Top Five Reasons for Having a Home Studio

Once upon a time, making a record meant booking expensive time in a professional studio. These days, advances in technology mean that anyone can craft quality recordings in the comfort of their homes. In fact, there’s a whole genre built from access to home studios, called, appropriately enough, “bedroom pop.”

Here are five reasons why you should consider having a home studio of your own.

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EssayJake UittiYamaha
Charo Talks the Thrill of Entertaining, Playing Guitar and Music as Oxygen

For famed Spanish-born musician and entertainer Charo, music is much more akin to oxygen and water than it is to some petty piece of entertainment. Music is her lifeblood. The energetic performer says she meets new friends through it, she rejuvenates her energy by practicing and playing it, and she experiences beauty through it.

For Charo, the guitar, especially, is what thrills her. The instrument is of the people and she can make it truly sing. Charo, who boasts a shapely silhouette and who entertains with as much verve and enthusiasm as any, is also a truly world-class six-string master. She cares about technique as much as she does about her looks. It’s all part of the package, she’ll say. And all part of what she loves most to do: engage an audience and shine when doing so.

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mxmtoon Levels Up with Songs in New Video Game, ‘Life Is Strange: True Colors’

With each decision we make, a new future unfolds. If you go left or right at the proverbial fork, a certain, particular road will unfurl before you. We are in charge of our futures, whether or not we’re clear-headed and cognizant of that in the moment. As such, it can require great effort to remain focused in each move, as you try and take your future by the reigns. This is true whether you’re navigating personal introspection or racing through a new video game level, trying to grab golden rings, or meet and get to know a new character.

Today, no one gets this better than the musician, mxmtoon (aka Maia), who recently finished writing music for a new choose-your-own-adventure-style video game, and is now set to dive back into her own brand of creative world-building.

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Kristin Chenoweth Brings the Light with New Holiday Album

For Kristin Chenoweth, star of stage, screen, and recording studio, everything changed at seven years old when she asked herself one very important question: What would a bunny do? The query came when the young Chenoweth had a small role in the Tulsa, Oklahoma Ballet’s rendition of The Nutcracker. As a kid, she’d aspired to be a ballerina. In fact, it was in one of her early dance classes that she saw a piano, and mid-grand plié, decided music was to be her life’s work.

Around that time, Chenoweth auditioned for a role in The Nutcracker, and at first, thought she might win the role as a mouse in an important scene. But she was too small for the costume (even today, she stands at just 4’11”). So, the director gave her the role of the rabbit, a character who normally just sits in the background. Even at a young age, though, Chenoweth wanted more. She was inspired to act. So, sitting there during the show one day, she asked herself the question and just decided to get up and do exactly what a bunny would.

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Natalie Imbruglia on “Torn” and Her New Album “Firebird”

Natalie Imbruglia knows everything is transient. To put it another way, she says, “I just don’t give a shit anymore.” The “Torn” singer, who became globally famous for her voice and beauty in the ’90s, has seen the ways of the world and she’s not really impressed anymore. That also means she’s not captivated or led by any of it either. As a young person, Imbruglia was more affected by the possibilities and the promises of celebrity. But she learned quickly that they don’t satisfy or fulfill. She turned to meditation to help. She remembers wanting the attention from everyone around her knowing that she’d landed a role on an important Australian sitcom as a young person. Then, two weeks later, she’d flipped, wanting anonymity, hiding her face behind books in taxicabs. Today, Imbruglia is like a needle, weaving through different patches of life, one day living in the bustling city, the next inhaling a deep sea breeze. All of these elements comprise Imbruglia’s latest LP release, Firebird, which she released in September.

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Wale Talks Fame, Football and New LP ‘Folarin II’

Everyone has heard the concept of the “blockbuster movie.” It’s a film that delivers on epic proportions. Well, Washington D.C.-born rapper Wale (aka Olubowale Victor Akintimehin) delivers to his fans blockbuster albums.

On tracks that rise like skyscrapers, the lyricist rides overtop. It’s a talent that few boast and none better than he. When considering the number of fans, size of reach, and all that go into a movie like Jaws, Wale delivers similarly sonically, and he does so with keen bravado.

Even when his music is “about nothing,” like the two albums the artist did with comedian Jerry Seinfeld—The Album About Nothing and mixtape More About Nothing—there is still momentousness afoot (see: the 2015 song, “Matrimony” featuring Usher). And on Wale’s forthcoming new record, Folarin II, which is out Friday (October 22), the emcee has arrived in a similar victorious fashion. Each song feels like a win, a big score. But, for Wale, that victorious nature first came from his introduction to the game of football.

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Carlos Santana: “When I found the guitar, it was like seeing flying saucers and Moby Dick and discovering the spiritual orgasm all at once”

If you say the name Carlos Santana to anyone passing by on the street, not only will they almost invariably know who you’re talking about, but they’ll also likely have their own fond memory of the prolific guitar player.

Whether that personal history began with early Santana hits like Black Magic Woman or Oye Como Va, or the bond was born later in the '90s with hits like Smooth, Santana is a legend due to his bright energy and wailing notes from his talented fingers.

Santana has a new 15-track album out this month called Blessings and Miracles, on which he recruited artists like Kirk Hammett, Chris Stapleton, Diane Warren and old friend Rob Thomas.

