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Show Day and Costumes Dance Recital Guide

Dance Recital Guide: Costumes and Show Day

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Check out the second installment of our Dance Recital Guide! The first blog can be found HERE. This one is all about taking care of your costume and getting ready for the big show day. Special thanks once again to Ms. Ayleen for writing this helpful content.

Costume Care:

  • If your costume gets dirty, spot clean with cold water and mild soap.
  • DO NOT use washing machines, dry cleaning, or ironing.
  • If needed, gently steam the costume using a garment steamer to remove wrinkles.

Shoe Care:

  • For leather shoes, use matching foundation to cover up dark spots and abrasions for photos.
  • For canvas shoes, gently spot clean with cold water and mild soap.

Costume Preparation:

  • Make sure costumes are neatly hung up.
  • Talk with your dance teacher about specific problems such as itchiness or undergarments showing before the show day.
  • Wear seamless and skin-colored undergarments or a leotard under your costume
  • Make sure straps are clear and/or convertible. This ensures that no straps are visible on stage.

To keep the fluff and poofiness of the costume:

  • Hang costume upside down
  • Gently use hairspray on the bottom of the tutu to keep its shape
  • Gently and lightly hairspray tights to prevent rips

 

Show Day Preparation and Tips:

  • Bring hair and makeup items in an extra bag for emergency touchups.
  • If participating in more than one dance, bring bags to separate shoes, costumes, and accessories.
  • Assigned backstage parents will be made aware of costume changes. Review costume changes with them and let them know if you will need assistance.
  • Set up a small station for your costume change. Take your costume out of your garment bag, lay shoes on the floor beside it, and have all accessories close by and ready to go.

Bonus Tips:

  • If possible, bring an extra pair of tights in case of a rip.
  • Use body glue if your dancer is doing tricks, doesn't wear tights, or if the costume moves a lot.
  • For any questions regarding costumes, please ask your dance instructor.
  • Label the dancer's name on the costume, tights, and shoes.

Recital Checklist:

  • Checked dancer information sheet
  • Bought tickets
  • Packed hair supplies for touchups
  • Packed makeup for touchups
  • Packed a small snack
  • Packed a lot of water
  • Packed backup tights (if you have extra)

 

Dealing With Nerves:

Recital day is a very special day for all of us. All season long, our dancers have made bonds with their dance friends, had fun in class, and practiced their dance to show a big audience. However, for many, this is their first time on stage. Even if they have done a show before, the nerves may still be there. Here are some ways to help ease their nerves on show day:

  • Find a story or book that relates to your dancer. My personal favorite is “The Night Before My Dance Recital”
  • Write a special note for your dancer to read backstage.
  • Talk to your little dancer. Ask them what their favorite part about dance is! Get them excited about being able to dance again!
  • After the show make them feel special! Getting on stage and dancing is a huge success. We are proud of our dancers for following their passions and we want to encourage that and help them find confidence on stage, before and after a show.

 

Conclusion:

We can't wait for our big Spring Dance Recital, and we hope that this information is helpful to our dancers! Remember to check out the other half of this guide as well as our other posts on the Knowledge Blog. Until next time, keep dancing, and see you at the show!

Dance Recital Guide Hair and Makeup

Dance Recital Guide: Hair and Makeup

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It’s Dance Recital Season, so I thought we should share some great advice and guidance on how to best prepare your dancer for the big show! Special thanks to Ms. Ayleen for creating this excellent content. Please note that students of other dance programs may have slightly different requirements – the instructions here are what we use at Songbirds. Stay tuned for next week’s Knowledge Blog which will include more Dance Recital information like costume care, tips for handling nerves, and special things to bring to the show!

Styling Hair for the Dance Recital:

Any of the following hairstyles are great choices for a Dance Recital. Be sure to check with your instructor to see if she has a preferred choice for your routine!

Ballet Bun With a Donut

  1. Slick the hair back into a high ponytail
  2. Place the donut onto the base of the ponytail
  3. Spread hair around the donut and secure it with a hair tie
  4. Wrap the remaining hair around the base of the bun
  5. Secure all the hair with pins and hair ties
  6. Slick back the hair using gel, hairspray, hairnet, etc.

Ballet Bun with Thick Hair

  1. Slick the hair back into a high ponytail
  2. Separate the hair into two sections
  3. Start wrapping one section of the hair around the ponytail. Secure it in place with pins
  4. Take the second section of hair and wrap it around the first section. Secure it in place
  5. Repeat these steps until all of the hair is wrapped and secured.

High Ponytail

  1. Trace your finger from the ear to the top of the head. This is where the ponytail should sit
  2. Slick back the hair and gather it all together where the ponytail should be.
  3. Secure the hair with hair ties, spray, gel, etc.

Half-up Half-down

  1. Trace your finger from the ear to the top of the head. This is where the ponytail should sit.
  2. Starting at the ear, use a comb to part the top half of the hair. Secure it at the top of the head.
  3. Secure with hair ties, spray, gel, etc.

Low Ponytail

  1. Part the hair in the middle
  2. Slick back the hair to the back of the neck
  3. Secure with hair ties, spray, gel, etc.

Low Buns (for Acro)

  1. Unless specified otherwise, low buns are the required Acro hairstyle.
  2. Use the same method for ballet buns to create a bun at the back of the neck.
  3. Ensure that the dancer can perform performance tricks with ease with the hairstyle

Styling Short Hair

  1. Use half-up half-down styles to be able to secure as much hair as possible
  2. Use extra pins, hairspray, and gel to ensure hair does not fall out
  3. Use low buns instead of ballet buns

Special Notes and Tricks:

Hairspray and Hair Gel should be used for all hairstyles. This ensures that all flyaways and baby hairs are tamed and that the hair stays put through the entirety of the performance.

Bobby Pins and Ballet Pins should be used for most hairstyles. These also ensure that all hair stays put through the entirety of the performance.

Thick U-shaped ballet bun pins are best for all bun hairstyles.

