“Free is the new black” as one of my favorite authors Martin Atkins says, and the best way to prove to your everyday casual music fan that your band’s music is something they could get into is to give it away for free! Assault.it has tirelessly scoured the web the past three months to find what we consider to be some of the best signed, and unsigned bands offering up their music for free to their fans, and soon-to-be-fans. Download as you see fit, and if you like what you hear, go to a show, buy a t-shirt, buy an album, or at the very least tell a friend!

1. Direct Hit!

FUCK YOU! GET PUMPED! To call these guys the Andrew WK of punk rock would be somewhat of an insult, but in the interest of appealing to everyman 1.0 that’s what these guys are. Hardcore power punk at its finest, and the best live show I’ve ever witnessed. You can check out our full review of their latest EP #4 here if you want to see why we think this band is your favorite new band.

Get Pumped! Direct Hit! MySpace | BandCamp (The free shit is here)

2. Makeshift Prodigy -- Mathematica

Makeshift Prodigy is giving away a single off their freshly-released album Mathematica! According to Third World Timmy this band is one of the best new bands in the city of Chicago, and is his pick to click to break out in the next year or two. Check out our review of Mathematica, as well as our live CD release show review, and interview with the guys.

Official Website | Download “Mathematica”

3. Empires

Select singles and entire albums from their MySpace for one of the most well known bands in Chicago with former members of The Academy Is… except these guys are way more awesomer.

Official Website | MySpace

4. The Delivery Boys

One of Chicago’s hidden secrets on the pop punk scene. You can check out our thoughts on the Chicago power-punkers here, or better yet, you can download their songs on their PureVolume page.

MySpace | PureVolume

5. Trippy Wicked

“[An] epic musical journey of songs about living the good life, fire, growing beards, girls, aliens, loneliness, love, and pirates.” That basically sums up the awesomeness of this UK import. You can download their album for free on their band camp.

Official Website | bandcamp

6. Carousel Kings

The Carousel Kings EP, Here Comes Trouble makes me feel like I’m driving 90 MPH on I-90 in towards Rockford, IL listening to Saves the Day at full blast in my ’93 Pontiac Bonneville. Fast-paced punk rock that you’re mildly embarrassed to sing along to.

MySpace | PureVolume (Free download here)

7. La Dispute

The first I’d heard of La Dispute was when I found out from R. Kelly (Ryan Kelly that is) that they’re on the same label as The Wonder Years, No Sleep Records. I was amazed to find a range of sound that starts at spoken word over what reminds me of Explosions in the Sky, and goes all the way to a highly polished screamo sound--which I’m a huge fan of.

MySpace | Thank You for Your Patience Free Downloads

8. Light In May

Metalcore from Conneticut that sound something like Poison The Well, one of Third World Timmy’s old school favorites.

MySpace | Merch Store |  PureVoume Free Downloads

9. The Decay

Canadian punk rock--not the Sum41 style punk rock though. If Dillinger Four had a Canadian love child, it’d be The Decay.

MySpace | This Month’s Rent Full Album Download

10. Mansions

The Get Up Kids meets Ryan Adams meets Dinosaur Jr. Words from their own MySpace.

MySpace | Merch Store | | Doghouse Records | Get OMG for just one tweet!

11. Anchor Eighty Four Compilation

Sign up for the mailing list and you get the full album. The album includes a song from a band we interviewed a few weeks ago, Newamerica. (Formerly The Discover Radio)

Sign up to get a full compilation album

12. Thrice -- Day Trotter Live Session

At one point Thrice was Third World Timmy’s band, but they’ve transitioned into more of an experience, than a rock and roll band. Still, they’re giving away a free album that you should get.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY1SwqLOC3c

Official Website | Download Full Live Session

13. Wipe Out Marshall

I can’t tell you much about this band because their “About Us” on their MySpace may as well have been written in alien, but the album is full of punk rock block, and totally worth checking out. EP: You Light This Match, We’ll Burn This City

MySpace | Download Free EP

14. Man the Change live in Brooklyn EP

New York based DIY punk rock band heavily influenced by one of “Third World” Timmy’s favorite punk rock groups, Hot Water Music.

MySpace | Download EP

15. Deadly Animals EP

Heavy metal is “Third World” Timmy’s favorite genre of music, and he’ll be the first to tell you that most of the unsigned groups offering up free music in said genre kinda suck--Deadly Animals on the other hand, do not suck. Gritty hard rock for fans of Static-X, Pantera, and Fear Factory.

