Singing Evangelistic Ministries

 

GIBSON HILL MUSIC

  (We now have a Christian Social Network much like Shout-Life or Gospel Pals) it is "The Gibson Hill Music Network" Come on by and check us out, when you find the time.

View my page on Gibson Hill Music

 On this page we want to give you information about publishing, recording, copyrights, distribution and so much more! We hope and pray that this information will be of service to you. Gibson Hill Music is a publishing house, dedicated to music ministry. We are a small company with a big vision…to help you as an artist to become as effective as you can be, by opening doors between writers and singers of Christian music.

  Completing a song is an accomplishment in itself. But if you want that song to be enjoyed by other people, if you want it to be recorded and become an effective tool of ministry, your work is just beginning! Somewhere along the line, in the process of getting your songs to the public, your creations have to be published.

  When you finish writing a song it becomes a product-a property that you own. People in the music industry refer to that property as a “copyright.” (Copyright law automatically protects Songs. Still it is important to understand when and how they are protected and, the difference between copyright notification and registration.) All of the copyrights you own comprise your “catalog.” You control the publishing rights to all the songs in your catalog, until you choose to sign a contract giving the publishing to someone else.

  When you sign a publishing contract, you are assigning your copyright to the publisher. Ethical publishers don’t ask you to “sell” your songs outright, rather you license the rights to the song to the publisher for a specified period of time. The publisher “administers” the copyright during that period. You’ll sometimes hear of a publisher acquiring whole catalogs, which he then tries to exploit. He tries to get the songs recorded, printed and used in various ways, and guards them against infringement. Even though a song is your creation, the publisher controls the copyright once you have given him your publishing. He does a lot of legwork and paperwork for you, and uses his contacts and business savvy to your (and his) advantage. He may choose to help you re-demo your song to make it sound more professional. He may even offer you a small cash advance at the time the publishing contract is signed. Because the publisher invests time and money in the song (because he believes in the potential of the song), you split with him the royalties the song earns, usually 50/50.

  Some songwriters (if not most these days) choose to publish their own songs and “pitch them” directly to recording artists or their producers or their managers. However, publishing is a complicated and sophisticated process. Many songwriters feel that the business negotiations and follow up work of publishing take too much time away from the songwriting and demo projects, and they prefer to let an experienced publisher represent their songs for them.

  Publishers can be excellent contacts for songwriters. Publishers build a reputation within the music industry. Some publishers specialize in certain types of music, while others look for crossover potential in songs, so they can peak the interest many different kinds of artists in the same song(s). 

 For more information you can check out out the latest updates to this page by clicking on to this link Gibson Hill Music  We are striving to bring you as much information about the buisness end of Music, we would be glad to answer any questions that you may have about our publishing house. Remember that knowledge is power, the Bible said that "My people perish for the lack of knowledge" but with knowledge comes responsibility. Most songwriters are not buisness minded, they are always creating and that don't leave much time to do the buisness of songwriting, so why not let us assist you in getting your music out there where people can be blessed and lives changed!

  Copyrights:

 This is some info related to copyright of songs, but in sort of the "opposite direction" -- how to LEGALLY make, release and sell your own recordings of copyrighted songs written by others, e.g., "cover" songs. To do so, you need to obtain a license for each "cover" song you plan to record. 

This can now be done online, through www.songfile.com. The vast majority of registered songs fall under what is called the "statutory royalty rate." Currently, the rate is 8 cents per copy for songs under 5 minutes, for a production release of 500 (minimum) up to 2,500 (maximum) total copies, to be released in USA only. So, let's say you want to record YOUR rendition of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" on your own CD. You go to Songfile.com and find the song falls under the statutory royalty rate. * You plan to release no more than the minimum 500 copies of your CD containing this song. So, your license will cost you 500 x 8 cents, or $40. Application fee for the license is $2, so your total cost will be $42. That's only for this ONE song, of course. And it has to be YOU (your band, your friends, musicians you hire, etc.) performing the song ... you can't take Lee singing it from HIS album and record it on yours under this license. More?  We now have our Song licensing request forms,  Song licensing Agreement, (license to record) and the Publisher's Agreement Please check these out and if there are any questions do not hesitate to ask. @ evjuniorgibson@yahoo.com

 

 

   “Do you write poetry in your spare time? Are you an aspiring songwriter?”

  Gibson Hill Music is offering this great songwriter’s workshop to all those who want to be able to write songs (gospel songs in particular) A ten week course focusing on eight subjects of vital interest to all songwriter’s. The music business is very competitive, so you need this great source of information.You will learn to break into “the business” of songwriting, by a qualified Nashville Songwriter.

