So it’s been an amazing year here at Bluevibe studio and I’d firstly like to thank all of the people who have supported me over the last 12 months by either checkin the blog, checkin the music and maybe even buying the new EP. So much has happened for me in 2008 I thought I’d run through some of the highlights and share some amazing plans I’m already cookin for 2009, it’s gonna be a big year that’s for sure.

• I released the first EP from The Ghostfaders which is still available as a free download and will be writing and releasing the second EP in early 09, again for free, so watch this space. The new EP’s gonna feature a few more guest instrumentalists and is gonna be heavier and dirtier than last time, I’m already saturating the tape deck!
• I also started working over at The Depot Artspace as an artist career facilitator and have met and worked with some amazing and inspiring musicians this year. Huge plans over there for next year including the launch of a new resource website for artists as part of the Creative Peoples’ Centre; more workshops and seminars for musicians plus we’re already planning something special for NZ music month.
• I’ve also been working with Depot sound recording studio to create a new audio community over at the studio for 09. This will include giving upcoming audio engineers access to the amazing facilities and holding regular workshops with established engineers who will be sharing their knowledge and getting together with the engineers to work on new recording projects. If your based in Auckland and would like to get involved just drop me a message and I’ll let you know once we’re up and running.
• Finally I released my first Bluevibe studio EP – This life volume.1 which is now available in a store near you. I’m really proud of this first release under the Bluevibe moniker and would like to thanks all the crew involved in helping produce the EP. I’ll be starting work on the next in the series in Feb 09 and will be looking for new vocalists and remix artists to get involved, again drop me a line if you like the first EP and want to colab.

I’ve really enjoyed blogging in 08 and despite my lack of posts in Dec (life’s been just too crazy) I’ve fully upgraded the whole back end and will be adding a new design and new feastures in early 09. It’s amazing to see the traffic coming through from google and I’ll be writing more about online music resources, new artists and fresh music blogs so register for the newsletter or signup to the RSS feed for the latest Bluevibe news, peace and merry xmas.

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Just a quick post to let everybody know that I’ll be featured on Superdeluxe with Gene Rivers on Alt TV this Sunday night. We shot it on Thursday and Gene asked me to bring along 5 records of influence to have a quick chat about. Not an easy thing to do at 2hrs notice so I pulled out a batch of tunes that related to some significant moments in my musical upbringing, tune in to get some knowledge on my musical heritage.

The interview was fun and it was great to finally meet Gene who’s going to be droppin some tunes at the launch party next week. Gene also asked me to bring the family down to George FM on Sunday to have another chat about Bluevibe studio and hopefully bring along a few more tunes to play. I’ve had great support so far for the new EP and I’m really excited to get it launched next week.

Don’t forget that you can register for the Bluevibe studio newsletter and go in the draw to win a Vestax Handytrax turntable and a pack of classic vinyl from my collection. The idea behind the draw was to also give away a sound card so that you could be up and running making your own tunes old school styles with a deck, some vinyl and a recorder. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a local distributor who would give me a sound card to give away, if you know how I could get my hands on one to give away just let me know and I’ll add it to the draw!

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As part of the promotion for the new EP I’m running a competition to win a Vestax Handytrax turntable and a pack of classic vinyl from my collection. All you need to do is register for the Bluevibe studio newsletter (which you can do in the sidebar of the website, just to your right at the top of the page) between October 15th and November 15th and you’ll go in to the draw. It’s that simple….. *** only available to NZ residents***

When you register for the newsletter you’ll receive updates on Bluevibe studios latest tracks and remixes plus access to free mp3′s and audio stems from the EP.

And don’t forget to come and join us down at Rakinos in Auckland on October 15th for the launch party. Everybody who attends also gets a free digital copy of the EP and the chance to hear the amazing Lisa Preston drop some vocal jams on the crowd, nice.

We’ll also be recording the launch party so all you international heads can download a few mixes from the night.

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Bluevibe studio is pleased to announce that the first in a series of new EP’s – This life volume.1 – will be available in New Zealand on October 15th and worldwide by early November.

Come and join us at the EP launch party in Auckland and get a free digital copy of This life volume.1 – Rakino’s October 15th – featuring Lisa Preston live vocal jam with Gene Rivers on the decks. DJ support from Dylan C , Mark Robinson, Bromide dub and Adone .

