Miscellaneous Links
(Manufacturers, favorite websites, & what-not)
(Manufacturers, favorite websites, & what-not)
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!
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 more natural, his guitar just "sings", and now the backup tracks are patched through it, making setup even easier:
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!
Here is a better way to tune your guitar if you don't have or can't find an electronic tuner!