Results for songwriting

Toontrack Music has announced that this May will see another installment of the company’s popular campaign month Songwriters Month: a month filled to the brim with new sounds, tools and inspiration.

Already now, users can participate by submitting their own songs for a chance to be published on the site.

“Songwriting is at the heart of what our users do. We think a great way of showing the multitude of fantastic music that is created with our tools is to have a customer-generated music player. This is also a chance for our users to expose their music to thousands and thousands of people”, said Mattias Eklund, Toontrack’s co-founder and Head of Sound Design.

Songwriters Month terms for participation

• Send material to sw2013@toontrack.com
• Song must be written by you or your band/co-writer(s)
• Include song title in filename
• Song must be in MP3 format
• Include photo or artwork
• Email can not be larger than 7 MB

Further information/disclaimer will be available with auto-reply upon participation.

More information: Toontrack

Electronic Creatives has announced its first Ableton Live Master Class of the year, in partnership with the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock on March 9th and 10th, 2013.

If you are a producer looking to greatly improve your sound-design, composition, production and performance skills, this is a MUST SEE event! This two day seminar will feature some extra special guests and local talent.

There will also be a FREE PARTY after the lecture on March 10th, featuring a demonstration of Ableton’s new PUSH controller, as well as performances from our lecturers and MORE!

Ableton Live Master Class

• Using Live 9 features for Production.
• Songwriting and Arranging in Ableton.
• Mastering Techniques in Ableton Live.
• Sound-Design w/ Ableton Live Instruments.
• Micro-detailing techniques.

The seminar schedule for March 9th, 2013 includes Laura Escude (Ableton Certified Trainer, Electronic Creatives), Sweatson Klank aka Take: (Dublab, Alpha Pup Records) and Ben Hovey (Bob Moog Foundation), and for March 10th, 2013, Djemba Djemba (Mad Decent, Jeffries, TeamSupreme), FuzZ (Squeak E. Clean, Rabbit Records), and Virtual Boy (Alpha Pup Records).

Tickets are available to purchase for $99 USD (one day) / $198 USD (both days) if registered before February 22nd, 2013. There will be a price increase after this date.

All attendees get student discounts on Ableton Live + upgrades + PUSH, as well as special pricing on partner products.

More information: Electronic Creatives

Hal Leonard Books has announced it is shipping Studio One for Engineers and Producers, a Quick Pro Guide is specifically designed to help engineers and producers who are already comfortable using another DAW software platform make the transition to Studio One.

The author and audio engineer Bill Edstrom says: “I’ve done projects in just about every DAW on the market. To use most of these systems you need to be in a very technical frame of mind. I was looking for something simpler – something to get creative songwriting ideas out. That’s when I discovered Studio One.”

Studio One for Engineers and Producers starts by relating Studio One’s layout and functionality to other common DAWs, to identify the most important similarities and differences. It then follows the creative process through the normal progression of a modern recording/production. This new cross-platform (Mac/PC) DAW is built from the ground up for speed, efficiency, and power; Studio One for Engineers and Producers is the perfect tool to shorten the pathway from installation to inspiration!

The book is accompanied with 12 new video tutorials covering the key concepts. Studio One for Engineers and Producers demonstrates the creative, practical, and technical benefits provided by PreSonus in this modern, well-developed, flexible, and user-friendly application. All instruction is presented in straightforward and simple language that gets right to the point, taking into consideration the need for amateurs, home studio owners, and commercial professionals to get up to speed very quickly. Readers will enjoy the numerous tips and real world examples. Edstrom adds: “I was recording with Studio One as a canvas for creativity. But I realized that I could produce music end to end without really needing to use other tools. In short, Studio One is fun to use!”

The book is available to purchase for $16.99 USD.

More information: Hal Leonard Books / Studio One for Engineers and Producers

Notion Music has introduced Progression 2.0, a composition software for guitar, bass and drums.

Progression, the most intuitive tab, notation, songwriting, and composition software for guitar, bass, and drums is back and more powerful than ever. With a brand new design you can now more easily enter tab or notation and hear your music play back with real instrument samples.

Progression makes it easy to create your own guitar tab, lead sheets, and standard sheet music complete with an audio track of you own.

Seamlessly integrated with real audio samples. Guitars samples by Neil Zaza, bass samples by Victor Wooten and drums by Roy “Futureman” Wooten, all recorded at top studios around the world.

Enter notes into Progression with the interactive fretboard, keyboard, or drum pad.

Progression 2 features

• Write guitar tab and notation.
• Real-time updating between tab and notation.
• Custom tab and alternate tunings.
• Supports 7-string guitar and 5-string bass.
• Interactive fretboard, keyboard and drum pad.
• ReWire 64-bit (host and slave).
• VST compatibility.
• Drum patterns included.
• SequencerStaff and Sequencer Overlay.
• Native 64-bit support (Mac OS X and Windows).
• Built-in amp simulator.
• MIDI overdub.
• Integrated audio mixer.
• Export audio, MIDI, MusicXML.
• Save directly to SoundCloud.
• Compatibility with Notion 4, Notion and Progression iPad apps.
• Save as PDF.
• Import MIDI, MusicXML, and Guitar Pro files (version 3-5).

Progression 2.0 for Windows and Mac is available to purchase for the introductory price of $49 USD.

More information: Notion Music / Progression

Backbeat Books has published Electronic Musician Presents The Recording Secrets Behind 50 Great Albums edited by Kylee Swenson Gordon.

Culled from 10 years of the Electronic Musician, Remix, and EQ magazines’ archives, the articles in The Recording Secrets Behind 50 Great Albums will enlighten readers about the recording and songwriting techniques that helped create 50 great albums, spanning as far back as 1967 and as recent as 2011, revealing the methodology of numerous talented artists, producers, and engineers.

Ranging from such seminal classics as Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Aerosmith’s Toys in the Attic, and the Who’s Quadrophenia to recently recorded works by Danger Mouse, Foo Fighters, and Phoenix, this compilation of articles taps into the inner studio realm of a wide range of artists, crossing boundaries of era, genre, geography, and recording style. But what these articles have in common is a wealth of behind-the-scenes secrets that inform how many amazing sounds and songs were captured and constructed. Musicians craving great tips and advice to pursue their own musical dreams – as well as fans interested in how their favorite artists made their music – will find a treasure trove of stories from the long-respected music-production magazines that dug deep to capture all of the juicy recording details.

The book is available to purchase for $16.99 USD.

More information: Backbeat Books

Toontrack has announced Backbeats MIDI, a collection of drum beats and fills specifically tailored for the songwriter focusing on classic rock, pop and country compositions.

“I based this pack purely on what I think a songwriter might need when coming up with a new song. Solid grooves, strong backbeats and a nice flow without getting in the way”, says session drummer and Austin, TX native Stephen Belans.

In other words – the perfect addition to your everyday songwriting drum needs. Or as Stephen puts it: “Just authentic meat-and-potatoes versions of popular American music feels, some more traditional, others more modern”.

Backbeats MIDI features

• More than 500 individually played files.
• Categorized in different songs.
• Full intro / verse / pre-chorus / chorus / bridge / fill sections in each song.
• Ballad / Midtempo / Uptempo / Doubletime.
• Swing and/or straight feel in 4/4.

The Backbeats MIDI library is available to purchase for 25 EUR / $29 USD.

More information: Toontrack / Backbeats MIDI