Trouble Free Drum Mixes

Drums - Miking and Mixing

Drums can be one of the most aggravating things when you are mixing a full band, but many times people make the entire drum miking and mixing process much more complicated than it has to be. There are several different methods of miking drums, and each has it's advantages and disadvantages.

Close Miking

Close miking the drums involves putting a condenser or dynamic mic next to each piece of the drum kit, with additional mics close to the cymbals. This gives much more control over the individual components of the drum kit, but demands much more time in the mixdown process. For certain situations the additional control over the individual drums, especially when it comes to adding reverb and other effects.

There are many companies that offer mic kits for this, and these are usually a mix of dynamic and condenser mics.

'Jazz' Miking

Jazz miking or room miking the drums generally involves 3 studio microphones, usually large diaphragm studio mics, although some other mics can successfully be used (such as the AKG C1000). With this set-up, one mic goes in front of the kick (typically 12 - 16" away from the hole in the front kick drum head) and 2 overhead mics, usually placed 2 - 2.5 feet above the cymbals. Experiment with the placement of these overheads for the best result.

Reverb can still be added to the overhead for ambiance, but the main advantage to this type of mic set-up is the fact that it is very easy to get a very good, organic drum mix as the overheads pick up everything - the snare, the cymbals, and toms. And the stereo field is still good, just pan each over-head mic to the left and right.

For kits with lots of drums the overhead system generally works best, but of course there are many times when you will use some combination of the two, such as a standard 'jazz' miking technique with an additional snare mike for extra control over the snare.

 Which mics to use? 

I am a big fan of buying the best mic you can comfortably afford - but all recording engineers, especially those just beginning, need to realize that most people listening to your final mix won't have any idea what microphone you used to record anything. 

Don't let the perfect get in the way of the possible - there are a lot of amazingly capable mics right now for relatively small purchase prices, like the Apex 415 Large Diaphragm studio mic pictured above (available at James House of Deals for just $149.00 bucks!) that do an excellent job; there are even some in the less than $100 range that work quite well as overheads, such as the Audio Technica 2020 and the Apex 435B.

Once you have the song on 'tape', I like to start with the kick drum as the basic starting point on any song. Put compression and EQ on it, but just get it the general 'shape' that you want it to be - don't spend a lot of time working to get the perfect kick sound.

This goes for the other drums too, and we will talk about why in a few minutes!

After you get the kick sounding good, this will help set the volume for the rest of the song. Bring up the other drums after applying compression, but don't even bother EQing these drums yet. Once you have spent literally just a few minutes getting the drums up, bring up the bass guitar - it should be mixed about equal with the kick drum as far as volume levels go, sometimes a bit louder. 

Then bring up the rhythm and melody instruments.

Now, the reason you don't want to spend a lot of time getting that elusive 'perfect' drum sound is simple - you can't. I have seen engineers banging their heads against the walls getting the perfect drum sound by spending 15 - 20 minutes on each mic on the kit, and this can take up a lot of time if you are miking each individual component. Even with the room miking technique, doing this can take an hour!

The problem is, as soon as you start bringing other instruments and especially the bass guitar into the mix, it will throw off what you have done with the drums. 

In mixing a song down, everything affects everything else; this is simply the way frequencies work once everything is up and running. Instead of thinking of the drums as a single unit, always consider them as part of the whole. If the kick drum is obscured, instead of turning that drum up more take some of the bottom end out of the bass guitar (between 50 - 125 Hz is a good place to start). If the bass isn't punching through loudly enough over the kick, try enhancing the mid frequencies of the bass guitar to make it stand out more in the mix without in turn obscuring the kick drum.

Only after you have a good overall mix started should you begin listening to the drum mix and; you might need to add a bit of high end or mid-range to the snare to make it pop more, or roll off mid's or lows on the overheads so the toms don't interfere with the bottom frequencies of the kick and bass guitar.

Reverb and Drums

This is another area that you need to approach with caution - don't add a lot of reverb before you get a good mix on the song as a whole. Generally, the faster and busier a song is, the less reverb you will want to use. Keep in mind, you should always 'solo' the channel that you're working on,l and switch back and forth between soloing the channel and letting he whole mix play so you can here what you are changing in relation to the song as a whole. 

