ayoba music mag
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Miya M. G. AKA Dj Tebza Editor of Ayoba Music Magazine also Owner at Ayoba Music Radio And Ayoba Entertainment Record Label. The magazine focuses on House Music, Deejay's and producers, Hot Clubs to go to, Producing Programs, Deejaying and Studio Equipment National and international, South Africa and its history with House Music. www.twitter.com/deejaytebuza www.twitter.com/ayobaentTRANSCRIPT
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May 2013
AYOBA MUSIC MAG
Carlos Mena
O C H A R E C O R D S Ayoba Music Magazine May issue will feature Soa Deep Vintage soul, Steve Fox and Fiesta Black(FB) the voice behind Xigubu. We will also feature the latest in technology, studio equipment, Best Clubs in the world, Best Studio’s, articles by Frederic Mfsb Messent and Old School House Heads and so much More
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Durban
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MAY 2013 ISSUE
Mdumiseni Tebza Miya Editor and Owner of
Content…….
4 – 7 How online music marketing has changes.
8 -‐ Dj Njabs
9 – 10 Carlos Mena
11 – 12 Beats By Dr Dre
13 – 14 Music Sales in 2012
15 – 21 Getting you music studio sound live
23 – 24 Soa Deep VintageSoul
25 – 26 Politics of dancing by frederics Messent
27 – 28 Dj Ganyani feat FB Video Press release.
29 – 30 Steve Fox
31 -‐ ATC SCM25A
32 – 37 Ocean Way Studios
38 – 39 How to get your Music Out There by Jules Cheng.
40 – 42 MTN SAMA AWARDS 19
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HOW ONLINE MUSIC MARKETING HAS CHANGED Written by Kevin Mason t’s no secret that the music industry is at a crossroads. For over 50 years the music business model was very simple. Promote a song to radio, take the exposure gained there and leverage it to sell product in retail stores and use the combination of radio airplay and recorded music sales to build a fan base that would come see an artist perform live. This model worked very well for many years. But in the mid 1990’s things started to change. The advent of the Internet allowed music fans to change the way they consumed music. And as technology advanced, the music business began to rethink (or in some cases were forced to rethink) the tools they used to market music to consumers. For reasons both good and bad, the Internet has given nearly all consumers more information and greater access to even more music than ever before, sometimes at the expense of actual sales. Today; labels, managers, and artists are harnessing the power of the Internet and finding new and unique ways to market their music online and create more opportunities for generating revenue. For today’s recording artist it’s no longer enough just to have a website that can be used as a depository for information about that given artist. The world of online marketing is becoming more important every day to insure that an artist has greater possibility for future success. The Internet has introduced additional types of marketing to those in the music business. Many of these marketing strategies have become buzzwords for music industry personnel. The ability to understand and implement these new forms of online marketing such as “social media marketing”, “email (or permission) marketing”, text message (or SMS) marketing”, and “viral marketing” are becoming more important to those in the music business each and every day.
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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Social media marketing is one of the fastest growing segments of online marketing and is also one of the most important especially for recording artists. And while everybody’s talking about social media and the numerous social networking sites, few truly understand how to harness the power of the free websites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. While most people tend to want to lump all of these sites together into one simple online marketing strategy, each of these sites does have exclusive characteristics and each should be handled in a unique way. There is one universal key to a successful social media marketing strategy, and that is two-‐way communication. By encouraging the artist to actually interact with their fan base, the bond between an artist and their true fans can be strengthened immensely. And, since this communication is now on a real-‐time basis, the fan perceives that they are building an even stronger bond with their favorite artist by feeling that they are truly getting to know them better. And this gives them the feeling that they have become a more active participant in the success of that artist. While these free social networking sites have allowed fans to have unparalleled access to the lives of their favorite artists, researching how each artists’ specific fan base utilizes each site is key to maximizing benefits, as strategies within social media can vary widely from artist to artist.
EMAIL MARKETING No matter whether you call it target marketing, permission marketing, invitation marketing, or even database marketing, the practice of “direct” marketing to consumers has actually been around for nearly 60 years. And with the advent of email, the cost of directly targeting consumers with marketing messages has dropped drastically. In addition to cost, another upside to direct email marketing is the ability to receive almost instantaneous feedback from the targeted consumer. This allows you to actually build a dialogue with them, and again, perhaps even build a stronger bond with that consumer. While it’s taken a long time, artists, managers, and labels are finally realizing the benefits of building this one-‐on-‐one relationship with music consumers.
The downside of the email marketing process is that it can be very time consuming. To do it properly, you have to be part-‐marketing person, part web designer, and most importantly truly understand the practice of consumer engagement. Fortunately the tools available to not only build databases for artists, but to incorporate these databases into existing online sites; from each artist’s website to the label website to the social networking websites mentioned above are becoming more readily available if you are willing to properly invest the time and money.
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TEXT MESSAGE MARKETING The ownership and use of cellular/mobile phones has gained huge market penetration throughout the world. According to 2010 figures, a staggering 72% of the world’s population has some type of cellular phone. In the US, mobile phone penetration has reached over 90%, while in Canada that figure is nearly 65%. Some countries in Europe and Asia have actually amassed over 100% mobile phone penetration! And the figures for text messaging are equally as staggering. In 2010, the Pew Research Center found that 72% of mobile phone users in the US sent and received text messages on a regular basis while that number is just over 50 percent in Canada. Text messaging or Short Message Service (SMS) marketing is still in its’ infancy. Text message marketing is the practice of taking the marketing message directly to the cell phone or smartphone of the consumer. To many, text message marketing appears to be very intrusive, so for now, marketers for the most part tend to be treading carefully. In marketing terms, the cost of text message marketing is similar to that of email marketing. When comparing marketing campaign costs, the average cost of and email averages nine cents per message, while the average cost for text messages is about ten cents per message. While very few companies are currently using text messaging as a two-‐way marketing vehicle, the opportunity for artists to further connect with their fans through text messaging is just starting to be explored. As long as the artist, their management, and their label don't overuse this extremely personal form of marketing, it is proving to be a very powerful medium.
VIRAL MARKETING Viral marketing is truly one of the most difficult forms of online marketing to undertake let alone master. On the surface, the premise behind viral marketing in the music business is very straightforward; getting people (fans) to help you spread a message through a self-‐replicating viral process. To put it simply, it’s getting a few fans to tell a few of their friends who in turn will tell a few of their friends, and so on, and so on until the message you’re spreading becomes impossible to avoid by nearly everyone you come in contact with. The message or product you’re trying to promote virally can be word-‐of-‐mouth delivered or of course enhanced through use of the Internet. In the music business, viral marketing messages usually take the form of video clips, audio files (songs), images, or text messages.
