Things That I Know

As I mentioned earlier, I’m starting a business. Since I’m learning this as I do it, I’m posting along the way.

Today was the day that I filed my paperwork to be a limited liability corporation. After careful research, I’ve decided that this is the best option for the business I’m going to have.

To file the paperwork, there were several options: fill out the papers and file them with my Secretary of State, call an attorney, or use one of the Internet filing services to handle it for me. I didn’t want to deal with an attorney’s fees, and I thought that most of the filing services were also too expensive.

I found what I’m hoping is a meet-in-the-middle situation. I went with AmeriLawyer, which is an online service that handles the paperwork, but is also done by actual attorneys. With all of the fees up front, I didn’t feel that I’d be getting screwed by a business lawyer, and I was able to only order the absolute basics.

Once I chose my business name, I filled in all the blanks and hopefully, I’ll be an LLC shortly. For now, I’m not recommending AmeriLawyer, but I’ll update this when I have reached a conclusion about their service.

I also downloaded several accounting programs today and will play around with them until I decide which one I like, then I’ll make a recommendation on that as well.

So I am starting a business. What better way to go about all of the setup than to write about it as I do it, sharing my experiences and hopefully hearing about yours. I am not opening a shop, or starting a traditional small business, but rather starting a company that will cover all of my freelance work, as well as a very narrow business in the management field.

The main part of the company will be managing one or more DJ’s in the Las Vegas area. It is not a full-time, quit your day job type of gig, but I plan on doing it right, from setting up a corporation to handling all of the tax paperwork.

So far, the outline for the company has been created, along with a decent, but not great business plan. That needs some work still, but I still consider it a work in progress. Also, we are in the final stages of narrowing down a name for the company.

After examining the options, I have decided to set up the company as a Limited Liability Corporation in Nevada. Once a name is finalized, I will be filing the LLC paperwork and moving on to the next step.

If anyone has any information on setting up an LLC in Nevada and/or business licenses in the Las Vegas area, feel free to contact me to share your experiences and any tips you may have.

Once I get the LLC paperwork taken care of, I’ll update the status of my new business.

WordPress 2.5 has been out for a few weeks now (2.5.1 now out), and I’m finally ready to give my thoughts on the “upgrade.” There are certainly some aspects of 2.5 that I’m a big fan of, but there are a few that I’m not real happy about.

Layout

The first thing you’ll notice when you move to WordPress 2.5 is the new layout. Different colors, buttons in different locations and just a new overall look and feel. While it took a few days to get used to the changes, I now have.

I like the color scheme and the basic layout of how things look, but the rearrangement still doesn’t work for me. I miss the WordPress blog postings and news updates the way they were on the Dashboard pre-2.5. Now, while they still show up in smaller numbers, I have to search for the information that used to be handed to me. Since most of the things I found on the old Dashboard weren’t that important to me, I rarely look for them anymore, and when I do, I feel like I’m a week behind.

The other changes to the layout are simple location changes for the Dashboard, Settings, Users and Plugin buttons. This still throws me off, but I’m gradually getting used to it.

Write Post Page

Some of the biggest changes came to the Write Post page, including both layout and technically. I like the updated HTML editor and the fact that it doesn’t mess with your code when you switch to the Visual editor. I can’t tell you how many times I would have a post with lots of code that would get ruined the second I tried to use the spell check in the Visual editor. Now, I no longer have to save separate text only versions of my page with the code in it, I can just use the built-in editor.

What I don’t like on the Write Post page is the drastic changes to the layout. No longer are important features like the Categories box on the side bar. Now I have to scroll down the page to choose my categories, and I don’t like that. Also, the text box to type in constantly resets itself to the default size, which is unusable if you’re writing posts of a decent length.

I find my posts are easier to write with the updated editor, but every other aspect of the Write Post page was better with the previous layout.

Other Stuff

Maybe it’s because I use the Opera browser, which still isn’t 100 percent compatible with every bit of software, but I have problems with the Spell Check feature every time I use it. I will click on the spell check and about five seconds later, done or not, it turns itself off. It usually works right the second time, but it’s annoying and frustrating.

Also, if you use custom fields, 2.5 has a tendency to save multiple drafts of your post when you add fields. There is a workaround, being to save the post before adding custom fields, but there shouldn’t have to be a workaround. This should work the first time, no questions asked.

Another thing that 2.5 added was automatic Plugin updates. If there is a new version available of a plugin you use, it well tell you, and you can download and install the upgraded version directly from the Plugin page. The problem is, about half the time it doesn’t work. Great theory and feature, but it still needs some ironing out.

Overall

My overall feeling is that WordPress 2.5 made some needed improvements and has some great ideas. But like any new piece of software, there are problems. Perhaps with each new version things will be better, but as it is now, it needs work.

