Road Work

The East Coast tour was a good one. It takes a special mindset to pull off a roadtrip, and it can be very taxing if you aren't prepared for it. Here are some highlights:

We headed south out of Massachusetts down the coast to our first gig, which was in North Carolina. We pulled into a crowded nightclub, and the house was full of enthusiastic people. It was a great way to start the tour. We rocked the house and sold some band merchandise. The contracts had riders in them that
provided rooms and meals for the band, and the food was excellent on this trip. After the gig, we were checking the weather for our next nights performance, where we discovered that there was a huge snowstorm headed right at us! The promoter called us and cancelled the show due to an act of God.
There was more snow forecast for the state of North Carolina than there had been in many years, over a foot of the white stuff! I think that North Carolina has only one snowplow for the entire state, and it was broken down. The natives couldn't believe how much snow they received!

From there, we next drove to Florida where the warm weather was greatly appreciated. When you are from cold New England, going to Florida in the dead of winter is a wonderful thing indeed! We played all over the state of Florida, on both coasts, and spent almost two weeks in the Florida Keys.

One of the best things about touring in Florida is that most of the people are there on vacation, and they want to party. We played at many different venues this trip, and we revisited some of the clubs we played at during the last tour. Everywhere we went we were treated very graciously, and we really appreciated the kind words and actions from the people.

I liked to call this last tour the Tee Shirt Tour, as we scored Tee shorts from many of the clubs we played at. I got a bunch of cool shirts, souvenirs from our successful roadtrip. When we were in Key West, Florida, I also picked up some nice shirts there, too. Key West has to be the shirt capitol of Florida, there
must be one hundred different stores there.

We played at every imaginable venue possible, from tiny little neighborhood bars to exclusive resort communities. I like to think we gave everyone a great show regardless of the circumstances. We made a lot of connections and we made a lot of people happy, too.

On this trip Sweet Daddy used his regular guitar player, Mark Easton, who is an excellent performer. Mark brought along his brother Barry to fill the drum chair. The Easton Brothers were very entertaining on the road. They provided invaluable comic relief, something greatly appreciated during the long hours on the
road traveling from venue to venue. You get close to your bandmates when you are touring, and a sense of humor goes a long way toward making the time pass.

Sweet Daddy was a great experience for me. I learned a lot about life on the road, and what it takes to pull off a successful tour. Sweet Daddy sold all of his CDs, and most of his tee shirts, too. He is a good entertainer and does well everywhere he goes.

When the tour was over I stepped down from the bass chair in Sweet Daddy's band to return to my first love, playing the guitar. I appreciate Sweet Daddy throwing the road work my way, and I may work with him again someday. For now, I am working with a great female vocalist, Janet Ryan, and we call the band
Straight Up! We are doing rock, blues and Motown things.

Racy
###

Touring

Touring. The word conjures up many different visions to me. Road warriors in a rusty old Ford
van attacking poor unsuspecting nightclubs, unleashing new music on the public. Buddies bonding
together after spending many weeks and miles on the road. All the crapshoots - from crummy meals and
bad hotel rooms to those special clubs where everyone involved is supportive of you and your music,
never not really knowing what lies ahead of you on the road. Finding out what your fellow bandmates are
really like. There is nothing like travelling up and down America to find out what little idiosyncrasies are
harbored by those other guys in the band. When Sweet Daddy Cool Breeze contacted me and asked if I
would join his band for their East Coast Tour, I was ready for the experience as I have been off the road
for a while, and I wanted to see how much things had changed.

When Sweet Daddy first offered the tour to me I was feeling pretty good about it. After all, what poor
bastard stuck in cold New England would be foolish enough to turn down an East Coast Tour, playing
down the East Coast, culminating in an almost two week stay in the Florida Keys? The catch? Well, it
soon became obvious that he needed a Bassist, and first and foremost I happen to be a guitar player.
Hmmmm, is this something I can pull off? Well, the allure of a trip to the Keys was incentive enough for
me to get my hands on a cool old Jazz Bass and start playing Sweet Daddy's CD. Shameless plug
inserted here: Graig Gooley, funky bassist from Holyoke, Massachusetts was gracious enough to lend
me the Bass and an eight hundred watt bass amplifier for the tour. He helped me immensely, and I owe
him one large debt of gratitude. He tossed me a few Bass playing tips, which helped me to overcome the
usual problems that guitar players face when they try to play the box with the four big strings. After
repeated playings of the CD I got a handle on the Bass end of the music, and I was ready for the road.

