So, I had a friend ask for a very quick demo of a rock voice…Here it is dude! Strong Tower-

Like A Stone-

Wednesday night we had band practice, just like any other wed. This time we actually started working on an original.

Jon had a song on guitar and we all went over it a few times. We recorded the whole night and then recorded just the main guitar to put online so we could practice and come up with parts for next practice.

All in all, it was a good time…nice to be playing music again outside the walls. :0)

I am selling an Digidesign Mbox2 mini I purchased for a job and never used again. The unit is in mint condition and comes with the original packaging and all its included items. I am asking $200, but will take the best offer.

Specs (from Sweetwater’s site):

Digidesign’s Mbox 2 Mini is one of the smallest, most affordable Pro Tools LE systems ever! Whether you’re a singer/songwriter who’s new to recording or a seasoned pro on the go, Mbox 2 Mini packs professional features into a robust, ultra compact, easy-to-use audio workstation to record and mix music wherever your inspiration takes you. And with its compact size, Mbox 2 Mini literally puts the power of Pro Tools in the palm of your hand. It comes with award-winning, easy-to-use Pro Tools LE software, which provides you with many of the same tools the pros use on major recordings and in films. And because Pro Tools is the industry standard, you can use your Mbox 2 Mini-recorded sessions in any Pro Tools-equipped studio around the world!

The USB-powered Mbox 2 Mini gives you two channels of Pro Tools recording, so it’s ideal for the singer/songwriter, podcaster, or anyone with basic recording needs. Just a plug a microphone into the first channel and your acoustic guitar or keyboard in the second channel, and you’ll be ready to record at better-than-CD quality! The Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini features stereo outputs, so you can listen to your creations through a pair of studio monitors. And you can always plug your favorite pair of headphones right into the handy front-panel headphone jack.

All in all, this streamlined interface is ideal for desktop production and on-the-go projects… no wonder, the Mbox 2 Mini is one of Sweetwater’s best sellers!

Of course, the heart of the Mbox 2 system is the powerful Digidesign Pro Tools LE  software — the same software used in countless professional recording studios and post houses across the world (just like any other DAW). The tracks that you create in Pro Tools LE  can be instantly opened and used in those same pro studios — take your sessions to a Pro Tools|HD-equipped studio and have them mixed by a pro, or enjoy having your entire body of work be fully compatible and usable whenever it’s time to make the move into a larger system — with Pro Tools LE, you become a part of the largest community of digital audio workstation users in the world — right from the moment you open the box!

Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini Features at a Glance:

• Professional sound quality (up to 24-bit/48 kHz)
• Two simultaneous analog inputs and outputs
• One XLR analog input for connecting a microphone
• Two 1/4″ line-/instrument-level (DI) analog inputs for connecting guitars, basses, keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines, and more
• Zero-latency monitoring
• Compact, rugged metal enclosure for maximum portability and durability
• Powered by USB (USB 1.1 connection, cable included)
• Front-panel volume control and monitor mute switch
• Two 1/4″ analog monitor outputs
• Stereo headphone output
• 48-volt phantom power
• Kensington Security Lock

Beautiful (spontaneous song)- I love creating on the spot, especially in music. To be able to do this you need a band that is led by The Spirit, which is what you get at Life Bible Church. There is a strong value in seeking His presence. This piece came under an incredible atmosphere of His presence in the room. There was a long stretch of silence after this where all were in a state of awe of Him, face down.

Have you heard of Spotify? You have had to of by now if you listen to music at all and aren’t an oldster.  Spotify is the bomb! Have you ever wanted to listen to a song by an artist you never heard? how about listening to an entire album? How about listening to over 6 million songs in there entirety? Spotify rocks!

That is what you can do. You can listen to any artist in their entirety. For example… If you did a search on Radiohead, which I am listening to right now, there are 515 tracks available for me to listen to in their entirety. There are 35 albums of Radiohead or albums they have appeared on. The service really rocks.

The program is similar to iTunes. You have a column on the left that lists your searches and playlists. So lets say I wanted to create a Belly playlist. I search for bands similar to Belly like, Lush, Ride, Silver Sun Pickups, Teenage Fanclub, etc. I then drag and drop them to the playlist. I could also drag and drop anything to the desktop or an email to provide a link.

So, you ask, whats the catch? First, it is not available in the USA (unless you are hacker/tech savvy), which mostly has to do with the fat cats at the labels. The other catch is ads. Yes there are ads, but what did you expect for free? An add comes on about as much as on Pandora. If you purchased a subscription, assuming it was available here, there would be no ads and you could use the service offline, which is where it would shine. You would also have access to the mobile version.

There is also a “Radio” feature, however, I have found it sucks compared to Pandora, which I absolutely love for that purpose. When I chose the Radiohead station it played some pretty lame bands. Lets face it… online radio like Pandora is for discovery. You don’t want to have to listen to sucky music. There is way to much of that already. From my experience, Pandora picks the best selection of artists that fit each other than any other service I have ever used (LastFM, Slacker, etc). But with Spotify, I can make my own radio station.

