Michelle Shocked – someone I have heard of but never heard – was playing Yoshi’s in San Francisco March 17th 2013. For some reason when she came back on for her second set, she started semi-preaching about Jesus (5:00) and talking about “preachers being held at gun point and forced to marry the homosexuals” (5:20) – which, she said, would be the signal for Jesus to come back.

Then she asked people to tweet “Michelle Shocked just said ‘God hates faggots’”. (5:40)

Given this was a club in San Fransisco, this didn’t go over real well.

There was a bit of audience interaction at this point. Then she tries to play a song – which I can’t tell if she’s making up on the spot (9:00). At the end of the song (16:15) there is a bit more audience interaction and then the owner of Yoshi’s announces the show is over (17:19) . Michelle then tries to do another song as they unplug her and she continues without amps. Yoshi’s gives another announcement over her song (18:46).

The most cringe worthy part of the entire clip is the end. Michelle knows she’s not getting paid for this show and she begs for money (21:50).

[Audio clip]

Track Notes:
One day the sun will expand into a red giant. Sounds like a good excuse to have a party.

Recording/Mixing:
A basic format: a drum line, congas, bass, sax and two guitars – plus a handful of explosions, crashes and other random things that go “boom”.

The rhythm guitar line was recorded in two track stereo. I mixed one side with a touch of distortion and put it in the centre channel. The other track was sent to the DL4 delay and placed on the left channel. The output from the DL4 goes to ADA 2.56i, set to a tight flange, and the ADA output goes to the right channel. This widened the sound out.

There are about 6 vocal tracks. The main one and 5 backup “shouty” tracks.

The main vocals are overcompressed and sent through an amp simulator.

A special thanks to Katherina Sophia for coming in and helping with the backup vocals.

Copyright 2012: Seven Graylands

Lyrics:
We’re moving silent
We move like a serpents
This cold dead black heart we keep in a box

We turn to cinder
We turn to dust
Abiogenesis has nothing on us
We turn to cinder
We turn to dust
Half-life dead stop

Track Notes:
So many metaphors, so little time. You get to figure out what this song is about.

This track is my introduction to my brand new musical genre – a mixture of Jazz and Gothic rock – which I call “Joth”. Someone came up with the term “Gazz” but, like assholes, they trademarked it. I also heard a little of “Gazz” music and it sounded like Kenny G got depressed. Not really what I was after. So.. Joth was born.

This track is sort of a continuation of what I was playing with on “The Ghosts of December” – but with new material. I like this direction and I think I’ll do more with it.

Recording/Mixing:
A basic layout with a drum line, upright bass, piano, sax and guitar.

I wanted to give this track atmosphere with a lot of space. I also wanted a large dynamic decibel range with quiet sections and really loud sections. I guess this is my rebellious way of going against the grain of new music being overcompressed at maximum volume within inches of its life.

There are a few effects added to achieve the atmosphere in the track. On low piano chords I added thunder sounds with a crapload of reverb from the MidiVerb 1 and M-One XL. There are a few crashes with layered delay – first out of the M-One then to the Midiverb 1. This gives it a slight delay before the sound expands. This is a little trick I learned from The Art of Noise years ago. It is a nice effect but I don’t often get a chance to use it.

The vocal delay is a mixture of delay from the ADA 2.56i and my new Line6 DL4 (the DL4 outputs to the right side).

There is a soundscape in the background during some parts of the song and at the end. This is a mish-mash of sounds I assembled. I don’t even remember what they are.

There are three vocal lines. The main one which I recorded with an extremely hot microphone and, in some parts, I’m barely speaking. The other two tracks are the last vocal lines where I am literally shouting as loud as I could. Those two tracks are mixed hard left and hard right in the background.

