A while back I came across this this wonderful artist named Ali Spagnola thanks to madbard. She's doing this incredibly cool free paintings series. You make a request. She paints it, and sends it to you free of charge shipping included. Very cool and very cute stuff. The waiting list is of course very long, but hey... FREE! :)

I noticed she took commissions as well. So I jumped ahead of the line and got her to do three paintings for the Headphone Treats studio. One 2' x 2' of the logo and two 1' x 1' of two of my most favorite classic microphones, a RCA 44-BX and RCA 77-DX. I finally got around to cleaning up the studio and taking some photos. The style and colors are PERFECT.

( photos!! )

So, Sunday we had the big TEFP recording session for the and vice versa record. All things considered, it went well. I unfortunately ran into some computer issues that bogged me down for the first two hours and then cut us short toward the end. But, while everything was working, it was working AWESOME.

This was really the first full-band recording session I've done in the studio. And the absolute first recording session of any kind in the room was just the day before, on Saturday, with an acoustic/vocal thing. So, the studio was really tossed into the fire this weekend. And, to my great relief, it shined. I think I've been nervous about that for months now.

Drums... they... they just sound insane in the room. I'm trying to find a comparison... almost like the Boston QDvision room (Pixies/Surfa Rosa) but a little bit brighter in tone. It's also very similar to the old studio I used to work at (where some Pylon and Swimming Pool Qs records were recorded, not to mention TEFP's Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and several of our earlier bands and projects). It always had the most wonderful ambient tone and has become a holy grail or sorts for me since the old building was demolished. There's no room in Atlanta that I've found that sounds close. Until now. :) What's crazy, is my room is about 1/2 to 1/3rd the size of each of those other rooms. Boy did I luck up with my design. Anyway, as soon as 12ftguru and I heard playback, we got wide grins. It was like coming home to the old sound that so many of our early projects were bred in. I'll have to upload some clips this week.

The Toft ATB board sounds great. We were going direct to digital because I haven't had time to wire up and align my analog decks, so I was a little worried about it sounding too clinical. Well, I'm not quite ready to say "screw tape", but the Toft went a LONG way toward providing a true analog warmth. It'd still be nice to plow into some tape on kick, snare and bass guitar, but otherwise, I think I'll be going direct digital from now on.

( the specifics... )

I had one of my near-field studio speakers in the studio die on me yesterday (Behringer Truth B2031A series). I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. They are surprisingly great sounding monitors (quite honestly kill the Genelec 1032A and Event 20/20, speakers that cost several times more). But the build quality is cheap (hence the price). And when they go, the repair cost is more than buying new ones (assuming they are out of warranty, which mine are). I guess I won't be recommending them anymore.

I can't really get much done with one speaker (well, I CAN work in mono, but most kids these days aren't purists). So, I had to plunk down dough I don't have for a pair of near-fields. I decided on a major upgrade to the ADAM ANF10:



They are the more affordable passive models that ADAM makes (meaning they need an amp to power them). If you hit them with a really good, high-power amp though, they can sound better than the pricer models. I've heard them before matched with the same amp I also just picked up (a Yamaha P2700) and they sound amazing. They have ribbon tweeters (which is pretty much what makes them sound so good), so they'll be a great match to my Magnepans I'm planning to get later this year (which are quasi-ribbon planars). The ADAMs, like all near-fields, need some support in the low frequencies, so I'll still be using my TRUTH sub with them for now. Eventually I may upgrade that to a REL Studio III that I can rig to use with the Magnepans as well.

So, that's cool. Better sound is always a good thing.

Thanks to inspiration from femmefrets and svpaul, I decided to build some moveable gobos for the studio. The room is big, so it gets a little too reverby for voice-over sessions. The idea was to make some fold-up screens that I could store in the garage when I wasn't using them and I could pull them out when I was recording interviews or spoken stuff (I'll be producing several high-end podcasts for clients soon). But these ended up being so cool, that I actually just left them in the room using them as absorption pillars behind my monitors. They really tighten up the room from the control position without dampening the overall ambience of the room. Plus, they give the control area more visual separation. I also ended up using some of the diffusers I had left over from the last studio. I mounted them on 2'x4' boards and attached them to the front wall with hinges suspended by chains so they can be pivoted down.

( photos and such after the clickity-click )

I'm experimenting with my sleep this week. I just have so much to get done that I need to squeeze as much time out of each day as possible. Plus, I've always been a little irritated by how much time sleep takes out of my day. So, I'm sleeping only 4 hours at night and taking one or two 30 minute "power-naps" during the day. I'm actually using this slightly cheesy thing called Pzizz for the naps, where you listen to this auto-generated sleep programming. I was skeptical, but you know what? It f'n rocks. It gets you into a fairly deep sleep quickly and wakes you up gently over time based on normal sleep cycles. The naps are kinda addictive actually. I'm splitting my time between finishing up the studio construction and doing work for the new web business, and I get pretty worn down after the construction work. But after a short nap I feel 100% again for the next 6 or so hours. It's also supposed to be great for insomnia, so those of you with sleep issues might check it out. They have a full night sleep program as well.

