So, I've been thinking about what the first post in 2012 should be, and I've been drawing a blank.   I could talk about all the cool gear I've upgraded, and the success we had in 2011, but I've talked a lot about that stuff already  (although the new RME Madi interface, ADI-8 QS converters, and Focusrite 828 preamps are pretty stink...

Herod the Fink is a Christmas collaboration project between Jesse Crowley and Jason Jones which has been going on now for 3 glorious years at Advanced Budget Studios.  This year's offering is a 4-song EP. The music this year ranges from a bluegrass crossing punk style of "Joy To The World" to an introspective look in to each of our...

So I haven't written in a while, and that's both a great thing, and a not-so-great thing.  It's great because since September, the studio has been busier than I thought possible.  Honestly...  It's been a whirlwind, and I'm not quite sure what caused it - but I'm so grateful for it.  It's a not-so-great thing because I can't kee...

I've gotta say, October was crazy.  It was the busiest month the studio has ever seen.  That said, it has allowed us to upgrade some microphones! Might you join with me in welcoming our two newest microphones to the pack: The Joly Edition - "Gomez" Cascade ribbon mic! In our initial tests, I found the Gomez to be anothe...

Today I started my entry titled Lost In The Past for Nano month. This is where writers try to write 50,000 words in one month. Mine is a young adult novel. Here is the synopsis for it. Lost in the Past Synopsis   Her millionaire father thought it would be great to raise her without the problems of today, so he builds a house free of elec...

 My apologies for not writing lately.  I assure you, it's because I've been too busy recording! So...  Updates:  As some of you know, for now, 100% of the money which comes into this studio, stays in the studio, which means all the proceeds from your recordings go directly back into ways to make your recordings even better. &...

 ...and so we've come to the last chapter, and the closing of the book I opened almost 4 years ago.  The goal was to read and write about each and every chapter in the Book of Mormon, no matter how long it took me.  Tonight, I'm gonna complete that goal.   Wow.  That just feels good. Let's charge on to Moroni 10, shall w...

 What a horrible, yet extremely personal and hopeful chapter.   The nature of it reminds me of the psalm of Nephi (2 nephi  4:15-end).  What horrible, horrible things were going on at the end, but it just amazes me, the strength of Mormon, and his constant prayers for Moroni - and his pleading to God for his soul to be brought b...

So... I just checked, and throughout all canonized scripture, know how many times the phrase "solemn mockery" is used?   Yup - you guessed it.  Once.  And it happens to refer to the baptizing of children.  For some reason, I think God dislikes this act a bit. Verse 14 seems kind of harsh, but if a person has nei...

Today is a good day!  So...  Beginning in verse 12, the main theme I'm getting here is the complete polarization between God and Satan.  Within the rules God has set (such as, "Satan can't kill people", and "Man has free agency", and "God won't save someone just because they're His offspring", and such.....

Well....  It became time again quickly to have a LAN party after the craziness of the holiday season.  So, we decided to have one two days ago.  It was fairly awesome. I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have a video of this one, but suffice it to say that this one was pretty darned fun.  It started with Eric Hansen and I lo...

Okay, friend, family, and others.  I just wanted to let you know that the season has finally arrived! Jesse and I have been working all year long on Herod the Fink's 2nd studio album.  We are so excited to announce that it's finally available for purchase! The album has eight songs on it, and all of them are awesome.  I'll post...

My marriage, or rather, the marriage I have entered into with my sweetheart for the last 7 years, hasn't really been that bad.  In fact, I'd say we're definitely on the upper-hand of "marital happiness" as far as the national statistics go. There are quite a few reasons for this, I'd say.  One is definitely that I feel I'm giv...

Man...  I was having a downer of a day until this evening when Fatigi came to record 3 new songs.  I was really, really tired throughout the day, and thought I was sure to have a hard time focusing when Fatigi came over. Then I heard them play. Honestly, I haven't been this awake in a long time.  Music just seems to envigorate my...

So...  Yeah... Holy cow.  I started writing this as a Facebook update, and quickly realized ther was too much to say, so, into the blog it goes! The bottom line is - We are back in business, people! As of right now, the new studio is close to being finished, but the good news is - we can record.  I've got 3 channels wired up, a...

