This weeks song that I am sequencing has turned into a very ambient-sounding one (as have most of my songs have been recently.) Every now and then, I do a really cool trick that you just can't help but share. So please allow me to indulge!
My track has a ton of reverb on it. At the moment, it has one reverb plugin that I am sending all my tracks to in varying amounts. In the heat of the moment, I decided that I wanted this reverb bus to be pulsating! Sidechaining a kick to a compressor, then removing the kick audio signal should do the trick. But how do we implement it in the DAW I am using (Renoise.)
The first step is to get the sidechaining (ducking) business set up. This is slightly difficult to do in Renoise because there are no native compressors that allow you to do achieve this automatically. A relatively new feature to Renoise is the signal follower. By inversing the max and min values, and sending it to the threshold control. The kick is essentially now sidechained to the compressor.
We don't want the kick to be present in the mix; we just want the duck effect it causes on the ambience. The problem in Renoise is that when you mute the kick, the signal follower stops working. My solution was to put a send on to the kick track AFTER the signal follower. This would then go to a an audio bus which would invert the signal. If we keep the original signal and the inverted signal, the two cancel out and we are left with just the swell. Cool!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Girls and Berklee
I was at a friends house this weekend, and we were talking about a friend of hers. She showed me pictures. She was quite beautiful. When she told me about how she wanted to find her a boyfriend, I was very very surprised. Allow me to explain why.
Berklee has a female population of 29%. It has always been low or nonexistent. Many of my classes (especially the more techy ones) have no girls at all. It is very apparent.
If you happen to be a single guy looking for a girlfriend going into berklee, shit gets worse than that. Sure, you might think 29% isn't the worst thing in the world. But that is assuming that all these girls are available. They aren't. Being a music school, they either found a really hot guitar player for a boyfriend, or they are too focused on their musical career to pay attention (or they are lesbians). Most of the time, it is the first one. I'm sorry my fellow single men, that pretty lady in your critical listening class is statistically not single. In fact, I have a rule that I use at berklee. If you are female, look it, and go to berklee, you are not single. Even the ugly ones have boyfriends.
Many guys in my situation just give up. Unless you got some serious game, you ain't gonna find a dame. Or they just go to BU or Northeastern to pick up chicks. Problem is, I'm not in the mood for picking up chicks. I (just) want a nice commitment. Not a quick hookup.
If my friends friend went to Berklee, she would have no trouble finding a boyfriend. It would be weirder if she didn't actually. In fact, I've been here long enough to find the concept of a girl who is single to be strange and foreign to me.
Berklee has a female population of 29%. It has always been low or nonexistent. Many of my classes (especially the more techy ones) have no girls at all. It is very apparent.
If you happen to be a single guy looking for a girlfriend going into berklee, shit gets worse than that. Sure, you might think 29% isn't the worst thing in the world. But that is assuming that all these girls are available. They aren't. Being a music school, they either found a really hot guitar player for a boyfriend, or they are too focused on their musical career to pay attention (or they are lesbians). Most of the time, it is the first one. I'm sorry my fellow single men, that pretty lady in your critical listening class is statistically not single. In fact, I have a rule that I use at berklee. If you are female, look it, and go to berklee, you are not single. Even the ugly ones have boyfriends.
Many guys in my situation just give up. Unless you got some serious game, you ain't gonna find a dame. Or they just go to BU or Northeastern to pick up chicks. Problem is, I'm not in the mood for picking up chicks. I (just) want a nice commitment. Not a quick hookup.
If my friends friend went to Berklee, she would have no trouble finding a boyfriend. It would be weirder if she didn't actually. In fact, I've been here long enough to find the concept of a girl who is single to be strange and foreign to me.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Apparat
Take a listen to this track by the artist Apparat.
The song singlehandedly inspired me to buy the album, as many good songs typically do.
Listening to new music is a lot like meeting a new friend for me. When I find a song I really like, it is more like meeting a new best friend. This song is more like the latter.
