Posts Tagged: gear

Can you imagine musicians without music gears? Well if you are a musician then you must be on the lookout for good quality music gears for your use. Throughout the world people like you are in the search of proper gears in order to serve their individual purposes. And classifieds lend a very effective helping hand towards your effort.

There are many websites that provide the services for online music gear classifieds. If you are trying to buy some instrument you can search amongst the classified postings to get the best one. If you want to sell your used guitar, or for that matter any other musical instrument, you can post your classified on such sites. It provides the platform for interaction between the seller and the buyer.

Selling and buying music gears have never been easier. With the Internet it has been turned into a simple matter of a few mouse clicks. Now you have the option to view sites entirely dedicated to selling and buying of used music gears ranging from guitars and drums to microphones and speakers.

Generally you have to fill up a form in order to sell or buy a specific gear in such classifieds. There are two types of classified services available. Paid classifieds and free ones. Both have their respective terms and conditions that you have to abide by to utilize the services.

You can choose from several categories of classified ads according to your purpose. Options like owner ads, dealer ads, for sale ads, want to buy ads, etc. are commonly encountered. One of the chief advantages of such music gear classifieds is that it makes the process of selling used gears a lot more effortless.

Another benefit that you can reap from music gear classifieds is the affordability. Generally brand new gears come at a dear price. Whereas used instruments are comparatively cheap. So you can get the desired gear without digging a hole in your pocket.

It is also easy to locate the instrument you want in classifieds. One can search for what one is looking for by a range of categories. Some of the popular categories include guitars, keyboards, drums or percussion, basses, bass amps, recording and audio, etc. to name a few.

The music gear classifieds are not only helpful in making the process of buying and selling easier, but you can actually get loads of information and news or product reviews also. This is no doubt a beneficial edge over the traditional brick and mortar retail outlets.

Such sites dealing in music gear classifieds can also often become the meeting point for musicians. Professional musicians and amateurs, music enthusiasts and bands can connect locally, regionally, nationally or even globally as well through the classifieds.

If you are a beginner you might want to get a second hand music gear for your practice. Or you might even be interested in collecting a particular vintage music gear for your collection. It can happen that you are a music band member and looking for some music gears to upgrade the band performance. Whatever might be the purpose, you are almost sure to gain from music gear classifieds, as they are easy, fast and organized, offering you a dizzying range of choice.

Music composers of the latest generation are no longer limited to just a keyboard, mixer, or specialty synthesizer to compose. Today a variety of gears is available in the market for composers to compose and program their music piece. However, as a composer of music one should remember that the music gear does not produce the music, you do.

The latest music gear for composers that are available on the market are friendlier than ever and easier to play. In modern keyboards the composer will find hundreds, even thousands of instruments all tweaked and ready for their specific applications. The music composer that is looking for drum beats can easily choose from a variety of Techno, rhythm and blues, Hip Hop, Country, Orchestral. They are all stored there in the sound bank ready on the press of GO.

Earlier in the days when the musicians used midi, they had to work very hard to get these sounds. Today the modern sound gears not only make the work easier but also produce great sound quality. Today, the gears are quieter and possess no hisses and hums. At the same time they usually have good support online with free patches and even operating systems which can be easily downloaded by the musician. The latest music gear is more reliable than the older gear.

For the first time, musicians can stop worrying about power supplies dying and battery backed Ram failing. Most manufacturers now produce gears that go through the process of more than two decades of research and development. The effort really shows.

However, composers should remember that high end gears require high end backup gear. Those musicians who are tight on the budget should keep that in mind. If you have invested in an expensive condenser microphone you cannot get away with a low quality pre-amp.

However, the recent few years have brought such tremendous advances to sound quality that the heavy line between pro gear and home gear is getting thinner. To get to higher sound quality you must have great preamps, converters, monitors, good microphones and an excellent sounding room.

As a music composer you can also face input output disasters with your music gear that can leave you irritated. You can avoid all these by just knowing what you have and where you actually are having the problem.

The next step is to identify your goals. If you have a two input soundcard and want to record the whole band where everyone has a track,. as a music composer you may think it is not possible. You go ahead and invest in a twenty-four track mixer only to realize that it too has only two inputs only.

The point is to simply observe what you are paying for and know your gears well. You may have a keyboard with a sampler in-built. Be aware of the features that your gears have.

Music gear are stage speakers, sound equipment, DJ equipment, amplifiers, microphones, speakers, etc. Actually music gear includes both musical instruments and equipment. There are various major companies and labels that serve different regions and markets like Yamaha, Gibson, Marshall, Roland, Crate, Fender, Crown, Pearl, etc. Let us have a look at some of these major players in music gear industry.

