So, you have some great covers and maybe some originals on YouTube, but you want to take your music and writing to the next level. You have listened to some of your favourite new music (and favourite classics!) and want to reach out to a songwriter who you greatly admire and who you feel could really add to your musical development. But how? Cue your fears and self critical questions: ‘Why would someone want to write with me when I’ve had no cuts?’ ‘I don’t know anyone in the industry, so why would they listen to me?’ ‘My email will probably go into spam’. First things first, turn down all th ..read more

Whether you are a full-time student doing songwriting on the side, you have a part time job and you are actively pursuing a career as a touring musician or you are struggling to make ends meet as a full time producer, you will always find yourself in a position where you have to make some hard choices between making money and making art. I recently taught a master class at Berklee and these questions kept coming up: "How can I set myself apart as a producer/writer?" - "How can I build a career in music that would end up making me money while I'm struggling to make ends meet right now?" My ans ..read more

We've all been home pretty much since March and if you are a creative you must have tried some zoom, FaceTime, skype or Google hangouts collabs. By now you must have figured out most of the technical difficulties such as bad internet, bad audio or feedback. I've been really lucky to have met some great new cowriters from all over the globe via zoom and 90% of these writes have been amazing and eye opening, but 10% of the writes have not worked out and were a complete bust. Some of my songwriting friends had some hilarious online cowrite disaster stories. So, how can we make this experience the ..read more

Imagine trying to promote your band and music without the internet, social media, graphics or video. Both Elvis and the Beatles did it to become worldwide sensations. But how? There wasn’t even cable TV. The truth is, there also wasn’t any real competition out there for soulful, hip-gyrating purveyors of rockabilly, or British boy bands rocking bowl haircuts and cranking out a distinctive sound. Fast forward to 2020 as you try to promote your band, your music, your sound. The competition for musicians and musical groups has never been more intense. But the good news is that the promotional op ..read more

by Josh Reynolds Let's talk mix compression. I'm noticing a common trend in mixing that is moving away from compression in the traditional sense. Maybe your mix buss and the way you drive into it is perfectly giving an overall tone and dimension to your mix, and that's great! However, if you are looking for a more flexible way to create some movement and space in your mix, read on! Louder. One common way to use compressor is to make something relatively louder. Reducing the dynamic range and then making that reduced gain up is one way to use a compressor. Often on individual channels that is w ..read more

If you are still with me after my last monster posts, you now understand development, preparation and distribution. You found the right distribution partner and you have the songs ready to go. How do you launch your music and not have it disappear into the abyss? And....how do you get noticed by the streaming services and get some playlist action? Lets make sure we first understand the connection between your socials and the DSPs. In order for you to see the stats and claim your artist profile, you have to sign up for each DSP. You do this here for spotify , here for apple. and here for amazo ..read more

Our first focus was development. Once you spend the time learning your instruments, writing your songs, playing shows, you will eventually have an AHA! moment. You know when you are ready to release your songs. I personally don't believe in stockpiling songs and music just to fill up an album or to wait for the best song you have ever written, but I also don't believe in releasing something just to release something. Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot. Distribution according to wikipedia is: one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Distribution is the process of making a product ..read more

This is the first article of three, walking you through the steps of releasing your music successfully into the world. The first article focusses on the preparations, Development, after that we will focus on Distribution and Marketing. Three years ago, as a producer/writer I was working with many different artists and the main goal of the team was always to make sure the artist would sign a deal with a major label. However, 9/10 artists eventually didn't succeed with turning their music into a career. The A&R at the label who was ready to sign them got let go, the artist wasn't ready, the ..read more

We're excited that Josh Reynolds offered his time for a guest blog series on mixing. With a resume that includes touring with acts like Little Big Town, Joe Nichols, Wynonna Judd, Love and Theft, and Craig Campbell, Reynolds has proven his ability to deliver in both packed arena settings as well as more intimate venues. He also mixes records for artists such as Belle Mt, The Adelaides, Dancing on Tables and The It City. He engineered Little Big Town's latest record Nightfall. There are lots of potential phases to a musical recording. Many tasks need to be performed to write a song, make an ar ..read more

If you are like me, you have been sitting in your yoga pants since March 13. Some of the creatives in Europe have been almost home for a month now, and here in the US we are about to be on our second and third week of quarantine. Some of you might be experiencing financial stress and pressure, you might have lost all shows for the next few months and the feeling of financial insecurity is something that can and will keep you up at night. Maybe, when this all started, you had a little wish list put together, of things you thought would be fun to do while you are in quarantine, play more guitar ..read more