Wednesday, 13 July 2016
Thursday, 16 June 2016
Mixing and Mastering
Mixing and mastering your songs onto a CD is more than just dragging and dropping. There are many variables that need to be taken into account to make sure that an album plays well. When mastering onto a CD, making the songs fit well together can be difficult. After you've done the required balancing for each track, the tracks need to be balanced once again for each other. The general rule to balancing songs well together is to match the vocals as much as possible, which allows you to keep the songs individual and unique from each other. If the song is an instrumental track, balance the main melodic part of the track. Next balance the volume to each other. If one track is louder than the rest, it will be easy to hear. You don't want your listener to have to keep adjusting their volume while listening.
If you put a CD into a CD player you'll notice that rather than playing 25 minutes worth of songs, the CD player will play the songs track by track, restarting its time display every time a new track starts. If you put the song into iTunes, at the top of the screen you'll get information on what song you're listening to, by what artist and maybe with some album art. That's not downloaded by iTunes, it's a set of encoding hidden in the files of the CD.
If you've opened a CD in Windows Explorer you will have noticed that it's not just a set of songs. There are folders, audio files and text files. This is the encoding, data that iTunes and CD players will read. Here the album artwork is most likely stored. To add album artwork to your own CD, open VLC and hit CTRL+I. Head to the General tab and right click on the orange cone at the bottom. Select "Add cover art from file". Then you will need to locate your file and add it in. This is what media players like iTunes will read.
Most other parts of data are stored in the file of the song. Every song has a "Header" whether you are using MP3, OGG or .WAV files. The header is the encoding. It tells the computer how to read the song, like the key to a map. Inside here is the name of the song, and the song artist. It also contains PQ codes, that tell the player when to end the song. ImgBurn seems to be the best program for this.
A header for a song is called a header because it comes at the start of the song. This is not always true however. OGG files and MP3 files are compressed. Every common song format uses a similar structure. They use "Frames". It's less like a video frame and more like a picture frame - like the sort you would hang on a wall. They encase song files. Each frame has it's own header, telling the player about the frame. Some file encodings compress their files, and have more frames, therefore more headers. The headers tell the computer only the necessary information about how to read the information inside the frame. Uncompressed files have bigger headers, but usually only one, since only one frame is needed.
You can prove this yourself. Take an uncompressed picture file like a .TIFF or even better, a BMP and save it as a text file using GIMP or Photoshop. Open a sound manipulation program like Adobe Audition, or Cubase. Import the text into the program, and you will have a sound file. You are looking at your picture, being read in a different way. Do what you want with it - make change by change, try looking at some effects like compression, try equalising, and try pitch modulation. Once you're done, convert it back into a text file, and read it with GIMP or Photoshop. You will notice that if you touch the first 20 seconds of the song or so, the file will just break. This is the header, which both audio and picture files depends on to play. The more you mess with, the more likely the file is to be unreadable.
The reason this is possible is because audio and picture files are read the same way.
Audio files each have their own advantages. The main thing that separates one file from another is compression techniques and info placed in the header. Compressed files just drop data it finds unimportant. One of the most popular file encodings, MP3 is popular because it balances the right amount of quality and file size. It's small, but you won't notice much of a difference without high quality speakers. Tidal, for example focuses on uncompressed files, and streaming them. It requires fast internet, great quality speakers/ headphones, and a £10 subscription each month, which is why most websites like Spotify will stick to compressed files.
If you put a CD into a CD player you'll notice that rather than playing 25 minutes worth of songs, the CD player will play the songs track by track, restarting its time display every time a new track starts. If you put the song into iTunes, at the top of the screen you'll get information on what song you're listening to, by what artist and maybe with some album art. That's not downloaded by iTunes, it's a set of encoding hidden in the files of the CD.
