MTF Semester 2 - Week 11 - 18/10/07
Today we had our first round of forum presentations for our portfolio package.
Lauren presented first outlining how she produces under The Elektro Kitten logo.
She has a well rounded package that gives a rundown of her qualifications, artists she worked with, skills/services she can offer and a variety of works. The only thing I would say to Lauren is that when presenting it would be good to have an outline on paper and use that as a guide. I think people start to go to sleep when someone reads word for word a pre-prepared presentation from paper. Adding to this is when she reads she speeds up and the audience goes Zzzzzz. Otherwise fantastic, her portfolio shows she is very talented indeed.
Brendan had the idea to get feedback from the class on what songs he should include in his portfolio. He asked what the class liked/disliked and what we would have done differently. He also plans to set himself apart by having a DVD with a montage on it and if time permits for assessment but if not after, a website. His is interested in film sound.
Scott provided a good balance of musical examples that showcased his many talents. Examples played were created in different programs and showed skills in engineering, producing and composing.
Ben gave more of an overview of what faces everybody now. He shows that he is definitely thinking how best to showcase his talents.
Josh talked about how he was very interested in the course because he wants to create music for computer games and has even put together one of his own and added effects and music. His mixes of the Zelda theme were very easy to listen to.
Everybody has a slightly different interest in recording for bands, dance, film, games or animation.
Lauren presented first outlining how she produces under The Elektro Kitten logo.
She has a well rounded package that gives a rundown of her qualifications, artists she worked with, skills/services she can offer and a variety of works. The only thing I would say to Lauren is that when presenting it would be good to have an outline on paper and use that as a guide. I think people start to go to sleep when someone reads word for word a pre-prepared presentation from paper. Adding to this is when she reads she speeds up and the audience goes Zzzzzz. Otherwise fantastic, her portfolio shows she is very talented indeed.
Brendan had the idea to get feedback from the class on what songs he should include in his portfolio. He asked what the class liked/disliked and what we would have done differently. He also plans to set himself apart by having a DVD with a montage on it and if time permits for assessment but if not after, a website. His is interested in film sound.Scott provided a good balance of musical examples that showcased his many talents. Examples played were created in different programs and showed skills in engineering, producing and composing.
Ben gave more of an overview of what faces everybody now. He shows that he is definitely thinking how best to showcase his talents.
Josh talked about how he was very interested in the course because he wants to create music for computer games and has even put together one of his own and added effects and music. His mixes of the Zelda theme were very easy to listen to.
Everybody has a slightly different interest in recording for bands, dance, film, games or animation.
MTF Semester 2 – Week 10 – 11/10/07
This week we visited a friend of David Grice, Sean Timms, at his studio Timms Tunes. The bread and butter of this business is advertising. Some of their clients as mentioned on the website are BMW, Mitsubishi, Coopers and many more including government contracts. It is apparent that Sean is a talented composer and pianist. He had some good advice on how he deals with clients. Like using broad brush strokes to get an idea of what the client is after and refining it from there. Most clients will not be able to articulate in musical terms what they require so Sean likes to communicate on an emotional level. How does the client want people to feel when listening/viewing?
The building houses 3 studios of varying sizes connected to a central server. Two other engineers work out of studio B and C, with Seans office being Studio A. In Studio A there is plenty of outboard gear that Sean admits he doesn’t really use anymore as the need for total recall is very important to him as he may not come back to a project for months. A client cannot wait while he tries to dial up a setting he had. Seans feels clients have become used to being able to make instant changes and like to leave their stamp on the finished product.
He also mentioned that he would employ someone if they had the right skills but more importantly the right attitude. It is a good opportunity for someone who is willing to do their “Apprenticeship” in the industry.
http://www.timmstunes.com/
The building houses 3 studios of varying sizes connected to a central server. Two other engineers work out of studio B and C, with Seans office being Studio A. In Studio A there is plenty of outboard gear that Sean admits he doesn’t really use anymore as the need for total recall is very important to him as he may not come back to a project for months. A client cannot wait while he tries to dial up a setting he had. Seans feels clients have become used to being able to make instant changes and like to leave their stamp on the finished product.
He also mentioned that he would employ someone if they had the right skills but more importantly the right attitude. It is a good opportunity for someone who is willing to do their “Apprenticeship” in the industry.
http://www.timmstunes.com/
MTF Semester 2 – Week 9 – 04/10/07
We visited one of Australia’s premiere postproduction facilities Oasis Post. From high-end commercials to feature films and DVDs it looks like Oasis Post has it all covered. Oasis is part of the Kojo Group and our tour guide Marty is an owner. To see such a simply laid out set up is inspiring but of course the reality is that it is all held together with probably millions worth of the latest technology. I was really interested to hear how high end movies are rendered down to add sound then final touches added at full HD. Scott Hicks and Greg McLean have finished their films here. There are countless commercials I recognise in their showreel on their website. http://www.oasispost.com.au/index.asp
It is obvious that these guys are based in Adelaide. The support they show for local artist is fantastic. They filmed and produced the new Hilltop Hoods DVD with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and on their showreel they have The Hot Lies and Ben Folds when he was based here. It is amazing to see that the post-production for a project could all be done in the same building.
This is a very impressive facility and as with most of the places I’ve seen. I WANT ONE.
It is obvious that these guys are based in Adelaide. The support they show for local artist is fantastic. They filmed and produced the new Hilltop Hoods DVD with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and on their showreel they have The Hot Lies and Ben Folds when he was based here. It is amazing to see that the post-production for a project could all be done in the same building.
This is a very impressive facility and as with most of the places I’ve seen. I WANT ONE.
Studio Engineering Week 8 out-of-class exercise
There are several automation modes on top of plug-in automation modes available in Pro Tools.
When set to Auto Off all automation data will be ignored. This is handy when wish to have no automation represented when you playback.
When Auto Write is selected, data will be written for the parameter specified such as pan or volume. This is great for real time mixing of a track.
Selecting Auto Read will mean that the automation data is read and not affected in any way. This is always selected to hear automation while playback is occurring.
Selecting Auto Touch will allow you to playback and adjust volume or panning etc and the value will snap back to the original level when the faders have stopped being moved.
Selecting Auto Latch will mean that the value of automation will remain where the fader level has been left it will not snap back to the original level as Auto Touch does.
Auto Trim is a relative mode that allows you to keep the existing automation data but allows you to turn up or down.
Write to will mean that the value at the end of the automation will be written back to the start of the song or as you have setup.
Some preferences are handy for automation such as the degree of thinning after a write pass, latching behaviour for switch controls in “touch”, the option to include control changes in the undo window, automatch time and after write pass switch to touch, latch or no change.
VCA groups are controlled by master fader and are designed to emulate the purpose of Voltage Controlled Amplifiers on analogue consoles.
References:
Pro Tools Reference Manual. Ver. 7.3
Lecturer: Steve Fieldhouse, Dip of Music (Sound Engineering) EMU Unit, Adelaide University.
When set to Auto Off all automation data will be ignored. This is handy when wish to have no automation represented when you playback.
When Auto Write is selected, data will be written for the parameter specified such as pan or volume. This is great for real time mixing of a track.
Selecting Auto Read will mean that the automation data is read and not affected in any way. This is always selected to hear automation while playback is occurring.
Selecting Auto Touch will allow you to playback and adjust volume or panning etc and the value will snap back to the original level when the faders have stopped being moved.
Selecting Auto Latch will mean that the value of automation will remain where the fader level has been left it will not snap back to the original level as Auto Touch does.
Auto Trim is a relative mode that allows you to keep the existing automation data but allows you to turn up or down.
Write to will mean that the value at the end of the automation will be written back to the start of the song or as you have setup.
Some preferences are handy for automation such as the degree of thinning after a write pass, latching behaviour for switch controls in “touch”, the option to include control changes in the undo window, automatch time and after write pass switch to touch, latch or no change.
VCA groups are controlled by master fader and are designed to emulate the purpose of Voltage Controlled Amplifiers on analogue consoles.
References:
Pro Tools Reference Manual. Ver. 7.3
Lecturer: Steve Fieldhouse, Dip of Music (Sound Engineering) EMU Unit, Adelaide University.
MTF Semester 2 – Week 8 – 13/09/07
SA Film Corporation tour.
This week we visited the SA Film Corporation at Hendon and I was pleasantly surprised with facilities available. Very interesting was the Foley “artists’ lair” which closely resembled a very messy shed but in a studio environment with lots of different textures to walk on, plenty of items to make clangs and bangs. There is also a viewing room, which is really a Dolby digital certified mixing theatre with a massive automated Harrison Series 12 mixing station, Pro Tools HD and Fairlight workstations. Of interest is the fact that there is a Syninet link to London which allows a director to OK changes and edits in real time.
The corporation has an impressive list of achievements but as it appears to be the case with artists in general most of the crew work on these films for love not money and also have “day jobs”.
MTF Semester 2 – Week 5 – 23/08/07
On Thursday we visited Disk-Edits at Bowden.
Neville Clark has setup a fantastic facility with all the toys to bring dribble to the lips of any aspiring Engineer/Producer. His Studio has been fitted out by an acoustic engineer and consists of a Mastering suite, Recording area and a Post-Production room. Although right next the Recording area Neville can work in the Mastering suite while a loud guitar amp is being recorded thanks to the triple glass and brick wall separating the two. Noise in the Mastering area was at an absolute minimum with all computers etc isolated in the machine room and although there were nearly 15 of us in the air tight room I could not hear the air-con. And we were all comfortable. Amazing! Neville says that all of these factors lead to less stress in the room.
Neville explained about how the reflective surfaces in his room worked and how the object was to have none of them affecting the listening position. I have to say that diffusion of the sound waves is the best excuse for having a messy desk I’ve ever heard.
Neville has diversified his business and does lots of voice over work, preservation of sound for museums etc and is almost up and running in 5.1.
References:
A couple of hours with Neville Clark at Disk-Edits.
Neville Clark has setup a fantastic facility with all the toys to bring dribble to the lips of any aspiring Engineer/Producer. His Studio has been fitted out by an acoustic engineer and consists of a Mastering suite, Recording area and a Post-Production room. Although right next the Recording area Neville can work in the Mastering suite while a loud guitar amp is being recorded thanks to the triple glass and brick wall separating the two. Noise in the Mastering area was at an absolute minimum with all computers etc isolated in the machine room and although there were nearly 15 of us in the air tight room I could not hear the air-con. And we were all comfortable. Amazing! Neville says that all of these factors lead to less stress in the room.
Neville explained about how the reflective surfaces in his room worked and how the object was to have none of them affecting the listening position. I have to say that diffusion of the sound waves is the best excuse for having a messy desk I’ve ever heard.
Neville has diversified his business and does lots of voice over work, preservation of sound for museums etc and is almost up and running in 5.1.
