Ken's Gear For Sale

Well, I'm getting ready to do a big recording project, and making some pretty heavy high end gear investments, so i'm reluctantly selling some of my gear to help offset the new purchases. If anyone is interested in snagging any of these things, let me know. If you need to see a pic or a broader description, let me know. I think all of these are really good pieces, except the 604 mics are not the greatest, but hey, for the price its not a bad deal even for them.

Guitar.
Variax 300, (this is the Line 6 Modeling Guitar and does for guitars what the POD and Amp Farm have done for amps). I am selling this guitar because i loved it so much, i just went and bought the absolute top of the line Variax 700 Modeling Guitar and i dont need two Variax guitars. This guitar i'm selling has some pretty excellent Karma on it already. I used it first for a project for Columbia Records artist "Selya", her album is due out soon. and i JUST used it a couple weeks ago for a John Legend song that i think is a hit and a half, and also just used it to play "banjo" on a Danny English song. Now it can be yours. Asking $350 plus shipping for it. This guitar plays well, stays in tune pretty well, and the modeling is ridiculous. Can sound like about 50 different guitars, banjo, sitar, 12 string, semi hollow body's. will even do drop D and alternate tunings WITHOUT retuning. sick. and the best part, zero hum!!! no pickup hum, and the pickups track just as fast as regular pickups. This is a sick piece of technology. My Variax 700 is my new main guitar, my Variax 300 has to go.


Plug In's for HD

URS 1980 Compressor (the SSL Stereo Compressor emulation). I love this thing, but i also own the URS 1970 and URS 1975 Stereo compressors, and a crapload of other compression plugins. How many do i really need? This is a great plug. I'm asking $225 for it plus the $25 ilok transfer fee. You can get a demo of it from the URS site if you wanna try before you buy. This thing sells for $499 "new".

Revibe (Digidesign Reverb). Lists for $995. I paid $500 for mine, and grabbed a spare in Massive Pack 4. So, i'm not getting rid of my Revibe, I LOVE THIS PLUGIN, i'm selling my second copy. $200 plus the $25 ilok transfer fee, and worth every penny. I use this reverb constantly.

McDSP G Channel. asking $450, plus the $25 ilok transfer. Pretty awesome piece, 5 band EQ with low and high filters, compressor, gate, also does a ton of different vintage console emulations. This one is falling into that "How many EQ's and Compressors to i need, i already have a TON of them. Read the reviews, this thing got nominated for a TEC Award. Retails for $995 and has gotten rave reviews.


Analog Equalizers for Sale

I have six channels of Audio Arts 4200A Equalizers. 3 Units for sale, each with 2 Equalizers. Asking $300 per unit, plus shipping. I'd call these "semi-Vintage" as i think they hail from the 70's, but its not like they are NEVE's. They do sound good and are very versatile. These things are 4 band, fully parametric equalizers. Boost/Cut, Q, and Frequency on each of the 4 bands. I usually use them on toms and snare when i'm recording live drums, but have also used them during mixing a bunch, often on percussion, guitars, keybaords, etc..... Selling them to help offset the cost of some very high end EQ's I'm about to purchase. Between my Sontec, Lang, Avalon, Neumann, and GML EQ's something had to go.

Mics. Selling 3 Sennheiser 604 mics, $90 each, plus shipping. They are dynamic mics with clips that will easily clip onto drum shells. I've been using them for Tom mics and sometimes under the snare mics. Not the greatest mic, but a good deal at $90 a piece.

I'll be selling a couple more things in a week or two, and all of this stuff will be going up on Ebay in the next couple days if it doesnt sell immediately here. So if you want it, let me know asap before i list it on Ebay.

Back to mixing for me. a bunch of good mixing on my plate right now.

Thanks!!!

Ken Lewis

Video Blogging Update

I'm having a bit of trouble getting the video blogging underway. First off, just finding the time right now is a bit daunting. I'm traveling alot for a couple projects and there's always something on my plate, but thats no excuse, i always try to make time to blog. But i also bought the wrong camera, and it doesnt work as well with my Mac as I'd hoped. So, i have to find a better one, i'm trying one out tomorrow. But i did find some kick ass software that will help me do this, so thats a good thing.