MySpace | Download Demo EP

16. The Friday Night Boys

One of the newest signings to Fueled By Ramen, and we can understand why. One tweet gets you a free download of one of their new songs.

MySpace | Tweet to download

17. Apocalipstick

All girl  thrasher punk rock group from Irvine, CA. They’ll steal your heart then break it.

MySpace | Sign up for mail list to download

18. SHARKS -- Shallow Waters EP

British garage rock that sounds a bit like early The Strokes albums. PunkNews gave it 4.5/5

MySpace | EP Download

19. Campaign -- It Likes To Party EP

It’s no secret that we at Assault.it’s staff and crew like to party. This album therefore caught our attention and we believe it couldn’t be more appropriately titled. You can also get their previous EP for free in the same placed--the appropriately titled H1N1. For those of you fans of old Hot Water Music, you’re going to want to get both these albums.

MySpace | It Likes To Party EP Download | H1N1 Free Album Download

20. Dan Wythoff -- The Sunscreen EP

Great solo act that has the same amount of talent as a John Mayer and you won’t feel like a douche enabler by listening to it.

MySpace | Sign up for the newsletter for the Sunscreen EP

21. Cypress Hill -- It Ain’t Nothin’

With a new album on the way Cypress Hill has released one of their songs for free! Check it out and keep an eye out for their new album which we’ll be reviewing here on Assault.it.

Official Website | Download It Ain’t Nothin’ MP3

22-28. ReverbNation Playlist 7 (Click on Audio Library)

Every week ReverbNation posts 7 songs from different artists that are all available as a free download. The program has ended, but they still have a huge Audio Library you can get plenty of quality free music from.

More from ReverbNation | Download Playlist7 (Click on Audio Library)

29. Ship Wrecks

Acoustic rock that sounds like a more catchy version of The Swell Season (From Academy Award winning movie Once) and a little bit of Bright Eyes.

Official Website | Ship Wrecks bandcamp

30. Kismet -- Hiatus

Utrecht based indie-rock at it’s finest. Sort of sounds like a lighter version of Thursday.

Official Website | Kismet bandcamp

31. A Common Year -- Between Cities full length album

If you’ve seen Jimmy Eat World live and wish there were more bands like it it--look no more. A Common Year is a for fans of Brand New, Jimmy Eat World, Thrice, Northstar. Anberlin.

MySpace | A Common Year bandcamp

32. The Day Woke to Me Driving To You’s -- Rain, Rain, Rain EP

Sounds like Explosions in the Sky, Postal Service. Despite their complicated name, the music is quite soothing and nice.

MySpace | PureVolume | Download EP

33. He Is We -- Light A Way

Acoustic band that sounds like Paramore, VersaEmerge, Sarah Berielles. Included on the Top 20 Unsigned Bands of 2009 by PureVolume.

MySpace | PureVolume | Merch Store

34. Conditions -- Illuminati

I’ve been a fan of Conditions for awhile now. (Since I heard about them from ShredNews) For fans of anyone who likes The Ready Set, All Time Low, Set Your Goals, The Swellers. They’re offering the song “Illuminati” on their PureVolume for free.

MySpace | PureVolume Song Download

35. I Rival -- Make Me Scream

Sounds like Keeping Secrets, Our Last Night, The Word Alive, Set Your Goals, Conditions, The Used.

MySpace | Merch Store | PureVolume Song Download

36. The Bay State -- Liars

Talented female lead rock band that sounds a bit like Paramore/VersaEmerge, Be Your Own Pet.

MySpace | PureVolume Song Download

37. Picture Me Broken -- Dearest (I’m So Sorry)

Girl fronted rock band that resembles Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, Flyleaf, Arch Enemy. They made it on PureVolume’s top 20 unsigned of 2009, and deserve all the attention they get.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiEVPpCAD7Y

MySpace | PureVolume Song Download

38. Every You -- A Change of Scene

If you like The Swellers (Like we do) then you’ll love these guys--same goes for Strike Anywhere, Broadway, and any other seasoned punk rock group.

MySpace | Merch Store | PureVolume Song Download

39. My Arcadia -Lulea (City by the Sea)

Hard to classify who My Arcadia sounds like, but I would say it’s a mixture of Flyleaf, Hey Monday, Amy Lee, and the punk rock influence of one of our favorites Hayley Williams.

MySpace | Merch Store | PureVolume Song Download

40. Tonight Alive -- Wasting Away

I’ve said it 3-4 times now, but Tonight Alive sounds very much like Picture Me Broken, My Arcadia, Paramore, Flyleaf, and VersaEmerge. I can’t get enough girl-fronted rock band. Very high energy band that most bros would feel comfortable with playing loudly in their cars.

