Quickly Quixotic

I wasn't intending for a short hiatus on the blog but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything.  In the last few weeks I've been commissioned to do some graphics design work for two jobs.

The first is a T shirt logo design for the Turlock Geo club.  The design iteration was fairly simple, and the design itself is actually pretty straightforward: create a globe with a tree and a magnifying glass focused in on the geographical location of the club's hometown.

The idea is to have the graphic pressed over black shirt cloth.  So I rendered out previews with black background so the client could more accurately review.  With the final draft ready for t-shirt press I can start work on the larger, more creative project which is designing a custom graphic wrap for someone's MAME arcade project.  It's really cool actually.

Somewhere in between the graphics projects and getting all the stuff I'll discuss below going, I managed to have a couple recording sessions for a local artist.

I've got a few major studio projects I'm putting together.  The biggest is starting a sound effects and music cues catalog to market to Indie game developers and interactive media.  I'll start sharing some of that once we launch.  However, I did just recently purchase a brand new Zoom H4N to aid in some field recording tests and options.

Troy and I both have already done a few test sessions which I may have a quick video update coming soon!

Contact mics on my computer...

  
The Zoom is pretty solid and I also acquired some cheap and effective contact microphones!  Should make some interesting tests in the coming days.

Between that and the larger order I placed with Sweetwater which should be arriving soon: Universal Audio 4-710d and Art Headamp7pro; We're getting ready to do some serious sound effects field recordings.  I've been putting together session plans and diagrams for it all.

On top of that, we just started our website which we launched this week:

www.neologicstudios.com

Just barely getting my hands dirty with Wordpress and PHP management in Dreamweaver.  To top it all off, the last week I've been collecting movies and footage for a video editing project I have been commissioned to create for this martial arts event in Los Gatos on the 28th of April.  I'm required to build 1 minute video reels of several major martial artists and big name actors that have an extensive and impress list of credits.

Among them: James Hong, Martin Kove, Cary Tagawa, Bolo Yeung, Jim Kelly, John Saxon, and Bob Wall.  There are going to be a TON more at this event, and I'm going to be running the projection system and managing all the video clips.  As I get more work done on these projects I'll post some updates.

Hopefully I can get these projects done fast enough to allow for some time to update this blog more!

No Business in Music

So, I just ran across an article; and it has opened my eyes to the harsh reality I have already been slowly acknowledging over the years. 

It's not just this one.  There's a ton of bloggers and articles online and in print talking about the chaos of the music industry; the business of music has completely collapsed and is all but dead.  Today, fewer than 40% of the worlds most renowned studios stand the test of time; and I'm not talking literally.  I'm sure the buildings are probably still there.  However, their facilities, equipment, and treatments have probably disappeared quicker than the experts that ran them.

D.I.Y. killed professionalism.  Internet killed TV, and global commerce killed personal freedom.  If you belong to any of these groups, please stand up.

I'm disheartened at the lack of fight; not by the music industry; not by the film industry...  No, they've been the ones fighting hard to cling to their old business models and trying to continue the way of sucking every last penny they can as the business model - along with them, slowly dies.  I'm talking about you, the uneducated; naive individual.

I just learned a new word today and that word is Googlization. I dare you to post a comment with at least one way you can't get to youtube; and I bet if you find one, that device or method is old and obsolete anyway.

The music industry needs to die already.  I'm serious.  There's no such thing as a patron of the arts anymore.  Hell, there probably hasn't been since the Renaissance.  Let's recognize facts: Businesses don't just give money away. They expect money in return.

It's no surprise then that the music industry has gone belly up.  Music is like ideas.  An idea should be free to share.  Music is either priceless... or worthless. The revolution of sound recording is nothing more than a really, really long fad that's finally reached maturity.  Think about that one long and hard, from your smartphone... while you're on the toilet.  Don't forget that courtesy flush.

