2025 01 14 We'll Make Great Pets

[@kiibo5862]

Great!!! 👍❤️🎶🐰🎶🎸🎶🥕 Tunes And Pets 😻😽❤️🐇🐰🐾 Thank You Jim!!! 🙄😊✌️❤️🎶

[@jimshomestudio]

You rock Kiibo! 💜

[@A.L.Gardner]

That was lovely. Cats definitely like higher frequencies 😊❤

[@jimshomestudio]

Hope you’re on the mend young lady! 💜

[@A.L.Gardner]

@jimshomestudio yes, on the mend thankfully!

[@zenn3339]

Great sound on that 12 string. What's really funny is I love loud music and so do my cats and my dog they never run they just sit right where the hell they are when I'm cranking Tunes.

[@jimshomestudio]

Back in the 70s and 80s there was a sound, they had a lot of mid frequencies. I think when I make modern high gain sounds most of the time those mids are reduced and it’s a modern thing. More 90s and forward. So for this track I wanted to change the sound of my music and just use those older sounds. So there’s a ton of that 12 string and a Stratocaster, also a Pete Thorn guitar which has an exceptional classic bridge pickup. Also the amps are all low gain, but I used a Def Leppard method to build a wall of sound guitar, all low gain stuff but cranked to the max loudness. There’s really something to that technique. Every time I go metal head Jim and wind up the distortion I end up with a thinner sound, and that’s what I’m experimenting with here. The new Engl preamp has more gain than I’ve ever heard anywhere, but I’ll be honest it’s REALLY hard to deal with that, and it records thin. So I need to keep messing with it. All MIDI problems are solved, finally have everything pulling up the right patches. Keep rocking, stay warm Senn!

[@PooNinja]

Bunnies n kitties

[@jimshomestudio]

So demanding! 🤘😜🤘

[@ccjmusic]

That sounded great Jim! Interesting fact about the higher frequencies, I had no idea. I would have assumed that they were more used to lower frequencies as that is what humans typically create themselves. Maybe cats have evolved to block out the frequencies in a human voice and that is why they seem to ignore people. lol Love the Rickenbacker BTW.

[@jimshomestudio]

@@ccjmusic I think it’s their favorite. 😜

[@jimshomestudio]

@@ccjmusic You crack me up Colin. We end up with the world’s most sociable cats, very outspoken. Every morning, its claws to the face. This morning I noticed he only extended one claw, the others were retracted and drug that one claw down my face to wake me up. Soon as I opened my eyes, the demands. Our cat treats run dry, and he goes into a panic. I just went to the grocery store for one item. Cat treats. 😲

[@cbsaulren]

What great timing! I load up KZbin and see that you have a new video. I guess the inspiration was striking all over. I must say, there's a distinct authentic quality to your recordings that to my ears, sound so very professional. I was just explaining to someone how your recording method differs from mine and how I can always hear the difference. I mean this in the most complimentary way possible, but your recordings sound like something out of Abbey Road studios in the 70s. Genuine and pure. Also I really enjoyed the progression and leads!

[@jimshomestudio]

