audiot

sheesh! I wonder if i can ever get back to a regular blogging routine. but right now there’s at least a bit of good news…..or actually, that depends, i guess. anyway, here’s the new album called “studded for pleasure”. once again it was part of the rpm-challenge and once again, time ran out on me so i had to whip it together really fast in the end. it’s probably not as weird as the last one but still raw, edgy and dirty. enjoy

studded for pleasure by audiot.eu

so, now he has completely lost his mind, right?

well, of course i have….to a certain degree – why else would i prefer music to a 9 to 5 job? but this idea really makes sense, apart from many others i come up with on a minutely basis. however, i can’t take any credit for this one, it’s out of a book (this one to be precise). although i can’t recommend this book, because i haven’t read it, the idea behind this is really cool. i was told about this and the person who told me had this idea from the book – that’s my story and i’m sticking to it.

now, what’s it about? in a nutshell, it’s about idea-pregnancies. meaning, once you have an idea, you need to let it rest inside of you, it needs to ripen like a fruit until it’s ready to be picked (if those are the correct terms in english…). your subconscious works on it, even if you’re not aware of that, and – as soon as it has something of value to offer – it’ll bubble into your thoughts, seemingly out of thin air. did you ever forget someone’s name and just couldn’t remember it, no matter how hard you tried? but as soon as you thought of something else for a few moments, it suddenly popped up? that’s what this is about…

so once you’re stuck with something, like me right now for instance, just do something else and try not to think about it at all. believe it or not, this will work! as i said, i haven’t read the book, so it might be about becoming rich and famous without doing anything – and that would be bogus of course. but nevertheless, we can use this basic principle to our advantage and become way more creative, productive etc. by just adding pauses. and for a musician, such a pause can be to work on another song for example. it’s like i mentioned before, when i’m stuck with one song, i start another one. but since i’m already up to 15 songs for “traitor”, it’s about time to finish some of them. so i’m taking the rest of the day off, since it’s sunday and sunny outside, and go for a walk. i’m coming out of the closet with this and i don’t care how boring it sounds – i just love to walk. i’m thinking about a 5 hour march through the beautiful hills around here, maybe about 25 kilometers – it’s not about speed, it’s about being pregnant, remember?

anyway, this should take care of beingstuckness and get me home again before sunset. i just hope my back can take this – some of those wombsongs are pretty heavy…

yeah, i stole this line from Billy Ward, an awesome drummer and producer – go check him out! his stuff’s unreal!

since i’ve just returned from an off-weekend and am already about to record some vocals, i have little time to write. when inspiration hits, you gotta run, so here’s just a quick tip for you guys.

microphones are NOT ears! sounds like a no-brainer, right? but it isn’t. we tend to believe that what gets in (and therefore out) of a microphone is the same as what our ears would hear. but that’s not the case. and i’m not even talking about the fact that lots of mics color the sound, so what goes in is not necessarily what comes out. mics work a lot different than our ears, so don’t be fooled by the fact that both pick up sound. there is a lot of trial-and-error involved before your mic spits out exactly what your ear would pick up – and to make matters worse, to your ear it might sound very unnatural at that moment. i hope i haven’t lost you – it’s a bit difficult to explain. imagine a gun that’s not perfectly “adjusted” and therefore shoots to the right. you could either set it right or aim to the left to hit your target. now, you can’t tweak a mic until it is an ear – but you can change your “aim” until you hit the right sound. and once you have, you might just think “hey, that’s exactly how it should not work at all” – but it does. like aiming to the left and still hit the middle.

so there is logic involved, but then again there isn’t. messing around might be as good as any other approach, but it surely helps to know a bit about mics and placement alternatives – as long as you keep in mind that mics are just stupid. good luck…

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• song no. 7 (audiot.eu)
• song no. 5 (audiot.eu)

well, actually i wanted to name this “never underestimate the importance of the workflow” because it’s more like a tip and not a complete guide of how to organize a complete music production from a to z. maybe this would be a great idea as well, but i’d definitely be the wrong guy to write that one, for i have not the slightest idea about it. my approach to recording is more of an Eastwood-nature: i’m riding into a town and the rest just happens.

but that doesn’t mean i don’t follow a few basic principles. and one of them is to be aware of the workflow. i started to think about this a little when i watched a few tutorials on Propellerheads new software Record which will be released in september i believe. anyway, they have a bunch of short tutorials about it on their site and it looks ridiculously simple. so my first thought was “hey, that’s exactly what i need!” – but then again, i do not really need it, because i’m already able to do what it does best. and that’s recording on the spot without having to set up or do anything except hitting the red button. i might buy it anyway because i’m doing almost everything with Reason anyway and Record will be the perfect mate for it with seamless integration of everything – which would mean to get rid of the middleman. so it might still be a good idea to get it but it’s not absolutely necessary.

