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Mentor My Mix

18 Episodes

49 minutes | 14 days ago
Heather Christie: The Triple Threat Hero's Journey
Heather Christie & Gregory J. Gordon discuss "music-preneurship", remixing songs for more reach, the negative effects of American Idol, and the Hero's Journey in music. Heather shares her range of artistic experiences in dancing, acting, producing, and performing, as well as her transition from musical theatre to singing and songwriting. Heather talks about her influences from Latin American culture, her travels to Mexico, Ecuador, and Guatemala, and writing songs in Spanish. She then reflects on her experience on American Idol, and how that sparked her to learn music business and take control of her own career. Heather talks about practicing, performing and producing music with her husband and partner, multi-instrumentalist Vir McCoy and using the stems of many differents world instruments from many of his recordings to create new and exciting dance music geared towards the ecstatic dance community.Opening and closing music is Space Between, by Heather Christie.Book a Mentorship session with Heather. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
57 minutes | a month ago
Brian Schmidt - 30 Years in Game Audio + G.A.N.G. & Pyramind Sound For Games Scholarship
Brian Schmidt & Gregory J. Gordon discuss Pyramind partnering with The Game Audio Network Guild for a full-ride scholarship for Pyramind's Sound for Picture and Games program. Brian goes on to share his deep insight on working on more than 130 titles for most of the major game developers in the industry, being the program manager of the Xbox Audio and Voice Technologies division at Microsoft, patents he has helped develop and strategies for immersive audio. The conversation also covers the genesis of the annual GameSoundCon conference, game audio employment and freelancing, and Brian’s continued work as the acting President of GANG.Opening and closing music featured by Brian Schmidt for Mutant Football League.Click here to learn more about the scholarship Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
85 minutes | a month ago
Martin Luther McCoy and The Rebel Soul Sound
Martin Luther McCoy: singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and native San Franciscan. Martin Luther shares stories of his career starting from a gospel music childhood in San Francisco’s Bayview, to performing and touring with Philadelphia-based Hip Hop Band, The Roots, and being cast as Jo-Jo in the Hollywood musical, Across The Universe. Experiences and lessons learned, including adapting to an industry shift from physical to streaming services, and networking and making opportunities in the competitive music industry. Learning to balance what feeds your soul and the business savvy required to nurture the relationships that drive success. Building his "team" including influential Bay Area attorney Michael Aczon. Martin Luther talks about his development as a singer, producer, and entrepreneur with his label, Rebel Soul Records, and the empowering messages he aims to deliver through his music. Touring and performing with Kev Choice and being invited by Randal Kline, (founder of SF Jazz) to join the SF Jazz Collective and performing with an all-star group of top players on their respective instruments. This Podcast features Martin Luther’s most recent production at the time of this recording, "Warmth of Other Suns", co-produced and arranged by Minna Choi, and featuring The Magik*Magik Orchestra, String Quartet, and Kev Choice on Piano.Warmth Of Other Suns Music VideoMartin Luther Mccoy on Band CampSFJAZZ ALONE TOGETHER: MARTIN LUTHER MCCOY & KEV CHOICE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
71 minutes | 2 months ago
Shawn Mercado AKA Shdws: Getting signed to Night Bass and Divided Souls to Parc 'N Rave shows with Insomniac
Shawn Mercado, aka SHDWS, producer, DJ, engineer, and sound designer. A Bay Area native and Pyramind Alum. Shawn shares his experiences with DJing and promoting for iconic San Francisco clubs like EPR, Ruby Skye, and City Nights. He’s produced music previously as M3RC, and spent years honing his craft and discovering his signature style, leading into rebranding and releasing a polished sound under the SHDWS. He’s released music for Night Bass and Divided Souls, and has collaborated recently with Blossom. Shawn talks about his experience with Wax Motif’s Park ’N Rave Livestream, and what it was like performing for a socially distant audience and tens of thousands of viewers on Insomniac’s Twitch and YouTube streams. And Shawn breaks down his debut release with Divided Souls, Vixen.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
