$30 Music School Copyright © 2004 Muska & Lipman Publishing,a division ofCourse Technology. All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without written permission from the publisher,except for brief passages for review purposes.Address all permission requests to the publisher. All copyrights and trademarks used as examples or references in this book are retained by their individual owners. Senior Vice President,Retail Strategic Market Group:Andy Shafran Publisher:Stacy L.Hiquet Credits:Senior Marketing Manager,Sarah O’Donnell;Marketing Manager,Heather Hurley;Manager of Editorial Services,Heather Talbot;Senior Acquisitions Editor,Kevin Harreld;Senior Editor,Mark Garvey; Associate Marketing Manager,Kristin Eisenzopf;Retail Market Coordinator,Sarah Dubois;Production and Copy Editor,Sandy Doell;Technical Editor,Michael Woody;Proofreader,Gene Redding;Cover Designer, Mike Tanamachi;Interior Design and Layout,Bill Hartman;Indexer,Katherine Stimson. Technology and the Internet are constantly changing,and by necessity of the lapse of time between the writing and distribution of this book,some aspects might be out of date.Accordingly,the author and publisher assume no responsibility for actions taken by readers based upon the contents of this book. Library of Congress Catalog Number:2003114317 ISBN:1-59200-171-8 5 4 3 2 1 Educational facilities,companies,and organizations interested in multiple copies or licensing of this book should contact the publisher for quantity discount information.Training manuals,CD-ROMs,and portions of this book are also available individually or can be tailored for specific needs. Muska & Lipman Publishing,a Division of Course Technology(cid:1) 25 Thomson Place (cid:1) Boston,MA 02210(cid:1) www.courseptr.com(cid:1) [email protected] To my daughter,Amelia Worth.You rock,Kitten. Acknowledgments Thanks to London May, Lydia Lam, Blaine Graboyes, Skip and Beauty’s Confu- sion,Joe Folladori,P.Kimé Lê,Reuben Chandler,Miles Montalbano,Lee Jones in Manchester, John Abella, Mike Stan, Doug Hilsinger, Jay Crawford, Tony Fag, Paul Kirk,Pete Steele,Aaron Nemoyten,Richard Urbano,Tiffany Couser,Tobi in Nuremberg, Michael Woody, JP Kelly, Tracy Hatfield. And as always, I wish to thank and praise Todd McNeill,my genius Web provider. Thanks to Mike G.Kelley. Credits for bands featured in photos in this book and on the CD: The Sick Lipstick:Lindsey Gillard–vocals.Mark McLean–keyboards.Allan Gra- ham–guitar. Dennis Amos–drums (not in any pictures—he asked not to be pho- tographed). An Albatross: Edward B Gieda—vocals. Jay Hudak—bass. Jeremy Gewertz— drums.Kat Paffett—synth.Phillip Price—organ.Jake Lisowski—guitar. Babyland:Dan Gatto—vocals,electronics.Smith—percussion,noise. About the Author Michael Wareham Dean is a musician, filmmaker, and author who lives in Los Angeles.A singer who plays guitar,bass,and keyboards,he has been in five bands including the influential San Francisco rock group,Bomb.Michael has put out 12 records, some on his own label, some on independent labels, and one on Warner Brothers.He does most of his own booking and has toured America six times and Europe twice.He’s played alternative rock since before the term “alternative rock” existed. He also directed and produced the critically acclaimed music and art documentary, D.I.Y.or DIE:How to Survive as an Independent Artist.It has distribution and has shown in many film festivals,and Michael personally took it on U.S.and European tours. Michael wrote the book $30 Film School (Muska & Lipman) and the novel Starv- ing in the Company ofBeautiful Women(Kittyfeet Press).He is currently working on $30 Writing School. He was one of the first adopters of sharing his own music over the Internet and is a relentless promoter of art,both his own and that of others. Michael’s work has been reviewed favorably in Spin Magazine, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, The Face,New Music Express, Film Threat Magazine, and countless fanzines. He’s been interviewed on National Public Radio and on the BBC and featured on the front page of the San Francisco Examiner.He has been invited to lecture at Cal Arts Valencia,San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Museum,Houston’s Leisure Learning Unlimited,and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. He has been interviewed on television (NBC and cable) and on dozens of radio shows.His music has received extensive radio play on both college and commercial stations. Michael says his goal is to “Create sweet-sinister beauty,produce jobs for my very creative friends,and make a plumber’s wage at art.” Michael dresses like a 14-year-old skater,and has since he was 14.He doesn’t care what you think. He’s lived on dirt floors in abandoned buildings and worked in executive support positions in some of the largest corporations in the world. Wanna interview Michael Dean? Contact him directly at [email protected]. Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Chapter 1 Band Politics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Meet the Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Singer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Guitar Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Bass Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Drummer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Keyboard Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 DJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Horn Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Backup Singers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 All That Other Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Roadie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Booking Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Road Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Groupie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Soundman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Producers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Engineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Assistant Engineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Lone Wolf Musicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Art by Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Why Bands Break Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Fighting Over the Publishing Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Artistic Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Contents vii Chapter 2 Songwriting Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Song Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 ABABC(BB) Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 ABABCC Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 ABCABC Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 ABABAB Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 AAAAAAAA Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Hook Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Syncopation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 The Recipe for Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Timbre and Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Writing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Lyrics and Singing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Writing and Performing within Your Limitations . . . . . . 38 Inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Conclusion:Melody Good,Structure Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Chapter 3 Guitars, Basses, and Amps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Getting Your Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Acoustic Pickups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Whammy Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Locking Nuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Left-Handed Guitars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Where to Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 What to Buy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Pawn Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Guitar Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Tuners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 viii Contents Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Changing Guitar Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Amps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Guitar Amps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Bass Amps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Speaker Impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Amp Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Guitar Stands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Guitar Straps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Chapter 4 Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Distortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Wah Wah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Chorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Volume Pedal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Flanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Phase Shifter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Pitch Shifter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Vibrato (Also Called Tremolo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Noise Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Envelope Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Multi-Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Octave Divider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Guitar Synth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Talk Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 E-Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Contents ix In General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Rack Mount Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Chapter 5 Microphones, P.A. Systems, and Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 P.A.Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 How to Solder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Chapter 6 Drums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 What to Get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Bottom Heads? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Tuning Your Drums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Cymbals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Drum Sticks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Drum Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Drum Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Electronic Drums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Get Creative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Coda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Chapter 7 Electronic Music and DJ Equipment . . . . . . . 129 Skip Frederiksen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 A.Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Lounge Lizard Virtual Rhodes/Wurlitzer Electric Piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Emagic EVP73 Virtual Rhodes Piano . . . . . . . . . 133 Sampletank XL 1.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Novation V-Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Fruity Loops 3.56 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 x Contents Reason 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Cakewalk SONAR XL 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Edirol PCR-30 MIDI Keyboard Controller for Virtual Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Keyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Keytars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Taurus Bass Pedal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Yamaha NS10m Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Behringer Mixing Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Pioneer CDJ-1000 for Scratching . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Numark Matrix 3 Pro DJ Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Synths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Roland HS-60 (Juno-106 with Speakers) . . . . . . . 140 Roland D2 Groovebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Yamaha CS1x Control Synth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Casio CZ-1000 Phase Distortion Synth . . . . . . . . 142 Various Sample Libraries/Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Guitars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 “Faded” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 “Blue Deluge” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Interview with DJ Kafka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Interview with DJ Satan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 In Summation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Chapter 8 Operations: Practice Space and Human Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 A Place to Play and Some Friends to Play With . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Lockout or Hourly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Make Your Own Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Staying Clean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165