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Thursday, January 9, 2014

Jimi Hendrix "Voodo Child" Behind The Scenes

Here's more for the PBS American Masters program on Jimi Hendrix. It's the behind the scenes making of "Voodoo Chile/Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" from his Electric Ladyland album, and it features my buddy engineer Eddie Kramer, drummer Mitch Mitchell, a bit of Noel Redding, and Jimi's manager/producer Chas Chandler.

You also get to hear some isolated tracks of both Jimi and Steve Winwood playing, which is very cool.

I don't think this part was actually in the PBS doc, as there were a lot of outtakes that are spectacular but didn't make the cut because of time restrictions. That make this video even cooler, since it's pretty rare.



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Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Music Career In A Rut? This Can Help!

6 Keys To Musical Prosperity Teleseminar image
CLICK HERE
If you're career is in a music rut and you're not doing the things in music that you think you should be, then my 6 Keys To Musical Prosperity teleseminar might be just the thing you need to kickstart your career.

I'm inviting you to a free 60+ minute telephone seminar that I'm offering next Tuesday, January 14th with a group of my music industry friends like maga-mixer Dave Pensado and LA session bassist Paul ILL, who currently work with hit artists that have recorded some of the classic songs that you hear on the radio every day.

If you're not making enough money or working with the best musicians and people in the industry, it's time to find out how to overcome the common hurdles that block musicians, engineers, and producers from doing the things they've always dreamed about.

Together we'll teach you things that 95% of all musicians don’t know.

To register for this call, which is free except for your normal long distance charges, go here now:

Once registered (remember, it’s free), you'll receive all the details to join the call via return email. I look forward to "seeing" you on the call next Tuesday!


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Levitation By Sound Waves

This pretty cool. A team of Japanese researchers used a phased array of loudspeakers to not only levitate small objects, but move them around too. The frequency used is 40kHz, but there's no word on how much power is required.

I can just see it now, as lead singers everywhere levitate across the stage at venues near you.

Thanks to my buddy Darion Pickering for the heads up on this.



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You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Do You Know The Difference Between Modulators?

While all modulation effects certainly don’t sound the same, not many engineers know the difference between them. Here's an excerpt from The Audio Mixing Bootcamp book that takes a look at the differences. 

"Modulation refers to an external signal that varies the sound of an instrument or vocal in volume, timing or pitch. This includes effects like chorus, flanging and phasing, which are pretty standard mixing tools, to tremolo and vibrato, which are used mostly on guitars and electric pianos.

Between reverb, delay and modulation, modulation is the least used mixing effect because a little goes a long way. And except for flanging, you’ll also hear modulation effects used mostly on a single track at a time, instead of across the entire mix. In fact, most modulation effects are inserted directly in the signal path of a channel instead of using a dedicated send and return configuration.

Modulation Differences Chart image from Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture blogThere are three modulation effects that are very closely related; phase shift, chorus, and flange. The simplest difference between them is that a chorus and flange effect comes from a modulated delay that’s mixed back into the original signal. The flanger uses a shorter delay than a chorus, usually much less than 5 milliseconds, but a phaser uses no delay at all (see the graphic on the left).

Going a bit deeper, flangers, phasers and choruses work by producing a series of frequency bandwidth notches that are slowly swept across the frequency spectrum of the instrument or vocal. You don't really hear these notches; you hear what's left in the frequency spectrum, which is a series of peaks. Phasers have a small number of notches spaced evenly across the frequency spectrum while flangers and choruses have a larger number that are spaced harmonically.


Tremolo and vibrato work a little differently because no delay is involved. Tremolo cyclically varies the signal up and down in level, while vibrato varies the tone cyclically up and down."

A bit of trivia - the term "flanging" was actually coined by none other than Beatle John Lennon while observing the effect being created by the engineer slowing the speed of one of the tape decks down by placing his thumb on the metal portion of the reel or tape, which is called a flange.

To read additional excerpts from The Audio Mixing Bootcamp and my other books, go to the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.
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You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Would You Take A Perfect Pitch Drug?

Perfect Pitch image from Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture blog
Believe it or not, a new drug has been developed that helps you achieve perfect pitch. A new study published in Frontiers shows that the FDA-approved drug Valproate, which is normally used as an anticonvulsant and mood stabilizer for epilepsy, anorexia, migraine, and post traumatic stress disorder, really has such a unique unexpected affect.

Researchers from the US, the UK, Canada and France gave the drug to adult men who were then able to identify pitches they couldn't previously, after first experimenting on mice. Now how they could tell if the mice had perfect pitch is beyond me, but the human tests seem pretty impressive.

In case you're wondering, perfect pitch (absolute pitch is the scientific term) is the ability to identify a musical pitch without a reference point, and only .01% of the general population has it. It's also been discovered that it's usually acquired by those who begin musical training by age 6, although it can be genetically transmitted as well.

Valproate is like most drugs in that it does have some unpleasant side effects unfortunately. Users can suffer from tiredness, tremor, sedation, gastrointestinal disturbances, and about 10% experience reversible hair loss.

So now the question - Would you take a drug that would give you perfect pitch, given the potential side effects?
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You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Music Gear Monday: The VOG Plate Reverb

Lightning Boy Audio VOG Plate Reverb image from Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture blog
VOG Plate Reverb
You can buy a plugin to simulate just about anything these days, and there are quite a few that do an excellent job of reproducing the plate reverbs of yesteryear. As a result, you'd think there wouldn't be much demand for the 400 pound 5 foot tall by 8 foot wide real thing. Lightning Boy Audio thinks otherwise, with the release of its VOG (Voice of the Gods) honest-to-goodness real plate reverb.

The VOG tries to take the traditional EMT 140 to the next level, using a separate tube driver amp and output amp loaded with high quality tubes and components. It also has an adjustable dampening panel to set the decay time from between 2 to 5 seconds, and this can be remotely adjusted with an accessory motor, just like the plates of the past.

For those of you who actually have the room for a real plate reverb, be aware that the VOG will set you back anywhere from $6,000 to $6,850 for all the options. I can't even imagine what the shipping might cost.

Here's a bit about the VOG reverb and how it sounds in a video from the studio where it was born.

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You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

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