May 19, 2013

Vintage Home Recording Memories

As just as a testament to how far we have come in home recording technology: my recent posting on multi-track recording that can be done from your Android phone. Take a look at these once state of the art home recording reel to reel machines. I used to have several of these which recorded sound on 1/4" magnetic tape. We used to measure wow & flutter, frequency response, harmonic distortion, and recorded at the fastest speed 15 ips (inches per second) or 7.5 ips, to get the best sound quality. I still get nostalgic over this old equipment because as a teenager, they were beyond my means. Admittedly the equipment was very well made and still can be found on eBay as "vintage audio". Gosh that is so 1970's.... But today we have none of these problems and can record perfect audio, zero wow & flutter, zero noise, and it can take place anywhere we get inspiration. So the technology cannot be matched today and has become cheap enough for anyone to buy. Enjoy this trip back down memory lane, where things were a lot more difficult, expensive, and time consuming.










































































































































































You can watch a YouTube video demo of a restored Pioneer RT-901 recorder here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6_dqCwAj68

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=h44tGVvL8gA&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg2O1TRyKxc&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRzGuJUdeQ

And others here:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pioneer+rt-909&oq=pioneer+rt&gs_l=youtube.1.6.0l10.1201.2923.0.6404.10.8.0.2.2.0.341.1202.4j2j0j2.8.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.gSaYkY7GiC8












































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































May 15, 2013

PocketBand Lite Multi-track recorder app for Android


As a testament to the sophistication of cell phones today, a multi-track Android app exists called PocketBand Lite. There are others in the Google Play store. Below are details on the free Lite version. A Pro version is available for $19.99. Amazing.. !



Build high quality tracks as a sequence of loops, mixing synths, drums, audio recordings, analog modulators and arpeggiators. Apply Fx to channels and export to mp3 or ringtones. Also publish, play and collaborate in our community.
Cloud-based technology: performs the audio rendering process in a remote service.
REQUIRES A SOLID DATA CONNECTION
List of Features:
———————
• 12-channels mixer with effects, 3-band parametric equalizer and automated PAN/VOL for each track.
• Channel FX: delay, flanger, chorus, reverb, phaser, distortion, compressor and others.
• Mastering Toolbox.
DEVICES
• Polyphonic synthesizer: 125 instruments. Automated VCF Cutoff, VCF Res and LFO.
• Drum Machine: 35 drumkits (17 components with independent volume, pitch, pan and reverb).
• Recorder: Use built-in mic for live audio recording.
• Modulator: Analog-like modular synthesizer patched up as an interesting oscillation lab.
• Arpeggiator: Make interesting music pattern with a full parameterizable algorithm.
• Sampler: make custom synth instruments recording your own sounds
COMMUNITY
• Remix songs from the community, share your work with others with a few clicks using a CreativeCommons license.
• Collaborate with other musicians around the world.
• Vote and comment tracks, receive feedback from other artists.
Permissions details:
———————
• Your Google accounts: Suggests your current gmail account in the registration form. We don't use this address unless you confirm it.
• Network communication: Upload and download sounds from our servers.
• Storage: Write files to SD card, that way we avoid exhausting internal memory.
• Hardware controls: record audio. Uses the mic with the recorder device. control vibrator used by the metronome while recording audio.
• Phone calls: read phone state and identity. We store a hash of your phone internal ID to prevent creating several accounts from the same device. Also we save the brand and model of your phone for debugging. No personal information is stored except username, password and email.
• System tools modify global system settings: change system ringtone and alarm. prevent phone from sleeping: some tablets (for example archos5) required this to start.

Source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.uloops.android&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwibmV0LnVsb29wcy5hbmRyb2lkIl0.

April 12, 2013

How to sound like Eric Clapton

How to sound like Eric Clapton


Check out this video lesson



Dubbed ‘God’ by some, just plain good by others, Eric Clapton’s electric blues pedigree is beyond doubt.

Slowhand's guitar tone on Cream’s 1966 hit I Feel Free was voted in at number 10 in Guitarist magazine’s rundown of the 50 greatest guitar tones of all time.
Here, Guitar Techniques Editor Neville Martin shows you how to set up your gear to get those classic Clapton guitar sounds, including the legendary Bluesbreakers period and the ‘woman tone’.
If you prefer Clapton's acoustic output, you may want to check out this tutorial on playing acoustic like Eric Clapton.



Got Eric covered? Why not try get Stevie Ray Vaughan's tone nailed too…

Source: http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/guitars/how-to-sound-like-eric-clapton-153193