<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> <% Dim MM_editAction MM_editAction = CStr(Request.ServerVariables("SCRIPT_NAME")) If (Request.QueryString <> "") Then MM_editAction = MM_editAction & "?" & Server.HTMLEncode(Request.QueryString) End If ' boolean to abort record edit Dim MM_abortEdit MM_abortEdit = false %> <% ' IIf implementation Function MM_IIf(condition, ifTrue, ifFalse) If condition = "" Then MM_IIf = ifFalse Else MM_IIf = ifTrue End If End Function %> <% If (CStr(Request("MM_insert")) = "form1") Then If (Not MM_abortEdit) Then ' execute the insert Dim MM_editCmd Set MM_editCmd = Server.CreateObject ("ADODB.Command") MM_editCmd.ActiveConnection = MM_BinkyII_STRING MM_editCmd.CommandText = "INSERT INTO Comments (UserName, PageID, UserID, [Comment]) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)" MM_editCmd.Prepared = true MM_editCmd.Parameters.Append MM_editCmd.CreateParameter("param1", 202, 1, 50, Request.Form("hfUsername")) ' adVarWChar MM_editCmd.Parameters.Append MM_editCmd.CreateParameter("param2", 5, 1, -1, MM_IIF(Request.Form("hfPageID"), Request.Form("hfPageID"), null)) ' adDouble MM_editCmd.Parameters.Append MM_editCmd.CreateParameter("param3", 5, 1, -1, MM_IIF(Request.Form("hfUserID"), Request.Form("hfUserID"), null)) ' adDouble MM_editCmd.Parameters.Append MM_editCmd.CreateParameter("param4", 203, 1, 1073741823, Request.Form("ComArea")) ' adLongVarWChar MM_editCmd.Execute MM_editCmd.ActiveConnection.Close ' append the query string to the redirect URL Dim MM_editRedirectUrl MM_editRedirectUrl = "MusicRoom.htm" If (Request.QueryString <> "") Then If (InStr(1, MM_editRedirectUrl, "?", vbTextCompare) = 0) Then MM_editRedirectUrl = MM_editRedirectUrl & "?" & Request.QueryString Else MM_editRedirectUrl = MM_editRedirectUrl & "&" & Request.QueryString End If End If Response.Redirect(MM_editRedirectUrl) End If End If %> <% Dim rsUsers__MMColParam rsUsers__MMColParam = "1" If (Session("MM_Username") <> "") Then rsUsers__MMColParam = Session("MM_Username") End If %> <% Dim rsUsers Dim rsUsers_cmd Dim rsUsers_numRows Set rsUsers_cmd = Server.CreateObject ("ADODB.Command") rsUsers_cmd.ActiveConnection = MM_BinkyII_STRING rsUsers_cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM Users WHERE UserName = ?" rsUsers_cmd.Prepared = true rsUsers_cmd.Parameters.Append rsUsers_cmd.CreateParameter("param1", 200, 1, 50, rsUsers__MMColParam) ' adVarChar Set rsUsers = rsUsers_cmd.Execute rsUsers_numRows = 0 %> <% Dim rsComments__MMColParam rsComments__MMColParam = "5" If (Request("MM_EmptyValue") <> "") Then rsComments__MMColParam = Request("MM_EmptyValue") End If %> <% Dim rsComments Dim rsComments_cmd Dim rsComments_numRows Set rsComments_cmd = Server.CreateObject ("ADODB.Command") rsComments_cmd.ActiveConnection = MM_BinkyII_STRING rsComments_cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM Comments WHERE PageID = ? ORDER BY TimeKey ASC" rsComments_cmd.Prepared = true rsComments_cmd.Parameters.Append rsComments_cmd.CreateParameter("param1", 5, 1, -1, rsComments__MMColParam) ' adDouble Set rsComments = rsComments_cmd.Execute rsComments_numRows = 0 %> <% Dim Repeat1__numRows Dim Repeat1__index Repeat1__numRows = -1 Repeat1__index = 0 rsComments_numRows = rsComments_numRows + Repeat1__numRows %> Ralph's Den of Musicality at RalphJStone.com
First, I'll preface this with: Sorry to those people that were expecting to hear my first song from the new studio. The Flash segment is taking longer than expected, although it is coming on nicely and I'm really happy with it so far. I decided to separate this page from the song and present it as an interim page, since this page was already done and it would detract from the Flash presentatin of the song to have half a mile of article dangling below it. Also, why the heck is this written in third person? I don't know. It just started coming out that way and I kept it. I'm claiming it's an exercise in wrting. So, please enjoy this and wait for my new song in lovely and exciting flash-vision.
