Just Thought I’d Share A Holiday Greeting

…’tis the season…

"Borrowed" from SuperDickery.com

 

…and that’s as close as I’m getting to sending out cards. 

Telecaster

I mentioned the other day that Mike Feldman gave me a Telecaster as part of my payment for engineering his record. I thought it might be interesting to post a picture of it, as it’s got a few unique qualities about it. Sorry to anyone who’s bored by musician-speak. I’ll try to make it simple for laymen—and I mean no offense in calling you laymen!  

 

This is the whole thing...already looks kind of interesting and different, if you're into guitars.

 

It’s been pretty heavily modified. There are three pickups as opposed to the usual two on a standard Telecaster. Plus, they’re all single-coil, which I know means nothing to most non-guitarists…but let’s just say that’s a pretty interesting modification to a Telecaster. 

 

1...2...3!!!

 

The little switch you see by the volume knobs has five positions to it. Most Telecasters have a THREE position switch. This provides a greater dynamic range and pretty much just boosts your high or low end depending on where you place it. On my Strat, I’m a “middle” position guy most of the time, but so far, I’m liking this one more toward the “lower” end. 

 

1...2...3...4?!...5!?!?!

 

The tuning machines (at the top of the guitar, where you tune your strings) are locking machines. I keep meaning to install those on ALL of my guitars, but I never have. It’s only like a $60 upgrade, but it’s really a helpful modification. Helps add speed to changing strings and also helps promote accurate, stable tuning.  Definitely have to add these to at least my Strat and my Gretsch.  Just upgraded the ones on the Les Paul to custom tuners…but couldn’t find the locking ones to match the gold hardware, so that’ll have to wait. 

 

You can't really tell a difference from the top...but they're there.

 

…moving on… 

 

The most significant modifications come at the bottom of the guitar.  This is where the guitar gets particularly weird and interesting.  You see the big, metal tailpiece at the bottom?  That’s weird.  I’ve only ever seen that on this guitar and on one that Marty Stuart played (plays?).  

 

Super-weird!

 

On the left of the tailpiece is a “D-Tuner” which drops the tuning of the lowest string on the guitar to play some notes you’d normally have to spend time and effort to re-tune to reach.  This does it at the flip of a switch, in about 1-second.  No pressure…no trouble…and it brings the tuning back up to standard in the same way.  (They call it a “D” tuner because it’s most often used to drop the string that’s normally tuned to “E” to the note of “D,” but you can go lower if you want…personally, I like experimenting with a low “C” sometimes as a super-low note…but we’re getting a little nerdy here…so let’s move on…) 

 

To the right of the tailpiece is something REALLY weird.  It’s a “B-Bender,” so named because it is located on the “B” string of the guitar and it bends the note upwardly to about a “C” to “C#” tone.  (I’ve currently got it set at “C#.”)  Think of it as pulling upwardly on a standard whammy bar, but only on one string…and not with a typical whammy bar.  The bar on this slides into a slot on the tailpiece and hangs out over the back of your guitar.  You bend the note by putting pressure on the bar with your hip and physically moving the guitar neck outwardly a little (hence the brand-name—”Hipshot”—on the tailpiece).  You’re pretty much using the entire guitar as a whammy bar, for just the effect of changing the tone on one string!    It’s kind of cool.  Sort of creates a pedal-steel effect if you use it right, and would be really useful for someone trying to mimic that sound in a country band.  I’m not sure how often I’ll use it…but as a gadget-head, I really find it fascinating, and I’m glad I’ve got this in my collection. 

 

The butterfly was put on there by Mike...not my idea. I just haven't removed it yet!

 

Otherwise, it’s a black, Mexican-made Telecaster.  (American-made ones are technically “nicer”—which mostly means they just cost more—but with the changes made to this guitar, it about breaks even, if not surpasses the cost of a standard American Telecaster.)  The pick-guard is custom, too…and it actually exactly matches the guitar-strap Mike gave me to go with it.  I don’t mind it too much on the guitar itself, but I think the strap looks a little cheesy, so I’m probably just going to use a plain black strap with this guitar. 

 

…so that’s the new one.  I’ll try to post something a little more universally interesting next time.  Mostly just wanted to toss up a picture of the newest piece of my arsenal.   

 

In other news, I think I fixed the blog’s justification problem I was talking about yesterday…it’s an extra step every time I post, but it seems to be working…which means yesterday’s blog has a big red paragraph on it for no reason…but whatever…

It’s Getting Mixed Up

^ PUN!

 

EDIT – WordPress is removing spacing and justification from my posts for some reason.  That really sucks and I hope they don’t keep doing it or I’ll be finding a blog-site on which I’m able to post something in a format I like that is readable…sorry if this looks crappy on your screen as a result of their decision to start auto-”correcting” my formatting. Trying to fix it in the html…

 

I mentioned that I’m working on the new Feldman record in previous posts…now I’m going to go into slightly more detail, for those who might be interested in how this works.

