Rob Kinelski mixing in Atmos with Amphion Immersive Setup

Rob Kinelski’s journey with Amphion speakers began in 2020, not long after mixing Billie Eilish’s debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, for which he won four GRAMMY Awards. Fast-forward a few years, Kinelski has not only added more awards to his name but also many more speakers to his newly completed Dolby Atmos studio. Kinelski’s collaborated with studio designer Blake Douglas installing an Amphion 7.1.4 system for his studio in Los Angeles.

Read all the latest product & music industry news here.

“We said, ‘Let’s do it!’ We had Dolby come out and tune it, so it’s properly set up,” Rob says.

Rob Kinelski

The immersive Amphion rig includes three Two18 speakers across the front, One18s for the surrounds, and One15s above powered by Amphion’s Amp400.12 multichannel amplifier. A BaseTwo25 bass system provides stereo low frequency extension while the FlexBase25 handles the LFE information.

Amphion Loudspeakers

Kinelski recalls working at a studio in L.A. soon after Eilish’s first album was released when he was contacted by Amphion’s marketing manager Julian Hyvönen on social media. “I forget exactly what he said, but he messaged me on Instagram that he loved what I did on the album, and he would love to show me their speakers. They brought a pair of Two18s to my studio to demo and I said, ‘Well, the only way to know if I like them is to mix a song.’ They went into the lounge; we ordered some food and I did a mix. I sent it out and that first version was approved. So, I thought, ‘OK, this is cool!’”

After moving to a larger space Kinelski added the BaseTwo25 to his setup, having previously been working out of a bedroom at his home during the pandemic. “When I got into a bigger room, I wanted something to play for clients, so I needed a big loudspeaker system. The Two18 combined with the BaseTwo25 are loud enough to be my mains but they also sound good. It’s not like most mains, which are just hyped up. I think they look cool as well!”

To learn more about Rob Kinelski, keep reading here. Click here for more about Amphion Loudspeakers.

Dynaudio unveil new Core 5 monitor

In Focus: Cranborne Audio – Carnaby HE2 2-Channel Harmonic EQ

Relative newcomers Cranborne Audio are certainly not ones for resting on their laurels when it comes to pushing the boundaries of pro audio hardware design. Having burst out of the gate with some of the most exciting hardware the industry has seen for quite some time in the form on their revolutionary 500ADAT series expanders, the sleek Camden preamps, CAST networked audio solutions and their colourful Carnaby 500 – the brand’s latest offering the Carnaby HE2 redefines what a 2U 19” rack 2-channel Harmonic EQ can really do.

Cranborne Audio

As any hybrid mix engineer or recording engineer with an ethos of committing to sounds will appreciate, a piece of outboard with genuine analogue character can be worth its weight in gold when placed in an outboard rack. Striking a balance between vintage vibe and modern studio flexibility, the Carnaby HE2 is one-of-a-kind in its approach to both EQ and saturation, marrying these two essentials of the recording and mixing process into one familiar and incredibly intuitive layout – a 3-band parametric EQ. As Simon from Cranborne Audio explains “over the last few years we’ve seen a genuine shift towards more Hybrid workflows for both Mixing and Mastering.”

Read all the latest features, columns and more here.

This has been at the forefront of the HE2’s design, pushing the possibilities of integrating this piece of hardware into any studio space even further with its dedicated plugin, making recall literally as easy as selecting a preset. But without wanting to give too much away straight off the bat, let’s explore the ins and outs of the Carnaby HE2 and its rather mysterious circuit design.

Carnaby HE2 2-Channel Harmonic EQ

Seamlessly picking up from where the Carnaby 500 Harmonic EQ left off, the new HE2 takes this innovative circuit and design concept into new territory. But firstly some may be wondering what on earth a Harmonic EQ is, and you’d be forgiven for doing so. The incredibly complex circuit that lays beneath the simple and intuitive front panel of the Carnaby HE2 is one that is altogether unique. Combining the familiar tool set of a parametric equaliser and the tantalising sonic flavours saturation offers us, the HE2 effortlessly allows one to more precisely sculpt the harmonic character of the audio that passes through it – be it on a whole mix, on stems or individual sound sources when tracking, or at the mastering stage. As audio is fed into the circuit, harmonic content is extrapolated from the source material and based around the specific settings dialled in at each frequency band of the EQ, harmonics are then fed back into the signal for an enhanced, harmonically enriched end result ranging from subtle to dramatic. But unlike a traditional parametric EQ, something is always gained harmonically whether boosting or cutting at a particular frequency due to the inherent design of the Carnaby – with its circuit naturally reacting in a far more organic, dynamic and musical way than other analogue hardware signal processors. 

With such an elegant and engaging front panel, anyone even remotely familiar with an EQ (be it hardware or plugin based) should feel right at home and it’s clear this has been carefully considered by the Cranborne Audio design team. The finely stepped potentiometers are smooth, precise and easily recallable, each accompanied by an LED ring indicating the precise settings on each pot. The carefully chosen frequencies of each respective band is well chosen with plenty of cross over on both the low and mid bands as well as the mid and high bands. Both the low and high bands are shelves with a boost or cut range of +-10dB and frequency ranges of 20Hz – 420Hz and 5kHz – 25kHz respectively, whilst the mid band is a fixed Q with the same -+10dB boost/cut amount and 200Hz – 6.2kHz frequency range, making for some interesting EQ (and harmonic) shapes between crossover frequency values. Each band can be individually bypassed for lightning fast auditioning of processing applied to specific band processing and enhanced workflow. If this wasn’t enough, even more refined shaping is possible with the  switchable low and and high pass filters with variable ranges of from 18Hz – 180Hz and 8kHz – 40kHz respectively. 

Further integration into a hybrid mixing and analogue tracking workflow comes in the form of switchable fully balanced TRS inserts, allowing the HE2 to seamlessly connect with other outboard equipment, particularly useful when used in a rack or in a dedicated chain either before or after the HE2. 

Having three dedicated modes of operation is where the HE2 stretches its legs, being wildly flexible in its ability to be utilised in the studio in near endless ways. Dual mono is a superb option for splitting out to multiple sources or having dedicated control of each side of a stereo source or overall mix – giving being able to push that stereo image out to where it feels just right. However the mid-side mode is where the HE2 really gets exciting and talking of stereo image, operating in this mode allows one to really sculpt the centre with some low end saturation for example, whilst really being able to push the sides, adding some air and sheen to content in placed wider in the stereo field. Between these three modes, there’s pretty much endless sonic sculpting possibilities for mono and stereo sources in a multitude of approaches. 

I mentioned the HE2’s dedicated plugin earlier, and this is really the icing on the proverbial cake, demonstrating just how seamlessly the HE2 integrates into any hybrid workflow, with Simon adding “obviously that’s where a lot of our gear sits, but across the industry as a whole there appears to be a massive increase in interest for a lot of people-getting out the box and incorporating small (or large) amounts of analogue gear into what would be otherwise exclusively digital workflows.” 

Being able to pull up as many instances of the HE2’s plug-in required for any given session, settings and control of the HE2 are instantly recalled via USB or NET connections, with the HE2 hardware instantly flicking straight back to a recalled setting dictated by the selected plugin. This is absolutely massive for potential mix revision scenarios or even during the mixing processing, if needing to jump back into a printed track to tweak settings and reprint through the HE2. Doing this with traditional outboard hardware requires photos, precise manual recall of settings, which not only takes up valuable time, but doesn’t ever guarantee it will be exactly the same. The beauty and the cure of human error!

The Cranborne Audio HE2 is a perfect marriage of fully analogue signal processing and digital control very much demonstrates how a modern piece of pro audio hardware can effortlessly integrate into the modern day studio workflow making it an essential part of any audio engineer’s tool set, with Simon summarising “I think we are seeing the maturation of the modern home studio happening right in front of us. It’s exciting to see.”

For local enquiries, visit Mixmasters Pro Audio.

Jackson Pro Plus Series expands with Rhoads RR24 + RR24 PS

Originally launched last year, The Jackson Pro Plus Series redefined the standards of high-performance guitars with its exceptional range of premium features, purposefully designed to cater to the needs of highly-technical players.

Read all the latest product & music industry news here.

