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Sun 25 November 2007
01:27pm
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Too often today I see many musicians, magazines and web sites telling you about some amazing new piece of software or hardware thats going to magically make you into this amazing producer/sound engineer complete with this amazing new sound it can produce. Basically adverts trying to sell you equipment and I think a lot of musicians fall for this and buy into products they don’t really need. Too often I see musicians who have used vast amounts of kit to get a specific sound, they have hard drives full to the brim with plugins and VSTis or rooms filled with hardware. Every other day some new software is out and you see people on internet message boards more concerned with having the latest piece of kit rather than actually getting down to creating music.
Yet when I listen to some of todays music even though the newest equipment is being used it still doesn’t sound any better than music that was produced 10 - 15 years ago. One of my favourite bands of all time is The Prodigy and Liam Howlett’s production skills are amongst some of the best I have ever heard. Take the Prodigy’s Music for the Jilted Generation album for example, it is now 13 and a half years old, yet it sounds as if it could have been made yesterday. Now this doesn’t seem to fit in with what these adverts seem to be telling me. For years of improvements in equipment the benefits in sound quality seem to me to be incredibly small. Maybe it is not what you’ve got to produce music with, but rather how you use it?
This led me on to thinking do musicians and sound engineers (electronic music based) rely on too much equipment? What would happen if I reduced the amount of kit I use? what would my music sound like?
I then thought the best way of putting my point across in this post would be to actually make a track. So I created a list of kit I will use for a track to really limit myself in what I could use…
And here is the track I produced
Download MP3 from EdwardCufaude.com
I have to say, I had loads of fun producing this track and it came together quite quickly (I only spent about 8-10 hours including recording the samples). I believe that considering the way I limited myself, I was amazed at the wide variety of sounds that could be produced, I was also amazed at how I made it so electronic sounding. Using this method has made me rethink about the way I produce music for the better. I will never again say or think that I don’t have the equipment to produce a sound I like.
I do think that yes a musician can have too much equipment and I would advise anyone to have a go at limiting yourself, you might be pleased with the results. Too much equipment may actually hinder you rather than help you. It will make you a better producer and if you can make the music you want by limiting yourself, when you un-limit yourself again you may just find that your music has taken a giant leap forward.
And I have also released all the samples I used which are available here.
Download from RhythmCreation.com
Copyright Info For Music and Samples
Track provided free under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported Licence. For the full terms of this license click the image button below.
Samples are released under theCreative Commons NonCommercial Sampling Plus 1.0 Licence. (Free to use and change for non-commercial uses). For the full terms of this license click the image button below.
.
Yet when I listen to some of todays music even though the newest equipment is being used it still doesn’t sound any better than music that was produced 10 - 15 years ago. One of my favourite bands of all time is The Prodigy and Liam Howlett’s production skills are amongst some of the best I have ever heard. Take the Prodigy’s Music for the Jilted Generation album for example, it is now 13 and a half years old, yet it sounds as if it could have been made yesterday. Now this doesn’t seem to fit in with what these adverts seem to be telling me. For years of improvements in equipment the benefits in sound quality seem to me to be incredibly small. Maybe it is not what you’ve got to produce music with, but rather how you use it?
This led me on to thinking do musicians and sound engineers (electronic music based) rely on too much equipment? What would happen if I reduced the amount of kit I use? what would my music sound like?
I then thought the best way of putting my point across in this post would be to actually make a track. So I created a list of kit I will use for a track to really limit myself in what I could use…
- One Shure SM57 Microphone.
- Audacity (A free open source, sound editor)
- A Sampler (I used the NN-XT within Reason).
- A Drum Machine (I used Redrum within Reason, this is basically a sampler like above).
- Only the basic effects/processing of Reverb, EQ, Delay, Compression and Distortion.
- NO samples, samples CDs, or any that I have created before.
NO sounds other that what I can create with my own mouth.
And here is the track I produced
Download MP3 from EdwardCufaude.comI have to say, I had loads of fun producing this track and it came together quite quickly (I only spent about 8-10 hours including recording the samples). I believe that considering the way I limited myself, I was amazed at the wide variety of sounds that could be produced, I was also amazed at how I made it so electronic sounding. Using this method has made me rethink about the way I produce music for the better. I will never again say or think that I don’t have the equipment to produce a sound I like.
