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Make Your Own Repair Kit

January 23, 2012 in Articles

There are a couple of places online that will sell you a more complete repair kit, but what about if you just want stuff to repair stuff on the fly? Like an emergency kit?

Mr. Pimentel put together a good toolkit for fixing stuff on the go. As in NOT replacing pads or springs.

I think it’s really valuable to be able to do a few small repairs on woodwind instruments. As a doubler, I’ve found it to be a financial necessity—I can’t afford to run to the repair shop every time some little thing needs tweaking on one of my instruments—and it’s a great way to get to know your instruments better. (I do still make sure my instruments visit a real professional on a regular basis.)

Good tool list generally, though I’d put some strips of cardboard (to make wedges and what not) in there for propping open keys or mechs to allow easier fixing.

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NAMM 2012

January 21, 2012 in Articles, News

There are a lot of interesting things announced at the NAMM show. Here are some of the ones I thought were interesting.

Behringer Pad-housing USB mixers

BehringerMixeriPad

iPad plus mixer? YES!

Premium 32-Input 4/2-Bus Mixer with iPAD Docking Station, XENYX Mic Preamps & Compressors, KLARK TEKNIK Multi-FX Processor, Wireless Option and USB/Audio Interface

Technological Innovation, Seamless Integration The Apple iPad has opened a Pandora’s Box of opportunity for musicians. The iX docking station will send signal both two and from your iPad with a wide range of routing options. Tap into the hundreds of music apps including our own FX Processor that lets you dig deeper into your mic with top-notch EQs, studio-quality compressors and reverbs, plus a spectrum analyzer. With a wide variety to choose from in the app store, you can record to Garage Band, tune and monitor your rig through the room analyzer mic input, and more. The opportunities are endless.

 

Sounds cool to me.

 

Wait, another iPad mixer thing……but from Mackie?

MackieMixeriPad

 

With 16 boutique-quality Onyx mic preamps and the performance of 24bit Cirrus Logic® AD/DA converters, you have unparalleled sound quality. Seamless wired to wireless iPad control means you can mix from anywhere in the venue. This gives you the mobile freedom to control not only the mix, but powerful plug-ins like EQ, dynamics, effects and more. The sleek DL1608 even supports up to 10 iPad devices. Forget bulky consoles and racks of gear. The power is at your fingertips.

 

Wait, wasn’t the iPad just a fad? Hmm…..

 

 

 

 

 

Thunderbolt accessories??

UAD

Apollo offers compatibility with Intel’s new Thunderbolt technology, as found on the newest iMacs, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and next-generation PCs. 
Available via a user-installable dual-port Thunderbolt I/O Option Card (sold separately), Thunderbolt provides lower latency, reduced audio buffer size, improved performance, and greater UAD plug-in instances versus FireWire. And because Thunderbolt offers many times the bandwith of FireWire, it allows music producers to connect numerous devices in series with the Apollo interface — including hard drives, processors, and additional computer monitors — all with fast, flawless performance.

 

 

Apogee1

Symphony 64 | Thunderbolt

64 Channel Thunderbolt connection for Apogee Symphony I/O

 

Connect Symphony I/O to any Thunderbolt™ equipped Mac for true Thunderbolt compatibility and performance. Symphony | 64 Thunderbolt will also connect X-Symphony equipped AD-16X, DA-16X, Rosetta 800 and Rosetta 200 converters to Thunderbolt Macs.

 

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Top 10 Albums Of 2011

January 1, 2012 in Articles, Reviews

There are a LOT of sites that are posting top 10 albums of the year. I thought I’d post my favorites. In no particular order. There were a lot I left out….:-(

Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band – That’s How We Roll iTunes,amazon. Duh….obviously.

Christian McBride Big Band – The Good Feeling iTunes,amazon. Love that there are more Big Bands starting up and sounding amazing other than the already amazing Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band.

Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook iTunes,amazon. Latin jazz music is awesome, and Miguel is the master of it. Great album.

John Escreet – The Age We Live In iTunes,Amazon Great album with Dave Binney.

Captain Black Big Band – Captain Black Big Band iTunes Another Big Band? Yep.

Tony Bennett – The Best Of The Improv Recordings iTunes,Amazon Haven’t really been a fan of Tony’s. I generally thought his singing was too commercial, to….scripted? Not these recordings. More like Sinatra….which is good.

