Tag Archives: november 2012 print issue

FLASHBACK: Lexicon PCM 42 Digital Delay Processor

Year: 1981-82

Category: Enhanced Signal Processor

Background: The Lexicon PCM 42 was designed by Gary Hall in the early 1980s and is still one of the most prized and sought-after delay processors. They are no longer made and still sell for between $700-1,000 used. It is a mono unit that offers up to 2.4 seconds of delay (4.8s if you have the added memory). It has a very distinct sound, due to the proprietary A/D converters used by Lexicon as well as the two stages of limiters on the input. PCM 42s are most commonly used on vocals, but also sound amazing on guitars.

How It’s Used: The PCM 42 especially shines on vocals. If you push the input, the limiters on the input really add a distinct character and if you engage the x2 button, this lowers the bandwidth and makes it almost sound like a tape echo. There is really no other delay like it.

Modern Equivalent: PSP makes a plug-in version of the PCM 42, but it just doesn’t capture the tone imparted by the hardware version’s dual stage limiter on the input.

About the Author:

Terri Winston is the Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Audio Mission, a San Francisco-based non-profit dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts. Dissatisfied with the representation of women in pro audio (less than 5%) Winston established WAM in 2003 during her tenure as a professor and Director of the Sound Recording Arts Program at City College of San Francisco.

Today, WAM seeks to “change the face of sound” by providing hands-on training at their San Francisco studio, as well as experience, career counseling and job placement to women and girls in media technology for music, radio, film, television and the Internet. For more information, visit www.womensaudiomission.com

Spotlight on Goodnight, Texas

Self-Recording Appalachian Themes and Coal Mine Dreams

GENRE: Ghost Town Folk
HOMETOWN: San Francisco, CA & Chapel Hill, NC
ARTISTIC APPROACH: Crafting authentic folk from faded memories
www.hiwearegoodnighttexashowareyou.com

Goodnight, Texas is an actual town that marks the halfway point between the two founders of the band with the same name, Avi Vinocur and Patrick Dyer Wolf.  Wolf lives in Chapel Hill and Vinocur is a resident of San Francisco.  Continue reading →

Spotlight on Go Radio

Committed to Indie Label Support, No Matter Which Majors Come Knocking

GENRE: Alternative Rock
HOMETOWN: Tallahassee, FL
ARTISTIC APPROACH: Having the patience to develop a cohesive sound
www.wearegoradio.com

Go Radio knows having an independent label at their backs is the surest way to reach their fans. Their band-label relationship with Fearless Records is so unassailable, in fact, that Go Radio frontman Jason Lancaster (formerly of Mayday Parade) says the band will “absolutely” stay with the California-based label for the entirety of the quartet’s existence.  Continue reading →

RUBBLEBUCKET: Attacking the Stage with Silver Robots and an Army of Horns

Rubblebucket has embraced the wave of YES that is crashing onto the shores of New York’s music scene. Just a few years ago the eclectic group could still be seen, although with smaller audiences, jumping off stages into the crowd, dropping onto the grass, and billowing wildly into their brass instruments. Since then, saxophonist and front woman Kalmia Traver has come into her own, embracing the kinetic, interactive live show that Rubblebucket swears by. If you thought they were fun to dance to well before the release of Omega La La, you’re in for even more of a treat now.

Traver used to keep her idiosyncrasies hidden behind a mass of hair and horn. Today, those characteristic quirks are the driving force behind a refined artistic vision that has turned Rubblebucket into an act that can entertain main stage festival crowds and late-night TV audiences just as easily as a basement full of kids. Their live shows are known to unleash an entire team of party facilitators, led by Neil Fridd of the band Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!, complete with giant silver robots, light tunnels, light up vests, and much, much more.

Continue reading →

The National Rifle: Booking House Concerts, Embracing Synths & Being DIY Out of Necessity

If you were to begin a search online for the NRA and got lazy, you might just stumble upon The National Rifle, and depending on what your idea of a good time is, it might be one of the best mistakes you’ll ever make. Although the name stems more from irony than anything else, Philadelphia’s TNR are a shot of energy that you were more likely to see at a Dead Milkmen show twenty years ago than in today’s “let’s stare at our shoes and bore the audience” indie scene. Their first full-length, a Kickstarter-funded endeavor titled Almost Endless, is the follow up to 2010’s Vanity Press, and is a cocktail of styles mixed with synths and a whole lot of sweat. If heart made for success in the world of music, then The National Rifle would already be selling out arenas.

OK, the new album is Kickstarter funded; why and how did you decide that was the route to go?

Buddy Mazzenga: We decided to use Kickstarter because it was a great way to fund the new album. Continue reading →

Ty Segall: Demo. Trash. Repeat Until Perfect.

Ty Segall is a Gemini.

The symbol for his zodiac sign – a twin – is meant to represent the Gemini’s dual nature: complexity and inconsistency.

Even on the surface, Segall seems to embrace his astrological characteristics. A laidback, slow-talking California native, Segall doubles as a hard-working, neo-psyche garage rocker who tours constantly, and has released five studio albums in a four-year career.

With his latest release, out now on Drag City Records, Segall wanted to leave behind the more stripped-down, sentimental nature of his acclaimed Goodbye Bread. Consistent with a Gemini’s inconsistency, he aimed to shake things up, show progression and keep people guessing.  Continue reading →

Crash Kings: November 2012 Cover Story

Guitar Rock Sans Guitar

Originating from the…well, let’s face it, non-musical hotspot of Andover, Massachusetts, Crash Kings have made a name for themselves by becoming one of the coolest guitar rock bands in the country. Thing is, they don’t actually have a guitar player, and have no intentions of adding one to the lineup. Bandleader Tony Beliveau rocks a particularly badass clavinet, an electro-mechanical instrument that’s essentially an electric guitar played as if it were a keyboard – whammy bar and all. We recently had a chance to speak with Beliveau about his unique instrument, his band’s major label woes and the eventual release of the next Crash Kings record.

Continue reading →