The greatest thing about going digital for me was the fact that I can cut and paste sections and I could automate my faders. Two very simple things that completely changed the way my recordings sounded.

Back in the day, I used an old Tascam 4 track. It was good for what I was doing. I loved it. It wasn't until I started using my PC with n-Track and Pro Tools that I really discovered how much more flexible digital recording was.  read more »

Sometimes when I record, I think to myself...man did I get lucky. There's no way I could do this again if I had to. Sometimes you just get it exactly right.

For me, recording is the process of taking one track and building on it. I keep layering instruments and different parts as I see fit. Until, one day I listen back to it, and it seems almost magical.  read more »

When I record using effects, there's no particular order for the chain, but some things do work better than others. It all depends which effects I'm using.  read more »

When you think of a double neck guitar, you think of Jimmy Page rocking out on his Gibson SG EDS-1275. But L. Benito Guitars have created the first double neck guitar that has a neck on either side. There is a picture of it here.

This is a very interesting looking guitar. It features a six string on one side and a twelve string on the other. The sound hole goes all the way through. It looks very odd. I wonder how it plays?

I found this website called Guitar Nuts. It is a very informative website. I found this page</a> which covers how to resolve guitar noise. Check it out, they should be able to solve your problem. Unless you want that constant buzzing sound on your next CD?

When I record electric guitar, I require three things: A decent guitarist, using a decent guitar and getting decent tone from the amplifier. If I don't have those, the guitar sound is going to be rough. Sometimes there are a few things I can do to improve it, but it will not really be a great guitar sound. If there is an issue with the guitar sound, it's usually because of the player, the guitar or amplifier. Plain and simple.  read more »

Guitar Ceter's Guitarmageddon contest is back. They are having a King of the Blues contest. They are looking for the next great blues player. Is it you?

Guitar Center created 21 blues backing tracks, contestants will be judged on their ability to make the tracks your own. The competitors at the grand finals will be performing their track with a live band.

The prizes include:  read more »

I found the MJ Guitars website today. I was pretty impressed with their axes. Some really nice looking stuff. Great shapes and awesome finishes. I wonder how they play?

Check out the section called Custom Shop. They had some incredible custom guitars in there. I love the 1965 Mustang GT350 with the matching amp! The amp has exhaust ports on it and the guitar has a beautiful mustang inlay on the neck.  read more »

When I first moved into my house, I set up my studio and I used to keep everything unlocked. Now I'm a fanatic about locking my studio. There are a few reasons why.

The first is security. If someone breaks into your house, it's one more door they have to get through. Not too mention if you are spending lots of money on equipment, lock it up.

The second reason is my wife and kid. We have a 10 year old boy, who thinks everything in there is his toy. My wife used to go in there and clean sometimes, which would drive me nuts. So, neither of them have a key!  read more »

Frontier Design Group have created a wireless DAW controller called the TranzPort. Man, does this thing look cool!

If you're like me, you probably do a lot of your recording by yourself. Acting as talent and producer. This can be a bit frustrating at times. Especially when you screw up. You gotta get up, walk back over to the computer, restart your recording, sit back down, and perform flawlessly. Not always an easy task. Especially with a guitar strapped on.  read more »

Mixing is the process of taking all the tracks and blend them in a way that is sounds good to your ears. Mixing is extremely time consuming. I usually do all of my mixing after all of my main tracks are recorded.

I go through each track and listen for any flaws, noises, bad notes, pitch problems. I clean up each track so that all of the tracks are cleaned of any unwanted stuff (noises, breathing, string scratch, etc). I then listen to the tracks as a whole and correct any other issues such as timing.  read more »

A rock fight...

How'd you like to play on the Vans Warped Tour? Ernie Ball Music Man Battle of the Bands 10 is here! Last year they had over 10,000 bands enter. Check out the website.

Some of the prizes include:  read more »

I don't have a band right now, so when I record it's just me. I get to be the talent and the producer at the same time. Which is kind of a burden to be real honest. I can't always focus on the playing and vice-versa I don't get to put all of my attention on the recording.

I think a lot of musicians who record at home suffer from this same problem. Most of the time it's just you, in your room, doing your thing. I always wonder how much better my music would sound if I could pay 100% attention to the producing and full attention to just rocking out.  read more »

Samson has created the worlds first studio quality USB condenser microphone, it is called the Samson C01U. The Samson C01U is a large diaphragm hypercardioid condenser microphone with a built in pre-amp, analaog-to-digitial converter and a USB cable. What a great idea!

The Samson C01U comes standard with:

• Swivel mount
• Microphone bag
• USB Cable 10 feet

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I liked this site alot. Really fun looking stuff. Anyway, they had a few guitar pick sites that I thought were pretty interesting. Wow, I've sunk to a new low...I'm finding guitar picks interesting now.  read more »

You know, I love the internet. It's not as great as it used to be back in the day when you could download any song, album, movie, software, etc. that you wanted. But it's still pretty cool.

I just discovered this and I thought I'd share. It is a 392 page PDF file of the Beatles Complete Songbook for Guitar! Completely free.  read more »