MusicRadar | News RSS Feed

Bath Guitar Festival and Summer School 2012

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:54:00 GMT

IGF returns to the city of Bath this July for its 19th festival and summer school. The combination of workshops, concerts and jamming sessions has become synonymous with IGF and this year's line-up is as exciting as ever. Several new workshops make a debut including Guitar Lab and Guitar Techniques Presents.

Guitar Lab features nine masters of rock teaching eight techniques over three days. Each technique covered represents a diverse strand of rock from the blues-rock style of Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa to the instrumental shred pioneered by Yngwie Malmsteen and Joe Satriani and everything in between.

Guitar Lab also explores key techniques featured in the new Rockschool syllabus. Tutors include: Steve Smyth, Jamie Hunt, James Uings, Steve Allsworth, Neville Marten, Stuart Ryan and Kit Morgan.

Guitar Techniques Live brings GT to life with five and a half days of intensive workshops delivered by Neville Marten, Jason Sidwell and Stuart Ryan, with Tristan Seume running a parallel acoustic strand.

The workshop structure is designed to teach songs from across the genres rock, funk, blues and country in a day and to perform them in the evening in front of a live audience.

IGF's Blues Workshop features Aynsley Lister and guest Matt Schofield two of the best British players in recent years. JoiningAynsley and Matt on acoustic blues and slide is one of the UK's best slide teachers Chris Eaton.

Clive Carroll presents the Fingerstyle workshop with special guests the Fingerstyle Collective: featuring Don Alder, Dan LaVoie, Justin King & Stuart Masters

Jazz & Beyond with Dario Cortese has become one of the most popular workshops in the history of IGF. "Dario is simply an exceptional player and his teaching is mind blowing," said Phil Castang, co-founder of IGF.

The IGF summer school concert pass includes access to the Sulis Sound Track Festival at Bath Racecourse featuring Jools Holland, Vintage Trouble and Matt Schofield. Places are limited this year and students are encouraged to book early.

Booking details:

www.igf.org.uk
info@igf.org.uk

Social media details:

facebook.com/international.guitar.foundation
twitter.com/theIGF

Kerrang!'s Alex Baker to judge Live and Unsigned 2012!

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:52:00 GMT

Kerrang!'s Alex Baker is the next huge name on the judging panel for this year's Live and Unsigned competition. Kerrang!'s unsigned expert Alex Baker will be on board to help judge the UK's biggest competition for original bands and acts.

Kerrang! judge Alex Baker is a DJ and presenter for the Unsigned Show on Kerrang Radio. From touring around the world as an international DJ, to writing and producing songs, Kerrang judge Alex Baker's enthusiasm and passion for music is undeniable. Alex Baker's current position heading the Unsigned Show on Kerrang! radio means he listens to hundreds of demos every week, so Alex knows all too well what it takes to crack the industry. He's helped bands secure major tour slots, sign big deals and constantly pushes new talent – regardless of genre!

As well as his Kerrang! radio slot, Alex Baker presents a weekly show on Q Radio, is an international DJ and TV presenter, and is currently a music ambassador for Monster Energy Drink, spotting new metal acts to sign up!

The Live and Unsigned music competition has music industry judges attend every stage from auditions to the National Final. We have judges from Radio 1, Kerrang, NME, BBC Introducing, regional press & record labels.

Live and Unsigned has added a tasty new main cash prize of £10,000 for the winning act of this year's competition. The UK's largest music competition for unsigned acts and bands is set to be even bigger this year with up to £100,000 of prizes to be won along the way!

As well as the outstanding new main prize of £10,000 in cash for the winning act to spend on their development as they wish, the lucky act can expect to embark on an extensive UK tour of up to 100 shows, which will also see them take to the stage at some of the UK's hottest festivals, with festival organisers from Strawberry Fields Festival, Norfolk Spectacular, Brownstock, Butserfest, London Summer Jam, Z-Fest and Lancaster Music Festival all offering slots to the Live and Unsigned winning act to play their 2012 events!

As if the outstanding winner's package wasn't enough, there are up to £100,000 worth of prizes up for grabs for all acts throughout the competition. There are over 75 festival support slots up for grabs for this year's contestants, with organisers from festivals such as Beach Break Live and OsFest selecting acts throughout the music contest! Other prizes up for grabs throughout the competition include a selection of Blackstar and TC Electronic amps, and free studio time at some of the country's finest studios!

With an exceptional winner's package and plenty of prizes up for grabs throughout the entire competition, it's clear that Live and Unsigned is THE competition for unsigned solo acts and bands. Sign up for 2012 auditions which are underway in January - visit Live and Unsigned.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information taken from official press release, for more visit Live And Unsigned.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Submit a press release: email musicradar.pressreleases@futurenet.com

Connect with MusicRadar: via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Get MusicRadar straight to your inbox: Sign up for the free weekly newsletter

VIDEO: Eric Johnson talks about his new Eminence EJ1250 guitar speaker

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:19:00 GMT

Any artist who calls an album Tones has got to be serious about sound. Eric Johnson is such an artist. He's been known to spend up to five years crafting an album, and true to form, he was just as meticulous when it came to developing his signature guitar speaker, the Eminence Eric Johnson Signature Series EJ1250.

Johnson worked with George Alessandro to design his signature guitar speaker, aiming to capture the characteristics of late '50s US models as well as late '60s British models.

The EJ1250 was introduced at Winter NAMM 2012, and in the above video, Johnson details and demonstrates his Eminence signature speaker.

VIDEO: producer Rik Simpson on recording Coldplay

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:04:00 GMT

Rik Simpson was a co-producer on Coldplay's latest album Mylo Xyloto, and also engineered Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, their previous long player.

In 2010, when Coldplay set up their Beehive studio in North London, Chris Martin asked Rik to help with the design and build of the new facility, and he recently spoke to SSL about installing one of its Matrix mixing consoles in there.

Check out the video above to here what he has to say about this and the Coldplay recording process.

King's X drummer Jerry Gaskill suffers heart attack

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:52:00 GMT

Jerry Gaskill, drummer for the progressive rock band King's X, suffered a heart attack last night (25 February), according to a Facebook posting by his bandmate DUg Pinnick.

"Jerry had a heart attack last night," Pinnick wrote today at approximately 3pm EST. "He was operated on and is in stable condition at the hospital. Were all waiting for more info. I will keep you posted."

Gaskill and Pinnick first started working together in 1979 in Springfield, Missouri. A year later, they met guitarist Ty Tabor. The three formed a band called Sneak Preview. In 1985, they moved to Houston, Texas and changed their name to King's X.

The Houston Press reports that the band, currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of their self-titled Atlantic Records debut, was scheduled to begin a tour on 29 March.

MusicRadar sends best wishes to Gaskill for a full and speedy recovery.