Sweet Daddy did a great job of booking the tour and we played our way from Massachusetts to
Pennsylvania, Delaware, North and South Carolina, down the Florida Coast into the Keys, where we had
extended stays and only had to move twice during the almost two weeks we spent there. He has talent in
the booking area, and between using his previously established connections and the Internet, he put
together a nice package. If you need some help putting together a tour, you should consider dropping
him a line at:Sweet Daddy

His commission rates are favorable, and he is a seasoned road warrior, having spent the better part of
the last ten years touring America and Europe. Highly recommended.

As the tour progressed, and I spent more time on the stage playing Sweet Daddy's music for the people,
I had time to react to the different ways that people treat others. The bass chair was demanding and
required me to pay attention to the structure of the music. One thing that became quickly apparent to me
was that in order for the music to develop, the band had to put aside any personal differences and work
as one. As we travelled further South, the music got tighter and tighter as our show developed! In every
place we played, we left the crowd satisfied, entertained, and wanting more. Sweet Daddy was offered
return engagements at every venue that we performed in. It's a good feeling to be recognized for your
efforts. I even convinced him to do a trio act, opening for his show. I played guitar and fronted the
band, while Sweet Daddy himself got behind the drum kit and turned in respectable performances.
Sometimes you do crazy things on the road. All in the name of Music.

For the first third of the tour we played one-nighters, and drove long hours in the old Ford Van. Those
things wear you out fast, and it was good that we did most of them early into the tour. Drive and play
and drive some more. The wonderful illusion of life on the road gets tarnished early. By doing most of
the one-nighters early on, we had the strength to pull them off. By the time we arrived in the Florida keys
we were ready for a day off. We only had two moves during our almost two week stay there, and that
allowed us to recharge our batteries. We even had some time off to be tourists, seeing the sights down
there in Florida. I managed to get to the beach and get myself a sunburn - which is really something for
me. I haven't really gotten into the sun very often over the last few years. By playing at night and sleeping
during the day, in the past I seemed to miss a lot of the sunshine. Now that I was here I was determined
to get some kind of a tan and I did. I torched my back pretty badly, and I went through a bottle of
Aloe-Vera gel trying to put out the fire. Now Sweet Daddy, on the other hand, managed to bronze up
quite nicely. He was looking like a native, while I looked more like a terrorist. Oh, well... If we would
have had a little more time there I might have worked up a respectable tan. It was kind of nice for that to
be my biggest problem here in Florida - work hard and then get to ease up for a little while. After a short
time we were raring to go. And off we did. The schedule kept us busy.

Lets sidetrack here for a moment. I would like to throw a mental image your way. Sweet Daddy has a
unique touring vehicle. It's a fifteen year old Ford van with about three hundred thousand miles on it, and
it whistles while it is chugging down the interstate because the wind blows through all the rusty holes in
the body. This thing spewed liquids all over the highway, and there was usually a swimming pool under it
when we parked it for the night. Because it leaked oil and tranny fluid onto the exhaust pipes it would
create clouds of fowl smelling smoke whenever we stopped for a traffic light. People who had the
misfortune to pull up next to us at a traffic light usually rolled their eyes in disgust, or else they tried to
point out the fact that there was a serious problem with our ride. Like we didn't know...Sweet Daddy
kept his eyes on the fluid levels and refilled them almost hourly. If he forgot to top off the fluids the thing
wouldn't move when he shifted it into drive. Believe it or not, the thing really was reliable, although
NEXT time he goes out I hope he has something a little newer... Come to think of it, we did have a little
trouble with it - we were cruising down the highway, maybe in Georgia, when we saw one of the vans
tires roll by the van. The drivers side rear tire came right off the rim and ended up leaning on the side of
the van, almost looking like it was the spare tire ready to be installed. No problem, I figure we'll throw on
the spare and be on our way. Well, we couldn't get the rim off of the axle. We gave it our best shot but
the van won that round. Eventually the Highway Patrol stopped by and we got them to call a tow truck.
We figured that the truck would have a compressor on it, and we could use it to help us change the tire.
Unfortunately for us, they only use flatbed trucks down there. They don't fix cars on the highway, just
tow them off to the local gas station. After an eternity the tow truck arrived, and we watched the van get
dragged onto the flatbed. We struck up a conversation with the driver, who turned out to be in America
to learn how to tow cars correctly. Apparently they damage a lot of cars on the islands by towing them
improperly. When he found out that we were a touring band he let us know that he was a rapper! He
called himself King Budda. We were making plans to do shows with him. Hey, you gotta pursue
opportunities wherever they might arise. Hmmm, I wonder how a rap/blues card might work...Anyway,
back to the story...Sweet Daddys ride was a unique beast, right down to its sneakers. The damn thing
has sixteen and a half inch wheels! Guess what? NOBODY makes tires that size anymore. After a
nationwide search we found a tire, but it took the tire doctors three hours to get the thing onto the rim. I
was laughing as I watched three guys struggle in vain for a long time, unsuccessfully trying to get the tire
mounted. Be wary of those people that work at Firestone...Four hours and a C note later we were at last
back on the road.

