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Apple is making its recently-released iMacs more easily upgradeable, with retailer OWC confirming the base specification 27-inch 5K iMac can be fitted with up to 64GB of RAM, while an iFixit teardown reveals both the memory and the processor used in the 21.5-inch 4K iMac can be removed and replaced.
[...] an upgradeable iMac is a big shift in direction from Apple. The last 21.5-inch iMac with expandable memory was the 2013 model, while the last to include a modular CPU came in 2012.
related stories:
Microsoft Releases an All-in-One Desktop PC
You Can't Upgrade the New Mac Mini's RAM
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There will be big changes for you but you will be happy.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 10 2017, @04:47PM (26 children)
So, they have one tiny step towards being less locked down.
But they're still not listening to the needs of serious creative professionals who are supposedly their utter core market.
They need to get rid of those chiclet keyboards. Those things are terrible, and lack durability. I write for a living, and they come to pieces. I know that I'm not the only one. I know one writer who swore off Apple forever precisely because of that (they refused to repair the third keyboard in a year that lost the ability to hang onto its keycaps - so much for Applecare). They just ain't good enough.
Musicians also need to have machines with massive RAM if they're dealing with samples on any serious basis (think Kontakt or any of their competition). This desktop will do it (at eye-watering expense relative to alternatives), but that's just table stakes. Musicians also need a seriously quiet machine for mixing and mastering purposes. Based on their past iMac designs, I'm deeply suspicious of any claims that this will be quiet when doing live rendering of tracks - all the more so because your fans will now be as close to you as your screen. Musicians also need excellent connectivity (audio interfaces, controllers, external storage) and here Apple's approach can barely be described as table stakes.
Let's face it, they're more prosumer than pro at this point, and barely there.
I'm willing to be convinced by a real pro machine. Let's see bulletproof keyboards, machines that run under 30dB loaded, half a dozen independent USB buses as well as firewire and thunderbolt (or card slots for adding those) and then we can start to talk.
Until then, they're faking it, and you're better off hand-building something for Linux.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 10 2017, @05:35PM
Or finding an older 90s era Mac Keyboard?
I am pretty sure the windows key can emulate the celtic knot key on a Mac, and if not there is definitely a hackintosh keyboard driver for doing so (I used it years ago just to see what all the hype about OSX was.)
The older mac keyboards had regular style keys, but the page up/down keys on the G3-era iMac keyboards were shit (I have three with all of them broken.)
However recently I have been seeing PC keyboards, including mechanicals going for as little as 40 dollars USD. While you might not personally be interested in replacing keys on your keyboard, a nice mechanical keyboard would solve most of your problems, and in the event you do have component failure it should be relatively straightforward to get failing key switches/caps replaced assuming you don't simply want to replace the keyboard (something that should take a lot longer to happen than with a membrane keyboard to begin with!)
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday June 10 2017, @06:23PM (1 child)
Why should they? Their primary goal is maximizing profit. Apple's main credo for years has seemed to be: "Let's make devices that are much more expensive than the competition and are guaranteed to net us a lot of money with each replacement." They're only interested in customer feedback that ensures their devices are still considered "cool" enough to demand the premium price and not quite annoying enough to drive significant numbers away.
To be clear: I'm not a Apple critic in general. My only major complaints are about price and how locked down their systems are. Otherwise, most of their computers and devices work well.
But here's the thing -- despite all of your criticisms (most of which seem like legit concerns), Apple doesn't care. They still know that most "enlightened" professional folks will use Macs if they can at all afford them. It's all about branding. If you are a "creative professional" (outside of very techy or science fields), you only admit to using a Windows machine if you're poor. Linux users are just considered bizarre weirdos, though you can get away with a bit in some circles for using open source if you spin it as part of a fight "against the Man."
If your immediate alternative to buying a Mac is building your own Linux box, you are NOT part of Apple's core targeted demographic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @02:32AM
You're not entirely wrong.
My point is more that Apple have been so hopeless at meeting the basic necessities that in the professional circles in which I move, Linux used to be for bizarre weirdoes, but is increasingly becoming a well-regarded alternative. It's cheaper to build a Linux machine, or put Linux on a really good laptop, and unless you're somehow wedded to a particular software suite it's good enough.
