Music Gear Review

Recording a demo track

2007-01-22T15:38:00.000-08:00

There are many reason why one may want to record a demo track or demo tracks. Yet, the only reason that makes any economic sense is to sell your song to a recording company. To do this, one most certainly has to hire professional studio musicians, studio time, an engineer, and cover many other essential miscellaneous expenses. Spending all this money may seem counter intuitive when the goal is to make money, but our friends over at electronic musician have a wonderful article which gives all the ins and outs of recording a demo for the purposes of sale.

"back when I wrote pop songs (which was up until a few years ago), I was told by creative managers at leading music-publishing companies that a demo had to sound “like a record” in order to have a shot at getting the underlying song cut. To a record label exec, a great demo takes the guesswork — and therefore, considerable risk — out of expensive studio production. Put another way, a producer or A&R executive who hears a demo with a great production knows they can get the same arrangement and sounds simply by mimicking them, perhaps using the same players on the “real” record as appeared on the demo."

Read the full article entitled Hired Guns to see what a daunting yet reward experience a demo recording can be.

List of What Should be at NAMM

2007-01-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

With the NAMM 2007 coming up in a couple of days, I have decided to create a list of yet to be developed products I would like to see. [NAMM is the world’s largest music products trade show].

1. Automatic Tuning: Where are the damn I-robots to tune our guitars, violins, pianos, trumpets and basically every kind of instrument? For experienced players tuning can be a nuisance, and for students having to tune your instrument can be a real stumbling block. I don’t know of anybody who loves to tune their instrument, and every music teacher would kill to have all their students have their instruments in tune.

2. Auto Scrolling Sheet Music: Everyone who reads music knows that page turns can be a real pain—especially when site reading. There is nothing more distracting to the groove than to having to stop playing so you can turn a piece of paper. Basically musicians are still using 600 hundred year old technology: wood pulp paper. Yes e-paper won’t be just for novels and porno magazines.

3. Sheet Music Scanning Software: There are tons of great sheet music/midi editing programs out there. These programs do a great job separating parts and making key changes, but I like many musicians have filing cabinets full of sheet music that I don’t want to hand enter in order to digitize and make editable. Somebody tell the Adobe Acrobat people to make a music scanning program that doesn’t suck.

Audacity Tutorials

2007-01-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

We mentioned Audacity the free audio program before, but recently I noticed a number of people putting up YouTube movie tutorials about how to use the program. Some are good and others are completely unintelligible. So I thought I show you a good one about how to download and install the program.

Cool Patent Find

2006-12-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

I found this patent for an adjustable acoustic guitar bridge, but I can't find anybody that sells them. I have never been able to understand why all acoustic guitars have fixed bridges - while all electrics have adjustable bridges. Changing string gauges or adjusting the neck of guitars always requires adjusting the intonation at the bridge, but for some reason luthiers don't think acoustic players really need to have adjustable intonation. This product would fix a lot problem guitars if somebody sold it. Don't you agree?

Google Patent Search Fun

2006-12-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

Google has just launched a patent search app. There are tons of historical and interesting patents to search. Just some ideas: guitar, synthesizer, bass, tuning, bridge, strings, violin, harp, gibson, fender, tremolo, floyd rose, yamaha, korg, cymbal, orchestra, piano. Have Fun!!

Jaco Pastorius Relic Jazz Bass

2006-10-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

Yes my friends, that bass is brand new, straight from the factory. Here is the lowdown: As many of you already know, Jaco Pastorius was a legendary Jazz bassist who was a pioneer in early Jazz fusion. Just search for his name on youtube to get a idea of his immense talent. I once herd Jaco in an interview recount the "legend" of his beloved fretless bass. According to Jaco, he started playing electric bass around age 15 where it was clear his talent surpassed most others. He desperately wanted an acoustic upright bass, But was unable to afford one. After saving his money for a long period, he was able to purchase a used instrument. Jaco lived in Florida at the time, and was transporting his new-used bass from an air-conditioned interior to a parking lot outside. The hot humid air hit the upright bass and changed its temperature so rapidly that the wood splintered in his hands. (I have personally seen this happen to a bassoon). Jaco was so upset, he went to his Fender J-bass and tore out all the frets. He than proceeded to fill in the gaps left by the fret wire with wood filler. Knowing his round-wound strings would chew up the bare wood on the neck, he covered it in epoxy. This became his bass that he used for the rest of his career.

Now through the magic of capitalism, you can own a near exact replica of this famous bass. It comes "pre-abused" with peeling paint, holes from previous pickup installs, and replacement nobs from a P-bass. It has a list price of $4,328.99 US. If that drains the bank account and your life savings, you can get the same bass with the same setup (minus all the abuse) for $1999.99 US. I think these both are really cool products. Defiantly worth a look.

Find the Jaco Relic Bass here.