I got married like a bit more than 5 years ago, and I'm lovin' it. But, during those five years, I've had some footage gracefully shot and donated to me by my friend Ty Swartzlander on my wedding day.  On that day, Ty told me he was going to put something together and give it to me later, but instead, I told him I'd really, really, real...

When I originally mixed a tune from Sugar Stone, I didn't have enough time to really nail it.  I did a good enough job for the time allotted, but when the product was delivered, I thought there could be a lot of improvements made. So, I decided to spend a few hours today seeing what I could do about it.  Before I go any further, here's...

So the other night my ward had the first temple trip of the year. I was unable to hide the fact that I so badly wanted to go! I needed the peaceful easy feeling that only the temple can give, but I was also very worried at teh same time. Because the last temple trip my ward went on the youth did not behave themselves like they should've and they go...

Last Friday, we had the awesome opportunity to meet a fairly incredible group of girls.  They call themselves The Blue Aces, and after having listened to them strum a few chords, I'd say they've earned their title. Their manager contacted me after hearing a few samples from Advanced Budget Studios, and was interested in getting a pilot song...

As some of you know, in addition to running this site, I also run a site called ldscompanion.org Today, I was rummaging through some of the artwork submitted by my users, when I found this piece. The artwork is well-done, and presents a Biblical message as well as a URL.  Well...  Not being familiar with the URL, I decided to see wh...

The new FCKeditor version 2.6 seems to have a bug which for me was quite hard to track down. I use PHP to interface with it, so the bug which causes images uploaded via the quickuploader is found in the editor/filemanager/connectors/php/io.php file on line 291. The error reported by firebug is: uncaught exception: Permission denied to ...

When will I ever learn to trust my wife, my brother, and my instinct?  Probably never. You see, Ryan, my brother, noted how bald the tires are on my Mustang GT about a month ago.  My wife also noted the same thing, as well as a pretty big storm coming this weekend.  Anyway...  I'll get on with the story. Sarah and I celebra...

I've just got to put this somewhere so I don't forget it.  I just finished installing postfix / dovecot using postgres on my home server by following this wonderful tutorial. I followed it almost to the tee, and ... it just works.  I have no other information other than that.  For all I know, as you read this, it may be interpret...

Awhile back, I wrote a journal entry concerning the scientific method and knowing spiritual facts to be true. This talk seems to be hitting the same vein, but in a much wiser and broader sense. "Knowledge of outside temperature can be verified by scientific proof. Knowledge that we love our spouse is personal and subjective. While not capa...

Sitting here before I begin this entry, I have to sit and sigh...  A sigh of gratitude. Today has been a Sabbath of great spiritual confirmations of simple truths. While reading this entry, I suggest you click the "play" icon button  in the upper right-hand corner of this entry window.  Instead of playing the usual En...

 So, I've been working on this PDF project for awhile, and I think it might be beneficial for me to add some notes which were somewhat elusive on the net. The FDF file which is generated by PDFTK generate is encoded in UTF-16 character set - and is very hard to work with.   I found this script which solves the problem, and allows the FD...

This post is mostly for my parents.  (Hi Mom).  I thought you'd enjoy hearing a night of FHE in the Jones residence. :) There should be a little "play" button right below the mood panel in the upper right-hand corner of the journal detail page. Enjoy....

Picking up new clients is always a good thing, but in the case of yesterday, it was a great thing. I had the privilege of recording his new song, Peculiar, and it was very refreshing.  It was a simple tune with some great acoustic guitar work, and vocals.  Jason Jones added some percussion accents, and the song came to life. Knowing...

Okay...  So lately the studio has been getting some serious upgrades, thanks to all of you who have been supporting me, and creating awesome music. About a month ago, I was chatting it up with a good friend, Jesse Crowley, about how in the world we were going to sell our fabulous new Herod the Fink album this season.  You see, there ar...

We've been contemplating how to best improve the studio with all the business we've been getting lately, and the votes are in! Please welcome our newest addition to the studio, a nice shiny new red GOLDEN AGE PRE 73 PRE-AMP!  We spent a good deal of time looking into the best preamps for the money, and it came down to two main contenders. ...