Copyright 2012: Seven Graylands

Lyrics:
Its there
They said
Down below

I’m working
To find it
I dig deeper
Into the ground
This hole
Gets deeper
The only thing I find in the hole
Is me

Track Notes:
The inspiration for this song came from the line “Eddie always knew how to stop, drop and roll when we lit him on fire.” It popped into my head one day and I thought it was such a cool line I wanted to try and use it in a song. So basically, I wrote this song around it.

This song probably wins second place to the most words I’ve used in a song.

Recording/Mixing:

There are not a lot of instruments on this song – even though it sounds full to me.

It’s drums and percussion, upright bass, one piano track, and one sax track with a bit of delay.

When I was working on this song I had a scratch drum track recorded and I was playing along with to add the bass and piano parts. Instead of deleting this track when the final drums went in, I ran it through delay, over compressed it, and squeezed it though an amp simulator. I think this added a cool groove to the beat. Originally, I planned on putting that groove in with congas and other percussion stuff. But I liked the grittiness of the overcompressed drum track – so I left it.

I also used claves, a guiro, and some little egg shakers.

There are a bunch of vocal lines. The tinny vocals were over compressed, EQ’ed to death and then run though an amp simulator.

Copyright 2012: Seven Graylands

Lyrics:
Eddie always knew how to stop, drop, and roll when we lit him on fire
Mary always lit the match, she thought Eddie was a liar
Jim would show up at the house some time about a quarter past eight
But Jane always seemed to miss the fun because Jane was always late

The day she moved away
The day she moved away

Track Notes:
This song came from an idea I had about a photo shoot. More to come on that.

Recording/Mixing:
Very straight forward recording. One upright bass, one muted trumpet, one sax, a main vocal, a backup vocal, and a drum line.

I wanted to vocals to be very intimate so I recorded with the mic quite hot and I didn’t sing very loud. It’s pretty hard to control “s” and “t” sounds recording like this – but thanks to volume automation, I got it under control.

Copyright 2012: Seven Graylands

Lyrics:
So a brand new day
Never finding shelter
You’ve hidden from the world
Your shaking hands

They ask for life again
Covering their ears from what we say
They turn their backs and then
Never open up their eyes to see discarded angels

Track Notes:
This song was really written around the phrase “neon Mother Teresa” – coined by Kate about our friend Christina during a music video shoot. Later I said “I call dibs on the term ‘neon Mother Teresa’ for a song”.

Recording/Mixing:
There is a lot going on in this recording.

There is one Juno 6 synth track. Like in “Noose”, because the Juno 6 is mono, I recorded the track in mono, copied it to another track, shifted the time slightly, and knocked one track hard left and the other hard right.

One bass track.

One drum line. I normally record the drum parts on grouped tracks. One track each for kick, snare, and toms. The hats and rides have their own track and the crash cymbals have a stereo “overhead” type track.

There are 4 guitar tracks. The first one you hear is pretty straight forward. When the song picks up, the second comes in (a screechy little riff). In the second where I sing “god damn neon Mother Teresa” I wanted the guitars to get really big, wide and phasey. I copied the original guitar track and pasted it to two new tracks. Like with the Juno, I time-shifted them slightly to make them unique to each other. I kept the original track in the center of the stereo spectrum and separated the copies hard left and right. Then I put a phase effect on one copy and a flange and amp simulator on the other (The amp simulator was to make it even more unique to the others.

There are 8 vocal tracks (5 regular tracks and 3 vocoder tracks). The first vocal has delay and a massive reverb from the M-One XL. Because I was using the M-One XL as the general “room” reverb for mixdown I recorded just the massive reverb to it’s own track. The second vocal part (“where she goes..”) I sang twice and doubled it up in the mix. I did the same with the “god damn Mother Teresa” section but I mixed it with a touch of delay. The last two vocals are the “Ooohh Evangelina” part with the 4 vocoder parts.

I wanted a nice, airy vocal sound for the “Ooohh Evangelina” section. I played around with different vocals and thought maybe a vocoder would fit. I put one vocoder part down but it wasn’t full enough. I put down two other vocoder parts using a different carrier signal to alter the sound of each. I mixed the three left, right and center from each other. The fourth vocoder is a copy of one of them, time shifted with the same massive reverb I used on the first vocal section.

