Danny Danzi

kennywtelejazz
My chariot is swift and powerful when it works  , I've already mastered the art of using Fire .
I don't club all my future X's over the head w a Louisville Slugger when I first meet them .
Hunting for my food is rather safe and all done in the comfort of a supermarket .   
 
Having said that , I can't seem to get behind the Whole Caveman Tag or Label  …..
 
I got much deeper problems than that 
 
The past couple of years I have spent litteraly treading water in what I will call a learning curve quick sand  …..
Exercising  patience and learning new things is something I'm OK with as long as I'm doing it in small achievable bite sized chunks or increments….
My progress seems very slow to me at this point . 
There happens to be a lot of features in SONAR that I still have to learn or make my Peace with them …
 
Life used to be so simple for me when all I wanted to do was just play the guitar ….
 
Kenny
 

That's the thing....and what I think a lot of guys are missing. You don't have to use anything more than what you know. I'm old school, so to me, Sonar is a big tape machine and I use it just like that. Punching in is easier as I used to have to find a spot in the song where I'd have to press play and record on my 16 track 1 inch. LOL!!
 
It's like guitar rigs man.....some guys like a tube amp and maybe a tone booster or Tube Screamer. Other guys like a processed sound that entails several effects and routing. I have a Fractal Axe Fx XL+ which is a killer guitar processor. One of the best I've ever used. You can make it as simple as a stomp box into an amp....or a complex rack of gear that can make your head spin. Sonar, in my opinion, is in the same camp. Use what you need, ignore what you don't.
 
Here's another thing to further drive the point. I beta test for a few really cool companies. I kinda felt like I was wasting their time to be a tester because I don't really use their programs like many others. For example, I've been with FxPansion testing BFD for a long time now. I don't need to program drums or use the loop stuff that come in the program because I'm a drummer and have a killer real kit as well as the top of the line V-Drums kit. I don't even use the effects or mixing options given and told the company that. Their reply was "we want guys like you that just use the program the way they use it. If everyone used it the same way, we'd never find the bugs we need to find."
 
So, use whatever program you use, the way you use it. Primitive is great, as long as it's productive. I still think though that if anyone gets a little extra time, it's always cool to visit the "what's new in Sonar" in the help files. They now give us enough tutorials to where you can at least see what the program can do. Another quick story....
 
I don't create dance or hip hop stuff in my studio due to my clients always coming prepared with their own loops and grooves. These guys are as crazy with their loops and grooves as we guitar players are about our chops and tone. LOL!
 
But anyway, I had a guy come in that needed me to create something for him from the ground up. Definitely uncharted waters for me....but low and behold, that particular week, I saw a "whats new in Sonar" option that made me curious, so I messed around with it and created a killer little piece of music before I even had to deal with this client. Having learned from the Sonar tutorial, I was up and running with some good choices for my client to which he liked 3 out of 5. So you just never know what you may grasp even if you are just exploring or heck, just watching a video or reading what capabilities Sonar has that you may never use. There is no right or wrong....unless of course a person is doing something the long way and there is a super short cut to get to the same place. LOL! :) Proud to be a caveman....as long as I get my work done and have a little fun, ya know? :)
 
-Danny

Danny sure I get what you are saying 
 
The easiest thing in the world for me to do would be to use SONAR as a tape machine …
 
I have a decent collection of Super Choice guitars and Vintage tube amps to use for my personal tones .
Yet , I can't do anything that amounts to much at home due to apt living ..not even able to use my gear …
The walls are too thin and there is way to much outside noise …
to use a mic to record even one of my acoustics is an exercise in futillity ….
 
All things are pointing to the fact that I need to find a space away from home to record ..
 
In the mean time , I'm just over here paying some dues , doing my best to learn all the stuff I can about what is under the hood as far as features I may be able to use once I get a better grasp on how to use them …
 
Caveman , Mountain Man  , what difference does a label make at this point ..
 