@@cbsaulren One of my subscribers goes by the name of DrustIV. I don’t know much about out him, in honesty but that he resides in UK and has experience in bands. However he has an uncanny ear for recording. Every time he makes a song, you feel like you’re in the room with him, so he may be recording the room as well as close miking. I admire this greatly, but I don’t have space to do this in reality. My speakers are in a 4’ x 4’ x 8’ box, all deadened with an enormous 2” shag rug my mother gave me. It’s a beautiful rug, but perfect for sound absorption. So it wraps the booth and hangs down all sides. Recently I was reviewing my channels, and I noticed that I had shelved my Spring Reverb amp down to 5k, so essentially I was cutting off all of the Reverb’s frequencies. That was remedied, because I’d love to make that amp sound nice. The tubes are 5-6 years old, and when their values drift they become mismatched pairs, no longer do they cancel noise as they were intended with Class A/B designs. So that amp makes a bunch of hiss all by itself. So for times when I’m not recording it, it needs to be off. The Victoria Victorilux (my favorite amp). It’s all over today’s production and the mix levels are strong, whenever you hear the 12 string, that’s it cranked up. No EQs were used in this song. Instead I also phase checked all of my channels by making a patch that plays all of the amps at the same time, ungodly loud, 535W, 18 speakers all going at once. It’s a bit vague, I zoom in really close and flipped the phase on 4 of my mic preamps. Where this matters is when this song blends 6 different speakers for max volume (wall of sound). But to get to the heart of your comment, these are all low gain, mid dominant guitars and amps. That’s the tradition from the 70s and 80s that made most of our favorite records. And if I want to get a retro sounding recording I have to be selective what gets used. No EQs, no compressors anywhere except the mix bus and I cranked the mix and smashed that G comp at levels I rarely do. The song was so loud the drums were getting covered up and I had to go through every drum part and change their velocity, so they match the music. If the music is quiet the velocity was reduced drastically. And conversely when the music is loudest I had to boost velocity and create automations so the limiters ceiling would lift and allow the drums to maximize in volume. Because the hardest part mixing is getting the right feel when parts jump up. Often these productions are my way of testing my ability to get a soft intro and verse to kick up for the chorus. Mix engineers, professionals have a console they can move the faders, where I have to program automations and control limiters to achieve it. The rack was rebuilt, I am getting more cables in the mail tomorrow and I need to move the signal wires away from the power wires as this creates line hum. I moved 3 preamps up above and they are not happy now that their signal wires pass right through the power conditioners. I plan to revamp that tomorrow and will be recording more to see how quiet I can get the system. That is what has kept me busy, and I mean pulling my hair out busy. There’s a new high gain Engl preamp (chrome) down at the bottom. It’s another MIDI device so I went through all of my MIDI gear chain recreating the most desirable chain, unique channel ID’s. This is a learning process for me, an Eventide uses 3 channels, so that’s 6 altogether. I didn’t know this, and I scrambled their routings… which really confused me and forced me to re-read their instruction manuals. Nothing worked, and it took days to get my head around it. But that’s all done and dusted. Now, when the cables come in I can separate the signal and power for a quieter result. It has been very chaotic. Gullfoss, it’s an interactive EQ on my mix bus, it determines when there’s an abundance of a frequency range and does it’s tame and recover. So it will tamp down dominant mids and pronounce the upper 15k and up, adding a glass sheen. I use that EQ more for translation… Sorry so long Chad! Ty! 🙏

[@cbsaulren]

@jimshomestudio This explains so much. I had no idea you simulated a live band sound by running a patch. That, coupled with the time period appropriate equipment, is exactly why I hear the sound I hear. That's actually very clever! Back before I used a modeler to record guitars and a v drum kit for drums, I padded my room walls with thick blankets and put my 4x12 in a small closet surrounded by old couch cushions. I was able to get a very dry but bumping sound from the amp that I could then add an FX chain to in the DAW. I thought it worked well for what it was but I don't think there's any true replacement for live instruments in a well tuned room. If I had the time, space, funds, knowledge, etc, I would definitely have an actual studio to record in. But for now, it's all digital and (mostly) hassle free. However, I do sacrifice a certain amount of authenticity for my methods. I think it's an acceptable sacrifice to work my craft, but I always admire your traditional methods. The results are quite noticeable to my ears.

[@jimshomestudio]

@ I watched a lot of Leon Todd when his channel was new, he was VERY approachable, I was a paid subscriber through his band camp page. So he would help any way he can. I still thank God for his friendship. His sound was enormous, and he has great ears, great gear and tons of experience making music. I’ve always told him it was like having access to my own Randy Rhoads. I should have taken lessons from him too. He came to the United States and needed a guitar, I would have gladly loaned him anything. But he had it covered and went back to Australia. At that time, my music sounded pretty bad and there’s a lot of reasons why, I needed to learn a lot. But those Fractal units can not be beat. They sound incredible and there is the power within to control an entire MIDI rig, you can patch external gear in/out and do exactly what I am here using speakers. Or you can use the in built speakers sims, which present you all of the same problems the real world offers, way too much highs, way too boomy bottom and you need to trim/shelve them with HPF/LPF, EQ boost your favorite 500-2k ranges, maybe pull up some 5k and shelve off 7-10k. Speakers can be a major PITA. If you’re in Ableton, my recommendation would be to patch numerous chains from the Fractal into the PC so you can record that dry signal, not the DI, the dry amp/cab. Then have separate chains for the effects coming in and record them into separate WAV files because during the mix process often you want to change that ratio. Plus you can easily edit the dry performance WAV in Ableton and send that recording back to the Fractal and redo any effects. If you chop out some string scratchy sounds in the WAV edit, you can reapply effects and make edits disappear entirely. This is as done in my song here. The Fractal is more than an Eventide, it’s also your amp collection. The only reason I have not purchased one is because I’m failing (or I feel I need to improve) with my amp gear. I would love to make no noise, be silent, and practice. I’m not allowed to practice because it tortures my wife, pets, and neighbors. That’s why I can’t play very well, there is no practicing allowed. I need an AxeFX.

