Audio

Venn - Episode 2

Alan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:17:11 +0100

Episode 2 of Venn has been released.

I cleaned and mixed the audio and wrote/recorded the intro and outro music. Compared to previous episodes, this was a pleasure to mix. There was a lot less processing to do to get the audio up-to-scratch.

Related links

DIY Boost Pedal

Alan — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:44:07 +0100

I've been looking for a nice small electronics project so I took some time out to build a new guitar fx pedal. I've never really seen the point of a fuzz pedal, always seemed to deteriorate the signal too much for my liking. I do like boost pedals, especially nice clean ones that push the preamp just to the point where it starts to distort the signal nicely.

Triboost

The Triboost from Build-Your-Own-Clone looked to be a good way to have a boost and go part way towards fuzz. It's not described as a beginner's kit although is suitable for beginners. I can testify to that. I am a beginner and although I can solder audio jack-sockets and cables together, it's generally messy.

This pedal took me three hours to put all the electronics and hardware together from start to finish. That included some time to find some tools that I'd forgotten I'd need (e.g. spanners and wire-stripper).

From the website:

A germanium boost that uses an NOS European made germanium transistor
A Silicon boost based on the Linear Power Boost for a full frequency kick with tight punchy low end
A MosFET based boost for sparkle and chime

The toggle switch also allows for switching between treble, full range and mid-range boost on the germanium setting.

The Sound

I've no calibrated measurements for this, just my own ears and plugging the guitar into a 50W valve amp.

Well, it's clean in bypass. No additional hum there.

In clean boost, it's very nice. Just a pure gain (or reduction if you turn the knob down). I couldn't detect any noticeable tonal differences, although it does allow you to push the clipping the signal at the pre-amp stage.

The MosFet boost is useful, almost as an overdrive. I had some fun with this one, especially with the bridge humbuckers.

The Germanium setting is quieter. Could be that this was the part I messed up. It's currently held onto the board with red

insulation tape. I'd cut the legs too short. It's a rookie mistake and I'm actually happy with that. That was the only mistake I made and even so it still manages to work as long as I don't shake the pedal.

The 3-way toggle switch is only active on the germanium setting and makes a vast difference. Unfortunately, I found I had to change the boost level for each setting of the toggle switch. As it's a single button pedal, that's not really a problem, unless you want to use different settings throughout a live set.

The Board

The main part of the build is the PCB. And the one thing I noticed was that the layout was really well thought out. Everything fitted in nicely. Look around elsewhere and you'll find PCBs that look a lot worse than these.

What's left to do?

Now for the fun part: the painting. Haven't got a clue where to start. Well, actually, I'll probably start on the forum and go from there.

Hints

Take some time to read the notes on the forum for your pedal. The advice on how to put the pedals together is spot on.

Download the manual. The order in which to install and some of the advice in the manuals is invaluable.

New Haven

Alan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:26:37 +0100

I've been on the look-out for a Sci-Fi movie series a to get involved with. I wanted a side-project and after coming across a few old books I read and a few movies, I decided on the Space Opera theme. Lots of scope for over-the-top thematic music, a bit of rock and some atmosphere.

New Haven

I picked the New Haven project (previously known as Ticonderoga) as it fitted everything I was looking for out of a side-project. This had to fit alongside the normal jobs and projects.

New Haven's a good project. They had a gap for a composer, partly because the full feature's a long way off. That means there's a lot of other work to be done. The concept is original with a fresh perspective on sci-fi in space. It has potentially similarities with other sci-fi series (it's based around the military in space - hmm sound familiar?). It's difficult not to make comparisons really.

Fortunately, there are easily enough differences to make it stand out.

Firstly it's set in our own system, secondly there's no FTL travel, thirdly no aliens. Those three features alone set it apart from almost every other space opera. Add in a few other differences and it's easily headed to sit apart from the rest of the sci-fi series crowd.

What else?

