May 19, 2009 - rant , bitch ,and other stuff

This is going to be one of thou's bitchy blogs. Maybe I’m getting old, maybe I’m getting more experienced, or maybe I’m just tired of people. Whatever the case is I'm get sick and tired of seeing a few recent threads.
1. Someone asking how to do basic "quick start" features in a recording app that cost a few grand. First off you should have either a big ass book that comes with it or a big pdf file. 2nd you should have an idea of how to use this program in the 1st place. when I’ve checked out the persons profile it's either not filled in or full of high $ programs but little to no gear and if they have equipment it's a 30$ pre with a stock sound card, come on. THIEF

2. People who claim to have "degrees" in recording but don't know how to work basic equipment like compressors, monitors, EQ. Basic 101 type of classes. LIAR

3. Gear snobs, or people that are so attached to their gear that they think it's the best thing around and if anyone says nay they fly off the handle. When I say gear snobs I mean the people who will go to a noob thread and tell the poor bedroom musician to get something way out of his/her price range and if they can't anything else is just not good enough and that they shouldn't even bother. Granted a 2000$ pre is better than a 30$ preamp, but there are a few good ones for 200-500 price range. This goes for the Pro Tools or nothing group, give me a break people. The reason this has got me worked up is that I was on another board and a bunch of folks were debating if one preamp was better than another, the funny thing is it started out having nothing to do with the audio quality but the look of the two pieces. That's just funny as hell. No I'd say 80% of the people had never used one of the pieces but 95% had the other piece in question so the majority was saying how great there’s was and how much the other one wasn't worth (now around 50 extra bucks) the money. How can you judge something you have never used?
I talked to a guy who thought that an Art pre (I can't remember the model) was the best thing in the world "because it had a tube" and it sounded better than his pre's on his behringer mixer. He'd never used anything else (not thing wrong with that I’ve had a few good recordings with "cheap" gear) but he started getting defensive when others were saying that there were much better pre's out there for a few 100$ more . I know I’ve bought a lot of crap in the day that I thought I needed and didn't have enough for the better stuff and ended up selling it and upgrading, it sucks, such is life and you live and learn, but don't get all pissy when someone says a grace or True sound better than you "tube" Art or behringer pre.
4. Last one. The Marketing Machine. Using, Warm, vintage, and other descriptive words to advertise to unknowing consumers about cheap not real tube gear. If I can get a really good sounding tube pre for 30$ why they hell would I go out and by the UA's or Avalon’s? Now I think people need to be educated on the fact that a good solid state pre is a good investment, and won't cost you an arm and a leg, you can get a good working one for under 200$ from M-Audio.
This goes for Mic's as well, there are a ton of low priced condenser mic's out and about, there some great finds too, but there is a lot of crap floating around. It’s a quality control issue most of the time with cheap mic's so I won't go off too much. I've fallen prey to cheap pre amps, compressors, and microphones. I've had some of that gear work great but most of the time the stuff crapped out after a few years of light use or I learned what was "warm" sounding was more "mud" and that little glowing tube had a small LED light behind it and didn't do anything good for the sound.

I'm done with the rant.

We all (me included) need to help each other out and try to steer these new people in the right direction, it doesn't have to be expensive to be good but knowing what not to buy might help a few people save some cash or save up for better stuff down the road. Upgrading can get expensive.

Mar 13, 2009 - new gear

ok my name is Geoff (jeff) and i'm a gear whore. that said , i want to tell the new guys that if you keep upgrading and buy everything under the sun it's not going to make you sound like gold. use what you have first get to know you, gear, compressors, monitors, what have you . the bigest part is the guy whos recording and the talent. the saying" you can't polish a turd" goes a long way. i remember i had a friends band come by my place a few years back and he ( the singer) was ready to record or so he thought, but the band wasn't and they were ok but not great . take after take and they wondered why it took so long and why it didn't sound great and at first i thought i was a little green but after a day or so it was apparent the band wasn't all on the same page . i talked to them told them to come back in a few months and we'll go from there. that's part of being a producer and even though it was money i was loosing i couldn't take money from these guys when i know if they played a little bit more it would be sooooo much better. Time that's what i'm getting at , learn your craft it's not going to come over night, hell i'm a noob and i've been doing this for the better part of a decade ( that's not long at all) . i learn soming new every band i record and i get better. I've also learned my gear and now that i have a # of new toys i have to learn how they work . there is no quick fix (well sometimes :P). I love doing this but it's not for everyone. all i'm saying it takes time . a good engineer can make some of the most "cheap" gear work for him/her.

