This particular entry has two main points:

1. Show how to use multiple instruments on one instance of a VSTi (in this case, Hypersonic 2 is used as an example)
2. Present workarounds that will prevent the user from getting errors that can halt productivity when using Hypersonic 2.

These two go hand-in-hand because #1 directly gives the workaround mentioned in #2.

Hypersonic 2 is a versatile VSTi that was discontinued by Steinberg some time ago, and one of the most sought after from our Production Vault.  For those who use Hypersonic who may have problems with it (those who obtained it from the vault have had issues) and use FL Studio, I have some workarounds on how to get rid of those pesky errors, including this one when opening your project:

Figure 2011-02-20/0: “There was an error loading the settings for the plugin ‘Hypersonic 2′”

When this happens, Hypersonic 2 defaults to the “Welcome to the Matrix” preset, and if you don’t remember what preset you used, you’re dead in the water.  This can also get very frustrating when you try to save a project with Hypersonic 2 and FL Studio will freeze then crash, killing your progress, or automatically crashing when adding Hypersonic 2 to your project.

We will go over two different scenarios.  Starting a new project, and modifying one that exists (and you possibly getting the error pictured above).  Now I know these can be a pain, but unfortunately, it is a discontinued product, and we can only do workarounds.  Once you get into the habit of these workarounds (some are good practice anyway), it’ll become second nature.

Starting a New Project with Hypersonic 2 on FL Studio

Whether or not you use Hypersonic 2, make it a habit to open one up first before any other VSTi on a fresh session of FL Studio; meaning as soon as you double-click FL Studio, add Hypersonic 2 right away.  I’ve noticed it conflict with other VSTi’s and crash upon adding, so adding it first gets rid of that quirk.

Secondly, (and this is important):

DO NOT ASSIGN NOTE VALUES (STEP SEQUENCER OR PIANO ROLL) TO HYPERSONIC 2 ITSELF.

That may sound strange to you, especially if you haven’t been using FL Studio for that long.  The correct way however to assign notes on Hypersonic 2 is through MIDI Out Channels.

This way, you can use different multiple instruments and only ONE HYPERSONIC 2 INSTANCE.  This method works for the other big multi-instrument VSTi’s as well, including SampleTank and Kontakt instruments, albeit with slightly different methods due to the differences in interface.

To make this clearer, let’s take a look at the Hypersonic 2 interface.

Figure 2011-02-20/1: Hypersonic 2 Interface

The highlighted area is where you would pick your instruments.  I know some people simply pick one instrument for this instance of a VSTi, then open another instance to use another instrument preset.  It’s a waste of DSP power, and considering how many high quality VSTi’s are resource hogs, you need all the processing power/memory you can get.

The correct way would be to use MIDI Outs.  By linking a MIDI Out to each of the 16 available slots above (counting “Welcome to the Matrix” in the first slot), you can control up to 16 instruments off of one instance of Hypersonic 2.  As I’ve said earlier, this also goes for SampleTank, Kontakt VSTi’s, and others, so bear that in mind when using other VSTi’s as well.

How do you do that, you may ask.

Figure 2011-02-20/2: VSTi Settings Button

First, we have to assign a MIDI Input Port on Hypersonic 2.  This can be done through the settings window by clicking on the gear icon on the upper left of the Hypersonic 2 window (other VSTi’s get this box as well).  Check the picture above for refernece.

Figure 2011-02-20/3: VSTi Settings Window

After clicking on the VSTi Settings Button, you get the window above.  Here, you will set the MIDI Input number to a number of your choice.  It’s defaulted with “–” and by changing this to a particular number you give the MIDI Out channels a port to reference when sending the input from the Step Sequencer or Piano Roll or from your MIDI Controller.  In this case, it’s set to 0.

Figure 2011-02-20/4: MIDI Out

Next, add a MIDI Out Channel, which is done similarly to how you add a sampler, or audio clip channel.

Figure 2011-02-20/5: MIDI Out Settings

Notice above how on the MIDI Out Settings there is a Channel setting (number), and a Port setting (number).  The Port should match the number you chose for your VSTi.  For example, if you selected MIDI Input Port 0 on your VSTi settings, your Port setting on the MIDI Out should be 0 as well.  The Channel setting corresponds to the number instrument you chose on Hypersonic 2.

