Unit 32 Cameron Douglas 

Capturing & Editing Audio Data 

Recording Audio Files

Throughout the protect i used a selection of microphones and microphone techniques to achieve the sound i wanted. The first thing i recorded was the drums. i recorded the drums using 3 different microphones. to mic the hi-hat i used a sure sm57. due to its high frequency response i thought that it would give the high end of the hihat a nice crisp sound. i also used a audix d6 on my snare drum. This microphone is commonly used as a bass drum microphone because of its low end pickup, however i thought that this microphone would be perfect for my snare to create a darker sound.
Another instrument that i recorded was a piano. my two microphones of choice was the se electronics se5 small diagram condenser microphone.  Condenser microphones are known for their sensitivity i also wanted the microphone to be a small diaphragm microphone because of its ability to keep up with fast transients. When recording my piano i learnt about the proximity effect. This rule states that cardioid microphones exaggerate the bass frequencies when they are placed near a sound source and the closer they get to a sound is the more bass the microphone will pick up. so barring this rule in mind i experimented with different microphone positions, some being very close to the strings of the piano and some being further away. what i found is that when the microphone is further away it pics up a more ambient sound and when the microphone is closer it picks up more of a dry dead sound.To improve my process I could have changed the microphone position and lowered the gain of the inputs which would of helped to lower the amount of bleed.

Loop Manipulation

I could have used the loop tool to achieve a loop however I used the copy paste technique. This is where i copy the section and paste it next to the other one. I used this technique rather than using the loop tool because I didn't want the exact same sound for each section so i could change the dynamics of each section. This method was productive because it would help my song to have a uniform sound.

Offline/Online Processing

 online 

I used online processing when bouncing my track. Online processing uses realtime bouncing technology to get an accurate representation of what is on the track. Online bouncing also helps to ensure the bounce sounds exactly how it sounds in the file. Despite the benefits of online processing it does take a substantial amount of time.

offline 

offline processing allowed me to bounce my track very quickly. This perfect for times when I didn't have a lot of time and i wanted a quick rough copy of the track. The downfall of using this method is the fact that this is less accurate then online processing this is because to make the bounce quicker it just scans over the track not properly recreating it (like what the online processor does) because of this factor this made it perfect to bounce my track at the end of every lesson for a rough copy.

Cut/Copy/Paste Techniques

paste

i used pasting when to replay my four bar over and over again. similar to a loop however when you copy and paste each section is individual which means you can edit each one and change different features.  

cut

I used the cut tool when i wanted to remove a section in the project but also be able to paste that same section into a different part of my project.This tool was very useful because it helped me to remove sections from my project without actually deleting them. using this feature more could have helped my workflow and to help me speed up the process.

copy
To copying tool helped me arrange my project. After i had created the first four bars of the song then copied it and pasted it into the next four bars i repeated this process untill i had enough bars to compleet the song.

Software Sampling Techniques

When creating my hi hat pattern i used the process of software sampling. My particular tool of choice was the exs24 sampler. I chose this because i have experience with it and it also gives a wide range of possibilities.To achieve a similar sampling effect I could have also used the Ultrabeat . When using the sampler the first thing i did was find the section of the hi-hat rhythm i wanted to use. After i found about 3 different hi hat hits that i liked i put them all into the sampler and maped them to c1 d1 and e1.

Track Automation

 I used automation in the main piano sample at the beginni
5 % doing this increased the amount of frequency that could be heard and gave the impression of a fade in. This effect gave the listener a clear image of the beginning of the track. i also wanted to make sure the song was a accurate representation of the original which used the same effect. I decided to leave the autofilter on because i wanted the piano to have a more dark surpassed sound. I cold have also used eq to do this. By lowering the eq gain I could have achieved the same sound.

Stylistic Interpretation

Tempo Track

The tempo of the song is 135 bmp. I decided to keep my version the same as the original because I thought that it had an interesting rhythmic pattern. I thought it was important to stick to the original tempo of the song so i tried to make sure the tempo was accurate to the original. looking back i could have googled the tempo of the song and used that rather than trying to work it out from ear.

Manipulation of Tempo
The tempo of the song was one of the hardest things I had to work on. This is because the original song is meant to be 135 bmp however the sample that i was working with was around 80bmp however it  was hard to tell due to the fact that it wasn't played with a metronome. when i first made the track i thought that the piano sample would sound warped after i speed it up however it worked well even though i had to use flex time to make the sample on time with the rest of the song. If I had more time i would have re-recorded the piano part at the same tempo of the rest of the song. which would mean that i wouldn't have to stretch the sound and it would sound more natural.