now, my recommendation to you – and i’m sure you already are aware of it, but maybe forget about this on a regular basis, as i do as well – make recording as simply as possible. have an empty an ready-to-go project set up at all times, so all you need to do once inspiration strikes is turn on the computer, open the project and hit red. as for me there’s one more step in between, depending on what instrument i want to track. i have a guitar-modeling-device wired into both an audio and a midi interface with the guitar cable already plugged in. i have one bank of the modeler filled with the different sounds i use in most cases. and for all other instruments, i have a midi-controller keyboard standing by. so the extra step mentioned above is simply plugging the audio interface and/or the midi-controller into the laptop. if i would use a desktop computer, this would already be wired up at all times. now, if i want to record guitar, i simply plug in the audio interface, turn on the modeling-device and the laptop, open the empty cubase-project, plug in the guitar and hit record. ok, that’s six steps, but except for the first one, all of them have to be made in any situation. if it’s not guitar i want to track, then it’s plugging in the controller, switching on the laptop open an empty Reason-rack, selecting an instrument and hit record. it doesn’t get any more streamlined than this. the midi-interface is simply there to program/change sounds on the computer screen instead of going through endless menus on the modelers two-digit-display. but since i have my five favourite guitar sounds already at my fingertips, i just need to tweak them a little bit by assigning another cabinet or changing the gain slightly. oh, and when i talk about ‘empty’ projects, i do mean my default starting point. so it’s not really empty, it’s what i defined would be the most efficient and comfortable place to start. and you should do this as well. take those few minutes once to set up what you would like to see as soon as you click on “new” and never again bother with making those same changes over and over and over again as i did for years because i was to lazy to define my preferences (…).

the important thing is to always be ready. if you need to go through a 2-hour-setup-session to catch even the tiniest idea, you won’t get very far. that’s exactly what happened when i first started recording my own stuff. i had every piece of gear i needed, the software etc. but everytime i wanted to record something it took hours to get ready for it. and as a result, i didn’t record very much at all. so once inspiration struck i thought, “cool, let’s track this down”, then i started setting up and halfway through thought “hmm, it’s not that great after all – not worth the effort…” and the idea got thrown into the bin.

today, for me everything is worth the effort, simply because there’s no more effort involved. and with the ability to change sound, tempo etc. after the actual recording process, i can just let inspiration get the better of me and work on it later.

by the way, i found it very important to pick one piece of software and learn to really use it, including keyboard shortcuts and different advanced techniques. i used lots of different programs before and knew all of them just a little, but this winds you up in endless im- and export-battles and so forth. so now i only use two, and one of them only for the raw tracking process. anything else is done inside of just one program which i know pretty well by now – makes things very easy, especially for someone as lazy as me…

a little later than expected, but here it is. the next point mentioned in the article i’m referring to is about reverb. as for me, i don’t need any effects during recording. as i mentioned before, i try to be as easy to work with as possible and that includes being able to give a good performance under whatever circumstances you’re facing. so i made it a priority from my early days on to not be spoiled by anything, which means i can sing a good gig without even having monitors and i’m able to record in virtually every situation that might come up. this is in fact no big deal, just a matter of getting used to it. and it pays off – big time. do you know a singer that complained about anything? i do. i know legions of them and i dislike them as much as their bandmates do (or the guys that record them). don’t get me wrong, there are things that i’m expecting and i’m quite prepared to get them, believe me. but complaining about not having that second olive in my martini or that special silver plate to hold my chewing gum while i’m working my magic isn’t one of them. i’ll get to that later… so if having reverb in your headphones makes you more comfortable, so be it – i’m just saying you should be able to give a good performance without it, just in case… and whatever effects you’re using, make sure they’re set up properly and work the way they should before the actual session. how to set up the reverb right is explained in all detail in the article – just don’t forget, it’s not going to be on the recording, it’s just for your pleasure.

which brings us to the next point, although this is the same thing as mentioned a few times already. everything should be ready to go before the session starts. that includes the whole signal chain as well as the recording device of course. your cubase (or whatever else you’re using) project should be set up and saved with the correct parameters in the correct location. the playback should be prepared and playing without any problems. there should be enough free space to record plenty of takes – and enough processor power of course. you might want to create enough empty tracks with the correct settings (input, mono, bitrate etc.). if you’re not recording on a daw (digital audio workstation aka computer) but something else, it’s basically the same. you just have to check more cables, plugs, buttons etc. instead of windows on your screen. if you encounter noise, humming or anything like that, you’re in trouble. this may take a lot of time to fix it, so again: make absolutely sure everything works perfectly fine before the session begins! i guess one cannot mention this enough…

now i’ll skip points 5-7 because they’ll make part 4 of this little series.