MySpace | PureVolume Song Download

41. Silversun Pickups -- Lazy Eye (Acoustic version)

Grammy nominated indie rockers the Silversun Pickups put up an acoustic version of their song, “Lazy Eye.” All you have to do is sign up for their mailing list!

Official Website | Sign up for newsletter for free song

42. Girl On Fire -- Summer Sampler EP

For fans of Alexisonfire, Taking Back Sunday, The Used, except more fast-paced, with more face-melting guitar riffs. It will make you feel like a man.

MySpace | Summer Sampler EP Download

43. Midwest Hype

I’ve never heard a jazz funk band before, but Midwest Hype is working their way into a genre that they’re dominating all their own. This entire album is on “Third World” Timmy’s island vacation mix that goes with him on all his tropical island getaways.

MySpace | ReverbNation | 3 songs: Sunrise Will End My Night Tonight, Big Poppa (cover), Runaway

44. A Hero Named Hope

One of the rising stars of the Chicago rock scene and one of the few bands that still resist the pop-punk trend and continue to play a heavier, more hardcore style of punk rock. Another live show worth seeing as they get better and better every show they do.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n52Ew_XU5Po

MySpace | 2 Songs off their debut EP

45-46. Abel & Lorien -- Tour EP

If you like Brand New, you will literally shit your pants for Abel. Lorien is a bit more like Anberlin, Deas Vail, Academy Is…, Copeland according to LFM

Abel MySpace | Lorien MySpace | Tour EP Download

47. Alkaline Trio

It’s no secret that Alkaline Trio is one of Assault’s favorites. They recently gave away two songs off their new album, This Addiction which you should get cause it is awesome.

Official Website | Free Song Download

48. Bullet For My Valentine -- Begging For Mercy

One of the best metal acts around is giving away one of their songs off their new album for free. “Third World’ Timmy will be one of the first in line to pick up this new album in which he’ll no doubt declare it the best thing ever since Avenged Sevenfold.

Merch Store | Download “Begging For Mercy”

49. I Fight Dragons

Sign up for their mailing list, and get a link to an EP mixture of live music and awesome songs made from old school Nintendo sound effects. If that doesn’t tickle your pickle then you should just quit here at #1. They just signed to Atlantic Records and are now touring with the Too Fast For Love Tour w/3OH!3, Cobra Starship, Travis McCoy

MySpace | Official Website (Sign up for the newsletter to get the free EP!)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd3GP57YUjw

50. Pet Lions

Indie pop rock from Chicago--sign up for their newsletter for their Soft Right EP!

MySpace | Download Soft Right EP

Sources:

Follow Legal Free Music on Tumblr
Top 20 Unsigned Bands of 2009 by PureVolume
ReverbNation

Puddle Of Mudd has a a brand new music video, and more importantly a free MP3 for you to download!

The band took the time to film a short update while on set to let fans know that they are working hard and are excited to head out on tour. Puddle Of Mudd kicks off their spring tour April 1st in Anaheim, CA and will make their way across the country with both Burn Halo and The Veer Union.

The Kansas City Rockers are also giving away a free mp3 download for “Blood On The Table” off the band’s latest release Vol: 4 Songs In The Key Of Love & Hate, available now on iTunes. To receive the track for free, simply point your browser to PUDDLEOFMUDD.COM/FREE or text POMFREE to 66937.

More Puddle of Mudd

• Assault’s Interview with Puddle of Mudd
• Official Website

The one tool you need in your toolbox as a band (which basically makes you a small business owner) is to install and configure Analytics on your website. Do yourself a favor and get off of MySpace. At the very least MySpace should just be used as another avenue to reach fans, not your only or primary point of contact. For this particular tutorial, we use WordPress as our content management system of choice. I recommend WordPress to anyone who asks me simply because of how easy it is, and how easy it is to integrate Google Analytics.

If you’ve already setup Google Analytics you can skip down a ways on the page as I go into the aspects of Google that will mean the most to you. It’s a good idea to look over the initial setup to make sure you’ve done everything properly. The way I setup Google does enable tracking on a few more important items that you don’t get by just copying and pasting the code Google supplies to you.

Get WordPress or a something similar CMS

With WordPress you have two choices to setup your site:

1. Download the software and install it to your web host (Recommended)
2. Host your website remotely on yourname.wordpress.com (less freedom)

Some hosting providers like Media Temple have a one click install for WordPress. This helps things along considerably. If you can’t afford your own domain name and/or hosting. Signup for an account on WordPress.com. Your name will be YOURNAME.wordpress.com to start, but you won’t be able to have complete freedom over the look and feel of your site.

