Pistol Opera
September 10, 2007
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Those PISTOL OPERA boys are coming up again to record in April I hope. Three more punchy songs. I have some new toys and I have cleaned out my ears especially. I cant wait. Dane is such a good guitarist. He can put together a solo that would make Steve Lukather’s ears prick up.
First excersize
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The first thing that you need to do is to build your diaphragm muscles up so they can handle the abuse you are going to give them in the course of my tutoring.It can take you six months or six weeks to accomplish this.It all depends on how much time you spend practicing.Usually for the person starting out I say 4-6 weeks doing 3 reps of 15 minute pressure bursts, I call them,in the morning and afternoon.Once this initial task becomes part of your daily routine then you will be ready for the actual singing part of the lessons.
The singing part for the first few weeks is only a one octave exersize but it is the MOST IMPORTANT one.I guarrantee that when you master this one octave pass the rest of the programme will be not only easy but your improvement can easily be measured.You will have no pitch issues and if you read music your note placement will be perfect.
I still practice one hour a day and sing probably half an hour to an hour per recording session but when I am comping all the vocal tracks including backup vocals I will sing 4-8 hours non stop to get the contuity and tone.I have not lost my voice for two years now and for those of you who know me I can be quite brutal on my voice and body when I sing live.
It is better to comp a lead vocal with the whole 8-16 bars in tact.A lot of producers will edit a vocal word by word, pich it up and down, auto tune i, waves tune it until it sounds like a keyboard.If you do these simple exersizes you will save his time and your money and get a REAL result.Not many singers impress me and I would say that with a little advice and some training an average singer could become the next best thing.
Singing is about finding that place inside you and expressing it vocally not a singing teachers version of it.You can go to a singing teacher for years and only improve marginally and of course how much you improve will depend on your application to your practice.Cut out that middle man and develop your own style quickly.
I will finish this off tommorow as I need to figure out how you can download the first lesson from my site.A full explaination of the first exersize should be up in the next couple of days but feel free to email me or leave a comment.
cheers.Stu
Universal Audio Desktop Preamp
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I have been looking around for some good micpres to replace the Allen and Heath chain and Justin Keogh from Factorysound.com told me to try the Universal audio remote unit.It also can be used for talkback which is great if you get sick of the external mic thing.I have to say that it is a fantastic little thing.The two pres are what you would expect from the guys that make Urei compressors.I recorded an 8 bar snare track and put it into an existing track.The difference between the Ua and the AHeath is huge and I didnt even eq the two snare mics going into protools.I then recorded my takamine 12 string into a track using it as a headphone mixer as well.Put a bit of reverb on the guitar just at the monitoring stage and wow.I wound up re-recording 4 acoustic tracks.
There is much more this little could do but for me the mic pres and the ability to use it remotely as a headphone mixer are all I need it for and great value for the price.Better thanbuying a bunch of cheap pres.
It’ s the dual pre and cue mixer if you want to google it.
I’m back
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I have been working on the construction of a new recording studio for Armstrongs in South Melbourne.A great area with a bulletproof vocal booth and a really nice control room.Doug Brady (guru sound engineer) and David Drew designed the layout and I built it.I will post some photos as soon as I get them off my camera.
Rincon’s album mixes are coming along very well with two done.Martin Pullen from Edensound Mastering mastered the two tracks last week and they stack up well against the competition.We may remix one of the tracks due to some over compression on the pre master.
I have been busy writing music for SNOW TV and there is one episode to go.I have also been busy writing some original songs for publishing.Some heavy rock numbers as well some nice ballads.When I am a little more up with the tecnology of embedding youtube here I will put some songs up.
I
Singing Lessons
July 25, 2007
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I am in the process of finishing a series of lessons for the beginner to the professional musician looking to improve their performance, stamina and range.I will be posting the first lesson free because it is the one that takes the longest to master and must be mastered first.I will also be getting the gold from other singers from well known bands and the information given will help everyone beat the Auto tune virus that has taken over the airwaves.Did you know that Kenny from Karnivool had absolutely NO AUTO TUNE on his voice at the time of editing his voice for their debut album THEMATA?Have you heard him live?HMMMMM Like all great singers he practices and I will find out how often and what he does to maintain that tone and range.
More soon
BMP Recording Studio
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My name is Stuart Biggins and I am a Music Producer,singer songwriter and have worked both in Australia and overseas on various music projects.
I sometimes work out of Melbourne from Kik Studios in South Melbourne but I have a great facility in Bright ,North East Victoria Australia.I am one hour from Mt Hotham and Falls Creek Ski resorts and am situated right on the Ovens River(See photos).
