Melody House - November Issue by Richie Hiranandani

FOCUSRITE IS NOW PRO TOOLS READY BH500 GOES RED

E-Magazine

BLUE SPARKS

ALL THROUGH NOVEMBER!!!

Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Note Ok so its been a peak season for us at Melody House. We have a bunch of events that have passed by and you can always check out the website for more details about the workshops and events we have been having recently. The magazine is here to keep you up to date so please check it out and do visit our new store in Gold & Diamond Park. richie@nmkelectronics.com Richie Lozada Hiranandani

Dirty Swift on the VCI-300

Artist comment Known for their work with 50 cent, J-Lo, Fantasia and recently JustinBieber, Hip-hop production crew MIDI MAFIA’s DJ DIRTY SWIFT has found the ideal DJ gear for his setup. “Being the DJ/turntablist in The MIDI MAFIA means I’m running in and out of different setups and environments, from the studio to different venuesacross the country. The Vestax VCI-300 has allowed me to be able tothrow all the gear i need on stage into my DJ bag and jump on a plane. Having the Serato Itch software side by side with my Scratch Live setup means i can jump from using turntables to the VCI without losing my crates or music library. It’s seamless, durable and super portable.” - Dirty Swift

Danish film recordist uses DPA 4017mk2 on new Susanne Bier movie

Danish film location recorder Allan Holmberg has been using a DPA 4017mk2 shotgun mic for Susanne Bier’s new film, The Revenge (Hævnen). “I’d used the 4017mk2 on a documentary I’d worked on, called Blekingegadebanden,” explains Holmberg. “The clarity and natural sound of the 4017mk2 was a huge success on the documentary, so I decided to try the mic on this feature film. “My only concern was that the mic pattern may be too wide, resulting in extra background noise and ambience, but after a short talk with Eddie Møller, the film’s supervising sound designer, we both agreed to give it a try. The film contains some improvisation, and we wanted to avoid dubbing as much as was possible, so that was another good reason for using

a wider mic.” Once on set, any misgivings Holmberg had were quickly dispelled. “The 4017 performed excellently, and the ‘extra ambience’ I’d been concerned about wasn’t a problem at all,” he says. “In the film’s more silent scenes, with sensitive dialogue, it was a thrill to hear how lifelike and crisply the mic performed. Every breath and change in the voice was recorded, and has made it into the film, making the dialogue and overall feel of the film a nice experience.” After making the English-language film Things We Lost In The Fire in the U.S., director Susanne Bier returned to her native Denmark to work on The Revenge. Bier also directed Oscar-nominated Danish film, After The Wedding.

Pro Tools 9 — Now Focusrite Ready!

Focusrite are proud to announce that Saffire audio interfaces are now the best choice for the world’s leading audio recording software, Pro Tools 9. Whatʼs more, to combine the functionality of Saffire Pro interfaces with the worldʼs most popular DAW, Focusrite have launched RTAS MixControl, a plug-in that provides comprehensive control over the Firewirepowered Saffireʼs onboard DSP mixer within the Pro Tools environment. Along with flexible routing control, RTAS MixControl will enable Pro Tools users to

blend the monitor mix between channel input and DAW output signals during tracking, so performers can benefit from true zero-latency monitoring. Focusrite’s Saffire range comprises six bestin-class audio interfaces, including the compact but versatile Saffire 6 USB and the flagship Liquid Saffire 56. Each one is now the perfect companion to Pro Tools. RTAS MixControl only operates in combination with the Firewire-enabled Saffire Pro range.

Coming Soon

UZED & ABUZD BY THE BEST Accelerated-Slope™ 3-band EQ for Programs 1 & 2 with full-cut slopes keeps bass and treble boosts out of the vocal range. Engage switch for each program channel. Stereo Auxiliary Input with level control provides input for a session mix, drum machine or other input. Post-Fader FlexFX™ lets you assign post-fader Program 1 or 2 (or both) to the effects loop. Wet/Dry pan control lets you vary how much processed signal is in the mix. Variable Contour Control. Combined with Reverse and Mode switches, it gives you an almost infinite range of responses (see our web site for examples). Non-Contact Crossfader and Channel faders. Proprietary Rane magnetic faders are the fastest, most accurate and long-lasting on the planet. No travel noise. No bleed ever. These faders know exactly what your hand is doing. This logo tells you that the TTM 56 ain’t no toy. Rane has a solid track record for building the most rugged, best sounding performance mixers in the industry.

