Today's Top Stories:
 Toontrack Music Announces New EZX Kits
In collaboration with Sontronics Microphones and Evans drumheads, Toontrack Music has announced Claustrophobic EZX, which marks a new step for Toontrack in the development of percussive samples. The audio team utilized drumhead selection, room, and microphone configurations to fuse the qualities of a high-end drum recording and cutting-edge production techniques. All samples were run through the best outboard processing and made accessible in the Ezmixer to build your own mixer presets for on-the-fly sound design.
In collaboration with Michael Blair and Sontronics Microphones, Toontrack Music also announced the "Twisted Kit EZX by Michael Blair." In October of 1985, Tom Waits released the album Rain Dogs, which combined a rough, dirty neo-blues style with awkward rhythms and hard edges. Part of the band that contributed to that sound was drummer and percussionist Michael Blair, whose set-up included a mix of regular drums and odd bits and pieces like trashcans, bedroom furniture and rusty bicycle frames. Twisted Kit EZX brings you that sound, both in the recordings and the MIDI data recorded by Blair.
Updates and Upgrades
IK Multimedia has just released version 2.1 of Sonic Reality's Sonik Synth 2, a free update for all registered owners that provides compatibility with Mac Intel Systems plus several other enhancements including the addition of a standalone version, an improved stretch algorithm and BPM syncable LFOs. The Sonik Synth 2.1 update is available free to all registered owners.
New in Stock at Sweetwater
- BLUE Woodpecker
- The newest addition to the Blue family of microphones, the Woodpecker is an active ribbon mic with a stunning exotic wood finish. The low noise and superb detail of Blue's renowned Class-A discrete handmade electronics combines with the bold sound of a handmade aluminum ribbon pressure-gradient transducer to provide the smooth, intimate sound associated with the most sought-after (and expensive) vintage ribbon microphones. With its focused midrange and outstanding bass response, the Woodpecker excels at ambient recording, capturing room tone with lots of intimate detail. Includes custom-made, solid brass shockmount and wood storage box.
- GEM Realpiano PRP700
- The new GEM portable pianos integrate the technology and specs already available in the RealPiano series with the extraordinary sounds of the Promega series, which has become the reference for professional piano players around the world. Thanks to the powerful DRAKE processor, the PRP700 offers extraordinary acoustic and digital piano presets with an incredibly realistic sound quality plus an impressive 80-note maximum polyphony. The acoustic piano sounds incorporate GEM's acclaimed physical modeling algorithms like Damper Physical Model, Natural String Resonance, Advanced Release Technology, and Filter Algorithm Dynamic Emulation (FADE).
- GEM RP-X
- This module is specifically dedicated to the emulation of stunning acoustic pianos and vintage instruments and is ideal for stage or studio use. In addition to the superb grand piano patches, the selection of Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Clavinet are reproduced in stunning detail. Acclaimed for its astonishing performances in the Promega and Realpiano Series, the DRAKE (DSP RISC Advanced Keyboard Engine) technology is now available in the RP-X module, offering musicians up to 72 notes of polyphony plus 64MB of the best electric and acoustic piano sounds including the famous Fazioli F308.
Guitar of the Day
You want or maybe even need a new guitar, but the thought of walking on stage with something that looks like it was built last week and bought just yesterday gnaws at you. You've been playing for years or maybe even decades and you want a guitar that will illustrate that fact to your audience without you going up to the mic and explaining it to them. If that sounds like you (and trust us, it's a feeling we know all too well) drop everything and have a look at this Gibson Les Paul Classic Custom; it just might be exactly what you're looking for. When we laid eyes on it, our first thought was that Gibson is totally on the right track here and we hope they continue, because this is a jaw-dropping instrument. An Ebony finish is usually reserved only for the pricier Les Paul Custom. But what really blew us away was the amazingly authentic antiqued multi-ply binding. It's sort of a dark ivory color - exactly the shade that white binding turns on a guitar that was finished in nitrocellulose lacquer and then played in smoky bars and clubs for 40 or more years! It simply looks magnificent!
With this Les Paul Classic Custom, you get a brand new guitar that will look to an audience like a true vintage instrument. Other features you'll love include coverless '57 Classic humbuckers (dead-on replicas of Gibson's revered PAF pickups), a deep carved maple top, a mahogany back and mahogany neck with the fast 1960-style "slim taper" neck profile, plus an ebony fingerboard with the classic trapezoid inlays. Even the fingerboard has the antiqued binding, as does the headstock, which is multi-ply, just like the guitar's top. The finishing touch is the addition of gold-plated hardware, including a gold truss rod cover. This will be a dream-come-true for the right player and it comes with a plush-lined reptile-pattern hardshell case. Check out the photos and see if you don't agree that this is a truly special instrument for a truly special guitarist!
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| Tine Piano |
Electric pianos fall into one of three basic categories (not counting sampled pianos): Struck string (as in the Helpinstill and Yamaha CP70), struck reed (as in the Wurlitzer), and struck "tuning fork" as in the classic Rhodes electric piano, in which the struck portion of the "fork" is actually a piece of stiff steel wire that is called a "tine." The other part of the fork, which is parallel and adjacent to the tine is the tonebar, a steel bar that acts as a resonator. The venerable Fender Rhodes is the quintessential tine piano and it ruled in studios all through the 1960s and 1970s before eventually being replaced (for the most part) by the plethora of "tine piano" sounds produced by FM synthesis on the Yamaha DX7 during the 1980s. Because the sound was synthesized, it could be made to sound brighter and more chime-like than the real thing, with more or less percussive attack. You'd be hard pressed to find many ballads recorded in the 1980s that didn't make use of the DX7's "tine piano" presets. More recently, the Rhodes electric piano seems to be making a comeback, as evidenced by new models shown at Winter NAMM.
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| Adding Glossy Overtones to an Electric Guitar Recording
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Like the DX7's "FM Tine Piano" sound, which never seems to go totally out-of-fashion, the Strat's "out-of-phase" or "in-between" pickup combinations are timeless. Who could even imagine '80s pop hits without liberal doses of both. That trademark Strat sparkle comes from combining either the bridge and middle pickups or the neck,and middle combination, neither of which was truly out-of-phase (although more recently, Fender has begun wiring the middle pickup with reversed polarity). If you find yourself drawn to that particular tone -- or maybe asked by the producer to provide it -- but you don't want the part to sound too '80s, here's a cool little tip that you'll thank us for. While playing your part through an amplifier or using a modeling module like the Line 6 POD (with some toothsome chorus effect, of course), take an omnidirectional mic and place it close to the guitar's strings, pointing toward the middle pickup. Mix that sound (which won't be very loud, but will have lots of tasty overtones) with the amplified signal and you'll find that it sits nicely in a mix, often eliminating the need to add an acoustic guitar part.
Essentially, you're just looking for the high-frequency "acoustic sound" of the pick on the electric guitar strings. And a little goes a long way, providing a glossy tone that adds just a little extra zing to chords or even single notes. An omnidirectional mic works best because it isn't prone to muddying up because of proximity effect. If you don't have an omni available, use your most sensitive condenser mic and then roll off all the lows, either via the mic's low-cut filter or your console's EQ. You're really only interested in frequencies above 500Hz. While this little trick works great on those Strat parts, you can also use it on almost any guitar to add a bit more presence without resorting to tweaking the high frequencies on your mixer, which would add unwanted noise.
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