Thursday, December 10, 2009

I'm sold on Blogging!

I'm sold on blogging.

What I didn't realize about blogging until I did it, is that it's a very self-indulgent experience. And who doesn't like some self indulgence from time to time?

Until recently, the publishing of “works” was typically reserved for people with credibility, but now everybody can do it, including me.

It's not necessary, but it's still pretty special when someone you know has read your work, and it's really cool when it can become a conversation piece.

It's not easy to write all the time, and really hard to be consistently interesting. So blogging has helped put that into perspective as well.

The MP3 file is your parent's digital audio format

The MP3 file is as old as the Bangles, the soap opera Dallas, and the first Friday the 13th movie.

I just did a bunch of research for a pretend essay that would compare and contrast the MP3 file to the CD. I've never been a fan of the MP3 and this research gave me even more reasons to believe that there are much better alternatives to what is now deemed "the worldwide standard" for music consumption (ISO 1991).

When people think about CD's they often associate them with the 80's. Well I got news for you, the audio compression technology that was first developed, and essentially resulted in the creation of the MP3 file, started in the 80's. You can now start associating the MP3 file with the already lengthy list of 80's memories, that includes hair metal, guitars that shoot lighting bolts out of the end, and cheesy mustaches, just to name a few. The point is that the MP3 is just as out of date as CD's are.

Let me be clear... I am all for the creation of the digital audio file. I do, however, take exception to the fact that the MP3 is the most popular type.

Technology has evolved to the point where it's not a burden for people to use uncompressed wave files (PCM), even for P2P sharing. If downloading wave files is inconvenient because it takes too much time, FLAC (stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an excellent alternative.

FLAC encoding technology compresses audio files using a “lossless” method that renders the file smaller, but without audio degradation. I believe it compresses the files at a 6:1 ratio, whereas an MP3 is compressed at a 10:1 ratio (and is not truly stereo separated). FLAC just sounds way better than MP3, and it's almost half the size of an uncompressed Wave file. To put that into perspective: a 4 minute song in MP3 format compressed at a sample and bit rate of 44.1-128 is approximately 5 megabytes (MB) in size. Which means that the Wave file is around 50 MB and the FLAC file would be around 8 MB.

Glaven!

I know most people can't tell the difference between MP3 files, CD's, or Wave files, but most people can't tell the difference between the "handling" of a BMW and a Buick, but that doesn't mean there isn't one, and that we shouldn't all want to drive BMW's if we could... Okay, so that's a terrible analogy. I don't even want a BMW.

The point is that, so long as you agree that the available technology makes downloading FLAC files just as convenient as MP3 files, than it serves to reason that the worldwide standard should be the newer, better technology.

In case you're not convinced about the FLAC file yet, this might help. FLAC is an open source file format, which means that you don't have to pay licensing fees to use it. So if you wrote a piece of software that has an audio component to it, you could use the FLAC source code and codecs without having to pay for it, and it's totally legit. OGG VORBIS is another example of an open source file format, and it too sounds better than MP3.

The MP3 was developed by a company called Fraunhofer (in conjunction with AT&T), and any company that has MP3 encoding technology built into the core of the product has to pay licensing to Fraunhofer (EG: Microsoft Windows, Apple operating systems, Pro Tools, Adobe Audition, essentially any application that can trans-code to and from the MP3 format etc...).

So even at a developmental level the FLAC file makes more sense. I hope that consumers smarten up and demand a higher standard of audio enjoyment. In this case, we can have both the convenience of digital audio (compact, portable, liquid), without sacrificing sonic quality.

I'm sure most people still don't care, cause they are listening to The Pussycat Dolls, and who the hell wants to listen to that in high fidelity?

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Matthew Good Show Review

Matthew Good

Saturday November 21, 2009

Burton Cummings Theatre


Matthew Good keeps banter and frills to a minimum and lets tunes from his new album do the talking.

Good rolled into town to perform at the Burton Cummings Theatre on November 21st with his band, comprised of guitarist Stuart Cameron, drummer Blake Manning and bass player Milos Angelov, in support of his latest CD, Vancouver.

The band took the stage at 8:30 PM sharp, and without so much as a greeting to the sold out crowd at the Burt, Good grabbed an acoustic guitar and began strumming the opening riff to the title track from his 2003 release, Avalanche.

