HOLIDAY DEALS ON LEASE & EXCLUSIVES!!!

Created a back-up Twitter @TEKNODROME01FAN

When in fail, sex sells!

I seen twitter friends getting their accounts suspended or worse stolen! I figured I ought to make a backup now just in case something happens. Still learning about this site everyday- and some of the badass features you can use through it! So please be kind and follow my back-up account here at this handle @TEKNODROME01FAN

I decided to join the infamous RocBattle.com!

Figured if I'm gonna take this producing and working with other people in the music industry, might as well see what other producers think! I got some hot beats over here lets test em out! Wish me luck guys!

Brand Yourself

Branding is a great form of selling yourself to a market you are trying to break into im going to leave some information for you to review to help you in your journey.

100 PERSONAL BRANDING TACTICS USING SOCIAL MEDIA
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/100-personal-branding-tactics-using-soci...

Get personal branding video advice and tips from William atPersonal Branding TV
http://www.williamarruda.com/

Personal Branding - What Color is Your Brand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDohoPavchc

Personal Branding Lessons | Brand-Yourself.com Blog
http://blog.brand-yourself.com/personal-brand/how-to-personal-brand...

Personal Brand Examples From Oprah, Woods & Richard Branson | Brand-Yourself.com Blog
http://blog.brand-yourself.com/personal-brand/personal-brand-interv...

BRANDING | The Branding Agency : Los Angeles, California : Denver, Colorado : Chicago, Illinois
http://www.thebrandingagency.com

Music Marketing Check-List 101 – Green Buzz Agency Blog Post | ImaginePR
http://imaginepr.net/2010/09/13/music-marketing-check-list-101-gree...

Ultimate List of Top 29 Tools for Competitive Intelligence | Lakeshore Branding
http://www.lakeshorebranding.com/company/blog/ultimate-list-of-top-...

You the Brand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6FqxxYABvU&feature=related

Branding Yourself Effectively
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsCZ6cdZ1_Q&feature=related

Branding yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEJvpo5X9r4

Start to use these tools and watch the outcome it will amaze you!!!

Rob Clark Jr.

TEKNODROME or ThRob UGLY

Why Wouldn't I Sell My Beats Online?

As a music producer in the Los Angeles area I have seen a lot of artists as well as labels and big time studio's come and go. For some people they were just done with the music business and decided to do something new while others were pushed out. I am one of the lucky ones I have been producing since the age of 21 and I am now 32 years young. Things are different from the times when albums sold 8 million copies without even trying, so what happen? I feel that the fans and the artists and in some cases the producers have been neglected.


Major record labels have been getting greedier finding new ways to rape artists and producers. How can you blame the Internet for record sales being down? As of today there are 600 million people on Facebook if only 50 million of them brought albums that is still good money. Major labels do not know how to connect with the people anymore. Let's face it the music on the radio sucks and the labels have lost control and they do not know what to do next.


That is why as a music producer you have to be up on your game right now. Since 2001 I have seen so many producers, be it know or unknown make the transition to selling beats online. For some major producers they looked at it as a smack in the face and this showed me they know nothing about making money they only know how to make beats. It's not their fault the labels kept them busy so they would not figure out how the system works. Now you have these once hot producers stuck with nowhere to go sitting on millions of dollars worth of beats. These once hot music producers, have no idea how much money is online so some choose to bash the whole Internet.


The one thing I have learned in my life is you cannot let pride keep you broke. Some producers feel they have to come online and sell beats for crack head prices. That is up to you and how you want to brand your product online it's all in your marketing. The myths about selling beats online are started by people who never even tried to sell beats at all. This is the best time to get beat sales online and offline like never before. Recording artist, out number music producers online 500 to 1 so you always have new clients. You just have to know how to communicate with them and build trust. The Internet allows you to be everywhere every time twenty-four seven three sixty-five days out the year. Now tell me wouldn't you like to be apart of that?


