Performer Magazine: April/May 2019

THE MUSICIAN ’S RESO URCE

APRIL/MAY ‘19 FREE

NEW SCOTUS DECISIONS ON COPYRIGHT LAW BREXIT INFO FOR TOURING MUSICIANS CREATE KILLER CUSTOM SAMPLES ROAD TESTING NEW PA SPEAKERS & DIGITAL MIXERS

pronoun Converting Emotional Resilience into Musical Strength

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME 29, ISSUE 2

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

cover story

14

GREG HOLDEN

by Greg Holden

DEPARTMENTS 4. LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 5. VINYL OF THE MONTH: Ages and Ages 6. Four Tips for Crafting Custom Samplers 9. Brexit 101 for Visiting Musicians 12. SCOTUS and the State of Copyright 28. GEAR TEST: Electro-Voice ZLX-BT Speakers 30. GEAR TEST: Mackie DL32S Digital Mixer 32. MEET YOUR MAKER: Black Lion Audio

PRONOUN

by Sarah Brooks

JOSH SMITH

by Taylor Northern

24 18

34. GEAR REVIEWS: Supro, PreSonus, QSC, Blue Microphones and more…

47. MY FAVORITE AXE: Sarah Longfield 48. FLASHBACK: Vintage Mosrite Guitar

YVETTE YOUNG

by Jason Peterson

20 PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 3

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

LETTER

from the editor

Volume 29, Issue 2 PO BOX 348 Somerville, MA 02143 CONTACT

Phone: 617-627-9200 Fax: 617-627-9930 PUBLISHER

William House Phone: 617-627-9919 bill@performermag.com EDITOR

Benjamin Ricci ben@performermag.com DESIGN & ART DIRECTION

Cristian Iancu

Howdy, y’all.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Looks like our plea for feedback on special issues last month did not fall on deaf ears. We heard from a lot of you about potential themed issues you’d like to see, and the top vote getters, if you will, were special issues devoted to vinyl production from start to finish, home studios production tips and hybrid recording/mixing setups. With that said, that’s a lot of info to cover, so we’re in the planning stages now to make each of these a reality in the near future.

If you, or someone you know, might be a good fit to contribute something of value to one of the above issues, please drop me a line at ben@performermag.com. We’d love to hear your perspective on the topic at hand, and pass on your insights and experience to your fellow readers out there. Remember, we’re all in this together, and it doesn’t have to be a competition. So, if you’ve discovered a killer technique for mixing outof-the-box that you think other artists can employ in their workflows, don’t be shy. You may have a hand in inspiring some great music that would have otherwise not existed.

Too often we safeguard these secretive techniques, and part of me wonders who benefits from such secrecy? A good technique is a good technique, and I think we should all have the goal to make music sound the best it can. Believe me, as someone who listens to a lot of self-produced records (not all of it great), I’m a big advocate for an “open source” knowledge bank when it comes to audio recording.

It’s why we’re still a free resource, even after 30 years…speaking of which. Hey, did you know we’re celebrating the big “Three Oh” soon? I think a pizza party is in order! That’s a helluva long time to stand as an independent publication, and we couldn’t have done it without you.

So, raise your glass, grab a slice and celebrate with us. Here’s to another 30!

Bob Dobalina editorial@performermag.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Benjamin Ricci, Chris Devine, Jacob RobertsMensah, Jason Peterson, Josh Blair, Michael Flynn, Michael St. James, Robert Meigel, Sarah Brooks, Sarah Longfield, Taylor Northern, Tom Chapman CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Ed Everett, Tim Reckmann, Nick Youngson, Patrick Thibodeau, Meilene Photography, Rob Meigel, Ken Susi ADVERTISING SALES

William House Phone: 617-627-9919 bill@performermag.com © 2019 by Performer Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any method whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher.

The magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited recordings, manuscripts, artwork or photographs and will not return such materials unless requested and accompanied by a SASE. Annual Subscription Rate is $30 in the U.S.; $45 outside the U.S.

Benjamin Ricci PS – I lied, we could have totally done it without you. What kind of narcissist are you? Pshht. Seriously…I wonder about you sometimes. Now, could we have done it without ME? That’s another story…

ABOUT US / Performer Magazine, a nationally distributed musician’s trade publication, focuses on independent musicians, those unsigned and on small labels, and their success in a DIY environment. We’re dedicated to promoting lesser-known talent and being the first to introduce you to artists you should know about.

MUSIC SUBMISSIONS / We listen to everything that comes into the office. We prefer physical CDs, cassettes and vinyl over downloads. If you do not have a physical copy, send download links to editorial@performermag.com. No attachments, please.

Send CDs to: Performer Magazine, Attn: Reviews, PO BOX 348, Somerville, MA 02143 CORRECTIONS / Did we make a heinous blunder, factual error or just spell your name wrong? Contact editorial@ performermag.com and let us know, cuz we’re big enough to say, “Baby, I was wrong.”

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS / In the words of our esteemed forefathers at CREEM: “NOBODY WHO WRITES FOR THIS RAG’S GOT ANYTHING YOU AIN’T GOT, at least in the way of credentials. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be sending us your stuff: reviews, features, photos, recording tips, DIY advice or whatever else you have in mind that might be interesting to our readers: independent and DIY musicians. Who else do ya know who’ll publish you? We really will...ask any of our dozens of satisfied customers. Just bop it along to us to editorial@performermag.com and see what comes back your way. If you have eyes to be in print, this just might be the place. Whaddya got to lose? Whaddya got?”

4 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

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I

Ages and Ages Me You They We

t’s no secret that we’re huge fans of the Portland-based indie rock collective known as Ages and Ages. Led by primary songwriter and vocalist/guitarist Tim Perry, the group is a grand mixture of introspective lyricism, twee-viaPolyphonic-Spree-style singalong choruses and sparkly guitars.

On the band’s latest outing, Me You They We, the production quality is simply outstanding without ever getting in the way of the songwriting. A tad hazier, perhaps, than either Divisionary (2014) or the bands previous LP, 2017’s Something to Ruin, the new record is also perhaps a bit tighter, melodically, while at the same time being a touch bouncier than previous

REVIEWS

VINYL OF THE MONTH

(Partisan Records)

efforts. Listen to the way the rhythm jumps along on tracks like “Just My Luck,” buoyed by a vamping piano that propels the song forward in a very Sean Lennon-esque method.

Other standouts include lead single “Needle and Thread” and “How it Feels,” where we again hear Perry using his upper register (more common throughout Me You They We than on anything the band’s put out before) in a successful effort to add an ethereal quality to an already dreamlike sound. This type of sonic aesthetic would be right at home in the record collection of any Kyle Andrews fan.

On the whole, Me You They We is a remarkable effort – a mature album by a band that’s definitely locked into a signature sound

Benjamin Ricci

without being confined by its limitations. An album that’s at once familiar and still full of exciting musical surprises. No matter how you slice it, this is in all likelihood the best collection of songs we’re heard all year, and as it stands, is the frontrunner for top album of 2019. In case it needed to be explicitly stated even further, Me You They We earns our highest recommendation.

Follow on Twitter: @AgesandAges

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 5

MUSIC BUSINESS

4 Tips For Creating Your Own Custom Samples

I

nitially made popular in the late 1970s and ‘80s, sampling has changed the face of modern music.

By chopping and changing old music, instrumental recordings and ambient sounds, musical masterpieces can be produced with just a laptop and a creative mind.

While the method has been around for several decades, music sampling has changed through time, from the days when it was predominantly reserved for the soul and blues genres, to the contemporary electronic and dance sounds of today.

A sampler is a piece of music technology that stores a multitude of recordings – or ‘samples’ – allowing producers to splice, overlap and blend them into brand new music. It’s possible to buy pre-made sample instrumental packs, though the recordings are usually quite generic for each instrument and lack the unique sounds that can be achieved by creating custom samples. When creating your own sampler instruments, you can manipulate and edit single recordings of instruments or sounds to produce a whole suite of new samples.

If you’re experimenting with sampling and are after some tips on how to create some fantastic custom samples, here are a few techniques to try: Pitching Using a sampler, you can take a single audio sample and alter its speed to change the pitch and create a whole new range of notes. Speed it up to achieve a higher note; slow it down to get a deeper note.

You can do this by loading the sample onto what is known as a ‘zone’ – a location on the sampler where the sample can be mapped across a keyboard for editing. On this keyboard you will find a ‘root key’ that will play the sample exactly as it was recorded, as well as other trigger keys that play it at altered speeds to change the pitch.

While this is a great technique for creating new notes, when you edit tempo it also changes the length of a sample – the higher the pitch the shorter it will be and the deeper the note the more drawn out it will become. In this case, a process called ‘granulation’ can be used that decouple the pitch and playback speed, to avoid the duration of a note being affected.

6 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

Multi-sampling Multi-sampling is really valuable technique for achieving a more authentic sound - the higher number of variations of an instrument or sound you have, the more natural it will sound.

Multi-sampling involves uploading numerous audio samples of an instrument being played at varying articulations and velocities.

This can be done by recording all possible musical combinations of note, articulation and velocity, though this is incredibly time consuming. Instead, many choose to select a just a few of these combinations to edit with pitchshifting and volume to mimic the remaining combinations.

Looping There are two different types of audio samples: ‘one-shots’ that play just once, regardless of the time you sustain the key trigger, and ‘loops’, which play on repeat to emulate the sound of a sustained note – such as the prolonged sound of a wind instrument.

Looping can be done in a couple of different ways, either by using the entire sample or just a section of it. The method is to repeat of the audio samples from the beginning over and over again until the key trigger [gate] is released. Another involves playing the sample forwards and backwards in a back-and-forth motion.

A cross-fade function can be implemented to avoid any disjointed sounds or breaks that could occur during looping.

Layering For truly unique results, you can try stacking audio samples on top of one another to create a blend of sounds. This is known as layering.

Combining bold percussion beats with the airy notes of a wind instrument, for example, could result in an entirely foreign-sounding sample. [editor’s note – think of how wavetable synthesis changed the game when it hit the scene for an example of how this technique can be used, musically] Rather than using samples of different instruments, try layering duplicate versions of a single sample played at different pitches. This technique adds fantastic depth to a sound.