The band performed a seamless transition from the melodic Avalanche to On Nights Like Tonight, an equally down-tempo and melodic track from his latest album. Blake Manning's backup vocals provided an added layer to the choruses of the tracks, helping to fill the void left by the missing keyboards that accompanied Good during his last performance at the Burt in June 2008.

Picking the level of energy up just slightly, Good switched to electric guitar and rocked through two more songs from his latest CD; Great Whales of the Sea and A Boy Who Could Explode. A third of the way into the set, he finally addresses the crowd with a humble, “How's everybody doing?”

The band kicked in to the uptempo radio hit, Born Losers, from the 2008 album Hospital Music, but continued with songs from their latest album; prompting some fans to holler requests for older songs, some dating back as far as 1995. Although be didn't oblige immediately, fans seemed happy to hear new tracks like Fought to Fight, and Silent Army in the Trees, which are reminiscent of Good's more anthem like tracks that helped propel his career.

After performing an extended version of the sombre track, Black Helicopter, the band switched gears to round out the set with a good mix of upbeat tracks both new and old, like Last Parade, Apparitions, Weapon and Volcanoes. The band returned to the stage for an encore, and performed the songs Giant, Us Remains Impossible and Empty's Theme Park.

Good's voice was powerful and captivating and showed no sign of strain, despite years of smoking and frequent throat issues; one of which involved a surgical procedure to remove a node from his throat. The band sounded tight, adding extended intros and outros to a few songs throughout the set.

Good's introverted on stage demeanor reflects the struggles he has had in recent years in his personal life, including a breakdown that landed him in a psychiatric institution and a split from his wife. Any other behavior from the self-described pessimist might seem contrived to his devout fans.

The biggest reaction Good received from the crowd of 1642 was at the end of the encore when he faced the crowd and applauded. The sincere gesture inspired the crowd into one last cheer before he disappeared behind a black curtain at the side of the stage.

Vancouver band, Mother Mother, opened up the night with their brand of dance-pop. The band performed a high energy set that included their latest single O My heart, the title track from their 2009 release.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Twitter: Not in my top 6, yet...

I'm still trying to decide if Twitter actually offers an alternative way for people to get information about people or things they are interested in. For years, people and companies that are worth "following" have had websites. There is also usually a ton of information about important people and topics published online by unofficial websites. So what's Twitter's USP?

As far as I can tell, it's the immediacy of receiving information. It's much easier to send a tweet than to update a website or wiki-page. Immediacy of transmitting information is something that until recently, radio was best known for.

Of course, the big problem with Twitter, unlike radio, is accountability. Where is the information coming from? There have been a few instances where imposters have used Twitter to slander or tarnish the reputation of important people; Chef Michael Smith for instance. Radio, however, uses typical journalistic practices to report on information, so people can generally trust it more.

I imagine that as Twitter progresses, administrators will improve the process by which they screen users, and in turn that might improve the quality and reliability of information that "followers" receive.

I have noticed that my group of friends have not embraced Twitter to the degree that they have embraced Facebook. But I think the services are quite different, so I'm not even sure it's relevant to compare the two.

When I boot up a web browser, like most people, I have a hit list of at least a half a dozen websites that I check routinely. I won't really give Twitter props until it can crack my top 6.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

How my rock band changed Canadian law... sort of.

I was standing at my bus stop in front of the MTS center today and I saw a nice young lad putting up a poster on a pole. His technique was ok: he was using allot of tape and he was sure to cover the tops and bottoms of the posters (preventing edges from being exposed; edges that make ripping down posters quite easy). I remember when I was a poster rookie, and I used tape to fasten posters to poles. That was until I learned a more effective and somewhat more asinine method.

When my former rock band, the Velvet Pill, did a tour of southern Ontario, we brought along hundreds of posters. The posters were generic enough that they included a picture of the band and our website, but left a portion at the bottom completely blank so we had space to fill in specific concert information for each city/town.

We made our way east, through Dryden, Thunder Bay, North Bay, Ottawa and eventually ended up in Toronto. As soon as we got to town, we hit up Queen Street to start promoting our shows. A couple band members were in charge of bringing flyers to the two venues we were playing at later in the week, and the rest of us set off to put up posters.

We put up nearly 100 posters in the first day we there; which is an impressive feat even for experienced posterers (it’s my word, back off!).

