Words written by a friend: Truths for when you have nothing better to do:
1. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
4. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase “Regards” again…. See More
5. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
6. Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what was going on when I first saw it.
7. How are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
8. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
9. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
10. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.
11. Was learning cursive really necessary?
12. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
13. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
14. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
15. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
16. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
17. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
18. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
19. Bad decisions and bad experiences make good stories
20. Is it just me or do high school girls look sluttier & sluttier every year?
21. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
22. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning that your chair is back a little too far.
23. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
24. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
25. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
26. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
27. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
28. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
Three rejections in one day on my manuscript was too much for me. I sat down in front of the computer and began to sob. Feelings of inadequacy felt like a sword through my heart and at that moment I decided that I wouldn’t pursue another query, but instead take it as a sign that I wasn’t supposed to be an author.
As if like magic, a text message from my best friend came through asking how I was. I replied with bitterness and negativity over my bleak situation. Instead of giving me sympathy, she told me that it made me one step closer to MY agent and that the others just weren’t mean to be. What? No sympathy? No poor, poor Kristy?
Then the very next day she had the audacity of asking me if I had sent out my new queries yet. Honestly, at that point I was about ready to burn my manuscript and call it gone. And give her a piece of mind. I didn’t, though, and replied with a simple ‘no’. When my husband asked if I wanted to ride along to the bookstore, I gave him my dangerous look. How could I possibly browse the bookstore when they all had book deals and I didn’t? I crossed my arms in front of me and answered, ”Absolutely NOT”. I stuck out my bottom lip in a pout and offered a sniffle for extra drama. It didn’t work.
He talked me into going with an offer, errr bribe, of one of my downfalls; a caramel Frappachino. I made the most of it while I sipped my misery away in the extra whipped topping I talked the Barista into giving me. Peeking through my competition, it was then that I realized something. I was treating everything as, well, competition and not looking inside of my own journey. My own possibilities. Rainer Maria Rilke is quoted as saying “There is only one journey: going inside yourself.” Was I loving the writing process?
Absolutely! Was it fulfilling me? Yes! That approval that I was asking for wasn’t coming from a true place, though. And it was then that I had the revelation that the door is always open to possibilities, and it wasn’t the agent’s doing, but me.
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Van Gogh only sold one painting, but kept painting. Charles Schultz had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. And remember Walt, well Disney wouldn’t hire him either. Lucille Ball was told she couldn’t act and needed to find a new profession. Harrison Ford was told the same. “Balding, skinny, can dance a little,’ they said of Fred Astaire at his first audition. Beethoven’s music teacher declared him ‘hopeless’ at composing.
And there are countless more who continued to find that journey within themselves and succeed. But there are many of us who give in and give up. We have stifled our life because of a critic who implied we were not good enough.
“Remembering that you have both wins and losses along the way. I don’t take either one too seriously.” Carl Lewis.
There are always possibilities. So whether you are feeling down about a relationship, or lack of one, a job, or lack of a job that you love, you are closing the door on your possibilities. Don’t compete with others on what you believe they have (believe me - those that look to have the perfect relationship rarely do), but instead keep your door open to the possibilities so that YOUR job or YOUR mate will be there when the timing is right.
I have several books that will be on the book shelves very soon, however the one that I love still hasn’t been picked up. However, my door is open and I continue to pursue the agent that IS mine. It will happen and I refuse to sob in my Frappachino again.
I’ve seen and read many “how to” articles over the years about how to put together a home recording studio but let’s face it, this is not something you can really cram into one article. So I won’t try and cram such a broad subject into one blog. This blog instead is about my personal philosophy in terms of picking the right gear for your studio. I will focus on the major studio components and how you can get the most bang for your buck. It won’t be a “money is no object” blog because let’s face it, money is an object and you’ve got to spend it wisely. There’s a definite philosophy in terms of the recording studio as a collection of devices that, once grouped together, make up a recording studio. It’s a good idea to keep this in mind when you’re making your purchases.
I started assembling my recording studio around 1985. This first studio was a 4 track cassette recorder, a small mixer and a few guitar effects. It’s amazing to think about how many songs I wrote and how many hours I logged on that setup producing recordings. I must say as primitive as it was I sure had a blast doing it and the lessons I learned on that little rig helped me to this day with the fundamentals of the recording environment. If you get anything out of this blog, I hope it’s the understanding that a recording studio is not just bought and put into place over night. If you really are interested then you need to grow and cultivate your gear collection so that when the time comes; you’ll own and have mastered, all of the tools that you need. It’s not a good idea to rush out and make a major purchase on one piece of equipment that some sales man is telling you is “all you need” or that “you’ll never need anything else”, truth is, a real recording studio is a system of tools that work together and no one tool is any more important in the chain than the other. It is an overall system and the system is only as strong as its weakest link. There is simply no magic recording device that does everything you need to produce good sounding recordings, although, many marketing specialists are currently trying to convince you otherwise.
So where do you start now that you know this? Well everyone’s situation is going to be different and everyone is going to be at different stages of growing their recording studio, so all I can do is really advise you on the decision making process and hope it helps you to make the decision that is best for you. It truly depends on what you already have, in terms of tools and in terms of the skills needed to use the tools.
