Piggy-bagging on last week's topic, today's quick tip is all about how to ask for feedback from other's concerning your music production. 

There's a couple little tips on doing this, take a listen and let me know if I've missed anything.

:)

Zion

Here is a recap of facebook group information for one or more courses you're a part of. Disclaimer. This recap by no means replaces the information in the Facebook Groups. Always refer to them for the most current and accurate information. We do our best to relay what we think is the most important details, but it's very possible for us to overlook something or make a typo in the process. This is just to be used as a quick reference and outline. Enjoy!

The Triple Threat Artist

• Ashley asked a question about how many mixes are typical when producing a track
• Office hours on Tuesday was all about drums and VI drumsets.
  We chatted a lot about NI Battery and drum racks native to DAWs. We also just spent time catching up and hearing about what we are all working on, and how to help one another. Great stuff
• Jeb shared a song he's working and got feedback on it from other students
• Alex shared a spreadsheet that suggests frequencies for cutting when editing specific instruments, such as grit for snares, boominess for bass, etc.
• We had a great Q&A with Phillip Nichols-Wright on Wednesday for Triple Threat students, where we connected about a myriod of topics including, acoustic treatment, vocal processing, analog vs digital, hardware emulators, etc.
• Alex shared a track he had previously had feedback on in the group, and wanted to know if his changes were helping the mix.
• Juli shared a song she's working for the Access course.
• Amber shared a great video from Graham on three mixing tips
• Osie shared a track for tv sync he's working on, looking for feedback
• Zion shared an article about how women are rising from songwriters to be more in the producer role.
• More steps were taken by students to listen to lectures and apply their new knowledge in exercises and groove making strategies.
• This next week's office hours will be held on Tuesday at 10am, where we will deconstruct famous production of hit songs, as well as get questions resolved for any production projects students are working on.
• If you are in the Access Course and have interest in joining the Triple Threat Artist group, please let Zion know, we've got an amazing discount waiting for you.. Now $49/m, with coupon code 49FORLIFE.

The Access Course 

• Joan requested an Accountability partner
• Joan also requested info about who had signed songs with CTM, and been placed
• Dustin and other new students introduced themselves. Welcome to the family!
• Mikey and others offered their songs for feedback
• Bev wished the Canadian members a Happy Thanksgiving.
• Robin posted an episode of The School of Greatness podcast with James Clear
• Victoria shared an encouraging quote
• Matt announced his meeting with Trevor Willmott.
• Jeremy shared his success in pitching.
• Sherry announced that a library she’s in touch with needs pubic domain Christmas covers
• CTM shared a breakdown of a FloRida song being used by Life cereal
• Bev shared her success with TAXI
• Matthew asked for info on watching the supervisor sessions.
• Joan shared pics of her recording space in the making.
• Joan asked for references for the October assignment.
• MaShanda asked for information about using the course lectures.
• Victoria posted a new submission opportunity
• Chelsey posted a success
• Joe and Tim asked about the meaning of “one stoop ideas”
• Juli posted an article about Metadata according to Music Supervisors
• Lachlan posted a success with Songtradr
• Meg posted a song she signed with CTM from the 8-day Challenge
• Lindsey requested info about a “song exploitation letter”
• Tobias posted a very helpful article about which holiday songs are and are not in the Public Domain
• Halley requested info about quoting a rate for ad agencies
• Victoria posted that the Charisse Presley interview has been postponed iuntil Monday, 10/15
• Helen posted about the artist showcase at The Hotel Café for those attending the November event.
• Zion posted a very helpful instruction about how to give feedback on someone else’s production.
• Dani posted a question about Pro-tools.
• Kimberly shared an announcement about Sync Con.
• Victoria posted a new Submission Opportunity
• Dwayne asked for help finding the new submission opportunity
• Dawn asked if she could submit a friend’s song.
• Carmel posted a success with SongTradr
• Juli posted a new announcement by NBC about a songwriting competition.
• Marty requested contact info for Jennifer Pyken.
• Rebecca asked for info regarding assigning ownership on a CTM submission.
• Mar asked about registering songs with one’s PRO prior to submitting them for an opportunity.
• Victoria announced Office Hours which are now up as a video for your watching enjoyment.
• Rick asked if there was a way to put metadata on your songs online in real time.
• Dawn had a submission question about split sheets, etc.
• Victoria  announced Cathy’s October class.
• Victoria also announced an Instagram Live broadcast
• Mikey offered his Cable TV submission.
• Ben is looking for a co-writer
• Rick asked for opinions of Music XRay
• Ian posted some helpful advice he received

Huge thanks to Jan Seides for her help in summarizing the Access Course.

