WhiteStrat
Don't stare at the eye.
When I was a little kid, my brother and I loved to play Hot Wheels—our name for creating and living in an imaginary world defined by small die cast cars. The problem was “setting up.” First we had to find all the cars, then line up all the cars, then pick which ones we each wanted (not unlike picking kickball teams). Then we had to decide where we wanted to play, then we had to invariably clean where we wanted to play. Long story short: by the time we were done “setting up,” there wasn’t much desire—let alone time—to play.
Fast forward 35 years. My dungeon/studio. Same scenario. I’ve got a little time, and a little energy—maybe even some inspiration. Problem is, I’ve got to set up.
Let’s see, I want this amp—but I like the 57 on this amp. No—that amp. Okay, I like the i5, or is it the ribbon, on that amp. Now I need to patch it in to the preamp, now the patch bay so it connects to one of my eight available inputs, now set up an input and a channel in Cubase. Maybe I’ll use the POD for a backing track—need two more inputs for that.
Next, I want to add some acoustic. Multiply all the above by two. Drums? Fahgeddaboudit. Multiply the above by eight! I spend more time re-inventing the wheel the day before a drum tracking session than I do actually tracking them. What’s worse is that I have no confidence in how they’ll sound compared to last time, since I had to set everything up from scratch again!
And even after I have all the hardware set up, I’ve got to re-invent the wheel in Cubase—set up my VST Connections; assign an input; name the input; add a track; assign one of my newly created inputs to that track, blah, blah, blah…
STOP!!!
What if I had everything in my dungeon mic’d and ready all the time? And what if each mic was patched into a preamp all the time? And what if each mic/preamp combination were patched into an input in Cubase all the time?
So I looked around my dungeon. I’ve been a bit of a gear whore these last few years. Maybe not top dollar stuff, but certainly lots of different flavors. Yep, it turns out I’ve got enough mics to mic every single thing in my dungeon—and with mics that I actually like for the source.
Keep looking. Keep counting. I’ll be damned. I’ve got enough preamps—preamps that I like for the source—to hook up every mic. I’ve got tons of rack units—fx and comps besides the preamps—but hey, I’ve got patch bays too…
Hmmm…I smell a plan.
So with the help of a PreSonus Lightpipe (that’s why this post is in “The Rack”) I executed that plan. The Lightpipe is a 32 in/32 out (in 8 channel ADAT banks) firewire interface. Add a few 8 channel converters to get my analog preamps and rack gear to ADAT and…BAM!!!
I’m running a 32 input, 8 output set up—with everything ready to go and at my fingertips. I built a template in Cubase with all 32 inputs and 8 outputs and corresponding tracks with the inputs assigned (I also prebuilt tracks for my favorite FX plugs and VST instruments).
I’ve got the whole drum kit mic’d, all my amps mic’d (some with multiple mics) a pair for acoustic, a pair for percussion, a pair for room mics, 4 vocal mics, line ins for POD, bass and extra instruments. I’ve even got dedicated line outs and returns for hardware rack unit (fx, comps, etc.).
For you folks with “real” studios, this may seem painfully obvious. And for you folks just starting out, this my seem like extreme overkill. But for me, with years worth of accumulated instruments and gear that I love, this was a real eureka moment!
None of this will make my life any less busy or crazy. But that’s the point. While I still won’t have as much time as I’d like in the studio—what time I do have will be much better spent!
The payoff? Well, it’s only been done for 2 days, so there’s nothing worth posting. But in that two days, I’ve recorded electric guitars through 4 different amps, bass through an amp and DI, stereo acoustic guitar, and added external fx via some rack units. I’ve even “sound checked” and test mixed the drums. (I’m no drummer—you’ll never hear those tracks!)—all without moving a single wire; all without swapping mics; all without changing my DAW’s setup.
I’ve never done that variety of recording, even for scratch tracks, in such a short period of time. Needless to say, I’m stoked. I’ve got my go-to session drummer coming over next week to lay down some real drum tracks. Then I’m gonna build some guitars and keys around ‘em.
I’m looking forward to a whole lot more “playing hot wheels” and a whole lot less “setting up.”
