Musician

On the technological side of the glass, everything is properly sorted. A sizeable mixing console, a couple of vintage valve amps, high-end studio monitors and a solid PC running DAW software. You’re ready to have a performer on the other side of the glass sing or play into that equally expensive microphone. Right?

In our article about contracts for musicians, we already touched on it: the technical rider. This is a document that lists all the ‘technical specifications’ of a band. There are many versions in circulation, varying greatly in quality. With a good rider, the on-site engineer knows exactly what to expect. What should a technical rider include? And what’s the difference between a technical rider and a hospitality rider?

This blog is dedicated to Stevie Ray Vaughan (3 October, 1954 – 27 August 1990), one of the most beloved blues guitarists of the late 20th century. With his band Double Trouble, he laid the foundations for the blues revival of the ’80s. More than 20 years after his tragic death, his influence is still clearly felt.

In this blog, we’ll be taking a look at the playing style and the gear of Jimi Hendrix. Over the years, his brilliant playing has inspired countless guitarists, and it still does to this day. His influence can be heard across the widest range of musical styles. Because of his early death, his own discography remained limited to just three studio albums: Axis: Bold as Love, Are You Experienced and Electric Ladyland. After his death, a stream of official and unofficial albums was released, of highly variable quality. What is it about a guitarist who died too young, with only three albums to his name, that still inspires guitarists and music lovers?

In our articles about musical instruments, the saxophone simply can’t be left out. It’s remarkable to see how this relatively young instrument – invented in 1840 – continues to hold its own in pop music and jazz. The saxophone is a popular instrument and features on countless classic tracks. We’ll cover the history of this ingenious wind instrument, along with the different types of sax, playing styles and techniques.

One of the questions we often get from our customer support team is: “how much does this guitar weigh?”. To give you a clearer idea of a guitar’s weight, we’ll take a closer look at it in this blog.

Steve Vai is regarded as a guitar virtuoso who has left his mark on rock music with his unique sound. Are you a beginner guitarist who wants to know more about how to get closer to his tone? Then read on!

In heavier styles of music, it’s often the case that you notice the bassist isn’t playing before you notice you can’t hear them anymore. Only a handful of bassists rise above that. Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz is definitely a bassist of whom you can say that. Most fans of heavy metal will know him simply as Robert Trujillo from Metallica. In this blog, you’ll read what it is about his bass playing style that gives him such a distinctive sound.

Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, Metallica’s latest album, is about to be released. With singles like “Hardwired”, “Moth Into Flame” and “Atlas, Rise!”, we’ve already had a pretty good warm-up – it’s shaping up to be a proper old-school album. When you think of Metallica, you probably think of frontman James Hetfield right away, who delivers both the brutal vocals and the tight rhythm parts. No one doubts he can play. So how can you get your guitar sounding like “Papa Het”? We’ll give you a few tips below!

You only realise how important the bass guitar is in music when it’s not there for a moment. The bass simply isn’t as upfront, and bass-guitar solos are few and far between. And if you do come across a bass solo, it’s often in an overplayed metal track. Guest blogger Marlies therefore went searching for lesser-known solos from funk and soul, among other genres—her favourites. Ten delicious bass solos in a row! Any additions?

The impulse response (IR) is a relatively new technology that can simulate a specific environment—a hall, room, studio space, the body of an acoustic guitar, and so on. At first, impulse responses were used for reverb effects, such as plug-ins in a digital audio workstation (DAW). These days, they’re also used for other applications.

Virtual hybrid, er… what? Plenty of keyboard players and producers wonder what virtual-analogue and hybrid (i.e. analogue-digital) synthesisers are, and what the difference is. Guest blogger and studio expert Freek Roffel, from Freaky Studio, explains how these VA synthesisers and hybrid synths originally evolved from the ‘pure’ analogue synthesiser. And where does Freek’s preference actually lie: analogue, virtual analogue, or analogue-digital?