The BLUE Ball and Some Angst

Me? I go way back with the BLUE Ball. I was still in school when it first came out in 2003. I had read reviews on it in all the shitty magazines (EM, EQ, same same) trying to figure out what I would use it for. All they had to offer was that "it sounds good on snare but you can't fit it in there so pfff." Other than that it was just the same gawking at the fact that it's a dynamic mic that needs phantom power.

So I tried it on snare and I instantly hated it. I can't tell you how many times this same exact thing had happened and it bummed me out. Try it on what the magazine says its nice on and realize these reviewers are completely deaf just like the rest of the music industry. Or they are just some drummer with a studio.

So anyway, eventually I get to trying it out on electric guitar and there you have it. pretty much the only reason I was worth anything as an engineer in school. The Ball did something I've never heard a mic do. It made the guitar sound like how it should sound without any eq or weird parlor tricks. I bought a second one as soon as I saved up another hundo (about one year later).

Now, I only bring this part up because it came up at the studio that a band I play guitar in was recording in last week. We were trying to get guitar tones the first day and I was just a little circumspect about my tone. I was in sort of a weird place seeing as I've never been recorded seriously by someone else. I mentioned that I usually used the BLUE Ball as the basis for my guitar tone and John one of the engineers said I should bring it in the next day.

The conversation went on about how I had discovered that the BLUE Ball really tackled the problem of a flat sounding guitar. Then I got into my little diatribe about how I was the first to seed this tightly kept secret of the sound world. Of course I don't think it should be kept a secret but I do contest I was the first (probably).

Back in the time when the Ball was nothing more than an oddity of transduction with a colorful name I would see a friend of mine at a couple of different bars around Chicago. This friend of mine was doing on and off tours with a pretty popular band as their soundman. Of course when two dudes with a common interest get to talkin in a bar new shit comes to light and this guy shared a lot of awesome stuff with me. They one tip I gave him was try out the ball. Low and behold next time I see him he bought two and the band is using them on tour for every show. Of course he said he liked to augment them with a 57 but I also had become accustomed to using a different mic along with the ball. But no matter what, always the Ball!

So apparently the Balls worked out for them because they got bigger and stuff I think but whatever. I kinda lost touch with my friend but I made others. Then one day I see Jack White's "other" band, The Racountuers playing on Austin City Limits one night whilst suffering from insomnia. Wouldn't you know it but there's a Blue Ball on one of Jack White's amps. I thought maybe it was a fluke but I guess that's his touring setup.

Check out 00:10 of this vid unrelated to the Austin City Limits set:


Now I'm not trying to toot my own horn saying I'm responsible for Jack White's stage mic setup but sound guys do talk and there is a good chance I was the seminal link between the mic and the amp. Of course there is also a very good chance that my friend is now the sound guy for the Raconteurs which I would be pleased as punch to hear.

So anyway, back in the studio this past week I brought in the Ball for the second day which was mostly overdubs. The ball ended up getting used on nearly every track (out of 12) but for the other guitarists amp. My sound ended up being mostly a mix between an Electro-Voice RE20 and a Royer 121 but the ball was still in there.

I discussed with the other engineer, Devin, about sound of the ball and he came about as close as anybody has to describing what the ball does. Something like "It sounds like how guitarists think guitar should sound" to which I whole heartedly agree. John's comment was "You sold me" and I don't think he was just being polite.

I think what makes the Ball so consistently good with amps (a quality that can be very elusive among mics) it that is seems to maintain a very uniform sound no matter where you place it with regard to the speaker. You definitely don't want it pointing in a bad spot but if you do it may end up being a not as bad spot. Also, it is less effected by the preamp than normal dynamics thanks to the built-in amplifier which is the reason it needs power. This means you can save your nicest channels for other stuff. Less time tweaking more time rocking.

And so ends the story of the BLUE Ball and myself, at least for now. Bottom line, If you record a lot of electric guitar through amps there is probably not a better $100 you are gonna spend. So go buy one you idiot.

For the record: I was not paid to write this. My dumb ass gives it out for free.

A lot more GW vids

So I've been plugging away making more video tutorials for the Gearwire site. I've gotten some pretty good feedback via Gearwire's comments as well as in the Sonar forum. Here's a list of the recent ones:





Simple Sampling: SFZ In Cakwewalk Sonar
Equalizing A Drum Loop With The UAD Neve 1073
AudioSnap Audio Quantization In Sonar
Keeping Effected Tracks In Sync In Sonar
Shure Green Bullet Records Some Old School Guitar
UAD Neve 1073 Equalizer On Piano
Recording Acoustic Guitar With The Neumann U87Ai
Checking Out The UAD Neve 1073 Equalizer
The BLUE Ball Records Distorted Guitar
Fender Champion 600 And Burns Of London
Shure Beta 52 V. Electro-Voice N/D868
Electro-Voice N/D868 On Kick Drum
Stereo Microphone Techniques With Shure SM81's On Piano
Cakewalk SONAR: Quick Grouping In SONAR Screencast
Cakewalk SONAR: Track Templates Tutorial
Cakewalk SONAR: Boosting A Drum Sample With Parallel Compression In Sonar
Cakewalk Sonar: How To Name Your Drivers In Cakewalk Sonar
Cakewalk SONAR: Getting Faded With SONAR's Auto X-Fades

I guess at some point I'll make an archive master list but until then I'll just link to other lists below.

