If your band is busy laying roots across the country, playing every gig it can, whether in a fully set up venue or grubby backstreet pub, the idea of kitting yourselves out with a good PA system has probably come up already. But as soon as you’ve decided to take the leap, you’re faced with a whole new set of questions. Do you need active or passive speakers? Do you just need a little vocal setup or a complete PA system? What do you need to look for in your perfect mixer, your monitors, your microphones…? And so on. Not to worry, in this blog, we will lend a generous helping hand and set you up with the knowledge you need to make all the right decisions.

We all know what today’s youngsters are like. If it’s not bloated with colour and employs touchscreen technology, their attention disintegrates quickly. The concentration threshold of myriad children means they turn off faster than the kitchen light. They flutter from one entertainment to another without embracing the necessary hardship to master a new skill set. How can such uniformity be consoled? Well, you could encourage them to write songs. Guest blogger Steven Brooks explores the benefits.

Unfortunately, there comes a time when everything breaks, and the same is definitely true of music gear, whether it’s speakers, valve amplifiers, or your electric guitar or bass. In the worst case, you’ll need to get it fixed by a professional, but there are some smaller, more simple repairs that you can actually carry out yourself. With a voltmeter, a soldering iron and a little solder on your side, you can get more done than you might think.

Sharp outfits mean nothing if you’re not a sharp, tight band. Good timing is the essence of playing in a band, and if you don’t have it, then you risk sounding like a shambles. So, how do you hone your skills to make sure you’re hitting every beat and that you’re part of a super-tight band? We offer up fifteen exercises and some handy tips to help you get there.

Do you get irked whenever you hear a successful producer proclaim: “and I didn’t even know any music theory”? Say they’re telling the truth (usually, it’s far from the truth), so what? Not everyone is going to be a natural, and just think, how good would those same producers be if they had bothered to learn music theory. Right here, right now, Guestblogger Daddynervs tells us why every producer, even humble beat producers, should arm themselves with some good old fashioned music theory – and what music theory actually is.

While there’s plenty to learn when it comes to singing alone there’s just as much to learn when you start adding more voices to create harmonies. With just one extra voice, you can already sing awesome harmonies, so just imagine what happens when you start adding even more!

If you’ve already devoured our blog about Rhythm, Tempo & Measure and feel ready to dive in a little deeper, here’s everything you need to know about time signatures, bar lines and repeat signs. Whether you’re here to learn to read music or just want to get a better feel for timing, you’ll find useful information here.

If you’re about to put on your songwriting pants for the first time, it’s worth knowing that most songs consist of building blocks like the verse, chorus and bridge. In this blog, we’ll tell you all you need to know about how songs are structured and why.

By simply adding the right cymbals, any drum kit will sound entirely unique compared to other kits, and that’s exactly why drummers spend quite a bit of time and effort finding the perfect set of cymbals. The fact is that at some point, just like us mortals, cymbals will one day reach the end of their life. In this crash course on cymbal maintenance, I’ll let you in on a few secrets and show you how you can delay the inevitable.

The internet is already stacked with the ready-made chord arrangements of countless songs, but what if you can’t find the song you’re looking for? No problem. There are also apps that you can download and use to pick out the right chords for you. But… regularly figuring out the chords of a song is actually a far better idea. Why? Because it’s a great opportunity to train your ear. In this blog, we explain how it’s done and how to use lead sheets.

Whether caused by a bad habit or a passionate performance, the injuries related to being a musician can range from a gradually niggling and continuous beep in one ear, to chronic and unbearable wrist pain. If you want to play comfortably for the rest of your life, then it’s more than worth learning to listen to your body, practise some good-old self care, and avoid long-term injury, hearing damage, and dreaded RSI!

Audiobooks are on the rise, and since they’re so popular, audiobook producers are in high-demand. Here, Guestblogger Marc Graetz offers a professional insight into the world of recording audiobooks and explains how to narrate them and the equipment you’ll need.