NEWS: Warrant signs with Frontiers
HARD “ROCKAHOLICS” WARRANT PREPARE NEW ALBUM AND SIGN TO FRONTIERS RECORDS
Frontiers Records is proud to announce the signing of Warrant, one of the most popular and successful American hard rock bands to come out of the Los Angeles musical scene. The band is currently in the studio recording a brand new album under the direction of Keith Olsen (Scorpions, Whitesnake and Night Ranger). The album tentatively titled “ROCKAHOLIC” is scheduled for a May 2011 Worldwide release.
E-Mailing it in – Creative Collaboration In The Digital Age
Computers have transformed the music industry, from downloads to autotune. And they can be used to bring artists together to collaborate in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Online collaboration is not simply the domain of famous artists sending files to each other via Wi-Fi from the tour bus. As revenue from CD sales contracts, many artists from all corners of the industry are turning to a new kind of session work to supplement their income, and this means that you too might be able to secure a renowned professional for your next recording project – even if your name is not Clapton or Santana. Let’s look at three players who have been involved in such collaborations: Bryan Beller, Razl and Steve Turner.
Read the rest at Gibson.com!
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REVIEW: AVID ProTools 9
I’ve been using ProTools for years now and there have been all sorts of updates in that time, some minimal, some sweeping, but none so big as the behemoth that is ProTools 9. Along with the recently-released new Mbox line, ProTools 9 redefines ProTools and does away with the old LE level of software altogether. The most revolutionary, or perhaps evolutionary, aspect of ProTools 9 is that you no longer need to hook up an Mbox or a ProTools M-Powered unit to run the program. That’s a first for this series, and it’s something users have been asking for ever since ProTools first came out. For folks like you and I that means we can now drag our laptops around to edit audio in ProTools without having to lug our Mbox as well – all you need is your computer and your iLok with your ProTools licence. ProTools 9 will run standalone on Avid hardware, or on third-party audio interfaces, and it includes an enhanced feature set including automatic delay compensation, higher track counts, EUCON open Ethernet protocol support, which allows users to include Avid’s Pro Series and Artist Series controllers and consoles. Oh and get this: there are no feature or functional differences between ProTools HD 9 software and ProTools 9 software with the added Complete Production Toolkit 2 option.
Hey, what happened to I Heart Guitar?
Yeah, sorry about that. I was trying to install a lovely new plugin that would make the site super-awesome, and, well, some stuff went wrong. Bad stuff. Site should be back to its full glory again by Saturday. Those of you with blogs back up regularly too, right?
In the meantime, why don’t you check out my latest article on Gibson.com, in which I speak to Bryan Beller, Razl and Steve Turner about the wonders of electronic collaboration?
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/collaboration-0223-2011/
COOL VIDEO ALERT: Cry Baby – The Pedal That Rocks The World
Settle in with some popcorn, my friends! Here are parts 1 and 2 of the documentary Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Coming soon!
COOL GEAR ALERT: The Creamery Wide Range humbuckers
In addition to a full-sized, direct drop-in replacement for those modern Fender® Wide Range Humbucker replacements I’ll be launching soon, I’ve designed a similar pickup to fit a standard humbucker size.
NEWS: DVK pedals available in America
Remember my review of DVK Technologies pedals recently? Well these killer little units are now available in America!
PRESS RELEASE:
DVK Technologies Aussie Stomp Boxes Invade America!
February 22, 2011, Santa Barbara, CA: Guitar FX pedal manufacturer DVK Technologies is now shipping the first four models in its new series of dual-function stomp boxes. Founded by Australian design engineer extraordinaire Craig Paine and pedal demo guru Brett Kingman (a.k.a. burgerman666 of the eponymous 3,000,000+ views YouTube channel), DVK Technologies specializes in pairing effects that guitarists often use in tandem.
REVIEW: Hughes & Kettner Coreblade
The Hughes & Kettner Coreblade is quite unashamedly one thing: a metal amp. You can tell by looking at it ['hell, you can tell by simply picking it up' - Peter's spine]and you can definitely tell when you plug in. An amp that can garner the approval of Annihilator’s Jeff Waters is nothing to be grunted at. So what’s under the hood of this metal-spewing monster?
The 100 watt Coreblade head packs a quartet of EL34 power tubes, known for their warm sound and open attack. Oh but if you’re more into the steely, punchy, tight vibe of 6L6CG power tubes, the Coreblade can hang with those too. The preamp section includes three 12AX7s and four modes – Clean, Drive, Ultra I and Ultra II – selectable via a 4-way rotary switch over on the far right. Travelling right to left, there’s a Boost switch then Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, Resonance (for fine-tuning low end), Presence (for the high end) and Volume controls.
REVIEW: Line 6 PODHD500
Line 6′s POD line of amp simulators is as ubiquitous in studios both home and professional as the venerable Shure SM58 mic, or a pair of headphones held together with duct tape, or old skin mags in the bathroom. From the tiny Pocket POD to the famous kidney bean-shaped desktop units to the Floor POD, there’s a POD for all people in the Line 6 line-up. The new HD range ups the ante by offering even more accurate amp models, all laid out on the floor in an extremely foot-friendly manner. The available HD models are the HD300, HD400 and HD500. Let’s look at the most kitted-out one, the HD500, shall we?
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), Blunt, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Bandcamp or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com