A few weeks ago on a Friday night my friend Andrew and I went into Hoffman’s Music as we were hanging out, we walked around a while looked at some different things, and then I randomly picked up a few acoustics and tried them out. The third of fourth one I tried was the Martin 000CX1RGTE. After playing it for a few seconds I fell in love! It was the most amazing sound I had heard in a long time, and beautifully made too!

So I called my dad and told him and I quote; “I need this guitar!” So we came back the next morning and compared it with a bunch of other guitars and it sounded better than every one, (within the sound I was looking for, obviously this I didn’t compare this with something like a big ol’ Jumbo Gibson.) After doing some price checking on the internet we came back later in the week and bought it. (Yes, I do like to support local companies even though I do have online dealers that I link to for your convenience.)  This guitar is kind of rare, it wasn’t on any of the 5 sites I partner with.

I love how unique and clean and crisp (yet not too bright and tinny) this guitar sounds. And the Fishman pickups in it sounds amazing too, it’s really adjustable and clean, plus it has a built in tuner. I love this guitar! So the moral of the story is… wait till you find the perfect acoustic that you love to buy one, and when you find it, get it!!! And I don’t even need to ask the question… that silly question I so often ask on this site… I know the answer, and if you read this post you know the answer too.

I’ll put a video and/or recording of it up sometime soon!

So, I’ve been really busy with college, but I’m trying to get more organized with my time, so hopefully I will have time to do posts more often than once a month.

Now I want to just ask a question for this post. How many of you my readers have a home studio? And if you do, what advise would you give to those wanting to build one in their house?

As the world of recording changes I think big multi-million dollar studios will disappear and home studios will become more and more popular, even for big-time bands.

• I think decent studio can be made in ones house with around $1,000 assuming you have a room and a computer already.
• A good studio for $5,000
• And a really great home studio for $10,000
• And of course if you add construction (within the home) to that it could increase the cost anywhere from $5000 more to $15,000

And now your saying, so to build a room and make it a really great studio I might have to spend $25,000!? And I’m saying yes. So why would that be better than spending a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars on real studio time? The answer is freedom, you are free to use it whenever you want, for whatever you want, practice, recording your own band or your friends bands, mixing for 20 hours straight not trying to rush through to get a cheaper price, and your free to experiment with it however you want, to mix, edit and master however you want, basically, my point is, YOU are in control!

Now, any advise you readers with home studios wish to give? (Please comment with answers below)

Wanting to get your studio going, but not sure what you’ll need, and what’s the best stuff for a decent price? This video is for you!

Use this checklist and you’ll be recording multi platinum records in no time… ok maybe not, but your recordings will sound good

• Computer (At least 1 gig of RAM, more is better, my computer has 8 and is still boggy with Pro Tools once in a while. At least 2 GHz of processing speed. And hard drive is up to you, but remember, 24 bit WAV recordings take up a lot of room!)
• Recording Software (Pr0 Tools, Logic, Cubase, Reason, Sonar, Ableton Live, Tracktion 3,  etc.
• Interface (with Pro Tools, you have to go with a Digidesign interface, the new 003 Rack+ is great! But with other programs I would reccomend the Tascam US 1641, or the PreSonus Firebox for smaller projects)
• Mics (get as many as different mics as you can, a great one to start out with is the Rode NT1-A, plus the DP7 set is a great deal)
• Speakers (Rockit 5s are great for the price!)
• Headphones (1 word… Sennheiser)

I had my friend Austin who plays bass write me another review (he wrote a review of the Clone Theory for me a while ago). Anyway I will let his writing speak for it’s self-

“This pedal is basically the original Big Muff but attuned to bass frequencies.   Let me start out by saying that this is my favorite distortion pedal.  So with that said, we can move on to why.  This pedal has three knobs: Volume, Tone, and Sustain.  The volume knob is self explanatory.  The tone knob controls if the treble is accentuated or if the bass is accentuated (also pretty obvious).  The sustain knob controls the amount of distortion that is put on the sound.  It also has a three option switch in the center, there is a normal option (which is just the sound with what ever distortion setting you have), there is a bass boost option, which is very self explanatory, and finally it has a dry option.  The dry option mixes the dry signal with the distorted signal to add a different sound to your bass.  And when this option is on, the volume only controls the distorted signal, and not the dry. 

