mistrustmusic's posterous http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com Most recent posts at mistrustmusic's posterous posterous.com Sun, 03 May 2009 21:39:54 -0700 Rhythm Sound and Movement finally out http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/rhythm-sound-and-movement-finally-out http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/rhythm-sound-and-movement-finally-out A while ago I mentioned the remix I did for New Zealand band, Pitch Black. I'm proud to announce that the remix, entitled "Rude Mechanicals (mistrust's ambiotik remix)"  is out now in New Zealand, and will be released worldwide over the next few weeks.... Here's part of the official press release from Pitch Black's label: "we're proud to announce the imminent release of Rhythm, Sound And Music, a collection of remixes of tracks from Rude Mechanicals. Some of our favourite from artists around the world have stepped up to the challenge of tweaking the originals: Bluetech, International Observer, Simon Flower, Patch, Kerretta, Friends Electric and many more (including England's mistrust!). The full track listing is below. You can check out the tunes in full at last.fm or most of them are also up on Pitch Black's myspace. (The mistrust remix is on my own myspace player here - myspace.com/mistrust) You can either buy the 14-track CD from one of the online stores below, or if you are one of those thoroughly modern interweb peeps who prefers a download, you can get the surgically-enhanced 20-track ultra augmented bumper edition!! To celebrate the new release, we are heading across to Australia in June for some shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and then swiftly over to the West Coast of the USA for a handful more. All these dates are below, we'd love to see ya! We will also be heading to the UK and Europe in October, so keep an eye out for us and we'll keep you updated closer to the time. Enjoy the tuneage, we look forward to seeing you on the dancefloor sometime soon!" Release Dates NZ - May 4th in stores, April 27th online AUS - May 30th in stores, May 12th online USA - May 16th in stores, May 12th online UK/EU - May 26th in stores, May 12th online Online Stores: NZ - available from Amplifier  AUS - available from Vitamin  USA - available from CD Baby  UK - available from Dubmission Records  EU - available from Dubmission Records  Special downloads: NZ - 20 track version available from Ampilfier  USA - 20 track version available from iTunes Track Listing:
1. 1000 Mile Drift - International Observer 2. Transient Transmissions - Deep Fried Dub 3. Rude Mechanicals - Mistrust 4. Bird Soul - Fold vs Horace 5. Bird Soul - Subtone 6. Sonic Colonic - Patch 7. South of the Line - Bluetech 8. Harmonia - Neon Stereo 9. Please Leave Quietly - Johnny Hooves 10. Bird Soul - Kerretta 11. 1000 Mile Drift - Simon Flower 12. Harmonia - Rob 13. Fragile Ladders - Groove Yantra 14. Please Leave Quietly - Friends Electric

Spread the word! This is the first time I've had a "proper" release on a CD!!!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:35:17 -0700 Zen and the art of music licensing http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/zen-and-the-art-of-music-licensing http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/zen-and-the-art-of-music-licensing Since I licensed my tracks out to O'Neill Europe for the Deep Blue Open dvd, I've had a lot of people asking for some advice on how to get their music into film, tv etc. Obviously, I'm no expert, and I had a few people give me some pointers before I signed up with O'Neill, but here are some tips from me from what I've learned so far (but don't blame me if this method doesn't work!!!) I was approached by a licensing company for them to use my tracks on an O'Neill surfing dvd and got some info from them about how to get my stuff into more films, etc and was advised to get a showreel together to prove to film makers and post-production people that my music fits in with the sort of thing they're looking for. One of the best ways to do that is to offer some of your tracks for low/no fee to build up a portfolio. Have a look at some of these for more info: http://www.mandy.com It's a site for film jobs - go to the Production Jobs section and check look through all the locations, eg Europe, then the Post-Production links. There's both paid and lo/no income jobs. http://www.ukscreen.com There's a forum on the site which lists people looking for music for films, mainly lo/no fee http://www.labelsound.com They'll make all your tracks available for film and tv licensing (for a small fee). http://niceup.com/misc/internet_music_licensing An excellent article about how to get into the film music industry. Google for things like music licensing companies, "indie movies", "music wanted" stuff like that. Check out indie movie forums - there's always indie film makers looking for cheap music and it gets you some footage for your showreel. Contact your local college or uni if they have a film or media school. Have a look on the unsigned band web forum - http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/forum-37.html for people advertising for music. There's always ads on there. There's a film makers forum on Myspace.com, too. Music licensing can be a bit of a closed shop to unsigned artists if film producers have got a massive music budget. They get the best composers and pay a fortune to people like Sony and BMG for tracks. If the budget isn't so big they want unsigned people like me and you. Usually for lo/no fee. Oh, and it looks good on your music CV if you've got film credits, whatever they are. It's definitely worth going down the lo/no fee route, just to get known. I'll pm you with a list of some of the other sites I've been on for info. Make sure, though, that you get a proper contract. Well - 2 in fact - a Master Use and a Synchronisation contract. BTW when you're dealing with these sort of people - licensing, post-production, etc., be prepared for a very long wait. The company I dealt with over the dvd was actually liaising with about 5 or 6 other companies, so I was the last to know anything. If the bloke said there's potential, try your music out on the sites I mentioned. Oh, and tell people you're a film composer, and say so on your website. You never know - you might get your music used and get paid a lot of money for it. This article first appeared on my Blogger pages in November 2005. Since the, I've learned a lot more.... I've now discovered