Have you ever been asked to give feedback on someone's song, and you didn't really know how to respond? 

Here a few tips that should help you give your feedback without hurting feelings, but staying authentic and constructive. 

If you have some thoughts on this, please let me know!

Enjoy.

Zion

Here is a recap of facebook group information for one or more courses you're a part of. Disclaimer. This recap by no means replaces the information in the Facebook Groups. Always refer to them for the most current and accurate information. We do our best to relay what we think is the most important details, but it's very possible for us to overlook something or make a typo in the process. This is just to be used as a quick reference and outline. Enjoy!

The Triple Threat Artist

• Kaeli asked for suggestions on software/hardware for backing tracks for live performances. Discussion ensued. 
• Kaeli asked for some advice on fitting an SM7b with an Alctron acoustic shield
• Brad shared a holiday song that he and Chelsey wrote, for feedback and discussion
• Blake shared a track he's working on and asked the question about how to take certain feedback he's gotten from sups
• Upcoming Q&A session with Mixing engineer Phillip Nichols-Wright on October 9th, open for all Triple Threat members
• More steps were taken by students to listen to lectures and apply their new knowledge in exercises and groove making strategies.
• Office Hours were amazing on Tuesday. We discussed a bunch of stuff. First off, Zion reminded everyone about the Live Access event Triple Threat Social on 11/7. Location TBD. Next we talked about what each person was working on, and delved into talking about how important processes can be in music production. Process of mixing, recording, mastering, organizing, etc. Next we talked a lot about social media presence as an artist, and tricks to getting something up quickly. Lastly, we got into talking about using saturation plugins, specifically Decapitator by SoundToys. Alex has been nice enough to show us how he uses it on 808's on 10/3 at 10am. You don't want to miss it!
• Tobias shared a track he's working on for feedback
• Amber shared a track that she had presented at the Access Course, and she and her husband and nephew had remixed.
• Tobias suggested a youtube playlist with all the office hours and q&a's from our class. Zion thought this was a great idea sent links to course members
• We had an awesome live tutorial by Alex on Wed, where he explained how he uses Decapitator, for 808's, vocals, etc.
• Blake shared a song he's working on, looking for input. As well as asked if anyone wanted to team up for some writing collaborations.
• Zion shared some thoughts on striving toward goals and never giving up.
• Alex shared a track he's working on, and asked for some feedback.
• Zion shared a song he's looking for background gang vocal volunteers on
• Juli shared an amazing video on gated reverb sound that's coming back into style
• Ashley asked a question about how many mixes are typical when producing a track
• This next week's office hours will be held on Tuesday at 10am, where we will deconstruct famous production of hit songs, as well as get questions resolved for any production projects students are working on.
• If you are in the Access Course and have interest in joining the Triple Threat Artist group, please let Zion know, we've got an amazing discount waiting for you.. Now $49/m, with coupon code 49FORLIFE.

The Access Course

• Chris and others posted their Holiday songs for the Submission Opportunityfor feedback
• Brenda posted a question about licensing a cover song. Who pays the publisher?
• Tom needs both a male and female rapper
• Victoria posted the October assignment
• Tamara posted about her experience as a panelist at the Music-Preneur Mindset Summit.
• Sal posted a Holiday song that was signed by CTM last year.
• Richard inquired about anyone’s experience with TrepStar
• Nancy inquired who wanted to perform at the post-event show at Hotel Café.
• Pete posted an article from the Onion about ProTools
• Joan and others announced their new membership, and introduced themselves. Welcome all!
• Marie encouraged everyone to PM their song to her for honest feedback.
• Victoria posted a new Holiday search
• Halley seeks a collaborator to try and have something really ready by the deadline.
• Catch the Moon shared Target’s new ad in the Monday Music Breakdown
• Augustine is looking for a collaborator
• Rick posted a conversation starter
• Tobias posted a gear question
• Halley posted a list of the best creative agency in each state. Thank you Halley
• Joe posted good news for him from Songtradr
• Rebecca inquired where the “files” section was to be found, and was pointed to it.
• Cathy posted encouragement to the new members
• Michelle posted some very useful advice from an associate creative director at a well-known ad agency, about pitching.
• Victoria has posted video of the Office Hours for 10-4
• Madeline asked about balancing writing songs for sync against writing songs for art. Janet gave her a very good answer
• Laura asked about making her sync catalog of songs public, or keeping them private.
• James is looking for a collaborator
• Rebecca posted a link to a podcast giving advice on targeting your music to Film and TV from “Ruele”
• Victoria posted the songwriters whose songs were signed for the Holiday search.
• Amber posted a video of herself talking about vulnerability
• Marie posted a playlist of songs from animated films

Huge thanks to Jan Seides for her help in summarizing the Access Course.

