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Music Industry

5 Must See Bands at Reading 2014

August 18, 2014 admin Leave a comment

The summer’s festival season is in full swing. There are plenty of amazing festivals here in Britain and you get to enjoy some of the best acts in the whole world at these events. Summer festivals are also fun for making new discoveries and introducing yourself to fresh new bands. If you are heading down to Reading this year, the line-up is going to provide amazing experiences for all music lovers. These are the five must see bands at Reading in 2014.

1. Blink 182

Blink 182 were one of the biggest rock bands at the start of the millennium. The boys had a bit of a break a while back, but are now back in action. Blink 182 have headlined Reading before and if their previous gigs are anything to go by, it is guaranteed they will put up a great show for everyone to enjoy. Furthermore, the band was the first announced headline act for this year, so expectations are high.

“Blink-182 2011-12-11 10″ by IllaZilla – Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The band will be playing on the main stage on Sunday and the show is guaranteed to give the festival audience a great goodbye. You will most likely be hearing old favourites including ‘All the Small Things’ to new songs from their upcoming seventh studio album.

2. Jake Bugg

Summer festivals are often the stepping-stone for musicians and Jake Bugg is one such success story. Even before he had his first album out, he had already played at the Reading festival stage. This quirky rock star has made his way from the Festival Republic Stage in 2012 to the main stage in 2014.

Image Credit: Antje Naumann via Wikimedia Commons

Jake Bugg knows how to entertain the crowds and his second album ‘Shangri La’ has received plenty of attention around the world. Bugg takes the main stage on Saturday just before Arctic Monkeys, so you can expect an energetic gig that will set the mood for the day’s final act.

3. Queens of the Stone Age

Reading festival’s stages have definitely been kind to Queens of the Stone Age, with the band playing on these stages four times before 2014. If you are a big fan of the band, then you must head down to Reading since it’ll be their only UK gig this summer. Being such a unique occasion, the gig will definitely be energetic and the boys will do their best to please the crowds.

“Queens of the Stone Age at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2007″ by Bruce Turner. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons –

This rock band is perfect for a summer festival, since their tunes offer something for all music lovers. Josh Homme’s unique vocals are great for a festival stage and the quirky guitar riffs are something worth learning to play at home. If you want to have a good time, then you need to head down to the main stage on Friday evening, 22^nd of August.

4. Of Mice & Men

Reading’s line-up is great because it offers something for everyone. And if you are a friend of metal music, then Of Mice & Men will get you going this summer. The band is making its debut at Reading and it is going to be one loud and energetic gig for sure.

The band’s previous albums ‘The Flood’ and ‘Restoring Force’ have both received plenty of adulation from the audience and critics alike. Furthermore, Of Mice & Men recently sold out London’s Koko venue, so there is plenty of expectation that they are going to be one of the must see bands at the festival. If you want to get to know this band, then you can see them perform on the Lock up Stage as well as the Pit.

5. Nero

On top of the above bands, Reading will also offer something for fans of electronic music. Nero will provide the closing set for Saturday on the BBC Radio 1 Stage. This electronic music trio from Britain will have plenty of hits to play from ‘Guilt’ to ‘Innocence’ and they are sure to get the audience jumping. You should check out their interview from 2011 at the Hey Man Check My Band blog.

Reading festival will definitely provide plenty to see this summer. The above bands are just the selected few that you must see if you are heading down to the festival area. Perhaps it’ll spark your passion for learning to play an instrument as well!

How-To

How Does Learning an Instrument Boost Self-Development?

August 14, 2014 admin Leave a comment

The global market for self-development and related sectors is massive. You only have to walk into a bookshop and see the size of the self-help and self-development section to understand this. There’s also the increased prominence of people performing roles such as “life coach” and various other ventures as people embark on journeys with the aim of making themselves better.

The thing about all of this is that it is often wholly unnecessary. There is nothing wrong with reading the latest self-help fad book or spending your money on an hour with someone who can help to focus your mind, but first you should look at the types of hobbies that could aid your self-development.

Learning to play an instrument is the perfect example of such a hobby. How will doing this boost your self-development no matter your age?

Increased Memory Capacity

Learning a musical instrument increases your brain’s ability to remember things. Do you ever find yourself irritated at the shops because you never write a list but can’t remember the thing you vowed not to forget? Are your children always asking you to sign letters for school or an activity club, and you say to leave them on the side and forget to do it? Or are you simply rubbish at remembering the names of people you’ve just met or can’t even recall your own phone number?

Whatever the state of your memory, learning an instrument will help to make it better, so long as you remember to play it!

Better Problem Solving and Perseverance

Patience is a virtue that many of us would like to have more of. However, hands up everyone who knows that as soon as they face a problem in life they simply move onto something else.

