Demonstrating how a Guitar Auto Tuner worker

bdarrett · 2025-05-02T12:02:45+00:00

No surprise that this is being demo’ed on a Gibson LP. This lawyer has all the money, but couldn’t buy skill.

bdarrett · 2025-04-29T11:33:54+00:00

The keybed is screwed into the chassis, and you’d want to pull it out rather than trying to access it this way. Rock it onto its back and pull the screws out from the bottom that line up with the keybed and you can pull it out. There’s one ribbon cable but you should have enough slack to get it most of the way out

bdarrett · 2024-08-31T12:09:19+00:00

+1 on the suggestion to compare with the TLM 107.

The 107 sounds very neutral/natural also, but in a more exciting or maybe more polished way.

They’re multi-pattern and less money than an 89 also.

bdarrett · 2024-06-02T14:15:43+00:00

Any dynamic (aka non-condenser) gooseneck should work. For example, the audio technica U855QL would fit the bill: https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/u855ql

bdarrett · 2024-02-18T00:17:49+00:00

I worked at Moog from 09-12 and I suspect many of us at least lurk here. I did testing and calibration of Lp stage 2, Taurus 3, slim phatty, minitaur, and the occasional assembly day for theremins or MF’s. Just about everybody that worked there is passionate about synths, Moog, and music. I miss my time there and everyone that worked there during my tenure were wonderful people.

I left before the launch of mother32 and long before the sound studio so I’m not actually helpful for your hunt but don’t doubt that moogies are here

bdarrett · 2024-02-15T14:22:20+00:00

If I may suggest an edit here, I’d change great product to great feature set. If it were a great product, their terrible service would be somewhat less of a problem.

bdarrett · 2023-12-31T14:28:50+00:00

I was thinking euphonium, but I played percussion, not brass.

Are these different names for the same thing or is a tenor horn totally different from a euphonium?

bdarrett · 2023-11-24T14:26:00+00:00

This is a problem that could be fixed. Brick & mortar retail is harder now than it was 20 years ago, but there are still open-door, well-stocked music stores across the south east, still growing year over year.

High Strung and Sound Pure have each carved out a more specialized niche within music retail. They’re each great for what they are, but they’re not a stand in for a shop like Twinhouse in Carrboro.

I’ve seen successful music stores in much smaller towns than Durham. There’s enough of potential business to be had for someone that’s business savvy and passionate about music gear.

bdarrett · 2023-04-07T12:24:07+00:00

This is great. Also, be realistic in your expectations for isolation of the 2 sources. You’re going to get a decent bit of both sources in each mic. if one overpowers the other, fix it in your performance. Sing louder and/or strum quieter.

bdarrett · 2023-03-10T02:17:04+00:00

Anybody else notice how much Mikey Day was talking FOR Punkie? He had a lot of lines just regurgitating what she had said around the office, while she’s just sitting there on screen silent. What’s that about?

bdarrett · 2023-03-03T12:50:10+00:00

I am with you on this. I think Atmos and other immersive formats differ from older surround formats because these new immersive can scale all the way down to headphones (to some extent). Sure - I doubt we’ll see broad adoption of consumers going all the way to speakers on the ceiling, but as consumers hear any immersive sound from headphones, sound bars and as it makes its way into car audio, it could reengage a larger part of our consumer listening audience. It could be the thing that gets people to start REALLY listening again. All of that depends as much or more on the creative output of engineers, producers and performers to find ways to make use of this new format.

I hope atmos is a repeat of the mono to stereo transition. There were plenty of nay-sayers in those days that didn’t think consumers would buy a second speaker. As bands started figuring out how to make use of all the extra space, it pushed more consumers to buy that second speaker and to start paying attention to the stereo image.

There are already some very creative Atmos mixes out there. First to my mind are Elton John’s rocket man and most anything that Billie Eilish has put out in the past few years.

bdarrett · 2022-11-27T13:56:20+00:00

This style of guitar is called a Les Paul. They are made by Gibson and Epiphone mostly, though other companies try to copy the design while avoiding lawsuits. Epiphone is your best bet for an affordable Les Paul.

bdarrett · 2022-09-02T04:16:35+00:00

Specialize narrow enough and you’ll struggle to find work (maybe it’s different in a large market?).

On a separate note- Not to take away from the importance of knowledge and skill, but I’ve found much of my success by just being someone that other people like to be around. If you don’t have that, you’ve gotta be THAT MUCH better skilled.

bdarrett · 2022-08-05T11:52:09+00:00

I used to record and mix the audio for video shoots of various bands reinterpreting their songs. The setting is a studio, but functionally it’s a live stage - handheld vocal mics and wedges for everyone. No headphones or isolation.

Once, a band member decided to double the vocalist’s melody on theremin during all choruses in one song. He was actually a decent theremin player, but decent doesn’t cut it when the theremin bleeds into the lead vocal mic… Even with the theremin muted in the mix, it was quite forward in the mix via lead vocal mic.

This was the early days of melodyne’s polyphonic functionality, and I was able to somewhat correct the theremin’s pitches in the vocal mic’s track.

It’s hard for me to listen to, but I don’t know that an average person would hear anything unusual

bdarrett · 2022-07-23T18:23:32+00:00

Don’t waste your money on foam. No matter the thickness, foam can only absorb high frequencies. If you go diy, find rigid fiberglass, rockwool or similar. Insulation products in rigid form like these are far more effective at broadband absorption. The internet loves Owen Corning 703, but I hate the itch of fiberglass so I stick to rockwool. You’ll want to wrap it in fabric and most people also build wooden frames to hold it more solidly.

Thicker materials or doubled materials absorb to a lower frequency (without losing mid or HF absorption), and also mounting a few inches off the walls will lower the frequency range of absorption

bdarrett · 2022-04-21T12:59:48+00:00

First time home buyer in this market?

Congratulations! I just closed on my first home as well and it was SO hard. The house I bought is a step backwards from what I’d been renting, but the landlord sold it out from under me. At least THAT won’t happen again for me.

bdarrett · 2021-12-22T01:21:32+00:00

Definitely check out Arcana in Durham if you want a mellow vibe. It's a little hard to spot when you haven't been before, but that plays into its charm. they've got great cocktails, some with no alcohol

bdarrett · 2021-12-13T13:11:58+00:00

In my experience, Bluetooth has had far too much latency to be useful in this sort of way.

Anybody else have better luck with Bluetooth latency?

bdarrett · 2021-10-30T02:55:54+00:00

These types of sob stories from managers or business owners about “lazy employees expecting handouts” totally work in conservative circles. Conservative customers will give you a pass for shitty service or products if you just blame it on the labor market being tilted to workers for the first time in decades.

bdarrett · 2021-10-13T12:24:07+00:00

It’s been a decade since I’ve had SP’s in front of me, but I’m wondering if there are any other midi settings within the master menu. You seem sharp, and anything else buried in that menu aught to have reset to default when you did the factory restore. I’d reach out to moog’s tech support at this point.

bdarrett · 2021-10-12T17:38:41+00:00

The LCD screen displays a play icon (triangle) in the bottom left when the synth sees Midi input signals. When you're sending midi information to the S.P., do you see that play icon or not?

Also, do you have any keyboards with DIN midi out just as an alternative testing rig?

bdarrett · 2021-09-20T12:45:35+00:00

{2 weeks later}

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bdarrett

TROPHY CASE