I recently came across a boutique pedal maker by the name of Lovepedal. Initially I liked the aesthetics and vibe of the pedals but then as I watched some of the demo videos I was taken by the tone of these pedals. I have been wanting to have a tone night at the studio for some of my high end clients that are looking for more of a refined and pure tone than your average boss pedal. I also was killed by playing a DR. Z Carmen Ghia that absolutely ruined me for any other amps. The tone that came from this was quite possibly the best guitar tone I’ve ever heard. Since the amp was over a grand and my egnater rebel 20 is nothing to laugh at I started thinking about pedals. I called Sean Michael who designs and builds Lovepedals and next think you know I had 2 lovely boutique pedals on there way. I went with the Eternity Fuse and the Kalamazoo. The Kalamazoo I had to have because of the chrome finish and the glass know intrigued me. The glass know alows you to add high end to your tone without effecting the bass or low end. The pedal sounds great and reaaly gives me an excited edge to the tone. You have many options of tone with the 4 controls on the Kalamazoo. It gives me a really thick saturated tone that seems on the verge of feedback but the edge is controlled by the volume knob on my guitar. So I can roll up the volume to go over the edge or roll it town slightly to reign it in. it also gives a great drive tone for power chords. The Eternity became my favorite. It has a tone and a vibe to it that has won me over. This pedal to is thick but with the glass know allows my tone to be still chimy. It doesn’t turn your overdrive to mush like some cheap pedals do. You can still hear all the separate strings ringing out. Now again I have to give you this disclaimer. I typically do not go for tones that are super distorted. I am not a heavy metal guy and I hate that buzzy line 6 bumble bee tone. So when I set up my peadls I am looking for interesting saturation and harmonic color. I tend to set the drive lower and the level hotter. This is just what I’m into. It is possible that you could own these pedals and get something totally different tone wise from them. That is cool. It is fun to have vanilla and chocolate. Feel free to check these clips out and if you are a tone geek, contact me and I will put you on the list for a tone night.
We are finally finishing up our new studio space. As many of you know, due to our desire to keep music creation affordable and our lack of a sizeable benefactor we are often put in a transient position and have had to move and work out of many different locations. We have been working on a new location in Millersville PA on a farm. The views are incredible and it is a comfortable and mellow place. The building served as a tool shed and who knows what else but we have re-purposed it for a studio space where we can work at least until Mar of 2011. I am already starting to search for a home after this one. This means I can finally finish a couple of these projects that have been on the back burner. I am embarrassed that they have taken so long. But when you are running under the radar sometimes these things happen I have often referred to it as guerrilla recording and this is certainly part of it. Keep posted for upcoming news and events.
In preparation for this recording session with Doug Plank and Crossway Church I have been getting my Guitar rig in order. As you see from my previous post I added a guitar. The other recent addition is the Wiggler from Electro Harmonix. Electro Harmonix makes some great pedals and the wiggler is definitely one of the greats. The thing I love about EHX is their pedals have a certain warmth to them. They usually go from subtle to over the top and have a definate analog feel to them. If you are looking for pristine sparkly clean EHX is not the way to go but if you are looking for character they nail it. I have found that when you are mixing in the box and have access to hundreds of plug ins things get a little too clean. I tend to prefer a more organic approach to tone. The only critique I have about the EHX pedals are they tend to be a little noisy. Now there are ways around this. I find as a player I need to be more aware of rolling the volume down when I am not playing. This is becoming somewhat of a lost art with all these processors and pods etc. out on the market. Back in the day as players tried to control the noise issues they discovered that their tone changed a little at different volumes and they used it as one more tone tool in their tool bag. They also discovered the volume swell which is a technique that I would certainly like to perfect. I am still refining the volume roll off.Ok, back to the wiggler. A couple of things that are interesting about the wiggler. There is an output control at the top left. You can use this to drive your amp a little for fatter slightly knarlier sounds. Oh yeah that brings us back to one of the clutch features; Tubes, baby, tubes. The wiggler has 2 12ax7wb tubes in it to give that tone mojo that we like. It is an all tube path and it sounds lush. You also have 4 different character options for vibrato and true amplitude modulation tremolo. Not only am I excited about using the wiggler with my guitar rig but I am anxious to use it on other sounds patched out of my recording rig. Sometimes having knobs to grab onto is more vibe inducing then clicking on a mouse so I am looking for another exciting tone mangler. I will keep you posted on the results.