The next day we went downtown to get a coffee and noticed that all of our posters had been taken down already. Even though we likely used a half a dozen rolls of tape, the posters were gone!

Later that day, while reapplying posters to essentially the same places we targeted the previous evening, we ran into a fellow who gave us a sound piece of advice: “You should use wallpaper compound, those damn things will never come down,” he suggested.

Still feeling pretty pissed off about having all of our posters ripped down, we drove to Mississauga immediately to find a hardware store that sold this mystifying compound. Sure enough, we found the stuff; it was a powder compound that simply needed to be mixed with water. Now we were rally excited to get postering. At this point, we didn’t even care about promoting our show; we just wanted to redeem ourselves.

So we spent the rest of that evening postering (and pub hopping, along Queen and Jarvis… cuz that’s what you do when you’re a naïve rock-star-wannabee and you’re in the T-Dot for good times). The technique worked great. Not only was it easier to apply posters to pretty much everything, but the posters were practically plastered to the poles… you’d need a steamer to get them down. We certainly felt a sense of redemption; and we had a shit load of that compound left over too.

The rest of our tour took us to London, Hamilton, Sudbury, back to Toronto (for reasons I won’t explain here) and then eventually back to Thunder Bay.

Our second stay in Thunder Bay on this tour was an extended one. You see, in order for us to be able to tour accross the country as an original rock band, we had to play covers in certain towns (usually for 3 or 4 day stints), in order to be able to eat, buy gas and shelter. On this particular tour, we were scheduled to play the Inn Towner as Pelvic Thrill (the cover band) from Thursday to Sunday (that’s not a typo, it’s a four day gig and Sunday is the big night at the Inn Towner). Our Velvet Pill show was scheduled for Tuesday night at the Apollo (God bless your hearts, the Apollo).

That meant that, aside from sitting in on classes for free at Lakehead University (which Jer and I did), or checking out Centerfolds (which Guy, Jon and Doug did), we had ample time to put up posters.

For those of you who are not familiar with Thunder Bay, Ontario, it’s not a big town. One might even say that it’s a small town.

We began postering the first day we got into town. This was the last show on the tour, so we figured that we would use up the rest of our posters. We figured that because Thunder Bay was so small, if we put up a ton of posters our band’s name would become a household one, and that eventually we would conquer T-Bay and then the world.

About a month after we returned home from said tour, we got an email from a town resident. It was an email informing us that as a result of our insane postering, a law had been passed that prohibited bands from putting up posters in public places, other than the pre-designated spots.

I’m sure they wanted to sue our asses, or at least put us in jail, but without a law in place, they had no book to throw at us (other than the T-Bay constitution; which I think only has one rule, and that is “you can’t kiss your sister on Sundays”… which they all break religiously).

As stupid and naïve as this sounds to me now, I was actually pretty proud. It was somehow an accomplishment that we had littered the town with hideous posters, creating such an eye soar for the people who actually had to live there.

The next time we played Thunder Bay, we played the Apollo and there was roughly 5 people there, including the bartender. Our super-awesome-shitty marketing campaign was clearly a flop… but I sure have a cool story to tell!!!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

CreComm Hamper Drive Begins

To borrow a quote from the Christmas Cheer Board Website: "We would like to invite you to an exciting and personal approach to Christmas giving."


If you are a Creative Communications student at Red River College (whatever year) and you want to help feed a family at Christmas, here is your chance.


This year, not unlike previous years, CreComm students are sponsoring a family through the Winnipeg Christmas Cheer Board's hamper program.


We need your help!


We've got a box setup at the CreComm office (W302 Princess Street campus) where you can drop off non-perishable food items that are needed to fill the hamper.


There will be a list of items that are required located at the item drop spot, and we have provided a list on a Facebook group (below).


Both lists will be updated regularly as the hamper fills up.


We are going to kick start the effort by pledging our commitment to taking care of all the required perishable foods for the hamper (we doubt that the instructors and administrators want to work in an office with rotting milk, eggs and turkey and chicken carcasses).


Please pass this along to all of your CreComm friends. We only have until mid December to fill up the hamper.


Here is the list:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?v=info&gid=199263257632

Friday, November 13, 2009

Whether or not to use in-line compression or EQ

I can't count the number of times I've heard from music geeks that you should never use in-line compression when you are recording. There is a good argument to back up this suggestion; specifically, you can always compress audio after the fact, but if you record the compressed tones, you're stuck with them. Here are few reasons why I still use in-line compression.

