Teagan's Audio Blog

What's up, Internet. I'm Teagan, and this is my Audio Blog. I'll be posting about projects I'm doing at Capital University.

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Here is the final mix of my solo tracking project with Malibu Stasi- Frequency Illusion. I had a lot of fun mixing this song, especially because there is a part where the electric guitarist plays the pedal board like it is a separate instrument, and it adds amazing things to the soundscape of the song. I had so much fun working with this group and this song, which has a different vibe/tone than the previous one I recorded and mixed with my friend Brianna Snider. Hope you guys like it!

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On Sunday, November 24th, me and my classmates had the amazing opportunity to record Capital University’s Wind Symphony and Junior Winds during Capital’s annual Band Fest. We had a lot of fun recording the concert, and we had the interesting opportunity to record a vocalist performing with the ensemble, Alissa Ruth Suver, who is a Cap Grad as well. We Eventually adjusted the timpani mic to be a little closer to the timpani, and overall got a great sound from 4 microphones in the front, two half way in the group and one for the auxiliary percussion and one for the timpani.  

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Hey everyone! For my next project, I did a shootout of software compressors on a clip of an old Bass DI track from a session I had on my hard drive. I wanted to compare and contrast different types of software compressors, so I did my best to set all the compressors the same where applicable. Some compressors have a mix knob, some don’t. Others have input and output knobs, some don’t. We are going to see how they all sound and what is unique about each.

I want to start by mentioning that I picked this part of the track specifically because it has some intense dynamic range. A few of the notes are hit especially hard, and in the waveform of the file it peaks  pretty high in comparison to the rest of the clip. This will really show us how hard these compressors can work.

Let’s take a look at the first compressor: the McDSP 4030

The McDSP is advertised on Sweetwater as a plug-in that emulates the vintage flavor of analogue hardware, has a wet/dry knob that allows you to control how much compressed signal is coming through, and an anti-clip output stage to prevent digital clipping. It has digital meters and the ability to fine-tune the ratio. The compression was pretty smooth with this one, the attack transients weren’t brought out in an overbearing way, and you could tell when the player hit a note harder by the vibration of the string and not your eardrums being blown out of your ears, which is always a good thing. 

Next we have the Dyn 3 Compressor from Avid.

The Dyn 3 compressor/limiter is near and dear to my heart, as that is what my professors used to teach us about compression when I was a freshman in college. It allows you to visually see the compression in a more descriptive way than a simple meter can, and instead of a mix knob, you are able to adjust the “knee” of the compression slope. Much like the McDSP, it has the ability to fine-tune the ratio. It sounds just the slightest bit smoother than the McDSP, but not very far off at all. The natural rumble in the clean Bass DI is less noticeable in the track when the player isn’t slamming the strings.

Next is the BF-76

This compressor is modeled after the 1176 Bomb Factory Compressor, made in the 1970′s. It has a VU meter instead of digital metering, much like the original, and has buttons for setting the ratio instead of a knob that can be specifically set. It also has an input and output knob, and no gain knob. I feel as if this compressor gives it a slightly richer tone, and a more noticeable attack without it being too plucky. It kind of makes the track bounce a little bit more. 

Last, we have the Focusrite FFCL D3.

Once again advertised on Sweetwater, the D3 is said to have flexibility and versatility with separate insert configurations, and functions within the ProTools AudioSuite. It has a fine-tune knob for the ratio of the compression, in and out knobs, and digital metering. Of all the compressors I have used, this one gives the track the most pluck and movement. It doesn’t do much to color the tone, and doesn’t bring out too much of the natural rumble. 

And that’s my review! Thanks for reading!

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Hey everyone!

I know it’s been a little while since I’ve last posted, and this assignment for class is technically late. I got back from the Nashville trip that the Music Tech department went on over fall break and got hit with what I have deemed the plague. 

I’m doing a lot better now and I’m finally able to catch up on the work I missed, now that I caught up with the tests I missed. So I want to talk to you about this mix!

I was really excited to mix Malibu Stasi’s He Tried. It was a really cool song with spoken word lead vocals and really cool harmonies on background vocals. The drums were big and in your face, the bass and guitar had crazy pedal boards they were going through, and the keys track was killer because it went through the same pedal board that the guitar went through. 