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I'm getting slightly obsessed with Björk lately, seemingly out of nowhere. I mean, I never disliked her, but I never really pursued her music either. "It's Oh So Quiet" has probably been my all-time favorite video for years though, and I just got the hankering to see it again and show it to Val. Then I bought the Post reissue on DualDisc which has all the videos and surround mixes in high resolution. I've listened to nothing else for the last two days. She's badass. "Isobel" and "Possibly Maybe" kick my ass right now. Val commented that her voice actually sounds a lot like Audrey Hepburn at times, which is true and all the more awesome. I have the rest of her albums on order now. I proclaim this the SUMMER OF Björk!

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The studio construction is finally winding down. I hope to be done by next week and get it inspected and all. There will still be little projects I have to finish up after that, but at least I can get moved in and start using it. That's another reason for the new sleep schedule, because once I'm in there I plan on rocking my ass off daily. I've been jonseing to get The Ether Family Presents... back in action and also start wrapping up some Aloha State stuff. Not to mention getting back on the music for film stuff. The studio really looks "tits" though (as the kiddies like to say). Very modern pop-art and expansive. It's going to be an awesome work environment.

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Now I just need to get back on an exercise program. I'm thinking about buying a 14 to 20 speed road bike since I can't really run anymore due to the knees. I can't spend a ton though. Maybe $500 max. Any suggestions?

Question for femmefrets and any other of you other musician/composer/songwriter computer jockeys out there:

I'm looking into software sampler/synth/library combinations and wondered what the general consensus was with regard to the IK Multimedia stuff like SampleTank, SonikSynth, etc.

I've been using an old version of Kontakt for a while with my various collection of old AKAI discs, but it's really not cutting it for me these days. I have a few of the Miroslav String sample discs that I love in that format, so the The Miroslav Philharmonik package that works with SampleTank is REAL tempting. Especially the brass and woodwinds (since I have none). Plus, the synth versions of the Rhodes, Whirlies, etc. are far better than the samples I have.

Any negatives with IK stuff that I might be missing? Any suggestions of alternatives that will give me as much of a quality library?

Man, I'm tired on so many level I just can not even describe it. I got exactly 2 hours and 15 minutes of sleep last night. If not for that last 15, I would probably pass out right now. I've also been busting my @ss physically for the last week. Val took off last week from work, so I took a honey-do holiday from my regular work to do stuff around the house. I put up siding on our porch and the studio wall which I'd never gotten around to. I demolished the old interior walls of the porch to get it ready to finish up. I hauled truckloads of mulch for the garden... and about a million other little tasks that needed doing. I nearly knocked out everything on a very long list. I feel good about it, but man... I need a vacation from vacation. And now I have client work and label tasks piling up on me. No rest for the wicked.

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I am currently rockin' this:



and hopefully later today will be rockin' to this as well:



The new PowerBook (1.5MHz/1.25GB/60GB/Superdrive/12" for you other geeks) was a sorely needed upgrade. Val and I have fighting over my old 15" 400MHz Titanium Powerbook for a couple of years now, and the thing had just gotten too slow for some of the stuff I'm doing. I love this little 12" though. It's easier to tote around and takes up less space. Plus, now Val gets a laptop of her own by inheriting my old one. Marital strife is now a thing of the past! :)

I caved in on the iPod. I don't really NEED it, but damn... $300 for a 30GB with video is pretty hard to resist. Now I get to go though all the songs on my music server and figure out with 30GB of 120GB I want to stick on the thing! :) I've always wanted to have a playlist with my favorite 2 or 3 songs from every album I own, and now I think that's what I'll do. The soundtrack of my life kind of thing. Kick @ss.

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I've come to realize that I'm no longer very intrigued with professional audio types. Or, well, not that I ever was "intrigued", but I've lost total patience for them. I'm so tired of people going on about this piece of gear or that. Shut up and record f*cking music, you know? And this coming from a reformed gear-head. I still have a healthy obsession with microphones, which will likely never subside. They are just so... sexy. Give me a few good microphones and a good performer with a good song and I'll be able to capture some great recordings. Everything else is of minor importance. I no longer dream of expensive vintage Neve consoles and the best tube preamps with the mindset that it will help me make better sounding records. I'm growing out of that I guess. Or, actually, I guess I've started transferring my lust to gear that helps you to better "listen" to music... the audiophile market. Funny, how not two years ago that crowd bore the brunt of my chiding and now I've joined their side (there's always been this strange animosity between "audiophiles" and "audio professionals" for some reason). But my new love is stuff like this (which will be my new main monitors for the new mastering room in Athens).

Mainly, I'm just sick of the prevailing attitudes of other engineers and producers. Everyone is so smug and jaded at this point. I can't even make it through an article in TapeOp without getting disgusted these days... as cool as that magazine is. There are precious few Tom Dowds left in this world. I'd rather associate only with people who are excited by music.

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The Ethers worked out two of my four new songs last night. I'm really happy with where they are going. One of them is sorta a Led Zeppelin meets the O'Jays, which though it may sound like an odd combo, just works. The other is sorta Al Jolson meets Bikeride. We record them next weekend.

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Looks like The Aloha State is finally coming to fruition. I have joined forces with Chris White. Not of Zombies fame, but the local avant-garde experimental artist who works under the guise of Magicicada. We've wanted to work together for a while, and bringing him in on this just sorta occurred to me. He's game, and so we are off! Expect something (an EP at least) by March. Possibly even a surround sound DVD-Audio release.