Here are a few guidelines and tips - aimed more towards helping the artist and songwriter - concerning copyright and management contracts that should give you a bit of the know-how that's crucial to get anywhere in the industry.

Copyright

1. Copyright is incredibly important as it's the thing that earns you the greatest income. If you're a songwriter, take heed of these facts:
2. There can be two copyrights to a song; one of the actual song itself, and one of the recording. The "traditional" copyright (the song) is marked by a ©, while the sound recording is the same symbol but with a "p" instead of a "c".
3. The copyright for a musical (or literal or dramatic) work - in the United Kingdom - lasts for 70 years after the death of the original composer.
4. The sound recording copyright lasts for 50 years, from the end of the year in which they were first released.
5. You can register your own material at Copyrightservice, or Codelmark. These are useful sights set up specifically for people who want to keep their work from being plagiarised unlawfully.

In copyright law, there are three Moral Rights which serve as the basis of the whole thing. These are:

The Right of Paternity - the right that you alone are in ownership of the song / recording.

The Right of Integrity - the right to file suit against any use of your work in a derogatory or inaapropriate way. A good example of this is the case of Michael Jackson's Beat It and Weird Al Yankovic's Eat It, and Muse suing Nescafé for using their recording of Feeling Good.

The Right to prevent False Attribution - the right that if someone uses your work (such as a sample) in their own song but claims it to be their own, to file against them.

6. Perhaps most interesting of all, you can automatically copyright your own songs yourself. An easy, cost-effective way to achieve this is by sending either the recording or scores to yourself via recorded delivery. When it comes back around and reaches your address again, it will be sealed with the official date marked on it, thereby acting as a legitimate form of copyright. Just don't open it!

The Management Contract

Ah, probably the scariest aspect of them all: the dreaded contract. It is true that they are filled with endless reels of small print, and some are physically two inch-thick wads of paper. Nevertheless, they need to be scoured through to check for any unwelcome niggles that could arise if they aren't sorted with initially. Here we'll focus on the Management Contract.

The contract describes the services to be provided by the Manager and specifies how they will be paid for those services. (A manager normally earns anywhere between 15% to 25% of the artist's revenue. 25% however is considered unfair, so 15 or 20 percent is a good cut to aim for.) The contract usually focuses on sections such as Term, Exclusivity, Activities Covered and more. Here's a look at a few of these:

Term - This is how long the management contract lasts. There are three main terms that could be offered to you: there is Terminable upon notice (2-3 months), Fixed term (3-5 years), or a Trial period (often around 6 months).

Exclusivity - This is if the manager works for the artist alone, or more than one artist. However, this doesn't happen the other way round: the artist is not exclusive to the manager.

Activities covered - Generally, a manager will represent the artist in all activities. This basically means if they want to write a book, for instance, the manager will back them in this the same way they would with the artist's music.

Manager's duties - The broad spectrum of what a manager does is described. Just some of his duties to the artist are to advance and promote their career, to advise and consult them concerning income, and to keep them informed of considerable-sized activity.

Artist's duties - And vice versa, the artist has duties to upkeep as well. Some of these are to carry out reasonable agreements, engagements, performances and promotional activities, to attend (on time) all appointments and to inform the manager of their whereabouts and availability.

Commission - Income that is commissionable includes recording, any advances or royalties paid to the artist (this does not include recoupable royalties, where nothing is legally owed). When it comes to touring, commissioning the gross income of the tour is considered unfair.

Hopefully these points will help you on your way, but most of all they'll help you be aware of certain aspects. There are many more facets of the business than what's just presented here, but the one thing to know is always read the small print. In the end, that could be what makes you or breaks you.

Pink released her fourth album "I'm Not Dead" on April 4, 2006. She released "Stupid Girls" which debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Top 100. This was the highest debut for Pink in her entire career. The song reached higher in Australia, England, and New Zealand. Eventually "Stupid Girls" reached as high as number 13 on the Top 100 making this her 8th top 20 hit. It remained in the top 100 for 16 weeks.

"Who Knew" was the second release which didn't fair well here. The third release "U + UR Hand" became so popular that "Who Knew" ended up being re-released only in America. In Europe and elsewhere it was very successful reaching into the top 10. "U + UR Hand" kind of leaped onto the airwaves as people requested to hear it again and again. It went to number 9 on the Top 100. "Who Knew" followed the success after its re-release it reached number 9 on the Top 100 as well. It became Pink's 8th top 10 hit.

"Who Knew" is actually one of my favorite tracks off the album. It is beautifully written and I love the sentiment. It is Pink's ode to those who have passed on without being able to appreciate them enough while they were here.

"Nobody Knows," "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)," and "Dear Mr. President" were released soon after with limited success here in the States while they received a great response in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand again.

"Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)" is the 6st release from the "I'm Not Dead" album. It is also a great track that is more pop oriented. I'm surprised it didn't do as well in America. The video is a live version and is fun to watch. There's a lot of dancing and acrobatics going on that keeps your attention.

"Dear Mr. President" is a serious and very expressive song from the heart that can really make you cry. The lyrics are amazing and they make you think. Here are some as an example:

"Dear Mr. President, come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and you're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly"
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud?"

My favorite words are these:

"How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why"

"I'm Not Dead" is an amazing compilation of songs. They are true to who Pink is and what she feels. She brings her message across in everything she sings and it is a pleasure to listen to them.

What about communication through music? Communication through music is a verbal o communication. Since songs are made up o well-chosen words or lyrics. The intensity of the message depends on the appropriate melody, and on the way the singer/artist performed the song. In other words, the message o the son depends on how the singer/artist has given life to the song, and at the same time justice to the one who composed it. And every song has its message. The appeal and effectivity of the song to the listener is dependent on the lyrics, melody and the ability of the singer/artist.

