M1 Tracking

M1 lays down the lead organ part for Seeing Jimmy.

Cool shot of M1's rig the wurli saw some action on the first session ofr Seeing Jimmy.

M1 Tracking

M1 lays down the lead organ part for Seeing Jimmy.

THis tune was one of those where M1 brought sent some lyrics and then a few days later we were jamming on the acoustic and the M3 in the Music room and we put the lyrics to a set of chord changes M1 had. The two fit well and Seeing Jimmy was there.

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Tracking Seeing Jimmy

Seeing Jimmy

Jimmy lived his life out
In the Sunset Ranch motel
Just a bit off Prospect
With pavement for a view

Surrounded by his litter
Magazines and trash
TV always on
Smoke streaming from the ash

It's not easy
To talk to Jimmy
It's not easy
To drink his beer
Always makes you wonder
What the hell you're doing here

A military veteran
Maybe never went to war
Crippled by dementia
Or dreams of something more

Mary comes on Tuesdays
To bring him his hot meal
She yells a little at him
But asks him how he feels

It's not easy
To talk to Jimmy
It's not easy
To drink his beer
Always makes you wonder
What the hell you're doing here

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Wurlitzer 200 Rescue

Another shot of the rescued Wurli...

Wurlitzer 200 Rescue

Hey the Wurli is ALIVE

Yesterday after I recovered from a episode of intestinal discharging I set to getting the Wurli that was rescued from disposal working. I popped the case via three screw under the front edge. The case was nearly fused to the wood base from years of no access...First I inspected....no burns on the power amp and the only problem I could visually see was that an aluminum guard that covered the dampers arms for each key showed signs of being bend. On the high side of the key board, the highest key's damper arm was broken. I took the aluminum guard off and found that the top four keys do not even have damping mechanisms. This looks like it is by design because the metal reeds that create the tone for the highest four notes are so short damping them would be silly. Check out the flash link from the keyboard museum that describes the Wurlitzer 200 action.


I removed the broken piece and then checked the action on all the keys. One small adjustment to the middle c and it appeared all the keys and reeds were in good working condition. A little stiff from lack of play but that will no doubt be corrected. The inside was surprisingly clean BTW.

I then set to rewiring the power. I took an old power cord from a computer and cut the end off and removed the old oval power cord connector on the Wurli and spliced the new cord in. I have a modern three prong power socket I could use but I did not want to spend a gob of time modifying the case to find the thing didn't power up. So I will add the nifty socket sometime in the future. Well I agonized about which wire went where...but that was easy enough to figure out with a mutli-meter to id the wires on the power cord to match them up with the green, white and black wires of the Wurli power. I plugged it in and put the volume knob back on the pot and turned the power on....

The light came on. No smoke or sparks. I heard a small hiss coming from the speakers....I started playing each key and there it is...that unmistakable sound. Super Tramp, The Doors, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Sly and Family Stone and Steve Winwood came to mind...I started off playing some goofy things that I do on the organ and I could hear and feel why this instrument is so cool. I quickly set to cleaning it up. I took fantastik to the plastic case and cleaned all the filth from it and then applied armour-all. Nice and shiny now a few scratches and stains but not bad. I then carefully cleaned each key and removed as much dust and dirt from the felts on the case and around the keyboard. I put it all back together and then sat down and played for an hour or two.

The sound is awesome, cranking the volume all the way brings out the character of the pickups and hides the physical mechanism sounds. The sustain mechanism works but there is no pedal and the original legs are missing as well. Replacements can be had or a simple keyboard rack would work.

As for the action. When the Wurli is off you can't really judge the action because the reed does make a sound when powered down but they only really sound when struck hard. The action is there when the power is one. A bit stiff but you can easily layback and play soft passages with ease. In fact it is surprisingly expressive and the touch is very intuitive. This is the real deal. I have yet to plug it into an amp yet but that will probably happen soon. All in all I spent about three hours playing and I could feel the action loosening up. Regular playing is the best thing for this Wurli. It will make a great addition to the upcoming Soul Amp CD.