So now that you know a bit more about the basic techniques of creating custom samples, it’s time to let your creatives juices flow and get experimenting. The real secret behind sampling is taking advantage of all the new sound possibilities at your fingertips -- so get looping, layering and mixing until you find the sounds you’re after.

The road to greatness is paved one gig at a time.

Meet your new travel partner.

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©2018 QSC, LLC. All rights reserved. QSC and the QSC logo are registered trademarks of QSC, LLC in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and other countries.

MUSIC BUSINESS

Deportation Blues?

Exploring the UK’s Brexit Landscape for Musicians

T

he songwriter, artist and multi-instrumentalist Brian Christinzio, who performs as BC Camplight, based his excellent 2018 release Deportation Blues on his own experiences of the United Kingdom’s arcane, complex, and extremely frustrating immigration system.

While it may provide a source of inspiration for artists, here we consider what rules apply to visiting acts, and how things might change in a post-Brexit world.

VISITING PERFORMERS BEYOND THE EU

FROM

The UK’s music industry is often cited as

one of the country’s most dynamic and valuable exports, but in order to thrive it relies on the cross-pollination of ideas that overseas artists can bring. The most common scenario is a short tour or series of dates; entry for this purpose for non-EU citizens (we’ll abbreviate here – ‘EU’ includes the European Economic Area and Switzerland) is governed by the UK’s visitor rules, which are set out in Appendix V to the immigration rules. Under the “permitted paid engagement” provisions “A professional artist, entertainer or musician may carry out an activity directly relating to their profession, if they have been invited by a creative (arts or entertainment) agent or broadcaster based in the UK.” Appendix V contains the following specific guidance for creative artists: “An artist, entertainer, or musician may:

(a) give performances as an individual or as part of a group; (b) take part in competitions or auditions; (c) make personal appearances and take part in promotional activities; (d) take part in one or more cultural events or festivals on the list of permit-free festivals in Appendix 5 (where payment is permitted).

Personal or technical staff or members of the production team of an artist, entertainer or musician may support these activities provided they are attending the same event as the artist, entertainer or musician, and are employed to work for them outside of the UK.” Note the restrictions the rules contain: The tour or engagements must be arranged before you travel to the UK You must provide a formal letter of PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 9

MUSIC BUSINESS invitation, and either present this to the UK Border Force official on entry (if you’re not a visa national), or to the visa officer who will consider your application for entry clearance (if you’re from a country whose nationals require a visa to enter the UK as a visitor) The reference above to “permit-free festivals” is in reference to an exhaustive list of events, such as Glastonbury and the Edinburgh Festival, which you can find at the end of Appendix W. The idea here is that British festival organisers can pay artists without having to go through the sometimescomplex sponsorship process. The Home Office publishes a set of criteria for festival organisers wishing to be included in the permit free list.

10 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

It is important to note that the rules won’t change post-Brexit for artists from outside the EU. SPENDING LONGER IN THE UK What if you are looking to base yourself in the UK for an extended period to soak up the creativity of our great northern cities - to tour extensively, or to make a record in the tranquillity of the English countryside - and you anticipate spending a significant period (or periods) of time in the UK? Then you will have to look at complying with the sponsored work categories that form part of our Points-Based System for managed migration.

If you’re aged under 31 and from one of a list of specified countries (including Australia,

Canada and Japan, but not the United States) you could apply for a Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa; this gives you two years of unrestricted residence, spending your time as you choose.

Tier 5’s temporary worker category includes a creative and sporting option for visiting artists coming for short term contracts, such as making a record, in the United Kingdom. If you’re planning to stay less than three months and you’re not a visa national (and you’re not travelling via Ireland), you can apply for this at port of entry; otherwise you’ll need to get a visa in your home country, or the country where you’re currently based.

This visa category is also for artists planning a longer period of work or series of engagements;

you leave the UK and don’t return within five5 years (oddly, reduced to two years for Swiss nationals).

EU nationals enjoy an initial, unrestricted right of entry into any other EU state, which in the UK is taken to mean up to three months. After that, a visiting artist would need to demonstrate that they are engaged in some form of “economic activity” – so working, self-employment, perhaps financial self-sufficiency, would all be acceptable.

Once such activity is established, the right of residence in the UK is unlimited, and can lead to permanent resident status in time.

What about EU citizens arriving after the transitional period ends? The Government plans to enact its Immigration Bill once the UK has left the Union, which means that for the most part, EU nationals and their family members who come to the UK after we leave will require immigration permission to enter the UK. However, the Government has stated that these new immigration rules – which are likely to bring EU citizens into line with other foreign nationals, subject to the same rules discussed earlier in this piece - will take some time to implement.

In a post-Brexit landscape, how will things change for EU nationals seeking to work in the UK? First of all, transitional arrangements may or may not apply, depending on whether we leave the EU with or without a Withdrawal Agreement.

If there’s no deal, the cut-off date could be as early as the current Brexit Day (as mentioned, extended from the original April 12 date); with a deal, it’s 31 December 2020.

EU citizens already here will be able to live in the UK in much the same way as before; once residence has been established for one of the economic purposes mentioned above, they can remain, and acquire permanent residence (called settled status under the new EU Settlement scheme) after five years. This will only be lost if

This new EU Settlement regime has just been launched nationally, and you can find out more about how it works at https://latitudelaw. com/services/eu-settlement-scheme.

MUSIC BUSINESS

Union, and their family members – overseas nationals who happen to hold resident status in another EU country don’t have it, and already have to enter the UK under the rules outlined above. One more proviso – nothing here applies to Irish citizens, who will continue to be able to enter and live in the UK without restriction postBrexit.

The Home Office therefore proposes a new category of ‘European Temporary Leave to Remain in the UK’, subject to parliamentary approval, which will enable EU nationals to apply for up to three years’ leave to remain in the UK while new rules are put into place. So, EU citizens will retain a preferential status in UK immigration law, perhaps for some years to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gary McIndoe is a solicitor and managing director of Latitude Law, specialist migration lawyers with offices in Manchester, Liverpool and London.

this could be where a tour has been arranged by a local promoter, and payment is coming from a UK source. The rules allow entry for you and what they grandly call your entourage, meaning technical support, and permit sponsorship of a series of dates by a single promoter as well as individual sponsorship by venue or producer.

EU CITIZENS Freedom of movement across the EU, which citizens of the UK have enjoyed for more than 40 years, will come to an end when (or possibly if ) the UK leaves the EU (currently scheduled to occur at the end of October, after an additional deadline extension from the previous April 12 deadline).

Remember first that free movement only applies to citizens of member states of the European PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 11

MUSIC BUSINESS

SCOTUS, COPYRIGHT, SEX, AND BEER Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, I do not play one on TV, but like Jay-Z, I know a little bit…

You know you can’t mail yourself a recording of your song to get copyright protection, right?

I mean, readers of this fine magazine know that; and we don’t have to go into all the crappy horrible legal advice. So, I’m going to skip that part. The basics: you are granted a “copyright” automatically whenever your creation is put into a ‘fixed form.’ In music, that means the composition is copyrighted when you write it out on a lyric sheet or a napkin, maybe put some chords on there, or sing a melody. That’s it. It just needs to be tangible, not in your head.

However, having a copyright and registering a copyright are different. Registering a copyright is what the Copyright.gov office is for. It makes your creation a public record, preserved for all time, and provides a layer of protection on your creations. From time to time, the rules change.

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The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) just made one of those rulings that results in a massive change affecting all copyright holders, including music creators and writers.

just couldn’t collect lawyers’ fees or statutory damages. That is no longer the law.

The ruling does not change the nature of copyright at creation - you still have a copyright the moment your creation is in a ‘fixed form’ and you still have the power to use it for DMCA takedowns, assign or license it for monetary value, or to send cease and desist letters to parties you deem misusing your copyright.

However, the new ruling states that in order to sue for infringement at all, you must have already applied and received (or been rejected initially) registration of a copyright.

If you ever need to sue for infringement specifically, you must have registered your copyright with Copyright.gov. If the infringement has already occurred and you need to sue for infringement, you can still file an expedited copyright registration for upwards of $1000 ($800 in addition to the original fee, and $50 for each claim using the same deposit), but cannot go forward with standing until it is accepted or rejected (sometimes in cases of mistitling or other administrative error). This matters because the registration process can sometimes take many, many months, even over a year for the Office of Copyright to determine a registration.

This is huge. This changes the law massively.

It used to be you could sue for infringement regardless of registration of copyright, you

Here’s the kill shot from the ruling and the majority opinion written by Justice Ruth BaderGinsburg: “§411(a) bars a copyright owner from

Here’s the gist.

MUSIC BUSINESS suing for infringement until registration...has been made.”

The ruling came in the case No. 17–571 Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street. com, which was actually about a licensing agreement between two companies covering articles. Strange how licensing of anything can change everything.

What does it all mean? You basically can no longer go without registering copyrights if you ever need to sue for infringement. This ruling makes it clear that the federal law will probably be the determinant in these cases, not the State of California, or New York, which have sometimes taken the lead on this issue.

What about the “Sex and Beer” in the title?

Well, honestly, it’s the only way to get you to read this far in a boring old copyright article.

Copyright is sexy. File a registration and get a beer.

Here’s are the copyright basics.

Go to Copyright.gov - read through the circulars, seriously, you don’t need a lawyer to do this. If you are the author and the owner of the work or masters, this is really easy. (Also, this is

where the split sheets I always talk about become very handy) There are basically two forms for musical works - The PA (Performing Arts) and the SR (Sound Recording).

Use the PA form to register your songs (compositions) - meaning music, including any accompanying words.

Use the SR to register the recordings of your songs - this is usually the master you intend to sell or stream, not a demo.

Now, if you are doing an album or EP, and the owner of the copyright (author and sound recording) is exactly the same, you can use the SR to register both the underlying composition AND recording.

Fees are proposed to change in May 2019, but currently, if you file online, it’s $35 per each standard application, and $55 for all others.

Add to that the “collections” exemption, where you could file multitudes of songs under one registration for a low price, will be limited to only 10 titles beginning in March 2019.

Going forward, the result of this SCOTUS copyright opinion will inevitably mean much, much longer registration times and a heavier workload for an office not known for being adequately budgeted or efficiently staffed.

