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In today’s recording industry, hundreds of thousands of dollars can be spent producing just one album. There are recording studios, however, where the word retro applies to finances as well as the overall vibe of the place. Take Arizona music studio Uranus Recording of Tempe, where less than $10,000 can produce a world-class recording that would cost $50,000 in most comparable studios. Yet the price tag is not the only thing reminiscent of years past at this world-class Tempe recording studio. Its Atomic Age theme emulates the classic music production studio of the Fifties and Sixties when musicians understood and appreciated the possibilities and value of Live Room acoustics.

Gin Blossoms lead singer Robin Wilson built this retro-style Arizona recording studio inside the Tempe Creamery Complex – a registered historical Arizona landmark. The Live Room in Wilson’s Tempe music studio is a 22′ x 24′ x 10′ space featuring hand made acoustic treatments, allowing musicians who record here to achieve a fuller, more organic sound than in the acoustically “dead” booths and studio rooms typically favored since the Seventies.

Of course, the best acoustics in the world mean little on an album without the right recording equipment for quality music production. Wilson’s full-service Arizona recording studio is equipped with Pro Tools HD and a Neve sidecar mixing console, as well as a host of mics, guitars, amps, pedals, and electrical outlets too numerous to mention. In addition to the Live Room and control room, Uranus Recording has a vintage bank vault turned custom-built isolation booth, and what’s become a famous signature wall in the bathroom where musicians mark their permanent place in the rich musical history of this Tempe recording studio.  Read more...

The piano is an important musical instrument for jazz bands since the origin of jazz music and it can be played in the style of a solo performance or as part of a band. Like the guitar, the piano is one of the few musical instruments in a jazz band which can play chords as well as notes instead just single notes only instruments such as the saxophone, trombone, trumpet or even the vibraphone (1 or 2 notes together).

Gone were the days when a jazz pianist’s role is just to keep tempo with repetitive chord combinations. Nowadays, the pianist is free to choose any technique or style to accompany a band or a singer using both short and sustained chordal and melodic fragments called comping.

An accomplshed jazz pianist must not only be good at sight-reading as well as good at improvising chord symbols but also must be able to adapt to the different playing styles of various bands he jams with. Jazz pianists must balance this interpretation and improvisation to the musical style the bands are playing.

The jazz pianist is indeed a happy musician because of the extended range of the piano. The piano offers the pianist with a much greater number of choices and techniques for improvisation, much more so than any other instruments in a jazz band.  Read more...

The piano is an important musical instrument for jazz bands since the origin of jazz music and it can be played in the style of a solo performance or as part of a band. Like the guitar, the piano is one of the few musical instruments in a jazz band which can play chords as well as notes instead just single notes only instruments such as the saxophone, trombone, trumpet or even the vibraphone (1 or 2 notes together).

Gone were the days when a jazz pianist’s role is just to keep tempo with repetitive chord combinations. Nowadays, the pianist is free to choose any technique or style to accompany a band or a singer using both short and sustained chordal and melodic fragments called comping.

An accomplshed jazz pianist must not only be good at sight-reading as well as good at improvising chord symbols but also must be able to adapt to the different playing styles of various bands he jams with. Jazz pianists must balance this interpretation and improvisation to the musical style the bands are playing.

The jazz pianist is indeed a happy musician because of the extended range of the piano. The piano offers the pianist with a much greater number of choices and techniques for improvisation, much more so than any other instruments in a jazz band.  Read more...

In the modern world, people are fond of carrying devices that are more like a companion to them. Devices that would entertain them, one such device is known as a mobile phone. Nowadays, mobile phones are endowed with so many advanced features to cater to different people with diverse needs.

Some people adore music, some people adore gaming, some are fond of clicking pictures, and some like to have long conversation while some like it all. Nokia is acknowledged for manufacturing mobile phones that conveniently satisfy the mobile needs of the customers. The handsets offered by Nokia are stylish and give high quality performance. The Nokia 5310 is a proficient and compact mobile handset straight from the house of Nokia.

This stunning gadget is available to the user in a combination of red and black casing along with tinted sections that makes this handset look trendy and classy. The mobile phone comes in two bright blue and bright red coloured sections, so the users has the option and can choose the one that best suits their style. Everything is just perfect about this handset as all its parts are placed proportionately. The TFT display screen of this mobile phone covers half of the space and the rest of it is covered by the keypad. The phone comes with a large screen at 31.5 x 41.5 mm and you can enjoy a wider and colourful view of your favourite content has it capable of displaying 16 million colours and supports a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. Measuring 103.8 mm high 44.7 mm wide and merely 9.9 mm thick, the phone weighs only 71 grams inclusive the weight of its battery. Therefore, all these aspects are making this terrific phone one of the slimmest phones in the world which is endowed with such spectacular features. The light weight complements the slim structure of the phone. The Nokia 5310 is designed in such a manner that it becomes very comfortable for the user to hold it in the hands and carry it everywhere without any hassle.  Read more...

The many cultures of South and Central America and the Caribbean islands blend American Indian, African and European (particularly Spanish and Portuguese) traditions. In folk music, the particular combination of elements varies from region to region, from the purely Indian forms of highland Bolivia and Amazon rain forests peoples to the mestizo (‘mixed’) music of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, the largely Hispanic music of Argentina, and the distinctive style of Brazil, which blends African and Portuguese forms. Minorities such as the East Indians of Trinidad and Guyana, the Javanese of Surinam and the Japanese of Brazil complete this rich musical scenario.

Less Iberian heritage has in general been preserved in Latin America than British in North America; many areas are devoid of Latin influence. But some Hispanic poetic forms dating from the Middle Ages and Renaissance (for example the romance) are performed in a variety of forms throughout the continent, such as the copla of Colombia, the Andean countries and Argentina. Other folksongs, such as the Argentinian and Chilean Tonadas and Tonos, also preserve old Spanish literary forms. In contrast to the thriving Anglo-American tune repertory of the USA, however, few extant Iberian melodies are current in Latin America except the Hispanic children’s repertory, which is similar in its Old and New World settings. In the Andean region of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, indigenous Indian music has absorbed Spanish elements, a process that began under the influence of 16th-century Christian missionaries. Andean tunes are essentially European, but often have much repetition and use tetratonic and pentatonic scales. This blend stands in contrast with the marked lack of acculturation between Anglo and Indian style in North America.  Read more...