Category: English

English · This & That

Get To Know LiveSquare Bangladesh

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Music has no boundary and no language. We have known this for a long time and ever since the inception of internet and the rapidly growing trend of downloading music across the globe, international music has started crossing borders like never before. Music2Deal is a global platform as such, which connects various people from different places by uniting them through one common aspect – MUSIC. As the sole partner to Music2Deal in Bangladesh, we want to create strong connections between aspiring musicians and anyone connected with the global music industry. Any professional in Bangladesh can now seek out for any professional deal, partner, company, record label etc. locally or globally through Music2Deal.

Music market in Bangladesh – The music market in Bangladesh is at its growth stage. While it has been functioning from a long time, it never got the opportunity to flourish as it should have. There are lots of talented musicians / artists who are of international standard but only a few got the chance to show their talent outside the country. Often, musicians cannot do quality work due to lack of financial support, lack of technological and logistical support. Therefore musicians need proper platforms where they can bridge their gaps and can portray their talents across new and different horizons.

LiveSquare has been actively working for the music scene in Bangladesh for the last 5 years, and in most cases has been successful. LiveSquare has a 3 year long musical co-operation with Norwegian Embassy and Concerts Norway. Through this project, LiveSquare has been able to send some very talented Bangladeshi bands to Norway, Sri Lanka and India to take part in various music festivals. Artists from Norway, Switzerland, Germany, France and India have also visited Bangladesh because of the musical exchange partnerships with various international cultural bodies. Apart from working with its Norwegian counterpart, LiveSquare has affiliation with Swiss Embassy, Goethe Institute and EMK Center. LiveSquare is also said to be the master of crafting live experiences and has been the organizers of many a successful concert and tour in Bangladesh.

Let us get to know the small, yet very dynamic team behind LiveSquare:

nafis

Nafis Ahmed, CEO, LiveSquare– Nafis Ahmed started LiveSquare as a passion project back in 2007. After finishing his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from IBA and working for a few years, he decided to take the music industry of Bangladesh to the next level. He first started LiveSquare only for organizing concerts. Later LiveSquare branched out to artist management, music marketing, creative planning and logistics related aspects of music and communications. Nafis Ahmed’s favorite band is Pink Floyd.

afrida

Afrida Mahbub, COO, LiveSquare – Afrida Mahbub, a graduate from IBA worked in a multinational firm before joining LiveSquare. She has always been enthusiastic about music and wanted to combine her strength of business strategy with her passion of music. Her ambition is to take LiveSquare beyond the globe and the partnership between LiveSquare and Music2Deal has been fruitful because of her. Afrida likes debating and watching movies at her spare time.

atef

Atef Ahmed Bin Jafar, AGM, LiveSquare – Atef Ahmed was involved with LiveSquare ever since LiveSquare returned as full-fledged music company. Although he was studying abroad while LiveSquare was at its growth in 2011, he used to work with LiveSquare during semester breaks and attend shows every while and then. After completing his undergraduate degree in from Victoria University in Australia, he joined LiveSquare from late as a full timer. Apart from organizing concerts and being a part of LiveSquare, he likes to listen music and collect rare vinyl and music collectibles. Atef Ahmed’s favorite band is Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd.

enam

Enamul Haque, Operations Executive – Enamul Haque, another member of LiveSquare family is also associated with music. Enamul was a drummer of the band called The Metalians which he founded in 2010 along with his friends. He now plays in a band called The Trip which was formed in 2013. Apart from drumming, he wants to shape up the music industry of Bangladesh along with his colleagues in LiveSquare. Enamul’s favorite band is Iron Maiden.

Abhijit Asad, Creative Lead – A business graduate from IBA too, Abhijit Asad actively works for LiveSquare from behind the scene. Abhijit Asad makes all the designs and graphics of LiveSquare and the logo of LiveSquare itself is made by Abhijit Asad. He was there from the inception of this company. Abhijit Asad is involved in some musical side projects.

Mir Hamid, Fin & Admin Manager – While everyone is working on the planning and operations aspects of LiveSquare, Hamid manages the entire office and all the logistical and administrative works of LiveSquare. His father is a music teacher and he is very fond of classical music.

 

 

English · Tips

Musician Does Not Mean Songwriter

Music2Deal2 Comments
via deviantart.net

Chances are you are not a songwriter.

Playing an instrument makes you a musician. Playing an instrument really well and for a living makes you a pro-musician. You probably remember the time it took from learning the first chord to becoming a well-rounded musician who learns pieces quickly, even sight reads and records parts in the studio with very few takes.

All this playing, studying, all the lessons, all the gigs, all the jams, all the mistakes, all this time… all are necessary to make you the musician you are.

Now here is a surprise that really should not be a surprise. It takes a similar amount of learning about counterpoint, harmony, structure, ostinatos, lyrics, symbolism, listener perceptions, etc… to be an equally adept songwriter. Once you have done all that studying it will take a several years of writing for anything from country to twelve-tone music for your skills to become rock solid.

All the time you have spent playing has helped with an understanding of music, but it is by no means the full education required to become a great songwriter.

Just because you have written songs does not necessarily mean that you are a fully rounded songwriter either. I sometimes edit my show reels or samples from film projects I have scored. This does not make me an editor.