(I’m not posting this to brag, but rather just to share my latest development. 5 years ago, I was working with 2 Radio Shack mics and a laptop. I figure if someone can learn from what I’ve learned along the way, it’s a good thing. So feel free to ask any question or request pics. I’m more than happy to share.)
My plan for world dominion is nearly complete…
Fast forward 35 years. My dungeon/studio. Same scenario. I’ve got a little time, and a little energy—maybe even some inspiration. Problem is, I’ve got to set up.
Let’s see, I want this amp—but I like the 57 on this amp. No—that amp. Okay, I like the i5, or is it the ribbon, on that amp. Now I need to patch it in to the preamp, now the patch bay so it connects to one of my eight available inputs, now set up an input and a channel in Cubase. Maybe I’ll use the POD for a backing track—need two more inputs for that.
Next, I want to add some acoustic. Multiply all the above by two. Drums? Fahgeddaboudit. Multiply the above by eight! I spend more time re-inventing the wheel the day before a drum tracking session than I do actually tracking them. What’s worse is that I have no confidence in how they’ll sound compared to last time, since I had to set everything up from scratch again!
And even after I have all the hardware set up, I’ve got to re-invent the wheel in Cubase—set up my VST Connections; assign an input; name the input; add a track; assign one of my newly created inputs to that track, blah, blah, blah…
STOP!!!
What if I had everything in my dungeon mic’d and ready all the time? And what if each mic was patched into a preamp all the time? And what if each mic/preamp combination were patched into an input in Cubase all the time?
So I looked around my dungeon. I’ve been a bit of a gear whore these last few years. Maybe not top dollar stuff, but certainly lots of different flavors. Yep, it turns out I’ve got enough mics to mic every single thing in my dungeon—and with mics that I actually like for the source.
Keep looking. Keep counting. I’ll be damned. I’ve got enough preamps—preamps that I like for the source—to hook up every mic. I’ve got tons of rack units—fx and comps besides the preamps—but hey, I’ve got patch bays too…
Hmmm…I smell a plan.
So with the help of a PreSonus Lightpipe (that’s why this post is in “The Rack”) I executed that plan. The Lightpipe is a 32 in/32 out (in 8 channel ADAT banks) firewire interface. Add a few 8 channel converters to get my analog preamps and rack gear to ADAT and…BAM!!!
I’m running a 32 input, 8 output set up—with everything ready to go and at my fingertips. I built a template in Cubase with all 32 inputs and 8 outputs and corresponding tracks with the inputs assigned (I also prebuilt tracks for my favorite FX plugs and VST instruments).
I’ve got the whole drum kit mic’d, all my amps mic’d (some with multiple mics) a pair for acoustic, a pair for percussion, a pair for room mics, 4 vocal mics, line ins for POD, bass and extra instruments. I’ve even got dedicated line outs and returns for hardware rack unit (fx, comps, etc.).
For you folks with “real” studios, this may seem painfully obvious. And for you folks just starting out, this my seem like extreme overkill. But for me, with years worth of accumulated instruments and gear that I love, this was a real eureka moment!
None of this will make my life any less busy or crazy. But that’s the point. While I still won’t have as much time as I’d like in the studio—what time I do have will be much better spent!
The payoff? Well, it’s only been done for 2 days, so there’s nothing worth posting. But in that two days, I’ve recorded electric guitars through 4 different amps, bass through an amp and DI, stereo acoustic guitar, and added external fx via some rack units. I’ve even “sound checked” and test mixed the drums. (I’m no drummer—you’ll never hear those tracks!)—all without moving a single wire; all without swapping mics; all without changing my DAW’s setup.
I’ve never done that variety of recording, even for scratch tracks, in such a short period of time. Needless to say, I’m stoked. I’ve got my go-to session drummer coming over next week to lay down some real drum tracks. Then I’m gonna build some guitars and keys around ‘em.
I’m looking forward to a whole lot more “playing hot wheels” and a whole lot less “setting up.”
(I’m not posting this to brag, but rather just to share my latest development. 5 years ago, I was working with 2 Radio Shack mics and a laptop. I figure if someone can learn from what I’ve learned along the way, it’s a good thing. So feel free to ask any question or request pics. I’m more than happy to share.)
My plan for world dominion is nearly complete…