I used the M-One XL for reverb and the ADA 2.56i for Delay.
Copyright 2012: Seven Graylands

Lyrics:
At the end of summer
She’ll disappear like a cloud
And at the end of sunlight
She wanders in to the night.

But where she goes, no one knows
What she said, had no words
Where she goes, no one knows

She was holding the moon and dancing with children
Like a god damn neon Mother Teresa
Giving glow sticks to the poor
Evangelina

Oooooooo Evangelina
Oooooooo We want to see ya

But where she goes, no one knows
What she said, had no words
Where she goes, no one knows

When she pulls you closer
Her touch is soft as the fog
She’s a mystic contradiction
who wanders in to the night.

But where she goes, no one knows
What she said, has no words
Where she goes, no one knows

She was singing a song as she spun in the sunlight
Mixing bible verse with a cake recipe
Spreading her arms out to us all
Evangelina (Evangelina)

She was holding the moon and dancing with children
Like a god damn neon Mother Teresa
Giving glow sticks to the poor
Evangelina (Evangelina)

Oooooooo Evangelina
Oooooooo We want to see ya

Where she goes, no one knows
What she said, had no words
Where she goes, no one knows
What she said, no one heard
Where she goes, no one knows
but when she smiles, flowers grow

(Evangelina)

Track Notes:
Years back I had an idea for a song. I jotted down the music and lyrics into a rough track but never completed it. Over the years I picked out elements from it – a musical riff, the music for the chorus, and other things. One of the lines from the original was “If I found the world hanging from a noose I think I’d turn and walk away”. I always liked that line and wanted to do something with it – so I built a new song around it.

Recording/Mixing:
This is a pretty basic rock recording. One bass, two guitars, a synth and drums.

There is one Juno 6 synth track. Because the Juno 6 is mono, I recorded the track in mono, copied it to another track, shifted the time slightly, and knocked one track hard left and the other hard right. This give the Juno 6 a nice, big, wide sound.

If I recall there are 5 vocal tracks. The first vocal with phase and a touch of amp simulator for distortion. The second vocal line which is the shouty, delayed vocal. The chorus has three vocals – the main one and two backups.

I used the M-One XL for reverb and the ADA 2.56i for Delay.
Copyright 2012: Seven Graylands

Lyrics:
I’ve got a shiv for an attitude,
a couple of daggers in my eyes for you.
I’ve got a hat pin in my spine,
watching you suck it dry,
What’s your fucking point?

You’re a greed machine
With a cement scheme
and we’re burning down your buildings with gasoline
More destruction and more confusion
but your profits keep going up

Track Notes:
This is the last song for the new album. I’m pleased with the remake on this. The original contained the same song structure, but I expanded on the idea in the re-recording.

Recording/Mixing:
One various percussion track of congas and tabla and a tambourine track. There are two tracks of various thunder/explosion sounds.

There are one low cello and two high cello tracks, two French horns and one piano track.

This is also the first song I’ve used my accordion on.

There are two synth tracks. The one in the intro is the Korg EX-8000. About halfway into the song there is a low synth line. This is the Synthesizers.com Modular Synthesizer.

One vocal track. Like on several other of these remakes, I ended up keeping my scratch vocal track for the final version.

I used the M-One XL for reverb.

Copyright 1984-2011: Graylands/Nelson

Lyrics:
Watching the ghost parade I know them like friends of mine.
With long necks and holes in arms
My Jesus in the city of skulls
When the prison door slams
It’s then I’ll remember
I’m miles away
Miles away

Watching the ghost parade I know them like friends of mine.
With long necks and holes in arms
My Jesus in the city of skulls
When the prison door slams
It’s then I’ll remember
I’m miles away
Miles away

I shot the room after a rough ear test. Here are the results using a 20-20k sine wave (I bypassed the console and went straight out the reference interface to the monitors).

