Once again plumbing the depths of a mammoth Guitar World file, I've stumbled on this little spicy meatball. It's a 1997 interview Guitar Worlds Alan DiPerna did with the Foo Fighters Dave Grohl, as well as Pat Smear, who was also in the band at the time.
So here's the transcription of the Foo Fighters interview from the Colour and the Shape era. Read the rest of this entry »
Here's the low down on the gear used by Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) guitarist John Frusciante throughout the Stadium Arcadium tour. In my opinion, Stadium Arcadium is not the bands finest work, but still, I love looking a gear, so here we go. Read the rest of this entry »
Joel Stroetzel is Adam Dutkiewicz's partner in crime, as guitarist for Killswitch Engage. I've previously posted scans of Adam Dutkiewicz's guitar rig from the old Guitar World column "Vulgar Display, so I thought it was about time I that I post Joel's as well. Read the rest of this entry »
If you've got a stack of vinyl LP's lying around and have been putting off transferring them to CD because you believe that it's either too hard, or too expensive, then it's time to think again!
There are a number of different tools and programs you can use to go about transferring your vinyl records to CD, but when you boil it all down, whatever you decide to use, the process is the same. I'll try keeping this as simple as possible, and aimed towards those without an existing recording setup, such as ProTools or Cubase.
Step 1: Getting your stuff together
For this to work, you'll need the following:
First you'll want to plug the output of your turntable into your amplifier (or preamp) and then into the Line In of your soundcard. If your soundcard has only one input then you may require a "Y" connector.
If you're converting your LPs to CD, then you are going to want the transfer to result in as close to CD quality as possible right? That's why before you start recording it is a good idea to go into your recording software to make sure you have enabled the CD quality setting. In other words your software should be set up to record at 44,100 samples per second, in 16 bit stereo.
Give your LP a good clean. Make sure it is dust free. This will reduce the chances of 'pops' and 'crackles' which can be a pain to fix once you've completed your recording.
Step 2: Testing your setup
It's a good idea to do a quick test before you dive head long into the recording process. If you've set everything up correctly (on a PC with Windows), in theory, without any recording software running you should be able to play a vinyl LP hear it through your PC speakers. If you're not hearing any sound, make sure your Line In is not set to Mute. If you're using a PC with Windows, double click the speaker icon in the bottom right of your screen. Once you've got your LP playing through your PC, conducting your test record should be as simple as firing up your recording software, hitting play on the turntable, and hitting record on your recording software (please note: all recording software is different. Read the help file if your having troubles 'hitting record').
Use the test to ensure that connections are all correct, and that hum and electrical interference is kept to an absolute minimum. If there is a lot of hum being picked up then you'll need to check that all the items in the recording chain are properly grounded/earthed. Lights, particularly fluorescent lights, can be a prime cause of hum/interference, as can your PC monitor. It's a good idea to keep the monitor as far from the recording chain as possibly to minimise the chances of your recording picking up hum.
Use the test recording as an opportunity to correct the volume and balance levels of your recording. As a general rule, most recording software will come with a way to measure recording levels.
Make sure the recording levels 'stay in the green'. You want your peak sound level to get as close to 0dB as possible without exceeding that level. Anything over 0dB will cause 'clipping' which is basically distortion. You don't want that in your final recording. The peak sound level is the "loudest" section of your recording.
Step 3: Recording your record
One your happy with the sound quality of your test recording, your ready to dive into the whole thing. If you've got this far, the full recording should be fairly straight forward.
As a general rule, 1 minute of CD quality audio takes up around 10Mb of hard disk space, so to record a full LP to your hard drive you will need around 700Mb free.
Record and save each track as its own .WAV file rather than saving the entire LP as one file continuous file. This will make it easier later on when you come to burning the tracks to CD, as well as to edit individual tracks etc. In other words, it's far easier to split the tracks up at this stage than it is latter on.
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This step is really optional, and depends on how happy you are with the sound quality of your recordings. If on play back you are finding yourself annoyed by crackles, pops, hiss and hum, then you may want to experiment with mastering plugins (depending on your software). You can apply pop filters, noisegates, etc. to reduce the incidence of crackles and hum, but you really need to be careful not to over do it. Always make small, incremental changes, and where possible use non-destructive techniques. Otherwise, save before and after versions to compare the differences to see if your 'mastering' has made things better or worse.
Hopefully, if you've taken the time to make sure you set things up correctly, and were happy with the test recording, then step 4 won't be all that necessary.