KEY FEATURES

• Three piece through-body maple/walnut neck with graphite reinforcement and oiled back finish
• 12”-16” compound radius bound ebony fingerboard with 24 jumbo stainless steel frets and pearloid sharkfin inlays
• Direct mount Seymour Duncan® Distortion™ TB-6 bridge and Seymour Duncan Distortion™ SH-6 neck pickups
• Floyd Rose® 1000 Series double-locking tremolo bridge•
• Gig-bag included

Jackson Pro Plus Series Rhoads RR24

The Pro RR24 pairs a single-ply bound okoume body with a through-body three-piece maple/walnut neck, bearing a pair of graphite rods for reinforcement against the assaults of temperature and humidity. The speedy neck profile is engineered for blazing guitar work, removing any obstacles to fleet-fingered playing and granting easier access to the upper frets.

Jackson Pro Plus Series Rhoads RR24 PS

The Pro RR24PS pairs a pomelle sapele top with a through-body three-piece maple/walnut neck, bearing a pair of graphite rods for reinforcement against the assaults of temperature and humidity. The speedy neck profile is engineered for blazing guitar work, removing any obstacles to fleet-fingered playing and granting easier access to the upper frets.

For more info, visit Jackson Australia here.

Charm of Finches on taking inspiration from fairytales

Twin sisters Mabel and Ivy make up Charm of Finches, both playing multiple string instruments as well as harmonising with each other in a way that only siblings can. Recorded in a studio in Nova Scotia with Canadian producer Daniel Ledwell, Marlinchen in the Snow is an enchanting offering from the Australian-born duo. Ahead of the release, we had the chance to chat to Mabel about her workflow, songwriting process and working with her twin!

Thanks for taking the time! Congrats on the release of Marlinchen in the Snow, where does a Charm of Finches song usually start?

We tend to have different songwriting habits. Ivy tends to approach a song melody first, while I start with lyrics most of the time. I’m a big fan of stream-of-consciousness writing. We often start a song and then come together to finish it. Most of the songs on this album we co-wrote. We went to the Mornington Peninsula here in Victoria for our own little songwriting week and spent lots of time setting ourselves lyric-writing challenges and recording ideas. We wrote a fair few of the songs on the album in that week.

Charm of Finches

Are you recording demos as you write or is there another workflow?

Yes we sometimes make demos – Atlantis was written by layering overdubs in Logic. We don’t like to spend too long working on the demos though because we’ve been known to get what we like to call ‘demo-itis’ – where we get too attached to the sound of the demo and drive ourselves crazy trying to re-create it in the studio.

A lot of songs were written while we were touring in the UK and Europe in 2022. “Clean Cut” started off as a melancholy piano ballad written on a grand piano in Oslo, Norway and then we made a little demo with a crappy drum sample and then fully developed it in the studio. Lots of songs were missing bridges and musical interludes which we wrote in the studio. We had lots of fun working out how to change time signature in the bridge of “Middle Of Your Mess” without changing the tempo and then switching back!

What is your recording workflow?

For this album, we recorded everything separately. We got the amazing Mat Belyea on drums for the first couple of days and he created the start of such unique worlds for the songs. Then we added the guitar, keys and bass beds and then vocals. After that we arranged the strings – Ivy playing violin and me playing cello and then experimenting with other overdubs to create sonic worlds for each song. “Leave It All Behind” features harp with foam under the strings to give it a cool muted texture and a little bike bell cameo if you listen very closely! “Temporary Home” has a little banjo moment and “Human” has many layers of belty vocals in a pretty epic ending.

Daniel Ledwell

How much are you thinking about the live performance when in the studio?

When we recorded this album we went in without much expectation that it would be able to be replicated live. We really embraced experimentation. We normally let the creativity flow in the studio and then worry about how to play them live later- haha! When we play as a duo, the songs are always a bit more stripped back – slightly different versions to the recording – but it’s been really exciting recreating the album with our band for some of the shows on our AUS tour.

Being in a band is hard as it is, do you think it’s harder or easier being siblings?

Haha! Well, we’ve spent our whole lives together so there’s a pretty solid dynamic. We also live together. On tour it’s a pretty intense lifestyle – we get a lot of each other. When we have an argument everything’s fine within the next half hour though. 

We understand the album was recorded in the depths of winter in Nova Scotia. How do you think this environment ultimately impacted the final result?

Yes! We actually stayed in the little studio for a month! It was in the woods with a frozen lake at our doorstep. We slept in the mixing room on the sofa bed and we cooked on a little electric stove underneath the keyboards and guitars hanging on the walls. We’d make one trip to the shops every week but apart from that, we bunkered down in the studio for the whole month and really immersed ourselves in the creative process.

The title track “Marlinchen In The Snow” was actually written in the studio and was inspired by the snowy landscape which to us was like from a fairytale. The landscape reminded us of a Grimm’s fairytale called The Juniper Tree which we were told when we were kids. It’s a haunting tale of how Marlinchen discovers the death of her stepbrother at the hands of her mother. This found its way into one of our songs. There’s lots of symbolism in the story but really, it’s about female strength and intuition – overcoming obstacles led by your inner voice – which is a theme throughout the album. The frozen lake makes an incredibly haunting sound when the ice cracks somewhere and reverberates through the ice – it’s called a ‘frost quake’ – it’s hard to describe. We wanted to put the sound in our song but we couldn’t really capture a recording of it – we tried imitating it with our voices but that didn’t really work either! It remains in our memory – the only sound breaking the silence outside on snowy nights in the studio.

Thanks again for the time! Surely you’d have a story or two to share from the making of Marlinchen in the Snow?

Being in the studio for a month, we had moments of cabin fever as you can imagine! We had a fair few late night sessions where we got pretty wacky with effects – the last track of the album “In The Dark” was a song we found in a bunch of old demos and thought it was pretty vibey so added it to the album. We really embraced the wackiness of the song, especially in the ending – you can hear us laughing in the outro as we muck around with silly synth effects!

Keep up with Charm of Finches here. They’re touring around Australia in April and May, before a tour around the UK in May and June, keep reading for more info, tickets and dates.

Giveaway: the new Audio-Technica AT-UMX3

Like the look of the new AT-UMX3?! We’re giving one away to coincide with the release!

Audio-Technica AT-UMX3

The AT-UMX3 has various features, inputs, and controls ideal for all content creators. It  is designed to deliver professional-quality results every time you go live or hit record.  Its plug-and-play USB-C connection is compatible with Windows PC, MAC, iOS, iPad, or Android devices, allowing you to power and stream your favourite microphones, and instruments wherever you go.

Made with musicians in mind, the AT-UMX3 features a Neutrik XLR/6.3mm combo microphone jack (with selectable 48V phantom power) and a switchable Hi-Z or stereo  input for guitar, bass, keyboard, or other external devices. Each input has separate  gain and level controls, peak and signal indicators, and a dedicated microphone mute  button. It also features a microphone monitor mute and adjustable output for your  own headphone mix.

To enter, simply sign up to our newsletter!

Entries close midnight May 31, 2024. Open to Australia residents only.

EGM proudly presents the highly acclaimed Thalia Capo

Thalia Capos are designed and manufactured in the USA. Thalia was founded by a father-daughter duo with a dream of creating a more beautiful capo than what was traditionally available. Thalia capos are designed based on the needs of the player and features unique interchangeable fretpads.

Read all the latest product & music industry news here.

Quality capos aren’t easy to come by, and while there’s a seemingly endless amount of options available, it’s not something you want to be buying and re-buying. A capo that fits snuggly to your strings not only provides a cleaner and better sounding fret, but they last longer, session after session. While there’s different ways to use a capo, the Thalia is something else entirely.

The Thalia Capo is a complete rethinking of the capo as a piece of art. Our aesthetic goal was to create a truly beautiful capo that would match or compliment the users’ instrument. Its reverse fulcrum point and quick-release design allows for seamless one-handed key changes with fretting hand.

Furthermore, Thalia Capos offer a wide range of exotic woods including abalone shell inlays, providing even more possibilities for customisation.  Use this to match your guitar, outfit or mood with Thalia.

For local enquiries, visit EGM.

Unreil Studios… your one stop shop

We had a chance to chat to Andrew Hogarth of Unreil Studios about some of his incredibly historical gear and what inspired him to open his fantastic multi-faceted facility. 

Unreil Studios, located in Rouse Hill, NSW, is a premier rehearsal space, recording studio and music store that has an incredible amount of vintage and collectable gear in its arsenal.

Read all the latest features, columns and more here.

When did you first fall in love with the music industry and what inspired you to start your own business? 