If you have no other choice, start with option 2. You can always export your data and import it to your own web hosted .com later.

Signup for a Google Analytics account using your Google account name

I’ve had a Gmail account for awhile now so all I had to do was go to Google.com/analytics and sign up for an analytics account.

Setup your profile

Setting up your profile is as simple as putting in your website address for each website you have. If you want to setup e-commerce tracking for your online store you have to enable this option later. For now, just enter in the basic information for your site.

Our site already has a profile so the additional site we just setup appears below that domain name. (assault.it.com) You’ll also notice that the status icon is a little alert. That’s because we need to actually setup the embed code on the site.

Click on the edit link on the right, and then click on the Check Status link over to the right

Now you’ll see what we need to get our hands on which is the Google Tracking code. (On the right) You can just copy and paste this into your site if you’re not using WordPress, but it’s better to integrate it with the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin so you can enable additional features not offered with just copying and pasting the code.

If you just copy/paste the code into your site you won’t get any of the additional benefits setup like goal funnels so don’t do that.

Leave this window open for now, and I’ll explain how to implement this code with the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin in the next step.

Download/Install/Activate The Google Analytics Plugin for WordPress to your blog

You’re better off using the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin for a 3 reasons:

1. The plugin will track outbound clicks to see where people are leaving your site and what links they are clicking on when they do leave your site.
2. The plugin will automatically put the proper code on all aspects of your site, and when an upgrade is available it’s as easy as clicking upgrade.
3. Your downloads will automatically be tagged as /downloads/wp-content/uploads/your-file-name.zip so you can get an idea of how many downloads you are getting.

To download the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin you can either add it through the administration interface by going into your WordPress Admin area: http://www.whateveryourdomainis.com/wp-admin and then click on the arrow next to the Plugins link and click “Add New”.

Then, do a search for “Google Analytics for WordPress” and it should be the first result. Install and move on to the next step or install it manually via the directions for installation on the plugins’ WordPress page which I have pasted below:

Input your Google tracking code

Remember the code we left open in another window from before? This is where we need that code again.  You just need the id off of your tracking code which I’ve highlighted below, not the entire copy/paste code that Google gives you.

Copy that part of the code and paste it into the configuration text box like I have below.

Set up your settings similar to how I have to ensure you’re tracking downloads as well as outbound clicks from your site.

Collect the data!

Gather several weeks worth of data before you really go in and analyze where people are coming from and what parts of your site are most popular.

What’s important?

Depending on how you are using your site there are a variety of things that could be of importance to you. (Besides just actual traffic of course)

If you’re using your website as a place where you can push your music to the fans with downloads then that’s going to be one of your most important areas to pay attention to. To view your download statistics go to the content report, and then “Top Content” section.

Then filter your content by downloads by typing “/downloads” into the text box as I have below:

Another thing to pay attention to is your  traffic sources. How are users finding you? Google searches? Reverbnation? MySpace? Twitter? Blog posts?

Want to increase/decrease the date range?

Been a few months since you installed the plugin code? How about increasing the date range from the past month to the past few months? Or past few days? Do that on the dashboard where you see the calendar:

Setup Goals (AKA Super Fucking important)

After you’ve ensured your data is being collected you’re going to want to setup goals.

Goals allow you to setup a flow on the site for how they find you up until they actually do something. (For istance,  download a file off of a specific page)

There are 3 types of goals you can setup, the most important to us being the URL destination which allows us to set a user path for a visitor coming to our site. Name the goal and select URL destination and you’ll see the rest of the Goal Details options that I have in the screen capture below:

“Goal URL” is the second have the the name of the page the user should end up on, and goal value is something to set up if you’re setting a monetary value for something like a digital download. For instance, if you have a file uploaded to your site as I have above, your goal URL would be downloads/wp-content/uploads/name-of-the-file-you-uploaded.zip

Note: You can take this link from the information in your Top Content section like I showed you how to do above.

If you want to track users from say, your homepage to your downloads page you can enter in the separate steps a user would take to get from your homepage to your actual file download.

If I had 4 pages I could enter them all in each field and name each step to determine how many users are able to make it through the entire goal funnel.

At Assault’s online clothing store, we use goals to track our user’s sticking points in our shopping cart check out process. If we find there are a lot of users abandoning their carts after they get to a specific step in the checkout process, we know there must be some sort of usability issue.

