Smooth Jazz CD - Volume One

Whitebeetle.com proudly presents its latest Royalty Free Music CD release: Smooth Jazz CD - Volume One is is an original compilation of background music in the Smooth Jazz genre. All twenty tracks were composed by the very talented William E Peklinsky, BMI. Offering outstanding value for money this compilation is rich in depth and variety, including within its genre many different musical themes with different keys and tempos.

Smooth Jazz is modern blend of R&B, funk and pop music to produce relaxed, background music that features typical Jazz instrumentation and improvisational elements. Sometimes also known as new adult contemporary Smooth Jazz has a laid back tempo of between 88 and 110 beats per minute and is usually instrumental. Saxophone and guitar are popular lead instruments in this genre due to their expressive nature. Jazz purists are not generally that keen on Smooth Jazz as it is seen quite commercial and very radio friendly, some feel that it is more like background music and that it lacks originality, others though like it for precisely the same reasons finding it soothing and not too taxing.

Whitebeetle.com's is professional production music/ background music for use in media production such as commercial and corporate film, television, radio, websites, pod casts and video games.

Mellow Moments - On Hold Music Collection

White Beetle proudly announces the release of its seventh On Hold Music Collection - Mellow Moments - available on Compacts disc or down loadable in MP3 and WAV format.

Mellow Moments - On Hold Music is a collection of twelve music tracks chosen carefully to keep your customers, having been put on hold, calm, patient and entertained. Light and melodic arrangements mostly based around the piano but also several pieces with guitar based melodies or dreamy ambient grooves. This collection of On Hold Music is typically designed with the general public in mind so is suitable for a wide range of businesses who deal with the public on a daily business.

Feel free to preview our other On Hold music products in our White Beetle On Hold Music category. Remember White Beetle On Hold products require no subsequent license fees or hidden charges, they are off the shelf solutions thus offering you excellent value for money. Please note licenses are sold per location: for instance two separate office locations would require two On Hold Licenses. For further information please consult our FAQ or On Hold Music License.

Whitebeetle.com's 12th Royalty Free Music Podcast

Hello everyone,

Our 12th Royalty Free Music Podcast has now gone live and can be accessed in either AAC or MP3 format from our podcast page.

More and more content is coming on to the website from our team of composers and the diversity is growing day b. A great way to keep up to date with all the new music going onto our website is to subscribe to our RSS feed. That way you can see complete details of new music (and recent music - last 100 pieces) and of course you can preview them instantly as well, all this from inside your RSS reader. Neat eh? Popular RSS readers include Google Reader and if you use igoogle you can integrate your rss feeds directly into your homepage.

Happy listening from all at whitebeetle.com.

Basic rules and tips for recording music (continued) - Part 2

Two - Playing in Time. Ok you have got your click track all set up and you cannot wait to start laying down some cool vibes. You and your fellow musicians put down your tracks live or one at a time but when playing back it sounds slightly disjointed and, frankly, quite loose and a bit dodgy. Just knowing it sounds not quite there is a good sign. Why does it sound like this? Well this is where being a good musician comes into it. The closer you play to the click track the tighter your music will sound, you can still play to the click track while playing before or after the beat (slightly) : great musicians can do this at will but for us mere mortals it is best to try to hit the beats, that’s right : bang on the money! Practice helps enormously. In the digital domain editing can really improve slightly out of time parts but it is very labor intensive and it is not for the dabbler as once you start you have to finish to make any tangible improvements.

Three - Tuning. I do not need to go big on this one, just make sure all your instruments are in tune with each other, use a pitch fork, piano, guitar tuner or whatever but make sure all your instruments are all good to go before the tape rolls. If your singer cannot sing in tune to the detriment of the music then do not buy some auto tune software rather go out and find another singer.

Four - Level : get it down hot. No matter what type of equipment you use, how you record the signal of each instrument is crucial to the end result. People sometime get nervous about this and there are numerous articles out there that completely over complicate this issue. If a recorded signal goes over 0 DB then it will distort and generally speaking be good for nothing. If a recorded signal is weak then it is difficult to place in a mix without turning it up very loud and this can make it very noisy. On tape you can record very hot, this means the level of the signal going onto tape can be quite high.. but still you do not really want the loudest parts to over -4 to -2 db. For recording digitally your highest peaks should not probably be over -4 db: leave yourself some head room… the odd peak a -2 db is acceptable. Many of us do not use compressors while laying down tracks but if you have one and have a very dynamic part that is difficult to record then you should use the compressor to control the peaks so that you do not overload signal – be conservative so as not to squash the sound just control those naughty peaks.

