Gear: Studio shots by Deb

[einstein36]

Hey there Mike,

I didn't realize what a great looking guy you were:)....hmmm..when do we get to see shots of Lena now doing her thing? hmmmm:)...

I will probably post mine soon but considering my studio is very very simple and laid out simple enough....I am one of those that do everything, most everything through the computer, etc....only thing I use is my keyboard....

[Hypnagogue]

I'm kinda cheap, to be honest. I blanche at spending more than 12 bucks for a bottle of wine, a dinner out that costs more then 80 bucks better be spectacular, and I go to matinees or second run movies whenever possible.

I knew I had a long-lost brother out there somewhere!

[mgriffin]

Yep, its a nice little working system, everything in reach where I need it.
That synth is a korg MS2000 keyboard version -- it came with
those old-school hardwood ends.

I thought I recognized that thing, and was pretty sure it was a modern mini-synth with retro-style wood end caps.  In fact, I almost bought an MS2000 keyboard once, and always thought it was a good-sounding and fun-to-twiddle synth for the money.

[mgriffin]

Hey there Mike,

I didn't realize what a great looking guy you were:)....hmmm..when do we get to see shots of Lena now doing her thing? hmmmm:)...

I will probably post mine soon but considering my studio is very very simple and laid out simple enough....I am one of those that do everything, most everything through the computer, etc....only thing I use is my keyboard....

Lena can't do her thing with anyone watching.  Oh, you mean her music thing!  Well, I think Lena's shy enough about recording music without having me photograph her while she's playing.  Maybe some day.

As for me, I'd have to be a "great looking guy" to win the heart of a red hot sexpot like Lena, wouldn't I?   

[Hypnagogue]

red hot sexpot

Which, not surprisingly, is the title of her next CD.

 

[Bill Binkelman]

Hey there Mike,

I didn't realize what a great looking guy you were:)....hmmm..when do we get to see shots of Lena now doing her thing? hmmmm:)...

I will probably post mine soon but considering my studio is very very simple and laid out simple enough....I am one of those that do everything, most everything through the computer, etc....only thing I use is my keyboard....

Lena can't do her thing with anyone watching.  Oh, you mean her music thing!  Well, I think Lena's shy enough about recording music without having me photograph her while she's playing.  Maybe some day.

As for me, I'd have to be a "great looking guy" to win the heart of a red hot sexpot like Lena, wouldn't I?   

It's nice to meet someone who isn't afraid to admit his wife is so attractive...seriously, Mike, I applaud you . So many men push the "jealousy" button so easily that one doesn't know if one can tell a guy that his wife is good looking without the guy kicking his ass.

Although, I have to say, you two seem way too well-adjusted to be ambient music artists! Where are your insecurities, foibles and idiosyncracies!

[michael sandler]

As a non-musician, I have to say that when I look at all those gizmos (and I've visited a few artists in their homes too, e.g. Kevin Kendle, John Flomer, James Asher), I am in awe that you guys and gals can keep it all straight. I had to laugh when Kevin Kendle said to me "Oh, it's not that hard to learn to use these things."  Yeah, right! I consider myself a bright person and am the local go-to guy here at my program at Hamline University for computer issues by staff and faculty and even students (I give training seminars on PowerPoint, advanced Word, etc), but I take one look at all that....STUFF...all those dials, switches, read-outs...and I just glaze over. It does not compute. So, FWIW, my hat's off to ALL of you ambient and EM wizards. I don't know how you do it. IMO, cooking a meal or writing is child's play but when it comes to making music using THOSE, well, I wouldn't even try it on a bet.

My humble, um, "studio" might be less intimidating. Note that half the stuff isn't even plugged in.



The cat's real by the way. She likes to walk over the keys and make noises. I also get help from Zhao the Ambient Gargoyle, visible on the speaker.

The piles of paper are my unfinished opera. 

Mike

[mgriffin]

I think Mike brings up a great point about learning vs timing vs quantity.

My studio and my studio "life" as such are divided into two distinct areas,

On the recording side I have a pretty hard and fast rule that If there is a piece of equipment that I have not used in six months or so, I usually sell it. It makes no sense to have a studio full of stuff that sits there and does nothing while we tend to gravitate toward certain pieces over and over.

Only once have I sold a piece I regretted, I spend much more time wondering..."Do I really need this and could that money be better used elsewhere?"

...

Anyway, I know that for many gear hounds and synth enthusiasts this is pure heresy...

Paul, I think you're right that many gear hounds and collectors are much better at acquiring new equipment than at selling it or getting rid of it.  But I think your approach is sane and practical, and I'm trying to figure out how to get there myself.  I made some efforts a year or two ago to get rid of maybe 10 pieces of gear that I wasn't using at all.  I still have some redundant or (for me) obsolete gear that I think I'll try to sell soon. Maybe after the new year I'll make a little list and put it up here.

Lately, though, I'm moving the opposite direction, having purchased two pieces of gear in the last few months from people selling it here on the Forum!

[mgriffin]

I have a question about how some of you (you know who you are) who have lots of music gear, especially lots of synths and samples, cope with patching everything.  Do you:

1. Use multiple patchbays to keep everything plugged-in all the time (into patchbays, I mean) and only selectively patch the stuff into your mixer or audio interface?

2. Leave only the most-used stuff plugged straight into the mixer all the time, and when setting up a less-commonly-used piece, temporarily plug it in, maybe unplugging something else to make room?

3. Utilize LOTS of mixer inputs or audio interface inputs, to leave everything plugged into its own input, all the time?

I've done all of the above at various times, and probably am somewhere between #1 and #2 right now, not really fully committed to either approach.  I have 3 full-size patch bays but I'm using less than 1/3 of the patch inputs, and I have some synths plugged straight into my mixer and others not plugged into anything at all.  It seems like a lame approach, but in my own defense, I'm actually only getting active in the studio again fairly recently.

