Steve Witt

Wooster Collective: "Why We Don't Post Open Calls For Submissions To Design Competitions"

2009-04-13T14:04:00.002-04:00

Wooster Collective is a Street Art and Culture blog that I've been following for many years. They made a post today warning artists about submitting their work to coporate-sponsored art competitions. This is relevant to anyone who is trying to make money off of their art, be it visual or otherwise.

Wooster

Youtube: Kutiman

2009-04-01T11:44:00.004-04:00

This Youtube user is remixing the sounds and video of multiple already-published Youtube videos into new songs. They are unbelievable. 'I'm New' is my favourite.

I think he's got eight such remixes. They're all very impressive.
His channel is here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/kutiman

This is yet another person using Youtube to repackage a media source and create their own commodity, unintended by the creators of youtube.

There was an amazing documentary that I saw a while back on the way that Youtube has reshaped the possibilities of media and social order on the internet. I'll post that in my next entry.

Rival Boys

2009-03-28T13:35:00.002-04:00

My friend Sam is in a band called 'Rival Boys'. Their new EP is reviewed on AW Music. Check it out. They're a great band.

http://www.myspace.com/therivalboys

Do Not Knock Him Out

2009-03-25T09:23:00.004-04:00

This is a link to the video I did for my final audio post production assignment. The assignment was to replace all of the audio in the video (I was able to use the Oasis song which was in the original). Jason Statham (Mickey)'s voice was performed by my brother.

Megaupload

Killer Queen

2009-03-23T13:13:00.002-04:00

I acquired a copy of a pro tools session containing all of the raw elements from Queen's Killer Queen session. It would be nice to dream up a remix for this song. For now, soloing the individual elements is fun enough. The vocal tracks are unbelievable.

Here's a link to a bounce of all the vocals.

Hot & Cold

2009-03-22T23:50:00.002-04:00

HIGH QUALITY

Four Chords

2009-03-17T13:00:00.002-04:00

Got this from @CoryOndrejka this morning. The intent of the video may be cynical, but this is a great illustration of the power of the melody and the way it can shape a song. There's such a diverse selection of songs in this video, and the chords are identical (although in different keys). Even more of an attestation is that although people may be aware that this is happening, the majority will never notice.

Guitar Tone Video

2009-03-16T13:50:00.006-04:00

This is a fairly concise video about getting guitar tones (specifically heavy ones) including mic placement and instrument choice. It was recorded by a fellow named Colin Davis from Imperial Mastering in California.
He speaks for a while, and about halfway through the video he demonstrates some mic positions and give audio samples. Very helpful.

Follow this link:
http://www.imperialmastering.com/guitartonevid/guitartonevideo.swf

*I tried to embed the video, but it had an autoplay function that I didn't want running on my blog every time it was opened.

CMW Notes - Saturday March 14

2009-03-15T23:00:00.006-04:00

Producer Panel
- The producer's job is to make decisions, even if that means feigning confidence.
- The environment makes it so easy to never make any decisions (tracks, playlists, etc)
- Maintain the ethic of always making decisions, and don't keep all your tracks!

Composing for Film/TV
- Getting started likely takes doing something for nothing
- Networking - Always
- Pay rate varies from project to project. Royalties, fees, package deals, per-minute-rate
- Have instrumental mixes
- Have alternative mixes with different balances.
- Book: The Emerging Composer

Hard Sellers: Publishing
- Impact Magazine
- A good publisher fills all roles
- How much people enjoy a song at a live setting is rarely indicative of how "good" the song is, and moreover how worthy it is of being published.
- The artist is not important, the music is.
- Every different area of licensing has different rules, so be sure to know them.
- Increased numbers of people are chasing sync revenues and this has affected the royalties negatively.
Some avenues of income may be going down, but many are going up. New technology especially.
- Any guarantee that a publisher tries to give you is bullshit. Deals are predicated on the song AND the user.
- Book - Music, Money, Success

CMW Notes - Friday March 13

2009-03-15T22:53:00.004-04:00

Indie Label Panel
- CDs are going to become a niche market, but not to the same extent as Vinyls -Tim Potocic
- Independents fall down by not making good records. You have to fall in love with the band.
- Labels are looking for musicians who work hard at promoting themselves and are savvy with modern technologies and tools of self-promotion.
- Getting on Radio is not even a standard if you can't sell tickets and records.

Terry McBride
- Music is an emotion. Beyond that, it's a collaboration between the music's emotion and the listener's emotion. How does one monetize that emotion?
- whothefuckstolemylaptop.com (no longer active)
- The discussions of now will soon be a moot issue.
- Develop relationships for what is COMING, not what is HAPPENING
- iphone applications = $$$
- itunes app store: $0-1billion - ONE YEAR
- License your content
- http://www.spotify.com/

CMW Notes - Thursday March 12

2009-03-15T22:27:00.005-04:00

These are direct from what I jotted into my notebook throughout the conference.

Thursday March 12

Cory Ondrejka - http://ondrejka.blogspot.com/
-Took 9 years for digital music to replace CDs by 50%. How long to reach 90%?
-itunes first 1billion sales took 3years; their 5th billion took 100 days

Neilsen Soundscan
Changes in recorded sales this year so far:
- Digital albums +58%
- Current Digital albums +78%
- Catalog Digital Albums +38%
- Deep Catalog Digital Albums (3years+) +77%
- Vinyl +134%
- Digital Tracks +58%
- Top 200 +79%
Canada is about one year behind the US.