May 03, 2008 - thnigs that piss me off



First off I love this forum, I’ve been here since the beginning of 2002 and it helped me out a lot when I was getting into PC recording. That being said:
Crap that pisses me off
1. people who don't take any time to look for an answer or check the forum to see if the answer has been asked with in the last day or so. Most newbie question can be answered with ease and it not hard but it gets redundant. Lazy! When I was starting out I read though all the DIY , how to's, TIPS ext, that I could find then if I couldn't find it there or on Google I’d ask.
2. The battle over which software is better. come on , there are a plethora of apps out there that will work well and get the job done and you can get the pro sound if you have the right know how , time to invest, and gear (hardware/ software). It comes down to it on what do you need, what works best for you (almost all programs have free demos) and what you can afford. Now asking the question like what app do people prefer that's not too bad but you're going to get 6 or 7 different answers out of 10.

3. I can only record with Pro tools! WTF! PT is a good program and yes it is in most Large Pro studios (so is a few million$$$ worth of other stuff too, like tape, adat ECT) the Pro tools HD rig is great (the cheapest one runs around 10 grand). LE and M powered are good but limited to interfaces, track count, bit rate ECT. I own Pro Tools M powered (just to give it a shot and learn it) I'm not bashing the program it works well and it's does it job. Now does it sound better that other programs, well it shouldn’t. It shouldn't sound worse either. I'm going to stick with Sonar because I find it much more intuitive and I can work on recording, mixing and producing rather than the set up, it's just easier for me (key word). Now because PT has been around longer make it better, no really, because it's in a lot of studios, nope, so is Cubase, Nuendo, and Sonar but you don't here that a lot because the other brand are not as widely known.
4. People who don't realize "your signal is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain." that means if you have a good program but you're using the sound disaster card you got stock in you're PC , you're not going to get the most out of the program . Don't say the program sucks. It's like buying an expensive Mic and plugging it into a 30$ pre amp. Sure it'll sound OK but you're not getting the most from that mic.
5. Recording is as much of an art as playing the music. It takes practice, effort and a bit of green to get going. Just because you bought all the stuff doesn't mean you're going to have a stellar sounding record. Hell There is crap that comes from "real studios”. It's all about the person(s) doing the recording.
6. Pirates. I'm not talking about the ones that sail ships I'm talking about the @##holes who come onto the forum with no know how of a program ( or several) with a cheap or stock sound card. Come on, you have Nuendo (Nuendo 4 is 1799.99 at Sweetwater) and a Behringer UCA200 a 30$ sound card. It's highly unlikely that you paid almost 2 grand for a program that you don't know how to work (and have no manual) and you didn't get a top of the like audio card. OR you have all the full versions of popular programs like, sonar, cubase, wavelab, acid, audition, ext and have sound blaster and no other gear. It's hard for me to answers questions about a program (granted I’ve had a number of programs , so have been lite and some I’ve bought and didn't care for oops) but when you're starting out and you can tell me you have 4 and 5 programs that do the same thing ...com on. The full versions of sonar and cubase alone will set you back over a grand (together). Some people do have money that they can blow and that's cool but I think they would by the other stuff too (hardware).
7. The Know it alls. There are a lot of people one here that know a lot and I'm not talking about most of them. I'm talking about the dude who chimes into a forum that doesn't add any help and berates the writer or the helping hand. WTF, that's not cool and if you need that kind of gratification maybe you need to find so therapy and baby food.
8. The “that’s the only way to do it". One of my favorite people. They learned how to set up a compressor (or whatever) and that's how you are supposed to do it for each instrument. Funny stuff. There are guides and common starting pints but like I said before recording is about creating and experimentation. What sounds good to one person sound like poo to the next?
9. Advertising cheap gear with flashy words. A 100-200 mic pre is not going to sound like a 2000 pre. Some sound good and are very usable (you can find some gems in the mess of low budget preamps). Just because you slapped a cheap 12AX7 tube in the signal chain doesn't mean it's going to be great. Hell if all the Art and behriger products were as good as they say why the hell would any one buy a Focusrite, or Universal Audio. So don't get mad when you can't figure out why you're not getting that commercial CD sound (for one it takes’s a lot of factors). You don't have to have a huge budget to get good sound but you do need to have a little bit of one as well as knowing your equipment (I mean that) and being realistic.
I've heard good recording come from a 4 track and a SM57 , I’m not saying you have to go out and buy expensive crap like a gear slut, but get to know your set up and know and don't expect total sonic bliss from a 100 condenser right when you plug it in.
I started with cheaper gear and I learned how to use it the best I could and I know what I was able to achieve with it. Slowly I’ve upgraded as I’ve learned more and started getting more business in the studio.
10. Gas prices! I wanted to go for 10.

