EQ Magazine - March 2009 - (Page 6)

Talk Box TRANSITION TIME Ten years ago, if you’d said multi-platinum acts would be creating CDs exclusively for Wal-Mart because it would be one of the few big chains left selling CDs, people would have thought you were crazy. But that’s the reality. The mighty Tower Records has fallen, Circuit City is on the ropes, and the Mom and Pop stores are pretty much gone—except, interestingly enough, for the ones specializing in vinyl. What happened? There are plenty of potential scapegoats: Shawn Fanning, for starting Napster. The record labels, who failed to embrace a shift in consumer tastes. Greedy acts. The death of music radio, making it hard to hear new music. DVDs and video games competing for consumer dollars. Overcompression that made many CDs unlistenable. The lack of live venues that formerly provided up-and-coming bands an infrastructure. But why bother assigning blame? That doesn’t solve anything. The physical is transitioning to the virtual, and there’s no turning back. Nor is the music industry a special case; just ask travel agents, Polaroid, newspapers, and typewriter manufacturers, among others. Rather than deny reality, we need to embrace it. Someone will figure out a model for selling music in the virtual world that will make CD sales look like a blip. Someone will figure out a new distribution method that gets more music in the hands of more people than ever. And someone (maybe you!) will make a lot of money for figuring it out. Don’t fight the future, because the future will always win. Make friends with it instead—because when the future is on your side, you have an extremely powerful ally. Speaking of transitions, I’m sorry to say Editor Matt Harper has left us to take a very sweet gig outside of the music industry. Aside from being a hard worker and a great friend, Matt has been an essential part of EQ’s resurgence in the past couple years. But mea culpa: Part of his departure is my fault. When his prospective employer called me up as a reference, I stupidly told the truth instead of lying through my teeth (“He’s a great worker, except of course for Thursday, when he has to report to the parole board . . . and Friday, when he goes for drug rehab . . .”). The good news is he left on excellent terms, and is looking forward to continuing to contribute to EQ as a freelancer. Please join us in thanking Matt for all the great work he did in the past, and wishing him all the best for the future. He deserves it! www.eqmag.com Vol. 20 No. 3, March 2009 Executive Editor Craig Anderton, canderton@musicplayer.com Managing Editor Debbie Greenberg, dgreenberg@musicplayer.com Contributors Chris Dunnett, Cliff Goldmacher, Roberto Martinelli, Scott Mathews, Shane Mehling, Ken Micalef, Joel Patterson, Greg Reynolds, Michael Ross, Robert J. Shimonski, Richard Thomas Art Director Patrick Wong, pwong@musicplayer.com Staff Photographers Paul Haggard, phaggard@musicplayer.com, Craig Anderton, canderton@musicplayer.com Group Publisher Joe Perry jperry@musicplayer.com, 770.343.9978 Advertising Director, West Coast & New Business Dev. Greg Sutton gsutton@musicplayer.com, 925.425.9967 Advertising Director, Midwest Jessica Sullivan jsullivan@musicplayer.com, 661.255.2719 Advertising Director, East Coast & Europe Grace Newman gnewman@musicplayer.com, 631.239.1460 Advertising Director, Southwest Albert Margolis amargolis@musicplayer.com, 949.582.2753 Director of Specialty Sales Mike Montgomery mmontgomery@musicplayer.com, 650.238.0307 Specialty Sales Associate, North Allison Smith asmith@musicplayer.com, 650.238.0296 Specialty Sales Associate, South Will Sheng wsheng@musicplayer.com, 650.238.0325 Production Manager Beatrice Kim MUSIC PLAYER NETWORK Vice President John Pledger Editorial Director Michael Molenda Senior Financial Analyst Bob Jenkins Production Department Manager Beatrice Kim Director of Sales Operations Lauren Gerber Web Director Max Sidman Motion Graphics Designer Tim Tsuruda Marketing Director Christen McFarland Marketing Coordinator Rosario Perez Marketing Designer Joelle Katcher Systems Engineer John Meneses Assoc. Consumer Marketing Director Christopher Dyson NEWBAY MEDIA CORPORATE President & CEO Steve Palm Chief Financial Officer Paul Mastronardi Vice President Web Development Joe Ferrick Circulation Director Denise Robbins HR Manager Ray Vollmer IT Director Greg Topf Controller Jack Liedke Please direct all advertising and editorial inquiries to: EQ, 1111 Bayhill Dr., Ste. 125, San Bruno, CA 94066 (650) 238-0300; Fax (650) 238-0262; eq@musicplayer.com Please direct all subscription orders, inquiries, and address changes to: 800-289-9919, outside the U.S. 978-667-0364, eqmag@computerfulfillment.com Back Issues: Back Issues are available for $10 each at 800-289-9919, 978-667-0364, eqmag@computerfulfillment.com EQ (ISSN 1050-7868) is published monthly by NewBay Media, LLC 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 125, San Bruno, CA 94066. EQ is a trademark of NewBay Media. All material published in EQ is copyrighted (©) 2009 by NewBay Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material appearing in EQ is prohibited without written permission. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to EQ., P.O. Box 232, Lowell, MA 01853. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photos, or artwork. All product information is subject to change; publisher assumes no responsibility for such changes. All listed model numbers and product names are manufacturers' registered trademarks. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Bruno, CA, and at additional mailing offices. 6 EQ MARCH 2009 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - March 2009

EQ Magazine - March 2009 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Mr. Scruff Apollo Sunshine Al Schmitt Toolbox Third Eye Blind Kind of Blue Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Ableton Live Vocal Tools Gadgets & Goodies Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - March 2009

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