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An important part of recording music (or doing anything else that takes considerable computing power such as graphic design or video editing) is having an OS that works smoothly without giving you any technical headaches. An OS that works with all of your various sound programs without any hiccups.

That's why the 10/22/09 release of Windows 7 Professional is so exciting (particularly for those who currently have the pain in the ass that is known as Vista.) It works. It really does. I know this from personal experience because I've been a beta tester for it. But I'm not the only one - if you look around the web you'll find that many people have had great success with it.

I became a beta tester for Win 7 Pro precisely because of all of the problems I was running into with Vista. I couldn't figure out a way to deal with them (I won't list all the problems I was having as that would take me all day.) So I decided to try out Win7 to see if it was really all it was cracked up to be (I had heard a lot of great things about it on recording forums.)

Sure enough, all of my problems went away. And just as importantly, no new problems were introduced. So yes, I can give my own 100% recommendation to buy Windows 7 Professional.

Buy Windows 7 Pro

Buy Windows 7 Pro Upgrade
(upgrade from XP & Vista)

I've just purchased The Beatles As Musicians: Revolver Through The Anthology and I wanted to pass word to any other Beatles fanatic home recording people out there who may be interested in it because I think this book looks fascinating.  Of course I haven't read it yet to give any kind of real review of it. I'll try to get to that once it's delivered.

I've read a lot of Beatles books over the years but most of them have been focused more on the biography of the band than on the creation of the music itself. That's what this book is about and that's why I can't wait to get my hands on it.

There's also a second book by the same author (which was actually written after this one) which focuses on The Beatles earlier stuff (through Rubber Soul) but since I'm more interested in their later stuff I figured I would just get this one first to see what it's like before buying the second one.

Can you really learn how to write great songs by reading a book? Well I don't know. But it seems to me that it's a good idea to be open to learning new things if you want to improve your understanding of music.

And for this reason (and because of the excellent Amazon reviews) I decided to buy these two books on songwriting (which are both by Rikky Rooksby.)

Melody: How To Write Great Tunes

This book (as you can tell by the title) is focused writing melodies. I've just started reading it and I'm already finding it very interesting. Has it inspired me to write my very own "Yesterday" ? Well not quite yet. But I don't expect miracles, just building blocks of knowledge that I can work with. It comes with a CD so you can hear examples of what you're reading about. This is essential since music is, of course, a listening art.

How To Write Songs On Guitar

This book is focused on helping those of us who write songs on our guitar. While it doesn't include a CD, it does give plenty of examples for what it's talking about and if you have a decent music collection you'll be able to listen to these songs which is just as effective a technique as including the audio CD, I think.

Last night I took the advice of some folks who know a lot more about things like this than I do to replace the tubes that came in my ART MPA Gold mic preamp with some more expensive higher quality tubes that I bought online.

The MPA Gold is only about $300 but I've heard a lot of people say that if you replace the tubes that it comes with (which are cheap Chinese tubes) with some higher quality ones that you can make it so that it's quality is up there with a preamp with a cost over $1000. I don't know enough about this to say whether it's true or not. But it seemed worth a shot.

One of the cool things about this preamp is that it actually has two different inputs/tubes so I put in two different tubes so I could have some choice as far as different "colors." As each tube is supposed to have it's own sound.

I took some photographs of the process which took me about an hour. I'm sure a lot of people could have done it a lot faster but I had a lot of problems with my screwdrivers. Anyway, check out these photos:

The MPA Gold with the top taken off:

Took one of the cheap Chinese tubes out:

The USA built Sylvania tube I replaced it with:

Took out the second cheap Chinese tube. Put it up with the first one and another one(which I had taken out of my much cheaper MPA Art preamp previously.)
They all appear to be the same.

JJ Tesla ECC83 tube that I put in the second slot:

Where the tube goes:

Of course the important part is, what do they actually sound like? Well so far I've been pretty impressed. I've been using the MPA Gold both as a preamp for my Shure KSM condenser microphone and as a direct in for my bass guitar (I haven't tried it yet with my guitar.)

And last night after I replaced the tubes there did seem to be an increase in clarity and "warmth" but I'm not 100% sure. It's hard to say if it's not just a mental thing of wanting it to sound better so I don't feel like I wasted my money and time!

I'm subscribed to four different magazines focused on recording: EQ, Recording, Electronic Musician, & Tape Op. Of the four I only have a strong opinion on is Tape Op, it's great. I highly recommend it. The groovy thing is Tape Op is actually FREE! The not so groovy thing is that it only comes out once every two months instead of monthly like the other three.

