FREE!
MADE BY MUSICIANS FOR MUSICIANS
#295 — NOVEMBER 2018
Give a
way ATH AUDIO -M5 ! 0XB -TECHN AKA T ICA H I PR E A D OFE SSIO PHONE S NAL PAR ERNIE FIRE ADIG BAL MS L TRIN GS
INTERVIEWS — The Offspring, La Dispute, Mayday Parade, Glades, The Used
REVIEWED — Akai Fire, Mackie Freeplay Go, EV Evolve 50, Warwick Masterbuilt Streamer Bass,
Adam SP5 Headphones, PreSonus Studio 24 Interface, Sterling Ray24 Bass, Gruv Gear GigBlade
SALE ON NOW! livingmusicyamaha.com.au
199
$
GIGMAKERC40 GUITAR PACK Recommended by
SALE ON NOW!
teachers, this full size classical guitar comes with a clip-on digital tuner.
SPIDER V 20, $219 Designed to sound great right out of the box, easy-to-use controls and compact size make it the ideal practice amp for any guitarist. Spider V 30 ($279) and Spider V 60 ($449) also available.
VOX MV50, $299 Half a kilo, 50 watts of power and equipped with Nutube. Available in AC, Clean, Classic Rock, Boutique, and High Gain. BC108 ($119) and BC112 ($399) speaker cabs for MV50 also availble.
STAGEPAS 400BT PA WITH BLUETOOTH, $999 400W portable PA system, 8 channel powered mixer, 2 x 8� speakers, Bluetooth audio connectivity. STAGEPAS 600BT also available, $1,399.
GIGMAKER10 ELECTRIC GUITAR PACK
379
$
Includes Yamaha PAC012 guitar, VOX PATHFINDER10 amp, VOX cable, digital tuner, strings, picks, strap and
GUITAR COLOURS AVAILABLE
STEINBERG UR22MKII RECORDING PACK, $399 Offers everything you need to start producing songs on your computer or iPad. Audio
string winder. Available in Dark Blue Metallic, Red
interface, studio condenser microphone,
Metallic and Black (pictured). PATHFINDER10 also sold
monitor headphones, cables and Steinberg
separately $109 (Bass version $129 pictured).
Cubase AI recording software are all included!
living music ya maha .com .au
P125 DIGITAL PIANO
899
$
New model — now with expanded sounds plus bass and drum accompaniment. 88 weighted keys, graded action and onboard speakers. Compatible with Smart Pianist app. This is your personal piano. Optional L125 wooden stand ($149.99 RRP*) and LP1 3-pedal unit ($129.99 RRP*) available. Limited stock.
NP12 PIANO STYLE KEYBOARD, $289
PSRE263 KEYBOARD, $229
Slim and lightweight, 61 key touch response keyboard with built-in
The ideal first keyboard for musicians who are just starting out,
speakers and 10 pre-set voices. NP32 with 76 keys and graded soft
with hundreds of sounds to start you on your musical journey.
touch action also available, $399.
Includes BONUS HPH50 headphones valued at $49.99 RRP*.
HS8S Sub
HS8
HS SERIES MONITORS
HS7 HS5
Powered nearfield studio monitors designed to reproduce the most honest, precise reference possible. HS5, $299 HS7, $369 HS8, $469 HS8S Sub, $549
DTX402K PLUS PACK $649
5” woofer, 1” tweeter, 70W power. 6.5” woofer, 1” tweeter, 95Wpower. 8” woofer, 1” tweeter, 120W power. Powerful 150W subwoofer with an 8” driver.
EAD10 ELECTRONIC ACOUSTIC DRUM MODULE $599
RYDEEN PACK $999
Loaded with 415 amazing new stereo voices, a redesigned rack system for positioning flexibility
Transform you entire drum kit into a powerful electronic-
kit, hardware, sticks and Paiste ride, crash and hi-
and rock solid stability, plus 10 built-in training
acoustic hybrid with sampled sounds and studio quality
hat cymbals plus BONUS drum stool. Limited stock.
functions. Complete with quality Yamaha stereo
digital effects. Every drummer needs one of these for
headphones, drum sticks and drum stool.
practicing, performing or live performance.
FIND A DEALER au.yamaha.com
EVENTS AND PROMOTIONS yamahabackstage.com.au
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/yamahabackstagepass
Complete set-up for drummers. Includes 5 piece
COLOURS AVAILABLE
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM instagram.com/yamahabackstage
WATCH VIDEOS
youtube.com/yamahaaustralia
TERMS AND CONDITIONS. All offers and discounted prices in this catalogue are part of a national sales program conducted by Yamaha Music Australia Pty Ltd and are valid only between 1 November 2018 and 31 December 2018 at participating Yamaha dealers which can be found at livingmusicyamaha.com.au. Not all products listed in this catalogue are available at all Yamaha dealers. While stocks last. The prices as set out or referred to in this catalogue apply for the duration of the program and may be sold at this price or lower. The Yamaha dealer participating in this promotion may not have sold these products in the past and where it has sold these products it may have sold them at more or less than the advertised price. The Yamaha dealer participating in this promotion may not have sold these products in the past and where it has sold these products it may have sold them at less than RRP. Errors and omissions excepted. Only stands, stools and accessories outlined in the product description are included. Participating dealers may charge freight. Lifestyle images are for illustration purposes only. iPhone, iPod, are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.
CONTENTS 08 10 11 12 16 18 19 20 22 24 26 27 28 29 30 48 50
Giveaways Industry News Music News Product News Cover Story: Dashboard Confessional The Offspring Mayday Parade Glades The Used La Dispute Abbey Road Institute Gear Rundown Musicology Electronic Music Production Guitar Bass Percussion Product Reviews Directory Show & Tell
/MIXDOWNMAGAZINE @MIXDOWNMAGAZINE @MIXDOWNMAGAZINE MIXDOWNMAG.COM.AU
For breaking news, new content and more giveaways visit our website.
Dashboard Confessional PG. 16
The Offspring
La Dispute
PG. 18
PG. 20
Foreword The end of the year is fast approaching. Summer is here, Christmas is right around the corner and we’re about to be treated to more music festivals than you can throw a stick at in Australia. The ever so wonderful Dashboard Confessional is on the cover this month ahead of their performance at Good Things Festival in December. On top of that, we have features with a slew of other bands playing Good Things, a mountain of product news/reviews, an inside look into the Abbey Road Institute and more. Thanks for reading! NICHOLAS SIMONSEN - EDITOR
PUBLISHER Furst Media Mycelium Studios Factory 1/10-12 Moreland Road East Brunswick VIC 3057 (03) 9428 3600
ONLINE EDITOR Jessica Over jess@furstmedia.com.au
MANAGING DIRECTOR Patrick Carr patrick@furstmedia.com.au
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Erica May
EDITOR Nicholas Simonsen nicholas@furstmedia.com.au
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Will Brewster, Josh Martin
CONTRIBUTORS Rob Gee, Christie Elizer, Nick Brown, David James Young, Adrian Violi, Michael Cusack, Augustus Welby, Luke Shields, Alex Watts, Jessica Over,
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
DECEMBER ISSUE #296: STREET: WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8 AD BOOKING: MONDAY NOVEMBER 26 EDITORIAL: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 27 ARTWORK: WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 28 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 Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT Headphones Giveaway Audio-Technica has launched the ATH-M50xBT wireless over-ear headphones, adding Bluetooth technology to further improve on an industry standard. The newest model allows users to experience the lauded sonic sounds of the M50x professional studio headphones anytime, anywhere. Thanks to our friends at Audio-Technica Australia, we have a set of these fantastic headphones to give away.
Akai Professional Fire Giveaway The Akai Professional Fire is a revolutionary companion controller for FL Studio designed to enhance workflow and the creative experience. Get hands-on with your production through plug-and-play integration, easy browsing controls, and a mode for every mood. Thanks to our friends at Electric Factory, we have one to give away to one lucky reader.
Last Month’s Giveaway Winners Martin Authentic Acoustic Strings Giveaway Martin Guitar’s Authentic Acoustic Strings are the esteemed company’s most advanced strings to date, offering incredible durability through their ability to stand up to even the most rigorous of practice and performance schedules. Thanks to our friends at Electric Factory, we had two sets to give away to one lucky reader and the winner is: Daniel from Sydney, NSW. Congratulations!
NUX B-2 2.4GHz Wireless System Giveaway Designed as an ideal audio solution for any home or studio rehearsals, the NUX B-2 is a digital wireless system that offers high-quality transmissions and unparalleled signal stability every time. Thanks to our friends at Pro Music Australia, we had one of these fantastic systems to give away absolutely free and the winner is: Bartholomew from Melbourne, VIC. Congratulations!
Ernie Ball Paradigm Strings Giveaway Ernie Ball has been committed to shaping the sound of rock and roll for 50 years, and their Paradigm Strings uphold a glowing reputation. Featuring increased tensile and fatigue strength, these strings are built to last with unparalleled durability. Thanks to our friends at CMC Music, we’re giving away two string sets absolutely free.
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
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JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2019
THU 24 JAN MELBOURNE CORNER HOTEL SOLD OUT FRI 25 JAN MELBOURNE THE CROXTON BANDROOM SAT 26 JAN BRISBANE THE BRIGHTSIDE MON 28 JAN SYDNEY OXFORD ART FACTORY SOLD OUT TUE 29 JAN SYDNEY THE LANSDOWNE ‘JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE’ OUT NOW ON PARTISAN / INERTIA
TICKETS ON SALE NOW | IDLESBAND.COM | LIVENATION.COM.AU
INDUSTRY NEWS Another Word (or Ten) on Pill Testing In the lead up to the Victorian state elections, the Reason Party (previously the Sex Party) is pushing for pill testing to be introduced in music festivals, suggesting that the first one should be held next month at Falls Festival in Lorne. The NSW government’s response to the Defqon.1 deaths was to set up by a panel of experts – the heads of the police force, ministry of health and the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority – and completely bypass anyone from drug safety and festivals. The panel’s recommendations did not address the issue of pill testing. Instead it suggested stricter regulation for promoters should include security and health contingency plans before being allowed a permit, strengthening drug and alcohol education, providing more support for frontline health workers at music festivals, a new law that would hold drug dealers responsible for deaths they cause, and trialling on-the-spot fines for drug possession at music festivals.
Record Income for Live Performance… Australia’s live performance set new records last year in terms of revenue and attendance, according to Live Performance Australia (LPA)’s 2017 Ticket Attendance and Revenue Report. Victoria shone the brightest in both categories, although all states and territories showed growth. According to the LPA’s chief executive Evelyn Richardson, “Over 23 million Australians attended live events, with over $1.88 billion generated through ticket sales. This represents a 23 percent growth in attendance and 32 percent growth in revenue nationally between 2016 and 2017. “While contemporary music recorded its highest levels of ticket sales and revenue ($826m) and attendance (8.5m), circus and physical theatre and contemporary music festivals also recorded strong growth.”
…and Digital Royalties for Songwriters Recently released figures from APRA AMCOS showed the rights organisation broke the $400 million revenue mark for the first time. It posted a record $420.2 million in just 12 months. Total royalties payable to songwriters, publishers and affiliated societies (net distributable revenue) was $362.8 million, marking an 8.2 percent year-on-year growth. For the first time, songwriters and composers earned more money from digital sources than broadcasting (TV/radio), which APRA AMCOS says has opened many new doors for revenue. Digital grew 21.9 percent from the previous year and accounted for a staggering $134.5 million – nearly a third of all revenue – with $81.9 million in audio streaming income making up the bulk after with a 31.9 percent year-on-year growth. Broadcast revenue grew 5.8 percent to $132.6 million, with $85.7 million from television and $46.9 million from radio.
Deadline Looms For Sydney Lockout Laws On Thursday November 15, the NSW Parliament will debate a bill introduced late last month to scrap the Sydney lockouts (or at least most of them, except for the venues in Kings Cross). The bill was introduced from a party not typically associated with gigs and DJs – the Shooters, Farmers and Fishers Party.
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ARIA Upgrades Charts The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has made changes to collection of streaming data when it collates its weekly charts. The change will see a greater emphasis on paid subscription streams over free ad-supported streams. ARIA said the move was consistent with what’s happening globally with most charts. Dan Rosen, ARIA chief executive officer, explained, “As the way Australian fans listen to their favourite music continues to evolve, it has always been important that the ARIA charts reflect what is happening in the marketplace.”
Fender Study Shows 50 Percent of New Guitar Buyers are Females … A study by Fender found that females now account for 50 percent of the market for beginner guitar players in the UK and US. Fender CEO Andy Mooney commented,“Today’s players have grown up in a different cultural context and popular music landscape, and rising artists like Mura Masa, Tash Sultana, Youngr, Daniel Caesar, Grimes and Ed Sheeran are changing the way guitar is being used.” Various artists have said they still feel intimidated in guitar shops, or still receive attitude from venue tech staff when they make suggestions for better sound. Fender has agreed that it will change its marketing to include more images of women playing.
…While My Piano Gently Weeps Asian migration has caused a spike in piano sales in Australia, according to SBS News. Ara Vartoukian of Theme and Variations Piano Services in Sydney said that piano imports fell nationally since the 1980s, but have returned to their previous heights of about 8000 a year. The observation was confirmed by statistics from the Australian Music Association. Music retailer Parsons of Chatswood, which has a strong Chinese immigrant demographic, says 70 percent of its sales come from this group.
The Divine Ms. C Chrissy Amphlett of The Divinyls will be inducted into The Age/Music Victoria awards on Wednesday November 21 at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Although The Divinyls were formed in Sydney and Amphlett spent her
later years in New York after her marriage to US drummer Charley Drayton, Victoria has full dibs on her. She was born in Geelong and began her music career busking in the Melbourne CBD.
Deadlines for QLD Music Awards, Thorpie Fellowship Entries for the Queensland Music Awards will close on Monday November 12, by which time the state’s songwriters must enter their songs in a wide range of 13 self-nominating categories. See qmusic.com.au for full details. Winners are announced on Tuesday March 19 at the Royal International Convention Centre at Brisbane Showgrounds. The Billy Thorpe Scholarship deadline is also Monday November 12. Now in its 11th year, it’s funded by the Queensland government and administered by QMusic. It provides $10,000 for an emerging artist to record with an established producer, and receive careerplanning advice from Sydney-based Chugg Entertainment. Emerging musicians and duos can check eligibility guidelines and apply for the scholarship via qmusic.com.au.
New Video Series for Mental Health Tune Ups is a new six-part video series set to feature Australian artists and music industry identities to drive awareness for the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline. It’s being funded by denim brand Levi’s, produced by Vice Media and on supportact.org.au. The series features rapper Briggs, DZ Deathrays manager Maggie Collins, The Amity Affliction’s Joel Birch, Select Music agency’s Stephen Wade, Alex the Astronaut and stage manager Cam Batten. They accept that the entertainment industry is full of anxious moments, from missing a flight to watching a new record dive-bomb, but there are ways to cope. Alex the Astronaut suggests that 30 minutes in the gym does wonders. Batten says it’s important that these days it’s quite acceptable to reach out to others to say you have a problem.
Sounds Australia Curating on Apple Music
of playlists makes it easier for Apple Music customers around the world to discover and listen to Australian music. Sounds Australia began expanding its digital presence in January by developing playlists on Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify and YouTube, and most recently Pandora. In the past ten years, Sounds Australia has showcased almost 800 acts. Next March at SXSW in Texas, it will be a key component of Australia House, funded by the Federal government, where the Lucille Club becomes a hub for all things Australia through the G’DAY USA campaign. Last month, a record 18 Australian and NZ acts were announced in the first round.
Gibson Back on Track Expect US guitar maker Gibson to make its presence felt again after emerging from crippling debt. It’s out of bankruptcy (as of Thursday November 1), with a new CEO James “JC” Curleigh (ex-Levi Strauss) and senior management team. Last month the US Bankruptcy Court approved Gibson’s plan to clear $500 million of debt and use $70 million to work its plan to rebuild. Curleigh, an avid guitarist, promises to bring the company back to its “golden era”, saying, “Gibson has been a pioneer of craftsmanship and innovation in musical instruments and has been synonymous with shaping the sounds of generations and genres for more than 100 years.”
New Podcast for Muscians Making a Difference Charity group Musicians Making a Difference has launched a new 16-part podcast called Rhyme & Reason for Australian youth and young adults. Local and overseas guest discuss the music that helped them through troubled times such as grief and loss, mental illness, self-identity, alcoholism and addiction. Among these names are ipop maverick E^ST, Instagram influencer Alli Simpson, hip hop chart-toppers Bliss N Eso, singer/songwriter/ actor Casey Donovan, singer/songwriter/ engineer Dustin Tebbutt , rapper Pez, US photographer Chris Cuffaro and Australian music producer/engineer Scott Horscroft (owner of The Grove studios), each talking openly and passionately about their journey.
Sounds Australia, the music export body that has created a huge presence for Australian music at trade events around the world, is now a global curator on Apple Music. Its suite
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MUSIC NEWS
Revisit Silent Alarm on Tour with Bloc Party
Bon Jovi Arrive Next Month for Huge Stadium Tour
Talking Heads’ David Byrne is Heading to Australia
Thirteen years on since the release of their phenomenal debut record Silent Alarm, Bloc Party are preparing to perform the album live and in full for the first time in Australia. The Londoners who helped pave the way for a new generation of English guitar bands will make longawaited stops in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane to perform their instant classic for Aussie fans. Visit our website to find your nearest show and see why Bloc Party remains such an integral part of garage rock.
