Hamell On Trial

Since the dawn of music there have always been musicians who challenged the norm. Bach was notorious for telling off the nobles that supported him. Mozart was probably the original wild lifestyle rock star. And really who can blame them? In the times of Bach you had to be a very skilled musician to earn a living and you were barely paid for it. Now fast forward to 1950’s. Rock and Roll was taking off and stars were born every minute. Some became famous and made a ton of money, and others were slaves to the “nobles” of the time, you probably know them as Record Labels.

Fast forward yet again to today and the music world is in turmoil and the labels blame illegal downloading. Looking at the last 400 years of music history, and realizing that is was essentially the same business model, I say something have to give. We live in an exciting time. It’s easier than ever to make and distribute music. Thanks to the Internet, we now have easier access and more choices of music than ever before. And we also have a new emerging way of helping to raise money to put out your album, Kickstarter.

Kickstarter lets anyone with a dream or an idea raise money to get their project off the ground. Filmakers, artists, writers, musicians, you name it, someone has a project for it on Kickstarter. I like Kickstarter because it is a pledge system with “rewards” for different levels of contribution. But most of all I like it because your project is funded (or not funded) based on the merit of the project and your hard work to promote it and get backers. If you are a solo musician who has been working really hard taking every gig you can and building a fan base, chances are you will be able to use Kickstarter to raise the money.

One of my favorite artists, Hamell On Trial, has started a Kickstarter Project to raise money to record his next record. He set a modest goal of $7,000 dollars and in a about two weeks he reached that goal. In fact with 15 days to go (at the time of writing this) he has currently raised $8,023. In Episode 8 I talk to Ed about his Kickstarter project, his next steps and his approach to recording in the studio. If you have never heard Hamell’s music, I recommend you start with “Tough Love” and then either “Ed’s Not Dead” or “The Terrorism of Everyday Life”. And after that, go see him live. You will never anything like a Hamell show. You will laugh,sing, shout, and probably have the best time you have ever had at a live show. I also encourage you to go to Hamell’s Kickstarter page and make a donation to support the next great Hamell record. I am already backing it and I am waiting with anticipation to get my copy of the new disc.

And since we are talking about the recording studio, we also feature a segment on Peavey’s Revalver software done by Scott Thompson of the Focus On Metal Podcast. I have been using amplitube for about 5-6 years now and other than being a resource hog, I have been happy with it. Hearing the Peavey software and seeing how affordable it is, will make me a convert.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

It’s been a while since my last episode, but I am Back! Episode Seven features Paul Hanson, Boss Clinician and host of Boss Tone Radio.  Paul is a true musician. He understands and applies music theory, writes and records his own music, and he has amassed a backlog of stories! In one of the most interesting interviews featured on our show yet, Paul talks with us about a variety of topics from working as a guitar coach on the movie “Back To The Future” to the column he wrote for Boss and Guitar World Magazine called “The Pedals That Make The Tone“. Paul was once an instructor for GIT (Musicians Institute for those of you who were not guitar players in the 80′s like me) and has worked with and influenced a lot of the players we know today. Paul also writes and records his own music, the latest of which is available for free on CDBaby.com.

Need your Rock and Metal Fix? Don’t forget to visit www.castironring.com to get the best Rock and Metal shows the net has to offer!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Cast Iron Ring Network

I first discovered podcasts through iTunes in 2005. I wasn’t sure what they were, but they seemed like they might be what I was looking for. What I was trying to find was some sort of way to listen to information about recording. An audio book, an interview, anything. So I typed “recording” into the iTunes search window and discovered that there were a lot of podcasts on recording. So I started to check them out and the irony that I found is that a lot of the podcasts that we about recording SOUNDED awful! I wondered how much I could really learn from podcasts that sounded that bad. Then I stumbled on a two podcasts that I still listen to today, Inside Home Recording and The Project Studio Network.

These two podcasts stood out among the others because of their sound quality and consistency. Sadly The Project Studio Network stopped updating after episode 102, but you can still go back and listen to the archives, and what an archive it is! Thankfully though, Big Al is still sharing his vast knowledge over at Home Studio Guru. Inside Home Recording, however is still going strong. So I used these podcasts to increase my knowledge and add to my skill set, and while I am still no expert, I am way better than when I started.

Eventually I expanded my listening to other podcasts. I was learning to speak Japanese with one podcast and learning about making comics on another. I had considered starting my own podcast, but I had no idea what the show would be about and how in the world I would publish it. Then one day my buddy Sean (whose guitar I featured in my “Classic Guitar” series) said to me “Hey, did you know John has a podcast?”, and the answer there was no. The next chain of events went like this, I stated listening to John’s show and emailed him telling him how much I enjoyed it. We started talking about music and next thing I know he asked me if I would be interested in doing an artist interview for him. Of course I was! I was so excited to be doing something music related again and I would finally be on a podcast! My first interview was Rich Williams of the band Kansas. Boy was I nervous, but it was a good interview. And more importantly, Rich was a super cool guy to talk to. So in June 2010 I made my podcasting debut with Iron City Rocks, and boy was I proud. Then in August came the next opportunity, to assemble a show myself. John was on vacation with his family and we had a time sensitive interview with Morgan Lander of Kittie that needed to be posted. John set up all the web stuff so all I had to do was update a few files. This is where those two podcasts on recording come into play. I have a great little home studio, but I had never really finished a project. It was just bits and pieces of ideas. The Kittie episode was the first real audio project I had produced start to finish in my home studio. After that episode, I did a few more and finally got the bug to start my own podcast. And that is part of the story of how my site, Signal To Noise came into being.

One thing that always drew me to podcasts was the fact that they are almost like pirate radio. The podcaster is calling all the shots, no regulation of content. No topic is left unturned, and pretty much anything can find an audience. I love this renegade, DIY aspect of podcasting. And I am proud to announce today that this single pirate radio station is now part of a fleet. So Raise the Jolly Roger and head over to The Cast Iron Ring! The Cast Iron Ring is a network of podcasts dedicated to bringing you the best in Music and Entertainment news, reviews, interviews and of course Music Gear!!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Garage Band on The iPhone

In Episode 5 we discuss using Garage Band on the iPhone, The Boss TR-2 Tremelo pedal, and we hear from Hank III about his gear.

Apple just updated the Garage Band App for the iPad this past week, and the biggest

Smart Drums interface in Garage Band

part of the update was making the app available to the iPhone and iPod touch. This makes Garage Band one of the best portable composition tools on the market. Other Updates include being able to do 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures as well as being able to make custom chords for the smart instruments.

I am a big fan of Boss Pedals because they are reliable, consistent and virtually indestructible, in this episode I sit down with the TR-2 Tremelo pedal and expolore some of the tones you can create with it.

A special treat for this show was Hank III taking a moment out of his day to talk gear with us real quick. Hank is continuing the family tradition of putting out great Country music and causing a ruckus. Join the ruckus at Hank3.com

.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download