I’ve been into music from a young age with my parents always playing The Beatles, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep to name a few. Then I got my first guitar in high school and have been collecting them here and there since. In starting the business, I wanted to be able to support Australian artists where I could with some of their touring and recording expenses. There is a lot that goes into making a band work and getting their songs out to the world. Through the studios my goal is to be able to help out artists with some of these expenses and support along the way. 

Could you give a brief history of Unreil Studios? When did you first open your doors and how has the journey been so far? 

Unreil Studios is fairly new, we opened the doors on the 1st December 2023. I did start working on the studios in mid 2022, putting some ideas together and looking for a space. The complex we moved into out at Rouse Hill is a new one and initially we were going to be open at the start of 2023 but with some delays in finishing the building off, we didn’t get in until towards the end of 2023. During 2023 while waiting for the keys we started linking up with bands explaining our goal of supporting them and then providing them with strings, sticks, picks and heads for shows and recording. The feedback has been great. Like any new business though, it does keep you on edge hoping to get the name out there and that it continues to grow, so far the support has been great and I just have to keep at it. 

Unreil Studios seems like a real one-stop shop. Between the online store, the rehearsal space, the cyclorama and the recording studio, you’re covering a lot of ground. Was that your intention from the beginning or has the business grown and developed since its inception? 

The plan was to create a space for artists that covered a few areas and also use that to support bands as best we can. I wanted to open it and have these areas ready to go for artists to come in and use from the beginning, and for the online store to have competitive pricing for customers who weren’t close enough to stop in. It is also growing as it goes along with more suppliers getting involved, allowing me to offer more gear at the studios for the bands. I have been really grateful for the support from my suppliers, who have all given me great feedback on the setup and my plan to support as many artists as possible.

Do you have a particular business ethos that has driven you in this venture? 

Being genuine about my goal to get behind artists and be there for them where I can. I have started out with accessories and would love to be able to expand that to include merchandise for bands, equipment and general tour and recording support. All bands have different needs and I’m someone they can call to ask for a hand, I love to be able to just get onto it for them and organise things. 

You’ve got an incredible collection of historical gear at Unreil Studios, a lot of which has been previously owned by some big names. What are some of your favourite pieces? 

Some of the stand out items for me include the Wes Borland Mesa head and cab (the amp was used to record Limp Bizkit’s Three Dollar Bill Y’all album and the cab was used at Woodstock ‘99), both the stage left and stage right Mesa rigs that Dave Grohl used with the Foo Fighters (they were also in Studio 606 for a while), Josh Homme’s Maton Mastersound guitar from around 2005, a custom Ibanez K5 that Fieldy from Korn used on tour around 2002 and a prototype Washburn baritone 7 string guitar that was made for Olly Steele of Monuments. 

The Cyclorama is a really cool feature of your space, could you explain to the folks at home what it is? 

A cyclorama is pretty much a curved wall with no corners used as a photo or video background, giving the appearance of unlimited space and allowing for easy editing and post production. Some uses we have had for the space so far have been film clips, band promo shots, dancers doing routines and instructional videos, model shots and product shots. 

Do you have any more exciting promotions or giveaways coming up? 

Yes, at the end of every month there is a major promotion draw that happens with musical equipment. I do weekly draws as well leading up to that with Unreil Studios gift cards to help make the membership go a bit further. I would like to grow the membership part of the business as it helps us to be able to support more artists with their needs while giving the members a chance at winning musical gear as well. 

What is your vision for the future of Unreil Studios? Are there any elements of the business you’d like to expand upon or new ones you’d like to introduce? 

My vision for Unreil Studios is to be able to support as many Australian artists as possible by assisting them with any needs they have while on their musical journey. Setting them up with discounted rates, providing them with items at no charge here and there and linking them up

with helpful contacts I’ve met throughout the music scene. It’s already a great feeling doing this on a small scale. 

For more information, visit Unreil Studios here.

 

Orange Amplification sponsors rally driver James Williams for a second year

Orange Amplification and Orange Essentials are proud to sponsor up-and-coming British rally driver James Williams in the 2024 Probite British Rally Championship — the second year running the Welshman races under Orange decals.

Read all the latest product & music industry news here.

Forthcoming races will find Williams behind the wheel of a new four-wheel-drive turbo-charged Hyundai i20 Rally 2, sporting the orange and black livery of Orange Amplification and Orange Essentials. The bright colour and his skillful driving are making his car stand out in both forest and the road sections of each course.

Rally driver James Williams

“I couldn’t be happier to once again have the backing of such a cool, impactful brand as Orange Amps and Orange Essentials,” said Williams. “Like Orange Amps and Orange Essentials, I have high standards and will be taking the fight to the bigger names and teams this year.”

Cliff Cooper, CEO and founder of Orange Amplification and Orange Essentials, said: “It is great to be involved with James and the British Rally Championship once again. We wish him all the luck for the new season.”

Orange Amplification has a long history of working with the motorsport world, starting with the iconic Orange Buggies in the 1970s and then sponsoring the races of BBC Radio One DJ Johnnie Walker in an Orange-branded stock car.

For local Orange Amplification enquiries, visit Australis Music.

Inside JZ Microphones and the BT 202 Stereo Pair

With no shortage of small diaphragm condenser (SDC) options available in the current day, what does it take for a microphone to stand out in a market that is so saturated and competitive? If the answer is a combination of passion, innovation and unique design aesthetics, then JZ Microphones has brought forward a worthy answer in the new BT 202 Stereo Pair.

Known in particular for their unique looks as well as employing the use of their unique Golden Drop Capsule design, JZ Microphones have carved out a dedicated following over the past 17 years. This is due in no small part to the fact that JZ has repeatedly managed to offer microphones of an exceptional build quality at a price that won’t break the bank. 

Read all the latest features, columns and more here.

Established in Latvia back in 2007, lead designer and founder Jurin Zarins decided to implement 20 years of industry knowledge into the development of his own line of hand-crafted studio recording microphones. Jurin states “Our objective is to reduce the physical limitations of delivering your recording whilst keeping its complexity and beauty unaltered.”

BT 202 Stereo Pair

Keeping the sincerity of this mission statement in mind we must draw your focus upon the JZ Microphones BT 202 Stereo Pair. A pair that signals JZ’s entry into the aforementioned SDC microphone market, after an impressive track record of home runs in the world of large diaphragm condenser (LDC) offerings. 

At this point in time, it is important to mention that the JZ Microphones BT 202 is only offered for purchase in a matched pair. Considering that many would utilise this sort of SDC microphone for stereo applications such as drum overheads, this shouldn’t pose an issue for most buyers. However, we still figured it was worth mentioning before diving deep into what makes the BT 202 stereo-matched pair so great. 

The first thing that jumps out about the BT 202 is its design which invokes an aesthetically pleasing impression which is neither retro nor modern. This aside, we can all agree that they look great, which may or may not be a great consideration for anyone in the market for a SDC Microphone. 

Sleek aesthetics aside, this also makes them a reasonably practical option in a space (around a drum kit) where space is at a premium! Their compact and streamlined design helps them to nestle comfortably besides other microphones, or otherwise draped over a drumkit as overheads. Where other microphones in the market might be too heavy to hoist up overhead, especially when even a millimetre’s movement can affect the phase, gain and localisation of a sound, the compact size of the BT 202 Stereo Pair makes them a great solution.

While heavier mics might lead you to believe they’re sturdier option, we are pleased to report that the BT 202 feels solid in the hand. Due entirely to the microphone’s rugged chassis, JZ has succeeded yet again in providing a microphone that is up to the task of enduring arduous sessions for many years to come.

Looks and feel aside, the sonics need to be heard to be believed. The quoted frequency range of the BT 202 is flat from 30Hz up to 6kHz, after which a slight bump occurs between 8-9 Khz. If all of this wasn’t enough a self-noise figure of around 12dBA means that the BT202 pair are about as quiet as can be for a microphone of this type. Other microphones in the space might boast similar specs, but not with the sleek and refined design that the BT 202 do, and those that are as sturdy as JZ’s mics don’t always have the same response! All in all, the BT 202 pack a whole lot of punch.

This stereo pair employ a fixed Cardioid polar pattern ensuring that the BT 202s provide good rejection of everything besides the source you intend to capture. This task is further enhanced sonically by both microphones Class A Transformerless electronics. 

The BT 202’s 13mm capsule boasts the same Golden Drop technique that JZ employs in the design and manufacture of their Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphones capsules. The thinking behind this is that it makes the capsule itself is more responsive to transients as it is lighter than other capsules built with more standardised methods. 

