Mixdown Magazine 293

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#293 — SEPTEMBER 2018

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ST EM X BLU TI PRO ONY YE E I K ER MAC ODUC R P 2.2

INTERVIEWS — Skegss, Living Colour, Foreigner, Nice Biscuit, Basement

REVIEWED — Fender Parallel Universe Jazz Tele, Yamaha Genos Digital Workstation,

MOOER Preamp Live, Waldorf Quantum Synthesizer, Mackie XR824 Studio Moniters, Fender Player Series Basses

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CONTENTS 08 10 11 12 16 18 19 20 22 26 27 28 29 30 32 48 50

Giveaways Industry News Music News Product News Cover Story: The Amity Affliction Skegss Living Colour Foreigner Nice Biscuit Basement Features Guitar Bass Percussion Musicology Electronic Music Production Neumann Product Reviews Directory Gear Rundown /MIXDOWNMAGAZINE

@MIXDOWNMAGAZINE @MIXDOWNMAGAZINE MIXDOWNMAG.COM.AU

The Amity Affliction PG. 16

Foreword

Living Colour

Skegss

PG. 18

PG. 18

It’s always very polarising when a band takes a sharp turn in a new direction after years of staying in the same lane. Misery, the new record from The Amity Affliction, is a prime example of that. Vocalist Joel Birch sat down with us to talk about the album’s creation in this month’s cover story. On top of all of the regular goodness, we also deep dive into some of Australia’s premier studios and review some of the best audio equipment on the market. Thanks for reading!

P.S. Special thanks to Pees for the epic photo gracing our cover this month.

NICHOLAS SIMONSEN - EDITOR

PUBLISHER Furst Media 3 Newton Street, Richmond VIC 3121 (03) 9428 3600 EDITOR Nicholas Simonsen nicholas@furstmedia.com.au

For breaking news, new content and more giveaways visit our website.

ONLINE EDITOR Jessica Over jess@furstmedia.com.au

MANAGING DIRECTOR Patrick Carr patrick@furstmedia.com.au

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Aaron Mackenzie

CONTRIBUTORS Rob Gee, Christie Elizer, Nick Brown, David James Young, Adrian Violi, Michael Cusack, Augustus Welby, Luke Shields, Alex Watts, Jessica Over,

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Alex Watts, Jacob Colliver, Will Brewster, Tex Miller

Aaron Streatfeild, James Di Fabrizio, Adam Norris, Alex Winter, Will Brewster, Eddy Lim, Lewis Noke-Edwards, Josh Martin

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MADE BY MUSICIANS, FOR MUSICIANS

OCTOBER ISSUE #294: STREET AND ONLINE DATE: WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 10 AD BOOKING DEADLINE: MONDAY OCTOBER 1 EDITORIAL DEADLINE: TUESDAY OCTOBER 2 ARTWORK DEADLINE: WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 3 For more information on Mixdown Magazine contact us at: (03) 9428 3600 or email nicholas@furstmedia.com.au

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info@vinylrevival.com.au 405 Brunswick St, FITZROY. ph 03.9419.5070 128 Sydney Rd, BRUNSWICK. ph 03.9448.8635

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GIVEAWAYS Blue Microphones Yeti Pro Studio Giveaway Capture new levels of clarity with the Blue Microphones Yeti Pro Studio, an easy-to-use professional system for all your recording needs that offers advanced templates, effects and software for high-resolution recordings every time. Thanks to our friends at Innovative Music, we’ve got one to give away.

Last Month’s Giveaway Winners ERNIE BALL MUSICIAN’S TOOL KIT GIVEAWAY The Ernie Ball Musician’s Tool Kit offers everything you need to keep your instrument in perfect shape, featuring a polish cloth, wonder wipes, string cutter, peg winder, 6-in-1 screwdriver, ruler and durable hex wrench set. Thanks to our friends at CMC Music, we had a Musician’s Tool Kit to give away last month and the winner is: Angus from Sydney, NSW. Congratulations!

AUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-M60X HEADPHONES GIVEAWAY

Mackie Onyx Producer 2.2 Giveaway The Mackie Onyx Producer 2.2 grants users the opportunity to experience creativity without limits, providing studio-quality sound with maximum headroom and ultra-low noise all in one compact interface. Thanks to our friends at Amber Technology, we’re giving away an Onyx Producer 2.2 absolutely free.

Audio-Technica’s ATH-M60x on-ear professional monitor headphones, the latest refined design to join the phenomenal M-Series, offer pure professional performance, exceptional clarity, and unparalleled sound isolation. Thanks to our friends at Technical Audio Group, we had a pair to give away absolutely free and the winner is: Katy from Melbourne, VIC. Congratulations!

For your chance to win any of these prizes, head to our giveaways page at mixdownmag.com.au/giveaway and follow the instructions. *These giveaways are for Australian residents only and one entry per person. For full terms and conditions visit mixdownmag.com.au/terms-and-conditions

Just because your budget is smaller than that of a mega-studio doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a great set of monitors. For years, KRK ROKIT monitors have provided accurate sound for small bedroom projects as well as pro studios.

Visit: jands.com.au to find a dealer near you.

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INDUSTRY NEWS Music Biz Responds To NSW Government Inquiry The Australian music industry has responded with strong recommendations to the NSW’s Senate inquiry into how to strengthen the local music industry. Radio quotas and abandoning the disastrous lockout laws were recurrent themes. The inquiry took place in Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle, Tamworth and Byron Bay, and also went down to Melbourne to hear about the agent of change, which Victoria adopted in 2014. This effectively protects existing venues from residents who move into the neighbourhood and then whinge about the noise. The law ensures that developers must soundproof their new buildings.

Music export body Sounds Australia made the point that the NSW government has not yet realised that the music industry is a viable economic, social and cultural force that needs investment and respect. According to Sounds Australia, the South Australian government invested $307,969 to support 41 groups and four industry professionals in their international endeavours over the course of five years. In just two years, Victoria committed $654,865 to contemporary music for the support of 60 groups and ten industry pros/music businesses. NSW, on the other hand, spent a measly $65,000 in ten years.

Spotify is Going Live Streaming service Spotify, which has enjoyed success in America with live versions of its Rap Caviar and Hot Country playlists, is debuting its first public concert in Australia. Based on the indie oriented Front Left playlist, it will be held in Sydney on Thursday October 11 at a mystery venue featuring Cosmo’s Midnight, Baker Boy & Noongar MC Dallas Woods, Hatchie and Kota Banks & CXLOE.

123 Agency Expands to Record Label…

Melbourne-based 123 Agency, which set up a management division with Shihad drummer and producer Tom Larkin a few months ago, has now also become a record label. It established 123 Music as a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment Australia.

123 founder Damo Costin said, “We have wanted to work closely for some time now, so we really can’t wait to launch 123 Music and create some legacy acts together.”

…So Does Native Tongue Independent publisher Native Tongue has launched a record label, Best & Fairest, signing The Veils’ frontman Finn Andrews as its first act. Managing director Jamie Gough hired record label veteran Neil Robertson (ex- Liberator/[PIAS] and V2/Cooperative) to run the new company, explaining, “Whilst entering the label world has always been a temptation, we didn’t want to do so without the right person at the helm.”

Study: 57% of Aussies Use Voice Search A study called The Future Is Voice Activated by iProspect found that 57% of Aussies have adopted voice search.

However, the report suggests growth is starting to stagnate because the function is still rooted in usefulness, meaning major brands wanting to use it will have to add convenience to the mix if more Aussies are going to embrace it.

The research investigated voice adoption and usage across 1,800 smartphone owners in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore. Sixty-two percent of respondents used voice-activated technology in the past six months, with India (82%) and China (77%) the leaders. Unlike Australians, 56% of current users increased their usage in the last six months, and 95% intended to continue using in the next twelve months.

Sunshine Coast Turns It Up The Sunshine Coast’s Turn It Up conference returns for its fifth year on Thursday October 18 at The Playhouse

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at Solbar in Maroochydore from 4pm to 11pm. Among the panels are Management in the 21st Century, How To Write a Killer Song, and a look at Queensland’s peak music association QMusic.

The day also includes two ‘In Conversation’ events, featuring Maggie Collins, who runs her music services company Morning Belle, executive produces BIGSOUND, manages DZ Deathrays and presents and produces various shows across triple j Unearthed and Double J, and author, broadcaster and label exec Stuart Coupe, who’s dropping his book Roadies later this month and already starting work on his next book about Paul Kelly, whom he used to manage way back when.

Victoria Talks It, Walks It: Talent Matters The Victorian State Government has set aside $486,000 for the first round of its new program Talent Matters to boost diversity and inclusion in the state’s creative industries. It will offer skills development and paid employment for creatives from First Nations and culturally diverse backgrounds, as well as those with a disability.

APRA AMCOS Cuts Deal With Facebook APRA AMCOS cut a deal with Facebook whereby its 95,000 Australian, New Zealand and international songwriters, composers and music publishers will be paid every time their work is used on Facebook, Instagram, Oculus, and Messenger.

APRA AMCOS chief executive Dean Ormston said, “Whether it’s live music or digital, the sustainability of Australian and New Zealand music relies on our industry working in partnership with platforms like Facebook to support new developments in music consumption, ensure the public has access to great music, and that music creators have a sustainable industry that supports their careers.”

Crowdfunding for Nick Cave Statue Commences The crowdfunding campaign for the infamous Nick Cave statue to be donated to Warracknabeal, the Victorian country town where he was born, hasn’t been a resounding success. The campaign was aiming to raise $250,000 by Saturday September 15; however, as of Saturday September 1, only a fraction over $4,000 has been promised. The money is also being raised for the Dawn and Colin Cave Youth Foundation to “sponsor artists in residence programs, school and community projects and events that will create learning, training and employment opportunities” in the region. The campaign is at chuffed.org/project/ nick-cave-statue.

Things We Hear Thirteen years after it was axed in Australia, MTV is bringing back TRL (Total Request Live) to this country in 2019. Its live performances, celebrity interviews, entertainment news and music videos will be integrated across linear, social and digital platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

Sydney agency UNDR Ctrl, founded in 2014 by Paul Stix after he arrived from the UK, has set up a management arm. Its first signing to the new division is Bag Raiders. Stix said, “I’ve worked very closely with Jack and Chris for the past eight years, and the move into management just felt like a natural and logical next step.”

Entries are open until Monday October 1 for the 40th Toyota Star Maker, Australia’s longest running search for a new country music star. The competition is searching for a musician who is over 18 and already making a considerable impression in country music.

The Australian Music Vault, the interactive permanent exhibition of Australia’s music legacy which opened last December at Arts Centre Melbourne, has hit the 500,000 attendance mark.

The latest (and loudest) lineup of Rose Tattoo, with Jimmy Barnes’ drummer son Jackie joining last month for a European tour, will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of the Tatts’ self-titled skull-crunching debut album by re-recording it.

Melbourne music touring and events agency Thick As Thieves hit the $500,000 mark last month in donations raised for the Fred Hollows Foundation to combat avoidable blindness among some of the world’s poorest people. They partnered with promoters and venues such as Revolver, while agency boss Mike Toner upped the money by personally taking on an Ironman triathlon in 2015 and together with some of his team, participated twice in the Wild Women On Top Melbourne Coastrek 60km trek in 2017 and 2018.

Gurrumul Yunupingu’s documentary Gurrumul is now the seventh highest grossing Australian documentary, earning almost $1 million after 17 weeks in the cinema and now out on DVD. This year’s South Australian Music Awards on Thursday November 8 will move to a new venue, the Adelaide Town Hall, and is set to be MC’d by triple j’s Zan Rowe.

Vale Flora Tountzis It is with great sadness we mourn the loss of Flora Tountzis. Flora had worked in the music industry for over 30 years, spending the last few years at Jade MC Australia. Flora worked behind the scenes to make sure music stores around Australia had stock to fill their stores. Most music stores would have known and dealt with Flora over the years.

She was a much loved member of the music industry and will be sadly missed by all. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

mixdownmag.com.au

MUSIC NEWS Metallica Launches Sonic-Infused Blackened American Whiskey Ever the business-minded enterprise, Metallica will further expand into the world of merchandising with a newly introduced bottle of whiskey. Its major point of difference is the injection of sound waves into the whiskey formula – it’s more than just your typical beverage. To infuse the alcohol with Metallica’s earthshattering sound, the whiskey is pummelled by a carefully curated Metallica playlist. The soundwaves penetrate the barrel, causing the whiskey to pick up additional wood flavour characteristics.

Catch Panic! At The Disco On Tour Next Month

VB Hard Yards To Showcase Emerging Musicians

Hear From Anthrax’s Scott Ian On His Spoken Word Tour

Prepare for a heavy dose of nostalgia because Panic! At The Disco are preparing to take their live show around the nation this October. Touring in support of their new album, Pray For The Wicked, Panic! will visit Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne on an all-ages arena tour. It all goes down from Saturday October 6 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney through to a huge closing show at Melbourne’s Hisense Arena on Saturday October 13.

After months of shortlisting and public votes, the VB Hard Yards tour is preparing to take off around the country to showcase some our finest emerging talent. Gold Coast punk heavyweights Being Jane Lane, Newcastle emo lords Paper Thin, and Melbourne ‘90s revivalists Claws & Organs will jet off to Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney supporting the likes of Alex Lahey, WAAX, RAAVE TAPES and Tired Lion respectively.

For full tour dates and details, visit the VB Hard Yards website.

Scott Ian, rhythm guitarist for heavy metal legends Anthrax, is set to embark on a spoken word tour around Australia this month. The ‘One Man Riot’ tour will see the guitarist stop for a chat in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.

As one of the founding members of Anthrax back in 1981, Ian is sure to bring insight from decades in the industry to audiences across the country, kicking things off in Adelaide on Monday September 24.

Byron Bay Guitar Festival Returns With Blistering Lineup

DZ Deathrays To Celebrate 10th Anniversary On National Tour

Whitesnake’s Bernie Marsden Is Releasing A Guitar Book

The success of the inaugural Byron Bay Guitar Festival last year has provoked its return this year, with a dizzyingly diverse lineup hitting Byron Brewery on Saturday October 6 and Sunday October 7. British India, Dallas Franca and Ash Grunwald lead the pack of the 29 performances, while last year’s crowd favourite Wiggle Murray Cook returns. Beyond the headliners, prodigious nine-year-old guitarist Taj Farrant will set the shredding standard for the adults, including The Fumes, Jeff Martin, Hussy Hicks, and Opal Ocean.

Brisbane thrash rock duo DZ Deathrays are preparing to hit the road on their biggest headline run to date in celebration of their 10th anniversary. They’ll tour off the back of their latest release, Bloody Lovely, and will cover hits from all three LPs as they journey around Australia. Each show presents a lineup of support acts that showcase the city’s finest, with the likes of Ali Barter, PUP, The Gooch Palms, and Press Club joining the DZ party.

Former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden is sharing insight into his extensive guitar collection in a new book set for release later this year. Tales of Tone and Volume sees Marsden tell the stories behind some of the most notable instruments in his unique six-string collection, including his cherished Martin Coletti and famous guitar dubbed ‘The Beast’. The book details each guitar through photographs taken by Melvyn May, with each entry accompanied by the story behind the instrument.

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PRODUCT NEWS Fender Expands ‘Play’ Learning Platform to Include Bass Lessons FENDER AUSTRALIA | FENDER.COM.AU Fender Play, a complete learning app from the musical instrument experts at Fender, has officially expanded to welcome bass players to its lessons platform. The app will teach aspiring bassists skills and songs made popular by artists such as James Brown and Curtis Mayfield. Bite-sized lessons will keep you on track to learn essential bass skills, including slap bass, hammerons, and how to play with a pick. New players can sign up for a free trial before investing in their musical future with Fender Play’s bass lessons.

Music Man Ships Redesigned StringRay and StingRay 5

sE Electronics sE2300 Microphone is Coming Soon

Faith Guitars Ships Nomad Series of Travel Acoustics

CMC MUSIC | CMCMUSIC.COM.AU

SOUND & MUSIC | SOUND-MUSIC.COM

CMC MUSIC | CMCMUSIC.COM.AU

Music Man has been hard at work recreating some of its most legendary instruments, including the renowned StingRay bass. Thankfully, the StingRay 4 and 5 are on their way to our shores, complete with new features and appointments for the modern era. Updates include an enhanced contour, sculpted neck joint, and lightweight aluminium hardware.

Rest assured the new features only serve to add an extra touch of class to the revered StingRay, set to arrive in all its unmistakable charm this month.

Respected around the world for its technological prowess and innovative designs, sE Electronics is truly a force to be reckoned with. The latest design to emerge from the company, the sE2300, is a large-diaphragm condenser microphone with switchable polar patterns and a handmade 1” condenser capsule. Offering users the choice of cardioid, omnidirectional, or figure-eight modes, the sE2300 is sure to find a worthy place in any studio. Expect to see the sE2300 in stores in the near future.

Patrick James Eggle, renowned UK luthier and founder of Faith Guitars, has extended his guitar prowess to the world of travel acoustics. The new Nomad series is ideal for the gigging musician, available in either Neptune (Jumbo) or Saturn (Dreadnought) shapes in the form of 590mm, smallscale powerhouses. Each instrument features solid mahogany back and sides, ensuring Faith maintains its reputation for tonal richness. Check out the Nomad series in stores around the country today.