Figure 2011-02-20/6: Multiple Instruments, Multiple MIDI Outs

Using the instructions above, we can use multiple MIDI Outs to control multiple instruments off of one instance of a VSTi.  In the example above, Hypersonic 2 was assigned a MIDI Input port of 0, and the “Soft Grand Piano” is on channel 1, and the “Brassy Orchestra XXL” is on channel 2.  The two MIDI Out channels, labeled “MIDI 1 – Piano” and “MIDI 2 – Orch” are set to play those instruments by setting their Port settings to 0, and their channels 1 and 2 respectively to correspond how they are assigned in Hypersonic 2.  You can test this out by clicking on either of the MIDI channels and play using your keyboard or MIDI controller, and you will notice that the MIDI Out channels are playing the instruments from Hypersonic (or whatever VSTi) as assigned and you no longer have to assign note values to the step sequencer or piano roll of Hypersonic.  All note and other settings can be done through the MIDI Outs.

PLEASE NOTE: Although you can assign notes and other MIDI values to MIDI Outs, you cannot assign MIDI Outs to go to effects.  Only the VSTi itself can be assigned to an effects channel in this case.

Modifying an Existing Project that uses Hypersonic 2 and Gives Errors

If you get errors, such as the one shown in Figure 0, the workaround is as follows.  Once you do this for your project, you won’t get these errors again provided you do not assign note values to Hypersonic 2 itself.

1. Upon opening FL Studio, add a Hypersonic 2 VSTi channel.  Make sure it loads properly.  This will prevent FL Studio from crashing when Hypersonic 2 opens in your project.
2. Open your project.
3. Assign the MIDI Input Port in the existing Hypersonic 2 instance (refer to figures 2011-02-20/2 and 2011-02-20/3 above) to a number of your choosing.  If you have multiple instances of Hypersonic 2 open, write down what instrument presets you used, and mark all Hypersonic 2 instances (except for one, which will be the main one we will use for the project).  Assign the instruments you had written down to the one instance of Hypersonic 2 (see figure 2011-02-20/6 above).  Assign the MIDI Input Port to the one Hypersonic 2 instance remaining.
4. Add as many MIDI Out channels as you have Hypersonic 2 instruments.  If you have three instruments on your once instance of Hypersonic 2, then have three MIDI Out channels.
5. Assign the Port setting in those MIDI Out channels to the MIDI Input Port number you used for Hypersonic 2.
6. Assign the Channel settings in those MIDI Out channels to correspond to the instrument you wish for it to control.  For example, if instrument #2 on Hypersonic 2 (assigned MIDI Input Port 0, for example) is “Lead Guitar Licks,” and you want one of your MIDI Outs to control it, the MIDI Out Settings should show Port 0, Channel 2.
7. Copy/paste your step sequencer and piano roll settings to the corresponding MIDI Out Channel so that the note values, velocity values, etc. will no longer be on a Hypersonic 2 instance.  They will be on the MIDI Out Channel instead. See below for an example.

   Figure 2011-02-20/7: Multiple Instruments, Multiple MIDI Outs

8. Once you’ve got everything moved properly, write down the instruments you used on Hypersonic 2, along with what number were they on Hypersonic.  In the example above, “Lead Guitar Licks” is 1, “Classic B” is 2, etc.
9. Once you’ve noted everything down and you are certain everything is moved over properly (notes and all), delete the last Hypersonic 2 instance, so that there are no Hypersonic instances whatsoever in your project.  All your notes and velocities etc. are all moved over to MIDI Outs so they will be preserved.
10. Save your project.  Your project should save with no errors.
11. Exit out of FL Studio.
12. Re-open FL Studio.
13. Add a Hypersonic 2 VSTi instance.
14. Open your project.
15. Add a Hypersonic 2 VSTi instance.
16. Reassign the instruments on Hypersonic 2 the same way you have written down.  All the MIDI Outs still have their port and channel settings, so your notes, velocities, etc. will still correspond to the same instruments as long as you have them assigned the same way.  You will not need to re-enter any notes or other information anywhere.
17. Save your project.  You should get no errors.
18. From here on in, all changes to notes, velocities, etc. will be made to the Piano Roll’s or Step Sequencers of the MIDI Outs and not on Hypersonic 2 itself.  You may also add instruments to Hypersonic 2 now, provided that you use a MIDI Out for each new instrument you use.  Remember: NO NOTES ON HYPERSONIC 2 ITSELF, ONLY ON THE MIDI OUTS.  I can’t stress that enough.
19. That’s it.  If you ever open up your project from here on in and get an error about loading the settings, just do steps 11-14 above, and only those steps ONLY.  Your settings will load normally, and you won’t have to reassign anything.

