Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Setting Up The Ambient Garage

I'd been using the elevated side wing of my living room as my working office, and unfortunately, as a freelancer, I've shackled myself to that desktop for ages. I finally got a laptop, and my work patterns changed. I could now work at a coffeeshop, on the couch, or on the toilet - this freed my "office" up a bit, and I could devote my desktop to multimedia.

So, I reconfigured the desk, computers, mixer and instruments a few times, and I think I've got it into a good configuration. However, as I'm right-handed, the only thing that's bothering me right now is that my MIDI keyboard is to my left. I'll figure this out later, but it's worth noting what you're going to be doing more of with your dominant hand - controlling your DAW with a mouse/tablet, or plinking the keyboard to test samples or synth sounds. Right now I'm doing a mix between the two and it feels weird - eventually I'll find the right workflow.

I even got crazy and unbolted the armrests from my desk chair, because armrests are nice for typing or napping, but terrible for holding a guitar or playing keyboards.



STUDIO SUMMARY
The Ambient Garage

Computer:
- 2.8ghz AMD Phenom, 4g RAM
- Windows XP (This should change to 7 soon.)
- M-Audio Delta 1010 A/D interface

Software:
- Reaper DAW
- Audacity
- Tons of VSTs and VSTis

Hardware:
- Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro mixer
- Behringer 502 minimixer for handling monitoring
- KRK Rokit 5s
- SM57 mic

Instruments:
- Roland A-80
- Ibanez electric with Floyd Rose
- Washburn 6-string acoustic
- Alvarez Goldfinch 12-string acoustic
- Peavey fretless bass
- Assortment of simple flutes, whistles, harmonicas, and recorders


More on my first projects later. For now, let's listen to Butch Clancy remix an old Ella Fitzgerald tune.


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