Recently I was asked for advice about approaching a record company.
This brought back happy memories of my times in bands where we would all traipse up to a record company, meet someone in A&R, and play them our latest demo.
These were never successful meetings and I doubt A&R departments still allow young hopefuls through the door so this is how I would approach it now.
Find someone whose musical opinion you trust and ask them if you are any good. If they say no then either improve, or give up and stick to the day job.
If they say yes find the record label most suited to your sound; the one you would really love to sign to.
Then find out who is responsible for new acts and try and speak to them. You’ll need to be charming to get past the receptionist. Don’t be put off by a negative response.
Once you have a name; you have a contact. Send this person your demo but make sure the whole package looks impressive: a plain silver CD with a hand written note is going straight into the bin.
So maybe send your trusted friend from above the whole package and see what improvements they can suggest.
And be prepared for a positive response. If they like you they will want to: see you play live as soon as possible and how many albums of material you already have.
Good luck!
Showing posts with label new bands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new bands. Show all posts
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Loz Bridge & The Box Social
In this Sunday’s Original Showcase we have Loz Bridge and the Box Social in session.
Loz used to sing for the Portsmouth band Suburbian who split at the end of 2007 leaving him to concentrate on his song writing and find musicians to compliment his new direction.
The Box Social includes Showcase regular Andrew Foster on guitar (left) and Matt (right) on a rather beguiling Spanish drum that you sit on to play.
Every Showcase session is always a new experience and it sometimes feels like the old days of recording when we try to get the best positions for the microphones and balance the sound levels.
Afterwards a small amount of reverb is applied to give the songs a “live room” feel but we don’t add compression any more as it seems to take away something from the band’s performance.
I didn’t realise we were part of an “anti-compression” trend until I heard about the “Loudness War”.
Compression has been used to make songs louder and help them stand out on the radio. However if today’s songs are loud, tomorrow’s will have to be even louder!
To counter this vicious circle, and the resulting poor quality sound it produces, the “Turn Me Up” campaign has been started by music professionals Charles Dye, John Ralston and Allen Wagner.
You can find out more about their attempts to bring dynamics back to music at www.turnmeup.org
It will open your eyes and maybe your ears too!
Loz used to sing for the Portsmouth band Suburbian who split at the end of 2007 leaving him to concentrate on his song writing and find musicians to compliment his new direction.
The Box Social includes Showcase regular Andrew Foster on guitar (left) and Matt (right) on a rather beguiling Spanish drum that you sit on to play.
Every Showcase session is always a new experience and it sometimes feels like the old days of recording when we try to get the best positions for the microphones and balance the sound levels.
Afterwards a small amount of reverb is applied to give the songs a “live room” feel but we don’t add compression any more as it seems to take away something from the band’s performance.
I didn’t realise we were part of an “anti-compression” trend until I heard about the “Loudness War”.
Compression has been used to make songs louder and help them stand out on the radio. However if today’s songs are loud, tomorrow’s will have to be even louder!
To counter this vicious circle, and the resulting poor quality sound it produces, the “Turn Me Up” campaign has been started by music professionals Charles Dye, John Ralston and Allen Wagner.
You can find out more about their attempts to bring dynamics back to music at www.turnmeup.org
It will open your eyes and maybe your ears too!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Original Showcase Sunday 18th Feb
Every Sunday evening at 18:00 on Original 106fm I present the Original Showcase which plays the best music from our region - Hampshire, Dorset, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight.These are the acts from last Sunday's show...
MOZYDARE - a fun packed Pop/Rock band from Gosport
www.myspace.com/mozydare
SARAH SAVILLE – excellent singer/songwriter from Southampton
www.sarahsaville.com
BIRDPEN – dark and mysterious indi sound from Southampton
http://www.birdpen.com/
LOS FANTASMAS (above) – Latin and reggae sounds from the isle of Wight
www.myspace.com/losfantasmas
BRIAN HOOPER – Long standing folk musician from Southampton
www.focsle.org.uk/SCoFF/brianhooper/
ILZE – Singer from Latvia now living in Southsea
www.myspace.com/ilzemusic
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