Miscellaneous Links
(Manufacturers, favorite websites, & what-not)
About Fred's harmonies:
You might have noticed in the demos that there seems to be someone singing harmony with Fred. Well, that someone is 100% Fred, and he's using a really cool foot-pedal vocal effects box called the Harmony-G XT by T.C.Helicon. It "listens" to the guitar chords as he strums, and as his mic vocals are passed through it, the Harmony-G XT adds a 2nd or 3rd voice above or below his voice, while he's singing, with NO programming required! It is AWESOME!! The Harmony-G XT model is discontinued (you might still find it on Craigslist, eBay, etc.), but TC Helicon has newer effects boxes available. However, it's hard to beat the Harmony-G XT!
UPDATE Oct 2019:
Well, T.C.Helicon did it after all - they beat their own product! Fred still has the HGXT (two of them, in fact) but he purchased their new Play Acoustic after reading all the upbeat reviews about it. It did not disappoint! While we're not sure how they did it, Fred sounds even better, the harmonies are even more natural, his guitar just "sings" and even the backup tracks are patched through it, making setup even easier:
About Fred's "backup band":
Fred does use backing tracks on some of his songs to "fill out the sound" for bass, keyboards, and drums. It's all still Fred, though! He uses a program called Band-in-a-Box, by PG Music, to create his backing tracks from scratch. BIAB is easy to use, and the tracks are not too shabby. If he could afford a live band, trust me, he would hire one. But BIAB (and his T.C. Helicon Play Acoustic) don't drink his beer, are never late for rehearsal, and don't flirt with his wife!
Fred has joined a singing group!
In addition to his solo act, Fred joined an awesome four-person musical group called "Rosewood" in March of 2014. Based out of Long Beach, they travel all over So Cal, performing acoustic versions of lighter rock and timeless pop songs, with an emphasis on great vocal harmonies - no backing tracks for them! Check out Rosewood's pages on Facebook. If you want the fuller sound and musical variety of a complete group, complete with a real "chick singer" then Rosewood is the perfect solution! Visit Rosewood's Facebook page, or simply contact Fred for more information.
Need to tune your guitar, but don't have a tuner?
A better way to tune your guitar if you don't have or can't find an electronic tuner!