Slow songs have a lot more room for reverb, but many engineers have a tendency to turn the reverb up too much - use it sparingly, it should barely be noticeable in your mix!

Follow these simple rules, and keep in mind that quite often with drums, less is better - adjust the drums to the needs of the song, striving for a good, clean, clear mix where you can hear everything.

This song is one I used the Jazz Mic method on, and spent only about 25 minutes mixing the whole song. Have fun, and always remember you are mixing for the song - this will help to keep you from spending hours getting the 'perfect drum sound' only to realize that as soon as you start adding the bass guitar and other instruments you have to undo a lot of what you did.

For recording gear in Lincolnton and musical gear James House of Deals is open 6 days a week - come down to see all that we carry!

Presonus StudioLive AR12 USB Walkthrough

The Presonus StudioLive AR 12USB Mixer - A Walkthrough

Ever since I had heard about the new Presonus StudioLive AR Hybrid boards, I have wanted to try one out. They are a true hybrid board, combining the necessary features for live sound but also acting as a multi input interface to your digital recording system.

The Presonus StudioLive AR 12USB Hybrid Board

The Hook Ups

One of the coolest things about this board are the number of different hook-up configurations, and the output to the computer. The Super Channel, for instance, combines inputs from RCA jacks, the included Memory Card slot or a USB input - but unlike most really good mixers this channel also includes Bluetooth capability for hook ups to a phone, tablet or computer. This makes streaming music during breaks (or for Karaoke) extremely easy. This channel also has the 2 monitor outputs so those signals can be routed through the stage monitors too (this is essential for Karaoke or for dubbing in additional vocal tracks to a completed instrument mix).

The USB output on the back of the board is a standard USB 2 hookup, and will connect to any modern computer so that you can use the board as a recording board. 

It will work with any modern DAW system, and is incredibly easy to install; of course, it works particularly well with Presonus Studio One, and I had it up and running within minutes of hooking it up to my Dell Windows 10 system.

The first two channels are also optimized for a direct plug in for basses and guitars, with a small switch that increases your input levels so that a direct box is not necessary. Most amplified acoustics will not need this feature as they throw a much stronger signal than a standard electric guitar or bass. 

The Channels

The channels on these boards are very well thought out. The AR 12USB has 8 actual mic inputs, the first four of which have sweepable mid EQ's. The last four channels have a very nice 3 band with god EQ points, and all of these channels have 48v Phantom power for running studio condenser mics. There are also 2 distinct monitor sends (with separate slider volume controls for each of the monitor master volumes) as well as a send to the internal effects engine.

The effects are applied after the signal is split off to go to the computer, so if you are recording a live performance you can add effects to your hearts content for the live show; the board will send the unaffected signal to the computer so you can add reverbs and delays that are different from those you used live (this is actually a very important feature. It also allows you to apply effects to a singers voice when they are recording without those effects going to tape).

Note the sweepable mids on the first 4 channels and the PFL button on each channel!

The board has 2 XLR outputs as well as separate Control Room 1/4" outputs (for sending to another speaker system). The Control Room outputs carry the same mix as the main LR master fader, but they have a separate volume control.

I performed a simply test, which I will go through in greater detail in another post. I hooked up an acoustic guitar (A Seagull Excursion Spruce CW QIT electric Acoustic) and used a standard dynamic mic. i listened to the mix live, and recorded it into Studio One at the same time. 

Note separate master volume for the monitor mixes and the effects mix!

The board performed fully as I expected for a Presonus product - it sounded great with very little tweaking, and when I listened back to the song the guitar and the vocals were pristine (well, my vocals suck, but it recorded my suckiness in a very pristine manner!).

These boards are a fantastic step forward for a good, tough mixing board, and their capability as a recording interface is tremendous, delivering crystal clear, better than CD quality sound to your computer's DAW! 

To check out these boards and many other Presonus and Live Sound and recording products, go to James House of Deals, one of the best music stores in Lincolnton and your home for recording gear and computer interfaces in Lincolnton!