The JZ BT 202 shine in a number of applications in which Audio Engineers would employ the use of Small Diaphragm Condenser mics including, but not limited to, the recording of drum overheads, acoustic guitars or piano.

Used as drum overheads the BT 202s would to provide a nice lean image of the entire drum kit, enabling one to easily blend them into the close snare and kick sounds when it came time for mixdown. The BT 202s are bright enough as to provide the appropriate amount of presence that most would be seeking from their overhead sound without ever sounding too brittle.

Romesh Dodangoda

World class engineers, like Romesh Dodangoda (Motörhead, Bring Me The Horizon and Bullet For My Valentine) agree. Romesh explained “They sound really good from my first impressions. They are very warm sounding, almost a slightly vintage tone to them compared to some other alternatives out there. I would say they are voiced darker when compared to something like an AKG451 or KM184 which are fairly bright mics, so if you’re looking for something warmer sounding or you have a bright sounding room or bright cymbals that you want to sound less harsh, these should be good for that!”

Additionally, the clarity provided by the BT 202’s relays to other instrument sources; namely something like an acoustic guitar or piano. One-trick-pony the BT 202 are not! This is a scenario in which the BT 202’s offer clarity and true-to-source response to whatever is placed in front of them. The slight bump in the 8-9kHz range will provide a suitable “lift” for whatever source material the mic’s are placed in front of without ever sounding overbearing, harsh or unrealistic.

Overall, the JZ Microphone BT 202 Stereo Pair would be a fantastic contender in the world of SDC Microphones. They provide a unique voice that makes them a fantastic all-rounder for any professional recording studio, especially in such a saturated market, and all at a price that is very reasonable when pitted against a lot of its competitors. Hats off to JZ Microphones yet again, for bringing yet another fantastic offering to the table.

For more, visit JZ Microphones here.

Ableton Live 12 in the real world with Ben Safire of Plasma Lab

Collingwood home to radio stations 3PBS and 3CR,  iconic venues, such as the Tote, The Bendigo and the Gasometer, and many recording studios. In amongst it all lies Plasma Lab. A recording studio, live venue, education facility and record label, keen to leave its mark on Collingwood’s storied history. Plasma Lab is run by international producer, DJ and mix/mastering engineer, Ben Finocchiaro, aka Ben Safire.

Read all the latest features, columns and more here.

A music industry veteran, Ben’s resume includes in an impressive list of international performances, including; London, Manchester, Bristol, Berlin, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Amsterdam & more. Additionally, he has presented masterclasses at Abbey Road Institute, SAE, Official Ableton User Groups and R-Lounge, Tokyo. Under the Ben Safire moniker, he has some 40+ releases. Ben has just completed works, augmenting the existing recording studio, to open a live venue: Plasma Lab Bunker. I sat down with Ben to talk about his projects and methods as a music producer.

Ben has created a downloadable pack: SAFIRE / LIVE 12 / MELD X ROAR / RACK BASS PRESETS. Click here to download!

Ben Safire

I ask Ben about his journey so far. “I started off as a producer. I’ve been doing it for about 20 years now, writing drum and bass, hip hop, beats, for all kinds of different vocalists, in addition to my own projects. In the last 10 years, I moved towards mixing and mastering. Now I work pretty much full time in my studio, mixing and mastering.” Ben continues, “The venue opened a year ago, in fact, we’ve got our first birthday this weekend. We’ve had international artists and the 180 capacity is really good for sideshows. After all this, I’m trying to get back to my own production again. I mean, that’s where it all stemmed from, so, it’s time to go back to the source.” 

Our conversation turns to the studio side of Plasma Labs, Ben explains “There’s a studio behind the venue, and the studio connects into the venue which doubles as a live room, so we can record live acts as well. Anything from vocals only to full microphone set ups. We also have cameras and video coming into the studio, which means we can record live performances as well.”

Ableton Live 12

Perhaps unusually, for the audio recording side of the studio, Ben states Plasma Labs relies on Ableton Live as the main DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Ableton is often more associated with laptop production so the choice is interesting. He combines Live with hardware, as well as other software tools, for a complete suite of production tools. For clients, he often relies on software exclusively to ensure quick revisions are possible. Ben was a beta tester for Ableton Live 12, so we spoke about the new version and how it has impacted his workflow. “It took me a little bit of time to get going with it but, the last month or two, I’ve really been getting into it.” Referring to Live’s new generative/AI midi features, Ben continues, “The MIDI functions are probably what’s changed the workflow the most. All the stuff that they’ve added into the piano roll; anything from the generators through to the transformers, all the key locking stuff. In terms of workflow, it has definitely changed it quite a bit. Also, I really like the LFO MIDI effects, in the sense that you can put them on anything. It makes Live like a modular synth setup now.” 

We talk about the new instruments and effects in Live 12, “I’ve been using Meld (Ableton’s new bi-timbral synth) quite a bit.” I expressed that I found it daunting at first but Ben’s sound design experience, “I’ve released sound packs over the years for various synths”, made it easy for him to get acquainted. “I find that in combination with Roar (the new multi-band saturation/distortion effect), Meld gives me almost everything I need. Whereas, before, I needed to stack up a lot more plugins to make a sound work”. We discuss Roar further, “Roar is capable of sonic destruction or subtle enhancement. Bass sound design is what I specialise in. With Roar and Meld together, I can get good results quickly.” Rather than obsess over the infinite minutiae of tweaking complex synths, Ben values the speed and accessibility of an instrument like Meld, “If you can get something sounding good from a few tools, it really doesn’t matter what you use and how it’s created. All you want to do is get the result, that’s the most important thing. I think Ableton have always been good at that, because they’ve simplified things. Things don’t have to be complex. Using the ears wisely, it’s the best skill you can have.” 

We discuss the culture around sound design and production. Specifically, the need for producers to be tweaking every last parameter for a sound or mix, or be forever deemed a preset-surfer. “I went through phases, where I thought that I had to program everything. I put pressure on myself to create the best thing. Since then, I’ve taken a little bit of a step back and go in more lightly and enjoy the process.” Ben’s approach remains flexible, however, when working with clients,  “There’s definitely some engineers and producers out there that are super ‘techie’. We’ll nerd out with stuff deeply, but not everyone has to be like that. At the end of the day, it should be for everyone to have fun.” He states, “The skill is in how you control everything and bring it together. It doesn’t matter how easy the (software and hardware) companies make it for you, the best producers will always be the best.” On a roll, Ben continues, “I think that’s the really underrated aspect of production. Knowing when a sound is going to work. Knowing what will work against a sound. How sounds compliment each other.”

He concludes “At the end of the day, the people on the dance floor don’t really care how the music was produced. They just want to have fun and dance. And, you know, as producers, sometimes we have to step out of that production mindset. I know it’s hard, because we’re looking at all these numbers and dials, but, sometimes you have to remind yourself that people just want to hear great music.”

Keep up with Plasma Lab here. Continue reading about Ableton Live 12 here. Ben has also created some downloadable content for you here!

Three New Deluxe Series pedals by Tone City Audio

Inspired by the Tone City Tape Machine and Tiny Spring pedals, the Heavenly Lake broadens its horizons by providing you with the same great airy and spacious soundscapes, with the ability to sonically refine the decay and depth of your tone. Housed in a bigger ‘two-in-one’ unit, Tone City have upgraded the Tape Machine’s circuitry, adding decay and tone adjustable controls enabling the user to precisely develop and shape delay for a refined tonal experience.

Read all the latest product & music industry news here.

Producing a wide sonic palette of rich, responsive low-to-medium tones, the Tone City Big Rumble Overdrive pedal transforms your tone giving you a mix of varied in-between clean and crunchy gain flavours. The Attack knob enables you to adjust the overall fatness tone that can be refined for a punchy attack, or whack it all the way up for a massive wall of sound featuring intertwined distortion elements.

The Tone City Holy Aura Distortion pedal harnesses inspired iconic American sounding amp tones with high gain, sustain and most important distortion goodness. Featuring 3 stages of EQ regulation, gain, presence, volume, and boost. You are able to fully adjust the tone with a wide sonic palette finding that overdriven sweet spot.

For local enquiries, visit EGM.

Producing and mixing world-class music with Neumann and Sennheiser

Music making has historically been done in a custom-built space that’s been treated for great sound, sometimes with a console at its heart and tape machines or, more recently, racks of converters to send and receive audio around the studio. A studio filled with pro-level hear from the likes of Neumann and Sennheiser isn’t so inaccessible!

