From the category archives:

Sharing Ideas

“Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough Anymore

by Ernest on August 4, 2010

Iremember when I first heard Bush, the band of course, not the President, and I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, this is pretty good. It’s not Nirvana but it’s pretty good”.

A few months after I heard them, they played a big show in Nashville. Sold out, as I recall. I had friends that went, it was a big deal. I stayed home and listened to Nine Inch Nails and practiced 360 flips in my driveway.

Looking back, I don’t think Bush could have made it past MySpace if they came along ten years later. Their music is really good, but it isn’t transcendent, and I’m not basing that on my own opinion, because I actually really like the band. But it’s not as good as Nirvana. And it sounds too much like Nirvana to be able to get away with not quite being as good.

Because of the level of noise and clutter out there, and the disposable nature of a culture of amateurs, [continue reading…]

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Successful Bands

by stinson on July 3, 2010

I‘m thinking the bands that bubble up enough to blip on the radar screen, do so because of three main reasons:

  1. They create remarkable music
  2. One of the band members pulls everyone else’s weight in the “music business” department
  3. They hook up with a professional in the business who is connected, puts the icing on the cake, and gets the job done

[continue reading…]

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Playing Live

by stinson on June 11, 2010

Sometimes it’s not as much about putting on the most incredible live show anyone has ever seen. Sometimes who you’re sharing the bill with is not all that important. Sometimes it does not matter how many people will come out.

Sometimes it’s just about getting out and playing live, so that there is kinetic energy around your band. So that you are participating in the scene. So that the team who is managing you, marketing you, investing in you has talking points in their social circles and business contacts. [continue reading…]

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Stop Practicing!

by stinson on June 7, 2010

If you’re spending all your time developing your skill set, and thinking about all the technicals involved with that, you’re not getting your creations out there.

I’ve fallen quarry to this for more than half my life. The first two years I spent at Belmont University, I attended as a music major. My thought process was that I would become “overqualified” to play the type of music I wanted to make. I would be a musician who could practically play and do anything on the guitar. And I spent so much time trying to perfect my performance of other people’s music, learn my way around the neck of the guitar, and being consumed with picking and rhythm techniques.

In parallel I had become obsessed with how certain records sounded. In particular how certain guitarists got the tones they got (The Smashing Pumpkins Siameese Dream, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness blew my mind). So I started trying to learn everything I could about recording-taking many extra studio classes in school that really didn’t apply to my major (until I bailed and switched majors later). By the time I graduated from college, I found myself working at a recording studio… recording other people’s projects… [continue reading…]

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Another One

May 10, 2010

There’s not room enough in the world for just another one. What are you doing to make sure what you’re creating isn’t merely another one? //stinson www.producernotes.com www.facebook.com/stnsn Twitter: @stsn

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To Teach Is To Learn

April 28, 2010

Here’s a third post I lifted from Producer Notes, my personal blog on record making. As mentioned, I’ll continue to make a note of when I re-publish content from that blog which fits the context of the Radical Notion blog. You can find the previous two posts here: The Privilege and Give Away The Secret [...]

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Give Away The Secret

March 31, 2010

Here’s another one I lifted from my other blog, Producer Notes, my scribblings on record making and how that relates to my general enthusiasm for creativity. I’ve published a few posts there which I think also fit this context of what we talk about on this blog, so I’m lifting them and re-posting them here. [...]

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Who Determined It Was A Hit? (Focus on your fans)

March 30, 2010

So you look at all these bands who have had hit songs through the decades. And how often do you come across a band from years ago that you really didn’t know about? Not only that, but come to find out that this band had a significant hit that you also didn’t really know about? [...]

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When Will You Get There?

March 29, 2010

What’s the destination, how will you get there, and how long till you reach that end? That’s all up to you… Is it once you have some kind of record deal? Or once you have no record deal, but a great backing from Microsoft or Google instead? Or once you get a manager? Or a [...]

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