Older vids

Some of my recent activities. . .

Hello all. As you might have noticed my posting came to a bit of a halt for the first part of October. Part of this can be blamed on my post production work on an independent feature film as well as my new interest in animation.



This was done using Sony Vegas Movie Studio and of course Sonar for all the sound. Some sounds are from the YMCK Magical 8-bit plug but most come from a variety of 8-bit style soundfonts available on the web for free.

My other Recent Activities

Another reason for the absence is my contribution to the site Gearwire.com. I had taken a bit of "a break" from Gearwire but now they are posting my videos once again. Here's a list of current titles that I will keep updated. Click the link to go to the video page:


Submersible Music DrumCore Overview
DrumCore Audio Looping
Using DrumCore's MIDI Capabilities
UAD Neve 88RS EQ Section
Cakewalk SONAR Menu Customization: Sonar 6 Screencast
UAD Plate 140
Using The UAD LA2A On Bass
UAD LA3A Smashes Up Some Drums
UAD LA2A: Using The UAD LA2A On Drums
UAD Neve 88RS EQ Section
Quick Tips On Simplifying Sonar's Metronome
UAD Neve88RS Compression Section In Action
Cakewalk SONAR Producer Tutorial: Match Tempo With Audio Snap
UAD Neve 88RS: The Telephone Effect Using The UAD Neve88RS
UAD Neve88RS In Action

Check 'em out if you's a geek and you's bored.

Excited for Sonar 7

So yeah, it's been a while since I've last posted anything. I've been busy on a few projects and junk. Finally there is actually some good news to write about and I got a little free time.

Sonar 7 was released last Friday and as you might know I've been a loyal Cakewalk user for over a decade. Of course the Sonar forum has been flooded with rhetoric regarding the new release. Some of it is rather creative in fact. The downside is that more time is spent ranting than helping others out. Whatever.

It does look like a nice new set of features will be there. Cakewalk even produced a few videos:

Smart MIDI Tools
Integrated Step Sequencer
CD Ripping

Each of these seem like really useful features but in my opinion the biggest (and longest overdue) upgrade is the side-chaining feature. If you are unfamiliar with the notion of side-chaining it is basically using one audio source as a controller for a device or plug-in that is effecting a different audio source. The most common application is for de-essing an overly sibilant vocal but it is also the basis for many other effects. The most radical effect I can think of which requires side chain support is vocoding.

Of course there are other new toys and if you want to learn more about them you'll want to click on these words right here.

So yeah, I'll be upgrading this puppy as soon as I got the scratch.

I've been parodied

Sent my way via myspace



compare



I don't know why people even got into these videos in the first place. I never liked the whole "out of the box" concept myself but for a while I had a boss who pretty much said I had to do it. When he was out of the picture I stopped doing that part of the video and I started getting emails and posts to forums asking me to do them again. The whole gear fetish thing was always pretty confusing to me. I always just wanted to hear the pedal.

Also, while employed there I would ask my bosses to let someone else host the videos and just let me worry about getting good sound. Now, I'm no slouch on the guitar but what I do best is write, record, and play with other musicians. Playing by yourself and not being completely repetitive is something I never got so good at doing. I was always self-conscious of my playing and admittedly it was pretty sloppy at times. However, I got paid and supported myself by doing these things fast and cheap.

And what about this guy? He tracked me down on myspace and sent me a message with a link to the video he had made. Obviously he's seen a few of the videos and read pretty clearly into the subtext, that being I hated my job. I like the fan blowing and the use of the fuck word. I just wish it somehow could have been a little funnier. He did however get the audio and video to sync up on this one. All I can say to him is keep it up and perhaps he could make something of his talent for parody someday. Also, thanks for giving me something to post.

Audio Damage Liquid

Click the picture for a full description fron the Analog Industries blog.

Although Audio Damage has put out some very interesting (and pretty) plug-ins I myself have never bought one. This one might change that based on the mp3 sample they've provided. From Analog Industries:

So what does it sound like? In a word, Liquid. Here is a short MP3 of Liquid in action. The first sound is a dry pad from my MKS80, then the same pad through Liquid, with big depth and slow rate. The second is some dumb drum break from the latest CM cover DVD, then the same drum break with Liquid on slightly faster mod settings and higher feedback.

