Category Archives for "Video"

A Bernard Purdie Ghost Note Lesson

Bernard Purdie ghost notes

 One of the greatest drummers ever is Bernard Purdie thanks to his unique “Purdie Shuffle” and the countless hits he’s played on with James Brown (“Get On The Good Foot”), Aretha Franklin (“Rock Steady”), Steely Dan (“Babylon Sisters” and “Home At Last”), Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and so many others. Bernard’s trademark is the ghost […]

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New Music Gear Monday: PSP Nexcellence Necklace-Style Reverb Plugin

PSP Nexcellence

We’re all familiar with the sound of spring reverbs, but most of the plugins available are based on units with taught springs like the ones found in Fender reverb tanks or the old AKG BX-10 and 20. There was another type of spring reverb though, known as a necklace reverb, found mostly in Hammond organs […]

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Overdub: A Story About Session Musicians

Overdub - Kenny Aronoff

Session musicians don’t get enough credit for the work they do, and the fact of the matter is that many great sessions players don’t work as much as they used to these days thanks to technology. That said, sometimes a real session player’s overdub can really make a song groove in a way that a […]

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Listen To The Sound Of A Neutron Star

neutron star

It’s funny how life presents unusual opportunities that can sometimes lead us down a path that becomes our life’s work, yet we never had an inkling about it previously. That’s what happened to Mark Ballora. During the first year of his PhD, he was asked to turn heart rate data into audio, and he’s been turning […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Wave Alchemy Revolution Drum Machine Emulator

Revolution drum machine emulator

When drum machines first came out in the 80s we loved the programmability but hated the sound limitations. It’s funny how things work, but today it’s those limitations that everyone remembers and wants to recapture. One way to do that is with Wave Alchemy’s Revolution, a virtual drum machine that emulates the authentic sound of […]

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Recording 50s Style

Recording 50s style

While we live in an period of unlimited DAW tracks, there’s still much fascination with the time where there were far fewer variables, and that means the mono world of the 50s. In that era and the one that immediately followed, mixing held little resemblance to today, since all the magic took place in the recording. Placement […]

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This Music Video Was Created By Its Music

Howler Monkey music video

We’ve always liked visuals that are synergistic with music, with a history that dates back to the light organs  and wet light shows of the 1960s. Today, just about any LED-based stage light has a mode that will listen to the sound around it and respond with the appropriate colors and intensity. What’s even cooler is […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Microphome Mic Disinfectant And Deodorizer

microphome

If you’ve ever played a gig in the club then you’ve had an experience where you’re given a microphone to sing into that smells bad enough to make you gag. Even if you use your own mic, it’s accumulating odors and bacteria that build up over time, so eventually you encounter “stinky mic syndrome.” I […]

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Best And Worst Isolated Live Vocal Feeds Of 10 Top Artists

live vocal feeds

Usually on a Friday I post an isolated track from the studio mix of a hit song. The studio is one thing, since we’re after perfection and there are many tools to help achieve that (including hard work). That said, top artists make most of their money from live performances, so maybe we should take a […]

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Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train” Isolated Guitar

Randy Rhoads

There are few guitar players that you can truly say are influential, but Randy Rhoads is certainly one of them. His playing on Ozzy Osbourne’s initial solo album set the guitar world on fire, and for many metal players, it’s still the bar that everyone aims for. When “Crazy Train” exploded onto the radio guitar players […]

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