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www.rane.com • Rane Corporation • tel. 425.355.6000 7 Rane • Empath • “Master the Future — Signature Edition” for Remix and XLR8R • 04/03

AD ALIGNS TO RIGHT REGISTER MARKS

BH500 - Red Rocks!

BH500 is the newest addition to our Bass Amp 2.0 line up. Combined with the all-new BC410/BC212/BC210 cabinet range, it stacks up to become any rig you need – for small bar gigs, indoor rock clubs, outdoor stadium concerts, you name it! The BH500 feature set leaves little to be desired with its razor-sharp, tone-shaping tools such as TubeTone™, SpectraComp™ and bass tuned tone controls. Also, the 3 user memories let you change tone at any given time while the integrated tuner allows you to tune up silently before you rock.

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Blue sparkles

Blueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest professional mic, Spark, is a cardioid, solid-state condenser microphone designed to help you achieve professional quality recordings in any creative environment. Spark features a custom-designed condenser capsule with Class-A discrete electronics resulting in superbly detailed and uncolored output, making it the ideal microphone for recording vocals, drums, guitars, pianos, brass, woodwinds, and just about anything else you can light a fire under. A new feature found only on the Spark microphone is the unique Focus Control, providing two different usage modes at the push of a button: the Normal mode (out position) providing increased low frequency sensitivity for recordings with great impact and definition, along with the Focus mode, (in position) for even greater clarity and detail. The Spark microphone ships with a custom-designed pop-filter and shockmount as well as a convenient and stylish wood case for transport. With Spark, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got everything you need to make professional recordings, all in one package.

Eric Hernandez: A Mission To Mars

Bruno Mars drummer Eric Hernandez sat down with Pearl to discuss his upcoming world tour, how he got into drumming, and joining the artist roster. Some would consider Eric Hernandez an overnight success as he’s seemingly appeared everywhere within the last few months. If that wasn’t enough, he’s currently on a European tour with Bruno Mars promoting Doo-Wops & Hooligans, which is dominating the Billboard charts. Pearl Corporation: Tell us a little about your background and how you got started playing drums. Eric Hernandez: When I was 4 years old, my father would let me tag along on his gigs and I’d sit behind him as he played percussion. Even though he kicked *** on the congas and other percussion, I was always fixated on the drums. My dad took note of my interest and bought me my first kit... it was over! I still couldn’t quite reach the pedals so I would play the floor tom in place of the kick to get a little groove going. I kept my kit in the living room and began playing along to the music of my favorite shows like Scooby Doo and The Muppets Show. (laughs) Then it progressed to any music that came on the television in addition to playing along with the radio, cassettes, and albums. A few years later, my Dad thought was good enough and placed me in one of his gigs. He always told me to watch Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa for their showmanship and on stage presence which I try to bring to the table when I play live shows. I really get into it and I love performing! Whether

it’s a pub or an arena, you’ll find that I’ll be ‘show mode’ and giving it my all. My love for music and the drums becomes very apparent. PC: You’re now on the some roster with such legendary drummers as Dennis Chambers, Omar Hakim, and Horacio Hernandez... how does it feel? EH: Being on a roster with such amazing drummers is very surreal to me. I am honored to be in any category with these cats even if it’s just on a roster because these are real players that have been in the game for a while and are still at the top of every drummer’s influence list. Maybe one day I can be like them. I also know that they have been playing Pearl forever which definitely says something about these drums. PC: How has your experience with the Reference and MCX Masters Series been in all of the different gigs you play? EH: I had been playing other custom drums for a long time and they sounded good but then my buddy, Omar Tavarez (drummer for Pitbull & Pearl Artist), told me I needed to check out Pearl. I did and it’s been a rap ever since. I was fortunate to join the Pearl family and have since played the Reference and MCX Masters Series. Honestly, I feel like these drums have brought my playing to the next level. The response, tones, and attack makes me feel great and when I feel great... I play great. Even my band members have heard the difference in my playing and have become Pearl fans as a result.

Every time I watch playbacks from television tapings with Bruno Mars or Taio Cruz, I get so excited when I hear the drums. I’m proud of how they sound and represent me as a player. It’s great when people who see the shows say, “Man, your drums sounded great!” Recently, I used Reference Series kits on Saturday Night Live, The View, and The Ellen Show. I played my MCX Masters Series kit (with Diamond Glass finish) on Bruno Mars’ run with Maroon 5 and one of their sound techs ran up to me saying, “That kit is the s*#t!! I can’t believe how good your drums sound! I haven’t heard drums sound like that in a while.” I’m currently playing a Refrerence Series kit (with Copperfire Sparkle finish) for the European tour. Bottom line, Pearl is the natural, perfect fit for me.

