Sound Studio, Week 10 (October, 2007) "Surround Formats"

Format	Mixing Format	Channel/Track Layout	Brief Technology Overview	Release Format
Dolby Stereo SR (Spectral Recording)	4.0		Developed in 1986 to assist in overall dynamic range of analogue media. Used predominantly for 35mm film soundtracks. Sound information is recorded to 35mm film, which is the interpreted by a solar cell, converted as voltage information, and finally amplified.	35” film
Quadraphonic	4.0	L/R/Ls/Rs	Introduced in 1970. Quadraphonic recording used an ‘Out of Phase Stereo’ (OOPS) signal which was overlayed onto the existing stereo track, just 90° out of phase. It was then up to a specifically designed ‘matrix’ decoder to recognise this and send the out of phase signal to the surround speakers.	Vinyl, 8 track cartridges, reel to reel releases
Dolby Pro Logic II	5.1	L/C/R/Ls/Rs + 1 LFE channel	Introduced in 2000. Expands any two channel audio and extracts the information into a 5 channel full bandwidth signal. Mainly used for television broadcast, and only compatible with labelled Dolby Pro Logic home theatre systems.	Mainly TV broadcast
Dolby Digital	5.1	L/C/R/Ls/Rs + 1 LFE channel	Industry and commercial standard for most cinemas and home theatre systems. It is also a film standard, used on 35” film.	DVD, TV broadcast, game consoles, 35” film
DTS (Digital Theatre System)	5.1			DVD, 35mm film, game consoles
SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound)	8.0	L/Lc/C/Rc/R Ls/Rs + 1 LFE channel	In competitive film sound format by Sony, using 8 channels to enhance the experience of film. The format, while useful, hasn’t taken off and Sony has discontinued its support for it, however some films are still recorded with the SDDS track.	35” film
Dolby Digital Surround EX	5.1	L/C/R/Ls/Cs/Rs + 1 LFE channel	The same as Dolby Digital, however, with the addition of a matrixed centre surround channel. Most likely in competition with DTS-ES.
DTS ES (Extended Surround)	5.1/6.1		There are two versions on DTS-ES (discrete, or matrixed). ES Discrete provides 6.1 channels, with an extra centre surround channel, where as the matrixed version has 5.1 channels with an extra matrixed centre surround channel.	DVD, 35mm film, game consoles, television broadcast
IMAX	6.0	…	Six channel, “multi-digital” system to enhance the overall experience of IMAX. Utilizes an array of 44 speakers, and uncompressed audio.	70” film format only in IMAX theatres

Dolby Digital SR

Quadraphonic

Dolby Digital EX

SDDS

DTS

Dolby Digital

IMAX

Dolby Pro Logic II

Matrix Audio Recording

MTF, Week 10 (October 11th, 2007) "Timms Tunes"

It seems our tour this semester have been somewhat divided into two categories; we first visited studios and music production facilities. Now we appear to have finished what seemed like the second half made up of entirely film production content. Completing our travels, we visited a jingle studio, owned and managed my Sean Timms.

Greeted with guest lollies and a comfy lounge, it really felt I was at home ready to begin watching predominantly garbage advertising, then again I mainly watch ABC, however the facilities at ‘Timms Tunes’ were quite advanced. And Sean, gave some really great insight into not just how he makes jingles, but also how to make it in the music production industry, something which we haven’t heard a lot of in our travels.

He began with asking us what we would like to do in the future, as engineers… This created somewhat of a dubious feeling in my mind; I wasn’t exactly sure what I want to do, but I do know I would love to do everything that I can. Moving on though, Sean had a lot of outboard gear, which to my surprise he said he doesn’t really use anymore because digital is much quicker and easier to use, particularly in creating music.

We were then introduced to two of his employees, who both had different personalities, but both shared the qualities that Sean specifically looks for in a person when making selections. We were also given the oppurtunity to hear how exactly Sean creates his jingles.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, and it gave me a better understanding of the advertising industry, but most importantly the aspects which you need in order to make it in the music industry.

Sound Studio, Week 8 (September, 2007) "Automation Modes"

Auto-Off:
…Doesn’t read automated data at all. Useful for making comparisons of the difference to audio with and then without automation.

Auto-Write:
…Writes automation. This is somewhat of a destructive mode, as is over writes any previous automated data.

