Finale Year

Firdaus' Audio Blog

[theendyear]

Sem 2, Week 15

Sound Reinforcement

This picture above is Dirk reminding us that it is important to ensure that all power is plugged in properly and that the console is running 100% smoothly.

For today’s case, the plug of the local rack was plugged into the 4 way gang, however the IEC head that is plugged into the local rack itself was lose and an error pops up on the Vi4 console indicating it.

This diagram is showing how the VCA and the Group function differs from each other. The VCA only mainly controls the volume of the track that is being grouped into it while the Group function will be able to have effects inserted into them to have more control of it. Compressors are also recommended by Dirk to be inserted into the Group so that it will have more control on the tracks that is being “grouped” into them

Mastering

This week’s mastering class is the final one that we will have. We had our final presentation on mastering and I can say that I’ve learnt so much about it. My whole perspective about mastering totally changed and that I am happy to be able to finally know the true definition of mastering, and its not only about making mixes loud. But its more than that.

Every master will be different with regards to the delivery format it is intended for. Although mastering can be a really technical process, it is a really important stage before a song gets released, either commercially or not.

I am truly satisfied with the mastering module and truly grateful with the knowledge acquired throughout the whole course.

Thank you for the knowledge!

[theendyear]

Sem 2, Week 14

In this week’s class, we had to set up effects on the aux of the Vi4 console for mixing. The diagram above was drawn by Dirk on how the signal flow of the effects is inside the console when we set it up this way.

[theendyear]

Sem 2, Week 13

Sound Reinforcement

Had our first few lessons on mixing these past few weeks. Dirk explained about the benefits of having presets before we start mixing. Making presets for the instruments usually happens when we received our I/O’s.

By making preset, we can be ready to get to the more in depth part of mixing rather than spending precious time applying HPFs and compressors on tracks that needed it.

[theendyear]

Sem 2, Week 6

Sound Reinforcement Class

Went down to flexi during our Sound Reinforcement class to see the setup did by year 1 for the year 2 music student’s gig. We learnt about how speaker placement and speaker coverage can affect towards the sound perceived by the audiences. Dirk also made a point on how important it is to know the speaker dispersion in order to get the best coverage in a venue and also the amount of subs needed and their distances from each other.

[theendyear]

Sem 2, Week 5

Mastering

In this week’s mastering class, Justin gave us a more in depth lesson on mastering and the things to look out for and becareful about when mastering songs such as over-compressing, over eq-ing and how the detector circuit works on a compressor.

With more understanding of the plugins/processors used, we will be able to utilised these tools more efficiently.

It certainly changed the whole perspective I had all the while about mastering.

[theendyear]

Sem 2, Week 5

LTC

This week’s LTC features two of our alumnis who are now a part time lecturer teaching classical piano. This week’s concert involves two concert pianos which was amplified using DPA’s from what i can see from the audience point of view.

Much of the amplificatio was coming out off the piano itself as to have the natural tone and amplification. Im not sure if the crew set up an echo chamber reverb up at the balcony. But from the sound of it, I think it was not in used.

[theendyear]

Sem 2, Week 3

Had our first proper mastering class and we had to share the masters we did from the mixes done by our friends.

We share our masters and realised how improper it was actually from the actual steps of how a mastering session should go. Mastering is not like mixing whereby we are free to be very creative and use any technique we think is best suited for the song. Mastering is a very step by step procedure with technical steps that we should follow. Such steps are corrective eq-ing, compression, enhancing eq and finally either all the extra effects or limiting, which is also not compulsory.

[theendyear]

December Break/Internship

For the semester break, not only i did some external work. I also managed to clock in alot of hours for the required industrial intership module. Aside working freelance in hotels and event companies, I was attached to the musical instrument provider company known as Ebenex. 

Alot of heavy lifting was required in Ebenex and long work hours which is not surprising. However I did not expect to be working for 22hours straight during the Neonlights festival and have a few hours rest before working for another 11hours for another gig at Zouk for a Japanese band known as TOE.

