| The Following
are resources for fellow musicians like us |
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| First of
all we would like to let you know that we are not affiliated with any
of
the companies listed below. Basically this is just a simple favor for
all of us. If you are tired of dealing with a bunch of
companies bent on getting the most money possible from us then look in
here for a few tidbits of information. About 80% of
companies are making their products either in China, Mexico or
Latin America and even though they go to those countries and pay their
workers pennies literally (truth/ no politics involved in this
assessment) their policy is mostly not to pass their savings to us. |
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| LATIN SHEET
MUSIC - SCORES - CHORDS - ETC Basically in this link you'll find lead sheets for Latin music. Many are our own songs or arrangements of classic Latin songs. Please be nice to the composers and give them proper credit and don't profit from their work |
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| MICROPHONES If you need microphones, we are sure you have heard about SURE 58 and SURE 57. While these two mics are mostly of decent quality they will cost you between $120 to $85. Well, there is actually a microphone that will do the same job but much better sonically and will take the road as well: The Behringer XM8500. They cost about $20 online. So you get 4 or 5 for the price of one Sure. For instruments (strings mostly) try NADY CM88 at about $40 online. And a really good mic for overhead drums are the Naiant MSH1 for $22 each and for kick, snare and toms the Naiant MSH1K for $29 at naiant.com . In general, you can safely buy any of the Niant mics because they are of exceptional quality, even for recording!. Finally the karma K-micro at 4 for $20 are really good instrument mics too. |
BEHRINGER.COM NAIANT.COM |
NADY.COM KARMAAUDIO.COM |
| MICROPHONE
CABLES The most affordable Microphone Cables are in pulsartech.com at $5.90/ cable (Believe us, we looked all over the net). Our advice is to get 25' long color cables. That way you can immediately know what cable is connected where. If you get black cables good luck figuring out quickly where everything is connected. The second most affordable cables are offered by musiciansfriend.com. Often they have ten 20' cables for $50 sale but are only of ok quality. |
WWW.PULSARTECH.COM |
WWW.MUSICIANSFRIEND.COM |
| ETHNIC
INSTRUMENTS The best online store for Andean / South American / ethnic instruments is boliviamall.com. We've tried their wind, string and percussion instruments. They truly are of exceptional quality. And their prices are the best online. Indeed many of the instruments that we use in MarKamusic came from this online store. Shipping can be up to three weeks but everything comes well packed directly from Bolivia. Second best source for ethnic instruments is novica.com. This is actually the National Geographic Store. Shipping charges are very reasonable and packaging is great. |
WWW.BOLIVIAMALL.COM |
WWW.NOVICA.COM |
| ASCAP and BMI We cannot stress enough how important ASCAP really is. Specially if you write music and have already recorded it. You really need to protect your rights as a composer and get royalties from anyone who uses your music. You will also need to establish your own publishing company to get your royalties. The process of establishing your ascap membership and your own publishing Co. is free and quite simple. Just follow the directions in ascap.com. Once a member of ASCAP you will have access to a number of other benefits. Such as discounts in a very large number of music and technology stores and other services that range from reproduction of CDs to instrument insurance. If you don't like the name ASCAP then join BMI.com. |
WWW.ASCAP.COM |
WWW.BMI.COM |
| FREQUENCIES OF MUSICAL NOTES: If you do live shows you must use an EQ to kill feedback frequencies at the venue where you are performing. Every note has a frequency so this useful table will help you find which offending frequency you need to lower with your handy Equalizer. |
Frequencies of musical Notes (PDF file) |
Frequencies of musical notes (Microsoft Word File) |
| SHOPPING
FOR
INSTRUMENTS
AND
