Beat machine programs are commonly used throughout the hip hop and rap community to create new songs and demos. Depending on the program, these have many different qualities that make creating songs a lot easier.

Many of these programs contain training sequences for the beginner. These will allow you to practice and learn how to keep rhythms, how to pick differently for guitars, and various other beginner fundamentals.

There are also beat machine programs that hold a variety of pre-set beast and rhythms. These are typically made for music that has a more definite beat, like rap and salsa, but sometimes have a general theme-like the 80's. If you're looking to dance, or add your own words to the music, this type of machine will make the process much quicker.

When it comes to the more advanced beat machine programs, these can come in many different forms. Most of these products cost money, but some of them are available to you through the internet. They typically allow you to make more than one track, edit and mix them, lay multiple tracks on top of each other, and add your track to a video. The more expensive beat machine programs also come as soundtrack software and allow you to create a bigger sound with more types of instruments. Some also allow you to publish your work when you're done.

Keep in mind that when you are trying to find the best beat machine software for you, to look for the quality, make sure it has what you will need for your project, and is worth the money.

When starting a band, the biggest mistake that 99% of bands make when they get together is that once they've found all of the "right musicians" they stop looking for musicians altogether. The situation created by this mistake is that when changes occur within the band, sometimes as soon as a month down the road, the band's activities come to a screeching halt and they have to go through the tedious process of seeking out musicians all over again. You see, the hardest part of starting any band, is the actual part of getting started.

This of course can be alleviated by undertaking the constant process of targeting, finding and connecting with potential band mates throughout the life span of the band. Think about it. If you had a constant, steady stream of talent at your disposal, you would be in a unique position of making decisions and changes for your band at a moment's notice without ever missing a beat... or more importantly, without ever missing a gig!

Today I would like to start to share with you the #1 Secret To Rock Star Recruiting that will make sure you never get stuck wondering why your band didn't work out. So without any further delay let's jump right into it.

Secret #1- Becoming the person that everyone wants to know, without being a fake or misrepresenting yourself.

In other words we're going to discuss here how you can begin to attract top talent to your project or band without being a fake or a phony, or ever lying to anyone.

You see, because technology has become such a huge part in the day to day ongoing of everyone's lives, you're going to find yourself basically competing against others who are trying to accomplish the same things that you are trying to accomplish. The challenge this presents is that you run the risk of never being seen or heard by the people you are trying to connect with. Basically this can turn into trench warfare with you trying to position yourself ahead of the pack, scratching and clawing your way just to be noticed. Often times... in fact most of the time, the people you are trying to compete against are using extremely dirty tactics to try to get the attention of the people you are hoping to connect with.

If you've ever played any type of game against a cheater, you already know how frustrating it can be. Just imagine how frustrating it can be when you can't even see how you are being cheated. I mean basically, all you're trying to do is connect with musicians to fill out your awesome musical project, but you've got these others out there who are lying and cheating their way into tricking people that they are a better person to play with than you. They tell little lies about the level at which they play their instruments and make up stories about how much success they've had and a lot of the time they are just standing in the way of people who really do have something to offer. People like yourself.

This can be a super frustrating thing. What this comes down to is that you need to learn how to make yourself attractive to other musicians and to do so without using any type of "black hat" tactics or lies to get this done. The major problem here is that when it comes down to using technology to connect with people, 99% percent of us don't know the first thing about how to become attractive to others. I mean really... you can easily find yourself banging your head against the wall saying "what the hell do I need to do just to get someone to consider playing in a band with me?" This can be frustrating indeed. You see, you don't have to cheat or lie to get what you want in this world.

You may have heard more times than not that you have to cheat to win. I'm here to tell you that the reason you hear this so frequently is that 99% of people don't know how to win without cheating and have resigned to that notion that cheating is a must. They believe that anyone who as ever accomplished anything great has done so by either cheating others or making an illicit pact with the devil. Well it's not true. The real secret here is you need to find a way to present yourself in an attractive manner to others.

No lying, no cheating, just 100% authenticity. When you can get your finger on the pulse of what your potential band mates are looking for, a giant light bulb will go off in your head and you'll one day wake up understanding how to position yourself in an attractive manner. Once you understand the source of attraction, you'll be able to present yourself to others in a manner in which they will find your authenticity as an extremely attractive quality. Suddenly you will no longer have to worry about all of the bullshitters out there. Why? Because they are building a house of cards while you are building a stronghold for honesty and integrity. Who would you rather play in a band with?

