None the less it's at good room and it should draw a good crowd.  I'm working on my set list and finalizing what gear to bring.  The L-00 with the internal K&K pickup is probably the most bulletproof.

It is frustrating that they won't let me bring my own sound engineer.  They said that making everyone use the same sound guy "levels the field."  Well, if everyone used the same drummer it would level the field even more I suppose.

A new piece of gear always seems to turn up in Musicians Friend's "scratch and dent" just when I think I need it.  They had a black AWS1000 for just under $1k so I hopped on it.  The advanced model comes with a gig bag where the non-advanced (retarded?) model comes with a nice SKB-like case.  No problem there - I like gig bags anyway and the one that is included is very high-quality.  It also comes with Fishman Prefix Plus-T electronics which includes a tuner.  That's very cool since I had to add a Wittman-Spins mini tuner to my older Rainsong.

Out of the box the action was not as low as I like so I started in on adjusting it right away.  Turns out the truss rod adjustment (there is no truss rod on the non-advanced models) works opposite every other guitar I've ever worked on.  Clockwise (tightening) causes the neck to bow and the action to get higher.  Counterclockwise (loosening) causes the neck to straighten out and the action to get lower.  This isn't in any documentation - actually, that would be pretty hard as there is really no documentation.  Once I figured that out, by experimentation, I was able to make the action wonderful.

The neck is quite thin (front to back) but it is still pretty comfortable.  The width is fine.  Acoustic tone is quite good, close to as good as the original model, and the electric tone is comparable as well.  The built in tuner is a nice touch.  It mutes the electric signal when in use and can also be used when nothing is plugged into the output jack.

The body finish is solid black - you can't see any of the fibers as with a clear finish.  This probably means that, since the fibers aren't on display, they don't have to be laid up quite as neatly as the higher end model and therefore saves cost.  The fibers are visible on the neck and seem to be as neat as possible.  The body material is also a bit thicker which would contribute to Rainsong's durability claim.  Can't really tell about the durability but it is a bit heavier.  All in all it sounds plenty good enough to play out with and I would not hesitate to record a CD with it either.

The guitar came on a Thursday and I played at the Art & Soul coffee house/pottery studio in Gig Harbor (Washington) with it on Saturday.  I keep a sailboat  in Tacoma and it is about an hour sail from Tacoma to Gig Harbor so I decided to sail over on Saturday, play Saturday night, stay the night on the boat, and sail back on Sunday.  In the early Fall the weather is still pretty nice up here but this is the perfect trial for a "weatherproof" guitar!

The gig went well (though the crowd was very small) and the guitar, through a Crate Taxi , sounded great.  I didn't get dock space so I had to use the dinghy to get back and forth to the boat.  When I returned to the boat I forgot and left the guitar in the cockpit for several hours.  It was in the 50s, very damp out, and the guitar was in a gig bag sitting out in the open.  When I remembered it I brought it into the cabin, took it out of the gig bag, and, of course, it was still in perfect tune.

Then, to top off the stupidity, I put it back into the gig bag and inadvertantly set it in front of a heater vent.  This was a very cold guitar suddenly getting warmed up to the point where it was uncomfortable to touch the outside of the gig bag.  Once again, I took it out, had a look, and it was still in perfect tune.  After this abuse I put it safely away in an unused bunk.  If this doesn't define what this guitar is good for I don't know what does.

The real down-side to this instrument  is that the manufacturing process is still not as mainstream as cutting and gluing wood.  This results in a somewhat spendy instrument.  For about the same price as my scratch-n-dent ?bargain? you could get a pretty high-end wood guitar.  It would probably sound more ?woody? but it wouldn?t fill the niche of pretty good tone and durability.  There isn?t really any other way to get that except with the Rainsong. 

I'm going to sail to Port Townsend this summer for the Acoustic Country Blues festival.  The only guitar that makes sense to bring in this environment is the Rainsong.  What a great way to pass the time on a long sailing passage!
 
I used the RainSong on several tracks of my Acoustic Country Blues CD.  Can you guess wich ones?

