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Testing Enviroment

Recently I’ve been checking out mini amps and doing audio reviews.

The following list is the equipment used when testing.

Recording Equipment:

Studio Projects – C1 Condenser Microphone

t.bone SC-300 Session Master SCM 300 Condenser Microphone

Trakstar Pen Condenser Microphone

Joe Meek VC3 Compressor

AKG N62E PhantomPower Unit

Behringer Xenyx 1622FX

Guitars Used:

Fender 1990 Silver Series Squier Start – Black

Danelectro U2

Fender Mexican Telecaster w/seymour duncan bridge pickup – Cream/White

Samick Greg Bennet Design Royale RL 1 – Semi Acoustic – Blue

Tags: advice, articles, home recording, Recording, testing, tips |

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Acoustic Guitar – Buying Advice – Beginner

Buying your first acoustic guitar can be quite a daunting task.

Especially as a birthday or christmas present.

As a guitar teacher I get asked a lot about the best acoustic guitar to start on.

My advice goes like so,

Spend no more than £150-£200 and no less than you can afford.

The Guitars listed here are Under £150

But be aware a steel string acoustic guitar that costs around £50 – £60 brand new is more than likely not going to be very well made. The ‘action’ – the height of the strings on the guitar will be suspect – this is the main consideration for kids and absolute beginners.

Nylon string guitars are great.

Little fingers tend to get sore. It’s a fact also kids tend to lose interest in things pretty quickly.

In my experience as a guitar teacher it is best to (1) get a guitar suitable for kids fingers and (2) not break the bank.

The following guitar is a 3/4 size nylon strung guitar and it’s ideal for kids.

It’s also a cheap travel guitar for adults!

At £32.99 it’s a no-brainer really.

Acoustic Nylon Guitar@Amazon £32.99

You should also look at the Elevation Junior,

3/4 size junior classic guitar.Natural finish.Plywood fretboard.Fitted with nylon strings.

Half price tuner, stand and 1/3 off starter pack with guitar.

£29.49 @ Argos

Under £100

A 3/4 size guitar is perfect for kids but think about it – how big are you.

Might sound strange but I know plenty of people who love playing 3/4 size acoustic guitars. They’re not just for kids.

If you are on the small size or find full size guitars too big then this might be the solution for you.

Remember t’s to learn with…

Squire 3/4 size steel string acoustic

The Squier MA-1 3/4-Size Steel String Acoustic Guitar is a fitting choice for the beginning player who needs the MA-1′s smaller profile to play comfortably. Built with an agathis body, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, chromeplated machine heads, and 22 frets, this acoustic is a remarkable value!

£69 @ Dolphin Music

The Ibanez V50MJPNT JamPack Quick Start is fantastically low-priced package with everything for the beginning guitarist. The V50 natural-finish acoustic guitar features a spruce top for fantastic tone. The package also includes an accurate electronic tuner, gig bag, guitar strap, and accessory pouch…everything you need! THIS IS OUR BEST VALUE STARTER PACK – BUY TODAY!

The package also includes an accurate electronic tuner, gig bag, guitar strap, and accessory pouch

Ibanez 3/4 @Dolphin Music £77.31

A full-size instrument is too big for very young learners of the guitar, and the little JR1, modelled on the dreadnought lines of Yamaha’s famous FG design, is the perfect answer. Its short, 540mm scale length is easy to play for even the smallest hands, while the compact body depth feels comfortable on the lap.

Despite its size, the JR1 has an authentic and enthusiastic acoustic sound, which has also made the instrument popular as a go-anywhere strumming companion. For this purpose it comes fitted with two strap buttons and is supplied complete with a gig bag.

Yamaha JR1 3/4-sized Dreadnought 3/4 @Dolphin Music £99

Epiphone DR-100 @ Gear 4 Music £89

The Epiphone DR100 6-String Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar, Natural Finish. Affordable dreadnought with a select spruce top for sweet tone and projection.

The Epiphone DR100 acoustic guitar builds on Epiphone’s great tradition of affordable acoustic guitars. A select spruce top for sweet tone and projection is the hallmark of the DR-100. The Epiphone DR-100 features a select spruce top, mahogany body and a set mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard. The neck profile is comfortable with dot inlays, while the bound body, plus chrome hardware make this guitar a comfort to play and watch. The Epiphone DR-100 provides affordable sweet tone and style to inspire all musicians.

The main features of the Epiphone DR100 include:

Affordable dreadnought with a select spruce top for sweet tone and projection

Under £150

Vintage V400:

The Vintage acoustic dreadnought guitars offer an open and expansive acoustic sound with crisp definition from their brightly-toned spruce tops.