It’s been five years since Bon Jovi last gifted us an Australian tour. Now, they’re back with a run of stadium shows to bring 2018 to a spectacular close. Touring in support of 2016’s This House Is Not For Sale, Bon Jovi will take their incredible live show around the nation, kicking things off with a massive performance at Melbourne’s MCG ahead of stops in Adelaide, Sydney, and Brisbane. Expect to hear a host of hits and classic tracks when they hit the road next month.
Celebrated musician, artist, Talking Heads bandleader, and creative David Byrne is bringing his American Utopia world tour to Australia and New Zealand. Backed by a 12-piece band, Byrne will be performing songs from his latest album, American Utopia, as well as numerous cuts from his wide-ranging career. The tour will kick off in Sydney on Tuesday November 20 ahead of stops in Gold Coast and Melbourne, before finishing up in Adelaide on Sunday November 25.
Don’t Miss Dead Letter Circus On Tour This Month
Gizzfest 2018 is Taking Over the Melbourne Showgrounds
Joe Satriani Brings What Happens Next Tour to Australia
Dead Letter Circus are getting ready to take their live show on the road in support of their new self-titled LP. The Bribsane alt-rock outfit will visit 11 venues on their national tour, kicking things off at the Bunbury Tavern in WA on Thursday November 29 before bringing the shows to a close in Bendigo on Wednesday December 19. All tickets purchased for DLC’s Aussie tour will also come with a digital copy of their new record. For full dates and details, visit our website.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s enormously popular Gizzfest is back for 2018, but this time with one notable change. Unlike previous years, the festival will occur for just a single day in Melbourne rather than travelling the country. Nevertheless, it still boasts a staggering lineup of Tropical Fuck Storm, Amyl & the Sniffers, HEX DEBT and more, who are set to join Giz at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds on Saturday December 1. Visit mixdownmag. com.au to check out the full lineup.
Thirty years since his first visit to Australia, Joe Satriani is ready to make a triumphant return with a huge run of shows this month. The long-awaited tour is set to take Satriani, the world’s most commercially successful solo guitar performer, around the country for shows in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Satriani will tour in support of his latest album What Happens Next, billed as the “most accessible, straightforward rock album” he’s ever released. Visit mixdownmag.com.au for full details.
An Intimate, Reimagined Evening with Kimbra Arrives in Melbourne
Melbourne Music Week Is Returning This Month
Shihad Prepare For 30th Anniversary Celebrations
Kimbra is returning to Australia this month to treat fans to a one-off intimate performance in Melbourne. The show will see Kimbra take over the Gasometer during her visit to Australia as a special guest on David Byrne’s upcoming American Utopia tour. It’s been a short time between visits for Kimbra, who was in Australia earlier this year for a headline tour in support of her third album, Primal Heart. Experience the special event at the Gaso on Thursday November 22.
Melbourne Music Week will make a triumphant return this month, taking over some of the city’s best venues for nine full days. Program highlights include a huge show at Melbourne’s Town Hall for You Am I, with support from Gareth Liddiard and Clowns, the Civic Sounds party at Cherry Bar featuring Regurgitator and Nai Palm, and the return of MMW’s beloved Live Music Safari. Melbourne Music Week will run from Friday November 16 – Saturday November 24. Check out the full program at mmw.melbourne.vic.gov.au.
Australia is set to welcome one of New Zealand’s greatest musical exports to our shores this month as Shihad touch down to celebrate their 30th anniversary. After nine albums, a handful of name changes, and a collection of awards recognising their ongoing impact, it’s safe to say Shihad certainly have a lot to celebrate. The tour kicks off at Perth’s Rosemount Hotel on Friday November 16 and will go out with a bang at 170 Russell in Melbourne on Friday November 30.
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PRODUCT NEWS
Faith Guitars Ships 12-String Venus Acoustic CMC MUSIC | CMCMUSIC.COM.AU Faith Guitars, the company expert luthier Patrick James Eggle calls home, has added a 12-string Venus shape to their Naked series of acoustic guitars. The Venus shape is one of Faith’s most well-known, combining a 15” lower bout with a slimmer depth of body to create the ultimate all-rounder. The FKV12 even has the added bonus of inbuilt electronics to amplify that sweet 12-string sound and add bucketloads of tonal texture.
Get Creative with the Denon DJ SC5000M
Novation Announces SL MkIII Next Generation Master Keyboards
Master Fader 5 Prepares to Roll Out New Features in 2019
ELECTRIC FACTORY | ELFA.COM.AU
INNOVATIVE MUSIC AUSTRALIA | INNOVATIVEMUSIC.COM.AU
AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU
Denon is a forerunner in the DJ market for a reason, with its DJ SC5000M proving to be one of many examples of the company’s nonstop innovation. The SC5000M continues Denon’s legacy of creating premium motorised media players, offering identical functions to the award-winning SC5000 and boasting a new inclusion of a direct-drive seven-inch torque-adjustable motorised platter. If you’re a traditional turntable DJ, this is the product for you.
Live the modular dream with Novation’s new SL MkIII master keyboard series. Available in 49- and 61-key versions, the SL MkIII keyboards are designed to be the control centre of your studio. They feature an inbuilt eight-track polyphonic sequencer, a semi-weighted keybed, three pedal inputs, and an analogue clock out for unrivalled connectivity. Experience the next generation in music technology with what very well could be the most functional keyboard you add to your collection.
Mackie’s incredible Master Fader is about to receive a host of premium updates to ensure users are offered more choices than ever. The DL Series mixer can be controlled on up to 20 devices simultaneously, with new features including Android support, Mac0S and Windows compatibility in a version 5.1 update, and a whole new suite of FX. The first updates are already arriving, with more to follow early next year.
Akai Professional MPK Mini Play Arrives This Month ELECTRIC FACTORY | ELFA.COM.AU Based on the best-selling Akai Professional MPK Mini MIDI controller, the Mini Play is the answer to hours of wireless creation in one compact package. Featuring a staggering 128 built-in sounds, ten drum kits, an OLED screen and USB pad controller, this comprehensive unit will offer you performance capabilities you never thought possible. Thankfully, it’s on its way to our shores later this month – just in time for Christmas.
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Evolving with you. With a sleek new user interface, a generously expanded switching bandwidth and higher RF output power for the 500 Series, and new multi-channel functionality for the 100 Series, G4 delivers high-quality, reliable audio for musical performances, houses of worship, and theaters. www.sennheiser.com/g4
PRODUCT NEWS Marcus Miller Signature Range of Markbass Combos Now Shipping CMC MUSIC | CMCMUSIC.COM.AU Markbass has rounded out its impressive Marcus Miller Signature range with four more unique combos to add to your collection: the CMD 103, CMD 102/250, CMD 102/500, and CMD 101 Micro 60. The new additions range up to 500W and offer premium features that cater to the needs of every musician. They’re an ideal solution for all situations, from filling out a small gig to saving space with the super compact 2x10” combos in the range.
Take Control of Your Sound with Sennheiser’s e 906 Guitar Microphone
Refine Every Recording with Sennheiser’s HD 300 Pro Headphones
TC Electronic Introduces Two New Premium Plug-ins
SENNHEISER | EN-AU.SENNHEISER.COM
SENNHEISER | EN-AU.SENNHEISER.COM
Sennheiser is continuing to shape the future of sound through its phenomenal e 906 guitar microphone. Inspired by the legendary MD 409, this particular guitar microphone emulates its predecessor’s tendency to accurately and effortlessly capture everything from warm, dreamy guitars to pithy metal riffs. With the incredibly useful ability to simply hang from its cable on the front of an amp, the e 906 is sure to make your life as a musician a whole lot easier.
Invest in a pair of headphones as meticulous as you with Sennheiser’s newly developed HD 300 Pro series. Featuring linear frequency response and distortion-free reproduction, the HD 300 Pro headphones will supply the same level of precision you expect from your own productions. A comfortable padding design enables extended use in lengthy recording sessions, ensuring these headphones are bound to find a home in any producer’s workshop.
TC Electronic are experts at producing products with the needs of the modern producer at the forefront of their minds. Enter their two new plug-ins: the TC-1210-DT Spatial Expander and the TC8210-DT Reverb. Each revolutionary product fuses hardware with software to create sounds like no other, giving you unprecedented control and creative possibilities. The Spatial Expander recreates a coveted TC sound to a tee, while the Reverb offers unparalleled transparency in its performance.
AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU
Moog Launches Its First Polyphonic Synthesiser in Three Decades INNOVATIVE MUSIC AUSTRALIA | INNOVATIVEMUSIC.COM.AU Moog has revealed details of its first polyphonic analogue synthesiser in more than 35 years, Moog One. This revolutionary new synthesiser offers unprecedented levels of sonic potential and has been dubbed Moog’s “most innovative instrument to date.” Users can choose from either eight or 16-voice configurations, with each voice circuit boasting a signal path more powerful than a Minimoog Voyager. Other features include two independent analogue filters, a dual source analogue noise generator, and three envelope generators.
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NEW ALBUM OUT 9 NOV
ALSO AVAILABLE LIMITED DELUXE EDITION AND VINYL MUSE.MU
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THE RESOLUTIONS OF DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL Chris Carrabba is in a constant state of reflection. “I’m yet to master the short answer,” he jokes at one point after talking more or less nonstop for three minutes straight. It’s never boring or rambling when he talks, however – he’s got a lot of thoughts and feelings to articulate about his career under the moniker of Dashboard Confessional. Essentially the poster-boy of what became known as acoustic alternative, in which dudes from punk backgrounds would start writing unplugged ballads, Carrabba would pave the way for your Secondhand Serenandes and your City & Colours that melted hearts throughout the 2000s. One of the key releases that broke Carrabba through to a wider audience was his second album as Dashboard Confessional, 2001’s The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most. The album will be played in its entirety during Dashboard’s upcoming Australian tour, appearing at Good Things festival and at select headlining dates. Being 17 years old, it’s obviously a snapshot of a very different time in Carrabba’s life, something he is all too aware of. “Making those first two records was a total blur in time for me,” he says. “They were written within months of another, so they kind of count as one record in a sense. To be frank, it was an exciting time – even though the circumstances of my life were definitely more difficult.” There isn’t even a long enough gap to ask Carrabba to elaborate on this before he’s right back into it. “I’m trying not to sound maudlin here,” he adds. “At the time, I didn’t realise that things weren’t going great. When I retell these stories, however, it doesn’t paint the best picture. I’ll give you an example: At the time, I was living in a van. That might paint a real bummer of a picture, but I was stoked. I’d gotten rid of everything I owned, and I’d committed myself to breaking into music.” This persistence – spoiler alert – ended up paying off. The Places You Have Come... still holds up after over a decade in the wilderness. It’s a pensive, emotionally-striking record that encapsulates diary-entry vulnerability and twenty-something anguish in a tidy half-hour LP. It’s a record that many fans came of age with, and that’s not something Carrabba takes for granted in the slightest. “Everything I
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“WE TAKE THE POWER THAT MUSIC CAN HAVE AND WE EMBRACE IT – AND WE LET IT EMBRACE US” went through went into my music,” he says. “I’d been through a serious heartbreak, I had a family emergency... yet, at the same time, I was kind of deciding that I was going to make my own destiny. I figured some people make theirs, why the fuck not me? “I certainly did not expect, however, that I’d still be talking about this record so many years later, not to mention still being able to make music for a living. I’m still playing these songs to people that live so far away from where I live. I don’t even live in a van anymore. I still don’t like the trappings of things – I consider myself a minimalist – but I’m very happy to have that part of my life in the past.” The Places You Have Come... was recorded in early 2001, roughly a year after Dashboard’s debut Swiss Army Romance. Holed up in the apartment of his producer, James Paul Wisner, Carrabba instinctively began laying down a mix of solo numbers and full-band arrangements. “These songs were written with the kind of freedom that you get when you’re being pragmatic,” he says. “I was writing under the impression that no-one
was really going to hear these songs, which meant I was censoring myself less. “It’s always the case when you’re writing self-consciously – you worry about sounding uncool, or coming across as obtuse, or wanting to sound braver than you actually are. That’s not what I’m interested in as an artist. I’m more interested in exploring the idea of vulnerability. “Bands like The Cure and Fugazi did that for me when I was growing up – bands that weren’t afraid to address how to be a young person, wanting to be a part of the world. Bands were doing much cooler things at the time, but it wasn’t all that revealing. I was more interested in the nature of being revealing in your songs.” In the 17 year since the release of The Places You Have Come..., Carrabba has made five more albums with Dashboard Confessional. The project has taken him around the world a good half-dozen times over, with fans ranging from lyric-tattooed devotees to Taylor Swift and back again. Somewhere in the midst of answering a different question entirely – such is Carrabba’s nature – he touches upon what it is that has kept Dashboard alive as an entity for roughly half of his life at this stage. “We take the power that music can have and we embrace it – and we let it embrace us,” he says. “We don’t wield it. It’s something we’re working to be a part of. It’s part of a lineage. In order to understand this band, you have to understand the ethos of where we came from. Bands in this world of indie rock, of hardcore, of pop-punk, of post-hardcore... how they operate is integral to how we operate as a band. We’ve made this connection – and we want to keep it.” BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
Dashboard Confessional will perform as part of the Good Things Festival next month. Crooked Shadows is out now via Fueled By Ramen.
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MUSIC INTERVIEWS “What’s kind of crazy is we’ve been a band for so long – 13 years – that now when we go on a tour, we see people we’ve known for ten years or more, who’ve been with us many, many years,” he says. “A lot of people have grown up with us. A lot of people have talked about how this album is looking back on the last 13 years of this band, [on] everything we’ve done, and it’s been amazing to hear people’s stories, ‘I heard this band 11 years ago, all this stuff has changed in my life since then,’ how we’ve helped them get through tough times. It comes around full circle. We’re lucky to still be here doing it.” Rife with nostalgia, longing, happiness and sorrow, ‘Nowhere’ stands out on Sunnyland. In the song, Sanders sings of ‘music being the only escape but not hearing it anymore,’ a powerful thread of words with a bittersweet story behind them. “It’s therapeutic for me,” says Sanders. “I feel like I’m a pretty happy, optimistic person, but a lot of the songs we write are dark songs.
Mayday Parade Pay It Forward Spinning Sunnyland for the hundredth time, it’s clear that this is some of Mayday Parade’s best work. The sixth studio album from the alt-rock outfit, Sunnyland is very much an album of nostalgia for Mayday Parade – for their youthful antics and for exploring love and loss. Naturally fans will ascribe their own experiences to the music and remember their own past, with vocalist Derek Sanders already having heard a few of fan stories himself.
“It comes from somewhere that means I don’t have to write a grimy and hideous feeling as that song would portray. It’s kind of getting out from a negative emotion. It’s healthy to put it into a song.” Sadness runs riot in many of the songs on Sunnyland, offering a degree of closure and a likening to Mayday Parade closing the lid on a particular part of their life. “The title itself and a particular lyric sums it all up,” says Sanders. “‘I left something important back in Sunnyland and it’s something I know I’ll never find.’ “Sunnyland was an old abandoned hospital in Tallahassee we used to go explore. [We] just had so much fun there. They tore it down about ten years ago. A lot of it is about coming to terms with ‘That’s part of your childhood, part of your past. That’s forever gone.’ There’s no way to get back.” Mayday Parade saw a place that meant so much to them torn to the ground, an action that Sanders says feels even more sad as time goes by. “It hit me soon after writing that song. I was driving by where Sunnyland used to be and, I don’t know, it hit me pretty hard.”
It’s been challenging to integrate rarely performed tracks like ‘Genocide’ with tunes like ‘Come Out and Play’, which the Offspring have been (coming out and) playing nonstop for 24 years, says guitarist Kevin John Wasserman, better known as Noodles. “When we set up the tracklist for Smash, we tried to keep it flowing all the way through, so it does work that way live as well,” says Noodles. “The key is keeping some of the precision while giving it the frenetic energy that comes with a live show, but not allowing that frenetic energy to tear the song apart at the seams. You need to keep all those tightly-wound chords together… You need to bridle that energy, but also let it run when that works.” The Offspring tested the concept in 2012, when they began touring with 1992’s Ignition as their setlist. It’s Smash, however, that has proved their biggest album in numerical terms: 11 million sales, six US platinum certifications and the title of best-selling independent label album of all time.
The Return of The Offspring Smash gave The Offspring their most enduring anthems. The skate punk four-piece have performed bits from the record like ‘Self Esteem’ and ‘Bad Habit’ at almost every live show since the album’s release in 1994. Now, they’re taking the entirety of Smash on the road, performing the album top-to-bottom for the first time.
