SEARCH
Advanced Search
SHOPPING CART
0
items in your shopping cart
My Account
My Cart
Check Out
Home
|
NEWS
|
TECHNICAL TIPS
|
|
|
CONTACT US
Categories
ACOUSTIC GUITARS
AMPLIFIERS
BASS GUITARS
BEHRINGER SHOP
DJ
DRUMS-PERC
ELEC-GUITARS
KEYBOARDS
LIGHTING
ORCHESTRAL-MUSIC
P.A.
PIRANA-GILMORE
RECORDING
All Products
Information
Phone Orders
1300 PIRANA
Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri: 9am - 6pm
Sat: 9am - 4pm
Sunday Closed
TECHNICAL TIPS
Acoustic Guitar Timbers
What the different timbers mean to you
Guitar Woods Guide Wood is one of the largest determining factors of a guitar’s sound and longevity. Specific woods used to build guitars, acoustic and electric, are called tone woods. Tone woods have resonant properties that other woods do not. For example, oak is a beautiful and strong wood, but it has no resonant properties, which would not be best for guitar building. Alder We find that alder has the richest tone, characterized by lots of fat low-end, well defined mid ranges and a lot of sustain. Alder is a light wood, which makes it more comfortable for lengthy gigs. It is one of the original woods used for solid body guitars. Although other manufacturers use woods like poplar and basswood, they are considered alder substitutes. Solid Alder Alder is a fairly light and incredibly resilient wood that is a favorite amongst electric guitar makers. It is a close-grained wood with a naturally light tan color. Alder is mostly used for electric guitar bodybuilding because of its full sound, great sustain and density. It is a porous wood that takes quite well to a variety of finishes. This gives the guitar a richer sound because the solid wood soundboard can vibrate more freely and thoroughly. Spruce Spruce is the most commonly used wood on acoustic guitar soundboards. The soundboards on acoustics are generally made of tightly grained spruce. Naturally yellow in color, spruce is a lightwood that has a very high degree of resonance, so it is a perfect match for acoustic guitars. Solid Spruce Solid spruce refers less to a difference in the wood than to how it is actually cut for the guitar. Laminate spruce soundboards are built as layers of cross-grained wood glued to each other. Solid spruce soundboards consist of one piece of wood running all the way through. This gives the guitar a richer sound because the solid wood soundboard can vibrate more freely and thoroughly. Canadian Sitka Spruce Canadian Sitka Spruce is a harder to find, more expensive variety of spruce. It has a light yellow color and is also used for acoustic guitar soundboards. It gives guitars a bigger more resonant sound, flush with crisp highs. It also improves with age more than other types of spruce. Mahogany Mahogany is a moderately dense and very durable wood. It is commonly used for the backs, sides and necks of acoustic guitars. It is sometimes used on electric guitar bodies and necks. Because it is very sonorous and durable, mahogany is also used in banjos, resonators, ukuleles and acoustic guitar soundboards. It is lighter than maple and specifically provides acoustic guitars with great sustain. Mahogany also provides great weight balance between the neck and the body of an acoustic. It is reddish-brown in color and is incredibly strong and resonant, giving the guitar big, beautiful tones. Maple Maple is a strong and extremely dense, heavy wood. It is excellent for guitar necks and bodies because it can handle an inordinate amount of string tension. Maple has a bright and crisp tone and is used on flamenco guitars as well as some electrics. It has a wide variety of exotic grains that show up quite well when finished. Flamed maple is a very popular and brilliant looking exotic type of maple. “Flamed” refers to the rippling, or curls of the grain of wood that run across the body. Flamed maple in generally “book matched,” which means that the body is made of two half pieces of a single cut piece of maple. This gives the guitar even weight, look and tone throughout the body. Nato Nato wood, also known as Eastern Mahogany, is a reliable, strong wood used on guitar necks. It is a value-priced wood used more for beginner instruments. However, it still embodies all of the properties of more commonly used mahogany.