Touring. It's the yardstick that your band should be judged by, it will give you lots of ideas for your
song writing, and your website.

So to sum it up, head into the studio and record ten of your best original tunes and burn some CD's.
Tune up the rusty old Ford van, and bring the music to the people. You'll learn very quickly just what
works and what doesn't.

See you on stage...
Racy
###

Let's try a bike ride.

I first saw it in the backyard of a co worker
wrapped in plastic.
I could tell that it was a motorcycle,
but I couldn't make out the model.

My friend bought this 1979 Triumph new in Palmer, MA
He rode it for a few years until he dropped it
then he put it in his backyard

I used to swing by his house on a regular basis as we were both into computers
and we collaborated on building newer and faster machines.
Everytime I went there, I would see the bike,
wrapped in a plastic cocoon
never moved from its place in the backyard.

After a while I asked him about the bike
he told me his story
and that he had no desire to ride it again
So I asked him to sell it to me
and I would try to bring it back to life.

For five years I asked him each spring if he would sell me the bike
he finally relented
Because he wasn't interested in it anymore
he gave it to me for a great price
and I became a biker once again

I bought a repair manual and some specialized tools and set about to get my new machine up and running
I had to do some work on the carburetors,
and after some trial and error I managed to get it running
and it runs well.

There is something magical about riding on 2 wheels
It seems to heighten the senses
You can smell the freshly cut hay in the fields
Listening to the exhaust pipes
VROOOOM
it makes me feel good

Ever have some bad driver pull out in front of you
and then drive slower than the speed limit?
one way to release that pent up anguish is to perform music
another way is to hop on the bike
and ride

I prefer the backroads to the highways
I like putting around enjoying the scenery
my days of driving at breakneck speed on a bike are over
I'll take a more relaxed pace now a days

Racy
###

I Have The Blues


It started out innocently enough.
I am a guitar player with an interest in electronics, and I read as much related reference material as I could get my hands on. I used old tube radios for guitar amplifiers and once I got started there would be no turning back. I had good enough results so I wondered what else I could press into service.

I remember when I first read about the Alesis HR-16 drum machine. All the reviewers praised it for its sound quality and price point, and I was interested in buying one to use as a musical composition tool. I put in my order and in about four weeks I received my new drum machine. Elated, I patched it into a spare guitar amp and jammed away.

I come from a poor background and came to appreciate the value of a dollar at a young age. Consequently, I was always on the hunt for used musical equipment because it could be purchased for ten cents on the dollar. I used this process to acquire many guitars and amplifiers, but the world of MIDI was a whole new area for me. I needed to do lots of research to get my knowledge up to where it needed to be. All older drum machines sounded terrible, i.e. the dreaded organists cha-cha box. This was built into many home organs and had buttons labeled rock, waltz, cha-cha, etc. Not real enough for me. The
cymbals sounded like somebody was spitting into a hot frying pan, and the kick sounded like somebody dropped their hat on the floor. That Alesis machine was sample based and stood head and shoulders above those organ things.

