music studio tour!!

 ok i finally got it together enough to do this post!! huzzahhhhhh!!

also throughout this post i will include examples of uses of certain items in my songs. feel free to follow the hyperlinks for listening fun!

ok first we have my guitar, a epiphone les paul special, i call her ‘ole grey’. it was my gf’s but she prefers her squier strat and didn’t want this one anymore. so she asked if i wanted it!

these are my amps. the little one is a Crate GX-20R and the big one is my bass amp, an Ampeg RB-110. i use the Crate for recording guitars in the studio but i actually play my Les Paul through the Ampeg for live stuff (only open mics so far)

next are my guitar pedals, this is where a large majority of the sonic magic happens!

my rig is (input from right to left, cos pedals are backwards some reason):

Behringer TO800 Vintage Tube Overdrive (Ibanez tube screamer clone) - this one stays on all the time as a light drive/treble boost effect.

Ibanez Soundtank PL5 Powerlead - i only engage this guy for solos. i used to use a ProCo RAT2 but i found the PL5 has a less harsh bite that fits my stoned out sound better.

MXR Analogue Chorus - i leave this on always as well. it adds some subtle richness that otherwise wouldn’t be present.

MXR Carbon Copy Analogue Delay - this also is always on. it adds an echo effect at the end of my signal chain. 

if i’m running through the Crate amp i also throw in its built-in spring reverb effect. otherwise i currently don’t use reverb live.

when playing bass I use the MXR analogue chorus and delay pedals, and if i play something heavy on bass i’ll bring out the aforementioned ProCo RAT2

now onto my keyboard rig! this is where pretty much all the other magic happens.

so the big black keyboard on the bottom is my Roland RD-300GX. it’s a digital stage piano but i really only use it as a MIDI keyboard (for recording software synths or controlling certain hardware)

the beige keyboard on the left is a vintage Bontempi B4 reed organ from the 70s. i haven’t recorded any actual songs on it in years, but i do have ideas for use soon… i often write and record demos on it because it has buttons for playing preset chords, which is handy for quick composition.

the synthesiser in the middle is my Arturia MiniBrute 2, aka MINIBERT. this was my first analogue (doesn’t rely on digital samples or computerised means for sound production, instead utilises electronic waves shaped in real time via voltage control) synth. i got it for christmas in 2019 i believe, back when i had long long hair (and was a freshman in high school XD). if you’ve ever listened to my music you have definitely heard MINIBERT, especially material from the Masek Dread project as well as the synth in this

on the right we have two more devices.

 the blue on top is a Behringer RD-6 analogue drum machine (Roland TR-606 clone). this drum machine can be heard on a few Masek Dread tracks as well as a DEVO cover i recorded. the black thing under it is a vintage Quadrasynth S4 digital synthesiser (utilises digital samples or other computerised means for producing sound unlike analogue). the S4 was my first ever actual synth. i’d had casio keyboards before but nothing studio grade. i bought it in summer 2019 iirc.

even further to the right we have a Baldwin CT-100 organ from the 60s. it was my great grandpa’s and was the original inspiration of my EP Frostyearn II (the first track produced from this EP especially reflects that, titled ‘grandpa’s organ’). however it’s a pain to record (has to be mic’d up) so it has yet to make it on any of my recorded music.

here we have some more stringed instruments. from left to right there’s my Merlin dulcimer (needs new strings), my Jackson JS2 bass (heard throughout this EP and this song), and my acoustic Gretsch guitar (needs new strings too lol)

oh also there’s a poster for psych rock legend Roky Erickson on the right. i’m fb friends with his son Jegar.

so that’s it for the instruments. but we ain’t done yet. 

here is my desk. ik it’s a nightmare

so pretty much all my gear runs into the audio interface on the right of the ipad. which then is fed into another smaller audio interface that runs into my ipad for recording. i also connect my Roland keyboard to my ipad via USB when recording keys.

if on the off chance i want to get a saturated sound, i (rarely) will use this vintage Sony TC-377 reel to reel. i’ll record the master track (or whatever needs tape saturation) to the tape and then i run it back into digital. it’s a hassle and i hate doing it and it sounds like shit half the time so uhhhh it’s rare. also you can see my turntable and boombox. i use the boombox for tape effects too, just using cassettes instead of reel to reel which i find works better for me

and then baaaaack on the desk we have some entertainment too :3

i have a small CRT TV hooked into a VCR/DVD combo player that i watch occasionally when not recording (usually clockwork orange or monty python)

on top of the VCR we have a small bowl with bunnies on it. inside i left a rolling paper with a note inscribed with lyrics from one of my songs (u know da one probs)

so yeah! i’m probs gonna add pics of gear i have that isnt in use rn but does get taken out occasionally.