Michael Molenda

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  Michael Molenda
  

The Most Recent stories by Michael Molenda

• Vocal Cords: 8 Ways to Help A Singer Nail It!  March 2008

  One of the most tenuous and frightening “strategic opps” in the studio is coaxing a show-stopping, ear-bending performance from a vocalist. So much is at stake, and so much can go wrong. You can’t depend on the other elements of the ...

• Bass Management: Reviving the Boom from a Mono Live Track  March 2008

  One of my favorite sayings is, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” Sound is kind of like that—only more insidious. God is omnipotent and unchanging. Sound messes with you constantly. Just when you think your many years ...

• The Disturbed Method  March 2008

  “I think part of our success is because we’re not America’s favorite band,” says Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan. “We never strive to be part of the in crowd. If you become the flavor of the month, it’s only a matter of time before ...

• Blue Cheer and the Temple of Loud  February 2008

  Long ago, in the foggy galaxy of the ’60s, strode the loudest, rudest, and heaviest blues-rock trio to roar out of the San Francisco ballroom scene. While other Frisco hippie bands sought to wrap their audiences in a fuzzy web of psychedelic ...

• Mixed Metal  February 2008

  Seizing the Production Reins, Avenged Sevenfold Uncorks a Stylistically Diverse Modern Rock Album

• Bass Management: Jose Ferro on Low-End Definition  January 2008

  When The Screamin’ Lords bassist and producer Jose Ferro started tracking his group’s riff-rock album Long Live Me, he made sure to bring on the heavy guitars, courtesy of guest artists George Lynch, Chris Poland, Gus G, and ...

• The Gym Class Heroes’ Guide to Hip-Hop Guitar  January 2008

  Ever since Run-D.M.C.’s “Rock Box” blasted airwaves as one of the first rap singles to incorporate heavy-as-a-freight-train guitar riffs (courtesy of Eddie Martinez) in 1984, urban dance music and electric guitars have enjoyed a raucous ...

• 3 Paths to Big Bottoms  December 2007

  Guitarists are infamous for overdubbing massive numbers of guitar tracks—typically recording combinations of different guitars, amps, speaker cabinets, and/or digital models—and mixing the stew into a gargantuan armada of 6-string power. ...

• Blast From the Past: Link Wray’s “Rumble”  December 2007

  “Rumble,” one of the most primitive and exciting guitar instrumentals ever laid to tape, didn’t even have a name when it was recorded, and it almost wasn’t released at all.

• Richie Kotzen on Recording 'Go Faster'  December 2007

  The title of Richie Kotzen’s latest solo album, Go Faster [Headroom], is apt, because the former Mr. Big and Poison guitarist likes to move fast. Real fast. Whether his fingers are zipping down the fretboard of his signature ...