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KCWM Music

KCWM Music

Featuring the DMCA-Free Rock of KCWM & Cold the Winter

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    • Guitars
      • 197x Session Les Paul Custom Copy
      • 1992 Fender Telecaster
      • 200X Squier ’51
      • 2009 PRS SC245 Ted McCarty
      • 2012 Gibson Les Paul Traditional
      • 2017 Gibson Les Paul Classic
      • 2018 Fender Roadworn ’50s Telecaster
      • 2021 Epiphone ES339
      • 2022 Squier Classic Vibe ’60s Stratocaster
    • Basses
      • 2018 Fender P-Bass Special FSR
      • 2022 Squier Classic Vibe Late ’60s Jazz Bass
    • Amplifiers
      • Fender Princeton Reverb
      • Mesa Express 5:25
      • Previously Used Amps
        • 1978 Fender Vibro Champ
        • Egnater Tweaker 15 Head and Cab
    • Pedals
      • Pedals
      • Pedals From the Past
        • Eventide H9 Max/Core
        • JHS Muffaletta
        • JHS Sweet Tea v3
        • Zvex Distortron
  • The Recording Process
  • D&D
    • My D&D Story
  • Contact
  • Toggle search form
  • My Guitar Amp Journey Amplifiers
  • A Nostalgic Purchase: MIJ Squier Contemporary Stratocaster Gear Talk
  • Two New Songs for July 2023 DMCA-Free music
  • To Friends Who’ve Said Goodbye – New Upcoming Single DMCA-Free music
  • Creativity, Balance, and Burn Out DMCA-Free music
  • New DMCA-Free Rock Music Coming in May 2023 KCWM
  • A New Song for a New Album KCWM
  • New and Sold Guitars Guitars

The Recording Process

I want to acknowledge that there are people who go to engineering school to learn to mix and master music. Outside of having recorded at a couple of said schools, I have no formal training. The methods I use to record are in no way the best way to record, but they ARE the best way for ME to record.

Can I provide a pointer or two to my fellow aspiring homerecording musicians? Yeah, I believe I can, and hope that anyone that stumbles across this and wonders, “How does KC record stuff?” finds this useful.

I feel like I’ve been on a bit of a journey over the last six years, and there’s a distinct difference between where I was when I started vs. where I am now.

Current
2017
2018/19
KCWM Vol. 1 & 2
KCWM Vol. 3 & Beyond
Current

Amps and Mics

The current setup records four simultaneous tracks in a wet/dry configuration. I utilize a Radial Twin City ABY and JHS Buffered Splitter pedals to do this.

  • Everything runs into a Wampler Ego Compressor
  • From there, the signal is run into the JHS Buffered Splitter
    • One channel of the JHS Splitter runs to a Focusrite 18i20 Gen 3. I then use Amplitube 5 to adjust the signal as needed.
    • The other channel runs out to a Radial Engineering Twin City ABY
  • Radial Engineering Twin City
    • B channel goes through my pedal chain and into a Fender Princeton Reverb
    • The A channel goes direct to a Mesa Express 5:25

Wet Signal

  • Fender Princeton Reverb + Cloudlifter CL-2
    • Sennheiser e906
    • Royer R10

Dry Signal

  • Mesa Express 5:25 + Cloudlifter CL-1
    • Shure SM57
  • Dry Signal direct to Focusrite 18i20

These four channels utilize inputs 3-6 in a Focusrite 18i20 (gen III) USB-C audio interface.

The benefit to this setup is that my microphones are static, with the exception of the SM57 occasionally being bumped out of place, but it’s easy to set back where it goes.

Pedals

While I do have some pedals that do not leave my locally made SIG Custom 12×12 pedal board, almost every drive pedal is switched in and out on an as needed basis. A Wampler Ego Compressor is set before the signal is split into the wet/dry configuration. The wet pedal chain runs as follows:

Varies
  • Drive
  • Drive
Static
  • MXR Timmy
  • Wampler Metaverse (BPM controlled via Disaster Area Effects Micro.Clock)
  • TC Electronic T2
  • CKLAB LSDelay
  • TC Electronic Ditto X2

Acoustic

For recording my Martin JCPA4 acoustic, I record three tracks. I utilize a pair of Rode M5 condenser mics, with one aimed at the soundhole and the other aimed at the 12th fret. The third track utilizes the pickup and runs through the wet signal described above and into the Strymon Iridium for “direct” recording.
 