The days when Final Cut and Logic were how you did video and audio are gone.
At this point, the assumption is that someone who shows up with a shiny apple toy is either in management, or a trustafarian straight out of college who splurged on a cool shiny thing, unless management insisted that everyone must get the shiny because that way the managers can justify their shinies. I work on a Lenovo. It runs Windows 7 because I don't get an option, but at least the keyboard has stood up to heavy, continuing use.
So, in summary, I might not be part of Apple's core demographic. But they are actively alienating people they claimed as part of their core demographic, to the point that it's shifting. They can coast for a while on their reputation, but once that has eroded to the point that it washes away, they will find out how much goodwill they have pissed away, and how hard it will be to regain.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 10 2017, @06:33PM (9 children)
If you're a musician who can afford to drop 5K on an iMac, then you should be a musician who can set something up to sufficiently isolate your mics and instruments from ambient noises. With music it's garbage-in, garbage-out, it doesn't matter how fast your desktop can run if you have shitty instruments and shitty gear piping shitty shrill low-res digital sound into your interface.
Or you can eliminate noise by clever use of noise gates/compressors, or more complex noise-reduction plugins, or even good ol' pain-in-the-ass manual editing.
Finally, a mildly amusing story. During recording one of my songs, I forgot that I'd left my phone by my audio interface and, sure enough, during the outro, the "blip-blip-blip" from the phone GSM buzz contaminated the sound. However, I had a sense of humor about it and kept the blip in the final version, it was actually an appropriate sound effect for an outro.
Sometimes you want to keep "mistakes." Kirk Hammett discovered this during his solo in Master of Puppets in which his fret hand accidentally slid off the end of the fretboard and fretted the string directly onto the pickup, causing a squeal. It turned out to be pretty rad, so they kept it in.
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Saturday June 10 2017, @07:01PM (5 children)
Link to your work?
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday June 11 2017, @01:28AM (4 children)
Not now. There's identifying information where it can be found.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by KGIII on Sunday June 11 2017, @02:35AM (3 children)
Alright... Are we gonna play. "I'll show you mine, if you show me your's?" Fuck it... I'll show you mine. However... I ask that you still show me your work, after you hear these two.
But... Really? LOL Are you sure wouldn't just like to link me and let me hear you?
Umm... I've played in front of 15k people. I am not scared. ;-) 15k is the largest group I have ever played for and I've never played for an audience that sat for the whole show. (Those are negatives for me.)
Fine... This is me showing off. I'm playing not one but two guitars, as I am learning to use Audacity and put multiple tracks down:
Here. [vocaroo.com] (Wait for it, That's about 2.5 minutes in.) That's something you should know.
Now, I will legit show off - and I'm not that good,., What I *can* do is replicate music.
Here you go and this is me showing off. *grins*
Don't go here. [vocaroo.com] That is a single take and every tone is made by a guitar - just one guitar. Go ahead and listen.
(Why yes, yes I do play classical guitar.)
I invited you to play 'cause I really wanted to hear you. I don't even care what your skill level is. I am not cocky, I am certain. I can play alright. ;-)
I really, really want to hear you play - regardless of skill level. I just threw mine out there. Make fun of it all you want.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Sunday June 11 2017, @12:15PM (2 children)
Fun. :) Enjoyed both.
An homage to Led Zeppelin [fyngyrz.com]
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Sunday June 11 2017, @05:15PM (1 child)
That was awesome! LOL Thanks for sharing. And, yeah, it does remind me of Zep. You're getting lovely tones out of that Washburn.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday June 12 2017, @02:20PM
Thank you, suh. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @02:43AM (2 children)
If you're talking strictly studio, you're right. You can build insane levels of isolation in, have separate rooms, noise reduction stuff and all the goodies. Good for you; the expensive computer is probably one percent (if that) of your setup costs.
If you're doing anything more ad hoc than that, or you're trying to produce while on tour, or you're simply trying to set up your bedroom studio, it's a pain in the ass.
These are not equivalent scenarios.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday June 11 2017, @02:48AM (1 child)
If you have a bedroom, then throw all your mics and a bunch of pillows in there.
If you don't, then throw them all in your water-closet, those surfaces reflect and throw some cool 'verb and slap echoes as pleasant side-effects.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @05:23AM
For recording, you're right.
