Making a Scene Presents

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Dee Anderson

Dee Anderson is a London-based actress and creative professional whose work is deeply shaped by a remarkable family legacy in British television and storytelling. She is the daughter of television pioneers Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson, the visionary creators behind Thunderbirds, the groundbreaking 1960s puppet-based action series that redefined children’s television and influenced generations of filmmakers, designers, and science-fiction creators.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Andrew Clendenen

Andrew Clendenen is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose music blends thoughtful storytelling with emotionally direct performances. Rooted in classic songcraft and shaped by modern influences, his work sits comfortably between folk, Americana, and roots-driven indie music.

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Why an Indie Artist Needs Two Additional Companies, Not a Dream and a Prayer

Let’s start by being honest, because this is where most music advice goes soft. If you are an independent artist releasing music without a record company or a publishing company, you are not actually “free.” You are exposed. You may feel creative freedom because no one is telling you what to write or record, but from a business point of view, your music is drifting with no structure holding it in place. There is no clear owner on paper. There is no system...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with The Lucky Losers

The Lucky Losers are an award-winning six-piece blues and soul band from San Francisco. Since 2019, they have won six Independent Blues Awards, including Artist of the Year for vocalist Cathy Lemons and Song of the Year for “Godless Land.” The band is fronted by Lemons, a powerful singer raised in Dallas, and Phil Berkowitz, a New Jersey–born harmonica player and vocalist known for his distinctive style. Together, they lead a band that blends blues, soul, rock, gospel, and Americana into a bold, full-band sound built mostly on ori...

Making a Scene Presents - Focal Listen Professional Headphones - A Deep Dive Review
Why Tracking Headphones Matter More Than Most People Think

Tracking is where the music actually gets captured. This is the moment where a vocal performance is frozen in time, where a guitar part becomes permanent, and where mistakes either get fixed now or haunt you forever. Mixing can polish things later, but tracking is where the foundation is poured. If you can’t hear clearly while tracking, everything that comes after gets harder.

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Making a Scene Presents - The Hard Truth: You Already Run A Business, You Just Haven’t Admitted It Yet

If you’re releasing music and touring locally, regionally, and nationally, you’re not “trying to make it.” You’re already operating a real business. Money comes in. Money goes out. Contracts get signed. Taxes show up whether you feel ready or not. The only question is whether you’re going to run your music business on purpose, or let it run you by accident.

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Making a Scene Presents -The Indie Artist’s Guide to Writing a Real Business Plan

For independent musicians, the music business can feel confusing, overwhelming, and honestly a little intimidating. You make music because you love it, not because you dreamed of spreadsheets and contracts. But here’s the truth nobody tells you early enough: if you want music to be your career instead of an expensive hobby, you need a business plan. Not a corporate one. Not a label-style fantasy deck. A real, usable plan that reflects how music actually works today.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Andrew Strong

Andrew Strong was born in Dublin in November 1973 into a deeply musical family. His father, Rob Strong, was one of Ireland’s most respected rock singers in the 1970s and remains active in music to this day. Growing up around performers and rehearsals, Andrew was drawn to music early and naturally.

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Making a Scene Presents An Interview with Ross Neilsen

Here’s a rewritten and expanded version that keeps the facts, adds context, and smooths the story into a clear, compelling narrative.

Ross Neilsen didn’t build his career in a straight line. In 2007, he quit his job, gave up his home, and moved into his car so he could follow music full-time. For the next two years he couch-surfed, slept wherever he could, and stayed on the road almost constantly. That choice shaped everything that followed. The highway became his classroom, his stage, and his home...

Making a Scene Presents - THE HITS ACT EXPLAINED FOR INDIE MUSICIANS (NO LAW DEGREE REQUIRED)

If you’ve ever finished a recording project, felt proud of the music, and then felt sick when you added up the studio bills, this article is for you. Recording costs hit indie musicians before the money comes in, sometimes long before. The HITS Act exists because lawmakers finally recognized that problem and tried to fix part of it.

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Making a Scene Presents - Unreal Engine 5.7 For Music Videos A Deep Dive Review

Epic Games built Unreal Engine to make video games, but that is no longer the most interesting use case. Over the last few years, Unreal has quietly become one of the most powerful tools for film, television, and music visuals. Version 5.7 continues that shift. It is not a toy, and it is not a filter. It is a real-time world-building engine that lets independent musicians create cinematic environments that used to require soundstages, location permits, crews, and serious money.

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IPFS and the Decentralized Music Archive
How Indie Artists Can Host Their Entire Catalog, Serve Every Kind of Fan, and Build a Real Legacy

For decades, independent artists were handed advice that sounded helpful but quietly worked against them. Upload your music to platforms. Share a link. Trust the system to take care of the rest. On the surface, that sounds reasonable. In practice, it put your entire career inside systems you never controlled. Dropbox links expire or get buried. SoundCloud accounts get capped, throttled, or flagged. Platforms change pricing, remove features, rewrite terms, or simply...

Making a Scene Presents - AI Won’t Kill Music Careers—Starving Artists Will

As we head into the New Year, it’s time to take an honest look at one of the hottest and most misunderstood topics in the music industry right now. Every few months, the same cycle plays out. A scary headline appears. A new AI tool gets released. A video goes viral showing a fake song that sounds like a famous artist. Almost overnight, the mood shifts. The conversation turns dark. People start saying AI is going to replace musicians. They claim creativity is dea...

