracking down answers that offer solutions aswell as joining multiple forums to ask basic questions that leave you in 'limbo land', as you wait for days for a kind person to answer your question. It's no wonder really that musicians walk away from mixing and production - they'd have no time left to make music So, if you're the kind of person who gets a new toy and opens the box and plays with it without reading the instruction manual first (requiring some doctorate in language interpretation), or you have zero PC / technical skills, or you have no patience.

I advise you to think carefully before going down this path I mean, install Ableton and be left wondering why the 64 bit version will not utilise your 32 bit plugins, I dare you I bet you're glad this is 'my' mountain to climb now Onwards and upwards. Why bother getting stress right? The purpose of a lyric is to communicate something. An emotion a feeling or perhaps a story. For that to be put over the best way it can be, it needs to sound natural.

For a lyric to sound natural and conversational, it needs to use language that we use everyday, in the way we use that language when speaking to each other. Now every multi syllable word in the English language has an agreed stress pattern. These can be seen in a dictionary. Not only that but each multi syllable word has a melody. Some syllables are pronounced with a higher or lower pitch than others. The reason for this is when we hear a multi syllable word for example 'evenhanded' You will notice that the stressed syllable 'hand' is a higher tone than the others. Why is this so?

It is because we do not hear a multi syllable word as four separate syllables, we hear it as one entity. It is like driving a car when you turn a corner you do several things automatically without thinking about them separately.

You are just thinking I am going to turn the corner. The things you need to do that happen automatically it is a learned response.

So if you hear someone speaking a foreign language it always sounds as if they are speaking really fast. The reason being you do not know the agreed stress patterns and tunes of that language, so you are hearing it as separate syllables. They are not speaking fast at all. Now what does this mean to song writing?

Several things. It means if you do not place your stressed syllables in the corresponding positions within matching meter lines, within a section of a song. You will end up with unnatural stresses, and forced rhymes.

If you do not match the stresses in the same lines verse to verse, you are going to end up with a lot of melody variation between the verses, or a stumbling meter when it's read out aloud. What about single syllable words? Normally verbs nouns and adjectives are stressed other parts of speech are not. The exception to this is some times you may want to stress a pronoun to get a particular point across.

For example 'it ain't ME babe' the idea being that it is not me your looking for. Because I am not going to meet your expectations.

Ok enough of the boring English lessons what to do? Well you can sit there in silence and say each of your lines as you would say them in normal speech, then go through and underline each stressed syllable. Then check that you have the right number of stressed syllable per line, in approximately the right places. Note and this is important. Line length is determined by the number of stressed syllables per line. Line length is not, I repeat not determined by the actual number of syllables in a line. Now I don't know about you but this seems to be a boring and laborious way to go about things.

So what else can you do? You can write new lyrics to existing songs making sure the stresses all work and you can do that in your head. Or you can get, or make yourself a series of loops.

Either straight drum loops, or drums and pad, or drums and base. Then say your lyric out loud to the loop. Test the stresses, just hear them. If English is your mother tongue you will instinctively hear what is correct and what is not. So no need to go through the stress analysis on paper. Just feel the meter of it naturally.

Now this can also be done by tapping a pencil in time on the desk. It is however easier to begin with to use loops.

Especially if you are writing to a groove. Less to think about. Songs are meant to be heard and felt, not read. So it doesn't make any sense to be writing in silence.

It is like writing in a vacuum. Say the words out loud, hear how they feel. Now and here is a bonus for writing or polishing a lyric to a loop. Make your line FEEL the same as what you are saying.

This is achieved by how the lyric is phrased, where it is positioned in the beat. To test this put on a drum loop in 4/4 time and recite this line to the beat. ' I feel good today' Now the first time you recite it just say it naturally with out the drum loop. You will hear that the natural stress of this line is.