Learning the Fretboard - A Primer On Scales, Arpeggios And Chords

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING SCALES, APREGGIOS AND DIFFERENT CHORD FORMATIONS

Most casual guitarists and many guitarists that play in successful bands do not know music theory on the level that a classical instrumentalist does – with the ability to read staff and the inherent knowledge that reading music brings to the way chords and scales relate to each other.

A WORD ABOUT CHORDS

Over the years, I have broken down guitar chords into three categories for the purposes of speaking about them and relating scales, chord forms and arpeggios to them.

·         The Open Chords - these are the chords that most people start by learning, and are played near the nut using both fretted and open strings

·         Bar Chords, Upper Register – these are bar chords where the root note is located on the fifth string (such as the D at the 5th fret or the C at the 3rd fret)

·         Bar Chords, Lower Register – these are bar chords whose root note is located at the top string (such as the C on the 8^th fret, the A on the 5^th fret, etc.)

One of the purposes of this article is to get you to see beyond these easy shapes – most chords have three main positions on the neck of the guitar: the open position, the upper register bar chord and the lower register bar chord. B and F chords can only be made as bar chords or by playing tones out of the chords.

By mapping out the locations of the notes of the chord you are working on, as seen below, you can find new ways to play the entire chord or tones out of the chord for richer, fuller songs. This will allow you to give your guitar different sounds as well as a greater ability to create subharmonies, movements and single note runs into what might otherwise simply be 4 bars of a standard C chord.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PATTERNS

Most instruments are not pattern based, but interval based. The keyboard is the classic example of this – a C chord is made of three tones, the One (which is the root note, in this case C), the Three and the Five. The notes for the C chord are below:

One – C note (root)

Three – E note

Five – G note

A minor chord is made by flatting the Three (in this case the ‘E’ note moves to ‘E’ flat).

But on a guitar or other fretted instruments, chords are represented by patterns. If you look below you will see a C Bar chord at the third fret. If you take that chord shape and move it to different frets, it becomes a different chord. For instance, the same shape played at the 5^th fret becomes a D chord.

C at 3^rd Fret (an upper register chord, where the main root is on the fifth string)

D at 5^th Fret – Note that it is the same shape as the C chord above!

(Blank circles on the D indicate root notes)

Now, we want to map out where all the notes are for this chord – in this case, laying out where the triads of the C major chord are will also map the fretboard to find the notes we want.

By looking at these patterns we can figure out different combinations of ways to play chords and chord tones – this may not seem like that big a deal, but finding new tonal combinations to apply to your music can supercharge your creativity, or turn a simple progression into a work of art by playing different inversions and selected notes out of the applicable arpeggio and scale patterns.

This gives you much more room inside the song to find the inherent melody of a progression, and to spice up the progression itself. A great example of this can be seen when we look at the C Triads on the neck of the guitar. A Triad is a three note combination that makes up the chords, but Triads can also be played out of more complex chords.

Here, we see the C Triads – these are also all the notes that make up the C major chord

From the diagram above, we can pick out the familiar patterns of the C chord in question (the Open Chord Shape on the far left at the nut of the fretboard, the 3^rd fret shape and the 8^th fret shape), but we can also see all the different notes of the C chord across the entire neck of the guitar – remember, after the 12^th fret the neck simply repeats itself.

ARPEGGIOS AND CHORDS

Arpeggios are simply the notes of a chord played one at a time, the same as a scale. If you look at a book of guitar arpeggio patterns you will see that all of the patterns will fit within the diagram above. This diagram contains all the notes on the neck that are contained in the C chord, and will allow you to quickly find shapes on the neck that will expand your concept of playing a ‘simple’ C. Mapping out your fret board with these notes will allow you to play chord and tonal variations as well as different inversions (where the root note is not played first) and pick out your own single note arpeggio runs across the entire fretboard of your guitar.

With the power of patterns, once you learn these shapes by heart you will be able to repeat them in any key by moving the starting point of the pattern to a different fret. For instance, just as the D chord above is the same shape as the C chord, just on a different fret, the mapping of the D Chord (D Triads) will show the same patterns as the C Triads, just two frets further up the neck of the guitar.

