Navigation

• 1: Home
• 2: Discography

• Current page is 3: About ST&E

• 4: ST&E's Use Policy
• 5: Links
• 6: Sitemap

About ST&E

Been playing and writing since I was 14. Played thru high school, college and semi pro bands(read as: work for beer) 'till the realities of modern life set me straight. so it's currently a hobby. Got a day job for the bills.

it fills a void.

it gives me a voice

it gives purpose.

Meet Steve, Tom, and Eddie--my alter egos-- alternative band mates.

Alter egos. Everyone has them, I just gave mine names. I don't talk to them mind you, but remembering who they are and what their about serves the creative purpose. I like to think my Steve personality is the adventurous one, chance taker, tryer of new things, learning along the way. The Tom persona is reflective, introverted and circumspect, a little wussy sometimes but sensitive. Eddie is passionate, quick to laugh and anger, stubborn and egocentric, romantic and melancholy. A fighter, a lover.

I try to limit music from this "trio" to three or 4 instruments, to focus on the elements of melody, composition, and lyrics. As with many aspiring song writers, I compose and record out of my home.  The setup remains pretty basic, built around a PIV 2.8Ghz PC, with Cakewalk's Sonar (currently Sonar 5) as the primary development tool. I have 4 guitars, collected over the years, all originally no name.

Probably the most useful accessory is my Line 6 POD. Its performance and versatility make a home studio possible. You can rock with it and not wake up the kids. For vocals I'm still using an old Shure 57. With the right EQ, I can get a very nice sound from it. Sooner or later I'll invest in a professionally classed mic. I pre-amp the mic with an old realistic mixer, an amazingly quiet device for how cheap it was. For keys, I've traded in my old Yamaha DX-7, and invested in an M-audio Keystation pro 88 as a midi input device.  With its weighted and velocity sensitve keys, I get more of a real piano feel from it.  My sound card is still from Creative labs, but upgraded to an Audigy. Its still noisy and cheap, but it gets me to 24bit. I've moved beyond soundfonts and am using Vsampler3 and other software synths for drums, keys, and other non-guitar and bass sounds. My drum sequencing technology has since advanced using musiclab's slicydrummer tool to create the patterns.  I still edit and customize the patterns so (hopefully) you'd think Eddie was actually sitting at the kit.  Mastering is done with the help from a collection of plug-ins from DB audio, Antares, and Cakewalk.