noedg The Community for Working Musicians en-US Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:32:27 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/search.php http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/looking-for-a-good-lightweight-midi-controller#post-1444 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:09:31 +0000 nathang 1444@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Logic 8 isn't designed for using a keyboard as a control surface (for live shows anyway). Check out Mainstage, which is included as part of the Logic Studio suite. There is a bit of a learning curve involved, but once you get it, the results can be amazing. </p> <p>I have been using the soft-synth/Mainstage setup a lot this year, and it has worked wonders for me. A lot better than hauling my MOTIF ES8 around everywhere. I do need to get a larger controller than the one I currently have eventually, though. 49 keys just isn't enough. </p> <p>I don't have problems with all the M-Audio actions, just the aftertouch ones. I've been doing a lot of sequencing with the Axiom controllers at school and I'm not the biggest fan of their action. The bottom of the key is really spongy and just feels weird. My Keystudio is unweighted minus the aftertouch and it feels great for the purpose. I'll have to look around myself and figure out what I'm going to use to upgrade. Really I just need more keys. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-570 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:16 +0000 shalaks 570@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I have no guarantee of work out there though, which is the scary part (apart from with the artist who I already play for, which would be fairly good work but I would definately need more work</p> <p>--------------------<br /> <a href="http://www.worldwideshoppingmall.co.uk/body-perfect/">Adios Slimming Pills</a><br /> <a href="http://www.worldwideshoppingmall.co.uk/toys/toyshop-room7.asp">Airfix Models</a> </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-568 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:42:54 +0000 goldtvs 568@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I should adopt to do an oversea move like that. If you have any tips and advices, I would love to hear you out! </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/looking-for-a-good-lightweight-midi-controller#post-476 Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:21:14 +0000 gernm18 476@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I have the roland pcr-300. My only complaint is that logic 8 is worthless when it comes to using your this keyboard as a control surface. Other than that is a good small keyboard, not too expensive and too bad of a feeling when playing. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-366 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:16:02 +0000 Andree-Ann 366@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Another question related to that topic, </p> <p>What kind of visa is necessary for a musician to work in the US?<br /> I have been on the government&#39;s website and found nothing really helpful; I am not a student nor wish to immigrate to the US. </p> <p>Anybody knows the exact type of visa that is needed for international musicians to work in the US? </p> <p>Thanks! </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-363 Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:59:09 +0000 noedg 363@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>80% of it yeah.. I live in a nice area, literally a 60 second drive away is one of the roughest estates in my whole city. Obvioously we have nice areas, but the majortiy is horrid. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-362 Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:16:59 +0000 Joe Stone 362@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>The whole country? Seriously? <a href="http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php"><img src="http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-rolleyes008.gif"></a> </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-361 Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:06:49 +0000 noedg 361@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Well, an artist I play for here in the UK moved to LA.. So I&#39;m getting my visa through his label, which is awesome and saves me a lot of money.. Second to that, he&#39;s looking for a room mate. Rent with the exchange rate works out cheaper than living in London. So I would be living with him in Studio City. He&#39;s also said we can car share if I&#39;m insured on it until I get round to buying my own car out there.