Studio Diary #25: The Roland SPD-SX and Universal Audio Luna

MIDI drums and drum samples. Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re a fact of life for just about everyone who records music at home. And, just as most of us can’t accommodate the noise of a real drum kit in the house, most of us have nowhere to keep a digital drum kit either. We’re left with using much smaller percussion pads, or we compromise and use something we can sort-of play like Roland’s SPD-SX.

But how do you get them into Universal Audio’s LUNA DAW in the first place? When I googled, I couldn’t find any instructions anywhere on how to do this.

So I wrote my own.

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New Arrivals: March 2021

It’s been a very quiet month for new arrivals. This time, it’s mostly down to me.

(The second hand market here is still a mess, but that’s a topic that probably deserves its own blog post …)

I’ve been enjoying both the Mad Professor Sweet Honey Custom and Sweet Honey Deluxe Overdrives so much, I’ve just not been very curious about the pedals that have been cropping up on the second-hand market this month.

But, you know me: I’m always on the lookout for tweed-tone pedals, and this month, I picked up a couple that are pretty rare in their own ways.

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First Impressions: Neumann KM184 Small Diaphragm Condenser Microphone Matched Pair

This year (2021), I’m on a mission. I’m learning how to record acoustic guitar at home, so that I can record some of my older, original music.

Earlier this month, I picked up the Roswell mini K47 large diaphragm condenser. Now, I’ve added a set of Neumann KM184’s to my mic locker too. How am I getting on with them? Read on for my First Impressions.

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New Arrivals: January 2021

It feels weird to write ‘2021’. While it always takes a bit of time to get used to writing down the new year each time around, this year it just feels plain weird. 2020 was one of the hardest years many of us have had to face, and it seemed to go on forever. [So far, 2021 is shaping up to simply be Season 2 of 2020 – Ed]

This month, I’ve been focusing on things that will help me hit my 2021 New Year Resolutions. Oh, and I found another tweed-tone pedal too.

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First Impressions: Catalinbread Formula 5F6 Drive Pedal

This photo shows Catalinbread's Formula 5F6 pedal on my pedalboard.

There are 5 knobs visible, but their labels are hidden from view by those knobs.

As regular readers will know, tweed-tone pedals are kind of my thing. Good, bad, or indifferent, I’m always on the lookout for an opportunity to try as many of these pedals as I possibly can. The Catalinbread Formula 5F6 is one of the few that’s in regular production.

The day this was delivered, I was pretty down on it over on my Twitter account. Has anything changed now that I’ve had a bit more time with it? That all depends on what kind of guitar you play …

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Studio Diary #23: Exploring How To Record Finger-style Acoustic Guitar

One of my New Year Resolutions for 2021 is to finally record some music. I’d like that music to be Phase One – the songs I originally wrote back in the early 90’s. Although they were all written on electric guitar, they’re all finger-picking pieces. I think it’ll be cool to record them on acoustic guitar.

Before I can do that, I need to learn how to record acoustic guitar. I haven’t done this before, and I have a lot to learn.

Read on to see what I’ve tried so far.

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