The Awesomeness of Soundcloud

My band is currently in the process of writing our first proper album.  It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time now and due to a recent line-up change that’s been forced on us we saw it as an ideal time to take stock and start fresh, new line-up, new songs and a new name (as yet undecided – suggestions welcome!).

Previously we had always written songs in a haphazard kind of way, probably the same way lots of bands do it.  We’d start jamming at a rehearsal, stumble upon an idea that we all liked then over the next couple of rehearsals we’d fashion it into a song structure, write some lyrics and a melody an bob’s your uncle – a song!  This haphazard approach always left us feeling like we’d never really finished our songs, that they were always rushed.  There was always another gig coming up that we would want to play the new song at while we were still excited about it, then another idea would come along and we’d start work on that instead.

This time we decided that we would try to write in a more organic, collaborative kind of way.  We also agreed that we would take our time and not rush any ideas through, we were actually taking time out, away from gigging to properly write a set of songs that will hopefully have sense of cohesion and most of all, honesty about them.  We are still very much at the beginning of this process, and we haven’t yet set a deadline on finishing which has taken the pressure off a bit.

The way we had been working was to record ideas and jam sessions on a laptop, then I would get a rough mix together the next day and email an mp3 to all of the guys in the band.  This didn’t work particularly well, particularly if I was sending multiple mp3′s at once due to mailbox limits on certain users email accounts etc.  In addition to this there was no way for us all to engage in any kind of online discussion easily about the tracks or ideas, short of emails bouncing around all over the place which is difficult to keep track of.

Enter Soundcloud:

Soundcloud is an online service that lets you easily share music with others.  If you think of it like a kind of flickr for audio then you can probably get the idea of what it’s about.

With Soundcloud you can decide who has the ability to listen and download the tracks you upload.  This means I can upload our latest demo’s and song ideas to my Soundcloud account and then share those tracks with my fellow band members.  They receive a notification in their email inbox that new tracks are available and they can log in to their individual Soundcloud account and start listening straight away.  There’s even an iPhone app so that band members with an iPhone can listen to the tracks on the go, wherever they are.

One of the best things about Soundcloud is the ability for people to comment on the track.  What’s more, users can comment on the timeline of the track, so effectively they can comment on particular parts of a song.  This gives us a great platform for us all to discuss ideas and demos, in our own time.  Basically, we all have full time jobs and we can only get together a couple of times a week most of the time so doing things in this way is a huge help to us.  All discussions about a track are recorded and we can refer back to them, at any time, anywhere – even from a mobile phone.

Soundcloud Comments

Let’s get Widgety…

In addition to being able to share tracks with other soundcloud users and via email, you can also use soundcloud widgets to share your tracks with a much wider audience.  You can insert widgets into your blog, on your website, facebook, twitter or pretty much anywhere else on the internet.  From our perspective this will allow us to post demo’s of tracks on our blog and get feedback from fans.

Free is good…

You can get a soundcloud account now, for free, nada, zip.  There is no limit on file sizes and no overall data cap.  The only restriction is on the number of minutes of music you can store.  Currently this is 120 minutes.  If you need more minutes you can sign up for a premium account for as little as €29 per year.  Premium accounts offer a whole host of other features including improved stats, customisable player widgets and more.

It’s not what you know…

The music industry at grass roots level is all about contacts and relationships. Maintaining these relationships should be a primary focus for any band or musician. It takes time and it doesn’t always pay off straight away, but that doesn’t mean it won’t eventually.

A prime example of this happened to us last week. For around 3 years we have been trying to get a gig at Hull’s premier original band night The Sesh. As the night is primarily to promote the music of Hull, the chances of a band from “across the water” getting a gig are greatly reduced. It does happen occasionally but we hadn’t managed it… until last week. Completely out of the blue we got a call at rehearsal from a sound engineer we worked with a few years back. Mike from ITSL Sound & Light is a top bloke and we kept in touch. It turns out that he does the sound for The Sesh and they were looking for a band to fill a spot so he recommended us. Had we never bothered to get to know Mike, or keep in contact we would probably have never got the gig.

The gig, as it was turned out to be awesome. I now know why the night has such a high reputation. Of course, we found the time to talk to the promoter and sent an email thanking him for inviting us down. We will try to stay in touch and hopefully we’ll be back soon.

