SES WEEK 11 - COMPRESSORS AND GATES

Ah, gates explained (at last) and compressors explained (yet again). Which is OK. I feel I understand the concepts behind these two standards of audio equipment quite well yet whenever I actually apply one during the course of my mixing adventures, the results are... well, you know. So I have looked further for explanations to assist with my application of these tools (given that I had to leave this week’s session early and no doubt missed something important). I found yet another cool place to go for audio tutorials namely, Doctor ProAudio, which appears to be a site dedicated to the world-wide Spanish-speaking audiophile community but fear not, this page is en Inglés:

Doctor ProAudio compressors/limiters tutorial with link to gates tutorial

These tutes feature an excellent explanation of the (to me) mystifying concepts of side-chain and “knee”, which was a profound relief, lemme tell ya, as well as clear graphics (which actually help for a change). Armed with this new cache of e-knowledge and in conjunction with my D-learning (Dave), I shall no doubt be able now to produce mixes of the very highest quality. We can only wait and see.

References:

D. Grice, Lecture, Sound Engineering Studio, 27/05/08

http://www.doctorproaudio.com/english/
Doctor ProAudio, viewed 31/05/08

MTF - WEEK 11 - LOCAL RECORDINGS

Listening to a variety of recordings that Dave G provided, we attempted to determine which ones had been recorded in Adelaide studios. Personally, I found the task impossible although Dave maintained that he could tell an Adelaide recording, particularly from certain studios. I find this a bit sad; the implication that a given set of equipment, personnel and space will result in a given sound or possibly flavour to the production. I think the lesson was supposed to demonstrate to us that it is possible to produce quality audio product in SA and the question was raised that, in these circumstances, why don’t more musicians come here to give birth to their sonic babies? I reckon it comes down to vibe; you’ve slaved over these songs, cried over them and they mean everything to you, surely you want to get all hyped up about giving them to the world. Perhaps for most people this means going somewhere that the air fairly pulsates with the vibrancy of overpopulation, I dunno. Later we listened to Adelaide engineering examples in the form of remixes from Lauren, Kristie and Shane – well done, guys! You have set the standard...

Here is an example of an Adelaide recording - guess who?

References

D. Grice, Lecture, Music Technology Forum, 27/05/08
D. Lokan, Lecture, Music Technology Forum, 27/05/08

CONCEPTS OF MUSIC AURAL - WEEK 10 - INTENSITY AND LOUDNESS

I’ll try not to boringly whine on about the maths-heavy handout which we received this week, allegedly in order to facilitate our understanding of sound pressure level and the decibel measurement of sound intensity. It is obvious to me that I shall never be ein Tonmeister. Yes, I matriculated in maths but that was 24 years ago and I can honestly say my application of higher maths functions during my adult life has been, nil, nada, zero and zip. Oh, that’s not a whinge, by the way, I’m just nonplussed by the possible necessity of arithmetic function in my chosen future career. Am I padding my blog with BS? Um, yep sorry. However, it would be interesting to investigate exactly how many of the reasonably (and sometimes very) successful engineers and producers that we have been studying in Music Technology Forum have any grasp whatsoever (and if any, to what degree) of the maths tied to their jobs. One could probably maintain a perfectly respectable sound engineering life without this mathematical knowledge, however, the real issue is: can one pass this component of the Diploma without it? I may have to read it after all. Damn.

References:
S.Whittington, Lecture, Concepts of Music (Aural), 22/05/08

SES - WEEK 10 - MIXING DOWN

At last, some real help with the mix down process, which I so desperately wanted. I love the idea of taking a “reference CD’ to the studio and referring to it regularly; to gauge the frequency response of the room, to give your ears a “control”, to give yourself pause from the constant focus on noise. I find this very tiring; to concentrate for long periods on sounds and try to read nuances into them while attempting to determine the effects of infinitesimal parameter changes. The “compare” function in the PT plug-ins window is of great use when confronted with this issue. Dave is right when he says “mix quietly”. I have to battle the temptation to mix at louder volumes because frankly, everything sounds better when you turn it up – there seems to be more bottom end which is so soul-satisfying… until you get it home and it blows your crappy stereo speakers or shakes your little earphones to pieces. The technique Dave showed us of starting with drums seemed logical to me but I had not thought to mix the kick drum in comparison with the bass instrument as a starting point. Good idea.