Hair Nets should be used for all bun hairstyles to keep the hair secure for the show.

ballet bun dance recital
Ballet Bun
High ponytail dance recital
High Ponytail
half up half down dance recital
Half-Up, Half-Down
low ponytail dance recital
Low Ponytail
low bun acro dance recital
Low Bun (for Acro)

Makeup Tips for the Dance Recital

Base

  • Having a base ensures that the dancer doesn't show any redness on stage
  • BB creams are perfect for littles and beginners for makeup. They reduce redness but they're not as heavy.
  • Foundation is recommended for older dancers who might need fuller coverage.

Face

  • Bronzers and blush help bring dimension back to the dancer's face as stage lights wash out facial features.
  • Highlighter helps accent the cheek and eyebrow bones.
  • Tip: you can use these as eyeshadows!

Setting Powder

  • Powders are amazing for covering any sweat or oil that is emphasized by stage lights and photography.
  • Use a powder with color to avoid flashback.

Setting Spray

  • Make sure to find a mattifying setting spray
  • Setting sprays help blend the makeup together and prolong the look.

Eyes

  • Mascara and eyeshadow can be so fun to play with for dancers!
  • Use your bronzers, blushes, and highlights as shadows for your eyes to avoid extra expenses!

Lips

  • Make it pop with some lipstick!
  • Try to avoid glossy lip products to prevent smudging on the face
  • Go towards darker and bolder colors to prevent being washed out.

Conclusion:

I hope that this helps your dancer prepare for the big day! Stay tuned for some more excellent Dance Recital tips next week, and until then, check out our other Knowledge Blog posts!

Watercolor Batik

Batik for Beginners

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Batik is a super cool and unique method of painting! We are excited to offer our first Watercolor Batik Class at Songbirds, so I wanted to write a little more about what Batik is like!

 

The Paper:

Most paintings are done on canvas or watercolor paper, but Batik requires special Asian-produced products like Awagami Ginwashi rice paper. These papers take water differently, are often semi-transparent, and have different strengths than what you may be used to. Fortunately, you can use any regular watercolor paints to create a Batik piece.

 

The Special Method:

Batik focuses on the technique of using a Resist, or a material that blocks water and paint from soaking into the rice paper. For Batik, it’s common to use paraffin wax. If you’ve ever died Easter eggs using the wax pencil or experimented with the mysterious white Crayola crayon, you probably know how to do this trick already. Watercolor paints won’t penetrate wax – Batik exploits this by slowly building up colors around areas that have been coated in wax and will therefore remain white or transparent.

Melted wax is carefully painted on the rice paper and allowed to dry before the watercolor paints are brushed over the design.

 

But Wait – How Can I See It?

With wax being white and difficult to see, how can you know where to paint? Remember that rice paper is semi-transparent! It’s common to draw a design on regular paper with a dark marker and place it under the rice paper. Batik is like advanced-level tracing! You can also use a permanent, waterproof pen to sketch outlines and designs directly on the rice paper before applying wax or paint.

 

Sealing:

After your Batik design has been painted, it’s time for one more exciting step! Most pieces are coated with a thin wash of wax and then crumpled up after the coat has dried. This forms thin cracks in the wax. A final wash of color can be painted over this and sealed in again with a coat of wax, creating a distressed and vibrant finish over the design!

 

The Display:

The finished Batik piece remains semi-transparent, so there’s a lot of creative wiggle room with how it’s displayed! You can experiment with different colors and brightnesses of backing and matting to make the work really pop.

 

Conclusion:

We can’t wait to learn Batik with Patte Kayne at Songbirds! Check out our first Batik class HERE, and stay tuned for future updates to the Knowledge Blog! Until then, keep creating!

Guitar Tone Guide

Guitars: What Actually Matters for Tone

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We are ecstatic to announce our new dealership agreement with Ibanez! In light of the good news, I felt it prudent to write a blog about what actually impacts an electric guitar’s sound and playability. This is a hotly contested topic, and there is no shortage of opinions online. I recommend following the advice of individuals who have done genuine scientific experiments and have building experience to back up their claims. I have personally built several guitars from scratch and have repaired many instruments of varying quality. The opinions here are what I’ve discovered – if you have varying information, please let us know!

A further disclaimer: Paul of PRS Guitars famously follows a 21-point checklist that his company developed. This list includes 21 points on the instrument that impact sound quality. My list below isn’t to say that I don’t believe Paul or conventional wisdom on the topic – I’m just of the belief that the list can be heavily skewed towards things that matter a lot versus things that hardly matter at all.

What Matters A LOT:

  • Pickups. At this stage of my career, I’ll die on the hill that pickups are the most important feature of an electric guitar. This is only tied with the neck (see below). A good quality pickup can make or break the sound of the instrument and how the signal is translated to the speaker.
  • Pickup orientation. There’s a huge tonal difference between single-coil pickups, humbuckers, active pickups, and other types that you commonly find in guitars. For example, the thinner, chime-y sound of single-coils is what defines country, southern rock, funk, and classic rock. What’s more, the pickups can be wired to virtually any configuration. Whether it’s three-position, five-position, or more… coil tapping, wiring mods… the possibilities are endless and can all change the tonal palette that you have on your instrument.
  • Neck/Fretboard. The neck of the guitar has the biggest impact on how it feels when played. In my opinion, a good neck should be straight and slick with frets that are set well and intonated correctly. If the neck is excellent, your playing will improve dramatically.
  • Setup. Every guitar needs a professional setup to play and sound its best. A setup includes action adjustment, or how high the strings are from the fingerboard, and intonation adjustment, or how in tune the guitar is with itself. Both of these have a massive impact on how easy it is to play and how correct it sounds.
  • Speaker/Amp. This a bit beyond the scope of this blog, but your output setup matters. An incredible and expensive guitar will only sound average when played through a low-quality speaker or amp. Balance the quality of your speaker with your guitar for best tonal results.
  • Tuners. I’ve found that tuners don’t change the sound of the instrument – their job is to stay in place and be reliable. However, this is important when you’re playing frequently and doing lots of re-tuning and bending. Low-quality tuners will go out of tune frequently and make your instrument sound wonky. I always recommend locking tuners – even the cheaper models are above and beyond what standard tuners can accomplish in regard to reliability.

