Music.Chargeit.com

About This Blog

In days of old, a craftsman would be called a smith. For instance, a craftsman that worked with gold would be called a goldsmith. A person who crafts tunes is a tunesmith.

This forum is meant to be a place where songwriters, and those interested in watching tunesmiths, can interact. The idea is that the audience can watch the process, or better yet, take part in the crafting of the tunes. Artists can collaborate. Works in progress, lyrics, demos and such, will be posted. Then, you can help in the process or just sit back watch and listen.

Don’t be afraid to turn it up!

Way, way back at the beginning of the world wide web, we produced the first albums that were specifically written and recorded for distribution over the web. At the time, we were hoping that we could level the playing field with the big record labels… by-pass their monopoly on distribution and sell our own tapes and cd’s to the public. As it turned out, we were a major force in leveling the playing field. However, in the process it became nearly impossible for anyone to make money selling recorded music. In fact, most of the major labels have failed to make money since that time.

At one point in time, I would spend eight to ten hours a day chasing down copyright pirates. It got to the point where I said, “What the heck am I doing this for? This isn’t why I’m a musician and songwriter.” Instead, I embraced the FREE FOR ALL concept. The phrase is not as common today as it was at that time. Back then, directory listings and headings at the major search engines had a category called FREE FOR ALL. A website that had articles, songs or other content that was free to download were called FREE FOR ALL websites.

Since the term FREE FOR ALL had a double entendre meaning to me, I really got a kick out of it. You know? The Internet was like the wild, wild west — a free for all. Watching the major labels scramble in the free for all, made giving away music to the masses all the more fun.

So, I looked to the heavens for an answer to the problems with the music industry, and the reply — make it FREE FOR ALL. That’s what we did. Though it’s hard for me to believe, many years have passed and it paid off!

It use to be musicians and bands would put together a demo tape of songs and then go into an expensive studio to make the multi-track recordings. The demos would be low fidelity (lo-fi) recordings. The studio recordings would be high fidelity (hi-fi) recordings. The general population would hardly ever get to hear material from the demos. In fact, quite often the artists would get upset if the low quality recordings got leaked out to the public. After all, they have an image to maintain. The demos were often recorded with an open microphone on to a cassette recorder. They just could not compare to a recording made in a professional studio on equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars.

Over the past couple of decades, things have dramatically changed. Computers, the Internet and digital technology have become quite affordable. Now, a fairly high fidelity recording can be made with only a minor investment. Computer hardware and software programs make it possible to work on a song, lay down a track or two, and come back later to tweak the engineering or add other tracks.

A Work In Progress
This is something that I really enjoy. It makes it possible to write songs and then re-visit them later. However, there is a problem with doing this. Copyright law does not allow you to copyright a work in progress. This is another of the reasons why in years gone pasts artists didn’t want to release their demos. Which version of a song is the one with the copyright? Add to this the problem of publishing rights and an artist can have a real legal mess.

Do you need to submit a copyright application to the Library Of Congress for a copyright to be valid? No. You do not. However, you can if you want to. I use to. A “Work In Progress” conflict convinced me to stop (that and the cost of applying for thousands of copyrights.) Several years ago I submitted songs to the Library Of Congress as Works In Progress. At that time, I was one of the first publishers on the Internet. I’d come to enjoy the ability to interact with the audience. After hearing what they had to say, I could go back and “fool with the sound.” Why does a song ever have to be done? The evolution of a song can be as satisfying as having a song in the can.

I submitted a batch of songs to the Library Of Congress as Works In Progress. Somehow, they made it through and received a recorded copyright number. Several weeks later, I got a call from an official at the Library. They asked me to tear up my documents. I did not. To this day I have what might be the only official Library Of Congress copyrights on Works In Progress.

Since this process seemed so ridiculous, I stopped applying to the Library. 1) Why does an artist make music? In my case, it’s to enjoy getting a message out. Copyright law can ruin that. 2) The Internet has rendered applying for copyrights fairly useless. Since an artist can almost instantly publish their copyrights to the Internet, proof of date and distribution is very easy. And, when it comes down to copyright law, that is more important than a document from the Library Of Congress.

These are some of the reasons I will be posting lo-fi demos that are works in progress. Stay tuned….

by Daniel

Back in the recording studio probably isn’t the best way to describe what is going on. Yes, we’re recording. But, no… not exactly in a studio. Unless you want to say, all the world is a studio. There are bits and pieces of tools and equipment that have been accumulated over the years. You could acquire most of it even if you’re on a low budget. Almost all of it is portable… making the world your studio.

To date, the following equipment has been used in our quasi-studio:

Acer laptop, Xbox 360, Guitar Hero World Tour Recording Studio, Presonus Inspire 1334 firewire computer recording system, M-audio keyboard, M-audio Session Studio, Steinbrg Cuebase LE recording software, DigiTech RP3 effects pedal, a dynamic microphone, Bose headphones, several 1/4 inch patch cables, a Lo-Z mic. transformer, Razor Lame MP3 software, Mp3tag, Western Digital mini USB harddrive, Knoppix, Linux operating system, Apache server, Core FTP, and WordPress blogging software.

by Daniel

A new album is in the works. Lyrics and demo-recordings have been made for 6 to 8 new songs. It’s likely more shall follow. The engineering, production and equipment have morphed into a fairly unique process. So, I figured I’d write about it here. Hmmm… some sort-of songwriter’s blog? Feel free to join-in.