If you’re an indie artist working from home, green screen might sound like something left over from old Hollywood movies. It can feel outdated, expensive, or disconnected from the way modern AI video works. That assumption couldn’t be more wrong. Green screen is actually one of the most important tools you can pair with AI today, especially if you want your music videos, branding visuals, and short-form content to look cinematic without burning money on locations, crews, travel, or permits.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Levi Platero

Levi Platero is from the Navajo Nation in the Southwest United States. He first gained national attention with his family band, The Plateros, who emerged in 2004 as a blues-rock power trio often compared to artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Los Lonely Boys, and ZZ Top. The band spent more than a decade touring across the U.S., building a reputation for their high-energy live shows and strong musicianship.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Johnny Barracuda of the Soho Dukes

SOHO DUKES won’t admit it, but they’re having a very good time.

The band began in an unlikely way, not in a rehearsal room, but as a nineteenth-century–style drinking club roaming the pubs of London’s West End. On one of those legendary crawls, Bomber on bass and Johnny Barracuda on vocals crossed paths with Col “The Duke” Foster on rhythm guitar and Age Blackwell on drums. As the nights grew longer and the beer got more expensive, two more ess...

Recording Vocals at Home: From Living Room to Radio-Ready

Recording vocals at home used to feel like settling. You’d stand in a bedroom or living room, sing into a mic, and then hope the computer could “fix it” later. That old approach is done. These days, an indie singer with a normal room, a few smart choices, and good habits can record vocals that sit right next to commercial releases without sounding out of place. Not because home gear is some kind of magic cheat code, but because the real process of making great vocal recordings is fin...

Making a Scene Presents - Why AI Video Finally Makes Sense for Indie Artists using AIVideo.com

For most independent musicians, the music video has always been the most expensive piece of the puzzle. You can record at home, distribute digitally, market on social platforms, but the moment visuals enter the conversation, the price jumps and control disappears. Crews, locations, schedules, favors, compromises. That is the old system. AI video changes that system, not by replacing creativity, but by breaking the video down into its smallest, most manageable parts.

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Making a Scene is reaffirming and expanding its commitment to the independent music community with a clear editorial mission: to continue delivering in-depth, practical journali/sm that helps artists take control of their careers instead of asking for permission from systems that were never designed to work in their favor. This commitment is not rooted in trends, hype cycles, or surface-level commentary.

It is grounded in the belief that a healthy music ecosystem depends on a strong, informed, and economically sustainable music industry middle class made up of independent artists who understand both their creative value and...

Making a Scene Presents - What the Hell Is an AI Agent and How can you Use it for your Music Business

Let’s strip the mystery away right now. An AI Agent is not a robot. It’s not a sci-fi brain. It’s not some Silicon Valley thing meant for billion-dollar companies. An AI Agent is simply a digital helper that can think through tasks, make decisions, and take action for you, without you babysitting every step.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Johnny "V" Vernazza

Johnny “V” Vernazza was born in San Francisco and raised in Daly City, right in the middle of one of the most explosive music scenes in American history. In the 1960s, the Bay Area wasn’t just alive with music, it was overflowing. Clubs were everywhere, and it was normal to jam at four or five spots in a single night. Add legendary rooms like the Fillmore, the Avalon Ballroom, and massive concerts in Golden Gate Park, and you had a city where music wasn’t a hobby, i...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Laura Rain

Detroit is a city built on grit. After decades of being written off, it is rebuilding itself as a powerful center of ideas, art, and creation. The city is once again attracting artists, innovators, and dreamers who bring new energy and purpose to the Motor City. Detroit didn’t lose its soul. It was just waiting for the right moment to rise again.

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Making a Scene Presents - Why the Music Industry Middle Class Matters More Than Superstars
The Lie We Were All Sold

From the very beginning, most musicians are taught the same story, whether anyone ever says it out loud or not. If you work hard enough, sacrifice enough, and stick it out long enough, someone with power will eventually notice you. A label. A manager. A gatekeeper of some kind. That moment, we’re told, is when your real career finally begins. Until then, you’re expected to struggle quietly and call it “paying your dues.”

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Making a Scene Presents - The Power of Reference Tracks: Learning to Mix by Listening

If you want your mixes to sound more “pro” without buying more gear or plugins, this is the shortcut nobody talks about enough. Reference tracks. Not copying. Not stealing ideas. Just listening smarter.

Most indie artists think mixing is about twisting knobs until things sound good. That’s half true. The real skill is knowing what “good” even sounds like in the first place. That’s where reference tracks come in. They train your ears faster than any tutorial ever will.

Making a Scene Presents - Record Labels Should Be Terrified: Artists Are Building Their Own Economies

For most of music history, there was one road. If you wanted a career, you went through a major label. They had the money, the power, the distribution, and the connections. Artists were told this was the only way. Sign the deal. Give up ownership. Wait to get paid later. Maybe. That story is breaking down fast. Today, artists are quietly building something new. Not a trend. Not a side hustle. A real replacement. Artists are creating their own economies where mu...

