What's the best data protection for digital music projects?
I've been seeing a lot of pushy sales schlock recently for products that supposedly "protect your music data". And the products are junk because they don't offer any better physical data protection at all.
However, there are legitimate ways that do offer proper music data protection that actually work.
1. Use memory cards made for digital cameras and camcorders
What makes something like Samsung 64GB PRO better than a regular card?
A few things.
First, it's built to have the crap kicked out of it. Digital cameras and camcorders - particularly camcorders - absolutely kick the crap out of memory cards with the constant reading and writing of data. File integrity must be good, else anything you record will encounter file corruption and be useless. Cards built for camera/camcorder abuse make for excellent use in a music recording rig no matter what kind it is.
Second, pro-grade memory cards for cameras/camcorders are built to withstand things like x-ray scans at airports. If you didn't know, it is possible for a memory card to have its data corrupted by an airport security scanner. Pro-grade cards are billed as being x-ray proof and being magnetic proof as well. In a studio environment (even if just a small home studio,) using memory cards with that kind of protection built-in is good to have.
Third, pro-grade cards handle data streaming data a lot better than regular cards. In a multitrack session where multiple streams can be going on from multiple files, this will serve to your advantage. A card that can't handle streaming data properly can lead to a whole project corrupting itself and you'll lose many hours of work.
2. BACK UP YOUR STUFF
It's incredible how many musicians don't back up their music project data. They just let data sit there on one hard drive, don't back it up, then cry when that hard drive breaks later. And yes, it will break.
Back up your music project data. I don't care how you back it up. Memory card, internet cloud storage, DVD, whatever. Back that stuff up. Don't think about it. Just do it.
3. Use RAR with recovery record for an extra layer of data protection
Buy a copy of WinRAR. When you go to create the RAR archive of your music project, use the Recovery Record feature. What this does is make your RAR archive 2% larger with a recovery record.
That 2% extra is a "backup for your backup", so to speak. And all it takes is checking a box when you go to create the archive. If when extracting the archive later it fails due to corruption of the file, you can click the big "Repair" button within WinRAR that will most likely be able to reconstruct most if not all of the data as long as most of the archive is in tact.
Why go through all this crap?
Believe me when I say that one of the worst feelings is having a music project disappear due to data hardware failure.
However, the worst of the worst is when you can only recover some but not all of a music project's files. You'll have bits and pieces of it, but that one part that made the whole song work is corrupt and you'll never get it back. It's a huge insult. The data is there, right in your face, it doesn't work, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it.
That one time you need it...
As long as you back up your projects routinely, use media that can take a beating and use a backup method that offers some kind of recovery record option, you'll be in good shape.
The recovery record is the most important thing on the list above. You may never need it, but if in the event you do and your data is recovered, you'll thank your lucky stars you were smart enough to use it.
5 reasons why you can't finish recording a song
If you've tried and tried to finish recording a song but just can't seem to do it, there are 5 simple reasons why you haven't.
If all you have is a little multitrack recorder, a guitar, a bass guitar, one cheap distortion pedal, one microphone and nothing else, that's all you need, if you take the right approach.
1. Are you overcomplicating things?
Do you need a guitar solo in the song? No. Do you need drum fills? No. Do you need crazy amount of audio effects? No.
To get a recording done quick and clean, simplify. Use the absolute bare minimum necessary to get sound recorded and skip anything that's a solo. Just get the damned song recorded so you have at least a working demo of it.
2. Are you messing around too much with settings while laying down initial tracks?
Whether using a standalone multitrack or software, don't mess around with EQ, effects or any of that stuff. Just get the track laid down and move on to the next one. Anything recorded can be fixed later with digital editing.
3. Are you foolishly trying to get everything done in one take?
It amazes me how many players don't use a feature that's been around for close to two decades called punch in/punch out.
You're recording digitally, right? Right. That means you can use punch-in/punch-out. This is a stupidly basic feature. Learn it and use it. If you don't, you'll waste hours trying to get "the perfect take." Perfect takes almost never happen, so don't bother trying to get them. Record piece by piece and punch in/out when necessary.
