[Show #3] Getting Great Guitar Tone, Wilson Pickett Dead At 64

First up, some sad news. Wilson Pickett, best-known for hits "In the Midnight Hour" & "Mustang Sally", died of a heart attack yesterday at just 64 years young. Mike and Al share some personal memories of his work. Spotlight: Al discusses the new Macintosh computers with the Intel chip inside and it's compatibility with timing-based applications (MIDI, audio, video, etc.). The new computers are using a translation program called Rosetta to run any application that's not been updated to run on the Intel processor. Rosetta does not handle timing-based applications very well and is not ready to function as a media production platform until updates of the applications are available. Even Apple's own pro media apps (Final Cut, Soundtrack, Logic, etc.) won't run on this new machine yet. Updates of these pro apps should be available after March. In the meantime, if you're an Ableton Live user, you're good to go with the new Intel Macs! Version 5.2 was just released and ready to run on this new platform. Live 5.2 will be available as a download in February. Hot News From NAMM! Digidesign is heating up the NAMM show with lots of great news and releases... Digidesign Acquires Assets of Trillium Lane Labs Digidesign is proud to announce that it has acquired the assets of Trillium Lane Labs LLC, one of Digidesign's most valuable and innovative Development Partners. Trillium Lane Labs has produced an impressive array of effects and processors for Pro Tools�® systems, including the TL Space convolution reverb, the TL EveryPhase phaser, the TL Aggro compressor, the TL Utilities metronome, tuner, and over-sampling meter bundle, the TL Drum Rehab drum replacement tool (available soon), and the TL AutoPan panner (available soon). Currently available Trillium Lane Labs plug-ins are now compatible with Pro Tools 7 software (TL Utilities compatibility coming soon). Digidesign Advanced Instrument Research Group Digidesign is pleased to introduce the Digidesign�® Advanced Instrument Research group -- a new division that is dedicated to creating powerful virtual instruments purpose built for the Pro Tools environment. The Advanced Instrument Research group is showcasing two new exciting virtual instruments at this year's NAMM convention: the free Xpand! sound factory workstation and the soon-to-be-released Hybrid analog/digital high-definition synthesizer. Xpand! Your Creativity with a FREE Pro Tools Virtual Instrument The first release from the new Digidesign Advanced Instrument Research Group, Xpand! is a free RTAS�® sound factory workstation synthesis/sample-playback and effects plug-in that provides fast, efficient ways to access and manipulate thousands of high-quality sounds directly from within Pro Tools. Built for songwriters, film composers, DJs, electronic musicians, music producers, and sound designers, Xpand! is a sonic powerhouse that will become an indispensable component of any Pro Tools environment. Digidesign Previews New Music and DV Toolkits At this year's NAMM convention, Digidesign is previewing two new toolkit offerings that can help you dramatically expand your music and post production options. Take advantage of powerful plug-in collections, an increased track count, the Pro Tools MP3 Option, an included upgrade to Pro Tools 7.1 software, and much more! Every Digi 002 Now Includes the Factory Software Bundle Every Digidesign Digi 002�® system now includes the Digi 002 Factory software bundle with all the additional Digidesign and Bomb Factory�® plug-ins previously offered only with the Digi 002 Factory version -- at the same great Digi 002 price ($2,495). The Digi 002 system includes Pro Tools LE software, the Pro Tools Ignition Pack (with its coveted third-party software applications), 50 Digidesign and Bomb Factory plug-ins, and now ten additional plug-ins, for an even greater value. Now Shipping: Synchro Arts VocALign PRO Synchro Arts introduces VocALign PRO, a new and more powerful version of the unique VocALign automatic audio alignment tool. VocALign PRO provides audio, post production, and multimedia professionals the greatest flexibility and power to quickly complete audio alignment tasks -- automatically, within the industry-standard Pro Tools environment as an AudioSuite plug-in. VocALign PRO automatically stretches or compresses one audio signal to match the timing patterns of another, saving you time and money. FXpansion's entire product line is now Pro Tools 7-ready. They've been optimized for Pro Tools 7, which will deliver substantial performance enhancements across the board. Includes GURU, BFD, VST to RTAS Adapter. The new VST to RTAS Adapter v2.0 also adds support for multiple outputs from VST plug-ins, and offers compatibility with close to 2,000 VST plug-ins and instruments. All of these are fully compatible with Pro Tools HD, Pro Tools LE, and Pro Tools M-Powered software on Mac OS X and Windows XP. Crosstalk: Getting a great guitar sound live and in the studio. Mike discusses the challenge of getting a great guitar sound in the first place, even before you're ready to record it. Amp and cabinet types are considered, as well as microphone choice and room placement. Modern processors like the Line 6 POD and Amplitube are compared to old school methods. Tweaking The Stupid Knob: "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. This Week's Trivia Question: What was the first #1 hit to have a playing time of more than four minutes? Answer To Last Week's Trivia Question: Q: What was the most played song on American radio during the twentieth century? A: You've Lost That Loving Feeling - written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector and Cynthia Weil. (Congratulations to Chris B. who correctly answered this one!) Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (still married: http://www.mann-weil.com) have written and/or recorded 53 top 40 hits so far. Here are just a few of them: I Love How You Love Me (The Paris Sisters) On Broadway (The Drifters & George Benson) We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (The Animals) Here You Come Again (Dolly Parton) Sometimes When We Touch (Dan Hill) He's So Shy (The Pointer Sisters) Just Once (James Ingram and Quincy Jones) Running With The Night (Lionel Richie) Through The Fire (Chaka Khan) Don't Know Much (Linda Rondstadt and Aaron Neville) See you next week! Tags: music recording studio digidesign namm guitar wilson pickett ableton live intel mac fxpansion