What Matters A LITTLE:

  • The pick that you use. Picks of different hardness and elasticity will have different strengths of attack against the strings. This mostly translates to loudness, but different picks also change how you play.
  • The strings. You’ve probably heard of string gauge, or how thick a string is. You can get monster sound from both thick and thin strings – what really matters is tuning stability and sustain. Thicker strings stay in tune longer and sustain more, but they are difficult to bend and can hurt the fingers. Thin strings have the opposite features. Experiment with what size strings are best for your play style, and don’t forget that fresh strings will always sound and feel better than old ones.
  • The nut. Players often get into arguments about what material of nut is best for the sound of the guitar. I don’t have strong opinions on this topic, but I do believe that cheap plastic nuts should be swapped out for better-quality materials like bone, synthetic bone, or brass. This is to prevent breakage and keep the strings in tune longer.
  • Internal electronics. Better quality electronics like potentiometers and wires don’t have a huge impact on the signal of the guitar, but they’re much more durable and feel better to use. I always recommend swapping out stock electronics for ones of better quality simply because they’ll last longer and resist wear.

What HARDLY MATTERS at all:

  • “Tonewood” or what the body is made of. This has a big impact with acoustic guitars, but it doesn’t matter very much at all for electric guitars. Your primary concern with the body should be its shape (how does it feel to hold it and play for extended periods?) and its weight. There’s nothing worse than playing a multi-hour gig with a brick tied across your shoulders. Check out this video by Glen Fricker for a tonewood side-by-side comparison (parental discretion advised: language) and this video of that one time someone made a cement guitar.

The Final Takeaway:

If I were building a guitar on a budget for a professional gig, I’d splurge on nice pickups and a good neck. Nothing else has a massive impact on my style of playing. Check out this video for a demonstration of why pickups matter, even when there isn’t a guitar body at all.

I hope that this helped clear some things up! Let us know if you’d like to check out some awesome new Ibanez products, and until next time with the Knowlege Blog, keep practicing!

How to Actually Count Triplets

How to Actually Count Triplets

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Music notation is full of all kinds of tricky rhythms, but one of the hardest to master as a beginner or intermediate student is the triplet (duhn duhn duhnnn!). Learn how to properly count it with this guide. Once you learn how to count them, you’ll never have to second-guess triplets again!

 

What is a Triplet?

In case you missed it, a triplet is a group of three notes that are grouped together. They often have a beam that connects them, and there’s almost always a little ‘3’ above or below them to indicate that they belong in a triplet group.

Triplets are tricky (say that ten times fast) because we often encounter them in even-beat meters like 4/4. In these meters, we usually count and feel the rhythmic stresses in groups of two. For example, eighth notes are commonly counted “one and / two and / three and / four / and”. With triplets, you have to somehow smush three notes in a space that normally only fits two. Eighth-note triplets go by slightly faster than their eighth-note counterparts, for example. So, how do we accurately count this?

Bonus: Triplets exist in triple meters like 6/8 all the time. We feel and count groups of three easily in that territory. A group of two notes in a triple meter behaves and “feels” like a triplet in 4/4. This is called a duple and goes by slightly slower than the normal triplet grouping. For example, in 6/8, three eighth notes normally fill half the measure, or the space of one dotted quarter note. A duple fills that same space, so those two notes are heard as just a little slower or elongated. Duples in triple meters are the opposite of triplets in duple meters.

 

How Triplets are Taught:

There’s a lot of variance in the way that music education is approached across the world. From general music class teachers to private instructors, a lot gets missed along the way. I was taught that triplets should be felt, not counted. This is pretty tricky for a middle school band kid. My teacher said that you can count triplets by saying “tri-pl-et” for each note as they go by. So, in 4/4, I could count it as “one and / two and / three / and / tri-pl-et”. I’ve heard that this method is still pretty common.

The issue with this is that there isn’t a way to tell which beat (or where in the beat) you are. We usually count sixteenth notes as “one ee and ah / two ee and ah / three ee and ah / four ee and ah”, so we should adopt a similar trick for triplets.

 

Count Triplets Like This:

One ah lee / Two ah lee / Three ah lee / Four ah lee.

If you prefer, you can think of it as “ollie” and imagine the notes doing cool skateboard tricks on your music.

This style of counting will help you always know where you are in the measure. If you have sixteenth-note triplets, you can insert the syllable “ee” like we do for regular sixteenth-notes. That would sound like this: “one ah lee / two ah lee / three ah lee / four ee ah ee lee lee”.

 

A Note (Pun Intended) on Counting:

This could get its own blog post (and maybe it will), but Counts and Beats are NOT the same thing. They often get used interchangeably, especially in school. Here’s the difference:

Counts are how you navigate the music. If our song is in 4/4, it has four quarter notes in the measure and we COUNT the unit of the quarter note. We say “one, two, three, four”. If the song switches to 2/4, we still COUNT quarter notes, but only two: “one, two”.

Beats are how you FEEL the music. There’s not a consistent way to feel music, and beats can be fluid. In 4/4, we commonly feel the strong beats on beats one and three. In a dance song, you may COUNT in four but BEAT (or feel) the music in two.

This is easier to hear in 6/8. In this example, we count sixth eighth notes per measure, or “one two three four five six”. I’ve highlighted counts one and four because those are usually the strongest counts and are where we feel the beat. A student playing the music may be counting in 6/8, but the conductor leading the band may be using a conducting pattern that only has two distinct motions – a beat of two. Something to keep in mind, especially when learning trickier rhythms like triplets.

