Category: Recording

Categories
Acoustic Recording Technique

Acoustic EBow: Insane, or Merely Crazy?

EBow on a Dobro? Oh, yeah!
EBow on a Dobro? Oh, yeah!

If you’ve screwed around much with an EBow—you know, that battery-powered plastic thingie that you slide against your guitar strings to magnetically invoke infinite sustain—you may have also noticed that it works on steel-string acoustic guitar, especially on the unwound first and second strings. It’s hardly an earth-shaking tone— just a thin whine, really— though you can sometimes use it to good effect, compressed and processed within a mix.

But when I got my first Dobro last year (okay, I was a little slow getting around to it) the technique really came alive for me, and I’ve been using it on tons of tracks ever since.

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Categories
Amps Digital Recording

UPDATE: Amps vs. Models Contest

Yet another thing you could be doing instead of practicing.

UPDATE, Friday Sept. 23: The contest is now closed! Read the results here.

Yet another thing you could be doing instead of practicing.

I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t think it would be that hard!

The Amps vs. Models Contest is still very much in progress. Yes, yes, yes—you still have a chance to win fabulous prizes and even more fabulous bragging rights.

One of two things must occur to conclude this thing: Either a) three contestants need to get perfect scores to claim the three instant prizes, which hasn’t happened yet, or b) we wait another six weeks till Halloween, when the prizes simply go to the three best scores.

No one wants to wait six weeks to wrap this up—least of all me. I’m dying to spill the beans, and I’m so tempted to blab when people write asking for details. But dropping hints  wouldn’t be fair to the plucky contestants who dove right in with no hints whatsoever. But I will make one seemingly obvious suggestion: Consider a bit of research about what the amps are supposed to sound like. You Tube clips may help here. 🙂

Categories
guitar Recording

The Forbidden Guitar Mic!

Don't you ever dust that thing?
Lavalier mics: Not just for talking heads!

UPDATE: You’ll find a reworked version of my article on the “forbidden” guitar mic here at the online guitar magazine Pure Guitar — along with a ton of other great stuff. It’s still free! :beer:

Categories
Music Recording

Theft—or Musicology?

Excuse me, Mr. Beatle, but Scotland Yard would like to speak with you about your illicit treble content.
Excuse me, Mr. Beatle, but Scotland Yard would like to speak with you about your illicit treble content.

DISCLAIMER: I am not encouraging any illegal activity. Just sharing some observations.

Over the last few years, just about every musician I know has been spellbound by a series of illicitly leaked recordings. These files, sometimes lumped under the name “Multitrack Masters,” feature dozens of classic rock recordings, broken out into individual tracks. You hear isolated Beatles vocals, Queen guitar stems, Bob Marley rhythm tracks, Stevie Wonder keyboards, and much, much more.I don’t know how they came to be leaked in this form, though I’m guessing one or more sneaky remixers did the deed.

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Categories
Amps Digital guitar Recording

Think You Can Tell Amps from Models?

UPDATE, Friday Sept. 23: The contest is now closed! Read the results here. But although the prizes have been claimed, but you can still challenge you ear for fun here!

Listen and win — if you dare!

Ready for some fun, kids? [Evil clown laugh.]

Join the Amps vs. Models Contest! The winner gets a fabulous prize: Any three Seymour Duncan stompboxes. The runner-up gets to pick any two, and third-place gets one.

Just apply your ear to this simple test. I’ve recorded four boneheaded guitar phrases. Each appears twice, once through a real amp, and once through a software model of the same amp. The trick is, I’m not telling you which clips features an amp, and which ones don’t.

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