Music Stuff - Cool Stuff

I did not want to believe it, but by all appearances Pandora Radio is looking more and more like Pandora's Box.  There was a time when I enjoyed Pandora Radio.  That was a long time ago.  My view of Pandora has changed significantly as I have learned more about its business practices.  In my opinion, Pandora's actions are cut-throat and far less than ethical, albeit presumably legal.  Pandora Radio seems to be much closer to Pandora's Box, "containing all of the evils of the world."  To give them the benefit of the doubt, Pandora Radio's actions "may seem small or innocent, but they turn out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching consequences."  Reference on Pandora's Box: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box Why do I think so badly about Pandora Radio, you may be asking?  Here is a link to the latest article I have read that covers Pandora Radio's behavior.  Read it and draw your own conclusions.  Billboard...

Like it says, I love to pass along great advice.  Here are some excellent tips on what NOT to do in email pitches you send to promote your band and music.  "5 types of pitch emails all music journalists hate getting from indie bands" Source:  http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2015/01/5-types-pitch-emails-music-journalists-hate-getting-indie-bands/ This post was written by Jhoni Jackson and it originally appeared on the SonicBids Blog.] Pitches from brand new bands and artists not tied to a public relations company are unarguably the ones that catch the most skepticism from journalists. Sometimes it only takes an unfamiliar name amid an avalanche of emails from recognizable PR reps for a writer to pass you over. If they’ve actually opened your message, then any sort of blunder could easily cost you. Does that sound harsh? It’s not, really. I can’t speak for everyone, but generally, journalists aren’t unnecessarily mean; it’s just that there is more music than...

It's Video Time Again! Hi People!  Here is a short video of the new recording studio setup at Haggard Studios. We still have a little work to do with some finishing touches, but so far so good.  Here is pic of the new console layout.    Until next time... Enjoy the Music Jimmy

  Haggard Studios Pulls Out as a Sponsor of the Triangle Blues Society.

Wow.... Sorry about that.  Well, maybe not really, but anyway.  We are doing a lot of cool things at Haggard Studios these days.   It's Going Down At Haggard Studios. We have had a steady stream of rock musicians recording music for demos and for personal enjoyment.  We are picking up more and more hip-hop and rap artists to record.  Somehow, word has gotten around that the mastering work done at Haggard Studios is really good, so that business has been picking up.  We've got Rock, R&B, Carolina Beach, Blues, DC Go-Go, Gospel and Reggae going on We have also had the pleasure of meeting some excellent smooth jazz musicians who have been rehearsing at Haggard Studios lately: Nicholas Cole who had a Billboard #1 Smooth Jazz hit in January 2014, plus Marcus Anderson has been back in the house rehearsing with his music project, which currently has a song at #18 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz chart.  Have I mentioned our record label, Wild Fa...

I picked my red Fender American Standard Stratocaster and plugged it straight into my "very" modified Fender Blues Jr.  Interested in More?  The original midnight blue body (i.e. dark blue purple metal flake) is hanging on the wall.  I bought a sweet body on Ebay and moved all of the hardware and the neck to the red body.  I added Lindy Fralin Blues Special Pickups and modified the tone circuit (no tone on the neck, with tone control on the middle and bridge).  The Fender Blues Jr has a bunch of resister and capacitor changes, the power tube sockets were changed to octets with JJ 6V6S tubes (in place of the el84 tubes), a Mercury Output Transformer was added, and it was topped off with a Celestion G12H Anniversary speaker.  Until next time... Enjoy the Music! Jimmy

Seriously, I could not imagine trying to run my Recording and Rehearsal Studios and have to pay someone to work on and fix computer problems, and do amp maintenance and repair work. Thanks to over 20 years in the computer industry I gathered some knowledge that is very useful for running my recording studio.  Think about it.  You need to get a pretty powerful computer.  I went with a PC instead of Mac, and got a quad core with 16GB ram and 2 TB disk space.  I am going to have to invest in a small SAN (storage area network) within the next year so I can offload some of the stuff on the recording PC's hard disk, because 2 terabytes just is not enough. On top of that, I have a MOTU PCI express card that I installed on my computer, plus a huge pile of software (DAW, effects, editing, mixing and mastering software, et al).  Beyond that, you have the audio drivers that must be setup perfectly for integration with the computer, DAW (digital audio wor...