As part of my musical acquisition routine I would cruise the pawnshops and music stores looking for those used musical items that I found interesting. While in one of the local music stores I found an old Yamaha DX-7. It was complete with a case, stand, and ROM and RAM cartridges full of new sounds. I dragged it home and plugged it into the same guitar amp the drum machine was plugged into. I had seen Hammond organ players who would jam a matchbook between the keys to produce drone notes, so I would fire up the drum machine, jam the matchbook between two keys on the DX-7, and grab my guitar.

Next I met a player who explained to me that I needed a sequencer to create complete tunes. He explained to me that a sequencer is like a tape recorder except that it recorded MIDI data, and that MIDI data was kinda like cable TV, where there were sixteen channels available over one cable. You could assign drums to one channel, bass to another channel, etc. Neat.

Here comes the next problem. My DX-7 could only transmit MIDI data over channel one. How would I be able to transmit over the other fifteen channels? Back at the music store I got the owner to call Yamaha, and they said I could buy a chip that would allow MIDI transmission over all channels. More cash goes toward that purchase. So I install the chip only to discover that the DX-7 is not multi timbral, which means it can only transmit or receive MIDI one channel at a time. I would need a multi timbral sound module if I
wanted to hear drums, bass, keys, etc. all happening simultaneously. Enter the Roland MT-32 sound module, purloined from the back of the music store. At last I could get some fleshed out melodies going. The MT-32 had passable bass and organ sounds; the drums were in general useable with the exception of the crash cymbal, which had an obvious looping problem. You could hear where the sound started to
repeat itself. Needless to say, my songs didn't use any of the cymbal sounds of the MT-32. My Alesis drum machine sounded great, and I had my first passable MIDI setup.

Now effects enter the picture. The MT-32 had internal reverb, and it was passable, but I was a guitar player accustomed to my stomp boxes. I had wah-wah pedals, an MXR Phase 90,Small Stone flanger, and a buncha off branded boxes that either took up residence near my feet or plugged directly into the guitar itself. I LIKED the sound of my guitar through those pedals, and I wondered how the sound module would sound using them. The results were not the answer I needed, so off I go back to the music store to hang around and try to pick up some more useful knowledge. Here is where I learned about the Yamaha SPX-90 sound effector. Complete with echo, reverb, chorus, flange, and pitch shifter, I once again got
excited. I found one used, when a musician friend couldn't pay his rent.

The need for a way to mix all my different signals was becoming painfully clear to me. After a few months of searching I came across a Carvin sixteen in, four out mixing board. I dragged it to my little studio and proceeded to unplug my sound modules from that old guitar amp and plugged everything into the mixer. So far, so good.

So there I sat, with my headphones on, jamming away. The headphones were OK in the beginning as I was shy, and I didn't really want anyone to hear me working out my music. As I developed, however, I got tired of wearing the phones and wanted to hear the music out loud. Enter my next obstacle - A mixer needs monitors and a monitor amplifier. I had read that the Radio Shack Minimus 7, small metal bookshelf speakers, were acceptable. They were really cheap as well, so I sprung for a pair. I pressed my old Kenwood stereo amplifier into service powering those little black speakers.

I ran into another musician who needed cash, and I made a deal for a Teac 3340 four-track tape recorder. My research had revealed that a properly maintained reel to reel would outperform the Porta-01 cassette four tracker, which was the only available model back them. Cool. Next I picked up Craig
Andertons book about home recording. It was all about setting up a modest recording studio on a budget. I understand Craig has updated it and I highly recommend it. Now with four tracks to record on, I am in hog heaven. What more could I possibly need?

How about a really good cassette recorder to make dubs with? Of course I needed a three-headed model, so I could monitor the signal coming off the tape, which I had read was very important in obtaining a quality recording. This was OK for a little while, but I got tired of having to set up the mixer every time I wanted to make a cassette. The need for a two-track machine to create masters on was becoming more
apparent. I found a Fostex model 20 half-track tape recorder.

(Is it becoming obvious that money plays a major factor in all this? I was almost ready to go back to playing an acoustic guitar, but I had invested way too much time and money to toss it away now. I was a music junkie by this time, unwilling or unable to turn back now…) There weren't any DAT machines
yet, and analog reel to reel was the only way to go then. Another piece of gear gets dragged into my studio , which is growing uncontrollably, almost like cancer.

