Tape Delay, Echo, and How We Got Off the Mountain

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Most musicians know a bit about “delay”… not like… my flight is delayed…. but the music kind.

For example, your guitar player might have a Boss DD-3 Pedal or your vocalist might like delay on his/her vocal. If you’re not a musician, think of this as echo. The basic premise is a repeated signal with decay over time. The time interval (speed), amplitude (volume), and feedback (how quickly the delay dissipates) are variables of modern delays, but they also happen naturally.

These are some examples of natural delay:

Now, if you lived before the 1950’s, these kinds of things were your only option for recording a delayed signal. Worse, you would likely be trying to record to a metal wire or some such nonsense so why not load your sherpa up and get your session started. America didn’t even know about magnetic tape until we took it from the Germans after WWII.

Luckily, these days we can get our bands down off of the mountain. Thanks to some real music geniuses, we have delay at our fingertips in every studio and stage on the planet.

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Musicians Guide: How to get and keep a good day job

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Working for others doesn’t have to suck – plus, you can even learn to make any boss love you …

The situation – (need to find a good day job for musicians)

Many players, composers, and engineers start their careers in music and find they still need that day job while they get going. Others might find themselves without a gig for the first time in years and need something to fill in the gap. Getting better at our craft is a life-long pursuit, one full of ups and downs. We have all been there. So here are a few tips we hope will help keep you on the path toward growing your career in the music business.

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Songwriting

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We approach our songwriting service as a collaboration with our clients and customize that experience based on your or your group’s wants and needs. There are too many variables to list them all here, but just know that our goal is to have every final recording be something you love and stand behind as strongly as if it were yours alone.

This is accomplished by including you in the total process — and this is where Bandog becomes a great partner. We just now are making available to clients our catalogue of more than 600 songs and backing tracks. Because we want you to bring these across the finish line, we intentionally have left room for you to do your magic.

Our sessions are set up for you to add your personal touches and truly own the songs we place with you. Below are some basic notes on the most common band components.

Questions? Just contact us, and we will be happy to discuss your specific situation.

 

Vocal 

  • Songs of all styles with no vocal melody or lyrics. You collaborate with us to complete the writing process.
  • Songs with partial melodic or lyrical ideas. Although Bandog provides the starting point, you help achieve the final product.
  • Songs with complete melodic and lyrical ideas. These are totally ready for you. Just put down your beautiful voice and walk out of the studio with a world-class single.

 

Guitar

Admittedly, we are guitar freaks here at Bandog, and we have our process for creating some really cool material. That said, there is always room for adding guitar layers or replacing some parts with your own playing. That way, you get the personalized sound you want.

 

Bass

As with the other instruments, we can separate out your part and replace or layer your performance with the rest of the tracks. This way you get the full, live bass sound that defines your style.

 

Keys 

Key parts are tricky due to the complexity of some digital patches. We can work with you and your gear to get a close match, or show you how to set up your rig to reproduce our patches in live performance. Also, in most cases, we can provide sheet music.

 

Drums

We try to use live drummers when we can, and we try to make synthetic drums sound as genuine as possible, but nothing beats the real thing. Budget, time, and access to a good studio become the biggest challenges to recording you drum parts. However, we have plenty of ways to get the drums sounding just like you want.

 

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At Bandog, we are songwriters and musicians. We have played in bands and collaborated on songwriting projects with hundreds of tunes and dozens of artists. We believe that the most important part of the process is having all artists walk away with a finished musical product that is inspiring to the artist and will be exciting for the fans.

The art starts from within us, but it’s you and your fans who complete the process. It is their support that allows us to continue working on the craft we love.

Ghostwriting

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Ghostwriting is our most exclusive service.

Some clients request more privacy and need a discreet production house that can work in the background. Bandog keeps strictly confidential those clients who hire us as ghostwriters.

All rights are purchased from us, but unlike most licensing agreements, no credit ever will be attributed to Bandog Entertainment. As far as the world knows, you wrote the song we provided you. Don’t worry, we can resist even extreme forms of torture.

Because we get no press, no credit, and no royalty, your fans will praise you, and only you, for your song. Consequently, this is our most expensive option.

Due to the sensitive nature of the information discussed even in pre-pro, we require a retainer and a signed mutual nondisclosure agreement in place before work begins.

Please call or email us for details.

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Here are some real-world scenarios and how Bandog can help you handle them:

 

Problem The Bandog Solution
Established Artist with fan base expecting all songs to be written by the artist. We can write music to match your style and assist you in completing your album. With us as ghostwriters, no one will ever know which songs you had help with.
Need to reinvent your sound. We can collaborate with you to create a new, yet familiar, sound for your next release.  Whether you want a drastic overhaul or merely minor tweaks, we can help you develop your new path.
Band or artist wants to own music and not be beholden to another artist for royalties, licensing fees, or ownership disputes. We take a higher one-time fee for this work, but you never have to pay us again.