So that should do it.  I’ll be making a video to outline everything later, so look out for that if anything is unclear about these instructions.  As always, hit me up at moonshyne@moonshizzleproductions.com if you have any questions for me.

More to come soon!

-mnshyn

BY THE WAY: All figures can be enlarged by clicking on them so you can see them in full view.

So for the first go around, we’re going to show you how to add a simple DLL based VSTi.  To clarify, a DLL based VSTi is as self-explanatory as it sounds like.  It’s a VSTi in the form of a .dll file.  For example, reFX’s Vanguard is one file, Vanguard.dll.

Now for some Windows users, you may not see the .dll at the end, because your settings may not show them.  There are ways to set it so you can see it, but that’s beyond the scope of this tutorial.  In any case, if the icon of the file is similar to what you see in the figure below, then it’s more than likely a .dll.

Figure 2010-11-18/0: A .dll file

First thing you’ll need to do after extracting the file from .RAR file (http://www.rarlabs.com/download.htm if you need it. =]) is check where FL is looking for it’s VST’s.  I believe the default is C:\Program Files\VstPlugins, but just to be sure, we can check FL’s file settings to find out the correct folder.

So let’s start the show!

1. Start FLStudio.
2. Click on the “Options menu,” then click “File Settings.”Figure 2010-11-18/1: Getting to your File Settings

   

3. Check the path listed for VST plugins extra search folder.  In the case of the figure below, it’s C:\Program Files\VstPlugins.Figure 2010-11-18/2: The folder path to your VST’s.

   

4. Copy the .dll into that folder using Windows explorer.
5. Close the Settings window in FLStudio where you saw the folder path.
6. Click on the “Channels” menu, hover over “Add one.”  You will notice that the plugin you just moved in to the folder is not listed yet.  At that point, click on “More…”Figure 2010-11-18/3: Adding a newly installed VSTi into FLStudio.

   

7. In this “Select Generator Plugin”  box, scroll down to the “VST plugins” section, and with the list being in alphabetical order, you can check to see if your plugin is listed.  It most likely isn’t.Figure 2010-11-18/4: Checking what VST Plugins you have on your system.

   

8. Click on the “Refresh” button, then click on the “Fast Scan (recommended)” option.Figure 2010-11-18/5: Scanning for new VST’s.

   

9. It should show you that it found 1 or more plugins. Find the plugin you want to enable.  Since it is a new one, it is in a red font to make it easier for you to see.  Click on the box next to it to enable it.Figure 2010-11-18/6: Enabling the new VST(s).

   

10. Close out of the Select Generator Plugin box.
11. The VSTi will now be ready for use as a regular channel.  Click on the “Channels” menu, then find the VSTi you just installed.  In this case, it’s the TPS_module.Figure 2010-11-18/7: Adding the new VST(s) into the sequencer.

    

12. And with that, your VSTi is ready to be played!Figure 2010-11-18/8: The new VST ready for use.

    

That wasn’t difficult, was it?  So now that you know, you can head into the Production Vault and get yourself some VSTi’s!

More to come, as always!

-mnshyn

My attempts at recording acoustic guitar were always fine.  Never great, but they could pass.  Now that I have my own acoustic/electric, I figured I can try to figure out what way would be best to capture a nice, thick sound.

Recording direct (whether it was acoustic or electric) always sounded dull to me.  There was just a certain tone that was missing, and I could never put my finger on it, whether it was the missing reverb, or just the way the pickups were bringing in the sound.

With an electric guitar, you can always use plugins to mess with the sound because electric guitars are manipulated in so many different ways today that you can record something direct, then use effects to get the desired effect later.  This goes for distortion, overdrive, flangers, chrouses, and whatever else.

Acoustic guitars are a lot more difficult, because the desired tone and/or sound for a majority of acoustic guitar uses will be very similar.  The differences may come in the way it’s EQ’d, or some style of compression or reverb.  However, that particular sound of an acoustic guitar cannot be created or be the product of a manipulation from an electric guitar and have it sound that accurate (at least during the time of this writing I haven’t found anything that would do that yet).  Of course you can get VSTi’s that have acoustic guitar sounds, but where’s the fun in that? =]  Especially since, unlike an orchestra or a chorus, you can buy yourself a guitar and a mic to record with for about $200 (of course at the very low end of the food chain.)

