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Post by FreeRider on May 27, 2012 11:15:15 GMT -5
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Post by FreeRider on May 24, 2012 15:59:59 GMT -5
Another one of Bob wearing what he wears.... Band shot:
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Post by FreeRider on May 24, 2012 10:12:09 GMT -5
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Post by FreeRider on May 23, 2012 13:12:09 GMT -5
it's a helluva stage outfit: polka dotted skirt and a short sleeve shirt with tie! Gotta love it!
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Post by FreeRider on May 21, 2012 21:53:09 GMT -5
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Post by FreeRider on May 15, 2012 14:58:38 GMT -5
Thanks for the encouragement, Jer.....I'm sure that PT is much more complicated than the Cakewalk stuff I sort of use on occasion. I can definitely see where the editing and all could be a real time saver in that you don't have to worry about punching in/out at a mistake you made; it seems like with the click of a mouse, you can fix it right away.
probably, I should upgrade my CPU, which is like a Pentium 4, I don't think I have any latency issues, but it's probably best to get lots of memory and lots of hard drive space and a fast processor, right? It would only make sense....that's why that one guy keeps telling me to just go on ebay or something and get a PowerMac.
Aslo, the tutorials for Cakewalk aren't that great, it seems. I find myself having to go search online to find tutorials or others who have tips on how to create drum maps, etc...
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Post by FreeRider on May 11, 2012 9:03:40 GMT -5
Awesome news, Elrod, thanks for the news teaser.....if we whine and complain even more, can we get Paul to release a new CD? ;D
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Post by FreeRider on May 9, 2012 15:16:06 GMT -5
oh, definitely....doing the pilgrimage to Minne is a must!
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Post by FreeRider on May 9, 2012 15:02:47 GMT -5
Excellent stuff you folks are working with....but as I stated, I'm a little bit behind the curve on the computer and software stuff. My Cakewalk was supposed to be a good entry level starting off point, but after having it for several years, I find it much easier to go back to the 8 track where I have much more uptime. Maybe Cubase is easier? I dunno. And I have more up time because, like GtrPlyr said, some of that stuff is not as intuitive as you'd think and I just hate spending a lot of time trying to get the settings just right. But I do have to say that creating drum maps or tracks seems a hell of a lot easier than trying to program a drum machine---I still haven't mastered making drum loops and patterns in Cakewalk and it's a huge pain for me to figure it out right now. I suppose at some point, I will have to be upgrade to a much faster processing computer and really commit to learning the damn basics..... There seems to be a lot there in Cakewalk for me to mess around with, the virtual synth, the dxi stuff or whatever it's called....I guess I'm really cheating myself by not spending more time in figuring this stuff out. A friend of mine who runs a small pro studio keeps telling me to stop fooling around and just go buy a Power Mac off of eBay or something and he'll help me get started.
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Post by FreeRider on May 9, 2012 9:06:21 GMT -5
Ha, hilarious story about the rest rooms!
very cool, Jer....I have yet to make the trek out to Minne from the east coast. Closet I ever got was probably Ann Arbor, MI, visiting relatives; didn't have time to drive to Minne and then get back to MD/DC area.
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Post by FreeRider on May 9, 2012 8:57:18 GMT -5
Very cool stuff, GtrPlyr....I'm no tech head either nor am I well versed in the computer based stuff. At some point, I will have time to figure out all the computer stuff, but until then, I like just hitting the record button and playing using hardware rather than software. I do have to say, though, that the software makes it a lot easier to save stuff that's on old cassettes and make them a digital archive. I recently found an old cassette demo I had made about 10 years ago and I played it and it didn't sound too bad but I did notice there were some drop outs. And this was a song that I cared about so I had to save the master tracks and make them digital before I lose anymore.
Software Cakewalk Sonar 4 Demo version Toontrack
Hardware: Tascam DP 02 8 track Digital Portastudio Yamaha MT 100 ( ? ) 4 track analog
Audio Interface M-Audio Firewire Korg MIDI keyboard
EFFECTS: Yamaha FX500 multi effects signal processor
MICROPHONES: MXL 990 Shure SM-57 (x2) Audio Technica dynamic (can't remember which one off top of my head) AKG dynamic
DRUM MACHINE: Boss DR-550
STUDIO MONITORS KRK Rockit 5
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Post by FreeRider on May 8, 2012 8:49:44 GMT -5
I wish we at least had some more news on the boxed set or just anything he's cobbling together.
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Post by FreeRider on May 7, 2012 10:00:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the suggestion on the dynamic mic....I've just been using Shures, but will take a gander at the Sen.
