tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257412072025-08-11T00:24:46.007-07:00Bottom-End has moved. You can find the new site at www.petestrobl.com or www.bottom-end.com. Come see me and don't forget to bookmark the new site.Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-79082890574806865162008-06-21T01:47:00.000-07:002008-06-21T02:01:14.523-07:00

Bottom-end has moved to a new location. I have merged www.petestrobl.com and this blog on a single site. There is a new look and many improvements in functionality. At the new digs you can find articles by category or use the search function to look for articles by key words.The new site is much easier on the old eyeballs and will include sound samples along with my usual rants and raves. This

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-66520400012074777462008-06-17T03:17:00.000-07:002008-06-17T03:52:32.727-07:00

The fourth of July is a big day in the United States. For most Americans it is a day of hot dogs, apple pie, homemade ice cream, outdoor band concerts and fireworks. There are also a few people who recognize the day as commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence and signaling the birth of a nation.This year the fourth of July will be cause for celebration of another sort in one

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-87135420450899935772008-06-07T01:50:00.000-07:002008-06-07T01:56:20.874-07:00

I'VE HAD IT! I've had it up to here with beggars. My compassion has finally withered until there is nothing left but a parched and twisted vine, its roots seeking sustenance in the cracking clay that was once fertile ground for an occasional "got any spare change?"The beggars I'm talking about aren't the rag-clad human lumps who raise a disfigured hand in supplication at the village gates. No,

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-57558709333003830462008-05-12T00:36:00.000-07:002008-05-12T00:56:40.852-07:00

Goddamn! It has been a busy spring for me and I finally have some time to write. Many great stories, thousands of miles traveled and two fun projects signed, sealed and delivered. I've just delivered the masters for the ConFused5 album "Out of Confusion" which Ron Hitchcock and I mixed at RixMix here in the LA area. Man, what a great room. The place belongs to our pal Rick Ruggieri, a phenomenal

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-80764489288517901592008-04-12T01:48:00.000-07:002008-04-12T01:53:26.079-07:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of recording one of my all-time favorite singers. I'm finishing up the SolidTube tracks and we will begin mixing the album in a few days. While in Vienna, I had Mandana sketch out the background vocals but another voice will really add some meat to the tracks. And I know of no meatier voice than the one that lives inside Angela Carole Brown.I met Angie many years ago

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-12322853740876318602008-03-26T18:27:00.000-07:002008-03-27T10:51:04.145-07:00

FUCK!...always wanted to start a blog like that. The universal plosive monosyllabic attention getter...and a word with deep hidden meaning. But I digress. What I meant to say was, Fuck, I really don't want this to be over. Went in to Sonic Flow Studio and ran up some work mixes and suddenly it began to sink in that the recording sessions for ConFused5 are history. As Sammie Davis Jr. might have

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-76046855146281762592008-03-24T02:21:00.000-07:002008-03-24T02:27:04.626-07:00

As I said in my last entry, the guys at Sonic Flow Studio have built a very cool recording environment. The room is large and they have plenty of large studio gobos. These are move-able walls which are used to create isolated areas in the studio. With these we were able to isolate the guitar amps from the drum microphones. They are also handy in creating a vocal booth or for changing the acoustic

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-31596067603138213152008-03-17T16:43:00.000-07:002008-03-17T16:55:36.523-07:00

After a strong rehearsal week, ConFused5 and I moved into Sonic Flow Studio and settled in to cut the basic rhythm tracks for their new album. Sonic Flow is a studio after my own heart. Wolfgang and Max have built a great sounding room and have stocked it with great equipment. The studio records on either Protools HD or Logic and there is no shortage of great microphones, pre-amps or good vibes.

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-937022493409489002008-03-13T19:16:00.000-07:002008-03-13T19:25:05.182-07:00

We are ready to go into the recording studio! It has been a full work week for ConFused5. Actually it has been two work weeks in one for the guys in the band. All the guys work for a living so rehearsing every available minute has meant that they have been working two jobs this week. I don't know how much their straight jobs take out of them, but I've been working them pretty hard and I think

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-74801559785030219072008-03-09T06:36:00.000-07:002008-03-10T07:28:17.786-07:00

As the night court judge said, slamming the bench with his gavel, "Next case!" I've been in Salzburg for six days recuperating from the whirlwind SolidTube project and am now in the Midst of ConFused5 country. During the week I had the pleasure of meeting with Markus, his lovely wife Joanna as well as Herbert and Regina. We have met over bier, wine, leberkäse, cheese and pizza, always discussing

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-71774979774656607342008-03-08T15:33:00.000-08:002008-03-08T15:39:47.601-08:00

Feb. 25. What an evening! As I had described in the previous post, we had a nice group of fans and believers come to Wild One Music last night to join SolidTube in singing the final chorus of one of their songs.The most I had hoped for was to show appreciation to the folks who have made all of this possible and maybe to add some ambience to the track. As it turned out, the group of believers

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-45677854126942590302008-03-07T09:10:00.000-08:002008-03-07T09:15:18.618-08:00

Feb.17. After three full days in the studio we have basic tracks on six songs. The most interesting thing for me has been that we have worked our asses off, been stuck in close quarters, could most probably identify each other blindfolded by smell, and still have yet to experience the least bit of friction. Something is definitely wrong here. I'm not used to working like this.As I've said before,

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-2713723637158493992008-02-20T01:01:00.000-08:002008-02-20T01:07:31.800-08:00

