My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)

[silky smoove]

I'm liking that double mic set up for the acoustic guitars. I feel like I've been cheating doing it my way.

I mainly write on a twelve string. So demos get the twelve string centered, with a conventional six string panned hard to one side and a Nashville tuned six string panned hard to the other. It makes a sound like a twelve string the size of a house. My drummer friend refers to the three-guitars-playing-the-same-part-in-different-frequency-registers as the "guitarchestra".

Guitarchestra is wildly accurate.

This setup will yield different results than triple tracking a part with different guitars. This sounds like a single guitar that has moderate stereo width. It’s great for a more lush sound when the arrangement is minimal enough to allow for it.

 

[Microbass]

Not studio related at all, but the view from my stage riser at last night’s NYE gig was pretty great. Hopefully all of you had a great evening and maybe even had killer gigs yourself.

View attachment 5302723 View attachment 5302724

Saw some pix on IG - looked like an incredible show!!

 

[silky smoove]

Saw some pix on IG - looked like an incredible show!!

It definitely was. Super fun night. The house crew told us they hit capacity (1,800) around 11:30 and then just stopped counting but continued letting people in the door. It thinned out a bit after midnight and the countdown but I’d say 80% remained until we played our last song right at 1:00am. By the time I went back to my green room, changed into street clothes and returned to the stage to pack up my gear the house lights were up and the venue was empty. Quite a contrast!

That gigged marked the end of my gigging season. I don’t have any live dates booked until May so I can focus on skiing and studio work. I’ve got a few projects booked in the studio, so hopefully I’ll have some fun updates in the coming months.

 

[tothemax]

Not studio related either (and I apologize),
Had a knee replacement on 12/11, last Wed. night was my first night back to practice. Played for 3 hours, what a great feeling, was going a bit nuts with my social life revolving around PT. Knee is doing well, looking forward to getting back in the studio, BL started going over tentative live dates. Not up to hauling my regular gear yet, so used my SS Frankenbass and VOX Pathfinder 10w into a Mackie Thump 15" powered speaker. Worked pretty well, and will probably keep that rig for the next few practices. I have to be nice to the new knee or I'll be answering to my better half (no winning on that front).

Cheers and best in 2024!

 

[silky smoove]

Not studio related either (and I apologize),
Had a knee replacement on 12/11, last Wed. night was my first night back to practice. Played for 3 hours, what a great feeling, was going a bit nuts with my social life revolving around PT. Knee is doing well, looking forward to getting back in the studio

I tore the A2 pulley in my right middle finger at the bouldering gym back on 12/19 and have been doing a lot of PT and rehab, so I feel you on this. Getting through a three hour gig predominantly playing Jamerson style with only my index finger was rough. Hopefully your recovery goes smoothly and quickly.

 

[Microbass]

It definitely was. Super fun night. The house crew told us they hit capacity (1,800) around 11:30 and then just stopped counting but continued letting people in the door. It thinned out a bit after midnight and the countdown but I’d say 80% remained until we played our last song right at 1:00am. By the time I went back to my green room, changed into street clothes and returned to the stage to pack up my gear the house lights were up and the venue was empty. Quite a contrast!

That gigged marked the end of my gigging season. I don’t have any live dates booked until May so I can focus on skiing and studio work. I’ve got a few projects booked in the studio, so hopefully I’ll have some fun updates in the coming months.

How's the snow looking there?
I am keen to get back into the swing of things but it'll be a local day mission if I get up North this season as I'm (finally) getting married in May!

Sadly no musical fun on the horizon either.

 

[silky smoove]

How's the snow looking there?

It's been absolute trash until this week when we got a huge dump of snow. Greater than a foot per day for several days in a row. I went skiing last night after work and conditions were great.

I'm (finally) getting married in May!

Congratulations!

 

[Microbass]

It's been absolute trash until this week when we got a huge dump of snow. Greater than a foot per day for several days in a row. I went skiing last night after work and conditions were great.


Congratulations!

Cheers! My biggest "GAS" issue this year is whether or not to suffer a kilt on the beach for the ceremony!

 

[silky smoove]

Cheers! My biggest "GAS" issue this year is whether or not to suffer a kilt on the beach for the ceremony!

I trust that haggis and bagpipes will be represented, thus completing the trio of Scottish stereotypes us Americans are aware of

 

[Microbass]

I trust that haggis and bagpipes will be represented, thus completing the trio of Scottish stereotypes us Americans are aware of

We're doing this gig abroad, I'm going to assume haggis will be against local import laws! They're cheeky buggers as well and difficult to catch.

