Brian's Place

New Soundclick page

2008-12-18T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hey, I decided the easiest thing would be to make a Soundclick page for my music, since they host all the stuff without any size restrictions. So my new soundclick page is found here. I decided that my new "band" name would be bedside rebellion after a visit to my brother's house where they were trying to put rowdy kids down for bed. I thought it had a nice ring to it. I will put up more songs as time goes by, but for now there are several to get started on. Let me know what you think.

My New Stompboxes

2008-11-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I recently finished two of the four or five stompboxes that I have planned. The first one was a design from runoffgroove.com called the Double D. It is a 4049 based dual channel distortion circuit. The first channel is a nice mild overdrive that is extremely responsive to picking dynamics while the second channel is a very high gain channel perfect for hard rock and metal. It is very versatile pedal.

The second pedal is a replica of the Way Huge Red Llama. It too is a 4049 based overdrive that is a modification of Craig Anderton's Tube Sound Overdrive circuit. It is a great overdrive that fits nicely between the two channels of the Double D. It has a little more fuzz to it, but sounds really great. The only issue is that I have some oscillation at high gains, so I still need to fix that, but other than that, they sound great.

To add my own touch to them, I made some boxes from solid ash and put my logo on them. Take a peek and tell me what you think. The Double D is on the left and the Red Llama on the right.

More Guitars

2008-11-23T18:34:00.001-08:00

Okay, so it has been a little while since I updated this. Recently I have been refinishing a couple of guitars I built while still in high school. They needed a lot of work, but they are finally done. Here I have some pictures of the beauties.

Here is the group photo of all of them together. The bass is in the middle with an original design on the left and a PRS style guitar on the right. They all play and sound quite nice, in addition to looking awesome (if I do say so myself).

My next projects are a series of stompboxes that I will be making myself. They tend to be more responsive than my Podxt to picking dynamics, etc. since they have a real analog signal chain. I have one almost finished, but I am waiting for a replacement IC chip since I fried the first one by accidently reversing the polarity of my power source. I guess if carpentry's mantra is measure twice cut once, then electronics is use sockets and voltmeters before IC's.

Anyway, I will try to keep this posted somewhat. Hopefully some sound clips will be coming of my stompboxes when they are done.

The Model B Bass

2008-10-05T18:25:00.001-07:00

Well, I have finally finished my bass. The finish is cured and this weekend I put it all together. These pictures are not the best, seeing as how my camera is not meant for artistic photos. But that is okay, you get the idea. It plays great. The action is maybe a little high if anything, but no higher than my previous bass. I think it is because there is no angle in the neck pocket. The intonation is not quite perfect (I will need to move the bridge when I restring it). The piezo pickup is louder than the magnetics, but it has a great sound and I can get a range from warm and mellow to really bright and punchy. The controls are P/J pickup blend, magnetic/piezo blend, master volume and master tone. I have a ton of pictures, but here are just a few to try to get the whole idea across.

Well, there she be. Let me know what you think.

More Guitar Building

2008-10-02T09:18:00.001-07:00

So building this bass has gotten me back in the guitar building mode. I am currently refinishing and modifying the two guitars I built in high school. One is an original design with single coils and the other is a PRS copy with EMG 81/85 pickups. With the guitar with single coils, I free hand routed the cavities when I built it, so needless to say they are ugly. Well, I decided I wanted to use pickup rings. Turns out the only ones for single coils are really expensive (like 10 bucks a piece, and with a three pickup guitar...). So I have some leftover walnut from my bass and I fashioned some rings out of that. I drew the dimensions in a CAD program and I am quite pleased. I will put some pictures up after I have finish on them.

Another thing I am going to do with that guitar is put a sustainer system in it. It is the same system that is perpetually under development at the project guitar forum. It should be a lot of fun and will give me more options (since I have four electric guitars anyway, may as well make one that is not the best into something unique). I am excited and it will help my electronics skills get better. Speaking of which, I have a nice new xytronics 379 soldering station coming today. I'll let you know what I think of it when it comes.

I really enjoy this whole guitar building thing, too bad I don't have my own shop yet. But that is okay, someday I will. The next project on my list after the guitars is to build a tube amplifier. I will be buying a kit, but that is just because it is cheaper than buying the parts separately. I still have to put it all together and tweak it myself an all. Should be a lot of fun. Of course, that may be several months away.

I guess all I can really say is stay tuned for more woodworking and musical project adventures to come.

Bass Build Progress Report

2008-09-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have been building my own bass for a while now, but haven't put up any pictures. I figure it is time to remedy that. The body is now hanging and the finish is curing, which it needs to do for another week or two to let the finish harden. So here are some pictures documenting progress from the very beginning with a brief description.

