SES WEEK 7 MUSIC UPLOAD

This is what I've been doing in Studio 2 over the last couple of weeks. I journeyed into the EMU with some helpers armed with an array of toy instruments and a 3/4 size 'cello (courtesy of Vlad) and we laid down a barrage of dodgy tracks, all in the name of familiarising myself with ProTools. I think we ended up with 12 tracks in all, which I've "top and tailed", stuck some effects on and bounced down - here's the result. What I couldn't figure out was applying fades and volume automation to some of the tracks. Also, I'd like to know how to apply effect to sections of tracks - looking forward to finding these answers and more in next week's exciting instalments of.... Uni. PS: I can't upload an MP3 because I have no software at home at the moment for various reasons and it seems that Studio 2 Pro-Tools will not allow you to bounce down as an MP3 directly - here 'tis: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YPOTA291

AURAL STUDIES WEEK 6 THE EAR AND THE BRAIN

Once again, I feel like I have been through a wringer at the end of this session. I find the absence of Power Point in this classroom quite pleasurable and get the distinct feeling that I have learnt a lot more as a result. This week’s offering was a fascinating continuation of our journey into the ear and beyond, into the brain. The way that the brain processes intervals and changes in timbre and amplitude is definitely interesting and whilst looking up Place Theory on the web, I came across a related subject which was also of interest, namely: how our brain determines different vowel sounds as being the same when pronounced at different pitches. If you’re interested, I recommend you have a decko at this site, HyperPhysics, which has a really good section on the physics of sound and hearing, simply presented (upper high school level) – here’s the URL: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html#hph As for the in-depth examination of the organ of Corti, I now have this unshakeable idea that there are rapid firing pop-ups (like toast) occurring in my ears every time I hear anything. This disturbs me and I shall probably go mad and have to be counselled Dr Sachs. Perhaps his next book could be about me, “The Woman Who Mistook Her Ears For A Toast Rack”.

AUDIO STUDIES WEEK 6 PRO-TOOLS SEQUENCING

More Pro-tools theory and practical this week which is OK because I enjoy it even though I feel I’m slow at picking it up. Hopefully, I can get into the audio lab during the break and get up to speed. Like I said before, the theory side doesn’t faze me as much as the practical in this subject which is strange because usually it’s the other way around for me. Anyway, I’ve managed to get several sequences going, but I tend to spend a lot of time working on making them “musical” which perhaps is redundant in terms of getting the exercise done on time? I dunno. I find that working in grid mode seems to be the way to go, at least for these sequencing exercises although I assume that the slip or shuffle modes might be more appropriate when using Pro-tools for live recording. In general, I find the Pro-tools layout sensible, user-friendly and seemingly easy to customise, which is good for people like me who prefer to arrange their working environment in a highly personalised way. Also, the configuration of the time signatures and tempos seems straightforward enough and I’ll be looking forward to playing about with them in due course…

SES WEEK 6 GUEST GUITARIST

Many thanks to our special guest, kick-arse guitarist who came along this week and allowed us to perform EXPERIMENTS on him (hee hee, demonic laughter). These experiments were similar to those we carried out with vocals to listen to the variations possible with one voice and many mics, but this week’s session also gave us more of an insight into mic positioning variations. I found it useful to note that positioning the mic across the speaker at an angle rather than directly into the speaker gave a better result. I suppose that this is also the reason that you don’t stick kick drum mics directly into the drum facing the hammer. Speaking of hammers, Dave keeps hammering home that whatever works best, works best and stuff the rules (as long as you don’t actually blow anything up, I guess). Sound advice (get it, get it?). Of huge relief to me personally was the information that I am not in fact insane and that the recording-space-to-studio-2 patch had been repatched. I could have cried with frustration the week previously when I could get no signal from one to the other and no headphone mix (I suppose I should have tried ALL of the headphone outs in the recording space but who would have guessed that only 3 and 4 work? What do I do when I have more than 2 artists in there wanting headphone mixes?). See you after the “break”.

MTF WEEK 6 MORE THOUGHTS ON LISTENING

It’s getting a bit difficult to know what to blog on about with regard to MTF – we spend every week listening to CD’s. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the whys and wherefores and how’d you do’s of this process but it’s hard to put into words the evolution that I am convinced is taking place within my sense of music perception. My notes for this week read, “Production techniques – used to bugger-up other people’s music”. Um, I can only assume the reasoning behind this somewhat bitter sentiment is the example that Dave played us first of the 13 year old girl and her sweet (and yes, somewhat sickly but she WAS 13) song played atrociously on acoustic guitar but attention-grabbing nevertheless. At least, I listened to it all the way through. Then the “produced” version, which lost my attention within 10 seconds – not only had the producer managed to “bugger-up” the innocent charm of the original but he/she had messed with the actual melody which didn’t need no messing. I am sure there is probably a way of retaining the naiveté of the original whilst making it more palatable for less masochistic palates than mine, so I can only assume that the producer in question was not up to the job. Leave well enough alone. OK, on to my choice of assessment producer – I decided to choose a LADY producer…. Oh, dear, there aren’t any. Bugger again.

