The minimalist-guitarist's studio

[audioforgery]

-- hoping I did this right -- some of the veteran's probably remember when they were at this stage...

[drstawl]

That's way ahead of the rig I started with!
My studio assistant is just as furry, but has no collar.

[Brad]

and I thought my cat (RIP) was the only feline 2nd engineer in the business! Now it turns out there are 2 others, maybe more!

[dobro]

My cat, Jim, helps me write songs - keeps me company late at night, and seems to give uncoditionally positive feedback. I've promised him a place in the soon-to-be-assembled studio work. I think he'll go for it.

[Dragon]

Hey, you stole my guitar! And that definitely looks like Felix the Cat!

Not fawncy, but a good start...why, in my day, we dreamed of cardboard boxes! We had to roll our own magnetic tape and slit it off of huge computer spools using rusty razor blades (come on, drstawl, help me out here :-)

[drstawl]

In my primitive days, I'd use a Blaupunkt radio/tape player through a 30W/channel Clarion EQ/amp combo into some Pioneer TS-X9s and some Alpine tweets and a 2x12" sub-woofer box with a homemade crossover, inside a '78 Honda Civic, while recording on a mono cassette tape recorder built into a thoroughly disposable boombox. With my guitar (a highly abused "The Paul" by Gibson) played through a 60W Acoustic Amp with 2- Altec 12" full range guitar speakers. Totally Mad Max. The amp once malfunctioned and sent some serious current to the strings; actually set the guitar on fire! The strings were glowing like the filaments on an electric toaster. I've had it fixed and it's been no trouble since..... The guitar is pretty much history.

[reco]

Dude now thats a home studio! thats what this site is for.
i had the same tascam 424mk2 till i broke the lid that sucks when that happens.
cute cat, tabby, i have a long hair siamees,and two tabbys.
hey man weres you're drum machine?

[Cooperman]

Very, very similar to my set up. Only differences are that I have my 424 on the floor (so I can use my big toe to hit record) and I have dog instead of a cat. When I'm recording though my dog is nowhere to be seen (I'm not that bad - she just doesn't like all the noise that's all, yeah that's what it is!)

Paul

[Brad]

Hey reco,
The Zoom guitar processor that he has down there on the floor has a built in drum machine. Pretty wild, eh?

See, I told you audioforgery, your studio ROCKS!

I wish I could have a green Les Paul, but my fiance won't let me buy anything else green. I love green. Even 2 walls and the floor of my studio are green.
green, green, greeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!!!!

er, sorry, it has been a long day...



[This message has been edited by Brad (edited 09-28-1999).]

[audioforgery]

Holy toledo Batman - where do I begin! Lemme see - the kitty's name is Begonia (because she likes the flowers on the table) and she's the chief engineer and talent coordinator (she leaves the room if its bad or boring); she's collared because we lost a kitty and don't want to go through that again

The Les Paul is a very dark emerald and looks black in low light. Its a "Studio" model (no binding) but I absolutely love it. The tone, feel, brown sound, everything is truly cherry (or emerald in this case!) I know that PRS and some others have taken lutherie to a new level, but there's something so sexy about a Les Paul - it's like your bonding with the younger brother of the same guitar Ace, Jimmy Page and Joe Perry made history with.

I've heard about the wikky tape door on the MKII, so I try to be very careful. But I do like the fact that it is "powered" as opposed to being the flip open like the MK3.

And finally, as Brad pointed out - the drum machine is built-in to the Zoom GFX707. It's 48 preset rythyms are extremely useful, once you get the hang of it. For drum change-ups, I lay down the drum track first, and then punch in with different rythyms and beats-per-minute. Then just paint the guitar tracks over that. Low tech, but I have great fun playing with combinations. Also, like I told Brad, I haven't played through a POD. But the GFX707 -- for lack of a better phrase -- just BAKES. Through my Printon Chorus, I can almost flawlessly emulate Eddie's tone on "Best of Both Worlds," and James Hetfield's crunch on "Sad But True." For just over $200, it's tough to beat!

[audioforgery]

http://www.samsontech.com/zoom/multiconsoles.html

That link will get you to the Zoom page that brags about the GFX. If you need a solid progammable effects system w/ on-board drumming, this does it well. Easy to learn too, although it almost gives you too much control over the different aspects of the effects, which can be frustrating when you just want to play.

[reco]

i have the same amp it just blows me away man!

