MIXDOWN JANUARY 2015. ISSUE #249

M A D E

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ISSUE 249 J A N U A RY 2 0 1 5

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CONTENTS 6

GIVEAWAY

8

NEWS & TOURS

FORE WORD

12 THE INDUSTRIALIST 14 PRODUCT NEWS

26 TWERPS COLLARBONES 27 DAMIEN GERARD STUDIOS 28 UNLEASH YOUR INNER ROCK GOD WHAT’S THAT SOUND KEYS 30 (D)IGITAL (J)OCKEY HOME STUDIO HINTS 32 ON THE DOWNLOW BANGIN THE TUBS 33 WHAT’S MY RANGE AGAIN? 34 ROAD TESTED

Mixdown in 2015 will further aim to lift your spirits as we charge into the new year with an indepth look into the changing times of Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins who grace our cover amongst a slew of other amazing acts touring for Soundwave, Laneway Festival and new albums.

We’ve got a stack of product and industry news to feast your eyes on, new 2015 road tests to help with your first purchase of the year and columns that will answer every question on how to get your music sounding the way you like it!

DUNE RATS

TWERPS

PAGE 24

Further to all the usual informative hints and tips, we’ll be working hard this January to bring you some pretty sweet magazine and online developments that we look forward to introducing you to in February and March.

PUBLISHER Furst Media

In the meantime... Tune in. Read on. Drop out.

Mixdown.

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Keats Mulligan

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EDITOR IN CHIEF Aleksei Plinte mixdown@beat.com.au

GRAPHIC ARTISTS Michael Cusack, Ruby Furst

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COVER ART Michael Cusack

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ALEKSEI PLINTE EDITOR IN CHIEF

ADVERTISING Aleksei Plinte E: mixdown@beat.com.au Phone: (03) 8414 9704

CONTRIBUTORS Adrian Violi, Rob Gee, Peter Hodgson, Peter Vox, Christie Elizer, Augustus Welby, Michael Edney, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Adam Norris and Tyson Wray

EA WA

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It’s mandatory, but we mean it...Happy New Year folks! Yep, you’re probably either reading this with some sort of earnest appreciation that you’re living up to your New Year’s resolutions, or your experiencing those post celebratory blues and the realisation that the jolly fat man emptied his merry sack into someone else’s chimney this year... Regardless, it’s a great time of year for those post Christmas sales and the chance to visit your local store and pick yourself up a bargain! They’re out there, so first and foremost, get hunting!

EL E B RAT

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LAST MONTH’S WINNER

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MIXDOWN GIVE AWAYS

ACEBOOK.COM/MI X AT F

ZOOM H5 HANDY RECORDER GIVEAWAY

NICK CAVE GIVEAWAY

It’s giveaway time again! This January issue we’re thrilled to give you the chance to win this awesome Zoom H5 Handy Recorder with thanks to Zoom’s Australian distributor and our good friends over at Dynamic Music. Zoom are the leaders in portable recording technology and the H5 is one of their premium products. With interchangeable microphone capsules and powered by only two AA batteries, the H5 handy recorder offers up to 15 hours of top quality audio recording in a diverse range of practical applications. Be it film, music or just for ordinary voice memo purposes, this compact unit is capable of just about recording any audio signal within range. For your chance to win this amazing prize, all you have to do is follow the steps below.

HOW TO ENTER: STEP 1. Like our Mixdown Magazine Facebook page www.facebook.com/mixdownmagazine AND like/share our Zoom H5 Handy Recorder Giveaway post.

A massive thanks to everyone who entered the Nick Cave Prize Pack competition. Each month we receive a stack of entries, and each month we can only choose one winner!

STEP 2. E-mail your full name and postal address to mixdownstaff@beat.com.au and answer the following question.

This month the lucky winner is Kym Whiting of Avoca Beach in New South Wales! You’ve won this great package which includes a copy of 20,000 Days On Earth on DVD, a copy of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds latest record Push The Sky Away on both vinyl and CD, a copy Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Live From KCRW on CD and a 20,000 Days On Earth poster courtesy of Madman Entertainment.

Which of the following does the Zoom H5 Handy Recorder include? a) A Chromatic tuner b) A Metronome c) A Backlit LCD Display d) All of the above

We hope you enjoy getting well immersed in all this new Nick Cave music Kym! Thanks to everyone who entered. Keep those giveaway entries flowing, you never know, next month you might be our lucky Mixdown reader!

*This giveaway is for Australian residents only and one entry per person. All winners agree to have their name and photo published in the magazine and online with their prize.

For more awesome monthly Mixdown Giveaways, be sure to LIKE our Mixdown Magazine facebook page at www.facebook.com/mixdownmagazine and regularly check our Giveaways page on www.mixdownmag.com.au

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NEWS & TOURS BELLE AND SEBASTIAN

After a four year absence since their last national tour, Belle and Sebastian will return to Australia this Summer. The tour is on the back of their ninth studio release Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance, which will be released via Matador Records / Remote Control on Friday January 16 in Australia. The album is the long awaited follow-up to 2010’s Write About Love and was produced and mixed at Maze Studios in Atlanta USA by Ben H. Allen III (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Washed Out). The album was mastered by Frank Arkwright and features

additional mixing from longtime collaborator Tony Dooga. With a live performance renowned you won’t want to miss these shows.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 28 - THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE QLD JANUARY 29 - ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY NSW FEBRUARY 1 - PALAIS THEATRE, MELBOURNE VIC FEBRUARY 3 - ASTOR THEATRE, PERTH WA

NEEDTOBREATHE

Heading down to Australian shores for the very first time, NEEDTOBREATHE will be featuring on the World Vision ‘Make A Difference’ tour. Making a name for themselves as one of America’s finest modern rock exports after hitting #3 on the Billboard Albums Charts, NEEDTOBREATHE are set to release their new full length, Rivers In The Wasteland. It is the band’s first major release in Australia. The album’s lead single ‘The Heart’ is a stomping southern rock n’ roll anthem reminiscent of The Lumineers and Of Monsters and Men, ushering in a new era for the band who after having spent much of their career increasing their production and largesse, are getting back to the essence of the songs. With standout sets at major festivals like Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits in their

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS

THE MATCHES

Following the release of their new album Wig Out At Jagbags, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks return to Australia for a number of headline shows and an appearance at Golden Plains. The band’s fourth tour (and Stephen’s eleventh if you include Pavement visits) of Australia will see them perform at intimate headline shows around the nation. The album Wig Out At Jagbags was produced by the band and Remko Schouten, the Dutch soundman of Pavement fame, and owner of IJland Studio in East Amsterdam. The album is a former RRR and Double J album of

In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of their breakthrough debut album E. Von Dhal Killed The Locals, The Matches are dusting off the cobwebs and are packing their bags and heading to our shores this January. They’ll be playing the album from start to finish whilst including other classics.

With the original line up of Justin SanSouci, Jon Devoto, Matthew Whalen and Shawn Harris, the band are coming together to honour their now adult Australian fans and nostalgiasts with a one off tour, performing the album that kick started

the week and featured the singles ‘Lariat’ and ‘Cinnamon and Lesbians’.

TOUR DATES FEBRUARY 22 – PERTH INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL, PERTH WA FEBRUARY 25 – THE GOV, ADELAIDE SA FEBRUARY 26 – REPUBLIC BAR, HOBART TAS FEBRUARY 27 – MELBOURNE ZOO, MELBOURNE VIC FEBRUARY 28 – THE ZOO, BRISBANE QLD MARCH 1 – ANITA’S THEATRE, WOLLONGONG NSW MARCH 3 – NEWTOWN SOCIAL CLUB, SYDNEY NSW MARCH 4 – GOODGOD SMALL CLUB, SYDNEY NSW

PG. 8 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

RIVERS IN THE WASTELAND WILL BE RELEASED ON DECEMBER 5 THROUGH WARNER MUSIC AUSTRALIA.

TOUR DATES FEBRUARY 11 - HORDERN PAVILLION, SYDNEY NSW FEBRUARY 12 - ROYAL THEATRE, CANBERRA ACT FEBRUARY 13 - FESTIVAL HALL, MELBOURNE VIC FEBRUARY 14 - ADELAIDE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, ADELAIDE SA FEBRUARY 16 - HBF STADIUM, PERTH WA FEBRUARY 18 - DERWENT ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, HOBART TAS FEBRUARY 20 - BRISBANE RIVERSTAGE, BRISBANE QLD FEBRUARY 21 - NEWCASTLE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, NEWCASTLE NSW

it all in their favourite country. Don’t miss one of the most electrifying live bands you’ll ever see.

This is a party you don’t want to miss.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 9 – AMPLIFIER BAR, PERTH WA JANUARY 10 – FOWLERS LIVE, ADELAIDE SA JANUARY 15 – BRIGHTSIDE, BRISBANE QLD JANUARY 16 – OXFORD ART FACTORY, SYDNEY NSW JANUARY 17 – THE CORNER HOTEL , MELBOURNE VIC

JURASSIC 5

BODY/HEAD

Body/Head, the contemporary guitar duo comprised of legendary Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and seminal experimental instrumentalist Bill Nace, are heading to Australia to play both Sugar Mountain and Sydney Festival. Though somewhat of a new venture with only one album released, 2013’s Coming Apart, both members of Body/Head are revered in their own right for their own work spanning over the past few

home country, followed by a successful tour of the United Kingdom and Europe, the band are taking the world one continent at a time.

decades. It’s an intriguing and an experimental composition. One that’s sure to inspire and excite anyone fascinated with alternative rock, experimental rock or noise music.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 22 – SYDNEY FESTIVAL, SYDNEY NSW JANUARY 24 – SUGAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL, MELBOURNE VIC

Seminal 90’s Hip Hop group Jurassic 5 have reunited in recent years, and are heading down under to play the legendary Byron Bay Bluesfest.

While that’s great news for ticketholders, for fans of J5 that missed out on tickets, or for one reason of another can’t make it to the festival, today brings good news.Today the group has announced a string of sideshows to coincide with their Bluesfest performance. The full 6-member tribe will be stopping off at Newcastle, Sydney,

Melbourne and Brisbane to perform tracks from their impressive and undeniably influential back catalogue.

TOUR DATES MARCH 26 - PANTHERS, NEWCASTLE NSW MARCH 28 - ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY NSW APRIL 1 - FESTIVAL HALL, MELBOURNE VIC APRIL 4 - THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE QLD

NEWS & TOURS OMAR SOULEYMAN

Omar Souleyman is heading down to Australia again in January next year for his third national tour. This time around he’ll be swinging by the Sydney Festival as well as MOFO in Tasmania on top of shows in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth for the Fringe Festival to support his 2013 release Wenu Wenu, produced by Four Tet and out through Dimino Recording Company. Omar Souleyman is a legend of Middle Eastern music and has been entertaining audiences the world over with his contemporary take on traditional

DRAKE

Middle Eastern music. It’s a performance not to be missed.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 16 - SYDNEY FESTIVAL, SYDNEY NSW JANUARY 17 – MOFO, HOBART TAS JANUARY 19- THE CORNER, MELBOURNE VIC JANUARY 21 - THE BRIGHTSIDE, BRISBANE QLD JANUARY 23 - WORLD FRINGE FESTIVAL, PERTH WA

Hip-Hop’s golden child Drake is heading to Australia for his first ever headline shows. While he’s in the country for the Future Music Festival, Drake will also play sideshows in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth with special guest 2 Chainz supporting him at each of the performances. Drake’s rise to the top has been swift. He is the poster boy of contemporary Hip Hop and a modern pop culture icon. He’s moved from relative obscurity to collaborating with the likes of Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, Nicky Minaj and Kanye West in what seems like no time. Drake’s

first trip to Australia will be talked about for many years to come. Make sure you grab tickets before they sell out!

TOUR DATES FEBRUARY 25 – ALLPHONES ARENA, SYDNEY NSW FEBRUARY 27 – ROD LAVER ARENA, MELBOURNE VIC MARCH 3 – PERTH ARENA, PERTH WA MARCH 5 – ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, BRISBANE QLD

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PG. 9 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

NEWS & TOURS THE 2 BEARS

DAN DEACON

Dan Deacons is not far from arriving in Australia for a string of summer festival performances, and on top of that, he’s just announced the release of his newest album Gliss Riffer, scheduled for February 20. Gliss Riffer marks a shift in style for Deacon, who’s been focused on larger, bolder ensemble based recordings in his most recent albums. Gliss Riffer takes a decidedly different approach to songwriting, a simpler self produced release reminiscent of 2007’s Spiderman of the Rings. A full, lush and layered album that

encapsulates everything we know and love about Dan Deacon, while exploring some previously hidden elements of his repertoire.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 18 - MONA FOMA FESTIVAL, HOBART TAS JANUARY 22 - THE AURORA AT SYDNEY FESTIVAL, SYDNEY NSW JANUARY 24 - SUGAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL, MELBOURNE VIC JANUARY 25 - THE BRIGHTSIDE, BRISBANE QLD

PETER BIBBY

Ahead of setting out on tour with the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Peter Bibby has released his first official single ‘Hates My Boozin’ from his debut record Butcher/Hairstylist/Beautician. The release of this single, coupled with his recent addition to the Laneway line up has made 2014 an incredible year for the young artist. Precious few are afforded the opportunity to play a festival of that magnitude after a lifetime of work, let alone this early on in their career. It’s

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Australia for a whirlwind tour playing four shows across three days.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 24 – SUGAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL, MELBOURNE VIC JANUARY 24 – ALHAMBRA LOUNGE, BRISBANE QLD JANUARY 25 – BEACH ROAD HOTEL, SYDNEY NSW JANUARY 26 – THE CONSERVATORY, PERTH WA

SLOW CLUB

a testament to the quality of the young, albeit world-weary Bibby.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 31 - BRISBANE SHOWGROUNDS, BRISBANE QLD FEBRUARY 1 - SYDNEY COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, SYDNEY NSW FEBRUARY 6 - HARTS MILL, ADELAIDE SA FEBRUARY 7 - FOOTSCRAY COMMUNITY ARTS CENTRE, MELBOURNE VIC FEBRUARY 8 - ESPLANADE RESERVE, FREMANTLE WA

SPOON

American rockers Spoon have announced an Australian tour, their first trip down under since they were here for Groovin’ the Moo in 2010.

They return this time in support of their latest release They Want My Soul, which is out now via Spunk Records. This time around the Austin natives will feature multi instrumentalist Alex Fischel, previously a member of Divine Fits who toured Australia themselves as a part of the 2013 St Jeromes Laneway Festival. Spoon are

London House duo The 2 Bears are returning to Australia for handful of Australian shows, including a performance at Melbourne’s Sugar Mountain Festival. The outfit, comprising of Joe Goddard of Hot Chip and Raf Daddy released their debut album at the beginning of 2012.

Now in 2014 they’ve returned with their second release The Night Is Young, which has already won considerable praise from British press including The Guardian and NME. They’ll be in

UK boy-girl duo Slow Club are returning to Australia for a string of dates this January. The ‘anti-folk’ outfit will be down here in support of their latest release Complete Surrender¸ which sees the pair experiment with fusing rockabilly elements and incandescent harmonizing.

Though sonically they appear at first to be a rather rudimentary folk outfit, there’s a depth to Slow Club that’s rarely found in modern music, a

self-reflexive ability paired with a sharp wit that separates them from the pack.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 15 – NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB, MELBOURNE VIC JANUARY 16 – BLACK BEAR LODGE, BRISBANE QLD JANUARY 17 – NEWTOWN SOCIAL CLUB, SYDNEY NSW

#1 DADS

long standing festival favourites, not just here, but around the globe, with an irreverence that’s unmatched in mainstream music.

TOUR DATES FEBRUARY 10 – THE HIFI, BRISBANE QLD FEBRUARY 11 – THE FORUM, MELBOURNE VIC FEBRUARY 14 – METRO, SYDNEY NSW

Tom Scary (Tom Iansek of Big Scary) is #1 Dads. To bring to life his sophomore album About Face, Tom will be joined on stage by a full band and guest performances from Tom Snowdon and Ainslie Wills to bring their remarkable singles to life. #1 Dads began as a way for Melbourne producer Tom Scary to remain creative between Big Scary album cycles, touring, and his production work for others (Step-Panther, Airling, Montgomery).

2014 has seen Tom Scary put his mark on the Australian airwaves as one of our most diverse working musicians, with an ear for song structure, subtle beauty and just the right amount of raw.

TOUR DATES JANUARY 23 - THE BRIGHTSIDE, BRISBANE QLD JANUARY 31 - NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB, MELBOURNE VIC

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THE INDUSTRIALIST MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS WITH CHRISTIE ELIZER

For content submissions to th is column please email to celizer@netspace.net.au SWEAT IT OUT & MAKER WIN CUP FOR SECOND YEAR

The combined team of Sweat It Out and Maker won the Musica Copa for a second time. Aided by fancy footwork from players What So Not and Motez, they belted the OneLove team and managed to give $5000 to their chosen charity, St Vincent De Paul Society. OneLove donated their $4000 to beyondblue. MTV brushed Mushroom aside to reach third place and handed over their $3000 prize to their chosen charity, St Vincent De Paul Society. The grand final was held at the Marrickville’s KIKOFF Soccer Centre.

AUSSIE ISPs GIVEN 120 DAYS TO DEVISE A CODE

The Australian Government has given Australian ISPs 120 days to come up with an industry code to “take reasonable steps” to block copyright infringement on their networks. If they don’t by April 8, then the Government will impose its own code. Federal communications minister Malcolm Turnbull and Attorney-General George Brandis accept that the issue of online copyright infringing is a “complex task with shared responsibility between rights holders.” In new rules presented to Cabinet for approval, infringing consumers will not be punished or have their internet speeds slowed down, but their access to overseas websites with pirated material will be blocked.

Consumer rights groups argue that illegal downloading in Australia is due to higher prices and lack of access to shows, and any attempt to combat it must address those factors. A recent survey by Choice found Aussies who pirate are avid consumers and are more likely to also buy content through legal downloads and subscriptions. 33% of Aussies illegally download, but 49% of these pay for more content than they pirate. 8% don’t pay. 29% of infringers pay for additional content on iTunes, compared to 18% of the population. They’re also twice as likely to have a Quickflix account compared to the general population.

entry points and stop you entering – you will be stopped!” Footage of the brawl, which saw a man get knocked out from behind, went viral.

IMPULSE ENTERTAINMENT BUYS MUSICSHOP.COM.AU

Brisbane based wholesaler Impulse Entertainment acquired online retailer MusicShop.com.au. The Music Shop began 30 years ago as a bricks and mortar retailer. Impulse boss Craig Thompson said, “coupled with our existing logistics expertise and digital presence, we believe we can revitalize The Music Shop for the 21st century.”

More items will be added to its vinyl, CDs, DVDs, blu-ray, music books and audio accessories.

Impulse began in 1998 in a garage, and now has 55 staffers. Along the way buying Satellite Entertainment, Countrywide Music and One Stop Entertainment.

NOMINATIONS CALL FOR AUSTRALIAN JAZZ BELL AWARDS

Nominations have opened for the 2015 Australian Jazz Bell Awards, held in Melbourne on April 30.

Each of the eight categories has a $5,000 cash prize. For more info visit www.bellawards.org.

Nominations close on February 11.

TELSTRA CONNECTING AT BYRON PARKLANDS

Telstra will provide connection to its mobile users at North Byron Parklands where Splendour In The Grass and Falls Festival are staged. It will supply two portable base stations known as COWs (Cells On Wheels) for future events at the site, providing access for mobile voice and 3G/4G data.

DAINTY TAKES GREATER STAKE IN BANGTANGO

Concert and theatre promoter Dainty Group increased its stake in premium ticket provider BangTango, which offers sponsorship and ticketing packages to first-access tickets.

BangTango has done these services as early sale tix and VIP meet and greets for tours such as Bon Jovi and Katy Perry. Paul Dainty says BangTango-driven sponsorships can sell up to 50,000 tickets, “the equivalent to an additional, incremental, arena show in each market.”

APRA AMCOS PAID $46M FOR LIVE PERFORMANCES

JODIE REGAN MANAGING FASCINATOR

Award winning Perth manager Jodie Regan, whose clients include Tame Impala, Felicity Groom, The Silents and Pond, added Fascinator to her Spinning Top firm. Fascinator is the psychedelic project of Children Collide’s Johnny Mackay.

BIGSOUND GETS NEW PRODUCER

This year’s BIGSOUND in Brisbane has a new producer, Denise Foley, who last month stepped down as Executive Officer of QMjusic after nine years. She will work with new QMusic EO Joel Edmondson and BIGSOUND Programmer Nick O’Byrne to grow the event.

SYDNEY VENUES UPDATE

A new bar in Mona Vale, the La de Da bar and restaurant, is showcasing live music. It’s run by Skunkhour’s Aya Larkin, DJ Marcus King and designers Rick Vaughan and Paul Brabenec. Two venues which host live music changed hands.

The Cock & Bull in Bondi Junction was bought for a reported $25 million. The Golden Sheaf in Double Bay went for $41 million.

STEREOSONIC TO INTRODUCE DRESS CODE

A brawl involving 20 idiots at the Sydney leg of Stereosonic has prompted festival co-founder Frank Cotela to lambast them for bringing their “roided up bro’s muscle culture” to the event.

“Brother, EVERYONE is laughing at your shorts, singlets, fake tans, bumbags and cartoon shaped bodies, but more importantly, we are sick of the charged up violence you bring. It’s time for a change. If it means that we will profile you at PG. 12 / mixdowN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

APRA AMCOS members shared over $46 million from live performances in the last quarter of 2014. Of this, $6 million was in overseas royalties.

These payments were calculated through Live Performance Returns (LPRs), which have shown a 51% increase in the last ten years due to the healthy live sector in Australia. The number of works paid was 641,626. The number of local works paid was 219,227, with 26,382 Aussie writers getting royalties. In 2015, APRA AMCOS will launch an app to allow members save setlists and submit LPRs whenever suits. LPR payments move quarterly from November.

The need for acts to be registered was pointed out at the Electronic Music Conference in Sydney.

