Thunderbird Club

[GonePlaid]

Thanks
It worked out in the end, but man...that was stressful! The sax player had to fly out today, so I’m happy we got all his parts done. The trumpet and trombone player are local, so if we need more from them, it’ll be easy enough to get em back in. Gonna go cut some lead vocals today on the husband part of the duo. I think Sunday I’m gonna cut some vocals and violin on the wife. Not a ton left to do after that. One song will have some faux orchestral stuff. Adding cello and a 5 string viola to the main violin parts to thicken things up. Can do pretty much the rest of the record with one mic. My trusty old AEA R84 ribbon. Incredible microphone, especially for its price point. Its been my main mic for upright bass for like 12-13 years now, but really it works great on pretty much everything. The entire Prayer Flags record was done using only the AEA and an EV RE20. I only own maybe 5-6 mics these days. My two other main mics are an EV RE27 and an old AKG D12 (not to be confused with the newer AKG D112). The D12 was Ken Scott’s kick mic of choice, if memory serves. Works great on trombone too. I’ve read that Bowie used kick mics a lot for lead vocals to bring out all that great low end he had in his voice.
Been jonesing for a couple new mics lately...another AEA R84 for stereo stuff and some sort of U67 variant would be nice.

Next time you work with a trombonist, ask them how they got started on the "slide operated tone approximator". Good for a chuckle-or a scowl.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Heck of a day yesterday. Done recording at the studio we were working at but not done with basic tracking, so I suggested we record horn overdubs at the artists house. Grabbed my laptop, a few mics and stands, cables, etc. I’d been wanting to purchase a portable recording interface with 4 inputs, but hadn’t yet decided on one, so I took my old Steinberg MR816x out of the home rack. Got to the session an hour early, set up and could not get the interface to work with the laptop (I’d never tried before). Ran out and got new cables and nothing worked...meanwhile 3 horn players had arrived. In my panic, I ran to a local music store to grab a Focusrite Clarett 4pre for about $600. Great reviews and seemed ‘worth it’ so we could get to work. Local shop didn’t have a thunderbolt version, so they made me a deal on the 8 channel version. Now I’m out over $800 and the horn players are still sitting around. When I got back to the studio, I couldn’t get the drivers to recognize the hardware interface on the laptop! Even had a Mac genius tech dude helping me. Nothing worked! Ultimately ran home, grabbed my IMac (which I shoulda done in the first place!), hooked it up to the new Focusrite interface and it still didn’t work, so I connected the 10 year old Steinberg and everything was fine and we finished up horns. Stressful day! Got home late last night and searched online to see what was up with the new interface. Read some reports that suggested you have to attempt multiple downloads of the driver/console software to get it to ‘click’ with the hardware. Sure enough, after a couple attempts it worked fine on the laptop. Still can’t find all the ‘bundled software’ that supposedly comes with it. All this left a bad tasted in my mouth, so I’m considering just returning the darn thing today. Was kinda stoked to have a portable rig though :/

Oh man, major stress. Kudos on getting it done...I would return it and complain to the manufacturer/s. Downloads and licensing should not be that convoluted...

 

[Inky13]

Heck of a day yesterday. Done recording at the studio we were working at but not done with basic tracking, so I suggested we record horn overdubs at the artists house. Grabbed my laptop, a few mics and stands, cables, etc. I’d been wanting to purchase a portable recording interface with 4 inputs, but hadn’t yet decided on one, so I took my old Steinberg MR816x out of the home rack. Got to the session an hour early, set up and could not get the interface to work with the laptop (I’d never tried before). Ran out and got new cables and nothing worked...meanwhile 3 horn players had arrived. In my panic, I ran to a local music store to grab a Focusrite Clarett 4pre for about $600. Great reviews and seemed ‘worth it’ so we could get to work. Local shop didn’t have a thunderbolt version, so they made me a deal on the 8 channel version. Now I’m out over $800 and the horn players are still sitting around. When I got back to the studio, I couldn’t get the drivers to recognize the hardware interface on the laptop! Even had a Mac genius tech dude helping me. Nothing worked! Ultimately ran home, grabbed my IMac (which I shoulda done in the first place!), hooked it up to the new Focusrite interface and it still didn’t work, so I connected the 10 year old Steinberg and everything was fine and we finished up horns. Stressful day! Got home late last night and searched online to see what was up with the new interface. Read some reports that suggested you have to attempt multiple downloads of the driver/console software to get it to ‘click’ with the hardware. Sure enough, after a couple attempts it worked fine on the laptop. Still can’t find all the ‘bundled software’ that supposedly comes with it. All this left a bad tasted in my mouth, so I’m considering just returning the darn thing today. Was kinda stoked to have a portable rig though :/

I always liked workstations for that sort of thing. The all in one approach works for morons like me.

