Roland MC-505 GrooveBox Blow your mind!! The MC-505 Groovebox is an ultra cool retro-styled dance music sequencer and sound module loaded with trance inducing beats, head humping samples, and lots of crazy knobs to
twiddle.
Pssst!! Looking for a great deal on guitar strings? Click here and check out the action at SheetMusicPlus.
CleverJoe Newsletter
Musician's Friend continues
to be an excellent source for musical instruments and gear. They offer superb service,
great prices, easy online shopping and overnight delivery.
Shop in Canada! CleverJoe's Note: **Only US orders can be processed through Musician's Friend at this time, and Canucks and Non-USA'ers should check out Kelly's Music, a great Canadian
musician store that ships in Canada (of course) and International. Kelly's has both excellent Canadian prices and superb
service.
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CleverJoe Newsletter, December 2000
CleverJoe.com is the musician's guide to the Canadian and International
music industry.
============================================================
Happy Holidaze from CleverJoe!!
CleverJoe: Hey Mom, I want to grow up and be a rock-n-roll musician.
Mom: Now Clever, you have to pick one or the other. You can't do both.
1.)... Christmas Stocking Stuffers
2.)... Humidity And Your Guitar
3.)... Bands Who Do Their Own Sound
4.)... New Stuff At CleverJoe's
5.)... Clever Clicks
6.)... CleverJoe Accepting Submissions
7.)... Payment due notice
It's not too late to pick up some cool stocking stuffers
for your fave musician. It's okay to stuff your own stocking
once in a while too ya know...
>>>>> Fender Limited Edition 2000 Lunchbox
Be the coolest kid (or adult) in the cafeteria!
If you are truly feeling in the Christmas spirit,
CleverJoe would love it for some nice soul to buy him
one of these.
It's a collectible metal lunch box in a Fender® amp design.
Comes jam packed with 3 sets of Fender® 150L nickelwound bullet-end
strings,
12 Fender® classic celluloid picks, Fender® cotton guitar strap,
Fender® guitar polish, Fender® polish cloth,
and Fender® velour accessory pouch.
This is the popular boxed gift set of the authentic
Transcribed Score (Authentic transcriptions of all
instruments) as performed by The Beatles. With over
1100 pages, this hard-cover edition features full scores
and lyrics to all 213 titles recorded by The Beatles.
Guitar and bass parts are in both standard notation
and tablature. Also includes a full discography.
This is an amazing collection of music in a nicely
gift packaged box set that any guitarist would appreciate.
Also available are these gift box sets of superb collections:
James Taylor / Complete
The Eric Clapton Collection For Guitar - Boxed Set
Eagles Complete, Volumes 1 & 2
Grateful Dead - Boxed Set
This is a really nice set of headphones that would be
great for anyone who does home recording or studio work.
Features a highly accurate dynamic transducer and circumaural,
around-the-ear pad design for long-wearing comfort. The
"integrated open air" design provides a very natural,
spacious sound quality. Steel cable headband construction
and single-sided pro-quality cable are built for a long life
of rugged use. Frequency response: 15Hz-20kHz
Mmmmmmmm... Santa Claus has arrived in full gear.
Want to make a musician really happy? Surprise them
with this great little multitrack recorder, perfect
for songwriters, bands or solo musicians who are
looking for an easy and inexpensive way to record
their music. Perfect for recording demos, songwriting,
composing, etc. A multitrack recorder can be a valuable
tool for songwriters and bands, and Tascam's Porta 02
Ministudio gives a big bang for a small buck. Jingle
someone's bells this Christmas!
Shake it up baby! Even the most slightly musically-inclined
person should shake a tambourine every now and then.
Beware - there are some really good tambourines out
there, and some really crappy ones. Needless to say,
the Pulse Power Pro's are among the good ones. Happy shaking!
>>>>> Samsung 8x 74 Minute Blank CD-R Silver Recordable CD
The perfect stocking stuffer for musicians. Samsung Cd's are
the choice of many musicians, and they're also on sale right now for
only a buck each (list is $5.16). Great gift!
