Lately I have been feeling as if my practice time has been somewhat stale. It seems that no matter how hard I try, my fingers want to go back to playing the same old chord or note progressions. I have tried various guitars and effects trying to break habitual playing patterns to little avail.

Recently I was browsing the musical instrument section of the local CraigsList. It has seemed that in recent months there has been very little in this section that interests me. This time however, hiding between all the unimpressive items was an ad for a US build Fender Princeton Chorus amplifier. At $130 USD, it seemed to be a very good deal, so I did a little research to see what the going price on this amplifier was. I found a few that were around $250 USD, so I quickly sent the seller an e-mail and met up to pick up the amplifier a few hours later.

I have been looking for a good sounding clean solid state amplifier to add to my collection of mostly tube amps. I had heard good things about the Princeton Chorus, although I had never experienced one in action. Most reviews seem to hone in on the clean channel of the Princeton Chorus as being it's strongest character, but most also say the overdrive channel leaves something to be desired without spending a lot of time fidgeting with the limiter. I was not too worried about the overdrive, so I took it home and plugged it in.

I had spent many of my early playing years through solid state amplifiers, mostly because of their affordability, but once I got my hands on my first tube amp, I had never looked back. I have to admit that the Princeton Chorus has extraordinary sound and tone for a solid state. The clean channel is very smooth, and the built in chorus speaks volumes in its quality. What was the most interested was the fact that I found myself experimenting with chord patterns that were way out of my usual playing patterns in recent months. The new sound was actually inspiring me to push into different areas in my playing. A new amplifier with a new sound was really all it took to break out of my old routine.

Sometimes a new piece of equipment can inspire a person to take steps forward in their playing, no matter what instrument or style they play. Even more interesting is how these new inspirations can translate back to the equipment you normally play on. It is similar to the heavy rock guitarists that I read about who write their songs on acoustic guitar or piano.

Gary Allen

Here is a little money saving tip for running cables to powered monitors and PA speakers. In the past it was a firm rule that you should only use "speaker cables" for these applications. Speaker cables are built heavier to carry the boosted signal coming from a power amplifier where as line level cables such as instrument, patch, and microphone cables are not designed to handle this increased load. Since most of the studio monitors as well as many of the PA main speakers on the market today are self powered, the rule does not apply in powered speaker applications.

Since the signal in powered speakers is not amplified until after it reaches the speakers internal amplifier, you will money and get the right connection by using line level cables instead of the generally more expensive speaker cables. I personally prefer to use balanced XLR cables since their signal is stronger and much more resistant to unwanted noise and interference. If you do decide to go this route, you will want to make sure your speakers as well as your signal source are set up for XLR input or output. If this isn't the case, a TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) cable will work just fine.

If you are upgrading from unpowered speakers to powered models, you really should consider switching out your old speaker cables for line level cables. Speaker cables will still work, but have an extreme likelihood of affecting the sound quality in adverse ways. Using the correct cabling for the appropriate hookup will always yield the best result in every musical application.

I would like to note that if you are still using unpowered speakers with a power amplifier, you will still need to follow the important rule of using only quality dedicated speaker cables to make the connection.

Gary Allen

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

Just a few weeks ago, I meet a guitar player by the name of Rikk Beatty while doing some research for a review I was working on. Rikk is a talented musician who is endorsed by well known companies such as Orange Amplifiers, Ibanez, DigiTech, Dimarzio, Scott Dixon Cases, PedalsSnake, IT Guitar Picks, and Dean Markley Strings. In addition to being a "Maurice the Fish Records" recording artist, Rikk travels the country doing clinics for DigiTech. Rikk recently released an album called "Guitar Farm", and he sent me a copy to check out.

On my first listen through the album, I got the impression that Rikk must have worked through the advanced levels of fretboard roadmaps. He has great technique and his timing is impeccable. I usually hear many players trip up in sudden bursts of speed, but Rikk seems to handle them with ease leaving you with that final note that seems to hang in the air forever. On this album, Rikk demonstrates not only his mastery of rock instrumental guitar, but also jazz and classical styles. He was able to seamlessly merge these styles into an album that flows easily from the first song "Guitar Farm" to the last. "Lamb Jam" which is a very cool tribute to the great SRV. Some of my personal favorites are "New Jazz", "Mountain Twin", and Rikk's version of "Amazing Grace". I can guarantee that you have never heard "Amazing Grace" like this.

