Live Musician Central

I’ve been playing live for 27 years now and the high volumes of rock music has taken a definite toll on my hearing. I’ve gotten very careful about protecting my hearing. I switched to a wireless ear monitoring system about a year ago and it has really helped me keep the volume that reaches my ears under control. I’m very critical about sound quality so I wanted to get the best possible in-ear headphones to use with my monitor system. I didn’t mind paying a lot but I didn’t want to break the bank either. After trying out a few brands I finally decided on the Shure E530PTH Sound Isolating Earphones.

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  I’ve been recording music on multi-track equipment for 21 years now. I’ve gotten some incredible vocal takes over the years but I always hear the little bits that are a touch out of tune, or a little off the beat. About 2 years ago I switched to Pro Tools LE for all my studio recordings and it has really opened up a whole new world for music production. This is the current version of the  system I own:
Digidesign Digi 003 Rack Factory Pro Tools LE System
Mine is actually the Digi 002 Rack but I just wanted you to have a reference on what my studio setup is like. [Click Here to Find Digidesign Digi 002 Rack on eBay]

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I can’t stress enough how important it is to know some music theory. It’s really not that hard to understand music theory and once you get a basic knowledge you can apply it in many ways. Having a working knowledge of music theory has helped me in my songwriting and my ability to communicate with other musicians. Music theory is like learning to speak the language of music and it’s a very easy language to learn. Once you know it then you can really communicate with higher level musicians. Knowing how to determine what key a song or chord progression is in has helped me immensely when I’m jamming with other musicians. Read more »

I love new music gear and I’m continually amazed at the new and innovative products that come on the market for musicians. It’s a nice thing to be such a force in the world that people invent and innovate such amazing devices so we can further our craft. I read a lot of magazines written for performing musicians and I try to stay on top new products coming out. Again, the Internet makes it even easier to find out about and get new gear before a lot of musicians hear about it. I always like to be at practice and tell the band members, “Did you hear about the new keyboard that Roland is coming out with?”. Or to be able to make a suggestion on a new product that will help somebody in the band out. Read more »

    Why do we as musicians want to give our music away for free? The business term is Marketing. Music is what we do and our music is our offering to the world. Our music is what we hope that people will want to listen to and ultimately buy from us. Our goal is to make the most amount of money from our music. To do that, our music has to be heard by as many people as possible. Read more »

   The music industry has changed so much in the last 10 years that it’s almost mind boggling. I remember how hard my band Shufflin’ Noah worked to get our songs heard on the radio. It was such a rush to be in the car listening to our music on the local independant radio station.

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One thing that most musicians struggle with is playing accurately in a groove. It’s a huge necessity to be able to play things on the beat especially when you’re playing with other musicians. That rhythmic pulse is what keeps us all on the same page when we’re playing together in groups. I’ve played with bass players and guitar players that have a tough time even playing an eighth-note rhythm consistently. I myself struggle to play extremely fast guitar solos on the beat from time to time and it used to be a real struggle for me until I started practicing with a metronome. The metronome did me well but boy is it boring and irritating after a while.      Read more »

    I still remember the first time I heard a live recording of a gig. I was horrified! There I was thinking I was a rock star and then I heard the recording and I couldn’t believe people had stayed through the whole show. My singing was off in places, my stage banter and interaction with the crowd was aweful and the mix left a lot to be desired. After I listened to that recording a few times,  I did start to hear some things I liked. I was able to pinpoint the things I had done well and also the things I had done badly. Now after all these years that recording is a precious posession because I have a record of how I sounded at 15 years old. And I’ve grown to really love it. Warts and all.        Read more »

    When I finally got out of high school and first started doing club gigs a good musician friend of mine gave me a book. I read it cover to cover and it has proved to be a valuable resource even after all these years. That book is no longer in print but I want to suggest another book that just released its 3rd edition in 2007. Read more »