Paradigm shift: Home Recording

Are recording studios going out the window?  In a recent article by the LA Times, experts in the recording industry estimate “as many as half of the LA area’s commercial studios have closed or been sold to artists for private use.”  They are seeing a huge trend of people setting up studios at home, and completely skipping out of recording at a studio.  This trend (which most of us probably expected) is certainly going to have an effect on the amount and quality of music being put into the universe.  The art of recording is being taken from professionals and put into the hands of amateurs.   Is it a good thing?  Lets talk about it.

Home/Private Recording

On the home recording hand, we see more freedom put into the hands of the artist.  People are able to go into their own personal studio whenever they like, record for as long as they want, make mistakes and break equipment without having to deal with anyone at all.  A huge advantage of having the studio right at home means the freedom to record whenever a brilliant idea hits.  Some people do their best work at two in the morning, and come up with great stuff on the spur of the moment.  These kind of moments are often passionate and emotionally driven, which can be immediately captured (in spite of heat from the neighbors the next morning!).  It’s nearly impossible to encapsulate moments like those weeks or months after the fact.  I personally like the idea of home recording because you can record the *cough cough* good ideas like “I wanna love you tender,”  as well as the ones that are *actually* good.  As in almost any industry, you want to be able to fail cheap.  Recording at home lets you fail all the time, which will ultimately lead to success.  Understand?  Good.

Studio Recording

On the recording studio side of the fence we get: Quality!!! with a capital Q and three !!! exclamation points.  Recording studios will sometimes spend more than a million dollars on equipment (!), they are run by professionals who often have degrees from prestigious schools and love their work (!), and you have somebody to go on coffee or beer runs for you (!).  Depending on your situation and wants, recording in a studio might actually be cost beneficial, offering you the use of equipment that is far beyond your budget.  Recording drums is a particularly difficult thing to do for  those trying to rough it home studios.  There are many factors that come into play when doing drums – such as mic phase, the resonance of the room, size, tuning, expensive frequency-specific mics, and neighbors – which are problems that lead many people to the front doors of a professional studio.

Many recording studios offer services besides sound recording too.  I visited Side 3 Studios in Denver not too long ago, and (at the time) they offered a demo package which included (1) professional recording, mixing, and mastering of your best 3 songs, (2) HD video-recording of one of your live shows by professional videographers, mastering of that video, and (3) production of 100 DVDs ready for distribution to any venue you want to play.  To me this sounds like a sexy option compared to the fuzz and crackle you might get from a demo you make at home.

Final Thoughts

In light of the many factors that come into account when one desires a recording, I’ve come to a final (but subject to change) decision.  Let’s start with my current situation: I’m a vocal guitarist with a drummer, and we have written a few songs together.  We plan on finding a bassist, another guitar, another vocalist, and want to start gigging and writing songs as soon as possible.  Needless to say, we’re babies.  Even though we’re a small outfit, we feel a calling from God to write music, and will stop at nothing to fulfill that calling.   Owned equipment: a two channel preamp, a crap computer, and a crap PA with 20 year old speakers.  Can anyone say “humble beginning”?

So here’s my plan.  I want the freedom of recording at home, but the experience and professional quality of a studio, and don’t want to pay huge amounts of money either.  How can I get the best of both worlds and cut costs to a minimum?  First, I want to set up a small home studio.  One so small that you might call it a “mini” home studio.  No fancy equipment, bells or whistles, but simply the bare essentials needed for recording.  This probably means midrange or used equipment, free/open source recording software, and second rate mics and speakers.  The sound will most likely be crappy, and I won’t care because that’s not what I’m using it for.  The purpose of the home studio is to simply capture the moment, that special point of inspiration, and help me to remember it.   This moment can then be brought to a professional studio when the time is right, we can play the material, and have a platform where we can easily present what we want.  I feel it’s important to exhibit oneself professionally from the start, so I would like our first demo to be – from start to finish – professional.  Anything distributed to the public thereafter – albums, singles, demos – professionally recorded and mastered.  The price for professional recording might be steep for some (I mean most), which I understand completely (since I’m in the “most” category), but I feel that it’s worth it if you take your music seriously.

So what do you think?  Do you have any suggestions for me or others who are in a similar boat?  Have you been through this process before and have some advice for the rest of us?  If so, post a comment and share your ideas with the world.

