When I bought my guitar back in maybe 2013, I asked another guitar player what 2 pedals would you recommend I get. He said a Wah-wah pedal and a Compressor. Well being an old head I know what a Wah wah pedal is, hell I remember the theme from Shaft. What I did not truly understand is what the hell is a compressor. Well what a compressor does is eliminates the extreme highs and extreme lows, kind of keeps your sound even. It’s a little more detailed, but that’s the idea.

Now although I’ve had an Electric Guitar for years, I very seldom play it. I love the sound of an Acoustic Guitar. Maybe it’s because I have always had an Acoustic. My first Acoustic was a Takamine F-349 Dreadnought. I loved that guitar. Took it with me everywhere I went for years, but that’s another story.

Since my goal is to start recording songs I’ve started playing my Electric Guitar and I can now see why a compressor would be necessary. So the question I asked my self is (A) should I compress the sound using a pedal and send that signal into the DAW, or (B) should I send a raw signal into the DAW and then compress it using the DAW’s on board compressor (Cubase in my case).

After doing my research, I think the answer is to send the guitar signal from your Audio Interface into the DAW and then compress it. I’ll drop a few Youtube videos in my next post that will talk about this in further detail. 🙂

Well I managed to get my exercise in yesterday, but I didn’t have time to cut my hair. The plan was to get it done after I got all of my paper work together for my 2013, 2014 and 2015 GA State Taxes. Well I found my 2015 and 2014, but the 2013 were no where to be found. After searching all over the house I figured out I must have left the Turbo Tax file on one of my external hard drives. As luck would have it the External drive I thought it was on was corrupt. So I spent the rest of the day trying to restore that drive. So after wasting all day Friday and part of Saturday, I finally realized that I couldn’t restore it, all I could do was transfer the files to a new drive. But I also came to the realization that I never did my 2013 taxes. 🙁 Federal or State. I’m in the process of getting the Fed straight, but I need to put a smile the GA Tax Division before they start messing with my bank accounts.

That was my day, but the good thing is I now have my 2014, 2015 Ga Taxes ready to be paid.

I’ve been in a lull the past few days, but it’s now time for me to get off my tail and get back to work. Make no mistake I work hard everyday, but I’m talking about working on the projects that will get me closer to my 2017 goals.

So today I’m going to jump start my day and get back on track with a 50 minute workout first thing this morning. Nothing makes you feel more energized that a good workout. Then I’m going to come home and cut my hair.
Look good Feel good.

Then it’s time to get back on my Cubase journey, I’ve been slipping.

Damn it’s Thursday already and I’m just getting back to full strength. Today is all about getting back on schedule and re-starting the learning process. In the next 3-4 days I want to start the process of learning how to program my drums. I use EZdrummer2. I’ve messed around with it a few times, but now I want to go more in depth and then start the process of learning the nuances of the program.

I write all of my songs on guitar. All of my songs start off with a cool melody, I try to incorporate at least 2 changes and then go out with a bang. When I get ready to lay down tracks the first thing I do is lay down the drum track. Once part of the drum track is laid down I can start adding the keyboard and guitar parts, then keep  working until the song is finished. The first couple of songs I do will be all about figuring out what the hell I’m doing, as my knowledge grows it will become second nature.

Back in the old days I used a drum machine. The last one I owned was a Kawai R-100. I purchased it when I was station in Italy around 1986-88. I loved it but the technology today is so much better. I still own my Kawai R-100, I may fire it up if I feel like getting nostalgic.

I just updated the About Us page on this website for 2017. I list my goals and what I need to do to accomplish my goals, new habits I need to follow etc. Like I have stated earlier this blog is all about making me accountable to me. 🙂
http://www.vestonphifer.com/?page_id=614

This is my 4th day of not drinking Coffee. So far all is going well. In small steps my production is going up. My house has gone from looking like a pig pen to just being screwed up, that’s a big improvement for me. My eating habits are improving and I’m starting to walk again. I have always preached Healthy Body Healthy Mind.

In my opinion everything one does in life is connected. If you take care of yourself fully you enhance your chances of having success. That includes grooming, eating healthy,  exercising, a staying mentally fit. If you ever run across anything in life you don’t understand, you should immediately look it up. There is no excuse in the Internet age to not be constantly improving your knowledge.

Today was my last day of drinking Coffee. I love Coffee but it bothers me that I’m addicted. Yes I am addicted to Coffee 🙁 I have this thing about being dependent on anything. It gives me the feeling that I’m not in control of myself. I have quit drinking coffee on and off for the past 15-20 years, to no effect. But when I do quit it is always followed by a period of great production, and I think it’s because I have a feeling of self control. I’m in a period of my life now (2017) where I just simply need to get stuff done, so I’m hoping I can fight this beast at least until I reach my goals. I’ll keep you posted. 🙂