We are the music makers - producers?

I've chickened out of upgrading to Logic X btw. I've hear bad things about the 32/64 bit bridges and I looked at the softube bundles and I can't even come close to replicating what I have available to me now. Si I've decided to stick with what works. For now.

Next purchases are going to be a ribbon mic of some sort. Would love a Coles but may have to wait. Also on the lookout for 500 series power supply racks too to start building up a modest "lunchbox" of outboard.

Have you checked out the Slate Digital VMS mic?
I know it's nice to own dedicated gear, but it makes a pretty convincing argument. :)

Yeeeeeah. I should have mentioned that i'm a yuge retrogrouch .

Cascade fathead looks good

I'm the same really...I choose actual, physical equipment over virtual every time...but I can't deny the Slate VMS has me interested. :)

Slate VMS

It's a very interesting concept but where it falls down for me is the requirement for a lot of people to have multiple mics available to record with. One mega-mic is great for vocals (if you don't have latency issues) but £1k will get a suite of instrument mics or a couple of nicer LDC options.

I seem to remember he's just launched another new package where you get 'x' amount of instrument mics included, which can then be run through the various 'virtual' mics.
I might have been skim reading the full details though. :)

This maybe? http://sxpro.co.uk/slate-digital-vrs8-6pack?utm_medium=googleshopping&utm_source=bc&gclid=CLrq7On0hdICFUHhGwodhOcIFQ

Never used a Coles or any of the high-end ribbons, but at the school I used to work at we bought a Golden Age Projects R1 Active mk3. Pretty great for the price and are sold through Thomann. Sound on Sound reviewed it at some point, I think.

That was the fella!
Little step up in the price range though. :)

Thanks man, will have a look. Last time I was in the studio I did all my vocals through a coles and it worked so nicely I got the ribbon bug.

I've got a couple of mates who do it- it's a very tough and competitive gig to get. You'll need seriously in-depth knowledge of a couple of genres, plus very good coverage of most others, plus access to composers and contacts at labels/publishers.
Good way to start would be to get an internship at a publisher then go from there- labels, unless they're large indies or majors won't have sync departments, but are also a good place to learn the ropes of the business.
Music business degrees are a good primer, but so many people work differently and break 'the rules', especially in the current climate of DIY etc.

PM if you want some more info.

Selling my Tannoy Reveal Active Home Studio Dual Monitor / Speaker Set. Anyone interested before they go on the evil Ebay?
http://medias.audiofanzine.com/…/tannoy-reveal-active-56562…

anyone want some MIDI cables? 6 of decent length. £beer

Need to get my desk/monitoring situation sorted. Have attached a crap sketch of the room layout showing the issue. Problem is that the desk needs to stay where it is. I tried it across the window at the back but it took up too much room and got veto'd. So i'm back behind the door. That's fine with me and I don't mind having the little Adam A5X's pointing across the room as i'll only ever monitor at very low level on them, switching between headphones and the speakers.

The issue I have is that I want to utilise my Celestion UL6s as alternative (if not main) monitors. I could just mount them on shelves or brackets above the desk but it seems such a shame to have such great speakers aimed at the wall only 3m away. If i'm going to mount them, I'd like to have them aiming down the length of the room so they can be used as main speakers as well as for monitoring. That means setting them up at right angles to the desk meaning i'd have to push back the chair and swivel round or stand up to get in the right position between them. Is this a mental and shit-looking compromise?

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Can you not just put wheels on the desk and move it in front of the window when needed?

Or, skip the wheels and just move the desk when you're using for stuff that requires the UL6s.

The desk is mahoosive. And steel. I hate it.

I think in a dual-use room you're always going to have compromises like this, so just set them up where they sound good. Maybe the change in physical position (and not looking at a screen) will give you a useful different perspective anyway... Plus if you're guitaring you're not going to be over by the desk anyway.

Have you raised the idea of acoustic treatment ? trollface.gif

"Why is there a futon on the wall?"

"That's a bass-catcher honey".

Ha yeah. I don't think foam rubber was quite the look she's going for. Farrow and Ball should start making acoustic panels. They'd make a killing. To be fair she does let me have framed Bo Diddley posters up in the living room and guitars all over the shop so I can't complain.

I think companies are starting to grasp this - I'm going to use these when I have a house to put them in http://gikacoustics.co.uk/product-category/impression-series/
Spendy though!

Maybe get a small desk/trestle you can fold away and do a Rick Wakeman when you need it.

The sofa to vinyl ratio there is all back to front!

Have won the battle and re-positioned desk under rear window.

Have ordered some chunky solid wood shelves to stick the big Celestions as occasional monitors firing down the room.

Amazingly I actually managed to get an hour of time in the house to myself, plug in a couple of mics and record two takes of something yesterday. Tried out this technique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WrMhr2nUJI

on myself singing and playing using a Mojave MA300 tube condenser for vocals and a trusty old SM57 on guitar. Sounded pretty good.

Next up I need to sort out my desk to get it all working nicely. Was thinking of doing the Ikea shelf-legs hack to lift up the nearfield monitors and may just go with a laptop stand to I can keep a midi keyboard in front of it. Anyone case to share their setup and how you juggle a desk-top full of stuff?

Finally started working on music on the train this week too. I spend two hours a day on the highspeed out to the Kent coast. Bought a MBP when we moved with the intention of making music on the move but didn't actually do anything until this week.

The kind of stuff I do is really acoustic/folky and live in feel so there's only so much I can do on a laptop but I have been re-engaging with EZDrummer2 and building up some simple beats to use for new recordings.

I'm not really used to working with midi and started off very rusty but it's starting to come back to me now. The expansion packs on EZD2 are really great. Currently got a huge stomp happening with a Slingerland Rolling Bomber 28" kick, hi-hats and a bit of tambourine. Dig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT0sWR22-VM