I have to admit that I was not only impressed by Rikk's dynamic solos, but also by the dead on accuracy of every player in the Rikk Beatty band. Kenny Wood (rhythm guitar), Tim Hogan (bass), and Chris Korzin (drums) are a shining example of how a band should work together to bring out the best of everyone in the band. Their tight focused rhythm lay down a perfect foundation on which Rikk Beatty builds well thought out lead guitar instrumental solos. You have all probably heard me preach on how bands need to be a team, and check their personal ego's at the door. These guy's get it!! You could learn a lot from them.

I plan on doing an interview with Rikk in the near future, and gain some insight into his playing style, influences, and the gear he uses. In the meantime, you might want to visit Rikk's website at www.rikkbeatty.com and order a copy of "Guitar Farm". When you visit the site, make sure you have your sound turned on so you can listen to the Rikk Beatty band tear through their distinctive version of "Amazing Grace".

Gary Allen

When selecting a computer for your recording needs, there are many questions you will need to ask yourself. You will first need to decide what you want to accomplish with your recording capabilities. If you just want something to scratch out some song ideas, you can probably use your personal computer with a simple interface such as the "Stealth Plug" from IK Multimedia, or any of several other inexpensive options on the market. If however you are looking to do multi-track recording with mixing and mastering options as well as the multitude of plug-in effects available, you are going to want to invest in a dedicated recording computer. For this, I suggest that you do some research far beyond the scope of this blog. These computers are usually not an off the shelf desktop or laptop model. One important word of advice: Do not consult a salesman at your local "Best Buy" or other retail computer store. If you do, you will likely not get a computer that will work for your needs. The sales staff at these stores are well versed in computers, however most are not likely to be up to speed on the unique needs for a studio computer.

There is a lot of controversy on whether to go Mac or PC for a dedicated recording computer. In truth, both have pros and both have cons. For instance, if your power supply goes bad in the middle of an evening recording session, you can run to any computer store and get a new one for a PC, but may have a much harder time finding one for a Mac in a short amount of time. Even so, Mac has been the choice of professionals for many years due to the incredible stability and functionality for recording. In recent years however, PC's have really come of age in this industry, and there are many options available. Probably one of the most well liked and used recording PC's is the "Creation Station" computers from Sweetwater (www.sweetwater.com). These computers are designed specifically for recording and have been optimized by people who actually know what is required for this purpose. While they probably won't win over the hard core Mac users, they really are impressive computers and a great value for the money when compared to other recording computers on the market.

Another issue you will face is portability. If you are going to be traveling or taking the computer to gigs, a laptop is going to be your best bet. For this I would suggest a MacBook Pro. These are powerful units with a lot of power and versatility. You will want to consider a 17" display since the recording programs will be able to show a bigger picture of what is going on in the recording environment. You will also likely have a lot of windows open with plug-ins and other related programs, and the larger screen will be extremely helpful. For PC, the Creation Stations do come in rack mount versions, but you will need to carry a separate display with you.

When it comes to what is inside a recording computer, bigger, and faster are paramount. Recording programs and plug-ins can take up massive amounts of processing power, while audio tracks can eat up a lot of hard drive space. For this reason I would recommend a minimum of 2 gigabytes of RAM, and at least a 500 gigabyte hard drive. Keep in mind that these would be my minimum requirements. More is better, but also comes at a higher price. There are several outboard plug-in processors available that will relive the stress on your processor, but many of these units cost almost as much as you will pay for the computer itself.

Depending on where you will have your computer located in your studio, noise could be an issue. If it will be in a control room separate from where recording is taking place, this is not quite as big of a deal. If it however will be located in the same room where the recording is taking place, it can be a huge problem. Most condenser microphones are sensitive enough to pick up noise from the cooling fan, and hard drive, and will show up as audio contamination on your tracks. Many dedicated recording computers are designed to be extremely quiet for these situations, but you will want to listen closely to the computer while in operation before you make your purchase decision.

