My friend tagged a photo of our band on Facebook, it was 5 years ago and we looked like a bunch of skinny high school teens. However, what turned us into writing series of comments on that photo is how people say about our music during our “musician” days. People like our music, although not everyone because we have a genre that does not fit to everyone’s preferences. Anyway, during those years as aspiring musicians, we managed to invest on some equipment both instruments and amplifiers for our mini home studio so we can play anytime without paying for studio rentals. We bought ebs amplifiers at guitar center, Ibanez and Yamaha guitars and other amplifiers for the instruments and making music is all we cared for back then until one by one, we have to face reality that we are having a big responsibility to our own families and having this kind of activity can be a very time consuming and not on the most rewarding side. Our past time changed into zero music and time flies so fast that we can only look back on some photos we had while playing good music. We still have those instruments and equipment at my place and maybe in the near future we can gather up and do some jamming.

I constantly browse the world of internet looking for something interesting to find. Of course, from time to time I look for something useful, something that can be a great addition to my home, or something I or someone from my home use. My sister, on the other hand asked me to look for a great keyboard at guitar center, although she does not have a budget for that yet, all she need to know is the price and how it can be bought. As a brother, I helped her looked for one although reminded her that she still has to save up for her laptop to be used in college and her passion in music can be set aside for the mean time. In my opinion, being exposed daily on browsing the internet can change a person’s timely needs and because of great offers from online stores, many are in favor of changing their plans into buying something seen online because it’s much cheaper and easier to find rather than visiting local stores. But for good thing’s sake, we bookmarked the keyboard found online and maybe in a few months time she will have her laptop and keyboard. A musically inclined architecture student she is.

I’ve been recording homegrown tracks from my desktop for about a year now and I made some few tracks but still not satisfied with the output. I guess my old recording module is not quite the best purchase I made but it did some fine tracks in my opinion. This time, I’m searching online for a good recording device and one of the best place to look for one is through musician’s friend and browse through their wide list of brands and products. From there, I found JamHub which is new to my eyes but certainly not an introductory product line. It is amazing that they sell their products on a good price while offering more than what other brands can compete with. Something like Jamhub Bedroom 5-section system, Tourbus 7-section, headphone extension packs and more. If I am on a mobile sound rental business, I’ll definitely but all of them but for now I’ll be looking for something best fitted for my room.

I’ve been working for almost a year now in my home, Looking for clients online and the likes but what makes it fun is that I am holding my own time right on my hands. Although convenient, the downside is I tend to gain some weight due to lack of exercise but that can be easily changed. In the morning, I log in to my computer and check on incoming email inquiries and while doing so, I turn on my audio playlist and listen to my music collection. Simultaneously, drink coffee and vape up, however,  feel the need to buy ath-m50 so while i’m doing all that, the music will just beat on my head continuously. Music kills boredom and makes me productive so buying a good headphone is not bad. During afternoons, I get to nap and do some chores and improvements inside my place, grab a bite with some buddies and groom my dog. In the evening, evaluate my work done and make some improvements to drive more client the next day. So basically, Music became my companion and helped me boost my productivity in a day’s worth.

I’ve been learning making tracks from my computer using only my recording module and a guitar, and I can say that it is quite challenging but fun at the same time. In the past, I needed my band just to practice what I have written but since I was able to acquire recording software, things got easier. However, I am now feeling the need to upgrade from this stuff to that. While I was searching the net, I saw a good music production software at music123 and not only that, they have tons of affordable stuffs that might come in handy for me. I’m also thinking of sharing that info to my DJ friend as they also have good DJ stuffs and enhancements that can be of interest. I guess I’ll be reading reviews for now to see what is the best one for my limited budget.

Stages are just plain stages unless designed to fit for the event. However it is a known fact that designing a performance stage is expensive, not to mention that for every performer, some stages requires different sets of back drafts. Hence, the reason why some organizers opted in buying affordable chauvet motion drape for their events. Lights, specially animated light shows attract people of all ages, and bundle it up with good music, drinks and anything useful, then the stage will be as great as a party starter. Motion drape can set the mood of the stage aside from the performer’s piece, may it be music, theater or dancing, these drapes is quite the all-rounder. DJs will surely love this  as they can control it as they please. With tons of animations and light show options, then this will be the right item for them.

