I might have the I-have-only-4-channels-on-the-Tascam problem taken care of. I have a mixer! It’s the ancient Sony I bought on eBay some years ago—so old it’s got gauges and incandescent lights. And it does (or did) work. It’s wired backwards (I was told early Japanese audio equipment was like that)—but I had a power supply made special for me way back then at Radio Shack to take care of that; that way, I don’t have to pack the thing with a fortune in D-cells (not C-cells—this thing is old) to make it run.

6 inputs, each able to do either microphone or guitar—and it’s got its own headphone jack, so one can monitor the mix that’s coming out of the unit. That may take care at least temporarily of the I-need-more-headphone-jacks problem; that gives me two (the other headphone jack is on the Tascam itself). It is possible to record to two tracks on the Tascam simultaneously, and then add two more things later. It’d still be nice to be able to run two headphones off the Tascam, but I can mess with that later; this will work for right now.

I think this thing would work for performances, too; I can test it out with my little amp, and see if both guitar and vocal can be mixed effectively. If so, I’ve got the basis for The Impromptus’ sound system—it can plug into any amp.

A quick inventory. For recording, I’ve got:

The Tascam (and its power adapter)

The 6-channel mixer (and its special power adapter)

2 microphones (one of them really good)

2 mike stands (one of them ancient but functional, the other new)

2 microphone cords with ¼-inch ends (the mixer requires that)

2 good sets of headphones (plus the cheap ones for the Tascam)

¼-inch-to-mini adapter so good headphones will work on the Tascam

Lots of ¼-inch guitar cords (they’re in the studio—I better pack ‘em up)

A splitter cable (which needs re-soldering before it’ll work)

USB cable to connect the Tascam to a computer

Surge protector to plug all the stuff into

25-foot power cord for the surge protector

--and good old StuartLittle (and his Rubbermaid storage containers).

Stuart needs the software to recognize and download from the Tascam, and I’ll have to get that online (if it’s still available somewhere). I broke down and ordered a new DVD-rewritable drive for Alice (I found one for cheap), and it should be here in a week. Stuart will not be able to make CDs or DVDs unless I get another one of those “external” cases (and if I do, I’ll want a better-built one, that won’t fall apart while I’m assembling it). In the interim, Stuart can get by with a flash drive—I have one of those (somewhere).

Tentatively, we’ll try out the recording stuff with The Impromptus Thursday night. I’ve got video stuff, too, but I don’t know (yet) how much of it works. I’ll tackle that part later.

I’ve been tapped to do a set at the Tonic Lounge in Portland, Wed. April 27; it’s part of a weekly “humor night” hosted by veteran standup comic Whitney Streed. Audience are adults, and reportedly fairly literate free-thinkers, and it’s a comedy show. What to play? Tentatively, I’d give ‘em “Dead Things in the Shower” (an excuse to promote the CD), “Can I Have Your Car When the Rapture Comes?”, “The Abomination Two-Step” (really testing their free-thinking limits), and “I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas.” All work okay solo. Unpaid gig—but it’d be nice to sell enough CDs to recover the cost of the gas.

Joe