Rain

I entertain zero pretense of being remotely competent but I really don't have much use at all for EQ's other than the main one in Logic. Back in Sonar, it was the Sonitus one almost exclusively (same thing for delay, reverb, compression to a vast extent). So I do not really get the craze. When I want to EQ something, it rarely ever crosses my mind to even try something other than Logic's main EQ. It's as if all the other ones were an approximation of what I really need, no matter how fancy or expensive. Logic comes bundled with its own emulations of API, Pultec, and other classics, but I've never even bothered to try them. At my level, they really do not accomplish anything more or beneficial. Compressors I do understand to an extent, I guess. Although I tend to rely almost exclusively on the Waves Renaissance ones, because they're so easy to use. Logic's own compressor is so comprehensive now, with the various modes and matching GUIs. It's a very fancy tool, and I'm not really worthy of it. Just like all those UAD plugs. I do like to have options but it all boils down to my own shortcomings. Sometimes the way the plug-in is laid out or its idiosyncrasies will give me a nudge in the right direction. Like for vocals, I seem to have a bit more luck with certain channel strips, like the UAD API. Because, really, I have no idea what I am doing. I guess the channel strip limits my options and gives me a nudge. That being said, I do not think I've ever mixed a good sounding vocal track. But it’s probably the only context that I can think of where EQ really makes a difference to me, and it all boils down to ergonomics. In fact, one of my hobbies is to try to reproduce whatever results I get with the fancy tools using my regular plugs.. To this day however, the mix I'm the most proud of was completed using only Logic's stock plugs, and I don't think it was really intentional. It just sort of happened..

Up next - sensitive balance between dialogues and sound effects in movies. I always thought it was kind of ironic that the increase in the available dynamic range and with all the modern tools available to manage that range things went in the opposite direction of what would have made sense (imho). They compressed the heck out of the one thing that could have benefited from dynamics and took the opposite approach with TVs and movies. I remember giving up on movies after a few minutes because of that. I'm not saying that I want my movies brick walled, but, close. lol Of course, I am a grumpy old man, but, still...

I'd mentioned Metallica's Load remaster being surprisingly quieter than the old masters. Well, I just put on the 50th anniversary remaster of KISS Alive! It is significantly quieter, peaking at around -6 in my UAD meter and with a lot more dynamic range than the old masters I have. I think we may finally be pulling out of that +25 year nightmare, you guys...

I believe I became aware of Aerosmith because of their collaboration with Run DMC in the mid 80's. Not that I was a hip hop fan at the time mind you. I wasn't much of a fan of the stuff they put out afterwards either, although it would have been hard to deny its qualities. It just wasn't my cup of tea. And for years I kind of ignored them mostly, despite acknowledging their remarkable talent. But then I heard Rocks - and man, I was instantly hooked. It's actually the first Aerosmith record I bought.

My older cousin used to babysit me, she was a bit of a singer and had learned a few things on the guitar, so, officially, the first thing I learned was a one finger/one note at a time version of Twist and Shout. On a cheap, toy acoustic guitar. That guitar was destroyed by a friend of the family, but a few years later, I finally got a cheap electric to replace it. By then, I was into heavy metal, but it soon downed on me that I would never be able to play Eruption unless I went back, and back, and back to where it began. I started with my old friends Elvis and Scotty Moore and tried to orient myself from there. Eventually I found this record in my parents' collection. It is the first guitar solo I tried to teach myself. I still remember... I really earned every single note, one at a time... Kids today have NO idea. I remember playing the first bit of that song for friends in my grandparents backyard when I was 13. Everybody's wearing Iron Maiden and Saxon t-shirts - including myself - but I am making a point - although no one seemed to get it. 🤣 But I knew I was right. This is where it all came from. What's YOUR story?

Just saw that, yes. RIP.

I'm a book nerd although $60 is more than I like to spend on a book, but an inexplicable urge pushed me to order this one. It turns out to be worth every penny, imho. Even though I don't consider myself a die hard Maiden fan, I have seen enough documentaries and photos and read enough about them that I can't say that I'm really learning much reading this book - but it is so well put together... It reminds me of the feeling I used to experience back in the days when I would pick up a Maiden vinyl and spend inordinate amounts of time scrutinizing the sleeve and studying every little detail. It pulls you into that nice little bubble. I guess there is something about holding the book in your hands, looking at a printed picture... You can find digital versions of all those album covers online, but you just can't get lost into them the way you can with a physical copy, it just doesn't pull you in quite like the printed copy. And I guess I am a bigger fan that I thought.

2025, you're not kind to my old heroes.

Anika is amazing. I trust her to be entirely up to the task. The one thing I am a little more concerned about is Geddy's voice. I feel that even though he was ok on the last tour in 2015, one had to be a little forgiving in some places. And that is of course understandable. Actually, compared to other legendary rockers, he was incredible. Hell, I couldn't have sung those tunes when I was in my twenties or at any point after I hit puberty. But I guess I'm not used to having to be forgiving about anything when it comes to Rush. And that was 10 years ago. So it's hard for me to imagine this as Rush, THE Rush, and not just because Neil is gone. As I said, I am convinced that Anika will do great. That being said I'm extremely happy to see Alex and Geddy back on stage doing what they were born to do - there's such a chemistry between these two. That part of the magic can't be taken away, regardless of the years. And it's not like they could embarrass themselves, they're still the mighty Geddy and Alex.

