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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Joe Satriani Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards Podcast - Episode #1 (Premonition)

2:40 PM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
Joe Satriani Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards Podcast - Episode #1 (Premonition)
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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Joe Satriani - Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards

12:46 PM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
The new upcoming album from Joe Satriani, Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards. It's got 11 new instrumental tracks featuring Jeff Campitelli on drums, Allen Whitman (Mermen) on bass and Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa, Steve Vai) on keyboards. The album is set for release on October 5, 2010 through Epic Records.



This is Satriani's 14th studio album, produced and recorded by Mike Fraser (AC/DC, Metallica). Satriani's classic sound is accompanied by a surprisingly rich texture of new material as well. This 11-track album's first single "Light Years Away" is destined to be a hit, with several other high energy offerings, like "Wormhole Wizards" and "Premonition." 

U.S. residents can pre-order the upcoming album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards exclusively through Joe Satriani's website, and receive an autographed copy of the CD, a download of the new single "Light Years Away", and a special code allowing access to tickets for Joe Satriani's North American tour dates before they go on sale to the public (not all North American tour dates apply to this promotion). 


Here are the album track listing:
  1. Premonition
  2. Dream Song
  3. Pyrrhic Victoria
  4. Light Years Away
  5. Solitude
  6. Littleworth Lane
  7. The Golden Room
  8. Two Sides To Every Story
  9. Wormhole Wizards
  10. Wind In The Trees
  11. God Is Crying
 
The first single "Light Years Away" is now available to stream. You can check it out and get more information about this album through Joe Satriani's website. You can hear the song when you enter the website.
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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Steve Vai New Release!

7:05 PM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
On April 13, Steve Vai through Favored Nations Record has released Where The Other Wild Things Are on CD and digital download. The album is the official companion CD to Where The Wild Things Are which previously released on September 29th, 2009. This CD features 12 tracks from the concert that didn’t appear on the first CD. The album comes in a beautiful full-color digipak.

The tracklisting is:
1. The Crying Machine
2. The Audience Is Listening
3. The Murder
4. Juice
5. Whispering A Prayer
6. Apples In Paradise
7. I’m Becoming
8. Beastly Rap
9. Earthquake Sky
10. Liberty
11. Answers
12. For The Love Of God



To celebrate the release of the new album, Favored Nations and Ibanez Guitars are giving fan an opportunity to ask Steve Vai any question they like! One lucky grand prize winner will receive the brand new 2010 Ibanez Jem77FP2 Floral Pattern guitar (valued at over $4000!)

The winner will have their question personally answered by Steve on YouTube! Steve will mention the winner's name and personally autograph the guitar to the winner on camera!

More information can be seen at this web address : www.favorednations.com
Don't miss the chance!


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More about home recording.

6:36 PM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
In my previous articles, I wrote about introduction to home recording. Maybe, you found it a little absurd. So, this time I'll try to make it become more structured for anyone who is considering setting up a home recording studio.
Before you start, we have to assume that:
  • You have basic knowledge about computer and comfortable in operating it. 
  • You have musical basic. These home recording articles are not about musical course, just how to transform you musical idea into recorded material.
  • You don't have experience in music recording. But, if you do, that should be an advantage.
First, you need to know what equipments you need to start a home recording. Here are the things you'll need:
  • A computer set.
  • An internal  soundcard
  • A pair of speakers
  • A microphone or a headset (headphones and microphone combined)
  • Recording software
It doesn't mean you need to have an advanced state-of-the-art equipment. Just a standard one. For example, the minimum system requirements for using FL Studio software are:
  • 2Ghz AMD or Intel Pentium 3 compatible CPU
  • Windows 7, Vista, XP & 2000 (32 & 64 bit)
  • 512MB ram 
  • 500MB free harddisk space
  • Windows-compatible soundcard with DirectSound drivers.
Other recording softwares have their own minimum requirements, but there aren't much difference than mentioned above.
If you already have any quality equipment, it's fine to use. But, if you don't, you have to think very carefully before spending your money. You do not want to waste a lot of money on a lot of gear that you don't need and won't use. Instead, just use a standard ones, for the purpose of learning. In time, when your knowledge, competence and confident grows, then you may begin to think about it.
How about the studio? Do we need to build a studio like a professional one? No, you do not need a lot of space. You can do it in the corner of your room or a desk area.
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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Home Recording (continued)

9:04 AM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
Nowadays, recording a preofessional-sounding music at home is possible because home recording equipments with good sound quality have become more affordable. The noisy recordings and tape hiss that plagued home studios are now a thing of the past. Twenty years ago, even an experienced engineer couldn’t make a budget home studio sound truly professional; now, anything is possible.

