Greg Mein

Returning somewhat to the original post question, "...now what?". A problem I'm running headlong into is what might be an unprecedented housing shortage?! Houses sell as fast as they're listed and sometimes for over the asking price. I know that manufacturing took a big hit and lumber prices (along with damn near everything else) increased significantly. I'm also aware of some fairly dramatic population shifts in recent years, for example, FL is now the third most populated state overtaking NY but that doesn't explain everything I'm seeing. This is causing a potential problem in my plans where we hoped to be moving out of state soon, it's impossible to shop for homes without actually being right there. If you find something online that you like it's gone the next day! Has anyone else noticed this or have any thoughts on why it might be happening?

This is perhaps the opposite of what is probably the well known story where Keith Richards used an acoustic through some sort of tape recorder preamp to get kind of an electric guitar sound on Jumping Jack Flash and a number of other songs.

It seems like every gig has an element of "weirdness" to it, most often due to people in attendance but I can't think of any particular gig that stands out for being particularly strange. The one that was quite different for me was playing with the symphony. I got invited to play keys for a "Rock Hits" show at a venue attached to the Casino on the Mississippi River in Dubuque. This is a show where a rock band plays classic rock/pop hits accompanied by the symphony. I started attending rehearsals one night a week with the rock group that had been assembled. It's over an hour drive away on a weeknight but I couldn't pass up the opportunity. We'd go over the songs and I kept wondering how it was going to fit in with the symphony until one night when the conductor showed up. He used his charts mostly to sync up the timing, beginnings and endings but also to go over some of the finer points. There was never an actual rehearsal where the rock band and the whole symphony were present. It was a two night gig, Friday & Saturday, paid real well and what a blast it was to fill a full to capacity auditorium with such a wealth of great sound!

My aunt recommended this place to me last time I was in Phoenix (2017) and in fact I drove right past it on the way to visit her and my uncle that day. We were in town for a few days while my wife was attending some medical conferences but I didn't get there. It's on my list for when we get settled in out west soon. I forgot to add that to my list, I was there back in '14 or '15 I believe. Impressive displays and a fairly big place. The Jimi Hendrix stuff was amazing to see and there was also a big display of Nirvana/Kurt Cobain stuff as well as other grunge era band memorabilia. I made it a point to visit Gruhn's on my first visit to Nashville. It seems to me they were at Broadway and 4th Ave at the time? What an amazing collection of guitars, I had to try out a couple of acoustics!

I've done a lot of traveling and when I get the chance I really enjoy visiting historical music history/museum locations. I'd be curious about where others have visited and some of your favorites. I'll list the ones that come to mind for me: 1. Sun Studios in Memphis. This is like sacred ground, just amazing to see and tour, the amazing things that happened in a relatively humble little building. I've been here twice. 2. Motown in Detroit. This is also akin to sacred ground and a close second to Sun. It's another fascinating tour, the studio is a converted garage and they used the attic for an echo chamber. The second time I visited here they allowed us to take photos in the studio, we were told that was rarely allowed. 3. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. From the architecture to the exhibits this place really stands out as a must see. In "The Garage" you can actually jam, which my wife and I were quite eager to do. They had a top notch collection of instruments available to use; new Gibson Les Pauls & acoustic models, Nord keyboards, etc.. I've visited here twice also. 4. Graceland in Memphis. This is probably one of the top tourist attractions in the country and very interesting to see. I've visited twice here also. 5. The Gibson hollowbody electric factory tour in Memphis. I don't believe it's open for tours anymore but it's amazing to see the guitars as they go from raw materials to finished products. I got to see this twice also. 6. Elvis' Birthplace in Tupelo. Actually not a lot to see here, the tiny house where Elvis was born. We dropped in for some lunch at Johnnie's Drive In down the street afterwards. 7. The Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville. My wife and I were just there at the end of May on the Friday at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend. It was also an impressive display of artifacts and information that we really enjoyed. 8. The Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock. Another fascinating tour back in time, not a huge display but very interesting and worthwhile. My wife and I visited here back in early January this year. 9. The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. The only reason this place still exists is due to the 1959 plane crash tragedy. Walking in is like stepping back in time. They still have shows here but there weren't any happening on the Sunday afternoon when we were out riding. I may be forgetting a couple but these are the ones that stick out in my mind. Tell me about yours!

That's very cool, enjoyed watching!

This is the one I was using when last doing keys in a band, it's solid and worked well for me but kind of a pain to pack up. It's definitely a "sit down" stand. I'm currently back to using my old Apex stand with my husband/wife duo because I'm standing and primarily playing guitar because keys are my wife's main instrument. If I ever got a new stand it would probably be one of those Spider models.

It's fascinating that this seems to be becoming more prevalent. It's possible sightings haven't actually increased but pilots are becoming less reluctant to disclose it now. Perhaps we are a "rest stop" on the galactic freeway or probably more plausible is experimental aircraft. If we actually knew what types of experiments were happening at the most secret levels I'm sure we'd all vomit.

Yes, thanks for the feedback, I suppose it's obvious now thinking about it that plug-ins will be post A/D. I don't have high end outboard gear but what I have left is quite adequate for my recording projects. Now it leaves me wondering what is the point of some of these expensive front end type plug-ins if you can't actually use them on the front end?

Wishing you the best outcome and hope for a speedy recovery!