3 minutes | 2 months ago
Mentor My Mix Trailer
Excerpts from different episodes of the Mentor My Mix Podcast, hosted by Gregory J. Gordon.Brought to you by Pyramind, America's premier Music Production School.http://www.pyramind.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
62 minutes | 3 months ago
Shane Hazleton: From conceptualizing the original APC 40 to Mentoring LMFAO
Shane Hazleton's seven years of education included his undergraduate degree in Music Interdisciplinary Computing in The Arts at UCSD (where he studied with the likes of Miller S. Puckette, inventor of MAX MSP), and was followed by his MFA at Cal Arts in Experimental Sound Practices and Integrated Media. This led him down a path of visionary development where his idea for creating a matrix-based touch controller for clip launching and integration with Ableton Live brought him to share that vision with multiple developers and was eventually embraced by Akai, and led to the creation of the APC 40. Pre-college he was influenced by the likes of Marilyn Manson and Nirvana and then discovered Raves, Psychedelics, and the intense desire to create electronic music. Inspired by Brian Crabtree at UCSD, inventor of The Box, led to shopping around the idea for a matrix controller. Going to work for Allesis/Newmark/Akai and developing Max patches to test their audio products. Making a video for the APC to "get shows" and having Steffen Gordy (The son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy) from LMFAO reach out to hire him to come to Las Vegas to help develop their live performance with Ableton. Partying with the duo in Vegas but being influenced by his girlfriend to make a bad career decision and the backlash that brought him to the SF Bay Area. Being influenced by the level of consciousness in the SF Bay Area and a noticeable "psychic field" that was creatively stimulating. Working with the "Mind Machine" and Performing in Quad to create a different kind of live performance. Breaking down his track "On Top Of The World" and discussing MAX For Live and custom patch creation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
83 minutes | 3 months ago
MING: Getting signed, touring, national commercials, multiple streams of revenue, and a Grammy Nomination
From New York bands to the University of Miami and back. Working through the tech boom of the late nineties to support a growing music career. Trying to get signed to the German label Studio K7 producing Trip Hop, Drum & Bass, Jungle and experimental Hip Hop. Getting referred to the sales division of OM records. Building the relationship with OM over a period of a year to getting signed as MING & FS. Being a "student of the game" and going out on "The Deep Concentration" tour with OM. Subsequently getting signed for a three-record deal with OM records all while playing in a rock band and making electronic music under the name Beat Tree. Working full time to fund the music career. Going out every night to make connections and network. Getting signed for the "weird" electronic music but not what MING & FS thought would be a major label deal with Beat Tree. Rewiring & re-eq'ing sound systems to make them sound right when on tour. Music business is 90% failure. Understanding the concept of failing forward and never giving up. Ten year run with Ming & FS, disbanding in 2006. Being in a Nissan commercial creating the music from car sounds to fund the tour. Going on tour while filming the Nissan spot that ran through the Superbowl and joining the screen actors guild. Creating Habitat music production company to create original scores for commercials until the bubble burst in music licensing. Making money from multiple streams and shifting with the times. Learning from the mistake of overselling. The numbers of self pressing and why vinyl is never really coming back. Using any merch that doesn't sell for promo. Throwing huge parties and promoting to the Mavens to create the right word of mouth buzz. Making mix CD's to give away at every show and getting them sponsored by clothing brands to building a significant production business for touring artists. Struggling to get back on tour as a DJ post Ming & FS but building such a strong production business producing that when Covid hit it brought into focus that the work was coming in steadily. Commercial work, scoring and producing keeping all the irons hot. Getting nominated for a Grammy for a remix but not seeing any upside and crickets the next year. The Grammy bump is for major label "1 percenter's". Studio design and working with singers right in the room without headphones. Preparing the room to work with different singers. "I just vomit music at this Point!"Watch MING breakdown his remake of White Horse: https://youtu.be/f8-CqwFYGsk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
