Sweetwater®

Sweetwater offers special extended financing on more than 50 top brands! Learn more »
(800) 222-4700
  • Español: (800) 222-4701
Cart

Tech Tips

inSync Tech Tips cover over 3,800 music and audio topics spanning 15 years of technological development. Look here to find answers to your tech questions, cool tips and tools for making music, and more.

Latest Tech Tips

Oct 1 2012, 12:00 AM

Roland R-Mix Demo

Roland's amazing R-Mix software has been a runaway success here at Sweetwater, but the power of this software can be hard to wrap your head around. If you want to check it all it can do for yourself, there is now a demo version available!
Sep 28 2012, 12:00 AM

Charvel Wild Card #7 and Locking Nut

Q: I purchased the Charvel Wild Card #7 from Sweetwater in August. At the top of the fretboard, it has three locking frames covering all six strings [a locking nut], which is intended to control and eliminate tuning slippage when using the tremolo bar. I'd like to know if I take off those three... Read more »
Sep 27 2012, 12:00 AM

TC Electronic Flashback X4 Analog Dry Through?

Q: The information on the upcoming TC Electronic Flashback X4 pedal says that it has "analog dry through." What does this mean? A: With many digital effects pedals, the incoming analog signal from the guitar or other instrument is converted to digital, processing is added, then both the dry and... Read more »
Sep 26 2012, 12:00 AM

Tele Twang Tones

Q: I'm studying to be a mixing engineer, and I was wondering if I could ask for your advice. I have a country mix where the lead guitar has a few solos and the client asked if I could create a "Brad Paisley" sound. I'm using plug-ins to get the sounds. A: Brad Paisley goes for a fairly... Read more »
Sep 25 2012, 12:00 AM

Better Tuning Through Lubrication

Want your guitar or bass to stay in tune? There are numerous places where a guitar string can get hung up and therefore slip out of tune when you start playing. The solution is Big Bends Nut Sauce, a specially designed lubricant for string trees, bridge pieces, nuts, and other places where... Read more »
Sep 24 2012, 12:00 AM

More Mac Screen Zooming

Our last tip covered how to use the Option+Command+= and Option+Command+- key commands to zoom a Mac's screen in and out. There is another way to do this, if you have a mouse with scrolling. Just hold the Control modifier key and scroll the mouse to zoom in and out.
Sep 21 2012, 12:00 AM

Mac Tip: Zoom Your Screen

Sometimes, you just want to get a little closer look — such as when you are performing a delicate edit on an audio waveform. On the Mac, hit Option+Command+= to zoom the display in, and Option+Command+- to zoom out. You can also turn zoom on and off using Option+Command+8.
Sep 20 2012, 12:00 AM

Tube Amps Need to Warm Up

We were reminded again today, while shooting a video, that tube amplifiers need to up. We're not just talking about turning the amp on and waiting until the vacuum tubes are hot enough to pass sound. We're talking about the tubes thoroughly heating up, which can take 15 to 30 minutes. In our... Read more »
Sep 19 2012, 12:00 AM

Avid Eleven Rack and Guitar Amps

Many guitar players want to use their Avid Eleven Rack as a versatile "front end" along with a regular guitar amp. Here are two essential tips from Sweetwater Sales Engineer Geoff Allen on how to get the most from an Eleven Rack with a guitar amp: 1. Turn the cabinet simulations off. In this... Read more »
Sep 18 2012, 12:00 AM

Resolving Avid Pro Tools/Mac Keyboard Shortcut Conflict

Apple's OS X 10.7 (Lion) and 10.8 (Mountain Lion) come configured with a variety of keyboard shortcuts or key commands for common functions. Some of these can conflict with existing shortcuts in Avid Pro Tools. A common one is that the Control + Arrow keys are by default assigned in OS X to... Read more »
Sep 17 2012, 12:00 AM