Once we're back and have the home leg, pipes, haggis and kilts will all be on show!

 

[silky smoove]

Once we're back and have the home leg, pipes, haggis and kilts will all be on show!

When that occurs I believe the usual TB rule applies: Pics or it didn’t happen

 

[Kevlanco]

I tore the A2 pulley in my right middle finger at the bouldering gym back on 12/19 and have been doing a lot of PT and rehab, so I feel you on this. Getting through a three hour gig predominantly playing Jamerson style with only my index finger was rough. Hopefully your recovery goes smoothly and quickly.

I got a minor tear in my left ring finger off a pocket hold last week and had a scary couple of days doing the Jamerson myself. I know I was pushing myself well beyond what I should in a day so I wasn't even surprised. I'm just super grateful there was no bigger injury or "pop." Scary stuff nonetheless. Glad you're on the PT/rehab and wish you well on your recovery!

 

[silky smoove]

I got a minor tear in my left ring finger off a pocket hold last week and had a scary couple of days doing the Jamerson myself. I know I was pushing myself well beyond what I should in a day so I wasn't even surprised. I'm just super grateful there was no bigger injury or "pop." Scary stuff nonetheless. Glad you're on the PT/rehab and wish you well on your recovery!

Thanks! Currently H taping, doing nightly Lattice Quad Block rehab, and nightly contrast hydrotherapy, all in an attempt to accelerate the typical 8 week recovery time. Hopefully your recovery goes quickly!

 

[silky smoove]

New preamp day! Grabbed an M12 from Revive Audio for four channels of that ultra punchy, mid-forward API voicing. I had four more channels of analog I/O left on my 16A and wanted to fill them. No real tests just yet, but I’m doing some drum tracking in about a week where I’ll put these channels through their paces.

 

[ThisYouCanTrust]

What do the "push" buttons do ?

 

[peterpalmieri]

New preamp day! Grabbed an M12 from Revive Audio for four channels of that ultra punchy, mid-forward API voicing. I had four more channels of analog I/O left on my 16A and wanted to fill them. No real tests just yet, but I’m doing some drum tracking in about a week where I’ll put these channels through their paces.

View attachment 5420524

Looking good

 

[beans-on-toast]

The M12 is very pretty.

 

[silky smoove]

What do the "push" buttons do ?

It's a pad on the output, which allows you to drive the input harder for additional color and saturation without hitting your converters too hard. It's similar to the dedicated output gain control on a 1073 design, but as a fixed pad value rather than on a variable pot. In bass terms it would be like a separate input gain and output volume control on an amp.

 

[silky smoove]

Did some tests and the M12 is quite nice. It's very low noise, weighs a LOT presumably due to two Cinemag transformers per channel, has excellent positive resistance on the input gain pots which also have a cool red indicator that I didn't notice before getting it, and the four switches per channel all feel great. The XLR and 1/4" inputs all work as-intended. The tone runs from clean to more colored and overdrives pleasantly. My feeling on preamps that don't include channel strip components is that the differences are far more subtle than many would have you believe. When driven into color and saturation territory I would say that this is just as colorful as my 1073, but in a different way. The 1073 gets fatter in the upper bass and lower midrange as you drive it along with some pleasant harmonics in the upper midrange. The M12 doesn't really get fatter, but it seems to exaggerate transient details due to what I can only describe as saturation in the 600hz-2khz range. It really makes drums "smack" in a cool way. Again, these differences are more minor than many would have you believe.

For those keeping score, my current input options are as follows:

• Channels 1-8 - Line Audio 8MP (squeaky clean)
• Channels 9-12 - Revive Audio M12 (classic 312 punchy midrange)
• Channels 13-14 - ART TransX (clean down low, Jensen/Hardy-style saturation up high)
• Channel 15 - Heritage Audio TT-73 (classic 1073 fattness)
• Channel 16 - Universal Audio LA-610 Mk II (versatile tube channel strip and opto compressor)

 

[ThisYouCanTrust]

It's a pad on the output, which allows you to drive the input harder for additional color and saturation without hitting your converters too hard. It's similar to the dedicated output gain control on a 1073 design, but as a fixed pad value rather than on a variable pot. In bass terms it would be like a separate input gain and output volume control on an amp.

Ok, so input pad and output pad. Cool feature