One last thing I want to touch on is internet connection. In a perfect world, your dedicated recording computer would not even come close to an internet connection. It is far too easy these days to get a virus that can wipe out your irreplaceable recordings, or wreck havoc on your programs. While anti-virus software can help reduce this risk, it does have two downsides. First off, it can cause malfunctions in recording software, and secondly, it is just not 100% guaranteed to stop every threat. Unfortunately, being hooked to the internet is almost a must these days because of registering software, and downloading updates to programs and plug-ins. For this reason, I recommend that you use this computers internet connection only for these tasks, and kill the connection when not in use. Use anti-virus software, but also turn it off when not connected to the internet. This is not a cure all, but it will definitely help. You will also want to consider purchasing a separate hard drive for backing up your track data, and other important information. You can never be too safe in this area.

In closing, I would like to point out that I have approached this entire subject with a great amount of generalization. There is no setup that will work for everyone, but there is a setup that will work for each individual and budget. There is much more detailed and in depth articles on the internet to help you make your decision. This is just a staring point to get you to think about where you are going, and what you will want to look at in your journey to a computer purchase decision. I wish you all the best of luck.

Gary Allen

Digital Audio Workstations are certainly not new by today's standards, but looking at the entire musical instrument and recording industry, it is still a fairly young industry. When it comes to setting up your computer based recording studio, your first concern will be to find a dedicated recording computer (which I will cover in more detail in part two). Your second and equally important purchase will be the software with which you will use to record. This is not a decision to be taken lightly, because the workflow layout of the software you choose will make the difference between an enjoyable experience or a frustrating project.

DigiDesign was the first company to bring computer based recording into the mainstream of professional recording studios with their awesome line of Pro Tools products. Even today among the fierce competition in this field, they remain the company that is the standard of professional level DAW software, and now hardware also. There have been several companies that have made inroads by providing software that is much more affordable for home studio use, and built on their early programs while closing the gap between pro level and home studio level software. Today you can get a program that will do just about anything you would ever dream of doing to record and edit your music. A few big hitters in this arena are Steinberg (Cubase), Cakewalk (Sonar), MOTO (Digital Performer), Apple (Logic Studio), and Ableton (Live).

With the incredible processing power and functionality of these programs, they are becoming powerhouse professional level contenders, and a few are actually making their way into professional studio environments. Add to this the vast variety of plug-in software programs that can be integrated into these programs, and you have recording, mixing, and mastering capabilities in the home that were reserved only for high end professional studios as few as just ten years ago.

I can not and will not discount DigiDesign as a valid option. They have a great reputation, and they have earned it over the years with hard work, and a spectacular product base. But when it comes to affordability, the other options are much more feasible and practical for most home users. This in part is because their software is able to integrate with a variety of control surfaces, giving you much less expensive options for building up your entire Digital Audio Workstation. DigiDesign has opted to build their software around their own line of hardware, and for the most part it does not integrate with other control surfaces on the market. To put it in simple terms, everyone would love to have a Pro Tools based studio, but building a comparable studio is a very expensive task to say the least. They do offer more affordable options, but from what I can see, the affordability factor creates a much less versatile setup, especially when it comes to the number of inputs available during recording, and the much more expensive versions of the same plug-ins you can buy for the other programs.

You will want to remember that no matter which DAW software you opt to use, it will be a much more complex learning curve than the small portable recording devices that were extremely popular before computer recording applications. To simplify this, most of the above mentioned companies offer scaled down and simpler versions. These can be a great jump off point for the world of digital recording, and you can always graduate to the flagship version as you feel you are ready to tackle more multifarious operations.

I do recommend that you look at DigiDesign, Steinberg, Sonar, MOTO, Apple, and Ableton in your quest for the right software. These companies have been around for a long time, and have built their reputations on years of experience. Do your research, and try to get a little hands on time with each program if possible. This will ensure that you are making an informed decision on the software that has the most logical workflow for your particular needs.

Also keep in mind that a huge part of this decision will be based on whether you have opted to use a Mac or PC as your recording computer of choice. Most software today is available in a cross platform versions, but you will want to make sure you are getting something that will work with your computer.

