Your man about town here with a first (second) look at the Line 6 JM4 Looper.

As promised, I spent the extra time to read through the manual before busting open this beautiful machine. It was hard… but I got through it, and I am glad I did. There is so much to know about this station. I would have been very limited if I would have just fiddled with the UI for a couple of weeks.

After spending a couple hours getting to know the JM4 Looper I am very impressed.

Line 6 made a big leap from their past model,  M13 Stompbox Modeler, which featured a plethora of stompbox amp modules, but only 28 seconds of recording time. The JM4 has a completely streamlined designed, which makes tweaking your music a lot more intuitive. It feels much more like an actual amp unit than the drum machine layout of its ancestors.

The JM4 Looper seems to be designed for both the writer and performer in mind. While there are large number of features and effects that can be adjusted, saved, and recorded, the looper can also be set up so only a few features are easily altered. This makes performing with the station a much less complicated experience.

Line 6 also increased the usability of the station by featuring 4 separate inputs.

-guitar

-mic

-Aux

-CD/MP3

The player is able to switch between these channels on the fly with simple tapping commands. This allows for each channel to have its own level, EQ, effect settings for a performance. Switching between them takes a little practice, but works really well once you have the technique down. You can use SD card to save your recorded loops and bring in music from other recordings. I have yet to do this, so I am not sure how well this feature works. I intend on recording music to be sent back and forth with another musician using reason, so I hope it works as well as it sounds.

The JM4 features a bank of nice drum grooves and full songs to jam to. There are a wide variety of genres recorded by well known musicians. When choosing a full song to jam to, the station will automatically load an amp module that fits with the style of song being played.  From there you can tweak the levels to jam with whatever sound you want. I had some fun playing around with the drum tracks. I think they will come in handy when trying to write an upbeat guitar part when I am away from an actual drummer. My only complaint, however, was that the drum tracks only have one tempo setting. I spent a bunch of time thumbing through the manual, but couldn’t find a solution.

There is an ON BOARD TUNER … sorry, I was really excited about this. When you want to tune your guitar, hold the tap tempo button, and it mutes to signal and displays the tuner. This is a very convenient feature that I am sure a lot of people will appreciate.

That is all I have for now. I still have a lot more noodling to do with it, but I thought I would share my first impressions. There are soooooooo many capabilities with this machine that it will take some time before you can really fluid with the UI.

Stay tuned for more about the Line 6 JM4 Looper as I learn more and get some recordings up.

BJSR

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Your man about town here with some new gear! I just got the Line 6 JM4 Looper and I’m pumped to get to know this jam-packed station. Line 6 recently released this product to compete with the other popular looping stations made by Boss and DigiTech. Line 6 has a great reputation for producing sturdy, high-quality pedals so I am sure this looper will be no exception.

The second I got home, I opened the box…

Took out the Manual…

And CLOSED THE BOX.

I am going to read this whole manual (maybe even the Spanish version) until I know this machine like the back of my hand.  I don’t want to fall into the trap of busting open a new toy and throwing out the manual with the box and wrappers. There are so many amazing features that I will never use if I don’t familiarize myself with the JM4′s OS.

Therefore, my next post will be on my impressions of the JM4 Looper in its entirety.

Stay tuned.

-BJSR

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But the most amazingly amateurish performance on display was not behind a microphone, it was apparently behind a mixing board. The mix for live broadcast was stunningly bad. The (obviously pre-recorded) background singers were WAY out in front. The rapper (appearing Romeo-style from the set balcony) was barely audible as well.

One possible explanation could be that the producers insisted on a lousy mix to keep us from hearing more prominently an irretrievably unpleasant performance in too excruciating detail–but I doubt it. More likely that it was just an incompetent mix. In general, I would have to say that the level of musicianship in the live band (totally smokin’) on American Idol this season has definitely exceeded the evident expertise of the audio and video production. Apparently, this sort of thing has become a lost art.

If you are an aspiring audio or mix engineer, take heed: You need to develop your ears at the same time as you develop your “knob twirlers.” Engineering expertise without musicianship = bad mixes that 100 million people get to hear on live tv.

Dude. That’s what I’m sayin’

Peace.

DS

Their systems crashed, corrupted what audio they did have, and now they have nothing. Apparently these were both for paid jobs, and now the client will have no product.

Never, never, never, ever do any sort of live recording (paid or unpaid) without at least one backup. If possible, I would suggest always having a “duplicate” backup (some sort of exact copy) as well as an additional stereo backup (such as a handheld recorder or extra pair of mics). Here are some ideas on how to make backups:

If you are recording with a DAW on your computer, you especially will want to have a backup. Computers glitch when we least expect or want them to (and in the process, can ruin the whole session). If you are recording to a computer, have a non-computer-based backup running.

If you are doing stereo recordings, I would recommend using the Alesis Masterlink as your backup. This is a 2-track hard disk recorder with both analog and digital i/o. Run your mic preamps into the Masterlink’s analog inputs, and then connect either the analog outputs or S/PDIF from the Masterlink to your computer interface. This way, the tracks are being recorded to the Masterlink and then additionally on your computer’s DAW.

If you are doing multitrack recordings, you will need something with more inputs, such as an Alesis HD24. The setup would be similar to the Masterlink, only this time you would run your preamps into the HD24, and then either run analog outputs or ADAT (lightpipe) outputs into your computer interface.

Now, I understand these are not inexpensive options. Those backups are probably better suited for someone doing a lot of live recordings. However, there are other options. When a computer fails mid-session, most of us would be happy to have ANYTHING to work with.

Well, good thing for handheld recorders. From the Zoom H2, to the Edirol R-09, all the way up to the mighty Sony PCM-D1, there are a lot of options (and price ranges) on hand held recorders. For anyone doing any live recordings, I would say that investing in a handheld recorder is a great idea. Even if the power goes out, you can keep rolling on that saxophone solo in the jazz combo.

I have found myself loading the car for a live recording and thinking “Do I really need to bring that extra case with the backup gear…? I’d much rather carry one less thing…” No! No! Bring your backups! The first time you don’t bring your backup will be the first time you have to tell a client “I’m sorry, my computer died and I have nothing”.

If you have questions about setting up a live recording rig, or about backups, just post in the comments here or email me.

C

The Studio Files