Building a bi-weekly song series

Good day!

Since the time sucking vortex of CreComm is taking a month long hiatus—Not complaining, I quite enjoy being busy!—I will be kicking of my bi-weekly song blog series! I needed to invest in a little bit of technology to get this done, which is almost complete. Soon there will be nothing holding me back from presenting you all with this exciting new production series. I will be building a song from the bare bones up in Apple Logic and Reaper! Ive determined that this is a great way to teach some audio production concepts while having some fun and being creative!

I will record screen shots while offering a commentary explaining the steps I have taken to create the sounds which build the song. I will be using my set up of Waves plugins and some additional peripheral software, but the tips will mostly be with the DAW workspace which is very common. I have a couple song ideas in the works and I will be sending the process your way over the break. I hope to keep you tuned in and if there are any particular production subjects or even additional elements to the songs you want me to cover send me a message and I will do what I can to entertain and inform! Enjoy the break!

Colective Studio Space Meeting Re-Cap

Hello Producers!

The meeting on November. 23rd attracted an impressive turn-out with a wide variety of producers tuning out to offer some insight as to what their needs might be with a collective space. We have a couple places in mind for the space to lease. Ideally with enough member we have our sights set on the 72 Princess Street space, which I must say is incredibly immaculate and gorgeous old architecture. Basically with our current financial projections we estimate that we only need 40 committed members contributing $60 a month for full space rental and access to equipment. That's really all we need to turn this place into a full out music production collective space.

Our level of excitement really grew when a representative from the real estate company distributed pictures of the interior, which could easily be designed to hold a DJ up top the dance floor and accompany fund raising events. The more revenue this place generates with fund raising events, sponsorships and the grants that have already come in, will reflect in the membership pricing. We hope to have the membership pricing just below $40 dollars a month by the end of 2013.

Pictures of the inside, be prepared to be amazed:

http://www.shindico.com/index.php?option=com_estateagent&act=showEO&id=298

During the course of the meeting we managed to divide the core planners including myself and 8 other professional sound engineers into departments to handle the diverse duties and challenges that are present with getting this dream off the ground. I will be handling seminar programing—which I will piece together with many years of teaching audio production and music theory—and also I am on the board of financial planning and membership. This venue can comfortable hold about 30 working producers at one time, more if additional gear from the individual is brought with (laptop to patch into the sound system.) I am proud to announce that one of our executive directors is part of the PK Sound crew, western Canada's most recognised custom sound system engineering firms. PK provides the sound for the Shambhalah Music Festival and Burning Man festival and are always on tour with the biggest names in electronic music, Skrillex and Bassnectar just to name a few. I'm not giving away any hints, but our new venue could definitely in the near future be fitted with the best PK has to offer. I believe there is a strong market for this space and will continue planning to achieve the best scenario for our members, I recommend reserving year memberships before they run out due to the limited work space. Drop in fee pricing will be released in January. Our goal is to acquire the space before February 1st, 2013 and we are well on track.

Great documentary about a forgotten songwriter!

Searching for Sugar Man review

A riveting documentary about a forgotten Detroit songwriter once thought of as the next Bob Dylan has hit select theatres in Winnipeg. The film, “Searching for Sugar Man,” documents an incredibly bizarre circumstance surrounding the career of songwriter, Sixto Rodriguez.

The film begins with the featured song, “Sugar Man,” which plays through the low fidelity speakers of a car cruising down a winding highway etched in the side of a mountain. Hearing the song in low fidelity for the first time doesn’t do the song justice, but thankfully a higher quality version is dubbed in midway through the film and during the credits. The film cuts to a beautiful montage of Lake Michigan landscape photography and impressive pencil sketches of Detroit’s skyline, as we are transported to the early roots of the artists, Rodriguez.