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How to Play Harmonics

One would think that playing a note on the piano or guitar or violin will give off that note, and only that note, right?  Well, thankfully/unfortunately it’s slightly more complex than that.  Something called “harmonics” comes into play, and since there are several terms associated with them (including various guitar techniques using the same name) it’s easy to get confused.  This article will explain what harmonics are first from a scientific standpoint, and then how to achieve those sacred, squealing “harmonic” techniques on the guitar.

Naturally Occurring Harmonics

Harmonics from a musically scientific standpoint are extra frequencies or overtones that occur naturally when playing an instrument.  For example, when you play an A on the piano (440Hz), other notes will resonate besides that A.  You’ll get the E (659.26Hz), the octave above A (880Hz), and (depending on the instrument) a whole boat load of other frequencies that are NOT A.  These frequencies occur naturally because of instrument shape and material, what the strings are made of, string tension, the finish on the instrument, the method and position of strumming or bowing or plucking, and any other random pieces of stuff you decide to attach to your instrument.  As you can see, there are a lot of factors that affect the harmonics coming from an instrument.  These things all add up to build the “sound” of an instrument that we’ve come to know and love.  This is also the reason a guitar doesn’t sound like a violin, or a cello like a piano.  Each instrument has its own unique flavor because of the combination of these overtones.

So naturally, when you go to buy an instrument, this is what you’re looking for.  You’re listening closely to the sounds coming from your fingers playing the instrument, and evaluating the overtones that the instrument is able to resonate.  Usually an instrument that doesn’t emit these extra harmonics well is one that we call “dull” or “dead” sounding.  Nobody wants to buy this kind of instrument (putting aside random artistic experiments).  On the other hand, an instrument that has a “rich” or “full” sound is one that gives off the overtones nicely.  This is the sign of good craftsmanship, and the reason people pay thousands for a good instrument.

***

That’s it for science.  From now on I’m gonna talk from a guitarist’s perspective, but many of these things can be applied to other stringed instruments as well.  Banjos, ukuleles, and mandolins are obvious, but you can technically do these tricks with anything that has a string (and I encourage such experimentation).  These are all names of guitar techniques, to be used sparingly, kind of like icing on a cake. But don’t worry one bit if you decide to make a cake solely out of frosting.  I’m sure somebody will eat it.

Natural Harmonics

When I was a new guitarist, I was really confused about natural harmonics.  Maybe I’m just slow (which I am), but I read an online lesson and didn’t get the technique at all.  If you’re in the same boat as I was, never fear.  It’s not too hard.  Also, don’t confuse the jargon “natural” harmonics with “naturally occurring” harmonics.  Naturally occurring harmonics come about naturally when you play an instrument, but playing “natural” harmonics is a technique.

File:Flageolette.svg

Photo by: Mjchael

To play a “natural” harmonic, (as an example) simply place your finger on the 12th fret of any string, which is the exact middle of the string, and pluck. DO NOT press the string down to the fretboard, and make sure your finger is exactly over the 12th fret.  Try moving your fretting hand around a little if you can’t find the so called “hotspot”.  Playing the harmonic at the 12th fret sounds like the note at the 12th fret, but it isn’t.  It gives a note that is “pure” sounding, more like a music box than a guitar.  This means that there are fewer overtones, or extra naturally occurring harmonics, in the note.  A trained ear can hear the difference between a harmonic note and a regular note without even watching the performer.  Even the untrained ear can hear the difference I guess, but they probably wouldn’t know what the heck it was.  We can use this to our advantage because it sounds awesome.  Throwing in some harmonics into riffs and solos can really add the “spice” or “virtuoso” sound that you might be looking for.  More often than not, mastery of harmonics is the difference between

“Like, OMG! That guy is like, a pretty good guitarist and stuff, ya know?”

and

“I WANNA HAVE YOUR BABIES!”

Now these harmonics can be played at several locations on the guitar, and will sound out different notes for each one.  You’ll find them on the 12th, 7th, 5th, 4th frets, and then sometimes on the 3rd fret.  The harmonics actually go to infinity (that is, WAY below the 3rd fret), but they are so quiet or hard to play that it’s not even worth trying.  And by that, I mean it’s worth trying; try to find out just how high you can get your guitar to play.  The picture above demonstrates the vibration of the string when you play a harmonic.  You can see the “nodes” where the string doesn’t vibrate, and this is the exact position you want to mute the string, right on those nodes.  Thanks to science the string will naturally vibrate just like you see in the picture, and gives us that “pure” tone harmonic.