If you're wanting to make a compilation of songs from various LPs you may way to run the tracks through normalizer software/plugins. Basically all a normalizer does is ensure you have even volume across tracks. This can be useful if not all sound sources have the same levels.
Step 5: Burn the .WAV files to CD
Launch your burning software and start burning. Once you've got the tracks in .WAV you can easily convert them to MP3 if that is what you're after.
If that sounds too hard, there are other alternatives!
There are now quite a few different products on the market that make ripping vinyl to CD a lot quicker and easier. Some turntables now come with audio recording software ready to go. Other units like the TEAC GF-350 offer an all in one solution, with turntable and CD recorder in the one unit. Below are a few samples of things you can pick up off Amazon.com. I guess it depends on how much you're willing to spend, and how often you'll be using it.
Hopefully this helps guide you in the right direction!
If you haven't yet caught any of the AT&T vs Pearl Jam censorship story then you may want to start following it. Has some potentially damaging ramifications for the music industry, and free speech as a whole. What do you think? Did AT&T do the right thing?
Raise your hand if you like the whacked out time stretching effect that you can here on tracks from artists such as Aphex Twin.
Good news is, this style of effect can be reproduced at home using nothing more than the Reason software (still waiting for version 4.0 by the way!).
Here's a pretty good "how to" video tutorial that was posted on YouTube. Only runs for 3mins or so.
If anyone out there has any other ideas on how to put together some weird noise/effects, let me know!
It's not everyday that you get the opportunity to stroll through Smart Studios, but thanks to the magical powers of YouTube, we can get a glimpse of what things are like.
Smart Studios are located in Madison WI, and founded/owned by producers Butch Vig and Steve Marker. If you don't know who they are then you really need to read up more on recording.
Besides their work with Garbage, the guys from Smart Studios can boast one of the most impressive client lists in music history, with names such as U2, Nirvana, Beck, NIN, Smashing Pumpkins, AFI, Helmet and Sonic Youth.
For gear heads, and music fanatics in general, this clip is a must see!
I found this video on YouTube and it's absolutely insane. Four handed guitar playing.
The first guy is playing some pretty cool 'chicken pickin' stuff and then along comes a second guy to tap out a bassline, all on a single acoustic guitar. The video has a goofy vibe to it, but those crazy kids look like they are enjoying themselves.
Heck, I'm impressed.
Does anyone else think that the bassline guy looks a little like Jack Johnson?
Billy Howerdel is one of my all time favorite musicians. His work with A Perfect Circle was an inspiration for me, and really encouraged me to get into recording. Before he formed A Perfect Circle, Howerdel worked as a guitar tech for Faith No More, Fishbone, David Bowie, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Queen, and Guns N' Roses. Since A Perfect Circle went on what seems to be a permanent "hiatus" Howerdel has been working on what could be his first solo album.
Here's a run down of his guitar rig, taken from Guitar World a couple of years ago. As you can see, he is a big fan of midi switching and rack gear. The guy would need to have spent years as a guitar tech just to figure out how to wire this stuff up correctly.
I actually picked up a Lexicon MPX G2 myself, and whilst it can sound pretty cool, the unit is hardly intuitive to program.
Godlyke, Inc. have added five new models to the Guyatone Micro Effects range.
Guyatone CB-3 Cool Booster can be used to boost solo passages or to distort an input signal while retaining unity gain with the bypassed signal.
Guyatone HD-3 Hot Drive Distortion amp up the distortion while still retaining note clarity. HD-3 is suited to providing singing harmonic feedback and making your combo amp sound like a stack.
Guyatone MO-3 Micro Octave is a 100% analog octave divider that offers one and two octaves down as well as a dry blend control. Three filter types and a pre-gain control allow for you to go from subtle doubling to analog synth textures.
Guyatone OD-2+ Overdrive takes the rich tube-like sound of the OD-2 Overdrive and adds additional tone shaping options by way of a Hi Cut/Hi Boost Tone control and 3-way O.D. Mode switch.
Guyatone SS-3 Sonic Shaper emphasizes specific signal harmonics, allowing the user to stand out in an ensemble or mix without having to change their volume. Can also be used as an acoustic simulator or as a clean level booster. Not really sure how this one will work or how it differs from the CB-3 to be honest.
I have a Guyatone Micro Chorus and it's a great little unit, sounds good and small enough to find a place on any pedal board. Of the five new Micro Effects, the Micro Octave is the one that sounds the most interesting to me.