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Vintage Ludwigs by M2

The Ludwig drum set used in SOUL AMP was purchased for me by my parents 2nd hand when I was 13.The set was like new after 5 years with it's first owner.



Constructed in 1970 the all maple,blue sparkle shells have held up amazingly well.This kit has seen literally hundreds,if not a thousand break downs,setups,and gigs over the last 34 years.It is a typical rock 5 piece set with a 12"x 9" and 13"x 10" rack toms,16"x 16"floor tom,22"x 14" bass,and a 60's era 14"x 5 1/2" supra-phonic stainless steel snare.Remo Ebony Series (medium weight) heads are used on all toms..batter side and resonant.The batter tom heads each have a "Dead Ringer" foam muffling ring applied to their underside.This gives the toms a wonderfully warm round tone with little to moderate sustain,and no obnoxious overtones.They are dynamically sensitive as well.The toms really sing when played at gig volume.No modification was needed for the studio.The bass drum is equiped with an Aquarian Super Kick 2 ply head.This head is self muffled with an integrated thin white foam ring around it's internal perimeter.This head is awesome.An Attack brand "No Overtone" head serves as the front man on this drum. It would make a very poor choice as a batter head,but works fine as a resonant. Contrary to it's name,this head wreaks of overtone.Live,this bass drum sounds HUGE.The tone,punch,and projection are amazing.In the studio,the front head was removed and the front of the bass was wrapped in foam insulation to help the mix.It kicks ass.The pitted old Ludwig snare has a Remo Ebony on top,and a standard Remo "snare side" on the bottom. Muffling is regulated by the stock internal damper.This drum provides a nice snare "pop" and an awesome cutting rimshot that is great for penetrating live. This old set of Ludwigs is a life long friend. If you're not happy with your crappy Pearl/Tama sound,ditch them and start looking for vintage maple Ludwigs.

M1's CX-3

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M1 plays on the new (lightly used) CX-3 just purchased off e-bay. The Korg CX-3 2.0 is a tonewheel generator modeling keyboard. Considered by many to be the defacto standard by which all other "clone-wheels" are judged. It basically has all the stuff you would expect a classic drawbar tonewheel generator analog organ to have in a digital package. So m1 and Soul Amp has got the real deal in the Hammond M3 though it is sans Leslie cabinet at this time and a portable B3 and Leslie in the Korg CX-3...

Sing Goon, Sing

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Actually this is a good shot of the MXL V69 Mogami and a MXL 990. We took these two tracks and bounced them together and created one mono 24/48 track that sounded very nice indeed. No phase problems or clipping as each track was kept low and then when combined we made sure there was no clipping. We could of just normalized one of the mic tracks but thought they were better together.

End of an Era...

P1010002
Originally uploaded by bodland.

M1 took his DX7 and EMU Proteus 2000 home the other day. He recently purchased a Kurzwiel PC2X Perfromance controller and a Korg CX-3. The DX-7 and EMU combo was a classic. He fitted the EMU with a the B3 ROM chips that helped to define the sound of SOul Amp. Now the Kurtz and CX-3 will be in used in tandom on a new stand. The M3 upstairs will appear from time to time in various tracks.

Control Table

More Shots from the Cat Box
Originally uploaded by bodland.

The central "brain" of the Cat Box. A simple setup...iBook G3 5000Mhz, MOTU 828 firewire interface, Mackie mixer and some sweet Mackie monitors, 250 gig firewire drive, CD-burner and a couple of directors chairs. Bring your own sweater...mixing sessions get a bit chilly.

Another shot of the M3

P1010092
Originally uploaded by bodland.

Here is the 1958 Hammond M3 at home in the "music room".

NOTE: The M3 "Arch" didn't fit down the stairs. It wasn't even tried. it can be used for recording though by running cords up the vent which is located just out of the picture to the left. The vent was modified to allow cat access to the basement and the adjoining living room. Thus the music room became a nice iso room. - Brad O.

