Hot Music Instruments Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keyboards, Mics for Recording

The Jackson Dinky DK2 is a 6-string electric and a part of their Pro Series guitars. This series is made in Japan for Jackson. It features two noiseless single-coil pickups and a humbucker as well as ‘Shark Fin’ inlays and a Floyd Rose® Licensed Jackson tremolo bridge.

The body is made of Alder and has a flame Maple veneer top on transparent color models. It’s available in Black, Cobalt Blue, Inferno Red, Satin Back solid colors and Amber Sunburst, Transparent Black, Transparent Blue, and Transparent Red with the flame maple veneer. It’s also available in custom paint such as Crimson Swirl, Erie Dess Swirl, Hot Rod Flames, and Skulls. The bridge is a Floyd Rose® Licensed Jackson® Low Profile JT580 LP Double Locking 2-Point Tremolo. There’s a locking nut (up at the headstock) which requires you to unloosen to replace the strings. This locking bridge keeps your guitar in tune even while severely using the tremolo.

The 25.5 inch scale length Rock Maple neck has 24 jumbo frets and a rosewood fretboard. The fretboard has a compound radius (radius is the how curved the fretboard is) which is 14 inches at the 1st fret and gradually gets flatter as you go to the upper frets where it has a 16 inch radius. Most guitarist play leads in the upper frets and play more chords in the lower frets. With the compound radius you get the best of both worlds in a single neck. The nut-width is 1-11/16 inches and has the locking mechanism on it. It uses hex nuts to hold the strings in place. The fretboard has MOTO ‘Shark Fin’ inlays and position markers. These are the larger triangular shaped inlays. The neck/body joint is ‘scalloped’ to allow for easier access to the upper frets. The headstock is bound with Ivoroid binding. Finally the neck has 6-inline die-cast sealed tuners on the famous Jackson pointed headstock. The neck is bolted on to the body and has a ‘scalloped’ neck/body joint for easier access to the upper frets.

The electronics consist of a master volume, master tone, and 5-way pickup selector switch. The pickups used are one Seymour Duncan® JB TB4 humbucker and two STK-1 single coils. The JB TB4 is one of the more popular humbuckers and sounds great for heavy blues to heavy metal. Its known for it’s lingering mid range tones and high output. It has a nice blend between sustain and distortion with a lot of harmonics. The STK-1 single coils are noiseless types which actually have two coils stack one on top of the other to give you hum and noise cancellation but the second coil isn’t actually wired together. They have a great Strat like sound and are great for both rhythm and lead playing. The 5-way pickup selector is wired as follows:

Pos 1: bridge humbucker
Pos 2: bridge humbucker + middle single coil
Pos 3: middle single coil
Pos 4: middle single coil + neck single coil
Pos 5: neck single coil

Features:
Alder body with flamed maple top on transparent colors
maple bolt-on neck
rosewood fingerboard
24 frets
25.5 inch scale length
Seymour Duncan STK-1 Single Coil neck and middle pickups
Seymour Duncan JB TB4 humbucker bridge pickup
5-way pickup selector
Volume and Tone Knobs
Floyd Rose / Jackson Double Locking Tremolo
Shark Fin Position Inlays
Bound Fingerboard
black hardware

The above Jackson DINKY DK2 guitar is for sale. Condition: Near Mint. I got this new in 2008, stayed in the studio only, minimal use. Just received a complete set-up by luthier Jun Castro. Location: Makati Product info: http://www.kellyindustries.com/guitars/jackson_dinky_dk2.html

After 50 years in operation, Sony is closing a major CD-manufacturing replication plant in New Jersey.

The killer: the shift to digital music downloads and a soft economy. Surprise. Once the Sony DADC plant in Pitman ceases manufacturing operations, about 300 workers will lose their jobs.

In the early days, the Sony DADC plant produced vinyl music albums for Columbia Records. The label opened the Pitman Plant in May of 1961.

Then Sony acquired it in 1987 when it bought Columbia Records.

At present the Pitman plant pressed CDs for multiple artists, but in late March, its doors will close. Sony also closed its recording studios in the last two years.