Reason 10.2 Update Set to Arrive Soon INNOVATIVE MUSIC AUSTRALIA | INNOVATIVEMUSIC.COM.AU The latest update to Reason has entered beta testing and will arrive as free update on Wednesday September 26 with plenty of new workflow features. Gun producers can now view and edit MIDI across multiple lanes, snap notes to an adaptive grid based on zoom level, use their controller with Easy MIDI Inputs, jump directly to rack devices from sequencer lanes, and quickly add tracks to the sequencer in the rack. Anyone keen to participate in the public beta can sign up via Propellerhead’s website.

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Framus D-Series Arrives in Australia AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU Framus Guitars, proud sibling of Warwick Bass, has introduced the D-Series to add a new level of sophistication to the world of electric guitars. Manufactured with the same high-quality standards as the Warwick RockBass series, the D-Series boasts Seymour Duncan pickups, tigerstripe ebony fretboards, and are even available in left-handed versions without surcharge. Seven models are now available, ranging from the Diablo Pro and Panthera Supreme through to the Phil XG Artist Line.

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THU 4 OCT ENMORE THEATRE SYDNEY FRI 5 OCT EATONS HILL HOTEL BRISBANE SAT 6 OCT forum theatre MELBOURNE NEW ALBUM LAY IT ON DOWN OUT NOW KennyWayneShepherd.com

PRODUCT NEWS MXL’s New Conferencing Microphone AC-360-Z Lands in Australia INNOVATIVE MUSIC AUSTRALIA | INNOVATIVEMUSIC. COM.AU For those in the corporate communications world, an accurate conferencing microphone is key to avoiding fudging the minutes. MXL’s new conferencing microphone, the AC-360-Z, attains incredibly high performance and clarity through the company’s studiorecording pedigree. A staggering 25-foot radius and 360 degree perfect speech intelligibility is borne of the 12 internal microphones split into four quadrants. Need to cover a really big room? AC-360-Z’s can be daisy-chained together using simple USB-C cables – all packaged in a simple plug-and-play setup.

Receive 20+ Free Eventide Plugins With an Apogee or Element Interface

PreSonus Launches ATOM Production and Performance Pad Controller

Mooer Groove Loop Hits Australian Stores

SOUND DISTRIBUTION | SOUNDDISTRIBUTION.COM.AU

LINK AUDIO | LINKAUDIO.COM.AU

JADE AUSTRALIA | JADEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

If you’re considering investing in some new software, this is the deal for you. For a limited time, customers who purchase a new Apogee Ensemble or Element Series Thunderbolt audio interface from an authorised Apogee dealer will receive a coupon for a free six-month subscription to the Eventide Ensemble bundle. Boost your mix with the 23 included plugins, with the additional bonus of receiving any new plugins released during your subscription at no additional charge. The offer ends on Thursday January 10.

Doubling as a performance controller and integrated production environment, the PreSonus ATOM is the solution to creating virtual sounds with ease. This comprehensive production system includes the revered Studio One Artist software, enabling users to produce with virtual instruments and trigger samples and loops. It features 16 full-size velocity- and pressure-sensitive RGB LED pads, eight assignable pad banks, 20 assignable buttons, and four endless rotary encoders.

Bringing the Micro Looper and Micro Drummer together in one compact pedal, the Mooer Groove Loop is the perfect jamming companion for musicians on the go. Each element can be used either independently or simultaneously, with the looper synchronising with the drum groove to ensure you always keep the beat. Features include a tap tempo button, independent playback level controls, and space for an unlimited number of recordings. Choose from a whopping 16 different drum grooves to add a new dimension to your playing.

Exclusive Shipment of PRS Reclaimed Limiteds Lands in Australia

Hammond SKX Stage Keyboard Now Available in Australia

Roadie Bass Has Touched Down in Australia

ELECTRIC FACTORY | ELFA.COM.AU

BERNIES MUSIC LAND | MUSICLAND.COM.AU

SOUND & MUSIC | SOUND-MUSIC.COM

Last year, PRS released a small run of what it dubbed ‘Reclaimed Limiteds’, a series showcasing two exotic wood species: Peroba Rosa and Brauna Preto. The wood was sourced from old buildings, with its origins dating back more than 100 years. Luckily for guitarists everywhere, PRS found some timber remaining after the original run and have now produced a selection of S2 Custom 22 Semi Hollows exclusively for Australia. Be quick – a total of just 15 pieces will arrive throughout the month.

The new Hammond SKX stage keyboard has touched down in Australia and is in stock at Melbourne’s own Bernies Music Land. The SKX is the smallest and lightest full-featured dual-manual keyboard in the company’s esteemed catalogue, and is designed to be the ideal choice for professionals and hobbyists alike. The keyboard arrives with a diverse selection of functions, including digital effects, an extensive library of keyboard voices, and even caters for different key weight depending on whether you’re playing piano or organ parts.

For bass players needing a tuner to rely on, the Roadie Bass could be the perfect solution. This tuner features all the handy qualities of the Roadie 2 guitar tuner, and also boasts a powerful motor to enable even the rustiest of pegs to turn. Promising to tune your bass in just 30 seconds, Roadie Bass is ideal for staying in tune during a live gig.

Bluetooth connectivity also offers the chance to tune up to 150 strings on a single charge.

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THE AMITY AFFLICTION TURN MISERY INTO MANIA If there’s one criticism even the biggest fans of The Amity Affliction will admit, it’s that the regional Queensland oceancore overlords have stagnated a little in recent years. The sound of their last two albums – 2014’s Let The Ocean Take Me and 2016’s This Could Be Heartbreak – is almost indistinguishable, much to the chagrin of those adamant that Amity’s full potential is just a short hop away.

But on their recent Misery LP, the trio has taken much more than a short hop forward; they’ve made a full-on cannonball into the deep end of a dark pop wasteland underpinned by their signature emo-metalcore gruffness. Ambitious? Sure, but as frontman Joel Birch explains, it was crucial in ensuring The Amity Affliction’s longevity.

“It’s easily the best thing we’ve ever done,” he says. “It’s what we’ve needed to do for a while now, but I guess we just weren’t ready, or we were scared – scared of making a departure from what safe music was for us. We’ve always tried to better ourselves with each record, but I think it just was time for a really significant change. I think we’ve done it tastefully, though, and I don’t really think we’ve left Amity fans in the dust. There’s something on there for everyone, and I’m really proud of the album we made – and I can say that with great confidence this time around.”

Amity’s newfound synth-flavouring has been a long time coming. As they made it known at this year’s UNIFY Gathering, the band have strayed from their roots as a balls-to-the-wall breakdown factory.

Teaming up with pop producer Matt Squire (whose production credits include Underoath, Panic! At The Disco, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato) was a gutsy move, too. So it needs to be asked: do Amity still feel at home in the heavy music community that fostered them in their infancy? Or have they grown disillusioned with the culture?

“Yes and no,” Birch says. “I would say that’s a ‘two sides of the coin’ type of argument. I think for us, we’ve outgrown the heavy music scene. Even though we still had our foot in the door with This Could Be Heartbreak, our hearts were sort of moving on.

“I know Dan [Brown, guitar] started writing for this album not long after This Could Be Heartbreak came out, and he wrote, like, 30 songs or something – we had pretty much a whole album in the bag. And then about a year out from that, we just scrapped everything and started

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"I’M REALLY PROUD OF THE ALBUM WE MADE AND I CAN SAY THAT WITH GREAT CONFIDENCE THIS TIME AROUND.” again. We recorded ‘Ivy’ around this time last year, in a bus in some forest in Europe. And when we recorded that, we were like, ‘This is it. This is where we’ve gotta be right now – we’ve gotta crack this code.’ And we did – even more drastically on a lot of songs.”

Birch notes Amity’s new vibe as “what everyone needed to hear, and what we needed to write,” but that may be a tad hypocritical.

As the longtime screamer points out, listening back on Misery was a taxing process for himself, thanks in no short part to a mental health crisis he found himself in midway through the creative process.

“So I only listened to it for the first time, front to back, about four or five days ago,” Birch admits. “And… It was super traumatic. I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder when we got home from [the first recording sessions], and I actually had a huge mental breakdown while I was recording vocals. I got home from pre-production and lost my passport, so I had to record in Toronto over to Newcastle and I wasn’t allowed into America.

“There was a massive storm brewing as well when I was scheduled to come home, so I got stuck in Toronto and just had a fucking

meltdown. It was all very scary for me – I really didn’t know what was going on with my brain and I felt like I was going crazy. I’d spent the year leading up to it writing the lyrics, but I didn’t really look at them or read them. I guess recording what I’d written made me think about it all again, and then I had a meltdown, so… It wasn’t a nice experience, but I think it paid off in the end.”

Driving the main campaign for Misery is a three-part drama short, written and co-directed by Birch, which tells the story of three small town hoodlums with a (justified) bloodthirst for revenge. It’s something Amity have dipped their toes into previously, with the Heartbreak album cycle driven by its own death-themed anthology. But where Misery differs is in its magnitude – it’s not just a simple string of music videos with an interlocking narrative; it’s a dedicated project in its own right, with its own creative architecture and a powerful (and extremely pertinent) moral overtone.

“It has a lot to do with the current climate regarding sexual abuse,” Birch says. “I guess it’s my way of showing where we stand on that as a band, and telling that story through the lens of the ‘classic Australian criminal’. In Australia, we’re all pretty obsessed with criminals for one reason or another – they’ve become these romantic figureheads of our culture, and that archetype is obviously a myth that’s been created somehow. But I thought it was an interesting way to make a statement like that.

“We were also really conscious of finally making a very Australian film clip. Some guy was actually trying to talk shit on us, saying, ‘Oh, it plays out like some late night B-grade Australian crime movie,’ and I was like, ‘No shit! That’s exactly what it’s meant to be.’ So I guess we’ve achieved our goal there. It’s cool. I like it. I like how Australian it is, and I like that we’ve finally been given the chance to create something special like this.”

BY MATT DORIA

Misery is out now via Roadrunner/Warner Music

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MUSIC INTERVIEWS “I’m sure there are plenty of bands that know their way around all that sort of stuff, but that’s just not us,” continues Reed. “I just use the same stuff I do when I’m playing live for recording. I play my Mustang and I play my Tele and that’s really about it.” Cregan notes that Reed has an impressive pedal collection – at least, it looks impressive.

“They’re all just clean, booster kind of things,” he says. “It’s basically just going off the sound of the amp.” Reed laughs.

“Yep, that’s the Skegss guitar tone in one word – clean.”

Wingin’ it with Skegss Across the pages of Mixdown, you’ll find countless bands and artists that can tell you the inner workings of every single pedal, amp and piece of guitar gear they own – right down to the serial number. Full disclosure: Skeggs is not that band. The Byron Bay natives hold a straightforward and simple approach to music, and to what they use to make music by proxy. Just plug in, play and remember: it’s for fun. “We’re not super technical music dudes,” confesses guitarist/vocalist Ben Reed.

“Can you believe it?” quips Toby Cregan, the band’s bassist.

The band – completed by drummer Jonny Lani – is currently doing the promotional rounds for their debut album, My Own Mess. Think of the title like the way a teenager keeps their bedroom together – it may appear to be in tatters and scattered all over the place, but in their mind they know exactly where everything is. Skegss, to the untrained eye, come across as your standard loose-unit garage rockers with thrashing manes and major chords to spare. Delve a little deeper, however, and you’ll find a band with a strong grasp on pop sensibilities and a keen observational eye that makes their songs so resonant with a rapidly-growing audience. It’s something that has developed substantially since the band’s 2013 inception and its string of EP releases in the years leading up to My Own Mess.

Described by Cregan and Reed as “everything that happened in the last year all at once,” My Own Mess was recorded over the course of a few weeks on the central coast of New South Wales in the famous Grove Studios. With producer Dylan Adams behind the boards, the normally-chill band had their regular settings flipped on them in a big way during the

“A song like ‘Which Way To America’… Part of what motivates a singer to scream is that self-imposed question of, ‘This is just what rockstars do, right?’ And that’s cool, but part of what motivates Corey Glover to scream in a song like ‘Which Way To America’ is, ‘This is fucking insane. What we’re going through right now is insane.’

So the scream may sound the same, but the motivation behind it is very different. And that’s what gives Vivid a verisimilitude, or a sense of reality.”

Three decades on, Vivid is still one of the most indispensable albums in rock – not only by virtue of its ultra juicy production, but because Living Colour approached its writing with a distinct ‘fuck you’ attitude. They were fusing rock, jazz, metal and funk in a way that polarised critics with its sheer dexterity, and they were unafraid to point fingers – index and middle – at political issues that other bands were too cowardly to tackle.

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“We got up late and we stayed up late, and the whole time we’d be recording songs. We didn’t really allow ourselves to leave – we were out in the bush, too. We’d already spent a week out there, making sure the songs were ready to go for recording. It got pretty fucking weird towards the end. It doesn’t seem like long, but we’d never spent that much time doing recording before.”

“We used to hate doing it,” Reed agrees. “We got frustrated really easily, just because we didn’t know what we were doing. We’ve done a lot more since then, and we’ve learned that it’s best when you’re surrounded by cool people that encourage you to do it. If it was just us in there, we’d all just be screaming at each other the whole time.”

So, no DIY recording projects from Skegss any time soon?

“Man, we can barely figure out how a pedal works,” laughs Cregan. “How do you reckon we’d go with trying to record?”

BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG

Not that there’s any greater plan at work, of course. “We just write songs all the time,” says Reed. “Pretty much four months after [2016 EP] Everyone is Good at Something came out, we were ready to make something new. We put out Holiday Food last year, and everyone was really stoked on that, so we ended up touring it for ages – pretty much a year straight, I reckon. By the time we were done with that, there was just a really good vibe when it came to going in the studio and finally making an album. I think that comes across when you listen to it.”

“We were prepared to stand on our own,” says frontman and sole remaining founder Vernon Reid. “We weren’t trying to sound like anybody else; we weren’t trying to be anything else than what we were. Our conversation was a different conversation because we were talking about things that were very, very real for us.

Living Colour Tell It Like It Is

album’s recording. “We pretty much just locked ourselves in there for two weeks,” says Cregan.

It’s in that reality that Vivid remains, for better or for worse, so germane in our current societal landscape. Neonazis were a thing in 1988, but they weren’t so widely accepted in otherwise progressive circles – you didn’t see them chumming up with panelists on Sky News, no less.

Rent prices were deplorable, but they weren’t so dire that a one-bedroom apartment with blood-stained walls would run a tight million in Sydney.

“It’s a double-edged sword because it’s great to still be relevant 30 years on, but it’s also a pyrrhic victory – it sucks that gentrification is still happening, and it sucks that ‘Open Letter (To a Landlord)’ is more relevant now than it was even back then,” says Reid. “It sucks even more that ‘Funny Vibe’ is more relevant than it was. ‘Cult Of Personality’ will always be a thing as well, because there’s always going to be some charismatic, smiling dude that’s going to come along and bully the people below him. So it’s a funny place to be. On one hand, it’s very cool that younger people such as yourself are going, ‘You know what? This shit is real.’ But it’s a weird thing to have all these problems that we sang about only get worse after 30 years.”

Living Colour are set to bring Vivid back to Australia this December for its 30th anniversary, where they’ll be

My Own Mess is out now via Ratbag Records/Warner Music. Catch Skegss on tour around Australia throughout October/November.

performing highlights from the record (Reid points to ‘Broken Hearts’ and ‘Memories Can’t Wait’ as the jams he’s most excited for) alongside a full spate of fan favourites. A brief mention of the tour has the New Yorker buzzing with nostalgic glee.

“I’ve had a great affection for Australian music. The Divinyls, oh my God – rest in peace, Chrissy Amphlett. But man, ‘Science Fiction’ – that was my theme song when that record came out. So I mean, it’s somewhat cliché, but I have a weird personal connection to Australian culture. It’s always great to be back. And I know that right now, there’s a lot of crazy stuff going on in Australia, and we want to be there for people.”

That’s an understatement. Australia’s political atmosphere is nothing short of a shitshow and in more ways than one, Vivid is an album that brilliantly personifies our current dilemmas. Reid is quick to acknowledge the clusterfuck.

“That’s something Australia needs to sort out with itself.

Everyone is trying to figure out their identity – who they are, where they want to go, and what they mean. And as a country, Australia has to ask itself collectively, ‘Do we want to repeat the real, terrible things of our past, or are we prepared to move forward?’ America is going through a very similar thing, but it’s a stark question for Australia to have to answer for itself.”

BY MATT DORIA

Living Colour are touring Australia throughout December.

mixdownmag.com.au

MUSIC INTERVIEWS “He didn’t know if he wanted to keep doing music as Foreigner or turn it into a solo project,” explains Jeff Pilson, who has served as Foreigner’s bass player for almost 15 years. “He was working with Jason Bonham, who I had met when we were both part of the fictional band in the movie Rock Star. Jason had convinced Mick to revamp Foreigner, and they gave me a call to come down and jam with them. The chemistry was immediate. I was hooked from there.”

