Making a Scene Presents

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 s...

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, com...

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 comm...

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...

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 room...

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...

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...

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 ski...

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 break...

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...

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...

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. http://www.makin...

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 la...

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...

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...

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...

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 perfor...

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. http://www.makingascene.org

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 ye...

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...

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 p...

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 i...

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 st...

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...

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...