I have all these old classical albums, and can’t really afford a USB turntable, so was wondering if there was anyway to convert a regular turntable into one.

The exceptionally talented Rock group Machine Head have released their CD entitled Supercharger. I am very confident and happy to announce that I believe Machine Head fans, and Rock fans alike will be pleased with this one. With the release of Supercharger their artistic excellence is on full display as they have once again delivered a brilliant collection of tracks that could very well be their best work to date.

I wish it weren’t the case but, it’s not everyday that I get a CD for review that I can just pop in and comfortably listen to from beginning to end. There is usually a song or two that I just can’t force myself to get through. Not at all the case with Supercharger. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

One of the refreshingly nice things about this CD is the way all of the participating artists seem to be really enjoying themselves. Combine that with the overall presentation and you’ve got one of Machine Head most impressive releases ever.

Overall Supercharger is an outstanding release. What I call must have music. I give it two thumbs up and is most definitely a worthy addition to any Rock collection. Truly an outstanding Rock CD. One of those that is completely void of any wasted time, as each track is simply superb.

While the entire album is really very good the truly standout tunes are track 4 – Crashing Around You, track 5 – Kick You When You’re Down, and track 14 – Supercharger.

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – Declaration. Good stuff!

Supercharger Release Notes:

Machine Head originally released Supercharger on October 2, 2001 on the Roadrunner Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Declaration

2. Bulldozer

3. White-Knuckle Blackout!

4. Crashing Around You

5. Kick You When You’re Down

6. Only The Names

7. All In Your Head

8. American High

9. Brown Acid

10. Nausea

11. Blank Generation

12. Trephination

13. Deafening Silence

14. Supercharger

Machine Head: Robert Flynn (vocals, guitar); Ahrue Luster (guitar); Adam Duce (bass); Dave McClain (drums). Recorded at Mad Dog Studios, Burbank, California and Indigo Ranch, Malibu, California.



By: Clyde Lee Dennis

I have about 400 vinyl records (mainly 80’s rock/hair metal). A lot of them were rare imports when I bought them at the time and I’m looking to getting rid of them.

For once, leave the pants and socks to your old man, it’s time he bought his own underwear. Father’s Day is about saying a big “thanks pop” for all the love and support he’s given you over the years, for the nights he let you stay up late and all the times he lent you a tenner when your mum said no.

It’s time he got a treat, and despite what greetings card companies would have you believe, some dads do have interests that lie outside of golf, farts, beer and fast cars. In fact, there’s a smorgasbord Father’s Day gifts ideas out there, you just have to know where to look!

Aim somewhere between Mother’s Day flowers and bubble bath-type gifts and a novelty golf club cover and you’re bound to find the perfect treat for your dad on Father’s day. Gadgets are a great bet, whether he’d like something hi-tech and flashy or something more practical, the gadget market is bursting at the seams with cool Father’s Day gift ideas.

Dads get just as sentimental and mushy over grandchildren as mums, so try whacking a few digital photos onto a cool gadget like a Digital Photo Frame or a Digital Photo Keyring and presenting it as a Father’s Day gift. It’s fun, stylish and personal, and best of all you can set the whole thing up for him before you hand it over, perfect for technologically challenged dads.

Whether you agree with his music taste or not there’s a good chance your dad has a stack of old vinyl still lying around, which makes gadgets like a USB Turntable a fantastic gift for Father’s Day. Help him update his collection by converting old 33s, 45s and 78s into crisp digital audio he can pop on a CD, Flash Drive or even an MP3 player. It may mean opening yourself up to a torrent of 80s dad rock or worse, but it’s his day after all.

Of course some dads never grew up at all and would love nothing better than a high speed remote control helicopter, if so the Father’s Day gift market is your oyster. Take that a step further and gung-ho dads might well enjoy one of the many gift experience days that have popped up recently. Sign him up for a day of 4×4 off-road driving or an exhilarating gliding experience; it beats a pair of novelty socks any day. Even the musical variety.

Whatever your dad’s interests and whatever your budget, there are loads of fun and fantastic Father’s Day gifts ideas to choose from. This year it’s time to up the game and surprise him with something a little different. Of course, if your dad really does have a genuine love of socks you can always throw a pair in with a cool gadget to placate him. After all, we wouldn’t want his feet getting cold.



By: Madison Dreamtower

I am using Audacity and for some reason the coming sound is not recognized by my computer either when I am using the Behringer connector or when I am using the turntable. On top of that there seems to be a conflict beetween RealPlayer and Audacity since in some occasions I lose sound completely. The USB turntabale is a rather cheap Lenco LEL 3866.

DJ’s that like to perform tricks are always on the look out for new tricks and techniques to
perform. If done correctly, DJ tricks can be look and sound very impressive indeed! In this
article we will talk about 3 DJ tricks you can learn and implement at your own will.

DJ trick 1 – How to play a record backwards.