</p> <p>I have no guarantee of work out there though, which is the scary part (apart from with the artist who I already play for, which would be fairly good work but I would definately need more work, and I hate the thought of having a proper job).. But I do have alot of contacts out in LA, mainly musicians and band coordinators who said they would put me forward for work and if I set a date of my move they will organize auditions for me. So it really is a risky move, but if it doesn&#39;t work out, I can just come home &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/bb-plugins/bb-smilies/kopete/smile.png&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p>Don&#39;t want to sound like a pessimist here, but if I was you... I would go somewhere nicer than the UK &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/bb-plugins/bb-smilies/kopete/tongue.png&quot; title=&quot;:P&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; Sucks here big time, full of chavs and criminals. Good luck with whatever you choose to do though! </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-356 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:49:13 +0000 Andree-Ann 356@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Noedg, </p> <p>I can unfortunately not answer any of your questions, but I would love to know how you manage to pull off your move to the US from the UK? </p> <p>I am from Canada, and the UK has always seemed very appealing to me, but I am a bit clueless about what steps and strategies I should adopt to do an oversea move like that. If you have any tips and advices, I would love to hear you out! </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/looking-for-a-good-lightweight-midi-controller#post-355 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:47:51 +0000 noedg 355@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I&#39;m no keys player, I mainly use mine for programming strings etc. The fatars look great, haven&#39;t heard of them before.. pretty cheap too. Might have to try some out for my studio. The M-Audio drives me insane! Thank god for midi quantize thats all I can say, impossible to play spot on time with those things with the sensitivity and action combined.</p> <p>If we were talking keyboards with on board sounds on the other hand I would go for the Roland Fantom G8, based on my little experience playing keys! </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/looking-for-a-good-lightweight-midi-controller#post-354 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:32:50 +0000 David J. Hahn 354@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I did a gig this past spring and the 2nd keys guy was on an m-audio. Those keyboards are a cheap mess. I wouldn&#39;t touch them anymore.</p> <p>Ever checked out the fatar keybed? They are on studiologic keyboards. I tried one awhile back and was expecting something better. </p> <p>I still think Yamaha is pretty good, especially their high-end keybeds. But it&#39;s got the same problem - they are all too heavy. </p> <p>Here&#39;s a good discussion I found once:</p> <p><a href="http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-50382.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-50382.html</a> </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-353 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:28:46 +0000 David J. Hahn 353@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Wow. I haven&#39;t the slightest clue on that one. Sorry noedg.</p> <p>I do know that our union is the American Federation of Musicians. We also don&#39;t have to be members, but I am anyway. </p> <p><a href="http://www.afm.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.afm.org</a> </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/a-question-for-the-americans#post-352 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:21:05 +0000 noedg 352@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Hi guys..</p> <p>I&#39;m planning my move to LA from the UK for July, after I&#39;ve finished a couple of tours I have over here.</p> <p>I have a place to live and a car sorted (but not insurance or anything yet), but other than that I don&#39;t know how anything works.</p> <p>Over here we have the Musicians Union, which you don&#39;t have to join, but they&#39;re very useful so I am a member anyway. But I&#39;ve heard stories about there are organizations in the US that musicians legally have to be part of, and a seperate one if you sing backing vocals?</p> <p>Also, what happens about money? Do I get paid and declare how much I earn at the end of a tax year (self employed) like over here in the UK?</p> <p>Many thanks for any help anyone can give, I&#39;m a bit lost at the moment. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-351 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:15:51 +0000 noedg 351@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I don&#39;t have a copy of the e-mail I sent as it was over a year ago, but I&#39;ve re-wrote something along the same lines.</p> <p><blockquote>Hi there.. I&#39;m an 18 year old lead guitarist/backing vocalist from London.. I&#39;ve been listening to your aritst [NAME] for a while now after coming across his myspace page, and I really like what I hear.</p> <p>I was just wondering if there would be any possibilty of an audition for the live band? If not then no worries, I&#39;ve attached a copy of my CV anyway just incase. I&#39;ve been playing professionaly for over a year and recently finished a tour with a show from the West End, but I&#39;m currently trying to break into the pop scene.</p> <p>Anyway, my number is 07777888889 just incase.</p> <p>Many thanks and I&#39;ll look forward to hearing from you &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/bb-plugins/bb-smilies/kopete/smile.png&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p>Noedg (obviously I would put my actual name there haha)</blockquote></p> <p>And the reply I got was far less formal, but I wouldn&#39;t risk going any further formal or informal than that personally.. You never know if a person is going to be hella posh, or totally the opposite.. but that seems to be about half way. I&#39;ve used the same approach for most things including endorsements, and have been successful most of the time. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-350 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:21:05 +0000 David J. Hahn 350@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>noedg - </p> <p>Very cool, congrats on the great gig.</p> <p>I&#39;d love to see an example of your first email. Do you think you could post it here for us? </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-349 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:31:50 +0000 DC 349@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>noedg,</p> <p>Good points and congratulations! I agree with adding more &quot;humanity&quot; to the message. My original though was to &quot;get in and get out&quot; quickly. By being simple and to the point, I could at least get the person to read my inquiry and send it along to the appropriate person. My intention was not to waste anybody&#39;s time. My next round of messaging will reflect more personality. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/looking-for-a-good-lightweight-midi-controller#post-348 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:31:35 +0000 noedg 348@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I know this won&#39;t help too much, but I would stay clear of the M-Audio range.. the so called weighted keys feel as if they&#39;re based on rusty springs.</p> <p>That one looks a hell of a lot nicer than mine, but I definately wouldn&#39;t buy without trying it. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/finding-the-auditions#post-347 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:24:12 +0000 noedg 347@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I don&#39;t know for certain in NY.. but I&#39;m hopefully moving from the UK to LA in July and I&#39;ve got some great contacts out there who&#39;ve hooked me up with some band coordinators, who are contacted by labels to set up bands for artists.</p> <p>I know it&#39;s not quite the same in London, its far more word of mouth and knowing the right people (alot of so called top musicians over here aren&#39;t actually all that good), but maybe it&#39;s similar in NY.</p> <p>Try asking pro muso&#39;s out there, find someone who has your dream job but on a different instrument, tell them your situation and ask what the best way to get into their line of work.. I did it with Robbie Williams&#39; bass player when I was 14 and didn&#39;t have a clue how to get into the business, nice bloke! </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-346 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:16:25 +0000 noedg 346@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Hi..</p> <p>I&#39;ve been a reader of the blog for a while, some very interesting posts! The site deserves to be a hell of a lot bigger than it is in my opinion, I&#39;m sure in time it will catch on.</p> <p>I registered purely to reply to this post but I&#39;m sure I&#39;ll stick around some more.</p> <p>So I&#39;m 18 years old (prefer to remain annonymous as I hate being googled) so I was searching like crazy for pop gigs, chart bands etc. So I decided to do what you did and &quot;cold call&quot;. There was an artist very popular over the internet who I heard of with thousands of fans worldwide, signed to Universal but yet to release an album (being released in March 2010). So I decided to send his manager an e-mail asking about auditions, I got a reply saying I needed to send them a photo (the pop scene is as much image as it is music in my opinion, unfortunate but hey). </p> <p>So then they asked me to go and audition in London, so I did, got the job (name dropping a little helped me), did a sell out tour, played live radio shows, met a hell of alot of contacts that I&#39;ve now got other live and studio work from. We&#39;re also playing all the big festivals over here like Glastonbury, V Fest and Ocean Fest, aswell as touring the states, australia, and europe. It&#39;s also got me way more work with other people including a big tour I have coming up with someone off of the xFactor over here.</p> <p>Sorry for the essay here, I can talk for britain.. but what I&#39;m saying is, cold e-mailing is definately a good thing, but don&#39;t make it cold.. with all due respect to DC&#39;s post, you gotta remember the people you want to work for are human.. being a people person goes a long long way in this business. And I know I&#39;m young so I don&#39;t mean to lecture, but you need to have a balance of not sucking up to them, but not sounding like you&#39;ve copy and pasted the e-mail to a hundred other people. </p> <p>But then again what do I know (apart from without cold e-mailing I would still only be playing in pubs and clubs), I&#39;ve just been lucky so far.. could all go down hill anywhere along the line I guess &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/bb-plugins/bb-smilies/kopete/smile.png&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-321 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:04:00 +0000 DC 321@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I sent out email messages to local theater groups this past fall and I&#39;ve received a few responses. It doesn&#39;t hurt that&#39;s for sure. You&#39;re either going to be ignored or get a response. David&#39;s got a great one.