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Mackie 2404-VLZ3 Mixer Review

Mackie 2404-VLZ3 Mixer

One of the very most important pieces of equipment that will affect the sound of your live band is your mixing console. I recently upgraded to the Mackie 2404-VLZ3 24-channel mixer. This mixer features 24 channels with 20 of those channels being XDR2 microphone channels and 4 channels being grouped on two faders as stereo channels. The mixer also features two built-in effects units that feature 24 separate effect presets. The mixer also features 8 separate compressors.

MACKIE PRODUCTS 2404VLZ4 (P22016859)
$778.00
Mackie 2404-VLZ3 Premium 24-Channel FX Mixer USB (SEE PICS) Good Condition
$499.00
Mackie 2404VLZ4 24-Channel 4-Bus FX Mixer w/ USB + ATH-M50X Headphones + Stand
$1349.99
Mackie 2404VLZ4 24-channel Mixer
$1349.99
Mackie 2404VLZ4 24-channel 4-Bus FX Mixer w/USB 2404-VLZ4 Black Powder Finish
$1149.00
Mackie 2404 VLZ4 24-Channel Mic/Line Mixer w/ONYX Preamplifiers
$499.99

Mackie 2404 Built-In Compression

One feature that really sold me on this mixer was the built-in compression. There are four compressors located on channels 17-20 which is great for adding compression to individual instruments like the kick drum or bass guitar. There are four more compressors located on the four sub-group channels. Having the compressors located on the four sub-group channels is great for adding overall compression to the instruments or vocals. I route my vocal mix to sub-groups 1 and 2 and then add compression on those faders. I do the same with my instrument mix on sub-groups 3 and 4. I love the compression feature of this mixer!
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55th Annual Grammy Awards Review 2013

Katy Perry arrives at the 55th annual Grammy awards

After last year’s Grammy Awards I said I wasn’t going to watch it anymore. It’s long, it’s tedious and the speeches are almost universally boring. But it’s those moments when an artist really nails a live performance or when something truly meaningful is said during an acceptance speech that brought me back to the grammies once again this year. I always like to see if I can decide if a performance is live or if it’s just a fancy lip-synch dance number. So I watched the show hoping for an amazing performance or even a great joke or memorable acceptance speech. The show was broadcast on February 10, 2013 and this is how the whole night went down.

This year’s awards were hosted by LL Cool J and kicked off with a performance by none other than Taylor Swift. I guess they wanted an entire show to recover from a bad performance if need be.
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55th Annual Grammy Award Nominees 2013
Bruno Mars will perform at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Febuary 10, 2013.

The Grammy awards will be broadcast on February 10, 2013. These are the nominees in the most popular categories for the 55th annual Grammy awards.

Record of the Year
- Lonely Boy – The Black Keys
- Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson
- We Are Young – Fun. featuring Janelle Monae
- Somebody That I Used To Know – Gotye featuring Kimbra
- Thinkin Bout You – Frank Ocean
- We Are Never Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift (more…)
Shure SE215 Sound Isolating Earphones Review

Shure SE215 Sound Isolating Headphones

I have been using the Shure SE115 sound isolating earphones in my live band and at the gym for about 3 years now. They have been great headphones and I’ve really loved them. I finally wore through the cord where it passes over my ears and it’s impossible to only replace the cord in that area on the SE115’s. So I decided to purchase the new Shure SE215 sound isolating earphones which have replaced the SE115 product. I was so happy with the SE115’s that I felt confident that the SE215’s could easily replace them.

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Introducing Douglas White – Guitarist and Live Musician

Writing and working on content for Live Musician Central has been an invaluable resource for me when it comes to connecting with other live musicians. I have had many e-mails and comments from readers regarding my posts as well as inquiries about my Fender Cyber-Twin SE sound patches. I’m fairly well known in Utah but I have been able to connect with musicians outside of Utah because of Live Musician Central. Today I would like to introduce our latest contributing author, Mr. Douglas White from Brick, New Jersey. I met Doug because of his interest in the Fender Cyber-Twin SE sound patches that I posted on Live Musician Central. I’m looking forward to having Doug contribute to Live Musician Central. For his first authored post Doug will tell you a little bit about himself and his career as a live performing musician. -Matt-

Douglas White Performing Live

Douglas White

Brick, New Jersey

Guitar Player
How long have you been playing?

