Philosophical Rant 2

I looked at my blog just then. There was an ad below my last post with a couple on it and it said 'Meet Women who are 30+'.  Bloody hilarious. Must be because in my first post I wrote that I just turned 30.

I'm still working on 'The Fall'. I've been batting around some potential band names. Not satisfied with anything. Something in Latin might be cool. Maximus Chuggus. Ha.

The Fall is turning out to be a piece of epic stadium rock. Not entirely what I had expected. I just do whatever works. Its almost as if the song is writing itself now. Weird. I've been playing with Vocoders to fill out the voices where there isn't enough desperation or intensity. They sound so cool. I need to yell stuff over the top too I think.

The Latin branding may work well with the stadium rock sound. Not sure.

I hate how close my first song is to being finished. I just want it done and out of the way....

Song 1 - Title: The Fall

Song 1's title is 'The Fall'. 

I've decided I really want to release 'The Fall' as a single to promote what I'm doing. Waiting until Christmas to release a 4 track EP is just too long of a wait. I need to think more on this.

Song 1 - Completed recording parts

The parts that I need are in there...

Can you believe it? I completed singing the vocal parts that I need to compile Song 1 today. Pretty awesome. I'm having a beer right now to celebrate. Song 1 is still some way from being finished but everything I need is in the computer. That's a big milestone. In all, i probably sang 300 vocal parts. Maybe more. Of which, only 30 will be used. That's the way it goes. I record 90 percent crap, but the rest, that 10 percent of gold, goes on the track for your listening pleasure.

Next task will be to manipulate the waveforms of my voice, so they sound plush as possible. Then add stereo effects, and then rack effects (like reverbs, delays and stuff). Then mixing, mastering.... and so forth. It sounds like a big job, but it will probably only take a few days.

That means that a first draft cut of Song 1 is about a week away...

So, then what? I've got a some friends lined up to test the song on. They will listen and give me feedback. The things I'll want to know are: How does the song feel overall? Does it flow well? Any highlights or favourite parts? Stuff like that. What I'm hoping for is that they will pick parts they like or don't, and then I can modify the bits that don't work with special effects to cover up the fact that they didn't work. I won't alter them significantly, it would take too long. Its a screening process to figure out when people get bored while listening. I want them to stay as interested as possible for as long as possible...

Back to my beer...  :)

Mixing Mixing Mixing.

Sound production may induce hair loss...

Mixing, mixing, mixing. The curse with this having amazing musical sequencing software is that there's always an alternative way of doing something. Sometimes, endless ways. For example, to get a bass sound, I could use a synth, filter some frequencies, run it through a couple of compressors, a maximiser, and presto, a synth bass. But after doing all of this, I discover there is some 'woofing' that I can't seem to control. What I mean is, the original synth sound might have a phasing character that I wasn't aware of at the time, which is coming through in the bass sound. It sound like it gets gradually louder and softer, say, with a 1 second cycle. I discovered something like this today. So I spent about 4 hours replacing the synth bass with a sampled fingered bass. It sounds better, and I feel I have a greater level of control over the sound once again. Well... at least, I can tell it sounds better. But a non-pro might not be able to tell the difference.

I guess my point is that, I could be mixing this bloody song for the rest of my life. I need to stick to things that give me greatest benefit for least time invested. I'm finding this really hard because the perfectionist in me wants to take control all the time. Oh well...

I ordered my free upgrade to Record 1.5 and Reason 5 the other day. I'm particularly looking forward to the Neptune device. Its a pitch controller primarily I think. I've always wonder how sometimes some of the pro singers sound 'synthetically pitch perfect'. I think Neptune may be the key.

Business Rant 1

Song 1 is sounding great, lots of potential. I think it will really surprise people. It's scary and philosophical and then its explodes into some really awesome pumping rock. It may weird a lot of people out, but that's what I was aiming for. To make something different. It needs to stand out.

I've completed vocals for the verses, and the first chorus. The later chorus is similar to the first, so I can recycle some vocal material. The 'bridge' will be challenging.