One of the coolest aspects of the goals and e-commerce tracking is that you can determine where your actual converted sales/downloads are coming from most. (Meaning the websites that send you the most downloads and money!)

Google analytics goals are critical when determining what social networks to push your music to the hardest, which blogs to keep pimping your free gear to cause their audience buys digital music, which twitter users are giving you shoutouts, etc. etc.

I say again, setting up Goals and Goal Funnels will give you visual proof of where you are having success with getting your music downloaded. I can’t stress this point enough!

If you find most of your users aren’t getting to your music downloads, then you need to give them a clearer call to action on all your pages.

If you’re users are bouncing after :20 seconds and only visiting one page, then they’re not finding what they came to your site for.

There are HUNDREDS of things you can learn from all the data Google gives you. Are your fans primarily hitting the page on the site with your pictures? Are they coming to the free download of a song you offered them that got plugged by a blog? Are they looking at your bio because you have a hot chick lead singer and they want to see if she’s single? (Assault‘s top viewed page on our store is for our zombie t-shirt. Go figure.)

Analytics is the key to your online strategy. It tells you what you’re doing right, and what you’re doing wrong. It’ll also tell you what your fans want more of, and if you’re getting them to the right place in the fewest amount of clicks.

Want more info? Did you get stuck at a certain point? Want some one on one advice? Send me a message on Twitter or post in the comments. I reply to just about everything that comes my way.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get to check out the New Music Seminar in Chicago, and a question was posed to the speakers, “What iPhone applications should I have?” There was a bit of confusion, and some suggestions–none of which that I felt were really helpful applications for touring bands. Links open up in iTunes.

I’ve put together a list of the 5 applications that I have used in the past that I feel would be incredibly helpful to any touring musician, without including the obvious like Google Maps, Facebook, or Myspace.

Loopt

Want your fans to see where you are without having to update via Twitter? Loopt lets your fans see where you are in the country at the time, and allows you to update your status with what you’re doing there.

Cost: Free

WordPress

Need to write a message to your blog directly from your phone and include pictures? WordPress is by far the most popular blog platform, and this application integrates seamlessly with it.

Cost: Free

iSwipe

Want to take credit cards at your merch booth? Have a Paypal account? No need for a bulky credit card terminal, iSwipe integrates directly with several popular payment gateways and is great for a band on the go. It’s easy to use and easy to setup. (We used it at all the Assault Shirts live Summer Events.)

Cost: $0.99 (UPDATED!)

Pixelpipe

Taking lots of video and photos with your phone, and need an application that integrates and uploads media to virtually every service on the net? Thought so. Pixelpipe easily integrates with just about every major service out there and is great for publishing on the go.

Cost: Free

Tweetie 2

If you’re in a band, then you better be on Twitter. If you’re on Twitter, you better have Tweetie. It’s the best application out there for interacting with your Twitter followers, and it’s affordable too!

Cost: $2.99

Know of any applications I missed? Post them in the comments. Like lists like these? Follow me on Twitter here. I’m always posting helpful tips and links.

One of these Tuesday mornings I’m hoping that when I take a quick peak at the top songs in the “Rock” category on iTunes there will really be something is not only rock, but also good. I’m not one to complain and not do anything about it so I’ve taken it upon myself to hopefully bring you a few new songs that aren’t Daughtry, Creed, or John Mayer-esque in sound.

iTunes Top 10 singles in Rock at the time of this blog post. Meh

The Swellers – Fire Away

The Swellers remind me of a cooler, less emo version of what Saves the Day used to be back when I was in high school. Drawing from their experience touring with Less Than Jake, Set Your Goals, and Four Year Strong, The Swellers finally seemed to have made their break as they’re now opening up for Paramore. They sound kinda like somewhere between punk rock and Lit–if you can imagine what that’s like.

AFI – Medicate

AFI was one of my favorite bands growing up. (All the way back to their All Hallows Eve and hardcore screaming days) They seem to have grown up quite a bit and still manage to turn out solid albums despite being around for over 18 years now.

Thousand Foot Krutch – Fire It Up

I honestly can’t remember how I found these guys, but all I can say is they’re good, and this song is good. If you’re like me and kinda feel like a pussie when you listen to pop punk, this should help.

Brand New – You Stole

My first Brand New show was in the back of a bowling alley at the Fireside Bowl off of Fullerton in Chicago back when they were still having rock and roll shows there. They were OPENING for Thrice, and now they’re filling up the Aragon Ballroom. Our resident music critic, Oswald Hobbes reviewed their new album Daisy just recently. Check that out if you haven’t.