Metallica's Lars Ulrich: Lulu criticism "was difficult for Lou Reed"

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 01:32:00 GMT

Well, we liked it. As for others... not so much. Last year's collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed, Lulu, was controversial, to say the least, and the other day Lars Ulrich addressed the criticism during an interview with a Washington, DC radio station.

"Obviously, it's fantastic in 2012 that the Internet gives everybody access to voicing their opinions, and I think it's an incredible medium to communicate and to bring the world closer," he said.

"But obviously, as an artist, or somebody who is creating something, you've gotta be careful how deep you dive into what everybody's talking about, because it could really screw with your mind. I've always been in a place where I'm pretty thick-skinned, so it doesn't bug me that much."

The drummer added that the negative reaction to Lulu "was difficult for Lou Reed because he takes everything very personally. And I think he was very surprised. We told him all along, 'Listen, there are some very, very, very hardcore metal fans out there that like everything pre-packaged in a particular little box that looks like this, and the minute that you slightly veer outside of that, then they have a hernia.' And that's fine – I'm fine with that."

Festival news: All Tomorrow's Parties unveil 2012 line-ups

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:20:00 GMT

All Tomorrow's Parties: Nightmare Before Christmas, December 2011 © Lora English

One of MusicRadar's favourite festival promoters - All Tomorrow's Parties - has unveiled line-ups for a host of 2012 festivals in the UK and the US.

In the UK, ATP will host I'll Be Your Mirror at London's Alexandra Palace on the weekend of 25 to 27 May. The event will feature headline sets from thrash icons Slayer (who will play their album Reign In Blood in its entirety), Scottish post-rock legends Mogwai (who also curate the second day of the festival) and reformed alt-rockers Afghan Whigs.

Alongside the headliners, the line-up includes the likes of Sleep, The Melvins, Dirty Three, Mudhoney and hiphop legends Ultramagnetic MCs, among loads more. Check out details and the full line-up.

ATP will also take I'll Be Your Mirror stateside, hosting a US leg of the festival across various New Jersey venues over the weekend of 21 – 23 September. Afghan Whigs headline once again, with the likes of The Roots, Dirty Three, Mark Lanegan and comedian Louis CK also set to play. Full line-up here, tickets for both IBYM festivals are via the ATP website now.

Back in the UK the festival returns to its traditional home at Butlins holiday park in Minehead on 7 – 9 December for a three day festival headlined and curated by indie stalwarts The National. Tickets include chalet accommodation, see the full line-up and details over on the ATP site.

Check out a few pictures from MusicRadar's trip to ATP last December.

Listen: teaser of Slash's new song, You're A Lie

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:44:00 GMT

Slash's new song, You're A Lie, doesn't hit radio until next week, but you can check out a teaser of the track above.

The cut is from Slash's second album, Apocalyptic Love, which is the first record he's recorded with his live band, now credited as Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators.

In the UK, Apocalyptic Love will be released on 21 May in an exclusive Classic Rock Fan Pack form, providing a unique collectable package containing the studio album with bonus tracks alongside a specially created magazine with unseen behind-the-scenes content put together by Classic Rock.

For a look at Slash in the studio, check out these new "webisodes" below. To view the first two, click here.

Classic guitar interview: Stevie Ray Vaughan, September 1988

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:17:00 GMT

Spurred on by an older brother who was the best guitarist in Texas, he went on to become one of the best in the world. MusicRadar users even voted him the best blues guitarist of all time. Here, in this interview from September 1988, Stevie Ray Vaughan is candid and insightful...

How long does it usually take you to record an album?

"Well, they've all taken different lengths. The first one took days; basically we had 28 years to get our first record together (laughs), the second one six months, the third six months, and the live album... actually I had wanted to bring a crowd to the studio, but it made more sense to bring the studio to the crowd, and because of that we ended up doing a lot of the songs off the other records.

"However, we did three gigs, and for some of it Jimmie was with us as well (Brother Jimmie Vaughan from the Fabulous Thunderbirds). We had horns on some and we did several things that we had never done before, then we went back and chose the best performances. But since then there's been a lot of changes; changes in my life as well as other people in the band, and we're trying to take things at a more sensible pace."

Can you say how those changes happened?

"Yeah, it would help me to talk about it anyway. I'm an alcoholic. I didn't know that for a long time; I had a suspicion for a few years but I didn't realise that that's really what it was down to. My father was an alcoholic and what I didn't know that I do now, is that some of the disease of alcoholism is actually hereditary. And growing up in a family that's actually dysfunctional because of alcoholism is a lot of it.

"I started drinking when I was about six and through the years the more pressures and the more things that I have become involved with, it ended up where I started using drink and other drugs to keep me going.

"Part of it had to do with the better bands that I got into. It seems like they had been subject to the same kind of myths that I had: that to play that kind of music and be successful at it, or to be creative or hip, you had to be high. The truth is that's bullshit, and the real matter is that if you're good at what you like and you care about what you're doing, then you'll be good.

"I finally hit bottom when I collapsed about September 1986, in Germany. I could no longer carry on the schedule that we had. You see, as long as I kept going, anaesthetising my feelings, and doing things that would give me enough energy to keep going...

"You see every time we would come along and make the best of a bad situation because of over-booking, we would just go (grits teeth), 'Okay, we can do it,' and play right through it. If I'd had the time to stop and think about it, I would have seen that was going to lead to nowhere real quick.

"However, the way it looked at the time to me was that I'd accepted that I was going to have to do this for the rest of my life."

You mean drinking?

"Drinking and other things, mainly cocaine. Somewhere down the line I got the idea that it was safer than other drugs, and that's a lie. It's one of the more distorting drugs, it can really lead to problems, as I found out the hard way.

"At any rate, it came to a head, I collapsed, I got to a point where I was completely wrecked in my thinking, in my heart and physically. Most of my values were gone. Some of them I could still hang onto, however some of them were really distorted, really bad. I finally gave up fighting this whole deal and then it dawned on me that now I can get some help.

"I went to Dr Victor Bloom here in London, and he put me in the hospital to observe my stomach – because I'd torn it up real bad – and to detox. He suggested a chain of treatment centres called Charter, and it was great because there was someone who was willing to just be helpful.

"The treatment centre gave me the tools to live without using these things, and also to have more inspiration, more kind of faith in life and in myself. And it also gave me the tools to not need to get loaded.

"I have a choice now, instead of 'I do this because I have to,' I have a choice, which is that I choose to grow spiritually, and I choose to not use any kind of drugs or alcohol, because I know what kind of thinking goes on in my head when I do.

"If I was just to have a drink, I wouldn't just have a drink, I would have a lot of drinks, and it might be that I would die, because the disease of alcohol is very progressive. Now I wake up in the morning and it's neat, real neat. People have been real nice about this whole deal, and real understanding. Okay, what else shall we talk about? (laughs)".

We'd like to talk about the Texas blues scene. Your elder brother Jimmie was a couple of years older, wasn't he?