Remember, this will affect all copyright registrations. That means not just music but photography, plays, screenplays, treatments, serials, choreography, motion pictures, TV shows, stand-up routines, newspapers, journals, TV and radio broadcasts, audio books, serials, AND music performances, songs, live recordings, remixes, well… you get the idea.

Did I mention the MMA will complicate this too?

Hang in there. Go educate yourself. You can do this.

Plus, trust me, when you get an official copyright registration, it’s kind of a proud moment as a songwriter and musician, and well worth the time, money, and effort.

Here is the ruling, with all the fantastic boring legalese that you might not read, but probably should: https://casetext.com/case/fourthestate-pub-benefit-corp-v-wall-streetcom-5 ABOUT THE AUTHOR -Michael St. James is the founder and creative director of St. James Media, specializing in music licensing, publishing, production and artist development.

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 13

SPOTLIGHT 14 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

SPOTLIGHT

Greg Holden Takes Us Inside the Recording of ‘World War Me’

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 15

SPOTLIGHT

I

’ve been recording my own demos for years now, slowly amassing an unnecessary amount of gear with little intention of anyone ever hearing what I create. Insecurity and laziness have held me back for a long time, with only a couple of recordings ever leaking out into the world. Ironically though, those few home recordings have actually been my most commercially successful, but having made my last record with Greg Wells and Eric Valentine, and the one before that with Tony Berg and Blake Mills, the bar of my recording career is so high that I couldn’t accept that my next album would be produced by…me.

Let me take you back to Christmas 2017: I was on the phone with my manager being told I had just been dropped by Warner Bros Records, weeks before I was due to start my fourth studio

and my fourth studio album World War Me, was on its way to my buddy Cian Riordan’s place to be mixed.

I started writing and demoing the album long before I knew what it looked like or who I was going to record it with. So, by the time I’d decided to do it myself, a lot of the foundational elements were already there, including all of the songs.

Guitar parts, vocals, backing vocals, piano parts, most of that was already recorded as I usually try to track my demos as best I can out of fear of the dreaded “demoitis.”

All I really needed to do was work on the arrangements, re-record some of the vocals and acoustic guitars—since demoing the tracks I’d made considerable upgrades to API 500 Series Neve 1073’s microphone pre-amps and Royer R-121 Ribbon Mics—and then hire great musicians to fill in the gaps and find the overall

(produced by Butch Walker) and “Something Beautiful.” These were recorded at Boulevard Recording in Hollywood, CA (engineered by Clay Blair) and Ruby Red Studios in Santa Monica, CA (engineered by Todd Stopera). Some songs needed real drums, some didn’t and I already loved the way they sounded. I tried not to be too precious about “real” drums on this record for a change. It was a good test in comfort zone management.

I recorded the majority of the vocals using my Pearlman TM-47, which is my go-to vocal mic and the best replica of a U-47 I’ve ever heard.

I have quite a boomy voice when I’m singing the lower notes, and this mic works really well for that. I used my Shure SM7b (the best mic in the world if you ask me) for a couple of the more vocally aggressive tracks because it just sounded better to me. All the vocals went through either the Neve 1073 or my UA LA610 Mk II, and then

“SUDDENLY I WAS FACE TO FACE WITH QUITE THE DILEMMA: HIRE A WORLD-CLASS PRODUCER WITH MY OWN CASH OR SUCK IT UP AND RECORD THE ALBUM ON MY OWN.” album with the one and only Butch Walker. There went the recording budget, and my chance to make one of the coolest records of my career…

Suddenly I was face to face with quite the dilemma: Hire a world-class producer with my own cash—knowing full well I had more chance of winning an Oscar for Best Actor than making that money back, especially in 2019’s musical climate—or suck it up and record the album on my own. I sat there spinning in the chair of my home studio in Los Angeles, surrounded by thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of analog outboard gear, microphones and guitars— the majority of which was paid for with Warner Bros. advance money, gracias!—, and decided that if I had all this gear already, I should probably just grow a pair and get to work.

And so began an epic Hollywood-esque journey of self-doubt, self-loathing and crippling insecurity, slowly evolving into occasional eruptions of confidence, growth and eventually, pride. Somehow I’d eluded the guards, crossed the raging river, scaled the highest mountain, slew the dragon and rescued the princess from her tower. A year later, she was feeding me grapes 16 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

vibe of the record. Roger Manning Jr (Beck, Jellyfish) really helped discover said vibe with his keyboard wizardry and mystical sounds. I love to program drums myself, as it really helps me build a song if I can hear a good drum track. I tend to get intensely detailed, too—secretly I wish I was a drummer— adding ghost notes, velocity irregularities, and even sometimes occasional mistakes to make them sound more realistic.

I separate each individual drum, add a little distortion to the snare and high hats, some tape delay to the cymbals to make them sound less weak, and then send everything through an API 2500 stereo compressor with a little decapitator on there to give the drum track some balls.

Any professional is probably reading this and laughing at my conviction that I know what I’m doing, but for me, if it sounds good in my ears, I’ve succeeded in my mission. That is until I compare it to something else and spiral into insecurity…

I had every intention of replacing all the programmed drums for this record, but in the end, only replaced a few. I had my buddies Mark Stepro and Frederik Bokkenheuser record real drums on “Nothing Changes,” “On The Run”

through my UA1176 compressor because nothing beats an 1176. I ran the bass straight in through the Neve 1073 (no amp) and switched out the 1176 for my Retro Doublewide because I just thought it sounded cooler—no skillful intentions there. I tracked the acoustic guitars with one R-121 close up on the neck, and my TM-47 about a foot away through the Neve 1073s.

Everything was tracked using my wireless keyboard and a stool on the opposite side of my studio, wrapped in diffusers and gobos. No engineer, just me and a lot of yelling. The process of recording this record myself was incredibly challenging based on my level of experience in making full-length albums (approximately no experience), but it was equally rewarding. At first, I really struggled with getting the right sounds in my small home studio. I’ve had it professionally fitted with sound absorbing gobos and diffusers, but I live really close to a freeway, and so the more I gained up my microphones for the soft vocals and more intricate piano and guitar parts, the more noise I’d hear—all the padding in the world isn’t going to stop that.

Stack those tracks over and over and you’ve

SPOTLIGHT

got yourself your very own orchestra of Los Angeles traffic and meowing cats, that sound like they’ve been crushed through a flanger pedal. So, balancing that microphone gain level, especially with compression, was difficult, but not impossible. EQ helped, and I used the Waves NS1 plug-in a lot, which acts as a very easy-to-use gate. In the end, though, I came out of this process with more knowledge of EQ, mixing, microphone placement, my room’s limitations, and most importantly, my own limitations.

The real challenge was to know when to ask for help—which is a running theme in my life.

No matter how many world-class musicians I’m friends with, I kept trying to play all the instruments myself. No matter how many worldclass mixing engineers I’m friends with, I figured I could just mix it myself—how hard could it be?

Then, when it sounded like I’d set all my gear on fire and recorded the whole thing on my iPhone, I plummeted into the depths of hell, only to be rescued by my friends. Having someone else mix the record was vital to this whole process, and having incredible musicians on it like Roger Manning Jr, Mark Stepro, Whynot Jansveld— Whynot also mastered the album—and Frederik Bokkenheuser really brought it up to the standard I have grown accustomed to. I’m super fortunate and grateful for those guys.

On to album #5…

Follow on Twitter: @ gregholden

GREG HOLDEN WORLD WAR ME STANDOUT TRACK: “SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL”

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 17

SPOTLIGHT

JOSH SMITH Catching up with the Bluesy Axeman as He Heads out on Tour Taylor Northern

JOSH SMITH BURN TO GROW STANDOUT TRACK: “LET ME TAKE CARE OF YOU” Follow on Twitter: @ joshsmithguitar 18 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

You first started playing guitar at the age of 6 and you were performing in a house band by age 13. A year later, you released your first solo album. What inspired you to pursue music professionally at such a young age?

I was drawn to the guitar and music immediately.

I was given a guitar at three and [there was] something about it that has hooked me and never let go. Then, once I played on stage and got a response from an audience, it was all over. I knew that was going to be my life’s pursuit.

Did anyone else in your family play music?

Not my parents - my Uncle David Frank plays piano, but he was in California. Meanwhile I was growing up in Florida so for all intents and purposes, no.

In an old interview you stated that as a teen, you fashioned yourself after other young blues prodigies such as Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang. Would you still classify yourself strictly a blues player or something else?

I just meant that seeing my peers have success I thought I was on that same path. I’m a blues player at heart, but I love all music and try to bring back pieces of everything I like to my own thing.

You decided to move to Los Angeles in 2002.

What was it like riding into town back then, a lone axe-slinger in the Wild West?

It was a shot in the dark. I had no idea if I could make it and would never have succeeded without the support of my wife. Once I arrived, I realized I needed a whole bunch of new skills I had previously not focused on.

How was L.A different? Did you ever regret the move?

I never regretted it once. I moved purposely so I could find a way to make a living as a session guitarist and sideman. For the first nine years in LA that was my focus. Doing that kind of work made me a better musician today than I would have ever been had I only just focused on my own solo thing.

Was it tough balancing family life while also pursuing your goals as an entertainer?

It’s always tough, but I’m lucky to have such a supporting wife and kids. It’s hard being away as much as I am, but it’s amazing knowing that

they have my back and they want me to reach my fullest potential.

A couple months ago I got to see you perform at the Baked Potato in Studio City and I was very impressed, you have some soulful licks and amazing chops. You reminded me a lot of great players such as Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, and John Scofield; players who have mastered this jazzy blues kind of fusion. Where did you learn all of that? Were you formally trained at a music school or conservatory?

I’m not formally trained, I’m just obsessed (laughs). I work really hard and when there is something I want to learn then I want to learn it to the best of my ability. I’m driven in that way... always trying to study as much as I can and having those studies be a part of my musical vocabulary.

Then when I’m playing, I filter that vocabulary through the blues.

SPOTLIGHT

J

osh Smith is a man of few words – he prefers to express himself through poignant melodies and his tried and true custom Tele. I had the chance to sit down and talk with Josh recently about his upcoming European tour, and here’s what he had to say.

Are you looking forward to checking out any particular European sites while on tour this spring? You’re mainly going to be in Germany and the Netherlands, right?