- Roland corporation:

Roland Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded in the year 1972. It is now one of the leading manufacturers of electronic musical gear. The major products this company manufactures are synthesizers, electronic percussion, digital pianos, and home keyboards.

It is also famous for its microphone models. The various models that this company manufactures are DR 80 C, DR 50, and DR 30 types of dynamic microphones meant for the stage and the studio while CS 15 is a stereo microphone kit.

As regards monitors and speakers, MA 15D, and MA 7A are stereo micro monitors that have the capability to deliver high quality sound in confined recording environment. MA 1EX is incredibly small USB powered speakers. The chief characteristic of the headphones of Roland is that they are flat, and that they provide accurate sound quality and sophisticated visual manifestation with aluminum housing plate.

Yamaha Corporation:

Yamaha Corporation was founded in the year 1887. It was then a piano and reed organ manufacturer under the name Nippon Gakki Company. Yamaha has grown to become the largest manufacturer of musical instruments around the world.

The various Yamaha speakers are an enormous success in the digital music world. The microphones include 3 way, 2 way, large, small, high power, medium power, and other variations. There are also switch able, single amp and bi amp drive models.

Shure Inc:

Shure Incorporated, based in the United States and founded in the year 1925, mainly manufactures microphones and other audio equipment. Initially the company was under The Shure Radio Company named Sidney Shure. Till 1933 the company manufactured only radio systems. Their field expanded when they started manufacturing microphones, phonograph cartridges, mixers, digital signal processing and most recently headphones. They are also known for winning the Grammy award.

The SM and Beta series of dynamic and condenser microphones manufactured by Shure are very well known in the music gear industry. The SM series microphones are used world wide for live vocals, and vocal reproduction for guitar, drums, bass instruments, etc.

The KSM series of microphones are mainly used in studio recording. The microphones of Shure are popular because they are comparatively inexpensive, sound good and extremely durable. The 55SH series II microphone that was manufactured in the early fifties is still popular among musicians and radio personalities.

Mackie

It is a brand for professional music and recording equipment like mixing consoles, loudspeakers, studio monitors, digital recording equipment, etc. Mackie is probably best known for its mixers. It provides the full surround mixing and monitoring capabilities, professional digital production console with selectable operation, built in control for pro tools, etc.

The list of brands is very extensive in the music gear industry. But the ultimate goal or objective of every company is to provide good equipment at a very low rate.

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, Western art, or ecclesiastical and concert music, in the period from the 9th century to the 21st century. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period.

Classic music is still played by many of today’s musicians. European classical music is largely distinguished from many other non-European and popular musical forms by its system of staff notation, in use since about the 16th century.

Classical and popular music are often distinguished by their choice of instruments. The instruments used in classical music were mostly invented before the middle of the 19th century. Some of them had been designed even earlier, and codified in the 18th and 19th centuries. They consist of the instruments found in an orchestra, together with a few other solo instruments such as the piano, harp, accordion, and organ.

The great majority of classical music gear fall into six major categories – bowed strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, keyboard, and the guitar family. The first four form the basis of the modern symphony orchestra.

The classical guitar was originally a Spanish-derived, six-stringed instrument. It is played using a plectrum or the finger-nails, with frets set into the fingerboard. Popular music tends to use amplification for both the six-stringed instruments and the four-string bass guitar. The guitar family gradually supplanted the lute which had come to prominence during the Renaissance.

The piano is widely used in Western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment. It is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal. Although not portable and often expensive, the piano’s versatility and ubiquity have made it one of the most familiar musical instruments.

The piano is sometimes classified as both a percussion and a string instrument. In the period from about 1790 to 1860, during the Mozart-era, piano underwent tremendous changes, which led to the modern form of the instrument. Early technological progress owed much to the English firm of Broadwood, which already had a reputation for the splendor and powerful tone of its harpsichords.

The accordion is played by compression and expansion of a bellows, which generates air flow across reeds. A keyboard or buttons control which reeds receive air flow and therefore determine the tones produced. The accordion’s basic form was invented in Berlin in 1822 by Friedrich Buschmann. The accordion is one of several European inventions of the early 19th century that used free reeds driven by a bellows.

The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the family of string instruments, which also include the viola and cello. The oldest documented violin to have four strings, like the modern violin, was made in 1555.

Significant changes occurred in the shape and structure of the violin in the 18th century, particularly in the length and angle of the neck, as well as in the bass bar. Most of the old violins have undergone these modifications, and hence are in a significantly different shape than their forerunners, undoubtedlys with differences in sound and response.

One of the essential parts of any musical fraternity is the keyboard. The concept or the mechanism behind a keyboard is simple. There are adjacent depressible levers, which when pressed in an order produce sounds, rather music. When a keyboard comes in the hands of a master it goes alive and produces truly remarkable music. Along with the keyboard comes the keyboard gear to complement the player as well as the instrument.