Ronan takes some time to talk to Larry Crane and John Baccigaluppi from Tape OP Magazine. Tape OP is hands down my favorite magazine and when it comes I read every single page. This is an interesting interview about how they got started.
It seems Daniel Lanois has a little side project operating under the name of Black Dub. He has teamed up with Brian Blade Daryl Johnson and Chris Whitley’s Daughter Trixie Whitley It is some cool stuff. Trixie is a powerful voice and has some of her dad’s spooky soulful bluesy vocals. As time goes on Daniel seems to get more and more wacky. I’m not sure if it’s the drugs or just his ego drug but even his interactions with Brian are awkward and they have been working together for years. It is also freaky how he ghosts around Trixie while she is cutting her vocals. Enjoy this video of him mixing a track.
Many of you know that when I am not in the studio my day gig is selling pro audio gear to Lancaster’s finest. I truly enjoy my job and interacting with local musicians and techies etc. Today I had an interaction with a customer that brought clarity to some thoughts that I have been seeking to connect and make sense out of for a while. Allow me to elaborate. This gentleman was representing his company that were looking to install a simple public address system for emergencies and announcements in the facility. Since there was over 24 speakers we decided to go with a 70v system. 70 volt systems are not very accurate from a musical perspective. They have very low wattage but are great for multiple speaker configurations. Since this was a voice only no music system 70v was appropriate. The gentleman I was working with, let’s call him Bob for now, was the maintenance guy at the facility and is a great guy. The challenge hear for Bob is he does not know much about audio and installation of audio but his company wants to save money by doing the installation in house as apposed to hiring a Specialist in the audio installation field. Now we can all understand that in this day and age saving a buck is on everyone’s mind. Here’s the problem.
The reason we have Specialists in different fields is because in a capitalistic society such as where we live, people have assessed their situation and determined they did not know enough about whatever field they were dealing with. Instead of damaging things or taking time to learn or familiarize themselves with the problem before them, they determined it would be 10 times faster to have a Specialist in the field that handles these particular issues handle them, thus saving them time, and time is money right? This frees them up to complete the tasks before them that they are qualified and best suited to complete. This is efficient and everyone wins. The Specialist gets paid and the recipient of there services is not inconvenienced and in the long run is more profitable.
Now, today we live in a time were people are terrified of the bottom line and will “save” money at all cost. The problem is the people counting pennies have no clue what it takes to complete these specialised jobs. They never had to worry about it in the past due to the fact that the Specialist was handling it. To them it is easy. “You just hook it up,” they might say. “It’s not rocket science right?” They go back to doing what they do and expect the same results that they received from the Specialist. The problem is poor Bob has no clue what he is doing. So what does he do? He demands that I comfort him and tell him how to do the job, or how to be a Specialist. The problem is I am not a Specialist in that field. I am a Specialist in figuring out what parts and pieces of equipment Bob needs for his task and getting it for Bob at a great price that is much lower than anybody Else’s price. I do not install. That is a totally different discipline. Nor can I be held responsible for anything that goes wrong when I tell someone to hook up the orange wire and they thought I said the red wire.
Poor Bob. He is caught in the middle all because someone wants to save money at whatever cost. Wait a minute. Whatever cost? Cost is a term related to finance. Money is a term related to finance. You cannot save money at whatever cost. I’m sure there is a literary term that communicates the contradiction of this statement but it escapes me at this time. If you want to save money you assume the consequences of the full weight of that task on your shoulders. You can empower yourself and google installation to learn how to do it. You can wing it and learn from your mistakes or you can pass the buck to someone else. Whatever the case may be when the task is done, no matter how shoddy of job was done, it is your job. You made it so by foregoing the Specialist’s input.
The same thing goes for recording your own album or mixing and mastering without a Specialist. If the project is not that great, and when no one comes out of the woodwork to buy the disc or download the tracks, it is no ones fault but yours. You are trying to pass yourself off as a Specialist. However you are not special. The Joshua Tree was recorded and mixed by a Specialist. The Beatles “White” album was recorded and mixed by a Specialist.