Have you ever played with Synth Pads created from reverse samples? Kind of a strange concept if you've never tried it.

Today I show you an example of using a pad created from reverse samples, through a VI called Output Rev that I recommend. 

Creating pads this way gives your production a really cool interest. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Zion

Here is a recap of facebook group information for one or more courses you're a part of. Disclaimer. This recap by no means replaces the information in the Facebook Groups. Always refer to them for the most current and accurate information. We do our best to relay what we think is the most important details, but it's very possible for us to overlook something or make a typo in the process. This is just to be used as a quick reference and outline. Enjoy!

The Triple Threat Artist

• Zion posted a link and article about antivirus software needed or not needed for the Mac.
• An announcement was made for an upcoming Q&A session with Mixing engineer Phillip Nichols-Wright on October 9th, open for all Triple Threat members
• Lina started a discussion about the Kaotica Eyeball and alternatives. Lots of people jumped in.
• More steps were taken by students to listen to lectures and apply their new knowledge in exercises and groove making strategies.
• Office Hours were amazing. Amber, Blake and Zion discussed new efficiency tools for working smarter, keyboard controllers - specifically mod and pitch wheels and CC values. Installing plugins and external hard drives, sampling software. We also talked about tips about being a high performer in our pursuit in music. Enjoy!
• Blake shared a song he's working on, looking for input. As well as asked if anyone wanted to team up for some writing collaborations.
• Zion shared a video about what he recommends for sleigh bells for Christmas songs.
• Tobias rejoined our tribe. Welcome back buddy!
• Tobias shared a track he's working on for some feedback
• Jeb started a discussion about Loop Loft and whether or not its worth it.
• Juli asked a question about how to send stems, and what the standard is for this.
• This next week's office hours will be held on Tuesday at 10am, where we will deconstruct famous production of hit songs, as well as get questions resolved for any production projects students are working on.
• If you are in the Access Course and have interest in joining the Triple Threat Artist group, please let Zion know, we've got an amazing discount waiting for you.. Now $49/m, with coupon code 49FORLIFE.

The Access Course

• Janet asked about sharing addresses of Music Supes and Broadcast Producers
• Christopher expressed his compliments on the Evelin Garcia interview
• Marty requested contact info for Evelyn Garcia
• Victoria posted the Evelyn Garcia session video
• Christine posted about her pitching efforts
• Nancy also talked about her connections to producers and music supervisors
• Rich asked what your greatest hindrances tp songwriting are
• Tobias posted a source for bell sounds
• Joe and others posted a song for feedback
• Sonnet posted a new supervisor event
• New Monday Music Breakdown video posted
• Kayte requested Logic Pro X advice
• Debbie posted a Songtradr brief
• Helen posted a signup sheet for those wishing to perform alongside the November event
• Rick posted that Sirius is buying Pandora
• Angelique posted about Netflix shows and their Music Super.
• Tobias requested information about cover song licensing
• Cathy posted a video
• Sherry wanted to know if anyone would be in Durango
• Halley asked  Victoria and Emily about songs that are now ready, though past their deadline.
• Debbie posted about Advertising Week in NYC
• Mikey posted a breakdown of  a Fall Out Boy’s song
• Tamara posted the results of her pitch efforts
• Jamila posted about positive results from her pitching efforts and building relationships
• Michelle posted a search for holiday music
• Tobias weighed the relative value of attending the November event vs. working on his product
• Victoria posted a new Music Supervisor session
• Mikey posted positive results from Songtradr
• Victoria  posted a video of the Listening Session from 9/27

 Huge thanks to Jan Seides for her help in summarizing the Access Course.

We are now entering the “hurry up and finish a holiday song” season. 

And you know what that means... time to dust off the sleigh bells. 

Today I want to show you my go-to plug-in for injecting those sleigh bells into your song. 

Let me know what you use, I’d be curious!

Zion

Here is a recap of facebook group information for one or more courses you're a part of. Disclaimer. This recap by no means replaces the information in the Facebook Groups. Always refer to them for the most current and accurate information. We do our best to relay what we think is the most important details, but it's very possible for us to overlook something or make a typo in the process. This is just to be used as a quick reference and outline. Enjoy!

