Cheap Advice On Music

So who is the Cheap Advice Guy? Well, he’s actually me, Mark Bendig. I live in Columbus, Ohio, and have been writing songs and recording in home studios for many years (decades, if you must know). I also have experience running live sound and operate my own on-location recording company, as well as offering on-location tutoring and consulting on music recording and technology to Central Ohio residents.

I started my home-studio career in the late 60s, using two reel-to-reel tape decks to record my first efforts at songwriting - with the help of my brother Gary on “drums” (cardboard boxes hit with fly-swatter handles) and clarinet.* Since then, I’ve recorded on various 4-track cassette-based Portastudios and 8-track digital units. I currently do all of my recording on a MacBook laptop, using GarageBand, Logic, and Cubase software. I have written and recorded hundreds of songs, many with help from long-time music partner Jack Burgess. (You can hear Jack on many of the songs included with the articles here.)

I’ve set up this site as an opportunity to pass along some of the tips, techniques, and traps I have come across in my years of experience with songwriting, recording, and live sound. (Cheap advice, you might call it.) I am currently working on a series of eBooks on these subjects that I will make available on this site, at reasonable cost. One of them, Cheap Advice On Songwriting, is already out there! Check it out.

All of my articles and eBooks are based on my own experience. These are things that have worked for me, ways of doing things I have developed through trial and error over the years. Many of these techniques are sure to work for you too. Now, I don’t claim to be a top-level hyper-expert in any of these areas. But I have accumulated some wisdom along the way that can be of use to you, right now.

New articles are posted every month or so. (There are about 100 up already!) Comments and suggestions are welcome. I might even agree with you! Send me an e-mail and let me know what you’d like to see on the site.

* In case you are wondering what boxes, three guitars, and two clarinets sound like, click here to listen to the very first song I ever recorded. It’s “First Song” by U-Gaba (i.e. my brother and me), recorded in my bedroom in June 1969. (Note the “drum” solo!)