All instruments that use a keyboard almost, share a common layout. The list goes on with piano, organ, electronic piano, harpsichord, synthesizer and more. Piano is the most common form of instrument that has the keyboard. More often it is referred to as piano keyboard.

Usually, keyboards that dated back to 19th century came in a design where the colors of the keys were reversed. The fundamental of music has been same from centuries onward; but the techniques have changed and hence the need for improvement in keyboard gear has come in place.

In the later part of the keyboard history digital synthesizer had taken the fore front. Thus came into being the electrical devices they used to amplify sounds. In the last decade the synthesizer market has advanced rapidly, thereby dumping the old musical gears used by the synthesizers. Old gears, which were slow, were replaced by more improved and deign conscious keyboard gear.

A general keyboard gear constitutes of bench seat, chord finder, expression and volume pedal, expansion card, user interface software and more. The gear, generally, depends on the player and his preference.

The parts of keyboard comprise of food pedal or switch, modulation wheel, pads and pitch bend. For an enthusiast keyboard player the range of gear can start with its cases, duct covers, porters with wheels, gig bags, music stands, custom flight cases and more. Keyboard stands are found in various configurations for both on stage and studio purpose.

Synthesizer & computer music commodities also include RAM cards, SCSI kits and Flash ROM. The use of updated user interface software is great help for the keyboard operator. Variations of synthesizers come with USB 2.0 port also. This helps in the data storage purpose as the USB 2.0 drive can be used with compatible devices.

Other components that a keyboard player can use are lighting to light up keyboards, MIDI gear, gear racks. He can also they can go for thinner designs of case which would be able to provide better noise reduction technology that could prevent disturbance from outside sources.

For transportation purpose, there are carts that make the moving of instruments from one place to another easy. Tough protective gears, which stand the usual wear and tear, can also be the choice of the player. This has also been a part of the keyboard gear.

One thing the keyboard musician has to keep in mind is the nature and purpose of his playing gear. Is the audience large or small? The size of the audience, also, plays a role in determining the keyboard gear a player needs to employ.

Music is a form of expression consisting of sound, rhythm, harmony, etc. The definition of music varies according to culture and social backgrounds. It can be divided into various categories. Music gear is the whole set of equipment like sound equipment, stage speakers, recording equipment, DJ equipment, microphones, speakers, etc. Here we try to explore the evolution of different types of music gear.

Amplifier is a device that converts a signal with a small amount of energy into a similar signal with a larger amount of energy. Popularly we call it electronic amplifier particularly in audio applications.

An audio amplifier is usually used to amplify signals such as music and speech. Instrument amplifier is a kind of audio amplifier that is designed to be used with an electric guitar, an electric bass, or an electronic keyboard.

Traditional amplifiers come with a clean, warm sound and a sharp treble roll-off at 5 kHz. High power amplifiers were developed between 1960 and 1970. However, by 1980, smaller instrument amplifiers with lower wattage ratings were developed that could be switched on and off more quickly.

Microphone is another important music gear. It is actually an audio device that can convert sound into electrical signals. The primitive microphones were called transmitters. The first commercial microphone was the carbon microphone designed in 1876 by the great inventor Thomas Edison. After that a lot of technological improvement has been witnessed in the microphones with the emergence of condenser, capacitor, electrostatic, wireless and shotgun microphones.

Recording equipment like mixing console, multi-track recorder, microphones, loudspeakers, compressors, and equalizers are also types of music gear. During 1890 to 1930, phonograph horns and direct to disk cutting process were used for master recordings.

With the invention of microphones, electronic amplifiers, the mixing disk and loudspeakers, electronic recording equipment became high tech. Now the studios have started using digital recording equipment that are supported by latest upgraded versions of computer and software.

We all know that a person who selects, plays, and mixes music for the audience is called a DJ or disc jockey. The equipment that are used by a DJ are vinyl records, compact discs, computer media files, mixer with a cross fader, headphones and microphones. The history of these music gear is quite interesting. The phonograph cylinder, invented by Thomas Alva Edison was the first that was used as a DJ equipment.

The DJ culture probably started in the mid 1800 and has grown tremendously popular and later gave birth to concepts like discotheques and nightclubs. In the year 2001, i-pod by Apple entered into the list of DJ equipment because of the convenience of improved technology that allows the DJ to carry a wide variety of music in one single and small device. In fact in the year 2006 the Disk Jockey concept celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Like the history of human civilization, the history of various music gear is also equally interesting. And that is because, whether it is music gear or musical instruments, both make sure that the tune of human lives and minds always remains melodious and sweet.

