Recording

I use Adobe Audition for recording. For now.

I record vocals through an AKG C414 B-ULs microphone into a Black Lion Audio Auteur mkIII 2-Channel Mic Preamp direct into m-audio delta 1010lt cards - with two of these cards loaded into an old Win XP PC I have 16 track simultaneous recording.

 

Boards:

Mackie 1604 VLZ Mixer (nothing but problems, I hate it, but the mic pres are good). However, I only use it for playback/monitoring when recording: everything goes direct to digital and I use the PC's internal mixer, so songs never leave the digital realm. And because I always record at 32bit/44.1kHz, and I only use wave plugins (such as Abbey Roads J37 tape saturation and Abbey Road RS124 Vintage Tube Compressor) I get a pretty damn good sound IMHO.

 

Monitors:

Klipsch LaScalas my friend Paul Becker built for the studio that sound incredible, with a TEAC AI-101DA Amplifier that I love (which Paul also just gave to me, because he's the best friend a guy could ever have. And he's possibly crazy). He also recently upgraded the subwoofer with a horn loaded sub that compliments the LaScalas beautifully. Basically the best monitoring system you could ask for that I don't A/B enough with cheaper speakers because it sounds so good I don't want to turn it off LOL

 

Microphones:

AKG C414 B-ULs, Cad E-100, Shure SM 58 Beta, [7] SM 57's, Shure SM 81 condenser (for Hi-Hats and sometimes acoustic guitar), AKG D-112 (kick drum), [5] AKG C-418 (for horns and percussion), [3] Sennheiser MD 421 II (for toms), [2] MXL 990 large diaphragm (for overheads).

 

FX:

T.C. Electronic G-Major , T.C. Electronic M-One XL, Alesis Quadraverb, Yamaha GEP 50, Korg rack tuner, Heil Talkbox, a bunch of foot pedals fx (mostly modded BOSS, but I've got some distortion pedals like the Love pedal and the obligatory Tube Screamer - but not the Hendrix perm or the inevitable pinhole burns all down the front of my favorite satiny shirt), a T.C. Electronics delay pedal, A Big Muff distortion, a MXR Phaser, and a crybaby wah-wah.

 

Guitars:

Roland-ready Fender Strat with Vintage noiseless pickups and GK2 Roland Midi pickup (for my Roland guitar synth), Modified Kramer with Kahler super-tuner tremolo, Frankenstein style single DiMarzio super distortion pickup, a Takamine Acoustic and a very old acoustic Epi.

 

Basses:

Gibson Grabber and a Fender Jazz Bass Special that I removed the frets from and loaded with vintage P-bass pickups.

 

Amps:

My beloved Mesa Boogie Mark III Limited Edition, Gallien-Krueger 400 Bass head with a cabinet loaded with a 15" JBL and 2 EV 10" speakers, and a Fender Blues Deluxe that I did some mods to.

 

Keyboards:

Yamaha MODX7, Korg Triton, and an E-MU Proteus. The E-MU is also running the Proteus X emulator module via a Pentium 4 PC with 4 Gb RAM and it is sweet. The grand pianos are simply amazing.

 

Drums:

Tama Rockstar (with the Star-Cast tom mounts - it makes a HUGE difference suspending the toms by the rim rather than a mount on the side. The side mount just kills the natural resonance), Zildjian Cymbals (a huge old K ride, New Beat 14" hi-hats, an A 16" Fast Crash, an 18" medium crash that sounds kind of shitty live, but really good mic'ed, and a trashy cheap Wuhan China that sounds great), DW Double Bass pedal, and Ludwig, Tama and Pearl snares. Also LP congas and bongos and a bunch of percussion items like cabasa, fish, tambourines, chimes (all LP) and a cowbell (because).