Arabesque Part 2
The pictures and text below describe the wonderful bass performance by Richie Blake on this new iTutorus tune... this is the notation for bass and drums.
A truly virtuosic display!
Setting a new standard in online teaching... New Lessons in production 2014
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Wednesday 21 September 2011
Sunday 18 September 2011
Canon EOS 550D DSLR Camera
We love technology! All that we have sought to achieve with the iTutorus project has been made possible with advances in technology. And on it goes, the power of computers, software and with particular reference to this post, cameras.
Up until now we've been using Sony Z series camcorders, starting with the Z1 and subsequently, 2x Z5's and 1x Z7. Fantastic cameras and I can only say good things about them. The only downside is the cost which at around £3,500, they are certainly not cheap but when you compare the quality of the footage / recordings that they can output, it is hard to complain.
However, we have added a new camera to our roster, the Canon 550D.
At first glance this is clearly (essentially) a stills camera and it does take fantastic stills but it also has a video mode and when our team saw the resulting footage, we all said 'wow'
Below are some frame grabs taken from filming that we were doing last Friday. I had the camera mounted on a tripod and I was monitoring the footage through one of the Samsung monitors that I have mentioned before. I was sat around 1.5 metres away from Richie (our bass tutor) and I was using a Canon 55 - 255mm telephoto zoom lens.
In the past we have always blue screened the footage but on this occasion the background was heavy black acoustic curtains which just blended into the background because of the depth of field.
No colour correction was used on the footage or resulting screen grabs.
All of the shots above show Richie performing a particularly clever bass accompaniment using hammer ons and tapping in a new piece entitled 'Arabesque', which will shortly be available to see and hear on our YouTube Channel pages (iTutorus YouTube Channel).
I am confident that when the footage goes up on YouTube, the wonderful quality of the images will shine through but the really remarkable aspect to all of this is the cost of the new technology. The camera cost £600 and the lens £144!
There are limitations to shooting with this camera, it will only shoot video for up to 12 minutes at a time, not really a problem, there are no serious audio inputs and the camera design makes it intrinsically more difficult to handle... but there are tripods and all kinds of steady cam holders to help with this. In fact that's what I intend to investigate next.
Monday 6 June 2011
Mixing the Drums - Parallel Compression
There are many advantages to multitrack recording and as a result, it has become the standard for the modern recording studio.
Drums in particular are often recorded using multiple microphones with each part of the kit having it's own mic; sometimes a specific type of mic to help create a certain sound or resonance... for example small diaphragm condenser mics used as overheads, or a Sennheiser 421 on the snare or a Neumann U47 on the kick drum... all of these microphones and the associated microphone techniques, have been developed over the past 60+ years to create the best of possible recordings.
In our most recent recording session, we used a very simple 4 mic set up to record the drums. We used this minimal set up because we wanted to create as natural a sound as we could. This set up is based on the classic Glyn Johns / Led Zeppelin mic format: two Neumann KM184's (small diaphragm condensers) as overheads,
and a Sennheiser 901 in the kick drum
When it came to mixing the drums (combining the different tracks) a particular technique was used to give the drum sound more 'punch'. This technique is known as 'parallel compression'.
Compression.
The term compression refers to a production technique that is applied to audio in live performance or in post production. It is used to control the dynamic (the volume peaks) of for example singers who in a live or recording situation might go for a high note with a lot of power resulting in a sudden increase in volume, having a comressor in line will help to control that sudden surge of dynamic. In a post production sense, where the audio has already been recorded, the process can be used for creative effects, such as making a drum track (or any kind of instrument) sound more 'punchy'.
Why does is sound more punchy?
By reducing the dynamic range of a performance, the whole track can be made to sound more consistently loud.
Parallel Compression
This is a technique that is sometimes referred to as New York compression and it is useful because it does feature all of the benefits of compression techniques but without squashing the original dynamic, which is the inherent danger of using compression.
The idea is to maintain the natural dynamic of the original tracks but to mix in a heavily compressed submix of those tracks.
In the screenshot below, there are five tracks from a Pro Tools session.
Tracks 1 - 4 are the recorded drum tracks, kick, snare, overhead left and overhead right.
Below these 4 tracks is a stereo auxillary track labeled drums and it is on this last track that the compression takes place (the submix).
(Nb this technique will only work on a system which has ADC - automatic delay compensation).
You will see that there is no audio waveform present on the aux track. This is because the audio is coming from a send on each of the four tracks above.
A Waves API (emulation) was the plugin used for the compression. This plugin emulates a celebrated hardware compressor which is found in recording studios world wide.
There are many compressors available to choose from and generally each will impart a distinct sound to the production. On a limited budget it is important to choose a compressor that is applicable to a wide range of uses, which is why we went for the API (and a few choice others that I will talk about at some point in the future). You can buy them as part of the Waves 'Classic Compressors bundle.