Blue line: The Adam A7s / Red Line: The Adam A7s and the KRK 10s

Overall, I’m pretty pleased. The KRK 10s rounded out the low end without being too woofy or hollow sounding. With a little playing I can even things out a little.

The KRK 10s comes with an on/off switch port. The subwoofer doesn’t come with a switch but it takes any common 1/4 inch phono plug footswitch you’d use for a guitar amp (or something like it). I had one sitting around in a box and hooked it up. It’s handy to be able to switch the sub on and off from the console.

The specs on the 10s are:
Drivers: 10″ High-Excursion Glass Aramid Composite Woofer
Frequency Response: 34Hz – 50Hz – 130Hz Variable +/-1dB
Max Power: 225 Watt (peak) Powered Subwoofer for Studio Use
Low Pass Filter: Variable and Sweepable Low Pass Filter
High Pass Filter: 80Hz
Maximum SPL @ 1m: 110dB Music and 113dB Peak
Dimensions (H x W x D): 15″ x 14″ x 16 1/6″ / 38.2cm x 35.5cm x 40.8cm
Weight: 40.2 lbs / 18.24 Kg

Q104 – MIDI Interface x 1
Q106 – Oscillator (VCO) x 2
Q107 – Filter (VCF) x 1
Q108 – Amplifier (VCA) x 1
Q109 – Envelope Generator x 2
Q110 – Noise Source x 1
Q113 – Mixer 8-Channel x 1
Q124 – Multiples x 1
Q137 – Power Control and Interface x 1
Q150 – Ladder Filter (VCF) x 1
QPS1 – Power Supply

I’ve mounted the modules in two rack mount frames. The power supply and Q137 power control module is mounted in a 4 unit rack mounted case.

I’m in love with this little modular synth. I’m already planning a third frame of modules which will bring it fairly close to the Rack-24 synth.

Track Notes:
I’m pleased with the atmosphere of this track. This was one of the last Souls In Darkness songs Todd and I worked on together. We never finished the original.

Recording/Mixing:
The bass guitar was sent through the Ibanez DD1000 for flange and then compressed with the Urei 7110.

There are two guitar lines. The “lead” is sent through the Roland SDX330 to give it a wider sound.

There are two drum lines – one of toms and the other a standard kit. The tom line was duplicated to another track and tuned up about 1/4 octave. The original and the tuned where then separated left/right to widen it out.

There are two synths. The Juno 106 is the first synth you hear (mostly just a mellow overtone). The Korg Ex-8000 is the second – which plays solo at first and then mimics the lead hook.

One vocal line.

I used the MidiVerb and the M-One XL for reverbs. The larger reverb (the one you can hear on the vocals) is the M-One.

Copyright 1984-2011: Graylands/Nelson

Lyrics:
She feels less than human
Is what she said
It makes me feel so useless
Knowing what you did
How many times before?
How many nights for you?
And I’m calling
Take off that party dress

And I’m calling
Take off that party dress
And you’re nothing
Bones break under stress
And something crawling
under my flesh

Knowing what you did
Knowing what you did
Knowing what you did
I know what you did

She feels less than human
Is what she said
Words that know
Fluids that flow
Something cutting flesh

Party dress dyed red
Party dress dyed red
Party dress dyed red
Her party dress dyed red

There were two versions of this song. The original was recorded with just Todd and I in my home studio. The second was recorded about 8 months later in a 16 track studio and included Martha on violin.

I think we were in the right direction with the original so this third (final) version is based on that.

Recording/Mixing:
The bass guitar was sent really hot through the Peavey 4530 Delay set to flange. It was a mistake at first but I liked the slightly overdriven sound so I left it.

Three drum lines. One a standard kit and two tom tracks. I played the toms twice to fill the sound up (I do love big drums).

The synth is the Korg EX-8000. The synth crashes are the Juno 6.