music libraries and production music....more information about how to get into this is at the MCPS website, where you can get a list of the 80 or so libraries in the UK. I've had quite a few more opportunities............. - Deep Blue Open has been on TV around world and now on O'Neill TV. Clips of this are doing well on Youtube. Click here to have a look.... - Tracks on another O'Neill DVD and surfer biography film - Requests from various indie/student film makers for use of my music - I was confident enough to say "no" because the deals weren't right. If I hadn't done the O'Neill thing, I wouldn't know about my rights, etc. - Tracks put forward by licensing company for use in Hollyoaks (UK TV show) - Signed non-exclusive deal with major UK music library for licensing my tracks to TV, film, advertisements etc. The tracks are now registered with MCPS-PRS. - Requests from other music libraries to work with them. Oh, and I've actually made some money from all this. Check out some of my film music at my musicfreedom site. Disclaimer: the opinions and advice given are just that: opinion. They do not constitute a contract between you and the companies mentioned, nor are they intended as adverts for those listed. Don't sue me if you don't get signed!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
Wed, 23 May 2007 15:09:57 -0700 Everything's gone green again http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-green-again http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-green-again I'm something of a perfectionist when it comes to something looking right, and usually I get this nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me that something doesn't look as good as it should. That explains why I've changed the look of this blog about 5 times in the last few weeks. I've reused the old "green" header and adopted a more plain-looking body. Hopefully I'll be satisfied now and not want to change it again. I've been trying to work out what to write here because there's just been so much going on at home, work, and with the music. When I've got everything straight in my head, I'll post more info here. Other things: I've been helping Paul with some more tunes. He's finally got back into music-making, so he's been asking for some help. Expect more of his stuff on myspace soon.  Also,  I came across a great Wordpress blog called Svartling.  It's a comprehensive list of loads of new VST plugins and music-making software. Highly recommended!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
Wed, 16 May 2007 11:52:37 -0700 Life, the Universe, and my alter-ego http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/life-the-universe-and-my-alter-ego http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/life-the-universe-and-my-alter-ego In fact, I seem to have forgotten who I am. Or at least forgotten that I've got a musical alter-ego who likes making tunes and whose music some people like listening to. There's been so much going on at home and work that it's been impossible to even think about making music recently. Me and Mrs mistrust have been occupied with Paul almost every waking hour (and those times we should be asleep), so there's been no time to think of other things. As you may have read in his blog, Paul has PDD-NOS and has become more and more anxious and socially reclusive over the last few months. Helping him to make some tunes and sorting out the production for him was an excuse for me to get using the music software, but now he doesn't seem interested in creating some of his own tracks and getting some plays. Mrs m and I spend most of the evenings sorting out his needs and then desperately needing a rest when he goes to watch a dvd, or at least checking emails, forums etc.  Last evening I took him to the Trafford Centre (big shopping mall) almost straight after work and got home at 9.30pm, all because we'd promised him a reward for going to the child psychology day unit and seeing the registrar. The result was Gran Turismo 4 for PS2. Come on Paul, get making music again and writing your blog.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
Thu, 03 May 2007 11:11:55 -0700 All the world's an MP3 stage http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/all-the-worlds-an-mp3-stage http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/all-the-worlds-an-mp3-stage I've been thinking about the number of music hosting sites and MP3 directories that I have my music on. Most of them are free-to-download places where people can just have my tracks for nothing. I started off in late 2004 by choosing just one site - Electromancer.com, which is now no more, just because I lacked confidence about my music and it seemed like a good place to start when I'd never even considered putting my music out to the public. In fact, even though Electromancer closed down last year, a lot of the artists are still active on the forums of another site, Nervejam, and are still as friendly and supportive as ever. I got a bit more confident after getting some great reviews, thinking that more people might give me a listen, so I followed links and recommendations about other hosting sites, signed up to 2 or 3, and waited for the plays to roll in. Then I started chasing more sites and more plays, until I had tracks on about 1o or 15 sites. I've now lost track (and usernames/passwords) of most of those sites, and still get the occasional email from them, saying someone has posted a comment. A quick check on google as to which sites I'm on offers up 94 links for "mistrust music site" and 30 for "never alone mistrust" (my first track from 2004). I still see the same old faces on all these hosting sites, desperately looking for more plays, trading reviews, asking if the rolloff should be at 40Hz or 20, continually producing new tracks in the hope of what? Getting signed by an independent label? How many of them trawl the unsigned band pages looking for new talent?  I don't mean any disrespect to all these unsigned artists, if that's what they're happy doing. It's just that I have got the time any more to keep making tracks, posting reviews, etc. I've thought about uploading my music to loads of other MP3 hosts, especially the ones that have been recommended by music magazines, just to get a few more people interested, by right now, what's the point? I've got a blog, a myspace profile, and somewhere to host a few tracks. I've been featured on a local radio show and played by a few DJs. That's probably all I need. I've signed a non-exclusive deal with a music library, so it's not a bad life. Here's some homework you, dear reader: How many websites am I listed on for "mistrust mp3" at google? Answers in the comments box, please! Don't forget to listen to some of my tracks... 