There are 700 dance-floors in Australia spinning 15 tracks per hour at $1.33 a spin, and creating a total of $7 million to share. But if you’re not registered, panelists said, it’s hard to claw it back.

GOLDEN GUITARS SCORE TOYOTA AND TEN SPONSORSHIPS

Country music’s Golden Guitar awards have got Toyota coming on board as naming rights sponsor and Southern Cross Ten as its broadcasting sponsor to screen it through its regional channel 11 networks. The awards are held on Saturday January 24 in Tamworth, for their 43rd year.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS #1: RDIO’S ‘ARTIST TO WATCH’

Music streaming service Rdio Australia is launching a new program called Artist To Watch to provide additional focus for local acts. The idea was launched in the U.S. earlier this year, where the likes of BANKS, Haerts and Strange Talk acted as hosts, discussing their influences and providing an insight into their songs. The Australian version goes live this month, with rapper MC Tkay Midza taking the reins.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS #2: WORLD ELECTRONIC MUSIC CONTEST

Fame Music and Ministry of Sound Australia are

on the hunt to uncover the next producer/DJ talent via the World Electronic Music Contest. The winner gets to produce and engineer records at Studio 301, an overseas release by MOS, two club gigs including Pacha Sydney, latest gear from Native Instruments and mentoring from two EDM acts. Judges include SCNDL, MOS A&R Dylan Sanders and Studio 301 Manager Ben Feggans.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS #3: MTV BRAND NEW

In the UK, MTV Brand New helped Sam Smith, Florence & The Machine, Adele and Jessie J gain global success. It comes to Australia and NZ in April to find the best emerging signed acts over a ten week run.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS #4: JMC TUTORS

The JMC Academy in South Melbourne is looking for music/entertainment industry professionals to teach in its Bachelor of Entertainment (Business Management). The units are for Event Management, Introductory Marketing, Professional Communication and Integrated Publicity and Promotions. Formal qualifications will be taken seriously, but extensive music/ entertainment industry experience is essential.

Successful candidates start the week beginning Monday February 16. More info, contact Head of Department Simon Smith on (03) 9624 2929 and forward resumes to ssmith@jmc.edu.au.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS #5: ARTS ADMINISTRATION COURSE

Independent not-for-profit organization Creating Australia is offering a new course. A Certificate IV in Arts Administration: Community Arts & Cultural Development. For more info visit www.creatingaustralia.org.au

APPLE LOSES ‘APP STORE’ APPEAL IN AUSTRALIA

Apple lost its appeal to trademark “app store” in Australia. The Federal Court ruled “Apple has not established that, because of the extent to which it has used the mark before the filing date, it does distinguish the designated services as being Apple’s services.” It can use the term in this country, but cannot stop other services from using it.

YARRA COUNCIL HELPS TWO VENUES

As part of its new Live Music Venues Grants scheme, City of Yarra in Melbourne provided $1400 to Clifton Hill bar Some Velvet Morning to install double glazed windows and add insulation to a door frame. They also provided $2,000 to Fitzroy’s The Old Bar to replace its bi-folds doors with a heavier system. Funds are available in the grants pool, go to yarracityarts.com.au

CHET FAKER MOST STREAMED AUSSIE ACT ON SPOTIFY

Chet Faker was the most streamed Australian act on Spotify in 2014. He was followed by Flume, Iggy Azalea, Vance Joy, Sia, 5 Seconds of Summer, Hilltop Hoods, Angus & Julia Stone, Rufus and INXS. The most streamed Australian song was Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’, and the most streamed Australian album was Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic. The three most streamed artists In Australia were Ed Sheeran (whose X was also most streamed album in Australia) Coldplay and Eminem. The three most streamed tracks in Oz were Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’, Clean Bandit’s ‘Rather Be’ and Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’.

NEW HOME FOR MUSIC SA

South Australia’s peak music association has moved to its new home at St Paul’s Creative Centre, at 200 Pultney Street (corner of Flinders St). The association returns to action on Monday January 5, lead by newly appointed General Manager Lisa Bishop. She said “There is currently unprecedented support for contemporary music in South Australia from policy makers across all levels of government. I’m thrilled to be working with the Music SA board and staff to drive positive change that capitalizes on the current local and state government support, the recommendations of the Thinker’s Report and the outstanding achievements of Music SA to date.”

CHECK YOUR WIRELESS MICROPHONE

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is urging clubs, schools, businesses and other community organizations to check their wireless microphones to see if they can continue to use them after January 1. Wireless mics using the 694-820 megahertz can’t be operated and must be retuned.

DERRINGER MUSIC BLUES WINNERS

Winners at the 7th Derringers Music Blues Awards were announced at the Deep South Blues & Roots Festival. They were Zkye Compson-Harris (Outstanding Female Performer), Mick Kidd (Male Performer), Mick Kidd & Dave Blight (Solo/Duo), Lazy Eye (Group), Chris Finnen (Instrumentalist) and Benny C and The Associates (Rising Talent).

THINGS WE HEAR * In Melbourne, a petition with 500 signatures was presented to Lord Mayor Robert Doyle to name a laneway after Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum.

Moll’s friends in the music biz reckon that, given his profile and contribution, he should get something larger like Meldrum Road or Meldrum Parade. * NSW festival goers continue to support their own. Two inaugural festivals held last month, Vanfest in Forbes, and the rebranded Majors Creek Festival, say they’ll be back this year after better-than-expected attendances. * Two fans landed themselves in court over their behavior. A drunk 27 year old plasterer copped a $500 fine after he twirled his (Cosby?) sweater above his head at a Hilltop Hoods show in Mackay, and flung it at the stage.

Over in Townsville, a 20-year pleaded guilty to supplying drugs. He explained he’d turned up to the Groovin’ The Moo festival with an E-tab, panicked when he saw cops and sniffer dogs at the gate, and tried to sell it off outside for $30 when he was spotted by the cops.

* A national weekly indigenous music show called Deadly Voices From The House hits the airways this year on the Community Radio Network and National Indigenous Radio Service. It will be produced in the studios of the Sydney Opera House where its host, Rhoda Roberts, works as Head of Indigenous Programming. * Original AC/DC singer Dave Evans is a big name in Russia and Ukraine, following tours there, his new EP What About Tomorrow is getting plenty of airplay there. * Northern Territory singer songwriter Gurrumul Yunupingu has asked Prof. Fiona Stanley AC to join the board of the Gurrumul Yunupingu Foundation alongside his producer and collaborator Michael Hohnen and record label chief Mark T. Grose of Skinnyfish Music.

The Foundation was set up in April 2013 to expand opportunities and welfare for indigenous communities. The highly decorated Stanley’s background in indigenous and child health will come in handy, not to mention the fact she’s a big fan of his music.

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PRODUCT NEWS DV MARK 40 212 TUBE AMPLIFIER

DV Mark has really hit the ground running. Since entering the amplifier market they’ve developed a complete range of light weight medium to high powered tube heads and combos. The DV Mark 40 212 is a 40 watt all tube two channel amplifier powered by a matched pair of EL34s into two custom DV Mark 12” neodymium speakers. All this is contained within an intelligently designed housing and only weighs a staggering 16kgs.

With a range of capabilities and dynamics, DV

Mark as we’ve seen for some time now are really making themselves known as a genuine player in the amplifier market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DV MARK RANGE OF AMPLIFIERS CONTACT CMC MUSIC AT WWW.CMCMUSIC.COM.AU OR ON (02) 9905 2511.

KLOTZ KEYMASTER CABLES

German manufacturer Klotz have been putting out top shelf products for some time, and are recorded as leaders in their field. Now their best-selling KIK cable is available in a keyboard configuration. These Keymaster cables are high performance products that feature reliable handling, high mechanical resilience and great capacitance at a reasonable price. Keymaster

cables come with a five year guarantee and are available at all good music stores.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE KLOTZ RANGE OF PRODUCTS CONTACT CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA AT WWW.CMCMUSIC.COM.AU OR ON (02) 9905 2511.

NCAT CERTIFICATE IV IN MUSIC

AIM AUDIO ENGINEERING COURSES

Plenty of aspiring audio engineers are attracted to the field because their excited by the prospect of working in a professional recording studio, but while opportunities in this field exist, it’s an incredibly competitive professional pursuit.

At the Australian Institute of Music (AIM), their courses in audio engineering don’t only encompass the skills required to make it in the studio, but also recognize that audio engineers are required in a vast number of positions. At AIM the audio engineering courses include practical training in fields such as music post-production, PG. 14 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

live production and media production. While some skills learned in the studio are applicable in these fields, but a degree of environment specific skill is still required. At AIM the goal is to train students thoroughly in all the necessary areas, to make them ready to operate in all fields.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT AUDIO ENGINEERING AND MUSIC COURSES AT AIM, VISIT WWW.AIM.EDU.AU.

Gaining valuable experience in a music course is essential. Every student wants to better themselves and become the best musician they can be, but getting out of the classroom to head out on tour all in the name of schoolwork? Surely that has to be the dream learning experience for any aspiring musician. That’s exactly the approach NCAT take with their Certificate IV in Music. Last year when Rebecca Barnard joined the Music staff at NCAT she proposed taking students into the realm of live performance to teach them the fundamentals of stage craft to further their abilities as a musician. After studying the theoretical components of the nationally approved certificate and gaining competency in the required units, students were afforded the opportunity to head out on tour on the west

coast of Victoria from Geelong through Colac, Camperdown, Lorne and Airies Inlet at a range of schools, clubs and pubs. The students weren’t only responsible for performing, but also for the publicity, planning, set up, lighting and mixing.

It’s a unique and beneficial experience, and one only offered by NCAT. Numbers are strictly limited for the 2015 course intake and as a result of being delivered in a state funded education facility, the course carries no tuition fees.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MUSIC AND SOUND PRODUCTION COURSES AT NCAT VISIT WWW.NCAT.VIC.EDU.AU. OR PHONE (03) 9478 1333.

PRODUCT NEWS BLUE MICROPHONES – USB YETI STUDIO

NEW 2015 MAPEX SNARE DRUMS Mapex Introduces 3 new exciting ‘Black Panther’ Artist Snare Drums to it’s world class range available in Australia March 1, 2015.

The Warbird

a rounded non-reinforced 35° bearing edge on the snare side. Retailing at $699, this is the only Mapex snare drum that features Mahogany and is fitted with a Remo Fiberskyn 3 batter head.

This is a great snare for any studio or general setting.

The Wraith

There’s not much that’s missing from the Blue Yeti. It’s studio-grade, multi-pattern USB microphone and it’s incredible, ongoing success in the market has certainly proven its worth.

There’s just one main point that has needed to be improved upon, software. The Blue Yeti Studio is the solution. It’s the same microphone that we all know now ships with Presonus Studio One Artist and iZotope Nectar Elements. You don’t need to be a famous producer to create studio-quality recordings. PreSonus Studio One Artist Blue Microphones Edition recording software gives you professional tools and intuitive workflows to help you start recording fast, just hit record and go! Capture your voice for podcasts, voice-over projects or audio for YouTube videos. Stack up multiple tracks of vocals and instruments and create fully produced songs. Edit your tracks on screen with ease, and even piece together multiple takes to sculpt the perfect vocal performance. Also included in the package is Nectar Elements, which is a vocal-oriented enhancer plug-in with clever and

intuitive controls to easily get the most out of you vocal recording. Featuring professionally designed vocal style presets tailored for a wide range of genres and applications, iZotope Nectar Elements makes it easier than ever to enhance your voice and create rich, studio-quality vocal tracks. With easy-to-use controls, Nectar features 10 sophisticated vocal processors designed to add body and depth, control volume levels, fix pitch problems, reduce “ess” sounds, minimize room noise and more. The combination of these three products makes the Yeti Studio an all-inone professional voice recording solution. The rest is up to you! The Blue Microphones Yeti Studio is available right now from your local authorised Blue Microphones dealer.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE RANGE OF BLUE MICROPHONE PRODUCTS VISIT WWW.AMBERTECH.COM.AU OR PHONE 1800 251 367.

‘The Warbird’ is the 2nd generation of Chris Adler’s (Lamb of God) Mapex signature snare.

This compact 12” x 5.5” Walnut/Maple snare optimises the balance between raw power, body, and possesses a mix of fury and deadly precision.

This drum delivers an intense, dark punch when tuned low and an explosive pop when cranked high. This is also the first Black Panther snare to feature the SONIClear bearing edge.

The Versatus

‘The Versatus’ is inspired by Russ Miller’s artistic philosophy: a master drummer has full command over all styles, at all levels of expression, dynamics and tempo. ‘The Versatus’ 14” x 4.58” hybrid Mahogany/Maple snare is named for and reflects this versatility, delivering an articulate, highly controlled sound using a unique combination of a rounded 45° bearing edge with reinforcement on the batter side and

‘The Wraith’ has been designed as the perfect vehicle for Matt Halpern’s (Periphery) distinctive, technical, and high-definition drumming. The 14” x 6” 12mm brass shell provides the foundation for each boneshattering rim shot: 9 ports arranged in a triangular geometry adds dryness to the overall sound, increasing response and clarity of ghost notes without compromising volume. Matched to the shell is the Black Panther 45° bearing edge, making all your quiet strokes present at even a whisper. ‘The Wraith’ is finished in a sleek Stealth Black Finish and is the only Mapex snare drum fitted with Evans Level 360 drum heads.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE MAPEX RANGE OF PRODUCTS CONTACT ELECTRIC FACTORY ON (03) 9474 1000 OR VISIT WWW.ELFA.COM.AU

JANUARY 2015 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / PG. 15

PRODUCT NEWS MUSIC LINK ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP WITH TAYLOR GUITARS

ZOOM TAC-2R AUDIO INTERFACE

Zoom’s latest offering in studio recording is hitting the market. The compact and rugged TAC2R audio interface uses Thunderbolt technology to achieve blistering speed, near zero latency and the ultimate in high-quality audio up to 24-bit/192kHz. It’s the perfect unit for studio and field recordings for mics and instruments, onstage playback and audio streaming. It also serves as a brilliant MIDI interface too, allowing

you to use your electronic keyboards and controllers as well as synths and drum machines.

This is one powerful little piece of machinery.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ZOOM RANGE OF PRODUCTS CONTACT DYNAMIC MUSIC ON (02) 9939 1299 OR VISIT WWW.DYNAMICMUSIC.COM.AU

SENNHEISER URBANITE HEADPHONES Music Link Australia has announced that it will be the home of Taylor Guitars in Australia, effective from January 1 2015. This announcement comes at a time where Taylor Guitars enjoy record breaking growth and is focused on providing an enhanced brand experience for musicians and guitar enthusiasts of all ages and genres.

Music Link Australia welcomes Taylor Guitars as its premier guitar brand in their expanding portfolio. Forty years into its history, Taylor continues to evolve and set itself apart with their unique blend of innovative use of modern technology with classic master craftsmanship.

Acoustic guitars represent the largest growing single category in Australia. This presents a significant opportunity for Music Link to further

stimulate and excite the market by capitalising on Taylor’s philosophy of offering instruments of the highest quality without compromise. Music Link Australia has a rich and successful history in the Australian music wholesale industry with over 40 years of unparalleled service to the existing dealer network. Music Link Australia is poised to continue and build on the vision Taylor Guitars has for all Australian musicians.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.MUSICLINK.COM.AU

2015 GIBSON LES PAUL RANGE OF ELECTRIC GUITARS

Australian Musical Instruments are pleased to announce the New and Improved Gibson Les Paul range for 2015. With a fantastic range of new innovations and improvements, Gibson is continuing the legacy of innovation and growth in its products. The key features and improvements include Gibson’s G FORCE Tuning System, which allow for faster, more accurate tunings and an upgraded Tune–o– matic bridge with titanium saddles and a wider neck and fingerboard. Gibson have also added a number of features and improvements such as: zero fret adjustable nut, comprehensive wood selection and grading, thicker Rosewood Fingerboard, pearl inlays, removable pickguard, Les Paul hologram, a new and improved PG. 16 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

hardshell case. That’s not all though, the 2015 range will also feature smoother sanded, buffed and oiled fingerboard to improve playability and feel, improved contact output jack and more robust cables. Rounding out this huge list is the addition of the Les Paul 100th birthday signature, honouring a genius with a facsimile of his actual signature taken from a pickguard autographed

by Les.

TO FIND OUT WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE NEW 2015 GIBSON RANGE PLEASE CONTACT GIBSON AMI ON (03) 8696 4600 OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.GIBSONAMI.COM

Let your ears be loved. Sennheiser’s new onear headphones, Urbanite, are the new choice for great sound, deep bass, and urban style on the move. The Urbanite is completely dedicated to delivering only the most intense sound pleasure that will reflect the skill of Sennheiser’s uncompromising aural expertise.

It serves up massive bass, while still ensuring excellent clarity through the entire frequency range, making ears feel like it’s their first time with a pair of headphones all over again. The Urbanites’s materials are designed for lasting passion. The robust quality of the Urbanites’s premium stainless steel hinges and aluminium

sliders mean they last for years, not minutes.

The urbanite is compatible with all ears and is available with a detachable cable that features a 3-button remote control and an integrated microphone. There are versions for Apple iOS and Android devices, such as Samsung Galaxy, so that all ears may enjoy the same level of pleasure.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SENNHEISER PRODUCTS CONTACT SENNHEISER AUSTRALIA ON (02) 9910 6700 OR VISIT WWW.SENNHEISER.COM.AU

PRODUCT NEWS AVID SIBELIUS FIRST NOTATION SOFTWARE

Avid Sibelius First is the fastest, smartest, easiest way for everyone to start to write and share music - from aspiring composers and songwriters, to teachers and students. Even if you’re more comfortable playing instruments than using notation software, the intuitive interface will guide your songwriting process.

Magnetic Layout and other time-saving tools make it easy to get professional results fast.

The premium sound library plays back your compositions in stunning detail. When you’re done, choose how you want to introduce your music to the world. Make a video of your score, export for iPad, or share directly to YouTube, SoundCloud, and Facebook. The new user interface is so intuitive, you’ll be able to jump in and start writing music right away. Choose the note input method that’s most comfortable for you. Play a MIDI instrument, transcribe audio,

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or scan sheet music. Revolutionary features like Magnetic Layout automatically take care of the details, so you can write music and create print quality scores with ease. If you get stuck or want to take your skills even further, just check out the how-to and help content. Want to hear how your ideas will sound in real life? Play back your scores in beautiful detail with the amazing collection of sampled instrument sounds, or use your own VST/AU virtual instruments or effects.

If you need more inspiration, check out the Score Starter and Ideas library to kick-start your creativity. With Sibelius First notation software in your toolkit, writer’s block won’t stand a chance.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SIBELIUS FIRST NOTATION SOFTWARE VISIT WWW.AVID.COM

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how large or complex – enabling you to navigate to any part fast for editing or playback. Simply click on any bar, in the timecode ruler, or on any landmark - the important objects that make up your score, including rehearsal marks, repeat structures, comments, key signatures, tempo, and more - to jump immediately to that section.

Get all of the score sharing and social media features of Sibelius First in Sibelius 7.5, enabling you to collaborate more easily with others and distribute your compositions for the world to hear. Share scores through email, upload and publish them as sheet music on ScoreExchange. com, and even share your composition as a video or audio file on YouTube, Facebook, and SoundCloud. Sibelius 7.5 is now available, retailed at $719.95, with Academic pricing of $349.95 available.

Sibelius is the world’s best-selling music notation software, trusted by top composers, publishers, and students alike. With Sibelius 7.5, you can express, accelerate, and promote your creativity in more ways than ever before, enabling you to deliver beautiful, professional scores faster and share audio and video versions of your work.

It’s the fastest, smartest, easiest way to write music for live performance, film and television, media entertainment, or in the classroom. With the unique and fully redesigned Espressivo 2.0 feature, Sibelius 7.5 gives you complete control over and customization of the rhythmic feel of any individual part to produce more expressive and realistic musical phrasings. The software can now better interpret such notation distinctions as tempo markings, metric emphasis, grace notes, mordents, caesuras, and breath marks on playback, you can hear every nuance of your score, the way you intended it to be heard. With the new Timeline window, you get a quick view of the entire structure of your score - no matter

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Trade Contact www.musicconnection.com.au sales@musicconnection.com.au Graeme Craske Ph: (08) 8331 8920

Conditions apply. See your dealer for details.

JANUARY 2015 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / PG. 17

PRODUCT NEWS OME WIZARD OPEN-BACK BANJO

Ome’s new series of Open-Back banjos have finally made their way to Australia. These instruments are ‘old timey’ in both their sound and their look, while retaining their trademarked balanced tone and elegant feel. There are a few noticeable changes including a widened neck nut width, a shortened neck and simplified

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inlays. If you’re after a banjo that’s as beautiful to play as it is to look at, then don’t go past these.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE OME RANGE OF PRODUCTS, CONTACT GLADESVILLE GUITAR FACTORY ON (02) 9817 2173 OR VISIT WWW.GUITARFACTORY.NET

THE STEINBERG UR12 USB AUDIO INTERFACE

Cubase is back with some major updates. A year on since the release of the last point update, Cubase has returned with a vast range of studiograde audio and MIDI tools for composing, recording, editing and mixing. Both Cubase Pro 8 and Cubase Artist 8 have had a massive engine rebuild, which lets you run more instruments and more tracks improving the performance and quality of your projects. The new installments of these programs are loaded with new features offering greater control, flexibility and capability.

The Cubase Pro 8 and Cubase Artist 8 full retail versions are available for pre-order from resellers

and will begin shipping in December 2014.

Various downloadable updates and upgrades are exclusively available through the Steinberg Online Shop from December 3, 2014. Those of you who have activated Cubase 7.5 and Cubase Artist 7.5 since October 15, 2014, are now eligible for a free, downloadable Grace Period update to version 8.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CUBASE 8 CONTACT YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA ON (03) 9693 5111 OR VISIT WWW.YAMAHABACKSTAGE.COM.AU

AKAI PRO RHYTHM WOLF ANALOG DRUM MACHINE

The Steinberg UR12 USB audio interface is the perfect piece of recording equipment for aspiring musicians. It’s small, mobile, easy to use and perfectly capable of achieving great results. Featuring 192 kHz audio quality, this piece of gear could be just what you need to get started. The unit contains one XLR connector for microphones, a built-in discrete class A D-PRE microphone preamp and a second channel with a high impedance jack input for guitars. There are dedicated controls for each channel, a headphone output and a master output volume control. It also comes fully equipped with analogue RCA outputs, one USB 2.0 port and PG. 18 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

one mini USB port for additional power (should you choose to use the unit with a tablet). Each UR 12 purchase is linked with a copy of Cubase AI to get you recording, mixing and editing right away.