Omer Avital Quintet – Live at Smalls iTunes,Amazon Great, tight group.

Scott Hamilton & Dusko Goykovich – Tight But Loose iTunes,Amazon I never tire of listening to Scott Hamilton. He is in the top of my favorite tenor players.

Richard Cheese – Live At The Royal Wedding iTunes,Amazon Need a Weird Al jazz person? Except not PC? Then Richard Cheese is your man.

Ken Peplowski – In Search of… iTunes,Amazon Clarinet and saxophone played awesome? Yup. Peplowski is great.

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Occupy……Jazz?

December 4, 2011 in Articles, News

Noted trumpeter Nicholas Payton wrote a great blog entry title “On Why Jazz Isn’t Cool Anymore…” which is brilliant. Bravo sir. It has sparked debate on Reddit, NPR, MetaFilter and the circle jerk…I mean SaxOnTheWeb site. Probably the best response has been by trumpeter Ian Carey titled How Not To Become A Bitter White Jazz Musician.

While a lot of these other sites have gone off on positive or negative tangents about this, the essence of what Mr. Payton says is true. Jazz has been usurped after its death in 1959. The music has moved on.  It has evolved. Grouping the “Jazz” today would sort of be like grouping Mozart and John Adams together under the label of Classical Music. Wait…..they do still do that. What the…..

I personally don’t care what it is called. In fact, I HATE labeling music that is in my iTunes library. I have soundtracks, broadway musicals, jazz, smooth jazz, jazz and funk, funk, rock, classic rock, classical, choir music, NuJazz, Ska, New Orleans, Big Band…….I could be here all day listing them. Why can’t we just call it music and not worry about if it is Jazz, Rock, Classical or whatever?

Yeah……I don’t think it’s ever going to happen either……..we are screwed.

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EWI Site Of Note

November 22, 2011 in Articles

Since the disappearance of EWI-EVI.com and iBrecker still not really back (is it ever going to be?), there is sort of a void of EWI sites.

Gentlemen and Ladies, may I point you to EWI Reason Sounds. It deals mainly with EWI and Reason, but there is a lot of good info that you could use for whatever DAW you use. Though Reason is a great program.

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The Pressing Of Vinyl

November 18, 2011 in Articles, Videos

The Telegraph has an interesting article and video about the resurgence of vinyl records. I know a few people with really high end record players who swear the vinyl sounds way better than CD. And it does. CD technology hasn’t changed since the 80s. We are still pressing out 44.1Khz 16bit music for the majority of the stuff pressed. On iTunes, I think they upped the bit rate to 256 AAC, but the music is generally mixed down to 44.1 and 16 bits still. There are exceptions here and there. Most computer speakers and the headphones that come with an iPod/iPhone won’t do that stuff justice anyhow.

Five years ago, vinyl records were facing extinction but the past few years have seen a remarkable change in fortunes. In 2011 alone, sales have risen a further 40 per cent, to a quarter of a million units. Radiohead’s The King of Limbs, the year’s biggest seller on vinyl, shifted 20,000 copies. That was enough to persuade the band’s label, XL Recordings – also home to the mega-selling Adele – to announce the launch of a new vinyl webstore in the United States this month.

 

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Two iPad Goodies

November 5, 2011 in Articles

There are a lot of accessories out for the iPad that a musician can use. Two that have caught my attention. The Digitech iPB-10 which slashgear had a review of

This week the the DigiTech iPB-10 has been revealed, a digital pedalboard which will allow your iPad to play host to several music pedals at once. Inside with your iPad running the official app for this device as its plugged into the device itself, you’ll have access to 87 different pedals, 54 amplifiers, and 26 cabinets, all at a flick of your finger. What more could you want? And don’t say a DJ station, because that’s separate, and we’ve done that before as well — read on for guitar iPad action!

iPB10

This thing sounds awesome if you are a guitar player or a EWI effects addict (raises hand meekly). Except…..$499. Though it sounds like it works without the iPad in it, so, you could have presets all ready and not have to put the iPad in there. This thing also has it’s own DSP chips so the quality of sound and perhaps latency might be better. But still…..maybe $299 would be a better price point?

 

The second piece of gear is the Alesis iO Dock. This thing is $199, and has phantom powered mic inputs, quarter inch outputs, pedal input, headphones. And it works with Garageband, so you can record or whatever you want on it. This sounds amazing and is on my Christmas list this year. XLR inputs means you should be able to hook your sax up and start using effects with this baby.

