There was a time when half of the music production you hear on the radio wasn't about flash drives filled "beats". It was about applying musicality to some serious technical chops. With lots of people calling themselves producer's because they have MIDI and an AKAI sampler nowadays, it's refreshing to have books like Howard Massey's Behind the Glass Volume II: Top Producers Tell How They Craft the Hits.

I read the first volume of Behind the Glass years ago and it was an eye opening experience that had a more historical outlook on music production. I have yet to receive my copy of this new book, but form the brief Amazon description it seems to focus on current hit makers and unique production elements that they bring to their productions and tips how to achieve them. Book like this can really improve an inspire the creativity of your music production no matter what genre it is. The book is written in full interview form and include:

• T-Bone Burnett (Robert Plant and Alison Krauss)
• Rodney Jerkins (Mary J. Blige)
• Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan)
• Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse)
• Simon Climie (Eric Clapton)
• Hugh Padgham (Police, Genesis)
• Many more

Like the yesterday's microKORG post, the Zoom H4N Portable Recorder isn't going to drop in price any time soon because it is the latest and greatest from Zoom. So, if you're looking for a good excuse to buy this recorder J&R has the best deal where you can get a $30 Gift Card for your next purchase at J&R.

From Brad Linders blog:

Musician's Friend will give you 20% off selected gear with their Rockin' Rebates promotion when you enter coupon code REB8. It seems to be going for the month of May and click on the tabs to see what they're offering per week.

This is probably the best deal your going to get on the fresh release of the Korg microKORG XL. It's selling for the standard retail prices of $399 (pretty much everywhere) but J&R is throwing in a $40 gift card which you can rationalize as buying the keyboard for $359 even though you probably can't use the gift card against the purchase.

If you're not too snobby about having a tru analog machine (and wouldn't blame you if you were), the microKORG XL is super easy to use and sounds pretty great.

To give you better idea on this great instrument, we have this guy to give you a tour:

Abe's of Maine has a decent deal on the Blue Snowflake USB Microphone for $39.99 + $5.99 shipping which brings the grand total to about $46. The mic is selling every where else starting at about $3-40 more (at least). Easy to use and awesome Blue sound (thing goes down to 35 Hz for those of you who sound like Barry White) for your podcasts, laptop, conferences or anywhere where you need great sound quality for your computer.

Quickie specs:

• Pressure Gradient w/USB Digital Output
• Cardioid Polar Pattern:
  
• 16-bit/44.1kHzword and sample rate
  
• 35Hz -20kHz Frequency Response

Abe's of Maine has the Blue Woodpecker Studio Ribbon Microphone for $799 after the $200 mail in rebate plus Free shipping.

Specs can be found in the Woodpecker's manual or the deal link above.

We did the digging around and you can get the a pair of JBL LSR4328P Bi-Amplified Studio Monitors $1239.97 shipped after the $200 rebate on the pair. There were some other offers that came close to this price, but the razor thin price difference made Sweetwater the winner this time around.

If you're a bit more budget oriented, you can get check out the JBL LSR4326P Pak for $948 after the $150 rebate.

Both deals include a nifty accessory kit that which provides a measurement microphone, a remote control, LSR4300 Control Center software, a USB cable, and batteries. Shipping charges apply.

Ends June 30th, 2009.

Every now and then we like to break up the deal cycle with something we find interesting..."blog mode" if you will.

Rock N' Roll being "cute" from the male perspective usually means a female fronted band with a cute girl in a tight t-shirt and jeans and choppy hair rocking out on her guitar. From the female perspective...um, the Jonas Brothers? The other half of the AGD team (yes, a girl) said the Thom Yorke playing his little drum kit live was pretty "cute" too ...

But why just be cute when you can be flipping ADORABLE playing your very own Hello Kitty Squire or Stratocaster guitars? Both versions wisely come in pink or black. Now you can look positively cheek-pinching cute when you pound a bottle of Jack Daniels and then evacuate your stomach inside the kick drum. Awwwwwwww!

Squier by Fender Hello Kitty Stratocaster Electric Guitar - $199 Shipped!

Buy in Pink
Buy in Black

• Agathis body
  
• Maple neck
• Medium jumbo frets
  
• Die-cast chrome machine heads
  
• Chrome hardware
  
• Fixed bridge
• Single humbucking pickup
  
• Volume control
  
• Custom pickguard with Hello Kitty graphic
  

Buy in Pink

Buy in Black

• Small-scale 22-3/4" neck
  
• Three single-coil electronic pickups
  
• Master volume and tone controls
  
• Rosewood fretboard
  
• Hard-tail bridge
  
• Custom Hello Kitty graphics