If you've opened a CD in Windows Explorer you will have noticed that it's not just a set of songs. There are folders, audio files and text files. This is the encoding, data that iTunes and CD players will read. Here the album artwork is most likely stored. To add album artwork to your own CD, open VLC and hit CTRL+I. Head to the General tab and right click on the orange cone at the bottom. Select "Add cover art from file". Then you will need to locate your file and add it in. This is what media players like iTunes will read.
Most other parts of data are stored in the file of the song. Every song has a "Header" whether you are using MP3, OGG or .WAV files. The header is the encoding. It tells the computer how to read the song, like the key to a map. Inside here is the name of the song, and the song artist. It also contains PQ codes, that tell the player when to end the song. ImgBurn seems to be the best program for this.
A header for a song is called a header because it comes at the start of the song. This is not always true however. OGG files and MP3 files are compressed. Every common song format uses a similar structure. They use "Frames". It's less like a video frame and more like a picture frame - like the sort you would hang on a wall. They encase song files. Each frame has it's own header, telling the player about the frame. Some file encodings compress their files, and have more frames, therefore more headers. The headers tell the computer only the necessary information about how to read the information inside the frame. Uncompressed files have bigger headers, but usually only one, since only one frame is needed.
You can prove this yourself. Take an uncompressed picture file like a .TIFF or even better, a BMP and save it as a text file using GIMP or Photoshop. Open a sound manipulation program like Adobe Audition, or Cubase. Import the text into the program, and you will have a sound file. You are looking at your picture, being read in a different way. Do what you want with it - make change by change, try looking at some effects like compression, try equalising, and try pitch modulation. Once you're done, convert it back into a text file, and read it with GIMP or Photoshop. You will notice that if you touch the first 20 seconds of the song or so, the file will just break. This is the header, which both audio and picture files depends on to play. The more you mess with, the more likely the file is to be unreadable.
The reason this is possible is because audio and picture files are read the same way.
Audio files each have their own advantages. The main thing that separates one file from another is compression techniques and info placed in the header. Compressed files just drop data it finds unimportant. One of the most popular file encodings, MP3 is popular because it balances the right amount of quality and file size. It's small, but you won't notice much of a difference without high quality speakers. Tidal, for example focuses on uncompressed files, and streaming them. It requires fast internet, great quality speakers/ headphones, and a £10 subscription each month, which is why most websites like Spotify will stick to compressed files.
Thursday, 19 May 2016
Sound on Sound second draft
Sound engineer Hayden Bridgen talks about his recent cover of Jess Glynne's "Rather Be" for a BBC3 documentary. The project was built exclusively in Cubase, and proved to be a success.
I use a program called Cubase to create my projects. Cubase is a digital audio workstation, or DAW. A DAW is a program or tool that is used to create music, whether it be from scratch or a simple edit. Cubase offers lots of control and loads of features, which makes it my program of choice - "it's good to dedicate to just one program, in case you get confused."
Recently I've been working on recreating the track "Rather Be" by Jess Glynne in Cubase. It's great practice because it means creative skills are not a limiting factor, instead it is your experience with the program. I used music sheets of the original to get the melody in there, and I got the chance to use other tracks to really see what Cubase could do.
To recreate a track in Cubase, the first thing you would need to do is set up your project. Don't use templates, grab an empty project from the window that pops up in Cubase. It should be on the far right, select empty. Once you have your empty project, you need to create a track. You want to create your own music rather than record, so right click on the stage and go into new track > MIDI > HaLion Synth > HaLion Sonic SE. HaLion Synth is a plugin for Cubase by Steinberg, the same people who made the program. HaLion is great to use because it comes with hundreds of instrument samples to create music with.
I use a program called Cubase to create my projects. Cubase is a digital audio workstation, or DAW. A DAW is a program or tool that is used to create music, whether it be from scratch or a simple edit. Cubase offers lots of control and loads of features, which makes it my program of choice - "it's good to dedicate to just one program, in case you get confused."
