Posts by sambrox

  • Melodic skate punk

    Not actually my own music, but the latest album I've produced and mixed. My KPA features in a fair few places, too (mainly the lead guitar). Generously streamed by the band themselves, here's my good friends Stars Burn Stripes' new album, Songs About Escapism.


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • Audio Interface

    Quote from Michael_dk

    Cool, you know Holger? :)
    I'll read it a bit later.
    (no, I only know OF him :-))


    Only because his studio is next door to mine, but it turns out he's one of the most generous, knowledgable and welcoming guys I've ever met! Not wanting to sound like there's bromance in the air haha, but he's unusual in the sense that despite his talent, he doesn't act like he's superior at all and is totally down to earth. A rare, really nice guy!


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • Audio Interface

    Here's a fairly pedogogical explanation of gain staging and why it's relevant, written by my studio neighbour, the brilliant Holger Lagerfeldt. Read it if you're in any doubt. It also debunks a few myths about digital audio.


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • The Ultimate Recording Solution Needs An Editor :)

    I agree with everything that's been said about workflow, I was just taking up your point about creativity. Of course, everyone's workflow is different and whatever is most comfortable for you is probably what keeps you at your most creative. Sometimes though, it's worth investigating your own workflow, as even drastic changes that at first feel alien and uncomfortable can end up freeing you up to be even more creative. I'm talking more generally now, of course. The reason I say this is I was at one of SSL's workshops a year or two back and some of the concepts seemed totally whacky to me, to the point where I didn't believe them, even though they made logical sense. Against my own will, I forced myself to implement a few small changes sequentially over time until I ended up with something that resembled something from the workshop and it turned out to be quite the eye opener!


    The basic mantra was have everything that you use regularly and is most important to your creative process within a distance so that you don't have to reach. As close as possible. Anything secondary you can put in the next zone (maybe where your Kemper is now, haha;-) where you maybe have to stretch a little to reach it, and anything you use rarely in the next zone. I took the whole thing about tactility to heart too (I used to always EQ using my mouse and with spectrographs up) and have found it quicker and easier to get where I want to be.


    Just food for thought!
    Cheers,
    Sam


    Edit: sorry, I realise I'm totally off topic here!

  • The Ultimate Recording Solution Needs An Editor :)

    C Kemper categorically stated that an editor wasn't going to happen. Whether this influences your decision to drop the KPA is up to you.


    It's funny you believe that using a mouse and keyboard sparks creativity. Studies have shown exactly the opposite! Mice and keyboards force you to use hand/eye coordination, putting your brain into a state suited to that, which happens to be at odds with the brain's best creative state, especially with regards to audio. Having tactile knobs enables you to simply turn them without having to use your eyes, leaving you to focus all your sensory perception on to your ears and what you are hearing. Solid State Logic (SSL) have done a load of studies on this, one of the main reasons why they created their Nucleus control surface for controlling DAW operations and plugins.


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • Volume &EQ for whole Performance

    The important thing is to change rigs as you go using the buttons on the Kemper, not a midi foot controller, otherwise the performance 'resets' to the previous saved state, losing any changes you made to the rigs in the performance before you've had a chance to save. I found this out the hard way...


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • wrist & hand fatigue

    Personally, I wouldn't be punching anything. It leads to calcium build ups in the joints from what my doctor told me, reducing dexterity further. Tingling in the finger tips and a loss of sensation, however small, screams RSI to me, but if you have been diagnosed negatively, I'd say go for further tests. My cousin once was sure that he'd developed some muscle-wasting syndrome, even went for an MRI scan, only to realise he'd been playing too much Call of Duty on XBOX 360....


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • 1965 Fender Princeton clean

    Anyone got an audio clip of these profiles they'd like to share? I'm on summer holiday away from my Kemper (nooooooo!) and am very intrigued. There are a couple of RS PZM mics for sale online at the mo, and I might take the plunge if I like the profiles, hehe;-)


    As a side note, a 90's band called Dubstar first alerted me to these mics, as all the lead vocals on their album were recorded using them and they weren't shy to promote the fact!


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • Making-of Michael Wagener Signature Rig Pack

    Personally, I'm thinking (hoping) that the release will coincide with a major FW update, incorporating a spring reverb and a stomp delay, finally and completely capturing the ability to dial in totally authentic tube amplifier sounds. Now THAT would be quite a news-worthy update! Dontcha think?


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • Intro/tips on Mac Rig Manager

    As Rig Manager for Mac is still at this point a closed beta, all dialogue and discussions are treated as confidential and therefore should take place in the closed forum, so I suggest you ask this question there.


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • Mono Loop in X and Mod stomp slots coloured by Stack section!?!

    I disagree. The Kemper should be totally apathetic to whatever signal comes in at the return : it's an Effects loop! Who's to say what effect has been used to mangle the sound? It doesn't really matter to the Kemper. As for there not being anything connected to the send, again, the Kemper shouldn't be bothered. If it was, I could just as easily connect it to the input of my mixer, but again, it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.


    Effects loops were created to be able to put effects after the preamp stage of an amp (so effects like delay and reverb didn't get distorted by excessive gain or overdrive at the preamp stage). By being able to put the loop after the Stack section implies that the signal is sent out of the Kemper after the preamp, EQ and cab sections, and then returned before the delay and reverb sections. This makes the fact that the return signal is coloured by the stack somewhat strange.


    Cheers,
    Sam

  • Mix on Wah?

    Sounds more like a faulty FCB/EPROM chip to me.
    Could also be a dodgy midi cable.


    Cheers,
    Sam


    Edit : just read your first post again. No, it sounds like a bug or fault with the Kemper if the mix control wasn't doing what it should. The volume triggering the wah still might be rooted in the controller, however.