Multi-Band compression

Not sure I like Multi-Band compression. Just experimenting with the settings earlier in Cubase for an old track of mine using the built Multi-Band compression plugin that comes with Cubase 4:

Just uploaded one of the built in presets called Clear Vox and it made the recording sound very tinny in my opinion. Uploaded my experiment to soundcloud:

http://soundcloud.com/sera_music/multi-compression-experiment

WIT survey now on the WIT website:

http://www.womenintune.co.uk/index.php/performers-cd-2011

Market research survey

Hello, so now the DVD is finished and the mastering of the live WIT album is on its way. I have created a market research survey for the CD. Please take a look below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5H7T3M5

The results of this survey will be included in the report and will help the festival decide how many CDs to produce and whether to stick with selling the MP3 downloads.

DVD produced... and major project update.

The submission date for the project is very near, in fact in 10 days! I am collating research at the moment and finishing writing the report. The DVD has been produced, after many problems with the file formats. I created the DVD using DVD studio pro 4 on the IMAC in university and made 4 copies in total 2 Standard Definition and 2 copies in High Definition. Also one of the videos from the DVD is availble to see on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYXvYVai6fU

Below is a screen grab of the DVD's menu page:

Now all I have left to do is master the WIT album and write a report!! I have already mixed the album and allowed for a break before mastering. So far I am happy with the feedback about the tracks and in fact in my last viva Brian gave feedback saying the lecturers present for my Viva were impressed. Thank goodness!

Ducking Compression...

So yesterday and today I have been editing the voiceover for the Capoeira DVD. The lovely Mestre Maxwel master of the Ile De Capoeira group came to mine and we watched the movies together discussing ideas for the script and what he felt he would like to hear on the videos.

So far in the editing, I have been using a lot of volume automation not just to clean the voiceover audio but to balance between the voiceover and the background audio of the video itself. My plan is to blend these together and then to add to the video tracks in DVD studio pro when I compile the DVD.

I was wondering if there might be other methods of blending these two audio tracks together, so that the voiceover was louder than the background music/noise when it came in. Aha then I remembered ducking compression.... Would that work or would it fluctuate too much between the voice and then the music making the jump to one another to harsh??

Tutorial how to use ducking compression in Cubase 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNLBCPCgs-w

Capoeira DVD preparations on its way!

So after much frustration with file compatability I now have a trial version of Adobe master collection CS5 to create the footage for the DVD. For the past few days I have been editing the camera footage myself and Eleanor Thorne took of the local Ile de Capoeira group in Swansea University last November.

Below is a link to view the work so far on my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MvLKzr3cOE

This is still in the process of being edited at the moment. I aim to add a voiceover to the footage this Saturday with local and experienced voice over artist Benesek, who also happens to be a member of Ild de Capoeira and a good friend!

Hopefully next week I will have finished footage to create the DVD...

DVD authoring and the .mts saga!

Well, easter weekend was rather frustrating but at least productive. My PC has now been upgraded to a 64bit OS and can finally run Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects CS5. Unfortunately though the 30day trial version from Adobe of the Creative Suite Master Collection has restrictions and one restriction is no Adobe Encore!!

For those of you who don't know, Encore is a DVD authoring software which I was going to use to compile all the footage of the Capoeira group, audio and video; into one DVD. Now that I do not have access to Encore, I have been exploring other options in case I am unable to get into uni and use the DVD studio Pro software they have installed on their systems.

The wonderful Natalie (who through all of this has had to put up with me worrying about whether I would get the DVD done), suggested looking for cheaper alternatives. So I did, and I came across this very useful review page with links to descriptions. Thank goodness!

http://dvd-authoring-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

However, despite the trial version having no Encore, the primary reason I needed to install it now was to gain access to Premiere Pro CS5. I have had an ongoing problem with the .mts file format I had filmed the Capoeira group in. I could not retain the HD quality when I converted it to a supported file format to use with an earlier version of Premiere, CS3 or Final Cut Pro on the Mac. With extensive reading of specifications and forums I discovered that there should not be a problem at all using CS5 to edit the raw .mts file. I needed to install the program asap to see if this was true and thankfully it is! Phew. I have now started to edit the footage and will be able to use this to create a DVD which will include the surround sound tracks, hopefully, fingers crossed, 6 weeks to go till hand in date!

Working on a website for Live Matters

http://www.wix.com/sera_music/livematters

Research on .mts file formats

Info I found on forum, will this work?