There is one guitar line and one vocal line (and one background shouty vocal line).

This track is the reintroduction of my original MidiVerb to the studio (it sat in the bottom of a box for years). I had just fixed it up and tried it out during the mixdown of this track. I liked the sound so I kept it. The really long warm reverb on the vocals is the MidiVerb. The shorter reverb (you can hear it on the toms) is the Sony R-7.

Copyright 1984-2011: Graylands/Nelson

Oh why

I found an old Lexicon ALEX on Craigslist for $50. A few email back and forth and the guy realized he might have been a little low in his price. I was fine with paying $75 for it.

This unit was pretty rough, but most of it was caked on grime. It cleaned up well. The overall sound is pretty good actually. It is quiet and the reverbs are typical – nothing awe inspiring but not crap either. The plate reverbs are kind of nice.

Reverb times for the large hall are .60 sec – 8.9 sec. Delay times are 24ms – 1500ms.

The image above I got from the manual. Mine looks a little different. The “ALEX” logo is on the right instead of the left. They must have made a couple different versions of this effect.

Reinitialize the ALEX:
-Power down unit.
-Press and hold down STORE/CLEAR and PARAMETER button.
-Hold buttons down while powering up.
-When a “d” appears in the display, release buttons.
-Press PRESET REGISTER button once.
-Turn Program Knob until a “F” appears in the display.
-Press PRESET REGISTER button once.
-When “F” reappears turn program knob until the #”9″ appears.
-Press PRESET REGISTER button once.
-When the number “10″ appears unit is in normal running mode.

Specs:
Frequency response:
Wet 20Hz-15kHz, +1dB to -3dB
Dry 20Hz-20kHz, +0.5dB

THD+N
Wet <0.05% @ 1kHz
Dry <0.025% @ 1kHz

Dynamic Range
85dB, typical, 20Hz-20kHz bandwidth

Conversion: 16 bit linear PCM encoding; 31.25kHz sampling rate

Power Requirements: 9VAC, 1A

Audio Inputs (2): Level -30dBu minimum
Impedance: stereo/50 kΩ unbalanced / mono/25 kΩ unbalanced

Audio Outputs (2): Level -2dBu nominal
+8dBu maximum
Impedance 600Ω unbalanced

I need a new general reverb as my beloved Sony R7 is failing. After a bit of research I found people were saying some very good things about the M-One XL.

I’m fairly impressed by this machine. The noise floor is nothing on the reverbs. The stock  settings (200 of them) vary from tight rooms to massive 20 second caves.

Editing is a piece of cake. I jumped right in, modified a few stock patches and saved them without having to think about how to do it. The editing functions are very well laid out and logical.

I’ll update this later once I’ve had a bit of time behind it.

The Mark of the Unicorn MIDI Express 128 is a professional MIDI interface that provides plug-and-play connectivity to any USB-equipped Mac or Windows computer. The Express 128 provides 8 MIDI IN, 9 MIDI OUT, 128 MIDI channels.

Acquired 2011.

The Event Echo Gina20 is almost exactly like the Event Echo Darla but it has a break-out box and digital in/outs.

The Gina20 has 20bit-128x oversampling A/D converters. The breakout box contans 2 in/8 out phono plugs. The card is PCI and it has a DB25 for the cable to the break-out box and the digital in/out in RCA connectors.

Just like the Darla, I use this interface on the sampler and softsynth workstations. Rock solid drivers in WinXP and sounds great.

You can often find the Darla and Gina for $30-60 used. If you are looking to create a workstation for just outputting sounds, these are perfect devices.

I’ve had this card for a long time and it is still going strong. The Darla has 20bit-128x oversampling A/D converters, 2 in/8 out on a standard PCI card.

This was originally produced by Event and Echo took them over. Echo continues to provide functional, stable drivers for this card – at least up to WinXP 32bit – which is what I’m using this on.

