Great Day in NYC

Was a great day in NYC got in the city early and saw ” It Might Get Loud”. If you a Jimmy Page, Edge or the other guy fan you wil like it I liked leaning about Jimmy Page and the Edge. The other guy I did not care for much. Then it was off to Madision Ave 415. I really like seeing clients in NYC it’s a great break from Newtown PA. Hears a few views from my office yep that’s Central Park down the way.

Aether 2CAudio Reverb plug in for Mac or PC

What can I say I love this plug in.  I only use the Mac platform so I can’t say how it works on a PC knowing Vista and all the other PC issues you cant pay me to use a PC.  Anyway for my purposes on my Mac Book Pro 2.8 and Mac Pro Dual Quad Core running Logic Pro 9 this plug is worked wonderfully and I love the lushness and its just nice to my ears.  SOS (Sond on Sound)  did a great review and you can read about it on page 32 in the September 2009 addition.  There is a free trial that you can download from there web page.  I would say go check it out.

New iPhone ifrogz Case for 3g

Last week my case started to come apart and it was time to get a new case so I picked up a ifrogz dark blue slider case from the AT&T store.  It has a nice feel to it.  It wont slip out of your hand.  The bottom part can come unattached so you can slide the iPhone into the stand if your using one to charge the phone. 

Until We Are Broken, Our Lives Will Be Self-Centered 08/30/2009

Until We Are Broken, Our Lives Will Be Self-Centered
08/30/2009

True strength does not come out of bravado. Until we are broken, our life will be self-centered, self-reliant; our strength will be our own. So long as you think you are really something in and of yourself, what will you need God for? I don’t trust a man who hasn’t suffered; I don’t let a man get close to me who hasn’t faced his wound. Think of the posers you know—are they the kind of man you would call at 2:00 A.M., when life is collapsing around you? Not me. I don’t want clichés; I want deep, soulful truth, and that only comes when a man has walked the road I’ve been talking about. As Frederick Buechner says,

To do for yourself the best that you have it in you to do—to grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at its harshest and worst—is, by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still. The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed. (The Sacred Journey)

Only when we enter our wound will we discover our true glory. As Robert Bly says, “Where a man’s wound is, that is where his genius will be.” There are two reasons for this. First, the wound was given in the place of your true strength, as an effort to take you out. Until you go there you are still posing, offering something more shallow and insubstantial. And therefore, second, it is out of your brokenness that you discover what you have to offer the community. The false self is never wholly false. Those gifts we’ve been using are often quite true about us, but we’ve used them to hide behind. We thought that the power of our life was in the golden bat, but the power is in us. When we begin to offer not merely our gifts but our true selves, that is when we become powerful.

(Wild at Heart , 137–38)

Yes We Do Have a Good Heart

I can not agree more with John Eldrege I am so tired of always hearing the people in the church say that they are wicked and have a bad heart.  Even the passage that they refer to says  I will give them a new heart.  While things are not perfect hear on earth we can rest in that God is doing something in our hearts and its good.   Look at what God see’s in us.

What God Sees When He Sees You
08/29/2009

Your sin has been dealt with. Your Father has removed it from you “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps. 103:12). Your sins have been washed away (1 Cor. 6:11). When God looks at you he does not see your sin. He has not one condemning thought toward you (Rom. 8:1). But that’s not all. You have a new heart. That’s the promise of the new covenant: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek. 36:26 –27). There’s a reason that it’s called good news.

Too many Christians today are living back in the old covenant. They’ve had Jeremiah 17:9 drilled into them and they walk around believing my heart is deceitfully wicked. Not anymore it’s not. Read the rest of the book. In Jeremiah 31:33, God announces the cure for all that: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” I will give you a new heart. That’s why Paul says in Romans 2:29, “No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit.” Sin is not the deepest thing about you. You have a new heart. Did you hear me? Your heart is good.