On this next tour, yes. Right now, I’m in the UK. I love traveling and sightseeing. It’s an amazing perk to this career.

What gear will you be taking with you on tour?

I have a set of Morgan amps that I can leave in Germany so I’ll have those there and fly with my pedalboard and guitars. It’s always a pleasure to get to use my own gear when overseas instead of relying on the [venue’s] backline.

While we are on the subject of gear, your product demo videos are well known in the guitar community. You’ve also helped to design signature guitars, amps and speakers with Morgan amps and Eminence speakers.

How did that come about?

I’ve worked with Eminence and Morgan going on 10 years now. I love these companies and being involved in designing their products. I feel I have a good ear and insight for things that make sense.

Aside from touring, do you have any other new projects in the works?

I have a new live album/Blu-ray in the can that I’m working on. I’m also producing a lot of other artists in my studio and I really enjoy that.

What are some last words you would like to impart to people just starting out on guitar or who are maybe thinking about picking up the instrument?

The best advice I can give is do it because you love it, because you have to, because it’s so much fun you can’t not do it. Then take every gig you possibly can.

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 19

SPOTLIGHT

Covet’s Ace Guitarist Opens Up About Unique Tapping Style

Yvette Young Meilene Photography

20 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

Jason Peterson

SPOTLIGHT PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 21

SPOTLIGHT

Yvette Young has her hands full.

The 27-year-old multi-instrumentalist is currently touring with her math rock trio, Covet, in support of their 2018 EP effloresce while starting to gear up for the band’s first full-length record. She also has an acoustic solo project, various visual art pieces in the work (including all her musical cover art), and is even offering guitar lessons on the road – more on that later.

But Young’s guitar playing alone is enough to keep both of her hands plenty busy. Hearing her intricate, melodic guitar runs are one thing (and effloresce is full of beautiful examples – “Shibuya” being one of the finest) but seeing her in action is something else entirely. Her masterful two-handed tapping technique demonstrates a musical grace and fluidity that stands out even by prog and math rock standards.

Speaking on the eve of a two-month tour with Dance Gavin Dance, Hail the Sun, and Periphery, Young explains how she approaches the songwriting process.

“Usually what I’ll do is mess around on guitar and then play an interval or something…maybe I’ll slap on some chorus or delay and think, where do I see this going, or what story do I want to tell?”

She adds, “I hear what vibe I feel and then I sing something [and] let the melody form in my head for where it naturally wants to go. And then once I sing that, I teach myself on the fretboard.”

She continues, “In terms of constructing actual riffs, I go bit by bit. So, I’ll teach myself a section, commit it to muscle memory, [then] teach myself the next section. It’s a pretty primitive, barbaric way of working…I’m forcing myself to learn it on the spot.”

This emphasis on mastering technique started when Young was a child piano and violin phenom, but not a particularly enthusiastic one. With an emphasis on competition and perfection driven by others, that level of mastery was an unhappy and stressful one.

This new level of dedication, however, has taken on an entirely different spirit since she picked up the guitar after a prolonged absence from music.

As she explains, “I took up guitar because I was really sick…I was going through some depression stuff, and I taught myself guitar…and it was such an empowering thing for me to not really know anything about this piece of wood, and then teach

work on her songwriting, get the word out about her various projects, and help support her music through endorsements, she’s conflicted about their impact on musicians.

“More and more I hear about just getting so disillusioned because they get caught up in numbers, and they just no longer feel like what they do is worth it…the numbers game thing is kind of dangerous because it can make you obsess about validation that you wouldn’t normally care about.”

Young doesn’t just talk the talk about emphasizing music beyond the numbers game.

Throughout her current tour, as she’s done on

“I wasn’t exposed to a lot of people and…backgrounds, and so for me, touring really opened my eyes to a whole different world out there. I’m constantly learning new things.” myself acoustic and start writing songs on it. It was a really big confidence-building thing.”

It’s this enthusiastic spirit (and sense of humor) that comes through in conversation and in Young’s social media posts, where she’s racked up more than 200k followers on Instagram alone. She even uses social media as an avenue for writing – and for keeping herself on track.

“I use Instagram for documenting riffs…I use it as a way to incentivize myself to finish it because people will be like, ‘Hey, where’s the song with that riff, like years ago?’ Or people will hear a song and say, ‘I recognize that, from like a year ago when you posted that riff.” While these avenues allow her to

previous tours, she is offering one-on-one guitar lessons at each of her tour stops. In the past, Young accommodated two lessons per day, something she found to be too overwhelming. This time out she’s limited her schedule to one lesson per night, and she loves what she gets out of the experience.

“I say that everyone leaves basically becoming my friend,” she laughs. “A lot of people bring me their riffs because they’re stuck on where it should go. That’s my favorite kind of lesson because that’s where I get my excitement -- problem-solving songs.”

Young also has a guitar lessons and a master class posted on JamPlay, which allows for an additional way to support her work while learning even more about guitar through putting together the curriculum. “I’d never had to dissect what do before. I did the JamPlay guitar course to teach people guitar, but I think it actually taught me.”

Not only do these lessons provide an opportunity to connect with fans and fellow musicians, they also help make touring more financially feasible. “It’s a way for me to work while I work,” she says.

With multiple tours under her belt (and basically living on the road for the past two years), Young provides this perspective on what touring has done for her while not downplaying the negatives: “I was really sheltered. [Growing up], I was only allowed to listen to classical music…I wasn’t exposed to a lot of people and different lifestyles and backgrounds, and so for me, touring really opened my eyes to a whole different world out there…I’m constantly learning new things.”

22 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

SPOTLIGHT

As for negatives, “The dark side of it – you’re not getting a lot of sleep…you’re sometimes driving fourteen hours overnight somewhere to play a show for twenty-five minutes for not that much money and not that big of a crowd. And you have to be okay with that because it’s part of the job.” Young also recommends watching out for bird-in-the radiator accidents, which can lead to avian flu (she knows from experience).

No one said life on the road was easy.

But sometimes, an additional guitar can make all the difference on the road. On her current tour, with a tight set time, Young is being (in her words) “so extra” by having three guitars in her repertoire.

This variety allows her to quickly segue from different tunings, something that’s critical to her sound, along with her trusty Strandberg 7-string and Vox amp.

The self-described gear geek loves experimenting with various pedals (especially delays), such as the MXR Carbon Copy delay, Way Huge Supa-Puss delay, and Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral modulated delay getting special mention.

These sounds will likely be a part of Young and Covet’s future full-length, and it’s a bright, sonically rich future indeed. Whatever comes next, that future is in Young’s full, busy – but very capable – hands.

Follow on Twitter: @youyve

COVET EFFLORESCE STANDOUT TRACK: “GLEAM”

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 23

SPOTLIGHT

pr

Unpack

24 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

SPOTLIGHT

pronoun

packing Layers of Heartbreak Through Songwriting

Sarah Brooks

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 25

SPOTLIGHT

I’ll show you stronger.

Let those words marinate for a minute. Take in the punch, the weight, the defiance of them.

That’s the resonant title of up-and-coming indie rock artist pronoun’s full-length album, set to release on May 24. But it’s not just a title; it’s the mantra for the way in which Alyse Vellturo is living her life after a devastating breakup. It doesn’t define her, though. Instead, it illuminated her resilience.

When comparing i’ll show you stronger to her first EP you didn’t even make the bed, Vellturo sees them as firm divisions in her timeline. What came before, and what came after.

“I experimented with the progression of a newer sound, a more mature sound, a growing sound.”

“The first EP was the first music I really made, and it wasn’t as aggressive. It was in a moment when I was really sad, and I think the EP affected that. The album I wrote right after EP—I even wrote the EP, so a lot of these songs I wrote around the same time—but they were going through the next phase of whatever I was going through at the time, which turned into anger and realizing self-worth and moving on from whatever had really, really upset me at the time. So, it’s kind of like the next step in a breakup; the first step, you’re just sad and depressed ... but this album goes into the next step of ‘Wait a second, I deserve better than this.’ That’s where i’ll show you stronger comes from. It’s a little more upbeat, it’s a little more aggressive, I push myself more vocally,” she explains.

Not only did she begin to hone her sound on her second record -- she started to release self-doubt, take musical risks, and usher in new production elements.

“On the first EP, I was just kind of getting to know how I liked my voice sounding. At 26 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

the beginning, I just kept recording layers upon layers until I didn’t hate my voice, because I just wasn’t used to it, and with the songs on this one, I stepped further away from that. Instead of singing in a higher range or lower range, I experimented with the progression of a newer sound, a more mature sound, a growing sound. With the old music, a lot of the drums were programmed...and with a lot of songs on this album, I went to the studio and we did live drums on them, which I had been putting off for a really long time because it was very important to me to be playing every instrument on it, like I produce it, I record it myself,” Vellturo states.

Beyond the production elements, songs on i’ll show you stronger harness a power from loneliness, a lesson from the hurt. Vellturo shares that the album saved her life.

“I listen back to it now, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe I made this.’

It took me three years to make. I procrastinated a lot, and for a

But she continued the production process and mixed the songs with a friend, and thus the album came full-circle while also becoming a catalyst for self-reflection. “There are so many phases I went through in my life when I was making this album … It helps you realize a lot about what you’re going through. I’ll wake up the next day and listen to what I made and go oh my god, it doesn’t sound like who I think I am. Things come out, the wording and the phrasing of them, and I don’t know or recognize that person, but in a good way. There’s a lot going on that’s very not on the surface, and this helps me capture that and get to know myself way, way better,” she says with regard to the album, but with the first single, “temporary tantrum,” in particular.

what used to be private domain. When we break up with someone, we can still scroll through their Instagram feed. When we have a falling out with a friend, we see what they’re up to on Facebook.

This extends into the world of music, as well, where Vellturo states how artists need social media to connect with their communities: “It’s really hard to take a step back and realize the internet is just the internet…I was going through Twitter and I was like, I’m deleting my social accounts. I can’t do this. Then I was like, wait, you have an album coming out. You can’t. You can, but it’s going to be extremely ineffective if you’re not live on social media doing a release campaign. It’s not like it didn’t happen, the release still comes out, and your fans still like it, but there’s much less awareness going on around it, and that’s something I struggle with.”