I'm still looking out for other projects. Currently New Haven isn't taking up that much time. There's a long gap before I need to compose music for the soundtrack.

Using Compressors to increase attack - Musical Creativity 45

Alan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:30:37 +0100

Compressors are regularly used to tame errant dynamics or to increase the perceived volume of a track. As well as squashing the audio, the compressor can be used to bring out some elements more than others.

Letting the attack through

Remember when you were learning about compression? You probably wanted the attack at 0ms so that the whole signal was compressed equally. But it ended up in a squashed mess. The output sound had a different quality to what was put in. The guitar no longer sounded like a guitar, but like an old keyboard emulation of a keyboard. So we all gradually learned to allow the initial transients through with delays of 20ms upwards, depending on the instrument and the wanted effect. This allowed for a natural sound.

Reverse your thinking

Usually we're using a compressor to tame peaks or increase the perceived volume of the track by decreasing the dynamic range. This time we'll focus on increasing the dynamic range and still using a compressor.

Set the compressor to have a longer attack, e.g. 30ms to let the initial strike of a guitar string through. Set the compressor to moderately reduce the dynamic range of the rest of the signal. What you'll see if you compare the input to the output is that the initial peaks where the string is hit or plucked are louder in comparison to the rest of the signal.

Additional Options with Software

Pre-empting

The problem with hardware compressors is that they can only react once they receive the signal they receive. Software compressors have the advantage of being able to look-ahead at the signal and react before a hardware compressor could. That's useful for enabling the compressor to act on the initial transients.

Sidechain

You can also eq the input signal to trigger the side-chain. Some allow you to do this in the plug-in itself. For others you'll have to set up an aux/bus track and route the signal in parallel through that and eq the aux channel. This can be done in hardware as well if you eq the feed going into the sidechain.

Using Other Processors

Expanders

Expanders are built for job of increasing the dynamic range. Effectively, they're compressors with upward compression. And so should be more suited to increasing range. However, sometimes I prefer to use a basic compressor.

Enveloper

These react to the envelope of the sound. Think back to the basics of synthesis with every sound having Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release (ADSR). Envelopers provide a way to change the gain at the various stages. The one in Logic allows the user to change the gain at the Attack and the Release stages. So you could potentially just change the gain of the attack and leave the rest of the signal alone.

Gain

This doesn't increase dynamic range. I've included it because I had to increase the gain of the guitar track to match the results of the effects.

Results

I recorded a steel-string acoustic guitar using an x-y pattern of 2 small diaphragm microphones. These were routed to a bus (aux in Logic) and the effects were applied to the bus only. The main output for the microphone channels were removed, meaning that the signal was only going through the bus. I applied the following effects in turn: compressor, enveloper, expander and gain. For each one, I spent about 2 minutes changing the parameters on a part of the track that was of roughly average volume. Then I bounced the output to a separate audio file.

It's important to note that I only spent the time configuring the parameters for one part of the track. There were louder and quieter parts elsewhere in the track.

Rather than play the whole 5 minute track, I've extracted three parts; one quiet, one average, one loud.

The Screenshot

The screenshot shows the unprocessed as well as the results of having each of the compressor, gain, enveloper and expander applied in turn. The order from left to right is Average, Quiet and Loud.

Download a larger version of the image here

What you'll notice is that there's not that much different between most of them in the average and quiet. However, the compressor did a good job of using the dynamic range available. The gain effect just made everything louder, as it's meant to, but doesn't bring out the peaks. The expander and enveloper both coped well, but I prefer the compressor.

In the Loud section, we see the issues with applying parameters for one section only. In all reality, we'd probably be riding the faders or at least automating the fader/effect parameters. But for the moment, it gives us a good idea of how flexible the processors are. Most of them are showing clipped waveforms for the loud section, indicating too much make-up gain. The compressor waveform still has thin ends to the spikes indicating a more managed approach. And the sound does reflect that.