The compressor settings are important: fast attack, fast release (although it is worth experimenting with this) and heavy compression 6:1 - 10:1. The idea is not to be gentle with the compression but to create a submix that is all about compression. Bear in mind this will be mixed into the original tracks not replacing them.
Finally I added some EQ, this time from the Waves emulation of another classic EQ... another API (!) the 550b.
Some Hi & Lo shelf EQ is all that is required.
Listen to the difference before and after the parallel compression is added at:
Sunday 5 June 2011
Recording Audio
A Little History:
Recording techniques, ie the skills, techniques and associated recording technologies have been evolving since Edison first patented his 'sound recording & reproducing phonograph' in 1878.
Edison first developed recording using tin foil which quickly evolved to the use of wax cylinders which could be commercially exploited.
The development of recording techniques and the recording studio as we know it today really started at the end of the 2nd World War when magnetic tape, which had been invented and developed secretly by the Germans from 1928, first made it's appearance in America in 1947 courtesy of Jack Mullin.
Jack Mullin was an American soldier assigned to the the army signal corps, who by chance was given a couple of German made AEG suitcase tape recorders together with 50 reels of Farben tape on his way home to America. He instantly saw the potential of the recording medium as it offered high quality recordings which could be edited easily and used repeatedly, with little loss of quality.
At a demonstration in Hollywood in 1947, Bing Crosby's technical director also saw the potential and brought Jack Mullin and his machines to the attention of Bing Crosby who for some time had been unhappy with the pressures of live radio. Such a system would give Bing the artistic and personal freedom to pre-record his shows, setting new standards in the broadcast medium.
He invested $50,000 in a fledgling company called Ampex who further developed the Jack Mullin customised AEG machines and released the Model 200 tape deck which went on to revolutionise recorded sound in the radio and record industries.
Les Paul, a popular musician of the time and early recording enthusiast was given one of the early Model 200 production models by Bing and he went on to develop multitrack recording.
When the Beatles came to record their recording studio masterpiece, Seargent Pepper in 1967 the studio, Abbey Road had just 4 separate tracks to record onto. They and George Martin achieved the multi layered techniques that have since become standard in the recording industry by 'bouncing' tracks. Multiple tracks would be recorded, pre-mixed and bounced to a new single track, thus freeing up the tracks already recorded.
Ampex first developed an 8 track recorder as early as 1957 but it was only in the latter part of the 60's with the experimentation of the Beatles and Beach Boys using multi track techniques that the recording industry embraced the need to use this technology and 16 track machines started to appear in major American studios from 1968 onwards.
Recording techniques, ie the skills, techniques and associated recording technologies have been evolving since Edison first patented his 'sound recording & reproducing phonograph' in 1878.
Edison first developed recording using tin foil which quickly evolved to the use of wax cylinders which could be commercially exploited.
The development of recording techniques and the recording studio as we know it today really started at the end of the 2nd World War when magnetic tape, which had been invented and developed secretly by the Germans from 1928, first made it's appearance in America in 1947 courtesy of Jack Mullin.
Jack Mullin was an American soldier assigned to the the army signal corps, who by chance was given a couple of German made AEG suitcase tape recorders together with 50 reels of Farben tape on his way home to America. He instantly saw the potential of the recording medium as it offered high quality recordings which could be edited easily and used repeatedly, with little loss of quality.
At a demonstration in Hollywood in 1947, Bing Crosby's technical director also saw the potential and brought Jack Mullin and his machines to the attention of Bing Crosby who for some time had been unhappy with the pressures of live radio. Such a system would give Bing the artistic and personal freedom to pre-record his shows, setting new standards in the broadcast medium.
He invested $50,000 in a fledgling company called Ampex who further developed the Jack Mullin customised AEG machines and released the Model 200 tape deck which went on to revolutionise recorded sound in the radio and record industries.
Les Paul, a popular musician of the time and early recording enthusiast was given one of the early Model 200 production models by Bing and he went on to develop multitrack recording.
When the Beatles came to record their recording studio masterpiece, Seargent Pepper in 1967 the studio, Abbey Road had just 4 separate tracks to record onto. They and George Martin achieved the multi layered techniques that have since become standard in the recording industry by 'bouncing' tracks. Multiple tracks would be recorded, pre-mixed and bounced to a new single track, thus freeing up the tracks already recorded.
Ampex first developed an 8 track recorder as early as 1957 but it was only in the latter part of the 60's with the experimentation of the Beatles and Beach Boys using multi track techniques that the recording industry embraced the need to use this technology and 16 track machines started to appear in major American studios from 1968 onwards.
