Newsletter Vol. 2 # 96 – October 24, 2004
Welcome to the latest issue of Guitar Noise News.
In This Issue
- News and Announcements
- Hot Off The Press (Release)
- Email of the Week
- Thoughts and Feedback
News And Announcements
Greetings!
Welcome to Guitar Noise News!
First off, I’d like to extend a generous thank you to everyone whose written during the past two to three weeks with offers of articles and, more importantly, offers of help in the areas of editing and such. I will be getting in touch with all of you, if I haven’t already. To those of you who have submitted articles, I will appreciate a bit of patience as we put them through the editing process.
Please don’t forget that in addition to articles and lessons, we always welcome submissions of reviews, whether they be of CDs and concerts or books and other tutorial aids (CDs, DVDs and videos) or even gear (guitars, amps, etc.). If it’s a short review, feel free to post it in the “Picks and Pans” section of the Guitar Noise Forum page. But if the muse strikes you and you find yourself rattling off a page or two, do send it to me.
So let’s move on to the rest of this week’s news, shall we?
Hot Off The Press (Release)
Since I’m getting at least one of these a week these days, I figured why not create a place for them? Of course, now that I have, there probably won’t be another for ages!
Tri-State, Tri-Genre Night At The Knit
NEW YORK, NY: Labels and categorization take a backseat at the Knitting Factory’s Old Office on Friday, November 5 as power trio VAN DAVIS hosts a night of exceptional independent music by Tri-State Area bands. VAN DAVIS’ guitarist/founder Jake Ezra hand-picked each band on the bill in order to feature many different musical genres, including funk, rock, and pop. Ezra’s goal is to present an evening of fun, intelligent music that appeals to a wide range of music-lovers.
The night will kick off at 8pm with the Connecticut-based jazzy funk group FRO, whose material has been described as “groove music with intelligence.” Following FRO will be New York power trio VAN DAVIS, a band known for their experimentation and improvisation within the rock genre. New Jersey power-pop mavens SPIRALING will take the stage as the evening’s headliner at 10:30pm, presenting their uniquely-crafted, keyboard-driven songs.
FRO – 8pm, Connecticut funk
VAN DAVIS – 9pm, New York rock
SPIRALING – 10:30pm, New Jersey pop
KNITTING FACTORY, Old Office, 74 Leonard Street, New York, NY 10013,
(212) 219-3132, www.knittingfactory.com, 8pm. $6. All ages.
www.in-FRO-mation.com
www.vandavis.com
www.spiraling.net
Email Of The Week
Back to our regular email: I’m not sure why, but I’ve gotten this email (obviously not verbatim) several times in the past two weeks:
Dave,
Just a short question: Which guitar brand do you use in the sample Amazing Grace?
Thanks
Thanks for writing. For the past year or so, all of the MP3 examples that I have recorded for Guitar Noise have been done using my Seagull S6 Cedar Folk Model guitar. The folk models have a smaller size body than the typical dreadnaught style guitar. In fact, the body is pretty much the same size and shape as your standard classical guitar.
For those of you who asked about strings, I’m currently using D’Addario Phosphor Bronze, medium gauge. I tend to try out a lot of different types of strings, so usually I leave the “cover sheet” of my current strings in the guitar case. That way I know what gauge I’m using when I inevitably happen to break one.
As far as my recording equipment, I record the samples digitally on a Yamaha AW16G Workstation. Lately I’ve been using two microphones (Sennheisers) instead of the one microphone and one acoustic guitar pickup system I’ve used in the past. I export the finished recordings as WAV files, convert them to MP3 files on my computer by means of CDex software (free demo version) and then email them to Paul to put on the site.
I hope that this helps. When it comes to computers, I am usually not the person you want to be explaining things, let alone trying to execute them. But so far this recording process seems to be working okay.
I should also note that, on occasion, I do use an electric guitar or a twelve string for recording an MP3 example, as I have in Preparing To Climb and Double Your Pleasure (a Fender Stratocaster in the former and a Guild twelve string in the latter). It usually depends on the thrust of the particular lesson.
Thoughts & Feedback
I flew into Chicago last Friday afternoon. The reason? Last October I’d promised a very good friend that, even though I was moving across the country, I would be certain to attend her annual house party she has each autumn. Friends do things like that.
Since I knew I was going to be in the area, I also arranged to teach a Guitar Noise Seminar Saturday afternoon (and late morning) at the home of one of my former students. We had four people attend and it amazed me that they all had to travel quite a ways as well: one from Illinois, close to the Wisconsin border, one from Wisconsin, one from Indiana and one from Toledo, Ohio! I hope they all had as good of a time as I did!
Friday night I got to spend jamming and socializing with some friends, many who were students of mine at some point. One person there, Dennis, whom some of you may know by his handle, “Corbind,” gave me a mysterious looking package. Opening it revealed a framed diploma conferring an “Honorary Degree of Doctor of Education” to me! This degree is given by the “Regents of Guitar Noise” and was even signed by Paul Hackett himself (listed as “Regent in Chief”)! There was also a second item, a plaque displaying the signatures, photos and Forum photo icons of more than twenty of Guitar Noise’s Forum members.
To say I was surprised would be a bit of an understatement. Granted, I didn’t believe Dennis for a moment when he told me it was a box of doughnuts! But this gesture overwhelmed me.
Both diploma and plaque are currently hanging by my desk (and those of you who’ve visited my home know that we’re seriously short on wall space!) and will probably be the first items installed in our “practice space/recording area” as soon as we get it done.
And I’d like to take the time to thank Dennis, Paul and everyone who took part in this surprise. I’m honored by your kindness and I hope that I can continue to prove myself worthy of your accolades.
In the meantime, I can wish you all a grand week. Stay safe.
And, as always,
Peace
David