In this week’s audio arts class we were given the opportunity to record a classical vocal singer- Jodie Mills. My group used studio one and EMU space, as well as a Neumann U87. Over the mic we placed a ‘popper-stopper’ which reduces the amount of sacrilegious ‘pops’, ‘pahs’ and otherwise plosive breath sounds. Walter Cronkite (left) agrees.
I had a chat to Peter about popper-stoppers - he mentioned that you can make one out of old (and new) stockings. Seems like a great way to save a few hundred dollars when you’re setting up your own studio.

The recording itself turned out reasonably well- below is an example of both an uncompressed recording, and one with slight compression of 4:1 (default of ProTool’s BombFactory Plug-In). I was also keen to try recording with the Neumann U87 configured to an omni-directional polar pattern, as well as cardioid as in the recordings below. Unfortunately, my group members did not share that enthusiasm and/or time did not really permit. Jodie Mills (Opera Singer):
uncompressed.mp3
compressed.mp3

She was a little bit more ‘warmed up’ for the compressed take, however the technological/recording aspect is better in the uncompressed take. Morale: Opera Singer’s do not need any effects. Except in this slightly NIN, slightly Mills, very Oscilation based song I call the city of Zion?

The visibly ill Christian made it to Creative Computing to continue our look at ProTools. He examined the seemingly endless options for bussing and general signal flow possibilities. It seems that with all the audio software I have been delving into of late, the signal flow and routing functions are absolutely fundamental to have a handle on. This includes applications like Plogue, Reason, Cubase and ProTools. I suppose this aspect of the software is derived from the reality of routing for real life, old school, synthesizers and now in the studio in general. I anticipate that the future will make this routing feature of audio software more of an automated function. Why? People want to make music not plot signal paths. I’m finding it a little tricky to work out Reason’s interface.

In the latest instalment of Forum, it was great to find out a little more about the man behind the legend- Stephen Whittington. I particularly enjoyed the part of forum in which he outlined the attitudes behind the song “X Is Dead”. Put simply, I think he was taking a swipe at Pierre Boulez and his essay “Schoenberg Is Dead.” I guess there’s an anarchist in all of us.

The Tyndall Assembly concert held last Thursday was a really enjoyable local show. It began with clapping music, a 1972 work by Steve Reich, which was a pretty funky way to kick of the evening; however, I much prefer this piece when it’s performed by more like twenty people. Next mcgherkin played his piece ‘Saladdin’, on a couple of pseudo-bongos, which were miked to speakers via some delay effects. Personally, I think it would have sounded much better with the delay pumped higher. I think this would have bridged the live bongo sounds with the electronic sounds (from his PowerBook) a lot more seamlessly. Then again, I have always been a hound dog for delay. It was an epic performance, with Patrick clearly in a meditate-like state; from time to time he would turn to gain some inspiration from the visual slide show and video (film/edited by Nick Rusk). The slide-show contained a fair bit of propaganda, something I have always been interested in; take a look at this WWII anti-Nazi piece (below).

For those of you who have been playing along at home with the rainforest recording project, this is the latest effort, with the percussion part recorded and with better overall mixing.
Configurations:
Neumann U87’s in Mid Side for Piano/Piano Effects.
Rode NT4 (x/y configuration) for Cymbals.
Yamaha MX-“nugget”-204 for hard percussions (woodblocks, cabassa, shaker, tamborine, vibraslap)

Bibliography

Bitoun, Chris. “Rainforest” composed in 2006. Recorded by Jake Morris, courtesy of EMU.

Haines, Christian. "Audio Arts – Opera Singing Recording". Practical Class presented in the Electronic Music Unit, EMU space, 5th floor (Schulz Building), University of Adelaide (30/05/2006).

Haines, Christian. "Creative Computing - ProTools". Practical Class presented in the Electronic Music Unit, EMU space, 5th floor (Schulz Building), University of Adelaide (01/06/2006).

Not a real lot to report on this week. Friday I spent in the studio with composition student Chris Bitoun. I say it every week, but each time I go into the studio I end up with improved results- something which is making producing an increasingly enjoyable experience. For the first time, this week, we tried using over-dubbing to avoid bleed between the microphones. This was an idea Christian gave me during audio arts class, in which we mainly focussed on vocal recording. Using over-dubbing techniques gave me a much greater feeling of control over the recording/production of each instrument in Rainforest. Next Friday, we are going back into the studio to add violin and some percussion to the track, which at the moment only has two piano parts, as well as manual piano effects recorded. Chris and I are spending a fair bit of time with this song, firstly cause it’s a composition which he needs to hand up with a audio recording, and secondly because I’ve decided to use it for my major audio arts project. However, above the bureaucracy, it’s a sparkling composition which deserves the attention it gets and might I add that it’s quite an honour to work with Chris. I know now that we are getting to know each other much better, we have started to work much more effectively in the studio… which makes me think… These local bands who get their demos recorded and made in two or three days- the relationship between producer/band surly is not strong enough to make decent music together. Luckily I’m not stuck in this situation – I can basically spend as long in EMU as I want. Anyway, here’s rainforest (listen to the cool rain effects):