First of all, the audio interface that I use is the Focusrite Octopre Platinum (which I use in conjunction with a Digidesign DIGI003). It has 8 discrete mic preamps, and on each Pre there is a soft-knee/hard-knee compressor. One of the main reasons I chose this particular interface was because it had in-line compression and "limiting" capabilities. (The compressor can be turned off if you choose not to use it.)


When I'm recording, I do like to use the compressors on the Focusrite unit because the compression adds character to tone of the audio. I don't even have to add much, and I start to hear differences in the overall character of the tones.

Another reason I like in-line compression is for the "head room" factor. When I'm recording something very dynamic, like a rock singer, it's nice to have the compressor on just a bit, so it gives me just a bit more head room in cases where the singer is belting it. The threshold of the compressor is what adds that extra bit of head room.

And if the singer does clip the channel, the limiter kicks in on the Focusrite unit and usually prevents the audio from clipping when it's recorded in Pro Tools.

I don't think there's enough compression on the track that I risk altering it to a point where I'm limited in mix down. Yet, during mix-down, I have to be mindful that the track has been compressed once already, so it's not over compressed if I add plug-ins later.

I would also use compression, to the full extent however, if I was renting high-end gear, like an Avalon 737SP. I usually only have the gear available for the tracking process, because renting high-end gear is expensive, so I typically take advantage of the compression on the Avalon while the audio is being tracked. In this case, I use the compressor very gently, just to gain some added head room and character.

I don’t use in-line EQ when I’m tracking; I don’t see the advantages. I think that proper choice of microphone and mic placement can help you get around EQ’ing in-line.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A Christmas Hamper from CreComm Students

I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas, but it's not too early to start planning.

For a long time, Christmas made me pretty frustrated. The part of Christmas that frustrated me most was the frivolous spending on useless junk. It felt kind of like the biggest eff-you to people who are less fortunate.

Two years ago I participated in a Christmas Cheer Board hamper program. We sponsored a family that had just moved to Winnipeg. The family consisted of mom, dad, two young girls and a baby boy. They had just moved here from Syria and had no family here at all. The dad was in school full time to learn English; he worked as an engineer in Syria. The mom was taking care of the kids.

The family was super appreciative, and the whole experience was totally uplifting.
I participated again last year and had a very different experience; but it was still totally worthwhile.

I didn't want to miss the opportunity to take part in the program this year, so I'm hoping to get the support of CreComm students so we can fill a hamper.
We're going to create a Facebook group that will allow people to check which items still need to be purchased, as the hamper fills up. Students will be able to drop off donations to a designated spot in the lobby of the CreComm office. The hamper will be setup some time in early November.

I don't think I will ever get use to the dumb spending on useless junk that inevitably comes with Christmas, but I can at least take solace in knowing that one more family will be able to enjoy the holiday.

In order to tie this post in to the music geek theme, I've come up with a metaphor...
If I was a rock star, I would put on a cheesy turtle neck sweater, and ask my other rock star friends to put on some cheesy turtle neck sweaters, and get them record a cheesy Christmas song with me. We would then give the royalties from the song to charity.

Getting Inside the Head of a Local Music Industry Giant

I recently sat down with Glen Willows to chat about his life; here is what I took away from our interesting conversation...

Working 12 hour days, six days a week isn’t for everybody; but Glen Willows, owner of artist management company Burning Circus Management, does it because he loves his job. “I take every Sunday off; it’s not a religious holiday, it’s just that day I tell bands that I’m not gonna phone you and I’m not going to do anything to do with music and I don’t always succeed, but I try to take that one full day off.”

Willows has been immersed in the music industry as a musician, talent developer and talent manager for over 30 years. Leaning back in his chair with his hands crossed behind his head, with hair long enough to touch his shoulders, a half-smile materializes on his face as he muses over the days he played guitar for iconic Canadian rock outfit, Harlequin. “In the instance of that band, we gave our publishing away to the record label, which we shouldn’t have… a lot of what I do as a manager is correct the mistakes I made myself, over the course of my own career.”

