Live Musician Central

  
   From now until November 26 you can get 15% off your entire order at Music123. Music123 is an online music store that caters to every type of musician whether you play live or just like to record. I’ve always had good experiences ordering from Music123. Here’s an experience I had recently when I ordered a product. I had ordered several different types of guitar picks to experiment with including the Jellifish Chorus Guitar Pick. Somehow, the Jellifish got crushed during shipping and all the wires on it got bent. I called Music123 and they sent me out a brand new one, completely free without making me return the damaged one. Now that’s customer service! So make sure you check out the great sale and excellent products at Music123.

   Now is the perfect time to get your big ticket items for Christmas. These top items sell out regularly and can be hard to get closer the Christmas. I recommend these top selling products from Music123: Read more »

  

There is one piece of equipment that no live sound man should be without and that’s a quality cable tester. In fact, no live musician should go to a gig without having a cable tester in the toolbox. Today I’m going to tell you about the Behringer CT100 Cable Tester. It’s one of the most affordable and most versatile cable testers I have ever found.

   The Behringer Cable Tester is controlled by a microprocessor that intelligently checks cables in several different ways. Read more »

   After wrangling with tangled cables for years and years I finally found a fantastic solution. They’re really a no-brainer and something that you should have on every single one of your cables. I’m talking about the accessory that every live musician needs, Velcro Cable Ties!

   I honestly don’t know how I managed all those years without this simple accessory to keep my cables organized. Since I’ve been using velcro cable ties my cable last a lot longer. Without all the twisting and tangling that I used to deal with the cables don’t break down nearly as often as they used to.

   So make your life easier and pick up a pack of Velcro Cable Ties today!

   I’m going to talk about a common problem that I hear quite often when I’m out listening to bands. It’s a problem I’ve encountered working with various musicians in my studio as well. The problem that I’m talking about is the use of several different electronic tuners while tuning the various instruments in a band. You would think that a tuner is a tuner and that they’re all properly calibrated but the truth is that any individual tuner can be slightly out of calibration. If you have two different tuners and they’re both a little bit out of calibration, let’s say one is slightly sharp and the other is slightly flat, you’ll hear a big difference in tuning between the different instruments that have been tuned on them. The audience will simply hear an out of tune band which isn’t good for any performance by a live musician.

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   I have a Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner that is by far the most accurate and best tuner I have ever used. It is a strobe tuner so it has unparalleled accuracy when it comes to tuning your instrument. I use the Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner to set the intonation on my guitars and it works flawlessly.

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   There’s a couple of really good deals going on at Music123 that I wanted to make you aware of. Right now all the accessories ship free on orders over $49. That’s half the usual amount to get free shipping. You usually have to order $99 to get free shipping but for the accessories you only have to order $49 worth of stuff to get free shipping.

   Second, there’s a great coupon code that you can use to get a 15% discount on all accessories. You can save a bunch of money by entering this coupon code during checkout when ordering accessories. Just click this link: 15% Off All Accessories with Coupon Code: B2S15 at Music123.com That’s a great deal and it’s not going to last forever. So if you’re a live musician, now is the perfect time to pick up some much needed accessories for you and your band.

   Here’s a list of links to accessories that you can buy using the 15% discount code.

Horizon Concert Series 24-Channel/4-Return Stage Snake Standard

Mogami Gold High-Definition Neutrik 1/4″ Straight Instrument Cable 18 Foot

Mogami Silver Series Microphone Cable 50 Foot

Nova 12-Pair Hickory Drumsticks Wood Rock

Roc-N-Soc NRX Nitro Rider Drum Throne Black

Furman PM-8 II Power Conditioner with Digital Volt And Current Meters Standard

Yamaha Portable Keyboard Survival Kit B Standard

Drum One Shield Two Drum Shield Standard

Fingerease Guitar String Lubricant Standard

Fender Instrument Care Kit by Meguiar’s Standard

Big Bends Nut Sauce Tuning Lubricant Standard

Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB Humbucker Pickup Black

EBow PlusEbow Electronic Bow for Guitar Standard

Clayton Acetal Standard Guitar Picks .80MM 1 Dozen

Dean Markley 2556 Blue Steel Regular Gauge Electric Guitar Strings Standard

M-Audio SP-2 Sustain Pedal Standard

   That’s just a small sampling of the types of accessories that you can get right now at Music123. With the combined discounts of 15% off the price of the accessory and free shipping on orders over $49.00 you can save a bundle. So make sure you get in on the sale while you still can!

   One of the most important aspects of mixing music in a live venue or in the studio is the use of equalization. The other day I wrote about how to tweak your guitar amplifier EQ settings. Today I’m going to write about the effect of equalization on other parts of the mix.

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   I’ve played in all types of places from basements and living rooms to concert halls and stadiums. I’ve experienced all types of lighting along the way. I’ve played under a single lightbulb as well as rooms using only a lava lamp for lighting. I’ve also played on huge stages that had individual spotlights for each member of the band and full concert lighting. I’ll tell you, the concert lighting was a lot nicer.

   Most clubs that bands regularly play in have woefully inadequate lighting. They usually have a few dedicated stage lights and you’re lucky if more than half of them work. There are exceptions to that rule and I’ve played in some clubs with incredible stage and dance floor lighting. But like I said, those are exceptions and you’ll usually find yourself playing in dim light.

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   Being a guitar player and using very voltage sensitive amplifiers, I have always struggled with getting good clean power to my equipment. Bad power can cause all sorts of problems from strange noises to complete equipment failure. Today I’m going to recommend the power conditioner I use on my guitar rig, the
Furman PL-Plus II Power Conditioner with Voltmeter.

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   First off, let me say that I love my music loud! As I mentioned in an earlier post I take protecting my hearing very seriously so I like to know exactly how loud things are. Today I’m going to talk about Sound Level Meters or SPL Meters. They’re also known as Decibel Meters and are very useful in many situations.

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