Author: Jooyoung Kim

Mixing Engineer, Music Producer

The History of Takamine Guitars

Hello, This is Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.

This post is a review-style article I wrote when I was working at Soop Records(Jan. 2023), where I had the opportunity to use Takamine guitars. I covered the history and lineups of Takamine guitars, including reviews of some mid-range models. Instead of letting this post remain only in Korean, I decided to translate it into English.

When I previously searched for information, I couldn’t find a comprehensive summary of how Takamine was established and what guitar lineups they offer.

Whether it’s due to my personality or not, I feel the need to organize these basic details before diving into more specific topics.

Let’s start with the history of Takamine guitars.

Takamine began in 1959.

Ohzone(大曽根), who worked at a musical instrument factory in the Nagoya region, decided to leave after the factory suffered severe damage from a typhoon and settled on Mount Takamine in Sakashita, Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture.

It started under the name Ohzone Musical Instruments(大曽根楽器製作所).

Mount Takamine in Gifu Prefecture (岐阜県 高峯山)
Almost 1000 meters!(3300 feet!!)

In 1962, dissatisfied with the company name, they changed it to Takamine Gakki (Takamine Musical Instruments, 高峰楽器製作所), named after the mountain.

(Side note: There are many mountains named Takamine in Japan. It was quite challenging to find pictures… haha)

By 1968, nearly ten years after the company was founded, it had grown into a sizable company with 60 employees, gaining fame for its classical guitars and mandolins.

During this period, guitarist Hirade, who played a significant role in the company, joined Takamine.

Pictures from the Takamine website

With Hirade as the president, in the 1970s, they anticipated a growing demand for steel-string acoustics and entered the international market. At the time, the guitars were reasonably priced and well-made, which helped them gain a foothold in the market.

1970s Martin-style Takamine guitar

However, Takamine couldn’t escape the shadow of Martin copies during this period.

Martin even sent Takamine a letter asking them not to copy their headstock design exactly.

Although Martin didn’t sue, the story got slightly distorted, leading to old Takamine Martin-style guitars being called “Lawsuit guitars.”

Regardless, this marked a turning point for Takamine, leading them to create their iconic pointed headstock and develop unique split saddles for better intonation.

The iconic pointed headstock and split saddles commonly found in their guitars

In 1978, Takamine developed their renowned Palathetic pickup.

The Palathetic pickup, with six individual piezo transducers, one for each string, is still highly regarded today and has been widely copied by other manufacturers.

Even though the company name was Takamine Gakki, previous guitars had names like Elite and Nashville. After the introduction of the pickup, they started using the name Takamine exclusively.

This solidified Takamine’s place in the market. It’s said that the Eagles used a Takamine 12-string guitar for “Hotel California” during this period.

In 1988, Takamine introduced a parametric EQ to their preamps, and in 1989, they developed an external battery box and a replaceable preamp system, making their guitars more suitable for performances.

CoolTube – not just a name, it actually has a tube!

This innovation continued with the introduction of the CoolTube, the first onboard tube preamp, in 2004, along with other replaceable preamps.

Unfortunately, this feature is not available in the lower-priced G Series.

It would be great if these preamps could be swapped in lower-priced guitars, as they would be perfect as a second guitar for gigs, but it remains a bit of a drawback.

This covers the main points of Takamine’s history. In the next post, I will summarize Takamine’s lineup and price ranges.

See you in the next article!

Basics of Mixing – 2.2 Phase and Interference

Hi, This is Jooyoung Kim, mixing engineer and music producer.

Today, following our discussion on waves, I’d like to talk about phase and interference.

In the previous post, we talked about phase and how it represents the ‘position and state’ of a wave, which can be expressed in degrees.

When two different waves (sounds) meet, this is called interference. The concept of phase is very useful in explaining interference.

Let’s first look at the case where two waves with the same frequency and direction of travel interfere.

Left: Constructive Interference; Right: Destructive Interference

On the left, you see two waves with the same phase meeting, while on the right, you see two waves with opposite phases (180 degrees or π apart) meeting.

On the left, the amplitude doubles, and on the right, it becomes zero. This type of interference, where the amplitude increases, is called ‘constructive interference,’ and when the amplitude decreases, it is called ‘destructive interference.’

When the amplitude increases, the sound becomes louder, and when it decreases, the sound becomes softer. Therefore, when a sound with the opposite phase to the original sound is played together, the sound is canceled out.

Why should a mixing engineer know this?

Around April, I received a request for mixing for live recording at a small competition, and this is a photo of the drum recording setup.

When recording drums, multiple microphones are often used for the kick and snare, among other elements.

When these recorded sounds are combined, the recorded sources can interfere with each other, leading to destructive interference, which weakens the sound. Hence, it’s essential to align the phase of each track.

You can easily understand proper phase alignment by listening.

I’ve included a YouTube video because creating my own example would be too time-consuming. In the video, the initial sound you hear is a properly phase-aligned snare, while the subsequent sound shows a snare with phase misalignment resulting in destructive interference.