One last thing… you can purchase tracks just like any other service, however, they are yours to keep. No limitation on what you can play them on or how many times you burn them. Due to the fat cats, you can only download the purchase 5 times. Might be an issue to some, but I don’t see it as one.

Don’t forget to reTweet to get the word out so that it will be legal here soon. In case you missed it, there is a link showing how to get the service here, but who knows how long the hack will work.

Update: There is even Karaoke versions of tunes… trippy.

Apple has just updated Logic Pro to version 9.1 and Mainstage to version 2.1. There are a number of numerous fixes and updates to the programs. Finally Apple has added 64-bit support. Not only has it fixed and updated, but there are also a number of things that are no longer working due to the 64-bit.

According to user “shivermetimbers”, at the Logic Pro Help forum, the following features are not currently available when using Logic Pro 9.1 in 64-bit mode.

Firewire streaming of video
Digital Cinema Desktop
AAF import and export
EuCon control surface support
Automap of parameters with control surfaces
OMF import and export
Conversion to MP3
Recycle (REX) file support
ReWire support
Vienna Symphonic Library Tool
Logic Node processing
AKAI format sample import

Interesting, to say the least.

Not sure how this is going to work for me, since Mainstage 2 had already doubled the resource usage on my Macbook Pro. Hopefully all goes well. I will keep you up to date in the comment section on what I find in my use of the new release.

My prayers for a miracle have been answered!

Well, as you may know from recent posts, I had a hard drive crash. The hard drive circuit board fried and it caused some damage to the physical disc. I sent the drive to DriveSavers because I get a discount for being a Professional Photographers of America member and they offered free shipping both ways as well as a free estimate.

Once DriveSavers had gone over the drive, they called and gave me a quote. My oh my, I could not afford the cost they quoted me…$1700. That is a lot of clams for me. So, how important is the data on the drive? That data was irreplaceable. The hard drive was full (320GB) of images and audio. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the money, so I told them to send it back. Some one from DriveSavers called me back later and said they will not ship it back until I call PPA. The guy said that PPA may have a program for me. So, I called PPA.

It turns out that as part of your membership to PPA you are covered for hard drive failure. You are allowed a certain amount per year (contact PPA for details). All you have to do is come up with the $200 deductible and they cover the rest, up to PPA’s specified amount. I had no idea I had this coverage. My data was saved! I was instructed to call PPA’s lawyers, who told me this was an indemnification case, and they dealt with all the issues.

I finally received my hard drive, as well as the backup drive I sent. Everything all intact. If there is ever a lesson to be learned, it is backup, backup, backup. With Apples Time Machine, there is absolutely no excuse for loss of data. You can seamlessly and effortlessly backup your main drive and any connected drive without even having to think about anything. I have found nothing like it anywhere.

The only challenge is finding a large enough reliable storage configuration. That is a topic all its own, however, I am eyeing the Drobo product line.

Friday night I met with 2 other worship leaders, (Jon Green and Michelle Lind) and one wacked out drummer (Josh Heidrick), for what may be the beginnings of a new band. Josh had suggested we all get together to see what happens. After a little conversation via Facebook, we all agreed on Friday night.

The practice was interesting considering there were a lot of things I wasn’t used to, and I am sure they were thinking the same thing. We went over a few songs and there were some nice harmonies spicing up the dish every here and again… I love harmonies. Practice went well, but it was obvious we all tried very hard to be polite and not step on any toes. Now that the FIRST practice is out of the way maybe our next practice will involve a potluck and the 14 kids we have between all of us so they can get acquainted.

This has all generated some questions… or should I say, this has amplified some questions I have about this band thing that I really want to work. I can see potential if we will focus and aim at a target as soon as possible. What do I mean by, “…aim at a target…”? Just like the others, I want to see this thing succeed. Not only do I want to see it succeed, but I would like it to be more than a hobby. It is to late in life to be dividing my time between family and ANOTHER hobby. To avoid that I can only participate in things that are focussed on two disciplines within my life goals, music and photography, which are my two arenas of gifting and anointing. Anything outside of these two areas is aiming at a chicken when I am hunting elk, or trying to make three baskets with one basketball and one shot, or trying to be an airline pilot while trying to be involved in your 3 YOUNG kids lives. I have to focus, but this is a rabbit trail from what I REALLY mean about, “aim at a target”. To answer that question, I need to know if this new band thing is desired to be a…hobby or profession?

What WILL it be?  It is never to early to decide and the sooner the better. To find the answer to that we have got to think about the future, where we plan to go, where we want to go, and how we will get there. Without such thought I think we will fizzle out like every other band that hasn’t realized it is a business first and art second.  I know when I say that word “business’, it can generate all kinds of thoughts like, “I don’t want a business, I want to jam and have fun”, or how about, “I already have a profession and I don’t want to switch”. I want both (For me I do not want to give up my photography business, but I want the music/band business. I believe I can balance both)! These kind of thoughts are heading off on a rabbit trail from the reality of success though. It is about it being a hobby or a profession.