With an acoustic/electric, you have a choice of either mic’ing it up, or going direct, or doing both.  Neither on its own for me ever fit the bill completely.  However, recording both simultaneously covered all grounds and got me the sound I personally was looking for.

Keep in mind also that I don’t have a state of the art studio, and I’m stuck with an E-MU 0404 Sound Card with two mono inputs.  I do have a Samson MDR6 mixer, which I thought would be useful for me when I bought it, but realized after I wouldn’t be able to simultaneously record four tracks and be able to manipulate post-session.  I could, however, use two mics and feed them through one mono signal or two for a stereo, if I so desired.

The final setup that I came up with that got me the sound I wanted was the following:

1. Ibanez Acoustic/Electric direct with the bass slightly up into a Studio Projects VTB1 Tube Preamp  into one channel on the 0404
2. Audio-Technica PRO37 small diaphragm condenser mic at the 12th fret about four inches away + Audio-Technica 2020 large diaphragm condenser about six-seven inches pointed at the third fret, going into the MDR6,  then into the other channel on the 0404.

I then compressed both recordings softly and gave both a slight reverb.

The direct recording captured I’d say about 80% of the sound I wanted, but the mics gave it that extra 20%; that character and natural reverb.  I then panned one 25% to the left, then panned one 25% to the right.

I think it’s pretty good.  What do you think?

More to come people.  Stay tuned.

-mnshyn

To help you aspiring (and already established) producers out there with your search, every week I’ll be posting up new sample sets to add on to your music!

This week, we start with a drum kit that has the folder name “Complete Urban Flava.”  These were passed on to me by my cousin Boy Gnyus of Gnyus Productions.   It has over 300 different drum sounds, and it should be enough to keep you occupied until I drop another next week.  Head on to the vault to download it for free today!

The MsP Production Vault

More coming soon!

-mnshyn

Some notes on the type of music, from what I’ve heard and studied:

1. The music feels like what should be played in a fashion show in Paris
2. Speed should be around 120bpm give or take a few beats per minute
3. Pads preferred as opposed to real sounding strings
4. Kick drum should be hard, same formula as the Guetta kick (see this previous post for the formula), but using a different kick drum to start that is less hard than the K034, on every beat
5. 303 type of bass going at every eighth after each kick drum to give more pump
6. Dance clubby saws with slides, if possible, are desired
7. Hard snares with the right touch of reverb, standard pattern at the 2nd and 4th beats
8. Percs are okay to use; nothing over the top; and they break the beat in different spots to allow for variety
9. Did not notice hats being used; at least not heavily
10. Song format would be pop like, possible use of a middle 8, and something repetitive and catchy for also about 8 bars to get in people’s heads.

This, like the others, if used by Speaks, will go on the Roll Call ’10 album.  Below you can find a lo-fi version with tags [for security reasons. ;o) ]  for your streaming pleasure.

More to come soon!

-mnshyn

It took a while to really figure out what to do to get that particular sound, but I think I’ve pretty much gotten it down.

It consists of three different parts.

1. “K034″ from the Deep/Hard Kicks set (I believe from Modern Beats?)
2.  EQ this kick around 150Hz, raising it, with a fairly wide Q,
3. Compress the kick: Threshold = -1.2dB, Ratio: 11.5:1, Gain: 7.0dB, Attack = 23.4 ms, Release = 2205 ms

At the end of that chain, that kick will knock you on your ass.  A few alphas before, I had a much higher gain, higher ratio, and faster attack.  This one sounds pretty good to me though; a nice pumpy bass sound with a nice kick in the attack.

One thing I have noticed in these songs is that some of them were heavily limited (limited as in the compression effect, not limited as in with a restraint).  Thing is, some of the versions I have of these songs are limited so hard that even the vocals sound pumpy from the mix.  They obviously all hit very hard, but the mix itself sounds terrible from an overall standpoint.

Hopefully, I’d like to try to get a mix of both worlds; get a good pumpy feel without compromising the rest of the mix.  If I can get the bass to pump and still achieve a favorable mix, then I’d say we’ve done a good job.  The pump of it all (I guess it’s what gives that fistpumping action) is part of the genre, I feel, and without getting that, I’d be betraying the sound we’re trying to achieve here.

So far, ADM and I have gotten a pretty good track so far, and I’m getting REAL excited about this.  We’re looking to work on Sunday to get in some vocals and get this song into the beta stages.

