Show 75 – Homemade Effects and Demos

This week Ryan does some experiments to see what homemade effects he can come up with and Jesse asks if demo recordings are still relevant in today’s home recording world.

Download Show #075

5 thoughts on “Show 75 – Homemade Effects and Demos

  1. Good show! I might have to try that homemade reverb in the stairwell at work.

    To throw another one in, I tried making a sort of plate reverb at home. I used a piezo transducer from Edmund’s scientific (6 for $1.50!), which I taped to a baking pan and hung from a mic stand with a rubber band. I actually tested it out by just playing acoustic guitar/singing directly into the pan (terrible improv’d song linked below), but I’ll probably be using it via monitors in the near future. I don’t like the sound on vocals (too many weird resonances), but it sounds kinda cool on acoustic.

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2998392/singing%20into%20a%20cookie%20sheet.mp3

    • That is another great example of DIY effects. I have been thinking about getting some piezo transducer pickups to play with for a while now. Just one more think on my list. Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us. Now I have to build a plate reverb!

  2. I love the DIY approach; I’m forced to do it largely due to budget constraints like most, but I end up amusing myself more with the experiments. In one case, I wanted the guitar amp to be separated from the drums etc so I laid a tiny practice amp on it’s back, on the bottom shelf in an old fridge, lined the inside of the fridge with ceiling tile and positioned a 57 at the top pointing down to the speaker, about 18″ up. With the fridge door sealed, the compartment turned the crappy little amp into a monster. I guess the slight dampening of the ceiling tile and the way the air was trapped in there had something to do with it. I think this was the moment that opened my eyes to recording techniques.
    I make music for fun with friends, so this way of messing with stuff is right up my alley, I’ll try the Leslie method sometime, thanks!

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