Quebec is very behind the rest of Canada in digital figures, but on par for physical

"View From the Top" Panel
- Canadian digital music market so far is a follower, not a leader. There were ZERO new Canadian legitimate music sites in 2008.
- Companies consider the Canadian music market "challenging". At the moment the payoff for investment is nowhere near sufficient enough to justify the investment.
- Canada is the only G7 company who have not taken a "moral stance" on intellectual property.
- "moral leadership"
- Canadian Top 20 artists sales list contains only TWO Canadian (domestic) artists
- Canadian Top artists list contains only two new acts: Miley Cyrus & the Jonas Bros.
- People don't respond to the moral problems with piracy because it poses no personal consequence to the majority of people.
Pay Attention to the following things:
- The growth of domestic artists. Otherwise there is no export.
- Rules and standardization in the industry. Government Regulation.
- To what extent should these regulations have to adapt/compromise with the changed business model?
- ISP Royalties
- ISP bans for pirating users as a deterrent for piracy.

Agent Panel - "Deal or no deal"
- The UK is affected by the economy the same way that North America is, but with the right act and the right ticketing strategy, things are more easily managed.
- Average ticket price in the USA for huge shows is ~$50 (nickelback, etc)
- Business is good and ticket sales are good.
- More industrious places that are suffering (ie, Sheffield) are struggling more and ticket sales are down.
- The agent works for the band, not the promoter. If a promoter can't handle the next level up, the agent's relationship with them comes second to serving the band. Maintaining such relationships is nonetheless very important.
- Selling out shows matters WAY more if the show is outside the band's area.
- Signing an act requires more factors than it used to.

DMS
- The advent of youtube has made it difficult for music on a promotional level. It now takes more than just releasing a music video. Music videos are free.
- 'Monetizing the anarchy'
- 'Control' is what current business models are based upon, but is a variable that will no longer be present... and we have to learn to make money without it.
- IC Card reader to connect with fanbase in Japan.
- Canada has acted as a gateway to national industry. This is a reason to include Canada in digital distribution.
- Become an aggregator
- TDC Denmark - Paid of the Danish SOCAN equivalent and gives their customers unlimited music.

Promoter/Live Super Session
- Despite hiccups in the states, the live environment is still strong.
- The most important word in a promoter's vocabulary is NO.
- Kevin Lyman: http://www.saynow.com/
- If the agent asks too much from the promoter, offering too much to the artist, this is what can cause exhorbitant ticket prices.

Should the ISPs be responsible for policing P2P file sharing? Why or why not?

2009-02-18T18:31:00.000-05:00

Short Essay for Terry McManus.

Given the state of the internet's field of play, where uploading and downloading of pirated media of all types is entirely omnipresent, one would naturally assume that the gatekeepers of offending routes would be called upon to take responsibility for their domain. Profit from illegal dealings is not tolerated in any circumstances or environments. In Canadian internet law, however, the idea that these gatekeepers should be made responsible has been met with stiff unwillingness.

The Globe and Mail's site reported only hours ago about the CRTC's decision to take a role in internet regulation within Canada, despite washing their hands of the matter a decade ago. The article remarks that despite the Commission's traditional lack of involvement with online content, a new proposal will require ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to relinquish 3% of their subscriber revenue to assist funding for Canadian web programs. This new move by the CRTC suggests a more active role in pursuing online media regulation and an ISP levy, both topics which were brought up at hearings today.

The first step will be to establish the manner in which the ISPs be made to police their networks. Michael Geist (Professor of Law, University of Ottawa) remarked just yesterday about Rogers' reluctance to concede their ability to track the data which flies (ever thicker and faster) through their tubes, claiming themselves to be a 'dumb pipe'. Geist summarized the exchange by noting their past ability to perform deep packet inspection upon their data in order to meet network management standards.
"ISPs [argue] that they should be able to manage their networks in a manner that distinguishes between certain [content]. Funny, though ... when groups ask that the same network management tools be used for alternate purposes such as Canadian content rules ... Rogers, the same ISP that acknowledges traffic shaping, now says 'We're a dumb pipe. We don't know what you're downloading . . . so how can we be responsible for the content?' "
When faced with the looming necessity to be take responsibility for illegal acts which are making fortunes for the ISPs, they regrettably are unable to adequately take account.

It's no secret that limited bandwidth packages put in place by companies like Rogers and Cogeco are broken nearly more often than not by members of the general public whose downloading from public torrent sites, Rapidshare-esque file hosting sites, and peer-to-peer programs like Kazaa or Morpheus, has increased to excess. The amount of content available for users is well worth the trade-off of needing to pay additional fees for breaking their bandwidth limit. Since the illegal content comes at no cost to the ISPs, the additional bandwidth fees amount to nearly pure profit. There is no question as to why their potential necessity to pay levies on this data is met with resistance. There is also no question as to what would be the right move on the part of the CRTC. If Rogers and other service providers are gaining ludicrous profits by sitting back and watching pirated content pass through their domain, they should be held accountable. If they're unable to stop or slow the flow of such data, they should most certainly be liable for their profit margins which have widened because of it.

Celine Dion Pop

2009-02-05T13:41:00.003-05:00

Songwriting Assignment:
We got into partners and wrote a song based upon what we'd learned in songwriting class (structure, themes, commercial viability).
We wrote a song in the theme of epic love ballad pop a la Celine Dion.
The song is called 'To Myself'

www.myspace.com/stevewittmusic

Please be aware that any cheese encountered is entirely intentional.

New Song Up

2009-02-03T12:46:00.002-05:00

at http://myspace.com/stevewittmusic

Called 'Both Eyes Closed,' the chords and part of the melody were written a little after this time last year, and the rest of the components, including the lyrics, were added over the Christmas break.

----------

Lyrics:
We leapt down through the shrubs and the trees
and came out on the other side of the woods
so with drive and perseverance
without anybody near us
we climbed the ice and slept with both eyes closed

Chorus
So what happens when your time runs out?
You'll move out west and plant a plot of trees
You'll climb the ice and find
the dirt beneath your feet
sliding down the slope
and the peaks become plateaus

Without need for self assurance
without penalty of death
with discipline and surplus time there's no distractions left
I'll throw away the things I love to show myself I can.
Forget about necessity
Is this what makes a man?