 

Conclusion:

I hope this helps you work on triplets and other more advanced passages in your music playing! Stay tuned for more information on the Knowledge Blog, and keep practicing!

Special Thanks to Dr. Tim Peterman, drumming extraordinaire, for clarifying the mystery of triplets. 🙂

Acrylic Paint

Acrylic Painting at Home Tips and Tricks

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Are you in love with making great art at home? Maybe you took some of our virtual paint night classes during the lockdown, or maybe you’ve practiced some of the techniques that you learned at our Songbirds Art Parties. Little tips and tricks can go a long way in making your painting more enjoyable and successful – read on for seven tips on how to better create with Acrylic Paint at home!

 

Why use Acrylic Paint?

I love acrylic because it is the perfect intersection of easy, forgiving, and affordable. Oil paints are expensive and take a long time to dry, while watercolors are messy and can be frustrating if you make a mistake. Acrylic paints dry quickly, blend well, and can be easily painted over in layers. What’s more, you can find really nice paints at relatively cheap prices.

Tempera and kid-safe paints are great for little ones, but those products often have weaker pigmentation and don’t produce as nice a result. Try to move to acrylic when the little artists are ready (just don’t forget that acrylic doesn’t come out of clothing or fabric).

 

On to the tips!

 

Keep Your Brushes Wet

There’s nothing worse than a dried-out and paint-encrusted brush. Once paint has hardened on the hair, it’s almost impossible to resurrect it. While working on your piece, keep any brushes that have been used submerged in your water cup just in case. This also makes it easier to reform the bristle with your fingers later on!

 

Don’t Leave Brushes in Cups Overnight

While we want the brush hairs to be clean and supple for painting, leaving them in water cups overnight or for extended periods can ruin them. This can permanently deform the hairs so that they have a kink and aren’t as easy to use. When you’re done painting, dry out the brushes with a paper towel and reform the hairs with your fingers.

 

Try Using Primers

Even the best acrylics have variations in pigmentation strength. For example, the purple that we use at Songbirds is ridiculously strong compared to the other colors with the same brand. Using primers, or a neutral base coat, goes a long way in leveling the playing field with your colors. The best primers are white, grey, and black. Experiment with using white or grey with lighter colors like yellow and orange. Grey primer goes best with medium-weight colors like blues and greens, and black primer is best for heavy browns, purples, and reds. Any normal acrylic in your collection can be a primer, or you can slightly water down your paints for a primer wash coat.

 

Figure Out a Plan of Attack

When I teach Art Parties at Songbirds, I always start by discussing what colors and shapes should be painted first. Because some colors are way stronger than others, it often doesn’t make sense to start with the traditional method of background first, then foreground second. With acrylic, it makes the most sense to start with the lightest colors and work towards the strongest, darkest shades. This strategy can be modified with the use of primers, but you’ll often end up implementing a lot of layers and waiting for the paint to dry. This is also nifty because you can use the darker layers to correct and neatly outline the lighter layers that have already been applied.

 

Know Your Paints

This takes practice and experimentation, but as I’ve hinted, knowing your paints and how they interact goes a long way in making cleaner and more professional pieces. Try to stick with the paints that you have for a while before introducing a new brand or color. Different brands may blend strangely or have different consistencies. The most important thing to know like the back of your hand is which colors are heaviest and how they should be layered.

 

Take a Step Back

When working for long periods, take frequent breaks to stretch your legs and rest your brain. It’s a good idea to view your work from a distance and in different lighting conditions. I’ll never forget the very first Art Night event that I attended way before Songbirds was created – we were painting a tree scene in a dimly lit bar and everything looked fantastic… until we went outside in the daylight and realized that all of the paints were neon for some reason. Taking a step back can help you plan your next move and appreciate your hard work!

 

Learn Some New Techniques

If you’re feeling in a rut, try attending a Paint Class at Songbirds or watching some videos on new paint techniques that you might have missed like drybrushing, blending, stippling, and more! It’s also refreshing to get way out of your comfort zone and experiment with a different art style – if you always paint realism, why not try some cubism or surrealism? The sky’s the limit, and each experiment will only make you a better artist.

 

Thanks so much for tuning in to this week’s Art Blog! Check out our Art Classes and Art Parties at Songbirds, and stay tuned for more helpful information on our Knowledge Blog!

Ionian and Aeolian How to Use

How to Use Ionian and Aeolian

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No, those aren’t Pokemon, I promise! (Although, if you want to make a musical Pokemon spinoff, I’m all ears!). Ionian and Aeolian are two easy and familiar Musical Modes that you probably already know how to use! If you’ve missed our previous posts in this series, check out Dorian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Phrygian. After today, we only have one Musical Mode left before you’ve become the very best and caught them all – congrats!

 

What is Ionian?

Ionian is just a fancy name for our beloved Major Scale. There are no alternations or special tricks. As a reminder, the Major Scale in C looks like this:

 

C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C

 

It’s easy to remember how to make a Major Scale in any key by using the following pattern:

 

Whole – Whole – Half – Whole – Whole – Whole – Half

 

This pattern reminds us of the order of Whole and Half steps that are between each note. For example, there is a Whole Step between the first two notes of the Major Scale (C and D, in our example). If you can remember the pattern, you can make Ionian in any key!

 

Using C Major, the chords in C Ionian are as follows:

 

C – Dm – Em – F – G – Am – Bdim – C

 

What is Aeolian?

Aeolian is just a fancy name for the Minor Scale. Like with Ionian, there are no special tricks or alternations necessary! We’ll use A Minor because it’s the easiest to visualize – it uses all white keys on the piano and shares the same key signature with C Major:

 

A – B – C – D – E – F – G – A

 

If you are trying to get to Aeolian from Ionian, simply lower the third, sixth, and seventh notes. Here’s C Ionian again:

 

C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C

 

Now, if we lower the third, sixth, and seventh notes by a half step, we get C Minor, or C Aeolian:

 

C – D – Eb – F – G – Ab – Bb – C

 

That’s it! After checking out all those other crazy modes, Ionian and Aeolian are a piece of cake.

