How-To Guides 4
Stacking Overdrives to Gain New Tones
As guitarists, there are few things we love more than a good overdrive pedal. If you’ve been playing for years, there is a good chance you have several lying around. While you may have chosen a few of your favorites to stay on the pedalboard, you may want to try stacking overdrives together. Stacking overdrives […]
Want the Cheat Code for Tuning Fat-Sounding Toms?
Every drummer wants their kit to sound fat and fantastic in a mix. There’s just something about an immaculately miked, mixed, and tuned drum kit that elevates any recording instantly. Unfortunately, many drummers miss out on this bliss after disregarding the very first steps when preparing for recording. Today we’ll take a look at the […]
Build Your Studio Around the Focusrite ISA One
A high-quality preamp gives you a lot more than clean, low-noise gain. A preamp is the window through which your recorded audio passes, and the preamp you decide to use will impart its character to everything you record with it. If you think about your mix like a building, then you can see why having […]
Talk Box and Friends
When guitarists don’t want to sing, they buy a talk box — at least that’s what I do. An instrument in itself, the talk box was unleashed onto the world in the 1930s and became popularized in the 1970s. Mostly seen as a novelty, it can also be a major sound piece as a handful […]
Fender ’68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb: A Studio Weapon, Practice Amp, or Both?
When I first heard that Fender was going to release a ‘68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb, I knew I had to try one out. As a self-proclaimed Fender fanboy who loves cranking up small amps to the point where they sound like they might collapse, it was destiny. Don’t let its small size make you […]
Want a Full-Fledged Outboard Rig at a Fraction of the Cost?
Top-level recording studios all over the world have control rooms filled to the brim with expensive outboard gear, like compressors, preamps, and rack effect processors. Our home studio spaces are not as gear-filled but there’s still a ton of potential in them to track fantastic sounding records. A key to this potential lies at your […]
Shure KSM8: Upgrade your Dynamic Game
Dynamic mics are pervasive and for good reason. Whether you are gigging at the dive bar, opening at an arena, or making a demo in the basement, there is almost always a dynamic mic within reach. If that’s the case, shouldn’t we be pining for the highest quality possible in these ever present microphones? Shure […]
The Capo: Open Mic Night and Beyond
A lot of guitarists tend to look down on the capo. It is often viewed as some sort of cheat for singer-songwriters to not have to learn the fretboard and easily change keys. But the capo is actually a really useful tool, even outside of open mic night. The capo is used on acoustic and […]
A Guide to Basic Melody Writing
What is a melody? Chances are you already know, even if you don’t know the dictionary definition. If you have listened to music, then your instincts will tell you while you are listening, even if subconsciously. The great thing about melodies are that they can come from the voice or an instrument, making them an important part of […]
