My name is Timothy Bird

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Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:30:04 +0100

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Nite alone

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:49:30 +0100

Nite alone

can you spell FMP

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:33:00 +0100

Supplementary Roles

Throughout the course of this project it has been my pleasure to be working in a group with such fine gentleman like-minded to myself. We enjoyed each other’s company profusely, whatever that word means. As we were in a group we had to share studio time and although the preferable thing to do was just sit in the corner playing Portal whilst the others worked, it came to my attention that I should be using my time to help my cohorts over the bumps and dives and challenges they faced in their journey to completing their Final Major Project or whatever FMP stands for. I have been asked to provide evidence of me doing so, so instead of a photo of me with my thumbs up next a microphone and my buddy Barni I will instead bore you with the same paragraph you have read over and over again.

There are a few ways in which I helped my buddies on their FMPs and I intend to recite them. The first way I provided my aid was through being the voice of reason. This is simply giving my opinion on my buddies’ tracks, although admittedly I could help two of the three due to the third being reclusive and making his beats in his poppadom-like bedroom. I voiced my opinion a few times through out the course of the project, for example I shouted at Daryl for normalizing the Ukulele and I suggested he quit music but then we hugged it out at the end of the day. I did voice my opinion a few other times however not a lot of people take notice of me so took no heed to what I had just said.

Another way I feel I helped my fellow man was by being a technician and setting microphones and leads out in the live room for myself or others to come in and record. Although admittedly this way of helping wore thin after a while as three quarters of our gang were working with sampled instrument so after the first samples were taken there was not a lot of need for recording in the live room to take place. However, the 4^th member of the DK crew was recording a real live man and so I helped where I could within setting up in the live room. Also, in connection to being a technician I was also able to take on the role of Tape Op. This is not exactly the most vigorous of tasks, however, one is still needed within the recording process otherwise no one would press record. Again, I did this when needed and is an effortless task so forgive me for not writing a novel by the name of ‘The Diary of a Tape Op: Journey to the West.’

At this point in time I would like to note that the majority of instruments recorded for sampling came from within my household including my MicroKorg which is still hidden somewhere at college. So I helped out my friends by being the music man and coming from far away for people to come up and ask me what do I play.

Not only am I a talented music technician, but also I am a talented musician and using my talent I helped out another cohort of mine by being represented by voice on his track. For this I wrote, sung and rapped like the white boy I am all over his track. Thus marking another way I helped my people through the toil.

P is for P

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:19:00 +0100

Production Techniques

Look at how insane I am, I’ve decided to write the production and recording techniques out separately, although this may seem like the New Testament there is a very simple reason why I’m doing it like this. When I put my instruments into the sampler, I hardly touched them except for maybe compression, because I knew I could get a hundred different sounds just from that one instrument and instead of cornering myself to fewer sounds I decided to spend the time on the instrument within the track itself.

Just to clarify my EP is called ‘Nite alone’ and the titles are similar sounding so don’t get freaked out by the similar sub-headings thinking I’ve gone into some form of depression as I’m counting down the minutes and hours and marking them down to see how long I’ve been alone. I am lonely.

Midnight alone

The low down on this track was for it to originally be a full proper song with lyrics and everything, hence the reasonably easy chord progression, however I decided against this due to it being a track you listen to when alone at midnight and when alone at midnight I do not wish for gay vocals. The instrumentation for this track is my Drumpad (including the clap), Accordion, Harmonica, Recorder, Mbira, Ukulele and Stylophone. I didn’t touch the Drumpad, only a little compression to help bring it out a bit more. I used the Accordion as an introduction to the piece but adding a little bit of Bitcrusher for a more distorted feel. I simply added a bit more of a low end for the Harmonica, with no plug-ins. I added Amp Designer to the recorder, specifically the Turbo Head Amp, because I wanted to give it a distorted, vibrato sound. I added compression to the Stylophone for it still to be clear in the mix but also quite low, and I also added Phaser onto it, again for a vibrato more distorted sound. I didn’t feel the need to adjust the Mbira, Xylophone or the Ukulele, however for the Ukulele I used the loop as I have mentioned previously and as an outro for the piece I altered the loop by adding Fuzz Wah to it just because I can. Once I finished the track I wanted to add something to make it more hollow and lonesome so I used Space Designer and used the pre-set of Brick Wall.

