The Lowbred Watts

crackle it up

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:24:25 +0000

Lately I’ve developed an itch to make things a little weirder, bring in more ambient noise, get more whacky when recording, push things more, and be more willing to screw things up. Dug out some books for a boost of inspiration. One of them had a blurb about the cracklebox – a funking handheld analog noisemaker that came out the 70s. So I picked up the parts from vintage planet (http://www.vintageplanet.nl) for about 16euros with shipping over from the Netherlands. Should be here soon, pretty pumped. Will put some pics up and maybe audio when it’s done.

i might be starting to hoard tapes, maybe

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:35:44 +0000

I noticed that my regular source of tapes dried up all the sudden so I went on a little binge and picked a couple 20-count boxes of fresh Fuji dr-II cassettes. I usually use tdk sa90s but heard these suckers should be pretty good.

tubing

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:47:22 +0000

Realized the other day that I’ve had my Ampeg reverberocket amp for a year or so and never replaced the tubes. Opened it up and the power tubes are stamped with ‘customized for Ampeg’, so looks like they might be original (that’s saying something since this amp is no where close to new). Stuck in two new Groove Tubes 6L6-Rs and three Sovtek 12AX7WAs and it sounds way better.

time to wind a new pickup for the 4-string guitar

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:08:33 +0000

It’s about time I get my 4-string guitar up and running again. I wound a single coil pickup for it over a year ago, but a connection went bad in it somewhere. It might have been the first pickup I ever made, so needless to say it was a little iffy. A pic of the guitar is current, non-working state is below. Gotta make a saddle too so it’ll be easier to re-string.

bounce, bounce, bounce

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:47:52 +0000

So I started recording for the new EP/album (or whatever it turns out to be). Still recording on the cassette 4-track portastudio 424, same as the last EP. Getting some pretty good sounds so far, but have been craving some more tracks. I’ve tried bouncing (aka condensing 4-tracks down to two, giving you two more to play with) using the computer, but I found it was a pain in the butt with my current setup. I nabbed my mom’s like-new-but-10-yr-old hi-fi vcr today and am going to use it for bouncing instead. My friend on youtube told me that it should be a good bet.

hum doesn’t matter if the guitar doesn’t work

admin — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:56:15 +0000

I’ve had to re-solder the ground for the out jack on my 3-string guitar a few times in the last few months. I realized that it was because the wire-runs were a little too short, so there was tension when I’d open up on the box. Learned my lesson, there’s not point in keeping wires runs super-short in an effort to reduce hum if it’s just going to cause problems. A picture of the innards is below.

washboard should be good now

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:57:29 +0000

Just finished switching the electric washboard over from a pickup to a piezo. Definitely sounds better now. To cut down on feedback, I ended up putting a thin layer of poly foam below the piezo and another thicker layer above it. Then screwed a piece of scrap wood over the top to keep it all snug. I left in the the volume and tone controls. On another note, I started messing with a combination of the wurlitzer and casio sk-1. We’ll see how it turns out.

fixing my busted suitcase holder thing

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:29:45 +0000

Some of my stuff got abused on the way to the last show. I think the damn wurtlitzer is the culprit; may have tipped and put too much weight on some stuff in the back seat. I was getting ready for the set and realized the thing that holds my suitcase kickdrum was all busted up and cracked, thankfully it made it through the hour or so without falling apart. The thing is made out of scrap wood, some brackets, and $2 floor mat from the depot. I’m kinda surprised it’s lasted this long, but I’ll try not to jinx it.

if you liked “adult things”, you might like this

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 01:33:30 +0000

So I recorded this a few weeks ago and just finished mixing it down tonight. Like ‘adult things’ a post or so back, its just a draft that I pounded out real quick, and similarly its got a real different feel to it. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it right yet, or what I’m gonna do with it. I used LP’s bluebird mic for the vocals (thanks again!). We’re making this one a family affair though; I just emailed it to my bro over in Germany and he’s gonna add more drums. I’ll post it again once I get it back from him.

broken in (song sketch)

0:00 / 0:00

surprise, better mics sometimes sound better

admin — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:21:41 +0000

So I’ve been working on this new song that uses sk-1 loops and alot of fuzz on the guitar. The draft I recorded sounded pretty cool, except for the vocal which was all out of whack. LP was nice enough to let me borrow her bluebird condenser. Man, what a difference. It seems like the biggest difference was because I had been pressing too hard while singing to force some life into it. This thing is letting me sing more naturally in a way that fits much better with the feel of the song. (might be posting a draft pretty soon). Oh, and in a move to increase lyrical productivity and reduce the amount of paper scattered on the floor, I got myself a whiteboard. Definitely paying off so far.

I finally ran out of the first round of hard-copy EPs. Screen-printed a new batch of 100 this morning. Its going about 5 times faster than the first batch because I invested in some spray adhesive to keep them in place. And they’re coming out better too, win-win.