Chatting with me over coffee at Carnegie's diner, Willows speaks modestly of his experiences playing with Harlequin. His tone becomes more animated when the conversation shifts to a band on his roster. As a co-writer of songs for his former band, he is proudest of the substantial radio air-play they receive; but the satisfaction is bittersweet. “As a musician turned manager I wear two hats, so when I’m wearing my manager hat, I wish they would stop playing this old music, it’ll give more space for my bands.”

Doug Darling, bass player with the hard rock band The Civil Disobedients, has noticed the influence that Willows wields. “I think he’s putting Winnipeg (music scene) on the map. He has kind of a Midas touch, as we’ve all seen with Inward Eye and getting them national recognition,” says Darling. “If he can do that for that band, then people think he can do it for them too.”

Bands that aspire to become successful aren’t the only ones that have noticed Willows’ influence. “Glen is a respected guy in terms of discovering talent and he has a lot of connections with the really big labels and management companies,” says Grant Paley, agent with Paquin Entertainment Group, one of Canada’s premiere entertainment agencies. “Just look at The Waking Eyes, Ash Koley, or Inward Eye, just look at his success rate, I’d say it’s like 60/40, which in this business is amazing,” Paley says, “and that makes him a lot of money.”

It is an unusually warm fall day in Winnipeg, and the staff at Carnegie’s are struggling to maintain a comfortable room temperature for their patrons. Willows unzips his beige hoodie, shifts in his chair, and leans closer to respond to a question about the financial side of his business. “If I can help somebody achieve some success, then obviously as a business, it’s going to help me, and that’s why it’s certainly not social work, because I obviously want to make a living at it. Having said that, it’s not lucrative.”

Willows puts his forearms on the table, fully engaged. “I know that some people look at managers and go, this guy just wants me to be on the cover of Rolling Stone so he can be rich…my definition of success is like, I want to try to help the artist become as successful as they want to be, on their terms, without losing their soul.” With a slight chuckle, he confesses, “I consider it my manager habit, cause you know, it takes up all your time and it’s a lot of work, and you have to love doing it, just like anything else.”

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

CTV Winnipeg Consumerwatch, we’ve got a story for you.

A group of Cre-Comm students and I recently completed a small research project on compact fluorescent light bulbs. As boring as that might seem, it was actually quite interesting.

The purpose of the research project was to attempt to uncover an unknown (or lesser known) aspect about a product; something that consumers ought to know. The vast majority of the information we gathered came from the internet. It reminded me that no matter what subject you are researching on the internet, the research process quickly becomes a game that we all know as, “okay, who wrote this and how credible is it?”

It would be really nice to know for sure how many people actually just throw CFL bulbs in the trash. If I had a ton of money to throw around, aside from renting huge billboards around the city that would be designed simply to confuse people, I would hire a public opinion firm to get my damn answers (something the internet could not do).

I would also like to know if a CFL bulb can actually last 10 years, as some companies claim. I’m pretty sure the research and development people behind CFL bulbs figured out that people don't keep track of details that far back. Unless of course you are that person, that has “the list” of dates and details…

I have to admit, I’ve thrown away CFL bulbs, and I’ve even had one break. Years ago I installed a CFL bulb in a light socket at the end of the stair well that leads to my basement, which was dubbing as a rehearsal spot for the band I was in. The bulb was longer than an incandescent bulb, so it protruded from the opening by about 2 inches. We were returning our gear to the jam spot after a gig one very early morning (perfectly sober and eager to be lifting super heavy equipment), and Jonathon’s stupid heavy guitar cabinet, while being lifted so eloquently, smashed the bulb.

I think we used a vacuum to clean it up, which is exactly what you’re not supposed to do when cleaning up trace amounts of mercury-exposed powder. I simply didn’t know about the risk factors associated with CFL bulbs. I think a lot of people are unaware of the risk factors. And for that reason, I think CTV Winnipeg’s Consumer Watch should produce a feature on CFL bulbs. Inform people of the risks and tell them how they can properly dispose of them.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Drum Mic’ing; trials and tribulations

Getting good drum tones is one of the biggest challenges for recording engineers. There are so many factors that come into play: the sound of the drum set, the sound of the room, the style of the player and the type of gear you use, just to mention a few.