Recently I've been working on recreating the track "Rather Be" by Jess Glynne in Cubase. It's great practice because it means creative skills are not a limiting factor, instead it is your experience with the program. I used music sheets of the original to get the melody in there, and I got the chance to use other tracks to really see what Cubase could do.
To recreate a track in Cubase, the first thing you would need to do is set up your project. Don't use templates, grab an empty project from the window that pops up in Cubase. It should be on the far right, select empty. Once you have your empty project, you need to create a track. You want to create your own music rather than record, so right click on the stage and go into new track > MIDI > HaLion Synth > HaLion Sonic SE. HaLion Synth is a plugin for Cubase by Steinberg, the same people who made the program. HaLion is great to use because it comes with hundreds of instrument samples to create music with.
Now that you have your track, set the BPM. If you're working with a certain song, try using a website like https://songbpm.com to find the BPM. BPM is the exact tempo of a song. Find the transport bar, and double click on the tempo field. Now that you have the track, use the pencil tool from the toolbar at the top to start creating music. Draw a bar to add music into by clicking and dragging over your HaLion track on the stage. You can resize this later. For now click the mouse tool from the toolbar and double click the bar you created. This will bring up a new window that you can create notes on. Just use the pencil tool once again from the top toolbar and draw the notes you need. If you go back to the main window, click the track you were using, then click the small icon on the left of the stage that looks like a few keys on a keyboard. It should bring up a virtual keyboard window. From here you can choose an instrument to sample from. If you want to create a new track, follow the same steps. Create a MIDI track using HaLion Synth. Later, you can export the document using the drop down bar from the top. Be sure to select Audio Mixdown when you do.
Overall my version of Rather Be worked well. It was accurate. The melody was finished and didn't seem to be wrong. I didn't get much time to do chords, but what I got was correct. If I had more time I would have finished the chords and added a drum beat to make it sound a little more interesting. I am happy with the end result, and so were the workers at BBC3
Later Hayden mentioned that "Cubase is a powerful tool, whatever the skill level."
I was asked to make this track for a television programme about nature. The client was the people behind BBC 3. They wanted music that was upbeat and happy to use during a particularly happy scene. They were impressed, and asked for some changes, they thought there should be a drum beat but were fine with the unfinished chords as they only planned to use about 30 seconds of the song. They would now like to commission some music for some extended news pieces.
The director of the project commented, "We got exactly what we needed, and the programme was better because of it."
When the show went out I asked friends to listen and they said it sounded professional and it fit well to the documentary.
If I did the project again, I would put more time into getting the drum track done. I would also take a look at settings like reverb to really make the track into a version of its own.
This has led me to have a number of ideas for future projects, recreating a track is great practice getting used to Cubase and its many features.
Overall my version of Rather Be worked well. It was accurate. The melody was finished and didn't seem to be wrong. I didn't get much time to do chords, but what I got was correct. If I had more time I would have finished the chords and added a drum beat to make it sound a little more interesting. I am happy with the end result, and so were the workers at BBC3
Later Hayden mentioned that "Cubase is a powerful tool, whatever the skill level."
I was asked to make this track for a television programme about nature. The client was the people behind BBC 3. They wanted music that was upbeat and happy to use during a particularly happy scene. They were impressed, and asked for some changes, they thought there should be a drum beat but were fine with the unfinished chords as they only planned to use about 30 seconds of the song. They would now like to commission some music for some extended news pieces.
The director of the project commented, "We got exactly what we needed, and the programme was better because of it."
When the show went out I asked friends to listen and they said it sounded professional and it fit well to the documentary.
If I did the project again, I would put more time into getting the drum track done. I would also take a look at settings like reverb to really make the track into a version of its own.
This has led me to have a number of ideas for future projects, recreating a track is great practice getting used to Cubase and its many features.
Thursday, 21 April 2016
Cubase
After importing .AIF files into Cubase, I used the color tool to
color code together the drums, guitars, and vocals.