The only downside to this card is the connector block. DB25 on one side, 10 RCA on the other. It connects directly to the card on the back of the workstation. Really, nothing a RCA to Phono snake can’t fix. But don’t lose the connector. It is a speciality item.

So what do I use this card for? I have several workstations in the studio running sampler and softsynth software. These workstations are connected via MIDI to the main recorder workstation. The audio outs from these tone generating workstations go to the console. I treat them just like hardware synths. I’m using this Darla card in one workstation and a Gina20 in another.

Event Darla

The Darla card is perfect for this as it gives me 8 outputs to work with. Kontakt and Gigasampler allow you to define the output per sample. I can run the sampled snare out channel 1, the horns out 5/6, etc.

Roland MKS-30 “Planet S” Synthesizer is often called the Roland JX-3P in a box. Sadly they also share the 80017A chips that live in the Juno 106. This means eventually they will go faulty on you.

A fellow was selling it and because it had a bad 80017A… I got it cheap, tried to fix the modules, and found one was actually quite bad. Like dead.

I planned to replace it but realized I already had several of these types of synths – so I sold it in what I am now calling The Great Equipment Purge of 2013.

X-ray Specs..
Polyphony – 6 voices
Oscillators – 2 DCO’s (digitally controlled oscillators)
LFO – YES
Filter – cutoff / resonance / envelope amount / key follow
VCA – 1 ADSR envelope generator
Memory – 64 internal / 64 cartridge
Control – MIDI
Circa 1983

Acquired 2011

Do, do, do. La, la, la.
La, la, la. Do, do, do.
Ukulele!!!

Track Notes:
Originally a very simple unfinished track. I liked the concept and imagery of the lyrics.

Recording/Mixing:
There is actually a lot going on in this song.

There are three tracks of feedback sounding noise. These come and go throughout the song. There is also one track of random explosions (the same explosions I used in “Eyes”).

There is one piano and one bass guitar track. There are cello, viola and French horn ensembles.

I recorded three guitar tracks. I copied out the lead guitar track, reversed it, put reverb on it, recorded just the reverb, flipped the reverb rightway, and inserted it into a new track. This is mixed in and out through the song.

There are three vocal lines. I used the ADA Delay 2.56i on the main vocals. The chorus (“My God machines..”) is sent through distortion, delay and flange. The third is just me speaking/singing “Gently Eventually Collapsing” overcompressed with the Urei 7110.

Three drum tracks. One standard kit and two sets of toms.

Copyright 1984-2011: Graylands/Nelson

Lyrics:
Electric
Terror
Motorblade
They circle
Humming
Powerhouse
There’s no humans in the planes
No persons in the sky
No one sucking power from the circuit’s mind

My God machines. My Machines. My god.

The serial number puts it right around 1960-1961. It has been well loved but it is in great functional shape.

The one in the picture is not mine, but mine looks just like it (without the shine). I even have the original music stand.

Track Notes:
A remake of our original track with a slightly different sound.

Recording/Mixing:
Fairly straight forward. Bass guitar, two guitar lines, one drum line and one vocal track. Two synth lines – the Juno 6 and Juno 106 playing the same phrase.

Copyright 1984-2011: Graylands/Nelson

Lyrics:
Lack of communication
Loosely called dehumanization
I’m here all alone
Crying to a dial tone

Crisis line
Will you talk with me
Crisis line
Will you set me free

Track Notes:
I didn’t change this track very much except a slight musical phrase here and there. Lyrics and vocal line is pretty much the same as the original. I had thought of expanding it and doing a large production but after I put down the basic tracks I think I liked the simplicity of it all. So,.. I left it alone.

Recording/Mixing:
The large boom sounds originally were noise crashes on the Moog. This time I created a bunch of different booms by mixing thunder, explosions and other things together. Some thunder sounds were slowed down an octave or two and layered under other things that went boom. I think the large, slow, distant rumbles mixed with the cellos are quite moving.

