Category: News

News – December 11th, 2017 – Teaching, last-minute performance, and woodturning

Trent Davis

Sorry for the delays in my posts.  The holidays are always pretty hectic so I’ve been busy.

Teaching

Two weeks ago I was given the opportunity to teach a class for The Guild of Oregon Woodworkers on The Care and Feeding of Your SawStop.  The class went really well, with over 20 saw owners attending.  I got to do a hot dog demo in order to demonstrate how to remove an activated brake and blade from the saw.  I will be creating an article for this blog consisting of the documentation that I created for the class in the coming weeks.

 

Last-Minute Gig with Cody Weathers and The Men Your Mama Warned You About

It’s short notice but I have a gig on December 16th at The 45th Street Pub & Grill in Portland starting at 9:00.   I’ve been friends with Cody for a few years now but I’ve never played with these guys so it’ll be interesting.  Swing on by if you’re in the area.

Wedding Pens

A friend of the family is getting married in a few weeks and they requested that I make them pens from their birth woods, Ash and Hazel.  I’ve never turned either of these woods and I didn’t know what to expect.  To make things even more interesting, the hazel was still wet and was already starting to warp and twist.  From what they say, they only need the pens for the actual wedding ceremony so I just need them to last a few weeks.  This is good because the hazel pen seems to be cracking in a few places already.

 

Studio Desk Part 5

I’m still working on the articles for the studio desk.  It’s done and I’ve been using it for over a month but there are several things I want to change about it and a few components I decided to add to it so there is a bit of a delay in updating the articles.  I hope to have part 5 posted this week.

 

 

 

News – November 2nd, 2017 – Wiring, teaching, and recording

Trent Davis

I’ve been lax in posting news updates.  I’m going to try to be better about this.

Wiring

I’ve got the studio desk pretty much done, but I’m doing some additional wiring, such as adding a few electrical outlets to the desk itself.

I’m also making all new audio cables.  This includes 32 XLR cables for inside the desk, 16 XLR cables for the drum mics, dozens of 14″ TRS cables, and a 16-channel XLR snake.  I keep pushing this off since I’m not looking forward to that much soldering.  Tedious work while hunched over a workbench gets old really quick.  I’m going to do these in batches.

 

Shure SM57 Right-Angle Mod

I have several Shure SM57 microphones that I am going to perform the right-angle mod to.  I plan on documenting this thoroughly so anyone can do this.  In the following picture you can see the microphone on the right, which has the right-angle mod applied, is much more out of the way than the one on the left, which does not have the mod applied.

Teaching

On November 29th, I will be teaching a class for The Guild of Oregon Woodworkers on the care and feeding of a SawStop (the class isn’t advertised on their site yet).  It’s been a while since I taught a class so I’m really looking forward to this.  I’ll try to convert all the info into articles on my blog so if you are unable to make it to the class – due to previous commitments or the fact that you are thousands of miles away from Portland Oregon – you can still make use of the information.

 

Recording for Bright & Shiny

Recording is still going on for the album by Bright & Shiny.  It’s hard for me to get time to record, lately.  I only have the drum tracks to a few songs left, then I can proceed with the auxiliary percussion.  After that, I will begin posting videos of each song.

 

The Map of Alice

Sadly, I had to call it quits with The Map of Alice.  There were some personality conflicts and the visions for the project were just not lining up.  It was mostly fun while it lasted.

News – August 29th, 2017 – Recording and various other projects

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Trent Davis

A lot has happened in the past few weeks that has kept me from updating my blog.  I’ll try to summarize the important bits.

 

Recording for Bright & Shiny

I spent some time working on a few more tracks for Bright & Shiny as well as reworking a few older tracks that I wasn’t happy with.  I ended up re-recording a song that I was really struggling with since the timing is all over the map and I am playing along with pre-recorded tracks.  After recording the song sixteen times (no exaggeration) I finally came to the conclusion that I simply can’t release something to go along with this song that I would be proud of.  I spoke with the engineer and he said that they’re going to re-record the other parts with a click and get that to me so I can put down some decent drum tracks for it.

