Drewcifer's Tone Zone

Drewcifer Begins Video Blog:

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:19:00 +0000

Analog Planet Presents Big Guitar Tones in the Studio

Part 1

Part 2

Stranger Than Fiction: The Bizarre Journey of Kings of Leon

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:41:00 +0000

Rock Royalty: From Holy Rollers to Rolling Stone

First of all, I realize I am very late the the KOL party here. I paid no attention to the band at all. Heck, I thought they were from England.

But lately, my wife has been having a love affair with their music. She's totally in to it; maybe too much (I'm afraid she's going to accidentally call me Caleb one of these nights). So I started paying attention. The music of the brothers Followill is very very interesting. I hear all kinds of diverse influences blended artfully together. In one song I thought I heard undertones of Psychedelic Furs, Pearl Jam and Morphine. Yet it's all very new and original-sounding at the same time. The Kings are drawing me in to thier sound and their...thing; their vibe -- whatever you want to call the intangible aura that true rock music has.

Finally, somebody got a record deal that DESERVES a record deal. The Kings have talent in spades. And, most importantly, soul, which I believe is sorely missing in most modern music.

Maybe their fresh sound in a result of the boys growing up without the usual rock-pop influences; without the pablum of commercial radio.

So then I read their history. Holy crap! What a story: Their dad was a Pentacostal preacher. I know from my years in Texas what that means. They are the "Throw down your crutches!" people. They are the snake-handlers and the lay on-ers of hands people. From tent to tent the boys went in a purple Oldsmobile while papa preached...while daddy ranted and raved all over the deepest of backwater south. It's the stuff of gothic fiction.

Now they jet from country to country playing sold out stadiums where people worship THEM as idols. They themselves are god-like snake-handlers of rock. Currently KOL are up for three Grammys. What a story! What a great AMERICAN story they are.

While reading their bio I found that they are produced by (and early songs co-written by) none other than my old associate and Boston rock veteran Angelo Petraglia. Go Angelo, Go! He moved to Nashville years ago and has been working as a songwriter and producer with some really accomplished names in Americana, Country and Rock. Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Patty Griffin and Brooks and Dunn are just a few names on Angelo's resume. I worked with him when he was in Boston with both Face to Face and The Immortals. I overdubbed and mixed the Immortals' "Two Sisters" on the acclaimed North by Northeast compilation back in '91.

Angelo worked with and developed KOL from the beginning, when the brothers were young and as raw as sugar cane. But he saw the talent and helped them develop it. Here's a nice piece about Angelo and his work with the Kings.

The kids started their lives rallying against the Devil and his deeds.

Now they play his music.

The Devil's, that is....

Awesome!

Here's a great Sound on Sound Magazine Article on the recording of Only By The Night: Secrets of the Mix Engineers: Jacquire King

Tyler Crashes Perry's Party

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:07:00 +0000

After all the buzz coming from both Joe Perry and Steven Tyler about Tyler's immenent departure from Aerosmith, what happened last night in New York stunned everybody, especially Joe Perry. When The Joe Perry Project went back stage at New York's Irving Plaza for a quick pause before their encore, the last person they expected to see was Mr. Tyler himself. But there he was, in the well-worn flesh. Apparently Tyler asked to sit in, and Perry oblidged. From his comments today, you'd gather that Perry did it as a favor to Steven and as a treat for the fans, not because he relished jamming with his old buddy. Once onstage, Tyler shouted something about not quitting Aerosmith, then, as soon as he finished barking out "Walk This Way," Tyler bolted in to the New York night. Today, undeterred, Perry stated to Billboard.com that the band is still planning to move forward without Tyler. Check out the full article and Perry's comments here.

Here's the YouTube of the "incident" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC7EK68tdEY&feature=player_embedded

Rockin' New Joe Perry Solo LP Was Produced Dangerously!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Danger! Joe Perry, Live Wire!

