Oh, hi! It’s been a terribly long time since I shared any music. This is a new piece I’m working on that takes on the usual ominous/industrial/haunting vocals sound. I didn’t want’t to post the preview until I had a chance to properly master it on good studio monitors. (I had previously been working with headphones, and honestly I did pretty well considering how hard it normally is to work on music with headphones for long periods of time.)
The track, bus, and pre-dub counts are starting to add up, but using Audition 3.0.1 on a quad core with 24 GB of RAM doesn’t slow it down, even with heavy use of effects and VST/DirectX plug-ins.
The next pass will be strings…that is to say, I will be adding some incidental strings along with a solo. I will probably go with the baritone violin, since I need something edgy and harsh to punch through. The fog of war (“density”) of this track is already starting to get into the 90th percentile.
Let me know what you think.
Once this track is finished, I will post it in its entirety, along with a podcast of me walking you through how it came to be, and “breaking down” what individual elements have gone into making the final product.
I’m keeping up my end of the bargain to continue to share music I’ve created, and this time you’re getting two for the price of one: a “cue” along with its alternate version (more violin and guitar articulations).
Very thunderous and energetic…also pretty funky (if people still say that).
If you’ve never read about Hajj, you will no doubt find it interesting and worth your respect, regardless on your feelings of religion in general. Here’s a cue to go with the trek that people make at least once in their lives — often at the expense of their own life.
I’m glad to be done with this one. I originally started it in October of 2008, and could never quite get the “mix” right.
B Duduk (Center)
I’ve come to learn that Eastern instruments tend to occupy the same sonic range, so when you begin to mix and match them, the mix and master can become total “mush”. So, it wasn’t until tonight that I had patience in a mastering role to clean up some of the mess.
As with previous posts, a lot of this is inspired on the images, stories, and videos I got from friends in Iraq. The solo instrument that you may not recognize is the Duduk. It’s an Armenian instrument, and I employ it in music frequently. However, unlike all my other tracks, this is a B Duduk, with a slightly more harsh and breathy sound. I thought it could go head-to-head with the violin solo better.
The percussion consists of many layers, but the one that will likely stick out the most is the tabla ensemble, which has been run through…I can’t even remember what stack of filters…to give it that sharp, electronic sound. Likewise, all the guitars have been run through many, many iterations of Guitar Rig to get that “distressed” sound that seems to fit in well with the overall vibe of Eastern music.
When I sat down to compose my latest track, I also set up the time lapse rig with the idea in mind of letting you see the way I work…in a condensed form.
Ableton Live 8
What you’re watching is four hours worth of composition, stemming, mixing, “bussing”, and mastering reduced to three minutes. You’re listening to the final result while you watch it being created! I thought that would be cool. It’s probably really stupid. (The video is at the bottom of this posting, or you can skip right to YouTube to watch it in your own domain.)
In the first few seconds of the time lapse, you will see me working in Ableton Live 8. I am “stemming” (bouncing/rendering) the parts to 32-bit WAV files. For example, I am separating the piano part from the guitar part and so on.
Adobe Audition 3
The rest of the video is spent in Adobe Audition 3, my baby. Some musicians and audiophiles are probably repulsed that I would use Audition for all my mixing and mastering. I have a few words to say about that, as it turns out. Most importantly, I think that there is no “best” multi-track suite or DAW software. Rather, I think how you use the tools are your disposal is what matters. I could never turn around the same quality product in Pro Tools, for example, because I have little to no experience using it. On the other hand, I do have an extensive background in radio, where Audition tends to dominate the landscape.
I’ve easily spent tens of thousands of hours of my life in front of Audition. It’s at that point that you get into an interesting zone where you’re able to “think” in Audition, almost as if it’s a language. Setting levels, EQ, mixing, etc…they all become second nature. I don’t know the psychology behind it or if it’s just muscle memory, but when you tear down the need to think about the menial details of production, you become a fluid producer. What’s more, I’ve stuck with Audition simply because it allows me to do 90% of what I require as a musician, remixer, and mastering engineer without needing third party plug-ins. That is to say…out of the box, Audition is up to the task of almost everything I need to do. (This is true of any competent DAW or multi-track editing software.)
As you read on about my work flow or process, you’ll realize that I have very little need on a day-to-day basis to supplement Audition with third party plug-ins. Even when I do require a plug-in, I’m pretty religious about the ones I will use, and it’s a short list. It’s a combination I’ve become so comfortable with. A comfort level to the point where I’m free to be artistic within Audition instead of procedural. It’s able to keep up with me, it’s flexible enough to let me change my mind all the time, and the details of its inner-workings don’t get in my way as a creator.
This is probably how YOU feel about your DAW, be it Pro Tools or whatever. My only point is that it’s not the tool, but how you use it. Finding that synergy is absolutely critical to being able to “create” rather than “screw around with settings”. Long story short, Audition is that tool for me. (Rant complete.)