It’s important to keep on top of these relationships, and whilst you don’t want to pester people to the point of irritation, you don’t want them to forget about you either. I try to keep a simple spreadsheet with contact details for promoters, venues etc. and note down the last time I made contact. That way I can occasionally go through the list and get in touch. It doesn’t have to be much, a text message or a wall post on Facebook or a tweet. You just need to let these people you are still around. Who knows, one day it might just pay off.

Deighton Fest ’09: Rock, Chickens and Rain

After two years of glorious sunshine we were probably due some bad weather this year and it didn’t dissapoint! Friday night was better than expected, but Saturday morning brought scenes of collapsed Gazebos and raincoats. Thankfully though, the wind died down, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Maybe it was the Deighton Fest spirit shining through?

The event is now in it’s third year and organisers Lou & Alex once again did a great job. Special mention also has to go out to Pete & Dianne for the use of their property and amazing food!

Straight on with the music then! Friday night was the more chilled of the two with mainly acoustic acts gracing the stage. Unfortunately I missed Seven Fables and Mike Gatto but you should definately try to check them out. I did, however manage to catch some of Ailish Breen’s set of folky acousticness. She has a lovely voice that makes you somehow complelled to listen. I’m still singing the woo hooo hooo in my head four days later! Also playing was our very own Stoney and his much better half, Amy doing a set of acoustic covers, including a parody of our bass player Gaz based on Michael Jacksons Man In The Mirror. Enough said about that one I reckon!

After the obligotary sing-song round the camp fire and some much needed sleep it was on to the main event. Saturday kicked off with a recue mission for the broken gazebos and shelters that had been trashed by the wind during the night. Everyone mucked in in true Deighton Fest spirit and we were soon back up and running. First up on stage were festival organisers Lou and Alex as The Wigglers, excellent as always and started the day off nicely. Next up were RottnKarma, good friends of 0urs who never seem to dissapoint with their brand of ‘swamp rock’. Their new songs sounded great, even if I was a little dissapointed they left my personal fave ‘Jack the hurricane’ out of the set! Boooooo.

We were up next and probably took far too long to set up, we really are the most disorganised band! Even though the heavens decided to open whilst we were on it didn’t seem to dampen spirits, and hey, we were nice and dry under the stage area even if everyone else was getting wet!

Next up was something a little different for Deighton fest, Natural Vibes are Phil and Garvin and they introduced us to some reggae flavoured hip hop to break the afternoon up nicely. Following on was Stomp, this is Alex and Ali basically playing drums on dustbins. You really have to see it to beleive just how entertaining it is!

The next band to take to the stage were Internus. We have gigged with the Lincoln-based four piece before and it was good to catch up. Their classic rock style is remniscent of Pearl Jam and went down well with the crowd.

After a break for some haybale racing, yes that’s haybale racing some more classic rock was the order of the day as Epic ripped through their set. I remember seeing them last year and being shocked at just how good they were, especially Donna Petrie’s raspy vocals. The band definately has an essence of Led Zep and certainly kicked things up a gear.

The biggest surprise of the weeked took the stage next as The Exhibition wowed the audience. I genuinely think this Bristol based band will go on to big things. They have a single ‘All the stars’ out on August 24th so be sure to check it out on iTunes.

Northallerton lads Eskimo Sandwich were up next and they are certainly polished for such a young band. Again, they could be destined for bigger things. Their sound is guitars fused with a whole manner of strange keyboard & synth sounds, and did I hear a bit of ‘Encore un fois’ at the end? I’m pretty sure sash never sounded this good!

Time for some Drum & Bass next from Project 142. Their set really was an assault on the senses and really got the crowd on their feet. Their fusion of drum & bass, electronica & shredding rock guitar really works well and it’s a credit to Alex on drums that he had only ever rehearsed to a CD.

Finally with the crowd nicely warmed up it was time for headliners The Joe Public. Thoroughly nice chaps and a cracking band to boot, these boys are from Glastonbury and were actually hand picked to play this years Glastonbury Festival by none other than Michael Eavis himself. They are currently touring the UK promoting their new EP ‘Skin’. Check their website for tour dates and try and get to see them, you definately wont be left dissapointed.

So after much music, food and beer it was time for a final sing-song round the camp fire (Hey Jude anyone?) to round off what was another awesome Deighton Fest. Once again a big thanks to Lou & Alex for organising it all and to everyone else who got involved. See ya next year!