It’s absolutely one of the best value interfaces on the market. You can read an in depth review of this product in this months Road Tested section.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE RANGE OF STEINBERG PRODUCTS CONTACT YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA ON (03) 9693 5111 OR VISIT WWW.YAMAHABACKSTAGE.COM.AU

Akai Professional have just brought the longawaited Rhythm Wolf to the market. An analogue drum machine combined with a bass synth and 32-step sequencer all contained within a single table-top unit. It features gate trigger I/O, USB/ MIDI and 5-pin MIDI I/O cibbectuibsm as well as two separate outputs. A ¼ inch bass synth out and a ¼ inch balanced main out. It’s fitted with 6

backlit MPC style pads which, and would make a welcome collection to any beat-makers arsenal.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE AKAI RANGE OF PRODUCTS CONTACT ELECTRIC FACTORY ON (03) 9474 1000 OR VISIT WWW.ELFA.COM.AU

PRODUCT NEWS BLACKSTAR MINI AMPLIFIER AND EXTENSION CAB

Blackstar have released a 3W amplifier that is innovative, cutting edge, and targeted at the low-end impulse purchase segment of the market. It will redefine the benchmark for this type of product and clearly separate them from the ‘toy/novelty’ style products currently available. Here is a fully functional 3W amplifier, that when combined with the extension cabinet, becomes a 6W stereo setup perfect for full range music playback. Their low cost plastic housing and the option of battery or mains operation will place these amps in the ‘accessory’ segment

of the market, but the inclusion of ISF and a digital ‘tape’ delay means they will significantly outclass and outperform all of the competition.

The inclusion of an MP3 input and Emulated/ Headphones output make them perfect for practicing, or as an MP3 speaker dock.

ZOOM H6 PORTABLE RECORDER

Zoom are in a purple patch. It seems as though when it comes to portable sound recording, it’s hard to go past them. They’re so far ahead of the pack right now, that the only piece of hardware that can surpass them is their very own. They’ve just introduced the Zoom H6, the latest and greatest in portable sound recording.

The H6 is more dynamic and versatile than their previous releases, while retaining the same intuitive design features and layout. With three native detachable microphones (input capsules)

that are each as useful as each other, the H6 is suitable for just about every practical application imaginable. For an in depth review of this product visit this months Road Tested section.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ZOOM RANGE OF PRODUCTS CONTACT DYNAMIC MUSIC ON (02) 9939 1299 OR VISIT WWW.DYNAMICMUSIC.COM.AU

MATON MAHOGANY SERIES OF ACOUSTIC GUITARS

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BLACKSTAR MINI AMP AND EXTENSION CAB VISIT WWW.NATIONALAUDIO.COM.AU OR PHONE (03) 8756 2600.

TC ELECTRONIC FLASHBACK TRIPLE DELAY EFFECTS PEDAL

The Flashback Triple Delay from TC Electronic offers a whole new realm of creative control to their already admirable range of hardware.

This new delay has three separate delay engines contained within the one unit that can be used independently of one another, or simultaneously in either serial or parallel, making this pedal the most flexible yet. Within the pedal are sixteen different delay types, each with eleven subdivisions, giving the user the ability to find their own favourite sweet spot with unparalleled accuracy. Aside from the super-stylish colours and visuals and the intuitive controls, the PG. 20 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

Flashback Triple Delay has a list of the features that you’ve come to expect from TC Electronic.

Stereo I/O, analog dry through, true bypass, expression pedal input, MIDI I/O, tap-tempo, metal chassis and toggle buttons and plenty of headroom.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE RANGE OF TC ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT CONTACT AMBER TECHNOLOGY ON 1800 251 367 OR VISIT WWW.AMBERTECH.COM.AU

Some things in life, were simply made for each other. Like Ying and Yang, they move effortlessly together and compliment one another perfectly. One such beautiful pairing is the unparalleled craftsmanship of the folks over at Maton guitars and the rich beautiful textures and tones of Sapele and Mahogany. When the two come together, it’s a beautiful sight.

Maton are presently putting together a couple of these classy instruments that offer a darker and heavier midrange than their non Mahogany counterparts. Scheduled for release in the

Australian market soon, these guitars feature Sapele face, back and sides with a Mahogany neck and Rosewood bridge. Beautifully finished and fully voiced, these guitars are as outstanding to look at as they are to play. For an in depth review of one of these guitars visit this months Road Tested section.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MATON M-SERIES GUITARS CONTACT MATON ON (03) 9896 9500 OR VISIT WWW.MATON.COM.AU

TOUCH THE FUTURE OF LIVE MIXING. New RM32AI & RM16AI with UC Surface™ touch-ready control.

Mix on a Windows® 8 touch screen computer

Mix on a Mac® or PC laptop

Monitor not included. But you probably already figured that out.

32 channels under $3000!

Mix on an iPad®

©2014 PreSonus Audio Electronics All Rights Reserved. UC Surface, XMAX, StudioLive and QMix are trademarks of PreSonus. Capture and Studio One are trademarks of PreSonus Software Ltd. All other brands are property of their respective holders.

W

e enhanced the feature set of our StudioLive AI mixers and engineered it into an intuitive, touch-readyinterface called UC Surface. RM Series I/O lives in a rack…but the real breakthrough is the ease and flexibility of control options you get with UC Surface.

It takes the concept of moving Capture™ 2 one-click recording faders into the future.

The UC Surface churchservice-ready interface is designed for live sound mixing with contextual-based Studio One® Artist full DAW navigation for quick, intuitive access to all functions.

And of course RM Series AI mixers QMix™-AI come with the seamless for iPhone controls up suite of software that to 16 separate makes our mixers so useful monitor mixes. in a worship setting: Capture 2 for one-click RM16AI: 16 channels for under $1200 recording. Studio One Artist DAW. And QMix-AI to adjust the RM32AI’s 16 aux mixes. Get in touch with our web site or your PreSonus dealer today.

Baton Rouge USA • www.presonus.com / RM

RM32AI 32-channel/25-bus mixer • 32 channels each with dual (A/B) Fat Channel processing (4-band parametric EQ, gate, compressor, limiter, high pass) • 32 recallable remote XMAX™ mic preamps with +48V phantom power • 16 aux mix buses with full Fat Channels • 4 internal FX buses (2 reverb, 2 delay) • 3 main mix buses (left, right, mono/centre) with full Fat Channels • Front panel Mute All button temporarily mutes all inputs and outputs • 2 FireWire S800 ports, Ethernet control port, and S/PDIF digital output • 52 x 34 digital FireWire I/O recording interface

Recallable analog XMAX™ Class A preamps

SMASHING PUMPKINS PLANTING NEW SEEDS

I still remember my introduction to the Smashing Pumpkins. In a friend’s backyard, drinking schnapps from the bottle and jumping from balconies.

Thrumming over it all, the ominous, disaffected observation that the world is a vampire. It was unlike anything we had heard before. We knew grunge, of course. These were the days when Vedder ruled the known musical world.

We knew rock, we knew pop, we knew punk, but with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the schoolyard soundtrack went entirely off the rails. It was music that just didn’t seem to fit anywhere else, and we flattered ourselves by understanding this as music made just for us.

Though some time has passed since then, the music still holds relevance. Not only amongst those who swang from balconies and fell about the playground at the time of its release, but also for those engaging in those pastimes now. Billy Corgan has just announced that he is returning to Australia to headline Soundwave in 2015, proving that there is still considerable demand for his work amongst a contemporary audience.

He’ll be travelling to Australia alongside Smashing Pumpkins mainstay Jeff Schroeder as well as Rage Against The Machines Brad Wilk and The Killers’ Mark Stoermer almost twenty years later, to perform songs from the classic Mellon Collie as well as material from their tenth studio album, Monuments to an Elegy arrives. As Billy Corgan figures, it’s simply another chapter in a long and complex history.

“I have to say it feels like it’s an unfolding story,” Corgan says in an unexpectedly deep voice.

“Somebody said the other day, ‘Your recent work doesn’t sound like your past work’, and yeah, so it shouldn’t! Then you’ll hear, in the next breath, ‘I hear echoes of the past’, and well, that’s also true. It’s the same person and it’s the same teeth that the sound is passing through. I’m not here trying to reinvent myself into something I’m not. It’s an unfolding story, and as you go along you’re going to learn something and you’re going to forget something, and that’s part of the story, too. The only intention was to try to make contemporary music, and I think the album shows both where we were able to update things, but also my weakness in not being connected to contemporary music. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to be connected to contemporary music because I don’t like it, and there’s a part of me that acknowledges that living in that world, well, maybe I need to be.”

While his voice is still unmistakable, it’s now a much richer and pleasantly weathered sound.

PG. 22 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

It struck me that while a person’s voice is so intrinsic to their identity, for most, we’re never going to be particularly conscious of how it develops. We don’t actually hear ourselves all that often, despite it being an essential component of our character and one of our most identifiable features. Most of us aren’t ever surprised by being

confronted with the sound of our own voice being played through the car radio, or across a busy supermarket.

Though for someone as prolific and revered as Corgan, with a voice so unique, it’s an inevitability of life. So being comfortable with the sound of your own voice is important.

“I never wanted to be a singer. I became a singer because I was a songwriter, and I didn’t know anyone who wanted to sing my songs. My first connection with music was through the guitar. I couldn’t

hear the notes in my head, so I had to work out the melody on the guitar and then try to sing like the guitar. So from the early work on, you’re hearing someone who doesn’t like his voice and is trying to find a way to use it in a unique way. As my writing developed, particularly after Mellon Collie, I wanted to move into different work but I reached a point where as a composer I was becoming frustrated with the singer in me, because I just couldn’t sing my own songs. They were too complicated for my lack of training. That lack of training was just killing me. So that began a very different journey. Can I actually sing complex melodies in a way that has control? That has authorship? And that’s been a really long journey for me, and in many ways I think Monuments is the fruition of all of those years of trying to learn how to sing in a way that I’m controlling the vocals. The vocals aren’t controlling me. “ Developing his vocals and the difficulties Corgan has faced in having these lyrics

realised is a concern that never strays far from the conversation. Given the fervour with which his fans pull apart the meanings and connections within each release, its little wonder.

You feel that in another life, he could quite happily have been a writer.

“I should have been an author. I’m a voracious reader, one of those

people who know a lot about nothing. I do find that there are certain writers that when I come into contact with their work, it makes me want to try better. People like Bob Dylan or Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, writers that ask you to re-examine the comfort you have

with your language. Have you ever read any Burroughs?”

I have, and outside of Burroughs’ writing, it has always been my ambition to emulate his art techniques. To make a hallway of canvas lined with spray-paint cans, and then fire a shotgun down the middle.

“Ha, I actually have one of those shotgun paintings. It was a gift from a former lover. I wasn’t crazy about it, but you know, I loved him and so it works for me. Burroughs had that concept of the word virus. He talked about how certain cultures don’t have certain words, say, the word jealousy for example. And then a particular word can get into somebody’s system and just rumble around.

He showed me we have a standard comfort in the way we use language, and by juxtaposing certain lyrical images, you can create a different kind of violence. You can have the same three words, but if you put the third one first, the first word second, that’s suddenly violent in the sense of how you would ordinarily hear them.”

It’s a fascinating approach to songwriting (one which David Bowie has also utilised), and while I admit that I do hold affection for the latest Taylor Swift release, it’s difficult to imagine many contemporary mainstream artists adopting Burroughs’ linguistic preoccupations.

“I mean look,” he laughs, “pop music, by and large, is dumb. It’s just getting them out to the dance floor, and there’s a joy to that. There’s totally a joy to pop music if you’re willing to celebrate it. It doesn’t mean you have to get sucked into all its bullshit, but there’s a certain joy to the right track on the right day. After twentyfive years, I just don’t think I have the same enthusiasm for it, and I think that’s really affected me at a deep level. I think when I finally do break from it all, which will probably be sooner rather than later, people will be surprised because the language on the other music that I want to do is vastly different to my usual work. It doesn’t sound like the Pumpkins, and that’s not so much me trying to be different. I just am different. A different language, which I know doesn’t really have a place in pop music at all.”

BY ADAM NORRIS

SMASHING PUMPKINS ARE PLAYING SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL. VISIT WWW.SOUNDWAVEFESTIVAL.COM FOR MORE INFO.

GODSMACK KEEPING ON

Even in a post-Spotify world where physical music sales are down across the board, Godsmack still sell a buttload of albums to everyone from hardcore Godsmack fans to casual metal fans. Their listenership is spread through all sorts of demographics, but the one thing they have in common is they respond to crunchy guitars, aggressive vocals and an undeniable rhythmic groove. This groove is driven by Shannon Larkin, a powerhouse drummer who started his career with Ugly Kid Joe, a band unfairly lumped in with the last days of hair metal. Ugly Kid Joe is back, but Godsmack has never gone away. Their latest album, 1000hp, was released in August to critical acclaim.

We caught up with Larkin in the lead-up to Soundwave.

So. Soundwave, huh?

It’s a hell of a line-up! We’re blown away by all the other bands playing. We know a lot of them personally. Some of them for 15 years now. It’s going to be like a big family reunion backstage.

Judas Priest is a band I’ve always looked up to.

Getting to see these bands play every night, we’re going to really enjoy ourselves on this festival. It’s an amazing line-up.

I’ve gone back to the album after a few months to see if it still kicks ass after the ‘new album’ excitement, and it really holds up. How do you feel about it?

Well if you look at our history, we usually take three to four years between records. People always as ‘why so long?’ Really, we’ll tour for up to two years all around the world, and then take six to eight months off just to get out of each others’ faces for a while so that when we get back together we’re still hungry and excited. That’s why it takes so long between records for us.

We’re lucky to be able to afford that luxury, but this time it’s a different vibe altogether, because for the last twelve years I’ve been in the band we’d go to different cities to do the records. This time we found a big warehouse building and we converted it into a recording studio/storage room and rehearsal space. We took all our old staging and backdrops and really Godsmacked

the place out and made it really comfortable. We wrote the record in this place and we also had Dave Fortman, the producer, come in and set up the recording studio part. So for the first time in our lives we were able to write and record in the same spot, which was ours too. I think we got the most natural recording that we could.

Did you ever find it got to a point where it was like ‘Guys, we’ve got it, we should stop now,’ or did you take the time because you had it?

Usually it’s the managers and labels telling us to stop, begging us to stop! Once we began this writing mode it was like the floodgates got opened. Usually when we first get together it’s impossible, frustrating and hard to get to the point where the creative juices start flowing, but the songs started coming out so fast that before we knew it we had 16 songs on the board and we weren’t done. Management said ‘you have to start recording and turn something in.’ We’d say ‘but wait, there’s this new song we’re writing.’

In fact, the song ‘1000hp’ was one of the last songs written. The best two songs on the record are the last two written, and we wanted to keep writing.

Something I’ve always wanted to ask you about, is the show you played with Black Sabbath.

That was the highlight of my life. One of the first

albums I ever heard was a Black Sabbath album, and like 30 years later I got to play a show with them. Robert Trujillo, who’s Metallica’s bass player, at the time he was with Ozzy and I’d met him when he played with Suicidal Tendencies. I was in Ugly Kid Joe and he was really impressed with our singer Whitfield. Next thing you know, he’s playing with Ozzy and they had to do a make-up show. I was in the right place at the right time. Sharon Osbourne called and I was like “yes, yes is the answer!” Sharon’s plan was to come out on the Ozzfest tour and sit behind Mike Bordin and just watch him play the Ozzy and Sabbath sets for a week before the Sabbath show. He had to fly out to join Faith No More on tour and couldn’t play that show. So I go out and Tony Iommi saw me and he said ‘that kid isn’t playing with us,’ and he went on the tour bus. They came to me and said ‘you can still play in the Ozzy thing, but you’re not playing with Sabbath. They’ll probably get Bobby Rondinelli.’

I told Robert and he was like ‘what?’ he grabbed me by the back of my neck, took me over to Tony Iommi and he said ‘you tell him now you can do this!’ I was tripping! So he dragged me over to Tony and I said ‘Hi, I’m Shannon and I can do this. I’ve been playing these songs since I was 12 years old. Just give me a shot.’ Tony looked me in the eye and said ‘wait here, mate.’ So I had to

audition at sound check that day.

So I’m in a hotel in LA. I had to be at the lobby at noon and there would be a car to take me to the airport to fly into Columbus, Ohio to take me to the show. I come down and there’s a limousine.

Tony Iommi is in the limo and I’m such a fan, I’m tripping about it. I’m going to a private airport to a private jet. I’d never ridden on a private jet. So I get on and it’s Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy, Joe Holmes and Robert Trujillo. I’m sitting there with my headphones on, we take off and start flying towards Columbus, and all of a sudden it gets really hot. I take my headphones off and Ozzy gets up and goes ‘It’s fucking hot here, man,’ and smoke starts pouring out of the air conditioning. Then the plane starts to tilt and teeter. It’s turning around and the captain comes on and says ‘we have an electrical problem.

We’re turning this plane around.’ Everybody’s looking out the window going ‘Holy fuck,’ and I’m looking out the window going ‘fuck it. If this plane is going down, I’m a legend. I’m the drummer for Black Sabbath.’

BY PETER HODGSON GODSMACK PLAY SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL. VISIT WWW.SOUNDWAVEFESTIVAL.COM FOR MORE.

KILLER BE KILLED ASSASSINS FOR HIRE

Max Cavalera is one of metal’s most prolific guitarists and riffmeisters. His work with Sepultura would have been enough to earn him a sizeable chunk of metal’s history book, but then there’s also Nailbomb, Soulfly and The Cavalera Conspiracy.

Now he has metal supergroup Killer Be Killed. This latest outfit started as a side project between Max and Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato, and was soon expanded to include The Mars Volta drummer Dave Elitch and Mastodon bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders. Vocals are shared between Cavalera, Puciato and Sanders, and the material veers from the melodic to the all-out thrashy. The band’s self-titled debut album attained its highest chart position in the world on Australia’s ARIA chart, and the band makes its live debut during Soundwave. We spoke to Max about it.

It’s so great to hear Killer Be Killed is coming to Australia for Soundwave.

I know man, it just finally got announced and when we heard that we were ecstatic. I’m proud that Australia is going to be the first place we ever play live. The first ever shows for Killer Be Killed in our whole career. I couldn’t ask for a better place to start the Killer Be Killed live tour. I’m sure we’ll go to other places after that, but the fact that we get to start in Australia is exciting. I always love playing in Australia. Ever since the Sepultura days. My best memory is Big Day Out in 1999 with Soulfly. We were hugely embraced by the crowd, and for me it was confirmation that Soulfly was really going to happen. I didn’t know how people were going to see this new band after Sepultura. So the coolest thing ever was the crowds at that Big Day Out for me. I have great memories from the Australian fans and I think this Killer Be Killed tour will be like that.

It must be hard to get all four of you in a room together.

It is difficult. I’m actually surprised that it finally happened. Everybody’s on tour all the time. I heard Troy was on tour with Mastodon somewhere in the world. Greg’s not on tour and I’m not on tour. I’m at home writing the new Soulfly, but we’re going to make it work. We’ve got to practice in a couple

of weeks and make sure the whole record sounds great live.

How did you divide up the guitar work on the album? Greg is playing guitar too in the videos.

I actually did all the rhythm guitars. Greg didn’t want to do it. He helped me write it, and he wrote a couple of very cool riffs, but when it came time to record it he didn’t feel comfortable and he told me ‘can you just do it?’ So I recorded all the rhythm guitars. I spent a lot of time on this record, more than any record I’ve ever done. I’m very, very proud of the guitar work.

Your other stuff is usually very focused and consistent across the album, but you’re playing a lot of different styles through the length of the album. It’s cool to hear you dip into these things we don’t hear you play very often.

It’s fun for me. I do have a side that’s more melodic that doesn’t come out in Soulfly or Cavalera Conspiracy, and I got to let it out on Killer Be Killed. I knew the guys could add great vocal parts on top of it so I wrote melodic riffs for them to sing over. Like ‘Wings of Feather and Wax,’ the chorus is extremely melodic, almost like a U2 chorus, y’know? It was actually fun writing like that. I didn’t have to be heavy all the time.

What guitars did you use on the record?

I used the ESPs I have laying around. The Viper with the Brazilian flag, a camoflage one, the new AX that I’m using, which is like an Explorer. I plugged straight into Peavey amplifiers and got a really, really good distortion. Juan Montoya from Torch, who did all the weird noises and guitar solos, he came with a bunch of pedals. I don’t even know the names. Some of the pedals are home-made and look like Frankenstein laboratory sort of shit. He did a great job. I love all the noises that he put on the record. All the ambient noises. Especially on songs like ‘Forbidden Fire’ where you really get to hear eerie guitar sounds and ambient kind of things. It’s really cool. I was a fan of Torch. I always thought Torch was a great band.

And you just released the new Cavalera Conspiracy album, which is very grindcore.

It was wild going from Killer Be Killed to Cavalera.

It was therapeutic for me. I could satisfy all my melodic wishes with Killer Be Killed and then go back to brutality, back to grindcore, back to my comfortable zone, which is heaviness, brutal shit.

The Cavalera record was really cool to make. I got Igor to play fast on most of the record and I take pride on that feat! I pushed him, I forced him to do

it. I’m excited that he did it and didn’t complain and didn’t mind being pushed like that. I think the record, Pandemonium, came out really good, man.

It’s really different to the first two records. It’s very, very different from everything else. So in one year to have Killer Be Killed and Pandemonium. I’ve had my plate full, that’s for sure!

So what’s the new Soulfly record going to be like?