I do think that yes a musician can have too much equipment and I would advise anyone to have a go at limiting yourself, you might be pleased with the results. Too much equipment may actually hinder you rather than help you. It will make you a better producer and if you can make the music you want by limiting yourself, when you un-limit yourself again you may just find that your music has taken a giant leap forward.
And I have also released all the samples I used which are available here.
Download from RhythmCreation.comCopyright Info For Music and Samples
Track provided free under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported Licence. For the full terms of this license click the image button below.Samples are released under the
Creative Commons NonCommercial Sampling Plus 1.0 Licence. (Free to use and change for non-commercial uses). For the full terms of this license click the image button below..
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Wed 21 November 2007
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01:50pm
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In a 
recent post I talked about how you can make your drum tracks sound more human like if you played them in using a keyboard instead of putting in drum hits with the mouse. I then then later showed you a great little video of a keyboard drummer showing off his skills in a instrument demonstration.
Well guess what?
Here are even more keyboard drummer videos to watch that I have found on YouTube. Enjoy!
Original YouTube Posting by finakajsa.
Original YouTube Posting by DavidMeShow.
Original YouTube Posting by Somesz.
Original YouTube Posting by Stmoo.
If you find any more great keyboard videos post the urls to them in the comments section of this post.
recent post I talked about how you can make your drum tracks sound more human like if you played them in using a keyboard instead of putting in drum hits with the mouse. I then then later showed you a great little video of a keyboard drummer showing off his skills in a instrument demonstration.Well guess what?
Here are even more keyboard drummer videos to watch that I have found on YouTube. Enjoy!
Original YouTube Posting by finakajsa.Original YouTube Posting by DavidMeShow.Original YouTube Posting by Somesz.Original YouTube Posting by Stmoo.If you find any more great keyboard videos post the urls to them in the comments section of this post.
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Tue 20 November 2007
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01:44pm
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Came across this nice little video posted on metacafe posted by Babblin5. The video shows how you can make some 5.1 surround sound headphones. Although I haven’t tried it myself, I liked the look of this little tutorial and am sure it works quite well. If you want to have a go at producing with surround sound but lack the equipment and the funds maybe a pair of these homemade 5.1 headphones might be fun to have a go at making and using. Enjoy!
metacafe posted by Babblin5. The video shows how you can make some 5.1 surround sound headphones. Although I haven’t tried it myself, I liked the look of this little tutorial and am sure it works quite well. If you want to have a go at producing with surround sound but lack the equipment and the funds maybe a pair of these homemade 5.1 headphones might be fun to have a go at making and using. Enjoy!-
Sun 18 November 2007
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06:16pm
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So far in this series of posts on the basics of sound we have talked about sound and how it travels through the air and also frequency and wavelength. In this part we are going to look at pitch and how it relates to frequency.
The Difference Between Pitch and Frequency
Pitch and frequency are very similar, but sometimes I hear people get very confused between the two. The main way of remembering the difference is to understand that frequency is the scientific way of specifying a sounds wavelength in hertz (the number of wavelengths per second) where as pitch is the musicians way of referring to a fundamental frequency (the main frequency of a sound) through the use of letters and symbols.
Standardized Pitch
Pitch can be set at any frequency we want, I could set for example the A above middle C to be 500Hz and as long as everyone else playing other instruments along with the music had also set their tuning to correspond to mine, it would make no difference apart from we would be all playing slightly higher in frequency. But to try and keep some standardization in the instrument market we have what’s called standardized pitch (set by theInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO). In standardized pitch the A above middle C is set to the frequency of 440Hz (A440).
Octaves
From this A of 440Hz (A440) all the other notes around it can be tuned from this single note. Every octave higher is double the frequency of the previous octave. So the A one octave above the note of A440 will have a frequency of 880Hz (A880). The A one octave below A440 will have a frequency of 220Hz (A220). Even though the gap between our octaves of As is different in frequency, we still perceive the distance between them to be the same.
The Other Notes in the Chromatic Scale
The twelve note tuning on most modern western instruments is called the Chromatic Scale which is C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B and back to C to start again. These notes can all be worked out in frequency from our starting point of A (A440). Every pitch higher is our previous frequency times the twelfth root of two which equates to 1.0594630. So basically our A# (the next note above A on the chromatic scale) is going to be 440 X the twelfth root of two (1.594630.....) which is 466.16Hz. To work out the next note which would be B we just times that notes frequency by the same amount.