 

The biggest plus is that those guys turned in some really great, clean performances.  They came in ready to record, having worked out most of the details well in advance.  Lesson to bands who want to do a demo or CD—THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT.  It makes the engineer’s job a lot easier and your day run a lot more quickly and smoothly.  There’s another band I’ve been working with on and off for MONTHS (has it been over a YEAR???  Yikes!) that has done five sessions and still feels that they have pretty much nothing they can use (apparently—I disagree and think they’re wasting WAY too much time on the scratch tracks).  Unlike those other guys (and a lot of other people), Feldman runs a tight-ship, and in the studio that really pays off.

 

So…the actual recording has been pretty easy.  We did about 10 hours on Saturday and 5 on Sunday.  The bass and drums were complete on the first day, as were most of the guitar parts.  The second day, we finished up the guitars and started vocals.  Tomorrow (actually today, but I’m going to bed in a minute, so it’ll be “tomorrow” for me) we will finish vocals.  Sunday, we’ll do keys.  Monday, we’ll finish up the background vocals.  Then it’s all in my hands.

 

The thing is, I’ve been working as we’ve been going.  I’ve been pre-mixing—which basically means I’m doing a rough work-up of what the volume-levels of each instrument should be, what fixes need to be made, etc, etc…  I’ve already put in about 10 hours on that (I’ve been noting it, part for my own records, but also to give Mike some proof that I did something, ha ha).  I’ve cleaned up all of the splices we’ve made so far.  I’ve started trimming some of the dead-space and pops-and-clicks that you don’t want in there.  I’ve started figuring out what compressors and EQs I’m going to want to use.  I’m already pretty far ahead of the game on this one.  (And yes, I’ve been backing up my files, too!)

 

Mike’s hoping to hear a final mix by the middle of January.  I’m hoping to have one to him just in time for Christmas.  We’ll see if that works out.  I don’t see why not.  I’m going to have everything recorded by Monday evening…no reason I shouldn’t be able to satisfactorily mix it in the remaining 15 days if I can keep up this pace, right?  Hoping to surprize him on this one.

 

…now, if I could just get that caught up on my actual JOB, that’d be great, ha ha.  I’m behind at work because of the holiday.  We all are, I think.  I don’t feel like I’m doing too badly, all things considered…but it is kind of frustrating to see the same number of unread e-mails when you leave as when you arrived.  Actually, that’s kind of good, because that means that I was making progress and that as the new stuff was coming in, it was just breaking even numerically…but still…kind of a bummer, since I usually am doing a little better than that.  You’ve got to learn to trick your brain into believing you’re actually about on task in that situation.    I should be able to catch up by the end of the week…it’s just kind of heavy work right now.  That’s cool though.  When I’m busy, that means the company’s doing well.  So I’ll NEVER complain about having more work to do!  That’s our bread-and-butter, and fortunately there’s absolutely NO busy-work involved with my job.  It’s all important…so that’s pretty cool, too.

 

So…ahead on the MFG record…a little behind on the e-mails, but not tragically…and Blue Tattoo should be finishing up our record (“Wrecked”) soon, too…plus, Christmas is just a couple of weeks away!  All in all…no real complaints.

————

Current Listening:

• The Headstones — An awesome punk band from Canada who aren’t really working anymore.  (Though the lead singer did start up the almost equally awesome “Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir” a few years ago.)

Busy Week VI: THE REVENGE!!!

I had a lot planned last week, as you know if you’ve been reading along.  I haven’t written since Thanksgiving (or Slapsgiving, for all you HIMYM fans out there…mainly Dave and Valerie, I’d imagine).  That’s because I’ve been too tired to do it.

 

Here’s the list of stuff I got done from my list of stuff that I posted at the beginning of last week…

 

1. Slept in on Friday.
2. Finished unpacking all those acoustic panels and got them up on the wall.  Completely covered the window at the back of the basement (likely the biggest offender in the “noise” problem that got the police called on us so often last year).  It’s not perfect, but it’s up.  Hoping maybe to upgrade the backing from cardboard to plywood within the next 6-months or so.  The glue for the things had to be put on with a caulk-gun, and it was really thick and hard to work with, so my arms are still sore from it.  And on a side note, 32-square feet of acoustic tile sounds a LOT bigger than it is!
3. Cleaned up a bit…but not too much! 
4. Recorded bass, drums, and guitars on Mike Feldman’s new record.  Just have to do vocals (Wednesday night), keys, and background vocals, then mix the thing.  I’m working on it as we go, so it should be a pretty quick turn-around.  I did all of the irritating “evening out” fixes last night, to make all of the tracks nice and consistent in their sound levels.  Went pretty quickly, all things considered.  Saturday was about a 10-hour recording day.  Sunday was a 5-hour one.  Hoping for 3 or less for vocals on Wednesday.  Mike gave me some awesome deer sausage and a sweet Telecaster as a down-payment for my trouble.  (Hoping to get the actual cash in time to soften the Christmas-crunch, ha ha.)
5. I didn’t get that Boddingtons I was hoping to…but Mike did provide me with some adequate refreshments on Saturday and Sunday.  So that worked, too.
6. I was so wiped out from the physical and mental work of the previous few days that I slept right through my alarm and missed church.  Oops.  Kinda saw it coming…but oops.