What God sees when he sees you is the real you, the true you, the man he had in mind when he made you. this was taken from John Eldredges Waking the Dead Ransomed Heart Devotional on 8.29.09

DPA 4099 Guitar Mic Review for a Flamenco Guitar

DPA sent the 4099 Guitar Mic for me to audition. It’s a great mic. It’s a side mount clip on with a mini goose neck for placement. It is not a perminat mouted mic. Great for live performances. The mic itself is a super caritiod mic wich allows for signifacant gain without feedback. The mic ataches to the side of the guitar with a very unique clip. See photos below. It also is very easy to use with a wireless system, I will use it with the Sennhizer Wirless system. I’m very glad to be a DPA artist who uses there mics. I tried the mic in my living room using a second generation Trace Elliot RA 50 R amp. I knotched out a bit on the lower freq. Using the 5 band eq. Then just a bit on lower using the notch filter. Great results so far. Look forward to using the mic on live performances. Will write more in the next few weeks. Initial Impression: Awsome Design and Sound.

I think I like it mounted on the top of the guitar that way my hand can go up the neck w/o bumping into the mic. My only concern is if I will capture more of the bass and have a boomyness to the sound. Will post more later.

Cool Nike Sneakers I designed

Trace Acoustic TA 50 R (Review)

The Trace Elliot Acoustic TA 50 R sounds great. It takes a little tweaking however the sound is wonderful once you do. I really like this amps size at 22 lbs. And 8″ high and just and 18″ wide it’s a great little 50 watt amp. I’m using it for flamenco guitar with a Kremona pick-up and various mics depending on the venue. There are two 5″ Celestion speakers. There’s a digital reverb by Alesis. There are two channels one with line in passive piezo and one active then there are both bass and treb cut & boost on line one. Then Channel two is line in or Xlr with phantom power. There’s a 5 band eq. Notch filter, and a brilliance shape option. I hope to get a little bag or case for this amp. Great for small venues of less than 200. I find that set up is easy on my back and takes up much less space say than the Fishman Solo, however I do like the Fishman Solo. Much less space than the Bose L1 system. I think this is the perfect amp for the solo or small gig set up for acoustic guitar or other acoustic instruments. If you playing in small clubs, churches, small rooms perfect, it also has a direct line out so you can hook it up to the mixing board for larger venues. Then you have a great small monitor. I personally think that because you can get these great amps used now for 180.00-350.00 its perfect. I like the sound better than the Roland amps as well as the small Fishman, Marshall, Peavey, SWR, amps. The big thing with this amp is you have to know how to tweak and play with your eq’ing. Great Amp.

Our Rental Car

Our rental car while we wait for our Honda to get fixed is a Toyota Yaris

Magic in NYC

The guy in the black hat to the left was doing magic tricks on the subway.

Spanish Cypress Guitar Neck won on eBay

Spanish Cypress Guitar Neck

The neck is slotted to 650 mm. The head stalk is made from beautiful Rosewood that is well seasoned, quarter-sawn wood.

Like the Kia Soul

Took this care for a test drive yesterday and like it had lots of head room for someone that is 6’8″.

Beauty of Wood to Guitar

Today is my birthday and a wonderful friend of mine out in CA sent me this guitar kit to build my own Flamenco Cypress Blanca Guitar. Little did Charlene know what she has gotten me into. I am amazed at what luthiers do with wood. My guitar luthier Lester DeVoe made the guitar in the below picture. It amazes me how you can take wood like in the first picture and in the hands of the right person you can create beautiful instruments like the Lester DeVoe makes. Well Im on a journey to see what I can do. I think it may work whether it sounds good and looks good well we will have to see. This is really a cool gift. Im excited about building my first guitar. I thinks guitars just look and sound beautiful.

This is the guitar kit from LMI

This is my Favorite guitar a Lester DeVoe 2008 Flamenco Negra made of Madagascar Rosewood.

Kremona Professional Piezo Pick-Up

Today my Kremona-Bulgaria Ltd. Professional Piezo Pick-Up for Classical Guitar came. I put it on the Lester DeVoe Flameco Guitar. It took about 2 min to put it on. No frilling cutting. Just slip under the strings by the bridge. Tighten them again and you good to go. I hooked it up to the Trace Elliot Acoustic Rack Pre Piezo input and it worked great.

