Digitally Impoted

Hello All

This last weekend I made a very interesting discovery in the realm of Internet radio. I was browsing Facebook, as I rarely do, pouring through the stampede of messages thrown at me from concert promoters living mostly in Calgary—It can be brutal sometimes getting invited to all these cool events when you don't even live in that city anymore—I was intrigued when I came across an invite to tune into my friend and former musical collaborators radio showcase on www.di.fm. He was heavily promoting his show for a good reason: I tuned in and it was like having a personal DJ in my house while I was hosting a small dinner party with friends at my Wolseley residence.

When I was living in Calgary I was working in the audio industry and had close relations with the regional Bose dealer that led me to a great deal on a Bose Surround system that is wired throughout my place, so needless to say the bass was kickin' that night. The digital format of this radio station is great. I was able to cue it up on my phone and using the option to output through my apple wireless station: I had the station bangin' with to wires for my house guests to trip on with their full wine glasses. 

I've been to many shows hosted by these guys DJ Coda and Phantohm Soundsystem, and they always play the kind of electronic music that flows nicely for a chill event without being too in your face with glitchy synth break downs. I was treated once again as I tuned into to the smooth Liquid Dubstep, UK Garage and Speed Garage tunes that were swelling with low end out of my speakers. I am quite new to the UK Speed Garage sound, but I am quickly becoming a big fan. My problem with classic garage or "speed-less garage" (haha) is that it is very slow—watching people dance to the slow rythym makes them inadvertatntly look very intoxicated because of its slow swagger style shuffling beats.

After a glass of wine with my friendly company, I over heard many compliments about the music that was accenting our party, so I decided to send a message to my Dj friend giving the text form of a solid pat on the back. He responded by giving me a shout out on his radio show, which was very unexpected as I almost choked on my sip of Vallpolicella—It was very awesome! One of the tracks that really stood out to me was by a group called DB; their track Joy is a really cutting edge amazing blend of Speed Garage, House and Dub accompanied by that signature 90's horn section that just makes the girls rush the dance floor. The track leads you in with its funking vocal track and then unleashes pulverizing garage bass-lines that are tamed by the smooth rhythm. Check it out below.

https://soundcloud.com/dista/db-joy-dista-bradshaws-5am-mix 

Perhaps the promotional tactics worked on this affected music fan, but now after enjoying a night of having a personal Dj in my place I've become completely spoiled. I now tune into the stations sprawling catalogue of new music and electronic Dj mixes every chance I get when I am at home and it's at an hour that my neighbours won't wish for a lightening strike to short circuit the power to my PA.

This experience has influenced my music listening habits and expanded my horizons to some very cool new music genres. I have heard about digital radio stations and have tuned in to Itunes radio often, but out of every song I like on the Itunes radio, there is usually 5 I don't like at all. Digitally Imported FM really lets me zone in on the genre that I want to hear and delivers a great bang for no bucks! I would recommend getting into Internet radio: it is a great way to discover new music and who doesn't want their own personal DJ spinning the dub-plates that are hot off the press.

Pump Up The Volume

I am currently in the market for a new guitar amp. Myself, like many guitar players, have many questions to answer in this market: The most predominant one being, do I go all-tube or solid state? There are many benefits to each that we will examine in this blog post.

Tube/Valve Amps

Tube amps are legendary for their unique warm tones; every tube amp has its own signature sound. The saturation from multiple stage vacuum tube amplification colours the players guitar tone in such a way that could never be digitized or recreated in an engineers lab. 

Tube amps are a favorite among classic guitar players and those seeking a warm vintage tone. But these sweet tones come at a heavy price in the wallet and on the poor sucker caught carry this iron cast amp head to gigs—Hopefully you have roadies to tempt with beer for this! Allas, both of these factors are a mere sacrifice to achieve the classic tones that are different with each amp, getting boutique quality sounds in every piece of gear.

Solid State amps have come along way since the hair metal days! Solid State amps are made with the "modern" guitarist in mind and they are transistor driven. They are significantly ligher and embody a much different tone with more un-even harmonics compared to tube amps, which creates a more harsher dry sound. These amps are favoured among metal guitar players because the tonality is at the other end of the spectrum from the warmth and lush qualities of tube amps offering dark and compelling swells for metal playing.

These amps are much lighter and cheaper—so you wont break your roadies back or your budget! With modern advances in technology these amps are at the fore-front of getting digital modelling treatment. You will notice that many of these amps have an FX section, which offer controls for digital guitar effects—So you can leave a couple guitar pedals at home so it doesn't look like space-craft mission control. The amps work best with hum-bucking guitar pickups, so if you are a guitar player that uses this technology you might want to look into solid state.

A new emerging technology is taking studio guitar players by storm: Axe Fx|| is endorsed by some of the greatest modern guitar players and has been featured on some impressive albums. The tube amp purist will stay far away from this technology and many feel that completely turning your guitar signal digital is sacrilegious—I was included in this group until I heard the impressive leaps and bounds this technology has made. Digital modelling is the technical term and most units come designed to fit in 2 rack spaces. The units, especially the high-end, don't come cheap but they sure offer an incredible pallet of sounds.

Being a tube amp analogue purist I am looking at Mesa amp heads predominantly, but as soon as Axe Fx|| comes with tube amp integration in their amp heads it will be very tough to pass up that opportunity.