The Metal Shop #23 is finished!

I'm working on getting everything up on the server so I can get it out to you all, but you'll be pleased to hear that Episode #23 of The Metal Shop is now finished!

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Stay tuned!

Episode 23 progress.

I just wrapped up a double-ender with Neil McDougall for episode 23. This episode will be a MASSIVE episode if all goes according to plan. It's been 14 months since I've been active on the show, and it feels good to be back in action finally.

The things we discuss on this episode include the reasons why I'll no longer be including Trivia in the show. Quite frankly, if you've listened to the show for a while you know that it never really got that many responses anyway. It was a cool idea (that I "borrowed" from The Project Studio Network), but it never latched on with you folks, so it'll be gone from here on out. And those of you who read the blog here will know that ahead of time.

Of course, episode 23 will be focused around the interview with Dave Piatek, who recorded Storm King's latest release, during which we talk about the recording process for the album as well as some of Dave's personal recording techniques and methods. Scott Massie, who you heard on episode 17, gave Dave permission to donate the multi-track files to the Storm King song "The Death Equation". I have recieved the files, and so has Neil, and you'll hear us discuss our thoughts briefly on the files that we recieved. We'll both work on our own mixes, and they should be on the episodes that follow #23. But when #23 is released, you'll all be able to get copies of the files by downloading them from themetalshop.info, where I'll post them in mp3 and wav formats in zipped folders. Download them, have fun with them, practice your mixing chops with them, and send us the results. We'll play them on future episodes.

I won't ruin the rest of the show for you, but I will tell you that quite a few of you over the past years have told me you LOVE long podcasts, and for those of you who fall in that category, this come-back show will NOT disappoint you. Thanks for sticking with me and Neil during our unintended downtime. Episode 23 will be up as soon as I can get it to you.

- Brandon.

New activity brewing.

In 2 hours I'll be on the phone wit Dave Piatek of http://www.davepiatekrecording.com/ to talk to him about the recording of Storm King's latest release. We'll be talking about the recording process, and I'll hopefully be getting some multi-track files from Dave for one of Storm King's songs so that I can disperse them to you and you can practice your chops.

Other episodes in the works (for real this time, I swear) include a review of Rhythm Rascal (http://www.rhythmrascal.com/), a free plug in round up, a review of Karma Audio's K-Micro Condensors, and a little talk about my recent recording sessions with Littleton Colorado's "Alternum Divide".

Keep it Metal.

.....where to begin. lol!

Hey guys, it's Brandon. If you're reading this thanks for sticking with us. Here's what's up.

You may remember Scott Massie of Storm King, formerly of Bottomfeeder, from episode 16. I told you I'd bring him back on to talk about Storm King in the future. Well, we're working on that.......sort of. Scott has asked me to interview his studio engineer instead of him, as I'd likely get more info about the recording process from him than from Scott. So he's put me in touch with Dave Piatek (http://www.davepiatekrecording.com/) who is tweaking the knobs during Storm Kings current recording sessions. I'm working on setting up an interview with Dave when the Storm King sessions are done.

Scott also told me he'd give the show the multi-track files for one of Storm Kings new tracks and allow all of you to download the files to remix yourselves. More on that when Storm King is done in the studio.

I'm sure you've noticed the web site was down for some time. I had some server issues with Godaddy.com and was too busy with my day to day to get a chance to get The Metal Shop website back online. Have patience. It's coming back very soon.

I've been busy with the day job, and busy with moving again to a new home (only 20 miles away, staying in the Denver area), and busy working on recording sessions for a local band called Alternum Divide. They are rock, but not Metal, so I'm not sure I'll use anything from them on the show, but you never know. But that project is on hold temporarily, so hopefully I'll be able to focus on the show soon. I promise it's not going away, I won't let it. Thanks for sticking with it thus far.

Keep it Metal.

updates.

Hey, it's Brandon.

I'm about to work on a segment that outlines some of my favorite free plug-ins. But before I could do that, I had some work to do updating the web site. The background no longer worked, and the page wasn't updated after Neil published his own episode to reflect that show's publication. So I took care of that today.

Some other updates to the site are coming soon, including a page dedicated to downloading multi-track files for you to mix. But more on that later.

I'll be working on an episode soon, so sit tight. Thanks for the patience, it's not been a very fruitful year for the show. I'll be trying to fix that a.s.a.p.

A tribute to Natasha from Eleven.

Not particularly show related, but I wanted to share this.

