ASSIGNMENTS

Guitar Department Head

Los Angeles College of Music

The Los Angeles College of Music (LACM) has named Dr. Dylan Caligiuri (D.M.A.) as the college’s new Guitar Department Head. Dr. Caligiuri's credits include work for artists ranging from the Rat Pack's Don Rickles to popular music sensations Sia and Bebe Rexha. In 2016, Dr. Caligiuri began his role as pre-launch Curriculum Consultant and On-Screen Instructor in the pre-launch of Fender Musical Instrument Corporation's digital learning app Fender Play, where he continues to develop technical course content for self-paced learning, advise internal stakeholders and planned/monitored implantation of technology-based learning assessment tools. For more, contact laurajohnsonpr@yahoo.com.

President and CEO of Gibson Brands

Gibson Brands, Inc.

Gibson Brands, Inc. has appointed Cesar Gueikian to the role of President and CEO of Gibson Brands. Gueikian joined Gibson in 2018, merging his business background with his passion for music and guitars. He has been instrumental in the resurgence of Gibson, setting a successful new strategy centered around instruments and sound, relaunching the portfolio of brands, shaping a new portfolio architecture, creating Gibson Media, launching Gibson TV, and securing partnerships with Gibson artists. Gueikian has performed with and recorded alongside artists, such as Mana, Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujillo (Metallica), Rex Brown (Pantera), Dave Mustaine (Megadeth). For more, contact primeprgroup.com.

Kurt Van Scoy has been promoted to Audio-Technica U.S. Vice President and Officer, Products, Business Alliances and Marketing. The announcement was made by Manabu Aoki, Audio-Technica U.S. CEO and President, to whom Van Scoy will report directly in his new role.

Van Scoy joined Audio-Technica U.S. in 1987, transferred to a subsidiary, then came back in 1995. He has worked in roles spanning several of ATUS’s departments including Engineering, Production. Van Scoy will continue to oversee Product Development as well as assume leadership of the Marketing team. For more info, contact pr@clynemedia.com.

Fulcrum Immersive

Fulcrum Immersive announced the appointment of Luke Vogel to the newly created position of Market Development Manager. Vogel, who worked with Venueflex prior to Fulcrum Acoustic’s recent acquisition of the company, started with Fulcrum Immersive in May 2023

Vogel will serve as a primary resource for Fulcrum Immersive’s system integrators, acoustic designers, and end users. Vogel will provide both technical consultation and support to ensure they understand this emerging technology and can use it effectively in their real-world scenarios. For more, contact rogerm@ mountaincrest.net.

Casio America, Inc. announced that Tomoo Kato has assumed the role of Chairman and CEO. As Chairman and CEO, Kato will shape Casio's U.S. strategy and operations with an emphasis on enhancing customer satisfaction, accelerating market share growth, and driving technological innovation. Kato will also be instrumental in aligning U.S. operations with Casio's worldwide initiatives. Since starting his career in 1991 at Casio Computer Co. LTD in Tokyo, Japan, Kato has made significant strides within the company, particularly in the business development of the European and North American markets. For more, contact khelander@coynepr.com.

The Guitar Center Music Foundation

The Guitar Center Music Foundation (GCMF), has announced further expansion of its Board of Directors and appointed Fred Croshal to the organization’s leadership body. Croshal began his career as a retail sales representative at a local record store in the Bay Area before securing his first position at CBS Records. Soon after, he obtained executive positions at Sony Music Distribution and Columbia Records, working with artists such as Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey, Stevie Ray Vaughan and more. In 2003, he founded Croshal Entertainment Group. For more, contact pr@clynemedia.com.

Wise Music Group has appointed Massimiliano “Max” Moroldo as Managing Director of the recently established company Wise Music Italy, based in Bergamo. Max joined Wise Music Italy in 2022 as Head of A&R and Music Publishing Consultant upon the acquisition of his company, Baby Angel Music, by Wise Music Group. Through the ownership of Baby Angel Music and Atlas, Wise Music Italy owns shares in international hits such as “Freed from Desire” (Gala), “I Know You Want Me” (Pitbull) and “Seek Bromance” (Avicii), as well as Italian hits including Occidentali's “Karma” and “Amen,” among others. For more, contact bobbi@bobbimarcuspr.com.

David Loiterton joins Primary Wave Music as President, Indo-Pacific. As head of this new division, Loiterton will be responsible for driving investment in legendary and iconic music IP across the region, in particular India, Japan, Korea, China, and Australia, as well as the emerging Southeast Asian markets. Loiterton will manage the company’s extraordinary catalog of songwriters and composers in these fast-growing markets. David comes to Primary Wave with more than 35 years’ experience in music publishing, recording, artist management, and music streaming. For more, contact cmonck@primarywave.com.

The Synido TempoPAD's small size and simple operation makes is easy to carry and use. So it's perfect for using with a laptop or even a smart phone— anywhere, even when out camping.