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Smash’s landmark status seemed improbable in 1994, as it earned often patronising praise from critics who attributed its commercial success mainly to its catchy sound. AllMusic declared that Smash succeeded because it had enough heavy riffs “to keep most teenagers happy.” The serious themes explored on tracks like ‘Self Esteem’ (on relationship abuse) and ‘Bad Habit’ (on road rage) seemed mostly to pass professional critics by. Noodles’ own propensity for behind-the-wheel belligerence has made ‘Bad Habit’ a favourite, he says. He believes Smash owes its enduring popularity to its frenzied, youthful energy and its unmannered style. “These aren’t just nostalgic songs,” says Noodles. “This isn’t an oldies station. ‘Self Esteem’, ‘Come Out and Play’ – those songs have the same validity today that they did 24 years ago. I see young people singing along with them every night when we’re touring… A song like ‘Bad Habit’ has this youthful aggression to it that makes it sound like it could be from today. A song like ‘Self Esteem’ still
Nevertheless, Sanders has his memories and his music, and that’s what’s important. Mayday Parade are still moving forward, thankful for their success and the opportunities their friendship and passion has afforded them. Sanders has said previously that it was his intention with Sunnyland to help people feel better through hard times – as much as the album has helped him, he wanted it to mean something just as powerful for the fans. Music, after all, is still the best medicine. “Especially in some of those teenage years, music has helped me a lot,” he says. “That’s a time so much is changing in your life. You’re getting ready for the real world. It’s kind of funny – it never was a goal of ours in the beginning, we just loved playing music, and as we toured as much as we have, we’d meet people who our music had helped. Now we try to help as many people as we can.” Mayday Parade haven’t excluded Aussie fans in their mission statement, bringing Sunnyland to the Good Things festival stage this December where fans will hear the album live for the first time. Though it has its punk-laden riffs and beautiful ballads, Sunnyland has a particular kind of intensity to it, something Sanders says Aussie fans will witness. “We definitely shoot for that. I feel like we have a pretty energetic set and try to be as entertaining as possible. “We’ll play deep into the Sunnyland stuff and we’ll play songs from the very beginning. We try to make everybody happy and have a good time, just feeding off of each other’s energy.” BY ANNA ROSE
Mayday Parade will perform as part of the Good Things Festival as well as headline shows in Perth and Adelaide. Sunnyland is out now via Rise Records.
has that fun spirit to it, even though the idea of it is devastating. “There may be some nostalgia to the idea of doing the whole record, and maybe it brings some of the older fans to the show. But for most people, it’s probably just, ‘That’s interesting. Let’s see what that’s about.’” The Offspring last played Australia in 2013 at Soundwave and with the Vans Warped Tour. At Soundwave, the band headlined the second of nine stages, while Metallica played the first. “We were worried that no one would be watching us play if they could go to the other stage and watch Metallica, but it worked out well,” says Noodles. “We had great audiences every night, and so did Metallica, of course. It was a big, huge, tons of energy, great festival.” The band is also preparing a return to the studio – their first since 2012’s Days Go By. Spring of 2018 was devoted to writing and composing, and now the band must find time to pare their new material down to the size of an album. No Offspring record is without an out-of-left-field track or two – think ‘Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)’ – but it’s always challenging to resist getting too eccentric, says Noodles. “I can’t believe it’s been five years since we’ve come to Australia. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. We always have the best time down there. It’s a great place to tour: great people, great beer, great atmosphere.” BY ZACHARY SNOWDON SMITH
The Offspring will perform as part of Good Things Festival in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane this December.
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MUSIC INTERVIEWS In a landscape where more electro-focused artists are shifting to the one-EP-per-year model than ever, what enticed Glades to make the ambitious leap to an 11-track opus? “After we released [This Is What It’s Like], we started touring with a lot of bands that we look up to,” says multiinstrumentalist Cam Robertson. “They were all plugging their big, career-defining albums. Seeing the fan response to those shows and watching their crowds sing literally every word back to them… That was a big part of why we chose to do a proper album instead of just another EP.” It certainly didn’t hurt to have an abundance of material pile up in their home studio. “I think we just came to a point where we had so many songs that to release five of them in an EP just wouldn’t be enough,” adds vocalist and guitarist Karina Wykes. “We felt like we should be putting more of ourselves out into the world, and after [This Is What It’s Like] did so well, I think we were ready for people to hear more of what we’re capable of.”
Glades Revolutionise the Love Song Two years on from dropping jaws with their debut EP This Is What It’s Like, the iridescent indie-poppers in Glades have delivered another searing blow to our eardrums. To Love You started life as a sister release to their 2016 breakthrough, but while its title still fills in the topical blank left by This Is What It’s Like, the finished product is a full-length album with a concept and character all of its own.
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Since the trio first convened at their Anglican college in Kellyville (a small suburb northwest of Sydney), Glades were aggressive in their efforts to build up a solid discography. It paid off in spades with This Is What It’s Like, but when it came time to think about a follow-up, the band found themselves at an impasse. Would they continue to riff on bright, quirky pop modules in their isolated bubble, or would they dive into a world scarier, but more expansive than their own? “Ever since we started as a band, we had been writing and writing and writing – literally nonstop for three years,” Robertson explains. “But there was a period around 2016 – right after we finished the EP – where we didn’t know exactly what we wanted to do. “So we took our first trip to the US, and that really helped to open our minds as songwriters. We worked with a whole heap of different musicians, and just hearing their unique perspectives on music was so refreshing for us.”
With reinvigorated minds and a clear path to follow, the band saw new ideas rush to them like moths to a lamp. “We started to feel like we had a lot more freedom because we could explore a lot of different sounds, and continue to develop our style from what we established with our first EP,” says Wykes. “We wanted to explore the more emotional side of our writing as well. At the end of the album, there’s a few songs that are really close to our hearts, and I think this was the first time that we were able to explore that.” Such is where Glades unearthed their modus operandi: to revolutionise the love song. “It’s important for any artist to find their voice and discover what they stand for,” Wykes says. “What do you want to achieve when you put something out into the world? How do you want to make people feel? For us, it’s been a long process of figuring out the answers to those questions and developing what it is that we want to convey with our music. I think what it came down to is the idea of love, and exploring all these different types of love – loving the people around you, and yourself, and your friends. “You hear a lot about romantic love in most of the music that’s out right now,” Wykes continues. “We wanted to explore the other aspects of love, because I feel like they’re just as important as romantic love. Like, the love that you have for your friends: you live with that every day, in so many different little ways – even just making sure if they’re okay. We wanted to explore that type of love, because you don’t actually hear that very often in music.” BY MATT DORIA
To Love You is out now via Warner Music Australia.
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MUSIC INTERVIEWS Watching archival videos of McCracken lose every gram of his marbles in his earlier years, it’s hard to imagine such a visceral performer transition into this calm, otherwise ‘normal’ family man. Hell, when the 36-year-old emo icon finds out this scribe is running on three hours of sleep, he doesn’t hesitate in grilling them for going to bed too late. But that newfound maturity is sure to unlatch when The Used hit the stage at the inaugural Good Things festival – a miniaturised throwback to the genre-bending days of Soundwave’s prime (run by much of the same team as the slain superfest), hitting Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne this December. More so than any other, the frontman is stoked to be a part of Australia’s newest celebration of all things alternative. “I know The Offspring are headlining, which is exciting,” says McCracken. “I’ve never been a huge fan, but they’re one of those bands where I’ll see them on a poster and I’m like, ‘Yeah, okay, cool!’ Out of all the bands on the lineup, there’s not one that makes me go, ‘Oh no, that band sucks.’ But who really cares what I think? The Used is on there, and that’s my favourite band of all time.”
The Used Maintain the Balance Though he’s lived on the outskirts of Sydney for the better part of six years, Bert McCracken doesn’t view the land Down Under as much of a touring hotspot. “There’s a few places where Australia is lacking – you know, the unconscious racism of the people and the immigration policies – but other than that, I think that we’re almost in this kind of idyllic utopia,” he says.
Sure to be tasked with a choice slot on the main stage, fans can expect a setlist of prime Used material, pulling heavily from their first stack of records. This is unexpected given they’re just a year removed from their biggest album yet (The Canyon, a movie-length concept record that debuted to critical acclaim), but as McCracken lets us know, The Used have never been a band to go full-on with the new material. “We’ve never bombarded people with songs they don’t know,” he says. “When Imaginary Enemy first came out, we didn’t play more than one or two songs, just because it’s one of those things where we had so many great songs from the past that everyone already knew and loved. We’re a band that likes to celebrate where we’ve come from, and those songs mean just as much to us now as they ever have – if not more so. Especially for me, those old songs seem to have transcended the meaning of the time that we
“I actually live on the Sunshine Coast,” explains Brad Vander Lugt, the band’s drummer and co-founder alongside his cousin, vocalist Jordan Dreyer. “My wife is Australian, so when we got married we had to make a decision to either live in Michigan or live here – so we ended up choosing here, and it’s been quite nice.” This explains, in part, why things have been so quiet in the La Dispute camp in recent years. Following the end of an extensive tour in support of 2014’s Rooms of the House, the band entered hibernation and only poked their heads out on special occasions. As we speak, however, album number four is being put together. Vander Lugt is the first to admit there’s been some stumbling blocks hit along the way as the band factor in both a long-distance relationship and the introduction of a new guitarist, Corey Stroffolino, who toured with the band on the back of Rooms of the House but did not play on the record.
La Dispute Find Their Harmony If you’ve been in a line of work that requires international phone calls, you tend to know calling codes quite well. Imagine the surprise, then, when a +61 is on the other end when you’re expecting a +1. Yes, La Dispute were born and raised in Grand Rapids, a city in the west of Michigan. These days, however, one of its members calls Australia home.
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“The whole thing has been a real learning curve for us,” says Vander Lugt. “When we made Rooms of the House, we were all living in the same city. That’s not the case now – not just me in Australia, but everyone is living in different places. Everything that we do now has to come with a great deal of preparation – and that’s just to do with playing shows. As you can imagine, doing something like making an album has proven to be very difficult. We had to be pretty deliberate about our scheduling and when we’d get together.” Work on the new album began as early as 2016, when the band convened in their native Grand Rapids and wrote for three months in a rented-out rehearsal studio. They ended up with enough material to complete a new album then and there, but the majority of songs were scrapped as the songwriting process found a second wind. “It’s so weird to think that the end is in sight,” says Vander Lugt, regarding the album’s completion. “We had a lot of lofty ideas for this record at the start, but there was this moment where we were all uncertain as to [whether] what
wrote them in. They seem to be more about what’s going on today.” There’s another layer to why The Used haven’t properly embraced The Canyon onstage. It doesn’t take much prodding for McCracken to admit that the subject matter explored over the two-disc journey – that of heartbreak, isolation and dealing with the news that a close friend had committed suicide – is still a tad too raw to relive night after night. “It’s a bit too soon,” says McCracken. “It’s only been a bit over a year since I lost my friend, and the way that I chose to deal with the grieving process was a little outside the realm of what people normally expect to experience when they lose someone. I’ve never so consciously put so much of myself, and my secrets – things that I would never even talk with my friends about – into a record. “Some days I feel like I can play it, and some days I don’t. It’s one of my favourite records we’ve recorded, so when I get a bit further away from it, maybe someday, we’ll do a full Canyon tour. But until then, it just depends on the day.” McCracken leaves us with a promise that The Used are constantly working on new material, and just as they did with The Canyon, they’ll be approaching LP8 with a keen eye for experimentation. As for when we’ll hear the fruits of their labour, McCracken says, “I’m confident that we’ll have new music out next year, for sure.” BY MATT DORIA
The Used are touring Australia this December as part of Good Things festival. The Canyon is out now via Hopeless Records
we were doing was working. Starting over was a tough call to make, but it felt like the right thing to do. We had to figure out how to be a band again.” By means of contrast, 2018 has also seen La Dispute reflecting on where they’ve come from in order to ascertain where they’re headed. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of their debut LP, Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair, the band did a run of shows in which they played the album in its entirety. “For a few years there, we had kind of a weird attitude towards that record,” says Vander Lugt. “I suppose a lot of bands do with their debuts as they get older. You don’t want to be pigeonholed by the first thing you put out into the world. “Once we all got past that, we embraced it for what it is. We’d never write those songs again, but they were a big part of our lives – and other people’s lives, too. It’s nice to be able to celebrate that.” Although you won’t hear Vega and Altair in full on the band’s upcoming tour. “It’s way too long for a festival set,” reasons Vander Lugt. There are definitely plans to bring some older songs into the setlist. As for new stuff? We’ll just have to wait. “There’s always a weird disconnect when you’re playing songs that aren’t out yet,” says Vander Lugt. “It makes sense – no-one knows what you’re playing except you. It’s not something that works for our band.” BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
La Dispute will perform as part of the Good Things Festival next month. The reissue of Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair is our Friday November 9 via No Sleep Records
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THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS OF A MODERN MUSIC PRODUCER Not sure what passes as a music producer these days? You’re not alone. The role in the industry has undergone massive changes in the past 25 years. What is a music producer in 2018? Waltzing into a typical studio just 25 years ago, a drastically different atmosphere was in the air. Studio staff included sound engineers, fledgling assistants, tape operators, interning studio runners and a producer overseeing it all. Studio workflow was a chain of cause and effect, headed by the producer, appointed by a label, and sometimes the band. The music producer served as an extension of the band’s creative vision, while the engineer worked the equipment and conducted the sessions. Studio innovation changed radically with the invention of digital multi-tracking, and jobs changed, crumbled and morphed into new positions. Tape machine operators and the machines themselves disappeared with the rise of the Digital Audio Workstations (DAW). In a span of just 20 years, large format consoles supplemented digital methods before morphing into the bedroom producer’s DAWs. The role of the engineer and producer have collapsed into one another, with the pure engineer becoming an increasingly niche skill set. Learning to use multiple consoles and antiquated technology has become largely irrelevant, with studios and artists alike looking to the producer, who has both creative and technical knowledge of the industry. So what now? In contemporary music history, the influential longtime producer has gained a new, more important role in a group. The man behind this swing? The famous “Fifth Beatle”, the late, great George Martin. As one of the most varied roles in the industry, from performance, to composition, arranging, engineering and business acumen, the producer has continued to stick fast in the modern studio. Audio engineering skills Technical knowledge has become a must have for the modern producer, as they are frequently tasked with microphone selection, signal flow and sound production tasks behind the studio console. If the producer wants to make something sound “orange”, as Martin Hannett famously told Joy Division, he has to know how to translate
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PRODUCERS WILL HAVE TO EQUALLY BE THE PASSIVE VESSEL FOR THE BAND OR ARTIST’S VISION AS MUCH AS ITS CO-PILOT. that himself behind the desk. With the power hidden inside audio production software platforms such as Logic Pro X, Ableton and Pro Tools, producers can now synthesise the complex sound sources required to get any project over the line. Mixing and recording acoustic sources, programming virtual instruments and having a grasp on traditional instrumentation has become part and parcel with the job. Knowledge of music theory A producer needs a solid theoretical framework to work with a wide span of music genres. Song structures change quickly, with new arrangements and sheet music needing to be created by the producer themselves. Bands and artists bring their raw material to the producer, who should be able to talk a wide range of musical languages. Arrangement and orchestration is an essential skill – being able to re-contextualise a song with theoretical backing is of great value to artists. Of course, if you’re chasing the auteur-producer status of a Godrich, Martin or a Visconti, being able to make genuine compositional contributions can make you indispensable.
At a fundamental level, knowing your way around music theory as a producer gives you a commonality of language between you and the artists by mapping out the possible choices and alterations to be made to the music. Personal relations If you are to manage a studio packed with ego, it is essential that you learn how to direct and lead professionally. Producers will need to maintain relationships and foster the soft-skills of teamwork and management. Producers will have to equally be the passive vessel for the band or artist’s vision as much as its co-pilot. For that to occur, free-flowing trust is paramount. When dealing with such creative and personal endeavours, it requires the measured hand and cool head of the producer, who has both developed people skills and the thinking of a high-level musician. Business sense Freelance was a word that rarely floated around sound production circles 25 years ago, but now it’s a mainstay of the industry. The most successful modern music producers are those who have cultivated a minor cult of personality around their name – think Danger Mouse, Brian Eno, Rick Rubin, Steve Albini, Nigel Godrich. This can mean developing your own distinctive sonic aesthetic which others chase, particularly in the cases of Danger Mouse and Eno, or simply being known as a pure conduit to an artist’s true sound, like Rick Rubin. To make sure you’re able to actually live off your love, it is paramount to have both business acumen and understand the livelihood of the freelancer. Mechanical, performance and synchronisation royalties, business plans and taxation purposes feature as strong parts of the ever-evolving skill set of the modern producer. The Abbey Road Institute takes a multi-faceted approach to this learning. With a program designed by the industry, ARI develops the skills required for the modern producer. BY JOSHUA MARTIN Start learning these essential skills at Abbey Road Institute’s Study for a Day program on Friday December 14. For more details, visit abbeyroadinstitute.com.au. mixdownmag.com.au
GEAR RUNDOWN
Lee Malia of Bring Me the Horizon The term genre-defying has lost its bite in the streaming era, so perhaps Lee Malia, guitarist of UK metalcore innovators Bring Me the Horizon, deserves another term. Malia’s guitar playing treats every song as a sheer white canvas to stain with raucous riffs, atmospheric tones and tightly wound pop-power. Though the band has worn controversy like a second sleeve throughout their career, it’s near impossible to fault Malia’s commitment to musicianship and even harder again when it comes to his choice of gear. We take a closer look at Malia’s dizzying rig ahead of Bring Me the Horizon’s sixth album, Amo.
