Shexy mods, clamor, and glamour..

Over a month ago, my computer screen decided to go dark.  Now when I say go dark, I mean it literally just went dark.  Most of the time when people have a computer screen that they can't see anymore they assume it just died.  A quick inspection and some research online led me to believe the capacitors, resistor, or some part of the power inverter that powers the CCFL backlights went out, because the rest of the screen still works.  I use the screen's USB hub to operate my kyeboard and mouse, and when I switch screens to my giant HDTV on the opposite wall (extremely hard to work with this particular orientation), the mouse and keyboard are fine.

The last throws of summer are in full swing, everyone wants to constantly hang out and enjoy what's left of it by gaming: xbox 360, or nerding: Magic The Gathering.  Poke fun, mock, and belittle all you like... It's a fun way to pass the time.  Mok offered to help me solve my screen issues and we took it apart to look at the power board.

First time we took it apart was sort of annoying since the plastic shell is a two piece snap-in that holds itself together.  A butter knife did the trick eventually, and we ran into the other problem of having to try and get around the stem for the stand where it connects to the back of the screen.  Once we got it off we disconnected 3 sets of connections that bound all the various components together.

While the particular fashion in which Samsung designed the screen can be annoying to work on because of the molded plastic back shell being cast through the metal bracket that holds the hinge and stem piece for the stand to sit in, we managed to get access to the the 2 boards in the chassis that house the electronics.

Disconnecting the power from the logic board allowed us to easily unscrew the power board and disconnect the two backlight connectors buried in the right side of the chassis.  Once we got the power board out Mok and I immediately noticed one major problem with it.

Not only was the PCB around the resistor burnt black, but the original capacitor had faded beyond recognition and we thus set about replacing it.  A quick stop at "The Shack" and later another visit to get a 60-watt Soldering Iron because of the heavy duty solder used on the board remedied the situation nicely.  We also replaced 8 capacitors i had purchased online from a DIY mod site that matched the main ones that the board relies on.  We stuck the board back in and despite our effort, were greeted with a dark but still functioning screen.  So I ordered a whole new power board on eBay...

A couple of days passed...  Busy with life things, like friendly gatherings, keeping up with my exercises...

Taking care of things at home...  Lazy cats...

More exercising...

Oh... and some more friend time:

S'mores anyone?

Before the board arrived, Mok came over and was curious to check out the backlights with me.  We set about taking apart the entire screen.

Removing the front plastic bezel

Snapping out the metal frame that encases the inner screen components.

For those of you that don't know how an LCD screen works.  There's several layers to the whole thing.  Here's how it goes.  Below you can see the Panel which is covered with a diffusion anti-glare material.

Beneath the actual panel is several layers of Diffuser sheets, think of them as transparency sheets like those used in schools for overhead projectors, except they help to evenly scatter the light instead of being completely transparent.

Underneath those diffuser sheets is a large and thick panel that is somewhat diffusive.

This panel acts like a lens when light is emitted into it from it's sides, it illuminates the whole area scattering the light in all directions and as the light catches on the diffusive surface area, it brightens the whole thing.

These backlights are very tiny, long and thin. There are two sets, a pair on top and a pair on the bottom, which are powered by the power inverter board.

The logic board is connected directly to the LCD matrix panel which controls the various cells in the matrix.

And there you have it.  While we had fun taking it completely apart and reassembling it we found nothing wrong with the CCFLs.  Backlights had absolutely no burn marks, blackened edges or anything that would be akin to failure.

The board arrived, and I have some free time during the day to tackle a quick modification to the plastic shell with my dremel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I got the plastic piece completely cut out the shell could be completely removed from the chassis.  I cleaned up everything and took it back inside to remove the old power board and put the new one in.

I quickly and easily took out the old powerboard thanks to the handy removal of that plastic section that bound the shell to the hinge.

Swapped out the old power board, put the new one in, screwed it in place, and reconnected the power to the logic board, and the two CCFL backlight sets. 

Swung the chassis back on top of the screen and connected the data cable to the logic board for the display and the connection for the power sensor on the front bezel piece, plugged the thing back in to some power and tested it out.  The whole thing lit up perfectly so I finished snapping together the shell, put the mount piece back on the hinge and stem and placed it back on my desk.  I hooked my screen back up to my computer and now everything is back up and running!

