The producers of the New York-based production of Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding recently fired their musicians and replaced them with pre-recorded music. The musical has performed in New York City for more than 20 years, using only live musicians during that time.

Musicians and live music fans are encouraged to write or call the producers of Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding and complain. The producer’s contact information is below.

Broadway Entertainment, LLC
Kim and Sonny Ricciardi
Broadway333@gmail.com
(954) 980-4366

What goes on an invoice?

In it’s most basic form, an invoice is simply a bill stating how much is owed to you and where to send payment. For the sake of professionalism, I recommend including a little more information. Some companies may require certain information before they can process an invoice, so it never hurts to ask before submitting. The information I include on all my invoices was, at one point or another, required by a client.

1. The word “INVOICE” – This is easily overlooked, but how else will people know what you’re giving them? Some large clients might require a properly labeled document for processing.
2. Date – Record the date you are sending the invoice to your client on the document, and perhaps even the date(s) of the services performed.
3. Invoice Number – Similar to a check number, the invoice number will make it easier to refer to the specific job performed.
4. Purchase Order Number – Also referred to as a P.O. #, these are used on invoices for products. For example: If you design a poster for somebody, you do not need a P.O. # for your service. However, if you’re the printer that sells the actual posters, then you may need a corresponding Purchase Order number.
5. Bill To: Address – This is the address of your client–the person or company you are charging for your services. Even if you’re emailing your invoice, it’s still good business practice to include the Bill To address for the sake of specifically identifying that client. On some occasions, if I’m just billing an individual person, I will use their email address and phone number instead of a mailing address.
6. Amount Due – Don’t forget to tell them how much they owe you!
7. Services Performed – My invoices include a basic table that breaks down the job and how the Amount Due was calculated. I use four columns:
   1. Time/Amount: How many units of measurement I’m charging for (hours, sheets of music, etc.)
   2. Rate: To specify how much I charge for one unit of measurement
   3. Service/Job Description: A brief summary of the work performed. Sometimes I might include a separate page for a more detailed description.
   4. Line Total: This should be the Time/Amount multiplied by the Rate. Add up each line total for the Amount Due.
8. Payment Terms – This may vary from client to client. My default term is “Due upon receipt.” Terms for Net 30 means the payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date, Net 60 would mean the client has 60 days to pay, and so on. You may also request payment by a certain date. A good rule of thumb is to ask for payment upon receipt unless the client has asked for a different set of terms before services are rendered.
9. Payment Instructions – On my invoices, I simply have the words: “Please Remit Payment to:” followed by my name and mailing address. This verbiage is a formality required by some of my past clients, so I include it on every invoice.
10. Tax ID (optional) – If this is your social security number, I do not recommend including it on your invoice. This information should be on file if you’ve turned in a Form W9 for tax purposes. But if you have a business tax ID, it doesn’t hurt to put it on the invoice to help processing.

Is there a standard layout for invoices?

The short answer, no. I’ve seen invoices that are no more than the above information listed down the side of a Word document. I’ve also seen very creatively branded invoices. The most important consideration is that your invoice is easy to read. Invoice templates can be found in standard accounting software programs, or you could use the Tables feature in your word processing program to do something similar. If you haven’t seen an invoice before, look at a packing slip from Amazon or any company that ships you something you bought. That is pretty much how most invoices look.

If you want to get creative, be consistent and keep the important information away from your fancy design elements. I used to work in the Creative department at a record label that employed a handful of designers on a regular basis. Each of their invoices was uniquely branded, but also very easy to read. I noticed a few advantages to their branded invoices. First, people remembered whether or not they’d seen the invoice, which helps if the invoice has to go through several people’s hands before it’s paid. Also, branding your invoice simply looks more professional. Putting your logo in front of the people that hire you one last time just might help you get another gig.

What file format should I use?

If you can email your invoice, I recommend sending a PDF. That way it can be opened on any computer, and it can’t be altered. I’ve also received invoices that are no more than the information mentioned above in the body of an email. That might work, too. When in doubt, mail your invoice!

Templates:

Here is a basic invoice template as described above. There are two formats, both are available on Google Docs which you can download and edit on your computer:

• Microsoft Word Document: Invoice Template.doc
• Open Office Document: Invoice Template.odt

As musicians we know that traditional resume techniques used by workers seeking office jobs, and the junk mail that touts them, are not relevant to our needs.  Moreover, we’ve probably at least reflected on the idea that, in general, resumes might not be useful at all in getting work.  So what’s the truth?

Why Musicians Should Have Resumes

First, let’s discuss who hires musicians.  Some gigs, of course, come from places you never expect, but for the most part our employers tend to be individuals, non-profits (like theatre companies, symphonies), education providers (like schools, colleges, music lesson shops), venues and for-profit entertainment corporations (like touring companies, Broadway shows, cruise ships, casinos, etc.).

Some of these employers, like individuals and venues, probably won’t care what your resume says. The venues want to know how many people you can get to your gig, and if you are thinking about starting a band with an individual they probably could care less what your resume says.

Other employers, like colleges, are used to seeing resumes from their applicants and will expect a good one from you.  That will likely be the first thing they ask for, and the content and quality of your resume may significantly swing your chances of landing the job you’re looking for.

So while resumes might not be a universal work-acquiring device in our industry as they seem to be in other industries, they are still a very effective way to introduce yourself to potential employers.

That is the long way of say: resumes are still important, even if you are a musician, and you should make a good one.

My New Resume

About a year ago I wrote an article on resumes for musicians that gave an example of a traditional musician resume layout.  A traditional resume layout is a great way to start, and I encourage everyone to read that article as well.

For certain gigs I’ll still use that traditional layout, but I’ve recently reworked my resume and I want to present my new format as another option.

You can click on the photo to the left to enlarge the image.  You’ll note a few new features.  I took more interest this time with the graphic design of the layout, throwing away the old, word processor format and adopting a strict design grid and Helvetica font.  It occurred to me that we are all creative people in this business, and that the ones that hire us are also frequently creative-minded people – and therefore a more design-center look might make the material more relatable and attractive.

Break-down

There are 5 sections to this one-page resume: experience, bio, education, skill set and contact.  A list of credits (experience), education and contact info is all standard on an resume and we’ll all need to include at least that.  The other two – bio and skill set – is something I added because I felt it was relevant to the jobs I’m seeking.