 

Not So Fast!

Wait a minute, what about the other forms of Minor? Minor Scale enthusiasts know that there are three common forms of the Minor Scale. These are Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, and Melodic Minor. The Aeolian Mode is another name for the Natural Minor Scale. Harmonic and Melodic Minors are not Aeolian.

 

A Note (pun intended) on Harmonic and Melodic:

Here’s how to make the Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales if we’re starting from Natural Minor (Aeolian). For Harmonic Minor, simply raise the seventh note of the Natural Minor Scale. The A Harmonic Minor Scale looks like this:

 

A – B – C – D – E – F – G# – A

 

That’s opposed to the Natural (Aeolian) Scale that features a G natural, not a G#.

 

Melodic Minor has an unusual rule: it uses different notes depending on whether you are ascending or descending the scale. On the way up, the Melodic Minor raises the sixth and seventh notes of the Natural Minor. In A, that looks like this:

 

A – B – C – D – E – F# – G# – A

 

But, on the way down, the alterations disappear. We are left with the Natural Minor (Aeolian) on the descent:

 

A – B – C – D – E – F – G – A

 

The entire A Melodic Minor Scale, ascending and descending, looks like this:

 

A – B – C – D – E – F# – G# – A – G – F – E – D – C – B – A

 

Just a reminder: Aeolian only applies to the Natural Minor Scale. It’s still fun to use the other forms, though!

 

Conclusion:

I hope that this edition of Musical Modes was easy to digest and put into practice. Ionian and Aeolian are always around us, and their sounds are baked into our musical listening experience. Stay tuned for our last installment all about the craziness, wackiest, and strangest mode of all – Locrian! In the meantime, check out our other posts on the Knowlege Blog – and keep practicing!

Electrical Components Basics

Basic Components for Electronics

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Basic components in electronics are all around us, but most people don’t really know how they work! It’s crazy to think that almost every device from the smallest computer mouse to the biggest airplane all function with a handful of tiny components – it’s really like Legos for engineers! It isn’t difficult to get started with electronics. This blog will inform you about what each unique component commonly does, and further posts will give some ideas about how to use those components in cool circuits! Keep in mind that this will have a slight bias toward audio – I’ve worked on a lot of amps, speakers, keyboards, and pedals!

 

Power Source:

Electricity is generated in two ways: Alternating Current (AC), and Direct Current (DC). Now you know why the rock band AC/DC has a lightning bolt in their logo! AC is what runs through your house and most buildings. AC is dangerous and can cause bodily harm (or worse!) if you get zapped. DC is what almost all small devices like computers, phones, TVs, and more run on internally. Most DC devices don’t have a ton of voltage, and oftentime DC isn’t that dangerous. Most basic electronics projects run on 9v DC current, or the same power as a 9v battery. If you’ve ever licked a 9v, you know it’s not so bad. 😉

Almost all circuits need active power to function.

 

Resistors:

Ah yes, the mighty resistor. The true workhorse of every electronic circuit and one of the most basic components. A resistor’s job is simply to resist the flow of electrical current. A resistor doesn’t stop electricity, it just slows it down and reduces its power. We commonly think of electricity like a flowing river – in this example, a resistor would be a big boulder that slows down the water as it rushes by. Resistors have color bands on them. These bands tell you how strong the resistor is, or what its value is. Resistance is measured in Ohms, or Ω.

Technician Hint: Resistors rarely fail, and when they do, it’s pretty obvious. Look for burnt or discolored resistors in your non-functional devices. Resistors can fail open or closed, meaning that bad ones can either allow the electricity to pass unimpeded or will completely block the current altogether.

 

Diodes:

Diodes are awesome little guys that fill a couple of important roles. The most unique quality of a diode is that it only allows current to flow in one direction. Every diode has polarity, or a positive and a negative side. Flipped one way, the diode will prevent all current from passing through the circuit. Flipped the other way, and the circuit will receive power.

Almost all devices include a diode for polarity protection. This brave little guy stands faithfully by the incoming power and will sacrifice himself if there is a surge, or if someone plugs in the wrong power adapter. By doing so, his noble death saves the rest of the circuit from being zapped!

In audio applications, diodes can also be used as clippers. This means that they clip off the top and bottom of the waveform. This causes distortion, or that rock and roll sound that we all love! Every diode is different and will clip in different ways – that’s where a lot of the fun and experimentation comes in.

Technician Hint: LEDs are also diodes. LED stands for “light-emitting diode”, and they make fantastic-sounding clippers. What’s more, LEDs light up when the sound signal passes through. It’s pretty cool to stick clipping LEDs out where they are visible – the guitar pedal or amp will flash while you play!

 

Transistors:

Like diodes, transistors can be used in a couple of different ways. Most commonly, transistors make things louder – almost every guitar pedal, amp, and speaker uses at least one transistor to boost the incoming signal. Transistors can be chained together to REALLY make the signal loud.

Transistors also can be used like a switch. When certain electrical conditions are met, a transistor can turn on or turn off a section of the circuit.

Certain transistors can be quite rare and valuable for those seeking “mojo part” tone and quality. If you have antique electronics like radios or anything made in the USSR, you probably have some cool parts hiding under the hood!

Technician Hint: Transistors come in a wide variety of configurations and polarities. Always check the model’s datasheet online to make sure that it’s compatible with your project.

 

IC Chips:

The most famous of them all – the IC or computer chip! IC stands for “integrated circuit”. These little bug-looking guys contain entire circuits within their black bodies, carefully wired and connected on a micro level. ICs can do nearly anything and are the brains of every circuit. Analog ICs are common in guitar amps, speakers, and pedals. They do things like amplify the signal, add delay, add reverb, and even convert the sound signal to binary! Digital ICs have limitless application and can be found in your phones, computers, cars, and more complicated audio electronics like PAs, keyboards, and synthesizers. This is the most advanced member of the group of basic components – ICs can even involve coding and all that fancy computer science work!

