May 21, 2005

Welcome to the world-famous 'Second Bedroom' recording production facility! Let me show you around...

Pianos / Keyboards

My two keyboard instruments are a 6'1" Kawai CA-20 grand piano and a Yamaha Motif 8 synthesizer/workstation. I use the Motif workstation to produces many of the voices that I use in my music - piano, bass, drums, horns, and strings. The Motif is also a sequencer and sampler. I have yet to use the sampling part of it, but I use the sequencer to arrange the various voice parts together. Most of my piano-based compositions get their start noodling around on the Kawai. I have yet to try to mic it and record it but have it on my list of things to do.

Kawai CA-20		Yamaha Motif 8

Digital Recording

I use an Akai DPS16 for all digital recording. This is a multi-track digital recorder and forms the basis for how I record. Essentially, you can think of it as a special type of computer with a mixer attached - it has a user interface, a hard drive, and a CPU and the conventional controls that you would find on a standard mixer. Many people use computers to do the functions that are in the DPS16. I chose to do it this way as I felt that having a piece of hardware made specifically for music recording made a lot of sense for me. There are some tradeoffs to this decision (for example, GUI, inability to upgrade internal effects easily and enjoy the plethora of free plug-ins available now and in the future) but given my history with computers and crashing, I'm still happy with my decision to in this direction - it's turned out to be a very stable environment. The Akai features 16 real tracks and 250 'virtual' tracks (basically allowing me to make unlimited takes). It records in 24-bit digital and has an extensive library of 56-bit digital effects. I also 'synch' this recorder with my Motif sequencer using MIDI controls to manage the recording of multiple tracks.  I use the Yamaha MSP5's near-field powered monitors for both mixing and mastering. The M-Audio Audiophile USB is essentially an external sound card for interfacing with a computer. This allows me to send digital output from the Akai through the S/PDIF input. In this fashion I am able to transfer digital files directory from the Akai to the computer.

Akai DPS16		Yamaha MSP5		M-Audio Audiophile USB

Microphones

Currently I have seven mics for different purposes. For vocals I like to use large condensors - usually either the Studio Projects C1 or the Marshall MXL V69. The C1 is good for that modern pop vocal sound while the V69 being a tube microphone can have a nice warm sound for vintage material. For acoustic guitar I tend to use the small condensor Rode NT5 mic pair. The two mics can be used to record the guitar in stereo for a nice effect. For recording electric guitar from an amp I will most often use dynamic mics - the Sennheiser MD421 and the Shure SM57 - if I am not recording directly through amp simulators (see below). Two freebie mics that I have include the large condensors Cascade M20 and the Marshall MXL 1006. Neither of these two mics get much use although they are decent general purpose utilitity mics.

Studio Projects C1		Marshall MXL V69 (tube)		Rode NT5 (pair)		Sennheiser MD421

Shure SM57		Marshall MXL 1006		Cascade M20

PreAmps

I have three preamps - well four if you count the onboard preamp on the Akai DPS16. Preamps take a microphone signal and raise it to a level that recording equipment can handle. Preamps will generally color a microphone sound. Good preamps can take a somewhat ordinary microphone and make it really shine. The Grace 101 is a very clean high quality single-channel preamp. The FMR RNP (real nice preamp) is very well regarded for its price and offers a bit more character than the Grace. The Joe Meek MQ3 is a basic but nice preamp with a nice compressor (see below). The RNP comes in handy when recording one instrument (like the acoustic guitar or in my future, the acoustic piano) in stereo since it has two channels.

Grace 101		FMR RNP		Joe Meek MQ3

Signal Processors / Effects

The FMR RNC (real nice compressor) is one of the best audio bargains available. It is considered a top compressor for a fraction of the price of its nearest competition. This a real favorite among home studio musicians. The primary use of compression is reduce the dynamic range of recorded material. Without going into a long explanation, this basically helps certain instruments fit into a mix better sometimes. Heavy compression or limiting is used to increase the overall volume of a mix. Finally, compression can also be used as an effect to create some interesting dynamics in a part (guitarists like compression because it gives them increased sustain). Compression is absolutely essential for a professionally recorded sound. The Joe Meek is also shown here as the Meek compression is a trademark type of compression known quite well in the industry. The Meek also has a pretty nice EQ section. The TC Electronics M-One XL excels in reverb (basically echo and different-sized room simulation used throughout the recording industry) though it has a quite a few other very good effects. The Boss OC3 is a guitar/bass octave pedal which basically adds a duplicate lower octave to any tone. Can be a nice effect for a strong lead/riff line.

FMR RNC		Joe Meek MQ3		TC Electronics M-One XL		Boss OC3 Octave Pedal

Guitars and Basses

I have three guitars - a Taylor 414 steel-string acoustic, a Fender American Stratocaster electric, and an Agile Les Paul 2800. The Fender and the Agile Les Paul cover the two most important types of electric guitar - the single coil and the humbucker pickup types. The single coil provides a very defined and bright tone, even twangy while the humbuckers provide a big, warm tone and a lot of feedback (one humbucker is essentially two out-of-phase single-coils).  I bought the Taylor acoustic guitar because it had a sound that was a little bit fuller and milder than many of the other acoustic guitars I tried. It also has a very nice treble that is very distinctive of the Taylors. The SX SJB75 Bass is a Jazz Bass (though contrary to the name is not only used for Jazz but is very versatile for pop / rock as well) that I thought I would try as an alternative to the bass sounds I use on the Motif.