Guitars EPIPHONE LTD. ED. LEE MALIA SIGNATURE LES PAUL CUSTOM When it comes to guitars, Malia is never shy of a signature series, with three currently to his name. This year has seen the guitarist stick mostly to his Epiphone Custom Les Paul Lee Malia signature – an idiosyncratic model based on the wildly obscure Les Paul Artisan, produced in a limited run in the late 1970s. The guitar, aside from its banjo-style “hearts and flowers” fret inlay, features USA Gibson pickups, and curiously, a single coil in the neck position, giving Malia a pithy percussive tone. Its gilded walnut finish is certainly atypical for metalcore, and a welcome change in the genre. Malia’s other signatures bear the same walnut finish and take after a similarly peculiar ‘70s lineage, with the RD Custom fashioned after a rare research and development line scrapped by Gibson. RICKENBACKER 360 The semi-hollow Rickenbacker is rarely the choice of metal guitarists, and that’s precisely why Malia deployed a Rickenbacker on 2013’s Sempiternal. Malia uses the guitar for clean and atmospheric tones, heard most obviously in the postrock sounds of ‘Hospital for Souls’. FIRST ACT SHEENA CUSTOM SHOP Prior to a very fruitful working relationship with Gibson, Malia’s most iconic axe was undoubtedly the First Act Sheena Custom. The custom Sheena was fitted with Warpigs Bare Knuckle pickups (a UK company also favoured by Johnny Marr and Matt Bellamy), giving the guitar a more typically rigid metal tone. Elsewhere in Malia’s rig, you’ll also find him using an Epiphone Ltd. Ed. Lee Malia Explorer Custom Artisan Outfit, a Gibson Explorer Electric Guitar, and an Epiphone Lee Malia RD Custom Ltd.
the depth of its tone ever since, telling Guitar World in 2013 that the Fulltone OCD Overdrive is its closest tonal relative. DIGITECH DROP POLYPHONIC DROP TUNE ELECTRO-HARMONIX POG2 Malia uses the compact Digitech Drop for his gut-bending nosedives on tracks like this year’s ‘MANTRA’. Recent tour pedalboards have also shown his love for various iterations of the Electro Harmonix Pog, using its sweet polyphonic blend to conjure ambient creep on ‘And the Snakes Start to Sing’. ELECTRO-HARMONIX CATHEDRAL BOSS DD-20 GIGA DELAY BOSS RV-5 DIGITAL REVERB Reverb and delay is a multi-faceted operation for Malia, often having four or five dedicated pedals on his board at a time. Malia has an unusually high affection for Boss digital signal pedals, primarily employing three for reverb and delay. The DD-20 Giga Delay offers to-the-second delay time customisation as well as a smorgasbord of digital emulation. The Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb importantly gifts Malia a modulate mode, providing icy detuned reverb. Dean Rowbotham, former guitar tech for Bring Me the Horizon, told Premier Guitar in 2014 that Malia uses an Electro Harmonix Cathedral purely as a reverse reverb outside of his effects loop. The pedal’s strength lies in its volume for the guitarist, most obviously exercised to swell in on clean tones.
Amplifiers MARSHALL AMPLIFIERS Malia keeps his amplifier rig fairly standard, keeping to a classic Marshall 4x12 cabinet for its sheer volume and versatility via four Celestion G12 Vintage speakers. The JCM800 head is probably the most famous Marshall ever produced, touted as the definitive rock amplifier for its dignified simplicity – one-channel, all-valve setup with no reverb or effects.
Effects
ORANGE AMPLIFIERS
KLON CENTAUR FULLTONE OCD OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DRIVE
The Thunderverb and Rockerverb Orange amplifiers are typically turned to by Malia as a backup line, although they also featured heavily on Sempiternal. The PPC412 cabinet also features the four Celestion G12 Vintage speakers, retaining the warmth of Malia’s tone.
The overdrive you hear on BMTH’s breakthrough second album Suicide Season (2008) may never be repeated exactly again. Its heaving tone was the product of the Klon Centaur, an extremely rare pedal developed by Bill Finnegan between 1990 and 1994. Malia has been chasing
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Accessories ERNIE BALL CUSTOM .080 GAUGE STRINGS Malia’s near-constant use of beefy drop A and C standard tunings require some very resilient strings. The guitarist explained his extreme heavy gauge strings to Guitar World in 2013: “I started using a .070 on the lowest string. When I got the First Act Sheena [guitar], they drilled the bridge so I could fit an .080-gauge bass string in there, and I started using that. Then Ernie Ball was cool enough to make me custom .080-gauge guitar strings, and I’ve been using them ever since.” BY JOSHUA MARTIN
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J o e l Fa r l a n d | P ek i n g D u k
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P l ay t h e m t o d ay a t t h e s e p r e m i u m d r u m s t o r e s STORE
SUBURB
STATE
WEB
PHONE
Better Music
Phillip
ACT
bettermusic.com.au
02 6282 3199
Drummers Dream
Belmore
NSW
drummersdream.com.au
02 9787 4177
The Drum Shop Newcastle
Newcastle West
NSW
thedrumshopnewcastle.com.au
02 4925 3155
Just Percussion
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justpercussion.com.au
1300 576 874
Mooloolaba Music Centre
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mooloolabamusic.com.au
07 5444 8889
The Drum Shop Adelaide
Forestville
SA
derringers.com.au
1300 658 249
Cranbourne Drums Superstore
Cranbourne
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cranbournemusic.com.au
03 5995 5933
Drumtek
Northcote
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drumtek.com.au
03 9482 5550
GH Music
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ghmusic.com.au
03 9372 6664
Mega Music
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ADVICE COLUMNS MUSICOLOGY
Revisiting Impossible Princess on Its 21st Birthday We’re gathered here today to pay tribute to an Australian classic. On October 22, Kylie Minogue’s Impossible Princess turned 21 years old. Although a popular album that spawned the moderately successful singles ‘Some Kind of Bliss’, ‘Did it Again’ and ‘Breathe’, Impossible Princess is an anomaly within Minogue’s catalogue; a rare moment of daring, concentration and inspiration mixed with her usual determination to appeal to the pop charts. Although it touched on indie rock, country, trip hop, drum and bass, and straight out pop, Impossible Princess – Minogue’s sixth album – was the most focused the singer had released up to that point. Her lyrics and vocals had a newfound depth and confidence, and for the first time on her own music she was credited as a co-producer and instrumentalist, as well as a songwriter on ‘Too Far’ and ‘Say Hey’, and co-songwriter on every other track.
charts, it was her lowest-selling album at that point and led to her being dropped by both her record label, Deconstruction Records, and distribution label, Sony BMG. Things were not helped by the fact the European release was delayed until March 1998, five months after Japan and Australia, and that, confusingly, it was renamed Kylie Minogue – the same title as her previous album – due to sensitivities surrounding the death of Princess Diana.
Although many critics – particularly in the UK, then and still her biggest market – derided her for “going indie”, this seems to have been largely due to the choice of singles, with the guitar-centric ‘Did It Again’ and ‘Some Kind of Bliss’ blinding both the media and fans to the largely dance-focused album. “I have to keep telling people that this isn’t an indie-guitar album,” Minogue complained to Music Week at the time. “I’m not about to pick up a guitar and rock.”
“Sometimes it works and sometimes you fall flat on your face,” Minogue told Digital Spy when reflecting on experimentation during a 2012 interview. “Look at Impossible Princess – it didn’t exactly sell truckloads of albums.” However, 21 years later one can view Impossible Princess without the cultural stigmas of its day. Though clearly influenced by the various underground dance genres that were becoming mainstream at the time – most obviously trip hop, drum and bass and techno – the songwriting and production represented a major leap forward for Minogue. Lyrically, vocally, and even visually, thanks to the collaborative input
Considering Minogue’s status as a major artist in 1997, the reception to Impossible Princess was disappointing. Despite debuting at number four on the Australian ARIA
from her then-partner, French photographer Stéphane Sednaoui, it seemed as if this was the first time we were really hearing and seeing Minogue for who she was, and who she wanted to be. For all its pop-charting ambition, the album presented itself as a statement from an artist who was maturing into her artistic prime. Minogue had managed to shift her image from the smiley and G-rated ‘girl-next-door’ of the 1980s to a more adult and sexualised image with 1994’s Kylie Minogue, and even yielded a hit with her Nick Cave duet on the brooding 1995 single ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’. Yet the artistic leap forward that Impossible Princess represented seemed to ask for more credibility than mainstream audiences and critics were willing to lend her at the time. It’s telling not only that Minogue never returned to the musical and visual influences of this period, but that with her next album, 2000’s Light Years, she chose to up the levels of sexuality in her image and create much less challenging music. That record was a huge hit and she never looked back.
When looking back at albums released at the time, you have to wonder whether Minogue’s offering really deserves the bulk of the criticism. There’s no doubting the quality of Crowded House’s work, but is the patchy and over-produced Woodface really that much better than this? Is Frogstomp? I put it forward to you that on its 21st birthday, Impossible Princess deserves a serious reappraisal. BY ALEX WATTS
The History of the Drum Machine From humble beginnings to household names, for the better part of a century drum machine technology has evolved to become the extremely prevalent instruments they are today. They are the product of years of innovative thinking, of trial and error that resulted in redesigned and refined versions. Many of the drum machines created over the years are still in use today, all thanks to creative minds of the 1930s. Some of the earliest innovation in the development of the drum machine occurred between the ‘30s and ‘60s, such as Leon Theremin’s Rhythmicon, Harry Chamberlain’s Rhythmate, and Raymond Scott’s Rhythm Synthesiser. Such inventions were intended to aid family sing-alongs, with many early machines – including the 1959 Wurlitzer Sideman – featuring preset rhythms for popular dances such as the bolero, samba, and waltz. Early ‘70s preset machines became affordable and usable in a musical sense by the layman. This helped to create the disco sound that grew out of funk. Early disco saw further drum machine development with Eko Corporation’s ComputeRhythm, Ace Tone’s Rhythm Producer FR-15, the PAiA Programmable Drum Set, and the Roland CR-78 Compurhythm – the world’s first programmable rhythm box. The Roland CR-78 can be heard on such pop songs as ‘Heart of Glass’ by Blondie, ‘In the Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins, ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me’ by Culture Club, and ‘Check My Machine’ by Paul McCartney. In 1980, Roger Linn created a pioneering invention he called the Linn LM-1 Drum Computer – the first drum machine in history to use samples. Artists including Peter 26
Gabriel, Fleetwood Mac, and Stevie Wonder believed in the LM-1 in its beginnings, while the machine would go on to feature in defining hits of the decade, from the Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me’ to Prince’s ‘When Doves Cry’. Prince was a particular fan of the LM-1, owning several and using them in unusual and creative ways. In the same year Linn introduced the LM-1, another iconic drum machine arrived in the world – the Roland TR-808. Opting for analogue rather than digital sounds, the 808 first became popular in 1982 with Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force’s ‘Planet Rock’. The 808 has cemented its place in musical history with songs dedicated to it, a Kanye West album named after it, and a hip-hop legacy that sees it remain the drum machine of choice for many artists today. The Oberheim DMX joined the LM-1 and 808 in 1980, proving important in shaping the sound of an emerging hip-hop scene alongside the 808. One of the first significant uses of the DMX in the genre was Run DMC’s 1983 track, ‘It’s Like That’. The DMX can also be heard on hits from the same year including New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ and Madonna’s ‘Holiday’ and ‘Into The Groove’.
Many other innovations arrived after this notable year. Roland followed the 808 with the 909 – the semi-analogue, semi-samplebased hardware that earned the title of the first MIDI-equipped drum machine. The E-MU Systems Drumulator added the ability for users to create their own drum sounds, an indication of where technology was headed with the modern sampler. Roger Linn teamed up with Akai and produced the MPC60 in 1988, eventually returning to drum machines once more in 2011 for the Dave Smith Instruments Tempest. With the advent of digital music software and instrument emulations towards the end of the ‘90s, hardware gear fell out of fashion
and drum machines began to be viewed as quite old fashioned. While drum machines were sampled and placed into libraries to be used in DAW’s, it was not until relatively recently that hardware drum machines experienced a renaissance. These days drum machines can be seen and heard in the gear list of big name artists from the worlds of pop, dance, hip hop and rock. Brands such as Roland, Nord, Elektron, AKAI, and Native Instruments are leading the way in continuing to revolutionise the instrument, integrating samplers and feature rich software with traditional hardware. BY JESSICA OVER
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ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION
Learn the Lingo: Studio Monitors Being a bedroom producer means learning about a heap of stuff in quite a lot of detail. Whether it’s how to use a synthesiser, microphone types and their placement, optimal bit rate and buffer for your computer or even just navigating the various software companies’ registration processes, each element comes with its own language of ridiculous jargon. This month, I’m going to explain some studio monitor lingo to help you understand a product group that comes with a fairly high learning curve. Powered (active)/Unpowered (passive) Powered means each speaker box contains its own amplifier (or two if it’s biamplified), whereas unpowered means you need an external amplifier to power your speakers. Most monitors in the bedroomproducer market are powered these days, but unpowered models are still around, particularly on the vintage market. Frequency Response This is the range of frequencies the monitor is capable of reproducing. As a rough guide, humans are capable of hearing from 20Hz (20 soundwave cycles a second) up to 20,000Hz (20Khz). You want to find speakers that can cover as much of that as possible within your budget. It’s easy to get swept up in a search for the monitor with the lowest bass, but remember, anything below 40Hz is really more felt than heard. If you really want that bass, investing in an additional subwoofer might be a better way to go. SPL/dB SPL stands for sound pressure level and
is measured in decibels. Basically, this is volume and the max peak SPL on a monitor’s spec sheet will give a dB measurement of how loud that puppy can get. Yes, I know; it’s more complicated than that. SPL is a weird logarithmic system that doubles in pressure every 6dB, but we’re here to make music not study physics, so here’s some approximate reference points for you to get a gauge on dB and what it means in terms of loudness. Talking = 60dB, vacuum cleaner = 70dB, bus = 80dB, car horn = 100dB, that’s-so-loud-it-hurts = 140dB, exposure will cause hearing loss = 150dB.
with a specific frequency range in mind, it requires some very fine tuning on the manufacturer’s end to make the frequency splits (called crossovers) behave in a seamless and satisfactory manner. If you’re finding two- and three-way models in your budget, a higher end two-way model might well perform better than a budget three-way.
Two-Way/Three-Way/Coaxial These terms relate to the amount of speakers in the speaker-box and how they’re arranged. Two-way is the most common and features a large woofer for bass and mids, and a small tweeter for the high frequencies. Threeway monitors have an additional speaker specific to mid-range frequencies, leaving the woofer to stretch its legs on the bass frequencies. Although it’s ideal to have more speakers in your monitors designed
Coaxial refers to common axis – the mounting of the tweeter speaker inside the woofer. This is something car-audio manufacturers have been doing for years as a space saving measure, but we’re seeing some more coaxial studio monitors pop up in recent years. The advantage is having a single source point of audio, reducing the soundwaves interfering with each other as they might when a tweeter and woofer are separated by a few inches. Apparently
this also results in a larger “sweet spot” for listening in your studio too. Front/Back Bass Port Woofers push around a lot of air, and a vent in the speaker box increases their efficiency and frequency response. Some speakers have this on the back, some on the front. Something to keep in mind when buying monitors is where you intend on having them, as this will change your ideal port configuration. If they’re going to be snug up against a wall in an acoustically untreated room, then you’re probably going to want front facing ports as rear facing ones will bounce frequencies off all your walls. For rear ported monitors, you’ll want at least a couple of feet distance between them and the wall. BY MICHAEL CUSACK
ADVICE COLUMNS GUITAR
BASS GUITAR
To Model or not to Model
Substitutions
Like it or loathe it, modeling technology is now a standard part of the guitar/amp/rig landscape. For both live and studio purposes, amp and effect modeling offers unprecedented tonal flexibility, with companies such as Fractal, Line 6 and Kemper being used by pros and bedroom bashers alike. The last few years have really seen the landscape change, and recently I’ve had plenty of conversations with musos and retailers alike regarding their pros and cons.
Yes, it is the title of a killer track by The Who, but it’s also a very useful tool for musicians – and we don’t mean substituting your Jazz Bass for your StingRay.
While the aforementioned three brands could probably be thought of as the big guns of the modeling world (with a proven track record and countless worldwide users), many other companies have entered the arena. Mooer, Roland, HeadRush and Atomic are just a few, and these additional manufacturers have contributed towards a bigger range of price points and making modeling technology more prevalent and affordable.
Firstly, let’s take Figure A as a quick recap of the II-V-I. In the key of A Major, our II-V-I would be Bm7 – E7 – A. In terms of a bass line you could play root notes, root and fifth or arpeggios as a start. Don’t stress about the feel or style for the moment; just play the parts and get your ear used to the chord progression and overall sound. Obviously playing root notes doesn’t outline the chord quality (major/minor etc.), which can sometimes be a good thing. Alternating the fifth with the root note adds some extra harmonic information while the arpeggios in this instance spell out the full quality of each chord.
Adding to the huge range of amps, effects and tones available in modelers is the flexibility and routing/switching capabilities that come with such a setup. It might not seem like much of an incentive for some, but being able to press one button and change from a clean sound with compressor and reverb to a heavy distorted lead tone with delay and phaser (for example) is amazingly handy. While there might be some learning curve with modelers, the possibilities really outweigh the initial headaches. Furthermore, most modelers also have the ability to run in ‘stomp’ mode (or something similarly named), essentially running the unit like a bunch of pedals – which might be all you need.
What about the substitutions though? Figure B highlights a common use of descending chords to get from the II chord to the I chord. This is done by substituting the flat II chord in place of the V chord. This is a tritone substitution (b5 or #4) – in this case Bb7 instead of E7. Listen to the variations again to get used to the new substitution. From there, you’ll have to use your ear to know when it’s appropriate to use in a musical context.