Get the Bass with no predistress here.

21st Century Keytar: The MusicPole

2006-10-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

Essentially the musicpole is a midi controller wraped around a tube. This leads to really strange keyboard layout. You can see an example with a "virtual" musicpole here. Also check a video of it being played by its inventer here.

Read about the granddaddy of keytars here.

Soundwaves and Fire: Video

2006-10-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

This video is a great demonstration of a classic physics experiment called a Ruben's Tube. It's a great tool to teach people about the physics of sound. Here's a link about how to build one (don't burn your house down: even if you are a fan of Talking Heads).

Peg Heads

2006-10-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

PegHeads.com: bringing some new technology to the same old fiddle. I was reading about Luis and Clark Instruments, who make carbon fiber cellos, violas, and violins that not only sound beautiful, but they finally allow cellists to compete with a pianos loud volume. While on their website, I found a link to Peg Heads. Peg Heads are high tech tuning pegs for stringed instruments. Normally members of the violin family have simple friction pegs (excluding the double bass). Why friction pegs have persisted for violins while guitars and other stringed have used machine heads for over 100 years, I can’t say. But violinists are finally meeting up with mid 1950s technology. Peg Heads fit in place of standard friction pegs. They allow any fiddle, regardless of its age, to use these pegs. Using a planetary gear system, Peg Heads gives musicians a four to one gear ratio. This means that you can tune rapidly, smoothly and accurately. Peg Heads look just like standard friction pegs once installed. View this video of them in action.

Conductor's Baton Buyers Guide

2006-10-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

The ability to use a conducting baton well takes considerable skill and technique, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying. Personal taste is a major factor in selecting a baton, but here are some general rules of thumb to go by when selecting a yours:

1st: batons are thin and generally delicate (exception for fiberglass batons). By this, I mean you are probably going to break your baton sooner rather than later; don’t spend too much.

2nd: A baton needs to be balanced. When holding a baton, it should be able to balance across your index finger comfortably. To do this, place your hand in a “karate chop” position and try to balance the baton across your right index finger, between the first a second knuckles. If you have a well balance baton, this should not be difficult. (If you are left handed, use your left hand.)

3rd: The center of balance should be near, but not in the handle. A conductor should never have a death grip on their baton’s handle while conducting. You should pinch the shaft of the baton between the side of your index finger and the grip of your thumb, while letting the handle rest within your palm. This will give you the greatest freedom of movement, control, and speed.

4th: Selecting a baton is a tactile experience, so I recommend that you don’t do it online or from a catalogue. Actually show up to a real music store and pick one out. And don’t worry, because you already know more about batons than the guy who is working there!

Site of the Day: Punk-o-Matic

2006-10-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt like rocking out, but you were stuck writing those damn TPS reports. Beyond that, your cubicle on the 13th floor is not really conducive to Store your Marshal stack. Well, worry no more, because someone has developed a flash application that allows you rock from your desk. With punk-o-matic, you can weave together a series if recorded loops (similar to Apple's Garage Band application). I was really surprised at the flexibility of this app and the great music I made. Start out with demo A, B, or C just to get an idea of how the app works, but be artistic and create your own original songs.

Rock out with punk-o-matic here

Red Hot Moogerfooger

2006-09-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across an article on Guitar Player's website where they interviewed John Frusciante, the on-again-off-again-on-again guitar player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It's an amazing article if you're a gear head or Chili Pepper fan, which we here at Music Gear Review are both. Frusciante breaks down what gear he used on each track of the Peppers' double album Stadium Arcardium.

What really got my attention was the above image of his pedal board. Frusciante has a total of twenty-two effects and that is not including the three expression pedals for his Moogerfooger. My estimate is that it would cost at minimum $3500 US to recreate his setup.

Sidenote: It appears from the above photograph that all of his effects run off battery power- at least the pedals that accept batteries at all.

It's not the size of your amp; it's how you use it or the SansAmp Bass Driver DI

2006-09-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

Achieving a great yet unique tone with your instrument is something that is something that is sought after by musicians world wide. Mark Knoplfer of Dire Straits spent years experimenting with gear to achieve his now signature "quack" sound as herd on the song "Money for Nothing". He values the sound so much, he has been known to personally play on recordings parodying his songs just so they sound correct.

For bass players, the thorny and convoluted world of crafting your tone has become much easier with The SansAmp bass driver. This deceptively simple looking pedal, offers the ability to easily manipulate your sound as to produce myriad tones. You now can emulate a fat tube amp, get unparalleled overdrive crunch, or achieve the bright slap and pop sounds of modern bass all form this single pedal. Each nob is a separate control monitoring level, blend, treble, bass, drive, and presence. I recently bought this pedal, and it comes with a booklet diagramming nob setting for specific amplifier emulations or styles. This is helpful when you quickly want to get a certain type of sound without experimenting. Now, this pedal is not cheap at around $200 US. However, it gives you flexibility and sound of a "souped-up" system that would easily cost ten times that amount.

