The biggest segment of people using home based digital recording software these days are singer/songwriters. This could look like a 16 year old girl or a 45 year old guy. Styles being recorded range from commercial pop to bluegrass finger picking. The constant among these people is their need for high quality recording hardware and software. Steinberg and Yamaha have been providing people with very cost effective and high quality solutions for years now and they have just taken an existing solution and made it better. The Yamaha CI2 is a 24bit high quality USB audio interface with 2 mic preamps, phantom power for condenser mic's, a function knob and 5 function buttons. Aside from providing superior audio input quality, the knob and buttons add all sorts of convenience when using it with audio software, especially the included Cubase AI6 and Wavelab LE. Up until now, you only got Cubase AI5 with the CI2 but now, Yamaha has started including the upgraded AI6 version of Cubase and Wavelab LE (regularly $99) all at the same $239. Having the improved Cubase is nice and having a version of Wavlab offers users some excellent new mastering abilities and file format options not previously available to them. Bottom line, a great audio solution for a singer/songwriter just got a fair bit better. Drop in any time to see this software in action in our store or read more about it here.

Fresh off my recent trip to Los Angeles for the annual Namm show, I've got a head full of gear to talk about and I look forward to sharing it with you via this blog over the next few weeks. The Namm show is gigantic, it took me all 4 days to literally walk its entire floor. I did have a number of stops and meetings to make but suffice to say, I covered a lot of ground in those 4 days, blisters to prove it. Of all the guys from KAOS who attended, I had the job of focusing on digital music. This meant that I spent a large part of my time in one particular area of the show dominated by digital recording companies. While I was taken by many cool new products the overpowering theme of that area was the iPad. It is clear that the iPad is here to stay when it comes to making music. There were more apps then I had time to see but what I did see was great. Guitar amp modeling apps, digital recording apps, DJ apps, electronic music creation apps, karaoke apps .. etc. Beyond apps, there were tons of new products to enhance how you connect to the iPad. Mic pre-amps, instrument inputs, midi inputs, app controllers just name a few. High quality as well as lighter quality versions as well.

I suppose that every adult looks at their kids technology in envy but I really do think that my kids have a lot more cool stuff then I did when I was their age. Maybe my dad said the same thing. In any case, its a cool time to be into music and own an iPad.

It's no secret that Steinberg's Cubase is one the worlds most popular and most powerful music production software packages. We've been selling it for close to 20 years. It might be just that fact, that we're so used to this software that we sometimes forget how unbelievably powerful it is .. But it is!

This week I'd like to share with you one of the least talked about but most powerful features of Cubase. First, let me ask you, which weakness, more then any can ruin a good recording? The answer, at least from my perspective is a sloppy drum track. Producing super tight drum tracks is hard, even for seasoned drummers but a loose drum track can really make an otherwise great recording sound, well crummy. Cubase has the enhanced ability to analyze your drum tracks and establish what it calls hit points. Hit points are basically beat lines usually broken into 16th or 32nd note resolutions. You as the user have the ability to manipulate these hit points to ensure that they are accurate. Once established you can have Cubase slice up your drum parts into dozens of individual segments each being a single drum hit such as kick drums and snare hits. Once sliced up, Cubase can use its quantize feature to tighten up the timing of less then perfect drum tracks. It is worth pointing out here that I am not advocating making your drum tracks perfectly quantized and unnatural sounding but I am an advocate of making them sound rhythmically consistent.

If this sounds all a bit un-musical, you're right it is pretty nerdy and technical. However, there is nothing musical about a bad drum track and lets face it, most of us don't have Neil Peart as the drummer in our weekend band or as our songwriting partner. So, start with solid bed (drums and bass) tracks and your song stands a much better chance of sounding good.

For more information about Cubase 6, Click here. Read More...

Back in the day (like 15 years ago), owning a high quality microphone for your home recording studio was only for people willing to spend $1000 or more. Condenser microphones, tube microphones and ribbon microphones were all that expensive leaving the home studio owner left to use microphones such as Shure SM58's and SM57's as well as a host of many other less expensive microphones. Now, don't get me wrong, Shure and many other companies make very nice microphones but for high quality recording you really needed at least a nice condenser microphone which most of us couldn't afford.