How/when/where do you run modelers I hear you ask? As mentioned previously, they are becoming increasingly common in both live and studio settings. For gigs and recording they can be sent direct to front of house, with you just needing foldback to hear yourself. This can be great for reducing the need for backline and stage amplification in the live setting, which can in turn create a more user-friendly stage volume and sound. FOH mixers often like this situation too as they can get a clean signal that is consistent from night to night. For your own purposes, it can save you lugging in extra gear – just drop your pedalboard or rack on stage and plug and play. For those that still like guitar cabs, you can run a modeler into a power amp and then into your speaker box of choice. If you’re still wary of going completely modeler/digital, you could even use your Helix/AX8/Mooer/HeadRush etc. for just effects and run it into your amp. There really are a lot of possibilities and varied lines of thinking regarding this topic. Like any guitar rig, I’m sure you’ll go back and forth with your tastes and decision making. Yes, there are those who argue that going direct/using a modeler can’t compete with the sound of real tubes. While that may be true (and I’m a fan of both real amps and digital modeling, for the record), there are many thoughts that counter this argument, such as ‘How much difference really exists?’ and ‘Would anyone notice anyway?’ There might also be room for the thought that some people don’t actually want a vintage valve amp tone. This is one angle that I think is often overlooked.
Moving away from the II – V – I, let’s try it with a straightforward rock-type groove/ progression. Figure C uses D – F – G – A for the first four bars, but then substitutes A with Eb in the last bar (tritone). This might seem really simple, but listen to the tension the substitution (Eb) creates in that last bar. Returning to D (if repeated) would then create a feeling of resolution.
Either way, modeling is here to stay. If you’re apprehensive or overwhelmed with the whole concept, I’m sure there have been many other technological advances that have seemed just as daunting at first, but really weren’t that bad. BY NICK BROWN
Substitutions is something that really comes with experience and understanding. But are all substitutions clash-y, I hear you ask? Of course not. More on that next month. BY NICK BROWN
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PERCUSSION
Where You’re At Ah, to be the ultimate drummer. It’s a lovely idea, yet one that’s fraught with constraints and excuses for the average human. Does this mean we shouldn’t try to be the best? Of course not, but at what cost does our wellbeing as a person have to suffer to reach the goal – and is it really necessary? I need to practise more. We all tell ourselves this and I, for one, am certainly guilty as charged. There’s no doubt in my mind that I could be a better musician than I currently am. I have strong attributes and skills that I could offer to many different musical situations, but in my mind I’m constantly reminding myself that I could be better and I get down about it. I see incredible drummers doing what I could only hope to do and I feel worse. It seems we’re somehow designed to compare ourselves to the next person. If you’re in a corporate company, you look to the top job – that’s the goal, isn’t it? They earn more money and have more profile. Is it the same with drummers? When it comes to doing gigs – yes. Who has ever looked at a big name artist and wished they were playing drums for that gig instead of the actual drummer? Of course everyone does. That drummer gets more cash and the reputation to go with it. Sometimes, you might even start to ‘pick’ at the drummer to make yourself feel as if you could actually do a better job, trying to find something to bring them down a level. This sort of thing is fairly prominent on YouTube
– haters galore. Alternatively, you might feel there’s absolutely no way you could do that gig because you’re not good enough and the guy on the gig is a complete monster and you would and will never be that. Bummer. But perhaps there’s something we haven’t considered here. What about the idea that drumming is extremely personal and everyone is on their own journey? Deep I know, but it’s not like drumming is a computer program that you can just master and know everything there is to know. The mission never actually ends. Most drummers will have heard this and will understand it well, and any musician will experience these up and down emotions at some stage. We all need to practise more, but sometimes we don’t have eight hours a day to do that – some of us are juggling the gigs with a day job. Add family, kids and other commitments and there are plenty of constraints that can prevent us from mastering the instrument. That shouldn’t mean that all is doom and gloom, and it certainly shouldn’t mean that you stress about other great drummers doing the gigs that you could be doing. Even if you add some practise to your week and kick some small goals to get better, there’ll
always be a better drummer out there – at least, they’re better in your eyes because you want to do what they do. But that’s cool, isn’t it? Many moons back, the great David Jones once told me every drummer should think, “I’m a unique being and I have something to offer.” At the time, the youngster in me thought it was getting a little deep, but now I think the man has a point. I’m not the greatest player going around and I get easily intimidated, but I think, like many drummers, I need to just understand that for the moment, this is me. I can always be better, but that’s still a good thing –
something to aspire to. No use getting down about it and letting my wellbeing suffer trying to be something I’m currently not. For some people, they’ll have the dedication and time to really become something, but my musical journey, while filled with some truly great moments and highlights, is different to others. And that’s fine. It’s just where I’m at. BY ADRIAN VIOLI
LEGENDARY SOUND. UNMATCHED PERFORMANCE. Shure SM Microphones
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PRODUCT REVIEWS AKAI PROFESSIONAL
Fire Controller ELECTRIC FACTORY | ELFA.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $299
Most of you who have been producing music over the last 20 years will have come across the Fruity Loops platform in one of its various guises. So it goes without saying that there is a pretty big user group for FL Studio out there today. With that in mind, Akai have stepped up to the plate and delivered a dedicated hardware controller for FL Studio that is really going to change how you look at this piece of software and improve your workflow in ways you probably didn’t realize were possible – Until now. There are a lot of generic MIDI controllers available on the market, but as we have seen over recent years, a controller specifically designed for a certain software platform can really open up the possibilities. It doesn’t need to be big or expensive, it just needs to be focused on delivering the tools required to get the most from the software, and that is exactly what the Fire does. It’s about half the size of many of the popular pad grid controllers for other software platforms, yet it packs in twice as many pads as most. Being that Akai have had a hand in building controllers for other platforms before, you’re pretty safe in assuming they have this one all stitched up. The housing has a nice low profile, and sits firmly on the desktop without any unwanted movement when being punished. The plastic housing keeps the weight down, but it is still pretty tough, and all the buttons and pads have a great feel to them. There’s a nice snap to the engagement
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of the buttons and a firm response from the slightly softer velocity sensitive pads. It certainly feels like this is going to go the distance and take whatever you dish out in your music making and performance. At first glance I was excited to see that although the more common grid pattern of modern workflow has been adhered to, there was a familiar air to the top panel with the old step sequencer vibe being adopted too. The four rows of 16 pads have subtle lines between each four pads on the casing, so you’re back to working with that old faithful input method of drum machines and sequencers of the past. This allows for four separate instruments to be sequenced and shown visually on the pads at once, or for a single sequence to be expanded across all four rows. Of course, if that isn’t enough, and you feel like jumping way ahead of the game, four Akai Fire units can be linked to create a monstrous eight rows with 16 pads each. But let’s just focus on a single unit for now. You can get a great feel for your drums and synth programming with the step sequencer display, but if you prefer a more tactile, fluid method of recording your notes, there are a number of ways in which this can be achieved. You can play directly onto the piano roll on screen with the touch sensitive pads in real time before going back and cleaning up the edits for any notes that are a little off kilter. Or for drum programming, you can take a central bank of 16 pads and operate it like the classic
MPC-style controller for those who prefer this method of note input. Of course, the Fire isn’t just a big bank of input pads designed to replace a keyboard. It has plenty of other features to improve your workflow. In fact, most buttons have a multi-use feature with the depression of the ALT button to double up on the processes you can achieve. A cheat sheet of shortcuts is included in the box, so you should have no problem working your way around the combinations in no time. Basic transport controls can be found in the lower right of the panel and all the tools needed for step sequencing are found in the lower left. Mute and solo functions share the same buttons on the far left, and the top left of the panel has four rotary encoders for a range of features including volume, pan, filter, resonance and EQ. Completing the clockwise lap of the unit you’ll find a small data screen and push-button rotary encoder for entering information where needed, right next to the grid shifting buttons. It’s been well thought out so that everything you need is right at your fingertips for a seamless workflow. You even get a copy of FL Studio Fruity Fire Edition included with the unit. If you aren’t yet an FL Studio user and are looking for a new workflow in music production, the Fire gets you making music in no time with both software and hardware that are designed to work seamlessly with one another. For
existing FL Studio users and for those looking for a foot in the door, this is an awesome package that really makes it easy to get the most from the software. There’s a lot less time spent on the mouse and even less time dabbling on the old QWERTY keyboard, as you’ll be focused on the Fire itself. This is going to change the way a lot of people look at FL Studio, that’s for sure. BY ROB GEE
HITS ∙∙ Well-designed layout ∙∙ Great feel on the touch sensitive pads ∙∙ Opens up the FL workflow MISSES ∙∙ Nope. Even the price is unmatched
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PRODUCT REVIEWS WARWICK INSTRUMENTS
Streamer Stage 1 5 Limited Bass AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $9999 In August of this year, wandering around the Melbourne Guitar Show at Caulfield Racecourse, I spotted a Streamer Stage hanging from the wall in the Warwick booth. The price tag was as eye-catching as the European ash burl top over the swamp ash body, and the gold hardware and bronze frets stood out against the wenge fingerboard and deep, rich burls. Warwick is the bass of choice for some of the biggest names in music, such as Metallica, Pantera, Alice in Chains and U2. The list really does go on. The Warwick Streamer Stage I 5 Ltd is a 34” electric five-string bass. It features dual active Aguilar pickups, a brass Warwick bridge and Warwick tuners. The golden hardware on the Warwick contrasts beautifully against the selected European ash burl top wood of the Streamer and creates a cohesive image. The burled top is tied together by the seven-piece wenge fingerboard and wooden machine head knobs. The Streamer features two stepped volume knobs (a really welcome feature) and two tone knobs that control the dual active Aguilar pickups. The solid, two-piece brass Warwick bridge holds down the strings and the bass retains tuning phenomenally. The intonation is easy to adjust and laser accurate, perfect for a bass that focuses on holding down the rhythm of a band or noodling beyond the 12th fret.
With a scale length of 34”, the Steamer Stage five-string is an average sized, fivestring electric bass. Wenge is an increasingly popular wood for basses and extended range guitars because of its response to lower frequencies, and the wenge fretboard suits the Streamer to a tee. The frets themselves are immaculately finished, they’re smooth and out of the way. Bass lines come easily and the Streamer body shape sits comfortably against your torso, and the Warwick machine heads keep everything tuned. The tone is mid-forward and present and remarkably even without sounding compressed. The Streamer is as close to a polished and finished bass sound as you’re going to get, and this isn’t just the work of the pickups. The bass’ construction is immaculate and provides bells and whistles that most manufacturers can’t even dream of. Warwick have produced an instrument so masterfully put together that the sound resonates and inspires in a way I hadn’t experienced before, partially because of the price. The price tag of a Streamer Stage 1 5 Ltd 2018 puts it out of most buyer’s eyes (and let’s face it, probably their peripheral’s as well), and realistically, this isn’t your workhorse bass, it’s closer to an investment. In saying that, if you were going to buy yourself one bass, it would be a Streamer.
While the tone produce by the bass’ construction and Aguilar pickups is rich and forward, the Streamer is a bass player’s bass and may struggle to sit in a pocket. This can either play in your favour if that’s what you’re looking for, in which case it would be the perfect buy. The tone and volume controls provide a lot of help to shape the tone, and the DI’d sound is so good that amplified, this bass only gets better. The amplified tone is both full and rich, perfectly boomy while staying precise and focused. Warwick’s Streamer Stage 1 5 Ltd 2018 is really a dream inside and out. The Swamp Ash body is beautifully crafted and allows the dual Aguilar pickups to resonate and respond in a way usually unknown for a bass guitar. Top-to-bottom, the Streamer Stage 1 5 is the flagship bass guitar. No stone has been left unturned and no corners have been
cut (the edges themselves are beautifully crafted and shaped, not cut). The price tag is eye-watering, but it’s not without reason. This would be arguably the best bass money could buy, point blank. BY LEWIS NOKE EDWARDS
HITS ∙∙ Masterfully built bass guitar ∙∙ Aguilar pickups deliver even, balanced sound MISSES ∙∙ Price
STERLING BY MUSIC MAN
StingRay Ray24 CMC MUSIC | CMCMUSIC.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $1295 Since its inception in 1976, Music Man’s StingRay bass has been a doe-eyed dream for young bassists. Its sleek cut outs and ovular pickguard frame a peppy tone, signature growl and pouncy low end. The fantasy for many of us deflated like a school fete balloon as we flipped over the multi-thousand dollar price tag. This year, Music Man have sought to repair hearts with their affordable 2018 range of Sterling by Music Man StingRays, matching the distinctive aesthetic cool with surprising tonal emulation. The Ray24, the mid-range offering wedged between the S.U.B Sterlings and the Ray 34, is a resounding success. Though Sterling by Music Man is the closest equivalent to the budget ranges of Epiphone and Squier, it feels inaccurate to place them side by side. Sterling have pushed to make their affordable range feel marked by a certain level of quality that transcends typical budget construction. The Ray24 has a gleaming charm to its three-tone Vintage Sunburst finish (also available in Butterscotch), with all of the aesthetic feel of the StingRay; egg-shaped pickguard, comfortable cutouts, maple fretboard and all. The steel Sterling bridge does a reasonable job of matching Music Man’s chrome-plated hardened steel, while its maple body is fairly indistinguishable from the StingRay’s ash wood. The headstock sports the StingRay cursive, and manages to not make the Sterling by Music Man logo
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look like a shade of prestige – a surprisingly persuasive selling point for budget guitars. What is immediately most striking is the Ray24’s playability. The bass is beautifully weighted, while its naturalised cut-outs make traversing the 34” fretboard a joy, particularly the higher frets. The single active pickup is powered by a small nine volt battery slot in the back, an active emulation of the StingRay’s passive Alnico humbucking. For the less discerning, its boosted signal means negligible background interference and a thicker tone. The Ray24 gives you a simple threedial setup of volume, treble and bass, which is certainly good enough for tonal control, albeit with plenty of fiddling. It is mystifying why a mids dial wasn’t included, and whether that’s purely for creating an
arbitrary point of difference to the fullblown StingRay is hard to say. Manipulating the two-band active EQ, I found the higher end had plenty of body to it, while lows had an almost silky rigidity. Mid tones were a little more frustrating à la the lack of knob; however, with the bass turned to seven o’clock and the treble at four o’clock, I reached a punchy range. Stylistically, the Ray24’s tone worked best for jazz runs, articulating a snappy sound with its treble control, though hard rock had suitable chunk to it also. The tone’s sheer clarity and resonance was continually impressive throughout. I’d argue at the price point, nothing else offers the same dynamics. Budget guitars are fraught purchases, even from manufacturing stalwarts Epiphone and Squier, and so Sterling by Music Man’s Ray24 is astonishing. Indistinguishably resembling
the sumptuous StingRay without tacky aesthetic caveats, it offers a malleable tone better than any of its price competitors. BY JOSHUA MARTIN
HITS ∙∙ Beautiful aesthetic replication of the StingRay ∙∙ Super affordable without qualitative sacrifice ∙∙ Impressively dynamic and articulate tone ∙∙ Lightweight and comfortable design MISSES ∙∙ No mids dial ∙∙ Two-band active EQ can be fiddly
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PRODUCT REVIEWS SOFTUBE
Console 1 SOUND & MUSIC | SOUND-MUSIC.COM | EXPECT TO PAY: $819.99 For a lot of musicians, nothing beats the tactile experience of a physical mixing board. Of course, that’s not always possible, practical or affordable, especially in a home studio. We try to make do with plug-ins, but we miss the interactivity of actually grabbing a control knob and twisting it until something magical happens. The Softube Console 1 tackles this in an extremely elegant manner. It’s a hardware control surface that gives you hands-on access to EQ, compressor, gate, volume and pan on all your tracks, and while it’s always possible to map controls like that onto any MIDI controller with enough knobs and buttons, this device doesn’t require any MIDI mapping. Everything is labelled, and it’s designed with incredible forethought as to how it would be used in the real world. Console 1 is designed to sonically emulate the legendary Solid State Logic SL 4000 E console – probably the most used high-end mixing desk in the history of music recording. The emulation was developed in close collaboration with SSL, and is included with the purchase of Console 1. There are also over 60 Console 1-ready plug-ins available from Softube and Universal Audio, so you can mix and match virtual units from Chandler Limited, Fairchild, Teletronix, Tube-Tech,
Abbey Road Studios and many others, which are all pre-mapped and ready to go. It works with any major DAW on the market, but currently PreSonus Studio One and Cakewalk SONAR have additional integration for hardware control of functions like track selection, volume, send levels, pan and solo/mute. The surface is divided into sections: the input section has an input gain control with high and low cut knobs, the shape section has noise gate features, the equaliser has a comprehensive four-band parametric EQ with cut/bell/shelf and Q controls, the compressor has attack, release, threshold, ratio and parallel dry/wet controls, and there are drive and character knobs and a pan control alongside the master volume. You’ll also find a strip of select track buttons along the top and other handy buttons, including one that selects the order of effects for each track and one that governs the path of the signal to an external sidechain. What this all essentially means is that Console 1 gives you the same ‘instant gratification’ level of control that you get from reaching for an amp knob or a physical mixer control, and you don’t have to keep remembering which knob
you’ve mapped to do what function when you switch tracks. It’s incredibly elegant and stupid proof, and a valuable addition to any home studio. BY PETER HODGSON
HITS ∙∙ Hands-on practicality over the digital realm ∙∙ I can’t fault the SSL 4000 E emulation ∙∙ Elegant design MISSES ∙∙ I don’t own one
GRETSCH
G6228 Players Edition Jet FENDER MUSIC AUSTRALIA | FENDER. COM.AU | RRP: $3399 Gretsch may be fabled for their hollow body guitars, but their solid body offerings are certainly not to be overlooked. The ‘Jet’ has long embodied the Gretsch aesthetic, offering different tones to its bigger bodied family members. From the Players Edition line of guitars, the G6228 combines Gretsch handiwork in a solid body guitar that can handle more than a few styles of playing. The G6228 sits higher up the Gretsch pricing tree than other models, with a selection of premium features. A mahogany chambered body is coupled with a maple top, and mahogany is again used for the neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Hardware-wise, you’ll find Gotoh locking tuners, a stoptail and adjusto-matic bridge, and Broad’Tron pickups. You’d be hard pressed to fault the finish and looks of the G6228 – this model came in a Dark Cherry Metallic that looks classy and restrained, with a hint of sparkle to add some flair. The whole look comes together beautifully with the V-Stoptail, block pearloid inlays, vintage-style small button tuners, classic Gretsch knobs and switches, and the gold scratch plate and pickup surrounds. A TKL hardcase is also included as standard.