The movie begins to construct the myth of the songwriter known as Rodriguez by interviewing record producers from his first album, Cold Fact. The producers tell the story of Rodriguez as the wandering mysterious poet from the shadows of Detroit. Digital illustrations are used to detail Rodriguez’s early career, which are used effectively to express the dream like sequence of him singing in the cigarette haze of a bar with his back turned to the crowd. Since there is only limited footage of Rodriguez in this era, illustrations are effectively employed throughout the film to add a compelling visual element to accompany the gripping recollections during interviews. The film frequently uses landscape illustrations that fade into time-lapse photography; this technique adds very sophisticated B-roll footage to the film and demonstrates high production value and originality.

The setting suddenly changes to a very unexpected place, Cape Town, South Africa, which is introduced with the song, “The Establishment Blues.” This song is a great selection to accompany the dated footage from the apartheid, which is edited tightly on the beats of the song. The film then takes on an unsuspecting twist and shifts gear into a great mystery being uncovered by music detectives Stephen “Sugar Man” Segerman and Craig Bartholomew-Strydom. Every leg of their journey is impressively documented with exciting and sometimes heated interviews with leads. As each small clue is uncovered, the film keeps you on the edge of your seat, pulling you into the shoes of these truth seekers, as they gain momentum towards finding the man responsible for writing, “The record that gave us permission to think freely,” during the times of apartheid.

This mythical songwriter is finally revealed at the climax of the search in absolute modesty, opening the window of his rundown Detroit home in old age, this is a brilliantly captured unforgettable moment. The pace of the film slows down during an interview with Rodriguez; his mannerisms make it really easy to relate to this modest man, he embodies the unsung forgotten hero that is in all of our hearts. The film does a great job skillfully presenting details that solidify Rodriguez’s character identity in this light, as a working class hero that is constantly unfairly cut down by society.

This documentary film has it all: An incredible touching story, seamless editing, brilliant song selection and great cinematography. As the film ended, many in the theatre stayed in their seats even after the credits, wiping away tears.

Collective Studio Space

Hello All

So music industry friends and myself are starting a collective studio space in the exchange where members can freely record and collaborate on music projects. We hope to resemble the electrical engineering collective space "Skull Space," which essentially is a member based work space full of like minded artists to share resources and skills.

We are having our first general planning session this Saturday Nov. 23rd, if you are interested in becoming a member of this music collective than come down to the planning session and have your questions and comments be heard!

We have several spaces in mind to rent around the exchanged area, with an added interest in members we will definitely be inclined to upgrade to a bigger space to accommodate everyone. There will be security storage areas for bands wishing to store their gear with purchase of a  membership, so no need to haul that drum kit in the cold every-time you are looking to rehearse.

The collective has deep roots in the local event promotion industry, so fundraising events will be held monthly to help reduce the monthly overhead. Recently we have received an arts grant to help get this project off the ground, so after a couple community planning sessions you can bet to see this project taking off full force. At this point in time we have 35 confirmed members and the number is growing steadily. Come check out the planning session tomorrow to get more info if you are interested, hope to see you there!

125 Adelaide St - 1pm - November 23rd

Cheers!

Recording Steps for Beginners to Intermediate

Sound Like A Pro
Recording for the first time can be an intimidating process for a beginning artist, especially in the wake of a music industry that has more competition for a smaller market share. Your first recording, or demo CD, is an important tool for marketing your music. If produced with skill, your demo CD can recruit new fans, land some high-profile shows, and attract record label interest. Patience is paramount when taking on this great challenge. Some tips and tricks can go along way, especially if you are your own producer, engineer and studio manager on a budget.

Once a song is first penned, ensure the melodic content and rhythm structure are tightened up with practise before heading to the studio, like the pros say, “There never can be too much pre-production.” When are tracking always remember, “Bad in, worse out,” which means you can’t polish up bad tracking in the mix (without a major headache and empty wallet), so spend the extra time getting the best tones and levels during the first essential steps of recording the foundation of your song, the “scratch tracks.”

