Day 105, 6/29/20

A Little Audio Recording

Day one of vacation was mostly about testing equipment. As human beings we are creatures of habit and we learn how to do things one way, and when you have learn a new process, it can take some time to adjust. 

I usually record using Digital Performer using a MOTU 896 recording interface connected to a MOTU 8 Pre. For my pandemic recordings I thought I might try the drum loops in GarageBand to build songs on. If I start to enjoy the interface, I might consider springing for Logic (I don't think Digital Performer has drum loops built into it, at least not as simple as Apple's version) but GarageBand didn't seem to detect the 8 Pre hooked up through the 896. Typically, the 8 microphone preamps on the 896 are dedicated to the drum kit and bass amp so my bands can record live, and I use the 8 Pre for the guitar microphones and outboard gear. Since I was testing out some new equipment, I needed to reconfigure things a bit.

In the Pandemic, I've mostly resisted buying gear except for DIs (a direct input box to plug instruments into a mixing board or recording unit). I stumbled across two pieces of equipment that I've been keeping an eye out for. The first is called the Groove Tubes Brick. An unassuming rectangle of bent steel, the Brick is a vacuum tube microphone preamp and direct box. It is a heavy duty piece of equipment from the mid to late 1990s, I would guess (the company closed in 2008). This one was mint in its original box even! I inserted this into channel 8 of the 896. The marvelous thing about the Brick is its simplicity. It has one knob for gain and three switches. That's it. Similarly, the sound, theoretically, is equally unadorned, just a little bit better. 

The other DI is a Sadowski preamp pedal with integrated DI. Designed for bass, the pedal brings the boutique NYC based builder's preamp to any bass one might want to plug into it. Ordinarily one would not need to feed one DI into the other, but I was trying to minimize plugging and unplugging, so I used the Brick as my interface input, and ran my Kubicki bass into the pedal, then to the Brick with an XLR cable. Once I had GarageBand updated and a drum loop loaded, I had a little trouble with the levels being too hot, then had some trouble with the bass cutting out, which I eventually narrowed down to the XLR running from the pedal to the Brick.

After laying down a bass line over the drum beat, I plugged in the fretless, a beautiful luthier made instrument I traded for a few years ago. I played a melodic line over the fretted bass, then I pulled out my Reason Bambino, the perfect guitar amplifier solution to recording at home while your spouse is upstairs working. The Bambino is a 2 to 8 watt tube amplifier, but it has cabinet simulated line out, that I fed directly into the Brick. No speaker cabinet needed. I could monitor from the desktop speakers or headphones. Granted, it is not as gratifying as having a speaker really blowing into the room, but it works better than most other solutions. 

I started with a fairly distorted Fender Telecaster rhythm track, then went for a totally clean tone with the Guild archtop. I then plugged in a Groove Tubes tube microphone I've been experimenting with into the Brick and put down a spoken word track of this morning's poem. Then I added a track with a tambourine, a shaker, a Tibetan bowl, and a couple more vocals.

By the end of the afternoon, my voice was a little hoarse, but it felt good, like I had produced something. It is really just a test track (unless I decide otherwise, later). But it was fun and it felt good to build something from the ground up again. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Cheers,

Leo

Look at this scary looking preying mantis looking creature!