I utilize inputs 7 and 8, left and right respectively, on the Focusrite 18i20 for the Royer M5 mics.

Bass

For bass, I record through a Fender Rumble Studio 40 via XLR. With the modeling available through the amp, I change the amp model and cabinet as needed.
 
While I can use the bass modeling in Amplitube 5, I very much enjoy having a bass amp in the room to work out parts and do not foresee going strictly digital.
 
The Fender Rumble Studio 40 has two XLR outs, one for pre and post processing. The post-processing signal utilizes input 2 on the Focusrite 18i20.
2017

In 2017, a couple of friends of mine and I recorded 12 songs over the course of five days. Over that time, we spent between 35-40 hours, and some of that time was spent writing parts.

I’d done something similar back in 2011, but in the span of that week, I only managed to get three and a half songs recorded. It was a pretty frantic pace to get things done, but we managed to get MOST of it recorded, but it’s a testament to how we all worked together. 

The Guitar Setup

We setup an Egnater Tweaker 15 head and cab on a tilting amp stand and used a Shure SM7b to mic it up close. Even at a low 15w, that Tweaker was quite loud, and we pushed the amp as
close to breakup as we could to get something we were happy with,
tone-wise.

Phase Issues
We stuck a Sterling Audio ST55 condenser mic about two feet away as a room mic. I’d used this mic for podcasting and really liked how my voice sounded on it, and I thought it’d be a good room mic. In practice, this should have added some a nice room reverb to the mix, but it ended up resulting in some serious phase issues that I was not experienced enough to easily fix.

What are phase issues? Imagine a sound wave a line that curves up and down like a wave. Sound takes time to reach the mic and even micro seconds of difference that results in a misalignment of multiple sound waves. When one wave is at a peak, the other wave is at a valley.

When this gets too far out of alignment, the sound waves start to cancel one another out. While this can be used for a cool effect, it has a very particular sound…one that doesn’t work when every track has this issue. I’d later discover that I could manually move tracks to help fix the issue, a very tedious process. I’d have rather just rerecorded everything than do that.

There’s a tool in most DAWs that helps alleviate this issue, but our phase issues were at a point where this simple fix didn’t do the trick, and actually made it sound worse.

Ultimately, my friends were still happy with what we got and, as six of the 12 songs were their songs, I acquiesced and didn’t rerecord everything.

The Vocals

We used that same SM7b for vocals and employed a device called a Cloudlifter CL-1, a mic booster that adds about 27db to the mic’s signal. The mic was a solid choice for the vocals, but an equally poor choice for the guitar.

The Room

We recorded in the spacious living room of the house, which had tile flooring and a tall ceiling. The living room was an open floor plan that spilled into the kitchen, the dining area (where we set the PC up), and the den. We used zero acoustic treatment. There were a couple of couches, but they represented a small percentage of space compared to everything else.

It wasn’t good, at least not in my opinion, and I’ve never been happy with the way almost every guitar part recorded, and that sentiment is what led me to start reevaluating how I recorded guitar.

The Happy Accident

It didn’t take long before we came across our first hiccup, though it was quickly resolved. After recording vocals for the first song, we switched the SM7b back to the guitar amp. I started playing guitar to get levels and my friends said, “Uh, we can’t get it to stop clipping”.

Turns out, we’d left the CL-1 plugged in, so even with the gain on the audio interface turned down all the way, we were adding that 27db to the already loud signal.

As we remedied our error, I thought, “Can I not use the CL-1 to boost the signal of an amp set to bedroom levels to artificially recreate the volume needed to record guitar?”

2018/19

2018

In March of 2018, I’d become disenchanted with the Egnater Tweaker 15. I considered buying another Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue, but balked at the 22w and space it took up.
 
