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PR professionals have taken a lot of heat lately for the ways they pitch stories to bloggers. Some bloggers do not want to be solicited to by PR companies and their stance is understandable.

However, PR does serve a valuable purpose in business and it is certainly not going to disappear in the new media landscape. In this post, I will describe essential elements of a stellar PR pitch to a blogger.

I received an email today from a PR professional this morning that illustrated 8 essential aspects to include whenever pitching bloggers. Here are the good things this professional remembered that too many journalists and PR folks forget:

1. Short: The total email was 130 words long. Already, this sends the message that she respects my time.
2. Introduction: In one sentence, she explains who she is, who the client is, and why she is writing to me.
3. Description: Again in one sentence, she sums up the product with a minimum of the adjectives that decrease believability (best, great, unique, etc).
4. Seduction: I would have made the mistake of describing at least one feature or benefit. Instead, Christina piques my interest just enough and then leaves me two links from which to garner the specs. I had clicked these links before I even finished reading the email.
5. Help: Another one-sentence reminder that I can contact her with any questions.
6. Thanks: She ends by acknowledging my limited time and thanking me for reading. Even if it sounds heavy handed (which it does not), the blogger is getting his/her ego stroked and that never hurts.
7. Transparency: The postscript is not only transparent by again mentioning the client, but also encourages transparency if I write about it. This mentality builds trust.
8. Tone: The tone is helpful, but reserved (not one exclamation point!).

If your copywriting follows these simple rules, you cannot help but improve your response from bloggers. In the end, it comes down to being respectful, professional, and sounding like a human being. (It turns out people prefer other people rather than PR robots. Who knew?)

DJ Francis writes at http://OnlineMarketerBlog.com - drawing upon over 7 years of experience in strategic communications, online marketing, social media, advertising, and the relationships inherent in a Web 2.0 world.

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Have you lately perhaps noticed tension and uncreative atmosphere in your company? Than it is time to make some changes for better relationship between coworkers, because that is the only way you can get more efficient work in your company, and the most important better results.

Round tested practices tells as that entertainment team approach works the best. Before planning an entertainment event, it is worth to make some team-building plan. The best start is to make a written plan of what you want to achieve through your event, and how you plan to make it happen. Include approximate guest figures and a budget, as these figures can come in handy when choosing venues and supplies.

If you have been to enough office gatherings throughout your working years, you would probably agree that these events are not easy to plan. The problem occurs when you throw coworkers into a social situation such as an office party, no one knows how to act. Most people act differently in front of their peers, supervisors, and subordinates. Add spouses and dates to the picture, mixes different departments, and you have a recipe for boredom at best, and disaster at worst.

It can be a great idea to try new party ideas or themes, helping to make your event memorable to your coworkers. Sophisticated corporate events could even include a party theme. Why not impress colleagues by showing them you are not afraid to have fun? It can be a great way to bond with work colleagues and something to laugh about on Monday morning.

If you are planning a big event, instead of wasting your staff time, the best and easier way is to hire corporate event planners. In general, corporate entertainment relates to private events held by corporations or businesses for their staff, clients, or stakeholders. They can even plan private concerts inviting different artist as well and hand on part of a work on artist management.

So, once you have chosen a theme explain it to your corporate event planner because it is important that they understand your aim. Each event starts with a good theme and well-chosen party favors will extend the good feelings at you party.

Think about hiring entertainers or artist to help break the ice. Like we already mention, artist management agencies will search for appropriate artists for your entertainment and take care of all event organization so you can focus on more important things. The most frequent and most usual choice is live bands or singers. However, it can be DJ, a local choral group or anything else that can cover for those awkward silences that are bound to occur at the beginning of the party.

For truly memorable entertainment you can even think of alternatives that are more interesting like dance group, single dancers, magicians with amazing close up magic for your staff or funny comedians, even lookalikes, who will surprise you with amazing resemblance to the famous celebrities.

The choice is in your hand and after having the theme and chosen artist you and your corporate event planner expert will work better and will put show biz into your biz. But for perfect conclusion of organization you must not forgot about the manner how to invite fellow workers to a party.