References:

D. Grice, Sound Engineering Studio Lecture, 20/05/08

MTF - WEEK 10 - CD MANUFACTURE

As I sit here drinking a damn’ fine wine, I ponder on what it takes to get one’s music noticed in this musically super-saturated world. Obviously, I have had (up until now) no bloody idea ‘cos no-one’s ever taken a blind bit of notice of mine… actually, we did chart well locally, I suppose. Perhaps if I had wrapped my CD’s in balloons and launched them at A& R executives they may have attracted some notice. Given my feelings towards the commercial music industry, however, it may have been more appropriate possibly for me to nail my CD’s to bricks and launch them at A & R execs’ heads, oh tut. Anyway, I have investigated further the intricacies of the CD production process and, as a consequence, here is this week’s handy-dandy link so that you can share in my findings (should you be so inclined):

MANUFACTURING PROCESS FOR DATA CD ROM AND AUDIO CD
WRITTEN BY: TERRY MCLEAN; ARTICLE PUBLISHED: YEAR 2006, MONTH 12;

It’s all about fathers, apparently – Freud would have a field day. Really, very interesting and yes, I was one of those who had laboured under the misconception that CD’s were all laser burned, live and learn.

References:

D.Grice, Music Technology Forum Lecture, 20/05/08

T. McLean, e-Tutorial, Manufacturing Process for Data CD Rom and Audio CD,
http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Manufacturing-process-for-data-CD-ROM-and-audio-CD/, viewed 24/05/08

Multishape CD-Rom, viewed 24/05/08
http://www.multishapecdrom.com/cd_showcase/?case=irr_01

CONCEPTS OF MUSIC WEEK 9 LOUDNESS

I know you all think I’m mad because I reckon foetuses can perceive ultrasound when being bombarded with such – perhaps my un-researched reasoning is wrong (I believe that the smaller the ear canal, the higher the detectable frequencies), but I’ve seen the little unborn ones reacting to the ultrasound procedure with my own eyes… co-incidence, conspiracy?

Check this link if you’re interested:

Is this relevant to our discussion this week? Yes, as we investigate the nature of intensity and relative loudness, infrasound and ultrasound, heterodyning (which has meaning beyond the scope of audio). Once more Stephen has juxtaposed the physical and psycho-physical aspects of sound. This increased knowledge of the nature of sound is having an effect on the way I listen when I’m recording and mixing down, although the conditions at the EMU are relatively sterile (“relative” to my usual musical environment which often involves beer-fuelled chaos and countless uncontrollable noises). To put it in a nutshell, I am trying soooo hard to listen with my brain, balancing the pure auditory input with the new knowledge about the way sound (mis)behaves and the way I perceive it (mis)behaving.

References:

S. Whittington, Lecture, Concepts of Music (Aural), 15/05/08

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour
viewed 19/05/08

Chicago Tribune Online Edition
http://nie.chicagotribune.com/activities_082905.htmhttp://www.hhs.gov/
viewed 19/05/08

AUDIO STUDIES WEEK 9 PT SEQUENCING CONTD

So we continue our journey in and around Planet Pro Tools. I’m chuffed to discover that all plug-in parameters can be automated and further that they can be controlled with external controllers; the Novation keyboard in the audio lab and presumably the mixing desk in Studio 1. I’ve found the plug in information that we are covering very useful at the moment as I have been working on a demo for a band that I somewhat impetuously began a while back, before realising that I would be flat out doing assignments and have no time to indulge myself with free studio time, sigh. Strangely, the more I use the plug-ins in all their saveable, copy-and-pasteable glory, the more my mix sounds like crap! I am going to adopt the attitude of a female, fin-de-siecle, photographer (whose name eludes me at the mo’) to the effect that for her, the photograph ended at the negative; cropping, exposure compensation and other post-negative manipulation were just so much toss. Adapt this to the recording studio and it becomes; the band must sound perfect before it is even worth beginning, the vibe must be right and the music wonderful. Plug-ins are cake-icing.