Making a Scene Presents - Web3 Sync Licensing: Decentralizing the Music-to-Media Pipeline
The Old Sync Game Is Rigged (And Indie Artists Know It)

If you are an independent artist, you already know the truth about sync licensing, even if nobody ever said it out loud. The system is closed. The gates are tall. The same names show up again and again in film, TV, and video games. Music supervisors pull from trusted libraries, pre-cleared catalogs, and relationships built over decades. If you are not already inside that circle, you are usually invisible.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Murali Coryell

Murali Coryell’s story is one of deep roots, hard-earned growth, and a lifelong connection to music that runs far deeper than a famous last name. His journey started before he could walk. He was held as a baby by Jimi Hendrix, lived with Carlos Santana, and grew up around dinner tables shared with Miles Davis. Music wasn’t something he chose later in life. It was the air he breathed from the very beginning.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Katy Dann

Katy Dann is a Welsh singer and songwriter who writes and sings straight from the heart. Her music blends rock, pop, and soul into a sound that feels powerful, honest, and deeply human. There’s emotion in every line she sings, but it’s balanced with strength, confidence, and a sense of joy that pulls listeners in fast.

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Making a Scene Presents an interview with Robert Top Thomas

Robert “Top” Thomas comes straight out of the Florida backroads, where the air is thick, the nights are loud, and the blues still mean something. He’s a swamp blues musician in the truest sense, pulling his sound from muddy rhythms, raw guitar tones, and stories that feel lived in, not written for show. When Top sings, it sounds like a late-night confession on a screened-in porch, with cicadas buzzing and a storm rolling in from the Gulf.

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Making a Scene Presents Ace Studio 2.0 Artist Edition: The Deep-Dive Review Every Indie Musician Needs

The walls of the old music industry are falling, and indie artists are finally getting the tools they deserve. For years, only big studios and big budgets had access to high-end vocal production, full instrument libraries, and teams of session singers ready to jump in at any moment. But now there’s Ace Studio 2.0 Artist Edition, a tool that lets any indie musician create pro-level vocals, harmonies, and expressive instruments right inside their home studio.

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Making a Scene Presents - Decentralized Touring & Ticketing: Taking Control of Live Revenue

If you’re an independent artist, you already know the truth. Touring is the lifeline. It’s the one place where you can still earn real money, meet real fans, and feel like you have a shot at building something that actually belongs to you. But the moment you step onto the traditional touring path, you slam headfirst into the same old walls that have stopped artists for decades. The big one is ticketing. Ticketmaster-style gatekeepers sit in the middle of everything, stacking fees on f...

Making a Scene Presents - How to Use AI Art to Build a Visual Brand Fans Remember

How indie artists can use Midjourney, Ideogram, and Leonardo.ai to create a powerful, consistent visual world

When people talk about branding in the music industry, it usually sounds like something only major labels can afford. Big agencies. Big budgets. Big teams deciding what your album art should look like or what colors fit your vibe. But that world is dead. Indie artists now have something better than a room full of marketing people. You have AI art...

Making a Scene Presents - The American Music Fairness Act: What It Really Means for Indie Artists in a World Where Radio Isn’t King Anymore

For years the music business has danced around the same old question. Who gets paid when radio spins a song? If you think the artist gets a piece of that pie, you’re giving the system more credit than it deserves. The truth is, in the United States, the performer and the owner of the recording still earn nothing from AM/FM radio airplay. That weird loophole has survived almost a cent...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with American Mile

American Mile isn’t just a band. They’re a touring machine, a modern voice for Southern rock, and storytellers for the real American struggle. Built on pure road-warrior grit, the band is carrying Southern rock forward with a sound that’s loud, raw, and impossible to ignore.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Claudia Cane

Claudia Cane has been a force in the music scene for almost 25 years. German audiences first got to know her as the voice behind several SAT.1 TV theme songs, including the tracks for Benzin im Blut with Sonja Kirchberger, 36 Stunden Angst, and Die rote Meile. Her distinctive, raspy voice stood out right away. After spending five years in London completing professional training in acting and musical theater, she returned to Germany and quickly became known nationwide.

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Making a Scene Presents - The Secret Power of Sidechains: How They Shape Modern Mixes

If you’ve ever looked at a compressor or a gate and wondered what the little “Sidechain” button does, you’re not alone. Most beginners skip right past it because it looks like something made for scientists, not indie musicians working in a home studio. But the truth is simple. A sidechain is just a way to let one sound control what happens to another sound. That’s it. Once you understand that idea, you unlock one of the most powerful tools in the ent...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Paul Filipowicz

He has been playing the blues for more than 40 years, all while working full-time in construction and roofing to make a living. This year, worn-out knees and elbows finally pushed him into retirement from the heavy labor. Even so, he hasn’t slowed down. He’s now building a cabin near Tomahawk using timber he harvested from his own 70-acre property.

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Making a Scene Presents - What Is Latency? And How to Record Without Losing Your Groove

Written for indie musicians who just want their tracks to sound right without fighting their gear

If you’ve ever tried to record vocals or guitar and felt like your timing was weird, or you couldn’t stay in the pocket no matter how hard you focused, you’ve already met the enemy. That enemy is latency. Latency is one of those home-studio problems that doesn’t care how talented you are. When it’s bad, it throws off your groov...