After doing the general volume and pan mix, compressing and gating things that needed it, I realized that I didn’t want to do much to the guitars, bass, and keys other than maybe putting it through a hint of reverb. They sounded awesome, so there wasn’t much to do to make it more awesome than it was. Instead, I decided to add more effects to the vocals. I slightly tuned the speaking vocals by about 20 cents up in order to give them some distinguishable character and make the layering more noticeable. I added a sans-amp plug-in to the lead and double to give it some similar grit that the guitars, bass, and keys had. I did that to the background vocals as well, but added it more to them since they had generic ‘ah’s and I wouldn’t be compromising the integrity of the words. I also put the ah’s through a decent bit of delay so that they filled out the song with a lush quality. The lead vocals got a little but of verb, as did the guitars and keys. 

I had a lot of fun with this track, I hope you enjoy! Parental advisory for language in the lyrics, but it’s a rockin song so give it a listen.

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Hey everyone! Brianna and I recorded this awesome band, Malibu Stasi, for our first recording session of the semester! We can’t wait to start working on the mix, but for now here is a video highlighting some of the process! It was a lot of fun to work with everyone and learn how to re-amp a guitar. We had a few little technical bumps, but nothing too crazy, and it just re-affirmed how much I love this major and this school!

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What’s up, Internet! Today I’m going to tell you about my project where I used Elastic Audio and the Slate Trigger 2 plug in for a mix.

First, a little how-to-guide about Elastic Audio. It’s a nice little tool that allows you to line up the audio in tracks without compromising too much of the original audio integrity. When you are in the edit window, on the left-hand side you find the button that lets you switch between a sample-based track and a tick based track, and switch the track you want to adjust to tick. Then, click on the empty space next to it and you should get a menu with 4 options. Your best bet is to use either Rythmic or Polyphonic, depending on what you are working with. Then click the drop-down menu that is set to waveform view and select warp view. You can adjust how many markers show up on the track by right-clicking the track itself and selecting Elastic Properties, then adjusting the sensitivity setting. Pro-Tip: when you need to “scoot it an unch”, as my professor said, it is helpful to hold the shift key while clicking, that way multiple markers show up around the desired spot you need to “unch” one way or another, keeping the timing of the other markers intact. Here are some examples of my kick track with warp view on:

Next, the plugin Slate Trigger 2. This allows you to use a sample library to replace unwanted sounds recorded from a sub-par drum kit, and it was easier to use than I expected. Here is a link to the how-to video I watched by State TV, aka the company that makes the plugin. But to sum it up, you place this on the desired track, go into Browse and audition some sounds until you find the one you want. Double-click to select, then go to the Triggering menu and adjust the sensitivity and detail knobs so that the only waveform triggering the replacement sample is actual kick drum hits, and not any other instrument bleed. Towards the bottom, you are able to mix, solo, and mute the samples you have layered. You even have the ability to tune and pan the samples to get the perfect sound for the song you are mixing. Pro-Tip: layering is your friend! Especially when it comes to the automatic reverb that is added to the samples when choosing from certain libraries. You can adjust how much is coming in just like in the mix window, and make it seem like it was recorded in the same space after putting a similar-sounding reverb on other tracks. Here is my kick and snare with the plugin

(yes, my mix window tracks are color-coded)(it makes things pretty and organized)(fight me)

Another general note: increase the H/W Buffer Size of your project when using the Trigger 2 plugin. I had too many cases where ProTools pooped out on me because it was thinking too hard.

As for the mix itself, this isn’t the style of music I usually listen to, but it was still super fun to mix! Keeping everything from clipping in this mix was a challenge that I felt I handled better in this mix than in previous mixes of the same style. I had fun messing with the vocals a little bit. Another Elastic Audio related tip: if you go into the Elastic Properties settings, where you adjusted the sensitivity of marker placement, you can also adjust pitch. If you have a doubled vocal line, tune up or down one of the tracks by about 25 cents to make the tracks stand out from each other ever-so-slightly. If you have any feedback on the mix, let me know! I’m always looking to improve. 

Keep on the lookout for my next post, and thanks for reading!

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Microphone Shootout

What’s up, internet! Today I’m gonna tell you about a microphone shootout I did in Studio E at Capital University. I had my friend Brianna play my ukulele for me, plucking a melody and then strumming chords, so I can see which microphones sound best on each technique. Brianna is an awesome guitarist and musician who heads up Saltlick, is a member of Bexely Moms, and created/runs Blue Salt Records. Here is the Facebook page for Saltlick, the page for Bexely Moms, and the page for Blue Salt Records if you wanna check those out. Support local artists!

