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You are here: Home / Archives for metal

Ball Media Productions

December 8, 2007 by Chris

This is a company that is owned and run by an old guitarist buddy that I use to play with way back in the day. His name is John Ball and what a success story his is.

John and I always played together but not in the same band. We hung around the same circle of friends and musicians and to make a long story short, we had different playing styles that never really over lapped. He gravitated to the harder speed metal sort of arrangements while I was under a more Progressive Rock, Jazz and to a lesser extent Pop genre.

My sister and John were closer in age and they both were in the same grade at St. John’s College. Boy did both of them get themselves into a little bit of trouble as kids during those years! Then again, I was no angel either.

His company is called Ball Media Productions and he had his humble beginnings in our home town of Brantford, Ontario. He at first started his empire with a recording studio in the basement of a well known Brantford music studio called Music and Sound. Over the years he has branched of into different area’s as he sees fit.

Now his company has a jaw dropping amount of specialized services that can now compete with the big guys!

Ball Media includes Printing/Bindery, Packaging, Branding/Indentity, CD / DVD Replication, Graphic Design and Web/Multimedia plus video area’s of expertise. Take a look for yourself and if you do need his services for anything no matter how small, just tell him “Stickman” sent you!

I wish him well with all of his company’s future endeavors but I know that he doesn’t need it!

Keep on Jammin’ Johnnie!




Filed Under: Entertainment, Home and Lifestyle, Music, Musicians, My experiences, Playing Styles, Technology, The early Years, Video, Web and Technology, Web Site Promotion Tagged With: Ball Media Productions, band, Brantford, brantford media specialists, CD, design, DVD, guitar, guitarist, Home, jazz, metal, Music, musician, Musicians, Ontario, play, playing, Progressive Rock, recording studio, rock, sound, Video

The Dream Theatre Rock experience

November 1, 2007 by Chris

I first heard of this band by my buddy Tony when we were standing next to the speakers at the Saga concert that I was at recently.

He had told me that his son that has his own band, loves this type of Rock. He quickly described it as a hybrid of RUSH, Saga, Yes and Heavy thrashing metal. These guys I had to check out!

I first headed off to what in the world is that obscure site called … oh ya, youtube and listened to a few of Dream Theater’s tunes.

This is the one song that really caught my eye. It was everything that Tony had told me about all wrapped up into one song.

The keyboardist sounded like a young Rick Wakeman near the beginning and the bass player sounded a bit like Chris Squire. The guitarist had that Alex Lifeson sound that he had on A Farewell to Kings album one minute then a hint of Permanent Waves the next! The vocalist at first sounded a bit like Jethro Tall then Michael Sadler from Saga.

Todays music in my mind, sometimes lack the feel of musical diversity. There is so much influence out there that bands just don’t tap into. Remember, there is no such thing as a completely new style that has never been heard of before. We may use multiple approaches/styles to create these new sounds but we all use outside influences to create our own individual stamp of music.

I now think that it’s time to let Rick be exposed to this style and see if he can incorporate some of this into his unique approach!

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Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Entertainment, Music, Musicians, Video Tagged With: Alex Lifeson, amp, band, bands, bass, bass player, chris squire, concert, dream theater, Dream Theatre, farewell to kings, guitar, guitarist, heavy, hybrid, keyboard, keyboardist, metal, michael sadler, Music, music in my mind, musical, musical diversity, new sounds, new style, permanent waves, Progressive Rock, Rick Wakeman, rock experience, RUSH, Saga, sound, sounds, speakers, todays music, vocalist, YES

Trying out Thumb picks

October 28, 2007 by Chris

While looking for thumb picks to try and spice up my picking style, I came across the regular/traditional plastic ones and the newer look and feel plastic and metal ones.

I know that you’ve all seen the plastic thumb picks before and they all seem to have the same feel to them. When you put them on they have this loose tension to them. It has the illusion that it would slide off my thumb fairly easily and that poses a problem with me. While playing hockey I tend to almost squeeze the sap out of it when playing and I bring that attitude to my guitar game.

The one that Tim Cameron directed me to was the National “L” one. nationalthumbpick.jpg

This one has a different feel to it all together. It has a nice firm feel all the way around your thumb, but the exposed pick maybe a little bit too big and clunky for my liking.

The next one that I was shown was a little bit unique from your everyday thumb pick. This one is called the PROPIK.

metal-plasticthumbpick.jpg

The one to the left is called a Good Grip Thumb Pick.

I liked this one because it allows me to adjust the tension of it to my liking. The best feature of this one is that the exposed pick that I will attack the strings with is smaller then most thumb picks.

I do not need a big clumsy thing on my thumb that is not as precise as a regular guitar pick. Therefore I give this product one thumbs up! Get it?

If you use any of these picks, please let us know the pros and cons of each one!

Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Guitar Equipment, My Equipment, My experiences, Playing Styles Tagged With: adjust, banjo picks, finger picks, guitar, guitar pick, guitar picking, guitar picking techniques, guitar picks, guitar picks for sweaty hands, metal, Music, playing, regular, strings, thumb picks, traditional guitar picks, trying new guitar picks

Listen to great new musical artists at Unsigned.com

February 18, 2007 by Chris

A couple of months ago my wife introduced me to this great new site called Unsigned.com. It’s a site dedicated to giving independent music and vocal artists an outlet to be heard on the internet.

The site is a great place for unsigned artists to create a profile and upload their music. The website now has over 4000 artists and listeners using the site on a regular basis. When visiting the site you can find musicians that play in a variety of genres such as Rock, grunge, hip hop, metal, country, jazz, and New-Wave Artists. The variety is fantastic, and I’m sure anyone who loves music and enjoys discovering new bands will like Unsigned.com.

I mentioned New Wave artists because, believe it or not, I used to really enjoy new wave music. New wave has changed since it first came out in the 80’s but it’s still a great genre. At this time there’s 13 different artists listed in the New Wave category. You should visit and have a listen, or if New Wave isn’t your thing check out some of the other types of music that the independent artists have uploaded. You’ll be hooked on Unsigned.com before you realize what’s happening.

When I get my act together I’m going to have to upload some of my work onto the site. Then you’ll be able to hear some of my music too. Come to think of it, I’ve got a few friends that would probably be interested in Unsigned.com. If they upload their music I’ll be sure to let you know.

Filed Under: Entertainment, Recreation, Technology, Video, Web and Technology Tagged With: country, Entertainment, grunge, hip hop, independent artists, jazz, listen to music, metal, Music, Musicians, New Wave, Recreation, rock, singer, Technology, unsigned.com, upload music, Video, vocal, Web and Technology

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