Podcast: Episode 11

Introduction

Hey light audio recording fans.

Are you well? Because you’re looking well. This is Ronan Fitzgerald, from light audio recording dot com. And today is Thursday August twenty ninth, twenty nineteen. You’re listening to episode 11 of the light audio recording podcast.

How’re’ya?

After Summer NAMM last month, things are a little quieter this month. Even music industry people need to get a summer vacation in, I suppose. Still, we’ll talk about an interesting pedal from Mooer, the end of issues in the import and export of rosewood, and a couple of other things relevant to compact and affordable recording.

Hopefully, all of this will inspire you to plug in and make some music this weekend.

Item one

Mooer have released a pedal called the Tone Capture GTR. Essentially, it allows you to emulate the tone of a guitar through another guitar.

For example, if you have a Strat, play it into the Tone Capture, and it’ll capture the nuances of that Strat’s sound. Then, if you play a Les Paul or something through the pedal, it should sound like the Strat whose tone you captured.

So, if you have a humbucking guitar, but you need a single coil guitar, but don’t have room or money for one, the Tone Capture pedal means you could go to a friend who does own one, capture the sound of theirs, then bring it home and do what you need.

Based on a demo video, I don’t think it gets too nuanced, but it’s not bad.

There’s one on amazon for ninety nine dollars, which is cheaper than new guitars, in a box the size of one of Mooer’s tiny pedals.

Item two

Rosewood is a super standard tonewood used as fingerboards in guitar manufacture.

But since 2017, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – better known as CITES – has essentially made that a pain in the behind.

CITES essentially makes it difficult and expensive to import and export rosewood. This means that eastern guitar manufacturers have been making use of alternatives, and the international movement of guitars with rosewood fingerboards has reduced.

But, now it appears that the parts of CITES hindering musical instruments is going to be removed.

The people who vote on such things have only one more vote to achieve to pass the change. Lobbyists from the music industry claim furniture makers are worse, and the people in charge of the convention aren’t super pleased with the compromise.

But, hopefully it means more traditional rosewood fingerboards.

Item three

Live for live music dot com has a fascinating story about guitar-maker, Paul Reed Smith, and some tech he developed away from guitar manufacture.

In twenty fifteen, Smith founded a company called Digital Harmonic. The technology the company developed is originally intended for separating individual instruments in a music arrangement.

But, the same technology has attracted interest from aerospace, national defense, and astronomy.

The tech uses mathematical scoring to adjust pixel values based on neighboring relationships, which can in turn reveal hidden data in images.

It’s important to note that this is of absolute zero help or relevance to compact and affordable audio recording. I just thought it was an interesting story.

Item four

And finally, a piece about keys, I think for the first time in eleven episodes of this podcast.

Earlier this month, Casio received Music Inc. Magazine’s Summer NAMM 2019 Editors Choice Award for their new Casiotone keyboards.

One of the key features flagged by Casio for the range is their portability, which makes them worth considering if you’re a key-wards inclined producer.

There are three keyboards in the range: the CT-S200, CT-S300, and LK-S250. Each weighs only six pounds, they have a slimline chassis with an integrated handle, and each can be powered with six AA batteries.

The cheapest model is the CT-S200 at one hundred and seventy nine US dollars. For two hundred and nine dollars, you can get the CT-S300, which comes with the addition of touch-sensitive keys. Then, the LK-S250 costs two hundred and twenty nine dollars, with the addition of light up keys to help you learn how to play.

That’s some well-priced gear from a reputable brand.

Wrap up

And that’s all we have this month. I’ll be back on Thursday, September twenty sixth with episode twelve.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to the light audio recording blog at light audio recording dot com, where you can follow the exploration of recording music in an affordable and compact way.

You can also find light audio recording on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, and Spotify.

I’m Ronan Fitzgerald, this was episode 11. Have a great weekend recording your music, and I’ll catch you next time.