GLAMVILLE

References:
C. Haines, Lecture, Audio Studies, 14/05/08

SES WEEK 9 BASS AMP RECORDING

This week we continued our study into the studio recording of conventional rock band instruments by recording a bass amp using a range of microphones and direct inputs in both the dead room and the live recording space. Through this exercise we concluded that there wasn’t a great deal of difference in the sound quality between the two recording spaces, however, there was a noticeable difference between the various microphones and D.I.’s. We recorded the bass amp in ideal conditions, that is when there were no other instruments present to “spill” into our microphones. Obviously, one would have to think again in terms of amp positioning and baffling if a full band were present. The microphones we used were the AKG C414, Shure Beta 52, Shure Beta 57, Shure SM56 as well as a direct input from the bass guitar and a direct input from the bass amp (which happened to have such a facility). My personal favourite combination of these was the SM56 mixed with the guitar DI, mainly because of the warm richness in the tone. However, if I didn’t want warm rich tones, I might use something else. Depends on the desired effect.

Here is my recording of a bass amp

References:
D. Grice, Lecture, Bass Amp Recording Techniques, 13/05/08

MTF WEEK 9 CLASS PRESENTATIONS

This week’s in-class presentations were ably presented by presenters Lauren, Ryan and Anthony with Joe presumably presenting apologies for his lack of presence.
Lauren chose producer Timbaland who has worked with such popular “artists” as Missy Elliot and Justin Timberlake amongst others. Lauren is obviously a fan of Timabland’s work, an advantage to her enthusiastic delivery. She supported her research with graphic material and audio samples which she used to demonstrate her points regarding Timbaland's “flava”, evident in his use of syncopation and percussion- heavy production. Here’s a sample of the Aaliyah song that I quite like.

What If, AALIYAH

Ryan researched British producer Hugh Padgham, allegedly responsible for the highly distinctive “gated-snare” sound of the 80’s – what a guy. Ryan again chose to present with a range of media and had obviously researched his subject’s engineering techniques very well.

Last up was Anthony and his presentation on one Adam Dutkiewicz, who in his spare time is also the drummer for Killswitch Engage. Adam has also worked with Parkway Drive (amongst others) as well as producing his own band. Anthony’s presentation took the form of another multi-media event and was highly entertaining and informative.

References:

A. Zillante, In-Class presentation, 13/05/08
L. McMahon, In-Class presentation, 13/05/08
R. Gerlach, In-Class presentation, 13/05/08

CONCEPTS MUSIC - WEEK 8 - REFLECTIONS

“SOCIOCUSIS
Loss of hearing caused by noise exposures that are part of the social environment, exclusive of occupational-noise exposure, physiological changes with age, and disease.” (Found on http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/s/o/sociocusis/source.html)

In the words of Negativland, “Is there any escape from noise?” Our densely populated societies are totally saturated with sound and light, the only escape from which is to adopt a hermit-like existence in a desert-like environment. Even in those circumstances, I believe one would feel an over-powering urge to sing and light a fire. However, it’s a fact that our auditory environments are polluted and the condition of sociocusis as defined above is more in the nature of a psychological disorder than a physical one. The investigation we are currently undertaking into the nature of sound and the various realities of perception is very much an exploration of the psychology of sensory perception also. My personal philosophy is that there is no such thing as an objective reality anyway. Just as the measurement of an event changes it, surely the sensory perception (being a kind of subjective measurement) of an event alters it also, to the extent that there is no good and evil, no black and white; there is only what I like and what I feel. So there.

