Prepping The Grill. Issue #1

Does a baker bake without sugar? Does a Grill-master grill without woodchips? The answer is no. That's what the past week has been about; getting my studio all ready to go, and gathering the tools needed to make it happen. First, I thought I would pick up the much anticipated OPTIMUS PRIME POTATO HEAD to make my studio decor complete.

Inspiration? Check.

As with anything regarding computer technology, if you try to keep up with the latest and greatest you will go broke...fast. After examining my setup, I felt pretty good about what I had, but what I did need was better studio monitors, and having researched them for a while now, had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to go with. Off to Guitar Center I went...


If you've never been in a Pro recording studio, you should know that the speaker monitors you're hearing your songs out of are VERY NICE, and can make your songs sound amazingly bright and crystal clear. What's interesting about this is YOU are the only one who is going to hear them this way, while everyone else (including YOU later) will hear them on their stock car stereo and iPod's. So, this means many quick mixes of your songs and runs to the car to see how your songs sound in "real world" environments. Basically, having amazing speakers doesn't equate amazing sounding recordings when you mix your songs to them. There's lots of trail and error involved regardless. Make sense?

Though I love new toys (both musical and action figures), I'm not a fan of music stores. Maybe it's that I'm not a crazy gear guy, but I always feel like everyone is trying to be your best friend. When it's genuine it's great, but most of the time it's not.

That said, when I talk to people there I (and many of my friends as well) experience what we call "Catalog Speak". That is, as how it sounds, a listing of terms and or answers to questions I ask with answers straight out of the catalog.
Talking with the sales associate, terms like "punch" and "tight specs" were used to describe the monitors. "But what about the response?", I asked.
"Oh", said the clerk, "Lots of response."
Right out of the catalog.
Though these are real terms, a lot of times these are the musician code words that are thrown out in describing something when you don't have much to say. Fellow musicians, sorry but most of the time you know it's true.

I left the store with no monitors, content to mix in headphones for now, and a better appreciation for my JBL Alien Speakers. Besides, you can't find monitors shaped like alien heads. I learned a lot in my research, but that purchase is for another day...

In other news, summer (though not officially) is here and that means lots of BBQ's and summer martinis with friends. Last summer I went martini (selection) crazy and had 10 different flavors to choose from. Dinner party books will say that many choices may overwhelm your guests, but I say it may overwhelm them in AWESOMENESS.
What I'm getting at it is that a few weeks ago a friend in a sermon he was giving described that when you have a meal with someone, you can get to know them a lot better and form a better friendship by doing so. This made me think due to the fact many of my best memories lately revolve around sharing a meal with older and recently made new friends. Realizing this inspires me to do it more often, and hopefully if you've been wanting to do so, will as well.

Well, thanks for reading and I better get back to the songs here before engineer Logan is done for the day. He's great in that unlike many studio engineers, he listens, cleans himself, and let's me figure out what to do when I'm stuck by listening and believing I can come up with my own answers. That's a good friend to have.

See you soon!