Drummers
Controlling Volume in Small Venues
Drumming 101: Controlling the volume in small venues By Rob Crispe - drummer, The Tullys (www.youtube.com/drumhub) Controlling the volume of the drums in small, intimate venues can be a challenge during gigs - but it can be done, and your band (and your audience) will love you for it! Use of Blastiks or 'hot rods': Whenever I'm faced with a situation where I'm performing in a small venue, I pull out a pair of black Regal Tip Blastiks and leave my trusty Vic Firth sticks packed away. Blastiks, or 'hot rods' as they're also called, are essentially a cross between sticks and traditional brushes. Their tips are made of several thin, nylon fibres which give them a softer projection onto the drum heads, causing a softer and more muffled sound. While you can still generate quite a good strike from these sticks, they aren't as loud as normal sticks but still afford you a decent amount of stroke control. Although, there is a limit to how fast you can play, due to their lack of natural rebound compared with normal sticks. Buzz rolls are certainly out! When you use these types of sticks for the first time, they will act more like normal sticks. Once you wear them down and the nylon fibres start to soften and split, they start to act a bit more like traditional brushes and you can achieve some diverse sounds! In fact, I prefer to use Blastiks that have been slightly 'worn in', so I can get a more muffled thumping sound from the drums while keeping the noise down. Be wary, though - the more worn the tips get, the more strain they'll place on your fingers, hands and wrist (essentially because they become heavier at the tip), which may start to affect your technique and speed around the kit. Overall, though, I highly recommend these types of sticks for controlling your volume in small, intimate venues. Check them out! Playing softly: This probably goes without saying, but it's important to remember that you, as the instrumentalist, have the ultimate control over how loud you play. Even using normal sticks, it's possible to achieve an amazingly soft, quiet sound from your drums. Using Blastiks will make this even easier for you, especially if they're 'worn in'. Padding the drums: In situations where it's a particularly small venue and we need to keep the band volume really low, I sometimes resort to padding drums. This is extreme and I wouldn't recommend it unless you absolutely need to, but this technique will ensure your drums remain as quiet as possible. There's a few ways to muffle drums, but I'd start with applying some layered tissue (cut into strips of approximately 30mm x 60mm) to the sides of your drum heads with tape. Start with the left and right sides of each drum head, and if you find you need more, add extra to the top and bottom ends as well. Unfortunately, this will take out much of the drum head's natural resonance and sonic properties, but it will also dampen and reduce the sound noticeably. The one exception with this technique should be the snare drum; try to refrain from taping it too much, otherwise it will sound like you're hitting cardboard! The toms, however, should stand up to this type of muffling…they'll still sound remotely like toms! I should stress again that this is an extreme measure, and you should try all other options before excessively taping or muffling your drum heads. However, it's a measure that works if you need something extra. It's worked for me in the past, and I'd bet the vast majority of your audiences will not even notice the sonic differences coming from the kit. Good luck, and happy drumming!
Instruments
Want help choosing the right guitar...
Hi , we are here to help with all (str)things that go buzz in the night....