After speaking with my Sweetwater rep, I decided a Fender Princeton Reverb, but one with a 12″ speaker, was a good fit, and was reason to look at redoing a couple of the Low-Fi, Nice Try songs I played all of the guitar parts on.
 
I also decided to try putting the Cloudlifter in front of a Sennheiser e609 and rerecorded “Juilliard” and “Ghost”. We’d eventually add the atmospheric guitar part on “Doing it Right” utilizing this setup as well.
 
My experiment 100% worked, but there was a tiny catch. The extra db amplified the sound my pick made against the strings; however, that sound sits in the same frequency of a hi-hat and gets completely covered up in a mix. Catch caught.

2019

Starting with the end of 2018 and running into 2019, I opted to completely rerecord the six song the Skylines and the Horizon EP. I’d talked to a friend of mine about my plan of using two mics to record guitar and he bought me a Cloudlifter CL-2. 
 
I added an MXR R144 in addition to the e609 and boosted it with a Cloudlifter clone called the Simply Sound SS-1. To my ears, it’s an identical clone and cost about 1/3 of the price. The guitar tones I’d captured were a step up from the three Low-Fi, Nice Try songs I’d redone.
 
Normally, to get a really rich, fat guitar tone, you record the same guitar part twice. The little differences coupled with the right balance of the two guitar parts make for a noticeable improvement.

Some people use the short cut of taking the same track, copying it, and EQing it a little difference. However, since the underlying recording is still the same, in the hands of most bedroom producers, it just makes the part louder.
 
The method I employed, and continue to employ, isn’t the same as truly double tracking a guitar part, but it’s not the same as taking the same thing and dressing it up differently. There’s an added layer of texture, especially when employing two very different mics.
 
I have, however, double tracked guitars for “All the Feels”, “Once Every Twenty-Five Years”, and the recent release “To Those Who’ve Said Goodbye”. The latter of the three involved a full four-mic recording for both double layered guitar parts (choruses and solo at the end)
 
At the end of 2019, I bought a Sennheiser e906 for $100 new and replaced the e609.
KCWM Vol. 1 & 2
In 2021, after streaming on Twtich and using DMCA-free music, which was primarily Lo-Fi, EDM, and Synthwave, I wanted something that was more my cup of tea. Don’t get me wrong, that stuff is great, but it’s not want I want to listen to, especially when I played games like Minecraft that didn’t have a constant soundtrack. I checked into the DMCA-free rock music and it wasn’t what I wanted. I thought, “I like what I write, so why don’t I write and release DMCA-free rock music?”
 
By this time, I’d acquired a couple of things that would further change my approach: a 1978 Fender Vibro Champ and a friend of mine had bought me a Cloudlifter CL-2, which was basically two CL-1s in one enclosure. I now had four mic-booster channels, four mics (I’ve had a Shure SM57 since 2004), and three amps to spread them across. Here’s how that setup went:
 
  • Fender Princeton Reverb: CL-2
    • Sennheiser e906
    • MXR R144
  • Fender Vibro Champ: CL-1
    • Shure SM57
  • Egnater Tweaker 15 head/cab: SS-1 (in-line version)
    • Sennheiser e609

I then play around with the levels of the four signals until I get a tone I want. I’d pick two of the tones I liked the combination of and use the other two as supplemental tones. I eventually found the SM57 on the Vibro Champ was pretty bright and nasally, so it was rarely ever a featured amp on any track.

Since I’d use the same 4 mics on the same 3 amps, I’d make sure that the 2nd or 3rd guitars featured a different combination of tracks. That, coupled with different drive pedals and different guitars gave me a good bit of variety.

KCWM Vol. 3 & Beyond

Replaced the MXR R144 with a Royer R10

Although I was pleased with the guitar tones I got through Volumes One and Two, I’d come to see the MXR R144 as a weak spot in my mic lineup and wanted to replace it. I really wanted a Royer 121 but those are extra expensive, so I opted for it’s cheaper brother, the R10. While the R144 had become a 100% supplemental mic, the R10 is one that I continue I always feature, sometimes as the sole lead mic.