I really enjoy experimenting with different microphones and mixing techniques for getting good drum tones. Here is a picture of how I currently have the drum kit mic’d (sorry for the poor quality photo):

One of the main themes for this mic’ing technique is to eliminate the natural reverberation of the room as much as possible. I don’t hate the sound of the drum room I have, but I don’t love it either. It’s easier for me to eliminate the sound of the room, and then add some ambience later on with a reverb. If I had an acoustically treated room with vaulted ceilings, I would definitely take advantage of the character elements that the room sound has to offer.

Before I get any further, here is a quick run down of the mics that are currently setup on the kit.

Kick: There’s a Shure PZM (or pressure zone microphone) on a folded up towel inside the kick drum. This mic is absolutely perfect for capturing the wet sound of the mallet smacking the kick drum skin. It’s also extremely convenient to use considering it comes with a long proprietary cable that connects to a standard XLR cable, and it doesn’t require a mic stand.

I also have a Shure PG kick drum mic setup near the hole in the front skin. This is the right type of microphone for kick drums, but it’s not a studio quality microphone. “PG” stands for performance gear, which is exactly what this mic was designed for. It’s still good for capturing the “woof” of the kick drum, but not ideal.

Snare: There is a Shure Beta 57 just to the right of the first rack tom, and a KELS HM1 right beside that. The Beta 57 is a dynamic microphone that is great for capturing the attack of the snare drum and is tuned to enhance some crucial high-end frequencies. The KELS HM 1 is a medium diaphragm condenser mic and is tuned for low frequencies (it doesn’t embellish high frequencies at all). Not only does the HM1 reduce the amount of audio bleeding from the hi-hats, but it provides me with a contrast sound to the Shure Beta 57. It’s nice to have options during the mixing process; sometimes I might want to choose only 1 of the mic sounds, and sometimes I might decide to blend the two together.

Rack Toms: I’m using Shure 57 mics on the rack toms. The Shure 57 is arguably the most widely used microphone for studio and performance applications in North America (maybe the world). I don’t always use it on toms, but decided to in the instance.

Floor Tom: On the floor tom I’m using a Sennheiser MD 421 dynamic microphone. This mic differs from other dynamic microphones in a few ways, but for me the big difference is that it contains a hum bucker coil. That coil adds character to the mic, and character is a very good thing for drum tones. It also represents the low frequency spectrum more tastefully than the Shure 57 does, which is why it is frequently used for mic’ing kick drums, guitar amps and bass amps.

Overheads: For overhead mic’ing, I’ve chosen an X/Y technique using a matched pair of Rode NT5 microphones. The NT5 mics are small diaphragm, pencil condenser microphones. I like these mics because of their true representation of the tones of the drum kit. A lot of other overhead mics are tuned to emphasize the high frequencies associated with cymbals. This can be beneficial in a lot of applications, but it can also limit the ways you can use the tones during mix down. I like both kinds of mics, and use each according to their strengths.

Hi-Hats: The reason I left hi-hats for last is that it is the one that has caused me the most grief (hence the “tribulations” in the title). Prior to landing on the one in this photo, I tried the Apex 185 (cheap!), and the AKG C1000. The C1000 simply rubbed me the wrong way on hi-hats. They are very versatile though, and I like having them around for acoustic guitar and congas.

The mic that is currently on the hats is the SE Electronics’ SE3 small diaphragm condenser mic. I bought this mic because I wanted a character mic that isn’t widely used in North America. In fact, at the time I bought this mic, there wasn’t a single company in Winnipeg that sold SE Electronics products.

Similar to the C1000, the SE3 sounds great on acoustic instruments like guitar, and percussion. It doesn’t make the hi-hats sound bad; it just doesn’t make the hi-hats sing. By far my favorite sounding mic on these hi-hats is the AKG C451B. One of my engineer friends has the C451B, and so luckily I get to borrow it for important recording projects. I am constantly swapping gear with friends. It’s really the most economical way to learn about and encorporating gear options for your recording projects.

There isn’t one “right way” to record drums, but there are a lot of wrong ways. The wrong ways usually involve phasing issues, which can happen pretty easily when you have a bazillion microphones on a single source (in this case, the single source is the drum kit in its entirety).

One of the best ways of fleshing out a source’s best tone (whether acoustic or not), is to sweep the microphone over the source. The sweeping technique is a time consuming and tedious process, but is really the best way to find out how the mic responds to the different placements over the source. And here again, there is no best way to mic a source, you are really just trying to get the sound that suits the project.