  You will learn how to:

     1) Write a marketable song (a potential hit song)

2)      All about copyrights

3)      Demo services (getting your songs recorded)

4)      Producer’s

5)      Publishing and distribution

6)      Song contracts

7)      How to avoid the song shark

8)      How to market or “plug” your song (to showcase your tunes as they say in Nashville)

  All this information plus+ a complete list of names and addresses of publishers, producers and 300 radio stations from all over the country whose format is gospel music; remember it all starts with a song, so register now for this educational workshop.

E-mail us at evjuniorgibson@yahoo.com

  Some songwriter’s may think their efforts end with writing the song. Or they believe that by signing a record contract, or a publishing contract, they’re home free Waiting for the royalty checks to start rolling in. Unfortunately that’s not the case. Every step along the way to a successful record takes a team effort, and the songwriter needs to be a knowledgeable member of the team. Others know that it is necessary to go on to get their song(s) distributed, (marketed) promoted, and in the media, through, radio, television, and now over the Internet. Like all artists, songwriters are vulnerable and sensitive. When they create, and the creative phase of the work is over, it’s time to do the business of the music business. Recognizing the need to change gears before entering the business cycle is one of the major ingredients in successful artistic careers. We don’t want to go out there fragile and unprotected and immediately get squashed. For more information on changing gears go to publishers page...\Gibson Hill Music

   When it comes to doing the business end of music, you must get your music into the right hands. People that want to hear your songs, and show them what you have to offer. The tool of the music industry is a demonstration recording—Or demo. Nowadays most prefer compact discs Songwriter’s make demos showcasing their songs and then pitch them to artists, producers (because they pick the songs for the artist’s), publishers, managers, and anyone else who is willing to listen. It’s acceptable to submit your songs to more than one person at a time (this is called simultaneous submission). Choose an appropriate artist (one that is best fitted for the song that you are trying to market), and surround that person with your CD’s.

 That is, send a demo to his/her producer, manager, publisher, record company, anyone in a position to recommend your song to the artist, however this may not be financially feasible for every songwriter. This method requires a lot of postage for just one artist, when you could be submitting to several artists for the cost of one. Also, you can never really bank on getting those materials back. Most try their best to return submitted materials if a self addressed, stamped envelope is included in the submission, but even with the best of intentions in the real world sometimes it just doesn’t happen. A person screening demos might open a dozen packages a day put them all in a box or a bag and listen to them on their way to, and from the office, thus separating them from their S.A.S.E. Always put your name, address and phone number on every item in your submission package, including the tape or CD itself.

   The only exception to simultaneous submissions is when someone asks if he may put a song of yours on “hold” This means he intends on recording it and doesn’t want you to give the song to someone else. Sometimes he/she will give a song back to you without recording it, even if it’s been “on Hold” for months. Sometimes he/she will record your song, but then decide that it’s not as strong as his/her other material and so he/she won’t include it on their recording project. If either of things happens, you’re free to pitch that song to other people again. You can protect yourself against having a song put on hold indefinitely by either establishing a deadline for the person who asks the hold, i.e., “You can put my song on hold for x number of months.” Or modify the hold to specify that you will pitch the song to other people, but you will not sign a deal without the person who has the song “on hold” to make you an offer. When someone publishes your song, you grant the publisher exclusive rights to your song and you may not pitch it to other publishers (though you have the right to pitch it to artists, or producers who are interested in recording without publishing it themselves.

   If you hire a demo service, you’ve technically hired a producer—someone to direct the session and shape the sound of the demo—and pert of the fee you pay could be considered a producers fee. No problem there, but what if you want to be a singer as well as a successful songwriter? You will want more than just a song demo; you want a demo that showcases you as a singer. You want something more than what most demo services can offer (actually you want a master recording at a demo budget), but you don’t have enough studio experience to produce it. Should you hire a producer?

   The range of situations is too broad for a simple answer. On one end, you’re back to the old custom recording business, where you pay someone to do a session on you. You may or may not get what you pay for nevertheless. On the other end, if you are very talented as a singer/songwriter, you might attract an independent producer who, if he’s legitimate, pay for the sessions himself in exchange for something—a percentage of your future record or the right to publish your songs for example.(This would be a good time to get in touch with a good entertainment lawyer)

   In the middle is the songwriter who just needs help in the studio. The question now is, “How much should I spend on demo services?” Demo services are exactly what the term implies. You send in a work tape and a fee, and the service promises to send you back a professional demo. It sounds like a variation on the custom recording business, and technically it is. The difference between the two is a monumental one, however. With a demo service you stand a good chance of getting what you pay for—a pitchable demo; with the custom recording service (and the distribution and promotion that is often included in the package) you may get a professional quality recording, but you have no realistic chance of getting a hit.

