[Ramshackles]

A list of anything and everything to do with playing & creating your own music. Post useful links and I'll add them to the list.

Promotion/Gigs
http://getagig.info/about  - directory of music promoters and venues in the uk.
http://www.fanbridge.com/ - Free website for managing email lists and hooking up you myspace/twitter/facebook pages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/ - submit your music for a chance of local airplay and showcase gigs with the beeb

- a lot of BS in this vid, but it does name-drop almost every social site aimed at bands so is a useful resource to get your music on relevant sites
http://hypem.com/#!/ - mp3 and music blog aggregator. Great to find relevant blogs to submit your music to.

Songwriting

Recording
Take a look at cheap recording tips in the recording forum!
http://www.musictech.net/One of the best recording magazine websites. Lots of content and tips

Free Software
http://www.reaper.fm/ - an excellent, free Digital Audio Workstation
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - Another free audio recording utility
http://traverso-daw.org/ - free audio recording
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/?search=freeplayer  Free VST-based sample player. Comes with a free library
http://www.kvraudio.com/ - All about audio plug-ins/VST. Has a huge database of commercial and free VSTi's and plug-ins

Misc.
http://unsignedbandreview.com/ - a collective of music/audio professionals who review music submitted by unsigned bands. Be warned - it can take AGES for your music to be reviewed
http://soundcloud.com/ - free audio file hosting and playback
http://www.thomann.de/gb/index.html - Online music retailer. Sells everything to do with playing and creating music, and has a useful line of its own budget equipment

[massa]

That looks brilliant thanks for posting!

[spacedogg]

Superb stuff Ramshackles. The Reaper DAW looks excellent. I'm certainly gonna give it a try.

[Ramshackles]

I tried Reaper a little while ago and back then it was very capable but a little lacking in its editing utilities compared to the commercial daws. People say it has improved no end since then.

Again - if you have any useful links, post here and ill add them to the list!

[tone]

Great post Ramshackles - I've made it into a sticky

[anthonyceseri]

I thought it would be a good idea to post useful links for different aspects of all too do with music. I split it into the categories: Promotion/Gigs, Songwriting, Recording, Free Software and Misc.
Please help the list grow by replying with any links and Ill update the list. The emphasis is on free services. It could be good to make this a sticky '

Promotion/Gigs
http://getagig.info/about  - directory of music promoters and venues in the uk.
http://www.fanbridge.com/ - Free website for managing email lists and hooking up you myspace/twitter/facebook pages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/ - submit your music for a chance of local airplay and showcase gigs with the beeb

- a lot of BS in this vid, but it does name-drop almost every social site aimed at bands so is a useful resource to get your music on relevant sites
http://hypem.com/#!/ - mp3 and music blog aggregator. Great to find relevant blogs to submit your music to.

Songwriting

Recording
Take a look at cheap recording tips in the recording forum!
http://www.soundonsound.com/ - One of the best recording magazine websites. Lots of content and tips

Free Software
http://www.reaper.fm/ - an excellent, free Digital Audio Workstation
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - Another free audio recording utility
http://traverso-daw.org/ - free audio recording
http://www.kvraudio.com/ - All about audio plug-ins/VST. Has a huge database of commercial and free VSTi's and plug-ins

Misc.
http://unsignedbandreview.com/ - a collective of music/audio professionals who review music submitted by unsigned bands. Be warned - it can take AGES for your music to be reviewed
http://soundcloud.com/ - free audio file hosting and playback
http://www.thomann.de/gb/index.html - One of the best music retailers in Europe. Sells everything to do with playing and creating music, and has a great line of its own budget equipment

Sweet -- Thanks!

[seriousfun]

I would like to highly recommend the free sample player, Kontakt player 5 by Native Instruments. You can find it on their website at native-instruments.com. It is the free version of their highly acclaimed Kontakt 5 and the free version comes with about 50 instruments and another 50 are available from the sample set free version of Kontakt Factory Selection. All of the instruments are of extremely high quality complete with built in effects.

I can't recommend this high enough, I use the full version and when ever I buy virtual instruments now I always look first for instruments that can be loaded by Kontact.

[Ramshackles]

Ill add it to the list if you post a link

[seriousfun]

The free Native Instruments products can be found here

http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/?search=freeplayer

[singersue4]

I had my demos duplicated at West Coast Duplication and they were superb.
http://cd-duplication/services.co.uk
jim@westcoastduplication.com

[Ramsey]

Hi!

This one seems to be a pretty comprehensive service / site:

http://tunepan.com/

According to their landing page, they offer e.g. collaboration tools and a digital distribution service. Does anybody have any experience on it?

[Frenchy]

I would add Pensado's Place to that in the recording section. 200+ episodes of pure education with interviews every week with top producers, engineers, songwriters and industry people

Frenchy

[asongman]

Great topic idea Ramshackles, a bit outdated now though. Some of those links aren't working.

Thought I'd add in a couple of things I've found useful with songwriting and making music in general.

Songwriting:
https://www.rhymezone.com/ - beats the book I used to have for finding words that rhyme. I don't use it as much as i used to, but if you're new to songwriting it's great to have.

https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/how-to-write-a-song-for-beginners-a-step-by-step-guide-to-becoming-a-songwriter/ - found this to be quite a good beginners guide on song writing. Not as good for non beginners despite there being a section in there for that, but covers all the main topics those in the early stages will need to learn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=_vj5OfcZxe0 A good interview with songwriter Alex Forbes about songwriting. Hasn’t heard of her before this, but apparently she has had songs on the billboard and has millions of album sales. A good listen.

Marketing:
http://cdbabypodcast.com/2017/12/201-owning-youtube-audience/ - I found this episode of the CD Baby Podcast quite good, especially as someone who wants to make moves on Youtube but know the reach to your subscribers isn't what it once was. The CDB podcast has quite a few good listens in general.

https://louderthanwar.com/contact/ – a music blog that accepts song submissions. I haven’t used it yet, but definitely will in future.

There are probably more but my mind has blanked for now. If any one wants any more I’ve seen let me know and I’ll come back and add them.

[lazyjot]

Hi Ramshackles!

I've got a recommendation for free software. I'm an amateur songwriter (mostly write rap & poetry), and there was certain things I really wanted to have in my digital notepad which google docs didn't have, so I created a tool specialized to write lyrics (slightly shameful plug!). One of those things I wanted is to annotate where the beat lands in my lyrics, as well as seeing the rhymes visually. I also wanted a rhyme dictionary to help with multi-syllabic imperfect rhymes.

I think it's a useful tool for writing lyrics & igniting new creative sparks: https://lazyjot.com

[devilhoned]

There seems to be a real growth of sync/licensing companies in the past five years. Maybe a list of those should be added here? I reckon the ones that are in early days/about to get big, may be a good punt for songwriters here.
The whole world of selling to films,tv,ads etc needs it own little corner. Some of these companies even listen to the music and reply. Unless they`re listed elsewhere, I`m going to look at listing some companies that are all fairly new--and seem to be going places. Maybe they`ll take some of us along with them?
They tend not the `libraries`but want `real` musicians` music.