Making a Scene Presents - Turning One song Into 30 Pieces of AI-Generated Content

How Indie Artists Can Turn a Single Track into a Month of Promotion
The New Reality: One Song Isn’t Enough Anymore

If you’re an indie artist trying to grow your fanbase today, you’ve probably already felt the pressure. You drop a song, you post about it once or twice, and the whole thing sinks into the feed like a stone. It feels unfair, but this is the world we’re in now. The truth is that the platforms don’t pr...

Making a Scene Presents - Touring 2035: Why Your Next Fanbase Will Come From a Wallet, Not a ZIP Code

The touring world you know is collapsing. That old-school strategy of drawing lines on a map, circling major cities, and hoping enough people show up to cover gas is fading fast. For decades, touring was built on guesswork and geography. But the next era of touring won’t be about cities at all. It will be shaped by something far more powerful and far more honest: blockchain wallets. These wallets hold tokens, smart tickets, digital credentials, and little pi...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Kamel L King Entertainment Lawyer and Artist Management

Kamel L. King was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. He studied at American University in Washington, D.C., before returning home to attend Tougaloo College, where he graduated with honors and earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations. He later received his law degree from Mississippi College School of Law, focusing on intellectual property and entertainment law.

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Making a Scene Presents - Why Web3 Touring Collectives Will Replace Booking Agents
How Indie Artists Can Use DAOs, Fan-Powered Ticketing, and Community Spaces to Build Tours Without Gatekeepers

The music industry likes to pretend that touring is some kind of secret science only insiders understand. Booking agents act like they hold magic keys. Venues act like they own every path to a stage. Promoters act like they decide who deserves to play. But if you talk to indie artists long enough, you learn the truth. The system isn’t complicated. It’s controlled. And Web3 is a...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Pierre Lacocque of Mississippi Heat!

On the back cover of Mississippi Heat’s album Footprints On the Ceiling, there’s a photo of a man playing harmonica with such intensity you can almost hear the music in the silence of the still image. That man is Pierre Lacocque—the band’s founder, bandleader, and principal songwriter. What that photo suggests is exactly what his music delivers: a harmonica voice full of fire, soul, and emotion.

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Making a Scene Presents - How to Use ChatGPT to Analyze Your Mix and Make It Better
The New Secret Weapon for Indie Artists Mixing at Home

Mixing your music at home shouldn’t feel like guesswork. But most indie artists know the feeling. You sit in front of your speakers, you start turning knobs, and you hope for the best. Some days everything sounds muddy. Other days your vocals feel harsh and thin. Maybe your kick drum disappears on phone speakers. Maybe you’re scared to even compare your mix to a real release because you...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Pops Fletcher

My story starts at age thirteen in the Roosevelt Jr. High auditorium. Three of us stood onstage with acoustic guitars, blinded by a single follow spot, singing “If I Had a Hammer” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” I didn’t realize it then, but folk music was the doorway that pulled me into a lifetime of performing.

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Making A Scene Is Moving Toward a 100% Ad-Free, User-Supported Future

For more than a decade, Making A Scene has been showing up every single day for the indie music world. We have published fresh content every single day for over 10 years straight. No breaks. No missed days. No excuses. Every sunrise brings new interviews, new reviews, new gear talk, new music business guides, and new tools to help independent artists grow. This is not a hobby for us. It is a mission.

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Making a Scene Presents - AI Isn’t Replacing Musicians—It’s Replacing the Music Industry Middlemen

There’s a strange truth hiding in plain sight in the music world right now, and the only people who seem scared of it are the ones who have the most to lose. If you listen to big labels, legacy execs, and certain industry talking heads, they want you to believe that AI is coming after the artists. They want you nervous, shaking, and convinced that a robot is going to take your guitar, steal your mic, and drop an album on...

Making a Scene Presents - Emotion-Driven Mixing: How AI Reads Feelings to Shape the Sound

There’s a quiet revolution happening in the studio, and it has nothing to do with new mics or fancy compressors. It’s about something deeper. For the first time ever, we have AI tools that can actually read the emotional tone of music. Not just the key, tempo, or waveform shape. I’m talking about mood, feeling, energy, and intensity. This is called emotion-driven mixing, and it’s changing everything for indie artists, bedroom producers, and even film scorers who need to tell...

Making a Scene Presents - AI-Powered Music Ads: Smarter Targeting, Better Results

When you hear people talk about AI in music marketing, it usually sounds like a bunch of tech hype. But the truth is actually much simpler. AI has changed ads on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok in a way that finally helps indie musicians reach real fans without wasting money. You no longer have to sit there trying to guess interests, age groups, cities, or behaviors. The machines do the learning for you. AI watches who reacts to your music, who skips it, who follows, who...

Making a Scene Presents - Warner Music Signs Deal with Suno.com and Ends it's Lawsuit
So… What Happened?

Last week, Warner Music Group (WMG) announced it had settled its copyright lawsuit against Suno. That lawsuit was one of several filed by major labels in 2024 and 2025, accusing AI music generators like Suno (and its rival Udio) of using copyrighted recordings — without permission — to train their AI models.

