Finding your CD, Used studio Gear Bargains and more

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Finding your Old CD’s

I happened to stop in to a Goodwill Store on my way home looking for old audio bargains and sometimes find things like amplifiers, receivers and things. Well, I thought I would look at some CD’s and I happened to find one of my own CD’S!!! Yes!! How insulting, It was Modern Rock guitar vol.II “alien Guitar”. There are about 1,500 in existence. Well, I immediately bought it back hahaha. Yes, I have to say it not exactly what one shoots for when you spend a year working on a CD. for it to end up at Goodwill. Hahaha. You know you have really made it big when your CD ends up here.

Well, I was glad to get it back. This also occurred to a friend of mine who also has a few CD’s he has released and one of them suffered the same fate. I was browsing and sure enough there was a copy of his CD. I called him to let him know and he immediately jumped in his car and went and bought it. Haahh. It’s Kind of silly really, but these CD’s from independent CD’s are not like the major label CD releases where there are 100,000 to millions made.

I suppose one would hope that it would fall into the hands of someone who may enjoy it, but I would rather resell it online to someone looking for it. Anyway , moving on….

Behringer MX9000

I just got a Mackie 32x8x2 mixer which is really great, but a used Beringer mx9000 recently is available locally used for $500.00,not bad for a $1300 board new. However, do I need another huge board, probably not, hmmm..Something to consider…

External Mic Pre’s vs Mixing board Mic Pre’s

This is a fairly new trend to take a ch strip out of a really expensive and great sounding mixing console and put it in a rackmount unit.Also, there are several rackmount units touting great mic pre amps. One of the most amazing one’s, is from solid state Logic,inc, that right the $250,000 or more SSL consoles found in some of the biggest studios in the world. Well, they have created a rackmount unit with 2 mic pre’s found on these ssl units. However, even the rackmount versions are at least $1000 if not $2-3k range. Still how amazing they must sound. For me personally, for now, I am pleased with the Mackie mic pre’s, but to be honest it is all I have ever used,so it would be nice to see hwo some external mic pre’s would sound. Then again, there are cheapo rackmount mic pre’s such as ART, Blue tube, M-audio,personus,etc... but these don’t offer much in the way of sound quality compared to some of the higher end units and not much more if any than the mackie mic pre’s….

Used ,but Not Quite Vintage Gear

Ok, a Pre CBS (pre 1965) Fender Stratocaster is considered to be a truly vintage guitar and fetches incredibly inflated prices of $10k or more. Ok, that is real vintage gear that is way overpriced and not all that great. Also, every year, most of the music manufacturers come out with a new line up of gear, sometimes better ;sometimes worse than last years model. Well, what happens to these last year’s models? DO they disintegrate? No, do they find their way to goodwill (only if you shop on their online auction site-ever wonder why you never find a guitar amp in a goodwill store?!) ebay? (yes, sometimes). However, and this is my point, there is an abyss of amazing gear that is neither here or there, its in limbo, not old enough to be vintage, not common enough to be popular and yet yields incredible sonic bargains. For example, in the early 70’s, Yamaha made a stand up 2x12 cabinet and solid state amp head (see photo), an early ½ stack for guitar and you sometimes run across those in tiny music stores for Less than $150 .Along the same lines are all the incredible rack ear offerings, old f/x units like the Roland GP8 ,Alesis quadraverbs,old lexicon units and on and on, these can be found for such small prices , its amazing and they sound great!! Sometimes these units are much better than than many of the new offerings that cut corners to save on manufacturing costs.

Also, the most fun of all, is running across a really exotic and wonderfully strange and rare unit that no one has ever heard of. I did recently, For a mere $65, it was a 2 rack dynamics processor that restores dynamic range, the inventor was an audiophile and when he passed away so did his invention. Of course new it costs thousands of dollars and the unit and the idea behind it has never been imitated or reproduced. For recording, especially for guitars in my case, finding an old unit that gives you a certain sound that is not like all of the new processors is really interesting. It is when I began recording that I found this kind of gear really really interesting.

Reaaranging my audio studio furniture Again

Ok, it turns out that I spend much mroe of my time with my digital recorders and PC for mastering and editing than I do my MAckie 32x8x2 mixer which I use for recording. However my MAckie HR824 monitors are on a shalef I built that goes over the MAckie mixer and then at a 90 degree angle is the desk with the digtital recorders and PC's. Result, is I constantly have to turn my head to hear both monitors properly. So I have to switch where the MAckie console is and where the PC and monitors are. Luckily, I built the shelf so that t was not attached to th desk that holds the Mackie. So this will be a simple to move at first glance, then I recall that everything has to be rewired, unplugged and replugged in and nothing must be broken in the process. ok, this will take considerable time, but it will be worth while for me. My monitors need to face me when I am working with the digital recorders and PC and for the mackie I need to be able to turn faders up and things like this , so monitoring is not crucial here.

Mackie gear

Over the years, I have become a Mackie Fan, there products are just excellent in quality and durabillity. Ok, they are not like Solid State logic, but they are of as high in quality as your going to get with my modest home studio budget. Their mixing boards, power amps and monitors are simply amazing and great sounding. Even my little 14ch Mackie mixer when replaced with a cheaper behringer mixer simply blew the behringer out of the water sound quality wise.however, the behringer had smoothe faders and was 1/3 the cost as well. So let' give Mackie a pat on the back and behringer a runner up badge, yeah..a feel good movie like ending!! everyone's a winner, ok now shake hands, ...moving on....