“This is another one of those things where the words almost mean nothing to me, because I don’t remember writing that or saying it or writing it for a real reason. I think it’s the moment, in my case, in a relationship where you’re like, are you just throwing a fit right now so you can have an excuse to leave and go out and find whatever I’m not able to give you?”

As we’re more interconnected than ever, Vellturo provides advice on how to maintain inner peace: “It’s been a delicate line and balance to figure out how to keep yourself sane doing it and how to still use it, but also just try to remind yourself what actually matters in your life. What actually matters never changes. That’s human interaction.” And the elements of connection shine through within every personal, vulnerable song she writes.

And today more than ever, our public lives are intertwined, sometimes inseparable, from

With her second release, pronoun is set to define her voice and figure it all out, one song at a time.

SPOTLIGHT

while I honestly didn’t think it was going to come out. I thought, ‘Maybe this isn’t meant to be out in the world. Maybe you should move on.’”

PRONOUN I’LL SHOW YOU STRONGER STANDOUT TRACK: “STAY” Follow on Twitter: @musicpronoun PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 27

GEAR TEST

GEAR TEST: Electro-Voice ZLXBT PA Speakers 28 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

[Editor’s note – we recently held a giveaway promotion with the good folks at Electro-Voice to put these new ZLX-BT speakers in the hands of a working musician. We ended up selecting Michael Flynn, who shot a series of demo videos using the speakers on our YouTube channel – so we definitely suggest you check those out, as well. He’s also provided his final thoughts in the review below.

Enjoy!]

GEAR TEST

Michael Flynn

Good PA speakers are most notable for the stuff they prevent from happening. No scouring a quick-start guide to figure out why sound isn’t coming out. Low instances of feedback. Durability. Functionality that doesn’t depend on buying other parts or accessories. A general lack of headaches. By this measure, the Electro-Voice ZLX-12BT speakers are wildly successful. They’re self-contained PA systems, with two on-board inputs plus Bluetooth connectivity out of the box. Turn one on, adjust a knob, and let the beautiful audio wash over you. Find a chair or a table or a tree stump to put it on and you’ve got yourself a legitimately greatsounding music venue. They are dummy-proof.

But the truly revelatory thing is that stopping there is only optional. There is a myriad of other possibilities and use cases. Using the handful of onboard knobs, you can drill down into the DSP menus and customize the sound to your liking. Besides the usual basic EQ options, you can specify the setting (are the speakers on the floor or on stands, are you using the speakers for music or just public speaking, etc.) and account for any issues that might be out of your control.

You can daisy chain them or plug them into an existing sound system to handle any role— in fact just a few weeks ago I was sound checking at a nice venue, looked down and noticed the monitors looked awfully familiar. Yep, same speakers. And they sounded great on stage. Pair them with an existing PA and amp to really crank up the volume and fill a healthy-sized listening room, all while maintaining the same clean, even soundstage they exhibit at a lower volume. You can even dig in and change the brightness of the tiny LCD screen if you’re one of those control freaks cursed with the compulsive need to tweak anything tweakable.

I’m grateful that beneath the simple design there is a complex, yet musical system that can be customized for nearly any kind of use case. But more than that, I’m glad I can simply plug some stuff in, turn it on, close my eyes and play. The world isn’t headache-proof, but these speakers are.

For more info, head to www.electrovoice.com and slowrunnermusic.tumblr.com/

https:// http://

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 29

GEAR TEST

GEAR TEST: Mackie DL32S Digital Wireless Mixer With Adam and the Flood [Editor’s note – we recently held a giveaway promotion with the good folks at Mackie to put the new DL32S mixer in the hands of a working band.

We ended up selecting Adam and the Flood, who shot a series of demo videos using the DL32S on our YouTube channel – so we definitely suggest you check those out, as well. They’ve also provided their final thoughts in the review below. Enjoy!]

A few months back Adam & The Flood was chosen to be the lucky winners of a brand new Mackie DL32S digital mixer, thanks to Performer Mag and Mackie! We received the package in the mail and immediately started diving into learning the brand new software: 30 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

GEAR TEST Master Fader 5, which is now available for both iOS and Android devices. Perfect for our band since we have a mixture of both.

At first glance the mixer is a tiny stage box that is built very well, not much bigger than a lunchbox. It comes with rack ears so you can mount it into a standard road case. An impressive 32 inputs and 10 outputs, which makes this thing a beast that can handle large bands and all sorts of applications. The built in Wi-Fi-router is a great addition making connecting the app much easier and the range is nice and has been very reliable so far.

The new software is very intuitive for both the musicians and experienced sound engineers. We rolled it out and had everybody using it seamlessly within minutes. It has the ability to connect up to 20 devices at the same time. The app has everything that you would need and all of the features of a console much larger in size. We found it extremely easy to navigate around and find everything that we needed. The four on-board effects processors are really great sounding, and with built in presets it’s very easy to find the right sounds

and tweak them as needed, all from the stage.

We immediately got to work and did a live in studio recording/video session to put the DL32 through its paces. We wired up the whole band and easily multi tracked everything right into our DAW on our computer with one USB cable. We also used multiple outputs to be able to each have our own monitor mix, that we controlled from our own devices - awesome! This was a great moment as we sound checked, everyone was hyper focused on dialing in their own ears. The individual mixes enhanced our ability to concentrate on the music and put each person in a position to deliver the best performance they could.

The DL32S is current living in our rehearsal space, with a saved scene for practice it makes it super easy to set up and go. Going forward we are all transitioning into getting set up with in-ear monitors for live shows.

We plan to bring this to every show with a split snake, so we can have a consistent on-stage mix each night, and have the ability to control our mix from stage.

For more info, head to https://mackie. com/products/new-dl32s-dl16s and https:// www.adamandtheflood.com PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 31

MEET YOUR MAKER 32 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

MEET YOUR MAKER

MEET YOUR MAKER with Nate Bierdeman of BLACK LION AUDIO How Long Have You Been in Business?

We incorporated in December, 2006.

How did you get started?

We started out by modifying early MOTU audio interfaces and posting about it in Tape Op’s online forum. Word spread quickly that it was possible to improve upon the sound quality of entry-level converters, and the mod business grew from there. We then took proceeds from mods and started our own product line, first with the original Micro Clock (master word clock), and then with the Auteur (mic preamp).

We’ve since added a considerable number of mods to our roster, and continue fleshing out and refreshing the product line. Recently, we’ve put a strong emphasis on analog products, but plan on steering in the direction of digital gear again soon.

What’s your most popular piece of gear?

Our Micro Clock line of master word clocks continues to sell well, and recently has experienced a lot of positive exposure in the live sound industry for re-clocking digital mixing consoles. The Seventeen (F.E.T. compressor), however, has taken the blue ribbon for the best-selling product, likely due to the unique combination of design revisions, components,

sound quality, and features, not to mention an incredibly competitive price tag. We’re also starting to see a nice uptick in PBR-8 sales (8 slot 500 series chassis with an integrated TT patch bay), as people continue to discover how positive of an impact fully flexible routing has on workflow.

parallel with the uncompressed signal, which lends to some really cool sounds. The TT patch bay on the PBR-8 allows for expanding one’s setup without incurring the cost of a standalone patch bay and cabling, and makes for constraint-free workflow and fully flexible routing.

What sets Black Lion apart from other builders?

We aim to provide products with unique feature sets and exceptional sound quality at highly competitive price points, while still maintaining integrity. For example, each Seventeen compressor gets fully calibrated on an Audio Precision before shipping, so it actually performs how it should according to the settings on the faceplate (a 4:1 ratio is actually compressing at 4:1, whereas some competitors’ equivalents are actually compressing at a 12:1 ratio at a 4:1 setting).

What lessons have you learned from starting your own business?

The main lesson we’ve learned over the years is the “Triple Constraint” of project management, and how to strike up our own balance in midst of it. There are many versions and variations on this theme, but in essence, one gets to choose two of three competing interests: Good, Fast, Cheap. We are no-compromise on “Good,” and usually lean toward honoring “Cheap” at the expense of “Fast,” so our projects take longer to get to market than we’d otherwise prefer.

What are some cool features of your products?

Some of my favorite features on our products are the wet/dry mix on the Seventeen compressor and the TT patch bay on the PBR8. The wet/dry mix on the Seventeen allows for the compressed signal to be blended in

What’s the one thing you want musicians to think when they hear the words “Black Lion Audio”?

“Bang for your buck!”

For more info, head to blacklionaudio.com and follow on Twitter @BlackLionAudio PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 33

GEAR REVIEWS

ART TubeMix

T

he 5-channel TubeMix from ART is a pretty handy device that would serve a small home studio well, especially if you are dealing with a number of synths or drum machines that you want to have running through one device to share a set of monitor outputs. The cool thing about the TubeMix is, as the name suggests, it comes equipped with an 12AX7 vacuum tube on-board that you can engage to add a certain amount of warm to your sound.

In practice, engaging the tube on either your main mic channels (1+2) or the Hi-Z channel meant for DI’ing your guitar (ch. 5) works pretty well. It’s a somewhat subtle difference, but it actually comes through pretty decently in a mix – just a tad more saturation (not drive) that lends a bit of analog richness to your projects. Nice touch.

You also have a simple amp simulator on Channel 5 (simple as in push it in to engage, and that’s it), that also works fairly well. In fact, the only real criticism one could levy on the TubeMix is the slightly noisy mic pre’s and perhaps lack of channel faders in favor of rotary pots.

The EQ section works as it should, with simple hi, mid, and low controls for each of the 2 mono channels and the stereo and DI channels.

One added (and unexpected) bonus is the ability to send audio over USB to your DAW. Now, separating channels onto discrete tracks is a bit wonky, as the best method is to actually use the Aux sends to send one channel to its own output, but in practice it’s actually pretty simple and once you figure out how it works, you’ve got a nice little 2-channel USB interface that can be great for demos.

PROS

CONS

PRICE

Small footprint, decent tone, low price.

Slightly noisy, USB integration is a bit of a workaround.

$209

The wood side panels add a touch of nostalgic flavor to the device, and the analog-style VU meters on the USB source is a welcome surprise, as well. The mains section rounds things out, with all the options you’d really need for a mixer this small, including a nice control room routing section and separate aux send/returns for outboard gear, plus control room mains in case you want to hook up an additional pair of studio monitors.

