I think every guitarist reaches a point in there playing where they are not as worried about how well they are playing, but rather how the actual sound coming out of the speaker sounds to everyone else.  as such, i’ve recently been in the market for some new effect pedals.  For the longest time i was playing with a ZOOM Digital effects composite pedal.  you know the one; it has somewhere around 80 different effects and types of distortion and overdrive.  I can honestly say it sucks the tone right out of the guitar and amp.  and as the years have passed, it has developed some serious ground issues (i say ground because that means buzz and i was never able to identify what was causing it other than something within the pedal itself).  So i decided to move on to analog because, well lets face it, when it comes to tone analog is the way to go.  

So these are the pedals i’m running right now:

Fulltone GT 500 F.E.T. Distortion. Booster/OD

T.C. Electronic Hall Of Fame Reverb 

Standard Cry Baby Wah Wah

Planet Wave Chromatic tuner

BOSS RC-20 Loop Station (for solo acoustic gigs)

obviously this is a pretty bare bones set up but I’m no John Petrucci (hope i spelled that right)

Anyway, to the details about the pedal…

The TC Electronic Hall Of Fame reverb pedal is my new favorite toy.  I don’t really want to go into extreme detail so i’ll give you a link below that will, click it to watch a demo of the pedal.  

the only thing i will say is this:  For me, whether it’s effects or just achieving different sounds from any equipment, it’s all about versatility.  When i buy something, like a reverb pedal, i like to know it is the last one i am ever going to have to buy.  I don’t want to buy three or four pedals that all have the same type of effects just to achieve a certain sound.  I also want to know that the effects coming out of the pedal are the clearest and most pristine of anything out there on the market.  that is why i love this pedal.  10 different types of reverb, three different means of adjustment, two dip switches to allow for true bypass or buffered bypass and, of course, the option to run the pedal mono or stereo, make this pedal the best reverb pedal i have come across yet.  Not only that but TC electronics is doing this whole line of pedals with a new little doohicky called “Tone Print,” which basically means next to the 9v input on the top of the pedal there is a USB port which allows you to plug your “tone print” pedal into your computer and download your favorite guitarists interpretation of how to get the best sound out of that the pedal.  so in other words if you like john petrucci’s vibrato effect you can download it straight to your Shaker Vibrato TC Electronics pedal.  

Now to be honest i don’t know how often, if at all i will use the tone print feature, but it’s nice to have it there.  Like i said before, versatility.  

i am very picky when it comes to my musical equipment but to be perfectly honest there aren’t too many things i don’t like about this pedal.  performance wise i can honestly say it is perfect for what i want out of a reverb pedal, crisp clear reverb, lots of options in reference to different types of reverb and decay time, and all in a small package that leaves room on my board for the other effects i intend to buy in the coming days.  the only thing i don’t like about it is how low it sits on my board, making it difficult to depress the bypass switch with out crushing the volume knob on my Fulltone pedal, but that can be easily remedied by a pedal riser (few pieces of cardboard taped together then glued to the bottom of the pedal.  lets here it for DIY!  haha)  

So that’s about it really.  I couldn’t be happier with the T.C. Electronic Hall Of Fame Reverb pedal.  Below is the link to the Hall Of Fame Demo from T.C.  I’ll also put a link to the demo of the next pedal i intend to get from Them, the Flashback Delay Pedal.  Hope this was an informational waste of your time!!! hahaha

Keep Dreaming, 
KA

Hall of Fame Reverb Demo:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cMpaEDSF8M&feature=related

Flashback Delay Demo

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvCC1TfNfb4 

Tcelectronic.com

OK so i just got back from my voice lesson today with my world on the verge of being totally uprooted and turned on it’s head.  she said “I’m going to say something i’ve never said to any of my students before…. I think you should go to the doctor.”  She said that she isn’t sure of anything, of course, and that it sounds like i could have some serious damage going on in my larynx.  She recommended me to Dr. Vincent, a specialist in laryngology (had the hardest time saying that word).  So i made an appointment for next friday, which i am assuming was the earliest he could fit me into his busy doctor schedule.  