For instance, I work primarily in theatre.  Theatre workers are used to being introduced to new people through their bios in the playbill – which is why I included one on my resume.  After working in the industry for so many years, they might even prefer to read a brief narrative about the person’s credits and experience, rather than skimming a page-long list of bullet-point accomplishments.

Moreover, there is a practical use for including the bio directly on the resume.  Whenever you land a theatre job, one of the first things the new employers ask you for is a bio that they can put in the playbill (see what I mean?  It’s important.).  Compiling (”wrangling” is probably a better word) bios for the dozens of people that work on every show can be a major headache for whoever is in charge.  In my case, however, they already have my bio right here on my resume.

Skill Set Chart

The skill set graph is an idea that I first saw on designer’s resumes online.  Often it denoted the number of years experience with a certain software (like Photoshop, Quark, etc.).  I think it’s a clever way of graphically communicating a huge amount of info all at once.

For me, the graph is a subjective estimate of my confidence with the different variables I listed.  I decided to include it because of an interaction with a Broadway contractor I recently had.  He had called me about a jazz/rock gig and asked me if that was something I would be any good at.  “Yes!” I thought.  Jazz/rock is probably where I’d be best suited, that’s what my training and background centers on – and man, that seems like something that people should know about me right off the bat!  I sat down right away and added the skill set chart to my resume.

The thing with the skill set chart is that you can’t just say you’re equally good at everything.  In order for people to trust the graph, you have to let them in on a secret – so tell them something that you aren’t the best at.  Including at least one not-so-hot skill calibrates the chart and shows how much better you are at other skills.

The way I got around this was to add trombone to the variables.  I played trombone for 8 years when I was a kid.  I’ve long ago sold my bone and by any standard in the world I am a lousy trombone player.  But – as a conductor, it’s really useful for me to know at least a little about trombone because it probably gives me a good understanding of the brass family.  If someone is hiring a music director for a show with a big brass section, that might be valuable information.

Also, being a lousy trombone player is a forgivable trait.  I’m a pianist, after all.  Who would really expect me to be a good trombone player?  For me, this is a safe, valuable and important variable to add to the chart.

How To Make It

I made this resume in Photoshop.  I knew that I’ve have to use Photoshop if I really wanted to have control over fonts, placement and graphics.

To start, I made a new, 8 x 10 document (File > New > under Setting pick 8 x 10 > Ok).  Next, I turned on the grid (View > Show > Grid).  You can control the measurements of the grid in the Photoshop preferences (Photoshop > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices).  The grid I found useful was a gridline every 4 inches with 20 subdivisions.

As I mentioned before, I used Helvetica for the font.  It’s a clean font, heavily used in the design world, and has a lot of options for font hierarchy.  The section titles use Helvetica Neue Ultra Light, and the rest is some combination of the regular Helvetica Neue.

I “handmade” the skill set chart with lines and blue rectangles.  It took me awhile to get the spacing right for this part.

Does It Print?

Yes, as you can see from the first photograph, it prints well – although the quality of copy depends a lot of the quality of printer (as with any design-dependent document).  It probably travels better as a PDF on computer screens, and I’ve found that I give out many more PDF copies of my resume than paper copies in recent years.

Is This For You?

It may not be.  This design is a departure from the traditional resume format, and it may not be useful for everyone.  I wanted to present this layout to everyone as merely another option in the wide world of resume-building.

On the other hand, perhaps a new layout might help separate your resume from the others you’re competing with, and maybe you’ll get a call you didn’t expect from a new client.  You never know!

Finding work in the big city starts well before you get there. While you probably won’t be able to land any gigs before you physically get to the big city, there is a lot of research that you can do prior to your arrival.

Finding a Steady Gig

The best way to survive as a freelance musician in a big city is to have at least one steady gig that doesn’t take all of your time, but brings in some regular money. When you first get to town, this job may need to be a non-music job like waiting tables or temping. For more thoughts on the best non-music day jobs, read the article, The Best and Worst Day Jobs for Musicians.

Music-based day jobs include teaching lessons, working at a music shop or playing for a church. In my experience, working at a church has been the most efficient way to make a steady income that doesn’t interfere with a freelance music schedule. Churches tend to pay more in big cities and the time commitment is very small – usually 3 to 7 hours a week. Sure, you have to get up early on Sundays, sometimes after a late gig on Saturday, but the financial security that the job brings will outweigh that inconvenience.

Before you even pack up for the big move, you need to start researching places that you could find a steady gig. Find the names and phone numbers of all the churches, music studios and music shops near where you’ll be living. Make an Excel spreadsheet (I’m serious) that includes the name of the establishment, the owner, the phone number and the email address. After you’ve contacted them you can add a column for the hourly rate they pay and who your contact person is.

Second, you should assess what kind of friends and contacts you have in the big city. The best contacts are most likely people that you have played with previously – be it friends from home or perhaps people you went to music school with. These people already know that you can play, and that is very important. It can be difficult in the big city to find opportunities to play with, or even for, new contacts. And how will they know you can play if they’ve never heard you?

One of the many pitfalls of moving to a big city, though, is to rely entirely on your friends and contacts for your survival. Even if your friends say that they have tons and tons of work for you, or even a steady job, you shouldn’t put all of your eggs in that basket. As well-meaning and generous as your friends may be, these kinds of things can always fall through, or turn out to be less than you expected. So make sure that you are doing your research, looking for work and continuing your hustle, even if you have a book full of what look to be perfect contacts.

Unpaid Gigs

Because it’s difficult to be heard when you first get to the big city, you should be willing to take any gigs that you can – even if they are volunteer or low-paying jobs. This is another reason why you’ll need a steady gig on the side – so that you can afford to take low-paying jobs for exposure.

That said, you also need to make sure that you are not taken advantage of when you first get to the big city. I cannot emphasize this enough. There is a limitless supply of vultures in the entertainment industry who’s only goal is to cash in on your hopes and dreams. Yes, yes, yes, you should take low or no-pay gigs when you first get to a big city, but no, you should not take just anything.

Here’s an example of a volunteer gig you should take:

A group of successful actors, all with Broadway or movie credits, are putting on a benefit concert for a worthy cause and need musicians for the band. There are 2 rehearsals and one performance, none of which are paid. You know that the event will be at a big venue and will be attended by a roomful of industry insiders.

