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Post by scottkahn on Jan 19, 2015 16:47:35 GMT -5
I would stay away from condenser mics on your guitar. Especially in the rock context, the mics of choice are condensers, and occasionally, ribbon mics. SM-57 on the grill, on or off axis, is time tested and great. If you want brighter top end and can live with just a little less bottom, replace it with a Shure Beta-57. Full-range tone? Use one of each on your two speakers, then blend them to taste in the mixer, but send the mix to one track when recording to capture the desired blend most accurately. Check out this in-depth review comparing the mics: www.musicplayers.com/reviews/recording/2007/1207_Shure.phpMany pros have combined the SM-57 with an MD-421 as the second mic... very similar results as with the Beta-57, building a bigger picture of the tone. Alternately, mic #2 is sometimes a ribbon mic, but the great ones are very pricey, and aren't really necessary on a rock record to capture great guitar tone.
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Post by scottkahn on Jan 19, 2015 16:41:13 GMT -5
Great question. The question for me is... does the bass line tell a story, does it support the song? Or does it simply fill in some missing low frequencies? The great bands historically have bassists whose bass lines tell stories within songs. Listen to John Paul Jones or John Entwisle if you're inspired by classic rock. Those guys had grooves that didn't mirror the guitar lines. If you look at pop, Duran Duran's John Taylor or Level 42's Mark King wrote bass lines that were every bit as involved as a serious guitar player's creative work. Listen to bass lines from Sting in the Police, or Geddy Lee in Rush, and again, you've got bass lines that lock with the band when they need to and they create their own melodic structures when they don't have to hold the bottom.
It's not about how many notes are played, or in which style. Some of those guys popped and slapped, some plucked, some used picks. Each approach yields a different result.
What bass should not do is simply plod along as nothing more than the root below the guitar. That short-changes the song. Bass is critical to the emotional impact of a song. Does it move you? Make you want to dance, or make you want to pump your fists in the air? It should of course lock time-wise with the drummer. A ghost-like approach makes no sense for bass, though, to me. That's like a beginning bassist afraid to take chances. Playing bad/basic/beginner bass is easy. Playing GOOD bass is much harder.
Scott
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Post by scottkahn on Jan 19, 2015 16:21:28 GMT -5
Anything you want us to check out at Winter NAMM this week? Let us know! Talk about things you're excited about, any great NAMM performances you've heard about, etc.
I'm excited to announce that I'm hosting an amazing panel session at NAMM!!! On Saturday 1/24/15 at 4:30pm, room 202A upstairs, I'm hosting the session, "Guitar Sounds on Stage & In the Studio," and my special guests for the event are rig building legend, Bob Bradshaw of Custom Audio Electronics and Maddi Schieferstein, rig builder and guitar tech for Dream Theater's John Petrucci. Going to be one useful hour, not to mention fun!!!
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Post by scottkahn on Oct 24, 2014 7:55:04 GMT -5
I got the Keylab 61, too. I was already using Arturia's V-Collection, and the metal/wood construction seemed great. The keyboard definitely feels cheap -- as in, the keys are such thin plastic I feel like I could end up breaking them. They have metal weights glued underneath like your Novation, too. But functionally and FEEL-wise, it's nice. That said, I also sprang for a "real" controller -- the Roland A70. Picked one up in great condition on eBay. THAT is of course a fully pro, non-weighted synth action keyboard. What I really NEED is something that falls in between the A70 and Keylab... :-p
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Post by scottkahn on Aug 18, 2014 16:30:18 GMT -5
Here's our first guitar poll.
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Post by scottkahn on Aug 16, 2014 20:47:57 GMT -5
With so many inexpensive MIDI controllers out there, I'm curious as to which ones you think feel like pro keyboards and which ones feel like cheap, plastic toys. What are your thoughts?
Scott
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Post by scottkahn on Aug 14, 2014 21:24:36 GMT -5
Hi Everyone,
We're trying a new hosted forums solution in an effort to reduce forum management and control the horrible spam that gets into forums. Please take the time to register and post something so that we can a) get the conversations started and b) weed out the spam.
Thanks,
Scott Kahn Editor-in-Chief MusicPlayers.com
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