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History and Construction of The Drums – Part 2

The following video is the second of a three-part segment on vintage drums by Michael Vecchio. The interview was shot at Steve Maxwell Vintage and Custom Drum Shop on 48th Street in Manhattan with store manager and vintage drum expert Jess Birch. This segment covers “History and Construction.” Keep an eye out for part 3 in following posts, and later we will be posting other segments on “Heads and Tuning” and “Cymbals”. Check out part one here.... Click on the title for more

History and Construction of The Drums – Part 2

Tortuga Effects Mai Tai

Tortuga Effects, a one-man guitar pedal designer operating out of Renton, Washington, has been producing some great sounding effects pedals, complete with eye-catching designs.... Click on the title for more

Tortuga Effects Mai Tai

Eternally In Tune

A recent Popular Science article showcases the simple yet effective EverTune guitar bridge. Utilizing a spring and lever for each guitar string, the device is able to keep consistent tension on every string, therefore keeping them in tune. You set the initial tuning you want at the bridge using a hex screw, and unless you break a string (or go all Richie Blackmore and break more than just the strings) the guitar will stay in tune, even if you give the tuners at the headstock a few turns. You can also adjust intonation and action, again using screws set into the device. The EverTune bridge sells for $330, not including installation. –Mike Bauer... Click on the title for more

Eternally In Tune

Keith McMillen Instruments Batt-O-Meter

Berkeley, CA based Keith McMillen Instruments has come up with a handy little device called the Batt-O-Meter ($29.99). Essentially a battery tester for musicians, the Batt-O-Meter plugs in to any guitar pedal or electric instrument with a 1/4″ jack, and displays the remaining life and voltage delivered from the battery. While it can also test standalone 9V, 3V, and 1.5V batteries, the real advantage of this product is that you can check how much life is left in your guitars and pedals without having to remove the batteries. Simply plug it into your favorite guitar pedal, hold the test button, and the display screen will tell you the number of volts provided by the battery, and the number of hours remaining until it runs out of juice. There’s a selector on the side of the device with three different battery chemistry settings (Alkaline, Rechargeable, and Carbon Zinc). Make sure you know which type you are using, because you can get some funky results if you choose wrong. The Batt-O-Meter calculates the hours of life remaining by comparing the voltage load of your pedal to the amount of energy in the battery, so changing your pedal’s settings will alter your results. […]... Click on the title for more

Keith McMillen Instruments Batt-O-Meter

Massive amounts of love

Universal Audio’s Manley Massive Passive EQ plugin has been getting an increasing amount of great reviews since it’s release this spring. It’s modeled after Manley Labs’ Massive Passive hardware EQ: a stereo four-band tube equalizer that is favored by many engineers both as a mixing and a mastering tool. However, the price tag of the hardware unit is over $4,000, putting it well out of reach for most users. UA’s plugin version is in a more comfortable price range with a MSRP of $299, though it still requires a UAD-2 DSP Accelerator card. The Massive Passive plugin was initially well-received, earning a “Thumbs up” from EQ Magazine and described by MusicRadar.com as “Perhaps the most impressive EQ yet from Universal Audio.” Lately, it seems everyone has been test driving it, and subsequently falling in love. Pro Audio Review landed solidly in the ‘love it’ category with this review: “It is seriously one of the best-sounding software equalizers available. I just wish I could have more of them. If you can’t strap this across a mix and make it sound better than it did before, there’s a job in a little yellow car in New York City with your name on […]... Click on the title for more

Massive amounts of love

Amptweaker TightBoost – Boost Pedal with Bonuses

Amptweaker‘s newest pedal is the TightBoost, a boost pedal with some nifty extras built-in. Along with True-Bypass, the TightBoost comes with four controls: Boost, High, Mid, and Tight. While the Boost and High controls do what you expect them to, the Mid features a parked wah tone that increases gradually when the control is cranked past 12 o’ clock. A switch below the Mid control lets you choose between two frequencies for the wah, one is a ‘classic throaty wah tone’ while the other sounds ‘pushed forward.’ These were the two favorite frequencies selected by local guitarists at the Nashville Amp Expo. The Tight control adjusts between a smooth, looser sound and a more aggressive and focused tone. You can achieve a wide array of tones by setting the Boost knob anywhere from clean to tube-like breakup and then adjusting the other three controls. Amptweaker makes things even more interesting with the addition of an effects loop on the back of the pedal, allowing you to add compression, EQ, delay or distortion – all of which can be set to Pre or Post the Tighboost via a switch underneath the unit. Check out this excellent demo of the pedal in […]... Click on the title for more

Amptweaker TightBoost – Boost Pedal with Bonuses

Spark by Blue Microphones

Blue Microphones has introduced a new product designed to impress home and project studios with Class A electronics and Blue’s distinct profile at an affordable price point. Set to be available this November, the Spark microphone ($199) is a solid-state cardioid condenser mic suited for use in a variety of applications on vocals and instruments. Staying true to the claim that Spark gets results “right out of the box,” the mic ships with a recording guide with tips on mic placement and how to achieve different vocal and instrument sounds. Spark also includes a Focus Control button that allows the user to alter the sonic response of the mic without using any additional processing. I’ll let the manufacturer explain this one: “A new feature found only on the Spark microphone is the unique Focus Control, providing two different usage modes at the push of a button: the Normal mode (out position) providing increased low frequency sensitivity for recordings with great impact and definition, along with the Focus mode, (in position) for even greater clarity and detail.” Initially I assumed this was a fancy way of describing a filter switch, but it turns out the Focus Control affects the signal much […]... Click on the title for more

