• Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and to Kemper. My story is like many others, I suppose. After many attempts at alternatives, I finally caved and here I am, trying to beat myself up for not caving sooner.

    Anyhow, I'll be popping in and out from time to time. Especially discussion on home studio recording. That's what I've been into for nearly 10 year now, This past year has seen a great deal of improvement with this Kemper unit nearing the end of the list. I'm glad I did it and look forward to trading tip and tricjs and whatnot.

  • Welcome, have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper. It's great if you join those discussions and there are a lot around recording the great Kemper tone. Cool thing :thumbup:8)

  • Thanks for the welcome, folks. I'm having a good time with this. Lots of exploring. I've been so focused on acoustic guitars and my home project studio that my electrics have taken a back seat. I figured I'd share a little bit of my music story.


    I've done over 60 original songs and maybe 6-8 covers. I do all the guitar, bass, piano & keys and vocal myself, and using mostly Toontracks' EZDrummer/Superior Drummer 2 & 3 for percussion. I started doing all of this in 2011 after a few years of fiddling with guitar. Learning everything at once is NOT a road I'd suggest to anyone, but it suit me fine except for the time it took. It was a great diversion as I slowly recover from a surgical head injury situation.


    The fallout from this scattered approach is predictable. I am really good at absolutely nothing. I've got 60 songs that might be cleverly written at times, but all poorly performed and often poorly arranged. Couple that with a studio room that was inexplicably and well beyond horrible, by even small spare bedroom studio standards. Add to it various technical issues, like noisy house electricity and computers that didn't isolate main energy circuits from audio circuits and cheap, awful interfaces.


    So, after 18 months of steadily improving all aspects of that situation, I was down to doing acoustic treatment and getting something for electric guitar tones. $2,500 worth of materials went into 27 bass traps this Winter, and last week, the Kemper arrived. All of this was to better equip myself to make better recordings of some of my songs. I chose 24 songs to re-do. I will still do some new originals, but will focus quite a bit on remaking my better songs. There have been several moments of discovery on the Kemper that had my thinking back to a song I had spent days trying to come up with a sound, along with finding new inspiration for new material.


    I know my place in the world. I have no illusions of greatness or fame. I do have a few decently written songs, but they are by no means of quality that I would consider professional. This is just a hobby, albeit one perfectly suited for me. I have always been one of those types of people who love to learn. Any single aspect of music fits this trait nicely, but taking on so much at one time? It's an exponential thing. Absolutely wonderful.


    OK, so here's an example of what I do. My musical tastes are eclectic. This one is a song more geared to Country than anything. This one was re-done twice as I made improvements to the studio, such as it is. After re-doing the room's acoustics, I had to relearn how to mix. I'm hearing everything so well now. It went from being how to best present the song despite the glaring defects to how to actually make it sound decent. Now the DI'd and ITB electric tones are only surpassed in awfulness by my vocals. It was some backing tones in this song that helped me throw in the towel and by the Kemper.

    Pawnshop Guitars 3


    I do have some other song examples dating back 6 years or so. If anything, I have at least made some progress. Still, somethings take a while to un-hear. With that in mind, I do not actually suggest listening to any of it. LOL

  • I am really good at absolutely nothing.

    Not true! :)


    Thanks for the great description and for sharing your story. I'm sure song writing and figuring all that stuff out is pretty much more than nothing. Don't let your own expectations or ideals beat yourself. It's about creativity, fun and all that. Enjoy!

  • Not true! :)


    Thanks for the great description and for sharing your story. I'm sure song writing and figuring all that stuff out is pretty much more than nothing. Don't let your own expectations or ideals beat yourself. It's about creativity, fun and all that. Enjoy!

    Indeed! Every day I can, which is most days.



    I love a self-deprecating sense of humour; it tells me a lot about someone.


    Well done PB, and thank you for sharing. I especially liked the slide. 8):thumbup:

    Thanks! Slide is fun. I'm very much looking forward to coming up with something good for the lap steel.


    I'm not sure if I am the most dominate type-A, passive type or the most passive, type-a dominate type around. :)