Mtf wk 2 or semester 2: Ideas city

At last, a bit of real world application, this week’s forum was spent investigating the Mix Masters recording studio up in the hills. Upon our arrival, we were shown an array of old-school analogue technology. Nifty devices included a 2 inch multitrack tape recorder and a Radar, countless reverb and compression units, ribbon mics and an analogue desk (that is never-the-less hooked up to Protools which Mix Masters essentially use as a filing cabinet/editing tool). All semester, I have been wondering why the old sound engineers are so reluctant to let go of analogue recording devices. Now, finally, I have an explanation. Quite simply, the attraction is distortion from track to track on the 2 inch multitrack tape. The less than perfect technology allows for a little bit of contamination (or ‘fuzz’) from the neighbouring track the end result being a nice kind of distortion that binds everything together. In the pursuit of a compromise between the mind-boggling ease of digital and the ‘warmth’ of analogue, a computer with a super ADC/DAC converter has been created. This is known as Radar. I think I would like one, can I have one please? Mix Masters have one wired up and often use it to record. The fellow who showed us around suggested (with his infinite array of options) that, just because you have access to a collection of equipment, you may not need it for a good sound. He would probably tend to start with nothing and add devices as the sound quality (or lack there of) dictates. He also had a nice collection of mics including very old, top notch vocal mics and assorted ribbon mics. He had found with experience that the best quality mic may not produce the best recordings in every situation. At the end of the day, it is a good thing to avoid simply follow a formula. Good advice given included the suggestion of trying your best to record warm ups as, they often as not prove to be the best take you get. Same as live situations, setting up more mics than you need is preferable and, much to my surprise, our guy suggested building rock mixes up from the guitars/vocals, something that I am keen to try with my recording from last semester.

Mtf wk 13: back to the grind

We have a new lecturer (David Grice) for forum this semester and, we are going to, every second week be going on excursions to local studios, which should be cool. For the first part of the class, we got told a little of our new lecturer’s history. Like a lot of the rock musician come lecturers here, David tells us he settled into recording when he hit 30 because he wanted a stable future. Coming from a musician’s background, he became interested in recording and more or less taught himself. David’s musical background includes piano lessons up to fifth grade and competitive singing. At this stage, David has a broad appreciation of different styles of music. He suggests that, as an engineer it helps to be able to find something you like in every band you record (even if it is just the double kick in a death metal band) otherwise some recording jobs will drive you insane.

 David mentioned the impact of the evolution of the internet on the acquisition of music (this curious compromise on quality for quantity ala MP3s). The upside of the net is that it provides a whole new medium for marketing. In the realms of recording and marketing, David suggests recording warm ups and selling your CDs in a store so you can collect ARIA points (though if you sell independently then you can keep your profits). He also mentioned that, at the end of the day, analogue will ALWAYS sound warmer than digital. However, I like to think that a good analogue mastering can redeem the warmth you lose from digital recording. Of peoples recording projects we heard: Rohan – Had to deal with a less than 100% singer who wanted to record into an SM 58. Have to communicate to artists that recording is an entirely different world to live performance Ben – Good though a little more snare wouldn’t have gone a stray Scott H – sounded wicked to my ears. Scott said that in the end, he had to leave little mistakes in the recording, it being a cover, all the mistakes were identifiable and if he had gone for the perfect take, he would have been there for ever. Stewart – All good except for vocals which start to quiet and end too loud Josh – in a room with terrible boom, Josh’s mix didn’t have any which I thought was curious. - vocals needed to be louder Lauren – hum - did a really good job of getting ambient, airy vocals - acoustic could have been more full

Sound engineering studio: My career as a producer of renown begins here!