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Making a Scene Presents - Music Metadata on the Blockchain: Fixing a Broken System

The music industry has a weird problem that nobody outside the business talks about. It’s not streaming payouts. It’s not labels taking too much money. It’s something way more basic, almost embarrassing when you think about it. The whole industry still runs on broken metadata. Metadata is the simple information about a song like who wrote it, who produced it, who played on it, who owns the master, who owns the publishing, and what identifiers track those rights. Without it, the en...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Roy Blumenfeld of The Blues Project

Roy Blumenfeld has lived at the center of some of the most electrifying moments in New York’s 1960s music revolution. Born in the Bronx in 1944, he came of age just as American rock and roll was taking shape. Drawn early to the sounds of blues, R&B, and jazz, he picked up the drums and quickly became part of the city’s vibrant, fast-moving music scene.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Rebecca Downes

Birmingham-based singer, songwriter, and independent artist Rebecca Downes has spent more than a decade building one of the most respected reputations in modern blues-rock. Working closely with longtime co-writer and multi-instrumentalist Steve Birkett, she releases all her music on her own label Mad Hat Records—a fully self-sustained operation that handles everything from writing and recording to manufacturing, marketing, and global distribution through Cargo Records.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Larin Michaels

Born and raised in the heart of Motown, Larin Michaels grew up surrounded by one of the world’s greatest music traditions. He began his musical journey at just seven years old as a drummer, laying the foundation for a lifelong career shaped by rhythm, soul, and unmistakable Detroit grit. By fifteen, Larin had expanded his musical palette to include guitar and piano, and soon formed his first rock band, The Noblemen, with longtime friend Mario Bee. The group quickly built a regional following, performing across the Midwest an...

Making a Scene Presents - The Last Great Land Grab: How Web3 Will Decide Who Owns the Next Music Economy

The music industry is going through one of the biggest power shifts in its history, and most artists don’t even realize it yet. The shift isn’t happening in the headlines. It’s happening underneath everything, in the code, in the way money moves, in the way fans connect, and in the way ownership works online. This isn’t a slow drift like the move from CDs to downloads. It’s a full-on takeover. It’s a land grab...

Making a Scene Presents - AI Audience Targeting: Finding Your True Fans
How Indie Artists Use AI to Locate Real Listeners Before Spending a Dime on Ads

If you’re an indie artist trying to grow your fanbase, you already know the truth that no one likes to say out loud. Posting nonstop on social media doesn’t automatically bring fans. Boosting random posts doesn’t work. Throwing a few dollars at an ad without a plan is basically donating your money to the algorithm gods.

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Making a Scene Presents - Intelligent Room Simulation: AI That Maps Your Studio’s Sonic DNA

When you’re working in a home studio that doubles as a bedroom, office, storage space, and part-time cat playground, it can feel like the whole room is fighting your mix. The low end swells in one corner, the highs disappear in another, and your mixes fall apart the second you play them anywhere else. For years, this was the single biggest problem for indie artists and engineers working outside fancy studios. You could have golden ears, killer monitors, and world-class plug...

Making a Scene Presents - Fan Tokens and Social Currencies: The Rise of the Artist Coins

There’s a quiet revolution happening in the music world, and you can feel it in the air if you’re paying attention. It’s not coming from the major labels or the streaming giants. It’s coming from the artists — especially the independent ones who are finally done waiting for permission. After years of dealing with algorithms that hide your posts, payouts that feel like pocket change, and companies that treat your fanbase like their property, musicians have started to build some...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Henri Herbert

Originally from the UK and now based in Nashville, TN, Henri Herbert has earned a reputation as one of the most electrifying blues and boogie-woogie pianists working today. A permanent resident of the United States, his Green Card was granted specifically for his exceptional ability as a blues pianist—formal recognition of a talent that has taken him across stages throughout the U.S. and Europe.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with AK and the Red Kites

AK & The Red Kites is a modern rock band with a retro-infused edge—big riffs, cinematic soundscapes, and a raw energy rooted in classic influences but driven by a bold, contemporary vision. At the center of this new creative chapter is frontman and guitarist Andrew Knightley, rising from the ashes of his previous blues-rock powerhouse, Trident Waters.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Joel Dupuis

Based in London, Ontario, The Joel Dupuis Band is a powerhouse three-piece delivering high-energy, no-nonsense, straight-ahead rocking blues. Winners of London Blues Band of the Year 2024 and Guitar Player of the Year 2024, they’re known for explosive performances, soulful original songs, and bold, modern spins on classic favorites.

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Making a Scene Presents - Predictive Mixing: How AI Anticipates Problems Before You Hear Them

A Deep-Dive Guide for Indie Artists Who Want a Cleaner, Faster, Smarter Mix

If you’ve been mixing your own music for a while, you already know how chaotic the process can feel. You dial in the vocals until they finally sit right, but then the guitars suddenly jump out too bright. You smooth the guitars, and somehow the kick drum disappears. So you push the kick, and the bass turns to mud. Then you fix the bass, and your vo...

The Importance of Building a Music Industry Middle Class
Why 1,000 True Fans, Smart Business Strategy, and New Tech Can Build a Real Career for Indie Artists

Most people look at the music industry and imagine two extremes. On one side, there are the massive superstars with private jets, giant stadiums, and million-dollar deals. On the other side, there are the struggling artists who play small gigs and try to scrape by. For decades, this has been the story the industry tells. But that story is broken. The truth is that the future of music depends on...

AUTOMATING YOUR MUSIC RELEASE CAMPAIGN WITH AI
How AI Plans, Writes, Designs, and Schedules Every Step of a Music Release

Releasing music used to feel like running a marathon blindfolded. You’d drop a song and hope someone noticed. You’d scramble to write captions. You’d rush to make promo graphics. You’d forget to email your fans. You’d promise yourself you wouldn’t make the same mistakes next time, and then next time would roll around and everything would feel just as messy. The truth is most indie artists never struggled because they lacked talen...

