WHO’S NEXT: SALVADOR SANTANA Salvador Santana HOMETOWN: San Francisco, Calif. INFLUENCES: Bob Marley, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner ALBUM: Keyboard City, out Feb. 2 WEBSITE: salvadorsantana.com THE SON OF GUITAR LEGEND CARLOS SANTANA AND grandson of blues pioneer Saunders King, Santana has music in his DNA. He began playing piano at age 6, and studied at San Francisco’s School of the Arts as well as Cal Arts in Valencia, Calif. He co-wrote... 

WHO’S NEXT: N’DAMBI N'DAMBI HOMETOWN: Dallas, Texas INFLUENCES: Betty Davis, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone ALBUM: Pink Elephant, out now WEBSITE: ndambionline.com N’DAMBI GREW UP IN A STRICT BAPTIST HOUSEHOLD where the only secular music allowed was country, but was drawn to classic soul from the moment she began discovering music on her own. She established herself in the music business working as a backup singer with fellow old-school... 

WHO’S NEXT: DANIEL MERRIWEATHER Daniel Merriweather HOMETOWN: Melbourne, Australia INFLUENCES: D’Angelo, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder ALBUM: Love & War, out Feb. 23 WEBSITE: danielmerriweather.com DANIEL MERRIWEATHER WAS FIRST DRAWN TO MUSIC at age 4, when he discovered his mother’s violin. Soon he was playing Vivaldi and Bach concertos, but at 10 he was nudged toward R&B music by his discovery of Boyz II Men’s Cooleyhighharmony.... 

iZotope Alloy brings the most common mixing processors together in one plug-in. FOR: Anyone doing digital mixing of audio tracks on Mac or PC. No need to pull up EQ, dynamics, transient shaper, exciter, de-esser and limiter plug-ins—Alloy covers six powerful mixing tools in one integrated interface. A menu along the bottom of the Alloy interface illustrates which effects are active and which one is presently selected for editing. The main window... 

Eventide has simplified getting the right modulation effect for the song while saving players from an endless string of noisy, tone-degrading stompboxes and patch cables. FOR: Guitarists and keyboard players who need world-class phasers, tremolos, filters, wahs, flangers, vibratos and more onstage as well as in the studio. In a compact housing that’s built like a tank, ModFactor gathers 10 different categories of time-based effects and offers 40... 

Blue Microphone’s Icicle is a mic preamp and USB converter in a small cylindrical body. Plug it into the end of an XLR cable and any dynamic or condenser mic becomes a USB mic FOR: Recording newbies as well as those who know their mics. Benefits to novices are obvious: simplicity, size and the stamp of a respected brand. For folks with a bigger mic closet, Icicle’s biggest benefit is universality. With a selection of mics of different characters,... 

The BP4025 from Audio-Technica provides two pristine, well-balanced channels of audio in a small, convenient package that practically mixes itself. FOR: Painless stereo recording of instruments, voices and live sound environments. BP4025 is lightweight, phantom-powered, and mountable to a video camera, which makes it ideal for home videos, documentary and even film. The fixed X/Y position of the capsules provides a way to define the space around... 

Since the dawn of USB, we’ve seen many different mics, cables and preamps with digital audio interfaces onboard. Apogee ONE takes the reverse approach: It’s a high-quality single-channel interface with the mic built in. FOR: The discerning home studio or mobile recordist. ONE is literally pocket-sized, and USB-powered to record via an onboard mic or instrument and XLR inputs. Apogee offers an optional tabletop stand, but the built-in mic sounded... 

Ringo Starr Y Not [Hip-O Records/UMe] For most of his solo career, Ringo Starr got by with a little help from his friends—the strength or weakness of his albums tended to rise and fall depending on the caliber of guest songwriters and players on hand, most particularly his former Beatles bandmates. His partnership with producer Mark Hudson changed that beginning in the late 1990s, allowing Starr’s star to shine with or without the aid... 

ORIANTHI Michael Jackson’s guitarist makes her way to center stage Orianthi When pop legend Michael Jackson passed away last June, the media was saturated with images from rehearsals for his planned comeback show—offering many fans their first glimpse at his new guitarist, a striking 23-year-old from Adelaide, Australia, named Orianthi. The recent film This Is It, which further documented those rehearsals, showcased her virtuoso six-string skills... 

Premiere Issue - Alicia Keys Issue 01 Cover Story: Alicia Keys Gear Feature: Mixing Live Sound Features: TV’s Hottest House Bands, Fighting the Loudness War Musician Feature: Pat Metheny, Producer Feature: Al Schmitt, John Fogerty Q&A’s: Ok Go, Orianthi, Steve Wariner, Little Steven Van Zandt, Angie Stone Spotlight: Vampire Weekend, Omarion, Juliana Hatfield, Medeski Martin & Wood, Lady Antebellum, Midlake, Freedy Johnson Who’s... 

Mary J Blige For her ninth album, the Queen Of Hip-Hop Soul has rounded up collaborators like Akon, Drake, T.I., The Runners and Rodney Jerkins—but even this show of R&B/hip-hop cred can’t hide the impression that Mary J. Blige is increasingly embracing the pop world. It’s refreshing for a woman who has notoriously played the “woe-is-me” card to offer such an upbeat and happy album, with optimism-drenched grooves that celebrate self-love... 

Jeff Larson and Gerry Beckley Over the past decade or so, Jeff Larson’s consistent string of smart, hooky and alluringly accessible albums have borne clear references to the Southern California sound of the mid-to-late ’70s. So it seems fitting that for the lovely and evocative Heart of the Valley he has collaborated with America’s Gerry Beckley and welcomed appearances from soft-rock stalwarts including America’s other half, Dewey Bunnell,... 

Two leading experts on live mixing share secrets to improve audio performance in any venue The live performer’s best friend is his or her mixer. That’s the person whose skills and savvy can make artists sound their best—or even better. It’s the live mixer who makes certain that the soaring vocals or searing solos coming off the stage sound as perfect as possible. We tapped two top experts—Jeremiah Hamilton and Eddie Mapp—to help us... 

Vampire Weekend VAMPIRE WEEKEND Discovering inspiration in contradictions and cleverness Sure, Vampire Weekend singer  and guitarist Ezra Koenig was an English major at noted Columbia University and taught junior high English. And yeah, on the band’s new Contra album he rhymes “horchata” with “balaclava,” among other clever linguistic feats. What of it? “It’s a criticism people try to lodge at  us,” Koenig says with a resigned chuckle....