Making a Scene Presents

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Joyann Parker Joyann Parker is an American roots and soul singer-songwriter whose powerhouse voice and emotionally rich songwriting have made her one of the most compelling independent artists in today’s modern roots landscape. Blending blues, gospel, jazz, R&B, and vintage Americana, Parker pairs raw vocal authority with deeply human storytelling. Known f...

The 10 Most Common Home Studio Mistakes (And How to Fix Them Without Spending More Money) Home recording has never been more accessible. You can buy a solid microphone, a capable interface, a powerful DAW, and professional-grade plugins without leaving your house. On paper, there has never been a better time to record your own music. And yet, a lot of home recordings still sound thin, harsh, muddy...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Carrie Zavala Zavala Sol is a San Diego–based five-piece band blending blues, swing, Southern rock, and funk into a sound that feels both timeless and fresh. Formed in 2022, the group came together with an almost immediate musical chemistry, driven by powerful original songs and a shared commitment to groove, storytelling, and high-energy perfor...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Terry Robb Some musicians collect awards. A rare few become so closely associated with excellence that an award ends up bearing their name. Terry Robb is one of those rare artists. Born in Vancouver and now based in Portland, Terry Robb is widely regarded as one of the finest acoustic blues guitarists on the international stage. His mastery of fingerstyle...

Making a Scene Presents - Tonalic by Celemony: Intelligent Loops That Actually Listen to Your Music There are two kinds of tools in modern music production. The first kind makes noise faster. The second kind understands music. Most loop tools fall into the first category. They give you sound, but not context. You drag something in, hope it fits, and then either force your song to work around the l...

Making a Scene Presents - Record Labels Aren’t Evil—They’re Just Optional Now For most of modern music history, record labels were not just powerful. They were necessary. If you wanted to record, distribute, promote, or even be taken seriously, you needed a label. That reality shaped everything artists were taught to believe about success. Get signed. Give up control. Hope for the best. But here i...

Making a Scene Presents - Fixing Weak Performances Without Re-Recording: Ethical AI Editing There is a quiet fear that sits in the back of a lot of recording sessions. It shows up right after the take feels emotionally right, but technically messy. The singer rushed a line. The guitar player dug in too hard on the chorus. The drummer pushed the fill just enough to make the groove wobble. Everyone...

There is a quiet problem ruining a lot of good music before it ever has a chance to connect with listeners. It is not bad songwriting. It is not cheap microphones. It is not even weak mixes. It is loudness. More specifically, it is the guessing game around loudness that happens in home studios every single day. http://www.makingascene.org

Making a Scene Presents - What Actually Matters When Building a Home Recording Studio A no-BS guide for indie artists who want results, not gear lust Let’s be honest. Most home recording studios fail long before the first note is ever recorded. Not because the artist lacks talent. Not because the gear is cheap or outdated. They fail because the studio was built around shopping instead of decision-...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Julia Eubanks of Agnes Uncaged Agnes Uncaged, formerly known as Creeping Charlie, has quickly become one of the most compelling voices in Midwest indie rock. The Minneapolis-based band has earned attention for their guitar-driven, cinematic sound that balances raw emotion with melodic beauty. Critic Chris Riemenschneider called Julia Eubanks “one of the Tw...

Making a Scene Presents - The DAO Label Model: When Artists and Fans Run the Business For decades, the record label model has followed the same harsh pattern. A small group at the top controls the money, makes the decisions, and sets the direction for everyone else. These decisions often happen behind closed doors, far away from the artists and fans who actually create the value. Artists write the...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Willie Edwards Wille Edwards is a Cornwall-based musician, songwriter, and the driving force behind the internationally acclaimed band Wille and the Bandits. Known for his eclectic style and fearless approach to genre, Wille has built a career that moves freely between blues, rock, folk, and world music, creating a sound that feels both timeless...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Daxton! Daxton Monaghan is an Australian singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose music lives at the crossroads of grungy blues, psychedelic rock, and funk-driven soul. His sound is raw and adventurous, built on thick guitar tones, expressive vocals, and a fearless approach to songwriting that refuses to sit inside one genre. http://www.makingascene.org

Designing a Full Fan Passport System for Indie Artists A practical, real-world deep dive using tools you can use right now This is not a theory piece. This is a build guide. A Fan Passport system sounds fancy, but in practice it is just a way to stop forgetting your fans. It is a way to make sure that when someone shows up for you, buys something, or supports you in real life, that moment is remem...

Why Your Fan Data Is Worth More Than Your Music If you are an independent artist, this is a hard truth that cuts against almost everything you were taught. Your music is no longer the most valuable thing you create. Your fan data is. Even more uncomfortable is this reality: recorded music has largely lost its status as a product. http://www.makingascene.org

Making a Scene Presents - Fender Steps Into the Studio World With Fender Studio Pro 8! For decades, Fender has been the company most musicians connect with guitars, amps, and the idea of owning your sound from the very first note you play. Fender has always lived at the start of the music chain, where hands touch strings and sound is born. What has changed is how far Fender now follows that sound....

Making a Scene Presents - The Home Studio Is Not a Shortcut, It’s a Strategy For a long time, the home studio has been talked about like a backup plan. Something you use only because you cannot afford the “real thing.” A temporary setup you tolerate until a label calls, or until you can scrape together enough money to book time in a flashy room with a massive console and someone else running the s...

Making a Scene Presents - AI Chatbots for Musicians: 24/7 Fan Engagement Without Losing the Human Touch There’s a quiet lie baked into the modern music business. It tells you that if you want real fans, you have to be online nonstop. You have to reply right away. You have to post every day. You have to treat the algorithm like your boss, ready to jump the second it whistles. And if you don’t keep...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Carley's Wreck and Ruin Carley’s Wreck and Ruin is a British blues duo with a dark, unmistakable edge. Their sound is raw, primitive, and haunted — a mix of gritty blues and trashy roots that feels like it crawled up from somewhere old and restless. http://www.makingascene.org

Making a Scene Presents - SSL Auto Bundle Deep Dive Review If you make music at home, you already live with a constant push and pull. You want your songs to sound finished, confident, and professional. You want them to hold up when played next to commercial releases. But at the same time, you don’t want every session to turn into a deep dive into technical theory. You didn’t start making music so...

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 ser...

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. http://www.makingascene.org

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 bu...

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–b...

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 trac...