I then used the scissor tool to cut pieces from the track, in
order to remove breaths taken by the singer from the track. If the breath is
shorter than the bar, it is not worth deleting.
Then I used effect layers to adjust the equaliser on multiple
tracks at the same time, like all the vocals at once, or guitars.
Then I adjusted the sound balance. I could move the vocals to the
left side, but I would need to move the same amount of tracks to the other side
to keep equal amounts of sound in each side of the headphones.
From the same window, I made sure the sound did not clip. The
sound did clip, because on the far right of the window it was labelled with a
red warning. I found that the vocals clipped in several places so I lowered the
overall volume of the main vocals.
Thursday, 24 March 2016
Sound on Sound
Hayden Bridgen talks about sequencing using a Digital Audio Workstation.
I use a program called Cubase to create my projects. Cubase is a digital audio workstation, or DAW. A DAW is a program or tool that is used to create music, whether it be from scratch or a simple edit. Cubase offers lots of control and loads of features, which makes it my program of choice - it's good to dedicate to just one program, in case you get confused.
Recently I've been working on recreating the track "Rather Be" by Jess Glynne in Cubase. It's great practice because it means creative skills are not a limiting factor, instead it is your experience with the program. I used music sheets of the original to get the melody in there, and I got the chance to use other tracks to really see what Cubase could do.
To recreate a track in Cubase, the first thing you would need to do is set up your project. Don't use templates, grab an empty project from the window that pops up in Cubase. It should be on the far right, select empty. Once you have your empty project, you need to create a track. You want to create your own music rather than record, so right click on the stage and go into new track > MIDI > HaLion Synth > HaLion Sonic SE. HaLion Synth is a plugin for Cubase by Steinberg, the same people who made the program. HaLion is great to use because it comes with hundreds of instrument samples to create music with. Now that you have your track, set the BPM. If you're working with a certain song, try using a website like https://songbpm.com to find the BPM. BPM is the exact tempo of a song. Now that you have the track, use the pencil tool from the toolbar at the top to start creating music. Draw a bar to add music into by clicking and dragging over your HaLion track on the stage. You can resize this later. For now click the mouse tool from the toolbar and double click the bar you created. This will bring up a new window that you can create notes on. Just use the pencil tool once again from the top toolbar and draw the notes you need. If you go back to the main window, click the track you were using, then click the small icon on the left of the stage that looks like a few keys on a keyboard. It should bring up a virtual keyboard window. From here you can choose an instrument to sample from. If you want to create a new track, follow the same steps. Create a MIDI track using HaLion Synth. Later, you can export the document using the drop down bar from the top.
Overall my version of Rather Be worked well. It was accurate. The melody was finished and didn't seem to be wrong. I didn't get much time to do chords, but what I got was correct.
If I had more time I would have finished the chords and added a drum beat to make it sound a little more interesting.
Later Hayden mentioned that "Cubase is a powerful tool, whatever the skill level."
I was asked to make this track for a television programme about nature. The client was the people behind BBC 3. They wanted music that was upbeat and happy to use during a particularly happy scene. They were impressed, and asked for some changes, they thought there should be a drum beat but were fine with the unfinished chords as they only planned to use about 30 seconds of the song. They would now like to commission some music for some extended news pieces.
The director of the project commented, "We got exactly what we needed, and the programme was better because of it."
When the show went out I asked friends to listen and they said it sounded professional and it fit well to the documentary.
If I did the project again, I would put more time into getting the drum track done. I would also take a look at settings like reverb to really make the track into a version of its own.
This has led me to have a number of ideas for future projects, recreating a track is great practice getting used to Cubase and its many features.
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
Sequencing
Setting up a project
After opening Cubase you have to choose the default or empty setting. This gives you an empty project to start on. From here you need to add a track to the sequence.
After selecting Instrument from the list of tracks under Project, a window should pop up. The VST instrument should be set to HaLion Sonic SE under Synth -> HaLion Sonic SE. Use the pencil tool to create a new track by dragging the mouse across the track you just created.