There is probably a few of you, and if you’d like to be more “in your face” when it comes to problem solving, an instrument could be the thing you need. You see, you never become good at playing if you don’t spend time getting over the awkward move from one note to the next, or spend time practicing in slow motion before upping the speed and doing it in real time. This will soon filter into every aspect of your life. Increased capability and desire to persevere with problem solving is a particularly powerful benefit in younger people.

You Learn About the Past

For all that the music press occasionally talks about how a certain style is new or innovative, the reality of music is that everything is born out of something that has come before. When you start learning an instrument, you are immediately inspired to start asking who made it famous and how they played. For many people this actually inspires them to learn, before they then go away and broaden their horizons even more.

When you immerse yourself in music you expose yourself to such a rich vein of history and culture. This is why you see many people who are passionate about music and spend little time interested in anything else.

Learning an instrument is a huge self-development opportunity, and one you should be looking to take advantage of.

Music Industry

5 Must See Bands at V Festival 2014

August 11, 2014 admin Leave a comment

When it comes to selecting the best summer festivals, V Festival is one of the biggest and most popular competitors to compete for the title in 2014. The festival has such an amazing line-up prepared that it will take a lot to beat it. If you are heading down to V Festival in mid-August, then these five bands and artists are a must see.

1. Paolo Nutini

If there is one hot male artist this summer that you must see at the V Festival, it is Paolo Nutini. This Scottish singer-songwriter has been a big name on the music scene for years, and his new album saw him return from what many believed to be a musical wilderness after a few years without so much as an interview telling us when he was getting back into the studio. It is no wonder then that he is playing on the main stage at V Festival.

“Nutini” by Fairose Kanoon from Sydney, Australia – Paolo Nutini. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

His gig is going to be filled with big hits and it will probably feature plenty of songs from Nutini’s most recent album. ‘Caustic Love’ received very positive reviews and you can check out the album’s reception from websites such as Music OMH. Paolo Nutini’s music is energetic and perfect for a summer’s evening with friends.

2. Manic Street Preachers

Another must see British band at the V Festival is the rock group Manic Street Preachers. The band has been making music since the late 80s and Manic Street Preachers have been receiving plenty of positive reviews from the audience and critics alike. They are one of those bands that sound the best live and you can’t expect anything but a professional gig from the boys.

Image Credit: Markus Unger via Wikimedia Commons

The playlist will probably include tracks from their newest album ‘Futurology’, as well as old favourites like ‘If You Tolerate This’. Manic Street Preachers’ music is great for big festivals and it’ll surely get the crowds singing and jumping. The band will be performing on the MTV Stage and will most likely draw in huge crowds.

3. Rita Ora

Rita Ora will be a perfect spark to light up the crowds at the festival as she takes the Arena Stage on Saturday and Sunday. Ora has topped the charts for quite a while now and her energetic performances are perfect for entertaining the crowds at big occasions.

«Rita Ora (cropped)» av Firdaus Latif – FMFA 2013Uploaded by russavia. Lisensiert under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

This Is Sound Check announced Ora’s appearance among others and the audiences immediately got excited. Rita Ora has already topped the UK charts this year with her hit single ‘I Will Never Let You Down’ and so the gig will provide plenty of hit music that’ll get everyone happy and enjoying the, hopefully, warm summer evening.

4. Justin Timberlake

There aren’t many pop stars in the world today bigger than Justin Timberlake. His decision to appear at V Festival means that you definitely need to fight for a ticket, if you haven’t already. Timberlake is such an amazing performer and even if you aren’t used to his music, you’ll definitely be impressed by his stage show.

“Jtstpaul”. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The ex-NSync singer – he’s come so far that many don’t even remember those days – has provided us with hit singles like ‘Sexyback’, ‘I Wanna Rock Your Body’ and most recently the sweet ‘Mirrors’. The countless hits guarantee that the crowds will be singing and dancing for the whole set. Justin Timberlake is a must see act for anyone attending the festival.

5. Jason Derulo

Jason Derulo is one of the hottest contemporary music acts of today, and if you are visiting the V Festival, you should check him out at the MTV Stage. His music is great, energetic, upbeat music that will get the crowds wild. Derulo is also a great dancer, so the show will most likely get everyone’s heads dizzy.

Naturally, there are plenty of other amazing acts at the festival as well, but the above are the biggest must see acts this year. If you get excited about the amazing talent at V Festival, you can pick your own guitar and improve your own skillset further with our video tutorials. Summer is definitely the best time for music and fun!