Edmeston, NY - October 6, 2009 - Engineer Pablo Arraya recently completed Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry's solo record, Have Guitar, Will Travel, where he acted as both the recording engineer for the final tracks and the mix engineer as well. Perry's solo album was released today, October 6, 2009. Arraya, a Grammy-winning engineer, brought his newly purchased Dangerous Monitor ST monitor controller to Perry's Boneyard Studio in Boston for the project. "The decision to buy the Monitor ST was directly related to working on the Joe Perry album," states Arraya. "His vintage Neve console has an amazing sound, and I wanted to add a more modern and flexible monitoring path. When I came in to the studio, Joe asked me to listen to a lot of Hendrix, Doors, AC/DC, and a lot of early Rolling Stones. He told me he wanted to get that sort of sound and feel. Perry told me 'I don't want it to sound pop-y and modern' - that was his vision at first, and things evolved from there."

On the Monitor ST choice, Arraya says, "Of all the things in a studio, the monitor section is an important one. It was time to do an upgrade to a better monitoring section - I had used the ST at a different studio and I loved how it felt, and Dangerous Music has a reputation for making great sounding gear." Arraya had been speaking with mastering engineer and good friend Dave Kutch, "He literally sold it to me on his recommendation - it was a no-brainer."

"When I got the Monitor ST, I hooked it up at Joe Perry's studio first," says Arraya about working on the Aerosmith guitarist's solo album. "I chose the Dangerous Music Montior ST over the Neve consoles' controls. I knew a lot of the mixing we were going to do was going to be like Hendrix-stlye, Doors-style, very 60's style mixing, where your drums are panned to one side, the bass to the other, your vocal shows up half way through the song. So I wanted to be able to have something to mute the left and the right speaker easily. On Joe's Neve console, you can't do that."

Comparing the Monitor ST to the sound of a large format console's monitoring, Arraya added, "When you bring the volume on the ST all the way down you still feel the punch of the kick and the power that's coming through the mix. And it doesn't matter what level it's at. That transparency for me is very, very important.

Since the studio does a lot of vocal overdubs, the headphone out puts and talkback get used a lot at Audio Piranha, "One of the things I like about the Monitor ST is that the mic for talkback is very dynamic, the person in the vocal booth can hear real well on their headphones. It sounds great. The headphone amp is really clean too. The Monitor ST is a very flexible box. I love the fact that you can do mono, the Dim function works really well, the ability to add the sub-woofer with the filter - that's a great option - calibrating the speakers is really easy; and the options for the inputs are super easy to use too." Another thing he likes about the Monitor ST, "When we want to update to 5.1, it's adding a box and you're there, you don't have to buy a whole new setup."

Pablo Arraya started his career with Sony Music Studios in 2000 after graduating from Middle Tennessee State University. The Native Bolivian quickly moved up the ladder to become one of the most requested engineers inside Sony's wide stable of talent. His diverse cultural background made him a versatile engineer. His engineering experience brought him to the attention of some of the most demanding international acts leading to a Grammy(r) in 2006 for Nancy Wilson's Turned To Blue album. Arraya leads sessions for all styles of music, and handles any studio situation with ease. He recently opened a new studio with the Audio Piranha Group on Park Avenue in Manhattan. Contact Pablo Arraya through the Audio Piranha Group website: Here

Visit Joe Perry's website for the latest news about his solo album Have Guitar, Will Travel at: http://www.joeperry.com

X-Cellent!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:26:00 +0000

SSL, You Sexy Mynx, You!

Analog Planet has been tapped as a dealer for the SSL SuperAnalog Range! That includes the awesome X-Desk mini mixer! How cool is that? More on this later!

Annual TEC Awards Will Miss Les Paul

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:34:00 +0000

With the annual AES (Audio Engineering Society) Convention fast approaching, it occurs to me that there will be a big part of the show missing this year: The presence, participation, and indeed, the spiritual leadership of Les Paul himself. For decades LP was a mainstay at the convention, walking the floor, shaking hands, meeting and greeting, and generally blessing the event like The High Pope of Audio. Most AES goers, myself included, consider Les Paul the father of modern recording.

Most notably, Mr. Paul will be missed at the annual Mix Magazine TEC awards ceremony (which accompanies AES every year), where he always presented the annual Les Paul award. The coveted award is given to the artist who, like Les himself, has most creatively blended musical achievement with the art and science of recording. Les presented the winner with, what else? A Les Paul guitar!

