Live Musician Central

Author: Live Musician Central

Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 2-28-09

Every week at Live Musician Central I pick some of the top new releases available for you to download from both iTunes and Amazon.com music service. These new release choices reflect the heaviest music industry marketing. There are a couple of reasons I post up the most heavily music industry marketed albums. First, by checking out these releases you’ll be able to keep a finger on the pulse of the mainstream music industry. It’s music industry is a very powerful business that heavily influences peoples buying choices. The second reason is that a large number of people are going to know these albums. So if your band is looking for new music to put in your bands setlist these would be good choices simply because your chance of people knowing the songs at your shows will be very high. You’ll also look very on top of things and current with your knowledge of music. So these albums are a great resource for your song selection. I will also post up links to some top selling albums of all time for the reason of song selection as well.

I use links to both iTunes and Amazon.com. iTunes is now the top music retailer in the U.S. so it goes without saying that people are going to be downloading their recommended new releases. I put links up from Amazon.com because their music service is an incredible bargain and their MP3’s are DRM free. You can save a bundle downloading entire albums from Amazon.com instead of iTunes. Amazon.com MP3’s are also ripped at an excellent sounding 256kbps and since they’re DRM free you can play them on multiple MP3 players including iPods and iPhones.
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Creating Sonic Space Between Instruments Before Mixdown

Bill and Frank work out parts in the practice room.

How many times have you spent a lot of time recording your new masterpiece only to come to the mixdown and finding that there are way too many low frequencies? It sucks when you get to mixdown and you have to filter out frequencies on the bass guitar just so it will have some presence in the mix. Having too many low frequencies in the mix is something that you will struggle with at your live shows as well. The biggest cause of too many low frequencies that I have found over the course of my live and recording career is the simple fact that the players in the band are playing in the same frequency range as each other at the same time. I’m not talking about lovely unison lines but when two or more instruments are playing different parts at the same time in the same frequency range.

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Sennheiser HD 380 Pro Headphones Review

Sennheiser HD380 Pro Headphones

I’m not only a live performing musician but a studio musician and producer as well. I have tried dozens of different headphones over the years and almost invariably breathed a sigh of relief when an old pair died just so I would have an excuse to buy another pair. It seemed like finding the perfect pair of headphones was like searching for the holy grail. To be honest, I still haven’t found that perfect pair of headphones but I have found a couple headphone solutions that have kept me satisfied for a while now.

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Rick Wakeman Keyboard Solo

One of my favorite live musicians is Rick Wakeman who is best known for his keyboard work with progressive rock group ‘Yes’. Rick also has a huge body of recorded work and has played studio sessions with many famous artists. It’s his skill as a live keyboard player that we’re going to enjoy today though. This is a video of Rick playing a keyboard solo during the Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe tour of 1989 (that must explain the mullet!). I think this video showcases Rick’s skill as a live player quite well and it’s fun to see a player of his skill get a few minutes to just break loose and play. (more…)
Reason 4 Power The Comprehensive Guide

Reason 4 Power

Last week on Live Musician Central I did a series of features on the incredibly powerful Propellerhead Reason 4.0 music production software. Reason 4.0 is an amazingly powerful music program that will let you fully explore your creative impulses. As I’m sure you’re aware, the documentation that comes with most of these great pieces of software is basic at best. There are so many devices available for you to use in Reason 4.0 that it can easily overwhelm you without some direction. That’s why today I’m going to point you to an excellent guide that will help you get up and running quickly with Reason 4.0. That guide is called Reason 4 Power and is written by Michael Prager, a 15 year veteran in the music technology industry. His credentials are too numerous to list but if you want to read them check out the Reason 4 Power product page. Needless to say, he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to using music production software.

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Oscar Awards Show 2009 Review

Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Penelope Cruz

So why am I reviewing the Oscar Awards Show on Live Musician Central? For the live musical performances of course! That and the fact that many musicians have great careers in the movie-making industry. This years awards had quite a few musical numbers in it. In fact the show started off with Hugh Jackman singing a full musical number doing a spoof of all the years movies that was really funny. Hugh has a surprisingly good voice and it looked like he was carrying it live. As you know, I just can’t stand to watch lip syncing. Anne Hathaway got up there with him and did quite a good job singing as well. Hugh was the real surprise though and I liked his finishing line of the opening number, “I’m Wolverine!” that was classic.

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Sunday Funnies – Popstar

It’s sad but it’s funny to make fun of Popstars like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. I just couldn’t resist posting this video on Live Musician Central. Set to the tune of Nickleback’s song Rockstar, I thought it was pretty classic. Enjoy! (more…)
Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 2-21-2009

Every week at Live Musician Central I pick some of the top new releases available for you to download from both iTunes and Amazon.com music service. These new release choices reflect the heaviest music industry marketing. There are a couple of reasons I post up the most heavily music industry marketed albums. First, by checking out these releases you’ll be able to keep a finger on the pulse of the mainstream music industry. It’s music industry is a very powerful business that heavily influences peoples buying choices. The second reason is that a large number of people are going to know these albums. So if your band is looking for new music to put in your bands setlist these would be good choices simply because your chance of people knowing the songs at your shows will be very high. You’ll also look very on top of things and current with your knowledge of music. So these albums are a great resource for your song selection. I will also post up links to top selling albums of all time for the reason of song selection as well.

I use links to both iTunes and Amazon.com. iTunes is now the top music retailer in the U.S. so it goes without saying that people are going to be downloading their recommended new releases. I put links up from Amazon.com because their music service is an incredible bargain and their MP3’s are DRM free. You can save a bundle downloading entire albums from Amazon.com instead of iTunes. Amazon.com MP3’s are also ripped at an excellent sounding 256kbps and since they’re DRM free you can play them on multiple MP3 players including iPods and iPhones. This weekend it’s the Oscars so today I’m posting up some soundtracks to some of the top movies of 2008.
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Download Free Fender Cyber-Twin SE Preset Patch – LMC Pure Clean

My Stage Amp – The Fender Cyber-Twin SE

Today for all you Fender Cyber-Twin SE playing live guitarists, I’m posting a brand new preset sound patch called LMC Pure Clean. Over on the Fender Community Forum we were discussing the Cyber-Twin SE’s capacity for creating a true Fender clean amp sound. The Cyber-Twin SE is powered by a true tube pre-amp and it’s natural tendency is for warm, overdriven tube sounds. Even though that’s the case I decided to try dialing up a nice, bright Fender clean sound without using any of the onboard effects. (more…)
M-Audio Keystation 88es MIDI Keyboard Controller Review

M-Audio Keystation 88es

This week on Live Musician Central I’ve been talking about creating a keyboard setup built around the incredible Reason Music Production Software by Propellerhead. Obviously the most essential component to have in addition to the software is a MIDI Keyboard Controller. Today I’m going to tell you about an extremely affordable MIDI Keyboard Controller that is built specifically for interfacing with a computer and Reason music software. The keyboard I’m going to discuss today is the M-Audio Keystation 88es. (more…)