My rant is over, if I pissed anyone off, that is undeserving of this, I am sorry, for others...Tough.

I'm a nice guy as well as 95% of the people here but I've talked with quite a few of you that see this stuff. If anything thanks for letting me rant somewhere Dan.

Jan 24, 2008 - Guam

It's been a while since i was on here and thought I'd say what we've been up to. Last month (december) my fam and i moved from the bay area to Andersen AFB Guam. It's been an interesting change some good some bad but mostly good. The only problems i really have is there aren't any decent music stores on the island. I had to slim down my studio too, i went from a two room set up to a small bedroom. I sold 5 or 6 guitars, and some other toys i didn't really use and have kept what i need to record. I hope to keep in touch witha # of people on here , namely the ones i've had the chance to visit. It is nice to be able to walk out side any time of year in shorts .

Jun 26, 2007 - Summer Trip 2007

in a Few days (the 28th) I will be on Leave until the 16th of July. The Wife and I have a wedding to go to ni the Mid west and since we're flying into the twin cities , we're going to go see Dan (dB Masters) and Paul (noize2u) over the 4th. It should be fun and a nice up beat but relaxing trip. This time Paul best be prepaired and have "cold" beer.

Jan 04, 2007 - Rant in E minor

It's a new year and with that come changes, vows, life, death and a mess of other stuff. Let’s talk about the latter, death (not other stuff but I’m sure we'll get to that too), it seems that I’m on a sick tradition of someone dieing when I deploy, and I don't mean a soldier or airman, I mean one of my family members. Last time it was my grandfather Wilson. This time it was my aunt Lois, whom I was very fond of for a number of reasons but a big one was that she was an artist. She inspired me to keep up with art no matter what form it was. I used to love to draw and paint and she and one of my old teachers were the biggest supporters for that. She will be missed. I don't have to feel sorry or anything like that, and again I won't be going to her funeral, because I’m in Iraq. I'll be leaving soon but not soon enough, that’s ok, I went and saw here about 2 years ago and we had a good visit and I can make piece with that. My grandpa on the other hand, that's a whole different story and I’ll leave it at that.
People ask me all the time,"what's it like" either in reference to the military or to being deployed. I don't have much to say most of the time except smile and act very passive and say things like, "it's not too bad , kinda like working in a large corporation or something...” , or " Iraq is kinda like Mexico or other poor countries." Well, here are some of my thoughts in a nut shell:
Military: How can I put this lightly, it's not for everyone, hell it's not for most. You don't get paid badly but you don't get paid a lot, either and some people think you should get paid even less because they are too ignorant to read up on something that they know nothing about( off topic a bit but still..) . Your family does not come first no matter what you want to believe , Uncle Sam does, so do nameless people and countries that we get sent off too even though a lot of us would rather stay home with our loved ones , boo hoo oh well. It's also great hearing about everyone back at home bitching and complaining about stuff they barley know about and how bad things are, or what politician messed up, or what some news reporter said some 18 year old army kid did. That's your right to say what ever you want, and I say go ahead because I can’t, my freedom is limited. There are great things too, I have a closeness with my co-workers that most people don't have with there friends. I get a nice sense of job satisfaction when some kid smiles when we open a new hospital in a town that didn't have one, or bring something trivial as voting to a people that never did. I volunteered for this , I know this very well , and I’d do it again , so what if I've missed birthdays, holidays, my kid growing, funerals , my family understands and support me .
about Iraq , do yourself a favor and don't ask , we don't want to talk about it and don't criticize because , even thought you're talking crap about the government and not us , it still feels like it. Plus a side not who cares if they moked Sadam or not, it not like you knew him, he came over every tuesday and had tea, give me a break . Look hanings and the like are still used in many countries, that was the Iraqis penalty. And thoughs of you who say that was barbaric well guess what , you should look at what you saying becuase it seems like your the same people that say what a crappy job the prez and the government is doing ( i don't disagree, mostly) but it's people that said "I can't believe they do that over there", that send us over here. Becasue we can't leave stuff alone, we have to sare our oppinion on how everyone else should act and live.
This ends my rant.