Every piece of home recording gear is trying to imitate the features of a professional recording studio on a smaller scale. While technological advancements might allow more features, the goal is still the same: achieve at home the quality that the professionals get in a studio.
In my previous post, I mentioned about two types of DAW, integrated type and computer based type. An integrated type mostly refers to a standalone, all-in-one studio, such as the Fostex, Roland, Tascam, and Yamaha. These studios contain multitrack capability, internal effects, faders for mixing, EQ, and, in many cases, built-in CD burners. Everything we need to get start a music recording.

Roland VS

Recording technology is headed toward the computer at this point. Standalone units will always be around, but as the years go on, they are starting to resemble computers more and more. You can even make a computer as a standalone recorder.

If computer can act as a standalone unit, then why bother buying equipment that relatively more expensive than a computer? An all-in-one studio comes with some guarantees. If the box states that it can record eight tracks at the same time and play back sixty-four, then it’s going to do that without a glitch. With a computer, the number of tracks we can create is limited by the power of the machine. Good hardwares on computer (advanced processor, larger memory, faster disk, advanced soundcard) makes the different.

One more advantage of home recording is it doesn’t require huge amounts of space, and usually a corner of a room or a desk area is enough to get anyone started. How about the musical instrument? Many “solo” engineers/players own just a few microphones, usually one all-purpose and one specialized microphone. A lot depends on what instruments we plan to record.

I use only an electric guitar and a headset with microphone plugged into my computer. But, that doesn’t mean we have to own or master a musical instrument to do home recording. If we give our time to learn more about making music with audio processing software, we can make music without musical instrument, even without a mic. In My Music Box tab on the right, you can listen one example about it. I made it completely with FL Studio software.
Many studios involve MIDI to control drum machines and keyboards. But, I prefer computer software that uses wav format because I think the sounds are more reallistic, altough it requires more harddisk space.

I think that’s all for now. To be continued…
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Friday, March 26, 2010

Home Recording

12:08 AM | Posted by fire | Edit Post

Nowadays, making music is quite less expensive than it used to be. The development in technology, especially in music recording making everyone including ones with less musical background can record their own music even from their own room. Home recording technology seems to get better and cost less every year. I will try to provide some background information regarding to home recording and explain some common terminology that related to it.

Mentioning about home recording, we have to know the term "DAW" (Digital Audio Workstation). It simply refers to a general combination of audio multitrack software and high-quality audio hardware. High quality? Don't worry. Like I mentioned before, they cost less every year. This audio hardware includes an audio converter unit for of analog-to-digital (ADC) and/or digital-to-analog (DAC) signal conversion and sometimes a DSP (Digital Signal Processing) system for processing digital audio externally from the host computers own processing.

DAW generally refers to computer systems which have high-quality external ADC-DAC hardware, and professional audio software such as a hard-disk multitrack recorder. But, using a computer (sound card) is good enough if we do not have much money to buy those high-quality hardwares. Most modern computers should be powerful enough to get you started. And whether you prefer Windows, Linux or a Mac, there are software options that should meet your needs.

DAWs generally come in two varieties:

  • Computer based DAWs; which consist of a computer, an audio converter, and digital audio editor software. The computer acts as a host for the sound card and software and provides processing power for audio editing. The sound card acts as an audio interface, typically converting analog audio signals into digital form, and may also assist in processing audio. The software controls the two hardware components and provides a user interface to allow for recording, editing and playback.
  • Integrated DAW; which consist of a mixing console, control surface, audio converter and data storage in one device, such as a hard-disk multitrack recorder.

Much of the functionality of DAWs are just like analogue recording technology.Therefore, computer-based DAWs tend to have a standard layout which includes transport controls (play, rewind, record, etc.), track controls and/or a mixer, and a waveform display. Perhaps the most significant feature available on a DAW that is not available in analogue recording is the ability to 'undo' a previous action. That is, it is most unlikley to accidentally erase, or record over a previous recording.

