MY DIY DIGITAL LAB

NOOB HOME RECORDING (005) - Recording Bass Tracks

2012-01-22T01:11:00.006-05:00

I still haven't established a process on how I go about recording a song. However, it seems logical to start at pre-production and recording tracks. It's tempting to start mixing as I go, applying EQ and compressors, etc... as soon as I lay down a track but I try hard to avoid it. I keep reminding myself that mixing should start after the tracks have been cleaned, edited and when every piece of

DISCOVERING REAPER - 003 - Starting Reaper

2011-11-26T00:47:00.001-05:00

By default, Reaper opens the last project every time you start the program. I think it's a cool feature. It simply saves me a few mouse-clicks but this behavior can be changed by setting program preferences, or just temporarily by holding down the SHIFT key while Reaper is starting. For now I'm happy just the way it is. I also discovered that I can still have Reaper start up in different ways

Awesome!!! Home Recording On The Cheap

2011-11-16T11:13:00.006-05:00

Bobby Owsinski featured One Like Son's "Start The Show" video done entirely with an iPhone, an interface and a few apps. Check out the blog post HERE. Check out One Like Son's music HERE.

I Want That eBook!!!

2011-11-07T09:20:00.003-05:00

Ian Shepherd of Production Advice is giving away three copies of his new "Mastering with Multi-Band Compression" eBook and video. Needless to say, I want to win one! Most of my friends and some reviewers in home recording forums already think "Make Me Crawl" is a good first effort into recording my own music.But I think it can even go further given the know-how and the right tools (that I may

NOOB HOME RECORDING (004) - Adding Drum Fills

2011-10-03T23:25:00.004-04:00

A drum VST's preset patterns repeating over and over through several bars can quickly become boring and will scream fake. So taking the time programming from scratch or tweaking presets can go a long way. Adding drum fills can even take the song further and break the monotony. The Metro doesn't have any significant drum fills and in fact keeps the drum patterns pretty much the same all

DISCOVERING REAPER - 002 - Backing Up

2011-09-29T23:06:00.002-04:00

I decided to skip the sections on Output and Input Aliasing, Setting Up MIDI and Plug-Ins. I figured I could do it as needed. Reading on down the user guide there's an important blurb on backing up. Having had experience with glitches and crashes and --GASP-- the blue screen of death, this would be the most important thing to do on a regular basis. I found that it's not that hard to do on

MY FIRST PORTRAIT DRAWING - IGGY POP

2011-09-21T12:11:00.005-04:00

I was browsing through some used books for sale at our local library when I saw this picture on the cover of The Master Printer's Workbook: A Professional Guide To Black and White Darkroom Techniques. At the time I didn't even know or recognize who it was but I thought it was a striking photo and it would be a nice subject for my first portrait drawing so I bought the book. I used a generic

DISCOVERING REAPER - 001 - Setting Up Audio

2011-09-11T01:02:00.006-04:00

Setting up audio preferences is the next important topic tackled in the user guide. Having software and hardware agree with each other before you hit the "record" button will ensure the likelihood of a hassle-free home recording experience. I clicked on Options>Preferences to bring up the Preferences dialog box. I also found that Ctrl+P does the same thing. Following the user guide, I selected

DISCOVERING REAPER - 000 - Introduction

2011-09-05T20:50:00.002-04:00

I've had the evaluation copy of Reaper 3 installed for a while but never came around to using it as I've been comfortable with Ableton Live but after listening to episode 131 of the Home Recording Show podcast, I've decided to take this personal trip to discovering this DAW. First I downloaded and installed the latest version, number 4.0.2 at the time of writing. Next was the free

NOOB HOME RECORDING (003) - VST Drum Programming

2011-08-16T10:52:00.006-04:00

Nothing beats having real drums with a real drummer playing behind it. As with almost everything with this hobby, the drum kit or kits, the number of mics needed to capture the sound, studio rental if you happen to primarily work in your bedroom... all come at a cost. Not to mention hiring an experienced drummer if you don't already know one who is willing to work for free. I have none of the

A Pat On the Back

2011-08-10T10:10:00.007-04:00

I find it very rewarding when total strangers leave praises and nice comments for any work I've done. It feels great when people, other than friends and relatives, find what I have to share enjoyable. At some level it's a validation to why I do what I do and that's what keeps me inspired to do even more. Sometime last year (2010), I submitted "Make Me Crawl" for consideration on the Home Made

NOOB HOME RECORDING (002) - Lining Up Drum Beats

2011-08-05T16:44:00.009-04:00

For the benefit of total beginners, I would like to point you to the Glossary link at the top. This will come in handy as I throw out a bunch of acronyms and foreign sounding terms. -Mario After finding a suitable version of The Metro for a scratch track, it's time to get busy with drums or drum programming. In my case, it's the latter since I don't know any drummer, I don't own real drums and

Owsinski, On Making Your Band Sound Great

2011-08-02T11:12:00.004-04:00

Here's a few more golden nuggets from Bobby Owskinski on how to improve your band's performance. On his recent blog, he extracts some tips from his book: How To Make Your Band Sound Great. He briefly explains Dynamics, Attack and Releases, and Turnarounds. I think these can also be great songwriting tools. I'll make sure to take the time to incorporate these aspects into my songwriting process.

