Since it’s Thanksgiving Day today here in the United States, I wanted to express thanks to all my faithful subscribers. Once again, I do appreciate everyone remaining subscribed even though my posting has been pretty much non-existent. Keep hangin in there, because things will pick back up again soon!

Also in recognition of Thanksgiving, I want to express thanks to all my twitter followers, Myspace friends and facebook friends. I’m also thankful for the fans of Wes Sp8, the fans of Mother/Father and the fans of Radical Notion. And of course I’m thankful for my friends and family offline as well…

One last thing: for those who are into getting deals on Black Friday, you might be interested to know that at Radical Notion Digital we do Black Friday deals every day. If you would you rather shop somewhere you’re more familiar with, then our Wes Sp8 CD Baby page and our Wes Sp8 iTunes page have some pretty good deals too. Mother/Father music is not available to purchase yet, but will be soon.

Hope today feels like a holiday no matter where you live…

Turkey photo by xybermatthew and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

I just finished reading Seth Godin’s new book Tribes. It’s an extremely motivational book about leadership. It’s also extremely short and to the point. I read the entire book in four hours, and the only reason it took me so long (it didn’t take me long at all!) is because I paused to take time to carry out my daily responsibilities.

This book is practically written for the music industry (Musicians, do you realize that your fans are your tribe?). I recommend every entrepreneur read this book (hint: everyone is an entrepreneur). I think this book should be a requirement for all leaders-and record producers and audio engineers are all leaders (hint: if you are reading this blog, you are a leader). If I were teaching a college course-any college course-I would make it a requirement to read this book, so needless to say I think all college students should read this book immediately.

Go read this book. Don’t waste time coming up with reasons why you can’t read this book, just get it done. We are all busy. We all have way too much stuff to be doing (Yeah, I know you have that presentation to prepare, or that test to study for, or that guitar to record, or that vocal to comp, or that checkbook to balance), but by the time you’re done thinking through all the chores you have to complete, you could be 50 pages in, and halfway to that brilliant epiphany that is going to set new things in motion for you.

Do this: take one week, and plan to work just a tiny bit harder. Put in just a little extra time by forgoing your regular relaxation time, and trade it for just a little time reading Tribes. It’s an extremely small investment for a potentially enormous return. And because you’re a faster reader than me, it won’t even take you four hours. Then you will be a heretic, the term Seth uses in the book to describe a person who does not accept the status quo, but instead evokes change (i.e. a leader). To make it almost effortless, the book is offered in multiple formats (even a free version). When you are finished with the book, give your copy to a friend.

One last thing: look for my buddy, Jonathan Harms, on the inside cover.

I’d love to hear about your epiphanies in the comments!

It’s been a little over a month since I posted on producer notes. I’ve been tending a lot of irons in the fire lately, and all my projects have kept me from being as consistent as I would like to be around here. However, as there is a link in the Tribes eBook to producer notes, I wanted to have something current so that this site does not look like a dead end to any potential new visitors.

If you are a new visitor via the link from the Tribes eBook, I appreciate you stopping by producer notes. The purpose of this blog is to serve as a conduit to share my ideas for recording music, as well as discussing ideas for new business models which are relevant to record producers and engineers attempting to keep up with the evolution curve of the music industry. If you feel like this blog is for you, please spend some time looking around. I hope you find some useful information.

Those who are subscribers/regular readers of producer notes, I appreciate you staying subscribed during this time of inconsistency. I hope to once again regularly post content to producer notes in the near future, once I am able to complete the projects on my radar screen at the moment.

In the meantime whether you’re a new face or regular around here, feel free to contact me at stinson[at]producernotes[dot]com. I’d love to talk to you.

Next on my list of events to attend is the Mother/Father set at Mercy Lounge tonite at 11pm. www.myspace.com/thisismotherfather. If you are planning to attend this show tonite, I hope that we can connect. Come up and say, “Hi.” I’ll be the guy dressed in all black operating a video camera (if the venue will let me).

I’ve got my personal schedule for the events I plan on attending posted here: nbn08.sched.org/stsn. I’ll also be posting my whereabouts and other various NBN riffs via my Twitter page. Follow me at twitter.com/stsn, for those interested. If you are going to be at any one of these events I’d love to connect with you, so again, please do come up and say, “Hi.”

I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend. Hope to see you out there!

BTW-Feel free to leave your schedule, whether linked or typed out, in the comments section below…

Now, NBN has grown into a full blown music festival. Each year the festival has gotten a bit bigger than the last, and this year it is promising to be the biggest it’s ever been. There are scheduled many daytime conference activities, discussion panels, music industry parties, film events, block parties, VIP parties, afterparties and of course, MUSIC!