And in the mean time i’m left with my dreaded nemesis,  The “what if.”  

“what if” I have done serious damage to my voice?

“what if” its permanent?

“what if” I’m losing my ability to sing?

“what if” I have to stop singing; for a week; a month; forever?

“what if” the thing i have come to believe would be my salvation (singing) turns out to be my demise?

so that’s where i am right now, not to mention the fact that i have a gig everyday until next wednesday.  

I’m going to take toni’s advice.  freak out for an hour or so and then move forward.  

…we’ll see how that turns out.

well, after much consideration and discussion we have decided to postpone touring until the spring.  there are just too many things that need to be just right, which just aren’t right yet.  when i tour i want to really knock it out of the park, not just a ground ball to the pitcher.  right now the team is focusing on the editing of the music video for bad intentions, the live video from the april 8th show at the market on seventh, and really solidifying the band and its members.  we are moving to a whole new level now and we have to be perfect for that level or we will fall right off.  my meticulous nature is coming in handy right now for sure.  also,  thinking about giving the band a name.  any ideas?

that’s all for now. 

keep dreaming

KA

silly silly boys…

that’s where i am right now.  logic says “go to bed, you have band rehearsal in the morning (noon) and a gig tomorrow night.  you need to sleep to be ready for that”  but there is something else within me that just wants me to stay up.  Why is that?  it’s the same thing that says “i know you need to practice your voice techniques but this couch is soooooo comfy, AND netflix has every season of king of the hill now!”  i believe that little voice’s name is apathy, but i will call him fredrick.  

Hey Fredrick, you’re a dick.  shut the fuck up and let me do the things i need to do.

there that feels better.  

so the big show is two days away and i feel quite happy with the way things are going.  there are a few things that are left undone as of yet, but there is always unfinished business.

I watched “Gangs Of New York” tonight.  great movie.  if you haven’t… you should.  

Favorite quote from the movie- “It’s a funny thing, being taken under a dragons wing… it’s warmer than you think.”

ok Fredrick is crying in the corner which is my cue to go to bed.  

Do me a favor.  if you are reading this and you like the way words come out of my fingers, follow me.  make me feel special.  …short bus special.  haha.

So it took about a month of planning (or six depending on your perspective)  and two days (20 hours total) of shooting but we finished filming the music video for “bad intentions” this morning at 6:38 am.  let me just explain off the top of my head what all went into this so you can grasp how big our ‘not-fucking-around’ muscles are…

2 days, 

2 cameras

20 hours

15 people (cast and crew)

4 locations

2 tons of patience

we shot on the first day at a local bar i play and hang out at frequently, JJ’s cafe and Bar on 7th ave in Ybor City (Tampa). I head down the street from the parking garage with the image of a few people huddled around a single camera and maybe one spotlight.  i turn the corner and walk through the front doors and the first thing i see is a man standing on a ladder fixing a spot light to what looks like an overhanging metal rail.  then i look around to see the room is nearly filled with people, all busy doing something to prepare the room for the shoot.  

I am dumbfounded.  I knew it was going to be professional, but often times it never lives up to ones expectations, especially when one is so used to being built up and let down.  i thought “this is amazing.”  and the smile creeping across my face told the same thing to anyone looking.

so i got dressed up, dolled up, and powdered up, then we began shooting.  by the way, extreme props to Clint Mourino and Taylor Girard, the director and Director of Photography.  incredible attention to detail and semantics.  every light, every angle, every position and expression was accounted for and adjusted to perfection.  

I never realized how some of the simplest tasks can be made difficult when you are asked to do them consciously.  something as simple as walking out of a door way and looking over your shoulder can be quite difficult.  haha.  