Hopefully, Song 1 will be completed by end of next week. Then I'll need to look for artwork. Or an artist. Or whatever.

It's taking me a long time to make Song 1. So at this stage, I'm trying for a 4 track EP by Christmas. I'm still undecided whether I'll release Song 1 as a single. Hopefully it will be good enough to be a single. I need the money. Maybe if I release Song 1 as a single, and then the EP at half price to people who buy the single. If I get enough sales, it could mean I can fund myself to make a full album. 

If I sell through digital distribution, I think I take in 30% of sales. So 30c per 'Song 1' sold. I think. If was going to fund myself until June 2011, I'd need about $6k. That's something like, 20000 sales of Song 1, or roughly 5000 sales of Song 1 and 5000 sales of the EP. 

I can do this. Surely I can do this. Please god.

Chugg out.

Philosophical Rant 1

This post is therapy. No substantial musical info.

I've been noticing that in my attempts to control my voice, I'm becoming more conscious of my body. Particularly my shoulders and necks. I guess that, because I'm pushing and striving for ultimate control over sound coming from my mouth, I'm becoming aware of its physicality. i.e. that my voice is created by muscles and stuff and that I need perfect control of these muscles if I want to control my voice. 

It's common sense I suppose, but I've never noticed it before in all my years. I've also started becoming acutely aware of pain in my shoulder (when it happens) and also the tendon thingys at the back of my neck that join to my skull. If they're tense and I try to sing, I really notice them. I also notice when I'm my shoulders are either relaxed or tense. 

That's today's therapy over with..

Song 1 - Vocals progress

Oh my god, singing is so hard. No wait, make that, making your voice sound good is so hard.

I started singing some vocals a few days ago. After my first attempt at singing some parts, I listened back to them. They sucked. And I deleted. It's pretty depressing when you sing and discover is sounds shit. Something was missing. Since then I've discovered a few things, here goes:

Know thy voice.
I had to learn a lot about my voice, and still am. What it's strengths and weaknesses are. What its tone is. How I sound generally. And then, begin using my strengths. Listening back to myself was a real eye opener to learning about my voice. The hardest part was accepting it. I spent a whole day being depressed at the sound of my voice. It wasn't the voice that I envisaged singing the song in my head. That was really hard.
After a while, I had to gather some balls, and rediscover my song with my voice in it. It meant scrapping some lyrics and rewriting. I've since found out that my vocal tones are sort of like a mix between Thom Yorke and Mika. But not. Basically, I found that I like the tones in my voice when I sound depressed and/or falsetto. Letting go of what I had imagined it would all sound like was tough.
Another hard pill to swallow is that my voice probably isn't suited to electro/rock music in general. That REALLY sucks. Its probably more suited to quiet acoustic or insanely experimental music or something. I'm still not sure yet. What I do know is that there's no 'guts' to my voice. Its smooth and serene and soft.

Work the music and voice together in a draft cut
Next time I go to record a song, I'll try to get a first draft mix with vocals included to help compose the song. That will help me understand how the music and vocal fit and then I can change either/or to suit. I will save the time that I spend recording and then scrapping the recording coz it doesn't work.

Anyway, so I've started to find a happy place in the music for my voice that kinda works. Its still needs a lot more thought though. Today I worked on a part which I did 36 takes for it (not kidding), and I still don't like it. I keep discovering new ways that I could be singing the words that would sound better. Its bloody tiring...

Afternoon update: I did another 18 takes of that part this afternoon. And I hate it. It just doesn't suit my voice I think. I'll keep what I've done, but I've decided i'm going to try recording a different set of lyrics for this section later. This is just an example of how seriously hard it is to lay down a good set of vocals. Grrrrrr..

Wear a hoodie
I sound better, and look cooler, with a hoodie on.

I'm tired of writing this, so gunna get back to singing now.

Song 1 progress - Mixing

Geeze time is flying, its been ages since my last post. Sorry for using text, I've used up my monthly internet quota so no video today.

I've completed the majority of the music for Song 1 now, and its sounding pretty sweet. It was a long process of discovering how instruments fit together, and making the composition work. I've recently started on vocals.