no.8 is no big deal, it’s the same with the equipment. have the songs ready before the recording session – this is quite a no-brainer, right?

that’s it for now…

now here is a little more detail and insight from the singer’s point of view. the following thoughts were triggered by this article i linked to 2 days ago.

first, i’d like to say that i fully agree with those 8 points and think that they’re a good help in preparing for a vocal recording session. however, there are a few things that need to be added. memorizing lyrics is absolutely crucial, at least in my book. there’s nothing more lame than a singer who doesn’t know her/his words inside and out. i never went to a recording session without being perfectly prepared. and that’s simply because i believe one of the most important things about recording is being as professional as possible. that alone could be an entry in itself and i believe i already wrote a little about this every now and then. let’s just mention two things here: 1. you’re not alone in this world. so being professional is showing respect to the people who work with you (and not only because you want them to hire you again…). and 2. not being professional means a waste of the currency time and this will result in less motivation and higher costs. that being said, this depends of course on the fact that you need the lyrics and the song itself in advance with enough time to prepare yourself. but, as harsh as this may sound, being a singer not only means hookers & booze but also being able to get into a song really fast, being able to memorize lyrics really fast and being able to come up with some melody really fast. that doesn’t necessarily apply if you’re just some kind of a backyard screamer – but even then i would expect a certain amount of professionalism from you. if you don’t take yourself seriously – why should i? now, it still is important to have the lyrics printed out and there (plus an adequate stand to hold them in place where the singer can see them without turning around. i always go the extra mile and set this up, even if i do not look at it once. it’s just part of the deal and who knows, maybe you’re giving the performance of a lifetime and then being carried away so far that you lost the first word of the 3rd verse… so just have the lyrics there, will ya? and do not count on others to bring them for you. take care of everything that involves you yourself – well, at least of the things you’re able to take care of. by the way, if you like to make notes on your lyrics or wherever, bring a pen and some paper yourself. they should have it there, but bring it anyway – it’s not that much to ask, now is it?

now, the second point in the article is about setting the microphone up (including the rest of you signal chain) and have it all ready and working before the actual session starts. there’s not that much more to say about this except how important this is! remember the part about being professional? as much as i ask this from myself, i ask this from others as well. it sucks big time to show up on time and then sitting around for an hour or so waiting until everything’s ready. huge motivation-killer. and although i believe in being able to give a good performance anytime, the vibes just suffer from something like this. if i’m recording myself i usually set everything up the evening before, tweak all the knobs and run a quick test or two. then i go home and have a good night sleep, knowing that there won’t be any technical issues spoiling the performance to come. of course, there is another quick test necessary right before the actual recording, but it’s just a great feeling to go there, knowing everything’s ready to go. if you’re recording somewhere else, but with your gear, be sure to plan enough time for the setting up and a short break. i don’t need to mention that you should be able to set up your own equipment even in your sleep, do i? now, if you have nothing to do with the setting up, it’s really not up to you. so the only thing you can do here is being prepared to wait. or better: count on it and then be surprised positively if it’s not necessary…

wow, it seems this makes for at least one more part – so check back tomorrow…

ok, this will be a really short entry. to be exact, it’s just one link to a piece about recording vocals. a few tips on how to turn a vocal recording session into a success. go ahead, read it, think about it and i’ll elaborate aka give my 2 cents about it tomorrow:

preparing for a vocal session

while i was searching for some tutorials about a few special things i wanted to include in the record i’m currently working on, i found this one here. it’s really helpful if you’re trying to mix your own stuff or wanting to get into the whole guerrilla recording thing. very basic stuff that works with every parametric eq. you might find it a bit annoying at first, but he does that to make a point – i’m glad i didn’t turn it off right away :-)

sorry, folks – but i’m in a ranting mood right now.

this is one of those days i regret it a little to do everything on my own, when it comes to recording, songwriting etc.

