I put this post under Trumpet Kit because it’s absolutely essential to have a good card that accurately represents you as a musician in order to expand your work.

I.e. If having your number written on a toilet roll accurately represents you as a musician you should have a think about your future.

(Relax, it’s only a joke. )

To see where this started abd how the design came about you can follow this link: My New Business Card.

I now have a nice looking card, flyer and motif that I can translate to letter heads, envelopes and eventually my site.

I’ve already given a few out whilst networking. It not only gave a much stronger impression but I felt much more confident knowing that I didn’t have to pretend that my card wasn’t crap. I hope that I’ll be able to use my flyers just as effectively as I use my cards. Hopefully I’ll be posting about how fantastic it’s all turned out and how it’s doubled my work… time will tell.

In a previous post I mentioned that it was tricky to find a decent printer without having a review to go on. Therefore I’ll tell you about the printers I used and hope that it’ll at least give you an idea of the service and the price that’s out there. The following should also give you an idea on how to prepare your designs.

What You should Expect From Your Printer

The printing company I used were called Overnight Prints and like most companies they give the option of making your own card using their online “wizard” but I’d advise that if you want a professional looking card, design it yourself.

The site was very simple to use and to upload your own designs to. It gives you detailed instructions on how you should prepare your files with properties including the DPI (Dots Per Inch – this governs the quality/ resolution of the final product), the type of file that should be uploaded and the image size. I should also mention that you can chose either single or double sided cards and it even lets you decide how you want your card to be flipped (i.e readable from a horizontal or a vertical flip).

Once uploaded the site provides you with a virtual proof (something that other printers charge for) which shows you where the card will be cut, where the ink will bleed to and where the text should be within. This again helps you see several of the main problems before you send it to the print:

1) If it’s a colored card it needs to go beyond the bleed and the cut lines to avoid white lines on the edges.

2) To avoid text hitting the edges of the card you can use the text lines.

3) You can actually see if it’s centered, if it all fits and if it looks good.

The price was fairly reasonable in comparison to other sites I saw and the service that they offered. I spent about £100 for 250 cards (double sided) and 250 flyers (single sided). As with all printers it’s the start up cost that hurts the most so make sure you order enough to keep you going.

Apart from the virtual proof the other great thing that Overnight Prints has going for it is the after order service. You can keep an eye on your order from “waiting to be printed”, “waiting to be shipped” and then via UPS you can watch it every step of it’s journey from them to you. They are however based in Europe but it arrived within the week and UPS allow you to pay for 2 day delivery if you’re desperate.

These features made life very simple and are why I’d recommend these guys to you as a printer. The quality and service were all excellent.

Hopefully by writing this and my follow up post I’ll be able to answer these questions myself. I think I’ve come to a conclusion with my first question; what type of mic should should I be looking at?

Bell Clip Mic Vs Any Other Mic

I’m not a fan of the bell clip mic. I know a few people who have said that they have scratched and damaged their instruments using them. I have to say from my own experience I’ve never suffered damage from bell clips but the it’s the sound and tone quality that has never been great and puts me off.

I suspect that’s because the trumpet sound doesn’t centre itself the instant that it leaves the bell. My Calicchio in particular hits its sweet-spot about 30 cm away from the bell.

The Red Circle indicates the area that bell clip would pick up whereas the green is where a mic stand can potentially pick up for the best sound. So ideally we’d be looking for a mic that gives you the freedom to move as the bell clip does yet has it’s placement further from the bell to receive a better sound.

Enter the specialized trumpet microphones.

Specialized Mic Vs Stand Mic

The great thing about the specialized trumpet microphones are that they’re specific design for the instrument. You obviously gain the freedom of movement, not having to worry about your mic placement ever few minutes, whilst having the mic closer to the horns sweet-spot. This gives a better and more accurate representation of your true sound. It also looks very cool.

But there are certain things that the mic can’t do. Not all because of design flaws but by the very nature of the mic itself.

It’s not the most popular thing to do but you’d be a liar to say that if you didn’t want to give certain parts of a chart that extra kick you’d move onto your mic a little more. I’m sorry sound engineers, I only do it a little bit. You can’t do this simply due to the nature of any kind of attached mic.

There’s also the big issues of valve sound and the increasing the potential for problems. The valve sound comes from the mic being attached to the trumpets frame. Any clicks from the valve will vibrate straight into the mic along with any other unwanted sounds. There’s also the problem that adding wireless technology into the mix could also end in disaster. It only takes a bad sound engineer, a flat battery or standing in just the wrong place to cause some serious problems in a gig.

So here is my big question. Is the specialized mic better than a stand mic? If so, does it bring enough to be worth the investment? My Solution?

The only way I can find out is to try. So I’ve managed to borrow one from a fellow pro which I’ll be testing out on my next Shades gig. It’s the only real way to find out if it works for me without spending a small fortune first. I’ll post my findings and more details on the mic itself after the gig in a few weeks.

I’ve been lucky in that both my Dad and Brother have Sat-Nav’s that I’ve been borrowing theirs whilst mine’s been broken – I’m ashamed to say that I’d be lost without it.

