gear giveaway

Pedal Review: Pigtronix Fat Drive

In a world where you can’t swing a guitar without knocking 10 Tubescreamer clones off the shelf, new entrants to the oversaturated overdrive market had better have something new to say. Pigtronix’s new Fat Drive (street $140) accomplishes this by exploiting what some might perceive as a weakness in Fender-style…Click on the title for more

Pedal Review: Pigtronix Fat Drive

Conveyor and the Recording Process

Brooklyn’s Conveyor presents an intriguing blend of styles and influences on their sonic palette. Combining the percussion of afropop with moody electronics and rhythmic patterned vocal placement, their sound is bouncy and creative. Many of the songs are the result of a collaborative writing process, giving the defined sections an…Click on the title for more

Conveyor and the Recording Process

Production Corner: Fun with Arpeggiators

Arpeggiators are one of the most fun and "ancient" electronic music tools, and consist in editable algorithms that play the notes of a chord following a regular sequenced pattern. Like anything trendy in the 80s, arpeggiators are coming back in the early aughts with a vengeance. If you are not into their…Click on the title for more

Production Corner: Fun with Arpeggiators

Level up with these 8 bit guitar pedals

Hearing the term '8 bit audio' probably makes you think of old school arcade games or vintage Nintendo titles, but converting higher quality audio to 8 bits is an effect that can be used to achieve a variety of sounds - including some very cool guitar tones. Reducing the bit depth…Click on the title for more

Level up with these 8 bit guitar pedals

Pedal video review: Palmer Kaputt Octaver

Our legendary contributor Chris Cannon reviewed the Palmer Kaputt Octaver for us, but he did through a video - check it out!Click on the title for more

Pedal video review: Palmer Kaputt Octaver

People Get Ready and the Recording Process

People Get Ready's Gear: Casio SK-1 " The songs from the EP were originally guitar based - then I distilled those ideas into the keyboards. " People Get Ready is a perfect example of what can happen when vastly different personalities come together and become something greater than their sum. James…Click on the title for more

People Get Ready and the Recording Process

Famous Guitar Tones: the Twang

In the mid-50s, great guitar innovators like Duane Eddy (pictured) started playing lead riffs drenched in tremolo and echo in the lower registers of the guitar, creating the bass-y sound that since then has become synonymous with “twang.” Tremolo, a regular change in volume which can be varied in speed…Click on the title for more

Famous Guitar Tones: the Twang

Snowmine and the recording process

Snowmine's Gear: Fender Mini Tone-Master " I use a Fender Mini Tone-Master. It’s a small solid state practice amp, and I put literally everything through it. " Like many contemporary Brooklyn based artists, Snowmine (featured on the cover of the summer 2012 issue of our sister site/publication The Deli) is…Click on the title for more

Snowmine and the recording process

Pedal Review: VFE Distortion3

The VFE Distortion3 houses three classic low-to-medium gain distortions in one small tweakable enclosure. enclosure. This pedal simulates the MXR Distortion+ made famous by Randie Rhoads as well as the DOD 250 and MXR MicroAmp. While all of these classic 70’s and 80’s pedals have the same basic circuit, the Distortion3…Click on the title for more

Pedal Review: VFE Distortion3

Pedal Review: TC Electronic Spark Booster

At first glance the TC Electronic Spark Booster looks like it may function as a very vanilla clean boost pedal. Fortunately TC put some bells and whistles into this pedal that make it really fun to play and especially fun to record with. I tested it out while recording an…Click on the title for more

Pedal Review: TC Electronic Spark Booster

Production Corner: Pop Structure and Bridges

Pop music is a little bit like classic art: it’s all about balance. If Pop had existed at the time of the ancient Greeks, it would have been Apollo’s music — he was the god of the Sun, harmony, order and reason. "Structure" is what gives a song its balance.…Click on the title for more

Production Corner: Pop Structure and Bridges

Review: Audio Source Multiwave Bass Distortion

Some digital innovation brought to us today from the fine folks at Source Audio with the Soundblox 2 Multiwave Bass Distortion. The bass guitar can be one of the trickiest instruments to record. This may be because of several factors, but one of the more common reasons is that low-end instruments like…Click on the title for more

Review: Audio Source Multiwave Bass Distortion