AA1 - Week 9 - Bass Guitar

O.K. I have been here in the studio since 3 in the morning, having lots of fun recording in several different ways. At about 5 'Tools decided it couldn't back up files. It's O.K. I thought, just that deleting thing that happens in the morning, but it shouldn't delete my files as they are being used by a program. Well it didn't delete my files, but it did delete my session file. I could listen to everything in the file, but when I bounced it out there was no sound there. I spent nearly half an hour trying to make the bounce work. It wouldn't. I tried to save my Pro Tools session again, but that didn't work. I ended up exiting out of 'Tools out of frustration and thought to myself that I would just find the files in the audio files folder. I then realised the implications of this as I had been recording for the last 2 hours. I spent a while trying to find the files, but in the end I gave up. I will give you a quick run through of what I did anyway, although you obviously wont be able to listen to any of the files.









First off I did a straight DI into the avalon. This was my favourite sound as it sounded more natural than through the amp.

Secondly I did a recording with the Shure Beta52A. I hated this recording the most. It was really clicky and boomy, and although I could have got rid of the sounds, it just wasn't very nice to start with.

Next I did a recording with the AKG. I cant remember what this was like, I think it might have sounded OK though.

After this I did a recording with the Yamaha mic. Once again I can't remember what this sounded like.

My final recording was with an AKG through the Avalon, and a DI box going out of the amp into a stereo channel. This was my favourite as it had the most natural sound which still gave some of the characteristics of the amp.

Overall this was a fun, but slightly frustrating exercise for me. Being a bass player it is important for me to know how to record it well.

As a final note I would like to say a happy birthday and RIP to Chuck Schuldiner of Death and Control Denied. You were a great bloke and wrote some amazing music. RIP. \m/.

Stephen Fieldhouse. “Audio Arts”. Tutorial at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 8th May 2007.

CC1 - Week - NN19 (2)

This week we had a similar task as to last week, except this week we had to change our samples using the program called SoundHack.
I simply took all my exported regions from last week, opened them in SoundHack and applied various effects to them.

I then opened all the samplers in the NN19 in reason, automapped them and was ready to go. This week I did not need to play with the filter and oscillator as much as the sounds were already quite effected. I still did this a little bit anyway though.

My internet is going crazy right now, so I cannot upload my pictures or my sounds. I'm actually not even sure if this will post. If it does, and you are reading this I will try and fix it later tonight.

AA1 - Week 8 - Electric Guitar Recording

This week we were to record electric guitar. This was an important week to me as I will most certainly be recording a guitar for my final project.

The first recording we did was with a Neumann U89 on a slight angle pointing towards the cone set in a cardioid pattern. This recording had a quite bassy sound, and to me sounded sort of 'rocky'. You can listen to it HERE.

Our second recording was with a SM57 pointing straight at the speaker cone. This tends to make the sound less bright but stronger. This sound is more like a distorted metal sound. You can listen to it HERE.

The third recording had a U89 on an angle and a 57 pointing straight at the cone. Both were panned hard left and right respectively. I like this sound the most as it combines the brighter sound of the U89 with the stronger sound of the 57. You can listen to it HERE.

For our fourth recording we decided to do a clean guitar sound. We kept the mic configuration the same as above. I did not really like this sound as much as it was a bit too dynamic, although a tight compression could have resolved this problem. You can listen to it HERE.

The final recording was with a Sennheiser M481. This was definitely my favourite recording, as it sounds dynamic but not too dynamic, and does not accentuate either the bass or the treble too much. You can listen to it HERE.

This was a great week for me, as I have learned the best ways to mic up an electric guitar.

Forum - Week 7 - Gender and Music Technology, Can you tell the difference?