Read again: mixing and mastering.
Not the same thing. If you're packing an all-in-one machine in so many pillows that you can't hear the roaring fans while rendering, you won't be able to see the monitors, you won't be able to hear the speakers (assuming you don't have separate monitors, which on the road you very well might not) and you'll have thermal overload before you can say "Jack Robinson".
For electronic musicians, this is a showstopper. They might as well go back to repeated offline renders and iterative tweaking.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by KGIII on Saturday June 10 2017, @07:06PM (12 children)
Two things...
I'm pretty sure their core market is iPhone buyers.
Musicians will, if given the chance, isolate the recording instrumentation from the source of sound. Fancier places will do this with a booth, or similar. In smaller places, and in homes, you can do this (well enough) with directional microphones. Many of us are used to things like crowd-noise. We've long since learned to amplify only the sounds we want, for the most part. It's not fancy. We just stuff recording equipment into a booth, where possible.
(I played for many, many years as a source of extra income. I'm actually, even at my old age, just getting into the recording end. I've been recorded, but that was done by an engineer. It's more fun than I'd envisioned. It's also more fun when you're not financially reliant on the results.)
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @02:52AM (11 children)
Recording is one thing. That's the easy part. A long enough cable, a portastudio, and you can record wherever the hell you want for pennies on the dollar compared to the price of these fancy-schmancy new iMacs.
It's the mixing and mastering where you want a tightly sonically controlled environment, and a computer where the fans are in the same enclosure as the screen is not good news. Sure, sure, you can go right ahead and buy more screens and long cables and isolation booths and all that fancy stuff - but at that point you're able to buy a really, really nice and shiny machine, assembled by a custom shop just for you, with minimal noise output, liquid cooling, high airflow design and so on. And have money left over for that Kronos you've been eyeing.
The iMac design is not good news for the production end of music, unless those fans are under 30dB at 12 inches - and I'll eat my hat if they are.
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Sunday June 11 2017, @03:59AM (10 children)
I am not able to agree. You may be right. I can't agree, I don't know.
Up above, I linked to some of my trivial efforts at recording. I can play guitar like a motherfucking riot. I'm not even kidding. ;-) However, recording is still something I'm learning.
I can't say that editing is harder. I don't know. At best, I can bring volume up and down and, for now, I can lay tracks atop each other. I haven't figured out how to actually edit out stuff. Expand the thread, click on the second link I provided, and you'll see. I can do that in a single take. I can't edit it.
So, you may be right. I am not able to agree, I am not able to disagree. I know that I'm getting more and more comfortable working with sound post production. I know that I spent thousands of hours learning to play what you can just click on and listen - and I'll provide you with more samples, if you'd like.
Also, gotta be kinda frank. I wasn't expecting to take this thread and go, "Yeah, well fuck you." And then show my work. To be clear, my work is not now, nor is it ever, for sale. If I've posted it, you're free to do with the results inasmuch as I'm legally entitled to assign you the rights. In other words, you can do what you want with the music I share. I do have some stuff from back when I needed the money. That time is past and the music is free. Anything I share now, is entirely free - inasmuch as I'm legally allowed to release the results to the public domain. (I assert no copyright, nor will I, and I understand this is a legally binding statement.)
That said, what you're saying seems to be a bit like saying the editing/production is more work, and requires more skill, than the artists provide. Having had both a producer and a sound engineer, I'm pretty sure both of those jobs require great skill. I'm not sure I can say one is more difficult (or even important - for me) than the others.
Kinda sorry for rambling. Weed might be a factor. ;-)
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @05:35AM (9 children)
I heard your recordings. They're decent. A couple of flubs on Asturias, but solid. (I'm a classical guitarist as well, by training - and I recognise that you have chops.)
However, I actually do know recording, and while I'm not an officially certified audio engineer, I've done my share, including for publication.
I'm not saying that editing is harder than playing. It's a different skillset, with different needs, and different constraints that result from those needs. I am saying that mixing, mastering, and evaluating music benefit greatly from a tightly controlled sonic environment. This is why the computers of audio engineers are quiet as they can be, and then also as isolated as they can be. The all-in-one design is only good for that if and when it can be made fanless, or with incredibly quiet fans. Putting fans right in the screen that you will have less than two feet from your face while you're tweaking EQ is just plain stupid. Incredibly, mind-numbingly stupid.