Recording Documentation Lisa Lane-Collins ________________________________________________________ 18/5, 25/5, 1/6, 8/6 ________________________________________________________ Ponytails ________________________________________________________ Format Sampling Rate 44 100 Bit Depth 16 Duration 2’06 Total Time Spent on Recording 7 Hours 15 Minutes Notes/Issues/Commentary on Recording (Minimum 300 words) Recording with inferior instruments when superior ones are available is an outright waste of time. Need to allow a good hour to perfect the levels of the drum micing. In one session, I had the tracks for the snare and the first tom mixed up. The result of which was a peak nightmare. Was very careful with my mic cables after. Towards the end, lost a few files through Protools refusing to save new recordings to the audio folder. (At the beginning, lost an entire session through selecting unused files and deleting them. I’ll never make that mistake again) Drummer unable to work to a click track. Got the guitarist to play in the control room (being recorded onto a track in the protools session which was deleted later on when it came time to record guitar). The drummer could now hear the guitar part through the headphones with (in theory) no spill into the drum mics. In practice, there was found to be spill with the drum tracks containing guitar but it was quiet enough to not pose a problem. Time was an issue. Time taken to set up and more significantly, time taken to save progress at the end of each session. A portable hardrive would have made the whole process infinitely easier. USB drives stuffing up was also an issue until I started bringing a windows based laptop into each recording session (for use formatting broken USB drives and additional storage space). Used a combination of Mic, amp and DI to record both the basses. The clean base was easy to record (it had hidden pick ups too which meant that was no risk of the bassist slapping the pickups). The distorted bass however, had to be treated more like a second guitar. Used a mic and DI for the guitar. Vocals were recorded through a Neumann using the Avalon for a preamp. After my early nightmare losing an entire song through clearing unused files, I invested a lot of time between each song/instrument, cleaning up my results, removing from the disk unwanted takes and giving wanted takes easily identifiable and sortable names. After one recording session I had to create an entirely new protools session and import all my audio from the old session because protools was not saving my recordings to the audio folder. (The upside of which was, I had no more work to do when I finished the last vocal take save for mixing and mastering). Track Information Track Instrument Performer Name 1 Kick drum Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 52 cardioid dynamic Attempted close mic with the b52 inside the kick drum Notes Fairly straight forward, place the mic in facing approximately where the beater hits (impossible to tell for sure as the skin was not clear). Had problems with the mic stand not holding the weight of the mic and drooping until it rested on the pillow. Didn’t notice this to effect the sound terribly. Track Instrument Performer Name 2 Snare Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 58 cardioid dynamic Closed miced facing snare skin Notes Seemed to work well enough, Had a pretty nice snare sound I thought Track Instrument Performer Name 3 Tom 1 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid dynamic Close miced directly facing skin Notes Had to use 57s on the first two toms. There were four toms in total, 3 56s available for use, I wanted to reserve the two 56s for the lower toms and I wanted there to be a consistency between the 57 miced toms (tom 1 and 2) nd the 56 miced toms (3 and the floor tom). Using the 57 on two toms I thought would stop it from being obvious that it was a different mic to usual. Had lots of spill from other parts of the kit. Also, the mic stand kept drooping. In the end had to coun ter balance it with a bag. Track Instrument Performer Name 4 Tom 2 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid dynamic Closed miced directly facing skin Notes As above. Track Instrument Performer Name 5 Tom 3 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 56 cardioid dynamic As above Notes Suffered from spill and drooping (and was thusly counter balanced with a bag also) Track Instrument Performer Name 6 Floor tom Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 56 cardioid dynamic As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 7 Hi Hat and Crash Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique NT 5 Omni Condenser Attempting to use rule of thirds, placed above and over the hi hat and crash cymbal Notes Can’t escape spill, use it to your advantage Track Instrument Performer Name 8 Assorted other 3 cymbals Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 9 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique 414 cardioid, condenser Close miced on angle facing amp Notes Works well Track Instrument Performer Name 10 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Amplifier DI N/A Notes Also works well Track Instrument Performer Name 11 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Combining the output from the DI and the two tracks previous allows for a nice/full bass sound Track Instrument Performer Name 12 Guitar Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid, dynamic Close miced on angle to amp Notes No fear of peaks, amount of distortion that the player used however could strip your insides Track Instrument Performer Name 13 Guitar Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Slightly fuller sound with a little bit less edge, combined with mic gives good results Track Instrument Performer Name 14 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique 414 cardioid condenser As with the last bass Notes Same as other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 15 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Amp DI N/A Notes Same as other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 16 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes As with other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 