This trick is more suited to a vestax PDX-A2. What you need to do is take an ashtray a little thicker than the cartridge on your turntable or deck and position it upside down & centered on the slipmat of the turntable. Take a piece of sticky gum and stick a record centered on top of the ashtray, what the gum does is it helps hold it in place. Flip the cartridge upside down and then screw it back onto the tonal arm. You need to also weight the tonal arm so that it has the tendency to spring upward instead of down. When you have that done, start the record and slide the tonal arm underneath the record as far as you can towards the ashtray and it will play your record backwards. Its a pretty cool trick when you get it working.

DJ trick 2 – Add your own drum record

The second trick you need to do is have a record playing on one deck and set the tonal arm on the beginning or the end of the record where no music is written. Then have the record
stopped and tap on the record with your finger. What happens is the vibration from your
tapping on the record will sound like a base beat. Just tap in beat with the other record to
fatten up the base or add your own percussive touch. Its tough to get it first off but with
practice you’ll be good at it eventually!

DJ Trick 3 – Use two of the same records to achieve a reverb or delay effect.

This trick is pretty popular and I’ve seen lots of DJ’s work this off to a “T”. What you need
to do for this trick is take two records of the same song and get them in beat with each
other. You want to make sure that the songs are literally over laid exactly on top of each
other. So… assuming that you have that in order, take the base out of the record that you
are about to mix in and bring the track in. Once this is done, slowly blend the pitch very
delicately and you will start to hear a reverb effect! For the delay effect all you need to
do repeat the procedure except slip the record out of beat and then fade in and out for a
delay effect.

There you have it. 3 cool DJ tricks for you to get cracking on! You may not get these at
first, but practice makes perfect. Now go get em DJ!



By: Shane Burn

Winter is thankfully on its way out, so now it is time to turn your thoughts to the traditional British spring clean. It’s the ideal excuse to get rid of all the junk you’ve hoarded over winter, but no longer need.



Indeed, ’sweep the broom’ and get rid of the clutter. But, instead of hiring a giant skip and throwing the whole lot away, choose a more profitable and eco-friendly way of disposing of it by selling through the classifieds, or even online! Some items will undoubtedly be rubbish and destined for recycling, or as a last resort thrown out, but others could make you a reasonable amount of cash; at least enough to enable you to enjoy the spring sales.



Start by looking through your wardrobe. If you haven’t worn an item of clothing for over a year – get rid of it! You won’t be wearing it again. Vintage clothing is in demand, so if your cast-off clothing is in reasonable or even mint condition then consider selling them. Alternatively, if that sounds like too much trouble you could donate them any one of the many charity shops dotted around the high street.



Next, consider your furniture and electrical items. Take a close look at all the ‘old’ items lying around, they could be valuable. If you own vintage musical playback equipment you’ll be glad to hear there’s a growing market for old turntables and stereos, as many people rediscover the aural delights of vinyl. New turntables with USB connectors are flying off the shelves, but there is also a steadily growing demand for second-hand units, especially quality stereo turntables from the 1970s.



Do you really need that old sofa in the spare room? Settees and sofas are big items to get out of a home, but by selling them online or through local and national UK classifieds you have a ready-made solution; state in the ad that the buyer collects. That way not only will you make room for a new suite or bed, but you’ve no need to worry about the logistics of getting your old bulky furniture to the tip when it ceases to be of use in its new home!



Searching through your drawers might also unearth some more money spinners, especially if you come across some old mobile phone handsets. Don’t throw them out. Many operators are now offering SIM only deals in an attempt to attract new customers. As a result, subscribers taking out those deals are now avidly looking for good quality used mobile handsets through auction sites and online classifieds, to use with their new SIM.



So, spring cleaning needn’t be a chore, it can be a great way of raising extra cash while clearing out the clutter!



By: Victoria Cochrane

If you’re under the age of 30, you’ve probably never seen a turntable outside of a movie, and if you’re under the age of 20, you may have never seen one in a movie. Turntables are used to play old vinyl LP’s and records, and they work by dragging a needle lightly through a spiral groove on a record, going from the outer edge to the inner zone.

This needle would be used to make an oscillating electrical current, which was used to drive speakers and make a sound. A lot of the audio technologies we take for granted (high fidelity, stereo sound) were first pioneered in turntables.

Turntables were supplanted by CD players on the market in the 1990s. It was in the late ’80s that sales of new titles on CD supplanted those on vinyl LP’s, and most record labels quickly switched formats to the CD, which allowed customers to select which track they wanted more readily, were smaller, cheaper to produce, and produced a more pristine sound.

What’s changed since then is audiophile appreciation of the turntable. The analog reproduction mechanism makes a sound that’s more ‘alive’ or ‘warm’ than a digital file, and lots of music from the ’50s through early ’80s never got re-encoded to digital formats. The current range of turntables mostly applies to nostalgia buffs, who want to either listen to music that isn’t available on CD or MP3, or who want to experience the music the way it was experienced back in the days of vinyl.

Many turntables sold these days have modern enhancements – for example, digital signal processor chips in the turntable itself can be used to tune the sound as it comes through the needle, and is used to give needles sensitivity that they never had back in the days when spinning disks were king. Others try to remain true to their original manufacturing stats – if you want to experience a Rolling Stones LP from the ’70s, you need a turntable build like those from the 1970s, forgoing many of the technological innovations that have come since then.