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Firstly, I love the weight of the G6228. The chambered body really makes a difference and the guitar is super comfortable to play (unlike the sore shoulder syndrome from other well known, single cut carved tops). Again, Gretsch have gone for a U-shaped neck that’s chunky enough to hold onto for open chords, yet still quick enough to whip around for solos and licks up the fretboard. Warm, round clean tones sound great on the front pickup, while the middle position and bridge will give you more bite – good for funk, old school soul, blues and rock twang. Add some dirt and you’re easily into rootsy vintage rock/R&B territory. The Broad’Tron pickups have some extra bite and focus in the mid-range that will suit many players wanting an alternative to brighter scooped sounds.
I could really see the G6228 being a great single cut alternative, with tones suitable for rock, pop, blues, country and more. The finish and build quality on this particular model is seriously good, and you’ve got a choice of Black and Cadillac Green as colour options. Did I mention the Dark Cherry Metallic finish rocks?
HITS ∙∙ Great player/setup/finish ∙∙ Gretsch flavours in a solid body MISSES ∙∙ None
BY NICK BROWN
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PRODUCT REVIEWS LINE 6
HX Effects YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA | AU.YAMAHA.COM | EXPECT TO PAY: $999
Since the early inceptions of the Flextone, AxSys and POD, Line 6 have continued to develop guitar tools that have been eagerly embraced by the greater guitar community. Recent trends with modeling and subsequent success of the Helix range have seen them expand their range. Listening to guitarists’ needs and incorporating high quality effects with plenty of switching and routing options, the HX Effects was met with huge anticipation upon its release. Wonder what all the fuss is about? Yes, the HX is effects only. None of the amp/cab modeling from the Helix and other Line 6 series is included in the HX, with the intention being that it is an all-in-one effects package for guitarists that still love running a real amp. This, I would think, is a big portion of the guitar playing population, and a nice change to the multitude of outright modeling/direct options currently available. Furthermore, its size and routing options make it a great tool to integrate into your existing pedalboard. Specs-wise you’re getting over 100 effects, including both new and legacy sounds from the hugely popular four button series (DL4, MM4, etc.) available in a range of mono and stereo settings. From there these can be tweaked, combined, reordered, and accessed in a variety of modes along with expression pedals and even integrated with other stompboxes to really allow for creative tone shaping.
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I love the aesthetics of the HX: rugged and understated in a tough black steel casing. A combination of buttons and dials at the top of the unit handle your editing and tweaking and are slightly recessed away, meaning a stray foot shouldn’t alter any settings during use. Two rows of four footswitches take up the majority of the unit, with scribble strips accompanying six of them for presets and settings. These all light up in a range of bright colours as indicators during use and allow for extra information and descriptions. I also think the size of the HX is perfect. It’s not much bigger than the M9 and four button stomps, so doesn’t have to dominate all of your pedalboard real estate, but it also has enough room to avoid feeling cramped and/ or fumbling into unwanted preset changes. Mono or stereo input lets you connect guitar, bass, or keyboard, while mono and stereo outs are able to feed other pedals, an amp or multiple amps. MIDI capabilities are handled via the MIDI in and out/ through, and there’s also a USB port for updating firmware, using software, and added connectivity. Two pedal/ext. amp jacks work with expression pedals, and can be assigned to a huge range of controls including wah, whammy, pitch shift, delay time and the like. In ext. amp mode, they can be used to change channels or switch reverb on and off depending on your amp. With integration, modular systems, and the sheer range of pedals and effects on the market, I’m sure
many players hoped for send/return loops – and Line 6 have delivered. Two loops allow you to either run the HX in a four cable method or as inserts for additional pedals/ effects. This can be great for adding your favourite go-to dirt box into the mix or auditioning the latest, greatest insertpedal-name with your rig. I’ve been a big fan of the Line 6 M9 for years, so I was keen to see how the HX stacked up. Straight into a clean US-voiced amp, I loved the delays and reverbs. Subtle and vibey with minimalist settings, and of course plenty of big atmospheric tones. For modulation sounds you’re spoilt for chorus and trem, with some interesting new vibe and flanger models, too. Dirt and overdrive are most people’s typical slight on modeled/ digital tones, but I feel that the HX really does a fine job. Minotaur and Teemah! (guess what they’re modeled on?) are very usable, and there are a host of fuzzes and heavier drives if you need more saturation. Additionally, it’s great to see all the legacy effects from the previous stomps included for those wanting to keep their older Line 6 tones alive. All in all, there’s a host of great sounding effects that have way too many possibilities to cover in this short review.
strips look great, and the ability to assign/ edit/move footswitches and functions really lets you dig deep into your setup. I love being able to jump from bypassed clean to heavy gain with delay and EQ to funky filters and mod effects and keep it all in a relatively small footprint. MIDI switching and send/return loops open up so many possibilities for guitarists, bass players, and keyboardists – it really is a killer unit. Of course, many users will make the HX their sole effects unit, and why wouldn’t you? So many great effects on hand with deep editing possibilities and high quality tones. This is a serious multi-effects unit that sounds damn good. BY NICK BROWN
HITS ∙∙ Size and form factor ∙∙ Tones and editing capabilities ∙∙ Send/return loops MISSES ∙∙ None
As mentioned previously, the ability to integrate the HX with your existing setup is a real strength. You can still keep a couple of your favourite pedals and run them in the loops, switch MIDI devices or amp channels, and run into your amp with a number of different methods. The scribble
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PRODUCT REVIEWS GRUV GEAR
GigBlade 2 CMC MUSIC | CMCMUSIC.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $295 It’s a skin-blistering, 40-degree day in Australia. You wake up speckled with sweat only to realise you have a gig to play in an hour, and have to haul your guitar on public transport. Ambling to the bus stop with your lofty hard case in one hand, you’re barely managing the stuffed tote bag full of pedals, leads, strings and slides in the other before you see the bus splutter away in front of you. In this scenario, the day is done – there’s no way you can carry it further without your back discs quite literally imploding. Enter Gruv Gear’s GigBlade 2, the world’s first side-carry hybrid guitar bag. Gruv Gear are a premium lifestyle accessories company that unusually has set its talents to the music industry. The GigBlade 2 is the second iteration of Gruv’s gig bag opus, with additional space, a revamped shoulder strap and weather cover. The GigBlade arrived off the back of two years of research and development, launching after a crowd-funding campaign back in 2014 met its target within a day. The demand proved a side-carry gig bag was long overdue. A generation of guitar and bass players has suffered over-extended shoulders and chiropractic misery from poor weight distribution in unwieldy guitar cases. The GigBlade works by lowering the sidebag’s bulk closer to the ground, keeping the centre of gravity low and the feeling
steady. The top of your instrument doesn’t tower above you and nor does it frustratingly bounce off your ankles, a point proven by several surprisingly breezy public transport trips with the bag in tow. The signature shoulder strap has been given a welcome redo with anti-slip ribbing, while a second strap has been added to offer the option of a backpack mode if you feel a little more old-school. The GigBlade’s exterior carries a kind of industrial elegance, with its highly robust and water repellent 1680d ballistic nylon that seems impervious to puncture. Zips are deeply stitched in and are fluorescent orange to make them easier to find in the dark and decrepit pubs you will inevitably play. The plush fur interior is padded firmly, braced by packing approximately 3.81cm thick and an interlocking brace to ensure your neck doesn’t slop around. It encases the instruments so well you’d almost mail it. The interior specs are 105cm x 38cm and 24cm x 38cm for electric guitar and bass guitar respectively, meaning it’ll fit most Strat, Tele, Les Paul or SG-esque designs, yet is a little too tight for wider hollow-bodies, such as a Gretsch Electromatic. As a transportable storage bag, the GigBlade is comparable to a small car boot. The spacious front pocket fit my 13” laptop and charger comfortably, while the top pocket
sat four BOSS digital-sized pedals or one footswitch. Impressively, even with the lofty weight of a Les Paul, four pedals and a computer packed in, the case still felt almost weightless. A weather cover is also supplied in the front pocket, which although somewhat difficult to cover the entire case with, is a thoughtful addition. There is simply nothing else in the market that offers the GigBlade’s functionality, back relief, or storage. From exterior to interior, each element of the design has been meticulously engineered through research on actual gigging musicians and their needs. If you’re a working musician, nabbing one of these isn’t an indulgence; it’s the future. BY JOSHUA MARTIN HITS ∙∙ The unprecedented side-carry design makes it feel near weightless ∙∙ Huge and nifty storage capacity; can store four small pedals and a laptop comfortably ∙∙ Superlative material and design MISSES ∙∙ Maybe the weather cover could be easier to deploy, but it just feels nit-picky
MACKIE
FreePlay Go AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $359 The Mackie FreePlay series offers three speakers of different sizes in the FreePlay Go, FreePlay Home and FreePlay Live. Weighing in at under a kilogram, the FreePlay Go is the smallest of the three speakers, but that doesn’t hold the Go back from packing a punch. The Go pairs very easily with a smart phone or computer, has its own volume and play/pause controls that sync with your sound source, and offers a crisp, fullspectrum sound from this tiny lithium-ion powered Bluetooth speaker. The sound of the FreePlay Go was sincerely surprising, partly because of my presumptions about its size and speaker configuration, because it sounded like the Go was handling music with ease. There was no struggle, no need to max out the volume or push the Go to its limits. The Go produces a rich and full-bodied sound that fills a room within minutes of pairing it via Bluetooth. Alternatively, it also features a 1/8” auxiliary input (a standard aux/headphone jack size connector) for manual connection. The Go can also be linked up to a second FreePlay Go for a multitude of uses that can be tweaked via the FreePlay Connect App available through Mackie. The sound delivered is even and clear, even at low volumes, with plenty of headroom thanks to the dual passive radiators featured in the Go and Home speakers.
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Obvious uses for the Go are as a home or mobile speaker system. It can easily be stowed in a bag or case and taken outside the home without a worry because of its robust build and tiny size at 8.3cm x 21cm x 7.6cm. Besides this, the Go could be used as a great reference speaker for professional or budding audio engineers. It’s common practice to check a mix in a car, but a lot of people consume music on portable speakers so it makes sense to have a decent one handy, and the Go is a very decent one. The auxiliary input could make it available as a speaker set on a monitor controller, so mixes could be easily referenced on a different source. In a Sound on Sound interview, Cenzo Townshend of Decoy Studios (Snow Patrol, Florence + the Machine, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand) discusses his use of a little radio speaker to reference his mixes and admits that he couldn’t live without it. In a professional sense though, beware. The Go has a very flattering response and is not a very accurate depiction of your music, albeit a pleasing one. If the Go can’t satisfy your volume needs, the FreePlay line also includes the Home speaker, a speaker designed as a more permanently installed speaker for home listening to music, podcasts or linked to a television or movie configuration. The Home features many of the bells and whistles
of the Go, but in a larger format that can produce a richer, more filling sound with even more headroom for a crystal clear listening experience. The FreePlay series offers three different speakers for three different uses that do their job with ease and style. The Go is a portable, handheld speaker with astounding volume and headroom for its size. It is practical, handy, well-designed and portable, perfect for listening to music as it was intended to be heard, whether inside or outside the home, via auxiliary or Bluetooth that can be controlled remotely. It could be used in a professional or social environment,
and would handle either or both jobs without breaking a sweat (sweat is very bad for speakers, you see). The FreePlay range from Mackie is a home-run. BY LEWIS NOKE EDWARDS HITS ∙∙ Small, compact size ∙∙ Robust ∙∙ Great sound MISSES ∙∙ N/A
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PRODUCT REVIEWS PRESONUS
HD9 Headphones LINK AUDIO | LINKAUDIO.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $99 We’ve slowly seen the product range from PreSonus grow over the years to include more than just interfaces. The headphone market is one are that they have been pushing into, a small collection of very modestly priced cans that stand up to the task at hand without breaking the bank. I finally got to give the HD9 studio headphones a test lap this month and found them to be surprisingly good. It could be time to rethink what you need in a pair of home studio headphones and invest in just what you need, rather than pouring money into a frequency or two that you can’t even hear. The PreSonus team has certainly taken inspiration from a range of DJ-focused headphones in the physical build of these cans. They offer plenty of flexibility in positioning, so you can flip the drivers outwards for single ear listening if you don’t want to be totally removed from the work environment while listening to a snippet of audio. They also offer a range of easy adjustments for any size head too, even my giant noggin. With big, soft full ear encompassing pads, they certainly block out most of the environmental noise around, without having to add any underlying white noise like a set of noise cancelling headphones would. They’re pretty comfortable, being such big and soft pads, although I did have a bit of an issue finding that sweet spot where they didn’t pinch
the ears when wearing glasses. But once in place, they were good for a very long session of listening without any noticeable fatigue and very little heating up around the ears. Of course, it is difficult to understand just how these sound when reading this. I can’t jump up and down and rant about these being the most amazing sounding headphones I have ever listened to, because they simply are not. But they don’t cost anywhere near that of the best headphones I have ever heard, so that’s worth thinking about. They certainly offer plenty of bottom end; I picked that up on the first kick
drum thump. And there is a defined high frequency response that’s good enough to detail the crackle of the needle from a record. If anything, they are lacking a little in the mid-range definition, but you can’t expect perfection and value to come in one package. Go and have a listen to a pair yourself in your local music store – you’ll know just what I mean. They’re a great sounding pair of cans for the price, and ones that you can use for extended listening periods.
HITS ∙∙ Great value recording headphones ∙∙ Comfortable for long listening ∙∙ Plenty of bottom end MISSES ∙∙ A little uncomfortable when wearing glasses
BY ROB GEE
TC ELECTRONIC
TC8210-DT and TC1210-DT Plug-ins AMBER TECHNOLOGY | AMBERTECH.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: TC-1210-DT $399, TC-8210-DT $279 Plug-ins have made writing, producing, recording, mixing and mastering music infinitely easier than patching in clunky hardware. Plug-ins are generally a software reproduction of a piece of hardware, that are used as either an insert or auxiliary effect depending on your workflow, although many plug-ins do their job without reproducing a specific piece of hardware. TC Electronic have historically produced high-end, studio grade hardware. While they have been producing plug-ins for some time, the TC8210-DT and TC1210-DT bring a tangible piece of hardware to the fold. These plug-ins are both ‘desktop’ versions of their 19” 1U rack counterparts, and make ITB (in the box) mixing even easier. The TC1210-DT is a ‘spatial expander’ that is primarily used to add excitement or thicken up a signal, while the TC8210-DT is a handy little reverb plug-in to heavily effect a signal or help sit different elements into a mix. The TC8210-DT is an intuitive, easy to use and refreshing approach to reverb. The presets are mix-ready, inspired and they’ll slot easily into your mix. It’s available for free from the TC Electronic website; however, it won’t work without the hardware. Once the plug-in is installed and the hardware connected, it requires no further licensing on installation. I was up, running and reverbing in minutes. Not only do the reverbs sound great, but they work well and respond differently as an insert as opposed to an 36
auxiliary track, so the wet/dry control comes in handy. I generally use reverbs as a send/ auxillary effect, but found myself using this as an insert on specific tracks. The TC8210-DT includes handy ‘Colour’ and ‘Co-Color’ controls within the plug-in itself, which can further assist in making reverb sit nicely within a mix, or alternatively, pop out and become a part of a signature sound, tone or hook. Modulation, delay and phase effects are commonly used to thicken a recorded signal and/or give it some character. These are the effects that can’t explicitly be heard in a mix, but aid in giving a mix size and width. They help make recorded sounds larger than life, and are commonly used to make signals stand out when it’s their time to shine. Helmut Haas Ph.D. discussed precedence effect (also referred to as the ‘Haas’ effect) of short, hard-panned delays that seemingly create space around a signal. Chorus can be blended into guitars or vocals to fill in the gaps in tone and thicken them up, or phasers can often be used to re-invigorate lifeless sounds. TC Electronic packages all of these up in one handy plug-in and controller in the TC1210-DT. The presets work phenomenally for their namesakes (e.g. ‘Acoustic Guitar Widened’, ‘Dramatic Wide Chorus’ and ‘Stereo Spread’), but they shouldn’t hold you back. Widen a snare, delay a vocal, give the verse some chorus – the TC1210-DT really makes it very easy.