17 Lead vocals Todd (a different Todd) Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Neumann cardioid, condenser Relatively close miced with popper stopper Notes Tended to droop, ran it through the Avalon for better, louder sound Track Instrument Performer Name 18 Backing vocals 1 Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As Above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 19 Backing vocals 2 Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 20 Backing vocals 3 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes As above. Missing from final mix thanks to protools’ lack of saving of audio files Link to MP3 mixdown will go here as soon as it is uploaded to the web Recording Documentation Lisa Lane-Collins ________________________________________________________ 18/5, 25/5, 1/6, 8/6 ________________________________________________________ CIA ________________________________________________________ Format Sampling Rate 44 100 Bit Depth 16 Duration 1’59 Total Time Spent on Recording 6 Hours 30 Minutes Notes/Issues/Commentary on Recording (Minimum 300 words) Essentially, this song progressed at the same rate as Ponytails. For example, drums would be recorded for Pony Tails and then, before packing the kit up, drums would be recorded for CIA. As all the setting up would be completed by time Ponytails was finished, recording CIA tracks was always an easier experience. The notes/issues and commentary are essentially the same as they are for Ponytails as CIA was recorded at the same time. Ways in which CIA differs are the Clean bass which uses a phasing effect for the verses (meaning the gain needed to be turned down a little bit and the bass had to be automated to be louder in the chorus or it disappeared) and the backing vocals, there are less (only because by the end no one could be bothered to record them). That and, the distorted bass now plays with breaks under my advice (attempting to insert some contrast into the band’s music). Track Information Track Instrument Performer Name 1 Kick drum Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 52 cardioid dynamic Attempted close mic with the b52 inside the kick drum Notes Fairly straight forward, place the mic in facing approximately where the beater hits (impossible to tell for sure as the skin was not clear). Had problems with the mic stand not holding the weight of the mic and drooping until it rested on the pillow. Didn’t notice this to effect the sound terribly. Track Instrument Performer Name 2 Snare Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 58 cardioid dynamic Closed miced facing snare skin Notes Seemed to work well enough, Had a pretty nice snare sound I thought Track Instrument Performer Name 3 Tom 1 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid dynamic Close miced directly facing skin Notes Had to use 57s on the first two toms. There were four toms in total, 3 56s available for use, I wanted to reserve the two 56s for the lower toms and I wanted there to be a consistency between the 57 miced toms (tom 1 and 2) nd the 56 miced toms (3 and the floor tom). Using the 57 on two toms I thought would stop it from being obvious that it was a different mic to usual. Had lots of spill from other parts of the kit. Also, the mic stand kept drooping. In the end had to coun ter balance it with a bag. Track Instrument Performer Name 4 Tom 2 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid dynamic Closed miced directly facing skin Notes As above. Track Instrument Performer Name 5 Tom 3 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 56 cardioid dynamic As above Notes Suffered from spill and drooping (and was thusly counter balanced with a bag also) Track Instrument Performer Name 6 Floor tom Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 56 cardioid dynamic As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 7 Hi Hat and Crash Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique NT 5 Omni Condenser Attempting to use rule of thirds, placed above and over the hi hat and crash cymbal Notes Can’t escape spill, use it to your advantage Track Instrument Performer Name 8 Assorted other 3 cymbals Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 9 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique 414 cardioid, condenser Close miced on angle facing amp Notes Works well Track Instrument Performer Name 10 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Amplifier DI N/A Notes Also works well Track Instrument Performer Name 11 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Combining the output from the DI and the two tracks previous allows for a nice/full bass sound Track Instrument Performer Name 12 Guitar Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid, dynamic Close miced on angle to amp Notes No fear of peaks, amount of distortion that the player used however could strip your insides Track Instrument Performer Name 13 Guitar Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Slightly fuller sound with a little bit less edge, combined with mic gives good results Track Instrument Performer Name 14 Lead vocals Todd (a different Todd) Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Neumann cardioid, condenser Relatively close miced with popper stopper Notes Tended to droop, ran it through the Avalon for better, louder sound Track Instrument Performer Name 15 Backing vocals 1 Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As Above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 16 Backing vocals 2 Todd, Todd, Vark and Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes This track is more for fun than for the music, every band member present crowded around the mic and at certain points, screamed backing vocals. Track Instrument Performer Name 17 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique 414 cardioid condenser As with the last bass Notes Same as other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 18 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Amp DI N/A Notes Same as other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 19 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Wave form is a solid rectangle, didn’t end up using this track at all, too abrasive Link to MP3 mixdown will go here

