Decade And Year-End Wrap Up On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

No guest on the podcast this week as I look back on a decade full of changes in the music and pro audio business. Then, we’ll take a look at some of the momentous changes that came just in the last year alone. You won’t want to miss this one, as it provides some prospective on the […]

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7 Recent Plugins I Absolutely Love

There are so many plugins that hit the market every week and most of them are really good at what they do. There are a few that have stood out to me over the last year that I use all the time though. I’ve covered these in past New Music Gear Monday posts, but now […]

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Which Is Better: A Solid State Drive Or A Hard Disc Drive?

Today’s musician, artist, band or songwriter relies on data more than ever in the studio, and that data has to be stored somewhere. For the last 40 years most computer storage has been based on the hard disc drive (HHD), but increasingly that’s been changing quickly to the latest generation of solid state drive (SSD). […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Free Christmas REV Plate-140 Reverb From Arturia

It’s the Holidays again and the time of year for giving presents. Arturia has one for you with its REV Plate-140 plugin that’s free until December 31st. It’s a very cool emulation of the classic EMT 140 plate reverb that was the sound behind so many hits through the years. Keep in the mind that […]

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How Many Streams For Minimum Wage, Pulitzer For Audio, And Studio Designer John Storyk On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is architect and acoustician John Storyk, who over the course of his 50 years in the business has designed more than 3,500 audio and video production facilities, recording studios, radio stations, corporate media and conference rooms, educational and, entertainment facilities, clubs, stadiums and theaters around the world.  John and his company Walters-Storyk Design […]

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The Zeusaphone – The Musical Tesla Coil

Yes, you can make music with lightning. The wonderful singing Tesla coil known as the Zeusaphone (sometimes called a Thoramin) modulates the spark output to produce a low-fidelity square wave that can then be musically manipulated. The musical tone results directly from the passage of the spark through the air.  According to Zeasaphone.com, the concept […]

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An Interview With Mastering Engineer David Glasser

David Glasser is the founder and chief engineer of Airshow Mastering in Boulder, Colorado, and Takoma Park, Maryland. With two Grammy awards for his work, he has mastered thousands of records over the course of his 35 years in the business, including those for some 80 Grammy nominees. An expert in catalog restoration, David has […]

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Vinyl’s Big Sales Week, Dolby’s New Deal, And Industry Writer Ari Herstand On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Ari Herstand, who parlayed his experiences as an indie artist into a secondary career as a music industry blogger and author. Ari’s music business blog Ari’s Take has been a staple for helping musicians build a career without the help of a record label, and his book How To Make It In The […]

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Finding The Best Place In The Room To Record

Where you place the instrument or vocalist in the room can make a big difference in how that instrument ultimately sounds. That said, when you’re recording a group of players at the same time (especially a group that has a loud rhythm section), finding the best-sounding place in the room for each instrument is sometimes […]

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The Story Of The Vox AC30 Amplifier

The Vox AC30 amplifier is one of those iconic models that’s right up there with Plexi Marshalls and 59 Bassmans, and with good reason. It has such a distinctive sound, yet checks all the boxes that a guitarist wants – clean as a whistle to bring-the-house-distortion – depending on the model and how you set […]

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Turn Your Old Record Player Into A New Guitar Effect

Sometimes something old is new again. We all love the optical tremolo effect on Fender amplifiers (though it’s not used that frequently), but here’s another way to get the same effect using an old record player and vinyl record. 555 timer IC (Jacob Ellzey) used a gutted record player, a light bulb, and a few […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Wavesfactory Cassette Plugin

Many artists and engineers love the sound of tape, and will do anything to get that sound. Using the real thing can be a timely and expensive process, but there are so many good plugin emulators on the market now that make getting the sound much easier. One of these is Wavesfactory Cassette, an audio […]

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Inactive Social Accounts, Plugin Evolution, And Engineer Kevin Killen On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Kevin Killen, who’s a multi-Grammy award winning engineer who’s worked with luminaries like David Bowie, U2, Peter Gabriel, Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Sugarland, Shakira and so many more. Besides engineering and mixing what many consider seminal albums like Peter Gabriel’s So and U2’s Unforgettable Fire, Kevin […]

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Producer Ken Scott On Recording David Bowie

I was interviewing engineer Kevin Killen for my podcast recently and he spoke about recording and mixing David Bowie’s final album (you can listen to that here). That got me looking back to Ken Scott’s Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust autobiography at some of the technical data on how he recorded Bowie through the 4 […]

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The Earth Harp Turns The Environment Into An Instrument

Have you ever seen an instrument that’s so large that the audience experiences it from inside the instrument? If not, then meet the Earth Harp, an instrument that turns the environment into an integral component. It’s been named the “longest stringed instrument in the world” by Guinness World Records. Invented by William Close about 20 years […]

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