From Hypebot

Pro Tools 9 by AVID (former Digidesign Pro Tools) is now 100% native, which means it will run on any qualified computer (desktop or laptop) without need for an AVID hardware such as HD cards, mixer controllers like 003 and 003 and portable recording interfaces like mbox and mBox mini.

The new version of Pro Tools 9 eliminates the distinction between HD and LE systems (so what happens to the TDM architecture?) with upgrade options mostly confined to the purchase of Music Production Toolkit 2 (additional track counts and additional plugins).

But most important in the ProTools 9 are the following features:

• Automatic Delay Compensation is built-in
• No AVID hardware needed, will work with any computer with a soundcard
• No distinction between HD and LE systems
• Included 70+ virtual instruments, sound processing plug-ins
• Included OMF/AAF/MXF interchange for working with other audio and video software systems like Final Cut Pro, Cubase, Logic and others.
• Mixing/monitoring in surround

Watch this Pro Tools 9 video feature from AVID:

And here’s one of the first early Pro Tools 9 reviews with an onscreen demonstration via a ProTools9 session:

Related links: Recording studio with Pro Tools HD

Hot Music Gear presents an update on the 15 most popular audio recording software used by bands, artists and producers for song production, editing, mixing and mastering. As can be seen on the audio editing video tutorial below, sound manipulation via software is responsible for most songs heard on the radio today (if not all)!

• FL Studio . Fruity Loops is not really an audio/music recording software but more of a beat production/sequencer software that comes with looped sounds and virtual sampler instruments. Works on Windows PC computers.
• Steinberg Cubase. Steinberg Cubase is a very popular audio production and music recording software. Mac and PC compatible.
• Cakewalk Sonar. Cakewalk Sonar is a very popular Windows PC only music recording and audio production software.
• Adobe Audition. Adobe has to get their foot in the scene somehow and they do it via Audition which is packaged as part of Production Premium of their Creative Suite offerings. Used to be CoolEdit.
• Apple GarageBand. Garagebandis a free music production software that comes with any new Apple Mac computer

• Sony Sound Forge. Sound Forge is more popular as a 2-track editor, mastering application and loop prepapation/sound manipulation editor.
• MOTU Digital Performer. Popular as a sequencer.
• Ableton Live. started the revolution of stretching out loops to the tempo of the song, thereby treating audio files as if they were MIDI files also.
• Sony Acid. The software that started all the craze about loop based music production, Sony’s ACID is a Windows only application.
• Band-in-a-Box. GOod old fashioned software that works, especially if you’re into grid-defined music representation. I thought I was using spreadsheets when I was using Band In A Box.
• Steinberg Nuendo. Steinberg Nuendo is a powerhouse software application, can be argued that it is past its prime in terms of popularity but a lot of Hollywood composers still rely on Nuendo for sequencing and production.
• Steinberg Wavelab. Wavelab is a popular software for audio recording, editing and CD mastering of songs, that final step before a song is deemed worthy of radio airplay.
• Propellerhead Reason. Reason until version 5 had no music/audio recording capabilities, the reason (pun intended) that Propellerhead came up with Record 1.5. New in Reason version 5 is a software sampler that allows live sampling (recording) of sounds for use in ReDrum, NNXT and other instruments bundled in the all in one beat music song production software package.
• Apple Logic. Apple Logic is the behemoth audio production and music recording application for Mac OS X. Logic 9 comes complete with a sound loops library, virtual instruments and samplers, live performance via MainStage - it’s an all in one box for both composing, arranging, sequencing, editing, and even mixing 5.1 surround.
• Avid Pro Tools. Also known as Digidesign Pro Tools, comes in many flavors from Pro Tools HD, Pro Tools LE, Pro Tools M-Powered to other variants packaged by AVID/Didigidesign for consumer/home recording enthusiasts. Pro Tools only works with AVID/Digidesign hardware such as teh HD Accel cards, 192 interfaces, 003, 004, mbox and other peripherals. Works for both Windows PC and Apple OS X music & audio recording.

So there you go, only 15 audio recording and music production software to choose from. For Apple Mac OS X users, each new Mac already comes with Garageband thus that maybe the best way to get started. For professional audio recording, editing, mixing and mastering - the selection will vary based on experience, preference, style of music and budget allocated.

