The drummer for the "Late Show with David Letterman" talks about his latest homemade project.

Anton Fig is a talented musician, having played with major artists like Rosanne Cash, Bob Dylan, Peter Frampton, Billy Joel, Madonna, Warren Zevon, and Kiss. But he had one personal problem. He didn't have a solo album. Fig's obligation to the "Late Show" prevented him from touring to support the album, a catch that caused many record labels to shy away in the first place.

So Fig decided to record his own album, in his own apartment. After four years of work, Fig finally released "Figments," his solo CD. On today's show, Fig joins us to talk about how he put together a recording studio in his home.

Fig's studio

Here's what Fig used to make "Figments." It may not be state-of-the-art, but remember, he started production four years ago.
  • A "beefed-up" Power Mac 9500 with an upgraded 300-MHz G3 processor
  • ATI video card
  • Adaptec 2940 Ultra SCSI accelerator card
  • Glyph storage drives
  • Yamaha CD burner
  • Retrospect Backup software to DDS-3 DAT backup tape
  • Yamaha 02R for analog input for the outboard synths and for dialing in a little compression or EQ for a Pro Tools submix
  • Mark of the Unicorn MTP-AV master clock for the whole studio
  • DigiDesign ProTools


Learn more about Fig's home music studio.

Obligatory top ten

Of course, since Fig's on the show, we Web producers couldn't resist the urge to come up with our own Top Ten list. So, ladies and gentlemen, we present to you, "The Screen Savers" Top Ten list (with apologies to Dave and his writers).

Top ten neighbor complaints while Anton Fig recorded his new CD in his apartment
  1. "Can I borrow a cup of sugar and a glass of shut-the-hell-up?"
  2. At the end of every song, neighbors call and shout, "Sucks!"
  3. "Clay! You were robbed!"
  4. "You suck at playing the trumpet. It sounds like drums."
  5. Two words: More cowbell.
  6. "What up, cuz. Can yo' azz turn down da noize? I hear dat shiznit in da hizzle, know what I'm sayin'?"
  7. "Wow, you sound like that dude from Rush. Except terrible."
  8. "Hi, it's me, Paris. Me and my boyfriend were wondering if you could, maybe, play some music that's more, you know, porno-like?"
  9. "You brought in da noise. Now where's da funk?"
  10. "Shhh! Leno's on."



TSS Web producer Tim Moynihan contributed to the list.

"Figments"