As always, I’ll make sure to keep you guys updated!

-mnshyn

The FoRcE oNe project has some interesting tidbits.  First off, the beat for this one as selected was a custom I made specifically for him in his interests.  He’s a big Lil’ Wayne and Young Money fan, so this beat follows that new southern sound with an MsP twist.   The drum pattern and bassline are akin to those found on their recent work, but the instrumentation and sampling is more MsP style.  Once some recording is done, I will post up a tidbit so you guys can get an idea of what we’re aiming for.  The second thing about this that I like is that FoRcE oNe will be spearheading the project, and I will just be trying to bring out the vision he’s got.  I’m trying to get him to let his creativity loose while increasing my producing experience in the sense of producing for other people.  Most of my producer work has been for myself, so getting a chance to produce for others (especially for uno because he’s only done one song on his own, this will be his second) is always exciting.

The beat is in Bb minor, and utilizes samples from a rare old school soul song called “Why,” as well as the use of the Hypersonic plugin by Steinberg.  Drums used were from the Sounds in HD kits that Boy Gnyus supplied me with, and of course the beat was created in FL Studio.  It clocks in at 140bpm, but will mostly sound more like 70bpm with that Young Money style flow that’s been coming from the South.

The second project that was worked on this weekend was the impromptu MooN ShynE/ADM/K-Maculate project that started earlier this evening. What we’re looking to do is something in the vein of what David Guetta has been doing these days as well as other non-hip-hop club hits.  So far, we’ve nailed down a decent club beat akin to Guetta’s recent hits such as “Sexy B*tch” and “Memories” with Kid Cudi, but once again, putting an MsP spin on it.  It’s a good mesh of styles as ADM’s electronic work comes into play here production wise in a big way, K comes in with some creativity as far as concepts, lyrics and vocals, and I come in with my lyrics/vocals and production work.  We’ve already recorded a small piece of the song that will fit as one of those catchy 8 bar loops that DJ’s should have fun with in the clubs.

The song is in Ebm, using a mixture of different drum kits we have here at Lunar Base.  We used Native Instruments’ FM8 for some synth work, as well as Vanguard for a gate.  We were using Cakewalk Studio Instruments String Section, but we may opt for a different set of strings (Hypersonic being a very likely candidate) as I’ve overused String Section to death lol.  We layered the kicks and included 808 bass drums to give it that extra push.  We’re also using the Izotope plugin called Trash (the plugin used to achieve Justin Timberlake’s voice in Sexy Back) to give it that real gritty club feeling.  Next week, we’re looking to do some more work on this, and I hope to have a sample for you guys to hear after that session.

All in all, a very productive weekend, and with other projects also in the wings, there will be more fun coming!  Stay tuned.

-mnshyn

If you have been following this blog, you’ll notice that the first ten blogs were about this particular song which took almost 2 years to create when you include all the delays (no pun intended) and the different versions and iterations.

Well here is the final song, in all its splendor and glory, [at 96k though, CD quality available from iTunes on March 1, 2010 ;o) ] and I hope you guys like it.  Considering it’s the first song where every active MsP member’s voice is on it, this is a very important song to me and one of the ones I’m most proud of. =]

Order of performers:

0. GnP’s Takewun on the prologue.

1. Cocoa
2. DiMpLeZ (MooN ShynE and ADM in the background)
3. K-Maculate
4. Less with a cameo by GNP’s Boy Gnyus yelling “Aiyyo back the f*ck up!”
5. Harmony Speaks (on the walkie-talkie, talking to MooN ShynE)
6. FoRcE oNe
7. Brian Bullion
8. ADM (with MooN ShynE)
9. Destiny Soprano
10. MooN ShynE

Some blog posts of importance to this song, for anyone wanting to ask about production techniques:
History of the song
Robot voice used for DiMpLeZ
Vocal notes for Harmony Speaks
Comp’ing Destiny Soprano’s vocals

Hope you guys like it. =] Remember, to get the CD Quality version, get it on iTunes when it comes out on March 1, 2010 when “Phase 3 – L.Y.R.I.C.A.L. Without Fear” makes its debut.

-mnshyn

So this is the results of the first second draft.  Not too bad.  The scratches you hear obviously won’ t be part of the actual song, they’re just meant as a tag in case somebody wants to try something slick.

