That’s right, $5,000! Here’s what’s up for grabs:

• 150 Indie Pool $20 gift certificates
• 15 x $100 merch giveaways
• 1 x grand prize winner will receive $500 in merch!

What can I use the gift certificates for? Simple. Anything we do.

What can I use the merch credit for? All kinds of great stuff! We print stickers, banners & custom drum heads.

What do you have to do to get in on the action? Simply fill in the form below to enter. We’ll be announcing winners every day from Tuesday, May 22 to Friday, May 25, with the grand prize being announced on the  Friday, so stay tuned!

Thanks for playing along! We can’t wait to announce the winners. We’ll be posting them online starting on Tuesday, May 22, so make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Who are you and what is your job at Indie Pool?

I’m Jordan, I am an Artist Rep. My job is to take your project/idea and make it real.

When you’re not here, what are you doing?

You can usually find me at live shows; I’m the one in the plaid.

What’s in your refrigerator right now?

About 12 bottles of hot sauce, a few tall cans and a lime.

Last book you read?

SHAKEY, a Neil Young Biography. And that was a while ago. I spend more time listening to records than I do reading books. I really hope my kindergarten teacher doesn’t read this.

Who would play you in your biopic?

Oh god, it depends, am I still alive? If I’m alive then it would have to be Natalie Portman just so we could you know, “hang” during filming. If I’m dead then maybe we could pull a “Weekend at Bernie’s” thing and I’ll play myself.

Which TV game show would you like to be on?

Supermarket Sweep! That show was the SH%T !! May also solve the problem in question #3.

Best part about working at Indie Pool?

Coming to work every day and doing what I love, working with artists and people who are passionate music fans.

Most underrated band / artist?

I think Justin Bieber is really underrated, not enough people buy his stuff.

Any random facts we should know about you?

I am a 2 time Champion dodgeballer, die hard Jays fan and I sometimes put my headphones in even though I’m not listening to anything just to eavesdrop on peoples conversations on the bus. Wow, this is better than therapy.

Best shows you ever saw?

Brand New @the Kool Haus 2009

Turbonegro @Lees Palace 2005

Neil Young @ every place I have ever seen him

Concerts on your bucket list?

For as big of a Bruce fan as I am, I have never seen Springsteen so he is way up there. I would also love to see The Refused. They were the soundtrack to my angst years.

There you have it! To learn more about Jordan check out his bio page.

Indie Pool has teamed up with our new friend, pro writer Trisha Evelyn, to give away two free bios. Trisha is a recent transplant from the west coast, and spends her time writing professional bios and profiles for independent artists and labels.

So, what do you have to do to win a professionally written bio? Here’s the deal. We want you to show us your worst! We’ll be taking submissions for the worst bios over the next two weeks, and we’ll pick two winners. Warning – we will be posting before and after versions to showcase Trisha’s talent, so make sure you’re ok with your submission being out there.

Tweet your link to @indiepool and @evelyntrisha, or post them on Facebook to Indie Pool and Trisha Evelyn by April 9th to win. We’ll pick one winner from Twitter and one from Facebook so submit on both for two chances to win! The winning submissions will be chosen and posted by Thursday, April 12.

Not sure about the difference professional writing makes? Click here to check out Trisha’s portfolio and see the difference for yourself.

Mastering is the final step in the recording process. It’s the final polish that can make a song jump out of the speakers, or if not done properly, make people scramble for the Treble and Bass buttons, or worse, press Skip or Delete.

Mastering is more important than ever due to the effects of modern technology. Here’s why:

1) Compression & Reformatting: These days, songs have the hell kicked out of them. Files are compressed at different bit rates, using various technologies, sometimes repeatedly, user after user. Files are imported, converted, compressed, exported, broadcast, shared, burnt and then reformatted for the next user experience. There are dozens of public and proprietary music formats used by various digital retailers, subscription services and internet radio.

The point is, each of these reformats and compressions change something. They sometimes exaggerate things such a messy high end (cymbals will sound more brittle) or eliminate some low end (bass and drum warmth) or just make the whole thing seem flat and lifeless.

 2) Playback: OK, take all those variables above and multiply them by all the headphones, ear buds, car stereo systems, iPod docks, computer speakers, home stereos and TV speakers.

Will that song sound great on Dr Dre headphones and Apple earbuds?  On a Bose iPod dock and in the car?

 3) Professionalism & Impartiality: A fresh set of ears, using a different set of speakers and gear in a new environment, ensures the professionalism and impartiality required to prepare songs for this technological world.  It’s less about opinion and artistry, and more about ensuring survivability and maximizing sonic potential.