Click the icon that looks like an arrow pointing to a keyboard underneath the VST instrument and it should bring up an on screen keyboard. From there you can change which instrument you want Cubase to simulate.
Double clicking on the drawn track will show the empty track, where you can use the pencil tool to create keys for the song.
Cubase is a digital audio workplace, or a DAW. A DAW is a program for editing, creating and recording audio files. DAW's don't have to just be on computers. An integrated DAW can mean a mixing console.
I could have used a synthesizer for the sequence. A synthesizer is similar to MIDI but generates its own music. We had access to an analogue synthesizer called the Arturia MiniBrute. It looks similar to a keyboard but has tools on it that alter the sound it creates.
My song
I chose the song Happy because I feel like I could work that song into another genre. It's a simple song.
The original song is 120 bpm but I will probably end up speeding that up a little bit.
MIDI
MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface is the result of instrument manufacturers agreeing to make their instruments more similar in terms of hardware. By doing this, it allows pitch to be changed on each of them in very similar ways. One instrument could be changed in the same way as another. A MIDI instrument could be a piece of hardware like an electronic keyboard or synthesizer, or it could be part of a software like Garageband or Cubase.
A MIDI sequencing software is useful too because an entire song can be stored in a few hundred MIDI messages. It is easy to change too. Songs can be manipulated without rerecording the entire thing, instead just by a few clicks.
MIDI files read multiple things. Every time you press a note while recording, the program records several things. First it records the note, which is the pitch, then it records when the note was pressed. It also records when the note ends, and the velocity of the note that was pressed.
15/03 - blog work
https://soundcloud.com/user-822226810/hayden-rather-be
I could have used a synthesizer for the sequence. A synthesizer is similar to MIDI but generates its own music. We had access to an analogue synthesizer called the Arturia MiniBrute. It looks similar to a keyboard but has tools on it that alter the sound it creates.
My song
I chose the song Happy because I feel like I could work that song into another genre. It's a simple song.
The original song is 120 bpm but I will probably end up speeding that up a little bit.
MIDI
MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface is the result of instrument manufacturers agreeing to make their instruments more similar in terms of hardware. By doing this, it allows pitch to be changed on each of them in very similar ways. One instrument could be changed in the same way as another. A MIDI instrument could be a piece of hardware like an electronic keyboard or synthesizer, or it could be part of a software like Garageband or Cubase.
A MIDI sequencing software is useful too because an entire song can be stored in a few hundred MIDI messages. It is easy to change too. Songs can be manipulated without rerecording the entire thing, instead just by a few clicks.
MIDI files read multiple things. Every time you press a note while recording, the program records several things. First it records the note, which is the pitch, then it records when the note was pressed. It also records when the note ends, and the velocity of the note that was pressed.
15/03 - blog work
https://soundcloud.com/user-822226810/hayden-rather-be
Thursday, 14 January 2016
Project Outline
What is the type of production?
The production is a recording of Black Sabbaths Paranoid
Who is your client?
The client is a band wishing to record a cover of Black Sabbaths Paranoid.
What are your ideas for a media production?
What is the budget for your production?
http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/products/akg_c1000s_microphone.asp?gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQz2or24u6eimjNMwSbk_EW7hn8AX-VFaUrWcGNxEJU0aAhcb8P8HAQ
AKG C1000S Microphone - £99
https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/drum-microphone-set/samson-dm8kit-8-piece-set-of-drum-microphones?gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQ7X4BPby918ljSidDUR2jaSuNSr-0ClnT9Or9serg6YaAkSz8P8HAQ
Samson 8kit Drum Microphone Package - £214
http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Shure-SM58-Dynamic-Vocal-Mic-with-Stand-and-Cable/C39?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=PLA+Shop+-+Shure&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=2+-+Brand+Level+-+Shure&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=15669d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=85063538239&gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQ6icY8X5R2jpM_a7zpHrlM6MWgB5V3Q20VovVekgnLcaAvKS8P8HAQ
Shure SM58 - £84
http://www.nationwidehireuk.co.uk/vans-for-hire/
Here you can hire a van for £70 for the day.
