Adam A7 monitor power switch repair | Fix your speakers DIY

If you have had the power switch on your ADAM A7 monitors go out on you, then here is a video to help you do your own repair.

Abominable Electronics | Boutique Pedals from Hell

In the mass market of guitar pedals, it can be tough to find the right pedals for your tone. For those of you that want a heavy distortion sound, there is a new option that will rip your soul in pieces. Abominable Electronics has the pedals that will melt faces and summon the powers of hell right to your rig.

I am always on the prowl for new pedals to have on hand here at the studio. Many of my clients like to use distortion & fuzz on their tracks, so I went on a search for something new that would offer something more than the standard Boss, Ibanez, or the horde of pedals available.

My search lead me to the handmade pedals of Abominable Electronics. Hailing from North Carolina, these pedals are built tough and live up to their appearance. I ordered the HAIL SATAN DELUXE pedal and it has been a workhorse. The "Dirt" pot dials in subtle fuzz to bone-crushing distortion that works for all ranges of hard and heavy music. The deluxe version of this pedal offers both the standard Hail Satan option + the Russian version. The Russian toggle dials in a smoother signal response that has worked magic on bass tracks that need some fuzz, but want to retain the low end punch. This pedal is perfect for all fuzz/distortion applications and can even be a great reamp pedal for double tracking vocals. The power is unmatched and this pedal will be a cornerstone of my pedal board for a long time to come.

This pedal is extremely versatile with the ability to adjust so many parameters of the signal. Priced at a modest $200, this is a must-have pedal.

2015 Year End Sale | Shine On Studio Cyber Holiday Sale

2015 has been a great year for music at Shine On Studio.

Shine On Studio was voted the #1 recording studio in the Bay Area by Thumbtack.com and is currently the featured spotlight business on their website.

With the studio success, there have been some upgrades to the equipment and studio furnishings. We've added (5) 16 channel headphone mixers to the recording room. This allows each musician to create a custom headphone mix for tracking. This is a great way to dial in the perfect sound during recording. Plus we've added some new mics & mic preamps to offer a wider selection of recording options.

Now it is time to wrap things up for 2015 and I'm offering some huge discounts on studio time. Check out the Cyber Holiday sale for big savings on studio rates. Plus, all Cyber Holiday deals come with 2 bonus offers that will save you even more cash all the way through 2016. All the details are on the webpage. Please contact me if you have any questions about the Cyber Deals.

I'm looking forward to working with everyone on their new music projects in 2016!

Happy Holidays!

5 Steps to Getting Your Music Licensed | Step 5

Now that you've done a load of leg work to get your music out in the public and build a strong web presence, you need to focus on your fans. Gathering fans is like a wildfire, it can spread quickly or burn out in the blink of an eye. You need to keep your fans engaged in what you're doing as a band. This requires some attention to your social media content and the pace at which you release music and music videos.

Be sure to announce when you are going to release music and videos. Just as you would promote a show, you need to promote your music releases. Record Labels and licensing firms like to see that you are supplementing your hard work with an effort to reach out to the public and let them know about what you've been doing. Get in the habit of taking photos at band rehearsal and at recording studios. Post them on your social media and keep your fans engaged in every step of the process that you're taking to compose and create music. When you have a consistent following, it will grow and spread like a wildfire throughout social media. If there is a buzz about your band, then people will hear about you and at least get some exposure to you and your music. If you think your music is just that good and people will find you anyway, you're in for a rude awakening.

Pro Tools 101 | Adding Automation Edit Points to Volume, Panning, and Mute lines

Automation in music is the real distinction between a professional sound and an amateur sound. Knowing how to properly adjust your automation lines takes time and practice. I've created a tutorial video to help you get started. This is a basic Pro Tools 101 video for audio production beginners. However, I usually learn something new from every video that I watch, so this may be a good place to start for everyone that wants to know more about using automation in Pro Tools.

You can also check out my YouTube channel and find many other helpful videos on how to record, mix, master, and produce in Pro Tools. 