I could say simalar things of myself as a photographer. I just want to take pictures and create art. But you know, if I don’t force myself to realize I am actually running a “business”, I will never go anywhere. I have to determine what type of photography I want to focus on, what niche. I have to figure out how to let people even know I exist (marketing plan). I have to have a business account and think of taxes (whether I like it or not). I have to look at competitors and make sure my pricing is appropriate for my  skill set,  products offered and my “target”. I don’t want to do any of this, however, photography will just be a hobby if I do not deal with the business side of things. You can never support a family on a hobby! So why would it be any different for a band, especially where you have four or more “owners” involved? There has got to be a road map so that it is definitely NOT a hobby.

Like I said about my photography, I want to just have fun and see where it goes, but I know it will not go as far as I dream unless there is a certain business “understanding” of what the goals are, short and long-term, and a million other things like that. I tend to be a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of guy so this advice is mostly for me, because I know it is true and will make for a solid foundation and a target to aim for. It is simply smart. Will we think or discuss this? I have no idea, but one thing is for sure… it will determine my involvement/commitment level. I will say once again that I want this to work because,  for me, it is the other half of my goals to balance the scales.

UPDATE (1-11-2010 10:02pm): What about a worship band? Now you have a whole new set of thought processes and we get deeper into a web of thoughts on what is right and wrong, etc. After pondering all I rambled here, reading some input from my wife, and carefully weighing things out,  I think for now I would like to relax a bit, feel things out, make some new friends, worship my God the way I worship and see what happens.

Anyone out there have any comments to this? We are open for discussion.

by Heath McConnell
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
You have given so much!

You have given life
You have given breath
You have given Love

We are consumed by you!

You have given shelter
You have given food
You have given healing

We are consumed by you!

You have given freedom
You have given power
You have given grace

I am consumed by you.

I have set my heart apart
All my desires I surrender to your name
I reach to you with my face on the ground
I am consumed by you

You have given me your life
you have given me your heart
you have given me your love

I am consumed by you!

Language flows, a language from deep inside
Words I do not know, feelings I cannot find words to
you are glorious, so glorious
you are my king and I am in love with you!

all you have given to me…
Here is my heart…
you can have it all…
Because…
I am Undone by you

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
©2009 Heath McConnell, all rights reserved

I thought I would offer an update on the situation since I just received word on my drive situation.

Well, I just got word back from DriveSavers. The hard drive had electrical failures and damaged some of the disk. They said they were confident that they could retrieve all of the data for $1500-$2160. Unfortunately I am an artist and can’t afford such a price at the moment.

I guess my only option is to RE-record everything I have ever done…Every track, every EQ, every plugin setting, every crossfade, every automation, every master, every spontaneous song, everything. It really changes the importance of data management and backups in particular.

Looks like I will NOT have the album out by December 31st.

I am now thinking of recording this album live if I can find some “work for pizza and liner note attribution” musicians… any takers?

Today I set up the gear as usual to begin recording the last couple songs. I plugged in the external drive to the power supply but didn’t hear any startup noises.  I thought it was strange.  I tried a few thing and decided to investigate. I unplugged the eSATA wire and tried it… nothing.  I then tried a different power supply… nothing.

I was beginning to worry now.  You see, that was everything I had ever done. It had live sessions… it even had Pro Tools sessions-I stopped using Pro Tools years ago. The drive was basically my backup of all musical data. I had been feeling the need to back up lately, however, I am an artist, I have no money for things like that-or so the thoughts went. I then popped open various other external drives and put this drive in…dead! nothing. There is no sound, nothing. As you can imagine, I just about crapped soiled my pants.

I called DriveSavers ( being a PPA member gets me a 20% discount).  They were nice enough until I got the quote… $700-$2700. Yikes!  The fella said that the evaluation is free. He said they would send a box via Fedex Next day. He informed me that they pay for shipping to and from, even if the free estimate is rejected by you.  All you do is put the drive in the box, add a drive to have them put the data on in the box as well, and send it off.

I really can’t pay the kind of money they quoted me.  My prayer is that it will be something simple enough in the inspection that there is no charge. It really sucks, but basically you need two spare drives for every main drive. the two drives should be rotated and one kept off the premises. That is expensive, especially considering the rate I fill up hard drives with data.

I have learned enough to have my main Mac (Macbook Pro) set up with Time Machine.  It is so simple!  The problem is every time I dig into either of my MacBook Pro’s and change the hard drives to a bigger size, I have to change the Time machine drives to a bigger size.  It is a crazy thing… data.

It was suggested I take donations to help ease the pain of the repair. Should you choose to donate to the recovery, an account has been set up for “Hard Drive Recovery”, you can do so here:

I thought I would post an update on the status of my Eponymous album. I have been working really hard on getting this project done before the end of the year – completing at least one song per day. With this schedule I have recorded 10 songs so far and have three or four more to go.  The album will be available worldwide in stores like iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, LaLa, etc. I am trying to find a reputable disk maker and am wavering between Oasis and Diskmakers (any other suggestions?) for the disks which will be available at my website, CD Baby and a few select stores.

For those that have asked for more details on my workflow I will give a quick numbered list of what’s up with that.

