September

Music Theory: Modal Chord Progressions

Posted In: For Businesses, Marketing & Promotion, Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

In the previous post from our “10 Things Every Musician Should Know” series, we began to look at how modes are constructed. We showed you how to alter a major scale to arrive at modes. Today, we’re going to look at what modes to play based on the given chord progression.

We’ve already established that the pattern of chord qualities for a major scale is as follows:

1M, 2m, 3m, 4M, 5M, 6m, 7d, 1M

If we shift to modes, not only do we shift the order of the intervals between the notes (whole step or half step), but we also shift the order of the chord qualities (major, minor, augmented, diminished). In the last post, we showed how those intervals changed. Now we’re going to build chords from each scale degree (flats denoted with lowercase “b”).

Ionian (Major) - 1M, 2m, 3m, 4M, 5M, 6m, 7d, 1M
Dorian - 1m, 2m, b3M, 4M, 5m, 6d, b7M, 1m
Phrygian - 1m, b2M, b3M, 4m, 5d, b6M, b7m, 1m
Lydian - 1M, 2M, 3m, #4d, 5M, 6m, 7m, 1M
Mixolydian - 1M, 2m, 3d, 4M, 5m, 6m, b7M, 1M
Aeolian (Natural Minor) - 1m, 2d, b3M, 4m, 5m, b6M, b7M, 1m
Locrian - 1d , b2M, b3m, 4m, b5M, b6M, b7m, 1d

PRACTICAL USES OF MODES

So, as an example, let’s look at a common chord progression one of the major modes:

E A D E

Now, let’s convert that to scale degrees:

1M 4M b7M 1M

Judging from this information, we can base our playing around a Mixolydian mode.

Let’s look now at a common progression in a minor mode:

Em A D Em

If we convert this to scale degrees, we have:

1m 4M b7M 1m

In this case, we can base our playing around the Dorian mode.

If you begin to think in terms of modes based on the chords within a song, it can really open up the possibilities of your playing. It can help you break out of the typical pentatonic box (not that there’s anything wrong with that–I am a guitarist, too) and help you to stay true to the chords underneath your melodies and solos. It does take a lot of memorization and practice to get used to modes, but understanding them will help make you a better musician.

Stay tuned for our next post, when we get rhythmic.

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August

8

Making the Home Studio More Productive

Posted In: For Businesses, Recording, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

I’m writing this after taking a break from re-organizing my studio. It’s been driving me nuts for months, and the cleaning/re-organizing part has been driving me nuts for weeks. Yeah, it was that bad.

Prior to about a month or so ago, the most strenuous work I’d been doing in the studio was doing voicovers, jingle sings, and midi-based music cues. Those jobs consisted of not much more than one channel at a time that I could leave in a ready-to-record state. Here lately, though, I’d been noticing myself not being as productive as I wanted to be. I had the desire to work, but every time I started a project, I’d get discouraged and frustrated. It then became clear to me that it was my lack of organization and poor ergonomics that killed my productivity.

My family always jokes with me, saying, “Your studio is never the way you want it,” or, “You’re never happy with it.” This is true not just because I’m a perfectionist, but there’s also another underlying cause. When I began building my home studio in 2006 (three years ago at the time of this writing), in my eagerness to get to work recording, I began to set myself up for my future frustration early on. As soon as the studio would get functional enough to do a little work, I would get focused on projects and put studio organization and ergonomics by the wayside. I was so fired up about being able to work in the studio that I became shortsighted and forgot about being ready for when bigger projects came along. Inevitably, when those bigger projects did come along, I would spend so much time and energy prepping the studio that I would lose my creative drive. I would then either not do as well on the project, or I would end up passing on the opportunity entirely–not what you want to happen when you record music for a living!