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n terms of online marketing, viral marketing initiatives tend to be the ones that most people would like to undertake, since they have the potential to generate a greater return in a shorter period of time. But because of the innate difficulty of viral marketing, while viral marketing campaigns have the potential to generate large return, they also they have a greater potential of failing to generate desired results. But even if a viral marketing campaign does not spread as hoped, the assets of that campaign still act as a benefit to other forms of online marketing that are utilized, such as email marketing and social media. SUMMARY In recent history, for the majority of artists, radio airplay continues to be the key component to stimulate career growth, and still offers an artist the most rapid ability to advance their career. But, there have been a growing number of musicians who have been able to facilitate very successful careers without radio play simply by using the Internet to grow their fan base. For these artists, the Internet has fast become the career equalizer.
As radio airplay becomes more difficult to achieve, we find that the artists who are able to mix radio airplay with online marketing initiatives tend to be the ones who are experiencing the greatest amount of career growth in the current entertainment climate. Successful online campaigns aren’t necessarily the ones where the greatest amount of money has been spent. Both creativity and proper planning are also important factors in thriving Internet initiatives. But, one thing has becoming abundantly clear; to be a successful artist in today’s music business you must embrace a wide variety of online marketing strategies to help grow your career. The longer you delay, the more difficult it will be to advance in the business.
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AfternoonShowoff
3-‐6 with TP and Thandolwethu
DJ Njabs Mix @5pm
Dj Njabs
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Please tell me a little about yourself? Who is Carlos Mena? I am music producer, artist, label manager and DJ. I grew up in NY in the 70s and 80s and am a child of Hip-Hop culture. When did your career start? My DJ career started in 1982 DJing at an illegal after hours club in Brooklyn, New York.
2.1 How did you get your start in the music business?
I started as a MC/Rapper in a Hip-Hop group called “10Bass T” in the early 90s. 2.2 How had the internet changed your relationship with and to music and the industry?
While the economics have changed dramatically, the internet makes it easier to have a more direct connection with your fans.
Carlos Mena
Which country have you visited through being booked and which is your favorite? I have played in Japan, UK, France, and Greece to name a few countries, and my favorite city to play outside of the USA has been London. In the USA my favorite two cities are Oakland and Atlanta.
Do you use loops or prefer to program your beat from single hits? I have no hard rules when I am working on music, but usually it's a combination of both. There are times when a hi-hat loop will suffice and there are elements that should be played or composed to add your personal or signature to it.
What is the key ingredient in a track? breakdown? Style of production? Bassline? To me it's always about the beat and the bass line, those are the elements that speak to the dancer at their core and I am all about the dance.
When building a track how do you normally work? Do you start with the drum and build from that?
I almost always start putting together the beat 1st when I am doing a remix, and then let that dictate where the music goes. When I am writing an original composition, I may start with a melodic idea or a bassline or a chorus, whatever the universe reveals to me.
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Do you mainly use analog or digital soft synth sources? Do you think analog makes a different?
I used both, sonically/technically there should be little difference if you know what you are doing for most electronic instruments. With that said, the feel, energy, the tactile interplay and emotion that the musician feels on the analog instrument, may influence the performance and what's eventually recorded. This does not include any analog instruments, those are always preferred when you can play the actual drum or guitar.
Any advice on monitoring? Quiet? Loud? Do you prefer flat and boring Speakers, headphones or Big, Phat and chunky monitors?
I am the worst person to ask about monitoring, I used to be a monitor crazy man and would double and triple check on several sources. Osunlade taught me how to mix in my headphones and I have been doing it that way for the last 8 years.
what are the biggest barriers new producers face? Themselves. They should stop trying to sound like what they hear and cultivate their own sound and listen to their heart. Originality opens many doors. I listen to all the demos we get and I am always looking for something that sounds unique.
How important do you think it is to have your music mastered commercially? Unfortunately the economics of record sales have made it cost prohibitive to master your music properly by hiring a mastering engineer. It is important to have mastering done but at the same time, mastering is not just making the track as loud as possible, that is one thing that really bothers me about the music I hear these days.
What do you believe is the secret to your success as a producer? Trusting my musical taste and not letting anyone stop me, creating relationships and hustling.
Any advice for the aspiring producers out there? Don't let anyone stop you, be willing to take advice, but always keep moving forward and growing, study successful producers and take from them what works for your path.
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B E A T S B Y D R . D R E
You know the Beats Studio. They're the headphones that kicked off the rest of the Beats by Dre product line, the ones you've seen on every other head on the street for the past couple of years now. The Beats Studio are the fruit of a long collaboration between the well-‐known cable and accessory maker, Monster, and the most well-‐known hip-‐hop producer, Dr. Dre.
Advertised as the perfect mix between style, active noise cancellation and sound quality, are these really the ultimate cans for the discerning hip-‐hop fan?
Design: Comfortably Frail
Right out of the box, you can tell you've just bought the whole shebang. The Beats Studio comes with a CD with a few demo tracks on it, a mini-‐jack-‐to-‐jack adapter, an airplane adapter, a semi-‐rigid case (highly practical and effective against shocks) and a cleaning cloth—which, by the way, comes in handy because the lacquered finish turns the body into a real smudge magnet.
The minimalist design consists of finely curved, continuous lines, which are part of what gives the whole its iconic look. The Beats Studio definitely won't go unnoticed when you're on the bus, what with its imposing size and big, red "B" on either cup. In fact, it's meant to be noticed. So if you're looking for a product that doesn't make you stand out in the crowd, then you might want to look elsewhere. That's for you to decide!
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Once you slip them on, there's no doubting that these are comfortable headphones. They're lightweight, the padding is soft and the cups don't feel too tight on your head. They're great for commuting and travelling because the body folds in and the cable detaches, making them easy to stow away.
However, there is one flaw: the hinges are remarkably frail, unacceptably so for a product of this caliber. Also, the active noise-‐cancellation can't be turned off, so if you don't have an extra set of batteries on you, the Studio becomes useless.
Audio: Hissssss
At first listen, it's obvious that the bass has really been emphasized. Now, you may be into that, but at this magnitude it contorts the sound so much that we can't help but have our doubts. Either way, with a spectrum that jumps to 7 dB all the way from 100 Hz to 600 Hz, you have to fear the worst. And that's exactly what you get: the mids are entirely submerged under a sea of bass and low-‐mids, and the highs are far above any level of decency, with a 10 dB(!) peak at around 8 kHz.
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MUSIC SALES IN 2012 PROVE DIGITAL IS RISING, CDS ARE DEAD AND ... VINYL IS ALIVE ONCE AGAIN?