The Education of the DJ

2006-09-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

As schools and colleges around the country are back in session, I thought it appropriate to speak of a new trend appearing in higher education. Let me preface this with an interesting fact: for the last several years in Europe, turntables have out-sold guitars by a margin of two to one. Think about that for a second. For every ten year old kid who buys a guitar in hopes of being a "rock star", two are buying turntables with the hope of being the next DJ Danger Mouse. It is not surprising that one can now learn the fine art of turntablism with formal classes being offered in the subject. Classes are a new thing for DJs. Prior to this, DJ were mostly self-taught learning their art "on the job" in clubs with mentors. UC Berkeley began a new trend by offering a class in turntablism as an elective. Soon organizations such as the Norcal DJ Music Production Academy in San Francisco and the Scratch DJ Academy in New York opened. Multi-coarse curricula in scratching and mixing are now the standard. This is not saying this is a short-cut to being a great DJ; as with any instrument years of practice are still necessary. I am personally glad to see this being embraced by many schools. Not too long ago, there was a time when one could not find any music classes in jazz. Currently a music department without jazz classes is considered sub-par. So all you budding DJ now have no more excuses.

Converting Your Vinyl Records To Digital

2006-09-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, I had my twenty-fifth birthday Friday. Now, I believe mine was the last generation to own a record not for its retro appeal, or for the express purpose of hip-hop DJ-ing. I still remember my Fischer Price Record Player. I have never bought a new release as an LP. I did buy cassettes, and by the time I was in junior highschool (secondary school) CDs were basically the only thing going. Today, if you haven't noticed, MP3s are standard issue. This brings me to my topic of how to convert LPs.

There are three basic options when digitizing vinyl records.

Use any old turntable and plug directly into your computer's sound card, and use some sort of software. We recommend Audacity. Pros: It's cheap equipment you probably already have, and free software. Cons: it requires you to have an already working record player and moderate computer skills.
An all-in-one turntable that burns its own CDs. Pros: requires no skill. Cons: costs $400 US., doesn't let you clean up the audio, and the CDs will degrade before the vinyls will.

USB turntable is probably the best choice. Pros: connects easily with your computer, and it only costs $130 US. Cons: doesn't easily connect to a stand alone amplifier or home stereo.

Crazy Guitars With Fanned Frets

2006-09-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Over at NovaxGuitars the have a guitar, basses, and a bunch of in betweens that have fanned frets. Essentially the frets aren't straight as on a traditionally instruments, but bent. Each string has its own individual scale length.

Ralph Novak developed this unusual way of manufacturing guitars to deal with a specific problem, what we here at music-gear call the sweet spot. All guitars have sweet spot or tonal range where a particular instrument sounds its best. One things quality guitar provide is a large sweet spot, or a wide range of pitches that sound clear, resonant, distinct, and in tune. Particle brands favor different areas, like Martin Guitars tend to favor the low end, and Taylor Guitars tend to favor the high end. By giving each string its own scale length, Novak claims to have improved clarity.

Many other factors influence an instruments sweat spot, like bracing, wood type, string type and that is not to mention electrical components and amps for electric guitars and basses. Still, I'm sure having of one these Novax Guitars on stage will get you noticed.

High Art: How to get high-res album covers

2006-09-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

You can now get high resolution images of ablums from apple, even if you didn't buy the songs on itunes. Apple recently released version seven of their itunes music store. I personally think its the program that offers the best way to organize and catalog your music even if you never purchase a single track from apple. One of the upgrades in the new version is the ability to browse your music collection by scrolling through album art. It gives the illusion of a physical album, and I just think it is cool. This feature is useful as long as you actually possesses the art for your songs and albums. If not, you are relegated to the tedious task of Google image searc. This generaly results in low resolution (blurry) pictures. Fear no longer, for this problem has been solved by some wonderful individuals at UneasySilence. Their site allows you enter the artist and album name, and it returns with a 600 x 600 image of your album perfect for itunes browsing. Yes, you may not find every album you own, but most will be there in all their stunning glory.

The tool can be found here

More Musical Than A Locomotive...?

2006-09-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

I recently found that a student at the California Institute of the Arts built a synthesizer that was steam powered. In a previous article we talked about the difference between synthesizers and mechanical instruments. The Parker Steam Synthesizers is actually both at the same time. Checkout this ridiculous instrument's homepage.

Reading about a steam synthesizer got me to think about an earlier steam instrument: the calliope. The calliope was another steam instrument destined to be a musical oddity. It was invented in the mid 19th century; a time when everyone was interested in steam power. The calliope's inventor Jushua C. Stoddard attached several train whistles together with a valve mechanism. Originally they operated much like a musicbox (with pins on a cylinder), but in later calliopes Stoddard added a keyboard.