Weezer – (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To

The first album I ever owned was “The Blue Album” by Weezer cause my mom wouldn’t let me get the Offspring cd cause it had a parental advisory sticker. In retrospect, it wasn’t that bad of a decision. Feel free to disagree, but there’s no way Five for Fighting should be ahead of Weezer… on a rock chart… ever.

Wolfmother – New Moon Rising

Everytime I listen to Wolfmother I feel like I stepped in a time machine. A time machine of awesome. This single off their new album definitely deserves to be in the top ten. Maybe just one spot above Daughtry.

Dagoba – The Things Within

So I just found out about these guys, and posted  their music video. I don’t know how I missed them because this song is over three years old now, but I guess that’s what I get for “going away to art school” as they say.

VersaEmerge – Past Praying For

I’m not doing this because all the bands on this list are fronted by dudes–I swear. VersaEmerge is a relatively new band, and another band on the Fueled by Ramen bill along with The Swellers. If you’re kind of into Evanescence but a bit less dreary, and quite a bit more upbeat–check this song out.

Oh, Sleeper – Son of the Morning

If Dustin Kensrue of Thrice decided to start making serious rock again like he used to, except draw from a bit more heavy bands like Killswitch Engage and Poison The Well, then Oh, Sleeper would be somewhat close to the result. A bit scream-o and a bit Fear Factory, this one will give you a nice kick in the ass in the morning, and it’s been proven to have more caffeine than that powdery instant coffee from Starbucks.

Taking Dawn – Time to Burn

For those of you that remember the band The Union Underground (What happened to them anyways?) you’ll do just fine with Taking Dawn. A little bit Axel Rose, a little bit Atreyu. Definitely worth the one dollar download.

Now I’m no Oswald Hobbes, but I do tend to be somewhat particular about what I think is good rock music, so if you completely disagree and think I don’t know what I’m talking about… that’s fine. Post some rock songs in the comments or send me a tweet and point me in the right direction.

Lead me to the promised land o’ internet trolls.

Our newest set of brushes is here! I created a handful of various high resolution brushes of fire and flames that I didn’t end up using on a project, and thought it’d make for a great brush set. As always, it’s a free download. Unzip, and double click on the .abr file to install to Photoshop.

Download the Fire & Flame Assault Photoshop Brushes

I don’t ask anything in return except that you link back to my site, or you can support Assault BLOG by buying one of our exclusive designer graphic t-shirts in our online store.

Also don’t forget about our first photoshop grunge brush set which is still available for download. If you’d like to know how to make your own Photoshop brushes, I’ve written several tutorials including, “How to make your own photoshop brushes,” and “Adobe Photoshop brush dynamics“. Check em out, they’re in depth with screen captures of just about everything you need to get started making your own brushes in Photoshop.

In the past year I’ve learned quite a few things that I didn’t know about t-shirts, and t-shirt printing that I thought I would share with anyone who’s either already designing their own shirts, or just getting started.

If you’re printing your shirts using a direct to garment type of solution you need not worry about many of these tips such as reducing the colors, but for those of you using screen printing, like we are at Assault Shirts, I think you’ll find most of these tips and resources very helpful.

Reducing image colors in preparation for a screen printing in Photoshop

Throughout many of our t-shirt designs we’ve had to reduce the amount of colors in an image in order to make it fit into the color scheme of our design.

Reducing the amount of colors also makes it cheaper to print, and it gives you a better idea of what your design is going to look like once it’s been screen printed. We used this technique in our 1984 T-Shirt design as well as our One Year As A Lion T-Shirt.  The key to reducing an image’s amount of colors for screen printing is the Posterize image adjustment. To demonstrate, I’ll use this image of Johnny Depp as the iconic Chicago gangster, John Dillinger.

Image > Adjustments > Posterize…

Posterize reduces the amount of colors in your image to the number of levels you specify. Depending on what kind of a look you are going for you can reduce the amount of colors once, or sometimes twice to get the desired look for your image. I’m sure you can even reduce it further, but I generally use 3 or 4 levels.

To posterize your image, first make sure you are on the selected layer you want to posterize. Then, go to Image> Adjustments> Posterize…

After posterizing your image, you can either desaturate it or try varying the amount of levels within the Posterize settings to get the desired effect. Here’s a few other options I managed to come up with:

You can also bring your image into Illustrator, and start to trace the image so it doesn’t look so crispy which you’ll find  may have a better effect than what I’ve outlined above. I personally am all-Photoshop guy so I prefer to keep everything in Photoshop, but Live Trace in Illustrator is another popular method for vectorizing an image.