I think a Tomtom is an absolute must for any professional musician. Especially if you are a freelancer. With gigs up and down the country in different places every week life would be a lot more stressful without it. I gigged all the way through college and before. I remember what it was like before my pal Tom came along.

It would involve AA route planner, the map in the back of my car and setting out an hour or more before the eta (estimated time of arrival). Pulling over in side roads to look at the map when you miss your turn, driving slowly with the aa route planner pinned to your car wheel whilst you look for an allusive road. It was a far more stressful and dangerous way of getting to gigs.

Now you bang in the postcode, get the eta (leave time for traffic and warming up) and away you go. In saved petrol costs and convenience it’s paid for itself a million times over.

Tomtom – a must for the professional musician.

I’ll tell Ashley (from upstartblogger.com ) about the new mobile blogging craze… I think I’ll have to get him to master texting first though

I’m out again today on a couple of gigs in Huddersfield and Blackburn. It’s nice to be busy. I’ll miss it in the cold winter months when the gigs are few and the money is none.

I did manage to get the CD drive on my Macbook fixed whilst wandering round Coventry on the break in my gig. That’s typical. All those “experts” over the phone couldn’t help me re-aline my disc tray without a consultation fee of £50 but the guys in the Mac store work there magic and in 30 seconds it was fixed.

After that it would be rude not to offer them my custom. So I bought a couple of leads which have helped me give my macbook a second screen. This will come in useful when I get my interface and will make me a nice little home studio!

I’ll snap a few shots once all that’s done. But all in all, a good day for technology in the life of Matt!!

I used them in the first half of my Soul gig on Saturday and it was like I didn’t have them in. In fact, during the break I took them out and completely forgot to put them back in for the shorter second half and by the end my ears were ringing.

Even though this was a pain in the ear it does show that they do work. And this time I didn’t even puncture my brain putting them in : P . I’ll be sure to give them one more review to see if they can make it 3 for 3 and earn my stamp of approval.

It’s looking good so far…

Obviously as a professional musician I need to look after my ears so I carry a pair of foam ear defenders in my trumpet case.

You know the ones. They’re 75p a pair and obliterate all sound. Unfortunately this makes you sound like your playing under water. The tricky thing with musicians and ear defenders is that you need them to protect your ears whilst at the same time allowing you to hear your surrounding and most importantly yourself.

Simple Comparison

As you can see the Audio Relief Ear Defenders protect your ears from damaging upper and lower frequencies whilst allowing you to hear yourself and the group. Unfortunately chances are you’ll never find a stylish set of ear plugs whatever you decide to go for.

Quick Note: Do be careful when putting them in as I think I pierced my brain on the first attempt.

All in all on it’s first testing this seems to be a very good product and a musicians must. Especially at the low price of around £12. To find out more go to audiorelief.com.

I play on a Monette B4S for my classical and solo work as it gives me a beautiful free and sound. The range I achieve with it is not as extreme as the GR but still more than enough for the styles I use it for.

You can see a picture of my mouthpiece in the 2nd Master Musician photo. It’s gold with a conical shaft.

Getting a Monette trumpet is something I’d love but not until I’ve earned one. I think that’ll take some time : ) . But it’ll be worth it.

It’s just another one of those things that every trumpet and brass player has to deal with. Especially in the winter lips can get dry, chapped cracked and sore. Playing on this is painful and often effects the quality of playing and stamina.

The usual solution to this is using lip balms and vaseline. However these can cause dirt to accumulate in your pores which lead to spots around your lips – which is even worse than the initial problem – and there are other things that work well but are designed to make your lips softer – again, this is not a byproduct that brass players want.

I found this stuff a few years ago called; 8 Hour Cream, by Elizabeth Arden.

To continue writing from this point makes the post seem more and more like a cheesy TV ad but stay with me.

This stuff is a little pricey but a tube will last year a whole year. The great thing about this is it absorbs into the skin so doesn’t encourage spots and can be played on soon after application. It also helps to speed up the recovery of already damaged lips whilst still keeping your chops strong rather than soft.

It’s well worth the price and last time I was in Boots they were handing out testers so check it out if you suffer from any of the above.

If you’ve read my other mute posts you’ll know that I use a jo ral harmon and straight. So you won’t be surprised to read that I also have a jo al tri-tone mute.

However you may be surprised that this isn’t the mute that I use.

The tri-tone is a good mute which comes with three grades of dampening rings (this isn’t the technical term, but they are ring shaped and they absorb sound). This gives you a physical degree of control with the sound it produces. The more rings; the increasingly dampened the sound.

The problems are:

- It doesn’t fit in the large bell of my Calicchio.
- Even when I use it with my Callet (which it does fit) I don’t need that much control over a cup mute.
- It creates more resistance than it’s mute brothers (harmon and straight)

The mute I actually use is one that I previously thought was crap (getting to the point ). This assumption was made when I was younger and it was purely based on it’s aesthetic look supported by no practical experience.

The Humes and Berg Cup

Not too pretty but an extremely light weight and potent mute. Free blowing and stable in the trumpet bell.

These are the basic short list of properties I look for in my mutes. To put it another way I look for a mute that feels like it isn’t there but sound like it is. That’s the properties of the Humes and Berg Cup!!