 

[dukeorock]

My dad was an engineer. One of his 'favorite' sayings was "Nothing ever works". After which, he'd figure it out.

‘Nothing works.’ He’d probably seen me engineer a record, then

Next time you work with a trombonist, ask them how they got started on the "slide operated tone approximator". Good for a chuckle-or a scowl.

Upright bass can be enough of an intonation nightmare. Don’t know how or why trombone and French horn players put themselves through it!

I always liked workstations for that sort of thing. The all in one approach works for morons like me.

I get that. The problem with most ‘all in one’ type hardware boxes is while they can do basically everything, they don’t do any one thing all that great. Plus the menu diving :/

 

[fasterpussycat]

Heck of a day yesterday. Done recording at the studio we were working at but not done with basic tracking, so I suggested we record horn overdubs at the artists house. Grabbed my laptop, a few mics and stands, cables, etc. I’d been wanting to purchase a portable recording interface with 4 inputs, but hadn’t yet decided on one, so I took my old Steinberg MR816x out of the home rack. Got to the session an hour early, set up and could not get the interface to work with the laptop (I’d never tried before). Ran out and got new cables and nothing worked...meanwhile 3 horn players had arrived. In my panic, I ran to a local music store to grab a Focusrite Clarett 4pre for about $600. Great reviews and seemed ‘worth it’ so we could get to work. Local shop didn’t have a thunderbolt version, so they made me a deal on the 8 channel version. Now I’m out over $800 and the horn players are still sitting around. When I got back to the studio, I couldn’t get the drivers to recognize the hardware interface on the laptop! Even had a Mac genius tech dude helping me. Nothing worked! Ultimately ran home, grabbed my IMac (which I shoulda done in the first place!), hooked it up to the new Focusrite interface and it still didn’t work, so I connected the 10 year old Steinberg and everything was fine and we finished up horns. Stressful day! Got home late last night and searched online to see what was up with the new interface. Read some reports that suggested you have to attempt multiple downloads of the driver/console software to get it to ‘click’ with the hardware. Sure enough, after a couple attempts it worked fine on the laptop. Still can’t find all the ‘bundled software’ that supposedly comes with it. All this left a bad tasted in my mouth, so I’m considering just returning the darn thing today. Was kinda stoked to have a portable rig though :/

The moral of that story is always check your gear before taking it out of the house.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Heck of a day yesterday.... All this left a bad tasted in my mouth, so I’m considering just returning the darn thing today. Was kinda stoked to have a portable rig though :/

Sorry to hear that. It appalls me and kind of boggles my mind how much stuff is put out there with crappy software, interfaces, whatever..

 

[fasterpussycat]

Thanks
It worked out in the end, but man...that was stressful! The sax player had to fly out today, so I’m happy we got all his parts done. The trumpet and trombone player are local, so if we need more from them, it’ll be easy enough to get em back in. Gonna go cut some lead vocals today on the husband part of the duo. I think Sunday I’m gonna cut some vocals and violin on the wife. Not a ton left to do after that. One song will have some faux orchestral stuff. Adding cello and a 5 string viola to the main violin parts to thicken things up. Can do pretty much the rest of the record with one mic. My trusty old AEA R84 ribbon. Incredible microphone, especially for its price point. Its been my main mic for upright bass for like 12-13 years now, but really it works great on pretty much everything. The entire Prayer Flags record was done using only the AEA and an EV RE20. I only own maybe 5-6 mics these days. My two other main mics are an EV RE27 and an old AKG D12 (not to be confused with the newer AKG D112). The D12 was Ken Scott’s kick mic of choice, if memory serves. Works great on trombone too. I’ve read that Bowie used kick mics a lot for lead vocals to bring out all that great low end he had in his voice.
Been jonesing for a couple new mics lately...another AEA R84 for stereo stuff and some sort of U67 variant would be nice.

D12Es are expensive now.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Next time you work with a trombonist, ask them how they got started on the "slide operated tone approximator". Good for a chuckle-or a scowl.

Dangerous question for an upright player.
"Same way you did with your giant string thingie."

 

[dukeorock]

The moral of that story is always check your gear before taking it out of the house.

Thanks, mom
Working 16 hours days back to back made me a tad sloppy in that regard. Only had time for a couple hours sleep due to prepping everything else :/

Sorry to hear that. It appalls me and kind of boggles my mind how much stuff is put out there with crappy software, interfaces, whatever..

I gotta say, I’m more shocked at how seemless most of this stuff is nowadays. I just got caught out in a crunch situation

D12Es are expensive now.