With influences from Talkin Louds UK soul through the beats of Dilla to the futuristic essence of Spacek and Marc de Clive-Lowe – Bluevibe studio mashes up some beautiful vocal performances from Lisa Preston and Lesley Paton to bring you This life volume.1 , the first in a series of EP releases from the heart and soul of the Bluevibe studio. This life volume.1 also features the keyboard skills of Lewis McCallum on the track High times plus 2 bonus Bluevibe studio remixes previously only available in demo form.

For volume 1. of the series Bluevibe called in remix support spanning genres through dubstep to vintage funk from an eclectic blend of international producers including magOwl (Sweden), Soliloquy (Sweden) and Adi Dick (NZ).

Track list: ***click on the player below each track name to listen***

1. High times featuring Lisa Preston and Lewis McCallum
2. Holdin on featuring Lesley Patton
3. Holdin on – Magowl remix
4. High times – Adi Dick remix
5. Holdin on – Soliloquy remix
6. *Bonus Track* Ambitions end – Skahlah – Bluevibe studio remix
7. *Bonus Track* Wait a minute – The shades – Bluevibe studio remix

I’ll keep you updated with all the latest news on where you’ll be able to get your copy of the EP and I’ll be posting further details on the amazing artists involved and an exclusive look at the artwork as soon as it’s finalised this week.

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It’s a pleasure to finally let you all know that the EP is now back from mastering (thanks to theproof.co.nz) and ready to be let loose on the big wide world. I’ve discussed a few options for the promotion of the EP in previous posts and wanted to ask a few questions to get some feedback on my ideas.

The first thing I’m working on is a prize promotion to accompany the EP consisting of a Vestax Handytrax turntable; Presonus Inspire 1394 sound card and some vinyl and sample CD’s. I’ve got the gear sorted through a deal with local distributors but what I’m trying to figure out is how should I actually “give them away?”

I really wanted to do the promo giveaway because with this kit anybody can get started making tunes, the sound card comes with cubase so you can load up the samples from vinyl or CD and your away. I started on an emu sampler and playing with trackers and really wanted to get people in to making their own tracks. My big question is how do I make the most out of the promotion. I really want to get this EP out to as many fans as possible and also not lose money on the launch. Simple goals which shouldn’t be too hard to achieve with the right promo.

I have a few idea’s but wanted to ask for your input on the promotion. How do you think I should do it?

• Include an entry form with each CD sold? This could only happen if I get a whole bunch of CD’s done which I don’t really have the budget for?
• Some kind of “buy the full digital EP and be in to win” promotion?
• Everybody who comes to the launch party gets a copy of the EP and is entered in to the draw to win the prize pack?
• Buy one of the tracks from the EP from an online distribution company of your choice and go in to the draw…..
• Register for the Bluevibe newsletter and go in the draw…..

After researching EP sales on CD with quite a few retailers it just doesn’t seem worth getting a run of CD’s pressed up, especially when your an unknown artist. This is the main reason for thinking about going digital only with a batch of promo CD’S. I’ll be uploading the tracks from the EP over the next few weeks so check back for some Bluevibe goodness and drop me a mail or leave a comment with your opinion on the prize pack.

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Put together for New Zealand Music Month, Wellington’s Jewel School DJs dig deep to bring you the best of NZ’s homegrown underground music scene. Hosted on the fabulous straightup.com.au – part 1 of the podcast features the first track from the upcoming Bluevibe studio EP.

High Times – Bluevibe Studios Feat. LP and Lewis McCallum

Click here to jump over to straightup.com.au and checkout the goodness.

Just wanted to  give a huge shout to all the amazing local artists featured on both podcasts including:

• Electric Wire Hustle
• Opensouls
• Ota
• Julien Dyne
• Eru Dangerspiel
• Adi Dick
• Lisa Preston

Really want to give a special thanks to Adi Dick, LP and Kerry Adams for all their help and advice plus a shout to the Jewel School for playin the track and supporting an amazing local scene. Nice.