The rest of this month has been rather slow.  The usual daily exercising, routine job hunting, working on the final bits of the orchestra project commissioned by Trials & Memories which can be found on facebook.  Lots of working on my novel project as well.

School should be back in session, summer is closing to its end, and my guess is if you're reading this late on a school night you're probably chatting with me on facebook!  Hope everyone enjoyed their summer.  Hopefully I'll have more buzzworthy stuff to post on here soon.

As Promised... However Late.

I've just barely gotten the chance to finish working on the video blog's first episode and get it ready to post!  I spent the last few hours running into Exporting OMF issues and getting the import to work properly in Sonar, but alas I did get it in!

Sonar has been giving me a nasty time of not wanting to bring in ANY video format.  My final edits got made to the episode and I wanted to move on to Audio post and mixdown, but I wanted to find a workflow that would allow me to work inside of Sonar to utilize my vast array of processing techniques and let my experience with Sonar offer a speedy session.

Working with Premier Pro has been fun and easy to learn.  I exported the OMF several times however because the settings I was using to export it didn't like to import in sonar and would give wave data errors on reading.  I found the correct method to export had to deal with encapsulating the audio in the OMF project file and that did the trick!

Now, I've been going through the various channels of audio I have to work with.  Because I originally started working to picture inside of Premier, I have a few music tracks I brought in and placed for effect.  On top of that, I have several channels made in stereo and mono to accomodate mixing the various sources.

• Location sound: Audio recorded in-camera on-location during shooting.
• VO: All the voice-over material recorded separately, whether to picture or ADR later.
• Music:  The music tracks brought into premier in stereo.

So, after creating some quick buses and routing the appropriate channels, I moved on to scouring through the various clips and correcting volume issues, simply applying a gain adjustment on each clip individually until overall they were within similar ranges.

The next step involved noise reduction processing on each clip and going through each and applying denoising.  This took a little bit of work until I got reasonable results and just copy and pasted instances of the plugin across certain clips.

I had audio recorded with an external mic on location for some of the shots, that were in the same lane as the VO work I had done with Myke here at the project tank recently, both with different noise profiles.

I then bounced these clips individually to commit the plugins to audio and gain back valuable processing resources. 

Finally, on the buses I began to apply various compression and processing tools to get the whole mix to gel.  I wasn't done yet though.  I still want to get the picture imported so I can try to add some spice to the video, sweetener effects and foley to enhance the visuals.

I went on google to research the error window that came up when I try to import any video type, and I ran into this lovely little bit of information on the cakewalk forum .  So I went and checked out the little application they linked to called GSpot  and ran the utility.

It's A handy little tool to help with troubleshooting just this sort of problem!  While the codecs on my system are installed to view the video in applications like windows media player, they are 32-bit only and since Sonar is a 64 bit install, I went back into Premier and rendered out a 2nd video in the .AVI file type.

After about 10 minutes or so I came back to Sonar and the video imported and I got to work on starting the editing and mixing.

I spent quite a bit of time honing in on getting volumes adjusted between the buses and then automation became the name of the game.  There's a certain system I established later on in the evening for 2-3 different volume levels in the underscore where I felt it appropriate to differentiate between Myke's VO and the on-location voice and audio material.

I made one final pass through the whole project for a critical listening session and final mix-down began.

With the newly rendered master stereo mix in hand, I opened up Premier again and dropped the audio back in.  I wasn't finished yet though as I still needed to do some work on cleaning up the two animation sets in After Effects I had started a while back.

The intro title shot needed a finish to the animation, so I opened it up and ran into the snag that since the update to CS5.5 it had to recreate the file to appropriate the new version of AE.

Keeping Premier still open I was able to hone in on the timing I needed to get the animation just right, however quick it was.  I still feel if I had more time and were willing to try and do more with the title shot I'd take it a whole mile further and make it just pop out, but it's time to just finish up!

I committed the final changes, saved the AE project out, deleted the old link in Premier and dropped the new version in, and re-aligned it.  Next was the 'Kinetic Typography' animation shot.

There was a few sweetener sounds I wish I could have found to go in some of the dead spots but I'll just have to remember my ideas for the next episode.  With the final touches finished I rendered out the video and headed for Youtube.

