[PRESS RELEASE] BENEVOLENT & IGNITE AMPS ANNOUNCE SIGNATURE CUSTOM PEDAL & ENDORSEMENT DEAL

January 15, 2013: UAE-based extreme experimental metal band BENEVOLENT and Italian amp makers IGNITE AMPS have announced their collaboration through a signature custom drive pedal geared towards the band's sound. The pedal, dubbed as the TYRANT SCREAMER (TSB-1) features a Tube Screamer-type circuitry with extra features that works towards Benevolent's guitar tone identity.

Carlo Costabile, Ignite Amps Co-Founder & Managing Partner, said "We're really proud of our Tyrant Screamer. It has all the characteristics of the classic overdrive, an extended gain excursion and our exclusive "sweep" control which gives the user total control on how the pedal interacts with his guitar and playing style. This feature is especially useful for bands using very low tuning, because it helps to cut through the mix in both live and studio situations."

"We're also psyched to work for a band from Dubai as we never did before, but we know their scene is killer! This is especially the case since the band in question is Benevolent, a bunch of fun-loving guys that also happen to know their business real well when they step on stage. We're looking forward to work with Benevolent again, the collaboration has been awesome and we're already discussing new ideas for upcoming gear."

Benevolent is now an officially endorsed artist by the Italian company and this partnership will feature more innovative products of this kind in the future. Hadi Sarieddine, founder/guitarist/co-vocalist of Benevolent, states "it's extremely exciting for us that we're doing this, I've used Ignite Amps' products digitally for a while now and it's just overwhelmingly awesome to be receiving a signature custom pedal from such a professional company. I feel that this partnership is going to yield in many great things.”

"The Ignite Amps team has been great, they have been a true pleasure to work with since the get-go and they've put in all the necessary to make this happen. We're all really psyched about this right now!"

The Italian company was brought to life in 2006 by Federico Berti and Carlo Costabile, two musicians who wanted to build the gear that they needed. The company's products caught the interest of professional musicians from around the globe. Ignite Amps provides both physical products and computer-based plugins. The company's primary goal is to provide musicians with instruments that perfectly fit their needs and is geared more towards custom products.

In discussing the experience behind the build process and working with Ignite Amps, Mohammed Gad (Benevolent's guitarist) stated "At first we communicated with Ignite Amps regarding what we were looking for, they then designed the pedal and built a computer plugin version of it for us to try. We used the plugin version for testing and adjustments. The actual physical pedal was built based upon that and the final product sounds EXACTLY the same as the plugin. The physical build quality is unbelievable, we cannot be happier! The pedal packs tons of gain and has a very wide range of dynamics that give us the exact set of tools to shape our guitar tones."

He added, "It means a lot to us to be working with a reputable and international company that makes products that we are out there searching for, especially when the team behind the company shares the passion that we have for the band and the music, this is amazing!"

Federico Berti, Ignite Amps’ Co-Founder & Managing Partner, stated "Working with open-minded musicians, like the Benevolent guys, is always a breeze. They know exactly what they want and they're used to digital home recording, which is very important for us. We followed our usual workflow: designing the analog circuit and then implementing a simulation of it in VST/AU format, capable of running in real time on any modern computer. We sent the software to them and then further revised the circuit according to their feedback and requests. We love to use this approach, as it reduces the prototyping costs and musicians can hear how their custom gear will sound before we even start the actual build. I guess I can safely say that we're the only amp brand in the world offering this kind of service."

The pedal will be available for purchase directly from Ignite Amps. The VST/AU plugin version of the pedal will be available for FREE DOWNLOAD from Ignite Amps official website (www.igniteamps.com) through the course of February. To stay up to date on the release of the plugin, give Ignite Amps a LIKE on Facebook on http://www.facebook.com/IgniteAmps

Benevolent is currently working on their much anticipated follow up to their debut release, the upcoming album features ANDOLS HERRICK (formerly of Chimaira) who has recorded drums on the entire record.

To stay in touch with Benevolent's news and updates, check out their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/benevolent.band and their YouTube channel on http//www.youtube.com/user/benevolentband

YOU CAN ALSO GRAB A FREE DOWNLOAD OF BENEVOLENT'S DEBUT ALBUM "DIVIDED EP" AT http://benevolent.bandcamp.com

- ENDS -

In Memory of David Gold, Cover of WOODS OF YPRES - FINALITY

Hello everyone,

Last year in December the world lost one of it's best people and most talented musicians, David Gold (front man of Woods of Ypres).