Scratch tracks are recorded primarily to capture the rhythm section and “feel” of a song. When setting up for scratch recording, make sure there is acoustic separation between all performing musicians. The drum tracks are given special consideration during this step—the drum tracks from scratch recording almost always make it to the finished product. To achieve the cleanest audio to tape, choose a recording environment that has minimal echoes and ambient noise. Ensure the kick drum, snare and hi-hats have been miked closely with the mic facing away from the other drums—There are many resources online to guide this task of precision. Experimenting with mic placement is key for discovering the “sweet spot” on each drum for the first time.

After reviewing test recording and confirming that all the tones are sitting in their right places, record enable all of the tracks and run through the song as many times as necessary, just make sure you don’t run out of tape! Don’t fret if the guitar misses a note, or the vocals drift out of key, your main focus when recording the scratch tracks is to ensure the rhythm section is sounding pristine. Once this is achieved, its time to move on to the “overdubs”.

Overdub recording is the process of re-tracking over scratch tracks by correcting imperfections with small segments of “punch ins,” or replacing the whole track altogether. Recording layers of overdubs can add incredible depth and complexity to a song; it can fortify tones with reinforcement or add new musical elements. A great starting point is to layer the vocals and guitars phrasing them slightly different so they sound full and complex. Now the song is getting cluttered with all the new tracks, this is when the mixing process can carve out some of the muck and let the tonality shine through.

Mixing is a technical art form that takes years of critical listening and experience to execute professionally. If you are going to spend money on your record, this is the area to invest in the assistance of a professional. There are many points of reference that almost always take a certain treatment in the mix, but at the end of the day you need to know what to add or subtract to make the song most euphonic to your ears. As a beginning producer, it is beneficial to ask yourself why certain elements in the mix sound imbalanced before touching the board, this will slowly train your ears.

A great analogy for audio mix theory is imagining a chest of drawers, each drawer can only hold so much content, if one drawer is overflowing and the other is empty it will be out of proportion. The goal when mixing is to get a balanced spread of musical content in each drawer, the drawers representing frequency bandwidth. Let your ears make the critical decisions as you sweep with the equalizer on the soundboard, go through each track and slightly subtract the frequencies that sound too loud. Experiment with other plug-ins like compressors and reverbs, but don’t let your song get too “busy” with effects. When the mix is set and everything is sounding balanced and full, add a plug-in called a “limiter” on the main-mix output to tame the levels for CD quality.

These production tips are the very basic steps to recording your first demo CD. It takes years of practise and perseverance to train your ears to listen critically. I recommend reading further into microphone placement and mixing techniques. Not every engineer follows the rules, but you must know the rules first, to break them with confidence.

Joe Silva Interview

It really isn’t difficult to spot a DJ, even in a densely crowded trendy café. Joe Silva was sporting the typical DJ signature clothing that his generation of beat-slingers coined in the 1990s. His slender build is draped in a bright blue hoodie and track pants that flow into crisp white sneakers. I noticed Joe ordering an espresso while chatting diligently with the barista, as she flaunts her pearly-whites laughing at his joke. He was mild-mannered and pleasant as we sat down for a pint. He was full of youthful delight, making it impossible to guess his actual age. 

Photo Courtesy of LCPhoto

Joe is a rare variety of Canadian musician; he is one of Canada’s only veteran producers of house music. This genre of electronic music originated in the underground discothèque’s of Chicago, and is now a “Global phenomenon,” as stated by Forbes Magazine in September 2012.

Joe recalls, “For most of my teenage years I was playing keys in a three piece progressive rock-band, then I started listening to local DJ’s like Harry Chan spinning underground dance music and I was inspired.”

 Joe was a hard working teenager, he had an early morning paper route and in the evening he would work in the kitchen of his restaurant job, all for the purpose of funding his musical passion.

“I was finally able to purchase a Korg analog synthesizer.” Says Joe, as he grins re-living the moment.