 

On a sad note, I found out that one of the members of the Gluttons Club (link to the right) passed away this week.  Mel was a good guy who was funny, kind, and always fun to talk to.  His last name was/is (however that works) Blanc.  He was Mel Blanc.  (For those who don’t know, that was also the name of the guy who famously voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc etc etc in the Warner Brothers world…no blood-relation, though.)  When I met Mel (our Mel) for the first time, he introduced himself and I said, “I’m a big fan of your work.”  Bad joke.  Sure he’d heard it a few thousand times in his life up to that point…but he still smiled at it.  That’s the kind of guy he was.  When Mel Blanc (the celebrity) died, my dad, hosting the club’s Christmas event did about 5-10 minutes of material on how sad it was to have lost Mel (the Glutton)—and, converse to my remarks upon meeting Mel, what Dad said was actually funny.  Mel laughed at that too.  That’s the kind of guy he was.  I think I’d be doing him a disservice if I said anything less than “Th-th-th-that’s all folks!”  I bet he’d laugh at that.  That’s the kind of guy he was.

 

Rest in peace, Mel.  I’m sure next time Jonco revs his bike, it’ll be for you.

 

…now let’s get this year over with and have a few less deaths in 2010, ‘kay folks?

Busy Week V

Okay, so Thanksgiving has come and gone—and, no I didn’t go shopping this morning.  In fact, I got out of bed at about 2:00 this afternoon, thankyouverymuch.

 

Thanksgiving was pretty good.  They asked me to do the blessing again this year, which is kind of nice.  I think I mentioned that last year, too…that was a task that usually fell to one of the “grown-ups” in the family for YEARS when I was a kid, and more recently was the job of my cousin Terry (a Baptist minister, and friend of the blog).  Terry hasn’t been there the past two years, so I’ve been handed the torch.  I’d assume that if he’s there next year, he’ll be doing it.  Last year, his wife was about to have a baby and this year…actually I’m not sure why he wasn’t there this year.  Forgot to ask.  Assuming that since he was just in Arkansas last month, they probably didn’t want to make a 10 hour drive (again) this month.  Anyway…I did the prayer, and that’s one of those cool things that kind of makes me feel like Im IN the family now, and actually considered one of the “grown-ups,” ha ha. 

 

The food was good.  Someone finally made bread that was pretty much identical to my Great-Aunt Clara’s bread.  I don’t think it was Clara herself, but it’s the closest I’ve had to it in YEARS.  The turkey was good,  The mashed potatoes were good.  The chocolate pie was good.  I just couldn’t eat enough of it all…filled up quickly and was kind of bummed out that I couldn’t shovel more in.  (And, of course, I’m VERY hungry right now, with no appealing food on hand…so I’ll be hitting a drive-thru before too long.)

 

My Aunt Stella (who’d undergone a stroke I wrote about here in May or June—I forget when exactly) was there and looked pretty good.  She was using a walker, but often got up without it and started moving around, leading several family members to wag their fingers and remind her to use it.  (The fact that she doesn’t want to and thinks we’re all making too big a deal of it is a pretty good sign, if you ask me.)  Aunt Deet was there too.  She’s had Parkinson’s and a bunch of other health problems for years.  She didn’t look as good as Stella, but to be fair, she’s also 10 years older.  I tried talking to Deet for a while, but couldn’t really hear her, and she was a little incoherent, sadly…but still, it was nice that she was there.

 

Also got to catch up with the younger relatives in Pam, Duke, Mitch, Drew…etcetcetc…  Good to see everyone, and always fun to catch up.

 

Nodded off on the drive home because Dave’s iPod playlist had a bunch of songs I didn’t know on it and there was nothing to keep me awake as a result.  Snored so loud I woke myself up.  embarrassing.  Then, when we got home, we capped off the night by getting McDonald’s…which is either kind of depressing since we only had fast-food as an option, or is a perfect representation of American culture, depending on how you look at it.  Either way, I now have my FOURTH collectible Coca-Cola glass (free with purchase of a large value meal, for a limited time only!), as a result.  For some reason, I’ve been ALL OVER that promotion since hearing about it.  I got all four this week…and I’m not buying them separately…I’ve gotten FOUR large value meals from McDonald’s this week.  Probably not the best idea, health-wise…but…free glasses!

 

So that was yesterday.  Today is the kind of lighter day of the busy week…but I still plan on doing some work around the house today, hopefully getting some sound-protection-stuff up in my basement…or at the VERY least just cleaning up a little so it’s not totally embarrassing when Feldman and his band come over tomorrow.  Wish me luck.  I’ve got a lot of crap down there.  (Fortunately, still no sign of that possible mouse—or worse—that Dave thinks he saw.)

 

Current Listening:

• Wilco - “Wilco (the album)” — This will be in my top 3 of the year…those 3 spaces keep switching around though.  In a week or two, I’ll post the full list, and hopefully have set into stone which one gets first-place.