"Studios"

I wish I was one of those people who could sit on a couch like a lethargic puddle of human existence.  I could pass my days away soaking in sitcoms, eating Bugles, and cleaning my belly button out at various points in the day.  But alas, I fall into the category of animal whose brain doesn't shut down, because every second must be injected with tedious work.  In a way, time has become my nemesis.  As soon as I wrap up a project, another much larger one looms in the distance.  More specifically, I have finally gathered the final pieces for my Guild S-100 project, and now I am left scratching my head on how to even approach my next assignment:  upgrading my "studio".

Before I get much into my project "studio", allow me to digress since studio related things have been the only thing on my mind as of late.  Since the innovation of computer recording, everyone thinks they are a "producer" or "audio engineer" these days.  When I worked music retail, I can't even begin to tell you the number of people who came in asking me how to "set up a studio so I can make beats with Fruity Loops".  Atrocious.  A woman I almost dated (during a time of extremely low self-esteem and chronic beer goggles), had once told me her ex had even owned a studio.  I soon discovered that this "studio" was merely a Behringer mixing board, hooked up to a couple of crappy computer speakers, with a computer patched into the board.  90% of these people who buy an MBox end up having it sit around because they are either too lazy, or much too dense to even try to learn to use it.  The other 10%, end up with shotty recordings and give it up.  Then there are the few, like myself, who wonder if we can actually try to make a decent recording.  Over the past 4-5 years I have become increasingly interested in building my own project "studio".  I use the term "studio" very lightly, because any real audio engineer would scoff at my over-glorified Mancave.  However, since I am not a neanderthal with a BR600, I am comfortable saying I have a project "studio".

I will say that I do not have any fantasies about becoming a world famous engineer/producer.  And I have no intention of expanding into a larger commercial outlet.  I mainly use my cave to get simple ideas down, track a few guitar/bass/piano sounds, and do a bit of arranging, do a demo for a friend.  But most importantly, progressively improve my sound. There are legitimate studios for more complex things (notice the " " is gone?).  Real studios have Telefunkens, Neumanns, UA compressors, and Neve consoles (whose recording prowess can only be attributed to the evil Ganondorf sealed away forever within the board).  If you're looking to record something serious, an album, single, soundtrack, or whatever, it's much smarter to invest your money somewhere where you can worry about the music, and they can worry about the sound.  I'm not trying to scare anybody, but it's much smarter to think about where you're investing a few thousand dollars before you do.  Yourself or a studio?  If you do build a studio, narrow it down to what you want to do with it. 

Anyhow.  The first and most important thing in a studio, even more so than gear and the engineer, is the room which you record and mix in.  Blows your mind doesn't it?  Blew mine at least.  The room is crucial because it's what reflects the sounds and noises that happen in the room.  Corners can suck up all of your bass, footsteps can bleed onto mics, and you can even get a false perception of a mix in a bad room.  So it's extremely important to "treat" your room.  And when I say "treat", I'm not talking about sound proofing the room so sound can't get out, I'm talking about controlling the frequencies within the room.  To be honest, I can give much advice here as of yet.  If you can afford it, have someone do it for you.  Due to my budget (or lack thereof), I can't afford to have someone plaster my walls in Auralex and pretty panels.  So, much of my "new" room will be very DIY.  I'll be taking photos and keeping you in the loop as I go about this process, and how to be a cheapass doing it.  Here is the room I will be working with:

The best thing to do is get someone's advice on where to start.  I've been poking around on a few forums and getting some ideas, but I ran across this.  You can send your room measurements to one of these big box online distributors and have them do all the planning for you.  Then instead of buying the expensive traps from them, I'll build the ones I can.  No, my room will not be perfect.  But I'm not recording drums or doing any epic live orchestration.  And if you look, concrete and plywood walls aren't that great either.  I'm just trying to make the best of what I have to work with.  I'll talk more about my game plan, gear, and provide a photo blog of the final S-100 project soon.

Cheers!

-  Stonewall

A Tribute to a Friend Passed: The DL4 Still Slays

Reality is sad, sad indeed.  Sad, because I'm about to blog about my sense of loss over material possessions.  Sad, because you're going to read this pathetic post.  But what's most sad, is my long lived Line 6 DL4 has kicked the bucket.  That big green echo monster was my baby, I've had it for 9+ years now.  There are many magic spaceship delays out there right now, and I'm sure there are some that make glitter and unicorns shoot out of your guitar's headstock, but the DL4 was my favorite delay.

I remember getting into guitar gadgets when I was a meaty, sweaty, angsty high school kid.  This mysterious emerald device kept showing up on pedalboards of my favorite guitarists.

Aaron Pill of The Appleseed Cast.  One of my favorite guitarists.
This photo's pretty damn old too.

I probably watched hundreds of YouTube videos about the pedal.  I had to have it...so the antagonizing began.  I was relentless and I never stopped talking my mother into buying it for me.  After over a year of unsuccessful murder attempts my mom plotted against me, she finally had to cave.  On Christmas morn, the glorious DL4 became mine.  Oh the delight I had in twirling its knobs, making whale sounds, and creating god awful feedback!  I used it in every band I've ever played in.  At one point (during a heavy Minus the Bear phase) I had borrowed a second one and had both on my board.

No.  The DL4 does not have the best sounding delay, nor the best features, and there are little annoyances (like the ever-so-common volume drop issue).  I love my DM3, Moog 104M, and I loved my DMM (before Howard Davis f*&#ed me over).  But like these other famous units, nothing else sounds quite like it.  It's not a pristine clean sounding digital delay, it has some quirks.  However, I've had phases where I just flat out didn't want to use it anymore because it was "outdated", I didn't have the $$$ to mod it, or other various pathetic excuses.  The Line 6 M series spaceships came out, promising all of the features of the DL4 but better!  I quickly acquired these devices, hoping they'd knock my DL4 out of the park and provide me with more shit I didn't need.  I've bought and sold both the M13 and M9 on at least two occasions.  They just didn't sound right to me.  They were "too perfect".  The Reverse and Auto Volume didn't sound right, and the new M Series Analog Delay setting didn't sound as dark as my DL4.  The Eventide and Strymon fads have come, and will go.  I've considered "upgrading" on multiple occasions.  Prior to my current debacle, these new units never really offered more realistically usable features than the DL4 did.  

My DL4 had burnt out once previously.  I used it for 8 years, then randomly it farted out last year.  The local prick who fixed it says I was using a "questionable means" to power it (One Spot + L6 Adapter = questionable?  Probably not).  $80 repair.  Pretty hefty cost since you can get them secondhand for well under $150 now.  But hey, it has sentimental value.  A couple weeks ago, I decided to bust it out again.  Plugged it in.  Lights came on.  Abnormally flashed a few times.  Then nothing.  I tried different cables.  I double checked the owners manual to my new power supply I've bought since the last burnout.  I tried a different power supply.  Nothing.  I've read on all the forums about static under the chip, hard resets, yada yada.  I've tried it all, it's toast.  I'm well beyond my warranty on it.  Another $80 doesn't sound too appealing.  So I feel like it's time to retire it.  (Unless someone wants to fix it up free :D  )  

Now I'm in a weird situation I haven't been in for years, what's going to replace it?  Not sure I want a second one yet.  It's like being single after a long relationship, except the end result will have less Crabs.

R.I.P. my little green friend.

-  Stonewall