Photo Courtesy of FPO

Joe was attending Red River College studying computer engineering when he composed his first house album on a – now archaic – Commodore 64 computer. He combined his skills of music and technology to create a groundbreaking record, when the house music genre was just beggining to emerge out of the shadows of warehouse parties. Residing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Joe had to work extra hard to get himself heard and taken seriously as a producer.

Joe says, “I copied my album onto hundreds of cassette tapes, which took forever. I went to record shops and rave-parties handing my tapes to touring DJ’s, promoters and label owners. This was networking before the internet.” Joe taught himself the inner workings of the music business without a manager or mentor, networking the old fashioned way by calling up promoters and fellow DJs across the continent racking up massive phone bills.

The DJ, unlike musicians forming a band, is most often a one-man operation; which is an ideal musical outlet for a do-it-yourself enthusiast like Joe. James Wolf a long-time Joe Silva fan and record collector says, “Joe can be a reserved guy, before he plays a show he always hangs out and watches the crowd to feel them out. When he gets on stage he’s electric, he comes alive with the dance floor.”

It was in 2001 that Joe decided that he could make a living off music and he no longer needed the supplementary income from his day job as a computer engineer. So he quit with a smile on his face.

“In 2001 I decided I was never going back to work. My wonderful wife actually supported this decision. At times the bills start to pile up, but that gives me motivation to create more music.” He laughs; his eyes show happiness and no regrets.

Interview with the Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Interview with Alexander Mickelthwate


Standing at the head of an orchestra with a conductor baton in hand can be a pleasant but daunting dream. It is a profession that few of us really consider on our way to work in the morning. It is quite intimidating to think of the challenges associated with managing an orchestra, but at the same time it must be rewarding. This romanticized role seems like a vocation from a time long ago, a reminder that the influence of the past isn't as far away as we often think. 

This distinguished profession is reserved for the few that have an incredible, natural talent to meticulously calculate pitch, tempo, and the ability to manage many diverse musicians. Alexander Mickelthwate is one of the determined few that has employed his musical abilities into his career; He is currently the Music Director for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. However, the path was not paved for the young man, it was laid brick by brick with relentless determination and skill.

Alexander was exposed to music at a very young age, he has dedicated most of his time to disciplined, meticulous, practise fuelled by passion for symphonic creation. During a phone interview, Alexander recalls his first musical experiences in surprisingly accurate detail.

"When I was six years old I started playing the piano. My parents took me to my first symphony at that time, it was 'Hansel & Gretel'. When I was eleven I started to learn the cello. As a teenage youth I started working with the chamber trio, singing choruses and playing various instruments. At seventeen, thats when my career choice became apparent, I had that important conversation with my music teacher and he suggested that I study conducting."

Alexander studied piano and performance conducting in Karlsruhe, Germany where he refined his new found passion in the artform.

As a new fan of the WSO I had many questions as to the resurgence of orchestral music in our humble city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Alexander expressed that the prevalence of this old and wonderful genre in the modern music market really does depend on each cities independant culture. 

"Each major city generally has one orchestra and the popularity of the genre really is determined by programs that make the music accessible. A very notable case is in Venezuela, where 4,000 kids come together after school to learn this music." Says Alexander.

Moving all the way from Germany to North America must be a dramatic change, especially jumping into a very traditional and geography specific genre of music, I couldn't imagine the challenges that were faced upon arrival. Alexander was quick to correct my pre-conceived notion.

"Actually, adjusting to North America has been a breathe of fresh air." Says Alexander, mentioning that freedom in composition in North America lacks the traditional constraints he found in Germany. 

I was interested to gain some insight as to how professionals of this classical art form view the modern age production tactics of computer assisted engineering and composition. For some reason I was convinced that orchestral professionals were completely boycotting the use of computers, as they prove in each concert their total distaste for sampling, because they have the real musicians right there.

