eargasmictastical

Allen 3, Steinberg knowledge base 1

I was working on a score for a film. I saved and closed Cubase to take a break and grab something to eat. But when I tried to open my project, Cubase crashes. When I checked the crash reprot it seems that one of the third party VSTs was twitching and that caused Cubase to crash. but the thing is that when I was working on the project,everything was fine. 

So I did what people would normally do in this situation. such as restarting computer, check for software updates, starring at the screen, open a back up file etc. But nothing worked. I have about 10 back up files which none of those worked.

I wasn’t about to give up. So this thought came in mind: If I were run Cubase through the Apple built in 32bit to 64bit conversion program Rosetta what would it happen? I know by doing so,it would change the way between Cubase and all of my plugins interacts with OSX. If Cubase is running in 64bit mode then the plug in would follow along. I was not sure if that is going to do anything at all. But I went along anyway.

I go to the application folder,right click on cubase to get info, checked the box that says run with Rosetta. Then I opened up Cubase and run the project file.

my project file open without any major problems,only thing was the Kontakt buffer was to small to load any samples and most of the VSTs failed to start. ;S but whatever, all my composition are all there. thats the good stuff.

Guitar Talk: Floyd Rose Trem System

Hello everyone:

Today I will be going over an awesome mod that only cost 25 cent and a screw.

As some of you know that I am a die hard Floyd Rose fan. Truth is that I only bought a Guitar equipped With FR system because it looks fucking bad ass. It was a cheap licensed trem that was composed of zinc instead of steel.So the knife edges tend to ware out quicker than a “real” Floyd.  Over time,the tuning stability begins to fail,and eventually became a hassle to tune my guitar every 5 minutes every time I play. For a time,I hated my Floyd.

I have heard and seen,some people had their Floyd blocked for this reason. So I begin to investigate on the subject. From what I can tell. People that block their trem usually insert a block of wood in the black between the sustain block and the body. By doing that, it will render the primary function of the tremolo completely useless. I did the same thing for a short time.

While thats is good enough for some people…But not for me

What I wanted was a tremolo with all the micro tuning benefits of a Floyd Rose,all of the strings stay perfectly in tune when tuned to Drop D from standard tuning, the ability to do extreme dive bombing and pitch effects.

I saw this web site and it had what exactly I wanted.however, 30 dollars plus shipping for a little piece of metal and a screw its not what I had in mind. And i was broke like every other musician.

http://www.fu-tone.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70&products_id=215&zenid=i3be58hdou0a637ojmtmcp9bo1

But seeing the design,it did give me an idea.

Its basically attaching a piece of metal near edge body cavity close to the sustain block so the attached metal can touch the sustain block. By doing so, the metal will be pressed against the sustain block to stop the trem from floating. therefore the term is blocked.

By using that design, I took a quater and screw it on my guitar.

Please use extreme caution!

Make sure that you are not using a screw longer than 2 cm so it does not go through your body. 

Make sure to position the screw too far from the sustain block clear from the pickup cavity.

And last but not least, pre drill your holes. If you dont have experience with basic carpentry please ask someone who have.

With that said, let me go over the pros and cons and this mod:

Pros.

Your tone will greatly improve! energy form picking will transfer more to the body

1. Greater tuning stability and faster guitar tuning! Licensed Trem or not, tuning will not be an issue.
2. Dive bombs and other effects. 
3. Unblocking is just from unscrewing a screw away.

Cons

1. No going up. but instead,just bend the notes. problem solved.

so there you go. hope you enjoy reading this,I have this mod done in all of my guitars. if have questions,please leave a comment or email me at efpstudio6@gmail.com

Till next time.

Allen

An idea: using live performance footage to help writing your song.

Yesterday, while I was going back home from practice. I was watching a video of me playing Destroy your radio in the back stage lounge. and I thought it was the perfect take. it was live and full of energy.

so i thought, why not just use what I am playing during that show as a template for studio and live for this song? I like the things I was playing, although some are just on the fly but it is awesome. so why not capture the moment?

