Sound Quality of the Yamaha LS9-32 internal recording

I was going thru some of the songs in my iTunes library and I found these recording that I've done using a Yamaha LS9-32 mixer. I was working on a small Jazz Concert in June 2013 and I felt that the overall quality of the recorded stereo mix was quite good.

It was a 7 piece band, lead by Mia Palencia (vocals) and her band consist of a pianist/keyboardist, a bassist, a drummer and 3 piece brass section played live at KuAsh TTDI.

I edited the length of each songs and did some mastering to make it louder for our "normal" listening standard, I must say that recorded level was quite low to be played with a normal player.

Other than that, it was pretty good for a live recording.

Have a listen, tell me what do you think!

https://soundcloud.com/chuang-nian-tze/sets/mia-palencia-in-good-company?fb_action_ids=10151842937990378&fb_action_types=soundcloud%3Apublish&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Drum Recording Workshop by Jedidiah from 21:05 Productions

We are honoured to have Mr. Jedi back at ICOM again for another round of Drum Recording Workshop! This time we have Mr. Ng Kae Vin on drums (also an ICOM CAP Alumni).

The workshop started with much information and insights on knowing your instrument, recording environments as well as the microphone selections. We are recording directly to Focusrite Audio Interface, hence no processing on the audio before recording.

Here were the list of drum parts that were tracked: Kick (Condenser), Kick (Dynamic), Snare (Top), Snare (Bottom), Hihats, Tom 1, Tom 2, Floor Tom,  "Overheads" Left, "Overheads" Right and a Room Mic.

And also some pictures to give everyone a snippets of the workshop.

Firstly, lets talk about the kick/bass drum miking.

Putting the mic in the kick drum carefully.

Next up, snares both top and bottom.

Hihats miking, not quite necessaries at sometimes, according to Mr. Jedi.

The OH style that Mr. Jedi prefers, not the conventional type.

Measuring it based on the equidistance concept.

Elaine, one of the great helper for the workshop.

This was the drum miking setup.

Brian Wong assisting the Pro Tools manoeuvring.

Double checking the signals.

Mr. Ng Kae Vin showing off his drumming skills.

Lastly, the wrap up and the Q & A session.

There you go, the drum workshop for the January 2014 semester was filled with insightful information for the newbies!

Here's the link to the Raw Drum recording performed by Mr. Ng Kae Vin, all tracks were used (leveled balanced, panned & phased check)
https://soundcloud.com/chuang-nian-tze/raw-drums

Local or Imported CD? Does it matter sonically?

So, we had this conversation on why imported CDs cost more (they do!) and whether buying an imported CD had any benefits of a better sound in comparison to the humble local version.

I managed to try it out on one of the albums that I recently got through a friend who came back from the US. I went out and bought a locally manufactured version of the same album.

I asked Mr. Nilesh in also check this out with me {since he commented that there might be some differences on different discs stamped in different locations } 

First, we listened to both for an A/B in the studio, and we thought they both sounded very similar, except for the Low End, which we both thought had a very slight enhancement on the local disc.

We then imported the tracks into Pro Tools, realigned them to make sure they start on time, apparently there was 12 samples of differences between the two tracks (oh yeah, we found one difference between the two discs, though it doesn't make any difference for an individual owner of any of the two discs!!!!!)

Then, we inserted same plug-ins on both tracks and phase inverted one of the tracks, and they cancelled each other, completely.

We, also looked at a Spectrum Analyser for both tracks, it does seem to have some extremely minor differences between the two, but we decided they were too negligible for any serious audible differences.

AND, the conclusion is.......

We think, at least with this particular album, the only difference is the quality of the inlay paper and printing, and no difference in sonic quality. By the way, the imported version was bought form Amazon for US$1.78 with free shipping, which came to RM6 (of course to a US address!) and the local CD was bought at RM46.90.