The start of my relationship with this song began when I by chance happened to find it on reddit. It was a lovely first impression. Within the first fifteen seconds, I already had goosebumps. By the time the sorrowful vocals came in, I knew I had found a keeper. Replay. Replay. Replay. And so the conversation began.
After about the fourth play, I knew that this song and I were no longer strangers to each other. I started remembering my favorite parts of the song. The scratchy bowed instruments and plucked strings in the introduction were always my favorite. The distant sounding piano was so nostalgic for me. I even began singing along with the vocalist.
Yesterday, I took the next big step in our relationship. I went and bought the album the song was on at Newbury comics. Not only did I pay money for the song, but I also got other songs by the same artist. It's almost like I'm getting to know the family right now. I'm seeing the similarities. Genetics, if you will.
I can't say I get the same feelings that I got from the initial first listen. I've been spending a lot of time with this track. That certain spark is now gone. In it's place is a really grounded intimacy with the song. I'm past just admiring the beauty it creates on the surface. I want to get a glimpse of this song's soul. As I move away from the "this song is pretty" attitude, I find myself asking more serious questions. Questions like "what is the form?", "What are the lyrics", and "How can I achieve this sound?"
Where it goes from here, who knows? But can't that be said for any relationship?
The song singlehandedly inspired me to buy the album, as many good songs typically do.
Listening to new music is a lot like meeting a new friend for me. When I find a song I really like, it is more like meeting a new best friend. This song is more like the latter.
The start of my relationship with this song began when I by chance happened to find it on reddit. It was a lovely first impression. Within the first fifteen seconds, I already had goosebumps. By the time the sorrowful vocals came in, I knew I had found a keeper. Replay. Replay. Replay. And so the conversation began.
After about the fourth play, I knew that this song and I were no longer strangers to each other. I started remembering my favorite parts of the song. The scratchy bowed instruments and plucked strings in the introduction were always my favorite. The distant sounding piano was so nostalgic for me. I even began singing along with the vocalist.
Yesterday, I took the next big step in our relationship. I went and bought the album the song was on at Newbury comics. Not only did I pay money for the song, but I also got other songs by the same artist. It's almost like I'm getting to know the family right now. I'm seeing the similarities. Genetics, if you will.
I can't say I get the same feelings that I got from the initial first listen. I've been spending a lot of time with this track. That certain spark is now gone. In it's place is a really grounded intimacy with the song. I'm past just admiring the beauty it creates on the surface. I want to get a glimpse of this song's soul. As I move away from the "this song is pretty" attitude, I find myself asking more serious questions. Questions like "what is the form?", "What are the lyrics", and "How can I achieve this sound?"
Where it goes from here, who knows? But can't that be said for any relationship?
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Suddenly, Noise.
I never thought I'd be posting to this blog ever again. CLAMP was over and I had nothing to blog about. I got a tumblr. Bitches went crazy. I got rid of the tumblr. And that brings me here. That's my story. Let us begin.
Berklee has given me the opportunity to work two majors (Electronic Production and Design and Music Production and Engineering), so I've decided to step it up a bit and work my composition, production, sequencing, and mixing chops.
Here's how it will go:
Week 1: Write/Compose a song.
Week 2: Sequence/Produce the song.
Week 3: Mix the song.
One more thing, the cycle starts over every week. That means in three weeks, I will be working on three simultaneous songs in three different stages.
I will also be using this process with my roommate Russ. In this process, he will be acting as the songwriter, and I will play more the role of producer.
So lets see, this means about six songs at a time? Bring it on.
Berklee has given me the opportunity to work two majors (Electronic Production and Design and Music Production and Engineering), so I've decided to step it up a bit and work my composition, production, sequencing, and mixing chops.
Here's how it will go:
Week 1: Write/Compose a song.
Week 2: Sequence/Produce the song.
Week 3: Mix the song.
One more thing, the cycle starts over every week. That means in three weeks, I will be working on three simultaneous songs in three different stages.
I will also be using this process with my roommate Russ. In this process, he will be acting as the songwriter, and I will play more the role of producer.
So lets see, this means about six songs at a time? Bring it on.
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