AA1 - Week 2 (3) - Session Planning and Management

I have decided after much debate to revolve my plan around the American death metal band called Nile. “Nile is a brutal/technical death metal band from South Carolina, USA assembled in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian mysticism, history, religion and art.” ^1. Nile contains three permanent members, Karl Sanders on lead vocals, lead guitar and additionall instruments; Dallas Toller-Wade on guitar and backup vocals; and George Kollias on drums. For recording purposes they would have Karl playing the bass. As many of Nile's songs have different samples/instruments, i have chosen to base my plan on the song User-Maat-Re, off the Annihilation of the Wicked Album.

Equipment List:

• Karl Sanders: ²
• Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 heads
• Marshall 1960 a/b cabs with 70 watt celestions
• Dallas Toller-Wade
• Unable to find any information, so I will assume he uses a similar amp to Karl.
• George Kollias ³
• Drums
  22"x17" (x2) Kicks
  8"x7" Tom
  10"x8" Tom
  12"x9" Tom
  13"x10" Tom
  14"x14" Floor tom
  16"x16" Floor tom
  14"x6,5" George Kollias Signature Snare
  12"x5,5" SP Snare

• Cymbals
  AAX Stage Hats 14"
  Signature Max Splash 7"
  AAX Metal Ride 20"
  HHX Evolution Mini Chinese 14"
  AAXtreme Chinese 17"
  AAX Dark Crash 17"
  Hand Hammered China Kang 8"
  AAX Splash 10"
  AAX Dark Crash 17"
  AA Mini Hats 10” (half open)
  AA Mini Hats 12" (closed)
  AAXplosion Crash 18"
  HHX Evolution Chinese 18"
  AAXtreme Chinese 19"
  AAX Metal Ride 22"
  AAX Stage Hats 13"

4. George Kollias Kit

Session Plan

As I have used so many tracks on the drums (if it were up to me I would have a lot more due to the size of the kit) I would record them separately with the bass player playing just loud enough for the drummer to hear, so I can get the best sound as possible from the kit, with as little spill from other instruments as possible. I decided not to use room drum mics, as the drums are fast and technical, and need to be as precise as possible. After this I would record the two guitars together, with them playing to the drum recording. I would then re-record the bass this time with a mic and DI so as to get no spill from the drums. Finally I would record the two vocal parts separately in the dead room, followed by any other instrumented parts, such as the Bozouki or Saz. If it was needed for some reason, at this stage I would also re-record the drums.

The following is a preview of the song as recorded on the Annihilation of the wicked album.

User-Maat-Re

1 Nile, accessed 7/03/07, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_%28band%29

2 FAQ, accessed 7/03/07, http://www.nilechat.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7707

3 Set-up, accessed 8/03/07, http://www.georgekollias.com/

4 Pictures, accessed 10/03/07, http://www.georgekollias.com/gallery/kollias_gear_4.jpg

Forum - Week 1 - Intro

In the first of the music tech forums for the year, we all introduced ourselves and were told a basic outline of what we would do throughout the year. We are basically going to watch several seminars from the teachers, and will then host our own seminars on pre-decided topics. I am slightly unsure about the topics though, although this is mainly with the gender in music technology seminar. I can see no reason why this topic needs to be discussed, as it seems obvious that the gender of the producer would not have an impact on the record. I am also slightly confused by my topic, “To build or to destroy?” – Construction and Deconstruction in Music, although I am sure I will work out what this means in due time.

In the forum we also had interesting talks about a couch, but that is all I will say on that topic, peace out for now.

CC1 - Week 1 - Basic Overview

In our first lesson of CC, we did what we did in every first lesson, we went through a basic outline/aim of the course. Unlike most of the other initial lessons though, we actually got through some material, which was talking about DME systems (Desktop Music Environment). We talked about the two levels of a DME, the software level, and the hardware level (the hardware level is controlled by the software level).

We also discussed the operating system used on the computers here, which is OSX 10.4, or Tiger. We were shown how to access the AMS (Audio MIDI Setup), and in general how you would go about creating a MIDI system.

We also ran through some basic terms like the buffer, and how it is possible to change it to solve various audio problems.

This week we were meant to do our blog on a group task of creating a MIDI network, but as the computers were down, this task was not really feasible, so I will simply leave this blog at having said what we went through in the lesson.

Peace out.

AA1 - Week 1 - Facilities introduction

In our very first session of Audio Arts, we were initially taken through the basic course outline and what was expected during the year. Following this, we were given a quick lesson on basic studio etiquette, such as how to roll up various leads correctly, and were also given a few tips, such as to make sure that a boom stand is not touching the floor, but is using only its three feet. On top of these basic tips and a quick tour, I have also informally taken myself on a tour of the EMU. We were also drilled with several general EMU rules, which are as follows.

1. Mobiles phones are to be off at ALL times.
2. No food/drinks anywhere in the EMU areas, except the kitchen.
3. Always completely pack up the studio areas when you are done.

On top of this we were given a general OHS outline, such as to not lift anything too heavy for you, how to lift objects (bend your knees), and to not touch anyone who is slumped over, due to the possibility of electrocution. We were also advised to not leave any leads suspended in the air, as a precaution against tripping, which could cause both injury and expensive hardware damage.

The facilities involve the main recording area; studio 1, which is the primary recording studio; studio 2, which are adjacent to this main area and studio 5, which is the primary interactive studio. Studio 5 contains an electronic drum kit (which could be used to record both audio and MIDI) a MIDI controller keyboard and a hardware synthesiser. There is also a dead room, which is used to record vocals and any isolated recording, a storeroom, and a kitchen.

One of the major problems with the EMU studio is the dance floor which is located directly upstairs, although I have not personally heard the extent of the noise, I can imagine it could be quite disruptive to a recording session. A possible solution to avoid this problem would be to post a timetable of dance sessions in the EMU office.

I would also be quite concerned with the possibility of someone walking in on the recording session, say if they go to come in, and the light is on, they leave and come back in an hour, and the light is still on, they might just walk right on though, thinking you may have just forgotten to switch it off, which could be quite hazardous to a recording. This could possibly be fixed by setting up a link from the computer, so that when you are in recording mode, the light goes on, but when you are not, the light goes off, although I have no idea if such technology exists.

I am really excited to actually get into the studio and see for myself what the acoustics of the dead room and the main EMU space are like, and also to familiarise myself with the hardware and software located throughout EMU.

Until next time.

Nathan Shea

¹ Studio 1, Accessed 5/3/07, http://www.emu.adelaide.edu.au/resources/guides/spaces/studio.1

² Studio 5, Accessed 5/3/07 http://www.emu.adelaide.edu.au/resources/guides/spaces/studio.5