You’ll see my process for setting up “first draft” masters of songs. First, I begin to tinker and arrange the stems and parts and samples to get a feel for how I want things laid out. You see me change my mind a few times near the beginning. Then, once the overall layout and flow of the song takes shape and is to my satisfaction, I begin to work on the sound of each specific track or instrument.
C4 Multiband Compressor
It’s at this point that you will see me using many different tools. I rely heavily on the built-in plug-ins provided in Audition (reverb, channel EQ, etc) and also the Waves plug-ins. Specifically, you will notice that I fall back on the C4 compressor on almost every track.
Once I’m happy with the sound of each instrument or track, I get a little more serious about the overall mix itself. I will create a bus for each logical group to simplify the mixing/mastering part. In audio terminology, a bus is just a group. For example, instead of having all the percussion and drum tracks go straight to the “Master” channel, I can route them to a bus called “Drums”. (These show up as yellow faders on screen.)
This lets me make changes to all the constituent tracks at once. This is handy for two reasons. First, if you’re going to apply the same effects to all your drum tracks, you can do it in one place (the bus) versus each individual track. This saves you a TON of processing power (and time). Second, it helps with the final stage of the process…mastering.
Towards the end, once the bus for each group has been set up and the mix is “okay”, you will see me open the automation lanes for each bus. This allows me to basically “draw” the volume and set keyframes over time. As an example, the loudness of the piano and guitar varies depending on the density of the mix and what else is going on at the time. In this case, I fade them down gradually whenever the cello and violin solos kick in. When your tracks are properly “bussed”, it makes mastering much faster and pleasant.
L2 UltraMaximizer
The audiophiles and other musicians out there are wondering what I’m using on the master channel for the “final mastering”. The answer is the L2 from Waves. About 99% of my tracks are mastered with the L2. The other 1% are usually the L3 MultiMaximizer. But, I usually prefer the “loud and proud” tendencies of the L2. (Waves products and plug-ins have a reputation of being “pricey”. While this is true to some extent, I’ve personally never lamented a purchase. The proof is in the sound for me. What’s more, an investment in the best tools can never be a mistake.)
When you combine Audition with each bus with the L2, it makes mastering almost magical and fun. You negate the need to worry about tedious details and allow yourself time to experiment with the mix of your track…the best favor you can do for yourself as a musician or engineer.
Enough jargon! On to the fun part…the video! Be sure to watch in HD if you’ve got broadband!
I’ve also included the audio on its own, in case you’d like listen without video or to keep a personal copy (which I’m fine with). Just remember the copyright warning about using it for anything else.
This one is hard to describe. It incorporates a lot of sound design done in Absynth 4 and Guitar Rig. I have also dipped into my arsenal of crazy, raging, angry guitars.
The production phase was a procedural experiment for me, cutting music specifically to picture. I can’t post the images, but I can definitely post the music. It starts off slow with some of the sound design, but quickly evolves into an angry, thunderous beat-down.
A few years ago, I had the distinct privilege of making friends with some Marine bloggers and public relations personnel from Regimental Combat Team 6 at Camp Ramadi in Iraq. However, in the blog world, we call them the Fightin’ 6th Marines.
In interacting with the bloggers, in particular Staff Sergeant DeBoard, I was able to get a very interesting perspective into our presence in Iraq. I’ve seen some incredible photos from their blog (second link above), read some stories that make feel like I don’t necessarily deserve to be alive in a sense, and all-in-all come closer to the Middle East than I ever imagined.
This overlapped with the biggest “leap” so far in my musical journey. With the picture, videos, stories, and suggestions from RCT-6 and Staff Sergeant DeBoard’s input and advice, I was able to craft many original tunes. At first, they had a somewhat ethereal, Eastern feel to them. However, the more I got to know the Fightin’ 6th Marines and became more familiar with their day-to-day lives, the more the music turned into fierce, raging guitar-driven anthems.
The high point for me was having RCT-6 use some of my original music [that they inspired] in one of their fascinating videos. So now…I’m giving one back.
This one’s for you, guys. Whether you’re back state-side or still in the sand, let’s kick some ass.
This one is definitely an outlier in terms of the music I normally come up with.
A lot of work went into this one. Specifically, making sure the saxophone, guitars, and other instruments have a perfectly-crafted vintage sound. There is also convolution reverb in play to model a jazz club. A lot under the hood, and a new vocalist to boot!
I mastered in Adobe Audition 3 as usual, and used the Waves plug-ins to craft my vintage sounds. The final master is the ever-reliable L2.
Mellow out, and enjoy. It was a pleasure to deviate and produce some downtempo jazz.
Despite the howling winds outside (and their inherent distraction), I was able to get a track done in one sitting this morning. As with most of my shorter pieces, it’s created with advertisements for TV/film in mind.
Feel free to have a listen and let me know what you think! May do a breakdown or “talk through” on this one shortly, not sure.
Fresh off the…assembly line (?).