G.A.S. Report — ACQUIRED: NUAD & NAGD

(NUAD = New-to-me Used Accordion Day & NAGD = New Acoustic Guitar Day!)

Yes, that's right, I've been busy!

Weekend before last, my family was in Gainesville, MO, out in front of our vacation house playing acoustic guitar with a friend. Someone started to play the song "Kiss Me" by Six Pence None The Richer and I made the comment how fun it would be to put my guitar down and pic up an accordion and play that actual accordion part in the song!

So I did some research and found a great company in Phildelphia, PA named Liberty Bellows. That's mostly what they do, sell new and used (they refurb all used they sell to perfect playing condition) accordions & concertinas!

I ended up getting the above Hohner MM12 Student model from 1950...something in it's original case. It's fairly used but plays so great!! It has that true french musette sound I was craving. No polkas here...okay well maybe I'll learn the Chicken Dance song, eh? I also picked up the trusty Palmer-Hughes Accordion 1 book that everyone starts on. I may take some lessons from Mr. Bob Boyd though.

Next up:
I sold my beloved 2005 Fender Malibu, with soft v mahogany neck and solid top spruce, solid back mahogany and laminated sides. I loved it for it being so very fender, but unfortunately that also meant it sounded and played like a Fender acoustic guitar.... you know, crap! :(

My good friend Bryon Knight from Little Rock Frets purchased it for his son. Actually, I take it back, it doesn't play and sound like crap, it just didn't meet my needs when traveling. IT was actually a very very good low volume office guitar that I will miss. His son should really love it too!

I replaced it with the Taylor GS Mini Mahogany Top! LOVE IT! It's perfect. Plays like a Taylor. Sounds like a taylor! Nice case too. I plan to travel with it a lot and also bring to the office on a regular basis.

My watershed moment: Piano is fun but nothing like playing guitar!

Well, I made a decision about my musical future, at least the near future. After seriously pursuing and playing the piano for almost a year, I'm heading back to guitar full time.

And to commemorate this "re-connection" with my musical past, I've invested in a better instrument to hone my skills on. In tennis, often instructors and players say to always "play up!" The same goes for music, IMHO.

I acquired a NOS 2007 Taylor GC5e. Wester Red Cedar top, solid South American Tropical Mahogany sides and back. It has the famed ES (expression system) built in, which, incidentally, is one of the best renditions of an acoustic sound I've ever heard amplified! It has a slotted headstock, which I love on my Kala Ukulele. It's almost perfect, just need to get a proper set up after the guitar has settled into my home and then I'll have it as I like!

G.A.S. Report — ACQUIRED: Fender Mustang III

So I finally got sick of everyone running from the room when I picked up the guitar and turned on my Fender Super Sonic 60. That thing was just outrageously too loud. :(

So it is for sale (I put it and many other items for sale at Little Rock Frets) and replaced with this nifty modeling amp from Fender. It's so nifty that it's allowed me to get rid of my pedals, pedal board, and just use the 4 button, 2 button footswitches and an expression pedal that fender also supplies! LOVE IT!

G.A.S. Report — ACQUIRED: Danelectro 56 Pro

FINALLY! I found one in Baby Blue! It's so lovely. Great condition, right price, great guy in Tulsa who has it listed on Craigslist and connected with me via a post I made on TDPRI.com.

Can't stop playing it!

"My future is comin' on, it's comin' on. My future..."

This week, while my Lexicon I-Onix U22 interface was at the factory being repaired, I decided now was the time to upgrade to a new, larger input interface. I had my eye on a few but then I saw the M-Audio Fast Track C600 in a magazine. I had not seen or heard about it before, even though it has been around since 2010. I gave it a try.

It arrived last Thursday. It was smaller than I thought it would be from online pics. The knobs are kinda on the tiny side. And it's mostly made of plastic, unlike my I-Onix that was made of mostly metal and felt rather Pro. The shiny plastic on the top is very "tender". Even with a soft micro fiber cloth it scratches up easily. But all aesthetics aside, the thing works really well!

It fits more of what I wanted than anything else out there, so a few negatives were okay as long as it works. Having transport controls, two headphone outs, three monitor options, 4 inputs with 2 Hi Z on the front making it easy to plug in a guitar.

I've been able to record multiple sources at the same time. Create separate headphone mixes using the software mixer driver that's included. The aforementioned software mixer is a bit on the complicated side. I'm still trying to figure it out and don't expect much in the manual to explain it. It's a very sparse manual.

M-Audio/Avid's customer service leaves something to be desired as well. It was my one hesitation in purchasing this product. You can't get any contact with these people unless you "buy" (or are granted by registering your product) support "Codes" from them. Pretty ridiculous.

I purchased it through Sweetwater and thanks to my rep there, Derek Senestaro, I hope to get some kind of feedback from them about the scratching.

I immediately had some major noise problems after hooking it up, something I had not faced with the I-Onix. But it turned out NOT to be the C600, but operator error in my setup. My USB cable running to my SV-1 was creating a ground loop. I lifted the ground on the SV-1 and removed the cable to use only when I'm updating via the software editor or using it to lay down some midi tracks. Problem fixed and my system is quiet as church mouse now!

One other thing I did was purchase a Vocal Reflection Screen. I had wanted one but thought they all cost too much. But Guitar Center had one made by Primacoustic Voxguard on sale for $85. It's not a "pro" unit but it will work well enough for a while. I don't think it would put up with the abuse in a "real" studio. All that said, don't get me wrong, I really like this unit. It's well made and the newest model includes some "slits" in the back left and right sides to allow some frequency to go through from the vocalist. I find that it's helpful to have some sound absorption behind your vocalist as well and to make sure you keep the mic in the "sweet spot". I'd say one of the best things about using any vocal screen like this is the feeling you get. It's like blinders on a race horse, helps you focus, helps you get in the zone.
All and all a very good purchase and the company really responds quickly to questions being very helpful, even if it's not a product they sell! Bravo! If only M-Audio/Avid could actually answer their phones at all!

So this weekend, Corey and I got in the "studio" and started experimenting with vocals! She's finally getting to see that she can sing! It's so exciting! More about this later and hopefully, soon, some audio tracks to share!

Adventures in Recording at Home, or Did I really spend this much on my hobby?

Now, I'm not usually one to brag too much (no, really, I'm not!). And I'm also not usually so eager to show my personal belongings to the mass populous. (I know, 3 people read this including my Mom!) But I'm really proud of my little music room at home that is slowly becoming my little home studio, as well.