The report found that total music purchases (physical albums, digital albums and digital songs) totaled an all-time high of 1.65 billion units in 2012, a rise of 3.1 percent over 2011. The artists leading the surge included Adele, who saw her album "21" reign supreme as the top-selling album in America for the second straight year, with 4.4 million total records sold. Right behind her was country starlet Taylor Swift with "Red," which piled up 3.1 million album sales in only 10 weeks. Nielsen notes that Adele is the first artist to have the same album take the best-selling crown two years in a row. Unsurprisingly, physical music continued its yearly decline, with sales down by 12.8 percent in 2012. Despite this big drop -- including a 13 percent drop in CD sales -- physical remained the dominant format for music purchases, the study found. Surprising once again was the continued resurgence of the vinyl record. Vinyl’s saw sales growth for the fifth straight year in 2012, with a 17.7 percent surge complementing 4.6 millions records sold. The numbers mark a new high for the format, according to Nielsen. Interest in the left-for-dead format has been helped along by global Record Store Day celebrations and a dedicated, collection-obsessed fan base. Independent music shops particularity love this trend, as 67 percent of these vinyl purchases came through these stores, according to the study. Music consumers helped digital sales continue their climb, physical sales continue their slow death, and kept vinyl spinning in 2012, according to a year-in-review report from Nielsen Soundscan and Billboard.
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While physical continued its decline, digital sales of music continued to rise in 2012. Thanks in large part to digital music stores on iTunes and Amazon, digital music's 9.1 percent growth meant the format accounted for 37 percent of all album purchases during the year. A total of 108 digital tracks brought in over $1 million in sales, with Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" and Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" leading the pack, the report found. Each song sold over 6 million tracks. The success of digital singles helped make up for the 4.4 percent drop experienced by sales of full albums. The positive sales figures have temporarily quelled some of the debate over whetherstreaming services like Spotify, Pandora or Rdio are killing the music industry. According to Greg Sandoval at CNET, the Nielsen figures don't actually take into account plays or revenue generated from streaming or subscription services, or from satellite or web radio. That's not to say streaming services didn't have a tremendous year too: Spotify racked up 5 million paying subscribers this year, and Pandora saw a record number of listener hours logged on its service.
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G E T T I N G Y O U R S T U D I O S O U N D L I V E
Going Live by Paul White Thinking of taking your carefully-‐crafted studio creations to the masses? In which case, here's how to make sure your sound survives the transition to the live arena.
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Choosing A Suitable PA System The most practical solution in most cases is to choose one of the new generation of powered PA systems, where the amplifiers and crossovers are built into the loudspeaker cabinets, and, for full-‐range music, a system that uses two smaller cabinets to handle the mid-‐range and high end, augmented by a sub-‐bass speaker, makes the most sense. Because the power amps and crossovers are built into the speakers, all that's needed to complete the system (other than a few cables) is a suitable mixer — and small to medium-‐sized analogue mixers are very cheap these days. A further advantage of using an active system with a single sub-‐bass speaker is that, if you decide it's worthwhile to experiment with surround sound, you only need add more mid-‐range/high-‐frequency speakers, as the same subwoofer will provide the bass end for the entire system. Keyboard players should note that a small PA of this type also makes an ideal stereo keyboard rig for stage use and is likely to give better results than an all-‐in-‐one keyboard combo.
Deciding what power of system you need is rather less clear cut, but to produce full-‐range music in a pub/club/village-‐hall environment, I think it's fair to say that a system power of 1000 Watts should be considered about the minimum if you like to play reasonably loud, though the efficiency of the loudspeakers in the system has a bearing on this too, making it hard to be too specific. Smaller systems are of course suitable if you're playing chill-‐out or ambient music at lower levels, but if you like the sound to kick, then buy all the power you can squeeze into your car. Adequate power handling is particularly important if your set includes live or recorded electronic drum parts, as these carry a huge amount of low-‐frequency energy. When you consider that an unamplified acoustic bass drum on its own can be as loud as a 200W amplifier, it is clear that having plenty of available low-‐end power is vital.
Dispersion & Frequency Response One often-‐overlooked fact is that both main and monitor speakers used for live sound need to have properly controlled dispersion characteristics, by which I mean that their angle of coverage should be reasonably consistent across the audio spectrum, other than at very low frequencies where the radiation pattern tends towards being omnidirectional. Unless the speaker system is properly designed, it is easy to end up having a very wide dispersion at low frequencies, but a very narrow dispersion at higher frequencies, and although the high frequencies may project well to the back of the room, anyone hearing the sound from anywhere off axis will perceive the result as being rather dull sounding. Furthermore, the indiscriminate 'beaming' of high frequencies in this way can increase the risk of feedback.
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Because a single loudspeaker can't handle the full frequency range at the required SPL (Sound Pressure Level) while providing a reasonable dispersion pattern, commercial systems either tend to use multiple small speakers, as in the case of those manufactured by Bose, or more often they use a larger speaker complemented by a high-‐frequency horn tweeter. A crossover is used to direct the required part of the spectrum to the different drivers, and in a typical active system that uses a subwoofer to provide the bass end, a single good-‐quality 12-‐inch speaker (or even smaller) plus a horn tweeter is generally all that the mid-‐range/high-‐frequency speakers require.
Speaker Placement
To get the best result from your speakers you need to have some basic understanding of the way sound behaves in a room. As you've probably already gathered, people tend to absorb sound fairly efficiently, so if you don't get your speakers high enough, a lot of your sound will be soaked up by the first row of the audience! To enable the people at the back to hear you properly, the speakers clearly need to be above the head height of the front rows of the audience. This has the added benefit of reducing the amount of energy aimed directly onto the people at the front, so they won't be deafened in the cause of trying to project your sound to the back of the room. However, be aware that, if the back of the room is a large, flat, hard wall (as is so often the case), there is an advantage in being able to angle the speakers down slightly so that they aim at an area roughly two thirds of the way back into the audience, rather than directly at the back wall where a lot of the sound energy will simply bounce back at you and make the overall sound less clear.
Where possible, you should also set up your speakers to minimize reflections from walls or ceilings, as these not only compromise the sound, but also increase the risk of feedback. Any surface that can bounce the sound from your speakers back into your microphones is a potential problem. Ideally, all of the sound would be directed at your audience and none at the walls or ceilings, Clearly this isn't possible in practice, but you should still aim to get as close to this ideal as possible. The walls nearest to the speakers are often the most problematic ones, so, if reflections are inevitable, try to angle the speakers so that the reflections bounce away rather than back onto the stage. Sound behaves much like light, insomuch as the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, so rotating the speaker cabs inwards to avoid too much sound being directed onto the side walls may make a useful improvement.
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The same rules of speaker positioning relative to the performers that apply to basic PA systems also apply to systems with subwoofers, though the positioning of the sub itself is less critical due to the fact that very low frequencies are virtually omnidirectional. In fact you can sometimes get a little more 'free' bass end by positioning the sub near a wall or even a corner (something you'd normally avoid in studio monitoring). If no vocals are involved, put the mid-‐range/high-‐frequency speakers behind you so that you can hear what you're playing without recourse to a separate foldback system, but if you need to add live vocals then the speakers should be in front of you in order to keep feedback problems to a minimum. Of course putting the speakers in front of you also means you can no longer hear yourself properly, so you need to add some kind of foldback system.