In remembrance of his passing, and as a tribute to his art and him as the great person that he was, I've put together this little humble cover of one of my favorite songs of all time; "FINALITY" which is on the last release from the band Woods of Ypres.

Do check out the cover in the video below:

I met David in Kuwait when he made a work trip down there for a few months. David had previously been in touch with Sajid "Sarj" Masood over the internet (a few years before the whole "work in Kuwait" thing came up). Back then David was in Korea and while looking for metal bands to check out in Korea on Metal Archives, he saw "Kuwait" right next to it and wondered "Kuwait? There are metal bands in Kuwait?"

At that point he found out about Sarj's band "Nocturna" and basically got in touch with him and talked some metal.

A few years down the road, coincidence or not, David got a job opportunity in Kuwait and prior to arriving he got in touch with Sarj once again to meet up and what not while he's there. We met up with David about a week after his arrival in Kuwait, once he got settled into his new apartment and all that transitionary stuff.

We all hung out quite a bit, listened to a whole lot of Rammstein, Katatonia, Opeth, Meshuggah, and all that while driving around town. We even talked about doing a remote band that's along the lines of Rammstein (the working title of the project was "SANDSTEIN"). I actually still have the recorded demos that we did.

David had to cut his stay in Kuwait short once his band Woods of Ypres were signed to Earache Records and they were getting ready to tour in support of Woods 4: The Green Album, in addition to start with writing and recording the album Woods 5: Grey Skies and Electric Light.

After David left, we all kept in touch with each other a whole lot...we talked about a Benevolent and Woods of Ypres tour out here in the Middle East or Europe.

He was a great person, a very deep musician, and though he is no longer amongst us he truly lives in his music.

Carpe Diem.

Hadi Sarieddine

New BENEVOLENT VLOG

Hey guys!

How's everyone doing?

We got a new VLOG up! This one covers our experience from Gulf Bike Week and Mental Issues.

I'll be posting up a full post of our experience at the Mental Issues show this past weekend.

We are working on tons and TONS of things! Really can't wait to share it with you all!

In the mean time, I will leave you with the VLOG.

Speak soon all!
Hadi

The Gulf Bike Fest Experience

Hello everyone!

It's been an absolutely great month for us, on October 18th 2012 we performed live at the Live & Local stage at Gulf Bike Week festival which was HEADLINED BY MEGADETH!

As soon as we were confirmed for the gig the preparation and planning began!

Prasad and Gad's tickets to come down to Dubai were in place, hotels booked, rehearsal space arranged, and we were ready to get to it!

During the weeks leading up to the show, and seeing as we're in different countries, each member of the band prepared for our setlist from the comfort of their own home playing along to the studio recordings of Divided EP (WHICH YOU CAN STILL DOWNLOAD FOR FREE BY CLICK HERE). Also, we decided to play a cover song this time around; the choice was Nemesis by Arch Enemy. So, we all basically just hammered it out in our own space until we got together as a band to rehearse and get it working together.

We had a great time, the guys flew in a couple of hours before the rehearsal was scheduled so we got to have a quick meal and did some fast catching up right before rehearsal time came about. Right after finishing up the rehearsal we packed our gear and went straight to the Gulf Bike Festival venue for setup and soundcheck. It was great that we got to do that at night, we didn't feel like we were racing against the clock to make it in time before people start walking in!

Sound was great! We could hear each other clearly on stage, and the house mix to the crowd was pretty killer too!

Show day came and we were all feeling great! (I am usually the one getting super nervous before a show, but for this one I felt a lot calmer than usual). Unfortunately, a lot of times you get caught up worrying about the sound being right and over-thinking every note that you're about to hit on the guitar; however, this time around I had a serious conversation with myself and convinced me to just enjoy that time on stage, and enjoy the entire day. We were playing the Gulf Bike Festival, at Dubai Festival City, and Megadeth was the headlining act; that's a bunch of awesome things happening and nothing ever beats that feeling of being on stage and sharing your music with a live audience and feeling their reaction to your music as it happens. It worked out! I enjoyed it and had an absolute BLAST! (I guess I can be pretty convincing)

We had a great time at the show, we met some awesome people and made some new friends! I wanna thank Ryan Noronha for being the awesome person that he is and of course none other than Barney Ribeiro for being absolutely epic, booking the show and making this all happen! You guys are awesome!

[IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BOOK BENEVOLENT FOR A CONCERT / TOUR CONTACT OUR BOOKING AGENT BARNEY RIBEIRO AT AAR@SPELLBINDRECORDS.COM]

After the show, we grabbed a few beers, celebrated, and then had a great time seeing our good friends Absolace and then the headliners MEGADETH kill it! (Unfortunately, we missed Sandwash's set because we were packing our gear and what not!)

We've got a few more exciting things coming up so STAY TUNED!

HINT: News about our epic work with IGNITE AMPS and some more juicy stuff is coming!

Thank you for reading!
Hadi

Benevolent Performing on Same Day as Megadeth in Dubai! ZOMGWTFBBQ!

Hello everyone!!!!

This post carries with it some REALLY special news! We have been confirmed for GULF BIKE WEEK 2012 and will be performing LIVE at the Live & Local Stage on October 18th, which is the same day that MEGADETH are performing!

Check out our profile on the official Gulf Bike Week website HERE

This is pretty effing crazy! We are really psyched and we absolutely CAN'T WAIT for it to go down.

This is me stopping by real quick to share the news with you all. I'll be back in a few days with more posts relating to this.

Don't forget to check out our two VLOG videos from our previous show out here in Dubai:

HELL FREAKING YES!

Speak soon!
Hadi

NEW BENEVOLENT LOGO / EMBLEM

Hey guys!

So we got some REALLY exciting things coming from the Benevolent camp in Dubai, we'll be revealing things one at a time as they come to life. The first cool thing to share with you guys is our new band Logo and Emblem.

HAVE A LOOK

The Emblem (circular thingy) has more to it than just being the sexy design that it is. The circles and rectangles that are spread around the main circle basically represent letters in Morse Code. The letters spell out the word "Benevolent", how cool is that?

Check out the breakdown of the letters below:

B: _ . . .
E: .
N: _ .
E: .
V: . . . _
O: _ _ _ 
L: . _ . .
E: .
N: _ . 
T: _

We are toying around with this whole Morse Code thing on a couple of more things which we'll be sharing with the coming of our upcoming album (featuring ANDOLS HERRICK on the drums).

Stay tuned for some more updates on our cool new toys coming in from IGNITE AMPS in Italy and more REALLY awesome things.

ALSO, DON'T FORGET TO GIVE US A LIKE ON FACEBOOK

We are psyched as hell!

Hadi

Line 6 POD Farm / POD X3 Live Rhythm Tone DOWNLOAD

Hey guys!

So if you've checked out the video entry I did for the Kevin Talley Guitar Contest, I was quite happy with the rhythm tone I crafted for that specific song / shindig. So I thought I'd share the settings that I used on POD Farm and upload the tone for you to download off of the official Line 6 Custom Tone website.

DOWNLOAD THE TONE HERE

THE SIGNAL CHAIN

The overall signal chain of the patch is a basic Noise Gate - Drive Pedal - Amp - Compressor - Chorus.

THE NOISE GATE

The settings on the Noise Gate are a bit loose, that's mostly because I like to keep the tone sounding like it's "breathing" rather than being choked out and sliced.

THE DRIVE PEDAL

For the Drive Pedal, I used the Boost + EQ model, which I find that I always resort to for all rhythm tones, and even to drive clean channels too sometimes. It just allows further frequency control with the Bass, Treble, Mids, and Mid Frequency knobs in addition to have a crunchy / liquified character about it. I've also pushed the Gain over the mid point to give things a bit more umph (I like to experiment a lot between increasing / decreasing gain levels between the drive pedals and the amp's gain and compare results).

THE AMP

Next in line is the Cali Diamond Plate amp, which is a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier model. This is hands down one of my favorite models on POD Farm. I've pushed the Mids, Treble, and Presence while rolling off the Bass to below the center. The settings may seem a bit extreme, but I like to craft tones with my ears rather than my eyes.

