Oh that horrible blank patcher window, how it haunts me. The lesson notes were more helpful than the tutorials, with the listfunnel ending up being the key to the whole thing. I had an idea to do with the histogram- when a value counts higher than the table readout, all the values could shrink by 1 so it is a constant comparative representation between all the values. Maybe next week. PATCH 4KB
The topic for this week's student presentations was 'Gender in Music Technology', presented by 1st year n00bs Doug and Amy, and 1337 veterans Jake and myself. After Stephen Whittington's extended introduction speech (which covered a few of my points) I presented my findings on 'the lack of female interest' in Music Technology. It was a huge relief when I'd finished and there were no furious girls in the audience, so I hope that means it was sufficiently asexual.
The next presenter was Doug, who also happens to be the only other Music Education student studying Music Technology, and thus my mortal enemy. He had a few more enemies in the room by the time he had finished, as he tried to draw connections between Homo erectus lifestyles and the intricate differences between men and women today. While I can see where the suggested similarities lie, such as early man's need for more dexterity for hunting etc. translating to our obsession with 'tinkering', the presentation still spawned an awkward conglomeration of opinion from the audience. Some managed to let some stereotypes slip, such as “When women cook they use a recipe but men play around with ingredients”, which was certainly news to me.
Up next was Amy, who provided an insight into the mind of an anti-feminist female. She stated she did not like the hyper-feminist obsession with numbers, such as 'there aren't many girls doing this, so we need to get girls doing it'. I agree with her that it is not fair if a woman gets a job etc. because she is female when there may be a more qualified man who is rejected. I find this to be tangential to the purpose of feminism, which is (should be?) equality between sexes, not simply favouritism for women. It does not matter what gender someone is, if they have the skills they should be recognised for them.
The final presenter was Jake, who used singer Bjork as an example of gender indifference. I get a bit tired of people who say 'everyone is gay/bisexual', I find remarks such as this damaging to the image of bi/homosexuality. People of such persuasion have every right to demand respect for their life choice, but such comments show a disrespect for heterosexuality. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Get it? This one's better- You can't have your 'cake' and eat it too.
1. Stephen Whittington "Music Technology Forum." Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 26 April 2007.
As everyone seems to already know, I employed resident pianist Courtney Day to bang out some piano(1) tunes for me. Shut up, Luke. I have had some experience with piano recording with the sessions that Jake and I conducted last year with Deanna Djuric, however this time I had plenty of time to 'tinker' with everything. I chose to use Neumann U87s, KM84s and a Shure SM57.
~MP3 502KB~ This recording is using the 'midside' technique. I opted to have the Omni-pattern U87 right-way-up, as I figured that there would be a richer sound with the combination of direct noise and noise reflected off of the piano lid. As per midside rules, the figure 8 mic (upside down) is duplicated, inverted and panned left and right. It sounds good, but the whole point of midside is to create a contextual stereo phase, which I feel has a stale sound compared to the actual sound of the piano.
~MP3 527KB~ This recording uses 2 Neumann KM84s as a spaced pair of room mics facing into the body of the piano, and the Shure SM57 placed underneath, aimed upwards at the centre of the piano body. The KM84s were panned left and right respective of their position in the room, and the SM57 was centred. I was very surprised at how good this sounded- personally I find it to be much better than the midside recording.
~MP3 396KB~ I was intrigued by the clarity that the SM57 had, so I tested the midside technique with the SM57 underneath instead of the omni-pattern U87. As per usual I duplicated, inverted and panned the figure-8 U87, and left the SM57 centred. This did indeed brighten the midside sound, however it still does not reach the level of clarity that the SM57/KM84 setup had.
~MP3 673KB~ Keeping the last setup, I added the KM84s so the SM57/KM84 combo was back in play, but this time with the figure-8 U87 as well. I find this recording to be equally as good as the original SM57/KM84 combo, however they are quite different from each other. This recording has a more 'chorus' sound to it, which suits the piece being played, and the original SM57/KM84 recording is a neater, more intimate sound, like you are right next to the piano.
To quench my curiosity I compared the omni U87 (above) and SM57 (underneath) directly, in order to establish why a microphone 1/100th of the price is sounding better than its exorbitant competitor. It turns out it doesn't on its own, but when in combination with other microphones the SM57 seems to add something nice to the mix.
Shure SM57 MP3 146KB
Neumann U87 MP3 148KB
1. David Grice “Audio Arts Wk 7: Recording the Piano” Tutorial presented at EMU space and Studio 1, Level 5, Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 24th April 2006.
Well here we are again. I have done so much debugging and stuff I do not have the time to write it all, just be glad it all works. I'm looking forward to our project now- I've basically created half of it with my Auto Play function. Here is the patch .ZIP 688KB.
Mac Problem 1: The patch txt file has to be in the folder with all the data files, rather that having the data files in their own folder but still in the same folder as the patch. Just look for TheSlider.txt.