'I feel GOOD to DAY' So the first way we are going to try it is as a positive statement, simply it's a great day and I feel good and all is right with the world. To FEEL this from the lyric the first stressed syllable 'Good' will fall on the first beat of the bar. 'I feel' are pick up notes from the previous bar. So count one two three 'I feel good today' with the 'I feel' as half notes on the fourth beat of the pick up bar, 'good' on the first beat of the bar, 'to'on the second and 'day' on the third, rest on the fourth. Say it several times like that and note how it feels.

If you then try this, you can get a slightly different feel. This time count one two on the pick up bar and say 'I' on the third beat and 'feel' on the fourth beat, then the rest of the line the same as in example one. Now it could be saying 'I' feel good today, you may not, but 'I' do. Now if in the context of your song this line is conveying I feel good today, but maybe I won't feel so good tomorrow, because today I'm drowning my sorrows, and tomorrow the hurt will come back. Then try it like this. Count one 'I feel' as half notes on beat two, 'good' on beat three, 'to' on beat four, and 'day' on beat one of the following bar.

Now it should feel as if your actually saying 'I feel good today, but'. You should feel a certain doubt or anxiety to the sound of the line. Now having said all this, if you write your own melodies you should be having an aha moment right now.

Because the lyric is dictating the grove, meter and feel of the melody. You will also notice the pitch. ' good' will be a higher pitch and 'today' will be descending, because that is how we say it in natural speech.

This has to tell you, that if this statement is in a verse, Then in the corresponding line in the next verse, if the natural shape of the language doesn't move pitch wise in the same direction,you are going to have a melody variation. That is ok, easier if you don't, but no big deal it is done all the time. Just note that it is there, so that when you set the melody, in one verse you may be going up in a spot, and in another verse going down. Even if you are not writing the melodies it is your right and responsibility to get the feel to the lyric that you want. So make Margin notes. For example if you need the 'I feel good today' line to be simply I feel good today. Note that you want 'good' on the down beat.

IE, beat one of the bar. The technical term for these phrasing techniques is 'back heavy' and 'front heavy' phrasing. Front heavy being the first stressed syllable on the first best of the bar.

Back heavy being the first stressed syllable on the third beat of the bar. When I am preparing a lyric for melody writing. I make notations on the lyric sheet, for the phrasing notation I will write ( BH) at the end of any lines I need to have that feel, the assumption is that if it's unmarked it's front heavy. This is not a convention it's just my own short hand. So if I ask the question again: Why bother getting stress right? The answer might well be because if you don't, you have some nice words on a page. But what you don't have is a song.

In summary Write to drum loops it's so much easier. Play with the phrasing to get the feel of how the lyric sounds, to match what it is saying. Happy writing. Cheers Gary • •. Hey everyone, I just wanted to share some of my account names so you guys could follow me I'll follow back too, if you let me know you're all from this site.

Twitter: tumblr: upwardover-themountain.tumblr.com Instagram: smerr YouTube: Also, roughly a year ago, I posted an original song by me on my YouTube and recently around Christmas, I posted a cover. I wouldn't mind some feedback on them if anybody does check out my stuff. I will advise that my cover video wasn't the best I've done, but I hadn't posted in a long while so I thought I'd do something for Christmas. Thank you for your time!

Xo-SummerDawn • •. Although this post mainly deals with lyricists, I think musicians can glean some truth. Most of what I say here is subjective.This is the way I see it.

I remember as a young boy, finding a well worn note binder on my mother's dresser, and being curious, I opened it and looked inside. It was filled from front to back with poems she had written; with the time written, day, and year at the bottom of each one. I sat down on her bed and started reading them. I had read about four or so, when my mom came in and caught me; mad as a hen that I invaded her privacy. After getting a lecture about how those were her private thoughts, I asked her why she never read me any poems (she read me books all the time). She said she didn't write them for other people, she wrote them to make her feel better. At the time, I didn't grasp what that really meant.

