Then Let Us Toast John Barleycorn, Each Man A Glass In Hand.

[László]

Yestreen, I heard a pleasant greeting
A pleasant toy and full of joy, two noblemen were meeting...

A couple of weeks ago Studio Craptastic was fortunate to have a guest - Andy 474x was in town for a professional convention and paid a visit.

I knew It Might Get LOUD; it did.

We cranked the amps, Andy played some guitar to check out the rig setup; I embarrassed myself stumbling around on a guitar a little.

Andy endured listening to snippets on my monitoring system to check out the acoustic treatment (bits of a couple of major label releases to get a comparative perspective, a snippet of some of my short compositions, and a short clip of my granddaughter performing a vocal - hey, she did a good job so I had to! ).

Afterward we headed out to a local bar and grill, had a bite of dinner and toasted John Barleycorn, came back and talked about a couple of production tricks.

I can't speak for Andy, but I sure had a lot of fun! And a nicer dude does not exist.

 

[archtop]

"Each man a glass in hand"? How 20th century. Equal time for the ladies...

 

[bodia]

I love it when forum bros actually get to hang out. Bet it was a great time all the way around.

 

[László]

"Each man a glass in hand"? How 20th century. Equal time for the ladies...

Um...the thread title is a quote from an 18th Century Robert Burns poem called, fittingly enough, John Barleycorn.

The first line of the OP is a quote from the earlier, 1640 version of the song of the same name.

I hope it's OK with you if I quote from well-known 17th and 18th C. literature without remonstrance.

The O.P. is also about two male members of the forum hanging out. Thus, 'Each man' is apropos of the situation. Had there been women present here the thread would have been titled differently.

I started a law firm in 1977. * The first associate attorney I hired happened to be a woman - unusual at the time. Equality of opportunity isn't merely a 21st century thing. We knew about this stuff a half century ago, and I acted on it. Always have, always will.


*Yeah, I'm that freakin' old.

I love it when forum bros actually get to hang out. Bet it was a great time all the way around.

I do too! I had a great time, for sure. Can't speak for Andy, though!

 

[RickP]

I'm coming to darken your doorstep one day, sir! My playing is sure to provide you a quote from some past tome about fingers not obeying instructions. lol

 

[László]

I'm coming to darken your doorstep one day, sir! My playing is sure to provide you a quote from some past tome about fingers not obeying instructions. lol

Well, I certainly hope so!!

I'm confident your fingers are better soldiers than mine. But what the heck, it's all about enjoying hanging out!

 

[GGJJGG]

I live in Les’s neck of the woods. He has yet to invite me over. Good for me, he wouldn’t see my lately under/unpracticed self. And, of course, better for him that I am not in proximity to all those NOS tubes!

Hopefully, we are getting Coney Islands soon!!

 

[László]

I live in Les’s neck of the woods. He has yet to invite me over.

I didn't know you wanted to come over!

Hopefully, we are getting Coney Islands soon!!

Count me in!

 

[GGJJGG]

I didn't know you wanted to come over!

Count me in!

I hereby suggest the midwest members meet us at Lafayette or American Coney Island in Detroit this summer!

 

[veinbuster]

Sounds like fun.
I haven’t hung out with any of the forum crew in quite a while.
I should get back to that next month.

 

[László]

Sounds like fun.
I haven’t hung out with any of the forum crew in quite a while.
I should get back to that next month.

It'd sure be nice to have that happen!

 

[GGJJGG]

My wife works at the DIA and could get a tour for the more artsy amongst us.

 

[László]

My wife works at the DIA and could get a tour for the more artsy amongst us.

I'm in. It's a wonderful museum!

 

[bodia]

I should make a trip to Studio Craptastic just to make you feel good about your playing!

 

[GGJJGG]

Maybe a plan is coming together?!?

 

[gush]

I love it when forum members can hang out.

 

[andy474x]

Thanks again, Les, for having me!

If anyone has ever wondered if Les' studio is the real deal, let me tell you, it is! I assume that most people who've heard his work, seen the pictures, know it. It's what I expected, although the experiencing the reality still produced some goose bumps. That said, I could see where a person, unfamiliar, could just stumble on here and see someone talking about his sound treatment, or custom power cables, or isolating power reservoir for his amps, and think it's just big talk from a guy that likes to spend money... nope!!! It all works just as well as he says. Hearing the purity of the sound at the workstation messed with my brain a little - my ears weren't hearing the sound of the room that my eyes were seeing.

To expand on what Les mentioned we did, he was kind enough to let me check out all of his incredible amps, board, and the PS McCarty Singlecut, for as long as I wanted before dinner. Afterwards, he showed me some of his workflow and techniques for creating tracks with orchestra libraries, and we looked at some new plugins he's digging. It was great having someone who's deeply into the same things to nerd out with. As much as I enjoyed all that, I equally enjoyed the meal we had at a very cool dinner spot and talking about family and life.

Hopefully we'll get together "IRL" again soon. Maybe if Les wanders west, he can hear the calming effect a front-loading washing machine has on a shared studio/laundry space, or how unpredictable weiner dog barking can sweeten the perfect take on acoustic guitar.

Really, though, 10/10 hang, hope to do it again!

 

[László]

If anyone has ever wondered if Les' studio is really Craptastic, it is.

Fixed it for ya!

Honestly, it was a total pleasure getting to hang out with Andy. I was looking forward to it and for good reason. He's a super-nice person and fun to spend time with -- music-related time or simply having a bite of dinner and a beverage talking about the things in life that make it interesting and enjoyable!

 

[László]

One last story...

After Andy went back to his hotel, I went upstairs and my wife asked me if I had a good time. "Yup," I said. "It was a lot of fun. One thing happened, to me though. At dinner I lost my train of thought at one point. That felt unusual. Is age is starting to affect me?"

"Wait. Did you have a drink?"

"Yeah. A martini."

"Well, DUH," replied my wife.

 

[Rockabilly69]

You might like this one that I covered...

https://soundcloud.com/daniel-weldon-1%2Fjohn-barleycorn-must-die

on this guitar...