References:
A couple of hours with Neville Clark at Disk-Edits.
Studio Engineering - Stereo Micing Techniques
I took Two Neumann KM84's and Tried a few stereo micing techniques.
The Dummy head was set up with a baffled betwween the mics.
Play Sample
The XY configuration was at approx. 90 degrees.
Play Sample
The Spaced pair were approx 1.5m apart.
Angled out - Play Sample
Angled in - Play Sample
The Dummy head was set up with a baffled betwween the mics.
Play Sample
The XY configuration was at approx. 90 degrees.
Play Sample
The Spaced pair were approx 1.5m apart.
Angled out - Play Sample
Angled in - Play Sample
MTF Semester 2 – Week 4 – 16/08/07
CD manufacture is an extremely automated process these days. A “Stamper” that is also called a “Glass Master” is manufactured. This has a metal body with a glass overlay that is the reverse mould of the CD image. The Stamper is then used to create the run of CDs, which is generally a minimum of 500 with larger manufacturers. The booklets are printed and inserted into the cases on the same fully automated line so all artwork must be present.
The outlay involved setting up the commercial duplication lines is around $50million so as with any business return on investment is paramount. Runs are scheduled tightly to maximise the output and this is the reason why when you are sending a CD off to be duplicated that it and the artwork must fit with the specifications required. If the specifications haven’t been totally fulfilled then you may get a phone call saying that the CD cannot be manufactured. You can imagine if there is a tight schedule for release with promotion, advertising, appearances and touring booked (and paid for) this could be disaster. I can’t imagine that your reputation would be too fantastic if you were responsible for the whole commercial venture starting behind the 8-ball.
It was interesting to note that CD/DVDs are available in custom shapes or business cards. It could contain samples, CV or links.
In this class we also listened to more of our studio recordings from semester 1.
We listened to:
Lisa: CIA and Ponytail.
Scott: Sevendays and Undeserving.
Jake: Born to be wild and Crazy little thing called love.
Daniel: Confusing
I’m very excited next week to be visiting Disk-Edits for some direction on mastering.
References:
All Information from:
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: David Grice
The outlay involved setting up the commercial duplication lines is around $50million so as with any business return on investment is paramount. Runs are scheduled tightly to maximise the output and this is the reason why when you are sending a CD off to be duplicated that it and the artwork must fit with the specifications required. If the specifications haven’t been totally fulfilled then you may get a phone call saying that the CD cannot be manufactured. You can imagine if there is a tight schedule for release with promotion, advertising, appearances and touring booked (and paid for) this could be disaster. I can’t imagine that your reputation would be too fantastic if you were responsible for the whole commercial venture starting behind the 8-ball.
It was interesting to note that CD/DVDs are available in custom shapes or business cards. It could contain samples, CV or links.
In this class we also listened to more of our studio recordings from semester 1.
We listened to:
Lisa: CIA and Ponytail.
Scott: Sevendays and Undeserving.
Jake: Born to be wild and Crazy little thing called love.
Daniel: Confusing
I’m very excited next week to be visiting Disk-Edits for some direction on mastering.
References:
All Information from:
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: David Grice
MTF Semester 2 – Week 3 – 09/08/07
It was another afternoon out to visit a recording studio at Hendon called Paradise Studios. Apparently this used to be called Hippo Studios. The Paradise Church has recently acquired this studio and is in the process of a refurbishment. The place is having a paint job and Dewald, the resident sound engineer, is by all standards going on quite a spending spree.
This studio is looking slick and has a recreation area with a plasma screen and comfy lounges. Dewald says he goes all out for artist comfort and like other engineers says that it produces a better performance. He talks of lighting candles in the “live room” so the ambience spills into the vocal booth with the lights out for vocal tracking. Very smooth! Dewald says to never give the artist reverb when recording vocals as it will more often than not cause the artist to sing flat. Dewald also spends a lot of time experimenting with click tracks, He find that percussive shakers or others sounds created in Reason 3 are great and instead of just a 78 BPM he can construct a custom click track that will help keep the drummer in time, including 1/16 and 1/32 notes if required.
Dewald is still waiting for his SSL console and other goodies. It seems that this studio has a fairly extensive budget but then I suppose money made from church activities is tax free. Nice studio but not quite nice enough to convert me.
http://www.myspace.com/paradisestudio
http://www.paradisestudios.com.au/
References:
Dewald Hartzenberg – Session at Paradise Studios, Hendon, 09/08/07.
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: David Grice
This studio is looking slick and has a recreation area with a plasma screen and comfy lounges. Dewald says he goes all out for artist comfort and like other engineers says that it produces a better performance. He talks of lighting candles in the “live room” so the ambience spills into the vocal booth with the lights out for vocal tracking. Very smooth! Dewald says to never give the artist reverb when recording vocals as it will more often than not cause the artist to sing flat. Dewald also spends a lot of time experimenting with click tracks, He find that percussive shakers or others sounds created in Reason 3 are great and instead of just a 78 BPM he can construct a custom click track that will help keep the drummer in time, including 1/16 and 1/32 notes if required.
Dewald is still waiting for his SSL console and other goodies. It seems that this studio has a fairly extensive budget but then I suppose money made from church activities is tax free. Nice studio but not quite nice enough to convert me.
http://www.myspace.com/paradisestudio
http://www.paradisestudios.com.au/
References:
Dewald Hartzenberg – Session at Paradise Studios, Hendon, 09/08/07.
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: David Grice
MTF Semester 2 – Week 2 – 02/08/07
This week we went to Mixmasters Studio at Hawthorndene. Located in an average looking street this purpose built facility has a relaxed atmosphere with lots of timber, comfy lounges and of course lots of great equipment. Mick was on hand to give us the tour. You can really tell that this is his baby.
As discussed last week Mixmasters studios love analogue and Mick had a really interesting description of the difference between an analogue sound and a digital sound. Mick said. “There seems to be abit of fur around the individual tracks with the analogue sound but the digital tracks seem discrete as if in their own pigeon holes.”
Mick speculated that the “fur” helps bind the tracks and gives a more complete result.
We went into the live room and started to look at the construction. Mud bricks, timbers and compressed carpet behind timber. Hopefully I’ll have one of these out the back of my house one day. It has the type of atmosphere that really makes you feel at home. This I believe is part of a successful formula for a successful studio. Of course, the sound really matters and in the machine room Mick shows off his 2inch tape recorder. What really struck me is the quality of the gear here. I think Mick collects reconditions, sells and buys gear constantly. We were lucky to get an example of this when he patched together his different modules. His favourite compressor is a Universal Audio 1176LN, great for kick.
Mick likes to mix often from the guitars back instead of building from drums up, if for no other reason than the mental state of mind it puts you in. Focussing on that more prominent part first will make it stand out at the end. He says sometimes if you focus on your drums sound for ages and build from there you can run the risk of giving it too much weight in the final mix. He often also doesn’t use reverb but uses delay.
As far as mastering goes Mick suggested to check out Don Bartley or Martin Pullen.
What a great insight into a great studio and a great devotee of sound.
References:
Mick Wordley – Session at Mixmasters Studio, Hawthorndene, 02/08/07.
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: David Grice
As discussed last week Mixmasters studios love analogue and Mick had a really interesting description of the difference between an analogue sound and a digital sound. Mick said. “There seems to be abit of fur around the individual tracks with the analogue sound but the digital tracks seem discrete as if in their own pigeon holes.”
Mick speculated that the “fur” helps bind the tracks and gives a more complete result.
We went into the live room and started to look at the construction. Mud bricks, timbers and compressed carpet behind timber. Hopefully I’ll have one of these out the back of my house one day. It has the type of atmosphere that really makes you feel at home. This I believe is part of a successful formula for a successful studio. Of course, the sound really matters and in the machine room Mick shows off his 2inch tape recorder. What really struck me is the quality of the gear here. I think Mick collects reconditions, sells and buys gear constantly. We were lucky to get an example of this when he patched together his different modules. His favourite compressor is a Universal Audio 1176LN, great for kick.
Mick likes to mix often from the guitars back instead of building from drums up, if for no other reason than the mental state of mind it puts you in. Focussing on that more prominent part first will make it stand out at the end. He says sometimes if you focus on your drums sound for ages and build from there you can run the risk of giving it too much weight in the final mix. He often also doesn’t use reverb but uses delay.
As far as mastering goes Mick suggested to check out Don Bartley or Martin Pullen.
What a great insight into a great studio and a great devotee of sound.
References:
Mick Wordley – Session at Mixmasters Studio, Hawthorndene, 02/08/07.
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: David Grice
MTF Semester 2 – Week 1 – 26/07/07
First lecture back after the break and we found ourselves with a new lecturer. Welcome David Grice. David took this class for Sound Engineering-Studio last semester. Although most of us knew abit about Dave’s background, he went into a little more detail about who he is and what led him to where he is today.
Apparently when our Dave was little he was a singing protégé. I mean, I’ve looked at Dave and thought that he could be a member of the Soprano family but I never imagined that he was ever a boy soprano.
Dave then explained what we would be doing this semester. We are going to visit some studios and see where these skills we’ve been learning can be put into practise. This week coming we are going to Mixmasters studio at Hawthorndene. I am very interested to see some of their lovely, expensive gear in action and in particular Ken brought up the old analogue Vs digital debate and as Mixmasters has a lot of analogue gear maybe we could hear the difference. We could also be visiting The Film Corp, Disk Edits, Nova and Paradise Studios.
This Semester we have to continue blogging, develop a portfolio and present our portfolio.
Later in the class we went on to listen to our mixes from last semesters Sound Engineering – Studio course.
Rowans master of Introduction to Death.
Bens master of 18 Wheels
Brendans master of Everyone Come
My master of Personal Pilot
Scott H’s master of Paranoid
Joshs master of Holy Diver
Laurens master of unsociable
Downloads are available by going to the EMU blogs page.
Hit this link
References:
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: David Grice
Apparently when our Dave was little he was a singing protégé. I mean, I’ve looked at Dave and thought that he could be a member of the Soprano family but I never imagined that he was ever a boy soprano.
Dave then explained what we would be doing this semester. We are going to visit some studios and see where these skills we’ve been learning can be put into practise. This week coming we are going to Mixmasters studio at Hawthorndene. I am very interested to see some of their lovely, expensive gear in action and in particular Ken brought up the old analogue Vs digital debate and as Mixmasters has a lot of analogue gear maybe we could hear the difference. We could also be visiting The Film Corp, Disk Edits, Nova and Paradise Studios.
This Semester we have to continue blogging, develop a portfolio and present our portfolio.
Later in the class we went on to listen to our mixes from last semesters Sound Engineering – Studio course.
Rowans master of Introduction to Death.