This is a great opportunity. Here is a group of performers that are more successful than you, that are offering you an opportunity to play for the movers and shakers of your industry. Furthermore, the time commitment is very small and has an end date. Take this gig! And go to the party afterwards to network!

Here’s an example of a volunteer gig you should not take:

Some guy on Craigslist is putting together a band for a new and upcoming artist and is having auditions this week for musicians. If you get the gig, the band will rehearse 4 times a week, unpaid, and you’ll need to bring your own gear. Eventually you will play clubs in the city and up to 3 hours outside of the city, and split the door 6 ways.

Why shouldn’t you take this gig? This is way too much of a time commitment for someone you don’t know, who is not paying you. 4 unpaid rehearsals a week? And you have to bring your own gear? You’ve got to be kidding me. And in the end you’ll split the door 6 ways? You’d be lucky to make $20 a performance at that rate.

Furthermore, if this is truly and up and coming artist, why don’t they know any musicians? If they’ve had any success at all there would be any number of musicians waiting in line to play the gig. This gig will end up sucking all of your time and leading you nowhere. If you want to start an unpaid project with your friends or a frontman (or woman) you know and believe in, that’s one thing, but be careful not to volunteer unlimited amounts of your time to people that are less successful than you are.

Be also wary of any opportunity that claims that it will introduce you to insiders, give you much-needed exposure, put you on the fast track to money or fame – or worst of all – requires you to invest your own money in order to get these things. These are almost always some form of scam, even if the people running the programs don’t feel that way. Having to pay for a book of industry contacts, having to buy headshots or promo shots, taking a 3 week course on how to be successful in the music industry – you should be very cautious about these kinds of offers. In my experience there are very few shortcuts to success in this industry. If it was as easy as taking a 3 week course or buying a book of contacts we’d all be rich and famous by now. These kinds of programs and offers thrive on rookies that are just starting out, so be very careful as you navigate your new life in the big city.

What Did You Come Here to Do?

Throughout all of this, you have to stay focused on why you came here. There are so many things to worry about when you get to a city, and so many worthwhile distractions, and it’s easy for your main focus to get de-railed.

I’ve found this to be especially true for people that have trouble making money at first. Eventually they can end up in jobs they hate that take up all of their time and energy. just to pay the bills. It can be hard to make ends meet in a big city, and it’s not uncommon to find yourself, 6 months after your arrival, bogged down with 40 private students a week and no time to pursue your real ambitions.

The way to circumvent this pitfall is to really do your research on steady gigs before your arrival, and to never take your eye off the ball.

Let’s take an example. Let’s say, for instance, that you’ve moved to LA in order to become a part of the movie-score recording scene. You’re hoping to sub with the several of the regional orchestras, work as a copyist for composers, and eventually write jingles and scores yourself.

First, you should know every name in that industry. Musicians are not shy, and it seems like every one of us has a website, Myspace or Twitter page now. It is not hard to find people, in other words. Read the industry blogs and magazines and keep up-to-date on what movies scores are being recorded now, who’s playing on them, and who’s contracting the musicians for the studio.

Make a spreadsheet (again, I’m totally serious) that includes all movies that are in post-production in LA. You can find this kind of information at websites like imdb.com (for us Broadway-types in New York, you should bookmark ibdb.com). Document the name of the movie, the studio that is producing it, the record label releasing the soundtrack, the music supervisor, the composer, the conductor, the musician contractor, the concertmaster, the horn section – absolutely every name and title you can find.

Next, join the musicians union, or other organization that is involved in the scene you’re trying to become a part of. These organizations often hand out phonebooks of all of their members. Find the email addresses of everyone on your spreadsheet and write to them one-by-one. Make the email short and succinct – for example, try to make sure that the entire email can be displayed on a computer screen without scrolling. Introduce yourself, give a couple of your credits (I graduated from…, I toured with…), and ask for help. Tell them you are interested in doing what they do, and do they have any advice? (For a real-world example, see this post in our forums.)

This technique works. You just have to be polite, genuine and respectful of the person’s time. You never know what they will write back, or what doors this will open.

Make another spreadsheet for the regional orchestras in LA. Watch websites like MusicalChairs.info and MyAuditions.com for upcoming auditions. Contact the principles in the orchestras and request a lesson or a private audition. This is how people get these jobs. Cross-check your movie-score spreadsheet with your regional orchestra spreadsheet and see who is doing both. Contact them.

Conclusion

Getting gigs in any new city is difficult, and it can be even more difficult in a big music city like LA or New York. Nevertheless, if you have the courage to make the move in the first place, you likely have the courage to follow through once you get there. Be careful of the pitfalls, try not to get overly distracted, and never stop moving toward your goals.

This article is part 2 in a series about moving to New York City.

It begs the question – why do musicians keep moving to these places? Do you need to live in a big music city to make a living as a musician? Should you make the move?

First: you don’t need to live in New York City to make a living as a musician. I, for example, used to work very regularly as a pianist in the far suburbs of Chicago. I made a reasonable living – making a yearly income very similar to what I make in NYC, actually. I worked for schools, theatre companies, country clubs, private parties, weddings – whatever came my way. I also taught lessons, made recordings in my home studio and played with bands.

With the right networking and contacts, I would say that a career like that one is possible in any number of towns and cities all over the world. In fact, according to the 2000 census, the cities with the highest population of professional musicians per capita include cities like Lawrence, Kansas; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. With so many musicians in these cities, there must be ways to make a living there.

So, ok, you don’t need to move to New York. So why would you?

I’ve thought about that a lot over the last few years. New York can be a tough city to live in. It is, at times, expensive, crowded and unforgiving. With so many talented and trained musicians it can be hard to break into the scene. That is probably true of any major music metropolis, so why do we all keep coming here?

From my perspective, I see at least 2 reasons. First, New York is an incredible, electric, ever-moving, ever-changing place to live in. It feels like the center of the universe, and it has for more than 200 years. This is where new kinds of art are born, coddled, and cared for. In many ways this place, and places like it, offer a feeling similar to the heady opportunities that a new world offered pilgrims and pioneers in generations before us. There is opportunity to create new things here – and that idea will always be attractive to creative people.