Not a good day

My first accident I’m getting to old to drive.

The Power of Addiction by John Eldredge Ransonmed Heart

The Power of Addiction
08/11/2009
This is the power of addiction. Whatever the object of our addiction is, it attaches itself to our intense desire for eternal and intimate communion with God and each other in the midst of Paradise—the desire that Jesus himself placed in us before the beginning of the world. Nothing less than this kind of unfallen communion will ever satisfy our desire or allow it to drink freely without imprisoning it and us. Once we allow our heart to drink water from these less-than-eternal wells with the goal of finding the life we were made for, it overpowers our will, and becomes, as Jonathan Edwards said, “like a viper, hissing and spitting at God” and us if we try to restrain it.

“Nothing is less in power than the heart and far from commanding, we are forced to obey it,” said Jean Rousseau. Our heart will carry us either to God or to addiction.

“Addiction is the most powerful psychic enemy of humanity’s desire for God,” says Gerald May in Addiction and Grace, which is no doubt why it is one of our adversary’s favorite ways to imprison us. Once taken captive, trying to free ourselves through willpower is futile. Only God’s Spirit himself can free us or even bring us to our senses.

(The Sacred Romance , 133–34)

BIAS iPro Recorder for iPhone

I like this app I use if for my lessons and music capturing. I record using the app on the iPhone and then just transfer the files using a local network to my lap top. Hears a screen shot of what it look like One pic is from my laptop and the other is the app on the iPhone

New Brunswick NJ

HDR Tutorial Link

Gitano Support for Guitar Update

Gitano Update

Update on the Gitano Support for guitar on the DeVoe. Felt to uncomfortable with suction cups on the DeVoe so I have removed them and polished the side of the guitar. I do like the position that the Support holds the guitar but on expensive guitars Im not comfortable with things that may leave marks etc. For me the DeVoe is the best guitar that I own and do not want to take any chances with it. I did use the King On Suction Cups material as well. Well the DeVoe is just Madagascar Rosewood now with no suction cups.
Thats Lester DeVoe, in his wonderful shop holding up my Flamenco Negra Madagascar Rosewood Guitar that he made for me. Its almost a year old.

Gitano Support for Guitar

Put the Gitano on my DeVoe. Im a bit worried about the suction cups making rigs/ marks on the side of the guitar. However my back feels much better when I can keep both feet on the ground and not use a foot rest. Will see how I feel about this in a week or two. I also ordered a EFEL Guitar Support yesterday.

Trace Elliot Gear

My new swag Trace Elliot gear came today, a small travel bag and a t shirt.

Trace Elliot Acoustic Pre Amp Came Today

Just plugged it in at the studio and it works and sounds great.

Seasons Of Love

Seasons Of Love

Seasons Of Love Master MP3

Starry Night Cafe Mug

While driving down the coast today we stopped at Starry Night Cafe and I saw this wonderful mug. Allison R Schoolcraft painted and made this. I had to get one and I have an origional the #1 in a limited production. This is painted by hand .I think I may go back and get another one.  I’m also going to ask Allison is she would paint either the picture for the new cd or the back of the jacket on the cd.  Hope to finish “Season of Love” by December 09. To check out the Cafe click the link hear or go paste http://sncafe.net/default.aspx into your browser.

Trace Accoustic Rack Pre Amp

I’m hoping to win this today on eBay. I have been looking for one of these for years. This is a great accoustic guitar rack pre amp. Yea I did win this tonight. I also just found out that it looks like Trace Elliot was picked up by Peavy and Peavy will start making the Trace Elliot Acoustic line of amps again such as the TA 100, 200, 400. So I ordered a TShirt and Bag.

**Update** I spoke with the seller and it’s on its way.  Hope its hear by the weekend.   Will put it through the test on Sat.

**Update** 8.5.09 The Trace Elliot Acoustic Pre Amp has arrived and sounds great.

Elton John & Billy Joel Pre Concert

Its Imbedded

New Web Page for Victor Tarassov