4. Are you palm-muting everything?
You'll notice in many of my songs, there's very little palm-muting. That's because most of the time, palm mutes sound like crap when recording. When you palm-mute, most of the time it ends up being a nasty, "thuddy" mess. So when you don't need to do it, don't. Let the guitar strings ring out.
5. Do you set deadlines and stick to them?
Example deadline: "This Saturday, I will finish that song."
So do it. Get it recorded and get it done. You have the equipment. Make it happen.
Will it come out exactly the way you wanted? No. But you will have a working demo of your song, which is a lot better than a half-finished thing sitting in a multitrack session or nothing at all.
To recap:
- Simplify.
- Don't mess around with settings other than basic volume levels during initial recording of tracks.
- Use punch in/out.
- Don't palm-mute unless absolutely necessary.
- Stick to a deadline.
Keep it simple, easy and worry about tweaking the song later in post-production. Just get the damned song recorded first.
It's all about the belly cut
A big reason why the Stratocaster (such as the Blacktop HH model) is such a comfortable player is because of its contour cut in the rear of the body, known commonly as the belly cut.
The two most known electrics from Fender are the Stratocaster and the Telecaster. However, unless it's a non-standard model, the Strat will always have the belly cut in the rear of the body while the Tele won't.
Quick note before continuing: The cheapest Fender-branded Telecaster that does have a belly cut is the Modern Player. Obviously, the MP is a very non-standard Tele with its 3-pickup layout. Still a great guitar, though.
Is the belly cut exclusive to the Strat?
No. As far as I'm aware, only a traditional old-school Telecaster shape doesn't have the cut. All other traditional models (Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Mustang) have it.
Why does the belly cut matter so much on an electric?
Simply put, that contour cut prevents the back of the guitar from sticking your ribs.
Some players are totally okay with an electric that doesn't have a belly cut, such as a traditional Telecaster or Gibson Les Paul. But other players absolutely require that cut to be there or it's a total deal-breaker and they can't play the guitar comfortably.
What about big-body electrics that do not have a belly cut?
A big-body guitar, such as a hollow body like the Gretsch G5420T Electromatic, has bouts that are taller.
"Bouts?"
In guitar building, the lower bout is the rear of the guitar body while the upper bout is the front; this terminology comes originally from acoustic guitar construction.
The Gretsch, while not having a belly cut, has a body tall enough to where it shouldn't cut into your ribs, resulting in a comfortable playing instrument.
In other words, big-body guitars can get away without having belly cuts because they play more like acoustic instruments.
Does a belly cut on a solid-body electric instantly make it more comfortable to play?
On some guitars, yes, you will immediately notice the difference.
A guitar where you wouldn't think a belly cut would matter is on a V shape, such as the Jackson King V.
A few years back I did own a V shape. It wasn't a Jackson, but it did have a belly cut in the body, and yes it was a very comfortable player. When I tried a V shape without the belly cut, the body shape dug right into me and it just didn't feel right at all.
The general rule of thumb is this: A solid-body electric with the belly cut will feel more comfortable compared to one that doesn't have it...
...unless you play your guitar hanging low.
If you're the type of player that prefers to play standing with the guitar slung very low on the strap and well away from your stomach, a lack of belly cut in the body is a non-issue. But if the guitar is at stomach/rib cage level, you will most likely prefer a solid-body with the belly cut in the rear of the body.
An easy recording trick to make your songs sound huge
It can arguably be said that the best music is the kind that takes you to another place when you listen to it. For a song to do that, it has to be crafted in such a way that gives it a bit of a magical other-worldly feeling. Put simply, "make it big."
Does it take years of recording experience to do this? No. All you need to know is one thing.
My song Kiwi is something I recorded earlier this year. And I did purposely record it in a way that sounds big, as in cinematic.
What makes it sound the way it does?
Stereo separation
There's the left channel and right channel, but most people are too scared to pan instruments.
"Scared?"
Yes, scared. When recording, most people prefer to have everything centered smack dab in the middle where every instrument has equal volume on both the left and right side. While this is "safe," that kind of recording won't "take you anywhere," so to speak.
Spreading out instruments to the left and right increases a sense of space, and this can be done even if no reverb or delay is used.
How does one spread out sound the easy way?
The easy way is to do it after the song is recorded and not before.
