'The Operating Room'

Here is where I spend probably too much of my time. If you are married like I am, I hope your wife (or husband or significant other) is as understanding as mine; but this isn't an advice column for that, YOU figure it out.

My studio keeps expanding as money and time allows. If you are able to be in a spot to ever buy a house, take my advice and get one with a basement - much better than a garage; safer and attracts less notice and/or complaints from the neighbors.

There are two basic ways to go: get a bunch of outboard gear like open real decks or ADAT or go computer based. You can read any number of arguments on which is better; just remember that analog is closer to life than digital. That being said, digital is getting closer every day to matching what an analog tape can do, plus its way less expensive, and getting more so all the time, that outboard gear.

Before I go any further, let me say that everything here is based on my experience and your mileage may vary. Also I am talking about specifically recording audio to a hard disk in a regular computer as opposed to tape; and there are some pieces of hardware external to the computer that you really don?t want to live without.

One last thing: the absolute best magazine for recording is Tape Op - even though it is more slanted at tape base studios, there is lots of info in there that applies to ANY recording; and they do have computer based articles too. Its a real DIY type zine, and the subscription is free. Beat that or better yet beat it over to tapeop.com.

I started on my studio about six years ago with a computer running the first version of Cubase for windows, a Digital Audio Labs Card D+, my old as hell Shure SM58 plus a sound module and a master keyboard. All this stuff has changed over time as technology has evolved and my ideas of what I wanted to do in the studio changed. Still, there are some constants that I follow.

Set up the computer in the most bulletproof way that you can. If you don't know how there are lots of excellent articles on the net; the best I have seen for windows 2000 is at Prorec.com, which is a great site for all sorts of recording info and techniques. I don't use a Mac but many musicians do and there are resources out there too if you look.

I make my living running computer networks, and I can state without hesitation that ALL COMPUTERS SUCK sometimes, but so do analog tape machines, just ask anyone who's owned one. So just keep in mind that sometimes it will get frustrating, but stick in there and do your normal maintenance and backup routines. Say it again: backup everything because at some point you WILL erase that killer thing you did last night. Use high quality cables, at the least the best type that Radio Shack sells. Much better is to buy Hosa or another pro audio brand - remember every bit of unwanted resistance in the signal path means noise in your recordings. And you will thank yourself over and over if you mark the cables and even better make a cabling diagram. You will still end up changing the cabling at times to re-route the signal for whatever reason, but even the simplest setup can get totally confusing if all the cables look exactly the same and worse yet are running under a table where you can't easily trace them.

2/2003

In the last few months I have revamped my setup a bit. What I am trying to do is to play out live, with just me and the machines. As of now, I am using a Korg Electribe EA1, ER1 and a Yamaha DX200 (which is such an expressive synth, totally dropped out of the market, so if you want DX synthesis plus LOTS of effects, find one). I write all the patterns on the machines then dump them into Sonar for more tweaking. I was hoping not to take a computer with me to play, but the sequencing is just so much better that way I decided to go for it. I still want to make things as live as possible, but with only two hands there is just so much I can do.

Other upgrades: Studio Projects C1 Large Diaphram Condenser Mic - amazing at the price, just under $200. Makes my SM58 sound horrible! I also picked up a Midiman Audiophile 24/96 card - I would recommend this to anyone who wants a solid and inexpensive card. One last good piece of gear is the Midiman USB 4x4 midi interface - trouble free and not to hard on the wallet.

9/2003

More gear and the gear frenzy:

So I guess I didn't have enough toys to play with. What was driving me crazy was not being able to figure out how to play live without a computer, but be able to use more than short little patterns. The answer I came up with is an Emu XL7 - a beast full of knobs, with an excellent sequencer that has the great ability to import and play standard midi files. In my case this means being able to compose in Sonar and dump the results back into the XL7 and controll all the other groove boxes. I'm still working all this out, but I am pretty sure I have it. Like getting your cake and eating it too.

I also bought another FX box since my beloved Quadraverb bit the dust - I will have to put that story in the ramdom thoughts page - so I went down to the local music store and tried out a TC Electronics M300. Seperate reverb and delay channels! So now I am experimenting with two vocal mics, ala Diamanda Galas, and manipulate my voice with one mic while singing straight with the other. Plus it can function as a primitve looper. More on that later.