I don’t need to explain to you how important of an investment this is for your music career. If you are looking to get your start as a record producer, engineer, artist manager, A&R guy, musician or whatever else, you need to show up at Next Big Nashville. With all the extra events planned this year, the opportunity to network in the industry is bigger than ever. You will be rubbing elbows with some of the industry’s most legendary people. Even if you live hundreds of miles away from Nashville, it’s worth the trip. Nashville is an extremely unique place for music, and you will be surprised at the people who are hanging around this tight-knit music community.

So don’t miss this opportunity to jump-start your career. For $100 you can pick up a VIP Badge, which will snag you access to pretty much anything and everything that is going on at NBN, as well as some discounts from certain retail partners. You will also get free subscriptions to Paste and American Songwriter magazines. Trust me, the return on that investment is ten-fold. It’s rare to find a conference/expo which is that cheap in any industry.

However, if $100 is still too much, you can grab a wristband for $35, which will get you access to all the showcases and some of the discounts, subscriptions, etc. Take a look at nextbignashville.net for all the details.

Finally, while your at Next Big Nashville, swing by The Mercy Lounge on September 11th, and check out Mother/Father-a band I’ve been doing some work with for the last 3 or 4 months. They are playing the SESAC showcase at 11pm Central.

We have extended the 888 promotion we did yesterday. If you missed your chance to download the free recording from yesterday, then you now have the whole weekend to get it.

Send an email to 888@wessp8.com anytime today or tomorrow and we will send you the link for the download.

Get to downloading!

BTW-Don’t send any correspondence to the above email address, as no one will see it. It is purely an auto-response message. If you do want to talk with someone real, send me an email at stinson[at]producernotes[dot]com. I’d love to talk with you about anything.

Wes Sp8 888 Album cover

Well things have become very busy lately, which is a good thing. I have not posted on producer notes in over a month, but thought I would show up for a minute to run a promotion. Since today is 888, and I am part of a team who manages and produces an artist who goes by Wes Sp8, I thought it would be cool to tell you about something we cooked up to play to the 8 theme.

If you send an email to 888@wessp8.com by 8pm tonite, we will send you a link to get a free download of a live version of Behind My Back, recorded at a band rehearsal.

Additionally, I want to link you to another free download of Please. This is the studio cut, and title track off Please EP. Go to www.wessp8.com/music and right click (ctrl+click on Mac) on the please.mp3 link near the top of the page. Choose “save file to disk.”

While I’m pointing you to free downloads, I might as well remind you that you can get the full mp3 version of Please EP for free at www.radicalnotion.net/store. While you are there take a look around, because Please EP comes in several other higher quality formats you may be interested in (they’re cheap!), such as FLAC Lossless, Apple Lossless and the physical CD.

Finally, you can find Please EP at these online retail outlets:
iTunes
www.cdbaby.com/cd/wessp8
Amazon

Download away, and come back here to leave comments.

Happy 888, and hope to be posting again sooner than later…

I guess the 4th of July is really only relevant to my fellow Americans, but in any case I hope that you have a safe and fun evening. Enjoy the fireworks with your friends and family, and drink responsibly.

I want to say thanks again to my faithful readers and subscribers. I appreciate you bearing with me while I lay low from producer notes for a bit, and interrupt the schedule of regular content to work on my startup. I do want to remind you, however, that I still plan on offering new content periodically, just not in the normal once-a-week fashion.

Talk with you soon…

The picture in this post was taken by absolutwade. It is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

The first being the debut record from the rock/alternative band Seabird, ‘Til We See The Shore, released on Credential Recordings. Last spring my friend Jacquire King, who produced a lot of the record, invited me to be involved in the recording process. I am very grateful for the opportunity, as working with Seabird was a fantastic experience of friendship and professional growth for me.

Til We See The Shore is twelve tracks and runs 47m20s. It’s full of rock/alternative hits which range from piano centered ballads complemented by melodic guitar embellishments to slightly edgier/darker rock tunes backed by complex drum landscapes and unapologetic distorted bass discharges. Every song is brought to total completion via Aaron Morgan’s extremely characteristic and uncommonly warm lead vocal.

www.seabirdmusic.com
www.myspace.com/seabird

The other record I got to work on last summer was Rick Brantley’s debut record, Prize Fight Lover Soul Auctioneer, which was put out by Carnival Recording Company. Mark Wilson, a high school friend of mine, is Rick Brantley’s manager. He asked me to be involved in the recording process, and I was excited to do so. I got to record strings, horns, guitars, mandolins and background vocals on two songs. It’s always fun to hang out and work with friends in the studio. Especially when you’re making rock records.