"You've got what you need on hand in Vegas. Best bet upfront (and least expensive) is to just convert the files to uncompressed .avi files. So just like when you take a Nav' test, here's the KISS Program for doing what you need in Vegas:

File > New Project
Under the 'Video' tab choose the following settings;
Template - HD 1080-60i (1920x1080, 29.970 fps)
Full-resolution rendering quality - Best
All other settings in the video tab should be left at the default settings. Don't forget to specify where you want your 'Prerendered Files Folder' to go. If you have a separate harddrive to store your video (which you should) you'll need to input that info in or it will go to your C: drive and end up causing you some major grief by slowing down your system.
Under the Audio Tab choose:
Master bus mode - Stereo
Sample Rate - 48,000
Resample and stretch quality - Best
All other default settings are fine and again in the 'Recorded Files folder' portion you'll have to input where you want the recorded audio files to go. As previous you want these files to go to your separate drive too.
Since you have the clips on DVD, load them up and then go to File > Import > Media and load them all into the Media Bin. Once you get them there, then drag them one at a time into the timeline and then drag the yellow slider just over the timeline ruler so that it covers the clip from one end to the other. Next go to File > Render As.
In this window you'll have to make a folder for your rendered clips to be stored. Again you want this to be on a separate drive. Once you've made the folder name the file and put the following number after the name; 001. Number all your clips in sequence like that as it will save you time and headaches trying to find your clips. Next do the following;
Save as type - Video for Windows (.avi)
Template - HD 1080-60i YUV (Next to this will be a button that says 'Custom'. Select it)
Custom Settings > Video format - Uncompressed
Hit 'okay'.
Back in the Render As window your new settings will be visible and just below them check;
Render loop region only (that's the blue area you chose with the slider)
Stretch video to fill output frame size (do not letterbox)
Uncheck everything else.
Hit 'Save'.
Do the same with each clip. Since Vegas doesn't have 'batch rendering' you're going to have to repeat that for each clip. Rendering from .mts to uncompressed .avi will take some time with a slower system. However, once done you'll be able to handle your clips easily. This you can do now. Save your cash for the new system. Hooyah!"

http://www.videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/how-to-edit-mts-files

Project Update

Ok so its now 6 weeks before I have to hand in my report and a week later present my work... Arrrggh!! I am currently having major issues with the capoeira DVD and the main reason being file compatibility. The footage I took with the uni equipment filmed and saved footage in .mts file extension which seems to be incompatible with the uni software final cut pro and DVD studio pro! When I convert the video file format at home using free video converter to an avi file format, which should be supported by Adobe Premiere Pro; I get this error message:

I have been able to watch and make a video using premiere pro but for some reason it is very jumpy and not smooth at all. I have been told this could be a graphics card issue or codec problem but need to investigate more!

Anyway as you can imagine I am in rather a panic, will I be able to produce any work for it at all!! I have finished mixing the surround sound Capoeira music which was to accompany the DVD but for some reason cannot import AC3 files into CS3 version of Premiere.... Panic stations!

As far as the live WIT album of 2011 that is coming along nicely, I am nearly completely happy with the mixes and plan to finish today. So far I have mixed 2 tracks from 4 of the 5 artists. Once I am finished  I will then leave a break before I master them for the final album to be press and printed. In the research I have read it is important to leave a gap between mixing and mastering:

"It's common practice and highly advisable to separate the mixing and mastering stages, since they are quite different”

– MusicTechFocus – Volume 3 - Mastering – Mastering on a Budget

I have already created a medley of the artists which will appear on the album using one song from each and can be listened to on the homepage for WIT's website:

http://www.womenintune.co.uk/

Watch this space for more news and updates!

Change of name? Perhaps not!

So tonight I was thinking I wasn't sure my company name for my major project accurately encapsulated the services it provides, 'Live Matters' certainly highlights the live recording, but not necessarily the DVD authoring, video and music composition. So I wondered if another name may be better. 'Music Matters' seemed to sound more ideal as it didn't narrow the sound company to only producing live recordings. However I googled the name and guess what I should find, but a company offering similar product services to mine with the name 'Music Matters'.

See here for more information:

http://www.musicmatters.com/faq.html

Still mixing WIT Festival live performances

Hey out there who may be following my blog...

