I’ve been looking at the reissued Marshall overdrive pedals. If I were to order one it would either be the Bluesbreaker or the Guv’nor. If I got the Bluesbreaker I might make a new pedal board for low-ish gain stuff. I’m thinking it would be the Bonamassa signature Crybaby into the Bluesbreaker into the Wampler Tumnus and that’s all. Then I thought… what about sticking the Fuzz Face before the Crybaby. That way it’s a low-ish gain board with a blistering inferno of fuzz for luck.
Just a thought.
If I got a Guv’nor I would stick it onto the existing stay at home pedal board after the Klon KTR and use it as the paint peeling distortion sound.
Bluesbreaker into Tumnus though… that could be fun.
The last couple of days have been weird, health-wise. First it was the headache issue on Tuesday, then it was stomach issues on Wednesday. Now here we are on Thursday and I am feeling a little like a wrung out face cloth. Here’s hoping today will be a quiet day.
We’re having some HVAC folks come and tell us what they need to do to replace the mini-split in the bedroom. We’ve had it serviced a couple of times this winter, but it’s just not working and we’re more or less unable to heat the bedroom without using a space heater as a supplement. They won’t actually replace it for another week or two, but they are coming for a fact finding mission.
So, television. Yesterday was the premier or season three of The Mandalorian and I could not be at a higher hype level. The first episode was excellent but… I think today’s third episode of season three of Picard might have been better. I did not see that coming, kids. I was just glued to the screen as I was getting this morning’s jogging (yogging) in. The captain vs admiral conflict seemed a little forced and out of character, but everything else? Fan-freakin-tastic. The bad guys behind the bad guy? Fan-freakin-tastic! I can’t wait for episode four. I also can’t wait for episode two of The Mandalorian, but that’s a given. In the Star Wars vs Star Trek debate, I come down on the Star Wars side, generally, but only by a little bit. Regardless of which franchise you prefer, it’s a pretty good time to be a space opera fan, am I right?
For the first time in a year, I am suffering from guitar gear acquisition syndrome. There are two overdrive pedals that I really want to buy, and I also really want to buy an amplifier simulator that I can use as a plug in through GarageBand. Last year I finished the RPM Challenge with a plan to do their Record Every Month challenge throughout the rest of the year. I had a goal of two songs each month that I could pretend were a single. I failed completely. I didn’t write a single song over the 11 months between the 2022 RPM and the 2023 RPM (with the exception of a few failed attempts in November). I am going to try again, but I am probably not going to record guitars through my amplifier on a regular basis. I am thinking I can do direct input more often and I want a good amp sim that I can use consistently. The one I am looking at is only $40, but I just don’t want to spend any money. We have a mini-split to buy after all.
Speaking of gear acquisition syndrome, I also really want to buy a new lens for my new camera. I adore the 40mm lens we bought for Disney, but I’d like a little zoom option. Possibly because the cats are suffering from The Zoomies every night and it just sort of inspired me, you know? I also really really want to buy a 35mm film point and shoot and I don’t know why. I want to buy a 35mm film camera with autofocus functionality too, but that’s going to cost some dough, and I think I can get a point and shoot for pennies. I want to go Nikon, as usual, but decent Nikon point and shoots are stupidly expensive on ebay. I looked for Pentax options yesterday and saw some with the starting bid of $1.00… so yeah, that could be a better option. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll hit the thrift stores more often.
Okay, time to get breakfast and get my day started. I have a lot of meetings today and need to be ready for a long day at the home office. Wish me luck.
I still have two songs to mix, but neither of those two songs are good enough to use on the final record… so I submitted it. I threw together a somewhat logical running order, created a playlist on alonetone.com, and sent it off to the RPM Headquarters.
Done and done.
There I am on the list of winners. I filtered it by people in Massachusetts so I’d be easier to find.
Now I just need to finish those last two songs and I’ll be done with everything for this month. I am pretty surprised I made it through. I’m happy I made it, even if I am not happy with the results.
This is song #11 out of 14. I think it’s the only song I’ve done this year that’s in 7/8 time. That’s sad.
At least two of the remaining three will be dropped from the final album. One of them is still on the fence but definitely leaning toward the drop list. I think I have enough time to mix one more before work. Let’s see if I can get ‘er done.