59 minutes | 4 months ago
Antiserum- OG Bass head to OG Funksta breaking down Skunked
Breaking down the funky Dubstep infused track, Skunked. Evaluating the current trends in modern Dubstep & Riddim. Playing shows in France & Budapest before Covid. Signing with Maximum Boost Agency. Playing the content game and releasing on the "regular". Live streaming shows from the Social Sanctuary in LA. Mentoring with Pyramind. Mixing & Mastering services business and assorted "random audio jobs" and releasing new Antiserum music. Releasing on Subsidia Records with a whole new approach to putting out music. Staying at the forefront of Dubstep with Excision. Putting out lots of huge compilations. Being consistent and working on multiple platforms. Using Twitter to connect with his fans. Producing in the arrange view in Ableton. The nuances and intricacies of sampling. How to use the free app soundflower as a virtual mixer for your computer for inspiration, sampling and accessing lots of content. The pros & cons of self-releasing vs. signing label deals. Producing the ultimate Antiserum album that combines multiple styles into the Antiserum "Sound". What it looks like to have a mentorship session with Antiserum. Learning from failure as much as success. Failure as success training. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
76 minutes | 4 months ago
Dr. Steven Schwartz AKA Dr. Vibe: Bioharmonic Technologies and Primal Resonance
The evolution of The VIBE: Vibrational Individualized Body Enhancement System and using Sound, Light Frequency Vibration for Wellness. Growing up in New Jersey with a father who was a pharmacist and pursuing sports medicine and then studying to become a chiropractor. Drawn to moving West and moving to Denver Colorado to establish a wellness practice. Invited to move to San Diego to help develop a Bioharmonic feedback system. Manufacturing first round of vibrational technology. Going from being a chiropractor to being a technologist. Tuning into being an artist and creative, working with patients and developing a process around using Sound, Light Frequency Vibration for Wellness. Working with inflammation and cellular memory. Researching and developing technology to optimize human potential and clearing neurological imbalances. Being a channel. Being introduced to sound healing and Vibroacoustic sound lounges by Mentor Ed Bender. Creating vibroacoustic music without even realizing it and diving into vibroacoustic research from around the world. Identifying specific frequencies for different physiological effects. No formal training in music production. Non-traditional chiropractic practice as a Kinestisiologist. Early stages using "vibrational signatures" placed into the patient's biofield to check for changes in neurological response affecting change in allergic responses and other wellness problems. This set up a new delivery system. Using music as a delivery system. Using Ableton to develop the music and being inspired to use the clips to recreate his protocols. Creating a biofeedback system and music. Visualizing his future as a sound healing rock star and developing seven albums. Writing a book called Primal Resonance with a focus on Chronic inflammation as an epidemic in America. The connection between chronic inflammation and its connection to the Covid 19 pandemic. Foundational research working with the living connective tissue matrix. "Hydrate, Vibrate & Gyrate". The keys to the universe. Importance of cellular hydration for cellular conductivity. People die of lack of cellular communication that leads to many diseases. Optimizing "cellular communication". Boosting the immune system through yoga, acupuncture, anti-viral plants & herbs, & the VIBE. Vibrational Indivuduaized Body Enhancement System. Controlling anxiety stress & overwhelm. Formulating specialized music to influence your "field". Making harmonically aligned vibrational music that's attuned directly to the connective tissue with specific mathematics of the connective tissue, specific brainwave frequency patterns, sacred geometry, physiological frequencies and I formulate specialized music so we can influence your field. Because If negative stimulus creates negative chemistry if we put positive stimulus into your field it creates positive chemistry it's just really that simple. Creating a music catalog called "Sonic Ceuticals" meaning healing through sound. Assisting & shifting human physiology to optimize human performance and experience. Working with brain wave states using different frequencies to move negative energy. Tuning the nervous system using music to address the deeper aspects of neurological disfunction. The visceral somatic reflex. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