"Yeah, three and a half years older – he started playing when he was in Junior High, when I couldn't have been more than eight. When he was at school he had decided to go for football, because that's what all the girls go after – football players.

"Then he realised that the football players were a lot bigger than him, and he figured it out that he wasn't Superman when his collar-bone got broken.

"A friend of my father brought over a guitar and handed it to him and said, "Hey, play this, it won't hurt you," and Jimmie started playing right away. It was amazing to watch him do it. He had three strings on the guitar and I went to school and came home and he'd made up three songs. I'm serious.

"And that's the way his playing has been all along. With that kind of an influence as your big brother it's easy to get into playing. I saw how much fun he was having with it, and I saw how dedicated he was to it, and it gave me a lot of inspiration. Eventually he got an electric guitar and I got the one he'd had. Then he got another electric guitar and I got his hand-me-down.

"He started playing and within a few months he was in a band that could play; a few months later he was in a band with all the hot guys around; and a few months later he was in the hottest band in Texas: I mean, boom, boom, boom. By the time he was 15 he was the hottest guitar player in Texas. Everybody was trying to figure out how Jimmie Vaughan would do it – me too, I was too.

"The bands I was playing in weren't so good. I remember the first time I was ever on stage with a band: we were in a talent show that Jimmie was in as well, in another band. Now in this talent contest we were about halfway through the song when we realised that nobody knew any more than the first part of the song...

"So that gig didn't go over too well. I guess that I started playing in clubs at about 13 or 14, way too young to be in them, but that's the way it goes."

Are these clubs at home?

"Yeah, around Texas – Dallas and Fort Worth. In fact the first week that I had an actual club gig where they drank and everything – I mean a real club – we played an eight-day week. Four of the nights was at one club until closing time, which was 2am, and then the other three nights was 12 till 4am at another club in another part of town – both these clubs had the same owners. That was when I met Tommy Shannon."

He had been in Johnny Winter's band?

"Yeah, it was the night he quit to go to California with another band. That was my first club gig. We made $600 for the eight days and we were an 11-piece band – that's like a dollar an hour, or a night, or something ridiculous."

Were these black clubs?

"Yes, some of them were black clubs – it was quite strange. For a while I was playing at the Cellar, in Dallas. Each band would play for exactly one hour and as the last band hit their last chord the next band would come on the other side of the set, plug into the same gear and hit it.

"That meant that you would play for an hour then get two hours off. At that club they would not let black people in. We did not like the policy but it was one of the only gigs you could get where you could play music you wanted to play."

How old were you then?

"I was 14; we were playing from 10 at night until six in the morning – we were also trying to go to school and that doesn't work real well."

How did your mother and father react?

"Well, things were real strange at home in the first place, but it didn't go over real big. Jimmie had left when he was 15 because of the same things – we both knew what we wanted to do. After I moved out, I stayed around Dallas for a few months playing around the clubs. The band I was in at the time was called Blackbird."

Were you playing blues music at that stage, or more of a pop thing?

"Blues music and rock music, but all blues influenced, some of it by the original blues guys, some of it by the English blues. Some of it was influenced by Hendrix – he took everything he heard and put it into his music."

Do you practise specific licks and runs, or do you simply play a lot?

"I just play a lot, but lately not as much as I would like to. The way you have to travel now, the way that regulations have changed on planes – certainly in the States – they got to where they wouldn't let you on with something that was longer than a certain length, so we had to take the neck off the guitar.

"So when we'd get to the next town I'd have to give it back to Rene (Stevie's guitar tech) and he'd go put it back together. And now that we're doing so many gigs and everything, there just isn't time. I really have been wanting to sit down in my room and play, because that's what started it, that's like going back to square one. I'm starting to remember that some of the biggest doors that have been opened in my life have sometimes been the hardest things to do."

How did you get around these problems?

"I kept listening, kept going to see people, kept sitting in with people, kept listening to records. If I wanted to learn somebody's stuff, like with Clapton, when I wanted to learn how he was getting some of his sounds – which were real neat – I learned how to make the sounds with my mouth and then copied that with my guitar.

"I'd get it to where I could sing it and then do it on the guitar at the same time, and if it didn't sound like it should to me, then I'd do it again. It was kind of like scat singing or something.

"With Hendrix's music I kept listening and kept trying and kept trying, and some of the things I just stumbled onto when I'd be playing and things would come to me. How to describe it I don't know... it had to do with confidence levels and the excitement of playing, trying new things and originality."

Did you ever get to see Hendrix live?

"No. My brother opened for him and they'd go around together, trading ideas, wah-wah pedals. That's one thing I don't understand. I get asked a lot of times by people, how do I have enough gall to do Voodoo Chile, and my answer to that is, 'Wait a minute, it seems to me that all the pressure about whether it's sacrilegious to do Hendrix's music or not comes from other people, not from him.' I think he would probably hope that other people would take his music further."

How about your guitars – are you still playing your 'first wife'?

"Yeah, it's a '59 Stratocaster, although now I have a different neck on it because I'd worn the other one to a point where every time I refretted it, I'd have to fill in the holes."

Is it a custom-made neck?

"No, it's the neck of another Stratocaster, but it's the same size neck. I use the big necks, the V necks, and I use bass frets, jumbo bass frets. I have a little bit of a problem with that, because I don't know why, but it seems to cause a bit more of a rattle.

"Of course, part of that could be from tuning down to E flat as well – my action is pretty high too. Anyway, I mainly use Stratocasters. I like a lot of different kinds of guitars, but for what I do it seems that a Stratocaster is the most versatile. I can pretty much get any sound out of it, and I use stock pickups."

Do you have any unusual guitars?

"Well, there's one that I'm carrying with me that is made by Charlie Wirz. The E flat model that you saw, which is basically a Stratocaster with Danelectro lipstick pickups in it. Whether he changed the wires in those pickups I'm not sure; he never told anyone.

"I love that guitar; it sounds like a Stratocaster, but it's just a little bit different. Those pickups seem to work real well in a Stratocaster body. I've also got a guitar that Billy Gibbons had made for me – that's a Hamiltone model."

Do you have any acoustics?

"I've got a Gibson 335, that's a semi-acoustic, but I don't really do too much acoustic stuff. I've got a '28 Dobro and I sometimes play some slide, but not very often."

You used to use two Vibroverbs amps.

"Yeah, I used to use two Fender Vibroverbs, two Super Reverbs and a Dumble. I had used Marshall amps years ago and I had a real clean one. It was a first or second series. I'm not sure. I liked the Dumble a whole lot when I first got it, but every one I've had since then, they've all sounded worse in different ways – I don't know what it is.

"My favourite rig lately has been an old Marshall Major, the PA top with four inputs. I found the head, plugged it in, turned it up, and it sounded... right. I use that head with the Dumble cabinet with four EV speakers in it.

