Gear In-depth & Longer Blogs — Hawk

Last week saw the publication of my 'Lords Of The Springs' article for Premier Guitar. Being invited to write for such a finely-crafted publication was an honour and quite some education. I received a six-page document on correct writing practices for the house style, and another that detailed ethical guidelines (don't be afraid of giving a bad review; no free or discounted demo units to be kept by reviewers; check all facts thoroughly). This was clearly a publication with very high standards and I didn't want to let the side down. My first piece was for the June 2018 edition on the subject of vintage...

** UPDATE! WE'RE COMING BACK TO SYNTHFEST FOR 2017. BIGGER, BETTER, VINTAGER! The line up & exhibitor list is superb - find out more and book tickets HERE. ** Saturday October 1st was the inaugural Synthfest UK show at the Octagon Centre in Sheffield organised by Sound On Sound magazine as part of the Sensoria festival. Incorporating manufacturer/dealer displays and a modular synth meet, this was a celebration of all things synth, appropriately-located in Synth City. We headed up the road with a big stack of Soundgas gear to take a stand at our first full-scale show. By Friday night we were all set for the...

Vintage Japanese Tape Echo & Spring Reverb Update:  Mid-seventies Japanese manufacturer Hawk Technical Works Co Ltd put out a range of tape echoes and spring reverbs branded Mirano and then Hawk aimed squarely at domestic home recordists. We were intrigued and decided to get hold of as many different models as possible and try them all out. The results so far are documented below - these are great machines with useful features, and interesting creative possibilities especially once pushed beyond their comfort zone. We're definitely keeping examples of some of them for the studio. This is a run through of our...