Archive for the ‘Gear’ Category
In with the old, out with the new!
I did it, now, like 20 something years later. Early wisdom realised too late. What am I talking about here? I am talking about guitar sound, great guitar sound. And a life full of false beliefs and struggle and disappointment. But now i have come full circle, embrace the old and the new and am bold enough to tell you: “DON’T BELIEVE THE F…….g HYPE!”
My first tube amp was a Radio, which my Grandma didn’t use anymore. It had great distortion, decent sagging and a very soft sounding speaker that i blew much to fast. It wasn’t loud but incredible for practising. When you dialed down the volume of the Les Paul copy i used (what my mates then said I was not supposed to do, you loose treble!) then you got soft crunch and further down the volume gave me clean sound – everything on Living Room level. I was very happy with that and exercised my guitar playing every minute I could spent. But it was not supposed to be like this (that’s the mates again, who didn’t know shit but that’s how it was in the heydays of rockmusic in germany and for me it was much much later to find out).
To reach the next level as a player i needed to play with a band and that required something louder, obviously. After three weeks of hard work in gardening during the holidays i got a HiWatt 100 Watts Top and a selfmade 4 x 12 Cabinet with celestion speakers which I built with the help of my grandpa who was a carpenter. My only FX device then was an MXR Distortion Plus. I got that because i liked the sound, very close to how my grandma’s radio sounded: real tubes plus that extra kick. With this rig i got my reputation as a guitar player in the city to a decent level quickly. But then all the mates again said, that’s not how it is supposed to be … you need more FX, Distortion Pedals are bad, the real thing is an Amp, and, it is the 80s: “Dude, get yourself a Rack!”
That Top 40 band then one day asked me to join them: “What do you play?”
Me: “I like Ritchie Blackmore, but getting into that funky stuff as well!”
They: “Naw, what do you play like, equipmentwise?”
Me: ” HiWatt and Les Paul copy!”
They: “Yes …?”
Me : “Yes, what?”
They: “Effects? Preamps and stuff!”
Me: “No, just a distortion pedal!”
They: “That is some weirdo, Distortion – get a Mesa Boogie, or a Tube Preamp man ….!”
::: I think you get the idea.
My playing wans’t important in the first place dureing my interview. My gear was. And I must admit, I got washed away, I got weak. Since then, when i got rid of my MXR and the Hiwatt I was too often unhappy with the sound. I had to fight with the gear all the time. Soundwise and breaking down wise because of all the complexitiy.
To cut a life long story short: I am home now. I am back together with my first true love. My MXR Distortion plus. With any decent sounding amplifier, even a digital modeling one, this little box makes you sound. If you can play. I am so grateful to Jim Dunlop that they have reissued the original one. I got it today, it sounds great. And it is dead cheap. Simply kick it, treat your guitar with energy and use the volume knobs.
Welcome back to musicianship, Good bye gear heads!
Here is JDs Demo Video – cool thing!
Melodyne editor with DNA – first look from pointblankonline
Wow,
it is just hours after we informed the world about Melodyne editor becoming available for beta test. The good guys from Point Blank Online just took it and created a first video. Here it is!!
Amazing guys!!!
Celemony begins beta testing Melodyne editor
Celemony Software GmbH today is pleased to invite all registered Melodyne users to participate in the beta testing of Melodyne editor, the first Melodyne product featuring the Melodyne DNA technology. The sales launch is scheduled for the beginning of November and the price will be USD 349,- or Euro 349,-
It’s been a long wait but finally all registered Melodyne customers are able try out Melodyne editor as part of a public beta test. The beta installer is up on the Celemony server waiting to be downloaded and used to change music recordings in a way that has never been possible before.
Melodyne editor represents, in terms both of functionality and technology the latest Melodyne generation and features all the fully mature and proven editing functions which are familiar already from previous editions of Melodyne. Through the integration of DNA, however, even the harmonies in an audio file can be made visible, accessible and malleable – note by note. Users can literally intervene in the chords of their recordings and alter individual notes with them. The implications for the correction and refashioning of audio are simply sensational.
Melodyne editor is designed for the editing of recordings of individual instruments, for example vocals, guitar, saxophone or piano, but good results can be obtained even with complex material such as string quartets. Users can alter the pitch, position and duration of the detected notes, make them louder or softer, copy or cut them and paste them into new locations, and so on. In addition, characteristics such as the formant spectra, vibrato and pitch drift of notes can be modified, as can the pitch, amplitude and formant transitions between notes. Furthermore, special copying functions make it possible to impress selected attributes of one note upon another.
Whilst Melodyne editor, in terms of intuitive access, musicality and sound quality, stands squarely in the great Melodyne tradition, its technical foundations are completely new. The new software basis offers among things optimized multi-threading of which modern multi-core processors can take full advantage. It also allows many improvements in plug-in operation including a freely definable window size, auditioning during pitch editing, scrubbing and “Edit Play” – playback uncoupled from the host.
The beta test is aimed at all registered Melodyne customers. The sales launch in music dealers and the Celemony Web Shop is planned for the beginning of November; the price will be 349 US$ or 349 €.
For more information, visit www.celemony.com
You will find further images and background information at our website under www.celemony.com/press
Company Contact:
Celemony Software GmbH, Valleystrasse 25, 81371 München, Germany, press@celemony.com, www.celemony.com
The big Big Mick Interview
What a pleasure, Backstage at PinkPop Holland May 2008. I met with Big Mick and Ian Bond to discuss Live Sound, Metallica and the Business.
The 2009 Pre Namm Audionowcast – Me for the first time!
Thomas Wendt musician, engineer from the PR firm Intergrative Concepts in Hamburg Germany, (we love the Germans) who reps Celemony Software and Propellerhead Software joined us on this podcast. He is also a panel member of the German podcast MusoTalk (think AudioNowcast in German)
topics included:
NAMM and what is going to happen there, are we going to see a show of doom and gloom or are we going to see companies that are optimistic because some of cool new tech breakthrough that takes music making to a new level, why are all the cool software companies coming from Europe, is it that German engineering thing and we spend some time talking about Logic (the music app) plus awhole lot more.
Thomas was a guest of the fine gentlemen from the Audionowcast
Michael Jackson’s passing and its effect on the industry, a lot of the panel members did work for him at one time or another, Thomas Wendt talks to us from Germany about Record from Propellerheads and how awesome that will be (game changer)(no…really it will be) Vocals and how to sing, our guest Wendy Simon teaches vocals and has had a famous client or two (Pink), How do you put emotion into your performance, (visuals have a lot to do with it), Getting your music into video games with Gloria Soto music producer for Soundelux, what it should sound like, who you need to send it to, plus a whole lot more as the show runs about 95 minutes! Thanks for listening and check out our Facebook and Myspace pages.