Viola, here it is for your enjoyment!

Ukelele aloha's...

Just spent the other evening with Troy doing a quick improv instrumental for Ukelele!

Wash My Filthy Hands by Neologic Studios

On top of that, I'm feeling quite productive today despite some personal aggravations...
I'm attempting to reload the first episode of our supposed video blog for final editing.  I have decided I want to develop a workflow for audio and since I plan on using Sonar, I'm trying to find the best way possible to export things for working to picture.  Perhaps I'll go in depth when i get a free moment.  Back to work on this orchestral mixing for a client!

The fiddler in my room!

Today will mark the end of a rather sudden, and quick project.  Troy and I got a call from a friend on Thursday about a recording job someone needed in a hurry; he wasn't kidding.  This client wanted a full album done over the weekend to have duplicated and ready to sell by the very next weekend for his tour across the U.S.

I know what you're probably thinking: that's a tall order, all the instruments, all the time needed to get sound dialed in...  Except, this client is not your normal modern musician.  Once we cleared up the client's request and our prices, we discovered he's a fiddler and his album is a solo project of his that he wants to be able to have a short run duplication on hand to sell at his events.

Troy and I discussed what we would want to do for the weekend about the project and opted to use my place instead to record proper acoustics.  Saturday morning we got up super early and headed to the studio to pack everything up and haul it over here.

After getting EVERYTHING set back up, we strolled right into mic placement and auditioning mics.  We started with 3 we really wanted to hear for the close mic.  However, Troy had arlready pre-determined (as had I) that the NT-K was probably going to outshine all the others, and we got started on a few other choices for capturing the natural sound.

I was lucky enough to get the room as quiet as we got it.  Aside from some minor inconveniences like an attic fan adding to the hum in the background raising the ambient noise floor to audible levels, the session started out in the middle of a terrible hour for traffic down my street it seems.  A couple of passing automobiles made its way into the tracks.  However, we made it through most without much a due about some sonic interruption.

The client wanted to record as many as 25 songs.  Most of the arrangements were on the Fiddle, while one or two would be on the Hardanger Fiddle, and about 5 or so more on the Nyckelharpa.  All the compositions originate from Sweden, and more are classical folk in nature than anything else.  Luckily, the client was well rehearsed with all that material so that in just a few hours we had completed all the songs.  Normally a major time constraint as such would be an impossible request to fill!

After we completed the recording, I discussed some options for duplication services which would allow us the rest of the day to get things in order while he got stuff together for his for album artwork.  He came back today to finish the artwork layout after choosing a duplication service based in San Francisco.  Close, extremely affordable, and short turnaround time!

After yesterday's session Troy and I took a break and did some running around, playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl on Wii, and then he left while I returned to editing and mixing the tracks.  I started with just roughly mixing the mics to see if I could get a good blend going on.  I found two distinctly different sounds with the options we captured.

1. The classical sound: very ambient classical, retaind all the dynamics in good clarity and the sound was very soft and somewhat distant with the room mics bring the only two sources, panned hard left and hard right.
2. A more modern, intimate sound: The modern day studio sonics we achieved with the mic we chose up front and center, pairing it with just the right choice of mic pre, and a discreet amount of compression in the mic pre during recording for needed sustain and color. 

This close mic brought out a ton of brightness in the instrument that isn't naturally occuring to our ears when hearing the instrument performed right in front of you.  The modern intimate sound with the center mic providing the main sonics for the mix, supported by the two room mics lowered in volume substantially with both feeding discreet left and right signals into a stereo verb Aux bus.

I resumed the project today and since this morning i've been editing beginning and ends, tails, fades, playing with denoise plugins and final master bus effects to dial in just the right sound.

As of now I'm getting two album sequences stemmed out for the client: one with all the tracks for his private copy and one sequenced in his specific order for duplication. Next, I will be headed into Sound Forge to do the final denoise stage to get rid of some particular unwanted background elements that had crept in on a couple of tracks. 

Dealing with denoise plugins can be risky business, because you affect everything. I found it surprisingly easy with the de-noise processor I'm using on the master bus to deal with the attic fan in the background.  I actually used this knowledge to my advantage and thanks to the sonic content of the fiddle and Nyckelharpa, the "air" in the mix was sufficient enough that when I applied the noise reduction processing it took it out just enough to soften the harsh hissing established by the close mic capturing the natural phenomena of a bow dragging across strings, thus allowing the melodic content to come through with warmth, and not be too bright.