Commonly, DAWs will handle multiple tracks of audio in the same piece of music, allow you to add special effects to your recording, and also have a mixer so that you can adjust the relative levels of each audio track.
If you like to do some basic recording, like recording your music collection (from reels or tapes to digital format), you may use a more basic audio editor. Audacity is one good example (and it's free!). If you use Apple Macintosh, you may use GarageBand. It's an easy to use and inexpensive to get start with. And if you want a better one, you can use LogicPro.
Linux user may choose MusE, Qtractor or Rosegarden. In Windows, there are lots of option to choose, but many recommend Sony ACID and REAPER.

Here are the list of some digital audio processing softwares based by their operating system:

Operating System Softwares
Multi-platform Audacity, LMMS
Microsoft Windows / Mac OS X Cubase, Live, Nuendo, Pro Tools, REAPER, Record, Riffworks, Soundbooth, Studio One, Tracktion
Microsoft Windows ACID Pro, Audition, FL Studio, Kristal, MAGIX Samplitude, MAGIX Sequoia, Mixcraft, n-Track, Podium, Pyramix, SADiE, Sonar, Soundforge, WaveLab
Mac OS X AudioDesk, Digital Performer, GarageBand, Logic Pro
Linux / Microsoft Windows Jokosher
Linux / Mac OS X Ardour
Linux MusE, Qtractor, Rosegarden
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

DragonForce Singer Audition

11:17 AM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
Due to the departure of lead singer ZP Theart, DragonForce started a worldwide search for a new vocalist. Guitarist Herman Li said, “We are looking for a powerful, melodic singer to write a new chapter of DragonForce with us." 
DragonForce were formed in 1999 by guitarists Sam Totman and Herman Li. The two later found singer ZP Theart through an advert, drummer Matej Setinc, bassist Steve Scott and keyboardist Steve Williams. Drummer Matej Setinc left the band in December 1999 to continue his studies in Slovenia, he was replaced by Didier Almouzni. The band parted ways with Steve Scott in November 2000 and Steve Williams in early 2000. Steve later rejoined and left once again in December 2000, days head of the band's tour with Halford and Stratovarius.
Bassist Diccon Harper joined the band in November 2000 with keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanor joining in February 2001 to complete the lineup for recording their first album. Diccon Harper left the band in 2002 but played on DragonForce's debut album Valley of the Damned as a session player.
Their debut, Valley of the Damned, was recorded in the beginning of 2000 but was not released for three years, giving the band members ample time to fine-tune its sound. Sonic Firestorm, released in 2004, showed the group’s considerable growth, but it was DragonForce’s third disc Inhuman Rampage (2006), that earned them a following in North America.
The band toured with Disturbed and Slipknot throughout the summer of 2008 on the Rockstar Energy Metal Mayhem Festival. The band returned in the Fall with the release of their 4th studio album, Ultra Beatdown. 
This London-based band influenced by power, thrash, death and progressive metal, not to mention classical and pop. Not only are they determined to combine all their influences into each of their songs but they also strive to be more intense than each of their favorite bands. DragonForce take their influences to a new extreme called "Nintendo Metal." “When we were in school, we used to play tons of video games, and a lot of them have really great music,” Li says. “Since it was always in our heads, we figured why not add that to our songs.”
Herman Li has stated that DragonForce will stop touring in December, spend time at home for Christmas, and then will begin writing and recording a new studio album scheduled to be released in 2011. On February 22, 2010, the band re-released their first two albums, Valley of the Damned and Sonic Firestorm. Valley of the Damned included newly remixed and remastered tracks while both albums included bonus tracks, updated packaging and DVDs featuring live footage, commentary, and more. Both albums were also released in a box set which featured a t-shirt, a card of guitar picks, and an inflatable guitar.
On March 8th, 2010, it was announced via Roadrunner that DragonForce had parted ways with vocalist ZP Theart and would now be seeking a new frontman.
The audition for the vacant position can be seen at this web address dragonforce.com/audition.


