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Oldies but Goldies: BBE Freq Booster

The now discontinued BBE Freq Boost is an interesting proposition for the vintage crowd: How far will you go to recreate the sound of the 1960s and 1970s? First a little background: The Freq Boost is a treble booster, which is essentially a precursor to the now-ubiquitous overdrive pedal. Guitarists…Click on the title for more

Oldies but Goldies: BBE Freq Booster

BBE’s D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin

Though not as popular as compressors, maximizers (sometimes called exciters or enhancers) are many engineers' "secret weapon" for adding extra pop and sizzle or smoothing out rough-edged tracks. For those familiar with studio compressors, BBE is to maximizers as DBX is to compressors: affordable and dependable. BBE's D82 Sonic Maximizer…Click on the title for more

BBE’s D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin

Massey Plug-ins L2007 Mastering Limiter

How does this sound to you… a set of totally awesome FREE plug-ins (that is, with an unlimited demo period), and if you want to have settings that are savable, automation and bypass mode you can buy each program for between $69 and $89? Sound amazing? Well, that’s the deal…Click on the title for more

Massey Plug-ins L2007 Mastering Limiter

Cabinet – Convolution Speaker Cabs by Audio Ease

Cabinet is the latest piece of software from Audio Ease, the company that brought you the highly regarded convolution reverb plug in Altiverb and Speakerphone. Cabinet (which costs only $60) is actually a basic version of Speakerphone and is geared specifically toward guitarists and bassists. This software is a set…Click on the title for more

Cabinet – Convolution Speaker Cabs by Audio Ease

TC Electronic Polytune: a dream comes true.

We finally managed to put our hands on a TC Polytune - people at the Winter NAMM show back in January were pretty excited about this little white box. What makes this tuner truly revolutionary is the fact that it is poly-chromatic, providing the ability to tune all strings concurrently:…Click on the title for more

TC Electronic Polytune: a dream comes true.

V-Moda Crossfade LP Headphones

V-Moda is a Hollywood-based lifestyle brand that mixes fashion, design and music to make some beautiful products. The Crossfade LP headphones are their latest addition to their product lineup. Four years in the making, the Crossfade LP is the marriage of design and functionality. V-Moda founder Val Kolton collaborated with…Click on the title for more

V-Moda Crossfade LP Headphones

Violence plug in – deconstructing the violin

It is really amazing what audio plug ins manufacturers are doing these days to recreate the original sound of acoustic instruments (for a fun article about this, see "The Invasion of the Sound Snatchers" here). Vir2's Violence is the latest attempt to emulate the sound of a (real) violin through…Click on the title for more

Violence plug in – deconstructing the violin

Maxon OD-820 Overdrive

The Maxon OD-820’s color—vibrant pea green—announces right off the bat that this pedal is from the same neighborhood as the classic Tube Screamer. But the DNA runs even deeper than that. Maxon pedals come from the same factory that made the original Tube Screamers, which Maxon sometimes built for Ibanez.…Click on the title for more

Maxon OD-820 Overdrive

Octant and the “Unmanned Backup Band”

Octant can be described as a one-man band featuring mainly acoustic robotic musical instruments that back up front man, Matthew Steinke, like a player piano as he sings, shouts, and plays various home brew instrumentation. For the upcoming performance at The Tank (NYC), Octant will perform an initial set of…Click on the title for more

Octant and the “Unmanned Backup Band”

Tube Saturator – Tube Amp Simulation Plugin from Wave Arts

You know how sometimes your amp simulation plugin doesn't really sound like your awesome tube amp? Even though a lot of software can be pretty cool with options and built-in effects, they sometimes don't quite get the job done. And then you end up recording your real amp anyway. That…Click on the title for more

Tube Saturator – Tube Amp Simulation Plugin from Wave Arts

A treat for bass fx fanatics: Q&A with Hank & Cupcakes

Hank and Cupcakes are a NYC duo that plays sweaty and groovy indie pop. If Cupcakes (the girl) provides driven drumming and soulful vocals, Hank’s bass is in charge of everything else – a role that the 4 string instrument rarely takes upon itself. You wouldn’t call Hank’s style “minimalistic”:…Click on the title for more

A treat for bass fx fanatics: Q&A with Hank & Cupcakes

Looping bliss: Akai Headrush E2

My first awareness of looping pedals happened at a rock show back in the ‘90’s. The acclaimed band Don Caballero, an instrumental math rock tour-de-force, had released a new album after losing their second guitarist. Curiosity was high among the indie dweebs pushing to the front at this, their first…Click on the title for more

Looping bliss: Akai Headrush E2