Pilson, who made his name in the ‘80s with hard rock band Dokken, has been a consistent part of Foreigner ever since that first jam session. Much like Mark Wahlberg’s position in the aforementioned Rock Star, Pilson was entering the fold of a band whose catalogue he was already heavily familiar with. “I’ve always been a big Foreigner fan,” he says. “I always thought that they had this incredible collection of great hard rock songs. They’ve always been in the groove, with great singing and great playing, but always rocking at the same time.”

Foreigner A couple of years ago, Foreigner celebrated its 40th anniversary as a band. It’s a remarkable achievement and a huge accomplishment for a band of any ilk, but it seemed particularly special for Foreigner on the basis that the band has survived every major trend that rock music has thrown its way over the years. There was a time, however, when founding member Mick Jones was unsure if the band with which he made his name was in a position to soldier on.

Following the departure of original vocalist Lou Gramm, Jones found himself at a crossroads.

mixdownmag.com.au

When describing his role in Foreigner, Pilson notes that he’s done his best to be faithful to the foundations laid by his predecessors – in particular, original bassist Ed Gagliardi, who passed away in 2014. At the same time, he’s also tried to ensure the band’s focus on hard rock remains paramount to the operation.

Pilson. “I mean, 15 Foreigner singles have been Top 30 hits – when you’re working with that, it almost feels like cheating.” The 59-year-old bassist also notes that touring as a part of Foreigner has been a big part of broadening his travel horizons. “With Dokken, we only got to do a few tours,” he says.

“We got to do Europe a couple of times, and we also did a tour in Japan. Being a part of Foreigner, though, I’ve been to South America, I’ve been to South Africa, I’m about to go to Australia for the third time... it’s opened up a lot of doors for me, I’ll say that much.” Pilson also notes that he isn’t even concerned about jetlag. “Even if I did doze off, I could probably play the set in my sleep.”

Indeed, Foreigner will make their way down to Australia this October for a run of headlining shows. Taking in exquisite theatres like the Sydney Opera House and Hamer Hall, Pilson is chomping at the bit to make his return.

“It’s such a beautiful country. Everyone I’ve met there is so civil, and all the cities I’ve visited have been so clean and beautiful. There’s just something about it that I really, really love – and I think I can say that’s unanimous as far as the rest of the band is concerned, too.”

BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG

“I think it’s important to stay true to the vibe of the original music,” he says. “In spots, I feel like the set has gotten a little bit heavier, and there’s a bit more improvisation at work as well. For the most part, though, we base a lot of the performance on what was laid down on the record. As a fan, I know if I’m going to see a band that I love then I’m going to hear the songs that I fell in love with.”

Thankfully, Pilson happens to be part of a band that has shown, decade after decade, exactly what love is. Foreigner still play to huge, cross-generational crowds all over the world, which is not something anyone within the band takes for granted. “It’s an incredible catalogue,” says

Catch Foreigner on tour around Australia next month thanks to TEG Live.

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MUSIC INTERVIEWS “What started out as a dumb in-joke became the band name when we couldn’t think of a name before our first gig,” bassist Nick Cavendish says. “They’re not even the best biscuits that Arnott’s makes.”

“I don’t even know what they’re going to be for the next show,” says Cavendish of Star and Cuell’s outfits. “They can get an outfit out in about a day now. They’re getting very good at it.”

The psych-garage six-piece, whose sound floats somewhere between Dandys Rule OK and vaporwave, are dropping their debut album, Digital Mountain, later this month. Rather than book time in a Brisbane studio, Nice Biscuit called on musician Ali Richardson, who runs a studio near the town of Boonah in Queensland’s Scenic Rim. The band packed as if they were going on a camping trip and set out to cut a record.

Nice Biscuit had the opportunity to open for legendary neopsych group the Brian Jonestown Massacre in Byron Bay and Sydney this year. To prep, Cavendish watched the 2004 documentary Dig!, which chronicles the rise and/or fall of Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman and professional enfant terrible Anton Newcombe, and his tempestuous relationships with bandmates and the world in general. It’s hard to miss a twang of Brian Jonestown in ‘Captain’ and other languorous and psych-tinged Nice Biscuit tracks.

“Once you’re out there, you can really focus on the recording,” Cavendish says. “Once you finish your part and you need a break, you can go outside in the Ipswich/Boonah area and it’s beautiful, with cows walking around and birds everywhere.”

Scaling Digital Mountain was a growth experience for the band, and the album includes a mixture of new material and songs that have been worked and reworked for the past year-anda-half.

Nice Biscuit’s Recipe For Success Like Daft Punk or Mogwai, Nice Biscuit’s name started out as a joke. During the band’s first jam session, drummer Kurt Melvin brought along a packet of Arnott’s Nice Biscuits and, when the band started a private Facebook group to plan future meetups, someone set the group’s cover image to a picture of the coconut-flavoured snacks.

“We had a more focused idea of how we wanted it to sound than when we were green,” Cavendish says. “We really needed to have a fully-formed idea of how we wanted it to sound, which came through by playing the songs a lot live. That formed it and whittled it down to what it is now.

“There’s quite a lot of different aspects to the album. There’s a few quieter songs and then a few that are quite heavy. I think we really hope people will enjoy it. We’ve definitely focused our sound and refined it by playing a lot of shows and having a lot of time to record. We haven’t been doing it by the hour – we just go for the weekend.”

Digital Mountain winds together psychedelia, disco, krautrock, and pop into a densely layered, retrofuturistic sound that matches their stage presentation. Frontwomen Billie Star and Grace Cuell appear in matching outfits – for instance, lemonyellow go-go dresses – that they tailor themselves. It’s hard to tell if the band are time travellers from the early ‘70s or holiday-makers from Portland.

It’s a matter of months before the reincarnated Basement will have lasted longer than they did in their original run, which is a point of discussion the band admittedly hasn’t gone over until now. “I never really thought of it that way – that’s quite interesting,” says Andrew Fisher, the band’s lead vocalist.

“If I was pressed, I’d have to agree that the two sides of the Basement story definitely sound like they’re coming from different places. That’s especially the case when I listen to something from the first record [2010’s I Wish I Could Stay Here] and Beside Myself. I’m always thinking ahead, and thinking about what it will be like in a few more albums’ time – where, say, the divide will be between the first three albums in comparison with the next three. I wouldn’t say there are drastic changes between our albums, but I feel like there’s definitely enough to notice, and we’ll probably change more as it goes on.”

Basement Strike a Balance Ahead of the release of their fourth album, Beside Myself, UK post-grunge exports Basement find themselves at a curious crossroads. For context, the band was originally together for four years, releasing two studio albums in that time. In 2018, the band has entered its fourth year back in action and – wouldn’t you know it – are on the verge of releasing their second album since officially reuniting in 2014.

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The band’s first LP to be released via Fueled By Ramen Records, Beside Myself was made with producer Will Yip at the tail-end of 2017 and showcases their collective strengthening insofar as writing emotive, hooky alternative rock is concerned. Originally perceived to be the UK frontrunners of emo’s fourth wave, the five-piece have focused more on their grungier elements in recent years – 2016’s Promise Everything sounded more like Bush than Braid, for instance.

“For this record, we were writing for something like two and a bit years,” says Fisher. “It may seem relatively quick in succession to Promise Everything, but that’s probably more to do with us re-releasing it last year. That was all written well before we finished recording. In our heads, making another album was well overdue.” Fisher notes the jam session for what would become ‘Disconnect’, the album’s lead single, as a major turning point in the writing of Beside Myself. “I can still remember Alex [Henery, guitarist] playing that riff for the first time and everyone joining in instantly,” he says.

“I still have the demo from that very day, and there’s something about the way it sounded that really set me off. I

“I watched [Dig!] after we heard we were going to be playing with them, which was sort of unwise,” Cavendish says. “In truth, it was nothing like that. It’s quite an edited movie. It was quite weird to talk to Anton knowing so much about him and his history. All in all, working with the band was a great experience. All the guys were really good. Anton was really helpful and had some really good pointers for us.”

The Digital Mountain tour marks a jumping-off point for a band that, like the Brian Jonestown Massacre, is both stylistically retro and forward-looking. Cavendish hopes that touring will give the band a chance to focus and refine their sound further.

“We’re really having a go,” Cavendish says. “It’s very DIY. We do everything ourselves, from mixing the songs and making the costumes to managing and booking. We want to do it all ourselves, not just writing and playing the songs. It’s sort of like a school project.”

BY ZACHARY SNOWDON SMITH

Digital Mountain is available Friday September 14.

realised when we were writing it that this was exactly what I wanted to focus on for this album: driven, guitar-based rock. I know we’ve always been that, but I felt like it was something we needed to reaffirm. Once we figured out what kind of world we wanted to be in, it was very easy to build up from that.”

Through both its initial and its current run, a lot of things have changed in the world surrounding Basement. They’ve changed labels, members have moved to different parts of the world (Fisher now lives in Richmond, Virginia) and some have even started other bands (Henery also plays guitar in the supergroup Fiddlehead). What’s never changed, however, is the lineup itself – the same five people who started the band back in 2009 are the same ones seeing it through almost a decade later. To Fisher, this remains the single most important aspect of the band – the bond between his brothers (both literal and figurative) within its personnel.

“I think it’s really important. It’s why we are who we are.

It’s why we behave how we behave. It’s why we play this music, why we sound this way, how we perform, how we present ourselves. It all comes down to the bond that these five people share. I truly don’t think we would sound like we do or that we would be where we are in our lives today if it wasn’t for the five of us being who we are. I’m very grateful for that – it’s truly been awesome.”

BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG

Beside Myself is out Friday September 28 via Fueled By Ramen/ Warner Music

mixdownmag.com.au

STUDIO MICROPHONE TLM 49

VINTAGE SOUND. NEW TECHNOLOGY. RE-ENGINEERING THE PAST

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In two short years, the Melbourne International Hi-Fi Show has made its mark on the tech scene, bringing together more Aussie hi-fi and home cinema brands than can be found anywhere else.

This year, the show will gather new tech from market leaders including VAF Research, Krich and Hulgich Audio, updated versions of classic speakers from Yamaha, and collections of vintage radio equipment in an exhibition to dwarf those featured in previous years.

The show aims to give Australian manufacturers a chance to shine in the international spotlight. Aussie brands such as Lucie Audio, DEQX and Elektra Audio will be put shoulder-to-shoulder with international mainstays like Dolby and Osborn.

The Melbourne International Hi-Fi Show will also unveil a new sound system for home cinema that provides a degree of immersion and audio sophistication previously unavailable to private consumers. The 34-channel Dolby Atmos system aims to create a more realistic and nuanced sound experience promising to bring a cinematic quality to Australians’ home theatres.

The system is manufactured by Australian brand leader Krix in an effort to import a theatrical approach into the home.

The first public demonstration of the Dolby Atmos system will take place in the ballroom of the Pullman Mercure Hotel in Albert Park, with a special visual system designed by Barco. An array of 15-inch loudspeakers positioned behind the screen, along with 27 surround and overhead 22

speakers, ten subwoofers and four dual 18s, will impress the most obsessed audiophiles.

Attendees will also have the chance to take a look at the 250-inch picture produced by Barco’s 4k Wodan projector, a piece of kit that usually moves for $150,000.

For listeners who demand refined sound, but don’t want to wake the neighbours, the Melbourne International Hi-Fi Show will also offer a variety of specialist headphones and smaller amps. Iconic headphone manufacturer STAX will be showcasing its newest offerings, including the SRS-3100 Earspeaker – in essence, a pair of miniature speakers directed at the ear that eschews the dynamic drivers used in traditional headphones.

Yamaha will debut the NS-5000 loudspeaker, a model inspired by the classic NS-1000, which has acquired a cult following among audiophiles for its incredible accuracy. The NS-1000 has sold more than 200,000 units since its 1974 debut, many of which still produce admirably clear sound even after decades of use. The NS-5000 attempts to adapt the flexibility and fidelity of the NS-1000 for a new generation.

Also set to be showcased by Yamaha is the relatively lightweight GT-5000 turntable, weighing in at 26.5 kg. Yamaha’s M-5000 two-channel power amplifier is also sure to catch the eye of audio production professionals and hobbyists.

Of course, not everyone has sufficiently deep pockets to purchase cutting-edge Yamaha tech. For audio connoisseurs with a more modest budget, Osborn Loudspeakers is coming to the Melbourne International Hi-Fi Show with a series of sound systems

designed to deliver the goods without breaking the bank.

Company founder Greg Osborn recalls how his more budget-friendly models attracted as much praise as his more elaborate sound systems at a previous expo.

“People came in and saw loads of expensive stuff and were impressed,” Osborn told show organisers. “But they were blown away by the sound of a budget-priced Osborn audio system and stayed to listen for a long time.

“So at this year’s show, I’m demonstrating one system comprising one integrated amplifier, DAC/Streamer and a pair of Osborn Reference Epitome Tower speakers.

I’ll swap between those, a pair of Reference Eclipse Tower speakers and my mighty capable Eos bookshelves as well.”

But not everything exhibited at the show will be brand new. At the other end of the spectrum, the Australian Record Fair will assemble an expansive collection of vintage vinyl in a family-friendly setting. The 2016 Melbourne International Hi-Fi Show broke records, so to speak, with over 30 vendors bringing in 100,000 unique vinyl recordings and related pieces of memorabilia. This year’s Australian Record Fair will showcase records and other material from vendors including Vinyl Rules Music, JJ’s Vinyl and Candyflip Records.

Also of interest to nostalgic audiophiles will be a unique exhibition of radio equipment from the 1920s onward hosted by the Historical Radio Society of Australia.

Any fan of the Golden Age of Radio or the majestic wooden and bakelite appliances, which originally brought listeners dramas like The Lone Ranger, Suspense or The

Shadow, should find something of interest at the History of Radio exhibition. The HRSA maintains a collection of 30,000 vintage radios, with an emphasis on sets manufactured in Australian. The exhibition will also include an array of vintage televisions and groundbreaking hi-fi systems from the ‘60s and ‘70s.

To raise the profile of Australian manufacturers, the show has partnered with Future Publishing Australia and other media groups. Numerous high-visibility tech publications, including TechRadar and TechLife, fall under the Future Publishing umbrella. Future Publishing will be joined in raising awareness of the show by GadgetNET and StereoNET, which reaches Australian as well as New Zealand and UK markets.

As in previous years, the Melbourne International Hi-Fi Show will offer attendees high-ticket prizes in sweepstakes and other competitions. Julie Watt, a West Australian audiophile, purchased two three-day passes to the show and won a Bluesound Pulse Soundbar, a sleek piece of equipment usually priced at $1,849.

Single or three-day passes to the Melbourne International Hi-Fi Show can be purchased online, with discount rates on one-day passes available to students.

BY ZACHARY SNOWDON SMITH

The Melbourne International Hifi Show will take place from October 12-14 at the Pullman Mercure Hotel. mixdownmag.com.au

MUSIC INTERVIEWS “We’re hoping each year builds on the previous,” Parton says. “Last year was bigger than the first, and it’s looking good this time as well. We’ve got a large sound stage area [at the SAE Institute], and I’m always looking to find ways to use that space for interesting things. I thought this would be a good opportunity to bring all the big names in the audio technology world together and show off what they’re doing.

“That’s how it started. They’re here in an expo style, all displaying their goods on show, but we’ve also got a 100seat lecture theatre where there are product demos and discussions throughout the day as well. So each exhibitor has their own space, but on top of that they’re doing workshops and things as well.”

Although Parton and the SAE crew are very encouraging of students and hobbyists coming along to network and learn, the showcase is not just for those starting out in the industry. Major industry participants like Pro Tools, Yamaha and Roland are there to share their expertise with newbies and seasoned pros alike.

The Melboure Audio Trade Show As the third Melbourne Audio Trade Show approaches, founder Gareth Parton emerges as a man on a mission. Despite similar events occurring throughout the world, the department coordinator at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) recognised a hole in Melbourne’s sonic landscape, and so Australia’s preeminent audio industry event was born. In 2018, the free event is now bigger than ever, with some of the recording industry’s biggest names along for the ride.

“There’s going to be workshops for professionals, there’s going to be workshops for beginners, there’s plenty of introductory stuff,” says Parton. “We’ve got demonstrations and workshops from Cubase, FL Studio, Ableton. We’ve got Studio One. Pro Tools are going to be here. It’s interesting to have all of these – well, on the one hand you might see them as opponents. But they’ll all be here under one roof showing off their differences.

“A big consideration I have is the bedroom producer, the hobbyists who want to take that next step, what do they do once they leave the comforts of their bedroom or an institute like this? We have a panel called ‘We Made A Studio – You Can Too’, and we’re gathering local Melbourne studio owners and they’re talking about the pros and cons of how you actually take that next step, get that gear that you need. We’re very mindful that most people these days aren’t going to be going out on those big SSL Boards. They don’t need to spend a huge amount of money and learn

SSL's; they need to find the right gear for them to begin with. Self-reliant music producers [must] choose the right equipment, think about the spaces they’ll be recording and mixing in, all those considerations. We also have reps from Goatsound, Panorama Studios, Killsonic. These are all small to medium-sized studios, and [we’re] looking at their audio careers.”

Although Parton would be hard-pressed to pick any favourites from the lineup, an event that will prick the ears of every attendee is the Q&A with world-renowned producer/engineer Sylvia Massy.