Funny, I just watched it before dropping by the CH. Can't talk about audio, but I use 11 for work and other than some minor things, I can't really complain about it. On the other hand, I have a long, long list of gripes about Mac OS Sequoia, the worst OS I've worked with on a Mac. That being said, I find it a little ridiculous that he would compare a brand spankin' new customer built PC to a budget friendly (for a Mac) M1 equipped machine. The M1 chip dates from 2020, and is 3 generations behind. Talk about comparing old apples to fresh oranges.

Grab yours here: https://www.uaudio.com/products/showtime-64-tube-amp?srsltid=AfmBOoqqHXt2S_MtPb4b9icPHz5lZ4VCwlhwzx9hZVKO8drAgywm9ueZ

Tow words: Battlefield Earth. I've seen a few just as bad but this one always stood out for some reason.

I was thinking not that many, but Logic surprised me at startup by saying it was scanning 507 installed plugins - including Logic's own, of course. Obviously, there's a lot of duplicates in there if you take into account the mono/stereo, native/dsp instances all listed as individual plugins. But still a bit of a shock because I tend to think that I use mostly stock plug-ins. I've noticed a long time ago that if I have a clear idea of what I am doing and what I want, I'll used mostly bundled plug-ins - especially for EQ and compression. That was true in Sonar, and it is in Logic. Then I have a few that I consider shortcuts - not that I could not manage without them but for some reason, I got used to them. Things like Waves' Renaissance Vox. It's just so simple to use and it saves me time. To be honest, at my humble level, if I'm messing around with a bunch of different EQ's and compressors, it's usually because I'm not sure what I am doing or I'm lying to myself and just trying things until I accidentally find something that will push me in the right direction and make up for my own inadequacy. But I usually take that as a learning opportunity and try to duplicate the results using regular, stock plugs.

Welcome back!

I've always been a huge fan of Alice and those records with the band under Ezrin were truly special. My expectations aren't exactly sky high for this new one but it will be nice to hear them playing together again. Sad that Buxton isn't there to be a part of it. I did check out the first excerpt when it came out and I thought it wasn't bad. I love solo Alice too, although I've not really listened to much after The Last Temptation in 1994. I think the only album I never really got was Special Forces. But the rest, even the weird ones like DaDa, I can dig. In early December 1989, there was a giveaway on tv to promote Alice's Trash tour. I called, hoping I could win the cassette. Well, I did win the cassette alright - along with a t-shirt and a pair of tickets for the show in Montreal in January - almost 300 miles away. For a small-town kid like myself, without a license, and who'd never been anywhere, that was kind of problematic. The show might as well have been on Mars. But a friend who was a bit older, worked a blue collar job and had a little money thought this was an opportunity we could not missed so he offered to pay for the bus tickets and a hotel room for the day. That's me under the massive hairdo at 6 am the day of the show, shortly after we arrived. First time in the big city. We'd spent the night drinking Jack Daniel's in the back of the bus... Second photo is a bad shot of the show, obviously.

I remember the look on my ex-wife's face when I first told her I had been a huge Def Leppard fan for a few years. She was a little younger than me so for her, Def Leppard was Hysteria. She had a tough time believing that they were once considered a heavy metal band. By the time Hysteria came out, I'd long since lost interest in them - I was into Metallica and the whole thrash scene. But I could still appreciate the well crafted pop songs. Also, strippers loved Love Bites. I was 16 but I managed to sneak in with older buddy. Truth is, I never cared for stripper after I turned 18. But Love Bites brings back some sweet memories. 🤣 Anyway, thanks for posting this. I will be checking it out this weekend. I'd be curious to see one for Pyromania.

The subscription model saved me a ton of money. I steer clear of that type of scheme (mostly). I must take the opportunity to raise my glass to companies like Lennar Digital, developers of Sylenth1, an extraordinary synth, who went the opposite way. Rent to own. They will allow you to buy and use their synth on a monthly plan. If you decide to interrupt payment for a few months, it's ok. You temporarily renounce access to Sylenth. You can pick right up when you are ready and start making monthly payments, and it all goes towards your permanent license.

I'm sure he would - he seemed to have a wicked sense of humor. I can't even begin to express how sad this makes me. It'll take some time to process this - even if it's not unexpected.

I know it clashes with my "dark dude persona" and all, but I am extremely fond of her music - mostly because my mother loved her music, so those songs became an integral part of the soundtrack of my life. Her music also seems to evoke a certain image of America and simpler times - burgers and milkshakes and drive-ins and all... Although I did not experience any of that, I grew up in the nostalgia of those years - one of my uncles had a collection of old 50's/early 60's cars, we had a few retro-themed restaurants in the area, and of course my mother was a huge fan of those 50's records and movies like American Graffiti. I also used to think she looked so pretty on those old album covers. Anyway... https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwngwxdnwgo

So many of them. But this one comes to mind because I just listened to it this weekend.

Sedakas's version was great, but the bass line in this one, brother... I know, I'm supposed to be dark and all, but what can I say - it's an amazing song... Listen to that bass.

We'd just gone through the song, when a voice was heard that broke over the humming tube amps... It was our drummer and sure enough, he had a brilliant suggestion to make. "That's genuinely stupid" I thought. But then again, what else can you expect from the drummer... Even though I did not utter word, every one in the room picked on it. Except the drummer of course. So I know how to deal with genuine stupidity, but not AI. Some people who are in the business of delivering a product can certainly find it useful. But that's a different mindset - one that I genuinely respect. I have been there. But for me - and this is going to sound stupid and corny - music is a little like personal growth, or a little like praying. Which is why I no longer care about delivering. Imagine you're on a plane that's about to crash - who would ask AI to communicate their last thoughts? Art is that to me. A chance to be absolutely real. That's also why I am convinced that drummers are really absolutely stupid. (Except Neil Peart, of course).