2am alone

This track I wanted a little bit more upbeat, because although I’m depressed as heck, making some bad music at 2am doesn’t mean my one listener isn’t. The instrumentation for this track is my Drumpad (clap), Ukulele, Electric Guitar, Xylophone, Stylophone, Bass, Accordion, Harmonica, Recorder, Acoustic Guitar and Mbira. For the Drumpad I added a Tape Delay, Phaser and Bit Crusher, the reasoning behind this is because I was simply experimenting and I happened to come a cross this cool sounding drum pattern so I decided to keep it in, I also enjoy it because, similar to ‘Midnight alone,’ it gives it that hollow sound. I gave the Electric Guitar a Bitcrusher and Phaser, as I wanted to give it that odd, distorted feel by giving it a rough crunch and an orange flanger. For the Stylophone I added a Spreader as I felt it gave it more open-air feel to it, plus it comes in after the Electric Guitar so it adds to a more reflective feel somehow. The Bass had Overdrive and Fuzz-Wah added to it so as it would add to the surreal feeling being reflective off some of the other instruments, also to just add to the volume of it a little bit. Again, similar to the Bass I added a Fuzz-Wah to the Accordion because I wanted that Wah effect to add to the overall surreal sound of the piece. Finally, for the Acoustic Guitar I added a Pitch Shifter onto it and made it just a little bit out of tune to again add to the surreal side of things. On the Master channel I added Space Designer and added the pre-set Valley Forest to add to the more open-air feel I was aiming as mentioned in Stylophone.

4am alone

Within this track I wanted things to be most natural and portray to that one listener that everything is coming together at once, be it metaphorical to my mind finally accepting I am alone and allowing myself the ability of sleep, just to restart the process at midnight again. 4am alone was bought to you by the following instruments: Drumpad (clap), Acoustic Guitar, Recorder, Harmonica, Bass, Mbira, Stylophone, Xylophone, Electric Guitar and Ukulele. Seeing as I wanted this to be the most natural track I didn’t really use any plug-ins for any of the instruments except for my Drumpad and Bass. On the Drumpad I added the EVOC 20 Filterbank plug-in, as I wasn’t completely happy with the sound of the Drumpad on its own so I decided add a filter to it to make it sound live and more natural. Then for the Bass I added Chorus, AutoFilter and Flanger as I just wanted the Bass be a droning bass line in the mix, so for that I used the AutoFilter and Flanger plug-ins, then afterwards I wanted to add a little bit more fullness to the track so I added the Chorus plug-in. I wanted this track to stand out a little bit more in the high end with the low still being present so I added Stereo Spread plug-in on the Master channel and altered it so as it there was gradually become more of a stereo spread moving from medium to the high end.

M is for M

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:08:00 +0100

Recording Techniques

For the recording in my FMP, I decided against the traditional way of getting a band or artist in to record a song, so instead I decided to sample my instruments in using Logic’s EXS24 Sampler. The reason I chose this is because I find it easier as an artist to write and draw things in and listen to it coming together and whether or not pieces fit together.

Drums

For my sampled drum kit I decided on using just the Kick, Snare and Hi Hat. I only used these 3 because I knew in the grand scheme of things I would only use these 3, as I’m not a big fan of drums being dominant in my own tracks. Earlier in my career of being a North West Kent student I blogged on how to record and set up a drum kit so I won’t go into too much detail, I will just state the basics and anything I did differently. Please refer to “I Will Drum All Babes” for more details. I didn’t use the two overhead pencil microphones at all as I was only doing single hits so I didn’t deem them to be necessary. For the hi hat, I used the SM57 and positioned it just above the hi hat so as I would get a good sound from the hit. When it came to the snare, I recorded it with two microphones, one for the top and one for the underneath. For on top I used the SM57 again and positioned it above it with the head facing toward the centre of the snare. Then for the underneath I used the SM58 and again positioned it toward the centre, however a bit further away. When it came to the kick drum I wanted a deeper, fuller sound, with oomph from the air coming through in the low end. So, through the top of the kick drum I fed the microphone through and left it dangling inside of the kick close to the base. Also, when EQing the kick drum I gave a bit more low end than normal to add to the effect I was looking for.

Clap

Not only did I want the straight up clap using the Neumann microphone, but I also wanted to add a more stereo effect to make it seem more full. So in the live room I set it up so as the clapper would stand in front of the Neumann but there would also be the two pencil microphones above them, one to the left and one to the right. When coming to putting it into the sampler I panned the left pencil to the left and the right pencil to the right, then just keeping the Neumann in the middle and bouncing all 3 of them down together.

Ukulele

The ukulele was a little bit different, as I wanted a loop as well as a single hit. The recording process, however, was completed the same for both samples. The way I did so was to just simply set up the Neumann and have it positioned to the body of the ukulele when being played. Note, that I recorded 2 hits however the seconded sounded pretty awful due to someone who shall not be named, let’s just say he’s a bit slow, decided to normalize so all could hear was the hit and then very loud background noise.