69 minutes | 5 months ago
Social Kid: Breaking down Epica and the creation of the Mid Tempo sound
Releasing on Synesthesia Records, Inspired by a love of baroque music and making bangers with harpsichord melodies and the original OG: J.S. Bach. Scoring an original track for the video game, Sunset Overdrive. Working with Reason and loving the interface, the look of the mixer and racks and the block arrangement views with block arrangement view with entire section color coding to create a great arranging tool. Choosing a DAW for the user experience because all the audio engine's sound so good now. Breaking down the production techniques of each of the stems ( Bass, Drum Bus, Melodic Bus, Blur FX, SFX Bus, Vox Bus) from the Social Kid hit track: Epica. Using the Blur FX (sweeps up and down and heavy impacts) to transition between sounds and sections. OTT for multiband upward and downward compression on the blur FX bus to glue the entire track together. Vocal processing techniques using panning and pitch shifting on each track and OTT and EQ (to cut out the low end) and delay & reverb on the group to create an "Epic" otherworldly sound. The concept and history of K Theory. Meeting Dylan at Pyramind. Partnerships and collaborations. Falling in love with Dubstep early on. Looking for accessible exposure by bringing Dubstep to a "new level" by electrifying it and modernizing it in 2010. Pivoting to a lower tempo experiment with Glitch hop and mid tempo in 2011. Releasing tracks on Simplify, Mal Label and getting great exposure in the underground dance scene. Experimenting with 808's and Trap with vocalist Malcolm Anthony. Cutting edge EDM with Rap vocals and Trap production launching K Theory to a whole new level. Playing lots of festivals like Red Rocks to Coachella, Electric Forest, Lightning In A Bottle, Snow Globe and Lovelution. Producing remixes for lots of artists posted on Trap Nation. Getting nominated for a Grammy for the GDFR remix. Having a great dynamic in the K Theory partnership with dual productivity. Dylan networking & doing shows while Dusting stayed back to produce tracks. Creative differences and getting disillusioned making very poppy music. Wanting to make heavy dance music. Getting kicked out of K Theory despite producing all the music. Experimenting by slowing down progressive house to mid tempo creating the Social Kid sound. Rez blowing up on the Deadmouse label creating a conduit for Mid Tempo and making Transmissions to be released. Releasing Chrystal Satellite on the Blood Moon EP and blowing up Social Kid. Breaking down Transmissions. Taking all the Pyramind classes twice and bringing 20 years of production chops after graduating from Pyramind in 2007 and becoming a mentor on the Pyramind Network! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
70 minutes | 5 months ago
Ken Felton: Game Audio Bound, From LA To The SF BAY
From Live sound and national touring to theater sound to assisting and running sessions in LA recording studios to the scoring stage at Universal Studios. Getting lucky with a gig in Editorial, laying in backgrounds and sound effects for TV shows and movies. Developing custom sound design for the Weird Science TV series. Getting exposed to working in Dolby Surround and using that experience to transition to the SF Bay Area Film and Post world. Being warned how that was going to be very hard in the Bay Area. Seeking council from engineers working at The Saul Zaentz Film center. Getting introduced to Murray Allen, a Chicago Ad legend, president of AES and founder of The Recording Academy (The Grammys). Finding common ground with Murray that led to contract work with EA working on Wing Commander 3 and mixing on ADAT. Eventually being hired on the team with Don Veca, Rob Hubbard and other Game Audio industry legends. Going on to work on many sports titles. Figuring out the concepts of granular sound design for interactive sound. Meeting the memory challenges of early gaming consoles. Grinding 12 hour days, 80 hour weeks and building long lasting relationships. Going from twelve years at EA to Sony in 2006 to work on the Socom franchise on the PS2 console and becoming Audio Director for The Godfather Project. Building a twelve man audio team for an open world game. The importance of engineering support in the audio design process. Porting to the second generation XBox 360 with expanded memory and using the additional RAM to up-sample the effects for higher