With mottos like, "You're doing nothing wrong" and, "Nothing is wrong with your mix," Head Voice arrived last fall as a mission statement and an "audio recording zine focused on creativity." Founded by musicians Donovan Quinn, Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance), and James Toth (James & The Giants, Wooden Wand, Tape Op contributor), the mag steers us towards "unorthodox sound production." Its digest size format might remind some readers of this magazine's origins, but at 84 pages, it's bigger than we ever were back then, and it is seriously full of interesting content. This initial issue features articles on Matt Valentine (The Tower Recordings, MV & EE), the late Peter Laughner (Rocket From The Tombs, early Pere Ubu), Naomi Yang (Damon and Naomi, Galaxie 500), singer/songwriter Cheval Sombre, Kristen Gallerneaux (author, museum curator), and engineer Jason Quever of Papercuts (espousing his love of the old Shure Model 565 mic). If all of this sounds as interesting to you as it is to me, grab an issue and dig into some engaging interviews and thoughts about recording music. I'm really enthused to see a magazine like Head Voice, and I am waiting for the next (bi-annual) issue! Issue purchase includes access to the magazine's Discord server.
Books | No. 159
On Recording: A Manifesto (book), The Creative Act: A Way of Being (book)
by John Baccigaluppi
These two books are both highly disparate but also very similar. More than anything else, I found them fun to read and also inspiring, although in different ways. But in the end, inspiration is...