NEVER BUY ANYTHING USED OVER THE INTERNET AGAIN.
NEVER BUY ANYTHING USED THAT YOU CAN’T SEE AND TEST IN PERSON.
The little money you end up saving isn’t worth all the potential problems that occur when something goes wrong!
Archive for the ‘Gear’ Category
Note to Self – That I MUST Remember
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Of concrete, water, doors, and walls Pt. 1
Sunday, April 12th, 2009A lot of things have been going on but nothing really to show. I’ve been talking to people about the acoustic problems that I’ve been having and finding out solutions for them. As I suspected some construction will be needed but so far nothing too outrageous. I need a wall and a door added to my control room area to decouple it from the rest of the basement. In addition to that I’m going to need a bunch of sound absorption and diffusion surfaces made. Big bass traps, a ceiling cloud and maybe broadband slot resonators. The big issue is that the room is pretty small to begin with so I have to figure out how to have all of these things in here to fix the sound and still be able to function and move around freely. Before I can get to any of this construction I need to repair some cracked concrete on the outside of the house. I realize that this doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with building a studio but it really does, so follow me on this journey.
When it rains really heavily and I’m talking about what they refer to as flash floods, the gutters on my house are unable to hold and drain the water quick enough so the rain overflows the gutters and pours down the side of the house. There is a point where the foundation meets the brick and this seam is covered over with concrete. The house is over 40 years old so there are spots where the concrete patch has cracked and it just so happens that these very spots are the same spots where the water pools up and pours down the side of the house, oh the irony! Actually they say water is a very powerful force so maybe years of water pressure have caused these cracks. Regardless of how the cracks occurred the result is rain pouring down the inside wall of my basement. Definitely not an attractive site for a recording studio!
I’ve been putting this repair off forever but now it’s imperative that it gets done, the last thing that I need is an awesome studio flooded. Unfortunately the concrete is painted and concrete will not permanently stick to paint, eventually it will fall off. So before I can hire somebody to repair the concrete I need to remove the paint. I bought 2 different environmentally safe products and am waiting for some appropriately warm weather to test them out. The instructions say not to use them unless the temperature is over 55°F. I need 2 warm days in a row to test them. 1 day to apply and the next day to remove – it seems like every other day it’s either raining or cold so I’m waiting.
-
After talking to the experts about the acoustical properties of the room it has come to my attention sadly that I need to remove my record collection and bookcases from this room as they are doing all sorts of strange things to the sound. They are my pride and joy and since I am an avid crate digger and samplist it’s great to have them in arms reach, but If I must remove them than I must. I have no idea where I am going to put about 2000 records now. I think I need to go through them and trim the collection down to only what I can’t live without. It’s a long process because it is not just about what I want to listen to but what I want to sample from.
With that being said I have 2 huge Ikea Expedit bookcases of the black-brown variety for sale. They are pretty much in perfect condition so if anybody in the Baltimore area is interested send me a mail – $100 a piece.
-
In other news the SE Reflexion Filter is mighty awesome:
Rhyming into it makes you feel mighty powerful like you’re operating some heavy machinery:)
Balanced
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Today I received my shipment of cables in the mail. As you can see it’s a fair amount – 24 to be exact. I now realize I forgot a few things and am going to have to order more at some point. At long last I’m at the exciting point of actually hooking everything up and hearing how it all sounds. Would you believe I haven’t even plugged the Nicerizer in yet? It’s true, but patience it key. I can’t wait to get everything up and running and test it all. In some strange way I’ve waited almost half my life for this. Maybe that’s crazy to say but I’ve never had any really nice recording gear. I’ve had some good gear and some awesome analog synths but never anything of this caliber. It’s kind of funny how people will spend thousands of dollars on a synth or guitar but then record it into a shitty sound card or budget mixer. I understand though, you can play a synth and you can’t really play a mic pre, the gratification is not the same, but I digress…
BTW – I got the cables at audiopile.net. I never heard about them and I think I stumbled on to them through a post on the MobileIO mailing list, but do yourself a favor and check them out. I am so impressed by the quality of the cables, they are wicked good and they have unbeatable prices.
BTW2 – I finally updated my music page kingrhythm.com and I should have a new song up soon…
The Obstacle is the Path
Saturday, February 14th, 2009
Now that the Chameleon Labs compressor has arrived and I pretty much have everything that I need with the exception of lots of little things, it’s time to figure out how I’m going to hook everything up.
Once I do that, I will know which cables I need and I can finally get them ordered (for real this time).
So right now this is how I have things setting up:
Metric Halo 2882 = this is 8 analog ins/outs + 8 Adat ins/outs + 2 digital
Focusrite Octopre LE = this is going to be used to convert the 8 Adat outs to analog
Phoenix Audio Nicerizer 16 (whoohoo) = Both of the above (16 balanced analog output channels ) will be summed together in this.
Everything will go out to the Otari MX-55 for Mixdown if you choose tape or directly back into the computer (2882) if digital is your thing.
