the thing about being free

.aa - week four.

I recorded a Steinway piano playing a few chords, using a Stereo pair of Rode NT5s. I opened the piano as much as possible and positioned the 'lid' to face at the windows. On the other side of the curtains were drawn.

I used this setup to get capture as much natural, reverberative recording of the upper register. From there I took the recording to my home studio and went a little crazy with granulation, delay, equalization and more reverb! I sequenced different samples over one another and EQed them both low and high. The 'hacked up' effect that granulation added brings a nice bell-like sound in this excerpt.


dreamtime.mp3


.sources.
Grice, David 25.03.08, "Outside the Square (2)," Lecture of EMU, Adelaide University.

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... and now ? "eternity."

.cc - week three.



Tonight I created a network with SuperCollider, in conjunction with some fellow students. The code we created is quite simple and pointless, however provides a grounding for an area of the language which has exciting potentials. Here I am thinking about the work of the duo Klipp Av.


CC_3.zip


.sources.
Haines, Christian 20.03.08, "Networking," Lecture of EMU, Adelaide University.

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closed eyes

.forum - week three.

John Delany’s “Chromos” stole the show this week, the piece he created with a Max/MSP patch late last year. It is a fantastic work, so congratulations to John. Delany’s ambient music is fascinating – it has a subtle “retro” quality to it while still pleasing the modern conception of ambient music. Sir Arthur C Clarke died recently, so this ‘retro ambience’ is really quite topical.

Sanad presented a piece which I quite enjoyed, the overall form was quite hap hazardous, however the musical ideas were solid and plentiful. Dave Dowling presented “the Aqua Tower,” his own Max/MSP application which requires a degree in Computer Engineering, as well as a IQ of one hundred and fifty or more to understand. Finally, Edward Kelly presented a Bidule he created which essentially allows distortion to be added to an audio stream.

I presented the Cathode Ray Tube Suite. I was pretty nervous and hence struggled to express what I wanted to and hence got more nervous (and so on). I would like to present in forum as often as possible this year to improve in this area.

.sources.

Whittington, Stephen 20.03.08, "Music Technology - Week 3," Forum of EMU, Adelaide University.

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alex mckay recording

Yesterday I recorded a jazz vocalist called Alex McKay, who was accompanied on the piano by Matthew Newton.

All The Things You Are



Everytime We Say Goodbye

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.aa - week two.

This week we looked at a microphone configuration called the Decca Tree, which is used for surround sound recording. Here it is:


example1.mp3 | example2.mp3 | example3.mp3 |example4.mp3 | example5.mp3


(Follow links for audio examples)


When I got together with my fellow music technology associates for a trail of the technique, we used a few different methods. In this first example John Delany walks around the Decca Tree setup playing an acoustic guitar. In the second example we walked around the Decca Tree talking. We then experimented with moving the microphones out from the centre about three metres and spun them around 180 degrees, to face inward. From there, we span John around in a chair in the centre (example three) and then he walked around the perimeter of large Decca Tree (example four). In the final example, we all walked around the space as randomly as possible, again talking.

In each example we wanted to test the depth that could be perceived by the Decca Tree, so we systematically varied the distance the sound source was from the Decca Tree. An example of this is in example two, in which we walked around the Decca Tree progressing toward the center of the mic array.

.sources.

Grice, David 04.03.08, "Multi Micing (2)," Lecture of EMU, Adelaide University.

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SuperCollider (2)

.cc - week two.

This week I used a few new control structures like While, For and Case. Again, download the .rtf file for more legible formatting.


week2.rtf


// 1. evaluating a input

(

var freqIn = 5; // user input pitch

if (

440 >= freqIn,
{ freqIn+"Hz is below Concert A." },
{ freqIn+"Hz is above Concert A."}

);

)

// 2. more complicated

(

var freqIn = 490; // user input pitch
var concertA = 440; // concertA

a = freqIn - concertA;
b = concertA - freqIn;

if (

concertA >= freqIn,
{ (freqIn+"Hz is"+b+"Hz below 440 Hz (Concert A).").postln },
{ (freqIn+"Hz is"+a+"Hz above 440 Hz (Concert A).").postln }

);

)

// 3. harmonics of a fundamental

(

var inputFreq = 440; // user input frequency fundamental
j = 1; //count
while (
{ j <= 8 }, { (inputFreq * j).postln; j = j + 1; } ); )