Recording and Mixing
Thanks to Pedro for this content
This is a very basic look over the three main stages of recording. It is mostly for the younger guys/gals just starting out with their band (or any indie act) who are looking to record a demo, EP or a full length professional album, and would like to know a bit more about the process. The main focus in this post however will be Mastering, and how important it is in the making of an album - as it is often overlooked by musicians with limited experience in the studio. But first, lets start from the beginning... The entire recording process can be broken down into 3 stages: The Recording - If you're an organised band, then you should have spent a considerable amount of time nutting out your songs so that you're comfortable with them before entering the studio. This does not mean that they need to be set in stone. It just means that in order to try new things and maybe improvise to get that little special moment on tape/disc, you should be comfortable with where the song as a whole is going. I've seen a lot of indie bands not take this seriously, and waste time and money (because time IS money in the recording studio) trying to figure out things that should have been given some thought prior to stepping foot inside the padded walls. MOST people, consider this to be the most important part of the process - some think its the only part. Even though it is the part where our lovely musician friends wield their magic as artists, and we awknowledge that rightfully so, its the mixdown and MASTERING that truly finishes an album (and ultimately, a band as we know them). Which brings me to: The Mix Down - Even though its constantly done throughout the process, most of this happens after the bulk of the tracks have been recorded and are about 90% there. Usually, after the tracks have been mixed down, you have a listen through it in your car stereo (in a newer car anyway - which usually has the best acoustics to judge the mix) or lounge room stereo, or little radio or all of the above. You need to hear how it will sound across the board. You can then go back, and add in little bits or take them away, accent certain phrases or whatever. If you're an intricate band, with lots of changes and what-not, then this process could take as long as the recording itself, but hopefully not (like I said, time is money). After you've listened to the mix, go away on holiday and rest your ears. And after you've taken a well deserved break, come back fresh and have a listen with new ears... you can then be confident that if you like the mix you're hearing upon your return, then its a good one. Enter the mastering... Mastering - Of the three, Mastering is the point in the recording process that is often underrated to say the least... mostly because people don't exactly know what it is - or what it does. This might be because the area is so grey, and requires years of practice for you to just know what it is and how you do it. To make things confusing for those who don't, you can do things in mastering that could've been done during the mix down, in addition to the usual mastering points like raising decibels. (this often makes young bands who aren't technically inclined to ask themselves "why do we need to get it mastered at all?" when they think its just another form of mixing) Provided you've been a good, organised artist, the main things you should have to worry about here is the overall polish on the album (with some extra attention on the single). Basically put, this is where your music is given its PUNCH. Of course, during mastering you do have the option of splicing the song up, or remixing, or adding fx to certain bits. But this is where you should be concentrating on the relationship of the vocals to the other instruments, and how loud to master it. I'll explain those last two points: Vocal vs Instruments: when mastering, you would have been supplied a master-mix of the instruments as one (they can each be provided seperate, but thats usually not necessary), the vocal by itself, the whole lot together, etc etc. The mastering engineer can have a listen to the whole mix, to get a bearing on where they stand overall, and then take the seperate vocal and instrument mixes and work his magic. Vocals are given a little more strength, sometimes a little reverb is added here for the vocal, and is run through a chamber that adds depth and smooths it out at the same time, among other things. The instruments are monitored, and EQ-ed a little bit more. Then after many more things which I won't bore you with too much, we have a fine balance of vocal/instrumental harmony. How loud: Ever wondered why you put in a random cd and the volume is different to the last cd you were playing? Ever wondered why you have to race to turn down the loud bit when it comes on certain albums? Well, its because of how it was mastered. Probably the most important part of mastering is this step. Its called compression. In lamens terms, they take the quietest parts of the track, and raise their levels (volume) yet they still sound quiet. Then they take the heavier/louder parts, and compress them a little - yet they still sound loud. This brings them closer together to create a seemless mix of loud and soft dynamics that don't contrast too much so that you have to keep turning your volume up and down. Of course its more complex than this, but thats just the easiest way to explain it. If you've got a cd that requires you to keep your hand on the volume, then it hasn't been mastered properly - if at all. From there, you raise the decibels (which is not just a matter of turning up the vol. either) of the overall recording to get that special finish you'll find on the great, loud, kick butt albums that we all love. So, if you don't master an album properly, it could undo the last however-many-months/years you've spent recording and mixing your album. At any rate, if you have the time and money to do it, you should speak up if something doesn't sit right at any stage during the process. Trust me, its worth spending that extra day fixing it before you commit and send the master off to the pressing plant. Then, instead of one problem disc, you have one thousand problems* - all with your name on it. *or usually more if you're a signed act and are having a big release. Thats it in a nutshell. And remember, don't feel daunted by the big guys and their huge mixing desks, if you don't like how something sounds, make sure you say so. You'll be glad you did when you're listening to your song on the radio...
TECH TIPS WILL BE HELPING YOU SOON
Want help on your PA..??
In this section we will be posting all types of helpfull hints on how to set up your PA, etc..etc.. Be back soon with some usefull hints.......
Copyright 2007, Pirana Music, All Right Reserved.
Web design & Development