I like the direction that WordPress is going in. They seem to be on the path to more user-friendliness, which I’m always a fan of.

At the end of the day, once you get the hang of the basic differences, WordPress can still get the job done. I understand that it’s a work in progress, and clearly, some work still needs to be done.

Go ahead and try to buy yourself some surround sound speakers, or a sound card for your computer. No doubt the person selling you your equipment will tell you that you need some monster cables for all of your connections with gold connectors, as well as monster cables for your speakers, and of course, the top-of-the-line sound card for your computer.

As someone who has worked in the pro audio field for most of my career, and was also formally trained in audio production and engineering, I’m going to tell you a little secret — you don’t need great equipment to have great audio.

I spent more than five years of my radio career doing production from my home studio. Do you want to know what kind of soundcard I had to do professional audio production? Factory. That’s right, I never even installed an upgrade. I never even used anything other than the 1/8 in. input on the back of the computer. And you want to know what else? No one ever noticed a single difference in the quality of the sound produced from my studio compared with any of the state-of-the-art studios at the stations.

I’m not saying that there are no differences, I’m saying that the differences are very difficult to hear. This doesn’t mean that you can record an album in your home that will sound as good as one at a good recording studio, but it means that if you do things right, you can make a pretty damn good sounding piece of audio.

Audio quality is only as good as the source. When it comes to the actual recording process, the acoustics of the room are far more important than the equipment you are capturing it with. Having a $3,000 microphone doesn’t mean much if your room has a terrible hum or buzz that shows up in everything you record. I’d rather record a voice-over on a Shure SM-58 in a silent room than record on a Neumann U87 in a room with a chronic hiss.

In my opinion, audio quality is dependent more on the source recording (acoustics and such) and speaker quality than anything else.

If you want to spend money on a home studio, spend it on the acoustics of the room you plan to record in. In today’s digital world, sound quality remains good through as many generations as you go through. Running a recorded piece of audio through an average mixer with digital (RCA) connections will keep the audio the same on the other end. If you were to record it on tape, then onto tape again, you would be losing a generation of sound and it would lose quality. If you have a digital signal flow, you will keep your quality all the way through.

For instance, you are at a bar and meet a celebrity who you’d like to record a liner for a project you’re working on. You happen to have an SM-58 and a digital recorder on you (as we all do), and get them to record a 10 second liner. Once that liner is on your digital recorder, you can keep that same quality sample through a dozen pieces of equipment, assuming all links in the chain are properly working. You can run your digital recorder into a 16-channel mixer, into a 2-channel mixer, into an amp for your speakers, split off into your computer, and you will not hear a difference from the original.

All of this with plain old RCA cables or XLRs if your system is compatible. I literally run an RCA-to-mini cable out of my 16-channel mixer into the MIC input on the back of my factory PC, and do all of my recording that way. And no one has ever noticed.

If your business is post-production or voice-overs or something like that, you can get by on a very small budget and not sacrifice audio quality. If you are recording music, you can do pretty good if your room is acoustically acceptable.

I’ve recommended Monster cables in the past, but I’ll tell you right now, I don’t use them anywhere in my studio. I think they are fantastic for video, and I have them in use on my HD televisions, but for audio, they simply aren’t worth the cost. If somebody tells you that they can hear the difference between the same album on Monster cables versus some Radio Shack RCA cables, they are full of it. Call them on it and play an album they are not familiar with five or ten times, and see how many they get right.

There are certainly times when you need better cables and equipment. If you plan to record a full-scale album, you might not want to upgrade your inputs into your computer. But I stand by that if you have good acoustics in the room you are recording in, and you know how to place a microphone, you can make a damn good piece of music.

For those in the professional audio industry, there are certainly times to use better equipment and spend some money. But for “audiophiles” who are simply listening to music for pleasure, your money is better spent elsewhere.

And if you are sitting at home with a $5,000 audio system to listen to CDs on, I feel for you. I have no doubt in my mind that you could enjoy your music just the same by spending 10% of that. Then you could spend the rest on more albums and a new chair to sit in. Unless you are paying for volume, you are probably wasting your money.

I’m sure some of you will disagree with me about hearing the difference, but if you do, please set up a legitimate Pepsi Challenge for yourself before you disagree with me.

The art of making good audio is in the hands of the engineer and producer. Whether it’s a full album or a few radio promos, the producer can make it sound great or make it sound lousy. Good cables and soundcards are no substitute for basic technique and creativity.

This one is one of my mom’s recipes. I think you’ll like it.