As I traveled around the country I was always scouting the pawn shops and music stores looking for that special piece of equipment, that mongrel that nobody wanted, that next piece of music equipment that was going to be THE thing I needed to achieve that magic tone. Compressors, limiters, parametric eq's, headphone amplifiers, sample playback sound modules, the list of things to be acquired was staggering!

I always wondered why my tapes never sounded like the music on the radio, aside from the fact that I was playing a mixture of blues and jazz, which really doesn't get airplay anyway. I next discovered the mastering process, where a talented professional using sophisticated EQ and compression makes
the final tweaks that create the final product. Hmmm, Alesis has a dual compressor/gate, the 3630, at a reasonable price. OK, once again I am off to the store to pick up my next magic box.
But wait a minute - have you heard about the Finalizer Plus yet? Whew, this is getting mind boggling...

Proper reproduction of your music is of the utmost importance, as the setting of levels must be as close to perfection as is possible. If the levels are set too low, the tape will hiss like a steam radiator in January. If the levels are set too high, the music will overload the recorder and create distortion (not the nice guitar player kind). The Rat shack speakers will have to go. Next I purchase a couple of Alesis Monitor One near field reference monitors. I guess the fancier the name, the more they can charge...Hmmmmm...

These Alesis monitors are designed to be listened to from a distance of approximately three feet, with the two speakers and your head forming the corners of an equilateral triangle. In the big guys recording studio's they use some large monitors, some cabinets have two fifteen inch woofers in each cabinet. In those places the rooms are acoustically superior and those big boxes sound great. By using a small monitor the effect of the control room acoustics really doesn't come into play. Guess what? Those speakers needed a power amplifier to actually reproduce any music. I got a Sampson Servo 120, with boasts a 10hz to 100Khz frequency response. My control room is rocking now...

Next on the list was more tracks for recording more sounds. This is where I make my entry into the PC world. One day I opened my front door to find a couple of big boxes. I open them to discover a computer. It turned out that a friend of mine had bought the computer and had trouble with it. When it wouldn't
DO anything when I turned it on, I had to learn about DOS and Windows and Intel, etc. My friend had typed del *.* at the DOS prompt. This was in the early 90's and this was a racy 286, whooo...

ANYWAY, I got the computer working and found some Voyetra DOS based sequencing software in the packing crate. SO I drag the DX-7 keyboard over to the PC, but I can't plug it in. It needs something called an MPU-401 board, a MIDI interface that will allow me to use special cables to cannect the keyboard
and the computer. MIDI is a standard that allows equipment made by different manufacturers to work together . I believe that MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Back to the store for that.

As a side note, it can be challenging to be a computer musician. If you hit music stores asking for computer related stuff the salesmen are clueless in most stores. When you walk into the computer store they guy with the plasic pocket protector can't help, either. While the situation is slowly getting better, it
doesn't pay to walk into the store without doing your homework in advance.

SO now I think I am really ready to rock, as I finally got all the bugs out of that PC. I have it outputting signals to the MT-32 sound module and the DX-7 keyboard is acting as the master controller. I no longer need to drag my rhythm section off of bar stools whenever I want to create music.

As the time passes, I have acquired a ton of rack mounted gear - sound modules, effects processors, line mixers, limiters, gates, compressors,and lots more. It's almost at the point of being an addiction. Every new piece of gear brings something new to the creation of music. Unfortunately, every new piece of
gear involves a learning curve, and some of these curves can be intimidating. If you hang in there, and have the desire, you can have more tools today than ever before, priced cheaper than ever before, as well.

As you can imagine, it didn't take long for the 286 to fall by the wayside. I went through them all: 386,486, Pentiums, Cyrex, AMD. I built a system with an ABIT motherboard with a Celeron chip overclocked to 464 Mhz, 512 MEG SDRAM, ten GIG and twenty GIG drives store my data, and I use a Panasonic 7502 4 X 8 CD burner. Currently I use a pentium 4 1.5 gig processor on an ASUS P4B motherboard. I use 20 gig hard drives for program storage, and 40 gig hard drives for wave data storage.

Concurrently to the hardware upgrading, the software side of PC audio is finally starting to shine. You can even get Pro Tools on the WinTel platform. Cakewalk has come a long way from the DOS version 4 that I started with. Just a few years ago you couldn't record digital audio on a PC at all. Now there are lots
of high quality programs available. Band in a box is a really easy to use piece of software that can bring your MID creations to life in an incredibly short time. Save your song as a .MID file, import it into Cakewalk, and you can edit it until it sounds just like you want it to. I also use a program called Drummer 2, and it lets you program beats by clicking your mouse on a grid. It too is very easy to master, and once again you save your creation as a .MID file and import it into your sequencer for further refinement.

