April 5 - Finished! Well... not quite....

Well... I am back. :)

Believe it or not... we finally got this thing open and running for our first session... which was Monday, April 2nd! I am gonna do some commentary on these pictures below.... but just a little blog-style ramble here first:

Well.. I lost it. I completely lost it. I mean off the deep end. No.. I am not gonna share all the horrid details... but in the last few days before the first client was scheduled in I was so far from being done... that I was doing all-nighters. Literally working round the clock. The console didn't get finished (more on that below) until literally 9 hours before the first session. So... there was much I could not check out (mic lines, etc...). Oh well... ya know... it's embarrassing... so I will just say... it's probably gonna take me a while for my wife to really forgive me for losing it like I did. Oh well... ya know... this whole process has drained me further than I have ever been drained in my life and I guess everyone has their breaking point. The good news is the studio is open... our first client is in there working right now... and my wife says she is not going to divorce me.... .....yet (although there was mention of changing the locks on doors). Ha Ha! But seriously... I think everything (at the studio and at home) is going to be just fine. :)

Sure... there were some things that didn't work right on the first day... and little problems... but the client is a friend, it was cool. I gave them a free day to make up for it. The really good news is that the drum room sounds really, really, really good! Even better than we had hoped! More on that below. The console sounds amazing too (it ought too considering we just about re-capped the entire thing! Most of the patch bay works... most of the patch panels work... ya know... not too bad all the way around! :)

Ok... these pictures above tell a small part of the story. So... let's see if I can sum it up:

First of all... I found this console through David Rochester of Technical Audio Services (the fellow working on the console in the picture above). Dave is one of the greatest guys I have had the pleasure of meeting in a while and I would venture to say no one in the world works harder than he does! A friend knew I was looking for an Amek Mozart and recommended I contact Dave Rochester. So I did. He did happend to know of another tech guy/broker who was selling a Mozart. This guy is ALSO a really nice, super cool guy. I talked to him about the console... the price was very good, the owner stated that it had been in very good condition and working properly when it was recently decommisioned. They told me there were a few non-working channels, but over-all it was in very good condition. So... we bought it. We couldn't check it out because it had already been dismantled so it could be moved (weighs WAY too much to be moved while fully assembled). We flew to Denver, rented a truck and brought it back... very, very, very carefully.

So.. the day finally come to move the console in and get it running. I had included in my budget money to hire Dave Rochester to come help me set it all up and get it running (including fixing the known bad channels). Well... let's just say... that once we got it all set up... and I started passing signal... it was bad shape. Real, real, real, real bad shape. I did not find a SINGLE channel that worked properly! I couldn't believe it! Long, long, long story short... Dave was here for almost two week for long hours and we just about re-capped the ENTIRE console. Each channel has around 70 caps! You just can't imagine how much work went into this thing. The bad news is that it's gonna cost me quite a bit more than what I had budgeted for getting the console going. The good news is that the console now sounds AMAZING and is working really well for the most part. We got the first 32 channels going and the last 8 still need a little work.... but 32 will cover just about everything we need it for right now.

So.... here is what happened (I think). Dave knew about the console. He knew the guy that was brokering the deal (and knew he was very honest and a great guy)... so he had no problems recommending the deal to me. The guy brokering the deal is also a really good guy, and had serviced the console some time ago and went on his recollection and the word of the console owner that it was is in the condition that he said it was. Clearly, the owner of the console misrepresented the condition of the console to the broker. It is also possible that parts of the console were stored in a non-climate controlled storage area (unbeknownst to the broker) despite the assurance that was not the case.

So.... the broker felt sooo bad about it that he actually gave me his commission as a refund. Dave Rochester felt so bad about that he is cutting me a HUGE break on his time. I still feel like the owner of the console should cover some of the expense (if Dave billed me straight up the time alone - not counting the caps and other parts it would surely be more than I paid for the console)!! However, evidently he is pretty unreasonable and the broker does not want to put me in contact with him for fear of the guy being pissed off at him. The broker has offered to pay some of Daves time in addition to what he gave me... but it just makes me feel bad... because he really is a good guy. I am just trying to decide now what to do. I don't want to let this guy pay the repairs... it's not really his fault... but he won't let me deal with the owner either. So.... hmmmmm. Oh well. I will figure out what to do this week now that all the dust is beginning to settle.

All that to say... the console is REALLY rocking now... and it oughta be! ;)

Ok... this is fun story. So...andybody know what this is? It is evidently one of the rarest parts in the world. In an experience that really (in my life) could classified as a truly "if it can go wrong it will" kind of experience... this is just one of the many examples. So... for the studio mains I wanted a speaker that really put out some power, but that would also be a good near/mid-nearfield monitor. I have always loved the original KRK Embassy 8's (E8's) for that. I found a good used set (the new one with the titanium tweeters are a little harsher). Like a FOOL, while going through the console I set up the KRK's to monitor through instead of one the cheaper monitor speaker sets I have. Well... sure enough... when when the bad channels was selected.... it blew a tweeter. Well... I didn't think this would be tooooo big a deal.... until I started tryin to find a replacement. Well.. guess what.. KRK outsourced this speaker to another company. That company now makes their own speakers and quit making KRK parts. So... no tweeter is available for it. So... I am began a massive world-wide search to try and find one. Pepper at GCPro here in Nashville is the kind of guy that knows where EVERYthing is. He turned me onto a spot in California that might have one. They didn't but knew another place that did, they actually had two! I figured I would buy both so I would have a spare.... guess how much they want for it. No... higher... yep... higher..... $389.00!!! For a tweeter!!! I only bought one (did I tell you we are already WAY over budget). This bad one can be repaired so I am going to send it to the same place (they repair them). *sigh*.

Ok... so... quite a few people have felt sorry for me in this process... and come to help out! Ha Ha! This crew from my Church in the pictures above came in the last days and helped out and really lifted my spirits! Here is a list of people that just came and helped... for free!!!

Mark Kelly
Sam Harrison
Scott Shiveley
Dave and Paula Foster
Randy Ditchel
LeeAnn Ditchel and her son Jacob
Ken & Barbie Isham
Dave & Debbie Seldon

I think that's it... if I left you out... please let me know... I am still not fully recovered from my sleep deprivation stint!





So above are a couple shots of JT's drums and one of my guitar rigs setup for "show" at one of the parties/events we had to celebrate the grand opening.

And... all these shots above are of our first recording session!! The producer was Kyle Lee of Clean Productions, and the artist was Brad Sullivan. There were a few little glitches, but we worked through them and everyone seems very happy with the experience! I now have a list of things to fix, but we are very gratified to be rocking and rolling here. I have a little time between now and the next session to fix the things that need to be fixed and so life is good! :)

Would I ever do this again? Only if I either have way, way, way more money than I know what to do with... or a death wish. :)

Steve Lamm
www.crypticglobe.com
www.cgrnashville.com
www.clubcubasenashville.com