The Studio and Equipment

The Studio

Here's where it all begins.  Poor acoustics force me to overwork the editing software, but it's still a ton of fun.  Eventually I'd love to grab some acoustic foam and really isolate the room from outside noise and reflections, but that must wait until I'm done buying instruments :)

Guitars

Epiphone Electric
A Fender Strat form factor, this baby lays down some pretty good sound.  Incase you're not familiar with that, it has three magnetic pickups, 21-fret finger board, a whammy bar input, three tone adjusts, and an effects slide with three options.  It's tons of fun to play, especially when connected to the amp that came with it on full gain for a fun crunchy sound.  The most irritating  problem I've come across while using the electric is picking up a buzz while playing near the monitor (I record using software discussed below).  So I normally must start the recording process and then turn off the monitor before starting the guitar parts. 

A nice medium weight acoustic with a built in battery powered amp and 3 band EQ.  The amp is on when the guitar is jacked in, so you don't leave it in while not in use.  It has a nice, warm acoustic sound, and sometimes is deep enough to use as a moderately good bass substitute.

For live effects, the Adrenalin I is an awesome portable tool to have.  In addition to a ton of features, it provides dynamic echos, tremolo and flanger effects, automatic wa-wa's, and even a set of drum beats for you to jam along with.  I've used this for guitar effects and also for effects on my harmonica, since you can run just about anything through it. Learn more at www.rlinndesign.com 

Keyboard

This electronic keyboard comes with 100 tones, 100 rhythms, and 100 songs in the song bank. It has a nice tempo control, start/stop with sync fill-in for the rhythms, Bright Blue LCD with chord patterns, and MIDI I/O for controlling the unit on a MIDI circuit. I use it most frequently to simulate a real piano, some vocal effects, and for some "live" drum effects until I got the digital percussion equipment below.  It also has pressure sensitive keys, a MUST for delivering a more realistic sound. 

Percusion

This is a compact digital drum synthesiser with 4 pressure-sensitive pads for drum sticks or hands, 100 rythms, and a variety of assignments such as snare, bass, etc... for each pad.  This is handy for working out a quick tune pattern while running one of the tempos or working out a drum transition.  It also has a line out for recording.

I've had these guys for a while.  They appeared on my first album and are a tone of fun live.  Also in the picture are a couple of velveteen circles I lay on top of the pads for a more muted sound.

This little instrument is fun for adding a fast paced pattern to a tune.  It appears in "Shitlist" on the second album, and I've been told it sounded like a synthesized pattern, because it sounds so consistent when played.  You play it on your knee like you would regular spoons.

This is a hand-held shaker, much like a maraca, but smaller with less volume, so it sounds much more subtle.  I've had this since college, and live to take this with me to a party, as there is always someone willing to play this unassuming little fellow.

The latest addition to the percussion entourage, Fruity Loops is a loops program used to generate any pattern of music based on small sound clips (loops), like a drum strike, a guitar stroke, etc...  Most of the presets are designed for techno music, but it is VERY flexible and can be used to create subtle and somewhat natural beats.  It also has an ability to swing each beat to be a bit earlier or later, allowing for even more precise control over transitions, allowing them to sound more natural.  It has a ton of stuff I've not even touched yet.  Up until now I've been using a mix of the real instruments and of drum pattern loops with CoolEdit and www.loopology.com , but I plan to do more orchestration with this software. Shown in the picture is the drum composition for "Driving Me Crazy".  Go here to learn more: http://www.fruityloops.com 

Mic and Mixers

This is a Lo-z Cardiod microphone with a standard 3pin XLR jack and on/off switch.  I almost always cleanup hiss and do reverb effects.  I plan to purchase another mic soon, and round out the sound by double-micing.  Email me any recommendations you may have. Go here to learn more: www.audiotechnica.com

This very-well priced 4 input mixer has two inputs that have mic preamps or line level ins, and the others are balanced/unbalanced stereo line level ins.  It has 3 channel EQ, Auxiliar mix level, L/R Pan, and volume control for each input, in addition to gain controls for the first two inputs.  For outputs it has a control room out, auxiliary out and headphones out.  I use the headphones and control outs.  I use the mic in for vocals, percussions, and sometimes acoustic guitars that don't have built-in amps. With a master volume output control and headphone control, this guys does a good job serving the small home studio needs.

"Winds"

This is a one octave (key of C) clay whistle.  You can see the holes you press in combination to achieve the different notes. It's a ton of fun, portable (fits in your pocket), easy to learn, and a great conversation piece.  I used it quite heavily in "Lester" on TRJ.

This little guy is a standard, cheap Hohner harmonica (also key of C) that I love to play.  When used with a Harmonica holder for your neck, you can jam on guitar and layout some pretty good harmonica sounds in between vocals. 

Post Production

On the Tale of the Red Jester album, I used Cool Edit Pro on an older PC with less RAM.  It still worked very well, so you don't need a monster to run your capture software. Shown in the picture is the mix I used to create "Who Am I".