oozey mess
The Bowery Presents
Monterey Bay Aquarium
pixel skylines
Sweet Seals For You, Always
$LAYYYTER
trying on a metaphor
Sade Olutola
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Cosimo Galluzzi
Love Begins
sheepfilms
KIROKAZE
almost home
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
ellievsbear
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official daine visual archive
Misplaced Lens Cap
seen from Brazil
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seen from United States
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seen from Switzerland
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@billigrecording
A couple of weeks ago at my internship I had the privilege of being able to deconstruct an old tape machine that I found in the basement. The owner wanted to keep the motor from it so I was tasked with taking it out of the machine. By working on this assignment I was able to gain experience on working with audio equipment and learning everything is put together. Today was definitely one of my favorite days at the internship because of this.
Production got sidetracked at my internship a couple of weeks ago because of a plumbing issue. The entire staff at Musicol spent the day putting together a new pipeline for the steam that comes out of the water tank at the end of the day. Most of my time was spent measuring out lengths of pipe and cutting and threading the pipe with this machine in the photo above. Probably not how I intended to spend my day; however, it was a great learning experience for me nonetheless.
While at my internship I was tasked with cleaning up the back corner of the basement at Musicol; the space was needed to store boxes for vinyl shipment. The first photo is the before picture and the second photo was the after picture, it took me a whole day at my internship to clean up the space. In this corner I found old motors for the vinyl machine along with old tape recorders that were used when the business originally opened. There was plenty of gems and junk to be found in this corner but altogether it was a good experience.
Recording Session
This past Monday I was working with Doug Edwards, a Musicol Engineer, on an improv Jazz recording session. During this time period I was mostly used to help clean up spills and microphones. I also was in charge of keeping track of session counter numbers; however, it was still a great learning experience as an engineer. Doug did a great job of balancing work while also teaching me important tips while recording. The musicians were incredible and it was a fantastic session.
Cleaning Up Musicol
Last week I started a new project during my internship at Musicol. Essentially what I am tasked with doing is to clean up the back corner of the basement where a lot of old and unused gear is at. I am quite excited to see what classic gear is down here.
Last week I had the fantastic opportunity to help out Musicol’s head engineer Kieth with a recording session. During this recording session I had the opportunity to help change out some microphones, one of these microphones was the guitar mic that was causing some distortion on the tracks. Once that was changed out Kieth took the time to help teach me the new soundboard at the studio. The new soundboard is a Sony MXP 3000 which is running smoothly and a good console to use. One of the newer techniques that I learned at this session was an iteration the Glyn John’s technique. For this technique we used two ribbon microphones as overheads. Once this was done we drove the gain on the console to get a saturated sound on the drum tracks. Thankfully, we were able to get the full effect of this on the track because of the lack of cymbals on the kit. I found my first session back at Musicol to be a great learning experience for me as an audio engineer.
Last week, I planned and executed a bass microphone shootout with my friend, and great bass player, Aaron James. Before I started recording for this I decided to do some research. For this shootout I decided to research the best bass microphones and techniques. After researching, I used some of the microphones and techniques suggested for miking a bass amp. The microphones I used were the Beta 52, EV RE 20, MD 421, and U87. I ran each microphone through a UA preamp set to the Tube option. The Beta 52 was an interesting sounding microphone. It had a ton of low end to it but not as much high end. Next, I recorded the EV RE20, this microphone was solid, it had an even response and a clean sound to it. Third, I recorded the U87 with this microphone I found there to be an amazing amount of low-end, accompanied by very little high-end information. Finally, I recorded the MD421 which had probably the cleanest and best sounding tone to it.
For this shootout I would rank the microphones as follows:
1. MD421- it had the most consistent and clean tone to it
2. EVRE20- A solid sounding microphone but not as clean as the 421
3. Beta 52- It’s a good general bass microphone for simple bass lines; however, with the bass line that was recorded it did not work out well. Mainly because it was too bass heavy.
4. U87- This microphone surprised me with the bass that it got, although I was looking for more high end in the sound which left me disappointed.
Altogether, this was a great shootout with some interesting results!