Still others, like turntables in the ’80s, are multi-platform devices, able to play back CDs, LP’s, cassette tapes and more. Quite a few, following the lead from several devices in the ’90s, will transcribe an MP3 copy of the LP file. Modern high-end conversion files, in an attempt to give the benefits of vinyl in a format that can be played on an iPod, use amazingly high bitrate transcription modes to catch all the subtle undertones of the richer vinyl sound.

For true nostalgia buffs, nothing beats the warmth of vinyl, and some of the more retro designs for turntables come from Rek-O-Kut and Stanton, which, depending on their models, try to get the exact feel (including remanufacturing older parts) to get the exact same sound as a vintage turntable.



By: Tamas Gloetzer

I just bought a 12 Vinyl Record and I need to find a way to properly display it in my room. I feel like there has to be a store or website that sells casings for vinyl records but i haven’t found it. Can anyone send me in the right direction?

While you may hear a lot of negative comments towards the music industry over illegal online music distribution, they do have cause for concern. Since the advent of Napster and other file sharing communities, the record industry has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Some of blame can be placed on their conservative approach to promoting artists, opting for the “American Idol” instead of the avant-garde artists who can excite the next generation like the Beatles or Van Halen in decades past. They also failed to use the internet to distribute music before the rampant distribution began. But one thing is clear, the CD is on the way out.

Over the last several years the Compact Disc has experienced negative growth in the market. In fact the Vinyl LP has actually remained selling while the CD is lowing steam. A couple reasons for this are online distribution, and the fact that many consumers now use the CD as a medium to rip music from to their iPod or similar portable music device.

While I lament the fact that nobody sits down and listens to an album anymore, instead using music as a soundtrack to their own lives, there are still ways to distribute your next album. You have to use a little creativity and think outside the box, but you can make it work

USB Flash Drive

Don’t think you would be the first to do this. You would simply be in the company of established artists such as Matchbox Twenty who last year released a full length album on a USB bracelet. The great thing about the USB drive is you can include extra features easily such as videos, liner notes, or even alternative file types such as lossless FLAC or multi-channel audio. The price of USB drives has dropped to dollars each, so it’s not too much more than CD replication. Plus, the USB drive can be used for other things (such as storing personal files for work or school) after your fan has moved it to their iPod.

There are several services offering USB drives in bulk loaded with your content and even printed with your name or logo. Call around for the best price.

Concept Albums

Online distribution has increasingly made the single popular again. Now that you can chose which songs you want and which songs are junk, many people will download their preferred songs and leave the rest alone. I’m going to assume you put all of your effort into every song already to not create filler, but what some artists are trying is the concept album.

Concept albums center around an idea or theme. Thrice recently released the first part of a two-part concept collection. Each box includes two EPs, so the set will have four discs, one for each element: fire, water, earth, and air. Similarly, Sufjan Stephens has produced several popular concept albums. Remember, even bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd did concept albums.

These are fun albums to produce, but they’re also fun to collect. They’re not something you want for one song.

Creative Packaging

This may be the most costly tip, but it is also a lot of fun. Companies such as Invisible Creature specialize in creating one-of-a-kind packaging for albums. A lot of people like creative packaging, and love to collect it. Think about what Apple did with their iPod packaging, it is an adventure just opening up the box. Project 86’s latest album, Rival Factions, used a blue jewel case to hides and revels different elements in the liner notes, much like what you used to find in cereal boxes.

With the right packaging, fans will need to own your album, not just download a few songs.

Digital Distribution

We all want to sell complete albums, but we can’t afford to ignore digital delivery. Services such as TuneCore can get your album sold through iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, eMusic and more while you get 100% of the sales. This is the future of music sales. Radiohead most famously provided their album for sale on their website independently. Some people aren’t collectors and don’t really care about a single experience, they just want a few songs. Indulge them.

High-quality Multi-channel Audio

Not everyone has access to high-quality recording equipment, but those that do should consider releasing their albums on master-quality for those who really love their music. Blu-ray Disc is the newest audio disc format which allows uncompressed audio in up to 7.1 multi-channel surround sound. More and more homes are including surround sound systems and Blu-ray is exploding on the market, thanks to the Playstation 3. Even two-channel audio sounds better in high-quality.

Additional features can be added to Blu-ray releases, such as live footage, documentaries and whatever else you can fit on the 50GB space provided. Artists who have released on Blu-ray include Nine Inch Nails, Dave Matthews, John Legend, and Shakira, amongst many others.

But don’t think you’re stuck to Blu-ray. Record companies such as Linn Records are providing master quality downloads on their website. Online music stores like MusicGiants are also providing lossless audio downloads and multi-channel audio downloads.

Get Started

This is only the beginning. Get creative and try new things. Music and art are going to have coalesce to keep it in the physical realm, so think like an artist and a businessman. This is your time to shine.



By: Steven Kippel