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups carrots, cut into thin strips
1 cup green pepper, cut into thin strips
3 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed (I find it easiest to boil it)
1 8 oz. can pineapple chunks, drained

Recipe

• Saute onions in shortening in large skillet until tender
• Add water, bouillon and carrots — cover and simmer 5 minutes
• Combine brown sugar, cornstarch and ginger in small bowl
  • Add ketchup, vinegar and soy sauce and mix very well
• Stir mix into onions and carrots
• Cook and stir until clear and thickened
• Add chicken, green peppers and pineapple
• Cover and simmer for 5 minutes
• Serve with white rice

A classic that isn’t that hard to make. I am not big on making soups, so I was hesitant to try making this one, but it’s not really hard it all.

Ingredients

5 sweet onions
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white wine
10 oz. beef consume
10 oz. chicken broth
10 oz. apple cider
bouquet garni (thyme, parsley, bay leaf tied up in cheesecloth)
1 loaf of country style bread (french bread or something like it)
ground black pepper
1 cup gruyere cheese

Recipe

• Trim ends of onions, halve lenthwise, remove peel, slice into 1/2 moons
• Set skillet to 300 degrees (medium high) and add butter until melted
• Add layer of onions and sprinkle with salt
  • Repeat layering until all onions are in
• Don’t stir for 15-20 minutes (don’t worry about burning)
• After 15-20 minues, stir occassionally until dark brown and reduced to about 2 cups
• Add enough wine to cover and turn heat to high (wine will reduce to syrup-like consistency
• Add consume, broth, cider and bouquet
• Reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes
• Slice bread into rounds that will fit on oven safe bowls.
  • Put on baking sheet and broil for 1 minute
• Season soup with salt and pepper
• Remove bouquet and discard
• Ladle soup into oven safe bowls, leaving 1 inch from soup to top of bowl
• Place bread on soup in bowl, toasted side down
• Top with grated gruyere cheese
• Broil until cheese is bubbly, about 1-2 minutes
• Remove from broiler and serve (Bowl will be extremely hot)

I got this recipe from my Aunt Gayle, who used to make this for all of the holiday meals. This is a bean dish that is guaranteed to impress, and it’s perfect for picnics, barbeques or family events, as well. This dish takes a while and the recipe is hardly scientific, but man does it taste good.

Ingredients

2 cans of 28oz. baked beans - basic flavor
1/4 jar of molasses, the one with the yellow label
1/2 onion, chopped
ketchup
yellow mustard
bacon

Recipe

• Mix in a bowl the baked beans, molasses and onion
• Add one large squirt of ketchup, and one medium squirt of mustard (scientific, huh?) and mix them all together
• Pour ingredients into a casserole dish and top with strips of bacon
• Bake at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours

This one is my personal favorite. It is an all day job, but well worth it. This is a great recipe to make when you have a bunch of people to serve, or for a party. I cook it every year when my brother and sister-in-law and their family are in town for Christmas. It’s one that most people don’t make, so when you serve it to others, it’s unique and special.

Ingredients

1 Duck, quartered (skin on)
1 lb Andouille, sliced
1 lb shrimp, peeled
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 bay leaves
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups long grain rice
8 cups chicken stock
1 cup chopped green onion
salt & cayenne

Feel free to add some chicken if you like. I’d precook it and add it after the rice goes in.
I also like to really season the shrimp with cayenne, to make them extra spicy.

Recipe

• Heat vegetable oil in large pot (I like to use a dutch oven)
• Sear duck, skin side down for 6 minutes
  • Flip duck and sear 4 minutes
  • Remove duck and set aside
• Add onion, pepper, and celery to drippings
  • Season with salt & cayenne
  • Saute 5 minutes
  • Add andouille
    • Saute 2 minutes
  • Add bay leaves, tomatoes, and garlic
    • Saute 2 minutes
  • Stir in rice
    • Saute 2 minutes
  • Add chicken stock & season again
  • Add duck back in
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer
  • Cook, covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
  • Season shrimp and add
  • Cook for 30 more minutes, stirring occasionally
  • Remove duck and cut meat off bones
  • Return meat to pot
  • Add green onion and season

At this point it’s ready to be served. This keeps very well for a few days, so if you like it, don’t be afraid to make too much. Quality leftovers.

Having worked in both a recording studio and radio stations, I’ve been around my fair share of microphones. Microphones are usually in the “you get what you pay for” category, but there are a few exceptions.

The obvious are the Shure SM57 and SM58, the industry standards for workhorse microphones. You know you’re always getting quality at a low price with those, but there are others out there that offer good sound at a reasonable price.

Working in radio, I found myself doing a lot of work from home, particularly voice over work. I had an SM58 and used that for remotes and live voice work, but I needed something for my home studio that would give me my best chance of getting the quality sound I could get at the station.

In the studios at the radio stations, the usual suspects were the Shure SM7B and the Electro-Voice RE20, both great voice microphones. These were the mics I was trying to duplicate at a lower cost. The first one I got was the Behringer B1. Not a terrible microphone, but if you have less than perfect acoustics in the room you’re recording in, this mic will bring out the worst in the room. I got by for a while on this mic, but I had to do so much cleaning up of my work that it eventually wasn’t worth it anymore.

