Anderton

Rockin' the Boat 2000+ people. Over a dozen musical acts. It’s the kind of thing that floats your boat by Craig Anderton I’m not really a cruise guy or even a fan of 70s rock, so it seems like I wouldn’t be the target demographic for the '70s Rock and Romance Cruise—to say the least. But when I saw the ads for this cruise pop up on Harmony Central, I was intrigued. That led to asking for and receiving an interview with the TimeLife people, sister company to StarVista LIVE who put these themed cruises together, and it was sufficiently interesting that I wrote an article about the backstory. What struck me was how the people behind these cruises are totally into music. These aren’t just attempts to cash in on peoples’ memories, but celebrations of the music associated with particular eras or genres—and as long as they produce revenue, they can keep doing more. There had already been Flower Power and Soul Train cruises this year, with a Southern Rock one slated for 2018. But while I may not be into cruises per se, I am an experience junkie. And I am a music guy to the core, and overdue for a vacation by about 18 years…so I boarded a plane to Fort Lauderdale to see what was in store. Spoiler alert: I had a really good time, both for the reasons you might think…but also for some reasons I was not expecting at all. Interestingly, before going on the cruise, an associate at Gibson had gone on a themed music cruise from a different company on a different cruise line. She got back a few days before I left, so I was hoping to hear “Yeah Craig, it was so cool, you’re gonna love it!” But she said the food was bad (although it sometimes reached below average), and she got seasick, so she had to take anti-motion sickness pills…which meant she couldn’t drink, and she’d paid in advance for a drink package (cheaper than buying a drink at a time). Her summary: “It was kind of like going to the dentist for oral surgery. I had a painful experience, and paid a lot of money for it. Although at least with a dentist, you end up better than when you went in.” Uh-oh. Fortunately, I have a friend who does maritime ship insurance so I asked him what he thought. He said “it’s all about the ship” and when he found it was the Celebrity Summit, said I had nothing to worry about. He was right. THE THEME The theme was 70s music, and really, it was more like a rock concert festival that just happened to be onboard a ship. The roster of artists was Peter Frampton, America, Little River Band, The Orchestra Starring Former Members of ELO, Christopher Cross, Ambrosia, Orleans, Stephen Bishop, Firefall, Player, Chuck Negron formerly of Three Dog Night and various tribute bands playing everywhere from side stages to lounges. One of the more popular tribute acts was a humorous but affectionate tribute to Elton John [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] I had no idea the two guys in America had been together continuously for 47 years, or that the current lineup for the Little River Band—which had none of the founding members—had ironically been together much longer than the original lineup. It wasn’t just about the bands, though. When you got on the ship, all the music played onboard was from the 70s. There were 70s-related activities, like trivia games and such. But what impressed me the most was that the entire ship was populated by fans who love music. It’s interesting to be in an environment where there are over 2,000 people and if you happen to strike up a random conversation, it’s going to be about music. Even during the day, there were outside concerts. [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] Even more telling: Each day there was a panel discussion with particular band members. I thought a bunch of fun-loving cruise folks would prefer to be sunning themselves or drinking a Mexican Firing Squad by the pool, but the panel discussions were packed—as in, good luck finding a seat in a venue that was second in size only to the theater. Nor were these about fluff or nostalgia. There were some really interesting insights, and frank talk about what it takes for a 70s artist to make it through to the year 2017. The moderator started out keeping it light, but fortunately, sensed both the direction the musicians were taking things and the crowd’s interest, and reacted accordingly. Members of America, the Little River Band, and Orleans on a panel about “Surviving Pop Music in the ‘70s” [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] For example, Wayne Nelson of the Little River Band talked about how members leaving was traumatic. He said “it was driven by egos and money. You got money for having songs on an album, and everyone was competing to get their songs on it. It wasn’t about the art, but the money.” But the silver lining was that as people were replaced, they were replaced by more compatible members so in his estimation, with the personnel changes the band became better and more vital instead of having the same people trying to resurrect past glories. More on this shortly. THE FIRST NIGHT’S HEADLINE CONCERT Those on the cruise were divided into two groups. You could do early show/late dinner, or early dinner/late show. The headliners would do the early show one night and the late show the next night (or vice-versa), so everyone got to see them. First night for my group was the Little River Band. I was dimly aware of them (the 70s were when I was doing studio work in New York and establishing my career as a writer so it was kind of a lost decade). However I did know who their keyboard player was; Chris Marion had done some writing for Harmony Central. Chris Marion steps out with an actual Roland Keytar—that still works [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] They hadn’t played in a while and initially, were somewhat stiff/hesitant. I started thinking I’d probably have more fun going back to my stateroom and making my own music in my little studio setup. Always have a studio at the ready! I didn’t have space for my 4” V-Series KRKs, but IK’s Micro-Monitors did a great job. But they kept gathering momentum. They have five vocalists, and the vocals were amazing—right on target, and no Auto-Tune. The dual guitar lines were equally impressive, and their drummer was tight and downright melodic in his approach. Chris added the necessary textures and stepped out front with a Keytar a few times. The crowd was digging it. Their front man, Wayne Nelson, is no kid but he’s a superbly tasteful and accomplished bass player and can sing his heart out. But what really flipped the switch was when they dared to do a new song. The popular wisdom is that people are there to see the hits and only the hits. The band was almost apologetic, saying “all the songs you’re going to hear over the next four days were new songs at one point.” The crowd loved it. From that song on, there was that unique kind of audience/band energy exchange that you know about if you’ve ever played live and had one of those nights. The band got looser socially and tighter musically, and you could tell they were having more and more fun as the evening went on. Each song had more energy, precision, and style than the previous one. I was very impressed by a band that I would never have guessed would impress me. Furthermore, the sound was great. As in, so good I sought out their front of house engineer because even though it was a theater with good acoustics (and packed with the ultimate sound absorbers/diffusers—people!), he managed to make the low end really tight, keep the mud out, and balanced five vocalists perfectly. Given that one of them played drums, I asked how he managed to keep the drums out of the mic. Simple: He ducked the mic with a notch at the snare drum frequency whenever it hit, and rolled off everything below about 125 Hz. He said that it was actually an advantage, because he needed to bring up the overheads on only three songs; the vocal mic picked up enough. I asked a bit about where the band was going next, and mentioned that I thought the fans accepting the new material was when the band really started cooking. He said some fans have seen 200 shows, and this loyal following is what keeps them playing—the audience is there. Well that’s enough about day 1… AMBROSIA, AMERICA, FIREFALL, AND SOME INSIDER BASEBALL Day 2 seemed like a good time to check out the ship and find out what was there. But it was also a chance to catch up with Chris Marion and Charlie Morgan (currently with Orleans and Richard Marx; he was also Elton John’s long-time drummer). Charlie Morgan, pounding away on the drums [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] I mostly wanted to pick Chris’s brain on how, as one of the performers, he viewed the cruise. He’s a big fan of the themed cruises, because he confirmed what I suspected—the boat is packed 100% with people to whom music is an important, maybe even crucial, part of their lives. These weren’t mindless fans but people who could talk intelligently about music, careers of certain bands, and the like. They followed the band personnel twists and turns, and many even knew what I used to think was musician-only trivia, like who did the engineering and production. There was also a surprisingly large number of players. Chris also talked about how virtual instruments and such had changed the game. We ended up talking quite a bit about tech, and some of the complications in a themed cruise—for example, it wasn’t always possible to bring all your own gear. While we were talking, several fans of the band came up and complimented him on how great the set had been. They were respectful of his time, welcomed the opportunity to thank him personally, maybe mentioned a particular show they had caught, and moved on. Then I found Charlie Morgan, who I’d never met but we have mutual friends. It was a non-stop bunch of fun stories about studios, the old days of A&R, doing the Elton John tours, the current state of the music business, and swapping our respective George Martin stories. Interestingly, both Chris and Charlie live in Nashville, and the irony was not lost on me that after many “yeah, we should get together sometime” moments, we had to be on a boat somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico to finally hang out. Although in some ways I’m not super-gregarious, I was after all going to write up the experience, and engaged a lot of random people in conversations to take the pulse. Every conversation was about music. These are all people who spent a decent amount of money and took the time to go on a themed cruise, and they chose music over other ways to spend their time and money. Although I expected the cruise to be mostly couples reliving their past (the “romance”) part, quite a few people went with friends and there were also those who went not because they were part of the music at the time, but acquired a taste for it after the fact and wanted to see the performers. The headliner that night was America. I never really was a fan of the band, and although the crowd was happy, I couldn’t help but think there were some in-ear monitor issues. If you like America, you’d be pleased to see them after 47 years of playing together—still playing their music and still digging it. One of the best lines was when America said “If you’re looking for our web site, don’t Google ‘America’” (it’s venturahighway.com) [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] There were several groups I didn’t get to see; there’s a lot going on during these cruises and while there aren’t too many overlapping events, sometimes I needed to prioritize eating or getting a decent night’s sleep over catching more concerts. But I did see part of Ambrosia’s and Orleans’ set, and both were crowd pleasers. Ambrosia took the liberty to stretch out a bit—which I always appreciate—and Orleans served up some tight, funky Louisiana gumbo that showed the band had more depth than just their “Still the One” hit. Good stuff. PETER FRAMPTON…AND MORE On Day 3, the boat was docked at Cozumel, Mexico and there were numerous offshore excursions. I chose to see the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza; here’s a photo of the main pyramid. El Castillo is the main pyramid at Chitzen Itza, a UNESCO World Heritage site. I find this kind of thing fascinating but this article isn’t about the excursions, so let’s move on to the evening’s headliner—Peter Frampton. I hadn’t seen Frampton in concert before, but if he wasn’t at the top of his form, I’d sure like to know what it would take to do better. This was everything a concert should be. His playing was as spot-on and lyrical as ever, the vocals were strong, and the band was clearly not just a bunch of “I-can-get-them-for-cheap” sidemen—they added a lot, and were clearly enjoying themselves. Peter Frampton was one of the cruise’s highlights, and delivered an outstanding, vibrant set [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] But what I really noticed was that Frampton seemed to be having an absolutely fabulous time, and loving every minute of being up there. Granted, the audience was feeding back a lot of energy. But if he was faking it, he really should give up music ASAP and switch over to an acting career. The sound - like the sound for all the concerts - was excellent, as was the pacing of the songs (the second song was a version of Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel”), the way he wrung real dynamics out of his multiple Gibson guitars…everything. There’s really not much else to say except that I was extremely impressed, and enjoyed myself both from a show standpoint and a “musician’s critical eye” standpoint. Later on, I caught Stephen Bishop at the behest of a friend. I’m not all that much into watching a singer-songwriter banging away on an acoustic guitar, but he was hilarious. With a loose and varied set, he had the audience in the palm of his hand (and you have to hear his impression of Bob Dylan hailing a taxi in New York). It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. The playing was excellent, and the engaging personality in an intimate setting made me glad I went. Getting off music for a second, food on cruise ships is always controversial so I want to weigh in on that. There were specialty restaurants where the cost is not included in the cruise charge, and restaurants that are included: a buffet that seemed be offering something most of the time, some poolside eateries, and a main dining room for dinner. My sometimes-cynical brain assumed the “standard” eateries would be set up to encourage spending money on the premium dining, but that wasn’t the case. The food in the main dining room was sufficiently good and varied that I never did do the optional-at-extra-cost thing, and the buffet had enough variety (including some ethnic foods) so that I could always find something I wanted. Unless you’re a real food snob, the experience was definitely above average. Several people said the specialty restaurants were fabulous, but the fluidity of my schedule often meant I just didn’t have the time to sit down and indulge myself in a long dinner. YES IT’S A PACKAGE, BUT… Different cruise lines have different “freebies” as part of the package. Some do all-you-can-drink liquor or free spas, while others charge for those same things. On the cruise, there were plenty of optional-at-extra-cost options, and if you’re a drinker, the price could add up quickly so it was sometimes best to spend the bucks for the $45 or $65 (plus 18% gratuity) drink packages. I’m not into drinking that much, so it was more cost-effective to just buy a drink when desired. Internet access cost money as well—$149 for unlimited during the cruise, or around $25 an hour (and this was one of the less expensive lines; with some cruise ships you pay by the minute for the privilege of frequent disconnects). Actually, this was great because I had an excuse to disconnect from real life for five days. The bottom line is in this case, the cruise package price buys you access to every musical activity, food, excellent service (there are about half as many crew members as there are passengers), and various other goodies. So really, you can just go with the basics and travel economically, or spend as much as you want to upgrade the overall experience. For example, it was worth it to me to spend the $134 to go to Chichen Itza, and I don’t regret going there for a second. THE ORCHESTRA AND CHRISTOPHER CROSS The next headliners were The Orchestra Starring Former Members of ELO. Again, a real crowd-pleasing set, excellent musicianship, quality sound, and I really enjoyed myself. You could see all the performers got a jolt of energy from the crowd. No wonder Chris Marion mentioned how much he enjoyed these cruises—you can’t go wrong with a captive audience that’s totally into what you do. The Orchestra, with (l-r front row) violinist Mik Kaminski, bassist Glen Burtnik (formerly with Styx) playing the SG bass with a psychedelic paint job, and Parthenon Huxley on guitar [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] Although they had to adapt a lush studio sound to a live performance context with seven musicians, they were skillful in that adaptation and were able to re-invent the music for the context while retaining the core. Tough to pull off, but they did. On the final night, Christopher Cross headlined. I wasn’t that aware of what he’s done recently; of course I heard “Sailin’” like everyone else, but he’d pretty much dropped off my radar. Yet I have to say he delivered a gorgeous set, emotionally deep, musically tight, and with a humility that made you forget you were in a theater…it felt like an intimate venue. With zero pretense and a hefty catalog of songs, Cross delivered big-time. I hope his career gets a second wind; he deserves it. Christopher Cross, ably aided by two backup singers from Nashville [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] The next morning, the cruise was over. Embarkation and disembarkation can always be a scene of confusing chaos; maybe we just got lucky, but it was handled extremely well. Again, I asked several people what they thought. The answers were uniformly enthusiastic, with several people saying they had already signed up for next year’s cruise (somewhere around 60% of this year’s participants had signed up the year before). That’s a pretty phenomenal retention rate. CODA Life is full of surprises, and this cruise sure managed to surprise me. It was an experience to be surrounded by nothing but hardcore music lovers for five days, but also, it gave an opportunity for bands that were still vital and gigging, but no longer “in fashion,” to connect with their fans and continue their careers. I'm not sure who chose the bands, but none of them was just "going through the motions." They all immersed themselves in the music and the performance. Peter Beckett from Player [photo courtesy StarVista LIVE] StarVista LIVE’s plan is to continue to tweak and extend the concept…could an EDM cruise be far behind? A jazz cruise? Given the success of the panels, will there be more events that dig deeper into the music business? It will be interesting to see what the future brings, but for now, it was great to spend some time in an environment where live music reigned supreme. {Breaking news: Here are the details on next year's cruise. Confirmed artists are Styx, Michael McDonald, War, The Guess Who, B.J. Thomas, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Badfinger featuring Joey Molland, and Poco. The dates are March 3-8, 2018, and ports of call are Ft. Lauderdale, USA; Falmouth, Jamaica; and Georgetown, Grand Cayman. The ship is the same as this year, the Celebrity Summit.] ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