So they built us up against our will
They gave us all instructions
We listened acrimoniously and reshaped our intentions
So if common courtesy dictates a day for self reflection
I'll spend the better day in bed considering your actions

-----------

Comments would be great.
Enjoy

2009-01-27T14:11:00.000-05:00

Coming Soon

Update Jan 25/09

2009-01-26T00:44:00.003-05:00

2nd year MIA, fourth semester.

Forthcoming projects:
Songwriting Project: Partners, write, produce, record a song from scratch.
Surround Mixing Project: Mix some orchestral music in 5.1 surround sound
Vocal Production Assignment: Lift and replace vocal parts
Audio Post Assignment: Take a scene from film or TV and replace all of the audio with self-generated/mixed sounds
Engineering Final: Produce and record an original song composed by us or from an active band.

www.myspace.com/stevewittmusic

Hollis Arkham

2008-01-29T19:22:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was hectic. I spend both nights in the studio recording piano bed tracks for Brandon's record. His friend Maurice visited us in London and we set them up in the studio and took down six songs worth of piano. Mo was good in the studio for the most part, and the takes should be worthwhile and usable. We're wondering right now if we have to wait for the availability of Brandon's friend Steve Jones who is experienced in the studio and is scheduled to help him produce this album. We consider ourselves capable, but Steve J is reputed to be full of good ideas so we're looking forward to working with him.
The past while, aside from recording and producing, has had me taking somewhat of a management role with Brandon and making a lot of calls and placing a lot of emails to promoters and club owners in the area looking to get him on shows. All I can tell you is that cold calling is not an enjoyable undertaking.
---
I got a new computer and am getting a new audio interface so that I can start doing my homework at home rather than in the labs at school. This should improve the efficiency of my podcast work with Michael Santarcangelo in addition to school compatibility.
---
There have been talks with some old friends into starting a media design firm after graduation, summer 2009. Stay tuned.
---
We have many assignments for school right now. The major one is a lift assignment, which is like a song cover, but we have to emulate the production from the original song as closely as possible. It's pretty tough, but I'll be more efficient once I get this new interface. I'm doing 'Reptilia' by the Strokes.

I need to stay dedicated

DJ Yasser Arafat Update

2007-12-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

Around Xmas I usually try to create a Christmas CD, but usually only end up making one or two songs. I've got a couple of them up right now. Carol of the Bells is from last year, and O Holy Night was just worked on today. I'll probably do a bit more work on it.
Enjoy.
http://www.myspace.com/djyasserarafat

11/03/2007 - Pictures from School

2007-11-03T18:39:00.001-04:00

I've neglected to put these up. these are some of the First Year Facilities that we work in for our Lab and Engineering Classes.

The first two are of the MPL (the Music Production Lab) Formerly Known as the MIDI Lab. There are something like seventeen stations in this room for production and mixing.

Next is Kyle playing my acoustic. One evening we took in my guitars and played around with the mics, and got some really amazing tones out of the guitar, considering it's only an intermediate grade of instrument. Makes me want to have the money for amazing mics. The second picture is a drum setup that My studio partner and I set up in one of our sessions (5am) to try out some different mic'ing techniques.

The following shots are of the Console in the first year studio. It's a Sony MPX 3000. The nearfield speakers are Mackies and the wall speakers are State of the Art (SOTAs) and they sound huge.

This last photo is of some of the rack gear. I haven't really learned it all too well, but we have Sony reverb and delay units and an auto-tune on the right, the two silver units on the left are Avalon compressors. Haven't learned the other stuff just yet...

11/03/2007 - The Security Catalyst

2007-11-03T12:18:00.000-04:00

Last night I began my remote internship for Michael Santarcangelo, the Security Catalyst. Michael deals with issues regarding the relationship between business and information technology, and the way sensitive information is protected and implemented. He's based out of Albany NY and I was contacted by one of his associates from Toronto last month (a second hand acquaintance) who introduced me to Michael via email. A significant part of his work involves creating topical weekly podcasts regarding the information that he is working with, and needed somebody with some audio production knowledge to start cleaning up, organizing and processing his podcasts. We spoke on the phone at thanksgiving and he said that he was interested in having me do this work for him, but not much happened for the past month.
Last night at about 5pm he approached me for a seriously last-minute job. He was doing some work with some business grad students from John Hopkins University. This was for 65% of their mark and he had recorded a conversation with himself, Carrie (one of the students) and an expert named Stu. The conversation was regarding virtual teams - that is, business teams working on projects remotely.
I got the raw file at around 5pm and it had to be processed by 6am the next morning. The file was 52 minutes long and required a substantial amount of editing to chop out unnecessary dialogue and sloppy talking. The audio was also phone-quality so it needed a bit of restoration work, which isn't quite my specialty just yet, but I'm confident that in the end I made some significant improvements. I had to add two recordings that Michael did at about midnight to the beginning and end of the file, totaling about seven minutes, as well as some music in the background of the introduction. When I was finished the file was 44minutes long, which doesn't seem like that much of a difference, except that the majority of the excess was stuttering and people saying um and uh. Eventually that stuff adds up. I finished at about 3 am because bouncing a 45minute wav file is not quick.
Here's a picture of the audio about halfway through the chopping.

Edit

Original

The finished project can be found at the bottom of the most recent post on The Security Catalyst website.

The conversation in the file was actually quite interesting to me as I had been discussing a similar matter with my friend Brent Huras a couple of days ago. There was some talk between him, me and some other mutual friends about putting together some sort of mixed-media production company after we're all finished school. Brent and I are into the audio aspect, one friend Nabeel is an artist in the animation program at Sheridan College. The fourth friend, Jesse, is taking a variety of digital medias at Vancouver Film School. (Side note - Jesse is scheduled to create the Aged in Oak Records website for Greg and me).
The issue is that Brent, Nabeel and I are based out of the GTA, but don't want to stay there, and Jesse is in Vancouver and unwilling to leave, which would mean that this operation would most likely have to be remote. Greg and I are talking about moving the record label to Montreal after school, and Brent seems mildly interested in that as a location.
How effective/efficient would this be? That's what Michael's podcast discusses...