"That's a leaver" - bass player, whenever he finished a track (he meant "keeper").

"Nobody ever told me I would have to play in time" - guitar player, after blowing many, many takes.

"The kick is just a subliminal thing" - bass player, when asked if he knew how to play in time with the kick.

"Record companies won't sign you if you don't have vintage gear" - bass player, while trying to justify the purchase of crappy '70s Fender gear.

"Just double the whole mix so it will have that fat sound" - songwriter.

"So do you think the Goo Goo Dolls go home and practice on their own?" - guitar player, when told to practice at home.

"I just want to climb a mountain, get naked, and smoke a joint" - same guitar player.

"I can't wait 'til I'm famous and get arrested and can say 'I'll be out in a couple of days'" - future rockstar.

"But dude, it's gonna happen" - bass player, when asked to sign a contract guaranteeing he wouldn't miss a gig because of too much drugs or alcohol.

"I wanna be a producer, you just tell me what to say and I'll tell it to the band" - a guy who wanted to be a producer, talking to an actual producer.

"Your clave part sounds like you're having a seizure with two pieces of wood in your hand" - bass player who couldn't keep time to a drummer who couldn't keep time.

"I'm just using music to become the political leader of the world" - keyboard player, wanted to legalize pot.

"We're just gonna take $20, we'll find women who'll put us up and feed us" - band leader (!?), embarking on two week, out-of-state road tour...ended up sleeping in van every night and getting very, very hungry.

"I am an artist, I am brooding and complex!" - an artist.

"I have impeccable timing, the click must be slowing down" - drummer, doing overdub to drum machine click track.

"Sounds like a turd floating in a bowl" - drummer, commenting about another drummer's track.

"Can't you just add a little delay, harmonizer, compression, reverb, and enhancer to make it sound like it's supposed to?" - guitar player, trying to get out of re-cutting a bad track.

"Hey, I think you are on to something with this tube gear" - gear "expert".

"Yeah, that's my sound" - guitar player, when questioned by engineer why only the effects return signal was coming through his amp.

"It's not my sticks, It's your rims" - drummer, playing on the house kit, explaining why a take got blown.

"We nail that when we play live" - guitar player making excuses for bad take.

"This project will make your career" - everyone who comes through the studio.

Probably one of the toughest studio tools to learn how to use effectively is a compressor/limiter. For good reason, unlike a reverb or a delay, the effect can be a little harder to hear and understand. The basic use for a compressor/limiter is to gain control of the signal, but I also use them to alter the sound of a particular track. I?m one of those that really like the sound of compression. Purists hate guys like me, but they can write their own article. The following are just basic starting points that work for me in a given situation and are tailored to each need accordingly.

On vocals I like the sound of a good tube limiter. Use what you?ve got, but once you hear a tube limiter on vocals you?ll be saving your allowance for one. Since most singers don?t have very good "studio mic" etiquette, squeezing down hard on them is a must in my book. I?ll start at 10:1 and take off between 10 ? 15 db. I set the attack for as quick as possible and the release for medium fast. A little before the mid point on the dial. Now some people think that?s a bit much, but for me that?s just the starting point. When I mix, I?ll squeeze it some more. Another 6 or 7 db if I feel like it. This ain?t brain surgery here, do what sounds right to your ears not some techie?s. And when it comes to background vocals, watch out! This is a place where comp/limiters can really shine. I say to hell with this 90?s lo-fi crap, do as many background tracks as you can (actually, as many as the song dictates) and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze! Again, if your ears say it sounds right, then it does. If I?m working with a singer who has good "studio mic" etiquette, I?ll start with a medium compression rate of 6 ? 8:1 and take off around 4 - 10 db. If your using low a low budget unit, listen carefully when taking off a lot of db?s, they can effect the sound considerably at the higher rates and you might be better off lowering your ratio or reduction amount.