In the last week several people talked about their views on gender and music technology. The discussion got quite heated at times, so I tended to stay out of it for as much as I could. I particularly noted Dougs presentation, as although he had interesting ideas which I tended to agree with, he did not portray them as soundly as he could of, and many people did not agree at all with his views. After the general talkings (without really getting anywhere I might add) about why there arent many girls in the industry (a few people tended to stay away from this all together) Stephen dropped in with the idea of also talking about gender as a more broad term, including sexuality as well. I was also left with the quote in my head from Bjork "Choosing between men and women is like choosing between cake and ice cream." I think I can safely say I will never eat icecream cake the same again.....

CC1 - Week 7 - Sampling

For this week, we had to record a quote using a program called Orrator, create several short samples from it, and then load it into the NN19 sampler in Reason. Once loading it into reason we had to set up the samples so they could be played via MIDI keyboard as a live instrument.

I initially opened Orrator and wrote the quote in using the voice Bahh! After saving the sound file I opened it up in peak, then created several (about 8) short regions, then transported them out as separate wave files. After this I re-opened all the samples and embedded sample data inside, such as their root key and other things such as loop settings.

Next came the part which I had the most trouble with. I spent upwards of an hour trying to find a way to create my own sample bank in the NN19, but eventually gave up. Just when I was about to leave out of frustration, I found that I could delete the samples from the already loaded Acoustic Guitar sample bank. After deleting all these samples, I loaded mine in and automapped them all.

I tested the samples by pressing random buttons on the keyboard and all seemed to be going as planned. I also messed around quite a bit with the different LFO, filter and amp settings to create some weird and crazy sounds. For the first time round recording I had a bit of a practice, pretty much just pressing random keys and messing around with the different settings as I was playing. I would have liked to map the different filter settings onto the keyboard controls, but in the end I was content to simply use my mouse to change them while I was playing.













My result was a really crazy sounding piece, as I often had the LFO cranked. This was a useful exercise, and I can see how it will be quite handy for our major musique concrete piece.

You can listen to my final score HERE.

Christian Haines. “Creative Computing”. Tutorial at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 26th April 2007.

AA1 - Week 7 - Vox

This week we had to undertake the recording of different vocal techniques. I was originally going to enter into the studio with my friend and get him to do some death metal growls and grunts, but as he had to go away you will have to put up with my dodge punk vox instead.

I booked the studio, went in and set up a mic stand, a pop filter and a Neumann U89i. I decided to record two spoken quotes into the mic, one with the pop filter and one without. I decided to also record to singing parts into the same mic with the pop filter using both the hyper-cartoid and wide-cartoid patterns. The spoken quote was taken from the song Abysmal Depths are Flooded, by Xasthur. You can listen to the song HERE if you wish.

This is the first spoken quote with the pop filter.

This is the second spoken quote without the pop filter.

For the singing part I sang a line out of the song 'Never Sell Out', by The Exploited. Listen to it HERE.

This is the first recording with the U89i in the hyper-cartoid pattern.

This is the second recording with the U89i in the wide-cartoid pattern.

Note that all the recordings done with the U89i were recorded with the pop filter about 2 inches from the mic and my mouth about one inch from the pop filter.

Finally I did one more recording with a Shure SM58, as I figured this type of mic is more fitting with the genre being recorded. You can listen to it HERE.

Once I had recorded all of the parts into Pro Tools (via the avalon) I went through and EQ'd, Compressed and Reverbed them all to my liking.

Overall my favourite spoken recording was the one with the pop filter, and my favourite vocal recording was with the SM58, as the sound is much more consistent, as the mic can be kept close to the face at all times.

Stephen Fieldhouse. “Audio Arts”. Tutorial at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 24th April 2007.

CC1 - Week 7 - Pro Tools

This week we had to make yet another soundscape using Pro Tools. I can safely say that by now I was becoming slightly sick of the prospect of using our paper sounds to make songs, although the provision of a score made the task more interesting, as I was not placing sounds as randomly as before.











For this scape I used many of the techniques such as time stretching and automation effects. I was also quite keen on using the cutting tool to slice my sounds, but i could not work out how to do this, and the computer I was on lacked a Pro Tools reference guide. For the automation effects I made special use of both mute and pan. I found I came up with some interesting effects when I set the drawing tool to random and then muted a long track.