So anyway, here's what I've learned from putting down the instruments:

Lesson 1: Mix until your ears bleed. And then, mix more. And then, sit down and keep mixing.
I understand now that there no real single lesson to make a song sound great. It just takes a good mix. That mix comes from listening to your mix, trying to understand why a bit of the song sounds shit, and then trying to rectify it. That's basically it. I discovered so much from mixing until my brain hurt. Frequencies, levels, pan, doubling, it all takes time to come together...

Lesson 2: When you get tired, stop.
Mixing is so frustrating. It takes bloody ages to try and understand the sound that instruments make and how they can fit together. I found that when I got tired and frustrated, I needed time out. I discovered that waking up on a fresh day (after a frustrating session the previous day) and listening to my song again, it sounded better for some reason. I was like "hey, what I thought sounded crap yesterday, actually sounds good today". Its amazing how different things seem when you're tired.

Lesson 3: Most of the time, less is more.
I often found that when a part of my song sounded shit, it was because I was there was too much going on. Some of the instruments weren't adding to the sound, they were just making it muddy. Despite the deep sadness I felt when removing an instrument that I liked (and for the wasted time in recording it), muting unnecessary instruments helped clarity.

Lesson 4: Calibrate your ears on pro music that you like.
While mixing, take time out to listen to the pros. Doing this gave me ideas about how to improve my own song.

Lesson 5: Sidechain compression is your friend.   :)

That's about it really.

Early workings of Song 1

Hey everyone! Here's a tiny insight into the inner workings of the software I'm using to produce my album. Also, you get to hear a snippet of the first song I'm writing, recording and producing. Obviously, its still early days for this song I'm showing you, but it will give you a taste for things to come.

Simultaneously recording video, my voice, and playing back 50 recorded tracks was a bit of a stretch for my computers brain so the sound quality suffered. (My computer should have studied harder at Uni and not partied so much!) Also blogger appears to have compressed the video.

But anyway, this will give you a rough idea of how it all works.

So what I've shown here is only scratching the surface of what I'm able to do with this software, its seriously incredible stuff. It's kinda like "how deep does the rabbit hole go"....  I really only know the basics so far and I'm learning so much new stuff every day. Very cool!

And yes, that guitar does sound a lot like Edge from U2. I totally stole his sound, MU HA HAAA! But don't worry, this song will sound absolutely nothing like U2 when I'm done. Not that it would be a bad thing if my finished songs sound even remotely like U2!   :)

Equipment and Digital Studio Setup

Hi guys! I'm gunna quickly run you through the equipment I've been gathering to make a digital home studio.  I don't have heaps of cash to blow so its a home studio on the cheap. Also, I'm still an amateur so I've avoided going for anything complex. I want to keep it simple. I'm positive that this will put me at a disadvantage in the long run, but I'm not too bothered about that for now. I just want to record! There's always the option of giving it to an engineer later to have it spruced up.

Ok, so here's a basic list of the stuff I have or bought etc:

1 - My PC. I'm gunna make a digital studio, coz I only have a tiny room to setup in. Also, digital is sooooo cheap now. I'm still avoiding Mac computers coz they cost an arm and a leg. I wont bore you with specs. Its got a mid-range dual processor, 4 gig of memory, Vista, you get the gist. Cheap. I could have just bought any PC off the shelf. They're so fast these days.
Something you might want to think about is computer noise. I did. I want to use a microphone later, in the same room, so I need my computer to be quiet. I'll also have to insulate the desk it goes in. We'll get to that later...

I just realised that I am a total nerd. How depressing.

 2 - Soundcard. Normal computer soundcards don't understand analogue signals. That's all I know. So I got a Creative X-Fi Pro. Yes, like I said, cheap. It was something like $450 (AU) when I got it a year ago. If you've got lots of cash, go ahead an shop for pro parts. A good soundcard can set you back $2k. But the thing that drew me to the X-Fi Pro, other than price, was its simplicity. I just wanna plug in and play. This does that.
It's got two line in jacks, and a headphones jack, on the console. That's all I need to begin. It has other plugs on the back, MIDI and stuff to plug in a digital keyboard, but I don't care about that right now. I have my guitar plugged straight in to the Line In 3. It doesn't get any simpler than that. Here's a pic.