However i feel rewarded with the type of music they are playing and being able to be the supporting backline crew of the gig. Aside that, knowing that the musicians are happy at the end and the crowd did had a good time is rewarding for me.

Below are some photos taken during the whole course of internship.

A whole stack of drums to choose from.

A sheet of equipment we have to pack for, for different stages, for different bands for Neonlight festival.

Packing done, ready to be loaded on the Lorry

Stacking lego blocks.

End result of lego blocks.

Amps on stage ready for action tomorrow.

Setup for TOE show at Zouk.

Stageplan provided for TOE.

The reward in the end. Being able to listen to good music and making them feel comfortable to play their hearts out.

Opening band had to share stage but not their equipments. End result = A very squeezy stage.

An outdoor show we did for Harley Davidsons community. Amazingly, it was held at a multi storey carpark.

Mix engineer for a corporate event. So glad there musicians involved. Had great time mixing them though it was through a distributed sound system from a hotel ballroom.

Audio Tech wireless mics used for the event. Had to keep making sure the batteries dont run out throughout the whole event.

Involved in the Christmas Wonderland event at Gardens by the Bay. Feels so good to be here while working at the same time.

The crowd that was there.

Reorganised Ebenex Studio for Sam Willows jamming session. Loving the look!

Noodles of wire before the reorganisation.

Keys! During 1st day of Singjazz. Clocking my last few hours.

A very old Rhodes.

All in all,it was a good experience of ups and downs. Of heavy and light lifting. But usually heavy.

[theendyear]

Sem 2, Week 1

Mastering

Photo courtesy of Gravity Studios at gravitystudios.com

In the first week of the semester, we were not given a proper introduction of what mastering is all about. Instead, we were given a quiz on some of the questions that is related to mastering. We were also given an assignment to mix a song as to however we like and then having someone else to master it without any proper knowledge of what and how to master. It was pretty exciting to me as I was looking forward to know what type of song I would get and how it would sound like after mastering it without really knowing the proper way of mastering.

[theendyear]

Sem 1, Week 13

Sound Design Class

In this week’s sound design class, we had a very fun and interesting lesson on recording foleys for our Tron Project. Shawn gave us some ideas on things that can be used to record to create the possible sounds that can be use. He also taught us about being able to record an object, but getting a result totally the opposite of the fundamental sound of a particular object should produce. 

An example would be using a cymbal to get a low rumbling sound by miking up a certain spot of the cymbal and hitting it on a certain spot with a mallet.

As can be seen here, Shawn giving us proper guidance of miking the cymbal to achieve the results we want.

A couple of mics can be seen being used here for the recording of the cymbal for the intended low rumbling effect.

[theendyear]

Sem 1, Week 13

LTC

On this week’s LTC, we have the specially invited guest all the way from Brazil performing for us music of their country. Valdo Viana and his band played a wonderful show that kept us moving to beats of Samba.

A very cool guitar cum bass all in one. The Line6 Pod XT was also being used for his effects.

[theendyear]

Strobe lighting action going on during Transducers rehearsal.

[theendyear]

Sem 1, Week 12 (Production Week)

Transducers

Not literally, but this week is my production week. My group of level 2′s and I consisting of Gavin, Yoom and Lingesh were assigned to be the soundcrew for the show. The electronic music show/installation/workshop have a very large set up in the sense that alot of cables were patched from interface to the other, and from one mixing board to the other. That kind of thing. However, with proper attention to the signal flow and details, things were not so complicated as it look on paper.

As can be seen above is the stage plan for the show. The audience seating area is unique in that they were surrounded by 8 108′s speakers to give the surround sound experience. The operator seating position was moved to the back of the audience area instead of being in the middle in the end. Therefore more seats can be filled up too with this change.

The 112 speaker used on stage was place at the back of a gong to be used as a feedback speaker that will react with a small diapraghm condenser mic that the performer will use to create that effect, vibrating the the gong using the soundwave of the feedback. This can be seen on the photo below.