11/01/2007 - Oops

2007-11-01T19:41:00.000-04:00

How neglectful of me.
I'm not going to bother catching up on class notes for the past month because there are too many, and they are no longer so concise as I'm adapting to what information is actually pertinent.

Aged in Oak Records is being launched. I'm co-developing it with my housemate Greg. Today we opened a low-level savings account where we can start putting money to finance this, as it slowly trickles in.
I've been in contact with my friend Brandon Shantz, who is on the other side of the world until mid December. I've known Brandon for a few years and have worked with him musically a few times in the past. We've decided to sign him as the first act on our label. We'll be putting out a record in the first months of 2008.

In school news, school is piling up hard and I'm working hard to stay on top of it. Mother asked if I was eating well in an email. Today I awoke at 530, had a can of nestea for breakfast and then went to the music production lab to finish off my editing assignment. The assignment was to take a 3-7 minute instrumental song and using logic, edit it down to exactly one minute long. I chose DJ Shadow's song Changeling from Endtroducing.
Here's the original
Here's my edit
For Lunch I had Mr. Noodles and two slices of last night's pizza.
I am currently eating popcorn for dinner and studying for my 'Contracts' Midterm tomorrow.

On Tuesday Greg and I have to perform a presentation on Cat Stevens and try and sell his accomplishments to the class.
I have to begin work on a mixing assignment in the studio next week where we mix 24 tracks on tape, record them to CD and hand them in. This is with a partner, a different guy named Greg.

More Info Later

10/03/07 - Music Production in Digital

2007-10-06T01:20:00.000-04:00

Jason Chapman

Chapter 8

Sample Rate: The rate at which audio is sampled from an analog waveform using a digital application.
Bit Rate - Determines the depth/Dynamic range of the sampled audio, based on amplitude.
Phones have a bit rate of 4bit.

10/03/07 - Production Theory

2007-10-06T00:51:00.000-04:00

Prof Terry McManus

Brief discussion of the recording stage of the production role.

Don't ignore problems in the process. Get them fixed in the stage you're at.
Takes - Figure out which ones you need and get rid of the rest
Make sure that you keep bed tracks and scratch vocals
Keep your track assignments consistent
Don't delete tracks until afterwards.
Get more than a recording of playing - get a performance.

10/03/07 - Contracts

2007-10-06T00:38:00.000-04:00

Prof. Terry McManus

When someone such as a manager, agent or lawyer acts on behalf of a client, they have a fiduciary obligation.
Remember - Terry's House-selling Divorce Analogy

Fiduciary duties, Page 58:

Duty of Loyalty - Fiduciary must not place his own interests ahead of the beneficiary's interests.
Duty of Care - Fiduciary must exercise an amount of care 'appropriate' to manage beneficiary's interests
Duty of Disclosure - A Fiduciary must disclose certain information to the beneficiary.

---

Mediation - An informal process with a mediator (not necessarily a lawyer) to 'work something out'. Attempts to create a cooperative atmosphere. Mediation is most successful when both parties want to settle without going to court.
Arbitration - Both parties have respective representatives and agree upon an arbitrator. The agreement reached can be either binding or non-binding and this must be decided beforehand.

10/01/07 - Recording Engineering Lab

2007-10-05T23:50:00.000-04:00

Prof. Rob Nation

Microphones

Transducers - Convert acoustic energy to electrical
The Diaphragm is a mechanical link that interfaces between the acoustic environment and the electrical generation.
The Diaphragm can be made out of thing metal film or thin opaque plastic material
The Acoustic Energy moves the diaphragm in and out, proportionate to the amplitude of the sound pressure.

Dynamic Microphone [diagram here]

Moving coil microphones are well suited for high sound pressure levels as well as changes in temperature and humidity.
Less expensive, generally
Do not require a separate power supply

Ribbon Microphone [diagram]

Same as the dynamic/moving coil microphone but uses a thin ribbon of metal rather than a coil.
Have a low mass, with transient response in between moving coil and condenser.
Lower output, meaning risk of poor signal to noise ratio

Condenser Microphone

Also called a capacitor microphone.
uses a thin plastic film coated on one side with gold or nickel and mounted very close to a conductive stationary back plate.
Sound strikes the microphone and proportionately changes the difference between the two plates.
All condenser mics have preamps and require phantom power to operate (or a battery)
[diagram here]
Detailed sound with wide frequency response that is flat and uniform
high sensitivity - good for distant mic'ing
high output - good signal to noise ratio

Electret Microphones

C0ndenser mic's that use a permanently imprinted charge
Doesn't need external power.

---

The input sensitivity rating is how much pressure the microphone can handle without distorting - 120db spl is good, 150 is great.
Transient response is a measure of how quickly the microphone responds to an acoustic waveform. Moving Coil - Low, Ribbon - Medium, Condenser - High
Frequency Response is accurate/flat now for the most part when picked up from the front. Problems in frequency response are often owing to the reception of signals from different directions, known as 'off-axis colouration'

In addition to classifying microphones by their generating elements, the can also be identified by their directional properties - How well they pick up sound from different directions.