Here's a groovy website:
HUMAN HEARING SENSITVITY - AUDIOHOLICS ONLINE A/V MAGAZINE

Here's another:
WHAT IS A DECIBEL - UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SCHOOL OF PHYSICS

SOUND ENGINEERING LIVE MADLEY LAWNS ASSIGNMENT

(This diagram represents a model of my ideal set-up for this gig):

As a live mixing exercise, the Madley Lawns gig of April 9 was an interesting starting point for the class. Outdoor live gigs that require sound reinforcement often have their own special set of problems, apart from the usual technical necessities of any live amplification situation.

It seemed that everyone in the group took on a number of roles that day, including setting-up, routing signals and mixing, and it was good to see them liaising confidently and politely with the band,

The featured artist on the day was two-piece Ill Starred Captain, whose line-up consisted of Scott on acoustic guitar and vocals and Jason on drums. From all accounts Ill Starred Captain are an experienced live and touring music duo and this was apparent in their organisation: they were quick to set up and had all the necessary equipment with them (including gaffer tape which none of us had thought to bring). Scott had his own DI box with him, which gave us a send directly from the guitar to the stage box without need for further miking. For his vocals, we used a Shure SM58 which ran into the stage box also.

Jason’s drums were mic’d as follows (he used only one rack tom):

 KICK – SHURE BETA 52
 SNARE – SHURE SM-57
 RACK – SHURE SM-57
 FLOOR – SHURE BETA 56
 OVERHEAD LEFT – RODE NT-5
 OVERHEAD RIGHT – RODE NT-5

All the microphone leads from this array fed directly into the stage box.

From the stage box, a bi-directional multicore took the microphone sends over the lawns to the mixing desk. From the mixing desk, Dave ran the main outs directly into the compressor and the compressor outputs in turn went back (via the multicore) to the stage box (A and B sends). The A and B sends were then routed from the stage box to the FOH amp, the outputs of which were fed into the FOH speakers.

A monitor send was taken from the desk via the multicore (D send) back to the stage box and thence to the monitor amp (which was up on the stage). The output of the monitor amp was then fed into the monitor speaker which was positioned between and facing the performers.

An auxiliary send was set up straight from the desk into the reverb unit, from which a return was sent back to the desk, enabling us to apply a little sweetening reverb to the vocals.

Finally, a CD player was plugged directly into the mixing desk (via aux returns as there was no "tape in") to provide music to start and end the set.

I thought the sound quality was good except that there were obvious issues with the overhead microphones picking up wind noise as it was a breezy day. We placed wind socks over the mics which helped but did not entirely eliminate the problem. Scott complained initially that he wasn’t getting much in the way of vocal foldback but this was quickly rectified by turning up the send from his vocal mic to the monitor bus. Also, when we recreated this set-up in the studio after the fact, the signal path was slightly different in that, instead of the compressor getting a signal straight from the desk before returning to the multicore, we set it up so that the signal went to the compressor from the desk outputs via the multicore. Dave said this was a better system anyway but I’m not sure why.

Given the size of the act and the space they were performing in, miking up the drums so comprehensively was possibly a redundancy but it was good in the context of the learning exercise.

All in all, a good day’s work – it was only a shame to see it cut short!

AUDIO STUDIES WEEK 8 PRO TOOLS CONTINUES

As we progress through the course, I find that we are now covering (some) things that I have discovered by accident, necessity and occasionally design by using PT in the studio. Region groups, mix and edit groups being most useful to me so far. Being an organisation- freak, I also found it useful to learn of all the “clean-up” functions available in the region pane. Anything that rationalises the files and streamlines the processor usage can only be a good thing. I’m not entirely sure that I comprehend the function of the playlists as opposed to just setting up more tracks, although Christian did explain the advantages of one technique over the other. It may become apparent when I start to use them. Sadly, I have nothing musical to upload as I’ve re-started my in-class exercise from scratch and my assessment piece not at all. All I can offer is this stupid photo of me circa 1990 which recently came into my possession, have a laugh oh, do.

