In Ultimate-Guitar.com's continuing Producer And Engineer series, Ross Hogarth took time out from the studio where he is currently working on the new VAN HALEN album, to speak to Joe Matera about his career, his secret to capturing great guitar tones and the digital vs. analog world of recording technology. An excerpt follows:

Q: You’re currently working with Van Halen on their new record?

A: "The whole Van Halen record has been recorded and we’re all excited. We have just started mixing the record. I’m really stoked about it, as it is the original band, Eddie and Alex with Wolf playing bass, and DAVID LEE ROTH singing, it’s the killing side of Van Halen at the top of their game again with Diamond Dave, and the band on fire.

Read more at this location.

David Lee Roth's website recently posted a new but simple message getting fans hyped up about the near future - "Get Ready...".

As reported recently by the Van Halen News Desk, ALTER BRIDGE/CREED guitarist Mark Tremonti is good friends with Wolfgang Van Halen and was recently invited to 5150 studios, where Eddie, Alex, and Wolfgang Van Halen performed their not-yet-released new record live in the studio, from front to back. He called the experience “incredible.”

More details emerged as Tremonti called in to Ross Ford’s morning radio show on 94.3 KILO in Colorado this past week and spoke more about his recent trip to 5150.

Describing more about the experience, Mark says, "Wolfie asked if me and my buddy Eric wanted to go checkout rehearsals the next day over at his dad’s house. And I said (laughs) 'Of course!' (laughs). So he picked me up the next day and we drove to this big, gated home and we get to 5150 studios. It was just me, my buddy Eric, Wolfie and Eddie in one room, and then Alex was in the other room behind some plexiglass, and then they played down the entire new album. What makes it so great is that they took what they could from all their old demos back in the ’80s and pretty much did what they could to create songs out of old ideas, so it sounds like vintage Van Halen. Musically it sounds in the [early '80s] era. I didn’t hear any vocals – David was not there. It was just the three of them and the music sounded like very authentic, old school Van Halen. It was a just a crazy experience to sit there and watch. Eddie was four feet from me, and Wolfie was on the other side. The guys were very excited to be doing what they’re doing."

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On May 11th, Soundwave Revolution, the annual music festival held in major cities around Australia, announced Van Halen as the surprise headliner for all five of their huge festivals in September and October.

Now, Van Halen officially acknowledged the shows by simply posting the dates on their official Facebook page. This makes the first time that the band has posted any major news via Facebook… or any major news in a long while.

The Soundwave Revolution dates are:

September

24 - Brisbane, Australia
25 - Sydney, Australia
30 - Melbourne, Australia

October

1 - Adelaide, Australia
3 - Perth, Australia

Full Soundwave Revolution details can be found at this location.