Most Microphones can be classified under directional or omnidirectional
Sounds originating from directly in front of us are called on-axis sound. Sounds originating from elsewhere are off-axis.
How a microphone detects sound is known as its polar pattern
True omnidirectional would be 360degree pickup, but there is always a slightly less sensitive area at the back for high frequency.
Bidirectional (figure eight) - is sensitive to sounds picked up equally from the front and the rear.
Cardioid - heard shaped - very good front pickup but good rejection in the back/rear of the microphone.
Hyper, Super, Ultra - Cardioid is 6dB less sensitive at the side, 24dB less at the rear. Hypercardioid is 12dB less sensitive at the side (120/240degrees). Supercardioid is slightly less directional than hypercardioid but with less rear pickup. Ultra cardioid is the most directional (shotgun mic) - has two small areas of pickup at the back.
The diaphragm can be positioned in two ways - Directional or Bidirectional.
Unidirectionality is facilitated by creating sound ports on the front and rear of the microphone
Single Entry Ports - Single D; Multiple Entry Ports - Variable D
Mics become more directional with higher frequencies.
When mics are closer to the sound source there is an increase in low-frequency response.
Omnidirectional - No isolation, Increased Low Freq in condensers
Cardioid - Rejection of Room/Rear Acoustics
Many Microphones have a low freq rolloff switch which provides a high pass. Some have presence switches that give a high frequency boost, making things sound brighter.
All Microphones will break up or distort when subjected to high SPL.
Moving coil/dynamic microphones are usually better suited for high SPL work
Capacitor mics are usually able to withstand high SPL but the output will reflect it.
Ribbon Mics are very sensitive and should be used with caution.
High quality condensers often have a gain circuit called a 'pad' which allows one to modify the gain with either a 10/20dB cut switch.
System microphones have interchangeable capsules which will have a dedicated pickup pattern.

09/28/07 - Intro to the Music Industry

2007-10-05T23:46:00.000-04:00

Copyright - Page 9

For Copyright to exist, it must be recorded in some manner, upon a medium. Without this recording the material is transitory.

Registration is separate from copyright. A song only needs to be recorded to have a copyright.

First Proof - One's Word
Second Proof - "Your" Word - Witness
Third Proof - Poor Man's Copyright - mailing a letter to yourself

The song depository is a recognized form of copyright.

A US copyright is the top level of copyright proof.

09/26/07 - Music Production in Digital

2007-10-05T23:26:00.000-04:00

Prof Jason Chapman.

This is one of the most interesting classes. Almost everything I learn in it is new and exciting information.

The overtones in a tone determine its timbre.
The waveform is indicative of the waveform going up and down as it completes its cycle

VCO - VCF - VCA

Voltage Controlled Oscillator - The Sound Source
Voltage Controlled Filter - Determines Harmonic Content
Voltage Controlled Amplifier - Determines Volume/Amplitude

Wave Shapes (Pg 42)

Sine - Has no overtones
Saw - Has the most harmonic content
Square - Has the odd-numbered harmonics
Variable Pulse - Varying positive/negative widths (square)
Triangle - Similar to Sine Waves

Saw - Amp - Pitch
F 1/1 1:1
H1 1/2 2:1 <-Octave H2 1/3 3:1 <-Octave, 5th Sine F 1/1 1:1 H1 1/3^2 3:1 H2 1/5^2 5:1 Filters

LPF - Low Pass Filter (hi cut)
HPF - Hi Pass Filter (low cut)
BPF - Band Pass Filter (hump)
Notch Filter (dip)

09/26/07 - Production Theory

2007-10-05T23:20:00.000-04:00

Prof. Terry McManus

We discussed putting a band together from the role of the producer.

Call a rehearsal
Give the following information.

Date
Time
Where the Rehearsal will be
What instrument(s) to bring
How long the rehearsal will be.

"Smoke on the Water Time" - Musicians leisurely setting up gear and messing around and wasting time playing old rock songs. Everybody should be ready to go at the scheduled time, meaning the drummer should show up 30minutes early.

Be in control but don't be a dictator - "I am the producer. I appreciate your input, but mine is the final word."
Build each part of the song individually and get them right.
Instruments rise and fall. dynamics are important
*Every song has a pocket. Get the tempo right. The pocket is the tempo at which the song 'Feels Right'.
Don't have more rehearsals than you need to. If the musicians are good, they'll be ready.
Show up to sessions on time.
Be polite but firm.
Don't call people out and humiliate them. It causes a rift.
Communicate properly and don't leave musicians in the dark.

09/26/07 - Contracts

2007-10-05T23:14:00.000-04:00

I fell behind for a bit and my decreasing consistency perpetually decreased my desire to get back on track, but tonight I'll do a huge update.

Prof. Terry McManus

More miscellaneous thoughts on Lawyers and Copyrights.

Lawyers can be used to investigate possible resources to ensure they will not harm your reputation.
Terry's advice on lawsuits: "Don't. It's not worth it. [for the most part]"
Lawsuits are often based upon rage and are trivial.
Don't sue, sign with a reasonable person in the first place.
There is no such thing as a standard contract. Each agreement is unique so each contract should be.
The courts will not strike down/overrule a contract simply because you signed a bad agreement.
The courts often give the advantage to the weaker party.
Clout - Bargaining Power - Your ability to influence the course of negotiations, often based upon reputation.

09/24/07 - Recording Engineering Lab

2007-09-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

Professor Rob Nation

We learned the remainder of the console.

The Patch Bay

Two sizes of plugs. Tiny telephone/bantam jacks or larger 1/4" sized jacks called long frame. We have the telephone jacks.
"The patch bay provides the operator flexibility to route or reroute signals to and from a desired piece of equipment."
Normalization is a term used for pieces of equipment which are physically connected to one another. Also called "hardwired". In this sense, protools is normalized or "normal'ed" with the console. "A normal connection is one that permits a signal to flow freely without patching."
Bridging taps off the signal but doesn't break the signal flow. Until you plug in the break (the reconnection), the signal is not altered.
The Sony Bay consists of 4 insert points x 2(I/O) x 36 channels = 288.
Another common type of patch is an auxilliary send/return patch. Here a piece of equipment is connected in such a fashion that many I/O modules signal sources can be fed to the device at once using one of six available sends.
Aux sends are implemented when we want to combine signals to send to one device.
When sending aux mixes to the headphones, you would run the mixed tracks as prefade, otherwise musicians would hear you making fader adjustments while they play.
Aux 5/6 are normal'ed to the headphones.
Multiples are jacks in a patch field which are connected to each other to allow the same signal to be split and routed to several different places at once. In a way they are a distribution device. They should not be used for summing like busses because of unequal levels and impedence problems.
Tie Lines are usually "open-ended jacks" which are connected at two panels. They are used to connect equipment from two different control room locations all together.
The wild returns are additional inputs with no mic pre's no eq's for feeding the monitor path. These are not for recording.