This pedal puts out some sick distortion.  I prefer having the tone knob all the way to the right (high treble) so I can get a really biting sound.  With its small size it can fit anywhere on a pedal board.  I can really say nothing bad about this pedal, it passes the shake test, it passes the size test, and it over achieves on the awesome test.   Yet again Electro-Harmonix has created a sick pedal.  So if you are wanting an amazing, awesome, and cheap distortion pedal (if 80 bucks is cheap for you, in the pedal market it is) then you have found a beauty.  So, does it Rock?   OH YA BABY!!! Like a crazy guy in a mental hospital trying to escape in a rocking chair!”

Whenever I play music with Austin and he kicks this disortion in, it sounds great, anything from real thick beefy stuff to any sort of high bass lead part! And it’s a great price too! As austin said, this thing definatly ROCKS!

Merchant	Price	Shipping
Music123	$79.95	free
Musician’s Friend	$79.95	free

These headphones are top of the line! I have used them for many years and have loved them every second, they are perfect for any studio or other application that big fat headphones are neccesary. They’re really actually decently light and small for studio headphones. They keep the sound inside (isolated), so that it doesn’t bleed into your recordings. They have great sound quality and are very durable, although with the first few months we had them there was a wiring issue that we had to fix, my dad just re-soldered one side and they’ve been perfect ever since!

The Positives 

• Great sound quality!
• Very good isolation
• Durable
• Adjustable (collapsible swivel design)

The Negatives

• Other than the wiring issue I have no negatives about these.

Does it Rock? …Well thats not proper grammer, I should ask, Do they Rock? Either way, the answer is YES!

Merchant	Price	Shipping
Music123	$99.95	free
Musician’s Friend	$99.95	free

(Man, my 2 weeks of Thanksgiving was fun! I had a ton of family in town,  there were over 30 people on thanksgiving at my grandparents house. We also celebrated 5 other nights last week since so many people had flown in from all over the country for the holiday… but now it’s back to business!)

When Pro Tools LE (with the Rack+ 003) first came to my doorstep, about 6 months ago I was really excited, I opened the box and got it on the computer as fast as I could. After about a minute of using it I wanted to go back to Tracktion 2, simple and easy to use Tracktion 2. Pro Tools is sure a complex program compared to some, but the best programs are never easy to learn because there’s like a million features! Eventually I had used it enough that I started enjoying it and seeing how all the features actually made it faster and better once you learn how to use them, it just takes some practice and getting used to.

Let’s face it, Pro Tools is the industry standard, most professional studios out there use it. And why is this? Well because it’s the best, it’s not the only program that can create a good finished product, but according to many pro’s in the industry, it’s the highest quality, most advanced, most efficient tool for recording, editing and mixing. Have I tried every recording program on the market? I’ll be honest, I haven’t, but I have used a few and seen many. Pro Tools takes the best features and all the different things you could want in a program and puts them together, and after some practice it really is easy to use!

This new version of Pro Tools is better than ever before, and looks really awesome with the new design!

The Positives

• Great quality
• Lot’s of good plugins (plus each plugin has tons of great pre-sets)
• Tools that make editing very efficient
• It has tools for making video soundtracks
• I’ll come back and add more when I think of them, or feel free to tell me some things YOU like about this program!

The Negatives

• When you automate volume there is no overall gain control
• Other than that, I haven’t really ran into any issues, but I will add to this list if I find any more

If you go for it and get Pro Tools, there are some other things I would highy recommend:

1. Dual Monitors, although it’s not neccesary it helps alot to have the mix screen and the edit screen open at the same time
2. The Digidesign Music Production Toolkit 2, Some really awesome plugins, virtual instruments etc. Plus it gives you up to 64 (without it you only get 48)
3. If you really want to get a good mix you should look into the ARC system (by IK Multimedia), it’s a room correction program that will help make your mix sound good anywhere you listen to it.

