Tools

In the process of making this music, I have made extensive use of a variety of hardware and software which deserve some mention.

Guitars

I primarily play guitar, and three different guitars were used in the making of this album.

Schechter Diamond Series || Teton G&L Tribute

Ibanez Indonesia || Martin Acoustic

Sterling Stingray 5 Bass Guitar

Guitar Gear

I do not use many DAW plugins to modify my guitar sounds once they've been recorded. Typically, I only use an equalizer. The sound is all shaped by pedals and amplifiers on the floor.

Guitar rig
Mostly I use the Big Muff powered down to 4 volts, the Boss DS-1, and the Walrus Chorus and Reverb pedals. The Small Stone phaser pedal is mainly used for some sound effects.

Bass rig
The Boss ME-80 is an excellent, highly flexible multi-effect pedal board. Mostly I needed it for its pre-amp, which the bass guitar really needs. The Orange amp shakes the basement walls.

Microphones

Shure SM57

Samson Q2U

The SM57 is a classic mic, which I use to record acoustic instruments and some vocal parts. I find the Samson Q2U to handle vocal pops and movement better, so it gets used for most vocal recordings.

Recording Station

All instruments come into an AXE I/O audio interface, which is run into a Framework 16 laptop.

Software

All software used in the creation of my music is free and open source. Part of this journey has been to prove that you can make music without purchasing or subscribing to a single piece of proprietary software.

The laptop runs EndeavorOS , a distribution of Arch Linux . My digital audio workstation is Ardour 9 . Post-processing plugins (primarily EQ, some reverb, compression, and saturation) are by Calf Studio Gear .