product review
Product reviews and how-to's of rising music merchandise, CDs, albums, concerts, and more.
Best Record Players for Under $500
It's safe to say that vinyl is back and here to stay, so it might be high time to invest in something a little better than that cheap one you picked up at Urban Outfitters that will only scratch your valuable records. Sure, digital is more convenient, but vinyl offers a listening experience much more intimate for true music lovers. Listening to music becomes a ritual, and spinning your favorite bands records is more rewarding because you really get to sit with it, as opposed to skipping around every 30 seconds, succumbing to the musical ADD we have all developed.
By Joseph Farley8 years ago in Beat
Coolest Guitar Picks for Every Type of Sound
Getting started playing a guitar comes with simple essentials. All you need is a guitar and a pick to strum the strings with. Easy, right? Unless you want to include guitar straps or even a guitar book for beginners to learn the basics. But, to make playing guitar a more fun experience, don't choose the most basic guitar and a boring, plastic pick. If you're a straightforward, simple human being who doesn't care for exotic looking instrument designs and accessories, and just want to own that acoustic guitar and that black guitar pick, don't hold back. But, if you're someone who owns a uniquely designed guitar, cool guitar straps, and want a pick that's just as cool, then you've showed up to the right article.
By Jacqueline Hanikeh8 years ago in Beat
Best Musical Instruments for Kids
Your child's brain is guaranteed to develop faster with the encouragement of music in their lives. Though the "music" they will start off playing will consist of banging, blabber, and off tempo tapping, the process of introducing musical instruments to children's lives have a longterm effect on how they think, process, and develop.
By Kelsey Lange8 years ago in Beat
Necessary Albums Every Man Should Own
Music, it's one of the many forms of art that contains creativity, connection, and culture — the three Cs. Even though I just made that up, it's still very true. Music does connect people. They're able to share their taste and passions through their choices in music. A person may love jazz while another can't get through a day without listening to metal. And after sharing their favorite songs, the person who loves jazz artists will start loving metal while the metal person will start getting into jazz — that's the beauty of music.
By George Nekilan8 years ago in Beat
Coolest Guitar Straps Every Player Must Own
Guitar straps aren't the most glamorous part of playing the guitar, but if you want people to take your playing more seriously, it might be a good idea to invest in one that's high quality. Guitar straps do far more than just hold up your instrument, a good one will be more comfortable while also letting you express your personal tastes. Learning to play an instrument isn't easy, so why not be comfortable as you do it?
By Joseph Farley8 years ago in Beat
Best Guitar Books for Beginners to Learn the Basics
You've finally taken that first step and bought that guitar you always wanted to start playing. You pick it up and try to pluck a few strings and it feels so foreign you put it in the corner of the room and never pick it up again. Don't be that person!
By Joseph Farley8 years ago in Beat
Classic Albums to Add to Your Record Collection Right Now
It's 2017, and in a surprising turn of events, record players are now in once more. With more and more people realizing how awesome record collections can be, music labels are now starting to produce their top hits on vinyl once more.
By Cato Conroy8 years ago in Beat
Vinyl Subscriptions 101
Whether or not you collect vinyl records, you've definitely seen the ads. Vinyl subscription services have really kicked off in the last year or two, with unboxing videos becoming a phenomenon all their own — if you're one of the many people who sent me death threats for starting the VNYL unboxing trend, I'm sorry.
By Paige Williams8 years ago in Beat
Need a Website?
I recently made the decision to invest in a professional website for my music business. As a singer songwriter and now performer, I needed a powerful means of distribution, enticing marketing, and a crisp display across desktop and mobile devices. Wix.com provided all of these things and more. Its drag and drop design was so intuitive that I was able to focus primarily on aesthetics as opposed to the technical logistics. There are other website design platforms that don't require coding such as Weebly, but Wix's music management is like no other. I get an eCommerce store built into my site, which is run through PayPal, so you get super smooth purchases and invoices for a reasonable fee of 3% plus $0.30 per transaction. By the way, I'm only paying $15/month for everything I’m about to talk about, and I still have all the rights to my songs.
By Jonathon Lombardi8 years ago in Beat
Juniors Gone Wild
I have spent a good portion of my mid- to late-twenties trying to find the right sound for me. At the time I was in an all-original band that did play covers to pay the bills. So needing something versatile but yet still sounded good and unique was keeping me quite frustrated in the search for that "holy grail" of Amplifier/Guitar tones. I had switched earlier on in my career (age 21-22) from solid-state amps to the tried and true tube amps.
By Mark Darnell9 years ago in Beat
Experimental?
Does experimental music involve the giving up of music? To answer this question both music and experimental music needs to be defined. Composer Elliot Schwartz (n.d) defines music as ‘the organisation of sound and time’. Similarly, composer Larry Austin (n.d) uses the word sound rather than harmony in his definition: ‘music is wanted sound’. The use of the word ‘sound’ is interesting as John Cage (n.d) said that the ‘more meaningful term; the organisation of sound’ should be used rather than the word music when talking about all music not played on ‘18th and 19th century instruments’, suggesting all post 19th century music is experimental music. However, the definition of experimental would contradict this suggestion. The dictionary definition of experimental is ‘involving a radically new or innovative style’, suggesting that experimental music is music that involves new and innovative ideas, for example, Royal Blood (band) can be considered experimental music as it features the use of heavy processing and FX to create a full rock band (four - five piece) sound from a two-piece band (drums and bass guitar). This definition of experimental music is heavily linked to John Cage’s use of non-traditional instruments and prepared piano, for example, in the piece ‘Water Walk’ (1960), which features heavy use of items not considered to be instruments (radios, water, a bath etc.) to create the sonic content of the piece.
By CHEM USERS9 years ago in Beat
