Picture This …
Monday, July 6th, 2009
You’ve noticed that, with every post, I always try to include a pic or two here in the Notebook. It sorta gives the blog a little more color, and you’ll know what I’m gonna be jawjackin’ about.
But, sometimes, those pics can be so humongous that I have to re-size ‘em to fit the post size.
Awww, I know you may have the same problem … and that’s why I wanna share this free app with ya. Y’see, you can avoid the hassle by downloading a little gadget called Irfanview!
Here’s how it works: Whenever I haveta send band pics to a station or A&R, and they’re too large to send by email (rule of thumb: The larger the pic you send, the more memory it uses on the recipient’s computer. Sometimes, it keeps the pic from downloading), I’ll re-size them by using this little wonder!
So I pull up the pic using Irfanview (when ya first use it, go to “Options” then “File Associations” and click the normal formats [.jpg, .gif, .bmp, .png] to be sure the files open with the app).
Then, I’ll click on “Image”, followed by “Resize/Resample”. Here, ya wanna be sure your “preserve aspect ratio” box is checked. If it is, then type in your width for a comfortable “200″ or “300″; the “height” box will automatically re-size that part for you!
After that, just click “File” and “Save” as you normally would, and it’s ready to send!
BTW, I used the Irfanview app to resize this promo pic of the famous UK indie band, THE FORE. It was originally 425×283.
So I’d really recommend gettin’ this for your PC now! Then go ahead and take all the pics you want …
Of course, there are many more things you can do with this free app, like enhancing colors, changing the pic to black-and-white and even more!
Okay … normally I’d be jawjackin’ about the latest happenings or doohickies in rock music, right?
Activision Blizzard is releasing three new music-based video games this year — “DJ Hero,” “Guitar Hero 5″ and “Band Hero” — and has confirmed that “Guitar Hero: Van Halen” is on tap. The company provided few details on any of the games. “DJ Hero,” which previously was confirmed, still doesn’t have a full set list in place, but the company has released new details about the controller. It will be a single turntable device with three colored buttons similar to the five fret buttons featured on “Guitar Hero.”
“I have about 500 Beatles books, plus about 2,000 magazines, programmes and articles about The Beatles, yet I have not read one reference in them to Mr Clifford’s contribution,” harrumphs Davies.
Hey … do we have the future of music right now, on our computers?
Okay … we already know the effects of the Beatles’ first appearance in America, right (hey … if not, how long were you under that rock?)?
But the US group that made the most lasting impact was probably The Monkees (WHAT?!? Has the man lost his everlovin’ mind?? Read on, oh shocked ones …) Okay, it’s true: the “preFab Four” only sang on their first records, while a different group did the music. But, eventually, they got really ticked off about not being allowed to play their own instruments (remember Mike putting his fist through a wall?) and forced the producers’ hands to let ‘em do it.
NAMING YOUR BAND …
A studio of your own? For only a C note? Yep … with Alesis Company’s “Studio-in-a-Box” , you can get on the microphone and podcast yourself!
It’s been called the ultimate ‘cheat-board” … a ‘proprietary audio processor’ created by Antares Audio Technologies that corrects pitch in vocal and instrumental performances and disguises inaccuracies and mistakes to produce more precisely tuned recordings. In fact, sometimes it’s used as an effect to deliberately distort the human voice!
Eddie Van Halen is, without a doubt, one of the most colorful and lively super-rockers on the market today. He’s a writer, guitarist, songwriter, dad, and soon-to-be husband to his girlfriend/publicist. Through it all, he maintains a great sense of humor and a passion for his work.
He worked on the guitar for over two-and-a-half years, finally debuting it during their last tour. It’s now “NASA quality”, he proudly says of his creation — one that he named after his 17-year-old son (who’s also the band’s bass player). “The new Wolfgang is a combination of all the years of tearing things apart, ruining things, creating things and coming up with things that I later found out I could patent.”
Your ability to contact your audience is paramount to your success.
Last time on Band Blogging we spoke about
It’s been quite a while
I believe her to be correct. Free music downloads are a friggin’ great way for musicians to start building an audience. I’ve 