Mac problem 2: After trying 4 times to create an archive folder that doesn't freeze up when decompressing, I created one on Windows and it worked first time, every time.
Mac Problem 3: To get the help files to work you may need to add the folder as a search pathway, even though they are in the same folder as the main patch file. I don't need to do this on my laptop but the macs seem to have a little peripheral vision problem when it comes to this. UPDATE: Even adding the folder to the search pathway sometimes doesn't work. When choosing a pathway, remember that the desktop exists in 2 places- in the humemu*** section AND in the Desktop section just above EMU Applications etc. Only the latter works.
Mac Problem 4: When using the Delay or Auto Play functions, if you try to speed it up to a fast number (20ms or less) it might stop playing notes altogether. This occurs after the noteout so I can't debug it, and doesn't occur at all on my computer.
Mac Problem 5: One mouse button? We have five fingers on a hand! It just adds to the stereotype of Macs being computers for the illiterate.
I have decided not to put pictures up of all (15 or so) of my patches, as their associated help files explain them better than I could here. I have also just found some quick debugging notes from when I was making an effort to record everything I did- didn't last long!
Debug List
If I turned on the Auto Play after hitting Refresh [send R] it would still play the last selected Mode, even though none of the Mode toggles are selected. Solved by connecting [bkp.reload]'s directly to the gates inside the Auto Play patch.
When switching Auto Play on and off, the note length changes to whatever you last had it set to when it was on or off respectively. All well and good, but the note length slider doesn't visually move, even though the note length is changing. It seems as though there is no way to just 'set' the slider without outputting anything (Any ouput would create a loop) mainly thanks to my use of a multislider instead of a hslider. I'm not changing back to those grey hsliders, after everything I did with the colours on my multisliders.
A bad bang was occuring on boot and for refresh somewhere
And that's when I gave up writing.
1. Christian Haines "Creative Computing Week 6: Messaging & Routing" Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 5th April 2007.
While everyone else was livin' it up at forum, I took part in a Primary School visit as a part of Music Education. Linden Park Primary was our destination, where we sat in on a choir rehearsal for a group of 4 or so classes. I was amazed at how the teacher could maintain control of so many children at once, and it made me glad I'll be teaching Secondary School (although Year 9s have quite a reputation). I found the best part of the day was when I bought some hot chips afterwards, and shared them with fellow classmates before the bus arrived- got back some brownie points with the ones who hate me.
Our upcoming school visits have raised a question- why are we visiting Primary Schools? As far as I knew, I can only teach Secondary School when I finish my degree. Perhaps I could get a job as a specialist music teacher in a Primary School, although I have never been told this is an option. I found it particularly rude when half of the class showed up 40 minutes late, interrupting the choir while they were entering. How hard is it to catch a bus? Jenny even gave us the bus times and bus stops, so I don't see why it was such a problem.
Something I noticed about the school- there were red buildings, red sidewalks, even red uniforms. I wondered, could the curriculum also be 'red'? It seemed to be a bit of a theme, and this classroom poster didn't help:
(Have YOU Volunteered?)
John, Will and I collaborated for this week's recording (1). While I hoped for a string quartet, there were none at the University that could make a recording on such short notice. Nonetheless I acquired a violin-playing pianist, Shelly. I was surprised that she didn't know any music, any at all in fact, so I had her play scales instead. I've never liked the sound of solo violin and this violin was no different, complete with cat-like 'meow' timbre. In a stroke of genius/insanity, I decided to have the grand piano right behind the violinist, lid open and sustain pedal wedged down. This did give the spooky reverb I was hoping for, however the violin isn't the most sonorous of instruments, so perhaps I will try it again with something more punchy- a trumpet maybe. Our final mic selection consisted of an AKG C414-BULS, Neumann KM84, Neumann U87 (room), and two other KM84s on the piano.
Recording A
This recording uses an AKG just behind the violin aimed through the bowing arm towards the f holes, a KM84 positioned 1m or so above the fretboard, and both of the KM84 piano mics. While the piano mics picked up a nice piano echo, the combination of the close mics and the somewhat distant mics on piano made the actual played notes seem a little bathroom-like in their quality.
Recording B
This take uses the AKG in the same position as the last take, the KM84 positioned about 20cms from the fretboard, and the U87 room mic. The position of the room mic was basically 4m directly behind the AKG. The result is somewhat shallow, I think the room sound is unsuitable for an instrument that sounds pretty ugly to begin with. In any case, it is quite analogous to the actual sound in the room at the time.
Recording C
Proving my point, this is a recording without the room mic, just the AKG and KM84 (positioned 1m above). The result is a much more full sound, which may have been improved even further if the room was baffled off, leaving mostly direct sound from the violin.
Recording D
This is the U87 room mic only, showcasing how bad violin sounds in such a live room. This was also the best sound we could get at the time, so I don't even what to think about what other positions sounded like.