Auto-Read:
… Simply reads automation data while in playback.

Auto-Touch
…Applies automated data while the fader is held, once the fader is released, the fader will reset to the previous position prior to automation being written. Handy for when you want to control automation but have it automatically return to the exact previous value. Across a song, this would become useful for things such as changing elements between choruses and verses, etc.

Auto-Latch
…Is the same as Touch mode however rather then returning to the previous position, the fader latches to the last specified position of the fader. Most suitable for human controlled in fades.

Trim modes allow a user to keep the shape of written automated data, but vary its position value. There are various modes which apply to trim which follow a similar path to automation modes. These are useful when you want to keep your automation data, but wavy its value without varying its shape.

MTF Week 6 (August 29th, 2007) "Film Sound Production"

Film production to my initial understanding was simply a mindless task of placing a camera in front of a scene, and then overlaying it with emotive music to compliment the footage. My understanding of all this changed when this week's MTF guest speaker name arrived and gave the class a run down of the film industry.

It came of no surprise to me when Close described the size and scale of the film corps of Los Angeles, claiming it to be "the film capital of the world." However what was a surprise to me was the effort and detail that is exerted towards synchronising up the film frames with the sound and music. For this task, a person known as the "Foley Artist" is employed to add character and texture to the film by creating sounds that in real life, may not really ever be heard, but for the purpose for the film, it's necessary for impact.

Another fascinating area of the layering of sound, or sounds to create an event. Close gave us an example of how a gun shot sound may be layered to give an impacting sound, starting with the trigger squeeze, soon followed by a rush of air as the bullet exits the barrel, the shot sound, then the sound of the bullet impacting a surface such as wood, which also has a myriad of sounds to accompany it. Again the amount of detail here is immense, and one wonders the patience required of composing these sounds over an entire movie set, of say 2 hours where sound in a really important facet.

After Close’s talk on film, I’m glad many of my questions about sound in film have been answered, and I look forward to hearing what he has to say next week at the film corporation.

MTF Week 5 (August 22nd, 2007) "Disk-Edits"

For this week’s MTF, the class visited Disk-Edits Mastering Studios, located close to the Entertainment Center, Bowden. After frolicking at a nearby deli, we entered Disk-Edits and then the mastering room, and the difference between it, and the outside world was very distinct. Hearing the rustle of people getting comfortable waiting for Neville Clark (the director, and our guide), I noticed how flat the room was. It was, different from the studio control rooms we had previously visited, this room while small, was so flat, acoustically, and it didn’t take my “amateurish” audio skills long to realise it either.

So. After getting a very informative talk from Clark on mastering and his experiences, one thing hit me more than anything - Clark mentioned and demonstrated many times the idea of keeping at a reference level, as in sound level. This is something which actually makes a lot (and I mean a lot) of sense, but it just never occurred to me.

His advice was somewhat different from other guides from Mixmasters and Paradise Studios. The control room was also different. Instead of a full house console, a rather small console was used, a System6000. This too makes sense as one would usually receive projects in a stereo format, so no need for lavish consoles, and more need for good equipment and good room acoustics. And the lack of ProTools was also a change, with Clark stating that the SADiE 24-96 software is what works best for him and he likes it. This is comforting to hear, because even though I love ProTools, and Logic Pro *cough* one shouldn’t be confined to the space of one software company or idea set.

Being a pre-mastering engineer seems like it would be just as interesting as being a producer, or general sound engineer. And what Clark demonstrated to us inspired my willingness further to move into a career involved with sound.

References:

Neville Clark, (August, 2007) Disk-Edits, MTF Forum

Other Links

TC Electronics (Makers of the System6000)

Sadie

Disk-Edits

MTF Week 4 (August 15th, 2007) "CD Manufactuer"

CD manufacture is probably one of the most important aspects of the recording and producing process of music – it is the final element which applies the gloss coat and finished product of a recording, after all, what’s the point of recording something which you intend to release and the release it unprofessionally? So I found what I think is what David Grice was looking for on Thursday – the MPO site, which is found here http://www.mpo-international.com/. The site has a “Virtual Tour” which looks pretty childish at first, but is actually quite informative.