don’t get me wrong, this is the best freaking thing in the world and i’ve had very good reasons to make this decision. one of them being people who just talk and talk and never get something done. i remember this guitarplayer who wanted to record a few takes at home, taking the daw (digital audio workstation) with him – so nobody else could record anything. he kept talking about how this will be happening, how cool this is and so forth and that we shouldn’t do rehearsals for the time being because it’s best to fully concentrate on the recording. after six months (!) i asked him about some status-report an the answer was “i’m still working on the right sound” – he hadn’t recorded a single note. that’s when i decided to do things on my own. and regarding the creative process (including recording, mixing etc.) i’m happy with this, never had any second thoughts – i love it!

what i don’t love is the whole statistics stuff. there are dozens if not hundreds of sites you need to be on, there are lots and lots of tools you need to use, things you need to do – this never ends and eats up tremendous amounts of time.

i just found out yesterday, that “bankjob” the first song on “corner” (you know, the blue player, top of sidebar…) currently is no.16 of the ReverbNation rock charts for germany (hmm, since i upgraded to wordpress 2.8, some features are missing – including links for instance…). and that’s awesome! on the other hand, obtaining this tiny piece of information took longer than actually writing the song. and i haven’t even got to the whole social-networking-thing yet. that’s where a band has a huge advantage – you can pick one guy who does this, probably the one least involved in recording or songwriting activities. a whole band can certainly be much more efficient than a single person, but let’s not forget, most bands aren’t. there’s still one guy who basically does it all – which again is good for lone warriors like me…

anyway, i just wanted to write a little frustration off my chest regarding that neverending statistics war- ugh. now i’m getting back to work on “traitor” – time to do something of substance…

ok, time for the next episode. the seventh song of the album, which i called “the lover”. this is a really simple song, just two guitars and vocals. one guitar playing the bassnotes and the other one the chords – only three by the way. again, no real instruments, i used guitar samples with a tremolo effect. if i was to do this again, i’d record a real guitar – although it sounds quite real to me… anyway, i wanted to do everything except the vocals with the laptop only as kind of an experiment, so i used samples for everything.

the interesting part were the vocals. i should have mixed it a little different, i realized afterwards, because the words are hard to understand. this is the result of something i never did before, so it was new to me and i improvised. the reason for this was i wanted it to sound as close and soft as possible which brought up a variety of problems. first of all, if it should sound close, you need to turn the microphone up – way up. just having a normal setting and go further away from it might work live but for recording this ain’t good enough. why? because the words are not the only noise you make. there’s breathing for instance, even the air that comes out with the words has a certain sound and then there’s the little sounds that appear when you open or close your mouth. now, the recording can only sound really intimate when those sounds are there. if someone talks softly into your ear, those sounds are there as well – so to keep it real, you need them. cranking up the mic, though, can really freak you out because a large diaphragm tube condenser mic is quite a monster – those things pick up everything! when you’re recording that way you need silence, perfect silence. you might even want to think about the clothes you’re wearing, that’s why i recorded nekkid – and shaved :-) just kiding……or am i……

but turning up the mic wasn’t enough for me, i wanted more. the only possible way was to get even closer to the mic. next problem: usually there’s a pop-killer (i think that’s the right word….) between the mic and your mouth, a round thingy to prevent pop noises that occur when too much air hits the mic hard. light a match and sing a ‘p’-word (not phuck…) into the flame to know what i mean. those airstrikes cause little sound-explosions and can ruin a track in no time. getting closer to the mic meant to get rid of the pop-killer. i virtually touched the mic with my lips which makes it almost impossible to get something useful out of it (not talking about live here!) and the fact that the mic was cranked up made it even impossiblyer…..uhm….more impossible……or…less possible…..or…..uhm……you get the idea.

all that forced me to sing not only more cairful but also softer than i ever did before. there’s a thin line between really soft singing and whispering and to make it sound somehow even is a real challenge. singing out loud is a lot easier than doing it really, really soft. by the way, it’s the same with drums. tell your drummer to play a groove as soft as a whisper (or try it yourself) – it’s freaking hard to groove at such a low volume, when the sticks can only be an inch away from the drum…

in the end i’m not sure if it was worth the trouble, because i still don’t know if it’s even possible to get a decent recording with this. although i was very careful, it still doesn’t sound quite as even as i wanted it too. and it was a lot harder to deal with it in the mix than it is with ‘normal’ vocals. so it sounds like either a bad singer or a bad recording – i guess there is such a thing as ‘too real’. it seems there is kind of a threshold and from that point on ‘more real’ results in ‘less good’… i’m gonna spend some time in the future to figure that one out…

anyway i really love that song for its intimacy, even if it shows what could have been better.

p.s. i should mention that the feeling i wanted to create with this was inspired by Nancy Sinatra‘s “Bang Bang” and the title tune from Twin Peaks.