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Gearwire's resident mondo enthusiast, J. Irving-Giles discusses recording his dishes while testing out Eventide's Timefactor. He shares some of the unorthodox methods used in this impromptu recording jam.  

At Chicago's Looptopia, the Art Institute of Chicago's Instrument Construction class showed off some strange musical creations. Chris Burkes Interactopus is an eight-limbed, interactive, light-responsive instrument made from leather pants and other components found in the trash and Cycling 74 Max.  

We found something very interesting on YouTube that we thought we'd share. Heita, a musician from Japan, makes instruments out of vegetables and plays tunes with them. It's super radishcal.  

In a world where the masses hail the convenience of portable mp3 players, the sacrifice of audio quality is no big loss for your average listener. Intunition's Clari-Fi maintains portability with a device that fits between your music player and your earphones that cleans and clears up the signal in real-time.  

Remember the penultimate Death Star Trench scene in A New Hope? Think of yourself as Luke, the RE204 Audio Analyzer as your X-Wing's targeting computer, and Matt Newport as Obi-Wan guiding you from the great beyond. Yeah, I thought you'd understand.  

Nowadays, more and more musicians are web-savvy, and at the very least know how to post photos on their MySpace accounts. Adding to that cache of basic knowledge, Gearwire decided to take a look at some simple ways to make your iTunes selections more publicly visible.  

Remember Short Circuit? Now imagine if Johnny Five, instead of being a military sentry drone with a destructive, shoulder-mounted laser that achieves sentience, was designed to annoy the Soviets into submission though incessant tapping. Now meet the merchandising opportunity that could have been.  

Did you know that environmentalism isn't just for dirty hippies anymore? It's true! Now that "not-killing-the-Earth" has gained mainstream appeal, CD reproduction houses like Groove House Records are offering enviro-friendly alternatives helping reduce our dependency on foreign jewel cases.  

While Black Lion Audio enjoys making inexpensive products that perform well, they always keep the environment in mind through all of their processes. Matt Newport talks about how BLA takes strides to ward off waste.  

Anyone familiar with Looney Tunes is likely to be unfamiliar with Raymond Scott, Electronium designer. Bill Holland disinters some information on the Electronium and Raymond Scott.  

From the folks what brought you "Brilliant Pebbles" and "The Intelligent Box" comes the more modestly named "Tru-Tone Duplex Cover." Though maybe not as hyperbolically titled as the company's previous endeavors, the Tru-Tone Duplex Cover works on basically the same principal: willful self-delusion on the part of the buyer.  

Michael Colligan divulges more about his dry ice techniques, and warns about the unique pitfalls of touring as a "dry icist." This might be the first GW video to receive a "WH-13" rating (editor's note: not likely) -- recommended for Wireheads over the age of 13 -- due to the mention of a certain, uhh, "implement" towards the end of the video. Well gosh, now you'll just have to watch!  

Want to learn how to play Dry Ice? Michael Colligan explains his technique in this video. If you can't handle it, go play Dry Ice Hero.  

Every musician has his or her own way of approaching the task of songwriting. When you're a solo act who plays cello through a series of guitar effects, that process is obviously going to be a bit different. Alison Chesley, aka Helen Money, tells us how.  

No, "Dry Ice" is not the name of some VST Soft Synth. Dry Ice is frozen nitrogen, and as far as GW is aware, there is not yet a dry ice modeling plug-in on the market. Get your gloves out.  

Banjo ain't just Kazooie's best friend, it's also a stringed instrument [aka, Steve Martin's best friend]! As ever, if you want the dirt on anything strummed, plucked or picked, Tim and Tony of Old Town School Music Shop hold the shovel and bucket, respectively.  

What's in a Ukulele? A tiny strummed instrument by any other name would sound as sweet, right? Tim Joyce details the several types of ukuleles out there, and demos a few of the ukes they've got in-house.  

President Bomb is a rock band out of Chicago, IL, and recently, Bill Holland caught them live. The band runs down the different setups they use at a live show depending on the size.  

We headed over to Milquetoast Studios where we saw some pretty interesting homemade instruments including the Brownie. Using tunable guitar strings, various springs, a camera box and contact mics, this one of a kind instrument produces one of a kind sound.  

The Kelstone is a strange instrument. It's like having a nine-string bass / electric guitar that you play like a keyboard. In fact, it's not just like that -- that's what it is.  

When it comes to making decisions in the daunting, confusing, and altogether amoral business end of the music industry, Mr. Russia has simple bottom line and guiding principal: does it put gas in the van?  

CD Baby is an online music distributor for independent artists that uses physical distribution as their bread and butter. Bill Holland talks to CD Baby's Kevin Bruner about the differences between them and their digital-only competitors.  

So . . . what's this thing? Picture this: Antebulem Alabamy, Grandpaw Chalmers McGee is killin' the midday hours pickin' on his four-string banjo, chompin' on a run of reed, and stompin' his hoof to keep time. Did you read that last part, about stompin'? This is what the Porchboard Bass seeks to recreate!  

At Winter NAMM 2008, we caught producer / composer Peter Wolf attending the METAlliance ™ press conference. We got his thoughts on everything from the convention itself to his method of producing music.  

One of the biggest ideals METAlliance ™ holds is that all seven members must unanimously vote before a product gets their certified approval. Luckily, they didn't add an 8th juror, like Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men or nothing would ever get certified.  

Al Schmitt and Phil Ramone of METAlliance ™ speak more on the intended purpose of METAlliance ™. The difference between mp3 and high resolution isn't as apparent to the average listener as it is to the trained ear of studio rats, but METAlliance ™ is looking to spread audio quality awareness.  

J. Irving-Giles and Bill Holland were excited when they were tipped off about the Best of NAMM Breakfast. Both enjoyed the great gear they saw at NAMM and both also enjoy free breakfast. It sounded like the perfect start to the perfect day . . . little did they know, it would be their last!  

Ever since Bono's silhouette graced the first iPod commercial, I knew that the iPod would be the most awesome thing ever. Apparently, so did companies like SM Pro Audio who increase the usability of their products by making them iPod compatible.  

There is an awesome Flash game on the internet called Rose & Camellia where your character, a common-born widow who married into an aristocratic has to defeat your in-laws in increasingly difficult slapping matches. In second place comes aM Laboratory 909, a Flash emulation of the Roland TR-909.  

The first battalion of Gearwire's NAMM coverage team has arrived on the scene in Los Angeles where Bill Holland sees the ocean for the first time in his life before outlining what's to come in California.