The Music room doubles as a individual practice room and vocal iso booth. Wood floors, square room with plaster give this room a nice tight bright natural reverb. Great for vocals.

More Shots from the Cat Box

More Shots from the Cat Box
Originally uploaded by bodland.

Brad's rig...a modded speakerless Fender champ 12 wired into a Fender 2x12 closed back 8ohm, cab stuffed with the "big cage" 300w EV-Fender OEM Speakers.

YOu just can't get these speakers any more. No farty tone here. High gain creamy overdrive and the chimey clean tones...big an fat, warm and tasty - Brad

Shot From the Cat Box

Shots from the Cat Box

M2's Vintage ludwig has been residing in the Cat Box for a few months now.

Shot From the Cat Box

Shots from the Cat Box

Shot From the Cat Box

Shots from the Cat Box

Shots from the Cat Box

Pizza In The Cat Box

Here are M2, Estaban Blanco and M1 taking a break with some pizza
during a recent recording session.

In Loving Memory of Arch Aikman

Soul Amp's new vintage Hammond "M3" AKA Arch Aikmen

This saturday M1 and I are hitting the road in his GMC pickup with topper to fetch this beauty of a M3 in South West Indiana. It will be a bit of a haul but it should be worth it. The story on this little gem is that it began life as all Hammonds did in Chicago at the Hammond factory and settled into it's first and only home the Dugger Methodist Church in Dugger Indiana. FOr the next 46 years this organ was played a few times a week and kept under a canvas cover. This particualr organ was dedicated to "In Loving Memory of Arch Aikman" engraved in a small brass plate attached to the cabinet. We won't be removing this plaque. Think of all the weddings, services, baptisims and funerals this little organ saw in it's service to Dugger Methodist Church. I dug that.

I snapped this baby up as I am member of the Music Comittee at the church I attend, UUCW so I am familiar with the care that churches take when it comes to instruments used during service. So the scenario was the better than the "grandma" owned Hammond, at least theroetically.

For those unintiated to the qualities of a Hammond organ let me start by saying it is one of the most versitle instruments ever invented. The tonewheel sound of the Hammond has found itself in all genres of music, motown, gospel, blues, rock, pop, jazz to name a few. This model the M3 is essentially a B3 cut down to size and put in a spinet cabinet. It uses the same tube pre-amp and amplifier as the B3 and has the percussion, vibrato,chorus and familiar start run switches. The main differences are in the keys 44 as oppposed to 61 be manual and the M3 lacks the "harmonic foldback" feature. these lttle "baby b's" are farily easy to find but rare to find in as good of condition as I expect this one to be. While B3 consoles are going for the thousands of dollars now the M3 remain relativly undiscovered bargin. they can be had between $100-500 currently. You can even find them for free if you keep your eyes open. I expect these spinets to become increasingly rare as they have the Hammond sound without the back breaking wieght or wallet busting cost. M3's can be fitted with Leslie cabnet connectors and modified to have the "harmonic foldback" feature found on the B3.

The Hammond is making a comeback after fading for awhile in the 80's and early 90's but listening to alternatvive modern rock and pop you will hear it's unmistakable sound sliding up through the mix.

Famous recordings you probably know are Booker T and the MG's "Green Onions" recorded with a Hammond M3. The race scene in American Graffitti had this tune as the back drop. Boston's "Smokin" are probably the most famous of the pure Hammond organ hits. How many of us early 60's kids remember downing beers listening to that over and over again. Styx and Kansas the Beatles and a host of dozens and dozens of bands made the Hammond a indespensible memeber of the band. The synth replaced the sound and for a time it was lost. But the renewed intrest in pure tone and tube sound in our digital age as brought the Hammonds back.