Recording your songs can be the most challenging thing you'll ever do, and not everyone can pull it off. Some people are better off by buying studio time and others, like me, would rather take the money spent on recording time and invest in gear. I would like to be able to record whenever the muse strikes, and not have to worry about how much time it takes to get something recorded.

Now comes the fun part. By striping SIMPTE code on one track of my four track recorder, I can lock my tape transport to the computer. By using the PC to run the drum machine and the sound modules, I can record a couple of guitars and a vocal track. Great!

This tides me over for a little while, but I notice that these little tape recorders called ADATs were starting to sell like hotcakes. For under $4000, you got an eight track recorder. I'll have to look into those things someday (when I raise more cash). After talking to my guitar amplifier repairguy I learn about the AKAI A-DAM, the first modular digital multitrack. Twelve tracks of digital audio on a eight millimeter video tape. When these things came out they sold for $25000 bucks! We could pick up one for less than the price of an eight track ADAT. I got one right out of the container from Japan. I drag it home and notice that it is a +4 model, and my mixer is a -10 model. Impedance mis-match, and guess what? I need a better mixer.

After doing the research I picked up a Mackie 32-8 mixer. 32 input channels and eight output busses. Enough to compliment the AKAI and keep me happy for a few more days, anyway. While I am recording on my new 12 track machine, I do strange and wonderful things like recording 10 tracks of guitar and then
ping ponging them down to a stereo pair. While trying to mix all these extra channels, I find myself running out of hands while trying to do mixdowns. Enter computer based fader and mute automation. Imagine that , a computer can record all your fader and mute activities and replay them when required. While
Mackie has a $1400 fader/mute package, Behringer sold one for $370 bucks. Guess which one I picked up? Yep. The Behringer. It works flawlessly. The only thing is, it's hard to do a mix using a mouse. Peavey sells a box with a bunch of full length faders on it, and using MIDI, this box will let you use all your fingers to fine tune your mix. It's called a PC 1600X and now one resides next to my mixing board. Notice the
reoccurring theme here? MONEY seems to play a major part in the creation of your studio.

DRUM MICROPHONES

Lets talk about drum mic'ing. I have experimented with many ways of mic'ing drums, from just a mic on the kit, all the way to using separate mic's on all the individual components. This is a personal choice and many people have created unique sonic signatures with their techniques. I have a cool little Slingerland
drum kit from the 1960's. Twenty inch kick, ten inch tom on it's own stand, fourteen inch floor tom, and a thirteen inch piccolo snare drum. I find that I get nice tones from two PZM mics used as stereo overheads, with an AKG D-112 in the kick, and the venerable Shure SM-57 on the top of the snare. I have stopped using a mic on the high hats, and I really don't miss it at all. I pan the overheads hard left and right, and put the kick and snare slightly off center, approximately at eleven o'clock or one o'clock.

MIC MODIFICATIONS FOR R/S PZM MICROPHONES

I have a guerrilla recording technique for you. It is a mic mod. First, a little background: When I was first starting to record at home I looked at all of my live gear to see what can be pressed into service. The Shure SM- 57 and 58 mics have their uses, (snares and guitar amps, etc.), but in the search for that magic tone I kept an open mind and a sharp eye for alternative mics. I read about the new PZM mics but found them expensive. When I saw that Radio Shack was selling PZM mics for $50, (now they are $60), I bought a couple for stereo overheads on the drums. Let's see what I got: First off I noticed that the mics are battery powered via a single AA battery. I took two 9-volt batteries out of my guitar effect pedals and "seried" them together with battery connectors and little alligator clips purchased at Radio shack. Wire them with one battery connector wire connected to an alligator clip for the + connection, then connect the - connection to another battery connector's + connector. Then connect another alligator clip to the remaining wire of the second battery connector to - to complete the circuit. Connect the alligator clips to the AA battery terminals (Remove the AA battery) and you now have 18V across the 1.5V circuit, lowering the noise floor considerably. Next I looked at the 1/4-inch connector to see what I could find. If you disassemble the connector you will notice a THIRD wire. This thing is wired low impedance from the factory, and Rat Shack just ignores the third wire because most consumers would have a heart attack if they saw a low impedance connector instead of the ubiquitous guitar jack. Pick up a low impedance connector at Radio Shack and wire that extra wire as the ring connector. Now those long runs back to
the console will be quiet! I have been using two of the mics for quite a while. They sound great. I use a Shure SM-57 on the snare, the PZMs for stereo overheads, and an AKG D-112 on the kick.