Foldback Options If you think it looks cool, you could simply buy a headphone distribution amplifier and all wear cans, but the more traditional approach is to use one or more foldback speakers. These are usually floor wedges (comprising one cone driver plus a horn tweeter and the necessary crossover), as this format provides the necessary coverage without obstructing the view from the audience, and, in the name of simplicity and efficiency, a powered monitor is the easiest to set up. A powered monitor also allows the foldback level to be controlled from the monitor itself, which is useful in situations where you don't have an engineer handling the mix for you.
Monitors should always be placed as close as possible to facing the 'dead zone' of the mic, which in the case of a normal cardioid mic means the foldback speaker should be aimed directly at the back of it. Note, however, that hyper cardioid mics have their least sensitive zones around 30 degrees away from their rear-‐facing axis, and so the foldback speakers should be positioned accordingly.
An alternative foldback approach I've used with some success, and one that is particularly applicable to systems that use subs, is to mount a couple of small, fairly high-‐powered speakers, such as JBL Control 1s, on mic stands and then feed these from a separate power amp or powered mixer. These speakers are small enough not to be obtrusive and, with the aid of a stand, you can position them fairly close while keeping them in the correct place relative to the mic. Furthermore, the fact that they have a limited low-‐end response is of no consequence, because you'll still be hearing all the bottom end from your sub. In fact even if your little monitors only go down to 100Hz or even 120Hz, they'll still work fine.
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Mics & Feedback Feedback builds up when the sound from the speakers gets back into the stage mics at such a level that the gain of the mic amps in the mixer causes the level to increase further each time the sound circulates around the system. Any system where the output is fed back to the input with a gain of greater than one at any frequency will rapidly turn into an oscillator! It is very important that you appreciate that feedback is a gain issue and not a volume issue. A loud singer is far less likely to have feedback problems than a quiet one, as the quite singer will require more gain to be heard.
Obviously you need a fair amount of gain to help any typical singer to be heard over an amplified backline, so, to prevent your PA becoming a very loud oscillator, you need to minimize the amount of sound from the PA system getting back into the mics. Using good-‐quality cardioid and hyper cardioid mics helps, provided that you position your monitors appropriately, but the singer also needs to develop a good mic technique. In most cases this means working very close to the mic, because the closer you are, the louder the sound and therefore less gain needs to be used. Switch in the low-‐cut filter on the mixing console to help reduce low-‐frequency booming.
One thing that really winds me up is when I see singers cupping the mic in their hands or holding it very close to the business end! It is vitally important that their hand isn't touching the wire basket, otherwise the vents that create the cardioid pickup pattern get covered, the mic becomes more omnidirectional and everything starts feeding back. It beats me why nobody has designed a mic with razor wire around the top to prevent this once and for all!
You can also run into difficulties if the singer moves around, because although you can optimize the mic position when it's on a fixed stand, you have no control at all once the singer carries it away! In addition to the feedback risks, the singer may move out of range of their own monitor or into the range of another monitor that's facing into the mic. The only solution is for the singer to be aware of potential danger areas, such as working in front of a loud backline or close to other stage monitors, and, as this is likely to be a member of your band (as this article is written for people taking their own music out of the studio), it's up to you to spell out the rules.
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You should also be very aware that the vocal mic doesn't just pick up the singer — it picks up everything it's pointing at, so nearby guitar amps, drum kit or monitors will also be picked up and amplified. Clearly you'll get the best results and retain the most control over the sound if the vocal mic points only at the vocalist and that nothing unduly loud is set up right behind him/her. If you have to have a loud guitar or keyboard amp behind the singer, then at least put it down on the floor so the majority of the sound passes below the vocal mic rather straight into it. In small venues, consider hanging a temporary curtain or sound blanket (those SOS duvets again?) behind the singer to absorb some of the sound.
Graphic EQ & Feedback Suppressors Many small sound systems include a small graphic equalizer, which is often claimed to be able to help with feedback problems. This is based on the fact that feedback tends to build up at specific frequencies depending on the room acoustics and characteristics of the PA system as a whole, but in reality small graphic equalizers affect far too wide a section of the audio spectrum to be really useful in this respect. For example, a little five-‐ or seven-‐band graphic will control sections of the audio spectrum around an octave wide, whereas the feedback frequency could probably be dealt with using a filter less than a semitone wide. Even a third-‐octave equalizer with 32 sliders is too coarse to be completely effective, though it is better than using a five-‐band equalizer. However, these little graphics can be useful to improve the overall sound by pulling down any frequency bands corresponding to those room resonances that cause boominess or boxiness.
Every combination of venue and sound system has a different sonic signature with its own humps and dips, so each will need a different EQ setting. While it is impossible to get a completely flat response, it is worthwhile cutting any areas where there are obvious problems, though I wouldn't advise boosting weak areas, as the ear tends to overlook these anyway and boosting just aggravates feedback.
If feedback is a real concern, consider buying a dedicated feedback suppressor, as this can give you a few vital extra decibels of headroom before feedback again becomes a problem. These handy gadgets use a bank of very narrow notch filters that can be varied in frequency, usually under control of the unit itself. The way these things normally work is that, during the soundcheck, you put the unit into setup mode, then increase the PA level until feedback starts to build up. The suppressor locks onto the feedback frequency and then deploys a filter to notch it out. If you increase the gain further, another frequency will start to ring, and again another filter will be sent out on a seek and destroy mission.
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You might do this until half a dozen or so filters are notching out the most problematic parts of the spectrum, though most devices have a few more filters that they keep in hand, so that if feedback occurs during the gig, perhaps because the singer has moved the mic, they can quickly step in and kill it.
Whether using a feedback suppressor or not, I find the best way to do the initial setup is to get the system as loud as possible without it actually feeding back, then to drop the overall level by around 10dB to make sure nothing is ringing and to leave some safety margin. Hopefully things will improve further when the audience turns up, as they'll absorb some of the reflected energy in the room. Where monitors are being used, you may choose to use the feedback suppressor just in the monitor path (as this is where the worst feedback problems stem from) or use one in the monitor path and another in the main PA feed, usually connected via the mixer's master insert points.
Going Live Using a small but well-‐chosen PA system, it is possible to at least approach the quality of your studio work in live performance. A 'satellite plus sub' system is the most compact and easy-‐to-‐use for those people who have space constraints, while the extra depth of bass really assists when you're playing rhythm-‐based music. When the performance includes vocals, as most do, you also need to be aware of issues relating to mic positioning and feedback, as described earlier in this article, but once the basic rules are appreciated, it isn't so difficult provided that you set the maximum vocal level first, then match the level of the backline to that. Choosing well-‐designed PA speakers, monitors and mics will greatly reduce your feedback problems in any given room, as well as giving you a better sound. Knowing the basics about optimizing speaker setups is essential, as is deciding what to sequence, what to play live and what to record as a backing part, but with a little planning you can get great results without recourse to rocket science.