Technician Hint: ICs are the most fragile part of your device. Always handle with care and install them last when possible. Avoid static electricity buildup and excess heat!

 

Capacitors:

Capacitors are the trickiest basic components to understand at first. They are found in nearly every circuit and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some capacitors have polarity while some, often the smaller ones, do not. Capacitors act like little batteries within the circuit. They take an incoming charge, store it within themselves, and discharge it out the other side when they can’t hold any more. If we use the water imagery, pretend that electricity is like a garden hose. Someone has put the hose in a bucket and left it to run. When the bucket is full, the water will spill out and water the garden. In this example, the bucket is the capacitor! Capacitance is measured in Farads, but most devices have tiny slivers of this measurement for their capacitors. For example, it is very common to see units of picofarads, nanofarads, and microfarads!

Technician Hint: Capacitors are the usual culprits when a circuit fails. Look for the big barrel electrolytic capacitors – if they are bulging, cracked, or leaking, they have gone bad and need to be replaced. A good capacitance meter goes a long way in saving time on diagnosing issues!

 

Hardware:

Of course, there are a lot of other bits and pieces to every circuit. You’ve got switches, knobs, sliders, LCD screens, charging jacks, and more! None of these are very complicated, and we’ll go over the two most common: potentiometers and switches.

A potentiometer (or pot), is just a knob or dial. Pots act just like resistors – in fact, they can be called “variable resistors” because they change how much resistance is being applied to that part of the circuit! Think about a volume control on the radio – if you turn the pot all the way to the left, the pot is at max resistance because no signal is allowed to pass. If you turn it to the right, the resistance slowly lessens until there is none – and the signal gets loud!

A switch simply completes or breaks a circuit. In your house, there are many lightswitches that are constantly receiving power from the breakers. If the switch is off, the circuit is broken and no power is permitted to travel to the light. If the switch is on, a small piece of conductive material bridges the gap between the incoming power and the light, and voila: let there be light!

 

Conclusion:

I hope that you’ve learned about basic components and what each one can do! With this information, you can tinker with your own circuits and even learn how to repair your own devices that may be acting up. Stay tuned for more information in coming blogs about some starter circuits that you can try, and check out our other awesome posts on the Songbirds Knowledge Blog! If you're hungry for more information, check out this great YouTube channel – it taught me a lot, but take it slow as it can be pretty in-depth!

Basic Components Electronics
EQ Mixing Guide

EQ for Beginners

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Now that recording audio and video is accessible to almost everyone, learning a little about mixing can help your content stand out from the crowd. The single most important edit to any sound recording is Equalization (EQ). Correctly using it gives your work a professional, polished sound! Check out this guide if you are a musician, sound tech, videographer, social media content creator, and more!

The Tools

There are a ton of apps and programs that allow you to adjust EQ. Fortunately, the principles of it are the same across every platform. While other programs intended for video editing may include EQ, Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) offer the most utility for music and audio. The most popular ones, in no particular order, are Logic Pro X (Apple Devices only), Garageband (Apple Devices only), Reaper, Cubase, Avid Pro Tools, Ableton, and Audacity. My favorites from this list are Reaper due to its incredibly low cost and Audacity because it is free. It’s also a workhorse and a very light program that works across many devices. My personal choice is Logic Pro X, but that’s only because I learned it first.

If you're interested in learning more about Logic Pro X (especially if you're a beginner), check out this awesome guide by our friends at SoundsWow, an excellent resource for home recording, audio learning, and music making.

Note: There are many ways to access the use of DAWs through free trials and other… less legal… means. If you are brand new, don’t go out and buy a full version of one of the expensive ones. Sign up for a trial or stick with Audacity for now.

Steps for EQ Setup:

  1. Take a recording of an acoustic sound in your DAW of choice. Use a good quality microphone and try to capture the sound as cleanly as possible at the source. This recording could be an instrument, the human singing voice, or even spoken word. Avoid digital instruments for now as most are already EQ’d and edited for general use. Ensure that the signal is hot enough for you to see and hear the waveform completely.
  2. Load or access the EQ plugin on your DAW. This should display a flat horizontal line. Be sure that the plugin is turned on! This is what EQ looks like in Logic Pro X.
  3. If possible, turn on live tracking so that you can see the shape of the soundwave on playback. This isn’t necessary, but it helps identify troublesome frequencies.
  4. Play around! Without reading further, apply peaks, valleys, and shelves to the sound signal. The horizontal line will change to a wave, cliff, or whatever you set it to. You’ll notice that the sound of your recording will change a lot. Try to break it and make it sound crazy on purpose – this is the best way to learn the breadth of EQ before we dial it back.

Refining EQ:

Now that you’ve played around and heard what EQ can do, let’s discuss some common tricks for cleaning up the sound of your recording. Why is this important? There are a lot of frequencies in the audio spectrum that don’t need to live in your finished product. Too many will make your project sound muddy or not as crisp as it could be. Almost every single sound sample or track on your favorite song has a generous heaping of EQ applied – that’s why it sounds so good, after all!

Note: EQ adjustment involves both boosting and cutting certain frequencies to clean up the sound of the recording. Boosting refers to increasing a frequency, and cutting is reducing one. An EQ curve that looks like a bell would have cuts on the low (left) end, boost in the center, and cuts on the high (right) end. Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz).