Quiet

Unprocessed

Gain

Expander

Compressor

Enveloper

Average

Unprocessed

Gain

Expander

Compressor

Enveloper

Loud

Unprocessed

Compressor

I've only published a few of these files in case anyone risks damaging their speakers. I haven't published the files with square ends, e.g. the "gain" and "expander" files.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Use the wrong preset for a better sound - Musical Creativity 44

Alan — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:04:36 +0100

Opinion is divided as to whether presets in plug-ins are useful. From my perspective, they can be useful short-cuts to a starting point, but I'll usually need to tweak the parameters, sometimes quite extremely. I'm usually happy just starting from scratch, knowing what result I want to achieve.

However, I love putting an ordinary audio track through a plug-in and working through the presets, especially those presets that it's not designed for.

The Concept

Calling it a concept is too way too grandiose really. Basically, take an instrument channel, e.g. guitar and apply presets for other instruments, e.g. piano, drums, etc. Some work, some don't. Either way, they'll get you thinking about the sound differently.

Work Through the List

With the signal-processing power at our fingertips and the flexibility provided by the plug-in architectures of Logic, Cubase, etc, it's easy to apply a processor, change it, remove it, try another and so on. Rather than reaching straight for the standards of eq, compressor or reverb with their respective expected settings for the instruments I'm processing, I'll sometimes put a different effect on, just to hear what it sounds like. If I don't like the result, I can undo the changes and be back where I was.

Waste of Time?

It's worked often enough that 5 minutes or so spent assessing the impact of different plug-ins can be useful, especially if I've hit a block. The more I play with the effects, the more I can predict the sound I'd get. So this tends to be for the effects I don't use as often (e.g. various auto-filters) or more extreme parameters of effects that I do use.

BlockFish

The best example of this I've ever come across is to insert a compressor on a vocal preset onto a drum mix signal chain.

Digitalfishphone.com's BlockFish provides a great example of this. Choose the "Close-up Vocal" preset - I'm doing this from memory so I may have the name wrong, but it should be obvious which preset I'm referring to. I used to use this when using Windows as my DAW's operating system. I remember there were some issues with no OS X version, but it looks like there may now be. Will have to give it a try, not sure if it's Universal Binary though.

Applying this preset immediately provides more energy and bite to the drums. If I wanted it a little more restrained, I'd patch the effect as a send and mix the return in to the required level. I remember slightly tweaking a few parameters to make it more suitable for drums, or at least the sound I was looking for. I think it was the Air Frequency and Air Level that were of most use. And of course, making it stereo since I'd be running a stereo drum-track through it.

OS X

In Logic 8, the Compressor effect can produce very similar results to the BlockFish effect. It doesn't have the same presets for the plug-in itself, so you'll have to play a bit more with it. In this case, changing the compressor type to Opto makes a drastic difference to drum-tracks. I'm not so sure I like it, I can hear the high-end clearer, but I can also hear too much compression, bordering on distortion with the optical variant, even after tweaking threshold and make-up gain for it to be more subtle.

Logic 8

Logic 8 has more emphasis on presets for channels rather than presets for plug-ins. On one hand, it makes the process of adding a preset chain of plug-in presets (yes, presets of presets) easier and it's a good way for learning how effects chain together. On the other hand, it's about chains of effects rather than a particular effect. In the end though, it's whatever works for you. There are still presets for plug-ins, the above image is the Compressor with a setting of Drum Kit Compression with the circuit type to Opto.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Using an Octaver for Easy Funk - Musical Creativity 43

Alan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:23:43 +0100

Mention an octaver to a musician, especially a guitarist, and you're heading for a conversation about Hendrix.

It can be used for other styles. So here's a quick trick for writing funk. Forget the bass when you start. I half-expected to get lynched, but bear with me, at least until the end.

Background

I like the old P-funk of Funkadelic and Parliament. I think what made me hear it more was the inclusion of a distorted guitar in a funk show. This was often played in sync with the bass guitar.