Second, Entertainment is a winner-takes-all industry.* Mark Stern at the University of Pennsylvania wrote a very insightful paper on the topic. In it he says,

“Winner-take-all markets…are markets in which the vast majority of economic value depends on the effort of only a small number of top performers. As a result, in winner-take-all markets, a few participants reap high incomes from their work while the vast majority receives very little. Entertainment, sports, and the arts are fields in which winner-take-all markets have long been common.”

It’s clear that the higher you can climb on the ladder of the entertainment industry, the more money you will make. And here’s the thing: the top-most rungs of the music industry ladder are all located in New York City (and Los Angeles, and Nashville and Toronto, etc…). With few exceptions, the way to climb to the top is to move to a place where the top exists.

That, at least, is why I moved to New York City. To live in the center of our industry’s universe, and to live in a place where the top existed.

So should you move here? It depends on what you want. If you just want to be a working musician, it’s not necessary to make the plunge. In fact, moving to a major music hub like this one will in no way ensure that you will make a living as a working musician. Just because there are more opportunities in a place like this doesn’t mean that it is easier to make a living here. There are far more capable musicians here there are actual gigs, so finding work here can be just as difficult as finding work in a place where gigs are scarce.

However, if you want to be the best, or at least work among the best, you have to come to a place like this. If you want to try to get to the top of the business – even knowing that you might not make it – you have to come here.

This article is Part 1 of a series that discusses moving to New York City as a musician.

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*Some might argue that the recent rise of the musician middle class (that is, independent artists that are able to make a middle class living off of internet sales and indie touring) is lessening the stronghold of this winner-takes-all phenomenon, but I would disagree. It seems to me that the rise of the independent music industry and the musician middle class has made more winners, but not made the music business any more egalitarian. The dispersal of money in the music business will likely always be top-heavy.

There are many reasons to use a studio: You get an experienced engineer that knows how to set everything up and run the recording equipment, leaving you to focus on the music.  Studios are acoustically designed for recording, so the tracking rooms will allow you to capture precisely the sound you want while the control room provides an accurate listening experience.  The advantages of using a studio are almost all superior to recording at home, except for the cost.

That’s why it’s important to prepare for the times you do get to record in a studio.  Recording your new album should be a fun, creative, rewarding experience, but it’s easy to get derailed if you’re worried about how much time is left in the day or how much money it costs every time your guitar player messes up and needs another shot at his solo.  Rehearsing the band properly, having a clear idea of what you’re creating before you even step foot in the studio, and budgeting both your time and money will make a huge difference in the final product.

Rehearse as if you’re recording.

Recording music is a skill unto itself, with it’s own set of nuances that differ from a live performance.  Before your recording session, make sure you schedule plenty of rehearsal specifically for the recording.  Unless the plan is to capture the essence of a live show in the studio, I’ve found that it helps to practice as if microphones are picking up every bit of sound in the room.  If you’re usually animated on stage, you might need to practice sitting or standing relatively still to prevent extra noises like squeaky chairs or floors from creeping onto your recording.

Also, use this time to finalize arrangements of your songs.  Never been completely happy with the transition out of the bridge?  Does the second verse need a texture change?  Should you track the rhythm guitar part as three different guitars instead of one? Making these decisions before going into the studio will save you time an money.

Finally, rehearse the material in the order you’ll most likely record it.  Pace your session by doing an easy song first and then getting into the difficult material early in the day when everyone is sharp, focused, and can deal with the potential frustration from messing up the hard parts a few times.  End the day with another easy song so everyone goes home feeling good.

Finding the right studio.

Virtually any fully equipped recording studio will be able to get the job done, but each studio has it’s own unique characteristics.  Some studios are filled with the newest gear and are designed for crystal clear digital recording.  Others have vintage gear and unique acoustics that add a certain color to your sound.  You might not know what is best for you until you’ve visited several studios.

Some studios charge by the hour, others by the day.  To record the bulk of your music, I highly recommend finding a studio with a day rate, or negotiating a day rate if the studio only charges hourly.  If you are doing vocals or overdubs that don’t involve much set up time on a different day, it might make sense to rent studio time by the hour.

Before you visit recording studios in your area and talk to studio managers or engineers (or the intern covering the front desk), prepare yourself with these three steps.

1. Assess your abilities and needs.

Ask yourself these questions.  The answers will help you rule out studios that aren’t equipped for your project:

1. How many songs do you want to record? This is the first question any producer or engineer will ask, because it directly effects the amount of time and money you’ll need to complete the project.
2. How long can you realistically work in one day? Your singer’s voice, your drummer’s arms, and your guitarist’s hands, and your patience and focus will all tire out by the end of the day.  Don’t try to push yourself beyond what you know you can do.
3. Will your arrangements require a lot of overdubs? This not only affects the amount of time you’ll need, but also the number of tracks required for each song.  Make sure the studio can accommodate the size of your arrangements.
4. Do you want/need to record everyone at the same time or track each part separately? Recording at the same time usually produces tighter results and takes less time, but you might be difficult to completely isolate individual parts.
5. How much isolation do you need between each part? Complete isolation gives you greater flexibility when fixing parts, doing overdubs, and mixing, but it will require either a large studio with multiple isolation booths or more time to track each part.
6. Do you have the ability to do any recording at home? If you can load the project onto your external hard drive and take it home to add acoustic guitar and background vocals, you might save money. However, will you be sacrificing quality?

2. Find sonic examples.

Go through your CD collection and find recordings that have the kinds of sounds you want on your album.  Use these as examples when interviewing engineers or studio managers.  This is the best way to communicate the sounds in your head with somebody else, and they should know what it takes to record similar sounds.  It’s especially helpful when you’re on a budget and looking for someone or somewhere that can produce that sound without a bunch of extra frills you won’t need (like a plasma screen in the lounge).

3. Do you need a producer, or just an engineer?

This question is kind of tricky.  To say “just” an engineer might give the impression that he or she doesn’t have an important role.  On the contrary, the engineer is responsible for the entire recording process–from setting up the right microphones in the right places to hitting Save after every take.  If something isn’t working, the engineer has to be able to fix it.  The better your engineer, the more smoothly your day will go.

When looking for an engineer, you’ll want somebody who that knows their way around the studio and is familiar with many different recording techniques.  Most studios can provide an experienced engineer for your session, so if you find the right studio, you probably won’t have to look for an independent engineer.

Traditionally, the role of the producer is to oversee the creative process of recording.  In general, a producer will provide objective feedback on your songs and help your band reach it’s full potential in the studio.  Their experience working with other bands will make you sound better.  Many times a producer can also fill the role of the engineer.  In fact many producers have their own studio.