  1. The Low End: It’s always a good idea to limit the sub-frequencies of any recording. This includes low sounds like a bass drum or bass guitar. Select a steep shelf with your EQ program and cut off all frequencies below the 40Hz mark. This will prevent rumble and bass echo. Higher-pitched instruments or sounds can benefit from starting the cut-off higher, like around 80Hz.
  2. The High End: Experiment with using shelves at the high end as well. Low instruments like a bass guitar may require a high cut to eliminate noise and digital artifacts from the recording process. Acoustic instruments and voices may benefit from using a high-shelf boost. This opens up the frequency spectrum and can give the recording more headroom. This means that it sounds more open and airy.
  3. Undesirable Sounds: Listen to your recording and try to pinpoint any specific sound characteristics that you don’t like. This might be a howl or hum if the microphone was placed too close to the sound source. It could also be microphone feedback or sibilance, that annoying harshness that comes through when singers pronounce the “s” sound too clearly. Select a steep valley shape on the EQ and slowly drag it through the remaining audio field. The goal is to cut the sound sample until the undesirable sound goes away or gets to be as reduced as possible.
  4. General Balancing: It is common for the recording to sound a bit off-balance. Maybe there is too much bass or it sounds a little hollow. Select a gentle EQ valley shape and start by reducing the ranges of the audio field that are too pronounced. If that doesn’t cut it (pun intended), select a mountain shape and boost the opposite frequency range. For example, I may very slightly boost the bass on a guitar recording while simultaneously cutting the treble range, giving it more weight and heft.
  5. Refine: Play back the sample many times and make your final adjustments. You may need to apply the recording to the final project to see how it sits in the mix, or how it reacts to other elements of your project.

Note: Listening on car speakers is often the most reliable way to hear what’s really going on. Take a drive and take mental notes of what may still need to be adjusted.

EQ Tips:

Now that you’re on your way to using EQ effectively, keep these tips in mind:

  1. If it sounds good, it is good. Don’t get caught up in what the EQ field “should” look like. Some recordings may require very little adjustment and some may require a TON. This is particularly valid if you are EQ’ing live sound. Use your ears!
  2. Avoid comparing your progress to the pros. The big professional sound engineers have years of experience and can really hear the difference between the slightest EQ adjustments. You’ll get there with practice. The vast majority of people on this planet will never be able to hear as articulately as those engineers can – so don’t sweat it.
  3. Blind tests are your friend. If you’re in a bind, copy your recording and apply a different EQ to it. Listen back to compare, or ask a friend to alternate between options so that you aren’t able to rely on bias.
  4. Use fresh ears. Work on a project until you get tired, then come back to it the next day or later. Taking a break almost always reveals changes that you weren’t able to hear previously.
  5. Remember the mottos. There are two excellent phrases that help when using EQ or any sound project, and they both mean the same thing:
    1. Projects are never finished, they are only abandoned.
    2. Perfect is the enemy of good.

It’s a Wrap!

I hope that this tutorial gave you the confidence to experiment with using EQ on your content. Stay tuned for future Knowledge Blog articles about other mixing and recording tricks! Check out this cheat sheet and this other cheat sheet to see some EQ curves for common instruments. These are great templates and usually help you get close to the sound that you want to hear – just adjust them to taste!

Note: When I was learning, I printed a bunch of these and kept them near my desk. You’ll memorize the shapes with enough practice! It’s also great to start with templates that exist in your DAW. 🙂

Epoxy Art Crafting Guide

Epoxy Art Crafting Guide

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Epoxy Art Crafting Guide

Epoxy art is one of my favorite projects of all time. I’m sure that you’ve seen amazing tables, countertops, wall art, and even instruments that have striking floods of glossy color in them. With this guide, you can learn how to create quality epoxy art on your own – plus you get to skip all of the mistake steps that I made along the way! This overview contains information that applies to all epoxy projects. If you have a specific out-of-the-box idea and get stuck, don’t hesitate to reach out to Songbirds for some tips!

Not So Fast:

There are some precautions to discuss before we learn how to make epoxy art. Failing to heed these warnings could result in damage to yourself, your work area, and the new piece that you are creating!

  1. Wear a respirator. A full-face one is best. Epoxy releases toxic fumes as it cures, and the curing process can take several days. It is best to work with epoxy outdoors and to leave it in a garage or closet to cure. When you are near the piece, keep your respirator on to avoid headaches and bodily harm. An N95 mask will not protect you from the fumes. Small batches may not be as harmful, but it’s best to be safe anyway.
  2. Protect your work area with disposable plastic sheets or newspaper. Epoxy is permanent and is very difficult to remove once it is cured. It’s best to skip the frustration and prevent messes instead of hurrying to clean them up.
  3. Epoxy sticks to (almost) everything. The project needs to be lifted or suspended in a way so that no other items will touch the epoxy and be bonded to it.
  4. Wear clothes that can get ruined. Epoxy art crafting is incredibly sloppy and you will ruin some shirts.
  5. Take your time. This is a project that shouldn’t be rushed. Each step has a direct effect on the finished piece, so save this one for later if you are in a hurry.

What You’ll Need:

You don’t need much to make an amazing piece of epoxy art! The bare minimum should be:

  1. The art piece or item that you are using for the epoxy pour, if applicable.
  2. At least three plastic Solo (disposable) cups.
  3. Large popsicle sticks or dowel rods for mixing.
  4. Disposable rubber gloves.
  5. Heat gun or hair drier.
  6. Hot glue glun and clear packing tape (only needed for filling voids).
  7. Epoxy. This should come in a set with two bottles or containers and is available at big-box home improvement stores, craft stores, and online.
  8. Patience.

Future Upgrades:

If you like working with epoxy, it definitely helps to get a silicone measuring cup. The bigger the better! Epoxy doesn’t stick to silicone, so anything made from it is fair game. There are some awesome molds available for making epoxy paperweights and knickknacks, plus some people have used the silicone trick to form their own molds and make amazing creations!

Let’s Get Started:

Carefully read the manual or the back of the epoxy box for mixing and curing instructions. Yes, I know that no one does that, but for epoxy, it ACTUALLY matters. The single most important step is the mixing process. Once you know what to do, pour half of what you think you need for your project into a disposable cup. You can use either epoxy bottle for this, just be extra careful to measure accurately. Most bottles have measuring marks on the side.

Note: If you spill something at this stage, quickly wipe it up. Mineral spirits or alcohol may be necessary to remove the tackiness.