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1. Please tell me a little about yourself? Who is Soa Deep Vintage Soul?Soa deep is Siyamthanda Memela,born and bred in Umlazi durban,dj/producer/promoter/CEO of vintage soul records
2. When did your career start? I've always been musically inclined from a young age, but started dying at 2004
2.1 How did you get your start in the music business? well in 2007 I met my friend/co-‐owner partner(One Soule-‐given Thobejane)from Mpumalanga...u c we shared the same interest in music and it so happened he was into music production...so the baby Vintage Soul brand was born...and the rest history
Soa Deep Vintage Soul
2.2 How had the internet changed your relationship with and to music and the industry? Man I think as an independent artist/producer this is one tool you can't afford to have, the collabos cross continental, the info alone on the web its just amazing, self promos are impossible without it (its a digital world, just roll with da program)
3. which Provinces have you visited through being booked and which is your favorite? Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo(and yeah Pretoria you know baba that's were the roots are Deep house that is)
4. Do you use loops or prefer to program your beat from single hits? Both...I mean u should not be ashamed if u have a good kick loop from a progressive track if its good to your taste and relevant to your project cut it and manipulate it(its time saving and it keeps the creative mojo going).
5. What is the key ingredient in a track? breakdown? Style of production? Baseline? We doing Neo-‐elemental deep house...intro, soul part(emotional),dance part(deep baselines and snares)break(sad synths and viollas-‐peak of the track)drop down part(climax then preparing the track for mixing)
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6. When building a track how do you normally work? Do you start with the drum and build from that? lol inspiration comes from everywhere, it depends on that day. Was is the source.. so it can be vocals or drums or a simple riff .
7. Do you mainly use analog or digital soft synths sources? Man technology has advanced it the past couple of years, Your digital soft synths are so very good u can't even tell it was digital...so a musician on the go like me...digital is the way baba...I love the freedom of variety. 7.1 Do you think analog makes a different? yes and No...it depends on what sound you in to, I mean there are a lot of vintage or retro-‐analog warmers in the market
8. Any advice on monitoring? Quiet? Loud? loud is the way(EDM) Do you prefer flat and boring Speakers, headphones or Big, That and chunky monitors? speakers-‐as long as you can clearly monitor you true bass and percussions without distortion and when u take it to a PA system its good I don't mind which brand are they(I know a famous producer who still uses creative computer speakers for monitoring)headphones very selective its either senheizers or Bowers & Wilkins.
9. what are the biggest barriers new producers face? contracts, licensing of tracks the paper work its still a no mans land for most and getting your work to commercially media its still a battle 10. How important do you think it is to have your music mastered commercially? it is cause quality its what we looking for end of the day, when in my set I select tracks they are more of the same volume and clarity
10.1Can you do it yourself as effectively and what tools would you recommend? yes I can get a track to club level but its advisable to give it to the pros(second ear and they are specialist in what they do)ok I. Use Pro-‐tools for mastering our tracks but make sure before pro tools when you bounce it out oh your DAW it is clear and clean as possible and you still have a headroom(over compressing)
11. What do you believe is the secret to your success as a producer? Patience, an ear for good music and laughter on your Studio sessions
12. Any advice for the aspiring producers out there? everybody is unique and that's what gives you your identity...so when you have found your style and identity of music stick to it somebody will notice.
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The Politics Of Dancing… Welcome to the very first editorial in the series here on Ayoba. My name is Frederic Messent, equally known as MFSB (although with a slightly different meaning) and I’ll humbly get you into the so many different reasons that have led to the situation we have to deal with on a daily basis, wherever we may be, regarding that thing reputedly uniting us: in other words, the music… The goal of this series is certainly not to divide ourselves, but contrary have us all thinking as to the why, the how and whatsoever explaining the obvious lack of impact of our scene,
despite the existence of undeniable talents, and countless initiatives hailing from all over the world geared towards its recognition… Far are the days – considered as legendary if not mythic – when (Dance) Music erected itself as a pole of gathering despite our differences, be they ethnic, cultural, social and the list goes on. As many things leading us back to the genesis of the so called nightclubbing in New York with venues such as The Loft, Studio 54 and the Paradise Garage, or in Paris at le Palace… This said, if they still feed the memories and the imaginations, not to say the fantasies of some who may have not lived the period, let’s not forget how they happened to be the fruit of the action of minorities, the exact way they are nowadays although on a far different scale…
Everything had to be written back then on almost every aspects. Communication, techniques, technology, not to mention format(s) and the list goes on. From the individuals (the club goers) to the club owners, the masters of ceremony (in other words the DJ’s), but also the record industry, the radios… As many actors who were to become a part of the legend as the pioneers of what is reputedly our common history… This added to the fact that this period remains considered as The Happy Days (as a reference to the famous 60’s US TV series of the likes) to a whole generation. The ones in their 50’s nowadays with some still in activity and eventually even more as compared to back in the day…
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I happen to be one of them, by choice as I’ve refused the principle of corporatism which has been for much in the diseases our world has been put into for more than 25 years now, with a global system under the power of the finances and the marketing, with so few space left for artistic consideration. Nothing comes by coincidence, be it on one sense as to its opposite. And please don’t get me wrong, complaining is always easy when coming to forget how we – like it or not – are all individually but responsible for the situation which is ours nowadays while havin’ let it happen, by ignorance, negligence or complicity… There are definitely not reasons to be particularly happy as to how the whole is working nowadays. But no more than being desperate as a matter of fact, judging by the countless possibilities, an ever performing technology has brought us in the mean time, allowing us to do things which were considered as Sci-‐Fi not so long ago. We may be complaining about so many things, as shown by the amount of reactions under the form of a continuous flow of comments left in that sense on the social networks. But let’s not forget how charity always begins home. History should tell us within a few how we’re actually on a major transition, and how a new system remains to be defined, which, no doubt, should be the case once we’ve become fully familiar with this new environment which is ours and all the advantages we may get from it. This won’t be possible without the establishment of common rules though… Frederic MFSB Messent (*) Frederic MFSB Messent is the publisher of Indamixworldwide.com, the new version of is is under construction Feel free to follow us on https://www.facebook.com/indamixworldwide as on https://www.twitter.com/INDMIXWORLDWIDE
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npWF7kvyWc4
Dj Ganyani feat Fiesta Black -‐ Xigubu
Lyrics
ikani jikani jikani...bottle of jameson in my hands, in my hands,I dnt have no plans I dnt have no plans.there goes my bbm,bbm,dj ganyani and some friends oooweee ow xiba ngofu,Xigubu xiba ngopfu tsayi tsayi ow xiba ngopfu,Xigubu xiba ngopfu tsayi tsayi ow xiba ngopfu.xigubu xiba swinene xiku teka hansi xiku teke ow xiba ngopfu...as the night proceeds and as u can see,sekumanzi phansi tsayi tsayi,xigubu xiba swinene xiku teka hansi xiku teke.hello brothers o muhle bengisacela irefill ngicela ungithathe ungibeke by the end of this night my legs I should'nt feel....chorus.....1 2 put on ur dancing shoes,3 4 meet me by the door,9 10 thank God for bbmmmm....chorus,xigubu xiba ngopfu xiba ngopfu xiba ngopfu
http://www.traxsource.com/track/1124208/xigubu
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dj-‐ganyanis-‐house-‐grooves-‐8/id603986211
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_seeall_2?rh=k%3Adj+ganyani%2Ci%3Adigital-‐music&keywords=dj+ganyani&ie=UTF8&qid=1366033041
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/dj-‐ganyani/album/dj-‐ganyanis-‐house-‐grooves-‐8
http://www.emusic.com/album/dj-‐ganyani/dj-‐ganyanis-‐house-‐grooves-‐8/13959401/
http://music.nokia.com/za/en/products/dj-‐ganyani/ganyanis-‐house-‐grooves-‐8/42726027/
http://music.ovi.com/za/en/t4/Product/DJ-‐GANYANI/Ganyani-‐s-‐House-‐Grooves-‐8/42726027
http://www.junodownload.com/products/dj-‐ganyanis-‐house-‐grooves-‐8/2154173-‐02/
http://www.traxsource.com/title/207567/dj-‐ganyanis-‐house-‐grooves-‐8
http://www.simfy.co.za/artists/2082007-‐DJ-‐Ganyani/albums/2444797-‐Dj-‐Ganyanis-‐House-‐Grooves-‐8
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1. Please tell me a little about yourself? Who is Steve Fox?