Now for those who claim to be Specialists. Be Special. It’s that simple. Please, be special. Practice, study, learn, practice some more, practice even more, study, learn, and practice still more. Oh yea and one more thing. If you are under 25 years of age, you are not a Specialist. It’s that simple. If you have to try to convince me that you are an exception to this rule than you are most definitely not a Specialist. This is not because I said so. It is because, with a few exceptions you have not been around long enough to acquire the skill and fundamental knowledge to be considered a Specialist. You would benefit greatly by attaching yourself to the closest thing to a Specialist you can find in your field and learning as much from them as you can.
So go out there and pursue the qualifications of a Specialist and for those who have no need anymore for Specialists please take responsibility for your un-special work.
Saturday night I was up to see my old friends The Rainchildren at the Onstage Theater in Lebanon PA. This was a legendary venue from back in the day whose history deserves a post of it’s own. However, the real star was the Rainchildren. The Rainchildren were a band that played locally in the Lancaster area and beyond back in mid 90’s. Back then there was actually a “scene” attached to the music that was being played and it was exciting times. When I say scene what I mean was there were people, ordinary people that loved music and would actually leave the confines of their house, apartment, etc to venture out into the unknown to attend what we liked to call a concert. Not only was there people who actually cared about music there were many local bands that were excellent and as they continued to play these “concerts” they became more excellent and there was a camaraderie between the various bands and friendly competition ensued which allowed them to hone there craft. There were bands like The Rainchildren, Jawbone Hill, Mack the Coffeeman, Reveal, Scarlett Thread, and many others that use to roam these parts playing music and having fun.
The most polished and musically fit out of these was a band called the Rainchildren. Last night when these guys played. I felt like a kid again. My face muscles were hurting because all I could do the whole show was smile. There were points in the show where I who hooed in falsetto. It was so enjoyable that I actually forgot you could have so much fun at a concert or musical event. The chemistry of the rainkids was overpowering. The five of them playing together equals 200%. I have seen all these guys play with other bands and acts that are great but not as magical as these guys together in the rainkids.
On of my favorite parts of the Rainchildren is the guitar player Steve Bridgeman. Steve is an amazing guitar player and I was reminded that he was one of my favorite guitar players back then and now he has solidified that position. First off Steve is a humble guy. Anyone that knows him or has seen the band live can attest to this. Second, he can play. The great thing about Steve is his playing is diverse and he doesn’t walk on his musical partners. Even more important he doesn’t tramp over the song. All musicians take note here. In my opinion this is the key to good music. Steve has the chops, but in verses he stays out of the way of the lyrics. The focus is on the words and what is being communicated. During verses you have Marty(vocals) clearly sending the message as the rhythm section holds it down, and let me tell you, these guys are tight. Kevin(drummer) locks in tight with Dennis(bass) with my buddy Aaron (percussion) putting the special sauce on the top. Then the chorus comes. Steve stays out of the way of the hook. Let me say that again. Steve does not try to upstage the hook of the song. And then the moment you have been waiting for; Marty shouts “Come On Steve” and Steve is off on an interlude. Again I don’t even call it a solo because Steve doesn’t just whip out some exercise he has been practicing or some scale he just has to force into the song. He plays fast, he plays slow, he bends notes, he picks with his fingers, he plays slide, he plays double stops, triads, arpeggiates, jazz chords, blues licks, switches pick ups on his guitar. It is a guitar players delight and then just like that you are back to the hook.
Honestly this is one of the greatest bands to play this area. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is the best band in the world or even in this local area, but when you see these guys live they will completely capture you and mesmerize you for that hour and half. You will feel like you are experiencing something unique. If they play again do not miss the opportunity to see them. I have never been disappointed.
This past week I have been trying to get my new dbx 900 rack up and working. To do that I have had to pull out the soldering iron and solder. Now for some, soldering is a terrifying idea that causes them to procrastinate doing or compels them to hire out for someone else to do the work. This is embarrassing and if this is you and you claim to be an engineer you need to rethink your title. Soldering is an important part of being an engineer and a necessary skill to have. Let me clarify something here. I am not saying I am good at soldering. I am certainly not a pro but I do enjoy soldering on some level. I received most of my soldering learning from my brief tenure with Clair Bros. I had to repair and test cables and make new cables and looms for various installs. For the most part soldering is therapeutic for me. Let me give you some of my rules for soldering so you can be encouraged to give it a shot. These are in no way definitive or official it is just what works for me.
