Focusrite Launches iTrack One Pre

This week Focusrite launched  iTrack One Pre for iOS. This is a cool looking micro single Microphone pre-amp and D 2 A converter. So small is the iTrack One Pre you could record with it anywhere.

One of the features touted by Focusrite is the phantom power for any condenser microphone can be run off the iOS devices battery. I know I’m skeptical here but some condenser microphones soak a lot of power. I have a Neuman TLM 103 that pulls so much power it will only work on my P-Solo Pre. I can see certain microphones draining the iOS device battery very quickly.

Features List:

• The preamp in iTrack One Pre lets you capture clear recordings of vocals and acoustic instruments directly into Garageband and other iOS apps.
• The right recording level is set via the illuminated gain halo.
• With a micro-suction base, iTrack One Pre will stick on any flat surface without moving.
• Focusrite’s iTrack One Pre generates phantom power from iPhones and iPads, so you can record with professional condenser microphones.
• The high-headroom guitar input will capture every element of tone and playing style without any clipping or unwanted distortion.
• Officially Apple certified, iTrack One Pre works perfectly with iOS devices up to and including iPhone 6s, and music making apps including Novation’s iOS app Blocs Wave.

The one change I would like to see changed in the next form factor is a headphone jack. Apple is removing them which would make this item useless with my iPhone 7 plus. The new lightening connector head buds from Apple will work on any iOS 10 device. This indicates a standard that I assume will part of the new iPad launch this month.

I suspect if a headphone jack is added to the iTrack One Pro I will own one. I think the design is a really good idea.

The iTrack One Pro is available now for $129.99 US.

The Verdict on iOS music Creation

I’ve been working with the iPad Pro for the better part of 6 months. I’ve purchased 3 DAW’s, Garageband for iPad, Auria and Cubasis. They sound pretty Legit, Cubasis having the overall best sounding Virtual instruments (GarageBand a very close 2nd). If I were recording electronic Music only, I wouldn’t use anything other than an iPad. You can do just about everything you can carry out on a MacBook Pro in that realm.

For making organic analog music using Real Drums that have true groove, it fails blatantly. I’ve purchased the Real Time alternatives to Superior Drummer and BFD, Sonically they all fall VERY short but one. The best sounding acoustic Percussion with any decent workflow was Garageband’s x drummer. If you use it for Logic X and you like the sound you’re golden.

I like the sound of X Drummer, but it’s not very flexible in the choice of sounds and tones. For instance I could never get Full Kit sounds like some of the Steven Slate libraries I own for Mac and PC. You can get true non-quantised human groove like a Superior Drummer or BFD. That’s really important to me.

I also like how every thing plugs in seamlessly with AU. With the release of iOS 10 AU became more useful and feature rich. I rarely used AudioBus even back under iOS 9 with the Previous version of AU, the exception was Auria. Using X Drummer in GarageBand for iPad as a plugin to Auria or Cubase is a walk in the park with AudioShare. It’s actually easier and more seamless to use plugins, even whole DAW’s plugging into each other in iOS (more so than a PC).

I think you can make really great Acoustic instrument Demos giving the restrictions of iOS music creation. I don’t think you can create something professional and polished for Pandora Radio etc. The two pieces that are missing from all 3 DAW’s are:

Flexible good sounding Percussion creation somewhat resembling the Mac and PC world.
The feature that allows one to do several “takes” or “comps” of the same passage of music.

I believe as time moves forward these issues will be solved sooner more than later. There’s too much open market opportunity here for software companies.

EDIT: I forgot to tag this with categories and Keywords and originally posted this a few days ago, I was really tired! I reposed with the right SEO information.

Mesa Cab Clone Yum!

This is an integral piece of studio gear that I have a tremendous need for. Palmer does a bloody brilliant job in this arena, but their products are very pricy. However, this item manufactured by a great well known”tried and true” amplifier company (Mesa Boogie) has me very intrigued and excited.

This is on the top of my “Musician Radar” at the moment to demo.

$299 US street price FTW! Nooice!

Living Legends – Rolling Stones, Keif! What gets you out of bed?

Brilliant!

DV Mark amp emulator, effects unit and stereo amplifier

I’ve had the pleasure of using The DV Mark doing some overdubs this week at a local studio. My Egnater needs a new transformer so I decided to record some takes to get the tone I wanted and pay for it. Studio time is really cheap where I live because there’s a lot of competition. I’m not a fan of Mark Bass heads at all, I think the newer ones sound mushy. But I have to hand it to Mark Bass, this little amp emulator is really cool.

I went to this facility because they have a 50 watt circa 1970 Plexi I’ve played before that sounds just like what I’m looking for. You know, kind of like my Egnater but better :) I walk in and the house engineer is just cranking this Mark digital emulator and it sounds fabulous. I don’t like digital emulation because you can’t roll the volume knob off on the guitar to clean up the tone, not so with the DV Mark.  It reacts just like a tube amp with Volume swells and tone settings.

I did a little looking around after I returned home because I hadn’t ever seen one of these before. It’s placed in the market place to compete with the Kemper Profiling amp and the Axe-FX II. I’ve tried the Axe-FX II but you really had to spend a lot of time dialing in tones, not so with the DV Mark. It’s set up just like a typical 3 channel amplifier and really easy to use at half the price. I really want one after a few hours of play time, it’s the next on my list. Check out the videos below.

