Hello,

Please click on www.reverbnation.com/oneblockwest to hear my demos, recorded at home, a little rough around the edges.

Regards

Andrew.

Dear Little Andy

I will give this to you low and hard. What on earth are you recording on ? Playstation music? Home recording technology is the best and most affordable it has ever been and the vocal on this is atrocious, the synth and drum sounds are a pastiche. There is no need save for a few quid to be putting out 'demos' anymore, they need to be release quality and therefore these should not be in the public domain. It is reminscent of John Shuttleworth.

Girl/ Whirl, wages/ pages lyrics are not going to cut any mustard with any serious punters today. Track 3 is wholly derivitive of the Pet Shop Boys oeuvre and you know it.

I would be intrigued to know which label is showing interest and what their groundwork entails. Your biog would suggest you are into or close to your thirties, Age should be no barrier but it will be if you are not entirely original in your approach.

I think they are pretty good actually; no hits though and need to be far more original but heading in the right direction. All they need is that killer hook - and just one track please; nobody has the time or inclination to listen to more than 30 seconds of one track these days.

One hit that makes every listener sit up and go Whoa. Simples.

Hi JK,

Thank you for your response, i need to spend more time on my songs, rather than rushing them just for the sake of having something recorded. Really need to step back, take a fresh look and have a rethink. Thank you.

Regards

Andrew.

Hi Little Andy

The sound quality is really bad and I mean really bad. But the voice is there
and the foundation is there but you need to rethink your whole strategy.

JK is 100% right, forget about demos or albums and do a single. A release ready single
with and A-side and a B-side. This is how it was done in the early days of rock and roll
and is relevant now more than ever. Forget remixes and all that for now.

SONG:

I would personally hedge my bets and take a 3 pronged approach but the aim is to find a hit.
If you have no idea what that is then think in terms of the best material you can find within
a finite time window. A label will give you a deadline to work with so you should do the same
otherwise you will meander for ever. If you drive lots in your day job then download Spotify
and make a playlist of number ones. From every year, every genre, including novelty songs like
Mr Blobby. Why? Because to write and to pick a hit you need to know what it is and subconsciously
we know because we buy them but when it comes to applying it to our music that is another kettle
of fish.

1. Put an APB out to songwriters to submit potential number ones for you.
2. Pick a cover song from the past (or present)that was a runaway hit. Not a hyped hit but one that came out of nowhere (Gotye Somebody I Used To Know).
3. Write, write and listen and play it to everyone you come across. Hits will universally appeal to more people
so you will know if you have one. If not revert to 1&2. Cowell did that and it works. In the Youtube era
this is very important.

IMAGE:

Now you have settled on your song, you then determine who should sing it. If it is you then hiding behind
a graphic is ridiculous. We want to see you or we want to see a beautiful female to connect with. Many people
will like you or your human image and their attitude to your song will change. Trust me on this one it works.

Get a decent photo done and remember when you are thinking of a single you have a clear determined path and it sharpens
you a lot.

Recording:

You should use a professional DAW like Sonar, Cubase or Protools for your recording.
Start with their baby versions because I know with the M-Audio Keystation you get the most basic
of protools which works fine for recording if you are inexperienced. It comes with a lot of tools,
drum loops and sounds.

You can also use www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=135 which is very good for those who
are not engineers.

Record your vocals with a condenser mic and for someone like you, go and get www.dv247.com/microphones/apogee-mike-usb-microphone--85018
it costs only 150 quid and it is an Apogee so the quality is there.

Being a USB mic you can plug it into your computer. You could use a dynamic mic which is what yours sounds like
but you would need to know how to EQ in order to get a good sound out of it.

The appalling sound quality puts a lot of people off but because there are music lovers on here you got a response
so count yourself lucky.

TRUST YOUR GEAR. Soft synths, DAwS, and interfaces have designed to give novices high quality and you cannot go
wrong with Focusrite.

If you can't be stuffed doing this then go to www.studiopros.com and get them to re-do your song

Read this studiopros.com/review-by-sound-on-sound-magazine and follow what they did. You can use Studiopros or any other type online
production service.
You then just need to go into a studio and record your vocals.

Promotion:

This is the most exciting time to promote and market a track. I think someone on here said the new model is finding
YOUR way of getting the masses to hear your music. Well there are the obvious

Radio
Press
TV

but even better are
Youtube
Facebook
Twitter

and this is because the first 3 will probably bin your record but if you approach them using Y, F, and T they will
listen and if you have a hit they will have no choice but to go crazy over it.

This is how Friday became an internet hit (even though it was for the the hate factor) but 100s of millions of views
plus hundreds of thousands of sales don't lie. Bieber is hated by almost everyone but is the biggest artist today.
Whether people hate or love you matters precious little as long as they react to you and with the right song, look and recording
they will.

Email or PM me if you have any further questions.

Hi DJKZ,

Thanks for your reply, you've given me a lot to think about. I have recently started using Sony Acid Studio along side my Korg MicroKorg and it's a really cracking piece of software. The demos that are on my page were played in track by track; keyboard for 3mins, bass line for 3mins, and on reflection listening to them again it shows. Whilst driving around with the radio on today i realised that songs nowadays don't necessarily follow the three versus and a chorus formula which i've become too familiar with. I really need to rethink my approach.

Kind regards

Andrew.