Pope's Words

Once again, a long while has passed since I’ve posted here! I did a couple more tours with Al Di which was supposed to go on through the summer. But alas, the promoters had a different idea of what should happen. Al ended up going out with a small group consisting of himself, another guitar player (no pressure!), an accordion player, and Gumbi Ortiz on the Cajon. They’re still out now, and having a great time. I’m going to go see them when they come through here in a week or so.

So with all my extra time at home I’ve been keeping busy by finishing my studio. It has proven to be a more involved task than I anticipated. Even for little old me! There are a lot of details involved. Then there’s the issue of learning how to use all the stuff I bought. With computer based stuff, even if it emulates a real-world device, there’s the whole workflow thing you have to get together. Otherwise you can get yourself in big trouble.

I bought a Digi003 console. I also did a major computer upgrade (basically built a new one around the old hard drive) and loaded it up with 4 of the Universal Audio UAD-1e cards. I got a bunch of the plug-in’s including all the Neve stuff and some of the mastering stuff. It totally rocks. A couple of problems, though. First of all, they are absolutely totally unusable for tracking. The latency issues are out of hand for that application. The other problem is with ProTools LE. There is no automatic delay compensation in LE, so you have to keep track of it yourself and use UA’s delay comp plug-in. It seems simple enough, but when you start printing wet tracks or dealing with automation it turns into a HUGE pain in the ass. This appears to be a part of Digidesign’s on-going effort to maintain a clear line between their consumer level stuff and their pro stuff. As far as I’m concerned it’s their problem if a really fast computer and a Digi003 is 95% as good as an HD system. They want it to be 75% as good. So the light pipe won’t handle more than 48kHz, and there’s no automatic delay compensation…among other things. In addition to the general confusion this causes, it also means that by the time you put some monster plugs on a few tracks and the master, your meters and waveform locating markers could be as much as a HALF a SECOND ahead of the audio you’re hearing. I’m sorry Digidesign, but that SUCKS out loud! Marketing, Shmarketing…it sucks. You’ve taken a very elegant and clever product at a great price and tucked it into a market full of gimmicky alternatives that, in comparison, look better and better all the time. Is that smart? Really?!?

Anyway, the sonic results are excellent. The 003 is nice, but with the UA plugs it’s REALLY nice. I had it upgraded by Black Lion Audio in Chicago. They replaced all the TL06x op amps with a higher grade part (TL06x’s are to op amps as Red Lobster is to lobster), tore out the stock crystals and replaced them with an oversampled clock, decoupled the converters and I think something else. It sounds great. Money well spent. I’d recommend it to anyone.

I bought a small arsenal of mics too. I have a pair of AKG C414’s, a pair of Shure KSM32’s, a Rode NT-2, an Audix Drum pack, some cheapie Audio-Technica mics and my “secret weapon”, a 1961 AKG C12. All original. It ROCKS! It’s here courtesy of our long-time family friend John Dame in Chicago. That thing sounds unbelievable on vocals. On acoustic bass it’s from another planet. I’m lucky to have it.

My friend Tony Escapa (from Al’s band and now with Ricky Martin) helped me find a great drum set too. I got a nice set of Yamaha Oak customs. They’re great and the price is right.

So all this means I’ve actually started making moves toward a record. Keep your eyes peeled for more news about that. If I get any decent demos or snippets I may post them on the site for your review.

That’s all for now. Check back again for an update. Later!

-Mike