The Friday Five - 6th July 2012

Another week over! Here's a bunch of thing we liked this week across the musical web.

 

1. Why are verse lyrics so hard to write?

So you have the hook, now you gotta get the story right. Some top tips on getting the verse lyrics sorted on your next song.

http://garyewer.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/why-are-verse-lyrics-so-hard-to-write/

 

2. Lego step sequencer

This is not a trick is actually works. Built at a Hackathon in the States, a webcam detects the colours of the bricks and plays the appropriate sound. Cool!

https://vimeo.com/45026119#

 

3. Using QR codes to promote.

QR codes are great, they are the funny looking square patterns that are popping up everywhere.

But what are they for? What you need is a QR reader in your smart phone. It scans the square which then opens the phones browser and takes you directly to the content. Check out how this band used them on a poster for ideas.

http://www.independentrockstar.com/2040/qr-codes-posters-matt-moran-band/

 

4. Complete Guide to Sync Licensing

After our article on our main site about Cover Songs, I found this great video article all about Sync Licensing from DIY musician

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/the-diy-musicians-complete-guide-to-sync-licensing/

 

5. Beatsurfing - The Organic MIDI Controller Builder

This is an awesome new programmable midi controller for the iPad.  Especially if you like your music glitchy. Check out a few of the videos and demos to get an idea of what this is truly capable of.

http://beatsurfing.net/

Don't forget to check our latest post on our main website  Do you need a license for a Cover Song?

Have a good weekend!   Steve  :)

 

CDs and DVDs - Contrary to Belief They Do Not Last Forever

I remember back in the seventies on a British TV show called Tomorrows World a presenter showing us what the future of music will be.

DIGITAL SOUND!  I watched in awe as he presented a small silver disc, 12cm across and said you can fit 74 minutes of music on this. I could not believe what I was hearing. 74 minutes of pristeen sound, that would never wear out on a robust medium that you could scratch get finger prints on, (oh yea they got that wrong) and nothing will happen to the music on it. This definitely was the future.

I remember when the first CD players came on to the market, quite a few years later, and trying this for myself, and yep for the best part, he was right. It seemed like we had finally got a medium for music that would not wear out, last for ever, create exact copies, (that's another issue) and store any recordings we had made in the 'analog' age so our music can last forever.

Well it looks like he was WRONG!

CDs and also DVDs are not the things we thought they were. It appears they can rot and go moldy, just like tape does, (ok not quite but you see what i mean), so it could be time now for you to check out your old cds and see what condition they're in.

So how can you tell if something's up? Tina Sieber has written an article on the subject, she says,

You can do a simple visual check. If you see light shining through tiny little holes when you hold a disc against light, then the reflective layer has started to disintegrate. Also check your CDs for discoloring, especially around the edges. See whether the different layers are still tightly together or have started to de-laminate.

If you are getting worried you better check out the rest of her article here.

Written by Steve

 

Links

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cds-truth-cddvd-longevity-mold-rot/

Gobbler - a Dropbox for artists

I didn't know this existed - and I am a huge fan of Dropbox which I use to sync my files everywhere.

But Gobbler is designed specifically as an online storage and back-up solution for musicians with very trick integration with all the most popular recording systems - Pro Tools, Logic etc.

I talked to all my management clients about this today - one was already using it and loved it and all the others signed up.

It's a no brainer.

I found out about it from this article in the LA Times - which I heard about from one of my Google+ circles (BTW - I find myself looking at that way more than Facebook already!)

Sitting on a bus as it was rolling across Turkey on a concert tour in summer 2009, the 37-year-old Los Angeles entrepreneur watched singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz fire up a disc drive where he had stored a song he had been recording. To their horror, the drive was dead.

"I started asking other musicians how they kept copies of their work," Kantrowitz recalled. "They were all on these old tapes and disc drives. To me, that was crazy."

That gave Kantrowitz the idea to launch Gobbler, a company that would not only back up artists' digital files but also let them collaborate to create songs with other musicians anywhere there is an Internet connection.

Here's the LA Times piece.

And here's the Gobbler intro video.