   The rise of demo services is tied directly to technological developments in the last few years—specifically the development of low—cost studio equipment: multi-track recorders, mixing boards, digital delay units (reverb or echo) and other “outboard” sound processing equipment. Also, the technology of the instruments—synthesizers, drum machines, sequencers, etc.—advanced while the prices dropped. Consequently, studios have sprung up everywhere. All you need is $10,000 and a walk in closet and you’re in business!

   It didn’t take songwriter’s long to discover that with all this technology, you don’t always need an actual bass player to have bass on your demo. The human abilities required for a demo were reduced to singing, guitar playing and programming. Anyone who could sing and play guitar and had enough knowledge of the other instruments to program effectively could reduce the cost of a demo to nothing but the cost of the tape. From there, the next step was obvious`--generate some cash by selling those abilities in the form of a demo service.

   (Before we get into cost comparisons and other issues, it should be noted that, not all demo services are one—man band operations. Some are more like the traditional custom recording situation—a group of musicians who work together efficiently and can crank out demos at a rate that is both profitable to them and economical to the client).

   Who needs these services? Obviously, a writer living in an area where there aren’t enough musicians or recording equipment to do a decent session. Or a writer who may have access to musicians, singers and equipment and may even have unlimited time and money but does not have the slightest idea of how to book or direct a recording session. Or, increasingly, a writer who may be quite experienced in producing sessions but who finds a demo service to be cheaper!

   Let’s start there—the money. A session with live musicians can be costly, even on a per song basis. Say you have four songs that demand demos (I myself only do three at a time, because that is all that most artists will listen to at one time) (A piano/vocal or a guitar/vocal wouldn’t be effective on these tunes. You need four musicians—bas, drums, keyboards, guitar, and a vocalist. And you need a studio. Let’s cut corners and operate under these conditions: the songs are all in the same general style so there is little or no mixing time necessary, after the first one is mixed; the vocalist sings as the tracks are being laid down (with no overdubs) and the session is in Nashville, where there is a separate demo scale (Half the master scale) for musician’s and singer’s (Includes background vocal’s). (L.A. musician’s union has recently instituted a demo scale also) We’ll not cut one corner, although it is a corner many people do cut, and that is hiring and paying through the union. Paying musicians union scale (Including double-scale for whomsoever you designate session leader) including taxes, cartage, and other surcharges, will cost you around $600.00 Let’s then say that the cost of the studio time was $50.00 an hour, including engineer (plus the cost of the tape, which is probably a little unrealistic). We’re going to get all of this done—four songs, recorded and mixed—in four hours (caution don’t expect this even at home) that’s over $900.00, or $225.00 per song. And that’s assuming that you know exactly what you want musically; you know exactly how to get it, nothing goes wrong, and you’re lucky to boot, (or blessed as I would rather say).

   You may want to avoid the headaches of an independent session by jobbing it out to a service. Fortunately, you can avoid some of the cost as well. Demo service fees start at around $50,00 per song for a simple guitar/vocal, or two guitars/vocal, and you can add on whatever you want from there. Prices vary somewhat, depending on what instruments the owner of the service plays (Female vocals are usually extra, unless the owner of the service happens to be of that gender) And the different services have different “packages” available, (for example: two acoustic guitars, two electric guitars, bass, drum machine, and male vocals, with studio time included) They also have an “a la carte” fee schedule for additional instruments, vocals and studio time.

 Check back with us from time to time for updates to this page Updates are here How to start a career in songwriting.

 

 

  

Basic Music Theory

 It is used by all the top musicians to chart and record every genre of music; whether out of Nashville, LA, New York or wherever! Artists and musicians alike know that music is all about the numbers, that's the way God created it, and no doubt used by the cheif musician Lucifer for all of his evil intentions, however what he intends for evil God turns it around for our good!

 It is what you learned in elementery School do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do (The major scale or Ionian mode) please notice that what starts in Do, ends in Do. There are eight notes in the scale, a complete scale is another octave higher in each key. The first key we will study is the key of C. 1 represents the key you are playing in or Do...C, and is the root of the key. 2m (minor) or Dm (in the key of C) the 3m or Em (minor in the key of C) so on and so on till you get to the 8 (or return to Do)  Please note: the 1 (C), 4 (F), and 5 (G) are dominant and is the basis for which all music is derived (Written in a major key) the 2m (Dm), 3m (Em), and the 6m (Am), are sub-dominate and are used to enhance the melody, according to the chord progression, or the arrangement of the song itself. Now the seventh note in the scale can be either augmented (raised usually a half step) or diminished (lowered a half step) The steps are measured like this; a major scale starting in C goes seven steps. (Remember that you are starting in C therefore the step between C and D is also a whole step). *Scales A succession of tones ascendin or descending according to fixed intervals.

