Game changer

New monitors are Awwwwwsome! They add a new point of reference for getting a quality mix, and its an epic win here on all fronts. I feel like I have more control all of a sudden. So, I've gone back to Song 1 this week, The Fall. And I'm doing a remix for the EP. It sounds wicked already, I bloody love it. But I might have to resing 1 part, that's ok I get around to it later. I'll probably remix the other songs too.

So in retrospect, it was kinda stupid not to have studio monitors from the beginning. Good ones. And ALSO, good headphones. My monitors are KRK Rokit G2 5's, and I'm using the Shure SRH440 headphones. A potent combination. But I just didn't have the money when I started out.

Also, I decided I don't like the graphics for the bandcamp website. So I whipped up some new ones. The new ones are darker, and represent the core elements of my music. Stuff like, the power of the individual, but also isolation and loneliness that can come with that image, and darkness and beauty co-existing. etc etc. A little gothic perhaps, but not dark gothic. I've used some photo's a good friend of mine took.

It's fun, making the graphics. I like doing it. I should become a graphic designer!  ;P
Oh, and the 4th song is coming along. Sounds good, but still revising the lyrics here and there...
Here the look of the new site.

Studio Monitors!

YAY!!

EP Progress 11

Slow. That's how progress is. Very slow.

I've got a new job which I've been settling into. It will pay the bills, and hopefully I will soon buy some monitor speakers to help me mix. It's kinda funny that I've been able to get so far without monitors. I've been mainly mixing through headphones, which is not ideal. I'll go shopping for them soon, yay. Big yay.

I've also been teasing out vocals for my 4th track. I laid some down, and they almost work, but I need to aim for something better. So I'll be working on them tomorrow (it's a public holiday, woo hoo!).

Finally, I've whipped up a bandcamp website for Ergo Alt. It's hidden so no-one can see it just yet. I need to take some artistic photos to help develop it further. The background needs to look spiffy, and fit the mood of the EP.

That's all for the news this month.

Here's a screen shot of the draft bandcamp website. You can see that I've titled the EP 'Elucidation'. I'll write about that next time.

Spiffy.

Bandcamp

I prepared a Bandcamp website this week, for my DJ Ridonkulous track, to test Bandcamp out. The website is amazing, so easy to use, and they help you embed a player almost anywhere! I love it. Check it out.

I'll definitely use Bandcamp to distribute the Ergo Alt EP when it's done. It's just brilliant, way better than iTunes. They also allow me to price the EP however I like. So I will be able to set the price to donation only. However, if it becomes popular, Bandcamp can automatically implement a different pricing scheme. I'll manage that when, and if, it happens.

In other news, I managed to get a job which will help fund me until I finish the EP. The down side is that progress will be a little slower from here on. I'm cool with that. I hope you guys are cool with that.   :)

Vocal Production

I'm just posting a link to tips on vocal production today. It's the most comprehensive article I've seen on the topic.

http://www.propellerheads.se/substance/record-u/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=part10

If you're serious about vocals, read it.

Enjoy.

EP Progress 10

Reverb Equalization. Not incredibly important, but very useful to clean up your mix. Thankfully, parallel processing makes it simple. Route the reverb to its own dedicated mix channel and EQ it.

This week I've been working on the final track to the EP. It's still early days for this track. In fact, I wrote this song as a sort of spin-off from The Fall, but then it evolved. I added new bits, and now it sounds absolutely nothing like the idea genesis. This track is total experimentation.

I started with a basic piano bass-line ghost track. Added a crazy experimental beat using samples. Then started tacking on bits of other songs I'd been working on. And it sounds ok. It's weird, but I like weird. I'll keep working on it.

I wonder if, by the time I'm finished this EP, a year will have passed. I think that's ok, isn't it? There are no rules after all. Actually, I think that's pretty normal. Lots of great bands can take 2-4 years to do a full album. A few months ago, I met a guy at a music producers conference who had been working on his album for 10 years. 10 years!! That's possibly a little too long.

I'm hopeful of getting a job this week. Fingers crossed.

Ergo out.

My little M-Audio Oxygen8 v2. A producers must have. Great portability.
M-Audio, please sponsor me...    :)

EP Progress 9

My poor long neglected blog, how have you been? Don't cry, I'm still here, and still working on my 4th track, slowly tho. I've been job hunting a lot this fortnight, which doesn't leave a lot to report on my music.

I've finished most of the core musical elements for this new track. Started singing recently, but still working on lyrics and vocal melody. I really like what I have so far though, which is great. I'm trying to use different tones in my voice for this song.

I had a mate come around recently, and I explained the song and played him a little. His reaction was 'oh cool, so it'll sound sort of like Nick Cave'. And although that's probably not 100% right, it's pretty close I reckon.

Also, I've started using a new mixing technique for this song. Parallel processing of reverbs. Basically, its the routing of any reverb unit output through a dedicated mix channel. Then I can apply pass filters to really shape the sound of the reverb. In this case, I'm applying low pass filters to about 700hz on hall reverbs which makes them sound really roomy (large).

I don't know why I didn't think of this before. I should just run everything through its own channel!!!!   :)

I wonder how many channels my software can actually run....  I should know that already. GAH! Ok well I just counted how many channels I'm using, and I'm up to 60 channels so far with this song. That's a lot, but I think I used at least 100 for The Fall.

I don't think this song will top that.

Lots of channels. And knobs. And stuff.