A New Start

6 weeks after our move, I'm finally getting around to getting the music gear set up again. It's been sitting way too long and I'm getting stir-crazy. I've played my acoustic guitar a bit but haven't fired up the electric guitars, assembled my recording desk, or powered up any of the recording gear. That is, until today. The desk is being put back together and I'm finally starting to get this part of my life rolling again.

Starting over in a new town and a new space has its challenges. My last room was extremely well tuned, comfortably large, and offered me multiple rooms to work with in peace and privacy. It was a dedicated area specifically designed from the ground up for my musical enjoyment. Now, I'm back to working in a less than perfect, shared space. On top of that, I sold a large amount of my equipment before moving. Effects processors, a keyboard, microphone preamps, converters, etc... I am now working with a huge desk with just a few pieces of gear in it. (I will have to work on filling all that empty rack space!) Of course, the gear I have kept is the gear that is the highest quality, and the core of my studio - my vintech pres, apogee converters, FATSO, Liquid Channel, etc. So, while I won't be recording any big bands anytime soon, I still can record myself and small projects easily with excellent quality gear.

I'm actually excited to be working in a less than perfect space and with more limited gear now. Why? Lots of reasons... First and foremost, it will just be fun. No pressure, no big projects, just enjoying my talents and hobbies and helping out friends. Secondly, it will be a challenge in some ways so it will force me to sharpen my skills with mic placement, mixing, and virtually all other aspects of recording and producing a project. Third, it will allow me to be creative. I have a huge bathroom that I'm looking forward to experimenting with to get great room reverbs. It has a lot of variety in the surfaces - drywall, wood, glass, tile, etc, and will have a lot of flexibility depending on where and how I set up the sound source and the mics. I can change the sound of the room by opening the door to the linen closet and creating an area with absorption properties. I can open or close the various doors on the shower, the cupboards etc to create different reflections. It will be fun. I have a nice big walk in closet that will make a great dry sounding space to mic up a loud guitar amp or a quiet vocal. I have a 2 story ceiling in my family room, and I can imagine a great room sound by recording on the stairs to capture the volume of ambiance in the family room, while catching all the interesting reflections made by the staircase and walls.

Yes, I will miss my old digs. What a great room with such a great sound and vibe. But, I'm looking forward to a new chapter as well. I can have fun and create masterpieces in my own home, and sharpen my skills while doing it.