The Power of Parallel Processing for Bass Think bass and most effects don't get along? Think again by Craig Anderton In basic effects setups, your bass goes to the input of an effect, whose output goes to another effect or your amp. But maybe you don’t even use effects, because you find that adding effects - particularly guitar effects - does more harm than good to your sound. We have a solution: parallel processing. With this technique, your signal splits into two paths. One carries your unprocessed bass sound, while the other carries the processed sound. Then both paths go into a mixer so you can adjust the blend of dry and processed sounds. This solution became crucial for me when I started playing Gibson’s EB5 5-string bass. That really low B string is, well, really low. Almost any guitar effect is going to roll off those frequencies, because guitars don’t go there...but bass does. PRACTICAL EXAMPLES? SURE THING! The classic example of the benefits of parallel processing involves auto-wah for when you want to get a funky bass sound (think Larry Graham using the Seamoon Funk Machine). A wah takes away all the low frequencies, so your bass loses its low end power and becomes so thin as to be useless. The screen shot uses Overloud’s TH3 amp simulator to place the wah in parallel with the bass, so the wah sound layers with the big, full bass tone. Parallel compression is a popular studio technique for drums, because the compression can bring up room ambience and decay, while the unprocessed path preserves the drum set’s dynamics. With bass, particularly slap bass, you retain the full attack while the compressor adds sustain. Of course, you can also have two processors in parallel. The above screen shot shows two parallel cabs that can load impulse responses. Loading different impulses into the cabinets produces just enough difference between the two to create a stereo spread (note the settings for the Mixer pan pots). While stereo bass is probably not something you’ll want to do very often, you can pan the two cabs to center for “composite” cab sounds—like a guitar cabinet for a strong midrange, and a bass cab to handle the bottom. Here’s one last tip: If you’re using an effect with a wet/dry mix control (like chorus or delay), set the mix to wet (processed) sound only because the other path is already providing the dry sound. When you want to preserve what makes your bass great but add some spice with effects, try parallel processing. You may find that guitar effects are more useful for bass than you might have thought. -HC- ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

How to Beef Up Your Beats Toughen up wimpy analog drum sounds by Craig Anderton Ah yes…those classic analog drum sounds. When you think of all the hip-hop, techno, trance, and other dance music productions that were powered by legendary devices like Roland’s TR-808 and TR-909, you realize just how influential these drum sounds have been. But that was the 20th century, and we can use some 21st century processing to make them even bigger and stronger. You probably have some drum module or soft synth somewhere with these vintage electronic drum sounds (these tips are designed for the TR-808 drums, but work with other analog drum sounds), so let’s make them come alive. I’ll be using the modules in Cakewalk SONAR but they’re fairly standard, so you shouldn’t have much trouble translating the settings to your particular DAW. FIX THE KICK A little distortion can help the kick cut through a mix. Softube’s distortion (which is also available in Studio One) is ideal if you set the switch to Keep Low, because it maintains that solid low end for the kick, then adds hardness to the top so the kick cuts better. A setting around 2 to 3 o’clock works for me. With other distortion effects, you may need to place the distortion in parallel with the kick, with a filter in front to reduce the very lowest frequencies so the distortion affects only the low mids on up. Or just distort the crap out of the kick for your “Tribute to Late 90s Belgian Hardcore” project. If you have a console emulation processor that models the sound of an input transformer, you can get some “iron” into the sound. With SONAR, I prefer the N-Type processor with Trim at 2.0 and Drive turned up to 6 dB. Driving it this hard adds some non-linearities and just a tiny bit of crunch. SNAP THE SNARE Adding a bass boost (try a bass shelf at 130 Hz with about 6 dB of boost) gives more “wood” to the sound, as if it was an electronic snare with a wooden shell. Try it and you’ll hear what I mean. A slight upper mid boost around 5 kHz adds some “snap.” These two EQ boosts give a more defined snare sound. Snare is another sound that can benefit from a little distortion, but this time I’m using SONAR’s Tube distortion module because it has two distortion flavors. Type II doesn’t distort highs, which keeps the snare from sounding too much like sandpaper. If you’re using an amp sim or other type of distortion, as with the kick parallel processing can give the sound you want. Split off the low frequencies, send them through your distortion module of choice, then mix them back together. Again, I’ve taken advantage of console emulation to add a bit more punch by overdriving it. HEIGHTEN YOUR HI-HAT Now we have a big kick that takes over the low end (but not so much that it will fight with the bass; the distortion gives it more highs, so it gets out of the way of the bass), and a tight snare that handles the mids. Next, we'll process the hi-hat to fill in the high end. Cutting the lows and boosting the highs allows the hi-hat sound to complement the processed kick and snare. By emphasizing the highs, we can bring the hi-hat down in the mix to leave room for other high-frequency instruments, but you’ll still be able to hear the metronomic hi-hat at work. The low shelf filter cuts response pretty dramatically under 1 kHz. Meanwhile, there’s a major boost around 7 kHz to really bring out the hi-hat’s sizzle—but to prevent it from going too nuts on the high end, set the Lowpass filter for a steep slope (I’m using -48 dB/octave) and a cutoff of 20 kHz. The residual rolloff below 20 kHz lets the hi-hat occupy a “slice” of high frequencies where you can hear it well, but it doesn’t take up too much of the audio spectrum. TAME YOUR TOMS I’m not a big fan of the TR-808 tom sound; it tends to be “bottom-heavy” and has no stick sound. My preferred fix is some limiting with an 1176-type emulation, a low-frequency shelf rolloff, and a high-frequency shelf boost. Problem solved. READY FOR ACTION! Play the drum part, then try bypassing all these effects…the change will be substantial, and your beats will be a lot beefier. Also consider adding just a little bit of ambience using short, prime number delays (e.g., four sends or delay taps with 11, 13, 17, and 23 ms of delay), and you’ll provide a little depth to the otherwise “flat” direct sound. -HC- ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

5 Reasons Why Cassettes Were the Best Gosh Darn Playback Medium Ever! Let’s celebrate the technology whose sound quality was exceeded only by its mechanical perfection by Craig Anderton 1. Cassettes used tape. Everyone (yes, everyone) knows that suspending a bunch of teeny-tiny little magnets in plastic, blasting them with supersonic energy, then making them line up using a method that resembles herding drunken and disorderly cats is the surest way possible to create a peachy-keen sound. 2. Cassettes were designed for lo-fi dictation applications, not music. Being perversely contrary is in a musician’s DNA. So of course, upon first seeing the cassette, musicians realized immediately that this was clearly destined to be the playback medium of the future. Even better, cassettes distorted like crazy! 3. It was ahead of its time. The widespread adoption of low bit rate MP3 formats, played through 34¢ earbuds from China, proved that what people really wanted was not incremental, but excremental, changes in sound quality. The cassette delivered on that promise long before digital technology figured out how to take truly bad sound to a hitherto uncharted level of wretchedness. 4. Cassettes had little reels that rotated. Back in the 60s, if people had communed sufficiently with a mind-altering substance, they could be amused for hours watching the little reels go around—even if the music wasn’t any good. Decades later, music videos would exploit this very same principle by making elaborate videos for forgettable music. 5. They made spectacular road kill. When people got frustrated with cassettes jamming in their car stereo and threw them out the window, the tape would unravel like some strange kind of post-industrial intestine, literally spilling its guts all over the interstate. Can a CD do that? A download? Vinyl? No! Need I say more? ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

How to Add an Equalizer to Windows 10 – and Groove Music Although Windows 10 doesn't include an equalizer for the audio subsystem, we can fix that by Craig Anderton I’m really glad I updated to Windows 10, and I like the Groove Music app, but it doesn’t have any kind of equalizer. Some sound chips have applets with equalization, but my IDT codec didn’t. Nor are these (often dumbed-down) equalizers necessarily on the level that we’d like. They typically have presets for specific genres of music—not presets for the desktop speakers you just happen to be using with your laptop and that because they’re sitting on a table, have reflections that produce a hump around 200 Hz. I'd been using some expensive speakers on my dining room table that were pretty big, and dominated the tabletop. So I got a pair of Cerwin-Vega XD3 speakers that were a much more friendly size, but they too were subject to the same low-frequency hump, which was accentuated further by a penchant toward bass. I tried to find an equalizer in my laptop that worked with the Windows audio subsystem...no joy. Fortunately, there’s an answer: the free Equalizer APO, available from sourceforge.net. Note that Sourceforge used to be a trusted source for downloads, but fell in the wrong hands for a while. It has since returned to its former status, and there was no junkware or other garbage riding along with the download. Equalizer APO is actually quite sophisticated, but because it’s free, you won’t find 24/7 phone support. At first, I couldn’t get it working but there's a really simple fix. INSTALLATION You just download the EqualizerAPO64-1.1.2.exe and run it. This produces two entries in your start menu, Configuration Editor (the actual EQ module) and Configurator, which is where you choose what will be processed through the EQ. Here’s what it looks like. My Configurator is enabled for the laptop’s onboard audio CODEC, but note that it also recognizes the iLoud and AMPLIFi 30 Bluetooth devices…pretty cool. To get it working, I needed to check the Troubleshooting box and then click on the Speakers/HP device I’d selected under Connector. This opened up the APO panel below. Once I unchecked both entries for “Use original APO” and re-booted (important), everything worked perfectly. YMMV but if it doesn’t work on the first try, this should get you up and running. THE EQUALIZER ITSELF When you open up the Configuration Editor, you can choose the filter type you want to use, as well as see a detailed numerical analysis of the response. You can also set up multiple EQs, and enable or bypass them. Because you can save the configuration as a file, it’s possible to have preset EQs for multiple speaker scenarios. This curve is set up to reduce the lower-mid “thump” caused by the flawed speaker placement and bass emphasis. Although this didn’t make my $100 XD3s sound like Les Paul Monitors, they were now accurate and frankly, for watching videos and listening to my music library they sounded great. I later tried some Auralex Mopads I was using on some other speakers. Although this helped flatten out the sound, I resisted spending $50 to support $100 speakers, and the EQ did what I needed. By the way the settings seem to persist, which is usually what I want. If you want to start over from scratch, go to the Configuration Editor's settings menu and choose Reset. So next time you think there isn’t an equalizer in Windows 10 (like there was in the Windows Media Player if you had the right plug-in)…well, there isn’t. But with a little help from Equalizer APO, you’re covered. ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

