Live Musician Central

Category: 2. Live Band Equipment

What equipment do I need to play live concerts? What equipment should I use in my home studio? Find out here.

  • Big Bends Guitar Care Products

    Matt With Les Paul Custom

       I’ve written before about how much I use and love Big Bends Nut Sauce Tuning Lubricant. My Stratocaster and Les Paul guitars stay in tune so much better when I use Big Bends Nut Sauce that I just can’t live without it. Big Bends also makes a great line of guitar care products I’d like to turn you on to.

       My Les Paul Custom has a nitrocellulose finish on it that looks fantastic but is also quite fragile. I used to grab a terry cloth towel and some polish to clean it up but it was always a lot of work using terry cloth. Then I tried a Big Bends AXS Wipe Microfiber Polish Cloth and I was amazed at how quickly and how well my nitrocellulose finish cleaned up. The Microfiber Polish Cloth is just fantastic at picking up dirt and grime with a minimum of rubbing. If you’ve never tried a Big Bends AXS Wipe Microfiber Polish Cloth you gotta get one and try it.         (more…)

  • Get A Good Music Recorder

    Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder

       There are a lot of incredibly good audio recorders on the market right now. They are compact and handheld with built-in stereo microphones. Having one in your gear arsenal is very important for a number of reasons.

       I’ve written before about how important it is to record your live performances. You can learn so much from hearing your gigs back on a recording. Having a recorder like the
    Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder     can make recording your live shows as easy as setting the recorder up in the back of the room and letting it record. Since it’s all digital you can edit out dead spaces later. Making a back of the room recording is a good idea because it really lets you hear what the audience is hearing. You can also capture the audience reaction to your performance. If you get good at placing the recorder where it picks up well, you could end up with an excellent live recording that you could use as a demo in your bands marketing kit.      (more…)

  • The Importance Of Stage Lighting

    Complete Lighting Package
    Complete Lighting Package

       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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  • Live Musician Central Announces Products From Music123

       Live Musician Central has now added product links from Music123.com . I have shopped many times with Music123 and have always been pleased with their customer service and ease of checkout. I bought my Line 6 TonePort KB37 from Music123 and I buy my Dean Markley Blue Steel Strings from them as well. Today I’m going to give you a few links to Music123 so you can check out the excellent promotions from this great online music store.

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  • Portable 8-track, Tascam DP-02CF Portastud (Mislabeled) Portastudio 1139

    Tascam DP-02CF Portastud

       In an earlier article I mentioned how important it was to record your band live. Having live recordings of your band will help you learn where you need improvement. Club owners also prefer having a live demo of the band instead of a studio recording. While looking for collectible equipment I stumbled across and incredible deal at Musician’s Friend. Today I’m going to tell you about the
    TASCAM DP-02CF Portastud (Mislabeled) Portastudio 1139.

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  • Equipment Protection – The Furman PL-Plus II Power Conditioner

    Furman PL-Plus II Power Conditioner with Voltmeter

       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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  • Why You Need A Sound Level SPL Meter

    Nady ASM-2 Analog SPL Meter
    Get A Good SPL Meter

       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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  • Take Care Of Your Hearing With Musicians Earplugs

    Pete Townshend – Rock Induced Deafness

       One of the most important pieces of advice I can give to young musicians is simply to take good care of your hearing. I was diagnosed with a hearing loss when I was 16 years old and had only been playing in a band a couple of years. I was still pretty careless with my hearing for much of my early career. Finally the hearing specialists started telling me I needed hearing aids. That got my attention and I’ve been very careful with my hearing the last 15 years or so.

       The best thing I’ve done for my hearing is to get a pair of custom molded, sonic filter type earplugs made specially for musicians. I have the Westone ES49 Custom Fit Earplugs. Mine are a light tan color and are barely visible from the audience. They sound fantastic and because they are custom molded to my ear they’re extremely comfortable.

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  • Line 6 TonePort KB37 Audio Interface and MIDI Controller Review

    Line 6 TonePort KB37

       One of the finest pieces of equipment I have ever owned is the Line 6 TonePort KB37 Audio Interface and MIDI Controller.This little device has the power to be your sole interface into your digital audio software workstation. I use this controller with my laptop and Sony Acid Pro 6. Sony Acid works perfectly with the KB37. The KB37  provides MIDI keyboard control as well as 2 mic inputs with built in 48v phantom power, a guitar/bass input and stereo line inputs. It also has an S/PDIF out, TRS line outputs, TRS monitor input and an independent headphone jack. With that many inputs and outputs it’s your total audio interface solution when multi-tracking your projects on your computer.

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  • The Gibson Robot Guitar

      There are a lot of people out there talking about the new Gibson Robot Guitar. If you’re unfamiliar with this guitar let me tell you a little bit about it. The Robot Guitar is essentially a Gibson Les Paul Studio model. From a distance it looks just like a plain old Les Paul. From the front, the only thing that really looks different is one of the tone knobs. Once you take a closer look you’ll notice that the tuners look normal from the front but from the rear they’re bigger. That’s because each tuner has its own motor that will tighten or loosen the strings automatically. What’s surprising is the tuners don’t actually weigh any more than a standard tuner. They’re controlled by a pair of CPU’s that are connected to tuning sensors built into the bridge. All these components work together to automatically tune the Gibson Robot Guitar.

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