All in all, aside from some slightly noisy pres (and really, not that bad considering the price), the TubeMix is a pretty cool device. If future iterations provide a more intuitive USB out/in option, that would be great. But as it stands, for $200 you get a retro-cool look with plenty of onboard features for a small setup. Nice work.

Benjamin Ricci

34 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

T

he really cool thing about nice microphones, is even if they’ve been meant for one application that doesn’t mean they can’t be used for something completely different to come up with new and interesting sounds. So, when Blue released their Ember Microphone earlier this year, designed to be a multipurpose mic, things got interesting.

Overall it’s quite slim, inside the metal grill is a hand-tuned condenser capsule with a small diaphragm that’s configured in a cardioid pattern. It requires phantom power, via its XLR connection, and comes with its own mic stand mount.

It’s meant to be an “all in one” microphone, meaning it does the job well regardless of the sound source. It sounds great on electric guitar amps, as well as placing it on the sound hole of an acoustic guitar (even off-axis results in our tests were fantastic). It’s quite focused, so moving it around slightly can open up frequencies very easily. Hard to think of another microphone that can do double duty like this in the guitar realm with such great results. Frequency response is 38Hz-20kHz, and a max SPL of 132 dB, so keeping clarity and articulation in a wide range, and at high volume levels isn’t an issue at all.

Speaking of high volume applications, one of these on a snare drum could easily make you rethink whatever mic that’s currently your goto. It’s small enough to sneak into the maze of drum hardware without any worry, which is great. Trying to fit a large condenser on a kit can be difficult, at times. Even better, a pair of these would be nice as a set of overheads.

Using it for vocals, it has a lot of great applications; doing voiceover work, or as a podcasting mic, it works really nice, again with plenty of clarity and no boominess. Using it as a mic for YouTube videos is a no brainer as well. In a more musical vocal situation, it is wonderful, with the ability for the singer to work the mic, without having to play around with sweet spots or work around dead zones. Again, clarity is the big deliverable here - moving the angle of the mic’s attack can make a difference, too, so don’t hesitate to experiment when it comes to optimal placement for your application.

GEAR REVIEWS

BLUE EMBER Microphone

Overall, it really is a one stop shop for any musical application. The street price is a ludicrous $99, which is quite amazing. It easily competes with AKG and Rode condensers we’ve tested at twice the price. Try to find a great sounding, well-made mic that can handle just two of the situations above, and one that does it so well that it makes you rethink your previous selections. Now try to find one that does it all – that’s Ember.

Any user that has a small 2-channel interface connected to their computer, should have one of these. Singer/Songwriters, we’re looking at you.

Want better options for a snare drum or a guitar cab, look no further. A recording studio with a couple of these in their mic locker will appreciate the focus, and ease of dialing in good tones. The only downside is figuring out what WON’T get mic-ed up with one of these. And at this price, you could outfit your entire studio in one fell swoop.

Chris Devine

PROS

Great price, great sound in multiple applications.

CONS

None.

PRICE

$99

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 35

GEAR REVIEWS

RODE RodeCaster Pro Podcast Production Studio PROS

Simple, functional, plenty of easily accessible options, great menu system.

CONS

None.

PRICE

$599 (Rodecaster) $99 (PODMIC)

A

big bottleneck to getting started for a lot of people is the right gear. Rode made this step super easy with their RodeCaster Pro Podcast Studio.

For anyone who’s used any kind of mixer, the front panel is very familiar; essentially a 4-channel input section that gets driven from XLR microphones. Rhode was kind enough to supply us with their PodMic, which worked nicely. There’s also channels for inputs from Bluetooth, USB, and 1/8” inputs from devices like smartphones or tablets. With four 1/4” headphone connections, each with their own level controls as well as a master out, personal monitoring is covered with ease. External monitors can also be connected via the stereo 1/4” outputs. Each level is controlled by a nice long fader, with solo and mute functions on each channel.

The 8 colored soft touch buttons are sound effect buttons that come with some pre recorded effects, kind of like what you would have in a radio broadcast studio; Applause, Laughter, Crickets, etc. Ever see the Family Guy episode where Stewie and Brian have their morning show “Dingo and the Baby” and they go nuts with the sound samples? Yeah, it’s like 36 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

that. However via the touchscreen pad, these pads can be set to play back the user’s preferred sounds, like their own theme music, or credits, or even intros to specialized segments. It’s all customizable on your PC, and super easy to integrate into your recording workflow, especially in real-time.

Now it can be connected to a computer via USB, and it acts like the typical DAW interface, while recording to whatever recording program of choice. BUT, it doesn’t need to be tethered to a computer; it can record to a Micro SD card, making it a very portable device and a great solution for those who want an easy, all-in-one solution.

The touch screen and menus are easy to navigate, and within 5 minutes we were up and running, with no issues at all. It’s truly user intuitive. The menu allows the inputs to be selected to be optimized for Rode’s PodMic, Procaster, NT1, NT1A, and NT2A mics, as well as generic Condenser and Dynamic microphones. The PodMic works fantastically for pretty much any voice right out of the box.

There are setup functions that allow for what would normally be an input gain control but there are a few neat add ins; a voice function,

for tone of the voice, and its strength. Advanced setup features cover noise gate, hi-pass filter, on board de-esser, compressor, and ducking for use with multiple podcast guests. Aphex got into the game as well, with their exciter and big bottom functions, that add that extra brightness and life, without getting all trebly and hissy.

Rode also includes their Rodecaster Pro App, which can handle firmware updates, as well as getting into more functionality of the sample pads, not only for the appearance, but let’s say the laughter sound. Want to hit it, and then be able to stop it with another hit? Yep, it digs in just a little deeper.

Overall it offers up pretty much any option that used to be something that only professional radio stations had. With the ability to pair in a smartphone either via USB or the audio input, doing phone interviews on your podcast is no longer a collection of specialized hardware with a spaghetti mess of cables. Simplicity is the name of the game with this; it’s literally plug and play without any hassle or extras to get going. For anyone who has a great idea for a podcast, this is THE place to start.

Chris Devine

GEAR REVIEWS

L

ast February, we got our hands on Supro’s 1606 Super and 1650R amplifiers, which packed some serious tube flavors in a small format. Now they’ve unleashed their 1812R Blues King, a 112 combo that’s certainly packing some big tones.

Aesthetically, it looks a bit old timey, with the cabinet sporting a recessed grill cloth opening for the speaker, a black tolex/vinyl covering, and a simple control panel. Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Reverb and Master Volume knobs sit aside a pair of mini toggles that kick in a boost and as well as a high gain mode switch. The rear panel has an effects loop, and a set of 1/4” connections for footswitches (not included) to engage the boost and high gain modes. It’s amazingly thin, physically, with a cabinet depth of just 7.5”.

It clocks in at 15 watts, with a 6L6 tube running the power amp section, and a 12AX7 preamp tube. Both the Boost and Hi-gain modes are driven by a FET based circuit. Speaker wise, Supro has their own 12” specially designed speaker. There’s also an effects loop in there as well for your modulation-type pedals. Want to run another cabinet? There’s a line out that can also be used as a DI into a DAW. Nice touch.

Plugging it in, we were really surprised at the low end response, considering the cabinet’s

SUPRO 1812R Blues King 12 size. Headroom wise, it’s got plenty to keep up with most drummers. The clean tone still rings true, and in higher settings it can get nice and gritty, with plenty of articulation. Kick in the hi-gain mode, and it’s gnarly, with a nice midrange that can cut through easily. The boost mode is a really nice touch, and at full blast, with both Hi-Gain and Boost engaged, it felt like a classic amp freaking out in the way you know that amps were supposed to sound.

It’s hard to believe it’s such a small amp brining in that much tone! The reverb is quite nice, and is what spring reverb is meant to sound like, big and yet not too crazy and washed-out.

It interacts nicely with drive pedals, too; we tried it with some of our faves in front of the clean sound, including a modded Boss Blues Driver, an EHX Soul Food, and a Revv G4 (see this month’s review). No issues to be had at all, and the amp interacted nicely with each. With the effects loop, running time-based effects like reverb and delay makes this a real pedal platform amp that can kick, regardless of genre.

The only downside is the knobs; while there’s a small marker to indicate position, it’s kind of hard to read, especially in low light situations.

It’s a small problem to deal with, but worth mentioning, as everything else of this amp was so on-point. Users could easily apply some whiteout

to make it easier to see, but you really shouldn’t have to. Let’s hope the mkII version (if there ever is one) addresses this.

Overall this little amp is a great powerhouse, and while it may have “Blues” in its name, it’s a great amp for pretty much any kind of music, where the guitarist wants a great tube sound, without the backaches of a full-sized backline.

Chris Devine

PROS

Great tube tone, small format, nice effects loop.

CONS

Knobs are kind of hard to read.

PRICE

$599

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 37

GEAR REVIEWS

D&A Gigstand & Icestand

G

uitar stands that are functional and portable are usually things that don’t go together. Tubular stands offer support, but don’t collapse well enough for storage, between the gig and the practice space. They also usually come apart, meaning parts are bound to get lost over time. Portable guitar stands maybe small, but don’t offer enough support. Well, D&A has come up with a new concept of a portable yet stable guitar stand.

The Gigstand & Icestand are pretty much identical, however the gig stand comes in a Black ABS plastic, while the Icestand comes in a clear plastic version. It’s purely an aesthetic choice, which is nice. They are both offered up in electric and acoustic versions.

These arrived at our offices, in a folded up manner, and looked more like a wing of a small drone or UAV. The design is something like if Iron Man or Batman had designed a guitar stand; with two quick and easy motions, it unfurled into a guitar stand. In the open configuration, There’s protection for the instrument as it rests in the stand; a rubber tread that offers up grip, and yet won’t damage or mar an instrument’s finish (yes, it’s safe for nitro) at all of the contact points. To keep the stand from slipping and sliding on a smooth surface, there’s also a rubber strip on the 38 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

base to keep the stand from skittering off on a smooth floor surface.

Since the entire base is sitting on the floor, there’s no balance or tipping points, so getting knocked over like a traditional stand is out of the picture, and since it’s not really super wide, most guitars bodies will go past the edges. Which means if someone walks by it, and tries not to bump into the guitar, there’s no extended legs that go past the instrument, or anything that might get nudged with a stray foot and cause a topple.