There are four encoder knobs; six full-size transport buttons and four banks of 16 drum pads made of indestructible silicone. I found that these pads provide a more expressive and dynamic playing experience using a total of 48 virtual pads. I did like the four velocity-sensitive curves that are very responsive to your musical "hits" all in real-time when I wanted to add dynamic cymbal crashes in a mix I was working on.

The Synido TempoPAD editor software is for the music producer of any skill level to edit MIDI messages and, once you've programmed a groove, the beat pads provide useful visual cues and a rhythmical light show.

Synido Midi TempoPad can be used with any MIDI-enabled device, including PCs, Macs, and mobile devices. It includes a USB-C to USB-A cable for computer connection and a 1/8-inch TS to 5-pin MIDI adapter cable. When using Synido with portable devices like an iPad or iPhone, there is a DC-5V jack for connecting an additional power supply for more reliable operation. The Synido MIDI TempoPad makes possible the spontaneously production of music anywhere with any device from a full-on PC or Mac computer system to just a phone! Just install the Control Panel software so you can specifically program the pads and you're ready to go!

Synido MIDI TempoPad sells for $89 95 MSRP, but look for discounts on Amazon at: amzn.to/3zUjH3y

One of the highlights at the 2023 NAMM Show was Yamaha's FG9 steel-string acoustic guitar. This is an excellently made instrument specifically designed for singer-songwriters pursuing the highest level of expression from a dreadnought-style, Japanese-made handcrafted guitar. This clarity of sound and impressive projection is due to Adirondack spruce tops and your choice of either Indian rosewood (FG9 R) or African mahogany (FG9 M) for the backs and sides. Either guitar uses both an ebony fingerboard and bridge with a bone nut and saddle.

It is worthwhile to play and experience the deep lows and sparkling highs from the Indian rosewood along with the warmth and accentuated midrange coming from the mahogany. This all complements and inspires vocal performances as does the traditional and beautiful Japanese aesthetic details I loved the rope rosettes.

Yamaha scores again with a combination of its scientific measurement and analysis, combined with innovative craftsmanship for an instrument of exceptional clarity, detailed articulation, and sonic reach.

The Yamaha FG9 R NT (rosewood) sells for $6,780 MSRP while the FG9 M NT costs $6,620 MSRP.

usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/guitars_basses/ac_guitars/fg_series/fg_9/ index.html

Warm Audio's Warmdrive is an overdrive pedal that pays homage to the original "Dumble amp in a box" overdrive pedal called Hermida Audio Zendrive. This stomp box overdrive pedal depends on a very careful circuit design and component choices when you would use it to dial in a transparent overdrive tone. Or push a tube amp into saturation, or get a solo guitar sound with heroic authority. Warm Audio's Warmdrive uses premium components like 2N7000 MOSFETs and 1N34A Germanium and Schottky BAT41 diodes.

The four front panel controls are positioned and named exactly like the ZenDrive pedal. Warmdrive is a small sized unit with an interactive voice/tone stack. The Voice control boosts or cuts treble before the clipper (distortion) section and the Tone control adjust the brightness after that stage.

We thought this pedal offered a tight sound when connected to my small 5-watt tube guitar amp. My guitar player, producer Mikal Reid, used a stock '60s Fender Telecaster and got a hot sounding boost at a comfortable sound level with my guitar amp set totally clean. We liked all the dynamic sounds up to saturated cascading gain tones for standouts and solos. This is a good pedal!

The new Warm Audio Warmdrive sells for $149 MSRP and it is used a lot in my studio these days! warmaudio.com/warmdrive

The Free BYRD Ear Buds from Beyerdynamic are Bluetooth-enabled and sound better than my expensive wired models. With their closed-backed dynamic transducers, I've been using them every day with my iPhone on my hour-long walks and I'm impressed. When they are properly fitted into my ears, they sound great! They come with a compact charging case in which the ear buds drop into and there is an USB-C and cable to plug it into any socket or charger. You can also use Qi® wireless pads for them—a 10-minute charge will run them for over 60 minutes. A full charge will run them 8 to 11 hours with ANC or Active Noise Cancellation also activated.

I received a pair of gray Free BYRDs and charger, but they also come in black and I was immediately struck how intuitive they operate. Functions or commands are initiated by taping on ether the left or right ear buds' black touch strips. Things like: play/stop/previous/next song or accepting/rejecting incoming phone calls and calling up voice assistant are all various number of "taps" on either the left or right ear bud. This all works great, although I do have to get use to them! I'm having a great time with the comfortable and completely adjustable Free BYRD ear buds.

I've started using Apple Siri on my walks and a tap and hold on the right ear bud wakes her up. Amazon Alexa and Google Fast Pair are supported. Free BYRD has two (one in each bud), built-in MEMS omnidirectional microphones with Qualcomm® cVc™ speech enhancement technology all running under Bluetooth version 5 2 with aptX Adaptive, AAC, and SBC.