How to Fix Electronic Music Gear Repair or replace? Try repairing first… by Craig Anderton Your keyboard or multieffects is ailing. In many cases, you can be the doctor and fix what’s wrong—and save repair costs in the process. We won’t get deep into the weeds, but cover the essentials. FIRST, DO NO HARM The last thing you want to do is create new problems. In the medical world, this is called an iatrogenic illness—an illness caused by medical treatment. A slipped screwdriver while power is on, a broken connection, or destroying a circuit board trace could put an end to your gear. Repairs require care, patience, and being very deliberate in your actions. And did I mention patience? The cardinal rule is do the easy stuff first. Although that may not solve the problem, if it does you’ve saved yourself a lot of work. START WITH THE EXTERNALS Gather as much information as you can on symptoms. For example if there are no signs of life at all—no lights, no nothing—then it’s likely a power supply problem. If a keyboard has notes that don’t sound, it could be the keyboard itself, or the cables that connect to it. In either case, those are easier to check than trying to find out if an oscillator IC had died. Start by checking cables. I fixed a keyboard for a friend who had complained of intermittent operation. By checking cables first, I noticed that the IEC AC cord felt a little loose in its socket. I tried a tighter-fitting cable, and that solved the problem. Also look for signs of abuse, like chips or dents. That could mean something has become unseated. If there are external fuses, check them. Also check the power supply voltage switch, if present. One guitarist couldn’t understand why the Hughes & Kettner preamp he bought sounded so bad—until he realized the voltage switch was set for 240V in a 120V world. OPENING UP Always unplug the gear before opening it up. No exceptions. Place blankets, pillows, or something else that prevents the possibility of scratching your gear as you lay it on the operating table. Furthermore, thick pillows and the like can also “cradle” sections of the gear, like holding a panel at a 90 degree angle. Go online and try to find your gear's service manual. It will often include instructions for disassembly, and these can be worth their weight in gold—you definitely don’t want to loosen screws that shouldn’t be loosened. The service manual should also tell you if some case sections snap into place, which will imply how to unsnap them. Don’t discount YouTube videos from owners, either. Grab a cup, plastic food container, or whatever to hold any screws or other components you need to remove. Keep the top on when not in use! If you tip it over and screws go flying into a carpet, it’s not fun. Be aware that crucial screws for disassembly may be “hidden” under a “no user serviceable parts inside” sticker, a removable nameplate, or other sneaky location. Again, a service manual will identify these but if you don’t have a service manual and perform “unscrew while crossing fingers,” the last screw you need to undo might not be visible. If all screws you need to undo are the same type, great. But if not, draw a diagram of which screws came from where. Don’t think you’ll remember which screws go where. Often, panels can be separated from the main section of the gear. However the cables connecting them might not be very long, and pulling the panel away from the body may pull a cable out of its connector. When you first open a piece of gear, grab your smartphone or camera and take close-up pictures of the insides. They should be detailed enough so that if every cable was unplugged, you’d know where to plug them back in. Make sure any separated pieces are supported well. You don’t want a front panel falling over and ripping a few wires in the process. CHECK THE OBVIOUS Before touching anything, observe. If you see any leakage from a backup battery or crystals forming on the terminals, replace it immediately and hope any damage is minimal. In fact if the gear is more than a decade old and the battery has never been replaced, it’s cheap insurance to order and install a replacement. Look for any physical deformities in components, like swollen electrolytic capacitors, or discoloration in resistors (which may indicate heat damage). One of my more interesting cases was an OB-8 whose ICs and sockets used dissimilar metals, and conductive hairline crystals formed between the metals. I used a fine metal brush on the IC pins, and the OB-8 was fixed. However if you think a part may need replacing, don’t do anything yet; there may be no problem. But since you’re observing anyway, take notes. If you see any evidence of smoke or there’s a leftover “burning electronic part” smell, you probably won’t be able to do the repairs yourself. Check for internal fuses. If a fuse is blown, pay attention to how it was blown. If it simply opened up and there’s a gap between the fuse elements, it may just be old. But if there are little fuse particles inside the fuse, it might have blown violently from a sudden rush of excessive current. This warns you that there may be a serious relatively serious problem; when you power up to test later, be prepared to turn off the power switch as soon as you turn it on. THE FIX IS IN The first thing I do is disconnect connectors and then re-seat, one at a time, going through every connector at least once. Metals can corrode or oxidize, especially if you live in an environment with air pollution or salt water. I can’t tell you how many times simply re-seating connectors has solved problems, with no further attention required. For example, I had an Alesis Ion where three keys didn’t work. I thought maybe there were key contacts that needed cleaning (there weren’t), but it was simply that the connectors connecting the keyboard to the main circuit board needed re-seating. See all those ribbon connectors? Simply re-seating them can often solve problems. Not all connectors pull out cleanly. Some might have a little lip or latch to hold the connector in place, and you need to push on the latch gently to unseat the connector. Also, you want to be very careful not to bend any pins, as bending them back will weaken them. Pull connectors straight up; if possible, wedge a small screwdriver tip under each end so you can lift both ends of the connector evenly. Similarly, when re-seating make certain that all pins are in their respective holes before giving a final push into place. Many people who perform repairs worship at the alter of Caig Laboratories' contact cleaner and de-oxidation products. While the connectors are off, check the pins for corrosion or oxidation. If present, squirt a little metal-on-metal contact cleaner on a Q-tip, then use it to wipe down the pins. ICs in sockets can also cause problems. In this case, don’t take them out and re-seat them; it’s too easy to bend or break the fragile pins. It’s sufficient to use two screwdrivers as described above to raise the IC about 1/16th up from its socket (i.e., the pins don’t come out all the way), then push down again. This wiping action should be sufficient to clean the contacts. With pots that pass audio, a scratchy pot will be obvious when you listen. With pots used as encoders with digital circuitry, the results are less predictable—it may seem difficult to select presets, or a mod wheel might behave unpredictably. If the pot is a sealed type, replacement is your only option. If the pot has an opening and the resistive element is exposed to the air, contact cleaner is usually all you need. Be aware there are different types of contact cleaner; for most pots, you want the metal-on-plastic type. I have the full set of Caig contact cleaners for metal, plastics, gold-plated contacts, etc. Look over all soldered connections. While “cold” solder joints are unlikely in modern gear, especially on circuit boards, if wired connections are done by hand the possibility always exists. Another possibility is that the solder's flux did not burn off completely. If you’re handy with a soldering iron, touch up connections that look sketchy but be careful the heat doesn’t affect any plastic parts. ARE WE THERE YET? In my experience, most problems are mechanical. One of the weirdest fixes ever was when there was signal going to a synthesizer’s 1/4” output (as seen on an oscilloscope), but it never made it out of the synthesizer. A little investigation and a few choice swear words later, I found that the output jack had an internal short. Replacing it solved the problem. These days, many “repairs” don’t get to the component level, but do a board swap. It’s just too time-consuming to check individual components, unsolder them, and replace them. However if you can do the fixes yourself, you won't have to wait for some board to show up (if in fact you can even find one) and your gear will be happy again. The synth in the photos is my beloved Alesis Ion, which had three keys that didn't work and a sketchy mod wheel. 30 minutes later, it was back in active service - and better than ever. ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Craig’s List - 5 Ways Concerts are Not Like Hockey Games Let's put the subject on ice ... by Craig Anderton Like most peoples’ opinion on this oft-debated subject, did you think there are more similarities than differences between hockey games and concerts? It’s a common misconception, but think again! 1. Band members get into fights—Charlie Watts punching Mick Jagger, the Lamb of God drunken brawl, the North Korea/South Korea-like dynamic of the Gallagher brothers from Oasis...even poofy hair bands like Poison have come to blows. Hockey players get into fights too, but they’re smarter—they fight people from the other teams! 2. Hockey “critics” are called referees, who watch every player’s moves and make a big fuss if someone’s not following the rules. So, be eternally thankful you don’t have some dimwit emo music blogger standing next to you onstage, and blowing a really loud whistle every time you hit a wrong note. 3. When hockey players do something bad, they have to spend time in a penalty box and pretend to look ashamed and dishonored. When rock groups do something bad, they get all kinds of free publicity in “entertainment” (I use the word loosely) TV shows so forgettable I can’t remember their names. But to be fair, it is difficult to throw a television from the penalty box. Or do things involving poodles, 3D IMAX glasses, and groupies. 4. During half-time at hockey games, they play music. But in an enduring riddle that no one has ever been able to figure out, during concert half-times musicians don’t play hockey. Why? 5. Hockey teams embrace cutting-edge devices called “clocks.” These marvels of modern technology divide the daily rotation of the earth into numerical reference points, which allow humans all over the world to synchronize their activities—including starting hockey games on time. Well, someday musicians will also discover “clocks,” so their concerts will start on time! Just don’t bet on it. ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

"Music Cruises" Navigate the Music Business Waters When your business is based on CDs, what do you do when the market stagnates? by Craig Anderton (Editor’s Note: Time Life reached out to us about advertising a new music-oriented cruise they’re doing called “Rock and Romance” on March 11-16, and they were willing to offer a special price to the HC community. That in itself was interesting, given that I’d never even heard of the Time Life cruises, yet they’d heard of us. But after looking into it further, I realized there was more to this story than meets the eye. They had created a wildly successful music-oriented franchise in a down industry, because they understood the tie-in with musicians, fans, and most importantly, the positive response that underscores the importance of music in peoples’ lives. I think there are some lessons for all of us here…so while this may look like an advertorial, this was not something Time Life asked us to write, and I had to track down someone who could spend the time to give me some background.) You may be familiar with Time Life not just from the magazine branding, but because of the sets of CDs and DVDs offered on TV infomercials that are a “time capsule” of a particular era—like the multi-CD sets “the British Invasion,” “Golden Age of Country,” and “Motown Collection.” But as overall CD sales started their decline, the company was looking for some way to extend its business yet remain involved with their core strength of music. Their “Malt Shop Memories” set had been very successful, and Alan Rubens at Time Life wondered if it was possible to create an immersive experience based around the same premise: re-living a particular moment in pop culture history. But, it had to go beyond just listening. That’s when the idea hit him to rent an entire cruise ship, and then create a themed experience based around music…sort of like a “Disneyland for adults” where every aspect of the cruise related to the theme. By renting the entire boat, by default everyone on the cruise had a shared interest in music. The idea seemed simple enough; book a bunch of musicians from that era, and provide a good time. But people don’t just enjoy music, they have an emotional connection—so the concept grew to add panel discussions with the artists talking about what those days were like, contests, a pseudo-prom night, and of course, plenty of concerts…but there were also impromptu moments, like doo-wop groups walking around singing a capella at any given moment. That initial foray was very successful, but of particular interest to me was that the musicians loved it. Of course, it was a paying gig so musicians have another outlet to work and make a living. But unlike doing a concert where you get on the bus and go to the next stop, this was a chance to connect with the fans who contributed to their becoming stars. Somewhat to Rubens’ surprise, the stars ended up hanging out with the guests, having dinner with them, and getting into vacation mode because there was genuine appreciation on both sides. Neil Sedaka was afraid to do the cruise, but after a day he was having breakfast with people and wanting to come back the next year. Well, what musician wouldn’t want to be surrounded exclusively by people who love music? Once it was established that vacationers would book cabins and that artists would say “yeah, sign me up,” additional cruises came next that were equally successful. So, Time Life managed to build an entirely new franchise as insurance against the future uncertainty of the CD/DVD business—and therein lies a lesson for all of us who are trying to have a career based on music. First of all, it takes work, and you have to do it yourself. Yes, you can still get distribution through a record company, but no one cares about your music as much as you do so it’s up to you to promote it. Similarly, the cruise line takes care of the food, cabins, boat, paperwork, etc., but you can’t have concerts without a really good backline. When you’re at sea, it’s not like you can run to a Radio Shack five minutes before a concert and get an adapter. And if you think living by the ocean is hard on gear, try living on it—and note that you have to use a company that specializes in cruise ship sound. Also, because people are coming not just because it’s a cruise but a music-oriented one, something musical has to be available all the time. You can’t just have a band put on a concert; it has to be an immersive experience, down to the décor, even at the ports. It’s not easy to keep 2,000 paying customers happy. And then there are the unexpected issues, like when they really wanted to book Frankie Valli, but he felt his show would be better-represented in a larger venue on dry land. Rather than drop the idea, they rented a warehouse at one of the ports of call, installed a sound system, and had him perform there. Second, you can’t be cynical about “there’s no money to be made in the music business any more, people just listen to MP3s on their iPhones and use it as a soundtrack to their lives.” Music has always had, and still has, power. Granted, tying it in with memories gives it a head start, but people go on these cruises not just to re-live their experiences, but some go to find out what they missed by not being around when that music was being made. People love music enough to want to immerse themselves in it for a week, just like other people want to immerse themselves in something like skiing or a foreign country. Third, if you want to create new revenue streams for musicians, there’s no one-size-fits-all option. Each cruise had to be done from the ground up. For example with the Malt Shop Memories cruise, there was a panel with Peter Noone, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Asher talking about what it was like when the “British Invasion” hit. Another panel had Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker, and Philadelphia DJ Jerry Blavat discussing the impact of Dick Clark and American Bandstand. Obviously, these aren’t the same people you’d have for a Soul Train, Country, or Flower Power cruise. This all gets down to “know your audience and give them what they want,” whether it’s your web site, your presence on Facebook, or…a cruise. Fourth, people are willing to pay for something unique and musical—you just have to come up with something they want. After the first cruise, 70% signed up for a cruise the next year, and 50% for another cruise the year after that. Of course you can’t download a cruise from BitTorrent for free, but there are still people who understand that if you love music, you need to support it on some level. When I put my album on YouTube for free, I received messages from people saying they wanted to buy a CD because they wanted to support what I was doing. There may be more of those kinds of people than we realize. Looking to the future, it’s clear Time Life has a formula down and has created a franchise. But what other options are out there waiting to be discovered? Can you rent a movie theater for a day and have bands play, followed by a showing of Spinal Tap with a visit from the stars? Could there be a Comic-Con-type event built around music where fans get inspired by musicians, and musicians get recharged by their fans? It’s time to put some vision into the music business. I realize Time Life is running a business, but they’re having fun doing it and have come up with something that the fans love. I’m very intrigued, and come to think of it, haven’t had a vacation in a long, long time… Photos courtesy of our StarVista LIVE photographers Resources Special pricing info for Harmony Central Rock & Romance Cruise landing page Info on the Celebrity Summit cruise ship Peter Frampton introduces a video about bands on the cruise America talks about why they like the cruise concept ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

