What's Up?

So I realize I haven't blogged in a couple of months :(  Things have been a bit crazy around here.  I've been in the middle of working on a friend's project and haven't had a chance to blog.  Things are going well!  We have been laying down tracks slowly but surely and I've been learning a ton!!!  


God has blessed me in so many ways.  A great godly wife, beautiful children, a wonderful home where I can record and create new music, etc!  God has also opened the door for us to upgrade certain things in the studio too! 

The first thing is a second monitor.  If you work with Pro Tools or any other DAW software than you know how valuable a second monitor is!  Most recording software has two main windows a "Mix" window and and "Edit" window.   With two monitors you can seamlessly run between both of these windows and see exactly what's going on simultaneously. A huge thanks to my in-laws for allowing me to use it!  This is a great addition!

Another thing that has helped tremendously is an external hard drive dedicated for recording.  I picked up a great deal at tigerdirect.com.  They have a ton of these and nowadays; they have become a must in recording for a few reasons.  One reason is that it frees up a lot of processing power.  Recording software and plug-ins take up a lot of processing power so the more you have the better your session is going to run.  When you run an external hard drive your computer's processor doesn't have to run it and that frees up processing power. Another reason is that you have more space to record on.  You don't have to worry about filling up your computer's internal hard drive.  Also, it allows you to take your sessions with you to other studios easily.


The next thing that we've been able to upgrade is a new studio desk.  I still can't believe the deal I got on this!  This desk sells normally for $199.99 all the time, and it's well worth it. I just happened to see it on Craigslist for $30.00!!!  I am so thankful for this thing!  My old desk was great but this allows me to have both my keyboard and computer on it at the same time (if you need a studio desk my old one is for sale).  It also has space for the new monitor and more!  

Lastly I was able to get the updated version of Pro Tools (Pro Tools 9).  I have been running Pro Tools 7.4.2 for the last 4 years and its been great.  However there have been two updates since then (Pro Tools 8 and now 9).  Well, I must say WOW!  What a difference!  PT9 has made it so much easier to record and edit.  The plug-in package alone is well worth the upgrade.  I love the way you can comp in PT9.  You can see all of your playlists at the same time.  That's huge!!!!  I also love the way you can have the color of the tracks bleed through the whole track.  You can navigate so much easier (see pic).


All these things have helped me tremendously in my recordings these past few weeks.  What a blessing!  So that's what I've been up to the last couple of months.  What's up with you?


Serving Him,


Jimmy!

Spring Cleaning!

I know we're getting very close to summer but I thought this would be a good time to blog about keeping up with your guitar and equipment!  This week I was with a good friend of mine and I picked up his guitar.  I couldn't help but notice that it needed some attention.  The fretboard was dirty and the strings hadn't been changed in a while.  I offered to take it and clean it up!

First I took a piece of plastic with a sharp edge and scrapped off all the grime and gunk on the fretboard.  Next I took some lemon oil and started cleaning the frets and fretboard.  I went over them several times to insure that they were free from any dirt or build up.

Finally I polished the body and changed the strings.  It's very important to keep up with your strings and to change them regularly.  Changing your strings will help your guitar stay in tune consistently.  Old strings can greatly impact your guitars intonation in a negative way.  

It's like the old adage, "Take care of your tools and your tools will take care of you"!


Serving Him,


Jimmy




P.S.  Here's what my cleaning cloth (an old t-shirt) looked like after cleaning the fretboard!

The $10, 10 Minute Home Studio Tip!

Have you ever been in the middle of a recording session and think, "It would be nice to have another room to track in?"  Well a couple of weeks ago I got this idea to drill* a few holes in my walls to expand my studio!  Take a look at this video and see how you too can expand your studio into the next room, hallway, or even a closet.


*Be sure to check and see if there are any studs, beams, or pipes in your walls before you start to drill into your walls!

Investing!

Merriam-Webster defines the word invest: "To make use of for future benefits or advantages."  When I graduated from seminary and started at my first church, they had a small matching retirement program.  I decided to take full advantage of it and start saving for my retirement right away.  It's not a big program by any means however it's something.  The idea is to simply save a small amount of money each week and put it away into a fund where it would grow over time!  It has grown over the years.  Sometimes it grows fast and sometimes it grows slow.  Nevertheless it's the constant small deposits that will reap benefits in the future!

Ministry is similar in that we are investing in people.  The coolest part about this kind of investing is that the benefits are eternal.  The reward is so much better than anything we could possibly achieve here on earth!  So many times we get this backwards!  We think we need to invest in all kinds of material things, but seldom do we hear about investing our lives into others!  When we invest in someones life we are doing kingdom work.  There is no amount of money (or material possessions) that could replace this type of investing!

Think about the people who have invested into your life.  Think about the people that made an impact on your life.  Who is it that has mentored you or has helped shape you?  Can you put a monetary value on that?   I don't know about you but I know I can't!

I say all this because I had the opportunity to see a friend that I haven't seen in a long time this past week.  It was great getting the chance to catch up and see how he and his family are doing!  He is someone who invested his life into mine and I am thankful.  God has place so many people in my life who have blessed me and shaped me into the person I am today.  I could write a book on all those who have!  My friend (David) that I got to see had an impact on me in the area of music.  And since this blog is all about music I thought it would be appropriate to say thanks and to challenge us all to think about who we might could invest our lives into!

Serving Him,

Jimmy