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The Most Lucrative Contract in Music History, So Far

10:27 AM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
Sony Music signed a deal with the Michael Jackson estate worth $250 million for seven-year, 10 albums made of Michael Jackson's unreleased songs. That will be the most lucrative contract in music history. One of the first releases from the $250 million deal will be an album of unreleased material culled from Jackson’s personal musical vaults, which reportedly house as much as three albums’ worth of unheard material. That release is expected out by the end of 2010, most likely in November to capitalize on the annual pre-holidays sales.
Since Michael's death on June 25, Sony has sold an estimated 31 million of his albums globally. By the first anniversary of his death, his estate expects to have earned $250 million from sales of music, merchandise and tickets to the concert film "This Is It."


The advances being paid by Sony are to be offset by sales of albums as well as revenue generated by licensing Mr. Jackson's music for uses like video games, movies and theatrical performances. The record-breaking $250 million pact is $100 million richer than the 10-year deal Jay-Z signed with Live Nation two years ago. The deal will also go a long way toward helping the Jackson estate pull itself out of the massive debt Michael accrued in the last years of his life.

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Monday, February 1, 2010

2010 Grammy Award Winners

2:54 PM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
Here are the list of 2010 Grammy Award Winners:

Album of the Year: 

Song of the Year: 
“Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” — Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)

Best Solo Rock Performance: 
“Working on a Dream” — Bruce Springsteen

Record of the Year: 
“Use Somebody” — Kings of Leon

Best Country Album: 
Fearless — Taylor Swift

Best Rock Album: 
21st Century Breakdown — Green Day

Best Hard Rock Performance: 
“War Machine” — AC/DC

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: 
“Run This Town” — Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West

Best Dance Recording: 
“Poker Face” — Lady Gaga

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: 
“Halo” — Beyoncé

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: 
“Use Somebody” — Kings of Leon

Best New Artist: 
Zac Brown Band

Best Electronic/Dance Album: 
The Fame — Lady Gaga

Best Alternative Music Album: 
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix — Phoenix

Best Contemporary R&B Album: 
I Am… Sasha Fierce — Beyoncé

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: 
“Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” — Beyoncé

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: 
“I Gotta Feeling” — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Rock Song: 
“Use Somebody” — Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)

Best Pop Vocal Album: 
The E.N.D. — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: 
“Pretty Wings” — Maxwell

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: 
“Blame It” — Jamie Foxx & T-Pain

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: 
“At Last” — Beyoncé

Best Rock Instrumental Performance: 
“A Day in the Life” — Jeff Beck

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: 
“Pearls” — India.Arie & Dobet Gnahore

Best R&B Song: 
“Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” — Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)

Best Rap Solo Performance: 
“D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)” — Jay-Z

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group: 
“Crack a Bottle” — Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent

Best Rap Song: 
“Run This Town” — Jeff Bhasker, Shawn Carter, Robyn Fenty, Kanye West & Ernest Wilson, songwriters (Athanasios Alatas, songwriter) (Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West)

Best Rap Album:  
Relapse — Eminem

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: 
“Make It Mine” — Jason Mraz

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: 
“Lucky” — Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat

Best Female Country Vocal Performance: 
“White Horse” — Taylor Swift

Best Male Country Vocal Performance: 
“Sweet Thing” — Keith Urban

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: 
“Dissident Aggressor” — Judas Priest

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: 
“I Run to You” — Lady Antebellum

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals: 
“I Told You So” — Carrie Underwood & Randy Travis

Best Country Song: 
“White Horse” — Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)

Best Americana Album: 
Electric Dirt — Levon Helm

Best Contemporary Blues Album: 
Already Free — The Derek Trucks Band

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media: 
Slumdog Millionaire — Various Artists, A.R. Rahman, producer

Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media: 
“Jai Ho” (From Slumdog Millionaire) — Gulzar, A.R. Rahman & Tanvi Shah, songwriters (A.R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaxmi Iyer & Vijay Prakash)

Best Recording Package: 
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today — Stefan Sagmeister, art director (David Byrne & Brian Eno)

Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: 
Neil Young Archives Vol. I (1963-1972) — Gary Burden, Jenice Heo & Neil Young, art directors (Neil Young)

Best Short Form Music Video: 
“Boom Boom Pow” — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Long Form Music Video: 
“The Beatles Love – All Together Now” — (Various Artists)

Best Comedy Album: 


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Friday, January 29, 2010

Soundgarden reunite!