Setting the groove

Find a sparse drum track. You want big drums (not 80s soft rock big though). Make sure it's a tight loop. Set it to loop as your background track. Now remove the click track if you've got one. You'll play better this way.

Setting up the guitar

We'll get the distorted guitar set-up first. That'll be a distorted guitar from the 70s, maybe even a distorted DI from the 80s. Keep the speaker simulation to a minimum. We're not looking for a modern hi-gain sound here so go for a raw guitar sound.

Next add an octaver effect. I've had better results recently with it placed after the amplifier/amplifier plug-in, but normally I'd place pitch effects before the pre-amp.

Set the octaver so it adds a note one octave (12 notes) below the signal.

Roll the tape

Now play and record. Use an extended pentatonic scale (i.e. blues scale with a few additional notes) to get started. The p-funk guitars had lots of semi-tone intervals.

Fill it Out

Add a second guitar with a modulation effect, most commonly a subtle phaser playing rhythmic, strummed part-chords.

Finish it off

I've added a club-type reverb to bond the 3 instruments tracks together, aiming for a live club feel.

Make it more complex

You could add the octaver as a send instead of a insert, allowing to mix the levels better and potentially (depending on the quality of the octaver effect) retain the character of the original signal with more clarity.

Make it more authentic

Put on the star-shaped shades, pick up the bass and record the part properly. The octaver gives you an easy way gets you started in the groove, but it really should be done with a bass.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Venn Episode 1 in the works

Alan — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:47:52 +0100

I've recently received the video for the 1st episode of Venn (the previous release was a pilot and called Episode 0)

Again the episode is by Spinneyhead Presents. Episode 1 picks up from that and plays on the theme of the celibacy bet. The content is better than Episode 0, the scripts are better and from my perspective, the audio is so much better. It's definitely better than the first series, Memory.

This is the first episode that I've been happy with sound-wise. The quality of the recording far surpasses anything that the team has done before. I've seen series on BBC3 that had worse audio than this.

So what's this mean for me?

I can write music to fit the scene, instead of covering up audio errors
I can write less music. Yes, that's a benefit to all concerned. Check out Memory where I had to write a lot of music
I don't have to spend days or weeks cleaning up the audio manually (automated tools get you so far, but some things have to be tweaked manually)
The speech is already clearer and more intelligible
It's already more professional
It's easier to watch
More enjoyable from a production perspective

The audio has been improved greatly by recording with an off-camera microphone. Ian used a hand-held boom and microphone to achieve much better audio than possible with the on-camera microphone.

I'll post back when Episode 1 is released.

Use of Tremolo - Musical Creativity 42

Alan — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:27:29 +0100

I've talked about tremolo as a musical feature before, this time I want to go into more detail.

First things first, let's sort out the guitarists: I don't mean using the tremolo arm/whammy bar or whatever you want to call it ("handle" as my girlfriend called it - and no she won't be picking up my guitars for a while). The whammy bar creates a vibrato feature, not a tremolo. Vibrato alters pitch.

Amplitude

Tremolo is the act of altering the volume of a note or set of notes. For an electric instrument, the simplest to hear is by regularly turning the volume knob up and down. The notes fade in, fade out, fade in, fade out and so on.

It's a great tool for livening up a piece of music. The previous article on the subject covered some more ways of using it.

Recordings

Tremolo features on a lot of famous recordings. Three extreme examples are:

How Soon Is Now - The Smiths

Crush with Eyeliner - REM

What's the Frequency Kenneth - REM

But it's used more subtlely on many, many more recordings. Think of any country song and listen to the guitar. Many of the 1950s and 1960s guitar recordings had tremolo on them. Think Duane Eddy (although he mixed it with vibrato by using the whammy bar a lot). Lots of Elvis recordings featuring Scotty Moore had tremolo. This situation was accentuated and facilitated by the inclusion of tremolo circuits in the guitar amps, e.g. Vox

Types of effect

The common tremolo effect alters the amplitude or volume of the incoming signal apply a regularly repeating pattern before output. The most common pattern is the sine wave, although some FX units also allow square and sawtooth. The output signal increases, decreases, increases, decreases, etc.