1. I use Logic Studio 9 (Logic Pro) as my DAW of choice. I absolutely love it!
2. I create a new session and name it. I also make sure that it stores absolutely everything, from impulse responses to sample files to notes in the project folder.
3. Next comes the tracks…
   1. I set up a drum track with Ultrabeat as a metronome.
   2. I setup three tracks for the acoustic guitar
   3. I take a split stereo signal from both of my guitar pickups, using a stereo-to-dual-mono cable and record them on two separate tracks
   4. I create two VOX tracks… one for melody and one for the BV if any.
4. I set the bit rate and tempo
5. Everything in items 1-4 are set up in a template so all I have to do is open the template, arm the tracks and record.
6. I then will setup my marker text so that the lyrics are on screen and change as per verse, chorus, bridge, etc. I really like this feature.
7. I then begin hardware routing
8. Vocals go through a Mojave Audio MA201-fet Microphone
   1. The mic plugs straight into a MOTU Traveler – I don’t have the funds for the Universal Audio mic pre I want, so, unfortunately, I must plug straight into the Traveler.
9. The acoustic guitar is recorded by a AKG c1000s and fed straight into the Traveler.
   1. I also have a sweet stereo pickup system on my acoustic that I record at the same time. I use an L.R. Baggs iMix internal mixer that mixes an M1 and a iBeam.
   2. This signal is split at the stereo end pin jack, where I plug in a stereo-to-dual-mono cable. The cable is then plugged from the guitar into the LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI, which is fed to the Traveler.
   3. as a side note… this custom pickup system cannot be beat for live playing. It far surpasses Taylor’s Expression System or any other system I have tried.
10. The MOTU Traveler is connected to an Alesis HD24XR for track backup ( I use it as main recording media for all my live playing) and to a MacBook Pro via Firewire.
11. The sessions are recorded to an external hard drive via an eSATA Expresscard.
12. I lay down the tracks
13. comp the best takes if needed
14. create a rough  balance/mix
15. Send an MP3 to iTunes with all the ID3 tags set and title it [Title]-[mix#]-[date] so that I can check it out on different listening devices.
    1. For those that don’t know, there is a huge difference between mixes and listening environments.  What sounds good in your headphones will not sound the same in the computer speakers, which will sound way different than the home theatre or car stereo.  This is important.  Not every one listens to music solely on an iPod through earbuds.
16. Use the “Notes” window in the project, for the project (not the track notes), to enter the date recorded and what needs to be done next, which is mixing.

This has been my basic workflow/setup for the last 10 songs.  The next step, once I feel I have all the tracks that are candidates for the album recorded and roughed mixed. I will begin the mix down process, which is another topic all together.

Just paid the fees…It’s Official… The album will be available worldwide on all download services. Now to choose which songs are added to that album.

In an attempt to actually get my material out, I have opted to offer an album that the songs are not so much stripped down versions as they are the beginnings of each song… How they started… Each song has began with an acoustic guitar and an Idea (or spontaneity). I tried to capture that feel of “beginnings” on this album.

Spent the day recording a song called Refreshment for the new album.

on October 9, 2009, I joined with Carla McQuillan to play Irish Drinking songs one evening during the convention.  To tell you the truth, I did not know what to expect.  I didn’t know if there would be 1,00 people or 10 or anything else for that matter.  It turns out that we were playing at a dinner auction.  The guests would eat and we would play.  They would then auction off a few things and we would play again and so on.  It turned out to be a great evening. Carla and I sang a few of our favorite Irish tunes separately while both of us played guitar and then we both sang on a few.

All and all it was a very fun and high-spirited evening.  The people were awesome and I look forward to the opportunity to do it again next year.

Thanks NFB Oregon!

.

Since I am a guitar player, the enhancements to Mainstage 2 were very welcomed, but there is no way on earth you are getting me to use MainStage 2 live until Apple fixes this Double-MainStage1-Resource-Hog. You have to be able to trust that, while your playing live, everything is rock solid. Your reputation demands it.  What if you were playing in front of a large crowd and BAM!!! MainStage2 shut down. What would you do?

As I am sure you all know, I use Logic Pro and I love it. The upgrades that Logic Pro 9 bring seem great, but I want to focus on my live rig… MainStage (MS2). MainStage comes bundled with Logic Studio. MainStage 2 comes with Logic Studio 9. Of particular interest to me is Amp Designer and PedalBoard. These are great. I mean really great, if you were able to keep MainStage 2 from crashing. I opened up one of their default templates and instantly I get a system overload error. Now I get it just opening MS2. I went to the forums and low-and-behold, there are 4 pages of complaints on just one thread (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2094665&tstart=0).

Ever since I opened MainStage2 it has had nothing but crashes preceded or precluded with Red, maxed out Memory and CPU meters. MainStage 1 uses half to 3/4 the resources MS2 uses. I have tried different concerts and templates, but nothing fixes it.

I used the Bug reporter in the program and, surprisingly, I received a response. Apple asked for a few things, twice, and I sent them. The last communication from Apple I had was on August 7th 2009. I have heard nothing yet.

