It was my honour today to visit the studio of the Monkey Lord, Rob Chappers, with my side kick Shred Medium. Rob had kindly organised a work placement for Shred Medium to give him an overview of some of the things Rob does.
We travelled down by car to the country side abode of the Monkeylord... OK... get in the car... fire up the Tom Tom and type in the post code of the Monkey Mavens dwelling... bingo or not!! Yes the man lives in a place like Thunderbird island... should be on the map... but isn't!
We proceed in the general direction of the hidden nerve centre of the Monkey empire. After some last minute direction finding phone calls we arrive, prepared to meet the brain behind those cheeky Youtube VJ videos, the Chapman web 2.0 guitar company, the Monkeylord web site and the upcoming Monkeyfest impresario!
A swift exchange of greetings and some epic liquid WIN and we're off. First up the second preview model of the Chapman guitars ML1. The guitar is looking awesome and even unplugged sounding sweet too. A lot of attention to detail and the ability for you to upgrade, just makes this an EPIC WIN!
Back in the office, Rob is at the helm of a virtual multi-headed organisation. So does he sit down all day doing nothing? No... the guy is wired for the virtual world, multiple PC's, Skype, mobile phones, land lines, video cameras, more guitar swag than you can shake a stick at...
Calls coming on the land line, on the mobile and via skype, it really is none stop. We participate in some video meetings with crazy band members, with music industry promotion types and fans. As this is happening the emails are flowing in, the view counts of videos are building. The rate of information flow is daunting, no wonder then that Mrs Monkeylord is roped into to manage the day to day email volleys. Calls come in discussing upcoming competitions and the Monkeyfest... excited, we sat there taking it all in.
Rob gives us some insight into the effort required to put those videos together. Rob's using Sony Vegas Studio like an Octopus, fingers flying, mouse clicks and drags coming from all angles. The guy is explaining the process as he goes... leaving me to realise how poor my own video editing skills are in comparison. He leaves me with the desire to learn a bit more about my own video editing and maybe think some more about the whole process. I know now why Rob is one of those well known YouTube guitar dudes, it's no accident, it's just sheer hard work and relentless can do, with a sense of humour, attitude.
As these crazy thoughts are sinking in, Rob is busy packing for an upcoming studio session with the legendary Eddie Kramer to produce his latest EP. This work is none stop, phone calls, editing, packing... editing Skype... editing... Shred Medium even gets a chance to produce some shots for the latest video. We're all laughing as the simple money shot, it not so simple after all... hands shaking, focus wobbling... but with the video in the bag, Rob shows us how even crazy shots can be made to work... video editing generous!
It's all over all too soon. Rob's car is packed for the studio session and we're off back to the home of Truth In Shredding. We're left in no doubt of Rob's commitment to the cause and the skills required to do the job.
...nice guitar face.
ReplyDeleteI've been working on that one buddy! It is a sweet guitar though, simply much better than Shred Mediums Fender Squier. It feels and sounds like a $ 1000 guitar... (in Rob's hands I might add)
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