~ Yesterday I moved everything over to one side of the room because I was ripping off part of the roof in the live room. Well, the Marshall 1960a took a bullet for the V. There was some old fluorescent lights that came crashing down when I ripped off the ceiling and bounced off the 4x12, tearing a gaping hole in the grille cloth. It will cost me a colossal $12 USED to fix, plus like 4 hours of labour if I remember the last time I had to completely dismantle a Marshall 4x12. Built tough, what can I say. And you don't need to ask: I completely destroyed the lights, the ballast, the housing, and even the power cable to the light as revenge. Or maybe it was a hissy fit.
~ Lego Indiana Jones comes out today and I'm excited. Also doing sound for a band on June 21st is coming up soon. Next week is gonna be pretty good - recording most of it, and have a good weekend coming up soon as well.
~ TOO BUSY!!! IT'S AWESOME!!! But I've set aside time for "fun" even though I have the most fun playing and recording music. Sam's coming out Thursday for some jamming, BBQ-burgering, drinking, and vids.
~ Doing some work for Pacific Audio Works and the Port Theatre has helped me take my mind off of how much I hate my regular job. Soon, enough, something will come up. Wired up and framed the machine room today and that was exciting, the first major renovating I have done since January. Soon it will have the walls up and racking for the computer and cable storage installed.
~ I have been spending the day installing an alarm system here. It's been fun wiring up the place but as always I have a million little cuts from handling wire. Bah. Other than that, looking forward to heading out to Samba's on Friday for some good foods.
~ Scared and confused, not knowing what day it is, I updated the links on the links page. And on Sam's website, the quote that was the best thing ever posted on facebook... that was me.
~ Got new studio monitors last night due to repeated problems with the old ones. So far, I like them, they have a solid low end even though their response only goes down to 42 hz. They are larger physically, lower wattage, but have an 8" driver as opposed to the 6.5" one I was using before.
~ My birthday was fun, been a while since I kicked out the jams. On rock music anyway. Inspired me to do some writing, and I am way overdue for it.
~Wow Christmas. I've been good all year so I'm hoping to enjoy some of the L&M sale this year. I am hoping for an SM81 or KSM137. Yummy.
~I've been jamming with a few groups of people lately. One of them in particular is alot of fun - Me, Melissa and Marty kick out the jams and have a few drinks twice a week. Other than that, building the house - mainly working out the lounge trying to get it ready enough for someone to sleep in there over Xmas. The wiring for the structured media system is done finally - telephone, internet, audio and video for every room in the house except the bathrooms.
~ Bought a house and moved out to Nanaimo. Renovating the studio space is taking up most of my time. The floor is down and level. Next up is walls, then wiring, then drywall, then sanding then painting then... :)
~ Well, I imagine that soon I will be moving West... to Nanaimo, BC. Lots of interesting work up there, an actual Music scene, and of course the lovely Island Girls :)
~ Working on some new tunes a lot lately. It's starting to really get going now [again]. Ups and downs of being a musician - writing doesn't always just happen when you want it to. Whateva - There's been a lot of anger lately due to my last gig, when I brought out a ton of extra gear to record a live album and the guy on the board messed it up. I find it hard to believe it was messed up this bad by accident. Being angry isn't going to help me though. What's done is done. All that I can do is refuse to do another gig with those guys.
~ Just working my regular day job lately. Trying to finish up songs and get them ready for jamming. Burn is just about done, I'm having a helluva hard time playing the guitar part while singing though. I picked up some new gear as well - I can't pass up a good deal. An AKG C3000b found it's way into my lap the other day, I haven't used it much yet... though I am taking it as a sign I need to lay down some new tracks.
Other new gear is a pair of YORKVILLE ELITE series speakers, 4 ohm, 400 watt monsters. Sound? Amazing! Weight? Unbearable!
~ Wow I get annoying songs stuck in my head... the latest is a Rachel Loy song. Ugh. I have finally decided to spend the cash to replace the garbage heads on my DW drum set. I'm going to go for Evans G2 heads this time around. I am getting closer to the sound I want, however the EC-2's were a little too controlled for my tastes.
