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To the Beach 3:550:00/3:55
Studio Shots
New Studio set-up. Center is the recording/mixing software. L/R are the IN8 monitors. Manley MCore and API TCS inputs. Fender Bass DI. LHS has 2xGuitar OD racks I can switch between. Lava Lamps and Spiral lamps are all pure grooviness. John Lennon and Yoda are messaging me... Paint drips are curtesy of young daughter Chloe... same with the painted carpets... oh man they are the best bits!!! :-)
AB selectors 1st top RHS and far LHS select the top or bottom chains. I mainly use this for Guitar Compression and Over-Drive (OD). Most importantly when I cry with despair "I just can't lift this heavy musical burden, the best I can do is feebly try" Yoda reminds me, "there is no try, you big woose, only do there is". You can stop here unless you are a pedal geek........ you were warned. 1st pedal is French, Keytone Exchanger - essentially a clever, maybe dynamic EQ that turns your guitar pickups from Jazz to Hot Tele to 50's humbucker etc... tonally very useful. TOP ROW - Funky monkey auto wah, rarely used and always followed by The reverend. Wah Wah nasty funk. The simple but excellent transparent SP compressor. Then Decibellics Golden Horse - oh what could it be???? the greatest KLON clone on the planet. So good I bought two - see Bottom chain. Sometimes you need to put a whacking big spring reverb before the amp - there is is Catalina Topanga, "let's surf dude". End of top chain is the versatile Decibelics "The Reverend" a copy of the Japanese "Emporium" distortion pedal Bill Gibbons (ZZ-Top) that he used live. A super touch sensitive/guitar volume connected pedal... from not very subtle to OTT. BOTTOM CHAIN: Exchanger can still feed this chain. 1st up the DryBell Mod4. A copy of the Orange "deal" X-used. Actually he built the compressor himself and it plugged directly into the guitar. This pedal is a gem. It can be run as a clean comp or in Orange mode (see orange light - my fave This gives squishy bass and a sustained mid. Best example if Don Henley "Boys of Summer" riff. New pedal next the Silktone Overdrive+. Another very touch sensitive/guitar sensitive pedal. Hi-input it is a very dirty mid-drive/distortion pedal,. But with a lower input it is a soulful OD pedal, quite a distinct tone. Then oh look, another Decibel's Golden Horse. I only ever use these pedals in a low drive mode - hardly on - but the tone and harmonics they generate has to be heard to be loved. It's one of those pedals you play through and start smiling and giggling like a wee kid! After that the CC Analog BDD delay. Dark sweet and somehow not replaced yet my a plugin.
Wide short display, I've just converted from Logic Pro to Cubase13 and I'm very happy with the switch. I'll say no more than that, other than the Cubase workflow and interface are excellent. I used a Focusrite Scartett+ ADC/DAC, but the prize here is the API The Channel Strip. Ironically after trying many plugins of consoles, busses and channel strips. One stood out for me - API. I'm a Brit so I expected Neve to catch my ear, maybe Focusrite, SSL, but no it's the API. Absolutely beautiful tone. I love it on my vocals and clean guitar. So clear, crisp but dynamic and harmonically complex. A thing of beauty. So hey - I get the hardware strip. This is primarily my Vocal input. My TLM67 goes into here as primary close mic. Glorious. A second room mic is the TLM103 which I plugged direct into the Scarlett+. I don't like this mic to be honest - too brittle and harsh for my ear on vocal or Acoustic Guitar. But I've found that a few feet away, pointed at the colourful carpet, it captures a bright room sound. Mix in a little and it's organic magic.
John Lennon was asked, "what do you write about" - "Love, what else is there". He's right and he's peacing-out reminding me of that :-) He's also basking in totally groovy lava lamp mojo. Below is the glorious Manley Core channel strip. Pre-Amp, Compress, EQ, Limiter. I don't use the Limiter much but the rest I use to control my acoustic recordings and sometimes Bass DI. I also go through the Fender Rumble if I want that tone. OK, not q boutique amp but I capturing the essence of the fender bass tone. Then I'll massage it in the production and mixing stages. Do you need out-board gear - do you need to spend a lot. Yes, Yes, I would say, unless you are a virtuoso player/singer then a tin-can and a bit of string will sound good. But there are very few of those to have graced this planet. If you want the end sound to be good, make the input sound good. My 2c.