"Then I use my other Dumble heads with another cabinet, and run a Leslie cabinet with that, and it sounds strong and clear. If you bear down on the strings and hit hard it will bark at you like it's supposed to, but it doesn't break up.

"The problem with taking amps to a shop is that they come back sounding like another amp. So right now my favourite thing is to use the old Marshall Major head, and my best Dumble, with two 4x12 cabinets and a Leslie – if I can keep speakers in the Leslie. A Leslie has one 10-inch or 12-inch depending on which model it is and running it with a 200-watt head it goes 'help'."

Your band has been together for years now.

"Yeah, Tommy (Shannon, bass) and I have been together off and on since 1969, although he's only been with this band since a couple of years before Texas Flood; and Chris (Layton, drums) and I have been together going on 13 years. Those guys have been really supportive. We've gone through a lot, and nowadays we are coming out of it. We're learning more between each other – it's as if we're about to wake up again."

What are your goals, short and long term?

"I've put my life back together, but it's all a growing process and that's neat too, because if you stop growing, what good is it musically? So that is what I am looking forward to – growing. In some ways, I felt stagnant in my life and it showed.

"It's strange how it came about... it took my sobering up to see it. That's one of the things musicians who are going through this same thing have to look forward to. In a different sense it will seem like a real hard hump to get over. However it's really a blessing in disguise. It can be done and there are plenty of people who have done it. It's a challenge; it's kind of like starting over in a way; I've got a bit of a boost because I learned quite a bit before having to start over.

"I've got a project, which I want to do with my brother Jimmie – to do an album with him. We have been thinking about this for a long time, but it has ended up being like ships in the night. Every time we start planning it, one of us has to go out and do something else."

Do you still love playing? When you hold your guitar do you still feel good?

"Yes. It's funny because sometimes that's when you can heal yourself, by playing, and you can make yourself feel better. That has happened many times."

MusicRadar Deals Of The Week

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:56:00 GMT

29 killer guitar, amp, drum and tech bargains from our recommended retailers

Members of Cream, Living Colour, Santana form supergroup

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:56:00 GMT

Are you ready for another supergroup? If the answer is 'yes,' then you're in luck. The recently formed Spectrum Road features members from Cream, Living Colour, Santana and Medeski, Martin and Wood.

The group consists of Jack Bruce on bass and vocals, Vernon Reid on guitar, John Medeski on keyboards and Cindy Blackman-Santana on drums.

"To be able to play and record in this band alongside three of the most creative and stellar musicians in the world is a longtime dream come true," Reid said in a release. "The idea for Spectrum Road first came about in 2001, and it was the ongoing belief in the kind of record we knew we could make together that made it come to fruition."

The group has played live on several occasions, and this June they'll perform at the Bonnaroo festival on 9 June. The band's self-titled debut album will be issued on 5 June on Palmetto Records.

Interview: Dave Sardy on producing Noel Gallagher, working at Abbey Road

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:15:00 GMT

A lot of folks are saying that Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds is the best Oasis record in 15 years, and if you ask the album's producer, Dave Sardy, there's a good reason for that: "It's because Noel wrote all the songs. Those first few Oasis albums were all Noel, as is this one. So there you go - figure it out."

Sardy's association with Gallagher began with Oasis' 2005 album, Don't Believe The Truth, and continued on 2008's Dig Out Your Soul. But it was on High Flying Birds that the two hit a creative peak. "I've been waiting for this album since I met Noel," says Sardy. "He's unlike any other artist I've ever worked with, except for Johnny Cash, in that he's always writing. Even when he's warming up his voice, he's writing material. So I'm not surprised that this record turned out pretty great."

The Brooklyn-born Sardy started out as a musician, most notably with the group Barkmarket, before moving to the other side of the glass. By the early '90s, he became known as a "hardcore superstar," thanks to his work with bands such as Helmet, Orange 9mm and Cop Shoot Cop. Eventually, he helmed well-received discs by Jet and The Dandy Warhols, which caught the ears of the Gallagher brothers.

While Sardy's star rose amongst the artist community, the film industry also took notice, and during the past decade he's worked on scores for films such as Zombieland, 21, the just-released Ghost Rider 2: Spirit Of Vengeance and the upcoming End Of Watch (written and directed by David Ayer, who scripted Training Day).

MusicRadar caught up with Sardy at his LA studio to talk about Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, his approach to production, what it was like for a Brooklyn boy to work in the famed Abbey Road Studios and why he finds film scores so exhilarating.

How did you first hook up with Oasis?

"They had heard some records I did – The Dandy Warhols or Jet or something – and they loved the way they sounded. They sent me a track to mix, and when they heard it they were like, 'Holy fuck!' And then we did some more. The band came over to meet me, without Noel, and then I did an entire version of the record without Noel showing up – it was just Liam and the rest of the guys.

"This is the record that would be Don't Believe The Truth. We did half of it in LA, half of it in New York. Noel listened to it with the band and said, 'This is fucking amazing. We should have hired this guy from the beginning.'

"So Noel called me and said, 'Would you be up for starting over with us?' And I said, 'Yeah, sure. Let's do it right.' That was the second time they had done that record. They had started out with an electronic producer, which didn't work. Then they went into their own studio and did it themselves, sent it to me, and eventually we ditched it all and started over from scratch."

Noel Gallagher on stage with co-guitarist Tim Smith in Los Angeles, December 2011. © Paul R. Giunta/Corbis

You worked with the band in Abbey Road Studios. What was that like?

"I went to the Museum. That's what I call Abbey Road – the Museum. It's more boring than you'd think. Talk about mundane. It was just like any other studio in the world I've ever been in. You sit there for 20 minutes and go, 'OK, I have to try to make this place sound good. Why are we here again?'

"One of the earliest and most important lessons I learned about being in big professional studios was that you still have trust your own ears. So you're in Abbey Road… wonderful. After you say that to yourself, you still have to make sure the speakers aren't blown, or the low-frequency amp isn't messed up.

"Just because you're in a famous place with a big band doesn't mean you don't have to do the work. I'm sure George Martin and Geoff Emerick had to stay on things, so why should I be any different? They worked with The Beatles and I was working with Oasis. 'OK… how does everything sound? Not right? Let's fix it.'

"The fact is, even top studios are just rooms with a bunch of equipment, and the people who maintain the equipment are not the people who actually use it. There's a lot of arguing that you have to have. I'll be in Abbey Road or wherever, and somebody will say, 'Well, who the fuck are you to ask me about gear?' And then I'll say, 'I'm the guy who's paying the bills today, so you're going to have to make things right.'

"Also, so much has changed in a place like Abbey Road. It's not the studio it was back in the '60s, for so many reasons. We had them wheel in a mint-condition EMI TG console, and we placed it in the original position where it used to sit. And Noel and I brought in a bunch of our own gear, so we had two Neve Melbourn sidecars along with the TG console. They sounded great. Noel looked at me and said, 'Ahh! Now I know the secret to Abbey Road: you have to bring in a million dollars of your own gear!'"

