I’ve noticed something in my time as a music producer. I’ve realized that whenever I see bands play in any setting- including tiny local bands playing in alleys- they just sound overall better than they used to. My personal opinion is that we are in the era of music producers. A music producer is not …
6 Ways To Dampen Cymbals To Reduce Ringing And Wash Read More »
Are you ready for the hot take of the millenium? Here it comes… The average acoustic guitar with a built-in pickup plugged in, amplified, and ready for live performance, sounds dreadful. Worse, it sounds un-musical. And the lack of a quality microphone for live performance is one of the biggest culprits here. Fine, it’s not …
6 Best Mics for Live Acoustic Guitar Performance Read More »
Being a musician these days is complicated. The most complicated part is that music technology has changed rapidly, and making music is suddenly a very different affair than it was in the past. Being a modern musician often means being a part-time producer and recording studio engineer at the same time. With all this new …
Do you remember being in class during a lecture, with the teacher just droning on? If you tuned out a little bit, the teacher’s words were no longer distinct. They seemed to run together. You looked around, and some classmates were doodling. Some were drifting off. And in the back, one student must have been …
The phrase “noise music” seems like a contradiction in terms, much like the idea of a “weed garden.” After all, the definition of a weed is simply any plant growing where you don’t want it. Yet a garden is an organized and intentional group of plants, so how can you have a weed garden? The …
When you picture an acoustic guitar player, there’s a good chance you imagine someone holding a guitar, strumming a simple pattern, and singing soulfully. Maybe they’re jamming with other musicians, keeping time, and playing the chords while other players interject with fancy licks. But this is selling the acoustic short. The acoustic guitar is capable …
7 Best Fingerstyle/Fingerpicking Acoustic Guitar Strings Read More »
Even though the clarinet doesn’t always have a stellar reputation in popular culture and it could be because it’s a relatively new instrument compared to ancients like the piano or the guitar and all its many variations. But that only means it’s even more important to properly mic your clarinet so that you can get …
The French horn is one of those instruments that seems to exist in its own world. Even though it belongs to the brass instrument family, it has a very unique and specific character. The instrument itself is unique, after all. The French horn is the only brass instrument whose bell is intentionally aimed away from …
My family is not American (we hail from jolly old England) but I was born and raised in the U.S. And I love America for its many wonderful and inspiring contributions to modern culture. America did not invent the car, but with the Ford Model T, we invented mass car ownership. We did not invent …
Why’s it called ska? Because the guitar goes “…ska! Ska! Ska!” How about reggae? Because the guitar goes “… Reg-gah! Reg-gah!” Now you see that calling a genre “djent” after the sound the guitar makes is not so odd. But maybe it’s time to stop letting rhythm guitarists name genres. Kidding aside. For those not …