More recently, portable computers and digital audio workstations (DAWs) have made music more portable than ever. Engineers and producers can hire big studios to record for a day, then mix in the comfort and convenience of home. An awesome idea in theory, but our spare bedroom or lounge room doesn’t always offer the best environment for the critical listening required for mixing, especially when it comes to low end control. Even with good equipment, we’re still at the mercy of plasterboard walls, windows and high ceilings—beautiful aesthetically but diabolical for your first reflections and RT60!

Read all the latest features, columns and more here.

Thanks to some forward-thinking manufacturers, there’s a few solutions to mixing at home or even on the road, in hotel rooms or even in transit! Neumann’s MT 48 audio interface has been a hit world-wide, offering world-class conversion and the routing options usually reserved for a larger rig. Couple this with some great headphones, say the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO or HD 490 PRO Plus and the secret weapon included with them: dearVR MIX-SE.

Sennheiser HD 490 PRO

The Sennheiser HD 490 PRO are a pro-level headphone with superior isolation, powerful drivers and a balanced, reference-quality response. Comfort is an essential part of headphone design, and the HD 490 PROs feature a particularly robust though flexible headband to ensure good isolation from the speaker cups without applying too much pressure to your head. What really sets these headphones apart is the swappable ear pads, both washable and replaceable, but with different materials offering their own sound signature, one set intended for producing and another intended for mixing. The changeable nature reduces ear fatigue and helps to pinpoint potential problem frequencies.

The HD490 PRO headphones provide a wide soundstage, with great localisation and clear depth of field, that allow you to undertake critical mixing decisions, even before running them through the dearVR MIX-SE software. Augmented with the software, you can place yourself virtually into different environments to check your mix, while also allowing you to monitor recordings if that’s what the gig calls for!

Dear Reality dearVR MIX-SE

Bundled in the box with a new pair of Sennheiser HD 490 PRO headphones is a licence to Dear Reality’s dearVR MIX-SE software. Yes, you’re correct; the ‘VR’ stands for ‘virtual reality’ and Dear Reality do a stellar job of emulating different environments virtually for you to mix in using headphones.

dearVR MIX-SE contains multiple listening environments, some typical reference points like a car, a kitchen or living room, as well as places that not all of us have access to like a nightclub and stadium. Possibly most helpful of all, it includes multiple mixing environments with two control rooms, as well as an ‘Analytical Dry’ for the most clinical environment! Another feature of the dearVR MIX-SE software is that they have Headphone Compensation available for multiple models of headphones, allowing the software to work its magic from a flat and balanced starting point. While dearVR are adding more models to that list all the time, the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO are already included!

MT 48

Recording in 2024 requires an audio interface, and while there’s a lot of portable options available, they’re not all as high-quality as the Neumann MT 48. Having already taken the world by storm, the MT 48 is a 4-in, 8-out audio interface with a multitude of routing options available via the user-interface; it can be as involved or simple as you need it to be!

For the purposes of mixing on the go, the Neumann MT 48 provides world-class A/D-D/A, while being powered via USB, so wherever your computer is, the MT 48 will work! Located on the front of the unit are two headphone outputs, which can be controlled independently if needed, with the touch screen that serves as both a tactile surface and a colourful way to monitor and keep track of your signal while mixing.

In Use

All of this is to say that mixing on the go is a much more possible way of working thanks to products from Sennheiser and Neumann. Picture this: you’re on the go, moving between studios and an artist sends through a revision to a mix, and they’re focused on the bass.

While these kind of decisions can’t usually be made in environments where you can’t hear and feel accurate low end, the combination of world-class conversion, balanced and deep sound from your headphones, as well as Dear Reality’s virtual mix environment have you confidently sending back a revised mix (and an invoice with it!)

Alternatively, dearVR MIX-SE also provides a controlled environment that never changes. In physical environments, furniture moves, bodies come and go from the room depending how you’re working, or you might need a fan, air conditioning or heating on one day and not the next. All of this, while subtle, affects the acoustic energy in a room, and how it’s lost or gained in varying ways. A virtual mixing room offers a controlled environment that never changes, so you can trust it.

Travelling with the pocket-sized Neumann MT 48 and the HD 490 PRO headphones has never been easier, with the Dear Reality dearVR MIX-SE software obviously taking up no physical space. A controlled environment allows us to have a point of reference, and being able to carry this with you wherever you’re working is a huge step forward in the increasingly fluid nature of making music. Confidence is key when mixing, producing and making, and a combination of these products instil that!

For local Sennheiser enquiries, visit them here.

Swiped! How over a dozen famous guitars got stolen

In 2020, Slash named his new Les Paul Standard Goldtop “Victoria” after the person whom he said took a bunch of to-be-famous guitars out of his home studio in Los Angeles in the late ‘90s.

He got most of them back, but “one of the guitars I didn’t get back was a Goldtop.”

When he got the replacement, he figured it was only correct he should name it after the accused!

Doors Calling

In January 2024, The Doors’ Robby Krieger was still calling for owners of a 1963/4 red Gibson SG Special to check if the serial number was 88779… 57 years after it disappeared from a Los Angeles rehearsal room in 1967.

Famous guitars

Bought the day after seeing Chuck Berry playing his cherry red Gibson ES-335, Krieger used it to audition for The Doors, and write their breakthrough “Light My Fire”.

Read all the latest features, columns and more here.

Fat Lady Sings

Pete Murray didn’t have to wait nearly 60 years for the return of his famous guitar. In April 2024, at the Roche Estate in NSW’s Hunter Valley as part of the Red Hot Summer Tour, his Cole Clark Fat Lady 1 acoustic was returned.

In the 18 years since the theft, it had been stored inside its case with all the accessories, and didn’t seem worse for wear.

Here are the stories behind over a dozen famous guitars which were purchased with a “five-finger discount”.

GEORGE HARRISON’S “LUCY”

The gold-plated ’57 Gibson Les Paul had quite a journey before it reached George Harrison.

It belonged to John Sebastian of US folk-rockers Lovin’ Spoonful (“Summer In The City”), and then  Rick Derringer of The McCoys (“Hang On Sloopy”).

Derringer’s old man sniffed it looked “real beat up”, so Rick got it painted bright red.

But he didn’t like the colour, so he offloaded it at Dan Armstrong’s guitar store in LaGuardia Place in Greenwich Village, New York.

Bestie

It was bought by Eric Clapton who gave it to his bestie George in August 1968.

George called it “Lucy” after red-haired actress Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy TV series.

In fact Eric would play Lucy when he whipped off that white flash guitarwork on The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.

Break In

Five years on, somebody broke into George’s home in Beverly Hills and made off with Lucy.

She was tracked down to Whalin’s Sound City, a music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

But by the time the cops got there it had already been sold – despite a statutory 30 day waiting period that was in place in the state.

Urgency

The urgency of the sale was that one of Mexico’s best known guitar players, Miguel Ochoa, had been holidaying in LA and planned to return home that day.

He had no idea that the guitar he paid $682 for was hot. On the sales receipt, he left the phone number of the place he was staying at.

When George rang, Ochoa thought it was a joke, hung up and went off to catch his flight accompanied by Lucy.

Mexican Stand-Off

Talks continued in a real life Mexican stand-off. Ochoa did not want to be paid to give up Lucy but wanted a sunburst Les Paul and a Fender Precision Bass in lieu.

George good-humouredly stated Lucy had been “kidnapped”, and he kept her until his death in 2001.

In September 2022, the 1958 Gibson Les Paul that Ochoa got a trade (serial # 8 5424) was sold at auction for $312, 500.

JEFF BECK’S ’59 LES PAUL STANDARD

Jeff Beck added the sunburst ’59 Standard to his Gibson Les Paul collection in the summer of 1968 for $300 from a Chicago dealer called Rick Nielsen (later of Cheap Trick fame).

On July 21 1969, during a US tour with the Jeff Beck Group (with unknown Rod Stewart and guitarist Ron Wood) there was a drama at the Tamarack Lounge in Ellenville, New York, when Beck sprayed the crowd with a fire extinguisher.

Riot Followed

A riot followed, and security guards rushed the band off the stage, leaving their gear behind.

In the melee, someone took off with the axe.

In 2000, New York guitar dealer-to-the-stars Perry Margouleff was approached by someone offering to sell a guitar that had belonged to Beck for $75,000.

Contacted Beck

He contacted Beck’s manager and asked if the guitar hero wanted to buy it and if not, would he have a problem if he (Margouleff) bought it.