I have finished all of the tracking for this year’s RPM Challenge. I added really crappy lead guitar parts to the last two songs and I am done with the recording. Finished, babie!
181/365. The focus point is on the pickup switch, I think.
The focus point is on Baby Yoda, babie!
The focus point is the word “Fender” on the amplifier.
The focus point is on the guitar, which I think was pretty obvious.
Technically the RPM Challenge rules allow you to work on March 1st, but I prefer to stay within February so today is the last day for me.
Four songs left. Two are ready to mix. Two still need quick lead guitar parts before they’ll be ready to mix. I can do it all today. I also need to come up with a running order and drop anything that’s not up to snuff. This year that’s pretty much everything so lots of weak songs are going to make the cut.
I have a doctor’s appointment at 10:00am so I took sick time for the first half of the work day. That should let me get the guitar tracks in once Jen is out of bed. It’s snowing though. There isn’t much more than a dusting right now but we could get eight inches. I may have to shovel this morning, and I’ll definitely have to shovel after work. I also need to do my exercise this morning and I over slept about an hour so… yeah. Dumb ass.
Okay, Robert. It’s motivation time. Get to it. Get shit done!
I just mixed and uploaded song #10. I still have four more songs to work on, but if I wanted to stop and call it a day now I could and still submit a completed project.
That sound you hear is me breathing a sigh of relief. I am going to bed now. I’ll finish the last four songs tomorrow and come up with a running order. I made cover art earlier today. I am really close to putting this one in the rear view mirror.
It’s the second to last day of the RPM Challenge. I have seven songs mixed and finished. Five more are ready to mix. Two additional still need a lead guitar track. I just finished dinner and I am in the middle of a first season episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine (the one with Q). It’s time to get a move on, Robert. Let’s get to mixing!
I told my beloved wife Jen that I was going to take a page out of the Brian Adams playbook today and play it ’till my fingers bled. I didn’t go quite that far, but I am in so much finger tip pain that I had to stop a little early. I put lead guitar parts onto five of the remaining seven songs. My playing on the fifth song was atrocious, not because I suck (though, naturally) but because my finger tips hurt so much I couldn’t make them do anything. Ouch town, population me.
I will finish the last two songs, but it won’t be for a while. I might try again after dinner. I might wait until tomorrow. I can’t say yet. What I do know is that I have finished tracking a total of 12 songs so I am at the point where I could stop, apart from mixing, and call this year a win. I am pleased.
As always, I went into this year’s RPM Challenge with a specific gear setup in mind. Pedal-wise I was going to use my Klon KTR to push my Keeley Super Phat Mod. I never got on with that Keeley pedal and I was going to force it this month. Then the Marshall Bluesbreaker hype hit. Marshall released a pedal called the Bluesbreaker, which was supposed to make your amp sound like the amp Clapton used on the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton record from 1966 but doesn’t, in the early 90’s and discontinued it after a couple of years. Fast forward to the 21st century and John Mayer uses the pedal on one of his records and suddenly the used market prices are through the roof and every boutique pedal manufacturer on Earth is either making a direct copy of it, or cloning it and modding it. I own a direct copy.
There was a rumor a year ago that Marshall was going to reissue the pedal. That rumor appeared to come true last week though it wasn’t until a day or so ago that Marshall actually verified the rumor was true. All the talk made me want to use my copy. I put it on the board and used the shit out of it. Today I was using it like crazy. Sometimes with the Klon KTR pushing it and sometimes just by itself. It’s not the kind of sound I usually get up for, but I have been seriously digging it the last few days, and for some reason using it with the neck pickup on my Les Paul today was a little slice of bliss.
What does that mean? Nothing. I just thought I’d share, that’s all.
I used my Les Paul on four of today’s five songs, and my SG on one. I was planning on using the SG for the two I didn’t get to as well, but now that I need some time to heal I have no idea what I’ll actually use on the last two. Probably the Les Paul. Either way, I took some obligatory pics.
Also… selfies… because I suck at being cool.
Also, I am rearranging how I keep my work and personal laptops on my desk. My desk suddenly feels very small.
Okay, now I can break for lunch. Maybe watch a TV show for 45 minutes or so and then start mixing again.
Progress, babie. Progress.
Oh yeah, here’s a video on the Marshall pedal. Just so you know what I am talking about.
Inside the Red Head's Head 