Xylophone

This again was a simple one. I set up the Neumann so as it was directed at the hit as I wanted a strong prominent hit. There was however a ring to it so when it came to the EQ I decided to give it a lower high end and make the hit around 2k hertz more projecting. This was not normalized as it was done by someone a bit smarter than the guy before so the xylophone came out sounding quite good.

Guitar

The guitar is similar to the ukulele; in the way I wanted a body sound from the body. So again I set up the Neumann with it positioned to face the body of the guitar but I also set up an SM58 near the fret. Seeing as the chord wouldn’t change, it seems unnecessary, however I wanted to experiment with what it would sound like picking up the resonation but not directly behind the Neumann. However, experimentation isn’t always successful as I found out it didn’t really add anything to the sound.

Electric Guitar & Bass

Seeing as these two are electrical instruments I needed to record them with an amp or put them through a pre-amp. I decided on the latter and put them through the Mesa. I then messed around with the Mesa touching its knobs and what not to trying to get the cleanest sound I could for the both of them. When it came to recording them I recorded a single hit and also a chord for the electric guitar and then with the bass I decided to get 2 hits with one being an octave higher than the other.

Miscellaneous

When it comes to recording some instruments it’s hard to vary the technique when all they really need is just a microphone in front of it, non the less I’m spicing things up in the bedroom and changing things up a bit by changing the microphone. Goodness. So, instead of using the Neumann I decided to use the SE microphone. With this new and exciting microphone I recorded the following in a similar fashion of just playing it toward the head of microphone: Recorder, Mbira, Stylophone, Harmonica, Accordion and Whistle. I will state however, when recording the wind instruments, (Harmonica, Recorder and Whistle) I had to take a stand further away as they were a lot louder than my other instruments and it was clipping in Logic.

Miscellaneous part. II

I did record some other instruments that never made it into the final mix of my tracks, so what I’m about to say is a Timothy Bird exclusive. The first one being a cowbell, the reason I didn’t chose this as part of my percussion is because I didn’t really feel like it went with a lot, with the type of sound I was going for it just sounded a bit of sync with the feel of the track. I recorded the cowbell by again being boring and using the Neumann centred in front of the cowbell when hit. The second instrument to not make it was the zephyr, I originally intended it to be in there as I knew it would fit well in the track, however it was out of tune and when trying to get it into tune through Logic I could never get it quite right and it would fit with one melody but not another one so sadly the dream of having a cool zephyr in my track left with half the money. The recording process for the zephyr was another boring job with again the Neumann being centred to the zephyr hit. The last and most interesting instrument to be sent to the fires with Qui Gon Jin and Jim Carrey’s career is the vuvuzela. The reasoning behind this is because you couldn’t get the thing in tune as it changes note throughout the playing of it. I then thought about whether or not it could be used as an FX in the track, although it was plausible it just wouldn’t sit well in the track and I knew I’d be getting complaints about how much of a wasteman the vuvuzela is from the other instruments. The way I recorded the vuvuzela is a little bit more exciting, although admittedly still not that exciting. I set up a Neumann microphone close to the vuvuzela and a pencil microphone further away so as it would sound fuller and when bouncing down I would bounce them down together.

Vocals

I don’t believe in vocals.

F is for F

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:39:00 +0100

Marketing and Demographics

For my final task, or FMP, I have been asked to creating an EP showcasing my use of mixing and recording. After completion it is again my task to find a demographic for my music and establish how I will market to wide audience that I like to refer to as TimothyPatrickBird’s babes. Like Charlie’s Angels but more babes.

Before even thinking about how I’m going to lay down my musical genius, I first must establish what type of music I shall create and my precedents for it. I decided to attack the wide spectrum that is the “hipster” scene as I like to refer to it as, although it doesn’t just stick to one group of people. The main genre I’m trying to hit at this scene is indie, pop with a dash of folking electro and folking folk. To be honest, I’m pretty unique, however the precedent for my music fits in most with are artists such as Hot Chip, The Octopus Project, Altair Nouveau, Grizzly Bear, Bearstronaut and Baked Alaska to name just a few unknowns. As you can tell, only the coolest suave hipsters have heard of this sound so my main audience is set to the age of 16-25 students, basically anyone who reads Vice.

To get a grasp of this vast and still pretty ambiguous demographic and precedent I decided to reach a similar audience by tapping into the Gorillaz audience however spinning it with a TimothyPatrickBird vibe. I then went on to create a cover of Gorillaz’s Clint Eastwood, to be called Clint Eastbird. The reasoning to why I decided to this is that Gorillaz have quite a huge fan base and if any of their fans come across my cover they won’t be quick to disregard it and maybe even give it a listen, thus pushing my boundaries of cool music lovers wider.