EQUIPMENT We got most of the important ones here so you don't have to waste your time looking on line. Before you decide to buy anything, look around the web for reviews of the products you are considering. Be aware that many times your local music store will have better prices than the big boys online. The reason you ask? Well, simply the companies that produce the musical equipment you use have something of a CARTEL mentality going on. They require all their dealers to offer the same price to consumers. As a matter of facts many of these suppliers are in court right now for this unfair business practice. The effect is that the same product will be priced basically the same every where on line. In reality many of these online stores could and would be willing to offer you many of the products that you buy at cheaper prices but will not do it because they are afraid their suppliers will cut their supply if they don't tow the line of their respective CARTEL. So, some little stores in your town, because they are small, are willing to brake that mandated minimum price established by the suppliers. They know is hard for the big boys to find out they are selling cheaper. |
BOLIVIAMALL.COM RMCAudio.com MUSICIANSFRIEND.COM ZZOUNDS.COM SWEETWATER.COM VALUEMUSIC.COM MUSIC123.COM AMERICANMUSICAL.COM BHPHOTOVIDEO.COM WWBW.COM NOVICA.COM RUMILLAJTA.COM SAMASH.COM JR.COM GUITARCENTER.COM ELDERLY.COM 8THSTREET.COM INSTRUMENTPRO.COM GUITARTRADER.COM AMERICANMUSIC.COM INTERSTATEMUSIC.COM MUSICIANSBUY.COM NETINSTRUMENTS.COM JACKSONMUSIC.COM DEALTIME.COM NEXTAG.COM EPINIONS.COM |
Best Ethnic So.American Instruments Best gear deals on line!!!! Expensive! bad service! Cartel music Tries to compete with musiciansfriend Good hi end stuff but quite expensive Best deals from around the country Like musiciansfriend Pretty much like Zzounds Good selection and you can bargain Good for all things Band/wind/brass Great ethnic instrument selection Great Andean instruments (expensive!!!!) Like musiciansfriend.Better bargains Discount if ASCAP membership The guitar leg of musiciansfriend Rare string instruments. Expensive! Some really good deals Great deals if ASCAP membership Guitar oriented some OK deals Smaller merchant with OK deals Smaller merchant, OK deals Some really good deals here too Instruments posted by musicians. Smaller merchant. Service is average Check here for price comparison Check here for price comparison performance/price comparisons |
PERFORMING CONTRACTS You need to have a performance contract. Verbal agreements are bound for misunderstandings and screw ups. You should never ever ever assume anything unless and until it is on your contract. Never ever leave your house for a gig without a contract! These contracts are the product of gigging around the world for more than 27 years (USA, EUROPE, SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA). Plus they were developed with the help of lawyers. Finally, did we already mention that you need to have a signed contract before you leave your home? |
In .doc files (you may alter them to fit your needs) PERFORMANCE CONTRACT I (PA sound provided by presenter/venue) PERFORMANCE CONTRACT II (PA sound provided by you / the artist) |
In .pdf file (you will not be able to alter this document) PERFORMANCE CONTRACT I (PA sound provided by presenter/venue) PERFORMANCE CONTRACT II (PA sound provided by you / the artist) |
EMAIL/MAILING LISTS If you ever want to be known out there, then you need to start getting your fans into a mailing/emailing list. Here is a form you can use. Pass it around at every gig you play. Actually you should have three of these lists. One at each exit door and one circulating around the room at all times. But you must never ever share this addresses with anyone. Your fans deserve their full privacy!. |
In .doc files so you can alter them to fit your needs |
In .pdf file (you will not be able to alter this document) |
| HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN
MICROPHONE CABLES |
MAKE YOUR OWN XLR
CABLES |
MAKE YOUR OWN
XLRS |
| OTHER RESOURCES FOR MUSICIANS We are not affiliated with Shavano Music and hope sincerely that they will not mind our offering you their link here. Basically they deal with everything about music. |
SHAVANO MUSIC ONLINE |
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| ZENNI OPTICAL Lets face it, many of us need glasses, and musicians have an uncanny talent for loosing them. So on their site you can get glasses for $8. And they include antiscratch coating! Before we found Zenni Optical, the cheapest place for glasses was Walmart at about $105. |
ZENNI OPTICAL |
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