Archive for the ‘Music Gear’ Category
I bought this Yidaki or didjeridu from the hand markets on St Kilda Esplanade. I really liked the design and have always found the sound amazing. Yidaki seems the more preferred name as didjeridu has Irish origins. I’m keen to work on playing it and developing circular breathing, it should be interesting to try.
I was very lucky to find this guitar on a message board on some Perth site, the guy was great and the guitar was in perfect condition. These 7 strings are very rare and are a limited edition made for 6 months in the year 2000. I have been looking for one for Ages. Body is mahogany. Has a standard scale length so the B-string felt really loose. Put a big heavy string on and the tension improved. It plays so nice lead however, I really like the contrast. My other 7 strings are long scale. I also had a Seymour Duncan custom shop SH-12 Screamin Demon Pickup in which sounds incredible in the guitar.
This guitar has been an old faithful of mine for many years now and was my main guitar spanning several Alchemist recordings and many, many live shows, It has been to Europe twice, been bounced off the stage a few times and has a few chips and studded belt scars but i still love to play it. It has been retired from live service when I went to 7 string guitars in 2006 but I still use it for tracking as it has a EMG 81 pickup and a pretty big tone. I plan on restoring this guitar one day as all the metallic hardware is very worn, I have even worn through the varnish on the neck.
This is my C7 7 string that I have had for about 2 years now and it really is a nice guitar. Its 26.5 in scale is great and the lower strings have a great tension. I replaced the active bridge pick-up with a passive DiMarzio Evolution that suits my set-up much better. Its a fairly solid mahogany body with a nice carved top. I’m getting a really crisp defined heavy B with the new pick-up. All the Schecter 7 string I have played have been really nice, not a fast as the Ibanez’s but more solid feeling.
I was keen for an acoustic guitar to use for recording so I asked the guys at Better Music in Canberra who recommended this Crafter Guitar. They are made in korea but to fairly high standards. I bought the guitar in 2009 and am very happy with it, it plays great, has en excellent tone and records really well. I had not heard of the brand before but it is great value and a really nice build quality.
In 2009 I had a bit of an acoustic revival and purchased a steel sting and a classical guitar to rely push this side of my playing. I used to have a nice classical when I was at collage but it was sold on the way when times were a bit tougher, probably to buy stuff for my live rigg. Again I asked the advice of the better music boys in Canberra about which would be the best choice. They recommended the Irene. It was a beautiful guitar so that’s the one I got. This is a spanish made guitar, and although I like the girls name for the model, lrene seems not the most spanish of names to me. It plays and sounds amazing, has a solid piece top and just feels beautiful. I was advised against electronics within the guitar and just to record with a mic which I have been doing with my rode with decent results. This is really nicely crafted instrument with a lovely full tone and I would fully recommend the model to anyone looking for quality acoustic without forking out thousands.
This guitar was my first 7 string guitar bought in 2006 when Alchemist had an Ibanez endorsement. It is a Prestige Japanese built Team J craft and one of my favourite guitars. It does have a 7 string floating bridge that is a pain in the ass to balance with the tension of the 7 strings, but once the balance is made it plays beautifully and never drifts out of tune. The only change I made is a DiMarzio passive Tone Zone 7 bridge pickup as the stock pups were pretty flat. The Tone Zone really helped clarify the bottom end and some strap locks. These guitars come in awesome moulded cases that fits the guitars perfectly. Has been a faithful and reliable guitar – hardware seems to bubble and rust over time as do all Ibanez guitars I have owned but they were pretty heavily used for several years.
Recording a batch of songs for this Tranquilistics project, at home in my lounge room, which has been converted into a make shift studio. Below is the core recording gear I use from a day to day basis, some extras I bring from work or borrow from friends. Its pretty big, sounded weird to me at first and now is just normal (disturbing thought). We have a dedicated room at work in our design labs with a similar set-up, a mac that runs all the Apple audio applications with the M-box hardware, we are soundproofing it at the moment. Not a great deal of the material is recorded live but I have experimented recording my Djembe drum and classical guitar. Steel string runs through the GT-10.
This is my home set-up
Hardware – Recording Gear
Software
This is my Djembe drum that Suzie gave me. It is a really nice instrument and such a cool natural vibe when you are playing it. While I’m not that good it I’m slowly getting better. It is really good for developing rhythms and patterns and so acoustic and natural. May graduate to some congas one day but I’m running out space. This one is made by TOCA and very nicely made and sounds great.