The performer or singer and the music industry, particularly the recording company will never attend their desired fame and fortune without the golden talents of the unassuming artists behind the keyboards inside the radio rooms. These unassuming artists are the Disc Jockeys. They are the beautiful people, inside and out. Singers/Artists owe so much to these people. And of course the businessmen behind the music industry should and must be grateful to these wonderful personalities, the disc jockeys. Disc Jockeys are artists in their own right.

Of course, a triangle has three sides. And in my story the first side is occupied by an FM Radio Station. The second by a TV Network/Station. And the third at the center is occupied by a woman named Angela.

To give you a first bite of this beautiful and amazing story, I just want to tell you that the story had started ten years ago, when Angela sent her first fan mail to an FM Radio Station which carried the name DXFL-FM (88.9 FL). FL stands for First Love, and at the same time this is the initials of its owner/general manager.

For you to discover how Angela had unknowingly created a world of her own, the kind of world of which only music lovers could readily understand , letters, poems, notes and even a scrapbook (If I can be able to locate it since it was misplaced) will be posted. Some letters were written originally in a combination o two spoken languages, English and Tagalog. Several letters were written in the English Language, and a number in the Tagalog language. All poems were written in the international language, the English language. The author o all the letters, poems, notes, etc. is the protagonist herself.

I think this is just enough for an introduction. Thank you. And happy adventure.

Dynamic processing can either make your mix shine, or destroy the whole essence and flow of your sound. When mixing vocals a good preset to use in Cool Edit is "RealAudio Compander" (effects>amplitude>dynamic processing). This will regulate the peaks of your vocals and will even out everything so that the audio is even all the way through.

Noise Reduction

Noise Reduction is also extremely powerful when cleaning up a rap vocal, especially if it's recorded poorly. To properly use noise reduction you need to select at least 5 secs of the audio track were no there is no vocals, after this go into the noise reduction tab (effects>noise reduction>noise reduction), in the tab click "get profile from selection" and then click close.. yes close. Once your back looking at the wave file select all (ctrl>a) and reopen noise reduction. Now play around with the noise reduction level slider until you get it to a number where you like how it sounds. Good numbers are

Anything from 55-90, the lower you go the more of the noise you are going to hear the higher you go the more of your vocal presence your going to lose.

Parametric Equalizer

Most of the time vocals need to regain some of the essence and natural sound that they lost during dynamic processing and noise reduction. To do this you need to use an equalizer and parametric equalizer (effects>filters>parametric equalizer) in Cool Edit is perfect. This is pretty much personal preference but most of the time augmenting the mids in vocals will make it sits nicely on the beat and a good preset for this is the Mackie Mid (Boost). Play around with these settings to achieve the sound that you want.

Reverb/Echo

Reverb (effects>delay effects>reverb) is also a personal preference effect; reverb will thicken up the vocals and add a tiny bit of delay depending on how you set it. A good preset in Cool Edit is the "Tight and Close" preset but of course to make your mix really shine is better to make your own original reverb setting. Echo (effects>delay effects>echo) is also a good effect when mixing rap vocals especially in the ad-libs and doubles. Echo gives the mix presence and makes it fun. It is also good to make your own echo preset that is not to echoed but enough so is felt in your mix.

Panning/Volume

Panning is extremely important when you have adlibs and doubles recorded because it gives your vocals body if all these elements are panned precisely. Usually the main vocals are panned slightly right or left (R5 or L5). Doubles are panned right or left opposite to were your main vocals were panned (R20-30 L20-30). And finally adlibs are panned not too much where they can be hardly heard but not to little where they overpower the main vocals. Good adlib panning is usually set between R15-20, L15-20 opposite of your doubles. Volume is also good to play around with in every track, the doubles in rap vocals should always be less so the main vocals don't get overpowered the same goes with the adlibs.

Final Notes

Mixing is simply an art and Cool Edit got powerful effects to make you rap vocals really shines. Training your ear to hear flaws in your mix makes it easier to correct them and playing around with settings is always good to learn what each specific effect does. These set of steps is just a basic way to clean up and mix your rap vocals so that they sit nicely in a mix with quality.

Something in the Way mirrors Cobain’s unhappiness in two ways- its concise yet thought-provoking lyrics and its melody that seems to drain happy feelings from listeners as Cobain’s sad feelings are poured into us.

In Kurt’s early days his parents divorced and at one point he was a homeless child and made a dwelling under a bridge, obviously reflecting the lines “Underneath the bridge/The tarp has sprung a leak”. Whether or not he actually ate grass, kept wild creatures as pets, or ate fish is unclear but these lines certainly emphasize Kurt’s destitution.

When recording this song, Kurt and his band faced difficulties which eventually led Cobain to play the song solo for producer Butch Vig. He lay upon the couch in Vig’s studio control room and played the song on a 5-string acoustic that could barely stay in tune. Vig was so amazed by Kurt’s little performance that he asked him to remain stationed exactly where he was while he set up mikes to record the song right there in the control room. Afterwards a friend of the band who played cello, Kirk Canning, came in and did some recording for the song. However, due to Cobain’s strange 5-stringed acoustic, Canning found it difficult to tune his cello in accord with the song. The cello track, strangely enough, added an eerie and unexpectedly beautiful element to the song despite being unable to maintain a solid alignment with the tuning of the guitar.

Though this song often brings out a melancholy mood in it’s listeners, one can not deny the quality of it with its simple yet deep lyrics as well as an ominous tune.