Be as generous as your budget allows. Employees have worked hard for you all year and they are looking for a show of appreciation. After the party, you will see that all the work was worth it. What could be better as seeing smiling faces at the working desks?

Birko Kekec is currently using corporate event planners. Looking for corporate entertainment or artist management? Mistika is one of the most reliable artist management agencies.

After the minor scale the next thing we can learn is minor chords. The major chord is made up of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the major scale. There are two ways to make a minor chord, either take the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the minor scale and play them together or you can take a major chord and flatten a couple of notes to make a minor chord. After you learn to play minor chords you can use them either playing your favorite bands music or when you make up your own music. You can use minor chords to make a sad or murky fealing in music. Lets take a look at both ways and then we will be able to make and play minor chords.

Minor Chord construction with the Minor Scale

To use the minor scale to make a minor chord you can simply take the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale and play them all at the same time. Like the major chords we will have to relocate the 3rd note on a different part of the neck to make this possible. This is the same concept and making a major chord from the major scale but instead of the major scale we are using the minor scale.

Major Chord vs. Minor Chord

The big difference between a major and a minor scale is the 3rd scale degree. In a minor chord this tone is flat compared to the major chord. And when comparing scales remember that the 3rd, 6th, and 7th tones are flat in the minor scale when compared to the major scale. These are the only things that are different between the major and minor scales and chords.

Uses

Minor chords are used in a lot of slower music to give a sad and gloomy feeling. Sometimes you can use minor chords in conjunction with major chords to better enforce a key signature. If you just through a bunch of major chords together to make a progression each individual note of each chord may not be in the key you are tying to play in.

As far as technique you can pluck and strum them the same as you do with major chords. Just make sure you have the 3rd scale degree flat and you will be on the right path to playing a minor chord. Remember when your constructing your chords your playing all the right notes otherwise you might be playing the wrong chord.

If you have any questions about minor scales, chords or minor 7ths, check out the forums or message one of the moderators! http://www.guitarlessoninsider.com

Whether you have taken lessons as a young child, or you have only recently begun taking lessons as a young adult, you already know about how very versatile and beautiful the piano sounds. Music written for piano has withstood the test of time, and even an untrained ear can detect the beautiful strains of structure and resonance in a good piano piece. While you might know a lot about the music theory that goes into what makes good piano music, were you also aware that you could compose it as well? Composing piano music is something that many people never get around to, which is a shame as it is fairly straightforward. If you are looking for a great way to put your music down on a paper and to possibly hear other people play it, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Get to know your piano

Don't think that just because you want to compose that you can give the instrument a pass. If you are interested in composing, you should take the time to get a real understanding of the instrument. There is a reason why all the great composers were players themselves; they had a very special understanding of the piano, and if you want to even think about getting competent on this instrument, that is what you have to have too.

2. Enlist your teacher

If you are taking lessons, make sure that your teachers understand that you are in a mode to compose, rather than just play. Before you even find the person you want to teach you, ask the candidates in question whether or not they themselves have ever written music before. You'll find that a surprising amount of teachers are willing to help you figure out exactly what it is you want to do, and you'll find that a good teacher can be more helpful than you have ever dreamed.

3. Work with manual notation

When you are getting started when it comes to putting your music down on paper, you'll find that there are a lot of online programs that can help you out. Before you start getting addicted to them, however, consider using a physical, lined notebook made expressly for this purpose. You'll find that once you have to erase and correct by hand, you'll have a more intrinsic understanding of the way the music will go together.

4. Improve on Your Sightreading

Composing music and sightreading go together. Sightreading helps you become a better composer. Likewise, when you're composing music, your sightreading ability increases. Improved sightreading means you're able to play the notes much more quickly when you're composing.

For more valuable information about piano lessons check out online piano lessons

The remarkable range of electronic possibilities has reached music to incredible levels of melody, tunes and harmony. The devices that make all this possible are versatile and diverse. Devices called Effect Boxes bring about singular effects in guitar sounds.

Octavizer

An input music signal is mixed with a tone that is synthesized. This tone is an octave higher or lower than the input. This is produced what the octavizer does. The octavizer pedals are available as the following models - Green Ringer, Ampeg Scrambler and Tycobrahe Octavia, and many many more.

