I am a singer/songwriter (English Pop-Music) living in Munich/Germany. In the past I already had success with songs that I wrote for female artists – but also for my own, e.g. as only solo-artist and finalist in a music competition for the famous German TV station “ARD”. Two years ago I decided to work on my debut-album, which currently appeared on the 15th of November this year!
Why have you decided to become a member of Music2Deal?
First of all with “Won`t let you down” I wrote my first song for the album 2 years ago. Later I decided to look for a platform, where a) I could present this song a closed community of people working in the music area and b) furthermore do some networking. Soon I found “Music2Deal” and was positively surprised by the variety of different options that I was offered. So I decided to become a member and uploaded my song “Won`t let you down”.
You told us that you have made a really good deal on Music2Deal. Can you tell us more about it?
For the next 3 months “Won`t let you down” was ranked in the TOP 5 list of all songs due to the good votings by different members all over the world. I got very positive feedback and every day I made more new contacts. Then I used the search function looking for a label that was open for a newcomer. Later I got signed by 7us media group GmbH, an excellent label in Winnenden!
You released your debut album “Stars” on the 15th November. Are all songs written by yourself? How long have you been working on the album?
All in all it only took 1 year to have the songs written for my debut-album “Stars”. In this year we also produced my first video on the first single release “Won`t let you down”, which actually has > 22.000 clicks on YouTube! The song was released on 4th of October and already made it into the TOP 100 German radio mainstream charts! A really great start – further pushed through my label!
What are your plans for the future and your musical career?
My big target is to emotionally reach people all over the world with my songs, passion, my voice and the piano! Actually starting in Germany to enlarge my fanbase. So I am in contact with different booking agencies in order to get gigs. I am open for new requests and would also play as support act for famous artists. I can play solo – but also have a great band with professional musicians! Also, I am still searching for a music manager. If you are interested, you can send me an email (tothomas.rodenbach@gmx.de) or get in contact with me through Music2Deal!
You can also get more information about me on my Facebook fanpage:
David Jones from Mix Asylum (http://www.mixasylum.co.uk) here again to discuss another valuable production technique that you may not be aware of. Today’s topic is all about Logic Pro 9’s “Amp Designer”, so let’s get to it shall we?
What is “Amp Designer”?
Amp Designer is a process available in Logic Pro 9 that allows a guitar tone (or any tone if you wish), to be shaped so that it has the power and drive of a “real” guitar played through a professional amplifier. Power and depth plays a big part in recordings, so this program allows a dry recorded signal to give the impression it has been recorded through a Marshall Amplifier (or combinations thereof).
When I say “Marshall Amplifier” I mean Logic’s emulation of said amplifier, but do not let that put you off, the difference between a dry and affected signal can give you a vastly different sound (as the sound examples will testify), and will ultimately give you the “sound” you are looking for.
How do I find “Amp Designer”?
Locating Amp Designer is a very simple process and can be found like so:
On your channel strip, press a new insert and go the first option Amps & Pedals>Amp Designer
You will now be presented with this view:
Amp Designer in Logic Pro 9
How do I choose what Amplifier to use?
Closer view of Amp Designer
This is just the standard amplifier that is presented (called the “Small Tweed Combo”), which can be easily changed. To explore the many tones which Amp Designer has to offer, simply click on the top pull down menu (Direct left to the ‘Copy’ button).
As you can see, there are many different tones which you can experiment with to get that tone you’re after. There are three categories to choose from and these are:
01: Pure Amps
This category is for 1 tone amplifers (emiting a single sound tone for your signal). These include a “Large Blackface Combo”, a “Sunshine Stack” and many others for a harder type of guitar tone.
02: Hybrid Amps
As you might have guessed from the title, this category is for amplifers which have more than one sound characteristic and is more suitable for a cleaner type of tone. Tones in this category include “Clean Machine”, “Old and New Stack” etc.
03: Browse by Tone
If you haven’t already found your ideal sound from either category, the last menu lets a user define their own sound characterstic (such as Clean, Dirty etc), and again choices are presented:
The choice continues however, selecting the tone type is only half the story! When you’ve found your ideal type of amp, you can choose what type of sound you want from it. For example, if I chose ‘Large Blackface Combo’, I could choose different tonal varieties such as Clean, Crunch, Distort etc. This ultimately gives you even more control over how your dry signal will sound. As with anything though, experimentation is key when using technology like this.
I should probably mention at this point that when you do select a new amplifer, this original interface will change automatically when you click a new choice. The ‘Large Blackface Combo’ amplifer looks like this for example:
How is Amp Designer used in practice?
Now that we’ve discussed how to find the amplifiers, how do we use them to affect our dry signal? For this part of the tutorial, I am going to be using the Large Blackface Combo, but the features mentioned are the same for every amplifier available. These are purely suggestions of using some features. What might be good for someone might not be good for another, so please use discretion.
You will automatically hear a difference in the sound of your signal just by adding a new amplifier to the signal path. If you don’t like what you’re hearing though (but think what you’re using is similar to the sound you want to hear) you can customise the sound of the amp by using one of two (or sometimes both!) methods:
Use the dials on the amplifier
It might sound an obvious solution, but altering some of the dials can radically alter the character of the amp. For example, if you want a grittier sound to your tone, try lessening the ‘treble’ dial of the EQ section, this reduces some of the high frequencies coming into the tone.