Notice that you see the exact same shapes as the C Triads, just 2 frets higher – once you learn the Triad and arpeggio shapes for different types of chords, you will know them for all chords of the same type (in this instance, simple major chords), though it will take some practice to master the way you play them!

Practice by learning all the triad shapes possible for the chord you have picked out, and then start practicing those shapes as you practice the normal chord shapes. It won’t take long for you to memorize the triad and tonal shapes that are possible, and then you will be able to see how easily those shapes can be used for any key you desire. This will open up the way you think about chords!

CHORD SUBSTITUTIONS AND EXPANDING YOUR TRIADS

Making small changes in the chords you use, or using chords that can be substituted for the chords in the base melody can greatly expand the freedom you have in playing different combinations of tones and single note runs in your songs. Changing a Major chord to a Major 7^th makes a huge expansion in these possibilities, or a Minor chord to a Minor 7^th. The seventh adds a fourth tone to the chord, and gives you many more choices for chord alternatives and arpeggios. Check out the full fretboard diagram for the C Major 7^th chord quads and you will begin to get an idea of how many more possibilities adding just one tone to a chord will give you!

Not all chord substitutions are so obvious as making a Major a Major 7^th, or a Minor a Minor 7^th though. Keep in mind that depending on the way the song is constructed, not all substitutions will have the sound you are looking for – experiment with substitutions, but don’t be afraid to abandon an idea that just isn’t working out tonally!

A less obvious chord substitution is a Major chord a third above a Minor 7th root chord. This will make a lot more sense once it is translated into patterns as seen on the diagram below. If you are playing an Am 7^th on the 5^th fret, a C major chord played on the 3^rd fret (or anywhere, for that matter) can be substituted. Not only does this give you a power chord option for a Minor 7^th sound, but it also means that you can play any of the C Triads mapped out above when your root chord is an Am 7.

This will allow you to switch between tones and inversions from both the Am7 chord and the C chord, giving you a huge amount of choices in how to play the song.

An easy way to find this pattern is to remember that wherever you play a lower register Minor 7 chord (root note on the (top) 6^th string) it will go with the higher register major chord (root note on the 5^th string) 2 frets lower. So the 5^th fret Am7 goes with the 3^rd fret C Major, the 7^th fret Bm7 goes with the 5^th fret D Major, etc.

Check out the diagram below to see how these chords fit together!

You can see the C Major chord outlined in blue, while the Am7 is outlined in red. When you look at the notes, you will see that the Am7 has just one note extra (the A) from the C Major, which is C – E – G, so the notes for Am7 are A – C – E – G. If you move the Minor 7^th chord from the 5^th to the 8^th fret, it becomes a Cm7 and the companion chord (in blue) becomes the F Major chord with the root on the 5^th string at the 6^th fret.

All the patterns for triads, arpeggios and tonal combinations that you learn for the Am7 – C pairing will be exactly the same for the Cm7 – F pairing, just 3 frets higher on the neck of the guitar.

Find a good chord book that lists alternative or substitution chords to help you explore this powerful tool, and buy a blank guitar manuscript book to do your own mapping of the fretboard. This will help familiarize you with the fretboard, and is also an excellent memory aid (writing anything down as opposed to looking at pictures or videos triggers different neural pathways in the brain, reinforcing the memories of the material copied down). Oddly enough, according to studies using a keyboard for typing or working with a screen does not give the same benefit as making notes with pen and paper.

SCALES – THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF MELODY

Chords form the basic building block of a song, shaping the song’s rhythm and giving it different tonal characteristics – minor chords for slow sad songs, happy little major chords for fun, bouncy songs, or any combination you can think of. In the example below, it shows one pattern of a C Major scale – with all scales there are 5 -7 patterns you will need to learn. All these pattern are the same scale, but by learning all of the patterns you will know the scale across the entire fretboard of the guitar, and will be able to play the C Major scale (or the same type of scale in any key, for that matter) anywhere on the neck.

All melodies are made of scales one way, or a hybrid of scales that you might stumble across. Just like chords, the scales on a guitar are learned largely by patterns. Like arpeggios, scales are usually played one note at a time, though striking multiple notes can be a great thing!

Any time you hear any single note runs in a song, they are part of a scale or arpeggio.