Therefore, when conducting multi-track recording, it’s crucial to check the phase of all tracks against a reference track.

In Cubase, you can change the phase in the mixer window using the Pre-phase button. In Logic, you use the Phase Invert button in the Gain plugin.

In Pro Tools, there’s a button (Φ) on the track itself to invert the phase. Other DAWs also have waveform editing functions to flip the phase.

That’s all for this post. See you in the next article!

Basics of Mixing – 2.1 Wave

Hello, This is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.

To effectively mix, it’s essential to understand the nature of sound. Today, I’d like to talk about waves.

What is a wave?

There are various ways to define it, but a wave is fundamentally a method of transferring energy. When energy is transferred, some ‘things’ that carries this energy vibrates, and those ‘things’ is called the “medium.”

The medium for water waves is water!

There are two types of wave:
– Transverse Wave
– Longitudinal Wave

If the direction of the medium’s vibration and the direction of the energy’s travel are the same, it’s a longitudinal wave. If they are different, it’s a transverse wave.

Sound is a longitudinal wave with air as its medium. However, representing a longitudinal wave as a waveform can be complex, so in a DAW, it’s often converted into a transverse wave for simplicity.

A waveform commonly seen in DAWs

From now on, when explaining waves, I’ll use the transverse wave model. Although sound is a longitudinal wave, think of it as being converted into a transverse wave for easier understanding.

Each Circles(Reds, Greens) have same ‘Phase’

The first concept you need to understand is ‘phase.’

When I first learned physics, this was a confusing concept. According to my high school physics teacher, phase represents the ‘position and state‘ of a wave.

Simply put, if the movement direction and position of the medium at a specific point are the same, the phases are said to be identical.

Phases are expressed in degrees, which relates to representing waves as simple harmonic motion.

If the image is confusing, think of it as: “Waves can be represented by rotational motion, and thus can be expressed in degrees.”

All waves can be expressed as a combination of simple harmonic motions. However, delving into this topic would be too lengthy, so I’ll skip it for now.

You might wonder why understanding phase is important. It’s because it helps define other terms related to waves.

The shortest distance between points with the same phase is called the ‘wavelength.’ The shortest time to reach the same phase again is called the ‘period.’ The number of times the phase changes per second at a given point is called the ‘frequency.’

λ(lambda) is wavelength
T(time) is period

For instance, if a sound has a frequency of 1000 Hz, it means the sound vibrates 1000 times per second, and it takes 0.001 seconds for one vibration.

In waves, if you divide the speed by the frequency, you can find the wavelength. The speed of sound at room temperature is roughly 340 m/s, so with a simple calculation, you can find the wavelength for a specific frequency. Conversely, if you know the wavelength, you can find the frequency.

Mixing engineers might wonder why they need to calculate wavelengths when they only need to know the frequency. This is related to studio resonance.

When the wavelength’s length matches the room dimensions in specific ways, resonance occurs. This is known as Room Modes.

There are lots of articles about Room Modes

If you notice resonance at a specific frequency while listening or mixing, you can calculate the wavelength and compare it to your room dimensions. This helps determine if the issue is with the recording or the room itself.

There are websites that calculate these for you, but understanding the principle allows you to make calculations even in irregular-shaped rooms or environments where you can’t use such tools.

Find your room’s room modes

Today, we covered the concepts of phase, wavelength, period, frequency, and room modes.

I’ll stop here for now. See you in the next post!

Basics of Mixing – 1. What is mixing?

Hello, This is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.

In the field of audio engineering, where a certain degree of autonomous judgment is essential, I believe it’s important to continuously ask yourself questions.

So, let me start with a question for you.

What do you think mixing is?

Take some time to ask yourself this question and ponder over it. What is your definition of mixing?…

The answers might vary: balancing sounds, making them commercially appealing, combining multiple tracks into one format, and so on.

Personally, putting aside balance and everything else, I believe mixing is “the process of sonically realizing the composer’s intent.”

For instance, if the lyrics need to be clearly heard, that’s how they should be mixed. If a cello line needs to have a rich sound with a long reverb, then that’s what needs to be done. Furthermore, it’s crucial to understand the composer’s intent and sometimes provide sonic ideas that they might not have considered.

To achieve this, you need to use plugins or hardware that suit the characteristics of each track, and naturally, the settings must be tailored accordingly. This is why learning about audio technology and knowledge is important.

Since sound is a wave, the initial content will be closer to physics. If you’re not from a science background like me, it might feel tedious, and you might question why you need to learn this.

When that happens, remind yourself that “this knowledge is necessary to effectively realize the intent of my song or my client’s song sonically.” This will help you stay focused and on track.

Through my experience with mixing, I got my own definition. I hope you, too, will take the time to think about what mixing is and why you are doing it as you study and practice mixing.

In the next post, I will explain the scientific background knowledge that is essential for mixing.

See you in the next post!