Gear Reviews
GET 50% OFF ABLETON LIVE 11 SUITE UPGRADE FROM FOCUSRITE
We've got HUGE Savings news from our friends at Focusrite, check it out: Working with their friends at Ableton, Focusrite is excited to give you the opportunity to get your hands on Ableton’s flagship Live 11 Suite at a massive 50% discount*. The exclusive limited...
REVIEW: Jamstik Classic MIDI Guitar
If you want to see just how much fun the Jamstik Classic MIDI guitar is, stop reading this and head over to our Instagram or YouTube channel. We sent one to the awesome Kal The Guitar Hero from the band Color 8 out of Phoenix. Just look at Kal’s face light up as he...
MY FAVORITE SYNTH with Umphrey’s McGee
I play keyboards for progressive improv rock band Umphrey’s McGee. My arsenal includes a Roland V Piano, MiniMoog Voyager, Hammond B3, Sequential Prophet 6, Fender Rhodes and Mellotron M4000d. I’m based in Los Angeles and hail from Chicago. MAKE & MODEL: 2005...
How To
How to Read the Fine Print and Get a Fair Advance Deal
Knowledge in Advance With all the legitimate criticism of record deals we’ve heard in recent years, advances have gotten a bad rap. They aren’t the kiss of death for an artist; when done right, they can benefit your career. “Advance” shouldn’t be a dirty word, though...
“I Know What Love Is” musical collaboration to support MusiCares
https://youtu.be/42pBPL4JAWI Wanted to make sure our audience had a chance to see this, in case they missed it, from our friends over at Taylor Guitars: "Like countless businesses across the globe, the music industry has been acutely impacted by COVID-19–throttling...
How to Maximize Your Digital Mechanical Royalties Through The MLC
As an independent artist, you are probably all too familiar with the issues that have long clouded and complicated the process of getting the digital audio mechanical royalties that you are owed for the use of your songs. It’s also likely that you’ve heard about The...
Buying Guide
DPA introduces new microphone kits
DPA Microphones now offers specifically-designed kits, intended to meet the critical needs of a specific type of application or task. Each kit is actually a demo of their best mics for the application and provides a professional audio engineer with the best starting...
Why NOW is the Perfect Time to Get Insurance For Your Band
If the pandemic taught us anything as musicians and music-lovers, it’s how much we took for granted seeing live music (and performing live on-stage for those of us who do so). And during the past few years, if you were spending more time in the studio than on the...
REVIEW: Donner Starry Pad MIDI Drum Pad Controller
We hate to keep comparing things, but since our go-to pad controller in the studio is the PreSonus Atom, it would be dishonest to say we didn’t draw comparisons when testing out the Donner Starry Pad. For reference, this comes in about $50 cheaper than the PreSonus...
Industry News
Sennheiser Launches The MD 421 KOMPAKT, The Mic for Anything
They say that if you’ve heard music, you are most likely to have heard the MD 421, a Sennheiser microphone featured in countless award-winning performances and productions over the past six decades. Now Sennheiser launches the MD 421 Kompakt, an incredibly versatile...
The Best Ways to Track Great Harmony and Background Vocals
Check out the entire special VOCAL CHAIN ISSUE here. One of the most effective ways to get your songs above the fray and to the next level is by recording great harmonies and background vocals. Over the years we have found that the bigwigs in the music biz love to...
10 Tips for Recording Great Vocals In Your Home Studio
Invest in a decent mic Each voice has its own tonality and texture and no one microphone is a perfect solution for all voices. Big studios will often line up a bunch of pricey mics at the start of a vocal session to see which one works best for that particular...