Today's Top Stories:

  TEC Award Winners for 2006
Each year, the Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio presents the TEC Awards for outstanding achievement in 15 categories. Founded in 1985, the Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards is the foremost program recognizing the achievements of audio professionals.TEC Awards nominations are made by a panel of industry professionals and voted upon by the subscribers of Mix, the leading trade magazine of the recording and sound production industry.This year's winners include the following:

• Ancillary Equipment: Shure E4 Earphones
• Digital Converter Technology: Digidesign Mbox 2
• Mic Preamplifier Technology: Neve 1073 DPD
• Mic Technology/Sound Reinforcement: Groove Tubes GT Convertible
• Mic Technology/Recording: Neumann TLM 49
• Wireless Technology: Shure UHF-R
• Sound Reinforcement Technology: JBL Professional VRX932LA
• Studio Monitor Technology: JBL LSR4300 Series
• Musical Instrument Technology: Vienna Symphonic Library Symphonic Cube
• Signal Processing Technology/Hardware: Rupert Neve Portico 5042 Tape Emulator
• Signal Processing Technology/Software: Waves SSL 4000 Collection
• Workstation Technology: Digidesign Pro Tools 7
• Sound Reinforcement Console Technology: Yamaha M7CL
• Small Format Console Technology: Digidesign D-Command
• Large Format Console Technology: Neve 88D

  New in Stock at Sweetwater

• TASCAM DV-RA1000HD - This is the new go-to device for high-resolution mixdown, mastering and event recording. It supports 24-bit recording to CD, DVD or hard disk at sampling rates up to 192kHz resolution. The DV-RA1000HD includes DSP for EQ and dynamics processing, a USB 2.0 connection for computer transfers and a rear panel packed with all the connections professionals demand. The DV-RA1000HD provides more than 60 hours of recording to its built-in 60GB hard drive, making it ideal for live recording. Minnetonka's discWelder Bronze 1000 for DSD conversion and DVD-Audio disc authoring is available free from TASCAM for all DV-RA1000HD owners. Recording is also possible direct to DVD+RW media for over five hours of recording at better-than-CD quality.

  Guitar of the Day
When you first set eyes on the Epiphone Wild Kat, there's no way to know you're looking at a so-called "budget model." But with its $499.97 selling price (which includes free shipping), this might well be the most electric guitar for the money! The first thing you notice is the figured maple top with its Antique Natural finish and real f-holes. Closer inspection reveals a pair of "dog ear" P-90 Alnico V single coil pickups and a real Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. The back, sides and neck are constructed of tropical mahogany and there's a bound rosewood fingerboard with pearloid dot inlays. Plug the Wild Kat into a suitable amp and you'll find it's quite versatile. Thanks to the single coil pickups, the guitar has plenty of bite, though you can roll back the tone control to emphasize the lows and the sweet, complex midrange. Run flat out, the Kat is capable of some sweet, buttery distortion, but thanks to the powerful Alnico V-equipped pickups, things never sound mushy. This would be a great first guitar for someone just learning to play, because it sounds great, plays incredibly well and doesn't cost a ton of money. Yet it's still so good, you won't be looking for a better instrument a few months down the road. Players that own solidbody guitars might want to consider the Wild Kat as a great "second guitar."