“We have Sylvia Massy, this legendary recording engineer and mixer who’s worked with Tool, System of a Down – she’s done Johhny Cash and Red Hot Chili Peppers. She’s doing it via the web, since she’s in Europe at the moment, but she’s doing a Q&A with us and she’s very open about the way she works. She loves to share that stuff. She has some interesting approaches to recording, which should be an eye-opener.

“But there’s also plenty of giveaways that we’re doing, like a Focusrite studio pack with a mic and interface and headphones. Lots of giveaway prizes for people who just turn up. A lot of people have been very generous with what they’re giving away, as well as the goody-bag that we’re giving away at the door. And the best thing about the whole thing, I suppose, is that it’s free. We do just ask that everyone registers via the Picatic link, just so we can anticipate numbers. But it’s already looking like it’s going to be good. Just check out the Facebook page if anyone wants to know more.”

BY ADAM NORRIS The Audio Trade Show will take over SAE’s South Melbourne campus on Saturday September 22 from 11am – 4pm. Attendees can register at picatic.com/ melbourneaudiotradeshow2018.

SING SING STUDIOS WILL SING X AT BOX HILL INSTITUTE ON Sing Sing studios has been a stalwart of the local, national and international recording scene for nearly four decades. The studio’s Box Hill reincarnation, Sing Sing East, was born of a tidy $7.8 million dollar partnership with the Box Hill Institute and is set to solidify the high calibre studio’s presence in the industry for years to come.

Take a snapshot of the top recording artists in Australia at any time over the last 30 years and it will likely resemble the recording alumni of Sing Sing. The Cremorne site on Gordon Street was founded in 1982 and was near synonymous with Australian rock history until 2016.

Australian heroes such as Powderfinger, The Living End, The Avalanches, Killing Heidi, The Cat Empire, and Augie March all frequented the space over their recording careers. Nick Cave once famously invited an entire audience at Richmond’s Corner Hotel to visit the studio after the show, much to owner and managing director Kaj Dahlstrom’s surprise. International heavyweights are also no strangers to the iconic space, with The Mars Volta, The Killers, Cat Power and even American rap powerhouses Jay-Z and Kanye West among the alumni.

When the Cremorne studio was slated for redevelopment in 2016, Dahlstrom assumed it was a sign to wind down, moving to the far smaller B studio in South Yarra and placing the business for sale. Box Hill Institute Music Director Ben Wiesner and long time sound engineer of Sing Sing Matt Voigt offered to buy out the studio; however, the financial reality of

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refurbishing the old building crept in. Voigt and Wiesner decided expanding the Box Hill Institute provided an opportunity to build the grander Sing Sing East. “[Wiesner and Voigt] were really interested in our K room and Neve room,” said Dahlstrom. “Our Neve room had a huge tracking area in it. They amalgamated both of them together, so they used part of the Neve room design and made that the recording area. They put three isolation booths down the back like we had in Cremorne, but bigger again. They built their own K room control room, which, again, was much larger.

“They floated all the floors too, so you can have a rowdy rock band in one room and put a baby to sleep in the next.”

Dahlstrom proudly declares Sing Sing East has transformed Box Hill Institute into “the best school in the Southern Hemisphere to learn your trade” and it’s hard to disagree on gear alone. The colossal new studio boasts the characteristic Sing Sing mix of vintage analogue equipment and cutting edge digital set-ups bought from the Gordon Street studio. This includes its singular collection of top of the range outboard gear and the 72-channel SSL XL9000K console. Voigt said he had eyed off the gear at Sing Sing his entire career.

“Some of that original pool tech, the 1176N amplifiers... Putting sound through those pieces of gear just changes things.”

Sing Sing East also features a flexible 250-seat performance space, slated for orchestra and jazz use, fit with a brand new Hammond organ and Fender Rhodes piano. The facilitation of music education may have been the only way to see the

Sing Sing name live on in this fashion, according to Dahlstrom, as big budget studios have closed all around them.

Whether Kanye West and Jay-Z will waltz in again remains to be seen, although Dahlstrom thinks it might fray his nerves.

“It’s not a profitable business anymore,” he says. “It’s basically like a hobby that you can pay your way through. People think, ‘I’ll build a studio ‘cause they’re successful’, but the pie is only so big – it just gets smaller and divided up differently.”

“It’s a lot of pressure. Most regular artists use plug-in synthesisers, but they [Jay-Z and Kanye] want all the original stuff. We have some, but they have this long list of equipment they want. Of course they only use one or two of them, but you have to have it all together there anyway.

Voigt added that although the studio’s financial tact had changed, its functionality as a premiere destination for top-tier recording artists hasn’t. “The business model is completely different, but the idea of having high standard facilities is now to attract high calibre artists that all of the students can have access to.”

The increasing array of options for home recording and online distribution models has meant the curatorial gatekeepers of the music industry that once propped up huge recording budgets have receded over the last two decades. Many artists merely use records as cyclical promotional tools, although Dahlstrom remains confident of the need for places like Sing Sing to exist.

“You can’t put a band like The Living End in someone’s house,” he says. “If you’re recording a serious record and you want to play live, you need to have separation between your amplifiers. There’s no comparison there.”

Since opening in June, Sing Sing East has already hosted one of its largest recording efforts ever with the Australian Girls Choir, while artist in residence projects from Xylouris White and superstar producer Victor Van Vugt will fill out the rest of the year. Much of the slated recording, however, remains too unconfirmed to print.

“The bill is not a big issue for them; the bigger issue is if you say sorry, we can’t get that and they go, ‘What did you say? I didn’t hear that.’”

Voigt emphasises Sing Sing’s philosophy when describing its continued relevance.

“When I started working, studios had huge payrolls; receptionists, business managers, constant staffing through the day. [Sing Sing] did everything themselves – the dishes, cleaned the toilets.”

Dahlstrom, however, is characteristically modest. “I think we just roll with the punches.”

BY JOSHUA MARTIN

Sing Sing East is now open for bookings, situated at Nelson Road Campus, Box Hill.

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FEATURES

HOTHOUSE AUDIO ST KILDA Tell us a bit about the history of your studio. Hothouse has been around making records for 30 years in St Kilda. In that time, we have recorded many of Melbourne’s musical acts as well a few overseas guests who were passing through and heard about Hothouse via the grapevine.

What sets your studio apart from others? The recording console at Hothouse definitely sets it apart. It’s a Neve 8024 console that was purchased by Albert’s Studio in Sydney in 1974 and we picked it up in 1988. It has the fattest and fullest sound and makes records that have a rich quality that most bands are looking for in a recording.

What equipment do you have at your studio? A 24 channel Neve 8024 desk made in 1974. Many vintage guitars, basses and amps. A slew of vintage mics, including a mint 1956 Neumann U 47.

Do you specialise in any particular genres? We usually record rock and punk music.

Lately we have made the last two Clowns records. We have also made recordings for King Of The North, Penny Ikinger, Ash Grunwald, Chris Russell’s Chickenwalk, Airbourne, Kingswood and Motor Ace to name a few. We’ve also worked with Franz Ferdinand, Oasis and Blues Explosion.

If you had to describe your studio in five words, what would they be? Big rocking tones with heart.

Visit Hothouse at hothouse.net.au.

NEWMARKET STUDIOS

GINGER STUDIOS Tell us a bit about the history of your studio. We’ve seen some of the best international and local artists pass through the doors, including Justin Bieber, Flume, Wu-Tang Clan, and Paul Kelly. They’ve all been really important and great to have through the studio, but the vibe, spirit and character of the studio is fuelled by the local independent artists in the jazz, indie, pop and alternative scene who make up the depth of history for the studio.

What equipment do you have at your studio? We’re an SSL Duality and Augspurger Monitors studio. We have some really special microphones from Telefunken, Royer, Coles, DPA, a heap of outboard from Retro, Tube-Tech, Chandler, Neve and TC Electronic.

Tell us about the record you’re most proud to have worked on. The Justin Bieber ‘Love Yourself’ track was pretty special for my business as the vocal was recorded in my space and it brought a lot of new work to the studio, but there are three records that are equally important to me at the moment. My band, Melody Jones, are just about to put out a new album, I’ve just finished a jazz record for Harriett Allcroft, and then the EP that gets mixed across this month is for So Fox, a Melbourne indie pop duo.

Why should musicians choose to record at your studio? I really fucking care that musicians get a record they are happy to play to other people, one that they are proud of and that they had a great time making.

Find out more about Ginger Studios at ginger-studios.com.

MIXMASTERS PRODUCTIONS

Tell us a bit about the history of your studio. Newmarket was established back in 1986. There have been several changes over the years, but the control room and main tracking room with the grand piano are basically in the same configuration as back then. The Harrison console was purchased from Neil Young and is now the centrepiece of the control room.

Tell us a bit about the history of your studio. Mixmasters began in the 1980s in Adelaide, and has hosted every recording device known to man – starting with a Teac 3340 simul sync recorder, finishing with a Studer 827, and all formats in between. It’s like one huge lounge room, full of musical and sonic curiosities, dogs, and great food, in a semi-rural setting less than 30 minutes from the CBD.

Who are your recording engineers? Anna Laverty is in the middle of a six-month residency managing the studio while Callum Barter, long-time manager, is overseas working. Julian McKenzie, Guus Hoevenaars, Lilith Lane and Charles Mann make up the rest of the team.

Who are your recording engineers? Myself, Tom Barnes, Kai Gossner, Sam Leske, and a host of interstate engineers who love the place. They are world class, multiaward winning, have recorded all over the planet, and make the best coffee in the land.

What equipment do you have at your studio? We have four isolated tracking rooms with sightlines between them, allowing bands to track live with separation, a 24-track two-inch analogue tape machine or Pro Tools HD, and vintage microphones to die for, including Neumann U 47, U 48, U 67, AKG C12B. Our console is a 40 channel analogue Harrison. And then there’s the Kawai GS-50 Grand Piano.

What equipment do you have at your studio? Everything from Studer 2” machines and an SSL 4000 console (the first SSL bought to Australia by INXS, which we refurbished) to a huge collection of mics and instruments, from U 47’s to Pultecs and classic original Neves.

What can people expect if they visit your studio? A friendly, professional yet relaxed environment where our only desire is to have you leave with what you came in for. A high quality recording tracked during an enjoyable session.

Why should musicians choose to record at your studio? It is so very cool and it’s a musical art gallery that inspires great performance. It’s pretty much analogue, as well as having very agreeable accommodation facilities and arguably the best gear list in the land.

Find out more about Newmarket at newmarketstudios.com.au.

Visit Mixmasters at mixmasters.com.au.

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ADVICE COLUMNS GUITAR

BASS GUITAR

Adding More Flavour

The II – V - I

Last month we took some fairly standard Dorian shapes and added intervallic jumps and ideas to create more interesting phrases. Let’s now develop this a little further with some different groupings and intervals you might not normally play.

One of the most common progressions in music is the II – V – I (or 2-5-1). This means in any key, it is the second chord followed by the fifth chord that then returns back to the one chord (or tonic). Even if you haven’t heard of this term or don’t think you know it, I’m sure you’ve heard it in use before as it features in tons of songs across a myriad of styles and feels.

Figure A is a lick based on Am7 (using A Dorian). You might try using fingers 1 2 4 on the 4th and 3rd strings and then moving to your 1st finger for the F# in the 7th fret on the 2nd string. This line creates a nice intervallic jump and some movement up the neck. Of course, this lick isn’t just restricted to Am7. Try it over other diatonic chords from G Major (the key that A Dorian comes from), such as D7 or C.

Figure A uses a II-V-I in the key of C, meaning the II chord is Dm7, the V chord is G7, and the I chord is C. Play through the progression a couple of times to get the sound stuck in your head. You can play it strictly as crotchets with a straight feel or try making it a bit funkier with some syncopation.

If you’ve got even a slight handle on theory, you’ll probably see that this can easily be transposed to other keys too. Figure B takes the same II-V-I progression and moves it to the key of A. The one chord is A, the two chord is Bm7 and the V chord E7. Try working out II-V-I progressions in other keys to test your knowledge (if you know the major scale built from the 1 chord or tonic, it’s as easy as playing through the scale and identifying the second and fifth notes). Try looking through songs (particularly pop and jazz) and I’m sure you’ll start to identify and see II-V-I progressions everywhere.

Figure B again uses A Dorian to cover some extra range. Try to use your little finger for the E in the first bar and then roll your 2nd finger across both G and C (on the 2nd and 1st strings). Start slow and then build speed. You might like to experiment with picking and hammer ons/pull offs for different articulations too.

Moving to F# Dorian, Figure C starts on low F# in the 2nd fret on the 6th string and works its way up to high D# in the 16th fret on the 2nd string. Like the previous example, you should try both picking and hammer ons/pull offs to hear the difference in articulation possibilities. Some of the movements can also involve slides, which can add to the legato sound. Many players use slides and quick position shifts to add to the sound and intervallic possibilities.

You might be thinking, ‘What’s the use in knowing this?’ Well, it can help in a lot of ways.

Working out songs by ear is a great skill and identifying a common progression such as this is a handy tool. Improvising is another important skill and being able to navigate changes rather than just noodling away on the same scale over the whole song can add another dimension to your solos.

Let’s take Figure A again as our song we’re jamming on. Imagine it’s a straight rock tune at around 120 BPM. The song is in the key of C (as C is the I chord or tonic), so a good starting point is a C major scale (C D E F G A B C). Try recording/looping the progression (or find a backing track) and experiment with the C major scale. Sound ok? All the chords are fit diatonically (meaning they come from the key of C), so the scale should fit – some notes will sound better than others, though.

Another option is the C major pentatonic scale (meaning a five-note scale). This is C D E G A C and has a definite ‘sound’ that you’re probably familiar with. Again, it will fit over our II-V-I progression, but some notes will sound better than others.

Trying to increase creativity and break out of the typical box shapes and fingerings that you normally use is the key here. I can think of plenty of lines/solos/phrases that have hooked me on the first listen, but once I’ve dug a little deeper or transcribed some of it, I’ve realised that it’s not actually anything completely crazy note-wise – it’s just the phrasing/rhythm/intervals chosen that make it sound cool. And that’s the beauty of music – there’s only 12 notes, it’s how you choose to play them and where you choose to place them that matters.

Next time you’re noodling around improvising, play a lick or start a phrase (something short, only a couple of notes), then stop and deliberately make a note choice that doesn’t feel/sound typical to you – it might involve jumping up the neck or a few strings over – and then continue your phrase. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to come up with new sounds and ideas when it’s not the same old note sequence or note order in your scales/ riffs/licks.

BY NICK BROWN

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Arpeggios are a good starting point. Figure C uses quavers and strictly plays only notes from each arpeggio. How does it sound? Hopefully you can hear the chord changes outlined even without any accompaniment. This doesn’t always have to be the way with improvising, but it can be a very useful tool. We’ll go more in depth next issue.

BY NICK BROWN

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ADVICE COLUMNS PERCUSSION

Permutations Here’s a cool concept that I’ve touched on at times over the years, but thought I’d focus on this month. When used in the context of playing the drums, the term ‘permutation’ refers to shifting the rhythm, phrase, groove, fill etc. by a decided subdivision or note. Basically, take the thing you’re working on and shift backwards (or forwards) a beat, half a beat and so on. The choice is yours. This time, we’re going to look at different types of permutation using grooves, with the focus being on the concept of not only moving the whole groove, but also parts of the groove.

Looking at Section A, we have the basis of permutation. I’ve written a groove using a single paradiddle in the hands, an accent on the backbeat (2 and 4) and a simple bass drum pattern to play under the paradiddle. In essence, it’s a simple and common groove. Ex2 moves the whole pattern forward by one semiquaver (16th note). You can also think of this as taking the last note of the pattern and moving it to the front. The rest of the groove shifts forward. Suddenly, the groove takes on a whole new feel and placement within the beat. You’ll also notice that we now have an outward paradiddle in the hands. If we continue the shifting (Ex 3 and 4), you’ll see the concept at work and notice that we also inevitably cycle through the reverse and inward paradiddles. For the groove and concept to work, it’s very important that the articulation stays the same and is correct – accents loud, non-accents soft.

Section B has a slightly different pattern, but the same approach to demonstrate

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how the concept applies on a more typical groove. This time, it’s more of a standard funk groove with a 16th note-type hi-hat pattern – 1e& 2e& etc. Ex2 shows the whole groove shifted by a 16th note again, but this time it’s shifted backward. It’s very interesting to see what happens when we do this. Not only does the groove barely resemble the original if you hear the beat as normal, but instead of cycling through paradiddles, we are actually seeing the four variations you can have when playing three 16th notes in a row in the space of a beat.

Another permutation idea is to move a specific part of the groove – one hand or foot, for example. For Section C, I’ve used an inward paradiddle for the hands. I’ve added a bass drum part under this and used a specific accent pattern that works primarily on the single strokes within the sticking. This time, only the bass drum part shifts in examples two to four. I’ve moved it forward a 16th note. This is a little easier in some ways as most drummers may

have encountered changing the bass drum pattern under the same paradiddle, but the challenge comes with keeping the original accent pattern (see examples).

Speaking of accents, what about an example where it’s only the accents that shift? Section D is exactly the same groove from Section C, but instead of a moving bass drum, I’ve moved the accents. Here you end up with a new permutation vibe and while the groove has a similar sound,

the accents provide a different feel. More noticeably, when you’re trying to perform the permutated grooves, the accents may now fall on double strokes and this presents its own challenges – being able to play loudly and softly immediately after or the reverse. Have fun with that one.

