Bought a FirePod, Mics and Put Together a New Computer

Well, it was time to get rid of the aging computer I was using for my recording. The one I put together (or the one Nik put together, I should say ;) is really made up of some older parts from various computers. It's still a pretty decent machine, however. It's a rackmount dual AMD Athalon with a 10,000 rpm hardrive and 1.5 gigs of RAM... and the biggest thing... a dual monitor video card with two flat screens. Goes together well in the rack with the FirePod and my Rane headphone amp.

I also went ahead and bought a FirePod so we can start recording Jonathan's drums. We had a bunch of Shure SM57's between the two of us, plus Jonathan had a bass drum mic. So all we needed at that point were two decent condenser mics for overheads. I bought some lower-end AKGs for this purpose, and they sound fantastic!

The next step is to buy DrumaGog (more on that later), and start getting some music written and recorded!

New Guitar!! Bought a Bass Rig

I finally bought a bass rig. I don't really play bass, but I am learning. :) I bought it mainly for recording purposes and for the occasional impromptu jam when someone comes over that can actually play bass!

I thought it would be nice just have it so once Jonathan and I get some music down and find somebody interested in playing bass with us, that person can just come over without having to bring their rig with them. Convenience is key when you start playing with other musicians. ;)

The Schecter bass I bought is a 5 string, and it's pretty good. I really wanted a nice Ernie Ball, or Fender Jazz bass but I figured that this would be a great bass to learn on and later I can up the ante by buying a better one. The Line 6 Low Down amp is the LD175, 175 watt, 15" speaker model with tweeter horn that can be enabled or disabled. It's got about 5 bass amp models and some effects, and it's LOUD. :) The Schecter has passvie EMGs with active tone, bass and volume electronics. It's super easy to dial in a plethora of bass tones... everything from super "bassy" reggae sounds to super crisp funky stuff.

I have already gotten a lot of use out of it for recording roughs, and it's already been used a couple of times by some visiting bass players. So far it's been a great investment.