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Finding your fans is something that we all should be doing on a regular basis and one of the simplest ways is through the many social music sites. So here’s a quick outline of my plan for building up my network of fans before I release the EP. This only focuses on the social music sites that I’m currently involved with and doesn’t cover all the aspects of my digital strategy which will also include posting on forums, commenting on blogs etc. If you have any other suggestions for building up my music networks then let me know by adding a comment, any help is always appreciated and I’ll be posting about my experiences with these different strategies as we go along.

So here’s the plan at the moment:

• Myspace – many people think myspace is dead as a way of finding music fans and specifially music buyers but it’s a platform which still needs some attention. I’ve really only been using myspace so far to find collaborators which has been really successful but now I’m going to start building up my network of music fans.
• Last.fm – I have an account but haven’t really been using it so I’m really going to start spending some time getting to know a few of my neighbours and getting involved in the community.
• Facebook – I have my Bluevibe studio page but haven’t really started to push it yet. I need to learn a little more about how to make the most out of the facebook community before getting things going.
• Coopr8 – a great music community out of the UK with some real music lovers on board. This is a niche community site which I’m going to be spending some time on to build up a network for the EP.
• Voeveo – I currently sell my ring tones through Voeveo but they also have a social aspect to the site which I’ll spending more time getting involved with over the coming weeks. I also won a promotion package last month with Voeveo and will be working with the team there to promote the EP.

As you can see focusing on some of the social media sites I’m currently involved with and really making an active contribution to the community is something which I’m hoping will help to build a good level of awareness around the launch of the EP and my music in general. Social music sites should be seen as part of your digital promotion strategy but I actually feel that your music sales should be a secondary consideration behind the huge number of other benefits you will see from being involved in sites like last.fm and Coopr8. Discovering amazing independent artists and supporting the music you love should always be the driving force and not clocking up as many friends as you can find! Call me naive but it’s the real personal interactions which will help the music scene and your career both online and off.

I’ll be posting about the full promotion plan in a few weeks and will be getting a few local experts on board to help me put my plan together. Finding fans for my music in New Zealand will mostly be done through some of the more traditional methods and will consume the larger part of my small budget for this release. I’ll be talking to a few people about how to get really creative with your cash when it comes to promotion and outlining a few of the ideas for you here. If you’d like those posts delivered direct to your inbox then subscribe to my blog and just sit back, relax, listen to some hiphop!

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So it’s actually been a year since I started the tracks for the Bluevibe studio presents EP and they’re finally ready to go off to get mastered. This EP has been a bit of a labour of love for me and while I actually have another 2 EP’s more or less completed I’m really excited to be finally getting these tracks out. It didn’t actually seem like a year until Lisa Preston pointed it out, I guess that’s because I’ve had a baby and started a new job since this project kicked off and the months have just flown by, that’s babies for ya!

In my previous post “Bluevibe studio presents – finishing the tracks for the EP” I outlined 7 stages in the release and I’m now up to stages 3 and 4, funding and mastering. I’m still working on funding options so I’ll run through the mastering this week and get on to funding the EP next time.

My good friend Kerry Adams from The Proof will be taking care of the mastering duties, he’s got a wicked ear and works in quite a few different genres so he seems like the perfect man for the job. The EP consists of 2 main tracks with 2 remixes of each track plus 2 bonus tracks which have previously only been available in demo form. I mix on Genelec monitors and although they are excellent my mixes sometimes don’t translate too well when played on other systems. This makes the mastering stage even more important for me and is the key reason why it’s great to have a a mastering engineer work with each track to make sure they sit together on the EP and translate across different playback systems. I would always recommend you get someone else to master your tracks but if you don’t have any budget and really want to DIY then here’s a list of some great tutorials for you to check out.

Next week funding!!! It’s the big one for me as I’m basically an unknown independent artist doing his first full EP release so I’m going to have to get creative with the cash if I’m going to make the most of it!!

• The secret of the mastering engineer – Bob Katz – mastering manual from the TC electronics finalizer written by Bob Katz, well worth a read.
• Mastering with plugins from Har-bal.com – complete in the box tutorial.
• The elements of home studio audio mastering – nice simple tutorial over at tweakheadz using some of the excellent uad plugins.
• Mastering masters – Mastering article from the excellent Sound on Sound website.

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