I would finish recording Volume Three with the R10 taking over somewhere around “Translucent Subdivide”.

Goodbye Vibro Champ, welcome to the Mesa Express 5:25

For a long time, I’d wanted to own an amp and guitar from my birth year. I fulfilled that by owning the Vibro Champ, and while it’s a great bedroom amp, I was never happy with the way it recorded, at least with the way I record guitar. Perhaps I could bought a bigger enclosure to upgrade the 8″ speaker to a good 12″, but that would have added to the cost of the amp.

Some time after I wrapped Volume Three, I went through a pretty severe bout of burn out. During this time, I reevaluted every instrument, amp, and pedal I owned. I came to the conclusion that it was time to find the Vibro Champ a new home. I thought about letting my youngest take it over, but opted to buy her a Fender Champion 20, and opted to sell the Vibro Champ.

With the money I made from the sale, I was able to buy a Mesa Express 5:25. I am absolutely, 100% over the moon about that decision. If I’m being totally honest, I’m tempted to make the Express 5:25 my “main” amp over the Fender Princeton Reverb.

Hello Strymon Iridium, so long little Tweaker 15.

My ol’ reliable Tweaker 15 had already been demoted after I’d bought the Fender Princeton Reverb, but after a serviceable 13 years, I put it up for sale and used the proceeds to buy a Strymon Iridium pedal, which is an “amp in a pedal” that has controls similar to an amp, three different amp models: a Fender, Marshall, and Vox, and different speaker simulations for each model.

In doing this, I also gave myself a path to run my acoustic guitar through my effects chain without having to rely on mic’ing my amps too.

This actually worked out quite well because I’d also randomly stopped in a local pawn shop and picked up a set of Royer M5 small condenser mics for mic’ing my acoustic. These, and the Iridium, were first put to use in the single “Go On”.

No more massive pedal board

I purged a lot of pedals. While I still have a fair number of a pedals, I reduced my collection by half. I now have a single 12×12 board that has a few mainstays and swap the drive pedals out as needed. I did also sell all of my delay pedals and picked up a Wampler Metaverse.

I also run a wet/dry signal now using a Radial Twin City ABY pedal. The signal goes through an Wampler Ego Compressor and then splits as follows:

  1. the dry signal to the Mesa Express 5:25
  2. the wet signal goes through the remainder of the pedal board and gets split between the Fender Princeton Reverb and the Strymon Iridium
If I want to add delay or other effects to the dry signal, I can do so via a plugin in Studio One.

Instagram

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Remixing the first 7 songs from Volumes One and Tw Remixing the first 7 songs from Volumes One and Two is coming along. 

Some songs sound better after the first attempt, some require a tweak or two, and others require whole new parts be recorded. 

I still need to re-record “Octivation”, “Lost It All In Factory”, and “Let’s Get Behind Them” for different reasons. 

I’ve learned a lot between the beginning of this whole process and now, and you can hear the difference in the originals vs. the remix. 

Want access to listen to the remixes? DM me and let’s talk about it. I’d love to talk about the process and hear your feedback.
During the 9/13 @pearljam show, we were treated to During the 9/13 @pearljam show, we were treated to Eddie Vedder dressed up as a mirrorball and a story behind the jacket and helmet for “Wishlist”. I recorded very little during the show, but him spinning around was too good to pass up. I tried to catch it on the big screen but only caught a moment of it.
I worked out two separate trades on Sunday that in I worked out two separate trades on Sunday that involved a #strat as part of the deal. Funny thing is that the #stratocaster is not my favorite type of guitar to play, but both were interesting. This doubled the number of strats I have.

1) The red #Fender is made up of parts from Fender guitars, but I do not believe that any parts are from the same guitar. 

• The body is refinished matte red with some roadworn-ish type relicing, which is just gold underneath...maybe the original color?

• Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups with a Clapton mid-boost mod. It sounds really good. 

• Neck is from a 2013 MIM Floyd Rose Fender. It's a really nice, comfortable neck. 