And while Tape Op is free it's not like the others are expensive. Each of them works out to about $1 per issue so they aren't going to break the bank.

Sure, about 75% of these magazines is advertisements for the latest gear, but if you can get through all of that, there tends to be some interesting useful information in there.

And yes I consider the "reviews" that these magazines include to be advertisements too! I think I've yet to read a negative review of anything since I've been receiving these magazines (which is since January or so.)

I've been going through some growing pains lately with setting up my recording stuff (including a lot of cool new gear) on a new computer (64 bit, quad core, 8 GB RAM PC)  and most of those pains seemed to be stemming from Windows Vista.

A couple of days ago I got to the point where I was getting really desperate as I was not able to get Reaper (my new favorite DAW) working along with lot of other really irritating problems (including a malfunctioning internet connection.) I decided that maybe I should try to install Windows 7 on my computer (dual boot style) to see if that would fix some of my problems.

I had heard a lot of good things about it but I was concerned that I would be let down. After all it's only in beta right now. I thought maybe I'd be "trading one set of problems for another."

I downloaded build 7077 (64 bit version) and installed it yesterday morning (I got my key directly from Microsoft.) I was expecting at least some pains getting things working and I figured there was a good shot that a lot of stuff wouldn't work at all.

So far that has not been the case at all. In fact I haven't run into a single problem yet. Everything seems to be working flawlessly and not every problem that I was having on Vista is gone. I'm actually shaking my head as I type this because I can hardly believe it.

Obviously I can't guarantee that everyone will have such a great experience with it, I only know my own situation but for me Windows 7 has definitely come to the rescue. It looks like Microsoft has finally got it right. An operating system that just plain works. Awesome.

Now I just hope they give us (those who are beta testing Win 7) an easy way of purchasing it when the final release comes out without having to reinstall everything again. I'm totally willing to pay whatever they are going to chart for it, I just hope they don't make it a pain in the ass to buy it.

Edit: You can now Buy Windows 7 Online.

As you may have heard The Beatles entire '60s catalog has been remastered and will be re-released on CD on 9/9/9. This release will include two box sets: One stereo box set (which will include A DVD with a short documentary about each Beatles album) and one mono box set. As a huge Beatles fan I'm very excited about this. But it's also interesting from a technical standpoint. How did they go about remastering The Beatles music? Check this out:

The re-mastering process commenced with an extensive period conducting tests before finally copying the analogue master tapes into the digital medium. When this was completed, the transfer was achieved using a Pro Tools workstation operating at 24 bit 192 kHz resolution via a Prism A-D converter. Transferring was a lengthy procedure done a track at a time. Although EMI tape does not suffer the oxide loss associated with some later analogue tapes, there was nevertheless a slight build up of dust, which was removed from the tape machine heads between each title.

From the onset, considerable thought was given to what audio restorative processes were going to be allowed. It was agreed that electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance and bad edits should be improved where possible, so long as it didn’t impact on the original integrity of the songs.

In addition, de-noising technology, which is often associated with re-mastering, was to be used, but subtly and sparingly. Eventually, less than five of the 525 minutes of Beatles music was subjected to this process. Finally, as is common with today’s music, overall limiting - to increase the volume level of the CD - has been used, but on the stereo versions only. However, it was unanimously agreed that because of the importance of The Beatles’ music, limiting would be used moderately, so as to retain the original dynamics of the recordings.

When all of the albums had been transferred, each song was then listened to several times to locate any of the agreed imperfections. These were then addressed by Guy Massey, working with Audio Restoration engineer Simon Gibson.

Mastering could now take place, once the earliest vinyl pressings, along with the existing CDs, were loaded into Pro Tools, thus allowing comparisons to be made with the original master tapes during the equalization process. When an album had been completed, it was auditioned the next day in studio three – a room familiar to the engineers, as all of the recent Beatles mixing projects had taken place in there – and any further alteration of EQ could be addressed back in the mastering room.

Following the initial satisfaction of Guy and Steve, Allan Rouse and Mike Heatley then checked each new re-master in yet another location and offered any further suggestions. This continued until all 13 albums were completed to the team’s satisfaction.

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Edit:

These remastered CDS are now available for pre-order on Amazon, CLICK HERE to go to the Beatles online store on Amazon.

I purchased a lot of new gear today online (mostly from GuitarCenter.com)

Here's a look at what I bought and why I bought it:

E-MU 1616M PCI Audio Interface

I did a lot of research on what audio interface to buy to replace my PreSonus FP (which stopped working with Vista 64.) And after taking everything into consideration I decided this was the best option.

