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whose song video “Chocolate Rain” has more than 66 million views, couldn’t tell the audience what he did to get this video to go viral—well, it just did. The EXPO’s Master Seminars were, of course, a focal point for many of the attendees. The seminars delivered the goods. One featured Bernie Worrell of Parliament/ Funkadelic/Talking Heads fame being interviewed by Living Colour’s Will Calhoun. A very unassuming and gentle speaker, Bernie says he does a better job “talking with his keyboards.” The two presented various passages of Bernie’s work, breaking down the components, and shedding light on the thought processes behind them. The discussion was stellar—and inspiring. Still, Mr. Worrell certainly wasn’t all starry-eyed about the music biz these days. As a musician who blends all types of genres, Mr. Worrell believes “music is music,” but now finds it “all classified and labeled and regimented.” As a Juilliard-trained musician, he was wistful over another current trend: “Cutting out music programs nationwide, what’s the deal with that? Gotta fight it.” Christopher Spahr of Sennheiser’s Sound Academy clinics was the capable host for the “Recording in Your Home Studio...” seminar. There was a strong turnout for the seminar, which leads me to believe there’s a strong need for good recording information

Special report by Brent Heintz

ASCAP’s “I Create Music” EXPO 2011
In late April, ASCAP held their sixth annual “I Create Music” EXPO at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, CA. The conference, which caters to songwriters and composers aiming to make their mark on the music industry, is a stone’s throw from the iconic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Walk of Fame—destination points for tourists to literally walk all over their beloved stars. For the 2500 working musicians and songwriters attending the EXPO, there was no shortage of stars, A&R execs, CEOs and producers willing to impart their wisdom. The three-day event featured over a hundred seminars, performances, and panel discussions to choose from. Select a time—say 1030 AM on Thursday— and take your pick: listen in on a conversation between Van Dyke Parks and Rufus Wainwright, receive feedback on your R&B and Hip-Hop songs, explore career options in Music City, or discover recipes for songwriting success. Best to clone yourself for any future EXPOs. One of the panel discussions I attended was “Beyond Marketing— Social Networking and Your Career,” moderated by Ariel Hyatt, founder of Ariel Publicity, a New York-based digital PR firm. Now, I have to admit that when it comes to social media evangelists, I’m a bit of a skeptic; I find it a tad ironic how many of these authoritative individuals proclaiming the unimportance and/or demise of “traditional” media ultimately want to sell you their hardcover books. That aside, there’s no doubt that implementing a well thought-out social-media plan can help you define your brand, grow your fan-base, and likely increase your income. On that note, Ariel and her panel did a good job imparting what works—and what doesn’t. To succeed, you need to be consistent with your branding across all social media platforms. Understand that it’s all about the relationship with your fans. Don’t advertise to your followers—engage them. Make sure you communicate in a voice that is unique to you. BTW, if you’re looking to get a bazillion views on YouTube—good luck. One of the panelists, songwriter Tay Zonday,
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Photo by PictureGroup (I wonder where you could find that?). When the audience was asked to raise their hands if they recorded in their home studio, almost every hand went up. With affordable and very capable recording equipment now being the norm, figuring out how to make the most of it was the question of the day. Chris and his panel launched right into it, starting with a basic overview of dynamic and condenser microphones—noting every source needs a different type of microphone. Chris and his panel then segued into basic techniques for recording guitars—primarily acoustic guitars—microphone placements, XY configuration, and the 3 to 1 rule—practical advice for the very attentive songwriters in the room. Panelist/Engineer Steven Klein offered the audience ways to optimize their listening environment. Imparting straightforward advice: get the best speakers possible (“lo-fi speakers produce lo-fi work),” the tweeters need to be positioned above your ears, don’t have your speakers on a desk—the audience ate it up. I liked his fortunecookie wisdom on using just one set of reliable monitors: “A man with one watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches never knows.” The EXPO also had plenty of exhibitors there to share their wares. I caught the MasterWriter demo by Barry DeVorzon, an established songwriter with a ton of songwriting credits. A very intuitive program for songwriters, MasterWriter offers a lot of features that should help keep the muse flowing. There’s no doubt that this program goes way beyond what a thesaurus can do for your songwriting. There was a lot to do in a very short time, and the attendees made the most of it. Kudos to ASCAP for also doing such a great job on the EXPO’s website—very intuitive and informative. Offering a schedule app also made it easy to plan your day. It was obvious people wanted to see (and hear) as much as possible—and network. While coming down the escalator, a gentleman squeezed by me, asked how I liked the EXPO, handed me his “Piano Man” card, then proceeded on by. Probably to go check out Billy Joel’s star, I’m guessing. Brent Heintz (brent@recordingmag.com) is the Associate Publisher of Recording. Follow us on Twitter (@RecordingMag) and enjoy his mellifluous tweets.

Recording - July 2011

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