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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 show as a three piece: how would they pull it all off live with just one guitar? The answer came in the form of not one but two Akai Headrush loop pedals employed by guitarist Ian Williams during the set. At times, the crowd was treated to what sounded like a wall of guitarists thanks to Williams’ pedal arsenal. Other pedals with similar features were already on the scene, but the Headrush had the advantage of simplicity: two switches, an in an out loop option, and 4 outs to simulate tape head echoes. My own musical endeavors had me go through two Headrush pedals in little over a few years. A fantastic little box with two major issues: a weak footswitch assembly and an easily destroyed power supply input. While it does not sport the silver tank look of its predecessor, the Akai Headrush E2 updates these weaknesses and adds […]... Click on the title for more

Looping bliss: Akai Headrush E2

DAW Review: PreSonus’ Studio One + Crossgrade offer

Every now and again, a product sneaks up on the audio public in a way that makes discovering its graces all the more significant. Studio One Pro from PreSonus is one such product. A virtual powerhouse audio editor, Studio One Pro delivers and outshines its competition by leaps and bounds while remaining intuitive, simple and affordable. The timing for this review couldn’t be better. I’d cut all the basic instrumental tracks for my latest record to tape, so without reading or investigation, I installed Studio One Pro with its FireStudio Mobile interface to dump the tracks into hard disc for vocals, overdubs, mixing and mastering. If the DAW wasn’t up to snuff after a day or two, I assumed I could go back to my former well known but frustrating ProTools interface and audio program. Though aversion of the software, Studio One Artist, comes with the FireStudio, I am using Studio One Pro for this review. This version allows VST, Audio Units, and ReWire, as well as video sync and mastering capabilities not found in the Studio One Artist version. – read the entire review here. P.S. PreSonus is currently offering Studio One for $299 for any user cross-grading from […]... Click on the title for more

DAW Review: PreSonus’ Studio One + Crossgrade offer

Mic Review: Shure SM7B, a secret dynamic weapon

Engineers and recording studios have certain favorite pieces of gear that are referred to as “secret weapons.” What’s a “secret weapon,” you ask? It’s an inexpensive, but super high-quality piece of gear that people generally either don’t know about or disregard because of its low price tag. Without a doubt the greatest of the recording industry’s secret weapons is the Shure SM7B. It is a staple in the mic closet of every great studio in the world. For starters, at Clinton Recording Studios we used our SM7B to record vocals for Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow and Dr. John, and I recently saw a video of Scott Weiland using an SM7B to record vocals on “Big Bang Baby.” I also noticed that SM7B’s are used as vocal mics in the “Live From Abbey Road” series. Obviously, the SM7B is detailed and smooth enough to be used as a top quality vocal mic. But what I find interesting about the SM7B is that it’s a dynamic mic (as opposed to the other two main types of microphones – condenser and ribbon), and dynamic mics are not the usual choice for vocals. For the most part, engineers choose condensers on vocals to get […]... Click on the title for more

Mic Review: Shure SM7B, a secret dynamic weapon

Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy

The classic Electro Harmonix Memory Man series pedals are simply some of the best sounding analog delays ever made. The only problem is that they are HUGE, occupying about a third of the space of an average pedal board!... Click on the title for more

Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy

Upcoming from Tech 21: Red Ripper for Bass

Tech 21 just unveiled a new distortion pedal for bass called Red Ripper, here’s a quick peek at how it sounds + some details about the specks. • All-analog bass distortion with aggressive tones and vintage filter-style effects, • The R.I.P. knob, in conjunction with the drive, can create a range of tones from vintage fuzz to Moog-style synth tones. • Active three-band EQ delivers quality tone shaping options, the added Low Pass Filter switch compensates for full-range bass systems equipped with tweeters. • Hand Built in the US like all Tech 21 pedals.... Click on the title for more

Upcoming from Tech 21: Red Ripper for Bass

Softube’s Trident A-Range Equalizer Plug-in Review

Last night I was working on mastering a song and I was struggling to get the mix brighter without making it harsh – a common dilemma in mastering a track. I’m not a mastering engineer, so this was more of a rough master for the artist to get an idea of the final product. Mastering engineers have all kinds of cool tricks that they use to deal with this stuff, like multiband compression, nice exacting hardware eq’s, etc. But I literally spent about four hours trying to get it right and I just couldn’t push up the high end and carve out the offending frequencies. During one of my ear breaks I was looking around online and I discovered Softube’s new Trident A-Range EQ Plug-in. Holy cows! If you haven’t heard of the Trident A-Range console, let me tell you a little bit. The first Trident A-Range console was made for Trident Studios in England by the legendary tech Malcom Toft. The A-Range console had a revolutionary design and it sounded phenomenal. Once word got out about how this incredible console, Malcom and Co. began producing them for other studios. In total, only thirteen Trident A-Range consoles were ever made, […]... Click on the title for more