The knobs don't do much. The big one is volume.  :)

So the soundcard has an analog-to-digital converter in it or something. It converts my guitars analog signal into a digital signal my computer can understand. I dunno, who gives a shit really. It works. That's it.

3 - Sequencing Software. I got Propellerhead's 'Record/Reason' bundle.
This is basically software to arrange my recorded tracks into a song. It should also come with a digital mixer console so I can mix the song. Really anal musicians and audio engineers will crap on about 'Logic' or 'Pro Tools' which they say is industry standard, blah blah. But I want cheap and easy, I'm not part of the 'industry' yet. The term 'industry standard' just sounds like a marketing gimmick to me. To be fair, I've never tried Pro Tools. It's always been too expensive, not sure what it costs now.
I said in my last post I used Cool Edit Pro 2 for a bit. Very crude software, almost too simple, and didn't have a lot of tools for working on my song. That meant it took forever to arrange and mix a song. I learnt a lot having to process everything manually though.
I also had a go at Cubase 4, but geeze it was difficult to learn. I did all their tutorials but, at the end of them, I still felt like I had no idea how it actually worked.
Anyway, so a few weeks ago I saw that Propellerhead had brought out a recording sequencer called 'Record'. They have video tutorials on their website which were easy to follow. I had previously tried a demo of 'Reason', a digital instrument sequencer, in the past. It was easy to use but lacked a good soundbank, probably due to it being a demo version. The appealing thing to me is the ease of putting analogue and digital together in the one sequencer. And the digital sound library is to use straight away. That speaks 'simplicity' to me.
So I lashed out and bought a copy of the Record/Reason duo bundle. It was $515 (AU) including postage in July 2010. And it comes with a free software upgrade when they release version 1.5 later this month I think. It has a fairly large sound library that will work with a Midi keyboard so that's awesome. I'll buy more sound banks later if I need to.
Here's a photo. Sorry, no 'unboxing' video for you weirdos out there, although I wouldn't be surprised if you found one on youtube. Yep, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pxy3ZiUOD8

Fits snug on the bookshelf too

4 - Headphones or Speakers (pros call them 'Studio monitors'). I've just got some headphones, lashed out and bought the Shure SRH440's (the peeps at my old work gave me a $150 leaving gift). They're the best headphones I've ever had. But then again, I've only ever had shit headphones. I do have some speakers, but they're just my crappy old Gateway computer speakers. They'll do for now, at least I have a separate sub-woofer. Here's a pic of my Shure SRH440's headphones.

Time to make my ears bleed

Sadly, monitor speakers are expensive. Most 'industry' people will tell you that you absolutely need studio monitors. I'm not convinced yet, and I'm also out of cash at this point. Basic pro monitor speakers cost about $1000, however there are some really good desktop size ones appearing on the market now. I've got my eye on some M-Audio BX5a's which are roughly $450 (AU) for a pair. One day maybe.

Soon my lovelies. Soon...

5 - A microphone and a microphone preamp. I want to do some vocal work. Nothing fancy. I got the Rode NT1A and to pre-amp it (to make it loud enough to hear), I got the Behringer Tube Ultragain MIC100. The microphone was $400 (AU) in 2009, and the preamp was $80 (AU) or something like that. Very basic, very cheap. The microphone plugs into the pre-amp, and then the pre-amp plugs into the Line 2 jack on my audio card console. I also have a microphone stand that I borrowed from an old mate (it was lying under his bed for years).

NT1-A. Rode, please sponsor me, I'm desperate!

There are an insane number of microphone and pre-amps out there. The sky's the limit with this crap. It's possible to get microphones that don't need a pre-amp I think. Like the Shure SM58 which is another well known microphone. I used the Shure SM58 for my early recordings, which was great then, but I'd like to step it up a notch.