• Thick solid steel block. It has excellent sustain

If I keep this one, it will get some Fender Locking Tuners

2) The black one is a #Squier Affinity Strat, but it's not a normal Affinity. It's a 1997 model, the first year they offered the Affinity line and it's a full-sized, hardwood (likely Alder) body with a 22-fret rosewood neck. It's a pretty nice neck, especially for a Squier. 

It's hefty for a strat too...it's not light like so many of the Squier Affinity line. Having that full-sized body adds some weight. 

The pickups leave a bit to be desired, which is par for the course with the Affinity line, but this guitar would make a great modding platform for someone interested in doing so. 

Heck, if that red one hadn't come through and I didn't already have two other nice strats (both Squiers, interestingly), I'd likely look to make some modifications.

----

In the end, I will take time to consider whether I like the red partscaster or my Squier Classic Vibe '60s strat more. Whichever one wins gets the Vintage Noiseless. Clapton mod, and stainless steel block (as long as it fits the Squier). 

I have some decisions to make.
New upgrade for KCWM music purposes. Next recordin New upgrade for KCWM music purposes. Next recordings will feature this 2004 Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr. 

#NAD #newampday #drz #maz18 #guitar #guitaramps
Back in '95, my grandmother bought my first real e Back in '95, my grandmother bought my first real electric guitar from a pawn shop in the small town I grew up in. I think we paid $85 for it with a hard case. 

I played that guitar a lot, its pictured with me in the Jazz Band photo from my junior year (covered in a ton of stickers...so classy), and I recorded songs with it. 

When the electronics started to die, I wasn't as knowledgeable in what could be repaired and I junked it. I sold the parts and moved on. It wasn't until years later that I realized what I'd given up and I've often priced them, but never pulled the trigger. 

Yesterday (7/19/23), this popped up on Facebook Marketplace from a local shop. At first, I thought it was interesting and didn't intend on buying it, but after giving it some thought, I went and did just that. 

This was a bit of a nostalgic purchase. If I named my guitars, this one would be called Dot or Syb (short for Sybil), after my grandmother.

This Squier Contemporary Strat (27-6800) was made from '84 - '87 in Japan. From the info I've gathered online, it's a 24.75" scale instead of the normal 25.5" Fender Scale. The pickups each have an on/off switch so you can turn all three on at the same time, and the humbucker has an on/off/coil-tap switch. The tuners are Fender-branded Gotoh. 

It has some definite wear and tear, but I don't care. 

You'll definitely be hearing this on some upcoming songs, as I intend for it to split time with the tele I use for lead parts, as I did with the modified Squier '51 it's replacing did. 

Anyone in the DFW area looking for a cool modified Squier '51? 

#guitar #fender #squier #stratocaster #strat #fenderjapan #mij #ssh #rock #kcwmmusic #dmcafreemusic #dmcafreerock #nostalgia
I need to clean up my desk a bit more but I just r I need to clean up my desk a bit more but I just replaced my two 1440p monitors with this 34” ultra wide. I’m able to see every track on the mixer of Studio One 5 and so much of Superior Drummer 3. It’s so awesome.
Ignore the number of takes it took me to get secti Ignore the number of takes it took me to get sections of power chords done, but that KOT in the track names represents a @munnymanpedals Knock Out Tone I recently acquired. Paired it with my (maybe) 70s Session Les Paul copy for a great tone for a rhythm track. The track without it is a dry signal to my Mesa Express 5:25. 

I just uploaded a new song for release and the one pictured should be coming in the next two weeks. That will make 3 of the 14 songs I hope to write and release for 2023.

You can give the new track a listen at https://on.soundcloud.com/WYiEr and hear that KOT in the left channel during the choruses, bridge, and ending.

#munnymanpedals #rock #dmcafreemusic #guitar #guitarpedals #supporlocal #dfwpedalmakers #homerecording
Here’s a close up of the pickups in my 1992 Fend Here’s a close up of the pickups in my 1992 Fender Telecaster. 

I used to have a set of GFS Power Rock pickups, but I felt like the output started to wane on the neck pickup. 

