Norbro

Yes, I was referring to the Pre 73 Jr. in the pic when I asked how you like the GAP 😉 What do you typically record through it - vocals, guitars..? Is it nice to run the input gain hot to get some drive and compensating by turning down the output? I am a huge fan of how saturation brings out harmonics so I'm always experimenting with how my gear sounds when it's being pushed into non-linear territory. When it comes to mics I'm a bit of a noob, I know of a few studio staples but have little experience in recording acoustic instruments as I'm a keyboard and synthesiser guy. However, since I'm into mixing I once followed an online Q&A with MJ's longtime mixer, Bruce Swedien. Apparently, the lead vocal mic used on Off the Wall, Bad and Thriller was the Shure SM7, which although dynamic like the 58 is a bit (but not that much) fancier. Wouldn't be too surprised if he used a 58 at some point though, many top artists have These days you can get a Behringer clone of the 57 (and probably 58) for € 30 or maybe less, and it's supposed to be pretty good too! Now I better get to work. Today I'm making drum sounds and loops. I hired a drummer through Fiverr.com to record a bunch of single drum hits as well as a few grooves for me and deliver them with separate files for each mic used. That way I can get different "drumkits" by mixing the tracks differently. Have a nice day, and remember to keep that highpass filter turned on to cut out the negative rumble of the world around us. ( 🎤 <--- this looks quite like a 58, by the way! Lol)

How do you like the GAP "1073"? I've always wanted to try a Neve style preamp. Once had an ART MPA 2 which was fantastic, I recorded nearly everything through it. Not a Neve kind of sound of course, I thought of it as my poor man's Culture Vulture. We had a Røde K2 large diaphragm condenser mic for a few years. It was lovely, but had to go eventually. Recently scored a trusty Shure SM58 for $30, can't go wrong with that one! For Zoom I just use the built in mic in my phone, however. But the sound from the meeting is fed through a limiter and EQ to even things out without distorting and to cut some harsh frequencies. One brother in particular has an intense voice combined with a very midrange-forward mic and it's almost painful. Pulling out some 4 kHz helps tame him 😆

Logic user here. Nice to see Irmantas and Jared here! Hope you are well, guys Any new music to share? I put a couple of my bits in the Music club earlier today. Are you on ProTools, Ilias? Noticed that other thread you'd started. I have never used it personally. Had a brief encounter with Cubase when VST was being introduced, but I didn't understand it. Then it was MOTU Vision DSP for maybe a year before my Logic-using cousin taught me the ropes with it. Have tried Reaper and Bitwig, also briefly, and I have Ableton Lite as it came with a keyboard I bought. Use it mainly for sorting samples, not much else. The warping is really good though. Are you mainly into mix engineering then?

Hope someone enjoys these!

Fostex is a solid brand. The fact they're 20 years old does not mean much when it comes to quality audio gear. Like you, I've had issues with earbuds not sitting right, and I don't like them much because of that. Music which has bass in it does not sound good to me when the low end disappears. Feels like I'm only getting half the experience. I did get some wireless JBL ones because I needed a handsfree set for my mobile and thought it would be nice if they were decent for listening to music too. They are good and sit fairly well as they have a soft part which you get a few different sizes of included in the box. They were about $70 Canadian (had to look up the exchange rate lol). Not the cheapest but my experiences with sub $50 buds and headphones have been poor. I am sure there are decent ones to be found if you do your research though (like you did)! Forgot to mention I have a JBL GO mini speaker which I use as an alternative reference when mixing and for bringing to the kitchen when doing the dishes. At $20 it's a steal. No bass to speak of, but it's quite punchy and I really like how tiny it is.

Nice info, Qapla. You have a lot of alternatives! Agree completely with the original post. I've been into music production from my early teens and 25 years later I'm doing freelance production work. My main cans are the Beyerdynamic DT990 250 Ohm version, which are a great set of pro-level budget headphones. They have served me well for about 10 years now. I've replaced the ear cushions twice and the headband is currently due for a replacement, but this is one of the nice things about a solid set of headphones - they can be maintained rather than having to be replaced entirely. A set of AKG 240's is also in my studio, but they really only get used when I'm travelling and don't want to bring the Beyers. They are surprisingly good for the price - I think they were about £30. I hope to get a set of Audeze LCD range headphones in the future. Very expensive, but if I can save time on second guessing mixing decisions they will pay for themselves. Speaker-wise I'm still using my trusty Adam P11A nearfield studio monitors which I purchased 15 years ago. They are 2-way with 7" drivers and ribbon tweeters. Quite clinical sounding, so coming from hifi speakers they feel pretty cold and boring, but they work well for audio engineering. For a while I had the matching Adam Sub10 subwoofer which extended the bass down to something like 25 Hz (!), but it became overkill when I moved into a much smaller space. Improving room acoustics is very important when you need accurate sound reproduction, so I've been focussing on that in recent years rather than looking at better speakers. Done a lot of DIY and my room is pretty good now except for a big problem in the upper bass range which I am hoping to solve by building some so-called limp mass bass traps. How about you, Vinnie? 🙂 Apologies if I went too far with my audio nerdiness...