[Fishmed]

I dislike those music stores that run their business like any other retail store. It is like "May I help you with something". What am I doing? Shopping for clothes???
I am fortunate to have found a couple of music stores locally where I have been able to build good relationships with the owners and sales people. I rarely visit any of the other music stores in town.

[audioforgery]

I hear ya Reco - I actually did it right when I bought that Fender: walk around Mars with an LP and played through ever stereo chorus amp. The Marshall valvestate chorus was a disappointment, the Roland Jazz Master was a very close second, but the Princeton Chorus had a kind of tinny pan that I like. Although the guy at Mars made me feel like an idiot for not buying a tube amp.

[dobro]

Right, so who's the idiot - the musician who knows how to trust his ears, or the salesman who makes his customers feel stupid?

[audioforgery]

Dobro, for that very reason I've really taken to buying gear off the web. It mystifies me why some of these knuckleheads working at the music stores feel they have to insult you. It's like, "OK, you're a better guitarist than me - can I buy these strings now?"

[reco]

Oh yeah man i also biught a fender princeton 1x12 plus and i got that treatment at mars "YOU SHOULD BUY A TUBE AMP" and i said you should quit doing pot!

[audioforgery]

That reminds me of a sales guy walking the floor at Guitar center a few years ago - he was interjecting himself into everyone's conversation, making slack-jawed comments about people's choices in gear. (I hate guys who put people down because they can't drop 5k on a '59 reissue LP)

Anyway, when I pinned him down about what kind of rig HE had - he coughed up, "We'll, I just have an acoustic now, but I'm holding out for a ...blah, blah, blah, etc."

Back on the sub of gear - check out zzounds.com. (Its new to me anyway) Some of their prices are very good.

[reco]

hey have all of you guys noticed that this one little four track studio has gotten over twentyfive replys>>> you see people relate to the little studio guy...

[drstawl]

I can relate directly to the hours I've spent using the same rig and then the other hours I've spent enjoying the results of my labors over that cassette deck. After all is said and done, the main thing that 99 of 100 of us will take away from this is how to have sufficient fun with a minimum amount of hardware and/or software.

[S8-N]

I think that Begonia is trying to signal for help... her collar looks awfully tight...

[audioforgery]

After looking at that picture, I thought the same thing (about Begonia's tight collar) I checked her and it's actually kind of loose. She's only four months old, and still skinny under all that fur. Although she's a serious carnivore - loves tuna, ham, hamburger meat, etc.

Its time for me to clean and demagnetize the MKII - any recommendations for type of cleaning/demag gear, and where to buy?

Oh, and S8-N, I thought about some thoughts I saw on your sight while I was watching 60 Minutes II the other day - they did a story on how this guy who outfits jets for rock stars "invented" the Backstreet Boys, In-Sync and some other groups. I'm far from naive about the business (more like jaded), but that still kind of made me sick. I like the fact the bands I admire had to suck it up in the clubs, pay their dues and learn their chops!

[Wikked Wood]

I'll help you out Dragon:

Luxury! Why I had to wake up at 5:00 in the morning half hour before I went to bed, go down to studio, work 30 hours a day mixing on a pair of folders coffee cans tied together with fishing line, chew the tape for splicing, lick off the oxide layers, use my body for the circuit breaker because I only had one dirty, unbalanced line of power going into my rack which only consisted of an RCA 25 Watt mono home stereo amplifier. For echo and reverb I had to play the part over and over again a split second behind the original, switching tapes between the recorder (a 1980 Sounddesign deck) and the playback (usually a Japanese Walkman). And when I'd get done with the mix, my producer would thrash me to sleep with a pair of wirecutters.

If I was lucky!

[audioforgery]

Yea yea yea... and back in the old days the engineers had to knock all the snow off the 58's so you could still sing through them. I bet that's why they invented those little pantyhose hoops in front of the mics

I do agree that the equipment maker's have made it awfully easy for the recording novice (me) to make demos at home. This will no doubt flood the internet with a great deal of mediocre MP3's. But hopefully there'll be some points of brilliance out there too, that otherwise would never have surfaced.

[Suntag]

Amen to that, Audioforgery. There's never been harm done by offering opportunity, and that's what the new technology is doing. It's opened doors to those of us who's dream of recording would have otherwise been out of reach. *cue melodramatic music* A new breed, no doubt, but hopefully, one that will add and not take away from the tapestry of musical creation. (how's that for a Hollywood ending!)