Audio studies Creative Project-Only: Loop It La La mix

Only: Loop it La La Mix Lisa Lane-Collins Minutes ‘ Seconds (Italic 11pt Arial) I had a lot of dead ends with this project, all due to ill thought out sample collecting. In the end, with only a day or so to go, I downloaded the protools session of Nine Inch Nail’s Only and used the audio tracks from that to create a remix. To begin with, I imported the audio files that were included in the audio folder into a new protools session (thus losing any structure in terms of instruments and in terms of alterations to length that may have been made to these files in the original protools session. Once these files were imported, I located the drum loop and went about sampling the kick, snare and hi hat sounds. I applied a low-end filter to the kick (in search of a boomy sound) and a high pass filter to the snare (to make it more contrasting to the kick drum). I would have liked to have built something around one of the synth parts however, they refused to conform to the alleged tempo of 112 bpm (in fact, the synths sounded a lot like they were in fact playing in 5 4. Finding that one of the bass parts fitted nicely to my drum part, I began trying out different samples (mostly of guitar parts) over the top. I found that the three piano parts were the most malleable, They could be chopped up and bulked out with without leaving artefacts. It was while playing with the piano samples that I had the idea to overlay a loop out of synch of itself by one beat creating a canon. It was my preference to omit the vocal parts all together (in the original song, I found the vocals to be pretentious overkill). However, my mix needed something so I inserted the lead vocal 1 (essentially the first two verses). Upon listening, I found the vocals in the context of my mix to be quite effective. Removed from its intended backing, Reznor’s voice, half singing, half speaking and often repeating things sounds like the voice of someone gone a little insane with pain. Pleased with the effect of the vocals, I wrapped it up with my piano loop canon. The result is a piano line that moves (rather than the original static line). The piano, I supported with a funny, ‘bouncing’ percussion sample. NB While I did experiment with tricks like reverse (the result of which I could not incorporate even though it sounded cool. It just didn’t fit), I didn’t really bother with effects as I felt that none of the samples needed anything else. NB2 I am still having technical ldifficulties uploading files for linkage. I hope to overcome them tonight (ergo, my MP3 mixdown should be uploaded this time tomorrow and listenable)

Justice! MIDI studies creative assignment

Justice Lisa Lane-Collins 3 ‘ 57 The intention was to recreate the backing track to a rap by MC O2 (a local and as of yet undiscovered talent) using better quality audio programming (the original is made in fruity loops). Once satisfactorily recreated, I intended to add my own touches here and there and record better quality vocals over the top. To recreate the various tracks from the fruity loops session in Logic, I made several tracks and, using the step editor, entered the relevant MIDI data. Choosing from the assorted synthesizers that come standard with Logic, I attempted to match up the data with sounds similar or the same as the sounds from the Fruity Loops session. This proved to be a nightmare. Drum and bass tracks were easily recreated, as were fruity loops ‘strings’ tracks. More complicated, synth effects with obscure names like ‘adventure and ‘gnome’ however were impossible to recreate in Logic. By ear, I could identify that notes played by the ‘adventure synth’ were in fact, fifths and thus, I was able to more closely recreate the sound by writing the adventure part in fifths. The ‘gnome’ sound however was harder to recreate with the note seemingly sliding up an octave within the first second of being sounded. I attempted to fiddle with synth settings a little bit to more closely resemble the sounds I desired but found it to be some what ineffectual without knowing anything about controlling the synths. Once I had settled on compromised synth sounds, I arranged them by ear into something that would be suitable to rap over and used a little volume automation to ease the transitions from no sound to sound in some places. The arrangement no longer resembles the arrangement of the original track as the rapper was dissatisfied with the sounds I found in Logic and opted to stay with his fruity loops version thus rendering it unnecessary for me to retain his song structure. Also rendering the addition of vocals unnecessary (and I had run out of time). N.B. I would have an MP3 of this piece posted but I don't know how to post MP3s on blogger. The MP3 will be up as soon as I find out.