As a guitarist this is the first time I have played in a band with a organ and it has been quite inpiring. The deep and rich tones of a hammond tonewheel generator goes well with the guitar both clean and dirty and provides a rich pallete of sound to lead over.

With SOul Amp being thick with Hammond Organ samples at this time it was a no-brainer to pick up the real thing for recording. The samples we currently use are at 16/44 and sound okay but seem to lack a genuine character. when captured at 24 bit and 48 kHz sampling rate.

So the journey begins and soon the little gem will be resting in the basement singing into a tube microhone and captured in 24/48 glory. I will keep you posted as to the progress of "Arch".

Click here for info on moving the Hammond M3

Click here for info on recording the Hammond M3 using the Zoom H4

Click here for a tune recorded with the Hammon M3 through the Motion Sound

Click here for another tune recorded with the Hammon M3 through the Motion Sound

Drum Re-thoughts and Guitar tone

M1 and I met last night to review drum ideas and test some mics on my guitar cabinet. We ended up going witht he single overhead and the lower right condensors with a AT3525 condensor deep in the kick drum enclosed in foam. The SM57 won out on the snare.

For the guitar we found positioning the microphone closer to the cones of my CBS black Fender 2x12 closed back cabinet. The speakers in the cabinet are OEM EV-12Fs. Classic 300 Watt monsters. The clean sound on these are awesome and the overdrive from my class A single ended Fender Champ 12 is quite early 70's classic. The amp btw...is a Champ 12. I modified it with various mods found on the internet plus a few of my own to warm the tone up and ease the gain in the lead channel. I plan on replacing the pots in the gain shannel to allow more flexibility in gain control...

Well anyway we set up a SM58 on the cabinet and recored a clean and gain channel track. Then we repeted with the MXL2001. What we found was quite interesting.

We played with exact position of the mic in relation to the speaker. Starting first on the outer third of the speaker and moving inward to the cone. The EV speakers have a rather lager silver dome in the center and we found that a position that allows the mic when pressed up against the screen to (about 1.5" inches from the dome) captured half the dome and half the cone. This gave a balance of the crispy grit of the dome and the smooth warmth of the cone. The dome alone would be too crisp and the cone was too muddy. Together they blend well. Lateral movements of less than a inch make a audible difference in micing these speakers.

The SM58 was rather lifeless on the clean part of the track. But when the gain was kicked in suddenly this fantastic tone emerged. SOunding like Crosby Stills, Nash "Road To Marakesh" lead. That liquid warm buzz. The gritty combination Sovtek 6L6WGC and 12AX7A-C Groove Tube tubes were smoothed quite nicely into a very sensitive and expressive tone by the SM-58. The deep end "cloonk" was there as well in the rich mixture of complex mid-range harmonic overtones. The MXL was the exact opposite. The clean sound with the MXL2001 close mic'd was rich and true to life. It sparkeled with a clearly defined pingy Fender style. Both the out of phase pickup settings on my strat which I use for all most all clean tones sounded most excellent.

Keeping in mind that these are all dry tracks 24/48 digital tracks shows that the tones we are getting are going to be quite workable in the mix down.

We learned alot about how we are going to tackle many of the recordings coming up. As M1 said..."it was a good night."

Next up...The 1958 Hammond M3. We are picking it up this weekend in Illinois....but that is another tale...

Drum Thoughts

I spent some time in the Cat Box (the basement studio) this past sunday working on drum sound. I set up a AudioDesk project called Drum Tests and recorded several takes using various microphones and postisions.

I ended up taking the front drumhead off and going with a dynamic inside on a piece of foam. The snare is handled by a SM57. I tried two different mics on the snare and found that the sm57 had the punchiest sound.

The moved the overheads down low and placed the MXL990 on the lower right underthe ride and next to the floor tom and on the left i went the MXL991 low pointing up at the highhat and snare. the thinking is that I will get a bigger drum sound and still have plenty of cymbal sound as they are grouped pretty tight. Also it seems that the sound is better coming out from the bottom of the cymbals rather that the top.