I got mine a long time ago for about $125. Felt pretty lucky as it’s an awesome microphone

 

[GBassNorth]

Heck of a day yesterday. Done recording at the studio we were working at but not done with basic tracking, so I suggested we record horn overdubs at the artists house. Grabbed my laptop, a few mics and stands, cables, etc. I’d been wanting to purchase a portable recording interface with 4 inputs, but hadn’t yet decided on one, so I took my old Steinberg MR816x out of the home rack. Got to the session an hour early, set up and could not get the interface to work with the laptop (I’d never tried before). Ran out and got new cables and nothing worked...meanwhile 3 horn players had arrived. In my panic, I ran to a local music store to grab a Focusrite Clarett 4pre for about $600. Great reviews and seemed ‘worth it’ so we could get to work. Local shop didn’t have a thunderbolt version, so they made me a deal on the 8 channel version. Now I’m out over $800 and the horn players are still sitting around. When I got back to the studio, I couldn’t get the drivers to recognize the hardware interface on the laptop! Even had a Mac genius tech dude helping me. Nothing worked! Ultimately ran home, grabbed my IMac (which I shoulda done in the first place!), hooked it up to the new Focusrite interface and it still didn’t work, so I connected the 10 year old Steinberg and everything was fine and we finished up horns. Stressful day! Got home late last night and searched online to see what was up with the new interface. Read some reports that suggested you have to attempt multiple downloads of the driver/console software to get it to ‘click’ with the hardware. Sure enough, after a couple attempts it worked fine on the laptop. Still can’t find all the ‘bundled software’ that supposedly comes with it. All this left a bad tasted in my mouth, so I’m considering just returning the darn thing today. Was kinda stoked to have a portable rig though :/

I have absolutely zero tolerance for brain dead interfaces between hardware and software. They're called IT "Solutions" for a reason, they're supposed to work and ideally even have an intuitive interface for the user.

If it ain't plug and play, I don't pay! Just a pet peeve of mine.

In my book, "plug and play around" went out with DOS. Both Windows and Mac claim to be the best platform, and the hardware and interfaces they use claim to be a seamless fit for those platforms. If the solution is to download the drivers multiple times until everything works I'd say it ain't ready for prime time yet. Take the stuff you bought back to the store and get a refund. If it's that buggy out of the box just imagine what you'll have to deal with a year or two down the road after you've continually updated your operating system or installed the latest windows or Mac software patches.

Can't tell you how many times I've been in meetings at a board of directors level in large international corporations where we had to sit and wait (at tens of thousands of dollars a minute) while a presenter struggled with hardware and software issues. Not fun for anyone, especially the presenter. Tanked more than one good idea I'm sure.

 

[fasterpussycat]

The twists and turns of life are truly strange. How does a person end up having discussions with guitarists about reverb at 06.30 when the sun hasn't yet come up?

 

[Gaolee]

Heck of a day yesterday. Done recording at the studio we were working at but not done with basic tracking, so I suggested we record horn overdubs at the artists house. Grabbed my laptop, a few mics and stands, cables, etc. I’d been wanting to purchase a portable recording interface with 4 inputs, but hadn’t yet decided on one, so I took my old Steinberg MR816x out of the home rack. Got to the session an hour early, set up and could not get the interface to work with the laptop (I’d never tried before). Ran out and got new cables and nothing worked...meanwhile 3 horn players had arrived. In my panic, I ran to a local music store to grab a Focusrite Clarett 4pre for about $600. Great reviews and seemed ‘worth it’ so we could get to work. Local shop didn’t have a thunderbolt version, so they made me a deal on the 8 channel version. Now I’m out over $800 and the horn players are still sitting around. When I got back to the studio, I couldn’t get the drivers to recognize the hardware interface on the laptop! Even had a Mac genius tech dude helping me. Nothing worked! Ultimately ran home, grabbed my IMac (which I shoulda done in the first place!), hooked it up to the new Focusrite interface and it still didn’t work, so I connected the 10 year old Steinberg and everything was fine and we finished up horns. Stressful day! Got home late last night and searched online to see what was up with the new interface. Read some reports that suggested you have to attempt multiple downloads of the driver/console software to get it to ‘click’ with the hardware. Sure enough, after a couple attempts it worked fine on the laptop. Still can’t find all the ‘bundled software’ that supposedly comes with it. All this left a bad tasted in my mouth, so I’m considering just returning the darn thing today. Was kinda stoked to have a portable rig though :/

All is well that ends well if the recording came out. What a PITA though.