5 Steps to Getting Your Music Licensed | Step 4

Now that you're on the web and have a banging website, you need to do some promotion. No one is just going to stumble upon your website and sign you to a record deal. Yet, if that does happen, consider yourself the luckiest musician on the planet. To get started, figure out what your budget is for promoting your music and stick to it. It is easy to over-spend on getting your music heard in the world, but if you stay constant with it, then you'll be able to maintain a steady pace that will gradually build a loyal fan base. If you've gone this far with your music, you need to continue to believe in yourself and go the distance. Nothing is going to happen over-night, so settle in the for the long haul and be prepared to put in the time and effort it takes to make it to the top.

It's good to think locally at first when you start to promote your music. However, the Internet has become such a huge part of our society that it is easy to plan global marketing right away. One of the best ways to get going is on an Internet radio station. Now most of them charge a monthly fee to air your music, but it is typically affordable for the most part. One of the sites you can explore is RadioAirplay.com. They will broadcast your music in radio stations with artists that you feel are similar to your style of music. Then when listeners tune in to a radio station to hear their favorite artists, your music will be inserted into the queue and be exposed to thousands of new listeners everyday.

Don't just stop there, think about using social media to advertise your music and your website. Getting more exposure to your music is how you will grow and succeed in the music business. Try a few small campaigns on different social media sites. If you get any response, that is a good thing. It may not happen right away, so keep notes of where your efforts are showing a return on the interest. If you get any feedback, take it seriously. Even if you have someone say you sound like a band that you've never heard of or may not even like, that is a place that you should investigate marketing. If you have a similar sound to a band that is already established, you may have an untapped pool of potential fans that would loyally follow your music.

This is the long process of the road to the top, but if you put in the effort, you will see the rewards. Be open to criticism because not everyone is going to like your music. When you get someone that likes your music, embrace them and treat them like a VIP. If your fans feel that you care about them, they will be there for you when you start to play concerts. This is the next step in the process that we'll cover tomorrow.

5 Steps to Getting Your Music Licensed | Step 3

You should have a good song and a well produced recording of the music at this point. Now we need to wrap it up and present it to the world. This is where your creative ideas can come to life. Get a few good photographs of yourself that exemplify the attitude and image that you want to associate with your music. This is really half of the success of your music and career in the music industry. You need to be able to captivate the listener and get them to feel the emotion that is embedded in the music. Record labels and movie producers will take you seriously if you appear to believe in your own music, so you need to create an image that they can market with the music.

You don't have to go way over the top like Lady Gaga or Marilyn Manson, but it is very obvious that they succeeded in the music industry because their music was good and they had an image that captivated people's attention. I don't think either of them would have been such a success story if they took photos in jeans and t-shirt hanging out in their backyard. Now you don't have to get crazy with the editing in Photoshop, but I'd suggest that you hire a professional photographer and get some shots that have good lighting and are framed with an interesting background. Black and white photos are always classy and have a sense of professionalism to them. That's why so many band photos are black and white that accompany a press kit.

Once you have a few good photos, you need to get some sort of web presence. You can get a free band account on many different websites. I'd highly recommend one that offers licensing opportunities. There are a bunch to choose from, but I'd suggest starting with sonicbids.com or musicclout.com. Both of these sites allow you to upload music and create an artist profile. If you have about $10 to spare per month, I'd highly recommend you build your own website and have control over the design and look of your online presence. You can easily build your own custom site with squarespace.com or wix.com for about $10/mo. Check out some of the websites built by our studio clients: The New Position & Justin Fawsitt. Both of these sites were constructed by the musicians and only took a few moments to setup and publish live on the web.

This is a step that you cannot afford to overlook. You need to believe in your music and developing your image will be the foundation for the career you are going to build. Just as you got feedback from your friends and family for your music, you should also get feedback on your image. If you want to accelerate your career, hire a producer that has experience in developing musicians in the public eye.