How-To

How to Produce a Professional Sounding Vocal

August 7, 2014 admin Leave a comment

If you’re recording a vocal, whether you’re an established artist or someone just starting out in the industry, you naturally want to ensure it is crisp, clear, and professional sounding. However, getting a great sounding vocal isn’t the easiest thing to do.

Here are some tips to help you get the best possible vocal.

Gating

Background noise is the bane of all vocal recordings, especially if you’ve laid down a flawless vocal and hit every note while singing your track. If you’re unable to find a great studio, or have done so but still struggle to keep background noise to a minimum, then gating is your friend.

Most audio software platforms and workstations will have a noise gate included so you can eliminate and mute background noise. The hardest work you’ll have to do here is ensuring that your vocal remains natural sounding, as taking away the background noise, as irritating as it is, can actually make your voice sound more manufactured. It is easy to fall into the trap of overproducing your own voice when trying to get this right, so play around until you hit as close a sound as possible.

Low Frequency Filtering

This is by no means an essential part of getting an exceptional sounding vocal, but if you’re planning to really delve into the other aspects of production and use lots of plugins to create audio effects, you need to be filtering out the low frequencies in your track.

You should do this after gating but before everything else, as it will stop any unwanted noise leaking into your track later in the production process.

Compressing

Even the best vocalists can struggle to maintain their volume all the way through singing a track. On top of this, there are a whole manner of reasons why the dynamic variance of a track may change throughout. Typically, this will be because of the big difference even small moves away and towards the microphone can have, while you might also be dealing with changes in acoustics and dynamics as people enter or leave the room, for example.

Using compression to produce your vocals can help to not only make your sound consistent but also help you later when you need to mix and add a backing track or a secondary vocal.

Adding Reverb, Delay, and Effects

You can have a lot of fun at this stage of the production process, but you should remember to think about the type of music you’re creating. If you’re planning to release the track for sale but want to become a successful live performer, it probably helps to keep your vocal as natural as possible.

However, if live music isn’t a huge priority for you, or you deliberately want to create a much different sound with your recordings, then experiment away! You should still be careful of over producing and ruining your vocal, however. The voice should still be the focal point.

Produce professional, crisp sounding vocals every time by using these techniques to give yourself a brilliant track.

Saxophone Tips

How to Buy a Mouthpiece for a Saxophone

August 4, 2014 admin Leave a comment

In order to make the best sound with your saxophone, you need to pay attention to the mouthpiece you use. The saxophone mouthpiece helps to create all the different tones in your saxophone and you must think carefully about what type of sax sound is the right for you. When it comes to buying a mouthpiece for a saxophone, the following things are the most important to keep in mind.

“Mouthpiece tenor saxophone”. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Selecting the Material

There are plenty of different options when it comes to picking the material of your mouthpiece. Currently you can find saxophone mouthpieces in plastic, metal and hard rubber and sometimes even in a combination of these.

The most common choice is to go with a plastic mouthpiece. If there is one downside to selecting plastic as your favoured material, it is its tendency to break up easily and the structure might lose its form much quicker. For a more durable option, hard rubber is good to keep in mind, especially for beginners.

Furthermore, if you are passionate about jazz music, then a metal mouthpiece provides the clearest and brightest sound. A number of jazz musicians recommend Jody Jazz saxophone mouthpieces, which you can buy at Dawkes.co.uk.

Differences in Opening and Tone Chamber

For beginners, the opening of the mouthpiece is also a key criterion for buying the right mouthpiece. Opening is the distance between the top of the mouthpiece to the tip of the reed. Depending on the distance, your saxophone will make a specific sound.

If the opening is very narrow, the tone is very clear. On top of this, a narrow opening is also a bit easier to play and could be a great choice for beginner saxophone players. Naturally, if you are looking for a stronger, higher volume, then a wider opening will help you achieve this.

Another crucial factor changing the tone is the tone chamber. If you are looking for a lower tone sound, then you want to go with a larger mouthpiece chamber.

Keep in Mind Ligature and the Facing Length

On top of the above, two further aspects influence your mouthpiece selection process. The first one is the ligature, which is the little device that keeps the reed attached to the mouthpiece. In fact, as you can read from this Neff Music blog post, the ligature can influence the sound of your saxophone quite a great deal. Rubbery ligatures are often the best and most durable options to keep in mind.

Finally, the facing length of the mouthpiece can also influence the tone. For a low sound, you want to go with longer facing lengths to further emphasise the tone. Furthermore, if you are looking for tips on how to look after your mouthpiece, you should check out SHWoodwind.co.uk.

Hopefully, the above tips will help you find the best possible mouthpiece for your saxophone. If you can, then try out different mouthpieces before purchase. This way, you can pick the one that suits your play style as well as creates the kind of sound you want to make.