And no...it isn't because of the flannel.
When I was growing up, my dad would always listen to the national radio station, RÚV Rás 2.
He said it had the best
music.
As a kid I shrugged because I didn't know any better.
When I became an obnoxious teenager I rebelled against this opinion, going Team X-ið ið FM 9.77 all the way.
It was the rock station and it played all my favorite angsty early 2000s hard rock like Deftones, A Perfect Circle, Incubus and the like.
My dad shrugged because he probably had more important things to worry about...
("Whatever son, I'll just listen to Rás 2 at work, y'know, while making the money to feed, clothe and house you...🤦♂️")
This summer, when I went back to Iceland for five weeks, I realized that my dad was right all along.
RÚV Rás 2, even though it's the national radio, plays better music.
Rás 2 introduces you to newer music and champions upcoming artists, like any great community radio station should.
X-ið on the
other hand, is still firmly stuck in the 2000s playing stale hits.
So after five weeks of listening to Rás 2 in Iceland, I've smuggled the habit with me to the United States and now I listen to it religiously at home.
Ergo, I've turned
into my father. Irritating my wife with Icelandic news on the hour every hour is just a bonus.
But what that means for you is knowing that people all over the world still very much listen to the radio.
And if you want your music to be
heard on the radio, your music has to be "radio-ready."
Even in the era of streaming, making radio-ready music is still just as important.
Because if it ain't good enough for radio, nobody will care enough to stream it
either.
So if you're struggling to make radio-ready music, the two best places to start are by reading my Step By Step Mixing book, and downloading my Audio Issues EQ plug-in.
My book teaches you the fundamentals of making radio-ready music, and the Audio Issues plug-in shows
you exactly where to EQ your mixes to make them stand out.
And wouldn't you know, Step By Step Mixing is back at #1 on Amazon in one of the audio categories!
