weimerhead

Here I am updating again, which begs the question-
Just where the hell did the past seven days go?

Well, spent a bit of time making the blog look pretty for the jyotisha project. Today I spent a few hours getting a flash movie (.swf) to play within the header. If you think HTML is an idiolect then try using CSS. Anyone reading this who is interested in getting involved or has any ideas for jyotisha then send me an email and ill make you a part of the community blog so you can add your flavor!

In audio art’s Christian drew pictures detailing how to pan on a width and height plane. Quite interesting stuff indeed, cannot say I have ever thought about sound in that way before. Christian’s certainly trying to cram one thing in our heads: forget about your other futile senses, open your f_cking ears. More and more nowadays, I find myself listening; standing at the bus stop listening to the sound cars make as they cut the air on the way toward me. The higher pitch the car makes because the sound vibrations are squashed closer together and how they then sink to a lower sound when the car has past since the sound vibrations can be further apart. Sound is an interesting being.

The “3D mixing” article by Paul White has had quite an effect on the status quo of the ‘rainforest’ recording. I used his idea of using a lo-pass filter to move a sound to the background, and panned some of these narrowly of centre. I think his point on using contrast in a mix is quite a valid one, “the brain doesn’t deal in absolutes, but instead prefers to compare one thing directly with another… for something to sound upfront in a mix, something else needs to sound further away” (Paul White, Page 3).

Creative Computing’s latest chapter included discussion of the ‘gate’ effect plug-in ProTools. This allows you to trigger sounds on one track from another track’s amplitude waveform. I previously had heard this style of plug-in in music I had listened to before, and wondered what was happening. Namely, this was on Radiohead’s Lucky from “OK Computer.” Guess now I know, I might try using beach waves as the amplitude for something else.

David presented a few more of Floyd’s ‘tripped out’ stuff in the latest forum. My pick of the week indeed was Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, mmv. 1- Fast (1987). I noticed there was a bit of call & response happening in the panning of the work, this has certainly given me a couple of ideas to try out. The use of tension and release was another entertaining facet of the work. In the piece, the feeling of tension and release were really quite tangible and enjoyable.

Lastly, the day of salvation came on Saturday when I got a MacBook Pro. Anyway, time to unwind for awhile, so I will try not to update for the next few weeks during the mid-semester break. Until next time, peace out home boys and girls.

References

Haines, Christian. "Audio Arts – Mixdown Basics." Practical Class presented in the Audio Lab, 4th floor, Schulz Building, University of Adelaide, 6^th June, 2006.

Haines, Christian. "Creative Computing – Tape Techniques pt 2." Lecture presented in the Audio Lab, 4th floor, Schulz Building, University of Adelaide, 8^th June, 2006.

Harris, David. "Music Technology Listening Workshop – Steve Reich, Tristram Carey and Pink Floyd." Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, EMU space, University of Adelaide, 8^th June, 2006.

White, Paul. (November, 1994) “3D Mixing.” Sound on Sound. SOS publications.