</p> <p>I sent this:</p> <p>I&#39;m a local professional musician (electric and acoustic bass, drums and percussion) looking for pit work in the Merrimack Valley area. (I live in Methuen.) I&#39;m interested in speaking with or auditioning for the Musical Director for the bass chair in your upcoming productions.</p> <p>Short and sweet. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-234 Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:07:27 +0000 brian 234@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Awesome example. Thanks! Now if only I could have your qualifications as well. =) </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-232 Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:26:15 +0000 Andree-Ann 232@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Thanks for that email example Dave! Really helpful. I've kinda been wondering about that too. </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-231 Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:42:02 +0000 David J. Hahn 231@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>That's a good topic for an article. Maybe I should put something together. </p> <p>Here is an email I sent out a few months ago and made a new friend and contact as a result.</p> <blockquote><p> My name is Dave, I'm a piano player and keyboardist originally from Chicago. I've worked primarily in theatre for the past 14 years. I've been an accompanist, conductor, keyboardist, copyist - you name it. I studied jazz and classical, I worked on cruise ships, MD'd the Wonderful Town national tour and worked as a consultant for Hal Leonard. My resume, bio, recordings and photo are all at <a href="http://www.davidjhahn.org." rel="nofollow">http://www.davidjhahn.org.</a></p> <p>I moved to NYC a few months ago and I'm looking for work. I'm certain you often receive emails to that effect, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to write you anyway. I'm a member of the 802 and I found your name and contact through them.</p> <p>I wonder if you are in need of [whatever the gig is]. Also, if you have any advice for me about getting rehearsal and audition accompanist work in the area, I would be very, very grateful. </p> <p>Thank you for your time -<br /> Dave</p> <p>***********************************************<br /> DAVID J. HAHN<br /> Piano, Conducting &#38; Keyboards<br /> (630) 740-9274 | <a href="http://WWW.DAVIDJHAHN.ORG" rel="nofollow">http://WWW.DAVIDJHAHN.ORG</a> </p></blockquote> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/cold-calling-or-emailing-musical-groups-as-an-accompanist#post-229 Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:27:34 +0000 brian 229@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>I'm trying to stay active as a musician and find work as an accompanist wherever I can get it. I've emailed people, churches, high schools and so on, asking if they were looking for an accompanist for their music based needs and sending them my resume. I'm about to email a well known community theatre organization in the city where I live and I'm wondering, what is the best way to cold call or email or contact someone about getting a gig? Does anyone have suggestions on how to word an email or a phone call? </p> http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/topic/finding-the-auditions#post-123 Thu, 28 May 2009 11:25:38 +0000 CarolynViolin 123@http://www.musicianwages.com/forums/ <p>Hi,</p> <p>I'm a professional violinist. I freelance in the MD/DC/VA area and I also come to NYC frequently to do lots of playing. I play classical and I stroll and I improvise. Keep on doing what you've been doing. Persistence and promotion will pay off for you. And keep strong and believe in yourself and know that you are excellent on the guitar. Don't let anyone tear you down and don't get discouraged. Yes, look into the music contractors. Here's another thing that I would suggest for you. In between paying gigs, I play at musical showcases/open-mics in NYC. It is a fantastic way of getting your name and your talent out there. You will meet lots of people, make close friends and get lots of contacts, some of them very illustrious. As mentioned so many times, the best way to get many jobs is by word of mouth - through people who you know well and friends. That's the way that it is in this business, unfortunately. It's hard, but if you want this more than anything else, you will continue to persevere like crazy until you get it. And little by little, things will start building for you. Getting back to the musical showcases/open-mics in NYC, there are some fantastic ones. I play regularly for Jim Caruso's "Cast Party" at Birdland (every Monday from 10 pm - 1 am - sign-up begins around 9:15 pm), the musical salon at the Algonquin Hotel (every Sunday from 7 pm to 10 pm - sign-up begins at 6:30 pm) and Trudi Mann's musical showcase at Butterfield 8 (every Sunday from 1 - 4:30 pm - sign-up begins a little before 1 pm). I also play for the open-mic at Don't Tell Mama's piano bar (every night - 9 pm into the early hours of the next morning). Good luck.</p> <p>Carolyn Ohlbaum </p>