Why do we write? What is your core reason to write? There could be many answers to that, from many different people. But the core reason should always be, because you enjoy it. Other reasons might be; 'because I want to get famous' or 'I want to make money at it' but the core reason is enjoyment. If you don't enjoy it, you're not going to get famous and it's doubtful you will make any money. Yet there's another reason linked to the enjoyment factor (at least for me) and that is; it's therapy.

It makes me feel better. I can vent anything through writing.

I can let it all out, and in the process, deal with what I'm feeling in a constructive way. So I encourage new writers, don't write in hopes of impressing someone, or for getting a lot of positive reviews. Because the more you write for that reason, the less positive reviews you will probably get. If you really love writing, you WILL get better. Yet, part of getting better, is getting in touch with yourself. Write what pleases YOU and advance in your craft from there.

Listen and learn from the seasoned writers, and use their input to express who you are better, in a better way than you did before. When you're feeling depressed and can hardly move; write. When you are feeling frisky; write. When you're content; write.

You get the picture. Throw off your apprehension and lack of confidence, and write to feel better, not worrying about other people. And then when you decide to post, and you find you get negative reviews; don't sweat it. The core of you is in the lyric, now just reword it into a polished form that fits a lyric criteria. The more you write and take advice, the easier it gets, not only in writing a good lyric, but also in being able to reach down inside yourself to pull one out. To sum it all up; write what feels good to you, so you can feel better, and be better. Let it be your cheap form of therapy.

Introduction I am a firm believer in room treatments.I just don't like the way most of them look. I don't want to have my living room looking like a quasi-anechoic chamber or recording studio. Low frequency correction is particularly challenging because large bass wavelengths require large structures to treat them.

Santa Esmeralda Discography Rare here. Spatial Computer's Black Hole Anti-Wave Generator reduces the effects of room resonances in the bass region by analyzing the sound picked up by a calibrated microphone and then generating an out of phase cancellation signal. Its designer is Spatial Computer's president, Clayton Shaw.

Clayton is also the designer of the Emerald Physics loudspeaker line. My listening room/living room presented some challenges due to its size (21 x 17 with 10 foot ceiling) and due to large openings into other rooms (adjoining 11 x 11 dining room with 12 foot ceiling and adjoining great room/kitchen area). I also had some concern about whether the bass output from my larger than average loudspeakers (64' H x 22' W x 13' D) would overwhelm the smallish Black Hole (17' H x 17' W x 16' D). The optimum placement in my room was near the large archway leading into the great room area. This location was also directly in front of the left speaker and 17 feet away. This was not the most satisfying aesthetically, but it was workable.

Two channel system listening room. Black Hole Specifications: Type: Active acoustical resonance damping device with on board signal processing. Operating Range: 22 Hz - 220 Hz. Power Output: 240 Watts RMS.

Transducer: 12 inch long-throw. Weight: 50 pounds. Dimensions: 17' H x 17' W x 16' D. Price: $1295 Internet direct () Trial Period: 30 day with full refund of purchase price (minus two-way shipping). I did not hear or measure any improvement with the first unit I received.

Clayton responded to my email within a few hours and he suggested talking me through some diagnostic procedures. We determined that the processor was not working and may have been damaged in shipping. A return shipping label was emailed for the defective unit and a second unit was promptly shipped. The second unit worked as specified.

The Black hole provided an elegant solution to some of my room resonance issues. The Black Hole uses a Dayton Audio NS310-44 long-throw 12' transducer.

The grille frame is held in place by small magnets. The plate amp is a Dayton Audio SA240 which delivers 240 watts RMS. Accessories: Dayton Audio EMM-6 calibrated microphone, microphone 90-degree adapter and 18 AWG power cord. EMM-6 microphone mounted. The location of the IEC jack does not lend itself to aftermarket power cords with large connectors. I switched the stock 18 AWG power cord with a 10 AWG Signal Cable MagicPower cord. There was no audible or measurable difference in performance with either the MagicPower or stock power cord.