The next mic I tried was the MXL 990. At somewhere like $60, it was a bit skeptical of it’s ability. I had used an MXL at the radio station once or twice in one of the production studios and was impressed, so I gave this one a shot. I made a good call. The MXL 990 is a very quality microphone.

The MXL 990 has great warmth and depth, which was what I was looking for in a voice over microphone. I was a bit worried that this mic would do the same thing as the Behringer with my questionable acoustics, but alas, it handled the room noise much better. It is a naturally quiet microphone and handled everything I asked of it quite well. I’ve even recorded guitars with it with good results.

This microphone will never be confused with a Neumann, but it gets the job done. If you are looking for something better than what they have at Radio Shack, and want something versatile, this may be you’re microphone. I would recommend this microphone for the home radio worker (like me), as well as the podcaster. If you have decent acoustics and do voice work on a regular basis, this microphone will suit you well.

I would rank the MXL 990 as one of the top microphones under $300 that isn’t a Shure SM57 or SM 58. The fact that you can get it for less than $60 is just a bonus. If you’re on a budget and are looking for a good microphone, I can safely recommend the MXL 990. Once your budget goes up, so do your options, but this is a very serviceable microphone. When you combine the overall quality of this microphone with it’s miniature price tag, you get a product everyone who records should have. At the very least, even if you have a bunch of expensive pro equipment, you should throw an MXL 990 into your arsenal because it’s quality is so much higher than it’s price tag.

This microphone is recommended by ThingsThatIKnow.com

I started playing the guitar about six years ago, and I started by walking into a guitar shop and picking out the cheapest, most “guitar-looking” guitar in the store. Apparently, I didn’t get a very good one, but I got one with six strings and made of wood.

For that reason, my first guitar was good enough at the time. At that point I didn’t know what a chord was, or how to hold a pick. There was no point in buying anything expensive because there was a good chance that I was going to use the thing three times and be sick of it. Instead, over the next year I got better and better and eventually fell in love with the instrument.

About three years into my guitar playing, I realized that the guitar I had just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I went to the local Guitar Center and started toying around with some guitars and realized just how much better everything in the store was compared to the piece of wood that I had. The guitar I loved in the store was the Gibson J-200, which runs a cool $3000. That’s a bit out of my budget for a guitar that I only play to entertain myself.

So after looking around the Interwebs for a bit, I stumbled upon the Epiphone EJ-200. This guitar is the little step-brother of the Gibson (Epiphone is made by Gibson). None of my local stores carried the guitar so I couldn’t try it out, but I loved the way it looked and decided that I needed that guitar. So when my tax returns came back, I decided it was time to just go for it, and I purchased the Epiphone EJ-200.

After waiting for the doorbell like a six year old for a few days, it finally arrived. Right out of the box, this guitar is a sight to behold. I got the ebony version, but it’s also available in natural and sunburst. All three of them are visually stunning. From the moment I opened the box, the thing played better than any guitar I’d ever played.

Being a jumbo guitar, the EJ-200 has a powerful, almost booming sound to it. It sounds great when played loud, but it is also crisp and bright at low volumes. I’ve never needed a single adjustment on this guitar, it had perfect action (for me) and seemed to just fit in my hands.

Even the strings that it came with sounded great, but over the years I’ve tried many different kinds. I started out putting Martins on it and they worked well. Then I strapped on some D’Addario EJ16’s and it sounded unbelievable. The only problem with them is that they don’t last too long, and I hate changing strings.

For long life, I use either the D’Addario coated strings or Elixers, both of which can last for quite a while. Right now I have D’Addario EXP17 Coated Phosphor Bronze Medium strings on my EJ-200 and I couldn’t be happier.

Since I’ve bought the EJ-200, I’ve had the urge to buy a new guitar, and regularly go to the guitar shop to try a few out. The problem is, I’ll get there and wish they all sounded like the guitar I already own. I’ve played the top end Martins, Taylors and Gibsons and outside of a few of them, I prefer the sound of the Epiphone, even at a fifth of the price (or lower). The closest I’ve come to buying a new guitar in the last three years was almost buying another Epiphone EJ-200 in natural or sunburst.

I know this sounds like a Gibson/Epiphone sponsored ad, but it’s not. I’m simply an extremely happy customer. When I was going to purchase this guitar, I searched all over for reviews of it. If I can help someone else into this guitar, then I’ll feel like I did my job.

The Epiphone EJ-200 is a fantastic guitar. Don’t let the price tag fool you — you can get a top of the line guitar for under $400. I’ve done it. And now that it’s three years later, I can’t even wonder how it will hold up. It played great out of the box, and it sounds even better now.

This guitar is fully recommended by ThingsThatIKnow.com.