Phil O'Keefe

I can't believe I'm typing this, but his nose is too big compared to mine... and I don't wear an earring. I'm sure if you do some more looking around on Google, or play around with Photoshop a bit, you can come up with a closer match, or something more humorous.

Fletcher, you talk a lot of {censored} but I really don't think you can back up at least 50% of it -- no matter what you own. So... Yawn.

My job, as an engineer, is to deliver what the client requests... no matter how {censored}ed up and horrid it may be. Why is it my job? Because they hired me to present their music [and I took the gig]... and it's not my music... and if this is the presentation they want, then that's the presentation they'll get [no matter how abhorent I think what they're asking me to do to the music may be]. That's why it's my personal policy to never judge an engineer based solely on listening to just one song or album. Hey, if I wasn't there, and I didn't see what they had to deal with, and what they were given to work with, and don't know what the budget was, or what the client demands were, it's not really fair to judge them. I can judge the results, and say I didn't personally care for the record, but a lot of what we do isn't left entirely up to us. Now the PRODUCER OTOH... the buck stops there.

You should have heard another friend of mine go off about a "legend" who left him a voice mail that they should use a 'track ball' instead of a mouse because that's what was making the album take so long to get finished [this was 3-4 years ago... the album still isn't done!!]. I catch flak occasionally because I use a mouse. I never did get along well with trackballs, and it seems like that's what nearly everyone else in LA uses. I suppose if I had a client who hated mice and was going to do some of the computer work, I'd go buy them a trackball to keep them happy... but saying the project is going slow because you're using either instead of the other... wow.

Phil, your face is melting. That's a side effect of some new Sly Digs tracks I've been working on - face melting stuff.

No human in history has ever exceeded their own capabilities. No, we all have limits on what we are capable of... but not everyone realizes where those limits are, or more specifically, that those limits are probably beyond what they "think" they're capable of. Sometimes it just takes the right motivation, and other times, it just takes the right inspiration. If you've only heard yourself through crappy PA systems and beat up SM58's all your life, and someone sticks you in front of a good 251 or 47, it's probably going to be a bit of an eye opener for you... and it may indeed be inspiring. Headphone mix made the singer perform better than ever before? I think this is wishful thinking -- I don't think there's a single competent studio vocalist who will credit their best performance to an inspiring headphone mix. Maybe not (although I'm not willing to fully concede the point), but a BAD headphone mix can absolutely DESTROY a performance. Headphone mixes are absolutely CRUCIAL IMHO. I spend as much time as it takes dialing them up to the singer's satisfaction. If you can't hear what you're doing, you can kiss pitch accuracy goodbye. You can also say bye bye to any kind of inspired performance - if the singer is the least bit distracted and spending any time and effort thinking about the cans mix, then they're distracted from what they SHOULD be doing - which is feeling the music, laying down a great performance and SELLING THE SONG. Give them a great mic that is suitable for and that brings out the best attributes of their voice, give them a killer headphone mix that lets them hear what they're doing, and suddenly they are not only inspired, but they also have the tools available to start reaching further towards the limits of their potential. They can hear themselves better, which means they can tell what they're doing and start controlling it more accurately and expressively. The sound kills, so instead of being distracted and spending time thinking about the bad headphone mix, or how they're bummed out, they are happy and inspired and focused on the song and their performance... It most definitely has a positive effect IMO.

I was floored when I recently saw how much some microphones go for. I'd always understood that recording gear was expensive, but when I stumbled onto some Neumann microphones on eBay, I nearly choked on my black licorice. (I think the model I saw was the U47 fet). Just be thankful you didn't happen upon a Neumann U47 TUBE mic - you would have really choked. The U47FET is a discontinued mic, and the only way to get one now is used... and since there's a finite amount of them out there, and a fairly high demand for them, the prices go up accordingly - kind of like 1959 flametop Les Paul Standards. Even though they were under $300 new back in 1959, they can command prices of $300,000 today, and occasionally more, depending on condition, who previously owned / played it, etc. There are a ton of great microphones available on the market today. Some are clones of, or based on the classic vintage designs (similar to buying a "custom shop" reproduction of a vintage Les Paul or Strat), and they can tend to be fairly expensive too, although not as bad as their vintage counterparts. Others are new designs, or are more loosely based on vintage designs, and they tend to be a bit more affordable. Of course, there's a wide selection of "new" models available too... some manufactured overseas (China) at very low price points... When shopping for microphones, it's a good idea to consider what you want to use it for, what your budget is, and shop accordingly. Some mikes are better suited to some tasks than others. For example, no single mic is "ideal" for every and all vocalists, and what works best live might not always be ideal for studio use. The same mic you use on vocals might also work well for acoustic guitars, but OTOH, there might be something that would work even better in that application, but not quite as well for vocals...