My advice… Don’t buy Logic Studio 9 until the forums clear up on the issues. One person replied to a thread and said, “I hope you wouldn’t consider using mainstage 2 for live playing until it has had at least one patch”. I guess I stand with the other person on this issue. He said, “Well, I was working under the (mis?)assumption that Main Stage 2 WAS the patch for the original Main Stage!!!”. He’s right, an upgrade SHOULD be, but very seldom is.

As it stands, Mainstage 2 is untrustworthy, but I really want them to fix it so I CAN trust it.

Update: Apple has started deleting comments on the forum that they don’t like… I wonder if this guy knows this comment was deleted too.

We appreciate your participation in Apple Discussions.  Thank you for being part of our community.

Apple Discussions Team

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UPDATE  November 22, 2009: Here I did a write up on my mainstage setup:
http://heathmcconnell.com/blog/2009/03/22/personal-live-recording-setups/

I play acoustic guitar and have tried hundreds of things, but nothing has compared to mainstage for my live playing.

I will say, that with mainstage 2, I cannot use my Macbookpro 2.16GHz with 2gb ram, using Amp designer. It crashes all the time. When I use amp designer on my MBP 2.4GHz with 4gb ram I am fine. Never a problem. So I switched the two MBP’s

I use mainstage live for acoustic guitar and Voice and Love it!!!

.

Sometimes we have them, sometimes we don’t. I tend to have them often and decided to put it to music. Kind of electronic. This song was written when I was trying to figure myself out. I came to the conclusion that I am a mystery to myself. I think we are all a mystery to ourselves. Once I posted the song, I began thinking more about it and wanted to create a visual. I created an image. It was in the woods and it was foggy. I was on a path and there was an ancient looking door ahead. It was a red door. It is interesting that we must open and enter through The Red Door. There is no other way. I felt like I had to open it. What was on the other side. Would I be cast into Narnia? Where did it lead, so out of place there before me? Through it and behind it lies The Answer. (picture)

Here is a song I created that is more on the Electronic side of things.
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This is a video that reminded me of how it is leading prophetic and spontaneous worship… how His presence comes… how it begins to get thick in the room… how the beat that I long for is there, whether musicians are there or not to play those beats. these are the sounds I hear calling me.

Presence! I love the presence of the King!

You have got to watch it all.

A guy named Phil Wickham has just released a new live worship album. He has also made it a free download here:

http://philwickham.com/singalong/

It seams rather interesting that Lebolt has chosen Apple over all the other DAW manufacturers, but what will that do to Pro Tools? Lebolt was the mastermind behind all the fresh PT releases lately and has been deemed “Mr. Digidesign”.

I look forward to all he may bring to the Logic Pro table.

Read more here: http://prosoundnews.com/Blog.aspx?id=23284&blogid=192

The guys over at macProVideo.com have put together a real nice set of videos on the new features of Logic Pro 9. Check it out here.

Big News Today…

Today I received an email from Apogee that showed a new product called the GiO they are releasing in September. Now, to tell you the truth, I was interested in this product that fills a hole in the market, BUT… what caught my eye was Logic Studio 9. Since I use main stage as my main live rig, I have been waiting for an update to MainStage in a few areas. Today my wait is over.

I very quicly zipped over to Apples website and scoped it out. I am telling you, this looks like a great upgrade. It looks good enough that I put my credit voucher at Sweeterwater to use and ordered the upgrade. Once I get it I will try and offer a nice review. Just from watching the videos, as well as my own experience with Logic Studio 8, why would anyone want old proprietary, Pro Tools? I think the general population are more like cattle when it comes to things like this. It is kind of like Nikon cameras, cell phones, Kleanix, energy drinks, or etc… The crowd go along moo-ing on a product that they have done no research on and are just following the heard, when there are much, MUCH better options out there. Pro Tools offers the most restricted, proprietary and limiting system in the world. If you really research it, Pro Tools is definitely NOT worth it. Oops… I got a little side tracked there.

So, back to the topic… Like I said, When I get my order in, I will try and give a good review. In the meantime, you should head on over to Apple’s website at http://apple.com/logicpro and watch the HowTo videos.

Specifics:

LOGIC PRO 9

Flex Time –Production Tools– Guitar Gear –Live Performance

For many musicians and engineers, the big news is Logic Pro 9. And there’s lots to be excited about! The list of new features is incredibly long, but check out some of the highlights:

• Flex Tool for massaging audio files without splicing or editing
• Audio Quantize
• Slice Mode for editing drums with phase accuracy
• Varispeed
• Flex Mode for editing audio tracks
• Speed Fades for turntable-style starts and stops
• Tempo Import and Export
• Track Import
• Expanded Take Folder Editing
• Drum Replacer
• Convert To Sampler Instrument changes audio files to sampler instruments
• Bounce In-Place for easier effects rendering
• 4,000 Chord Grids for tab and notation
• Voices Jam Pack
• Warped Effects for Space Designer
• New Amp Designer re-creates 25 legendary amps and 25 speaker cabinets
• New Pedalboard includes 30 classic virtual stompboxes
• Hundreds of Classic Tone presets
• Apogee GiO Support — new audio interface/controller for guitar players
• More than 80 studio-quality effects plug-ins
• 20,000 royalty-free Apple Loops

Much more! Plus, new features in MainStage 2 make it even easier to take your music to the live stage:

• Playback plug-in for playing backing tracks
• Loopback, a live loop recorder
• Multi-mapping of controls so one knob controls multiple parameters
• Grouped controls
• Full ReWire support
• Audio recording for capturing live performances

Much more!