Hopefully from this quick guide you can see how pitch corresponds to frequency and how they are two different methods of showing the wavelength of a sound.
Article written byEdward Cufaude for Rhythm Creation.
sound and how it travels through the air and also frequency and wavelength. In this part we are going to look at pitch and how it relates to frequency.The Difference Between Pitch and Frequency
Pitch and frequency are very similar, but sometimes I hear people get very confused between the two. The main way of remembering the difference is to understand that frequency is the scientific way of specifying a sounds wavelength in hertz (the number of wavelengths per second) where as pitch is the musicians way of referring to a fundamental frequency (the main frequency of a sound) through the use of letters and symbols.
Standardized Pitch
Pitch can be set at any frequency we want, I could set for example the A above middle C to be 500Hz and as long as everyone else playing other instruments along with the music had also set their tuning to correspond to mine, it would make no difference apart from we would be all playing slightly higher in frequency. But to try and keep some standardization in the instrument market we have what’s called standardized pitch (set by the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In standardized pitch the A above middle C is set to the frequency of 440Hz (A440).Octaves
From this A of 440Hz (A440) all the other notes around it can be tuned from this single note. Every octave higher is double the frequency of the previous octave. So the A one octave above the note of A440 will have a frequency of 880Hz (A880). The A one octave below A440 will have a frequency of 220Hz (A220). Even though the gap between our octaves of As is different in frequency, we still perceive the distance between them to be the same.The Other Notes in the Chromatic Scale
The twelve note tuning on most modern western instruments is called the Chromatic Scale which is C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B and back to C to start again. These notes can all be worked out in frequency from our starting point of A (A440). Every pitch higher is our previous frequency times the twelfth root of two which equates to 1.0594630. So basically our A# (the next note above A on the chromatic scale) is going to be 440 X the twelfth root of two (1.594630.....) which is 466.16Hz. To work out the next note which would be B we just times that notes frequency by the same amount.
Hopefully from this quick guide you can see how pitch corresponds to frequency and how they are two different methods of showing the wavelength of a sound.
Article written by
Edward Cufaude for Rhythm Creation.-
Fri 16 November 2007
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09:04am
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This featured web site is a great little site for all us musicians who want to release our tracks for distribution on the internet (or anywhere else). When releasing our tracks most of us want our listeners to distribute them around as this is great and free exposure, but it does kind of feel like you've either got to copyright your music completely or just give it away and let anyone do what they like with it. Thankfully this is where Creative Commons comes in.
Creative commons is a non-profit organization which provides pre-written licenses for us musicians (as well as many other forms of licenses for other mediums). All you’ve got to do is go on their web site and choose a license that you feel will work best for you, allowing you to keep some of your rights intact whilst waiving certain other rights, kind of like "Some Right Reserved" rather than "All Right Reserved".
I release all my music files and sample files on Rhythm Creation under a creative commons license. I believe people find the licenses very easy to understand as Creative Commons provide some very easy to read "Human-readable" versions of the licenses setting it out in plain English (or any other language) the rights that you are keeping as well as what you are letting your listeners do with your music.
They also provide you with some nice buttons and links so you can direct people from your Web Site, Blog, My Space to a copy of the licenses. It really is a great way for us musicians who want to keep some rights reserved and not all rights reserved or reversed.
Creative Commons comes in.Creative commons is a non-profit organization which provides pre-written licenses for us musicians (as well as many other forms of licenses for other mediums). All you’ve got to do is go on their web site and choose a license that you feel will work best for you, allowing you to keep some of your rights intact whilst waiving certain other rights, kind of like "Some Right Reserved" rather than "All Right Reserved".
I release all my music files and sample files on Rhythm Creation under a creative commons license. I believe people find the licenses very easy to understand as Creative Commons provide some very easy to read "Human-readable" versions of the licenses setting it out in plain English (or any other language) the rights that you are keeping as well as what you are letting your listeners do with your music.They also provide you with some nice buttons and links so you can direct people from your Web Site, Blog, My Space to a copy of the licenses. It really is a great way for us musicians who want to keep some rights reserved and not all rights reserved or reversed.
