The Cracking the Code Mike Stern interview is here! In this intimate chat, the genial jazz master shares a wealth of improvisational insights, delivered in an extemporaneous fashion as effortless his playing. Read More
As we guitarists are so often caught up in the technique rat race, it’s important to remind ourselves once in a while that so much of the personal style of the players we admire is actually a function of limitations. Let Mike Stern explain: Read More
Molly Tuttle’s prodigious songwriting chops, ethereal voice, and physical command of the guitar make her one of the most exciting new players in bluegrass. She’s the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year for 2017. And she is the subject of the latest Masters in Mechanics interview here at Cracking the Code. Read More
We’ve just uploaded our interview with Terry Syrek to the Cracking the Code platform.
This interview is a revealing conversation about an elite player learning to live with a condition that severely affects his playing: focal dystonia. Read More
Quick announcement — we just added the “Playing Through the Changes with Martin Miller” video to the Cracking the Code platform.
You can find the interview here: Read More
As an example of what we have to do to get a great sound mix in our interviews, take a look at the above screenshot. We’re editing an interview I did with Martin Miller on improvision. He’s on guitar, I’m on keys. All in the same room. I’m going through the whole thing manually as I edit, clamping down his mic to only when he talks and only when I talk. I can’t use automatic ducking like we do during live broadcasts like the Batio thing, because he sometimes talks and plays at the same time, and so do I. Read More
Three 4K cameras, a video-enabled smartphone, three microphones, one guitar, one blaring amplifier, and one blazing shred legend streaming a television-quality video and audio broadcast to a 70,000-person internet audience through a single turbocharged iMac? Sure, no problem. Would you like fries with that? Read More
We’ve got a special event this weekend: a live video interview with Michael Angelo Batio!
For months we’ve been working on improving our live streaming video setup. We’d like to be able to host more interviews in-house and even livestream some of them, in the highest possible quality. Technology has come a long way in the last few years, and we’ve now got an incredible, broadcast quality setup.
So, how are we going to test drive this thing? We’re excited to report that none other than Michael Angelo Batio will be stopping by our Brooklyn studio this Saturday at 1pm EST to give our new live broadcast rig a spin.
We just finished editing the David Grier interview for our Masters in Mechanics subscribers! Meeting David was a wonderful step forward in our quest to get a better understanding of crosspicking techniques in general, and bluegrass picking technique in particular. Read More
It's one of the most fundamental and personal gear choices of all: the pick you use. And we want to know what the most popular of those choices really are.…
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