The response from you guys about video blogging has been very encouraging. Its always nice to know that there will be someone out there who actually might benefit from these things, as they take alot of time from my schedule and i dont wanna feel like i'm talking to a wall. I've been getting alot of good suggestions about topics to do video blogs about. Keep those ideas coming, and keep them focused to a topic that i can actually cover in a blog or two. I had one person say something like "Can you blog about how you get your mixes sounding like a tight record". Now while i'd love to be able to convey that in ten or fifteen minutes, I'm not sure i could effectively convey that in ten hours. I cannot teach you how to mix from a video blog, but i hope to pass along to you some tools, tips, tricks, techniques, about specific things that you can take with you and try on your own, and incorporate them into your own musical creation. In fact, alot of what i blog about might not be mixing at all. You know i do ALOT more than just mix. I recreate samples for guys like Kanye and Just Blaze, i am a studio musician and multi-instrumentalist / singer for ALOT of big records, (you've probably heard my voice on a record and did not know it, and you'd have to live under a rock to have not heard my playing), I also produce alot of records. I'm currently in various stages of production on seven different projects spanning several different genre's. I'm a songwriter. And i also happen to record and mix records for a living as well. I'll be offering my thoughts on all of the above subjects at different times. Also, i'll be offering my thoughts on the music industry in general, which might be some of the most valuable stuff of all for some. I've learned enough in 14 years of making major label records that i hope i have some useful tips so that you may sidestep some of the pitfalls that may lie ahead.

Anyway. Keep the ideas coming. I am reading all of them. I am getting some great ideas from you all, and obviously the things i think will connect the best will be the ones i probably tackle first. What are those things? From super beginner to semi expert, what do you want me to cover?

- Ken Lewis


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Drum Tracking and other Adventures

What a day!!!! Some of it i cant tell you yet, but soon. This has been one of those days where all of the planets kind of snapped into alignment and alot of completely unrelated things all came together today. That latest sample recreation for that Legend-ary artist got sent out to get mixed today. Its an absolutely beautiful song and I am proud to have worked on it.

I also talked to one of my co-producers and partner's in production crime, Ben Hud, from the Cayman Islands. Me, Ben, and Brent Kolatalo (another production partner in crime) have been producing a bunch of Jamaican artists on a new Riddim called the "Baby J Riddim". We've done several versions so far, but one version, featuring Delly Ranx, called "Shake Your Booty" is (in my humble opinion), going to be a very big hit in the islands. We're servicing it to radio in a couple weeks and looking for a video production company to shoot a video for the song. The early response on the song has been tremendous. As soon as its serviced to radio, I'll probably post it here so you all can hear what it sounds like. Its a very fun song.

I also am producing a song for NYC rockers Skidmore Fountain right now. Monday and Tuesday i was in New York doing pre production with them, and today we recorded the song. Drums, Cello, Guitar, and Lead vocals. It was a very long, but very productive day, and the song as well as the recording is coming out super great. I'm happy. The blog i posted yesterday about drum micing was spent with the drummer from Skidmore Fountain and all the best sounds we got from yesterday we recorded today on a song called "Break". I'm still hoping to find time to do an audio blog with sound examples of all the different mics we tried on all the different drums, but i'm just too exhausted right now to contemplate it. However, I did take a screen shot of the drum mic/pre setup. Here it is, the winners from yesterday's shootout.


Skidmore%20Drums.png

Actually, this is almost accurate. The low tom did not go thru a Sytek mic pre. The Sytek has no pad and the input from the C800G on the low tom was too hot, so i had to go thru an Oram-sonic Mic Pre with less gain. Everything else is as pictured.

I also recorded the guitar and cello today thru amplifiers. I did one guitar take with a Less Paul thru my Madison half stack mic'd with a pair of Royer R122 Ribbon mics into Avalon 737's. I also used this same chain to record electric Cello although i set up the Madison amp completely differently, and used different EQ curves on the Avalon 737's. That Madison amp is so versatile and sounds so good. I endorse Madison amps, and for a good reason, they sound great, and they get a very wide range of different tones. I did a guitar overdub with a Telecaster thru a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp as well. Oh yeah, i also recorded a few electric Cello parts with the Madison half stack as well as a Leslie Rotating Speaker Cabinet. Both Royer mics were on the Leslie cab on oposite side to get a real left to right stereo pan thing going, and i used one Oktava ML52 Ribbon mic on the Madison 4X12 cab. blended the three together and got a great sound. Some parts i cut with the Leslie cab moving real slow and a couple parts with the cab spinning very fast. cool effect and real.

Anyway, I'll probably post at least a clip of the Skidmore Fountain song once its mixed, so you can hear all of these things if you'd like. for now, I cant keep my eyes open and its only 2am, but then i'm working off of about 3 hours of sleep, if that. Time to get a good solid 8 hours of shut eye, i hope.