Well, times change, manufacturing in other countries gets more popular and prices come down. These days, it is common place for home studio owners to have at least one decent condenser microphone if not more. While many companies are involved with making nice quality, low cost recording microphones one in particular is MXL. These guys have a huge line of amazingly good sounding recording microphones at remarkably low prices. One of my favourites is a model called the V69ME. This particular microphone is a tube condenser mic, wired exclusively with Mogami (really high quality cable) cable with an external power supply to further enhance its quality and reduce any power noise. Sold at under $400 it is incredibly hard to beat. So, if you're recording with a cheap mic and would like to dramatically improve your recordings sound quality, look at buying a new mic. The MXL products may or may not be what you end up buying in the end but they are definitely worth checking out.

You can check out a review video that I did on this mic a little while ago on YouTube here .. http://youtu.be/3o_Eu9Tt_g0 Read More...

Ah, another session of our now famous Rock Band Experience program came to an end last weekend with the Rock Showcase featuring a 20 minute set from all of the bands. As many of you know, I am a participant in the Rock Band program as a drummer in the Monday 8:30 band. Many of you will also know how much I enjoy the weekly activity of getting out to play good old fashion Rock n Roll good and loud in the DC music theatre. Its a great program, lots of fun. At the end of most recitals or showcases I am fortunate to be on the receiving end of many compliments for hosting the event. People naturally like to get out to hear their loved ones play and I, being the host of the events get the honour of being thanked on the way out. This time however, I received a number of emails, notes and texts in the following days after the showcase. Along with thanking me they went onto relate to me how the program has positively impacted their family members life. More then just a thank you, a kind of recognition for doing something really significant. Truth is, I recognize what they are talking about and I see the impact of these programs on many of the participants, me included. As I said to them, I don't mind taking a bit of credit for organizing things but the real credit should go to the music. Sometimes we forget how powerful a force music can be when people get involved in making it. So much so that we start assigning credit for its effects to other things or people, like me in this case. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the recognition and I love to do what I do. However, the magic ingredient is not me, its the music. Read More...

Well, if you didn't read my last blog entry I'll sum it for you. The entries into our Songwriting Contest really blew me away in terms of how good they were. I was expecting a few great entries and a bunch of mediocre ones. Instead, to my surprise we got almost all really good quality songs. A few nights ago we held the finals for that same contest. The top 5 entries in the under 19 and 19 and over categories were chosen to perform for our panel of judges in an live final. Holy crap!! They were a lot better live if you can believe it. We were pretty much blown away by how well this group of mostly younger people performed. Once again, it was really hard to determine the top 3 in each category but we did. I can't thank the contestants enough for their efforts, they all did a fantastic job. More then that though, I couldn't encourage them more to continue writing music. Its a special skill that most don't possess but wish they did. Having written a song or two in my life I know first hand how great it feels own that creation that usually means a ton to you personally. Anyhow, we had one of KAOS's best nights ever watching these people leave everything on the table performing their songs. I for one am hugely proud of their efforts and achievements as I hope they are as well. Well done you guys and gals, I was happy to be part of your night. Watch our site as well as our FaceBook fan page for videos of all of the performances over the coming weeks. Read More...

As most people who follow my blog know, we are in the midst of running our first ever city wide songwriters contest. It is a contest open to all ages in any style. All one needed to do to enter was to make a video of themselves singing an original song. From my perspective, my goals for this contest were modest. I was hoping to spread some good energy around the store by organizing a cool contest with good prizes all for free. Good energy and happy customers are always great for business. My secondary goal was to promote and build our FaceBook fan page following as well as improve the regular traffic to our website. Well, so far so good in terms of people feeling good and increased numbers of people visiting our media sites. In fact, we have all but doubled our FaceBook fan base.

What's way more interesting then that stuff is how unbelievable the quality of songs and their performances were. I suppose that if you lived in LA or Manhattan you might expect really high quality songs and performances but for some reason I was only expecting a small percentage of the entries to be really good. Boy was I wrong, almost every entry was at least good and most of them were fantastic. Being one of the four judges, I can tell you that all of us have a far more difficult time narrowing down to the top 5 in both age categories then we had anticipated. So, next time you wonder if there is a ton of musical talent quietly walking around the streets of Toronto, stop.. There is. All ten finalist will be performing live, competing for the grand prizes on Wednesday Nov 23 at 7:00 pm at the Crooked Cue (right above our store). Tickets are $5 and are available at the door. Read More...

