Nick started playing guitar in 2004 and stepped in as a drummer for his band shortly thereafter. Nick honed his performance and production skills with his projects released on labels like Deathwish Inc., Flesh & Bone, Save Your Generation, and more. At zZounds, Nick handles all Bass, Drums, and Effects Pedals marketing, and he’s a huge fan of Fender Telecasters, fuzz pedals, his Marshall JTM 45, and DW Drums. Other loves are Formula 1, house cats, and Michigan history facts.
Our 3 Favorite Overdrive Pedals
There’s nothing like an amplifier on the edge of breakup. But most of the time you can’t “dime out” your amp to get that great tone, and that’s where overdrive pedals come in. Watch as our zZounds crew sits down to talk about their 3 favorite pedals for overdrive tones!
Our Top 3 Pedals For Shoegaze Tone
Bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Lush built the guitar-based, wall-of-noise genre shoegaze into what is it today with their powerful tones. Now with more options than ever before, it’s easy to get lost in the mix of what you need to play a part in this incredible genre. That’s where zZounds experts come […]
Mix Sounding Flat? Here’s How to Keep Your Drums Punchy!
Drums drive the rhythm and energy of a track, but getting them to cut through a dense mix without overpowering other elements can be a challenge. Whether you’re mixing a hard-hitting rock track or a tight, modern pop beat, keeping your drums punchy and present requires a balance of EQ, compression, transient shaping, and strategic […]
Idles’ Lee Kiernan Helps Design a Pedal for EarthQuaker Devices, Names It Gary
A simple request from Idles’ Lee Kiernan for a compact version of EarthQuaker Devices‘ now discontinued Gray Channel has turned into a fuzz-packed, overdrive-heavy, speaker-ripping (simulated), monster named Gary. Gary offers a vast range of dirty tones, and some that aren’t dirty at all. From ripping, phase-shifted fuzz to a clean boost with a little […]
Using Delay to Create Spring Reverb: What Is the Belton Brick?
Classic, glassy, spring reverb. It’s a snapshot into the past of guitar tone. Mental images of Telecasters through a spring reverb-equipped amplifier in the hands of Dick Dale or George Harrison dance through your mind any time you hear it. But for most players, classic spring reverb tanks just aren’t practical in the modern age. […]
The Source Audio Artifakt Makes Lo-Fi Sounds Easy to Achieve!
The humble beginnings of “lo-fi” music started in musicians’ homes in the 1950s when the spirit of DIY recording was a necessity, not a style. Moving forward into the 1990s, artists began to adapt the low-fidelity sound of DIY recording techniques into the sound of their music overall. This brought the lo-fi sound into the […]
Do “Magic” Frequencies Exist When Mixing Drums?
There is no magic bullet. That’s a point that this piece should get across first and foremost. That being said, learning about what boosting and cutting frequencies can to do to a mix is incredibly important for your engineering skills and satisfaction when recording drums. Any drum recording is only as good as the sum […]
Get a Whole Locker of Tones Out of a Single Universal Audio Microphone!
As technology advances, studio gear gets more and more accessible to the average basement recording engineer. In the last decade or so, recording your own music has not only gotten easier, it’s become a skill that must be learned by nearly every artist if they want to survive financially while making a living out of […]
With Universal Audio Verve Analog Machines, Analog Warmth Is a Click Away
Universal Audio is in the business of sound design. Their catalog of plug-ins, interfaces, effects, and more offer artists around the world the opportunity to indulge in a nearly endless amount of tones, effects, and workflow types without the need for the literal (mostly vintage) gear their products pull tones from. Their Verve Analog Machines […]
