MUSIC NOTES
(a.k.a. THE BLOG)
Guitar Gear & Specs
For those who are curious, I currently use two main guitars for recording:
1. Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II HB
2. Martin D-17
I have also used a Fender Strat equipped with a bridge humbucker for some rock recordings, but I haven’t used it in years.
The tone of my Godin jazz box is typically shaped using Logic Pro’s Amp Designer plugin, usually with either a Vox or one of the Marshall models. I then customize my sound with various EQs, reverbs, delays, and modulation effects, some of which are Universal Audio plugins and others are Logic Pro. This allows me to keep my entire sound in the box.
Since Godin does not provide their setup specs online, I wanted to share them here for anyone interested. The factory setup specs provided to me by Godin for the 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II HB are as follows:
• Action: 5/64" on the high E string and between 6 & 7/64" on the low E string at the 12th fret
• Neck relief: .008" at the center of the neck (8th fret).
• Strings: D'Addario E12 Jazz, nickel wound .012-.052 (with a wound G string).
• Bridge pickup height: 3/32" from the strings when fretting at the last fret. You can then adjust the neck pickup to match the output level of the bridge pickup.
I have my Godin set up with the neck almost dead straight, with lower action and nickel wound 13-56 strings (D'Addario EJ22 Jazz Medium Gauge). The Martin is also set up with 13-gauge strings.
Some have noted that my jazz box tone resembles the early sound of Pat Metheny. While I do use some of his techniques, I incorporate different elements and effects as well. I admit I’m a fan of his early sound, but like many guitarists, I feel I’m still exploring to find the “perfect sound.”
8/9/2025
How Artificial Intelligence Could Distort The Music Industry
"Jazz, with its deep roots in improvisation, emotion, and individual expression, is likely to be one of the purists that resist the encroachment of AI."
Read my article @ https://www.allaboutjazz.com/how-artificial-intelligence-could-distort-the-music-industry
7/22/2024
Get 100K Streams For Only $50???
If you're thinking about purchasing some Spotify promotion like guaranteed streams...DON'T! Even if the promotional service guarantees organic, real streams it is still in violation of Spotify's terms and conditions. Here's what Spotify says about 3rd-party streaming services:
"Paid 3rd-party services that guarantee streams aren’t legitimate.
"3rd-party promotional services that advertise streams in return for payment violate our terms & conditions, and using them could result in your music being removed from Spotify. Any service that claims to offer guaranteed placement on playlists on Spotify in exchange for money are in violation of our terms & conditions, and they shouldn't be used.
"The consequences for participating in these services:
"When we identify or are alerted to potential or confirmed cases of stream manipulation, we take action that may include the withholding of royalties, the correction of streaming numbers, and measures to ensure the artist or song’s popularity is accurately reflected in our charts. Spotify reserves the right to remove manipulated content from the platform.
"If this happened to you but you believe your streams were earned authentically, you should share information with your distributor or label about the methods used to genuinely promote the content in question. They'll work with our team to review, and hopefully get the problem solved quickly.
"How Spotify protects against artificial streaming:
"An artificial stream is a stream that doesn't reflect genuine user listening intent, including any instance of attempting to manipulate Spotify by using automated processes (bots or scripts).
"We put significant engineering resources and research into detecting, mitigating, and removing artificial streaming activity on Spotify so that nothing stands in the way of our mission of giving artists the opportunity to live off their art, and so that rights holders are paid as fairly as possible for their work. The integrity of this is incredibly important to us because an illegitimate stream means there are honest, hard-working artists on the other side that are impacted."
You can read it for yourself here: https://artists.spotify.com/help/article/third-party-services-that-guarantee-streams?category=promos-and-playlists
For a guide to gaining an authentic following through Spotify’s tools and resources, read their blog: https://artists.spotify.com/blog/release-guide-preparing-for-release-day
9/2/2021
Mix To Master
I've created an audio reference playlist on Spotify featuring a collection of recordings, from various genres, that are mastered well, possess good dynamics, and are not squashed from hyper-compression. Many of the select recordings are highlights from famed mastering engineer Bob Katz’s Honor Roll albums (CDs). WARNING: Do not judge the quality of a recording based on its perceived loudness! As Bob states, "high intrinsic loudness necessarily produces lowered microdynamics because of the compression/limiting required to prevent peak overload. A hot recording will have lowered transient clarity and less dynamic range. As the intrinsic loudness goes up, the sound quality can go down. The sound will not be as clear or as 'sharp' or as 'open' as a recording whose intrinsic loudness is lower. You can’t beat the laws of physics." Thus, the race to have the “loudest” recording is self-defeating!