But hey. Apple know media. It's their thing, amiritebro?
Feh.
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Sunday June 11 2017, @08:13AM (8 children)
LOL I think you might be able to appreciate this...
Thank you for saying that I have the chops. Frankly, I know I'm pretty good. ;-) (Sorry, had to get my ego going.)
Anyhow, to go back, I don't know. As I said above - I don't really know. I really don't.
I'm a musician and I think I've demonstrated that, If I may, let's take a side trip? I am a musician. I can replicate the masters, and do a fine job at it. Having played for many people, I'm pretty fucking confident. You, you recognized Asturias. I am impressed and will put this out here, and you can judge it as you wish. This is one of my favorite artists, but I didn't play on it on a scalloped fretboard, for reasons. Just reasons, damn it!
Do not click. [vocaroo.com]
(That's some Malmsteen. As I said, I can replicate music. I did this for pay, for a lot of years. Like, a lot of years.)
Anyhow...
I want to take offense at the claim that production, recording, and post-processing are equally as valuable as the artist. I really do - but, as I get deeper and deeper into post-production, I'm not sure what the hell to say. I don't know - but I find it harder to put stuff like that up than I do to just play it. If you want a live rendition, I'll play you Asturias and I'll bang it out on a Les Paul and make it last an extra ten minutes.,
What I can't do is encapsulate that.
Sorry for my verbosity, by the way. I'm pretty long winded.
I can play the guitar like a motherfucking riot. I'm not even embarrassed to say it. LOL I'm not egotistical, I'm certain. I can make that guitar talk.
Anyways, at the same time, the production and recording stand between me and the people. Well, traditionally. I'm just now - at 59 years of age, learning to record myself. Don't even get me started on editing. I could edit, once upon a time, when it was slicing out parts of the tape.
What baffles me is that I can't argue - even though I want to. ;-) If I lay down a shit track, ain't nobody going to be able to fix that. In fact, I have some shit tracks already to share - if you want to try. However...
Instead of asking you to yell at me, or fight with me, can I get your opinion?
If you're okay with this, tell me how I can get a more robust sound from the bass drum. (My first love was percussion, this is me with two guitars and a drum kit - I'd like to say sorry now.)
Not fit for human consumption. [vocaroo.com]
I'm tempted to say it's as difficult. I've never mic'ed a drum kit for recording, until this. I've pushed it out for an audience, but never for recording. I have played a kit that was recorded. It was done by an engineer. Also, yes, I play with a metronome. You can probably tell that by the drumming. Yes, yes I do.
So, tell me what to do next. I'm listening.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @05:25PM (7 children)
The artist is more important than anything post-production, for live performance. On that front, I agree with you. If you're recording for publication, it's another story because all those live takes and sequenced items need to be combined into one coherent whole, in a way that satisfies the limits of the medium as well as the artistic intent. That takes studio chops - and the modern studio is every bit as much an instrument, in its own way, as a guitar.
I listened to your Iron Man rendition, and here's my take on what to do with the bass drum, based on an assumption that you correctly mic'ed it up with a dynamic in the hole, and with a separate recording of that mic specifically. First, your levels are probably getting confused with some sub-bass that isn't coming through, but is screwing up your calculation of loudness. So put it through a highpass filter, cutting off somewhere between 25Hz and 30Hz. Then make sure there's plenty of resonance on that filter so that you have a fat peak around maybe 50Hz. Look for other instruments hitting at the same time that may be making it a bit more flabby - bass is a frequent offender, but there could be others - and sidechain compress those (not heavily - just a bit) with respect to the kick so that the kick is perceived as being louder compared to them. If you're feeling really aggressive, you can gate your kick so that it only shows up above a certain level, thereby making it more snappy, but if you're looking for a more aggressive initial transient, you may want to EQ that peak up.
You should also try seeing whether you're getting phase cancellation on the kick from other mics that sat near it for the rest of the drums. You can probably highpass them at 100Hz and lose little of any value.