// 4. harmonics of a fundamental in an array

(

var freqIn = 440; // user input frequency fundamental

e = {

arg freq, room;

var freqContent = Array.new(room);

for (
0, room,
{
arg i;
freqContent = freqContent.add((i+1) * freq);
}

);

freqContent;
};

f = e.value(freqIn,7);

)

// 5. harmonics of a fundamental in an array that are odd numbers

(

var freqIn = 445; // user input frequency fundamental

e = {

arg freq, room;

var freqContent = Array.new(room);

for (
0, room,
{
arg i;
freqContent = freqContent.add((i+1) * freq);
}

);

freqContent.takeThese({ arg item, index; item.even; }); //remove even numbers
};

f = e.value(freqIn,7);

)

// 6. drum name to MIDI note

(

var x, y;
x = "Crash"; // user input drum name
y = case

{ x == "kick" } { x+"is the MIDI note 36."}
{ x == "snare" } { x+"is the MIDI note 38." }
{ x == "hihat" } { x+"is the MIDI note 44." }
{ x == "crash" } { x+"is the MIDI note 49." }
{ x == "ride" } { x+"is the MIDI note 51." }
{ x == "tom" } { x+"is the MIDI note 45." };

)

// 7. MIDI note number to corresponding drum

(

var x, y, z, q;
x = "45"; // user input drum name
z = "text"; //pitch class
y = case

{ x == "36" } { z = "C1" }//determine pitch class
{ x == "38" } { z = "D1" }
{ x == "44" } { z = "G#1" }
{ x == "49" } { z = "C#2" }
{ x == "51" } { z = "D#2" }
{ x == "45" } { z = "A1" };

z = case //map pitch class to corresponding name

{ z == "C1" } { "The MIDI note"+x+"is the pitch class C1, Kick Drum." }
{ z == "D1" } { "The MIDI note"+x+"is the pitch class D1, Snare Drum." }
{ z == "G#1" } { "The MIDI note"+x+"is the pitch class G#1, HiHat Cymbal." }
{ z == "C#2" } { "The MIDI note"+x+"is the pitch class C#2, Crash Cymbal." }
{ z == "D#2" } { "The MIDI note"+x+"is the pitch class D#2, Ride Cymbal." }
{ z == "A1" } { "The MIDI note"+x+"is the pitch class A1, Tom Drum." };

)

.sources.
Haines, Christian, 13.3.08 "Introduction to SuperCollider (2)," Lecture of EMU, Adelaide University.

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SuperCollider

.cc - week one.

This year I am learning SuperCollider a programming language used for digital audio processing. Learning the language is made difficult by a lack of bona fide support, however, it is possible. Download this file, it contains better formatting: week1.rtf.

// simple maths

(

var oswHa;
oswHa = { |a, b| a + b};
oswHa.value(a: 2, b: 3);

)

// more complicated

(

var swkB;
swkB = { |a, b, c, d, e, f| a + b * c / d - e ** f};
swkB.value(a: 1, b: 2, c: 3, d: 4, e: 5, f: 6);

)

// words + words

(

var isdHsd;
isdHsd = { |a, b| a + b};
isdHsd.value(a: "i", b: "am.");

)

//printing many times...

(

var asdioWdks;
asdioWdks = { |a| a.postln; a.postln; a.postln};
asdioWdks.value (a: "10000001");

)

//...using do

(

15.do{arg text; "ice age coming".postln};

)

//variables like...

(

var sjYds = 0;
while ( {sjYds < 10}, { sjYds = sjYds + 1; "negative one".postln });

)

//...or like

(

x = 0;
while ( {x < 10}, { x = x + 1; "positive one".postln });

)

.sources.
Haines, Christian, 6.3.08 "Introduction to SuperCollider," Lecture of EMU, Adelaide University.

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stereo image

.aa - week one.

In making a stereo image usually an engineer wants to create a realistic sound. The listener’s perspective and the ambience of the space are primary considerations in microphone positioning. Your microphone selection will depend more heavily on instrumentation; for solo, classical or acoustic instruments a matched pair will often capture a fuller image of the event.

Some guides exist for positioning the two microphones, including:

Coincident pair | Near-Coincident | Spaced pair


(Follow link for audio examples)


Specialist techniques like a Baffled-Omni pair and the Mid-Side configuration provide a particularly full and professional image. They are useful in solo recordings, in terms of making music they may sound cliché.

.sources.
Grice, David 04.03.08, "Stereo Micing," Lecture of EMU, Adelaide University.

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