It still didn't deal with the random artifacts I had found after hours of scouring through the material for them.  A few car rumbles and even a Harley Davidson had crept into the mix ever so slightly.  I would need to use a spectral repair tool to try and deal with removing these particular nasty artifacts, and this is where careful attention to detail is needed most because any changes made to the material can make it suffer just by trying to extract the unwanted material.

My first attempt at spectral repair was actually pretty easy and I pulled some clips for before and after comparisons.
  1 - before by cameron-bashaw
After some quick tweaking, and I mean quick; I was able to get fantastic results.  Just a little know-how and understanding of spectral repair can go a long way.  It's like Photoshop for audio!
  1 - after by cameron-bashaw
Another one I had a bit more trouble with as the fundamental in the bass frequencies was easy to find, but I couldn't find and isolate the upper octaves from the musical content without damaging it.
  2 - before by cameron-bashaw
This one took a bit of work, I found most of the low-frequency offending content and was able to eliminate it from the material, but the upper range in the offending noise I just couldn't find.  I know the tools are pretty in depth and with more time I could probably hone in on it and completely eliminate it without sacrificing any audible quality to the musical content.  I just ran out of time for this project.
  2 - after by cameron-bashaw

Having just finished the final master to hand to the client tomorrow, we got an awful lot done in two days!  Recording 23 tracks, editing, mixing and mastering, sequencing, album artwork design; the whole thing was a blast and we both enjoyed it!  We're hoping another uncommon act comes our way!

Dizzy is as Dizzy does!

A lack of updates concerned me just now so I thought i'd share why.  I've been busy with life's obligations - desperately job-hunting; consolidating things and organizing things to sell off.  I'm also in the throws of wiping my computer.  I just finished reinstalling windows and am in the process of reinstalling EVERYTHING.   I even had to make a list a few pages long of all the things I needed to redo once windows was back up and running fresh. 

Mostly a due about audio: the plethora of virtual gear and several of my favorite daws, plus various other things making their way back on here could take a couple of days.  I've also had the urge to get back into painting practice with the tablet, as well as start working on demo reel stuff.  So much to do so little time. 

Expect to see posts soon about the video blog's first episode!  I may finally get it done, and the post will be up on the studio's youtube channel.  I believe Troy wants me to resurrect and finish another video project we did for shits and giggles. I'll warn everyone now it's extremely cheesey, even for cheese.  That post may come up soon as well.

After the maelstrom of random life events i've had to deal with the last couple of weeks - friends happenings, jury duty summons, family obligations, financial re-orientation; i'm just barely getting back to business and get back into the swing of things.  I can't wait for the film project coming up end of july!  More news on that soon.

As for now, I shall leave you all with a quick photo-manip I did of Troy.  Photography done by the amazing Michael Fowler! Thanks bud!

Orchestration addict...

Half-way through the composition...  Took this screenshot a few days ago..  it's already MUCH fuller... time to do mixing.

If it weren't for the myriad of other things going on right now I probably would have this done a lot sooner.  I've been aching to get back to some personal projects. 

I've started 2 new tracks, one completely orchestral, and one symphonic hip-hop for Redhawk.  On top of it all  I have bills and jury duty coming up that I need to take care of.  Should be interesting to say the least, as the Jury duty date is set for just around the same time I am supposed to start working on a film project. 

On a side note, while on a trip up north last weekend with my family, I managed to work more on one of my story projects. Perhaps I'll post a glimpse of it on here sometime. 

But, in the meantime: orchestration has a plethora of sub-jobs that one has to do.

It's taken me a while to find good complementary sonics with the composition to play nicely with the metal part of the song so they don't sound like two disparate parts just playing together.

Yes, the song is over 7 minutes and 18 seconds... and this is just one of four that I have to work on.  I think the composition is complete as of now, just needs to be mixed down.

A hundred and seventy-two Channels later, there's stuff to consolidate and stuff to add i'm sure.  All I can say is DAYUM!  Hopefully orchestration gets easier from this point out.