BY ADRIAN VIOLI

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MUSICOLOGY: THE HISTORY OF THE NASHVILLE SOUND Music doesn’t and should not stand still. It follows a continual arc, complete with sidesteps, repetitions and leaps, pushed forward by a combination of innovators and happy accidents.

The early 1950s saw the emergence of a new style of pop, gospel and blues that became known as rock ‘n’ roll, a genre that would grow to consume the pop charts and impact the sales of those that had previously occupied the space. Country music was one such industry that found itself suddenly out of step, necessitating something new to regain the record buying public’s attention.

What emerged was a series of releases out of Nashville’s RCA Victor Studios produced by Chester Burton ‘Chet’ Atkins and pioneering engineer Bill Porter that became known as ‘the Nashville sound’, a movement which caused country music to become a greater commercial enterprise than ever before.

Atkins began his musical career as a guitarist, developing a fingerpicking style that utilised his first three fingers, with his thumb used for the bass strings. He was signed in 1947 by Stephen Sholes, the A&R director of country music and moved to Nashville while backing the Carter Family in the mid-‘50s, during which time he scored several hit singles such as ‘Mr. Sandman’ and ‘Silver Bell’, and became a

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design consultant for Gretsch. In 1955, Sholes also signed a 20-year-old Elvis Presley to RCA, buying out his contract from Sun Records for an unprecedented $40,000 (US). The following year saw the release of Elvis Presley, which began a successful commercial run of 15 charting singles that resulted in Sholes’ promotion to RCA’s pop singles manager. He was also able to convince the label to build a new recording studio, of which Atkins was placed in charge.

In an attempt to modernise the music being recorded in Nashville to appeal to the charts, Atkins, along with fellow producer Bob Ferguson, assembled a house band that eliminated the fiddles and honky-tonk piano that had previously been arrangement staples of country music, and simultaneously took writing and arrangement cues from ‘50s pop music. Lush strings and layers of backing vocals were added to create a smooth but powerful sound, with the previously favoured vocal twang being replaced by a crooner singing style, quickly leading to crossover pop hits such as Jim Reeves’ ‘Four Walls’ and Don Gibson’s ‘Oh Lonesome Me’ and ‘Lonesome Old House’. The sessions for the latter artist were among the first to be mixed by new recruit Bill Porter, who became the chief engineer for Atkins.

Porter’s innovations included personally cutting and hanging pieces of fibreglass from the studio’s ceiling to combat resonant frequencies, the acoustic panels soon dubbed Porter Pyramids after the shape in which he cut them.

Another hallmark of the Nashville sound that added to its commercial appeal was the richness and brightness achieved

thanks to Porter’s creation of a dedicated echo chamber. He took a utility room that contained a reverb plate and tightened the ten springs to an unusual degree in order to increase the audio signal being sent to the plate, resulting in a much fuller and cleaner effect.

The smoother sound coming out of RCA was soon being replicated by Columbia and Decca Records, resulting in hits for Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynne. Somewhat ironicially, it was also responsible bringing rock ‘n’ roll singers, such as Buddy Holly and Gene Vincent, to Nashville looking for a pop hit.

After a two year stint serving in the U.S. Army, Presley returned to RCA and recorded several number one singles with Porter in 1960, including ‘Stuck on You’, ‘It’s Now or Never’ and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’.

Bucking conventional wisdom, Porter chose not to use the RCA ribbon mics that were favoured for vocalists, instead placing the RCA 77-D on the kick drum and using a Telefunken U47 to capture Presley’s rich baritone. The results spoke for themselves, with Porter becoming one of Presley’s favourite engineers and subsequently being used to mix every Presley live show from 1969 onwards. Porter’s preference for condenser microphones became an integral part of the increasingly dynamic Nashville sound, which also lured Roy Orbison in 1960. Porter’s melodic emphasis of pushing Orbison’s backing vocalists’ voices far forward in the mix for dramatic effect became the singer’s trademark sound, resulting in a string of major hits including ‘Only the Lonely’, ‘Running Scared’, ‘In Dreams’ and ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’.

Porter left RCA due to a contractual dispute in 1964, taking several clients with him.

Despite Atkins’ success with signing artists such as Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Bobby Bare and Waylon Jennings, he later lamented to his biographer John McClellan that after Porter “the sound was never the same, never as great.”

By the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the Nashville sound fell out of fashion and its emphasis on pop song structures grew into what was later referred to as the ‘countrypolitan’ sound: the string-soaked productions pioneered by producer Billy Sherrill for artists such as Tammy Wynette and Glen Campbell. Seen as a country version of Phil Spector’s wall of sound technique, this fairly unsubtle production approach dominated country music in the ‘70s and contributed to the birth of the tougher and more natural sounding ‘outlaw country’ from artists such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Today that arc continues, with its curious sidesteps, twists and great leaps forward.

BY ALEX WATTS

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ADVICE COLUMNS ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION

A Producer’s Guide to Tokyo Having been a synthesiser enthusiast for roughly ten years now, I’ve always been enamoured by the drool-worthy posts on internet gear forums with photos of an astounding array of vintage synths for very reasonable prices in Tokyo. I knew I’d have to get there at some point.

If you’re at all interested in second-hand electronic instruments and studio gear, Japan is a pretty great place to visit with an empty suitcase. There are a few factors that come into play that make Tokyo an amazing place to grab vintage gear. Firstly, Japan is the home of legendary companies like Korg, Roland, Akai and Yamaha – brands that brought us the original affordable synthesisers and home studio equipment. Couple this with the Japanese education system placing a strong emphasis on musical learning in their curriculum and the fact that there’s more people in greater Tokyo than the whole of Australia, and you’ve got yourself a city that’s teeming with second-hand gems. Last month, I finally got the opportunity to take the pilgrimage and see it all for myself. Here’s some stores you should definitely visit while you’re Tokyo.

Hard Off! – Various locations Hard Off! is a chain store selling second-hand electronic goods. There are also offshoots called Book Off!, Mode Off! (clothes), Hobby Off! (RC cars, etc.) and more, but if you’re in the market for musical instruments, then you want to look out for a Hard Off. My favourite part of Hard Off is the ‘Junk’ floor. In this

case, ‘junk’ just means the goods are slightly damaged or untested. There are multiple boxes of random bits and bobs, old keyboards, mixers, turntables, amplifiers, ADAT recorders, 100 yen vinyl records, boomboxes, cameras, cables – everything. I could have spent half a day in each of these stores trawling through the ‘junk’ for bargains. The two I visited were in Shimokitazawa and Ueno’s Ameyoko market district. There’s also one in Akihabara (Electric Town) and a huge one in Hachioji.

Echigoya Music – Shibuya On the tenth floor of an office building opposite the huge Tower Records (yes, people still buy CDs in Japan, it’s weird) in Shibuya, is a little space dedicated to selling second-hand synths and new boutique gear. The store ranges in price and vintage – I saw Korg Volcas, Akai MPCs, a Fender Rhodes piano, a Yamaha CS60 synth, an Oberheim Xpander, a Roland JX8P, some new Eurorack gear and plenty more. Lots of gear was powered up and plugged in for customers to play with. I was the only one in the store when I visited on a Friday afternoon.

The clerk was friendly and had no issue with me touching everything possible and taking photos. I had a very nice time. Prices varied from reasonable to exceptionally cheap.

Ishibashi – Shibuya Ishibashi is a large musical instrument chain store located throughout Japan. Unlike your average Australian store, they also sell some used gear. Unfortunately, they’re generally more focused on guitar and drums, but the Shibuya store does have a decent keys section with some nice gear in it. When I visited they had an immaculate 1970s MKI Korg Trident set up and plugged in that sounded incredibly lush. I’d never even seen an original Trident, let alone played one. They also had a couple of Roland TR-909 drum machines, some MPCs, and some newer second-hand gear like the Korg Electribe 2. Certainly worth a look if you’re in Shibuya.

Five G Music Technology – Shibuya Five G is probably the most internationally famous synth store in Japan – and with good reason. The range and condition of their stock

is unbeatable. Whether it’s the new Dave Smith Prophet X, some obscure Eurorack module from a German DIY builder or a trio of Moog Memorymoogs, it’s completely uncensored synth porn. And of course, tons of it is plugged in and ready for you to play with. The prices aren’t bargains here, but if you buy a vintage item from Five G, you can rest assured it’s been recently serviced, checked and is 100 percent functional. In fact, the service department is in full view and you can see the care the staff take with each instrument.

If you want to spend some proper dollars on vintage gear in as close to mint condition as possible, Five G is the place to visit.

Good luck, and remember: Japan runs on 120 volt mains, so get yourself a step-down transformer before you plug anything into an Australian outlet.

BY MICHAEL CUSACK

Vintage Premium Japanese Guitars mixdownmag.com.au is the exclusive distributor of Tokai products in Australia. (03) 9434 8000

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NINETY YEARS OF NEUMANN When discussing classic microphones, one of the first brands to spring to mind is Neumann. Founded in Berlin in 1928 during the city’s period of advancement known as the ‘Goldene Zwanziger’, or ‘Golden Twenties’, which came to an end when the 1929 stock market crash ushered in The Great Depression, 2018 finds the company celebrating its 90th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Neumann is running a ‘90 Years in 90 Days’ special, which not only offers substantial savings on some of their best loved products, but also includes the chance to win two days worth of recording at Adelaide’s Chapel Lane Studio, as well as flights and accommodation for two people. We’ve gathered together some of the products that would be at the top of our wish list, including some background information on each.

The U 67 is one of Neumann’s most famous designs, with its classic tube circuitry providing a sound that dominated studio recording following its release in 1960.

Billed as the successor to the company’s highly regarded U 47, the U 67 was the first model to contain Neumann’s now-famous K 67 capsule, which continues to be used in the industry standard U 87 A. With its three selectable polar patterns as well as a switchable low cut filter to compensate for proximity effects from

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close micing, the U 67 is a tremendously versatile microphone, capable of delivering smooth top end and detailed mids, making it a go-to for many engineers when recording vocals. Although the model was discontinued in 1971, Neumann has reissued it this year using the original specifications, with each model being hand-made and soldered in Germany.

The U 87 is one of the world’s most beloved and well known modern vocal microphones. Its bright, punchy sound makes it the perfect choice for rock and pop, while its switchable polar patterns – cardioid, figure of eight, and omni – ensure it remains versatile enough for use with orchestras, acoustic guitars and upright bass to name a few. This year sees the microphone celebrate its 50th birthday, a milestone marked by the release of the Rhodium Edition. Encased in the extremely rare metal rhodium, which reflects more light than any other precious metal and is rarer than gold, only 500 of these units were made worldwide, which is sure to lend your recordings a touch of class.

Neumann didn’t stop innovating there, as one of their best sellers is the multipurpose studio mic dubbed the TLM 103.

Modelled after the U 87, but budgeted towards the burgeoning home studio market, this large diaphragm mic became hugely popular following its 1997 release.

With a self-noise level of just 7dB(A), the TLM 103 offered incredible detail for its price point, while its frequency boosts in the speech intelligibility range of 6-15kHz meant it captured clear vocals that easily cut through mixes.

Neumann is of course known for more than

large diaphragm vocal mics, as their small diaphragm ‘pencil’ condenser, the KM 184, is a classic in its own right. Most commonly used as a stereo pair, the transformerless electronics, thin design and cardioid pickup pattern result in a natural sound, while its high Sound Pressure Level (SPL) capability makes it the perfect choice for both drum overheads and classical piano. Basically, you can put these things in front of just about anything and expect a faithful reproduction, plus their compact size makes them a great choice for broadcast applications.

While you are most likely to come across Neumann products in a studio environment, the KMS 105 is designed to bring studio quality vocals to the stage. The unit is built with the level of ruggedness necessary for live performance use, but uses a condenser capsule rather than the more common dynamic, while it can also withstand SPLs of up to 150dB without clipping. Its tight supercardioid polar pattern focuses its input sound only from the singer directly in front of it and ensures high gain before feedback.

The result, rather than simply left and right, is an immersive three-dimensional sonic image surrounding the listener.

Not content to just own the microphone market, Neumann also began making high quality studio monitors in 2010, using their expertise in electro-acoustic transducer technologies to create the KH 120 D. A powerful, compact, bi-amplified studio monitor with superb impulse response and resolution, the KH 120 D is designed for excellent close range monitoring. As the ‘D’ suggests, this is the digital version – an analogue version was also released.

BY ALEX WATTS

Here’s something different: the KU 100 dummy head is a binaural stereo microphone designed to create ‘3D audio’.

The idea is to recreate a spatial listening experience identical to listening with your own ears rather than listening to a recreation of audio through a microphone and then through speakers. The KU 100 consists of two omnidirectional condenser capsules built into the ‘ears’ of an enclosure resembling a human head, which should then be placed to record at the optimal listening position in the studio.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS SE ELECTRONICS

Rupert Neve Designs Signature Series SOUND & MUSIC | SOUND-MUSIC.COM | EXPECT TO PAY: RNT - $5299, RNR1 - $2699, RN17 - $2899 (PAIR) $1499 (SINGLE)

Rupert Neve is arguably the biggest name in pro audio. From the early ‘60s until today, Rupert Neve and Neve Electronics have been producing high-end analogue recording equipment such as preamps, mixing consoles, EQs and compressors that are quickly identifiable. More recently, the company has branched out into the more contemporary Rupert Neve Designs that retains Neve’s analogue quality, but with some modern embellishments.

RND has teamed up with Shanghai-based microphone company sE Electronics after Rupert Neve and sE CEO Siwei Zou met in the mid-2000s, resulting in the three-piece sE/Rupert Neve Signature Series of microphones.

The sE RNT is a large-diaphragm condenser and is the most sizeable of the three microphones. Included is a power supply with a nine positon polar pattern switch (cardioid, omni, figure eight and several other positions between each), a highpass filter set at 40Hz or 80Hz, and a pad/ gain boost at 12dB either side. A nine-pin connector with a nice long cable connects the mic to the power supply, which also includes switchable voltage. The RNT’s cradle feels solid and is highly adjustable, which is helpful as the mic is tall and weighty. The microphone itself is clean and inconspicuous looking, with a silver metal grille and sleek black body. Recording on the cardioid setting, the RNT is forward and transparent. Voices are articulate and crystal clear, with a nice proximity effect when positioned closer to the speaker or

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singer. Amplified electric guitar sound very true to tone when positioned close to the speaker cone of an amp, delivering an even frequency response without much colour.

However, even at a distance, the mic is susceptible to breathy pops and sibilance.

The sE/RND collaboration also includes a small diaphragm condenser mic, the RN17.

The RN17 is a direct, solid microphone presented in a classy wooden case. It has a tiny diaphragm that reacts well to transients, but with a larger transformer that reacts better to low frequency signals. This makes for a multifaceted microphone with laser-like focus and great side rejection, especially on figure eight and cardioid patterns. Everything feels solid, and the included mic holder leaves the RN17 suspended in a cradle to withstand bumps or anything else that might happen during recording. It’s perfect as a microphone for rooms when recording instruments or as a direct mic on anything you can throw at it (figuratively, of course.

The RN17 is robust, but please don’t throw anything at it, nor throw it around a room).

The third and final mic in the series is the sE RNR1 Active Ribbon microphone.

This microphone looks and sounds like a weapon, and is easily the most colourful of the series. Traditionally, ribbon microphones produce a very dark sound and don’t have much response beyond 10kHz or so, for better or worse. Enter the RNR1, a microphone that Rupert Neve

and Siwei Zou first deemed “impossible”.

The RNR1 is an active ribbon microphone (sending phantom power to a ribbon will never not be scary), whose frequency response reaches an amazing 25kHz (that’s 5kHz beyond the range of human hearing, for those playing at home).

What I love most about the RNR1 is that it still sounds like a ribbon mic. The high frequency response is detailed and articulate, but the overall sound still feels smooth and treated like any other ribbon microphone would. Instead of feeling like the top end has been rolled off, the RNR1 has been meticulously EQ’d for precision and detail. It sounds and feels to me like a Royer 121, but a little less meaty and with more detail. Similar to the famous 121, the mids of the RNR1 are present and forward without being overbearing, meaning this mic would be at home on guitar or bass cabs, a grand piano, a jazz trio, etc.

Literally any signal would benefit from the RNR1, whether direct or as a roomy microphone.

and why microphones are chosen for certain sources.

BY LEWIS NOKE EDWARDS

HITS ∙ Three very different microphones that perform three different functions ∙ Well-built, sturdy ∙ Timeless designs with contemporary colour and character MISSES ∙ None

The SE/Rupert Neve Signature Series can handle anything. Whether used alone or in stereo pairs, all three of these microphones can handle the high SPL of modern sounds and tones, but can be equally deadly with more sensitive signals. The RNT is a reimagined and refined take on a classic design of a large diaphragm condenser, while the RNR1 active ribbon and RN17 small diaphragm condenser models are pushing the envelope for what, how

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PRODUCT REVIEWS FENDER

Parallel Universe Jazz Tele FENDER AUSTRALIA | FENDER.COM.AU RRP: $3599 You know that particular look of elation marathon runners get once they finally schlep through that bastard ribbon? The well-deserved yet borderline smug grin that painters get when they finish whitewashing an entire interior? The way the electricity in the air changes when someone cleans up a table in a pool hall? If Fender guitars were suddenly anthropomorphised into human form then the Parallel Universe series would be its wry smile. With their oldest arch nemesis out of the running for all intents and purposes, they are freer than ever to stretch their inimitable wings and feel the heady creative breeze that encircles the top of the food-chain flow languidly over every pore and feather.