I don’t know. I just started writing. The first riffs came out between yesterday and today. I’ve just got to let it happen and see where it’s going to take me. Normally that’s the best way, to just begin writing and not worry about what the record’s going to be like. Just let it happen naturally and eventually it will follow. At the end of the day it’s very influenced by what I listen to. Lately I’ve been listening to Aborted, Our Penance, King Parrot and Psycroptic. So I think the record will be really heavy.

I might even bring some of the tribal stuff back, because I haven’t done that in a long time.

BY PETER HODGSON KILLER BE KILLED PLAY SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL. VISIT WWW.SOUNDWAVEFESTIVAL.COM FOR MORE.

JANUARY 2015 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / PG. 23

ARIEL PINK BEAUTIFUL MESS

Ariel Pink is a fucking mess. A beautiful one, but a mess all the same. That’s part of his appeal. Over the course of his 12-year career, Pink’s peculiarity and eccentric inclinations have always demanded centre stage. This, as you can imagine, means he’s an absolute head fuck to interview. He contradicts himself at every corner, he uses metaphors that make no sense, he goes off on pointless tangents and he laughs with a dry cackle when detailing his own mortality. “It’s not illegal to be an asshole,” he told Pitchfork in September.

True. Even if it was, you doubt that Pink would adhere to the rule. He doesn’t want to be interviewed, but he’s contractually obliged to promote his album.

He’s trying to catch me off-guard. It’s working.

“I didn’t have to deal with the public, the press, stuff like that, it was nice.” He laughs when reflecting on the earlier stages of 2014. “I spent most of it recording and playing music. They’re all very pleasant memories. I was off in my own world. It felt normal.”

The result of this time spent recording is pom pom, Pink’s latest opus, following 2012’s Mature Themes. While it may be Pink’s first full studio album released under his own solo moniker without his band The Haunted Graffiti, the record is his most collaborative to date, featuring joint ventures with the likes of the legendary Kim Fowley, Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce and LA punks The Germs.

“I recorded the album over about nine months with various players and in various locations over various times,” he details. “It was always very casual and in non-committal circumstances. The cast became so large. I made sure that I worked with impunity so that I could play with as many people that I wanted. I wanted it to be like I was landing a ship somewhere and I was the leader.

Call me the biggest slut on the planet. It was very natural for me to be in this frame of mind, to be so promiscuous with my talent.”

Clocking in at a behemoth 17 tracks over 68 minutes, pom pom is a melting pot of obscurity.

Ranging from beat-driven pop (Put Your Number In My Phone, Dayzed Inn Daydreams), dirty punk (Goth Bomb, Negativ Ed) and gobbledegook

surf (Nude Beach A Go-Go – a collaboration with Azealia Banks), the record is the perfect embodiment of Pink’s mantra of eclecticism.

“I really wanted to go out with a bang and utilise the resources at my disposal,” he notes, referring to the fact that pom pom concludes his current three-album contract he holds with revered independent English label 4AD. “I felt like they were squandered on the last record.

“The record label would have liked the album to be as short as it could be so that they could maximise profits from as few tracks as possible,” he laughs. “That’s why albums generally only have about ten songs, five songs a side. iTunes won’t pay for any extra tracks beyond that. For the label, the last seven tracks on the record is akin to their money being spent on nothing.

That’s fine with me. I’m glad they’re throwing their money into a rabbit hole like me. I’m happy for them to spend their money on something that’s as useless and arbitrary as my music.”

If there’s one thing that his label is happy about though, it’s the fact that Pink has spent the majority of the year in the limelight, for better or worse. He made a claim that Madonna requested to work with him as her career had been on “a downward slide” since 1983 (a claim which her management refuted, as she has “no interest in working with mermaids”). He’s also voiced his adoration of the loathsome Westboro Baptist Church and he’s compared the online backlash

towards his own misogynistic comments to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, with himself in the role of Tutsi. He’s the biggest troll in the music industry. He’s trolling us. We hope he is.

“I’ve also been generating a bit of press over myself, the record label is very happy about that,” he laughs. “They own the record. It’s not like I’m doing any of this for myself.

“It’s a really strange thing that some people, some long-time fans, might be believing that I’m pandering to the industry. That I’ve sold out, or that I’m trying to do things differently to how I’ve done them before, or that I’m trying to seek a larger audience. All of that stuff might be true.

I’m doing things how they come most naturally to me and that’s more the point.”

Next month will see Pink return to Australian shores for the first time since 2012. “It’s certainly not going to be a circus show, or anything like a set with high-production budgets or an

extravaganza like that,” he notes. “It’s gonna be some people playing some music, hopefully with some good lights, I don’t know. The people who are playing on the record are by and large going to be accompanying me on the tour. If you’re coming, expecting psychedelic visuals, like snakes coming out of our guitars, you’ll probably be disappointed. But if you close your eyes I’m certain that you’ll be able to enjoy the record in a whole new way.”

the last two years.

“We’re pretty lucky that we do have a sick crew that comes to every show,” he adds. “A lot of the footage is just gnarly because of the kids at the show. It’s kind of funny, you go to China and stuff where they don’t have Facebook, and it’s the same reaction at shows. So I think that’s what it will highlight. A lot of these places people generally haven’t been to yet, they will see that there’s a sick side of these towns.”

Dune Rats are locked in to appear on next month’s Laneway Festival tour, which will also be filmed for inclusion in the web series. While the band’s an experienced touring unit, Beusa says getting selected for this respected nationwide

festival caused a few more nerves than usual.

“We can’t believe we’re actually on a tour like that. You know when you get given a responsibility and then just fuck it up? It’s kind of that feeling, because we usually fuck up shit accidentally a lot of the time. At first we were like ‘Fuck… we’re playing Laneway’, and now we’re like ‘Fuck! We can’t wait to have the funnest fucking time on it!’”

BY TYSON WRAY

TOUR DATES JANURARY 24 — SUGAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL, MELBOURNE VIC JANUARY 25 — THE BRIGHTSIDE, BRISBANE QLD JANUARY 27 — OXFORD ARTS FACTORY, SYDNEY NSW JANUARY 29 — THE BAKERY, PERTH WA

DUNE RATS BEST BUDS

A life that revolves around an office job, routine hours and civil uniformity is usually described as normal, but use of the term ‘normal’ here is misleading.

It implies that those who deviate from this way of living are outsiders. Of course you can argue that anyone is able to adapt if they try hard enough, but some people simply haven’t the inclination.

It’s hard to picture Brisbane trio Dune Rats cleaning up and making it to work Monday through Friday, all year-round. The band presents an image of merciless hedonism, which would be difficult to tame. It’s safe to say these boys don’t like being told what to do.

“We managed ourselves for two years at the start, until it got too hectic,” says the band’s vocalist/guitarist Danny Beusa. “So this whole perception thing… like yeah we smoke a fuck tonne of weed, but we’d also run the band, run merchandise, run live shows and touring. We travelled overseas twice without even getting a manager. It’s desperate when bands think ‘I need a manager, I need a this and I need a that’. It’s like, ‘fuck it dude, just write the fucking songs and run the band how you want to run it and don’t give a fuck’, and that’s a pretty easy formula for a good time.”

These days, Matty Woo, who Beusa says is “like a brother,” manages Dune Rats. With the extra support, 2014 has been the biggest year in the band’s history, encompassing tours to China, South Africa, Europe, and multiple visits to their home away from home, the United States. In June they also released their debut, self-titled LP. When it came to recording Dune Rats, once again, the band members weren’t going to be bossed around.

“We’re pretty happy with this album, in all honesty,” Beusa says. “It was something that we got to write ourselves. We recorded it exactly how we wanted it and then we shopped it around. It’s a way more liberal way to write an album. Not because you’re told ‘you should be writing this, you should be writing that.’ So it’s PG. 24 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

sick that people are buying the album and liking it. It’s fucking blowing our minds big time.”

It’s easy for naysayers to harshly deem Dune Rats as a no-good caricature of the rock’n’roll dream, but the twelve-track release proves there’s more to the band than their party-boy personas suggest. Dune Rats is hardly a two-dimensional release. It includes cracking up-tempo tunes like ‘Superman’, infectious sing-alongs like ‘Dalai Lama Big Banana Marijuana’ and the chugging emo sidestep, ‘Lola’.

“The thing with the album is we sort of wanted to make some people go ‘Man that’s not fucking Dune Rats.’ That’s sick,” Beusa explains. “We just wrote whatever the fuck us three liked.

That’s where songs like ‘Lola’ can come from.

We don’t want to necessarily be sitting there for three months and just playing the same shit. No one wants to put on an album and hear the same twelve songs.”

Dune Rats mightn’t be particularly interested in following convention, but they haven’t struggled to hawk their wares. Since dropping the Sexy Beach EP in early 2011, the Dunies have been recruiting a cult-like following all around the globe. This crazed mob of fans will feature heavily in an upcoming web TV series the band’s working on at present.

“For two years we’ve been to everywhere around the world, to China and South Africa and all these places, so we just videotaped a fucktonne,” Beusa says. “Then someone said ‘you should put it all together so people can see’. We got a bit of funding for it from the label, which is sick, so we’re going at it pretty strong and we’re going to have a couple of episodes that show

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY DUNE RATS ARE PLAYING ST. JEROMES LANEWAY FESTIVAL. VISIT WWW.LANEWAYFESTIVAL.COM FOR MORE INFO.

THE ANTLERS PURSUING PERSPECTIVE

Rightly, The Antlers reign as part of indie-pop royalty. Born out of a solo project, which involved front-man Peter Silberman recording mostly in his bedroom, The Antlers morphed into a fully-fledged band in 2009, coinciding with the release of Hospice, the album that brought them to the fore of indie consciousness.

While Silberman’s early solo efforts were rather lo-fi, The Antlers’ latter releases are characterized by carefully layered tracks that demand a start to finish listen, it’s the antithesis of disposable pop.

They’re also pretty heavy in terms of content.

Death is a constant theme, and Hospice, ostensibly set in an oncology ward, was actually a metaphor for abusive relationships. While for the most part the album creates a downtrodden atmosphere, ‘Familiars’ comes as something of a relief. Sure it’s bleak to start, but it ends on an almost upbeat note. That doesn’t mean that it’s any less thoughtful though.

Silberman’s quite open about the fact that a “personal philosophy” drives each album.

“The goal with this record in particular was to get a better understanding of aspects of my personal philosophy, specifically relating to memory, the value that we place on memory and how much we allow memories to guide our present actions,” Silberman muses. “I think it’s a pretty common belief that you should learn from your mistakes and keep them with you, but I think there’s another side to that. You can hold onto mistakes and punish yourself with them.

Where do you draw that distinction? It’s different for everybody. When you come to realize that you’re reliant on your past to inform who you are in the present, it’s not always a good thing.

Sometimes you need to begin again or give yourself a blank slate to move forward.”

It was also a painstaking project. Unlike the gonzo lo-fi days (Silberman’s been known to lay down albums in less than a day, and recorded The February Tape in a lazy hour in the bathtub).

The Antlers took over a year and a half to finish Familiars, and Silberman tweaked and polished

the shit out of it. Clearly, the end product was worth it, but does he ever get a hankering for the ease of the lo-fi days? “Yeah I do,” he admits.

“That stuff is still a part of my life and my creative process though. I don’t spend as much time recording in the bathtub as I maybe used to, but I still do make a lot of lo-fi recordings, the only difference now is that I don’t release them and don’t necessarily follow them through to the final stages of song. It’s usually sketches of things or different recording experiments, but I still love recording the wrong way. It’s kind of a habit that I’m simultaneously trying to break myself free of and also just let myself do for fun.”

Given that the project was Silberman’s baby for the first few years, The Antler’s gradual transition to a three piece band (together with Darby Cicci on keyboards and Michael Lerner on drums), required a mental gear change. “It’s a really different way of operating,” Silberman reflects.

“When you’re writing with different people. It’s less about you going completely into your own world, and more about pulling pieces of ideas out from that subconscious place and sharing them in unfinished form with other people and joining your creative minds around shared ideas.

“I find it more challenging to work with other people, than to work by myself, partly because other people hold you accountable and challenge you. It requires more co-operation and tact than working by yourself. It’s been a really interesting ride so far, the way that the collaboration among me, Darby and Michael has evolved over the years. I played in bands growing up as a kid, but it’s a bit like the relationship you have when you’re at high school versus an adult relationship.

The layers of complexity increase when you’re

older, or you’re doing it professionally, or when it becomes your life.”

Things have been pretty hectic for The Antlers.

Familiars was released in June and the band’s pretty consistently toured off its back since. So what’s next?

“Right now, not a whole lot officially,” Silberman says. “We’ve got some more shows, but we really just got back from a long tour and we’re trying to give ourselves a break and take a little bit of time off before our next moves. The future is feeling pretty wide open, which is cool. It’s nice to be in a fresh place where you feel that there’s a solid amount of work behind you and you don’t necessarily need to go in one direction or another. It feels very open and free right now.”

The Antler’s Aussie tour is amongst the remainder

of their shows. They’ve been here before for the Laneway Festival back in 2011. We made a good impression, because Silberman described the experience as a “sublime time”, and he’s looking forward to coming back. “There’s something about the first time you visit a place that can be very magical,” he laughs. “The second time is always completely different, but it’s cool because it’s not completely unfamiliar to you. You have this awareness of what a place is like and it feels a bit like time travel.”

which is a palpable presence throughout the immediate and raw Dream Team.

“It’s been the greatest recording experience.

Part of that was because you have less opinions.

You can get a lot of opinions from backstage about your music and it can get really confusing, figuring out who you want to listen to. Some people have more experience, some people have a taste in music you like, so you have all these conflicting reasons when it comes to listening to what people are saying. I like the idea that you don’t have to follow a rule structure anymore. Some record labels do, some don’t.

The record industry is pretty reliant on the tried and tested methods of how you release a record.

To me, it’s 2014, when people say that to me, I think ‘you need to check yourself’. There are tried and tested methods, there’s also so many things you can do that aren’t tried and tested and would be a great way to release a record.

Watching the ARIAs and seeing Sia, and how

she’s chosen to not show herself in the media, then had Carrot Top play her. A little while ago we had an argument with someone about a photo we wanted to release, that we didn’t think was controversial at all, but we were told ‘if you do this, you’re gonna anger the media, and people aren’t gonna respond to the album’.

Then seeing Sia do everything she’s doing now, it makes you realise there are no rules. She can give her ARIAs away, that’s not gonna stop her having success in the future. There are things people say all the time that aren’t necessarily true, that comes from this fear mentality. People don’t want to do anything that’s exciting. I just wanna do things that feel good to me. Doing things the same all the time gets boring.”

BY MEG CRAWFORD THE ANTLERS PLAY LANEWAY FESTIVAL. VISIT WWW.LANEWAYFESTIVAL.COM FOR MORE INFO.

THE GRATES DREAM ‘N’ BIG

After barely a musical peep from much loved garage-pop crusaders The Grates since the wind-up of the Secret Rituals’ touring cycle, the Brisbanites have returned with a rocksalt blast of an LP, the raw and ready Dream Team.

It’s an album created on the band’s own terms, an extension of their newly hardened DIY ethic, and a move away from their US base for previous LPs. The wholly independent approach was forged in Southside Tea Rooms, the relatively new Brisbane café/bar operated by original Grates members Patience Hodgson and John Patterson (now married, with a lil’ bubba on the way), finding a balance between hospitality proprietorship and music.

“When we came back from the States, we released Secret Rituals and had just been touring. We were excited to be back in Australia and back with friends,” Hodgson states. “That first year just got away from us pretty quickly.

It often does if you don’t pay attention. When we came back, we had the small bar scene in the States in our minds, and that wasn’t a thing in Brisbane, especially three years ago. We got the idea that we wanted to open a shop, so we did, a café bar. We’d never done anything like that before, so we spent two years working hard on that. It was awesome. We just had to keep our head above water, and that first two years of any business is really hard. There were a lot of reasons we wanted to do that. It was so insular in America. It was just me and John.

We just wanted to have more than the two of us. It was really fun opening the shop. We hired Ritchie as a barista, now he’s our drummer. We didn’t even know he was a drummer. The only reason we hired him was because we’d hired his girlfriend, then the day before she was supposed to start she told us she’d taken another job, but she said her boyfriend was desperate for a job so we should hire him. It was just one of the things we couldn’t believe had happened.”

With the opportunity for music creation beckoning, Hodgson and Patterson managed

to turn any free time into fertile time. “There was a little period where we didn’t have the bar licence to open at night. It took five months to get. That’s when John said we should start writing songs, because it would be the least busy we’d be for ages. At the time we were working 30 hours a week, and when the licence came through, it would be 80 hours a week. That’s when we started writing songs for the record. I think in three weeks we smashed out a whole bunch of songs. We sent it to our record label, but we weren’t happy with the response from them. As soon as we got the opportunity to take a little bit of time off from the shop, we started playing, getting Ritchie on drums. Then it all came together really quickly.”

“We started playing with Ritchie when we starting forming the live relationship. It was probably less than six months ago when we said ‘Let’s release an album, let’s get together every Tuesday, getting the concept of the album.

It felt good to do it all really fast. It didn’t feel like we needed to write. Maybe it was because we’d been our own bosses for the last few years, and we can do whatever we want with our shop.

Then when it came back to the band, having other opinions just didn’t work for us. Having people say ‘this isn’t gonna work,’ or ‘there are no hits here’, or ‘these aren’t gonna get played on the radio’, hearing all that stuff, I was like ‘You guys are crazy, let me do what I wanna do!’. It was a natural thing for us moving on to being indie, not answering to anyone we didn’t want to answer to.”

Shifting gears in terms of label status has imbued The Grates with a resounding sense of freedom,

BY LACHLAN KANONIUK DREAM TEAM IS OUT NOW THROUGH DEATH VALLEY RECORDS.

JANUARY 2015 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / PG. 25

TWERPS JUST ENOUGH SLACK

There’s a lot to be learned from the title of Twerps’ forthcoming second album. Range Anxiety is due on January 23, which is more than three years since the band’s self-titled debut came out. That record wasn’t quite an international best seller, but it secured the Melbourne foursome legions of loving fans around the world.

Many who are drawn towards Twerps’ hazy garage pop tunes quickly develop a deeprooted affection. When Mixdown checks in with the band’s front man Marty Frawley, he says this was one source of anxiety during the construction of album number two.

“Once you realise people enjoy the music you make, you want to make it work, so you try to take steps forward in that. Make sure you pick the right times to play, or the right people to put out your record, or to talk to the right people and write songs that you feel happy with.”

Generally speaking, when you’re anticipating something’s arrival, time starts to drag. By just about anyone’s standards, three and a half years is a sizable gap between album releases, but Twerps didn’t simply vanish in the interim. Over the last few years the band’s been a constant live presence around Australia, while also building a significant following in America.

On top of this, in late 2012 Twerps dropped the single ‘Work It Out’, which was followed by the Underlay EP in August 2014. However, when it came to making another full length, they were determined to get it just right.

“I just want to make sure that I put out something I’m happy with that hopefully my friends like and hopefully my mum will be proud of,” Frawley says. “We’re not going to put out something because we feel the pressure. We’re just going to do our thing.

“Also, sometimes you don’t have anything to write about. Sometimes life’s pretty good. Your first record’s usually just a batch of songs and then your second one you’re like, ‘Oh, so we have to make some more songs.’ So that was a

bit more tricky.”

When it comes to evaluating artistic merit, there’s an unfortunate inclination to dismiss things that require too much effort. All creators have their golden moments, where ideas flow without a hint of struggle, but for the most part it takes time and patience to create lasting pieces of art.

“I feel like sometimes in this society it’s like, ‘See I told you, you’re not that good,’” Frawley says. “It’s maybe an Australian thing too, where people think you’re a bit of a wanker if you try hard. Compared to our American friends, who are just so earnest; they’re like ‘I’m going to play in a rock’n’roll band’ and ‘I’m going to get on Letterman’ and ‘I’m going to fuckin’ make a career.’ Whereas saying that here it’s probably like ‘Yeah, pull ya head in mate.’

“I don’t want to downplay the fact that I tried hard to make this record,” he adds. “That’s kind of important to me, being honest that it wasn’t that easy to make.”

As well as the creative labour, Frawley points out the significant lifestyle compromises necessitated by a commitment to the arts. “I grew up around two artists, my parents, who weren’t incredibly successful and worked part time jobs to continue their thing. My mum said when I was 18, ‘If you’re going to play music, get ready to do lots of shit jobs.’ I think when you kind of go ‘Oh, some people like this stuff. I can’t do it,’ you want to make it good.”

At this stage, Frawley is still making ends meet through menial labour, but Twerps are suitably positioned to take things to the next level. Legendary indie label Merge Records will release Range Anxiety in the US, while the

eminent folks at Chapter Music will handle the local release. Artists and record labels often have rather fractious relationships, but for Frawley, the label support goes a long way.

“People can crush people pretty easily and I don’t believe in that,” he says. “It’s pretty easy to shit-can someone’s record on a website, but it’s like, ‘maybe if you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say it’. I’m not really worried about [Range Anxiety]. The people that put out our record like it, so that’s probably the most important thing.”

The record’s release will coincide with Twerps’ appearance at the Sugar Mountain Festival, which goes down at the Victorian College of the Arts. Now that the album’s finally on the cusp of release, Frawley looks out at the New Year with manifest optimism.

“I’m pretty psyched with it,” he says. “It’s

definitely a step up from our earlier stuff. The musicianship is really good on it. I’m really happy to have learned how to sing a bit more, and learned how to play guitar better and use different instruments, and we’ve got a new drummer who drums a lot differently.

“The record comes out maybe four days before we play Sugar Mountain, so that’s really exciting.

That’s going to be a fun hometown show. [Then] we’re going to America, and then to Europe, and then we’ll do an Australian tour. Fingers crossed we just get to go places and eat cool food.”

period, but Return’s lyrical framework was established early on. “The first song that I wrote for the album, which we never released actually, I wrote immediately after being dumped by a guy,” Whale explains. “It sort of follows that the entire album was about that period of time and on that theme. On that level it was prescribed from the beginning.”

