Project Studio Network Recording Podcast

[Show #10] No Pod Fade For PSN! Celebration Grab Bag

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Yay! We made it! It's show #10 and we're feeling stronger than ever. We review
some of what has gone into our first ten shows and how we're just not going
to stop! We're already planning what we're going to do to make our 100th
show special.

Today's show is a tasty grab bag of tidbits that were planned for earlier shows
but never made it for one reason or another.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOHN DAVIDSON!

John and his lovely wife just welcomed a new addition to the family with a
healthy baby boy! He was born at 12:11 AM on Saturday March 11, 2006.
He's 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and 20 1/2" long.

Al points out that he believes John brought in a surround sound crew to
record the birth and that he managed to get a small sample from the scratch
track already in 5.1. Al plays the clip and everyone is amazed by the
"you are there" realism!

A Minor Correction:

Just a minor correction from last week's trivia question. We spoke with
Charles Dye, and while the Ricky Martin song,
Livin' La Vida Loca was recorded and mixed entirely inside the
box with Pro Tools, it wasn't mastered that way. It was mastered by
Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in New York, New York.
Here's the link to the awesome Sterling Sound web site:


Ted and Sterling Sound has done some great work with artists like:
John Mayer, Destiny's Child, Nickelback, Ozzy Osbourne,
Green Day, Santana, Bare Naked Ladies, Billy Joel, Chris Botti and
a host of others.



DIGI 001
Al brings up a couple of suggestions for upgrading if you're still
using a Digidesign DIGI 001. You might consider the
Mbox2, but it turns out that Digidesign is still offering
their upgrade trade-in special towards any of the DIGI 002
systems. Al recommends contacting Andy Diekroger at
Sweetwater Sound
for details.




Steely Dan
Aja
Mike highly recommends a DVD titled, Steely Dan - Aja.

This is a vivid portrait of the making of the canonical 1970s record
AJA by Steely Dan. Band members Walter Becker
and Donald Fagen recall the history of an album that was a year in the
making, but rewarded with a Grammy Award and three hit singles.

British songwriter Ian Dury, the Doobie Brothers' Michael
McDonald, and music producer Gary Katz all add their fascinating
anecdotes to this highly involving rockumentary. Many of the mixes are
dissected and studio sessions are detailed.




Eric Johnson
Total Guitar
Al recommends a DVD by Eric Johnson titled Total Guitar.
This is an opportunity to study with one of the electric guitar's true virtuosos.
This lesson encompasses all styles and includes advanced picking for speed
and accuracy, left and right hand muting, various blues bends, country
"pedal steel" bends, using different positions for sound and more!


Mike shares web site that details the acoustic guitar setups of many
famous players like: James Taylor, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Alex de Grassi,
Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, Adrian Legg, Paul Simon and more.


Next, Al says that if you're a Comcast Cable subscriber with On Demand
service, dig into the menus. There's all kinds of free video music tutorials
and gear reviews that are a lot of fun to watch.

Mike encourages trying to play as many parts live in your project as
possible. Break out of the sequencer and samples and discover
something new!

Al details solving a sampled bass challenge by running it through
Amplitube (a digital guitar amp simulator).

How do you pronounce the word spelled P - I - E - Z - O? The Online
American Heritage Dictionary sets us all straight. Here's the audio
pronunciation from their site. Click here to hear it!


"The Womanizer"
Al mentions
a recent gear find that looks very promising. It's dual-tube guitar pre-amps from a
relatively new company founded by some ex-Line6 (Pod XT) folks. Here's a link to
their site:


Viewer Mail:


"Big Al, I picked up the BBE acoustic pre-amp you recommended on
ebay for $72. Just got it yesterday, tried it out, and you were right.
It works great. Nice sweetening effect, even on my Neve-equipped
Taylor. Begs a question, however. What's your opinion on
piggy-backing pre's?"

I'm not a big fan of stacking up pre's. That said, it can work with careful monitoring. The problems that often crop up are distortion and phase-like anomalies. If you're using a unit with an effects loop that you can use it to insert the BBE. If you're using a mixing console, you could also insert the BBE in the channel there. If the only choice is to stack the pre's, I think I'd go through the BBE last. It's usually not a good effect to equalize the BBE process. It lives best at the end of the chain.



The Troubadour
Hollywood, California
Answer To Last Week's Trivia Question:

Q: Starting on August 25, 1970, who became an overnight sensation after playing only seven consecutive nights at the Troubadour in Hollywood, California? The club only held 600 people, but by the end of that week everyone in Los Angeles was talking about this person, who went on to become a multi-platinum, multi-Grammy winning recording artist.

A: Sir Elton John!

Double Bonus Points Question:


Elton John
Q: Who introduced this artist on their opening night?

A: Neil Diamond!

The Los Angeles Times raved:


"Rejoice. Rock music ... has a new star. he's Elton John ... whose debut ... was, in almost every way, magnificent. His music is so staggeringly original ... [his] songs so varied in texture that his work defies classification ... He's going to be one of rock's biggest and most important stars."

In that same year, John Lennon and his friend, Harry Nilsson, were ejected from the club for heckling the Smothers Brothers. Randy Newman started out at the club and comics Cheech & Chong were discovered there. In 1975, Elton John returned to do a series of special anniversary concerts.

Mike was there for one night of this legendary performance and shares
his memories of the experience.

This Week's Trivia Question:

In honor of our tenth show, we're taking a trivia break this week!

Al mentions our new Listener Feedback Line: (928) 395-1343 Give us a
call and be sure to leave your name and e-mail address!


Joe Satriani
We forgot to mention it again, but don't miss the Joe Satriani podcast leading up to the release of his new album Super Colossal.




See you next week!


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