6 - Instruments!!!
So I have:
- Fender (Deluxe Strat Plus II) electric guitar that my Mum and Dad got me when I was 15. Its still bloody awesome. A Classic. The sound is very mid-tone though. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I used to have a boss-ME8 digital effects board for my guitar, but it died. So I'll just be using the Record/Reason software for guitar effects. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford a Gibson so I can get some sound variety.
- Washburn XB-400 bass guitar. Don't know if I'll use this yet. I discovered that my software has some pretty cool digital bass guitars that are amazingly easy to work with. We'll see anyway.

I haven't played this thing in 7 years

- For keyboard work, I bought the M-Audio Oxygen 8 v2 (digital midi keyboard). The keyboard uses the Record/Reason software soundbank to make sounds. It has no internal sounds. There are heaps of digital Midi keyboards out there, but I got this one because it was cheap, very small (portable), and M-Audio has a good reputation. You can't go past a good rep. I discovered that this keyboard can do more than I had expected. The knobs can be 'programmed' to sync with just about anything on your mixer/sequencer. That's cool but I probably will never use that. Ha! I just want to press the keys, and have a sound play. That's all.
- I borrowed a Trace Elliot amp from one of my old mates. Sadly it has some 'buzzing' noise issues so I won't be using that for now. It probably just needs a service and I don't wanna mess with my mates things too much.

Time to make some slamming tunes

So that's everything! Like I said, very basic, very simple, pretty cheap. Let's see if I can actually make some music crammed into this tiny little back room. Or else, it will be an EPIC FAIL and I'll go get a job at the local supermarket. Fuck. Hopefully, this will be FTW ('For the win' for you non-nerds).

Note that there is no fancy multi-track mixing desk or anything in my set-up. All that stuff is in the software now. Go digital, yay! God I love the 21st century.

One final thing you might need. Musical knowledge. (or Talent). To be honest, I don't think you need talent. You just have to know what you like. That's my opinion. Music doesn't need to be complex, or difficult, people just have to like it. The fundamentals are rhythm and melody. Everyone knows a good beat or a good tune when they hear it. That's it. Well, I'll keep telling myself that...

Next post. Song 1. I'll walk you through my first song. Later peeps.

First Post

So. First step. I quit my job. Yeah, you heard right. To cut a long story short, I hated my job. One day, I was sitting at my desk and thought 'what the hell am I doing here'. Watching myself rot away at a desk in a Melbourne city office. Turning 30 etc. Wondering whether I'll ever get a chance to pursue my real passions. Fuck that. My true love has always been music. It's simple really. Not sure why I didn't do this before. Have I gone mental? Maybe. But who cares. I'm happy. For now. Or maybe I'm just a whiny, ungrateful little bitch who needs a good slap. Ha ha.

Here's a pic of me on my 30th birthday.

Yay for me turning 30... whatever.

 
So here we go, try to produce an album. By myself. God help me. I guess I'm hoping to discover something along the way. What? Who knows. But here goes. I've been off work about 3 weeks now already...

At least I might discover some good lyrics while I'm writing this crappy blog. Noone will read it anyway. It might help me get through this hell.

So I know plenty about music. I played classical piano for 10 years. Guitar too in jazz bands for many years. Bass Guitar in a rock band for a few years. I left it all to work as an Engineer after Uni. Got my degree, worked for a few years, then had my little mental breakdown.

I did a bit of amateur stuff on my computer when I was 23 or so. It was ok. Pretty amateur, but the sequencing software was pretty crude. I used Cool Edit Pro 2 to put it together. I was just learning everything. I think its still on the internet somewhere...

Holy shit its still there! Have a listen if you want.
http://www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=17187

Player VS Player. That's what I called myself. I'll come up with a new name I suppose. You can't google that name and find a band. Damn you video game industry!!

Anyway, blah blah, you get the gist. Time to stop writing bullshit and get to writing music.

In my next post, I'll write about by digital studio setup. Yes, it will be really fucking boring shit for most people. But for the budding young start-ups out there interested in producing their own music, they might find it interesting, you just never know.