Get your stirring stick ready, and pour the exact same volume into the mixing cup from the OTHER epoxy bottle. Set a timer for the manufacturer’s mixing time, and start stirring with your stick immediately. When stirring:

  • Scrape the sides of the cup frequently.
  • Change direction of stir every minute or so.
  • Scrape the bottom of the cup as best as possible.
  • Fold the epoxy in on itself, bringing the bottom of the cup to the top.
  • Do not stop until after the timer runs out.

Note: If you are using colors, add them to the complete mixture before the stirring process starts. Adjust color to taste as you stir. I like using mica powder for this, and a little goes a very long way. Start small! Grainy mixture means that it is not fully mixed, or that you’ve added way too much powder.

Note on a Note: Alcohol inks or other liquid dyes should be added after the pour, if you’re going for surface colorations.

The Pour:

Now that you’ve stirred the mixture completely and your arm wants to fall off, ready the piece of art or object that will receive the epoxy. If this is a flat object that will be flooded, or an item with risk of overflow, make sure that your work space is properly protected from messes. Pouring into a sealed container or a silicon mold is the easiest option for beginners.

Slowly pour the contents of the cup into or onto your piece. Take your time and don’t worry if the finish isn’t level at first – it will ooze and level itself shortly.

DO NOT scrape the sides or bottom of the cup when pouring. This is the easiest mistake to make. Unmixed epoxy hangs out on the sides, and its inclusion can ruin your piece. Unmixed epoxy will never cure and will always remain sticky!

Leave any unused epoxy in the cup and dispose of it safely.

Note: If you want to use alcohol dyes or inks, now is the time to drop them on the epoxy. Experiment with dragging these colors through the mixture with a stick!

Heating and Curing:

Shortly after the pour, tiny bubbles will start to form and rise to the surface of your project. Grab your heat gun or hair drier and put it on the lowest setting. Quickly wave the heat across the surface of the epoxy to instantly pop all of the bubbles! You may need to do this several times after the pour. I’ve found that bubbles stop forming after about fifteen minutes.

For curing, leave the project alone for as long as the manufacturer recommends, plus at least one full day. The fully-cured project should not be tacky or gooey. It also needs to be cured on the inside at its deepest point. To test, lightly press a fingernail into the surface. If it leaves a mark or the project begins to deform slightly, it’s not ready.

Note: Dust and fiber particles in the air will land on the epoxy and can mar the finish. It’s a great idea to drape a plastic sheet over the project or cover it with a box to prevent contamination as it cures.

You’ve Done It!

Congratulations! Once the epoxy art project has cured, slowly pry it from its mold or remove it from the workspace. If there are drips or bumps from overflow, you can carefully trim them with a razor blade or a sharp chisel. Epoxy can also be sanded (a power sander is best!), but epoxy dust is carcinogenic. Sand it outside and definitely wear that respirator!

Epoxy Notes:

Epoxy is just a chemical reaction with a one-to-one ratio of base and activator. You’ll notice that the reaction gives off heat when mixed – cool! Epoxy is a pretty simple compound, so don’t worry about all the different brands that are available. They are almost all the same thing. Find one that is affordable for your price range, and check the color of the liquid before purchase. Some epoxies are more yellow than others – this just means that they have been sitting on the shelf for a while. I have used “stale” epoxy with great results, but go for the more clear ones if you’re worried.

Don’t buy the “deep pour” variants. These products seem attractive, but they actually have a lot of cons:

  • Far longer cure times.
  • Inability to accurately add color and texture within the piece. Pouring in thin layers offers much more control.
  • Potential waste of product. If something goes wrong (like a leak), you will have wasted a lot more epoxy than if you had done a regular pour.
  • Often these are more expensive than regular epoxies.

Epoxy is super hard and durable, but it’s not great for load-bearing applications. If you’re trying to make something like a guitar, a table, a bookshelf, or anything that is going to withstand a lot of force, be sure that the epoxy has proper support and bonds well to a more sturdy material like wood or metal. Epoxy can be drilled and cut when cured, but it doesn’t hold screws well and can crack easily. Always pilot drill holes first and sink any fasteners into a backing substrate like hardwood.

Special Notes for Flood and Void Projects:

Using epoxy for voids is my personal favorite and most rewarding type of epoxy project. However, it’s also the most finicky and can be frustrating. For this example, let’s imagine that we are making a tabletop with an epoxy “river” in the middle. This is one of the most complicated project ideas, so these tips will transfer to other ventures.

We will first need to support the side pieces of the table with a larger piece of plywood or firm, flat material. This will also give the epoxy as base on which to cure. Absolutely cover the support piece in strips of clear packing tape as epoxy doesn't stick to it. Try to keep the strips neatly organized, and they must overlap to prevent leaks. Arrange the table pieces exactly as you'd like them for the final product.

We’ll also need to figure out a way to box the epoxy in on the sides so that it doesn’t flow out. For this, you can use additional wood pieces for a frame that will be a permanent part of the table. You can also use the packing tape trick if you’d like to see the exposed epoxy. For this, wrap some scrap pieces of wood in tape and affix them to the sides of the project using clamps or another semi-permanent method.

At this stage, there should be a clear, boxed-in void for the epoxy to fill. It may look like it, but this is NOT ready for the epoxy and will leak. You must now use a hot glue gun to run a bead of glue across all edges of the void. Seal the tabletop completely to the bottom and side support pieces.

Don’t worry about the hot glue being visible after the pour – it won’t be. It also won’t affect the structural integrity of the piece. Pour away, and after the work has cured, carefully crack the support pieces off. If you’ve avoided leaks, this should be doable with regular hand force. If you have a leak, you might need to find a friend who can help apply more pressure.

Conclusion:

I hope that you’ve learned some great tips on how to use epoxy for your next epoxy art project! Send us pictures of whatever you create, and in the meantime, check out our other blog posts or sign up for an art class at Songbirds!

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