[@cbsaulren]

@jimshomestudio That's interesting! I knew you were a follower of Leon's channel but I didn't realize you have been a supporter and friend for so long. He was one of the first channels I found when I was looking for help with the FM3. He seems so down to earth and friendly and he's one hell of a player. I hadn't thought about running a dry/wet pair to my DAW before, that's a great idea. I used to run a separate DI output from the FM3 in case I wanted to re amp or use one of my NeuralDSP plugins, but most of the time I would just cut the raw DI entirely. The fractal is really good at sounding natural on its own and I just decided it wasn't worth the trouble so eventually I just switched to using only a fully processed stereo recording from the FM3. You're right about wanting to adjust the wet/dry mix, though. That was a major pitfall. I could get a great take, but if there was too much reverb then the clarity was out the window and there was nothing to do but record another take. I'll have to try that trick next time. I usually record all my guitars dry except the lead because in a recording there's already a lot going on and then my whole project gets glued together with a single subtle reverb channel to simulate the "room" sound. I used to record with the sound I thought I wanted to hear, but I since learned that you want a little less gain than usual most of the time to give the song room for other sounds. I will say that in all my years of amateur mixing, nothing even comes close to the difficulty of recording and mixing distorted guitars. I've spent countless hours trying to make ratty tracks sound like full, thick sounding guitars or trying to make scorching leads not bite so hard through the mix that they sound like nails on a chalkboard. It can be the most frustrating thing ever. The FM3 lets me use a template for my guitar that only does a small amount of EQ and multiband compression so that every time I record I get a somewhat consistent sound. I also realized that less is more when it comes to using plugins on your guitars. They are supposed to sound imperfect and the more you try to tame them, the more realism you lose. And finally, for the record, I think your playing is quite enjoyable. Not only have I seen you improve dramatically just over the short time that I've been following you, I've seen you grow more confident in your playing on the recordings where you show yourself doing the takes. You can never compare your progress to someone else or you'll end up in despair. It's happened to me over and over again. But it also drives us to want to be better, and like I tell anyone who asks me about how to learn guitar: just play. You can find all the cheat sheets, theory, exercises or teachers you want on KZbin, but it really just boils down to picking up the guitar and playing some notes. That's all that really matters in the end because for me, familiarity and note choice is far more important than being able to shred triplets or do fancy finger tapping. Music should primarily be about emotion, not just level of skill. That's why musicians like Kurt Cobain are so highly regarded. Not that he was a bad guitarist, but he used it to express a level of emotion people just weren't used to hearing during the 80s era of virtuoso glam guitar. Always keep with it, Jim. You have a talent for finding the emotion and your playing ability is more than enough to accomplish what most people wouldn't even know where to begin with.

[@jimshomestudio]

@ Thank you! I no longer follow Leon daily, however I check in from time to time. I know his audience consists mainly of Fractal users and I am not trying to disrupt their enjoyment. The day spent today tearing down my rack to access each power wire and ensure they pass clearly outside the rack, up to their conditioner supply outlets, coil nicely on top. Then take the signal wires heading to and from the upper level cases, get those bound together and pass them around the outside of the rack so they don’t go through the power conditioner banks. That area of the rack is nothing but plugs and power wires. Also get new power wires for the amp heads, I ordered extension cables and Velcro tie wraps so the pigtails can stay coiled up with the head, making them removable. No longer do I have to untie and unwrap power cables, I can keep them as is and break the whole thing down when I need to access the innards. Downstacking less painful. Hopefully some noise is reduced. I guess I just wanted to say how difficult it can be with a large multi-amplifier setup, analog everything, as compared to Fractal’s ease of use and overall low noise, low power operation. They can do a lot, I would love to have one some day. Above all thank you for the encouraging words, I realized today when playing how I try to make every note part of a performance, how I try to keep mistakes to a minimum, and that I test myself with recording constantly. Some people call it red light fever. When they press record, they seize up. In all of my reconstruction and relocation efforts with my gear I did make some space for something new, I haven’t decided yet exactly, and I’ll have to save up for either the Neve MBT or the Neve 5025. Likely the 5025, but I have two spaces open in case it’s the MBT. I want SILK, which is a harmonic content addition, very similar to what the Dave Hill Designs Europa 1’s provide. 2nd and 3rd order harmonics and the option to drive the preamp into distortion. There are a few really nice things to have on your preamp. EQ is a massive bonus, but also a pleasant gain and harmonic content. Compression is not so useful in guitar recording. I have a preamp with built in Comp which is more of a hassle. Leveling not needed at that stage, can do all of that afterwards no problem with a cheap plugin. Happy jamming Chad, stay warm!