Here we have the wood straight out of the packaging from the supplier. The woods are, from left to right, walnut, flame maple and alder. Good looking boards.

This is the body blank being glued up. The flame maple is a 1/4" cap on the alder and the walnut goes all the way through.

The rough body shape has been cut out. You can tell that the figure is going to really be great on this thing.

This shows how I made the neck pocket. A template was made from oak and then I used a forstner bit to get rid of the majority of the material. Afterwards, a pattern router bit was used to clean it all up.

This is the headplate being glued on to the headstock (after ears were added). I did this because the headstock was a hideous shape and color. After it was all dried, I cut out the shape and rough sanded to get what you see on the right. Before gluing, I plugged the original tuner holes with hardwood dowel and re-drilled the tuner holes where I wanted them.

This is what the headstock and body looked like after several coats of finish. They basically look just like this right now, and they are just curing up. Once the finish cures, I will rub it down, install all the hardware, put it together and string it up. Pictures will be coming when that is done in a couple weeks. In addition, the control cavity cover is made of alder just like the back, the jack plate is made of walnut instead of metal and the truss rod cover is an inverted pattern of the headstock wood (walnut, flame maple, walnut).

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures. Let me know what you think. In case you are wondering, the hardware is all gold on the body, but chrome on the headstock (haven't had the money to buy new tuners yet).

Back in the Old Saddle

2008-07-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a very long time since I posted anything here, and I think that has something to do with the fact that no one really reads this. But regardless, I am back from Berlin. If you want to see pictures, check out my wife's blog (in the links section).

I spent three months mostly doing sound system design for large stadiums and other large venues. I worked on the new Zurich stadium, Warsaw national stadium, two stadiums for the world cup in South Africa and then several other buildings. It was cool.

Now that I am back, I am going to be hopefully posting more of my music. I have been itching to get back at it. Also, I am going to be building a new bass guitar, so I will post pictures of that as I go along. We'll see how it turns out. Anyway, that is about it for now, but we will see what the future holds.

Wait For It . . .

2008-04-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well, the time is fast coming when I leave the country for my internship in Berlin. I will be working primarily on sound system design and analysis from what I have been told. That should be a lot of fun. I will most likely post pictures and such on my wife's blog (in the links section). In addition to the internship, music has been coming along. I have several new songs that I have recorded that are very much in the classic rock vein. I will make sure to put some of them on here as soon as I feel they are polished enough for the public.

My parents brought me down the last of my stuff that was stored at their house, including the two electric guitars that I built. Both of them need some good care (refinishing, neck work, wiring updating, etc.) but should turn out great. One is made to look like a PRS with EMG 81 and 85 pickups. The other uses old strat-copy electronics with a radical body that I designed. It should be fun to get those things all squared away. Well, I just thought I would let the world know that I am still alive despite the long lapse in posts. I've been busy with school and life, you know how it goes . . .

Another Great Instrumental Track

2008-03-10T08:10:00.001-07:00

Here is another really cool instrumental track, much in the same vein as the other I posted earlier. I am debating whether to put vocals to it or not, I think it would sound great either way. I recorded the guitars direct using my PODxt, the drums are acoustic drum samples from sonic reality, the strings and bass are also from sonic reality. I like the song, let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

No Noise? No Way.

2008-02-21T18:23:00.000-08:00

Well, after having a stroke of brilliance as to how to remove noise from my recordings, I wrote a program and compiled it, only to find out that if you have additive noise in a signal, then you are basically toast. I looked at some techniques for noise reduction, but since it isn't typically filter noise in a signal, a simple deconvolution won't work like I was hoping. This being said, I may have to abandon the idea of a great, free noise reduction program. I guess such is life . . .

Anechoic Chamber Page

2008-02-18T17:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought I would do a thing here about designing and building an anechoic chamber, but because it was such a big task, I created a google page all about it. I consider it to be a pretty definitive treatment of what things to take into account when building a chamber. Of course, I claim no responsibility for anything negative that may happen due to it's use. You should check it out if you are feeling scientific or just curious about a chamber or if you just want to see some pictures. You can get there clicking here.

Cool Recording Tip

2008-02-17T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a great recording tip for those of you looking to add a bit more "realism" to the stereo image of your recording. Say you wanted to make a rhythm guitar track sit in the stereo field little bit better. If you have just a single track, clone it and pan the two hard left and hard right. Adjust the volume so that it seems to be pretty much where you want it to be in the sound field. Then on the track that has lower volume, add a delay plugin. The key here is that you want only the delay signal and none of the original. You can add up to 20-30 ms of delay to help the stereo image seem more natural. This is because when you add the delay, it changes the relative phase between the two tracks and this is what happens when you have two guitars on opposite sides of the stage. If you have two separate tracks, you can do the same thing and it will work equally well.