After the cover, and I have a fraction of a name for myself I then went on to create my EP containing said genres to reach said demographic. My EP will include my Clint Eastbird cover and screw the legal repercussions. The reason I am including it, is because people who have heard my cover and enjoyed it, which my 7 hearts on Soundcloud suggest, will search further into my name and thus pushing my EP forward to be heard more before I have even begun to think about marketing. I will however continue to market my EP regardless to it already hitting celebrity status due to my cover.

The trouble with marketing my EP is my audience is so underground even their own parents can’t find them, except the orphan ones because their parents are dead. Therefore it will take a lot of my resources marketing my EP into the world of music.

The first and easiest way I plan on getting heard is in the realm of the Internet. Here, man can become one’s greatest desire and can find out everything there is to know about how to make a female orgasm. Therefore it is simply a case of perseverance to get my track heard. The first place I or any other sane human will go to get their music heard is MySpace. Ha, no, but seriously I will go to Facebook first because if my friends say they hate it then I may as well give up on life if my friends can’t even be nice enough to lie to me. On Facebook I will of course post it on my wall and send it personally to a few who I think will be interested in it. But to step my game up in this Tron like world I will create a fan page for myself as an artist for people to like so it’s not just my friends who get a chance to listen to my rad EP.

As I briefly mentioned before, Soundcloud is one of the biggest music based websites around and allows amateurs and even professionals showcase their music for people to like, download and pass it on to their buddies. Because of this I will create a Soundcloud showing off my EP and any future projects I may have that will fit a similar market.

Another way to exploit the internet market is to create an outrageous video to go with one if not all my tracks and name it something like “Osama Bin Laden’s Death” but then Rick Astley that it up with your own creative splendors.

I’ll then continue to join a number of hipster student blogs to try and connect to more and more people. Some of the biggest blogs for my audience are Tumblr, Weebls and blogspot. Therefore I intend to create an account for these blogs and in connection to other sites I’ll put links up to these blogs on YouTube and Facebook pages and visa versa.

Moving from the Internet, I’ll next be attacking the realms of published media. To get word of my name and music even further I will be contacting some magazines that I think will benefit my fan population the most. One of the first publicists I intend to get in contact with is Vice. Their blend of student interest with a growing interest from artists and photographers and artists makes this the best magazine for my name to be featured in. After that, I’ll be heading more mainstream and get in contact with NME as I feel their love for disregarding any new sounds will push my new sound even further by getting people to realise that NME is getting pretty lame but should totally check my sounds anyway. Also, if I were to take a long shot in feeding my market, I would contact Time Out London as their music section is rated quite highly by music fans, so having a mention in their music section would push my sounds a bit more and I may even gain a new fan or twox.

Moving from magazine to radio. There are quite a few radio stations I feel will benefit me greatly. Although some say radio is dying there are still stations and shows that gain more listeners week after week. Resonate FM showcase all types of sound and I have discovered many artists from it and I feel many people can discover me from it. It will also benefit me by connecting with more well-known stations and shows. For example, BBC Radio 6 encourages new music, and of course BBC Kent Introducing as they showcase the best undiscovered and unsigned music from Kent and seeing as I’m from Kent I find it quite fitting.

I’ll being doing all this shit whilst repping Whyme? London.

A letter

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:56:00 +0100

Fuck

You have to be guitarded!

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:10:53 +0100

So apparently I can’t play bass guitar and certainly not dextrous enough to learn the basics of guitar, so fuck those guys I’m starting my own club where the only stringing will be of the traitors in our society. However, I can play the recorder, stylophone, ukulele, xylophone, harmonica, chimes, thumb piano, synth, piano, organ, plus I have sick vocals and a mad drum pad to be used. Thus with my new found experiences I plan to not only dominate most of the music in the Western hemisphere but I also intend to finish all 3 of my songs in one day. I also feel the need of a quick completion as I have discovered World of Warcraft for my Book and it actually works pretty well. For now I am off to explore Azeroth and get round to cycling to the supermarket. Until then brothers and sisters, I’ll see you in my dreams.

TimothyPatrickBird

I never obtained you

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:24:41 +0100

seeing as I’m wrongly due the dunce cap in English I am compelled to unleash my spells of pure creativity through the medium of words. It seems I’m too early for anyone to appreciate my music in this day and age and looks can only get you so far. So to rub kankles with such icons as Charlie Sheen I am writing a book. The prologue will be written on my mac as will all of the chapters and inevitable epilogue, because I’m a rich fuck and own a Macbook Pro i7 stylo. Also, due to this my effort towards music will slowly start to decline and I’ll inevitably flunk out of college like a boss. But who fuck cares when I got all them intellectual babes chasing after me signature.