 

[Gaolee]

Thanks
It worked out in the end, but man...that was stressful! The sax player had to fly out today, so I’m happy we got all his parts done. The trumpet and trombone player are local, so if we need more from them, it’ll be easy enough to get em back in. Gonna go cut some lead vocals today on the husband part of the duo. I think Sunday I’m gonna cut some vocals and violin on the wife. Not a ton left to do after that. One song will have some faux orchestral stuff. Adding cello and a 5 string viola to the main violin parts to thicken things up. Can do pretty much the rest of the record with one mic. My trusty old AEA R84 ribbon. Incredible microphone, especially for its price point. Its been my main mic for upright bass for like 12-13 years now, but really it works great on pretty much everything. The entire Prayer Flags record was done using only the AEA and an EV RE20. I only own maybe 5-6 mics these days. My two other main mics are an EV RE27 and an old AKG D12 (not to be confused with the newer AKG D112). The D12 was Ken Scott’s kick mic of choice, if memory serves. Works great on trombone too. I’ve read that Bowie used kick mics a lot for lead vocals to bring out all that great low end he had in his voice.
Been jonesing for a couple new mics lately...another AEA R84 for stereo stuff and some sort of U67 variant would be nice.

I love ribbon mics. But you already knew that.

 

[Gaolee]

Dangerous question for an upright player.
"Same way you did with your giant string thingie."

Definition of a bass player: out of tune.

 

[Gaolee]

I have absolutely zero tolerance for brain dead interfaces between hardware and software. They're called IT "Solutions" for a reason, they're supposed to work and ideally even have an intuitive interface for the user.

If it ain't plug and play, I don't pay! Just st a pet peeve of mine.

In my book, "plug and play around" went out with DOS. Both Windows and Mac claim to be the best platform, and the hardware and interfaces they use claim to be a seamless fit for those platforms. If the solution is to download the drivers multiple times until everything works I'd say it ain't ready for prime time yet. Take the stuff you bought back to the store and get a refund. If it's that buggy out of the box just imagine what you'll have to deal with a year or two down the road after you've continually updated your operating system or installed the latest windows or Mac software patches.

Can't tell you how many times I've been in meetings at a board of directors level in large international corporations where we had to sit and wait (at tens of thousands of dollars a minute) while a presenter struggled with hardware and software issues. Not fun for anyone, especially the presenter. Tanked more than one good idea I'm sure.

I have had similar discussions and made similar comments about software - when your computer never crashes or has a glitch, then you can trust a computer to be reliable in XXX situation. I'm a pretty thoroughly analog kind of person, given the chance.

Now, excuse me. There are some clouds I need to shout at.

 

[Gaolee]

The twists and turns of life are truly strange. How does a person end up having discussions with guitarists about reverb at 06.30 when the sun hasn't yet come up?

Because the sun would have been up if you had waited, and then the guitarist would have turned back into a pumpkin.

 

[Klondike]

Princess? I dunno. We probably need one of those.

In case no one else went there:

A-HEM! We have the Queen!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

The twists and turns of life are truly strange. How does a person end up having discussions with guitarists about reverb at 06.30 when the sun hasn't yet come up?

By being up all night, I trust.

 

[PillO]

Heck of a day yesterday. Done recording at the studio we were working at but not done with basic tracking, so I suggested we record horn overdubs at the artists house. Grabbed my laptop, a few mics and stands, cables, etc. I’d been wanting to purchase a portable recording interface with 4 inputs, but hadn’t yet decided on one, so I took my old Steinberg MR816x out of the home rack. Got to the session an hour early, set up and could not get the interface to work with the laptop (I’d never tried before). Ran out and got new cables and nothing worked...meanwhile 3 horn players had arrived. In my panic, I ran to a local music store to grab a Focusrite Clarett 4pre for about $600. Great reviews and seemed ‘worth it’ so we could get to work. Local shop didn’t have a thunderbolt version, so they made me a deal on the 8 channel version. Now I’m out over $800 and the horn players are still sitting around. When I got back to the studio, I couldn’t get the drivers to recognize the hardware interface on the laptop! Even had a Mac genius tech dude helping me. Nothing worked! Ultimately ran home, grabbed my IMac (which I shoulda done in the first place!), hooked it up to the new Focusrite interface and it still didn’t work, so I connected the 10 year old Steinberg and everything was fine and we finished up horns. Stressful day! Got home late last night and searched online to see what was up with the new interface. Read some reports that suggested you have to attempt multiple downloads of the driver/console software to get it to ‘click’ with the hardware. Sure enough, after a couple attempts it worked fine on the laptop. Still can’t find all the ‘bundled software’ that supposedly comes with it. All this left a bad tasted in my mouth, so I’m considering just returning the darn thing today. Was kinda stoked to have a portable rig though :/

I feel for you. I hate it when these computer gizmos don't work as advertised and you have to do backflips to get the thing operating.

 

[Gaolee]

In case no one else went there:

A-HEM! We have the Queen!

Absolutely. We have a Queen. We have a Diva. We have a Scary Auntie. Alas. No princess.