Sound Garage Tales

I can’t believe it! I still remember the day(s) when I first stumbled over the 18watt forum over on yahoogroups and getting to know the extraordinary people and friends there in early 2002, getting all fired up about building, starting gathering parts for the 1×12″ 18watt combo, building the actual cabinet, tolexing (I hated that!) chassis and everything, including the goosebumps I got when I first hit the STANDBY on switch! So yes, today that First Born amp is 10 years old!

the First Born Gabriel 18 watt amplifier

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20 AWG wire USA Flag

I always have heap of precious scrap wire from my amps that goes in the trash, so I decided to give it a better use this time by making a festive USA flag. It is made out of 20 AWG 600V PVC insulated stranded wire. Enjoy and have a safe 4th!

If you ever tripped over certain still pictures on the Internets that creeped you out seeing that the model in them actually blinked or their hair is moving ever so slightly in the wind, giving an eerie feel about them, well, you were introduced to what they call cinemagraphs.

Cinemagraphs are still images with only a small looped movement in them. The cinemagraph concept as a photography style is attributed to Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck from New York City, who introduced the first set on From Me To You blog. In their words, the cinemagraph is “more than a photo, but not quite a video”. I have to mention that the animated gif has been around since the ’90s but the actual twist on it as a cinemagraph is not. Here’s my first try at it. What do you think?

I thought this particular build (a Gabriel Stinger 7w Head with an Celestion AlNiCo Blue open back bottom) was worth of recording a video demo to keep for the records. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the way the Blue interacted with the Stinger. It is as if they were from the same movie.  The 100 dbs sensibility of the Blue helps making this Stinger rig pretty loud for it’s humble 7w power rating. Obviously what you hear is NOT what it sounds in reality since you really need to be in the room to get the full emotional vibe of the tone but you can get an idea. Sit back and enjoy! And of course please leave a comment!!

Softbox Spiderlight

Many of you are now familiar with my photography and video fixation lately. If not, watch my latest YouTube videos and you’ll understand (while there, hit Subscribe, I’ll love you for that!) After many make shift lighting improvisations including very hot 500 watt shop lights, clamp lights and what not, I came to the conclusion that it would be really nice to have a softbox which will project a really nice soft light with no harsh shadows on the subject. So I found Alex Campagna’s home made softbox blog post and I used it as an inspiration to build mine with a couple twists.

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Stinger 7 review in Premiere Guitar Magazine

It somewhat a great way to start a day by waking up to news that your Gabriel 7 w amp got a stellar review in PREMIER GUITAR magazine. It’s a very concise and truthful review, fun to read and to the point. Make sure you listen to the recorded clips in there as well.

PREMIER GUITAR’s verdict:

“The Gabriel possesses a bluesy and rocking musical soul. Most everything there is to love about rock and roll is presented to you in this little combo—the irreverence, the fun, and the grit are all there for the taking. It won’t do super-saturated modern sounds, nor is it supposed to. But because it’s got the craftsmanship and essential musicality to compete with boutique amps at twice its price, the Stinger should be shortlisted if you’re hunting for a sweet low wattage screamer.”

Well, that cannot be worded better if you’ll ask me. So yes, indeed the Gabriel Stinger 7 got a well deserved exposure in the PREMIER GUITAR magazine which I might add that it is a publication I respect and you guys should subscribe to it!

Videosongs Blog

By now you must be familiar with my latest fixation about videosongs. You must, if you follow my secondary YouTube channel and read/watched my Mission Impossible post about the videosong I made that got 3rd place at the Movie Show 1 Minute Videosong Competition. I thought it was time to reveal my primary source of inspiration, support and tutorials in creating a videosong from A to Z. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome (visit and subscribe to) the Videosongs Blog, maintained by a good friend from Paris France — Arno Ceres! Read the rest of this entry »

Forcing myself to battle procrastination and be consistent in at least one thing in my life: vlogging. Here about the new videosong recording setup and a trip to the hardware store for a… door handle.

Had some fun over last weekend making a videosong for a Videosong competition hosted by Electro Harmonix and the Videosong Blog. The idea was to make a 1 minute videosong of a TV show theme. After much debate, I went with Mission Impossible.

But What Is A Videosong?

Nothing more than a delivery medium for your songs. It is very different from a video clip where everything is lip-synced, so you don’t actually hear whet you see. For a videosong, there are only two rules:

1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

In other words, while you are tracking your audio, you are recording the video as well. Simple as that. Once you are done, you simply do your audio mix-down, then on to your video editing program where you sync your video with your audio and start creating! The concept has been around for a while, but it’s being gaining great popularity due to artists like Jack Conte and his band Pomplamoose that are true wizards of this craft.
Videosongs Blog (the main info source on this subject) has a more detailed explanation of how to make a videosong but you get the idea. Here is my result:

Thought of making a quick video of this deliciously sounding Gabriel Stinger 7 watt with a Greenback G12 going to Glen. The 12″ gives a nicer more round bottom end. Enjoy!