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.
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
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