"Wow, this thing's heavy!" Les Presents THE AXE to 2007 Winner, Al Kooper

The list of Les Paul award-winners is impressive; artists like Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Brian Wilson, to name a few. Les Paul Winners 1991 to present

Here's a vid produced by Mix about The TEC Awards and The Les Paul Awards: TEC & Les Paul Award Highlights

This year's AES Show is at New York's Javitz Center. Appropriately, the 2009 TEC Awards will feature a special tribute to the beloved Mr. Paul...

Les Paul, The Guitar, The Man, The Legend

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Here's a good bio/obit of LP from the AP. Les Paul Dies at 94.

Yours-Truly with Vanessa, one of my 3 LPs.

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:50:00 +0000

The Big Man of Memphis! 1941-2009

As I watch the Ted Kennedy funeral motorcade on TV, I'm reminded that the world lost another great American this month: Jim Dickinson, the legendary musician/engineer/producer of Muscle Shoals and Ardent Studios fame. He was one of the architects of the American sound, and specifically the Memphis sound. The Big Star Records Jim produced in the early '70s did a lot to change my musical direction, when they re-emerged in the '80s as alternative music prototypes for bands like REM and The Replacements. Those records were way ahead of their time and they sounded really fuckin' cool.

That was just the beginning of the Jim Dickinson legend and legacy. The man cast a big shadow.

Jim Dickinson on AllMusic

A Hot Blog About on a Cool Memphis Cat

How Blue Are You?

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:02:00 +0000

Although no one would mistake me for being a big fan of Jazz, much less an aficionado, I do appreciate it as an American art-form. When I was younger I'd go to Jazz dates and snap my fingers like a Beatnik. The groovy hipness of 50's Jazz and Bebop works for me. And I dig Dixieland. I like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, and of course there's Miles Davis. 50 years ago his Miles-tone LP, "Kind of Blue" was realeased. Not only was it a breakthrough in Jazz and music in-general, it was an incredible recording, from an audio standpoint.

Here's a nice blog on that topic:

BlemBlog: "Kind of Blue"

Soul of '69

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:59:00 +0000

'Stock Stage '69: Santana Sacrificing with his Serpentine SG Special

There's a lot of coverage going on right now of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. There were some great and historic performances of course -- Hendrix, The Who, CSNY, Sly, Janis, and more. But there was one that for me has always stood out. Not only is it my favorite performance from the festival, I think it's one of the most electrifying performances in rock history. Thankfully, it was captured on film.

Santana!

Soul Sacrifice!

The band was tripping their socks off, and you can tell! Carlos is on fire, teetering right on the edge of losing control. He has famously said that he was hallucinating so hard, he thought his guitar was a snake. He couldn't feel the stage under his feet.

I love the raw tone of his SG Special with P90s. (Hey, does anybody know what amp he was using?)

The percussionists, Greg Rolie on B3, the teenage Michael Shreve on drums; it all came together in a red-hot explosion of Latin rock. Transcendence was achieved by Carlos and company on that muddy day in Bethel. If you can't feel this energy, you have no soul to sacrifice.

If you don't believe me, dig the clip, baby!

Soul Sacrifice on YouTube

And whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM THE BROWN ACID!

Here's a great little article on Gibson's web-site written by my old friend Ted Drozdowski. "The SGs of Woodstock"

Audio Zen, by Audient

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:40:00 +0000

"Ohms...Ohms...Ohms...Ohms..." Enlightened Mixing with The Zen.

EXCITING NEW PRODUCT ALERT! The new Zen analog console from Audient is a truly trancendental piece of gear, offering in-demand analog features and DAW control for a really affordable price. How would you like 16 dual-path channels, WITH mic-pres, DAW-control AND moving faders for $15K? And that's dollars, not Pounds! And the best part is Audient's high-quality sound -- clean but with a hint of classic British color. My mixing chakra is resonating with joy!

Here's the Zen of Zen

You know what I like about Audient? And what I have ALWAYS liked about Audient? They make useful gear at the right price. The price-point vs the high-level of performance is always great with Audient. The gear always sounds excellent, works well (good ergonomics) and it's never the most expensive gear in the store. That's what ya call VALUE, son!

Audient doesn't make something and put it out there and hope people buy it-- they look at what studios need and what kinds of budgets are there and then they make gear that answers the call.