A little checklist:

Do fans or customers regularly pay for your music?

Do other people play your songs?

Do you know how to write four-part counterpoint?

Are you well versed in classical and jazz harmony?

Do you regularly write music on tight deadlines?

Is your work used in a commercial context?

I encounter the same phenomenon every day. There are many good musicians or singers with good ideas and concepts that managed to record a song / album that is passable. For a great album they would need a couple of years more songwriting training and a real producer. Unfortunately these artists spend their money and energy trying to force their sub-par material into the market, rather than either spending the time to improve the writing or hiring someone who can help.

The resistance to working with a professional on their music is almost comical. See my case studies article. Everyone on the Billboard charts has a team of experts, but you can accomplish this all by yourself?

While you were out playing gigs, someone else sat at up home and studied songwriting or got a degree in composition. The songwriter depends on your superior performance skills in the studio and on stage. Why would you not utilize somebody’s superior writing skills? A songwriter feels no shame having a better singer perform his music, so why is there an issue working with someone to make your songs better?

I was a full time lecturer for guitar and I still prefer to hire a professional guitarist who plays professionally and regularly. I write and produce all day. The professional guitarist will be in better shape to play.

Check out successful production teams and you will find that they have experts for each part of the production. If you are not a professional songwriter (meaning you pay your bills with your writing skills), you may want to think about the fact that you are undermining your chances as an artist, as a musician, on stage and on recordings by having an amateur create the core product for you as an artist.

There is so much music that sounds the same, so I think it is important that you fight for your unique sound and for your voice. Working with a songwriter, or an “old-fashioned” producer, does not mean that you will be turned into something you do not want to be.

It means that you will sound your best and become the artist you are meant to be. A good co-songwriter or producer will support you, sounding your best, not changing who you are.

Article by Lars Deutsch

English · Tips

Who are you? Or: How to disappear completely, while trying to get noticed

Music2Deal2 Comments

Screen shot 2014-01-20 at 17.06.08

Article by Lars Deutsch

True story.

I watched a music video yesterday. The video had a couple of good ideas and looked pretty good for an unsigned artist. The artist was female, kind of young and kind of good  looking – I guess.

I am not being difficult. I really don’t know. After watching her video, I am not sure of her age – not even ballpark. Okay, she’s likely older than 13 and younger than 40. I am not of her ethnicity and I have no idea what she stands for or who she is as an artist or a person. The video tried very hard to follow and idea of what video “should be” , so did she, and so did the music.

Speaking about the music, I have no idea what kind of voice she has, or if she can sing or write songs. Her vocals were heavily processed, a lot of the music was either loops or sounds like loops, and everything was very compressed. I don’t think there were any real instruments or any custom writing in the arrangement.

If I spent four minutes watching a video and listening to a song and I have no lasting impression, then there is something very wrong. Isn’t the idea of a video to showcase the artist? Or at least the song?

There are several tools that artists use to tune their vocals. All of them change your voice. Autotune and its clones not only tune, but also mask the true sound of your voice. Add heavy compression and a filter or two and the character and nuance of a voice are eliminated.

While she might be a good singer, a beautiful woman and an interesting person, this artist has no chance of showing it. With heavy filters on the music and visuals, she has become “any/every female singer between 14 – 39”.

She went to great lengths to hide… to be discovered.

Being interchangeable and not leaving a lasting impression is the opposite of what an artist should want. What to do?

Give your voice a chance.

Choose the microphone that works for your voice, not the microphone that happens to be in your friend’s vocal booth. Make sure that you do not eliminate the character of your voice in mixing.

Sometimes a heavy vocal effect can be a storytelling tool or there is a good reason for it.
Not being able to hit the notes should not be the reason you use effects.

Artist or DJ?

Loops are great tools, but loops do not contain your “heartbeat” or character. Loops do not respond to your vocal line. Loops do not use an inversion when you need a new color the second time around. Loops are other people’s music that you are playing, just like a DJ.

Whatever your style and background, your music should be custom-made. The fewer premade elements the better. The more you shape your material to be unique the more you are an artist. Please check out my other text about music writing for a fuller exploration of this topic.

Ok, everybody in the first row!

High frequencies make a sound appear closer. Combine high frequencies and a lot of compression and it is “in your face”. If everything has a lot of high frequency and is heavily compressed, everything is in your face. This is another good way to loose nuance and character.

Your voice might sound dull after everything else has been treated with an extra layer of high frequency and heavy compression. This usually means it is time to heavily treat the vocals as well.

While this might not be good advice for 2014, this is good music advice:

Keep everybody’s high frequencies under control, so there is a room in front of the “band” for the vocals. The end result is that the vocals will not need to be treated in order to cut through the noise.

What is hip now is not hip when you hit the market place

Having idols and learning what works is great. You might be happier and more successful aiming for something that is more ”you”.

Real life and pen and paper solutions:

Write about your topics, write songs that have your heartbeat, your sensibility and that support your stories. Stay away from producers / songwriters that would make you sound the same as their last ten productions. No sound is more unique than your voice, and you should protect it. Find a way to turn who you are and what interests you into the core of your artist persona.