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ex-mixer

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  1. A late 60s strat that I modified for two Gibson humbuckers in 1970. Back then, no one was making third party pickguards so I had a friend who worked at CIBA-GEIGY pick me up a white piece of scrap material that I could template as needed. Turns out, it was pure 1/8" teflon... back then it was probably worth more than the entire guitar. All my buddies thought I was nuts, but I loved the strat body and Gibson sound. I used my Dad's super set of wood chisels to hand route out space for the larger pickups, but one thing that I didn't realize was, the teflon was not entirely opaque and you could still see the space where the center single coil went. I sold it when going to college in Dallas, probably to make rent or possibly for food. Definitely wish I had it back... I put a lot of sweat equity in that axe. BTW, I still have that hand-tooled, weed-inspired leather strap.
  2. Agreed on the "musicians listening to musicians" premise. As a concert production crew member back in the 70s and 80s, I worked one of the more iconic shows back then, the Who concert in Riverfront Coliseum on Monday, December 3rd, 1979. Nine people died that evening when the gathering crowd - there to be first in line for "festival seating" - collided with a long, overnight drive that pushed the band's sound check past the posted "doors open" time. The gathering throng of 14,000 wrongly surmised the concert had started without them and rushed the huge panes of glass that bordered the venue, causing them to buckle and break. The subsequent surge knocked many off their feet... those who were unable to re-stand were trampled to death in the melee. The subsequent outrage ushered in a decade or more ban of "festival seating", although I heard it returned after I departed the concert production industry in the early 90s. As a gigging musician these days, I rarely attend large concerts... preferring instead to frequent more intimate venues that feature lesser known, albeit very talented performers. I still love to listen to live music... but I no longer enjoy being in large crowds.
  3. I remember the transition from analog to digital some three plus decades ago. In the early days of purchasing CDs, we paid a lot of attention to the old SPARs code which on the early releases was almost always AAD. The first direct-to-digital CD I purchased was Tom Jung's DMP label 1983 release of Flim & the BBs "Tricycle"... I used it to help tune PA systems as the sonics & dynamics were pretty amazing. However, my first true DDD CD was Dire Strait's "Brothers In Arms". And actually, I never thought I'd see vinyl records again… for quite a few years, that was the case. Now I'm seeing an increasing number of artist's new releases coming out with a vinyl option. I guess I can understand the pure ideological argument for a return to AAA... back in the late 70s, I operated the venerable 24 track Studer A80 which was a wonderful machine. However, I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind what is effectively a DDA… unless it's simply an attempt to reach that demographic who refuse to listen to anything NOT on vinyl. But then, wouldn't those individuals be just as opposed to the inclusion of any digital in the chain? Sorry… my mind wanders. In any case... great article, Dr. Anderton.
  4. Great article... by the way, I keep mine in an old, plastic film can. Like most guitar players, I have a favorite pick (currently a red delrin from ChromaCast) but that is mostly for my acoustics. On my Tele, I'll switch between the red delrin and an old green Mel Bay for reasons I mention below. But on my power steering guitar (Les Paul;)) I use a discontinued, superthin blue Mel Bay simply because I play the instrument with a much lighter touch. I also like to spin the MBs around to one of the corners and use the rough-textured, holding part to pick blues where I like that "scratch-attack" to accentuate the individual notes. I do the same with my red delrin to get more warmth (less definition) when appropriate. This may seem weird, but if I'm playing my acoustic hard (without any amplification), I'll attach a small pad/dot of U-Glue to help keep the pick from getting away. While it is easy to lean down and pick it back up when it hits the ground, or select another one off the mic stand when using a PA, I've actually had them fly inside the soundhole where I had to do that shake-to-center thingy to get it just beneath the opening before the rotation upside down thingy to let it fall out. #IsThatWeird
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