Tag: music2deal

English · Interviews

Interview with Steve Bootland (Music2Deal Representative Portugal)

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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.

Steve Bootland on Music2Deal: http://music2deal.com/pt/theportugalmusicscene

by Sara Shirazi
English · This & That

Mix Asylum is offering free mixing and mastering services for Music2Deal users

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mixasylum

Music2Deal is happy to bring a great opportunity to all artists looking to get their music professionally mixed and mastered free of charge for limited time only!

Mix Asylum is a new, online, mixing, mastering and production venture with the emphasis on affordable work for bands/artists.

Founder and Music2Deal user David Jones, is a newly qualified graduate, gaining a 2:1 in BSc Honours in Music Technology and Production.
“My sole purpose is to help bands/artists achieve their potential without costing them a fortune.”

Having a soundproofed and fully equipped, industry standard studio using some of the best software including Logic Pro, Universal Audio, IK Multimedia and Slate Digital to name a few he can provide you with top quality mixing and mastering services.

As a Music2Deal user you can get your FREE mix (until 31st January) by contacting David via www.mixasylum.co.uk / info@mixasylum.co.uk

Q&A

Why Mix Asylum?

I have only just started my studio and need to increase my portfolio. I know there is a lot of competition but want to prove my dedication and passion to the industry. I also want to help new singers/bands/artists to get a professional/industry sound without costing them a fortune.

What can our users/customers expect?

I am currently offering a FREE service (until 31st January 2014) of:

3 FREE Mastering of songs

AND 1 FREE Mix of a recording

AND 2 HALF PRICE Mixes

Mixes can take anything up to 4 days depending on the amount of tracks involved hence only one song for free!

Could you tell us bit about your experience and equipment / studio?

My Experience:

I gained a Distinction (across the board of 18 subjects) on my college course of BTEC National Diploma in Music Technology Level 3 (2008-2010).

I have just been awarded a 2:1 University Degree in BSc Honours in Music Technology and Production (2010-2013).

During the University course, my final assessment was creating a music recording portfolio, where 6 recordings had to be made in 6 different genres, and I had to organise all of the bands/studio recording time at the University myself (as well as the 30+ other students!). It was high pressured, but it was a good learning curve for me, to get the hands-on experience of a true working studio. I completed the portfolio and obtained a ‘first’ classification (75%).

As part of a final year unit about the wider entertainment industry, the task was to interview people who do a similar job as to what the student wished to do after graduation (so this could have been session musicians, software developers etc) but I wanted to interview producers who have inspired my feelings of a great “sound” on recordings over the course of my music exposure. I was blessed to personally arrange and conduct interviews with:

             Terry Brown (Rush, Cutting Crew)

             Keith Olsen (Whitesnake, Scorpions, Top Gun Soundtrack)

             Tony Platt (AC/DC, Foreigner, Gary Moore, Dio)

             Michael James Jackson (Kiss, Hurricane, LA Guns)

Every one of these interviews was an incredibly humbling experience, and was fascinating learning about their start-ups in the industry. I think they all subconsciously inspired me in my desire to succeed with my own studio, as all of these people had to work hard in their studio, so why can’t I in theory?

I have recently been working with and recording a band (Abandon Her), samples of which can be found on my Soundcloud site and my Music2Deal profile.

My equipment/studio:

Equipment:

I use an iMac Snow Leopard10.6 with Adam A7x as my primary monitors and Sony CMT-MX550i’s as secondary monitors. My main production software is Logic Pro9 but I also have a MacBook Pro with ProTools, Cubase, Reason etc.

I have Universal Audio – UA-2 Duo Custom featuring many top analogue  plug-ins including:

Ampex ATR 102 Tape Machine

Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb

Fairchild Compressor

Neve 88RS Channel Strip

I have many more professional plug-ins including:

Line 6 – Professional Amplifier emulation giving access to 100s of classic guitar and bass amplifiers.

EastWest – Professional industry MIDI Emulation

Symphonic Orchestra

Gypsy (Emulating Spanish/Middle Eastern Instruments)

Ministry of Rock (Emulating Rock guitars, drum kits)

          Fab Four (Emulating instruments with a 60’s production vibe)

For full details please see my website (http://www.mixasylum.co.uk/equipment-page/4578584468).

Studio

“Mix Asylum” is the name of my production studio, based in Tamworth (near Birmingham) in the UK. It is a home production studio, but a lot of time and effort has been made to professionally change the space into a working studio. For example, it has been acoustically treated with professional foam panels to stop all reflections from emanating in the space, and these are covered all over the studio. The floor has also been acoustically treated so that there are no build up of bass frequencies in the space. What you hear from the monitors is exactly what you get, so someone recording here has got a professional recording space for a fraction of the price of commercial studios.

For photos, please see my website (http://www.mixasylum.co.uk/studio-pictures/4578590366)

Where can users listen to some of your previous work?

People can listen to examples of my mixing work on my soundcloud page http://www.soundcloud.com/mix-asylum. I’ve tried to do songs with as much variety as possible so that you can see I am a versatile mixing engineer. I also have a small selection on my Music2Deal profile.

If you like what you hear and would like to take advantage of my FREE offer,I have my own wetransfer page, a site that allows FREE, secure transfer of files, so there is no need to post me a CD, memory stick etc. This can be reached at http://www.mixasylum.wetransfer.com and step by step instructions of how to use this page can be found on my website at: http://www.mixasylum.co.uk/sending-your-files/4578999871

 

English · Interviews

Music2Deal – Interview with Dennis Makhari (Ambassador)

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We take the needs of our members at heart and although Music2Deal runs on a technological platform, we form and keep close relationships with our members, whether it be an artist, a publisher or any other music industry professional.

We decided to introduce our first appointed Music2Deal Ambassador by means of a video interview, since it creates credibility and enthusiasm amongst current and future members.   There is no better testimonial but to see and hear what Music2Deal is doing for all players in the music industry, but to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

About Dennis Makhari

As with many songwriters, Dennis holds a steady position as a management consultant in the corporate business world.  However his passion for writing music and as an entrepreneur with a vision, Dennis realized the importance of networking and joined Music2Deal in December 2011.  He has been a supportive and very active member of Music2Deal, ensuring that he builds the necessary contacts in the music industry through Music2Deal to bring his songwriting and music production visions to fruition.

Dennis has an extremely wide and diverse taste in music, from R&B right through to the likes of Pink Floyd and is currently writing songs for his next album project.  Dennis’s immediate future plan is to put together a band that can provide an authentic live musical experience, as he states “we want to connect with our audience in a way that is unrestricted by a specific genre”.