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Sunday June 11 2017, @05:46PM (6 children)
I'll climb into the kit tonight and see what I can do. Thanks. I'm liking the idea of filter - and might go down to the music store tomorrow, to see what they have for new mics. I am pretty fascinated with recording. I never really got into it, until fairly recently. Previously, it was done in a studio or at the board by our sound guy. I played for a bunch of bands, none very famous. It was my way of earning extra money and then was mostly just a habit after I no longer needed extra money.
I like your way of equating it with another instrument. As I learn more about it, I realize how much I don't know. I'm *barely* able to lay down multiple tracks and can usually remember to trim off whitespace.
As a Linux user, do you have any software suggestions? LOL Right now, I pretty much just do multiple takes - until I get it "close enough" and use Audacity. It took me forever just to figure out how to get rid of the lag and be able to *also* record what's in my headphones on a second track.
It's been nice to get back into playing - and even more enjoyable to get into recording. If the song's not too complicated, I can play as I read the tab. I've got that aspect mostly figured out. The whole recording thing is new to me and I keep getting stumped. I like that, by the way. I like having to figure out stuff that I don't know.
I do have a dynamic on the bass but it's old. I hadn't set my kit up for four or five years. I should probably replace the heads and tune them. The mic is one that I used to use on-stage, and it was used in front of an amp - where it'd play back into the system, for a few blues (bar rock) tunes. It's old and has taken some abuse. I should probably replace them all, and get some new stands. It gives me an excuse to go to the city and hit the music store up.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @06:36PM (3 children)
Let me see what tips I can provide. If you like, we can take this to email or whatever, but I'll try to help here:
First off, there are two basic approaches to mixing live sound recordings. The first is just to get all the stems in isolation, with punch-in replacements where needed, and then mix them after the fact. The second is to get the whole band playing together and get the headphone mix dead right - and that's then your mix. If you're a solo act, recording over yourself, you're pretty much constrained to use the first approach.
Audacity is, for what you're trying to do, just fine. You can do noise removal, EQ, filters, effects, nonlinear editing - all that good stuff. If you like, you can use other software such as Rosegarden or LMMS, but Audacity will do everything you need, and do it well. If you want something more hardcore, you can pay for Bitwig, or you can do something like buy an Akai Professional MPC X. That sucker will do it all, in the box. Alternatively, get something like a Tascam Portastudio for recording all the tracks and putting them into Audacity later. Or you could get a mixer that is a multichannel USB audio interface as well, and record directly into Audacity through that.
Don't worry about lag. You can move takes around with respect to each other in Audacity, and generally get as crazy as you want to be.
If your mic is fine, it's fine. You need new skills more than you need new mics. If I were in your shoes right now, knowing what I know, I'd get a portastudio, and learn how to do track arrangement in Audacity. Make sure you have a very clear understanding (since you're a mathematician anyway) of what compressors, companders, sidechain compressors, reverbs and so on actually do to your soundwaves, and then lock that in with a basic understanding of psychoacoustics.
That's your homework for the week. There'll be a quiz next Thursday.
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Monday June 12 2017, @01:26AM (2 children)
Cool. That's a lot to think about. I will look into a portastudio. I have a dedicated music room and am financially comfortable. So, that may be the route I end up going. Learning the recording/editing aspect has been fascinating. It has also made me much more interested in playing again.
For a lot of years, I replicated other artists. My reason for doing so was, for the most part, financial. There were great parts to it, but it was largely just a job. The 'magic' was gone. Taking up recording has seemingly put the magic back.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @04:06AM (1 child)
This may or may not be your thing, but consider going to masterclass.com and doing the deadmau5 masterclass. A lot of what he says is applicable far beyond EDM.
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Wednesday June 14 2017, @12:38AM
Thanks. I will take a look. I am familiar with who they are. I am sure I can learn something.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday June 12 2017, @03:17PM (1 child)
Three.something things.
First, the music. The Malmstein bit was pure indulgence; thanks for that. The Sabbath, enjoyed that too, and as you asked for comment...