A concert is a live performance of music before an audience. This kind of performance may be performed either by a single musician, referred as recital or by a musical ensemble like an orchestra or a musical band. Concerts are held in different types of settings or venues like pubs, nightclubs, concert halls, and large multipurpose buildings and sometimes in sports stadium. For a musician concert is that platform where the person is exposed to public. Not only this, concerts are sometimes organized for the sake of charity, where the money collected goes to some causes of benefit.

But this same concert can go very elaborate and expensive if any musical group expects large audiences. In order to make the atmosphere more exciting they add some special entertainment devices like stage lights that changes according to the beat of the music, large video screens that show some per recorded video etc. These things to some extent can be considered as concert music gear.

In concert music one of the important music gears is the drum kit, which is arranged in such a way that makes convenient for one drummer to play it comfortably. The component of a drum kit varies according to the genre of music, personal preferences, financial resources and transportation options of the drummer. The individual instruments of every drum kit are struck with the help of hands, sticks, brushes and mallets. One interesting fact about drum is that it is one of the oldest instruments of the world whose basic design has remained unchanged for nearly thousands of years.

Synthesizer, a kind of electronic musical instrument that has the capability of producing or manipulating audio tones like musical notes through the process of audio signaling. It resembles some of the old traditional musical instruments like piano or an organ because it comes with a keyboard. Analog, digital and software are the three major kinds of synthesizer. In addition to this there are certain synthesizers that is built up using these three combinations popularly knows as hybrid synthesizers.

Violin, a popular musical gear, preferred single performing musicians during concerts tune a bowed string instrument with four strings in perfect fifths. Viola and cello also belong to this family. The player of the violin is known as violinist or fiddler. This musical gear is also used in the various genre of music like classical, jazz, Indian classical music and folk music.

Another popular and well-known concert music gear is piano played by the means of a keyboard. The word piano derived the name from Italian language. There are three types of piano namely grand, upright, and modern. Pianos are generally made of hardwood, maple and beech etc.

Guitar is instrument that comes generally with six strings but four, seven, eight, ten and twelve strings guitars are also found. Guitars can be divided into two broad categories namely acoustic and electric. An acoustic is that one that is not dependent on any external device rather uses a soundboard fixed on the front part of the body of the guitar. While electric guitar have solid, semi hollow bodies and produce little sound without amplification. This kind of guitar is used widely in jazz, blues, and rock and roll.

Other than these there are many other concert musical gears that are extensively used.

A musical instrument or a music gear is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. In principle anything that, produces sound, and can somehow be controlled by a person playing it, can serve as a musical gear. The expression, however, is reserved generally for items that have a specific musical purpose. The academic study of musical instruments is called organology. The different kinds of music gears include guitar, piano, drums, synthesizer, flute and the list is endless.

Bass Guitar

Bass guitar is a stringed instrument played with the fingers either by plucking, slapping, popping, tapping or using a pick. Bass guitar has a large body, long neck.

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by striking steel strings with felt hammers that immediately rebound allowing the string to continue vibrating at its resonance frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through the bridges to the soundboard, which amplifies them. The piano is widely used in Western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment. It is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal. Although not portable and often expensive, the versatility and ubiquity of the piano have made it one of the most familiar musical instruments. It is sometimes classified as both a percussion and a string instrument.

Accordion

An accordion is a musical instrument of the handheld bellows driven free reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as squeeze boxes. The accordion is played by compression and expansion of a bellows, which generates air flow across reeds. A keyboard or buttons control, which reeds receive air flow and therefore the tones produced. Modern accordions consist of a body in two parts, each generally rectangular in shape, separated by a bellows. On each part of the body is a keyboard containing buttons, levers or piano style keys. When pressed, the buttons travel in a direction perpendicular to the motion of the bellows.

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is generally any kind of electronic musical instrument, or electronic device capable of producing or manipulating audio tones, such as musical notes, through audio signal processing. The term originates from the Greek word syntithetai. Synthesizers work by manipulating electrical signals, which appear as sound when they are used to drive audio amplifiers. These tones are generated by electrical circuits which may work by manipulating a signal through a series of oscillators and filters in an analog circuit.

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reed less wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge, instead of using a reed. In its most basic form, a flute can be an open tube which is blown like a bottle. There are several broad classes of flutes. With most flutes, the musician blows directly across the edge of the mouthpiece. However, some flutes, such as the whistle, gemshorn, flageolet, recorder, tin whistle, tonette, fujara, and ocarina have a duct that directs the air onto the edge. These are known as fipple flutes. The fipple gives the instrument a distinct timbre which is different from non fipple flutes and makes the instrument easier to play, but takes a degree of control away from the musician.