Revitalize Your Fretboard 

Hey All, I am finally making my rounds to this month’s Blog.  Last month, I searched for some cheap and practical ways to make your recording space sound better with just a few upgrades. This month I want to focus on something a little different. Guitars and Basses. I have been so enamored with fixing up my own stuff that I just had to blog about it. These cool DIY techniques can really help your instruments play at their best or if you do not play an instrument, you may be able to help somebody who does. First thing is first. We need to establish some basic concepts of the instrument. On an electric guitar or bass, there is a neck, a body, a headstock, bridge, nut, saddles, pickups etc. Guitar Anatomy All of these different components make a Fender sound different from a Gibson or a Spector sound different from a Music Man.  One thing that all of these instrument have in common is the tendency for the fret board to get corroded from sweat dirt and oil, and frets that get worn down and indented from constantly being pressed against by the strings. These factors can be severely detrimental to the instrument’s sound. There is a simple remedy that I have found for restoring your instrument’s look and performance. After the strings come off, take some painter’s tape and tape between each fret all the way down the entire length of the fret board. Make sure to cover just the wood sections of the fret board and not the frets themselves. Once this is completed, take 180- 220 grit sandpaper and lightly sand each fret until no makes are shown. Remove the tape and apply some natural lemon oil or Guitar Honey to the fret board. Try to avoid using Pledge or any other commercial solvent because the chemicals are not good for the wood fibers. Once you replace you strings, intonate, and adjust the action, You should have yourself a decent sounding guitar or bass. I have heard $100 dollar guitars sound absolutely incredible using this technique. Guitar Setup, Maintenance and Repair

Soundproofing Your Situation

 Many of us in the business of recording music can all agree that there is a great deal of investment that we put into our recording studios. Some of us will claim that the only thing a recording/mix engineer really needs is the space, a sound source, a medium to carry the signal, a device to capture the signal and something to playback the signal. Oh and lets not forget the most important thing of all… Our ears. But if this was the only thing I was writing this blog about, I could sum it all up in one or two sentences and not waste your time. This isn’t about the recording process but it is something that will definitely impact it. “Your recording space”. I empathize with many of you guys who are leasing an apartment or home and has either gotten a friendly knock from a neighbor or local law enforcement due to the noise. Not to mention,  the profound effect that outside noise has on your recordings. I understand that in response to this, we try MacGyver the crap out of our would-be recording space just to yield haphazard results. This is why I want to focus my energy on this blog. I will be doing reviews on inexpensive ways to make your soundproofing more practical, effective, and aesthetically pleasing. Of course this isn’t a one size fits all solution (so don’t come after me if it doesn't work) but it may work for you. So lets talk about this. We got to figure out how energy is traveling though the walls and try to minimize that first. The way sound waves travel are dependent on several factors. These consist of frequency, amplitude, area, surfaces, and even temperature. In an apartment, condo or town home you also need to take the particular type of unit into consideration (top or bottom floor) I will hit on soundproofing based on room size and minimizing reflective surfaces in my next blog. Science lesson 101: Sound waves are partially reflected when they’re less than or equal to the thickness of the wall. (Learn more about this at www.exploratorium.edu) Higher frequencies have less energy and shorter wavelengths making them easy to mitigate with simple paneling or just the wall itself. Lower frequencies on the other hand, carry a higher amount of energy and have a significantly longer wavelength. This of course causes resonance making bass our enemy, and because apartments and some houses were obviously built with sound damping in mind (joking). This presents a struggle. Of course all of this is equally dependent on amplitude as well. I found a decent site www.acousticfields.com that gives some pretty cool tips on temporary soundproofing. I will discuss some cool finds on my next blog and would love some of your feedback. In the meantime… go build your studio.