Canadian Musician articles from January 2012

Canadian Musician archives from January 2012

CM catches up with Alice cooper's Glen Sohel.(WHATS ON YOUR MIND?)(Interview)
January 1, 2012... Having just wrapped-up a world tour with rock legend Alice Cooper, drummer Glen Sobel has played in a variety of genres and conducted clinics internationally for Mapex Drums, Regal Tip Sticks, and Sabian Cymbals, In addition, he has established...

From songwriter to songwriter.(FeedBack)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2012... The following was sent to Tim Chaisson regarding his column "Consider The Co-Write" from the November/December 2011 issue of Canadian Musician: Hi Tim, I believe you were dead on the money in your description of the initial anxieties I...

Plenty to talk about at blog central.(BLOGCENTRAL)
January 1, 2012... Head to www.canadianmusician.com/blogcentral to access music blogs by a collection of well-respected contributors covering a wide array of areas, from Guitar and Percussion to Publicity and riave any questions for our writers? Something specific...

The performer's piece: getting paid through neighbouring rights.(IndieInsider)
January 1, 2012... For Dave Faber, working on his band's debut album was a financially challenging endeavour. "I was working a full-time job and had to quit," recollects Faber, front-man for the BC-based rock outfit Faber Drive. After winning a Vancouver rock...

Tom Jackson takes to the stage in T.O.(Changes)
January 1, 2012... * On December 4, 2011, over 250 musicians, label reps, and music industry insiders came together at Toronto's OISE Auditorium to listen to and learn from Live Music Producer Tom Jackson. Known for helping the stage performances of major artists...

SXSW music gear expo gets ready.(Changes)
January 1, 2012... * South by Southwest (SXSW) will be presenting its Music Gear Expo, now in its third year, at the 2012 edition of the popular musical showcase. Presented by Austin music retailer Strait Music, there will be instruments manufactured by Expo...

Ontario teen has his wish GGGranted.(Changes)
January 1, 2012... * Well-known producer and Nimbus School of Recording Arts Co-Founder Garth "GGGarth" Richardson recently granted a wish for Rob O'Toole, an Ontario teen diagnosed with cancer. When told that he was being granted his most heartfelt wish, O'Toole...

Blue rodeo to be inducted into the CMHF.(Changes)(Canadian Music Hall of Fame)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... * The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has announced Blue Rodeo as the 2012 inductees to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. With a career spanning nearly three decades, Blue Rodeo has sold in excess of four million records...

CM music education survey.(Changes)(Canadian Music)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... * Canadian Musician recently surveyed musicians from across the Great White North to gauge their thoughts and opinions on music education. Here are the results: What is you current level of education? * College diploma: 38% * University...

Unison benevolent fund announces several major donations.(changes)
January 1, 2012... * The Unison Benevolent Fund brought together the Canadian music community for a night full of good news and good cheer. Several hundred attendees were treated to a live performance by Tom Wilson as well as an update on Unison s fundraising...

The Biebs gives back.(changes)(Justin Bieber's Believe Charity Drive)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... * Pop phenom Justin Bieber kicked off the 2011 holiday season with his Believe Charity Drive. Bieber is donating a portion of the proceeds from his holiday release, Under The Mistletoe, to The Children's Wish Foundation of Canada. Children's...

SOCAN appears at supreme court hearing on music copyright.(changes)
January 1, 2012... * SOCAN appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada over two days in December, representing the interests of its members in three copyright cases related to the use of music on the internet by large telecommunications and broadcasting...

Slacker sponsors CMW, announces artist showcase stations.(changes)
January 1, 2012... * Slacker Inc. has announced that it has signed on as the exclusive title sponsor of Canadian Music Week (CMW), the annual five-day event which focuses on the music business by combining conferences, a trade exhibition, awards shows, a film...

Metalworks appoints new chair of music performance & technology programs.(Changes)(Metalworks Institute's Don Quarles)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... * Metalworks Institute has appointed Don Quarles as the new Chair of the Music Performance & Technology Programs. Quarles has had an extensive career in the music industry that is most recently highlighted by his position as Executive...

Simple plan & Bluenotes support kids help phone.(Changes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... * Continuing ongoing commitments to raise funds in support of Kids Help Phone, rockers Simple Plan and clothing chain Bluenotes teamed-up to release exclusively-designed girls and guys T-shirts leading up to the holiday season. The Simple Plan...