THE COMPRESSOR

Next I've placed a Compressor unit in the signal chain, this works the attack and spank so the picking really comes out.

THE CHORUS PEDAL

And finally, my favorite part of the signal chain: the Analog Chorus pedal. I really really really dig placing chorus pedals at the end of the signal chain of rhythm patch and roll out the mix so it's almost not noticeable that there's a chorus pedal in there, but the sound just gets richer, precise, and liquified. Something about the sound of a very subtle chorus effect in the chain really gives me the chills!

And there we have it! You can download the tone by click on the below link.

DOWNLOAD THE TONE HERE

Cheers!
Hadi

Line 6 POD HD500 Warm Clean Tone

Hey guys!

So I spent the night toying with my Line 6 POD HD500 in pursuit of a warm clean tone (something along the lines of what Opeth were beautifully tormenting our senses with on their album Damnation).

I plugged the POD right into my MacBook Pro via USB, opened up the POD HD500 Edit software (which is a ridiculously simple and comfortable way to craft your tones, it's just fascinating). I tried a few amps looking for the texture I was looking for and the Hiwatt amp model immediately felt like home.

I got a nice clean and round tone with just about everything at flat settings on the Hiwatt amp model, with the default cab/mic settings as well. From there on I basically started toying around with different compressors before the amp to give the roundedness a warm attack and definition. That worked out well! I ended up adding another compressor after the amp in the signal chain to in-turn give stronger definition to the "processed" tone coming out of the amp.

To emphasize depth and give the tone a certain liquidity, I added a chorus pedal (this was placed as the compressor following the amp in the signal chain). When I add those chorus pedals to tones that don't require that extra wobbly tone, I just set the mix down to a very minimum level where the listener may not necessarily hear that the chorus effect is in there BUT it's adding to the tone's richness and liquifying it.

Last but not least, the cherry on the cake: the Ping Pong Delay pedal. I dropped the Mix to about 30% and gave the Feedback a notch up. AND VOILA!

Give it a listen and make sure you DOWNLOAD THE TONE if you own a POD HD500.

Best!
Hadi

My Entry to the Kevin Talley Guitar Contest

Hello everyone!

So I decided to partake in the Kevin Talley Guitar Contest for September 2012, my entry take video can be found below.

Basically the contest includes a drum track recorded by Kevin Talley and the challenge is to write riffs over it. The drumming is pretty nuts and there's a few odd signatures in there! It was the very fun yes.

The guitars were all recorded with Line 6 POD FARM, I'll be sharing the rhythm patches used later on.

Check it out and Enjoy!

Cheers,
Hadi

Guitar Pick Up Match EQ Testing

Hey guys!

So I've been doing some testing with Match EQing comparing my guitar pickups to other popular ones. If you're not familiar with the concept of Match EQ, in a nutshell, it's the use of designated plugins to analyze the EQ of your signal (whether it is a fully blown guitar tone through an amp or a DI signal of just your guitar's pickups), and then analyze a "targeted" signal's EQ, and then basically create an EQ curve that makes your tone match the targeted one. It's pretty simple and straightforward, however, to achieve stellar results it requires some trial and errors.

Here's my demo recording where I compare the match EQs of EMG707, Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails, Seymour Duncan SSL5, and of course the sound of the original pickups in my Schecter C-7 (Note that I used the same rhythm and clean tones for all pickup match EQs):

Here's how I went about doing this:

1. Find DI recorded signals of pickups online. (Luckily, I've found some EMG707 DIs, and some Seymour Duncan ones as well!)
2. Open up your DAW (I use Logic)
3. Open a new track
4. In the effects, load up "Match EQ" under Logic's EQ effects
5. Import the recorded DI of the pickup you wanna steal
6. On the same track, record yourself playing the same riff (or at least something close!)
7. On the Match EQ window, click on "Template" and play the DI you downloaded (Let it play for a bit so it can capture as much frequencies as possible)
8. Now, on the Match EQ window, click on "Current" and play the just wankery you recorded
9. And finally, click on "Match" on the Match EQ window
10. Voila!