audio quality causing the game mix to sound off requiring each sound design event to be re-mixed. A deeper dive in mixing a game title. The many challenges of working on a "launch title". The need to be agile , working with multiple departments and meeting multiple deadlines and challenges. Supporting outside developers as a service team. Working on Sly Cooper with Greg Debearde and "becoming the audio team". Working on Uncharted and The Last of Us by supporting "The Santa Monica Team". Working with Dolby Pro Logic & Pro Logic 2 with EA sports out of Canada and then on the SSX Snow Boarding titles encoding four channel DTS for live, real time Quad mixing. Moving to a nice to have feature to a must have that enhances the experience and sales of the games. Detailed description of creating an immersive audio demo to compare three tools for immersive audio mixing: Dolby Atmos, FB 360 and Dear VR. Using the Dolby Atmos render to create a realtime Binaural mix. Differences in HRTF and headphones affecting the results of a mix. Check out the blog for more detailed info and all three Binaural mixes side by side: https://pyramind.com/mixing-a-track-on-dolby-atmos-facebook-360-and-dear-vr-comparison/Opening Music Credit: LGTBLTS by Dylan Seligman from his soon to be released Game Music EP, Acronym. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
59 minutes | 6 months ago
Moldover: The Godfather of Controllerism, Remixing Four Track and The Sound Of Change.
Remixing for political action with Dubfire and The Bishopgame, The Sound Of Change, The Four Track Remix EP, the universal human condition, loneliness, the impact of Covid-19 and the current election cycle, the Affordable Care Act. An homage to nineties melodic rock meets contemporary electronic production. Production techniques creating variations and twists in the remix but honoring the original intention. Creating controllers that influence the music being made designed to give more expressive live performance that balance technology and live real time performance expression. The evolution of The Mojo, The Robocaster, and The MC1. Embracing musical influences from "the younger self". East Coast transplant to the SF Bay. Studying Jazz, orchestration & Theory at Berklee College of Music. Moving to New York to be part of the scene. Coming to The SF Bay Area for a different quality of life and a different creative aesthetic and its legendary art scene. Going to Burning Man and finding a new radically inclusive approach to art. The changing face of San Francisco. Inspiring others to express their own creativity through interactive and innovative packaging like custom circuit boards for album artwork. Achieving "blow up successes" with indie releases. Performing with Ableton but not having the laptop visible on stage. Time management to stay focused. Meditation, Vipassana ten day silent meditation retreats. Daily meditation & yoga practice. Spirit Rock & Dharma talks. Turning off distractions and building a barrier around yourself with no email, phone or messaging in order to create. "Nobody's perfect", being kind to yourself, self care. Taking a giant mushroom to Las Vegas and working with Meow Wolf. A level of unprecedented interactive art. The Octo Masher and Jamboxes. The "Guitar Wing" and working with Livid Instruments and thebishopgame. Planning to start a consultancy firm. Working with Mickey Hart from The Grateful Dead. Finding joy in teaching and mentoring and helping people enable their own creativity. Teaching and mentoring for Pyramind. Continuity through community. Covid-19 creating Big changes in the Bay and the transforming landscape.Music Credits: Four Track RemixedIntro Edit : Alone (Dubvirus Remix) & Shut Me Down (Aquiline Scope Remix)Track One: Alone (Dubvirus Remix)Track two and closing track: ust Like You (thebishopgame Remix) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
61 minutes | 6 months ago
DJ Celeste: Working with Next Level Creative Tools in VR For Artists & DJ's