1.) Always have soothing music playing while your working. For me, jazz works . This helps you get in a zone and relax. It is difficult to solder if you are tense and bothered. Last night for me it was Brian Blade & the Fellowship. I chose his Seasons Of Change album.
2.) Always have good tools. Weller is the industry standard as far as irons go. I use a Radio Shack iron that is less than stellar but allows me to choose between 20 watt and 40 watt which is nice. some things you don’t want the extra heat for (like board work or small pieces).
3.) Keep your soldering iron tip clean. Impurities can get into your solder and make iffy connections and you do not want that. Have a wet sponge handy and clean your tip after every solder. Also tin the end of your iron to keep it clean. Don’t cut corners on this. You can get a small “tin” of tinner at Radio Shack for a dollar or so.
4.) Use a holder for extra hands. Most of the bad, ugly solder joints I have done have been because I was too lazy to get my mini vice and because I couldn’t hold things properly I melted something or burnt my self. Come on people.
5.) Apply solder to both surfaces you are joining and they will go together more easily.
6.) Do not rush. Just don’t.
Like I say this is not a definitive list. I am certainly not an instructor or a pro as you can see by my work. For those of you wondering, this picture was of a connector partially done, that is why the solder is not full on pin 1 and 2. If you need some practice soldering try to repair some of those cables you have laying around that you keep forgetting are bad and throw back in with the good ones. Yea, I know how you roll. If you have any questions do some research. Google is your friend.
I will let you know when I get my dbx900 rack going. The 900 series racks were modular and dbx had different pieces that you could mix and match and put together to suit your needs. You can combine compressors with de-essers or parametric EQ’s or noise reduction or any of there other doo-dads. Aphex also made 9000 series modules that work with dbx900 series racks. Unfortunately that is all that works with this rack. I have six of the 903’s which were their compressors. They are similar to DBX’s 160 series and I am anxious to see how they do. I will probably use them on bass and drums but who knows until I try them maybe I’ll find other uses for them.
I have been doing quite a lot of mixing lately and there have been a couple of tools that have been been Indispensible to me. It has been a quest to find usuable tools for me and I have been reviewing and playing around with plug ins from Waves and of course Universal Audio. My birthday present this year was a UAD-2DUO card. It has been amazing getting the performance upgrade that the UAD-2 gives me. I had a UAD-1 card that I used but I was always limited to a few instances of plugs and often wanted more. The new UAD 2 has given me a whole new group of options. As far as quality goes, the plugs are world class. My favorites are The EMT140 plate reverb. The Harrison EQ which I find I use on vocals, The SPL Transient Designer which is incredible at controling unruly snare or kick tracks, the helios EQ for electric guitars and of course the La2a and La3a and neve 33609. There are so many uses it sometimes is distracking trying to choose which one to go with. The other Plugs that I have been using a ton of are the Waves JJP.
These plugs are modeled after Jack Joseph Puigs personal vintage fairchild 670 and pultec eq. The fairchilds are compressors that were used a lot by guys like the beatles. Jack is a mix engineer that has done mixes for everyone from the Black Crows to Tonic, John Hiatt, Switchfoot, Semisonic, The Rolling Stones and many others. He is a heavy hitter. I tend to like the puigchild 670 on vocals and as a buss compressor for different things. I have grown quite attached to it. The waves API plugs have been great too. particularly the 550b for drums and guitars. For someone like myself who mixes primarily “in the box” these plugs have allowed me to get into the game and have some cool tools to enhance sounds. I am not one of those guys that sits around wondering or obsessing on whether th 200$ plug in sounds exactlly like the 5000$ piece of analog gear. I don’t care I just know when I use a plug and mouse around with the knobs cool sounds come out. Thats good enough for me. Can Plug ins be a crutch? Absolutely. Again the rules are if it sounds good it is good. Try some new plug ins today, who knows you may be inspired.
1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body
2: a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample
Winter is such a great time to read. When the temperature drops I love to stay inside and sit down at my green chair in my studio and catch up on my reading. Reading is becoming a lost art sadly enough. It is being replaced by television, internet, movies, and video games. There is so much out there to learn and reading is a great way to stimulate your brain and in essence force it to concentrate on concepts in a different way then you default to in ordinary daily activities.