The past few days have been spent listening to The Very Good Disco Band's live performance at WIT Festival 2011. I am currently just doing rough mixes as I said in a previous blog, to help me choose which tracks from the performances I want to mix and master professionally, for the WIT Live album.

Really enjoying mixing The Very Good Disco Band so much energy and fun to listen too.

You can listen to a rough edit of one of the tracks they played here:

http://soundcloud.com/sera_music/the-very-good-disco-band

This is not the final mix by far just a rough initial first draft if you like :) Hope you enjoy!

February Update

Well hello folks, its been a while since I had an opportunity to write anything on here. However work is still going on, somewhere behind the scenes! The past few days have been spent listening to my live unedited raw tracks of WIT Festival 2011. I recorded these tracks with my own make shift mobile studio:

The mobile studio included a:

• Mixing desk – 16 channel Sound Craft Spirit - with direct outputs
• Sound card – 14 channel Tascam US-2000
• Software – Cubase 4
• Laptop - Dual Core and 4GB RAM

I am pretty pleased with the outcome so far. What I have done is roughly edit each track for each artist and then export each set from each artist at 16bit and 44.1Khz producing a burnt live CD of each artists performance. I then listening to each live gig of the festival using my stereo to create a shortlist of the best tracks for each artist, what editing might be involved and how to improve the mix. My plan is then to mix and master one to two tracks of each artist that performed at WIT 2011 for a compilation album for WIT Festival. This can then be used to raise some money for the festival.

The first band I did a rough mix for was Garrison and you can listen to the track here:

http://soundcloud.com/sera_music/garrison-not-from-around-here

However, since listening to the entire set I have chosen different tracks to include on the final CD.

Bossa Dorado by Gypsy Jazz

Publicity of the Capoeira group DVD is for

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=224271540989165&id=216503681765951

Yay more ideas!!

OK. So I've had a pretty mental week so far, working  as a studio engineer at a translation company whilst still in uni can be somewhat challenging at times, especially when both have big projects with deadlines!

However, after a very long drive back from Warrington today in dangerous weather conditions, I try to get back into school mode and work on my presentation for my major project. The day is drawing very near now and the presentation was beginning to seem quite daunting. I started by procrastinating of course on facebook and reading emails before doing any actual work. I then started collating quotes of how the British music industry is changing. It was these quotes that gave me the original idea for a sound company. I wanted especially a quote I heard during my second year of David Bowie's opinion on the music industry and live performances. All I could remember was it gave me the opinion, that live music was going to be where its at. I found a quote on line with an intervew done by the New York Times and this is what he had to say on the matter.

“You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left.”

David Bowie, New York Times, 2002.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/09/arts/david-bowie-21st-century-entrepreneur.html?pagewanted=2

As I was reading this and adding to my project brief I realised that I had't focused at all on the live elements of my sound company, 'Live Matters' and only on its potential products. The sound company without realising is ensuring it has performers to do live sound for, an aspect of the project I hadn't considered covering at all! However if I did, it would add way more technical audio to it especially if I went into depth about the equipment I need to run a live recording rig.

With only 3 more days till my presentation a new idea to add to the project is a bit risky without any original work. However I really like it and think it would be good to focus on the set up I use to record live gigs as well as the products I have previously mentioned... Oh God why am I creating more work for myself!!

Presentation...

Ok so I have my first presentation next week of my major project and have to ensure I include:

Project brief
Research
Target Audience
Project plan/Gantt chart
Preliminary ideas

Started working the past couple of days compiling my stuff all together and organising my project into one cohesive presentation. This began with my project brief and now this evening I have finished writing a list of my tasks to create the first draft of my Gantt Chart, hopefully its suffcient!

Here is a list of all the tasks I can think of so far:

·        Start Blog and continue updating it

·        Establish project idea

·        Research the PC specs needed to run media software

·        Upgrade PC to run video editing software

·        Register for AV equipment through the University

·        Research ways to promote the sound companies services

·        Confirm funding to produce compilation CD for WIT

·        Mix and master live recordings of WIT festival 2011

·        Produce mastered live tracks for WIT 2011 for each artist

·        Contact festival goers of WIT requesting media footage of the festival

·        Confirm Capoeira group for DVD

·        Meet and discuss Capoeira DVD

·        Research other Capoeira videos for music

·        Research the instruments used by Capoeiristas

·        Organise a day to do the surround sound recording and shoot video

·        Record Capoeira group in BBC hall

·        Film Capoeira group on location fighting

·        Design a layout for the DVD and a story board

·        Mix the surround sound recordings in Uni campus

·        Compose and produce other musical parts for one of the surround sound recordings to be used in the intro to the DVD