Even my pooch is starting to be getting on my case . It seems I've put him through a lot of unintended pain and suffering …
 
Here is the note he left me on my refrigerator just this morning
 
 
i got to love that dog , at least he Barks the truth 
 
Kenny
 
 

Hey - where did you get a picture of my first wife?  hee hee
 
Bob Bone

robert_e_bone
Hey - where did you get a picture of my first wife?  hee hee
 
Bob Bone

 
Hey Bob, 
 
Thats Duke ….he really does not feel that way about my music at all , it's just me poking fun at myself  
 
 
Kenny

kennywtelejazz
 
Danny sure I get what you are saying 
 
The easiest thing in the world for me to do would be to use SONAR as a tape machine …
 
I have a decent collection of Super Choice guitars and Vintage tube amps to use for my personal tones .
Yet , I can't do anything that amounts to much at home due to apt living ..not even able to use my gear …
The walls are too thin and there is way to much outside noise …
to use a mic to record even one of my acoustics is an exercise in futillity ….
 
All things are pointing to the fact that I need to find a space away from home to record ..
 
In the mean time , I'm just over here paying some dues , doing my best to learn all the stuff I can about what is under the hood as far as features I may be able to use once I get a better grasp on how to use them …
 
Caveman , Mountain Man  , what difference does a label make at this point ..
 
Even my pooch is starting to be getting on my case . It seems I've put him through a lot of unintended pain and suffering …
 
Here is the note he left me on my refrigerator just this morning
 
 
i got to love that dog , at least he Barks the truth 
 
Kenny

LOL!! Nah, don't be too hard on yourself. Trust me, I'm right with you. I'm good with recording stuff and sounds, but if someone that really knew Sonar watched me work, they would enjoy the entertainment factor. Funny story....
 
I had a guy come to me for recording lessons in person. I usually do video's of me mixing people's songs and I get a chance to edit all my slip ups, curse words and little imperfections out. LOL! Well this poor dude saw me and all my glorious flaws. Hahahaha! He must have given me Sonar advice like 8 times during the two days he was here. We had a laugh about it...but he really helped me. Stupid stuff Kenny...like holding Shift when moving clips or midi notes so they stay locked in during a move. I never thought to do that....I always just tried to move things as carefully as possible. LOL!
 
I actually felt like a dope at first....and then said "ya know, I'm not teaching this guy Sonar....I'm teaching him mixing/sound identification and how to make his material sound right. I shouldn't feel as much like a dope...just maybe a little. Hahahaha! So hey, we helped each other, had a blast of a weekend and I learned a bit too. I'm still a cave man with Sonar...but I'm doing what I gotta do, ya know? And hey....I got two dogs yelling at me.....my one tries to howl with me whenever I sing. I still haven't figured out whether he likes it and is trying to harmonize, or it's upsetting him so bad, he's trying to drown me out. LOL!!
 
I recently did a cover of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers". Not sure if you're familiar with it, but there are some pretty decent vocal note holds. While I was singing and trying to hold out these notes, I kept on hearing this extra note with me that was driving me crazy. I finally solo'd up the track and sure enough, my dog was howling from upstairs along with me LOL! I had to close my door (which is insulated and thick thankfully) which I should have done anyway. Hahaha! So I can definitely relate! :)
 
-Danny

Haha my cat "howls" whenever I go downstairs to play guitar. I plug in and play a few notes and he comes and starts yelling at me to stop :)
 
I like to compare using a DAW to an artist playing music. There are two fundamental aspects to it - technique and art. Being a DAW developer I've been in studios where someone else has mixed our music and I've seen engineers who had poor editing technique but great ears for mixing. Bottom line is you can have all the technique with a DAW in the world and still produce poor music because you don't have the "art". Given a choice I would take art over technique any day. Although when I'm paying the bill it helps having someone who is efficient as well :)
 

I used to know a band who rehearsed in a basement under a shop. There was a parrot living in the shop, as the owner had bought it while out drinking one night, and his wife had refused to have it kept in the house. I swear I'm not making this up.
 
Anyway, after a while, the parrot got really good at mimicking the sound of a guitar feeding back. It was very strange and unnerving.

Hello Danny ,
 
You told a nice story there . I did enjoy what you had to say very much 
 
Kenny

Oh boy, now look what you guys have done. Noel was here...
 
...I can just imagine the next company meeting:
"Forget all the great ideas, nobody's using them anyway"

I am not a full time caveman. My life was changed with improved comping, Melodyne and Addictive Drums 2 (I am clueless why not everybody loves it). 

I kinda feel like a caveman in SONAR terms. I feel I am only scratching the surface when I feel adventurous. And still sits here with a dumb look on my face, when some of the geniuses here explain things way out of my "expertise" as second nature to them.
But I am loving it
This place rocks!