I don't know about you, but I'd be really ticked off if I went out of my way to audition for a band with guys that could even even hold their instrument, let alone play them well. I've worked too hard to have my time wasted like that and I'm sure that you have as well. We deserve better. So do the people you are trying to bring into your band. A big part of becoming attractive to others is learning how to create a situation based on mutual respect for one another. Believe me, as time goes by and you remain true to your authentic identity, people will really start to trust you more than the other liars and cheaters that are screwing up the game for everyone.

Do your eyes start to roll back in your head when you start thinking of what to do about voice over software? You are not alone! Lots of actors are actors first, and engineers...

Well, they are definitely not engineers first!

There is so much that you can do with recording software today, and as a voice actor, you need to use about 1% of that. When you're doing a music or film production, there are a TON of variables, and those advanced features in Pro Tools sure do come in handy.

When you're recording just one voice however, all those variables will vary you into a confused apathy! I don't need to spit out technical jargon here to show you that there is enough of that in any software to make you want to leave it all alone. I'm sure you've looked at the back of a box, or read a bit from a manufacturer's website, or even had a friend try to explain software to you, and you went completely blank!

For voice over you don't need to worry about 99% of that nonsense!

Most voice actors are doing auditions & not full productions at home. For that here are the 3 things your software does for you:

1. Allows you to record your voice
2. Lets you edit (delete parts you don't want or combine the parts you do want)
3. Convert it into an.MP3 to send to your agent

Just about any software will do that. In fact, your computer most likely even came with some. If not you can grab some for free, just look for a program called Audacity online and that will work fantastically for VO.

Myth: More expensive software sounds better.

Mythbust: Not true. The quality of your recording is determined by your microphone and interface. The software is just letting you do things with it once it's already recorded.

Myth: You need lots of plugins to make your voice sound good.

Mythbust: Who are you kidding? You're voice sounds GREAT! Seriously, that is why people hire you. Furthermore, if you process your voice with lots of plugins there are 2 terrible things that can happen. One: you can screw it up and make your voice sound BAD. Two: when the engineer gets it on the other side, there isn't much more they can do with it. Once it's been processed and sent to them, they can't un-process it if you did something to the sound they need to change.

Let me ask you something: When you don't know how to use or are confused about something do you go and use it to it's fullest?

Of course not. You back off from it. Maybe you "don't want to break" it or maybe you're "busy" today. But the fact is if you're afraid of it in any way, you're not going to dive right in and attack it.

So my recommendation to you is, when you're looking for voice over software, don't fuss over whizbangs and features, go for what's simple, go for what works, go for what you'll use.

The beginner-level instrument market is a moderately tough niche to crack. There's no dearth of beginner-level musical instruments, and you can even purchase them at major retail merchants such as Wal-Mart or Target.

However, the old adage "you get what you pay for" applies when purchasing a instrument at the same place you can buy motor oil. Obviously, it's challenging to buy a good, novice instrument without wasting your money.

You should look no further than the Epiphone Les Paul Special II, which costs less than $170. Though it's patently a guitar aimed at the budget market, you still get a lot of bang for the dollar.

The Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a noteworthy entry into the budget instrument market with its solid playability and full sound.

The Epiphone Les Paul Special II sports two open-coil humbucking pickups (the 700T and 650R), which transforms the acoustic tone from its basswood body. The guitar boasts a bolt-on neck (mahogany) and a rosewood fretboard. A tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar tailpiece are stock, as are dot inlays.

A 3-way selector switch along with master volume and tone controls permits you to set your sounds. The guitar's specs include a 24-3/4" scale and 1-5/8" nut width.

Before we could really put the guitar through its paces, we had to make some minor readjustments, such as setting the intonation and action properly. The pickup selector needed some contact cleaner to remove some scratchiness, and the tuners also needed to be tightened a touch.

However, these troubles were relatively modest. Overall, we were quite happy with the quality of the Les Paul Special II. The finish (wine red) looks genuinely nice overall, but it is a touch thin, so you have to try not to nick it too bad.

Overall, both the sound and the action were very solid, particularly for a sub-$200 guitar. The neck did have a couple of dead spots, but that's to be anticipated for budget guitars. It's still a wonderful instrument for the money.

Especially considering its low cost, we think the Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a outstanding guitar for the beginner or someone looking for an inexpensive practice instrument.