Might take a couple of weeks...

I haven't done further work on the upcoming track yet, and I also might take my amp in for repairs before I continue. If you're looking forward to the next track, I recommend checking back here in a couple of weeks for it. It might take me that long to figure out the right title for it anyhow.

C~ Soundscapes

Been a while... but have a few things to mention

I've put some recording work into a new track, which is a newish tune, one of two which I guess I came up with while playing those other three I mentioned coming up with during Superblast!'s recording, and I worked this one out while trying to settle on which of the other three I wanted to record to completion first... I guess as a distraction from indecision, which worked out to be a very productive manner of procrastination.

The recording still needs a bassline, drums, and a solo. And I keep thinking that with one of the next tracks I'll make vocals to go with it, though I don't know when I'm gonna start doing that. When I do, I'll start adding vocals to the previous tracks I've made, as well.

Regardless, the track I'm working on now is great sounding (again), and I'll upload it when it's completed.





I recently replaced the tubes in my Mesa/Boogie Strategy 500 power amp, and here's a shot of what that amp, loaded with glass power tubes, looks like with the case off:

 

 

edit: here are a couple more pics that I had on my computer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only the tops of the power tubes are visible in the first pic - there are also 4 preamp tubes, which are smaller and hidden from view. Different brands of tubes produce slightly different tone and distortion qualities.

 

The old tube set was comprised of all Groove Tubes, and for the replacement I tried out combinations of everything I had at my disposal, which included the brands JJ, Elextro-Harmonix, Ruby, and the Groove Tubes that were already in the amp. In the end, I've gone with this eclectic assortment:

8x JJs for the 6L6 sockets

4x Ruby KT88s for the 6550 sockets

4x Electro-Harmonix for the 12ax7 preamp sockets

And in my Marshall JMP-1 preamp, which runs into the Strategy 500 power amp, I have one Electro-Harmonix, and one Tung Sol tube, placed in particular order.

While trying different combinations of tubes in the Strategy 500, I also found the particular placements of same-brand tubes to affect the overall shape of sound breakup in the end, so I swapped the KT88s and 6L6s around until I found the smoothest melodic noise - and it is really smooth-sounding. I guess I'll get to show that off with the next track I put out.

Only one channel of the Strategy 500 power amp is currently usable, as the other blew something or other a while ago, maybe from a tube going bad (though they all tested as OK in the amp's other channel). I hope to get the blown channel fixed soon.

I also recently won a disc copy of a Final Fantasy VI remix/inspired album from OCRemix, so thanks OCRemix for this:

There's a youtube vid of the album that can be listened to. I think it contains lots of great music, and I'm listening to it right now.

C~ Soundscapes

Anecdote, anectdote...

Anecdote 1 ---

There was an issue with my JMP-1 guitar preamp making obnoxious sound whenever turning its output volume control knob, due to corrosion of its pot, so I opened it up and sprayed Deoxit on the pot to clean it, and while I was working inside of the preamp, I figured I'd de-oxidize everything else in there while I'm at it. If a little is good, then a lot must be better, right? Yeah, I know that's not how things work... and they didn't work like that here. Turning on the preamp afterwards, its sound had altered radically, becoming very bright sounding, and with a splashy warping effect in its distortion after hitting the guitar strings with the pick. Also, the digital display to change sound presets was pretty borked, and the preamp was stuck in one distortion mode and at one volume setting.

Checking up on the issue online, I read a) Deoxit doesn't hurt electrical components and is safe, period, and b) a post by someone who had experienced the very same issue as myself, and fixed it by spraying brake cleaner into their amp circuitry to wash out the Deoxit. Looking for an alternative to clean out my preamp of Deoxit residue (because I expected brake cleaner could melt various plastic parts of the amp), I decided on using 99% isopropyl alcohol, and emptied a bottle of it into the preamp chassis, outdoors, swished it around a lot, and then poured it out - and in less than a minute, the whole thing was bone-dry again.

That didn't fix or help the sound - though it didn't make it worse, either. Still, I wondered whether I'd bricked my preamp.