And, just like chords, once you learn the blues scale or the major scale in one key you will know it in every key – just start the first pattern of the scale on a different fret and it will be in a different key! Once you know these patterns there are also some other tricks that will allow you to easily change the way the scale you are playing interacts with the chords of the rhythm section, giving you different sound palettes as you build your leads or single note runs in the melody structure.

For example, moving the scale pattern below to the 8^th fret will change the scale from the C Ionian Major scale to the C Mixolydian (A mode of the Major scale). The easy way to keep track of where the scales can be used is to think about playing them over the two Bar chord shapes, the higher register C bar chord at the 3^rd fret and the lower register C bar chord at the 8^th fret. Anywhere you play a conventional C bar chord you can start the scale pattern, which will make it a different Mode of the Major scale, in this case Ionian and Mixolydian!

Both of these scales can also be played over Cm and Cm 7 chords as well, but don’t neglect learning the different types of minor scales – they offer wonderful melodic possibilities.

Once a guitarist knows the shape and patterns of all the modes of the major scale, the scale can be played in any key by simply moving the 1^st position of the scale to a different starting fret on the guitar. Find a good scale book to learn all the patterns for the different types of scales. For rock and country music, the Pentatonic scale and the Major are two of the most important scales you can learn.

Just like the Major scale, a shortcut to finding where to play the pentatonic scale can be found by rooting the starting position to the standard chord positions – in this case, a C or Cm can be played at the 3^rd fret and the 8^th fret in bar form.

The pattern below is the Cm Pentatonic scale:

 Note that this pattern of the Cm Pentatonic scale sits right on top of the 8^th fret, a prime position for the Cm chord. This pattern can be played on the 5^th fret, which makes it a C Major Pentatonic scale, but I have also had good luck playing the scale at the 3^rd fret whether the C chord is Major or Minor. As you learn the different scale patterns and how they relate to their root chords you will find that there are multiple ways to play the scale against the chord.

This may seem a little intimidating if you are not already getting into scales and arpeggios, but as you map the fretboard for chord and arpeggio locations, or learn the patterns above you will find yourself making fast progress. If you are already playing scales and arpeggios, looking at the patterns in this way can help you expand your abilities and understanding of the fretboard and come up with great new tonal combinations from simple chords and scales!

James House of Deals, one of the best music stores in Lincolnton offers great deals on instruments, PA Gear, recording equipment, accessories and much more! When you need accessories or guitars in Lincolnton come to James House of Deals!

An Affordable Powered Speaker That Sounds Great!

Buying The Right Speaker For Your Purpose

Buying PA gear always a big venture, but understanding what you are buying for will help you save money in the long run. The speaker we are going to be looking at today is an excellent speaker - for what it is.

The speaker can be run as a main or monitor

And that is part of understanding PA gear. If you are making money on your performances, or if you are playing to big crowds of people, you do not want an entry level speaker (which this PowerWerks is). 

But, if you are playing or presenting to smaller crowds (such as small churches just getting off the ground or mobile ministries), or if your kid needs a speaker for his garage band and you are on a limited budget, this may be just the speaker for you!

PowerWerks PA used to be Kustom - this 15" speaker has a nice full sound, but only pushes about a peak of 200 watts internal power, so while it does sound good at lower volume levels, it would not be what you would want to look at if you were anticipating 200 - 300 person crowds.

This speaker is in the upright 'Main' position - it also has speaker mounts which allow you to mount it on a speaker stand

The volume levels it can attain though are good for garage bands and small business or worship applications. These are also great speakers to use as an acoustic guitar amp, the 15" woofer and the true horn give a great sound to any acoustic electric guitar!

For an inexpensive speaker it does have some very nice features, and it includes two inputs, both a line level 1/4" input and an XLR mic input. This makes it perfect for mobile applications where you just need a microphone and an input to play some music from your phone or computer.

One of the neat things about this speaker is the fact that it has a link out for each input. This gives you some flexibility in how you route signals.

For instance, if you are using the speaker as a stage monitor it allows you to plug your mic directly into the speaker then send it on to the mixing board, and allows you to plug a 1/4" so that you can be fed the rest of the monitor mix. that way, you can adjust your own voice thin the speaker, and then adjust the rest of the monitor mix so you can get a better mix on stage without relying on whether the sound guy is paying attention when you need a bit more of your vocals in the monitor!

