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Journal - Week 12 Mechanics of Mixing

This week's class looked at mixing, and how it is used to create a balance between all of the elements of a track.

Elements 1. Frequency range 2. Dynamics

How could you use this mixing element to communicate creative intent in your work? Frequency range: By adding or subtracting EQ on the different elements of a track we can add more warmth, or shine, or even remove unwanted frequencies to clean up the track's overall sound. This technique can also be used to place elements further away or closer to the listener's ear. Dynamics: Changing the volume of different elements of a track can give a great effect and bring more attention to an instrument or part of the song, it can also create subtle changes in the music's volume that create more of a personal connection for the listener, to feel more engaged with the tracks acoustic sounds.

What tools would you use to do so? Frequency range: The EQ process is best handled in Ableton with the EQ Eight plugin.

Dynamics: Dynamics can be changed with faders or the Gain plugin, and also automation, which is a very handy tool to use. Compressors can be used to change the dynamics of elements as well, giving her mixer more control over where elements sit in the stereo and reverb space.

END WEEK 12 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 11 Dynamics

The journal prompt for this week's class looks at compression.

What Sound did you compress? For this task, I compressed a short midi drum loop in Ableton.

What impact did the compression have on the sound? By bringing the threshold down the sound became quiter, but was more even, and with a faster release there was more room sound. With a fast attack and release, I could hear even more of the reverb that had been applied to the loop. Then with a slow attack and slow release, the loop became more punchy.

Why is compression an important tool in music production?  When applied correctly it can be used to make subtle changes to sounds and instruments to give more control of where the sound sits in the mix, to either put something way up front or way back in the background. It can also help bring out sweet spots in instruments and sounds.

END WEEK 11 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 10 MIDI

This week's class looked at Midi, and how it is used inside of DAWs, and for the prompt we had to create a midi drum beat and then record a non-Midi instrument over the drums.

For this exercise, I created a beat using Ableton session view, which I haven't done before, and it was awesome. To do this I went online and found a tutorial to get things started. I used an 808 kit and created 3 different beats, the only difference in each beat was the congo drum sound was high, medium, and low respectively.

I then recorded the beats in session view and played around with the Overdrive knob, delay knob, and Saturation to create different sounds, some subtle, others more present.

Then I recorded a djembe over the Midi drums, I used 2 mics on the djembe, a SM57 and my new Rode NT 1 5th Generation condenser mic. The SM57 was placed at the bottom hole of the drum, and the Rode condenser was placed lower to the ground to pick up any extra bass, and back by about a meter, to pick up some of the room. The SM57 worked really well, and I got a good bass response with it.

I enjoyed this exercise a lot and got to use session view in Ableton for the 1st time, and now understand a bit more of its full potential.

END WEEK 10 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 9 Music Production

Why is collaboration a valuable part of Music production?  

I think the art of collaboration in music production is an evolving and changing thing, that has been happening since around the 1980's. It's a very important part of the music industry as well, and helps musicians improve their craft, and think in ways they would not normally do. Hit songs on the radio these days have now been created by groups of sometimes up to 10 people, and they all get their own little cut, so that's one way things are going at the moment, but also artists having ghostwriters and even singers for their live performances, Rhianna, for instance, has a guide vocalist. These are the trends driving the industry at the present moment, so who knows where it will be in the next 5 years, only time will tell, but I think AI will definitely have something to do with it.

The assessment collaboration project was very helpful in understanding what things can be like in a studio production setting, and I absorbed a lot of cool things that can happen on a collaboration project. 1st was the constructive feedback on hand, different perspectives, and also outside ideas, that can take your work to the next level. 2nd was having multiple sets of ears, so other people might pick up things happening in the track, or in the mix ,that on your own, may miss the 1st time around. Another aspect was a helping hand setting stuff up, doing sound checks, and not having to do things that take you away from your performance.

Overall I think tracking a song with other people there to help, or give input, is much more constructive than trying to do it all on your own.

END WEEK 9 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 8 Music Production

For this week's prompt we have been directed to create a list of 10 words that could be used to describe the quality/texture/timbre of a range of sounds, and also supply a definition for each one. 

Papery - this is a description of what a snare drum can sound like, usually a wooden snare tuned to medium pitch.

Fat - This is a word used to describe the sound of a bass drum, and also a bass guitar, or usually applied to instruments playing the lower end of the spectrum.

Wooden/Woody - Usually woodwind instruments, but also toms on a drum kit.

Shrill - can be cymbals, but also instruments occupying the top end of the Spectrum.

Hollow - Toms on a drum kit, or something being hit that is hollow.

Scratchy - Usually the sound when the record needle hits the vinyl, but also a percussive-sounding instrument.

Metallic - hitting a metal object, or bowed sound.

Echoey - a sound that has lots of reverb and delay on it.