I also never realized how simple something i though was going to be very complicated would be.  that something was a make out scene.  now i’ve made out many times in my life, with multiple partners just like anyone else has.  i’ve done it (and worse things) in front of many people.  that being said, i’ve never run to first base without the goal of getting to home, if you catch my drift.  i’ve never “acted” passionately before last night.  I can say now that i was truly afraid it was going to be awkward or that it would take forever to get a good take, or that one of us was simply going to back out at the last minute because we just couldn’t handle it.  And the worst fear of course was that one of us would develop some kind of emotional attraction and make the whole thing extremely uncomfortable for a long time to come.  

None of those things happened.  

when it came time to do the scene, estelle (who turned out to be a real natural actor and absolutely perfect for this video) and i did one practice take and then began shooting the scenes.  We both had this mentality: “this is not about feelings, or attraction, this is about the video.  I want this video to be the best it can possibly be.”  once that mentality was applied the scene flew by.  it was actually the easiest and quickest group of shots we did through out the whole process i think.

I have to say my favorite scene is the one in the middle of the street on 7th ave at 6 in the morning playing guitar with the streetlights and bars all behind me.  love the way that one looked on the camera.  or the shot about “the Ritz” marquee playing out the window.  

I won’t bore you with every little detail but all in all the whole shoot was professional, productive, and a butt load of fun.  i can’t wait until editing is finished and we can show the rest of the world!!!!  stay tuned for the final product… 

cosmosweednlife:

Neurologist Kevin Nelson explains how the brain slips into a strange state of hybrid consciousness during a near-death experience

How common are near-death experiences (NDEs)?

A 1997 survey reported that 18 million Americans had had one. When my team surveyed people who have had them, we found that some occurred during cardiac arrest but the vast majority were during fainting. Thirty-seven per cent of all Americans will have fainted at one point in their life, so I suspect NDEs are common.

In your book The Spiritual Doorway in the Brain you talk about borderlands of consciousness. What are they and how do they relate to NDEs?

We have three states of consciousness: awake, non-REM sleep and REM sleep. But there aren’t absolute dividing lines between them - they can blend with one another, most commonly REM and waking. Twenty to 25 per cent of people at some point experience some kind of blending, a borderland of consciousness. What I have discovered is that the switch in the brainstem that regulates these three states functions differently in people who have had NDEs. These people are more likely to get stuck between the REM state and waking. So it looks like some people are prone to having these kinds of experiences. Interestingly, it tends to run in families.

Does that mean NDEs are a kind of lucid dream?

Lucid dreams are among the closest things we know of to an NDE. They are very similar. Brainwave measurements show that lucid dreaming is a conscious state between REM and waking. During REM consciousness, the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex is turned off. As that’s the executive, rational part of the brain, this explains why dreams are so bizarre. But if the dorso-lateral cortex turns on inside a dream, you become aware that you are dreaming. It is like waking up in your dream. When the body is in crisis during an NDE and the brain is slipping from consciousness to unconsciousness, it can get momentarily stuck in a borderland between REM and waking, just like a lucid dream.

[Click to view the rest]

lickystickypickyme:

An expedition member walks on the cooled lava floor, turned red by the reflected glow of a lake, of a caldera in Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Down here you feel the volcano,” says photographer Carsten Peter. “It’s a low-frequency rumbling that pulses through your body—like being inside a giant subwoofer.”

aw!  I want one!

why flooding causes a decrease in mosquitos but an increase in super creepy trees.

tumbledore:

“An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters.

Because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water has taken so long to recede, many trees have become cocooned in spiders webs. People in this part of Sindh have never seen this phenonemon before - but they also report that there are now less mosquitos than they would expect, given the amoungt of stagnant, standing water that is around.

It is thought that the mosquitos are getting caught in the spiders web thus reducing the risk of malaria, which would be one blessing for the people of Sindh, facing so many other hardships after the floods.”