Bens master of 18 Wheels
Brendans master of Everyone Come
My master of Personal Pilot
Scott H’s master of Paranoid
Joshs master of Holy Diver
Laurens master of unsociable
Downloads are available by going to the EMU blogs page.
Hit this link
References:
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: David Grice
Sound Engineering (Studio) A - Project
Recording Notes - Personal Pilot and Marvin By Meredith Riley ( and Band )
Date/s of Recording
28/05/07, 30/05/07, 06/06/07
Song Titles
Personal Pilot, Marvin
Format
Sampling Rate 44.1khz Bit Depth 16 Bit
Duration: Personal Pilot - 4m’07sec, Marvin - 3m'57sec.
The first recording session the band came in there was a small bit of confusion about times. The drummer, Jarred, had thought that it was an hour later. It was no big deal as I was setting up mics for his kit anyway. He is playing in the live room with Josh, the Bass player, who is playing straight in via a DI box. Meredith is singing and playing guitar in the “Dead Room”. She is doing this mainly as guide for the others but if it works well that would be great also. We had already decided that if we could get the rhythm section down in this session we would be happy. Marvin, has quite a long guitar and vocal intro we thought it would be good to have a click to guide Meredith in this session and if she had to record both Guitars and Vocals again. Jarred was happy to tap the click using his drumsticks for the intro instead of the click track. As it turned out Meredith and I didn’t need to re-record these at the second session just some backing vocals for this track. At the second session Meredith sung in the “Live Room”. I preferred her voice in this space as the natural reverb was evident. The third session was arranged because Sara, a violinist, could not make the second session and was playing some violin on Marvin. She was recorded also in the live room with two Neumann U87 set up like overhead mics in stereo. She had to concentrate a fair bit to remain fairly still for recording levels. I thought that at least if she did move around with the Left/Right panning that I planned to apply to the mics it would sound realistic. Everything went into ProTools with no issues. Also at the second session I had several mics set up on Merediths guitar and it was also plugged into the patch bay from her pickup. It was the best sounding pickup straight from an acoustic guitar that I’ve ever heard. Everything went into ProTools with no issues. The main problem that was faced as it was being recorded is that the band was receiving the same mix through the headphones and different people wanted less of this and more of that. If it was my studio or if we were allowed to mess with the configuration of the studio busses or sends would send out individual mixes via an able headphone amplifier. The vocals and Guitar for Personal Pilot were re-recorded.
You can hear the MP3s of these songs by following the link below.
Marvin By Meredith Riley
Personal Pilot By Meredith Riley
Date/s of Recording
28/05/07, 30/05/07, 06/06/07
Song Titles
Personal Pilot, Marvin
Format
Sampling Rate 44.1khz Bit Depth 16 Bit
Duration: Personal Pilot - 4m’07sec, Marvin - 3m'57sec.
The first recording session the band came in there was a small bit of confusion about times. The drummer, Jarred, had thought that it was an hour later. It was no big deal as I was setting up mics for his kit anyway. He is playing in the live room with Josh, the Bass player, who is playing straight in via a DI box. Meredith is singing and playing guitar in the “Dead Room”. She is doing this mainly as guide for the others but if it works well that would be great also. We had already decided that if we could get the rhythm section down in this session we would be happy. Marvin, has quite a long guitar and vocal intro we thought it would be good to have a click to guide Meredith in this session and if she had to record both Guitars and Vocals again. Jarred was happy to tap the click using his drumsticks for the intro instead of the click track. As it turned out Meredith and I didn’t need to re-record these at the second session just some backing vocals for this track. At the second session Meredith sung in the “Live Room”. I preferred her voice in this space as the natural reverb was evident. The third session was arranged because Sara, a violinist, could not make the second session and was playing some violin on Marvin. She was recorded also in the live room with two Neumann U87 set up like overhead mics in stereo. She had to concentrate a fair bit to remain fairly still for recording levels. I thought that at least if she did move around with the Left/Right panning that I planned to apply to the mics it would sound realistic. Everything went into ProTools with no issues. Also at the second session I had several mics set up on Merediths guitar and it was also plugged into the patch bay from her pickup. It was the best sounding pickup straight from an acoustic guitar that I’ve ever heard. Everything went into ProTools with no issues. The main problem that was faced as it was being recorded is that the band was receiving the same mix through the headphones and different people wanted less of this and more of that. If it was my studio or if we were allowed to mess with the configuration of the studio busses or sends would send out individual mixes via an able headphone amplifier. The vocals and Guitar for Personal Pilot were re-recorded.
You can hear the MP3s of these songs by following the link below.
Marvin By Meredith Riley
Personal Pilot By Meredith Riley
Audio Studies A - Creative Project
Rocket
Stuart Johnston
3 Minutes ‘23 Seconds
This is taken from a song recorded by me on my Tascam 2488 recorder. I exported these as wave files and brought them into Uni. I imported individual wave files Peak LE and chopped them up saving them to the desktop. I got really good at the keyboard shortcuts for copy, new, paste and save as in Peak LE. I then dragged the samples into a ProTools session and begun looping and arranging. My main aim was to get four or five complementary sections to fit together and then add vocal parts to suit. I encountered several issues as I set about this task. The main one was that ProTools could not auto backup at one stage because one guitar riff couldn’t be found. It wouldn’t even let me scroll without the error appearing. I thankfully had been saving as I went anyway so little work was lost when I had to pull the plug and force a close to that session. That just left a fair mess to sort out in my audio files folders.
With the song I was really happy how sections were looped but if I had a fair bit more time I would have improved on the tempo transitions between sections. I had to time compress some vocals to fit in with some sections as the original song was not played to a click track.
Thanks to Sascha, Mark and Hamish for the performance. Otherwise known as Hamisphere
You can hear a copy of Rocket by following this link
Screenshot of Rocket - Edit Window
Screenshot of Rocket - Mixer Window
Stuart Johnston
3 Minutes ‘23 Seconds
This is taken from a song recorded by me on my Tascam 2488 recorder. I exported these as wave files and brought them into Uni. I imported individual wave files Peak LE and chopped them up saving them to the desktop. I got really good at the keyboard shortcuts for copy, new, paste and save as in Peak LE. I then dragged the samples into a ProTools session and begun looping and arranging. My main aim was to get four or five complementary sections to fit together and then add vocal parts to suit. I encountered several issues as I set about this task. The main one was that ProTools could not auto backup at one stage because one guitar riff couldn’t be found. It wouldn’t even let me scroll without the error appearing. I thankfully had been saving as I went anyway so little work was lost when I had to pull the plug and force a close to that session. That just left a fair mess to sort out in my audio files folders.
With the song I was really happy how sections were looped but if I had a fair bit more time I would have improved on the tempo transitions between sections. I had to time compress some vocals to fit in with some sections as the original song was not played to a click track.
Thanks to Sascha, Mark and Hamish for the performance. Otherwise known as Hamisphere
You can hear a copy of Rocket by following this link
Screenshot of Rocket - Edit Window
Screenshot of Rocket - Mixer Window
MIDI Studies A – Creative Project
WE ARE ALL HERE
Stuart Johnston
3 Minutes ’57 Seconds
In my Proposal I wanted to an ambient rock/dance piece. Well as it turned out the rock was the intro part with some crazy snare patterns along with hi-hat and bass drum that were inputted with the drawing tools. I settled on 110bpm. All drums were entered using this method. I stuck to my plan and step inputted the bass guitar. The ambient keyboard sounds were entered in real time using the modulator on the interface. Some of these were layered up with some special effects to create more interest. I believe that the special effects are hooks that would keep some people coming back for another listen.
As the song built I used a pop drum kit and a break beat drum kit together to fatten the sound.
I wanted to keep that “up” feeling and really thumped the bass drum home by using gnome toy effect on the bass and snare parts near the end to create a plodding type effect.
Humans laughing with the monkeys heard in the background suit the theme and the kids signal the hard bass intro. Volume and panning were automated; effects were also added to particular tracks and automated. Automation data was inputted using real time and drawing tools. The track was mixed with in a 0.1 of the peak and the master on the global faders used to finish.
I thought that the piece should build and sway
With such a large sound it seemed a very small crowd applause was suitable at the finish.
You can hear the MP3 of "We are all Here" by following this link.
We are all Here - MIDI Creative Project - Arrange Window
We are all Here - MIDI Creative Project - Mixer Window
Stuart Johnston
3 Minutes ’57 Seconds
In my Proposal I wanted to an ambient rock/dance piece. Well as it turned out the rock was the intro part with some crazy snare patterns along with hi-hat and bass drum that were inputted with the drawing tools. I settled on 110bpm. All drums were entered using this method. I stuck to my plan and step inputted the bass guitar. The ambient keyboard sounds were entered in real time using the modulator on the interface. Some of these were layered up with some special effects to create more interest. I believe that the special effects are hooks that would keep some people coming back for another listen.
As the song built I used a pop drum kit and a break beat drum kit together to fatten the sound.
I wanted to keep that “up” feeling and really thumped the bass drum home by using gnome toy effect on the bass and snare parts near the end to create a plodding type effect.
Humans laughing with the monkeys heard in the background suit the theme and the kids signal the hard bass intro. Volume and panning were automated; effects were also added to particular tracks and automated. Automation data was inputted using real time and drawing tools. The track was mixed with in a 0.1 of the peak and the master on the global faders used to finish.
I thought that the piece should build and sway
With such a large sound it seemed a very small crowd applause was suitable at the finish.
You can hear the MP3 of "We are all Here" by following this link.
We are all Here - MIDI Creative Project - Arrange Window
We are all Here - MIDI Creative Project - Mixer Window
MTF Week 12 31/05/2007
Class Remix Presentations
Today, In Music Technology the class continued to present our remixes originating from the Real World Records remixed competition.
"The Big Room" at Real World Studios. "Oh Yeah!"
http://realworldremixed.com/
Ken presented “What you are” by Joi. Ken used different programs to add effects and bounce for files to use in his ProTools session. He not only liked to plug-ins that the other programs offered but after he bounced the tracks he could then continue his arrangement without endlessly “tweaking” the effects. Ken also said that he tried to keep the main building blocks of the original.
Lisa chose “My secret Bliss” by The Afro Celts Sound System. I thought her mix showed good creativity with the breaking up of the original drums. I like how she took the catchy guitar riff and looped it for the last half of the song. Lisa commented on how a friend had suggested that he just loops things for 8 repeats then has a change; she said she pretty much did this. This could get predictable but maybe that’s what you’re after.
Josh explained in good detail how he set about remixing “Shock the Monkey” by Peter Gabriel. Josh thought that everything clashed on the original so he set about simplifying it. He elimated what he didn’t want to hear which he admits was pretty much most of it. Could help thinking that the “Shock the Monkey” vocal was used too much.