Afrocelt sound system goes under the scalpel mwoahahaha

• Import all the audio files into the regions section of protocols • Investigate • Have genius idea to establish the original tempo thus making everything fit together neatly with little or no editing • Sampled the sound of the kick, hihat and snare but opted in the end to use the bodhran/percussion samples for my initial drum part – results in nice folk feel • Looked for an alternative motif to the vocals or the whistle parts to build my piece on, settled on a kora riff • Experimented with the abstract key parts as they sound cool but found that regular keys sounded better. • Made a cliché doof doof kick drum beat out of the kick sample at 1:24 because it could be done and because it removed my remix further from the original. • Included a guitar line and a bass line with the doof doof, it’s like the climax of the piece • Really didn’t like the vocal samples but included them in a minor way. They are very quiet in the mix when they first appear and don’t really get to shine until the guitar/bass drops off and leaves a minimal mix of kora and drums . As I progressed through my mix, it became apparent that it helps to have a good idea of what you want the end result to sound like. Thinking of the remix like it were a rehash, I considered that one could take the song in question and remix it to sound like an assortment of genres (an idea that solidified after hearing a remix of Shock the Monkey that sounded industrial). As far as research is concerned, I found very little advice on the creative aspect of things and most information was directed at people who had wav files of songs to work with, not jigsaw puzzle pieces. A lot of my samples already had heavy use of effects like reverb and delay (rendering reversals very obvious) so I didn’t bother much with effects (just the occasional modulation on the kora part for a change). One bit of information I found invaluable was the rule of repeating new things 8 times before evolving or changing them. Perhaps, this rule cramps the creative potential of the remixer but it is aurally an aesthetically pleasing thing to do. Bibliography http://forum.djspenny.co.uk/index.php?s=76355067b1c0fe639f868cb38b8706e4&showtopic=268 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.07/avalanches.html http://helpdesk.audiofile-engineering.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=31 (this guy is obsessed with 8 beats) http://www.realworldremixed.com/remix.php?remix_id=l5488eOTKmixVO4. http://blog.deepsound.net/?2007/01/08/117-bjork-remix

MTF week 12

Ken • Approaches as remix (not mix), seeks to create own version of song • Chooses loops that sound interesting and builds from there. • Cheated and did the bulk of the preliminary investigating, altering and structuring of samples in Ableton Live (where is our Ableton live Adelaide University? Why don’t the rest of the Diploma class get given the hint that this programme exists? Are we supposed to discover it on the task bar all on our own?!!!! The right tools for the right job I say!) • Does nifty things with chopped up vocals that give piece a real techno feel Me • See write up! Josh – Shock the Monkey • Experimented with putting the left and right drum track out of phase, it was unsuccessful. • Remix bares little resemblance to original. • Abandoned the vocal line, sampled the phrases “Shock the Monkey” and “monkey, monkeeey” and created a vocal line from that (an almost satirical treatment of the song in my opinion) • Found many of the audio samples supplied to be of poor quality – thus was limited to a minimal instrumentation • Samples have too many effects on them already for it to be worthwhile using anymore (effects) Brendan – If I had My Way • Ambitiously attempted to make an Industrial mix • When that proved too hard, went for a Hard Rock feel • Double tracks vocals ala Ozzie, double tracked guitars (hard left and right) • Effects on the drum kit (something I had yet to think of) • Amplitude on just about everything • Combination of gain, amplitude, chorus and pitch shift used on vocals to make them abrasive. • Would have employed the Kylie Effect on the vocals if the plug in was available. Lauren – People’s Colony No. 1 • Had problems with samples of irregular sizes • EQed samples and liked the result • Use of repetitive beeping sound would have been excellent for giving the piece a techno feel if mixed for the forum room speakers. • Mentioned that she would have liked to spend time building the piece up and then bringing it down again (which would have been good) but felt constrained by time limits.