When looking into hardware controllers for plug-ins, my first question is usually: Why? Plug-ins don’t contain any analogue circuitry so there’s no need for anything external and it can be a nightmare to patch cables in and out of effects. A computer mouse works fine to change plug-in settings and you’ll need one anyway, so: Why? The TC Electronic TC8210-DT and TC1210-DT have answered this for me: it keeps things creative. Having a hardware controller, even for a plug-in, is tangible and inspiring. Creativity can continue to flow, and tweaking settings is fast and definitive. The TC8210-DT and TC1210-DT keep creativity going without staying bogged down scrolling through presets and settings on a mouse. Reverbs, or at the very least room sounds, are an integral part of every piece of recorded music. Stereo and modulation effects create
sounds that are inherently modern and make music sound larger than life. The TC8210-DT and TC1210-DT keep a project moving, and the plug-ins themselves sound great. The sounds are ready to go and easily tweaked. These two units would be a great addition to a plug-in collection for anyone at any level. BY LEWIS NOKE EDWARDS HITS ∙∙ Great, mix-ready sound ∙∙ Easy to install and use MISSES ∙∙ Plug-ins can’t be used without hardware
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Black
Arctic White
MICK THOMSON
ALL-N EW USA AND PR O S E RIE S S IG N AT U RE S O L O IS T ™ MO D E L S
DAY O F T H E G U S A N O DV D slipknotmerch .com
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JACKSON®; CHARVEL®; CHARVEL BY JACKSON CHARVEL®; the distinctive headstock shape, of the JACKSON® guitar; and the distinctive head stock shape, of the FENDER® STRATOCASTER®, are the registered trademarks of FENDER MUSIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD [ABN 34 613 081 191]. Only Fender Music Australia can authorise these trade marks for Australia.
PRODUCT REVIEWS YAMAHA
Broad Bass BB 234, 434 And 734 YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA | AU.YAMAHA.COM | EXPECT TO PAY: BB234 $549.99, BB434 $799.99, BB734 $1099
If my tinfoil hat and I didn’t know better we’d think that maybe the Yamaha Corporation, not the Rothschilds, were secretly in control of the world. They have their fingers in so many pies, from motorbikes to electronics to grand pianos, that they are the commercial equivalent of that one friend who is too good at Monopoly to play against. Far from being as dystopian as I could suspect it seems the whole company is run on the steam of thousands of good ideas. As instrument manufacturers their reputation precedes them; they are one of the handful of builders responsible for the infamous ‘lawsuit’ era of competitive guitar making that kept the big guys on their toes in the ‘70s. Since then they’ve marched through the decades with a wry grin and a quintessential industriousness as their banner. Add to that foundation a generous dollop of playability and low-end freedom and you have pretty much described Yamaha’s new Broad Bass series of four and five string behemoths. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, bass players totally get the raw end of the stick as far as the rock hierarchy goes; buried in mixes, shoved up the back of the stage and grossly underrated talent wise. However, I’ve been pleased by the increased amount of innovative attention being paid to the lower clef recently. This is especially true of the three tiers of BBs I see before me. The name of the game across the board is one of the broadest colour palettes on the market. All three iterations are carved out of the warm 38
heft of alder, whose medium weight and density pushes the headroom and sustain expected from the tonewood alone. All three utilise custom designed, open gear tuners that not only feel suspiciously light and sensitive but also match the stylish, modern aesthetic of the graphite nut and streamlined, matte finish of the necks. The scale length is a long, 34” starting at the underside of the very bottom of the body, beveled in behind the strap lug. From start to finish these basses are loaded with some of the most up to date design optimisation imagined without veering into ‘space-bass’ territory. As much as all that baseline information is uniform, these instruments are so distinct in the finer details that you’d be forgiven for thinking they were completely different models. Starting with the simplest model, the 234, the biggest distinction is the Custom V3 ceramic pickup system. Twin volume controls operate both pickups, separately blending instead of stepping into your own personalised tonal texture. Add to that the familiar roll off tone pot and the signature here is like a P-Bass reinvigorated by a wider scope of possibilities and some appealingly glassy overtones. The one-piece maple construction of the neck offers a touch of brightness and stability, which is accentuated by the offset ‘D’ shape across the reverse, adding up to a fast, silky and accurate playing experience. It’s a similar neck profile to some of Ernie Ball’s newer guitars, just not as exaggerated.
The 434 takes what its companion does and finesses it. There’s a good amount more heed given to aesthetic, with colours like bottle green adding a touch of class to proceedings at this level. The first big difference I noticed was in the five-piece maple neck. A noticeably smoother ride, it is fixed to the body more firmly than I’ve ever seen. Four bolts perpendicular to the face and two angled to pull the neck towards the butt might seem excessive, but the result is even more sustain than already offered by the placement of the bridge. Essentially the tension is so evenly carried along the body that every last inch of your instrument is lifting your tone out of obscurity. The introduction of Alnico V magnets in the pickup system heats up the output a touch, which simultaneously tempers the top end and opens up the mids for a more versatile character. It’s hungrier than the 234 and it knows exactly what it needs to feel satisfied. The 734 is a different thing entirely. This is truly a workhorse bass so loaded with options and versatility that, if I were to open a studio, it’d be one of the first things I’d get. All the greatest hits from the other two iterations are there, but the biggest difference is the active/passive switch coupled with the three-way boost/cut EQ shaping controls. Think Ernie Ball StingRay bass without all the nasal plonk and hooting overtones and then open your mind and you’ll come close to describing where the 734 sits on the frequency spectrum. In
passive mode it’s a warm, discerning voicing like an old Fender Jazz with plenty of cut in the high mids, but switch over to active and there is just about every colour on the Pantone wheel in your pickups. I had it running into an old tube guitar amp and was able to dig out anything from Krist Novoselic on In Utero-style attack and girth to Colin Greenwood molasses. There is absolutely no volume hike between the two modes too, so if you’re wild enough a player, switching mid-show is a fiddle free experience. On top of the aforementioned mountain of versatility and stylish aesthetics, Yamaha have crafted three ultimately playable basses. They have just enough modern innovation to keep themselves ahead of the pack while never feeling like you’re at the wheel of a ship you’re not ready to steer. The Broad Bass series strikes a perfect balance between science and feel like no other. BY LUKE SHIELDS
HITS ∙∙ Tons of sustain ∙∙ Innovative design choices ∙∙ Undimmed playability ∙∙ MISSES ∙∙ None
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PRODUCT REVIEWS GRETSCH
G5622T Electromatic Electric Guitar FENDER MUSIC AUSTRALIA | FENDER. COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $1749 With players such as Chet Atkins, Brian Setzer, Malcolm Young, Chris Cheney, George Harrison, Bo Diddley and Eddie Cochran sporting Gretsch axes, there’s no doubt you’re already familiar with the name. Favourites in the rockabilly, country and rock world, Gretsch guitars definitely have a ‘sound’ that has seen them used in just about every genre imaginable. Now residing under the Fender banner, Gretsch continue to produce classic instruments such as the Falcon, Jet, 6120, Penguin and Country Gentleman, as well as offering a suite of variations and new models to suit a range of players. The G5622T is a hollow body instrument with a centre block, and arrives fresh from Gretsch’s Electromatic line of guitars. The body and neck are both constructed from maple, while the fretboard features rosewood and classic Gretsch ‘thumbnail’ pearloid inlays. Vintage-styled open back tuners add to the overall aesthetic, alongside the Filter’Tron-style pickups, F holes, control switches, and of course, the Bigsby tremolo system. Available
in finishes of Walnut, Vintage Orange, Georgia Green and Black, the G5622T looks very much a Gretsch design. The G5622T isn’t a big bodied archtop, but still has some girth which you can wrap your arm around, with a thickness similar to that of a 335 or Casino. The neck shape is described as ‘Classic U’ and has some thickness to it, but is still an easy player (not even close to a baseball bat feel). Twenty-two frets, 42.86mm nut width, a 12” radius, medium jumbo frets and a good setup and action help to make the guitar feel at home right away. The design also makes the guitar nice and light, ensuring it’s easy to play both sitting and standing.
How could you not jump straight into some big open dominant seven chords and hybrid picking licks on a Gretsch? The Super HiLoTron pickups are chirpy and bright, with the standard three-way switch offering everything from rounder neck tones through to twang city on the bridge. Each pickup has its own volume, with a master tone and volume switch allowing you to balance your overall sound. The guitar’s chambered body really adds some depth to the tone, making it great for vintage, fatter rock tones, while the Bigsby can take you to swampy tremolo or fast vibrato. Of course, the G5622T will do the country, rockabilly and rock thing no worries (both with clean and dirty sounds), but it can
also add some chime and sparkle to rock/ pop/indie stylings and pull smooth, round jazz tones too. A great priced hollow body for those wanting to get a taste of the Gretsch look and sound. BY NICK BROWN HITS ∙∙ Price ∙∙ Neck/action/feel are all super MISSES ∙∙ Master tone switch can take some tweaking
SENNHEISER
HandMic Digital SENNHEISER AUSTRALIA | EN-AU.SENNHEISER.COM | EXPECT TO PAY: $359 Nowadays it seems everybody with half a brain and a mixed bag of opinions wants to be a podcaster. Not only has The Internet Age brought about an army of bedroom producers and engineers, but it has also given rise to the concept of DIY journalism, and as usual technology has followed suit. As with music recording, the demand for products that make it cheap and easy to be Brian Naylor or Stephen Colbert from the comfort and safety of your own home has been met with haste by some manufacturers. Others, however, have taken their time in developing a product that meets the quality quotient as well as that of quantity. Take a company like Sennheiser for example, who have made home stereo and recording equipment with a steady and unfaltering eye on fidelity for decades. Would they dare rush to market with a second rate, throwaway mic just for the sake of rising to a trend? Not a chance. On the surface the HandMic Digital is everything a consumer could ask for in searching for a mic to suit the purpose. Its rugged, steel chassis and time-honoured black web grille certainly looks the part for those about to jump in front of a moving camera. Coupled with the fact that it is completely impervious to handling noise and/or wind interference, it seems purpose built for talking at length to the average Joe
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on the street. The shock-mounted diaphragm inside draws in a modest 40-16000Hz of signal while shutting out everything except the source addressing the good end, meaning almost no pesky ambient noise muddying up your direct signal. Everything from the deepest male voice to the squeak of a wheel is handled expertly and delivered to your IOS device via the Apogee powered interface that comes included with your purchase. I was tempted going into this review to hold the HandMic Digital up to the same set of propeller-headed standards with which I appraise any studio mic that comes across my desk. However, I think to do so is to miss some of the point. Yes, this mic delivers high quality audio signal in a clean and efficient manner. Yes, its frequency response is narrower than, say, an SM58. No, it does not deliver the tube-driven nuance of a vintage Neumann. All these ideas pale when you remind yourself that this is not, in fact, something that you would lean on in recording your masterpiece unless your particular masterpiece is an exposé on corruption in any given industry or a hilarious rant about aliens living amongst us. This is a device that excels in getting ideas down quickly and efficiently. It is ready to record at the drop of a hat, heavy duty enough to go out on the road, and
provides broadcast quality audio wherever and whenever you need it. It delivers on a different set of promises than the microphones I usually evaluate and in this way it absolutely excels. Sennheiser and Apogee have both spent their existence among the leaders of their respective packs. In partnership neither has slouched in providing the simple, quick and easy way to distill the world around you that is the HandMic Digital. As sturdy as you’d expect from any professional equipment but without the intimidating price tag, it’s ready when you are.
HITS ∙∙ Sturdy and easy to use MISSES ∙∙ Limited frequency response
BY LUKE SHIELDS
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PRODUCT REVIEWS ADAM AUDIO
Studio Pro SP-5 Headphones FEDERAL AUDIO | FEDERALAUDIO.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $895 Berlin-based studio monitor company Adam Audio sports a fanatical commitment to audio utilitarianism. Their products rely less on aesthetic design, and instead stun with an unimpeachable high fidelity. The Studio-Pro 5 or SP-5, their latest offering in this vein, is a sets a new benchmark for consumer monitor headphones, albeit at an uncomfortably high price.
its pedigree through the Ultrasone S-LOGIC ® Plus sound staging technology, aiming to “send music around your head, not just into it”. The sound staging decentralises the headphone’s driver position, meaning it lowers and moves forward about an inch. This means sound hits your outer ear first and bounces around the natural shape of the hearing canal, giving you a purer, almost surround-ear sound.
Out of the box, the SP-5 is a modest sight. Packed in a moulded hard-leather travel case, it has a simple black look that doesn’t aspire to let you know it retails for $895. The bare black isolated padding fits the closed-back circumaural headphones well and provides a comfortable fit that doesn’t constrict, although does give slight sound leakage. Impressively, the phones weigh just 290 grams – approximately the same as AudioTechnica MX-50’s – and have smooth folding joints to make them very travel-friendly. Two detachable cords are included – one coiled with a studio jack and one straight with a headphone jack – both of which do the job, though some extra length on the coil would be welcome.
What’s even better, however, is its management of ear-fatigue – the balanced sound staging results in a reduction of sound pressure levels at the eardrum by up to 40 percent (3-4 dB). For lengthy mixing sessions, this is biblical. Paired with the weightless design, these headphones are endlessly usable.
As mixing and monitoring headphones, the SP-5’s sound is incredibly pristine; mixes are a completely flat and neutral audio plateau. The balanced definition in the high and low end is virtually unparalleled in the mid-tier monitor market, with a frequency response range of 8 Hz - 38 kHz. The SP-5 achieves
The SP-5’s extremely neutral sound palette does keep the product somewhat studiofocused. Take any wall-of-sound shoegaze, dream pop or post-rock sounds and the headphones disconcertingly separate out every naked audio element. Listening to ‘Myth’ by Baltimore dream-pop duo Beach House was akin to eating a deconstructed Big Mac off a China plate. House music and extreme high fidelity production was the polar opposite. Tested with Nicholas Jaar’s experimental house project Against All Logic and D’angelo’s Black Messiah, the sterile mix was frankly near perfect. It’s important to note, however, that Adam Audio did not design the SP-5 for recreational listening.
Inevitably, the SP-5’s price-tag is the caveat to the entire package. It ricochets past mid- to lower-tier competition like AudioTechnica, but on a pros and cons basis, it’s difficult to justify paying nearly $600 more. Having said that, if you’re considering the SP-5 it’s unlikely this is your first foray into the monitor market, and these are impeccably made headphones. The Ultrasone S-Logic technology is a mammoth leap forward, offering a genuinely different sound experience and true neutral mix, without an inch of hyperbole. BY JOSHUA MARTIN
HITS ∙∙ Near flawless sound-staging via the Ultrasone S-Logic Plus technology ∙∙ Excellent subversion of ear fatigue ∙∙ Secure but not constricting fit ∙∙ True neutrality ∙∙ Brilliant for house music MISSES ∙∙ $895 is far too much for most consumers ∙∙ Dedication to neutrality is detrimental to some recreational listening
PRESONUS
Studio 24 Audio Interface LINK AUDIO | LINKAUDIO.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $199 Over the years I have had the opportunity to use and abuse a number of interfaces from PreSonus. While they vary in size and specification greatly, in order to offer the right tools for the right job, they all share a common trait. No matter what your budget is, or your I/O requirements, any PreSonus audio interface is going to be built like the proverbial. Designed for use by audio professionals and home users alike, every device released by PreSonus is always ready for the task at hand and is tough enough to handle any job you want to throw at it. As such, it came as no surprise when I unboxed the new Studio 24 interface this month that I found the unit to be built like a brick. There comes a point where you realise you don’t need all the bells and whistles to complete a certain task. Often, you just need a simple rig that works. For those of you looking for a smaller, more portable audio interface as a backup or secondary device to your bigger rig, and for anyone looking for a first interface that will go the distance, this is certainly worth a look. It’s a fairly compact box, but is still housed in a solid metal chassis with very little protruding from the box, making it ideal for travel. The front panel offers two combination XLR/TRS connectors for the inputs, while on the rear, the main outputs are supplied on TRS connectors, along with a single TRS headphone output. PreSonus had the forethought to include MIDI
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ins and outs on this compact interface, so it can still be integrated with a larger setup involving other hardware. That’s something you don’t see on some of the more popular interfaces in this section of the market, and something to be applauded for, I believe.
appear on the front. It’s a shame that the new, softer blue colour that PreSonus are implementing in this unit leaves the markers on the volume pots a little tough to see in certain light, but that is only a minor gripe. You can still hear how each pot is set.
As a USB 2.0 device, there is little issue with getting this interface up and running on any machine. It’s bus powered and the driver installation process isn’t too painful, meaning you’re ready to record in very little time. The front panel offers LED monitoring of both the input channels and the main output for a visual reference when needed. Separate volume controls for the main and headphone outputs, along with a mix control and input gains for both preamps, are all that need to
The Studio 24 comes bundled with PreSonus’ Studio One Artist Version software, so you are ready to record right out of the box. This is a great software package that has grown over the years to offer quality recording tools that are simple to use for the beginner, and you don’t need to get a university degree to operate it.