These PowerWerks monitors can do a great job as monitors or mains if you are seeking a budget conscious speaker for small crowds and small areas, or as a stage monitor to a band that has normal stage volume levels. To see more of these speakers, and to find out your best price on them, go give them a listen at James House of Deals & Pawn, on of the newest music stores in Lincolnton - they carry more PA gear in Lincolnton than any of the stress in Gastonia, Hickory or Shelby, so if you need PA Gear come to James House of Deals for the best deals around!

Copyrights - Protecting Your Material

THE GUITARISTS GUIDE TO COPYRIGHTS – UNDERSTANDING YOUR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

There is an old trick when it comes to copyrights – mail yourself a copy of the song and don’t open it. That method won’t do any harm, but it probably won’t do any good either – except you will have (in my case) a cassette tape to remind you, if you can ever find something to play it on, how bad your first song really was.

Trust me, mine was bad!

The idea of this ‘poor man's’ copyright method comes from being able to prove the date that the song was created. Of course, nowadays posting your song to YouTube or any other online media will also fix the date (as well as many other methods available to us).

Whether it is a song or a written work, much or copyright law works the same!

HOW COPYRIGHTS WORK – SINGLE SONGS AND COLLECTIONS

The first copyright laws were put in place in the US in 1790 – the constitution itself gave congress the specific power of enacting copyright laws to protect many different types of speech, art, intellectual property and more. Of course, here we are concerned about music!

Copyright laws are very simple, but protecting yourself and your works is part of being in the business of music. The more you understand how these processes work, the better you will be able to navigate through the business side of the music industry, and the more of your money you will be able to keep in the long run!

A copyright lasts until 70 years after the death of the writer (in the case of multiple writers, it lasts until 70 years after the death of the longest living copyright holder), and a song is copyrighted as soon as it is affixed to any tangible medium.

This could be something as complex as an entire score, or as simple as a chord chart and a set of lyrics – or in some cases, a CD or digital download. What this means that as soon as you write down your song, or record it to any medium, it is copyrighted. The process of registering your copyrighted work simply affirms the copyright on a certain date, and is the best way to collect what may be owed to you if someone ever uses your work.

PUBLISHED V. UNPUBLISHED

First off, registering a copyright for your song or music collection is very easy – you can do it online at http://copyright.gov/ - click the ‘Register A Copyright’ button and it will guide you through the process of setting up an account and sending the necessary documentation/audio files to copyright your song. You can also perform this step by mail – the same Web address above will give you specific instructions for physical filing.

Many people want to copyright a song as soon as they get done writing it, or copyright a collection of songs as they are written, but it is also a wide practice to wait to register the copyright until you actually publish the song. The reason for this is that in the past, if you did not press the song to record, tape or CD not enough people would be exposed to the song to worry about copyright infringement. A song can be dispersed widely using modern technology without be ‘Published’, so it is becoming more important to take preemptive steps when it comes to your rights as a songwriter.

That is why even if you don’t publish the song according to the rules of the copyright office, you may still want the protection and the certification that copyrighting a work brings, especially if you are posting the song on any electronic platforms.

When you copyright, you will list the song as either ‘Published’ or ‘Unpublished’. Once a song has been published, anyone can make their own version of that song, but they must pay you a set royalty fee. Your music cannot, however, be used for any video performance, including commercials, TV shows, movies or unofficial YouTube videos without your express consent – more on this in the next section!

Copyrighting your songs online is the quickest and easiest way of copyrighting them, and the least expensive – just $35.00 for a single song, or $65.00 for a collection. The collection can be as many songs as you wish it to be.

If you are using the score or chart method, sending the document as a PDF is the normal way to transmit those documents. Many people file the song in both written and recorded form.

To register your songs as a collection, they must be contained in a single ‘Collection’ under one name, and the copyright holder must be the same for each song. For instance, if you had ten songs, and one of them shared co-writing credits with you you would only be able to register the nine songs in your name. The single song with your co-writer’s name included would have to be registered individually.