I don't have enough mics to be able to double up on two amps, but I like the idea of beefing up the guitar parts and I've done that by basically copying the main recorded guitar track to other empty tracks and maybe panning one a little to the left, the other a little to the right while the rest of the guitar tracks are dead center.
sure, going right into the board is a sin if you got great equipment and professional set up, but with my limited gear and recording set up going straight into the board is the lazy man's way of getting some stuff down in a hurry. But then again, I've also found that it creates a weird kind of tone as well....I would sometimes get a very interesting dry sound and a much raspier tone when getting setting the levels a little higher and getting slighty distorted sound going direct into my old 4 track analog and then I'd add a little signal processing to it during the mix down, a touch of reverb or whatever. But with my newer 8 track hard disk recorder, I don't get those weird tones....it's just a very clean sound until I process the signal with the pre-set effects on the board.
Interesting, I hadn't heard that story about Keith and 999 (great song, great groove)....I guess when you don't have professional grade recording gear, you can experiment and do all kinds of stuff because there are no hard and fast rules when you're just wood shedding as opposed to being in a studio with experienced engineers who know how to get the best out of your sound.
Another great tip, hadn't heard that about Gilmour---that might be a fun thing to try!
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Post by FreeRider on May 4, 2012 13:27:00 GMT -5
Excellent suggestions! Much thanks....true, it would be a bargain compared to the Matchless or other boutique amps.
Jer, that's so funny---and so true. Once you start a conversation on your gear, it's bores the hell out of not just the women, but anyone who doesn't play. The way I see it, everyone has his or her own hobby, or thing. If you don't, you should find something that becomes a passion. I truly enjoy the pleasure of making sounds and trying to see if I can get the right tone and sound that I hear in my head. And there's something very satisfying about having a passion like music---it's a stress release, it's something that reaches into your emotional core. It's just fun!
And while I don't gig (but I've been meaning to get my ass to do an open mic night for a long time), I do enjoy noodling around on the guitar, plunking away, trying to work on song ideas to record. What I find interesting is that when I see some of these people at open mic nights (acoustic stuff, hardly any electrics), I can honestly say that my own original song stuff seems far, far more interesting than what some of these folks do. I went to one in DC---a very non-competitive open mic night and very performer friendly---and I was amazed at how goofy some people's stuff were. I was hoping to run into some folks who took it a little more seriously so that I could maybe find a new group of people to connect musically with. One guy was up there and it sounded like he was just in his living room practicing something....I mean, there was no real song structure I could hear, no repetition, no nothing. AND he had to borrow someone else's guitar for this!
Anyway, getting back on topic, since I don't really gig and am really playing for fun and the occasional home recording demo, how do you like to mic your amps? How does that Vox AC-15 sound for recording?
For awhile, I've gotten lazy with just running the guitar direct into the board and get tone from the pre-set sounds and effects on the 8 track, but I figure I should probably see how others do it.
I've typically just jammed a dynamic mic right up to the amp's grill, and maybe one back a ways to try and see if I can capture some other ambience (usually, a second mic doesn't make much of a difference with my small set up). Sometimes, if I want more of the low end of the guitar sound (usually not a problem, though), I'll stick the amp in a corner and tilt it facing up at an angle. I'll mic a few feet away from the amp and upwards, to catch the reflective sounds waves bouncing out of the corner of the walls.
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Post by FreeRider on May 4, 2012 13:07:20 GMT -5
maybe Paul needs to come here and read the "Guitar Talk" thread and get the itch to start playing and recording for the fans! ;D
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Post by FreeRider on May 3, 2012 16:12:40 GMT -5
I was just doing some, uh, research on the internet here at work while the boss is out of the office regarding my amp and while it has a great, clean channel, others have noted too that the gain has a kind of muddiness to it. I came across a site where someone has posted mods to the Carvin and how it can help "open" up the gain channel and alleviate some of the muddiness and likened it to removing a "heavy blanket from the front of the amp". I don't have the time or expertise to do any mods to the amp, so I'll be content to use that old Boss OD pedal I forgot I had!
Interesting stuff....I'm not the only that noticed there's a certain muddiness to the Carvin Vintage 33. I like the warmth of the tubes when the gain is dialed in around 5-7, but past that is when I get too much lows and mids when you really max out.
Regarding those chain music stores, true, I don't want to paint all the sales staff as jerks, I did meet that one sales guy who was really helpful at the Guitar Center. I had his business card and everything but he left before I could go back and establish a relationship with him.
But even my local, home grown music store kind of has that vibe.....like Jer said, even the home grown stores that have been the big name in the area forever can kind of take their customers for granted. And my local store has been around forever and was the biggest fish in the pond until Guitar Center moved into the area.