I am a Producer/DJ, music tech lecturer from the UK and one part of SoulBasics.
2. When did your career start?
The career in Music started in 2005 when I met my production partner Matt Bell and we formed SoulBasics. The combination of a house DJ working with a jazz musician worked so well and we were able to create a sound that defined SoulBasics as a single entity.
2.1 How did you get your start in the music business?
After finishing our first release 'City Lite', we sent it to Sam Gibbons from www.backroomsounds.com who put us in contact with Danny Clark who was running 'Soulfunk Digital' at the time. We later signed 'The Phusion EP' to SoulTonic Mono and 'Cisco Bay' to Grooveland Music in Brazil who have been like family since 2006.
2.2 How had the internet changed your relationship with and to music and the industry?
I think the internet was mostly responsible for getting us started in the first place and certainly put us in touch with the house music scene. It's been a blessing and curse as it's helped us to find labels but at the same time, has been responsible for much of our material being made freely available. I don't think I would have ever have got involved with Grooveland without the internet allowing us to reach further than IK based labels.
3. Which country have you visited through being booked and which is your favorite?
Ibiza was definitely a highlight for me, great venues and the crowds were really clued up. The atmosphere there was just made for house music and I took away some great memories. I'm hoping to make the trip to Brazil at some point possibly with a great new vocalist I'm working with called Blaire Williamson.
4. Do you use loops or prefer to program your beat from single hits?
I tend to use everything at my disposal, chopping loops and adding additional hits to create a groove.
5. What is the key ingredient in a track? breakdown? Style of production? Bassline?
I think the key ingredient depends very much on the feel you are trying to achieve. It's important to keep in interesting whether it's a vocal track or something instrumental. I'm a big fan of deep lush rhodes sounds which tend to make an appearance quite regularly in most SoulBasics tracks.
Steve Fox
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6. When building a track how do you normally work? Do you start with the drum and build from that?
With a vocal track, the vocals are the focus so the musical elements tend to come afterwards along with the rhythmic components. If it's something instrumental with vocal cuts, it's all about getting a good flow and groove together then adding solo parts and small production detail afterwards.
7. Do you mainly use analog or digital soft synth sources? Do you think analog makes a different?
SoulBasics has always gone for soft synths aside the trusty Roland XV5050 which is a superb piece of kit even to this day. I'm still a fan of the Korg legacy collection and Latigo which regularly make an appearance. Analogue equipment does tend to make a difference regarding sound quality but it can break the bank!
8. Any advice on monitoring? Quiet? Loud? Do you prefer flat and boring Speakers, headphones or Big, Phat and chunky monitors?
A good pair of studio monitors really helps to get the mix right along with a pair of studio quality headphones to pick out small details. I like to get a volume level where I can hear everything working in the mix and make adjustments from there.
9. What are the biggest barriers new producers face?
Getting noticed by labels with so many people making music has been a barrier for a long time for new producers but I'd say the legal side of producing records is a major barrier for some. It's well worth knowing the potential pitfalls before you sign your music over.
10. How important do you think it is to have your music mastered commercially? Can you do it yourself as effectively and what tools would you recommend?
Matt Bell (the other half of SoulBasics) is a mastering engineer by trade so all of our material is given a pretty thorough treatment. Mastering is definitely a science of it's own and isn't just about making music louder. Waves Multi-band compressor is our tool of choice for almost all of our recent material.
11. What do you believe is the secret to your success as a producer? I think listening to a wide variety of music for inspiration and taking time to listen to the tracks carefully before we contacted labels has been a big part of SoulBasics' success. It's easy to get tunnel vision in the studio and make oversights, putting it on an iPod an listening to it over the weekend really helps to get a clearer picture of the whole composition.
12. Any advice for the aspiring producers out there?
Experiment and try not to fall into using the same formula, sometimes, unplanned mistakes can become the focal point of a track. Listen to lots of music and not just house, there is a world of inspiration that can really help creativity.
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A T C S C M 2 5 A Three-way Active Monitors These compact speakers from venerable UK manufacturers ATC aren’t cheap — but does the quality on offer justify the asking price?
Hugh Robjohns
British manufacturers ATC — the Acoustic Transducer Company — will be celebrating their 40th year of building world-class loudspeakers (and drive units) next year, having been formed by Billy Woodman in 1974. The company’s first product was a 12-inch bass driver that out-performed everything else available at that time in terms of high power handling and low distortion, and the now famous 75mm soft-dome mid-range driver, introduced two years later, has formed the centrepiece of most of the company’s professional monitor range ever since.