Last night I FINALLY finished the second verse for a little tune by the name of "Think About You". Which is great. Long overdue. And I have a bunch of another song, ready - I just need to practice the singing and guitar at the same time before we start kicking it out at jam practice.
The last thing to note is that I completed a 4-pack of songs for the fox seeds competition.
~ New Gear! The newest addition to the studio is an MindCraft EnVoice mic preamp. Sounds great, the eq is wicked, and the DI is just amazing. Another exciting but not so noteworthy is an Art Dual MP 2 channel mic pre. 5 more channels to go before every single pre in the studio is outboard.
I also have been wanting to gig more, maybe some more acoustic stuff. So I have been playing a buttload of my Guild lately. Very nice guitar - needs lighter strings... maybe some 11's or something. I also HATE the way my pickup sounds. so I want a new mic to complement the guitar.
Last week we integrated a David Bowie tune into our set, I'm Afraid of Americans. We did it sort of in the way the NiN/Bowie version is, except stripped down and made to rock in a way only the V, not the blueshawk, can.
~ Working on some new material with some new gear this past month. I purchased a beautiful [if not caked with dust] Drum Workshop kit that replaced my old Yamaha Stage Custom set and a new tube pre. It's actually the same as one I already had except without the large VU meters. More outboard mic pres is the way to go though. I worked out a mandolin song that turned out nice and got some great reviews by friends and family.
Some vocals were laid down on the Silent State project that turned out good. I have been stepping out of the rock and roll realm on a few little tracks I wrote - some funk that would be a good TV theme.
~ Well I have been quite busy doing various projects and even some gigs including a solo open mic night and playing with my band. Yesterday a friend came over and we worked on guitar tracks, she showed me a thing or two about mic technique. I have since learned to hate barre chords. But the tracking eventually worked itself out and I liked it. I've been writing some mandolin stuff and I am almost ready to lay down a folky tune. I have also been working on my album, not just recording the guitars for Time and Old School, but also writing some new material and filling in some spaces on existing tracks. It's Grrrrreat!!
~ All this recording! I practically live in headphones. I am working on a personal theme song for someone, with a crazy funk feel to it. Shaft. Working on my own and Silent State's albums. Laying down guitar tracks for a song by Gab over at Defected Productions. Super busy. I also have a full time day job which is on top of all this shizzznat. Soon I will be recording someone's piano on location - an interesting quest.
~ Made my holiday recording schedule. Lots of recording to do. Done with the shopping.
- COLD. The
snow really came down, with 14 inches or so hitting the ground in the last 24
hours. I did donuts in the driveway in my little car. Might as well make the
most of it.
Music wise,
I’ve been a slacker. Today was the first day I have done any serious rehearsal
in at least a week. I feel bad about it… but my last few months have been very
unfocused. I thought about getting a new guitar and went around and tried just
about everything. Only one guitar sparked my interest and that was only
slightly. I need some new music I think. I have been working with a new song
idea that came from two ideas—one being Joshua Wiebe who said something that
gave me a lyrical idea, and one from my acoustic when I was playing around. They
go together well so far, I have a few minutes of ideas recorded, now I just
gotta cut it up in protools and see where it takes me.
11/13/2006
- - Well things are
going good except for a small dental problem I encountered today. Working on the
new site, and getting ready for the holidays. I have been writing and have a new
song called “Run Away” that is nearing completion. A few more are in the works
including TSH and Girl in the Mirror. I am trying to get someone to help me
record my album but it just doesn’t always work out that way. Everyone wants to
help but who has the time?
So of course if
you know me you know that one thing that cheers me up is new gear. It can be a
new amplifier or a cup holder for my mic stand Doesn’t matter if it’s cheap or
expensive as long as it’s new to me. So I bought myself some new gear [not that
I was down or sad or anything—I just wanted some] and both purchases turned out
to be great. One was a new mic preamp, two rack space two channel tube. The
other was a new rack for my PA system with 3 locking covers.
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