When you produced Dig Out Your Soul, did you get the feeling that Oasis might break up?

"Truthfully, I'm more surprised that they stayed together as long as they did than I am that they broke up. I mean, can you imagine being in business with your brother for 20-odd years? It's gotta be intense. Despite everything, they made great art, put together some terrific records and took over the world a couple of times. It lasted a good long time."

Politically, where did you sit when Noel split from the band?

"It wasn't a weird situation for me. Noel is the main songwriter for Oasis – he always was – and whether anyone wants to admit it, he's kind of the co-manager of the band. He's a very smart guy, as is the manager, Marcus Russell. The two have an amazing partnership.

"Plus, I think Noel is a real grown-up in what he does as far as his writing and his music. I mean, I wasn't working with him when he was 18 – I'm sure he's changed, because who hasn't? – but for me, politically, there wasn't anything to think about. Noel is the songwriter, and I'm a song guy. If there was a chance for me to work with anybody in the band, I'd go with the awesome songwriter."

OK, so we know why you want to work with Noel, but has he ever said why he likes working with you?

"No. Never. I assume it's because we do good work together. And I think there's probably a lot of similarities between Manchester and Brooklyn. We're the same people. Our histories are the same, we're the same age, we both come from families without a tradition of music, and we both come from working-class backgrounds where nobody was giving us a leg up. So we speak the same language. We have a mutual respect that we don't really talk about because we're busy working all day."

What were your impressions of Noel's songs for High Flying Birds?

"Noel's songs were great. The recordings needed fixing. I think he started out doing demos and then the excitement grew to the point where he thought he was done. It was presented to me like, 'Here's the album, when are you available to mix it?'"

And then you said, 'We can do better.'

"Pretty much. I flew to the UK and sat down with Noel, and I went through it song by song and what I thought the problems were. By the time we got to the fifth song, he had his head in his hands, and he was like, 'What are you trying to say?' And I said, 'I'm not trying to say. I'm telling you.'

"Basically, we went through each song measure by measure, and every fifth measure or so I'd say, 'And what about this?' or 'What about that?' It wasn't like I said anything that was a shock to him; I just think he was used to the way everything sounded. At the end, he said, 'Well, how do we change it?' And I said, 'Don't worry, leave it up to me.' He had built a beautiful house, but it was sitting on a tarpit. We had to move it and put it on a better foundation."

What did you feel needed to be fixed?

"Part of it was tempos. The best thing about Noel's songs and Oasis songs, unless it's an overtly electronic feel, is that they breathe and kind of move around. He had recorded to a click, and things were very static."

Noel was OK with recording – or rerecording – in Los Angeles?

"Yeah. I think he likes coming out here; it's like he's on vacation. We brought Noel and his drummer [Jeremy Stacey] out. We kept some of the things that were special from the original recordings, but for the most part we recorded over the top lines. It was kind of an upside-down way of working, trying to maintain signature sounds and other things, because we were changing tempos and keys – it was a little insane. Everything you've ever heard about recording Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds? This whole album was done that way."

What kinds of gear does Noel like to play around with in the studio?

"Anything as long as it was made before 1978. [laughs] Seriously, he's pretty hip as far as gear. He's got a massive collection. He's got, like, five consoles – a Neve console, an EMI console, an SSL console, a mastering console… it's crazy. His studio is amazing, but he pretty much ditched it. If you're a touring musician, it's a hassle to keep everything working. You can't just come home after a year and expect everything to be ready. Stuff has to be maintained."

Stop The Clocks made Noel's album. You have a bit of history with that song…

"I've produced that song five different times. It was supposed to be on the last couple of Oasis records. I made a bet with my engineers that it wouldn't make this record, either. I had solid money on it, too. [laughs] 'Cause we did banging versions of it in the past – in every key, in every tempo… Liam and Noel have very different registers, so if you record the song for one guy it won't be right for the other one."

When Noel was making High Flying Birds with you, was he also working with Amorphous Androgynous on this other record that he has coming out this year?

"That was a whole separate thing. My understanding is that he fell in love with those guys for what they do, and he kind of let them go to town. They're really coming from another place. They're coming from outer space, and he's kind of a connoisseur of that."

Let's talk about the movie work you've been doing. How did you get involved in film scores?

"Basically, I'm a musician who became a producer because I was really into how an idea can be executed and translated to a listener. I picked up production by being a musician, but it's not like I just wanted to be a producer. I've always been a big movie fan, so scoring movies has been incredible. I consider it filmmaking – you're telling the story through the music.

"The cool part about scoring is that there are zero limitations. The only limitations are what everybody agrees the feel of the movie should be. You can do an entire movie on zither, if that's what everybody agrees the film needs.

"As far as my first big break, I kind of connived my way in. I had done a lot of pieces of music for films, and the head of music for Sony could tell that I had done some things when the band wasn't even around. She said, 'OK, how are you doing this?' And I said, 'Just trust me. Next time, just call me and you won't have to pay as much.' So I started working on films just by sending in cues and being a capable guy."

With film scores, is there any sort of process as far as presentation? Are you sent files of scenes?

"It varies. I've done movies where I had a script, and I had months to write music before they even shoot anything. I've also worked on films where somebody else didn't work out, so they brought me in, and I'd have five weeks to do an entire score.

"The great thing is that Avid, which 90 percent of stuff is edited with, is made by the same company that makes Pro Tools, so I can import a movie into Pro Tools and work with it that way. Again, there's no one way a film comes together or a movie score comes together. Each time is a new adventure."

Before you got really active in scoring, did you study any composers? Any important influences?

"I'm definitely a fan of film music. I love the way score works in movies. As a kid, I remember being blown away by the scores to Dirty Harry and The Enforcer, the Lalo Schifrin stuff. It blew my head off, as much as hearing The Beatles as a kid and going, 'Oh my God, I didn't know you could do that!'

"Just the way Lalo used a drum kit and an electric piano, it worked more effectively than some of the really big movie stuff. Maybe it was because I grew up in New York, but something about the urban feel to those scores… Put it this way, when shit's going down, I'm not hearing orchestra score; I'm not hearing 200 strings. I'm hearing rock 'n' roll!"

The History Of The Electric Bass part 2: Beyond Fender

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:35:00 GMT

In spite of Fender having set a high standard with the Precision, it was not producing vast quantities at any time during the 1950s. When Fender introduced the Stratocaster the bass was given a new contoured body that was considerably more comfortable than the relatively sharp edge of the original body.

This happened around late 1953/54 and became known as the 'Transitional P-Bass'. It helped to continue interest in the instrument but there was no way that other American guitar manufacturers were going to sit back and watch Fender take the monopoly on the bass guitar. Gibson and Rickenbacker were particularly eager to get in on the act and grab some of this new retail action for themselves.