 

 

Slow-Motion video of new ride cymbal

I made a slow-motion video of my Sabian Vault ride cymbal that I featured a few weeks back.  This was mainly just a test to see what quality I can get out of my phone when filming at 120 frames-per-second.  Here’s the video that I shot:

 

 

 

Recording for The Map of Alice

I will be producing the recording of three tracks for The Map of Alice, the local gigging band that I play with each week.  I’ll be posting the progress here on this blog.  I will also be making a music video for at least one of the songs, possibly all of them.

 

 

Web site creation for The Map of Alice

The time that I haven’t been spending in the studio, playing live, or watching Twin Peaks, I have been spending on the new web site for The Map of Alice.  I’ll announce when it has gone live.

 

 

Studio desk plans

I’ve once again changed the plans for my studio desk.  My problem is that I only want to do this once so I’m being rather picky about how I put this together.  I don’t have anything finalized yet but I’m getting close.

 

 

Shop issues

Work in the shop has been minimal, at best.  I can’t even walk out there right now.  My main problem is that I have too much building material.  I’ve got piles of scrap lumber, cracked cymbals, metal stock, electrical components, and aquariums.  Yeah, that’s right.  There’s a big 55-gallon aquarium taking up a big chunk of space in my shop.  The kicker is that it isn’t even mine.  Now that the busy August month is pretty much over and the weather is (hopefully) going to start cooling off pretty soon, I’ll be able to focus on getting my shop into a usable state again and start cranking out some more build projects.

 

 

My daughter turned 18!

This actually took up a good chunk of my time.  My daughter, Audrey, turned 18.  We had a few get-togethers but mostly we’ve been trying to help her make the transition into adulthood.

 

 

That’s it.  I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few things but the point is, I’ve been busy.

News – August 2nd, 2017 – Apprehension Engine Electronics Prototype

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Trent Davis

I started putting together the electrical prototype for my version of the Apprehension Engine.  You can read about my plans for this project here.

This version is going to have two channels, each with its own reverb tank which will result in each channel having its own sound.  I started by gathering the necessary parts.  Here’s what I’m using:

RCA jacks

1/4″ Mono audio jacks

5.5 mm X 2.1 mm power jacks  (X2)

27 mm piezos

Reverb tank: Long decay

Reverb tank: Medium decay

Input amplifier

Output amplifier

Power supply: 12 VDC 2 Amp

Power supply: 5 VDC 2 Milliamp

 

The output amplifier has an volume potentiometer.  I want to have access to this while using the instrument but you’ll notice that there is also an 1/8″ jack right next to it on the board.  This is the input.  Unfortunately, I don’t want this sticking out the front of the instrument so I decided to remove the potentiometer so I can attach it with wires and locate the actual volume knob away from the board.

 

Looking at the underside of the board you’ll see that it should be easy to de-solder and remove the potentiometer.

 

The potentiometer has been successfully removed.

 

I’m temporarily securing the board to a surface by using screws and standoffs.

 

One of my favorite tricks when prototyping electronics is to use those $1.00 storage bins.  At first I decided to attach everything to the top of the lid.  I changed my mind later, which you’ll see.

 

I attached the standoffs to the board and used that to mark where I needed to drill holes in the lid for the board.

 

I drilled the holes then inserted the legs of the standoffs then secured them with nuts.

 

The input amplifier is a bit different.  It’s pretty small and doesn’t have holes for standoffs.  I also don’t necessarily need to access the potentiometer on this board as I expect to set-it-and-forget-it.

 

Looking at the underside shows a spot where there aren’t any traces so I decided to secure this board with sticky-backed velcro.

 

Both boards are secure and ready for some prototyping.

 

The board requires the installation of header pins.