Here’s the rundown of what’s in the recording:

1. Sequenced drums
2. Snares from “Hit the Road Jack”
3. Recorded drums, live: Beta 52 on the kick, PG58 on the snare, AT2020 overhead (mostly the ride cymbal with natural reverb)
4. Live guitar, Epiphone Les Paul Special II, direct through a Studio Projects VTB1 preamp with tube injection at 12 o’clock, through a Samson C-Com16 compressor, IK Multimedia Amplitube DUO on the Bluesy Combo setting5. Cakewalk Studio Instruments Bass Guitar (later to be replaced by an actual live bass [Epiphone Viola Bass])
6. ReFX Nexus on Ballad Grand Piano
I’m enjoying this so far, and I can see where I can take this and maybe add in some hip-hop elements.  I may employ the vocal talents of one Harmony Speaks to join me on this.  We’ll see. =]

More coming soon!

-mnshyn

My main issue with the recording was the fact that I forgot to change the preset on the Samson CCom16 Compressor from Aggressive Vocal to Smooth Vocal or just to bypass.  This caused her vocals to sound like they hit a wall, and I didn’t get the fullness of Destiny’s vocals.  That was my first conclusion, but by the end of the second session, I found out that wasn’t my only issue.

We met up this past Thursday to try to re-record.  Unfortunately, this time, Destiny had done her share of raising her voice a couple of times for various reasons throughout the day.  The result was Destiny’s throat hindering her performance.

Her part on this song (at least for the first half) was singing the first four bars of the chorus to “Alone” by Heart.  Anyone who knows this song and has tried to sing it knows that following Ann Wilson’s vocals is not an easy task.  Ann Wilson has a very strong voice with that definitive presence and the ability to reach very high notes.

Destiny’s presence in general when singing has a slight similarity in terms of strength that Ann Wilson does.  The notes on this half of the verse are relatively high, and after making quite a few attempts, we settled on a few takes, and moved on to the second half.  I wrote the second half, and it was slightly lower in range than the first half.  Problem is, however, after going at the first half really hard, she found it difficult to adjust to singing lower because she had already strained herself trying to do the first half.

To salvage the session, I ended up having to comp the vocals, using a combination of the first session and the second.

For those who don’t know what comping is, comping is taking parts of different takes of the same verse, and putting the best pieces from all the takes together in sequence so that it sounds like what would be the best possible take.

To do so, you just have to cut and paste the snips you need from the different takes together in your multi-track mixer on your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation [if you do your audio on a computer, that is considered a DAW]).  You have to listen to each take carefully, jot down which parts you consider the best, then do the actual comping.

Figure 2010-01-24/1: Comping vocals, notably track 2 and 3.

As you can see, what’s on track 2 and 3 are similar, except that track 2 has little snippets from different takes put together, and track 3 has a single instance recorded take.  Note also on track 2 that each snippet crossfades into adjacent snippets  slightly overlapped so that the transition between snippets are smooth.

Considering Destiny’s throat, this was the best option considering also that we were trying to meet the deadline for the 1/23 and a supplementary recording session would not be possible before deadline.  Also, because the takes from both sessions had very solid performances in various parts of different takes in different snips (the second session had 209 takes, each take having it’s solid points), it was very possible for me to find very good recordings of every phrase in different parts (it’s best to cut and paste by phrase, and not by words or syllables, because cutting in between phrases can sound choppy), and after comping, the combination would sound like a single instance solid take.

Aside from this though, there is still the issue of the recorded quality of Destiny’s vocals, as the second take also felt like some nuances of her voice were not being recorded accurately on the mic.  I concluded that it might be a good idea now to upgrade my mic to one that may be able to more accurately record Destiny’s voice and improve the recorded quality of others as well.

So right now, I’m eye-ing the Audio-Technica 2035, which is an upgrade from my Audio Technica 2020.  The Rode NT-1A is also on my short list, as well as one or two others.  I’m looking for the best mic under $200, and those two have been recommended to me.

Let the mic search commence!

Also, “Phase 3 – L.Y.R.I.C.A.L. Without Fear” was submitted today through TuneCore.  Looks like March 1, 2010 is the day we will publicly announce that it’s available on online through iTunes.  After five long years, it’s finally done! =D

And yes, there will be a Phase 4.  Tentative Title:

Phase 4 – Response.Redirect

As always, stay tuned for more!

-mnshyn

EDIT 8/23/2010: Phase 4 has a new name: SymboLYRICism.  Peep here for details.