In light of the recent podcast, Murray and I have worked out our issues. A little communication goes along way.

The problem stems from my interest in things other than mere solo work. Murray is motivated by self-interest, it seems. Not all of the projects with which I'm involved warrant an artist's mannequin as a mascot.

Still, breaking into the studio, remixing "When I Was Five" without permission, and coppin' a major 'tude during the podcast seemed a bit gruff to me. Murray has a lot of nerve.

Well, sooner or later, I was bound to hook up my recording rig to the new room. All I can say is, "Wow."

Any doubts, fears, reservations, misgivings, and/or qualms with this project were immediately allayed with the first kick of the kick drum. I had recorded Dale Baker last summer as to get started on my next solo album. The track "Water & Wine" has been pretty much finished, with the exception of background vocals and some string/brass overdubs. It seemed like a good session file to test the new room on.

The first thing I noticed with the new room is complete accuracy. I heard no reflections, no flutter, and a true representation of what I had recorded. The full range Urei 809's that I'm using as my mains offered every bit of detail on the kick drum I recorded.

The second thing I noticed was that I needed to pull out some low mids from the kick drum. I had some old "work" settings saved from when I left off on the session. It was apparent that I had been pulling out the wrong frequency of low mid. Clearly, my old set up wasn't a good place to judge anything below 500 Hz.

The third thing I noticed was how great this new room is going to be to work in. EQing makes since. In a less than optimal listening environment, EQing is like trying to read in the dark. Now, the lights are on and everything, for better or for worse, is exposed in my listening environment.

As I was powering the rig down last night, I got an email from Mark. He had just been sent the first mix of "Walking on Broadway" from Gavin McKillop, the producer who worked on Athenaeum's Radiance. I pulled it up on the mains. It was great to be able to critically comment on a mix without having to just say, "it sounds great." With confidence, I could express what I liked about the kick/bass relationship. Man, it sure is going to be great to work in this room. And, I'm really looking forward to everyone hearing Mark's new album.

There are still some odds and ends to work out (zero sealing the doors, a few cables, etc...) but, by and large, things are about done.

Recording can often involve some tweaky nonsense.

I had been running a 17" Apple Studio Display in my old recording set up. It looked really nice. I was initially against purchasing such a nice visual monitor. But, someone made a good point, "If you're going to be looking at it all the time, you're gonna want it to be as pleasant as possible." Cheap monitors can do crazy things to one's eyes. I really liked the 17" Apple monitor. It has been a joy to work on for the past six years.

When I first hooked up the rig in 2002, it took me a half hour to figure out how to turn it on. I couldn't find the "on" switch. It turned out it was on the monitor. The cable that attached the monitor to the computer was an ADC (Apple Display Connector), which handled the DVI (Digital Video Interface), USB (Universal Serial Bus), and power applications for the unit. It was pretty neat. One cable to rule them all.

The monitor has worked beautifully for the past six years. I love it. It still works great. And, yet, I've decided to put it up on Ebay soon.

As long as the 17" display only has a 4.5 ft to 6 ft run to the computer tower, the monitor works famously. Yesterday, I was conducting the final cable tests in my new recording setup. I ordered a Dr. Bott ADC extension cable that would allow for the extra 10 ft I'd need to meet my computer tower from the monitor's new location. When I hooked it up, the power and USB applications worked well. However, the video appeared pixelated. After just two minutes of tooling around on the rig, it was far too distracting to work with. And, so, I have to find a new monitor that will be able to handle the 15 ft stretch.

Apple has since phased out the ADC interface. A number of power issues arose with it, apparently. On newer displays, the DVI, USB, and power cables are bundled separately. Also, firewire ports are optioned on newer displays. There are expensive "booster" and "repeater" options for the ADC connection, but those are nearly as expensive as a new DVI based monitor.

And so, I'll be trying the new DVI system. I have no idea if it will work, but all tech support I've contacted have indicated that a 15 ft stretch shouldn't be a problem for a DVI connection. And, if it is, there are more affordable booster options available.

I'm in the bug detecting phase of this project. The ADC/DVI issue is certainly a large bug to fix. If the course of action I've chosen doesn't work, a solution will present itself.

I guess the other question that bears addressing is, "Why do I need to run a cable 15ft?" Well, the computer tower fan generates enough noise to be as distracting as the pixelated screen. The environment I'm trying to foster in my new room is one of silence and accuracy. A noisy fan kind of defeats the purpose. And so, the computer tower rests in the machine room, next to the control room.