You can here my sound HERE.

Overall I was quite happy with this track and how it turned out. I am also confident that my skills with 'Tools are increasing, and I am gradually getting the knack of all the different functions.

Christian Haines. “Creative Computing”. Tutorial at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 5th April 2007.

AA - Week 6 - Acoustic Guitar Recording

This week we had to record an acoustic guitar, which was an exciting prospect as I've always wanted to know how to do this properly.

In the first recording, we had used a Neumann U89i angled up towards the sound hole. I didn't really like this sound as it was a tad bassy (which we could have fixed via roll off function on Avalon if we were using it) and it also sounded to me just a bit average.











You can listen to the recording HERE.

The second recording was with the same microphone, except this time it was pointed straight towards the frets. I didn't particularly like this sound either, to me theres was too much top end now, although there is a higher dynamic range than the first recording.










You can listen to the recording HERE.

For the third recording we once again used the U89i, except this time angled down on the guitar, I found this result sounding too similar to the first, which is not to my liking.










You can listen to the recording HERE.

For the fourth recording we once again used the U89i, except this time as a room mic. This recording once again does not sound very nice at all.










You can listen to the recording HERE.

The final recording was my favourite, and was done with two Neumann KM-84i's in the X-Y position, as you can see by the picture. To me this sound had the best and clearest dynamic range and sound.










You can listen to the sound HERE.

This was a good exercise and I have gained some good knowledge on the best ways to mic up an acoustic guitar. In the future I will most likely utilise the X-Y technique.

Stephen Fieldhouse. “Audio Arts”. Tutorial at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 3rd April 2007.

CC1 - Week 5 - Sequencing

This week we were shown several more features in Pro Tools, and were once again required to construct a song using our 'paper sounds'. I will admit i left this slightly to the last minute, as I only just started it today. The problem was all the studios were booked, and the PC lab was constantly full of classes. I managed to start my song but got kicked out after 5 minutes. Having not completed my song, I will simply post my score and planned ideas.

Blogger is not uploading images at the moment

For this track I decided to use my new skills in Pro Tools to make a dnb track. For this I started to cut up my original recording to make some new sounds suitable as a kick drum, snare and hat. I am planning on adding a few ambient sections, and also on using spear to make some crazy distorted spectral bass lines. I had a quick squiz at the plugins on Pro Tools, but when in the PC lab it seems extremely limited. I thought i might try and use Logic Pros SubBass plugin, but then I realised I don't know how to find the dongle. Maybe next time.

I will possibly now return in the early hours of the morning to complete my song, as even though it will be to late to gain marks on, I would still like to do it just for the skills involved.

Edit: I have now completed my song in the dnb style. As you can see I used a variety of different plugins, often using EQ or Ampli-Tube. I have run out of words now so you will have to deal with my pictures.

You can listen to my song here.





















Christian Haines. “Creative Computing”. Tutorial at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 29th March 2007.

AA1 - Week 5 - Microphones

For this week we had to do several recordings using different microphones to show mic techniques. I chose to use the AKG condensor mic and the Shure SM58 Dynamic mic. After arriving very early in the morning and after not much sleep, I had quite a bit of trouble sorting out recording. As I decided to record the piano, I had to use the recording space, but I couldn't get the sound from the recording space to the mixer. After an hour of trying different ways around, i decided to send the piano sound to the dead room from the recording space and then to the mixer from there.

I had to do a lot of running back and forth while playing, as I was by myself, which became quite tedious after the first time.

I would ask you to please ignore my skills on the piano (or lack thereof).
I decided not to move the mic around as this was just too much trouble by myself. I simply placed the mics in the lid and let the different patterns do their work.

This first recording was with the AKG in the Cartoid patten.

Listen to it HERE

This second recording is the same mic in the Hyper-Cartoid pattern.

Listen to it HERE

This is once again the AKG, now in the Omni-Directional pattern. With this recording especially you can hear alot more resonance sounds rather than just the piano.