The fact that it collapses into such a small form is a welcome design feature. It can easily fit in a backpack, pedalboard case/bag, the accessory compartment of an instrument’s gig bag, or even the tried and true musician’s friend, the milk crate, without taking up a lot of room. Since there’s no parts to separate or get lost (we’re sure there’s a dimension where lost socks, and parts of the chrome tubular guitar stands end up), it’s a win-win with the design and function.

It’s an easy option for the player who takes two guitars to a gig; a pair of these won’t take up space in transit, and won’t be a hazard on stage.

Recommended.

Chris Devine

PROS

CONS

PRICE

Great design, sturdy, finish friendly

None.

$24.99

GEAR REVIEWS

FU-TONE BRASS BLOCK FOR FLOYD ROSE TREMOLOS (AKA, The Guitar Mod Chronicles: Part II)

B

ack in May of 2018 we gave an old Strat some new life; shielded the electronics compartment with copper tape (big difference), Sheptone Pickups (YUGE improvement), new nut, all new pots and switch, and a proper setup by our good friend Adam at AF Precision Setups. We wanted to take this Strat from Super Strat, to Super-Duper Strat, and FU-Tone had just what we were looking for!

Our Strat’s Original Floyd Rose Trem sounded alright, and played fine, but one common complaint is that they don’t sound as big as a non-locking system. Putting 10’s on it made a difference, but we felt we could get more. We reached out to FU-Tone and told them about our guitar and they suggested one of their Brass Sustain Blocks. We had to measure the height of the block, to make sure it fit in our body without any issues, and the right version for our needs was 42mm. A couple of days later the upgraded brass block arrived, and we again headed over to see Adam at AF Precision setups to complete the install.

The entire Floyd Rose bridge needs to be

removed, and all of the bridge saddles need to be removed to install the new brass block. Now it’s not that big a task for any qualified tech. Adam had it all sorted out within an hour, from out of the case, to setup and ready to go!

First off, the simple result: MORE. It’s not snake oil, there was substantial improvement in overall output. The low end seemed a bit more focused and tighter, while the mids had a nice slight bump in the upper ranges. The high end still had plenty of attack, but also a nice sweetness on the upper fretboard on the B and E strings. All of this was very noticeable in clean tone settings, and when we kicked in the dirty sounds, it got real fun! Plenty of chunk and definition when playing low riffs and chords, and leads were crisp with plenty of clarity and articulation. All the past complaints of a Floyd Rose being thin sounding can be put to rest with this upgrade!

Cost wise, this is a great bang for the buck mod. We already liked our Strat, but we wanted more, and we got it. Going down the rabbit hole of pickup and electronics mods would have been a waste of time, money and effort. At $39, it’s

less expensive than a pickup swap and far more beneficial. Any Floyd Rose user should consider this as their next upgrade immediately.

Special thanks to Adam at AF Precision Setups (afprecisionsetups@instagram) for the install.

Chris Devine

PROS

Inexpensive, simple, brings big tone CONS

None.

PRICE

$39

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 39

GEAR REVIEWS

SUPRO Delay Pedal

T

he new compact delay pedal from Supro packs a lot into a standard single pedal footprint, with the usual Level, Time and Repeat settings we’ve come to know from other classic delays. A welcome addition is the filter control, as well as a mini toggle that can assign the Level, Time or Repeat controls to work with an expression pedal. This is actually super useful, and sets the pedal apart from others in the (crowded) field.

It’s an analog pedal, meaning the maximum range is 600ms. That’s plenty to cover delay sounds from the ’60s up to the early 1980s. All of that delay goodness is being run by a MN3005 chip, which runs at a higher internal voltage, while maintaining a standard 9v power supply requirement. What that means is it brings more overall headroom and a cleaner noise free sound than what older delays used to deliver.

The filter control works as a dual Low and Hi band pass. Want delays to sound murky and swampy? No problem. How about the glassy transparent character of old tape delays? Yeah, it covers that easily. Inside are two mini switches, that engage trails and dry kill controls. Want the delay to kill everything when turned off, or let it cascade away naturally? No problemo!

Sound wise, it’s super clean, no hiss or added noise, and the longer delays sit really nicely in the mix, with an organic feel in all settings. Kicking it on to add depth for a solo, with slightly darker repeats from the filter control adds a nice rich feel. Even at high settings the filter doesn’t get too glassy, it brings in some extra clarity that bubbles over nicely.

The real fun comes when connecting an expression pedal. Having real-time control is a blast; being able to control a cascading oscillation, it opens up more synth-like feels with ease.

Whatever parameter is selected, the associated knob acts as the end point of the expression pedal’s sweep, so keeping a function in an area that fits to the musical setting is really easy. Want to have some nice chords hang in the mix, and then have some dry (or less delayed) licks over it?

It will take some getting used to, but think of it as a wah-wah like delay.

Overall, it covers all the classic delays in a neat small box, with the added addition of the expression pedal and trails and dry kill, it brings in some nice modern touches, not normally found in your typical delay stompbox.

Chris Devine

40 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

PROS

CONS

PRICE

Great classic delays, expression pedal control.

A bit pricey.

$249

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GEAR REVIEWS

E

ven though gear has gotten smaller over the years, hauling all the necessary stuff to gigs can be a pain.

Try cramming everything in a backpack, and everything gets lost, and taking a milkcrate of gear on a bus or plane, good luck with that!

Orbit Concepts have brought the portability of an everyday carry bag, with the capacity to hold everything for a gig.

First off, it’s size: 8” deep, 12.5” wide, and 17” tall. It’s like a scaled-down airplane carry on. The outer skin is a water resistant black nylon, with really nice quality zippers and pull tabs. The shoulder straps are fully adjustable, with plenty of back padding, well-designed buckles, and a chest strap. Each strap has an expandable hook for attaching items that might need to be grabbed easily, like a flashlight.

There’s plenty of padding for comfort, as well as a padded handle, and luggage tag.

Inside is a bright orange liner throughout done in ripstop material. Why orange? Well considering that 90% of all the gear we use is done in black or dark colors, fumbling around in the dark looking through a black bag, for a black piece of gear would just not make sense.

Now it has plenty of compartments, as this was designed as a DJ/EDM performer bag, there are slots for fill size vinyl, as well as a CD tab, and a pocket for a turntable needle.

It can handle a full size set of headphones, a laptop, cables, power supplies, hard drives, as well as smaller format portable samplers and MIDI controllers too. There are zip-up mesh compartments for little items that might get thrown around. Everything has its own place.

Now while it may have been meant as a DJ bag, traditional musicians could easily adopt this for their own. Putting in a smaller format multi effects pedal, like a Line 6 HX stomp, or even a small pedalboard, like a Pedaltrain Nano and its associated cables and power supply is a great idea. Merch like CDs and LPs can easily slide in. Mics, patch cables, all the stuff that seems to get spread around instrument gig bags and pedalboard cases, can easily find a home here, too. Think of the emergency supplies that go to a gig: strings, fuses, tubes.

Even small tool kits like Cruz Tool’s guitar kit!

Small format guitar stands like the ones from D&A (see our review in this issue) can fit in here as well.

Overall it’s a well-made and well-designed backpack that is meant for organized travel and gigging. If you’re a DJ, it’s meant for you, and for you traditional musicians, this can easily work for live gigs. Pros don’t throw their gear in milk crates, and neither should you.

Chris Devine

42 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

PROS

Well designed, quality materials, functional pockets & compartments CONS

None.

STREET PRICE

$159

ORBIT CONCEPTS Jetpack Remix Backpack

GEAR REVIEWS

S

tudio One has become our go-to DAW, so it’s great to see PreSonus continue their hardware output to supplement the software side of things. We got our first hands-on look at the new Atom Controller at NAMM, and were pretty impressed with its build quality and abilities right out of the gate.

Yes, it’s another pad-style controller, but it does what it does, and it does it well. Integration with Studio One is tight as a drum, no drivers or other nonsense to get in the way (at least on our studio’s Mac). We fired up a new session, opened up some of our fave drum samples, and everything mapped and functioned instantly with no fussiness. Playing finger-style was a breeze, and we were able to instantly lay down grooves and trigger samples without even glancing at the manual. That said, there are a lot of function buttons on the front panel, and it may be a bit daunting to a new user who’s never played with

PRESONUS Atom Controller a controller like this before. Our only gripe would be some more in-depth documentation included in the box, but that’s an industry-wide pet peeve, not necessarily a PreSonus-specific one.

The Atom Controller is lightweight (we’d be surprised if it weren’t, considering it’s just passing data back and forth), so it it’ll slide nicely into a DJ backpack for gigs or studio work. The knobs and buttons all feel nice and firm, the pads themselves offer a good amount of touch sensitivity while still being firm enough to allow for the proper pressure-sensitive playing many of us have become accustomed to over the years.

All in all, not too much more to say. The price is right, too, at just $149. For electronic artists who’re already in the PreSonus ecosphere, it’s a no brainer. We did test it out with a few other DAWs, and since everything is assignable and velocity-sensitive, we were laying down soft-

synth performances with relative ease after a quick initial setup. This would be great for live setups, as well, since you can trigger loops and parts easily on your laptop while performing live in real-time with other hardware synths or drum machines.

Benjamin Ricci

PROS

CONS

PRICE

Lightweight, great pads, fantastic Studio One integration

Learning curve might intimidate new users.

$150

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 43

GEAR REVIEWS

QSC CP8 PA Speakers

L

et’s face it – those 20-year-old speakers in your band’s rehearsal space are in need of an upgrade. It’s sad really, you should be ashamed. So, if you find yourself in the market for some new powered speakers, we think we’ve got just the thing. We were recently sent a pair of the QSC CP8’s for review, and man these things cook!

Out of the box, you get some nice bags with integrated handles and pouches for power cables, so transporting these units to and from gigs or jam sessions is a breeze. They’re also deceptively light – considering they pump 1000 watts we expected them to weight us down; thankfully this is not the case, in part due to the smart engineering and efficient Class D amps inside.

With an 8-inch main driver and high-frequency driver just shy of 1.5”, the CP8’s are capable of pumping out crystal-clear audio during even the most demanding live scenarios.