New Document Presets for Screen Printing T-Shirts

The two document presets for the two sizes of screens that we use are:

18x23 canvas with 300 dpi resolution in CMYK color mode

With the large image sizes it may make sense to start at a resolution of 150dpi if the computer you are working on is a bit older. You can also use a Fill Layer for a background rather than a raster background layer to reduce your document file size. I do this with all my designs so my working file isn’t a 2gb fail whale waiting to happen.

Getting Pantone color codes for exact color matches with your printer

In order to guarantee your designs colors are matching and actually printable you need to send your pantone colors for every color in your design to your printer. Rather than let them do the color work for you, you should send the colors pantone codes.

To do this,  use the eye-dropper tool by selecting it in the tool palette or by hitting the “i” key and then clicking on the color in the design.

After you have the color selected, in your tool palette double click the color, and your color picker will open with the color you just eye dropped. Generally, this color will still be an RGB or CMYK color and isn’t the pantone color code we want. To get the approximate pantone color code, click on the “color libraries” button.

This will open up your color libraries window and the eye dropped color should be selected. The P542 C is what you want to send to the printer along with every other color code associated with your design.

2 minute color separation in Photoshop

Our printers have always done the color separation for us after we send them the high resolution images, but in case you need to do color separation on your own here’s the easiest and quickest way to accomplish that:

• Select the Magic Wand Tool in the tool palette (or hit the “w” key”)
• Uncheck “Contiguous” in the tool options area

• Click a color on your design
  

• Create a new layer and fill it by hitting cntrl + backspace or alt + backspace (depending on what color you want to fill it with the foreground or background)
• Repeat this for each color in your design and you should have each color separated on it’s own layer! (Here’s my design with new colors all separated on their own layers below)

I also found several detailed step by step Youtube videos which outline the above process using similar techniques:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmspWZqbc2Q

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uydc2VmfvQ

T-Shirt placement templates and mock ups

To ensure your printer gets your shirt printed with the correct shirt placement you should place your design on an actual shirt. This should be included with your high resolution shirt files that you send to your printer.

In the past we’ve used a combination of the below sources for t-shirt templates and mockups:

• Photoshop T-Shirt Custom Shape -- Download Use this custom shape as a background and place your shirt design atop it and mask out the outside area.
• Go Media’s Arsenal T-Shirt Templates are a the best way to get a photo realistic idea of what your designs will look like. They’re worth every penny.
• Color Overload’s Men’s T-Shirt Templates Another PSD with an assortment of color t-shirt templates to use for creating mockups from Color Overload
• Assault Shirts Product Page Photoshop Mockups This is our T-Shirt mock-up that we use on our product pages at Assault Shirts. It’s my personal favorite and can be used for shirts of all colors in the American Apparel style.

Related Links & Resources

• T-Shirt Forums Graphics & Design Help
• Designer’s Guide to Apparel Printing from Go Media
• Emptees T-Shirt Resources -- Great assortment of downloads and resources

Unlike a good portion of the design related blogs on the internet, we at AssaultBLOG try to write as much of our own content as we can rather than just link to other peoples’ hard work. It’s also been awhile since we’ve written an extensive tutorial so I’ve decided to make our own list of best posts from Assault that you may have missed if you just recently started subscribing to our RSS feed.

5 Tips to make your unsigned band stand out from the rest

List of tips to spend your hard earned day job money to make your band stand out from the rest.

HTML emails – A quick rules and primer tutorial

Thinking of writing an html newsletter? Consider these few things first.

When Every Sale Counts

When you launch your first online store, it takes forever to get sales. This article will give you a few insights as to how you can get those first few sales even when your traffic is relatively low.

SEO Tips and strategies the high priced consultants aren’t telling you

Don’t feel like paying $2,000 for an SEO audit of your site? Read this list of tips and it will greatly help you fare better in the SEO world. This is my most comprehensive and one of my best SEO articles to date.

How to float to the top of Google search pages

Interested in what gets you in the top ten search results for Google searches? I list out my secrets for free! (This list is a great list especially if you have no money to spend like I don’t.)

E-Commerce tips explained with some interesting human behavior psychology

Do you know why we sometimes find ourselves excitedly buying things we don’t really need?  I came across this outline from a book by Dan Ariely called, “Predictably Irrational” that had some incredibly insightful information about people and why we at times seem to act completely irrational. It covers giving away  things for free, putting high price points on products to create demand, and even the benefit of arousal!

How to reset your Myspace page using CSS

A brief tutorial with working code to make your Myspace look a bit more respectable. If you don’t want to read the whole post, you can just copy/paste/edit the source code that is supplied.

