Simon Phillips is one of the best drummers in the world and has the resume to prove it. From Jeff Beck to The Who to Judas Priest to being a member of Toto and a prolific session drummer, Simon is well respected for not only his playing, but his drum and recording acumen as well. […]
Continue readingWe’re starting to see more and more next generation DAW plugins where outside the box thinking results in an easier user interface which ultimates leads to new or more useful sounds. Nowhere is that more evident than with the new FabFilter Pro-R Reverb plugin which takes many of the more difficult reverb concepts and controls and presents them […]
Continue reading
I usually post isolated tracks on Fridays and for the most part, the majority of them are classic songs that are somewhat old. The reason for that is that those tracks are more available, but every now and then I find something that’s current, like today’s One Direction isolated vocal track of their hit “You […]
Continue reading
If you’ve studied audio technology at all then you know that loudspeakers/headphones and microphones are both principally the same in how they operate, they just work backwards from one other. Where the diaphragm of a microphone responds to moving air molecules to turn sound into an electronic signal, the loudspeaker turns an electronic signal into moving air molecules thanks […]
Continue reading
Whether you’re in a live situation or in the studio, things can suddenly sound distorted, or there could be no sound output at all. You can spend a lot of time chasing your tail trying to find out what’s wrong unless you have an orderly procedure to follow that allows you to troubleshoot the system […]
Continue reading
If you listen to music on the radio at all, you’ve surely heard The Chainsmokers “Closer,” as it’s been #1 for a number of weeks. Jordan “DJ Swivel” Young mixed the song and he’s going to talk about that mix and much more on Episode #137 of my Inner Circle Podcast. Jordan has also worked […]
Continue reading
Electric guitar manufacturing has come a long way since the early days of guitar-crazed 60s. Back then, if you didn’t buy a brand name at a premium price, chances are that you were getting an instrument that was difficult to play and only a few steps beyond wood plank. Today’s precision manufacturing has changed all of […]
Continue readingWe all love a deal and Cyber Monday is the day for it, so I decided to put together my own list of cool gear especially for musicians and engineers. Here are some accessory items that make great gifts for any musician or engineer (even yourself). EarPeace Hearing Protectors – They reduce the volume but don’t […]
Continue reading
There’s nothing like listening to a master and guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan certainly fits that description. I remember going to see him in a small club before he broke out big, but right in the middle of stream of big hype. The audience was filled with LA guitar players (including quite a few heavyweights), all […]
Continue reading
To all my friends and readers, I wish you a happy holiday. I truly appreciate your support and I am humbled and honored that you take the time out of your busy day to read my musings. It’s a good day to take some time off, eat a nice meal, have a cocktail and watch some […]
Continue reading
The road case is essential to anyone on tour with gear that needs to be protected, so I thought this would be a good time to bring back something that I posted about few years ago. It’s an excerpt from The Touring Musician’s Handbook that provides a good look at the differences between popular road case styles. […]
Continue reading
Hearing protection is important for everyone, not just for us in the music business. We’re constantly assaulted by damaging sounds, and too frequently don’t have ear plugs when we need them. While there’s a lot of great protection products out there, Jay Clark felt there was something missing and come up with EarPeace, a new […]
Continue reading
Adobe recently provided a sneak peak of a feature of the upcoming Adobe Max product that they call VoCo, which will prove to be revolution in both dialog and music vocal recording if it works as previewed. So what is VoCo? The company is calling it “Photoshop for voice.” It samples the voice of a […]
Continue reading
We’re all gear-heads in some way and most of us will jump at a good deal regardless of whether we need the piece or not. That’s said, it’s pretty easy to overlook the basic necessities of the studio, and many times that’s the physical comfort of the engineer. If you’re going to sit in a chair […]
Continue reading
Coldplay is a somewhat polarizing group in that you either love them or hate them, but they sure are popular. Today we look at the isolated vocal from their big hit “Viva La Vida” from the band’s 4th album of the same title. The song sold over 7 million copies worldwide and won the Grammy […]
Continue reading