Glitchy - usually a digital-sounding percussive element, that is scratchy in nature.

Muddy - Part of a mix that has to many bass tones overlapping..

Meatface - a section of a heavy metal song that really makes you want to jump into the mosh pit.

END WEEK 8 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 6 Music Production

For this week's exercise, I have chosen to sit in the food court at my local shopping centre.

What information can you ascertain about the size, shape, and density of the space from listening? With sounds coming from all directions, and lots of echoes, it definitely sounds like the room has a really high ceiling, and lots of hard surfaces, I can hear people's sneakers squeaking on the floor as walk past. I can't hear many subfrequencies or low-end sounds, maybe because I'm not near the road, there is also a radio playing in the background that isn't echoing, they may have put the speakers in the ceiling with acoustic treatments so they don't echo too much. There is never any silence either, so the sound just keeps on going, there is also some construction happening with a drill.

How do the sounds around you behave in the space? They are bouncing around all over the place, but more so the higher frequencies, with so many hard surfaces the reverb in here is really spacious. There is also a spoken message that has plenty of echo to it, that must be because it has to be loud enough for everyone to hear, taking into consideration that the music isn't as loud because we don't need to hear it as much. Overall the sound in here is not as loud as you would expect, I think there has been acoustic planning in the design of this food court.

How would you describe the reverberation in the space? It's massive, so not as big as a stadium, but bigger than a church. All of the surfaces in this space are very hard, so tiled floors, hard wooden tables and chairs, a giant dome feature in the middle of the room with wooden surfaces, and hard ceilings as well, there is heaps of reverb in this space. The reverberation in here is extreme, and happening most in the mid to high frequencies. The room itself is very big, so maybe 100m x 60m, and the ceiling is high as well, but the reverb in here sounds like it is controlled, maybe with some acoustic planning.

I have added some photos so you can get a better idea of the space

END WEEK 6 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 5 Music Production

For this week's task, I chose "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House, which was released in Australia in Oct of 1986 as the 4th single from their self-titled album, and one of their biggest worldwide hits.

Are there things about the song that you listened to this time that you have not noticed before? If so what are they? The first thing I'm noticing is the amount of reverb and chorus on the guitar in the intro, then the reverb on the drums, especially the snare, he is playing a rim shot but the sound is huge. Then there is the amount of reverb and delay on the vocals, there are also some harmony vocal layers in the chorus and when he says "When the World comes in" I can hear a vocal panned to the right, it's also amazing how clear everything is. Then I can hear a keyboard solo after the second chorus that I have never really noticed before, and also sections of the guitar solo seem to stand out to me more as well. The bass is sitting perfectly in the mix, and I can hear some percussion I have not heard before that happens in the second verse at the end of each lyrical line, but becomes more prominent again in the middle 8, and then in the 3rd verse, it is even more present in the mix. The vocal layering in the chorus again is quite amazing, and then also more vocal layering for the outro, this is such a good song. Can you describe each instrument in relation to where it fits into the frequency spectrum? For my EQ description, I'll start at the low end and move my way across to the high end. First would be the kick drum and bass guitar, then the guitar, keyboard, and toms. Then we start to hear the vocal and cymbals. The Kick drum and bass would sit in the low-end area from 30 - 150Hz, then the guitar, keyboard and toms in the mid area from 150 - 5kHz, and then vocals and cymbals in the high area, from around 2K - 10K.

END WEEK 5 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 4 Music Production

WEEK 4: MICROPHONE TYPES 

For week 4's exercise, I will use the recordings I made for Songwriting Assessment 1. It is a song I originally wrote for Songwriting week 2's exercise, but for the assessment, I made changes that other students and Andy recommended to improve the song's impact. The song consists of 2 tracks, one track being the acoustic guitar, and 2nd track the vocal. For the recording, I used 2 different mics that I have from my last band that were used to mic up my Djembe drum for live performances, an SM57 that apparently has a little damage to its top end, (which I will have to do a comparison with at some point as well), and the second mic is a cheap Chinese knock off condenser that I scored off eBay for $20. So for recording my acoustic guitar, I used the SM57, it sounded quite warm/coloured in the low end, and when soloing the track I do think I could hear some damage to the top-end's clarity. I also used my Focusrite Scarlette 2i2 for the recording and had the "Instrument" and "Air" buttons activated while tracking. It was easy to get the gain level for the guitar just right and took a couple of takes to get the guitar track I wanted. For the vocal track, I used the Chinese condenser mic, which required phantom power, I also had the air button activated on the Focusrite. I think for the vocal recording I may have had the gain level a little too hot, so when I listened back to the recording I could hear a lot of background hiss, and the track gain level peaked into the red a couple of times as well. One thing that did sound good was the bridge into the 2nd chorus, because it was semi-spoken word, that hotter level made the closer micing work. In comparing the 2 mics against each other I think I liked the SM57 better than the cheap Condenser, it seemed to cut out unwanted hiss and had a nice EQ curve/colouring. The cheap Condenser did sound ok on its own as well, with a very clear top and bottom end, its EQ curve felt a little flatter than the SM57, but nice to have mics to compare. Do you think the recording worked? Yes, I am pretty happy with the overall outcome of this performance, I did track the guitars and vocals separately, and to a click track, which I have not attempted before, and not having to do much mixing to get the levels right was a bonus as well. I did do a 2nd mix of the track for you, doubling up the vocals in the second chorus. I hope you like it.