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Post by FreeRider on May 3, 2012 9:40:20 GMT -5
FreeRider, just wondering if you can get a good clean sound from the Carvin. If so, that coupled with an overdrive pedal might give you the clarity you need. I find Distortion gives less clarity and more mud than Overdrive. Personally I tend to gravitate towards overdrive. I like the way it boosts and dirties up the sound while still retaining the organic character of the guitar. Unless I'm playing metal--which I haven't in many years--I pretty much stay away from distortion effects. The times when I need something a bit more raunchy than the overdrive I go to my fuzz pedal. Thanks for the advice...yeah, I think I'm with you on this...overdrive has a smoother sound, not as harsh as distortion, I guess. I very much agree with GtrPlyr. Distortion and Fuzz occasionally have their place in the studio, but for a good, generally dirty "working" tone without the mud - overdrive is the way to go. Thanks for the advice....it's comforting to see a consensus about overdrive for a clearer sound. And what's interesting is, as soon as you two started talking about an overdrive pedal, it dawned on me that I DID have one. it was when I had a cheap 10w practice amp with horrible sound and tone controls and I bought a pedal to use with it (this was way before I got the Carvin). So last night, after digging thru some boxes in the basement, I found it: A Boss Overdrive/Distortion O2 pedal! I forgot I had the thing until you guys mentioned about an overdrive pedal.... I plugged it into the Carvin last night and you guys were right; I had extra volume boost, I had better tone controls via the pedal, where I could enhance the highs to get the clarity instead of being stuck with too much low and mid range! With the Les Paul humbuckers, the Boss pedal, I played the opening riff to VH's "Unchained" and it sounded a lot closer in tone to how Eddie's sound is than before.... great suggestions, guys!
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Post by FreeRider on May 1, 2012 9:46:10 GMT -5
very cool stuff, thanks for posting these here and on you tube....
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Post by FreeRider on May 1, 2012 9:20:19 GMT -5
awesome, thanks for your thoughts and advice on the matter....
It's not that the Carvin sounds terribly bad when I have the distortion saturated, but I guess I'd like a more distinctive higher frequencies or something out of it. It's hard to explain what "muddiness" means to my ears, but it's how I kind of hear it with the humbuckers in the Les Paul.
As for the EMG's, you're right---much cleaner sound, given the small body, and I think I like it just because of that kind of cleaner, "brighter" sound. I can get the kind of distorted "crunch" and yet it also has that "brighter" sound, which to my ears means I'm hearing not just a lot of mid-range and low end sound but certainly the higher range. My high strings aren't getting lost in a power chord, so it's not all just the low end.
I've use Monster cables and they seem fine for me but I've also heard good things about the ProCos too; maybe I'll pick up a pair of cables.
Regarding the Guitar Center, true---I don't like going in there much. The sales staff always seem to have this hint of a smirk when you ask them for help or if you have some question. There was only one sales guy there that was really helpful but he doesn't work there anymore.
And even my local music store has gotten to be similar; granted they're always a zoo because they're also retailers for a lot of school band instruments, not just guitars and drums ....I don't quite get how these folks think this is good customer service. I mean, if I'm the manager of one of these places, and I see my sales staff ignoring people who are standing around looking to talk to a sales person, I'm getting rid of them. If no one bothers to ask, "have you been helped?", they're getting the boot from my store.
ha! Maybe I should get a bunch of like minded folks together and we open up our own local music store and drive the big chains under.
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Post by FreeRider on Apr 29, 2012 22:17:10 GMT -5
interesting thoughts, Jer. thanks for those tidbits from your experience. I've read some interviews in magazines where other guitarists talk about the importance of placement in your effects chain. so I guess it makes sense to experiment with which pedal goes where, how it changes tone, or boost.
I don't play with a band or anything, so it's good to get to hear your experiences from gigging. I suppose I don't check out enough amps (it's always hard to get a sales person to help you and there are always a bunch of show offs already plugged in, showing off, at the music stores) but what I do notice is that I always tend to hear my guitar tone getting muddied up on my Carvin 30w amp when my distortion dial is all the way up.
It seems, though, a lot of that muddiness may be the result of a few variables: the pickups, the type of tubes in the amp, the amp itself, the guitar cord/cable.....andthat's why I asked about the EQ pedal, to try and boost the higher frequencies and get away from the muddiness of humbuckers. The reason why I like the Steinberger is because it has 3 EMG pickups in it. Two are humbuckers and one is single coil and it has a surprisingly interesting tone, kind of like of being somewhere between a Les Paul and a Strat.
And speaking of cords, can anyone hear the difference with their signal if you use a so called "inferior" guitar cable versus some high end cable? Does that affect tone?
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