Fat tones aren’t always the be-all end-all of drum tones. A friend of mine was involved in a project where he was working with a female funk singer, comparable to Remy Shand. They ended up putting a towel over the snare drum to get a dampened effect that was meant to emulate a snare drum from the 70’s. The technique really worked for the project; it wasn’t necessary to have a snare tone that could peel the chrome off of a truck hitch. It just sounded right.

One thousand words later and I’ve only really begun to scratch the surface of drum mic’ing. I guess I’ll have to save pre-amps and in-line compression and EQ for another post.

I bet you can’t wait!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

The sum of all your drives

This blog post might just blow your mind. Consider yourself forewarned.

While I was waiting for the 10 Provencher in front of the MTS center on Tuesday, I began wondering how many gigs of hard drive space I have. So when I got home, I decided to figure it out.

My studio computer has two hard drives, totaling a terabyte worth of storage space (that’s a 1000 gigs).

My old studio computer, (which has been downgraded to an office computer) has three hard drives totaling 200 gigs.

My laptop has a single 80gb drive, and the computer that my fiancé used before we moved in together (which has been sitting unused for months now) has a single 40gb drive in it.

I have two external hard drives that I use to backup studio work; one is 100gigs and the other is 250.

I also have to consider that my MP3 player has a 4gb memory stick in it, and my portable recorder has an 8gb compact flash card.

I have three thumb drives (don’t ask me why), totaling 13 gigs.

So, the sum of all my drives is 1695 gigs of possible storage.

Let me put that in context… the average MP3 file is around 5 megabytes. There are exactly 1024 megabytes in a gigabyte. Hypothetically speaking, if I was to fill all of the potential storage space in my house with Mp3 files, I could store 345, 780 songs.

Here’s where your mind might blow up, so please lay down a mat or something so it’s easier for your loved ones to clean up the mess.

According to a statistic I found on WikiAnswers, they estimate that 365 million people have computers worldwide. Think about how much data in total resides on all of those computers.

That’s pretty staggering when you consider that only a decade ago, Bill Gates was quoted as saying, “'640K is more memory than anyone will ever need”.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Auto-tune: An instrument, or a crutch?

Auto-tune (for those who don’t know) is a tool, whether software or hardware based, that allows users to tune or modify the pitch of vocals. It’s been a hot topic as of late, so I think the music geek should weigh in on the subject.

It’s funny to me that such an esoteric topic has made news stories (at least on music radio), because it wouldn’t be an issue had producers not overused it. From what I understand, the Anti-Auto-Tune crowd (music purists I’m assuming) argue, that if you have to use a tool to correct the pitch of a vocalist’s performance, the vocalist couldn’t perform the part and has no business being in the studio. As Henry Rollins put it on William Shatner’s song, I can’t get behind that, “If you have to fix it with a computer: quantized, pitch corrected, and overly inspected, then you can't do it, and I can't get behind that!”

This is a valid point. If you are recording a performer who is pitch challenged, or a novice singer, and you absolutely have to use a pitch correction tool to make that person sound in tune, I would say that you are entering into a world of hurt. If you are this producer, you might want to ask yourself why you are wasting your time trying to polish a terd . Is it really Auto-Tune’s fault, or is the producer using bad judgment? Maybe a more important question is; should the performer practice a lot before trying to become a rock star?

This is a great example of polishing a terd:






In this video, the producer is actually feeding the desired notes into Auto-Tune using a midi track that he recorded using a midi-controller. This is more an example of Manual-Tune, than Auto-Tune. If you listen carefully, you can easily pick up where Auto-Tune is fixing the off-notes.

Remember the days… like when Elvis was king… and you had to be “uber-talented” to even think about recording a song? Well I don’t either, I’m not that old. Recording gear is somewhat affordable and people are consuming music (media in general) at a fiercer pace than ever before, so why not let people record whatever, right?

Consider this; we live in a digital age where audio can be manipulated to within an inch of its life. The vast majority of the music coming out of the world’s most successful production houses, is as Henry said “quantized, pitch corrected, and overly inspected”.


How did music production get to this point? Maybe producers have been polishing terds for so long, that it has driven the industry to find ways to make the poo shinier, faster. Or, maybe someone just wanted to get an edge in a very competitive industry, so they developed a tool to make already great sounding vocal performances pitch perfect.