The AudioQuest 90 degree adapter was required to provide enough space for the MagicPower cord's connector to clear the heat sink fins. I ended up using a Volex 14 AWG power cord with 90 degree connectors on both ends so that the cord would lay flat against the wall and lay flat against the rear of the Black Hole. I still needed to use the AudioQuest adapter with the Volex cord. Packaging Figure 9.

Double-boxed packaging with thick Styrofoam sheets between boxes. Inside the inner box was thick foam, bubble wrap and kraft paper. The Black Hole's piano black finish was wrapped in kraft paper, then with a layer of bubble wrap. Pulp paper is mildly abrasive, so I'm not sure I would have chosen it as a wrapping material for a glossy furniture grade finish.

The Sound Setup consists of attaching the microphone, placing the unit in a corner of the room's rear wall and plugging it in. No calibration is required, but some experimentation with placement and settings for gain and center frequency must be done. The manual discusses other placement options if rear corners are not available.

The best sounding location in my room was determined through a combination of listening and measurement with Dayton Audio's OmniMic Acoustic Measurement system. My listening room has a response peak of 14.6 dB at 41 Hz. Room gain, within reasonable limits, is actually desirable because human hearing has less sensitivity to bass frequencies.

Therefore, room gain, within reasonable limits, contributes to perceived flatter, more natural response. The human ear is most sensitive to frequencies in the range of 2 kHz to 5 kHz.

This range corresponds to the range of harmonic (overtones) of human voices, which have a fundamental frequency range of 85 Hz to 225 Hz for adult males and 165 Hz to 225 Hz for adult females. The differentiating aspects of individual voices which have similar fundamental frequency range is due to differences in harmonic content.

The heightened sensitivity in the 2-5 kHz range provides babies with the ability to quickly memorize the harmonic signature of their mother's voices and it provides small children with the ability to quickly identify their mother's voices in noisy environments if required. Likewise, adults are able to memorize and identify the harmonic signatures of their children's voices and are able to consciously or sub-consciously identify the mood and other verbal communication cues of people they talk to.

For example, the harmonic structure of most people's voices changes considerably when they lie. One good thing about room resonances is that they are not audibly apparent unless something excites them. The larger the room, the lower the room resonance frequency and the smaller the chance that it will be excited and that such excitation will be distractingly obvious.

In my case, I listen to a moderate amount of music with electric bass content (that low E1 note at 43.6535 Hz!) and bass synthesizer content (that low F1 note at 41.2642 Hz). The Black Hole was only able to provide 3 dB of correction in my room, but that was enough for significantly audible results. On musical selections with heavy bass content, the bass was faster, more natural sounding, more articulate and much more detailed. George Howard's 'Diane's Blues' ('Attitude Adjustment' CD, track 4 or 'Very Best of George Howard' CD track 5) has a low F1 synthesizer bass note at 00:10 into the track. That two-second note effectively drowned out the other percussion instruments and also obscured some mid range sounds because of the attention called to the heavy bass.

Switching on the Black Hole cleaned things up considerably. The bass became tonally balanced with the mid and high range sounds.

I gained a greater appreciation for the richly detailed snare drum solo on Dave Brubeck's Take Five ('Time Out' CD, track 3). I appreciated it even more from the higher resolution SACD. I appreciated it much more on the much higher resolution 180 gram vinyl. The vinyl offered more tactile sensation, more skin and stick sound, more sharply defined and clearer reverberant echos from the center and right center of the sound stage and more stereophonic realism. There was also greater clarity at the sides of the sound stage where percussion instrument sounds were frequently located. Some users have reported increased sound stage width with the Black Hole.

This may have been actual lateral expansion or it may have been perceived lateral expansion due to greater image clarity and detail at the sides of the sound stage. Aside from the greater clarity and detail from bass, percussion and drum instruments, I was also impressed by the increased weight and clarity of low notes from acoustic and electric pianos. There were no apparent sonic anomalies, artifacts or aberrations introduced by the Black Hole. I assure you that I was quite diligent in listening for them. Measurements It is commonly thought that the goal of room treatments should be the flattest possible response curve.