Love You Like I Do - Production Part 2

Continuing on with the production of this track, we now have a rough arrangement sequenced in. The arrangement was created in the newly released Logic Pro X Digital Audio Workstation software.
While working with the singer, the arranger & songwriters figured the key was not ideal and settled on a key two semitones above the original. This key seems to suit the singer's vocal range much better and she too feels much more comfortable singing the song.

Have a listen to the rough arrangement here. This does not include the vocals but is in the new key. There are eventually going to be a lot of electronic elements but for now the foundational elements have been laid down. The idea is to keep it simple and commercially viable but also introduce something unique to the genre.

Hanz has used a lot of third party software instruments in this arrangement. Mainly East West Quantum Leap Pianos, East West Symphonic Orchestra for all the string section parts and Addictive Drums for the acoustic drums. We don't plan on replacing these instruments with real recordings so we will be spending a lot of time fine tuning the sound to achieve more realism. Probably the only 'real' instrument we will record is an acoustic guitar.

AP010's Class Field Visit

29th July 2013

The class went out on field visit to two places to get first hand information on various types of audio production available in local scene. They first visited Vision New Media, formerly known as Double Vision. They had information on how audio plays a great role for video, some tips of mixing music, sound effects and dialogue to a video, also to watch video-shooting on the venue.

Liaison from Vision New Media was our very first batch of CAP graduate, Lai Chee Keong, their in-house audio engineer.

A short demonstration on putting in all the audio elements to a video.

The real deal behind the shows we seen on TV, all the Beta machines that does all the video conversions, transfers and QC.

Dubbing studios facilities for overdubbing on cartoons and drama series.

Observing a shoot at the venue, it's a car dialogue scene.

Next up, they visited Studio 21:05 which is own by the members of Asia’s leading hip-hop/rock band “Pop Shuvit”. They learned from JD (Studio Engineer/Owner & also ICOM Alumni) the setup of a project studio as well as steps to kick-start a studio.

JD explaining the setups and giving out tips on how to start up a studio.

JD giving out more tips on room consideration.

Studio B of Studio 21:05.

That's all folks, stay tune for our next field visit.

“The visit to Vision New Media and Studio 21.05 provided a great opportunity to experience first hand the information taught in lectures. At Studio 21.05, it was particularly interesting to discover the process of studio design and the intricate but important positioning of acoustic foam panels. “

Gianluca Sidhu, CAP Level 1

"It was very inspirational. I never had the chance to see a professional mixing set-up other than the ones in my church. That gave me motivation to work harder towards my goal."

Brian Wong, CAP Level 1

For more information on Vision New Media, please visit http://www.visionnewmedia.net/index.php?p=distribution

For more information on Studio 21:05, please visit https://www.facebook.com/studio2105

'Love You Like I Do' - Production Part 1

This is a song written by Terry Tim (CAP Level 2) & Eugene Yeo (B.Mus. Level 6). Terry composed the melody and progression while Eugene penned the lyrics. There was some debate regarding the title of the song which was initially 'Songbird' but eventually we settled on 'Love you like I do' as that seemed to make more sense in context of the lyrics.

Initially the song was conceived as a voice with piano accompaniment arrangement, but I felt it could sound better with a fuller arrangement. So currently we have Hanz Koay (B.Mus. Level 6) working on an arrangement along with Tim & Eugene helping out.

The tune is sung by Moh Heng Wei (BTP Level 2) whose vocal style lends well to the intimacy of this song. We will be recording this again once the arrangement is complete, but have a listen to the early demo here to get an idea of what the song sounds like. It should also be quite insightful to eventually come back to this demo once the entire production is complete, just to compare how much the song evolved through the production process.

Glitching Vocals in Pro Tools

Pro tools is not a DAW just for doing things the conventional way. In this video I show some editing techniques to create glitchy stutters and gating effects on a vocal line.
Audiosuite plugins are also very useful for creative processing, especially the 'Reverse' and 'Vari-fi' effects.
Try out some of these editing techniques in your work to get some more creative results.