Gibson

Although well established in the archtop electric guitar field Gibson was now producing the Les Paul so although a solid bass with a carved top, the violin shape of the Electric Bass was actually something of a surprise when it was introduced in 1953.

With a shorter scale than the Precision, a glued-in neck and a huge humbucking pickup positioned towards the neck this bass had a fat warm sound that was quite unlike the Fender. It took a little while to settle as some models featured painted f-holes and a coach line to the body edge whist others were left natural, but structurally each had an extendable endpin so it could be played in an upright position.

This was a great design ploy to temp traditional players into gradually making the change. However Gibson made bigger impact in 1958 with its EB-2 bass, a thinline semi-hollow bodied instrument with real f-holes and like the Electric Bass it initially had banjo-style tuners that projected backwards from the headstock. It also had the same humbucking pickup, a single-saddle bridge/tailpiece and a pushbutton tone switch.

Jimmy Page used one when he first joined the Yardbirds as a bass player although his was the later version with regular tuners. The last of the banjo headstocks appeared in 1959 on the EB-0 bass. This was a cheaper bass (hence the 0 in the designation) and caused the more expensive original Electric Bass to be renamed the EB-1 when it was reintroduced in 1969. The EB-0 drew on the success of the Les Paul Junior guitar and featured basic electronics and a slab body with a double cutaway.

Rickenbacker

By now Rickenbacker was also testing the water. Its early electric guitars and basses sported a very distinctive double horseshoe magnet pickup developed way back in the 1930s by Los Angeles steel guitar player George Beauchamp.

It was first used on the prototype 'Frying Pan' guitar devised by him and Harry Watson who had been working in the National guitar factory. His friend Adolph 'Rick' Rickenbacker had the money and the means to put the 'guitar' into production and naturally the pickup was adapted when the first Rickenbacker bass, the 4000, came into being in 1957.

It was a stunning looking instrument and like Fender had a futuristic look about it with a 'cresting wave' shaped solid body. It also made use of neck-through-body construction, which gave the early models a distinctive stripe on the body and the 'jigsaw puzzle' headstock an even more dramatic appearance.

With the single horseshoe magnet pickup and the chrome bridge/tailpiece dominating the body, the scale length was close to the Precision standard and initially the scratchplate was gold plastic although this was soon standardised to white.

One of the first to adopt the 4000 was Ricky Nelson's bass player James Kirkland. Ricky had a deal with Rickenbacker so for James it was the obvious choice. When he first played it on the Grand Ole Opry radio showit caused quite a stir:"I almost blew the sound engineer's ears out, because he wasn't expecting it. They weren't gonna let me play it at all."

Fortunately they did because the bass guitar had arrived and was here to stay. The 4001 was introduced in 1961 and this had the benefit of a second smaller pickup with a 'toaster' top. The rosewood fingerboard now sported snazzy pearloid triangular position markers rather than the simple dots of the 4000 and the whole instrument was neatly bound.

It looked a million dollars but more importantly it produced that characteristic Rickenbacker bass growl that would be explored to great effect later on in the sixties. But in America yet another bass sound was also being heard.

Danelectro

In 1954 Nat Daniel's Danelectro Company began producing cheaper electric guitars for the Sears Roebuck chain of stores, many under the name of Silvertone. In 1956 Danelectro ventured into the bass marketplace with the first ever 6-string bass!

The U2 was a single cutaway, semi-hollow design that was essentially a guitar with heavier strings and tuned down. It featured on many recordings at the time including tracks by the Everly Brothers and Duane Eddy.

In 1958 Danelectro produced the Longhorn 4423, a 4-string bass with a 33.5-inch scale that was even more unusual than the rest of the ange. It employed the same Masonite and hollow frame construction method as their guitars but it was the symmetrical and extended twin cutaway design that caught the eye.

With a pair of the infamous Lipstick pickups and dual concentric controls it looked like something from Greek mythology and it had a killer sound. Both Jack Bruce and John Entwistle used Longhorns during the sixties in Cream and The Who.

Extra Precision

With so much going on in the guitar and bass market during this remarkable decade Fender decided to take a third look at their Precision bass and came up with what has become the definitive version. The headstock was enlarged for sonic reasons (the upsized Telecaster shape left a dead spot on the upper string) and mimicked the Stratocaster, the cover plates changed shape, the controls and jack socket were mounted on the scratchplate but most importantly the bass was now equipped with an impressive split-coil pickup.

This offset design cleverly presented seperate coils for the bottom two strings and for the upper two strings and each string vibrated between a pair of pole pieces. The result was a much fatter sound than the earlier versions and clarity of sound that appealed to all. This is the P-Bass sound as we know and love it and the one that has appeared on countless thousands of recordings right up to the present day!

So within this remarkable short period of time America had introduced some of the most enduring and copied guitar and bass designs. However things were also happening in Europe during these fabulous fifties..

Pioneer DJM-850 mixer announced

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:31:00 GMT

Slotting underneath the DJM-900, the new DJM-850 mixer seems designed to replace the DJM-700 mixer. It's compatible with Traktor Scratch 2 and adds a full USB audio interface as well as some tasty new effects.

With rock solid synchronisation of every element now more crucial to professional DJing than ever before, Pioneer has implemented a nifty new effect to its DJM-850. Sitting next to the well known color sound rotary above each channel fader is a beat button that, when pressed, can listen to the input channel. This means that sidechain style synchronisation can occur from the effects using the Beat analysis system built into the mixer.

Could this feature alone could have DJs sticking this on their tech rider rather than the meaty DJM-900 Nexus.

It's said to be available in March at £1300/€1500/$2000

FULL PRESS RELEASE BELOW

Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. Professional Sound and Visual Division continues to make advancements in its lineup of DJ products with the launch of its new DJM-850 performance DJ mixer that brings more functionality for the growing number of DJs that utilize today's popular DJ software. Inheriting many of the same technologies, reliability and operability of Pioneer's industry standard DJM-900nexus mixer, the DJM-850 also features a built-in high-performance USB sound card, various functions for laptop-connected DJ performances, and the industry's first1 BEAT COLOR FX function, which changes effects by linking the audio input of each channel.

"Pioneer has included innovative new features in the DJM-850 that expand DJs' creative capabilities when they're using their favorite DJ software. We see the growing use of DJ software as a great opportunity to bring professional level quality and features to this space," said David Arevalo, senior marketing manager, Professional Sound and Visual Division for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.

Variety of Effects
The DJM-850 follows Pioneer's traditional mixer layout, featuring a variety of advanced sound effects that provide DJs with virtually limitless possibilities when mixing their music. Pioneer includes a new BEAT COLOR FX function, which changes effects by linking the audio input from each channel.

