Refocusing

As much as I'd like this blog to be the repository of ALL my creative endeavors, I'm finding that DIY Digital Lab is heavily gearing towards music and music production in the home recording arena.

So I'm toying with the idea of changing the blog title (but not the web address) to something more related to this little hobby of mine.

For my drawings, I think they will be more appropriate for the blog I just started, I AM RONIN, which is about my adventures in making comics and graphic novels.

Then I have EXPLODING TUNA which I can use for anything other than music and graphic and comics art.

We'll see.

Silvertone SS10 Update Part 1: The Good and The Bad

Following up on my initial review, after playing with the SS10 on and off over several months, I was able to pinpoint the good and the bad on my budget guitar.

Mixing Tips Roundup

As I approach the mixing stage of my musical project, I thought it best to compile my favorite guru advice in one place.

These tips could have been kept secret but instead, these guys went out of their way to write, record and shoot videos for the general home recording public... for FREE!

They will forever remain in my "Book of Awesome". Thanks and more power to you!

• Joe Gilder's tips on identifying focus, mixing in general and mixing in mono.

• EQ tips from Ian Shepherd.

• Sage advice from Bobby Owsinski on monitoring levels when mixing.

• A few mixing bites from the guys at Home Recording Show.

• And the mother of all mixing tips... Graham Cochrane's collection of 5 Minutes to A better Mix videos.

NOOB HOME RECORDING (005) - Recording Bass Tracks

I still haven't established a process on how I go about recording a song. However, it seems logical to start at pre-production and recording tracks. It's tempting to start mixing as I go, applying EQ and compressors, etc... as soon as I lay down a track but I try hard to avoid it. I keep reminding myself that mixing should start after the tracks have been cleaned, edited and when every piece of the puzzle is in place so that everything is mixed in context.

DISCOVERING REAPER - 003 - Starting Reaper

By default, Reaper opens the last project every time you start the program. I think it's a cool feature. It simply saves me a few mouse-clicks but this behavior can be changed by setting program preferences, or just temporarily by holding down the SHIFT key while Reaper is starting. For now I'm happy just the way it is.

I also discovered that I can still have Reaper start up in different ways without futzing with the preference settings. By simply using the Windows START menu and selecting REAPER, I am offered four other choices.

• Create New Project
• Reset Configuration To Factory Defaults
• ReWire Slave Mode
• Show Audio Configuration On Startup

On the next installment, I'll be going through Chapter 2: Reaper Project Basics.