Here are some screen shots of the process:

STEP 1: ANALYZE THE TARGETED PICKUP'S EQ

STEP 2: RECORD THE SAME RIFF AND ANALYZE THE BUILT IN PICK UP'S SIGNAL

STEP 3: CLICK MATCH SO THE PLUGIN CAN CREATE AN EQ CURVE TO GET YOUR PICKUP TO SOUND THE SAME (OR CLOSE)

Keep in mind that you may have to do some post tweaking to get better results, and also note that the current amp settings may not sound as great with your new pickup EQ, so spend a bit of time getting a great tone down and enjoy!

NOTE: The matched EQ may NOT exactly match the pickup that you're aiming at, HOWEVER, it WILL give you a whole new sound to work with!

Hadi

Download my Line 6 Rhythm Tones

Hey guys!

As you all know I have been using Line 6 gear extensively for a long time now, so I figured why not share my main recording Rhythm tones with you all!

I went ahead and uploaded the two main Rhythm guitar tones to the Line 6 Custom Tone site, CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE TONES.

The below tune was recorded using those tones, check it out:

Be sure to drop me a line on what you think of those tones and do share your tracks recording using the tones in the comments section or on Facebook.

Have fun!
Hadi

Footage of us Performing in Dubai

Hey guys!

Check this montage of our set in Dubai on June 29th.

I used my Line 6 POD HD500 straight into the PA, sounded epic!

Hadi

New YouTube layouts! BOOM!

Hey guys!

So I designed new YouTube backgrounds/rearranged and updates the pages for both my personal channel and Benevolent's YouTube channel.

Czech it awt!
Hadi

Benevolent LIVE IN DUBAI - VLOG PART 1

Hey guys,

Check it out! GOOD TIMES!

Best,
Hadi

Benevolent live at Ratsky 3 Gig Experience

Hey guys!

So it's been an awesome few days, my brothers-in-metal came down from Kuwait and Bahrain to slug out a Benevolent gig and boy was it a great experience.

Our new session drummer Prasad Jayaruwan flew in on Tuesday night, Fadi and I drove down to Sharjah pick him up. It was awesome meeting Prasad, we've been buddies through the interwebs for a while and been talking metal for long enough to finally get to not only meet up but also gig it out together. The cool part was that Prasad and ourselves IMMEDIATELY hit it off with great chemistry and the excitement vibes were all over the place for the gig. We were really psyched to be opening for Nervecell and to be playing in Dubai again!

After picking up Prasad and chilling for a bit, Fadi and I made our way to pick up Sarj (from Sarj's Studio) who came down to be here at our gig and hang out with us! It was great seeing Sarj again and was awesome catching up on geek gear talk with him.

Wednesday night cometh, Fadi, Prasad, and myself went to In The Mix studios for our first official rehearsal (Sarj joined us too, he's the band's babysitter when he's not making us sound awesome). It was such a fun experience playing those songs straight up from the get go with Prasad, it's crazy thinking that this is the very first time we get together as a band (well, half the band that night) and the very second day that we hang out as peeps. CRAZY!

The rehearsal was electric, we all vibed right off of each other and had an absolute blast.

Right after rehearsal, we all went out for dinner and hang out right until it was time for Mohammed Gad and Hisham Khalil to arrive in town. The guys arrived safely, it was great seeing the guys once again. I haven't seen Hisham since leaving Kuwait back in March, but I did see Gad when I was in Lebanon last since he came down to visit.

The next day (Thursday) was when it all got pretty crazy, the very first (and only) pre-show full band rehearsal. The entire gang head over to In The Mix studios once again to prepare for show day. The rehearsal was great! We all prepared for those songs individually as per the album and since we're playing those songs live down to the tick it all just came together neatly. Again, it's pretty crazy that with just one rehearsal we all managed to put it all together for the show!

Show day comes, June 29th, no kidding, it's happening! We were up to an early start, had breakfast together as a band and then went out to buy some last minute things (new picks, spare strings, etc). Right after, we immediately made our way to the venue and arrived around 3:00 pm. The drums were still being setup and we just carried our gear inside and made ourselves comfortable with the location.

We helped the crew setup where we could, hung out, took some videos and photos, looked around the area, warmed up on our instruments, ate again, and what not.