They call it a through zero flanger. Now, if you know me you know that I loathe flange effects, especially on percussion. But this "different kind of flanger" seems like it might actually give me something I can use. Of course, I know exactly what a through zero flanger is but I don't feel like describing it myself. If you feel like learning more click the pretty picture and read it for yourself from the site genius.

Chocolate Rain v. Mega Man 2

Odds are that if you have found your way to this isolated corner of the internet you've at least heard of the song "Chocolate Rain" which has meme'ed its way across youtube like a goddamn wildfire. Well if you haven't:



I guess I can get away posting this without going too OT since it does reference an interesting way to minimize breath noise in your vocal track. Well anyway, the video's author, Tay Zonday, has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's TV show in a clip that is slightly less entertaining.

An effect of all meme is the spawning of copycats, tributes, and satirists. Not surprisingly, it is the third type of offspring that this particular vid has inspired. This one was of particular interest:



As you may know from a previous post of mine I am a bit of a video game fetishist. I also love the 8-bit music genre with all of my pixelated heart. Mega Man 2 happens to be the only game in the series that I owned and beat. So anyways, leave it to the internet.

Zoom H4 PWNS 4-track Recording

So I've had this Zoom H4 for a little while now. At first, all I used it for was to record some band practices and a couple of shows. It performed pretty alright. I would always just use the built in mics which actually don't sound all that bad. More recently I've been using to record field sounds and fx for a movie and couldn't be happier with the results. I feel kinda funny plugging my U87 into it but damned if it doesn't sound great.

So a day or two ago I had some free time and decided to try out the four track function. I ended up recording about eight projects. Mostly they were just quick recordings of ideas but it couldn't have been easier.

My GF brought me an mbira back from her trip to Hawaii so I recorded a quick track using the built in mics. It isn't anything special but I think it speaks for the overall quality of the recorder.


The best thing is that when you hook up the H4 to your computer via USB every project appears in its own folder and it is simple as pie to bring them into your DAW and mix there. The built in mixer ain't bad though. The other best thing is there is no save function. When you lay something down, it's there, and stays there even after power down. I felt a lot like I was recording to tape, which was a very good thing.

The H4 records onto flash media and I highly recommend getting a 2GB card. Although recording at mp3 bit rates will never fill this up I recommend sticking with wav files because the quality is a lot better. You will especially notice this when in 4-track mode where resolution imperfections will only multiply track upon track.

Battery life is very impressive. I haven't done any scientific measurements of how long the two AA batteries will last but under the conditions I've been using it under I have no complaints. A nice addition is that the display will prompt you when battery life gets low. You can also use the adapter, but that kind of takes away from the charm of walking around your apartment humming four part harmony with yourself.

I only have two gripes. First, there doesn't seem to be a way to add effects. They can only be applied to an incoming signal so you can't change them after recording. Also, the metronome is not perfect when I tried punch-ins. The click was at the same tempo but fell between beats. I got past this problem by either turning the metronome off or starting from the beginning of the project and waiting for the section I wanted to punch in for.

You can also use this as an audio interface apparently. I've still yet to try that. Bottom line is the Zoom H4 Handy recorder does a lot of things and does most of them very well. At $300 it is something many people can afford. For me, it will be a way to get my ideas quickly recorded. The ease of integrating these tracks with my DAW will make the path from my brain to finished product much shorter. That alone makes it worth it.

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Video Games and Beefheart

Being a nocturnal creature I get bored as shit sometimes. The girlfriend, as well as most of the regular friends, have day jobs so on weeknights when I'm not working I usually de-compress by traversing the net. Lately, the choice for passive entertainment has been watching video game videos. That's right, watching videos of other people playing video games.

As sad and pathetic as it sounds there are actually some pretty successful sites that feature just this. The Speed Demos Archive and Next Gen Walkthroughs are the main culprits for my late night time wasting. At these sites you can see people play through the first Super Mario Bros. for the NES in five minutes or watch the entire marathon length run-through of a modern title such as Gears of War for the XBox 360.

Well, tonight's online hangout ended up being Youtube and I found something strange that I couldn't help but share. It is a few incoherent clips from some game called Runescape with one of my favorite Captain Beefheart songs playing underneath.



Leave it to the internet to completely weird you out. But this weirded me out in a nice. . . special way. It make me want to put Mithril strings on my strat and make ready for a battle the the fell dragon Smog.

Anyway, I couldn't help but also post this live performance of the same song. The audio goes out of sync at the beginning but it is still an inspiring performance for me.



Although Beefheart was known for his more out there shit (which I also really enjoy) I think he did the conventional styles as good as anybody. Thanks Don.