10:27 PM | Posted by fire | Edit Post

Soundgarden was and still one of my favorite band. Alongside with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, they popularized grunge in the early 1990s. I remember the first time I bought their album, Superunknown in 1995. At that time, it was hard for me to enjoy their songs. Not like Nirvana or Pearl Jam that were more easy listening, this band was very deep and have harder sound than the other two bands from Seattle. It took several times listening to their songs until I began to enjoy and became die hard fan of this band.
Anyway, Superunknown that was released on March 8 1994 became the band breakthrough album. Superunknown debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. The music video for Black Hole Sun became a hit on MTV and received the award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards and in 1995 it received the Clio Award for Alternative Music Video. Their singles Black Hole Sun and Spoonman both won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Metal Performance. The album itself was nominated Grammy for Best Rock Album in the same year.
Unfortunately, their fifth album, Down on the Upside, seemed to be their last album. After their worldwide tour, Soundgarden shocked fans around the world when they announced they would be breaking up on April 9, 1997. Internal conflict seemed to be the reason behind their breakup.
After 12 years of breakup,  now came the good news about Soundgarden reunite. Lead singer os the band, Chris Cornell revealed the news via his Twitter on Friday, January 1, 2010.
"The 12 year break is over and school is back in session," he Tweeted. "
Knights of the Soundtable ride again!"
 Hope we can hear more progress about this news shortly. Next time I am going to review about this band.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Joe Satriani New Live CD/DVD

8:42 AM | Posted by fire | Edit Post

For all Joe Satriani fans, get ready for the upcoming new live performance on DVD. The brand new live two-disc CD and DVD will be released on February 2, 2010, through Epic Records. Joe recorded Live in Paris: I Just Wanna Rock! on May 27, 2008, at The Grand Rex Theater in Paris, France.
Following the success of his other "live" DVD releases, Satriani Live in 2006 and Live in San Francisco in 2001, Satriani has gained new heights with Live in Paris. The extraordinary editing and artful stage lighting makes this Satriani "live" DVD a pleasure for the new viewer, as well as the long-time fan. An anticipated bonus offering on the Live in Paris DVD is the in-depth interview, unlike any other, with Satriani as well as behind-the-scenes footage. 

Live In Paris: I Just Wanna Rock DVD Track List:
1. I Just Wanna Rock12. Out of the Sunrise
2. Overdriver13. Time Machine
3. Satch Boogie14. Cool # 9
4. Ice 915. Andulasia
5. Diddle-Y-A-Doo-Dat16. Bass Solo
6. Flying In A Blue Dream17. Cryin'
7. Ghosts18. Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing
8. Revelation19. Always With Me, Always With You
9. Super Colossal20. Surfing With The Alien
10. One Big Rush21. Crowd Chant
11. Musterion22. Summer Song


Get your chance to win a signed Ibanez guitar, a Vox Satchurator pedal, a Planet Waves guitar strap, Joe Satriani discography, and more by entering Joe Satriani I Just Wanna Rock Paris Sweepstakes.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Handle Guitar

12:34 AM | Posted by fire | Edit Post
Yesterday I was browsing the net about weird guitars and I found this cool guitar, THE HANDLE. The most revolutionary electric guitar of our times. An extremely advanced musical instrument which is a result of combining new acoustica studies, a striking formal identity and cutting edge technology. That's what they say about it.


It is an XOX Audio Tools product, designed by the award winning designer Peter Solomon. The Handle is mono-chassis, from headstock to the body of the guitar is completely manufactured out of carbon fiber (Wow! Just like the body of F1 race cars). Surprisingly, carbon fiber offers a much wider harmonic range than wood.

 The body is mostly cutaway, resulting in an extremely lightweight instrument (4.85 lbs). This also creating a resonance chamber similar to that of a semi-acoustic guitar. Its mono-chassis construction favors direct transmission of acoustic vibrations without sound dampening nor loss.  The fretboard is constructed of a pressure-formed thermostat laminate containing twenty-four full-scale frets, and the neck has a slim tapered profile measuring a 12” radius.

The handle was designed for comfort. Its concave form anatomically fits the body, its thin profile of the neck for all 24 frets, and its lightweight offer truly pleasing experience to anyone who plays it.

More information may be found at www.xoxaudiotools.com
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