The Mini Token Blog

It’s the end of the music industry as we know it. You no longer have to depend on someone who doesn’t get your music to discover you and make you a success. If you’re into rocking a la Alternative, we are excited for you! Alternative Music is one of the leading genres taking the Internet by storm.

Today, with digital technology, the only thing that is holding you back from experiencing a life of infecting your fans with your music is you. With the Internet anyone can get their music out into cyberspace, get some recognition and make some money.

- Will you become rich? -

Getting rich is a possibility in the digital market place. The Artic Monkeys sold 360,000 copies in one week by using the internet to market their music. If you do the math, if they charged, $10 per CD, times 360,000 that’s 3,600,000 - three million six hundred thousand dollars! Getting rich is a possibility in the digital age.

Let’s face it. Every artist and musician could use a little more money. It doesn’t matter what genre you’re in. You know that having a little extra money could help you. It doesn’t matter why you sing or play. You could use a some extra money, to make whatever you’re doing today even better tomorrow.

Alternative rockers are often frustrated with lack of mainstream media attention. Alternative rockers usually feel insulted and abused by corporate record labels. Alternative rockers know that there are many people in the world who appreciate their kind of music. Using internet submission sites allow the alternative rocker to connect with fans on-line and off-line.

In the past, artists and bands needed a record company to pay for everything (studio time, CD dulication, promotion etc.). Today, it’s up to the alternative rocker to get his or her music heard. The Good thing is that it doesn’t cost a lot of money to make your music dreams come true. All you have to do is follow these steps to succeed in the music biz.

Step one, start a record label. It’s very easy and affordable to start a record label. Plus, there are many reasons to start your own record label like; filing taxes at the business level, getting tax breaks that businesses are allowed by the government, becomming a member of RIAA and many more

Step two, build your personal studio. Again this is a very easy and inexpensive step to take to succeed in the music biz. Some advantages of owning a personal recording studio is that you can; take your time to develop your sound, you can make changes that will improve your songs without having to pay thousands of dollars to a professional studio and you can master your music in minutes.

Step three, learn where and how to promote your music. Back in the day you needed to get your music heard on the radio or on a video channel to get enough exposure to make any money selling your music. Today if you can read this article, you can promote your music over the internet and expose your music to millions of people.

Step four, build your fan base. Building a fan base used to require you to get massive exposure on TV or radio and then enbark on endless tours to promote your CD. After all at work and investment, you’d be doing well to have a fan base of a couple thousand fans. Today you can promote your music on many of the Peer to Peer sites sprouting up like; myspace, msnspaces, isound and many more and reach millions. Plus you can build a fan base of hundreds of thousands. If you need proof of this fact just go to myspace.com and check out the top artist and see how many friends (fans) the top artist have.

Step Five, convert your fans into customers. Having many fans who don’t purchase your music is honestly a waste of time. Fans do fill the ego, but if they don’t purchase your music, they aren’t filling your bank account. Without making money in the music biz, you won’t get respect or the recognition that matters. You’ll have to learn the steps to getting fans buying massive amounts of your music to really succeed in the music biz.

The good thing is all the steps above are easy to do but there can be lots work involved if you don’t take the correct steps.

Jerome C. Ford is a 20 year Radio and Records veteran, Music Marketing expert and Vice President of www.simbiz.info. Discover the secrets to success in the Music Biz by logging onto www.simbiz.info

Mac Dre was born on the fifth of July 1970 in Oakland, he grew up in Vallejo, California and lived there most of his life.

In 1989 Mac Dre released his first album, an EP titled ‘Young Black Brotha’ it had 4 tracks on it and one track ironicly titled ‘Too Hard for the Fuckin Radio’ started getting air play in North Californian radio stations. In 1991 Mac Dre returned with ‘California Livin” and by the time he released his third album ‘Whats really goin on’(1992) his music was being played all over Vallejo and North California for that matter. In clubs and peoples cars, it looked like Mac Dre was going to reach the big time. But his hopes and dreams were snatched away from him as he was put into prison as the police believed he was behind a few bank robberys. Mac Dre was followed 300 miles by police from the ‘Bay Area’ to Fresno, his friend was wired and recorded a conversation which he started asking Mac Dre about the bank robberys. He was sentenced to five years inprisonment in 1992 for this but he wasn’t done making albums yet. ‘Back N Da Hood’ was what his fourth album was called, it was an EP which was recorded from Fresno county Jail by phone. The album shows that Mac Dre doesn’t need lots of takes to have a song the way he wants it. In the same year he recorded some more songs over the phone and his record company made an album from them and some of his previously released songs, the album was called ‘Young Black Brotha: The Album’.