Despite what the duo’s release history might suggest, Whale and Cook have remained geographically separate since Collarbones’ inception. The inter-state divide has clearly never been a productivity killer. More to the point, Whale believes it’s an optimal working arrangement.

“We’ve been doing [it this way] longer than most bands in the scene have been doing it in person,” he says. “It’s as normal to us as getting up in the morning and eating breakfast. With Collarbones, it’s great because it means that Travis or I can really hone in on a bunch of stuff when we’re working on it [individually] and not have to um and ah.”

Similar to previous Collarbones releases, Return comprises an offcentre and very-21st Century take on R&B and pop music. Songwriters must remain wary of the influence that passing fads have on their work. Though, it’s not always easy to detect when something that’s grabbing your interest is destined for fleeting existence.

Whale believes Collarbones’ unique songwriting arrangement is helpful in this regard.

“With this album, we took a while and a bunch of the songs are fairly old, but they’re the ones that six-to-12 months down the track we felt like they still held resonance and relevance to us.

“We both have to develop a collective sense for what will work,” he adds. “That collective sense is even more valuable then actual musical input, I think.”

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY RANGE ANXIETY WILL BE AVAILABLE THROUGH CHAPTER MUSIC ON JANUARY 23. VISIT WWW.SUGARMOUNTAINFESTIVAL.COM FOR MORE INFO.

COLLARBONES LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS Bands form for any number of reasons. Aside from the obvious, making music, it’s an excuse to drink beer with friends, behave like a maniac in public and increase one’s sex appeal. When vocalist Marcus Whale and beat maker Travis Cook initiated electronic R&B project Collarbones, it was purely based on a music-centric collaborative chemistry.

In 2007, the Sydney-based Whale and Adelaide native Cook started sharing ideas via the Internet. Fast forward to the present day and Collarbones have just released their third album, Return. Seven years down the line, the pair’s creative bond remains the core impetus for their joint activities.

“It’s something that comes quite natural,” Whale says. “In life it’s about finding chemistry with people and Travis and I have a really good chemistry.”

After joining forces back in the MySpace era, Whale and Cook knocked out a bunch of demos, singles and mixtapes, which led to 2011’s debut LP, Iconography. Defying any limitations imposed by their long-distance working arrangement, 2012 saw the release of Collarbones’ highly lauded second album, Die Young. The construction process on their latest release lasted longer than either of its predecessors and as Whale explains, they weren’t going to make another record simply for the sake of it.

“We’ve gotten to a point with Collarbones where we have to have a reason for doing it. You can’t just be like ‘oh I was just playing with this and it sounds kind of OK.’ We have to have an idea and it’s got to be realized well. That requires time.”

We’re forever hearing hoo-ha about the death of the album. The commercial demand for longplaying releases has certainly dropped, but in reality there’s no lack of artists making quality records. Similarly, listening habits might’ve changed, but the notion that albums are now utterly neglected is something of a fiction. Still, PG. 26 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

Whale can’t help but rue how the tides have turned in recent years.

“The way that people interact with music these days, it’s kind of like the album’s almost an afterthought,” he says. “That annoys me a bit, because I really love the album format. I think it’s really great and I wish it had more value these days. I’m really happy when things happen like when Beyoncé put out her album and it was only available as an entire package for about a week,” he adds. “These people are in positions of power, where they have huge hoards of fans who want as much as they can get. It kind of speaks to me that it’s still important to people that they can sit down and listen to something for an hour.”

It’s plain to see Collarbones are faithful advocates of the long-playing format, which is something distinct from just a collection of songs. With Return they set out to craft an entire body of work. “We wanted it to be a journey, and we wanted it to be something that sustained itself over the 40-something minutes and felt complete,” Whale says. “It’s an interesting process. Towards the end it gets really fun because you’re like ‘All right we’ve got six or seven [songs] that we really like, now we can work a through-line in it and make some songs that fit nicely in there’. Then it feels like you’re really writing an album, rather than just working on tracks. So songs like Flush and the intro song [100 Nights] were ones we did really late in the process to give it real dimension.”

The album’s bigger picture might only have become apparent after an extensive writing

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY RETURNS IS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH TWO BRIGHT LAKES/ REMOTE CONTROL RECORDS.

DAMIEN GERARD STUDIOS STUDIO PROFILE

Tell us about the history of Damien Gerard Studios?

This year marks 30 years under the tenure of Marshall Cullen. Damien Gerard Studios is one of the oldest and most established studios in Sydney. It was founded in 1982 by Luke “Gerard” Everingham and Adam “Damien” Everingham. The facility began as one recording studio and three rehearsal rooms in an Old Wool Store Warehouse in Ultimo.

In 1985 Marshall Cullen and partners took over ownership of the facility. During this time Russell Pilling began his long standing role as Chief Engineer after being trained by Marshall. Russell is still currently the Chief Engineer to this day. Over the next few years the rehearsal rooms where upgraded to recording. In 2001 The original Electric Avenue building on Mullens St in Balmain (designed and built by Sydney Studio Legend Phil Punch and home to The Church for many years) became available, and Damien Gerard Studios found a new permanent location. The premises now houses two rooms. The iconic Studio A, which has one large live room and three separate booths, as well as The Red Stairs Room, a mastering/mixing suite with a vocal booth.

Which artists have you had record at Damien Gerard Studios?

Paul Kelly, Kate Miller Heidke, The Church, Hoodoo Gurus, Divinyls, Inxs, Yothu Yindi, The Cruel Sea, The Posies, John Denver, Midnight Oil, Underground Lovers, Grinspoon, Frenzal Rhomb, Alex Lloyd, Evan Dando, Mental as Anything, Noiseworks, Radio Birdman, The New Christs, Rose Tattoo, Celibate Rifles and many, many others.

Over the past 30 years, which esteemed engineers have you had come through the doors?

We’ve had David Trump,Tim Powles, Nick Launay, Kevin Shirley, Ted Howard, John Bee, Charles Fisher, Wayne Connolly, Paul McKercher, Rob Younger, Simon Holmes, Nick Dalton, Les Karski, Mike Stavrou and Chris Townend among others.

What recording gear is available to use?

We have a lot of gear available for use including a Main console Soundcraft 2400 mid 80’s classic analog 32/24. Our preamps include Neve, ATI, Gappre 73, API, BAE, Avedis, UA. Our comps include Urei, UA, DBX, AMEK, API, Neve Portico, Opti1A, Dramastic. Outboard EQ’s include Neve, JLM, ATI, and of course we have loads of plugins.

We also have plenty of mics including NEUMAN KM86,TLM103, Octava U87, AKG 451, D112, RODE Classic 2 Tube, SHURE SM7, Beta58A, SM57, SM58, SH55, Green Bullet, Beta57A, BEYER M88, M201+Ribbons, ROYER Ribbons, SENNHEISER MD421 x 4, AUDIO-TECHNICA AT4050, EV RE20, Studio Projects Large DIA Tube, COLES 4038 ribbon mics, SENNHEISER

Over that time, which notable International producers have worked in the studios?

Jack Endino, Randy Jackson, Skunk Baxter, Gus van Go, Adrian Breakspear, Steve James, Paul Palmer, Roger Frankham and Wayne Rivesy just to name a few.

What are your studios digital and/or analogue capabilities for recording?

We have facilities for both digital and analogue recording. We can offer recording onto 2” Tape on an MCI JH24 and Pro Tools 10 Native Thunderbolt.

How many rooms does the studio include and what are they ideal for?

We have spaces that are perfect for tracking, mixing and mastering. We have one main large live room that is big enough to track up to a 9 piece band which has three iso booths attached.

We have one large control and mixing room and also a mastering suite with a voice over booth.

MD-441, BEESNEEZ ARABELLA, RADIAL JDV Class-A direct box and Great River DI / Preamp.

Are there any instruments available to use or hire whilst recording?

We have various guitars and basses including Music Man. We have various keyboards including an 88 key controller. There are various amps including Vox AC30’s. There is a Ludwig ‘John Bonham” style 4 piece kit. We have tonnes of pedals, Line 6 pod and a percussion box. These are all free of charge with hire aside from the Ludwig kit.

Who are your in-house engineers and what is their experience?

We have Russell Pilling. Russ has been engineering for over 25 years and has worked with Hoodoo Gurus, Yothu Yindi, Noiseworks, The Vines, The Church and The Cruel Sea just to name a few artists. He has engineered for plenty of esteemed international producers as well.

We also have Andrew Beck. He Started out in the intense music recording scene on the USA west coast throughout the 90’s. Andrew worked in various capacities with the likes of Soundgarden recording Superunknown, Delicious Vinyl, Bad Animals Studios Seattle, Ocean Way Studios and Trauma Records among others. Since relocating

to Sydney in 2000 he has worked with Paul Kelly (Mastering), Kate Miller Heidke (Mastering), The Stoics, Mental As Anything, Epicure, Grinspoon, Josh Abrahams/Amiel Marvin Priest and lots more.

Then we have Pete Holz. He has completed a masters degree in acoustics at Sydney University and was one of the chief lecturers at The School of Audio Engineering (SAE) and JMC Sydney. Pete joined the Damien Gerard Studio team in 2005, and has since attended prestige courses such as a mixing workshop with Michael Brauer (Coldplay) in Southern France. Pete has become one of our most sought after engineers, providing world class clarity and quality in his mixes.

Is there anything else that you’d like to tell us about?

The Studio is in inner city Balmain where cafes, bars and much more is only a walk away. There is an in house label that provides consultation, radio plugging and promotion to selected clients as well as cd and vinyl manufacture and distribution if required.

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JANUARY 2015 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / PG. 27

UNLEASH YOUR INNER ROCK GOD INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

Peter Hodgson interviewed a buttload of guitarists in 2014. Some for Mixdown, some for his blog, some for other mags and websites. He tells us that one of the greatest aspects of interviewing renowned guitarists for a job is that it’s almost like getting a lesson from them. Gaining insight from artists like these opens up new doors and inspires new approaches to guitar playing. So here are some highlights from Peter’s interviews over the past 12 months, focusing on guitar playing, guitar loving and guitar related anecdotes.

MARC MARON (COMEDIAN) “For years I was a Fender guy. I don’t have a lot of guitars. I had a couple Teles, neither one of them that great, and I had one Strat which I bought in like ’86 or something. I’m no guitar nerd, really. I played those for years and in about 2002 maybe, Jimmy Vivino from the Conan O’Brien band said I should get a Gibson Les Paul TV Junior. He hooked me up with his guy over at the Custom Shop and I got a good price on it, but I still didn’t quite know how to make Gibsons sound right for me for some reason. When I was a kid my first guitar was a Les Paul gold top copycat. Then at some point I had a tube amp and about four or five years ago I figured out what the beauty was of the Les Paul TV Junior with that one P90 pickup. Johnny Thunders is what changed the game for me. I didn’t realize how much you could dirty up that thing. Then I started playing it all the time. That was my primary guitar. I didn’t distort much. I would play straight in with no distortion, just clean blues riffs like Jimmie Vaughan, but then all of a sudden that Gibson blew my brains out and I started playing it all the time. I had an SG for years, but I could never wrap my brain around it. I couldn’t work the SG. It was from the late 70s. I ended up selling it, and I didn’t even know the neck was broken. I’ve had bad luck with guitars. I bought this weird old Gibson acoustic, an FJN. It’s a very odd guitar and I think they only made them for five or six years. It’s a big old jumbo body with two white pick guards on either side of the hole.

It’s got this short, fat, almost classical neck. It’s this bizarre guitar from the 60s, and I love it. It has a little bit of a buzz in it, but it’s okay still. So I have that thing, and I don’t think many people play ‘em. Then I spent years looking for a J-45, and eventually I just bought one. I loved that guitar. Then Epiphone sent me one of them blue SGs with the tremolo on it, and a red Epiphone Dot, and that guitar changed my life. Y’know, my earliest guitar memories were as a big Chuck Berry fan, but I never saw myself with a red 335.

So I got those guitars as a promotional thing because it had Brendon Small on. So I got me a red Epi Dot and I play it all the time. It’s the best guitar I ever played.”

JOBY FORD (THE BRONX) “I absolutely loathe a hum bucker Marshall sound. The compression and sustain that people love about that sort of setup is super boring to me. I love the slash-and-burn, exciting sound of a single coil. It’s just bursting with excitement.

Most of the time in the studio I have a Gibson Les Paul Classic with a P90, and then in the neck position it has a Danelectro lipstick tube single coil pickup. Those pickups were originally intended for a guitar that was made out of Masonite and had no sustain, but in the Les Paul, because there’s so much sustain, you really change what they were built for and you get a really unique sound. Taking credit for that, I can’t, that was a John Rhys thing from Rocket From The Crypt. He told me, ‘Throw this in your

GUITAR

Marc Maron

Les Paul, dude.’ So that’s been something I favour in the studios.”

JIMMIE VAUGHAN “Y’know, one night I had a little bit too much to drink and I left my Stratocaster on the car and drove away out of the gig. I woke up the next morning and thought ‘Uh… where’s my guitar?’

I went back to the club and it was still laying in the case in the parking lot. I brought it home. I don’t know if anybody ran over it or not. When I first got it they were all over the place. You could buy ‘em for 200 bucks all day. They were sort of like an old Ford or something. You could just change the parts. They were cool. They float too, y’know?”

JACK JOHNSON “I used to be in a punk rock band in high school, and I used to love playing any style. At the same time that I was learning to play folk songs from

my dad’s friends. I was learning to play Metallica and Sepultura – all this thrash metal stuff – as well as punk stuff like Minor Threat and all that.

The electric guitar has always been something I loved playing. Then I started travelling and making surf films and playing the acoustic guitar so much when we were travelling, so it was just easier to bring that along. So those first couple of albums ended up having a lot of acoustic just because of the songs I’d been writing. After touring a bunch once the whole thing started going, I just had an electric guitar around more often so I started recording with that. I got back to playing a lot of acoustic on this new album partly because a guy I met put this nylon-strong acoustic guitar in my hands and it was just a lot of fun to play.”

BY PETER HODGSON

WHAT’S THAT SOUND

DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS MOPHO

KEYS

Surely you all know of Dave Smith. He’s the man who just about created the modern MIDI coding that we know today, and the guy behind some of the greatest synthesizers of all time with the work he produced at Sequential Circuits. Everyone knows of the Prophet in some form or another. Whether you own one of the many models, regrettably sold one years ago, or now use the software emulations, I am sure we have all been delighted with the work and creations of Dave Smith at some point in our music making. So, it has kept many electronic musicians quietly delighted that many years after his departure from the ruins of Sequential Circuits, Dave Smith is now developing synthesizers again, and producing instruments that really are first class.

FUTURE RETRO When looking at the instruments being released

by Dave Smith Instruments, it’s easy to see how he is recalling so much from his past designs.

Yet, at the same time he is one step ahead of so many other manufacturers and designers of today. Ironically, it’s his knowledge of the past that’s placing him ahead of everyone else. We are now in the midst of a full-blown analogue synthesizer renaissance that is seeing a range of manufacturers release new keyboards and reissues of old ones in compact and cost effective designs. This is a trend that’s been running for the last few years with huge sales going to those that have marketed the idea of analogue cool in the right way. Several years before all this craziness of late, Dave Smith was one step ahead with his Mopho keyboard synthesizer. It really paved the way for units like Arturia’s Minibrute and Korg’s MS-20MINI and enabled them to find footing in the marketplace. The bizarre thing is that while many of you have probably not even seen or heard a Mopho, you probably own keyboards that have followed in its wake and been inspired by it.

BRIGHT IDEA The suggestion that many music producers might have missed the Mopho when it hit the PG. 28 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 /JANUARY 2015

scene in 2008 is laughable when you look at the instrument itself. This has got to be the loudest keyboard ever produced, perhaps only rivalling the Microwave from Waldorf when it comes to outrageously bright design. This compact 32 note synthesizer was housed in a lovely chassis that featured beautiful wooden side panel and a bright yellow casing. Yes, bright yellow. You almost need sunglasses to play this beast.

As far as the sound behind this glaring performer, it comes in the form of a mono-synth that is really reminiscent of a single voiced Prophet. Much like the legendary Pro-One of the Sequential Circuits days, this isn’t so much as a re-issue, but more a tribute to a keyboard of yesteryear.

It takes a new design path and adds a range of innovative ideas including a USB interface that sits alongside the analogue circuitry to allow for better connectivity with modern recording and performance tools. It really packs a punch too when your get the Mopho singing. Rich bass sounds that have a real classic analogue feel to them, and some pretty aggressive lead tones that make you want to get your hands on the real time controls afforded to the user in the keyboard version of this instrument. With a digital patch memory for quick recall of presets and user defined patches, you can easily find a great starting point for a sound and twist it any

way you want in a matter of moments.

The completely analogue signal path of the Mopho was delivered at an astounding price when it first debuted 6 years ago. Today we are now most likely used to seeing compact analogue synthesizers hitting the market under a thousand dollars, as larger production numbers and resurgence in their popularity drives the lower price. At the time of the release of the Mopho though, there really wasn’t anything like it in the price range, and this is what set it well ahead of anything else for many years to come.

Best of all, your creativity wasn’t limited to the one unit when you wanted the Mopho to interact with your studio setup. A computer editing

program was made available for greater control of the sounds, but that really took away from the whole point of getting your hands onto some real analogue gear. The introduction of Dave Smith’s Poly Chain connections gave the Mopho the ability to easily share signal paths with other Dave Smith devices like the Prophet ’08. So far ahead of its time, yet drawing its influences from a bygone era, the Mopho continues to prove itself in a busy market, and offers synth collectors something a little more boutique than much of what is on offer today.

BY ROB GEE

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(D)IGITAL (J)OCKEY MODERN MUSIC MIX-UPS

DJ

More and more these days we see DJs moving away from playing the role of a jukebox with a pulse, and moving toward playing the role of a producer in the booth. We saw this twenty years ago, when most DJs were playing vinyl in the clubs, they were all making music behind the scenes. Yes, there were fewer options for production and the limited capabilities of computers really made producers have to work hard to get projects to flourish with technology, but the real hindrance was getting that music into the clubs quickly. Now, with the advances in technology and the ability to self-pubish, things have changed somewhat.

MEDIA UPGRADES I can remember finishing a track one evening and then wanting to play it at a gig later that night in the 90s. Digital performance wasn’t how we know it today. Often a venue would only have two 1200s and a battle mixer, so you had to improvise. It got so desperate at times that I would literally record the track live from my sequencer onto a cassette and bring a Walkman to plug into the mixer at the club. This made mixing a brand new track somewhat difficult, and with a quality that was not always desirable. At least when you knew CDJs were going to be an option at the venue, you could quickly burn off a CD of any new tracks before heading out. Of course, I say ‘quickly’, but I really mean spending a good half an hour for a track to be rendered and then burnt onto the CD at painfully slow speeds to ensure no errors. Oh, how times have changed! The introduction of portable media and computer controllers has changed the way a DJ interacts with the room forever. Yes, there is some nostalgic feeling to having a tape jam-up on you at the wrong moment when you try to rewind it desperately in order to cue it up with a record that was quickly coming to an end, but we must all agree that what we have to work with today is definitely a turn for the better.

The ability to create a CD in a minute is brilliant.

The fact that we can now save enough music for

an entire set onto a USB stick in a few minutes is outrageous. You can literally have your entire music library hanging from your key ring, and simply connect it with the hardware at the club to access it all, and create a performance on the spot. This has drawn some criticism in certain circles with the suggestion that DJs are simply plugging in a USB stick and pressing play. These sorts of claims have always followed us. The introduction of the CDJ to DJ booths brought with it the suggestions of complete mix CDs being played and that was twenty years back.

So, it is best to leave those who wish to talk rubbish out of the equation and create the best possible mix from whatever tools and media you have at your disposal.

CREATIVE CONTROL With these advancements in portable media, we have obviously seen a huge growth in the market when it comes to DJ controllers for both computer and stand-alone operations.

Nowadays, you can use a CDJ without a CD, and still work with it like you music is on a physical moving disc within the unit. This great rise in hardware controllers means portable music making has become the forefront of the modern DJ set. Why play music that is pre-recorded when you can build your tracks and mix them in real-time within your set. Now, you can simply

make it up as you go and create something truly unique.

Clever portable controllers, like Akai Pro’s AFX Serato controller, include many features into a device that fits into your laptop bag and works with just about any software. Of course, there are dozens of great controllers. I am simply using the AFX as an example because it caught my attention this week, and so I have found myself ignoring other controllers while I get my fix of this one. The design isn’t ground-breaking, it isn’t a re-invention of the wheel and it will probably join the rest of my arsenal in due course, but it does offer me a slightly different approach when controlling Serato. It’s a simple and intuitive design, one that reflects the classic mixer layout and features many options you would expect to find on such a controller like drum pads, cue point and FX assignment with rotary encoders and a backlit LCD for data readouts. There are no physical faders though, and noticeably no

cross-fader along the bottom of the unit. A touch sensitive endless controller running across the top of the unit has taken the place of a crossfader, with the ability to complete a range of functions.

Sure, this does the job of many other controllers, but it is always fun to work with a new one and see how the change in workflow redirects your creative process. If I had the time and money, I would ultimately end up with every controller out there and learn how to use them all inside out.

The possibilities of using a range of controllers with a traditional DJ setup including vinyl is just mind boggling. I am going to leave this thought with you. Take it away and consider how you can up the stakes in what you bring to your DJ set.

See how you can work more devices into the process to better mix up the results.

BY ROB GEE

HOME STUDIO HINTS TREAT YOURSELF, TREAT YOUR ROOM

STUDIO

Now, I am sure all of you glorious Mixdown readers were good last year, and I’m sure you’ve all had a visit from the jolly fat man over the holiday period.

A sea of wondrous gifts, new studio toys and remarkably painful hangovers that will carry on well into the new year. Yes, it is that time of year again, where here in Australia it’s far too hot to go out in the sun, and so the best bet is to hope and pray that you have air conditioning in your home studio so you can hide from the oppressive heat. Alternatively, I suppose you could just go to the beach with everyone else and fight for some space on the sand and in the water, but I like to take this time to hide in the cool darkness of my studio and rip it all to pieces, rewire everything and reconsider how it is going to work best for me in the next twelve months. I think it is a good time to give ourselves a little treat and reconstruct our room to make it a better listening environment.

