| My Gear |
As is always the case with a new project, there were big changes
in my home studio setup this year! The most significant of these
changes was the location of the "studio". As I started planning for
the project which would become "Ubuntu", Kimberly made it
VERY clear that she was not going to spend the next six months
waiting for me to come up from the basement. It was decided
that my studio would be incorporated into our living/family area.
So, I came up from the basement, and when we moved into our
new house, the studio became part of our living area, which
greatly facilitated the use of the piano/synth on this project.
The old Dell laptop finally died, and Drew inherited my old Dell
desktop, so i got a new computer, a Gateway, which is MORE
than capable of handling my recording needs.
Another new addition to the family is the Behringer V-amp Pro, a
lovely little amp simulator unit which was used for all guitar and
bass sounds. I like this unit MUCH better than the POD 2.0 that I
used on "The Spirit Tree". The amp sounds are MUCH warmer
and punchier, and being a rack unit, the interface is easier to see.
Finally, most of the acoustic guitar sounds were played on my
new Takamine EG531c, a gift from my nephew (I told him to
consider it an indefinite loan). It has a wonderfully warm sound
and is exceedingly playable.
As with "The Spirit Tree", "Ubuntu" was recorded thru my
Tascam US-224 into Cubase LE, using a slew of freeware plug
ins for synths and signal processing. Piano and Drum sounds
were initially recorded as MIDI using VST Synths, but the MIDI
signal was then taken out into the Kawai CA330 digital piano or
the Alesis SR-16 Drum machine. The audio signals from both of
these devices are superior to anything that I could find as a
virtual synth.
Lead Vocals were again recorded with my Studio Projects B1, as
were many of the back up vocals. I did however do a number of
the back up vocals with a Shure SM-58, which actually provided
a nice warm sound for the tracks.
Overall, the learning curve of the technology was much smaller
this time around. . .thus enabling what I feel is a better quality
sound. My familiarity with the equipment and software also made
things alot easier during tracking, and, especially, mixing, which
took 3 days instead of three weeks (as on Spirit Tree).
Next on my "to get" list?
Mic Preamp
Near field monitors
Tascam US-428 (a step up from the US-224)
in my home studio setup this year! The most significant of these
changes was the location of the "studio". As I started planning for
the project which would become "Ubuntu", Kimberly made it
VERY clear that she was not going to spend the next six months
waiting for me to come up from the basement. It was decided
that my studio would be incorporated into our living/family area.
So, I came up from the basement, and when we moved into our
new house, the studio became part of our living area, which
greatly facilitated the use of the piano/synth on this project.
The old Dell laptop finally died, and Drew inherited my old Dell
desktop, so i got a new computer, a Gateway, which is MORE
than capable of handling my recording needs.
Another new addition to the family is the Behringer V-amp Pro, a
lovely little amp simulator unit which was used for all guitar and
bass sounds. I like this unit MUCH better than the POD 2.0 that I
used on "The Spirit Tree". The amp sounds are MUCH warmer
and punchier, and being a rack unit, the interface is easier to see.
Finally, most of the acoustic guitar sounds were played on my
new Takamine EG531c, a gift from my nephew (I told him to
consider it an indefinite loan). It has a wonderfully warm sound
and is exceedingly playable.
As with "The Spirit Tree", "Ubuntu" was recorded thru my
Tascam US-224 into Cubase LE, using a slew of freeware plug
ins for synths and signal processing. Piano and Drum sounds
were initially recorded as MIDI using VST Synths, but the MIDI
signal was then taken out into the Kawai CA330 digital piano or
the Alesis SR-16 Drum machine. The audio signals from both of
these devices are superior to anything that I could find as a
virtual synth.
Lead Vocals were again recorded with my Studio Projects B1, as
were many of the back up vocals. I did however do a number of
the back up vocals with a Shure SM-58, which actually provided
a nice warm sound for the tracks.
Overall, the learning curve of the technology was much smaller
this time around. . .thus enabling what I feel is a better quality
sound. My familiarity with the equipment and software also made
things alot easier during tracking, and, especially, mixing, which
took 3 days instead of three weeks (as on Spirit Tree).
Next on my "to get" list?
Mic Preamp
Near field monitors
Tascam US-428 (a step up from the US-224)
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