Mac Dre was released in 1995. He got on his compilation ‘The Rompilation’ which was released under his new record company ‘Romp Records’ and sold over 60,000 copies, in the Rompalation Mac Dre appears on eight tracks alongside some of his ‘homies’ such as Mac Mall, Da Unda dog and JT the Bigga Figga. After his release he started working like crazy on his albums averaging on two albums a year. His first solo release after his release from jail was called ‘Stupid Doo Doo Dumb’, the very same year he released ‘Don’t hate the Player, Hate the Game’. In the next three years that followed he released 11 albums the latest of them ‘Thizzelle Washington’ got him the most fans and respect. In 2003 he made ‘al boo boo’ which was a cd with a free dvd and he released a dvd called Treal TV. His fans loved the dvd as it opened a window into how he lived his life.

If you ask a fan of Mac Dre whats Mac Dres best album they are likly to say all of them, this shows the consistincy of his work it was all fantastic. His career in rap was not a fair one though, he never got the commercial praise he definatly deserved. In 2004 Mac Dre released three albums ‘Genie of the Lamp’, ‘Ronald Dregan: Dreganomics’ and ‘The Game is thick, Vol 2′. These albums had North California buzzing with excitment they thought this would be the man to put the spotlight back on westcoast rap.But this as of now has not happened. On November 1st 2004 Mac Dre was victim of a drive-by on Highway 71, Kansas City. The incident happened just after a concert he was doing in Kansas, the shooting was a shock, fans in Kansas enjoyed the show, noone from Kansas had any right to shoot a North Californian rapper as the Kansas City rap scene was getting respect and money from that area. When Mac Dres mother Wanda Salvatto heard about the shooting she did not believe it. This was because she was told previously her son was dead from an overdose of drugs but yet he was fine, other Vallejo residents did not believe this either and were shocked and sad when they heard that it was true. Mac Dre was buried at Moutain View Cemetary, Oakland, CA.

Now in 2005 Mac Dre has many die-hard fans and new ones too, he is still releasing albums too! ‘Da US Open’ was released on the 22nd of March it is a collaberation between Mac Dre and Mac Mall in which they pick up the alter egos ‘Andre Macassi’ and ‘Mall Macenroe’. Later ‘Money iz Motive’ was released, it wasn’t a Mac Dre solo it was an album made by the ‘Cutthoat Committee’ which Mac Dre was a part of. ‘Treal TV 2′ is currently in its final stages before its released, on top of that Mac Dres record label ‘Thizz Entertainment’ has some unreleased Mac Dre material that they will be selling in the near future. To Mac Dres fans he will always be the best rapper from the ‘Bay Area’.

RIP Andre ‘Mac Dre’ Hicks

Wrote by Jake McMullan
Fan of Mac Dre
Owner of the Mac Dre fansite: www.macdreezy.com

Musical instruments are of many kinds, the main categories being chordophones (strings), aerophones (woodwinds and brasses), idiophones (percussion), and membranophones (drums).

Chordophones are those that are played by plucking or strumming at the strings. The sound produced depends on the mass of the string, length of the vibrating portion of the string, and its tension as well as the kind of resonating cavity in the instrument.

Aerophones generate music when air enters and vibrates within the instrument. This is possible by blowing into the instrument. The kind of music produced depends on the length of the column of air, the shape of the instrument, the method of tone production and the construction of the instrument.

Idiophones instruments, on the other hand, are those that produce sounds when struck. The sound generated is based upon the shape of the resonating cavity, as well as the size of the instrument. Other kinds of musical instruments are the pianos, keyboards and electronic instruments. Each of these musical instruments has sub-categories within them.