PC
For my money, by today’s standards, you need to start with a decent computer. Notice I don’t say you need a top of the line quad core Apple monster workstation. If you went that route, right there you’ve blown way too much money on one item for your studio system. The computer is pretty all encompassing but you do still need other items. A modest PC will do the trick and I would advise that you don’t spend more than $1000 on one if you’re just adding one into your studio. If you already have one and it’s in the 2 to 5 year old range, you should have a great start, you just need to learn how to streamline the system so that it can function in a recording environment. A critical rule for the computer in the studio, do not use it to check your email, surf the web or any other recreational activity other than recording. You shouldn’t even have Microsoft Office installed on this system! Right there you’ve eliminated the need for antivirus software and made your system run at least 25% faster! If you have a computer in your studio and it’s running slow, ask yourself what else you’ve been using the system for other than recording. I bet you could think of ways to clean it up and improve its performance just by streamlining its use. Take the money you saved by not buying an expensive system and get a second computer for your office needs.
Interface & Software
Next in the chain is an audio interface for the computer. Again while top of the line A/D converts have a great quality about them, you have many more items your studio that you need to purchase to complete your system, so spend wisely. $1000 and you’ve got a pretty great interface with some decent preamps. There are so many interfaces today it really depends on how many inputs you foresee using at one time. If you plan on recording a drummer then I would recommend a system with at least 16 inputs. While you probably won’t use them all you may very well need more than eight which is what most interfaces seem to have. If it’s more affordable, get one interface that has eight inputs and also has a digital interface that will allow you to chain another unit which will give you the option to expand when you need to. Make sure you go with an interface that already has software bundled with it. More than likely you will be starting out with a light version of the application but you should still be able to crank out quality work even with its limitations. Save the expense of a major software purchase for later.
Ears
Third is to make sure have some decent studio monitors. This is probably one of the most important investments you can make in your studio. Essentially you are buying your ears and you should expect to spend at least $1500 on a great pair of powered monitors. Head into your favorite music store and you’ll have many options. Just don’t think you can get away with using a pair of speakers from your home stereo. Home stereo equipment is not professional recording equipment. In fact home stereo equipment is usually “enhanced” to make it “sound better” to the audiophile. What you really need as an engineer is equipment that does not color the sound at all. You must know what is really being recorded and if you are using speakers that color or alter the sound in an effort to “enhance” it; you will never know what you are recording in your studio. It’s almost the equivalent of being blind. You’ll take your mix out of your studio and play it on another system and it will not sound anything like what it did in your studio. If you’re having this problem with your mixes traveling to other systems and still sounding like it did in your room; check your speakers.
Microphones
Now you’ve got the computer, the interface and the monitors, the next critical device in the chain is the microphone. There are so many applications for using microphones again it depends on what you intend to record. You should probably start with a good large diaphragm vocal condenser microphone ($500) unless you intend to work with all instrumental material. If so then second in line would be a good pair of small diaphragm condenser microphones for recording instruments in stereo ($700) such as acoustic guitars, pianos, and drum overhead. For the guitar amp a ($100) shure sm57 dynamic always does the trick here, even in multimillion dollar facilities it is usually what ends up in front of an amp first. A well rounded mic collection for the various types of instruments you plan to record is a vital element in the recording studio system. Start growing the collection as you can. The vocal condenser you purchase first should serve many purposes until you can acquire more microphones in your arsenal.
FX
Once you have these basic elements in place it’s time to think about effects for your computer system. I highly recommend going the route of hardware based DSP systems. This is actually what allows you to continue using that aging computer system and still have great results. PCI cards such as the UAD series are an outstanding value and take the load off of your computer to process virtual instruments and the like. A pair of UAD cards ($1500) and you will have an arsenal of effects at your disposal that can be expanded by purchasing and authorizing more effects as you can afford them. Yep, you may have to grow your effects as well. There are many hardware options these days, just pick the one that seems most appropriate to your needs.
On a final note, what is truly vital in any recording chain is a quality musical instrument. In my experience, every instrument has its own unique sound and you really get what you pay for here. There are certainly times when a less expensive instrument will work fine and gets the sound that you are looking for, again it depends on your tastes and what styles of music you are recording.
Every studio should have some good Virtual instruments as well. Again this depends solely on your taste and the types of instruments you’d like to have in an emulated environment. Synths, Electric and Grand Pianos, there are many outstanding sounding applications out there that you can add and install as you can.
All in all, putting together a recording studio system is an adventure that takes time, money and patience. Every new piece of equipment must be mastered before you can appreciate it’s place in the chain. It truly should be a passion that you are willing to sacrifice some things for. In total I’ve recommended about $7000 worth of gear here and that’s not counting the musical instruments but if you pace your purchases, spend the money on the essentials, in time it will start to come together. It took years for my studio to become what it is today. Actually it took decades but I kept refining it and kept learning. The technology will keep progressing so to continue learning is critical. Now days it only takes a few years for things to change and you’ll quickly find yourself behind the curve if you stop absorbing. Staying on top of things also helps when you start thinking about the upgrade process and that’s probably a whole other blog in itself.
May your gear proliferate and may you manage to stay out of the pawn shops! Unless you are buying the gear of course! - John