Hello again! I just got off the road and I used some of the money from the tour to purchase a GadgetLabs 8*24 audio interface for my 'puter. This thing is cool. I now have a way to input and output eight tracks of audio into the computer. Now I will finally be able to finish my CD project. I have ten songs that need final
vocals and guitar overdubs. My old sound card had inferior analog to digital converters and I never liked the sound of the digitized tracks. With this new piece of gear my audio tracks sound great.

Windows treats multiple output soundcards like multiple stereo soundcards. When I open my digital audio programs, it sees four soundcards. The device installed flawlessly, which was a great relief. When I first started using PC's there ALWAYS were problems installing any new hardware. Things have come
a long way since then. The price is about half that of the Layla. Whooooo,I'm satisfied.

Signal processing software has really come a long way. You can finally record, master, and burn CD's right on your computer! The independent musician can finally do it all. With a website and MP-3 you can bypass the major labels and sell directly to the consumer. Yeah! I am going to use Cakewalk Sonar, Sonic Foundry 4, and CD Architect. I am just starting to rip audio. Send me some e-mail if you have some MP-3 experiences, and I'll credit you on my pages...

I have gotten some plug-ins for my computer, and I am having a ball running my tracks through them, experimenting with using a computer and software to produce a CDR of my tunes. It is quite a challenge to use a computer to help record music. Having the ability to edit your music on a computer opens up a world of options. I have used quite a few different plug-ins and I have been surprised by how good things sound, and having the ability to UNDO operations means that I am free to experiment wildly without fear of losing my basic tracks. (Of course, I do back up my work, and recommend that you back up your important work as well.)

The vast array of options that plug-ins bring to the recording process can be mind boggling. You can get plugs for reverb, chorus, pitch shifting and time stretching, etc. There are even plugs that simulate analog tape, and vintage guitar amplifiers, and they sound very convincing to me.

I am in the studio, recording original tunes for my next CD project. I am using my computer exclusively for all the tracking on this project. I have been experimenting with a few Digital Audio software programs, and I think I will do this project using Cool Edit Pro, as I have been having fun with this one lately. It is an easy to use, intuitive program, and it supports direct X plugins. I am curious to find out how well a whole project turns out recorded directly into my digital audio workstation, bypassing my tape recorders altogether. I have lined up some of the areas best performers to come in on this session, and I am very optomistic about it.

I recently picked up a pair of Rode NT-1 microphones. These mics sound great for tracking instruments, and vocals. I have recut some of my earlier tracks using them, and I am happy with the results.

The CD is finished!
Ah, summer. The weather is beautiful, and I have finished my CD. It is titled "Passion and Fire", and you can order it through our website. Recorded entirely at my project studio, the Tone Zone, into a DAW via the Gadgetlabs 8/24 interface. I am pleased with the results, and now the band will tour to support the release. We are concentrating our efforts in the Northeast area of the country, with plans to take the music to the people all over the country eventually.

Recording your own release can be a wonderful experience. I hightly encourage you to give it your best shot, and see what you can come up with.

Spend all the time you need in preproduction, and record ten of your best tunes. Use care in mixing and mastering, and listen to your mixes on a variety of different stereos, in different cars, on boom boxes, etc.

Remember to live life as fully as you can. You only get one chance at it, so make the most of things.

Play on!
Racy
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Ray Chaput Bio:
Ray hangs his hat in Holyoke, a small town in Massachusetts famous for being the birthplace of volleyball and that household wonder cleaner known as Lestoil.

Ray was introduced to performing music at an early age when he watched his grandfather performing in a Pipe and Drum Band on Saint Patrick's Day at the parade in Holyoke. Up until then, he thought that music was created by the transistor radio that was his constant companion.A musical course was set into motion that day, one that would drive Ray for the rest of his life.