The Parallel Universe Jazz Tele melds two of Fender’s most widely appreciated yet far from middling designs for what feels like the very first time. It’s the Jeff Goldblum in The Fly of the modern Fender catalogue, only nowhere near as ugly. Jazzmaster pickups and neck sit confidently and defiantly atop a distinctly ‘70s looking, three-tone-burst Tele body in the specimen I see before me, and there is something of the outlier attitude of both forebears that makes this descendant disarmingly attractive. Usually I would start talking about the spec-sheet at this point,

but in this instance I might just leave off.

It may simply be my particular set of tastes talking, but frankly this thing just works.

Long blade headstock and floral logo in a Tele footprint is like porn to me, and the chime and versatility in the voicing almost puts its parents to shame.

cramp-free ease. All of this in alliance with the floral logo on the headstock, subtle mint pickguard, and the fact that it comes in the highly sought after Sea Foam Green means this is a guitar for those of us who have come to Gram Parsons via Ryan Adams via Kurt Cobain and/or the other way around.

Fender have made a few choices with this model in particular that prove how well they know – nay, predict – their intended audience. First things first, the finish is period-correct Nitrocellulose, meaning not only does it come out of the box with that classic mottled patina, but the wear under your arm over time will be yours and yours alone. The neck profile is that extraordinarily playable, mid-‘60s deep C that sits comfortably smack bang between ‘50s baseball bat fatness and modern,

To a point, it may be risky in this day and age for Fender to go off kilter for a season.

There are so many smaller, boutique builders nipping at their heels with Custom Shop quality builds that stray from the beaten track that nobody could blame them for sticking to what works. Plus, they definitely don’t want to jump the shark now. However, especially in music and literature, history has proven that sometimes when genius goes wandering off untethered, incredible and never-before-seen things unfold. For

easy to get great results with any software, such as the included PreSonus Studio One Artist and iZotope Nectar Elements.

Ideal for beginners and advanced users alike, the Yeti Pro Studio is a microphone that will continue to deliver results as your needs develop. Yes, it doesn’t lend itself to use with standard suspension mounts, so it doesn’t integrate with certain stands for use standing up in a vocal booth, but this is very much designed to be a desktop microphone. The heavy housing and subsequently heavy stand certainly reduces unwanted vibrations getting into the signal.

Fender, the Parallel Universe Jazz Tele is a wild interpretation of some old favourites, but by God if the risk didn’t pay off.

BY LUKE SHIELDS HITS ∙ Nitro finish ∙ The absolute best of both Jazzy and Tele worlds ∙ The fact that it just works MISSES ∙ None

BLUE MICROPHONES

Yeti Pro Studio Microphone INNOVATIVE MUSIC INNOVATIVEMUSIC.COM.AU EXPECT TO PAY: $399 This is the microphone that can do it all, for musicians, podcasters, engineers, interviewers and just about anyone else. It’s a breath of fresh air to see a manufacturer focused on producing a microphone that’s ideal for beginners, yet still delivers the quality that would be expected by more advanced users. Anyone serious about audio quality and looking for ease of use should consider the Yeti Pro Studio from Blue Microphones.

Designed for use in a range of applications, this is a beautiful sounding condenser microphone that delivers the tonal quality we have come to expect from Blue. Used as a USB converter or direct stereo out to an existing preamp, there are plenty of options for the Yeti Pro Studio. It will work as a standalone device that becomes the entirety of your recording front-end, or can very easily be integrated into an existing signal path just like any traditional condenser microphone would. The stereo XLR output allows for the Figure of 8 pickup pattern to be used in a two-person recording situation, with stunning results on two separate tracks. This makes the Yeti Pro Studio an exceptional studio interview microphone that can be set up very easily. USB connection and monitoring ensures it’s super mixdownmag.com.au

This is a heavy microphone, but don’t worry – it comes on a suitably heavy base, allowing it to sit stable on any bench and can easily be angled to suit your recording needs. A combination of traditional condenser and USB microphone, with the option of using either output forms, this is a very cleverly designed microphone that will bring great tone to any recording along with a range of options and possibilities.

HITS ∙ Great Blue microphone sound ∙ Built-in AD converters ∙ Solid build, with sturdy stand MISSES ∙ Doesn’t integrate with traditional suspension mounts easily

BY ROB GEE

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PRODUCT REVIEWS FRAMUS

D-Series Panthera AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $1399 Framus Guitars is the guitar branch of famed German-based company Warwick Basses.

In addition to guitars, Framus is known for its high-gain guitar heads and cabinets.

After spending years producing high-end and custom built guitars for the likes of Devin Townsend, Cephalic Carnage and Candlemass, Framus has branched out into the more affordable D-Series that includes the Panthera.

My first impression of the Panthera was how lightweight and fragile it felt, but on playing it, the feel contrasted with great build quality and sturdy construction. The electronics remain very quiet – something that’s generally uncommon in budget guitars. The Panthera has a few little additions that relate it back to Framus’ high end instruments, as well as Seymour Duncan pickups that are a welcome addition to a guitar in any price bracket. It feels fast and snappy, and the deep, blue-stained flame on the guitar’s body is beautifully finished with a tigerstripe ebony fingerboard.

With a scale length of just 24.75”, the Panthera is easy and comfortable to play.

Whether sitting or standing, you’ll feel at home on this 22-fret, hard-tailed, solid body electric. The recessed volume and tone pots are a nice little touch that makes the guitar feel classy. The pots are positioned out of the way and the pickup selector is nestled

just above the neck for easy access, similar to a Les Paul. The guitar plays great, but could benefit from some better tuning heads – especially when bending – as I quickly ended up out of tune. The Panthera feels rich and spanky, with full chords ringing out clearly with a lot of note definition.

It’s both comfortable and inspiring, easy to noodle on endlessly, and makes songs feel polished and refined. Leads above the 12th fret come easily on the short scale, and the guitar is more resonant than its size suggests. This is aided by the Seymour Duncan SH-1 in the neck and a SH-4 in the bridge.

Amplified, the guitar really shines whether clean or distorted. Even DI’d, this guitar has its own colour and character. The distorted sound of the Panthera really took me by surprise and it would sit nicely in any mix or arrangement. It sounds forward, but isn’t boomy or chunky – admittedly not something that would please everyone.

However, the guitar sings brightly without muddy lows, and faster playing is clear and concise. Even on a neck pickup, the lower frequency response of the Seymour Duncans and the guitar itself is controlled. It’s not often I find myself reaching for the middle pickup, but this guitar works well in any position. The sound of the Panthera really took me by surprise, and ensures it would

be a great addition to any collection for its controlled and forward tones that work for any genre.

Whether playing cleaner jazz or funk, the Panthera can sit forward and present, or hide back as a part of an arrangement.

The pickups take distortion well for hard rock and metal or hardcore, and drive is controlled and articulate for faster playing.

The snappy resonance feels controlled and treated, and it’s a dream to riff and improvise on thanks to the shorter scale length and comfortable body size. Tuning heads could be upgraded with something aftermarket, but that’s (literally) a small price to pay for an otherwise great guitar.

The Panthera is easy to play, feels like home, and the decision to include real Seymour Duncans makes this guitar a real

no-brainer. Framus is a brand that continues to be trusted, as even its ‘budget’ series is a stellar example of experience, history, expertise and craftsmanship. Try a Framus Panthera today – you won’t regret it.

BY LEWIS NOKE EDWARDS HITS ∙ Lightweight, fast ∙ Comfortable ∙ Great sounding Seymour Duncan pickups MISSES ∙ Feels fragile ∙ Very little low-end

YAMAHA

Genos Digital Workstation YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA AU.YAMAHA.COM | EXPECT TO PAY: $6999 Yamaha’s Tyros5 Workstation was designed as the ultimate performance keyboard, but Yamaha keeps redefining what they mean by ultimate. Meet Genos – the next generation in digital workstations. Now, Tyros could be quite an investment, and Genos is very much up there in terms of cost too, but from the second you sit down behind one, you’re going to get the feeling that not a cent of your cash has been wasted. The very first impression you’ll get is that this is a serious, pro-level piece of kit that takes what made Tyros great and redefines it.

For starters, every voice is enhanced beyond even the previously incredible Tyros sound quality. Yamaha’s ARM (Articulation Element Modeling) technology appropriates samples in real time according to what and how you play, getting you closer than ever to sonic realism. There are 1,750 instrument sounds, including a huge amount of variation on particular instruments, and over 500 backing patterns that come in equally handy whether you’re building a new song or looking for an appropriate feel for an existing one you’ve been called on to cover at a moment’s notice. There’s also a newly sampled C7 Grand Piano voice and Revo!Drum/SFX, which intelligently varies the nuance even when playing the same key multiple times, 34

a crucial element to giving your keyboardoriginating percussion performances a sense of realism.

up/down and left/right modes, giving you more lifelike pitch and vibrato control over glissando and fretted instrument effects.

It’s natural that any new evolution of digital technology will have better sounds than what came before. One of the most important updates in this case is a comprehensive touch screen, which is easy to see, navigate, and operate (and the serene scenes that it displays along with various song styles are kind of hilarious in a cute way). Compared to Tyros, the nine Live Control faders are moved away from underneath the main screen and now have their own individual VGA LCD displays above each slider, updating in real time as you change functions or settings. Taking this function away from the main screen really helps to declutter the interface. There’s also a new joystick, which operates in both

Speaking of decluttering, a Genos speaker system is also available, with a subwoofer and two high frequency drivers. The subwoofer attaches to Genos via a single cord, and the drivers attach to Genos and are then plugged into jacks just behind where they’re mounting. It’s incredibly neat, and the speakers have superb clarity, stereo imaging, and depth of field.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Yamaha Expansion Manager lets you install and arrange expansion packs with new sounds, styles. SongBook+ music library apps, and MEGAEnhancer to convert standard MIDI files to song data optimised for Genos (and it automatically extrapolates authentic

guitar and bass sounds). Knowing Yamaha, the expansion possibilities aren’t going to stop there. This is the ultimate, state-of-theart workstation for songwriting, producing and performing, and it’ll be a long time before even Yamaha can top this one.

BY PETER HODGSON HITS ∙ Incredibly lifelike sounds ∙ Super useful touch screen ∙ More ‘in the moment’-friendly layout MISSES ∙ Costs more than many used cars

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PRODUCT REVIEWS MOOER

Preamp Live JADE AUSTRALIA | JADEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $799

It’s the most dreaded scenario of a serial tone fiend: all of a sudden, after countless hours spent twiddling with your amp and pedal settings, you fall out of love with your guitar tone. In a desperate effort to juice some life back into your beloved rig, you scour the internet and trawl through gear forums for what seems like weeks, trying to justify the purchase of another new pedal which you are absolutely certain holds the key to the divine zone of heavenly tone. In a fever, you drop half your weekly pay cheque on this said box of knobs and circuitry (and probably an obscene amount for shipping, too), waiting anxiously for the postman to deliver your new pedal – the fabled ‘last one’ – only for you to plug it into your amp and find out that after all this effort, your tone still sucks.

So, where did you go wrong? Well, there’s a good chance this issue can be put down to two possible solutions: a) You’re just not very good at guitar (sorry) or b) You didn’t purchase the Mooer Preamp Live.

If you’ve been keeping up in the world of effects units over the last couple of years, you’ll know that Mooer is a bit of a disruptor to the industry. They’ve recently built up quite the reputation for their faithful micro-sized clones of popular stompboxes from yesteryear, and their innovative Ocean Machine collaboration with Devin Townsend was one of the most hyped gear releases of 2017. After delivering the goods with their flagship entry to the world of multi-effects with the GE200 earlier this year, Mooer is back at

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it again with the Preamp Live, a versatile 12-channel digital preamp designed with the gigging musician in mind.

Straight out of the box, it’s pretty obvious that the Mooer Preamp Live means business. A three-band EQ, volume, gain and switchable boost/gate knob allows for extensive amp-style tone shaping, and you’ll be able to squeeze just about any desired tone out of these controls alone.

Below, a master volume and presence knob offer further flexibility over dynamics and signal brightness, which turns out to be extremely useful switching in between different systems. I initially tested the Preamp Live through a chimey old Vox AC30, and the presence knob worked wonders to tame the jangly natural tone of the amp to suit the style I was playing.

There’s also an FX Level knob with a variety of modes to suit those using the Preamp Live in conjunction with the effects loop on their amp, while independent speaker cabinet simulation for each output opens up a new world of tonal potential. Ever wanted to pair a saturated Mesa-styled head with a Fender cab? This bad boy will do it with ease.

By tap dancing your way across the Preamp Live’s four footswitches, you’ll be able to access up to 12 fully customisable preamp settings, which are stored in banks of four and kindly colour coded with LEDs to help you find your way around the unit in a dimly lit environment. While the 12 presets loaded onto the Preamp Live are definitely inclined to those who favour heavier tones,

with some light tweaking, you’ll be able to get the characteristics of a spanky Fender clean or a gritty UK combo on the verge of breakup in no time. Stepping on the footswitch of your selected channel twice will activate the Preamp Live’s extremely flexible two-stage boost function, injecting a fat dose of gritty colour to your signal to cut through the mix. Mooer have made a bit of a name out of themselves for the quality and transparency of their Micro Boost pedals, and the one tucked into the Preamp Live carries on this tradition with great pride. Holding down that same Boost control will activate an adjustable pre- and post-noise gate feature, filtering out any harsh amp noise or hiss from your pickups to give you ungodly high gain tones with no strings attached. For those about to rock, Mooer salutes you.

If for some reason you’re dissatisfied with the 12 different preamp options tucked into the unit, the Mooer Preamp Live boasts an intuitive Tone Capture feature, which samples your own amplifier’s preamp section. By stomping on the first and fourth footswitches simultaneously – a feat much easier said than done – the Preamp Live stores a digital sample of your preamp signal, which can then be modified and saved onto the unit. These Tone Capture samples, alongside all other 12 preamp banks, can be stored, modified and even shared online via Mooer’s Preamp Live software, available both on desktop and mobile platforms, offering a userfriendly interface that even the most

technologically inept (me) can navigate.

Of course, new age digital preamps aren’t for everyone. It’s certainly hard to beat the magic and mojo of an old beat-up pedalboard or analogue effects unit from yesteryear. For the modern guitarist, however, it would be quite hard to beat the sheer power of the Mooer Preamp Live.

If you tend to operate in the realms of heavier genres, this unit is an absolute must-have. It’s no secret that Mooer have been aiming for the big leagues with their innovative effects units in recent years, and with the Preamp Live, it looks like they just might have met their mark.

BY WILL BREWSTER HITS ∙ So many tones, so much versatility ∙ Blessed boost function ∙ Intuitive software interface MISSES ∙ Simultaneous footswitching is a bit tricky to master

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PRODUCT REVIEWS FAITH GUITARS

Nomad MiniSaturn Electro CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA CMCMUSIC.COM.AU |EXPECT TO PAY: $995 Faith Guitars was established by renowned UK luthier Patrick James Eggle in the early 2000s. Combining Eggle’s design and building skills with modern production prowess and a range of models and woods, the Faith brand has been gaining widespread recognition around the globe. Recently displayed in detail at the Melbourne Guitar Show, let’s take a look at what Faith Guitars is all about with the Nomad Mini-Saturn Electro.

Mini/travel guitars have really exploded over the last few years, rising from noveltytype, bash around instruments to serious playing tools that offer portability along with good feel and tone. Faith’s Nomad series encompasses this thinking, with small scale guitars built for anything from home use through to gigs. The FDS Saturn Electro model offers a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, and a mahogany neck with ebony fretboard. The instrument also features an ebony bridge and ebony bridge pins.

In a dreadnought-esque shape, this Nomad is light and comfortable, with the natural timbers blending nicely with the clean, simple looks (limited neck markers, for

example). More than just a knockabout guitar, Faith has definitely kept the gigging/practising musician in mind by incorporating a Fishman Sonicore pickup and Isys preamp into the mix. This means that not only is the Nomad portable and handy for travel (with a scale length of 590mm), but it can be a serious gigging/ playing guitar too.

Acoustically, the Nomad Mini is super punchy with lots of volume. Great for strumming chords, but also defined when playing single note lines and fingerstyle parts. The intonation, action and neck were great on this particular example, creating a solid feel in your hands (which isn’t

always the way with some smaller scale mini guitars). In turn, there are no worries using the whole fretboard, meaning it’s not just limited to beginners or chord-playing singer-songwriters.

Yes, the whole ‘travel’ aspect is pushed with a smaller guitar such as the Nomad, but the onboard Fishman preamp/pickup system gives you the ability to plug in directly for live use and recording if need be, making it a totally usable portable gigging instrument. I also found the build and quality of the Nomad Mini to be really solid and cost effective compared to some other models on the market.