Whether you use a standalone recorder like the ZOOM R8, Tascam DP-008EX or software, it's better to have all tracks laid down first before messing around with panning tracks.
In other words, the song should be finished first, and panning should be done later in post-production.
Is reverb and delay required to make something sound bigger?
No. Panning is a better and easier way to increase a sense of space.
Making reverb and delay sound good can be a challenge, but panning is stupidly easy. All it takes is turning a knob or moving a slider, whether physically or virtually in software.
Try it, and you'll probably like it
If you want to try it for yourself, record a simple song using two guitars, then pan one left and the other right. Pan a little or a lot, and use headphones when experimenting. You'll notice that much of the time, your song will sound a whole lot bigger when you stereo-separate the tracks.
And remember, you don't have to be a genius musician to make this work as it's just a sound production thing. Lay your tracks down (even if it's the same thing played twice,) pan the tracks away from each other, and have fun with it.
How come music instrument companies aren't traded on the stock market?
Fun fact: Most super-big musical instrument manufacturers are still run like mom-and-pop businesses.
There are very, very few companies who make musical instruments that are actually traded on the stock market. One of them is Yamaha. But then again, Yamaha obviously makes a lot more than just guitars. If you were expecting Fender Musical or Gibson to be there, nope. Both of those are privately held companies.
Back in 2012, Fender almost entered the stock market, but withdrew.
Fender's CEO:
"Current market conditions and concerns about economic conditions in Europe do not support completing an initial public offering at what we believe to be an appropriate valuation at this time," said Larry E. Thomas, Fender’s Chief Executive Officer, in a statement.
In plain English, that means Fender would have taken a bath and gone out of business in less than a year had they gone through with their IPO (that means Initial Public Offering in case you know nothing about the stock market.) Fender's valuation was all sorts of screwed up, and if you don't know what that means, trust me, you don't want to know.
Why does any company want to be publicly traded?
Simple answer. Cash. Gobs and gobs of cash. When a company goes public, that opens the door for piles and piles of money to come in that they otherwise didn't have before.
How come music instrument makers don't get into the publicly traded game?
There have been several guitar companies in the past aside from FMIC that tried to or did get into the stock market, but it's never worked.
Fender is actually a really good example of this. When the company was owned by CBS, they squeezed every last dime they could out of it, cut costs everywhere they could, bean-countered it to death and still couldn't turn a buck. CBS did not know guitars, so they cut it loose. And the reason for that is that CBS isn't a guitar company. They're a publicly traded broadcasting company. Big difference.
Ultimately, guitar companies are better off as mom-and-pop outfits. I don't think there's any way a guitar company could survive under the constant pressure of investors due to the fact so much freedom of operation is lost.
The stock market is vicious. It's a place that makes and breaks companies every day. And when a publicly traded company isn't performing in a way the stockholders like, the company gets dumped, dumped hard, and if investor confidence is lost, the company is dead as a doornail.
When a guitar company has a bad year, as a privately owned enterprise it can slow things down, regroup, plan things out, take the time necessary to get things going in the right direction and ease back into the swing of things at their pace.
As a publicly traded company, there's no time for that. A stock trading at 3 bucks can dive down to 10 cents and stay there if the investors feel the company is past its prime and ready to be buried. And believe me, they will bury it. It has nothing to do with the company but rather everything to do with money. Investors invest in companies that will make them money. When that company stops making them money, they dump the stock and just move on to another company; that's the way it is.
The only reason any guitar company survives and makes any money today is because they're not publicly traded. Guitar making is something that is an old-school craft, and every time a company has tried to fully corporatize it by going public, it ultimately fails.
Does it cost more to operate a guitar company privately? Yes. Is more legwork involved to make things profitable? No. Board room execs would tell you otherwise, but it isn't true.
What makes stuff sell that a guitar company makes are good leaders with good ideas. But if the leaders are nothing but crusty old dudes with white hair that are more than half deaf, that's pretty much a recipe for failure. Yeah, they know numbers, but that's all they know, because I guarantee they don't know anything about guitars or why they're cool in the first place.
Once the larger guitar makers go back to hiring real guys who play real guitars that have a better pulse on what guitar players actually like, then they'll get the forward business motion they're looking for.