TimothyPatrickBird

I propose to no man

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:33:00 +0100

I’ll be recording TimothyPatrickBird play his various instruments. He is a solo artist however is good looking and talented enough to play several instruments and has grade 5 in musical theory but I doubt that’ll help him when some bitch be getting in his grill about a fucking plastic bag.

TimothyPatrickBird’s music is undefined. However if I did have to compare him to anyone I’d say either Jesus or Charlie Sheen. The genre is loosely based around electronica/indie, with some folking folk thrown in. There will also be a jokes element style in terms of his lyrics so artists like Flight of Conchords and Hot Chip. I reckon hipster students would dig this shit, so that’s like 16-25. Not a giant range, but I’m being realistic. Although saying this, my Nan likes some of my stuff and she’s like 70 so suck on that.

To not go into great detail, as I don’t wish to ruin his splendours, my audio elements will suffice. TimothyPatrickBird will be recording all parts himself even though he doesn’t know how to play most instruments, but he’s ego is too big for me to advise otherwise. To show that I’ve actually thought of this an example of instrumentation in one track will be as follows: drums, bass, electric guitar, glockenspiel, harmonica, ukulele, synth, synth again if they allow it, vocals, backing vocals, piano and organ.

Also, I hear there is beef so there will be a few call outs for wastemen in at least one TimothyPatrickBird’s tracks. I doubt you’ve heard of him, so just in case you want your mind to be musically pleasured fucked check out his cal http://soundcloud.com/timothypatrickbird

Clint Eastbird

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:52:19 +0000

Clint Eastbird

a change of tumblr

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:40:23 +0000

it’s come to my attention whilst writing cynically about how much I despise working in music that I feel like I need a career change. Therefore, I have submitted my Curriculum Vitae into book stores from Blackfen to Brooklyn. Once obtaining a job within said commercial book store I will give up my indieness and with this my life and soul. Don’t worry, I’ll still be on xbox so you will always be able to hear me murmur impertinent sentences and breath my laugh into your ear quite capably. Also, I hope to have learnt a word or two in the duration and my funny libs will be accessible in book form at the very same book firm I work. How ironic, I think..

Yours sincerly,

Timothy Patrick Bird

Live Like a Mediterranean Fruit Fly and Die

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 22:00:30 +0000

Live Like a Mediterranean Fruit Fly and Die

George Martin is cool, yeah

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:55:00 +0000

The walrus challenge is challenge given to us to challenge us in the realms of recording and sequencing and talents of using our ear. It took place over a number weeks and in the end we lost so who the fuck cares.

The track we had to try and replicate was ‘Live and Let Die’ by George Martin and Paul McCartney. This is probably one of the most challenging songs to be chosen for us seeing as during its 3 minutes the tempo changes 14 times; the instrumentation was no easy Dan Brown novel either.

So, in chronological order we first started this project by figuring out the points of tempo change and separating the song in segments. Then within each segment we conjured up instruments to use within said segments and whether or not we needed to sequence them or we could record live instruments.

After figuring out the logistics, we did the logical thing and decided to record the drums first. We appropriately put microphones around the drums, the drum microphone placement is very important. Drums are recorded first as it gives us as well as the future musicians an idea of timing throughout the track. As well as this, we had a choice of snare to choose. Well, it was two but never the less we felt we made the right choice. After getting the drummer to help us sort the drum’s mic levels, we proceeded with taking various takes of the drums. Once listening through our few drum recordings we decided on the best recording and started to get to work on it. In working on it we added reverb and altered the equalization, as well as this we added compression so as the drums would not make the track clip.

Once drums were pretty much over with, apart from tinkering within the final stages, we moved onto the mother fucking bass. We recorded through the mesa pre-amp, on the rack. We opted for a nice clean and clear sound as it’s a clear and clean sound on the track and even if it wasn’t it is always easier to edit afterwards with a cleaner sound. We left the EQ process for the bass for the time being, as it would be easier to see how it feels in the final mix when we got to the final stages of the project.

There a two guitar parts in Live and Let Die, belonging to a distorted guitar for the lead and a cleaner guitar during funkalunk section. For the distorted guitar, we plugged through the Mesa, like the bass, and again got a clean sound to it. Then in Logic we used a plug-in amp and the searched and found the right sounding distorted guitar. It was then recorded, for us tinker with EQ and compression and the usual suspects that show up at a dinner party when you’re talking to some old boring guy that used to steal ball point pens from music studios. Then we moved onto the cleaner sounding guitar, again plugged in trough the Mesa. We didn’t use a plug-in amp for this guitar. We recorded it and then once continuing our peripheral activities we continued to add them to mix and altered fixations like level to try and get an estimation of the feel. Obviously, it would all be finished when we have our final session.