Phase shifter

This effect created by this device is the sound of a jet flying just above you! It was much sought after in the '70s by piano players and bass guitarists. Electro-Harmonix Small Stone, Dunlop Univibe and BOSS PH-3 are apt examples. These pedals allow you to change the pitch of a musical instrument, usually allowing for a smooth tone.

Pitch Shifter

The pitch shifter enables two musicians to play at different pitches, without altering the tuning of either instrument. Digitech Whammy Pedal and Boss CS-5 are two popular Pitch Shifter Pedal products.

Distortion pedals

This pedal can bring in newer harmonics into a normal electric guitar signal. This will distort the signal and the output is a more varied sound that cannot be accomplished by an electric guitar, just like that. Some of these can produce overdrive. These pedals can either

• Increase amplification greatly
• Reduce amplification to create a harsh sound

Distortion pedals can

• Convert input sound into a very warm output (The Ibanez Tube Screamer )
• Convert the input music into a harsh, abrupt output (The Gibson Maestro Fuzz is an example of such a fuzz box)
• Convert input to an overdriven and harsh output (The BOSS DS-1 of Roland Corporation creates this effect)
• Sound is copied and then transmitted as output, after a delay. The sound can be output as a single or multiple repetitions
• The latter sounds like an echo (BOSS DD-6 of Roland Corporation, Pod2.0 of Line 6, and ToadWorks Redux are some examples of delay pedals)
• Produce a little bit of upper octave harmonics (the Roland Bee Baa of Roland Corporation)

Chorus If the delay time is cycled, very short and varied, the ensuing echo is not clear or distinct. Instead, a swirling sound is heard. . If it sounds like many instruments played simultaneously, then it is called a "chorus" effect. Examples of the chorus effect pedals are Ibanez CF-7 of the Ibanez Company and BOSS CE-1 of Roland Corporation)


Wah-Wah This pedal does not allow all the incoming frequency to pass. By operating the pedal back and forth you can allow only the higher frequency notes or only the lower frequency notes to pass through.

The effect thus created makes you think you can hera a person saying "wow". In the 1960s Wah-Wah effect and fuzz box effect were combined to create a "fuzz-wah" effect! Some of the available brands of Wah-Wah pedals are Dunlop Cry Baby and Vox Wah-Wah.

Compressor

The device is more of an automatic volume control. When input sound increases in volume, the compressor reflexively decreases the output volume . And for the reverse effect, the volume of the output is increased when the music played decreases in loudness.

The uniform volume level maintained gives the impression of a greater sustain effect for the guitar . A compressor can help vary other effects like distortion. Some popular brands of Compressor Pedals are ToadWorks Mr.Squishy, BOSS CS-3, and MXR Dynacomp.

Multi Effect Pedals

These pedals allow you to have a number of effects by using one setting. Some multi effect pedals have a provision for the player creating some effects and and combining them with those available within the pedal.

The pedal may have a provision programming a variety of effects and storing them separately on different pedals. (Just like you can define user keys on the computer keypad). While playing, you can choose from a desired range of effects for creating a the sound effect you want exactly, whenevr you want!

Because of the complexity of handling them, the muti effect pedals are generally used seasoned and professional guitarists rather than the novice player. Available brands of this device are Digitech RP200A, Line 6 POD XT Live and Boss ME-50.

A good number guitarists use effect boxes to create distinctive music. Prominent among them are David Gilmour, Daniel Ash, Brian May, Thurston Moore, and Steve Jones.

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There are so many different perks to living in New York City : the culture, the restaurants, the education and of course, the music. Music is everywhere, and not just one type, but all genres. No matter what type of music you like, you can find it in the city and in a number of different settings.

If you are looking to spend a night on the town and hear some great music, that is not a problem in New York. There are plenty of bars, clubs, and lounges throughout the city that feature live musicians. Try going downtown to the Knitting Factory where you'll find indie-rock bands, jazz groups, and plenty of local bands on the rise. For a different type of music, check out the BB King Blues Club in Times Square. Of course, those are just two examples. There are music bars all over the Big Apple.