-Ken Lewis

Prelude to a Blog

Man am i working on a barn burner of a blog. So i spent many hours today micing drums, trying a ton of different mics on kick, snare, toms, hats, and cymbals. I recorded all of the results so i could compare the differences in mics on each instrument, and I've got to say that even i was very surprised at the results. It was quite eye opening to hear 12 different mics record a kick drum from the same position, thru the same mic pre, no EQ or Compression, and all level matched so the ear perceives equal volumes. The range of sounds was incredible, much more drastic than i thought it would be.

I wish i could have done a video blog on this, but as of right now, my new camera isnt working too well with my Mac, but i'm almost there. Anyway, in the next several days I'm going to put together an audio blog so you can hear the results. I think maybe the two most surprising things were how amazing some of the least expensive mics sounded, and second, how certain mics sounded great on certain drums but terrible on others. You'll hear it soon enough, its gonna take me a moment to assemble it. Stay tuned for the ultimate microphone shootout!

-Ken Lewis


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Pulp Fiction Moment

"The Spider has caught a fly". If you know the scene and the movie i'm referring to, you might find this story interesting. So, I am currently in West Virginia visiting my relatives, but this isn't a story about them. On the way to my relatives farm, I'm driving thru the mountains in my rented convertible with the top down, and just before the turn off there was a little art and pottery gallery right there in the middle of nowhere, so i had to stop in and see if there was anything good. Indeed there was. Lots of beautiful pottery and paintings all created there by the family who ran the shop. Excellent work. While i was admiring some of the pottery, the owner came up to me and struck up a conversation. When he asked what i did, and I told him "i make records" he nearly let out a scream with excitement and says "REALLY!! Follow me!", so of course i did.

We walked back behind the store and along a dirt path, past a couple ponds, into the woods, up a hill and arrived at a small shack. Now, its enough of a leap of faith for me to follow this complete stranger all the way back there in the first place, but he seemed very nice. At the shack however, there were steel bars on all the windows, and steel bars protecting the door. At this point i begin to ask myself what could be so valuable in this shack to warrant the security? I mean, i doubt you even have to lock your doors in these parts let alone put bars on the windows. I began to wonder if i was about to become "the Gimp" from Pulp Fiction, and if i was about to step into the dungeon, but i said what the hell, you only live once, so he opened the door and i followed him in.

Once inside, it was a small one room structure with a full recording setup, drum kit, guitars, percussion, etc... This will sound insulting at first, but none of the gear was what i would describe as "pro" quality. the mixer was an old Peavey PA board for live gigs, the mic's were all relatively cheap, they had one budget reverb box, and they recorded onto 8 track ADAT tape. He asked if I'd listen to some of his music, (him, his wife, and i believe two or three other musicians), and politely (with a strong dose of curiosity) i said "sure". I didn't expect to hear anything special, but then ya just never know.

The music was wonderful. A complete throwback to the 70's, like i was listening to Jefferson Airplane with Grace Slick singing. I mean real authentic 70's music, vocals, and most remarkably, tones. I commented (hoping it would be taken as a compliment) "Wow, this stuff sounds straight out of the 70's", which was met with a very big approving smile from him. I mean, the playing, the parts, the sounds, everything, even the digital reverbs sounded straight off a record from the 1970's. I was impressed.

Now, the whole reason I'm telling you this long, drawn out story is that there's always been this great debate about "That 70's Sound" and how all the old gear sounds so amazing. Yadda Yadda. Well, these guys were recording onto ADAT, using mics like CAD, RODE, and a bunch of the other budget line gear from the musicians friend catalog, and these recordings sounded great. I've debated the question with people "Why dont records sound like they used to", and a large part of my answer is that the you need the players who know that style and feel to be playing. If your trying to recreate a 70's soul record and your using synth strings and drum machines, its never going to sound the same. but if you have the right players, and correct people writing and conducting the strings, etc... you run a high probability of capturing that magic. These guys who recorded in this little shack in the backwoods, they were the 70's and no matter what mic you put in front of them, or what format you record them on, it was gonna sound and feel like the 70's.

There were also lots of fender rhodes, Hammond Organ, and Wurlitzer parts on these recordings, and i thought for sure they had used real instruments for those parts. I was shocked when the guy told me "Oh, our keyboard player is blind and he plays all of those parts on a synthesizer". it was his FEEL that brought those parts to life, his selection of notes, rhythms, parts that brought out the vibe.