The waveform applied changes how fast the signal reaches the extremes and how long it stays there before beginning the journey to the other extreme.

Depth

If the signal is applied completely at 100% depth, then the output will have no signal at the points when the applied FX is at its lowest point, conversely it will have the maximum volume when the FX is at its highest point.

Lowering the depth introduces a less radical effect, to the point that if the depth were at 0%, then there would theoretically be no difference between the input and output. As with most effects, the most appropriate depth is usually somewhere between the two extremes.

Symmetry

The waveform applied so far has been the same on both sides, i.e. going up and coming down. Altering the phase allows more time for the signal to climb and a quicker fall or vice versa. This is great for imparting a slower or a rushed feeling to the track.

Phase

For a stereo tremolo, the default set-up is to have the signal applied equally, but alternately to each channel. Changing the phase control alters the timing displacement of the second channel compared to the first, which can be used to create panning echoes or dotted note rhythms.

No Depth?

I'd usually use a tremolo inline with the signal, either at the recording stage (e.g. between guitar and amp) or at the mixing stage (as an insert). If there's no depth control, then patch the tremolo into a send and emulate the depth by the relative values of the signal and send faders.

For guitarists, if there's no depth control, then you maybe able to use it in the amp's FX loop if you've got a variable dry/wet mix. This may not work well, since the FX would be placed after the pre-amp. Depends what equipment you're using.

Playing with fingers

A classical guitar tremolo technique involves repeatedly plucking the same string with the first, second and third fingers. This is often a bass and/or melody note plucked with the thumb followed by the three fingers or sometimes a fourth is employed but the fingering changes.

The most famous example is probably Recuerdos De La Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega, although I think Agustin Barrios Mangore's Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios (Alms for the Peace of God) shows the technique more.

Various forms of flamenco use a similar technique, sometimes using the thumb plus four finger notes (not necessarily four fingers, often three fingers with one repeated) to get a 5-tuplet pattern.

Pick

For electric guitar, rapidly repeated picking of the same note gives a tremolo effect that can be used in solos. Do it too often and you'll sound you can't move your fret-hand fingers. Best to intersperse it with other techniques. Check out the Ozzy Osbourne recordings with Randy Rhoads, e.g. Tribute, to get an idea of how to fit it into a solo. He doesn't use it that often, but when he does, it works well. Nowadays, watch Matt Bellamy of Muse. There are plenty of others, but they're not coming to mind right now.

In other forms of music, e.g. drag, it can be the main feature. This is more likely to happen on the lower strings of the guitar, with a springy/slap-back reverb. Think Dick Dale. Although perhaps not part of drag, Miserlou (as featured in Pulp Fiction) is a great example of how a simple riff can lead the track. The repeated picking comes from his experience with an oud (or ud).

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

43 Reasons for Collaborating - Part 4 - Musical Creativity 41

Alan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:43:17 +0100

13. Meet Other people

13a avoid being recluse

Composing music can be a solitary activity. For some that works, for others it can be a lonely experience. Whatever the perspective, it can quickly turn into isolation. Collaborating with others reduces the isolation.

13b friends

I've met most of my best friends through music and music-related activities. Some of the people I met as acquaintances have turned into good friends over time.

13c balance

Working in isolation for too long can be bad for the health. It can be demotivating, lonely, On the other hand, working alone can bring out the best in some. But however you handle it, get some balance in there. Meeting other people will at least introduce somebody else's perspective into your world.

13d improve community projects

There are people in your community that could use music for their benefit. Some may just need an outlet to perform, some need instruments, some need training, some just need to play music with other musicians, others want music for their own community project, some need direction.....and the list goes on. Does a project exist near you? If not, can you create one?