Ya gotta love compression on guitars. Some say distorted guitars are already compressed enough. What that says to me is "compress them some more and they?ll sound even better". I?ll start with 4 ? 6:1 and take off around 4 db, again fast attack, medium fast release. I tend to take off a little more with tube compressors than with solid state, and usually don?t compress again at mix down unless I really want the track to stick out in the mix. To my ears, compression on distorted guitars makes them more detailed and creamier sounding. That?s what I like, and that?s what I?m sticking to.

On clean guitar compression is mandatory at my place. I always use amps on clean guitar, never, never, never direct. I understand the whole "I live in an apartment" issue. But since I don?t live in an apartment, I only record clean guitars with an amp. Now running a guitar into the compressor then the amp sounds different then running directly to the amp and compressing the mic?d signal. If your looking for that killer 70?s compressed clean sound, run your guitar into a dbx160, knobs straight up, then into a Fender twin. You don?t even have to know a funk riff, just whack some muted strings and you?ll be lookin? for some bell-bottoms! When using an amp, I start off with the same settings as distorted, 4 ? 6:1 ratio, and knocking off about 4 db. If it?s a background track I?ll take off more and experiment with a higher ratio. Clean guitars are so much more responsive to dynamic changes in playing compared to distorted guitars, so getting control of the volume ranges is extremely important. You don?t want any notes popping out of your background track right when the singers hitting the big money line. Warning-overly compressing a clean background guitar can be ultra-cool and really tick off the purists! Of course if it?s the main guitar line, I?ll stick with just leveling off the overall volume and bringing out the detail a bit.

Bass guitars love compressors. No two ways about it. You have a bass, you need a compressor. The sound of a good bass going into a good d.i. box into a good compressor with a good bass player just can?t be beat. Playing even and steady for bass players can sometimes be quit the challenge. If I?m working with a great bass player, setting the compressor at 6-8:1 and taking off 4 ? 8 db can be yield some incredible sounding tracks. If I?m using an amp in conjunction with a d.i, I?ll limit the cab starting at 10:1 and take off 6 ? 10 db. I?ll start off with a fast attack time but if the player is fairly even, I?ll back it off a little. Release times are longer than with guitars because of the low frequencies of a bass. Start with a medium, right in the middle, release time and work up from there. What your listening for here is the "pumping" or releasing of the compressor. If the compressor grabs the sound and lowers the volume then the volume swells again before it decays, that?s pumping, and that?s not cool. Experimenting with release times is the key here. It?s also extremely important to listen carefully to how the two mix together. Just because each signal sounds good on it?s own, doesn?t mean they?ll sound good together. Watch for phase cancellation. Basically if you have one signal up and bring the second signal up and the sound gets quieter, you have phase cancellation. Your remedy here would be to reverse the polarity on one of the signals. If your mic pre-amp doesn?t have a polarity switch, you?ll have to buy an adapter (or make one) or use just one signal. Unless of course you like the sound of phase cancellation then by all means, use it! (just keep it in mono) . If the bass player I?m working with isn?t real consistent I?ll tend to move the d.i. to 10:1 range and go from there. At mix down time, depending on the style I?m working with, it?s time to bring out the compressor again and take off a few more db! It?s amazing to me how good a really compressed bass can sound on a rock track.

It?s my belief that they should build limiters into drums. I don?t know how, it?s just my belief. In my opinion, there is not a single instrument that benefits from the sound of a limiter as much as drums do. Take a kick drum for starters. Set your limiter at 12:1, back off on the attack time a notch or two from its fastest setting. Make the release time as fast as it will go, take off 15 -?18 db and boom!!! That is a solid, fat, slammin?, attacky, punchy, happenin? kick. I won?t go in to eq settings, that?ll be another article, but how any one could argue with those settings is beyond me. That brings out all the best elements of a kick drum and slams them right upside your noggin. Experiment with the reduction amount according to your musical style, a little less for anything other than rock, but I?ve used that setting for years and it always seems to work for me.

