First single nearly done.

This is my first single I'm talking about here. Rather more by luck than judgement, it's actually got to a point where...well...it's just about done. After it was mentioned in Computer Music Magazine, oooh, at least 2 years ago.

Well, you know, some things take a while!

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 2:05:28 AM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Music Making Tip #1 (of an occasional series)

Have a tuning reference if needs be. And stick to it. Only use that. Always.

For example, should you happen to be recording some guitars - say - and you need to tune your 'axe' (this is a likely situation, yes?) don't move around between the various little boxes you have that can help you tune it (if at this point you mumble something about having "perfect pitch" then please go away, it's actually so rare, I am inclinded not to believe you)

If you always use - I don't know let's pick something out of the air here - a Line 6 POD for your guitar tuning don't, just for the sake of it, come back to a track you haven't been working on for months and - just for a change - use a standalone dedicated guitar tuner (made by Boss, for example) because it's 'easier'. There's a very good chance then when you start recording with said guitar that you've tuned via said Boss tuner will not sit happily with older guitar tracks that where tuned via, perhaps, the aformentioned said Line 6 POD.

Seems simple? Yes. Will it drive you nuts if you're not paying attention? Yes.

A=440hz. Well, you'd think so.....

(OK, so I do understand the concept of pitch detection, in both the analogue and digital domains, especially with something that's outputing as much harmonic information as a guitar does, but even so...)

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 12:02:57 AM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Adobe Ad

Just seen an TV advert for Abode PDF [links to a QT or WMV file] on Sky News.

How odd! Both that I was watching Sky News (normally I never do) and that Adobe have suddenly decided that they need to advertise this particular format/product/technology/whatnot.

(and Sky don't own the www.skynews.com domain? Ooh, Oops)

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 11:50:47 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

The New Doctor Who....

Seems to be Christopher Eccleston which, initially, I thought "Oh" but, yeah, that could work OK.

Would have still much much preferred Eddie Izzard though.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 9:24:58 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Oh, and I should say....

That the blow-by-blow review of TFF's "Everybody Loves A Happy Ending" isn't finished yet - got somewhat carried away - but as the whole release has been put back anyway (problems with Arista being shut down, LA Reid leaving etc etc) I don't think there's a big rush (like anyone cares what I write anyway, but that's not the point....)

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 8:21:56 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

So Here I Go Again (On My Own)

So, here i am yet again sitting in the studio surrounded (pun intended) by speakers, working all over the weekend, mixing something in 5.1 surroundness.

It should be so much more fun that this.

I'm into the idea of having more speakers for music production. You can create an atmosphere that just isn't possible with yer two basic left and right speakers. Oh the other hand, it's a bitch....

A lot of the ("normal"/"stereo"/"record") mixing process involves melting all the noises together in a pleasing way, creating space for instruments that need space around others that are taking up....er...space. Giving yourself more speakers to play with should, in theory, solve a lot of those problems for you automatically. Got a string sound that is clashing with the vocal, frequency-wise? Well, move it to a totally different speaker then, the other side of the room if you want, and problem solved!?

Er....No.

All you end up with, if you're not very very careful, is a bunch of stuff happening all around you that in no way seems to be part of the same track. The little you gain in 'flexability of placement' (i.e. I can now chose to place a sound in any of: Front Left, Front Right, Centre, Rear Left and Rear Right - or any combination of - Vs. the Left and Right of normal stereo) is somewhat offset with the very real loss of coherence you end up with by doing this very thing! It can almost be like pressing play on 3 CD players in parallel.....but each CD is a different track.

Still, it's a small mercy that Pro Tools from version 5.x onwards is set up to do all this, Oh, how I hate to think of how this would work if it wasn't, and when you finally understand the concept of their whole 'I/O setup' preferences system, you can do parallel stereo and 5.1 mixes - which would be great - but it's not quite....for reasons I might describe another time....

The last bummer on this one is that I can't move things about in the surround sound space (you know, perhaps making a whoosh noise move from behind you to in front of you, or 'throwing' it around all the speakers etc), because these tracks will be edited later on and so the editing process would make things jump around in a most bizarre (as in "not good") way if I did. So even that little bit of surround sound mixing fun is denied me on this project.

Not allowed to say what I'm working on right now, but you should all hear it soon enough (probably not in surround sound though, ironically, you're going to be much more likely to hear the standard stereo mix of it!)

(Yes, I know the title of the post is from a Whitesnake song (I think?) - not a fan in any way, just seemed appropriate)

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 6:42:27 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []