I emailed my newsletter subscribers yesterday about some exciting news regarding my upcoming album. As I mentioned the other day, the album is basically finished. I’m just ironing out artwork/CD details.

In the meantime, I want to give away a few tracks from the CD for free.

I’m using Noisetrade.com to distribute these free tracks. Noisetrade is an awesome free service based here in Nashville. I highly recommend it for you musicians out there.

To download your 3 free songs, just drop your email address in the widget below. As a reminder, these songs were all recorded and mixed in my home studio, using the same kind of equipment that you use. I’m really proud of this album, and I can’t wait for you to hear the whole thing.

Until then, enjoy these three freebies:

You may remember that I posted about my brother-in-law’s upcoming album a few weeks ago. Well, today is the official release date. You can purchase it here:

The Sinai Alliance – Though the Darkness Hide Thee

It’s a rocking, eclectic collection of traditional Christian hymns, but done in a style like you’ve never heard before. Even if you’re not down with hymns in general, I think you should give it a shot. It’s good stuff.

Also, I sang lead vocals on track 4, and I mastered the album.

Why am I telling you about this? Well, first of all I want to support my bro-in-law’s music.

However, there’s a bigger point I want to make here.

Six month ago, while I was at Sweetwater, Joel (my brother-in-law) bought an Mbox 2 Mini and Reason 4 from me. He also bought some JBL LSR 2325 monitors.

That’s it.

Six months later, Joel is releasing this album. Six months later.

My point? You don’t need to buy super-fancy equipment to make an album. Joel used the Mbox 2 and all the stock Digi plug-ins along with Reason to create and mix the entire album.

I’m not downplaying the fact that big studios allow for you to make great recordings, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create a great-sounding album from home.

Go buy the album. It’s like $7.

Photo by constantly_Jair

We spend a lot of time on Home Studio Corner talking about recording and how to get good recordings. However, it’s a good idea to be on the other end of the spectrum, to be constantly listening to new music. One could argue that listening to recordings done by other people is just as important as practicing your own recording skills.

There will always be someone out there who’s better than you. Make sure you’re listening to their work. Enjoy their work, learn from them, apply their techniques to your own work. It’ll make you better.

So, what are you listening to?

I’ll start. Over the weekend I bought Erin McCarley’s latest album, “Love, Save the Empty.” It’s great. She has a nice, jazzy voice to go along with some catchy tunes. And the production on this album is amazing. Even if you’re not into big, extravagant, polished production, this is still worth a listen.

Okay, your turn. Leave a comment.