Saturday 14 May 2011
Meter Maid
Meter Maid is one of a number of specially composed iTutorus pieces that will be used to offer graded exams and associated qualifications to students.
This particular tune is in the style of 'Funk' with particular reference to The Meters who came from the New Orleans area and had a very distinct funk sound and style.
The tunes are all available to study (in their individual parts) as videos (in full HD), audio files or using notation both traditional and TAB and there are also supportive notes and video comments from the individual musicians and the writers, explaining in detail their contributions.
The Full Tune
Friday 29 April 2011
Friday 22 April 2011
Writing & Recording Graded Pieces - Developing Repertoire
As well as the tuition and the exercises that develop skills, technique and understanding of the chosen instrument, it is also important to develop repertoire ie tunes.
On our fourth day of filming, we devoted the day to recording and filming a number of tunes that have been specially written to explore the techniques and skills that feature in our lessons. These tunes will feature as play alongs... guitar players will be able to play along with bass & drums, drummers with guitar & bass etc.
All of the pieces are written with reference to a specific musical genre eg rock, metal, reggae, funk etc... the piece below is written in the style of (New Orleans) funk with particular reference to the Meters, hence the title, Meter Maid.
Above: page 1 of the 'lead' sheet' featuring the solo (guitar or keyboards), bass & drum parts.
The piece features three sections:
Section A: a chord motif featuring 4 basic chords: D, G, C & Em. The speed of the piece is 80 bpm which is quite slow and it is important to play the chords rhythmically accurately.
Section B: features a melodic motif with a strong emphasis on 'the one' (a funk concept explained in our funk tutorial). The notes spell out the Dm7 chord with an additional 4th of the scale (G).
The majority of the piece is based around the alternation of these two sections but there is also a third section which features a modulation (key change) to the 4th degree of the scale (G) which again is a classic funk technique. This third section, section C also features an opportunity for a couple of bars of improvisation and introduces one more chord A7.
Though there is thematic repetition throughout the piece, the bass and drum parts are constantly evolving utilising alternative performance techniques, all of which is detailed in the score and also in the tutorial that accompanies each specific piece.
Sibelius
All parts for the pieces are prepared in Sibelius
Below are two more pictures of the filming on the day:
Friday 15 April 2011
Day 3: More Filming & Recording Drum Lessons!
By the end of day 3 we had successfully filmed and recorded twenty new drum lessons, a new drum intro as well as one new guitar lesson and three new bass lessons... productivity was certainly on the up.
Steve & drums in the TV studio
The principle reason for this high output is preparation and experience. Because we have been refining the techniques and technology over a period of months the benefits of that experience are now really starting to pay off.
Having a good camera monitor system makes all the difference (connected via HDMI)
And there was one new and major factor in the equation... we were using a dedicated TV studio which gave us instant access to the space and facilities that we need.
This Z5 was mounted on the lighting bars above the drum kit. It was connected to a HQ monitor via a HDMI cable and was operated using a remote control.
Recording the drums (audio)... the Glyn Johns technique:
We used just four microphones to record the drums:
1x Sennheiser 901 for the kick drum
1x Sennheiser 421 for the snare
2x Neumann KM184's for the overheads
Our intention was to capture a natural sound that the student could relate to in the videos and using four (high quality) microphones in preference to the more familiar technique of spot mic's on every part of the kit was a simple but effective solution.
The critical aspect to the 'Glyn Johns' approach (the engineer most associated with this technique) is firstly to use good microphones(!), record good source material and also; to set up the two overheads equidistant from the snare, one approximately 1 metre above the snare, the other (at the same distance) to the right of the drummer. These two mic's must be 'in phase', achieved by placing them equidistant to the source.
When mixing the four drum tracks; the two spot mic's, (kick & snare) should be panned to the centre. The o/h mic above the snare, halfway to the right and the other o/h, hard left, thus creating a sense of space and depth.
KM 184's
Below: Sennheiser 421 on the snare
Below: Sennheiser 901 inside the drum shell
Wednesday 13 April 2011
Day 2: Filming & Recording Drum Lessons
A good day!
Steve, our drum tutor very kindly provided us with a schedule of all of the additional required camera shots for the first twenty lessons... below are the shots for lessons one & two:
The key word here is additional! Using a four camera set up, we film the lessons from various angles. The above descriptions, are for the cutaway shots and one can see from the list, the amount of detail and thought that goes into each lesson.
Above & below are some shots of the very beautiful Mapex kit that we used. Thank you Duncan!
Focusing on the snare drum:
With all of the classes, guitar, bass & drums, we start with an overview of the instrument and lesson one - drums, features an in depth look at all of the various parts of the kit:
Filming one of the cutaway, additional shots:
Tony & Steve
Below: a couple of examples from the lessons. Here are some of the drum exercises written out in drum notation:
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
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