In this episode Greg and DJ Celeste discuss the transition of the current live music industry from venues and festivals to online live-streaming, Twitch and VR parties, including the use of Tiltbrush and Blender as a stage building tool for visual artist in collaboration with musicians and venues in the online space. Collaborating with cello Joe in Oakland. Filming a music video pre-covid. The amount of musicians and producers in our orbit. Producing and releasing music during quarantine. Making vibrant music with Ableton for ecstatic dance parties. The Boutique Electronique label in Germany. Producing Hip-hop. Livestreams with costumes. The financial impact of Covid-19 on the artist community. Learning to adapt to the new normal. Social media marketing. Wanting to believe in the arts and the good of people. The cutting edge of music technology and its effect on the perspective of art imitating life and life imitating art. Making VR art with Tiltbrush for events in Second Life. Using Blender with help from a Pixar animator. The struggle of using Mac vs Windows when developing in VR. Learning how to use Unity. Learning new platforms like Roblox, while mitigating the concern of too much screen time. Missing Burning Man, adapting to the “Virtual Burn”. Love of Anime, love of Unicorns. Using Tribe XR as a VR platform to educate new and upcoming DJs, especially during quarantine. Different VR creative and performance platforms like Wave and AltSpace, different platforms integration with Rekordbox. Purchasing an Oculust Quest, and performing in VR at the Great Northern SF Nightclub. Live VR performance DJ set. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
79 minutes | 7 months ago
Bruce Mac Vaughn: From necessity to opportunity, Coaxing out your soul song and holding the bitterness and sweetness together in relationship to fully experience life.
Bridging the gap from '70's love & hate to rave culture. Born in the oil fields of Oildale California and coming to the Bay via Eureka. Coming to SF heart broken when his band broke up. Going to his first rave in Golden Gate Park and waking up to a whole new generation of music. Asking to buy a rave machine and walking out with two turntables, a DJ mixer and vinyl from Frequency 8. Going back north to Humboldt to start throwing parties on the beach. Connecting with El Jefe from the band NOFX and started throwing Planet Trance raves in the club with a smoothie bar. Getting offered a job managing the record store and becoming a sushi chef. Post 9/11 the climate shifted and so did Bruce. Moving to living from DJ'ing to healing the ego and starting to produce. Connecting with Pyramind as part of his evolution. Not having the backing to go to music production school. Teaching himself Reason v.1 and doggedly sticking with it. Having business mentors who were a major influence in his career. Going to London to work with his mentor and getting very real advice. Turning the glamor nob down and not being an aspiring producer and owning the title and the role. The importance of "feeling it" and not just going through the motions. Believing in yourself enough to own it. Making the shift from DJ'ing to producing and then producing for others. Having an awakening moment and deciding to cut the cord from the conventional work week. Focusing on personal happiness. Putting happiness first and finding "the spokes on the wheel" to drive it. Starting the label first to help generate clout. Not being able to afford mastering at that time and "just figuring it out". Then the tracks started charting and others started to inquire who was doing the mastering. Started with minimal techno but also composing for ad agencies to help generate working capital. Hustling to do what was needed going from mastering to mixing to producing and now artists development. Meeting Ryan Robbins originally as a client and then eventually having him intern and then working together to help drive the growth of the label. Making Ryan a partner in Fierce Animal Recordings. Years of cumulative experience and realizing the real value in what he had to offer was more than mixing, mastering and production but real artist development consulting. Getting consistent top 50 charting tracks. Cosmic Boys & Maksim Dark are currently two biggest artists. Not listening to the haters and the importance of staying positive. Getting "the crabs out of the bucket". Gifts from the universe to make you fight harder. What it takes to find your "soul song". The commonalities of the human experience and feeling that burning need to express yourself. Studying non-dual Kabbalah as a healer. Coming to the table without the ego and helping artists heal themselves from their limiting beliefs. Coaxing out their soul song and helping them get through failure and seeing it as nourishment. Holding the bitterness and sweetness together in relationship to fully experience life. Going deep with modular synthesis with Ivo Ivanov. The two roads of electronic Music: "Disposable Dance Tracks" and the need to keep writing vs. creating a memorable album in the vein of Daft Punk or Chemical Brothers. Not giving in to any limiting beliefs or fears. Learning to get happy with Covid and using this as a way to wake up to how we treat each other and needing to find a new way. Producing Headroom SF to help bring the Bay Are together and grow the community. Radical honesty over brutal honesty! Track Credits: "Chasing Rabbits" by Bruce Mac Vaughn and Deontology (Ryan Michael Robbins remixed by Mac Vaughn). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