The majority of ATC’s professional monitoring products are fairly large three-way designs — and, having manhandled more than a few SCM50A and SCM100ASL monitors in my time, I can also add that they’re heavy! However, the most recent product to be added to the professional portfolio is considerably smaller than its three-way siblings (although it is still surprisingly heavy). The SCM25A is ATC’s first ever compact three-way active studio monitor, and we’ve been trying to get hold of a pair to review ever since its launch in 2009! Frustratingly for us, every pair made until now has had several paying customers arguing over who should get the next set, so it’s not difficult to see why it’s taken a while for a demo pair to be released to us!
The design aim for the SCM25A was to fill the obvious gap in the range between the small two-way SCM20ASL Pro and the large three-way SCM 50/100/150ASL Pro models. However, it had to deliver the same quality as the larger three-way monitors and be usable in nearfield and midfield situations, which meant using a similar driver configuration. One specific additional constraint on the size was
that the cabinet had to be suitable for rackmounting (via an optional kit) for OB truck applications, as well as usable on console meter bridges — the latter requirement leading to this being the first ATC ‘landscape’ cabinet. The resulting configuration, with the tweeter mounted above the mid-range dome and the bass driver positioned alongside, is already familiar from the popular Neumann/KH O300 monitor, although the SCM25A Pro is a little larger and a lot heavier than the O300! Unlike the KH’s sealed cabinet design, though, this ATC monitor is ported, using the same low-Q, low-frequency tuning approach employed in its siblings.
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OCEAN WAY STUDIOS
Match Microphones and Musical Instruments for Best Sound
Steve Vai has produced the new Ocean Way Microphone Locker app, based on the renowned CD-‐ROM created in the 90s, and long unavailable. Utilizing Allen Sides' microphone collection at Ocean Way Recording studios in Hollywood, this new app allows the recording engineer to easily find the right microphone for the right instrument. Read More...
WELCOME TO OCEAN WAY RECORDING
Ocean Way Recording is the world's most awarded studio complex. Recordings made at our studios have sold in excess of 1 Billion units.
Generations of music icons, from Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Michael Jackson, all the way to contemporary artists like Green Day, Dr. Dre, Radiohead, Kanye West, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, all choose Ocean Way for its phenomenal sounding rooms, customized equipment, impeccable electronic maintenance, and access to the music industry's most famous collection of vintage tube microphones.
Our four facilities, Ocean Way Hollywood, Record One Sherman Oaks, Ocean Way Nashville, and Ocean Way St. Barths, all provide the service, efficiency and quality conducive to the creation of memorable music. Whether it's a 50-‐piece scoring session, a multi-‐channel film mix, or a rock tracking date, our full time staff of highly trained professionals take pride in insuring smooth and productive sessions.
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THE GARAGE DAYS
In 1974, Allen Sides began building custom loudspeakers and leased a garage in Santa Monica as a hi-‐fi demo room. This garage was within steps of the pacific ocean and was situated on a street appropriately named Ocean Way. Since he knew exactly what kinds of sounds were most impressive on his speakers, Allen did limited live to two-‐track recordings as demo material. Subsequently, he sold numerous speaker systems to musicians and others within the industry thanks to those killer demo tapes.
During these speaker demos, many people became more interested in the recordings than the speakers and before long, those clients were asking Allen to make their recordings sound like his demo tapes. So in order to service those clients, Ocean Way Recording Studios was born. But in order to be a proper studio, Allen needed a recording console. And this is the point in time that the legend of Ocean Way truly begins -‐ how Allen ended up purchasing Western Recorders' original tube console and came face to face with Bill Putnam.
Putnam was a true renaissance man in the world of sound and music. His combined skills as a record producer, engineer, inventor, writer, singer, technician, studio owner and businessman are almost unparalleled to this day.
A pioneer in recording studio acoustics, he was involved in the early development of stereophonic recording and is acknowledged to be the first person to use artificial reverberation for commercial recordings. He developed the first multi-‐band equalizers, and with his companies Universal Audio and UREI, was responsible for the development of classic equipment like the 1176LN, LA-‐2A, and UREI® Time Align monitors. By the mid 50's, Putnam owned and operated the largest independent recording facility in the country, Universal Recording in Chicago. But with a large chunk of his business moving west, clients urged him to open a Los Angeles facility. Finally, in 1957, Bill moved to 6050 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood and started constructing brand new studios for his newly named company, United Recording Corp.
United quickly grew to to three studios, a mixdown room, three mastering rooms and a small manufacturing plant for the equipment business. In the early 60s Western Recorders, one block away at 6000 Sunset, was acquired and renamed United Western. The studios were jumping 24 hours a day, hosting superstars like Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. So how was it that the worlds of Allen Sides and Bill Putnam come together at this key moment? Allen explains, "At the time I needed a console, I heard that Bill Putnam's manufacturing plant was running short on production space and that UREI's manager Ray Combs needed to clear some space, much of it occupied by all the old equipment from United Western Studios. I knew Bill was out of town so I went to the studio and said to Ray "How about I give you 6,000 bucks for all this junk including a trailer in the back with the old Studio 1 console in it. "He said, "I'll take it -‐ get this stuff out of here."
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"Obviously, one man's junk is another man's treasure and in this case, I was able to acquire some old Fairchild limiters, UA tube limiters, Macintosh tube amps, and enough equipment to completely fill my garage studio. It was a most handsome treasure and it was this deal that really put me in business."
"However, there was a slight problem. I didn't actually have the 6 grand, so I wrote a check, picked up the stuff, and within six hours had sold enough of the gear to cover my check. When Putnam returned and found that his manager had been snookered into selling all this equipment for $6,000, he said he wanted to meet this guy. I got a call from Ray that Bill was upset because Ray had sold the stuff so cheap, especially considering that Bill had a buyer for just the Studio 1 console for more than I paid for everything."
An interesting sidelight is that Allen had a summer job as a runner at Western Recorders in 1969 but never actually met Bill. Needless to say, when Allen went in to meet Bill, he had no idea what to expect.
And as Allen explains, even in his wildest dreams, there was no way to ever anticipate what would take place. "When I walked into Bill's office, he gave me a long, stern look. That look eventually turned into a smile and he proceeded to offer me the exclusive rights to sell all surplus equipment for all his enterprises. Bill and I just clicked immediately and we became very good friends and business partners in the following years. Bill and I started buying out bankrupt and closed down studios throughout the country, including CBS and Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, and RCA studios in Hollywood. Imagine being able to pick your pianos from 25 Steinways, your EMT's from 50 plates, and your tube mics from literally hundreds. It was an astonishing opportunity and I was a lucky dog to be at the right place at the right time."
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By 1976, things were going great at the OceanWay garage, with sessions working around the clock. Unfortunately, trying to keep a low profile while running a full scale commercial studio in a quiet residential neighborhood proved to be much more tricky. When the artists would leave at two or three in the morning, they sometimes were a little on the loud side. Not long after that, Allen's lease was canceled and he was given two months to get out. Although he had many months of bookings scheduled, Allen had no where to go.