SES WEEK 8 DRUM KIT MICING

I booked 2 hours last Friday morning to mic up and record a drum kit in keeping with last week’s SES. Four of us had made arrangements to meet in the studio to do this, two of whom are drummers. In the event no-one showed up except me and Sam (I am naming no names, here). Our time was not wasted; I discovered that it is virtually impossible to set up a recording session for drums when you have to press record in the studio, run into the recording space and play something, run back to the studio and listen to it, adjust the levels, run back to the recording space and adjust the mics, run back to the studio and press record again…. you get the picture. At this point Sam showed up, bless ‘im, and we managed to spend the last 20 minutes getting something down. Sam and I are not drummers (yet, anyway). This is the (pretty standard) array that we used – there was no time left to experiment:

KD – BETA 52a
RACKS – BETA 56 X 2
FLOOR – BETA 56
SNARE – BETA 57a
HI HAT – NT5
OH’S – NT-5 X 2
ROOM – U87.

Given that it was the same drum kit in the same position as when we did the exercise (this is where I like the kit best in that room anyway), the results were pretty much the same, too. Here are 2 versions:

Sam’s mix down

Dorothy's mix down

I think mine's a bit bass-heavy - something to do with the nice monitors in Studio 2 which let you get away with that sort of thing (until you come home and realise how ridiculous it sounds). I had issues with the floor tom ringing (I reckon it’s somewhere around 700-800 Hz) which I found a nuisance also with my tech rehearsal recording that I did last week.

THANKS TO SAM FOR THE FILES AND PIX!

MTF WEEK 8 CLASS PRESENTATIONS 2

(This is Sam Glam on bass plus me pretending to be a sound engineer…)

This week we continued our investigation of engineers and producers through the researches of our class-mates. First up was Shane’s presentation on American musician and engineer, Patrick Carney. I’m a fan of the Black Keys and that new blues thing generally, so I enjoyed hearing about his very bohemian approach to recording music, “half parts cool shit and half parts broke ass shit”, was a good summary. Having allowed for the broke ass shit, the guy is obviously in possession of some fine skills as demonstrated by the incredibly gutsy sound of the Keys music. Interesting to note also, that he shares the opinion of Dave G with regard to there being a “right or wrong microphone” for any given recording job – the expensive mic isn’t always the right mic. Think I’ve got that down now. I thought Shane made a good job of it: he gave us a handout by way of support material and used music samples effectively to demonstrate his points. Well done, cobba! Next up was Kristie in the limelight who chose one Joe Barrassi, producer of Tool, the Melvins, Bad Religion, Anthrax and I’m sure many more. Kristie did a very thorough job of researching Joe’s background and recording techniques, something I missed in my presentation (my fault for choosing an obscure subject). I particularly liked the way that Kristie took a subjective stance in her presentation, ie: “I like this producer because…”. She’s the only one of us who has emphasised this point so far and it’s a good thing to do. Looking forward to next week’s exciting instalment.

CONCEPTS OF MUSIC WEEK 7 JND

A thoroughly enjoyable field trip once again as we journeyed this time into the locked-up and secret chamber that is Studio 4. This is obviously where they hide the good stuff; a treasure-trove of vintage analogue equipment which, sadly, students are verboten from using (for good and justifiable reasons, however). I can say that I was fortunate enough to use some of it once, long ago. We spent the lesson investigating the properties of sound in the context of “Just Noticeable Difference” (also called a “differerence limen”), where Stephen required us to listen to small variations in the frequencies of sine tones, both alternating and simultaneous. We decided that we could detect a variation of about 1/8th of a semitone, although I have read that experiments in 1950’s demonstrated it to be around 1/12th of a semitone. I presume this is entirely dependent on the subject – did we score badly, I wonder? It is easier to detect the variations when the tones are played simultaneously than when they are alternated, not least because of the beating that occurs. We also tried to detect certain frequencies at the bottom and top of the range of human perception. I was pleased to note that my hearing is almost as good as the rest of youse class youngsters (which was borne out by a hearing test I had done last Monday) – yay!