Snare drums are limiter lovers too. I start at 12:1, fastest attack, fastest release, take off about 6? 10 db and I?m ready to roll tape. Toms I don?t limit very often. Maybe a little compression if the drummer is really inconsistent or I?m looking for that squashed sound. If I do, I don?t go above 8:1 and only take off a few db. Overheads I like to limit to bring up the cymbal decay. 12:1 with a fast attack and medium fast release, taking off about 6 db usually works for me. Here?s wear the techie?s totally lose it, if you can get your hands on an old Alesis microlimiter, you?ll have the overhead limiter from hell. I?ve got several higher-end tube and solid state comp/limiters here at the studio and for some reason, I always go back to the microlimiter. If your on a budget, even better. You can pick them up dirt cheap on the internet and you?ve got an excuse. I use ambient mics on the drums also, and those I really squeeze. I set my tube limiter to inf:1, fastest attack, medium fast release and take off 20 db. Mix that in with the other drum mics and you got the slammin' beat.

These settings all work for drum machines too.

Just because you?re using sound modules doesn?t mean you don?t need to compress them. Remember compressors effect the sound not just volume. Try a 4:1 ratio with a medium fast attack and medium release, taking off 2 ? 4 db. To my ears, especial through a tube comp, they just sound smoother.

Remember, these are just my starting points. I like the sound compressing and limiting ads. Everyone has different tastes, use your own ears to tell you what?s right and wrong., not someone else?s. Experimenting is the key to success.

Guest Blogger: Darin DiPietro

You don?t hear a lot about track sheets in magazine articles because most engineers and producers take them for granted. They seem so basic and inconsequential that no one really thinks about them much. This is where the problem starts. For a lot of beginners, understanding a track sheet and how to keep one organized can actually be difficult. Now, there will be some know-it-alls that laugh at this and think they're above the basics of a track sheet. Some may very well be, but not all. Here?s what made me think of this article.

From time to time at the studio here I get the ?opportunity? to mix tapes that were recorded at another ?professional? studio. I?m ADAT based so this shouldn?t be much of a problem right? Wrong, wrong, wrong. I get tapes with instruments that bounce from one track to the next, totally unorganized, nothing documented, stereo one minute mono the next because no one knew they were recording over a previously laid track. These tapes I mix aren?t coming from home studios, they?re actual ?pro? studios. So obviously there are engineers and producers, no matter how small or big time, that forget or overlook the usefulness and complexity of track sheets.

One basic rule that gets lost in the shuffle is to be consistent from take to take. If you're multi-tracking drums for instance, and on the first song track 1 is the kick, mark that on the track sheet and every song after that will have the kick on track 1.

Now when all the songs are cut without taking the gear down this seems like a no brainer. But when drums are cut in several sessions over extended periods, tracks can get moved around. If you've properly marked your track sheets then you?ll know exactly where each instrument belongs session to session.

If I were to go back through my track sheets what I would see on every band's track sheets on track 1 would be the kick drum. Track 2 would be the snare, 3 & 4 stereo toms (unless on the rare occasion I give each tom it?s own track, then it would be consistent from song to song), Tracks 5 & 6 would be stereo overheads, 7 & 8 ambient drum mics, 9 high hat, track 10 would have a ride mic if needed. Now that might be more tracks than you have all together but the idea?s the same: KEEP THE TRACKS CONSISTENT.

I always put lead vocals on track 24. If there are two lead singers, the second singer goes on 23 and stays on 23. The harmonies always stay on their own tracks, highs on the high tracks, lows on the low tracks. So what happens if song two doesn?t have any harmonies but song one had three parts. I leave those tracks on song two empty unless I run out of tracks for the other instruments. Then I mark them clearly on the track sheets.

Remember: each song gets its own track sheet.

Included are a couple of examples from my own bands debut CD. Two songs, recorded weeks apart with two different drummers and none of the musicians ever meeting.

The first song recorded was ?Fallin?? using Josh Woodman on drums. He played to a click and scratch rhythm tracks. Notice the drums are laid out kick through ride, 1 through 10. On the second song ?Don?t Know Why? with Scott Vogel on drums, the tracks are laid out exactly the same. Then I added the bass tracks on both songs to tracks 11 & 12.