 

Easy enough.

 

To attach the potentiometer to the output board, I attached some female headers to the board.  I started with some 5 pin sections.  I only need three of them but they’re double-spaced so I need to start with 5 and pull out the 2nd and 4th pin with needle-nosed pliers.

 

This results in 3-pin headers that I can solder to the board.

 

To hold the headers in place, I inserted the pins for the potentiometer in the headers and then I held the potentiometer to the board with some electrical tape just long enough to secure one of the pins.

 

After the pin was secure, I removed the tape….

 

…and soldered the remaining pins.

 

To make the plug that will insert into the headers, I started with a length of header pins.  Using a pair of snips, I made two five-pin sections.

 

I removed the 2nd and 4th pins just like I did on the female headers.

 

I made a cable out of 22 awg wire.  I normally try to do some sort of color scheme that makes sense so I decided to have the left most pin on each row connect to a green wire, and the other two pins to both connect to either a read or a black wire.  I started by cutting some lengths of wire.  Then I stripped the ends.

 

I soldered the wires to the pins.

 

Then I covered the bare connectors with heat-shrink tubing.

 

Both cables are attached.

 

Anyone who’s made their own instrument or mic cables can relate to this: always remember to put any sleeves on the wires BEFORE soldering the other ends on.

 

I soldered the wires to the potentiometer then applied the heat-shrink tubing.

 

Now I’ve got a volume knob that I can attach away from the board.  This may not work, however, as I explain later.

 

Each board will use its own power supply.  The output amp needs 12 VDC at 2 Amps while the input amp only needs 5 VDC ad 500 Milliamp.  I tried to find an easy way to get different connectors so I don’t accidentally connect the 12 VDC supply in the input amp and damage it, but it’s pretty hard to get the correct power supplies with the connectors that I wanted.  Until I come up with a better solution, this will have to do.

 

I soldered wires and applied heat-shrink tubing.

 

The wires for connecting the power jack to the output amplifier are pretty simple to attach.

 

To connect the power jack to the input amp board, I need to add a 2-pin connector.

 

The power cable connects to the two pins on the board.  I plugged in the power adapter but there isn’t an indicator on the input amp so I don’t know yet if I wired everything up correctly.

 

I plugged the power adapter in to the output amp and it all seems to be working.

 

 

Now it’s time to get some signals into and out of the prototype.  I’m hooking up four 1/4″ TS jacks, two for input and two for output.

 

I tinned the tabs on the 1/4″ jacks then attached both wires.

 

They each connect easily to the output amp.

 

To get the signal into the output amp, I am using an RCA to 1/8″ stereo adapter plugged into the input jack on the board.

 

I also found an older knob that I attached to the potentiometer which I thought looked a little better than the one I was using.

 

The signal both going out of the input amp and into the output amp will require RCA jacks.  I have a pair for each board.

 

I soldered the wires to the tabs on each jack.

 

I made four of these, with two of them having plugs for connecting to the header pins on the input amp.

 

The input amp now has power and a way to send a signal out to the reverb tanks.  Now I need to get a signal into it.

 

The input amp accepts a stereo signal but both channels share a common ground so I shortened the ground wire on one of the 1/4″ TS jacks so I could attach it to the ground tab on the other jack…

 

…which I did.

 

I then attached a three-hole plug to attach the input connectors to the input amp.

 

The input amp is now all wired up.

 

I am using two different reverb tanks.  According to their spec sheets, the shorter one actually has a longer decay than the longer one.  They both take a single audio signal in through an RCA jack and spit it out the other end through another RCA jack.

 

I used a standard stereo RCA cable to connect to the output jacks from the input amp.  I then connected each end to a separate reverb tank.

 

I then used another stereo RCA cable to connect the output from the reverb tanks to the input jacks of the output amp.

 

I then turned everything on and tested it out.