NAMM 2017 Wrap-Up—Wild, Wonderful, Warped, and Wet Even the rain couldn’t rain on this year’s NAMM parade By Craig Anderton “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Nope, can’t use that intro. It was good times. Actually, the best in years. “It was a dark and stormy night…” Ah! Much better. It seems California decided to end its drought co-incident with NAMM…when you call for an Uber and a rowboat shows up, you know you’re in trouble. Looking out from the balcony opposite Gibson's booth on the third floor of the convention center In fact on the last night of the show, Dendy and I had a dinner scheduled with a client at a nearby restaurant, but the rain was so bad we decided to just go across the street to the Hilton’s restaurant (whose motto is “It may not be good, but at least it’s expensive”). Even then, there were several inches of rain flowing down the driveway to the parking garage. Rain notwithstanding, the convention itself seemed in a collective very good mood. And again, I was reminded of the just plain niceness of the music industry. With over 106,000 people registered, the Anaheim convention could barely hold the crowds. Yet despite being the size of a decent-sized city, attendees maintained their cool and their politeness. No murders, rapes, fights, or even crazy people swearing at loud volume. (To be fair, though, there might have been some crazies, and they were just drowned out by the din of thousands of instruments all playing at once.) A look at the storm from inside the NAMM show Next year, the Anaheim convention center is supposed to add another 100,000 square feet, which definitely will help. In theory construction was supposed to be complete just in time for this year’s show, but maybe it’s a good thing it wasn’t…as Joe Lamond of NAMM said, “You never want to be the first trade show after a major renovation—something always doesn’t work.” Hopefully the two or three conventions ahead of us will de-bug the place before we move in for four days in 2018. As to gear, we have plenty of videos to tell the story, but in terms of trends the ukulele surge seems to have subsided. This isn’t too surprising, given that enough ukuleles were produced in the past five years to accommodate every man, woman, and child on earth, and possibly a few other star systems too. What was surprising: the dramatic increase in modular synth manufacturers. Sure, it’s still a small part of the industry, but the growth rate is exponential. However with the huge amount of gear, it was easy to miss the good stuff. As Dan Goldstein of Acoustica commented, “At first I didn’t think there was much new. But once I took a closer look, there were all kinds of small companies making innovative plug-ins and instruments.” That qualifies as a trend, too; the Big Companies still dominate NAMM, but we can see the seeds of the future Big Companies being sown in the booths at Hall E, and scattered throughout the convention halls. Another trend was manufacturers finally figuring out that making cool musical tools isn’t enough; there have to be tools that get people engaged in making music on an instant gratification basis. With generations now being raised that have patience removed surgically at birth, this realization comes none too soon. The overall feeling at NAMM was fresh. Booth colors seemed lighter, new people have come into the industry, and there’s a generational energy as those raised on computers and video games translated their love of tech into musical products. All was not entirely rosy, though. Shortly before NAMM, there was a death in the family when it was announced Keyboard magazine would be no more, with the remains folded into Electronic Musician magazine. It’s hard to see a 42-year-old institution disappear, but the only constant is indeed change. Behringer put out a press release saying this would be their last NAMM show, and I talked to software companies who felt that in this age of direct downloads, a show oriented toward signing up distributors had become fairly meaningless. However, these folks were more than offset by a whole bunch of new companies making their NAMM debut. The fact remains that “face time” is important in a fashion industry based on relationships, and there’s no better way to catch up with the state of the industry—and your friends—than at NAMM. Alice Cooper and Aerosmith's Joe Perry jamming at the TEC Awards And NAMM itself is on the move. They‘ve revitalized the TEC Awards, and the TEC Tracks sessions continue to build from one year to the next. The web site has never been easier to navigate, the sessions designed to help retailers draw ever-larger crowds, and the process of verifying identities when letting people in has been streamlined considerably—getting into the show was saner than ever this year. So the bottom line is that although it was a dark and stormy night, these were the best of times. I haven’t seen the music industry this positive in years...and I wouldn’t be surprised if Winter NAMM 2018 tops this one. ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages. Header photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for NAMM All other photos by Lee Anderton

MIDI - The Force Awakens Everyone’s favorite music technology protocol is moving rapidly into the 21st century By Craig Anderton A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (well actually it was over 30 years ago in Anaheim, California), two synthesizers—one from Roland, one from Sequential Circuits—talked to each other over a MIDI cable. Through a miracle of inter-industry co-operation refreshingly free of politics, the music industry banded together to create a specification that has endured to this day. But…as the old saying goes, what have you done for us lately? The answer is quite a bit. When hard disk recording and ADAT hit, digital audio recording entered the spotlight—while MIDI’s spotlight dimmed. But then Steinberg introduced Virtual Studio Technology, computers got faster, virtual instruments became a sophisticated alternative to physical instruments, USB made it easy for MIDI to talk to computers, and now, MIDI is more important than ever and actually gaining in importance. With MIDI ramping up to be a part of 2.6 billion devices as it invades the smart phone market, the sky’s the limit. THE GUARDIAN OF THE MIDI GALAXY SPEC It takes effort to maintain a spec—dealing with multiple music business companies (with an overlay of American/Japanese/European cultural divide) is like herding cats. Friendly cats to be sure…but cats nonetheless. That task, which borders on the thankless, falls to the MIDI Manufacturers Association. Lately, there’s been increased interest and participation from consumer-oriented companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft, as well as long-time supporters like Yamaha, Roland, Gibson, Korg, and others who recognize the value of being involved with the MIDI specification. By paying their share of the organization’s dues, MMA members have the right to help shape the future of MIDI, and vote—with one vote per member, regardless of size—on the various initiatives. This year's MMA meeting at the Anaheim Marriott started off with a review of what happened in 2016. Regarding the mechanics of how changes happen to the MIDI spec, the MMA is an all-volunteer organization with the exception of one employee—Tom White, who heads up the MMA. When a company has a proposal for an extension to the spec, working groups of interested parties coalesce to explore how it would work, and eventually, proposals go to a Technical Standards Board for review. After that review happens, it’s up to the Executive Board of the MMA to “make it so” (full disclosure: I represent Gibson Brands on the Executive Board.) Also, the MMA works closely with AMEI, its Japanese counterpart. This effectively doubles the available brainpower. The MMA holds an annual meeting at NAMM, with both public sessions (through invitation to, for example, journalists and educators who work with MIDI) and other sessions that are closed to the public. Approval of changes is a difficult, lengthy, and time-consuming process. Different manufacturers have different priorities, the MMA’s all-volunteer nature means software engineers who are normally very busy in their “day jobs” don’t have a lot of spare time, and it’s crucial that anything new doesn’t “break” anything old. MIDI SPEC ENHANCEMENTS IN 2016 Although there are several very exciting initiatives on the horizon (more on that later), 2016 brought several extensions to fruition. Some of the higher-visibility ones include: BLE-MIDI. This allows MIDI to talk to computers over Bluetooth Low Energy, with no special hardware required. Although virtually all aspects of the MIDI spec originated in the music industry, this was originally an Apple standard (spearheaded by Torrey Walker), and was proposed to the MMA. It was then adopted with minor revisions. At NAMM 2017, Cakewalk demoed the Zivix Jamstik working with SONAR (BLE-MIDI support was introduced with Windows 10 Anniversary Edition), despite Zivix itself thinking it wouldn’t be possible. Granted, any software needs the right “hooks” for Windows, but there’s no doubt other companies will be incorporating BLE-MIDI into their software. Other other new features, MoForte's GeoShred 2 software instrument now includes MIDI Polyphonic Expression MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression). Championed by ROLI, Roger Linn, and others, this allows expression for individual notes within a polyphonic data stream. It does this by maximizing the use of MIDI channels to allow per-note control of pitch, volume, timbre and more. The bottom line is this brings acoustic instrument-like expressiveness to new electronic controllers, like ROLI’s keyboards and the Linnstrument. Windows 10 Multi-Client Support. This is a fancy way of saying “you can have several MIDI programs running at once.” Ever wonder why you couldn’t run your sequencer and the editor for your virtual instrument that communicates via MIDI at the same time? Now you can, because Windows has the intelligence to separate individual MIDI data streams. There are also many other Windows 10 enhancements, like MIDI support in PowerShell and the Windows Store. This doodle generated sound on Chrome using the Web-MIDI API. Web-MIDI API (Application Program Interface). This is currently supported in Chrome and Opera, and is what allowed you to play a synth on Google’s home page as a tribute to Bob Moog on what would have been his 78th birthday. Firefox is also moving toward adoption, albeit slowly. Microsoft and Apple aren’t committed to supporting it yet, but it probably won’t take long before they figure out this is a really cool feature to have—especially for education. The MIDI Association gave info on all things MIDI that were happening at the Winter 2017 NAMM show The MIDI Association. The MMA also established a free, public-facing, user-oriented offshoot at www.midi.org that explains MIDI, presents news about the spec, makes the spec available for download, and has numerous articles as well as a forum on all things MIDI. It’s a cool site and well worth checking out. THE FUTURE The MMA is understandably reluctant to reveal what’s under consideration. Much of this is to avoid early mentions of something that “seems like a good idea” at the time, but for some reason, doesn’t pan out. As a result, although I’d love to give you a peek in to the future, I can’t. But the fact that I wish I could probably gives you a hint that there’s a lot more bubbling under the surface. What I can say is that both the MMA and AMEI agree on the need to improve MIDI in terms of speed, resolution, and channels, and have a goal of finalizing new extensions to the specification as rapidly as practical. The challenge is how to bring MIDI into the 21st century without invalidating the huge universe of existing MIDI gear, but the music industry’s best minds are on the case…and MIDI looks poised to mean even more in the 21st century than it did in the 20th. Resources Individuals can join The MIDI Association, a global community of people who work, play, and create with MIDI, for free. Companies that make MIDI products and want to help decide MIDI’s future can join the MMA. In either case, visit www.midi.org for more details. ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

32nd Annual TEC Awards The venerable industry awards ceremony re-boots - and shines By Craig Anderton Left to right: Alice Cooper, Robert DeLeo, Johnny Depp, and Joe Perry perform at the TEC Awards finale. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for NAMM. All other photos by Lee Anderton) The TEC Awards were created in 1985 under the aegis of Mix Magazine, back in the heyday of print. Its goal was to give recognition to the “individuals, companies, and technical innovations behind the sound of recordings, live performances, films, television, video games and other media.” It’s basically the “Oscars” for the music industry, as well as a chance to contribute to a good cause (the NAMM Foundation), attend a banquet with friends and associates, and be entertained by some pretty high-power acts—Pete Townshend, Steve Vai, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Slash, Chaka Khan, and many, many more over the years—as well as see people like George Lucas, the late Les Paul, Rupert Neve, and other luminaries accept their awards. Geoff Emerick, best known for his engineering work with Beatles as well as Ultravox, Elvis Costello, Jeff Beck, the Zombies, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and others, was the first award presenter of the evening. Full disclosure time: last year, I was asked to advise the TEC Awards Executive Board, which solicited my opinion of the 31st annual awards show. I felt it was too long, too self-congratulatory, too loud, and didn’t recognize that the world has changed since Big Studios ruled the world. They didn’t take offense…they took notes, and paid attention to the feedback from participants, board members, manufacturers, and of course, those who attended the awards. What a difference a year makes. For 2016, the TEC Awards hit the sweet spot of entertainment and honoring the best this industry has to offer—while retaining a light touch, streamlining the proceedings, upping the ante for the visuals, and also, stepping cautiously into the future. ABOUT THE AWARDS There are various components to the TEC awards: the Hall of Fame to honor pioneers of audio technology (this year, it was legendary producer Jack Douglas), the TECnology Hall of Fame that recognizes particular audio products and innovations, the Les Paul award to honor those who exemplify the creative application of recording technology, and a series of awards for both Technical Achievements and Creative Achievements. Jack Douglas, who worked his way up from being a janitor at the Record Plant to working with John Lennon on Imagine and Double Fantasy as well as projects with Aerosmith, Miles Davis, Patti Smith, Cheap Trick, and the New York Dolls, was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. The TEC Awards have been part of NAMM since 2010, with the profits going to the NAMM Foundation. The event is held on Saturday, the third day of the NAMM show, in the Pacific Ballroom of the Hilton hotel next to the Anaheim Convention Center. Perhaps not surprisingly, the technical quality of the show is top-notch in terms of sound and visuals. Although the TEC Awards is about technical innovation, some might think the true innovation is an awards show with food that's actually good (that's Aerosmith's Joe Perry in the background). The event starts immediately after the show, with an open bar/”meet and greet” hour, after which attendees sit down to a catered dinner (with—amazingly enough—really good food, not the usual rubber chicken with vintage wine from “Tuesday”). That’s followed by presentations of various awards, punctuated with music from the house band directed by production/industry veteran Larry Batiste. He brings the musical direction skills that have served the Grammy Awards Pre-Telecast since 2006. This year, the awards included video clips from previous TEC Awards ceremonies during the on-stage personnel changes. It was a welcome addition that added a touch of nostalgia, sped up the proceedings, and provided an alternative to the musical bumpers typically used for these kinds of shows. And returning for another year, host Sinbad often went into truly hilarious directions, with a light touch that kept any potential self-importance to a minimum. AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN…JOE PERRY! Aerosmith’s Joe Perry won this year’s Les Paul award, and he brought the Hollywood Vampires with him for entertainment: Johnny Depp on guitar, Alice Cooper on vocals, the Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert DeLeo on bass, and Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford on guitar. How about some photos? Johnny Depp introduced Joe Perry prior to Joe winning this year's Les Paul Award. Alice Cooper was outstanding...the dude has charisma. Johnny Depp (left) and Joe Perry (right), Johnny Depp taking a turn on vocals. Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, and Brad Whitford The band was top-notch, but I have to say I was particularly impressed by Alice Cooper. He may be 68, but man, that guy can rock and he remains the consummate entertainer. You could tell he loved doing what he does, is in great shape, sang his heart out, and had the same kind of enthusiasm you’d expect from someone a third his age. Meanwhile Joe Perry poured out lick after lick, while Depp and Whitford provided the chordal anchors, and DeLeo held down the bottom end. Yeah, it got a little too loud at the end, but hey—it’s rock and roll, right? That’s entertainment. Left to right: Johnny Depp, Robert DeLeo, Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, and Brad Whitford rock out for the TEC Awards finale. THE AWARDS Oh right…the winners! Well, we don’t need to re-invent the wheel, because you can get the entire list at the TEC Awards home page. This year added two new, and well-deserved, categories: Audio Education Technology (iZotope won for “Pro Audio Essentials”) and DJ Production Technology (congratulations, Native Instruments, for Traktor Kontrol S5). The TEC Awards will continue to evolve, tweaking the show and the process. This year they promised it would be 2.5 hours long and end at 9:30 PM, which no one believed…the show always runs way too long. Yet it ended exactly on time, and if that isn't an indication of a sea change at the TEC Awards, I don't know what is. And when it was over, you could either attend the after-party if you had VIP tickets, or go back to your hotel room and steel yourself for the final day of NAMM. I’m already looking forward to next year. ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Expert PreView: Casio LK-265 Casio continues its stealth campaign to engage people in making music by Craig Anderton As Dendy Jarrett said, “This is the show where some companies realized that if we don’t get people engaged in making music, all that’s happening here becomes irrelevant.” Which is a perfect introduction to Casio’s “gateway drug” to making music: the LK-265 keyboard ($149 street price). Sure, it incorporates tried-and-true Casio “learn music” features like lighted keyboard keys that teach built-in songs phrase by phrase, a display that shows notation and correct hand positioning, auto-accompaniment, and a scoring system for students to track their progress. But what’s new is that it short-circuits the gating element for those starting in music: impatience. After all, if people don’t have a positive experience within 60 seconds, then it’s back to video games, smartphones, and Netflix. And that’s why the LK-265 includes “dance music mode,” which treats the keyboard like a curated collection of triggerable loops. Within seconds, you can be remixing drums, bass, and synths, as well as triggering effects (flanger, lo-fi, high cut, low cut). Seven more keys provide “build up” effects like roll, filter, stutter, etc. So it’s not just about learning music, but also arranging and mixing. I can hear the Debbie Downers now: “But that’s not teaching real music”—which totally misses the point. Dance music mode is about getting people engaged in music. Once they have a positive experience creating the kind of music they hear every day, then it’s a short step to wanting to learn more. And for a cool tech touch, the LK-265 interfaces with Casio’s new Chordana Play app, so users can learn their favorite songs via downloadable MIDI files. But forget the camera kits or other adapters: a standard 1/8th stereo cable runs audio in one channel and data in the other. I guess I’m supposed to like something more sophisticated and pro, but I can’t help myself. The LK-265 is fun—and I predict it will suck kids into music like a Shark vacuum cleaner in a dust factory. Casio will be sending us one for a full review as soon as they can pry one loose. Resources Interview with Casio's Mike Martin about the LK-265 ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages. Stream his latest "video album" at craiganderton.com.