Original Art: Momma Dragon

2011-07-27T23:39:00.003-04:00

This was my entry to a dragon themed traditional drawing contest at pxleyes.com. I placed 8th out of the 10 entries. See the other entries here. I also posted a step-by-step on the site.

Fan Art: THE DARK KNIGHT

2011-07-27T23:22:00.004-04:00

I've been a comicbook superhero fan since I was little and the ones at the top of my list are Superman and Batman. Here's my rendition of the Dark Knight, done entirely with pencil. I worked on this over a couple of weeks during lunch breaks at work, just adding a little bit everytime.

Goodbye for now, Netflix!

2011-07-18T12:57:00.004-04:00

This might be old news by now but here's my take... It Could Be the “CATALYST”… for Higher BillsThe recent Netflix price increase on their streaming plus DVD rental just left a bad taste in my mouth. The thing is I don't watch much TV as I have an aversion to five minutes or more of commercials in between shows. Netflix really offered a great alternative. Before streaming was introduced, I was on

THE POD FARM BASS AMP AND CAB MODELS

2011-05-30T01:39:00.004-04:00

On this post we'll get familiarized with the five bass amp models of POD Farm (version 1). Bass playing is not my strongest suit but for this demo it will have to do.The bass on this sound test is an Ibanez GSR 190-T with both pickups active, all knobs on full. I used a medium pick. The bass modeling on the POD Farm allows for different combinations of amp and cabinet, room positioning of the

Latest Home Recording: STEREO

2011-05-22T01:23:00.010-04:00

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy finishing my latest home recording. Yeah, it's bad but kinda good at the same time. Well I'm done... finally. I wrote Stereo back in the early 90's when Pill was still actively playing. The song's inspiration revolves around being stereotyped when the general impression was that you were most likely an addict of sorts if you were in a rock band.

SPONTANEOUS NOODLES

2011-04-04T14:34:00.002-04:00

Hah! I just dug up this old music file from back in the mid 90's. It's just spontaneous "noodling" in the studio while on rehearsal break. I just started playing this palm muted riff. Next thing you know, Art (drums) started playing along. Paul (bass) soon joined in. What followed next was pure four-and-a-half minutes of fun and mayhem. The lyrics were gibberish of course. At that time I

Bobby Owsinski's 5 Elements Of A Great Arrangement

2011-03-22T13:26:00.009-04:00

A while back I came across a great article about musical arrangement on Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture Blog. He explains that most songs usually have five elements: Foundation, Pad, Rhythm, Lead and Fills that, when used effectively, can make a great song. Any more than that makes it confusing to the listener. These elements can also be a helpful analysis tool for a musician in the process of

NOOB HOME RECORDING (001) - The Scratch Track

2011-03-18T16:10:00.006-04:00

On NHR (000), you've heard the cover version done though very meager recording setup and little to no recording experience. Had I taken the time to actually listen to the original song to figure out the key, I wouldn't be griping about it today. This brings me to the importance of scratch tracks. So what is it? I found an explanation on Wikipedia. It pertains to animation but I think it can

NOOB HOME RECORDING (000) - Welcome

2011-03-06T00:42:00.004-05:00

Welcome to the NOOB HOME RECORDING segment. This is where I will share my experiences (and frustrations) on budget home recording, its basics, EQ's, Compression, and all sorts of recording stuff, as I learn them. I've buried my nose into how-to books and online articles on the subject but as a consequence, it took time away from actually recording music. I do have one work in progress and it's

"STEREO" PROGRESS AND HRS INTERVIEWS KIM LAJOIE

2011-02-14T13:00:00.005-05:00

Back on the music front. My current project is still in the works. I've pretty much laid down all the basic tracks except for the vocals. But it's already taking too long to finish. I keep getting distracted and I'm always finding excuses not to record this one final track so I can begin mixing. Anyway, if you're interested on the song's progress, here's what I have so far... it's called Stereo

MY DIGITAL GRAPHIC ART ODYSSEY

2011-02-07T00:58:00.004-05:00

I've always loved to draw since I was little. It started from drawing my favorite cartoon characters and later on creating my own. I also remember back in grade school and high school when I used to make my own comic books and passed it around to my classmates. Those were fun times. Well the flame is still alive albeit quite faint. I manage to doodle every now and then. But lately I've been

Getting To Know The POD Farm Amp Models

2010-12-30T21:30:00.101-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I intend to learn and acquire an in-depth understanding of every piece of gear and software I have. On this post, I am going to learn about the 18 different amp models that come with Line 6’s POD Farm. I have Version 1 of POD Farm which came with the POD Studio UX2 I got on Christmas of 2009. As of this writing, Version 2 has come out but I won’t go into that