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Sting’s strings sing with DPA 4099s

Sting’s front of house engineer Howard Page is using a large quantity of DPA 4099 condenser clip mics across the string section for Sting’s Symphonicity world tour. Accompanied by a full symphonic orchestra, Symphonicity sees Sting performing new arrangements of his greatest hits as well as more unknown work. Page, senior director of engineering at Clair Brothers, was approached to handle FOH for the tour due to his extensive orchestral experience. Familiar with DPA microphones from Sting’s cathedral concerts last winter, Page was delighted with the 4099s purchased by Clair Brothers for the tour. The entire string section – nine first violins, seven second violins, seven violas, five celli and three basses – is miked with 4099s, with several more on radio packs

for clarinet and trumpet soloists. Page has veered away from the traditional area miking method of amplifying an orchestra, where mics were shared between two chairs or desks. “The problem with that is the moment you add even a semi-rock group to a symphony orchestra, the inherent dynamics between the two are so out of balance; the natural volume that a violin puts out compared to what a guitar or a drum puts out is so wildly different,” explains Page. “The DPAs are the best mics I’ve ever, ever found – and I’ve been doing this a long time with orchestras. They give me absolute separation: when I turn on a DPA 4099 on one violin I get one violin and barely anything else, which gives me incredible signal to noise. I also get more headroom on an overall

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string session than I’ve ever had on an orchestra before; traditionally you’re up against a feedback threshold, and your show is compromised by how loud you can go. But the DPAs are so immediate that by clever use of overall reverb, I can move sections forward to get more presence for certain songs, or more natural reverb across them all.” Over time, the show has evolved to become more rhythmic. “Sting’s getting the percussionist to play more back beat, and If I didn’t have the DPAs I’d frankly be dead in the water by now,” says Page. “We’ve done all sorts of venues on this tour, including 40,000-capacity outdoor stadiums, the notoriously tricky Albert Hall and the reverberant Metropolitan Opera which is not designed to have microphones, and I couldn’t have done them with area miking, it doesn’t work.

“The beautiful thing about using the DPA 4099 is you turn it up and it sounds like a violin. The old contact mics didn’t give you the true texture of the violin sound, it gave you an edgy, screechy sound that you had to murder with EQ. I place the 4099s on the F hole on the top side of the violin, turn them up with no EQ, and they sound exactly like listening to the instrument. One of the most difficult challenges of doing this is instantly removed.” Page is convinced that the DPA 4099 instrument mic series will revolutionise orchestral miking. “Word about the DPA 4099 is, believe me, getting around,” he says. “Everyone raves about how the strings sound on this show, and the reviews all mention how rich the orchestra sounds.”

Saffire PRO 24 DSP Its 11pm, you’re at the most crucial stage of your track - the mix. The baby next door has just stopped crying, the city slicker is checking his stock portfolio and downstairs are dancing towards bed. But you’re just getting started. Unfortunately you’ve been told, wind your monitors down to whispering level, or wrap up the session. We all know you can’t mix on headphones - or can you? Imagine if you could use your headphones to hear your mix as you would in the studio. Imagine you could model an ideal control room, choose between 10 pairs of industry standard monitors, and select from different listening positions. Imagine being able to reference your mix on hi-ﬁ, radio, television or computer speakers, all through your headphones. The Safﬁre PRO 24 DSP comes with ‘VRM’ (Virtual Reference Monitoring) - a Focusrite technology that models different rooms, monitors and listening positions. VRM transforms headphones into listening environments that are essential for mixing. With VRM you

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The Aces of Bass

Five giants of an overshadowed instrument hit Chicago, with major reverberations By William Hageman Chicago Tribune Published April 24, 2005 Seldom does the spotlight find the bass player. He stands off to the side, the term “sideman” perfectly defining him. And though his beat is vital to his band, and his music memorable-even, at times, immortal-the guy on the bass guitar toils in virtual anonymity. “I think we’re overlooked a bit,” admits Bob Glaub. “But it’s not like I’m crying about sour milk. We’re overlooked because the musical instrument we play is not the focal instrument.” “We’re part-time legends,” adds a philosophical Donald “Duck” Dunn. Glaub, Dunn and three other of the greatest bass players ever-Jerry Scheff, Darryl Jones and Joe Osborn-are sitting by a fire upstairs at Webster’s Wine Bar in Chicago. They’ve got an hour before a meet-andgreet with fans to kick off three days of music and appearances celebrating the 10th anniversary last month of Chicago bass guitar maker Lakland. These guys are more than “part-time legends.” Jones recorded with Miles Davis and Sting and has been the Rolling Stones’ bassist since 1994. Dunn was a member of Booker T and the MGs, was in