I sound pretty cynical I'm sure by now.  I have good reason.  People don't care about ideas anymore, they care about dollars. They care about the bottom line.  There's a war going on, a silent... stupid one.  And by stupid, I mean education.  DIY revolution was instigated by the amazing trickle down effect of technology over time to the point where now not only is software capable of producing sounds for you, but the hardware it takes to run everything is super affordable.  If you need a history lesson, a cost analysis map, or even a comparison: read my previous blog post - Figuratively Speaking.

I share a similar sentiment to Rob Tavaglione, in his article "Music Production Biz in '12" (see first link).

" Major label budgets are now indie-sized; indie budgets are now “go make it yourself and we'll distribute;” and unsigned artists are making their own records with friends on laptops (or tablets, or phones, etc.)."

That empowering freedom has fallen into the hands of the uneducated, unaware, and uncaring.  "Let's all go make our ideas" with little to no respect for the process of how to do so properly.  It's no wonder indie musicians are skeptical about "studios" especially when anyone with a few scraps of recording gear, a room in their house, and an internet connection can advertise themselves as an "affordable studio".


A message to everyone: stick with your own recording gear. You're not going to get signed and the labels are probably going to be all the worse for you anyway.  Stop caring about your music already, no one else does and that's because they're one step ahead of you, probably trying to sabotage your audience and stealing your fans.  You really need to get off your high horse, and get your head out of the clouds about how "the people still do care and love good music".  The club scene has killed traditional venues, no one wants to go just listen to someone play live.  The music business is dying so expect to give away your music for free, at least be happy when people listen to it and actually like it.  Cd's and Vinyl? So last century, they're like Disco; they just don't know it yet.


And lastly, but most importantly... don't give up.

The McClure Sessions

Yep, it's finally here!  We spent quite a while mixing and mastering and editing everything for this 5 song EP and still keep the "Raw" sound the artist wanted.






Troy and I had a lot of fun.  The stress was minimal but it also included more things than just the EP project.  I've been working around the clock on several little things.  This video was one of them, as well as starting our website and getting our services and a pricing map for our business...  Fun times ahead.

I'd love to share more of my business plans with you, but there's some production things I'd like to cut to the chase on.

If one notices carefully in the video, there are the "driving" scenes which is us going to and from our studio location to grab all the gear so that we could set everything up at my place to track drums.  I wanted to 'motion stabilize' those shots but the clips are long.  So, in Premier my first step was rough blocking to get the content on the screen i wanted, and then how i wanted it to fit in the mosaic of video that would be constantly shifting.

My first problem I ran into (probably just lack of experience and not taking the time to hunt around on the web for people's solutions / suggestions / workarounds) was when I would replace the cut I wanted with an After Effects link and go in and motion stabilize it.  If you pay more attention to the opening sequence you'll notice some of the driving shots are super steady and others are not.



In After Effects after creating the After Effects Project File, the footage clips I used are segments of the same video file and they show up in After Effects exactly at the times I have them in Premier.  I only wanted to motion stabilize that clip I wanted to use seeing as how that would cut down render times and playback issues.

However, once you create an AE Linked project, whichever one was newer in the link replaced the older one.  If I were to exit out of Premier Pro and only open the After Effects project, it would show the correct clip.

My next step was trying to render out the motion-stabilized footage using Adobe's Media Encoder tool.  The same problem occurred because it still uses the dynamic link manager as well; which apparently has permanently replaced the link to the original clip segment and only does the latest one.

What gives, Adobe?  Is there a way to create multiple After Effects compositions working on the same video file but still retain their clip-based references from Premier?


The other (and not nearly as perplexing) problem is dealing with OMF Export to work in a DAW with.  I've noticed for a long while now that stereo tracks in Premier Pro, upon importing into a DAW will come in as independent mono left and right tracks.  Note, I've been working exclusively in Sonar for doing my picture audio work, however I have tried the same OMF imports in Pro Tools and the same thing occurs.

