Macbook to Airport Extreme connection problem

After struggling with this problem for months, I finally fixed it. My Macbook would connect to the wrong network when waking from sleep or turning on the Airport card. I looked all over the net trying to find a way to fix it and the close but no cigar answer was "select preferred networks instead of automatic with your network as the preferred one," etc.

That didn't do it, even when I set it all up and locked it. One post said to delete other networks in the preferred category and another said to delete all other WAP password protected networks.

What finally worked for me was to delete ALL the preferred networks inclding my own using the minus sign and then using the plus sign I added my own. Once this was all set up, I was able to switch back to automatic and so far it's been a smashing success that only took hours and hours of teeth grinding. Why Apple couldn't have this info on their web site I don't know.

How to look like a fool while meeting Jeff Foxworthy

A couple weeks ago, I was playing in a restaurant with a friend of mine, Jeep Hook, when Jeff Foxworthy happened to come in with his wife. (At least I think she was is wife.)

So we're on about the second song of the evening, and I think "I should give him a CD!" Huh. How am I going to do that? Then I look in my bag and happen to have only one with me, so I set it aside.

We play a couple more songs. About that time I'm thinking to myself, "Shoot, what if he leaves when we're in the middle of a tune?" And suddenly, he leaves. Now I have only seconds until the valet brings his car around.

At the gig, I'm using a looper on the piano, so I can hit a switch and play sax while the loop is playing. I hit the switch to turn on the loop and run outside with the CD - luckily, our set up place is an afterthought right by an exit door. I'm pretty sure fire code would make that spot illegal for setting up musicians, but there we are.

So I run outside and say something like "Sorry to bother you but I wanted to give you a CD with a song on it that is right up your alley. It's called "Doyle, Loretta, and the Alligator Farm." He says, "Really? Gee thanks." (The song is available on itunes. . .nudge, nudge. . .)

I run back in where Jeep is playing bass and the loop is running, and start singing while laughing my head off about how I looked like an idiot and how funny that during the set I actually left the building with a keyboard loop playing and no one even noticed.

So far he hasn't called but I expect any day now, he will have his assitant call to see if I would like to go on the road with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour! . . .not!

Check out my Christmas song "Christmas Eve in the Trailer Park" at billkahler.com

Am I the only one who wants a recording interface without preamps?

Hello interface manufacturers! I'm looking to upgrade my recording chain and have some very good racked up preamps. I would love something I could use that would allow me to output the signal from the pre and go into the computer but all I see on the market are these devices with 8 preamps and an ADAT in. What's up with that? Compromise I guess, for the home recordist who wants it all in one package for $499. Digidesign makes you use their hardware - that kind of locks a guy in doesn't it?

I have been using a Roland VS2480 - pretty cool box all in all but would really like to take it up a notch. Guess I'll keep looking.

Roland Juno Stage review

Roland used to be my favorite company but I feel they have once again missed the boat. Finally got to try one of these at G.C. the other day and I was less than impressed. Weak piano sounds, 80's synth sounds, odd length keys that didn't feel right for organ or piano. . . and way over priced. $1350 - 1400 for this thing? C'mon! I had really hoped it would be the answer to a quick keyboard set up with a lot of options but it seems everything it has is a compromise. No thanks, I'll continue the extra effort of setting up my P-90, Moog Little Phatty and Alesis QS7. The Alesis is really my least favorite but the organ and synthy string sounds are OK in a band setting. I run the organ through a Boss Rotary pedal, P-90 sometimes gets a phaser, and the Moog goes through my Akai Headrush for the echo stuff.

Digitech Jamman beats Boss RC 20 XL

Digitech Jamman is so much smoother than the Boss Looper - got it yesterday and it doesn't have the stutter that the RC 20 XL has. The only thing the Boss had going for it was the reverse feature but I really didn't need that.