NAMM-o-RAMA! A crazy, loving, snarky look at Anaheim’s other theme park by Craig Anderton Anaheim, California, USA is the world-famous home of Adventureland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland. In an eerie coincidence, I’ve been told there’s also a theme park based around these same four themes—but of course, we’re talking about the Winter NAMM show. I’ve been going to NAMM since dealers and manufacturers set up on card tables in the Disneyland hotel. It was a time of turmoil in the world; the Roman monarchy had just been overthrown, heralding the beginning of the Republican period, and Cleisthenes took power in Greece, reorganizing Athens into a more democratic state. But that didn’t keep major retailers of that time, like Lyre Center and Greekwater, from coming to Anaheim and checking out the latest products. This was also the period when NAMM started adding workshops, including the one by Pythagoras on his seminal research into stringed instruments and tunings—which laid the groundwork for the eventual development of the Les Paul and Telecaster. Fast forward to the present. Within recent times, the Summer NAMM show in Chicago was the dominant music trade show, with Winter NAMM an also-ran for the West Coast. Now the situation is reversed, with Winter NAMM dominating, and Summer NAMM a more regional show. Furthermore, with around 100,000 visitors, NAMM is close to achieving parity with the Musikmesse/Prolight + Sound show held in Frankfurt (although last year, the purely music-oriented part had only 62,000 visitors). In my highly debatable and probably inaccurate opinion, three main factors have contributed to Winter NAMM’s inevitable ascendancy. First, Midwest and East Coast dealers realized they could take a tax-deductible trip to bask in the SoCal sun and escape blizzards, polar vortices, and sub-zero temperatures. No-brainer! Second, at one point the Euro was strong and the dollar was weak, encouraging European visitors to scoop up the bargains and do Winter NAMM instead of Frankfurt. They then realized they too could escape the dreary European winters, which started NAMM on its continuing evolution to being a truly international show. Third, when Japan and China became manufacturing juggernauts, it was a lot easier to go to California. When people refer to Hall E these days as “Chinatown” it’s a technical description, not a snide remark. FANTASYLAND In theory, NAMM is in trade-only, and not open to the public. Also in theory, nuclear power would be too cheap to meter, Mattel’s “Earring Magic Ken” was going to fly off the shelves, and we’d all be watching Microsoft’s WebTV (or enjoying Jar Jar Binks while “The Phantom Menace” played on our Betamax), happily drinking New Coke and eating Colgate Kitchen Entrees. Although having musicians at a musical instrument show isn’t a flawed idea, the sheer numbers mean it’s getting harder to navigate the halls, conduct business, and not have hearing loss. What? No, I didn’t say “dental floss”…I said HEARING LOSS. ADVENTURELAND When it’s lunchtime, thrill to the allure of food-like substances! Brave the crowds as you try to make it from an appointment in Hall A to one in Hall E (bring your personal jet pack) in under 45 minutes! See how long you can “hold it” while waiting for the bathroom lines to dissipate! Attend never-ending press conferences at your own risk, where at any moment you could fall asleep and crash to the ground! Yes, NAMM is a never-ending thrill ride that puts Disneyland’s “Tower of Terror” to shame. FRONTIERLAND NAMM is where manufacturers explore the uncharted territories of new products, whether it’s the latest entries in the Race to the Bottom or products so sophisticated no one can figure them out. Still, one of the absolute best qualities of NAMM is the amount of innovation on display. Let’s face it, no one works in the music industry because they expect to get rich (they’re not defense contractors). They’re part of the industry because they love it, love music, and love coming up with cool new ideas and products. There’s no better place to explore the frontiers of human ingenuity than NAMM, and yes, I am capable of saying things that are not snarky. TOMORROWLAND Many people mistakenly, although understandably, assume NAMM stands for “National Association of Music Merchants.” However, NAMM got its name when dealers would ask if a product is currently shipping, and the answer was invariably “not available…maybe May.” That turned into an acronym, and the rest is history. Yes, it’s true that many products shown at NAMM will never end up on a retailer’s shelves—or be delayed, turn out to be not quite as good an idea as people thought, or wouldn’t be carried by Guitar Center because it took up too much shelf space. But the flip side is that many products that shouldn’t have shown up on retailer’s shelves not only did, but became hits because of the feedback a company received at NAMM. NAMM is a look at not just the present state of industry, but a peek into tomorrow. I ADMIT IT…I LOVE NAMM I’ve been going to trade shows forever. People genuinely can’t believe I look forward to them, and that I haven’t gotten burned out after all these years. In fact, some medical professionals find this very interesting, because they think I may be exhibiting some as-yet-undiagnosed form of mental illness (particularly because they wonder why some guitar player can get really excited about new DJ gear). But I love NAMM. The music industry has an extraordinarily high percentage of incredibly cool people, and they’re all in the same place at the same time. Seeing the creativity of the human mind at work never gets old, and it’s a reminder—not that I need it—we are all part of the industry of human happiness. So carry on, NAMM. And if anyone reading this sees me prowling the halls, say hi…we’re all in this together. And that makes it even better. ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Craig’s List - 5 Terrific Tips for Newbie NAMMsters Like speed traps, Starbucks coffee shops, and muggers, the Winter NAMM supersized convention is just around the corner! Going for the first time? We’re here to help. by Craig Anderton 1. Beware of appointment safaris. NAMM is soooooo big that if you make an appointment for something in Hall E and your next one is in Hall A, you cross a time zone and you’ll end up being an hour late. Or an hour early, I always forget which. Some people even get jet lag going from one end of the convention center to the other. 2. Two’s company, three's a crowd, but 100,000 is an effing big-ass crowd. In the 4th century A.D., the amphitheater passageways at the Roman Colosseum were so efficiently designed that the entire venue could fill with 50,000 people in 15 minutes. As to the 21st-century Anaheim Convention Center...well, let’s just say we finally have the long-awaited, conclusive proof of de-evolution. Oh, and plan to go to the bathroom 20 minutes in advance. Just sayin.’ 3. Let’s do lunch! Hungry? There’s an eatery on the convention center roof (really*). It’s so secret I can’t tell you where it is, but ask a security guard “Where’s the undisclosed location to which the White House always refers?” Next, give the Special Password (“twentydollarsifyoutellme”), then he’ll give you directions—but only after running a background check, and swearing you to secrecy. Personally I order the pheasant under glass, but I've heard the Duck à la Donald is fabulous--or try the tapas-inspired dish, Ratón Miguel. Oh, just don't ask where the venison came from. Enough kids were traumatized by watching "Bambi." 4. The E-Z way to insanely great demos. Find someone with a Sweetwater, Sam Ash, B&H, or Guitar Center badge, then follow behind them at a discrete distance. Extra points if you have the same literature bag they do, so it seems you’re all “buyer bros” traveling together. Exhibitor hearts get all a-flutter when Big Buyers come around, so you might as well benefit from the beatific aura of potential prosperity and subtle aroma of $100 bills they emit. 5. Important fanboi protocol message. If you see someone famous, don’t go up to them and say something like “Hey, you’re Alan Parsons!” Trust me on this—they know who they are. Well, maybe not after happy hour starts. Or if they’re in the Marriott lobby after 2 AM...but you get my point. * There really is a restaurant on the convention center roof ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

The Lowdown on the EB Bass Four or five strings, eight different sounds by Craig Anderton (Editor’s note: Harmony Central’s offices are located about 300 feet away from the Gibson USA factory, so when the 2017 guitars were introduced, we just had to check them out. But luckily, we were able to hold on to them and in the process, found out there are considerable differences among them. So, rather than “review” them in the traditional sense, we thought it would be helpful to analyze what the differences are so the HC community would have an idea of what was going on “under the hood” with these guitars. This sixth article in the series covers the 2017 EB Bass.) Gibson’s EB bass for 2017, part of the Traditional line, is available in a 4 or 5-string version. It’s a different kind of bass for Gibson, with perhaps the most obvious improvement being the balance—it’s easy to hold and play. Aside from the design, part of this is due to the swamp ash body, which is relatively light (also, the fingerboard is rosewood). However, another advantage is that swamp ash gives a high-end “snap” as well as a solid low end, so the balance extends from the physical bass itself to the tone. Tuning. Accurate tuning that can last throughout long gigs is always a design priority. The neck is maple, and being a very resilient wood, it can handle the tension of bass strings while holding tuning well for extended periods of time. The Grover tuning keys also contribute to tuning accuracy, as does the Babciz bridge—which also helps with accurate intonation. The look. The EB has a nitrocellulose satin finish that exposes the swamp ash and maple with the Natural Satin model. It’s not a fancy look; even the extended horn, while eye-catching, has the practical purpose of providing proper balance when wearing a strap. The black pickups provide a stark contrast to the blond wood, as do the knobs and bridge. If it weren’t for the look of the swamp ash body, this is one of those basses that would probably fade into the background on stage. On the other hand if you’re more into sunbursts, there’s a Satin Vintage Sunburst look as well. The electronics. I’ve always loved the sound of the “sustain forever” Thunderbird bass. The neck-through-body construction is a big part of the full, round sound, but it’s a physically as well as sonically heavy bass. In 2013, I made friends with the five-string EB. It was easier for long sessions than the Thunderbird, but the killer feature for me was being able to get eight distinct, different bass sounds without active electronics. Whether I wanted a bright, more pop sound, a percussive “plonk,” something with highs to cut through a mix, or a big bottom (apologies to Spinal Tap), I need to carry only one bass to the gig. The 2017 EB carries on that tradition. Even though it has only three knobs (volume for each pickup and a control for tone), the two volume knobs are push-pull types that activate Gibson’s Tuned Coil Tap circuitry. The “native” pickup sound is a big, growling tone with a fair amount of midrange “bark”; the Tuned Coil Tap voicing scoops the midrange somewhat, which can emphasize the low or high end more by de-emphasizing the mids. This is clever, because if you start with sound that doesn’t have much midrange, there’s nothing you can do to add something that’s not there. The EB pickup’s solid midrange means you can use it as it, or reduce it. Here’s an admittedly subjective rundown of the type of sounds available. Neck pickup: Balanced tone, most bass, mids give some “bark” Tapped neck pickup: Scoops some mids, rounder sound, retains low end Bridge pickup: Less low end, more midrange bite Tapped bridge pickup: Scoops mids, lighter low end, defined highs, good “pop” bass sound Neck and bridge pickups: Retains strong low end, adds midrange but there’s an apparent slight scoop in the lower mids because the higher and lower frequencies are louder Tapped neck pickup and bridge pickup: Major scooping around 500Hz-1kHz, good lows, a hint of brightness, lays back in a track Tapped bridge pickup and neck pickup: Adds some upper mids back in compared to the tapped neck pickup and bridge pickup Tapped bridge pickup and tapped neck pickup: Like the tapped neck pickup and bridge pickup sound, but adds slightly lower midrange frequencies back in. Of course, these are the “bass-ic” (sorry!) sounds. Once you start using the tone control and varying the pickup volume controls, there are even more possibilities. I also like that you don’t have to deal with a forest of switches or controls to get these sounds, nor do you need batteries. The bottom line on the bottom end. A bass always has to fight the laws of physics. Given the frequencies strings have to hit, they should be longer—there’s a reason why a 9 foot grand piano has bass strings that are so long. Granted, a piano goes down to 27.5 Hz, but a bass goes down to about 40 Hz and trust me, the strings on the EB are not 7 feet long. Because of the string length, a bass’s headstock ends up being quite a distance from the body, and that’s where your balance issues begin. However the EB’s compact body, with the extended horn for your strap, takes care of obtaining a good balance while the swamp ash wood also helps reduce the overall weight. I was surprised by how much more comfortable the 2017 EB is compared to the 2013 version, but not surprised that Gibson elected to keep the same tonal versatility. I’m very happy with the 2013 EB…however there’s no doubt that the 2017 is a major step up. . - HC - Visit the rest of the series on the 2017 Gibson Guitars: What Makes A Les Paul Traditional Guitar "Traditional"? Inside The Les Paul Classic Met The Les Paul Faded How the Les Paul Tribute Pays Tribute Brothers in Arms - The Les Paul Studio and Standard ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