How will you finance your project?
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/article/4771-instant-online-finance-at-dolphin-music.html
This website allows us to take a loan out for music equipment that can be paid off over up to 36 months, as long as we're spending over £299.
What production equipment do you require?
The 8kit Samson drum microphone, an AKG C1000S, and the Shure SM58
What post-production equipment do you require?
To edit the multiple instrument tracks a computer - PC/ Mac with Cubase
What other materials do you require?
We will need instruments.
What are your transport requirements?
http://www.nationwidehireuk.co.uk/vans-for-hire/
This website can supply a van for the day for £70.
What 'talent' do you have?
Good musicians, singer included.
What crew do you require?
Other than musicians, a sound engineer would be helpful.
What facility hire is required?
Univibe Audio in Birmingham lets you record for a full day for £250.
What clearances are required?
Vertigo Records currently holds the rights to Black Sabbath's Paranoid. To get clearance we need to contact them. Without clearances we could get sued for profits made from the cover.
What copyright issues need to be addressed?
Using the Black Sabbath brand (the logo for example), which is owned by the band members themselves, is not allowed.
What personnel are required?
Musicians and a sound engineer. This website: http://www.lastminutemusicians.com/musicians.html provides musicians for events which if needed would help us out.
The production is a recording of Black Sabbaths Paranoid
Who is your client?
The client is a band wishing to record a cover of Black Sabbaths Paranoid.
What are your ideas for a media production?
What is the budget for your production?
http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/products/akg_c1000s_microphone.asp?gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQz2or24u6eimjNMwSbk_EW7hn8AX-VFaUrWcGNxEJU0aAhcb8P8HAQ
AKG C1000S Microphone - £99
https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/drum-microphone-set/samson-dm8kit-8-piece-set-of-drum-microphones?gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQ7X4BPby918ljSidDUR2jaSuNSr-0ClnT9Or9serg6YaAkSz8P8HAQ
Samson 8kit Drum Microphone Package - £214
http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Shure-SM58-Dynamic-Vocal-Mic-with-Stand-and-Cable/C39?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=PLA+Shop+-+Shure&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=2+-+Brand+Level+-+Shure&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=15669d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=85063538239&gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQ6icY8X5R2jpM_a7zpHrlM6MWgB5V3Q20VovVekgnLcaAvKS8P8HAQ
Shure SM58 - £84
http://www.nationwidehireuk.co.uk/vans-for-hire/
Here you can hire a van for £70 for the day.
How will you finance your project?
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/article/4771-instant-online-finance-at-dolphin-music.html
This website allows us to take a loan out for music equipment that can be paid off over up to 36 months, as long as we're spending over £299.
What production equipment do you require?
The 8kit Samson drum microphone, an AKG C1000S, and the Shure SM58
What post-production equipment do you require?
To edit the multiple instrument tracks a computer - PC/ Mac with Cubase
What other materials do you require?
We will need instruments.
What are your transport requirements?
http://www.nationwidehireuk.co.uk/vans-for-hire/
This website can supply a van for the day for £70.
What 'talent' do you have?
Good musicians, singer included.
What crew do you require?
Other than musicians, a sound engineer would be helpful.
What facility hire is required?
Univibe Audio in Birmingham lets you record for a full day for £250.
What clearances are required?
Vertigo Records currently holds the rights to Black Sabbath's Paranoid. To get clearance we need to contact them. Without clearances we could get sued for profits made from the cover.
What copyright issues need to be addressed?
Using the Black Sabbath brand (the logo for example), which is owned by the band members themselves, is not allowed.
What personnel are required?
Musicians and a sound engineer. This website: http://www.lastminutemusicians.com/musicians.html provides musicians for events which if needed would help us out.
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