So Does it Rock? Yes, if you want to create music in the most effecient and proffesional way, this is the program for you, that is if you have lots of money to spend. Actually with Pro Tools you have a few different options though, so you don’t have to brake the bank, so look at your options, M-Powered, LE, and HD, and the different Upgrades, packages, interfaces, etc. and make your decision, what’s gonna work best for you and your wallet.

Ok, I just found this, I’ve never heard of it before, and it’s not available on any of the main music gear retailer websites. It’s called the Voice Capo, and it’s only available on their website www.VoiceCapo.com. Seems like it could be a pretty cool thing to mess around with, and great for adding creativity to music!

Here’s their video demo of it:

Does it Rock? I don’t know, I’d have to buy one to tell you, and I think I will, someday. So if you have one or have played one, leave your comments, what do you think of this contraption?

The door rang, I walked upstairs thinking it was someone at the door, but when I opened the door, to my suprise was nothing. I looked down, a brown box sat there. It could have been 1 of 2 things I had coming to me, my pedal, or my new modem. Wanting to find out I snatched it up quickly, and brought it into the kitchen where I took the scissors and cut furiously through the packing tape. I popped open the top of the box, and to my delight it was the Germanium OD! I went downstairs to the studio and played with it for about 10 minutes. Then pulled out the camera and got Pro Tools running, and played for a while longer…

This pedal is truely unique and awesome, you can adjust the Volts and Bias and Gain to get some really cool sounds, all the knobs are very interactive with each other, and just slight tweaks can totally change the sound! I would do a positives and negatives section here but there are no real negatives, this pedal is totally awesome! (Although I do have a complaint about pedals in general, I really wish they all just came with wall warts (power supplies) so I didn’t have to mess around with stupid batteries until I bought one!)

So Does it Rock? The Answer is Freakin Yes! I love this pedal, and I can’t wait to keep finding new sounds that it can make!

Merchant	Price	Shipping
Music123	$78.00	free
Musician’s Friend	$78.oo	free

So I got this tuner for my birthday from the bassist, Joe, and singer/guitarist, Bob, in my band, I actually just finally recieved it on Friday. Our band played for a college group retreat at Silver Mountain, (which is a very nice resort by the way).

I first plugged it in and turned it on and it worked great, I tuned my guitar quickly and easily with it, and I also looked at all 4 different display modes which are cool, I prefer mode 1, the most basic of the 4.
But after the band had started playing and I went to tune again, the low E and A strings wouldn’t pick up very well, it was like the band’s noise was interfering with those notes. My friend Corey who also has this pedal experiences this same problem.
This problem is kind of a nuisance, but I don’t think it will be too much of a difficulty really, because when I tune during a show its generally inbetween songs, and if it is during a song it’s usually the higher strings that need to be tuned anyway. This is about the only complaint I have with this pedal.

(That’s me with my pedal and a little too much fun with photoshop)

So Does it Rock? Yes, like a a swingset that wasn’t bolted together very well. Get it?
haha?
But really this tuner is a great tuner.

Merchant	Price	Shipping
Music123	$89.95	free
zZounds	$89.95	free
American Musical Supply	$89.95	free
Musician’s Friend	$89.95	free

American Musical Supply and Musician’s Friend are giving a $10.00 rebate with this pedal until November 30th 2009

Today I’m going to show you how to run drums through an effects loop in the studio. But first I’m going to give you an update on my wishlist: I got 2 of the pedals I wanted for my birthday! The Germanium Overdrive and the Korg Tuner pedal. I will have reviews of those up soon!

So here’s the video to show you how to effects loop!

So Does it Rock? …I don’t know, YOU tell me! Leave a comment and tell me what you think of putting crazy effects on drums!