He was told Beck had no objection and he went ahead with the acquisition.

But in January 2018, Beck changed managers, and Margouleff was told the guitar was stolen property, and that the guitarist wanted it back.

Court Case

A court case initiated by Margouleff went through the legalities of who was rightful owner.

The case wasn’t settled when Beck died in 2023, and the guitar remains with Margouleff.

JOHN & RICK BREWSTER’S COLLECTION

In the 1980s The Angels toured America a number of times, where songs like “Marseilles” were getting played on radio.

On three of those visits, they got robbed.

The first time was in 1980 in Chicago. They’d just arrived after a gig the night before in Detroit with Cheap Trick.

Padlock

The crew had been told to padlock the van and take the gear in. It didn’t quite work that way.

Guitarist John Brewster told Mixdown that the gear included his valuable 1973 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, a Gibson SG and Rick’s very expensive Epiphone Sheraton semi-acoustic.

These axes were pumping the night attack on globally successful albums Face To Face, No Exit and Dark Room.

Local cops were not interested in doing anything until an envelope containing $1,000 was passed over.

Broadcast News

Radio stations broadcast the news of the robbery. Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen, who lived in Rockford, 70 miles away, threw a bunch of guitars in his station wagon, and drove over.

Brewster recollected: “We were standing there in the Park West Club with the agent, wondering what to do as the show was sold out.

“The support act had offered to lend us their gear, as well as their backline as our new PA had also gone.”

Take Pick

“Rick walked in and said ‘Take your pick, guys!’ He was wonderful.”

Nielsen stayed for the show and joined them onstage during the encore, “Can’t Shake It”.

The cops found the stolen van at the bottom of the river, empty except for the crew’s laundry.

Shoot-Out

A few years later the gang members died after a shoot-out, but not before they also hijacked some British bands as well.

In 1981, Rick’s L series Strat got stolen in New York from the dressing room after it was inadvertently left behind for a couple of minutes.

Third Time

The third time was, yes, when the truck was stolen with the gear still inside despite strict orders given to the road crew (different from 1980) that it be moved into their hotel.

Two Les Pauls disappeared this time, but as Brewster admitted, “We weren’t that bothered, we were not emotionally attached to them.”

JIMMY PAGE’S BLACK BEAUTY

Jimmy Page bought Black Beauty, a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Custom with a Bigsby B7 bridge, when he was 18 in 1962.

He’d been walking down Charing Cross Road in London and stopped in small music store Lew Davis, when something caught his eye.

“There was this guitar hanging on the wall looking so bloody sexy.”

Come On

 “It was saying, ‘Come on then. Come on, stop looking and ask them if you can play me.’ 

“I played it unplugged for quite a while. Then when I plugged it in it was like a dream, and I knew this was it. 

“It sounded extraordinary. I knew it was coming home with me.” 

Distinctive

It cost £185 with a distinctive mother of pearl fret and gold hardware, and to which he added two extra toggle switches.

In those days, Page was pulling up to three sessions a day, and Black Beauty was on Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman”, Petula Clark’s “Downtown”, The Who’s debut “I Can’t Explain” and tracks by Tom Jones, The Kinks, Marianne Faithfull, Them, The Rolling Stones, Shirley Bassey, Lulu and Joe Cocker.

Airport

In 1970 it got pilfered at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, apparently by a baggage handler, as Zeppelin flew to Montreal, Canada.

The thief kept it under his bed until 1992, scraping off most of the personal, identifiable features but the serial number remained.

For years Page would coast around guitar shops looking for it, and put an ad in Rolling Stone for every issue over the next 12 months.

Nothing Unearthed

Nothing was unearthed. “It was like it evaporated,” Jimmy sighed.

There were rumours that Page’s interest in the occult had seen the guitar hit with a curse.

In 1992 a man walked into Willie’s American Guitars in St. Paul and told the owner, Nate Westgor, “I have Jimmy Page’s guitar.”

Bought It

He’d bought it for $5,000 from the baggage handler’s widow, and Westgor bought it for that price.

A cursory examination by various guitar dealers found it wasn’t Black Beauty, so Westgor sold it to a staffer, who were in a punk band, for $5500.

In 2014, the employee brought it back to the store for repairs after he broke the headstock while doing a rock star move. 

Black Light

Westgor put it under black light and took a good look … and realised it was Black Beauty after all. 

The employee decided, despite the money he could have made selling it (Westgor estimated its price at $10 million), that it needed to be given back to the rightful owner.

Initially, confirming it was Black Beauty proved difficult as photos from that time were blurry.

Video Archive

But according to Guitar World, that was solved when Page went through video archives in his home in London and found a 60-second clip of Led Zep at the Royal Albert Hall.

A brief shot saw the distinctive inlays on the fret.

Page rewarded the honest young musician by giving him a 1959 Les Paul Custom worth $45,000 from his collection.

To Believe

“I found it hard to believe that I was going to get the guitar back after all those years.”

Page never let it be known Black Beauty was back in 2015.

But sharp eyed fans noted it was one of the seven of his guitars that were exhibited in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019.

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER’S RICKENBACKER

The Church’s original guitarist Marty Willson-Piper had a collection of Rickenbackers.

But his dream 1965 model (initially thought to be a 1964) 1993 Rose Morris 12 string disappeared in the 1980s from the New York offices of his management company.

Exported

These were exported to Europe and Australia from the US and quite rare because they had a f-hole instead of the cat eye sound hole.

The guitar is seen played by Willson-Piper in the video for The Church’s “A Different Man” and featured on the cover of his Rhyme album.

BILLY CORGAN’S GISH STRAT

On June 12, 1992, Smashing Pumpkins played St. Andrews Hall in Detroit.

Their usual road crew, who knew about production and security, weren’t available, so a friend of Corgan’s stepped in.

After the show he had the unhappy task of informing Corgan that someone had walked out with his ’70s Fender Stratocaster through the back door.

Attached

Corgan was attached to the axe, known as the Gish Strat, which he bought in 1989/80 for $275 from Pumpkins drummer Will Chamberlin.

The “flat pole” pickups were stamped with the date, Dec. 30, 1975 but its serial number indicated it was considered a ’76.

He told Rolling Stone: “The minute I started playing on the Strat, it was like it came to life.

Amplified

“It was like everything I was doing suddenly was amplified.

“On that Strat, it was like you suddenly could hear every little thing I was doing …

“Suddenly the sound of the band got way more beautiful, psychedelic and wide.”

Psychedelic

Not liking its yellow colour because it clashed with the band’s early Goth image, Corgan painted it psychedelic.

It had an American hard rock maple neck that he described as “like that of a violin”. 

The middle pickup was lowered really flat to the pick guard to accommodate his intense right hand technique so it stayed out of the way of his picking hand.

Aggressive Tone

It had an aggressive tone, and shaped the band’s move to a heavier but dreamier  psychedelic sound that was on full display on their debut album Gish.

Corgan offered a $10,000 reward, upping it to $20,000 in 2010.

Call

24 years after its disappearance, he got a call for a music industry exec on behalf of a Beth James, a mother of three from Flushing, Michigan, about 80 minutes northwest of Detroit.

Somewhere between 2009 and 2011, she bought it at a garage sale for $200.

She like the floral colours, and got it to be “a cool conversation piece” in her basement when she and her husband threw dinners and orgies.

Meeting

A meeting was held at the Sunset Marquee for Corgan to check out the axe.

The buzz-cancelling back panel was missing. But by looking at the KM initials carved by the previous owner and cigarette burns on the headstock, he knew it was the Gish.

Corgan had two wins out of the theft. Beth refused the $20,000 reward. 

After it was stolen, the guitarist was forced to buy new axes, which in turn created the different sounds of Siamese Dreams and Melancholy which increased the Pumpkins’ global popularity.

ZAKK WYLDE’S BULLSEYE LES PAUL

While Ozzy Osbourne/Black Label Society shredder Zakk Wylde was inside the Chicago Theatre playing as part of The Experience Hendrix tribute show on March 14, 2014, a thief hanging around the tour bus struck lucky.

The bus was unlocked, and inside was Wylde’s $10,000 custom built Pelham Blue Bullseye LP Gibson and leather BLS vest.

Ten days later, a man turned up at Royal Pawn Shop at 428 S. Clark St, and sold it, giving a telephone and address.

Alert

There had been an alert about it, but the two owners had forgotten about it, and an employee bought it for $50.

The store owners decided to check it out, found it was worth more than five crispy ones, and called the police.

DON MARTIN’S PRECISION JAZZ BASS

After NZ-formed Sydney-based Mi-Sex played two great nights at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne in May 2015, bassist Don Martin had a shock to find his Precision Jazz bass had disappeared from the dressing rooms.

The night had included Ross Wilson, Pseudo Echo, John Paul Young, 1927, Allniters, Rose Tattoo, GANGajang, Wendy Matthews and Swanee as part of the Pure Gold series, so it had been crowded backstage.

Red And Orange

The 1972 red and orange Fender had been Martin’s favourite, never leaving his side in 40 years.

He used on Mi-Sex’s global hits as “Computer Games”, “People” and “Space Race”.

At the time Martin was mystified how the thief could get away with it.

Few In World

“There’s very few of them in the world and it’s amazing how attached you can get to something … the weight and balance of it was something that just made it so special to play,” he said at the time.

Don Martin died from prostate cancer on August 10, 2020.

B.B. KING’S LUCILLE

The pioneering bluesman B.B. King’s Lucille was one of the best known guitars.

There were actually three of them, all named Lucille, usually black Gibsons similar to the ES-330 or ES-355.

In 1949, King was playing a set at a club in Twist, Arkansas.

Brawl

A brawl ensued, during which the huge oil-filled barrel heating the joint toppled over, and the club went up in flames.

Everyone scrammed including King… until he realised he’d left his Gibson behind.

He rushed back in, fighting the flames, to rescue the axe.

Bartender

Next day he heard that the fight was over one of the bartenders, Lucille, and decided she was worthy of being commemorated this way.

King wrote two songs about her, Little Lucille came in 1999, and then 80th Birthday Lucille which Gibson made in 2005 to mark his 80th birthday and based on the ES-355TD-SV.

It would be B.B.’s main instrument until mid-2009 when it disappeared.

Traced

It was traced to a Las Vegas pawnshop a few months later.

It had been bought by a musician called Eric Dahl, who gave it back to King as soon as he realised.

He refused compensation, and wrote a book about King’s guitars.

After King died in 2015, his estate sold it for $280,000 three years later.

JOE SATRIANI’S PEARLY CHROME

Pearly was one of three prototype Ibanez made in 1990 for Joe Satriani based on the JS2.

Ibanez tried something it hadn’t before, using a basswood body with a chrome finish.

Alas, it kept cracking and it didn’t go into mass production.

Real Chrome

“Unfortunately, they used real chrome, and any fissures created when the finish lifted the sealant off the body would crack and create a knife edge,” he told Vintage Guitar.

Pearly was named for its pair of Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups, while the other two were Chrome Boy (a favourite) and Refractor.

Load-Out

Unfortunately, during a load-out in Clearwater, Florida, on August 21, 2000, it disappeared for all time, despite Satriani offering a $500 reward.

Satriani would later lose two more, Blue Donnie and Rainforest, this time from a rehearsal facility in San Rafael, California.

Keep reading about ‘Lucille’ here.

Seymour Duncan announce the Corey Beaulieu ‘Damocles’ Signature Blackouts!

Corey Beaulieu has always relied on Seymour Duncan Blackouts Active Humbuckers for Trivium’s intense guitar sound. He requested a specific voicing for increased presence, balance, and clarity, resulting in the new Corey Beaulieu Damocles Signature Blackouts.

Read all the latest product & music industry news here.

As a longtime member of metal titans Trivium, Corey Beaulieu is a driving force behind the band’s epic guitar work. To deliver their onslaught of chugging riffs and intricate leads, his go-to pickups have always been Seymour Duncan Blackouts Active Humbuckers. To cut through Trivium’s monumental wall of guitars both live and in studio, Corey requested a specific voicing of his Blackouts with increased presence, balance and clarity.

Corey Beaulieu

The result of this modified voicing is the Damocles Signature Blackouts – a full sounding high-gain active pickup set perfect for Corey’s detuned progressive metal style. This powerful addition to the Blackouts lineup is available in 6 and 7 string sets, with active & passive mounts.

Hand Built in California. Period Correct. Every Time.

Our team of master builders have been with us for an average of 21 years—they take pride in crafting our products to create the most amazing sound possible.

For local Seymour Duncan enquiries, visit Australis Music.

How to do pop ‘the right way’: an interview with Clem Burke of Blondie

“My earliest memory is playing my father’s kit along to the Four Seasons.” explains Blondie drummer Clem Burke in a sly New Jersey lilt that feels a planet away from my mumbly West Australian brogue. 

“For all of us East Coast kids they were the local heroes.”

Clem Burke

A city boy through and through, Clem is the living embodiment of everything that comes to mind when we think about guitar music in the Tri-State area—having been there to witness the golden age of doo-wop and the emergence of early rock ‘n’ roll, through to the envelope pushing (but still quintessentially NYC) flavour of the Velvet Underground and onto the infamous CBGB’s scene, to which Clem is a made man. Suffice to say, a conversation with Mr. Burke is an understanding that you are speaking with someone steeped in a deep musical lineage. It permeates every sentence. 

Read all the latest features, columns and more here.

“The American roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll-Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochrane, that was the foundation of what I loved from an early age,” he explains. “It just spiralled from there.”

Geography has always played a pivotal role in the sonic output of any recorded project, least of all for Blondie, who’s taut, female fronted punk-pop feels like the spiritual bridge between Madison Avenue opulence and Lower East Side hoodlumery. The result is something utterly unique, which also has the added advantage of having aged incredibly gracefully, due in part to Clem’s ability to craft perfectly ecstatic drum parts that enhance the bands propensity for three minute pop bangers- the economy of which is rare amongst his classic rock contemporaries.

Blondie

“We always straddled that line between the underground and then a larger ambition to make hit singles that were universal.” he declares, while ruffling a hand through his perfectly manicured mop top.

While the uninitiated might be instantly drawn to the cool allure of Blondie’s iconic frontwoman (the inimitable Debbie Harry) anybody with a basic understanding of the nuts and bolts of record making can hear that the five brunettes behind her do a hell of a job at holding it down. It’s an aspect of his work that is a source of pride for the lifelong drummer. 

“Pre-Production was always very important for us. Being well rehearsed and going in there with a plan-I think you can hear that in many of those early songs.” he explains. 

“I always appreciated drummers like Hal Blaine (Phil Spector’s go-to session drummer) and Earl Palmer (Little Richard, Fats Domino, Frank Sinatra) who were consummate studio musicians and had the kind of musicality and versatility that I aspired to. I wanted to be able to contribute to the song rather than detract.”

A craftsman in his own right, Clem’s combination of tasteful self effacement and bombastic, energy laden fills have been embedded in Blondie’s DNA since the very beginning, with the band emerging at the exact moment where recording studio technology (and particularly drum sounds) were experiencing a massive sonic shift.

Amongst studio engineers, this early New Wave period through the mid to late 70’s is considered by many to be the pinnacle of drum sounds in the open air, with Clem carting his stock Red Sparkle Premier kit to some of the most iconic acoustic environments in existence, the size and space of which are rare in the modern recording zeitgeist.

“Power Station, Electric Lady, United Western in LA-we would always start with the biggest ambient room we could and work our way inward from there, with the close mics.” he explains. “That way we could go as dry or as roomy as the song required.”

“I always like to record with as few microphones as possible, but it always seems to blow out.”

This utilitarian approach to drum sounds has served him and the band well, with Blondie’s discography doubling as a masterclass in how to do pop ‘the right way.’ 

When the band venture out here in April for the upcoming Pandemonium festival, they do so with an enviable set list in tow, stacked to the brim with some of the most infectious songs of the last 50 years: “Heart of Glass”, “Call Me”, “Hanging on the Telephone”, “Tide is High”, “One Way or Another”, “Dreaming”, “Atomic”, “Rapture” – it’s hard to think of a band with as many certified bangers as Blondie.

Given the inherent danciness of so many of their backbeat heavy hit singles, you would expect Clem to be something of a connoisseur when it comes to snare sounds, which makes it all the more surprising to hear that all of these came from the same trusty wooden Premier—albeit with different tunings, mic setups and room reflections.

“The snare on all that early Blondie stuff is all the stock 14” x 6.5” wooden Premier snare that came with the kit.” he picks up. “These days I tour with a Black Beauty and my DW Collectors kit.”

For someone who has experienced as much success in the studio as Clem, it’s fitting that he generally opts to keep his setup clean and simple with a preference for coated heads, prized for their tasteful attack and ability to play nicely with microphones, in turn making them a common choice for session drummers worldwide. 

