Yarr, i was figuring that if i bought the car, we might be able to meet up when i returned a week or so later with plates to pick it up/drive it home.

As it turned out though, i won't be buying it(though i came really close, against my own instincts, which eventually took over and steered me right. It is hard to walk away from something you have gone so far out of your way to acquire.) it wound up being a whole big pile of nice parts, kind of all put together wrong. Was totally worth the asking price in parts involved, just, i am looking for a car that i don't have to take apart+re-assemble before it goes properly. I already have plenty of those. Also, a basically "brand new" transmission, probbably shouldn't have a scruanchy syncro going in to second gear.

If i head out for any more of such shenanigans, i will most likely not be doing it as last minute as this trip was, and i will be sure to get a bit more advance plannin' in foar such meetings to occur. Coffee is good.

Sooooo, I went to this class today. And I was expecting a bunch of people or whatever, ya know, right? No.



It's just me and Keith Motherfucking Merrow hanging out and asking questions as Andrew Wade broke down the basics of recording guitars for 7 hours. Today was preparation to recording, editing and a bunch of really basic stuff. Tomorrow is reamping and mic placement and all that. Today's session lasted like 6 hours, excluding all the breaks we took every hour and a half. It's really, really, really weird and awesome. I was bullshitting with Mr. Merrow about all kinds of stuff, it was truly bizarre. I guess he is doing an album with Jeff Loomis, Alex Webster and Alex Rudinger and is currently preparing for tracking. I have no idea if I would even really like it, but goddamn that is an impressive array of musicians.

And I've got that internship. My job will basically be serving as Finn's right hand man and working on planning and arranging these classes plus a lot of other probably not so fun or interesting desk work.. Not that I give a shit! I guess I will be getting 30-40 hours a week and this place has awesome (free) food out all the time and it's just all in all really nice and fancy and trippy to be in. I guess I would be the first intern to ever work there.

Anyways, this is basically me right now:

That is just straight up fantastic, captain cam.

Concurred. That is about as swell a swell thing as could have swollen.

Gee, I'd love an educational recording experience.

Speaking of... my slam band done started tracking their EP. Carlos' Roland kit plus live cymbals sound SO GOOD, ughghghg. I barely have time lately to track my guitars, though. You better believe I crushed the room mic with Eric's DBX.

I've been having conversations with people about how unpaid internship is a swindle plaguing my generation; I don't think that shit was normal a decade or two ago. The current climate of desperation allows for people to charge the one thing lower than minumum - nothing at all. For 'experience'. Fucking bullshit.

Yet I've been doing volunteer work with an electrician lately, so I just totally sold the fuck out.

Fuck Cam, your life rocks right now.

I am going to get to hang out with Kurt Ballou in February.



*drops mic and walks away*

Okay, fuck you man.

Yes, fuck me straight to hell. Again: This is really, really, really weird. I can only assume that I will be dead in a couple days.


On another note, Andrew and Keith are really nice and cool guys. Learned a lot of interesting stuff from both of those guys, stuff that was not on those instructional videos. They were really open to me asking them questions (largely because I am not some fanboi fucking weirdo motherfucker, I assume) and were very conversational. It was super rad.

SO share some knowledge brough.

Alright, just some basic sorts of things I found fairly fascinating:

Andrew Wade prefers the original 57 despite having a honeymoon period with the Beta 57.

Both Andrew and Keith (unbeknownst to each other) both have effectively used this weird technique of using the primary amp tone in conjunction with a majorly low passed DI tracks. And when I say DI, I mean like dead clean straight into the board without any distortion or anything. They both shared this information having not heard of anyone else ever mentioning this technique or using it. Both thought it was pretty funny the other had come to the same conclusion in isolation, and the technique sounds really cool. I heard it both in and ouside of a mix, seemed a totally plausible solution for unsatisfactorily beefy guitar tones and getting them to chug correctly in a thick mix.

Andrew has been known to use an Audix D6 as a guitar mic, though the only instances/examples provided were when the guitars were being sent through Omega Enclosures cabs that have a 15" speaker/crossover setup in conjunction with the traditional 12" setup. And man, it sounds heavy.

And I should further reinforce that wisdom by saying that Andrew Wade is VERY, VERY, VERY good at doing what he does. Guy gets some amazing tones (of all kinds, not just guitars) and clearly knows exactly what the fuck he is doing. Whether real amps or sims that guy is a madman. Also, truly the best amp sim sounds I have ever heard in my life.

I am looking back on this and giggling at my excessive use of "both". They have free beer there and I took advantage of it.

You're not the only person who feels this way, not at all- and I agree. This was not the norm circa 2000 or so- yes, it was still bitchwork, but it was paid bitchwork. It's a scam to keep a few more dollars (pounds, euros, etc.) in the pockets of people who aren't at all hurting for money or position while screwing the young and vulnerable even harder as wages trend further downward (not just in "real dollars" ie. purchasing power, but, well, real, actual dollars.) and staffs* shrink while people are paid less to do more.

Factor in student loans- at least here in The States- and it's a fine way to radicalize a generation.

*- I really want to spell this "staves", but I think that would be incorrect in context.

Excellent work. Geektalking over is a fine tradition.

It really is. I definitely had some properly musicgeeky d00ds to talk to, as well.



Mr. Wade is the dude with his arm on my shoulder, my soontobe boss is between us and Mr. Merrow is to the right of him. The rest of those cats are the production crew.

So fucking awesome Cam. a great opportunity. Run with it dude.

Intern- many years ago when I was starting recording etc, there used to be a lot of internships that were also not paid, the only way to get in a studio. I needed rent so I did not do such things, although it would have help tremendously I think. It's shit to see it's back in full swing.

A lot of good companies still pay interns, especially in the tech industry around here. Shit I have met interns who make $20/hour. Some companies have figured out that when you pay someone in "experience" they tend to use that experience to get a better job with another company. Though the original company didn't lose any money directly, they ended spending a lot of time training that intern only to see the intern jump aboard another company at the first opportunity. IF the original company had just paid the intern fairly from the start, they would have had a fully-trained and competent employee who probably would move up the ranks much quicker than someone hired from outside the company for an entry-level/mid-level position.

That said, there are still plenty of companies who think paying someone in experience is fine and dandy. Those companies usually end up investing a lot of time and effort finding and training those interns to eventually work for someone else.

Thanks to all with congratulatory words.



Not a lot of me in this section, but you can see me flitting in and out of camera shots.

What frequency was that lo pass at, hmmm?