There is one piano through the ADA 2.56i delay.

There is a track of cellos, one track of french horns, one track of violas, and one clarinet track.

The vocal track in the song is my original scratch track. I will often record a basic rough vocal to see how it fits with the rest of the music. When it came time to record the actual vocals I gave it a couple tries but I really liked how the scratch vocals sounded. I left those as the main and very lightly mixed in a second vocal track behind it to fill it out a little.

Copyright 1984-2011: Graylands/Nelson

Lyrics:
Eyes and tears
Dark stained years
You can try to deny the rotting of time
Can you flatter some with names?
You grow fatter
Succumb to the flame
Shuffle through the days
Not knowing when it rains
Just another crock
Another in the flock
Maimed and raped
Guess I should use I
How time flies when you’re on the run
Under the gun
The wanting of the fun
The scars

[Audio clip]

[Audio clip]

Stoletov 24
Copyright 1988 The Tic Tok Men

Transport to the city
Powered by electrons
Moving very silent
Just the hum of the motor
Turn up the voltage
To accelerate momentum
Switch on auto-drive
For self navigation

Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
My Electric (Electric) / Electric Automobile (Automobile)

Collectors capture photons
In my Stoletov Two-Four
Tesla Coil Dynamos
For rapid current flow
Data diskette audio
Octrophonic sound
Computer compositions
For scenery synchronization

Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
My Electric (Electric) / Electric Automobile (Automobile)

Radar buzzer warning
Grid traffic halted
Initiate hover mode
Fly above the city

Collectors capture photons
In my Stoletov Two-Four
Tesla Coil Dynamos
For rapid current flow
Data diskette audio
Octrophonic sound
Computer compositions
For scenery synchronization

Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
Electric (Electric) / Automobile (Automobile)
My Electric (Electric) / Electric Automobile (Automobile)

[Audio clip]

Instrumental

Copyright 1988 The Tic Tok Men

I used one of these for years back in the day. It was owned by a friend in ‘the band’. I was sad the day it left the studio and swore I’d buy one for myself. Years went by and I bought a few others along the way. I ended up passing over the Juno 6 several times because of the lack of MIDI. Instead I bought a Juno 106 and an AKAI AX-60.

A Juno 6 landed on Craigslist for a fair price and the owner said it was in great shape. I don’t know why it caught my eye this time. It might have something to do with being in the studio recently and restoring old tracks which used the Juno 6. I decided to at least go have a look at it.

As it turns out, it wasn’t in such great shape. The pitch bend wheel was broken and a few sliders and buttons needed attention. The seller told me he’d throw in a newish QuikLok 3 tier keyboard stand and a few nice 20′ cables. Deal! Of course the problem was my car wasn’t near his place so I had to lug the Juno and the stand across Chinatown.

They call me “Long Arms” now.

I got it home and most of the problems were repaired in a few minutes. The sliders just needed to be blown out. One of the buttons needed a solder point fixed. Pretty simple stuff. At the moment the only thing I need to work on is finding a replacement pitch bend (which works, but the plastic lever is broken) and something is wonky with the manual LFO button. It isn’t triggering. I’m sure that is something simple as well.

Other then that, it is in pretty nice shape. The paint is good all over except for a small amount near the pitch bend. The keys are all in great shape and the buttons hardly look their age. They’ve maintained their colour over the years. A pretty nice find really. And it sounds GREAT!

I’m going to find a MIDI retro kit for it now. I’d like to try and figure out a way to get it in there without having to drill a hole in the case for the MIDI port/s. I’m not a big fan of damaging something in such good shape.

Juno 6 on the bench

The guts look to be in good shape. It actually wasn't very dusty in there.

Busted!

Acquired: 2010

[Audio clip]

Instrumental

Copyright 1988 The Tic Tok Men

In my video I talk about the calibration procedure for the Juno. I have a PDF of the procedure so I decided to include it in this post.

Juno 106 Calibration 1.38 MB PDF