"STEREO" PROGRESS AND HRS INTERVIEWS KIM LAJOIE

Back on the music front. My current project is still in the works. I've pretty much laid down all the basic tracks except for the vocals. But it's already taking too long to finish. I keep getting distracted and I'm always finding excuses not to record this one final track so I can begin mixing.

Anyway, if you're interested on the song's progress, here's what I have so far... it's called Stereo and the song will be in Tagalog. This track is still in its raw form and will be mixed once I have all the elements in.


Stereo-Raw Backing Track

On another note, there is an interesting interview with Kim Lajoie on the Home Recording Show podcast. The important thing I personally got out of the interview is to concentrate on making music instead of obsessing about gear. It doesn't matter if I have a rinky dink effects box or a $2000 recording console. What matters is knowing how to effectively use the equipment and software you have and that the music must come first.

Kim Lajoie also has a blog with heaping amounts of information and insights on recording and making music. Be sure to check it out.

MY DIGITAL GRAPHIC ART ODYSSEY

I've always loved to draw since I was little. It started from drawing my favorite cartoon characters and later on creating my own. I also remember back in grade school and high school when I used to make my own comic books and passed it around to my classmates. Those were fun times.

Well the flame is still alive albeit quite faint. I manage to doodle every now and then. But lately I've been itching to do it more and rediscover my love for the art. My favorite medium used to be pencil and ink. It still is but I want to combine the traditional with digital medium. So this will be a learning and re-learning process for me and this blog will help me keep track of my progress.

 
REFERENCES AND INSPIRATION

One of my goals is to REALLY learn how to draw proper human figures. Below are recent samples of what I can do now. I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement. I just need the patience to practice and stay with it.

ROCKET MAN: Well, this one's not really recent. I drew this about five years ago on a piece of stationery, while I was bored out of my mind. I used a regular black ball point pen.

Getting To Know The POD Farm Amp Models

As I mentioned in my previous post, I intend to learn and acquire an in-depth understanding of every piece of gear and software I have. On this post, I am going to learn about the 18 different amp models that come with Line 6’s POD Farm.

I have Version 1 of POD Farm which came with the POD Studio UX2 I got on Christmas of 2009. As of this writing, Version 2 has come out but I won’t go into that as I obviously don’t own it. I’m working with what I have.

Most amp models have knobs for drive, bass, middle, treble, presence and volume that can be tweaked allowing for hundreds if not thousands of possible tones.

To get familiar with the amp models, I decided to record clips to be able to compare each sound. Picking an amp model in POD Farm automatically pairs it with a pre-set cabinet, room position and one of three microphone types, all of which can also be tweaked so I’m not exaggerating when I mentioned the number of possible tones that can be had with this piece of software.

Avoiding G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

The home recording hobby can get very expensive really quickly if you're not careful. Hardware and software manufacturers have done a great job of marketing their wares, promising you the best sound at the push of a button. I try to avoid getting G.A.S. or Gear Acquisition Syndrome by reminding myself the following:

Coming Soon!

Just finishing up the audio and video for the next post featuring the amp models on the POD Farm plugin. Check back soon!