The Triple Threat Artist

• Fox posted a link to his new album and a promotional video
• Zion shared a link to how to master audio for streaming services and the concept of LUFS.
• More steps were taken by students to listen to lectures and apply their new knowledge in exercises and groove making strategies.
• Office Hours were amazing. Blake, Chelsey, Juli and Sem got on. We caught up on each other's projects, we talked a lot about getting messy and not being afraid of getting our hands dirty when it comes to music production. There was a lot of encouragement to practice production techniques and tools for at least two hours a week. We also talked a lot about Neutron 2 and Ozone 8 again for mixing and mastering. Total Balance Control baby!
• Allison shared some frustration about vocal production and how to make vocals sound better and more suitable for synch opportunities.
• Zion shared a link to How MiDI works, and reminded students to dig into learning how signal flow works with MIDI to better utilize Virtual Instruments.
• This next week's office hours will be held on Tuesday at 10am, where we will deconstruct famous production of hit songs, as well as get questions resolved for any production projects students are working on.
• If you are in the Access Course and have interest in joining the Triple Threat Artist group, please let Zion know, we've got an amazing discount waiting for you.. Now $49/m, with coupon code 49FORLIFE.

The Access Course

• Keith posted requesting some encouragement
• Keith re-posted Victoria’s video about research. If this has been your stumbling block, you should watch this very helpful explanation
• Debbie and others inquired about zoom guests
• Josh invited people to his band’s shows in the midwest in October
• Victoria posted two new submission opportunities
• Marty posted a question to Victoria about submission requests and covers
• Victoria posted the Monday Music Breakdown for the Tommy Hilfiger ad
• Angelique offered to make a compilation video of all the Monday Music Breakdowns. Go Agelique!
• Jan seconded Cathy’s recommendation go Grit by Angela Duckworth
• Kayte sought a producer
• Mark sought someone to toppling his tune for the submission op
• Nick offered encouragement
• Joe requested info about Artiphon
• Bev reported that agencies have been harder to pinpoint lately
• Bev also mentioned that she’s stepped up her pitch email daily quotas
• Austin offered encouragement and advice
• Josh requested collaborators in his efforts
• Pete seeks a female vocalist
• Dennis and others posted songs for feedback
• CTM posted a competition for a giveaway involving a new 8-day challenge
• Ian posted about the EU’s new copyright law
• Kayte posted about following music supervisors on social media
• Fredrik posted a question about ISRCs
• Victoria posted the 9/13 listening session replay
• Fredrik wished us farewell
• Tamara posted a recommendation for Disco
• Debbie posted about some recent success
• Mark posted an article about co-writing and split sheets
• Matt asked questions about the course and how long a membership lasts. Good information for class members here.
• Tamara posted from the Guild of Music Supervisors event
• Emily posted from The Music Supers conference also
• Samuel posted a tour of his studio
• Andrea and others bid us goodbye
• Laura and others posted about success. Congratulations!
     

 Huge thanks to Jan Seides for her help in summarizing the Access Course.

Outside of audio, it often refers to people who may be shifty, untrustworthy, criminally minded, smelly, jobless, homeless, on the run. This has nothing to do with what we are discussing today.

It's a simple acoustic concept, but most beginning producers don't come across this for quite some time. So let me help save you some time.

Wikipedia defines it like this: "A transient is a short-duration signal that represents a nonharmonic attack phase of a sound source." But for layman's terms, just think of transients as the identifying markers of the sound's timing. This is typically at the beginning. Transients are often used to line up a groove to a beat, or quantize audio. 

In today's video I show you how to control the transients in a guitar and tambourine audio file, using a transient shaper.

Go make some great music, and I'll see you next week!

Zion

Ok, so here's the deal. BeatsX headphones are way overpriced. This is my very non-technical, non-scientific review of the Beats earbuds compared to my cheap $19 buds I bought on Amazon.

I "A-B" tested the two pairs of headphones listed below and concluded that I liked the sound and total balance of my music better through my Amazon cheap headphones. Go figure.

The $19 Amazon earbuds are these. (they might be discontinued, but these seem to be the same thing)

Here's the $190 Beats X earbuds I am returning.

Here are the songs I compared:

It Ain't Me, by Kygo

Three More Days, by Ray LaMontagne

Feels Good, by Fan Fiqtion

I should mention that the Beats probably will last longer, because of the better build quality. And since they're now owned by Apple, they work great for quickly connecting to your other Apple devices.

But I'm just talking about the sound quality in this video.

Yes, I Zion, loved the cheap ones better. They just sounded better to me. And I can't justify the price of the BeatsX, and so shouldn't you.

*drops mic*