I heard this song on a video compilation that came out in 1993 called Rock Video Montly. I LOVE this song. I just found out that the keyboardist died in July. Sad. I wish I'd paid more attention to the band. Here's my tribute to Natasha Shneider in the form of me posting the video to my favorite (and only one I know) song from Eleven. Enjoy "Crash Today".

The prodigal son returns?

Brandon (the bearded slacker) here with an update.

It seems at the moment that activity is brewing at The Metal Shop. I've got a few ideas for segments that I'm tossing around, and Neil just published his first solo episode. I'm listening to episode #22 now, and good job Neil. Thanks for taking the reigns for a time.

Neil and I are throwing around ideas for my return, and so far it looks like my return to the show will include some extensive banter on the ins and outs for beginners. I don't know what else Neil has on his idea list, but I'm contemplating an episode dedicated to free plug ins that are kick ass, as well as an episode on how much gain you actually need on guitar to get your tone in the studio, and finally a long overdue series of episodes on drum recording.

And wasn't there something in the works a year and a half ago about me recording a band and giving you the tracks to mix yourself? I haven't forgotten about that. I just suck, that's all. lol.

So enjoy episode #22, and keep your ears to the ground for #23. Oh, and keep it Metal.

Couple more things.

Couple things I forgot to mention. First of all, a metal group from Daytona Beach that is Violin Based (No guitars) added me on myspace. I've been talking with them after listening to their stuff, and I have to say that it's an impressive sound. I've invited them on the show in the future to talk about how they do it. I have my suspicions, but I'll let them tell it when I bring them on in the future. Check them out!

http://www.myspace.com/armandvio7

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Keep it Metal!

Update.

Hey, it's Brandon.

Ok, the most common question I've been getting lately is "Are you still doing the show?"

Well, the show isn't going away, it's just been put on the backburner. As I stated earlier this year, I had to step down for a bit while getting my life in order in Colorado. It's been almost 7 months since I moved, and I admit I've been a bit lazy about it, but I've also had other priorities to take care of in my personal life, so the show hasn't been coming out as regularly as it once did. But I assure you that things are stirring once again.

One thing that I want to announce is that I've opened Skyline Sound Studios Of Colorado. Check it out on Myspace.com/skylinesoundco. I can mix your projects, record you if you're local, process your tracks through analog equipment to help you get analog tone with REAL analog equipment, create radio and podcast imaging and do voiceover work, and more. If you need something, hit me up! You can use metalshoppodcast [at] yahoo [dot] com if you want.

Neil has promised me, as well as all of you on this blog, that he'll be putting out a new episode soon. I told him I'd let him do a solo show or two before I came back in, and I wanna hold to that, which is one of the reasons that it's taken so long for me to come back into the fold. It's taken him some time to get to it. Keep in mind though that neither of us are paid for this, and we both have lives to live aside from this podcast, so if it takes him some time to get his first solo show out, so be it.

I've got some ideas for my return to the show. On my agenda is possibly a bit of a how-to on recording piano, as I rarely hear that on any recording podcasts, and piano is used in Metal now and then. If/when I do that segment, I'll be using some cuts from a recording session I did with Shawn Garmon if she approves of me using her tracks. It's not metal, but I don't have any other examples to use, and the point isn't what she's playing but how I recorded it....that is IF I do that segment. I'm still deciding on that one.

Another idea that will likely be in my first episode back will be focused on how much gain to add to distorted guitars. I'll also likely do a review of my new K-Micro's from Karma Audio. These are condensors that cost $5 each, and you've heard them reviewed on Home Recording Odyssey.

Neil and I are throwing around the idea of recording a song together, so if that happens we'll be sure to give you all the details and likely share the tracks with you.

I've done some updating of the Youtube section. A lot of the playlists had videos that were no longer available. I've purged those off of the playlists, replacing the ones I could, and now it should all be running smoothly.

Other than that, I suggest that you stay tuned. Sorry for being gone so long. Keep it metal, I shall return.

- Brandon

Time for a long overdue Ep. #22 update...

Neil here, long time no blog.

Episode 22 is mostly in the can.  It's a bit 'live' sounding (did it all in a couple of takes, and I'm probably not going to be too fussy about editing the crap out of it), but I figure after this much delay, a rough-as-arseholes Episode 22 is better than no Episode 22 at all.

I'll be talking about going back to basics, and what someone new to the game of recording needs to do to get their guitar riffs into their PC.  It won't be a mammoth show, but the last few were lengthy epics, so it's a nice change of pace.

Hope 2009 finds you all well.  :-)