R.I.P JJ Cale

From JJ Cale’s website:

JJ Cale Has Passed Away

JJ Cale passed away at 8:00 pm on Friday July 26
at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, CA.

The legendary singer / songwriter had suffered a heart attack.
There are no immediate plans for services.
His history is well documented at JJCale.com, rosebudus.com/cale,
and in the documentary, To Tulsa And Back.

Donations are not needed but he was a great lover of animals so, if you like,
you can remember him with a donation to your favorite local animal shelter.

Poison ft Chriss Yell

This is a Tune my close friend and Musical partner and I recorded last summer. I played the drums, bass and guitars, he sang and played some acoustic guitars as well as penned the tune. For contractual reasons I wasn’t allowed to play it publicly until Today. He has this fantastic sounding U87 Microphone clone from JJ audio that sounds so sweet and full, I love using that microphone! Enjoy!

Slate Pro Audio RAVEN MTX

Today Steven Slate released a new video of his new Raven Touch Studio Console. The Raven MTX is now available at gcpro.com in the US and MEDIAPROS.co.uk in the EU. No word on availability of the smaller Raven MTi shown at NAMM. I also might add the Price point is 16.5k US Stereo and $17.5k surround, a lot higher than SS marketing people have said in the past pre release. Also a note of interest it is “Macintosh only” at this time however a windows capable unit is in the works. I think it’s an amazing Desk and, if it works properly, a huge game changer for DAW.

Late Night Sessions

Late night sessions with my favorite Bass Player

My Alter Ego “I am Dead!”

I’m sitting in my studio with absolutely no voice whatsoever but I’m gleefully smiling :D I’ll explain in a minute. I’ve been working on segment music for a Broadcast Radio client of mine that’s been with me since 1995. The music was for a new gaming segment they’re adding to their “Computer Talk” radio program, of course it has to be the metal! (By Request). They want and I quote “a tune that sounds like a hot wheels commercial.” I’m not much of a Metal fan unless it’s Tool or Dream Theater, it seems to me and my taste Metal has all been done before. I don’t play metal at gigs and I wouldn’t audition for a metal gig unless someone tried to pass it off as something else (been there done that). It’s just not my cup of tea as a player.

The timing on this project couldn’t have been better.  I just finished watching “What we do is Secret” the story of the Germs. I was a little to young for the punk scene but I lived in the middle of it being in Los Angeles during Middle School. I remember kids wearing Germs shirts and hearing stories from my brother and his friends about Darby Crash (and his epic Heroin habit) and Pat Smear (Nirvana – Foo Fighters). I already had it in my mind to do some heavy Punk Riffing for fun in the studio because I’m a huge Germs fan and the film inspired me. I’m a huge fan of Punk Rock, I listen to the Dead Kennedy’s all the time still as I never seem to tire of them. Plus I resonate artistically toward the minimalism in Punk and good old 3 chord Rock. Angus RULZ!

In the same day (I know a lot of Netflix but I’ve been really Sick) I watched another film called Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains. I’d never heard of this film but it reminded me of working with scummy A & R people back when I was a young Lad trying to work my way up in the music business in LA 20 years ago. There’s a line from the Movie “Don’t Put Out” that was perfect for this tune so I threw it in there. I liked the film, but I usually like any film that has to do with musicians. Coal miners daughter, Walk the Line and the Pick of Destiny are among my favorites.

This is one of those projects where almost everything went perfect, almost, which is rare. I had some trouble with the drum production but I’m not a good drummer so I have to “fix it”to make it sound righteous in the mix. Outside of that I composed and recorded the music in less than 2 hours. I only did one take for the guitar solo and kept it as hinckey as it is in a few spots. The vocals aren’t going to the client just the arrangement, plus I can’t sing lead (my voice is nasally). So what is it that one must do when your voice is great for harmony but a Vick’s commercial a capella? Why bring out the Cookie Monster voice!

Cookie Monster Metal!

For many moons I’ve used a character  as a catalyst to write with before, the Staten Worshiping, Heroin addicted, on a Murder spree Loki Hendrix Mac Nicol. His mother let the neighbors rape him as a child while his drunk father beat him and his siblings which formed him into a psychopath. Loki is an alter ego kind of character bloody and violent to the core! Loki comes straight out of a Quentin Tarantino nightmare, he gets his kicks by stabbing people in the eye with his needles after he shoots up as a type of murderous mayhem and torture.

Loki Hendrix Mac Nicol was here!

As I’m doing the vocals on this project my voice is just getting tore up but I saved one last blast for the blood curdling scream Loki lets out in the intro. Oh my freaking Lord it hurt! The end of the story, I had so much fun doing this arrangement, more fun then I’ve had in quite some time solo cholo. FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN!!!! It wasn’t work, it was an enjoyable process especially when everything goes as easy as this one did. My Egnater Tourmaster sounds just brutal on this track, I cranked it up so loud I had to run cables all the way to the bathroom on the other side of the house to stop the bleed over. Check out my *cough* Loki’s blood curdling scream in the intro, I don’t think I will be answering the phone anytime today :D

Oh, and remember to play this FUCKING LOUD!