Artists

the Blues Brothers band and has worked with Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. Scheff was in Elvis Presley’s band and has done studio work with the Doors, Barbra Streisand and Elvis Costello. Glaub’s resume includes session work with John Lennon, Warren Zevon, Donna Summer and John Prine. And Osborn played on 200 Top 40 hits, including classics with the Association, the Carpenters, Ricky Nelson and Johnny Rivers. Whether it’s Scheff’s haunting opening bass lines that set the mood for the Doors’ Riders on the Storm or Glaub’s bouncy work that propels Zevon’s Excitable Boy, their music is instantly recognizable-even if they aren’t. And that’s fine with them. “I was in New York 15 years ago,” Darryl Jones says, “and I walked past a little shop that had a T-shirt in the window that said ‘Almost Famous.’ And I thought, That’s me, and that’s OK.” In Jones’ view, even better than OK. “I see the guys I work with leaving the hotel and what that’s like,” he says of his Stones bandmates. “I think, that’d be cool for about 15 minutes. For me, I come into a bar like this, and maybe one person comes over and whispers, ‘Aren’t you . . . ?’ That’s cool for me.” Still, things have been changing. In the mid-’70s, they began getting credits on records. Now more people notice bass players, especially younger fans. “Before I left to come here,” Scheff says, “my 12-yearold stepson asked me to get Duck Dunn’s

autograph.” Eight years ago, Dan Lakin couldn’t have foreseen these five guitar heroes sitting together, talking about his instruments. His company, Lakland, grew out of his hobby of buying and selling old bass guitars. It just didn’t grow very well. “I was under the ‘Field of Dreams’ notion,” recalls Lakin, 40, sitting in his office in Lakland’s North Side factory. “If I built the best bass in the world, players would come.” Didn’t happen. Though the basses were exceptional, the marketing plan wasn’t. “The first five years were disastrous,” says Lakin, who lives in Wilmette. Family bailouts kept the firm afloat for a time. Then in 2000, a group of investors, longtime friends of Lakin’s, bought into the company. One change the new partners introduced was another line of basses. Laklands had been priced between $3,000 and $4,000, unattainable for most nonprofessionals. So they began the Skyline series, $1,000-$2,000 guitars that are partially built overseas and finished here. Another innovation was the artists program, which put Lakland guitars in the hands of musicians all over the country. Among those endorsing Laklands: U2’s Adam Clayton, Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, Phish’s Mike Gordon, the Pretenders’ Andy Hobson, Incubus’ Ben Kenney and the Wallflowers’ Greg Richling. And finally came the Signature series, guitars designed and built to the specs of Jones, Dunn, Glaub, Scheff and Osborn. Today Lakland’s in the black, selling from 1,700 to 2,000 guitars a year. “We’re not making money hand over fist by any means, but we’re keeping our heads above water,” Lakin says. What he learned as a hobbyist helped him when he started Lakland. “I got to see just about everything in the market when I was selling used basses,” he says. “What aspects of the basses I liked, I built.”

All the guitars are made to order, which is why it can take from a couple of weeks to a couple of months to get one. “Musicians know what they’re waiting for,” says Steve Barr, owner of Vintage Bass Trading Co. in Phoenix, who sells about 125 Laklands a year and who came in for the celebration. “I get a non-refundable 50 percent deposit to place the order, and they wait.” The difference in Laklands isn’t the materials, Barr says. “The quality of the materials is the best in the industry. However, a lot of guys have the same materials and can’t build an instrument as good as Dan’s.” One difference, he says, is stringent quality control-Barr sells instruments from 18 manufacturers, and Laklands have the fewest warranty issues by far, he says-and another, a big one, is Lakin’s innovations. For example, when five-string basses became popular in the 1980s, Lakin perfected the troublesome fifth string, the low B string, before anyone else. Lakland’s recent success was a central reason behind last month’s celebrationthe-meet and-greet, a Park West concert and a master class-which raised $10,000 for the Merit School of Music, a Chicago organization that provides music education for children. Jerry Scheff More photos by Jim Lorino.Jerry Scheff is at work in a rehearsal space at the Lakland factory. It’s late on the night before the “Raising the Bottom” concert at Park West, the centerpiece of Lakland’s threeday celebration. A couple dozen people are listening. Scheff tears through Along Comes Mary, Suspicious Minds, Riders on the Storm and a dazzling one-fingered performance of L.A. Woman, leaving his audience wideeyed. Duck Dunn and Bob Glaub are sitting off to one side with Dunn’s wife, June. When