69 minutes | 7 months ago
Steffen Franz: From CBGB's to Jane's Addiction to Mix Master Mike and Beyond
Getting his start at 17 at the landmark New York club CBGB's as a lighting tech, then touring with Jane's Addiction as a lighting tech and then Mix Master Mike as his Tour Manager for almost 10 years. Moving to Maui in the early '90s. DJ'ing & producing and moving to SF in 1993 as a DJ and producer, Stand Out Selector. Conscious music and Dancehall Reggae as a driving force. Management techniques from Burger King to effect results in tour management. Producing Marty Dread's first single "Wicked Wahine" and going to #1 on Hawaiian commercial radio. Making first 4-5 albums on the Roland DJ70. Working with Nicodemus, a Dancehall Reggae legend who pioneered dancehall music and is credited with positively influencing many aspiring DJs and MCs. Building his own indie label, Positive Sound Massive Recordings. Giving Rocker T from the Skadanks a fresh start producing Tru Ganjaman, If Ya Luv Luv, Show Ya Luv, and touring the world. Helping to produce The Way Life Should Be and the EP Luv Is The Foundation with Greg Gordon, Rocker T and Joan Baez. Working with Bill Ortiz, the ex-Trumpet player from the Santana Band. Recording both Rocker T & Bill's projects at Pyramind Studios. The importance of personal relationships and they're dynamic. Growing those relationships to build his current company, Independent Distribution Collective that now serves over 800 labels and artists. Controlling the distribution and giving props to Greg to help build a scalable model focused on developing a business plan for "IDCPromo": PR, Social Media Marketing, Digital Marketing, Physical Retail Marketing, and Project Management all wrapped into one service. Partnering with artists to get them from "under the radar" to "over the radar". Being your own publicist and being your own biggest champion. Understanding the role of producer and how to navigate the new music business. The true reality is a step by step process on the major services and supporting it with a proper marketing campaign. One part old school "who you Know", and the other part of not trying to fit in anyone's mold. Building your own team to push forward. Forty-Four revenue streams for every composition. Plenty of money in the music biz but you have to find your lane in this "game of attrition". The inspiration behind building "The Indie Artists Business Toolkit". Coming up with a working strategy to establish yourself. Do what you do well: "Find your bliss and follow it". Using your time wisely to make as much content as possible. Find positivity and make that a part of your day to day life. We are in a time of change: Needing artists to step up and be leaders. Be the voice of change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
78 minutes | 8 months ago
Jaytech: Producer, DJ, Pianist & Mentor
Jamming in Ableton to produce new music as Wavelux. Dealing with canceled tours and making the most of being given "a break from the road". High pressure lifestyle of the DJ and getting "a year off of Raves". Starting out as a young promoter as 17 and moving quickly to touring as a DJ. First big break with "mentors" willing to take him under their wing in the studio and the clubs. From small hits on Hope Recordings with help from Nick Warren from Way Out West to getting noticed by Anjuna Deep from self released tracks put out on vinyl. Being invited to Goa, India to play the first ever Sunburn festival at Anjuna Beach. Being invited to the UK by the team at Anjuna Records. From home studio to "legit": Above & Beyond's studio. Piano from 6 to 16 years old with the same teacher. Computer nerd from a young age. Being completely "oral" with perfect pitch. Learning by ear. No formal training in music production but an early adopter of computers & music. Started with Acid Pro then moved to Logic & Ableton. Falling out of love with finishing tracks in Ableton and now using Studio One for a more transparent sound. Live PA tour with tons of gear and realizing that it went over most people's heads and made his set too uncompromising vs DJ'ing with a USB stick that made it easier to play to the crowd. Re-designing his sets for live performance with fail safe backup systems. Pre-lease Jaytech track: The Axis. Influenced by Nile Rogers "Every track that needs to have a deep hidden meeting just for you and an outer meaning for everybody else". Being a Progressive Trance Producer & existing squarely between those two