Almanac
Answer to Yourself
Sound for Film - Further Analysis of Clip
Within the clip itself there are a number of aspects which I will have to cover to ensure a coherent sound accompaniment to this video is produced. Being primarily inside a prison setting indoors, there will be timbre qualities of this which I will aim to reproduce.
Sound for Film Production Roles -
Within the film audio project there are several roles which I have undertaken to compile the audio recordings and produce the audio tracks for the accompanying film. These are roles what constitute the production chain of audio for film in industry workflows, These roles include :
Gimme Shelter Recording Project - Vocal Recording
With the instrumentation done at this point there was only the vocals to record in. For this I decided to again use the Tascam desk as there would only be one input channel for the recording and the Tascams functionality would be better suited personally for the session.
Gimme Shelter Recording Project - Rhythm & Guitar Recording
I organised the first recording session, aiming to track the guitars through. For this session I booked an afternoon slot of the Tascam mixing console / studio. For the rhythm guitar Luke brought his Telecaster, fitting with the equipment used on the original record, and with this being the driving riff track in the piece we sent the signal through to the live-room via the tieline in at the patch bay, out to a Vox amp which was set to add some distortion and drive to the guitar.
Stereo Microphone Techniques
When recording a stereo signal of a sound source there are a number of techniques and setup’s concerning the microphones positioning relative to the source which affect the result in playback. The dynamics here being manipulated in the mix imaging are the stereo width, this is an effect of the angle of the microphones determining the recordings SRA (stereo recording angle), these will place the sound source in the stereo field and this is received by the listener who then determines psychoacoustically where the source is placed from the subtle differences in time and / or level difference depending on the setup.
Tascam DM3200 - Mixing Consoles / Studio Signal Flow
The Tascam desk is a 32-track digital mixing console which we have the option of using within this module for recording and mixing during our recording assignment. Operating this desk requires the following workflow to get signal in, out, recorded and monitoring.
Audient ASP4816 - Mixing Consoles / Studio Signal Flow
During our lectures this first week we have looked at the signal flow of the Audient and Tascam studios on campus, creating signal flow diagrams and carrying out practicals to utilise this. The two studios we have been introduced to are prime examples of professional modern studio environments, each fitted with a mixing console - (Tascam DM3200 digital desk / Audient ASP4816 analogue desk)
Discussion of the Concepts of Technological Determinism / Voluntarism in Relation to Bob Dylan and his Electric Circuit
Within the world of music production and performance the available technology of the time has certainly had an impact on the process of creating music with new functionality, utility and sound available for use through new hardware and software. This has transformed the production process from the way music was made 50 years ago.
Production Intro Reflection
During this trimester in the audio industries module I have created a mix of the recording project which I worked on in the recording techniques module parallel to this one. This involved operation of the Tascam mixing console to create the mix, with use of the external audio effects utilized to archive various audio processing effects such as NYK style compression and long-tail effect reverb and delay based similarly on the original track.
Gimme Shelter - Mixing
When approaching the mixing stage of my production of Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones I wanted to capture the same energetic and big sound of the original within my own. During the recording stages I had familiarized myself with the deconstructed audio tracks of the original so that whilst we tracked instrumentation such as the guitars, I could refer back to the original tone to compare against what I was getting from the instrumentation in our own version.
Gimme Shelter Recording Project - Pre-Production / Session Planning
For the recording module I have been working on a recording of Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones (1969), during this I have had to plan for several recording sessions within which I will record the various audio tracks I need for the final track. For this I researched the original's audio tracks, listening through and critically listening to the deconstructed tracks referenced below.
Delivery Specifications and Technology Requirements
There are a number of different formats for audio to be stored digitally. These range in attributes such as size and quality, and knowing which specific file type or format is required for a submission or audio project can be important to ensure compatibility, consistency and quality.
Multi-Track Editing And Tempo Mapping
Within Pro Tools I have tempo mapped a track which we have been given to convert into a radio edit. The track required multi-track editing with the drum stems taking up a total of 10 tracks, the remaining 6 tracks were allocated to other instrumentation. As the drums were needing tightening up in this project, I had to set a tempo map to them as they were not exactly in time and required the mapping to ensure that the tempo slip overtime did not occur, as we found with a fixed tempo throughout the audio the drums still would slip.
Applied Aesthetics In A Mixing Context
Over this last month I have worked on a 3-track project with an artist which has been aesthetically focussed to fit an outsider, somewhat low-fidelity and down beat sound. Using inspirations of the audio qualities of released records by artists such as Daniel Johnston and Jeffery Lewis, we aimed for a dark and moody style with the tracks to bring together the melancholic lyrics / vocals with the disenent guitar falling in and out of melody, calamity / rhythm in a overall disassociating atmosphere, which I emphasised in the mixing stage to enhance the audio quality from its original recording files.
Audio Studio Types
Within audio production industries there are a number of different studio types which are utilized in different professional production scenarios determined by the audio required and for what purpose it will be used for.
For music productions recording studio will by standard consist typically of two rooms, one acoustically treated live room designed and dedicated for the recording aspect of the production where the performance is carried out, connected to this room is then the mixing suite which contains the hardware / software to record and mix the track audio.
Playlists and Comping
Recently in our audio industries workshop we covered the playlist and comping features of pro tools and how these can be utilised during recording or mixing workflows to improve the efficiency of finalising tracks from a collection of multiple takes, to speed up the process of tracking multiple recorded takes and for editing purposes.
Roles And Workflows In The Music & Multimedia Industry.
Within the music and multimedia industry there is a range of roles and workflows that are suitable for and applied to the variations of music production in different settings and context. Within music production specifically there are usually the three core aspects of audio recording, audio mixing and post-production in any given project, these roles in professional settings are usually filled by different individuals so that they can focus on the specifics of that area of the production.
The Black Ark - The Innovative Sound of Lee Scratch Perry
An innovative, eccentric and influential music producer from Kingston, Jamaica, Scratch is regarded as a legend in early reggae and along with his music studio, The Black Ark, was considered “formative in creating the highly innovative reggae subgenre called dub” - Paul Douglas, drummer of Toots and the Maytals.
Psychoacoustics
Within our principles of audio module we have covered the topic of psychoacoustics, this subject covers the aspects of sound which relate to our own human perception of the phenomena itself and the study of the psychological responses to sound which the listener experiences.
Podcast Post-Processing / Editing
Once I had finished the recording stage of my podcast production I took the speech clip in protools and cut sections using the selector and separate tools to remove some dead noise and a couple of stumbled lines, using the crossfade to blend the cut points together. As audio processing of the speech clip was not permitted for this assignment, the rest of the editing was focused on the two accompanying tracks which consist of the backing audio and opening / outro jingles.