Thermionic Studios

*Not an April Fools' story:

Throbak Electronics is a company that we've been following for a while. We were going to post something else, but we thought this story was too cool and felt we had to post it as soon as we could. In the wake of the Les Paul Estate Sale, Throbak has recently posted that they obtained yet another vintage Gibson pickup winder. This is *THE* pickup winder that Les Paul took from the Gibson factory when Gibson left Kalamazoo and relocated to Nashville.

We never watched Decline of Western Civilization Part I, The Punk Years. But we've seen Decline, Part II: The Metal Years. We were aware of a Part III, but never found it to be showing or were able to get a DVD of it...

Look no longer. Announced TODAY. Decline of Western Civilization, Parts I, II, and III will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 30th.

Rolling Stone has announced the release and has a brief story about it.
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Not everyone who applies effort into learning a musical instrument does so with the intention to make heaps and heaps of money. Everyone says that they do it for "the love of the music". That "love of the music" can be a convenient cover for:

• Males who are looking for "enhanced opportunities" with females (see Lemmy Kilmister)
• The adulation of a crowd.
• A suitable outlet for expression that would otherwise be antisocial.
• Therapy.

And then there are some who actually do it for the love of the music...

Once you've heard "We're Not Going To Take It" by Twisted Sister, you never forget that drum intro. That song was an anthem of rebellion for many in the early 1980s and beyond. Pero was declared dead yesterday at 11:00 am; apparently of a heart attack while asleep on the tour bus of a part-time band he participated in, "Adrenaline Mob".

More information found at the L.A. Times website HERE.
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Steve Albini was recorded giving his thoughts on what one has to do in order to record drums well. This video was taken around 2005 at a convention called "Tape Op Con".

There's quite a wealth of information here in the video considering it's only about 30 minutes. Steve talks about such things as dealing with phase cancellation, using compressors as noise limiters, using a de-esser instead of a noise gate...

(Phase Cancellation explained briefly inside!)

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

Remember the Wizard of Oz?

You'll be amazed at the pictures this site shared:
http://www.she-wolf.eu/technik-fake-boxen-wir-decken-auf-die-ganze-wahrheit/

I wanted to share this interesting article I found shared on a posting on Facebook. As you know, we're all about artists getting their practice routines down so that they are practicing more efficiently, better, faster, and coming to a place where at the end of their practice, there is greater reward. Increased practice discipline, while it can create its own reward, can be taken to extremes. I've read a fanzine article or two about musicians practicing eight hours a day.

Of course, not every article has to be a heavy examination of gear or cultural activity. We also want to be cognizant of why we love and live this music. Because it brings us happiness.

So we also need to hit the lighter side of people and moments in the music business when we found a pretty cool interview in Revolver Magazine with Alexia and Anissa Rodriguez of Eyes Set To Kill. They share opinions on fellow musicians, their fans, and some of their day-to-day life experiences.

Goddamnit does Bondo stink. It's really bad.

It smells so bad, that it reminds me of an incident when I was in college, when my friend and I got drunk on potato vodka and rode our bicycles to the local mall. At the mall, we wandered into a Kay-Bee toy store. While we were in there, goofing around, my friend, Anton, cracked open a liquid glitterglobe that was on the end of a pencil. He proceeded to flick the glitterglobe juice on me. The juice had an odor that hit me almost immediately, and as a result, I laughed so hard I peed my pants...

So it's been a number of years since we first came across these recordings on YouTube. Most everyone is familiar with Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog". Presley reworked the song, "Hound Dog", originally written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, into a song about an actual dog. Big Mama Thornton recorded the original version in Los Angeles on 13 Aug 1952! It's much darker, much rawer, and typically appeals to those who aren't satisfied with simple pop sensibilities.

Big Mama Thornton's version of "Hound Dog":