I had the opportunity recently to do some serious recording in the last couple of weeks in my home studio.

It was the first time I really had the chance to bust out my Avant Electronics CK-40 stereo FET microphone - though my partners here at GGH, as well as other experts we know, have been swearing by AvantOne mics for years. I had actually tinkered with it a bit in the past but never to the point where microphone clarity was critical.

This time, I did a DIRECT comparison of this microphone relative to a competitor (who will go unnamed) condenser mic that is a studio staple. There was no comparison really - the AvantOne CK-40 from Avant Electronics was the clear winner. When compared side-by-side the digital tracks were like night and day. The CK-40 was audibly more transparent and clear.

The mic works equally well in stereo as well as mono-mode using the 1×2 splitter box and mounted easily to a standard microphone stand using the included shockmount.

Check it out - you’ll thank me later!

CK-40 Page

Also I have to give a shout out to Ultrasone for their Pro 750 studio headphones and KRK VXT6s. After a couple of hours of downmixing on these high fidelity monitors - it was a downright disappointment to have to listen to the final product on regular speakers.

Ultrasone Headphones

KRK VXT6 Monitors

Dan

Hey everybody - just a little fun for the 4th of July. Here’s a tab for “America” by Neil Diamond. Grab you guitar and show some patriotic spirit! (You could also look up Hendrix “Star Spangled Banner” as well if you want something a little more hard core!)

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/n/neil_diamond/america_crd.htm

Here’s an odd little montage of Neil doin’ his thang:

Have fun and keep those guitar fingers safe from things that ’splode!

Dan

So, I open my e-mail today and see this sweet looking reissue of the 1962 Wilson. It’s got a Mahogany body and soapbar P90″s. Unfortunately, from the MSRP this little lovely looks like she’ll set you back a few greenbacks!

Check out Epiphone’s page on this beauty for the details!

LINK TO EPIPHONES WILSHIRE PAGE

Dan

Hey Folks,

I found this on Amazon today - MP3s on sale for $3.99.

Chickenfoot is a rock supergroup featuring vocalist Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen and Montrose), bassist Michael “Mikey” Anthony (also ex-Van Halen), guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Chad Smith (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers). (Source: Wikipedia)

Sounds very reminiscent of VanHagar. Appears to be a good initial outing for this new “supergroup”.

Check it out!

Amazon Link!

Dan

EDIT: Just found this cool montage on Youtube!

So, I get the new Musicians Friend catalog - and as usual save it for later when I’m barbecuing on my deck with a cold brew. I mean what is better than new gear freshness and the smell of cooking meat over an open flame?

In this edition there wasn’t anything amazingly new - but something caught my eye that I had not seen before. The 5th Avenue Series by Godin. Apparently, the series just won Guitar Player Reader’s Choice award. Even better…it only has a street price of $699! That’s fantastic.

Personally I like the black one with a P90….

Here’s the link to the guitar on Godin’s site:
http://www.godinguitars.com/godin5thavenuekingpinp.htm

I didn’t think I really needed or wanted any more guitars…but this one is calling my name….

Dan

New Pricing on Gibson SGs

This landed in my inbox today. If you have ever been interested in picking up an SG - now might be the time! The one I want has P90s - so I’ll have to keep looking.

Dan

If you’ve ever used a guitar tablature program to transcribe anything - you know how tedious it is.

I’ve always wanted to be able to just play and have the notes automatically be interpreted and noted, requiring only tweaks from me to correct mistakes, etc. What’s also cool is to be able to emulate ANOTHER instrument through VSTI (like Bass, Cello, Saxiphone, Clarinet, Banjo, Mandolin, etc.).

Advances in software have made this possible if you owned a MIDI capable guitar like one of the Godin’s or Gibsons with this ability - or a guitar retrofitted with HEX pickups. However, what I really want is to be able to play ANY guitar (read that as “not having to buy another guitar just for MIDI”). I’m sure there are other solutions out there, but I noticed a cool little device from Sonuus - distributed by Peterson Strobe Tuners - that is a Universal Guitar-to-MIDI Converter.

I have to admit - as long as it has good accuracy this may be just what I’m looking for:

www.sonuus.com

Here’s a couple of vids to give you an idea of the why it looks so cool:

Dan Lawson playing “Sax” through MIDI:

Dan Sindel talking about how to use this in ProTools:

Maybe we’ll get to review one of these soon and give you the real scoop!

Dan

I was looking to learn an interesting version of “La Bamba” for Cinco de Mayo and ran across Siggi Merten’s videos on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/siggi5153

Anywho - turns out he’s got a bunch of song tutorials that are pretty easy to play but show you how to add in cool fills and enhancements so that your songs don’t sound so generic.

Seems like his video catalog is a little squirrelly on his site so stick to YouTube for the vids. But here’s his website:

http://www.siggi-mertens.de/

Another version I like is “Ain’t No Sunshine” –

Enjoy!

Dan

You know…

I’ve been having a bit of fun lately with Linux…specifically the Ubuntu distribution. Circa 1998 or 1999 I tinkered around with various Linux distributions such as Mandrake and Red Hat and its was kind of a nightmare. I can say that times have changed - with the exception of games, Linux rocks.

You can even build an incredibly robust, and free, multimedia studio in Linux these days using free (or mostly free) software. Even more fun - you could theoretically install all of it on a 8GB or 16GB flash drive and bring all of your studio power with you.

One of the pieces of software that makes this possible is LMMS - or Linux Multimedia Studio. If you’ve ever tinkered with FLStudio (Fruity Loops) than you’ll LOVE this package.

http://lmms.sourceforge.net/

Features:

* Song-Editor for composing songs
* A Beat+Bassline-Editor for creating beats and basslines
* An easy-to-use Piano-Roll for editing patterns and melodies
* An FX mixer with 64 FX channels and arbitrary number of effects allow unlimited mixing possibilities
* Many powerful instrument and effect-plugins out of the box
* Full user-defined track-based automation and computer-controlled automation sources
* Compatible with many standards such as SoundFont2, VST(i), LADSPA, GUS Patches, and full MIDI support
* Import of MIDI and FLP (Fruityloops® Project) files

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Dan

As many of you may remember, my last (and best) guitar purchase was a deal I got on eBay for a sweet 24-fret Les Paul DC Standard. I got this baby for a grand straight up, and it came in perfect condition. To date, it is still my favorite guitar (although it shares considerable time with my G&L ASAT Semi-hollowbody with Seymour Duncans!).

The only trouble is that it came in a beat up case (not in the “beat up vintage” sort of way, more like the “beat up crappy” sort of way). I’ve lived with it for awhile, but ultimately decided that my baby really deserved to ride around in a bit more style.

I looked a number of options, including a used Gibson case on eBay - but ultimately decided to go with a case from Gator Cases. Looking all around, I just decided it was the best deal in terms of quality and visual appeal. It even included the old style “flamingo” color interior!

Funny thing now is - I’ve actually had a more compliments about the case lately than the guitar…which boggles my mind, but at least it validates my decision!

(We did do a review on Gator Cases electric guitar cases a while back - check it out: http://www.guitargearheads.com/module … s/article.php?storyid=199 )