Kjaerhus VST plugins

Just a little tip for folks using VST plugins for digital recording. I use lots of them and have tried a million more it seems. I download all the free ones I can find to try out when I can find the time, but quite honestly most of them suck. For most people Waves is the gold standard of plugins and they do make some great (expensive) stuff, but I've never been totally happy with any of their compressors.

In all honesty *nothing* can replace a good hardware compressor IMO no matter how well it models an LA2 or 1176 etc... hell, even a cheap dbx 266 sounds better than most plugin compressors to my ears! But digital is here to stay so it is what it is.

Recently I've been trying out the FREE Kjaerhus Classic compressor and EQ and I have to say I really like the way they sound. Very smooth and analog... makes me wonder what their retail releases sound like. Anyway, try them out for yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised, I know I was... kjaerhusaudio.com/download

ps: for Windows OS only.

Happy mixing!

Stayin' alive!

Without a doubt playing music is what keeps me alive, and not doing it... put me in the hospital. Seriously. Between everyone's schedules, work and other obligations my plugged in time in real time has been severely limited the last couple of months and sitting at the PC recording bits alone is NOT the same thing at all.

I jammed out a couple nights this week and I feel f*cking great! It's a rejuvenating tonic of the highest potency. So my immediate goals are to get all this media stuff done ASAP. All of it, from recording to mixing to editing video to laying out album art, all of it is more sitting sitting sitting at the computer and THAT my friends, will kill you. Or it will me anyway. I gotta get his stuff done, turn OFF the pc's, grab a guitar and turn it up to eleven. If I can't get my people to do it, I am heading out to find more people to play with... so towards that end I am game for anything interesting anyone may propose that will keep me plugged in and playing. Get in touch!

Gibson prices part 2

hey I just read that Gibson has lowered the prices of new SG's big time! Seems they priced themselves right out of the marketplace so they're now about 28% lower. I guess they read my blog! Greedy bastards. ;) So, in turn, hopefully used prices will drop as well. Good news for real musicians... Gibson SG new prices

In the hospital

Friday morning around 9:30AM my heart began racing then went into Atrial fibrillation... those who know me know this has happened before, but this time the speed of the heartbeat freaked me out so I called 911 and an ambulance took me to Virtua Memorial where I still am.

After I got some sleep the A-fib stopped... now I am waiting for a cardiac evaluation then OUT of here I hope. I wanted to go see Dave Larue last night but missed that... I can't remember any of my other passwords like Twitter etc, and can't see the screen here as it's halfway across the room with small fonts! But wanted to let people know where I disappeared to.... I have my cell on me if you want to call. Will report back when I get out.

On the death of excitement

No that this has much to do with music, but when I heard of GM discontinuing the Pontiac brand I was a little sad. I suppose it is a reflection of our times, the recent Pontiac line had nothing to do with the original concept... GTO, Grand Prix, Trans Am, etc. In the 60's Pontiac built - quoting Pontiac ad man Jim Wagner - "excitement!"

Excitement indeed! I learned how to drive on my parents '67 LeMans Sprint Six and let me tell you something, that was a real automobile!! A straight 6 OHC with four on the floor, this was the little brother to the mighty GTO and made my teen years something to remember!


[ 1967 Pontiac LeMans Sprint ]
Wagner goes on to say "all these little boys in men’s jobs come along, and come up with insanely stupid ‘G’ names" ... and a product that had little or nothing to do with the original idea. So another bit of inspired history disappears into the mega-profit (and loss) world of 21st Century capitalism. I will always have my memories.

I suppose this does relate to music in a way... with real rock 'n' roll having been absorbed by multinational mega corporations decades ago and made for MTV marketing, where is the excitement in new music? If you have a clue I wish you would give me a hint. Just like the new cars being made today, excitement has been mass produced into everything is the same bland tasteless disposable nothingness.