We felt like the addition of percussion was needed in out masterpiece, as in one section you can most definitely hear bongos. So we recorded just that, bongos. First we worked out the microphone positioning, in the end we thought it best for a microphone to be near the skin being hit and another to be placed underneath to add to the bongos’ feel in the track, but also to pick up more of the lower frequencies. We made sure the frequencies of the two bongo track wouldn’t affectively clash, so equalised to stop such a thing occurring. Then we abandoned it to pursue our dream of Miss Universe 2011.

Last on the recording list were the vocals. (For the record, I do not revere this day as an illustrious day, but merely as a device to liven up our dull and uneventful college days where we endure the overcast’s glisten on the oh so very beige corridors where we portentously troop to indulge in sweets and snacks hoping for a culinary disease to affect us and our organs and die an early death and escaped this paradoxical music fetish hell.) We started our vocal recordings with the backing vocals as our singers felt it best and easiest for them to do so; as we’re gentlemen of the matter, we obliged. So our backing tested his voice as found a good level. Once recorded, we added reverb to the track to match it more to the original. As well as this, we added a pitch correction plug-in on the track as our singer was unable to hit the notes as was required in the song. He had various takes in singing as in parts we needed him to be double tracked and one part even quadruple tracked. We played it low in the mix so as the backing vocals didn’t overshadow the instrumental side of things. Once completed, it was then the turn of the main vocals. Admittedly, this was easier as he was a better singer, plus he was only double tracked throughout the song so we needed only two good takes. After again registering a good level we recorded him a few times and eventually we were able to take the two best takes and double track them, with of course reverb thrown in to fit the vibe of the original.

During the course of the project we had two bases, one to complete the audio recording in and the other to conduct the sequencing side of things. They ran alongside each other so whilst we were recording we were also adding to the sequencing. For the sequencing we had to add instruments that were in the track but not possible for us to record so this included strings, brass, glockenspiel, timpani, clavier and organ. As well as this, there’s a sample during the funkalunk section which we had to recreate. We completed this arduous process by the simple means of trial and error. We listened to the track over and over and over again until we passed out in a giant spooning fashion and coveted our ears to stop bleeding. As we were using Logic, we were lucky enough to be using the EXS24 sampler which had a few similar labelled instruments; however that’s the extent of the similarities, as the liars at Apple have lassoed themselves these orchestral beasts and have squandered their talents to give us a pulpy, messy, Japan-esque MIDI pile of Hitler’s ashes. However, this is what we had to work with so we continued to complain but eventually bite the bullet and do some work. Once figuring out the correct notes and best sounding instruments we equalised the instruments slightly so as they fitted better to the original. After getting pretty much all the sequenced instruments as best as we could we moved on to the more difficult ones, be it for the timing or just “what the fuck” of it all. The culprit for the timing problem was the timpani. We had found the timpani in the Apple Loops and bizarrely enough it was extremely close to the original. We had to cut it short a bit even so after a bit of equalising it was hard to tell the two apart. The difficult part was getting in the right spots as in the original it’s low in the mix both in the sense of level and equalisation, however we did our best being very tentative and paying close attention to the difference between a single hit and a timpani roll. In the end I fell we executed it pretty well and to the best of our ability. The next onerous task was to find an analogous sounding sample to the sample which was used in the funkalunk section of the original. We searched and searched and in the end we found a good sample within Apple’s loops of a door creaking; I think the Chilean miners were unearthed quicker than this sample. After finding it, it was just trial and error. But ultimately we opted to add a filter plug-in and pitch bend it through the pitch correction plug-in and adjusted it through automation.

In our final session, we spent it putting together the final mix. This included looking over the EQ of all tracks and listening to them to make sure we have the best sound. We altered the levels of the tracks so as they fit the levels of the original song and no track was being underwhelmed by another track in the playground other some fat track might come along throw them to ground with the force of Chernobyl. On top of this bussed a few tracks, for example the drums were bus 1 and the vocals were put together for another, so as the reverb we added affecting all similar tracks the same way. Then to tie things up we added compression to the overall mix as well as a few individual tracks to make sure the song didn’t clip, and to make sure nothing sounded too loud but still had the heir of quality and clarity in it.

Overall, I feel we did a pretty good job. We most definitely deserved to win but the prize was shit and I never saw any crowns, so it would have been a hollow victory. If we were to repeat this project I would, however, do things very differently and go about things a more productive. One main thing I would alter would be the dynamics. We didn’t touch the dynamics at all but after listening to the original song after and thinking more clearly about it you, the suggestion of dynamics become a lot more evident. I would have also, paid more attention to original song and worry not about whether it sounds good or not but rather about how it sounds in comparison to the original song. Although, yes, the original song too would have good sounding instruments considering it was produced by George Martin, it was on the other hand recorded on 1970s recording equipment so the quality was lessened by such a docile thing.