As I have always explained to artists, follow best practices: the best mixes make the best masters. In fact, a perfect mix may need little to no processing at all during the mastering session. Therefore, take the time to craft good, if not great, quality mixes and not be of the mindset of “we’ll fix it during mastering.”
I think many of us engineers, producers, and artists over the last few decades fell prey to the concept, and especially the competitive nature, that “louder” through more and MORE compression, soft clipping, and limiting somehow equaled “better” sound. It’s time to come to the light and stop sacrificing quality for quantity (i.e., decibels)! We all have a volume control on our devices, but none come with a quality control (i.e., dynamics) you can adjust.
Many thanks to Bob Katz for continually sharing his knowledge and expertise with the music industry, and for his fight against “The Loudness Wars.” I'm a better audio engineer because of him and an avid advocate for bringing back dynamics to recordings. For more information about the Mix to Master Playlist, including important playback instructions and additional audio resources, visit: http://www.eatinrecords.com/resource
11/9/2020
The Problem With Music (Business)
The Problem with Music is an old, but much-celebrated and enlightening essay ranting against the rock music industry by producer/engineer Steve Albini (Nirvana). Originally published in The Baffler in December 1993, I used to keep a copy of it in my Chicago studio for clients to read. Although the industry has changed much in this digital and streaming age, there are still some relevant lessons to be learned from it. The original eight-page article can be read here: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music
Cheers!
2/11/2018
Favorite Quotes...
"Don't gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold" —Bob Marley
"A really good band with a bad drummer is not a good band. A really bad band with a good drummer sounds better." —Ginger Baker
"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." —Jimi Hendrix
"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do." —Bob Dylan
"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." —Frank Zappa
"And, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." —Paul McCartney
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." —Thomas Jefferson
"I don't stand for black man's side, I don't stand for white man's side, I stand for God's side." —Bob Marley
"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." —John Lennon
"All this talk about equality. The only thing people really have in common is that they are all going to die." —Bob Dylan
“Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.” —Stevie Wonder
"People tend to forget that the word 'history' contains the word 'story'." —Ken Burns
“I wanted to create a picture in music of what could be up there in outer space.” —Joe Meek
"You can play a shoestring if you're sincere." —John Coltrane
"I'm not a star. I'm just backing up the cats." —Jaco Pastorius
"Only a spiritual being has awareness." —Chick Corea
"I'll never play a drum solo you can't dance to." —Gene Krupa
"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within." —Will Durant
9/10/2017
Chicago Local Music Community Mourns
Long before Q101 (WKQX 101.1FM) was Chicago’s Alternative rock station, it was originally all-news radio. And over the years its format has gone through many changes: from news to adult contemporary, then back to news, then to album oriented rock, then back to adult contemporary, then to Hot AC (adult contemporary), then to adult Top 40, then to Modern AC, and finally to alternative rock for nearly 20 years. Now, the station has been sold again (I won’t bore you with that history), and under corporate restructuring, the station is returning to an all-news format. Why is this significant? Well, if you’re an independent artist/band in the Chicago area, then you’ve lost one of the great champions of local music. And if you are a music lover and fan of new music, then the same holds true, for one of the very few radio platforms that promoted and exposed local artists to listeners is gone. Chris Payne’s Local 101 show is one of the casualties of the corporate restructuring. Since the ‘90s, Payne’s local show has helped launch the careers of many Chicago bands (e.g., Disturbed, Fall Out Boy) and exposed countless listeners to new music they normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to hear on a commercial rock station. That conduit is priceless to the independent artist, for commercial airplay is virtually nonexistent for them. Q101 does live on via the internet at Q101.com, but the Local 101 show with Payne will not. During the last Local 101 show, which aired on July 14 and was fittingly the last live broadcast on Q101, Chris signed the station off and stated he was retiring from radio. It’s hard to believe we won’t hear Chris’ voice this Sunday night, or any of the new music he would always share with his listeners. So, thank you, Chris, for being such a champion of local music and supporting all the local artists/bands through your many years of broadcasting, including some of the bands on my Eatin’ label. You were and are a staple in the Chicago local music community–you’ll be missed.
7/17/2011