Granddaddy of Keytars: Moog Liberation

2006-09-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Introduced in 1978, the Moog Liberation started a trend that changed the face of 1980s pop music, hair bands, and new wave. Basically this was the first time synthesizers were light enough that they could be carried. The thing was still a heavy behemoth compared to later instruments made by companies like Williams and Roland.

The Moog Liberation was monophonic, as were most early synthesizers. Since it could only play one note at a time there was no real need for two handed keyboard playing. This was a perfect excuse to put effects controls for the left hand on the neck like vibrato and pitch bends.

Check out our synthaxe drumitar article here.

View the above vintage ad full size here.

The buzz about Vincent Bach

2006-09-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ask any trombone player what the best all-around mouthpiece is, and undoubtedly the Vincent Bach 6 1/2 AL will be at the top of the list. Vincent Bach was a company that is now owned by the Selmer Corporation. They continue to make many mouthpieces and horns in the Bach line. Why the 6 1/2 AL is so prized, is its unparalleled rich uniform timbre and ease of response. It sucks keeping four mouthpieces to cover your bases when playing different generas. I have personally played this mouthpiece in both orchestral and jazz situations, and can say it performs wonderfully in both. Some claim its tone is too dark for jazz, but I have not found it to be the case. From busting out bebop solos to blending with cellos, it gets the job done. I would not recommend this mouthpiece to a beginner, only for that fact that ones needs a strong embouchure to fully realize its potential. Yet, for a single mouthpiece that you can uses in a verity of situations, look no further.

Ewww!! You have a bad case of CD rot

2006-09-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

Well it might not be as disgusting as it sounds, but CD rot is increasingly becoming an issue for more and more people. For those not familiar, CD rot is of what happens when a compact disc that is properly stored becomes unreadable. This is generally due to the oxidation of the metallic layer or a debonding of the the adhesive holding the the disc together. It has been known to effect both CDs and DVDs. In the best case scenario, you are forced to buy the Beatles White Album yet again. In the worst case you loose data that is irreplaceable (that recording you made in your garage will not last forever). The best way to combat this is to have redundant backups of your data on multiple items like an internal hard-drive, CD, external HD, so on and so forth. Some people have resorted to placing their CD's in a sealed bag in the freezer to slow the chemical reaction of oxidation. Whether this actually has any effect is for you to decide.

Rock & Roll Camp for Girls

2006-09-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Nobody can deny that there is a severe shortage women in rock & roll, especially if you don't count singers (which I don't). The reasons for this range from a lack of rock & roll role-models to have something better to after school than the practice the intro to "Roundabout". But there are no more excuses with rock & roll camps for girls.

Rock & Roll camps are nothing new. There are even fantasy camps for adults that have has-been-rockers as camp counselors, but Rock & Roll camps just for girls are genuinely something new.

Check out these programs

The Girls Rock Institute in Portland. T

IMA's Rock & Roll Camp for Girls in Northern California

Willie Mae Rock & Roll Day Camp in New York

Norway: Home of Black Metal and the Hardanger Fiddle

2006-09-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hardanger is a type of fiddle with eight strings. Four of the stings run along the top of the neck, as in a normal violin, but four more strings that run underneath the fingerboard. These additional stings are never pluck or bowed; rather vibrate sympathetically.

Hardanger fiddles are used in the folk music of western Norway. Howard Shore wrote for the instrument in the score of the Lord Of The Rings movies and the main theme for the movie Fargo. In the Fargo theme,which is based a Norwegian folk song, a Hardanger fiddle is featured heavily.

Listen to a sample

The double bass, cardboard, and you!

2006-09-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

The double bass, colloquially referred as the upright bass, is one one the most famous of all instruments in classical, jazz, and pop music. This is probably due to it's immense size. It can be bowed or plucked producing a deep resonant or thumpy bass sound respectively. Its large hollow body allows for the acoustic amplification of the stings. Although a bit unwieldy, it nonetheless has made an impression on everyone who has encountered it.

With this in mind, an enterpsing individual has exploited the hollow-body principle and created a double bass out of a cardboard box. Although it only has two strings (made from weed whacker twine), it has a reasonable tone and resonance. And to think, you've been recycling a would-be double basses for years. Check out the video.

The Wierd World of Percussion: The Vibraslap

2006-09-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

The vibraslap is commonly used in latin music, but can heard in popular music in recordings like Dr. Dre's "Nothin' But A G Thang" and the opening of Ozzy Osbornes' "Crazy Train"

By hitting the ball, a player causes the metal teeth to rattle against the wooden block. Listen to a sample.

The virbraslap was origionaly designed to mimic the sound of the quijada de burro. A quijada de burro is a donkeys jawbone that is played much like a guiro. The teeth of the jawbone are rubbed against with a wooden stick.