Dec 20, 2006 - Happy B day

Another birthday in the good ol sand box. It was a nice and quiet one with little fuss or excitement. My co workers, sprung for pizza and I got a nice cold NA beer (wish it was real, but hay). At the DFAC (dinning facility) they had cake so I lucked out there. It's almost Christmas and that means it's almost time to head out of this place.

Iraq time it's 0145 so it's not my birthday anymore and it's now my 3rd anniversary , and tomorrow (the 22nd) is my wife’s birthday, so as some of you know my Decembers are full and I’m going to be a broke ass around this time for the rest of my days.

Dec 06, 2006 - hmm

Ok i just watched the movie "Hustle and flow" not a bad flick but there was a part that i thought was funny . There is a scene where the main guy is rapping adn his "producer" buddy tells him to stop because his vocals are getting distorted due to High SPL's. The dude was using a SM58 it looked like and he told him that it couldn't handle the yelling and convinced him to get a condeser mic , becuase it wouldn't clip when he belted out passages. That's funny as hell, i have a few LDC's that can take a raging stack (M-audio Luna) but i would rather put a dynamic mic on loud scorces. The thing waas that they made a big deal in the movie about this and it was a bit on the false side of things.

Nov 23, 2006 - Turkey day

well another one in the sand box. Oh well this just means that time is going by and i can go home soon. I'm on my down hill part of the trip and it does drag a bit. I called my family and it sounded like everyone was in good spirits, my wife,and son were at my grandparents house with all my dad side of the family so it was a very funny and good group. I feel bad for my mother becasue all three of her sons couldn't make it because we are all serving uncle sam. My baby bro is in training in the midwest , my other little bro is on a ship who know where and there is the vet at not being home for the holidays. I know this sounds sad and all but at least i could call home and talk for a while because my job permits me to have a lot fo things others here would kill for. My simpathy goes out to my boy dan who has lost a parent this year and i couldn't imagine having to deal with that, so here's to you buddy"raises pepsi" . the funny thing in all this is I've been given an opportunity to leave the military in a year when my time is up but i'm considering finishing up my time and retiring, it's crazy especially when i miss seeing my son grow up and miss holidays. I guess someone has to do it.

Nov 06, 2006 - stuff

it's been a while since i posted, i guess it's becuase i have another blog, i know shame on me. Hell most people that would use the word blog i would laugh at and make some cynical remark. Well not nowa day, everyone's a nerd, in some for or another. A lot of people here were/are nerds that's why they/we picked up instruments, "chicks dig guys in a band", unless you play bass, hahaha. I have this slight problem, i dislike the news, I don't like how most stories are one sided and usually show the lows of humanity, sure there is a human interst piece every now and again but cold hard "reporting" is where the ratings are. would you rather sit in a real court room and watch our leagal system work ,or would you rather watch a 15 min case with Judge juddy, "Hell that's easy, JUdge Juddy, some MO Fo might get knocked the f$^& out." News has been long to semantics and rating but i still read it or watch it, because i like to keep informed, i like to know, but let me tell you ignorance not only can but is a bliss. I wish when i get home i could close off the rest of this world with, war, famin, death, TV dinners, wife swap, and the whole lot of capital hill, and be blissful in my new home with my wife, son, two dogs in suburbia. I know a lot of people live like that, and man it must be nice ,(really) but as long as presidential pollicies dictate my life ( oh most of you think it runs yours well magnify it x10) i can not be in a happy state of ignorance.