SOCAN hands out hardware at Gala.(Changes)
January 1, 2012... * SOCAN and the Canadian music industry gathered at Roy Thomson Hall on Novemeber 21, 2011 to honour some of Canada's most talented songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers at the 22nd annual SOCAN Awards Gala, Co-hosted by Steven...

CFM & ACTRA form strategic alliance.(Changes)
January 1, 2012... * The Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM) and ACTRA have formalized a strategic alliance meant to provide new opportunities for mutual support on issues of common interest and promote solidarity and greater unity of purpose between the two...

Early 2012 guitar workshop plus details announced.(Changes)
January 1, 2012... * Registration has already begun for the 2012 Toronto and Vancouver sessions of Guitar Workshop Plus and, for a limited time, there are early bird registration offers where participants can save on tuition and be entered into draws to win a...

Royal conservatory celebrates 125 years.(Changes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... * November 20, 2011, marked the beginning of The Royal Conservatory of Music's 125th anniversary year. Opening in 1886 with 200 students and 50 teachers above a storefront at the corner of Yonge and Dundas in Toronto, The Royal Conservatory...

Pasic 2011 drums up support in Indy.(Changes)
January 1, 2012... * From November 9-12, downtown Indianapolis was home to over 5,100 percussionists and industry leaders from around the world as the 2011 Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Percussive...

GERR heads.(Changes)
January 1, 2012... Welcome to a new and ongoing section of Canadian Musician. Here, we'll be featuring brief interviews with you - our readers - about your favourite pieces of gear. It could be anything related to your musical output: your road-worn amp, the...

Events.(schedule of music festivals and conferences)(Calendar)
January 1, 2012... * MIDEM 2012 Cannes, France January28-31, 2012 www.midem.com * Hillside Inside 2012 Guelph, ON February 3-4, 2012 519-763-6396, FAX 519-763-9514 info@hillsidefestival.ca, www.hillsidefestival.ca * 2012 Folk Alliance...

Steinberg CMC series DAW controllers.(RoadTest)(Product/service evaluation)
January 1, 2012... Steinberg has expanded its range of DAW controller surfaces with its innovative CMC series of controllers, intended for the company's Cubase and Nuendo workstations. Affordable, pocket-sized, and tailored to make the most of Steinberg's Advanced...

Gon bops Mariano series congas & bongos & Alex Acuna Special Edition Cajon.(RoatTest)(Product/service evaluation)
January 1, 2012... Founded in the 1950s, Gon Bops is one of the oldest current manufacturers of hand percussion products and these drums - even those aimed for relative beginners - are something to truly behold. Firstly, Gon Bops has created a set of bongos...

Pro tools 10 digital audio workstation.(RoadTest)
January 1, 2012... Avid has once again stepped up to plate and introduced some serious new additions to its Pro Tools software. If you were looking for higher sound quality mixed with new great-sounding plug-ins while also hoping to save time on editing, the...

Creating a fresh sound: artificial harmonics for guitarists.(GUITAR)
January 1, 2012... Artificial harmonics can decorate guitar performances and compositions by breathing new life into familiar chord progressions and solos. Applicable in a wide variety of musical genres from rock to jazz to reggae, the celestial sounds offered by...

Achieving hand independence: part 3: increasing complexity.(KEYBOARDS)
January 1, 2012... In the previous edition of CM, I shared some practical, simple exercises for achieving hand independence. Though they were basic, the exercises are crucial to understanding the learning process. Preferably, for future practice, you'll get an...

Adaptation: a must for metal & more.(BASS)(Essay)
January 1, 2012... At age 13, I began playing guitar with some kids in my neighborhood. Because there were five or six guitar players, I would sit around for hours and wait for my turn to play. All I wanted to do was jam and play, so at about 14, I decided it was...

Creating a fill vocabulary.(PERCUSSION)
January 1, 2012... Acommon trait among all great drummers is how naturally they play; musical ideas flow like words in a conversation. We speak, listen, read, and write on such a regular basis that our language is an effortless process. I'd like to discuss a...

The art of the woodwind/percussion duet.(WOODWINDS)
January 1, 2012... Though creative collaborations in jazz have occurred between drummers and woodwind players, there is little talk of the craft of such collaborations. One might assume that general rules of jazz apply to groups of any size, but the woodwind/ drum...

Plaiting lead trumpet part 1.(BRASS)
January 1, 2012... Playing lead trumpet in any group comes with responsibilities. The lead player is not the person who can play the highest and loudest notes, but the person that leads the other players in the trumpet section, and in ensemble passages with other...