Home use, rehearsals, gigs, players with smaller hands, kids and more would all be suited to the Faith Nomad Mini. A short scale acoustic with plenty of positives.

BY NICK BROWN HITS ∙ Big sound for a little instrument ∙ Fishman pickup/preamp MISSES ∙ None

ALWAYS IN TOUCH NEW! Big Knob Series ™

Monitor Controllers | Interfaces

Keeping your hands on the mix is just part of the job. Precision level control, swapping between monitors and routing sources all make your mix better.

That’s why the Big Knob has been the go-to studio command center for more than a decade. But, studios are different now. More nimble. More flexible.

It’s time for a new tool.

The all-new Big Knob Series expands functionality big time, with built-in high-resolution recording and playback up to 192kHz. There are three models so you always get the features you need and maybe a couple that allow you to grow. The all-new Big Knob Series is here.

©2017 LOUD Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. “Mackie.”, the “Running Man” figure, “Sound Like You Mean It”, and “Big Knob” are trademarks or registered trademarks of LOUD Technologies Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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Distributed in Australia by Amber Technology ambertech.com.au | 1800 251 367 | sales@ambertech.com.au

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PRODUCT REVIEWS EVE AUDIO

SC305 Studio Monitor ELECTRIC FACTORY | ELFA.COM.AU EXPECT TO PAY: $2699 (PAIR) For those of you who are unaware of Eve studio monitors, you need to get out and listen more. Their range of professional studio monitors has set a new standard in clarity built around their ribbon tweeter design that has become a signature feature of Eve monitors. For those of you looking for something rather unique in both styling and sonic delivery, the SC305 from Eve Audio is certainly worth considering.

The SC305 studio monitors from Eve represent a new era in studio monitoring and offer a wider range and clarity in a small nearfield monitor. They are perfect for the home or project studio where space is an issue, but where quality is essential. Sitting in a landscape design with a pair of five inch drivers and a ribbon tweeter, the SC305s are able to deliver incredible low end accuracy for their size, whilst still maintaining a crystal clear top end. The ribbon tweeters deliver such a fast transient attack that every subtle nuance in your mix can be heard without audible distortion or sagging.

The two woofers ensure the low frequencies are heard and stay sharp in clarity with the precise ribbon tweeter. These are very simple and easy to set up. The front panel volume control is an excellent feature, saving you

from having to reach around the back of the units to adjust the levels. They work stunningly by themselves as a pair and don’t really require a sub to define the low end in your mix. Think about it: you have four 5” drivers operating within a pair of monitors, so they are capable of moving quite a bit of air on their own.

The SC305s are well and truly over-built.

The construction is first class. The cabinet is solid, with dual rear porting to avoid low end chuffing as the air gets separated on its way out. The ribbon tweeter is well protected and isolated in the housing, which ensures perfect directional sound to the listening position, without the issues

of phasing and standing waves from high frequencies escaping out the back of the box. Of course, ribbon speaker technology is not new, but it is rarely taken advantage of. Many manufacturers seem to steer away from the challenge that presenting a quality ribbon speaker creates. What Eve has done with this and their entire range is give you the opportunity to listen to the difference in studio monitoring with the combination of ribbons and traditional drivers. The results speak for themselves.

HITS ∙ Huge stereo spread across four woofers ∙ Super-fast transient attack ∙ Unbelievably articulate clarity in sound MISSES ∙ They take up more bench space than traditional monitors

BY ROB GEE

AUDIO-TECHNICA

AT-BP40 Dynamic Microphone AUDIO-TECHNICA | AUDIO-TECHNICA.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $499 Most people would look at this microphone and assume it was a condenser due to the large size of the housing and subsequent size of the capsule inside. But what Audio-Technica has done with the AT-BP40 is deliver an end-fire large diaphragm dynamic microphone that has the natural characteristics of a dynamic microphone mixed with the clarity of a condenser microphone. This is a really clever design and one that is sure to make its way into more and more recordings in the future as engineers and artists alike discover what it has to offer sonically.

This microphone instantly conjures up the idea of a broadcast situation, where an overhanging mount allows it to be moved around a radio studio for vocal work. And yes, that is an ideal use for the AT-BP40, as it is perfectly suited to broadcast operation for both radio and television work. The hypercardioid capsule offers excellent side rejection and a very direct pickup pattern to isolate one individual voice from others in the room. Furthermore, being a dynamic microphone, it picks up more sound from close range and doesn’t tend to capture much of the unwanted room noise that is often a problem with more sensitive condenser microphones. Take all this and consider the addition of a humbucking coil in the schematic to ensure further rejection

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of noise from electromagnetic interference, and the result is a microphone that lets you hear what you want and leaves the rest of it out. But it isn’t just a broadcast interview microphone; the AT-BP40 has so much more to offer.

In the studio, this microphone delivers on all fronts. For vocals, especially in loud rock and metal applications, the AT-BP40 produces a sound that is very much reminiscent of a warm condenser microphone, but without the distortion that high sound pressure levels can create. This makes it ideal for a range of instrument uses too. Put it in front of a guitar amp and you’ll understand why it’s good to experiment with different microphones and positions. You’ll get so much more from the large diaphragm of the AT-BP40 than what you get from just sticking a 57 in front of your amp. With that in mind, it will work a treat for big, booming floor toms on a drum kit and even delivers the goods in front of a bass amp when the DI just isn’t giving you the natural characteristics you want. There’s very little this microphone can’t achieve and I can pretty much guarantee you’ll want to experiment with it to see just how you can change or improve certain sounds within your mix.

BY ROB GEE

HITS ∙ Big sound from the large capsule ∙ Very direct pickup pattern ∙ Great noise rejection MISSES ∙ Bulky housing reduces placement options in some applications

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AVAILA B NOW! LE

Rupert Neve is a true legend of the professional recording industry. Featuring switchable Rupert Neve Designs transformers that have been specifically developed for audio interfaces, the premium UR-RT USB interfaces deliver a musical, more expressive sound with rich harmonics.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS WALDORF

Quantum Synthesiser LINK AUDIO | LINKAUDIO.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $5899

Those of you who have followed this magazine over the years will be aware that I do have a few favourites when it comes to synthesisers. I’ve owned my fair share over the years, and probably your fair share too, but certain manufacturers have always had a soft spot in my heart. Waldorf will probably be that one synth brand that, in my eyes, can never really do wrong.

Although there was one desktop build from a number of years back that didn’t really float my boat, I am always excited when a new super-synth is announced and even more so when it bears the Waldorf insignia.

You can imagine my joy when a couple of weeks back a giant box was wheeled in and I took delivery of the newest beast from Waldorf, the Quantum.

Let’s not ever say that the Germans have managed to under-engineer anything, because the Quantum dispels that idea in an instant. This thing is a beast. Originally announced about nine months ago at NAMM and discussed amongst synth users ever since, it has not been an easy synthesiser to get hold of as production has been slow from the get-go. But it is slowly coming to a point where stocks of Waldorf’s flagship synthesiser are looking to be heading Australia’s way very soon. For those of you who are looking for a real workhorse in sonic exploration, this is going to have you screaming to hand over your hard-earned cash. Straight out of the box, before I even powered the unit up, I was impressed. It is big. It is heavy. It has beautiful timber inlays in each end of the metal housing. It

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looks like it has been built to last. And then you engage the power switch and realise it has been built to impress.

The keyboard comes to life with an LED at the base of every potentiometer on the top panel, of which there are more than 70 – yes, more than 70 knobs to play with, and every one of them has a smooth action that is a joy to adjust. The pitch bend and modulation wheels are cast in a slim metal design and have a really nice feel to them, with just the right amount of spring tension so that you have perfect control of your sound. There are a couple of dozen buttons to go with all of this and then, in the middle of the panel, there is a colour screen that brings it all together and makes working with the Quantum a real visual experience as well as an aural one. Move any controller on the top panel and the screen jumps to the relative window to show you exactly what is happening with your controller. Envelopes not only show the slope of the signal, but show animations of each of the eight voices and their positions through the envelope as the sound is played. You get a real visual idea of how long notes are taking to decay and can really come to terms with how to better understand your sound sculpting with this added information. EQ and dynamics are shown visually too, along with waveform shapes, so you can see just how any parameter affects the visual representation of the sound.

The Quantum is backed by a 4GB internal flash memory that is preloaded with 1GB of

samples, wavetables and presets. Being that Waldorf has become so well known for their wavetable synthesis over the years, it is to be expected that this would be the basis of the engine in the Quantum. When you add in the visual element of the colour display and are able to see the wavetable laid out in front of you, it really comes to life and changes one’s understanding of how this style of synthesis works to bring a sound to life. So, yes there is plenty going on visually, but of course it all comes down to the sound in the end. The Quantum sounds, as one would expect of a Waldorf synthesiser, very German. Unlike limited German technomachines like the Pulse, this sounds like a German synth that has a very international feel. There is a bit of everything going on in there. It took me about an hour to stop jumping back and forth through the presets before I actually started looking at what it could really do. You could very easily work with just the presets and never go beyond them – aside from some minor tweaks – and get amazing results. But when you look at what is on offer with three stereo oscillators and up to eight simultaneous waves per oscillator, along with six LFOs and six envelopes, you really won’t get caught up on just the presets for too long.

The Quantum just cries out for you to experiment with your sound and it makes it so easy to do it. The top panel layout is very intuitive and well labelled for an ease of workflow that lends itself to creativity. There is plenty going on with the I/O side of things too. With two pairs

of stereo outputs, along with stereo inputs for sampling and real-time processing of external signals, all the sound is given the care it deserves with 24bit A/D converters to ensure the best quality both in and out.

Of course, there are MIDI in, out and thru ports on five-pin DIN connections, along with both USB A and USB B connections for a host of connectivity. Did I mention it was built like a tank? Well, it is. Not the sort of keyboard you want to take with you to rehearsals three times a week, but certainly one you would want on stage for the sonic capabilities. For the many years I have played with, admired and owned Waldorf synthesisers, none have come close to this monster. The Waldorf Quantum is without a doubt one of the best digital synthesisers I have ever powered up – possibly the best.

BY ROB GEE

HITS ∙ Great design for both look and feel ∙ Big colour screen delivers critical information at all times ∙ Huge sonic capabilities ∙ It sounds freaking amazing MISSES ∙ I couldn’t fault it. Too good.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS YAMAHA

EAD10 Electronic Acoustic Drum Module YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA | AU.YAMAHA.COM | EXPECT TO PAY: $699.99 Creating a hybrid acoustic/electronic drum kit can sometimes be a complicated process. For working drummers who want to minimise their set ups from gig to gig, setting up a bunch of pads or units and then mixing the electronic sounds with the natural volume coming from the acoustic drums can also be a headache.

Yamaha Drums has listened and released the EAD10 - Electronic Acoustic Drums.

The EAD10 is an electronic acoustic drum product that allows you to blend and combine your acoustic drums instantly with electronic sounds. There are two central components – the main unit is a combination trigger module with 757 onboard voices and triggered samples, as well as 50 preset scenes and 200 user scenes. These are used to customise your drum sound and allow you to connect triggers and drum pads to augment your set up. There’s also an audio mixer with stereo outputs, USB interface, and an effects processor with 21 effects and 11 reverbs. The second component is the sensor unit – a combination bass drum trigger and X/Y condenser mic system that mounts directly onto the bass drum hoop.

The stereo condenser provides studio quality sound in your headphones/FOH mix and the trigger allows you to instantly layer voices on top of your acoustic bass drum sound. On

its own, the sensor unit is a comprehensive ‘one mic for everything’ solution. The module also allows you to record high quality audio either directly into the brain, a USB thumb drive or computer, enabling you to then share your work instantly. The easiest option is the free iOS app called Rec’n’Share, which allows you to shoot, create and edit fantastic audio/ video, and share it directly from your mobile device while sitting at the kit.

The sensor units’ microphone picks up the sounds of the drums as you yourself hear them; you get to hear everything on your kit, cymbals and rims as they respond to the effects dialled in on the module. Some of the effects include ‘fillers’ that don’t sound like much on their own, but added to your bass drums or snare drum fill in the gaps in the EQ to make them sound like the studio ones you’re always aiming for. Want some fat ‘70s in your snare? No problem. A little more sub on the bass drum? It’s available. The module also automatically sets gain levels for your playing, so it’s easy to get cracking straight away.

The EAD10 allows you to put a mic right in the centre of your kit and capture everything in one step, removing the need for multiple microphones. You now have a complete amplification solution for any live sound

situation and can have the added benefit of enhancing with electronics and mixing/ managing the sound yourself before you hand it to the front of house. When not on stage and in the practise room, you can also have an amazingly enhanced practise environment.

You can experiment with more triggers to really work the set up and include some more possibilities on the snare drum for example, but even just on its own there’s a lot of potential with the standard set up.

parents so they can see/hear what happens in lessons. The fact that it sounds great so easily is a bonus. I’ve only just had a little go so far, but the EAD10 is a great idea from Yamaha. I want one.

BY ADRIAN VIOLI

The iPhone app allows you to import a track, assign a click, adjust tempo and record yourself playing over it. At this point you can mix it however you want and export instantly, a process that would normally take forever.

A final benefit to something like the EAD10 is that educators will find it extremely useful in lessons for instrumental music students.

You can quickly record yourself for a student to practise to or perhaps record progress for

HITS ∙ Great solution for live sound and practise solutions at a good price ∙ Ability to share video/audio easily ∙ Uncanny ability to mic up the whole kit with one step MISSES ∙ No separate headphone volume on the module, although most drummers will use a mixer anyway

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PRODUCT REVIEWS STERLING BY MUSIC MAN

John Petrucci JP60 CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA CMCMUSIC.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $1795 There is no doubt that John Petrucci is a hugely influential guitarist, musician and composer. Dream Theater have released 13 studio albums garnering numerous accolades and recognition from fans and the music industry alike, and Petrucci’s playing and writing continue to play a huge part in this success. Enjoying a long-standing relationship with Music Man, the band has collaborated on many iterations and variations of Petrucci signature models in a range of specifications. Making the Petrucci models even more accessible, Music Man has enjoyed success with the extension of these guitars in its Sterling line of instruments.

Based on the Signature Series JP6, the Sterling JP60 is eye-catching straight out of the box. The guitar features the classic Music Man headstock shape and 4/2 tuner layout, with a sleek double cut body with forearm contour and Petrucci shield inlays.

The body is basswood with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. In the hardware department, you’ll find two humbuckers, Music Man’s Modern Tremolo and threeway pickup switch. Last but definitely not least, the guitar is finished in Mystic Dream, something Music Man describes as its chameleon finish. Changing from green to dark purple and almost black, the

‘chameleon’ moniker is definitely justified and adds some extra sparkle to the instrument.

I really dig the JP60 neck shape. Indicative of most Petrucci signature guitars, it’s skinny in profile with a slightly flatter, wider feel. It really gives the feeling that you can get around the neck easily and also be articulate with the 16” radius and medium jumbo frets. The floating bridge feels smooth and coupled with the locking tuners everything seems stable, even with plenty of bending and tremolo bar work. I found the dual humbuckers to be responsive and clear, with more of a pristine modern vibe (as opposed to vintage round and warm). The Petrucci pickup switch location ensures that quick pickup selector flicks are always easy.

super chops, and while this guitar won’t guarantee you the ability to alternate pick like a demon or sweep odd groupings of diminished arpeggios, it does play super well. Furthermore, I think it would be a great guitar for someone looking for a shred instrument at a good price. To be honest, it doesn’t even have to be for shred – there are a lot a usable tones under the hood, and the quick neck means you can whip around with whatever takes your fancy.

Little touches like the Music Man styled gig bag and neck heel truss rod adjustment wheel add to the overall package. Slick and cool, the JP60 is an excellent guitar at an affordable price point.

HITS ∙ Quick neck ∙ Mystic Dream finish looks great MISSES ∙ Some players may find the pickup switch position awkward

BY NICK BROWN

We all know that John Petrucci has

MACKIE

XR824 Studio Monitors AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $999 The team at Mackie are no strangers to delivering quality audio at all volumes.

Over the years they have proven themselves with both powered PA speakers and studio monitors alike, so it makes sense that the XR Series of powered studio monitors continues to go from strength to strength with modernday improvements that make these a very real contender when you are looking for your next monitoring option. The XR824 monitors found their way into my listening space this month and showed just how Mackie is set to deliver quality audio reproduction for home and professional studio use.

Certainly there was no mistaking these monitors when they came out of the box.

The design is reminiscent of Mackie studio monitors of years gone past, but with a smooth, slick look. The front panel is finished in a classy satin coating, with black wood laminate on the top and sides. There is very little going on on the front panel. Aside from the Mackie logo and LED to indicate operation, the design team at Mackie has kept these very minimal, so the one inch tweeter and eight inch Kevlar woofer stand boldly in the forefront. There will be no clashing with décor in any room with these speakers, nor should there be any issues with their acoustic fit to any space. A selection of tone adjustments on the rear of the box allows you to shape the sound to suit any room.

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Mackie’s design with these speakers means they spread the sound evenly in a directional manner that opens up the area in which the sweet spot is located. Whilst they still send the sound in one direction, they are not so focused that you have to sit within a very tight space to hear a true stereo spread from these monitors. It was nice to be able to lean forward over the desk when working and still hear what was needed, so too was the case when sitting back in the chair for more relaxed listening.

