Hi!
My name is Dan Muench.
I'm a 34 year old amateur musician, tech, engineer and producer. I've had some great adventures I hope to share, some great tips about Squeezing Music From A Stone - navigating the maze of half truths, misinformation, disinformation, and advertising jargon that separates the fools from their money.
When I was in high school and just learning to play guitar, I often read Guitar World cover to cover - whether from one I actually managed to scrape up the money for or just on the local rack.
There was a great series of articles that were written for GW by J. Yuenger of White Zombie fame. J was one of my favorite guitarist of the time, and still is - the 'First White Zombie Album' to non-completists is a Stoner Rock Closet Classic - like Ministry by way of Kyuss and Fu Manchu. Later J would be more contemporary, but that first record was more timeless in it's synthesis of Sabbath, Hendrix, and Public Enemy style sampling. Thunderkiss '65 was a touchstone riff in my early years.
J was even more influential in his articles however - at least to me. In the '90s he was talking about how the good fat years are behind us, how the industry is headed for a dive, and if you want to survive and actually exist as an artist, better take a page from the punk manual and learn to DIY. Things about the logistics of touring and the realities of being in even a signed band...paraphrasing from memory, "Here I am, guitar player in a signed rock and roll band, trying not to get mugged on my way home from work washing dishes."
Well, in the two decades almost since, I've gleaned some information on maximizing your value, making things work, what tears collaborative bodies (bands, crews, etc) apart, and the psychology of the business today - after all, you'll mostly be dealing with other human beings, not Platonic Ideals or Immutable Laws of Physics.
I've worked for major 'big box' music retailers, was a veteran of the Harmony Central Effects Forum (aka the worst forum for flame wars on the net north of 4Chan), have been a guitar tech, tour manager, and other functions for touring bands, ended up playing guitar for Sky Saxon in The Seeds in 2007 after being their roadie earlier in the tour. I've gone from no gigs under my belt to playing 1500 people at Michigan Peace Fest with nothing but some intense rehearsal in between. And I have tone for days, always have, and I'll share some of my knowledge with you, because I've seen plenty of dudes out there who could play circles around me in my old days - but couldn't come within a thousand miles of my sound or craft one of the oddball riffs and hooks I've come up with.
I'll help decipher and deconstruct the tricks that are played on us by retailers and luthiers - "you're not really playing unless you have this booteek XYZ Guitbox and Amp Du Jour, prices start at one kidney." The tricks we also end up playing on ourselves - convincing ourselves that X piece of gear is going to be the grand keystone in our rig where we finally just shut up and play what we have instead of the eternal chase to the Next Big GASsy Thing. In the end, the Mind Funkers only manipulate what, as Radiohead says, You Do It To Yourself, You Do, You and No One Else.
We'll discuss recording hardware and techniques, building a rig, dialing in an instrument, modifying guitars, basses, and pedals, and how to take advantage of the Golden Age Of DIY and get out there making music - in a world that wants you to either chase a fame Will O' The Wisp endlessly (bleeding cash as you go) or just to give up and rot on the sidelines.
There's no more Million Dollar Signing Bonuses for musicians (not for smart ones, as J pointed out nearly 20 years ago), and competition is tougher than ever - remember, Big Record Deal Band uses YouTube and Reverbnation and other 'indie' outlets too and competes with us small fish right in 'our' pond. If all that still doesn't deter you, great! You're an artist, and not just a Fame/Money Ho with an instrument or mic in your hand. The world doesn't need more of that, but it does need more heartfelt, soulful, real art - from you! And I'm gonna help you do it. Even if you gotta do it all yourself - I can take you from choosing your first guitar, bass, or microphone, to mastering your own recordings you made of your now badass (and cheap!) rig and be able to have a finished product worth promoting and sharing with the world. You'll be surprised at the difference between your early efforts and the more 'pro' sounding later work, and realize why so many artists hate leaked early versions (they're not done yet!).
Happy Tone Hunting.