A producer will probably work with a project budget.  Instead of paying to work with them a day at a time, they might agree on a flat fee for the entire project.  If they really believe in your project, the session fees could be much lower in exchange for a piece of future revenue (usually be a percentage of sales or publishing rights to the songs they recorded for you).

If you decide you want a producer, find somebody that shares your vision of the album.  This starts before you go into the studio.  You’ll want to make sure everybody in the band likes the producer and trusts his or her opinion.  Get together as a group, play some music live for the producer and see what he or she has to say about your songs.  Not only are you auditioning for the producer, but they are auditioning for you.

Once you’re in the studio, budget your time.

Allow enough time for setting up.

I’ve seen my fair share of documentaries about the making of an album, but what I’ve never seen is the laborious process of micing the guitar amp or finding the best placement for the overhead drum mics.  A good engineer will know where to start, but every musician has their own preference as to how they want their part to sound and will need to make many small adjustments to capture exactly the sound they want.

There are a few ways to speed up this process, such as giving the engineer sonic examples from albums you like, but ultimately you need to do a lot of recording, listening back and making adjustments over and over again until you’re happy.  It’s much better to do this before you start tracking, otherwise you risk an inconsistent sound throughout the album or worse, you won’t be happy with the end result.

The amount of time this takes depends on the size of your band and the number of instruments you’re recording.  Talk to your engineer ahead of time to get a realistic idea of how long it will take, then add another hour to the estimate.  Setting up can be taxing, give yourself a little break before you start recording.

Allow enough time for listening back.

No matter how much practicing you do or how much time you spend setting up and getting the right sounds, there are certain nuances that only come from the musician.  To make those adjustments, you need to listen back to what you’ve recorded.

For example, I once heard jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton talk about how he had to really exaggerate how hard or soft he hit the vibes in order for the dynamics to sound right when recording.  Similarly, you might find that sounds barely noticeable in a live setting (such as finger noises on the guitar, or mouth and breath noises on a vocal track), really stick out on a recording.  These are things you might not know are happening without listening to playbacks every two or three takes.

Playback has to be done in real time (obviously), so however much time you spend recording, you’ll probably spend in the control room listening.

Don’t rush decisions.

Take your time each step of the way to make sure you can live with the results after the album is done.  This is why I recommend getting a day rate for your studio time.  If you’re looking at the clock between every take, you’re much more likely to rush your decisions.

More tips!

When in doubt, save the effects for later.

If you use various effects on your guitars, keyboards, vocals, or other instruments, remember that once it’s recorded, the only way to get rid of the effect is to record it over again.  This is especially important for effects like delay, which can send a wrong note spiraling through several bars of music!  If you record the part dry, you can always send it back out through the effects later.  There’s no need to spoil a good take if you’re not positive you want to use an effect.

Schedule your recording sessions for consecutive days.

When you have several days in a row to work with, you can make sure plenty of time is allowed for setting things up and getting the right sounds.  When you come back the next day, everything is set up and ready to go.  You also get to go home and sleep between sessions, which makes listening back for problem areas much easier.  Consecutive recording days are also great for consistency, for both the way the band plays and the way the recording sounds.  It’s a lot easier to mix an album with the levels for each part are consistent track to track.

Budget for mixing and mastering.

Many musicians focus so much on the actual recording session that they forget to save money for mixing and mastering.  These stages can be just as time intensive as the recording.  Figure out how much this will cost before you schedule your studio time.  Don’t sabotage your high quality studio recordings by rushing your mixing session or being cheap with mastering.  This is where the brilliant music you recorded really comes to life!

Use social networking to your advantage.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, musician forums, and many other resources online can help you connect with recording studios, freelance engineers, independent producers, and numerous musicians that could give you tips and recommendations along the way.  Not to mention, blogging about the making of your album is also a great way to get your fans excited about the final result.

Don’t be afraid to use several different studios.

If you need to be very budget conscious, you can record different stages of your album in different studios.  Perhaps the best way to start is to record scratch tracks at home.  Get your click track set up, put a mic in front of you and your guitar, and play the song.  Then find the best place you can afford to track the rest of the parts.  This might mean carrying your project around on an external drive (be sure to have a backup) but I’ve been hired to play guitar on a few albums recorded in this nature, and the end result was amazing.

Finally, just be sure to trust your ears and enjoy the recording process.  Take advantage of all a studio has to offer, but don’t go overboard and try to use everything sitting around the studio just because it’s there.  If you properly prepare for your recording session, it will be a fun, productive and rewarding experience.

Despite the isolated nature of a music directing career, its also an industry in which networking is key.  MDs rarely audition for jobs, and are usually recommended for jobs by word of mouth or sub for friends when needed.

Nothing can substitute meeting face-to-face, having a drink, playing together in a pit or collaborating on a project – but nevertheless, here are a few ways to connect with other theatre music directors online.

Theatre Music Directors Facebook Group

This is a group for professional music directors in the theatre industry. You can find it at this link.

Please leave the group a wall post including something about yourself – where you’ve worked, where you live, etc.

Theatre Music Directors Twitter Group

There are several ways to put together groups on Twitter, and most of them are pretty unsatisfying.  The best one at this time seems to be Twibes.com, which automatically adds you to a group if you are kind enough to send out a tweet that promotes their site (you’ll see).  Shameless, to be sure, but not a bad way, in the end, for us all to find each other on the Great White Twit.

Here’s the link:

The theatremusicdirectors Twibe

Theatre Music Directors Listserv

Lastly, there is a email list at Yahoo Groups that music directors can subscribe (and contribute) to, although this list is currently invite only.  This is a (new and tad bit sleepy) group for MDs to discuss current topics and find out about new job openings.

You can find this group at this link.

Which One Should You Use?

As with any niche topic online, which group you join and how you connect all depends on your internet habits and interests, but at least one of these options should help you connect in the industry.  Try them all out and see which one works best for you.