 

The good news is that it works and nothing exploded.  The bad news is that when I attached the wires from the output amp to the volume potentiometer, I basically made a little radio.  When the volume is maxed out, it has a pretty loud buzz.  As soon as I lower the volume, it starts to pick up radio stations.

 

I tried hooking up another identical amp but without the potentiometer removed and it sounds great.  I tried adding ferrites to the wires to see if that would help but it doesn’t.  I’m going to have to try something else.

 

To make it easier to test with, I relocated everything to the inside of another storage bin.

News – July 24th, 2017 – New Sabian Ride

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Trent DavisOne Comment

This weekend I added a new cymbal to my setup.  It’s a Sabian Vault Custom Shop HH 22″ ride with a semi-lathed pattern on the top and a completely lathed underside.

 

I used it at our regular Sunday gig at McNallly’s Taproom (we play each Sunday from 3:00 – 5:00).  The band plays Gypsy Jazz so it was a good venue to try out this cymbal.  I added a Pro-Mark Sizzler to it to see how it would work and it performed admirably.  I typically use a 20″ Sabian Ed Thigpen Crystal Ride with the sizzler but this 22″ cymbal is my new favorite.  Tapping it with my brushes caused it to sizzle for quite a while and it didn’t get the annoying vibrato sizzle towards the end that other, thicker cymbals get.  It complimented the cut-down Wuhan cymbals well, although it made my LP Granite Blocks rather hard to reach.

The lathing and hand hammering make for a beautiful cymbal, but also of note is the pronounced bell.  I haven’t had a chance to use this at higher volumes yet but some preliminary tests show that the cymbal crashes well, and even though I’m not one who crashes their ride cymbals, I ended up crashing on it several times and I loved the sound.

 

I’ll post some video of the cymbal soon.  It’s got a nice satisfying wobble to it when you hit it and a nice, dry, smoky sound.

 

News – July 20th, 2017 – Studio Desk Plans

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Trent Davis

I think I may have settled on a final design for a recording studio desk.

This satisfies all of my requirements.

  1. It’s mobile.
  2. It doesn’t take up much space.
  3. It is self contained.
  4. It has amenities for both the studio engineer and the talent.

 

The plan is that it will be a desk that has all of the electrical and audio connections built in.  If you need to plug in an amp, the desk will have several electrical jacks.  Need to charge your phone while you record?  There are charging jacks for that as well.

There will be connections for power from the wall and ethernet into the desk, as well as a 5-port hub with ethernet jacks on both the front and back of the desk.

 

The construction of this might take some time since I haven’t decided if I want to make it out of cheaper plywood and cover it with laminate, or make it out of nicer wood and just stain it and add a few clear-coats.

What do you think?  Any suggestions?  What am I missing?

News – July 18th, 2017 – Apprehension Engine Build

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Trent Davis2 Comments

Several months back I discovered a musical device called The Apprehension Engine.  It was created by Tony Duggin-Smith for Mark Korven who is a film composer who was looking for some new sounds to use when creating horror film scores.

I’ve knocked around the idea for a while and I’ve decided to build my own.  I have experience creating soundmakers of this type, and I also have experience wiring up electronics in instruments, but I’ve never combined the two to create something like this.

My approach is going to be slightly different, however.  I’m going to be outputting a stereo signal, with each signal bus going through its own reverb tank, each with a slightly different decay time.  I’m also going to be implementing several other noisemakers that I have worked with in the past.

I’ll be posting detailed project updates as it progresses and a complete walkthrough when it is complete.

Check out the link below for more information.

Sounds of the Nightmare Machine

Horror Musical Instrument – The Apprehension Engine

 

 

News – July 1st, 2017 – New studio lighting

Trent Davis

I’ve spent the last few days installing some new lighting in my recording and rehearsal studio.  I have track lighting running down two of the walls but there weren’t any lights behind the drumset.  I added 5 track lights above and behind the kit and they are set up so I can turn them on independently of the other lights.  