First, some history. Ralph, (that's me), has been trying to play guitar for the last 23 years. Ralph has technical talent, or forced talent. That is, the ability to learn how to do things but not necessarily any natural talent at doing those things. That said, it never stops Ralph from beating on the guitar and trying to make some music. He's been hankering to record some things for 20 years and now is the time. You will be the lucky recipients of this urge.

Next, let's talk equipment. A born collector, Ralph just hangs on to things, forever and Ralph has been collecting this musical stuff for 20 years. Trailing behind Ralph, thru these years, is a few very useful chunks of musical equipment.

There is a $100 pawnshop Yamaha PSR-60 keyboard. The master volume control doesn't work, being stuck at full-on, but the other sectional volume controls function. The midi works perfectly and that is really all that matters in this age of computeration. On a trip to Goldman's in 1990, Ralph played this keyboard and the sound was so rich and fine that he imediately bought this keyboard. Sez Ralph: "I was just browsing around that day and the sound was so rich and fine that I immediately bought this keyboard. I had no intention of buying anything that day, but I came home with this beat-up Yamaha keyboard. I really like to imagine that this keyboard was used heavily in some lame-but-paid cover band...that it was up there for years just pounding out the hits. Why do I want to believe that? I don't know why...stop bothering me...! "

There are three guitars. A Cortez from Goldman's: $100-1985. The Cortez was Ralph's first guitar and what a lucky bit of guff that was. The Cortez had killer pickups in it and a straight, flat neck that played like an icy dream. The original CHEAP tuners were pulled and replaced with a set of Grovers. The new tuners really gave an extra resonance to the Cortez' sound. Ralph has always believed that Cortez was possessed and had come into his life to teach him about the beauty and perfection of this thing called guitar.
Ten years later Ralph bought a Charvelle from a pawn shop across the river, $100-1995. That Charvelle feels like it was used on stage alot, also. It just has this professionally beaten look and feel. The neck pickup doesn't work but who needs that? It had a custom job on the Floyd Rose tremolo when Ralph got it.. Floyd Rose Trem is worth $150 alone. All in all, quite a bargain...and it plays...smooth...with a good sound...heavy!
Finally, there is an Ibanez that nobody wanted to buy because they thought it was ugly. It was gifted from a music store friend, recently. "Ibanez kicks butt!", says Ralph. This guitar is a solid performer and probably all but new. It is now Ralph's favorite and it is the guitar what makes all that guitar noise you'll hear, soon. Personality is drenched all over this axe from the lacking gloss-black finish to the deep scratch/dent above the pickguard to the missing tremolo bar. Truly, this guitars destiny was always written to be Ralph's guitar...rough but functional. Just like our hero, Ralph! Oh, some other stuff that was important was an EV microphone and an Ibanez SoundGear bass, on loan from same said friend, which were used to put the bass and vocals on this track.. Ralph also has an acoustic Peavey but he's too skeert to play it since it is brand spankin' shiny perfect NEW!