>>>>> Korg ES-1 Electribe Rhythm Production Sampler
Okay, so you'll need an extra large stocking to stuff
this tasty treat into, but it's worth the extra yarn.
Sampling at it's coolest, the Korg Electribe is a very
unique sampler that doesn't just play back a recorded
sound - it also gives you lots of processing power to
shape the samples. You can easily create your own original
sounds by playing any sound or phrase into the Electribe,
and then use the pitch, filter and effects knobs to create
some craziness you can call your own.
Check out Kelly's Music, a great Canadian music store
that ships in Canada (of course) and International.
Canadian prices and excellent service:
http://www.formusictechnology.com
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2.) HUMIDITY AND YOUR GUITAR
==============================
As the cold weather season approaches, it is once again time to think
about humidity...or I should say: "the lack
thereof". Wintertime means dry air and low humidity is responsible
for the lion's share of guitar
problems...particularly with acoustic guitars. Cracking fingerboards,
splitting tops, protruding fret ends, shrinking
fingerboards and braces becoming loose are among the most common problems.
What you have to do is simple, do not let your guitar dry out! First
off, when you are not playing your guitar keep it
in the case (which really is good advice anytime of the year). The
case will protect the guitar from any drastic changes
in temperature or humidity, and if you decide to use a guitar humidifier
it will help keep the moisture in (more about
guitar humidifiers later).
Second, be aware of the humidity where the guitar is kept and adjust
accordingly. Investing in a humidifier for your home is always a good idea
if needed - not only for your guitar's well being but for yours as well!
Actual "guitar humidifiers" come in a variety of styles and often are
the simplest and most logical solution. The most
common ones being sound hole humidifiers which not only humidify the
guitar from the inside but also prevents moisture
from escaping through the sound hole. Because of their near air tight
design it is also very important not to over
humidify your guitar by using too much water. To help combat this some
models such as the "Dampit System" has a humidity
gauge built right in.
Lastly owners of new instruments need to be especially careful of humidity.
Much like a new house, a new instrument
needs 2 or 3 years to "settle". If a guitar has been properly looked
after during this time, then damage due to dry
conditions is much less likely
Greigg is a guitarist/songwriter from London Canada.
Visit his web site and check out his music and very cool instrumental
rock CD's.
http://www.clevernet.net/curlymaple/
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Pssst!! Looking for great deals on guitar strings?
==============================
3.) BANDS WHO DO THEIR OWN SOUND
==============================
I’m a sound engineer and I’m a musician. I love doing sound and I love
performing - but not at the same time. Only when
I have no choice do I venture into the realm of singing, playing guitar
and mixing during the same show. Nevertheless,
there do exist many bands out there who are quite content to do their
own sound. This is particularly common among retro
and country bands, and of course, soloists and duos. Tuck Andress used
to have volume pedals on the stage for his guitar
and for Patti’s voice - he wanted the control.
The fact is that when you’re on stage, you can’t accurately tell how
it sounds in the audience, especially if you are
using monitors. This article is geared towards bands playing smaller
venues, as stadiums and concert halls sort of
require a sound tech to work that big board out there in the audience.
So who is going to do your sound? In my band, the bass player is the
appointed knob twister, not just because he’s got a
great ear, but because he can fret a note with his left hand and simultaneously
make a change on the board, if it’s so
important that we can’t wait until the end of the song. For this reason,
we keep the console on stage right, for him.
Another popular place for the console is by the drum kit, for discretion
reasons. One or more front line musicians
hanging over a mixer can be very distracting. Not so with a drummer.
That just leaves the question of your drummer’s
ears...
Some cafes or smaller clubs will have one or more of the main speakers
set behind the musicians so that the main mix
hits the players’ ears on its way out to the audience. This is a good
way to monitor your own instruments and hear
what’s going out to the room at the same time. This is also a good
way to feed back the microphones into the speakers
and blow a diaphragm. Pay attention to where you place the speakers
relative to the mics. This can work well if you’re
careful.