Artificial Harmonics

-are harmonics played while fretting the guitar.  The three following techniques are “artificial” harmonics, but not “artificial” in the same way as “artificial” sweeteners.  No risk of getting cancer.

Pinch Harmonics (Pig Squeals!)

Mastery of pinch harmonics is the true sign of a virtuoso guitarist.  The use of natural harmonics can get ditsy girls to fall in love with you, but the mastery of pinch harmonics is a step above that.  You can get ditsy major label presidents to turn their heads.  Pinch harmonics offer us one of the most expressive techniques the guitar has, but it takes (literally) pinpoint accuracy of the plucking hand to execute.

So what are pinch harmonics?  To understand them, you must first understand natural harmonics.  What we’re going to try to do is get a natural harmonic, but with the strum hand instead of the fretting hand.  This is somewhat hard because we have to simultaneously pluck the string and mute it at the same time.  To do this you’re going to have to hold your pick a special way.   You want hold your pick in a normal fashion, but move your thumb grip closer to the tip.   The goal is to have the first digit of the tip of your thumb almost even with the tip of the pick.

To start out, I would definitely start doing this with an electric guitar using a ton of distortion.  The electric guitar and distortion amplifies the high overtones better than an acoustic.  It can be done on an acoustic, but it requires another level of experimenting/skill.  The first time you do this technique it will be like trying to punch granite.  I’m serious; it’s REALLY hard to do.  Just keep fiddling around and you’ll figure it out.

Choose a note in the middle of the guitar and fret it normally (maybe the 12th fret on the G string is good), for me it seems the easiest place for pinch harmonics.  Now, almost simultaneously, you’re going to do two things: (1) pluck the string with your pick at a harmonic (preferably an octave higher than the note you want to play), and (2) instantly after that, brush the flesh of your thumb across the string to evoke the natural harmonic.  Just after that, you’re going to have to (3) move your hand away so that the string can vibrate freely.

Like I said, if you can’t get it, just keep messing around until you hear the right sound.  If you have problems you might try gripping the pick differently, as the flesh of your thumb has to hit the string in just the right way.  It has to hit the string to evoke the harmonic, but it can’t mute the string completely.  Another thing you might try is moving your picking hand up and down the string.  You must hit the string in a place where there is a natural harmonic or it won’t work.  This is the main reason pinch harmonics are so difficult, because you have to place your picking hand in just the right place, the “sweet spot” as it were, to get that awesome squealing sound.  The sweet spot changes when your fretting hand moves up and down the neck too, so you have to learn to pick like a surgeon.

Tap Harmonics

By now I’m sure you’ve seen/heard/done regular finger tapping, as made famous by Eddie Van Halen.  While experimenting with finger tapping, he discovered that he could cause those ringingly beautiful harmonics from tapping on the fretboard with his right hand.  As an example, grab your guitar and tap on the 12th, 7th, or 5th fret quickly, and precisely on the metal fret (i.e. not behind), and you should get a harmonic.  The energy used to “tap” the guitar is what causes the string to vibrate, simultaneously muting the string to get a harmonic.  It will be exactly the same as if you played a natural harmonic, but you get the special effect of a “click” or “tap” at the beginning of every note.  As with other harmonics, you might have to do some fine tune adjusting to get the harmonic to ring, but once you figure it out it’s not too hard.

One of the great things about tap harmonics is the fact that you can coordinate your right and left hands (playing essentially the same notes but 12 frets apart) and play quick, intricate solo or lead parts.  The effect you’ll have can be pretty mind blowing.  Especially since it’s rarely done and has a very distinct style if you can pull it off well.  Man I love the guitar.  It’s just so dang versatile isn’t it?

Concluding Harmonics

As you can see, there are many ways to evoke harmonic flourishes.  Those presented here are the main ones, but there are many others as well.  I actually found some I’ve never heard of before while I was doing research for this article, and want to tell you about them.  Maybe I can do another article later titled “Harmonics: The Lesser”, and it can involve large Norse Gods from Sweden playing nothing but harmonics at 200 bpm using their big toes.  Hey, that sounds pretty sweet.

Anyway, if you’re really interested just do a search for “guitar harmonics” and you’ll probably find an article better than this one somewhere, and cheaper than my free site.  As in, they’ll pay you money to read it.  If you ever find one of those sites, tell me.

Oh, I wanted to leave you with a link too.  This one has all of the harmonic techniques I just talked about, and more.  Yeah!