That's a pretty good definition of transparency, as far as "transparency" is concerned. I wouldn't completely agree with that. From my perspective (as an audio engineer), I tend to think of gain reduction / dynamic range compression (without any artifacts) as "transparent compression", and things that add a lot of noise, distortion, or change the envelope (attack or sustain characteristics), or change the tone of the incoming audio in any audible way would be the antithesis of "transparent" to me.

Ah- the Nanny Nazi returns Are you interested in discussing the subject, or are you just here to hurl insults at people? You still have not answered my question regarding "transparent compression". I think I know what you mean - I certainly know what the term means to me - but I don't want to make any assumptions here, so I asked for your definition. I'm sorry if attempting to engage you in a civil discussion, or asking you to define the very term that you yourself used is proving to be too difficult or too much trouble for you... but that's the only way you're going to have any positive influence on all of the ignorant / "stupid guitarists".

Hey guys... all of these questions would make excellent thread topics!

Rather than argue, maybe you two could try finding common ground in terms of the definitions and terminology... For example; Bryan, can you please define what "transparent compression" means to you? Then if you guys still disagree, please do so agreeably.

It's harder to use those pitch correction plugins on tape. I grew up as an engineer in the all analog era, and I can certainly appreciate what a good analog system has to offer... however, I don't look at it through some rose colored nostalgia glasses either; there were definitely things about tape that I didn't like too - like shedding, difficulty in editing (window splices FTL), decreasing high frequencies with repeated playbacks, and the fact that what you send in is NOT what you get on playback - IOW, tape changes the sound due to low frequency head bumps, hiss, high frequency roll offs, etc. If I had to pick one or the other, I'd pick a good Pro Tools system... but OTOH, ideally, you'd want to have both available IMO. One cool technique IMO is a "pass through" - route the audio into the tape deck and monitor off the playback (instead of the record) head, and route that into the PT rig. Then do your edits and overdubs there, or just the edits, and fly it back to the analog deck (if you prefer).. you get the advantages of both systems that way. Or you can track to PT, and then route the audio you want "analog-ized" out and into a three head reel to reel, monitor off the playback head, and route that back to the computer and re-record it on new tracks, and then nudge them back into alignment. The advantage of that technique (which I first learned about from Craig Anderton) is that you can adjust how hard you hit the tape AFTER you get a great performance, without risking that "perfect" take due to the fact that while recording directly to analog, you either hit the tape too hard or too soft - it's similar to using the analog machine as a post-recording "tonal and compression effect" device. Although I am running a Pro Tools HD 2 Accel system, I still keep an analog half track deck handy for just that purpose (along with using it as a tape delay, ADT and mixdown deck too).

2" tape recorders "Studers" used in major recording studios are much loved for their sound "saturation" ah... you could also call the compression:thu: as far as a comp being a crutch? {censored}! all my pedals on my board are a crutch, all 12 of them:thu: Yes, if you hit analog tape with enough level, then the tape saturates and you get what is commonly referred to as "tape compression". It's really not that dissimilar from amp compression in some ways - the medium can't handle any further increase in level, so the waveform peaks start getting rounded off... The funny thing is, nearly every time I'm in LA in one of the big studio complexes, all the control rooms that are booked have Pro Tools systems in use, and the hallways outside are lined with unused Ampex and Studer tape decks...