If you feel the tone could do with some more ‘space’ and ‘depth’, try adding some reverb to the amp by flicking/clicking the ‘ON’ switch (NOTE – Reverb will not work otherwise) and experimenting with the level.
Change the microphone to alter the amp’s character
Another useful feature of altering the sound characteristic of the amp could be to change the ‘recording’ microphone that is positioned on the amp. You can find this in the ‘Mic’ tab at the bottom half of the Amp Designer screen, and lets you choose between Condenser, Dynamic and Ribbon.
Condenser MicrophoneDynamic Microphone
You can also move the position of the microphones, as sometimes a particular cone of an amplifier can have a ‘sweet spot’ as such where the tone is outputted at optimum clarity. Again, please experiment with this (as this will vary for different amps) but to move the microphone position, all you have to do is hover over the name of the microphone and a photo of a speaker cone will appear:
Drag the white dot with your mouse, and the microphone will be moving along the speaker cone. You are limited in that the microphone only moves on the cone it is currently on (i.e. you can’t move it to the speaker cone underneath for example) but this should give you enough sound changing options.
For this example, I have moved the microphone in an extreme position to show you that it moves. Obviously, when doing this for real, experimentation is the key.
The Final Word
I hope this tutorial has given you lots of useful techniques on how to get that ‘perfect’ guitar tone you are after. There is lots of interaction with Amp Designer you can do, so please don’t be scared to try new things. Experimenting is what makes music so interesting!!!
As I just alluded to in the conclusion, my soundcloud account has before and after sound examples of just some of the different amps which are available in Amp Designer. Please check them out and hear for yourself what Amp Designer can do for you!!!
Steve, you are the new representative of Music2Deal Portugal. Why did you decide to become a member of the team?
Music2Deal shares many of the ideals and practices of “The Portugal Music Scene”. We proactively seek opportunities for artists within the international marketplace. Networking with the ability to showcase your artist, music, talent, skill or service to other active industry reps with the same interests fits our business model perfect and showed positive results within hours of using the platform. Joining the team simply made good sense.
Please tell us something about yourself. What kind of experiences do you already have in the music industry?
I was lucky enough to start at a young age in the live side, first playing rhythm guitar in a band (not very well), working as a roadie, backline tech, production manager and eventually tour manager for years. It was an incredible insight into the workings of many bands, labels, agents, promoters and management companies being right on the front line of both success and failure. Constantly learning about release planning, promotion, the live show, the ins and outs, and much more. Throughout these many years of touring I put to practice some new skills by jumping in the deep end with my own label distributed by a subsidiary of Sony. As well I managed friends bands and promoted the occasional event. I eventually moved into the international development side and away from touring though I do sometimes miss being on the tour bus, plane, train, car, taxi, van, and the laughs and tears.
Is there a particular reason why you settled to Portugal?
It was really just a life change move after living in London for 23 years. Obviously sunshine and beaches attracted me after the first holiday here years ago but it was the feeling I had when I first looked in an estate agent window. I wan´t just dreaming, I was window shopping.
What can you tell us about the music industry in Portugal? What can Music2Deal do to improve the situation?
The Music industry in Portugal is much the same as anywhere in the World, however one of the main problems we face here is a lack of information about The Portugal Music Scene getting out of the Country. The government simply does not spend on music export. It talks about it but very little money reaches the hands of organisations who set up to do the governments job promoting culture. To give you a little idea; 2 years ago Portugal and Spain were featured at Canadian Music Week in Toronto. We were part of a group set up called Mission Canada. We lobbied government, chased ministers, had the best press any band would kill for, approached national companies for investment and had a record breaking 22 bands invited to play. In the end only 8 bands could make it due to lack of interest from any government body or National industry leader. Spain on the other hand had over 20 bands, the tourism minister was present, they hired their own venue so more bands could play and they had over 25 official delegates. Saying all that though, Portugal is a hotbed of amazing talent. Once known only for Fado, Portugal has an amazing live scene, incredible indie scene, Jazz, Blues, you name it. The festivals in Portugal are some of the best in the World and favoured by many big touring acts One of my favourite parts of my job is to send someone a track from bands we work with. The reaction is always … “Wow, they´re from Portugal?”.
To answer “what can M2D do to improve the situation? It is HOW members of Music2Deal use the platform which can help any change. The Music industry in general is changing and has always been changing. We can sit around complaining like we are the injured party and “rebrand as a survivor” (as David Byrne recently put it in the Guardian) or we can look for opportunity in change. M2D offers a platform to help people at work in this industry. Taking 10 minutes to start setting up a profile and starting to network is the only hurdle anyone faces. Get through those few minutes of your life and M2D will already be helping.
What are your next steps concerning your work as a Music2Deal representative?
The first step is making people aware of M2D, helping brand it in Portugal and getting buy in from somegreat industry leaders here. Building our fanbase like we would for any artist we work with and learning about our fans. The feedback is already great and will grow I´m sure. I am looking forward to many music industry reps around the world discovering the wealth Portugal has to offer.
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