OCEAN WAY MOVES TO HOLLYWOOD
As fate would have it though, a lease was just about to expire for Bill Putnam's Studio B in the United building. When Sides approached his friend about leasing the studio , Bill offered him a "sweetheart deal" on the space. Allen quickly redesigned and rebuilt the Studio B control room, and moved all his equipment in. Studio B was an astounding acoustic space and Allen was thrilled to get his hands on it. Bill felt that of all the rooms he had designed and built, this was his favorite and he was very pleased that his protégé would carry on the tradition.
Early sessions ranged from Neil Diamond, Chick Corea, Bette Midler, and all the way to Frank Zappa. It was also during this time Allen began buying close to a thousand tube microphones from overseas. The European studios and broadcasters were dumping loads of "antiquated" tube mics for brand new phantom-‐powered transistor mics. He carefully went through every mic, picking the absolutely best of the best and selling off the rest. This is how, along with the mics from the previous studio buyouts, Ocean Way amassed one of the largest collection of tube mics in the world.
In 1982, The United Western Studios were still functioning, but because of health problems Bill had not been active in the operation for a few years. It was at this time that Bill also leased Studio A to Allen. Allen made a few changes and Studio A immediately became one of the most popular rooms in town again. One of the first projects was Lionel Ritchie's "Can't Slow Down," which sold 25 million records.
A couple of years later, Allen finally talked Bill into selling him the United building at 6050 Sunset. It was a little difficult, because Frank Sinatra was part owner and Bill had to get Frank to agree to sell it.
Several years after that Bill Putnam sold his primary Companies and the new owners agreed to sell Allen the Western Building at 6000 Sunset and all the equipment it contained.
Allen remembers walking down the halls of United Western studios for the first time -‐ when he was 16 years old and it was the hottest studio in the country. "I certainly never dreamed at that time that I would eventually own the place!"
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RECORD ONE JOINS OCEAN WAY
In 1988, Allen was beginning to run out of space and luckily was able to purchase Record One Recording, which had been immensely successful with records like Toto's "Rosanna," Kim Carnes' "Betty Davis Eyes," and Linda Ronstadt's "Heart Like A Wheel," Sides moved in quickly, re-‐did the monitor systems to be more compatible with Ocean Way, and opened for business with two studios that contained very nice custom API consoles. Early projects included classic recordings by Don Henley and Bonnie Raitt.
Soon after that, Allen constructed the largest (112 input's with GML automation) totally discrete Neve console in the world for Quincy Jones's "Back on the Block",
Ocean Way now had seven rooms operating in LA plus their rental division "Classic Equipment Rentals" and "Ocean Way To Go," which specializes in setting up complete studios in houses anywhere a client may choose. Grammy winning producers like T-‐Bone Burnette, Don Was, Dr. Dre, Jack Joseph Puig and Rob Cavallo became regulars.
OCEAN WAY NASHVILLE
In the early 90's, Allen wanted to expand into Nashville. Along with partner Gary Belz, he found a 1850's Greystone church and refectory building on a large lot . It was owned at that time buy an odd evangelist named Tony Alamo, who was in jail for tax evasion and a number of other questionable activities.
It offered a remarkable opportunity for Allen, as he was able to design all three control rooms from scratch. In the past, he had generally been constrained to modify and reconstruct existing control rooms with space limitations that made it difficult to get everything he wanted acoustically.
Outdoing even his Record One console, Ocean Way Nashville opened in 1996 complete with gigantic, 146 input discrete Neve console!
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THE WESTERN WING IS SOLD
In early 2000, Allen sold the Western building and those studios have been operated by others for a number of years.
And since he rarely had a chance to work in Nashville because of his busy Los Angeles schedule, Allen ultimately partnered with Belmont University's Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. The University not only continues to operate Ocean Way Nashville as a world class commercial facility, but also utilizes the studios as state of the art class rooms.
Currently, the Ocean Way family consists of ten studios, a mastering room, Classic Equipment Rentals, OWR To Go, Ocean Way Drums, and Ocean Way Monitor Speakers.
Ocean way recording
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GET THE MUSIC OUT !!! AmieStreet.com -‐ A social network and music marketplace for indie artists. They give the artists 70% of the sale.
AnyGig.com -‐ A place for musicians to get listed for small gigs, or find venues to play at.
Artistopia.com -‐ An online venue for performers to give themselves an online presence with a profile and display their work.
BandBuzz.com -‐ A social network where artists can set up a profile, upload their music and get reviewed and recommended by users.
BandChemistry.com -‐ A site for musicians to find new members for their group or form a whole new band.
Bandwagon.co.uk -‐ A social network for lovers of indie music where the bands can sell mobile content such as ringtones and wallpapers.
ChampionSound.com -‐ Free mailing list manager for artists, promoters, and venues.
Elisteningpost.com -‐ A way for musicians to upload their music and sell it just about anywhere they want such as MySpace and Facebook.
FireGigs.com -‐ A site with the aim of promoting unsigned bands by arranging to get their music to be played in the background at cafes, coffee shops and more. Also promote you through a Facebook app and MySpace widget.
Fuzz.com -‐ Lets performers upload their music sell it, as well as manage mailing lists and more.
HumbleVoice.com -‐ A place for all types of independent artists, including musicians, to upload their work and promote it.
iJamr.com -‐ Indie musicians upload their music and bloggers can display your songs on their sites for free, and if a sale is made, they blogger gets a cut.
Jules Cheng
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Indistr.com -‐ A company letting independent artists sell their music directly to the public and the musicians receive 75% of the sale.
mTraks.com -‐ An online marketplace and network for indie artists to promote and sell their music.
Mubito.com -‐ Allows you to set up a band website easily and sell MP3s.
MusicNation.com -‐ A community of musician profile pages that engage regularly in competition for various prizes.
Panjea.com -‐ Bring all yourclips from the web together and put them in to one player so they take up less space on your page, so you can promote all your music easily.
PocketFuzz.com -‐ A place for musicians to sell ringtones of their works and notify their fans of news via mobiles.
Popfolio.net -‐ A music widget provider for blogs that lets independent musicians upload their songs for inclusion, and possible sales.
PumpAudio.com -‐ A service for indie artists to get their music licensed for television and film.
REVERBNATION
Ripple9.com -‐ A site to help bands promote themselves on mobile devices to their fans. New sign-‐ups are frozen while they are being purchased by Google.
Scriggleit.com -‐ Software you can use on a laptop at your merchandise table so people can sign up for your mailing list.
SessionSound.com -‐ A site for independent musicians to try to stay indie by selling their music online.
Sonicbids.com -‐ Allows you to construct a low cost electronic press kit that can be constantly updated so the recipients always get the latest version.
Unsigned.com -‐ A site for unsigned bands to put up a profile page and host a playlist of MP3s to attract new listeners — FEELING BLESSED
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