Where are the people to replace Miles Davis, Harry Chapin, Robert Plant, and Sting?  Is it you?  Let’s take a look at a small sample of innovators and truly examine what it is that made them great.  You can throw a dart anywhere in history and make a case for an infinite amount of innovators, but since I’m an American I’ll start with Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin was primarily known for his early civic duties as a politician and as one of the founding fathers of the United States, but he was also an author, satirist, political theorist, printer, scientist, inventor, and a musician.  He played the violin, guitar, and even invented an improved version of the harmonica.  Schoenberg was a painter and music theorist.  Schoenberg is well known for developing the twelve tone technique and coined the term “developing variation.”  John Cage was a philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist and print maker.  He also collected mushrooms.

What’s my point with these particular people?  These people were not bound by what came before them and more importantly: they all had other interests.  Sometimes inspiration for innovation comes from music, sometimes it does not.  I love music and it will always be my first love, but I also draw inspiration from other areas of my life.  Believe it or not, I draw inspiration from food, from painters, and pondering the differences between bottles of wine.  I also enjoy baseball, travel, spirits and cigars.  Sources for inspiration are endless.  Religion and poetry have inspired thousands of songs but what about rock climbing, philosophy, pathology, art, landscape, or cooking?  Maybe it’s time to think outside the box.  Just because you are a musician or composer doesn’t mean all your inspiration needs to be from music.  Why not be the first to draw inspiration from a new place?  I would venture to guess that Franklin drew some political and poetic inspiration from music, and Cage drew musical inspiration from Schoenberg as well as “non conventional instruments.”  Be sure to familiarize yourself with Cage’s 4’33” and the Prepared Piano.

Try adapting some of their techniques.  Try thinking in a new direction and open your mind to be inspired.  Think about the rhythm or sound cars make when they drive over a particular manhole cover.  Think about the frequency or sound the air makes when you drive down the freeway and open your window a little or a lot.  Think about waves crashing over rocks and the tempo at which the water retreats.  Sounds can become music, but it’s up to you to organize the sounds and then create the music.  Inspiration will lead to innovation.

It’s okay to think about 8 bars of that McCoy Tyner solo that has been resonating since the day you brought home your first Art Blakey record, just don’t stop there.  If music is driving the creative forces inside of you, go with it!  But allow your ears to incorporate sounds that don’t sound like everything or everyone else.  American Music (Classical, Jazz, Rock, Folk) is wonderful and it contains some of the best gems in the history of music, but don’t stop there.  Check out the music of Youssou N’Dour from Senegal (Africa), Trilok Gurtu from India, or Seu Jorge from Brazil.  We should feel guilty that we need Peter Gabriel and a full length documentary (currently playing in art houses around the US to audiences of 6 or 7 people) about Youssou N’Dour before knowing his story.  He is the highest selling African artist of all time, and we should have known about him before now because his story and music are compelling.  If you are looking to create something innovative and inspiring, I would recommend expanding your listening beyond what’s currently being played on your ipod, terrestrial radio, or even iTunes.  Be curious, explore, and try something new.

Inspired?  Energized?  Before you purchase the entire home studio tab from the Musician’s Friend and set out to record the next In-a-Gadda-da-Vita, stop and think about a few things.  Has it already been done?  If you are going to rerecord something, is it going to be better or different than the original?  Why are you doing it?  Think about creating a piece of art, and focus on the music rather than buying the latest version of pro tools and which pre amp to use.

Recording music and carving a space for yourself in 2009 is difficult, but I’m convinced a spot will be set aside for you if you have something to say.  Before writing music and targeting a particular demographic or audience, stop and think about why you are writing what you are writing.  What has inspired you to create the music you are creating?  Stop and listen to your music before you release it to the world.  Is it interesting or just merely what you are capable of compiling on your computer right now at this moment?  Are you shooting from the heart or are you just trying to sell a few tunes to your email fan base?

Like everyone, I have a small project studio at my house.  It’s used primarily for idea development and to record drum tracks, it doesn’t look pretty and while I’m extremely satisfied with the sounds, my gear is simple and adequate.  I’ve never had any intentions of recording an entire CD here all by myself. Why? Let’s aim higher. Use the home studio to your advantage, if something doesn’t sound good, go back and listen to it again. But try to record something that has an impact, that has a message, or that has a meaning to you.  Are you thinking like the greats?  Are you venturing into something different? Home recording is a double edged sword.  While a lot of crimes against music are being committed on a daily basis in home recording studios around the world, I think an equal number of innovators are now able to put their music into a tangible and listenable form.

Innovation is not lacking in 2009 but it does need to be nurtured, developed and discovered.  Sometimes I think music today could really benefit from a few more months “in the can.”  In other words, it’s recorded and finished, but not officially released yet.  Why do I say this?  I think artists and producers need more time to evaluate what it is they’ve created and give it a good honest listen.  Spend more time creating something worthy rather than developing a business model or marketing strategy (business and marketing are vital, but separate from innovation and creation).  Drive around with it, could this be better?  Is my creation fun to listen to?

Jimmy Page and Robert didn’t create Stairway to Heaven on a desktop arranging virtual sound trying to get things to “sound real enough” to sell on CD Baby or iTunes.  They used a cassette recorder to record idea’s and Plant used Spence’s Magic Arts in Celtic Britain as one of the sources for the lyrics to the song.  How deep is your music?  Separate yourself from the pack, do something different, shoot from the heart, believe in what you are doing, and go for it.

Note from the Author: I hand selected about 12 people from thousands of years of music history.  It was not my intention to unveil a formula, or a secret code to inspiration by making a connection between 3 people and mentioning 8 more.  This is a concept article meant for inspiration and was not intended to be used as a historic reference.  My observations could be applied to any number of the hundreds of innovators I’ve ignored for the purpose of this article.  I also had no intention to summarize the history of jazz by mentioning Art Blakey and McCoy Tyner any more than I intended to summarize the history of Rock n Roll by mentioning Stairway to Heaven.  The entire 110 years of jazz is an art form all by itself and is comprised almost entirely of improvisation.  The jazz era created some of the greatest innovators of all time and they should be studied individually, in groups, and in depth.  Rock n Roll has a similar history and should be studied with equal intent.  Be sure to read up on the recording of Stairway to Heaven simply because you should.

In addition, it is ridiculous to summarize an entire country by naming the best selling artist from Africa, an obscure percussionist from India, or a pop crossover artist from Brazil.  The music and rhythms from all countries should be studied individually and in depth.  I mentioned a few names that I’m familiar with, that may serve as a starting point.  Hopefully this article inspired some exploration and curiosity in spite of the abridged name dropping.