Artists

Scheff finishes, June looks at Dunn and Glaub. “You boys should have practiced a little harder,” she says. Scheff, 64, began his music career in grammar school, playing the tuba. He switched to the bass viol in junior high. “I noticed I wasn’t getting the chicks with the tuba,” he says. At 14, he started playing standup bass in clubs like Jimbo’s Bop City in San Francisco, played in the Navy and got his first electric bass guitar when he got out of the service in 1962. Soon he was doing session work, beginning with a fledgling pop-folk group called the Association. A local record producer had a home studio, and the band, with Scheff’s help, cut its first album there in an hour. During the session, Scheff says he made two big errors in Along Comes Mary, but because the producer didn’t want any more takes, they went with what they had. “The very first time I heard myself on the radio, it was Along Comes Mary,” he says. “I was driving down Sunset Boulevard, and here comes that [mistake] in the ending. And I was mortified. That was the take they used. “What cured me was, a couple of years later I’m in a supermarket. And on the Muzak I hear Along Comes Mary. The studio band transcribed it exactly as I played it, mistakes and all. I figured if they didn’t care, I didn’t care.” These days he’s living in Scotland and working on a book about music. Later this month, he begins a European tour with the Elvis Presley TCB Band, a group of musicians and singers who perform live behind a filmed performance of Presley singing on a giant screen. “I don’t listen to myself a whole lot, things I’ve done,” he says. “I’m always looking forward.” Darryl Jones More photos by Dan Greaney. Being on the road is not the real world, says Dar-

ryl Jones, whose tours with the Stones can last 18 months or more. “Instead of problems like, ‘How am I going to pay my rent this month?’ it’s ‘My room’s not big enough!’” says the 43-year-old Chicago native. “Or you’re used to cold milk, and someone brings you lukewarm milk. Hey!” They have the best hotels, the best food and private jets, he says. “I’m playing two hours a night. To say it’s tough wouldn’t be fair to those guys playing in wedding bands. On the road with the Stones, it’s really a blessing.” Joe Osborn has a lot to be proud of, even beyond playing on 18 chart-topping hits. He once stood up to TV legend Ozzie Nelson. The producers of the old Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet show had decided to tack on a song by Ricky Nelson at the end of each telecast and Osborn was the bass player behind Ricky. The day after the first show, Ozzie Nelson came over at rehearsal and said, “Joe, can you smile a little bit, move around a little bit?” Osborn’s reply: “I don’t smile, I don’t dance. I just play the bass.” Nelson left him alone. Osborn has been playing the bass for nearly five decades. “I was playing guitar in a country band in Las Vegas in 1958,” he says. “The other guitarist was Roy Buchanan. One of us had to change to the bass. And I was it.” Soon he left the stage to do session work. That’s how he met the Carpenters. Richard and Karen Carpenter came to his garage studio one day to play behind an auditioning trumpeter. “Sometime that day, Karen sang a song. Remember Ebb Tide, the old standard? She sang that. She was 16, and already had that voice. She sang it like she’d been singing it 50 years.” That was the beginning of a long friendship and working relationship with the Carpenters.

“They didn’t have any money,” Osborn recalls. “Richard had all these songs he wanted recorded. So we did it off and on for a couple of years. Finally Richard took the tapes to A&M, and they got a record deal.” Osborn’s playing now is done at SandBox Recording in his hometown of Shreveport, La., a studio owned by his son, Darren. “We’re working with a couple of artists who could do something,” says the 67-year-old Osborn. “I wouldn’t give you 15 cents for any of the artists coming out now. But I may be on to something that’ll someday be heard commercially.” The 700-plus concertgoers got a memorable two-dozen-song show at the Park West, with each musician-backed by local band Tributosaurus-doing several hits on which he appeared. For the finale, all five performed Knock on Wood, an Eddie Floyd classic. And all five musicians were at center stage, playing in front of a wall of Ampeg SVT bass amps, not off in the shadows. “I like to have bass players stand where I can see them,” Lakin said. Many in the crowd weren’t born when the night’s songs were recorded. And even those in their 40s and 50s were experiencing a first. “It’s an amazing quantity of bass lines and parts they’ve contributed,” Lakin said. “But I’ve never seen them played. No one has. It was done in the studio, one time.” Darryl Jones is telling 40 students at the master class about auditioning for Miles Davis in New York. “It was very spy-like,” he says. “His nephew called me and said, ‘When you land, take a cab to the Howard Johnson’s at 57th and 8th and wait for my call.’