There are always big name concerts in NYC, and there are plenty of venues to host them. Concerts are always held in venues such as Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center, and Radio City Music Hall. Each year these halls, as well as many others, host a number of different concerts. Check out their schedules to see if anything interests you.

Less-formal concerts can also be found all over. On a nice day, take a walk through Central Park or Washington Square Park, and you are bound to find someone singing or playing an instrument. You can even find music when you are riding the subway. Musicians are always set up in the subway stations. Sometimes these little concerts are the best ones.

As much as New York is a great place to enjoy music, it is also a great place to learn music. There are a number of music schools in NYC, including some of the most prestigious in the world. With all the great schools and the endless opportunities, music students should want to be nowhere else.

For a less formal music education, spend a day at one of the Big Apple's many museums that feature musical displays. There is the Museum of Television and Radio and the Dia Center for the Arts to name a few.

A completely different way to celebrate music in NYC is to visit the John Lennon Memorial in Central Park. This memorial, known as Strawberry Fields, is 2.5 acres landscaped in memory of John Lennon. The memorial is a mosaic with the word, "Imagine" in the middle and a peace sign made of flowers. It is located on Central Park West at West 72nd Street directly across from where John Lennon lived and was murdered.

No matter what type of music you chose to listen to, you can find it in New York City. No matter how you chose to enjoy your music, you can find it in New York City. Manhattan is full of music, and that is just one of the many benefits to being here.

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"Rap music new release" is frequently searched on the Net nowadays. With all our latest gadgets like iPod, iPhone and Zune player, we continuously crave for new music, for latest albums.

Of course, one way to feed our music players is to rip off rap music new release CDs. But in order to do that you first need to buy all the latest CDs, which may turn to be a way too costly. Besides, many licensed CDs are protected from copying, meaning you will not have a chance to transfer the soundtracks to your portable music player.

Rap music new releases can be found on large music websites like Yahoo Music, Apple's iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon, but all these sites sell separate songs and entire albums for the price pretty much close to that of an offline licensed music store. The only advantage is that you do not need to go anywhere to buy a CD - you can download the songs of your choice and play them almost instantly.

You might have heard about sites for free downloads and are wondering if they are the right place to get rap music new releases. Let us make it very clear: legitimate free music sites cannot put up the latest hits for download. They simply have no right to do that. In case any site offers the latest music albums for free downloading, it does so illegally. There are no both ways about downloading new releases.

What to do then? Buy each song for $1? Or keep a monthly subscription only to update your collection with a couple of worthy tracks each month (and, by the way, when you terminate the subscription, you have to pay extra, unless you want to lose all your downloaded songs)?

Luckily, there is an awesome alternative, which combines most of the prerogatives of expensive sites with a very low price anybody can afford. Sites for unlimited music downloads are the right places to find all rap music new releases and download them at one single price. Yes, you got it right - the fee is taken only once, and after you are registered with the site, there are no charges per download or any software use.

Learn more about the amazing option and get links to the best online resources for cheap downloads. My blog has tons of useful information on rap music new releases as well as downloading and safety tips.

Find out about hot and limited offers for unlimited music downloads.

This months tip deals with micing kick drums.

You wouldn't believe how many people ask me about micing their kick drums. It leads me to believe people really don't know how to.

-ON SOAPBOX-

It became so fashionable in the mid-90's through the early 2000's to use MIDI or sampled dum sounds in productions that many people now have no idea how to record a "real" drum when the "band" or "live" sound came back in.

-OFF SOAPBOX-

So, first things first. You need to make sure the actual sound source, in this case the drum, sounds as good as it can sound. You might have to "sell" the idea to the drummer that just because his drum set sounds or works a certain way in a live setting, that might, (probably) won't sound good in the studio.

One of the initial assessments you must make is determining the value of the drum. This isn't a precise science and if you are not a drummer, this probably won't be common knowledge. But it is pretty easy to learn. The next time you are in your local music store drooling over the latest TC Electronics piece, work your way over to the drum department. Pay close attention to the difference in the shells between the inexpensive sets (say $1000 or less) and the more expensive sets (those over $1000). If the shell is pure wood, like maple or birch, it typically needs less muffling in the recording process. If the shell is some type of wood or fiberglass wrap, as commonly found on less expensive kits, they normally require more muffling for recording purposes.