Next came guitars, Don?t Know Why has only two guitar tracks, Fallin? has five. Notice both main guitars are on 13 and solos on 14. This is where Fallin? uses extra tracks that were left empty on Don?t Know Why. The B-3 on Fallin? only gets two tracks, on Don?t know Why it gets three. The extra track on Fallin? giving way to a guitar part. The main tambourine and shakers are on the same tracks for both songs, along with the lead vocals being cut on 24.

I was lucky enough before the end of the tracking the instruments to borrow another ADAT for a total of 32 tracks, which meant I didn?t have to do any bouncing to make room for the horns. The main horns got spread from 25 through 27 on all songs with an ADT (artificial double track) on track 23 for Fallin?.

Every song on the CD uses the same basic configuration, with slight adjustments made for the extra tracks. Drums, bass, main and solo guitars, main keys and lead vocals are all on the same tracks. This makes mix down a breeze because the basic set-ups are consistent through out the mixes. There will obviously be changes from song to song, but the starting point will be there and life will be much easier in the long run.

Even if there are drastic changes from song to song, isn?t it nice to know that you can go right to track one and change the kick. This philosophy works no matter how many tracks you have, or what style you're recording. If you?re doing a lot of bouncing, keep track of every move and be consistent from song to song. A little organization in the beginning goes a long way at the end, especially if I end up mixing it!

Other important information can go on the track sheets besides what instrument is on a particular track. I also write down the signal path it takes before it gets to tape. For instance, the mic, the mic preamp, the compressor and the eq I used. That way, if I have to redo a track, I can set it up just like I had originally.

If you have enough room on your track sheet you can write your settings down for each piece of gear you?ve used. This can get a bit cluttered though, so I use a separate sheet when I need to remember settings.

You can also note the start/end times of an individual track. If you have a part that only comes in sporadically throughout the song, write down when it starts and stops, if you have to use one track for multiple parts/instruments, this is a great way to see at a glance what track has the open space you need.

I?ve been in the business for 17 years, and as I see it most musicians are lazy, pathetic, whining cry babies. It takes alot of hard work, practice and perseverance to make a living in music. If it?s more important for you to watch the boob tube, then give up on the music. If you think you should be given a whole bunch of money because you have this great song in your head, spare me the details and just flip my burger and salt those fries.

You can be successful and make a living in music if you are willing to get up off your lazy ass, throw out the welfare mentality thinking, and work like you really want it. Put together a band, lay down the rules, and start working. Work through your songs, every last bar of your songs. Get them tight and cohesive, Know them inside and out. Make sure everyone knows their part perfectly. Then check out the local studios, find the right one for you and record a CD.

Don?t bitch about not having the money, get a second job, throw a car wash, sell lemonade, if you want it bad enough you will find a way to get the money. Don?t expect someone to give you the money, go out and earn it. It?ll teach you the value of a buck and work some of that fat off your lazy ass.

Now some bands get this far then they expect the major labels to pull up with a big truck full of money and vacation tickets to Disneyland. That ain?t the way it works! First off, you don?t need a major label or any other label for that matter. You?ve just started your own and when your hard work starts to pay off and you're selling fifty or sixty thousand copies on your own, signing with a label is just going to cut into your profits.

Now you start sending out promo packs to the clubs, record stores and radio stations. You do your follow up calls, always being polite, and start your marketing campaign.(the book "BOOKING YOUR OWN TOUR" is a musicians bible, pick it up and read it over and over) Play anywhere and anytime to gain exposure and experience. Once you have a following the radio stations will have to play you even if you don?t give them payola! Record stores will want your CD?s because people who didn?t pick them up at your shows will go there to get them, and record stores don?t want to lose a sale.

You expand from local to regional to national markets. It takes alot of work and no one said it was easy but it can be done. So instead of sitting around bitching that you can?t get a break, you?ll be sitting around bitching about how the big bad record labels and the boneheaded booking agents and all the clubs won?t quit hounding you (musicians will always find something to bitch about) and last but not least, listening to you talk won't give me gas..