Brendan did an Industrial version of “If I had my way” by Little Axe. He started by distorting the vocals and adding reverb. Drums were treated with Amplitude then bass and vocals were layered on top. I was impressed how Brendan tried a “Kylie” inspired effect by double tracking the vocals and pitch shifting.
Skip McDonald"Little Axe"
Lauren went for a drum and bass feel with her mix of "Peoples Colony No.1". She used volume automation and did some doubling and panning with slight delay.
It was interesting how different people interpreted the assignment.
Steve suggests, “ Use what attracts you to the song and stretch it into a new direction. That is a good place to start with a remix.”
References:
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: Steve Fieldhouse
Presentations: Ken, Lisa, Josh, Brendan and Lauren.
Today, In Music Technology the class continued to present our remixes originating from the Real World Records remixed competition.
"The Big Room" at Real World Studios. "Oh Yeah!"
http://realworldremixed.com/
Ken presented “What you are” by Joi. Ken used different programs to add effects and bounce for files to use in his ProTools session. He not only liked to plug-ins that the other programs offered but after he bounced the tracks he could then continue his arrangement without endlessly “tweaking” the effects. Ken also said that he tried to keep the main building blocks of the original.
Lisa chose “My secret Bliss” by The Afro Celts Sound System. I thought her mix showed good creativity with the breaking up of the original drums. I like how she took the catchy guitar riff and looped it for the last half of the song. Lisa commented on how a friend had suggested that he just loops things for 8 repeats then has a change; she said she pretty much did this. This could get predictable but maybe that’s what you’re after.
Josh explained in good detail how he set about remixing “Shock the Monkey” by Peter Gabriel. Josh thought that everything clashed on the original so he set about simplifying it. He elimated what he didn’t want to hear which he admits was pretty much most of it. Could help thinking that the “Shock the Monkey” vocal was used too much.
Brendan did an Industrial version of “If I had my way” by Little Axe. He started by distorting the vocals and adding reverb. Drums were treated with Amplitude then bass and vocals were layered on top. I was impressed how Brendan tried a “Kylie” inspired effect by double tracking the vocals and pitch shifting.
Skip McDonald"Little Axe"
Lauren went for a drum and bass feel with her mix of "Peoples Colony No.1". She used volume automation and did some doubling and panning with slight delay.
It was interesting how different people interpreted the assignment.
Steve suggests, “ Use what attracts you to the song and stretch it into a new direction. That is a good place to start with a remix.”
References:
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: Steve Fieldhouse
Presentations: Ken, Lisa, Josh, Brendan and Lauren.
MTF Week 11 24/05/2007
Class Remix Presentations
Today, In Music Technology the class presented our remixes originating from the Real World Records remixed competition.
http://realworldremixed.com/
Scott H. presented his mix of “If I had my way” by Little Axe. Unfortunately some of the plug-ins in the lab weren’t on the presenting computer. This is a very mellow song and I feel it would have sounded larger with Amplitude as intended.
Ben also presented the “If I had my way” by Little Axe. I was really impressed how he used reverb to create a gospel effect. Ben left space so the contents of each region could sink into the listener. I like the song but twice in a row I was ready for a nap.
Scott P presented “What you are” by Joi. Scott aimed for a dance feel and was successful in the feeling of the piece building as it went.
I presented “My secret Bliss” by The Afro Celts Sound System. My production notes, screenshots, analysis and research are featured below. I concentrated on the arrangement feature of this remix exercise as my samples were of very good quality. I really enjoyed putting together this mix and was pretty happy with the outcome.
Jake also did “My secret Bliss” by The Afro Celts Sound System. I was really impressed with his work. He has a somewhat unique angle and is very passionate. He also could not use some of his effects due to the constraints of the plug-ins on the presenting machine. I really wanted to hear the effect he described as “being underwater”. Whilst his arrangement was totally different to mine we both ended on the same small ambient sample.
Daniel filled us in on his hatred for vocals and his techno tastes. This was evident in the arrangement of the same Afro Celts song.
Simon did “What you are” by Joi. He said that it was the least like “world music”. He also not a fan of fade outs so it was interesting to hear the sounds he actually did like.
Overall the songs presented this week bore no resemblance to the original arrangement. It was a very enjoyable exercise for me and the research that influenced decisions on this project helped to expand most people’s horizons.
References:
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: Steve Fieldhouse
Presentations: Scott H, Ben, Scott P., Jake, Daniel, Simon
Today, In Music Technology the class presented our remixes originating from the Real World Records remixed competition.
http://realworldremixed.com/
Scott H. presented his mix of “If I had my way” by Little Axe. Unfortunately some of the plug-ins in the lab weren’t on the presenting computer. This is a very mellow song and I feel it would have sounded larger with Amplitude as intended.
Ben also presented the “If I had my way” by Little Axe. I was really impressed how he used reverb to create a gospel effect. Ben left space so the contents of each region could sink into the listener. I like the song but twice in a row I was ready for a nap.
Scott P presented “What you are” by Joi. Scott aimed for a dance feel and was successful in the feeling of the piece building as it went.
I presented “My secret Bliss” by The Afro Celts Sound System. My production notes, screenshots, analysis and research are featured below. I concentrated on the arrangement feature of this remix exercise as my samples were of very good quality. I really enjoyed putting together this mix and was pretty happy with the outcome.Jake also did “My secret Bliss” by The Afro Celts Sound System. I was really impressed with his work. He has a somewhat unique angle and is very passionate. He also could not use some of his effects due to the constraints of the plug-ins on the presenting machine. I really wanted to hear the effect he described as “being underwater”. Whilst his arrangement was totally different to mine we both ended on the same small ambient sample.
Daniel filled us in on his hatred for vocals and his techno tastes. This was evident in the arrangement of the same Afro Celts song.
Simon did “What you are” by Joi. He said that it was the least like “world music”. He also not a fan of fade outs so it was interesting to hear the sounds he actually did like.
Overall the songs presented this week bore no resemblance to the original arrangement. It was a very enjoyable exercise for me and the research that influenced decisions on this project helped to expand most people’s horizons.
References:
Music Technology Forum – Adelaide University, Electronic Music Unit.
Lecturer: Steve Fieldhouse
Presentations: Scott H, Ben, Scott P., Jake, Daniel, Simon
Music Technology Forum Mix Project
Remixing : Afro Celts Sound System - My Secret Bliss
MTF Mix – Production Note
I have decided to remix Afro Celts Sound System - My Secret Bliss.
First of all I imported all of the samples to the region list of my Protools session and set about listening to them and providing myself with a description of the regions such as whether some are variations of others (see analysis). I started to think about what regions would go with others. Afro Celts Sound System now known as Afro Celts has a definite world music flavour to them and I thought it would be fun to do this track keeping an ambient dance feel to it.
I referenced (see research) my track to Machine Translations’ song “Amnesia”.
I liked:
• the level where the vocals sat when they were clean
• the Bassy busyness of some parts particularly the end
• the way the electronic elements created interest and hooks
The drums in particular the hi-hats were very bright and prominent. This is a sound I was not after.
As Greg Rule suggests (see research) I concentrated on the vocal arrangement then found a complementary drum beat to loop. I also liked the idea of an intro drum rhythm with some fills.
I found as Fatboy Slim did (see research) that I could use the backing vocals in place of keyboard or guitar as a pad. So I used the backing vocals swapping with the mono guitar below the main vocal line with the whistle providing a high melody. I added random keyboard sounds to create interest (see research: “The Mixing Engineers Handbook” by Bobby Owsinski)
I used a stretched reverse cymbal to firstly highlight the groove after the first change and then to facilitate the second change. This was also used to accentuate ambient sounds.
Mid song I wished to make sure all elements were represented. Drums and Bass Synth. are the foundation, with keyboards providing the pad. Rhythm is percussion. Leading is vocals and I think stereo guitars are important to uplift this part. A fill is the Kora and abstract keyboards either side provide interest also.
As I was happy with specific combinations I locked the regions in place using click, Apple key + L. (see research)
As I sought to align regions the difference when zoomed right in was phenomenal. Parts that looked aligned when zoomed were all over the place. Snapping to grid or markers helped this.
I used edited stereo guitars and reverse cymbals to accentuate vocals and random sounds. Through out samples were looped as aliases.
ProTools Screen Shots
Analysis
Afro Celts Sound System song, My Secret Bliss interested me as the sounds are very spacious and the drums really cruise along. There is percussion and keyboards, which I really like. The song belongs to an Ambient Dance genre and I will approach it from this point of view. It has good sound quality with lots of effects already added. I documented the samples and gave them descriptions that gave me something to recognise them by.
“Afro Celt Sound System was formed in 1995 as a collaborative effort between traditional African and Celtic musicians and several respected figures from the UK music scene. Much of the recording of the group’s first album, Volume 1: Sound Magic, took place during the 1995 Recording Week at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath.”[6]
Members are: Simon Emmerson, James McNally, Iarla O'Lionaird, Martin Russell (core members) with Johnny Kalsi, N'faly Kouyate, Emer Mayock, Moussa Sissokho, Ian Markin, Francis Hylton (and occasional guests!)
Samples and Descriptions:
Drums
1 Beat with Hiccup Vocal
2 Beat without
3 Beat 1 shorter with Tom Fills
4 Normal 1 with Fills
5 Break Down off beat with Hiccup, Fills, Banging
6 New with Fills
Whistle
1 Complementary with vocal higher build up
2 Up Beat Rhythmic high build up then repeat
Backing Vocals
1
2
Bodran and Pere (Percussion)
2 Tabla – Brush on Snare
3 Tabla – Brush on Snare
4 Tabla – Brush on Snare
5 Cymbal, Bells, Shaker
6 5 with Tabla then Cymbal
7 Reverse Cymbal and Percussion
8 Tabla and Reverse Cymbal
9 Shaker, Reverse Cymbal and Tabla
10 All
Guitar
1 Picking Low Rhythm
2 High Melodies – Off Beat
3 Rhythm Verse
4 Single Picking then Strumming clean ongoing
5 Picking with strumming comes in hard
Bass
1 Bass riff as reg Keys
2 1 with variation
3 Travelling with slide change
4 Build up to 2nd riff
5 Mellow Funk Bass
6 5 with slides
7 1 alternating
8 1 key change
10 Picking with slide
11 Low Rumble
Regular Keyboard
1 Funk Bass Synth.
2 Slightly shorter, same bass, louder Synth.
3 Breakdown Synth. Ambient
4 Similar to 3
5 Breakdown w/bass, little Synth.
6 Repeating Bass sound, changing Synth. chords
7 Slightly changing Bass and Synth.
Abstract Keyboard
1 Bum Bum
2 Til Bum Bum
3 Rhythmic mouth harp sound, panning Synth.
4 Bum Bum Bum Til Bum.( hehehe Yes True)
5 One Short Burst
6 Background static noise cycling
7 Cycling with harp bouncy
8 Build up
9 Like 8 but different cycling speeds
Kora
1 2nd Bass Riff
2 1 with shorter bursts
3 High picking
4 Bassy fast picking
5 4 with variation
6 Short burst ring out x 2
7 3 with variation
8 3 with variation
9 3 with variation
Main Vocals and extras
Larla 1 Whoo-foreign language. Then- Return, Like Children, we stumble, into the sun
Larla 2 Return, like children, we stumble, recall the reason, together, we stare into the sun
Sevara 1 Short high wailing – rhythmic end
Sevara 2 High wailing then silence, dreamy whispered wail then rough rap sounding.