Boss Loop pedal RC-20XL question, review

OK for messing around at home but unusable as a live looping tool. When I record a pass with the left pedal and hit the left pedal again it plays what was just recorded but there is a stutter - 40 to 60 ms before it actually kicks in. I sent one back because it was defective. Sometimes would not pass audio at all and a couple other problems. The second one still had the stuuter problem. A rep at Roland told me his did not stutter but a rep at Musician's Friend said he had a friend who had a stuttering pedal too. Roland is a good company but they missed the boat on this one. The Akai Headrush which I also own, is a great pedal but you only get 24 seconds of looping. See my post on the Headrush.

AT Pro 37 microphone review, Rode NT1-A

Kept hearing about the Audio Technica Pro 37s and finally picked up a pair for a little over 200 bucks. They sound amazing on guitar and piano - like a clear window to the sound of the instrument.





Also got a pair of the Rode NT1-a mics - very nice indeed. RMC Audio had the pair for $238. Used them on my Yamaha U3 piano and was really pleased. Looking forward to trying them on drum overheads.

Yamaha U3 piano - poor man's grand?

I did a session in 2007 at a studio in Atlanta called Sonica - great studio and a fantastic engineer - Johnny B.! Anyways, shortly after arriving I went in to check out the piano. It was one of these. On the first break we took, a friend of mine, Michael Wynne, producer, started kidding around with me about all the gear etc. and asked me what I thought I would buy after this. I said a Yamaha U3!

Johnny and I both bought ours through DoReMi Pianos in FL. He got his direct and I got mine through a really good dealer - Atlanta Pianos, Bill Davidow.

If you don't have the budget or the space, a U3 is the way to go. Fantastic action and sound - very balanced, bright full but warm. Sits in a track easily. DoReMi and a couple others get these from Japan and refurbish them. Mine was made in 1976 and folks all over are surprised when I tell them it isn't new. You can pick them up for $2500 or so and they play like new. I use a couple Oktava 012 microphones through a Brent Averill 1272 pre and Johnny uses Earthworks mics.

If you take off the front and aim a couple mics at the soundboard a foot or two away, this piano sounds fantastic! Pay no attention to dealers that use terms like "gray market." Japan has air conditioning just like the U.S.

I've had mine for about a year, four seasons in the ATL area and have had zero problems with it, except for a crooked thief tuner/repair guy who said I needed new bass strings and had loose pins. Not true, but he needed the money. He'll get no money from me of course!

This piano is really terrific and you can check out sounds on my web site but the best are on James Casto's projects we've been working on. jamescasto.com You won't believe it! Recorded on cheapo mics in a less than perfect room, it sounds like a grand sitting on hardwood floors!

Bose L1 tower review, Bose system in the Infinifi G35

I just felt I had to voice my opinion about these systems. A lot of folks rave about them but I think they are awful! I have played through many of them in different rooms as a solo piano/vocalist over the last couple years.

The high end that sounds really harsh to me - sort of a crispy metallic high end. The
rumbling low end has no definition, and the whole system has almost no midrange where the voice and the middle of the piano need to be in a mix. Think about it - how can you achieve a defined low end with a sub? You can't. How can you get warm mids from tiny metal speakers? You can't.

The cool thing is they get the sound all around the room - but then again, some people sit in the back to talk and not hear the music so much.

The systems are really expensive for what you get when you compare a pair of speakers and a mixer at almost half the price. They are not so easy to set up - and really not that hard either, and they really aren't all that light. They take up a ton of floor space in one area. The technology is pretty cool, but the sound is less than great in my humble opinion. (I've been playing in clubs for 32 years and making a solid living at it for 25.)

My wife has an Infiniti G35 that has a Bose system too. Used to be the old saying "no highs no lows, it must be Bose." Her car is so bass heavy it's ridiculous - the CDs I listen to all the time sound terrible in her car. I have tried to adjust it but the problem is there is no graphic EQ, so if you take down the thunderous hip hop bass, you also take out the bass you need for a kick drum and bass guitar.

I'm not planning on spending any money on anything Bose in the near future. Sorry, I just don't get the hype. The prices are sky high!