Listen to it HERE

This is the final recording with the AKG, now in the figure 8 pattern.

Listen to it HERE

Finally i used a Dynamic mic, a Shure SM58, which is mainly a vocal mic. As it is usually used for close micing, and I wanted to leave the mic in the same place as the AKG, I simply turned up the trim, and also played a tad louder as well.

Listen to it HERE

Here is a picture of my Pro Tools file, just for your entertainment.








I was interested in these results, as they would be quite useful as a starting point for deciding what pattern or type of microphone to use in different situations.

Peace out yo.

Forum - Week 5 - Collaborations II

Todays forum marked the end of the discussions on Collaborations in music. Today Luke, Daniel, Darren and Alfred presented the topic.

Luke talked about a collaboration between Merce Cunningham, Radiohead and Sigur Ros. This was an interesting Collaboration, as the music was not to be made to accompany the dancers, it was seperate. I would have liked to see some kind of video footage here though so I could actually tell if the collaboration worked.

I found Daniels presentation interesting, as it was on Mike Patton, a man I had heard a bit about before, mainly through his collaborations with Dillinger Escape Plan and Sepultura. Patton has also done collaborations with countless other bands, many of which were highly successful, showing him as being a collaborator of high standard.

Darren led what was without a doubt the best presentation. An accomplished public speaker, Darren kept us on our feet for his whole presentation. Darren talked about collaborations of different music genres, most notably including Steely Dan, Frank Zappa and Weather Report.

Alfred talked about Vinyls and how they are so hard to get these days, which led to how hard it is to get a name for yourself as an artist, which eventually led into a more ethical discussion about music rights.

Overall these last to forums were quite interesting, although I am slightly sceptical about what results the gender in music technology will yield…

Slán go fóill.

Stephen Whittington. “Collaborations II”. Forum workshop presented at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 29th March 2007.

Alfred Essemyr. “Collaborations II”. Forum workshop presented at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 29th March 2007.

Darren Slynn. “Collaborations II”. Forum workshop presented at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 29th March 2007.

Luke Digance. “Collaborations II”. Forum workshop presented at EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia. 29th March 2007.

CC1 - Week 4 - Creating a Song

This week we were to use our previous paper samples to make an ambient song. I was looking forward to this assignment, because finally I could jump on to 'tools and learn how to make my own music.

One of the harder aspects of this week though, was to make a 'score' of the song, although not in the conventional way. We had to literally score the sound using what made the sound – paper. This could have been interpreted many different ways. One example would be to have a ripped piece of paper where there is the sound of ripped paper, or scrunched where there is scrunched and etc. but as the majority of my sounds were no longer recognisable, I decided to represent the piece following a more spectral base.

As you can see I have labelled the parts to give you a better understanding of what is happening. Just for fun try and follow the score while you listen to the music J. The song can be found here.

Although I managed to complete this exercise, I am still having massive troubles in studio 2, but I will hopefully rectify that soon.

Hit us up and tell us what you think.

AA1 - Week 4 - I/O and Monitoring

In this session we learnt about the process sound goes through whilst recording. This included how it gets from the recording space, to the mixer and then to the computer. The following flow chart shows how the sound gets where.

As you can see from here, after the sound leaves wall bay (junction box) it goes to the patch bay. A patch bay is basically one of those things the old telephone operators used, and simply patches the sound to a different place, or in a different order. This can include patching in effects or EQ/compression. There are three ways a patch bay can be configured. Normalised, half normalised and not normalised. This has got to do with how the patch bay is wired up, for example normalised means the signal goes straight from the in to the out through the hardware, even if you connect one patch lead into either in or out, although if you plug a lead into both in and out (i.e. out to EQ back in to bay) the new signal will flow through. Half normalised is similar to normalised, but you can interrupt the signal, say just taking it out to another place, and the signal will no longer flow through the patch bay but out to where you patched it. If a patch bay is not normalised you physically have to patch it in yourself.

I am still not 100% if this process is correct though, so I shall review the session again soon.