Softube’s Trident A-Range Equalizer Plug-in Review

OktavaMod Tube Mic Upgrade Review

So you’re sitting at home recording a vocal track and you think, “Gee, this vocal sounds kind of harsh. And when I try to EQ it, it ends up sounding dull and unnatural. I wonder if it’s this affordable Chinese-made microphone that I’m using that’s causing the problem. Boy, I wish I had a [fill in the blank] microphone, which I can’t afford, to make it sound more balanced.” Now, what if the conversation you had with yourself went like this instead?: “… I wonder if it’s this affordable Chinese-made microphone that I’m using that’s causing the problem. Maybe I should send this mic to OktavaMod to have them modify it to create a killer mic that can hang with the best microphones on the planet!” OktavaMod is a company that offers an aftermarket upgrade service for your cheap Chinese and Russian-made microphones, and they are a hit with top professionals and home recordists alike. Michael Joly, President and Founder of OktavaMod, sent us one of his upgraded large diaphragm tube condenser mics to try out. We shot it out against some of the greatest large diaphragm condensers of all time (including the untouchably expensive vintage Neumann U67 and U47 […]... Click on the title for more

OktavaMod Tube Mic Upgrade Review

Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone & Aria Disnortion Reviews

Obsessed with extending the expressive range of the guitar, I compulsively investigate gear that claims it can.... Click on the title for more

Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone & Aria Disnortion Reviews

Pedal Review: Line 6 FM4

Line 6 excels at packaging the best elements from a collection of vintage analog effects into a single digital stompbox. Their classic “green delay pedal” (DL4) is one of the most versatile delay modelers/loopers available. While the FM4 Filter Modeler is not as user-friendly or universally appealing as the DL4, it follows in the same creative footsteps.The FM4 re-imagines a number trademark filtering effects from companies such as Moog, Korg and Oberheim. From the arpeggiated “throbber” to the stabbing “attack synth,” the FM4 models an astonishing array of effects ranging from vocoders to synth modules. The FM4 can be heard on numerous albums from the early part of the past decade, including those by The Flaming Lips and the Unicorns (listen to the intro of “Jellybones” for an example of the Synth-O-Matic). Capable of everything from full on freak-outs to subtle sweetening, this pedal is ideally suited for those interested in modern psychedelia, noise/ambient or synth-inspired dance music. Potential gripes come more from the pedal’s layout than its sound. Save for the mix knob on the far right, the three other dials control variables that sometimes change dramatically, depending on the preset mode. On the plus side, the ability to […]... Click on the title for more

Pedal Review: Line 6 FM4

Eventide Pitchfactor Review

[caption id="attachment_9355" align="alignnone" width="620"] Eventide Pitchfactor[/caption] The PitchFactor is a “Best of” of Eventide's long history of harmonizers, and of all the 'Factor' series pedals, this one probably had to be simplified the most from its rack inspirations.... Click on the title for more

Eventide Pitchfactor Review

Your Rode NT1 sounding like a U87?

When I used to live in Italy in my teens, I remember the excitement and pride some of my friends shared for their “modded” Motorinos (sadly my mother never even allowed me to ride one…). These bikes were noisy, but ran faster than regular ones. A decade or so later, computer nerds started modding computer processors and musicians started doing something similar to existing musical circuits. The excitement of this challenging hobby/game/passion lies in putting the individual “modder” in direct competition with the original manufacturers of the product. Michael Joly has turned this game into a successful company (called Oktavamod) that has been producing outstanding sounding modded microphones out of affordable ones. The referral point for most of his mics is the almost universally venerated sound of vintage Neumann mics, with their midrange richness with a sibilance-free top end. In the case of the NT1a, the modifications were made to match its new sound to that of a U87. If you own a NT1 or NT1a, for $329 you can send it to Oktavamod and get it back upgraded, the capsule replaced with a MJE-K47, defined by Michael as the “result of my painstaking search to find a capsule producer […]... Click on the title for more

Your Rode NT1 sounding like a U87?

Decapitator Analog Saturation Plug-In

Pro recording engineers have been torturing their gear for years, pushing consoles, preamps, and outboard gear to the limit to create the sound of modern music. You can now get that sound in the box, in your mix. SoundToys‘ Decapitator gives you five flavors of classic analog sound, modeled from real analog hardware that we tweaked, twisted, and tortured in our lab. Drive it as hard as you can, and use the three tone shaping knobs to sweeten, fatten, heat-up, or squash the way you want it. The exclusive “Punish” button puts the hurt on anything you run through it, and the “Thump” switch gives you a nice kick in the low end. And finally, we’ve included a mix control so you can blend in the original sound using the parallel bussing technique like the pros, but without all the routing, and hassle. Recommended for drums and for adding subtle warmth or fat drive to vocals, and enhancing or obliterating guitar. It’s got the grit, edge, and analog mojo that helps the pros fit everything into a mix. Decapitator puts it all at your fingertips.... Click on the title for more

Decapitator Analog Saturation Plug-In