I’ve been fascinated with mini humbuckers after talking about putting them in my PRS SC245 Ted McCarty. After learning that the p90s in that guitar are Seymour Duncan’s, I opted to install a Seymour Duncan Antiquity II in this one. 

It’s a good mix of more oomph than a single but not quite the same as a full-sized humbucker. 

The bridge pickup remains a GFS Power Rock, and the one I use for most of my lead work. GFS pickups may be hit or miss, but these have been a home run from day one. 

Lastly we have the Fishman VT Powerbridge. This piezo pickup adds such a great tonal option into the mix. I often roll the volume of that pickup down to half to mix in a bit of brightness to the mini hum. I’ve used this to supplement my acoustic guitar on tracks.
You can see the discoloration between the 1st and You can see the discoloration between the 1st and 7th frets where I most often play this guitar. It’s the one I’ve owned the longest. @bigjohnsguitars set up and refrettedthis #telecaster in 2010. It’s required a tweak or two here and there, but it’s been the slightest of tweaks. The neck, body, and Fishman VT Power Bridge are original, and everything else has been modified. 

It’s my number one and what I do most of my writing on.
I’ve been sharing these videos on TikTok, and I’ve been guilty of getting stuck on the name that’s on the headstock. I now have a handful of “cheap” guitars that I feel are competitive with their more expensive counterparts, especially with a good setup by @bigjohnsguitars 

I sold a 1995 USA Fender Strat and kept this Squier Classic Vibe ‘60s Strat. We put some Texas Specials in it and John wired it up with a 6-way switch. I used this in the left channel of my most recent single, “To Those Who’ve Said Goodbye”, the song that you hear in the background. 

I took a minute to talk about this guitar but could easily talk more about how it plays, how it felt right out of the box, the changes I’ve made and others I want to make, and plenty else. 

#guitar #fender #stratocaster #strat #guitarsofinstagram #kcwm #dmcafreemusic #cheapguitars #squier #squierguitars #bigjohnsguitars
New single, artwork by @cotiecat. Hoping it will b New single, artwork by @cotiecat. Hoping it will be live on Spotify, YouTube, etc by mid-week. 

In light of the recent passings of our resident matriarch, Frau, and Cotie’s Kuwabara crossing the rainbow bridge, i thought it fitting to honor them both, and Chiclet as well. This song is dedicated to their memory, as well as anyone else who’s lost a pet at any point in time. 

This is the first single of 2023 and I hope to release 5-6 more that I’ll collect in the form of an EP in addition to remixing, rearranging, and rereleasing my previous 3 albums and 4 singles into two 14-song albums. 

I have to find balance between music and D&D. That’s my current goal for this year…creative balance.
Started posting videos about my instruments, amps, Started posting videos about my instruments, amps, and pedals I use to record music. I started off with my 1992 Fender Telecaster that’s my go to when it comes to lead parts for almost every song I’ve ever recorded. Hard to say everything I want to about this guitar in a 1 minute video. #guitar #guitarsofinstagram #fender #tele #telecaster #seymourduncan #gfs
Stripped some ghouls, skeletons, and cultists usin Stripped some ghouls, skeletons, and cultists using LA Totally Awesome and redoing them for uniformity using a rough slapchop paint job. 

I love putting color on the tabletop for my #dnd sessions, and have a soft spot for some cultists. 

There are some unpainted buddies there, one of which is my kid’s mini. Focus here is for some minion-esque baddies to sponge up some action economy. 

My players still steamroll my encounters.
Trying out the slapchop painting method for some # Trying out the slapchop painting method for some #tabletopquality orcs to use in a #dnd session. 

The three taller archers are from one of the 4e dnd board games and the others are Reaper minis, though the three squat orcs aren’t my favorites. 

I do wish I’d spent more time choosing colors for them instead of gray fur with gunmetal, but they work for what I need them to do: sit on the table in color rather than white plastic.
@totalpartychill saw your TikTok about the small m @totalpartychill saw your TikTok about the small mat, and while I love the big one, it doesn’t quite fit the normal setup we have. The small one should be perfect. Looking forward to getting it
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