Beyerdynamic Free BYRDs include five pairs of silicone ear tips and three pairs of foam tips in sizes XS, S, M, L, XL, an USB charging cable, and instructions. Free BYRDs cost $249 MSRP. north-america.beyerdynamic.com/free-byrd.html

Jotter is a note-taking and collaboration software system. Jotter is a time code-linked annotation tool that allows engineers, mixers and producers to collaborate between each other and directly with clients using a free, standalone player that works in any computer. In addition to being able to "sync" comments and notes exactly to the timeline (time code), Jotter creates a .csv file that is sharable between the Jotter plug-in running in your DAW and the free standalone version for clients and other collaborators.

A producer or anyone can load/import the latest mix into the standalone Jotter app, add their notes anywhere in the file and then export just the notes to the mixing engineer who already has the mix file. This .csv file can then be imported into the engineer’s instance of Jotter both the standalone app or the plug-in version where the client's detailed feedback and commentaries are locked to their exact same positions in an audio file.

Comments are accessible either in Waveform or List view. Waveform view allows the user to zoom in/out on the audio track to add, find, delete or move notes. In List view, any listed time code is clickable to read the particular note and then also toggle a “checklist” to check off a completed change.

Jotter introduces screen reader support and many keyboard shortcuts, Nugen Audio's first accessibility features for users with visual impairments. Screen reader reads aloud anything the user is interacting with and announces possible options for action. With the keyboard shortcuts, users can bypass the interface completely as it links most functionality to buttons on the screen. These accessibility functions will provide blind or visually impaired users with the ability to navigate the Jotter plug-in more easily.

The Nugen Audio Jotter plug-in, plus the standalone player your client can download freely, sells for $49 MSRP. nugenaudio.com/jotter

The new Custom Cymbal builder on the TRX Cymbals website allows drummers the ability to design their own cymbals and have them made by TRX's master cymbal makers.

This is a step-by-step process to dial in a one-of-a-kind cymbal with all the desired personality and character possible using combinations of the ten factors that make up a cymbal's sound, look, and performance within your drum kit's overall sound.

The ten factors used are: type, size (diameter), weight, bell size and finish, hammering (or not), lathing (coarse or fine), actual overall finish, venting (holes), and rivets.

TRX completes your custom design with each drummer able to choose to have their cymbals "personalized" with their name and/ or logo laser-engraved right on it. Check it all out at: trxcymbals.com

BARRY RUDOLPH is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility in North Hollywood called Tones 4 $ Studios. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com

By George Brown

(hardcover) $28.99

Brown’s memoir describes his life in and out of the band, including a raucous life on the road as Kool & The Gang’s popularity grew. He weathered the ups and downs of his musical career and navigated many challenges, including prescription drug addiction, depression, and health issues. This ultimately inspiring book comes out the same week as Kool & The Gang’s 34th studio album, People Just Wanna Have Fun celebrating the band’s 60th anniversary next year a little early.

By Katiana Giacona

(paperback) $23.99

This handsome, fully illustrated, softcover book, with a foreward by producer Ken Caillat (Rumours), documents the rich colorful history of a storied San Francisco area recording facility, where artists including Fleetwood Mac, Sly & the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, Rick James, Prince, Bob Marley, The Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews, Metallica and many others recorded some of their finest, classic work.

By

Chris Payne

(hardcover) $32.00

Emo’s third explosion took place from 19992008 thanks to the existence of Warped Tour, Myspace, Napster, and a lot of angsty teens. Music journalist Chris Payne offers a wellorganized oral history of the scene’s explosion with interviews from the musicians (My Chem, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Jimmy Eat World, Thursday, Panic!, etc.) labels, publicists, tastemakers, journalists and so much more. Because of its prose, we get the chance to hear authentic perspectives about the resurgent genre no band wanted to be defined as at the time.

By Rob Spampinato

(paperback) $16.99

If you or someone you know has ever tried to learn an instrument, but felt it was too hard, you aren’t alone. But this author/teacher’s unique method aims to give all the mental, emotional, and physical tools needed to make music more than a wish or a hobby: You’ll be able to make music a lifestyle. And the difference is, you need an overall approach that can be customized to you. More details at thisbookshreds.com.

By Ryan Dusick

(hardcover) $26.95

Two decades after Songs About Jane, Maroon 5’s original drummer presents an unflinching examination of fame, anxiety, mental health, and recovery in the ‘90s, Ryan Dusick and his friends Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael dreamed about making it big... and against all odds, they did. This inside story recounts Maroon 5’s founding and their road to becoming Grammywinning megastars, told through the eyes of former drummer Dusick.

By Danny Marianino (paperback)

$19.99

When the clip of the author’s first-round KO of Glen Danzig hit YouTube, his fate was sealed. The hate mail came pouring in. Emails, message boards, comment sections, and, eventually, social media. People were livid and they did not hesitate to voice their displeasure with Marianino. Daily barrages of badly spelled, grammatically challenged emails began to flood his inbox. Message boards melted down with virulently worded threats of violence and death. The gatekeepers of punk rocked gasped, shuddered, and clutched their pearls in outraged indignation. In this 10th anniversary edition, the author says, “I added a lot of funny stuff: more messages and hate mail and I expanded on some of the funny experiences I should have really told better."