Alexander shed some light on the topic and mention that alot of composers are writing their works with Ipads and proprietary software like Finale. This completely shattered my vision of a composer taking long draws on a pipe, dipping his illustrious feather pen into an ink receptacle, and drawing in each note with prestige on a five line staff adorned scroll. I am glad to hear that many composers are unlocking the power of digital when they record ideas and compositions, feather pen or not!

Additional digital technology being employed in the 'band-stand' world are, to my surprise and utter excitement, looping pedals. Alexander reflected on a couple Cellists who have recorded loops and over dubs with a loop-recording pedal, creating original on the fly soundscapes during a Philharmonic concert. I suppose this concept of using a 'guitar-pedal' for orchestral instruments isn't that foreign, looking back on the historical fact that the first Wah-Wah pedal was designed for the trumpet.

Alexander also recalls sharing the stage with a couple different Dj's and Hip-Hop artists throughout the years. Now I know what he's saying about the artistic freedom over here, it's really not as traditional as I thought, these guys are pretty innovative!

I am very pleased to mention that the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra has a great program for young adults under 30, It's called Soundcheck. Basically they make it extremely affordable for students and young people who want to give this timeless music a shot, for perhaps the first time. Just think about how much you've paid in the past to see a headlining DJ. For only $15 bucks, you can see a whole Orchestra! Tell those Dj's to pack it in, and come see where they get their samples.

For a little bit over the price of movie tickets you could show your date the most incredible night out by escorting him/her to the orchestra. The only way you won't get a second date, is if you spill wine on your partner. So play it smooth, drink with two hands, and come check out the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Don't fear the Reaper!

The video from our latest production seminar @ 125 Adelaide St has been recorded and uploaded for Fidelity Fixation. Using the previously introduced guitar (Fender Stratocaster Custom 72) I was featured as the session guitar player to add some melody to this speaker busting bass track!

I will present a brief explanation on how the track was built from the ground up. The next tunes to uploaded will be examined in greater depth focusing on specific parts of the production process.

Reaper is the digital audio workstation used for the song "Speekah Flex," the interface is displayed on the screen by projection. Cockos is the developer of this ground breaking audio software, they employ an "honest business model" that is enhanced with regular updates by a team of passionate engineers. It is amazing that you get all these free updates for this incredibly intuitive and ever evolving software for an insanely low one time cost.

This "honest business model" as defined by the companies website, invests capital exclusively for the function of improving the software directly; They do not invest most of the R&D budget into marketing campaigns and piracy protection like other brands of software. This honor system has kept the price point very low and consumers are very satisfied and often express beaming product reviews to fellow audio professionals.

Cockos offers a discounted license of $60.00 for producers making under $20,000 with the software; a commercial license costs $225.00 for studios making over that amount. This clever and surprisingly fair price point policy is just another example of how Reaper is designed with your everyday producer in mind, keeping the playing field fair and accessible varying levels of users.

Now that we have a background on the software used for the session, here is a breakdown of composition:

Step 1 - The track was started with a brand new Reaper session loaded up on an empty template.

Step 2 -  First four stereo drum tracks were created and then we asked students to come to the front and select drum samples for our new track. This was a very interesting experience having four different individuals compose the drums, they worked together quite well!

Predominantly the rhythms were selected from a huge bank of drum loops on our production hard drive. With a little bit of looping and layering we finalized a booming driving drum track with a glitchy breakdown.

The drums were mixed to taste by inviting class members to the front to do some sweep and cut EQ'ing which left us with a draft mix for the drums.

Step 3 - Now MC Pucona just arrived and he is itching to spit some lyrical content on this track! He conducted a group survey asking each member of the class to select a word, he wrote each word down on the white board to be the foundation for his rhyme (You can see the words on the white board behind me playing guitar). He hit the track hard in one take dropping his signature flavor on the mix!