Making a Scene Presents - How to Use Web3 and the Decentralized Music Industry to Build a Sync Licensing Business

If you’ve been in music for a while, you already know the truth — streaming doesn’t pay the bills. The pennies per play model has pushed more and more indie musicians to look for other ways to earn. One of the most powerful options out there is sync licensing — getting your music placed in movies, TV shows, commercials, games, and digital content. But here’s where things get interesting: the rise of blockchain and Web3 technology now makes...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with John Christopher Morgan

John Christopher Morgan is a songwriter, guitarist, and storyteller whose music digs deep into the roots of American sound—where blues, soul, and folk rock collide with raw honesty. With a voice rich in grit and warmth, and guitar work shaped by years of stage experience, Morgan delivers songs that feel lived-in, heartfelt, and unfiltered. Every lyric carries the weight of real stories, real struggles, and real triumphs.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Scott McDonald

Scott McDonald is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter from the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania whose career has been built on crafting memorable, melody-driven rock and pop songs. His music blends the punch of guitar-powered rock with the warmth of acoustic storytelling, creating a sound anchored in strong hooks, rich harmonies, and emotional authenticity. Whether he’s plugged in or stripped down, Scott’s songwriting always puts melody first while still carrying the energy and attitude of classic rock ’n’ roll.

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Making a Scene Presents a Deep Dive into Cubase 15
Early Days — Where Cubase Began

Picture this: it’s the late 1980s. Computers are clunky, floppy disks are king, and the idea of recording full songs on a computer feels like science fiction. Most musicians are still running tape decks and analog gear, but a few forward-thinkers are experimenting with something new — MIDI sequencing. That’s when a company called Steinberg Media Technologies, based in Hamburg, Germany, releases a piece of software that quietly changes everything. They call it Cubase.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Steven C Anderson

Steven C Anderson is a genre-bending pianist and composer whose music sits at the crossroads of classic rock inspiration, sweeping cinematic soundscapes, and intimate solo-piano artistry. With more than 2,000 original works and millions of streams worldwide, Steven has built a career defined by both prolific creativity and emotional honesty. His music moves effortlessly from raw, exposed piano pieces to richly orchestrated arrangements, always anchored in melody, mood, and storytelling.

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Making a Scene Presents - EQ Demystified: How to Really Use Equalization in Recording, Mixing, and Mastering

Let’s be honest — EQ is one of the most misunderstood and misused tools in audio production. Every engineer, from beginners to veterans, has at some point reached for an EQ knob when they probably should’ve just moved a microphone, changed a preamp, or adjusted their room.

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Making a Scene Presents - Real-Time AI Feedback: The Virtual Producer in Your Headphones

Imagine you’re in the middle of a take. The mic is hot, the groove feels right, but suddenly you hear a calm voice in your headphones: “Your vocals are clipping. Step back from the mic just a bit.” You adjust your distance, redo the phrase, and this time—perfect. No ruined take, no distorted peak, no need to scrub through the waveform later. That’s the future of recording with real-time AI feedback—where your computer doesn’t just capture sound, it coaches you.<...

Making a Scene Presents - The Economics of Tokenized Music Rights
How Fractional Ownership and Revenue-Sharing NFTs Are Changing Royalties

In the old days, owning a song meant something simple. The artist wrote it, recorded it, and maybe a record label handled the rest. Money came in through radio, CD sales, or streaming. But most fans never owned any piece of the music they loved, and artists often gave up a big share of their income just to get heard.

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Making a Scene Presents - ChatGPT as Your Personal Music Marketing Assistant
How to Build Your Own “AI Intern” for Emails, Social Captions, and Campaigns

Imagine having your own marketing assistant — someone who knows your artist story, understands your fans, and can help you plan your next release, write your social posts, or even draft your newsletters. Now imagine that assistant never sleeps, never complains, and learns your voice over time. That’s exactly what ChatGPT can be for indie musicians.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Jason Cale

Jason Cale is a powerhouse guitarist, vocalist, and composer whose fearless creativity has birthed a sound that’s as unique as it is electrifying. Leading the charge with The Jason Cale Band, he’s crafted a genre-bending style they call Swampfunk—a fiery mix of soulful blues-rock, gritty New Orleans funk, and adventurous jazz fusion. It’s music that oozes authenticity, groove, and grit—equal parts Louisiana bayou, late-’60s psychedelia, and Southern soul, all stirred together in a modern, high-octane gumbo.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Markus Ullrich of Them

THEM. is the theatrical, globe-spanning metal collective led by German guitarist/composer Markus Ullrich and fronted by enigmatic vocalist Klaus König “KK” Fossor. Based in Germany but drawing from an international roster of musicians, they fuse power and thrash metal with gothic, horror-concept storytelling—delivering both epic musical compositions and immersive visual theatre.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Bryan Schumann

Bryan Schumann is an award-winning composer, producer, and singer-songwriter based in Minnesota. His music weaves together elements of pop, folk, indie, rock, electronic, and classical genres, creating a sound that feels both modern and timeless. Known for his strong melodies and emotional depth, Schumann’s songs range from infectious dance tracks to introspective ballads that linger long after they end.