Always great bang for the buck -- That's Audient.

With Zen, Dave and Gareth have done it again. The mixer is a perfect example of Audient's smart marketing. Form and function!

Can't wait to get my hands on it, and I'm psyched to be a dealer for it!

It's About Time (constants)!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Mmmmm....Pretty...

Pendulum Audio is finally on the eve of shipping it's new and highly-anticipated Opto-Compressor for the API 500 format. Appropriately, it's called the Pendulum OCL-500. Based on the same proprietary opto-cell circuitry found in Pendulum's hugely popular OCL-2 stereo tube comp, the OCL-500 provides smooth transparent compression in a single-wide mono "Lunchbox" module. The OCL-500 uses clean solid-state make-up gain, avoiding the inherent problems encountered when trying to run tube amplifiers on 500-format power. Pendulum's OCL-500 is slated to ship any day now $1295.00 These will immediately be on back-order, so Analog Planet will be happy to get your name in the queue for the first run. Place your order now! http://www.analogplanet.com

Finally, Gibson Issues Pearly Gates!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:33:00 +0000

I have been hoping for years that Gibson would do this. Of course there's no way in hell I'll ever afford it. But a guy can dream...

See Gibson's Devine Guitar

"Baby, Gimme Dat Axe, haw haw haw haw!"

Heil Turns Up The Volume!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:41:00 +0000

Click here to visit YouTube to watch a very interesting biography of Bob Heil and his gear.

The Heil PR40 on Analog Planet

The Heavenly Tone of Pearly Gates...

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:05:00 +0000

Billy and Pearly '75 -- Tone made in Heaven, Texas

Just a quick one. Every guitar-player eventually dreams of a '59 Les Paul flame-top. The reason is that this generation of the venerable Gibson is said to have the fattest, sweetest tone of any electric guitar ever. In the world of guitar, the '59 is known as "The Holy Grail". Jimmy Page, Dicky Betts, early Clapton, Peter Green, Gary Rossington, and my favorite, Billy Gibbons all crafted their sound with '58 or '59 'bursts. Gibbon's '59 LP Standard has been called the Holiest Grail of all -- perhaps the best Les Paul tone ever heard. Appropriately, he named his axe Pearly Gates. You can hear Pearly on all of ZZ Top's early recordings. Miss Pearly's loaded, searing, harmonic-laden tone was the stuff of my rock-star dreams as a kid.

So the other day I was looking for info on Seymour Duncan's Pearly Gates guitar pickup, which I want to fit in to my Les Paul, and I came across the above image -- I'm guessing it's circa '75. It's the baddest pic of Reverend Billy and Pearly I've ever seen. The "Rio Grande" amps in the back are simply Marshall 100-watters re-tolexed and re-badged for ZZ Top.

The Story of Pearly Gates

YouTube vid of Billy playing Pearly, 1980

The Large (and Very LOUD) Legacy of Bob Heil

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:01:00 +0000

"Woo You Weel....Wike We Woo?" The Squakin' Heil Talk Box

Bob Heil is truly a unique dude, and one of the real living legends in the arena of pro sound. And I use the word arena in the quite literal sense, as it was Heil's pioneering designs and high-powered hardware that so many of the classic supergroups trucked around from arena to arena during rock's glory days. His credits are astonishing when you add them up. From taking cast-off theater equipment to build The Grateful Dead's notorious Wall of Sound, to being the engineering mastermind behind sound systems for The Who (can you say Quadraphenia?), Joe Walsh, ZZ Top, Humble Pie and many others. Heil was literally one of the agents of change that took live sound reinforcement from the dark ages of the 100-watt Shure Vocal Master to the fully modular, crossed-over, bi-amped, triamped, multi-channel mega-ton mega-watt monster of the modern day. And lest we not forget that wierd, wonderful device called the Heil Talk-Box, made famous by Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton and Joe Perry. Oooh-wah-oo-wah, baby! And all the while, Mr. Heil has continued to stay active in his first love, amateur "ham" radio.