Podcast play on WLSO FM

Here's a cool thing to try if you are a singer songwriter looking for exposure: Sign up at podsafe audio and upload some songs and you will most likely get some play and exposure to someone who might not normally ever hear about you. http://www.podsafeaudio.com/

Also check out Uncle Shag at WLSO FM - super nice guy and a music lover! Thanks Unc!
http://wlso. fm/wordpress/archives/1140

Tom Waits Glitter and Doom show at the Fox Theater in Atlanta

Before the show started there was music playing - sounded a bit odd. No surprise here but it was actually coming out of this large array of megaphone/bullhorns! A mono signal with only mids, no lows or highs, sounded like a bad dream!

Tom is really on his game for this tour. I saw him last year at the Tabernacle in Atlanta and this year's show was ten times better. Great staging, sound, theatrics. Fantastic show! The band was excellent and at times sounded like a small orchestra and Tom was doing a sort of Waits only style of conducting. Sometimes reminded me of a warped Broadway production!

He was up on a small circular stage that looked like a piece of antique discarded circus equipment and the lighting circle overhead was tilted so the shadows it cast were long and eerie. Tom looked like he was a skinny 7 feet tall. Around the stage he was on were some small round lights that reminded me of a rundown midway - they were a little crooked and none of them ever seemed to be lit all at once.

Casey Waits played drums and had a huge kit with tons of odd ball things around it. The keyboard player had a couple keyboards sitting inside of a hollowed out B3 looking cabinet. Some of the sounds were bizarre as you might expect. It was actually very cool how close the sound was to the strange atmospheres on his records.

Thee was a guy out front who played sax (sometimes two at once), harmonica, and guitar. Sullivan Waits came out and joined him a couple times playing clarinet. Must be odd touring with your dad and playing "... we're all gonna be dead in the ground" every night.

The musicians were really great and the guitar player played electric and acoustic and even a couple flamenco styled things. A guest guitarist came out for a few numbers - Larry Taylor. Sorry I didn't get all the names of the members.

Tons of cool visuals in this show. A flickering lightbulb dropped down for a song, dusty powder created a fog around Waits as he stomped, a bunch of glitter rained down and later in the show he donned a mirrored hat reflected light like a like a disco ball. Waits was very animated through the whole show with his occasional odd and funny stories.

Tom played a little bit of guitar, some piano and pump organ but mostly stood in the center of his stage and lead the whole thing like a ringleader conductor. A drunk guy sitting behind me, and kept kicking the back of my seat said at one point "What the hell is that?" with regard to the pump organ, along with a bunch of other comments. One of his comments I totally agree with: "Man, Tom Waits is brilliant!"

ribbon microphones, room reverb, Brent Averill, Seventh Circle Preamps, Potluck Audio Conference, figure 8, Aphex mic, Project Studio Network Podcast

Someone emailed me a bunch of questions - here are some of the answers:

vocal chain:
I use a Rode K2 tube mic through a Brent Averill 1272 preamp, sometimes through an 1176 compressor into my Roland recorder. By turning down the attenuation as far as it will go on the Roland, I am using as much of the 1272 as possible. Ideally I would bypass Roland preamps but you can't do it on those durn things.

reverb:
I like stuff pretty dry, especially vocals, maybe a little room sound here and there on other stuff. For this CD, I hardly used any digital reverb at all and instead ran separate signals into a speaker in a large tile floor room and at the other end of the room put up a couple Oktava 012 mics. $50 each at G.C. - best deal ever but they don't sell them any more I don't think.

Anyway, then I brought up the real room reverb on a separate track so I could EQ it and control the amount. I like to change it occasionally for different parts of the song to make the choruses bigger than the verses and stuff like that.

I use the proximity effect for a fuller vocal - finding the optimum spot depending on the song.

Everybody's voice has their own mic - I have a friend who sounds better on a Shure 58 than anything else I have - through the Brent Averill of course.

I also made a bunch of pres from a company called Seventh Circle Audio and they are great.

