Research Hurts Bert!

I am learning new things today!

By defining and researching the following production and engineering terms, I will be exponetially increasing my knowledge of all things well and good in the world we live in! HOORAY! In all seriousness, I will be using this post specifically to reference any future questions I have pertaining to my adventures in the sonic world. If all goes according to plan, this will be the most helpful tool I have created all year. Cross ya finguhs.

AKG 414: A really famous microphone from the equally well-known audio technology company AKG that led its competitors during the era of the switch from tube to solid state technology...or something like that

Frankly, this is all confusing me already...maybe by the end of this post I will understand more (hopefully)

polar patterns: a graph showing how the sensitivity of a microphone varies with the angle of the sound source, at a particular frequency. Here's a picture of one you dumbass:

tranducer/capsule: a device that converts one form of energy to another. A microphone transducer converts acoustical energy (sound) into electrical energy (audio signal).

frequency response: a graph showing how a microphone responds to various sound frequencies; it is a plot of electrical output vs. frequency. More graphs? Yes.



Focusrite Scarlett 2i2: an absolutely beautiful audio interface (if it were a girl, I'd date it) that is used mostly by musicians "on-the-go" or simply by those who wish to record a quick demo or an idea for a song. It has two preamp inputs and is compatible with Mac OSX Moutain Lion. It is also only $150.

XY/coincident pair: a stereo micing technique in where you put the diagphragms of two microphones on top of eachother, each facing the opposite direction at a 90 degree angle. Here's a helpful diagram that will easily explain this concept:

                                                      

spaced pair: another stereo micing technique. This time, all you would do is place two identical mics equidistant from each other and point them at the same angle in the same direction at the same general target. Picturez:

                                                      

ORFT: a weird micing technique where you kind of space two identical (or at least similar) mics about 17-20cm apart from each other each angled at opposite sides of a recording room. This is supposed to create a potentially more appealing sound as the audio should theoretically arrive at each microphone at seperate times. I'm not quite sure I understand this one yet but I found a diagram that makes things slightly less confusing.

                                                      

blumlein pair: a recording technique that can potentially recreate the spacial experience that the sound would be recorded in. This is achieved by placing the transducers of two similar or identical bidirectional microphones as close as possible to each other while pointing each mic 90 degrees from the other (similar to the XY technique). If done correctly, this technique could produce near-lifelike stereo and spacial audio quality. Here is a sketch of what it should look like:

                                                      

-Peter

Songs For The Deaf?

It's a Queens of the Stone Age reference.

The past two days, Luke has given me a few tasks to help better my skills in songwriting which, by the way, is what I want to focus on in STAC for at least the remainder of this year.

Yesterday, I was handed a sheet of paper. This paper had a guitar chord progression on it, complete with sections specific to each part of a song including the verses, choruses, and pre-choruses. My task was to write an entirely original song, minus the part about the already existing chord progression, complete with my own written lyrics for each part of the song. I had less than three periods to make it, perform it, and record it live in one take.

Today, Luke gave me a similar mission to yesterday's, except this time, the lyrics for the song were already written. Using the lyrics given to me, I was required to write my own chord progression to accompany them as well as a melody for the vocal part. I also had about three periods to write, perform, and record this song as well. Oh, and did I mention that, unlike yesterday's agenda, there was no specific verse, chorus, or any other musical section specified in these lyrics. For all I cared I could have written a spoken word poem with a simple G to C and back to G chord progression to complement it and the song would have been acceptable.

I am not complaining. I actually really enjoyed this project. I think that, even though I have never done something like this before, it has been a real learning experience and one of the more unorthodox, yet innovative and effective ways of getting my songwriting mana juices a flowin'.

As far as my final products are concerned, I am pretty content with the quality of each. However, I think my lyrics for the fist song could have been a little more progressive, for lack of a better word, and less forced-to-fit-the-melody kind of lyrics. I know that I could have done better and I know that if I had more than an hour and fifty minutes to write better lyrics, I would. I also need to work on my singing. I know that I am pretty capable of singing fairly mediocre tunes and nothing spectacular, but I would really like to have a better understanding of my vocal range and more comfort with my technique which, come due time, will hopefully eventually occur to an extent.

-Peter

P.S. Those are my initials
P.S.S. That's what I would name my boat...if I had one
P.S.S.S. I am deeply sorry for aligning my signature on the right instead of the left on my last post. I am very angry at myself for this.