Dealers of musical instruments are generally middlemen between the manufacturers and the customers. They can be wholesalers, retailers, associations, even manufacturers themselves. Musical instruments dealers also sell other accessories like guitar amps, keyboard controllers, computer music hardware, stands and footstools, cables and cable accessories, speakers, straps and strap locks, microphone accessories, studio furniture, racks and cases, acoustic foam, headphones and headphone amps, covers, power supplies and batteries, music books, and more.

These days, musical instrument dealers have their own websites where they display their products along with the prices and any special offers or deals. Products can be ordered online or through fax, e-mail, or mail-order forms. Some also provide appraisal, repair, and restoring services. Some dealers specialize in old and antique musical instruments or secondhand instruments. Musical instruments can also be categorized on the basis of their playing levels. Some are suitable for all kinds of players while others are for novices. Expert players have very specific preferences where musical instruments are concerned. A dealer has to understand the needs of the player and suggest the perfect instrument accordingly.

Musical Instruments provides detailed information on Musical Instrument, Musical Instrument Stores, Musical Instrument Dealers, Pictures Of Musical Instruments and more. Musical Instruments is affiliated with Rock Music Code.

The Shure SM7 dynamics mic came highly recommended from the
various professional recording engineers that I’ve talked to
online. Many pro recording guys say that the SM7 should be one
of the first mics that you buy. I now know why.

The Shure SM7b is basically an upgraded SM57. It looks much
different than an SM57 and sounds different for a number of
reasons. The SM7 started out as a voiceover microphone. If you
watch Howard Stern, you’ll notice that Robin uses a Shure SM7.
I’m not sure about the guts inside, but one feature that makes
the Shure SM7 a different microphone is the position of the
capsule. They actually built a cage about 2-3″ around the
capsule. So even if your lips are touching the mic, they have a
healthy space from the capsule. I’m sure this was a way to
reduce the proximity effect that comes with the hypercardiod
design.

The downside to putting the capsule at least 2″ from tip of the
mic is the chance for picking up other sounds is increased quite
a bit. To combat this effect, they wrapped the cage in foam.
This foam not only increases the isolation of this mic, but it
works as a natural pop filter.

The Shure SM7 has two different tone settings on the back of the
microphone that make it much more flexible. It has a low end
roll off which is common on pro mics and it has a prescense
boost which is not so common on mics. I must be honest, I
haven’t experimented much with the low end roll off switch. For
every application that I’ve used the mic for I haven’t wanted a
massive low end.

Last night was the first time I disengaged the low end roll off.
I was recording a band totally live in a crowded, small room. I
had recorded the singer several times before. While he has a
great voice, he wants the tone of his voice to be as thick and
full as possible. I went ahead and turned off the low end filter
for him. I also turned off the prescence boost. I knew his voice
would have plenty of prescense. The band had drums, bass,
electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, and saxaphone
basically all in the same rooms. The band leader was adament
about recording EVERYTHING live. This means that I needed a tad
bit of isolation in the vocals.

It turned out that there was more isolation than I needed. The
Shure SM7 certainly blocked out unwanted sounds quite easily. We
have a Mackie active PA speaker blasting the room full of sound.
I was wearing ear plugs. The SM 7 did an amazing job. I’m very
impressed. The singer said that his vocals never sounded as good
with condenser mics such the Audio Technica 4050 or the AKG 414.
What’s amazing is this great sound was done live with no
headphones with noise all over the place.

It’s no wonder the SM 7 is used on some many professional
recordings. The SM7’s claim to fame is the Micheal Jackson
“Thriller” record. They could have used any vintage microphone
on the planet, but they choose the Shure SM7. I’ve read that the
Red Hot Chili Peppers have used the SM 7 on vocals on ever album
they have done. I’ve also heard that 3 Doors Down uses this mic
a lot. You can see James Hetfield from Metallica singing into a
Shure SM 7 on the “Some Kind Of Monster” DVD.

For $350, it’s tough to beat a Shure SM 7. It’s durable. It will
last. It’s pro. This mic is great in a loud, live recording
setting or in an overdub with headphones setting. I’m impressed
by this mic. You can tailer the sound to fit what you are
looking for. I’ve even heard that it’s a great kick drum mic
too. I’ll have to try it out. I’d pick the Shure SM7 over just
about any condenser if budget is an issue.