Which brings me back to the matter at hand…The reason regular people (as opposed to music geeks) have heard about Auto-Tune, is because many producers (as of late) use Auto-Tune as a production technique. You can use Auto-Tune to completely change notes; it makes the Auto-Tune effect very noticeable. The end result bears some similarity to the effect a Vocoder has on vocals. The effect is kinda neat, but not so neat that it needs to be used in every song. It is a technique that has become very trendy; so trendy in fact that they now have an Auto-tune
iPhone app, and guess what, it’s being promoted by T-Pain.

Whether overused or not, producers are using Auto-Tune to create an effect. If producers are using it to create an effect, they are essentially using it like a musical instrument. A lot of people think that the studio itself is an instrument. The tools that are available in the studio are just as crucial when producing an album as a guitar pedal, or a bass amp, or other gadgets that we would obviously characterize as “musical instruments”. So why not Auto-Tune?


I use Auto-tune. There, I said it. I have never used it on a recording of someone that absolutely tanked their part. I try not to take on projects where I’m put in that position. When I worked with the Shouting Ground, I worked with some of the best vocalists in my career. Not only could they sing, but they all had a very good sense of pitch.


The reason I used Auto-tune on that project was because I wanted to make the track as perfect as possible. I am competing against all of the awesome studios in town for business and I’m also trying to portray myself as a professional by making the work I do sound as good as possible. From the musician’s perspective, once the music gets “out there”, the band is competing against every other band in the world. I know people don’t like talking about music as a competition, because it’s art. But grow up, it’s a business, and if people weren’t treating it that way, would musicians even bother to record their art in the first place?


In all of the instances I have used Auto-tune (except for one, which you can ask me about offline), the effect was completely transparent. The singers were so close to being perfectly on pitch, even the most trained ear wouldn’t be able to pick up the Auto-Tune effect. I know what you’re thinking, “so why use it at all if they are that close to pitch perfection?” For your answer, please refer to the last paragraph.
In all of the cases where I used Auto-Tune, I carefully explained to the artists what the plug-in does, and gave them the option. Some artists don’t want to use it, some do.

So what is the right answer? To use, or not to use… The answer is: it depends on the project. As an audio producer, it’s advantageous to know and be familiar with as many of the tools that are developed for the audio production craft. That might be your edge.


Thursday, September 10, 2009

My CreCom grad buddy Doug gots himself a shiny new company

My friend and former bass player (as he will probably always be referred to... it's a band guy thing) Doug Darling just co-founded a media production company with another one of my not-so-CreCom friends Dave Lewis.

The name of the company is Tripwire Media Group.

I am super excited for these guys. They're already burning the midnight oil.

Doug graduated from the CreCom program only a couple years ago. It's amazing what the right personality and a good edumacation can do.

For some reason I've written most of this blog with a country bumpkin accent in my head, so I've misspelled some words intentionally. Having fun with words is just swell.

I'm going to be assisting Tripwire with the setup of their new Pro Tools rig this Saturday (sweet, by mentioning this fact I'm well within the theme of this blog). Their plant is a straight Mac facility, which will be new to me becasue I run Pro Tools on a PC. Let this be foreshadow, as I plan to make a posting on my experiences working with Pro Tools on a PC.

Check out their site, and please pass leads on to these guys, they do great work!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

the blog I never thought would come

I admit, I probably wouldn't have a blog if it wasn't a CreCom mandate. It's not because I don't think blogs are a good idea, quite the opposite. I'm all for free speech, free mediums for people to express and share ideas, and well pretty much anything that is free (I'm a true 'pegger; "thrifty"). It just seemed pretentious for me to start a blog that people might read, without bothering to read other people’s blogs. That will change now that I'm on the publishing end.

I'm actually very excited to write about a topic that I'm super passionate about. I'm not actually concerned about whether people will read this or not. If by chance something I write here stems into a constructive debate, then it was totally worthwhile.

The reason I chose a music geek theme for my first blog is because I’ve been recording and playing music in various capacities for about 15 years. I toured with a band called the Velvet Pill around 7 years ago (I think I just dated myself), and more recently produced and recorded an album for Winnipeg band the Shouting Ground.

I'm also interested in video production and have produced a few videos for my past employer. Here's an example of one:





Feel free to let me know if you have any interesting topics for my blog.

I plan to get thick into music geek speak with my first real post.

Enjoy!