I have been in the presence of billion dollar Internet marketers from around the world and they say the same thing before you decide to sell any products online have a plan. I agree with that 100% as a music producer that has seen 16 year olds sell beats online and make any where from $8,000 to $15,000 a month they all had one thing in common they had a plan.


In conclusion, like it or not the Internet has changed the music business as we know it. This has to be the best time ever to be a music producer no more working on other people terms and being told what you can and can't create. Remember life is about taking risk and daring to be different nobody remembers the gimmick they remember where the gimmick came from.

DIY Methods and Community Still Matter

Being involved in the local indie music community for a several years, I often hear the same complaints from different bands year after year ie "The music industry is corrupted. Nobody will even show a minimal interest in young bands unless they have cash. Your talent, your music and your emotions don't matter at all. You need to hire a manager who will make you a rock star. People still trust what TV and radio feed them. People are not interested in attending indie gigs…", and so on.

Statements like these are so popular that often they sound to me like excuses for not putting in enough effort, or the lack of will to see the wider picture and a lack of willingness to try different ways. At the same time I can't deny all the problems in today's music world. However no problem has ever been solved by just sitting and beefing. Even if it sounds pretentious, it is still true - your life is what you make it. The same applies to your musical career and the only one who can make it work is you.

Recently I watched a documentary by Kenneth Thomas titled "Blood, Sweat and Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century". Of course it is a must-see movie for all the metalheads and post-rockers, but it's interesting for almost everyone fascinated with music as art, business and industry. Actually this is a story of 3 charismatic and influential labels, each with it's own philosophy, style and ethics. All 3 are founded by musicians and among them there are bands such as ISIS, Neurosis, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I'm not gonna spoil the plot or turn this article into movie review. Instead i'll just share a couple of things that are proved yet again by this documentary and by the experience of the labels and acts it is dedicated to.

DIY doesn't mean low quality. Each of labels mentioned above are famous for their physical releases. They treat CD and vinyl as art rather than a method of publishing and selling music.

DIY still means a personal and professional approach. In the case of indie labels only those founded and run by people who love and understand this particular kind of music can succeed and satisfy both musicians and listeners.

DIY is about hard work, complete dedication, being honest with yourself and others and loving of everything you are doing. Again, sounds a kinda pretentious but it's still a fact.

Therefore the main outcome of the story is that it's all about a community of like-minded people. Going back to the main point of this article, before blaming the industry, ask yourself what have you done to change things or to make an alternative. I'm not saying that each musician must start his own label, put in all their money and run a label as well as being something of a teacher in elementary school.. as Steve von Till from Neurosis does.

There're a lot of things you can start changing in your local music life right now. Find out who's playing where in your neighbourhood tomorrow night, get your friends, go and see your peers on stage. Talk to them after the show, look at their audience, plan some events together. It's so simple, isn't it? So why not do it regularly? The better your network is the more chances you can change things the way you need.

Microphone Check! Simple Studio Techniques

When setting up your mic in your home studio I would suggest using a nice condenser mic, you can get one from 100 and up. You also want to get a pop filter, this will cut out the excessive p's and b's from getting to the mic. If you can, you should also invest in a mic pre-amp. This will give a good clean sound. If not you can just use the phantom power on your mix board.


The distance your artist should be from the mic is about a fist away. You should also set a ceiling on your mix board or software. This will prevent clipping from occurring during the recording.


I would advise you not to put any effects on the microphone during recording. You can always add those afterwords, if you put a bad effect on the artist during recording and don't like it, you can't remove it!

Now if you have the budget you should create an isolation booth. This will stop all outside noise from interfering with the recording. If you can't do this, most people use anything from a bathroom to a closet to create a good recording atmosphere. Use foam padding wherever possible to reduce and echoing effect.


So all in all its pretty easy to create a professional sounding microphone with a couple simple steps. Good luck and stay tuned for more posts!