Apogee GiO

Features

• Unbalanced 1/4” high impedance instrument input
• 1/4” MIDI Expression pedal input
• Line-level, 1/4” stereo output for headphones, powered monitors
  or an instrument amplifier
• A/D and D/A conversion @ 44.1/48kHz, 24-bit
• 5 Stompbox buttons, dynamically color coded to match software effects
• 5 Transport control buttons, dynamically lit when engaged
• 2 “Previous/Next” preset selection buttons
• Control built into Apple’s GarageBand ’09, Logic Pro 9, and MainStage 2 software
• Dimensions: 7″ W x 18″ L x 2.5″ H

System Requirements

• Computer: Mac, with an Intel or PowerPC G5 processor
• Memory: 1 GB minimum of installed RAM, 2 GB recommended
• OS: 10.5.7 or greater
• Apple’s GarageBand ’09, Logic Pro 9, MainStage 2, Logic Express 9
• Connection and Power: USB, powered by any available USB port on the computer

Package Contents

• GiO
• 5 meter USB cable
• 3 meter 1/4” Stereo to Left/Right RCA cable
• Apogee Software & Documentation CD
• QuickStart Guide

So, One feature I am excited about is the Loopback feature. I had just returned a Boss RC-21 pedal, which does just this, because it wasn’t integrated into Mainstage…Now it is.

Apple Logic Pro 9 Loopback

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After 21 years of leading worship, I have decided to start blogging my thoughts both pre and post worship here on the blog. Since this is my first posting of this type, and it is a post-worship entry, I am going to add the pre-worship set thoughts to this entry. Seem confusing? It won’t be. I think it is a good Idea to begin to share these thoughts about the worship sets to not only help others rising up in leading, but to spark discussion and feedback in the comments. So come join in and be apart.

So where would I start and what would I say? I will begin by saying that last nights set was all that I expected it to be. POWERFUL, warfare worship. 

Now, let me jump back to a few weeks ago.

Once I knew I was on the schedule to lead, I began to seek Him for the set. What I mean is that I know I have nothing to offer, at the moment. I have no special power or ability. all I have is an anointing, a gift and a calling that totally rely all on God. I am not some super musician or anything like that. I need to be sure that the presence of The Living God shows up in the meetings. I can’t force him, I can’t chant him, I can’t do some religious ritual to get Him to show up. I was seeking him for what he wanted to say and do that particular night. What was HE wanting to do/say that I, the worship leader, needed to be mindful of in leading His people towards.

I am seeking the Lord for not only thoughts, scripture, vision, fire, but also for the song selection, which is THE hardest, most seemingly overwhelming task at hand. I tend to listen to, and was brought up on totally different worship music than our church does. I listen to music that sends me either to my knees or to some other place. This is a topic for another discussion to be sure. Because of listening to different music I have a hard time coming up with songs the church knows well enough to jump in the river (more on the river further down) easily. Some times it is a real challenge. The BIGGER challenge is to pick songs that say exactly what He is wanting to say that night. I want the songs to be a script for the set, from beginning to end, to 1) get people in a boat in the river, and 2) to keep them in the boat and in the deepest part of the river (more on the river further down). I ask Him for songs that will be the cries of the peoples hearts. I ask for songs that will speak his words to us, I ask for songs that be more than songs, but doorways to the heavens in bringing the live, real, physical presence of God in our midst. This can be a real challenge and the songs are constantly changing up to the set as I get more clarity. So, I had a few songs I felt were good ones. But then I started to get a theme. The theme was fire, Gods fire. A fire to rise up within us and change us. I began practicing these songs for half a month. Some songs stayed and some songs left. but by the week before I had a core.

This set was planed to be played at the Alpine campus the previous Sunday morning. As I told one of my friends,”it seems that more and more I tend to do less and less of the chosen songs and more prophetic, spontaneous songs”. There were a few times that morning when it was spontaneous song for a while. His presence was there and there was something deep that happened.

It wasn’t until the night before the set, at Platoon Leaders Training (PLT), that I knew what He was wanting for Wednesday night. I felt as if the teaching that night was to me for the worship set and I had to make sure my notes were clear. The topic was on Nahemiah and titled “A biblical model of a burden for the city”. We looked at Nehemiah chapter 1. Nehemiah was told about the decrepit state of the city. He then began to have a deep burden and began to pray and fast. Nehemiah then asked the king if he could leave to go to the city and see for himself. The gates were gone. The stones from the walls town down and burned. The enemy was pillaging and trying to wipe the city out and most importantly… trying to instill fear, doubt and unbelief. Once he saw the city he had to act. He could not leave it alone and let it stay that way. A fire (there is that fire theme) began to glow within him  into a raging roar and he had to do something. He rallied the people and led a long and dangerous war.

