Tone. At Home.
All of the recurring features – #CoffeeAndKlon, First Impressions, #LongTermReview, New Arrivals – all in one place.
It was all going so well over the New Year break. Writing up my Annual Review posts had spurred me into action, and I was starting to make progress on mic’ing up my acoustic guitar to do some recording.
The following day, I tried to re-create the mic setups, only to discover that my Neumann TLM-49 had died …
Continue reading “Studio Diary #24: Mic Down! Mic Down”I went into 2020 full of hope, looking to build on a great first year with the band. This time around, I’m going into 2021 knowing for sure that everything is uncertain.
The challenge this year is simple: how much can I do despite the uncertainty? How well can I learn to live amidst all the uncertainty?
We’ll find out when we look back at this in a year’s time.
Continue reading “New Year Resolutions For 2021”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what home studio gear I’ve used this year, and why.
Previous posts in the series: [2019]
Continue reading “2020 Review: Home Studio Gear”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what pedals I’m using, and why.
Previous posts in the series: [2019]
Continue reading “2020 Review: Pedals”I have a problem. A ticking kind of problem. It’s been plaguing my setup for years. And then, last week, while working on the First Impressions post for the Wampler Belle, I had a breakthrough.
Well, sort of.
Maybe you can make more sense of it than I can.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #22: It’s All Ticking Along (A Little Too Well …)”This month is mostly defined by constraints.
I had to replace the car last month. Unfortunately, with everything that’s going on in the world right now, there’s a lot of unusual shortages, and I just couldn’t get replacement parts to keep my car on the road. That puts a significant limit on how much I can spare to spend on hobbies for a bit.
Secondly, we’re back in lockdown. We can travel, we’re just very limited on where we’re legally allowed to travel to. [By the end of the month, the local lockdown had become a full lockdown once again – Ed] Normally, this time of year, we’d be visiting far-flung guitar shops to hunt for unusual items and surprises. That’s just not an option right now.
Finally, there just isn’t that much interesting (to me) gear hitting the second hand market right now. All too often, the items that do catch my eye are priced optimistically, and I’m not yet sure if this is a temporary thing, or whether prices are going to remain this high in the long term.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: October 2020”This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.
Good morning, pedal fans. Let’s do another #CoffeeAndKlon. I haven’t done one of these in ages.
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 28: Three Stores, Three Stories”In my opinion, Fender’s MTG:LA pedal is a bit of a conundrum. I think it’s got just the one sound, and if that sound doesn’t work for you or your rig, the pedal’s EQ controls can’t save the situation.
I love it with my Strat and my Tele. I don’t like it anywhere near as much with my Les Paul.
Thankfully, we’re not limited to what the MTG:LA can do on its own. We can give it some help, in the form of a second pedal to shape the tone a bit more. And I’m really liking the results.
Continue reading “Tone Stacking: Using Another Pedal To Shape The Fender MTG:LA’s Sound”In February, I decided to change the layout of the room at home that doubles as my home office and home studio. It was a good decision. Now I just have to work through the consequences.
There isn’t the same amount of space for my amps as there was before. I needed new furniture to put them on. In a world of metric measurements and largely imported furniture, amps and their dinosaur imperial measurements are a very awkward fit. I wasn’t able to find anything in the shops that would suit.
I had to make my own. And, partway through, the pandemic lockdown started.
This one’s a bit of a long read, as much about the story as step-by-step instructions. If you’re interested in making your own, I hope you find it useful!
Continue reading “Studio Diary #21: Homemade Shelving For My Amps”With the home studio revamp,
… and I’ve revamped the layout of the space, as part of improving the vibe. It feels like the end is in sight, at last.
I’m not quite finished yet though. I need to add a set of studio monitors to my setup.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #20: How Am I Going To Hear All Of This?”