Less muffling usually means keeping the front (non-beater) head on. This way, the drum can vibrate fully and resonate completely. The ringing may sound like too much, but most of the ring will be lost in the mix. Again, this is a different mindset than live. In a live situation, you would want to control the ring as much as possible to avoid feedback. If you start recording and the drum is still ringing too much for your taste, start muffling a little bit at a time. A thin blanket laid inside the drum will usually do the trick.

With less expensive drums that need more muffling, take the front head completely off or at least make sure that there is a good size mic hole cut into the head. Muffle with pillows and/or blankets.
There are beater, or back, heads that come pre-muffled. If possible, use a head that is not muffled. These muffled heads work great in a live setting but do not give you as much control in the studio. Add or take away muffling as needed. Keep this in mind, though, although much of the ringing will still be lost in the mix, the tone that an inexpensive shell puts out is not nearly as "sweet" as a better shell. It is usually in your best interest as an engineer to cut as much of this ring without losing all of the tone.

The second aspect of micing a kick drum is the mic itself. Usually, a dynamic mic with the largest diaphragm you can find is the best bet. My all-time favorite mic for kick drums is the EV RE20. This mic is fairly expensive for a dynamic mic, though, and many home studios do not have them in their mic aresenal. The AKG D112 is a good choice. Sennheiser has its E series that is pretty good. If all else fails, you can always use a Shure SM57. You need a couple of these in your studio anyway.

The last part of micing your kick drum is the mic placement. A few inches one way or another can make or break your recording, so experiment, experiment, experiment! As a general rule, the more muffled your drum is the deeper inside the drum you want to place your mic. Start with the mic flush with the front head with the mic facing the beater and keep moving the mic further and further into the drum until you get the perfect balance between tone and the "slap" or "click" of the beater.

Here are some tricks that I have personally used with good results:

- to get more "click" or beater sound

Switch beater from cloth to wood. These can be bought at your local music store.

On top of pillows or blankets, sit a cinder block. It gave me a "punchier" sound.

Use a seperate mic in back of the kick drum by the drummer's foot facing the beater.
- not enough low end

Set a chair a few feet in front of kick drum and drape a heavy blanket from the drum to the chair. (You may need to use a bit of duct tape to get the blanket to stay on the drum.) Set the mic under the chair facing the kick drum. This tends to focus the low end and let it develop a bit more before it reaches the mic.

Whew! That's alot of work, huh? Again, don't be afraid to experiment.

Philip Langlais is the founder of iKnowAudio.com, the site for affordable, practical online audio production training. We specialize in teaching you the art of digital recording, mixing, editing, mastering, how to use compressors, eq's, reverbs, etc. Visit us at http://www.iknowaudio.com.

You must build up your collection of acoustic guitar music. Lessons, songs and study programs. You need them all. I even recommend backing tracks to play through. After teaching guitar for 20 years, I have learned that people who have good "libraries" become the better players. If you just search around the internet for free stuff, you are only going to get so far. Sure there are plenty of free things on the internet, but if you want to step it up and rise above the other players, you will need to become a little more serious.

Invest in some good books. You will have them for your whole life. You don't have to finish every book right away. Learn something, practice it then learn something else. Don't just throw out your guitar magazines. (Well recycle them) Keep them or at least take out the sheet music and lessons. The sheet music you find in the magazines is better than the ones you get from the free tab sites. Yeah these sites have some good stuff, but they also have some really really bad stuff.

Check out local bookstores, they have good acoustic guitar music. You don't want to skip something just because you have to pay for it. Visit the Berklee Online Bookstore. If you live close enough, just go there. It's awesome. They have a ton of stuff.