Nothing's wrong with completely dry, or over the top processed - it's like playing music - there are no "wrong" notes, only notes that are played in musically inappropriate ways, or at musically inappropriate times. I'll go dead dry or processed to the moon if either approach seems musically appropriate. And for the record, I had NOTHING to do with "Recording And Mixing For Dummies", although I did contribute to "Pro Tools For Dummies". I've had a lot of discussions with a lot of other engineers regarding our approaches to processing "on the way in", and the opinions, like many things pertaining to recording and mixing, tend to vary quite a bit. Roger Nichols is fairly well known for not tracking with a lot of EQ (due to the fact that you may have to EQ at mixdown, and it's not always great to re-EQ a signal), while others consider good EQ's in the recording chain an absolute must. I fall between the two extremes; I use little or none on the way in a lot of the time, but OTOH, if we're going for a specific "sound" and getting it means using an EQ, I won't hesitate to do so. Compression is another story for me - although again, opinions are all over the map. archlilim: What a lot of these fools are saying is true, compression is one of the first things you learn in the audio production world. I think it may be more accurate to say that they'll try to teach you about compression, but it's one of those things that a lot of people don't fully understand, or know how to listen to / set. I certainly get a lot of questions sent my way regarding that. There's three or four spots (at least) where compression might be used on a recording... in a pedal in front of an amp, in the recording chain (post mic preamp), on an individual channel / track in a mix, on the stereo mix bus and of course, in mastering. Individual track compression, submix or mix buss compression and even mastering compression can all be used responsibly and to great effect, and for me, even extreme amounts of individual track compression can be a cool tool in the tonal arsenal - I love records / songs like Matthew Sweet's "You're Not Sorry" or the stuff on Jellyfish's Spilt Milk - that's a ton of track compression you're hearing, not oversquashed mastering compression. Many, many engineers lament the over-use of compression on masters these days, and IMO, when it is used to the point where it starts to do sonic harm to the mix, or when it starts to do damage to the musical dynamics, it IS a very "bad thing". But I don't blame the M.E.'s as much as I tend to blame the bands and the A&R folks who just want "their record to be as loud, or louder than so and so's record". The mastering engineer may advise against it for sonic and musical reasons, but at the end of the day, they have to deliver what the clients ask for...

I use compression daily, but not just pedals, and a lot of my use of compression is not just about dynamics control, but also tonal shaping in the studio. In that respect, I do not consider it as a "crutch" at all, although I do acknowledge that for some people, it may be used in that respect to compensate for less than effective control over their playing dynamics.

You would think someone would make a light plastic frame with tack flanges to fit their foam. Good point... but OTOH, it's pretty easy to DIY... just get some thin plywood (1/8" luan or similar) and apply the foam to that, then mount that to the wall with hooks, super grip velcro, screws, etc.

Terry, which Auralex adhesive were you referring to? I've used the Tubetak before; the stuff that comes in a caulk gun tube, and it held well, but you have to wait for quite a while before it dries enough to support the foam by itself. The Foamtak, which I just used for the first time last night, actually has surprised me so far... it grabs nearly instantly and (at least so far) is holding 4" foam overhead with no problems. At about $20 per can, it's not cheap, but it seems to be working great.

Best glue I've found for foam is ARLENE'S FOAMTASTIC... Thanks for that Tim - it's very timely for me, since I'm redoing a bunch of stuff in my studio at the moment.

READ FIRST PLEASE!!!

Welcome to the spam thread. There are some new rules, so please read this first BEFORE posting! I've been getting some comments about the overabundance of OT posts in the spam thread. It would be great if we could keep this thread to on-topic posts, and anything you folks can do to help keep the thread size manageable (IOW, deleting items / posts for things that have sold) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! **** The Rules: I'll try to close the previous week's spam thread sometime each Sunday evening / early Monday morning. At that time, the previous week's spam thread will be unstuck and locked. Everyone will be able to still read it as it drops off page one, but it won't be "bump-able". One post per person, per weekly spam thread. I will allow one bump for MAJOR changes to your post, but if I see more than two posts from any person in one week, you'll get a three day temp ban at the minimum... If the details have changed - for example, a item or two on your list has sold, you've lowered your asking price, or you no longer are looking for a new XYZ Toobyeller cheep - EDIT your original post. This thread is for "want to buy", "want to sell" and "want to trade" posts ONLY. If you have a question about an item that's listed, please contact the seller via PM or email - don't ask questions in the thread. New pedal announcements from builders go in here too. The "one per week" rule applies. No discussion or questions about announcements in here. If someone unaffiliated with the builder wants to start a separate thread asking about it, that's fine, and the builder can respond - but we're getting way too many builder started "announcement" threads lately, so we're going to try this for a while instead. If you have questions regarding a certain pedal brand / type, or its suitability for various purposes / tasks, please do a search or start a new thread for that discussion. If a seller is asking too much (in your opinion), don't slam them for it in the thread. Yes, it might be helpful to some buyers, but OTOH, buyers should take the time to research anything they're considering buying... HC does not have any involvement in sales between private parties, or members and builders, and this ongoing weekly thread is posted as a public service - as always, caveat emptor!