So, I'd like to get a bit more organized and structured approach but I'm actually not quite sure how I want to do it... leaning toward #1.

[mgriffin]

As for me, I'd have to be a "great looking guy" to win the heart of a red hot sexpot like Lena, wouldn't I?   

It's nice to meet someone who isn't afraid to admit his wife is so attractive...seriously, Mike, I applaud you . So many men push the "jealousy" button so easily that one doesn't know if one can tell a guy that his wife is good looking without the guy kicking his ass.

Although, I have to say, you two seem way too well-adjusted to be ambient music artists! Where are your insecurities, foibles and idiosyncracies!

Well, I was kidding a bit, and you're kidding a bit, but I'll say I agree with you that it's just crazy for a man who has an attractive wife or girlfriend (or for that matter, a woman who has an attractive husband or boyfriend) to be jealous and suspicious, or to get angry at other people for looking at their partner.  It's just completely irrational, and demonstrates the terrible insecurity of the jealous party.

[APK]

When I have my studio up and running properly I use #1.

I patch everything into patchbays so I can easily route them in and out of each other and into the audio interface. Stuff not connected this way tends not to get used because its then too much trouble to set up. I don't use a mixer. Only patchbays.

[Paul Vnuk (Ma Ja Le)]

My synths are sub-mixed through a Mackie VLZ3 mixer, they are linked MIDI-wise with a Roland/Edirol UM-880 patchbay which can be switched at the touch of a button to my studio DAW or my laptop.

I also have (3) 48 point patchbays, 2 are balanced and one is unbalanced which can route any mic pre, compressor, eq or effects unit to any daw input/output at anytime.

When I get really anal about sound quality I will disconect my synths from the mackie and go direct in through a pre and such.
Paul

[APK]

I use an Edirol UM-880 midi box as well ... great piece of gear !

[LNerell]

When I was using a mixer I mainly did #1, I use to use four patchbays to connect everything to route everywhere. But now that I have given up using the mixer I use #3 with about 8 inputs on my soundcard that are not connected to anything patched into a patchbay in case someone brings something over to record. So now I have no mixer and only use 1 patchbay.

[Seren]

I don't use 1, 2 or 3 , mainly because I don't have a lot of equipment and connecting things up does not take a lot of time. I may look into patchbays at some point, but currently I am only working on one sound chain at a time.

I am considering how to do some live music so will have to get a mixer at some point.

How many chains of sound do people have running at once?

[einstein36]

hmmm...maybe we could "collarabate" on something together...

Hey there Mike,

I didn't realize what a great looking guy you were:)....hmmm..when do we get to see shots of Lena now doing her thing? hmmmm:)...

I will probably post mine soon but considering my studio is very very simple and laid out simple enough....I am one of those that do everything, most everything through the computer, etc....only thing I use is my keyboard....

Lena can't do her thing with anyone watching.  Oh, you mean her music thing!  Well, I think Lena's shy enough about recording music without having me photograph her while she's playing.  Maybe some day.

As for me, I'd have to be a "great looking guy" to win the heart of a red hot sexpot like Lena, wouldn't I?   

[lena]

QUIT BEING GOOFY!  QUIT BEING GOOFY!  QUIT BEING GOOFY!  QUIT BEING GOOFY!  QUIT BEING GOOFY! 

[Numina]

I have a question about how some of you (you know who you are) who have lots of music gear, especially lots of synths and samples, cope with patching everything.  Do you:

1. Use multiple patchbays to keep everything plugged-in all the time (into patchbays, I mean) and only selectively patch the stuff into your mixer or audio interface?

2. Leave only the most-used stuff plugged straight into the mixer all the time, and when setting up a less-commonly-used piece, temporarily plug it in, maybe unplugging something else to make room?

3. Utilize LOTS of mixer inputs or audio interface inputs, to leave everything plugged into its own input, all the time?

Mike - I started out much more organized that I am now - I used to have all the synths and fx run in/out of a 1/4" patch bay but I found that it was a pain in the ass sometimes and there were some grounding issues... then I played live and tore a bunch of stuff out and when I set everything back up I just sort of wired things directly into others.  Either way worked for me and to be honest I'd like to go back to the patchbay setup but I don't have time to record like I used to so it's no urgency for me. 

I find myself more just playing for fun these days.  Not recording anything.

Bill B. - as for the cost of doing floaty/drifty ambient stuff, there are several alternatives and different combinations of things you could explore all of which are relatively inexpensive these days. Here's what I would do for the least expensive route: go to local pawn shops and Music-go-round and Craigslist and find a synth you like, haggle the price down 20%.  Same with fx.  You could probably find an Alesis Quadraverb for $60.00 and a useable synthesizer for as low as $250, buy some cables at about $20, a used p/c audio card interface could be as cheap as $20, and maybe look into the home edition of Sony ACID or something as your mutli-track recorder which I believe is under $100.  So, for $500 (or less) you could start creating ambient music.  There's also the Korg MicroX , Novamusik has a re-boxed one here: http://www.novamusik.com/search.aspx?type=Model&keyword=3600&mid=35

Anyway, the point is it doesn't take talent or a lot of money, just a lot of reverb.  Take me for example... I just alike all the blinky lights and pretend I'm Cap'n Kirk half the time.

J.

[jblock]

Here's my current set-up: Akai EWI4000s, Vox Tonelab LE and a Boss DD-20. I don't really use the Micron much.



Jonathan

[APK]

And its great to see a 1,000 watt heater element wired in, Jonathan !

A man needs power in the mix