StudioPros

How to avoid the pitfalls of your previous studio experiences—and vastly improve your chances to get your song published with major A&R representatives.

Stephen McElligott reminisces about a recording he made of one of his songs in a local studio. “I wasn’t happy with that production, really,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘Oh gosh, how am I gonna save this?’ I basically turned around and found Studio Pros and thought, ‘Brilliant, they’re my savior.’”

McElligott has been playing music since he was seven years old. He wrote his first song at 16 and soon began playing in clubs and venues around Ireland and Scotland. His music is influenced by music that spans many decades, from The Beatles to Glen Hansard. But after years of writing and performing, McElligott still hadn’t achieved a major goal: recording a professional sounding, radio-quality version of his songs. “I’ve worked with musicians before, and it’s like wearing a blindfold when you take them into the studio because you’ve gotta pay them, and you don’t know how good they are, you haven’t really heard their stuff,” he explains.

Recording A Song Professionally Without Breaking The Bank

The Irish guitarist/singer/songwriter had been in need of a polished, professional recording solution that wouldn’t break the bank. Plus, he was hoping to have better luck submitting his music to TAXI to get song placements and licensing opportunities. He stumbled upon Studio Pros while searching online for recording studios and decided to learn more. “I clicked on it and thought, this is cool, and it’s affordable,” he says. “I had a listen to some samples and thought it was brilliant. I really needed this with the budget I’m on. I would spend 250 Euros on a musician for a day in the studio, whereas Studio Pros is only $125. I thought it was fantastic—it’s not often that you get to work with really good professional musicians, you know?”

Listen to Stephen’s track “She Blew Me Away,” produced by Studio Pros:

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“With Studio Pros, they give you a listen to the musicians’ capabilities, what they’re able to do, and the versatility that the musicians there have. And that really was the winner for me. It was the overall sound even more than the price.” (more…)

Do you make money from music? Does anyone you know have a self-sustaining music career? When I interview artists to feature on the Studio Pros blog, that seems to be the ultimate goal of most of them: turning their passion for music into a sustainable, full-time career. So what exactly is the right way to go about reaching that goal?

You could sell millions of CDs, but that’s pretty tough for unsigned musicians.

You could go on tour nonstop and play tons of paid shows that cover your rent and bills, but it can be hard for lesser known musicians to get gigs that guarantee payment.

In a recent post on the music blog Hypebot, they summarized how most non-famous musicians make careers out of music. Since most of us fall into the “non-famous” category, I was curious to see how my musical peers were covering life’s expenses without the luxury of star power. According to the post, most artists are generating income by playing in cover bands and wedding bands, teaching up to 40 students per week, directing music activities at their local church, or simply joining so many bands that they have regular paid gigs most days of the week.

I’ve personally never had much of a knack for teaching, and building up a clientele to the point of making a full living can take quite a while. But for those of us with formal music training, it can certainly be a way to pay your heating bill with something music-related. If you have aspirations for playing your own music professionally, the scheduling side of teaching can be a bit restrictive when it comes to rehearsals and touring. I would imagine, though, that helping a child discover the wonders of playing an instrument could be quite the rewarding experience and may make it all worthwhile.

Playing in cover bands for weddings, parties and cruise ships can be a very well-paid gig, but it also leans toward the less glamorous side of playing music. Would you feel fulfilled if you were playing other artists’ music every day for the rest of your life? For some people that might sound like a lot of fun, but to me it seems like it might get old pretty quick. I’d also expect the job to be rather thankless. I’ve played my fair share of drunken frat parties, and I have to admit that it isn’t too fulfilling in the long run, even if the crowd tends to have a pretty enthusiastic response to hearing their favorite songs. (more…)

What’s the best  way to produce your songs?  In order to answer that question, you’ll need to answer another first: what are your musical goals?

What would you do with your song if it was already produced just like you wanted it to be? Would you try to get placements in movies? Would you want it played on popular TV shows? How about a commercial spot? Or would you rather pitch it to another artist? Maybe you’re just looking to record a single to send to all of your friends, or you want to have a song to post on the Internet and rack up some plays on Myspace and fans on Facebook. Defining the end goal will help you determine the best way to produce your song, because you’ll know more about the specific needs for the song’s final product.

Your song can be produced in many ways

There are multiple options on the table when it comes to producing your song. You could hire a band and rent a day in a commercial recording studio. You could send your tune to a “one man band” producer, a sort of jack of all trades that can arrange and perform most of the tracks himself. You could produce it with musicians via the Internet (just like Studio Pros). In the end, you’re the only one who can decide on the best way to record your song.

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Did you know that 9 out of 10 artists who have used Studio Pros’ music production service and submitted to TAXI.com had their songs forwarded to record labels and music supervisors?

In case you didn’t know, TAXI.com is a service that connects independent musicians like you with record label personnel, music supervisors who place songs in TV shows and movies, and other industry people who are always looking for new music. Studio Pros conducted a survey of 10 customers who used our music production services for their songs and discovered that artists–even those who previously had major difficulty in getting their songs forwarded to industry folk by TAXI.com–were now finding it much easier to get their music passed along after using Studio Pros. In fact, as I mentioned above, 9 out of 10 artists noticed this improvement!

We were very proud to hear this, not only because it means we’ve helped lots of indie musicians take a huge career step, but because it further reinforces our belief that it is incredibly important to have a professional quality recording of your music before you try to shop it around. There are many reasons for this… Here are two that directly relate to TAXI.com:

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