The old site had everything I needed, and it served me well for a number of years. But these days I’ve started branching into new areas, and I needed a site that would reflect that.

My Needs

For starters, I’ve begun writing much more. Cam and I started MusicianWages.com this year and several articles have ended up published in national trade papers. I’ve had luck with a few other writing projects recently, and generally, I needed a site design that would highlight my writing as well as my playing.

Secondly, I’ve begun recording more in the past 2 years. I bought a nice Mac and Logic Pro and it’s so much easier than it used to be to put together quality recordings. I’ve started collaborating with friends and strangers through sites like Indaba and Twitter and coming up with some really great work. More importantly, I had a production company in LA secure the rights to one of my recordings for use in a feature film. Whether it’ll end up in the film or on the cutting room floor remains to be seen, but that kind of stock music and film music work is something I’d like to continue.

Thirdly, I’ve started to see the benefits of social networking in my theatre career. Staying connected to colleagues on Facebook, and to a lesser extent Twitter, has helped create more work for me. But one of the things that I find frustrating about these social networks is that they are all isolated from one another, and from my personal website. I wanted to create a hub of all of my internet activity that showed my activity on other sites. When people see my updates on those sites they can connect with me on their terms.

And lastly, I needed a site that would still work as a pamphlet site for artistic directors, directors, other MDs, actors and anyone else in musical theatre that wanted to find out more about me before they hired me for a project. What do these people want to know? Usually what they want is a photo of me, a demo of my playing, and a resume (and a link to my Facebook account so they can see if they know any of my friends). This work is my primarily source of income, so this part had to be prominent.

So let’s review – what did I need? I want to feature:

• Recordings
• Writings
• Resume
• The social networks I use
• Photos

What didn’t I need? Everything else. I didn’t need to feature interaction (or lack of interaction) with my website visitors through comments, etc. I also didn’t need calendar of past months blog posts, or forums or anything else.

I also didn’t need advertising. I don’t like seeing Adsense on pamphlet sites. I think it’s a huge mistake. On sites like this we are selling ourselves, and that shouldn’t be diluted with ads for other people/products.

Not adding more than is required is very important for any site. I don’t want to distract my visitors with unnecessary information. Who I am and what I do should be obvious within the first few seconds of visiting my site.

Meeting My Needs with Design

A simple two column design emphasized the important features

My primary interest in my new design was how to leverage social networks and RSS feeds into the design of my site. If I wrote an article here on MusicianWages.com, I wanted it to show up on my website. If I changed my Facebook status, uploaded new photos to Flickr, dug a new tune on Last.fm, watched a show on Hulu or posted a new recording – I wanted it to show up on the site. Automatically.

There are lots of widgets and plugins that will do this for you, but I didn’t like that the design of the site would need to be made on their terms, rather than my own terms. So I decided early on not to use any widgets and to build it myself.

It turns out that this is actually pretty easy to do using a plugin called SimplePie. SimplePie was actually included in recent updates of Wordpress, so if you have a wordpress installation, it’s likely you have this already.

SimplePie allows you to add dynamic content to your site through RSS feeds, and these days there are RSS feeds for just about everything.

The Sidebar

Increase in referrals from davidjhahn.org to musicianwages.com

For instance, I wanted a sidebar box of all my writings both on my personal site and from MusicianWages.com. To achieve this I used SimplePie to combine the RSS feeds for my writings from this site with the feed for all writing on my personal site. Now anytime I write anything on either site, they show up in that box as a link. Using this method, referral traffic from my site to MW increased 537%.

Probably the most impressive change, though, was the amount of traffic that landed on my recordings. As part of the redesign, I included a sidebar box of my recordings high on the page. the box simply listed the recent recordings that I had made and posted to the site.

3,600% increase in pageviews of recordings

In the first month of the re-design, pageviews of my recordings increased 3,600%. In other words, nobody used to visit my recordings, and now they overwhelmingly do. It’s the most popular part of the site next to the home page, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Next, I knew I needed some photos, but I didn’t want to create and maintain a photo gallery on my own site. It takes up space, bandwidth and my own time to do it. And while I realize that, with the proper tagging, some new traffic might be brought in through image searches – driving traffic to my site through search traffic isn’t my concern. Most people that visit my site likely heard about me through word-of-mouth, and now that they are on the site, they want to see some photos that will help them understand me better.

Auto-populated social network activity

I decided to add photos to the site through a custom designed Flickr badge. I did this for 2 reasons. First, I think Flickr does a fine job of organizing photos in an interface that many people are familiar with. Second, Flickr includes social networking capabilities. So if visitors like my photos, or like me, they can friend me through Flickr and we can keep in touch in the future.

The last major box on my sidebar is my social networks hubs. Plugins like LifeStream will create something like this for you, but I wanted to have more control over the design output of this feature. I used SimplePie and loaded this box with RSS feeds from every site I’m active on. That includes Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, Hulu, YouTube, Delicious, Reddit, Indaba, Digg, Flickr (again) and even my activity on the MusicianWages.com forums. Anytime I’m active on any of these sites, it automatically posts to this box.

The Main Column

I chose a 2-column design for the site. At first I toyed with having a 1-column design that showed just one element at a time (no sidebar at all), but in the end I decided that it was a better use of screen real estate to have a two column design.

The main column is a 680 width <div> with dark-grey text on a white background. The links are underlined and have a background highlight with hover. Headings are all uppercase and bold, and a thin, dotted grey line divides sections. The column extends all the way to the bottom of the page without any footer.

This is as simple a design as is possible. The focus here is entirely on the content, not on anything else. I used a dark pattern for the background outside of the main column so that the user’s eye would be immediately drawn into the white space.

For the sake of search engine optimization, I didn’t use any images in the rendering of the header or navigation bar. The heading, DAVID J. HAHN is all text, on every page. Furthermore, this heading is the only <h1> that you will find on the entire site. This tells search engines that this text is important – and it is. If anyone in the world looks up “David J. Hahn”, I want to be the first result without exception.

The second most popular page on the site is my resume. It makes sense. Most people visiting my site are looking for more information about me, my experience, and what I can bring to their project. Previously, my old design offered only a PDF version of my resume, but for this design I wanted to include an enhanced resume with working links to the organizations I’d work for previously (when possible).

The site also include the obligatory “Albums” page, although very little of my income is derived from albums sales, and very little of my energy is spent promoting them. They are available on the site for a free listen, and the stats show an occasional click to their pages on iTunes and Amazon.