14. Reputation

Think carefully before you take on working with someone else. Think about whether you can do what you set out to do, how much risk is there? Is it just fun for everyone involved? What's the impact on the people if you all fail?

If you're not taking it as seriously as the others are, then that can damage your reputation. If you're too serious, again that can result in a damaged reputation.

Maybe pick a balance of projects; some more professional than others, but work appropriately.

In this industry, your name and the quality of the product count for everything. So make sure you have a good reputation and that product is the best product possible.

15. Technology

15a Support

I end up being the tech support guy for a few friends and family. It's part of what I give to them, I receive other things in kind. This isn't business, just friendship. If it takes too long, I can say I'm not interested in helping and they're better off with a formal support contract through a dedicated support company.

15b Tutorials

Teach others how to do things and learn from them what they don't know. Finding out what others don't know and helping them fill that knowledge can be a great way to build relationships. Learn something very advanced about an application and share it with friends or online. Or try looking at elements that you've struggled with, ask yourself why, then set yourself the task of making other people's lives easier by explaining it to them so they don't have the same journey you did.

15c Access Demos

Show someone else what you can do with your stuff. Watch out in case they've wearing a balaclava and sporting a swag bag on their back.

16 Mastering

Read Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science by Bob Katz. Honestly, it'll give you more insight that I can here.

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Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

43 Reasons for Collaborating - Part 3 - Musical Creativity 41

Alan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:40:32 +0100

7. Finances

Even arranging a loan with your bank manager is a form of collaboration. Ok, it's a purchase of a product by you from them, but if responsible, then the bank should be acting in partnership with you. I'm working on a few projects where I can see finances becoming an issue in the medium term. I could also see a few of the project members funding their own areas. None could fund the whole project, but as each could fund their own area, the project could still work. It's like pooling resources but more controlled.

8. Opportunities

People know people. Some of those people will have their own projects they want to proceed. It's back to the adage of being in the right place at the right time. By working with others, you'll pick up more contacts and build a reputation for yourself.

9. Exit - contracts

Whatever the collaboration, figure out how it can break up cleanly. It's one of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard about partnerships; the first thing to do when starting any partnership is to work out how to dissolve it. Working partnerships and collaborations do break up eventually, so you may as well put the time in now to understand who takes the rights to which pieces of work. If you can't agree that now, then maybe that particular collaboration's not for you.

10. Projects

Projects may just be the embodiment of a person's aims or that of a group of people. It gives them motivation and impetus to head towards a common goal. Set up a project if you're not sure about long-term commitment (either from yourself or the other members).

Think about using side-projects where you commit your time but not as much as you would to your main projects or your day-job. They can provide useful outlets for experimenting. Make sure everyone involved knows what level of commitment the others are providing. It can be mixed, but useful if everyone knows where they stand first.

11. Bands

Just as jamming with other musicians can be a great feeling, get yourself into a band. Remember it's not just about the music, it's also about the interaction of the people; their common aims, goals, their talent (or lack of it), their attitude to music, to the band and to life. Bands are a great vehicle for musicians and as a composer, you're missing out if you've never played in a band.

12. Other media

Doing everything yourself on a project nowadays is easy, but doing it well is out of the reach of most of us. Doing it to a professional, world-standard level on your own is out of the reach of everyone of us, unless you have a lot of money to spare and a few years to learn and implement everything you need.

Now that there are so many variations of the media product, it's getting more difficult to keep up. For instance you can write music, but can you produce it within the constraints of the media and making use of the quirks of the media?

radio plays
feature film/movies
shorts
tv - documentaries, comedies, adverts
games
promotional material - e.g. company annual events, wedding DVDs, Idents
theatre plays
musical theatre
phone ring tones
computer software
radio adverts
on-hold music

Collaborating with others means you can concentrate on the main parts you want to be involved in. Unfortunately you'll have to balance that with what your collaborators want.

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Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.