June 1st, 2012: I am climbing out from the basement up to the 17th floor....

I am climbing out of the basement and UP to the 17th floor in downtown Kitchener....I couldn't be happier....the LOUD pair of pretty young girls who moved into the house above my basement pad seemed to decide that they didn't want me, the "old guy in the basement" living there anymore, so they threw parties for five days straight during the second week of May!
I suffered from extreme sleep deprivation, and still remained slightly calm until I snapped and called Mike to ask for help and he picked up my most valuable studio gear and synth's and guitar and the myriad of FX pedals and processors and Digital Sampler's and I can't leave out my beloved Roland CDX-1 Disc-Lab, Digital Multi-Track Sampler Workstation/Mastering Processor/Cd Recorder.
And so, here Iam preparing to move, I gave 30 days notice to the basement pad's landlord and paid my June rent at the high rise with my new room mate Steve, the drummer in Mike's band: Helen Keller (i think that's their name?)
There's more to come since we have a wi-fi internet connect set up on the 17th floor. My room is perfect for setting up a wicked studio, with room to sleep on a blow-up mattress with my new "6 pound" super thick sleeping bag!
Within a week I hope to be up and running and put an end to my neglected online life.
-ToneKnob

I have to remember to buy new tubes for my crusty vintage combo amp!

my bedroom studio

french toast octave FUZZ by danelectro

omg i love this pedal!
plugged into this transforms my guitar tone into a searing synthesizer tone that never leaves me disappointed.
i've read online that the french toast pedal is a copy of the vintage Foxx tone machine, and since i've never used that, i can't offer a comparison.
All i know, is that fuzz is the shit, and this pedal takes fuzz to a distant planet and back again!!!
for under $60 this pedal is unreal....i would have paid double, if it was housed in a more solid metal case, like my older danelectro FabTone...i guess the cost effective(cheap) plastic knobs and case will help danelectro compete in the global market....i don't mind if i need to buy another one as a back up...

Past Collaborations....

In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century i had been struggling to discover my place within the world and what i should do with music, and my home studio gear collection was top notch, everything needed to produce anything music & sound related waz set up in the spare room next to my bedroom.
I worked at setting up an online presence for my music production alter-ego: DextroSoundLab
At some point i posted an advertizment on an Ontario,Canada based musician resource web site called "overhear.ca" where i was looking for a collaborator.
A few people answered, but only one woman was serious and she caught the bus from Toronto and arrived in Kitchener, where i was lingering around the bus terminal wondering 'who' this musical woman was....and eventually i approached a dark haired beautiful woman who had seemed to be waiting for someone...and indeed, she was waiting to meet me.
Her name is Lilia Loria, and she was in Toronto on a visitors visa visiting her sister...originally she was from Dubai, UAE.

She later made a music video with this song, and i discovered it on youtube a few years after i had last seen her.

I used my Roland D2 groovebox & m-audio keyboard controller & Phatboy midi controller for all synth & drum parts, and captured her vocals with an Apex Tube condenser microphone, and a Focusrite twintrack pro recording channel strip....For effects i was using a Korg kaoss pad-2, and an Alto alphaVerb multi-fx for delays and ambience.
It was recorded to 1/4 inch multi-track tape on a Fostex E-8 eight Track recorder, and mixed down to digital master through an Alesis 3630 compressor/Limiter and burned to disc with an HHB Cd Recorder.

Thrift Store Scores...

While searching through a nearby thrift store in Waterloo, Ontario, which i made an effort to search through on a regular basis paid off for me on many occasions.
On one such occasion i discovered a Sansui AX-7 rackmountable mixer with built in analogue spring reverb plus Hi-Z inputs for plugging electric guitars in as well as microphones.
The device is amazing, the routing that is available on the back leaves the user with unlimited potential.
It has 4 mono channels and like most console mixers you can route the reverb to each channel individually.
The knobs are metal, and high quality, and the overall built quality is outstanding.
I discovered via a google search that the AX-7 was made during the late 1970's, and found a home within the audiophile's hi-fi system.
The multitude of RCA jacks on the rear enable the user to use this as the command hub for simplifying a complex line-up of hi-fi components.
I use it as a front end to my Roland CDX-1 Disc Lab, my multi-track digital recorder/Sampler.
The CDX-1 has 2 channel input capabilities, and the Sansui AX-7 helps route a 4 channel sub-mix into the CDX-1....with the option to process some or all of the 4 tracks with analogue reverb.
Basically it's a space saver for jamming in the bedroom with a roland groovebox or two and electric guitar.
Thanks to vintage hi-fi gear, this home recording hobbyist can have a good time!