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Information about music production and the industry for DIY and independent artists striving to build their fan base, produce original music and provide high quality songs to the world. Written by Los Angeles producer, mix engineer and record label owner Micah Smith.

How to collect your music royalties

Tap into Your Music Profits: A Simple Guide to Collecting Every Type of Royalty

August 7th, 2023

Here’s a straightforward and uncomplicated guide to unravel the intricacies of music profits, covering aspects like royalties, sales, publishing, and licensing. I’ll direct you to the various organizations you should register with to ensure you start receiving the earnings you’ve rightfully earned from your music. Even if you haven’t released any music yet, registering early […]

Dictionary

Music production terms & jargon: what does it all mean?

July 28th, 2023

Audio engineers and music producers throw around a lot of confusing terminology. Most of it is shorthand for more complex techniques and situations. This article is a glossary of some of the most common audio production jargon I’ve heard and used in my career as a mix engineer and music producer. Hopefully this will provide […]

DIY Songwriters recording at home

Most common DIY music production mistakes

July 19th, 2023

Many of the artists I mix and master are home producers and songwriters who record outside of a studio without a professional engineer. Some of these musicians get really great results. Others have a long way to go. Sometimes I’ll get beautiful stems to work with and sometimes I’ll get audio that is less than […]

Izotope's Multiband Compressor is a good professional mastering tool

The difference between mixing and mastering

July 18th, 2023

Many artists who are looking to hire a professional audio engineer for the first time may wonder why they need both mixing and mastering. I’ll elaborate in more detail below but let’s start this off with the key differences between the two processes. Mixing is the craft of taking each individual recorded instrument (or audio […]

Music mix ruined by mud? Photo by Vidar Nordli Mathisen

Neat tricks to avoid or fix a muddy mix

June 22nd, 2023

Did you ruin your mix? This article will help you create a better rough mix for your project. Mixing is a very complex and esoteric art form. I have a lot of experience creating great mixes for all types of genres. It took a long time to develop these skills. I’m going to share with […]

Albums vs Singles vs EPs. Photo by Mick Haupt

Albums vs Singles: Best strategies for releasing music in 2022

November 17th, 2022

We live in an amazing time to be a musician. It’s easier than ever to release music worldwide. We have so many options on how to effectively reach fans. What is the best strategy for building a fan base while keeping the almighty algorithm satisfied? In this article I’ll run through some great ways to […]

Have your gear ready to go. Photo by Bernie Almanzar

How to actually finish songs (why you aren’t building an audience)

November 5th, 2022

The difference between successful musicians (as well as songwriters and producers) and hobbyists is the ability to consistently release music. Beginners might find this task daunting. If you’re new to creating music, I hope you find some great tips in this article. If you’re an expert songwriter with a lot of experience, I hope you […]

What is stem mastering?

What is stem mastering? Why would you need it?

November 2nd, 2022

Stem mastering is a relatively new service that audio engineers and studios have begun to offer in the last decade or so. As producers have been mixing more on their own there has been a new demand for technical mixing that focuses on the final polishing of groups of instruments inside of a mix called […]

Photo by Adi Goldstein

How to Prepare Your Song for Mastering

November 2nd, 2022

What is mastering? Mastering is the final step before commercially releasing your music into the world. Originally it was the process of preparing music to be recorded to vinyl. Other physical mediums came along over the decades and were added to the mastering engineer’s wheelhouse. These days, mastering engineers mostly prepare songs and albums for […]

Take your time when searching for the correct mix engineer for your style of music. Photo by John Hult

How to Find the Right Mixing Engineer

November 1st, 2022

How to find the right mixing engineer One of the most effective ways to increase the production value of your music is to hire an experienced mix engineer. If you feel like you’ve recorded and put together a decent rough mix and you need someone to help take your production to the next level, a […]

Get them files together

What to Expect When You’re Exporting: Preparing a Song for a Mix Engineer

October 19th, 2022

This is a guide for producers and artists who need some clarification on the best ways to prepare their project for a professional mix session. I will mostly be focusing on my preferred way to receive files. If you are thinking about hiring me as your mix engineer (or already have) then this guide will […]

CD Baby still delivers physical media to record stores as part of their services. DistroKid is digital only. Photo by mick haupt

Why I Use CD Baby Instead of DistroKid | Music Distribution

October 18th, 2022

There are a lot of digital music distributors out there charging a yearly subscription fee for their services. This has always felt like a waste of money to me. I want to give you some information about why I still think CD Baby is better than DistroKid for independent, DIY artists in 2022. The one-time […]