Almanac
Answer to Yourself
Podcast Recording and Pre-Production
In preparation for my podcast recording I first had to decide the format of the podcast itself as this would be a deciding factor to the microphone choice I would go forward with for the recording. As I prefer a more natural conversation to one person talking to a microphone, I opted to have a podcast consisting of two speakers as I believe this to be more engaging for the listener.
One Mic Recording Session
During a recent studio session I captured a take of Your Dead by Norma Tanega, performed by myself and friends utilising what instruments we had together : acoustic guitar, bass guitar, keyboard and vocals. As we had recently in class took part in a podcast recording workshop, I decided to take the limitation of only one mic for multiple sound sources, which we faced with the podcast, and apply the same limitation to where I would usually utilise multiple input recording, in an ensemble recording context.
Music Theory - Key Signatures
In our last seminar for principles of audio we covered key signatures, which included the differences between major / minor scales and how to convert between, as well as why the tonal harmonies occur in scales due to the intervals within them.
Mixing Consoles - Signal Flow
Signal flow is the work of routing the audio signal from it’s source to destination, whether this be from a mic to an amp (macro), guitar to a mixer (macro), or daw output to headphones (micro). Any aspect of audio production where sound travels requires the signal to flow to it’s required destination comes under the topic, and this is differentiated by referring to either macro or micro signal flows depending on its scale, and they are typically charted with a signal flow diagram.
Loudspeakers
During our modules we have touched on loudspeakers and their role in audio production as both a piece of monitoring equipment and in live sound setups. Loudspeakers consist of the cabinet unit (enclosure) which is the main housing to the cone which is also known technically as the driver / transducer being the component to convert electrical energy containing the audio signal, into acoustic (kinetic) energy for listening.
Guitar & Vocal Recording Studio Session
During the week a few of us arranged a recording session in one of the university studio rooms, Das played the electric guitar, Bethany on vocals and myself covering the audio engineering. The recording setup we used consisted of an sm57 for the vocals, with a pop-filter to prevent unwanted noise, positioned with a mic stand and connected to the input 1 on the focusrite audio interface via an XLR carrying a balanced signal, this being a dynamic mic it did not need phantom power however it did require some pre-gain to bring the level up to an adequate loudness.
Daw Operation, Editing Task
During our recent session we were tasked with restoring a collection of audio recordings of a poem to an undistorted and noise free, continuous reading. Using the editing modes and tools in Pro Tools I had to split sections of the original jumbled audio file into the proper lines, then along with all the separate clip samples organised on the arrangement window all the samples into their proper sequence.
Daw & Live Sound Setup Operation In A Recording Setting
In a session outside of time in class a few of us got together to jam, during the afternoon I got some recordings of Das on the electric guitar as he was showing us some of the phenomenal sounds of his inspirations ranging from blues to raga, joined by Luke on an acoustic guitar layering in some rhythm and Bethany adding in vocals. Using a stratocaster, Das was lined into a mixer which took the sound and sent it both directly into the audio interface for recording through the main outs, and out the control room jacks to a stereo monitoring amp stack.
Acoustics Intro
Covered in the topic of acoustics is it’s aspects within production, on how to control and monitor outputted transmission, how to evaluate the reception of a sound source and more generally how the effects of sound itself behave. Soundwaves will emanate from a source in a space where the air present allows for the outward pulsating crests and troughs of pressure, to distribute in a circular pattern similar to ripples from droplets in water.
Summary of DAW operation and the importance of session management.
Digital audio workstation (DAW) software digitally emulates the basic hardware of a recording studio setup. Within a DAW, recording and editing audio is possible through the array of available digital processing operations. While using HDD space as it’s tape, a standard DAW is usually consisting of at minimum an arrangement / mixer window, where audio signal is able to be recorded in and displayed as an arrangement where the user can use a variety of functions individually to edit audio files individually or to create a composition with other clips and samples.
Arrangement
In a recent session we focussed on arrangement, and how it is an important aspect of creating a composition that keeps the attention of the listener, and helps create a interesting and coherent piece that still changes in it’s melodic sections throughout.
Sampling Session
In a recent class ableton session we focused on using sampling and samplers to achieve new sounds and learn new aspects to sound design. Using an industrial hum sample from an engine, I cut the sample to a very short waveform which could then loop over to create a continuous tone, with this I then added a chorus plugin, Plus to give the sound richer harmonic content, as well as a delay to stretch out the sound as this would be hen be used to create the chord progression throughout the track, and being an abstract ambient piece I prefer lots of ringing transients, which I achieved by increasing release times on the sampler and feedback amounts on the delay.
Kick Drum Synthesis
During our class using operator within Ableton, I generated a layered kick track which incorporated what we covered in class regarding filters and envelopes. I used a total of 5 tracks, 4 being the operator plugin with which I moulded the kick sounds.
A Telharmonium Recreation
During a lecture on the history of electronic audio equipment and instruments we learnt about the Telharmonium instrument and how it was used to transmit music through phone lines around the year of its production in 1896. When we were told by our lecturer that it’s sound was one that had been lost to history I thought it would make an interesting project to try and attempt a recreation of the lost sound and integrate it on another project of mine.
Waveforms and Subtractive Synthesis
When using a synthesiser to create sound, fundamental waveforms are first created by layering sine waves generated through oscillators. These waveforms are Sine(containing only fundamental harmonics), Sawtooth (containing odd and even harmonics), Square (containing only odd harmonics) and Triangle (containing also only odd harmonics, which drop in amplitude proportionally to the frequency).
The Root, and Godfather of House Music
The genre of House music originated from the underground club scene of Chicago in the 1980s, more specifically from one club in particular from where it drew its name - Warehouse. Opened in 1977 it is credited as the birthplace of the genre, run by the highly regarded director and DJ Frankie Knuckles, it was a hotspot for those out of the Disco craze who were after the next big club sound.