That brings me to my current juncture. The frustration has gotten too much to bear, so I’m overhauling it all. Here are some of the things that I’m doing to help improve my home studio:

Purging junk and organizing storage space
Re-wiring equipment and patch bays to make more logical sense
Labeling all cables and snakes
Making a notebook containing wiring diagrams, patch bay input/output lists, and midi routing
Pre-mic’ing guitar amps in the isolation booth to have instant access
Putting the most frequently used items, cables, modules, and processors at arm’s length
Networking computers for easier file transfer and printing
Creating a “workshop” area for guitar repairs and cable soldering
Improving the “office” area to more comfortably do the “business stuff”
Organize client information and contracts

All of these tasks help me to not only be more productive with recording and composing, but it also helps me to be able to readily accept more work without the preparation headaches. Hopefully, it will help me to gain more work, produce more output, and produce a higher quality product. All of these factors will help me “feel better” about working in the space, which, I’ve learned, tremendously impacts success with any business.

If you’re finding yourself frustrated and unproductive, try these little tweaks for yourself and see if they help. Comment with your ideas!

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July

17

Audio and Your Business: Using Audio to Bolster Sales and Awareness

Posted In: For Businesses, Marketing & Promotion, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

Since audio is an often overlooked business tool, Butler Productions’ Audio Marketing Solutions department exists to help small businesses implement audio in ways that can benefit both sales and awareness. There are a number of ways that audio can be used to the benefit of your business. Here are the three most common:

Jingles

When creating a marketing campaign, awareness is the first hurdle to overcome. Obviously, potential customers must know about you before they come to you. Using a jingle is an excellent way to help achieve awareness. A jingle is simply a short, catchy song which provides information about your business or product. However, it doesn’t stop there. A jingle, in whole or in part, can be included into radio, television, and internet advertising (YouTube videos, your company website, etc.), so it’s a very versatile tool. Some jingles can stand alone as a commercial, while others are great openers or closers. Jingles are relatively inexpensive to create and can serve your company for years to come. Learn more about getting started with jingles here.

On-Hold Messages

Converting potential customers into paying customers is the next hurdle. You’ve created a jingle that creates awareness for your company, and now phone calls are pouring in. On-Hold Messaging is the next tool, which helps keep customers on the telephone line and provide valuable information while they wait for to speak to someone. The music and messages that callers hear helps to reduce caller anxiety, reduce the number of hang-ups, and create further awareness of your products and services. All of these results help to foster more sales for your business. These can be coupled with your jingle to help reinforce your brand and image in the mind of your callers. These are also easy and inexpensive to start and maintain, and most telecom services have the ability to incorporate music/messages on hold. Learn more about getting started with on-hold messages here.

Point-of-Purchase Audio Advertising

Ok, now you’ve caught a potential customer’s attention with your jingle, and you’ve kept them interested in your business when they called with your on-hold message. Now they’ve come to your business or store location. The next hurdle is to convert browsers to buyers. Point-of-Purchase Audio Advertising is a great tool for this task. These brief messages, often interspersed within background music, can inform shoppers of new products or services, sales and specials, or any other useful information. While some contain background music, many consist of just a voiceover or announcer, so they’re quick, easy, and inexpensive to produce. Again, you can use your jingles here as well, adding even more value to your initial investment.

These are just three examples. Feel free to drop us a comment of your ideas or useful ways you’ve used audio for your business. If you’re interested in implementing audio for your business, contact Butler Productions, and we’ll be glad to help!

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July

6

Audio for Business: 10 Tips to Creating a Winning On-Hold Message Campaign

Posted In: For Businesses, Marketing & Promotion, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

Start your On Hold Message Campaign

Audio is an often overlooked tool for business, but it is also one of the most valuable. One of the easiest ways to put audio to work for your business is with an On-Hold Message Campaign. On-Hold Messaging is a way to keep customers on the telephone line while simultaneously sharing important information with them. While it’s both easy and inexpensive to set up and maintain, many businesses often don’t know where to begin. Being a producer of on-hold message programs, Butler Productions has created a podcast entitled 10 Tips to Creating a Winning On-Hold Message Campaign as a sort of beginner’s guide. You can also download the transcript to the podcast. As a teaser, here are the 10 Tips:

Know your target audience
Find the right voice
Reassure waiting callers
Avoid the “hard sell”
Provide useful information
Answer common questions
Generate interest in new or unadvertised products or services
Get creative
Vary your message
Update often

Download the podcast or transcript for the full explanation and details on each tip.

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