Considering that the issue might be moisture that somehow absorbed into an electrical component when I sprayed the Deoxit, I heated my oven to a pretty low temperature (low enough that plastic wouldn't burn or melt), around 170F, then turned the oven off, let some heat escape from it, then placed the preamp into the oven for a couple of hours, figuring any moisture should be drawn out and evaporated by then. Things weren't entirely different after that - the sound was still altered, but the digital display now worked, and the settings weren't locked in to one distortion mode and volume setting.

I started trying to acclimatize my perception to the reality that my preamp now sounds a whole lot brighter and can't handle as much distortion without tripping out, setting up new presets, and found some I really liked, even with this entirely different sound, and even wondered whether this new brighter sound would work better than the normal sound for recording clarity.

However, over a few days' time, the preamp's sound gradually shifted completely back to normal. I judiciously re-sprayed some Deoxit on the output volume pot so it wouldn't build up new corrosion, and also some on the input jacks, put the case back together, and now I've got a regular-sounding JMP-1 preamp.

 Anecdote 2 ---


I've had some used guitar hardware laying around for years that I'd intended for use in another custom guitar that I was going to build, but  which I've had no opportunity to build, and I recently thought I could use it to instead personalize my 2002-built '57 strat reissue, picture here as it was ahead of any modification:

For parts, I had some gold Wilkinson tuners, gold string trees, and a white-laced black pickguard. I also had a spare newer Red Lace Sensor pickup, which I swapped with the old one already in the guitar.

The gold Wilkinson turners out to be the wrong fit for the holes in the '57 strat headstock, and the white-laced black pickguard had its mount holes placed in different locations than the '57 strat body requires - but I didn't notice that until I had removed the previous pickguard and assembled everything into the black one...

...so I just screwed that one in for now, making use of the holes that do align. At least the gold string trees went on without issue, and they look much better than the original(s).

I think it looks good:

C~ Soundscapes

 

New track: Arcane Melody

Often when I'm deciding to work on some music, my fingers end up producing something entirely new in a short period of time, and my attention is redirected. While working on Superblast, I came up with the beginnings of a few more new tracks, which are mostly complete now, although not yet recorded.

One of those tracks seemed like its parts could make for one whole track, or that maybe its parts actually belonged to 2 - 3 unique tracks. This track below is expanded from what was just one piece from that particular track.

C~ Soundscapes

 

Superblast!: Will's drumming version now posted

Here's the version of Superblast! with Will's drumming. He did a great job, and I'm really loving listening to the track with him drumming on it. But I first had to get down something closer to the rhythm I felt inside me before shifting my perspective to his take, which is why I posted the track with a simple kick and snare beat first.

I made a decision to not listen to his approach more than once until I'd done that, so that I could always  go reference my earlier feeling - It felt important to me that I preserved what the track had been in my mind, before letting it branch into something a bit different.

That's not meant to suggest I've got issues with the track as it's presented, I think it's a super blast! (aha) ... and it feels incredible for me to listen to.

 

I also made an edit to extend the after-solo chorus. Wish I'd recorded it that way from the start:

               

C~ Soundscapes

 

Superblast! - Remixed & Reposted

I'm not using professional studio monitors, and so the sound I'm hearing back as I mix is an inaccurate representation of what others might be hearing on their speaker systems. On my end, I thought I had so much bass I wondered whether I'd be hurting people's ears with it! But the feedback I've gotten regarding the track was that bass and kick drum are too absent in the mix.

So I've done some tweaks, and I think that this version is greatly improved, and the bass and kick presence does now sound a hell of a lot better.

I'll remove the previous youtube upload and leave this one in its place.

 

 

 

Also check out: Superblast!: Will's drumming version now posted

 

C~ Soundscapes

 

 

New Music: Superblast!

Here's my new track that I've been speaking of. I think it does manage to kick ass after all.

I received the audio files for the drumming from Will today, and while I'm very appreciative of the work he did, I felt another rhythm was better suited for the track, and so I put down my own take of it today, using just kickdrum and snare - with influence from Will's version. I'll still upload Will's version of the drumming for this track, but maybe in a few days.

For now, enjoy.


[ Video Replaced - See Above Post ]

C~ Soundscapes