Christian was unable to make it to creative computing on Thursday, which was the first time such a thing had happen to me whilst at uni. I’ve actually often wondered what happens in this situation. Unlike high school it’s not an opportunity to take the piss out of some sorry relief teacher. Ben -I’m sure- can relate to this, lately we’ve been enjoying a bit of "undergraduate humour" (Haines, Christian).

In workshop we again listened to a range of musicians including Mr. Bungle, My Bloody Valentine and Stockhausen. Stockhausen’s work called ‘Hymnen’ (1966/67) primarily contained the instrumentation of a short-wave radio. The result was bizarre and fantastic. The idea of a sporadically tuned radio representing a nation anthem (meaning of the word ‘Hymnen’) seems quite appropriate, especially for a time when electronic music technologies, like the radio, were still a reasonably new idea. The works certainly has given me a bit of inspiration for my creative computing project.

Coming Thursday (the 27th) is mcgherkin’s performance at The Tyndall Assembly. Follow the tyndall link for more information about the show and hopefully I’ll see you there!

Bibliography

Bitoun, Chris. “Rainforest” composed in 2006. Recorded by Jake Morris, courtesy of EMU.

Haines, Christian. "Audio Arts – Vocal Recording". Practical Class presented in the Electronic Music Unit, EMU space, 5th floor (Schulz Building), University of Adelaide (18/05/2006).

Harris , David. "Music Technology Workshop – Mr Bungle, Stockhausen, My Bloody Valentine". Workshop class presented in the Electronic Music Unit, EMU space, 5th floor (Schulz Building), University of Adelaide (18/05/2006).

In the successive study of recording a variety of instruments, this week in audio arts we got around to the electric guitar. I think Christian tends to favour dynamic microphones for this, so when I headed into the studio to record the electric for myself, I used a Shure’s SM 58 and Beta57. Each of these mics I tested on/off axis, and I also placed a Neuman U-89i around 80cm back from the speaker. I did this because I wanted to know how condenser mics, with larger diaphragms handle the amplifier and also explore the benefits and disadvantages of recording general room ambiance with the electric. Click on the following to have a listen.

SM 58 on axis:


Beta 57 on axis:


I increased the gain slightly (on the mixer) for the Beta57 ‘on-axis’ take, so I apologise- this is not an entirely consistent experiment with the mics. In the ‘Beta57 take’, clearly there is a richer transient response, while more of low-frequency power in the SM 58 take. It’s hard to say whether that has anything to do with the 1000 Hz higher frequency range of the Beta57, or whether it has some to do with the change in gain levels, or maybe some religion that no one knows about, but I think that overall the Beta57 did a better job (on axis) for this style of whiney, monophonic, clean guitar line. When I soloed out the 89i in ProTool’s, I expected perhaps a little more reverb, but this wasn’t particularly the case (being in the dead room), and really the sound was not as dissimilar from the SM 58 and Beta57 as I had expected. Something I need to look into now is recording with distortion/overdrive, so any comments on this would be appreciated.

Later in the week I continued recording my ‘studies in composition’ group, using a few new ideas. For one, I used both of the sound screens in EMU, between the piano and string section, trying to reduce bleed between the mics in recording. For the string section itself, I used a Neumann KM-84i for both the cello and violin, and used a Neumann U-89i for the string section in general, which gained a little more ambience over the smaller KM-84s’. I used the Yamaha MZ-204, which I’ve nicknamed “nugget”, to record woodblocks, and finally I recording a suspended cymbal and Tamborine with Rode NT5s’. Also, with the help of a valiant and determined Luke, I got the ‘talkback’ system to work. Ultimately, this all gave me a much better recording quality than last weeks feeble attempts and I feel like I’m ready to do the Audio Arts assignment next friday. Here is Zaen Lee’s Reef:


With our look at ProTool’s in creative computing we continued to review the main functions of the program, uncovering various shortcuts along the way. Christian showed us the function of each cursor tool, with time compression/expansion crop being one of the more interesting of these. Another was the ‘random draw’ pencil tool, which apparently finds its functionality in making plug-in effects feel progressive. In the brief chance I had to make a NIN remix, I experimented with most of these tools:


The airing of Shine on you Crazy Diamond in workshop was a sheer delight, appearing on what I feel is one of Pink Floyd’s better albums (‘Wish you were here’). Songs like this I heard for the first time only years ago, and remember being shocked when I realised how profoundly they, and Pink Floyd have influenced music. The use of the synthesizer is extremely tasteful when compared with most of Pink Floyd’s contemporaries, and is so reminiscent of bands like Air or Ladytron today. The lead guitar lines in Shine on you Crazy Diamond have been at the heart of rock ever since, just think of Tool. The chordal harmonies of their rhythm guitar, as well as simple melodies, in the album’s title ballad Wish You Were Here reminds me so much of Radiohead’s ‘The Bends’ and ‘OK Computer’ era, as well as their followers like Coldplay. If The Beatles can be considered the pioneers of chordal structure as know and love it, I think then Pink Floyd are certainly their equivalent for musical texture.

Bibliography

Lee, Zaen. “Reef”. Composed in 2006. Recorded by Jake Morris, courtesy of EMU.

Christian, Haines. "Audio Arts – Recording Electric Guitar." Practical Class presented in the Electronic Music Unit, Studio 2 and Dead Room, 5th floor, Schulz Building, University of Adelaide, 9th May (2006).

Christian, Haines. "Creative Computing – Digidesign’s ProTools." Lecture presented at the Audio Lab, 4th floor, Schulz Building, University of Adelaide, 11th May (2006).

Harris, David. "Music Technology Workshop – Pink Floyd." Workshop class in the Electronic Music Unit, EMU space, 5th Floor, Schulz Building, University of Adelaide, 11th May (2006).

We’ve starting examining microphones and there application, in this week’s in Audio Arts class, so I finally don’t have to feel like I’m completely guessing when it comes to recording. In this class we considered the difference in the way higher and lower frequency sounds propagate and how this effects microphone positioning. This idea I considered last Friday when I recorded my group for the class - studies in composition. During this recording I picked up on a fair bit of new stuff about recording in general, like for instance, dynamic microphones tend to pick up all sounds in the room. Particularly the Shure SM 58’s. Also, it wears you out. I was fortunate enough in that Tyrell happened to be traversing the EMU during this recording session and he stopped to have a chat. He explained in some detail the Mid-Side technique, which uses a pair of Neumann U87 mics to record a grand piano. This is something I’m eager to try tomorrow afternoon, when I continue recording this group. Heres a ‘work in progress’ recording of composition student, Chris Bitoun’s Rainforest and my composition Outback (which is a recording ruined by stomping Aboriginals tribal dancers in Schulz level 6):

*note: the levels are really low in this rainforest take, so you might wanna turn your speakers up.

On Creative Computing’s side of the coin, we continued our look at ProTools. I learnt plenty of new things in this class, all are fundamentals of the software, like:

• Auto ‘movements’ (write, latch etc) for panning, volume, muting, effects and whatever other plug-ins.
• Use of the ‘option’ key to audition an audio file, to drag + duplicate an audio region and effects all tracks when you edit a track (ie: track size or waveform/volume view)
• Create a new 'playlist' over a track. Basically it creates a new track on top of an old one, switching the old one off. Then you can toggle between them (even on other tracks).

In the brief chance I got to test out all of these ideas, I created this mix of the Nine Inch Nails track (click on the logo). I used SoundHack, Peak and Protools for this, but I would like add that I was really only focusing on testing out what I’ve learnt in class, rather than this sonic result:

In the latest forum the music technology students were given a very interesting insight into the work of two honours students; Darin Curtis and Jasmine Ward. I find the work of both these students very fascinating and somewhat baffling. My criticism of their work however, is in its worldly application. I really fail to understand how the work of a music technology student is meant to have an effect on pollution problems, nor do I understand how it relates to complicated biological modules. I know I don’t know anywhere near enough about ‘what these people do’ to make any of these judgements. But, I wouldn’t have minded to see at least one honours student mention that, in fact, they also would like to ‘make great music.’

Bibliography

Bitoun, Christian. "Rainforest." Composed in 2006.

Morris, Jake. "Outback." Composed/Arranged in 2006.

Haines, Christian . "Audio Arts - Acoustic Guitar Recording." Practical Class presented in the EMU (5th floor of the Schulz Building), University of Adelaide, 02 May (2006).

Haines, Christian . "Creative Computing - Digidesign's ProTools." Practical Class presented in the Audio Lab (Schulz 4.07), University of Adelaide, 04 April (2006).

Curtis, Darrin . "Biological applications in Music Technology." Presentation presented in the Audio Lab (Schulz 4.07), University of Adelaide, 04 April (2006).

Ward, Jasmine. "Music Technology Vs. Pollution." Presentation presented in the Audio Lab (Schulz 4.07), University of Adelaide, 04 April (2006).