Now that I shamelessly plugged an amazing human being, let’s get down to business (to defeat the huns). After going through the microphone closet in studio E, I chose to compare the Shure KSM 44A, the Blue Kiwi, the Beyerdynamic M160, and the SM 7B. I chose the Blue Kiwi and the SM7B because I love using them for vocals (singing and podcast/voice over respectively), and I wanted to see if they were also as amazing on an acoustic string instruments like the ukulele. When it comes to the KSM 44A and the Beyer, my reasoning is that I don’t normally use those, so I wanted to see how they sounded. I have linked the names with their Sweetwater pages, which has videos and descriptions, as well as additional PDF’s that have polar patterns and frequency response charts and much much more.

The Shure KSM 44A is a large diaphragm condenser microphone with multiple polar patterns. For this project, all microphones with multiple patterns were set to cardioid. It’s known to be one of Shure’s most versatile microphones. The Blue Kiwi is another condenser microphone with multiple polar patterns, and it is described as an excellent microphone for any sound source due to its wide frequency range and pure signal path. The Beyerdynamic M160 is a hypercardioid ribbon microphone that is described to be wonderful for a wide range of acoustic string instruments. The SM7B is the go-to microphone for radio broadcasters, singers, voice-overs, and anything vocal related, as it is dynamic cardioid microphone.

Here is the link to the playlist I put on Soundcloud (because I have no idea how embed the Soundcloud playlist onto a tumblr blog post):

https://soundcloud.com/user-777219964/sets/capital-university-studio-e-microphone-shootout

The Shure KSM 44A picked up the plucked melody very well, as well as the transients for strumming. I got more of the mid-range of the ukulele, the upper range was lost a little bit during the strumming pattern. The Blue Kiwi, in comparison, gave me a brighter upper range in the strummed chords, but a little more body in the plucked melody. The Beyerdynamic picked up the most even distribution of transients and tone color, I felt as though the frequency spectrum was well captured. The SM7B I felt had the warmest tone, and possibly the muddier transients of the set of four (though not in a super bad way, just in comparison to the other microphones.) This is pretty consistent with each respective frequency response and descriptions of best uses, especially because the SM7B is more applicable for human voices than the delicacy of a string instrument.

Based on my research and our shootout, I would probably make my first pick be the Beyerdynamic, followed by the Blue Kiwi, then the Shure KSM 44A, and then the SM7B. I liked how the Beyer was very versatile with different playing techniques and how well it captured the authenticity of the sound. This is the most important reason why I ranked it first, it gives me the most authentic sound. I liked how the Blue Kiwi specifically sounded when Brianna played the plucked melody, the warm tone was very nice, and I also liked how the high end was brought out a little more during the strumming, which is why I ranked it second. If I have a want for a warm melody sound but a higher-resonating strum pattern, I know I’d get it right away with that microphone. I put the Shure next because the lighter tone of the plucked melody was captured very well, but the balance of the strum frequencies was flipped from the Kiwi, which causes me to rank it third. Last I would say is the SM7B. I suspected it might not be a great microphone for the job, but you never know for sure until you try it. That’s not to say I think it’s terrible. I don’t, and in fact, I think if it was all you had, it would work in a pinch and if you used some creative EQ, it would sound amazing. I would also like to say that this list is not to trash any of the microphones, I love all of them, but I’m ranking them based on overall usefulness in my opinion.

Anyways, that’s enough rambling from me. Check out these photos! In order: the KSM 44A, the Blue Kiwi, the Beyerdynamic, and the SM7B

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Dante Level 1 Certification

Hey everyone! For my inaugural blog post, I’ll be talking about my experience getting Level 1 Dante Certified! Check out that awesome certificate. 

It was a pretty simple process. I made an account with Audinate and watched the video courses over the 4 sections, and then took the exam within the 30 minute time frame. The videos were informational, but a little dry, which made it a little jarring when I saw them use the shrug emoji on one slide and a winky-face emoji in another.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little. I also noticed a typo on one of the slides in the first section, it should have said than, but it said that, and I thought that was a little funny too. I learned a lot about basic networking when taking the course, and it wasn’t as difficult as I was afraid it would be. I’ve never been as knowledgeable as some of my peers about computers and networks and works, so I’m pretty proud of myself. 

That’s it for now! See you guys in the next post!

-Teagan