Time Stretching

I used time stretching in my main melody. The sample i used was a piano which was about 75 bmp however the track was 135 bmp. This meant to get the sample in time with the rest of the song i had to use a process called time stretching. this is where you use flex time to change the parameters of the sound allowing you to make it slower of faster. I did this by enabling flextime on the track and then using my flex tool to make four bars of the sample be the same as for bars of the rest of the song. Even though flexed the sample into four bars there where still sections which where not in time. so I used the flex tool to drag the sections which weren't on beat to the beat. If my only goal was to make the sample and the beat the same time i could have just played the piano at 135bmp however the original song used this process. when you speed up a sample as much as i did it gives the sample a more process, robotic sound which is whatI wanted from my sample.

Slicing

 I used slicing in the from of the scissor tool. I used the scissor tool to cut my sample in the places that i wanted them. When recording my piano it took a few different takes to get it right, however with the scissors tool I could find a four bar section and cut the section that I wanted to use. This tool helped me to separate different sections of a audio track quickly 

Beat-Marking

I did not use beat mapping in my song but i would have used beat marking to identify the transients of my sample. doing this would have helped me to make the sample on time. Beat marking is also useful for a audio file which changes tempo so when the tempo of the the global track.

Choosing and Combining Sounds

When making my hi-hat I decided i wanted a uniform sound for my hi-hats. out of the whole song I chose 2 hits that i liked and used those throughout my song. After i found the sounds i liked i used them in my sampler. My original plan was to play the hihat through the whole song however after I played it i decided i wanted my song to have a uniform sound throughout the whole thing. 

Controlling Expression

Track Automation

In my track i automated my autofilter plugin. I automated the cutoff of the filter from 100% cut off to 40% cut off.  At the beginning of the song I wanted the main piano melody to gradually become more prominent. I wanted to do this because it builds different textures and also helps guid the listener and let them know that its the beginning of the song. 

Controlling Timbre

Automation of Instrument Parameters

I used automation at the ending of my song. I used automation of tempo to change the tempo from 130 to 100 then to 85. This effect created a slow down effect similar to a vinal tape stopping. Looking back to achieve this effect better i could have used the slow down feature on the de tool in logic which would have made the transition smoother.

Filter Cut-Off

I used filter cutoff on my bass drum track to do this process I used the eq plugin. I wanted my bass drum to have more definition to do this I used i low pass filter by cutting off all the frequencys above 2khz, doing this helped to cut out any instrument bleed that could have occurred while recording. I also used a  low cut filter at 25hz to cut off all frequencys below. This is because humans only have a hearing range of 20hz to 20khz, so any frequencies bellow this point will not be heard but can muddy the track. To achieve the same result i could also have used a low and high pass filter to take out the bottom and top ends of the frequencies however i decided to use the channel eq plugin because i am more familiar with it.

Arrangement

Markers

I used markers in my track to help me to distinguish different sections. for example i used a maker to mark my intro verse chorus and outro. I created the markers by right clicking on the ruler and creating a new marker, once i had a marker i would name them.The markers helped me to move quickly and effectively through my track because i was able to quickly identify the different sections of my track. To use the markers to their full extent I could have set each marker to a different colour which would have helped me spot different sections easier.

Control of Structure

This song has a very simple structure. like most pop songs it follows the basic verse chorus structure starting with a intro and ending with a outro. The first 25 bars of the song is the same piano riff repeating because i didn't want it to become boring I automated a auto filter on the first four bars to give the song more of a clear introduction. I also used a drop in my song to help change the sing from the verse to the chorus. To achieve this i just cut the loop 1 bar before it would finish t give 1 bar of silence before all the rest of the parts came in. i thought this would be a nice transition into the next section and also build suspense for the listener.

Awareness of Sections

Building Parts

The main melody of my song is the piano section Which runs through the first 20 bars of the song. In the original song there is also the sound of singers singing over the piano melody which plays throughout the whole song. To make the song more interesting I decided to add in the vocal sample after 2 bars of just the piano, this helped add more dimensions to the track and also gave more focus on the piano melody for 2 bars.   

Control of Texture

Th I thought a monophonic texture  at the beginning of the song would be a good contrast to the chorus of the song. Soon after the first 3 bars of the song the texture of the song changes to a homophonic texture. This is where the vocals come in and add a accompaniment to the piano. In the chorus the texture changes completely from a smooth homophonic sound to a polyphonic sound. In the chorus The texture changes to a polyphonic sound with a lot of different  sounds working against each other. This change in texture gives the track more character and makes it become more interesting. 

Introduction

for my introduction I used the piano melody that recurs throughout the whole song however I used  a automated filter to slowly reveal the melody which was playing. I thought this would be a good way to start the song especially because there is no change in instrumentation until the chorus so this would make it easier to realise where the first bar of the song actually starts. 

Ending

I wanted the ending to slow don't a† the ending and slowly fade out and to have a nice resalution.






Panning

I used panning in my track in the vocal sample. I wanted the sound of the vocals to switch from left to right so I used automation to pan the vocals from left to right. I did this by clicking on the automation button and selecting pan, this enabled me to pan the vocals from left to right. Another way i could have dne this affect is to use the direct mixer in my and automated the direction of the sounds i did this