Music

Bowed cymbal recording

Important to remember – interesting sounds need not originate from complex devices. I have a bunch of bowed cymbal sounds in my library and they have always intrigued me as I understood how they were created but had never bothered to actually try myself, despite having a drum kit (the ultimate stress reliever!) with some […]

Lunch box guitar

Lunch box guitar

A link to this was posted in the comments to yesterday’s cigar box guitar post, but I thought it was cool enough to get its own item. Be sure to check out the builder’s Flickr sets for his cookie tin banjo and his cigar box guitar. Lunch Box Guitar

Doc-o-rock and his cigar box guitars

Doc-o-rock and his cigar box guitars

Steampunk Workshop has a photo piece on cigar box guitar maker Mark Melchior (Hot Springs, Arkansas): …he searches local antique shops for older boxes to build these one of a kind pieces. Most boxes he chooses are pre-30’s and are solid wood. They feature skeleton keys for bridges and key escutcheons for sound holes. The […]

Breadboard VU meter

Breadboard VU meter

Here’s an Instructable on building a breadboard VU meter around the LM3916 (or LM3915/LM3914) dot/bar display driver chip. We even get treated to the pounded out volume units of that ’80s Siouxsie & the Banshees classic “Peek-a-Boo.” LM3915/LM3916 VU Meter