The Great Wall of China Cat Sunflower

One thing Heil had not done until recently, was to design and build microphones. over the last decade or so, Heil, along with lifelong friend Joe Walsh, began to revamp the dynamic microphone. For 40 years the industry has been using the same tired old dynamics, so Heil set out to create a newer better transducer for broadcast, stage and studio. The result is the startlingly good line of Heil microphones, quickly becoming embraced by the professional music and sound industry, as well as broadcast, podcast, VO and ham radio. The Heil dynamics' sonic purity, detail and quietness not only beat the usual crowd of dynamics, they rival much more expensive condensers. Analog Planet proudly offers the PR Series, among others. In addition to all being excellent vocal mics, the PR20 and PR40 are our new go-to mics for snare and kick, respectively, and the PR30 may be the best electric guitar dynamic since the Sennheiser MD421. I personally own a couple of these, including a Classic Pro (a PR20 element inside a replica body of the 1950's RCA 74 ribbon) which I use as my personal voice mic. Check out the PR series here.

Heil's Fantastic 40: The PR40 rocks for numerous applications

In four decades in the business, Bob Heil's still as excited about his endeavors as ever. He's easy to get on the phone, and when you do, it's like a pep-talk. His contagious enthusiasm is like that of a 20 year old!

Bob Heil when he WAS 20!

Much has been written about Heil and his accomplishments, as a quick Google search will show. Here are more resources to explore about the iconic Bob Heil:

Heil Mics on Analog Planet
Heil Sound Homepage
Blog 2006
Blog 2007

Bye Bye API -- Hello Pacific-AAAAH!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:25:00 +0000

The vaunted A-Designs Pacifica Dual Solid-State Mic Preamp. As Rachel Ray would say, "Yummo!"

I know it's been forever since I blogged. You know how it is -- you get busy, then the stock market tanks, then comes the holiday season, then your toddler starts projectile vomiting, yada yada yada. Sheesh!

Anyhoo, in this first blog of '09 we're singing the praises of the A-Designs Pacifica, the discrete transistor preamp based on the legendary Quad-8 Pacifica console of the 1970s. Over the years, API has been widely heralded by engineers -- myself included -- as being the ultimate "American" sounding mic-pre circuit. Well, maybe not. Read this letter I wrote to A-Designs last week:

For 20 years the API 512 was my go-to mic-pre for pretty much anything and everything in the studio. Lately, I’ve been finding that I go to the A-Designs Pacifica instead. Why? Because it has everything I like about API and then some. It’s midrange character reminds me of the API but the Pacifica is less mid-forward and in general rounder, bigger and more open than the API. It has more high and low frequency response, sort of like a 512 with the “loudness” button on. As a result, the A-Designs is more detailed and airy, while having the fast dynamics that I always liked about the API.

I noticed this when I had a 512 and an A-Designs P-1 Pacifica module side by side in a 500-rack. On a male vocal, using a Mojave MA-200, the P-1 gave a bigger, more present sound. Don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy the sound of British iron (Neve,Trident, Daking) as much as the next guy, but ultimately I guess I lean more on the versatility of that clean, fast “American” sound. The Pacifica, with its Quad Eight heritage, may be the ultimate American preamp. Move over API!

A-Designs Homepage

Pacifica on Analog Planet

The Heritage Desk! A real Quad Eight Pacifica console, circa '79, rocking on in Austin.

U2 Paints The Rocks Red, 1983

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Finally on DVD: U2's "Under A Blood Red Sky, Live", one of the great rock shows of all time...

U2 Sets The Stage Ablaze at a Rainy Red Rocks Amphitheater Near Denver, 1983

I wasn't at the well-known Concert at Red Rocks, where U2 played on June 5, 1983, which was, coincidentally, my 23rd birthday.

I was at the show about a week later, in Dallas , where U2 played to an UNsold-out 1200 seat theater, located inside -- get this -- a bowling alley. Dallas had a really small "underground" rock scene then, and I saw REM twice, The Pretenders twice, and even Talking Heads at this unlikely venue. "The Bronco Bowl" in Big D's Oak Cliff section, was a small and intimate theater with great sound. The Irish Rockers had never been to Dallas , and had never even had any commercial radio-play there. If you were a North Texan who didn't have MTV by '83, and a lot of people didn't, it was quite likely that you'd still never have heard of U2 at all. Not me, though! Having recently been in college in Rochester , NY , I was very aware of U2, and a very big fan by this point. I had all three of their LPs, including the newly released "War". I would have seen them play at Rochester Institute of Technology in '82 if it hadn't been for a huge exam I had to study for the next day. (Interesting side-note here: That show at R.I.T. was panned in the next morning's Rochester paper, saying that Edge's guitar sounded like a "chainsaw" and Bono was "caterwauling". The reviewer hated them. However, I had one friend that went and said they were fantastic.)

