Miscellaneous

Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Nirvana: is there anyone who doesn’t know them? That they all made incredible music is indisputable, but here, Guestblogger Joris van Dijk reveals that these rock legends did far more than just that. The albums that these artists have dropped over the years represent a sort of overview of the rock family tree and all of the influences that lie at its roots. Joris attempts to show this in the space of just seven classic and influential rock albums – which span every time period, from ‘60s psychedelic rock and ‘70s punk to ‘90s alt-rock.

A family get-together, a night in with your mates, a night out at the pub – or even a work bash – a solid pub quiz can really help make it a night to remember. And it doesn’t have to be hard work! If you’ve ever been to a good pub quiz then you’ll already know that it’s always about bringing the laughs. The only technical stuff you need to know is how to piece everything together. Here, we gain the wisdom of one of the experts: Guestblogger, Gerjon, who offers some tips and tricks to help ensure that your music pub-quiz is a hit.

Sampling has been a part of the music-sphere since the eighties, where snippets of forgotten gems or stone-cold classics are spliced into new tracks. Whether it’s a snatched bit of the vocals, melody, bass line or drum beat, sampling has boosted the feel of some pretty big hits. Some purists see it as stealing, but our Guestblogger Marlies sees it as a smart and creative way of recycling fragments of music and even introducing old smashers to a new audience. Here, she presents the top 10 most sampled songs of all time and lines up her own sample-heavy favourites.

BB King, Janis Joplin, Rod Stewart, Tracy Chapman, Beck and Ed Sheeran all started their careers as busking street musicians. Guestblogger Marlies shares her top 10 list of street musicians from around the world. These musicians have just as much talent as the big names mentioned above, so expect to hear more from them soon!

Can you imagine? You’re about to perform on stage and suddenly your signal drops out because the cable broke. Fortunately, every gigging musician’s worst nightmare can be easily avoided. Here’s five tips for preventing cable breakage.

As we approach the end of the year, the radio starts to light up with all of the classic festive treats, penned by the likes of Mariah Carey, Paul McCartney, Wham and Slade. If you think you can do any better than these jolly-holly Christmas giants, then read on to find how Christmas pop and Christmas carols work and how you can start making your very own Christmas music!

While most people play a musical instrument because they simply love making music, it’s worth pointing out that starting out at a young age has several positive side-effects on the brain. In other words, that starter kit that you got your kid for Christmas last year might yield some unexpected results in the long run!

It’s always a great excuse when composers and songwriters are struggling to put pen to paper: writer’s block! Within the space of a short blog, I want to show you that writer’s block might just be a choice, not an affliction, and that you’re actually capable of inspiring yourself to force out ideas and unclogging your own creativity. We’ll just cover five simple tips. Try them all out and I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

Making music doesn’t have to be limited to playing off a piece of paper or committing a library of songs to memory. Ask any jazz musician – in their line of work, almost every melody is conceived on the spot. Genius? You bet, but that’s not to say that less experienced musicians can’t or shouldn’t improvise, so read on and learn how it’s done.

As soon as you start working with cables, you run the risk of cooking up cable spaghetti. To help you organise your set-up, we’ve listed five cable management tips. Dive in before you tie yourself up in knots.

Solo-podcasting isn’t all that difficult. A simple USB microphone or an XLR microphone-plus-audio-interface set-up alone gets you pretty far. Throw in a pair of headphones and some recording-and-editing software and you’re practically all set. However, things get a lot more complicated the second you invite one or more guests to your podcasts. Luckily, with the help of this blog, you should be able to build a set-up that can accommodate them – whether they’re in the same room or calling in via Skype or Zoom!

At Bax Music, we’re well aware of just how many devoted music lovers there are out there. We’re also equally aware of just how much all of you lovely music lovers enjoy sharing their thoughts on the subject. As such, we want to open up our very own Bax Music Blog to any music-focused bloggers who want to share the love, and give them access to a wide audience, under their very own name!