AUDIO STUDIES WEEK 7 MORE PRO TOOLS

I’m becoming somewhat more comfortable with the Pro Tools environment and about time, too. What we are currently doing with Pro Tools in Audio Studies is somewhat different to how we use Pro Tools in Sound Engineering Studio but the information is obviously transferable from one subject to the other and I’m finding my SES sessions are proceeding more efficiently now, largely as a result of what I’ve picked up in Audio Studies. I still can’t seem to get any of the class workshops finished on time and, had I realised that the drum sequence that we started in week 4 or whatever was going to form the basis of our in-class project, I would have taken more pains over it because I think it sounds like crap, sadly. However, and on a happier note, I’ve chosen my topic for the major assessment and am looking forward to starting on that (assuming it meets with approval) as soon as possible. I’m also enjoying using the PT effects now that I know how they work and am looking forward to getting stuck into automation soon. I had a go at applying some volume automation to a guide vocal track that I recorded last weekend to see if it was salvageable, and the result looked like a roller coaster and sounded like some mad bugger had applied a hilariously unsubtle LFO to the amplitude which, in retrospect, is probably exactly what actually occurred. HAR!

SES WEEK 7 RECORDING VOCALS

Here are my vocal samples - better late than never, I spose:

SPOKEN WORD (ME + U87, DEAD ROOM)

SINGING (NATHAN + U87, DEAD ROOM, VOCAL OVERDUB FOR GLAMVILLE DEMO). ONCE AGAIN, I RAN OUT OF TIME BEFORE I COULD FIND THE RIGHT MIC FOR THIS VOICE. THIS ONE IS CLEARLY NOT IT!

Firstly, thanks to Bronwyn for coming in and being “guinea pig” for this week’s session. She said that she hadn’t had much experience or training in microphone technique and I thought she did very well and has a lovely voice besides. The emphasis during the lesson was twofold: firstly, determining the best microphone for your source, which exercise we have so far done for acoustic and electric guitars both, and obtaining the best performance that your subject is capable of on the day. Obviously, some days will be better than others for performers and Dave related to us the example of a drummer he was recording once who had to be sent away because his bad temper at the time was not only affecting his own performance but that of everyone else involved. There are other factors to consider in the case of singers particularly such as illness, comfort (if they’re feeling embarrassed or aren’t used to recording) and warming up (important for all musicians). Coaxing your singer into their best should be an exercise in tact also – you really don’t want to be telling someone that the singing they just did and were so proud of was crap and could they do it better this time, please? I have done my spoken word recording and will upload the mixdown here as soon as I can – am still working on finding a singer, however.

MTF WEEK 7 PRESENTATIONS AND MASH-UPS

This week we began the assessment presentations on Music Technology professionals. Sam chose to research one Mick Launay, and gave a good overall view of his work in the context of his background and history (growing up in Spain with hippy parents etc). It was an interesting co-incidence that he played an excerpt from a Mick Launay production of a Nick Cave song, given my choice of Tony Cohen as my presentation subject and Tony’s long association with Nick Cave and all his bands. I enjoyed listening to the difference in production style between the 2 engineers recording the same subject. Then there was me… what can I say? On to Seb who chose Dave Bottrill and gave a good account of his work and influences. Seb was stuck without visual material because of a lack of the right connection but he made a good job of it regardless. The second part of our session was spent with Dave L discussing remixes, mash-ups and the like, and what we thought of them. I got the impression that Dave was suggesting that, with the advent of specialist software today, this process has become little more than an academic or technical exercise rather than an artistic endeavour. I don’t think I agree as a whole but I there are definitely some people who take a VASTLY more creative approach to this type of work than others. One reference I’d like to make is to the Fear Factory album, “Fear is the Mindkiller” – I enjoyed these remixes for years until I heard the original (un-remixed) album and realised how dull it was. I’ll try to bring something along next week that demonstrates my point.