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS – MECHANICAL RIGHTS AND SYNCHRONIZATION RIGHTS

Once a song has been published, anyone can cover it under the mechanical copyright laws, but they must pay you money. As well, if you copy someone else’s work you must pay them the current fees set by law for a mechanical license. They are at the moment 9.1 cents per unit (copy) sold, whether it is a physical CD or a download (or any other medium). For songs over 5 minutes there is an additional per minute charge of $1.75.

The Harry Fox agency is one of the largest agencies to use to either pay copyright fees you may owe to the copyright holder of a cover tune, or to make sure your song is registered and thus protected. Registering your song with the Harry Fox Agency or a different listing agency will guarantee you maximum payout if someone uses your material.

When you apply for a copyright, your song is not automatically registered, but the completed copyright paperwork does give you the power to list your song with the Harry Fox Agency, among other publishers, listing agents and others.

YOUTUBE AND SYNCHRONIZATION RIGHTS

This is one of the most asked questions most musicians have when it comes to copyrights – can I post my cover of that tune on YouTube? The answer is – sometimes you can, and sometimes you can’t. This depends on a couple of different factors. Remember, as we stated above, to use a person’s song in any video format, you must gain the copyright holder’s express permission and negotiate the fees that will be paid.

Any performance of a song on YouTube, even if the screen remains black throughout the performance, is synchronized to the video, and therefor does NOT fall under the normal mechanical copyright laws that allow any band to perform their own cover version of any published song.

Several factors come into play, and several things could happen. The copyright holder could demand that the video/song be removed entirely, or that the audio containing the song be removed. This holds true whether the song is being performed directly, or whether it is playing in the background of the video.

The copyright holder can also choose to monetize it through YouTube, and thus gain a percentage of the ads that are being sold around your video.

To find out if a publisher has a deal with YouTube to grant synchronization rights through YouTube, search ASCAP and BMI to see who holds the publishing rights. If they have a deal with YouTube, you can probably post your cover tunes without many worries (the revenues will be collected from the ad revenue on the video). If they do not, it would be best if you contact the publisher of the copyrighted work you want to cover and gain the rights to make a video performance of the work.

Remember, though, without express permission, even if the copyright holder and publisher have a deal with YouTube they can demand that your specific video be taken down or that the music portion be muted.

And of course, you have exactly the same rights as a songwriter when it comes to your own songs!

LIVE PERFORMANCES AND REPLAYING OF ORIGINAL MATERIAL

If you are a band, you may have run into this already – publishers and copyright holders can and do expect to be paid when you perform their song live. The rates for this type of performance are preset, and are usually part of a bulk payment made to a publisher that allows you to play any song in their library – once again, the largest publishers are BMI and ASCAP but there are more services and registration agencies available now.

Some venues and bars will have these rights covered as part of their business, but it is always up to the band to find out whether they need to pay royalties for any cover songs they perform.

Playing the original song over any medium (other than private consumer use) is also handled on a preset basis. Mostly, this means bars with Karaoke or pre-recorded music such as jukeboxes, radio stations, disk jockeys, DJ’s and more.

Buying the disk gives you the right to play the music in a private setting – if you are playing an artist’s own songs, contact BMI and ASCAP about bulk packages that will keep you covered regarding royalties owed to the publisher. Bands can do the same thing for cover tunes as well!

It is still illegal to use a song, whether it is an original recording or a cover done by another band, in any synchronized way – video, movie, TV show or other – without the express permission of the artist. The only exception to this are the Fair Use rules, which allow, for instance, news people or critics to use samples of the song in their coverage of that song.

COPYRIGHTS ARE AUTOMATIC – PROTECTING YOUR WORK ISN’T

While copyrights are granted automatically as soon as you set your song or music down on any medium, protecting that song is not automatic. That is why registering your song’s copyright, and then listing your song with the Harry Fox Agency can be important.

These simple steps make it easy to claim your rights as a songwriter/composer if someone should decide to cover your song, or play your song on the radio. If it is not registered, even if they hear the song or see it on YouTube they will not be able to find the information in order to make payments to you. So get out there and start writing more songs, and look deeper into the copyright laws to make a truly informed decision on whether you need to register your copyright!

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