Both DAW's are perfectly capable of working with stereo interleaved files, and creating stereo tracks.  I just find it a bit funny this information gets parsed in the export process (or translated as such on import) this way.  Has anyone else noticed or perhaps figured out a fix for this?

If anyone reading this has had similar experiences and even possibly solutions they've found for these things, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Likewise, I'd love to hear any comments, questions, suggestions, anything at all; about the video, the questions I posed regarding After Effects and Premier Pro; or OMF Exporting.

Keep an eye out for our website launch, and if you don't already; follow me on Twitter, or facebook.  as well as our studio page on Facebook.

Subject to Change

It's been a long few weeks working on a big studio project.  At this current juncture, Troy and I are in the main mix and master phase working on a 5 song EP for Chris McClure.  Both Troy and I have been working very hard on this project.  We both have a passion for bringing the best sound possible to the music.  Just what is "the best sound"?  This question has so much subjectivity that even today is always a relevant and somewhat controversial debate amongst mixing engineers and recording artists, mastering engineers, even musicians and artists that care to delve into this realm.  Let me start by sharing a very interesting (at least to me) video with you:

(View the conversation page here: www.ted.com/talks/david_byrne )

As I stated already, what "sounds best" is highly subjective.  Subjective to the listening environment, the genre of music, the intended audience.  Just as David Byrne talks about in the beginning of the video, it's no accident that the west African music sounds the way it does or is written in such a way that compliments it's listening environment (free field), or that early band music used instruments that could project well in a small venue to be heard well above the ambient noise of the audience dancing and yelling and whatever else it is one would do there.

Fast forward to today and we have such amazing technology to allow us to create, simulate, emulate, even overcome obstacles in achieving just about any type of sonic impact we want, which makes it all the more critical and complex on just about every "job" in this industry.  Everyone, even professionals in the industry - have personal tastes when it comes to what sounds pleasing to them.  Not just musical genres, but the particular mixing and mastering styles, "sonic signatures" if you will.

Imagine the sound capabilities and quality of the earliest phonograph recordings being the particular sonic signature a modern band wanted to encapsulate their music.  I can't vouch for anyone else, but I would assume today's audience would not be pleased by a recording of a modern band that sounded as such. 

As a mix engineer, there is a true and mysterious art to getting the recordings to sound the way we expect them to.  Today's music is so heavily processed there is rarely any concept of the natural or "raw" sonic impact of what the instruments sound like.  I usually hear people say (and I've said it myself too) that when we do our job right we become invisible.  Our jobs aren't actually transparent anymore, it's quite the opposite.  The post-production desired and even required by modern tastes have created a huge demand for a certain level of "polish" to be recognized by the "mainstream audience".

Take a listen to your favorite band's album.  Go ahead, pick one.. take a listen, and tell me if you've heard that band sound EXACTLY the same live.  I'm not talking about imperfections in live versus recorded performance, as I'm pretty sure everyone is aware of auto-tune and "time correcting".  What I'm referring to is the particular sounds of instruments, their presence in the mix and the ability to hear every instrument clearly.

Live performances have a very very different sound to them.  Whether it's a tiny band performing without any PA system in a garage venue or a popular band playing at a huge arena venue, the mixes differ greatly.  The sounds between those environments also are very different.    Lets take the recording you listened to and imagine hearing that same song performed live.  It's almost impossible to get the exact same sonic signature out of each and every instrument, even the performance has to change.  Where once a vocalist might have been just above a whisper in your ear in the recording now has to sing much louder to achieve unity and harmony with the song in the context of a live performance.  The impact is as David Byrne mentioned: A product of the environment.

Even deeper however, the live performance is still subject to the technical and creative abilities and tools of the mixing engineers; both Front of House: who creates the mix for the audience, and the monitor engineer - who must often create individual mixes for the various performers on stage to hear what they need to perform at their best.  The original sound source may sound almost nothing alike when comparing the "raw" to the processed. 

