opening up.

the spring breeze descended like breath from God into lazarus' nostrils.
it seemed to inject new life into the city, rescuing it from what seemed to be an eternity of doldrums.

the breeze swirled around him, a sort of caress that rang familiar with him, a grandmotherly hug that had a scent with it, a reminscient of simple things that had brought him to where he was today.

he thought about that. the past few days had been weighed down with sundry reflective moments, stress ridden sequences that often ended in induced naps. he was getting lost in himself, lost in his disillusionment with his life. the breeze, if only for a moment, became a symbolic juggernaut that shook him out of his despondent trance.

assuming the role of omniscient onlooker, he strolled down the street and gazed at himself, the figure sitting on the stoop, crowding a small red book and thinking too deeply about things he was too lazy to change. he quickly made his assessments, then flashed back into his body to ponder the diagnosis.

it shamed him. he had become an artist who's greatest artistry was deceit. he'd considered the before, but never faced it head on, because the impact it might have scared him to bits. for the first time though, he looked his reality dead in the face, and he realized it was much worse than he could have hoped to imagine.

how he had managed to keep up the facade of talent so long simply baffled him. he had fooled so many people, on the surface he had even hoodwinked himself, to the extent that he thought he might be developing a split personality. he hadn't written anything in months, but was still routinely called on for advice in writing problems. he found very little value or depth in his music but he waxed philosophical about his creative process almost daily. there was an image in his head of the Oreck door-to-door salesman coming home after a succesful day's work, only to be reduced to a sobbing mess when he looked at the mess that was his own apartment, filthy and drowning in the irony of broken vaccuum cleaners strewn about the room.

where was his integrity? what was missing? he loved to create but he couldn't.

the truth was, the raw force of creation had escaped him, slipping out of his grasp while he contemplated the depth of his navel incessantly. he had become concerned with the end result so thoroughly that the honesty found in self expression had been left no air to breathe.

he hoped it hadn't died yet.

Basically.

So. I’m working on the new studio/apartment. Yeah, yo. Studio first, living arrangement simply by association.

Anyways.

PC:

AMD 2200+ Processor
1.0gb RAM
128mb RAM Diamond Stealth Video Card (Dual Head Output)
2 x 80gb HDD
1 x 60gb HDD
Terratec DMX 6Fire 24/96 SoundCard

External Hardware:

Yamaha PSR-225 Keyboard
M-Audio Trigger Finger
Behringer MX-402 Desktop Mixer
Numark TT-1600 Belt Drive Turntable

Software:

Sequencing/Recording

- FLStudio 5
- WaveLab 5
- Cubase SX 2.0/3.0
- Acid 5.0

Soft Synths

- LinPlug Albino 2
- SampleTank XL
- Arturia Minimoog
- Arturia Moog Modular
- Novation Bass Station
- Native Instruments Kontakt 2
- Native Instruments Battery 2
- E-Magic EVP73/AAS LoungeLizard/Native Instruments Elektrik Piano

VST Effects

- PSP VintageWarmer
- BBE Sonic Maximizer
- Waves Diamond Bundle

Mastering Effects

- Izotope Ozone


Potential Add-Ons:

Hardware

- Audio Technica AT2020 Condenser Mic
- Turntable Mixer
- Numark TT-200/TT-X1
- M-Audio Ozone or equivalent midi keyboard (2 octaves or less) controller
- (2) LCD Monitors (15” or larger)
- E-Mu Proteus X Sampler/Sound Card
- New set of Stereo (powered) Monitors
- Behringer BCR-2000 & BCF-2000
- ASUS K8V Motherboard
- AMD Athlon64 XP 3500+ Socket 939 CPU


I’d like to be able to get rid of the Yamaha. It’d be great if I could consolidate the space my input devices used.. if I could keep the keys AND the drum pads on the same desk, I would have plenty more space for the turntable and mixers. Besides, I don’t really need 61 keys in front of me; I’m not that good of a player, and I figure that I’d mostly need to trigger cords more than any serious playing. As long as I can shift octaves, I should be good… if I ever get good enough at playing, maybe I’d move up to a 61 or 76 key controller. Plus I like the fact that the Ozone has midi knobs, which I love.

Adding the rotaries and the faders on the BCR and BCF would also give me more synth/sequencer control. I imagine the faders linking up with mixers in Cubase and FLStudio. The rotaries could link up with whatever I saw fit, volume controls and what not, for some automation duty probably.

I’d have Cubase as my main sequencer. I’d probably only do my mastering in Cubase, or multitrack recording when I needed to track vocals or live instruments that I’d mic. Otherwise, I’d do my beatmaking solely in FLStudio.

I’ve talked before about streamlining my production process, trying to clear out some of the glut of effects and excelsior, and having a few things I’m absolutely married to. I’d definitely have the Vintagewarmer and the Sonic Maximizer as staples. After that and a good EQ, I don’t imagine needing too much more. Maybe some sound design stuff like the PSP Filter, and some randoms.

Wavelab is my favorite recording software simply because I know it better than anything else I’d care to use. Plus, with my turntable setting being that I have to process songs I’ve recorded again thru the TT-RIAA plugin, the fact that it’s a VST host with easy implementation of the TT-RIAA is a godsend. Of course, when I get the DJ mixer, TT-RIAA would be a thing of the past, and ostensibly make my life a lot easier.

Acid 5.0 would still be my chopping program, straight out of Wavelab and into Acid. Although I’d like to imagine that there would be a way to make Recycle 2.0 ready Acid chops, so that I don’t have to find every chop in Recycle and set it up so that Fruity Slicer can read it.

Adding Sampletank and the E-Mu Proteus X would give me a whole new range of sounds to layer over my main samples, thicken up the sound a bit, and also build my own pieces from the ground up.


Some powered monitors would help my monitoring situation greatly; the way I operate now, I’m surprised that any of mixes actually sound respectable at all. I’d like to be able to go all out on them money-wise, but monitors can get up into the thousands of dollars, which is waaaaay out of my range. A good $3-500 pair of monitors should hold me down nicely, allowing me to hear more of my mistakes.

The new turntable (including a new needle) would be such a huge help out, ‘specially when I start incorporating my own scratches; the belt drives really can’t compare to a good hi torque direct drive motor.

aw yeah.

i didn't wanna bore folks with my music on my main blog, so this is where i'll talk all day about all things beats.