09/21/07 - Intro to the Music Industry

2007-09-25T16:15:00.000-04:00

Parts 1 & 2 of two separated hours.

Part 1

Prof. T McManus

We briefly discussed Radio/CRTC and Copyright laws.

Radio Stations may be privately owned but the airwaves are the property of the public.
The CRTC regulates the airwaves
Stations no longer have to focus on a certain topic/genre. They can now play whatever music they want but are still accountable for their content.

Owning a song is the most lucrative business in the music industry.
The SONG is the most valuable part of musicianship
Copyright is important because it's the concept that our business is based upon.

WE HAVE DEVALUED MUSIC. More on this later.

Part 2
Professor J. Chapman

This class is open discussion regarding the topics discussed in part 1.

The less songs you have, the more you will want to safeguard them
(C) Copyright
(P) Phonographic
If a record label pays for the recording process, they will likely own the (P), even if the musician owns the (C)Writing Credit
CDs are being filled up with subpar music rather than fully outstanding songs.
The money is now in Touring. Tours used to support albums, but now albums are released to support tours.
Perceived value is affected by the fact that music is available through so many more convenient avenues. If you can click twice and have the album, it won't mean as much to you as it would had you walked to the store and paid twenty dollars for it. (devaluation)

09/20/07 - Lead Sheets

2007-09-20T21:18:00.000-04:00

Prof's name unknown...

This is the sort of stuff I should have learned in high school, but I didn't seem to care about things like this back then, even though I thought I did. Fortunately, between two years of high school music and many years of guitar lessons, I was able to pick up a bit of theory, so I think most of this class will just be refreshment for me. It's really satisfying to be able to put pieces together to better understand theory and hopefully be able to efficiently read music once and for all without having to count Every Good Boy Deserves Fun/Fudge/... for every note when I look at a piece of music. Most of the writing component to this class is notation, but I'm going to post the notes, which usually consist of tricks for learning and memorizing.

The Semitone is the smallest interval in Western music.
Enharmonic Equivalent - When two pitches which are the same have a different name - ie, D#=Eb, C#=Db, B#=C
C4 - Middle C, except on Yamahas, where C3 is middle C.
To determine the next consecutive key in the order of sharp key signatures, move up seven semitones (perfect fifth) from each preceding key.
To determine the next consecutive flat in the order of flat key signatures, move down seven semitones (perfect fourth) from each preceding key.
To determine the key by looking at the "illustration" of sharps/flats at the beginning of a piece... in the case of sharps: determine one semitone above the highest sharp - in the case of flats, the second-to-highest flat is the key signature.
With regards to the above 'trick,' F# & C# incorporate enharmonic equivalents. Don't forget this!

Between... Every Good Boy Deserves Fun, Good Boys Deserve Fun Always, FACE, All Cows Eat Grass, All Candaces Eat Garbage, Father Charles Goes Down and Ends Battle, Father Charles Goes Down and Eats Babies, Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father, I was very mentally exhausted by the end of a two hour class.

09/19/07 - Music Production in Digital

2007-09-20T21:10:00.000-04:00

Prof Jason Chapman

Discussion regarding the properties of sound.

When we talk, we need to breath. Because of this, we become accustomed to information being delivered in sections, with pauses. Ergo, when the information is pushed at us in a fast paced manner with no pauses, we recognize this as chaos and feel overwhelmed.

Psychoacoustics - The way our mind interprets sound qualities to determine attributes such as location.

Waveforms - Every complete sound wave that occurs during in a second equals one hz. Therefore, if ten full waves meet our ears in one second, the frequency of the sound is 10hz.

At birth, the audible frequency range for humans is 20hz-20khz.

0dB -The threshold of being able to hear, or being able to detect sound.
60dB - conversation level
120dB - loud.
140db - the threshold of pain.

85-90dB is comfortable music listening level.
dB is a logarithmic value. It is not linear.

The most interesting part of this class was learning about the harmonic frequencies that occur because of the vibrations in the air which create sound. Jason said that these harmonic frequencies register themselves as pitches in the major scale. This redefined music for me, because this means that sound perception occurs naturally. Therefore, our standard of music is not a social construct, as I had always believed. It's nature, man...

09/19/07 - Production Theory

2007-09-20T21:06:00.000-04:00

Prof. Terry Mcmanus

We went over the artist development process.

Unless you have a phenomenal voice, the voice will never be enough.
Always have a concept of what you are aiming for as a producer, such as inspiration from another artist.
Rehearsals tell the difference between the pros and the amateurs.
Don't work with mediocrity.
Look for the following in musicians: 1. Reliability; 2. Talent; 3. Adaptability

09/19/07 - Contracts

2007-09-20T20:59:00.000-04:00

Prof. Terry McManus

We talked about lawyers and the way they operate, as well as the process of agreement.
Some notable points were:

Lawyers act as great hubs for contacts if you pick the right one
People will make presuppositions about you based upon your legal representation, so choose wisely.
Ignorance when agreeing to a deal is not grounds for complaint after the fact. (ie, if you sell your priceless guitar for $100 because you didn't know its value, too bad)
A "retainer" is a client designated quantity that the lawyer draws from in their work, almost like a budget.
"in trust" - your money being held by someone else through an agreement
Lawyers bill in fifteen minute increments and the clock is always ticking.

Reducing Lawyer fees:

Research your topic beforehand
Email questions the night before
Be prepared. There is no time for small talk.

09/17/07 - Recording Engineering Lab

2007-09-17T20:12:00.000-04:00

Prof Rob Nation

This was the four hour class again. I went to bed sick and woke up feeling no better, and didn't have a chance to get breakfast, so this was not the most enjoyable class yet, but it was again one of the most interesting.
Today we learned about our console in the first year studio, the Sony MPX-3000.