I find vocals to be tricky because of the dynamic range so I'm pretty certain I've typically used an external compressor when recording in the past. One of my reasons for the thread is that I've sold most my external gear (what I still have is currently packed away) and just wonder if the plug-ins actually make a suitable substitute while recording in. Analog preamps and compressors can be very subtle to my ears so sometimes it's difficult for me to distinguish how much change there is.

This has probably been covered but I hope to someday get away from the constant pull of performing covers and return to doing some of my own originals. What I'm most curious about is when you're using a plug-in channel strip (Waves, UAD, etc. emulating Neve, SSL, UAD, Manley, etc.) and/or compressor on a vocal recording. Do you have your plug-in placed on your channel and active during the recording or do you wait until later and add that when you're mixing down? Perhaps you can have it active during the recording and keep it on the channel for further manipulation during a mix down? Curious about the methods folks here might use, primarily on vocal tracks.

I bought a used KC-100 at Music Go Round ten, maybe more, years ago and continue to use it at every gig.

Do you know where I can get this? I played this for quite a while in a band but I got out of that two or three years ago. I found a good transcription back then but I'm having trouble finding that now. A local band had their keyboard player die the other day and now they'd like me to fill in on some gigs. I'd dismiss them offhand but I have a close friend in the group . Back when I was playing it I used a two tier setup which worked best for me.

I have probably 100 records still and my wife also has a few. She actually bought me a record player at Christmas and I played a couple but then we returned it because I discovered the latch that holds the arm was broken. I had wanted to hold off until we were moved and settled anyway. I hope that before the end of the year I'll be in a position where I can unpack those (and a lot of other stuff) and revisit those old records in more depth.

Best: Clearly at the top of the list for me is being 9 days away from my 30th anniversary working as an electronic technician at Collins Aerospace. I've had an amazing career here working on some of the most cutting edge and advanced electronic systems and devices known to man. My degree has paid for itself many times over and now I'll be retiring early in July. Worst: My wife (who will retire from her geriatric psychiatry position at the end of June) had a 3 level cervical fusion operation on her neck April 1st. It was a difficult but successful operation and she'll be out of the neck brace soon. Recently however she's been having bouts of vertigo accompanied by a rise in blood pressure. Hopefully we can get that figured out.

I've always found mixers to be a major pain...every knob, switch and dial has to be removed to get them apart.

I've always considered myself more of an electric player and have a few nice ones. I bought the budget model acoustic I mentioned in the other thread (1980 Fender Dreadnought style) just to have one. Over the years it's had some rough treatment, there's a break in the sound hole and some of the bracing on the inside was broken away. Interestingly the action is excellent and it plays real nice these days with electric guitar strings (I mostly use 11's) and I think it sounds better than when I bought it but also my playing improved a great deal in the ensuing years. Other than that I have a Takamine EF341SC acoustic/electric that I bought in 2003. It's a model I've seen many times in the hands of Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Toby Keith, etc. and I believe was a popular model for touring because of great sound while allowing more expensive instruments to stay home. It sounds very good unplugged but excels at being plugged into an amp. I have had it out on many occasions but haven't used it for an actual gigging guitar very often. It certainly sounds great as an acoustic but I haven't noticed any change in tone over the 18 years I've had it.

Everything in our garage (as well as the garage and the house it's attached too) is paid off and as we're headed for a somewhat fixed income soon we'll be hanging on to the vehicles we have; my 2018 RAM 1500, wife's 2017 Subaru Crosstrek and my 2017 HD FLHTK.

That is sympathetic resonance and is somewhat similar to what caused the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, a favorite video clip teachers like to show in technical school.

I guess what's fascinating to me is to consider the different atmosphere. On Earth we have a pretty good idea about how sound/pressure waves travel and at what speed but what are the differences there, there must be some?

One of the things that struck me about Zep way back when were the songs that seemingly had no connection to the title, or in other words, the title did not appear as part of the chorus (if there even was one) or sometimes even within the song at all. Over The Hills And Far Away comes to mind as an example. Then there was Houses Of The Holy where the song didn't even appear on the album of the same title.

Most of my guitars are in pretty good shape and I like to try and keep them that way. A couple have been through a lot however. My '76 Goldtop suffered through my youthful drunken years and has the scars and wear to prove it. Then there's the Fender Dreadnought style acoustic I bought new for $150 while living in Odessa, Tx back in 1980. It suffered at my own hands and in later years became the guitar the kids/grandkids were allowed to play with. I actually changed the strings on it last week for the first time in years and was marveling at how good it sounded and how easily it plays. My '96 AmStd Tele is a bit roughed up from extensive gigging also. Just an hour ago I sold an Ibanez RG(yadayada) that I've had since 2008. It was in pristine condition because I backed out of the project I was going to use it for soon after acquiring it and never used it for anything else. In this case that was helpful for resale value. It's for certain that if I was going to buy a new guitar, I want that thing to be in immaculate condition.

When you do, you'll find ReWire isn't supported any more because it's been "de-activated." You can re-enable it by entering EnableReWire in options.txt, but it seems the handwriting is on the wall. ReWire was a truly elegant concept, it would be a shame if the industry just kicked it to the curb. That's good information to know, thanks! I will certainly be using it again when I get back to my original recording projects, it was one of those programs that blew me away when I first discovered it and wow, has it changed over the years. I'd created a couple tunes using Reason exclusively but only in a electronica instrumental sort of vein.

Right, after paying a small fortune for their programs it would be interesting to know.