How to Put Together a Rockin’ Mobile Windows Studio Low latency, small size, high power, reasonable cost. Cool! by Craig Anderton Windows has always had potential as a mobile music-making studio, although there was a major stumbling block: Windows’ native audio drivers. You simply couldn’t obtain stable, low-latency performance with the internal sound card. You could use the ASIO4ALL pseudo-ASIO driver (which while clever, often caused more problems than it solved), or cart around an interface/preamp—which diminished the mobility factor considerably. Neither solution was optimal. The limitation became even more unfortunate when slick portable computers like the Surface Pro appeared—they had portability and power, but still had the audio bottleneck…until now. WASSUP, WASAPI? Windows 10 has made several improvements to their Core Audio technology (not to be confused with Apple’s Core Audio technology), which involves WASAPI (Windows Audio Session Application Programming Interface). These changes make Windows 10 viable for low-latency recording and playback using a computer’s internal sound capabilities. What’s more, in addition to the WASAPI Exclusive mode for lowest latency (typically well under 10 ms), there’s a Shared driver mode so you can run multiple audio applications at the same time, with latency not that much more than Exclusive mode. So for example, you can have your DAW open while watching a lesson on YouTube. Not all programs support these improvements yet, but the benefits are obvious and with Windows 10 becoming ubiquitous, it’s only a matter of time before the two modes become common. The only downside is that an external audio interface will almost always offer higher audio quality than an internal sound chip—but we have ways around that, too. PUTTING TOGETHER A MOBILE STUDIO The main limitation with using an internal sound chip is at the input, due to inexpensive preamps and converters, as well as a “dirty” electrical environment inside the computer. The output may not be that great either, but quality is less of a concern there—we want to capture the best possible signal. If we record a signal that doesn’t sound good, it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to fix it. The key to fixing these issues is feeding a digital signal into the computer, thus bypassing the sketchy analog electronics at the input. We have several ways to do that. Guitar. Surely you need an interface to record a guitar, right? Actually, no. Ubisoft makes the Rocksmith Real Tone USB guitar cable (around $35) which can operate at 44.1 or 48 kHz (as well as lower sampling rates, but we don't want that). While designed to let your guitar interface with the Rocksmith program on the PS3 and XBOX 360, because it converts the guitar signal into a digital signal you can plug it into any USB port, and have it appear as an input to your recording software. The sound quality is surprisingly good (preamps don’t have to work as hard with guitars as they do with mics); but CEntrance has a high-quality option, the AxePort Pro ($180). Microphone. Speaking of CEntrance, if you have a favorite non-USB mic, the CEntrance MicPort Pro converts an XLR input to USB. It’s about $200, but the quality is excellent. However, don't make the mistake of dismissing USB mics based on past performance. Today’s USB mics, which allow plugging directly into a USB port, have grown up compared to the first ones that hit the market. They used be low-cost, low-grade consumer items designed to hit a low price point, but with the rise of podcasting, high-quality USB mics have entered the market with preamps and converters that are equivalent to (and sometimes better than) what you find in audio interfaces. These newer USB mics are more expensive, but you can hear the difference the first time you plug one in. Serious USB mics are available from Audio-Technica, Blue, MXL, and others, but my current favorite is the Neat Microphones Beecaster. Although it’s $350, it has a four-capsule design that provides four different polar patterns—mono, stereo, wide stereo (Blumlein response, for the tech heads out there), and “focused” stereo (mid/side response). This makes it suitable for narration, recording acoustic instruments, doing interviews, and recording ambience (and to inject a note of practicality, it’s also great for conference calls). Keyboards. Thanks to virtual instruments, you no longer need the instrument itself—just a controller. Cakewalk SONAR has an on-screen keyboard for touch screen-friendly machines, although you can also use the QWERTY keyboard to play notes. Other programs that let you trigger virtual instruments with a QWERTY keyboard include Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, Cockos Reaper, and PreSonus Studio One. Better audio output. As mentioned, output isn’t as much of a concern because you’ve already preserved your audio quality by inputting that audio as digital files. However if you want a better listening experience, USB-to-audio converters are available at a variety of price points, from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. The higher-end ones often including a headphone amp. However it’s another piece of gear and another expense, so you might want to just deal with your computer’s audio quality until you get home. Headphones. Again, you have a zillion choices. I use KRK’s KNS-8400 headphones because they’re voiced like studio monitors, and I use KRK monitors so it’s easy to move back and forth between home and mobile. However, they’re standard headphone size. When space is at a premium, I use the Monster Turbine Pro (Copper) ear buds but they’ve since been discontinued. I’ve heard good things about the Focal Sphear and Shure SE215-K but haven’t had a chance to evaluate them. Speakers. The words “portable” and “speakers” are seldom used in the same sentence, but there are some exceptions. IK Multimedia’s Micro Monitors ($300/pair) are astonishingly good despite their tiny size. For more conventional speaker in the same price range, there’s KRK Rokit 4 speakers although they’ll take up more space in your suitcase or carry-on. Software. Cakewalk’s SONAR family of products (SONAR Home Studio, SONAR Artist, SONAR Professional, and SONAR Platinum) as well as Acoustica Mixcraft currently support WASAPI Exclusive and Shared modes with Windows 10; others may as well, although I’m not aware of them. In any event those that don’t support it now will likely support this improved audio protocol in the future. ARE WE THERE YET? Actually…we are. I’ve been using a setup based around a circa-2012 HP EliteBook, Neat Beecaster, SONAR Platinum, Rocksmith cable, and KRK KNS-8400 headphones. The Beecaster is the least compact of the various accessories, so if I’m really tight for space, I bring a Samson Meteor USB mic. It has only a cardioid pattern, but that’s enough for quick narration or capturing vocal ideas. I used a Mac laptop for many years when going mobile, but the trend toward an ever-decreasing number of ports, high cost, and difficulty of replacement (you can find Windows laptops anywhere) caused me to switch to Windows several years ago—even though I was chained to carrying an ASIO audio interface with me. But no more! Hmm…I think I’ll check what a Surface Pro 4 is going for these days. ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Casio’s CGP-700 Home Electronic Piano - Your “Studio B?” Yes, it’s a home electronic piano...but there’s more to this than meets the ear by Craig Anderton My home studio is fairly heavy-duty, because I do a lot of audio and video projects. Rendering and backup can tie it up for long periods to time, and furthermore, it’s away from my main living area. Between getting to it and booting up everything, sometimes song inspirations get lost. Because I always have a smartphone within reach, I can use TASCAM’s free iPhone recording app for capturing a quick guitar or vocal inspiration but that’s all it can do: capture. I needed a “Studio B” for songwriting and just plain relaxation. I didn’t want it to be computer-based, because of OS updates, needing an interface, and the like. I looked at all-in-one recording options, but preferred something more hands-on and immediate...what to do? The answer turned out to be something I didn’t really expect: Casio’s CGP-700 electronic piano, which streets for around $800. If you want to get into the nuts and bolts, there’s a deep and very accurate review (that also compares it to the other products) at azpianonews.com. This is a site that’s part of Arizona Piano Wholesale so you might expect it to be sales-oriented, but it seems the author’s goal in writing the review was to help people make a truly informed buying decision. If you want to know all the product details, check out the article; I’m going to concentrate on what makes the CGP-700 ideal for the “Studio B” in the picture below. THE BIG THREE Of course there are a ton of sounds, a refined acoustic piano, auto-accompaniment options and the like that are fast and fun, but these three elements have really proven themselves over time. Multi-track sequencing: Onboard keyboard sequencers can be complicated and non-intuitive—not so with this 17-track scratchpad. It doesn’t do quantizing, velocity scaling, and other fancy editing, but it does have punching and can do basic edits. It’s basically designed to (and excels at) grabbing ideas. What’s more, you can record the results to a USB stick as either MIDI data or WAV audio—so if you come up with something amazing, it’s easy enough to transfer to “Studio A.” But a large part of what makes all this work is... The 5.3" touch screen: Casio’s experience with touch-based consumer devices shines through here. There’s no parsing buttons to functions; just touch and go (you can even swipe). There’s also an alpha dial for making additional selections and overall, Casio has done a great job with the “operating system.” Play the CGP-700 enough, and when you go to an instrument with a color screen, you’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t respond when you touch it. The internal amplifier: I’m not a piano connoisseur. My primary instrument is guitar, but I’ve doubled on keyboards since synthesizers first appeared, and have become a decent keyboard player over the years (and thank you, MIDI, for amplifying my abilities). To my ears, an electronic piano will never be able to simulate the full experience of all the vibrating wood and metal in a grand piano, but technology gets us ever-closer. A lot of the perceived realism comes from the feel—you feel like you’re playing a piano thanks to the graded-hammer action, excellent velocity response, and imitation ivory keys, but the amplifier brings it home. There are four speakers in the keyboard itself, and two low-frequency drivers in the included stand; there’s enough level that you can not only annoy your neighbors, but have a satisfying musical experience that doesn’t sound weird and tinny. THE SOUNDS The 12 groups of 550 sounds provide a pretty rich selection. Many of the sounds are excellent although as you might expect, this isn’t going to replace Kontakt (with a bunch of expansion packs) or a Korg Kronos. As a guitar player, the guitars aren’t particularly stellar but overall, the most important aspect is you’ll find the sounds you want to use, and they will sound anywhere from “okay, I can use that” to “excellent.” This is also why audio recording is welcome—you can record audio for an instrument that might not have a MIDI-driven equivalent in “Studio A.” The strongest sounds are, perhaps not unexpectedly, the keyboards. The Grand Piano (which benefits from the 128-voice polyphony) is deemed so important Casio has put a dedicated button that takes you to it immediately regardless of where you are in the OS, but there are plenty of other acoustic and electric piano sounds, as well as organs. Everyone will have their own favorites, but you’ll find plenty of candidates. I also think the basses are above average...they’ll keep your left hand happy when doing splits. If you’ve played other consumer-oriented electronic pianos, one aspect you will notice immediately is that the drum sounds actually sound good. The drums are good enough to be an inspiring. The result is more than just an overachieving metronome. EXTRAS As expected, you can split and layer sounds, transpose, and the like. But there are some goodies as well. A Duet mode that splits the keyboard into two sections with the same pitch range may seem teacher-oriented, but if you’re laying down two complementary parts in the same range, this is something most other keyboards I’ve tried don’t have. There are also auto-accompaniment and “instant harmony” features which “real” players might diss, but when you’re writing songs, they can get you where you want to go faster. They can also give you different musical perspectives that roll over creative blocks. Sure, you’ll find that some auto-accompaniment sounds kinda toy-like, but on balance, I’m very glad it’s there. Casio has definitely upped the ante to where the CGP-700 starts to resemble the higher-priced arranger keyboards (or as I call them, “license-free music libraries”). Another extra, although it’s not a sonic one, is you can remove the CGP-700 from its stand and carry it around—it’s only 26.2 pounds. It’s 88 keys so you have to make sure it will fit in your car, but wrap it in a thick blanket to protect it, and you’re good to go. WHAT’S MISSING Although the CGP-700 responds to MIDI control via USB, it does not have a mod wheel, nor can you add an expression pedal and assign it to modulation (although there is a sustain pedal). Also, although there’s an audio in jack, you can’t record an incoming signal—only what’s generated internally. And while the line-lump AC adapter cuts down on cost and regulatory approvals, it does cheapen the feel somewhat. Finally although this isn’t really a problem, be aware that there is some assembly required with the stand, and the combined package of piano and stand is heavy. It’s not difficult to put together, just follow the instructions. The stand does seem like it could use a little more reinforcement on the bottom to stabilize it, but as long as something like a Great Dane dog doesn’t barrel into it, expect it to stay standing. Then again the piano’s depth is impressively compact, so you can place its back against a wall and minimize the chance of any accidents. CONCLUSIONS At first glance, it would seem the CGP-700 has a lot of competition but at this price point and with this level of functionality, there’s less competition than you might think. Don’t underestimate the value of the touch screen—it really does make navigation simple and effective, as well as maximize the virtues of a well-thought-out operating system. So many “consumer” products have fairly daunting interfaces, but by and large, the CGP-700 avoids that. Yes, there are enough features that you will need to read the manual, but you can get way beyond just scratching the surface very easily. At worst, the sounds don’t get in the way and at best, they’re inspiring. The piano sound is very satisfying, but you’ll find plenty of other gems in there. Combine tons of sounds, easy operation, realistic keyboard feel, and excellent “scratchpad” sequencing capabilities—all at a very competitive price—and there’s your “Studio B.” Resources Casio CGP-700 landing page The CGP-700 ($799 "street") is available from: Sweetwater B&H Guitar Center Musician’s Friend Kraft Music ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages. Stream his latest "video album" at craiganderton.com.

