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2 weeks ago, I picked up a Lenovo IdeaCentre 5i with a 12th Gen I5-12400, a 500gb SSD and 8GB RAM. This will be my general purpose computer, replacing an aging Dell with a old Phenom II X6. Of course the first thing I did was to upgrade it. A 1TB SSD for a second data drive, and 16GB...

For those who use Reaper, the latest version 7.001 was posted on Reaper.FM yesterday. I haven't looked through all the changes that have been made. As usual, if you purchased V6.xxx then the upgrade is included in your license.

For those who have considered a Model 24 (or 16) and wondered if it would make a quality recording, you might want to watch this video. Granted you have a good room, and probably more in mics that most of us (lots of Lewitt gear) but they used the 24's preamps and compressors and EQ. Not...

Some 20 years ago, I recorded a version of Paul Simon's America. It was my first attempt to use computer multitracking with a program I found called "ProTools Free" (2001). The recording was made on a Windows98 machine with a 486 processor. There was no audio interface, just a basic...

A few years ago, my brother was clearing out old stuff and asked if I wanted his old Sony RTR. Of course, I took it off his hand to keep it out of the landfill. It languished in my basement for about 3 years. After the discussion in another thread about "analog emulation" plugins, I...

I was all set for a nice night of music at a local outdoor amphitheater. Kansas and Blue Oyster Cult. None of the 90+ degree temps with dew points in the upper 70s that we've had this summer, it was going to be really pleasant, and I was looking forward to this one. Then the downer news...

A couple of weeks ago, I put together a drum track in MTPDK and guitar track, then added a vocal. It took a bit to get a bass line working, but I think I'm getting closer. Sometimes it seems the bass level it too strong. God Bless the Child - Billy Holiday

I've got some old filter capacitors to replace in a Sony receiver. Looking at the diagram, it's got a strange symbol for the filter cap. I've found two different diagrams for the polarity! Anyone know for sure which side is positive on these two capacitors, bracket or dash? I haven't...

Has anyone else watched this documentary about the history of the cassette? It's got interviews with one of the original designers of the cassette, Lou Otten, who also worked on the CD. He created the cassette to be "foolproof" because he disliked fooling around with threading a reel to...

I got the new mic set up and tested. I didn't have tons of time, so I did a quick acapella vocal of No Moon At All ( I had Diana Krall playing earlier while doing housework - it turned into a bit of an earworm :-)). Then a quick 15 seconds with a cheapo tambourine that came with my Woodstock...

I revisited a song that I did some years ago. I was never happy with the mix. The reverb was too swampy and it was too bright. It was time to go back to the raw files and start over. It's the old Crosby Stills and Nash song, and I was trying to work on singing harmony (I'm a sucker for...

My Peavey bass has roundwounds on it. They've been on there forever, but still sound pretty good and snappy, but as with any roundwound, you get finger squeaks. My bass playing buddy had flatwounds on his bass and they are nice and smooth, really quiet, but I think they just sound too dark...

I have to give Sweetwater credit, the WA47Jr arrived about 24 hours after it was ordered! Before golf this afternoon, I had a chance to do a quick and dirty comparison of the 47Jr to my NT-1 and Studio Projects B3. I had a scratch guitar track for the Beatles' For No One, and set up the...

I just ran across a news item that the Audacity has been bought by Muse Group, owners of Ultimate Guitar (the tab people). According to the article, they are looking to update and refresh the program, and that it will remain free and open source...

Sweetwater has recently posted an interface test for a selection of different units under $500. They did a couple of voice tests, an acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and a grand piano. Interfaces ranged from Focusrite and Zoom to Apollo and SSL. Sweetwater Interface test Has anyone...

One of the ads that popped up at Audio Test Kitchen was for Placid Audio. They had some interesting looking microphones, so I clicked in the ad to see what they had to offer. After all, there have been companies making mics out of unusual materials like wood that sounded half way decent. Why...

While I had played with recording on my old cassette deck, results were never much to care about. My first real recordings were with my Dokorder 8140. My sister's high school choir asked if I could record their Christmas concert in 1977. I had two AKG D160e omni mics, plus an Electrovoice...

Back in 2005, a few of us who had played together in the 70s got together with a couple of other friends to play some old tunes. I had just bought a nice new Yamaha AW16G the year before, so I threw up some mics on the drums, bass and electric piano and hit record. I had plans to add guitar...

I remember when the Rolling Stone's Mobile Unit was the hot setup. It was used by everyone from the Stones, to Deep Purple, The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Dire Straits. Apparently someone has been touring the US with the Jam In the Van. A self contained video/audio studio that is solar...

An FYI for users of the US16x08. When I fired my system up yesterday, the Tascam software found a new driver release. According to the attached release notes, they combined the driver and mixer software. Once the new version was installed, I immediately ran into problems with Reaper...