Donovan Banks

The music industry has changed quite a lot over the last few decades.In the past, a musician or band was "discovered" by a record executive, was signed to the label and was then paid to make music.

Financially it was a tricky affair. While the famous image would be the band, they couldn't really make all the money. The record label had to make something, after all they put up the money for the record to be made, video's and promotions to be done. They had to recoup that money somehow.

So it was a problem, where the labels and musicians appeared to be working against each other. Labels were made out to be big, bad, corporate, greedy dragons that ate up all the hard work form the poor, tired old musician. It's hard work performing live show, doing interviews and being adored. Sure they had the creative product but the label had the vessel to sell that product. Without either, there was nothing.

There were also a lot of independent labels cropping up. It's not much of a phenomenon, as there is money to be made, and these smaller labels are operating as subsidiaries to the bigger labels, who in turn are acting as publishers and go-betweens. The basic model is still there though as the label and the band working together to create and sell a product.

Very recently bands have begun taking the marketing on for themselves. It's not as easy going as they hoped for. There are a lot of funds to be generated for recording of demo's and albums. Making of videos and publicity material. Contacting the press and venues for performances. There is all this work that needs to go into being a band on top of creating great music to sell.

I'm glad that is the case. We will hopefully see a bit of understanding for the record labels and how hard they must have worked presenting packages to the public. It should also guide musicians to be more responsible, not only with their product, but with their conduct. Imagine how far the Beatles would have got with their albums while they were stoned to high hills if there was no label pushing them to perform? They would have been wasted talent.
Perhaps now, we will see a host of musicians coming to the fore who really WANT to be there. Not just people who were stumbled upon in a recording studio singing a song for his mother and became one of the worlds biggest stars by near accident.

I purchased a set off books recently that I think I should tell you about. They are a short series by David Mead and while I cannot vouch for the author, nor the accuracy of the content in the book, I always feel that if I learn one thing that improves my playing or attitude, then it is worth it.

I have the Basic Scales for Guitar, Basic Chords for Guitar, Basic Kit Repair and the Basic Guitar Workout.

Now I am very impressed with the Guitar Workout as it gives you some very good practice techniques which are very important.
The book works on a simple principle that 10 minutes of good practice here and there is better than not practicing because you only have 10 minutes. How he structures the sessions is that you randomly open the book to any exercise, and spend 2 minutes doing it. He gives a guide on how many repetitions you should be able to achieve in those 2 minutes but the aim is to do as many as you can, while maintaining clear tones.
Some of the exercises are rather tricky though he has split them into three categories, Warm-up; Co-ordination; and Ear Training. They really work your fingers and force you to practice real techniques that matter, not just speed but clarity across all available fingers.

I do like to buy little things like this. My main aim is to learn as much as possible, from all sources possible. That was my first and biggest lesson.

Not too long ago I purchased myself a keyboard to use for MIDI purposes in my music creation. It turns out I am not a keys player. I never have been and in the time it will take me to learn a whole new instrument I can make the money and hire someone to do it for me.

Then I heard about the Roland GR20 guitar synthesizer and figured this is a much better way to get the sounds I want, without having to hire a session musician.
It wasn't the cheapest of options but it certainly works well. But the toughest part is trying to play a guitar like you would a piano, or organ or trumpet etc.
Some of the sounds are very cheesy, others just don't live up to what they should be, but if I want a violin in the background of my piece, you won't know the difference between the real deal, and the synthesized take.

The pickup isn't very hard to mount and can be fitted on all types of guitars. As long as it has steel strings, or steel core strings then it will work.

One of the coolest things you can do is split the guitar and synth signal. You can split it after the pedal unit as well so you can send the guitar signal to a guitar amp/processor, and the synth signal to a PA or another amp.I have used this in a band situation, we didn't have a bass player so I split a bass signal to a bass amp, and my guitar to the guitar amp.
One can set the sensitivity of each string. In this case I had the top two strings on higher sensitivity and the bottom four on much lower. This prevented all my chords and general guitar work, from coming out of the synth and not sounding like a bass should. It would work wonderfully to use strings or other full sounding additions to really beef up your sound.

Here is part 1 of a 4 part video demo I put together.


Here are the rest, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Please feel free to leave a comment or ask questions. Have fun for now...

My father always used to tell me that when I was working with wood. "Measure Twice, Cut once."

It is an important lesson in preparation, but not long preparation, just the immediate prep before you perform an act. Much like cutting wood, taking a photo or video or recording a take on your guitar.

While on the set of Spud: The Movie I watched with great interest how they go about filming a scene. For each Camera there is a camera operator, a camera assistant and 2 lighting assistants.

The lighting assistants go back and forth a few dozen times with light meters, ordering different light settings in different places and ways, testing again, changing, testing again and so on. when they eventually have it right they test a few more times and then confirm with the camera assistant, who also checks it.

The camera assistant ensures he has the right lens on the camera, physically measures the distance with a tape measure, adjusts the camera, checks focus, measures again, conforms with the lighting guy, measures again, cleans the lens, checks focus again and only then can the camera operator film anything.

They do a few practice runs for the director who double checks everything on his screens before doing numerous actual takes.

This practice of checking, double checking and triple checking is to save film. The thought of using tape to record audio astound me and I wouldn't dream of it but apparently film gives a certain feel and most movies are on film anyway...

When I am recording in studio, even playing live, I am constantly checking my tuning. I always tune before I do a take. It is that small time saver that means I don't attempt to play, start recording and have to stop and tune before trying for real again. Especially when playing live, you cannot stop the band and start again because you are out of tune, that is unprofessional. Most times you wind up playing the song out of tune and it sounds horrible.

The best player playing the most expensive gear out of tune will sound horrible.

Measure Twice, Cut once. It may save your career....

The Ibanez SV Series*

Not only is the Wizard neck quite cool with 24 frets and these dimensions;
Scale 648mm/25.5"
a : Width at Nut 43mm
b : Width at Last Fret 58mm
c: Thickness at 1st 18mm
d : Thickness at 12th 20mm
Radius 430mmR

It has a very versatile pickup switching system*
















So you can have H-S-H or S-S-S

I love this Body **


Comes Standard with locking, auto trim tuners and a graphtec nut*

I haven't looked too hard for a price in SA. Coastal music don't have any in stock. But I found a price for £999 which should be roughly what to expect over here in South Africa


* Images and info Courtesy of Ibanez.com
** Images courtesy of Music Radar.com

I have a fairly good fret-less bass. It does need constant adjusting seeing as the action is so low and the tolerances are small. but when it is right, it is very sweet.

It is an Aria Pro2 and the frets were removed and filled in.

The fret markers are still there so it is slightly easier to find the note.

I have my intonation set that the note is just behind the line.

Here is a short, fairly bad video of how it sounds and plays.