HITS ∙∙ Tough, sturdy and compact housing ∙∙ Included MIDI I/O ∙∙ Great quality for budget price MISSES ∙∙ Pot labelling a little unclear
BY ROB GEE
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PRODUCT REVIEWS BLUE MICROPHONES
Mix-Fi Headphones INNOVATIVE MUSIC AUSTRALIA | INNOVATIVEMUSIC.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $449 Blue Microphones have developed a name for themselves over the years for offering unique designs and outstanding audio quality. If you’re looking for a Blue microphone, chances are you’re after something that is a little bit special. With their first foray into the headphone market, it stands to reason that Blue are going to deliver something that is indeed unique and rather special – and that is exactly what is on offer with their new Mix-Fi Headphones. It’s a bold new direction in headphone design, and it makes sense that Blue are the guys to take the first step. Let’s start by talking about the physical design of these cans. You find yourself taking a second look when you first see them as they do seem a little askew at first glance. But the seemingly off-balanced look makes complete sense when you put these on your head. The weight dispersion is just right, allowing the pads to rest with the natural angle of your ears. The bridge sits evenly on the centre of your head, while the support arms bring the weight to the rear so it all sits comfortably and balanced. This ensures they sit comfortably and stay in place as you move about the studio. While they look a little unique to begin with, it all comes together when you’re wearing them. And let’s face it – they do look really cool.
But it’s not all about the looks or the comfort. Great headphones need to deliver great sound, and Blue have made sure of that with the Mix-Fi headphones. They’ve reworked the concept of powered studio monitors into a headphone design by implementing a builtin amplifier for the drivers to deliver perfectly matched amplification and speakers in one housing. The result is outrageous. You get more headroom than you’d ever expect in a set of cans and a high frequency clarity that is stunning. This can be disengaged when running out of a studio headphone amp, and brought back into play when it is needed. For those of you who regularly listen to music on your laptop from the less-than-special headphone output that most computers offer, this will bring new life to the sound. These headphones need to be heard to understand just how powerful they are and how vibrant a mix can actually sound. Blue changed how we view microphone design, and now they’ve done the same for headphones.
HITS ∙∙ Cool look, functional design ∙∙ Amazing headroom ∙∙ Clarity and versatility
BY ROB GEE
MISSES ∙∙ None
QSC
CP8 Powered Speaker JANDS | JANDS.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $749 EACH The QSC CP8 is a 1000W two-way speaker from QSC. Marketed as a live, club, DJ or dance sound speaker, the CP8 can reproduce music as a FOH speaker or single signals as a foldback monitor for live use. The CP8 is powered, and contains onboard processing to ensure a smooth and simple monitor setup, whether you’re hosting a party, monitoring on stage, or amplifying a DJ (and anything in between). The CP8 is a relatively small and compact speaker compared to its counterparts. It features a full range 8” cone and contains a 1000W Class-D amplifier module to handle most applications without risk of blowing the speaker. The CP8 uses QSC’s Intrinsic Correction technology, which assists in tuning the speaker in different environments for different uses. In line with the tuning corrections, the CP8 also features QSC’s Directivity Matched Transition (DMT) technology, which ensures no dropouts between crossovers and enables entire rig of QSC speakers to deliver as even a sound as possible. The CP8 is all black and unassuming with a 35mm pole socket, perfect for use in a live venue or as onstage monitors that won’t distract. The sound of the CP8 is very true to source, if a little more detailed than I’m accustomed to, making it perfect for monitoring. Alternatively, speakers of this size can often be used to re-amp room 42
sounds when recording, or give tracks extra gusto when played back (e.g. a split of a snare, kick or guitar while recording can be picked up by room mics and make raw audio already feel larger than life), The CP8 would suit this purpose perfectly. The monitors are detailed without being harsh, and the onboard DSP and included tuning and crossover technology prevent unruly feedback (within reason) or harsh/untrue reproductions of a sound. Alternatively, these would make a great speaker for playback in a reverb chamber or similar. The CP8s would be especially good for onstage monitoring as they deliver enough power to satisfy any musician and allow them to focus on playing onstage. The angle of dispersion is focused without complete laser precision, so monitors can be loud without interfering with other sound sources on stage or creating harsh feedback by monitors that are aimed at each other and allow musicians to bop around without leaving the ‘sweet spot’. This also assists in focusing the entire frequency range at the intended musician or audience. The CP8 would be a welcome addition to an array of speakers of any size or professional level. Smaller, robust and lightweight speakers are perfect for small, intimate gigs or DJ sets, whereas a smaller speaker could always come in handy in even the biggest live monitoring rigs, or in a professional
studio environment for whatever purpose your creativity can come up with. The onboard processing is a huge help to users of any level, from backyard parties to professional live sound engineers. The CP8 really is an all-around speaker, easy to install, mount, tune and operate. They wouldn’t go astray in any setup. BY LEWIS NOKE EDWARDS
HITS ∙∙ Clear, concise sound ∙∙ Focused, but allows musician to move around handy onboard processing MISSES ∙∙ N/A
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PRODUCT REVIEWS ELECTRO-VOICE
EVOLVE 50 Portable Powered Column System BOSCH | BOSCH.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $1899 It can definitely be said that music equipment features and power have increased while size has reduced. This has resulted in compact gear that performs at much higher levels than ever before. Guitar and bass amps have been big winners, as have PA speakers and systems. Subs, line arrays and column design speakers have all added power and clarity in smaller setups. EV have long been a major player in the pro audio and sound reinforcement game, so it’s no surprise they are continuing to develop their lines with the EVOLVE 50 portable powered column system. Rated at 1000 W, the EVOLVE 50 consists of three parts: the sub (which acts as the base of the unit), the pole (or speaker stand), and the column itself. These three items join together in a matter of minutes and only take up the footprint of a relatively small sub (i.e. not very big at all). The rear panel of the sub looks after controls and connectivity with two XLR/ TRS combo jack inputs, a 3.5mm mini jack input, stereo RCA input, XLR thru output and XLR mix output. This I/O is rounded out with controls for aux level, line/mic inputs one and two, and master volume. EV have also included a screen which can be accessed via the push feature of the master volume control. This allows control of on-
board DSP processing, volume, EQ, effects, Bluetooth and the like. The sub is small in stature yet big on performance, and the column follows in a similar fashion. Consisting of eight 3.5” neodymium drivers, the column has a handle on the rear to lift on and off the pole, and its lightly curved front adds some spread. Yes, you’ll need to add your own mixer to expand the inputs, but a single EVOLVE 50 stack is a great go-to for smaller setups. The volume and headroom is huge for such a small system and EV really seem to have taken the sound and feel of the column/ stick design PA to another level. You could even run two of these systems as left and right for a truly compact (yet loud) rig.
Most importantly, the EVOLVE 50 sounds damn good, with the sub and column combination creating clean volume and a great spread. BY NICK BROWN HITS ∙∙ Size, setup and sound ∙∙ Sub and column technology really sounds good for its size MISSES ∙∙ Not quite as flexible as a traditional speaker setup in some applications
The volume and clarity of the EVOLVE 50 really is pretty amazing. Aimed at soloists, smaller lineups, DJs and venues, it could be the ideal solution for many. The ability to run two units expands options for bigger bands while still remaining super compact. Plenty of headroom, quick to set up, easy to manoeuvre and ultra-portability means you can easily fit the system in the back of your car or move it away for storage. The I/O is concise, but does allow for some expansion if you want to run additional sources or into further backline.
CARL MARTIN
Dual Injector Twin Boost INNOVATIVE MUSIC AUSTRALIA | INNOVATIVEMUSIC.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $229 Volume and tone are to musicians what hydrogen and helium are to scientists. They are the two most basic, alchemical ingredients from which we come to know our world, the alpha and beta of our language and the Adam and Eve to our grand story of ourselves. It’s not often in the course of reviewing gear that you come across something that uses those two things alone in an attempt to eek out a place for itself in the grand scheme of things. Few builders dare to distill their craft back down to its very essence, so when they do it becomes quite a sight for sore eyes – or ears as the case may be. Carl Martin is the name scrawled across the majority of East Sound Research’s 44-product strong catalogue. His is the name that so many pedal-obsessed players look to when trying desperately to wire up their Octaswitch for the first time, and is the inspiration behind the new Vintage series of stompboxes to come out of the Danish manufacturer. Starting out life as a PA hire company in the early ‘90s, their rubric is one of simplicity, ruggedness and zero tonal compromise, of which the Dual Injector Twin Boost is a prime example. Simply put, it’s a box of options. Separate volume pots control two individual boost channels, between which sits a switch to toggle between running these in series or parallel. In series, as you would expect, signal from our guitar hits Boost 1 and
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sails through Boost 2 en route to the input of your amp. In a lot of ways, this setting does what so many other offerings do, albeit with a much tighter grip on emitting no signal loss or wayward distortion. In parallel you have the ingenious option of running either a) one signal through two different outputs with their own dedicated boost ratios or b) two different inputs boosted into different destinations. It sounds much more complicated than it is, but essentially it means that in a real world application you can boost both the signal going into the next pedal in a chain at the same time as you push your effects send/return to new heights. As a straight boost it has all the crispness, crackle and nudge of the reissued Supro amps; loud as you like without any ugly signal degradation whatsoever. You can push one channel into the other in series and squeeze out every last drop of headroom in your amp without immediately bloodying your ears. The parallel setting is one of the more succinct acts of cleverly applied kindness I’ve come across in a while. I can see the Dual Injector replacing the need for extra buffers on boards that are one or two pedals away from becoming self-aware. While there may be any number of boosts, buffers and similar beasts on the market, this is the first time I’ve seen a simple pedal that so succinctly nails the series versus parallel argument with such attention to real
world application. Even aside from pushing your drive pedals out of their comfort zone, the Dual Injector has the potential to completely rewire the way you interact with your amp and your pedals. The housing is rugged enough to take a tour’s worth of torture, the switching and signal path are as invisible as can be, and I haven’t even begun to discover the amount of tricks you could pull off with this thing in your rig.
HITS ∙∙ Absolute transparency and a Pandora’s box of tricks MISSES ∙∙ The pea green paint job
BY LUKE SHIELDS
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PRODUCT REVIEWS CARL MARTIN
Purple Moon Vintage Fuzz n’ Vibe INNOVATIVE MUSIC AUSTRALIA | INNOVATIVEMUSIC.COM.AU | EXPECT TO PAY: $229 Where would we be today without some of the wacky stuff they managed to pull off in the ‘60s? You’ve heard the story a million times before; blues begets rock n’ roll begets teenage rebellion begets illicit substance abuse begets unperturbed sonic exploration. It’s all as trite and affected as a high school production of Hair, but there’s no denying that the ripples of such fierce experimentation are still washing kids down the rabbit hole to this very day (Attn: Kevin Parker). One of the effects most closely associated with the ‘60s is modulation, especially the rotating, out-of-phase sound brought to life by Leslie cabinets. Apparently, East Sound Research’s main man Carl Martin came up with the idea for their newest offering – the Purple Moon – while on a binge of records from this era. Players who are fans of Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn and David Gilmour, as well as the players they’ve inspired, are the target audience for this quirky combination of rich, creamy fuzz and wild, warbling optical vibrato. The interesting thing about this circuit is that the two effects are actually knitted together. You can dial out one or the other using combinations of the two level knobs, but where one leads the other will follow. This means that once the bypass is disengaged, you’d better be ready for it to take you where you need to go. On its own the fuzz is as classic as fuzzes come.
Dial it in from barely there to interstellar overdrive with the top of the two mini dials, rein it in with the other, and you have your hands on the wheel of a lush and dynamic ride replete with wooly seat covers. The vibrato, on the other hand, is derivative of the optical waveforms of a Fender Vibrolux, but with the addition of dual speed controls. Swerve between late night, slowed down swells to pulsating twitches at the click of a heavy-duty switch, and use the depth and level knobs to zero in on that root chakra sweet spot. It has more versatility than a dream-catcher has beads. On a whim I ran an organ sound through it with the fuzz at about 5 percent and had a great time pretending I knew one-tenth of the magic in Nick Wright’s fingers. One of the things that modulation pedals like these often suffer from is an unworkable amount of volume drop when the vibrato is active. Martin’s Purple Moon design has this covered with the combination of depth (the amount of signal in the effect) and level (the amount of effect in the signal), which not only allows artifacts of your guitar’s natural voicing to shine through, but doubly serves to season it with a pinch of shimmery high, which I found really pleasing to play to. The fact that the ebbs and flows are so intrinsically tied to the fuzz itself is another success, as you’ll find harmonics latching onto random notes here and there, adding
some wild accents that no amount of careful planning could replicate. It may come around even less often than its blue brother, but the Purple Moon is definitely one to bask under if you get the chance. BY LUKE SHIELDS
HITS ∙∙ Satisfyingly familiar fuzz and vibe voicing without feeling too tied to a bygone era MISSES ∙∙ Tends to muddy up the tone with the vibe depth down past 40 percent
IK MULTIMEDIA
iRig Keys I/O SOUND & MUSIC | SOUND-MUSIC.COM | EXPECT TO PAY: 25-KEY - $369, 49-KEY - $549 The last six or seven years has seen the iRig range grow from a simple compact mobile phone guitar plug to a full selection of interfaces, keyboards, microphones and even monitor speakers. It’s no surprise then that these products began to morph into one another to create new possibilities and reduce the clutter of unwanted cabling. We can easily go back to the original iRig MIDI device to see the beginnings of the development process that has led us to this new product. From a humble MIDI interface to a keyboard to a fully integrated recording and production device, we have finally ended up with the iRig Keys I/O. This is one of the coolest products released by IK Multimedia, and one that will keep plenty of home and mobile music producers pleased. The iRig Keys is available in two sizes, and I was able to test out the 25-key model this month. I was instantly surprised at just how much could be squeezed into such a compact unit. You’ll find 25 velocity sensitive keys with a ‘synth-like’ feel to their action, plus a host of MIDI controls on top with eight pads, five knobs and two slider strips for pitch and modulation control. It’s essentially not unlike many other MIDI controller keyboards available on the market, although it’s refreshingly compact. A special clip is added to allow
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a tablet to be slotted in like a sheet music rest, so you can have your touch screen right above the controls of your keyboard. That’s all very handy for a MIDI controller, but there’s more hiding around the back. IK Multimedia have gone all out with this puppy by including an audio interface as well, so that all your production can be done with this one single unit, no matter where you are. There’s a Neutrik combination XLR/TRS input for connecting either a microphone or guitar cable. It supplies phantom power, so condenser microphones are not an issue either and all this can be powered by just four AA batteries if you want to go mobile with your tablet. It can operate via bus power when using the USB connection or an optional power supply, so you don’t have to worry about hoarding battery stocks for any long sessions. The iRig Keys is designed to work with a range of DAW software platforms, but you also receive a selection of IK Multimedia software plug-ins bundled with the unit, granting you access to a great range of sound and effects right away. Mac users will love its integration with GarageBand, as it then presents a complete recording and production solution without needing
anything more than a microphone and your computer. PC users are not to be left out, as the iRig Keys I/O is compatible with Windows as well, allowing you to power the unit from any laptop or desktop and begin the creation process anywhere.
HITS ∙∙ MIDI controller and audio interface in one ∙∙ Built-in tablet stand ∙∙ Super compact design
BY ROB GEE
MISSES ∙∙ No talk of Android support
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SHOW AND TELL
Joshua Travis Guitarist for Emmure
What piece of equipment do you have to show us today? This piece is called the CabClone by Mesa Boogie. How did you come across this particular item? A buddy of mine, Joe from Within The Ruins, put me onto the device, and I had to have it immediately. What is it that you like about it so much? The device allows me to be able to mic up my Mesa rig like normal, but also run a direct signal to front of house as well. How do you use it and how has it shaped the way you write music? Having three different voicing options comes in very handy to get a lot of separation in sound. For instance, my cab tone is very bright with a lot of mid-range, but the CabClone setting I use is extremely dark with a lot of bottom end. Having the phase adjustments and separate level control right on board is a major key. Tell us a little about what you have coming up. We are currently on tour with Stick To Your Guns across the states, with a couple stops in Canada. Soon we will be overseas again and I’m very excited about that.
Emmure will perform as part of Good Things Festival next month. Look At Yourself is out now via Nuclear Blast/ Sharptone Records.
Jamie Marinos Guitarist for Wither What piece of equipment do you have to show us today? It might be a little over talked about and recently outdated, but I’m going to talk about my Fractal Audio Axe-FX II. How did you come across this particular item? I think, like a lot of other people, it would have been when Misha Mansoor and Periphery started using them years and years ago. After using a Line 6 Pod X3 for a few years when I was first learning to play guitar/write and record my own music, it seemed to make sense as the next step for me in the never-ending search for tone. What is it that you like about it so much? My favorite thing about it would have to be how incredibly diverse it can be. The initial learning curve to fully wrap your head around the huge amount of options at your fingertips can be a little daunting at first, but after a good few years of trial and error I’ve finally found myself at a point that I can get just about any sound I’m after quite quickly. How do you use it and how has it shaped the way you write music? I find the easiest way to get something that I’m happy with now is to imagine “If I were to have my dream setup in my room with me right now, what would it look like?” along with keeping things simple and paying attention to what’s happening to your signal before and after you add things. It’s helped me write music through being able to have a number of tones and sounds that I’ve built up over the years that I can cycle through and tweak when necessary to get what I’m after quickly. Tell us a little about what you have coming up. I’ve got lots of writing to do for Wither and a few other projects that I’ve been meaning to get properly stuck into for a while now, which I’m very excited about.
Wither’s debut EP Rot And I is out now.
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