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Making a Scene Presents - DaVinci Resolve 20: The Ultimate Free Video Editor for Indie Musicians

If you’re an indie musician — writing songs, shooting videos, or just trying to tell your story visually — you’ve probably realized how important good video editing has become. Fans don’t just listen anymore; they watch. Whether you’re putting out a full music video, a lyric visualizer, a rehearsal clip, or a behind-the-scenes vlog, video is the main way you connect with your audience. But good editing software can be expensive, complicated, and often limited unless you pay for premium plans.

Making a Scene Presents - The Roadmap: How to Transition from Web2 to Web3

For most indie artists, Web3 can sound like another buzzword—like crypto, NFTs, or blockchain were just a few years ago. But under the hype, there’s something far more powerful going on. Web3 represents a shift from renting space on platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and Instagram to owning your creative universe. It’s the difference between being an employee and being your own boss. And for independent musicians, it might be the biggest opportunity since the invention of home recording.

http...

Making a Scene - The Sentient Studio: How AI Learns Your Sound Over Time

There was a time when your digital audio workstation, or DAW, was nothing more than a glorified tape machine. You hit record, moved some faders, and hoped for the best. Every time you opened a new project, it felt like starting from scratch. Your EQ curves, compressor ratios, and reverb settings had to be dialed in again and again. You might have had a few saved presets, but the system itself didn’t know you.

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Making a Scene Presents - From Likes to Income: How AI Marketing Translates Fan Engagement into Revenue

There’s a funny thing about the internet. It gives artists more visibility than ever before—yet most indie musicians still struggle to turn that attention into real money. Getting thousands of likes on Instagram or a viral TikTok video feels good, but when it comes to paying rent or funding your next album, likes don’t equal dollars. That’s where artificial intelligence is changing the game.

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Making a Scene Presents - The Indie Advantage: How AI Levels the Playing Field in the Studio
Access to Major-Label Tech, at Home

Imagine being in a major label studio in the 1990s: racks of outboard gear, professional engineers, weeks of tracking, mixing, and mastering. For most indie artists, that meant compromise: cheaper rooms, fewer takes, less time, less polish. But today, AI is giving indie musicians the power to access that kind of technology in a very different way.

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Making a Scene Presents an interview with Samuel Wilbur

Samuel Wilbur returns with a powerful new album, Ivory Tower — a record that feels nothing short of magical. Beyond its cinematic sound and lyrical depth, the album stands out for how Wilbur uses his platform to spotlight some of Minneapolis’s strongest female voices, featuring stunning performances by Meghan Kreidler, Dani Michaele, and Laura Kiernan.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Tola Lamont and Kurt Michael of Coastland Fair

Blending coastal soul with Americana grit, Coastland Fair is the creative union of Tola Lamont and Kurt Michael — two artists whose musical chemistry feels as timeless as the tide. Based on a shared love for organic songwriting and heartfelt storytelling, the duo crafts songs that blur the lines between folk, roots rock, and modern indie pop, wrapped in harmonies that shimmer like sunlight on open water.

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Making a Scene Presents - Mid/Side Processing in Mixing: The Secret to Width, Clarity, and Control

Have you ever listened to a pro mix and thought, “Why does this sound so wide and full, but everything still feels perfectly in place?” That’s not just good EQ or compression — chances are, the engineer used a little Mid/Side processing to get that balance between focus and space.

Mid/Side, or M/S, is one of those behind-the-scenes techniques that can take your mixes from sounding flat and two-dimensional to open, clear, and three-dimensional. Once you unde...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Billy Branch!

Billy Branch is one of the most respected and influential harmonica players of his generation — a true ambassador of Chicago Blues. Discovered by the legendary Willie Dixon, often called the “father of modern Chicago Blues,” Branch was still in college when Dixon took him under his wing. Dixon urged him to complete his degree, which he did, earning a political science degree before joining Willie Dixon’s Chicago All-Stars.

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Making a Scene Presents - AI for Session Musicianship: Tightening, Not Replacing

There’s this fear floating around studios lately — that artificial intelligence is coming to take the jobs of session musicians, singers, producers, even mixing engineers. The truth? AI isn’t here to replace you. It’s here to help you sound tighter, cleaner, and more confident in the studio. It’s a tool, not a takeover.

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Making a Scene Presents - Neutron 5: A Deep Dive Review For Real-World Mixing

If you make music at home or in a small studio, you already know the hardest part usually isn’t the songwriting. It’s the mix. Tracks pile up. Levels fight. Vocals hide behind guitars. Drums either feel weak or way too loud. That’s where iZotope’s Neutron 5 steps in. Think of it like a modern, all-in-one mixing toolkit that combines powerful modules with smart, AI-assisted workflows. You can drop it on individual tracks, stack the modules you need in any order, and even let...

Audius Introduces Artist Coins!

Think of an Artist Coin like a digital fan-club pass. You make a coin under your artist name on Audius. Fans can buy it inside Audius. Holding your coin gets them into your inner circle: early listens, coin-only posts, private chats, special drops, and whatever else you decide to offer. It’s all built into the same Audius site where your music lives, so fans don’t have to learn a bunch of new tools. On day one, Audius already lets you gate music for coin holders and send message blasts to those hold...