Last year I bought device that can create or record my musical ideas complete with instruments for a band – only that, this is more on software-based device that can enhance the sound of a guitar tone. It took me just little time o figure out what to do and afterwards, the recording was just too good to be true and I managed to create some good tunes. However, although I was able to record my guitar tunes and layered with a drum and bass tracks, I felt that some tunes are overlapping. My volume looks good, and it sounds decent on my headphone but when rendered and played on a sterop, the bass eats the rhythm tracks and so on.

After some tweaking and a little bit of research the problem was solved. For the most part, the reason behind a unbalanced audio mix is the sample output being heard by the user. This means that in order to produce some decent, balanced sound levels, one has to have a good set of Monitor Speakers or much better if a Professional-grade studio head phone like AKG K271 MKII which can be found on AKG Musicians Friend for the specifications. Because sound levels differ from speakers or headphones, the key here is to get one balance sound on low-mid-high frequencies so make things easier and accurate. One everything g is in order, home recording will be a walk in the park – of course, you still have to know how to play an instrument at least.

I wish I have a room specially made for home recording. What I have now is a room with concrete walls with poor ventilation. That being mentioned, I just did some tweaking in my room to make it sound proof and yet a little ventilated so recording music can be comfortable. It is not enough though, the music is good but not that comfortable as I have expected. I think I need a more systematic ventilation and of course a good window for the air to come in and out to the vents, adding this up is a whole week of work. As for the window, I need a well made and beautifully designed swags to make the room alluring in a way that it will be good in he eyes. I think this one will be sited for the design.

What’s left for me now is to make this happen. Anyway, I did this before so installing another one will be better. I just realized that whatever room I stay with should be comfortable just like all of us wanted. A well natural lighted room with good airflow is more than enough to do the deed especially if the room should be multi-purpose room like a bedroom and a recording studio. After all, friends will drop by and I don’t want us to suffer a suffocating feeling which will greatly affect the musical ideas.

I’ve been playing guitar since twelve years old and that being mentioned, I used lots of pedal and simulators to satisfy my ear to create good sounding music. Not to be sounding proud or anything, I just can’t find the right effects for me. Although I tried a lot, the taste and feel just kept on changing from time to time. All pedals are great but somehow, one should stand out from the rest. I mean, just like fishman effects pedals Musicians friend has one of the raw sounding out there to date. The line up is a new breed and not only that, it comes cheap for its class but really packs a punch. It can be your best mate in playing live or just home recording.

One thing I like about these pedals is its simple, sturdy looking exterior. Nobody wants to peek on any pedals circuitry anyway because that is just not right, I mean, rendering the warranty void is not bright. Well, packaging is great as well and wait until you try plugging this in on your existing setup or just a stand alone setup. This can greatly help with your playing style. It has preamp, reverb, delays, imaging guitar effects and bass octaves. The ambience these pedals create is simply awesome. Other than distortion pedals and ear bending riffs, one should not take the aura and ambience of music for granted.

Ever since our sembreak started months ago, all I did was sit in front of my desktop for a couple of hours, smoke some, drink coffee and leave the house to enjoy a drink with my friends. After that, I go home so late that I also sleep late then wake up past the afternoon. I am not being productive because the cycle is all the same. I’ve been surfing the net long enough but ever since that day came, I became lazy to browse useful stuffs which I can share using this blog or help other by my reviews and insights on certain things, I no longer do that. It’s December already and I came to realize what’s the problem, I was too busy with things that are not important and I became too occupied by those things, I know, it’s so undisciplined for a guy like me with lots of responsibilities. I lost track of my blogging, updating, and writing quality posts, I guess I’m just too tired getting up with a hangover with what happens every other night on my head.

Writing this means that I came to realize that I need to be back on track once again. I’m done with my lazy days and now I have the complete urge to gain back my productivity and by doing that, all those useful stuffs that I left a couple of months ago will surely be on my system again. I don’t want that bum life anymore so I’ll do everything to keep myself on track and be more disciplined in the way I live. Now that I have thought of that, I think I did something more productive than what I thought.. it’s to bring back my old band Burn-Off Flare back together and revive our lost songs, now that’s something else.

Anyway, I have here a link that directs to my band’s purevolume account. I hope that you guys could spare a time to listen to it and please, don’t hesitate to make a critique about our songs (though sometimes it would hurt..lol :D) and help us improve it.

here is the link:

Burn-Off Flare EP songs