END WEEK 4 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 3 Music Production

For Week 3's exercise, I used my Excelvan Studio Condenser (Chinese knock-off) to record myself playing my djembe, which is a 14-inch Mahogany wood African drum, with a synthetic head. I also recorded the session with my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, with the Air button activated. The first recording at a gain level between -16db and -10 db sounded bright and crispy, with lots of slap coming from the drum head. There wasn't much bass tone in the mix as I would have had to place the mic nearer to the bottom of the drum, but enough to have ample bass signal to EQ at a later point. The next recording at -5db lost some of the lower frequencies but also cleaned up those lower frequencies a little as well. Taking the level down by -5db only made a small change in the overall volume of the track, but enough to change some of the characteristics. The next recording takes the level down another -5db, so a decrease of -10db in total, and when compared to the first track I feel would have less information to use for Equalization, still having the same characteristics, and even sounding a little clearer again, but not feeling as close to the instrument as the other 2 tracks. I think even though the 1st track recorded at optimal level did have unwanted overtones that were not present as much in the lower level recordings, we can still EQ out those unwanted tones, so we have more control over the sound, and more audio information from the instrument to be used in post-production mixing.

PHOTO OF CHINESE MICROPHONE

END WEEK 3 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 2 Music Production

For this exercise I have chosen to add 2 bands that I feel inspire me as a songwriting musician, the reason being I would like to draw from both their styles and create something in between. The 1st band has been around for ages and I have heard of them briefly, but never listened to any of their catalogue, until a couple of weeks ago, when I stumbled onto their sound and found that it really resonates with how I want to sound with my own music. Their sound is a little different in that it has quite heavily distorted guitar and bass, but with clean vocals, also, the heavy guitars will also occupy major sounding movements, which is what I like, keeping it little bright instead of dark and gloomy minor scales all the time. His lyrical content is quite dramatic as well, with lots of religious undertones and themes, for or against I can not tell just yet, but I think it works really well in an approach to the dark and the light with in us all.

The second band I find inspiration from is the Smashing Pumpkins, their very raw sound, with rocking drums,guitars, and bass, as a band all work very well together. Also, the way Billy Corgan "sings", he doesn't care if his vocals sound a little different, and or what they are about, and his songwriting style, the grungy guitars with heaps of guitar solos and licks. Also, his use of vocal layering, string sections, and orchestrating all working inside the grunge moniker I think is awesome. I think the music that I hope to create will mostly be played by myself, so basic guitar, drums, bass, vocals, but when it comes to adding orchestration, the Smashing Pumkins is definitely the 1st place I will go for inspiration.

END WEEK 2 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01

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Journal - Week 1 Music Production

The song I have chosen for my Week 1 blog is Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night, being the title track from their 1987 album, Tango in the Night.

This track is very dark and ethereal, and very spacious, with the instrument parts being very intentionally recorded into where they appear spacially in the mix, creating an amazing song. It begins with a keyboard panned to the right, then what sounds like a harp, a banjo or mandolin ostinato underneath it, the main male vocal, and a xylophone repeating a phrase as well. All instruments are panned in different locations left and right, creating a very large and spacious sounding atmosphere, with the vocals being the main sound event. Rhythmically the drums don't come in until around the 40-second mark, giving the song's intro a very dramatic lift, and weight, there is also some click sticks that appear in the background, at around 20 sec that remain throughout the song and play the rhythm part when the main drums drop out, holding everything together. The drums in this song are massive, so little saying so much,initially exaggerating the pre-chorus while bringing the rest of the song to life when they drop out, to only come back in again giving lift and rise to the sections they appear in throughout the song. Instruments list... Keyboard Banjo Click Sticks Xylophone Harp Drumkit Guitar and Bass The 1st 30 sec's of this track is very soft and delicate sounding with the harp and xylophone bringing the vocal to life, this delicate sound is then consumed by Mic Fleetwoods massive drum sound, sending the track into a soaring chorus highlighted by stabbing bass and guitar tracks, the intro being soo soft and delicate gives so much room for the drums to fill the acoustic space in such a way that creates as much dramatic effect as possible.

Thanks Mic, love your work.

END WEEK 1 JOURNAL MUSIC PRODUCTION 01