Rain

It was either this or Kermit's Right Where I Belong.

Luckily, I was spared that part.

See, I was actually born on the 7th hour, on the 7th day, on the 7th month. Weighing 7lbs, too. So...

I guess they had to get it out of their system. I've always been forgiving with Metallica because they were so important to me as a teenager, and I grew up and evolved with them. I could dig Load and Re-Load, even with their flaws. But I remember trying to listen to St. Anger and not being able to get through it, even if it was just playing in the background while I was doing other things - it wasn't even good enough to listen to while cleaning up toilets and scrubbing the shower. Felt like a bunch of riff ideas put together in Pro Tools. The issue wasn't even the snare, as awful as it was. With good material, I would have been able to get past that. G-d knows I've listened to my share of crappy sounding bootlegs in my life. I've re-listened to it a few years ago. Some stuff I can dig, parts of it anyway. But ultimately, I guess it was necessary for them to make it but it's not really necessary for fans to listen to it. I really liked Hardwired, though, even if it's a bit too long (like most records nowadays).

First thing that came to mind when I read the OP. Of course, I am a fan...

Soundgarden - Face Pollution

Was cleaning up the room last nigt and decided to plug them in. Well, they still work. And yeah, that did bring back a lot of memories. They really don't sound as bad as I thought they would, but it was amusing to listen to some of my newer mixes on them, too, Oddly enough, I also stumbled upon the invoice for them. I have no idea how it ended up following down here in Vegas when so much of my stuff and most of my papers are still in storage in Quebec. Not like I even intended to keep it, much less carry it with me down here. Oh well.

That's ususally how it feels when you get back on the guitar after a couple of weeks playing bass...

They had surpsingly low latency for their interfaces, even the inexpensive one. I had a uber cheap Fast Track for my travel rig and it worked surprisingly well, although purists would probably snear at the converters and such. I bought it as an alternative to my trusty old Delta 44 with its breakout box, but never got another computer with a PCI slot, so the 44 was history.

Great to hear from you as well, Tim. I hear you on the Mackies and Adams - and serious gear in general. I was starting from scratch and completely broke, so a friend bought the M-Audio monitors and a little Samson mixer for me so that I could work on a gig that was coming my way, and I repaid him afterwards. This adds some value to them, too. Funny you mention Alesis - I also keep a pair of inexpensive ones that I bought in NY when I needed something portable. Although they don't have the "sentimental value" of the old M-Audio, I figured I would keep them to play music downstairs. Since they're poewered and flexible in terms of connectivity, they still have their use for casual listening.

I still have my old M-Audio Studiophiles which I got 21 years ago - quite a few notches cheaper thank yours, though. But you got to start somehwere and these were my first monitors - quite an improvement from my previous setup, actually. I've not plugged them in in over 10 years, although I'm sure listening to music on them would bring back tons of memories. Even just the sound they made when I powered them on. I wrote so much music on them, I can't bring myself to get rid of them. I like to see them there, in the background, as part of my musical history I suppose. Fortunately, they're quite small. I am still thankful for M-Audio - these guys made affordable, reliable gear. I think everything in my humble studio was made by them - interface, monitors, keyboard, drum pads, preamp... Heck, I still have the old lanyward, too.

So terribly sad. Turning 50 in a few months myself so this hits closer to home.

Diary of a Madman was my first album. Back then I thought I wanted to to play bass. Then I heard the solo in Over the Mountain and that changed everthing. Glad I finally managed to visit his resting place a few years ago.

Talk about a warm welcome! Thank you, guys! It's great to get back in touch - and to see that no matter what, the spirit of the CH lives on. I believe you'll see more of me around here. @Shane_B./Bub - Ah, that's like making friends again all over again with an old pal! Good to see you here. Huge horror and TNBC fan too. I can put that one as a "background noise" and listen to it 3 or 4 times in a row - although I obviously watch it almost religiously a few times a year. I never get tired of it, even after a few decades...

Had not logged in since early December 2020. 13 months! Unbelievable... I've often thought about my good old CH buddies but the year was extraordinarily hectic. And yet it's strange how sometimes one of you guys' name would just pop in my mind out of nowhere, and I'd find myself thinking - I wonder how this guy has been doing... Even folks from the old newsgroup in the late 90's - Craig Olmstead and Bob Beals and all. It's amusing how a bunch of people you've never met in real life occupy such a place in your existence. As for I, life has thrown me a few curve balls but I am alive and kicking - and still making music. I even bought my first 7-string in March. (My first guitar equipped with EMG's, too. I don't hate them.) You need to challenge yourself, right? Call it midlife crisis. I figured it may a bit late in life to start violin, but 7-string isn't that much of a stretch. I am a Gibson/Fender guy, and I usually stick with classics - the last guitar before that was a butterscotch Tele. Schecter really wasn't a name I had any affinity for. If anything, I had a somewhat unfavorable opinion of them. So when I started looking, I was thinking maybe ESP, since that's what a lot of the people who used to buy Gibsons buy nowadays. But I couldn't find a 7 that had all I wanted until I started looking at Schecters. And I was extremely surprised when I received this one - the Hellraiser C-7. A very nice instrument. It's also my only guitar that's not a solid color - they call the finish black burst. I call her Domina Mortem. And she rocks. Anyway, good to be back, you guys.

Indeed, my friend. Indeed!

Sorry to hear that. My condolences.

Bapu's Rambo thoughts of the day, new and improved: now with guitar.

Thanks for posting this, man. I appreciate more than you could know.

Disclaimer - this may sound like heresy for a rock musician, but I don't like loud music. I can put up with it at a concert, but ultimately, I hate to trade clarity and intelligibility for loudness. Another reason why I prefer studio to stage. Likewise, although I’ve owned many big, loud tube amps throughout the years, to practice and at home, I naturally gravitate towards small, transistor practice amps. I like to be able to play through an amp and still watch a movie or something. Even in Triode mode, I never managed to push the Marshall half stack past 1 in this room. After I bought the Tele a few weeks ago, I did a bit of research and I decided to grab one of these little Champions. I wanted something simple and small that could deliver Fender type of tones without peeling the paint off the walls. I'll not try and pretend that it sounds even just almost as great as the old '59 Bassman or your old Twin - but honestly, to practice, I'll choose this puppy every time over amp sims (hardware and software) and other little transistor amps I've owned. Even the British setting is relatively decent. And it's just a lot of fun to play. Probably my favorite of all the little amps I've owned, including the tube Randall. Again, this is not for purists - but me I do believe in using different tools for different things. Never ceases to amaze me how far we've come. I wish we'd have such affordable and good sounding gear when I started out. The bigger models have some extra features, like a second channel and all, but to me, that defeats the purpose - if this were to play live or record, I'd opt for something different entirely, not a bigger version of this.

That's actually some pretty decent gear for a "low budget" studio, man. Plus, you have a Mac in there - so you get instant pro setup points.

Here. Just to counterbalance the pinkness... All kidding aside, it's pretty nice that you Epi came with a hardshell case. Even more bang for the buck!

My cat Googlie ran away for two weeks while I was in the ICU a few years ago and came back a couple of days after I got home. For weeks afterwards, she followed me everywhere in the house, stood outside my studio door when I was working and would jump in my lap the minute I sat down somewhere. She even hissed at my wife when she approached me. Meanwhile, our dog kept on barking at her own butthole when it itched...