Going digital part 1: plug-ins vs. hardware.(DIGITAL MUSIC)
January 1, 2012... Recording music has changed so much in the last few decades, and with the advent of digital recording, the cost, quality, and efficiency of the craft have made it accessible to all who want to record their own music. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Overcomin stage fright part 2.(VOCALS)
January 1, 2012... Warming Up To Counteract Fear When I am coaching the Singers Playground Performance Workshops, it's easy to spot the manifestations of stage fright and gently work towards practical solutions. I have found the single most important way to...

Kathleen Edwards: cleaning the slate voyageur takes career traveller to new songwriting shores.
January 1, 2012... Kathleen Edward's new album Voyageur, which drops mind-January on Maple Music Recourdings, is a cathartic journey in song; it's about new beginnings - leaving the past behind and exploring the pain and healing surrounding the dissolution of her...

Todd kerns: preparation meets opportunity.
January 1, 2012... 777. Of his many tattoos, this one would be especially prophetic. On July 7, 2007, Todd Kerns and a few friends entered Pussycat Tattoo in Las Vegas and took the owners up on their tattoo promotion commemorating that day's unique digits:...

Hollerado.(Interview)
January 1, 2012... "Unique" is an apt word one could use to describe Hollerado - and not solely their musical output. The down-to-earth attitudes of these 2011 JUNO nominees for Best New Group who hail from Manitock, On were made immediately clear as we set up...

Canada's finest are here to help brass & woodwinds 2012: get the most from your instrument!
January 1, 2012... Much like the player that wields it, a good brass or woodwind instrument, with the proper care and attention, can actually develop an enhanced sonic character over time. It's an interesting thing to ponder - that an inanimate object can...

Pathways to success music education 2011.
January 1, 2012... The year was 1994. I was a freshman in my first week of classes at Preston High School in Cambridge, ON. On this particular afternoon, early autumn sunlight filtered through the classroom windows and piano scales bounced off the stark white...

Unlocking your creativity.(WRITING)(Interview)
January 1, 2012... CW: It's hard to put into words, but how do you write songs? RS: Exactly. You hear songwriters say, "I don't know where my good ideas come from." I mean, how do you write? You're playing an instrument and just humming ideas, or singing in the...

Nhancing rhythm & tonality through equalization & compression.(RECORDING)
January 1, 2012... The three fundamental components of music are melodic structure, harmonic structure, and rhythmic structure. All three elements contain certain varieties of audio waveforms that can be manipulated in the mixing stage in order to assist the mixer...

Making the most of your stage monitor mix.(LIVESOUND)(Column)
January 1, 2012... As all things have a starting point, when your band is starting to perform, it's most likely in some small clubs and bars-working for a shit bar manager, playing through a shit sound system that may or may not have a sound person, on a shitty...

Dance bear, dance! a guide to endorsement agreements.(BUSINESS)
January 1, 2012... Introduction Music has enjoyed a long and fruitful history with advertising. From the struggling songwriters of the '50s and '60s that supplemented their income delivering jingles for Madison Avenue to the Rolling Stones' reported $3-million...

ikaossilator.(Apply Yourself!)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Kong's iKaossilator for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch takes advantage of an iOS device's touchscreen to mimic the functions of an X-Y touchpad. This synthesizer tool offers 150 diverse sounds and is controlled by touching, sliding, or tapping a...

VocaLive.(Apply Yourself!)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... IK Multimedia's VocaLive for iPad is a professional performing and recording vocal processor for iOS. VocaLive provides vocalists with a suite of 12 real-time professional vocal effects, along with a recorder. The effects can be combined into a...

TonePrinl.(Apply Yourself!)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... TC Electronic's TonePrint app for; iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android compiles all TonePrints for TC ' Electronic's TonePrint-enabled guitar pedals in one place and allows users to "beam" new TonePrints to their pedals. Each TonePrint has...

Chordbot Pro.(Apply Yourself!)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... This Android app helps songwriters create and try out chord progressions. Users can create advanced chord progressions and play them back to hear exactly how they sound. The app offers a choice of 57 chord types and 30 comping styles, as well as...

Mobile metronome.(Apply Yourself!)
January 1, 2012... Mobile Metronome for Android offers a simple metronome tool for musicians of all levels. Users can select the exact tempo required and also have the ability to save and load settings. There are various tempos to select from or you can tap the...

inBloom.(Apply Yourself!)
January 1, 2012... Designed for the traveling musician looking for healthy culinary options and decisions, inBloom is a location-based app that searches alternative, footprint-friendly spots in foreign touring territory. The list includes restaurants, grocery...