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Off Beat Band Goals

I believe that setting achievable goals is essential if you want to accomplish anything, and making those goals public can help other people keep you accountable.  In this way I want to lay out some road cones for the direction I want Off Beat Band to take in the future.  I say road cones, because there isn’t a road yet; I’ve got to make it myself.  As of right now, I don’t know of anybody that has done anything like this before, and so I’m going to be blazing the trail ahead.  All the while making lots of mistakes and a fool of myself in the process.  I’m okay with that.  Here are some of the aspirations I have for OBB.

  • Off Beat Band is first and foremost about music.  This includes all aspects of music, but more specifically it will help other people to achieve full time musician status.   This can include all aspects of the music business, including finance, skills improvement, promoting yourself or your band, gigging, social interaction, and other things.
  • I want OBB to become a community-like.  An online collection of people who all share a similar love for music.  It’s my hope that I can foster communication between artists, encouraging people to meet up locally, start bands together, and broaden the music scene in the places they live.  I also hope it’ll become a place where beginners can find good advice and encouragement from those who are more experienced.
  • OBB needs to be inspirational.  As humans we are naturally weak.  It’s hard to take the risk of becoming a full time musician, so I hope to dispel some of the myths and lies that might be subconsciously holding you back.  This should include creativity exercises, financial advice, relationship advice, and other things that can spur us on to greatness.
  • I don’t want OBB to become a “tech” guide.  This is simply because the world of instruments, electronics, and accessories is way to large for me to handle as one person.  It’s best left to others (who I’ll hopefully find on the way).  However, I do plan on giving some “how tos” on the equipment and products I’m familiar with.
  • The main goal of OBB is to help others improve their lives.  I think things like overcoming fear, conquering addictions, and eliminating rage are more important than writing awesome songs.  I want to help people enrich the world, not steal richness away.
  • I’m planning on making money from this site someday because I think I should get paid for my hard work, but I’ll keep it on a very short leash.  I hate annoying advertisements, worthless newsletters, and people that have to trick you into buying something.  I avoid them like Yersinia Pestis.
  • A tangible goal of mine is that I’d like to write at least one post a week.  As I get a greater audience, I hope that people will help to keep me accountable with this goal.  Like I said, I’m naturally weak.
  • I want to share the healing message of Jesus.  I’m stating it publicly now, ’cause I dislike it when people have unclear or shady motives or try to trick you into following their religion.  I’m still in limbo about exactly how I’m going to portray my message, but God has had a very huge impact in my life and I want others to experience the same freedom that I’ve found.

At this point in time, nobody is actually reading OBB.  I’ve only showed the website to my Chinese friend Lin, who plays guitar as a hobby, and has no interest in starting a band.  But in the next few months I plan on having a committee of 10 or so of my genius colleagues to come in and review my site.  During that time I hope to make a whole lot of improvements to the site, and get good ideas for articles.  After that initial reworking, I’m going to have a more official release date where there will probably be more pomp and ballyhoo.

Don’t worry, I’ve never heard of ballyhoo either.  10 cool points for the thesaurus.

I have to admit I had a lot of hesitation starting this website.  Mainly because I’m not an expert, and I don’t have years of experience under my belt.  I’ve been playing guitar since 2002, and played my first gig only a year after that, but all that stuff doesn’t add up when compared with people that have been intimately involved in the business for years and years.  Even though I have zero readers right now, the fact that this website is up and publicly available makes me nervous enough.

But I was thinking yesterday, one of those intense, deep thought “eureka” moments when I realized that I have no reason to be scared.  I accept my ignorance, embrace it willingly, and choose to fight on in spite of the opposition, when ironically the only opposition is myself.  Also, I have an advantage over others, because I’m going to meticulously document my path from ignorance to expert.  In this way you can see in close detail the steps it takes to move from the field of novice to that of a virtuoso.

This is Off Beat Band.  Welcome.

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Dellavega – Fastest Guitarist in the World!

And don’t forget to check out his myspace page here.  There’s some pretty progressive stuff there.  Check it out!

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Change Your Practice Environment to Unintentionally Practice More

Our habits define us. Not only do they define us now, but also give us a relatively good predictor of our future selves.  If we can intentionally define our habits, we’ll have a much better chance of success.  With only a few changes around the house, and maybe some slight life changes, I think you can dramatically improve your playing skills. A quick example of how our habits define us, and then we’ll get into practical implementation.