“I’ve always been a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to heads. Usually Remo Ambassadors. To me it’s about the tuning and serving the song. The tuning is very important.”

Kicks are an equally simple affair, with Clem sticking to his preference for 24” Kick drums and instead, putting the majority of his focus on finding the pocket and groove in any composition that comes his way. These human fluctuations in timing and groove are one of the things that separate Blondie’s music from your traditional ‘Four on the Floor’ affair. 

“There was a dance club called Club 82, who would have a ‘Rock and Roll’ night once a week,” remarks Clem.

“You would hear these organic dance records with live drums in between the bands- stuff like
“Shame Shame Shame” (Shirley & Company) ,”Rock the Boat” (The Hue Corporation) in between sets by the New York Dolls or my old band Sweet Revenge.”

“The drummers in the room were always keeping an ear out because there was just so much great playing happening at the time.” he notes.

This influence can be heard across many singles in the Blondie canon, in particular on 1978’s Parallel Lines- produced by Australia’s own Mike Chapman and whose hit single “Heart of Glass” took Blondie into unchartered technological territory.

“Mike wanted every song on Parallel Lines to be a single and that was how he approached it,” he reminisces.

“Heart of Glass in particular, took a very long time to record.”

“This was before MIDI and up until that point we had never played to a click track. I had to lay a sort of a click track with the kick to the arpeggiator on a very early Roland Synthesizer which was constantly going out of sync. In the end we had to record a few bars, comp it and drop back in and record a few more-which took seemingly forever compared to how we would normally work.”

The results more than speak for themselves with “Heart of Glass” becoming one of the band’s defining tracks. 

“Mike was the perfect producer for us, he was hands on in the way that if he didn’t like something in the arrangement, he would tell you and the song would be better for it. He would be on the studio floor conducting and given his track record and all the hit records he had written or been a part of, he had a real feel for what would work and what wouldn’t.”

Having spent so much of his adult life touring and recording, it is safe to say that Clem is a musical lifer. 

“I don’t know what I would be doing if I wasn’t playing. Drumming has just always been there. Being in a band has just always been my social life from a very early age.”

“I like being in the studio and on stage. I don’t feel inhibited when I’m there. I enjoy it. These are places that I like to be.”

You can catch Blondie in the flesh later this month at Pandemonium Festival, tickets are available at www.pandemonium.rocks 

Pandemonium Festival 2024

Saturday, April 20: Caribbean Gardens, Melbourne

Tuesday, April 23: Alice Cooper,  Blondie, Psychedelic Furs, Wolfmother side show

Entertainment Centre, Newcastle*

Thursday, April 25 (Anzac Day): Cathy Freeman Park – Sydney Olympic Park Precinct, Sydney

Saturday, April 27: Broadwater Parklands, Gold Coast (new venue)

Sunday, April 28: Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane (new venue)** Blondie not appearing

Review: Fender Tom DeLonge Starcaster

Tom DeLonge is famous for a few guitars that he’s had strung across his shoulders in the last three decades or so. Having been a founding member of blink-182 and Angels & Airwaves, DeLonge has indelibly left his mark on guitar, Fender more recently recognised this with a Seymour Duncan Invader-loaded Stratocaster. While he has a few signature models to his name, there was one that popped up since rejoining blink-182 in 2022: the Starcaster.

Tom DeLonge Starcaster

The Starcaster is of unique makeup, combining multiple famous designs into one. The Starcaster is an offset, semi-hollow electric guitar. Tom’s, like a lot of his own guitars, features a single bridge humbucker with a single Master Volume, the Tom DeLonge Starcaster featuring Treble Bleed wiring. The semi-hollow nature lends itself to DeLonge’s distorted guitar tones, preventing feedback thanks to the centre block, the main body being constructed from laminated maple.

The Tom DeLonge Starcaster is, as mentioned before, a semi-hollow electric guitar. The single humbucker in the bridge is a Seymour Duncan SH-5 Duncan Custom, building on the traditional SH-5 for a more souped up sound. The humbucker is wired to a master volume with a Treble Bleed circuit; a simple mod that allows treble frequencies to ‘bleed’ through as you roll your volume down. This is to combat what happens to a more traditionally wired circuit, where as you roll down your volume you lose high end. Pot(entiometer)s act as a variable resistor, and the full frequency spectrum doesn’t always respond the same way to resistance, so high-end can often be lost along the way. This is all to say that the Tom DeLonge Starcaster retains the clarity from the humbucker, allowing you to use your volume to switch easily between the distorted “All the Small Things” tones and the clean clarity of “What’s My Age Again?”

The Starcaster body as a whole is resonant enough for a unique sound, while the rosewood fretboard will feel familiar to many players. Rosewood isn’t quite as hard a wood as maple, so doesn’t have the bright, snappy clarity, but lends itself instead very well to distorted and more high gain sounds. The Starcaster offers that little bit of extra tone in the semi-hollow design, providing a mid-forward presence not unlike an acoustic guitar. The neck is made from roasted maple, with a modern “C” neck shape. It’s familiar to Fender fans, with a streamlined and slick feel, and the bolt-on design helps to control extraneous resonance. The strings are held in tune with a black 6-saddle adjustable bridge and tailpiece, with black Fender locking tuning machines at one at the other, the tuning machines installed into a 70s-style headstock, paying homage to the Starcaster being released in the 70s, a cool look, as well as balancing out the weight of the guitar.

The Tom DeLonge Starcaster is very comfortable, melding the comfort and curve of a semi-hollow guitar as well as the streamlined design of a solid-body. The modern “C” neck shape is breezy to fly around on, while not being as thin as a high performance neck, while retaining enough to grab ahold of. The modern “C” really is a meeting of some of the best specs available.

The sound from the Seymour Duncan SH-5 is as boisterous as you’d expect from a blink-182 signature model, while retaining clarity and punch needed to fill out a punk three-piece, the black speed knob living up to its name and being easy, smooth and speedy to adjust, as well as the numbered known allowing you to recall the perfect settings.

The Starcaster design allows easy access right up to the tippity-top of the 22 medium jumbo frets, the 12” radius being a flatter radius for more modern, often fast playing. This is especially helpful for quick riffs like “Dammit”, “First Date” or the epic ballad “Built This Pool”.

The Tom DeLonge Starcaster, sonics aside, is a very very cool guitar aesthetically. What makes the guitar so exciting, however, is that you can’t ignore the sonics. The Seymour Duncan SH-5 is a great sounding pickup, arguably all you need, hence the simple circuitry. The tones from the SH-5 are bolstered by the Treble Bleed wiring, allowing the full frequency response to come through no matter where you’ve set the speed knob.

A comfortable player, the Starcaster’s curves serving to be both a comfy guitar as well as a streamlined design. The modern “C” neck is slim enough to fly around on, but not so thin that it’ll feel streamlined or unfamiliar to fans of traditional Fender neck size. The whole guitar rings true, all the while keeping tuning with locking Fender tunes and a stop tailpiece.

The Tom DeLonge Starcaster is his own take on a classic Fender design, used on tour around the world for the multitude of songs that blink-182 need to perform night after night. Unique, memorable and iconic are just a handful of descriptives that both Tom DeLonge and his signature Fender Starcaster share.

For local enquiries, visit Fender Australia.

The new Markbass Gloxy Bass series 

The new Markbass Gloxy GV series of basses offers a compelling combination of features for beginner and intermediate bassists. Featuring a new, eye catching and unique ‘Double Shaped’ headstock, with a Comfort C Shape Neck that’s crafted from hard maple, this neck profile is designed for smooth playability and comfortable hand positioning for hours of practice or performance.

Read all the latest product & music industry news here.

The Maple Fretboard offers a bright and articulate tone, perfect for a variety of playing styles, 20 frets allowing ample room for exploring the full tonal range of the instrument across all those genres!

Markbass Gloxy Bass

The 34″ scale length provides a familiar playing experience for most bassists and allows for comfortable string tension regardless of tuning.

The iconic P-Style Body is available in Basswood or Alder, with a bolt-on construction. Bolt-on necks provide a common and reliable construction method that allows for easy maintenance and potential for future upgrades, as well as subtly shaping the sound for a more controlled tone.

These basses are powered by Markbass JJ-Style MB Instrument PRE Pickups: these custom-designed pickups are inspired by the classic Jazz Bass design, offering a wide tonal range and plenty of punch.

For local enquiries, visit CMC Music.