By Guitarify on December 10, 2013
Over the last year or so, I have been working on becoming better at audio engineering. Mainly as a means to make better recordings of my own music. One thing you need to do to become better at mixing is practice, and lots of it. So you’re always on the lookout for raw tracks you can mix. It was this quest that lead me to the site – “Shaking Through”.
Shaking through is a project run by Weathervane music, out of the Miner Street Recording Studio in Philadelphia. The basic premiss is to invite a band to the studio, and over the course of only 2 days, completely record and mix a song. This entire process is filmed and edited down to several videos which highlight the artistic , as well as the technical aspects of making music. All the raw tracks are then available to members to download and create their own mixes.
Here’s what Weathervane has to say about the goals of this project:
We believe the future of independent music is about the relationship between artist and fan. Every project we create aims to deepen that bond, while providing meaningful experiences for everyone involved. We build community around exciting projects, like Shaking Through, that promote a deep connection between artist and fan, promoting sustainable careers in music and creating a healthier music ecosystem.
It’s also a great source for anyone looking to learn the craft of audio engineering. Besides the technique videos that are part of each Shaking Through session, they also routinely have workshops on recording and mixing. And just recently they have begun livestreaming these workshops, and this Saturday and Sunday, will, for the first time, livestream a complete recording and mixing session featuring the artist Torres, and curated by Sharon Van Etten.
Weathervane music is a non profit organization that depends on memberships and donations to survive. Right now they are fundraising for their 5th year of production. I highly recommend you check them out if you have any interest in music creation. The people running it are extremely talented, friendly and helpful, and are doing a great job at growing the goals and community surrounding Shaking Through.
Here’s a link to the fundraising site, which includes lot’s of cool perks. Weathervane fundraiser on Pledgemusic
Posted in Learn, Music, Record | Tagged art, recording, tech
By Guitarify on December 5, 2013
Seymour Duncan and Framus have teamed up to offer a chance for one lucky musician to win a Framus Mayfield Legacy Vintage Sunburst guitar. The Legacy is a semi hollowbody with laminated Mahogany top and back, solid Mahogany sides, a Mahogany neck with Rosewood fingerboard, and 22 frets featuring IFT (Invisible Fretwork Technology), and PLEK fretwork.
It features a pair of Seymour Duncan Vintage Soapbar SP90 pickups, faithful recreations of the original P90, wound with plain enamel wire on the same Leesona winder that wound the 1950s versions for authentic vintage tone.
The Mayfield Legacy also features fluorescent side dots, Sperzel Trim-Lok machine heads, a Graph Tech Black Tusq low friction nut, Tone Pros Tune-O-Matic bridge, and Cleartone Strings gauged .010” – .046”. In the IFT system, the fret slots are not cut across the entire fingerboard. Instead, two millimeters of wood remain on each side, resulting in a ‘U’ profile which increases neck stability against twisting and improves the transfer of vibrations into the instrument. The system also prevents fret ends from extending beyond the edge of the fingerboard and impeding player comfort.
The guitar has an MSRP of $6999 and the giveaway is open worldwide until the end of 2013.
Click here to enter—>http://bit.ly/18liNLa
Posted in Gear, Guitars | Tagged contest
By Guitarify on November 30, 2013
This is just one of the dozens of videos, Chris Monck, maker of Highline Guitars, has posted documenting his building process. Instead of the usual waterslide, Chris came up with this alternate process that he says makes the logo easier to bury under the clearcoa,t as the edges can easily be feathered.
Chris uses many interesting fabrication and design ideas in building his beautiful guitars. And, he shares his expertise freely in his videos, as well as the facebook group he created – “The Electric Guitar Builders Resource”.
https://www.facebook.com/highlineguitars
http://www.highlineguitars.com/index.html
Posted in DIY | Tagged custom, guitar, handmade, technique
By Guitarify on November 20, 2013
GuitarKitsUSA.com started out 10 years ago making replacement bodies for some of the vintage “Res-O-Glass” Guitars made in Chicago. They’ve slowly added body styles and colors over the years, as well as some of the other parts needed to build a complete guitar.
Now they are taking the next logical step, and putting together complete kits for their unique guitars. Everything needed to build a working guitar or bass is included, plus they’re adding some bonus parts to help reach their Kickstarter goal to get these kits off the ground. If you’ve ever wanted to make you’re own guitar, these kits would be a great place to start. Especially due to the fact that, since these guitars are made with the color built in, there is no painting to do. I know from experience, this is one of the hardest, most time consuming aspects of guitar building.
Visit their Kickstarter page here: Guitar Kits USA Kickstarter Campaign
Posted in DIY, Guitars | Tagged custom, guitar, handmade, tone, vintage
By Guitarify on November 6, 2013
Seymour Duncan is one of the world’s premier pickup builders. I, myself, am a big fan and have them in many of my guitars. But they also make guitar FX pedals. Something they receive a lot less notoriety for.
I personally have never played through any of their pedals, so can’t really say if they compare in quality to the more well known makers. But maybe their latest offering, the Dirty Deed distortion pedal, will bring their pedal line a bit more acclaim. I really like how big, fat and ‘amp-like’ it sounds. And having both a treble and bass control is very useful option for tone sculpting, and something that isn’t real common.
From the light, singing overdrive of classic rock to raunchy, screaming, ear-shattering distortion, the Dirty Deed was created for complete versatility. The tone is very organic and natural sounding; it’s designed to capture the character and responsiveness of a classic overdriven tube amplifier with elements of distortion, fuzz and overdrive combined into a single wide-range pedal. With a turn of the gain knob you can go from the sparkling overdrive of your favorite classic rock songs to a rich, powerful hard rock distortion with amp-like saturation. The distortion is thick and beefy with a sweet spot in the mid-range EQ and a strong bass response, while highly responsive Treble, Bass, Gain and Level controls allow you to dial in your ideal sound whether you’re using the Dirty Deed as your sole source of grit or you’re adding some extra dirt to an already-overdriven amp.
For maximum flexibility the Dirty Deed incorporates an active EQ for 12dB of treble and bass boost/cut. A pair of MOSFET transistors evoke the tube-like harmonics and lush sustain that only come from dangerously pushed amplifiers. Runs on standard 9v to 18v DC power supplies. At 18v the Dirty Deed enhances overall saturation and compression.
After several years of development, this analog, 100% true bypass distortion pedal is now being released to the public. Designed and assembled in Santa Barbara, California, the Dirty Deed is available at any Seymour Duncan retailer or online store.
For more information, visit: http://www.seymourduncan.com
Posted in Gear, Pedals | Tagged Gear, pedals