Brothers in Arms - the Les Paul Studio and Standard They seem similar, but just how similar are they? by Craig Anderton (Editor’s note: Harmony Central’s offices are located about 300 feet away from the Gibson USA factory, so when the 2017 guitars were introduced, we just had to check them out. But luckily, we were able to hold on to them and in the process, found out there are considerable differences among them. So, rather than “review” them in the traditional sense, we thought it would be helpful to analyze what the differences are so the HC community would have an idea of what was going on “under the hood” with these guitars. This fifth article in the series compares the Les Paul Studio and Les Paul Standard.) The Les Paul Standard (top) and Les Paul Studio (bottom) have some similarities, especially when it comes to playability. The main differences are in the cosmetics and electronics; in some ways the Studio is a simpler version of the Standard. So, let’s compare the differences and find out what “extras” go into the Les Paul Standard. The body. The visual difference starts with the body—the Standard (left) has a Grade AAA flamed maple figured top, binding, and a bound neck, while the Studio (right) has a Grade A plain maple top. Other than those differences, the body and neck use the classic recipe of mahogany tonewoods. The neck. While they appear similar at first due to the trapezoidal inlays, look at the back of the neck; the Studio has a conventional SlimTaper neck compared to the Standard’s asymmetrical SlimTaper neck. While both are “modern” necks, the asymmetrical neck (which is quite a bit more difficult to manufacture) has a slight bulge where your thumb rests to reduce fatigue when playing long sessions. Both have rosewood fingerboards, but the Standard’s design uses a compound radius, which means the curve is a little flatter at the highest frets. The Studio uses the more traditional approach of a standard curve throughout the fingerboard’s length. Weight relief. Speaking of modern, both guitars feature Ultra-Modern weight relief—the choice of many guitar players for extended playing, and a bit of added resonance. This uses the same type of “wedge” cutout as modern weight relief, but extends the wedge’s width somewhat. Pickups and controls. The Standard’s Burstbucker Pro Rhythm and Burstbucker Pro Lead (left) have just a shade more output than the Studio’s 490R and 498T (right), but the controls offer a more significant difference. While both have the traditional two volume/two tone configuration, and both volume controls are push-pull types that turn on Gibson’s Tuned Coil Tap circuit, the Standard has an additional push-pull switch for phase switching and other for pure bypass. The pure bypass feature sends your pickups directly to the output jack, bypassing the volume and tone controls. However, it also has a “hidden talent” because it’s like having two presets on your guitar—pure bypass, and whatever volume and tone settings are in play when you’re not using pure bypass. If you’re not familiar with the Tuned Coil Tap circuit, it’s nothing like the old school coil taps that reduced volume and thinned the sound. Instead, the Tuned Coil Tap gives a single-coil tone, but with more character and less “brittleness” than standard single-coil pickups. Tuners and bridge. Both guitars use Grover kidney-style tuners, but the Standard has locking tuners. Returning to what they do have in common, the bridge and stopbar are aluminum Tone-o-matic models with steel thumbwheels and chrome plating. Knobs and plastics. It’s probably not surprising that the highly functional Studio has speed knobs, while the Standard goes for a more sophisticated vibe with amber top hats. As to the pickup rings and pickguards, the Standard’s colors are Heritage Cherry Sunburst, Honey Burst, Bourbon Burst, and Blueberry Burst (which would be my choice—just sayin’). Because these are all light colors, the plastics are cream colored. However the Studio is a different story. While it uses cream for the Wine Red model, the darker Ebony and Black Cherry Bursts have black pickup rings and pick guards. My main guitar has been a 2014 Les Paul Standard, so I’m intimately familiar with what the Standard is all about. Although I’d like to think I’m not swayed by visuals and judge guitars solely on their playability, I have to admit that the figured top and binding really do appeal to me. That said, although I do prefer the Standard's asymmetrical neck and electronics, I feel the biggest difference between the guitars is indeed the visuals. Tone-wise, both have the Tuned Coil Tap, which I think is one of the more underappreciated features; and the Ultra-Modern weight relief is very much welcome once I get past about two hours of playing. You get value with the Studio and luxury with the Standard, but they’re in the same league when it comes to tone and playability. . - HC - Visit the rest of the series on the 2017 Gibson Guitars: What Makes A Les Paul Traditional Guitar "Traditional"? Inside The Les Paul Classic Met The Les Paul Faded How the Les Paul Tribute Pays Tribute Please visit Gibson.com for more information on the Les Paul Studio and Les Paul Standard ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Craig's List: 5 Toxic Hazards of Holiday Music Kenny G. Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid... by Craig Anderton 1. You’ll hear “Carol of the Bells.” I mean, doesn’t this really sound like it should accompany some scary nightmarish scene from a Tim Burton film? On the plus side, it has the distinction of being one of the few Christmas carols with the power to depress—helpful if you’re feeling too cheery! 2. Stupefyingly bad “contemporary” holiday songs. If I never hear Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime,” or Neil Diamond’s fake Jamaican accent at the beginning of his reggae version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (I’m not making this up), it will be too soon. PARENTAL WARNING: Diamond’s version is on YouTube, and accessible to children under 13. 3. “The Little Drummer Boy” lyrics “pa rum pum pum pum.” Okay, it’s a nice little song pa rum pum pum pum, but does it really need to end pa rum pum pum pum every single pa rum pum pum pum effing line with pa rum pum pum pum? But, credit where credit is due: That song was written before computerized cut-and- paste. 4. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town—The Police State Mix.” “You better watch out . . . he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake . . . making a list, checking it twice . . . he knows if you’ve been good or bad . . .” Threats, spying, database of offenders, summary judgments without trial—Santa sounds like a cross between a pedophile, the DHS, and your creepy uncle Sammy. 5. Kenny G’s holiday music tours. So there you are at the local casino, doing a little gambling, maybe helping some Native Americans extract their revenge on the original illegal immigrants, and you find that...Kenny G is playing his holiday tour and that particular casino is one of his victims! Run! ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

How the Les Paul Tribute Pays Tribute Few, if any, of us will ever own a '59 Les Paul—but this guitar's goal is to pay tribute to the essential features by Craig Anderton (Editor’s note: Harmony Central’s offices are located about 300 feet away from the Gibson USA factory, so when the 2017 guitars were introduced, we just had to check them out. But luckily, we were able to hold on to them and in the process, found out there are considerable differences among them. So, rather than “review” them in the traditional sense, we thought it would be helpful to analyze what the differences are so the HC community would have an idea of what was going on “under the hood” with these guitars. This fourth article in the series covers the details of the Les Paul Tribute.) “Tribute” is actually a pretty good clue as to what this guitar is all about. If you look at it from a distance, you could easily think it might be a lost Les Paul guitar from the 1950s. Taking a cue from the previous article in this series on the Les Paul Faded, I mentioned that its stripped-down approach was more “Clash, not Clapton”—well, this one is more Clapton, not Clash. But look closer, and while the Tribute does look like the kind of Les Paul you picture in your mind (and know you could never afford!), there are some differences. It’s a simpler model, with no binding; and the finish is satin, as opposed to a more VOS-oriented or full gloss finish. Also, the complement of tonewoods is what you’d expect for a Les Paul: mahogany body, plain maple top, and a mahogany neck. 9-hole weight relief. Although the Tribute goes to the effort of creating a vintage look with classic tones, underneath the top there’s 9-hole weight relief. This was the first type of weight relief Gibson offered, and combines traditional tone with more of the “feel” and heft of a 50s-style guitar compared to models with Ultra-Modern weight relief. The neck. Another point of difference from the Traditional is a SlimTaper neck profile, so this is more suited to high-on-the-neck leads than the Traditional’s rounded neck. The satin finish underscores this, as the feel on the back of the neck is very smooth. However the inlays are the traditional trapezoid shape, in keeping with the visual emphasis of the Tribute, and the fingerboard is the usual rosewood. Vintage-style “Keystone” tuners. Again, this conforms to the look of the guitars to which the Tribute pays tribute. However while the look is the same, they’re manufactured to modern standards. The electronics. The Tribute sports the standard two volume/two tone controls configuration, attached to a circuit board in the control pocket cavity. There are no push-pull knobs or other tweaks; the electronics are what you expect…nothing more, nothing less. Furthermore, the pickup selector switch is the traditional, leaf-style Switchcraft type. Knobs. Gibson has sure used a lot of different knob designs over the years; these have the shape of the top hat knobs, and include the pointer, but have silver inserts with “tone” and “volume” printer on the them—the only 2017 model (aside from the SG Special) to feature this particular knob type. Again, these are part of maintaining the vintage vibe. Plating and plastics. The pickguard and pickup rings have the cream-colored motif of the 50s Les Pauls, and the Tune-o-matic bridge and stop bar are standard—nickel-plated, made of aluminum, and steel posts. Pickups. We have the old standbys: a 490R for the neck, and a 490T for the bridge. However unlike the pickups on the Les Paul Faded, the coils are not exposed; the nickel-plated covers result in a slightly more mellow sound than the Faded. Overall, the Faded and the Tribute strike me as a complementary pair of guitars. While they both provide significant value, the Faded has a more modern look while the Tribute is all about the guitars of the 1950s to which it aspires. It seems the Tribute is very much aimed at guitar players who’ve always wanted a ’59 Les Paul, know that will never happen, but want something with that look—along with improvements that acknowledge we’re in a different century than when the first Les Pauls walked the earth. - HC - Visit the rest of the series on the 2017 Gibson Guitars: What Makes A Les Paul Traditional Guitar "Traditional"? Inside The Les Paul Classic Met The Les Paul Faded Brothers in Arms - The Les Paul Studio and Standard For more information on the Gibson Les Paul Tribute please visit Gibson.com ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Meet the Les Paul Faded I usually don't think of a guitar as "brash," but it's probably time to make an exception by Craig Anderton (Editor’s note: Harmony Central’s offices are located about 300 feet away from the Gibson USA factory, so when the 2017 guitars were introduced, we just had to check them out. But luckily, we were able to hold on to them and in the process, found out there are considerable differences among them. So, rather than “review” them in the traditional sense, we thought it would be helpful to analyze what the differences are so the HC community would have an idea of what was going on “under the hood” with these guitars. This third article in the series goes into the very different world of the Les Paul Faded.) “Faded” makes sense as a name when you look at the finish, but this is a very different guitar compared to the Traditional and Classic. It has a stripped-down, no-frills approach—think Clash, not Clapton—which becomes obvious as soon as you notice there’s no binding. It’s also a guitar that’s very stage-friendly, and has a look unlike any of the other 2017 guitars. Here are the details. Ultra-modern weight relief. This provides the most weight relief of the various types Gibson uses; instead of the holes used in more traditional weight relief, ultra-modern features the wedge shape of modern weight relief but with slightly wider wedges. This not only reduces weight, but adds a resonant quality which some guitar players prefer. The neck. The Faded neck is a SlimTaper profile, and is maple instead of the usual mahogany (the body remains the traditional mahogany with maple top). For maximum comfort, it has rolled and sealed fretboard edges. The easiest way to describe this is imagine a neck that you’ve played for the past five years, where your fingers did the final sanding…the rolled neck has been sanded in such a way that it feels like that out of the case. Granted all the Gibson necks for 2017 are rolled, but it's a pleasant surprise to find it on a guitar at this price point. Also note that the neck’s position markers are dots instead of trapezoidal inlays. Vintage-type “Keystone” tuners. These tuners were inspired by Gibson’s very first tuners, so they provide a vintage look. However, the tuners aren’t copies; they use modern manufacturing techniques for better performance. The electronics. The Faded has the usual two volume/two tone controls, which attach to a circuit board in the control pocket cavity—arguably the most reliable way to handle guitar electronics, if (like me) you see the Faded’s primary home as being the stage. The look. The Faded has a unique, consistent look. In keeping with the black motif, there are no pickup covers and this reveals the black pickup bobbins underneath. The “Top Hat” knobs are black plastic, as are the pickguard, pickup rings, and even the headstock cover—which is all black, with no lettering. The finish and top. The finish is pretty interesting; it’s not satiny, but it’s not matte, either. The new finish is what Gibson calls “faded gloss,” and it’s a buffed stain that removes some of the shine but retains most of the “feel” of a glossy finish. As a result, the neck feels a little more like a vintage neck than a new one. The top is a plain top that emphasizes the wood grain. Although the guitar has an overall dark look, the finish has enough “presence” to provide a visual contrast to the black plastics. Pickups. A 490R for the neck and a 490T for the bridge provide what many consider the “classic” Gibson pickups. As there are no pickup covers there’s a little less attenuation; in terms of overall output, these are very much like the levels on the Classic—more output than the Traditional, but not as much as high-output pickups. As to the tone, the reason why they’re considered as having the essence of the Gibson sound is they’re inspired by Gibson’s original PAF pickups. Bridge. The bridge is the “old standby” Tune-o-matic type with thumbwheels for height adjustment and a standard stop bar. They’re made of aluminum, with nickel plating for a vintage look and steel posts. The Faded provides value—the finish isn’t high gloss, there’s no binding, and the inlays are simpler. However, although this isn’t intended to be a review I’d like to get a bit subjective. I really like this guitar’s no-nonsense look…think "stylish punk" (for that reason, I like the worn cherry color more than the worn brown). But also, the feel is surprisingly refined, which I think has a lot to do with the maple neck’s finish and rolled fretboard. I also appreciate that it’s a lot lighter than Les Pauls using more traditional weight relief. This is a guitar I’d gladly take on stage because I really like the playability, and the look makes a strong statement while being tasteful. I have no guitar in my collection like the Faded, and I’m seriously considering adding it… Visit the rest of the series on the 2017 Gibson Guitars: How The Les Paul Tribute Pays Tribute What Makes A Les Paul Traditional Guitar "Traditional"? Inside the Les Paul Classic Brothers in Arms - The Les Paul Studio and Standard For more information on the Gibson Les Paul Faded please visit Gibson.com ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Ozone Elements Mastering Software Plug-In We all want great-sounding masters - can a beginner-friendly plug-in do the job? by Craig Anderton iZotope’s Ozone integrated suite of mastering tools is a respected, comprehensive set of mastering plug-ins that provides an alternative to à la carte solutions based on using different plug-ins from multiple manufacturers. Aside from restoration (iZotope offers the RX Audio Editor restoration plug-ins for that), Ozone has what you need for mastering-oriented processing: EQ, multiband processors (dynamics, exciter, and imaging) maximizer, analytics, and more. Ozone Elements occupies the space between something like LANDR’s online mastering (push button, listen, if you like the results buy the master) and Ozone. It aims to simplify the mastering process, but whether it’s right for you or not depends on whether you can accept the tradeoffs involved in the simplification process. What You Need to Know Ozone Elements is a plug-in for VST2, VST3, AU, RTAS, and AAX. Although it doesn’t contain editable modules, Elements incorporates technology from Ozone’s Maximizer, Equalizer, Dynamic EQ, Dynamics, Harmonic Exciter, Stereo Imager, and Vintage Limiter modules. Ozone wraps a preset-based “shell” around the Ozone-based processors. The over 70 presets are designed with specific goals in mind, as indicated by the preset names (Enhance Dynamics, Emphasize Bass, Remove Mud, Tight Midrange, etc.). When you select a preset, there’s also a one-line description (e.g., Remove Mud’s description is “Saturated presence and modern limiting”). You can tweak a preset with three controls. An EQ slider goes from no applied EQ, to the preset amount at the midpoint, to more aggressive EQ and shaping when maxed. The Dynamics slider is a compression wet/dry control. The Maximizer is your basic “squash” control. The metering options are surprisingly sophisticated for a simplified program, and includes metering for inter-sample distortion (what iZotope calls “True Peaks”). Thankfully, iZotope avoids “caricatures” of mastering. Most of the presets are subtle “out of the box,” although you can make them less subtle with the sliders. A standout feature is a button that enables level-balancing between the bypassed and mastered versions so you can compare what’s really happening, independent of level changes that can fool your ears. This is a crucial feature, and its inclusion is very welcome. Limitations Elements does has no stand-alone mode. It drains a fair amount of CPU power and has quite a bit of lookahead (as it should), so the optimum use case is probably importing a mixed stereo master into your host, and working on that file alone. You could also insert it in the master bus and render a mix. Everything depends on the preset you choose, so at least when first working with Elements you’ll be spending a lot of time auditioning presets to find what works. There’s no way to create a “favorites” folder with the presets most applicable to what you do. You may not find a preset that does what you want, particularly because you have so little control over EQ. Good practice for pre-masters going to a mastering engineer is to leave at least 6 dB of headroom, and more like 12 db. Several of the presets mention recommended input levels, however most don't. It seems that an RMS value around -12 dB lands the audio in the "sweet spot" for the presets that don't specify level, although of course you can adjust the input level and alter the amount of Maximization if it's too little or too much. Ozone Elements can’t compensate for a mix where you’ve already used compression, limiting, etc. on the master bus. It wants a clean mix. Conclusions Ozone Elements surprised me in two ways. First, the presets aren’t over the top; they’re designed to master material, not impress you with how much difference they make to the sound. Kudos to iZotope for presets that “keep it real.” Second, as someone who knows the full version of Ozone very well, I can hear how iZotope has adapted the technology from a more expensive and far more versatile program in service of something simple, yet effective. If you don’t have a clue about mastering, find something like LANDR too limiting, and want to make your mixes sound better, Ozone Elements is a practical, sensible, and well-thought-out solution. However, note that it won’t teach you about mastering, because everything is under the hood; you won’t know what made your music sound better, just that it does. Also, it’s no substitute for a professional mastering job. I realize that sounds almost like an obligatory disclaimer, but while going through several presets I thought “yes that’s close, but…” because I wanted to add some EQ notches, or make the image just a tiny bit wider, or whatever. If you want to learn about mastering, get under the hood, and have more flexibility, Wavelab Elements costs about the same—but remember you’re also buying a significant learning curve. The learning curve for Elements is a short, straight, painless line. So is Ozone Elements for you? Fortunately, you can download a trial version and find out. iZotope has identified a target audience—people who want a better-sounding two-track mix, but don’t know how to do mastering and can’t afford a pro—and come up with a plug-in that addresses those needs simply and effectively. Resources Video: Getting Started with iZotope Ozone Elements Ozone Elements is available as a download from: iZotope Sweetwater B&H Musician's Friend Guitar Center ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Inside the Les Paul Classic How "Traditional" is the "Classic"? Let's find out. by Craig Anderton (Editor’s note: Harmony Central’s offices are located about 300 feet away from the Gibson USA factory, so when the 2017 guitars were introduced, we just had to check them out. But luckily, we were able to hold on to them and in the process, found out there are considerable differences among them. So, rather than “review” them in the traditional sense, we thought it would be helpful to analyze what the differences are so the HC community would have an idea of what was going on “under the hood” with these guitars. This second article in the series is about the Les Paul Classic.) “Classic” has a vintage ring to it, and this Les Paul does indeed have a traditional flavor. However, there are several elements that differentiate it from the Traditional model covered in the first of this series of articles. We’ll start by covering what’s the same as the Traditional. The electronics are hand-wired, the leaf-style “springy” pickup toggle switch and Switchcraft output jack remain the same, and again, the tone control circuitry uses Orange Drop capacitors. The nut is nylon, and the nickel-plated ABR bridge hardware, coupled with an aluminum stop piece, once more get the nod for the balanced sound that’s characteristic of vintage guitars. Nickel plating also has a more vintage “look,” which contributes to why the Classic may appear superficially like the Traditional. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll find several differences that help make it more of a streamlined “workhorse” guitar for today’s guitarists. Classic 9-hole weight relief. Gibson’s guitars offer a variety of weight relief. The Traditional is the most “solid” of the solid bodies because it has no weight relief at all, but the Classic comes very close with nine-hole weight relief. This helps shave off some weight, adds a little resonance, and has virtually no impact on sustain. The neck. The Classic has a SlimTaper profile, which some players (especially those with smaller hands) find more comfortable. It has a more “modern” feel compared to the Traditional, and is more like the kind of neck taper associated with post-50s guitars. It also has rolled fretboard edges that complement the slimmer neck’s comfort factor. Pickguard. The Classic comes with a pick guard already in place; it’s not removable like on the HP line of guitars. Grover locking tuners. Whereas the tuners on the Traditional have a very traditional look, the Grovers depart from that with a somewhat more modern vibe. They hold tuning well, and while they may not have a “vintage” look, they are designed to fit well with the Classic’s overall design aesthetic. Pickups. This is where I heard the biggest sonic difference compared to the Traditional. The Classic uses open coil Zebra 57 pickups (the “Zebra” name comes from one pickup coil being wrapped around a cream-colored bobbin, while the other uses a black bobbin). Removing the pickup cover results a bit less attenuation, but the pickups are higher in overall output than the Traditional models—the sound is something you’d associate more with the 60s than the 50s. Although the Zebras don’t join the quest for ever-higher outputs, they strike a balance between the lower-output pickups of the 50s and the high-output pickups of modern guitars. Knobs. The original “Top Hat” knobs have a lot of sentimental value, but the Classic’s speed knobs are more functional for making quick changes on stage—particularly if you’re into “rolling” knobs with your pinky. Some guitarists also find the lack of a pointer appealing because of the cleaner look. The top. And speaking of looks, while the body remains mahogany with a maple top, the Classic has a plain top as opposed to the Traditional’s rare, highly-figured top. Some players prefer a more understated look, and because a figured top doesn’t make a noticeable difference in the sound, prefer the Classic’s top. Overall, my take is that the Classic is about being inspired by the Traditional’s heritage, but without feeling a need to re-create the past—hence weight relief, a slimmer neck, and hotter pickups. Guitarists with one foot in the 50s and one in the 70s will probably find the Classic the best fit for their playing style. - HC - Visit the rest of the series on the 2017 Gibson Guitars: What Makes A Les Paul Traditional Guitar "Traditional"? How The Les Paul Tribute Pays Tribute Met The Les Paul Faded Brothers in Arms - The Les Paul Studio and Standard For more information on the Gibson Les Paul Classic please visit Gibson.com ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