Step 4 - Collectively again the class came up one by one cycling through different synth patches to find the perfect match for the beat. We had all kinds of wobble synth bass and ethereal textures that were recorded on the fly. The synth layers gave the track some movement, some low end you felt in your rib cage as it played back on the sound-system.

Step 5 - Next up was me on the guitar laying down my part of the tune, playing seventh style chords shapes to fill the tune out with some funk elements. This is where the video ends.

In upcoming posts we will explore additional elements of production as we dive into a new song. Hope you enjoyed the video!

Gear Review

Snark SN-2 All Instrument Clip-On Chromatic Tuner

I was recently in a guitar shop a couple days ago, browsing through the latest guitar pedals, as I've been known to do, I decided to try out a couple fuzz pedals for pure experimentation. For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, a fuzz pedal sounds like the gritty reminiscence of the Grunge era getting scraped off pavement by a metal shovel and combed out into a thick fluffy 1960's style Afro; the sonic texture of the pedal is defined in both influential eras of rock music.

The link below is a great example of an all-fuzz tune that showcases the thick brutality of this classic pedal tone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FSTSlyB9sQ

While I was in the guitar shop waiting for the salesman to rig up the proper cables in the isolation booth (which sounds like a terrible place but its really quite wonderful), I was pondering which guitar would be the best candidate for this fuzzy endeavor. I selected a Fender Telecaster Deluxe 72, because low-output guitars get colored up really nicely by destructive guitar pedals.

I patched in, closed the foamy door, and engaged the pedal as my pick-hand rolled down like an avalanche to strum-slam a fat E major chord. Anticipating an earth shattering fuzz roar, unfortunately for me and everyone in ear shot, the guitar was devastatingly out of tune! What looked in perfect form to be a E Major chord shape, sounded in fact like an off-key banshee scream! For my own lack of embarrassment I'm going to say, the salesman was on his way back from grabbing a new tuner off the shelf because he already knew, without my sonic reveal, that the guitar needed a tune-up.

The salesman cracked open the door of my foam chamber and clipped on the little ruby red tuner to the headstock of the Telecaster Deluxe in my hand, that was wilted in shame from the blasphemous croak. I was amazed at the compact design of this little red bullet, arching in an impressively ergonomic way that suggested the R&D department were in fact seasoned guitar players.

This could have been one of the most brilliant sales tactics ever used in the history of guitar tuners, I can just picture the sales manager briefing the sales team, "Alright fellas, keep all the guitars on the shelf out of tune, badly out of tune, for when the gear-head guitar players come in to try out new pedals, present them with this great little tuner and pass it to them in the box, label facing out."

No in fact I did not make up that last detail, I totally read the tagline on the box before he opened the tuner and slapped it on the guitar neck, perhaps it was an accident or perhaps the above conversation truly happened, oh those evil geniuses! During this blissful consumer experience I recalled the tagline and it resonated with perceived truth, "Tunes tighter, Sound better."

The best part in the experience was when I engaged the oval shaped power button and the LED display illuminated my curious face with its sharp defined impressive color repertoire. The light bulb then went off in my head just as the LED's turned on bright: I dont have to tell other guitar players to shut-up when I am tuning up because it tunes the guitar through the neck's vibration, and not through a mic! The problem with conventional tuners is that you need relative silence without any other tone carrying interference, an environment that is hard to come by in your average band's rehearsal space. It's a great solution to every guitar players pet-peeve, that little annoyance that causes animosity and beer bottle throwing in every jam room.

"Dude, I'm trying to tune here! Turn that amp off!"

I wouldn't be surprised if the great band break ups you read about in all rock the magazines actually had the seed of indifference planted by the above statement. No longer needed is this remark in my jam session vocabulary, I will fill the void with other phrases such as: "Dude, do you think lots of hot babes will be coming to our show?" or "Hey! Check out this amazing little tuner I bought for under $20 bucks!"



Written by: Graeme Csath