There is some other gear, also, but when this recording project started Ralph just couldn't get a good sound from his guitars. First, to try and get off cheaper, Ralph bought the Ultra-DI direct-box/preamp from Behringer - $43. That gave a much better push to the signal but the signal was too clean direct and too coarse with the only pedal Ralph owns, an original ProCo Rat from the early 80's. $100 dollars later and Ralph had all the best of guitar sound. HOW? One device, and check it out...the V-Amp 2. The V-Amp 2 kicks major audio ass. It is a pre-amp and an amp modeler plus cabinet simulations and a bunch of effects, all crammed into a killer little device that outs a crystal clean sound for live or recording. With this thing you don't need an amp and you don't need to mic an amp to get your sound. It may not be a more expensive product...(think Line6 PodXT - $300)...but for the price this little device is very nice. Think guitar effects pedal on Jagermeister, Red Bull, and Crackeroids.
The most handiest chunk of gear is a 6-channel AMR mixing board. AMR was an offshoot of Peavey, back in 1990-ish. The board is attached to an AMR 4-track casette recorder but who needs one of those anymore. With even a very moderate computer setup, you can have infinite tracks and no track-bouncing hassles, plus none of that bad tape-hiss sound. Think you got enough disgusting dust and grime, Ralph? This board is 17 years old and that dust is some of the original dust from the early 90's. It'd be a shame to destroy a rancid patch of history. Ralph can plug most anything into this board and get a clean sound straight into the computer. Plug in a guitar, plug in a microphone, plug in a bass, whatever, and bob-a-loo, you are recording.....
Let's get to the heart of the recording process, though, the actual recording. The upcoming song was recorded on an HP Pavillion 7855 that Ralph found in the alley out behind his house. The HP 7855 has a 1 Ghz Pentium 3 and a 60 gb hard drive. Someone had upped the memory to 768 mb and put in, for its time, a killer GeForce2 video card. It had a CD-burner and a DVD-reader. It even had some amateur neighbor porn on it. How convenient...(and quite disturbing, also...ugly, like a car wreck). Anyway, this computer is not a massive, hi-tech, up-to-the-minute workstation. It is just a five year old clunker that was rescued from the garbage truck. That may be but it never misses a beat, churning relentlessly to accomplish all things demanded of it.
The audio is run thru a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 card using the KX Project drivers to achieve super-low ASIO latency. ALL PRAISE the KX Project!!! The KX Project turns a $25 sound card into a $300 sound card. The sound is recorded thru Cubase SX 2 and the drums are ReWired into Cubase from Reason 2.5.
When Ralph realized that the room would be great for a studio he needed a desk for to hold everything. One of the things that was being stored in this room was an old gloss-black wooden bunk bed frame. The bed frame was assembled in the yard but the old man from the swap shop didn't want it. It was crammed into the shed for a month. Then, like a hammer to the toe, a cartoon lightbulb moment happened. What if the bunk bed frame could be re-configured. Give it some plastic surgery. Relocate it with a new identity. Brainwash it into thinking it was a desk and bookshelf. Brilliant!!! Conservative!!! Cheap and useful!!! Rock on, Ralph! Make gravy from that grease...oh yeh!
Here is a picture of Ralph's little Den of Musicality. At the start of 2006 this room was filled up with all kinds of boxes and bags and crap. It was the room where everything ended up. I want to reinforce the word 'FILLED'. There was just room enough to turn around and leave, once you found what you were searching for. The walls were three feet deep with storage all around the room. As time passed, the clutter would spread out into the room from digging thru the boxes and finding that thing Ralph needed at that moment, leaving behind the scattered remains. Every six months the room would need to be re-compacted and the process would start again. It took more than a month to go thru the muck and throw most of it away. The things that were kept were 'IMPORTANT'...everything else was just leftover, 20-year old junk. This is now the best room in the house. It has internet, TV, AC, porch surveillance, games, lava lamps, a dartboard, and most best of all...music!.
Well, there you go! Just another fun trip thru Ralph's life. Stay tuned for that song I've been writing and sign up and leave comments.

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