I originally started playing when I was around 14 years old. I was young with a passion for music in the 70’s and I knew that the girls just loved a guy who played music. These were the two biggest drivers for me. My best friend, who lived three doors down from me, was a guitar player and was very good. He suggested that I take up playing and learning bass guitar so that we could get something going. We searched the music stores looking for a good deal and then trying to find a way to pay for it. From the time I was 12, I had a paper route. This is probably a foreign concept to many young people today, but back in the day, we would have the local newspaper to deliver to peoples’ homes to try and earn money. It wasn’t much by today’s standards, but back then it seemed like a lot. (more…)
84th Annual Academy Awards Musical Performance Review
Meryl Streep Wins Best Actress For "The Iron Lady"

Every year I watch the Academy Awards to see the musical performances of the songs nominated for Best Original Song. One thing I love about musical performances at the Oscar Awards is the fact that they are all live performances. The 2012 Oscars featured only two nominees for Best Original Song which was kind of a bummer because there were bound to be fewer musical performances.

This year the songs nominated for Best Original Song were:
- Man Or A Muppet from The Muppets
- Real In Rio from RIO
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The Hairbrush Chronicles Part 4 – My First Live Performance

Alisha Sabin Singing At Her First Live Gig

My first live performance. It seemed like I should be much more nervous than I felt. I was so focused on getting the words right and singing in tune that I almost forgot that there were people sitting down listening to the band play. The first live performance felt like a regular band practice. It felt natural and not complicated. I was singing in on two songs and then I was done. As I stood before the microphone I could start to feel the uneasiness set in. The singing and the remembering of the words was no longer on the fore front of my mind. I was concerned about how I looked. Did it look natural? Or could you completely tell that I was new at this? (more…)
54th Annual Grammy Awards Review 2012

Adele Performs At The 54th Annual Grammy Awards

I said I wasn’t going to watch the 54th Annual Grammy awards this year. I really hate the industry love-fest they have. But I love to hear how live bands and singers do on awards shows. It’s always fun to try and guess who’s lip-synching and who has the chops to pull it off live. So how did the performers fare at the 54th annual Grammy awards show? Let’s break it all down here.

The show took place on February 12, 2012 and opened with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band. Bruce looked excellent and he’s keeping himself in great shape. His voice was strong although maybe not as cutting as in the past. The band sounded great though. It was sad to see him without the great Clarence Clemons. Bruce did a live performance and it was a great way to start the show. (more…)
Madonna Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show Review

Madonna Performs At Super Bowl XLVI

The commercials were pretty lame on the way to halftime and the first half of the game was less than inspirational. It was up to Madonna to blow the roof off of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with her live performance. The vital statistics for the halftime show are 8 minutes to set the show up, 12 minutes to blow the world’s minds and 7 minutes to take the show down. Madonna was quoted as saying “That’s a lot of pressure.” So how did the 53-year old Queen Of Pop do in her Super Bowl halftime performance?

In recent years the NFL has stuck with the more seasoned performers for their Super Bowl halftime shows. Ever since the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” which gave the world an eyeful of a healthy breast the NFL has played it pretty safe. Madonna was admittedly a bit riskier performer than Paul McCartney, Prince or even the Black-Eyed Peas as she has been known to stir up controversy in the past. (more…)
Snark Tuner SN-2 Clip On Tuner Review

Snark SN-2 Chromatic Clip-On Tuner

I’m always looking for good pieces of music equipment that will make my life easier playing in my live band. I’ve never been a fan of having to plug a tuner into my signal chain with my guitar. I also get tired of unplugging my guitar and then plugging it into a tuner over and over through a gig. Enter the Snark Tuner SN-2 digital clip-on tuner. This convenient tuner solves both of these problems easily.

Snark X RE Tuner Clip On Chromatic for guitar bass violin SN-X Rechargeable
$22.09
Snark Rechargeable Clip-On Tuner (SN-RE)
$16.20
Rechargeable Snark Tuner Clip-On Red ST-2 Guitar Chromatic Instrument
$20.56
Rechargeable Guitar Tuner Snark Silver SIL-1 Clip-On Chromatic Bass Tuner RE
$19.99
Rechargeable Snark Guitar Bass Instrument Tuner Clip On Chromatic SN1X Blue RE
$19.89
(NEW) Super Snark 2 Clip On Tuner SS-2
$18.99

Clip On the Snark Tuner

The Snark SN-2 tuner clips directly onto your electric guitar or bass and senses the vibrations from the strings to give it an accurate reading of your instruments tuning. The Snark SN-2 will also clip onto any acoustic instrument including guitars, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, oboe or anything that vibrates. The Snark SN-2 also has a built-in microphone so you can tune keyboards with it as well. It’s a chromatic tuner with extended frequency range so it will read any note on the scale and tell you whether you are in tune or not.
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