The specs are incredible for the price. It uses the same audio converter chip as the very expensive Pro Tools HD system and it has a 120db signal to noise ratio. You can record at 24bit/192Khz if you want. I read many rave reviews about it's great sound quality and it's low latency. I can't wait to try it out for myself. It's actually my first PCI audio interface, I've always gone the 1394 route before.

The 1616M can be purchased online for about $400 (that's what I got it for) and according to all of the reviews I read, it's quality is closer to that of an audio interface that costs well over $1000.

I can also get a card so that I can hook it up with a laptop in the future if I want. If I need more inputs then I can link another unit to this one. So there is a good amount of flexibility too.

If you are considering purchasing this product you need to make sure you have an open PCI slot on your PC (or that there's something you don't mind removing.) And yes you need a PC, this audio interface does not work with Apple computers. It does apparently work well with both XP & Vista. Both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

You may notice that there's also a 1616 version without the M that costs about $100 less. That M is important as it stands for mastering quality audio. All of the reviews I've read says there's a substantial difference in audio quality and that the M is definitely worth that extra $100.

Go to GuitarCenter.com to order it online.

Art MPA Gold 2 Mic Preamp

I've read a lot of great things about this preamp as far as it being a great sounding piece of tube equipment for the price ($300.) In particular I've read that it sounds really great if you replace the the tubes that it comes with so I got a variety of different tubes to try out with it. I've never replaced tubes like this before, but it's apparently very easy to do.

The best tubes are supposed to be the vintage "NOS" tubes (NOS stands for "New Old Stock.") When I get a chance to try the different tubes I bought (which include some NOS ones along with some much less expensive newer ones) I will definitely post some comparisons on this site for people to check out.

If you're looking into getting replacement tubes look for the 12AX7A kind. I'm going to include a small listing of 12AX7A NOS tubes below for you to check out.

Buy NOS Replacement Tubes On EBay:

US Auctions Australian Auctions Austrian Auctions Belgian Auctions Canadian Auctions French Auctions German Auctions Hong Kong Auctions Indian Auctions Irish Auctions Italian Auctions Dutch Auctions Polish Auctions Singapore Auctions Spanish Auctions Swiss Auctions UK Auctions

Best Match Time: ending soonest Time: newly listed Price: lowest first Price: highest first Price + Shipping: lowest first Price + Shipping: highest first

1 x 12ax7A ecc83 Sylvania Tube D Gtr Test NOS12avail    US $17.99

A PAIR OF WESTINGHOUSE 12AX7A ECC83 NOS NIB VAC TUBES    US $24.99

12AX7A ECC83 NOS Tubes LK    US $11.95

Electro-Harmonix 12AY7 Tube Mic Preamp

I read that this is the best tube preamp under $200. Actually I've read that it's the only real tube preamp for under $200 as the other ones are actually "hybrids" but marketed as tube. I've read a lot of great things about it, particularly how it sounds on vocals. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

Art Tube MP Studio Mic Preamp

A lot of folks have negative things to say about this but it's only $30 so I figure I might as well check it out for myself because I've heard that it can be quite useful too. I'll try out some of the different tubes I bought in this as well to see what happens.

Nady Pop Filter

I actually didn't have a pop filter. I used to have one but I'm not sure where it's gone to.

12AX7A Tubes
(for my ART MPA Gold 2 and to a lesser extent my ART TUBE MP)

Ruby Tubes ECC83 (new)
JJ / Tesla ECC83 Gold Pin (new)
JAN Sylvania (NOS)
US Made Preowned (NOS)
Mullard 12AX7 (new)

I used Reason for a disturbingly long time before I realized I should select the ASIO driver in the audio preferences for the least possible latency/glitchy sound problems.

I'm hoping that you come across this entry if you are experiencing the same problems I used to have and like I did you are trying out all of the DX and MME options (and messing around with the sample rate and the buffer size) trying to get rid of the latency, not realizing that the best results can easily be yours by simply selecting the ASIO option.

Click here for the WIKI entry on ASIO.

For some reason, no matter what I do I can't get this site to look right in IE. It's centering a lot of stuff I don't want to be centered and I have no idea why.

So yes, this site is best viewed in Firefox. I highly recommend Firefox for browsing the internet anyway, it's a lot better than IE. Download Firefox for free.

But I know a lot of people still use IE (unfortunately) so if anyone has a good idea of why I'm having this IE centering problem let me know (in a comment) because I would love to fix it.

EDIT: I was finally able to fix this problem (I needed to put text-align: left in my CSS otherwise IE assumed it was centered for some reason) ... But I still recommend Firefox over IE!