Tips & tools to improve your conceptual web design

A list of tools that will help bring your web designs one step closer to print designs including non-standard web fonts, custom line breaks, and transparency across all browsers.

Assault Photoshop Brush Set 1

The first set of brushes released from some of our t-shirt designs that were never used.

5 tips & resources to help get your t-shirt company off the ground

During my time at the university of hard knocks in the t-shirt business I learned a few things that I share here with anyone else who may be starting a t-shirt company so they don’t have to go through the same growing pains that I did.

How to create your own Photoshop Brushes

A step by step tutorial outlining how to create your own Photoshop brushes so you don’t have to spend hours scouring the net for the perfect brush.

How to use Photoshop Brush Dynamics

Part two of my brush tutorials where I show you how to use brush dynamics to get some cooler effects with your brushes that you’ve created in the Photoshop brush tutorial.

How to make those trendy lasers and light bursts in Photoshop

I’ve seen tons of ads with cool looking light bursts and light rays, and decided to write a step by step tutorial on how it was done. Originally, I believe I saw them in wired from designer, Tom Muller, so I even got in touch with him and interviewed him to find out more about his design process.

Alternative ways to find design inspiraiton

My personal best ways to find design inspiration when watching tv or going to the park just doesn’t cut it.

Turn a WordPress blog into your own personal FFFFound

A wordpress theme tutorial with included plugins that will allow you to make your own FFFFound blog like I have done on VNovember.com.

Like what you see here?

I write one quality post like this at least every week, and time permitting I make additional posts about the music industry, apparel industry, and design. Subscribe to the RSS feed, it’s worth every penny.

Assault Photoshop Brush Set 1 (2mb .abr file)

From time to time I like to export my brushes to upload onto our webserver for backup. (We currently have several thousand custom Photoshop brushes in our library now) We’ve decided to release a few of these brushes at a time to the readers of the site for free!

To install the brush set simply double click on 08312008_assault_set1.abr file after it’s been downloaded and it will launch Photoshop and install the brushes to your brush palette. (To view the brushes hit the “b” key and right click anywhere on your canvas and scroll down the window. You should see the new brushes there)

Have your own brush sets? Know of another link I haven’t included? Post it in the comments!

Photoshop Brush Resources

• Deviant Art
• Brusheezy
• Photoshop Brush Dynamics Tutorial
• How to create your own Photoshop brushes

The Skull Wing Assault shirt was made in similiar fashion to the Red Assault and Green Assualt shirts. This shirt is printed on the American Apparel 50/50 Jersey T-Shirt which in our opinion is the best/most comfortable shirt on the market now. (They’re also sweat shop free!)

If you’d like to download some of the custom shapes used in this design you can get them for free here.

I do believe that I primarily used custom brushes for this shirt, not shapes, and you can download the custom brushes here. There is also a brush set that I used that contains the winged shapes you see here. They are modified slightly, but the shape I started with is in this downloadable Photoshop brush set. There was also one font that I used for this which I can’t seem to track down but it is called Skulls TS 2. Download Skulls TS 2 Font face for free here

As always we ask that you keep buying our shirts instead of just downloading our brushes and making your own! We got mouths to feed!

This shirt originally looked a bit more like the Punisher’s logo, but in fear of getting sued by DC Comics I decided to dress it up like an old Spartan Warrior. Take that Marvel! I made this using many of my custom shapes and custom brush sets in Photoshop which I have decided to post here on this as a free download. Do with them what you like, but don’t make an exact copy of my shirt and get it printed on your own! Let me save you the trouble by pointing you in the direction of the Skull Spartan Warrior’s product page on our official store.

As of now it’s only $22.99, if you can’t afford that then you shouldn’t be able to afford an internet connection.

As promised here is the zip containing several items: click to download the custom Photoshop skull shapes, and the custom star random brushes. Click the image to the right to download the high resolution image of the Skull Spartan Warrior T-Shirt. I cannot take credit for the custom shapes, but the custom brushes are all mine baby. You’re getting a spartan warrior custom shape, and a few skull shapes that I found on my long trek through the internet.

For those of you new to Photoshop, you must use custom shapes and brushes in your designs. They’ll save you hours of time and it brings you to the next level of Photoshop. Be sure you have a high powered machine of some kind cause they tend to eat up processing power and RAM. I prefer using my Dual 2ghz Powermac G5 with a gig of ram. (I know I need more) Photoshop CS2 runs like a charm!

Download custom photoshop shapes of skulls, spartan warrior in vector format