Royalty Free Tango Music CD - Volume 1

Whitebeetle.com proudly presents its latest Royalty Free Music CD release: This latest release is an original compilation of music in the Tango dance genre. All ten tracks were composed and performed by the very talented William E Peklinsky, BMI. All ten pieces feature several themes and are played in several different keys with differing tempos.



Tango is a musical dance that originates from Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the latter part of the nineteenth century and more precisely the Spanish /Italian immigrant communities. It took on fast and soon became very popular, spreading to Europe, particularly Paris and London before being introduced to New York before the onset of the First World War. The Tango dance is well known for its sensual and passionate qualities, usually exhibiting sexual overtones:

Photo: The Street of Buenos Aires (Tango) I - Copyright: Romain Donadio

Fast and slow tempos have been applied to this Dance which was typically in a 2/4 or 4/4 time signature. Tango dance and its music, although going in and out of style in the twentieth century, remains a popular dance and music genre all over the World today.

Whitebeetle.com's Tango Music CD - Volume 1 is professional production music/ background music for use in media production such as commercial and corporate film, television, radio, websites, pod casts and video games.

New Royalty Free Music Ragtime Piano CD - Volume 1

Whitebeetle.com proudly presents its latest Royalty Free Music CD release: This time it is an original compilation of Piano music in the Ragtime genre. All ten tracks were composed and performed by the very talented William E Peklinsky, BMI. All ten pieces feature several themes and are played in several different keys with differing tempos.

Ragtime is an American musical genre that became very popular in Western societies at the start of the twentieth century (most people think of Scott Joplin's 1902 composition "The Entertainer" when they think of Ragtime music).

Typically in 2/4 and 4/4 Ragtime pieces usually develop three to four themes or melodies that employ syncopation to create a "swing" in the music. Many people now feel that Ragtime was an important influence for Jazz Music, perhaps as important as The Blues.

Many people also associate the background music for Black and White silent films with Ragtime. This makes it useful when TV producers and the like caricature silent movies.

Whitebeetle.com's Ragtime Piano CD - Volume 1 is professional production music/ background music for use in media production such as commercial and corporate film, television, radio, websites, pod casts and video games.

Basic rules and tips for recording music - Part 1

Most of us who record music at an amateur or semi professional level are not content to rest on our laurels as the quest for better sound quality and better produced music is practically endless. When one listens back to ones earliest recordings it is usually not hard to hear inherent problems in the performances, recordings and of course, the mix. At times listening can make one cringe. The fact that they might make you cringe is a positive thing as it proves that you recognize the faults in the recordings and if you were to rerecord the pieces of music in question then you would probably want to correct certain issues immediately. This article’s sole purpose is to lay out several important techniques for achieving better recordings.

One – Tempo. Pieces of recorded music that unintentionally fluctuate in tempo are the hall marks of shoddy musicians and engineers. Many musicians get nervous and excited when they play so they need something to keep time to i.e. a click track or a metronome and yes even the drummer needs something to keep his beat steady when recording. Why bother having a click track, you ask? Well, fluctuations in tempo make it harder for other musicians to lay down their parts to the recorded music and the music will not be able to “breath” properly, sounding rushed and congested at times and dragging its feet at others. If you are recording with a DAW or a sequencer then use the click track facilities when laying down the basic tracks.

Obviously you need the click be set up for the right speed and time signature so spend five minutes making sure these are right for the music you want to record. If you are recording onto tape, such as a four track porta studio, then the easiest solution maybe be to set up your metronome and record it onto a track before you commence recording your parts. A drum machine is a perfect metronome. If you are limited for tracks then once you have solid “keeper” parts down you can record over the metronome track.

One enormous advantage to recording with a click in is that you can easily and properly edit bulk sections of your song/music piece i.e. you can cut and paste a whole chorus and it will be perfectly with the rest of the song. I record royalty free music and albums for Rock Bands and ninety five percent of the time I record with a click.