I think its perfect.

lack of posts

there are no excuses for this, honestly i just forgot,then time goes by the thought never crossed my mind.

there will be new soon on the idea of my new song called Destroy yourself. which is almost done

Allen

Update

Sorry for the lack of updates on the internet, I been fighting a personal battle in my head,so far it has been very difficult,I’d like to think that I’m winning,there is still a long road ahead.anyways here is what have I been doing lately

I have been hunting for good plug ins for a program called Reaktor. The program it self is a limitless power house. it allow you to create anything you can think of that relates to audio production. anything!!!

check it out http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/reaktor-55/

The Native Instruments website also have a section where registered Reaktor users cam upload and download patches and plug ins for free. there are over 3000 plug ins to choose from. many of them are at par with alot of the high end VSTs that are out on the market.

I downloaded over 60 and i still want more. Ill list a few of my favorites:

The Mastering Limiter 6

This one is awesome, its very transparent sound wise. and every function is explained very detail when you mouse over which makes a very easy to use. I use this a lot when mastering and its pretty light on CPU too.

The Sliver channel Preamp with compressor

My frist impression when I add this to my master drum bus is WOW! the compressor really reminded me the time a played with a SSL G Channel master bus compressor at a studio, the SSL compressor is legendary in the studio world. The sliver channel compressor sounds really fat when used in on a bus, also it have a preamp section which are excellent! the “dirt” knob is one of the best saturator I ve heard.

The Fatcat(an emulation of the minimoog v)

When your are stressing about big fat bass lines look no further, the fatcat is here! The presets are awesome!

thats about all the time I have. Hopefully this is interesting for you to read, and when you think about getting reacktor, I strongly suggest that you buy a copy of it. because the extra downloadable add ons is the best perks for registered users and there are over 3000 of FREE add ons. did i mention its all FREE!?

Capturing the soul of an old organ

A few years ago, This organ was given to me by an old lady now passed away. Its an old electronic organ. I used to play it a lot but now I i dont have time to play and and since I am moving out pretty soon. I am giving it away.

But I know that I am gonna miss the organ since I dont tend to let go of things myself. and I feel that some of the old lady’s spirit is inside the instrument. I want to preserve all that.

so I am making an virtual instrument of the organ and capture the feel and soul of it.

I am using the SM58 beta and a AT4033 to mic the speakers.

stay turned for more updated as i go

3D effect? sound intersting

this is old news but i just found out.

using 1 stereo and 1 mono track of the same instrument. have the mono track in center and dry. and the stereo track run with effects.

i been doing it wrong since the beginning of time

let me just introduce my guitar playing skills i little

Ever since I been playing guitar for 10 years,i have alway been teaching myself playing guitar.I love to play rhythm guitar because I am very good at. i have find very few guitar players i know in town can match my rhythm playing.

But…

I could not play a fast solo very well. I been trying to figure out why myself for the last 2 years and now i have finally discover the reason why.

while my hand on the fret borad is good,but i have never learned the proper way of synchronizing my picking hand with my playing hand more conservatively across the strings. all the time i been doing what feels good,i can play shred very fast but not very efficient which result in a poor soloing technique.

its about using the picking hand to playing more notes with as much less movement as possible. the relation between up and down stokes,strings and the fingers need to be synchronized for a smoother feel. 

so i am back to square one on picking techniques.

But then i again i can create my own picking techniques which i already to have. it be a long road for me to teach myself,but in the end self teaching is more rewarding than letting others teach in my opinion.

thats all the time i have for now.

cheers 

acoutsic guitar mix idea

I was listening to the song This War Is Ours by Escape the fate, there one clean guitar part 
And it sounded as if there is just one stereo tracked guitar but the stereo image doesn’t match. On one side,the guitar is sharp and crisp while the other side has a rich bottom end and a nice mid range and matching some of the high end on the other side 

I come to a conclusion that the guitar is double tracked in stereo XY mode. And with two good tracks panned hard left and right. 

This way the double tracked guitar sounds like there is one guitar in the mix,but it sounds big and sound like it recorded with two guitars. its two different takes of the same guitar its just different sound source. One towards the fret borad for a high end mix.one towards the sound hole for a rich bottom. 

The result is huge. 

New idea: 

Instead of using just one guitar. Use a classical guitar and a acoustic guitar. Tracking them in XY mode panning them hard left and right. Use the treblely sound of the acoustic steel string’s fret borad sound and the bass mid range of the classical sound. 

Mix them together and see what they soundsy like