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It grew, the challenge of working on my music in Mexico and now…..it’s a challenge back in the states!
The last I reported was the problem with my Ovation guitar (that saga contines over the past almost 3 months now in the states) where the bridge had pulled up from the body (now I’m finding out that the surface of the guitar is warped).
Shortly after that while working on a song using a keyboard I purchased in the music department at a local store (local at the time was Mexico) the second A note down from middle C went out!! Oh, just take it in for repair you may say, but it’s not as simple as driving to the nearest keyboard repair place or shipping it to a repair center. Things have a way of disappearing in Mexico. Something shipped and arriving is haphazard and done rather irresponsibly.
So, I needed a work around. Midi didn’t work out as the key wasn’t reporting properly. Then a stroke of luck happened! My software program that I use for recording allowed me to lower my octaves so that an octive transposition took place! Now, I’m back in business. So, start working the song from an octave postition and everything is going fine.
NEXT!!!
I’ve already got 4 new songs completed, 3 incomplete and 1 just getting underway. They’re on my external drive that I used back in the states with my iMac. Now, I’m excited and ready to do some work. I plug in the external to access a particular song to continue work on and I can’t access the external hard drive…..ugh.
I toyed with the external, do some research on youtube.com and come across a possible solution. I drive 30 miles to an electronics store (they are not on every block there, they are ‘rare’ as a matter of fact) and they don’t have what I need.
Now I’ve got a few choices here; start the songs in progress all over, or work on something new. BUT!!!! But, I’ve got no external hard drive to save them to! Now I could just save that to my internal hard drive on my MacBook Air and I started to do that, it just takes up so much hard drive space!
So, I just decided ‘no’, I’ll just learn some of the tricks of the software, access my backups on my iMac when I get back in the states.
Still on the table of options was to buy another guitar. Getting a name brand guitar on the Caribbean coast of Mexico is rather slim. So, not much effort went into that.
Fast forward to being back in the states, sitting at my iMac to access my backups for my completed and working songs and my iMac tells me that the files cannot be accessed, cannot be found, and files may be corrupted! Ugh!!
Another idea is to bring my external hard drive to a reputable computer store and have the data accessed. Here’s the story on that. If the data can be accesseed, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be in the form it was produced. Hmph! That’s really no good.
Needless to say, only a cursor attempt was made to to retrieve the data.
Now the ‘new’ challenge is to start over. Whoopiii!
After listening to the mp3’s (no I can’t use mp3’s in this form to maintain a quality recording) of my songs I realized that there had been some things that I could do to improve the elements and production of my songs. I’m happy now. Now, I’ve just got to find the original handwritten copies of the songs with the chords on them…..I’m looking.
Challenges are everywhere and a good attitude makes things happen.
Back to the drawing board, or should I say the recording board.
Peace and love,
John
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]]>The challenge is accepted!
Again!
Another one!
I’ve chosen not to get frustrated over this……my options aren’t much to choose from being here in Mexico. So I have to make the very best of what’s available.
Two reasons I couldn’t bring everything I needed with me. Reading thru the restrictions, I could only bring in two guitars and secondly I didn’t have the room to bring in various instruments and recording gear.
But, I want to do this, I need to do this and I have the songs to do this!! Besides I’ve been too long on this and let too many things I could control get in my way. These problems I can’t control.
What has happened with this is it’s left me with a narrow option for music and recording. It’s current and techno! This is my challenge. Getting my music out of my head, and into my computer while maintaining an ‘organic’ feel.
All my equipment back home was 1/4 in jack inputs and outputs, balanced and in stereo. I’m not afforded that luxury because I couldn’t bring my recording interface equipment with me. I now have to interface with my computer via USB. So what I had to do was get a USB adapter for 1/4 inch input (going from 1/4 inch input to USB). I got one! No small accomplishment, things of such aren’t readily available here in Mexico. So, I ordered thru Amazon.com and my daughter muled (meaning she was my courier) it to me.
The next problem was that although the guitar adapter advertised it was for PC/Mac, there’s no driver available for Mac. So, the adapter is useless. But I’ve got an idea since I have a USB microphone! I’m working this….BUT!!!!!
Here’s my latest problem that became the major derailment.
My Ovation guitar. The bridge has lifted from the body of the guitar. But, it’s a little more complicated than that. You see it’s an artist rendered guitar with a lacquered top and the lacquered top has pulled off the front of the guitar with the bridge! By the way, the bridge is the part of the guitar that the strings are anchored down to.
I didn’t see this right away. I noticed that my guitar was out of tune…..not uncommon except this time all 6 strings were a half step out of tune. And I found this awfully odd. Usually not all the strings would be out of tune and especially a half step out of tune.
That’s when I looked a little closer and noticed the problem with the bridge.
I’ve contacted Ovation regarding the problem, but there’s no way I’m shipping this back to the U.S. and hoping to get it shipped back. Nope, I’m gonna try and repair this myself. I’ve seen it done on YouTube.com so I figure I can do it. I’m heading out shopping tomorrow and finding me some good wood glue and setting hardware.
This has to be the last setback. I can’t figure out what else could possibly happen!
I’ve got the songs, I’ve got the equipment to do it…….so, I’ll give this a go!
Peace and love,
John
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