Recording E
For something different we had the violinist playing pizzicato strings directly into the piano, recording only the two KM84s inside the piano body. The positioning of these mics was made after much experimentation to find where the most piano sound comes from when no notes are played per se, which was tested by clapping loudly. The result is very ethereal, and can be heard even more clearly on headphones. I would say this is my favourite recording due to its originality.
After the recording, we moved the violin KM84 into the piano body with the other KMs, and did some experimentation with non-traditional piano playing. I will undoubtedly post some of these after I have mixed them around a bit, perhaps even create an entire soundscape using the recordings. Ooh, it is holidays...
1. David Grice "Audio Arts: Semester 1, Week 6; String Instruments" Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 3rd April 2007.
Another week of collaborations. I begin to wish I had such a diverse topic to present, rather than my irrelevant gender one. Luke presented first, with my hard-done-by laptop providing media support. I am afraid to admit that I have never heard any Sigur-ros (or whatever), but what I did hear sounded interesting, if not a little cliched. I have been witness to Luke swinging his whatsits around, and seeing somebody do the same but with fire was quite entertaining. Daniel Murtagh spoke of Mike Patton, another person whom everyone seems to find weird that I didn't really know about. I have unknowingly been a fan of some of his work, from Faith No More to... like, other things too. I am amazed at the diversity of music that he a has taken part in, and it was no surprise that he worked with the eclectic John Zorn.
Next was Darryn Slyn, who instantly has my respect for fitting two 'Y's into his name. His presentation (or should I say lecture) was surprisingly intoxicating, as he spoke with much astuteness on collaborations such as Steely Dan and various Frank Zappa sessions. This would have been quite comfortable in last year's Perspectives class, had it been a little more centralised. The final student was Alfred Essemyr, who tried to establish a collaboration theme between musicians and the DJs who rip them off. It might just be Uni talking, but if you want to be the worlds greatest DJ or hip-hop producer, why are you here? You don't need a University degree to be big in the pop music industry, you don't need musical talent at all! Look at these kids who are "the sh*t" because they have had their music played on Fresh FM. Did they have any formal musical training? I'm sure it's hard setting up loops on a machine, and stopping them at the end of the song. It's almost sad that one day they will grown up and realise that there is so much more to music than throwing together samples, by then they would have dropped out of Uni and wasted a nice amount of money.
1. Stephen Whittington. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Workshop presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
I DO have more important things to do, but once I start I just can't stop. Nothing huge this week with the aesthetics- the sun picture is ripped from a Windows custom theme, so technically it isn't my own work. Although I did program them into buttons myself... whatever. I would have liked to do some custom dials, but I have run out of time. The feedback conundrum was one solved mostly by myself, but also largely by Will for giving me the heads up on only changing the velocity for each loop, leaving the pitch to loop without being affected. I also found out that the MIDI channel does not need to be looped, so it just bypasses the delay patch altogether. You may notice the Homemade inc/dec patch I made- this was so the up and down arrows would scroll through the instrument list.
A few of the numerous issues I encountered:
Black and white selector- keys not switching for next note; positioning problem solved by adding a preMAIN, sending MAIN data out in 2 sets, allowing tenuation of settings using MAIN before actual MAIN signal is passed. Yes.
Note length- slider sluggish to move; slider changed to output lower values, which are then multiplied for actual note length.
Feedback- Very quick succession of notes start to cancel each other out; can't fix, as this occurs after the noteout. I did change the minimum repetition speed of the pipe to something that is not so glitchy, but it still stops sometimes.
Custom toggles/bangs- wouldn't work; they need to be output to a bang or toggle so they send the message.
Of course there was endless debugging, but everything has started to blur together now.
(Working) Patch .zip file.
Main interface
Main interface open / / / / Delay patch
Black and white key selector / / Homemade increment/decrement
QWERTY piano patch.
Christian Haines "Creative Computing: Semester 1, Week 5- UI Controls & Application State" Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 29th March, 2007.
John and I teamed up again to record a tuba and french horn duet, namely Jess and Liz. We had first considered using a shure SM56 kick drum mic on the tuba, however after hearing the instrument live it was obvious it needed a high clarity microphone. We finished up with an AKG-C414BULS at the bell of the tuba, with a Neumann KM84 placed higher above and a Neumann U87 placed near the mouthpiece (with a popper stoppper). This positioning worked well for the french horn as well, so we matched each mic to each part of the instruments, resulting in an even tone between the two in the recording. The room mic is a Neumann U87 placed behind the students, underneath a good arrangement of sound dispersers on the ceiling. Several obstacles John and I encountered- The french horn makes a distorted sound when it is filling up with 'musician juice', the tuba's keys have a fairly loud mechanism and a french horn player uses their hand in the bell to change the tone and quite drastically change the volume. After a couple warm ups Jess and Liz played the Muppets theme song, which would (unknowingly) end up in this blog entry. There is something quite comical about the sound of a pair of classical horns, perhaps silent movies have something to do with it.
With Room Mic
With Neumann U87s
AKG and KM84s only