Gary Allen

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

Most of you are probably familiar with Avant Electronics. Their exceptional yet reasonably priced products have been featured at GuitarGearHeads.com and RhythmPlayer.com in the past. At the NAMM Show, we received a special invitation from Glen Heffner, Ken Avant, and Sue Avant, to attend a private product unveiling in their hotel suite after the show. We did not want to miss this opportunity, so after the show on Saturday night we made our way to their hotel.

These private showings were small groups of select individuals, and as far as I could see, GuitarGearHeads.com and RhythmPlayer.com were the only press that were invited on this particular night. At the hotel that evening, we met some high profile people from the music and recording industry. In talking to them, they were extremely impressed with these upcoming products. The level of these professionals and their comments indicate that these are products that break from the traditional, insanely expensive audio products that have been industry standards for years.

We were sworn to secrecy, and at this time we are not able to disclose any information on the products we saw. All I am able to tell you is that these products are going to revolutionize the recording industry for both professional and home studios. It is my belief that when these products hit the street, Avant will stake an even larger claim in the MI industry, while keeping with their standard of affordable excellence. Watch for a release from Avant Electronics sometime in the second quarter of 2009. I guarantee that it will be worth the wait.

Gary Allen

When it comes to guitar playing and effects, compressors have been one of the most controversial issues for many years. Each guitar player has his own ideas on whether a compressor should be in the signal chain or not. One thing I have noticed is that no matter which side guitar players take on this issue, they are very passionate on their opinions. In fact they become so strong minded in their opinion that they sometimes come across as being very critical of other players who do not share their view. I should point out that this is not just a guitar player issue. I have read interviews with record producers and engineers where they came across as downright rude toward their colleges in the business who did not hold their personal belief. The key word here is "personal".

With these very strong opinions flying around, it can be confusing for a new guitar player to know what to do when they are working on building their effects pedal board or rack. It really comes down to personal choice, and what sound you are trying to achieve. I was fortunate enough to talk to a couple guitar players over the years that landed in the middle of the great compression debate. One player put it to me this way. "If you can use compression in a way that allows your sound to still be musical, and gives the results you are looking for, then by all means use it. If compression takes the musicality away from your tone and playing, then turn the dang thing off."

Taking this advice on my guitar playing journey, I have learned that compression like any effect is a tool that is not intended to define your sound, but to augment it. I use compression in some of my music, but I use it sparingly for the most part, and only when it enhances the sound. Compressors are a balancing act that is learned over time. They can be used to give more gain to a distortion or overdrive pedal, but they can also ruin many of the dynamics in your playing style. Finding that balance of dynamics and compression is something you learn over time, and sometimes you will find that compression just will not work for certain musical parts you create.

In my humble opinion, everyone should have a compression pedal in their signal chain, but they should also not be afraid to turn it off when the opportunity for more lively performance can be achieved without it.

Gary Allen

Tonight I was messing around with my acoustic guitar and discovered drop D tuning. I know that a lot of you are probably thinking that drop D tunings are used on a lot of songs in popular music, but the drop D tuning I discovered tonight was not the tuning down of the low E string. It was the tuning down of the high E string. Let me explain.

I recently received some video lessons from the "Lick Library" for review. I was on their site watching some of the sample video's when I ran across one on how to play "Stuck In The Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel. This is a popular song with a very signature vibe, and as Mike Casswell was explaining in the video, the little known trick to getting this vibe is the tuning down of the high E to D on all guitars in the song. At the time I thought it was a pretty cool sound, so as I was just running through some of my own finger picking chord progressions, it suddenly struck me to try tuning down the high "E" string in this fashion for these progressions. The results were amazing. I was getting some very cool sounds with the open D, G, C, Am and other chords. I was able to play these chords and get cool sounding almost harmony type sounds from the higher D.

I know that some of you probably already know and use this tuning, but I also do not believe that this is as popular to most players as the drop D tuning on the low E string. I thought I would throw this out there for anyone who would like to give it a try and see what they can come up with. I will admit that it was inspiring to me to have this new tonal palette to play with, and I will use it more in my own personal musical journey. You can never have too many options for creating your own sound, and this is a very simple way to add to your playing arsenal.

I also encourage everyone to stop by the" Lick Library" and check out their sample videos. I have done a quick once through on the full version video's I have received, and I will admit that I am quite impressed with their lesson video's. My review on the lessons I received will be coming soon. Check them out at www.licklibrary.com /tutorials