“So I did, and he called and said, ‘Go to 712 W. 71st St. and wait in the lobby.’ I’m in the lobby, and I see this steel-gray limousine pull up. “Vince, the nephew, gets out. Then Miles gets out, and they come in the building. Vince goes, ‘Miles, Darryl. Darryl, Miles.’ Miles looks at me, Miles looks at Vince. I look at Miles. I look at Vince. Miles says, [here Jones imitates Davis’ hoarse whisper] ‘Man, weird-looking dude.’ So we go upstairs in the elevator. I’m chewing gum, and Miles says, ‘Gimme a stick.’ I told him, ‘Sorry, it’s the last piece I have.’ And he says, ‘You mean you came all the way to New York, and brought only one stick of gum?’” The three went into an apartment where Jones auditioned. Afterward, Davis and his nephew went into another room. “Vince comes out and says, ‘You got it,’ “ Jones says. “’No,’ I said, ‘Let Miles tell me.’ “Vince goes back, then Miles comes out. He hits me on the shoulder, ‘You got it.’” Ask Bob Glaub to single out a favorite session or artist, and the 52-year-old musician can’t. “I had a great time playing with Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks,” he says, standing in a room full of unfinished basses at Lakland during a rehearsal break. “I got to play with Taj Mahal. So many great people. With John Lennon in the early ‘70s. Rod Stewart, I had a great time. . . . I got to play with Bob Dylan for a minute. Bruce Springsteen. A couple of records with the Doors. I got to play with Ringo on one of his albums. I can’t single anyone out.”

But the sessions for Warren Zevon’s 1978 album Excitable Boy do seem special. “Those sessions were great,” he says. “Real focused. Lots of creativity . . . “And there was a lot of humor. Warren had such a great sense of humor. I still miss him.” Duck Dunn is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer for his work with Booker T and the MGs-”still my first love”-but studio days with Otis Redding were special. “He was a star. He wore a halo,” says Dunn, sipping beer upstairs at Park West before the concert. “He made a better musician out of you with his ideas and his grooves.” No one ever said John Belushi wore a halo, but Dunn also got close to him during their “Blues Brothers” days. “John got a bad rap,” Dunn says. “That book that came out and all the stories after he died, that wasn’t John.”

Throat cancer (and 37 radiation treatments) and diabetes haven’t stopped the 63-year-old Dunn. He and June, his wife of 42 years, moved to Florida a few years back so he can fish and golf. And he still hits the road. A current version of Booker T and the MGs-featuring originals Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper and Dunn-starts a European tour later this month. Darryl Jones taught at a music convention in Italy recently. The lessons he imparted were more about life than music. “I walked onstage and said ‘I’m here to talk,’” he says. “And I reminded everyone what a privilege it is to be a musician. If you think about it before you pick up an instrument, you should endow what you play with a spirit. You endow it with love. “Anybody can stretch some strings, but only [Jimi] Hendrix could play what he played. There was that spirit or love, whatever. He was endowing it with reverence.

Bass combos beyond conventional! We started the bass amp 2.0 revolution with the award winning RH450 bass amp, but it’s far from over! So, join the revolution as bass amp 2.0 continues with two combos that combine tons of raw power with stunning tone shaping tools and an impressive list of unconventional features. Meet BG500 115 and BG500 210. Get ready to plug, play and groove. BG500 shares many features with the original RH450 which has already changed the way many bass players have come to think of amplification. Just ask Rocco Prestia of Tower of Power who made his very own version: Staccato’51. The powerful 500 Watt amps in the two models are identical and both have 1” Eminence tweeters, but you can choose from either 2x10” or 1x15” Eminence driver configurations.

Contact Details General Enquiries Telephone: +971-4-2665244 Telefax : +971-4-2626682 Email : info @ melodyhouse.ae Sales Support Dino Drimakis dino @ melodyhouse.ae Greg Cargopoulos greg @ melodyhouse.ae Simon Short simon @ melodyhouse.ae