Rev. Cym. Reverse Cymbal
Lots to work with here.
Research for my mix includes the 5 references below.
At www.globaldance.com Greg Rule explains how he builds a track “So once you get your (tempo) from there I generally start building (the remix) up from the bottom with my drums and my percussion tracks. I'll just have the vocal playing by itself and then I'll start layering in the beats.”[1]
This is how I started by listening and getting a feel for the vocals then looped up a cool beat with a variation for the intro. With my readings for this research I have found heaps of other producers remixing or creating a track talking about arranging around the vocals.
I then set about gathering the elements I found most appealing and layering complementary samples. With these samples being very produced and quite layered in by themselves I found no need for extra effects.
In the book “The Mixing Engineers Handbook” by Bobby Owsinski, he says that “great mixers think in three dimensions – Tall, Deep and Wide.” “Tall” being the frequency range, “Deep” is adding ambient elements to the mix and “Wide” is achieved by panning.
He also mentions six elements of a great mix:
Balance – the volume level relationship between musical elements.
Frequency Range – having all frequencies properly represented.
Panorama – placing a musical element in the sound field.
Dimension – adding ambience to a musical element.
Dynamics – controlling the volume envelopes of track or instrument
Interest – making the mix special
Whilst mixing the Fatboy Slim 2004 release Palookaville, Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) noticed that the guest Blur singer Damon Albarn's vocals could be the pad (long sustaining note or chord) in the mix for two of his songs.
“The backing vocals fulfill what normally you would have a guitar or keyboard doing rhythmically.” Cook says.
I use this in my track: the backing vocals are in at the start, as they come to the end of the 1st section the mono guitar comes in. The mono guitar then leads to the second section of backing vocals.
In the Book “Editing Digital Audio in ProTools” by David Franz a shortcut I picked up and used after highlighting a region is Apple key +L. This locked the region in position and would give a warning window if you were adjusting it. This gave me a lot of piece of mind that the parts I had exactly lined up would stay that way.
I found a couple of tips on referencing the sound of your mix to an existing CD. One was to import directly into the ProTools session using a wave file so that the output is through the signal path to create a level playing field [5]. Two other things to be careful of are:
1 - Don't try to match your mix the volume of the reference CD. It's already been mastered. The mix that THEY used for mastering was not as loud as their final CD, and neither should yours. [5]
2- Don't try to match their compression. Additional compression was likely added in mastering. If you squash your mix, you will be stuck with whatever you did.. Mastering is usually a better time and place for that. [5]
References:
[1] -http://www.globaldance.com/InterviewGregRule2.htm
Keyboard Magazine's GREG RULE! - Part 2
[2] -“The Mixing Engineers Handbook” by Bobby Owsinski
[3] -Remix Mag article DEVIL MAY CARE on the recording of Fatboy Slims’ Palookaville. Oct 1, 2004 by Ken Micallef
[4] -“Editing Digital Audio in ProTools” by David Franz
[5] - Mark Dann Recording MIXING TIPS FROM THE TRENCHES
http://www.markdannrecording.com/Mixing_Tips.html
[6]http://www.myspace.com/afrocelts
MTF Mix – Production Note
I have decided to remix Afro Celts Sound System - My Secret Bliss.
First of all I imported all of the samples to the region list of my Protools session and set about listening to them and providing myself with a description of the regions such as whether some are variations of others (see analysis). I started to think about what regions would go with others. Afro Celts Sound System now known as Afro Celts has a definite world music flavour to them and I thought it would be fun to do this track keeping an ambient dance feel to it.
I referenced (see research) my track to Machine Translations’ song “Amnesia”.
I liked:
• the level where the vocals sat when they were clean
• the Bassy busyness of some parts particularly the end
• the way the electronic elements created interest and hooks
The drums in particular the hi-hats were very bright and prominent. This is a sound I was not after.
As Greg Rule suggests (see research) I concentrated on the vocal arrangement then found a complementary drum beat to loop. I also liked the idea of an intro drum rhythm with some fills.
I found as Fatboy Slim did (see research) that I could use the backing vocals in place of keyboard or guitar as a pad. So I used the backing vocals swapping with the mono guitar below the main vocal line with the whistle providing a high melody. I added random keyboard sounds to create interest (see research: “The Mixing Engineers Handbook” by Bobby Owsinski)
I used a stretched reverse cymbal to firstly highlight the groove after the first change and then to facilitate the second change. This was also used to accentuate ambient sounds.
Mid song I wished to make sure all elements were represented. Drums and Bass Synth. are the foundation, with keyboards providing the pad. Rhythm is percussion. Leading is vocals and I think stereo guitars are important to uplift this part. A fill is the Kora and abstract keyboards either side provide interest also.
As I was happy with specific combinations I locked the regions in place using click, Apple key + L. (see research)
As I sought to align regions the difference when zoomed right in was phenomenal. Parts that looked aligned when zoomed were all over the place. Snapping to grid or markers helped this.
I used edited stereo guitars and reverse cymbals to accentuate vocals and random sounds. Through out samples were looped as aliases.
ProTools Screen Shots
Analysis
Afro Celts Sound System song, My Secret Bliss interested me as the sounds are very spacious and the drums really cruise along. There is percussion and keyboards, which I really like. The song belongs to an Ambient Dance genre and I will approach it from this point of view. It has good sound quality with lots of effects already added. I documented the samples and gave them descriptions that gave me something to recognise them by.
“Afro Celt Sound System was formed in 1995 as a collaborative effort between traditional African and Celtic musicians and several respected figures from the UK music scene. Much of the recording of the group’s first album, Volume 1: Sound Magic, took place during the 1995 Recording Week at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath.”[6]
Members are: Simon Emmerson, James McNally, Iarla O'Lionaird, Martin Russell (core members) with Johnny Kalsi, N'faly Kouyate, Emer Mayock, Moussa Sissokho, Ian Markin, Francis Hylton (and occasional guests!)
Samples and Descriptions:
Drums
1 Beat with Hiccup Vocal
2 Beat without
3 Beat 1 shorter with Tom Fills
4 Normal 1 with Fills
5 Break Down off beat with Hiccup, Fills, Banging
6 New with Fills
Whistle
1 Complementary with vocal higher build up
2 Up Beat Rhythmic high build up then repeat
Backing Vocals
1
2
Bodran and Pere (Percussion)
2 Tabla – Brush on Snare
3 Tabla – Brush on Snare
4 Tabla – Brush on Snare
5 Cymbal, Bells, Shaker
6 5 with Tabla then Cymbal
7 Reverse Cymbal and Percussion
8 Tabla and Reverse Cymbal
9 Shaker, Reverse Cymbal and Tabla
10 All
Guitar
1 Picking Low Rhythm
2 High Melodies – Off Beat
3 Rhythm Verse
4 Single Picking then Strumming clean ongoing
5 Picking with strumming comes in hard
Bass
1 Bass riff as reg Keys
2 1 with variation
3 Travelling with slide change
4 Build up to 2nd riff
5 Mellow Funk Bass
6 5 with slides
7 1 alternating
8 1 key change
10 Picking with slide
11 Low Rumble
Regular Keyboard
1 Funk Bass Synth.
2 Slightly shorter, same bass, louder Synth.
3 Breakdown Synth. Ambient
4 Similar to 3
5 Breakdown w/bass, little Synth.
6 Repeating Bass sound, changing Synth. chords
7 Slightly changing Bass and Synth.
Abstract Keyboard
1 Bum Bum
2 Til Bum Bum
3 Rhythmic mouth harp sound, panning Synth.
4 Bum Bum Bum Til Bum.( hehehe Yes True)
5 One Short Burst
6 Background static noise cycling
7 Cycling with harp bouncy
8 Build up
9 Like 8 but different cycling speeds
Kora
1 2nd Bass Riff
2 1 with shorter bursts
3 High picking
4 Bassy fast picking
5 4 with variation
6 Short burst ring out x 2
7 3 with variation
8 3 with variation
9 3 with variation
Main Vocals and extras
Larla 1 Whoo-foreign language. Then- Return, Like Children, we stumble, into the sun
Larla 2 Return, like children, we stumble, recall the reason, together, we stare into the sun
Sevara 1 Short high wailing – rhythmic end
Sevara 2 High wailing then silence, dreamy whispered wail then rough rap sounding.
Rev. Cym. Reverse Cymbal
Lots to work with here.
Research for my mix includes the 5 references below.
At www.globaldance.com Greg Rule explains how he builds a track “So once you get your (tempo) from there I generally start building (the remix) up from the bottom with my drums and my percussion tracks. I'll just have the vocal playing by itself and then I'll start layering in the beats.”[1]
This is how I started by listening and getting a feel for the vocals then looped up a cool beat with a variation for the intro. With my readings for this research I have found heaps of other producers remixing or creating a track talking about arranging around the vocals.
I then set about gathering the elements I found most appealing and layering complementary samples. With these samples being very produced and quite layered in by themselves I found no need for extra effects.
In the book “The Mixing Engineers Handbook” by Bobby Owsinski, he says that “great mixers think in three dimensions – Tall, Deep and Wide.” “Tall” being the frequency range, “Deep” is adding ambient elements to the mix and “Wide” is achieved by panning.
He also mentions six elements of a great mix:
Balance – the volume level relationship between musical elements.
Frequency Range – having all frequencies properly represented.
Panorama – placing a musical element in the sound field.
Dimension – adding ambience to a musical element.
Dynamics – controlling the volume envelopes of track or instrument
Interest – making the mix special
Whilst mixing the Fatboy Slim 2004 release Palookaville, Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) noticed that the guest Blur singer Damon Albarn's vocals could be the pad (long sustaining note or chord) in the mix for two of his songs.
“The backing vocals fulfill what normally you would have a guitar or keyboard doing rhythmically.” Cook says.
I use this in my track: the backing vocals are in at the start, as they come to the end of the 1st section the mono guitar comes in. The mono guitar then leads to the second section of backing vocals.
In the Book “Editing Digital Audio in ProTools” by David Franz a shortcut I picked up and used after highlighting a region is Apple key +L. This locked the region in position and would give a warning window if you were adjusting it. This gave me a lot of piece of mind that the parts I had exactly lined up would stay that way.