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:48:05 -0700 Looking for music blogs http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/looking-for-music-blogs http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/looking-for-music-blogs I can't seem to find many musicians who are blogging. Maybe everyone's too busy making music or playing live to keep a diary or blog of what they're upto. What's the point in blogging anyway, you may say. If you're a musician, unsigned or not, please post a link to your blog and I'll have a read and see what you're upto. I'll even add you the my "recommended" list. I know that Moby blogs on his myspace page, that's about it as far as I know. I blog so that I can a) promote my own music to people who wouldn't normally listen to it; b) let my "fans" and other listeners know what I'm upto with my music; c) help other unsigned musicians get some extra exposure. If you're not blogging or using Web 2.0 tools and all the latest social networking sites, you're missing out on a lot of exposure. Even my stepson has a blog about his music. So, as I said, please let me know if you've got a blog, or if you know of any musical bloggers out there. In the meantime, here's one of my new tracks for you to download for free.... mistrust: Say your name (glitchmix)...... [audio http://moses.last.fm/download/100909046/Say%2Byour%2Bname%2528glitchmix%2529.mp3]

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:25:04 -0700 Podcasting - well sort of http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/podcasting-well-sort-of http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/podcasting-well-sort-of
Media_httpsmistrustfi_qjlgi
I came across a website called Talkr that claims to let you listen to text-only blogs on your iPod and other mp3 players. The idea looks great for someone like me who wants to have a podcast but hasn't got time to record one. All you do is add your blog's RSS feed to their site, and a permanent link to your blog post, and Talkr will create an MP3 of what you wrote in your post. I tried it on my last post here, and although I was disappointed by the automated female voice, it's really quite good. I can see it being quite useful for people who want to listen to what I've got to say another time, rather than read it in one go. Also, visually-impaired visitors may like it. More features will be available soon! Find out more at Talkr.com or visit the Talkr blog. Try it for yourself and....
Listen to this article

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:13:21 -0700 Paul can't open up to people but he can talk to his blog http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/paul-cant-open-up-to-people-but-he-can-talk-t http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/paul-cant-open-up-to-people-but-he-can-talk-t
Should this blog be entirely about music? Comments please! I just wanted to put in a quick word about Paul's blog. Paul Harrison is my stepson, who happens to have PDD-NOS, a condition similar to autism and asperger's syndrome. He's very withdrawn and hates having to meet new people, as it makes him anxious and can't cope. He can't get into school at the moment as his stress levels go through the roof whenever he thinks of being in class - he's 14 y.o. and you just try making him go! The whole thing makes him more anxious and less confident. His school agreed to send him work home, which is a start... We've had major problems getting him to communicate his feelings and anxieties, and won't go to see the pyschologist he's under at the moment, so me and his mum have to keep diaries and try to tell the psych what we think Paul is thinking. He just can't open up to people. Until he discovered I was writing a blog. Now he's blogging all the time. At first it was only to tell people about his music on myspace. Then he posted something about PDD-NOS, I helped him tag it, and he started to get loads of hits and a few comments about how he wasn't alone in the ASD world. People from around the world were writing to him. He's now added more posts, writing about his days at home, and life in general, and he's really opened up in writing how he feels, and actually puts across his anxieties. Whether he's found a way to get more hits than me (he's very competitive) or whether he genuinely thinks he can write down how he feels, I'm not sure. Oh, and if you want to read about music, I've just been signed by a major music library in the UK. Some of the tracks are on musicfreedom.com, so have a listen while you post a comment on here!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:21:46 -0700 Breaking the spell http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/breaking-the-spell http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/breaking-the-spell
Media_httpmistrustfil_hbbjb
I'm nervous and excited at the same time. So much stuff going on at home to keep me occupied and  frazzled and to keep me awake at night. If you've read my stepson's blog, you'll know more. Now I've got something else on my mind. Some major news - big, big stuff - about my music. Can't say much at the moment. Am I superstitious or have mildly autistic tendencies and think that if I let the cat out of the bag, it will somehow not happen. If I spell it out, does it count as telling all? Maybe if I say it backwards? Or cross my fingers? Anyway, here goes. A music library in the UK that works with the likes of Orange and Virgin want to add some of my tracks to their roster.  I've submitted 10 tracks. They want to use 7 or 8. There. I said it.  I get nervous and excited at the thought of having my music on TV. It's like the time my tracks were used by O'Neill Europe on their Deep Blue Open 2005 promo film and I found out it was being shown on Channel 4 in the UK and in 25 other countries around the world. Plus, in all the O'Neill shops. This time, if it gets used, I'll get paid and the exposure will be massive. Oh, and the tracks will be registered with MCPS.  I'm just an unsigned, bedroom musician. I'm allowed to get nervous. If anyone reading this has any experience of working with a music library, please leave a comment tell me how you got on.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>