I am happy to announce that I am doing a music "factoid" column for the excellent paper the Boston Compass. It is called Zach's Facts. It appears monthly in print as as online. My partner does the illustrations. Here is a the first article, I hope you enjoy!
The brain power of 70’s arena rock guitar players might be stronger than you think. Local rock star, Tom Scholz, known famously as the multi instrumentalist, songwriter and producer of the band Boston, received both his bachelor’s and master’s in mechanical engineering from MIT. He is recognized as a pioneer in home recording, as most of Boston’s self-titled multi-platinum first album were recorded in his basement. After Boston’s peak, Scholz went on to start the effects pedal company Rockman.
Not to be outdone is Brian May of Queen, who in 2007 completed his PhD in astrophysics with his thesis “A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud.” Brian began his studies in the 70’s but had to take a break due to success of Queen, how cool is that?
Link to article here
I am including some supplemental content that isn't on the boston hassle site. Here are two awesome videos of Brian May. It always nice to hear Mr. May talk, he comes across as a very humble man with plenty of interesting things to say about the music he has created.
The first is a guitar instructional video in which you get privy to some of his cool stereo delay tricks (7:40) as well has him talking about his signature guitar that he and his father put together when he was a teenager.
The second is a mini-documentary about the making of Bohemian Rhapsody and it is tremendously eye-opening. Brian gives full credits to Freddie Mercury, and it's incredible to see how the piece comes together. I was amazed to learn that the song was recorded start to finish first with just the bed tracks, drums, bass and Freddie on piano - the crazy vocal harmony middle is already in Mercury's head. The video is wonderful because May has access to the original two inch master tape and you get to hear all the isolated tracks. Truly fascinating if you are studio or recording nerd.
I am including some supplemental content that isn't on the boston hassle site. Here are two awesome videos of Brian May. It always nice to hear Mr. May talk, he comes across as a very humble man with plenty of interesting things to say about the music he has created.
The first is a guitar instructional video in which you get privy to some of his cool stereo delay tricks (7:40) as well has him talking about his signature guitar that he and his father put together when he was a teenager.
The second is a mini-documentary about the making of Bohemian Rhapsody and it is tremendously eye-opening. Brian gives full credits to Freddie Mercury, and it's incredible to see how the piece comes together. I was amazed to learn that the song was recorded start to finish first with just the bed tracks, drums, bass and Freddie on piano - the crazy vocal harmony middle is already in Mercury's head. The video is wonderful because May has access to the original two inch master tape and you get to hear all the isolated tracks. Truly fascinating if you are studio or recording nerd.