Anyway, it was quite eye opening, and ear opening, and reaffirmed my belief that you can make great recordings with very average equipment, as long as you know how to get what your going for, and these people certainly did. After hearing several songs, i did breathe a subtle sigh of relief when we exited the steel caged shack and began walking back to the shop........... until he said "I've got to show you the kiln that i fire the pottery in".

I lived to tell the tale, and I also bought a beautiful ceramic pouring pitcher from him. Its as beautiful as his music. What a talented guy. A hidden treasure in the mountains of West Virginia.

- Ken Lewis

Video Blogging

(this post is mainly targeted towards people still learning or wanting to learn more about making records, so if you already know how to, this post is not for you)

So I've been pondering for a while now the thought of posting some video blogs here on my site. Any interest? I've been talking to a great website about doing some video blogging for them and i think thats the catalyst to put the whole thing into motion. Obviously some of my written blogging here is of a more personal nature, however, i think i'll approach video blogging as more of an instructional course on some engineering basics. I think i could convey some ideas via video with audio much easier than typing. I'll probably do some stuff on the basics of compression, EQ, reverb, recording, editing, how to prepare a song to be mixed, etc... Alot of stuff thats become second nature to me and that i probably take for granted, but stuff that i get questions on regularly, or mistakes that i consistently see on sessions coming in to mix. Some of you dont have the luxury of schooling, and quite frankly, not all recording schools are created equal anyway, so maybe a few of these things might let you guys side step some common pitfalls of record making. We'll see.

In the past, I've been asked to do instructional DVD's on mixing, which i personally think is not a good idea. I think its misleading. I think that 90% of the people who would buy it would think "Wow, if i watch this 5 hour instructional DVD, I'll be able to mix my own music like the pro's". Sorry, wrong. Mixing takes YEARS to get good at. Trust me. Years. Years of mixing every day. My production partner Brent Kolatalo is becoming quite the talented mixer lately, and he's been working every day with me for over 3 years, getting trained in the art of mixing by me for three years, every day. And he's just lately really cranking out some great mixes. So, do you really think watching a 5 hour DVD, or watching some video blogs is gonna make you a good mixer? No, its not, and thats not my goal in doing them. I'm hoping to give some of you some extra tools for your tool box that you can practice with and get a feel for. I'm hoping to clear up some common mistakes you might be making, and show you some basics about gear that hopefully i can explain in a way thats easy to understand and implent. We'll see.

I get asked all the time "I cant afford you but can you give me some tips on how to mix like you?". Honestly, i get this alot. My response is always "Here's my suggestion..... forget a social life, work 80 hours a week for years on end, mix every day and challenge yourself every day to get better, and maybe someday you'll be a really talented mixer". Or maybe you were just naturally born into it, a rare few are and I'm jealous of them. Anyway, after i start video blogging, I can just tell people to watch that for tips :-) Problem solved.

So are there any specific or general topics anyone would like to see a video blog on?

-Ken Lewis


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0 to 1,000 MPH in 60 Seconds

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans, and to the rest of the world, Happy Tuesday. Two amazing events took place today. I got to watch the Space Shuttle take off today. That thing was going 1,000 Miles Per Hour within 60 seconds, but what was truly impressive was that it was going 10,000 miles per hour in 6 and a half minutes!!!! I'm pretty sure that thing orbits at 17,000 MPH, man thats fast. Anyway, it was thrilling to watch the launch (on TV) and wonderful to see America return to space once again. Godspeed Discovery and please return safe.

Then i watched the Italy VS. Germany Worldcup semi-final. I must admit, i was kind of hoping that Germany would win. They played such a great match, and they are the underdog host country, it would have been amazing to see them in the final. It was not to be though as Italy scored two goals within minutes of each other late in the second overtime. Even though the match went scoreless for the first 118 minutes, i personally found it a very exciting game to watch. Both teams are so skilled and both played like it was the final. Congratulations to Italy on beating a very good German team and advancing to the Final. I spent lots of time in Italy last year and watching them win brought back very fond memories of my trip. I cant wait to watch the France/Portugal game on Wednesday. I'm torn. I have a bit of Portugese blood in me, but then France did beat Brazil, so, i guess i'm really just hoping to watch a great match.

I've not been blogging much lately, but i'm gonna get back on the grind with it this week. Hopefully i'll have some more good tech stuff real soon.

Happy Birthday America!

-Ken Lewis