Invest in a good acoustic guitar music program. Something that goes over strum patterns, chords, scales and playing with other people. Don't just grab anything; get something that's really been proven to be good. The Hal Leonard Signature Licks stuff is fantastic. I use it all the time in my teaching. Jamorama is an unbelievable program. There is so much material for a teacher/student. Acoustic Guitar Magazine and FlatPicking Guitar magazine are both great resources too. I personally prefer Flatpicking Guitar Magazine because it's got more obscure players.

But whatever acoustic guitar music you are into, there are resources for you, but you got to take a little action and find it out. Spend a few bucks and load up your library with stuff to practice. Your acoustic guitar music is too important to skip this.

Want to know even more about playing acoustic guitar and easy ways to speed up your learning? Visit my site below.

http://FreeAcousticGuitarLessons.wordpress.com

Home recording has come a long way in the last few decades. Many people do not realize that much of what they hear on T.V. and in commercials is electric.

Many people still have a negative connotation about how electric music sounds. They think that it must always have a cheesy sound.

Part of this stigma is the confusion over midi. and wav. sound files. Simply put, midi is a signal that is sent to a sound card and triggers a note on a preset instrument sound. Therefore, the sound you get from a midi. sound file will only be as good as the sound card you are using.

Even if you record a midi file with a good sound card, if someone else plays it back using an inferior sound card, the result will be inferior sounds.

Now there are very excellent sound cards available and also software synthesizers. The thing to do is to convert your midi. file to wav. The way to do this is to play your midi file through the desired sound card and record it at the same time, using the recording application that comes with your sound card.

For windows PC, I like the SoundBlaster cards, such as the Sound Blaster 16 PCI 4.1

There are many excellent software programs for recording on windows PCs. One I like in particular is Cakewalks Plasma recording program. You can record multiple tracks, just like a professional studio. Plasma has software synthesizers and will also mix down your midi tracks to wav.

Once you have converted your midi to wav., it is a simple matter to burn it to CD. You will want to use the 44100hz setting in the audio tools for this.

To create midi tracks, you can put the musical notes on a staff with the mouse, if you know music theory, or you can connect an electric keyboard to your PC and play the tracks, setting each track with the sound of the desired instrument.

Of course, these programs also allow you to record a wav. track(s) directly, singing or playing an instrument into a microphone. Recording wav. Requires a lot of memory and a fast PC, but most new PCs are more than up to the task.

If you've ever had a song you wished you could record, you might want to check-out these reasonably priced software programs. It's a whole lot of fun!

If you have any questions about this topic, drop me an Email at dizzyobrian@excite.com

Brian Beshore
http://www.dizzyobrian.com

Music is the language of the soul, according to the old saying. It can speak to you and evoke certain feelings and emotions. Nearly everybody likes music of one type or another and many others want to learn to play an instrument, such as the guitar.

Playing the guitar is a great way to express your feelings and sentiments. It is also a way of expressing your artistic skill and entertaining yourself and others. That is why millions of people want to learn to play the guitar or improve their playing ability.

When someone plays the guitar, other people assume they have either had professional lessons or taught themselves. Whichever way you go about learning, it is important to use the right techniques to play the guitar properly rather than develop any bad habits which might be hard to get rid of later on.

One great way of learning to play the guitar is to use some simple guitar songs. This makes it easier to understand the tablatures and gets you more used to playing. If you can "sight read" a particular song, it will be easier to learn how to play the guitar. This all depends on your musical experience.

Some experts think guitarists can sing along with songs and then learn it on the guitar as they go. An interest in the type of music you want to play is also a great help because you will be more enthusiastic about it all.

Using easy guitar songs in order to learn how to play the guitar helps the beginner to learn the rhythm and pace of the song. If you listen to the song first or, better still, pick something you already know, you will have a good idea of how it is supposed to sound. With this knowledge, you can practice getting the note pattern and tempo right.

If you use simple guitar songs to teach yourself to play, you will help to tune your ear for music. When you know how to listen well, you will be able to know if you are playing the right note or if you have made a mistake. You will also know if your notes are slightly off key and if your guitar needs to be tuned up.

Using these easy guitar songs can make a huge difference in your ability to learn the guitar. It is, of course, much more difficult to learn the instrument if you are not able to have easy tools such as easy songs and a guitar. And remember - take your time because practice makes perfect!

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.