New Music Gear Monday: Tracktion StageBox Plugin Host For Live Performance

I come from the days when a keyboard player carried around an electric piano, a couple of synthesizers and maybe even an Hammond organ for gigs. Obviously the bigger the setup, the more time it took to set up and tear down, not to mention have the muscle needed to carry it all. Today’s keyboard […]

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How Spinal Tap Actually Influenced Volume Controls Everywhere

We all remember the Spinal Tap movie and how much we all laughed, and almost cried, from some of the all-too-real scenes. One of the most famous is the “It goes to 11” scene (you can see it below) that actually ended up influencing certain guitar amp models by a number of manufacturers. In fact, […]

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Film Composer and CEO of Budapest Scoring Balint Sapszon On My Latest Podcast

In this week’s podcast episode, I speak with composer, orchestrator, and CEO of Budapest Scoring, Balint Sapszon.  Trained at the prestigious Bartók Conservatory and Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary, Bálint holds a Master’s Degree in Composition, Jazz Arrangement, and Music Theory. In 2007 he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study film scoring at the University of California Los Angeles, where […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Waves Sync-VX Vocal Alignment Plugin

One of the things that young producers sometimes overlook is vocals that aren’t tight enough. Unless vocalists sing together all time, they’re just not used to singing as closely as needed, and that even applies to a vocalist doing all the vocals themselves. As a result you have tracks that are slightly out of sync […]

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Where Did All The Garage Bands Go?

When I moved into my neighborhood 25 years ago, if I went for a walk in any direction I would eventually run into the sound of a band practicing away in a basement or garage. I always liked to stop and listen to the songs they were playing to hear if they’re were doing their […]

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LA Studio Bassist Paul ILL On My Latest Podcast

In this week’s podcast episode, My guest today is is one of my oldest and dearest friends – Los Angeles studio bass player Paul ILL. I’ve known Paul for such a long time that I sometimes forget what a heavyweight musician he is, as he’s played with a wide variety of great artists both in the studio […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Ampeg SGT-DI Bass Direct Box

Every engineer and bass player knows how important a high quality direct box is, as a good one captures the low end of the instrument that a cheap unit simply can’t. There have been some great ones over the years, starting with the custom Dean Jensen models to the Radial JDI to a variety of […]

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Sam Ash Is Back In Digital Form As Sam Ash Diect

Last year we were saddened to hear that the Sam Ash music store chain closed its doors after 99 years of operation. Brick and mortar retail is tough and getting tougher by the day as so many of us choose to buy our gear online, so the closing wasn’t entirely surprising. Still, those of us […]

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Musician, Book And Magazine Publisher Mike Lawson On My Latest Podcast

In this week’s podcast episode, my guest is musician, book and magazine publisher, and artist Mike Lawson, who also happens to be my book publishing champion. Mike was the person who took a chance on me to publish my first book, and then most of my subsequent 20+ books after that.  He’s since gone on to […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Heritage Audio O.H.M. Headphone Matching Amplifier

For the longest time the headphone outs on most interfaces were weak and would usually distort as you got close the volume level that you needed. Most manufacturers are hip to this these days so you’ll generally find enough level if you need it, but that doesn’t mean they sound good. This is super important […]

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Yes, It’s Worth It To Recone That Speaker

Many people think that if a woofer has a ripped cone or the cone is seized up that it’s destroyed, but it’s possible to resurrect it yourself with only a little patience and the proper replacement parts. You can easily recone a speaker today and it’s easier than ever thanks to the premade kits available, […]

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Dreamliner Tour Bus CEO Rich Thomson On My Latest Podcast

In this week’s podcast episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rich Thomson, the founder and CEO of Dreamliner Luxury Coaches, a leading provider of tour buses and logistics in the United States. Rich’s journey in the industry began in 2020 with just 12 coaches, and he has since expanded Dreamliner to an impressive fleet […]

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New Music Gear Monday: ToneWoodAmp 2 Acoustic Guitar Processor

As anyone who’s serious about playing acoustic guitar knows, no matter how good the guitar, it can sound rather bland in certain environments. As a result, players have resorted to bringing a small amp and a pedalboard to a gig in order to inject more life into the sound. You might want to rethink that […]

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Science Says That Music Is Simpler Than It Used To Be

If you’ve ever said to yourself, “Music just isn’t as good as it used to be,” it could be that you’re either really old and stuck in the past, or you’re noticing a change in music but didn’t know how to express it. It’s a known fact that our musical discovery begins to stagnate after […]

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Engineer, Mixer, And Podcaster Matt Boudreau On My Latest Podcast

In this week’s podcast episode, I sit down with engineer, mixer, and podcaster Matt Boudreau. Matt’s musical journey began in the late ’80s as a band member and drummer, eventually transitioning into the world of audio recording in 1994. Since then, he’s developed expertise in Stereo and Dolby Atmos mixing, with credits including Alanis Morissette, Death […]

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