Sound Color FX – The Sound Color FX offers four types of effects (Filter, Crush, Noise and Gate) that can be linked to the input sound of each channel.
Beat Color FX – Users can quickly change between the new Beat Color FX and Sound Color FX to suit each tune for further remixing and sound capabilities. By activating the Beat Color FX, users are able to manipulate the Sound Color FX and Beat Effect simultaneously, resulting in more creative effects that complement the beat of the music.
Beat Effect – The Beat Effect function presents 13 different types of effects (Delay, Echo, Up Echo , Spiral, Reverb, Trans, Filter, Flanger, Phaser, Robot, Slip Roll, Roll, and Reverse Roll) that can be combined to produce up to 100 other original effects.

Sound Quality
The design of the DJM-850 combines broad functionality and high quality components to achieve great sound quality:

24bit/96kHz Built-in USB Sound Card – An integrated high performance USB sound card enables up to four inputs/outputs2simultaneously with no deterioration in sound quality.
The sound card supports three different sampling rates (96kHz/48kHz/44.1kHz) and the ASIO/Core Audio standards that can also be used for music recording and production.
The USB port on top of the mixer provides quick connections to use DJ software via laptop. The signal output path from the mixer can be easily modified using its setup utility tool3 via a computer.
Sound Quality – The use of high quality components such as a 32-bit digital-to-analog output converter and a 32-bit digital signal processor, separate analog and digital circuitry, and extremely short audio transmission paths results in clear and powerful audio output.

TRAKTOR SCRATCH 2 Certified4
The DJM-850 offers compatibility to the Scratch Control (DVS)with Native Instrument's TRAKTOR SCRATCH PRO 2/DUO 2 software. Using the timecode disc bundled with the software and a PC, the DJM-850 is ready for scratch control (DVS) with a CDJ player or Vinyl turntable.

Additional Features
The DJM-850 is equipped with additional features that add to the versatility of the mixer:

MIDI Signal - Operation information of the mixer's knobs and buttons can be transmitted as a MIDI signal5 for a "Full Ensemble MIDI" function to control other connected devices.
Switching 3-Band EQ/Isolator – Each channel of the mixer is equipped with a switchable 3-band EQ (+6dB to -26dB) and 3-band isolator (+6dB to -∞dB)
High Performance Channel Faders - The slide mechanism supports the fader knobs with two metal shafts for both durability and smooth operation. Furthermore, the new mechanism's design minimizes the negative effects of moisture and dust particles on the mixer's performance.
P-LOCK Fader Cap - Keeps the fader channel and crossfader knobs (caps) locked, preventing them from physically slipping off during heavy use.
Scratch Control - Scratch control6 is possible by using the time code disc7 bundled with DJ software supporting DVS (Digital Vinyl System)8 from CDJ players and vinyl turntables.
Auto Standby - Automatically senses active operation and the presence of input signals, switching to standby mode when inputs are not detected for a long period.

The DJM-850 will be available in black or silver colors in March 2012

VIDEO: Flickinger Tone Boxes Cranky Atom overdrive pedal demo

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:27:00 GMT

Here at MusicRadar we're suckers for a brightly-coloured stompbox with a cool paint job. Happily, the Flickinger Tone Boxes Cranky Atom sounds as good as it looks.

Hand-built and painted by Richard Flickinger in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Cranky Atom is a Tweed-style overdrive that simulates the sound of an overdriven dual triode or, in simple terms, a 15-watt Tweed amp pushed to breaking point.

The pedal's drive control goes from a slightly pushed boost - 'Halcyon' - to classic rich overdrive - 'Caustic' - and beyond into 'Bedlam'. In practical terms this allows you to go from rich and rootsy to near-fuzz levels of meltdown.

Hear it in action in our video demo and visit Flickinger Tone Boxes for the full specifications and dealer information.

Me in my studio: Jupiter Ace

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:08:00 GMT

"My studio space is in Start Together Studios in the centre of Belfast.

"Start Together mainly record rock and indie bands and I'm always bumping into people from that world in here which is really interesting. I produced the debut release for my new record label Big Vision in this studio."

"The label is a joint venture with Strictly Rhythm and I have one simple mission – to deliver dance bombs of epic proportions! I hope I've achieved this with the first release 'Wheel Of Life', which is out now."

What's the best VST plug-in effect in the world today?

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:20:00 GMT

UPDATE: Nominations have now closed - vote for your favourite plug-in below.

While it's fair to say that the average DAW now comes fit to bursting with decent effects processors, that doesn't stop the majority of producers from adding to their line-up of tools by buying a few third party plug-ins.

Whether it's by purchasing a new compressor, reverb, delay, distortion or any other kind of effect - either common or garden or esoteric - we all like to spice up our music making lives in one way or another.

So, MusicRadar's latest mission is to compile the ultimate list of great plug-in effects - the best VST and AU processors in the world today, in other words - and we want you to nominate your favourites.

We realise that this is a pretty wide and varied market, so the best advice we can give you when you're deciding what to nominate is to consider the plug-ins that you really couldn't be without. Or to put it another way, the ones that go above and beyond anything that comes built into your DAW and offer something genuinely better/different.

One more thing: don't worry about nominating free plug-ins at this stage; they're covered elsewhere on MusicRadar, and we'll be updating our list soon…

The Beatles, Apple make 27 songs available as iTunes ringtones

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:58:00 GMT

The Beatles were slow to board the iTunes train, but they're quickly making up for lost time. Today, that most iconic of iconic bands made available 27 of their songs - all number one hits, that is - available as ringtones via Apple's iTunes.

The songs are culled from The Beatles' 31-milliion 2000 compilation album 1, which told The Beatles' story in 'toppermost of the poppermost' fashion, putting all of the group's number one songs on a two-disc package.

So now with ringtones, fans fan answer their phones to Love Me Do, Ticket To Ride, Help!, I Feel Fine and on and on.

Because the songs are all culled from the album 1, ringtones-appropriate numbers such as Good Day Sunshine, Goodnight, and Good Morning, Good Morning aren't yet available. But here's hoping they will be soon. And hey, imagine sitting on the bus and hearing You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)... talk about strange!

The Beatles, Apple make 27 songs available as iTtunes ringtones

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:58:00 GMT

So now with ringtones, fans fan answer their phones to Love Me Do, Ticket To Ride, Help!, I Feel Fine and on and on.

Interview: Zakk Wylde on Gibson's new Zakk Wylde Vertigo Les Paul

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:15:00 GMT

"The Vertigo is coming out, at long last!" crows Zakk Wyle. The guitar superstar is excited, to say the least, that the Gibson Les Paul bearing the Vertigo motif - modeled after the graphics from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 thriller - is finally seeing the light of day in 2012.

The model is significant in guitar circles because it's in keeping with what Wylde imagined more than 20 years ago when he first joined Ozzy Osbourne's band. "I was just this kid from New Jersey," Wylde says. "The Vertigo was something I had in my head."