So how does this relate? Well, you see, we were told at the meeting some of the things the current president, Obama, has so far up to this month. Our nation is crumbling, and I am not talking about just the current financial crisis. Our country is turning its back on God at an alarming rate since january 20th. Our gates are burned. The walls are being torn down and the stones burned. The enemy is coming in and bringing fear, doubt and unbelief, among other things. We must open our eyes and SEE. We must get a burden. We must have that fire rage within us to stand for holiness. We, yes we, have the HOPE that so many thought the president would bring. Jesus is the hope. We must bind together in unity as HIS bride. We must lead this country back to righteousness. We must “Cry Out” to God to have mercy, grace and heal this nation, to return it to a nation of refuge, a fortified God fearing country. This is what I felt was God was saying for the service.

I spent most of Wednesday morning in prayer and the word and I came across 2 Chronicles 20.It isn’t the first time I came across this passage, and it is one that fuels a portion of my worship leading. In this passage Judah is about to be attacked by the Moabites and the Ammonites. Jehoshaphat calls all the people together to unity. He then declares a fast in the kingdom and leads the nation in prayer. They proclaimed that they are powerless and weak and that the Lord is all-powerful, all-mighty and they needed Him to step in. The Lord responded saying he knew they couldn’t win so they shouldn’t fight. He would fight for them. This is where we get the saying, “The battle belongs to the lord”. God said, “just stand there a see the great wonders I will do”. 

Jehoshaphat responded to this military threat by seeking the Lord in fasting, prayer and worship. He led them out in battle. He put the worshipers out front of the people. He didn’t put them out there with sword, spear, club and armor, but with the weapon of praise and worship. While they praised God, the Lord set ambushes that caused the Moabites and Ammonites to kill each other. When Judah came to the place all they found were dead bodies that they plundered for days.

Worship Is Warfare

Worship is warfare. Wether we are proclaiming, praising, adoring, asking, repenting or anything else, it is all spiritual war. A war that is escalated every time we join to worship. I knew that Wednesday night was about taking our feet and placing the enemy’s head under it. We were to CRY OUT with a cry of war. We are to cry out in repentance, asking for His mercy and grace. Asking him to set us free and to unite us to stand firm. We were to call for Him to come. just like they did in the Jehoshaphat passage.

I also learned something great on Wednesday night. I would say it was more of an experience that I learned. He showed me what is exactly meant by sensing His flow of the river and staying in it. He showed me that you can be in the shallows, the deeper parts or out in the rapids. It is all up to you. He showed me how recognize it. I had always felt and sensed a presence greater or weaker, but now I understand how to recognize it in a new way and make sure I/we stay in it.

On Wednesday before the meeting, I began to cry out to God to come. I walked all the isles, I walked the stage, I prayed like I never had before in public. I was wading deeper and deeper into what He later showed me was the flow of His river. I was going deep and I could really FEEL His presence. I had the  team gather to pray and I felt the water rising and rising. Prayer was awesome. I feel that it helped unite us, the team, and helped them understand the burden I was feeling.

Worship was awesome! It was everything I thought it would be. There was absolutely something that happened. Something broke, something changed. Something was won in the spiritual battle that was taking place that night. I wish you could hear what happened, but do to the nature of copyrights (yes, even with worship songs for the church), I can not post that. I will, however, post the free praise and prophetic stuff on the music page… so stay tuned. There WAS war that happened. Everything I thought I heard the Lord say He had for the evening was 100% right on. Sure, we didn’t do even half the songs I had picked, but we never do. Sometimes the words of the songs are not enough to say what we, as a unified body want to say. We have got to sing our own heart song in unity. It is beautiful to hear all those different songs to the same music at the same time. You can almost see the incense rising, from each person engaged, to the nostrils of our God. A sweet, pleasing incense. In that war is happening. War is waging and escalating in the spiritual as well as within our own bodies and minds. Something shifted that night.

I will say that there were the usual attacks… yes these are attacks. My guitar would not stay in tune. My Macbook Pro I use for my guitar mysteriously went to sleep do to it being unplugged. things like this are attacks to distract, get your eyes off of Him and get you out of the river. For the most part… it never works.

We stayed in the river and deep in it.

I love how the Lord has so made the guitar a prophetic, unified extension of my spirit within worship. Other than having to tune a LOT last night, I never really thought about my guitar or chords. It was also the first time I fully used all chord charts using the nashville number system. Later I noticed I really only used the charts for the words.

Looking back, as always, I am amazed and overwhelmed at the faithfulness of God and his presence in worship. When we unite and call on him from our heart, He comes. When we lead with a deep, deep, passion from within, not in self and showy little peppy rally talks, but when we lead under the fire and anointing of God, He comes. When we prepare the way and our heart and cry out in our own closet as leaders in the house of God for him to come, like Jehoshaphat did, God sends his presence and his power shakes the atmosphere.

Find the river, stay in it and learn how to go deeper and deeper longer and longer… and then… lead others in.

Here is another one. Andy McKee

Michael Hedges meet Stefano Barone. This guy is awesome. I happened to find him on a friends Facebook and wanted to share with my readers.

I came across this video today that you absolutely have to see. It involves a flute and is pretty crazy. What do you think?

Practicing scales is important, every musician knows that. The problem is that a most guitarists miss the boat because they lack understanding and that lack causes lack in the practice. Scales offer a step up to your playing. Even a general rhythm acoustic guitar person can greatly benefit from scales. Scales give you more understanding of your instrument and will most certainly always boost your improvisational skills. For any one who plays prophetically (spontaneously), this is most definitely a plus. But you have to understand how various scales work and what the the best fingering will be for the scales. It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. As I said before… The more familiar you are with scales the more choices you will have in your playing, not to mention how fluid your improvisational level will rise to. 

So what is a scale? A scale is actually notes placed at a certain interval and the interval being how far one note is from the next. On the guitar, you cannot go below a half-step. If I were to press and play the 5th string, second fret (B), then move my finger up one fret to C would have moved a half step. To go a whole step, in this example, would put us at C#. Did you know that most of the scales are defined by their arrangements of whole or half steps? To learn this structure will allow you to play that “scale” no matter what note you are actually starting on. This is a real key to the importance of understanding scales. I will say it again… If you know a scales whole and half steps, you can play that scale beginning on any note you choose. The formula is whole step-whole step-half step-whole step-whole step-whole step-half step.  So in the key of C, it would be C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. You have the half step from E to F and from B to C. This same formula is used in The Nashville Number System.

Here are 5 Scale Positions in the key of D (36) I have found to be very useful. Click image to enlarge or download a full size jpg by clicking link.

Once you learn a few scales it is time to play them to a metronome. You’re probably saying, “you have got to be kidding me… a metronome?” Yes, a metronome. All musicians should have one and be using it during practice. Actually, a drum machine of some sort would work just as well.

What you want to do is take the scale you learned and start practicing it in 1/4 notes. One note for every beat on the metronome. Next move to 1/8th notes. Basically you would double pick every note per beat. You could go on up as far as you like. This type of practice will build not only dexterity, but improved skill in improvisation. I myself, want to learn anything that is going to help improve my spontaneous, prophetic playing.

There is a whole lot more to scales, and there is a whole universe of resources on the subject out there. My hope is that this quick hint will be of value to someone out there and spark an interest in scales. If you have anything to add or would like to put in your “2 cents worth”, leave a comment.

Why is the USB mic such a controversial item? From the analog junkie to the digital geek, it seems that the mic is misunderstood for what it is. This misunderstanding can be many things to many people. These mics shine for what they are. Lets look at a few uses for these mics to clarify their position in the market.

The USB mic is the best solution for anyone wanting to get into recording on a small budget. Essentially what you have is a mic, a preamp, audio interface and a digital converter all in one. Keep in mind that this is not a substitution for something like a Neumann microphone into a Manely Preamp into a Apogee Rosetta AD/DA converter and finally into Logic Pro, all with a ball park price of $10,000 (don’t forget cables and accessories). That price alone could send someone into a state of depression and have them believe recording is out of their reach.

You could pick up a USB microphone like the Audio-Technica AT2020 USB mic for $149 or even a Blue Snowflake for $69. All you have to do with it is open your macbook, start Garageband (which started the whole home recording revolution), choose the mic and roll tape… in a digital manner of speaking. That is it. Cost to you… $69 bones. Of course, you have to look for a QUALITY USB mic.

A USB mic is worth having on your desk, ready at a seconds notice, to pick up that melody or riff in your head. There has been many times I have lost a great artistic moment because I had to go get the cables, the stand, the mic out of the locker, set it all up and then roll. Besides, the USB mic works great as a leave-on-desk podcasting mic (If you leave it plugged in on the desk, you are more apt to do more recording).

Another reason you may want to use one of these babies is for a live setting. Lets say your playing at a coffee house. Open the laptop, boot the DAW, plug in the USB mic and start recording. How about at a home group? You, the acoustic guitar and everyone singing. You could make a live recording of the worship to share. Come to think of it… In the time of Ole Timey Music they had one mic and mixed by placing the musicians close or far. They also etched the master at the same moment.

My final Thought:

The USB mic is the mother of budget setups and for some, it is the difference between recording or not. It was created for a specific market and really shines in that respect. Just steer clear of the gimmick mics.

SideChain:

Unfortunate as it may be, these mics will NOT work with Pro Tools. Digidesign has made sure that no audio interface of any kind will work in Pro Tools. This is my only beef with Pro Tools… Pro Tools is a proprietary, closed system and prohibits my creative freedom (those are two separate things). I would never say Pro Tools, the actual software, sucks because it doesn’t. It just doesn’t creatively flow with my artistic nature. It is a great DAW (hardware excluded(PTLE)) though.SideChain-post090407 (44)