Spark by Blue Microphones

Shure announces Beta 181

Coming this fall from Shure: A compact side-address condenser mic with interchangeable capsules. The Beta 181 will be the company’s first wired mic to have swappable polar pattern capsules (cardioid, supercaridioid, omnidirectional, bidirectional) that attach to the mic body with a locking ring for a secure connection. With it’s extremely compact profile and side-address capsule, the 181 lets you use a condenser in tight miking conditions where large diaphragm mic’s simply wouldn’t fit. Whether you’re placing it on a drum kit, guitar amp, or inside a piano, you should be able to get close to the source without much hassle – plus the inclusion of switchable capsules further increases it’s versatility. Like other microphones in the Beta family, the 181 features sturdy construction, low handling noise, and high gain before feedback, which tailor it for live sound applications in addition to studio use. The 181 will retail for $499 with one capsule, windscreen, stand mount, and carrying case. Additional capsules will sell for $249 apiece, while the preamp body on it’s own will also be available for $249. Expect it in stores November 15th. –Mike Bauer... Click on the title for more

Shure announces Beta 181

Mad Professor Ruby Red Booster

Finland-based amp and pedal manufacturer Mad Professor has begun shipping their new Ruby Red Booster pedal ($169). This pedal is a combination of two boosters, based on the BJF Little Red Trebler and the Red Rooster Booster, and you can use it as a treble boost, clean boost, or as an overdrive pedal. The Booster circuit in this unit boasts 40dB of gain, which allows you to achieve heavy overdrive at high settings, while the treble boost has 15dB of gain and is frequency and bandwidth tuned to help your treble cut through the mix. The master volume control lets you adjust output when using the pedal for distortion, and it also controls the tonal level of the two boosters. Depending on how you set the three controls, the pedal can provide nice clean gain or loads of overdrive, and anything in between. Additionally, inside the Ruby Red Booster there is a switch that will set the pedal to either buffered or true bypass mode, depending on your pedalboard situation. –Mike Bauer... Click on the title for more

Mad Professor Ruby Red Booster

Tascam’s Solar-Rechargeable Tuner

For the Eco-friendly guitarist in your band, Tascam now has a solar-rechargeable chromatic tuner: the TC-1S. A bank of solar cells on the front of the unit charge the tuner’s internal battery, and a nylon strap and clip allow you attach it to the outside of your gig bag so it will actually see some daylight. However, if you find yourself playing a subterranean show, there’s a USB input that can quickly charge the unit as well. The TC-1S has a 1/4″ input and built-in microphone, and a bar graph display with four display modes (Bar, Fine, Strobe Animation, and Needle). In Fine mode, pitch is displayed with 1-cent accuracy. You can also tune up to a piano or other external source using the unit’s calibration setting. Coming in at $40, the TC-1S will save you from constantly stocking up on batteries, and it’s a much more affordable way to ‘green’ up your rig than this solar-powered guitar amp. –Mike Bauer... Click on the title for more

Tascam’s Solar-Rechargeable Tuner

ADK S-7 and A-6 Microphones

Over the course of two weeks I anticipated a delivery of two new ADK microphones to be used for a month of extensive testing. This review was done over the course of a month of tracking with various rock bands at Monsterland Recording Studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Everything was recorded to protools using high end Lynx converters and api microphone preamps. There was an effort to keep the signal chain similar throughout the testing process. Via email, Larry Villella of ADK was extremely honest and informative about the nature of his microphones. Often gear manufacturers act like pimps hustling their goods under the veil of trendy marketing terms and “celebrity” testimonials. ADK took a different stance and talked with me frankly about what they sell and how it can aid in the recording process. I received one S-7 and one A-6 large diaphragm condenser microphone. The mics arrived in nice piano painted wooden boxes with cloth lined interiors. Each mic comes with a stand mount but no shock mount. Although there was no shock mount, the microphones are typical in shape to other mics and I had no problem finding shock mounts in my collection that would fit each microphone. […]... Click on the title for more

ADK S-7 and A-6 Microphones

Auto-Align by Sound Radix

When two or more sources are used to record a single instrument, there is an inherit delay between the tracks, because each mic will be a slightly different distance from the instrument. Examples of this would be a snare top and snare bottom mic; miking a guitar while also taking a DI split; or having a close mic and a room mic on any instrument. When these audio tracks are summed without compensating for this offset, some frequencies will cancel each other out, while other frequencies will build up – an effect known as comb filtering. To eliminate this problem Sound Radix has designed an easy to use time-aligning plugin that will automatically compensate for delay between any two audio tracks. Auto-Align can help not only with phase issues, but by aligning your tracks it can add some attack and punchiness to the sound as well. To use, you insert Auto-Align on the track you intend to time-shift, and set the side-chain input as the track you want to align it to. Then simply hit play in your DAW, then engage the ‘Detect’ button on the plugin, and you’re pretty much done. Auto-Align will take a few seconds of playback […]... Click on the title for more

Auto-Align by Sound Radix