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HC Confidential: Issue 169 5/20/12 11:28 AM in The Music Business by Anderton Anderton
"Issue 169   Topics     News     User Reviews     Foru m s     Articles     Videos     Classifieds     Dear Musician,   We’re ..."
Moog Music 40th Anniversary Minimoog Voyager XL 5/17/12 9:39 AM in Keyboards by Anderton Anderton
"This modern analog synthesizer takes the original Minimoog to the next level   By Craig Anderton   The Minimoog D was the analog synthesizer that put synthesis on the map. Before then, “Moog synthesizer” meant a giant, expensive ..."
Korg Pandora Mini Multieffects Processor 5/16/12 8:56 AM in Guitars by Jon Chappell Jon Chappell
"The latest in Korg’s miniature multi-effects makes all the right moves by delivering both better sound quality and a smaller footprint $225.00 MSRP, $99.99 Street   www.korgusa.com   By Jon Chappell     T he latest in ..."
HC Confidential: Issue 168 5/10/12 12:28 PM in The Music Business by Jon Chappell Jon Chappell
"Issue 168   Topics     News     User Reviews     Foru m s     Articles     Videos     Classifieds     Dear Musician,     Using Gear ..."
Lexicon MPX Native Reverb 5/10/12 3:35 AM in Recording & Production by Phil O'Keefe Phil O'Keefe
"Classic Lexicon Reverb In An Affordable Plugin   Mac / PC native (RTAS / VST / AU) reverb plugin. $299.95 MSRP, $199.95 "Street" www.lexiconpro.com By Phil O'Keefe     There are several different ways you can get reverb effects for your ..."
Spot Processing Using a DAW 5/8/12 11:37 AM in Recording & Production by Jon Chappell Jon Chappell
"A DAW offers two different ways to apply effects momentarily: plug-in automation and track-adding   by Jon Chappell   T he great thing about working with a DAW is that there is often more than one way to get a desired result . Take the example ..."
Orchestration for Dummies (or Rhythm Section Players) 5/8/12 11:21 AM in Band & Orchestra by Jon Chappell Jon Chappell
"A Guide to Scoring for Instruments Other than Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, and Drums By Jon Chappell     If you've ever seen a movie depicting a heroic battle or a huge natural phenomenon—like an earthquake, tsunami or intergalactic ..."
HC Confidential: Issue 167 5/6/12 10:42 PM in The Music Business by Anderton Anderton
"Issue 167   Topics     News     User Reviews     Foru m s     Articles     Videos     Classifieds     Dear Musician,       The ..."
Curves of Steal: Fabulous Frequency Felons 5/4/12 2:53 PM in Recording & Production by Anderton Anderton
"Psst, Want an EQ Curve? Used Only Once on a Hit?   By Craig Anderton   Bob Ludwig, Doug Sax, Bernie Grundman - they're masters of mastering. They produce hit after hit, with nothing at their disposal other than...well, experience, talent, great ..."
Unraveling the Mysteries of Amp Reverb 5/3/12 12:41 AM in Guitars by Phil O'Keefe Phil O'Keefe
"Troubleshooting, pan replacement, and tips on fine-tuning your amp's spring reverb for peak performance     By Phil O'Keefe     Recently, a question came up on the Harmony Central Effects forum from a member who was having issues ..."
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ARTICLE PREVIEWS

Installing an Acoustic Instrument Pickup Yourself

by Jon Chappell

I've made plenty of mods and repairs to my guitars in my time, and am no stranger to replacing pickups, broken jacks, worn and stripped tuning machines, and bridge assemblies. But these operations have all been performed on electric instruments where everything is made from the get-go to be modular (it makes for cheaper manufacturing as well as repair). In electric-land things come apart logically and mechanically — using traditional tools like screwdrivers, hex drivers, and wrenches.

That all goes out the window when you’re dealing with wood and glue, such as you find in the world of acoustic instruments. Shaving a saddle or filing a nut slot fills the normally electric-axe tinkerer with dread because it’s so easy to permanently mess up the instrument (or at least its playability). To borrow a phrase from the digital DAW world, it’s a destructive edit. You can’t get it back. The most common example of permanent, can’t-get-it-back modding is retrofitting an uplugged instrument for an onboard pickup.

The chief reason for this is that you have to drill a big, honkin’ hole in the gorgeous unblemished wood where there previously was none...

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Make Sample Playback Synths More Expressive

by Craig Anderton

Why be normal? With some basic editing, you can create your own signature sound from sample-based instruments.

Both hardware-based sample playback synths (like the Yamaha Motif, Korg M3, Roland Fantom series, etc.) and equivalent software-based plug-ins (e.g., Native Instruments Kontakt, IK SampleTank, MOTU Mach 5, and the like) can do so much more than just play back samples. In fact, with a little tweaking, you can obtain far more expressive patches. Sometimes even a simple parameter change or two is all you really need to customize a sound to fit your needs. Like what, you say? Well, like . . .

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Adventures in Lo-Fi for Bass Players

by Anderton

Yes, it's all the rage: Lo-fi music, where you mess up sound not because you lack experience or can't afford good gear, but because you want to mess it up - and mess it up good. In this article, we'll consider when bad things happen to good basses, and why that can be fun.

In terms of making connections, I like lo-fi sometimes, but there are limits - I still want the bass, along with the kick, to be the driving low-frequency force behind a tune. However, a lot of lo-fi boxes, while delivering cool effects, take away the rich low end we need to preserve.

Lo-fi works best for me when placed "on top" of the main bass sound, like chocolate syrup on a sundae. This requires a parallel effects connection so that the effect is added to the bass...

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