Four Chords is All You Need

I think everyone who's ever really studied pop music kind of know this, but this is pretty cool anyway.

http://wimp.com/songchords

Marshall USA?

I'm not sure if this is a good thing, a bad thing, or neither, but Marshall is apparently splitting off its US operations:

Marshall Amplification announced today the formation of Marshall USA. This new business unit will begin operation on October 1st, and shipments to dealers will begin October 18th. Jon Ellery, Marshall UK Co-managing Director announced that Marc Lee Shannon will assume the position of VP Sales for Marshall USA on October 1st. Marc Lee is a long term industry veteran, who spent the last 17 years heading sales with Audio Technica. Jon Ellery also announced that Ryan Rhodes has been named the Brand Director for Marshall USA and will lead the product direction and work closely with Marshall UK to insure a coordinated worldwide effort. Ryan is very familiar with the Marshall heritage, having worked in past Marshall distribution in the US for 15 years. More Marshall dedicated management will be added shortly, with announcements to follow.

The rest is here:

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/Daily/News/Marshall_Announces_Formation_of_Marshall_USA.aspx

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Re-mixing China Grove

I've always thought it would be cool to have the chance to re-mix a classic recording. Not that I think I could necessarily do better (though sometimes...), but it would be cool just to be able to hear the tracks in their raw form.

Chris Baseford gets to do just that, re-mixing them for an iPhone app called Jammit.

Here's his take on "China Grove", one of the Doobie Brothers' most famous tracks, originally engineered and produced by Ted Templeman and Donn Landee, one of my favorite production teams of the 70's.

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2010/Jul/Secrets_of_the_Masters_The_Doobie_Brothers_China_Grove.aspx

This bit here pretty much spells out my whole philosophy when it comes to recording - get the sound at the source, rather than trying to "fix it in the mix".

I wasn’t all that surprised to see (and hear) everything laid-out and organized nicely, and immediately sounding familiar with the faders at zero and without EQ or effects.

The Triple Decker Record?

If you thought there was nothing new going on in the world of vinyl records, behold the Triple Decker Record - a 12" with a 7" inside! From those clever folks at United Record Pressing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ3c3WZ-3UU