# Greetings from outside the city of Brotherly Love...



## wst3 (Apr 2, 2010)

Hi all,

I gather from browsing the forum that introductions are in order... I'm mostly a guitarist, been playing since (this hurts) about 1965. Over the years I have dabbled with Piano and keyboards, French Horn (a truly amazing instrument), bass - electric and acoustic, mandolin, lap and pedal steel, and even fiddle, but I always end up back on the guitar.

I've worked in radio, live sound, and studios since the late 1970s, and still have the remnants of my last studio in my basement, including a Tangent 3216 (three of them actually, I still plan to stitch them together), an MCI JH-16/100, an Ampex AG-440C with a spare B transport, and an Otari MX5050-Bii, along with various outboard gear including far too many synthesizers and samplers! Among the treasures I do not plan to sell are an ARP 2600, an ARP Avatar, a Korg MS-20 and SQ-10, and a 360 Systems Spectre.

I got married almost ten years ago, and the former basement studio had to be dismantled to make room for the wife and step-daughter. Just about the time I had things re-arranged my son arrived, and then two more daughters, and the basement became a storage area! We moved to the current address with plans to convert half the basement to a purpose built studio, but, well, life sometimes has other plans!

The upside of all of this turmoil was that I was forced to start using the computer for all my musical activities. The original studio computer was an Amiga running Bars & Pipes Pro and Sunrize Studio 16, which was workable, and a nice way to sweeten tracks without using up valuable tape real estate, but it wasn't anything like what we have today!

These days I use Sonar 8.5.2 as my primary platform (although I do experiment with others, and will probably add a Mac for access to DP and M). I make heavy use of Finale 2010, Sound Forge 9, and Wavelab 5 as well.

Plug-in processing is provided by UAD, Waves, PSP, Kjaerhus, and Voxengo. Drums and percussion lean towards DFH Superior and Jamstix. Other synths that get heavy use include the NI Komplete suite, Kjaerhus Spectra, AAS Tassman, the GForce suite, and a handful of shareware synths. Sampling was handled by a second computer running GigaStudio, but I am currently porting my favorite libraries over to Kontakt, or (regrettably) replacing them.

My current favorite library developers include Tonehammer/Microhammer, Cinesamples, Sonokinetic, and Garritan. I do have Garritan Orchestral Strings, but have been hesitant to invest in another big library. I still use the Presonus Orchestral library to shore up GPO4.

So much for tools... my primary focurs is music composition and sound design for live theatre. Not sure why, but as a composer I find this to be both challenging and rewarding beyond any other musical activity I've tried. Sadly it is not terribly financially rewarding - but I also love my day gig, designing sound systems and the occasional Audio/Video system.

Musical influences are varied, too varied to list! Right now the iPod includes a bunch of stuff from Danny Elfman's film scoring projects, Copland and Barber, pretty much everything by the Allman Brothers, Chicago, the Who, Stevie Ray, the Beat Disciples, Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits and Princess Bride), CSN&Y, Chris Smither, Susan Werner, Christina Havrilla, Baby Animals, Syd Straw, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, and Nickel Creek. However, none of them are sacred, except maybe the Allman Brothers and Chicago, and I change the line up frequently.

Goals? Well, to do a little better than supporting the habit, maybe. 
To get better at both the artistic and the technical sides. 
To work smarter, not harder. 
To make better choices in the tools I invest in.

Whew...


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## Chrislight (Apr 9, 2010)

Hi and welcome to VI! 

Based on your goals, it sounds like you came to the right spot.  Have fun on the forum!


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