24 January 2010
New version of song on the website...
I should be effusive, but I'm so tired, I don't feel like updating the rest of the page. It's close, but not yet a cigar (the echoes are too gaudy and a few phrases need some gain magic). But, it's still pretty good for a rough listen.
21 January 2010
Not enough time to blog lately...
... as usual. Beyond the day job, last Friday I played bass on Dave from AMA's next solo effort. I practiced for about two weeks before hand, so we were able to get through eight songs in three and a half hours (with about three hours of actual recording). No, I'm not a pro - I couldn't hack them out in a hour. But for a semi-pro, I think I did a fairly good job on the tracks, and I think the studio time was not excessive. So that's over and Dave has posted an ad on Craigslist for a new guitarist. I've been answering ads looking for bassists. We'll see which band is up sooner.
Also, I've decided to use the J-Station for the Shiver gigs in April and June rather than the Pod - it just sounds better (and it's a shame that Johnson Amplification was bought out for their market share). It's a bit bigger to ship, but I'm shipping so much crap, it doesn't matter all that much. I will have the Midwest guys store and transport my equipment between the April and June gigs (and do whatever else I have to do through practice amps back home) to minimize shipping costs. I'll probably buy a 4x12 cab and have it shipped to Jay's office in Kalamazoo and keep it in the Midwest until after the June gig.
Anyhow, back to the J-Station... I'm downloading/adjusting/creating settings and setting up banks of them for the Midwest gigs. It's time consuming, but not that entertaining. I'll use an old Fujitsu Lifebook P20 with a blazing 600MHz Transmeta (remember them?) Crusoe CPU that I have sitting around to control it. The nice thing is that each bank on the J-Station holds enough settings that I won't need to switch banks other than in between each set. That will be good. I'm hoping that the M-Audio USB Midi interface I have has drivers for Win2K (the OS on the laptop). Otherwise, I'll have to buy a new laptop (Yes, something I would dread).
The Randall head is great! I won a Top Boost Module on eBay for a reasonable price. I now need to get an XTC and a Blackface module and , together with the Plexi module I have) I should have most of my tonal needs met. I'm also looking at Lexicon reverbs to give me a delay for the head.
I'm taking voice lessons. They're going well. There's a lot that I didn't know about singing. But, I'm getting better. My range has improved (more on the low end than the high, but I'll take what I can get) and I'm beginning to understand how to use my voice better. I figure about a year of this and I'll get to a point where I can feel comfortable about singing.
Also, I'm writing songs again. I've got about a half-dozen ready to record. I hope to get up to around a dozen and then start recording the best four to six of them. This time, I want to go into the studio to get drums as well as vocals. However, I've decided to take the audio takes and bring them home to mix and master myself. I figured that with the last CD, I didn't like the compromises I had to make because of the time limitations. At least, at home, I don't have that issue.
Finally, I've also started learning a few more tools on the DAW. I obtained the Waves Mercury package, as well as Izotope Ozone, so I'm playing around with them (I really like the matching EQ in Ozone). I'm thinking of getting SIR to see if I can get some better reverb sounds. I also need to do more with Renoise. But the big question is whether or not I upgrade my version of Sonar or switch to something else. It's a tough decision. I know I have to upgrade my computer. I know that, if I stick with the PC, the system is likely to come with Win7. My current audio interface doesn't have drivers for Win7. This means I can either dual boot the system and do the file transfer dance (one OS and file system for tracking and one for mixing/mastering). Or, I could buy a new audio interface and switch to Mac. Or, I could buy a new audio interface and switch to some other program. Or... In any case, I need to make a decision before I really get started on recording the new EP CD, because switching in the middle would be a real PITA.
Also, I've decided to use the J-Station for the Shiver gigs in April and June rather than the Pod - it just sounds better (and it's a shame that Johnson Amplification was bought out for their market share). It's a bit bigger to ship, but I'm shipping so much crap, it doesn't matter all that much. I will have the Midwest guys store and transport my equipment between the April and June gigs (and do whatever else I have to do through practice amps back home) to minimize shipping costs. I'll probably buy a 4x12 cab and have it shipped to Jay's office in Kalamazoo and keep it in the Midwest until after the June gig.
Anyhow, back to the J-Station... I'm downloading/adjusting/creating settings and setting up banks of them for the Midwest gigs. It's time consuming, but not that entertaining. I'll use an old Fujitsu Lifebook P20 with a blazing 600MHz Transmeta (remember them?) Crusoe CPU that I have sitting around to control it. The nice thing is that each bank on the J-Station holds enough settings that I won't need to switch banks other than in between each set. That will be good. I'm hoping that the M-Audio USB Midi interface I have has drivers for Win2K (the OS on the laptop). Otherwise, I'll have to buy a new laptop (Yes, something I would dread).
The Randall head is great! I won a Top Boost Module on eBay for a reasonable price. I now need to get an XTC and a Blackface module and , together with the Plexi module I have) I should have most of my tonal needs met. I'm also looking at Lexicon reverbs to give me a delay for the head.
I'm taking voice lessons. They're going well. There's a lot that I didn't know about singing. But, I'm getting better. My range has improved (more on the low end than the high, but I'll take what I can get) and I'm beginning to understand how to use my voice better. I figure about a year of this and I'll get to a point where I can feel comfortable about singing.
Also, I'm writing songs again. I've got about a half-dozen ready to record. I hope to get up to around a dozen and then start recording the best four to six of them. This time, I want to go into the studio to get drums as well as vocals. However, I've decided to take the audio takes and bring them home to mix and master myself. I figured that with the last CD, I didn't like the compromises I had to make because of the time limitations. At least, at home, I don't have that issue.
Finally, I've also started learning a few more tools on the DAW. I obtained the Waves Mercury package, as well as Izotope Ozone, so I'm playing around with them (I really like the matching EQ in Ozone). I'm thinking of getting SIR to see if I can get some better reverb sounds. I also need to do more with Renoise. But the big question is whether or not I upgrade my version of Sonar or switch to something else. It's a tough decision. I know I have to upgrade my computer. I know that, if I stick with the PC, the system is likely to come with Win7. My current audio interface doesn't have drivers for Win7. This means I can either dual boot the system and do the file transfer dance (one OS and file system for tracking and one for mixing/mastering). Or, I could buy a new audio interface and switch to Mac. Or, I could buy a new audio interface and switch to some other program. Or... In any case, I need to make a decision before I really get started on recording the new EP CD, because switching in the middle would be a real PITA.
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