I found a couple of tips on referencing the sound of your mix to an existing CD. One was to import directly into the ProTools session using a wave file so that the output is through the signal path to create a level playing field [5]. Two other things to be careful of are:
1 - Don't try to match your mix the volume of the reference CD. It's already been mastered. The mix that THEY used for mastering was not as loud as their final CD, and neither should yours. [5]
2- Don't try to match their compression. Additional compression was likely added in mastering. If you squash your mix, you will be stuck with whatever you did.. Mastering is usually a better time and place for that. [5]
References:
[1] -http://www.globaldance.com/InterviewGregRule2.htm
Keyboard Magazine's GREG RULE! - Part 2
[2] -“The Mixing Engineers Handbook” by Bobby Owsinski
[3] -Remix Mag article DEVIL MAY CARE on the recording of Fatboy Slims’ Palookaville. Oct 1, 2004 by Ken Micallef
[4] -“Editing Digital Audio in ProTools” by David Franz
[5] - Mark Dann Recording MIXING TIPS FROM THE TRENCHES
http://www.markdannrecording.com/Mixing_Tips.html
[6]http://www.myspace.com/afrocelts
MTF Week 10 17/05/2007
Grunge is a genre that I grew up with and as Steve points out is another form of rebellion, possibly against the Glam Metal that was so prevalent. As Steve points out the idea of grunge had been around for quite a while and he would describe Dick Dale as ‘60’s grunge. Grunge, a gritty, soiled, unkept and raw sound in its purist form with mistakes left as a stamp of personality and reality. Like Punk the desire and passion to play rather than musicianship was the main idea. I believe that this in the most part is due to the young participants just learning their instruments.
The big wave of Grunge centred on the Seattle music scene where Nirvana broke. Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog (collaboration), Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Mad Season (collaboration) recordings were all very popular and inspired other bands further away such as The Stone Temple Pilots.
Grunge became more stylised in a fashion sense and a musical sense. Pieces of “Grunge mistakes” were added to tracks such as those found on Nirvanas’ In Utero album. Record companies couldn’t cope with the idea of releasing a half baked product and it is famous that Nirvana hated their slick sound on “Nevermind”.
Steve suggests that Soundgardens’ “Badmotor Finger” was the last of the rawer sounding recordings of the period. I agree, when the following album “Superunknown” came out it was “superproduced”. Grunge became assimilated into the mainstream like many Genres before.
One this that is evident is that when a major label gets involved nothing is left to chance. I suppose as a musician myself I find we forget the main of the population want to be entertained and aren’t interested in something different or breaking musical barriers. Music is a soundtrack to life and be it washing dishes or partying on a Friday night most enjoy the tricks record companies employ.
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
The big wave of Grunge centred on the Seattle music scene where Nirvana broke. Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog (collaboration), Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Mad Season (collaboration) recordings were all very popular and inspired other bands further away such as The Stone Temple Pilots.
Grunge became more stylised in a fashion sense and a musical sense. Pieces of “Grunge mistakes” were added to tracks such as those found on Nirvanas’ In Utero album. Record companies couldn’t cope with the idea of releasing a half baked product and it is famous that Nirvana hated their slick sound on “Nevermind”.Steve suggests that Soundgardens’ “Badmotor Finger” was the last of the rawer sounding recordings of the period. I agree, when the following album “Superunknown” came out it was “superproduced”. Grunge became assimilated into the mainstream like many Genres before.
One this that is evident is that when a major label gets involved nothing is left to chance. I suppose as a musician myself I find we forget the main of the population want to be entertained and aren’t interested in something different or breaking musical barriers. Music is a soundtrack to life and be it washing dishes or partying on a Friday night most enjoy the tricks record companies employ.
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
MTF Week 9 10/05/2007
Genre Based Production
Genres have their own clichés.
This week in our music technology forum Steve discussed what bands are well known in different genres and the trademark production techniques used in these recordings. As a producer Steve gets bands/artists from all sorts of genres. For example to create a great blues recording Steve will go on a diet of listening to great blues recordings and take the production techniques used as a good place to start.
Funk is a genre was represented by The Meters, James Brown, Bootsy Collins, Funkadelic, Groovalicious and Kool and the Gang. The first beat of the bar is commonly emphasised and the musicians drift around the beat.
U.S. ‘90s funk is clean with reverb packed on the drums. Bands like The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are incredibly compressed, using room mics on the drums. In contrast U.K. funk sounds a lot darker, deeper with a close microphone placement on the drums to give a proximity effect. U.S. drummers may record in a large “live” room whereas U.K. drummers may record in a small relatively “dead” room with a dry sound. Australian funk like Skunkhour takes from both countries and Steve thinks it is actually roughly half way between both techniques.
Reggae is symbolised by Bob Marley and the mix has brightness, lots of hi-hats, keyboards/guitars - one on beat/one off beat in opposite speakers (radical panning), clean guitars that are very compressed and use of Flangers and Phasers. Rhythmic delays on the snare, hi-hats or cymbals are quite noticeable.
SKA is typified by Madness and The Specials.
Blues as we know it originated from the Mississippi Delta with such “Bluesmen” as Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, Muddy Waters, John Lee, Willie Dixon, BB King and Buddy Guy. Earlier recordings used an overdriven Shure “Green Bullet” Harmonica Microphone to get the vocal sound. In the 1970’s blues assimilated into rock and roll and Stevie Ray Vaughan often used Leslie speaker boxes for that Hammond organ feel.
Jazz is all about capturing the musicians in the room. It has little compression, no thumping kick drum and solos that are meant to heard. From Miles Davis’ “A Kind of Blue” with his horn sax sounds (even Wah on his Trumpet) to Diana Krall “Live in Paris” jazz is to be enjoyed live and is recorded as such.
Hard Rock is compressed during and after recording again and again. Big attack, slapping bass guitar and doubled guitars hard rock has come along way from the mid range raspy brightness of Thin Lizzy and the early Metallica albums.
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
Genres have their own clichés.
This week in our music technology forum Steve discussed what bands are well known in different genres and the trademark production techniques used in these recordings. As a producer Steve gets bands/artists from all sorts of genres. For example to create a great blues recording Steve will go on a diet of listening to great blues recordings and take the production techniques used as a good place to start.
Funk is a genre was represented by The Meters, James Brown, Bootsy Collins, Funkadelic, Groovalicious and Kool and the Gang. The first beat of the bar is commonly emphasised and the musicians drift around the beat.
U.S. ‘90s funk is clean with reverb packed on the drums. Bands like The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are incredibly compressed, using room mics on the drums. In contrast U.K. funk sounds a lot darker, deeper with a close microphone placement on the drums to give a proximity effect. U.S. drummers may record in a large “live” room whereas U.K. drummers may record in a small relatively “dead” room with a dry sound. Australian funk like Skunkhour takes from both countries and Steve thinks it is actually roughly half way between both techniques.
Reggae is symbolised by Bob Marley and the mix has brightness, lots of hi-hats, keyboards/guitars - one on beat/one off beat in opposite speakers (radical panning), clean guitars that are very compressed and use of Flangers and Phasers. Rhythmic delays on the snare, hi-hats or cymbals are quite noticeable.
SKA is typified by Madness and The Specials.
Blues as we know it originated from the Mississippi Delta with such “Bluesmen” as Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, Muddy Waters, John Lee, Willie Dixon, BB King and Buddy Guy. Earlier recordings used an overdriven Shure “Green Bullet” Harmonica Microphone to get the vocal sound. In the 1970’s blues assimilated into rock and roll and Stevie Ray Vaughan often used Leslie speaker boxes for that Hammond organ feel.Jazz is all about capturing the musicians in the room. It has little compression, no thumping kick drum and solos that are meant to heard. From Miles Davis’ “A Kind of Blue” with his horn sax sounds (even Wah on his Trumpet) to Diana Krall “Live in Paris” jazz is to be enjoyed live and is recorded as such.
Hard Rock is compressed during and after recording again and again. Big attack, slapping bass guitar and doubled guitars hard rock has come along way from the mid range raspy brightness of Thin Lizzy and the early Metallica albums.
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
MTF Week 8 03/05/2007
Unfortunately I had to miss this week’s lesson to attend a funeral so I did some investigation on the presented producers on my own.
Sebastian presented on Steve Wilson who is a self taught songwriter and producer who has worked with bands such as; “Opeth from Sweden, OSI from America, and Aviv Geffen from Israel.”[1] He also doesn’t really classify himself as a musician because he says he only really picks up an instrument to play on or write a song.
Steve(pictured left) is the frontman for band Porcupine but love to work on other projects. “If I tried to shoehorn everything I want to do into one project, I think it would be the most ridiculously, insanely eclectic band. No one would want to listen to it."[2]
Daniels chose Simon Luckie A.K.A Groove Terminator. Who is a popular electro artist as well as producer that has worked with Grinspoon, Dead or Alive, Groove Armada, Gorillaz and Savage Garden. He also has had great success with TV and radio commercials for big name corporations. [5]
Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor(pictured left) like many other musician/producers has had to fight some personal demons such as drug and alcohol abuse. He also fought his record company for creative control of his second release. Lisa mentioned his association producing Marilyn Mansons’ Anti-Christ Superstar. I found this interesting as NINs “Downward Spiral” was recorded in the house where actress Sharon Tate was murdered by followers of Charles Manson. He is also an artist who contributed to Joy Division's "Dead Souls” album cover.[3]
Simon presented Phil Spector who is famous for his “wall of sound technique”, where he kept on overdubbing musicians until a roar was achieved. [4] He started out with a group called The Teddy Bears with a number 1 hit in 1958 called “To know him is to love him”. A combination of his stage fright and love for producing led him to produce artists such as Ike and Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, Gene Pitney, George Harrison and John Lennon. [4]
Joshua presented Phil Ramone. What a legend. He’s worked with Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Barbra Streisand and many more. Check out this sound on sound article. [6]
Sound on Sound - Phil Ramone
References:
[1] Interview with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree: Alt Culture Guide
[2] 23/03/07 - Porcupine Tree's Wilson Talks Complex New LP, Project With Opeth's Akerfeldt.Title: Frontman ponders the impact of information technology on today's generation.
[3] Nine Inch Nails MTV
[4] Phil Spector - The Producer.
[5] Daniel Trembath Blog
[6] Sound on Sound - Phil Ramone
Sebastian presented on Steve Wilson who is a self taught songwriter and producer who has worked with bands such as; “Opeth from Sweden, OSI from America, and Aviv Geffen from Israel.”[1] He also doesn’t really classify himself as a musician because he says he only really picks up an instrument to play on or write a song.