Check this page for more sound recording photos in the music studio

This list is as reported on Hypebot and based on search engine results from Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN Bing.

This is just what a guitar player needs — full-blooded, warm, bright and dandy tones from a pint size amp. Well, that was the dream. Until, of course, today. British amp producers Orange may have kick-started the “lunchbox amp” phenomenon. At the NAMM Show — the annual music gear lover’s orgasm where companies trot out their newest stuff — in Anaheim, California this year, the floor was just littered with all these tiny guitar boxes.

Orange started it out with the Tiny Terror — a 15-watt guitar amp that debuted 2 years ago. Now the phenomenon is spreading like a California wildfire.

Just what is a “lunchbox amp“? These small monsters are compact vacuum-tube amps, they usually have between two and six tubes inside. They run very well at low power, usually between 5 and 15 watts. Priced between $400 and $800, they are very inexpensive as compared to most tube amps. Just plug one into a speaker cabinet (or two, or four) and you’ve got a full guitar rig capable of producing a wide variety of sounds and tones.

The real beauty of these small things is that, even at low wattage, you are still able to get the warm, beefy tone of players like Hendrix, Slash or Clapton. Any self-respecting guitar player knows that  you can do this by pushing an amp to its limits. But playing big, fancy amps cranked all the way up is hardly a practical solution for your bedroom. Or to carry around from one gig to another.Low-powered amplifiers reach their limits at much lower volumes, and when they get loud (don’t be fooled by the size, these things can get really loud, enough to cause genuine pain) they maintain the rich and full sound, comparable to a much more powerful — and more expensive — amp.

Most mainstream manufacturers like Mesa, Blackheart, and Vox already have their own version of the “lunchbox amp“. And for good reason, too. Most guitar players agree that you don’t really need that much wattage on gigs that have proper mic-ing. All you really need is your guitar, your effects chain, and a 15-20watt amp. Heck, you can even carry them around from one venue to another.

The “lunchbox amp” also makes a case for a solid home recording amp. This fits your room and your equipment. Whip out your trusty old Telecaster, plug in, record, and save through your external optical burner, or save the data to your portable hard drive, and you’re good to go.

So are you buying one yet? We sure are thinking very hard right now, blowing our savings for that Taylor guitar and just get one of these babies. HotMusicGear out!

For unrepentant downloaders and audiophiles (like me), storage space is something we can NEVER get enough of. My music collection – read: lossless audio files, the highest quality possible – lies not in my shelf but in the belly of my desktop. Already at 350 gigabytes and continuing to grow at a daily rate, storage space now becomes a premium. If I were to backup my files on an optical source, I would want them to be reliable, robust, and large quantity backups – the dinky 4.7GB DVD just will not do anymore.

Enter Blu-Ray and DIGISTOR’s Self-Powered External Blu-Ray burner.

A recordable Blu-Ray disc can contain up to 25GB on a single layer burn, double that for dual-layer burns. This easily eclipses the notion of backing up to DVD – for me it’s just not worth it anymore. If you factor in the added scratch protection to all Blu-Ray discs, the argument is well and truly closed.

DIGISTOR now provides a great option for Blu-Ray burning – it’s Self-Powered Blu-Ray writer is a USB Blu-Ray burner compatible to desktops OR laptops. With its sleek and modern design, it is a space-saver in itself. But the real deal for me was that it is a USB Blu-Ray drive in the truest sense: no additional power cords needed, it gets all the power it needs from the USB interface AND from an internal Li-Pol battery if needed.

That, plus a dual USB mode (for additional power, good for long Blu-Ray burns) ensures that my music is safe and that I wouldn’t be wasting expensive Blu-Ray discs on wasted bad burns. As a standard, it is always backward-compatible to CD and DVD, should you choose to read or burn to those media. You can also choose from tray load or slot loading models. Cool, eh?

For large quantity data burns and for backing up my lossless audio file collection, the DIGISTOR Self-Powered Blu-Ray burner has become for me a great and reliable option. Check out the specs on this external Blu-Ray drive at DIGISTOR.