Making a Scene Presents - Mix Clarity: The Truth About Masking (And How to Fix It)

by a recording engineer who’s spent way too many nights chasing clarity in crowded mixes

There’s a moment every indie artist hits when a mix sounds almost perfect… but something feels wrong. The vocals are there, the bass is there, the guitars are crunchy, the kick is thumping — yet somehow, it all sounds like a muddy soup instead of a clear, powerful record.

You might try turning things up, EQing harder, or adding compression, but nothing...

Making a Scene Presents - Know Your Fans: How AI Analytics Shows You Who to Market To (and How)

Picture this. You’ve just dropped your new single. You check your stats on Spotify, maybe glance at YouTube views, and you’re left wondering—Who’s actually listening to my stuff? Are they in your hometown? Across the country? Maybe on the other side of the world?

Most indie musicians have asked these questions at some point. The thing is, guessing who your fans are is kind of like throwing darts blindfolded. You might hit somethin...

Making a Scene - Building Your Web3 Artist Brand: How to Present Yourself as a Forward-Thinking Musician

If you’re an independent musician trying to stand out today, you’ve probably noticed that the music world is changing faster than ever. Between streaming algorithms, AI, and blockchain, it can feel like the ground keeps shifting under your feet. But here’s the thing—change isn’t the enemy. It’s the opportunity.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Jimi Primetime Smith

Jimi “Primetime” Smith has lived and breathed the blues his entire life. A veteran guitarist and vocalist, he’s performed with legends like Otis Rush, Albert King, Albert Collins, and Etta James. Though his humble nature often keeps him under the radar, his recent surge of attention is making sure blues fans finally know his name.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Preacher Stone

Preacher Stone was born from guitarist Marty Hill’s vision of creating a world-class Southern rock band—one that carried the torch lit by legends like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, and The Allman Brothers, but with its own modern grit and swagger. Hill’s idea came to life when he teamed up with powerhouse vocalist Ronnie Riddle, whose raw, soulful delivery gave the songs their authentic Southern edge.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Kaitlin Cassady

Kaitlin Cassady is an indie-folk-rock artist rooted in the vibrant Minneapolis, Minnesota music scene. Her sound blends the heartfelt storytelling of Aimee Mann and Carole King with the modern textures of Phoebe Bridgers, Norah Jones, Billie Eilish, and Kacey Musgraves—all tied together with a touch of Brian Wilson’s harmonic sophistication. The result is a rich and emotionally resonant style that explores love, grief, self-discovery, and mental health with unflinching honesty.

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Making a Scene Presents Rethinking Crowdfunding for the Indie Musician in a Decentralized Music Industry
Why rethink crowdfunding?

Let’s begin with a simple question: when you ask fans for money to make an album or go on tour, is that “donation” or “investment”? Traditional tools treat it like donation: you promise perks (a signed CD, a shout-out, backstage passes). But the fan gives you money up front, hoping you deliver. That’s okay, but it doesn’t change the relationship: you’re asking, “Will you support me?”

Web3 crowdfunding changes that. Instead of begging, you offer f...

Making a Scene Presents - A Deep Dive Review of Sonible's Learn:Bundle
What is the Sonible learn:bundle?

First, what is this bundle anyway? Sonible’s learn:bundle is a set of five intelligent plug-ins meant to help with core mixing tasks. Those tasks are:

Equalization (EQ)

Compression

Reverb

Limiting

Unmasking (i.e. helping reduce frequency clashes between tracks)

Sonible describes them as “assistive AI plug-ins” that guide you while you mix.  The idea is that instead of turning knobs blindly, you let the plu...

Making a Scene Presents - AI-Generated Videos & Visuals: Turning Your Songs into Scroll-Stopping Content

For decades, video production has been one of the biggest hurdles for independent artists. Cameras, crews, editors, colorists, and motion-graphics specialists were luxuries reserved for labels with budgets to burn. For indie musicians, even a simple music video often meant calling in favors, borrowing gear, and learning to edit on the fly.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Miss Emily

Back in the 1990s, twelve-year-old Emily Fennell from Prince Edward County, Ontario was already turning heads at county fairs, winning one singing competition after another. While other contestants played it safe with songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” or “I Will Always Love You,” Emily stopped audiences in their tracks with K.D. Lang’s haunting version of Patsy Cline’s “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray.” That bold choice — and the spellbinding performance that came with it — said almost everything about the artist she would become. She had a voice that demande...

Making a Scene Presents - AI in Metadata & File Prep: Smarter Exports for Distribution
What is metadata, and why should you care about it?

Imagine this: you write a song, record it, and then send it out into the world. But who “owns” that song? Who wrote it? Who should get paid when people listen? How will streaming services or radio stations know which song it is, among millions of others? That’s where metadata comes in.

Metadata is “data about data.” In music, metadata is all the information attached to a recording (or a track) t...

Making a Scene Presents - Reverb: The Secret Sauce of Space – History, Types, and How to Use It Like a Pro

When you listen to your favorite song, there’s something that makes the sound feel alive — it breathes, it moves, it fills the air. That magical sense of space comes from one of the oldest and most loved tools in audio engineering: reverb. Whether it’s the dreamy echo behind a vocal, the lush wash on a guitar solo, or the big, booming snare sound of the ’80s, reverb shapes the emotional depth of music more than most...