No Scheduled Concerts This Year

Many of you have asked about the concert schedule for 2010 at Los Senderos Ranch. I am sorry to report that we have decided not to have any concerts this year. Instead we are going to concentrate our efforts on the recording studio. We enjoyed putting on the concerts and had a lot of fun doing it, but they turned out to be a lot of work and the attendance was lower than we had hoped for. We sincerely thank all the fans who turned out last year.

Note: If you were on the email list to receive the Los Senderos Ranch newsletter, this will be your last newsletter. If you would like to receive the studio newsletter in the future, please drop me an email.

Record a Live Concert

If you have ever thought about making a live recording of your band or group, we have the perfect solution. We will set up a stage complete with lighting and sound system. We can feed all microphones directly into a Pro Tools digital audio workstation. All you have to do is set up your instruments, arrange for some fans to attend, and play your concert. We will track the concert. When it is over, we can provide you all the Pro Tools files, which you can take somewhere to be mixed. Or if you prefer, we can mix them for you. This is probably the least expensive way to make a CD. You can record a complete album in a couple of hours rather than taking weeks or months. If you are interested, please email or call me to discuss the details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. I would like to record several songs that were written by someone else. Do I have to pay a fee to the copyright owner before I come into the studio? What if I don't know who wrote them?

A. Normally you do not need to do this prior to recording songs—only when you reach the duplication/replication stage of the production. The amount of fee you pay depends on how many CDs you plan to produce and how long the song is. There is also a processing fee. Several agencies can be used for this service. We normally use the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), and we can handle this process for you for a slight fee. If you don't know the composer of song, HFA can search their databases to find it. In rare cases, the song may not be in any databases, in which case it would be best not to record it.*

Q. Do I need permission to sample a song? What if I change a song's words or melody?

A. To use a sample of a song in your recording, you will need two types of permission, the permission of the original record company who owns the recording (called master use rights) and permission from the publisher to use a portion of the song. If you modify a song by changing its melody or character, it is considered a derivative work and will require prior permission from the publisher. (None of the situations in this answer are handled through HFA or other licensing agencies, but require direct contact with the music publisher or owner of the recording, as the case may be.)*

Read questions and answers on our FAQ page.

Have a question we haven't answered? Email it to us and we will try to answer it in a future newsletter as well as add it to our FAQ page. Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid answers.

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*None of these answers should be considered as legal advice since we are not lawyers and don't want to be accused of being a lawyer or of practicing law without a license. So just take it for what it's worth—our thoughts and opinions. We advise you to consult an attorney if you need a legal opinion.