Sound familiar?  All of your life, or so it seems,  spent chasing the musical muse?  

I acquired (good word, worthy of the importance and joy of the act) my vintage 70’s Gibson Les Paul off of a print newspaper want ad in the seventies.  I owned one of the orignal consumer multi track Tascam Portastudio when they first came out. I sat on the music store waiting lists for both the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer and RX 11 drum machine. Evolved through the years with MIDI, sampling, analog – digital conversion, autotune, several different Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) on both Windows and Mac operating systems, right up until the present day in a world of loops and alternative controllers like the new Roli Seaboard Rise MPE (Midi Polyphonic Expression) keyboard. Well,without lapsing into too much of my generational stereotype’s addiction to reminiscing, I’ll assume you get the point, I’ve got some experience. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, learned a bunch, spent a moderate amount of money (when I’m gone, I hope Ginger, my patient and supportive partner, doesn’t sell if for what I told her I paid for it) and had a helluva lot of fun.  At her suggestion, I thought, why not share what I’ve learned on the journey and help some other muse chasers gain speed in the pursuit, and maybe enjoy the ride a bit more?

Remember my title,  Studio Ah…Avocation ?  I’m not here to talk about making money or standing on the stage at Red Rocks with the spotlights on. I will dive into the wonderful world of making music for yourself and your friends and sounding like you could be on stage at Red Rocks with the spotlights on.  

We live in a fabulous time for musical muse chasers!  Incredibly high quality,  affordable hardware and software tools and toys are within the reach of literally millions of us.  The downside is there’s so much out there it can be completely overwhelming.  I’ll share what I’ve found helpful in sorting through it all.   And if you’re like me, it’s not your full time pursuit, how to make the most of the time you can spend. 

I write and produce my own original music and also love doing covers of the great stuff from some of my favorite artists. I’ll share some of those projects to illustrate some of the tools and techniques that I’ve learned over the years.  There are tricks I use to manage the “artist” side of my personality to be productive without smothering the spark of creativity and the fun. Maybe they can help you.

I might as well confess up front that you will probably get some anecdotes from my past about my life in and around music, concerts (“I may be old but I got to see all the great bands”) and my stage experiences (What to do when a fight breaks out in the audience while you’re playing)  I may jump up on the soapbox with some controversial opinions occasionally about the state of music nowadays ( e.g,. “alternative controllers”) But I do promise it will always be in the pursuit of entertaining you.

Here are some of the topics already in development:

“Creating Your Home Studio” – Over the course of my journey I’ve built several. I’ll give you a tour of my current setup which integrates vintage and modern gear in a space adapted to my work flows, acoustic constraints and physical requirements, including the furniture and racks that I custom designed and built (you’re welcome Lowes and Home Depot).

“Productive Production”– If you are a multi-instrumentalist, song writer, lyricist, singer, engineer and producer in a single set of ears and brain it is far too easy to wander and get lost, especially if you lean toward  the “artistic” personality versus the “engineering” one.  I’m on a constant quest to overcome that affliction. I’ve got some insights, techniques, and tools to help you if you need them as well.

“Learning” – “Drinking from a fire hose” is an outdated expression. The flow of technical, “technique-ical”, musical, and creative information that you want to stay on top of is more like a raging flood. My ideas, tools, and tips will not turn you into Michael Phelps, but will get you wading upstream and supporting real progress in your musical projects. 

Some topics awaiting development.:

“Senior Sonority” –  I’m not a kid anymore. Staying in the game in spite of the limitations. Heck, if Mick Jagger and Keith Richards can still do it, so can I!

“Compression” – Talk about a subtle and sophisticated effect. ..artistic application is not easy to achieve. So many talented people try to educate and explain it. I’ll take my shot as well. Hopefully, I’ll learn more about it through the effort, too.  One of the many “tactical” topics I’d love to explore using real projects and examples.

“On the Road”  –  Two of my favorite things combined, making music and traveling.  

“Talent” – I’ve got some pretty strong opinions on this.  Read this one if you want feel better, or maybe worse. But you can recuperate!

What do you think?  Sound like it’s worth your attention?   Let’s go chase that wiley muse and have a good time!