By the way, Garageband is a MUST HAVE iPhone/iPad/iTouch app. It works on all three now. $5.

Uniquesquared.com had an excellent review of it using Garageband.

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A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs

October 30, 2011 in Articles

In case you haven’t noticed, I am insanely interested in Steve Jobs. This man was amazing. I really……really wanted to bump into him someday. Just to say hi. And thanks for the fish…..I mean, cool stuff. Life changing stuff. World changing stuff. iPod. Mac. iPad. iPhone. Computers that run without the need for virus protection. I could go on all day.

Steve’s sister had some amazing words and stories about him….

A Sister’s Eulogy of Steve Jobs:

Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother.

By then, I lived in New York, where I was trying to write my first novel. I had a job at a small magazine in an office the size of a closet, with three other aspiring writers. When one day a lawyer called me — me, the middle-class girl from California who hassled the boss to buy us health insurance — and said his client was rich and famous and was my long-lost brother, the young editors went wild. This was 1985 and we worked at a cutting-edge literary magazine, but I’d fallen into the plot of a Dickens novel and really, we all loved those best. The lawyer refused to tell me my brother’s name and my colleagues started a betting pool. The leading candidate: John Travolta. I secretly hoped for a literary descendant of Henry James — someone more talented than I, someone brilliant without even trying.

Good stuff.

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The Convergence of Owning Music and Renting Music

October 30, 2011 in Articles

Digital Audio insider had an article up about Renting and Owning music. I wrote some comments on the site that basically say no, I don’t see it happening. People have been saying this since Napster was out. Heck, Rhapsody has been offering this for a long time…..streaming music. Pandora has been doing it for a few years. And now everyone is excited that Spotify (what a stupid name….as stupid as FaceBook…ugh) is in the US. Renting your music just has never taken off.

I certainly don’t see it happening now that AT&T, and Verizon have capped data usage on mobile devices. Oh, but the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile will fix that right (Bullshit!). And they all now cap your internet usage at home (Time-Warner & U-Verse is capped at 250 gigs a month and so are others). So….that is another hurdle for streaming to contend with.

Basically, I like free things that let me FIND music I like. Like Pandora or a PodCast. I LOVE PodCasts. Single best way to find new albums or even hear great things for free.

Then I will buy that song for $0.99 and own it. No re-occuring monthly fee. It’s mine.

 

The Convergence of Owning Music and Renting Music:

for rent sign image by TheTruthAbout via Flickr

Earlier in the week, Hypebot pointed to this eMarketer summary of two recent studies about consumer attitudes about owning music vs. renting it:

The first of the two studies was a survey conduced by Insight Research Group on behalf of eMusic that revealed the widely noted insight that 91% of those polled preferred to own music rather than subscribing to it.

There are real differences, both logistical and psychological, between owning and renting music. But I’ll bet that the preference for ownership will decrease as the listening experience for “owned” and “rented” music converges. If you’re using a website or app to listen to music on your computer or portable device, where the files are coming — your hard drive, your cloud drive, or the server of a music subscription service — doesn’t have much effect on your listening experience. And a year from now, even more people will be using Spotify, iTunes Match, Amazon’s Cloud Player, Google Music, and other services to listen to music. The more they do, the more willing they’ll be to forgo actual ownership.

 

(Via Digital Audio Insider)

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Ten Years Ago Today: iPod

October 23, 2011 in Articles

Ten Years Ago Today: iPod:’

Apple’s iPod, a 6.5-ounce MP3 player the size of a deck of cards, is one of the most exciting products to come from Apple in years. Powered by FireWire, the iPod can hold as much as 5GB of data, providing a compelling balance of size and capacity. However, this combination of features comes at a relatively high price: $399.

(Via Daring Fireball)

 

Hard to believe, but 10 years ago today was when Apple unveiled the first iPod. It was an unusual move. Apple was known for Computers and operating systems, not music a consumer good like an MP3 player. Boy, did Apple come in and change everything. Perhaps some of you don’t remember the players before the iPod. It was by far the smallest one as I remember, but it was the one that nailed how to do things. It was fast with it’s firewire interface (USB 1 was still the de-facto standard in the PC industry), and simple with iTunes 2 as the computer to device interface.