£109 @ Gear 4 Music

£109 @ Dolphin Music

DR-90S ACOUSTIC PLAYER PACK – Player Pack Collection:

A great value on a classic, the DR-90S Acoustic Player Pack features a dreadnaught acoustic guitar with Mahogany back and sides with a Solid Spruce top for superior tone. Included are a gigbag, pitch pipe, strap, picks and Instructional DVD. [Also available- DR-90 with Select Spruce top

£139@ Gear 4 Music

Under £200 and over budget but worth it…

Recommended buys

Epiphone Hummingbird:

Epiphone Hummingbird Artist Limited Edition VS Acoustic Steel Guitar, Spruce Top, Back & Sides Mahogany, Rosewood Fretboard Splitt Inlays, Plain Tortoise Pickguard, Limited Edition Logo on back of headstock, Kluson Style Tuners, Finish Vintage Sunburst

£149 @ Thomann

$299 @ Music 123

The Bright, crisp sound of the Dove has been beloved for years, and the trademark dove on the pickguard has been the companion of countless legendry artists.

£199 @ Gear 4 Music

$249 @ Guitar Center

All of these guitars are totally suitable to learn on.

Save your money and get a few months and lessons in before you think about parting with lumps of cash on something that could potentally end up being an expensive ornament.

Remember, guitars are made to be played not viewed…

Related Articles:

Buying Advice: Electric Guitar

Budget And Beginners Guitars Under £200

Guitar Accesories Under £10: Capos

Tags: 3/4 size, acoustic guitar, acoustic guitar pack, advice, Buying, epiphone, guitar, under £100, under £150, under £200 |

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Home Recording Tips – Drums

Recording at home is hard – as a musician I find myself having to be producer, sound engineer, arranger, mastering engineer and IT department. That said it is a lot of fun and does bring it’s own rewards, even if they’re not financial.

Let’s face it most project studios are potential money pits ha ha.

Anyway here are some drum programming tips to hopefully help get the best out of your recordings.

(I’ll update as I go)

1-o-> Metronome no, drum beat yes -

Getting your groove on when recording can be difficult when trying to play to a metronome – in fact I find it near impossible.

So first thing I do is setup a basic drum beat, usually kick, snare and hihat. That way I can zone in on the kick.

Using midi to control my drums means that I can edit the drums afterwards to get a bit of variation in there.

Don’t spend too much time trying to get the drums correct before recording, just a loose version will do.

Fills,extra programming and sample choices can be made later.

2.-o-> Creative Drum Programming -

Programming drums can be tiresome so get a collection together or buy some books on drumming.

As I’m not really a drummer midi drum programming was my only way – but searching midi files is a long process and auditioning each file is a pain.

So instead I decided to learn how to write drums using the drum notator in Sonar.

First I bought some drum books – each book had examples of beats and fills.

I programmed some of these as practice and listened back to get and idea of how they sounded.

It’s all about the ear.

Oh and a very simple rule – if you want drums that sound like a drummer only use the limbs a drummer has.

It’s obvious but it’s impossible for a drummer to hit a Tom, Snare and Hi-Hat all at once.

Also be physically realistic with your beats, think about how a drummer would play it, can he play it?

2a.-o-> Creative Drum Programming – part 2

Creating a realistic drum track can be quite hard or very easy – it all depends on the song – use your ears.

Sometimes a simple oompah oompah will do the trick.

Simplistic drums allow the rest od the music work – over worked drums can be tiresome and sometimes will detract from the song.

That said simple drums can become mid numbing so variation is needed.

A simple trick I use is to create my basic drum track before I start recording, I try and make this so that I can play along.

I record everything.

When I’m happy with that I then start to tinker with the drums.

Most of the time it’s just a case of adding a simple fill here and there, usually end of verse and chorus.

For the verse’s I’ll usually have closed hi-hats with occasional open hat.

Chorus I’ll change the close hi-hats for open and add extra cymbals.

On verse and chorus I’ll look at the kick and decide wether I can drop or add for each bar – I solo the bass sometimes and try and program so that the kick and bass are together -

I know should be like that in recording but remember a basic drum is more for getting going.

The beauty of re-programming your drums afterwards is that you can zone in on whatever the bass is doing – adding and taking away.

Same goes for snare and toms.

-o->

Really there’s a lot you can do with midi and a decent drum rompler.

Programming is fun, it shouldn’t be a pain and a decent drum track can make or break a recording.

Simple is best, if you’re not too confident stick to simple rather than over egg.

Finding a decent midi library of drum fills and beats is a way to go.

Personally I’d rather program from scractch.

Each to his or her own though.

Have Fun…