I Will Drum All Babes

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 23:44:28 +0000

Ephant Mon walks into Chalmun’s cantina and Wuher asks, “Why the long face?”

Just a little info on how to cope with the microphoning up with drums and the like, I just felt a joke was needed to break the ice.

Overhead microphones

These pick up the entirety of the kit to give the recording some more depth. However, it is also used for other purposes, like picking up the crash and ride cymbals; as it’s hard to microphone them off separately. In our cordially affiliated studios we use two Neuman KM184s, one positioned high on the left and the other high on the right.

Hi-Hat

The microphone needed to be good picking up high frequencies but also at a range. The microphone we used was a Shure SM57, positioned above the hi-hat but backed off a bit to give the drummer room to drum.

Snare. Top.

Again we needed to pick up similar frequencies to the hi-hat so again we used the Shure SM57. This was positioned above the snare, with the head facing toward the skin getting near the centre without getting in the drummer’s way

Snare. Bottom.

For this we need a general cover of frequencies, so we used a microphone that is commonly used for a vocalist during a live show, a Shure SM58. The positioning of this is easier as we don’t need to be drummer conscience so it’s placed underneath the centre of the snare with the head again in the direction of the skin.

Rack Tom and Floor Tom

We needed a microphone that picked up lower frequencies and using clips we could use a microphone that allowed us to get signal from sound that is in front of it. So for the toms we used a CAD TSM411. As I said before they were attached by clips and the heads pointed forward and toward the skin without it, again, getting in the way of the drummer.

Kick Drum

For the kick drum we needed a microphone that specialised within the realms of picking up a rich, low frequency. The microphone we used an Audio Technica ATM250, as it specialised as good quality kick drum microphone. The placement and positioning of this microphone really comes from self-experience as it all depends on what kind of kick drum sound you want. For the purposes of an example we placed the microphone on a kick drum microphone stand had the head just inside the drum to give the kick drum a sweet airiness to it.

When I Was A Cowboy I Used Wires and Cables for Lassos

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 22:46:20 +0000

XLR – They come in many different forms, for example male to female, female to USB, female to jack and so on. Female is used as the input and the other end, most commonly the male, is used for the output. The XLR is mostly used for microphones and line level signals.

TRS – Or Top, Ring and Sleeve. Or just audio jack to simplify things. This is the most commonly used cable as it has a range of shapes and sizes that are used every day from Apple baby killer headphones to the cable used to create sound strumming that bass.

Balanced – These are universally used in studios because they decrease interference and other noises from out of shot sources. Balanced connections use three conductor connectors, usually in the form of XLR or TRS cables. These connecters work by having two identical wires carrying the signal and the third acting as the conductor.

Unbalanced - Unbalanced connections use two conductors, one for the signal, and the other for ground. Unbalanced connections aren’t used for recording because they can pick up a lot of interference.

RCA – Or phono connector. This is an electrical connector commonly used for audio and video. They are widely seen as red, white and yellow connectors. However recently, with HD, they can be seen as YPbPr connectors and green, blue and red.

USB – Or Universal Serial Bus. This is a connector for a device to connect to a host or computer. It is the most commonly used connection for computers as cameras, mice, keyboards, flash drives, printers; controllers and so on all use USB to connect.

Bantam leads – This is a connector that is universally used in all studios with a mixing desk’s patch bay. They are fundamentally used to route signals from the mixing desk’s patch bay to the studio’s outboard equipment.

Your Lack of Faith in Marketing is Disturbing

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 22:07:59 +0000

Marketing is one of the key ingredients for a spicy musical meatball. If you don’t market your product how do you think people will get to know about said product. The role of marketing is always done through a 3^rd party company if you got the dollar but it never hurts post your tunes every 5 minutes on Facebook.

Demographics

The characteristics of the human population and population segments; especially when used to identify consumer markets.

This used across the whole multimedia network when it comes to marketing, and especially within music. With it it’s allowed losers like Muse jump on the scene bandwagon all the way to top where they’ll find Lionel Ritchie looking for them.

Precedents

In the UK there are six different social grades that the National Readership Society have created to pen the country like sheep as they’re judged about their socio-economic status.

A – Upper Middle Class

B – Middle Class

C1 – Skilled Working Class

C2 – Skilled Working Class

D – Working Class

E – Subsistence

This is probably offensive to most people unless you’re rich like me. Apart from it being offensive it also rules out a lot more sub categories. For example there’s race, gender, sexual orientation and age.

