Pro Sound Blog

Looked over at my guitar player’s guitar at last night’s gig. His pickup is caving in. After looking at this pic I also realized his tone switch is broken off…

mediaguru Gigs

Phone rings

Me: Hello?

Gene (speech slurred from being about 90 years old and drunk): Ever heard of demencia?

Me: I don’t remember.

mediaguru Musicians, Random

Today I hit the road and drive about 4 hours south to a tiny little town to play a gig. There’s a 400 member English biker convention there and they’ve hired my rock & roll band to play there. The area is one of the most beautiful in the state with a national park right next door.

I rate small towns based on how many stop lights they have. This town is so small I don’t think it even has one. With 400 bikers and a rock & roll band in a town which may not even have one stoplight, it should be interesting.

A report and pics will follow.

mediaguru Gigs

Remember that new engineering gig I landed? Well there are two studios. He’s the first pic I have of the “other” studio. During this session we were recording a small orchestra (percussion and woodwinds in the back sound rooms). The music was for a movie which will be coming out in a while.

mediaguru Recording

Bono, the lead singer of the band U2 is famous throughout the entertainment industry for being more than just a little self-righteous, but a kind and caring person.

He is playing a U2 concert in Glasgow, Scotland when he asks the audience for total quiet. Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds.

Holding the audience in total silence, he says into the microphone, ‘Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.’

A voice with a broad Scottish accent, from near the front of the crowd, pierces the silence………….

‘Well, f’n stop doin’ it then.’

mediaguru Musicians, Random

My first session at the big studio went pretty well. It was a baptism by fire. It was a relatively easy project though, mic up the grand piano and record about 10 tracks of piano.

The toughest part for me was trying to navigate around Pro Tools. I haven’t used that system for a long time and the keyboard shortcuts I don’t remember. I’ve gotten used to the way Nuendo/Cubase/Logic and a zillion other DAW’s work, you know sensibly. Pro Tools may be the industry standard but there are some really lame ways things have to be done. I may end up with a whole new category here: “Pro Tools sucks because.”

Anyway I finished up with the guy and only needed help from the owner with a couple of issues or I would have been fine on my own.

I sit in on a few sessions for training next week. There are some orchestra setups which will be good for me to learn. Also I hope to get more time on the board so I can continue my crash course in Pro Drools.

mediaguru Recording

The new digs.

mediaguru Recording

A record company forced YouTube to remove about 100 videos of the web’s most popular guitar teacher. They said that the teacher was violating copyright laws. How? He was teaching people how to play a Rolling Stones song.

WTF?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11778602

Next thing you know the RIAA will be shutting down all the music instruction places in the country for violation of copyright when they teach drummers how to play Neil Peart or guitar players how to play Van Halen.

I’ve got an idea for the music companies. Stop producing crap albums with one hit wonders. Stop price fixing and charging us 17 bucks for a CD that cost you .40 to make. Don’t get me started. They have themselves to blame, not the internet. People download music because they don’t want to buy nine shitty songs just to get one good one…

mediaguru Rants

I pretty big studio around here has contacted me. They may be the 2nd or 3rd biggest studio around here. It seems the studio’s “manager” was in a band I recorded a few times and likes my engineering skills. They want to hire me. Since I shut my studio down in 2003 I’ve done a few recording gigs here and there but nothing much.

Why this sounds good

The good thing about working for a bigger studio would be that I’d be an “engineer” and not the all-encompassing “owner.” I’d be able to just work the board and not worry about bookings, billing, cleaning the toilets, clients who bounce checks etc.

Why it may be a trying gig

This is a pretty “conservative” place. I’d have to bite my tongue. Much of the material I’d be working with would not be my cup of tea. But then again I wouldn’t have to be gagging down on gangsta rappers saying “motha fucka” so that’s not all that bad.

The place is also a bit of a drive.

But, it’s a gig and I could use one right now.

mediaguru Recording