Another aspect that we delved into slightly was the way in which to package media. I really like it when an artist takes the time to create something with adds to the audio through; the artwork. Tool are one such group which I know do this very well, and if any of you reading this have any of their albums, you will understand what I mean by this. But on top of this there at many other ways to package media, such as the cute business card like approach, to fill gatefold digipacks, which are quite in fashion at the moment. Even vinyl is making more stance with very attractive picture and coloured LP’s.

I inquired towards vinyl as still being used today, vinyl is a medium which really interests me because I love its feel, sound and clarity. I was also delighted at the amount of worldwide interest in this area. MPO appear to be one leading vinyl manufacturer, and there are many others. My only question would be the difference of producing something on vinyl compared to CD – certainly vinyl would cost more in today’s market, but by how much…

Other Links

“How Vinyl Is Made” - http://eil.com/explore/guide/vinyl_making.asp

“MPO Virtual Tour” - http://www.mpointernational.com/en/virtualvisit/

Sound Studio, Week 3 (9th August, 2007) "Genre Based Recording"

I chose drums for the in class task

• Heavy/Rock Drum Sample
• Jazz Drum Sample
• Blues Drum Sample

MTF Week 3 (August 9th, 2007) "Paradise Studios"

This week in MTF, the class ventured down to Hendon, where we experienced another fine studio setup, known as Paradise Studios - appropriately titled due to the ownership of Paradise Community Church.

Their setup, at a first glance was much more... modern, nothing like the cousey-ness of Mixmaster's studios. It raises the question of how exactly different people like to setup their studios and the way in which the environment greets the guest upon first arrival. "It's about making the musicians feel as comfortable as they can, because if the musos are happy the recording process is going to be much more enjoyable." Even though Mixmasters and Paradise studios had different arrangements to tackle this area they still showed the importance of remembering that producing music is a consumer satisfaction affair. Let's face it, as a musician in a studio paying between $75 and $100 per hour you'd want the whole thing to be as fast and productive as possible.

I enjoyed the feedback on my pseudo-piano recording done very quickly, with just one U87. The advice sent to me from was to use EQ and even compression, something which I would never had expected for such a natural instrument. Other tips which were expressed I liked was to use no reverb while monitoring back to the vocalist, taking as much breaks as possible, keeping sane, and remembering to use the equipment you have at hand efficiently and effectively.

Another thing which I have noticed is the variance of opinion. Some things within the recording industry seem to be givens but others are and appear to have been shaped over many years of let downs, successions, hard work and the environment in which you work in. Dewald, who guided us seemed to not be fussed by the lack of attendance of a tape machine. I wonder what his views on tape and analogue recording were, something which I forgot to ask.

References:
Quote from Dewald Hartzenberg (9th August, 2007) Paradise Studios, Hendon – MTF

Paradise Studios

Paradise Studios MySpace (This has a great up to date list of their outboard gear)

Sound Studio, Week 2 (2nd August, 2007) "NIN Only Mix"

My NIN Only mix

MTF Week 2 (August 2nd, 2007) "Mixmasters"

One of the most exciting things all year was the introduction to a real life studio outside EMU. Built from wood and mud brick, the “modified house” looked like the perfect studio, set up in the Adelaide Hills. I was interested at the choice of materials and decided to go a little further with is, as Mick the owner and engineer of the studios, stated that he “searched” for the right materials that suited his ears. The soundproofing was very impressive also, with all walls being backed with compressed carpet for up to six feet behind the wall in places.



The advice, expertise and level of knowledge expressed my Mick was terrific, and I could have stayed there for hours. I love his explanation of tape explaining, “it seems to have fuzzy edges that mesh and bring all the other elements together, but keeping the sounds in their own pigeon holes.” I really want to get my hands on a tape machine and become involved with analogue recording, simply because this year, we haven’t really been exposed to it, and I would love to be able to develop and gather an understanding of the differences between analogue and digital on a personal level, and for the simple fact that is just sounds like good fun.



Mick seemed very open to recording itself saying sometime that the best solution is the simplest, like using a good ol’ SM 57 instead of a Neumann U87 – It just comes down to whether it sounds good or not. He mentioned a couple of times that many musicians have a misconception that the “high end” expensive mics sound better, which of course isn’t true in a lot of cases.

References:
Mick at Mix Masters Studios (2/8/07)
Pictures taken from MixMasters website, viewed 8th August, 2007
http://www.mixmasters.com.au/studio/mixconsole.htm
http://www.mixmasters.com.au/studio/mixcontrol.htm

MixMasters