Final Mix for Karaoke Party
Recently I posted a video of a tracking session that I did with the band Karaoke Party. I have just finished the mix for the band. On this mix I used a decent amount of EQ and compression to give the mix some better distinction between instruments. I used EQ on my reverbs and delays to help give them a better and lighter feel to the mix. This becomes obvious on the vocals in the song. Compression was used a lot on this mix but specifically the drums and bass. I used heavy compression on these instruments to help give them a bigger sound for the song, vocals had heavy compression on them as well. I also used side-chain compression on the bass to make the kick standout in the mix. When it comes to effects, I used a chorus and a phaser on the guitars to make them standout in the mix. If you want to hear the final mix just click here
Tracking Karaoke Party
Recently I have helped track the band, Karaoke Party! The session itself was a great time. If you want to get more of an inside look then you should watch the tracking session video
Today I have finished working on a mix of a metal song. In that mix I have used the Slate Trigger plug-in on both my kick and snare. This plug-in is actually rather simple to operate. All that you need to do is go to the browse tab to find the right sample. Once you find your sample drag it down to the box, on the bottom of the plugin page. After you have your sounds, mix them in as much as you want There’s a sensitivity setting to choose how often it goes off, and you can mix in your original kick sound with the mix knob. A tip when using this plug-in, choose multiple samples to get the sound you are specifically looking for.
Along with Trigger, I have used Elastic Audio on this mix as well. For starters, you don’t have to, but I put my track to ticks instead of samples. For that step it depends on the version of ProTools you have. Nonetheless, I selected Rhythmic as my Elastic Audio tab on the track. After that I changed the track from waveform to warp. Finally, I moved the different kick drum hits so they were in time with the song. A tip when using this feature, make sure to hold shift and click on the samples you want to move. Doing this ensures that none of the other kick hits get moved.
Here is the finished mix of the song. Check it out!
I intend to complete a preamp shootout. To do this task, I am asking my friend, and talented guitarist, Chris Brown to help me out. He will be playing some acoustic guitar chords and finger-picking on this session. This shootout will be between four different microphone preamps.
Doing research for projects like this is always a good idea. The first article I researched was done by SoundonSound.com. The content in this article is about some simple tips to recording acoustic guitars well. I also took some time to read an article on Sweetwater.com. Most of this article was filled with how different Sweetwater Recording Engineers, prefer to mike an acoustic guitar.
The first preamp is a Chandler Limited TG2, it has two basic adjustable parameters to it. These parameters are the simple input and output knobs. Next is the Daking Mic Pre. This preamp has one parameter to control, the input. Third, comes the UA 4-710D, it has several adjustable parameters. It contains parameters to adjust input, output, and compression settings. The compression settings are similar to that of the standard 1176. Finally, the last preamp is a Focusrite ISA428 MkII, this comes with three simple adjustable parameters. The parameters for the preamp are Trim, Gain, and a HPF (high pass filter).
The Chandler preamp can be described as having solid high-end, a decent low-mid, and it also seems to give the guitar a bit more presence altogether. With the Daking preamp, I found that it had almost no low-mid or low end on it. This preamp also seems to rely on having a nice bright mid-high. If I had to characterize the UA preamp, I would say that it has more of a low-mid boost or focus to it. This preamp in general, seems to be geared more for drums or rhythmic instruments than anything else. I say this due to the 1176 style compression on the preamp. Finally, the Focusrite preamp, I would say that this preamp is pretty clean and simple. For the most part what you hear is what you expect.
After working with all of these preamps, I would have to rank them in the order that follows. First would be the Chandler, I like this most because of the presence and full sound it gives the acoustic guitar. Second is the Daking, I like this preamp for the mid-highs that it helped out with on the acoustic. Third, I am going with the UA preamp, I picked this one next for the even tone. However, I also think that having the built-in compressor aspect makes the preamp worth it. Last place would have to go to the Focusrite, this preamp does not seem to add much character to the acoustic guitar. This is best used for just trying to capture a sound as you hear it.
I was able to get Dante Level 1 Certification today!
Last Day at Internship
Yesterday was my final day at my internship. It was a great experience overall that I wish did not have to end so soon. None the less, it was a good day to end on. I got the chance to help fix channel strips on the studios mixing board. This required me to strip and solder some cables for the channel strips.
Last recording session
Yesterday was the last recording session that I helped out with on my internship. Adam and I recorded a three-piece rock band. I helped out by setting up headphone boxes and testing microphones. It was a great time to be recording!
The past two days have been awesome at my internship! I have recorded a local Columbus band for the past two days. I have put microphones up for two guitars and drums. I also setup headphones for all the musicians as well help realign the tape deck for the tape machine.
Yesterday at my internship was great! I helped our house engineer record a singer songwriter named Kelly. We did drums, vocals, acoustic guitar, and a synth track that day. I setup some of the microphones and got levels. After that we had a few trouble shooting issues to take care of. All in all a pretty productive day.
Got the privilege to help record on the TASCAM ATR-80. This 24 track tape machine was the setting of where the band, Mary Lynn would record their 3rd album! Being able to record with the band for the whole weekend was great. The house engineer, Keith, and I were able to record a full 4-piece band along with doing guitar and vocal overdubs. Altogether, it was a great experience!