The Fathead was pretty cool to start with but the Lundahl mod improved the quality about 30 - 35% in the highs, lows and overall clarity. I recently got two more Fatheads at the Pot Luck Audio conference in New Orleans - way cool event - next year it is June 12, 13, 14.

ribbon mics:
Ribbons work well for rounding off the edge - trumpet, tambourine, shaker, anything bright and harsh. I am planning on trying them for drum over heads because they're supposed to be really good for those.

They are also great for isolating guitar and voice when performed at the same time. They have a figure 8 pattern and the null side around the edge is deader than the deadest point on a cardiod pattern.

I don't know about the Cascade turbo thing but the ribbons need a lot of clean gain and tube pres can be noisy so I wouldn't recommend those. There is a way to use a Mackie mixer coming out of the inserts and not going through all the electronics - pretty clean way to go and not bad - cheap.

AT 4033:
The 4033 is a great all around mic - I think it has only one pattern. It's pretty bright, can take a lot of SPL, built well. I got one of those new from the factory from a seller on ebay for 225.
4033 runs on phantom power, Fathead doesn't. They really are totally different.

There is a really cheap condenser called an AT 2020 or a Studio Reference or something - $99!

Also Aphex makes a tube mic that sells for around 150 or so that is very close to a $3000 Telefunken. Check out PSN's podcast for info.

A stupid solder maneuver

I mentioned the delay in the last post. Well, when I dug it out of the mothballs, the battery was dead and it wouldn't hold any settings or presets. I do quite a bit of electronic type suff so i thought shoot, I'll just replace the battery. I ordered it from Mouser- a great supplier and proceeded to do one of the stupidest things ever. I tried to solder the tabs directly to the battery! NEVER DO THIS.

I couldn't get the solder to hold so I looked up some stuff on ye olde internet. That's when I was reminded batteries can explode when heat iss applied. My face was about a foot away and I was not wearing goggles. STUPID MOVE. By some incredible stroke of luck the battery did not explode and I still have my eyesight. This move continues to haunt me though. Please be careful.

I ended up ordering another battery with solder tabs especially mde for this, soldered it in wearing safety goggles.

DIY face-up -rackmount for keyboard stand shelf

I play keyboards and sax in some situations - quite a bit lately with a really good band - check us out at jangomonkey.com . It's sort of a rock band with lots of room for improvisation. I have this digital delay from a long time ago, you know, around the time they first came on the market? Anyway, I was trying to figure out a way I could control it and had it sitting on a shelf on a keyboard stand. Trouble is all the buttons and knobs were at waist level and it wasn't so easy.

I tried to figure out a way to prop it up so the controls would face up. That's when I realized, after a little measuring, I could cut a slot in my shelf the same size as the delay minus the rack ears which would keep it from sliding all the way through. So now I have a shelf for my mixer, delay, set list, flashlight and maybe a beer. The delay is 25 years old so this isn't a huge risk. I will try to remember to post a couple pictures of it very soon.

One of the best pieces of studio gear

Herman Miller Aeron chair. Now I can sit in the studio at the desk for 10 or 12 hours with no soreness! It's been really amazing. I've heard folks grumble about these but if you get the right size they are fantastic. I got a bargain on mine from a used office furniture place on craigslist.

Recording clean esses or tees on backing vocals

I'm amazed more people don't use this technique and you hardly ever hear about it. I even heard a James Taylor record where it wasn't used! It drives me crazy when I'm listening to a song and there are a bunch of vocals stacked and there is a word at the end of a phrase that ends with an "s" but every body cuts it off at a slightly different time. The listener hears this horrible flamming of esses. (Even if everybody cuts off at exactly the same time the esses start to build up way too much.) It doesn't have to be that way! Let the lead vocal do the "s" and the rest of the vocals take the "s" off the word. Simple! Same for any word that has a consonant like a "t" or a "k" etc. Have the backing vocals soften the attack or release. Individually they may sound odd but together they will sound much better.