GOING HARD I think we have all put some thought into treating our home studios acoustically at some point or another, but often it ends up in a vain effort, resulting in nothing more than egg cartons falling off the wall when the gaffa tape melts in the heat. So, let’s take an objective approach to this and really think about how you can change the way your room reacts with you and the sounds that move around within it. After all, this is the real important thing to consider when treating your room. You need to think about how you are using it, where you are placing yourself and how this location relates to the way certain frequencies resonate within the space. You don’t need to completely overhaul your studio. There is no need to build new walls or try to soundproof it so the neighbours don’t complain.

To best redesign the room, simply sit in it and consider the space. Look around you at all the hard surfaces to be found and take note of how they align with one another. Once you have this figured out, you can begin to make some simple changes that will greatly improve how your room sounds.

So, we want to get rid of hard surfaces within your space, but not entirely. Just consider how PG. 30 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 /JANUARY 2015

sound responds when it hits any one surface in your room and try to get a balance. If you have all dense and soft surfaces, your room will sound dull, lifeless and somewhat muffled. If you are surrounded by hard, flat surfaces, you are going to get a bright, reverb-heavy room with standing waves that will cause phase cancellation. Both instances result in a very unnatural listening environment. So the goal is to find the balance.

OPPOSITES ATTRACT The problem with most home studios is that the room wasn’t generally built with the intention of a studio being set up in there. Because of this, we often have square or rectangular rooms with walls that run parallel to each other, as do the floors with the ceilings. This is the perfect environment for standing waves as the sound bounces from one side of the room to the other and creates frequency cancellation at certain points in its journey. With this in mind, you want to try to eliminate the ability for sound to move from one hard surface to another, while still retaining some of the brightness that hard walls can offer.

First thing’s first; deal with the floor. If you have floorboards or tiles, you need to soak up some of

the sound bouncing off them, especially around your listening position. So get a nice plush rug in place under your studio chair. Some additional floor coverings around the room will allow you to instantly hear a difference. Just clap your hands loudly and you will hear the reverb from the hard surfaces going away as you add more floor coverings. If a couch is available, this works great at the back of the room too not only for grabbing errant high frequencies and stopping them in their paths, but also as a bass trap to pull down the low frequencies that build up in the corners of the room.

Next, look at the walls. Often you can’t do major changes to them, but hanging sound absorbers can break up the way the sound bounces around the space. Brands like Wave Panels and Aurelex offer a range of solutions for shaping sound within your room, but, if you are feeling handy, a simple wooden framed canvas from a craft shop can be backed with rock-wool and hung to

allow you to bring some character to the room.

This way, you can have the canvas painted or printed to add a little colour to your creative environment whilst also engaging the issue of reflective sounds. The thicker and denser the padding used in these frames can determine the range of frequencies they will capture. You can get very detailed here and go about tuning your room if you want to get mathematical about it, but I think you will find the simple application of a few sound absorbers in positions that reflect unwanted sound to your listening position will make all the difference to begin with. You don’t need to go overboard, you just need to experiment with a few panels and enjoy the results. What should come from this is a better listening environment and so better mixes and better music.

BY ROB GEE

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PG. 31 / mixdowN NO. 248 / DECEMBER 2014

ON THE DOWNLOW THE HODGSON EFFECT

BASS

Here’s a simple trick that can allow the bass to cover a lot more ground. You might find it useful if you’re playing in a stripped-down band line-up like a power trio, or if you’d just like to get more melody and harmony into your solo bass extrapolations. It’s very simple.

Create a repeating pattern to handle the low end, and then add a sustained note to cover the middle range, or use a harmonic instead to get right up there to the high range. You can move the bass notes around, you can shift the higher notes anywhere you like, you can add chords or whatever gets you to the heart of the song. Personally I stumbled upon this stuff when listening to my brother playing sustained arpeggios on his bass. I thought “That’s really cool, but the sound could get a bit mushy if you’re letting every note ring out in a band situation.” Then I blended it with an idea I stole from a Virgil Donati drum clinic, implying that a repeating pattern is continuing even when you diverge from it.

Figure 1 will give you the basic idea. There’s a simple pattern which takes place on the low E string and consists of only two notes (E and G). On top we add an open D string in the first two bars, which we let ring out. Then in the next two bars we switch it to a B note on the second fret of the A string. Now, the idea of having two notes on the low E string isn’t just for physical convenience. If we were playing wider arpeggios we could risk having each note ring out at the same time, and that could turn into mush, especially if the intervals are relatively close together.

the harmonic over the fifth fret of the D string for the first two bars, giving us a G note (and you can cross-reference this with any other G on your bass to make sure you’ve nailed the right harmonic). Then switch to the F# harmonic above the 4th fret for the other two bars. This totally changes the tonality of the riff and gives you a nice spacious sound which carries rhythmic and harmonic information at the same time, making it great for another instrumentalist to solo over or to play something more textural.

Figure 3 uses simple two-note chords instead, while keeping the same bass pattern on the bottom. In this case we repeat the same chord (an E5) for the first two bars, then a D5 for the third bar and a C5 for the last one. Again it’s a totally different harmonic movement to the other two examples, so you should have plenty here to mess around with before you start working on your own ideas.

BY PETER HODGSON

Figure 2 takes this idea but adds harmonics for the sustained notes. In this case we’re playing

BANGIN’ THE TUBS SESSION SOLUTIONS

DRUMS

Going into the studio as a drummer comes with some inevitable hurdles. If you’re a permanent member of a band, the studio experience can be more relaxed, as you know the guys you’re working with, but if you’re being hired as a ‘session’ drummer and you’ve never met the people you’re working for, you’ve never played at the studio and you haven’t even heard the tunes yet, well, all these things can dramatically affect the recording process. Here are three things to consider before rocking up for a blind session, based solely on my own experiences and what has worked for me.

GO BIGGER Nine times out of ten, the producer will prefer bigger drums, and usually old ones. If you don’t know the tunes yet, or even the sound they’re going for, it would usually be a better option to assume that they’ll dig fatter, shorter sounding toms. For this reason, I have a 1960s Ludwig with 13” and 16” toms. They have a naturally shorter tone that can be tuned up or down. On occasion, I’ve used my Yamaha Maple Custom, but the 10/12/14” tom arrangement would usually suit a fusion or RnB record, and you’d probably know that was the style you were going to be playing before the session. Either way, I’ve found the old and thuddy approach works most of the time and it’s the safer option.

BRING EXTRA GEAR If you don’t know what’s going to be asked of you, bring extra gear, particularly cymbals and snare drums. Have a few sized snare drums that have different roles. I use a Yamaha 14x7” Oak custom to do the low/thud 70s vibe, a 14x6.5” metal drum does this well too. I also use a combination of 14x5” Ludwig Black Beauty, LM400 Aluminium Supraphonic or Acrolite snares for the medium to high tuning range. It’s nice to have the snares basically tuned where you want them so you can swap them in and out quickly. Likewise with cymbals, make sure you have a lighter ride and a heavier ride, brighter crashes or darker ones, crisp hats and trashy PG. 32 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 /JANUARY 2015

ones. This will give you a greater flexibility when the producer inevitably asks for a different sound.

Interestingly, I’ve found splashes don’t really get a look in on a bog standard pop record.

DAMPENING. This is a biggie. Make sure you have the following items on a session with you. Moongel (stick-on dampening gel pads), Gaffa tape and tea-towels or a couple of bits of old sheet/material. I end up using these items all the time. When the drums are left wide open they’re louder, and for a live gig it’s a good sound, but often the overtones can be a nuisance on a session when it’s usually easier to chuck on some dampening and get a more focused tone. Obviously, the producer will ask for a certain sound. Having the dampening will just make your life easier when they ask. It’ll also make those snare drums behave. Low and thuddy is very hard without some dampening.

BY ADRIAN VIOLI

WHAT’S MY RANGE AGAIN? SIMPLE STEPS FOR OVERCOMING PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

VOCALS

We all love singing and playing music, and a big part of this is getting up on stage and performing in front of a crowd. For some of us, this is an extremely daunting and frightening prospect, but inevitably, as a singer it’s something you will have to do at some point. In this month’s article I’m going give you some helpful advice, tips and hints on how to overcome performance anxiety and keep that demon away forever.

CONFIDENCE IN YOUR OWN ABILITY The number one and most important rule to overcoming performance anxiety is making sure that you have 110% confidence in your own ability to hit every note in every song that you are going to perform. If you haven’t got complete confidence in your voice, then you are not yet ready to contemplate getting up on stage yet.

It’s just like driving an old unreliable car. You’re not going to feel very confident about driving a car that’s unlikely to make it to your destination.

Instead, you’d find yourself a car that’s capable of fulfilling your requirements.

The same goes for your voice. If you cannot sing a song, or a particular part in a song, change that part of the song or the key of the song, so that you can sing it with confidence and conviction.

Or alternatively, go out and get the necessary training, skills and knowledge to enable you to sing whatever you desire. Without confidence in your voices’ ability to go the journey, you’re inevitably going to be hampered by performance anxiety.

REHEARSE, REHEARSE, REHEARSE Once you can sing every note of every song that you’re going to perform, you must rehearse everything that you are going to do up on stage, and I mean absolutely everything.

This includes, correct microphone technique, interacting and speaking to your audience, stage presentation and your movement. Everything must be rehearsed.

It is also a good idea to choreograph or even write down how you want your live set to unfold.

Write down on the set list when you are going to speak to and interact with the crowd. Practice what you are going to say to the audience so that you don’t trip over your words and look like a dill when you’re up on stage.

CHECK YOURSELF Once you have got points 1 and 2 down, you’re well on the way to conquering your performance anxiety. At this point, it’s an excellent idea to film your whole performance to see what you sound and look like. You need to critique your video performance and write down the points that you think need improvement, require more rehearsal and look for anything that you can change for the better.

Now back to rehearsing, rehearsing and more rehearsing! Once you’re happy with your new and improved video performance, it’s time to take it to the people.

START SMALL Once you are confident in your performance ability, you now need to start doing this in front of people. I don’t mean getting up on stage just yet. I mean start performing in front of one or two close friends or family who are going to support and encourage you. Do this at home or in the rehearsal studio. Once you’re fine with this you can start to increase the amount of people that you perform in front of. Invite more friends, family, band member’s partners and friends of band members over to the rehearsal studio, or hold an intimate show in your garage or living room. Do as many of these performances as you

need until you feel comfortable being in front of people.

Once you are confident with all of the above, it’s now time to go out and play in front of a live audience.

TAKE IT TO THE PEOPLE It’s a good idea to start with the secret show firstly. Then possibly play a few shows on quieter nights of the week like a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. There are also lots of open mic nights where you can gain valuable stage and live performing experience. Ask to play at a friends party or even arrange a party yourself where you can perform.

The main point to reiterate after you have gained confidence being up on stage is to keep on

doing it regularly and start performing in front of bigger crowds. Try to perform at least once every two or three weeks, because if you leave it for an extended period of time, you will digress back to where you started.

If you follow the simple steps and guidelines, then there is no reason why you cannot perform in front of the biggest crowds at the biggest venues.

BY PETER VOX

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visit yourmic.com.au for more information MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015 / PG. 33

ROAD TESTED MATON M-SERIES EBG808M Mahogany ACOUSTIC GUITAR darker. There’s a beautiful natural compression that happens when you pick aggressively. You hit a ceiling where the notes no longer get any louder; rather the whole guitar becomes alive.

The pickup system is very effective: the piezo element gives you attack and definition while the mic creates the body and depth. And the preamp gives you enough control that you don’t need to do any external processing.

NEXT LEVEL, 808!

This is a really beautiful guitar that would suit fingerpickers and delicate strummers, although it really opens up when you lay in hard with the pick as well. Its voicing is ideal for those who play in spacious ensembles rather than those who play in busier musical settings, and it has the personality and tone to work perfectly as a solo instrumentalist’s main guitar.

By Peter Hodgson

AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 2015 Maton’s 808 series is a classic of Australian guitar making, dating back to 1978 in its earliest form and standing the test of time through a variety of different tonewood configurations. The EBG808M takes a leaf - if you’ll pardon the vaguely wood-related pun - out of the book of the Maton Mahogany Mini, the ‘small, dark and handsome’ little acoustic that has been turning a lot of heads with its Mahogany neck and Sapele top, back and sides.

The EBG808M has solid Sapele face, back and sides. This wood is reminiscent of Mahogany in some ways, with a Mahogany neck, Rosewood fingerboard, Rosewood veneer headstock, 6mm mother-of-pearl dot position markers, bone nut and a Rosewood bridge (with a piezo element tucked under the saddle). The fretwork is great, and in true Maton 808 style, the action is just perfect. It’s even and consistent across the neck, but not so low as to cause buzzing.

The workmanship is top-notch throughout,

and it’s one of those guitars that you just wanna look at, y’know?

The preamp is Maton’s AP5-Pro, blending mic and piezo signals. There are also sliders for bass and treble, and a pair of rotary midrange controls: one to dial in the frequency and one to dial in the boost or cut. It’s an unobtrusive and intuitive system that gives you a lot of flexibility.

SMELLING OF RICH Mahogany The smaller shape of the 808 is traditionally known to give a more balanced tonal response: unlike a dreadnaught which has that big punchy bass and clear treble, the 808 allows a little more delicateness through. There’s also something really satisfying about tuning the EBG808M down a few semitones. It sounds great in standard tuning but there’s a warmth and clarity that comes from this particular wood and this particular shape together that you just have to hear. It’s great whether you’re playing low-down blues, gutsy twangy country or something a little

GIBSON BILL KELLIHER “HALCYON” LES PAUL ELECTRIC GUITAR

DISTRIBUTOR: MATON GUITARS PHONE: (03) 9896 9500 WEBSITE: www.maton.com.au SPECS

• Type: 808 • Face, Back & Sides: Sapele • Neck: Mahogany • Fingerboard: Rosewood • Bridge: Rosewood • Pre-Amp: Ap5 Pro • Machine Heads: Chrome Grover • Case Included: Maton Hard Case HITS

• Beautiful natural tone.

• Great playability.

• Handy mic/piezo blending ability.

MISSES

• No tuner in pickup.

• Restricted upper fret access.

single coil mode. It’s very punchy and edgy without quite becoming annoyingly twangy. And the neck pickup has a very musical attack and definition when in single coil mode, but is especially effective with a clean sound where it takes on some smokey, bluesy overtones.

THE MOTHERLOAD This is a killer guitar for anyone who’s looking for a high-powered take on the Les Paul tone and who wants something that looks a little bit exotic but still classic at the same time. The build quality is exceptional, the playability is up there with the best Gibson USA Les Pauls I’ve played, and the tone is the ultimate deal-sealer.

BY PETER HODGSON RRP: $4399 DISTRIBUTOR: GIBSON AMI PHONE: (03) 8696 4600 WEBSITE: www.gibsonami.com.au SPECS

Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher’s first signature instrument was the Gibson Golden Axe Explorer, a visually stunning instrument that combined classic explorer looks with an eye-catching golden brown sunburst finish and Kelliher’s signature Lace Sensor pickups. They’re already becoming hard to find because these limited edition instruments are very much coveted, not just by Mastodon fans: they achieve the rare feat of crossing over to guitar fans in general. The new Bill Kelliher Halcyon Les Paul follows a similar track, kitting out a classic Les Paul design with a few of Kelliher’s own personal touches, and in the process creating a guitar that will please all sorts of players, whether they’ve heard of Mastodon or not.

BLOOD AND THUNDER The Halcyon starts with the classic Les Paul tonewood combination of a Mahogany back with a Maple top, Rosewood fretboard on a Mahogany neck, a Tune-O-Matic bridge and Stop Bar tailpiece.

PG. 34 / mixdowN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

There are 22 frets, a 12” fretboard radius, and classic trapezoid mother of pearl fretboard inlays. The nut is made of a material called Tektoid and it feels very low-resistance, and not as finger-shearing as some previously-used materials.

The body and neck are surrounded in cream binding which is matched by the pickup rings and pickguard.

There’s a mother of pearl Gibson logo and a silkscreened “Les Paul Model” logo. A ‘Halcyon’ logo is hot-stamped in gold into the black and white ‘bell’ truss rod cover. The strap buttons are oversized, giving your strap a much more secure fit.

Each pickup has its own volume and tone controls, with the volumes doubling as push-pull coil splits for each pickup. There’s a three-way pickup selector for choosing between the two Lace Dissonant Aggressor humbuckers.

The finish is stunning in person. It’s more gold in the centre than it seems to appear in photos, with a metallic sheen fading gradually and flawlessly into a brown sunburst. Combined with the cream binding

and plastic parts it’s a really unique guitar that looks good enough to eat.

BLASTEROID The pickups are quite high in output - even the neck model measures 13.7k, and while DC Resistance isn’t a perfect measure of pickup output, your ears will immediately tell you these things are beasts. The neck pickup has a clear, sustaining, midrange-heavy voice that almost sounds like you’re playing through a perfectly-voiced fuzz pedal, while the bridge pickup - at 17.8k - has a thickness and sustain that somehow manage to allow the overtones of complex chords to ring through even when it’s slamming your amp’s input stage with power and causing it to compress. I tuned the low E string down to A for some big “Crack The Skye” style riffs balancing super-low notes with high chord extensions, and the sound was immense and expansive. The single coil modes are very useful, with the bridge pickup in particular sounding great through high gain in

• Top: Maple, • Back: Mahoghany • Neck Pickup: Lace Dissonant Aggressor, • Bridge Pickup: - Lace Dissonant Aggressor • Hardware: Strings - .009 - .046, Strap Buttons - Brass End Pins • Fingerboard: Rosewood • Frets: 22 • Inlays: Trapezoid, Mother of Pearl • Nut/E.O.B: 1.695” / 2.260” HITS

• Amazing build quality.

• Unique look.

• Boutique-quality humbuckers.

MISSES

• Single coil neck mode is better clean than dirty.

STERLING BY MUSIC MAN RAY34 ELECTRIC BASS GUITAR DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT STING The Ray34 - especially in this eye-catching Translucent White Blonde finish - is pitched perfectly as a mid-price bass that is worth the extra coin compared to an entry level bass.

Y’know how some mid-priced instruments don’t really seem to be that much better than entrypriced ones but they have more bling? Well that’s definitely not the case here: it feels like every resource has been poured in to giving you value for money and an instrument that will keep up with you throughout your musical career.

BY PETER HODGSON

RRP: $1295

The Sterling By Music Man Ray34 is based on the classic Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray, the legendary bass used by thousands of players and hundreds of megastars over the last 35 years or so. The Stingray is one of the most easily identifiable basses out there, with its distinctive circular pickguard, hulking humbucker and split 3/1 machine head array, but like all USAmade Music Man basses, it carries a rather large price tag. Enter Sterling By Music Man. These Indonesian-made, US set-up instruments allow players to access much of the design and tone mojo of the fully American versions at a much lower price. All instruments are set up and shipped from Orange County, California. The Ray34 was introduced back in 2011, but Sterling has taken a leaf from the Music Man book of user satisfaction, offering a few limited edition, 2013-only versions: the Ray34-TWB (Translucent White Blonde) model on review here and a lefthanded version in the same Natural finish as the right-handed Ray34NT model. Other available finishes are Black and Honeyburst.

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES Whichever finish you go for, the Ray34 features an Ash body with a glossy Maple neck and a Rosewood fretboard (or a Maple fretboard on the Natural models). The nut is a narrow 38mm, but the strings fan out quite ergonomically as you travel towards the body, ending in a 19mm string-to-string spacing at the bridge. The neck joins the body via a very secure six-bolt set-up in a very tight pocket. The scale length is 34” with the strings terminating in a heavy duty Music Man designed bridge. The fretwork has improved upon the last Ray34 I reviewed (a Ray34CA model with a few different tweaks, but still in the same ballpark). That older bass’s fretwork was a little messy - not enough to be a deal-breaker, but enough to notice when going over the bass for review purposes. This one is very neat. Electronics are simple but flexible: there’s an SBMM Alnicomagnet humbucker pickup along with individual controls for treble, middle and bass as well as a master volume. Battery access is via a compartment in the back of the bass.

FIRST RAYS OF THE RISING SUN I plugged the Ray34 into IK Mulimedia’s AmpliTube 3 Ampeg models for testing. Much like the Ray34CA that I tested about a year ago through the same amp sim presets, the Ray34 sounded very punchy and clear, with plenty of air in the high end, a full but tight bass and a musical, woody-sounding midrange. The extra control afforded by the expanded EQ meant that I was able to summon a wider range of tones from this model: scooped mids, enhanced mids, slap-and-pop slickness, dirty gritty stoner rock, Green Day-like punk - it’s all there, and all at your fingertips. This is also an exceptionally playable bass, with just enough meat on the neck to grab on to but not so much that it cramps your hand or slows you down. Whether you’re looking for a bass that excels at driving eighth-notes or you’re looking to wander all over the neck for more complex styles, the Ray34 will stay out of your way and let you simply play.

DISTRIBUTOR: CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA PHONE: (02) 9905 2511 WEBSITE: www.cmcmusic.com.au SPECS

• • • • • • • • •

Scale: 34” Body: Ash Neck: Maple Fretboard Wood: Rosewood (TWB, HB, BK) Maple (NT) Tuning Machines: Open Hardware: Chrome Frets: 21 Pickups: Alnico Humbucker, SBMM Bridge: Fixed, Sterling By Music Man Design

HITS

• More affordable than previous USA models.

• Great playability.

• Punch and clear tones.

MISSES

• Nothing worth mentioning.

STEREO SOUND. CUSTOM CONTROL. AT EVERY CORNER OF THE STAGE. PSM300 Stereo Personal Monitor Systems introduce the clarity and precision of 24-bit digital audio processing to personal monitoring, while bringing reliable wireless freedom and custom mix control to the stage. Easy to setup and use, PSM300 systems offer a choice of features that get any level user – whether new to in-ear monitoring or well experienced – up and running with a personal mix quickly and confidently.

