ALL SYSTEMS GO!

Finally, and after many frustrations and obstacles, my new recording system is up and running.

John Spence, fresh from a three day session in Abbey Road studios, came over for day 3 of trying to figure out how to get the various elements of my new computer-based recording system to 'talk' to one another. In the end, the solution was deceptively simple, but devilishly hidden away in the Mac's security settings. I won't go into the boring details, suffice to say we had a Eureka! moment when the technological penny finally dropped.

Now though, I have a steep learning curve to conquer. The way of working with this system is radically different from what I've been used to. For a start, there's no physical mixing desk with all the channels and tracks and controls laid out in front of me. The entire system mainly exists on a two dimensional screen, (although I have an 8 channel physical 'controller' unit that will hopefully help in terms of fader moves.)

But I have to say that the old mixing desk I've used for the last 19 years seemed a more elegant and tactile solution, if only it had continued to function in the way it originally was intended to do. Nevertheless, I've certainly used that old system well and it has produced dozens of albums of mine over those 19 years...Very sorry to see it decommissioned though...

One problem for me is my very poor, macular degenerative, eyesight. Many of the on-screen menus, buttons and controls on this new system are incredibly small, requiring me to hold a magnifying glass up to the screen. It's definitely going to slow me down at first, and perhaps quite dramatically, though I hope that things may become faster with familiarity, once I get used to the way this thing works and where all the mouse clicks reside.

So, a sense of relief that the system is finally operating as it should, but a sense of trepidation and anxiety about learning how to use it efficiently, and how well (or not,) it will help my workflow.

Thank goodness I have ten albums already recorded on the old hardware system awaiting release. Recording something new might be a bit of a challenge and will take time and a lot of trial and error, but we'll see.

Here are some photo's, taken tonight of the new gear...

A view of my new recording gear. Note the absence of my old mixing desk and the new screen-based digital system.

Another view with my Musicvox 'Space Cadet' guitar that I used on a trial recording today.

More visible wiring due to the audio interfaces, something that wasn't so visibly apparent with my old system.

It looks a bit messy but, I guess this is the future, for now at least...