I remember being sort of “why the heck would you want that” about it. I mean, it was kind of expensive, and I didn’t see the point of it when I could burn a CD or CD-RW of songs to listen to. Yeah…..and then I got the second generation iPod…..and that opinion of mine changed and I immediately ripped all my CDs…..which took MONTHS to do, into AAC 160 format. And I have never…..ever…..looked back.

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Top Ten reasons how Steve Jobs accomplishments have changed Music Education.

October 19, 2011 in Articles

Some interesting things. I think the biggest accomplishment is making it accessible, easy, and legal. Accessible in that you can now find all sorts of music in iTunes. And sample them. And buy them easily and legally. And he (and Apple) also made music accessible by bundling GarageBand with Macs……for free. GarageBand is a great little recording program, and tutorial program for Guitar and Piano. PLUS…..there is the iPad. Which you can now take just about your whole library of sheet and audio music with you. Anywhere. And now with iCloud, you can have access to just about everything you own (up to I think 30K songs) via the internet.

Remember the Microsoft’s entry into Music? Yeah, me either…..Thanks Steve Jobs!

Top Ten reasons how Steve Jobs accomplishments have changed Music Education.:

Written by Larry Marra of musicteachers911.com
I know that many of you mourn the passing of Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers.

I would like to take just a moment to reflect on how his contributions to music education have affected Music Education over the last 30 years.

Here’s what teaching music was like for me in 1976 (before computers).

1. I would write and arrange music by hand with an ink pen on staff paper.

2. I taught general music with chalk and record player.

3. I would have to wind the metronome before checking tempos

4. I created letters on a manual typewriter and used white-out instead of the delete key.

5. I carried a pocket calendar from the bank and a miniature golf pencil around for scheduling.

(Via Music Education Magic)

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5 Ways Steve Jobs Changed Music

October 19, 2011 in Articles

Steve Jobs changed a lot of things, including music. Thanks Steve!

5 Ways Steve Jobs Changed Music | Complex:

By putting the interests of artists and fans above those of executives and corporate shareholders, Steve Jobs turned the music industry power structure upside down. Every artist, producer, DJ or blogger who leverages their own creative resources and energy against all odds follows in his footsteps. #ThankYouSteve.

He always told people to listen to their heart and follow what they loved. "You can't connect the dots looking forward," Jobs once said, "you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

(Via www.complex.com)

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Music Education and Brain Development 101

October 4, 2011 in Articles

But what transpires inside the brain (and which areas are affected) during music education? How does this early stimulation & nurturing translate into better scholastic performance? These relatively simple questions continue to be the focus of intense research efforts by developmental neurobiologists.

So let’s start our first column with the 30,000 foot and cellular perspectives. Research strongly suggests that music education causes the simultaneous and continuous stimulation of many brain regions. New connections (“wiring”) between brain cells are formed. Through ongoing music education, the wiring also benefits students in other academic domains.

Which areas of the brain are “recruited” during music education? The short answer is all major regions. Let’s review how the brain is organized and how each region is engaged during music education.

Also check out the Music Empowers Foundation

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Lessons in Manliness from Charles Atlas

September 30, 2011 in Articles

Lessons in Manliness from Charles Atlas:

This is just PART of the article. Great for anyone who wants to continue to improve themselves (*cough* like EVERY MUSICIAN)

Lessons in Manliness from Charles Atlas

Turn your weaknesses into strengths.

Charles Atlas was born Angelo Siciliano in Acri, Italy in 1893. When he was ten, his family immigrated to America, and he landed on Ellis Island not speaking a word of English.

Little Angelo swore he’d do great things, but his prospects didn’t look too promising. He was a skinny, sickly, slope-shouldered boy–easy pickings for the bullies in his tough Brooklyn neighborhood. Coming home one Halloween night, a bully beat him with a bag of ashes, knocking him out for an hour. “It seemed like he was beating the brains out of me,” Atlas recalled. When he came to, Atlas lumbered home, crawled into bed, and said a prayer, telling God he’d never let another man beat him.

 

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RAT Stands – The Jazz Stand

September 19, 2011 in Articles, News

Just when you think you have seen everything there is to see in a design…..someone comes along and blows your mind. That is what happened when I came across RAT Stands The Jazz Stand.

The Jazz Stand is a totally cool, full sized, portable music stand. I mean, seriously, check it out. It’s $149, but it would sure beat the hell out of having a Manhasset stand taking up space in the back of the car.

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