All the way from Australia, quite a pretty package.

I’ve heard nothing but good reviews about the little mic preamps, and I decided to give it ago. I’ll be posting and documenting updates as I go along in the build process, hoping to start building asap and then get some sound clips up. But for now I’ll post a couple of pictures, though they’re not the best quality.

All the pieces of the kit all arranged neatly.

Have a look at JLM Audio’s website if your interested in the kits or other products. Click me!

The four piece Ska Core band in all their glory.

A brilliant night, with a good band and medium sized crowd. Check out random hand here.

A paper model of an electric guitar?

Yes, you can get one, in-fact a very cool one indeed. The detail on it is just staggering, going down to the pickups, jack input and even paper strings. Its a near perfect replica of the Les Paul in paper terms and if I had the money I would definitely purchase one.

Designed by Handson who has done a couple of other models including a paper Grand Piano

More information can be found Here.

The New HD Native and HD Interefaces

Pro Tools for the past several years has been the “industry standard” DAW and work surface for studio technicians, sound engineers and anyone else really in any audio department. Though recently many people have become disgruntled and have moved from pro tools for a number of reasons, lack of support, poor updating and bug fixes all come to mind.

So when it comes to the studio engineer who’s uses Pro Tools LE but has had enough of the restrictions of it and wants to upgrade, the prospect of forking out thousands of pounds to upgrade to the HD software and hardware system is very off putting. And before the only options were HD or transfer to another DAW. And what about those who use both Pro Tools and other DAWs, a HD system will only work with Pro Tools and has no support for the likes of Logic, Final Cut, Cubase etc.

But now Avid have released their new Pro Tools HD Native. A PCI-e card which will run pro tools HD without the necessary DSP cards and will work with third party software. A kinda half way step between HD and LE. Or is it?

The new Avid HD Native

Now HD Native does look like a good bundle, you can run HD on a simple system without the need of the very extortionate DSP cards. This means a lot more tracks, more plugins, delay compensation etc.. all the things Pro Tools LE users looked so enviously at HD. Of course you can’t use TDM plugins since your don’t have the DSP cards, and you need a Avid Interface to actually use Native. Another limit forcing you to buy Avid own hardware.

So will the HD Native be worth it? It depends on your view? Native does look like a bridge for the anxious engineer who’s not fully sure to fork out for a full HD rig, yet needs more functions than LE will provide. With an estimated price tag of around £2,195 ($3,495) its not much more cost effective than a full HD system, though with the ability to use other DAW this may make it much more flexible. I personally think it is a welcome change to the old method of a Hardware system and If Avid actually redo there customer support and start fixing whats wrong with Pro Tools, it certainly will be back in the running to being a very good system.

More reading here.

While I run around adding bits, moving bits, adding content and making everything pretty with the help of my friend Brendan I though I may just add a little blog post just really explaining a bit about me and this site.

A fetching picture of me.

This site is really just to show off what I can do, what I’m interested in and for news/events I find interesting. If you like this site so far, have any comments or suggestions or just want to talk to me, theres a contact link at the top of the page just click away and follow the instructions.

As for what I do, I’m a student, but I work in a studio and also often do sound work at live venues. My main passion is composing and recording, the art of capturing and sharing sounds, emotions and expressions is what I do, and what I will always do. I’ve just finished a foundation degree of Music Technology at Staffordshire University and have transferred Birmingham City to continue it.

Things I like:

• Good music
• Logic 9
• Guitars
• Live Music
• Films
• Pizza
• Retro Arcade Games
• Coffee
• and  a cup of Tea.

The album is being released on the 21st September in the U.S. so who knows when we’ll get it over here. But the track list so far looks promising:

Mr Santana and his guitar

• “Whole Lotta Love” featuring Chris Cornell (Led Zeppelin)
• “Sunshine Of Your Love” featuring Rob Thomas (Cream)
• “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” featuring Scott Weiland (The Rolling Stones)
• “Dance the Night Away” featuring Pat Monahan (Van Halen)
• “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” featuring india.arie and Yo-Yo Ma (The Beatles)
• “Bang A Gong” featuring Gavin Rossdale (T. Rex)
• “Smoke On the Water” featuring Jacoby Shaddix (Deep Purple)
• “Photograph” featuring Chris Daughtry (Def Leppard)
• “Back In Black” featuring Nas (AC/DC)
• “Little Wing” featuring Joe Cocker (Jimi Hendrix)
• “Riders On the Storm” featuring Chester Bennington and Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
• “I Ain’t Superstitious” featuring Jonny Lang (Howlin’ Wolf, Jeff Beck Group)
• “Fortunate Son” featuring Scott Stapp (Creedence Clearwater Revival)

More info can be found Here.