Stompbox Cookbook

Some time ago, I got into building guitar effect pedals. It's a great hobby and I've actually used a lot of the boxes I've built. For over two years I've been looking for the Stompbox Cookbook at a reasonable price. It went out of print a while back and shows up occasionally on Amazon or Ebay for 2 or 3 or $400. After using Google book search I got a list of libraries that had the book in stock and participated in the interlibrary loan program. One week later I was able to pick the book up for free at my local library! I have it for a couple weeks and the only drawback is copying the book is illegal. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Podcasts and marketing music - free!

Recently I got an ipod nano and started checking out podcasts. I almost never listen to the radio any more because as Brian Tracy recommends - I've turned my car into a rolling university! Sounds corny but it's really cool and here in the Atlanta area where traffic is hell, it makes the drive so much easier when you feel like you're learning something instead of just wasting time crawling down the highway.

One of my favorite recording podcasts is the Project Studio Network. Sort of like Car Talk for recording geeks. Great reviews, interviews, and links to free stuff, which they somewhat annoyingly always announce with a freeeeee exclamation.

Car talk has a podcast and so does Garrison Keillor with the Prairie Home Companion. All free!

CD Baby has one - covering marketing, recording, performing, touring. CD Baby is a great company by the way for distribution of your CD or arranging downloads on iTunes etc.

Song School/ Folk Fest in August CO style!

If you are into songwriting, playing guitars and camping in some beautiful surroundings, check out Song School in Lyons CO - about 40 minutes northwest of Denver. What a great time! Many of the attendees go every year including me - this will be my 6th or 7th time. Classes are very good and rather loose and held in big tents . Instructors are fantastic and every night after the "open stage" song circles break out all over the campground.

Se in a red rock canyon with an incredible starry sky every night, it's impossible to beat - highly inspirational and plain fun! Only a short drive from Rocky Mountain National Park which is spectacular to see.

The school goes on Mon. - Thu. and then the festival happens Fri., Sat., Sun. Past performers include Steve Earle, Norah Jones, Randy Newman, Greg Brown.

Checkout planetbluegrass.com got more info - it often sells out - not surprisingly.

Danelectro U2 reissue intonatable bridge mod

I'm starting to see a pattern here with the mods. . . Any way, I really like my Danelectro and it had a rosewood bridge that looked like it was collapsing, not to mention the intonation on some notes was a bit questionable. I bought an intonatable bridge from allparts on ebay for about $45 and it went right in place with ease. They make one that fits a bunch of different Danny guitars and no modification or drilling was needed on mine. I even used the same screws to set it on the body. I did find that when putting on the new strings I had to slowly tighten up one side and then the other so as to keep the bridge in the correct position All in all it was about a 20 minute job requiring no special tools.

I had heard that such a mod might change the tone but this was not the case at all. One additional bonus was the string windings no longer cut into my hand. I'm thinking about filing the setscrews down a bit to make that more comfortable too.

Fathead Ribbon Mic Mod

The Fathead Ribbon mic is a great deal. Sure a Royer or a Coles is going to sound better - a little, but they're also going to make your wallet thinner - a lot.

I got mine for $159 and the price is $199 now. (http://www.cascade
microphones.com/cascade_FAT_HEAD_II.html)

I listen to the Project Studio Network podcast quite a bit and they had a couple shows dealing with ribbons. I already owned the Cascade Fathead and was interested in what they had to say. A guy named Slau was very complimentary and when I heard the comparison of a Coles 4038 to a Fathead with a Lundahl transformer, I knew I had to mod my own. I got the new tranny a Lundahl 2912 from K&K Audio for $70 with shipping. (http://www.kandkaudio.com/transformers.html) Cascade will also do the mod for $150 or you can buy the upgraded model from them.

The mod took about half an hour. Very simple. You unscrew the bottom of the body, pull off the shell, take out the screws holding the old one in place. Keeping track of where eveything goes is easier with a digital camera, but there are only four places to solder. K&K provided great instructions also. Basically the thin white wire connects to pin 3 of the XLR (center pin, and the thicker black wire will connect where the red wire was on the PCB. Connect the other two and that's it. Put it back together and you have one heck of a great sounding inexpensive ribbon mic.
For me, the total was $239!