·        Research ways to produce matrix like SFX for the intro

·        Record or collate legal samples to be used as SFX in surround sound recording

·        Master and mix Surround sound recording and add to video

·        Compile DVD

·        Organise recording dates for studio recording for Sam Gabriel

·        Record Sam in the studio in January

·        Arrange production techniques for Sam’s recording

·        Master and mix Sam’s EP

·        Report writing

Surround sound recording and video shoot...

Well its been a very busy weekend. Friday I booked the BBC hall in Swansea Metropolitan Uni to record the Capoeira musicians. I hired a couple of cameras from the uni, stage lighting and started to set up around noon. I was expecting the musicians to arrive after 1:30pm. I decided to save time I would just go straight ahead and set up the baffle boards and microphones. I knew the Brazilian music would be loud as several berimbau's were being used. I set up a stereo configuration known in the industry as ORTF, a middle microphone and rear microphones also in the ORTF configuration. I had a separate vocal mic for singer Sazuki. Once the musicians arrived I went through each configuration individually to confirm I was happy with the recording.

We had very limited recording time and I only managed to record four songs with added interruptions from cleaners. I haven't yet had chance to mix or even listen properly to the recordings and hope to do this Monday.

Since my conversation with Paul last Tuesday regarding my project and adding more audio content to it, I have decided to add to the recordings by including some drum loops and possibly other melody instruments like a bass line to make a remix. This isn't something I have done before so it'll be interesting to see the outcome!

Saturday was mostly filming on location. The Capoeira group had a big event in Swansea University and wanted me to film it. I wanted to record it as well but had major latency problems with the laptop I was using and had to forego the recording. However the audio from the camera's is very good and I may be able to use it.

My next plan is to look and listen to all the material I have and create a layout for the DVD and how to present the various media.

I'm hoping to do more filming at the groups academy Monday evening which I plan to use for the introduction to the DVD,before the menu appears; which will include my remix of the surround sound recordings and SFX.

Meeting with Paul Hazel

Had my first meeting with lecturer Paul Hazel today to discuss my major project. He feels that I will need to add more content to my project and to ensure I focus on the audio, as I will not be marked on the video editing, web designing and artwork. The focus will be to present a portfolio of various examples of products the sound company can produce and most importantly on the technical information of the audio aspects of the products and how they vary.

This has given me some new ideas how to present the DVD. I could attempt to include SFX recordings for the fight scenes like in the video in this link:

I could even create something similar to this video with SFX for an intro to the DVD.... mmmm

DVD update...

So I had a lovely evening Thursday when I met up with the local Swansea Capoeira group to chat with the Mestre Maxwell. I have arranged a formal meeting with him Tuesday morning to discuss the shoot and surround sound recording in more depth. The project has now taking on a life of its own and feels more of a commercial project due to the little time in which I have to prepare for the shoot.

The plan is now to, if possible; do a surround sound recording on Friday afternoon the 25th of November. Maxwell will try to arrange the Contramestre Suzuki to be there and I have to confirm I can book the BBC hall from 1pm for that Friday. I will have limited time to set up and record so may have to enlist a friend to be a runner for me ( possible victims are Mike Jones and Iain Lewis).

I now have to confirm Elle from Swansea Telly will be available to film some of the recording and hopefully local photographer Lasma Poisa will be free to take some photographs. Lasma is currently doing a degree at Swansea Metropolitan in photography.

I am very excited about how this is all coming together and hope very much that I can pull it off!

Saturday the 26th I have to arrange Elle, myself and runner to attend the Batizado event, to film and possibly record the musicians as well when they do the Rado. The Rado is "a circle formed by capoeiristas and capoeira musical instruments, where every participant sings the typical songs and claps their hands following the music. Two capoeiristas enter the roda and play the game according to the style required by the musical instruments rhythm." (Wiki).

After meeting up with the group last Thursday I realised that the Rado could get very loud at the Batizado event and may be very hard to record well. However I have decided that it would be best to give singers a spot mic and then to set up the stereo mics somewhere where the percussion will not be to overpowering. Will upload my full equipment list in the next couple of days.

I certainly have lots to think about and organise!