Prize Fight Lover Soul Auctioneer is a straight up rock-anthem juggernaut. It is six tracks and runs 27m45s. Once you set this record in motion, you cannot stop it. It’s massive guitars and dense drums give the record a perpetual momentum. These elements build the foundation of a mean rock record which is then juxtaposed against the upper registers of warm brass and sweet strings. Rick’s raspy rock vocal rounds out the package. It has the perfect amount aggression to satisfy your rock appetite, and snuffs out any chance to claim this record as anything besides rock.

www.rickbrantley.com
www.myspace.com/rickbrantley

So both of these records hit the store shelves yesterday. They are available wherever recorded music is sold.
Seabird on iTunes
Rick Brantley on iTunes

I seem pretty interested in the promotion of these bands, don’t I? Well that is for two reasons. A) These artists are my friends, and I would like to see them do well in terms of record sales, etc. B) When you talk about these bands to other people you are indirectly supporting me and everyone else who’s name is in the liner notes. No, I don’t make money off the record sales, but I would like to see the projects I’m involved in get some good exposure.

So I want to ask a favor of you. Spend ten minutes listening to these artists’ music via the links I have posted. Afterwards, come back here and leave a comment with your own review. I would love to know what you think of the music. In addition, start one conversation with a friend about Seabird and Rick Brantley within the next seven days. It would be a great way for us all to connect with each other, very personally, around a common musical interest. Beyond that, it would be a great way for you to tell someone about some new music, and we all know how good it feels to be the first to know about a great new band, right?

This is my fiftieth post to producer notes. I want to use this moment to retrace the genesis and initial growth of this blog. I also want to recapitulate the purpose of this blog, and fill you in on what I plan for the future of this blog.

The Creation of a Blog
July 10th will be the year mark for this blog. When I decided to begin blogging, I started out on www.wordpress.com. My main motivation for starting a blog at the time was simply because I was interested in taking up a new hobby. I had become interested in writing, and I felt like I needed my own platform to express my thoughts. After becoming inspired by Glenn Reynolds’ blog [pajamasmedia.com/instapundit] and book, An Army Of Davids [An Army Of Davids on Amazon], starting my own blog was something I really wanted for myself.

After about five months worth of studying the proper way to blog, and writing to find a voice, I decided to migrate over to my own domain on a dedicated wordpress installation. It was at this point that I branded my blog with the producer notes title. I also began to fine tune my topics so that I could more closely target my audience; people who wish to learn how to become producers and engineers.

The Success of a Blog
For being a part-time blogger, I feel that producer notes has been a success so far. Throughout the last fifty posts, I have achieved the goals I wanted for this blog. I have learned a lot about blogging and building web sites, and I have been able to create the outlet I wanted to express myself. I have also been able to create a platform which allows me to promote my production work, and I have gained a modest following of readers and subscribers interested in what I do and the information I offer.

I will continue to set new goals for this blog. There is still plenty of room to learn about what I am doing, and many specific goals I want to achieve. I am continuously learning more about blogging and running web sites every day. I expect that producer notes will continue to be a successful project for me, as I craft this blog through putting to practice what I learn.

The Future of a Blog
There are two final things I want to say in this post. First, is that I am becoming very busy. Radical Notion continues to grow, and along the way it requires us to invest more attention in planning and developing. Additionally, I am going to be working on a couple of records, which will probably take the rest of the summer to complete. Obviously this will take me away from other tasks, such as writing for this blog. I have been trying very hard to have a post prepared every week, but since I am a part-time blogger there are other projects that must take priority from time to time. As we continue in our growth phase with Radical Notion, and I begin these projects in the studio, I am going to have to scale down my posting schedule on producer notes. I still plan to periodically contribute to this blog, but for the next several months I will be off my once-a-week posting schedule, making my appearances here a lot less predictable.

Second is that I would like you to help me make producer notes better. Is there anything you would like to see done differently? Any topics relating to producing and engineering that you would like to know more about? Have the topics I covered so far been informative, or are they too basic? I want to guarantee that I am covering topics which are relevant and educational to those seeking to become producers and engineers. So if you have suggestions for changes I could make to anything about this site, leave a comment or send an email to stinson[At]producernotes[DOT]com.

I look forward to hearing from you. And remember that I’m not going away, I’m just going to be posting less frequently. Thanks for being loyal readers/subscribers.

The photo in this post is licensed under a creative commons license.