worlds: Progressive & Trance. Making that Big arena feel. Figuring the track out as you go along vs. mapping it all out first. Notes that linger and float into the atmosphere with 10 second decay times. Using Slate digital Reverb suites and Native Instruments Raum. Layered sub basses at different frequencies with different roll offs to make sure they don't cancel each other out. A dedicated sub bass, a main bass at 80-100 HZ, and a support bass at 200 HZ and up. Using a duck buss that runs to an LFO tool for everything that's ducking (side chaining effect) so long as the kick is playing and switching it off when there's no kick. Steering clear of sidechain compression in favor of the LFO tool. Sound bites made from vocal samples giving people who can't live without vocals something to latch on to. Sidechaining the reverb tails to the original vocal sample to create room when using long reverb tails. When and where to use loops. Finishing a new Jaytech album. Not the same Jaytech coming out the other side of 2020. Not being just a DJ and using that to adjust to the changes during 2020. Mentoring with Jaytech as a "judgement free zone". Creating a blueprint to work from. Creating his own corner of the music world weather with other labels or on his own. Collaborating with Steve Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
62 minutes | 9 months ago
Niko Kotoulas: From Wall Street to Music Business Entrepreneur
Starting at young age and sticking with it. Influenced by the greats: The classics Beethoven, Mozart, Ludovici, to the contemporaries Yani, Avicii, Kygo, and Eminem and studying their music and productions. Training your ear to develop the acquired skills needed to hear intervals, chord progressions, arrangement, arpeggiations, and in so doing playing over 5000 covers and releasing close to a thousand! Leave his job in banking to invest in online learning to broaden his knowledge of music production. "A formal education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune". Studying many different genres. Basketball injury that helped focus his development in music. Graduating college and going to work on Wall Street. Misconceptions of Wall Street. Understanding investing and business operations and using that experience, money and knowledge to launch his own music business. Generating over 50,000,000 streams online through releasing Piano covers of well known artists tracks and learning songwriting by deconstructing the arrangements, melodic and chord patterns. Big break with covering The Weekend's "Starboy" that was added to the official acoustic calm playlist on Spotify. Tagging all the artists that were covered creating a wave of recommendations and placements in more and more playlists growing plays to over 200,000 and placements and close to 250,000 playlists! Loving what you do and the unrelenting passion that drives success. Making the switch from Wall Street to a full time music career. How to create passive income streams. Learning how to build online courses. Opening music credit Jonn Connor AKA Seventh Sign Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
70 minutes | 9 months ago
Jor van der Poel: Composer, Producer & Online Course Author.
Meet Jor van der Poel: Originally from the Netherlands and now living, working and producing in Berlin. Jor has been working with Pyramind as a music production educator and course developer for over three years. Moving from bands to production work and transitioning from being a drummer to guitarist and now full 88 key pianist and keyboard player. Why starting with an instructor is so important and keeping the beginner's mindset. Super Powers and how they are driven by your passion and interests. Using personal challenges to drive the growth of skills that end up becoming your passions. Picking and choosing the Ableton Live features that work best for your needs. How to manage complicated sets, tempo and key changes and still be hands free to perform live. Maintaining a full schedule and the importance of strong time management for working, creating and always learning. Being disciplined but still keeping it fun. Favorite artists and influences. Experimental live streams, Jor's studio setup secrets and different favorite controllers. When and why to use Logic vs. Reason vs. Reaper vs. Ableton. Favorite synth plugins for creative sound design. Parametric composition with Opus Modus. The importance of collaboration even when you're fully self sufficient. Jor's favorite effects and how to personalize your live set with your own custom designed FX & device racks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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