If I am being honest, this comic strip hits home with me.
There is an interesting article in the NY Times this week about the current trend in music consumption toward streaming.
It is pretty inevitable that if you want to be a professional Christian musician, you will end up doing some recording. Now that we are done with some introductory stuff, we are at a point in this series where I want to talk about the financial side of recording and some of the pitfalls.
I am gratified by the response to Looking Up, both from customers who are ordering CDs/DVDs as well as those who are watching clips on YouTube.
Not all the response has been positive of course, and for a variety of reasons. However, the most common negative feedback has been in regards to a mixing decision: many have mentioned that the piano is not hot enough in the mix. In other words, it is often buried by the orchestra or band.
I mentioned earlier in the week that I moved my piano to my office so I could have a semi-permanent studio and generate higher quality videos more efficiently. At the same time, I installed a QRS PNOscan which is a sensor bar that sits under the keys and records what I play as midi. I am going to use that technology to generate a virtual keyboard with keys that light up as I play them. I have used that in videos in the past and want to do it more in the future.
Here is a video that will give you what I would consider to be a very important concept. It is not easy and will take some time. However, it is important enough that it is worth spending the time on even if it takes you the whole year to get it down.
There are a couple of blogs that I read that I really appreciate. I don’t agree with everything I read on them, but the authors are thoughtful and great writers, far better than I will ever be. If I had any complaint about their writing style, it is that they tend to overuse shock as […]
I am finally getting back to this series after a few weeks. In the previous two posts, I started discussing what I would consider to be a healthy mindset (foundation) for musicians to have about money. First of all, I said that musicians should avoid being selfish by pursuing their dreams at the expense of their families, and secondly, I said that they need to get their financial house in order before they start (by watching debt and expenses).
When you stop and think for a second, you can get a little overwhelmed by all the pitfalls and trouble your tongue can get you into. Sometimes, your speech may not be malicious. But you still need wisdom because even the most simple and innocent statement can be interpreted wrong.
Someone called earlier today asking questions about the courses she had purchased and I thought I would pass on what I told her to you guys as well.
I recently went to hear a motivational speaker discuss the concept of living the way God wants you to live. Most of the audience was older and I sensed that he was talking mainly to them, trying to encourage them not to give up, not to coast through life but rather to make their lives meaningful.