Bells and Whistles

Throughout my career, I’ve periodically found it necessary to share recordings, pdfs, and other info with clients and co-workers. A lot of this material is both very large (in terms of megabytes) and copyrighted. Emailing these large files has always been problematic, and posting them publicly on my website runs the risk of upsetting the copyright owners.

I looked into included an intranet for this kind of material, but in the end it was clear that would be overkill for a relatively easy problem. My new site includes the ability to post this kind of material safely without any kind of members-only intranet.

There are password protected posts hidden in the site, and I give the address and passwords to the clients that I need to. Nowhere on the site is there an archived list of all the posts in the database, which effectively hides the private posts. The invited users can post comments if they like, and they can download the files that we need to pass between us. The content is largely used for educational purposes, and according to copyright law, the educational purpose and password protection is all that is legally necessary.

Meeting Everyone’s Needs

With any website, there seems to be 3 parties whose needs need to be met for the site to be a success.  They are:

1. The website’s owner (in our case the performer or group)
2. The visitor
3. The search engine

All three groups need something different.  The owner wants it to be representative of their brand and product, visually impressive and, ultimately, a lead generator.  The visitor wants it to be organized, clear, quick, and informative.  The search engine doesn’t care what it looks like, as long as the important stuff is textual and coded with some kind of sanity.

In re-designing my site I simply tried to meet the needs of all 3 parties.  I used proper SEO copy, <title> tags, hierarchy of <h> tags and internal linking and the search engines seem perfectly happy.  If you search David J. Hahn on any search engine, you will find me.

Increase of 146% for time on site

A visitor on my site will quickly find anything they were looking for, and, if they stick around, a few interesting things they didn’t expect.  The visitor stats show that average time on the site has increased by 146% since the implementation of the new design, and the bounce rate has fallen 17% – even with all the links to outside websites.

In general, the site has been successful in increasing those stats that I was looking to change, and seems to be working as an improved tool for my career as a musician.

Tell me about the design of your site.  What do you like or dislike about it?

Most social networks have their own internal search functions or methods of organizing user profiles. Twitter is an excellent example of a site whose search engine helps not only connects people with common interests, but also allows virtual chat rooms to be created on the fly if every user tweets a common word (usually preceded by a # symbol). YouTube relies heavily on searches to help visitors dig through all the content, so precise, well thought out titles, descriptions and tags on your videos increase the chances of the right people discovering your videos. Both sites are destinations with built in communities, the perfect places for musicians to build awareness.

As a musician, you ought to be familiar with these sites and others like them. They are excellent promotional tools, free to use, and the philosophy behind this brand of strategic marketing will transfer to the next set of tools once these are obsolete. The trick is using them efficiently and not being overwhelmed by the vast number of websites people might tell you to join. I believe it’s better to find a few that work best for you, where most of your audience hangs out, and make the most out of your profile.

Before You Start

What is your message? How do people describe you or your music? Come up with a few general words or phrases that accurately describe you, your music, and each of your albums. If you have some descriptions prepared, you’ll waste less time setting up new profiles and uploading new content. A little repetition also helps people start to recognize you.

Most importantly, be really, really good. Make sure people are impressed when they stumble across your content. Just getting somebody’s attention today is hard enough, so be ready when they do give you some of their time.

Best Practices for Tags & Descriptions

Write out your full name, the band members’ full names, and the band’s name as often as possible. Use pronouns sparingly, only enough to avoid sounding like a broken record. Search engines interpret repetition as importance, and what’s more important than the name of your band?

If your name is common, set yourself apart. Since I’ve already mentioned him, let me use Dave Hahn as an example. It is almost hard to believe how many people named Dave Hahn are on the internet. There’s a rock climber, at least two other musicians, an illustrator, and a guy that made a nuclear bomb out of smoke detectors. To set himself apart, Dave uses his full name with his middle initial, David J. Hahn, and relies on keywords that are unique to him, such as “piano, conducting, keyboards.”

Always link to your website. Every profile, post, or comment you make anywhere online should link back to your website. Building a web presence is much more effective if you are funneling traffic to a central location. Search engines also follow links to help determine the importance of websites. The more links headed to your website, the better. Don’t expect everyone to take the link every time, but make sure it’s available and works. This leads us to the next point.

Write out full URLs, starting with “http://”. If you use the full web address, many sites including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook will automatically convert it into a link. The advantages here are obvious.

Write out the name of the venue and location of your gigs every time you announce the shows, blog about them, or post videos or pictures at the venue. For some reason, a lot of clubs have terrible SEO for their own websites, and it’s not that hard to show up in the search results by simply listing their name on your site. More importantly, the venues you play put your music in context for people, so it doesn’t hurt for your name to show up in the search listing, even if they weren’t looking for you.

Find the best phrases and tags using Google’s Keyword Tool. For example, you may want to describe yourself as an “indie rock band” but when you plug that phrase into the keyword tool you’ll learn that the phrase “indie band” is searched 90,000 time each month, compared to only 9,000 for “indie rock band.”

Talk about your stuff. As a guitarist, I try to write “Fender Telecaster” or “1967 Gibson ES-175″ in place of “my guitar” when appropriate. Not only are your fans curious about what you use, but people search for gear all the time. Sometimes this is all the common ground you need to find a new fan.

Use tags to reinforce the rest of your content, but don’t rely on them. Tags are more effective when used to add one more instance of a keyword from the title or body of your content.

Pictures are not worth a thousand words. Banners and logos are great, but don’t rely on them to tell the world who you are online. Search engines can’t index the words on the image. Make sure important words appear as text somewhere near the top of the site.

Think like the person performing the search. When you use a search engine, you try to pick out the important words for whatever it is you’re looking for. This is common sense, but pretend you are looking for exactly whatever it is you are posting to the internet, and make sure those words are present in your description and tags. Use proper spelling and avoid all those internet abbreviations and slang. Although your audience might know what you’re talking about, they probably don’t search for those terms very often and search engines don’t index them very well.

To be honest, this is all a relatively small piece of the puzzle. I don’t think there has ever been a musician that broke through the noise because of their YouTube tags, and I doubt it’s held anyone back. However, I don’t believe it is trivial. Thinking this way will make your time online much more effective, and then you can spend more time making music.