This is definitely one of the coolest things that I have had the chance to do in a long time. Just last week I started what will be likely a 4 or 5 month process of building a high end, custom acoustic guitar. What, why, how, who ??? I'll explain. About a year ago, I met a guy named Garren Dakessian. He is a guitar builder from Oakville, Ontario. Turns out that he knows some guys who know a guy who knows me and .. well you get the idea. After visiting our store and getting to know our guys a bit, he approached me to see if I might like to help him promote a new guitar builders course that he had been offering to private students. We agreed but nothing much came of it. Then, a while ago he came up with the idea of our staff actually taking part in the course and in return we would shoot some videos and blog about it. The idea was that people (our customers) would get a better idea of how cool the course was if they witnessed us actually doing it.

Well, let me tell you, after only one session I can already tell that this process is going to be a ton of fun and a really valuable learning experience. Anyone who likes guitar and likes the idea of knowing how one is built would love this course. The best part is that by the time you finish, you have built a boutique level custom guitar of your dreams that you naturally get to keep. The course is completely flexible around your schedule and you can take as long as you'd like to complete it. I'm looking forward to blogging about my experiences and I hope that some of you will consider taking the course. So far I can tell you that Garren is one of the nicest guys that I've ever met and that he definitely knows what he's doing .. and he is there all along the way to make sure that your dream guitar actually turns out to be a good dream, not a bad dream.

Check out our first day on the Loucin Guitar Project Video page here.. Read More...

I consider myself a bit of a "fly under the radar" type of guy. Most of the time, I think that this is a good way to be, strong but silent. However, in the role of social media promoter it's not always the best way to be. Promotion is a tricky business and I have to admit that I don't always know exactly what I'm doing. Some things work, some don't. That said, one thing that is always true is that word of mouth advertising is one of the best ways to promote without having to say a thing. Your customers do the talking which makes the promotion just that much more credible. Hard to earn this type of promotion and impossible to buy it, word of mouth praise is priceless. Recently, I received an email from a good customer who had just purchased a new Gibson Les Paul. This was a bit of dream purchase for him and our guys, Lou in particular obviously took good care of him. He was so pleased with his experience that he took the time to write a letter (see below). Aside from being proud of my guys and their consistent service and hard work, I'm thankful to Pete for taking the time to recognize us. It's all too easy to complain or gripe when we so often receive mediocre or bad service, it's a lot more notable when we take the time to recognize good or exceptional efforts. Thanks Pete ..

Hi Bill,
I wanted, or should that be more like "needed" to send you a quick message to say what a pleasure it's been to have recently purchased my third guitar from KAOS Music Centre. As in the past, my main man Lou looked after the sale and I couldn't be happier with both the service, and the guitar. Oh.... I bought a Gibson Les Paul (Studio) this time :-) While it's not a top line Les Paul model and with my not being a top line player, it's a perfect fit for me. Goes without saying I LOVE the new addition to my 6 string family.

Lou was always saying to me...... "buddy.....get a Gibson" Well how thrilled was I to learn that my local music store became an authorized Gibson dealer!! The rest is elementary..... boy was he ever right.

Anyway, so as not turn this into a novel, just wanted to say a quick thanks and kudos to Lou and all the staff at the store who make an amateur like myself feel important. It's nice to get such service, makes one feel good to spend their money in the local economy.

Cheers,

Pete Read More...

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I am getting asked a lot about the reasoning behind our newest promotional activity, The GTA Songwriters Contest. I suppose that I assume that people can read my mind more then they actually can (not including my wife who is awesome at it :) I'm honestly not sure if I have ever run a contest in the past but we certainly haven't run any type of contest recently. I've been working with this idea for over a year now trying to figure out a good way to implement the contest so that it would be fun, fair, good for the people entering it as well as serve our promotional objectives. So, objective number one .. Fun. In recent years I have really stepped up my efforts to engage our customers with fun activities. Seems to me that people love the opportunity to do something with their music like enter it in a contest and maybe perform it live. Getting out and participating in something like this is fun. In order to be fair we needed a way to host the contest. In recent months a company called Wildfire has made it possible (and legal) to host a contest on Facebook. With the help of our manufacturers and some local studio owner friends we have been able to offer some awesome prizes as well as host a fun final live performance event at our favourite bar, the Crooked Cue. As far as being good for us, well anything that is good for our customers is usually great for us. Hosting the contest on Facebook is going to improve the number of people participating with us on that social platform which is excellent for us. A big part of our promotional strategy is based on giving our customers lots of extra value from our videos and articles. We do this largely via our Facebook Fan Page and our website. In the end, having fun with our customers doing fun things around music almost always results in a few new sales and lots of good feelings. What more could I ask for? Read More...