Jeff Bowders demonstrates Bass Drum Techniques through this online video lesson courtesy of Percussion Institute of Technology at the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, California. Jeff covers the two basic technique on kick drum such as heels up and heels down. However, the drum lessons and exercises are about dynamics, basic kick patterns with snare and variations thereof.

Bass drum or kick drum drives the beat of modern pop and rock songs, it is important that the kick drum pattern be steady. In funk, reggae and other rhythmic types of music, the playful and syncopated approach to the bass drum is key to making a song alive and stand out.

Hope you enjoyed this bass drum video lesson. Thanks to MI for the nice video. Happy kick/bass drum playing!

Musicians Institue guitar instructor Dean Brown teaches how to approach melodic guitar lines and licks using the Pentatonic Scale. Direct pentatonic scale and super-imposing related pentatonic scales.

Dean Brown uses a Parker Fly electric guitar on this guitar tutorial video lesson. This guitar tutorial is about how to approach building melodic lines using the Pentatonic scale. Thanks and good luck with the guitar wood shedding.

Expect more of guitar tutorial videos here at Hot Music Gear!

New York - fuse, the national music television network, and Bodog Music, the groundbreaking international record label, have announced that Bodog Music Battle of the Bands will premiere on fuse on July 11 at 10pm ET. The hour-long, ten episode series is based on Bodog Music’s $1 Million Battle of the Bands.

Bodog Music Battle of the Bands provides viewers with a candid behind-the-scenes look at a nationwide music tour and all the talent, competition, and downright insanity that accompanies it. Ten very different bands from ten different backgrounds will converge to bring some of the rawest reality and most intense live performances ever shown on television.

“Bodog Music Battle of the Bands is not your everyday talent show,” said Calvin Ayre, Founder of the Bodog Entertainment Group. “We put these bands through some pretty intense competition. Audience votes, coupled with judging on performance, image, songwriting, work ethic, networking, and the ability to self promote, will land the top bands in the finals. The band that wins gets massive internet fan support, combined with fuse’s on-air exposure and Bodog Music’s international marketing push. It’s the chance of a lifetime.”

The series is the culmination of competition that started in March 2006 when more than 7,000 music bands registered online, all vying for internet votes. The winners landed spots at one of the 350-plus live shows hosted by Bodog Music in 17 cities across the United States which narrowed the group to 17, then 10 and ultimately one incredible act.

“You put 10 different bands on the road together for a few weeks, throw the craziest punk judges into the mix and it’s guaranteed to be a long, strange trip,” says Ayre. “The series on fuse is going to make for some incredible performances and some great TV.”

Each episode features live performances from the competing bands and criticisms and praises brought to them by the panel of expert talent judges that feature Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols/Public Image Limited), Billy Duffy of The Cult, and Punk Goddess, Bodog Music recording Artist Bif Naked. Tour manager Stryker (co-host of syndicated radio show Loveline ) guides the bands through their experience along with a crew of celebrities who mentor the musicians on their path to a $1-million grand prize and live on air finale.

“fuse truly cares about music fans, so this show was a logical fit as these bands battle it out by traveling through America’s great music cities,” said Andy Meyer, director of development and original series, fuse. “The series provides an entertaining look at the drama and tensions that occur within bands on the verge of stardom, and the stress of living and performing on the road. We are excited to have the opportunity to bring this show to fuse viewers.”

Online at fuse.tv, viewers can access band bios, host blogs, and view episode guides. For a sneak preview check out bodog.tv and tune in for the series premiere July 11 at 10pm ET on fuse.

Gibraltar 5611 Prowler Single Bass Drum Pedal

Single Chain CAM drive system. Rocker Hub with hook and bearing with easy Key access hoop clamp. ROCK plate with Velcro base and dual Surface Beaters.

Buy Gibraltar 5611 Prowler Single Bass Drum Pedal @ Amazon

Gibraltar 5611 Prowler Double Pedal

Single Chain CAM drive system. Rocker Hub with hook and bearing with easy Key access hoop clamp. ROCK plate with Velcro base and dual Surface Beaters.

Buy Gibraltar 5611 Prowler Double Pedal @ Amazon