I came across This book by Malcolm Gladwell titled Outliers and it fascinated me. Malcolm is a staff writer for The New Yorker and was formerly a buisness and science reporter at the Washington Post.In Outliers Malcolm takes a look at success and how we view those that are successful and how they got there. Malcolm takes a look at people like Bill Gates, Bill Joy , and Steve Jobs. He also looks at Jewish lawyers in New York. Young hockey players in Canada students in Asia and Commercial Pilots. He also discusses what he calls the 10,000 hour rule. Malcolms case is that any successful act of artistic, scientific, musical or creative endeavor happens after about 10,000 hours of practice. He uses the Beatles as an example. When the Beatles were a young band they traveled to Germany to play in a bordello. They played 8 hours a day for a period between 1960 and 1962. In that time they really solidified their playing and built the foundation for their career. He also speaks of Mozart who many say started composing at the age of 6. The reality was that much of his early work was not that outstanding and he had help from his father who may or may not have added to his works.
Of the concertos that only contain original material from Mozart, the earliest that is now regarded as a masterwork(No.9, K 271) was not composed until he was 21.-( From Genius Explained by psychologist Michael Howe)
Malcolm also takes a look at Bill Gates life story. Bill Gates himself says that he was very “lucky” When he was in grade school his school purchased a computer that he and a few other kids were allowed to program on. Now for us today this is no big deal but we are talking 1968. Most colleges didn’t have computers at that time. Then there were some mothers that raised funds to keep the computer club going. And another mother that worked for a new tech company arranged for the computer club to beta test some software. Long story short, by the time Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard in his Junior year he had over 10,000 hours of programming experience in a time where not many people knew what a computer was. Talk about right place right time. If Bill Gates was born 5 or 10 years later things would have looked a little different. Or what if Bill would have went to school across town or on the other side of the tracks so to speak. Would he have had that opportunity. There are countless fascinating stories like this. The point that I love is that success takes hard work Bill Gates spent hours and hours as a teen programming. The Beatles spent hours and hours playing music together. By the time they made it big in 1964 they had played live over 1200 times. Many young musicians and artists want to have this amazing act of creativity but they do not work for it. I have done projects for musicians that have never played a legitamate gig. I have recorded singers that have sang live less than 10 times. Does that mean they are no good? No, there is a ton of potential there. The question is will they continue to work and work until they reallly hit there stride or will they sit on their laurels thinking that they are actually creating significant art. Much humility is needed here. For myself do I consider the mixes that I have done up until this point as worth discussing. That would be gross optimism. However I know the more I do the better it gets each project gets better than the next. So my goal needs to be to record and mix, record and mix, record and mix. What is the duty of the writer? To write and re-write, and re-write. Hone your craft. How naive is it to think that the first song you wrote is any good. or for that matter the 22 song you write. Time will tell if you have what it takes. If you work at it long enough you will grow. Do not wait for all the planets to align on that one night where you write Let it Be.
It takes hard work to be successful. Oh yeah, there is one other thing. You need the right circumstances to give you the opportunities to have the time for all that practice and honing of the craft. Now as a believer in God and the Gospel I see God’s sovereign will at work in life all around me. It is sad that those who do not see God in control in their life have to wait for chance or have to claw their way to the top and take what they want because no one will give it to them. What a comfort it is to me that “God will make my paths straight.” and ” That he knows the plans he has for me” I continue to rest in God’s sovereign hand in my life. I thank him for all he has done. All the opportunity he has given me.
So don’t forget to embrace work. embrace practice, embrace every gig, and don’t forget to read. There is so much to learn.
In preparation for this recording session with Doug Plank and Crossway Church I have been getting my Guitar rig in order. As you see from my previous post I added a guitar. The other recent addition is the Wiggler from 
This past week I have been trying to get my new dbx 900 rack up and working. To do that I have had to pull out the soldering iron and solder. Now for some, soldering is a terrifying idea that causes them to procrastinate doing or compels them to hire out for someone else to do the work. This is embarrassing and if this is you and you claim to be an engineer you need to rethink your title. Soldering is an important part of being an engineer and a necessary skill to have. Let me clarify something here. I am not saying I am good at soldering. I am certainly not a pro but I do enjoy soldering on some level. I received most of my soldering learning from my brief tenure with Clair Bros. I had to repair and test cables and make new cables and looms for various installs. For the most part soldering is therapeutic for me. Let me give you some of my rules for soldering so you can be encouraged to give it a shot. These are in no way definitive or official it is just what works for me.
out-li-er\noun