Author: Jamie Bonk

I'm a guitarist/composer/producer and I have released seven LP's, two EP's, and eight singles of my own recordings. Just about every day you can find me in my studio writing, recording and practicing.

StrapKeeper

I love it when a piece of gear does what it says it’ll do.  Yesterday, I came home from teaching and the StrapKeeper I ordered from Tapastring Guitar Care was here.  For those of you who don’t know what a StrapKeeper is, basically, it’s a little add on device that helps keep your strap on your acoustic guitar.  Other than getting the little nylon retainer on the end pin, installation (if you even want to call it that) was a breeze.  With the StrapKeeper on my guitar, I think it would take A LOT to get the strap to fall off.  Terrific solution for not much money!

Ron Scott

I just started doing some co-writing with singer/songwriter Ron Scott.  We’re just finishing off our first tune and I think it sounds fantastic!  Hopefully, we’ll write a whole bunch more tunes!  Ron and I have known each other for over twenty years and we’ve played in quite a few different bands together, so there’s certainly a musical simpatico.  Here’s a blast from my (and Ron’s) musical past… This is “If This Is Love” from my My World album (which Ron sang on and wrote).

Cocoland Music – Mana’o Radio 91.5 FM (Maui, Hawaii)

A great big thanks to Robbie Ray for playing a track from Necessity on his Cocoland Music program on Mana’o Radio 91.5 FM (Maui, Hawaii)!!

New Gear

I’ve been updating my studio and I thought I’d write a short post about the hardware and software I’ve picked up.

The biggest change has been the addition of a brand new Mac Mini.  I bought a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 with 16 Gigs of RAM and a one terabyte Fusion Drive.  To say the computer has some serious grunt would be an understatement.  A massive understatement.  I seem to have no real limits now when I use Logic.  I haven’t been able to bring the computer to its knees and that’s a very, very freeing feeling.  Logic is showing eight cores on this quad core chip (which seems odd), but I’m not complaining!

I also updated Pianteq Play to Pianoteq Stage and purchased the Blüthner Model 1 add-on.  I’m not a piano player, but the Blüthner Model 1 is truly inspiring to write with and I’m positive it’ll be on the next few albums I’m working on now.

And lastly, I bought the new Sweetone from Sonimus.  Just a gorgeous, simple and effective eq/filter.  I’ve already used it on some liners for radio stations (i.e. This is Jamie Bonk and you’re listening to X radio station…) and it worked beautifully.  I used the Sonimus Satson and SonEQ plugins extensively on my last solo record (Necessity) and Sweetone is sure to become a go-to plugin for me in the future.