Some soloists are able to get away without monitors at all, but when
a second musician or a sequencer is added, the need
for monitoring comes into effect.
Seeing a market for a good mixer geared towards soloists and small groups,
Mackie introduced the 1202 and 1604 mixers,
and were then followed by Soundcraft and Samson. These boards have
a couple of auxiliaries which are pre-fader, post-
fader or switchable.The early Mackie 1202’s two auxiliaries were both
post-fader, so you could listen to the main mix
through your monitors, or actually modify the printed circuit board
to have one pre-fader aux.
So now your monitors sound great, but it would be nice if the house
sounded
good as well. There will almost always be a red-face guy named Murray
who has been there at the bar drinking since noon,
is able to make his car stereo sound great, and has deemed himself
worthy of advising you on your mix. If the club
owners have bands often, they, as well as the bartenders, may be able
to at least tell you what’s too loud or too quiet.
Perhaps throw some technical jargon their way to establish their level
of knowledge.
One of the biggest mistakes is to set the EQ’s and levels for the audience
while standing on the stage, behind the
speakers. If you boost the high-end to the point where you can hear
it well from where you are, the audience will be
saturated with it, perhaps to the point of pain. The same goes with
reverb; if you don’t have any in the monitors,
you’ll overkill the room with it until you can hear it on stage. If
you have a guitar amp or percussion on the stage
which you can hear just fine because it’s beside you, make sure it’s
loud enough in the house. A good way to keep
levels, EQ-ing and reverb under control is to put perhaps the singer
(one who just sings) in the audience to listen as
each instrument is brought up in the mix. Then the vocals can be added
after they have been set "a capellically". If
there is no free-standing singer, then take turns stepping out in front,
but get out there and listen, or be subject to
the opinions of your new friend Murray. In any case, it’s important
to allot more time than usual for a soundcheck when
there isn’t a sound tech present. Feedback during a song isn’t good,
so make sure it is dealt with before the show.
When the performance starts and you’re wondering how it sounds in the
audience, you can start by stepping down and
standing in front of the main speakers via a wireless system or a long
cable (singers watch your microphones in front of
the speakers). At least make it look like you are dancing with the
audience on the dance floor or something. Even a
"How’s it sound out there, Folks?" will usually elicit a constructive
response. Other musicians are fairly easy to spot
in the audience, and can be approached after a set. At age 17, I saw
Boston perform at Copp’s Coliseum in Hamilton. The
vocalist, Brad Delp, asked my friends and me, (standing front-row centre)
how the house sound was.
For things to run smoothly, it helps if everybody in the band learns
a bit about sound, or their own sound, anyway - EQ
setting, etc. But be careful, too many engineers can spoil the mix.
Steve Parton is a composer, recording artist and music educator residing
in Southern Ontario. Steve was a regular
contributor to Canada's national music mag Canadian Musician, where
this article first appeared.
An independent underground internet radio station broadcasting from
Toronto, Canada.
Two seperate stations: "Absolute Indie" and "Absolute Underground"
This is a great place to catch up on the goings-on of the underworld
indie beats.
Canadian musician store selling music software,
accessories, instruments and gear. Their service is second to none.
http://www.formusictechnology.com/
==============================
6) CleverJoe is accepting Submissions
==============================
If you're interested in submitting a music related article or product
review for CleverJoe.com, check out this page for the full scoop:
http://www.cleverjoe.com/helpwanted.html
=============================
7.) Payment Due
==============================
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CleverJoe humbly asks the following from you:
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2) If you haven't yet, have a quick boo at the CleverJoe.com home page
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see what's new:
Holds any electric guitar securely, including bass guitars or mandolins.
This is a great guitar stand that is good looking, durable, and portable.
Adjustable arms, steel welded construction, rubber covered arms & backrest,
it folds up neatly for gigs. Comes with 90 day warranty.
Shop in Canada!
