Band Culture
Northern Composure
Warringah Counil’s “Northern Composure” youth band competition is rolling around again. Continuumusic has been a sponsor of the band comp since its inception and I’ve been one of the judges. I’m also the house sound engineer at Yo-Yo’s (the venue that the competition is run from). I’ve had the pleasure of mixing some of the…
Read MoreYou don’t have to be good to be great
I doubt that any of my favourite singers would have passed the audition stage of The Voice let alone made it through to the finals. I avoid watching those supposed “reality” shows because my feelings about pitting one vocalist against another in some sort of battle to the death makes me quietly fume. (sometimes not…
Read MoreAuditioning a sound engineer for your recording project
So you want to record something and you’ve asked the engineer you’re thinking of using for the job if you can “come into the studio and listen to some stuff he’s recorded before.”? This has happened to me maybe three or four times over a pretty long history as an engineer and it happened again…
Read MoreIt was a very good year..
It was a very good year. One of my favourite songs of all time. I should warn you that the following blog is pretty introspective, self indulgent and it’s all about ME!! Lol. So if you’re not into that, here are some amusing pictures of kittens so you don’t feel like you’ve come here…
Read MoreThe Conti Christmas Letter
Twas the night before Christmas… Well… a few days before. I’ll be way too busy on the night before to actually write this so I’m getting it out of the way early. (unlike my Christmas shopping!! Gulp!) 2013 was an odd year. It seemed to be very long and yet be gone in the blink…
Read MoreThe Circuit
I read someone else’s blog about what is wrong with the music industry in this country the other day and it got me reminiscing about “the good old days” when we actually had venues to see great bands or to perform with our own bands in. Specifically the venues on the Northern Beaches. I guess…
Read MoreI hear you guys are lookin?
Finding the right band to join can be a harrowing experience. Combing through the “Muso’s Wanted” column of the classifieds can be seriously hit and miss and, despite how well-worded that three line advertisement may be, it hardly gives you a very good indication of whether the band will be a good fit not only…
Read MoreIs your band a business or just a band?
Some of the best bands I have seen come and go through our studio, you will never have heard of. Amazing talent, great songs, grooves that make you want to jump about but ultimately they fall into the abyss, never to reach the fame and notoriety they deserve. It’s a fairly typical tale unfortunately. The…
Read MoreThe first “Live On Deck”
A couple of weekends back we ran our first “Live On Deck” show at Continuumusic. Basically, we put on four bands on our stage in the studio backyard, recorded them in multi-track and set up a bunch of video cameras to capture their performances. It went well. Each band was asked to invite some guests…
Read MoreThe Secrets of Great Singers
Who are you and why are you here? That’s the first question I ask a new student when they come in for singing lessons. The answer I’m looking for is rarely the one they supply however. I already know their name and they would have already told me that they want to “learn” how…
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