Now here is where the options begin – the Nicerizer has an insert and I think into that I will be chaining the Expounder EQ and the 7220 Compressor. But I’m also thinking about getting a patchbay so I have more options and won’t have to reach around back when I want to use the EQ & Compressor on something other than the main insert. But at the same time, I don’t think there are that many places I need to put them to justify a fully balanced patchbay and double the amount of cables to get everything connected “correctly”. I’ve heard it said that anytime there is a connection you loose a little bit of signal, so if that is the case I want to keep it as simple as possible. I don’t plan on or see the need to patch instruments directly into the Nicerizer because I’m pretty sure that everything will be recorded to Cubase first – but I do want the ability to play anything through the Nicerizer and through all the outboard gear utilizing all the tubes, transformers and nice circuitry then record it back into Cubase easily, so I need to figure out how I’m going to do this. I know there are a few other things that the Nicerizer can do so I gotta check it all out and make some decisions.
After I get all of this sorted out and get the cables purchased the next step for me is to work on the acoustics in the room… That’s a whole ‘nother world, probably 10+ posts…
till then…
VCA Circuitry
Saturday, February 7th, 2009Damn hardware compression sounds good. I just ran a mix through my newly acquired Chameleon Labs 7720 and all I can say is wow. Don’t get me wrong, I have some amazing and inspiring compression plugins. PSP Audioware & Universal Audio are my tools of choice but there is something very different and pleasing about the sound of a hardware compressor. I don’t want to go back to outdated Hip-Hop vernacular and use the word “Real” but that seems to sum it up. There is something that feels and sounds very real about it. You can tell that’s it’s actually doing something physical to the sound, not just emulating the physical like a plugin…
At some point I think I should post my take on the whole hardware vs. software debate… though it is a can of worms I’m not sure if I want to open.
Build Pt. 5 aka Complete + BIG BIG BIG
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009I know it’s been a while since the last post but I really haven’t had anything substantial to write. Like always (for me at least) lots of big things happen at once so I can now warrant a new post – not another one just about the progress of the mic pre build:) But since we are on the subject of the mic pre build, let’s talk about it. The unit was fully assembled and completed a while ago. But there were some problems (one channel wasn’t working) and then the holidays happened and all progress slowed to a crawl. I talked to Scott at Hamptone and he helped out a lot with the unit and I’m pleased to say It is now fully working:) I’m very happy and will post more on it as soon as I get to really run it through its paces. I do want to mention that Scott really went out of his way to help me so if you are considering purchasing the pre from him but are a little concerned that you might get stuck building it – fear not – he will make sure you end up with a working unit.
At last, the Hamptone HVTP2, in all it’s glory:
I’ve been looking for a nice versatile EQ and had an awesome find of a CLM Dynamics DB500s Expounder Dynamic Equalizer (whew that’s a name). This thing can do so many things it’s absurd. Aside from being a 4 band stereo parametric eq, it has 24db analog tracking filters with resonance so you can get some crazy filter/ wah effects! Apparently this unit is highly revered in Hip-Hop circles so it should have a full and busy life in its new home. Now if I could just get the company to send me a manual for the unit. More on this later when I (hopefully) get the manual and some time to use it.
Even though the studio is no where near completion I’m happy to say I’ve already had the pleasure of working with an amazing client. Abstract rap extraordinaire Jones was itching to get in the studio and lay down some tracks for a new EP he’s been working on. We recorded some vocals and also did some mixing. The tracks are wild – found sounds, dubed out effects and feedback loops in abundance + freeform rhymes. One session is in the pocket and we will be concluding in the near future.
Jones spitting flame in low-lite mode:
In case your wondering, I decided to rename this site and my studio to Baltimore Analog. I think it will help people find me a lot easier. Thanks to my bro for the idea! I’m still going to hold on to vanguardfiles.com for a while, I really think it’s a good name and I have some ideas for it too.
till soon…
Build Pt. 4
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
Build Pt. 3
Sunday, September 21st, 2008A few more set backs but we’re getting closer. It’s actually beginning to look like something:
slowly loosing mental capacity:
I’m going on tour in about a week so you might not hear from me till I get back…
Build Pt. 2
Saturday, September 20th, 2008Things are going well with the preamp. We’re continuing on it in a few hours. Not sure if we’ll finish it today or not…
2 Channel Cards:
Step Attenuator:
Chaining 22 resistors around this bad boy was not easy…
Build Pt. 1
Monday, September 8th, 2008Two exciting things happened this past week:
1. The assembly of my Hamptone HVTP2 tube mic preamp has officially begun! My friend Steve is building it for me. After a shaky start and emergency repairs by his girlfriend Cecil, everything is back on track.
A long day made complete with some excellent pancit – we will be continuing assembly in the near future.
2. My overseas package from Shaun Leveque @ Phoenix Audio has arrived! It is a Nicerizer 16. But this is the V2 – not available to the public yet – one of the first & only ones in existence. I haven’t opened it yet as I don’t have the proper trs to xlr cables – and if I can’t hook it up it’s just going to taunt me, so I’d rather not see it for the time being… must get cables!
