DIY Sound Library

Plaze is a game-changing social networking tool for musicians and creatives, empowering you to move your art or business forward by finding the best local collaborators. Put yourself on the map by creating a detailed artist, band, or freelancer profile, and explore other musicians and creatives near you.

There are so many talented musicians and creatives out there who’ve spent hours scrubbing social media to no avail, or been too intimidated by the information overload to even try. Plaze recognizes the need for a better way to form creatively fruitful local communities. No noise, just music.

Featuring:

Robust PROFILE functionality allowing you to display your specific skills, availability and intent, link to your music or website, post photos of your gear, and more

Ability to SEARCH profiles by name, skill, genre, intent and more

EXPLORE page with a real-time map view showing nearby collaborators just a tap away

MY SCENE page featuring posts from your connections

Ability to CHAT with fellow musicians and creatives directly in-app

So why waste valuable time and energy sifting through all the possibilities on larger sites? We’re here to give you that time back.

Your dream collaborators are just a download away!

Bailey Erickson runs a small business called New World Guitar Picks, offering boutique picks for all kinds of musicians.  He plays guitar himself, and understands the differences between materials, thickness and the tone offered from all these different kinds of picks.  Learn in this episode how he creates the different picks, and how they all offer different tones and sounds for musicians. 

Check it out. https://www.etsy.com/shop/NewWorldGuitarPicks?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=962809652

https://www.instagram.com/newworldguitarpicks/

Connor Frost is a Musician and Educator, hailing from just outside New York City. He has toured extensively both as a solo act and with his band, Dizzy Bats, throughout the US, as well as internationally, and has self-released seven albums over the last decade. In 2017 he officially started his education company, FrostForward Learning, which reached an all-time total enrollment of sixty-five students by fall 2019. At the end of 2019, Connor launched his online mentoring business, where he helps hidden musicians tap into their most creative and musical selves, by guiding them on their respective journeys to writing and releasing their debut albums.

https://www.connorfrost.com/

Mentoring https://www.connorfrost.com/mentoring

Ever listen to your productions in the car? Well this episode, I'm actually in my car, talking about why the car is a great place to reference your mixes and focus on your music.  Check out why! 

Learn the how and why Mike Pearson started his blog "Endless River Studios".  A great resource for musicians or other artists and creatives to learn from!

Check it out https://www.endlessriverstudios.com/

Why is it that on occasion, your original demo sounds better than the final recorded version? Well in this episode I explain where that comes from, and how to capture that same feeling again, in your final track. 

How do you balance the differences between live instruments and synthetic digitally created sounds? What exactly are the differences? This episode will help you understand the differences between the two and when to use one over the other. 

Get cassette tapes made for your music without being signed to a label! I will handle each run for you up to 25 tapes per order.  Home assembled and printed with a local print shop!

https://mailchi.mp/bff2c150e466/cassette-tapes

Are you obsessed with your music? Are you setting deadlines? Are you playing the long term? This is why you should be! 

Learn these 10 basic, but important production tips for your music.  You won't go without them in the future. 

Learn how we self recorded an entire full length album, in a tiny house in Bordentown, NJ. 

There were infinite problems, issues, wrongdoings, and lessons we learned!

Can listen to "In Local Trance" by Good Friend Electric HERE https://open.spotify.com/album/3WmbzS0pe8rl2A8GG5tNrA?si=NsbPs6kCRei-QIQ9zB69xA

Using Leverage to your advantage can catapult you faster to your goals.  Use these three tips to your advantage. 

5 main tips on how to arrange a song, with a feature song at the end described by yours truly. 

Sometimes EQ doesn't really change the inherent tonal quality of a given track, and it's not enough to get the true sound you really want.  That's why re recording, or finding a different sample to use is way more effective than EQ'ing your perfect sound.  In this episode I use 3 guitar track examples to show you how the initial recording and EQ affect each other, and why the initial recording preparation is more important in getting the tone you REALLY want. 

0x1 Sound Studio owner Jason Ruch sits down with DIY Sound Library to share how he creates/records/mixes great records over the years.  With his experience as a long time studio owner, working with major labels, major bands, films and creating a living off of music, Jason has a lot of advise and stories to share.  If you are in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area give him a call!

https://www.0x1sound.com/

https://www.instagram.com/0x1sound/

(856) 354-2181

Ever wonder how to get shows booked? How shows are lined up? And how to properly navigate the live scene with your music? Anthony Nicolosi went to school for this stuff, and has the real world experience to let you know how to navigate the live scene. 

Full interview with Philadelphia's Camp Candle.  

Here is the full interview with Philadelphia's Drixxie.  He is great with finding catchy hooks on choruses, and doing a lot of the production process himself!  Learn how he does it in this episode. 

Acoustics affect everything when it comes to sound.  How the sound comes across, how big or close the track sounds, how clean or muttled the low end frequencies are, and a lot more.  We need to take into consideration how this works, and use it to our advantage.  Learn a couple tips and tricks with how to manage your rooms acoustics with music in this episode. 

This episode we take a look into one of my first recorded songs "Yesterday Eye" and how the demo differed from the final recording/mix.  What was missing in the demo? What was present in the final mix that made it better?  Why do we even do demos?  All of these questions and more explored! 

What do most people do during COVID-19? Probably relax at home and take a breather.  But Grant Hill and Mary Purcell did something different, they saw this moment as an opportunity.  They both have been home during quarantine, had some more free time, and decided they were going to start this new musical adventure titled "Not Gary".  On Bandcamp they describe their music as follows "sweaty mountain indie folkie screaming power outage music."  Thankfully I had the opportunity to help produce them and record them as they made their first few songs, and this podcast episode illustrates that entire process from the beginning.  What's it like starting a band during the pandemic?  What's the process of recording this new lively "sweaty mountain" sound? 

If you ever wanted to dance, and be fully immersed into lush chords of synth and bass, Camp Candle is your artist.  They come from Philadelphia, and present an amazing amount of catchiness, rhythmic hooks, and inspiration with the music they produce.  It will remind you of the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and why you should be at their next concert.  Meeting them in person really gave me a heads up why this duo is on the come up, and If I had a label, I'd sign them.   

A world in its own, catchy with rhythmic ear-candy thrown in for taste.  This, along with a distinctive visual and unique image is how I would describe Philadelphia's "Rentboy".  Simply put, a really good band, local to the Philly area that will knock your socks off with catchy electronic dance hooks, or a distorted wall of sound coming right for your soul.  They are very unique not only in their sound, but their visual image online.  And This is why I'd sign them, If I Had A Label. 

If I Had A Label series is basically my way of picking 3 artists in a given area and explaining why I'd sign them if I owned a record label.  What would I look for in artists or bands?  What kind of stuff do I personally like in an artist?  In this episode, we feature North Philly Native DRIXXIE.  Someone who is a multi instrumentalist, rapper, lyricist and more.  He's got catchy songs, and a natural sound to his flow.  This is why I'd sign him. 

Sometimes you just got to grind through your difficulties, and complete the project.  Yes we are definitely after quality in our art, our music, our albums, but without completing the project, you will never be able to get anything done! Taking a break may be good, but overall sometimes you need to accept the heat, accept the low budget, accept the limitations and power through.  Moving on to your next song, idea, or project rather than staying stuck is usually the move. 

Have you ever browsed those posts on the Philadelphia DIY Collaborative Facebook group page?  Maybe you have even posted on it yourself to book a show, or get feedback on your song!  Or maybe you have heard of A Day Without Love, or even Dreams Not Memes Podcast.  All of these are the creations of Brian Walker.  How does he manage it all?  And how does he have that Entrepreneur mind to start all of these endeavors? These questions and more explored... 

Don't just talk about your lofty goals, actually sit down and put in the work. This theme, and others came up while talking with Elysium Creative Group founder Masila Mike Muli. Masila shares his story regarding his music business where everyday is spent around music. How many of us can say we support ourselves just off of music? An incredible feat to learn from.

You ever just keep grinding on that song so you can eventually finish it? Have you ever worked tirelessly through the heat, through the odds, just to get something done? But at the end of it all, you wondered why you did all of that in the first place? Noticing the quality was not right, and the song didn't come out as great as it could've.... Maybe there's something more to that idea... Take a break!

Brandon sits down with Kevin S McMahon of Marcata recording to discuss all things audio, recording, and what makes a great record.  He has worked with multiple successful bands such as Real Estate, Pile, Swans, Titus Andronicus, Widows Peak and many more. He is a record producer, engineer, audio technician, and an all around cool dude!  

Check out his work and website below!

https://www.kevinsmcmahon.com/

https://www.kevinsmcmahon.com/discography/

https://www.instagram.com/kevin.s.mcmahon

https://www.facebook.com/marcatarecording/

Grant Hill sits down to talk about the success and failure of a small town band.  Good Friend Electric has put out two albums and several singles over the years, and experienced many ups and downs.  What does it even mean to be successful with their music?  Why do we even make music if no one listens?