SEL WEEK 6 EXERCISE MADLEY LAWNS GIG

MADLEY LAWNS LIVE SET-UP & MIX

WEDNESDAY APRIL 9, 12.00PM

ARTIST: ILL-STARRED CAPTAIN

LINE-UP: SCOTT – ACOUSTIC GUITAR (LIVE MIC)
VOCAL

JUSTIN - DRUMS
VOCAL

SET-UP NOTES

GUITAR: 2 X SHURE SM-57 MICS ON GUITAR DIRECTLY INTO DESK
GUITAR VOX: 1 X SHURE SM-58

DRUMS: KD: SHURE BETA 52
SD: SHURE SM-57
FURTHER MICING ON DRUMS PROBABLY REDUNDANT GIVEN SIZE AND NATURE OF VENUE
DRUM VOX: 1 X SHURE SM-58

MONITOR: (SAME SEND TO BOTH GUITAR AND DRUMS), VOX, GUITAR (KICK AND SNARE PROBABLY NOT NECESSARY THROUGH MONITOR BUT CAN BE SUPPLIED IF REQUIRED BY ARTISTS)

SES WEEK 5 RECORDING I SPOSE

Help! I took no notes this week, what on earth did we do? I think we got grouped- up and recorded a few radio tracks on pro-tools and miced up and recorded the long-sufferering Dave M, who should be knighted for his services to sound engineering students. It's all beginning to blur in my mind, however, I did manage to get into the studio on Thursday with my "artiste" and we laid down 3 hilarious tracks of "acoustic guitar": acoustic guitar being what Dave G asked for but I chose to bring two examples of this instrument from my home, one of which belongs to my 5 y.o. daughter and although it features tuning pegs, one can only assume that their function is ornamental as it is apparently untunable to any earthly configuration. My other domestic acoustic (nice ring, that phrase) bears what can only be described as a motley crue of strings and is likewise dubious in the realm of tuning. I like music this way. Getting tracks down was no problem but I had issues sorting out a headphone mix for my guinea pig - he alternately had no talkback (which was OK because he could read my lips through the glass anyway, ie: CAN YOU HEAR THIS, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE?!?), and then no mix of his previous tracks and then no mix of the current "live" track... comic antics but I got it sorted in the end by diligent application of my brain in the patchbay area. I have no mix-in-progress to play you as we ran out of time but I'll try to get something uploaded next week (after we lay down the vocal ululations and toy percussion tracks on Monday).

MTF WEEK 5 MASTERING

Another one of those "wow" factor sessions as we compared the before and after effects of mastering, the difference between which is dramatic to say the least. It was interesting for me to discover that top quality mastering is done on analogue equipment and reminded me of something we discussed earlier in the year in Audio Studies with Christian when we were comparing the characterisitcs of analogue and digital audio, namely that analogue audio devices at the extreme top end of the scale still sound better than their digital counterparts. I guess this is why this final stage of the production process is carried out in this way. I looked at a few audio mastering equipment suppliers and studios on the web and found that the most commonly used gear seems to be multi-band compressors and EQ's. The critical listening part of our sessions is beginning to take effect and I find myself hearing music in a different way: fortunately, this has not lessened my enjoyment of the music as I had feared it might but it hasn't increased it either... I was watching The Blues Brothers with the children last night and there's a scene with John Lee Hooker doing a killer blues song (what else) and it struck me how beautiful the production was: the style of the music was very loose and the individual instruments were all clear, warm and rich. The scene was outdoors but the song had obviously been recorded in a studio. I looked at the DVD cover but could find no indication as to whether the sound has been re-mastered for this edition - do they re-master the audio on old films when they're released as DVD's as a matter of course? This week's quiz question....

AUDIO STUDIES WEEK 5 SEQUENCING

This week's fun and games centred around sequencing in Pro-tools which, OK, I find bizarre. Mainly because I had only really thought of Pro-tools as a real-time recorder and I suppose that when you are working with samples and grid modes, yes of course there you have a sequencer but all of my sequencing in the past has been done in environments such as Fruity Loops within the framework of a nice simple graphic representation and which to me has been a natural progression of the analogue step sequencers of my mis-spent youth (sigh), ie: piss-easy. Having said that, we all know that Pro-tools is an immensely powerful program and, as I've said previously, the only way to come to grips with these is to spend a lot of time using them. So far I am having trouble with this - I can't find the extra time to get into the audio lab and may have to consider a visit or two in the dead of night to catch up, like some kind of Phantom of the 4th floor. I enjoy the theory side of audio studies and getting down and dirty with the anatomy of a sound file is interesting, as is the analysis of digital audio that we have been force-fed over the past few weeks. I feel like a goose, a goose with fois-gras destiny - whatever will become of my audiological liver (yes, it's past my bedtime, sorry)....

CONCEPTS OF MUSIC WEEK 5 THE EAR

Ear ear, what's all this then? Shades of Spike Milligan with a copper's tit on his head bending at the knees... Wonderful journey into the ear this week with many interesting discoveries along the way. I find the mechanism of the acoustic reflex fascinating and something of a relief to know that it exists but probably not much use in my chosen sub-profession as a rock planet (like a rock star but MUCH less impressive). I have broken the so far unblemished habit of a lifetime and consulted Wiki on this and found out the acoustic reflex is also activated when one speaks, ie: your own timpanic membrane (ear drum for you plebs) slackens off before you vocalise. You can use this to consciously limit the effect of expected loud sounds (by up to 20dB apparently). So if you're watching a military display and they're about to let off the cannon for example, you could cough and possibly limit potential damage to your hearing. Or you could put your hands over your ears. I suppose. I found of great interest also the precedence effect, about which there has seemingly been an awful lot of study done, but the overall impression I get is that the brain is really bloody talented at sorting stuff out and we should all just let it get on with the job. Second to last in this blog, I must explain that I have no proper word processor at the moment and consequently no word count facility, so I apologise for being either too long or too short in my reflections. And lastly, I must further apologise for the observation that in the human ear the conch is also known as the external auditory meatus and hence the expression, "prick up your ears".