gear giveaway

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

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…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…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! The Memory Boy took a step back by removing level/gain knob,…Click on the title for more

Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy

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…Click on the title for more

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

OktavaMod Tube Mic Upgrade Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xftXh05dig 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,…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. I put Pigtronix, a company obsessed with ensuring a future of enhanced guitar expressiveness, to the test with their budget conscious Aria Disnortion overdrive+3 band EQ, and the Philosopher's Tone compression/sustain synthesizer pedals.…Click on the title for more

Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone & Aria Disnortion Reviews

Pedal Review: Line 6 FM4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJJL175iL4Q 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…Click on the title for more

Pedal Review: Line 6 FM4

Eventide Pitchfactor Review

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. Providing 10 different patches of pitch shifters and harmonizers, the PitchFactor shares a common setup and interface with…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,…Click on the title for more

Your Rode NT1 sounding like a U87?

Decapitator Analog Saturation Plug-In

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRJKUukgmro 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…Click on the title for more

Decapitator Analog Saturation Plug-In