Steve(pictured left) is the frontman for band Porcupine but love to work on other projects. “If I tried to shoehorn everything I want to do into one project, I think it would be the most ridiculously, insanely eclectic band. No one would want to listen to it."[2]
Daniels chose Simon Luckie A.K.A Groove Terminator. Who is a popular electro artist as well as producer that has worked with Grinspoon, Dead or Alive, Groove Armada, Gorillaz and Savage Garden. He also has had great success with TV and radio commercials for big name corporations. [5]
Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor(pictured left) like many other musician/producers has had to fight some personal demons such as drug and alcohol abuse. He also fought his record company for creative control of his second release. Lisa mentioned his association producing Marilyn Mansons’ Anti-Christ Superstar. I found this interesting as NINs “Downward Spiral” was recorded in the house where actress Sharon Tate was murdered by followers of Charles Manson. He is also an artist who contributed to Joy Division's "Dead Souls” album cover.[3]
Simon presented Phil Spector who is famous for his “wall of sound technique”, where he kept on overdubbing musicians until a roar was achieved. [4] He started out with a group called The Teddy Bears with a number 1 hit in 1958 called “To know him is to love him”. A combination of his stage fright and love for producing led him to produce artists such as Ike and Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, Gene Pitney, George Harrison and John Lennon. [4]
Joshua presented Phil Ramone. What a legend. He’s worked with Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Barbra Streisand and many more. Check out this sound on sound article. [6]
Sound on Sound - Phil Ramone
References:
[1] Interview with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree: Alt Culture Guide
[2] 23/03/07 - Porcupine Tree's Wilson Talks Complex New LP, Project With Opeth's Akerfeldt.Title: Frontman ponders the impact of information technology on today's generation.
[3] Nine Inch Nails MTV
[4] Phil Spector - The Producer.
[5] Daniel Trembath Blog
[6] Sound on Sound - Phil Ramone
MTF Week 7 26/04/2007
This week we continued presenting information on our chosen producers.
Kevin “The Caveman” Shirley was Jakes choice He was born in South Africa and has made his way around the world including some Australian time where did some mixing for “peanuts” as well as engineering the Baby Animals 1993 self-titled, multi-platinum release. Off to Canada for Rushs’ 1993 “Counterparts” then back to Australia for Silverchairs “Frogstomp”, another multi-platinum release. He has made a name for himself mixing and re-mixing DVDs for the likes of Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Slayer, Metallica and Joe Satriani. He has also recorded Tina Arena and Olivia Newton-John.
I was next with my “champ” of a producer “Dave Fridmann”. The full story is in the post below.
Rowan reported on Ross Robertson who started out as a thrash guitarist before assistant engineering job on 1992 album “The Crimson Idol” by W.A.S.P.. He steadily built his Discography with such artists as Korn, Deftones, Sepultura, Vanilla Ice (What the? Hehe!) , Slipknot, and At the Drive-In.
Scott H labelled Jason Suecof as LAZY. Jason doesn’t seem lazy to me, 25 yrs old and he has had his own studio since 1999, AudioHammer Studios in Florida. He has already produced many successful metal acts such as Trivium, God Forbid, Monstrosity and Adrift. Jason and his brother grew up immersed in the Beatles and Frank Zappa thanks to their drummer dad. They have had a band together for more than 10 yrs. Jason loves to use Audio-Technica AE 3000 to capture guitar highs.
Ben talked about the legendary Eddie Kramer who has many major credits including recording many Jimmy Hendrix albums, Woodstock Festival, many Led Zeppelin albums and Kiss.
All of these Engineers/Producers have their own tricks that have definitely been good to hear about this exercise has opened my eyes to the use of panning, contrast, effects, Low/Hi Fi, Loops, Programming and arranging etc. I was wondering where all the female producers/sound engineers are? I know that Alyssa has one on her blog. http://alyssa-wong.blogspot.com . Does anyone have any other favourite female producers?
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse, Presentations by MTF Class
Kevin “The Caveman” Shirley was Jakes choice He was born in South Africa and has made his way around the world including some Australian time where did some mixing for “peanuts” as well as engineering the Baby Animals 1993 self-titled, multi-platinum release. Off to Canada for Rushs’ 1993 “Counterparts” then back to Australia for Silverchairs “Frogstomp”, another multi-platinum release. He has made a name for himself mixing and re-mixing DVDs for the likes of Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Slayer, Metallica and Joe Satriani. He has also recorded Tina Arena and Olivia Newton-John.
I was next with my “champ” of a producer “Dave Fridmann”. The full story is in the post below.
Rowan reported on Ross Robertson who started out as a thrash guitarist before assistant engineering job on 1992 album “The Crimson Idol” by W.A.S.P.. He steadily built his Discography with such artists as Korn, Deftones, Sepultura, Vanilla Ice (What the? Hehe!) , Slipknot, and At the Drive-In.
Scott H labelled Jason Suecof as LAZY. Jason doesn’t seem lazy to me, 25 yrs old and he has had his own studio since 1999, AudioHammer Studios in Florida. He has already produced many successful metal acts such as Trivium, God Forbid, Monstrosity and Adrift. Jason and his brother grew up immersed in the Beatles and Frank Zappa thanks to their drummer dad. They have had a band together for more than 10 yrs. Jason loves to use Audio-Technica AE 3000 to capture guitar highs.
Ben talked about the legendary Eddie Kramer who has many major credits including recording many Jimmy Hendrix albums, Woodstock Festival, many Led Zeppelin albums and Kiss.
All of these Engineers/Producers have their own tricks that have definitely been good to hear about this exercise has opened my eyes to the use of panning, contrast, effects, Low/Hi Fi, Loops, Programming and arranging etc. I was wondering where all the female producers/sound engineers are? I know that Alyssa has one on her blog. http://alyssa-wong.blogspot.com . Does anyone have any other favourite female producers?
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse, Presentations by MTF Class
Dave Fridmann - Music Producer
Due to my interest in the sound of 1998 album “Eleventh Avenue” by Australian ‘90’s band Ammonia. I decided to investigate the career, life and techniques of Music Producer and Engineer Dave Fridmann. This album contained many techniques essential for the budding producer/engineer. I was immediately drawn to Dave’s use of panning, the range of contrast in the recording and was in wonder of how he achieved such a massive ambient sound. Upon investigation it was apparent that many of the techniques used in this recording had been honed for more than a decade with bands like Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips.Dave was born in 1968 and grew up in Williamsville. (A suburb of Buffalo, New York) He recalls the period when sound began to fascinate him.
“I'm not sure if it is the sound so much as it is the emotional impact that is attached to it. I remember being around 10 and having my own radio. Sometimes I would just burst into tears while listening. I would also listen until late at night. There was a station that played "Headphones Only" entire albums from midnight to 6AM and I would lay there with my headphones "seeing" the music.”[1].
While at junior high Dave heard of a new engineering program at the nearby University of New Yorks (SUNY) Fredonia campus, through his music teacher who had attended the University. Fredonia is a town between Buffalo and Erie near Lake Erie, New York State. At SUNY at Fredonia, Dave studied the engineering course where he now teaches as part of the four year Bachelor of Science in Music with an emphasis on sound recording technology program. This program also teaches piano and voice classes so it is no surprise Dave writes, plays bass/guitar/keyboards, programs and arranges. Dave started producing Mercury Rev as a student in this same recording program after meeting Revs’ Jon Donahue and quickly became their bass guitarist. It has been his philosophy to “fill the gaps” [2] when helping a band realize their vision. If this means collaboration, it’s something he’s ready for.
Engineering/Mix/Mastering (EMM) his first release in 1989 and the following year he Co-produced EMM, The Flaming Lips album “In a Priest Ambulance” that was widely acclaimed. He was a touring member of Mercury Rev until 1993 when he re evaluated what was important for him.
“I wanted a family, I wanted to work with other groups, I wanted to a lot of other things that weren’t being in a band. Now it’s really good, because when we do get together I can just concentrate on them when they (Mercury Rev) come in."[3]
In late 1997 Dave set up his studio Tarbox Studios on Tarbox Rd. Cassadaga with partners Greg Snow, Andrea Wasiura and his wife Mary [4]. Cassadaga is 10 miles from Daves’ home in Fredonia. Daves’ main partner in the studio is Greg Snow is also the electronics expert at SUNY at Fredonia [5]:"I’m incredibly lucky with the gear that’s up there. My partner Greg Snow takes great care of everything, so that everything always works all the time.” [3]
It’s this sort of stability that his studio creates for artists. Bands live at the studio whilst recording and often come down to record in their pyjamas as they would at home. No city distractions at Cassadaga, although Dave tries to squeeze in a quick trip to nearby Niagara Falls for visiting bands if time allows.
Producers Fridmann admires are John McLaughlin for Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way, Tchad Blake, Jon Brion, Nigel Godrich, Bryce Goggin, Jim O’Rourke, Brian Paulson [4], Rivers Cuomo, Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse), Teo Maceo and good buddies Jon Donahue (Mercury Rev) and Wayne Coyne (The Flaming Lips).[6]
Dave continues to be very busy with a steadily growing discography. A small list bands he’s worked with are The Delgados, Regular Fries, Elf Power, Number Girl, Grand Mal, Mogwai, Ammonia, Jane's Addiction, Bass Piggy, Weezer, Wallmen, Luna, Ed Harcourt, Gemma Hayes, Sparklehorse, Bodega, Cotton Mather, Cafe Tacuba, The Dissociatives, Modest Mouse, Sleater-Kinney, Brazil, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips.
Most of these bands are repeat customers with Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips using his services consistently for nearly two decades.
Fridmanns’ top three microphones are the tube based Neumann U47 (pictured), the RCA 44 ribbon microphone and the Shure SM57 “workhorse”. [4] When at his studio he uses an Otari Concept Elite mixer with automation and 40 channels of dynamics, his favourite reverb is AKG BX20 spring reverb.[3] He combines his Otari 24-track analogue reel-to-reel, an Otari RADAR hard disk multitrack, a Pro Tools system, and an Alesis ADAT digital 8-track tape recorder, constantly working with all formats. I describe “Daves sound” as powerful and spacious, regularly containing mini symphonies. He has a philosophy “to fill up tracks”, that “everything is ON all of the time” [4] and “why talk about it when we can just do it and see” [3]. Dave blows my mind with how busy he is creating the product. Some producers may record and mix a band largely how they sound, stereo the guitars and add some reverb but Daves sound is always on the move:
- Panning from left to right with an electro noise before a contrasting build up.
- Dry sounding snare for two bars then slight decay industrial sound for two bars.
- Guitars bouncing left, right, centre, stereo, dry, wet with the song.
- Ping Pong effect, use of Contrast, orchestral programming, loops, electronic sounds
I believe he is making a valuable contribution to the field of sound technology.