So here we are today, with recording technology more easily accessible and available to more of the public than ever before.  The landscape of the music world shifting greatly as the industry that arose from it is now subject to change according to the freedom of the masses now able to "do it yourself" where once access and resources were save for the select group of those chosen based on their "sell-ability".  The sea of music online and available in stores now is so vast it is almost as if the magic of the impulse buy has left us.  People hear demos online of bands that are "less than polished" and it has become so saturated that the likelihood of the audience connecting with it puts them off to the possibility of spending money on a product when they feel it is inferior. 

That particular magical allure has faded and people spend less on the impulse buy to pay homage to the artist for their ideas.  It may not be the artist's fault at all in fact; the idea may be a great one.  However, it may have been poorly executed, or just not right for the particular sonic signature that was achieved.  Music is highly emotional, and the sonic impact it has is the driving factor that must be executed precisely or else the emotional impact is lost.

An individual can pick up an instrument, a microphone, and a recording interface to a computer and easily make their ideas into a product available on a global market.  That's a lot of power.  However, the expectation of the modern audience has also never been higher.  We expect to hear perfect music.  The best possible representation of the idea or concept that lets the listener transcend the medium and connect with the idea internally - emotionally, intellectually, or otherwise. 

I've heard the phrase "loudness war" many times since I've pursued the audio engineering path and today i'm less and less convinced it is simply about that anymore.  The revolution of independent freedom from the tradition of the market being closed doors has also put a lot of scrutiny on it.  It's both helped and hurt it.  I'm more convinced the loudness war isn't as relevant as is the war on education.  The technology may be available to just about anyone now, but the education and understanding of how sound and music work are still (if not more) important and no more or less available than before. 

I just thought I'd post something in between all the jobs I've been busy with.  There will be more updates coming soon as we head in to the final days of the EP project, and should have several video updates for them soon.

I pose a question, and I hope everyone who wishes to leave their answers in the comments below be unafraid of criticism for it.  It's your opinion and it is most welcome.  Do you think that audio engineers are as much a part of the music now as the artist who wrote and/or performed the material?

Rollin!

As I'm writing this, we've published and submitted the ACE spec commercial to CBS.  There was a lot to get done and all the people that contributed made a huge impact on it!



Nick contacted me a couple of weeks ago about doing a commercial shoot for ACE train as part of a contest with CBS.  If you missed the info on the pre-production, check out my previous blog entry: Aces & Trains!  Meanwhile I've been busy with the McClure Sessions collaborating with Troy, and recording a couple other local artists.

Anticipation was growing  as we headed toward production day. Troy and I have been in editing phase of post-production the last couple of weeks as we wrapped the recording phase up for the McClure  Sessions.

Production started at 5 am for Nick, Yuki, Drew, and myself in Stockton to get some footage of the Train coming up to and leaving the station. Nick Yuki and Drew all came up from LA literally the night before the shoot, which meant operating on little to no sleep.  Crazy guys.

We then had to wait for our train to arrive, and dashed to hop on board as quickly as we could with our gear, and meet up with the extras and crew in Lathrop.

It was a quick rush to help get all the extra equipment in along with all the extras and situated in the car to prep for shooting.

 

The first part of the train ride I sat down below with all the gear on watch and awaiting data management duties, while Nick and Yuki and the crew began setting up to start shooting with the Red Scarlet-X.  

I ran BTS and 2nd camera (not needed) with a T2i thanks to Troy.

Once I got to switch duties with some of the extras to allow me to come up and roll some BTS and help with lighting and camera assist for Yuki, Drew kept me in line on what to do.

Each shot featured either an extra or the train in a way, as Nick called them "Hero" shots.  To convey the purpose of the commercial.   

Yuki has a very good eye and Nick is very clear about the particular shots he wants.  During Pre-production we went over his initial storyboard which was a series of photos he had found that conveyed the message he wanted.  He then updated the storyboard for production with some of the shots I had taken during pre-production scouting the train the week before.