So here was my first chance to see them live, on The War Tour, with 800 other hard-core believers.

Let me say they did not disappoint. In fact, Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam proceeded to perform the greatest rock concert I have ever seen, before or since. And I have seen everybody (including U2 in later years)! The kids ripped my head clean off! Their energy was electric. The sound, the songs, the stage itself, were all ablaze. Bono (with his spiky, blonde-tipped mullet) went as far to the back of the stage as he could get, and ran, full speed ahead, taking a leaping header into the crowd. That's right! Head first, arms out, like diving in to a pool, landing on the shoulders of astonished fans. I kept blinking my eyes, wondering if I had actually just seen it, or had hallucinated the dive. (On the Red Rocks video, by contrast, he falls backwards in to the crowd). At one point he marched up and down the ailses of the place, waving his white flag of Surrender. And surrender we did, to the 23 year old singer in the black t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off. Bono had not yet achieved the God-like and masterful showmanship he would very soon have. At this point, he was flying high on his own energy, like a kid with a brand new rocket-ship. He was always right on the edge of control, at times literally staggering and swaggering, as if drunk on his own power. By the time I saw them again in 1985, at a sold-out 20,000 seat Dallas Reunion Arena, he had learned to channel and control that spirit like a Shaman. At The Bronco Bowl in ‘83, it was already clear that Bono was an amazing and passionate performer, with the bright aura of a future Superstar.

Then there was The Edge! His guitar-playing, all shimmery and majestic, was a total rock revelation for me, myself a young guitarist. Not only was it a completely unique and fresh style, it was huge-sounding. His one guitar filled the theater like a guitar-chestra. I soon went out and bought an analog delay effect like the one he used. Of course my attempts to emulate his sound proved futile.

The girl I took with me was one of those Texans who had never even heard of U2 before that night. On the way out of the show, she thanked me profusely for introducing her to the incredible Irish Band. I haven't seen her since that night, nor do I remember her name, but I'll bet all these years later she's still telling people, "I saw U2 before they were famous!"

So, why do I post this review of "Under a Blood Red Sky", being that I was not at Red Rocks? Well, it's very fortunate for the world of rock music, and U2 fans especially, that it was filmed. Back in '83, I was really excited when I heard the film was coming out, and that indeed it was shot within days of the show I saw. It captures U2 on the rise to stardom, and why they deservedly became among the greatest bands in history. Back then I bought the 12" record and the VHS video as soon as they came out.

Is Red Rocks as good as the Dallas show I saw? No. It's actually tamer by comparison. (Too bad they didn't film THAT one!). But will Red Rocks mesmerize you? Will it thrill you? Will it inspire you?

Might it be the best rock show you've ever seen?

Oh yeah....

Under A Blood Red Sky, U2 Live at Red Rocks CD and DVD Set at Amazon.com

U2's official web-site features the long-awaited DVD Release of "Under A Blood Red Sky"

Dallas Business Journal, 2003: Bronco Bowl site sold to Home Depot, facility to be razed

Bronco Bowl Memories Web-Site

Now this is exciting!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:36:00 +0000

New Audio Toys to Land on Analog Planet!
Among the many new audio goodies shown at this years AES, there is one which will be of special interest to Analog Planeteers. Pendulum Audio is introducing a new OCL Opto-Compressor for the API 500 format. Appropriately, it's called the Pendulum OCL-500. Based on the same proprietary opto-cell circuitry found in Pendulum's hugely popular OCL-2 stereo tube comp, the OCL-500 provides smooth transparent compression in a single-wide mono "Lunchbox" module. The OCL-500 uses clean solid-state make-up gain, avoiding the inherent problems encountered when trying to run tube amplifiers on 500-format power. Pendulum's OCL-500 is slated to ship in January of '09 at a projected price of $1295.00 These will immediately be on back-order, so Analog Planet will be happy to get your name in the queue for the first run. Place your pre-order now!

The New Pen OCL-500: Sweet!

Lunchbox Hero Contains No Baloney!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:00:00 +0000

What's in your lunchbox? I'll trade ya my API 512 for your Tubule!

Just discovered a new web-site and forum, Luncbox Hero.com, dedicated to the API 500 format and all the many modules now available for it. It has a database listing every device, and a forum for 500 officionados and enthusiats. The best part is my old friend James McCaffrey is the Lunchbox Hero himself, How cool is that?

Check it out!

Pan 60

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Here's a cool web-site I recently became aware of: Pan60

Pan 60 is a frequent poster on my favorite forum, GearSlutz, and he's quite an officionado of the Gear-o. Check it!

Bloggity Blog Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0000

"Jimi, Buddy, Janis, I'm coming to see you in Rock and Roll Heaven!" Does the name of this Toadworks-USA pedal refer to the fact that classic tube amps like the '60s Marshalls always sounded incredible just before they blew-up?

I have not blogged in a while because Analog Planet has been taking most of my time, and my commitment to little drew takes up the rest. Oh Daddy Day Care!

So this will be a catch-up blog.

First, Analog Planet has gained some new lines of gear, including Quested Monitors and Coles Microphones and AccuSound Cables. We're also talking to a couple other companies that we are very excited about, Pearlman Mics and Toadworks Guitar Pedals. Been looking for a good boutique pedal and I am rippin' with excitement about Toadworks!

Excited about all the new schtuff!

Second, I was profiled in the Patriot Ledger. Check it out here.

Third, we did some business with a cool studio in Evergreen Colorado, named, appropriately, "Evergroove". This is a neat, neat studio, and Brad, the main guy there is one of the good ones in this crazy business. Check out their site here.

Microphonium

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:33:00 +0000

Analog Planet is not a dealer for Crowley and Tripp Ribbon mics, which is too bad because I like them. They're not taking on any more dealers at the moment. When and if they do, I hope Analog Planet will be on-board. In the meantime, Bob Crowley has a wonderful blog called Microphonium, dedicated to the art and culture of the microphone.

Bob clearly has far more time to blog than I do, no small feat considering how busy he must be. It's admirable that he's such a prolific blogger. He even blogged about the Analog planet logo a few posts ago.

So enjoy Crowley's "Microphonium".

The Perfect "Nectar-ita?"

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:03:00 +0000

!Muy refrescante! Una Tequila mas, por favor...

OK! I may have just mixed up the perfect Margarita. And I have made some GOOD 'ritas before, so this is sayin' somethin'! Without dilly-dallying around, let me get straight to the recipe:

We're using Partida Blanco Tequila. One might argue that a $50 blanco is too good to make a 'rita with, but I say, it's too good NOT to make a 'rita with. The other ingredients are Triple Sec, a dash of Presidente Mexican Brandy, Key Lime Juice, Master of Mixes Margarita mix, and the secret weapon, about a teaspoon of Partida Agave Nectar (aka Agave Syrup) a honey-like syrup made from the Blue Agave in the same way maple syrup is made from tree sap. Shake it up good with plenty of ice!

For inspirational images and some nice Spano-Mexican music check out the Partida Margarita Web-site, here.

Fender buys Groove Tubes.

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Townson) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:57:00 +0000

http://www.gearwire.com/fender-groovetubes.html

Analog Planet is a Groove Tubes dealer. I don't know what impact, if any, this will have on us. I hope they get behind the pro audio line, which is great, but has been very under-represented/under-marketed. Hopefully Fender won't dumb it down to a pure MI line, because the GT Pro Audio stuff has sort of been teetering on that ledge for a few years. Studio guys don't take it seriously because they think it's an MI line. All they'd have to do is listen to a ViPre or a SuPre or a Glory comp to realize that this stuff holds its own against, and often beats, venerated studio brands like Tube-Tech and Summit and DW Fearn and the like.
Aspen Pittman, GT's founder and designer, is a master tube circuit-rician.

The mics are excellent for the money too, a cut above the typical Chinese condensers out there.

PS: I live my new Fender American Standard Telecaster. Best guitar I've acquired in years!