At first Ray played the drums in the school band. Soon thereafter he yearned for hearing melodies and switched to trumpet. This decision was shortlived ( scared the hell out of people who had the misfortune to hear him practice ) and Ray decided to try his hand at playing guitar.

A friends older brother showed Ray his first guitar chords and then he was on his own. Because a new instrument was beyond his reach, Ray had to explore alternative ways to get a guitar of his own. In the beginning he used to beg or borrow guitars from friends and soon discovered a wonderful world of used instruments in that place called "The Pawn Shop", where one could purchase a truly bad guitar for twenty
bucks. You know the kind - the guitar that had 20 knobs and switches on it, none of 'em did anything, and it sure looked cool to a fourteen year old budding guitarist. The playability of these instruments never was anything to write home about, but they served the purpose and were affordable. The most interesting ones were covered in a garish metalflake paint job...By his own estimation, Ray had about 60 used guitars, some found in closets of relatives and friends, at tagsales and on pawnshop shelves. He often stripped pieces off of two or three guitars in order to produce one useful model. Hey, whatever it takes...

Ray leaned more towards the blue side of music, and holed up in his bedroom,away from prying eyes, he played up to ten hours a day for many years . The idea of music as anything but a hobby had not occurred to Ray yet. But the wheels were starting to turn...

Ray joined the Marine Corps at age 19 and set off to save the world, playing with diverse musicians the world over. He has played in St. Thomas, San Juan, and up and down the west and east coasts. After his hitch was up Ray traveled across America playing music and returned to his hometown where he got involved in the local music scene. He has played with many fine musicians and continues to promote music wherever he travels. Be it a large hall or a smoky little nightclub, Ray is always guaranteed to give a knockout performance!

As Ray developed his musical talents the need for a live performance outlet became apparent. Ray ran into an old friend from his school days and during a visit to this friends house he noticed drum equipment in the corner of a spare room. It turns out that this friend was/is a drummer. After a few phone calls they located a bass playing acquaintance and the first version of the Ray Chaput Band emerged. Christened "The Special Delivery Band ", Ray set out to conquer the local clubs. The trio format lends itself to intense workouts and the decision was made to augment the band with a rhythm instrument. The band consisted of Ray on guitar and vocals, Bob Skinner on rhythm guitar, John McAuliffe playing drums, and Phil Klimoski on bass and vocals. Ray disbanded this band after 2 years and moved on...

Ray then searched out Mike Rock and Ronnie Tatreault to play drums and bass for the next incarnation of the band which Ray called "Straight Up". This version hit a lot heavier and there was no denying the musical vibe. Once again the trio format was applied, with excellent results. Ray and the nature boys, Rock and Tree (Tatreault) rocked the blues with wild abandon.While attending college Ray ran into John Houle, an accomplished singer and multi- instrumentalist. After a hasty conversation it was agreed that the band would once again expand into a quartet. The addition of keyboards and wind instruments (sax, flute, etc.) that John brought to the table increased the commercial appeal of the band greatly, and they gigged regularly. This version of the band survived with this lineup for 3 years...

Ray next met Jim McNamara, drummer, and Billy Mont, bassist, and the latest version of the band was born. They played every Friday night for over a year at a local nightclub while honing their skills. This version of the band included Stewart MacLeod, harp and vocal, and Mark Osinski, keyboards, for the better part of a year.

After a short hiatus following Christmas, 1995, Ray stripped the band back down to its three piece roots. The unique sound acquired with the trio format was a great catalyst for new sounds and Ray worked many hours developing his new musical ideas into a living, breathing workable format.

Ray met Janet Ryan via the internet. Ray had his homepage listed on a print directory called the Dubuque web guide. Janet had recently moved to the western Mass area, and was looking for a musical situation, so she picked up a copy of the web guide and found Ray's address. she sent Ray an email with a WAV file of her singing attached. Ray thought she sang well, and invited her to an open mic that he was hosting. After Janet got up on stage and sang, Ray decided to build a band around her. Check out her webpage, www.JanetRyan.com

Musician, producer, writer, arranger, engineer, computer technician, and studio owner/operator are just a few of the many hats Ray wears! He has been hard at work preparing his latest musical release which will be in the stores shortly.
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