Advertising

Advertising is most obviously the next step after finding the precedent. Advertising is key to process as it’s telling the public about a product. There are many forms of advertisement, for example there’s newspaper and magazine advertising; social networking advertising, where a page is created and it spreads across the realms of different Farmville posts; TV and radio advertisement, where a slot will be purchased for an advert to be aired for 30 seconds or less; films, similar to TV a slot is purchased to air an advert for a product; flyers and posters, these are used so it may catch the public’s eye when out and about; there also many others such as in game and in film advertisement and within DVD/game/cd/Blu-ray case sleeves, but these all fall under other categories.

Under each category you then have to pick a sub category depending on your precedent. So if I were to advertise myself for a weekend with me in Paris, I would advertise in magazines like NME, Q, OK!, Hello, etc. (NME and Q because I’m a cool hipster.) Then for another example I would put posters outside “Lonely Hearts” club nights and the like.

Birdsandbabes' Legs

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 21:20:48 +0000

I’m re-recording the Star Wars score by John Williams, with an awesome synthetic-cool band called “R2-D2 Misses Captain Antillies” because I’m sure he does. At the end of episode III C-3PO and R2-D2’s minds were wiped and then given to Captain Antillies. But in episode IV Antillies was choked to death by Darth Vader and R2 never got to say good bye. Poor R2. This of course is just an example of Birdsandbabes’ recording process will work.

If my calculations are correct, because they are as I’m using my DSi and Nintendo are never wrong.

The recording process will take 2 months

Renting a recording studio PCW = $2000 x 8 = $16000

Hiring a studio engineer and producer PCW = $550 x 8 = $4400

Additional cost for band (food, drink, drugs, hookers, Scott Pilgrim comics etc.) = $200

Total Cost = $20600

In order to save costs it will be digital distribution only seeing as only squares will be buying it and they don’t like to go outside anyway.

However I will still need to contact the squares of the web so I’ll need to add up the marketing costs as well.

TV advertising = $1000

Social Networks (squares have friends right) = $0

Spot on xbox360 dashboard for Zune = $2500

Blog sites = $1000

Media sites (IGN, Joystiq, Escapist etc.) = $2000

Plugger to troll the internet = $500

Star Wars official site = $2500

Total marketing cost = $9500

Overall cost = $30100

I’ll be selling my cool album for $10 because it is so worth it. It will also be on my own website so no blood money goes to iTunes

In order for me to even break even I would need to sell 3010 copies. That’s like the entire cast and crew of all 6 star wars movies. I’m sure they’ll all get it. Well, except the dead ones. R.I.P. Irvin Kershner.

Apparently we had to do some terminology list?

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:47:50 +0000

Mic Level – This is the sound signal level generated by the microphone, which is sent through to the mixer, it is an un-altered signal.

Line Level – This is the amplified signal coming from the microphone, it is a stronger signal that the original

Audio Interface – Also referred to as the sound card. This is a device that manages the input and output signals from the computer or Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). When recording instruments, it is needed to change analogue signals into digital signals.

Signal Level – This is the strength of a signal that is general measured in dB, or decibels for you illiterates.

Direct Injection – Also referred to as direct input (DI.) This is a device used to convert an unbalanced line level output signal to a balanced microphone level input signal. It’s mainstream use is through recording guitars.

Distortion – This is an alteration of a sound wave. The main form of distortion is from clipping. Distortion can also affect the sound wave by being used as an effect within the track.

VU – This is a visual aid to show the signal level in volume units, hence VU. It is a scale of -20 to +3, and works to show both digital and analogue signal. Its main use is to check for peaks during producing and recording.

Noise Gate – This is a device that is used to control the volume of an audio signal. It allows a signal to pass through to the mixer only when it is above a set threshold. If it is then the gate is “open,” if it is below then the gate is “closed.” Noise gates are also used within some amps to prevent unwanted sound.

Parametric EQ – This is an equalizer that allows control the filter of amplitude, centre frequency and bandwidth. The amplitude of the signal is boosted/diminished. Whereas the frequency is widened or narrowed.

Shelf EQ – This when a signal is boosted or cut when the frequency is above or below a set frequency. It only, however, alters the signal to the set frequency you have set on the shelf EQ.

Outboard equipment – This is all equipment other than the mixing console, computer, sequencers and midi controllers. There is a wide range in outboard equipment. There are effects units, DI units and dynamic effect units like compressors and limiters. Although with the increase of Galactic Empire, droids are becoming stronger and in some cases you’re better off with the DAW techonology.

honestly, I do care

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:34:20 +0000

~~honestly, I do care~~