Craig’s List: 5 Reasons Why Cats Make Excellent Studio Peripherals Maybe the song "Nashville Cats" was about...cats by Craig Anderton 1) They help with computer maintenance, because they understand it better than you. Cats know that dust kills computers, and it breaks their little feline hearts when you don’t do sufficient dust control. Besides, if your computer-based gig goes down in flames, bye-bye tuna Meow Mix. So they shed, which means you’ll get out the vacuum and clean up their fur—thus tricking you into reducing dust levels in the studio. Clever kitty! 2) They’re masters of 12-tone composition. Buy one of those laser pointers, like executives use for PowerPoints when they want to look like they actually know something. Then, place your keyboard controller on the floor. Aim the laser pointer at the keyboard, move the pointer around erratically, and bingo! Arnold Shoenberg on methedrine. 3) Cats help you discover new and exciting keyboard shortcuts. Fluffy jumps up on your computer keyboard, and makes a vocal disappear...or quantizes everything to the didgeridoo part, which she then erases. How did she do that?!? Keyboard shortcuts, of course. Observe and learn. 4) They extend the life of devices that produce heat. Cats lie down on things that are warm. Are they cold? No! They’re doing you a big favor by providing a secondary heat sink as they absorb component life-shortening heat into their bodies. But don’t push it—I don’t recommend applying thermal compound paste between your cat and, say, a power amp. It’s hard to remove from the power amp. 5) Black plague? No worries! I don’t mean the death metal band that keeps wanting to book time, but the Real Deal that decimated Europe in the Middle Ages. The people who killed cats for being presumed agents of satan got overrun with rats, whichfunctioned as a mobile Motel 6 for Oriental rat fleas carrying the plague. Oopsies! Unintended consequences. Meanwhile, the farmers who blew off satan and kept their cats didn’t die, thus avoiding…uh…cataclysmic results. Meow! ______________________________________________ Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.

What Makes a Les Paul Traditional Guitar “Traditional”? To quote Talking Heads, "same as it ever was"...but why? by Craig Anderton (Editor’s note: Harmony Central’s offices are located about 300 feet away from the Gibson USA factory, so when the 2017 guitars were introduced, we just had to check them out. But luckily, we were able to hold on to them and in the process, found out there are considerable differences among them. So, rather than “review” them in the traditional sense, we thought it would be helpful to analyze what the differences are so the HC community would have an idea of what goes on “under the hood” with not just these guitars, but guitars in general. This first article is about the Les Paul Traditional guitars, and what elements make it “traditional.”) Although Gibson is known for both classic guitars and high-tech guitars, the most traditional guitar of the 2017 models is the Les Paul Traditional guitar from the T series of guitars—it’s designed specifically to retain those elements of the classic Gibson USA guitars of yesteryear. But what does “traditional” mean in Les Paul Traditional, exactly? Here are the specifics. Orange Drop tone capacitors. These capacitors, introduced in the 60s, heralded the guitar capacitors of the modern era—stability, resistance to temperature variation, minimum microphonics, and other desirable characteristics. Since then many other brands of precision guitar capacitors have become available, but there’s something about those Orange Drop capacitors on Gibson Les Paul Traditional guitars that evoke memories of a different era—and which some players swear have better tone. Hand-wired, point-to-point electronics. Modern Gibson guitars use circuit boards for the electronics, which provide greater consistency, easier repair, and help to reduce production costs. Hand-wired electronics recall the days of sitting at a bench, soldering iron in hand, and making the connections among all the guitar’s components. However, there is a practical advantage to point-to-point wiring: it's easier to mod if you want to experiment with different tone control guitar capacitors or potentiometer values. In addition, some people feel that the more “open” control cavity creates a subtle sonic improvement. Nickel-plated bridge. bridges influence tone, and while some players prefer the brighter sound some guitar bridges provide, nickel-plated hardware has a balanced sound that’s characteristic of vintage guitars. It also has a more vintage guitar “look.” Nylon nut. Today’s guitar nuts are made from various materials—ceramic, titanium, etc.—each with its own subtle sonic qualities. A nylon guitar nut is a more traditional choice, and like the nickel-plated guitar bridge, has its own sonic signature. Guitar knobs have changed a lot over the years. Gibson guitars have used different guitar knobs for different purposes; for example, a push-pull guitar knob that changes guitar pickup switching is designed for pulling as well as rotating. For the Les Paul Traditional guitar model, Gibson went back to the guitar knobs you first saw when Eric Clapton or Mike Bloomfield were playing their Les Paul Traditional guitars: a “top hat” shape and golden color that were radically different from other guitar knobs of that era, and featured small metal pointers. No weight relief. The original Les Paul was solid wood—great for sustain, but the weight meant it wasn’t so great for jumping around like a maniac on stage over a three-hour set. Gibson now offers a variety of models with different degrees of weight relief, which can have the side benefit of giving a bit more of a resonant quality. But for those who want the thick, sustaining sound of solid wood…well, that’s another traditional element. “Chunky” neck. Not everyone has the same hands, so there’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” guitar neck. The original Les Paul guitar was born before the era of slim guitar necks, and there’s still something satisfying about wrapping your hand around a full-size, solid guitar neck. Of course, for those with larger hands, it definitely has the right “feel,” and some find the tone “warmer” than slimmer guitar necks. Burstbucker 1 (neck) and Burstbucker 2 (bridge) pickups. These are the antithesis of modern, ultra-hot guitar pickups. With their lower output level, they have a lot in common with the guitar pickups of the 50s and early 60s, which helps explain the more traditional tone quality. Original “leaf”-style pickup toggle switch. The HP line of guitars has a toggle guitar switch that’s quieter than leaf-style guitar switches, more reliable, and has a smooth guitar switch travel; the old leaf guitar switches had a certain “springy” feel when you switched guitar pickups. If your guitar-playing muscle memory is used to that feel, the switch on the Les Paul Traditional guitar model is what you’d expect. No guitar pickguard necessary. Back in the day, guitar pickguards were sometimes seen as something that worked against the guitar’s aesthetics. Admittedly there are advantages to guitar pickguards, but there’s also something to be said for seeing the guitar’s fully figured top in all its glory—so the Les Paul Traditional guitar can be pickguard-free (although one is included in the guitar's case if you do want a pickguard). Manual tuners. There are a lot of guitar tuners, but these Gibson Deluxe Guitar models were chosen for their vintage look and feel, not only their ability to hold tuning well. Of course, the Les Paul Traditional guitar incorporates more modern elements. The guitars undergo the PLEK setup process, which dresses the fret and guitar neck as part of the factory setup procedure. And while the humbucker guitar pickups follow the original design ethic (and more importantly, the PAF-type tone), production is more consistent, so you don’t end up with variations in tone among different Les Paul Traditional guitars. Playing the Les Paul Traditional guitar model is like taking a step back into history. I have to say that I’m more of an HP guitar kind of guy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate being able to pick up a Les Paul Traditional guitar and find myself transported back to the days when I could never have afforded a Les Paul Traditional guitar, and I’d sneak into guitar shops as often as I could to play one. That feel and vibe still exists…even if the guitar shops are long gone. - HC - Visit the rest of the series on the 2017 Gibson Guitars: How The Les Paul Tribute Pays Tribute Met The Les Paul Faded Inside The Les Paul Classic Brothers in Arms - The Les Paul Studio and Standard For more information on the Gibson Les Paul Traditional please visit Gibson.com ______________________________________________ /images/uploads/Craig%20Anderton%20Image%20Manager/image_86469.jpg Craig Anderton is Editorial Director of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.