CrazyBrave Blog

TuneCore Founder/CEO Jeff Price speaks with the Academy Award-winning composer Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails Founder and frontman and TuneCore Artist) about composing from a visual place, connecting with a film’s characters, and more.  This is a great article for any songwriter to read about his process. Check it out! Also, Tunecore is an independent artist’s digital dream. Visit here to see what they can do for you.

Living CrazyBrave Living CrazyBrave is a philosophy, a strategy and an action. It’s a way of living that addresses this weird limbo we creative types often find ourselves in. The concept of living CrazyBrave is about getting out of your own way, forging outward with a renewed sense of energy and investing in the gifts and insights that come naturally to you. It’s about letting go so you can be more of yourself, so you can be happier, less burdened and more courageous in your life. Living CrazyBrave is about standing up in your art and falling in love with yourself again. Some may call us Crazy and some may even call us Brave. If your life is a messy mountain and the blood in your veins ring with hope and dreamlike visions, then …

I’m a sensitive. Most creative people are. If you write, sing, paint or create new things in your surroundings, you probably are very good at pulling information in through all of your senses. I often hear songwriters and vocalists acknowledge that this “curse” of feeling everything around them is also the Heart of Their Art. I feel the cold in the air during the holidays and the landscape is dotted not so much with sugar plum fairies, but with sadness and hopelessness. For many, this has been a tough year and the season brings a mixed bag of emotion marred by tight malls and even tighter wallets. If you sing, the opportunities to heal, uplift and encourage are endless during the holiday season. The planet needs healing, the continents need healing, and our families …

Since our bodies are our instruments, it only makes sense that wear and tear on our bodies will eventually be reflected in our voice and in our singing ability. Late nights, junk food, and too little exercise (or sometimes too much exercise!) can all be detrimental to the singer. I trained with a wonderful vocal coach in the past who told me that after years of teaching, she could tell by a student’s voice how many hours of sleep they had had the night before. And you may have heard the saying “The tape never lies…” speaking about recording technique. If you are tired before a performance, or a recording, don’t be surprised if fatigue is evident on your recordings or in your stamina, power, and range in performance. Stress, physical or emotional, also …

When a guitarist, or a saxophonist, or any type of musician, is serious about his or her craft, you’ll notice a certain reverence towards their instrument: tuning, re-stringing, oiling, polishing, and consciousness of protecting it from harm. For singers, our body is our instrument, yet we don’t always give our instrument the care we should. We scream at a loud concert, we smoke, we drink, we don’t exercise, and we eat badly, not to mention that studies have shown that most Americans don’t get enough sleep. (For more on “Sleep Debt”, check out: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0224_050224_sleep.html ) Let’s start with how we use our voices in day to day life: The word to remember is SUPPORT. If you’re at a concert, a baseball game, or at a loud party, chances are you’re yelling, screaming, or at …

You’re about to go into the studio to record vocals.  You’ve spent months writing music for this moment, or maybe you are recording vocals over your favorite Karaoke track.  Whatever the case, you want to do a great job and your final product to be the best. Getting a good vocal sound isn’t rocket science – but it does involve some preparation. 1. Hire a vocal coach or teacher: The vocal line is invariably the focal point of a song, so it has to be good; and because the natural human voice is the sound with which we are most familiar, any flaws in a vocal recording are immediately evident. I strongly advise you to invest some money, and find a good vocal coach who can help you during the preparation process. If you’ve …