Furthermore, it is important to address inconsistency of volumes between tracks, EQ problems such as too much low or high end, apply fades and appropriate gaps between songs, encode important items on the CD master itself such as CD TEXT and IRSC codes, and attempt to match an overall sonic quality as it compares to other artists within the genre.

 All to say, Mastering is more important than ever and every artist should master every release before unleashing it to the world.

Click HERE for 5 easy tips to achieve the best results when preparing your files for mastering with Indie Pool. 

Making the 2’ x 6’ banner for my band

I’m familiar with some basics about graphics and graphics programs, but wasn’t sure if I had the knowledge & tools for this banner to turn out well. I’ve done sticker and t-shirt graphics, but I had never worked with such a large image before. I was really worried about poor resolution leading to a blurry, unprofessional looking banner. I was also worried about my computer crashing.

I’m glad I read the detailed specs Trevor (our Indie Pool rep) sent. Being able work on the graphic at ½ size was awesome. Still pretty big, but way more manageable. I set my image size to 12” x 36”, and made sure the resolution was 300.

However, one of my layers – the all-important band name graphic which was originally a jpeg – never had smooth lines when I viewed it at print size. I thought I’d have to settle for a kind of blurry image.

But in the banner specs, it mentioned that vector artwork is preferred. A quick Google search told me what vector meant, and convinced me I should try it. I found a website that converts jpegs and other common graphic file types to vector art: vectormagic.com .This site offers two free conversions and requires creating an account to get the free stuff.

I uploaded a jpeg sized 2999×1000 pixels, 300dpi, 641 KB. The program automatically shrunk my upload to 1732×577 pixels, “a reasonable size.” The conversion took a while, perhaps 20-30 minutes. There was an option to adjust the detail level, but I didn’t notice it at first. I might have tried it if I had.

I chose to download the converted file as an EPS. The file was only 615 KB and downloaded quickly.

I used the file in my graphics program just as before, and could see an obvious reduction of blurriness. When I enlarged the picture its quality remained the same, and it looked a lot better when viewed at print size.

I converted the whole thing to a TIFF (37 MB) and uploaded it to Indie Pool via the web browser. It took about 15 minutes to upload.

*If possible, complete the artwork with the vectorized portion remaining as a vector by working in Adobe Illustrator.* (Note from Heidi, Indie Pool’s graphic designer).

The banner was ready for pick-up in about a week, and it looks great! Good durable material, the colours look just like I expected and the vector stuff really paid off.

Mim Adams

(Canary Mine bandmember and Banner Maker!)

We want to give a big shout out and thank you to Canary Mine for putting this tutorial together. Check out their website here  and follow them on Twitter @canarymineband.

Our list is a little different than some, as we don’t follow the rule that albums on this list must have been released in 2011, instead we ask everyone which records they have been listening to and digging the most this year.

After plenty of arguments and some terribly complicated mathematical equations, we present the combined Indie Pool Staff Top 10 list of 2011.

1. Adele – 21
2. MuteMath – Odd Soul
3. Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik 0-60
4. The Black Keys – El Camino
5. Lykki Li – Wounded Rhymes
6. A Toys Orchestra – Midnight (R)evolution
7. The Horrible Crowes – Elsie
8. Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys
9. The Kills – Blood Pressures
10. Feist – Metals

Read more to see the individual lists…

GREGG:

1. Adele – 21
2. Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik 0-60
3. Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys
4. Sleigh Bells – Treats
5. Cults – Cults
6. Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee
7. Lykki Li – Wounded Rhymes
8. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
9. A Toys Orchestra – Midnight (R)evolution
10. Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

TREVOR:

1. Feist – Metals
2. Glasvegas – Euphoric Heartbreak
3. Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys
4. MuteMath – Odd Soul
5. Adele – 21
6. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
7. Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown
8. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
9. Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
10. Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch The Throne

LINDSAY:

1. Adele – 21
2. The Horrible Crowes – Elsie
3. A Toys Orchestra – Midnight (R)evolution
4. The Black Keys – El Camino
5. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
6. Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik 0-60
7. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
8. Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow
9. Cotton Jones – Paranoid Coccoon
10. Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops and Hooligans

JENN:

1. Levi Lowery – I Confess I Was A Fool
2. Sugarland – The Incredible Machine
3. James Hoffmann – The Union
4. Joe Bonnamassa – Dust Bowl
5. Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
6. Adele – 21
7. Cee-Lo Green – Ladykiller
8. Monkeyjunk – To Behold
9. MuteMath – Odd Soul
10. Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits

BRETT:

1. MuteMath – Odd Soul
2. The Kills – Blood Pressures
3. Iggy Pop & James Williamson – Kill City (Remastered)
4. Cotton Jones – Paranoid Coccoon
5. Lykki Li – Wounded Rhymes
6. The Strokes – Angles
7. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
8. Feist – Metals
9. Cults – Cults
10. Radiohead – King of Limbs

JORDAN:

1. Dave Hause – Resolutions
2. The Horrible Crowes – Elsie
3. Teenage Kicks – Rational Anthems
4. Adele – 21
5. The Mark Inside – Nothing To Admit
6. The Wonder Years – Suburbia I’ve Given You All…
7. Living With Lions – Holy Shit
8. Monster Truck – The Brown EP
9. The Black Keys – El Camino
10. Much Music – Much Dance 2011

CARRIE:

1. Lykki Li – Wounded Rhymes
2. Angus and Julia Stone – Down The Way
3. Adele – 21
4. Lhasa De Sela – The Living Road
5. Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik 0-60
6. The Black Keys – El Camino
7. Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
8. Band of Skulls – Baby Darling Dollface Honey
9. MuteMath – Odd Soul
10. Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys

HEIDI:

1. Foster the People – Torches
2. A Toys Orchestra – Midnight (R)evolution
3. MuteMath – Odd Soul
4. Adele – 21
5. Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik 0-60
6. Band of Skulls – Baby Darling Dollface Honey
7. Girl Talk – All Day
8. The Black Keys – El Camino
9. Lykki Li – Wounded Rhymes
10. Miles Kane – Colour of the Trap

MIKE:

1. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
2. MuteMath – Odd Soul
3. Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik 0-60
4. Taylor Swift – Speak Now
5. Lights – Siberia
6. Blink 182 – Neighborhoods
7. Sublime With Rome – Yours Truly
8. Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops and Hooligans
9. Four Year Strong – In Some Way, Shape or Form
10. Angels & Airwaves – Love 2

ZJ:

1. Cee-Lo Green – Ladykiller
2. Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon II
3. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
4. Good Lovelies – Let the Rain Fall
5. Audio Bullys – Higher than the Eiffel Tower
6. Woodhands – Remorsecapade
7. Sleigh Bells – Treats
8. Ida Maria – Fortress Round My Heart
9. Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops and Hooligans
10. Meaghan Smith – The Crickets Orchestra

VIK:

1. The Black Keys – El Camino
2. Justice – Civilization
3. The Whip – Wired Togetehr
4. M82 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
5. The Kills – Blood Pressures
6. Cold Cave – Cherish the Light Years
7. Cults – Cults
8. Skrillex – More Monsters and Sprites
9. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
10. The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

There you have it! What have you been listening to this year? Tell us what we missed!

Try looking at it differently. The slouch isn’t a bad thing – it actually creates opportunities for you to not only keep your current fans, but gain new ones. We’ve put together a few ideas to keep your audience engaged over the holidays.

• • Cover a holiday favourite and release it as a free download in exchange for an email address. Or you can trade that download for a tweet at Tweet for a Track.
• • Shoot a video of your holiday cover and send out an e-card to your mailing list. It doesn’t have to be cheese like Billy Idol demonstrates here. Live versions of holiday faves go over well, or you can go totally over the top like Spinal Tap.
• • Take the time to get to know your fans. If they already like your music, they’ll want to get to know you. Ask questions relevant to them and make sure to mention them by name. Engaging in conversations breeds goodwill and you’ll be sure to meet some new fans along the way.
• • Have a contest! Everyone loves a good contest, and if you’re staying in town for the holidays why not offer to cook dinner for a special fan? This should generate great word of mouth exposure, and you’ll be giving a lucky fan an experience to remember.
• • Document your holidays. People want to see the person behind the music. Take band photos with Santa and post them online.
• • Publish your Top 10 records of the year and ask your fans for theirs.
• • Last but not least, what about a holiday show? Team up with other artists – who knows, it could even become an annual party!

These are just a few ideas to keep things going through the holidays. What do you do to keep things going over the holidays? Post your suggestions below, we’d love to hear how you keep the band busy over the break!

We’re all going to miss him around here. So much so, we have retired his telephone extension and hung a banner from the rafters!

Check out these pics from his going away party.

We wish Lauren nothing but the best in his future endeavours. We love ya buddy!