His experimental attitude and “can do” approach evident with his selection of projects (see Zaireeka by The Flaming Lips). There is large number of alternative bands seeking his involvement not only as a Producer/Engineer but as a collaborator. Passionate and experimental with a very high technical ability Dave is well deserving of the accolades he has received including three Grammy Awards, many Grammy nominations, Mercury awards and MOJO magazine: one of the top 100 sonic visionaries of all time. He is an inspiration for someone such as me who likes living in Adelaide, South Australia, but wishes to work globally.
References:
Dave Fridmann : Discography
[1] Dolomite.Net interview, David Fridmann: Like Standing under a Waterfall by Charles Austin, December 1, 1998.
[2] Pop Culture Press interview, DAVE FRIDMANN: COUNTRY LIFE-from Mercury Rev to Mogwai, magical things happen in the little house on Tarbox Road! By Caliban Jones, winter 2001.
[3] Sound on Sound article, DAVE FRIDMANN. PRODUCING FLAMING LIPS & MERCURY REV by Sam Inglis
[4] Tape OP – The Creative Music Recording Magazine.No.17 May/June 2000. Article: Dave Fridmann by Roman Sokal with Photos by Mary Fridmann.
[5] SUNY Sound Technology Webpage – Faculty and Administration
[6] Interview for Barcelona “Go” Magazine, Feb 2001.
MTF 5 - 29/03/07
Get to know your space and system with Referencing!
All producers reference, that is have a collection of songs or song excerpts that they have listened to on many systems and know how that sound translates to any recording they carry out using different spaces and equipment.
For example if a sound booth absorbs an above average amount of bass. When a mix is performed it may sound great in the room but when played on another sound system will have too much bass. The engineer/producer has overcompensated due to the lack of bass in the sound booth. In this case if the engineer/producer referenced using their collection. They know how the sound should be, they would have noticed the lack of bass and been aware to not to overcompensate. Check the mix on any other even crappy stereo and check.
Producers may also reference Genre. If they want a glam rock feel they will break out the Poison, Motley Crue or Bon Jovi band files. Musicians may be said to reference. They listen to the songs/artists that they like and while most will call these their influences, it is referencing as they will include traits of their influences in their playing. You can even consciously reference yourself into playing a style by constant listening to that style (note: this is not true for some artists such as Robbie Williams, self harm may occur).
Kens Assignment Presentation
Congratulations to Ken for his presentation on the rather unpalatable subject of Stock, Aitkin and Waterman. Everyone probably knows them as the machine that produced a string heart throb releases in the 80’s (Kylie Minogue, Banarama, Rick Astley). As Ken says “Over produced club orientated grooves with apple pie values” or “over produced and under performed”. This takes me back to discussions about overproduction resulting in the deletion of all the human elements; in this case creativity comes to mind. It is no secret Stock, Aitkin and Waterman also made heavy use of auto tune on the artists’ voices. Steve informs us an Eventide Harmoniser is the culprit with an effect dubbed the “Kylie” effect.
Despite this Stock, Aitkin and Waterman had massive success as Ken describes they were saleable, marketable and good songwriters but flooded the market and took advantage of their artists.
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
All producers reference, that is have a collection of songs or song excerpts that they have listened to on many systems and know how that sound translates to any recording they carry out using different spaces and equipment.
For example if a sound booth absorbs an above average amount of bass. When a mix is performed it may sound great in the room but when played on another sound system will have too much bass. The engineer/producer has overcompensated due to the lack of bass in the sound booth. In this case if the engineer/producer referenced using their collection. They know how the sound should be, they would have noticed the lack of bass and been aware to not to overcompensate. Check the mix on any other even crappy stereo and check.
Producers may also reference Genre. If they want a glam rock feel they will break out the Poison, Motley Crue or Bon Jovi band files. Musicians may be said to reference. They listen to the songs/artists that they like and while most will call these their influences, it is referencing as they will include traits of their influences in their playing. You can even consciously reference yourself into playing a style by constant listening to that style (note: this is not true for some artists such as Robbie Williams, self harm may occur).
Kens Assignment Presentation
Congratulations to Ken for his presentation on the rather unpalatable subject of Stock, Aitkin and Waterman. Everyone probably knows them as the machine that produced a string heart throb releases in the 80’s (Kylie Minogue, Banarama, Rick Astley). As Ken says “Over produced club orientated grooves with apple pie values” or “over produced and under performed”. This takes me back to discussions about overproduction resulting in the deletion of all the human elements; in this case creativity comes to mind. It is no secret Stock, Aitkin and Waterman also made heavy use of auto tune on the artists’ voices. Steve informs us an Eventide Harmoniser is the culprit with an effect dubbed the “Kylie” effect.
Despite this Stock, Aitkin and Waterman had massive success as Ken describes they were saleable, marketable and good songwriters but flooded the market and took advantage of their artists.
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
MTF 4 - 22/03/07
This week the topics of great recordings and great releases were discussed.
You technically can’t fault a great recording, it serves the artists required sonic quality even if you hate the content. People buy a recording for the content not the quality of the recording. With a great release it is the combination of performance and recording that makes you want to listen over and over.
I’d like to think that a producer can apply their unique production style in a unique way with every artist or project they work on. Music producers, like us all are constantly exposed to events evolving their collective experience. Every producer has their own tricks but I fail to see the point of a “one size fits all” policy towards artists. When this policy is implemented by a producer on the same artist over and over it eventually leads to the public being bored and a drop in sales follows.
“Timeless” production techniques will always sound right for the artist no matter what technological breakthroughs are to follow and will not follow “dated” fads or fashions.
If all the successful recordings of today have a delayed cowbell as the most prominent instrument in the mix – how will this sound in 10 years? This is where engineers look to production to match genre. Investigate common tricks and ways to capture “that” sound. Decide if you are going to do something else or continue and press your own bit of “timeless” production with your flavour attached by knowing the rules for that genre.
Choosing the right producer for a band will put the project into the ballpark to have the desired sound. For example band may want to emulate the success of Wolfmother with that 70’s sound. A producer may have a style that can achieve this. It is probably even possible to get a genuine 70’s producer with 70’s equipment.
Steve discussed classic traits exhibited by various genres. They relate to fidelity of the sound, mono/stereo, effects and live drummers forming loops or playing with loops.
So grab a heap of CDs of the style you are looking for, listen, learn but please try to take it to the next level or you will be dated.
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
You technically can’t fault a great recording, it serves the artists required sonic quality even if you hate the content. People buy a recording for the content not the quality of the recording. With a great release it is the combination of performance and recording that makes you want to listen over and over.
I’d like to think that a producer can apply their unique production style in a unique way with every artist or project they work on. Music producers, like us all are constantly exposed to events evolving their collective experience. Every producer has their own tricks but I fail to see the point of a “one size fits all” policy towards artists. When this policy is implemented by a producer on the same artist over and over it eventually leads to the public being bored and a drop in sales follows.
“Timeless” production techniques will always sound right for the artist no matter what technological breakthroughs are to follow and will not follow “dated” fads or fashions.
If all the successful recordings of today have a delayed cowbell as the most prominent instrument in the mix – how will this sound in 10 years? This is where engineers look to production to match genre. Investigate common tricks and ways to capture “that” sound. Decide if you are going to do something else or continue and press your own bit of “timeless” production with your flavour attached by knowing the rules for that genre.
Choosing the right producer for a band will put the project into the ballpark to have the desired sound. For example band may want to emulate the success of Wolfmother with that 70’s sound. A producer may have a style that can achieve this. It is probably even possible to get a genuine 70’s producer with 70’s equipment.
Steve discussed classic traits exhibited by various genres. They relate to fidelity of the sound, mono/stereo, effects and live drummers forming loops or playing with loops.
So grab a heap of CDs of the style you are looking for, listen, learn but please try to take it to the next level or you will be dated.
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
MTF 3 - 15/03/07
What does a Music Producer actually do?
At Music Technology Forum this week Steve discussed the role of the producer and one thing that really stood out for me is how much a producer needs to clarify for themselves exactly what they are required to contribute to make the particular project a success. This needs to be clearly defined with all parties involved.
A producer is often responsible for planning and co-ordinating many areas of the production as mentioned by Steve. They responsible for:
The Products sound. Some producers have a trademark sound that they bring to the recording others will personalise to the band or labels requirements depending on who’s employing them on information gained during pre-production.
The performance that is captured. Some bands just want a snap shot of where they are at that particular time and other want the producer to guide the performance every step of the way.
Some go to the extent of working on arrangements, song choices or what songs appear on the CD and in what order, they may edit tracks or decide to do radio edits, re-arranging songs, give input on performance or even co-song write.
Budget Distribution. To guide the budget to ensure a product is delivered to the required standard within the required timeframe.
“Kicking Goals” Producers as with other managers need to be good communicators to “grease the wheels and get things done”.
They motivate and get the best out of the band members.
Avoid disruptions and keep band members happy by encouraging a stress free environment.
Keep everyone on target to make each session a productive one.
A well-rounded producer will have skills in the above areas or at least some of them. They may have two of these but a great track record and/or team working for them. I believe that a producer collects all of pieces of the project together and has a solid image of where the project is going. This will only happen by gaining insights from all parties involved. Pre-Production, Pre-Production, Pre-Production Oh Pre-Production, Plan, Execute but be flexible, it is art after all. Isn’t it?
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
At Music Technology Forum this week Steve discussed the role of the producer and one thing that really stood out for me is how much a producer needs to clarify for themselves exactly what they are required to contribute to make the particular project a success. This needs to be clearly defined with all parties involved.
A producer is often responsible for planning and co-ordinating many areas of the production as mentioned by Steve. They responsible for:
The Products sound. Some producers have a trademark sound that they bring to the recording others will personalise to the band or labels requirements depending on who’s employing them on information gained during pre-production.
The performance that is captured. Some bands just want a snap shot of where they are at that particular time and other want the producer to guide the performance every step of the way.
Some go to the extent of working on arrangements, song choices or what songs appear on the CD and in what order, they may edit tracks or decide to do radio edits, re-arranging songs, give input on performance or even co-song write.
Budget Distribution. To guide the budget to ensure a product is delivered to the required standard within the required timeframe.
“Kicking Goals” Producers as with other managers need to be good communicators to “grease the wheels and get things done”.
They motivate and get the best out of the band members.
Avoid disruptions and keep band members happy by encouraging a stress free environment.
Keep everyone on target to make each session a productive one.
A well-rounded producer will have skills in the above areas or at least some of them. They may have two of these but a great track record and/or team working for them. I believe that a producer collects all of pieces of the project together and has a solid image of where the project is going. This will only happen by gaining insights from all parties involved. Pre-Production, Pre-Production, Pre-Production Oh Pre-Production, Plan, Execute but be flexible, it is art after all. Isn’t it?
References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse
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