The Console Meters and Monitors Output

36 Channels, all identical
Amplifies signals from microphones and other sources plugged into its input.
Can combine multiple signals into one or more composite signals
Signal is then routed into recorder(s)
two types of consoles: in-line and split
Also Monitor consoles (live), digital consoles (assignable), field mixer, broadcast console (radio, etc)
MPX-3000: four types of modules: I/O module, master module, communication module, monitor module

Input/Output Module

has mic and line inputs
EQ section

Mic Preamp

Microphone signals are low-level - microphone preamp necessary to boost levels
First place to establish signal to noise ratio properly
too hot and the signal will clip, too quiet and the noise will be too present
condenser microphones require power to operate - phantom power

Routing - ACN - Active Condensing Network
Two Peak LEDs - Green when signal is above -20dB, red when signal is clipping
I/O Strip has two major sections: channel path and monitor path.
ACN - Routes to other channels; by pressing 'dir' button, bypasses ACN and directly routes through its own channel.
Line Switch - bypasses mic preamp for Line-out devices
Pan Pot - panoramic potentiometer - controls voltage to L&R channels

Two Solo Switches

One monitor path and one channel path.
channel path should be used to solo the inputs on each channel
monitor path would solo all tracks consolidated onto that track, so if three guitars are being blended on one track, the channel solo from their respective input track will separate those guitars, whereas the monitor solo will solo all three collective tracks.

Line in/Line out

Line out sets all the I/O monitor path outputs for output monitoring
Line In sets all the I/O monitor path outputs for input monitoring (this would be for tape/protools, etc)
If recording devices are functioning correctly and the linear faders haven't been touched, the line in should sound exactly the same as line out did when record was pressed.

"Status Reverse Switch" switches individual tracks from Line In/Out to the opposite of the entire console's status. For example - if the console is monitoring the playback of a tape (Line In), pressing "rev" on a channel will allow you to record and use that track for recording.

The class is great. There's always a lot of discussion and the class helps each other out when Rob isn't quite getting through to someone. This is probably my favourite class because there's so much to learn. We're going to learn more modules next week, and maybe microphones.

09/06/07 - Intro to the Music Industry

2007-09-17T19:59:00.000-04:00

Prof. Terry McManus
This is from a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to post it.
Terry went through the class and asked people to throw out as many different jobs as they could think of in the music industry. It was reassuring, as it's no secret that this industry is not the most stable one. Terry is very motivating in his lectures, making everyone more confident in their decision to take MIA.

Manager
Studio Musician
Promoter
Producer
Songwriter
Technician
Publicist
Distribution
Retail
Program Director
Roadie
Merchandising
Coaching
Engineer
Artist
A&R
Live Sound (FOH)
Location Audio
Post Production
Lawyer
Manufacturing
Radio
Teaching
Mastering
Art&Design
Security

Note for the Class:

There is an art to being popular.

09/10/07 - Production Techniques

2007-09-13T13:04:00.000-04:00

Prof. Dan Brodbeck

Similar to Production Theory, this class examines the role of a producer, but from a more technical standpoint. It takes place in the First Year Studio.

Role of a Producer (my summary): Organization and development of a musical undertaking - eg, an album, or similar - including budgeting, scheduling to achieve a finished musical product.

In this particular class we went over a bit of the history of some iconic producers.

Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller - mid '50s

Songwriters turned producers
First people to apply different styles of playing and production to suit the artist [unlike a composer such as Beethoven, wherein the manner in which one performs the piece is dictated in the sheet music]
Considered the first to surround black (R&B) music with elaborate production tactics and techniques.

George Martin

Pioneered technical creativity in record production
Sort of 'went with the flow' in terms of creative ideas and techniques. Was liberal in his allowances with the Beatles habits, and very experimental [particularly notable in the days of analog]

Phil Spector

Invented the notion of the "Girl Group" [of its time]
"the Tycoon of Teen"
most famously invented the wall of sound - initially procured in a room using only one microphone, and one recorded track. The wall of sound would implement the same tactics as today's multitracking to broaden the sound, but would occur live off the floor. This meant that there would be a big room, one microphone, four guitarists, two bassists, maybe two drummers, a couple of singers, a brass section, maybe some strings. Organizing this to be picked up by a microphone as anything other than a mess would be an impressive feat.

Next week we will listen to music on the studio speakers and examine methods of production that different people use.

09/11/07 - Contracts

2007-09-13T11:37:00.000-04:00

Prof. Terry McManus

This class discusses - as expected - business contracts in the music industry, which play an extremely important role in any agreement, of which there are many.

This class just laid out the basics of negotiation.

Number one rule is "Never Negotiate with and unreasonable person.

"Deal Breaker" - A phrase that is not taken lightly in the music industry. Used as a threat to walk away from negotiations, used when the opposing party steps out of line.
"Good Faith" - The intent to negotiate in a forthright manner with the goal to appease both parties - A good negotiation is when both parties walk away happy.
"Bad Faith" - Having no intention of being fair

*Whoever wants something more is in the weakest position of the negotiation, ie, an artist who really wants to be signed
* REMEMBER: Every contract has the ability to ruin your career - Sign in haste, repent in leisure.
Honest, well-intentioned offers will encourage you to seek legal advice. (Don't sign anything where the offer is only good for the moment)

I'm also going to talk to Terry about the sort of undertaking it will be to start my label and sign an artist. This is weighing on my mind.

09/11/07 - Production Theory

2007-09-13T11:06:00.000-04:00

This, and Production Techniques, appear to be the two sides of actually being a producer. I'll describe the role of the producer in my next post.

Prof. Terry McManus

"[in having a hit...] The most important thing is the SONG"

What makes a good song?