Have you noticed how some fat people have a habit of going to Wendy’s or McDonalds on a regular basis? They go and order more than one sandwich, biggie size the combo meal, and get ice cream on the side.  Why? Because they have constructed a daily habit where physical and mental cues in their lives which lead them to the front doors of the restaurant.  Every day it’s the same thing: they receive a mental cue from their bodies (“I’m hungry”), which in turn requires a response to satiate that need.

“Hey, let’s go to Micky D’s!” they say with flabtastic enthusiasm.

And they end up getting fatter, and fatter, and fatter, and wonder why the hack they can’t lose all that weight.  Really all they gotta do is stop going to fast food all the time and eat a decent meal at home.

So we as musicians need to somehow conquer this kind of habit, turn it around, and use it to our advantage.  We all have goals in our lives, and if you are a musician, these probably include practice/writing/performance goals right?  So we need to start building habits in our lives that will (almost) automatically accomplish our goals.  We have got to create triggers in our lives that will, in a similar fashion to fat people going to Wendys, make us better musicians through developing our habits.

Assuming you aren’t where you want to be, you’ll need to make some changes in lifestyle.  Some will need bigger changes than others, but almost everyone requires some kind of change.  I think it’s best to do all of these changes as quickly and dramatically as possible, as one thrust of energy.  In WWII, without the initial charge on the beach of Normandy in 1944, the war might indeed have never been won.  They needed an huge push in order to establish a beach-head, which required thousands of hours of planning, deception, and preparation in order to pull it off.  The allied forces could not have kept up that kind of sustained force for the whole war; it would have simply been impossible.  But the thrust gave them the momentum and the mindset that propelled them toward victory.  Create your own Normandy beach-head.

So here are some things that you can do to Musicize your practice area.  (Yeah I made it up.  I haven’t decided how to pronounce it yet though.  Muze-er-syze, Myoo-zeh-kaize, Myuu-zih-size?  Ideas anyone?)

  • One of the most important things to do is to put all of you instruments out where you can see them.  Many people have more than one, so you want to spread them out around your house.  Doing this will probably result in one “accidental” practice almost every day.  I read an interview with Eddie Van Halen a long time ago, and I remember him mentioning he had set up a guitar and drum machine for his toilet.  That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
  • Put the songs you’ve written on your “The Playlist“.  You should obviously be recording your work somewhere so you don’t forget it, so why not put that onto your mp3 player and listen to your own music.
  • Listen to music all the time.  I used to find it hard to study or do work while music was playing, but I really wanted to change that, so I found a solution: play your music at a very low volume while working.  Just loud enough to hear the beat, but quiet enough that you can’t exactly hear the lyrics.  It made my long college study sessions not so stressful.
  • Change your friends.  Do you still hang out with friends that don’t believe in you?  Do you still feel you have to pay homage to people that are always bringing you down?  Find some people who are going the same direction as you so you’ll be reminded constantly about music.  But don’t be a jerk in the process.
  • Buy more music documentaries for your movie collection.  These are a great way to get inspired and learn some things about the music industry.
  • Put up posters on your walls of your favorite artists.  I went to my friend’s apartment yesterday, and realized how stylish music posters can be.  I wish I could show you a photo or something of their place, but it was almost like one of those apartments you see in suave magazines.  It made me want to pick up a guitar and write something.
  • Set up your own mini recording studio.  The idea is to always have this place ready.  You never want to lose a good melody or riff simply because you forgot it.  If you haven’t realized it yet, your mind isn’t that great at remembering stuff for a long time.  Take a few minutes to put your idea into the computer and you’ll thank yourself later.  I’m hoping to write an in depth article about creating a mini recording studio pretty soon, I’ll try to remember to post a link when I do.
  • You want to be able to listen to your music just about anywhere, so buy an mp3 player and the necessary accessories.  And don’t skimp on this one either.  Do your research, save up some cash money, and go buy a nice iPod or a good mp3 player.  Use it in the car too, because you don’t want to be at the whims of the radio hosts, and commercials can be a serious waste of your time.
  • Change the food you eat: beans, beans, the musical fruit…

There are of course a bunch of other things you can do, but the idea is that you are pursuing the habits that will help you improve your playing.

Disclaimer: This is not to say that you’ll become amazing without trying!  Nothing can take the place of intentional and purposeful daily practice and writing.

Apology: I do not mean to offend obese people who have no control over their weight.  I mean no offense to you, and I do my best not to judge people based on outward appearance.  If you are overweight but DO have a degree of control over your weight, I’m trying to offend you a little.  Not in a demeaning way, but it is my hope that you face the reality of your situation and take steps to improve your health.  Remember, your habits define you!

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