Major Scale:

C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	B	C
W	W	W	H	W	W	H	<

                 

Do	Re	Mi	Fa	So	La	Ti	Do
1	2m	3m	4	5	6m	7	8

Relative Minor Scale: (The 6th of the Major scale share the same notes)

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	A
W	H	W	W	H	W	W	<

 Major Pentatonic Scale: (five notes) Tonic/Root note-2-3-5-6.

Do	Re	Mi	So	La
C	D	E	G	A

Minor Pentetonic: (Relative minor or 6th of Major scale) Tonic/Root-2-flatted 3rd (Dim. one half step lower)   -flatted 5 (Dim. one half step lower)-6

Do	Re	Mi (Dim.)	So	La (Dim.)
A	B	C	E	F

  Below is the chart that is used for transposition (changing from one key to another) A song that is played in the key of C can be played in any of the 8 keys listed using this chart. For example a song (or a chord progression) can be easily transposed by using the numbers. A song played in the key of C using C (1), Am (6), F (4), and G (5), then back to C (1 or Do) (remember? it starts in Do and ends in Do) it can also be played in the key of D (major) using the same numbers 1, 6m, 4, and 5, then back to Do or C (The 1) Confused yet? it can be confusing I know, but keep reading over this and you will begin to get the picture. Play it and it will sound the same in every key. It's all in the numbers!

C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	B	C
D	Em	F#m	G	A	Bm	C#	D
E	F#m	G#m	A	B	C#	D	E
F	Gm	Am	Bb	C	Dm	E	F
G	Am	Bm	C	D	Em	F	G
A	Bm	C#m	D	E	F#m	G	A
B	C#m	D#m	E	F#	G#m	A#	B
C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	B	C

Understanding sharps and flats:

Sharps: F First C Charlie G go D down A and E eat B breakfast.

F# has 6 sharps, C has none, G has 1 sharp, D has has two, A has three sharps, E has four, B has five.

Flats: B Boys, E eat, A all, D donuts, G girls, C cant, F find,

B flat has 2 flats, E flat has 3 flats, A flat has 4 flats, D has 5 flats, G has 6 flats, C has none (there is no such animal as a C flat  ) and F has just 1 flat.

 This is how we find out what key a song is written in. Knowing how many sharps or how many flats are used after the G cleff in musical notation gives us the key signature of that particular song. 

Understanding Tablature;

 Tab. (abbrev.) simply put is an easy to read system of music notation for fretted instruments utilizing a graphic representation of the strings with numbered fret positions, rather than a conventional staff with notes. (Ok maybe not so simply put) In use in various forms since the sixteenth century, tablature has served to make published music for instruments such as the guitar, lute, banjo, and mandolin accessible to players who don't read standard music notation. Many repertoire and method books on folk, blues, and rock guitar include tablature or a combination of Tab and standard notation.

 Guitar tablature uses a sytem of six lines each of which represents a string on the instrument. The bottom line corresponds to the sixth (E) or lowest sounding string. the remaining five lines represent the other five strings, (A, D, G, B and E) from the lowest to the highest sounding string. To avoid confusion there is no direct relationship between the guitar's strings and the lines of a conventional staff.

 Like chord diagrams and regular notation, tab requires that the student spend a little time getting used to the relationship between what is on the paper and what's on the guitar. Once you get your bearings, tab will likely prove convenient and useful. A number is used in tab to indicate at which fret the designated string is to be played. For instance an 0 would mean play the string "OPEN" a 1 indicates the first fret position a 2 designates the second fret and so on. It becomes apparent then that any succession of notes can be obtained by positioning a series of numbers on the appropriate lines.          

  (Interpreted from left to right) 5th string played on the third fret, open fourth string, fourth string played on the second fret, fourth string third fret, open third string, third string played on the second fret, an open second string, second string is now played on the first fret. you have now played an eight note scale. You can now follow the same scale backward to the low end of the scale.

The intervalic structure: The difference in pitch between two tones, memorize the "Intervalic Structure" below. Read from left to right. The tonic or the root is the key signature. Small case m is minor and big case M is Major. P stands for perfect eg. the perfect fourth in the key of C is F (The fourth note in the scale) The perfect fifth is G (The fifth note of the scale) Augmented (Aug.4) raised one half a step. Diminished (Dim. 5) lowered by a half a step. This holds true for every Key.

Tonic/Root

m2

M2

m3

M3

P4

Aug. 4 F#

P5

m6

M6

m7

M7

Octave C

Key of C

Dm

DM

Em

EM

F

Dim.5  F#

G

Am

AM

Bm

BM

Octave  C

 

 

 

 

 Please check back with us from time to time for updates to this page. thanks!