Due to the nonlinearities of human hearing, i.e. Heightened and decreased sensitivity depending on frequency, most people would perceive a flat room response as 'off sounding' or boring. Human hearing is most insensitive to low base frequencies (20-60 Hz), highly sensitive to upper mid range frequencies (2-5 kHz) and slightly to moderately insensitive (depending on age and health) to very high frequencies (>10 kHz). Therefore, a room response with a substantial boost in low bass frequencies, a moderate cut in upper mid range frequencies and a moderate boost in very high frequencies would be perceived by the ear as close to flat response. The Black Hole provided a -3 dB correction at the 41 Hz room resonance peak.

Reducing a 14.6 dB room resonance peak to 11.6 dB might not seem like a lot.until you consider that -3 dB means a reduction of half the room resonance power at 41 Hz. The Black Hole also provided a +3 dB correction at 97 Hz, which was the location of a response dip adjacent to the resonance peak frequency range. Room response with Black Hole correction. Outside of the 20-85 Hz room gain region, most of the response deviates by no more than +/- 2 dB from reference. Room response with and without Black Hole correction. An additional 1 dB reduction of the room resonance peak was available when the an XLR cable was inserted between the microphone and Black Hole.

This allowed the microphone to be placed on a stand with the microphone tip 43 inches from the floor. Placing the microphone further away from the Black Hole allowed the gain to be increased without crossing the feedback threshold. However, the aesthetics of permanently placing a microphone and stand in my living room were unacceptable, even though it provided Such Good Sound. The use of three 1-1/2' aluminum cones under the Black Hole resulted in an inaudible, but very small, yet measurable, improvement in response.

The active region of the Black Hole is 22 - 220 Hz, but some effect is seen on frequencies well above that region due to the harmonics of the fundamental frequencies in the active region. Bass decay plots show how long it takes the sound to decay at each frequency. The ideal situation is flat response which means that some bass notes do not last much longer than others. Significant differences in decay times can cause a decrease in bass definition. It is easier to see differences in the bass decay plots if they are saved to your computer and viewed in succession.

Bass decay without Black Hole correction. Bass decay with Black Hole correction. In figure 16, note the increase in bass decay times in the 65-100 Hz region which correlates with the increased response magnitude in the same region in the frequency response plots. Also note the substantial decrease in bass decay times at the room resonance frequency of 42 Hz.

The color coded lines in the harmonic distortion plots represent the following: Black - frequency response. Dark blue - sum of 2nd-5th harmonics. Red - 2nd harmonic. Purple - 3rd harmonic. Green - 4th harmonic.

Light blue - 5th harmonic. It is easier to see differences in the harmonic distortion plots if they are saved to your computer and viewed in succession. Harmonic distortion without Black Hole correction. Harmonic distortion with Black Hole correction. In figure 18, note the increased linearity of the sum-of-harmonics line (top dark blue line) in the Black Hole's active region (22-200 Hz). Conclusion I achieved good audible and measured results with a single Black Hole in a moderately large space with very large speakers. I expect that the results with rooms and speakers of small to average size would be quite spectacular.

Better results could probably be achieved in my room with a second Black Hole, but placement aesthetics might prove challenging. Associated Equipment Pass Labs X0.2 preamplifier Pass Labs XP-25 phono preamplifier Parasound Halo JC 1 monoblock power amplifiers (800 watts continuous into 4 ohms) Cary Audio CD 306 Pro Version SACD player Teres Audio No. 255 turntable with Reference II motor, Ortofon MC Windfeld cartridge and Graham Phantom tonearm AudioQuest Sky XLR interconnects AudioQuest Everest speaker cables Polk Audio SDA SRS 1.2TL loudspeakers (extensively modified, 4 ohms nominal impedance) PS Audio P10 AC Regenerator PS Audio AC-12 and Premier SC power cords Three dedicated 20 amp AC circuits terminated with PS Audio Soloist SE in-wall line conditioners.