Welcome, Organ

This weekend I picked up a 100+ year old organ from a friend’s house. Thanks Ryan. Its a pump organ, made by a company that looks like “Moreto”. Apparently it was also made in Chicago.

All I know is that it doesn’t require any power other than my own two feet to operate. This makes it easy to stop by on my way to bed and play a little tune, whatever I make up, so that I end my day with a song. Here is some close ups of the detail work…

And of course…the fabulous cast iron and solid wood stool it came with

I of course have work to do on it. The reeds are slightly out of tune. Can those be retuned? The fabric behind the wood carvings needs to be replaced (thanks in advance, wife). The drawbars labels need to be redone, as some are missing. All in all it ought to be a fun project.

First test of the Firepod (FP10)

I guess I should start calling it the FP10, since technically its been renamed/rebranded. Firepod just sounds so cool.

Band practice Saturday consisted of cutting a drum track for an ongoing demo that we’re working on (I’ll post a copy when Bill finishes the mixing). I didn’t feel at all prepared for it, but that’s beside the point, and it actually went really well.

The setup consisted of exactly 3 mics. That’s it. A single overhead condenser, and a dynamic on the kick and snare. We ran those into the FP10 along with a mix of Bill’s “wall-of-keyboards”, and cut the 11 or so minute track in about an hour using Garageband on Bill’s Mac.

It sounded fantastic.

Listening back through a pair of home audio speakers later to the unmixed, uneq’d tracks we all nodded in approval at the quality of the recording. I can’t tell you if it was the preamps, Bill’s skills at mic placement, or the mics, but I can tell you that my drumming had very little to do with it. It was the best drum sound I’ve heard while trying to record outside of a studio. The kick resonated in your chest, the snare and cymbals were crisp without being irritating, and the toms pounded like a stomping rhino. Very nice.

There is a section of the track where I’ll be playing something like a drum solo, which is a rare treat for me, and in 7/8 time to boot. It won’t sound great on the demo, but I’m looking forward to preparing something for it live and for later recordings.

I’ve also retooled the home studio a bit. Look for pics of it as well as the AM practice space. To listen to the older demo from a few weeks ago of the first movement, go here:

http://www.myspsace.com/ascendedmastersga

Goodbye Pro Tools

Last week I waved goodbye to the first piece of pro gear I had ever purchased. My 8 year old Digi001 was sold on eBay for roughly a third of what I originally paid for it, boxed up (in the original box of course) and shipped to its new owner. Hopefully it will be well taken care of.

I had been thinking about selling for a year or so now. It only had 2 mic preamps on it, which means I had to keep my mixer for the extra preamps. It was a PCI interface device with a breakout box, forcing me to use a desktop. Digidesign stopped supporting it something like 5 years ago, which meant I was forbidden from upgrading beyond Pro Tools 6.4. Lastly though, using this interface with other software packages (Live!, Sonar, Max/MSP) was a nightmare. It worked, and thats about it.

Its this last part that made me the angriest. As a software engineer I get to deal with products all the time that will only work on one hardware platform or another, and likewise, software that only works with one hardware type. It drives me apenuts (That word only sounds right when Cary says it). I’m not a huge proponent of cross-platform software or anything, there are compilers for nearly every platform after all, but I am a huge proponent of Plug And Play style devices, which allow me to choose the interface I want to use. I like Pro Tools as much as anyone else, but sometimes I just want to twiddle around with Cubase (it has a much better sequencer), or Live! (for effects work).

So I sold the Digi 001 along with the gear I needed to support it, namely a big ass mixer that was just taking up space.

It’s replacement? I picked up a Presonus FP10. This used to be called a Firepod, it has 8 preamps (goodbye mixer), and connects via firewire (Hello laptop). I can use it with damn near all of my software, and it runs without a computer. Yep, all 8 preamps, through a separate power supply, so its basically a tiny mixer too. So as I start to acquire more Mandalas, I can run them all through this beast for a fully portable electronic/acoustic drum kit. I can also shrink the footprint of my racks and conserve some space in the studio. Everyone wins.

Margaritas – PERFECTED!

Squeeze the limes. Thats the secret. I’ve been working on this for a week now. We went to Catalina Island while on holiday in California and had the best damn margarita we’ve ever had at a little Mexican place on the beach. I don’t recall the name of the place, but I took note of the ingredients in order to replicate it when I got home. Its what I do.

Behold! The recipe:

• 1 part fresh lime juice (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. Squeeze the damn limes. Don’t use the stuff you put on salads, or the Rose’s stuff everyone swears by. Its all HFCS.)
• 1 part Tequila (preference here…but use a reposado, I like Cuervo 1800)
• 1/2 part Cointreau (or Triple Sec. I like Cointreau)
• 1/4 part simple syrup (Optional. its just sugar dissolved in water. Easy)

Part measurement is the best way to do this. I use 2 oz. of lime juice an tequila, 1 oz. Cointreau and a half of simple syrup. For less tang lower the lime juice. Shake it all up in a shaker with some ice (don’t use a blender dammit). Pour it in a glass with a salted rim (optional. The salt part anyway).

My wife is drinking one of these as I write this, thoroughly pleased. You may not agree, and of course you’re welcome to. But its a good start.

Seriously though. Squeeze the limes.

American Gods and running with the dead

So I finally got around to reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman this past winter, and as it turned out I couldn’t have picked better circumstances.

Actually I didn’t so much “read” American Gods as I listened to it. As narrated by George Guidall, who I am convinced is the finest narrator of audio books I’ve ever had the privilege to listen to.

It turns out the story takes place largely in winter, and since this book was to be my running companion for much of the season it turned out to be perfect. Most of the time anyway. Gaiman’s descriptions of the sub-artic temperatures in Lakeside made my balmy “barely freezing” weather that much worse.

The story itself wound its way through much of the midwest into the south, just as I was training for my pre-season marathon here in Atlanta, and the journey quality to the tale in particular made the 2 and 3 hour runs memorable, even enjoyable. I really got a kick out of the final scenes, which took place in Rock City. Anyone who’s live south of the Mason-Dixon has seen the “SEE ROCK CITY” Birdhouse and can certainly relate.

Towards the end of the cold season I found myself running through a confederate graveyard just across the street from my home, just as the protagonist of the story is beaing lead through the ceremony of the dead. What timing. It was about here that I realized how old the city I lived in was, and how much history I was passing as I ran through it. Later I would realize how much history my city has managed to collect in such a short time, when I’m reminded that:

“In England 100 miles is a long way, in America 100 years is a long time”.

It was a nice experience, and I hope to be able to match my book selection and season again in the future. Its a sunny spring day as I write this, and already I’ve swapped Tennessee Whiskey for tequila and lemon and Doc Martens for flip-flops.

As a last note I have yet to read a Neil Gaiman story I haven’t liked. The way he weaves primal myths into everything from sci-fi to road stories is entertaining at least, timeless at best. I think I’ve read Sandman three times now. When my only disappointment with a story is that it has ended, then it was a fine story.