Monday, July 20, 2009

Good Time Hour

Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada.

A Legend.


"...During his 50 years in show business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records and racked up 12 RIAA Gold albums, 4 Platinum albums and 1 Double-Platinum album. Of his 75 trips up the charts, 27 landed in the Top 10."


Trace Foster, Glen Campbell, Tom Spaulding

Back in the day...

Sunday, July 19, 2009

FresnoVegasLosAngeles Quick Notes

California and Nevada. Hotter than Hell in Fresno (aka HellsNo), surprisingly a great gig. Met a fellow Cheesehead (from Oconomowoc!) on the flight in who works for a company that deals with unexploded ordnance. We swapped hard drives and both got some new music to listen to.

Hotter than Fresno in Las Vegas. No amount of cajoling could make the buses stay cool without blowing fuses until the sun went down. Thanks to Dave Carney for his efforts in getting our bus livable. Glen Campbell opened for us tonight...a legend who still brings it. Excellent.

Los Angeles tomorrow. Staples Center, always an important gig, regardless of who I am working for.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Max Macks Macs

So, you have Garageband installed on your Mac but since you're a Pro Tools guy, you can't be bothered with a starter program like Garageband. But what about all those groovy Apple Loops that GB ships with...or the free ones you can find all over the internet? Wouldn't it be great to be able to use them in Pro Tools?

Max is a program that does just that and much more. Here's how: AIR Users Blog

Thursday, July 02, 2009

And The Beat Goes On...

Project update: Donna Beasley's next record, 'Under The Rushes" is coming along nicely. Yesterday we went to Anthony Aquilato's home studio and recorded a keeper vocal on a tune using the AT 4050 microphone. I had just purchased a 4050 for my own studio (and used it with great success) last week, so we tried it again and it fit the tune perfectly.

The day before, the amazing Kenny Vaughan (of Marty Stuart's Fabulous Superlatives) stopped by to pick up his D'Addario string order. I asked if he was free to throw a guitar part down on a song, he agreed and 45 minutes later we had a vibey guitar track that took the tune to a new place...very cool. In a room full of nice guitars - Les Pauls, Teles, ES-125s, Strats - Kenny opted for my Teisco Del Rey. Plugged into the 3 Monkeys Orangutan, he dialed up a killer guitar tone and had the part within a few passes.

On my most recent road trip, I was able to have "Pro Tools Guy" Mark Dobson rough out a mix on one of the more complicated tunes on the record. He showed me several tricks on getting a naturally ambient drum sound to be a bit drier, using gates and EQ and compression. With that session saved as a template, I can apply those settings as a strating point for any other song on the record tha needs "less room and more drum". All of the drums were cut on the same kit on the same day with the same mics.

I'm also getting a Pro Tools laptop rig together for a friend and will be out buying more RAM for it today. Stay tuned, I'll post a few snippets of what we are up to soon.