Avid HD Native Thunderbolt Power Supply

Q: The Avid HD Native Thunderbolt interface has a power supply connector, but can it run on bus power? A: Yes, the HD Native Thunderbolt interface will run off of Thunderbolt bus power. If you prefer, you could choose to run it off of an external power supply.
Sep 14 2012, 12:00 AM

Upside Down Mic Tone

Q: I see a lot of engineers hang vocal microphones upside down in front of the singer. Do they do this because the tone is different? If so, what difference is there? A: It's doubtful that hanging a mic upside down affects its tone. This practice originated when tubes were added to microphones;... Read more »
Sep 13 2012, 12:00 AM

Apple Lightning to 30-pin

Q: I see that Apple announced the new iPhone 5. It looks like the connector is different on it. What happens to all my current iOS accessories? Are they obsolete? A: The new iPhone 5 looks great! The iPhone 5 is equipped with an 8-pin Lightning connector instead of the previous 30-pin dock... Read more »
Sep 12 2012, 12:00 AM

Adjusting Guitar Amplifier Tone Controls

In honor of Guitar Month here at Sweetwater: Many players, when setting up the tone controls on a guitar amplifier, dial in the settings using the bridge pickup. Unfortunately, many times this results in the bridge pickup sounding great, but the neck pickup sounding muddy and dull. Instead, try... Read more »
Sep 11 2012, 12:00 AM

New Mac, No Hard Drive Icons?

Q: I just bought a new Macintosh from Sweetwater, but there are no hard drive icons on the desktop. How do I get the hard drives to show up so I can open them? A: New Macs ship from Apple without the hard drive icons visible on the desktop. To make them visible, click on the desktop to go the... Read more »
Sep 10 2012, 12:00 AM

Pro Tools HD Native Require Interface?

Q: Since the new Avid Pro Tools HD Native Thunderbolt box has a headphone jack on it, does this mean that it will run standalone, without an HD interface connected? A: No, you'll still need to have an HD interface connected. The idea is to provide field monitoring when doing mobile recordings... Read more »
Sep 7 2012, 12:00 AM

Fender Super-Sonic Twin Notch Tune

Q: What does the Notch Tune control do on the Fender Super-Sonic Twin combo amp? A: This control, also found on the Fender Super-Sonic 100 Head, controls the frequency of a movable or sweepable midrange notch filter in the "Burn" channel. This allows you to fine-tune the distortion tone and to... Read more »
Sep 6 2012, 12:00 AM

Snark Metronome

The little clip-on Snark SN-1 tuner is one of our favorites — they work great and they're so small and inexpensive you can buy one for every guitar or bass you own and put one in every room where a guitar or bass resides so you're never without a tuner! But did you know there's a... Read more »
Sep 5 2012, 12:00 AM

Philosopher’s Twin and Voltage

Q: My Pigtronix Philosopher's Twin came with an 18-volt power supply. But I want to put it on my pedalboard where everything is powered by a 1-spot power supply that provides 9-volt power. Will it work okay? A: Yes, the Philosopher's Twin will operate just fine on nine volts of power. However... Read more »
Sep 4 2012, 12:00 AM

Line 6 Variax Expression Control

Did you know that with the latest Variax software (v1.8 at this writing), you can use the volume and tone controls on the guitar as "expression pedals," controlling up to 50 parameters simultaneously from each knob, allowing you to "morph" between POD HD settings (requires POD HD with Variax... Read more »

Get The E-mail!

Delivered every Friday. View sample

Please enter a valid email address.

Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe anytime

Sweetwater Sound Inc.
5501 U.S. Hwy 30 W
Fort Wayne, IN 46818
Get Directions »

Toll Free (800) 222-4700
Español (800) 222-4701
Local (260) 432-8176
Fax (260) 432-1758
E-mail us

Phone & Retail Store Hours:
9–9 Monday–Thursday
9–8 Friday
9–7 Saturday
(All hours listed are Eastern Time.)

© 2013 Sweetwater Sound Inc. All rights reserved. Please read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Links | Press Releases