Author: Darth Fader

Tips for Recording Acoustic Guitar

Tips for Recording Acoustic Guitar

Posted by | Sep 24, 2015 | , , , , , |

Recording the acoustic guitar can be a bit difficult until you know a few tried and true techniques. Live2Play is here to help. By Darth Fader for the Live2Play Network Guitar aficionados know that the body of a guitar acts as an amplifier for the strings, and that guitar tone is affected by size, shape, internal bracing, type of wood and the player’s choice of strings. The sound also changes depending upon whether the player uses a pick or their fingers. A pick generally creates a brighter and louder sound, while fingerpicking tends to be lower in volume with...

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Live Sound 101: What Is Gain Structure?

Live Sound 101: What Is Gain Structure?

Posted by | Jan 3, 2015 | , , |

BY DARTH FADER Gain structure – yet another part of the Force that can either lift you into superstardom or kick your butt into the dark galaxy of oblivion. What is it? Why should you care? Let’s find out… The explosion of affordable PA gear that started in the ‘90s has been a double edged sword. On one side of the blade, bands could take gigs that would have been impossible before. The economics of renting a sound system meant that on a lower paying gig, the amount of money to rent a system and pay a sound tech...

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Darth fader on the Manny Marroquin Waves Plug-ins

Posted by | Jan 22, 2014 | |

Manny Marroquin is a star. Or as much of one as an engineer can be. Folks ranging from Alicia Keys and Lana Del Rey to Linkin Park and the Rolling Stones have turned to him for the certain something.    Waves has been doing engineer-specific bundles for a while now with Eddie Kramer and Chris Lord-Alge already in the stable. Now they are turning to one of the Young Guns to put together a bundle that epitomizes some of his typical signal processing setups. The Marroquin plugins include EQ,Delay, Reverb, Tone Shaper, Triple D and Distortion. Let’s break down each one of these….   EQ Marroquin EQ is a four-band equalizer augmented with high and low-pass filters. The tone shaping characteristics for each band were inspired by a variety of analog EQs including the Quad 8 console equalizer,Neve 1073, API 550B, Avalon 2055 and SSL 9000 Series console. I found this EQ very useful and musical on a variety of sources. The low-pass filter (LPF) is sorely missed from other plugins. By taking it down to 1.6 kHz and raising the HPF up to 40 Hz I could turn a modern kick into a retro Motown-type kick. On bass it was amazing how much I could punch up 110 Hz without making the bass sound sloppy, and cracking open the mid band at 1.6 kHz brought out finger noise...

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Audio Toys for Your iOS Device

Audio Toys for Your iOS Device

Posted by | Jan 4, 2014 | |

It is rumored that during the Rebellion, members of the Rebel Alliance were able to tap into the HoloNet and use their iPhones to send and receive coded messages on the Naboo Message Exchange.   In fact, the first time Luke Skywalker was captured he still had an iPhone 4S hidden in his boot — enabling him to make audio recordings of his captors and upload them to the NME.   More recently we have seen a variety of audio accessories and apps developed for the iPhone and other iOS devices. Let’s take a look at some of them.  ...

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Darth Conquers AES 2013

Darth Conquers AES 2013

Posted by | Dec 3, 2013 | |

Last month we looked at some of the highlights from the Fall 2013 AES in New York.  This month we’ll see what else was lurking in the shadows of Alaris Prime.   There were at least two recording devices of note at the show, though they are about as similar as narglatch and wampas.   Sony’s PCMD100 is a small handheld stereo recorder that stores audio to 32 GB of built-in flash memory and can be expanded via SD-XC memory cards.  Atop the PCMD100 like the eyes of an Amanin are a pair of condenser mics arranged in stereo...

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  • Darcy Kahn Chooses DiGiCo For DJ Logic Tour
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  • Celestion Debuts the G12 EVH Impulse Responses – Now You Can Digitally Download the Eddie Van Halen Signature Speaker Tone 
    Celestion, the premier manufacturer of guitar and bass loudspeakers with a celebrated history in creating the world’s renowned classic guitar tones, is pleased to introduce the new G12 EVH Impulse Response, as the latest addition to their acclaimed line of IRs, the definitive digital representations of the company’s classic guitar speaker tones. The G12 EVH […]
  • Gator’s Titan Series Boosts its Wireless System Line Up
    Gator Cases popular Titan Series has added several new wireless microphone system cases to the line up. Offering waterproof, military grade protection is now available in 6 additional models to fit Sennheiser AVX, EW and EW ENG wireless systems, Shure FP, QLXD, SLX, ULX, BLXR, and ULXD wireless systems, as well as Shure DC 5980 […]
  • Renkus-Heinz Proclaims Contact Distribution Distributor of the Year
    Toronto, ON, Canada-August 2018… Renkus-Heinz is delighted to name Contact Distribution of Canada its Distributor of the Year. Headed up by founder and Director Bill Coons, the Toronto-based firm has distributed Renkus-Heinz products since 2000, including installations in iconic performing arts centers; recital halls; a wide range of arenas, including NHL facilities; multiple city hall […]

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