 

 

Yuki executed the cinematography perfectly, and Drew being first camera assistant and lighting was a very big help as i picked up the learning curve.  Once we arrived at the station we had from late morning until noon to get a couple more station shots and scenic shots before we had a lunch break.

While I can't exactly go into detail on the process of how Yuki worked pitcure in-camera, the raw playback was pretty amazing on its own.  I don't believe he even used the HDRx capabilities of the camera. 

 Break went fairly slow as it was a lot of waiting around but still fun none-the-less!  We resumed after lunch break to get a couple more shots both inside and then outside the train station before our train arrived to take us en route to our home desitations of Lathrop and Stockton.

There were several more shots we tried to get on the ride back home, including the relaxing book shot, and the bike rack below.   Sunlight was starting to fade quickly by the end, and we also had to consolidate and unload at the Lathrop station so that the crew that started there could depart there without missing a beat.  Nick, Yuki, Drew, and I ended at the stockton station packed and ready to head back to his place to shoot the final shot which is a visual effects shot to add into the ipad scene.

After that wrapped, we had dinner, and I left them about 7:30 pm to come set up my recording gear and prep for the V.O. session.

We wrapped recording at about 9:30 pm (roughly), and I proceeded to start treatment, de-noising and editing, and some minor pre-processing to get levels decent to send each take to a dropbox folder to house our miscellaneous project content we set up to collaborate via the internet.

Then, on Friday I took the time away from editing the McClure Sessions to compose a short cue for it, and sent it off to the dropbox for Nick to drop to picture.  While they finished rough and fine cut, I waited to receive the VO track back to start mixing the audio together.  And finally, a day before the commercial is due, Nick was in final VFX and coloring as I talked with Nick online getting final mix edits done for broadcast master.

As I sit here and write, I just received word from Nick that the submission was successfully received, just in time! 

Aces and Trains!

Wow, where to begin...  The last couple weeks concluded the production phase of the McClure sessions:  an upcoming EP project Troy and I are just now starting post production on.

Just finished drum setup

Chris Gettin' down on some drum-tracking.

Drums, drums, drums.

I captured as much as I could of the sessions and plan on building a new video update for our studio channel by the time the mixes are done so keep an eye out for a brand-spankin' new video soon!

Left: Chris McClure, Center: Troy Reed

During these past couple weeks I've also had to wipe my main workstation clean and reinstall windows Fresh, as I just acquired Pro Tools to add to my studio DAW list.

Pro Tools 9+10, so awesome!  and yes, my shirt does say "Talk nerdy to me"

I have QUITE a bit of stuff to reinstall and I'm just barely finishing up all that, but while I have I managed to restring both my guitars, major issues with my BC Rich as usual (I highly dislike Floyd Rose Tremolo bridges).  If that isn't enough, this week alone has been very busy as I help Nick with pre-production for a commercial shoot this coming Monday and Tuesday for ACE train!

On Wednesday we arrived at the Ace station in Lathrop at about 6:30 am to shoot some pre-viz shots and plan out everything for the production.

It was a super tight schedule to figure out how to shoot arrival and departure shots, so we hurried onboard.  The rest of the day was the "hurry up and wait" as it usually is for production trying to get the timing just right for shots and then waiting patiently in between.

Thanks to Troy's T2i I was able to get plenty of test footage as well as these wonderful stills.  These just underwent some SUPER quick post correction for visual reference.

I'm hoping these are good enough to help Nick establish some groundwork for his D.P. Yuki to have a solid, all-encompassing reference for production.  All in all there's easily 2 gigs of photos and over 12 gigs of temp footage.  I believe on production days Yuki will be shooting with a Red Scarlett and I'll be helping with data management as best I can.  I'll try to keep posting more frequently as the days get busier!

As always, I enjoy any and all feedback!  Please feel free to leave comments of your thoughts on the subjects, opinions, suggestions, even flaming rants!