So: the bass drum could indeed be punchier, but... go back and listen to the original recording, and you'll find that their bass wasn't all that punchy either. In isolation, it was mostly... loud. Also, what are you listening to this with? I put it (your Ironman) through three different systems; the one on my computer, where the voicing is by a very tight 12" sub and two linnaeum surrounds; Through a Marantz 2325 (completely recapped, etc.) and a pair of Marantz HD880's for the voicing; and a Marantz AV7005 + monoblocks driving dual 18" subs with again, linnaeum surrounds. All three systems have their own different character and vastly different spaces, though they are nominally set for flat and all three have professionally tweaked environments. Your Ironman sounded great on all. My point, drawn out though it is, being that perhaps you're being a bit over-sensitive.
Two: One bit of advice, somewhat contrary to previous you're received here: Avoid compression-as-body like the plague. Mild compression such as a stressed tube amp pushing guitar, or certain mics driven very hard, tends to be musically interesting - that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about post-processing compression on a per-source basis to "bring it up" into the mix. Yes, it's great if the overall composition uses the full dynamic range of the media. No, it's not great if compression is eating the lower end of that dynamic range. My rule is, if a part seems to need compression because "it's not full enough", it needs to be either reworked entirely by the musician so that's it's actually more full, or perhaps the composition needs to be opened up so smaller dynamics have somewhere to play, or perhaps the part shouldn't have been there at all. Otherwise there is a risk (and I'm understating this, it's nearly a certainty) that the final mix will end up a "wall of high amplitude", essentially sounding like all the crappy pop radio stations out there. This advice all assumes you're not aiming to get on those stations, of course. They want that sound, but that's because all of their listeners are now sadly habituated to it and the station "doesn't want to sound quieter than the next station over."
Three: If you can manage it, compositions where each instrument have a dominant set of frequency ranges for each part they play tend to be both easiest to mix and most pleasant to listen to. Bass takes low end, guitar takes mids, drums exist in time-spaces between both, voice (if you must) weaving around them all so that everything is easily listened to if you focus on any one part. That is the (usually utterly unattainable) ideal. With this in mind, though, you can EQ your way towards it; the advice you got above about filtering mics near the bass drum so below 100 Hz is gone creates exactly this type of effect, even though it was aimed at other mics picking up the drum rather than them picking up their own subjects. The thing is, not only does that eliminate fundamental cancellation of the bass drum (instrument suicide by phase shift), it also eliminates competing tones in the same range from the other mic'ed subjects, and that creates a sonic space for the bass drum to strike in isolation, which also makes things less muddy... or to put it another way, makes the bass drum strikes more distinct. It's not always possible; cutting below 100 Hz on a bass or a cello, for instance, is insanity, not favor. :)
One other little thing: electronic instruments allow you to get them to the tracks without mics. That eliminates an entire world of problems. My advice there is "if you possibly can, do that." We're long past the time where we have to mic tube amps with guitars, for instance. There's an entire world created by dry (no effects) recordings of guitars where the insert contains the effects - that means on mixdown / review, you can tweak the effects themselves, not just their tonality, but their entire character. You can get lost in it, but you can also create amazing, amazing things.
Anyway, you're actually doing quite well with your recordings, IMHO. And headphones are the way to go in many situations. Just try to test prospective final mixes on a range of playback systems before you commit. Sometimes there are surprises lurking!
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Wednesday June 14 2017, @12:35AM
Thanks for the insight and encouragement. I am still learning and playing with it. There is so much to learn, it's almost entirely new to me, as well. I played for a lot of bands, as mentioned, for extra money. It helped put me through college, even.
And yes, Malmsteen was just pure fun. I am glad you understand. I replicated music, that was my job. Most of my effort was in cover bands. I can usually play it pretty much like the crowd heard it on the album. LOL That's tens of thousands of hours of playing, actually. I am not that skilled. I am just diligent about practicing.
It's kinda funny. I can't play by ear and don't have perfect pitch. I use a tuner and practice with a metronome. I can, eventually, play by ear but it takes a minute. I can sit a blues set, though it may take a minute to find the key if I can't see the other artists. I do love some bluegrass, too.
No, no vocals from me. I will sing, I am just not a vocalist. Meh, it's passable, but I've known some greats.
Anyhow, I shall keep poking away at it. I am kinda tempted to cut an album. Not for money, just to do it. I've done studio work before, but it'd be nice to just go balls to the wall. I play classical, more often than not. So, maybe I'll do a few tracks for an album.
I love music.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."