 

This required some careful and confusing wiring.  I tapped into one of the electrical outlets and ran a wire up to the lights.  Unfortunately, this outlet was previously wired up pretty strangely, as you can see below.

 

This room was originally set up with a light switch controlling the upper plug in each outlet.  I changed it a while back so both plugs will be always on and the light switch would instead turn on the track lights on the north and south walls.  This particular outlet had 4 separate lines coming in, two were 3-conductor cord and two were 4-conductor.  This means that this outlet box had 14 individual wires for me to deal with.  It took a lot of trial and error but I figured out the wiring logic of our house’s previous owner and also figured out what I was thinking when I changed the outlets a while back.

 

 

I put red and blue lights in the cans and it adds a bit of a “live performance” feel to the kit.

 

Here you can see the lights.  You’ll notice right below the track is a light switch.  The wires come from the outlet below up to this switch then off to the lights.  I’ve decided that I’m going to change this a bit.  I’m going to install a 3-gang box and change the single switch to a double switch.  I’ll then put two outlets in the other 2 spots in the box.  One of the switches will turn on the lights and one of the outlets.  The other one will turn on the second outlet.  I’ll post an update when that is complete.

 

Is this something that I should do a write-up about?  Would this help you in your own projects?  Let me know by leaving a comment below and feel free to sign up for my mailing list so you will be notified when I post future articles and news updates.

 

UPDATE: July 2nd, 2017

I changed the single switch to a 3-gang box with a double switch and two standard plug outlets.  The top switch sends power to the lights and the middle outlet.  The bottom switch sends power to the right outlet.  I’m planning on plugging a fan into the right outlet and maybe some other lights into the center outlet.

News – June 15th, 2017 – Performance video update

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Trent Davis

The recording for the upcoming album by Bright & Shiny is progressing well.  I have been playing around with the video for a few songs and although it isn’t finished, I decided to share an early version of one of the videos.

I’m playing around with the title sequence and cutting back and forth between different camera angles.  Although the drum performance is pretty much finalized, the rest of the song is not the finished version.  Also, none of this has been mixed and mastered.

A few interesting things to note with this song is the use of some of my “Rescued Cymbals”.  In addition to the small chime cymbals that I use in pretty much every song, I am also using two cut down Wuhan Lion (or China) cymbals which are positioned above my two main rack toms.  I’m also using a 12″ Glennie’s Garbage positioned above my hi-hat.  This is quickly becoming one of my favorite cymbals.

Enjoy…

News – June 5th, 2017 – Recording Progress

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Trent Davis

Recording Progress – Bright & Shiny

This weekend I managed to get time to record two more songs for Bright & Shiny.  The two songs are titled This Waiting and The End Holding Your Hand.

I was particularly happy to get The End Holding Your Hand recorded because of how I go about recording.  While I am working on a song, I listen to it repeatedly while I drive to-and-from work each day.  I use that time to write out different parts and memorize the structure of the song.

Unfortunately, I don’t get many opportunities to actually record since I need to get the family out of the house.  This means that I may sometimes end up listening to a song quite a bit before I get to actually record it.  In the case of this song, I listened to it repeatedly for over three weeks.  As you can imagine, I was pretty damn sick of it by the time I got around to actually laying down the tracks.

When I record, I also film.  I am working on videos of each song to compile into a mini documentary on the recording of the drums and percussion for this album.

I only have two more songs to record then I’ll be focusing on the auxiliary percussion.

Here are rough-cuts of the drum performance videos.  The drum tracks need to be mixed properly and the track I’m playing along with is only a temporary scratch track.  I’ll update them when I get a final mix of the songs.

This Waiting

 

 

 

 

 

The End Holding Your Hand

 

 

 

 

 

These drum tracks are a little more sparse than I typically prefer but that is intentional since I needed to leave space for auxiliary percussion.

Here’s an example of a song with finished percussion, although it isn’t a final mix.

Soothsayer