Watch out for wolves in smurf's (smurves? 😅) clothing..

Oof, now that's funky! Fabulous. "Tuff" is my pick.

Very nice video Edwin. Hadn't seen any of these before. That YouTube channel is a great discovery for me, thank you! Thanks as always to @GrumpysWife for posting the daily text too

Yes, it is very important to be able to talk about doubts, etc. The problem is that if you have a public forum dedicated to such issues, it can quickly result in a negative focus and unhappy members fuelling each others' discontent. It is much easier to help a single person than a whole group at once. The elders do not gather everyone who has a problem and try to fix it all in one go. Everybody has different concerns and needs and deserves time dedicated solely to him/her without noise from the sideline. On the other hand, it can be difficult to ask for help, especially if one does not feel close to an elder. Perhaps it would be good if the elders had a weekly chat 'slot' that anyone could use. That way the threshold for speaking with them might be a little lower. Of course, it can also be very helpful to speak with an experienced brother or sister outside of an 'elder setting'. However, we must all be careful to avoid "enjoying discontent", i.e. having 'mates' who like to discuss things that bother them and feed off each other in this regard. It is for good reason the Paul told the Philippians in 4:8 that we should focus on the good and lovable things. Also, the elders regularly receive reminders in the literature about how important it is to be approachable and welcoming.

"The ability to resist temptation and to control inappropriate impulses is fundamental to retaining God’s favor" I thought of my kids when I read this. Two are diagnosed with ADHD and one is on the autism spectrum. All three are notoriously poor at impulse control, be it raging meltdowns or decisions made without considering the consequences. For any brother or sister with such a condition, while a diagnosis should not excuse an attitude of indifference, it is important to remember that we can only do our best to imitate Jehovah and his Son. He reads hearts and knows if we are working hard to please him. A lack of ability to control impulses does not necessarily stem from indifference or an otherwise bad attitude. How fortunate we are that our God understands each one of us!

Sorry, I should have been more clear. It was a long article about her how growing up in the organisation has "ruined her life", basically. No higher education etc. She had found a boyfriend. Sad to say it but I wasn't all that surprised, really. She had told off my daughter (who is a couple of years older, also in her twenties) after my daughter had said it could give the wrong impression that the pioneer and some of her friends planned to go out on town partying on New Year's Eve. Apparently my daughter was "rude" for "criticising" others. They weren't celebrating NYE, the pioneer said...but what would it look like? They did go out to party. I expect she has been reproved numerous times. My wife and I were also surprised at the cold shoulder we got when we met her out and about. We have health problems which mean we can't attend the meetings physically as often as we want to, and she treated us like we were bad associations.

Ouch, I knew they had to be in Russian but not that Jehovah's name has to be omitted. A sister in my previous cong had been to a convention abroad where some of brother Christensen's relatives (I think) had handed out information about how to write him. I was a little puzzled that it said scriptures are okay to use. Should have realised that scriptures from our "extremist" translation are not okay. Thanks for the clarification. Nice way to get the Cyrillic type down, too. We wrote the letters in Russian using the Latin alphabet as we were under the impression that Russians can read this way (similar to how Japanese can read Hiragana/Katakana converted to Latin letters) - but maybe this won't work?

This topic made me think about an experience I had a few years ago. I was revisiting a householder who had shown interest in the subject of why there is so much evil in the world. His house was at the end of the road on top of a long hill; it was quite the walk. This time I asked him who or what he thought is ruling the world. I think he said "money" or "politicians". In any case, I showed him John 12:31 and mentioned that many people answer that the world is ruled by God, but how could that be right when the Bible says that this ruler is being cast out? Then I followed up with Revelations 12:9 and asked if it had become clearer who the ruler of the world is. He did not seem to get it, so I explained it to him and asked "Doesn't it make sense that the world is full of problems if it is ruled by Satan?". This appeared to make him think, and he looked intrigued. I felt pretty confident when asking about a return visit; however, much to my disappointment, he declined. I prayed that his heart had been touched, but I don't know if it was. It certainly felt powerful when we read the scriptures together and the penny seemed to drop.If only he were more zealous 🙂

Much of it fits nicely already 😊 Lovely scripture. As for the topic, it always makes me feel guilty to think that Jehovah will reward me for doing His will. I feel like doing what's right is an obvious choice and rewarding in itself. It is not dependent on a prize. What's more, I certainly don't deserve one - never mind perfect life on a paradise Earth! It's too much. Too kind. I can never thank Jehovah enough. It is difficult to fathom. The only way I can make some sort of sense of it is to think of Him as a father who loves his children regardless of their achievements. Meditating on Jehovah's kindness makes me want to cry.