Articles
With the election behind us, we can all take a deep breath and expect stability now, right? Well, it would be an understatement at the very least to say “maybe not.” As expected, the Corona virus is surging again, we’re still arguing about whether people should be wearing masks during a global pandemic, the economy is preparing for more lockdowns, and the current president has not conceded to the president elect. It’s going to be a long couple of months, for sure.
Continue reading "What Now?"
We have entered the age of the short-term business plan. Of course, long-term planning is still an important aspect of your over-all business strategy and trajectory. However, survival reflexes and immediate reactionary responses have moved front-and-center. Before we can worry about the future, we need a way to get past the present. Right now, it’s all about problem solving.
Continue reading "The Age of the Short-Term Business Plan"
I have heard many people give this advice to others; “write a blog, get out there, fill it with keywords, and be more visible.” I’m sure that advice was offered with the best of intentions, but that kind of thinking has led to an onslaught of empty business blogs seemingly targeted to search engine bots instead of a human target audience. Let’s kill those old blogs off, starting now.
Continue reading "The Death of The Blog"
For many entrepreneurs, the concept of working overtime is a contradiction of terms. Some of us are seemingly always working. When 5:00 PM rolls around, we’re just getting started. If you’re a sole proprietor, chances are you’ve experienced this on a regular basis. We convince ourselves there’s always something to do and it’s always urgent. The problem is productivity.
Continue reading "Under the Spell of Overtime"
I run a think-tank for entrepreneurs called Thinking Out Loud. We often discuss pressing topics including business development, marketing, creativity, and current events. Of course, the recent months have kept us busy interpreting a changing world and the resulting challenges for businesses and consumers. We recently discussed the concept of missteps and failures. We’ve all been there. - and more times than not. But have you considered how important these missteps are to our overall trajectory? Is there an art to failing?
Continue reading "The Art of Failure"
Let’s establish at least one thing from the get-go; if you’ve decided to go through the trouble of producing a voiceover - the spoken message is very important to you. So the best quality possible is a given. There’s a lot that goes into creating a voiceover, including understanding your target audience’s needs, crafting the right message, hiring the right talent, and making good production decisions. For the purpose of this article, I’ll be mostly discussing recording and production.
Continue reading "Producing Voiceovers – You’re Coming in Loud and Clear"
We love overdrive, that gentle push over the line into a round and harmonically rich distortion. Some of the best sounds in recorded music have utilized it. But have you ever wondered why applying overdrive sometimes sounds glorious, and other times resembles a muddy grainy mess? The culprit might be low frequencies.
Continue reading "Overdrive – The Low-down on Low-end"
These are exciting times for those of us with project studios. The tools at our disposal are simply astonishing - powerful DAWs, virtual instruments, and just about any audio processing effect you can imagine. Not too many years ago, maintaining a collection of your dream gear required patience, a small fortune, and a large warehouse. Today, it all fits in your computer. Having access to so many of these tools allows project studios the ability control all aspects of the recording and production process, including tracking, mixing, and mastering. Today, let’s focus a bit on audio mastering.
Continue reading "The Art of Audio Mastering"
The language of business is often misunderstood and misused. We can get caught up in our own orbit - and the language of our brands can reflect that. In order to effectively connect with our target audiences, we need to convince them we understand what their focus is and what their challenges are. Only from that standpoint are we able have their ear when it comes to offering solutions. We can get there by speaking their language.
It’s been another week of crisis. But this time it’s a different disease . . . and one that’s been plaguing our country for a very long time. Racism.
Continue reading "A Call to Action"