Try As I Might

2008-02-17T17:54:00.001-08:00

This is a great little song that I have been working on for a while. The drums are from an expansion tank library and Groove Monkee grooves. Everything else was recorded live. I recorded the vocals, but more so that when I find a singer he can sing them (I don't sing well and I recognize that fact, this is just so that I don't lose the ideas that I have for the vocal).

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Great Instumental Track

2008-02-17T17:36:00.001-08:00

This is an instrumental track that I have been working on for a little while. The strings are from an expansion tank library, as is the bass. The guitars were all recorded direct through my PODxt. Let me know what you think.

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Turn My Head

2008-02-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

This is a song that I wrote and recorded for my wife.

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The words go as follows:

We fell in love so long ago
But we still feel the same
And let me say something you already know
That I'd do it all over again
There's not a moment I would change
Or a day that I'd take back
I'd leave it all just the same
Even if I had the chance

But some things haven't changed
Just like you always said
And every time you walk by you
You still . . . You still turn my head

We've had our share of hard times
And there've been times we've had to wait
But we managed to make it through just fine
And now the price has been paid

But some things haven't changed
Just like you always said
And every time you walk by you
You still . . . You still turn my head

I see you laying next to me
There's so much going through my mind
Then you ask me what I'm thinking
And suddenly the words seem so hard to find but I say

Some things haven't changed
Just like you always said
And every time you walk by you
You still . . . you still turn my head

All words and music copyright 2007 Brian Thornock

Preview of Coming Attractions

2008-02-17T12:47:00.001-08:00

Since there isn't a whole lot of good stuff on here just yet (I just started like an hour ago), I thought I would go ahead and give everyone an idea of what to expect here in the coming days and weeks.

Audio:
I will be posting several of my songs that I have written and recorded. I think I will try to make them streaming as opposed to downloadable (for copyright reasons). They will be provided as a way for people to hear what I am up to and make suggestions, carry on conversations about techniques, etc.

I have a great idea for a noise elimination program that I hope to have a first version of within the next couple weeks. I had the idea in the shower the other day of a great, easy way to do it. I intend this program to be free, since I have gleaned a lot from the audio community for free and want to give back at least something. Hopefully it will make it to places like KVR audio so that anyone who wants a great free program can have one. Of course, if the idea doesn't pan out, then it'll be back to the drawing board for however long.

Woodworking:
I am currently making a mantle clock for my wife and will probably post some pictures of it when I finally get that done. It is in the same vein as one I made several years ago for my mom.

School:
I have been in charge of the design and construction of an anechoic chamber for the university (BYU) and due to the extreme lack of information on how to build one of these things, I think it would be great for me to put up a couple posts that describe the design process, considerations and construction.

There are more things that will come along as well, but these are the things that I can think of off the top of my head that I would like to post here. Let me know if there is anything else you want to hear about.

My Recording Rig

2008-02-17T12:20:00.000-08:00

Since this is intended to be a place for me to discuss the things that interest me, I don't feel the need to use a vocabulary that everyone understands. Also, seeing as how there may well be other people who are interested in this kind of stuff, a list of equipment that I currently use seems to be in order. These are pieces of equipment that I use for making my music:

Guitars and equipment:
PRS CE-24
ESP MH-300
Two custom-made electrics
Tacoma DM-9
Rogue 4-string Bass
Line6 PODxt
early '80's Marshall solid state combo
late '70's extension cab

Recording gear:
Custom Recording PC (AMD dual core processor, 250 GB recording drive, 1.5 GB RAM, DVD burner, Firewire)
Presonus Firepod interface
Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 interface
Event TR-8 studio monitors
M-Audio Oxygen 8 v2 midi keyboard
Koss recording headphones
2 - SE1A small diaphragm condensers
MXL 990 mic
Shure SM-57
Sennheiser E-825
Mogami cables

Recording software:
N-track studio recording software
Sony Soundforge Editing software
Sampletank LE
Expansion tank modules
Various plugins, etc.

If you have any questions about any of this stuff, let me know.

Welcome to my page

2008-02-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I decided that it would be nice to have someplace on the ol' world wide web to put stuff related to my hobbies, which consist mostly of music and woodworking. I also thought it would be handy to have a place where people could check out my music and let me know what they think. I'm not sure just how much use I and/or others will get out of this, but hey, we'll just have to see. Take a look around and let me know what you think and drop any suggestions you may have.