Looking at this signal flow at first was confusing with the different types and amount of cables needed. However, I was able to familiarise myself with the whole set up after a whole day and can finally understand the whole set up with Dirk guidance. Soon after a few days, I am happy to say that I was able to handle it myself.

Set up process.

Rigging of FOH speakers

The pendulum mic that captures sound from the small speakers powered by the car amplifier which then sends the signal to the FOH, and FOH here means the surround speakers covering the audience area, giving them the experience of sound moving around them in accordance to the pendulum mic swings.

All the amplifiers and stageboxes were set-up and hidden at the back of the stage which will be covered with the curtains during showtime.

Two different stageboxes.

A very interesting speaker. It is an ultra directional speaker which can only be heard by someone if it is being aimed at them. It uses ultrasonic waves to transmit sound directly to the listener. Therefore the name soundlazer.

Basically this instrument creates sound by having a speaker cone underneath the table which will bounce the balls around the cylinder and the sound being captured by the small diaphragm condenser mic placed above.

This wireless receiver was used with the lapel mics attached to the performers wrist in which was used to capture sounds they made from the things the swing during the first performance.

Helping them with the soundcheck of the soundlazer system. This table was miked up with a contact mic which the signal was then sent to the soundlazer system to the 2nd performer in which the sound will be directed towards the audience.

[theendyear]

Sem 1, Week 11

Industry Week

Its industry week! Many different exciting line up of events has been put up for us all. As for us level 3′s, we had an Audio Technica workshop learning about wireless technology. We also had an in depth look in the Smaart Tool, measuring the response of the SIA Theatre. Last but not least, we put up a show for a guest artist The Funki Munkies.

Here are the different type of wireless mics that was brought by the representative of Audio Technica. What surprises me is that they also have a condenser mic as a handheld wireless mic. He also showed the different type of wireless devices that can be used on different gadgets such as for conference mics or instruments such as for the electric guitar or violin.

Here are the different type of receivers used for different mics.

Here we did a measurement of the SIA theatre. The mic was placed at several different seating positions of the venue including the mixing area to be compared to each other. The position at the very side of the seating area under the balcony have the worse capture of the frequencies.

On the final day of the industry week, we put up a show for a guest band known as The Funky Monkeys. It was quite a large set up as they have a brass section. 

All brass instruments were miked up with DPA’s, clipped onto the soundhole of the instruments.

The return of James to help us out with the show and industry week was a great feeling.

[theendyear]

Sem 1, Week 10

Sound Reinforcement Class

This week’s class, we had another look at using the Smaart tool software.

We made different measurements of the room to compare the response difference between a direct sound and a reflected sound against the wooden acoustics panels as can be seen from the photos above and below.

[theendyear]

Sem 1, Week 10

LTC

This week’s LTC was a piano duo performance. The pieces were performed by Allan Fuller and Aloysius Foong. I came as an audience and was able to see the stage plan and mic placement. I noticed a DPA mic was used to pick up the sound of the hammers hitting the strings of the piano to give emphasis on the attack. Another two small diaphragm condensers were used in a spaced pair placement to pick up the overall piano sound. This technique i believe will pick up the sound of the piano as a whole, blending it with the ambience and therefore would sound natural when amplified.

[theendyear]

Sem 1, Week 9

LIVE SOUND

An unfortunate thing happened today during class. Eventually the Vi4 went down again It was very laggy and eventually froze to the “blue screen of death”. However, we still get to make do with the mackie analog mixer that was made available in that classroom.

During class today, we had a look at using the smart tooll to find the frequency response of the sound system and the room. We also looked back at what Dirk’s manipulation of frequencies for our test was and see how much of it was used to create such an effect.

The graph here indicates the amount of decibels in a the frequency picked up by the reference mic in the room.

AUDIO ENGINEERING CLASS

For this week’s class, we finish up on the commercial sound design project and view it as a class after we’re done. Things sounded much better after all the components were place in the project file and played as an end product. Eventhough there are still room for improvement, it was overall a fun experience. I found my love for doing sound design in this class.