PSM300 Stereo Personal Monitor System with SE112 Earphones

PSM300 Professional Stereo Personal Monitor System with SE215 Earphones

Distributed by

www.jands.com.au

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2:24 PM JANUARY 2015 / MIXDOWN NO.21/11/14 249 / PG. 35

ROAD TESTED GIBSON LES PAUL STUDIO HOT ROD ELECTRIC GUITAR

It’s funny that for some of us the term ‘hot rod’ makes us think of guitars souped up with Floyd Rose tremolos, humbuckers where there should be single coils and rough paint jobs (or none at all). The Gibson USA Les Paul Studio Hot Rod re-claims the term ‘hot rod’ by drawing it back to its street-rod, car-inspired looks, while also containing enough of the souped-up/strippeddown vibe that the term usually conjures when applied to guitars.

LES IS MORE This guitar is rocking a Mahogany body with a Maple top for classic Les Paul tone. The body is lightened with Gibson’s ‘traditional’ pattern weight relief, to make it a lot easier on your shoulder. The neck is also made of Mahogany, with a composite fingerboard carrying 22 frets in a slightly-curvy-but-mostly-flat 12” radius. There are no fretboard inlays, although of course there are side dots to help you find your way around.

The bridge is a Tune-O-Matic model made of Zamak working in partnership with a Zamak Stop Bar. Both are chrome plated. The tuners are chrome Grover Kidney models that look great with the overall colour scheme. The nut is made of black Tektoid and the slots - like the frets - are given a seeing-to by the PLEK system.

The pickups are a pair of Gibson humbuckers; a 496R in the neck position and a 500T in the bridge. Both have uncovered white bobbins and are seated in black mounting rings. The electronics are the standard two volume and two tone controls with a three-way pickup selector. The volumes are both push-pull for coil splitting. And the big nod to hot rod car culture: the expertly applied blue and white pinstriping applied to a glossy ebony finish. It looks great from a distance and even better close-up where it takes on an almost hypnotic feel. The colour choice gives this axe a definite ‘lightning in the night’ vibe. In terms of workmanship, the only flaw I can spot is that the protective tape on the bridge pickup appears to have been applied a little too soon after the pickup was wax-potted, at it appears that as the wax settled the tape pulled back a bit. It looks a little ugly but the pickup still appears to be well-protected.

THE HEAT IS ON Sonically this is a very punchy Les Paul, even at high gain levels through a cranked Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister 36. There’s just enough fullness to the tone. Not too beefy, not too thin.

That makes this a great all-rounder guitar that can hang with styles from blues to metal and beyond. The neck pickup has a nice direct attack

and prominent upper midrange frequencies that make it great for speed-picking or bluesy Michael Schenker-style leads. The bridge pickup responds really nicely to palm-muting, and to changes in fretting-hand articulation. The bridge single coil mode sounds very rich and clear with a pronounced chunk-and-jangle kind of texture, and once you discover this sound you’ll find yourself returning to it a lot. The neck pickup sounds noticeably darker in single coil mode, even compared to its own humbucker mode, which is somewhat the reverse of what one might expect, It’s not quite as useful a tone by itself, but you can get some very nice sounds by balancing the neck single coil mode’s volume down below the bridge single coil mode.

HIT THE ROAD This is a visually distinctive guitar that will appeal to players in a lot of genres, Structurally it’s a very fine instrument, and sonically it has everything you need from spanky cleans to in-your-face rhythms and screaming leads. The look might or might not be to your taste, but if you happen to be a fence-sitter due to the looks, the tone will win you over.

BY PETER HODGSON

RRP: $2899 DISTRIBUTOR: GIBSON AMI PHONE: (03) 8969 4600 WEBSITE: www.gibsonami.com.au SPECS

• • • • • • • •

Top: Maple Back: Mahoghany Neck: Mahoghany Pickups: Neck Position - 496R, Bridge Position - 500T. Bridge: Type: Tune-O-Matic Tuners: Grover Kidney Nut: Black TekToid Plating: Chrome

HITS

• Great punchy tones.

• Very useable bridge single coil mode.

• Very playable neck.

MISSES

• Neck single coil mode is a bit dark.

• The look might not be for everyone.

• Rough bridge pickup construction.

ZOOM iQ7 MS MICROPHONE FOR iPHONE AND iPAD

EXPECT TO PAY: $140 DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC PHONE: (02) 9939 1299 WEBSITE: www.dynamicmusic.com.au SPECS

With so many different peripherals available for your iOS device these days, it’s always refreshing to see a product that offers a different approach to the norm. That’s why I was more than intrigued when I took a look at the Zoom iQ7 MS microphone. The standard fixed XY microphone setup is something I have seen time and time again for iOS devices. The introduction of the iQ7 is really something special as it offers a difference in polar patterns with the two microphones.

UP AND RUNNING Setting the iQ7 up is a breeze. It snaps into place on your iPad or iPhone via the Lightning connection, and once seated properly, it engages and is ready to go. This is a very lightweight PG. 36 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

attachment, built in such a fashion that it doesn’t throw out the balance when attached to you iOS device. It isn’t the toughest piece of hardware, and will require a little care when mounting and dismounting to the device, but you should get years of use from the iQ7. It will most likely outlast any iPhone you are using it with.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE PAIR The iQ7 is somewhat of a different device in the sense that Zoom have decided to stray away from the commonly used XY microphone format, and instead have presented a MS microphone placement on this compact device. For those of you unaware of Mid-Side Microphone techniques, it’s a simple idea that really expands the width of the audio spread. One microphone

is directed straight at the sound source, while a second bidirectional microphone is used at 90 degrees to the sound source to capture both the left and right of the room. The combined signal can then be adjusted to place the listener in a different space simply by adjusting the balance of the two microphones. With a three way switch to adjust between 90 degrees, 120 degrees and mid-side capture, you get a range of sounds from the one microphone. The whole unit is able to be rotated for use as a front fire or centre fire capture too, making it ideal for use as a video recording accessory.

BY ROB GEE

• Power: Powered by device • Compatible with: iPhone 5 / 5s / 5c, iPod Touch (5th gen), iPad (4th gen), iPad Air, iPad Mini.

• Supported iOS: 6.0 or newer • Weight: 31.8g HITS

• Great audio quality into your iPhone.

• Excellent overall weight balance when connected.

• Offers a different take on the sound in the area you want to record.

MISSES

• Rather delicate due to the fragile build.

SEAGULL S6 SPRUCE SUNBURST GT ACOUSTIC GUITAR I think there is definitely something to be said for simplicity when it comes to good acoustic guitars. Too often I see guitars that are trying to present too much in an effort to make up for the lack of tone. This is what continues to draw me to Seagull guitars and has had me love them ever since I first got my hands on one.

THE FEEL Something that I seem to find with all Seagull guitars, and the S6 Sunburst GT is no exception, is how they have a real ‘hand-made’ feel to them. You can feel the grain of the timber and create a bond with the instrument that goes far beyond anything that a fancy inlay or bold logo can deliver. When I got the S6 GT out of the box, it felt like it wanted to be played. The semigloss neck, back and sides have a smooth feel to itmaking this guitar a joy to play. The neck is one that is going to appeal to those that tend to play electric guitar more often, as its slimmer profile feels great in the hand.

THE LOOK AND THE SOUND It’s not important, I know, but a good looking guitar always seems to play better somehow.

If you like the simple things, a classic look and feel, then the S6 GT is going to appeal to you.

The inlays are simple and understated, while the teardrop vintage sunburst spray has a classic vibe about it. Add that glossy top for a real shimmer and brilliance and it stands bold and proud. The gloss with the solid spruce top ensures that the instrument has a nice bright attack to the notes, yet the body allows for a really warm, rich tone at the same time. Matched up with Cleartone strings that have their own sparkle and longevity, this becomes a guitar that sounds great right out of the box and will continue to do so for many years to come.

You won’t find Seagull guitars in every shop around the country, and there is something a little special about that. Find a dealer local to you and try one out, they are well worth keeping an eye out for. This is a guitar that you will cherish for life and one that would make a bold addition to any guitar collection.

BY ROB GEE

RRP: $950 DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC PHONE: (02) 9939 1299 WEBSITE: www.dynamicmusic.com.au SPECS

• Top: Select Pressure Tested Solid Spruce • Back & Sides: Canadian Wild Cherry • Neck: Silver Leaf Maple Integrated Set Neck • Fingerboard & Bridge: Rosewood • Nut & Saddle: Compensated Tusq® by Graphtech • Truss Rod: Double Function • Finish: Sunburst, Semi-Gloss Custom Polished Finish w/Gloss Top HITS

• • • • •

Classic look with teardrop sunburst.

Factory fitted with Cleartone strings.

Big and bold sound.

Great feel and playability.

Canadian made quality is evident in the build.

MISSES

• Not everyone will dig the headstock.

JANUARY 2015 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / PG. 37

ROAD TESTED MARKBASS BLACKLINE JB (JEFF BERLIN) BASS COMBO frequencies (Low - 40Hz, Low Mid - 360Hz, High Mid - 800Hz, High - 10kHz), and two additional tone controls, which add an even greater level of flexibility: the VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter), which sits at 380Hz, and the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator), which lives in the 250Hz20Hz range: it has the ability to remove ‘modern’ sounding frequencies that may be perfect for some styles but not for others, leaving behind a deliciously vintage patina. Of course there’s a master volume control as well, and since this is a solid state design it doesn’t particularly affect the overall tone of the amp: it just lets you tame the volume. There’s a dedicated line out knob on the front of the amp (often you might expect this feature hidden on the back), and around the back you’ll find the line out XLR jack, effect loop send (pre-EQ) and return, and the 1/4” Speakon speaker out. This bad boy cranks out 150 watts RMS at 8 ohm or 250 watts RMS at 4 ohm.

Renowned bassist - is ‘Jazz God’ too strong a term?- Jeff Berlin has long been a fan of Markbass products, and bass players around the world already use his signature Jeff Berlin CMD 151 combo on gigs every night. Now there’s a new option for students looking for a reliable combo, again at an affordable price and with the stamp of approval of Mr. Berlin himself. This model features the exact same circuitry as the Little Mark 250 Black Line head with the addition of a single 200 watt 15” speaker. Berlin and Markbass designed the amp to meet the needs of Berlin’s students at his Players School of Music

in Florida, as evidenced by the nice big badge on the speaker grille.

SPEC CHECK At the heart of the system is a 250 watt analog power amp and a solid state preamp. There are two inputs - a balanced XLR input (great for acoustic instruments and signals processed via effects rigs) with a 100 kohm impedance and a regular 1/4” jack input with an impedance of 500Kohm. The controls are Gain (from -80dB to +23dB range), a full suite of tone controls with up to 16dB of boost or cut at carefully selected

LOW AND BEHOLD Without any additional compressors, limiters or tubes, the JB Players School Combo is very much a ’what you see is what you get’ amp. It strikes the perfect balance between transparency and character. When I plugged in my Fernandes Jazz Bass copy - a bass with a lot of personality - both amps emphasised that bass’s smooth attack; rich midrange and subdued treble. When I hit it with my Ibanez 5-string, the thunderous low end, scooped mids and clear highs were powerfully abundant. And yet the VPF is great for finetuning the midrange character of the instrument, making my Fernandes sound more slap-friendly and my Ibanez warmer. You can play up these differences by experimenting with different speaker cabinets: the 15” speaker of the combo is great for powerful, all-encompassing tone but if you want lots of detail - say, for solo work or less low-end-domineering styles, it sounds great through a 4x10” array with a tweeter.

I LOVE THE PLAYERS AND YOU LOVE THE GAME This is a very flexible amp, as you’d expect from something designed to thrive in a music education environment with such a highlyregarded figurehead as Jeff Berlin. But of course the word ‘school’ doesn’t mean this thing can’t rock in a bedroom, garage or club. It puts out whatever you put in, and yet it has enough toneshaping power to add some extra magic to your bass as well.

BY PETER HODGSON RRP: $1050 DISTRIBUTOR: CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA PHONE: (02) 9905 2511 WEBSITE: www.cmcmusic.com.au SPECS

• Speaker Size: 1 x 15” • Tweeter: None • Speaker Power Handling (AES Standard): 300 W RMS • Frequency Response: 40 Hz to 5 kHz • Sensitivity dB SPL: 100 • Impedance: 8 ohms • Reflex: Rear • Preamp: Solid State • Amp Output Power: 250W@4ohm | 150W@8ohm • Power Supply: Special Markbass Digital Power Supply • Dimensions: 18.27”/ 46.4 cm (w); 18.27”/ 46.4 cm (h); 18.9”/ 48 cm(d) • Weight Kg/lbs: 15.7 kg / 34.61 lbs HITS

• Lightweight.

• Sonically versatile.

• Jeff Berlin mojo.

MISSES

• None!

SAMSON AURO X12D POWERED SPEAKER recessed handle on both sides, so you can easily carry them around. Not that you should ever need two handles for the weight, they are simply a handy touch for steadying the speaker when you are propping it up on a speaker stand. The weight of the boxes themselves are pretty much nothing and I could see a simple load in with two of these speakers being carried at once without a problem. This is what we get with modern power amps and the plastic boxes that they are getting built into. Now, although light, they still felt really sturdy. Therefore, I wasn’t concerned about resting them on the floor as a fold-back style speaker either.

It’s been a while since I have been able to play with a new powered speaker from Samson, and I am generally impressed with what they have to offer. When it comes to value brands that offer a large range of audio solutions to meet specific budgets, Samson seems to be getting it right time and time again. So, the Auro X12D active speakers got unboxed this month, with the opportunity to annoy my neighbours an all too comforting idea. But, I wasn’t just looking for volume, if I was going to get them complaining PG. 38 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

about noise levels, I believe it should be with a decent sounding speaker and an easy setup and pack-down process for myself. Characteristics that tick all the right boxes.

PORTABLE PUNCH I am loving how powered speakers are continuing to get lighter and better built. It really makes up for a lot when considering a new set of speakers as you will no doubt be carrying them around a lot. The Auro D12X boxes have a

ALL SET UP There are a pair of inputs on the rear of these speakers both supplied with XLR/TRS combination connectors, which I always find is a nice touch. You don’t need to worry about what leads you will need as you can work with either.

An XLR output is supplied for linking additional speakers too. There is a DSP section built into these speakers, as the “D” in the product code suggests, but it isn’t something fancy and flash like some of you may expect. The DSP processing goes on behind the scene; you don’t get crazy effects to play with. Instead, it works away constantly ensuring your audio is balanced and being reproduced as best the speakers can perform. How this affects the overall audio quality I cannot be sure, as I can’t really test them without the DSP running, but they sound pretty good in any event. Perfect for mobile DJs, as presentation speakers for business and sport, or even for small bands and acoustic duos needing portable performance.

BY ROB GEE

RRP: $629 each DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY PHONE: (03) 9474 1000 WEBSITE: www.elfa.com.au SPECS

• Compact, lightweight Class D 2-way active loudspeakers • X12D: 12-inch extended range low frequency driver • 1.34-inch (34mm) compression driver with 1-inch exit • 1,000 watts Peak (800 wattsLF, 200 watts HF), 500 watts continuous (400 watts LF, 100 watts HF) • DSP technology for high definition audio and comprehensive protection • Master Volume control with peak indicator • Two XLR-1/4-inch input channels with independent volume controls • Onboard EQ Contour and HPF switches • XLR Link output allows daisy chaining of additional speakers • Rugged metal grill protects all speaker components • Solid polypropylene enclosure • Integrated 1 3/8-inch speaker stand mount • Two large ergonomic carry handles • Dual-angle floor monitor positioning options • Optional wall mount brackets available (MB12,MB15) HITS

• Lightweight and extremely portable.

• Extended frequency response from a 12” unit.

• Plenty of power, no need to run them hard.

MISSES

• Limited connection options for use without a mixer.

• My neighbours were not happy.

ROAD TESTED

ELEVEN RACK GUITAR RECORDING SIGNAL PROCESSING SYSTEM

RRP: $1199.95 DISTRIBUTOR: AVID AUSTRALIA PHONE: 1300 734 454 WEBSITE: www.avid.com SPECS

This is not the first time that I’ve got my hands on the Eleven Rack. My first play with it was back when it existed only as a plug-in for guitar amp modelling within Pro Tools, but since then I have been able to use one a number of times as a recording tool for quality guitar tones. I haven’t overlooked the treasures this holds as a live guitar tool though. AVID’s Pro Tools Eleven Rack ties it all together to give users not only the flexibility they have demanded, but the quality and stability that they need, both in the studio and on stage.

GUITARIST’S CONTROL Being that the hardware unit operates without the need for a computer, you can trust the Eleven Rack to be totally stable in a live environment.

Weighing less than most compact guitar amp heads do, you get the power of a huge range of amp models and effects, all ready to run directly

into the PA system. There are a range of big name amp sounds within the unit and if you have a listen to their audio samples online, you’ll hear just how good they sound. Adjusting parameters within each patch is quick and easy too, with the knobs beneath the LCD screen you control Gain, Presence, EQ and Volume settings to tweak the sound to just the way you want it.

STUDIO TOOL The Eleven Rack is so much more than just a touring tool. Off the stage, it becomes a seriously good front end to a Pro Tools recording system that takes a lot of the workload off your computer with built in DSP processing power. You get one microphone and one guitar input on the front of the unit, but with the SP/DIF and AES/EBU digital connections on the rear of the unit, you are able to record 8 simultaneous channels of 24-bit/96 kHz audio into the included Pro Tools software.

It also includes the Eleven Rack Expansion Pack that gives you even more tones and amp sounds including a range of great bass amplifiers and some slightly left of centre guitar amp options.

Put simply, this is not just a recording interface.

Nor is it just an amp modelling effects unit for stage use. No, the Eleven Rack with Pro Tools is just about anything you could ever want in a live and studio combination for a guitarist, there are too many tones and too many options to mention in this article, so go and plug one in and hear for yourself just what I am talking about.

BY: ROB GEE

• Converters: 24-bit • Sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz • Analog input: 1 x 1/4” TS True-Z, 2 x 1/4” TRS Line, 2 x 1/4” TRS FX Loop Return • Analog output: 2 x XLR Main, 2 x 1/4” TRS FX Loop Send, 2 x 1/4” TS output to Amp • Digital input: 1 x XLR AES/EBU, 1 x RCA coaxial S/PDIF • Digital output: 1 x XLR AES/EBU, 1 x RCA coaxial S/PDIF • MIDI I/O: 2 x 5-pin, DIN MIDI In, MIDI out/ thru • Sync I/O: AES/EBU, S/PDIF • Headphone output: 1 x 1/4” TRS • Dimensions 483mm (w) x 343mm (h) x 89mm (d) HITS

• Stable live guitar sounds in a very workable platform.

• Excellent AD conversion for recording and re-amping guitars.

• Flexible live and studio tool.

• Bundled with Pro Tools for a complete studio solution.

MISSES

• It is digital, and tone junkies may have to come to terms with that.

TOKAI SURFTONE (AST-S38-SG) ELECTRIC GUITAR

Tokai’s 70s-era reproductions of classic American guitars are legendary in their own right. In fact they made the original guitar companies sweat quite a bit. So you know that when you buy a vintage-inspired Tokai today it has quite a pedigree. These ST-Style guitars are part of Tokai’s new limited edition Surftone series.

They’re based on classic models, but each with custom modifications to modernise the playability. They’re exclusive to Australia, and they’re available in limited numbers.

The pickups are a trio of true single coils with a reverse wound/reverse polarity middle pickup for hum-cancelling sounds in positions two and four. The controls are the traditional volume/ tone/tone configuration, and there’s a five-way pickup selector switch. The bridge is a vintagestyle six-screw vibrato with bent steel saddles.

That’s pretty much it, classic styling with modern playability, beautiful finishes and no-way-couldit-be-that-good-for-the-price workmanship. Let’s plug it in and see how it sounds.

SURFING SAFARI The first thing you’ll notice about this guitar is that incredible colour. The review model is sea foam green with a minty green pickguard, although a cream-bodied version is also available. Each has a Maple neck with Maple fretboard and 21 frets.

The fretboard radius is a little flatter and more forgiving than if Tokai had gone with a vintageradius fretboard. The headstock face is glossy but the back of the neck is satin, allowing your hand to glide effortlessly along the neck rather than getting caught up in a sticky gloss finish like a traditional 50s model. The frets are bigger than vintage too.

IT AIN’T EASY BEING SURF GREEN The big standout here, immediately, is the neck pickup. It has a bit more of a smokey, bluesy vibe than the others, more akin to a 60s ST-Style guitar than the 50s tones suggested by the other two pickups. The bridge pickup leans quite far towards the ‘twang’ end of the spectrum, and it really sings through a clean amp setting where it has an almost pedal steel-like quality. The middle pickup has a slightly honky midrange quality by itself, which is nice for fuller-sounding melodies, but it calms down nicely when you combine it with either the bridge or neck pickup for the in-between tones. The neck pickup

sounds great when you pile on the overdrive but it quickly becomes apparent that these pickups are at their best when they’re pumping out clean or overdriven tones, as opposed to all-out distorted mayhem ones.

The workmanship is great for the price, with the sole exception being a rough spot on one of the tuner buttons. Still, for around $550 out the door that’s quite forgivable.

SURFIN’ AUS. If you’re in the market for this type of guitar, this is a great option and a cool Australian exclusive.

The colours are beautiful, the workmanship rocks, the playability is effortless and the tones are wonderful. If you’re into clean and overdriven sounds that are predominantly 50s-based but with a little bit of fatter 60s tone thrown in, this will suit you down the ground. If you want heavier tones you could change the pickups easily enough, but it’s a heck of a guitar as-is, and a lot of people are going to find their voice in it.

BY PETER HODGSON

RRP: $549 DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA PHONE: 1800 144 120 WEBSITE: www.jadeaustralia.com.au SPECS

• Neck: Maple, Satin back • Pickups: 3 single coil pickups, 3 way selector • Frets: 21 HITS

• Beautiful colours.

• Great neck pickup tones.

• Nice tuning stability.

MISSES

• Single coils are inherently noisy.