Subjectively

Subject Matter - The best songs are the ones that people can relate to.
60-70% of most popular songs are love songs
Party songs
Politics/World Issues songs

Objectively

Contemporary Musical Interpretation - something that sounds modern - Most music is out of date (This is to say that most music that people write is a product of inspiration derived from music that is several years old, and is subsequently behind the times.)

Song Structure

Da Capo Aria - Characterized by the title of the song being in the verse rather than the chorus; ie - "Yesterday" by Paul McCartney: VVBVBV
Popular Song Format - VPcCVPcCBCC

Using this organization, I wrote out the structure for some of my acoustic material:

The Philanthropic Principle - VPcVPcCVPcCBPcC
Tourist - VVCVVCBV
Still untitled Love Song - VPcCVPcCB
No Waves - VBVCVBC
Stealing Kites - VCVCBB2

The problem is that whether or not some parts count as a chorus or a bridge is contextual to the nature of the song. Dylan and I are going to talk to Terry about this in more detail on Friday.

DJ Yasser Arafat

2007-09-11T12:17:00.001-04:00

I don't remember where this name came from, but it stuck.
I started off making a 'concept album' called 'Depths' for my friend Steph for Christmas about three years ago. It was my digitally psychedelic journey to the centre of the earth, composed in Reason and mastered in a way that made speakers, eyes and kittens explode. I started making more engaging electronica with which I became quite pleased. I don't know electronic music well enough to categorize it, but the beats are a product of listening to Aphex Twin too much around the time I started composing. Once I learn how to use Ableton I'll make a proper live show out of this. I performed it once with my friend Brent and ran the songs off of my laptop with myself layering guitar parts and Brent playing keyboard overtop. We only played for about twelve minutes but there were some nice comments afterwards.
The problem I have with the tracks is that I'm using the stock sound banks in Reason, so the patches I'm sampling will be very recognizable to people who use the software extensively.
I'll deal with that all later.

www.myspace.com/djyasserarafat

enjoy.

Kevin Doyle

2007-09-10T22:37:00.000-04:00

This was my professor today for the class Musical Styles, which I haven't had before. Kevin Doyle has been nominated for 13 junos and got his break as an assistant, noticed by Glenn Gould. Gould hired him to edit his recordings of the Goldberg Variations! Most impressive credential so far.

09/10/07 - Recording Engineering Lab

2007-09-10T21:48:00.000-04:00

Prof: Rob Nation

This is a four hour class, 9am on Monday morning. Don't stay up 'til 2 like I did.

We spent the entire time talking about analog relative to digital, and analog tape. Coming into the class I had a fairly good grasp on the things we were going to discuss, so my fatigue didn't hinder my understanding too much.

Tape information:

Reel to Reel tape was invented by Telefunken in the early 1940s. It was seized by American occupying troops nearing the end of the war and brought to America. Bing Crosby invested in it and is financially responsible for its success.
To this day there are only two remaining manufacturers: One in Holland and one in Pennsylvania.
Tape has a natural peak compression which compresses signals written to it before they reach the limit.
Made from mylar (plastic) film upon which very fine metallic particles are embedded and covered in a varnish for preservation
As the tape is magnetized, an electronic current polarizes the particles, forming larger regions known as domains.
As the voltage is stronger, the larger the domains become. The larger the domains become, the stronger the flux. The stronger the flux, the stronger the signal.
As the flux level is increased, the stronger signal becomes much louder relative to low level noise (which is present on all magnetic tape) making it less audible.

Bias

An AC current is applied - in the form of a frequency so high it is inaudible (~100khz) - to the record head to help stimulate and arrange the domains, as magnetic tape lacks the ability to store complex waveforms
Without bias, the output waveform is distorted and inaccurate to the input wave

Misc.

Nanoweber - a unit of flux density. This is measured in nanowebers per metre. Minimum of 185/metre, maximum 750. At 1000/metre the tape is completely oversaturated and will be wasted.
Signal to Noise Ratio - The amount of noise relative to the amplitude of a signal.
Unity Gain - Keeping levels throughout the signal path constant to minimize peak distortion
Tape Heads - Left to Right = Erase, Record, Playback
Record Order - Bed Tracks, Overdubs, Mix
Timecode - Time sync occupying one track in a mix, read in H/M/S/F (hours, minutes, seconds, frames) Frames are variable, based upon.... ... ....... ... the frame rate.
SMTPE - Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers - Established timecoding format.

I've never learned so much information in four hours that I actually consumed and understood to such an extent. I have a few questions to ask Rob next time around but was nonetheless really on top of everything.

Introduction - First Year MIA

2007-09-10T19:02:00.000-04:00

Hi.
Before I begin the blog, I'll give you a brief introduction about myself and give you a context for the things I'm going to be posting. My name is Steve Witt. As of this posting, I'm twenty years old and have just begun first year Music Industry Arts at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. The short description is that the program teaches you all of the essential skills for making a profession out of the music industry. It covers a number of aspects, with particular focus on the production side, including but not limited to Recording, Mixing and Processing audio in both analog and digital. The program is in fairly high demand, with a total of 106 students this year, and in almost all cases requires at least a year of post secondary experience to be considered for entry.
My aspirations are continually changing, but my big idea for the moment is to get my own record label up and running. I don't have any pipe dreams about making it big any time soon, but I'd like to have the capacity to put out a couple of records in the forseeable future. I may still be an engineer or producer at heart, but my reasoning behind running a label is that I can have more of a control over my own future if I'm my own manager. Undertaking something like the development of a label lends itself to the opportunity to build a wide array of contacts, and this will likely give me the connections to have my fingers in other pies. If I want to produce, I will be able to designate myself as such if I see fit. If I want to be a musician - which I always will - I'll have the resources to create and publish my own material.
Additionally, there is likely a more dependable supply of money in the business side of any creative industry, and that would hopefully give me a chance to eat, unlike most musicians who are incapable of being studio players.
That being said, I'll turn the blog over to my plan to document the next two years of my life.
Let's see how well I do.

If you want to reach me for any reason you can do so by email at steve.witt@gmail.com.