It was the late '80s, and Wylde was set to shoot one of his first guitar magazine covers. The multi-media world was still pre-Internet. "People couldn't click on Facebook or Twitter," says Wylde. "Being on a magazine was a really big deal. People were seeing me for the very first time.

"I had this amazing Les Paul, but I felt like I needed to do something to establish some sort of identity. Yeah, I had the long hair and all that, but what about the guitar? You had Eddie with the stripes all over his guitars, and Randy had the polka dots, so I thought, All right, what am I about? I have to do something."

While watching the SciFi channel, Wylde was struck by a commercial for Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, so he asked a friend of his if he could copy the graphics and logo on his cream-colored Les Paul. "Max was down on Sunset Boulevard, and painted guitars – he had just done some stuff for Slash," says Wylde. "I told him about the Vertigo logo, and I kind of sketched out on a piece of paper what I wanted, and he said, 'Sure, no problem.'"

Wylde on stage with one of the first production models of his Gibson Vertigo Les Pauls.

On the day of the photo shoot, however, Wylde was stunned when he visited Max's studio. "He pulled out the guitar and it's got this giant bullseye on it," he says. "I was like, 'Dude, what the fuck is this?' He goes, 'Isn't that what you wanted?' So we went back and forth, and I'm saying, 'No, I wanted more of a swirling kind of image. This is a bullseye.' But it was too late. I had to do the photo shoot."

Within days, however, Wylde fell in love with the bullseye design. "It actually suited the whole situation," he says. "I was Ozzy's new guitar player, and so now people would have something to aim at when they threw things at the stage!"

Over the years, there have been Gibson and Epiphone versions of the Zakk Wylde Bullseye Les Paul, along with another variation, the Buzzsaw. But the model that started it all, the Vertigo, has waited in the wings... until now.

"I don't know why it took so long," says Wylde. "All I know is that the Vertigo is an awesome fiddle, man. The thing looks killer and plays great."

Among the models specs are a mahogany body, maple LP custom binding on top and back and a '50s maple neck in natural satin, topped with a maple, acrylic block inlays and white binding fingerboard. It has EMG-85/EMG-81 pickups, chrome hardware with Grover kidney keys, multi-ply binding and a split-diamond-inlays headstock.

"Anybody who wants a killer Gibson Les Paul can't go wrong with this," says Wylde, who insists that an Epiphone version is in the cards. "Let's face it, not everybody has $1,500 for a guitar, so with an Epiphone, you can still get a slammin' fiddle at an affordable price. Either way, you're good."

VST/AU plug-in instrument/effect round-up: Week 38

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:00:00 GMT

It's been a little while since our last round-up, but we return with a rich harvest of new plug-ins. In fact, we'd go as far as to say that there's something for pretty much everyone.

Also make sure you check out these regularly updated features:

The 20 best VST plug-in synths in the world today

The 14 best VST plug-in drum machines in the world today

If you've got a new PC or Mac plug-in, make sure you let us know about it by emailing musicradar.pressreleases@futurenet.com with all the details.

NEXT: Best Service Galaxy X

Brit Awards 2012: Ethan Johns named best producer as Adele and Ed Sheeran triumph

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:27:00 GMT

On a night of few surprises, Adele and Ed Sheeran took home two Brit Awards apiece as Ethan Johns scooped the prize for British Producer.

Johns, who recently produced Laura Marling's second album A Creature I Don't Know, saw off competition from Paul Epworth, who worked on Adele's all-conquering 21 album, and Flood, who collaborated with PJ Harvey on Let England Shake.

There was little controversy during the ceremony itself, though television producers were forced to apologise for cutting off Adele's acceptance speech as she won the award for British Album of the Year.

Performances came from Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Noel Gallagher, Olly Murs, Florence And The Machine, Rihanna, Bruno Mars and Outstanding Contribution to Music award winners Blur.

A full list of award winners and a selection of winners' acceptance speeches is below.

Brit Awards 2012 winners

British Female Solo Artist - Adele

International Male Solo Artist - Bruno Mars

Critic's Choice Award - Emeli Sande

British Single - One Direction What Makes You Beautiful

International Female Solo Artist - Rihanna

British Male Solo Artist - Ed Sheeran

British Group - Coldplay

International Group - Foo Fighters

British Breakthrough Act - Ed Sheeran

International Breakthrough Act - Lana Del Rey

Outstanding Contribution To Music - Blur

Mastercard British Album Of The Year - Adele 21

Adele acceptance speeches

NEXT: Ed Sheeran acceptances speeches

Ed Sheeran acceptance speeches

NEXT: Rihanna and Bruno Mars acceptance speeches

Rihanna and Bruno Mars acceptance speeches

NEXT: One Direction acceptance speech

One Direction acceptance speech

VIDEO: David Lee Roth interviews Eddie and Alex Van Halen - Part 2

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:24:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, we posted a video in which David Lee Roth interviewed Eddie and Alex Van Halen, asking about their childhood and how they came to play music. Now you can check out a continuation of that dialogue above.

In this new installment, the three bandmates discuss the businesses Starbucks and McDonalds are really in - and then they get down to strolling down Van Halen memory lane, talking about their first record deal and early record making before bringing it around to how the new album, A Different Kind Of Truth, took shape.

Speaking of A Different Kind Of Truth, you can read our track-by-track review right here. Van Halen kicked off a North American tour in support of the album last weekend in Louisville, Kentucky.

Listen: DragonForce release their 'fastest song' ever

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:01:00 GMT

Sure, it's fast. But is it one of the fastest songs ever? Or, to put it in the proper context, is Fallen World the 'fastest song' that power metal kings DragonForce, known for setting land speed shred records, have ever laid down? That's what they're saying, so check it out above and be the judge.

Fallen World is the first track from the upcoming album The Power Within, due out 16 April. It's the band's fifth album overall, and their first with new vocalist Marc Hudson. He replaces ZP Theart, who parted ways with the group in March 2010.

"The last two years have been the most fun we ever had making an album," said guitarist Herman Li. "Through writing, jamming and touring together, we have built this incredible energy and it has been fully captured on the new album.

"This time around, we've really brought our metal side to the surface and made some of the best music of our career. From the fastest song we've ever recorded to the slower songs, and some things you would never expect from us, this is by far the most diverse DragonForce album yet."

Cool and classic basses: Gibson EB-1 Electric Bass

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:36:00 GMT

This was the first electric bass from Gibson hence the name. However it was rechristened the EB-1 after the introduction of the EB-0 in 1956. It was Gibson's tradition of organising model numbers by their price that caused the EB-0 to undercut this designation because it was cheaper!

The EB-1 briefly resurfaced in 1970 with a few cosmetic changes but by 1972 it was gone again! With its violin shape and endpin it was definitely aimed at bridging the gap between an upright bass and a bass guitar. The earliest versions with a brown pickup cover had a huge single-coil unit inside that was actually mounted on its side. This gave it a cleaner and better-defined sound than the 1958 versions that were given a regular bass humbucker.