Feb.15. Ah, as I write this, I'm looking out the window and see the first Austrian snowfall since my arrival. Yesterdau ehj sdh iutet ...oh, sorry, I should know better than to type while looking outside! Let me start over...Yesterday was our first day at Wild One Music studio. On my calendar I had predicted the following schedule:11:00 AM Arrive at Studio for load in. Set up drums.12.00

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-28687247447077459382008-02-13T23:39:00.000-08:002008-02-13T23:50:36.228-08:00

Feb. 4th. The first full band rehearsal went very well. Since this was my first face to face meeting with the rhythm section, we did a short "let's find out something about everyone" session before hitting the first downbeat. The combined age of the drummer and bassist is less than one of my basses, and I'm sure that I have at least one pair of shoes older than the guitarist, so getting in touch

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-37018805104512136582008-02-07T04:10:00.000-08:002008-02-07T04:17:25.293-08:00

My family immigrated to the United States when I was three years old and the trip took twelve days. My latest trip to Austria took much less time but felt every bit as taxing on the nerves. It started out beautifully. I was able to secure an aisle seat in the exit row and settled down to what I thought would be a nice nap for the twelve hour flight into London's Heathrow airport. Ah, lucky me, my

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-81614207363738357382008-01-28T03:01:00.000-08:002008-01-29T02:44:56.313-08:00

Thursday, January 31, 2008. That's the day I'll be landing on the shores of Vienna to begin the process of recording an album with SolidTube, the first Austrian band to reach the $50,000 mark on Sellaband. Okay, so Vienna doesn't have a "shore" in the strictest sense of the word, but the city does straddle the Blue Danube and that's good enough for me to stretch the analogy by a few miles. This

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-6294045844369873972008-01-23T10:04:00.000-08:002008-01-23T10:07:56.431-08:00

That is a direct quote from Monty Budwig. I had been studying string bass with the veteran west coast bassist for a few months and the lessons had become more like rap sessions on a variety of subjects, some of them musical. On one occasion I walked in on Monty and trumpeter Jack Sheldon debating the financial merits of opening a repair shop for "love toys." I couldn't help myself from observing

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-71973848849759427322007-12-07T16:10:00.000-08:002007-12-07T16:27:47.806-08:00

Call me a hopeless romantic, but I'm a sucker for the real shit. I don't eat fast food and I don't wear underwear unless it's 100% cotton. Aluminum baseball bats may save trees, but it's the vintage crack of wood against horsehide that genuinely punctuates a game of baseball. And gravity notwithstanding, two pounds of silicone "seduceth not" as it says in the bible...somewhere.When it comes to

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-79988722268651249492007-11-16T02:22:00.000-08:002007-11-16T02:38:31.724-08:00

My son was about seven when he began to show an interest in basketball. This was the golden age of the Los Angeles Lakers and kids patterned themselves after Magic, Kareem and Worthy. If you were white, you were automatically called Larry or Rambis. Seven and eight-year-old kids, identifying with their heroes, called themselves point guards, shooting guards, small forwards and power forwards

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-5562564312332911942007-11-09T12:34:00.000-08:002007-11-09T12:39:39.402-08:00

I read a post on the Sellaband forum recently in which an aspiring artist asked for advice in ways to increase their fan base, specifically, how to increase attendance at live gigs. The Sellaband community, always eager to contribute to the success of its own, responded with suggestions ranging from traditional methods of sending flyers and posting placards to employing the internet in reaching

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-19316850680875848332007-11-05T01:39:00.000-08:002007-11-07T15:38:46.049-08:00

I was thirteen when, having made the conscious decision to waste away my life in acts of dissipation and iniquity, I joined forces with the neighborhood do-nothings and formed my first band. This was just after guitar amps were being converted from whale oil to electricity as their power source and, ignorant of the idea that we were supposed to actually learn how to play instruments, we convened

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-23527992517068882482007-10-25T14:31:00.000-07:002007-10-25T20:03:06.954-07:00

Pop music has taken on many faces since February 9th, 1964 when the Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Their performances on national television ushered in the age of the pop-rock act as a self-contained unit. I remember watching the show and realizing how different this was from all that had come before. This wasn't Elvis gyrating to the rhythm of an anonymous rhythm

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-28485952533357089932007-10-22T22:41:00.000-07:002007-10-22T22:50:40.913-07:00

Timing is everything. In music, it can mean the difference between a mediocre performance or a moment in time that infects the memory of the listener for years. In the business of music, a shrewd sense of timing can make or break a career. There is a band on the Sellaband web site that has displayed a very acute sense of timing in both regards.I reviewed Trail early last summer and the only

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-3444082132643942822007-10-20T23:51:00.000-07:002007-10-21T00:01:42.380-07:00

"Hello, my name is Pete and I'm a guitar-a-holic." Every time I get my hands on a beautiful guitar or bass I imagine myself saying those words as I introduce myself to a roomful of like-minded addicts in some sort of twelve-step program for gear junkies. My addiction goes back to about age 3 or 4. My dad had a Sears Silvertone acoustic guitar and I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25741207.post-65158981206606031292007-10-15T19:35:00.000-07:002007-10-15T19:40:40.251-07:00

This is a continuation of my post Revolution vs Evolution and is written as my extended response to some of the more pessimistic entries being posted on the Sellaband forum.Scene I:It is a warm and balmy day as three small ships bob aimlessly in the still, windless expanse of the uncharted sea. There is a meeting in the captain's quarters and three of the crewmen express that, being lost, hungry

Pete Stroblhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15694603455912780168noreply@blogger.com3