New song up on Myspace

I recently put a new tune of mine up on Myspace. Click here to listen.

It’s a work in progress, but I just wanted to get something up that better reflects what I’m doing right now. Some of the other songs are nearly 10 years old!

It was recorded on Ubuntu Studio, with Jack and Ardour. It was mastered using Audacity. The drums were a simple loop I quickly programmed in Hydrogen. Other than the drums, the song only has two additional tracks – lead guitar and rhythm guitar. It’s about as bare bones as it gets!

For this recording I used my Custom Guitar workshop LP Custom, Custom Guitar Workshop TE2, a Peavey Rage 158 Transtube amp, Behringer VM1 Vintage Echo, Behringer microphones, and my Epiphone Triggerman 60DSP Combo amp.

I’m pretty happy with the overall sound. It’s quite astounding what you can achieve in your own home now thanks to improvements in recording technology. I should mention, these programs are 100% free, which makes things a lot easier. Google their names to find out more and download them yourself. Ubuntu Studio is absolutely amazing. I use Linux as my general Operating System on my laptop, but also have a PC with Ubuntu Studio on it, just for recording purposes. The OS comes fully loaded with everything you need to record, master and burn music. It even has software like GIMP (an image manipulation program, like Adobe Photoshop) that you can use to make your own album artwork & covers. It’s like an artist’s dream. You can get more info here if you’re interested.

Chinese Les Paul hollowbody Freedom cheapy becomes a Gretsch LP

Before – this was a very average hollowbody Les Paul-shaped axe sold under the “Freedom” brand name. I picked it up for around $200 AU new. But, it took a lot of work to get it to play decently – needed nut and fret work and the original tail piece rattled a lot; hence the blue tape in this pic. Tuning pegs were replaced with Wilkinson items as the stock ones would not hold tune.

After - I had been lusting after a Gretsch for Rockabilly tones and I turned to the somewhat neglected Freedom axe to fill the void. In the pics below I have added GFS Memphis Retrotron-style Humbuckers + a GFS roller bridge + a satin black paint job via my airbrush + a Bigsby (licensed) + all new and more shielded electronics; full sized Alpha 500k pots, knobs are from Jaycar electronics. Head stock logo came from a German World War I model airplane kit’s decal sheet.

Custom Guitar Workshop TE-3: Dirt Cheap Semi-Hollow Tele!!!

Here’s a few pics of my Custom Guitar Workshop (CGW) TE-3. I picked it up off eBay from Australasia Music Workshop for $199AU + $40AU postage. It’s turned out to be a great player with a nice piano-like clean tone and some real flutey dirt sounds.

Double Muff Demo

I finally found a good online demo of this pedal. This will give you an idea of what they sound like.

The EHX Double Muff – Fuzz, Boost, Overdrive & Distortion All In The One Box!!

The Electro Harmonix Double Muff - Two Fuzzes In One!!

The Double Muff (DM) is a really cool dirt pedal made by Electro Harmonix, which there seems to be very little hype about on the net. I’m not sure why? I think this could be one of the best lower-gain distortion units I’ve ever played through; and I’ve played through lots of dirt boxes, from varying price points, many of which were useless for anything but recording. I guess someone famous needs to be seen using a piece of equipment in order for all the internet guitar gear fetishists to start raving about it. Oh well, my gain and everybody else’s’ loss.

Custom Guitar Workshop TE-1

Here’s old faithful. The First axe I purchased from Custom Guitar Workshop through Australasia Music Workshop’s eBay Australia store. I paid $250 AU for it (+ $39 AU postage). I didn’t know what to expect at the time but I was really surprised with how great it played and sounded.

Custom Guitar Workshop ST-2: A Great Strat Copy For Dirt Cheap!

Here’s a couple of pics of my Custom Guitar Workshop (CGW) ST-2 HSS (Humbucker, Single Coil, Single Coil) Strat copy. I picked up this little ripper about 8 months ago for $129 AU + $39 AU postage from eBay at http://stores.ebay.com.au/AUSTRALASIA-MUSIC-WORKSHOP

Custom Guitar Workshop K7 Jet II

Shown in the pics above is my recently purchased Custom Guitar Workshop (CGW) K7 Jet II. I’ve bought a stack of these CGW guitars and will be posting on every one of them as time allows.

My Myspace Music Page

I have just launched my own Myspace Music page – http://www.myspace.com/canaanperry .

There are 6 new songs uploaded in the player.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. Stay tuned for updates.