When it was time for us to get onto our soundcheck, we got up on stage and put our pedalboards up (I was using my new POD HD500, which sounded unbelievable! Hands down the best live tone I've ever had...more on this!). Everything was plugged in perfectly and we played The Quantum Paradox at sound check. I was really psyched about how insanely HUGE my tone sounded straight into the mixer, I wasn't plugged into any amp and could hear myself perfectly through the monitors. I only had the new POD for a couple of days before the gig but I've just toyed around with some of the built in presets and downloaded a few tones from the Custom Tone site and with some tweaking I've found the right tone, it just sounded amazing and made me play better!

The guys from Nervecell came into the venue straight from their earlier all ages show while we were going through The Quantum Paradox and hailed us as they walked by. The entire time after getting off stage from sound check we just hung out with these guys (whom if you haven't met, are the nicest most genuine people you could meet), the crew, the band, and just everyone around.

People started coming into the venue and the energy was great! Echoes With Laughter kicked off the show playing a killer set of rock n' roll/metal covers by Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Metallica, some originals, and more! They had a great energy about them on stage and played with great enthusiasm and got everyone going and singing along, awesome band!

We were up next, we got right up on stage and put up all the gear in place and plugged everything in and got our metal faces on. Our setlist for the show was:

1. Haunting Shores
2. Purgatory
3. The Quantum Paradox
4. The Tyrant

Halfway through our first song, Haunting Shores, I realized that the backing tracks weren't playing through the PA and are only playing through Prasad's in-ears (the backing tracks basically have all the atmospheric stuff that sit in the back, which is important to our full sound and basically would be damaging to play the show without). Right after we finished playing through Haunting Shores, I jumped down to the house board to check on what's going wrong and Barry helped out immediately in solving the problem.

From that point onwards, the show went in a great direction. We all got into our muse and had a blast playing the songs. The 4 songs we played felt like we were up there for no longer than one minute, it all flew by really quickly. I definitely cannot wait for our next outing! It was a great pleasure for us to be performing alongside Nervecell and to have met so many great people and made some new friends at the gig.

Huge thanks to Spellbind Records, Thomsun Pure Music, the organizers (Sary, you the man!), the awesome guys at Nervecell and Echoes With Laughter.

And finally, thank you to all for coming out and I can't wait to see you all soon!

Don't forget to check out our page for more updates on dates and news on the new record at HERE

Hadi

NEW TOY DAY: LINE 6 POD HD500

Hey guys!

Another new toy day! I've just picked up the Line 6 POD HD500 and it is KILLER!

I'd like to thank the guys at Thomsun Pure Music for being awesome and helping me get a hold of this new baby! (Do check out their music institutes at Popular Music Institute and Sing and Swing Training Centre)

I'll post a proper full length review of this pretty soon! For now, I will leave you with the usual unboxing photos:

Cheers,
Hadi

Opening for Nervecell: June 29th Show Poster

SWAGGER

Hadi

Benevolent to Open for Nervecell in Dubai

Hey guys!

That's right! Gonna be hitting the stage with Benevolent LIVE on June 29th opening for Nervecell as they stop in Dubai during their Psychogenocide Middle East Tour!

Check below for the event information, come down and slug it out with us.

Official Event Page on Facebook
Event's Official Website

We are all super psyched to be a part of this gig and we can't wait to see you all out there from the stage.

See you there!
Hadi

New Song! Orchestral Soundtrack Blockbuster Content

Hey guys!

So I did this little tune for the fun of things! It's a soundtrack-ish type of piece with a blockbuster feel and, of course, metul!

Enjoyness!

Hadi

Offering a New Service: Producing Bands

Hey guys!

I figured I'll put this out there publicly as I've been corresponding with a few people on producing their band's work. If you've got a band or you're a solo artist working on a song/record do hit me up as I'm going to be offering this service now.

The production stuff can involve things such as:

• Songwriting advise
• Instrument layering and textures
• Guitar/bass tone crafting
• Drums programming and drum tones
• And more!

Additionally, as an added option if you would like the work to be mixed/mastered I can arrange for that as well with my good buddy Sajid "Sarj" Masood from Sarj's Studio, who mixes all the Benevolent (Divided EP and the upcoming album) stuff and other projects that I've worked.

Shoot me an email at aytch87@gmail.com or on my Facebook and we can talk it out.

Cheers,

Hadi