DiyiTcch iPB 10 programmable pedalboard.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... DigiTech has unveiled its iPB-10 programmable pedalboard, designed to utilize the processing power of an iPad combined with the features of a pedalboard and the flexibility of a multi-effects device. The iPB-10 allows users to create a...

Levy's printed hemp guitar straps.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Levy's Leathers has added a new line of guitar straps to its product offerings. The Printed Hemp guitar straps are made of 2" heavyweight genuine hemp webbing. The straps are printed with various Rastafarian designs. Pictured is model MS-SH8P...

Sonor Pure Canadian snare drum.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... In recognition of a 10 year partnership, Sonor Drums Canada and Sonor GmbH are offering an exclusive snare drum to the Canadian market: the Pure Canadian snare drum. The Pure Canadian features a 13-ply heavy Canadian maple shell, available in...

Gibson firebird X electric guitar.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Gibson has unveiled its Firebird X electric guitar. Featuring a hand-sorted swamp ash body, rock maple neck, and curly maple fingerboard, the Firebird X has been designed to offer a lightweight guitar with M good sustain and tonal range. Special...

Reunion blues continental musician's laptop case.(HotGear)
January 1, 2012... Reunion Blues has released its Continental musician's laptop case developed for musicians, DJs, and studio recording professionals. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The case features a thickly-padded, zippered top-access compartment lined with a...

EVH 5150 III 50-watt head a cabinet.(HotGear)
January 1, 2012... EVH has introduced its new EVH 5150 III 50-watt head and its matching EVH 5150 III 1 x 12 straight and EVH 5150 III 2 x 12 cabinets, all developed to the specifications of guitarist Eddie Van Halen. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION...

Young chang y150 classic grand piano.(HotGear)(Young Chang America Inc.)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Young Chang has unveiled its Y150 classic grand piano, develop-through a partnership with Delwin D Fandrich. The action of the Y150 consists of 4,500 parts, each manufactured with an error toleiance of 5/100 mm, and made of hard maple to resist...

Schaller Da Vinci tuning machine.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Schaller has made available its Da Vinci tuning machines, available in 24 K gold, nickel, ruthenium, chrome, satin pearl, black chrome, satin chrome, or vintage copper finishes. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Da Vinci features a transparent...

Peavey Xport portable USB guitar interface.(HotGear)
January 1, 2012... Peavey has unveiled the Xport, a high-fidelity, portable 1/4" jack-to-USB audio interface for electric guitar and bass. Xport uses a standard USB cable to connect any guitar to a personal computer or laptop. The Xport features ASIO and Core...

Corrado music stands pro series.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Corrado Music Stands has un-veiled its Pro Series of instrument stands, featuring the company's lift spring for automatic set-up. The Pro Stand is compact and can fold and attach to an instrument case or be stowed away quickly. The Pro Stand...

Stonebridge guitars 20CM series acoustic guitar.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Stonebridge guitars International has intorduced a new model to ist current line up, the 20 CM.The 20CM series features all solid woods, with a cedar top and mahogany back and sides with a satin lacquer finish. The 20CM Series is of-ferd in...

Roland SPD-SX sampling pad.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Roland has made available its new SPD-SX sampling pad, a multi-pad percussion instrument with 2 GB of onboard sampling memory and three effects engines. Replacing the SPD-S, the SPD-SX provides a simple and portable way to add sampling to any...

Voodoo lab pedal power digital power supply.(HotGear)(Brief article)
January 1, 2012... Voodoo Lab has released its Pedal Power Digital, a compact all-analog power supply designed to simultaneously operate up to four high-current digital pedal effects. Pedal Power Digital is also compatible with all 9 V battery-operated modern and...

Alfred's The Big Gig: Bin-Picture thinking for success.(HotGear)
January 1, 2012... Alfred Music Publishing has begun shipping The Big Gig: Big-Picture Thinking For Success authored by well-known drummer Zoro. The Big Gig provides a comprehensive insider's guide for independent musicians who want to break into the music...

Showcase.
January 1, 2012... The fires of What: Alternative Pop Where: Toronto Visit: www.thefiresof.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * I would normally hesitate to endorse any band that delays recording a great album because they're too busy playing ultimate...