Fender Stratocaster		Agile LP2800		Taylor 414		SX SJB75 Bass

Amplifiers / Amp Simulators

All of my amps are small and are intended for recording. The Marshall AVT20 is a combo amp with a tube preamp and solid state amp section. It does a reasonable job of replicating the 'Marshall sound' for recording. The Silvertone 1481 was made by Sears in the 60s and is an all-tube combo amp. It sounds great playing bluesy type of material with the Fender Stratocaster. The Tech 21 Trademark 10, the Line6 POD XT, and the Sansamp Bass Driver DI are all amp simulators. That means that they attempt to model historically famous and significant amps and the way a microphone would capture the sound to tape from them. (interestingly, people use the term 'tape' even when talking about digital media!) The Trademark 10 tends to do a little nicer job with heavy modern distorted tones while the POD XT tends to a better job with cleaner tones. The SansAmp Bass Driver DI is meant for bass guitar and meant to simulate various bass amps. Guitarists spend endless amounts of time trying to get the right tone for a particular song and with the combination that I have, I can cover a lot of turf. Add to that options of direct recording, amp micing or both simultaneously, the combinations can get somewhat dizzying. Oh, and these amps go up to 11 for when 10 is just not enough... yuk yuk yuk yuk

Marshall AVT20		Silvertone 1481		Tech 21 Trademark 10

Line 6 POD XT		SansAmp Bass Driver DI

Drum Machine / Control Surface

This is a MIDI drum machine. While it has it's own drum sounds in it, the primary reason that I got it primarily to hook it up to the Yamaha Motif (above) and use the drum voices from the Motif. By doing this, I am able to trigger the Motif drum sounds by using the touch and velocity sensitive pads (control surface) using either conventional drum sticks or my hands. This gives me an additional option for controlling the way that I play drum samples in addition to the current keyboard method. The keyboard on the Motif 8 that I have is a weighted keyboard (great for piano players) but not ideal for playing fast drum licks! This should help.

Yamaha DD55

Mobile Recording / Podcasts

In February 2005, I started a podcast called This And That (w/ Jeff and Pat) with my friend Pat. For the most part we use the equipment that I have talked about previously in this studio tour. In this section I wanted to talk about some equipment that we bought specifically for podcasting when we are not in the studio (mobile recording). Important to mobile recording size, ease of use, and of course, sound quality.

For recording, we selected the iRiver 899. For the price and size, this is an amazing recorder. Of course, you can't expect studio-quality a/d converters or preamps on this thing but it still works surprisingly well. I find the mic preamps to be just a bit noisier than I would like (but then again, I've gotten used to the Grace lol) and am thinking of getting a mobile external preamp to bypass the iRivers for this reason.

We have tried a couple of different microphones. The Sony ECM-MS907 is a stereo microphone. This mic has a terrific reputation in the 'high-end amateur' market for a single point stereo application. We each bought one for interviews. I find the mic output pretty low which when combined with the noisy preamp in the iRiver produces a low-level yet noticeable hiss in the recording. Most people I've talked to don't seem to be bothered by this! The mic, however, does sounds great and I think with a mini pre-amp may just end up sounding excellent. The Sound Professionals SP-TFP-2 in-ear binaural mics are meant to be worn like headphones. These are just simply, stunning mics. I can't believe the detail that I get and the high output. Listening to a binaural recording in the headphones is like going to see a 3D movie - it's very very cool. This kind of mic is really used mostly for walking around and getting the sounds of a city or landscape. It's not the best interview mic (as you can imagine) but can do ok in a pinch. The mics are flexible enough (they don't have to be worn in the ear) so that they can be used in many applications.

iRiver 899		Sony ECM-MS907		Sound Professionals SP-TFB-2 In-Ear Binaural microphones

Software

I use software on a Windows XP computer to do post-mixing pre-mastering type of work after I have mixed a song down to two tracks. I transfer this two-track project from the Akai into my computer. Izotope Ozone is great for applying finishing effects like mult-band compression, limiting, and dithering to get a professional final product. I use Adobe Audition primarily as a gateway to Ozone.

Adobe Audition		Izotope Ozone

Music technology is addictive. Many people (both home artists as well as the pros) get a disease affectionally called GAS (gear aquiring syndrome). With the increasingly fast introduction of new products that leverage from the best technology, one finds that they are always looking for that next 'killer' sound to include in the recording arsenal. A good case in point today is the emergence and yearly improvement of tube saturation modeling and amp modeling. Rumors abound now that in the very near future, we may have some reasonable souding human-voice singing software to put together scratch demos with. Wow.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!