The cleverly designed rear porting on these boxes features an elliptical design that moves a maximum amount of air out of the cabinet when running at high SPLs, without audible chuffing from the ports. It can be commonplace with smaller, round ports to hear air movement, which is why slotted ports have become more apparent from many manufacturers in recent years, but these elliptical ports certainly appear to achieve the desired result, especially at high listening levels, which the XR824 monitors are very capable of achieving. These are ideal for a room with a bit of space. Being the larger monitor in the range from Mackie, they will work in a larger control room, but still feel right at home in a smaller studio operating at lower volumes.

BY ROB GEE

HITS ∙ Deep integration with your DAW ∙ Nektarine plugin control ∙ Great look and feel MISSES ∙ I wasn’t a fan of the fader motion

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PRODUCT REVIEWS FENDER

Player Series Basses FENDER AUSTRALIA | FENDER.COM.AU | RRP: JAZZ BASS - $1199, JAGUAR BASS - $1199, PRECISION BASS - $1149

Modern bass playing was invented and continues to be re-invented by players with their eye on the essence of style. Slap techniques may have become gaudy in the hands of pale imitators, but came to life firmly in the hands of people who lit up rooms with it. The name ‘Lemmy’ may be synonymous with gruff power, but he played like he had a job to do and would let nothing get in the way of doing so.

It takes a particular type of player with their eye on a particular prize to excel in a field where you are building foundations upon which other people drop houses. The more instrument makers are aware of this concept, the better. Bricks and mortar, bread and butter, meat and two veg, learning your ABCs – the low end of the frequency spectrum is the absolute bedrock upon which everything we listen to these days is formed and grown. Fender’s new Player Series basses are thoroughly and thoughtfully abreast of the duty they are designed to perform.

Six strings or four, the above is true of all Player Series instruments. I’ve written about the Strats and Teles in earlier editions of this here periodical and very much appreciate the careful tweaking Fender has done to the first few pages of their catalogue. On the whole, they are

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closer to their more expensive American counterparts both tonally and in build quality, and it is a gracious act on Fender’s behalf to make every single guitar in said catalogue exactly what prospective owner is looking for, no matter what budget.

I’ll start with where it all began, the mighty Precision. There is a very good reason that designers and players alike always come back to this tried and true workhorse for a blueprint. The girth of the neck, the heft in the single rail of pickup, and the simplicity of the visage are the Rome that all roads lead back to. Sunburst finish with a maple fretboard is where it begins and ends for me with Ps; that smooth fret-hand feel and classic curvature is the natural choice every time. As with the guitars, Player Series basses come replete with a voicing that is considerably closer to American openness than their predecessor. Gone is the sock-over-the-mic dullness that some of the old Standards were shamefully guilty of, instead replaced by the clarity and punch you’ve been searching for. This is particularly prominent in the Precision thanks its bare bones, no nonsense circuit diagram.

The Jazz Bass ticks just as many boxes.

Often favoured for its vintage warmth

and incredible versatility, the Jazz is less the Clydesdale that the P is and a little more the race day drawcard. As above, the pickups have more of what they promise with none of the fluff, and the extra fret means that you can wander all the way up high like Jaco did. The neck on this one is a little more player-friendly, too – true to the original, it’s narrower across the span of the 9.5” radius. I’ve played a few of these Jazzies now, but none that I enjoyed so much as the Sonic Red with Pau Ferro fretboard one that hangs where I work today. There’s something in the woodiness and noonday warmth that really lets the tonewood do a lot of the talking for you and allows to you languish in sound a little longer. It definitely clicked with me.

Finally, we come to the hipster bait. The flashy yet competitive younger sibling of the trio is, was and always will be the Jaguar. This simpler understudy of the Jazz bass is notoriously bratty, but just as keen to get to work. Only thing is, it doesn’t feel like work here. The one I played was Sonic Red again, but I feel like some of the cooler blues and greens would really pop on stage with the Jag in particular.

Again, the voicing is lively and versatile; however, this variation on the offset theme is a little more fun and less studied than

the other two, and that absolutely works in its favour.

I’m undeniably a massive fan of Fender’s Player Series. True to the name, they are designed to turn more dreamers into players and do so simply by making it easier to get your hands on an instrument that you’ll adore for decades, further closing the gap between Mexican and American builds in one big leap. These instruments are packed with the absolute essentials that make Fender basses the benchmark of the industry, which makes the whole range ready for stage or studio right out of the box.

BY LUKE SHIELDS HITS ∙ Voicing and build quality closer to American builds without pushing the budget friendship MISSES ∙ Options like block inlays or binding would blow the lid off the entire range

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PRODUCT REVIEWS AUDIO-TECHNICA

AT4050 Condenser Microphone AUDIO-TECHNICA AUSTRALIA | AUDIO-TECHNICA.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $999 Audio-Technica have been delivering quality microphones for longer than I care to remember and they continue to do so with models that fit every budget and every need.

I’ve tested, tried, used and abused all number of AT microphones over the years, but I always enjoy getting a model to try out that I haven’t had a chance to in the past. As I opened the box of the AT4050 this month, I knew I was in for another Audio-Technica treat, with a few extra features thrown in for good measure.

Inside the box, you find a vinyl cased microphone that is set to offer you plenty of years of use. The case is sturdy enough to look after the microphone when stored away, and a velvet dust hood is also supplied for when you want to leave the microphone set up in the cradle. I was a little concerned when I took the suspension cradle from the box. It felt really lightweight, like it was made of plastic.

But as I unwrapped it, I was surprised to find an all metal construction that was cleverly engineered to remove any excess material to keep the weight down. The microphone sits freely between the two sides of a stretched rubber band in the central suspension, keeping it totally isolated from any unwanted low frequency rumble.

This transformerless capacitor microphone is a real joy when you get the phantom power running to it. It delivers a clean, crisp audio capture with a very low self-noise level. A low

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cut switch is present, although I didn’t find the need for it when used in the cradle. and a -10dB pad switch is also available for use with higher SPLs. Best of all, the AT4050 offers a choice of three polar patterns with cardioid, omni and figure of eight patterns on offer. This is a very nice microphone indeed and one that any studio, home or professional could make use of. It’s not a traditional large diaphragm condenser, but it offers a very natural sound and sharp transient attack that makes it ideal for a range of instrument applications as well as vocals. This is a microphone that will do justice to pianos, delivering a beautiful clarity across the entire frequency range, yet it can be widely used and would suit a range of instrument applications. I could even see it working well as a choir microphone in the omni polar pattern.

BY ROB GEE HITS ∙ Precise audio capture, especially with piano ∙ Great range of built-in features ∙ Lightweight yet supportive cradle MISSES ∙ Not at all

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PRODUCT REVIEWS FOCUSRITE

Clarett 4Pre USB INNOVATIVE MUSIC INNOVATIVEMUSIC.COM.AU EXPECT TO PAY: $1049 The Focusrite Clarett range focuses on tour audio interfaces designed to offer the kind of quality and features found in units costing twice the price. The series ranges from the desktop Clarett 2Pre (10-in, 4-out) and Clarett 4Pre reviewed here (18in, 8-out) to the single-rackmount Clarett 8Pre (18-in, 20-out) up to the Thunderboltonly Clarett 8PreX, with a very respectable 26-in, 28-out. Aside from the consistent visual presentation, the line is also held together by its reliance on Focusrite’s decades of analogue design experience, along with Air-enabled preamps that reproduce the input impedance, clarity, and frequency response curve of the company’s original ISA mic preamp.

Available in Thunderbolt and USB versions, the Clarett 4Pre has four high performance, low-noise (-128dB EIN) mic preamps with a low distortion, ultra-linear design that guarantees a clean, open and transparent sound, giving accurate representation of the original performance. There are 18 inputs, including the four mic/line inputs (two of which are also high-impedance instrument inputs), four fixed line inputs, and an ADAT input which supports an additional eight channels when combined with multi-channel mic preamps like Clarett OctoPre. There are two monitor outputs with anti-thump

technology, a headphone output with volume control, and two line outputs – and MIDI I/O is also included, of course. You can use the Focusrite Control app on Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to easily configure your routing and monitor mixes, while other bundled software includes XLN Audio Addictive Keys, Focusrite Red Plug-in Suite and Plug-in Collective, Softube Time and Tone Bundle with four of Softube’s world-class reverb, delay, mastering and distortion plug-ins, Ableton Live Lite, and Loopmasters with 2GB of royalty-free sample libraries.

Supported operating systems are Mac OSX 10.11 El Capitan, 10.12 Sierra or 10.13 High Sierra, and Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, while supported sample rates are 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz.

The key to the Clarett 4Pre’s success is that Air mode, which boosts the high end significantly up to 35kHz. It’s an effect you feel as much as hear, bringing more intimacy to vocals, more sparkle to guitars, and more swish to hi-hats. It doesn’t work for everything, though – if you use it on every track you record, you’re going to have so much treble content to contend with that your mix will start to sound harsh, but use it selectively and it’s like a magic wand for your overall mix. Focusrite also nails it with a very helpful manual that explains the myriad ways to connect this bad boy up. It’s such a potentially complex system that it helps to have a little extra help in planning your signal routing.

HITS ∙ Input gain LEDs handily integrated around the gain controls ∙ Flexible routing options ∙ Great-sounding Air mode on all four mic channels MISSES ∙ A few USB ports for connecting other devices would be nice

BY PETER HODGSON

MACKIE

Onyx Producer 2•2 AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $299 Mackie has been a staple company in professional and home audio for a long time.

Their famed ‘Big Knob’ series of monitor controllers are used in studios all around the world. Their live consoles mix bands every single day, and their budget studio monitors are a common choice for budding producers and educational institutions. Enter the Onyx Producer 2•2, a USB 2.0 interface with two combo jack inputs, MIDI I/O and a DAW/ input mix knob for zero latency recording.

The Producer 2•2 is the big brother of the Artist 1•2, a small interface without the combo input jacks. This unit would be right at home as an additional piece of gear for a professional rig, as a band’s live interface or for use when travelling and recording on the road. The interface itself is sturdy, well constructed and sleek. The Onyx Producer features Onyx preamps that are perfect for a bedroom producer or professional travel rig.

‘Plug and play’ is something that a lot of companies claim, but it’s usually not as simple as advertised. The Producer 2•2, however, bucks that trend. Plugging this interface into my MacBook Pro via the included USB cable, it was instantly recognised as an in/out by the Mac and within my DAW (ProTools) itself. The back panel features 1/4” jack connectors for monitors, a Kaspersky lock, and MIDI in/out with USB and MIDI connection indicator lights. In a word, the Producer

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2•2 is practical. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t. You’d struggle to find a more streamlined piece of gear for travelling, monitoring samples and backing tracks live, or recording and demoing on the road. Two inputs make it ideal for a stereo synth or drum machine for pop and electronic music producers, or for demoing scratch tracks for rock and metal bands. The front panel features a very handy input/DAW mix knob which, when dialled all the way to ‘input’, allows for zero latency monitoring while recording – a handy addition that can be endlessly useful when using the dual Onyx pres.

Mackie’s Onyx preamps are exactly what you’d want them to be. They’re clear and transparent, ready for any colour of preamp or instrument you want to throw before them. Both inputs feature an independent signal/overload indicator and a Hi-Z switch for recording direct from something such as a guitar. The only downfall is that the Producer 2•2 only has just one global 48V switch for both inputs, so be mindful when recording two signals at once that you’re not frying a microphone. In addition to the rugged metal chassis that houses the Producer 2•2, the pots and buttons on the front panel feel solid, which seems to be a common cost saver for other budget interface manufacturers. Sturdy input gain pots make for more precise gain staging, which I love. Unfortunately, the Producer

2•2 doesn’t feature any line outs specifically for outboard gear, unless you want to get creative with the monitor outs.

The Onyx Producer 2•2 is a great choice as an artist and/or producer’s main interface or as an addition to a flight/travel rig. For whatever purpose you need, the Producer 2•2 is your go-to. It’s literally plug and play, sturdy, well-built and practical, while still being sleek and inconspicuous.

Mackie has nailed the design and given the market exactly what it needs in a little box, with zero latency monitoring if and when required. Signal/overload indicators are a welcome addition, allowing you to quickly identify breaks in a signal path or a hot, clipping input. It includes a handy

headphone out, MIDI in/out and monitor outs. Besides only featuring one global phantom power switch, this little unit is a real winner.

BY LEWIS NOKE EDWARDS HITS ∙ Practical, no nonsense ∙ Zero latency recording MISSES ∙ One 48V/phantom power switch for two inputs

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DIRECTORY

EVOLUTION MUSIC

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DANGERFORK PRINT CO

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GEAR RUNDOWN

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

As far as the prowess of the modern bluesman, it’s pretty hard to top the virtuosic ability of Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Entering the scene as a teenage prodigy with a knack for channelling the ferocity and emotion heard in the playing of his heroes Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, Shepherd has been a mainstay in the world of blues rock for close to 25 years now, with his live shows acting as an absolute masterclass for budding guitar buffs looking to finesse their way around the fretboard. Ahead of a hotly anticipated East Coast tour kicking off in Brisbane in October, we dive into the formidable arsenal of vintage and modified gear favoured by the one and only Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Guitars 1961 FENDER STRATOCASTER Every guitarist can testify to the fact that some instruments feel like an extension of your own body and soul, and most would be able to pinpoint the exact moment ‘The One’ fell into their hands and never left.

For Kenny Wayne Shepherd, that exact moment occurred when the prodigal young guitarist first visited Hollywood’s Guitar Centre at the age of 16 and stumbled upon a worn out ’61 Sunburst Stratocaster.

Despite not being able to afford the guitar, the vintage Strat never strayed far from Shepherd’s mind, and on his next visit to L.A. to play his first industry showcase

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a year later, he managed to convince his management team to split the cost of the guitar three ways, subsequently playing the instrument on every studio release and tour ever since.

FENDER JIMI HENDRIX MONTEREY STRATOCASTER It’s no big secret that Shepherd, like most Strat-wielders, is a die-hard Hendrix fan, so it should come as no surprise that the Louisiana bluesman would tote a Monterey Stratocaster onstage for a blistering set-closing cover of ‘Voodoo Child.’ Modelled upon the Stratocaster that Hendrix infamously smashed and set ablaze at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, Shepherd’s model is part of Fender’s initial limited hand-painted run, and features a customised neck with jumbo frets and added Graphtec saddles.

FENDER KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD SIGNATURE STRATOCASTER Back in 2008, Shepherd and Fender unveiled the first editions of the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature Stratocaster.

Based on the specs of Shepherd’s favourite vintage Stratocasters with a modern twist, the models feature custom-voiced KWS pickups, updated hardware and hot-rod inspired graphics painted on the body below the bridge. Onstage, Shepherd can often be seen playing various prototype models of the KWH Signature Strat, including a white model with an incredibly rare channel bound birds eye maple fretboard designed in conjunction with then-Fender CEO Larry Thomas.

Paul Custom handed down to him by his grandfather being favoured by Shepherd for occasional use in the studio and onstage.

NATIONAL RESOPHONIC ELECTRIC RESONATOR The fusion of a traditional Dobro body with the shape and electronics of a singlecut electric guitar, Shepherd uses this National hybrid guitar to recreate the steely sounds of his hit single ‘Aberdeen’ when playing live.

MARTIN KWS SIGNATURE ACOUSTIC Inspired by his huge 1998 single ‘Blue on Black,’ Shepherd and Martin teamed up to create the colourful KWS Signature Martin Acoustic Guitar, featuring a jumbo cutaway silhouette and a Sitka spruce top for a distinctively snappy and resonant tone.

Amplifiers On recent tours, Shepherd has been using a massive sounding setup consisting of three Fender amps modified by the one and only Alexander Dumble, the crowned maestro of boutique amplification. This rig includes an original blackface Fender Vibroverb from 1964, a ’57 Deluxe Tweed rewired by Dumble and referred to as the ‘Tweedle-Dee Deluxe,’ and a modified Fender Bandmaster head feeding into a Fender Twin Reverb, delivering a huge saturated tone for Shepherd to use for feedback during his extended blistering solos.

GIBSON LES PAUL

Effects Pedals

Shepherd owns several Les Pauls, with a particularly delicious vintage ebony Les

As a serial gear addict, Shepherd is known for shaking up his pedals for different tones

while on tour, and often uses a sophisticated switching system to avoid the hassle of navigating an overcrowded pedalboard.

Shepherd is vocal fan of the Analog Man King of Tone overdrive, calling the boutique pedal his ‘secret weapon’ on various occasions, using it in conjunction with a dual inductor Dunlop MC404 CAE wah-wah for those classic searing blues rock tones. For modulated, Leslie speaker inspired tones, Shepherd alternates between an Analog Man Bi-Chorus and a Dunlop Uni-Vibe, while an original Roger Mayer Octavia beefs up his signal for the high-pitched shredding heard on ‘Blue on Black.’ Although he doesn’t use delay often, Shepherd owns a fully analogue Jam Pedals Delay Llama for lush, old school sounds to beef up his playing. To keep things in tune, Shepherd also plugs into a Boss TU-2 tuner, and juices up his rig with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 power supply.

BY WILL BREWSTER

Catch Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour next month thanks to TEG Live

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