We caught up with the Mexican-born 74-year-old guitar legend to ask him about the new record, how he works with his cadre of famous singers, and what he remembers from the original Woodstock…

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Q&AJake UittiGuitar World
John Forté Set to Release New LP, ‘Vessels, Angels & Ancestors,’ His “Best” Work Yet

There was a time when the name, “John Forté,” was said on the radio at least once every hour, for probably three or four years. From the mid-‘90s until 2000, Forté was on tracks or getting shouted out on them with The Fugees, which, of course, includes Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras. On songs like Wyclef’s “We Trying To Stay Alive,” or working behind the scenes on production on The Fugees’ album The Score, Forté was a major player in hip hop by the end of the 20th century. But then, as he says, his life took some major right and left turns. Forté was arrested for drug possession and spent a number of years incarcerated, and sentenced to the mandatory 14 years. Songwriter Carly Simon and Senator Orin Hatch fought for Forté, who was later released, commuted by then-President George W. Bush in 2008.

Ever since then, Forté has lived a life of renewal. He’s focused time and energies on reformation, on rehabilitation. His music has talked about the search for knowledge, no longer focused on more capitalistic and hedonistic gains. Forté is, in many ways, a new person. Yet, his path is also a return to who he was as a younger person, thirsty for knowledge and experience before the road wended wrongly.

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Country Music’s Cody Johnson Releases Double LP, Shows ‘Human’ Side

Huntsville, Texas-born country music singer-songwriter Cody Johnson knows that life isn’t ever one thing. Over the years, Johnson has grown and developed an appreciation for all types of singers, people, songwriters, songs, experiences, and perspectives. He loves connecting with a crowd. He loves exhibiting multiple sides of himself in his music, over the course of a collection of songs. Case in point: Johnson’s latest double-LP release, Human The Double Album, which he unveiled on Friday (October 8).

Walt Whitman is often quoted when discussing the human condition. The famed American poet has said, “I contain multitudes.” Meaning, of course, so does everyone else. Well, Johnson agrees and showed as much on his new double album. The artist, who recruited Willie Nelson as the album’s only feature, has always loved Outlaw country music and performing at Honky Tonks like his favorite uncle used to.

We caught up with the 34-year-old Johnson (aka “CoJo”) to ask him about his early days falling in love with music, how his parents influenced his journey, how his varied interests inspire songs, and what he loves most about being a musician (and cowboy) today.

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4 Questions with Metiér Brewing Company’s Rodney Hines

Woodinville’s Metiér Brewing Company is doing big things. The suds producer, which is one of the only Black-owned breweries in the region, has announced a new partnership as part of its work to grow and diversify the state of craft beer brewing in the Seattle area. As such, Metiér and the Seattle Mariners baseball team have declared a new long-term relationship in which Metiér will take over the old Pyramid Alehouse, which is next door to the baseball stadium and, for many years, was a popular pre-game destination for fans until 2020 when Pyramid vacated.

The Mariners, which recently signed a long lease for the building on 1st Avenue in SODO, are excited to work with Metiér in the refurbished space. The brewery says it is set to move in and run the joint in 2022. The new location will feature game-day broadcasts inside and plenty of pints for fans. Other amenities include a restaurant with upwards of 250 seats.

We caught up with Rodney Hines, CEO and co-founder of Metiér Brewing Company, to ask him four questions about his partnership with the Mariners, the best beers to drink at the ballpark, and the impact that black-owned can have on not just the brewing industry, but the community at large.

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Phonte of Little Brother and The Foreign Exchange Talks Music, His Label and Transparency

North Carolina-born rapper and producer Phonte (born Phonte Lyshod Coleman) has a lot on his plate. He co-fronts the popular chart-topping hip hop group Little Brother; he co-fronts the Grammy-nominated group The Foreign Exchange; he co-founded the record label FE Music; he’s got his eye out for talent to put on that label; he scores television shows, and co-hosts a podcast with none other than Questlove. But, Phonte knows how precarious life can be too. For as rich as the years are today, there have been lean ones in the past. And while new opportunities are grand, what counts in the long run is growth and character. These are the ideas Phonte brings to his work and his many collaborations, these are the tools with which he makes new music today.

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Melvins’ Frontman Buzz Osborne Talks Importance of Listening Ahead of 36-Song Acoustic Collection Release

The Washington-based, genre-defining band, Melvins, wants you to listen up. Whether that means paying close attention to the soul-shaking sounds of groups like Led Zeppelin or The Jimi Hendrix Experience, or divine individual artists like Tina Turner or Aretha Franklin, Melvins’ frontman, Buzz Osborne (aka King Buzzo), wants you to hear what’s in the music: the depth of the songs, the intricacy of the artistic choices, the magic, even the proximity to God. In a way, that’s why he and Melvins’ co-founder, drummer Dale Crover, went through much of the band’s back catalog and decided ultimately to transpose 36 songs to to four acoustic albums, the collection of which, Five Legged Dog, is slated for release on Friday (October 15).

While at first, Osborne and Crover had no set intention in releasing the four-album collection, the band’s ambition soon grew. The members took on the challenge, especially when recording the vocals with the acoustic guitars. In so doing, Osborne says, perhaps their listeners will now hear the seminal band’s music differently, maybe even more impactfully.

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Best Christmas Song Ever? Blondie Rediscovers Lost Gem with Fab 5 Freddy

When hip-hop was still in its infancy, the popular rock band Blondie was there in support. Many can pose that they were there, but Blondie, which was founded by and comprised primarily of singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein, was taking trips from Manhattan to the Bronx, meeting with early rappers, DJs, graffiti artists, breakers and absorbing the culture.

Both Harry and Stein followed their curiosities and, as such, Blondie was one of the first mainstream groups to introduce rapping to the populous. The band was excellent at playing, melding, and jumping genres, from rock to disco and rap. The band’s smash hit, “Rapture,” featured Harry rapping, influenced by the famed emcee Fab 5 Freddy.

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