For the time being, I'm sticking with Win XP SP2. It works, and it's stable - which is apparently more than can be said for Vista. I do think I'm going to bump my RAM up from 2GB to 4GB though.

Signed. Not that I think it will do much good - Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see a lot to indicate that MS cares a whole heck of a lot about the concerns and desires of their customers....

The single ongoing spam thread was just getting too cumbersome for many users... so again, by popular request, we've switched it to a "weekly" spam thread. I will close the previous week's spam thread sometime each Sunday evening / early Monday morning. At that time, the previous week's spam thread will be unstuck and locked. Everyone will be able to still read it as it drops off page one, but it won't be "bump-able". Have fun, and I hope you can sell something you don't need, or find something you have been looking for. PS I've been getting some comments about the overabundance of OT posts in the spam thread. If possible, it would be great if we could keep this thread mostly on-topic posts, and anything you folks can do to help keep the thread size manageable (IOW, deleting items / posts for things that have sold) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! **** Folks, this thread is for "want to buy", "want to sell" and "want to trade" posts ONLY. If you have a question about an item that's listed, please contact the seller via PM or email - don't ask in the thread. If you have questions regarding a certain pedal brand / type, or its suitability for various purposes / tasks, please do a search or start a new thread for that discussion. If a seller is asking too much (in your opinion), don't slam them for it in the thread. Yes, it might be helpful to some buyers, but OTOH, buyers should take the time to research anything they're considering buying... HC does not have any involvement in sales between private parties, and this ongoing weekly thread is posted as a public service - as always, caveat emptor!

The single ongoing spam thread was just getting too cumbersome for many users... so again, by popular request, we've switched it to a "weekly" spam thread. I will close the previous week's spam thread sometime each Sunday evening / early Monday morning. At that time, the previous week's spam thread will be unstuck and locked. Everyone will be able to still read it as it drops off page one, but it won't be "bump-able". Have fun, and I hope you can sell something you don't need, or find something you have been looking for. PS I've been getting some comments about the overabundance of OT posts in the spam thread. If possible, it would be great if we could keep this thread mostly on-topic posts, and anything you folks can do to help keep the thread size manageable (IOW, deleting items / posts for things that have sold) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! **** Folks, this thread is for "want to buy", "want to sell" and "want to trade" posts ONLY. If you have a question about an item that's listed, please contact the seller via PM or email - don't ask in the thread. If you have questions regarding a certain pedal brand / type, or its suitability for various purposes / tasks, please do a search or start a new thread for that discussion. If a seller is asking too much (in your opinion), don't slam them for it in the thread. Yes, it might be helpful to some buyers, but OTOH, buyers should take the time to research anything they're considering buying... HC does not have any involvement in sales between private parties, and this ongoing weekly thread is posted as a public service - as always, caveat emptor!

The single ongoing spam thread was just getting too cumbersome for many users... so again, by popular request, we've switched it to a "weekly" spam thread. I will close the previous week's spam thread sometime each Sunday evening / early Monday morning. At that time, the previous week's spam thread will be unstuck and locked. Everyone will be able to still read it as it drops off page one, but it won't be "bump-able". Have fun, and I hope you can sell something you don't need, or find something you have been looking for. PS I've been getting some comments about the overabundance of OT posts in the spam thread. If possible, it would be great if we could keep this thread mostly on-topic posts, and anything you folks can do to help keep the thread size manageable (IOW, deleting items / posts for things that have sold) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! **** Folks, this thread is for "want to buy", "want to sell" and "want to trade" posts ONLY. If you have a question about an item that's listed, please contact the seller via PM or email - don't ask in the thread. If you have questions regarding a certain pedal brand / type, or its suitability for various purposes / tasks, please do a search or start a new thread for that discussion. If a seller is asking too much (in your opinion), don't slam them for it in the thread. Yes, it might be helpful to some buyers, but OTOH, buyers should take the time to research anything they're considering buying... HC does not have any involvement in sales between private parties, and this ongoing weekly thread is posted as a public service - as always, caveat emptor!