• Rough spot on one tuner.

• Tones might be too twangy for some.

JANUARY 2015 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / PG. 39

ROAD TESTED STEINBERG UR12 USB AUDIO INTERFACE No, this is not a 12 channel interface, as I immediately thought, but instead a simplified version of the UR22 that brings a couple of interesting ideas into play for those looking for a new recording medium.

With the UR22 being one of the most successful USB audio interfaces in the past year, it was interesting to see a new interface from Steinberg turn up on my desk this month. At first, I thought someone had messed up and I had been sent something that wasn’t new at all, on the box it looked just like the UR22. However, upon closer inspection I noticed that this was in fact the UR12.

SIMPLIFIED, BUT DIGNIFIED How this interface differs from the UR22 is that the two inputs are designed for single uses each.

One is an XLR and offers the D-Pre microphone preamplifier and the other is a TRS for a Hi-Z guitar input. MIDI connections have been removed and stereo outputs are now supplied on a pair of RCA connections. This has been put together with the solo musician in mind who wants to record guitar or bass and vocals in their home studio. It’s been simplified so that you are not paying for any extras that you’ll never actually require and sets you up with the connections you’ll need when recording by yourself.

TABLET TESTED Where the UR12 excels is in the way that it is designed to work with both computers and tablets.

Many interfaces suffer in this realm as they draw their power from the USB port of the computer, so they can’t run effectively from a tablet. The UR12 still busses power from the computer in normal operation so no power supply is required, but should you want to operate it with a tablet, you can switch the power source to a 5V DC mini USB and power it from a USB wall adaptor or portable battery. It’s such a simple addition and such a clever one too. It makes this a very versatile unit, even though it appears somewhat limited at first glance. When you consider that the UR12 comes bundled with Steinberg’s Cubase AI software, you are looking at a very solid recording package for home or abroad at a really reasonable price. This is an excellent starting point for anyone wanting to dip their toes into the world of home recording. It will also make a valuable tool for those already set up, wanting to expand to the use of a tablet for portable recording.

BY ROB GEE

RRP: $149.99 DISTRIBUTOR: YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA PHONE: (03) 9693 5111 WEBSITE: www.yamahabackstage.com.au SPECS

• • • • • •

24-bit/192 kHz One Class-A D-PRE mic preamp Rugged metal casing iPad connectivity Loopback function Cubase AI included

HITS

• Simple and easy to install and operate • Extra power options allow use with other devices • Still offering 192 kHz sampling rate • Includes Cubase AI software MISSES

• No MIDI connection for adding a keyboard to the mix

KEELEY NEUTRINO ENVELOPE FILTER EFFECTS PEDAL The envelope filter is a criminally under looked effect. Maybe that’s because at a certain time it was used to generate tones akin to twanging a rubber band, and that’s not always musically appropriate.

But sometimes it is, and there’s a lot more you can do with the effect than that. Robert Keeley’s Neutrino Envelope Filter is designed to give you all sorts of different angles on the envelope filter and auto wah sound.

FUNK YEAH If you’re unfamiliar with this effect, it’s triggered by how hard you pick, and can give you automatic wah-wah sounds or something altogether different. More of a ‘bwah-bwah’ or ‘qwow-qwow’ sound than a ‘wah-wah,’ depending on how you set it. Keeley uses the classic opto-coupler design for depth and warmth, and has built in plenty of control. The Gain control lets you set the input level to get the best response to your picking strength. The Peak control lets you set how bright or dark the effect is, from deep and bassy to shrill.

The Filter Selector is a three-way selector knob that lets you choose between three different types of filters. There’s also a Range switch, which lets you emphasise either the high or low frequencies.

There’s also a Direction switch on the side that controls whether the wah-wah sound goes up or down (like pressing the wah-wah pedal down on each single strike, or up on each single strike). Oh and the graphic design is really great, with easy-to-

see controls and a cool blue/magenta graphic over a white box. The ‘effect on’ indictor LED is nice and bright and the switch feels satisfyingly clicky.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEUTRINO Plug this baby into a clean channel and you’ll get all sorts of great tones, from ‘quacky’ and edgy to big, fat and ‘gloopy’. Y’know those great old ‘home organ’ tones? This can get that out of your guitar no problem. Want a funky, scratchy, treble-heavy tone? That’s in here. But unlike some envelope filters, which seem to put uneccessary stress on your amp’s preamp when the signal hits its peaks, this one seems contained and slightly compressed, which keeps it from getting out of control. You can coax some utterly robotic sounds that are almost talkbox-like. You can go from Jerry Cantrell to Jerry Garcia with ease.

Try it with overdrive or distortion and you’ll get some truly wild sounds that might remind you of, say, The Prodigy synth sounds. It can sound organic or synthetic depending on where you put it in the signal chain. The ability to select between up and down modes is a huge asset to an envelope filter, and although there are some others that have this, it’s kinda amazing that it’s not a standard feature on all of them, as ubiquitous as a ‘rate’ control on a chorus pedal. In the case of this one, it’s perfectly implemented and voiced. It’s especially useful with big fat overdriven guitar tones, where you can create a great backwards-feeling ‘shoolp’ sound.

PASS ME THE ENVELOPE PLEASE… AND THE WINNER IS… This can be a pretty wild effect, and although it creates some amazing sounds in its own right, it really comes to life when you combine it with other effects. Combine it with heavy reverb or delay for really fat harmonics, or feed a wah-wah or tremolo into it for something truly exaggerated. Its utility is limited only by your imagination.

BY PETER HODGSON

RRP: $239 DISTRIBUTOR: GLADESVILLE GUITAR FACTORY PHONE: (02) 9817 2173 WEBSITE: www.guitarfactory.net HITS

• Deceptively flexible controls.

• Very useful up/down switch.

• Cool graphics!

MISSES

• None. The perfect envelope filter!

ANALYSIS PLUS CABLES integrated switch that automatically shorts the cable when it’s unplugged thanks to a springloaded ground sleeve. The cable itself has 20 gauge conductors, a conductive sheath to eliminate microphonics, and an oval center conductor with a hollow oval return.

1) DARK CHOCOLATE OVAL

2) BLACK OVAL

Analysis Plus, was founded in 1993 and has provided electronic and electromagnetic simulation and analysis for a host of companies.

All of its team members hold advanced degrees in electrical engineering or physics and their specialty is computer simulation, so they’re obsessed with the testing and measurement of the performance of their cables. Each ships with a White Paper explaining the physics of what makes these cables so special. Let’s look at three from the range.

1) DARK CHOCOLATE OVAL WITH GOLD PLUG This is a completely green cable (ethically, not in colour). Even the catalog and paper are made in the USA, which is pretty dang rare these days. The cable includes 20 gauge conductors, a conductive PG. 40 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

3) YELLOW OVAL sheath to eliminate microphonics and an oval center conductor with a hollow oval return. It’s available with straight or 90 degree mono plugs.

The plugs themselves seem to be very high quality indeed. It’s one of those things, right? You get so used to cables that have little creaks and wobbles in the casing that you don’t even notice it’s a problem until you pick up a nicer cable like this, and then you realise what you’re missing.

2) BLACK OVAL STRAIGHT TO STRAIGHT - SILENT The Black Oval instrument cable has silent 1/4” plugs - one straight, one angled - which let you switch instruments without those hideous cracking, popping and fzzzting sounds. The silent plug is a special version twin-pole mono plug with an

3) YELLOW OVAL Analysis Plus uses the most flexible outer jacket available, Silicon Rubber, to create a more flexible version of the Yellow Oval cable. The conductors are low loss 18 gauge oxygen free copper woven in a patented oval design. As the company says of this cable, “It is a balanced design (not coaxial like others) and the best dielectric - Teflon for proven improvement. To get maximum performance you wouldn’t put bicycle tires on a Ferrari - the same is true for your guitar and amp. If you can’t hear the difference you don’t need one!”

PLAY TEST Each of these cables sounds spectacular. In fact it’s been said many times that Analysis Plus cables are ‘ruthlessly honest’ and that’s a great way to put it. If you hide behind distortion and compression you’re probably not aware of just how much of your tone you’re missing. Using any of these cables with my Stratocaster with low-output single coil pickups, I could hear every wind of the string, every dirty fret.

Switching to the hot humbuckers in my Les Paul I could hear more punch and harmonic content. Some players will thrive on this enhanced detail while others might feel a little bit naked because of it.

A-CORD-INGLY… Each of these cables has their charms and uses. The Yellow Oval is a great stage cable because it’s so tangle-free and noise-free. The Black Oval’s silent plug makes it a no-brainer for those who need to change instruments a few times during a show and the Dark Chocolate is just a high-quality, greatsounding, low-noise cable. It all depends on what you need in your particular situation, but whichever one you go for, you’ll be getting a very high-quality, low-noise cable that will last.

BY PETER HODGSON

RRP: BLACK OVAL 6M - $205, DARK CHOCOLATE 6M - $226, YELLOW OVAL 6M - $308 DISTRIBUTOR: AMBER TECHNOLOGY PHONE: 1800 251 367 WEBSITE: www.ambertech.com.au HITS

• Very low noise.

• Very punchy, clear sound.

• Tangle-free jackets and high-quality plugs.

MISSES

• Nothing!

ROAD TESTED EPIPHONE ES-175 PREMIUM ELECTRIC GUITAR

The Gibson ES-175 is a special instrument for me because my guitar teacher had one from the 50s when I was 10 years old, and it was one of the first electric guitars I ever got to play. Epiphone offers two takes on the ES-175, with this being the ultra-deluxe version made to a high degree of accuracy and featuring upgraded pickups.

Let’s take a closer look.

PREMIUM, DUDE. PREMIUM. DUDE. The ES-175 Premium is made with a laminated Maple top and body finished in a vintageinspired ‘aged’ laquer which captures the look of a guitar that’s been around for five or six

decades. Epiphone hasn’t gone for the actual aging/relicing treatment here, so don’t panic if that’s not your style. The neck is made of solid Mahogany with Gibson’s comfortable SlimTaper neck profile. The fretboard is Rosewood with parallelogram inlays made of nicely shimmering mother of pearl, echoed by the mother of pearl Epiphone logo and ‘crown’ inlay. The body and fingerboard are bound and the floating pickguard is three-ply black-white-black.

The pickups are a fine upgrade indeed. A pair of genuine Gibson USA ’57 Classic humbuckers.

Designed in the spirit of original 50s PAFs. These pickups are voiced a little more on the modern side while still retaining their traditional charm.

They’re wax-potted to eliminate microphonic feedback, which is especially a concern with hollowbody guitars like this one. The controls are standard volume and tone pots with a three-way pickup selector switch. The bridge is a Tune-O-Matic model on a floating Rosewood base and the tailpiece is a gorgeous traditional ‘Zig-Zag’ model. A hard case is not included but the 940-EEMCS model case is perfect, and well worth the investment to protect this beautiful guitar.

guitar comes in at the higher end of Epiphone’s price scale, but is still a huge bargain for what you get and how well it’s executed. It’s a worthy addition to any guitarists’ collection, not just those who aren’t looking to spend Gibson-level coin.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN The ’57 Classics are the perfect choice for this guitar. They sound a little bit smoother than traditional PAFs without veering too far away from the overall tonality you expect. The neck pickup can be smooth, full-bodied and jazzy when played through a clean sound, but if you turn up the drive and dig in with the pick you’ll get an articulate, juicy attack and nice sustain. The bridge pickup sounds a little more robust than the twangier-than-you-initially-realise original PAF sound. It allows for some commanding clean tones and grainy, rich and driven blues tones.

This is a very flexible guitar that can do anything from sparkly-clean jazz to dirty rockabilly, indie and even grungey tones. The intonation and tuning stability is exceptional.

SPECS

EPIPHONE HOME There’s sometimes a weird stigma about Epiphone, as though it’s exclusively Gibson’s beginner brand. That’s far from the truth. Sure, they’re generally more affordable, but there’s a difference between ‘budget’ and ‘beginner.’ This

BY PETER HODGSON

RRP: $1499 DISTRIBUTOR: GIBSON AMI PHONE: (03) 8696 4600 WEBSITE: www.gibsonami.com.au

• Finish - Vintage-Inspired, “aged” Lacquer • Top Material - Laminated Maple • Body Material - Laminated Maple • Neck Material - Solid Mahogany • Fingerboard Material - Rosewood with parallelogram inlays • Hardware – Nickel • Bridge - Floating Rosewood Base with “Tune-o-Matic” Bridge; Pinned • Neck Pickup - Gibson USA ‘57 Classic Humbucker • Bridge Pickup - Gibson USA ‘57 Classic Humbucker HITS

• Superb playability.

• Beautiful range of tones.

• Great workmanship.

MISSES

• Some players might prefer a glossy finish.

TC ELECTRONIC BH800 BASS AMPLIFIER HEAD effect that manages to sound space-age and musical at the same time.

THE BOTTOM END If you’re into more organic and dirty sounds, then you might find three or four really great tones in here that you’ll use a lot. If you’re into a million different sounds, with a great majority of them clean or peppered with studio-quality effects, there’s a never-ending stream of them lurking within the BH800. This could either be a great ‘here’s my sound’ amp for set-and-forgetters or an all-in-one tone solution for those who never want to stop finding cool sounds.

BY PETER HODGSON

TC Electronic’s BH250 bass amp was a truly innovative piece of gear. A lightweight, fullfeatured micro bass head with an onboard tuner and the company’s TonePrint technology for loading signature effects from a roster of worldclass players and experts. Perhaps its streamlined controls made some players long for just a little bit more while maintaining the portability and usability of the amp, and a little more power never goes astray. How about bumping it up to 800 watts?

THE 800 CLUB That’s what’s going on with the BH800. It’s an 800 watt bass head that continues the spirit of the BH250, but with a few extra features that add up to a lot more usability and functionality.

For instance, where the BH250 only had bass, middle and treble tone controls, the BH800 has bass, lo-mid, hi-mid and treble. Where the BH250 had a two-position gain switch for optimising the input stage for either passive or active pickups,

the BH800 has a gain knob so you can dial in the perfect amount of input power. Where the BH250 had a TonePrint control, the BH800 has two, giving you access to a wide range of effects including Chorus, Flanger, Vibrato, Octaver (a Sub’n’Up octaver, which can give you an octave down or and octave up and can add dirt if you want it), SpectraComp (the same multi-band compressor that you’ll find in the Blacksmith and BassDrive (designed for tube-like character).

The built-in tuner is always on, giving you a clear read-out whether you’re in tune or not, and it’s designed to cater to everything up to six-string basses.

Around the back you’ll find a balanced XLR output with a pre/post EQ switch, a headphone out which automatically mutes the speaker, an auxiliary in for rehearsing with tracks, a USB jack for loading TonePrints, a footswitch jack for hooking up a Switch 3 pedal and then finally a speaker out (class 2 wiring, 4 ohm minimum

load). TC recommends using any two RS series cabinets (1x12, 2x10, 2x12, or 4x10), any two BC series cabinets (2x10 or 2x12), or the BC410 cabinet with four 10” speakers and a tweeter.

ALL THE TONE THAT’S FIT TO PRINT This is an ultra-flexible amp which can do everything from soft and gentle to loud and raucous. Whether you play jazz, funk, R&B, country, blues, rock, punk, metal, it’s all in there. The clean sounds are especially nice, running the gamut from deep, subby rumbles to punchy, edgy thumps. It seemed equally happy with active or passive pickups, although the BassDrive TonePrints seemed especially happy with passives especially when really pushing the gain. The available RH800-specific TonePrints are

by Duff McKagan, Nathan East, Richard Bona, Victor Wooten, Roscoe Beck, Janek Gwizdale and Henrik Linde and they cover everything from subtle chorus to much more ourtageous tones like Gwizdala’s ‘Family of Rats.’ A lively flanger

RRP: $1249 DISTRIBUTOR: AMBER TECHNOLOGY PHONE: 1800 251 367 WEBSITE: www.ambertech.com.au SPECS

• TonePrint - For a world of signature effects • Ultra-lightweight • 800 Watt • Intelligently contoured tone controls HITS

• Two TonePrints.

• Handy gain control.

• Portable.

MISSES

• Tuner isn’t chromatic.

• No FX loop.

JANUARY 2015 / mixdowN NO. 249 / PG. 41

ROAD TESTED

ZOOM H6 PORTABLE RECORDER with OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES & SHOTGUN MICROPHONE for the unit introduces a wind sock for outdoor use, although the shotgun microphone comes with its own specially sized wind sock. You also get a power supply unit running on USB and a remote control for use when the HH6 is set up on a camera tripod and out of range. All in all, this is a really serious tool with an excellent selection of included and optional accessories to tackle just about any audio project on the go. This unit kicks any competition out of the park. If you want a handheld recorder that does it all, you just about have to own the H6.

BY ROB GEE EXPECT TO PAY: ZOOM H6 $550, COMBO XLR $135, OTHER ACCESSORIES $80 DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC PHONE: (02) 9939 1299 WEBSITE: www.dynamicmusic.com.au SPECS

allows you to run instruments or microphones directly in for a total of 6 inputs. You could easily record a whole drum kit with this unit and the right choice of additional microphones.

Zoom have become renowned for their handy recorder range, probably most due to the H4N which has been a stalwart of portable recording for many years. Alas, being at the top could never last. Especially when Zoom themselves have just brought out a device like the H6.

LET’S TALK MICROPHONES You have more microphone options with the H6 than any handheld recorder I have ever come across. It comes in a carry case with two interchangeable capsules to get you started.

Included is the classic XY capsule that Zoom are so well known for, as well as a ball styled Mid-Side microphone for a range of stereo applications. I also got to test out the shotgun microphone capsule that delivers very accurate audio capture with excellent side rejection.

These capsules easily clip in and out from the top of the unit and feed to the “L” and “R” channels when recording. You also have four extra channels to work with, as the name H6 suggests. You can find two pairs of combination XLR/TRS inputs on either side of the unit. This

UNDER CONTROL Once you get into the operation of the device, it’s all pretty intuitive. Anyone who has used a previous Zoom recorder will fly through the teething stages and figure their way around it pretty quickly. All the controls are designed for simple operation, but remain free from damage or interruption. Gain controls are slightly recessed with guards around the outer edge to prevent them being adjusted accidentally.

All the switches and buttons are recessed too, making it a very stable system to work with.

The optional accessory pack that is available

• Inputs: XY Mic, MS Mic, Shotgun Mic • Outputs: Line Out - 1/8 mini jack, Phone Out - 1/8 mini jack • Recording Formats: WAV, MP3 • LCD Colour Display • Dimensions: 77.8mm x 152.8mm x 47.8mm HITS

• A great range of sonic possibilities with interchangeable capsules.

• Really solid build quality.

• Tripod mounting options for fixed placement.

• Easy to read screen showing all relevant information.

• Comes bundled with a memory card and Cubase Le software.

MISSES

• None that I can think of!

APOGEE ENSEMBLE THUNDERBOLT AUDIO INTERFACE We are beginning to see Thunderbolt audio interfaces slowly making an appearance on the market. This is the new port that’s beginning to phase out FireWire, and there are some really innovative products stepping up their game in computer interfacing. Apogee is certainly one name to watch out for in this arena. When it comes to quality audio interfaces, they have left me astounded with what they have delivered in the new Ensemble Thunderbolt interface.

UP FRONT For an interface that crams so much onto a single rack unit, the front panel is kept sparsely populated and very well presented. Two jog wheels allow you to control input and output levels with a range of fixed and assignable buttons. What I really like is the addition of two guitar inputs on the front of the unit. Sure, this isn’t a breakthrough idea, we have all seen that before, but when they are paired up with a couple of re-amp outputs, you know the design team at Apogee have nailed it with this unit. It’s such a simple idea, yet so cleverly executed.

This will change the way many studios work with guitar recording. You can capture the clean guitar sound up front and send the signal back out into an amp of your choice to be recorded also. You can then switch the amps around and send the same clean signal at the same level that would have come from your guitar originally, back into those amps to find the tone that works for you when it comes to the mix.

AROUND THE BACK This is where Apogee seems to have defied the laws of physics by placing more physical inputs connections onto a single rack unit than you would have deemed possible. You get 8 XLR microphone inputs, four of which have combination XLR/TRS connections, and two send and return points on TRS connectors as well. Work clock, SP/DIF and two lots of ADAT ins and outs are all there for taking care of digital interfacing and adding track count from external preamps. The sneaky design aspect is that there are only two genuine analogue outputs for your monitors on the rear of the unit. It’s a very clever PG. 42 / MIXDOWN NO. 249 / JANUARY 2015

move on Apogee’s behalf, saving space for inputs instead. You have the option of adding a further 8 outputs with an optional breakout cable, but many users will simply not find the need for this.

In all, this is an interface that ticks all the boxes and delivers results at an incredible speed. The audio quality has to be heard to really understand and latency isn’t going to be an issue. This is a well-designed, sleek looking unit that delivers what it promises and streamlines workflow for larger home studio and professional users. I think I want one.

BY ROB GEE

SPECS

• 8 Mic preamps with up to 75 dB of gain and Advanced Stepped Gain circuit • Thunderbolt connectivity for ultra-low latency (1.1ms round trip with Logic Pro X) • Front panel Guitar I/O with Class A JFET inputs, dual mode re-amp outputs • Talkback functionality with built-in mic and control button • 2 PurePower headphone outputs • 10 separately assignable analog inputs • 16 analog outputs of premium Apogee conversion • Core Audio optimised DMA engine frees up Mac CPU for plugins and software instruments • Works with Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton and any Core Audio compliant app on Mac • Designed in California – Assembled in the U.S.A.

RRP: $3195 DISTRIBUTOR: SOUND DISTRIBUTION PHONE: (02) 8007 3327 WEBSITE: www.sounddistribution.com.au HITS

• • • •

Excellent range of input options Clever re-amping capabilities Intuitive layout and design High quality AD conversion with lightning fast audio transfer

MISSES

• I would have liked this sooner

PG. 43 / mixdowN NO. 248 / DECEMBER 2014

THAT REFRESHING CLASSIC SOUND

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PG. 44 / mixdowN NO. 246 / OCTOBER 2014

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