Our first tests included some heavy-duty Moog bass, courtesy of our office Sub Phatty – specifically low-end triangle waves with a suboctave square wave one octave down. We paired this with heavily-decayed 808-style kick drum beats from the Roland boutique TR-08 through a Soundcraft Signature 12 live mixer. Results were fantastic – we used the main outs of the mixer to pole-mount the CP8’s to test them in a traditional PA stereo setup, then switched over to an aux mix and re-positioned them to see how they fared as wedge monitors for a vocalist. We’re happy to report that the CP8’s passed every torture test we threw at them with flying colors.

Deep bass was rich and uncolored, yet tight enough to not suffer from boominess and flab we’ve experienced from other models in this price range. Top end shines through, as well – we added some upper register synth pads and lead guitar into the live setup and really let the CP8’s crank. Overall balance was fantastic, with no shrill top end or muddied mid-range.

The nice things about the CP8’s is that not only do they offer a well-balanced sonic signature, with plenty of power to fill most small-to-medium sized rooms, but they’d make an all-in-one solution for the traveling singer/ songwriter. You can run backing tracks through the aux input, and you get two mic/line combo jacks for running vocals and perhaps a DI’d acoustic. The other bonus is the built-in DSP that makes tuning the speakers to your situation a snap. There’s a simple rotary pot that enables you to optimize the performance for floor wedges, electronic music, speech and even use with a sub. To be honest, the default setting would work

44 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

well for most scenarios, but for coffee shops that do live music and poetry readings, it’s great to be able to switch settings back and forth in a matter of seconds.

There’s not much more we can say, we are thoroughly impressed with the CP range from QSC – these would be ideal as permanently installed monitors or mains in a club, for your band’s rehearsal space, or even as dedicated synth speakers in your jam space. Highly recommended.

Benjamin Ricci

PROS

CONS

PRICE

Lightweight enclosures, super rugged, great price, clean headroom and overall nice balance.

None.

$399 each

High gain.

CONS

None.

STREET PRICE

$229

REVV Amplification G4 Pedal

F

GEAR REVIEWS

PROS

inding a high gain distortion pedal that acts and sounds like an amp is difficult; most sit on what could be called juvenile, for the younger player who hasn’t figured out the balance between gain, volume and tone. Revv took their high gain Generator series amps, and figured out how to distill the red channel into a pedal, with some really wild results!

The controls are nothing too out of the ordinary; Bass, Middle & Treble EQ Section, along with Volume and Gain. The big twist is the 3-way Aggression mini toggle that offers the user a few interesting options, blue or red modes or off.

With all EQ’s at noon as a baseline, the off mode on the Aggression mini toggle is pretty cool; it’s kind of a flat response, and brings a lower gain mode, very cool for classic crunch rhythms. Think British-sound, with plenty of clarity still coming through, with a dosage of drive that reacts very nicely to picking response. Chords are nice and chunky, while leads are on the sweeter side of things. Going into the blue mode, it gets tighter, but yet not compressed. It feels like a bit extra gain is kicked in as well, with a bit more depth, but no squishiness that sucks out the mids. This mode is great for pretty much any high gain applications.

Want sizzle, but aren’t willing to sacrifice the steak? Yeah, it stays meaty with rhythm parts that are super huge -- leads sustain VERY nicely.

If that’s not enough, go into Red mode, and it gets super thick and the saturation really goes up a couple of notches. A lot of players could easily live with the gain at noon in all modes. It felt great, and when pushed further, it just got better.

It should be good to note the EQ is hyper flexible, and responds a lot like an amp, and even in the high gain modes, it doesn’t get buzzy, tinny, or spiky. There’s plenty of fat gainy thickness for any modern hard rock/metal player. We tried running it as a preamp into a DAW, running a clean amp sim, in front of a Supro Blues King, A Fender Blues Jr, and a ZT Lee Renaldo -- the results were fantastic across the board. It’s not really like the typical distortion pedal; it truly acts like a high gain preamp.

Overall, this could be the new standard for high gain pedals.

Chris Devine PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 45

GEAR REVIEWS

OVERTONE LABS Tune-Bot Studio Drum Tuner

B

eing in tune in any musical situation is key (see what we did there?). Somehow drummers get left out of this situation -- having a drum kit that’s in tune with itself, as well as possibly in tune with the mix, really makes a difference. With the Tune-Bot Studio, it’s super easy to go from aimlessly tightening and loosening drum heads, to accurately and consistently getting a drum to feel right, and be in tune.

It’s a bit like an oversized clip on instrument tuner, with a bright multi-color display that is fairly easy to navigate through the various modes. The default mode covers the frequency, as well as the pitch range, like an instrument tuner, as well as the note and the octave.

Getting started is pretty easy; place the drum of choice on a solid surface, like a carpeted floor, so the other head is muted, and clamp the Tune-Bot Studio between two lugs. Hit the surface of the drum head about 1” inward to the center from the Tune-Bot. The display will give the pitch of that area. Going around the entire drum, the goal is to have the same pitch at each lug, tightening and loosening the lugs as needed, as you make your way around.

There is another mode called “difference” and it’s meant to match pitches, so if you have one pitch that’s desirable, that can be the baseline to match the other pitches to. To go even further, the overall fundamental pitch can be read as well, but this time having the drum on a stand or mount is key.

Tuning drums can be an artform in and of itself, and a good guideline is having the striking head be tuned for the response of the stick, while tuning the bottom head to the actual note value.

First, we put it through its paces on a snare drum that’s been problematic, and it quickly came together with just a bit of back and forth to get used to the readings. The results were fantastic. With just a little time, getting a standard 5-piece kit sorted was no problem.

There is a companion app that is almost like a Wikipedia of specs on drum settings, giving the

optimum frequency settings for the top and bottom lugs to get the desired pitch. Want to configure a drum kit?

No problem, select the drums and the desired sound, and this small unit generates tuning recommendations for the entire kit. There are also artist settings for comparison – very handy.

The unit can also save settings of particular drums in its internal memory, so when it comes time to change heads, the same pitch and lug settings can be recalled so the user can match them at any time. This is a great feature, especially if you want to replicate sounds from previous sessions in a studio environment. It can store 5 kits with 10 drums in each kit, so most drummers should be covered.

Overall, it’s a powerful little device, and the app helps guide the user from any confusing “am I doing this right” feel, to nailing desired results of feel and response, as well as overall timbre.

For those drummers who “tune by ear,” this is a portable, affordable unit that can really change tuning drums from alchemy into a science. It fits in any bag, so there’s really no excuse not to have one on hand for your next gig or studio date.

Chris Devine PROS

Flexible, nice save functions, app is a great source of info CONS

None STREET PRICE

$99

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46 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

MY FAVORITE AXE

BACKGROUND

I started playing guitar at 12 years old, and began pursuing it seriously upon graduating high school. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to tour multiple countries, and in my spare time I make YouTube videos.

MAKE & MODEL

2013 custom painted Strandberg Boden 8-string guitar

WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

It was the first guitar that I painted myself and I feel like it really represents me as an artist.

WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE

Full, clear, punchy and warm. It features Fishman Fluence Tosin Abasi signature pickups.

CAN BE HEARD ON

My albums such as Collapse//Expand and Disparity, as well as most of the rest of them!

WATCH MORE

YouTube.com/SarahLongfield

with

Sarah

LONGFIELD Ken Susi

PERFORMER MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2019 47

FLASHBACK

VINTAGE ’66 MOSRITE “VENTURES” GUITAR This month we are showcasing this really cool 1966 Mosrite “The Ventures Model.”

The Mosrite of California Guitar Company was founded in 1956 by Semie and Andy Moseley. They started building custom guitars one at a time in garages, sheds and any place they could fit their equipment. Early on Andy had gone off to Nashville to sell their guitars to studio musicians and even some Grand Ol’ Opry performers. In the early ’60s a session player named Gene Moles was showing off his Mosrite guitar to Nokie Edwards of The Ventures and Edwards feel in love with the guitar.

By 1962 the entire band was playing Mosrite guitars, kicking off the birth of “The Ventures Model” and an endorsement deal that put The Ventures brand right on the headstock. Mosrite soon became a household name.

At least amongst musicians and by the middle of the decade the company employed over 100 workers and was building 700 to 1,000 guitars a month.

This particular guitar, owned by collector Richard Gonzmart of Tampa, features a pair of single coil pickups that resemble, but are not the same as P-90s, an incredibly engineered vibrato bar and roller bridge and a zero fret.

The body has a “German carved” top, a technique Moseley learned from a German luthier named Roger Rossmeisl while he was an apprentice at the Rickenbacker guitar factory. The neck is thin and fast and the frets are very low. I plugged this guitar into a Fender Deluxe Reverb Amp and it sounded so “surf“ that I swear I could smell the beach while I was playing it.

I encourage anyone with an interest in vintage guitars to research the history of the Mosrite – their story, and their instruments, are quite unique.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR From Soho Guitar in Tampa Florida, I’m Rob Meigel. Please visit us at www.sohoguitar.com. Special thanks to Richard Gonzmart for allowing me to use his guitar in this column.

48 APRIL/MAY 2019 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

Versatile High-Fidelity Wireless 3000 Series expands the possibilities of performance

Interchangeable capsule options

audio-technica.com

• Class-leading, extremely wide 60 MHz UHF tuning bandwidth for maximum versatility • True Diversity operation reduces dropouts • Unique multifunction button on the handheld and body-pack transmitters can be used to switch to a backup frequency should interference be encountered • Automatically adjusts squelch setting to maximize range while minimizing potential interference • Frequency scan and IR sync for ease of setup • Handheld transmitter offers industry-standard thread mount for use with six interchangeable A-T microphone capsules, as well as other compatible capsules • New rugged cH-style screw-down 4-pin connector on body-pack transmitter

F E E L I N G

T H E

CONFIDENCE TO PLAY AT YOUR BEST

Focus on your passion.

Knowing nothing will get in your way.

No endless string changes No retuning headaches No rough feel from sweaty hands No dead sounding strings …even after hours and hours of playing.

Once you’ve played them, there’s no looking back.

GREAT TONE . LONG LIFE

TM

GORE, Elixir, NANOWEB, POLYWEB, OPTIWEB, great tone-long life, “e” icon and other designs are trademarks of W. L. Gore & Associates. © 1997-2018 W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.