It certainly beats the crusty, stale atmosphere of the city base studios.I have protools HD with all the usual plugins.I have a nice mixing console and analogue summing with a few Avalons and Urei’s on call when needed.I have a great microphone collection for all instruments.I have built many recording facilities including THE BASE STUDIOS in South Melbourne and refurbished part of Kik in South Melbourne for Vince and the guys so I have an acoustically designed and treated control area with a huge live room upstairs for drums, bass and whatever else.I can also deaden part of the room for vocals and acoustic instruments giving musicians more room to move with a view as well.
I have produced allot of material for Television recently and also licence music to the tv shows I work with as a side line which usually involves remixing the material for tv and dvd format.I will expand on this another time but it is a very important part of my business getting what I do and the people I work with heard and earning money from royalties.Rincon have had nearly two rotation from their 6 track ep, not to mention the three other versions of each track I have remixed for the same show SNOW TV on Chanel Nine every Saturday (Australia) or on www.snow.tv.Rincon have also been featured on Billabongs Freeway Snowboard dvd and their new surf dvd Tropical Punch.Many thanks go out to Talon and the boys at Billabong in the editing room for their support.
Mammal, Ben Smith, Mario Riccioni, just to name a few have also featured on snow tv in various forms of edits BMP have produced and these are guys who are fantastic musicians and songwriters who I will continue to support with my web of business contacts and clients that extend to REDBULL Europe.
Whatever your style of music I offer more than just a recording facility.I not produce and arrange but as Music Producer of Snow tv can get pretty much a placement on the show, depending on the song within a week and as the show is webbased as well the oportunity to promote and market your product online to over 70,000 poeple a week should be considered by all in need of such an audience.We also will have the facility to sell online your product through our soon to be music store SNOW MUSIC.Check out www.snow.tv and keep watching as it evolves.
I intend to place snipits of recording session up on this blog with advise on recording and song arranging.Having worked with the best producers and songwriters as a singer and backup vocalist I will also interview them and extract vital secrets that you will help you evolve into the band or artist worthy of recognition and financial reward.
More to come.
Managing Illness when you are a singer
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I just received the bad news that Kim from Dead Letter Circus is ill and the band has had to pull out of their comittments with Butterfly effect at the Hifi bar in Melbourne.This is always distressing for the singer ESPECIALLY if you are Kim.
He has a voice like no other rock singer in this country.His live voice can only be described as perfect in pitch and presentation and he has worked incredibly hard to get it to that stage.Most people who think they can sing like this would bumble their way through a week of illness just for the sake of doing the gig but miss the point of why people actually go to see them.They want to be entertained and do not want to walk away from that gig feeling they only got 50%.
I toured my band with Crowded House when they first busrt onto the scene.I got a virus like Kim but still pushed on.I lost my voice after the first three songs every night and after a week was forced to quit the tour.As a result of not stopping and recouperating the virus turned into an infection and blood disorder and I had to quit the band.I could not sing literally for six months and I only had two octaves(probably less).
It is always a tough call people but a voice is not a hand or a foot.When in doubt pull out.Good move kim.
Lots of pineapple and really hot green tea, on stage, and eat pineapple all day if you have to and keep talking.Never stop talking when you have a cold or flu because it keeps mucus from building up behind your throat and constantly humm scales, one octave will suffice every couple of hours if you really have to do the gig. If you can still get BUCKLEY’S CANADIOL it is the holy grail for singers.I have completely lost my voice many times after a week of singing and one third of a small bottle and IT’S BACK.Thin but BACK.You can sip it during a gig and I guarantee everyone that it will see you through the night and then some more.
The most important thing is not to be a sook and let everyone know how sick you are.Deal with it with pineapple and Buckley’s Canadiol.
I heard a band last week by the name of MONSTERWORKS.Jon the singer has a few tones over four octaves.Yes, four.Not one or two.I downloaded the album from their website and was glad to feel my bones rattle from the great tunes these guys have produced.They are metal as anything but have broken a mould that has been around for a long time and have set the benchmark now for singing and songwriting.The singer will give Rob Halford a run for his money and I am sure has destroyed many a mic diaphragm.For those bands and metal singers out there that are looking for the next wave, the tsunami is in England and they are Monsterworks.I am sure Jon has some great illness remedies, oh and by the way he is also one of the guitarists.You must check this out if you like Judas Priest.They are the twenty first century version on Steroids.
Transcontinental Project
July 23, 2007
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I am currently working on an album that I have produced for Rincon from Melbourne Australia.We all decided that it was best to mix it in The US with Justin Thomas:producer of Dark New Day and a number of other class bands.
It was always going to be a task finding someone to interpret the production in the mix without destroying the flavor of the songs.Justin is doing a great job and has found more gold in the original production.
It has certainly taken a load off my mind as the bands budget is not enourmous and they were worried they would not have enough for a film clip.Many thanks to Justin from Gridlock Studios for his continuing efforts with the mixes.Rincon’s album will be another great Australian band from the COALITION OF THE ROCKIN.
Stay Tuned for more on Rincon.
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