February 2007
Sunday, Feb 25
The MFG work is finished. I played with some soundscapes for the third song, feeding three different percussion tracks containing cymbal swells, triangles, and cocopods, into various presets on the mighty H8000, recording its output back into PT, and mixing to taste.
"I Can See The World From Here" by MFG, in 192kbps splendor.
I went back to the first two mixes and worked with the bass guitar. When we tracked, I recorded Richard Felton's bass guitar direct, no amplifier. At mix time, I was wanting something more - a presence or liveness, something. So lacking recorded amplifier tracks, I set up an aux send to the Line 6 Amp Farm plugin, with the preset "1959 Bassman", and rolled off all the bottom end just to get some higher register stuff. While not spectacular, it definitely gave me what I felt had been missing.
And speaking of the H8000...after a three-week dialog with Eventide tech support, I think the unit is going to be shipped off to have a faulty chip replaced. For some reason, I cannot get it to work in "Dual AES" mode. By this, I mean that the B processor (the H8000 being a dual-engine machine) won't lock to incoming sample rate via AES or wordclock, or anything at all.
This is not a problem when mixing analog on the console; simply using aux sends and returns. That's the reason I got the 8000A model, with eight analog ins and outs. But I also want to use it in the digital domain, using PT aux sends and returns, via the 8-channel digital wiring harness.
I hope they won't keep it for long.
Friday, Feb 23
It is an interesting time when my idea of an exciting Friday night is to continue the day's work on a radio campaign, simply because I'm so happy to be back on my game again.
Actually, I've had to constantly quadruple-check my work, as this job involves revised tags for existing spots that are already on the air, and a new batch for a different region. There's plenty of room for error.
I had three new professional guests today, in addition to one who's been here before. I think they were impressed. I thought ahead to prepare a pot of good coffee in time for their arrival. I remembered that, at the old place, people used to ask for artificial sweeteners other than what was available, so I provided all three. It's the little things.
I finished a mix for the second of three MFG tunes. The band has not heard it yet...they may want to make changes. But I mixed it anyway. Here it is, in mp3-compressed 192kbps splendor.
Saturday, Feb 17
The studio phone rang at 9:30 this morning. It was a lady from BBC World Service.
She wanted me to venture out and gather some "man-in-the-street" soundbites - she called them "vox pops" - relative to the U.S. Senate's blocking a debate on the Iraq war. The show was to air at 3PM, so I had to scramble.
On the advice of a friend, I went to a place where I might get mixed opinions. As it turned out, the only people I felt comfortable enough to approach were leftward-leaning.
I actually knew nothing about the latest political developments, so I was really too generalized in my questions, at least relative to what the producer wanted. And it's hard to go out in public and get people to talk to a guy with a mic who appears to be working alone. If I were an attractive young female, I'd probably have gotten a lot more response.
As it was, it was lunchtime in an upscale eatery/bakery, and people were there to eat good food and drink warm beverages, not to be bothered by a middle-aged guy with a recording rig.
But I got a few things (again, all leftward; no rightwingers I asked would talk to me), then zipped back to the studio, hooked up with the folks overseas via ISDN, and fed them the material.
Busy again - wow. Having ISDN rules.
Thursday, Feb 15
Most productive two days in a long while. Or maybe the nature of the action makes it seem so.
My first two paying media gigs in Le Studio, and both agencies wanted to book the same day. So one's tomorrow, one's Monday.
Yesterday: had to go out and buy a big television in time for tomorrow's audio post-production. Found a nice one, the real irony being that size is the only thing that matters; a serious price tag for a nice 32-inch LCD TV that I'll never see HD content on, just crappy little 4:3 low-res Quicktimes. You gotta do what you gotta do, and it is part of what I do. My clients have to be able to see the video on something other than my computer monitor.
Got the TV home, connected it to the custom-installed S-video cables, which are connected to a Canopus ADVC110 which receives digital video via firewire from the 'puter. All of which means, you can output your session's video out firewire to a big-ass TV for everyone in the room to see.
Pro Tools and imported video are working like a charm. A fabulous feature new to me: you can now import more than one individual DV clip into a single session. In the recent past, if you had more than one spot to work on, you had to have separate sessions for each video clip. Now, multiple video clips can reside on the same timeline. WOO HOO.
This morning: on the phone with Bell Fucking South A T and Fucking T tech support - why am I unable to send email from the studio computer, and why am I locked into using them as outgoing mail server for all of my many accounts? The first problem was solved when I realized the port number was set on some random, erroneous value in the studio computer's email setup. I changed it, and now I can send email from the studio...rather important. I took their answer to problem two with a grain of salt; I am accustomed to different answers from different tech support staff.
Alright, I shouldn't bitch. The young man helped me sort through things, and he helped me isolate the problem. It's not his fault the company blows ass.
On the phone to a web-based Toronto talent agency, clarifying details.
On the phone to a Toronto-based production studio, and spoke with the owner with whom I've worked in person several times in the distant past. (Interesting/useless trivia: this gentleman happened to be in town at the old production studio the day New York was bombed in '01.) He put Monday's session time on hold...for my company, not the other place I used to work.
Started work on the TV spots I'm doing post for tomorrow. Eric and one of his friends helped me. In the spot, a newlywed couple drives off in their car, trailing cans per tradition. The location sound is okay; they want me to augment it. So we tied food cans to our smaller car, and they recorded me pulling away down the driveway with the cans rattling. The first take fit the picture perfectly...I credit my driving skills.
Answering e-mails from next Monday's client. She wants me to prepare to fax talent releases to the studio in Toronto, and I am currently unable to send faxes. I don't know why, and it will mean further grappling with Bell Fucking South A T and Fucking T. I will convince her to take on this responsibility, as it actually is hers to begin with.
Continued to work on TV spots, because I want to and because I can. I'm not at the old production studio needing to stop for the evening and travel homeward - I'm already at home, and can work on it as client leeway allows. I must say, I really do feel sad for not having the bicycle commute any more. But, it is great to be able to get a head start on the work with zero travel time.
I now have a stout Bloody Mary before me, and steamed vegetables/rice/beans/cheese are ready.
And, I have a nine o'clock post-production session tomorrow...right here in the house.
Tuesday, Feb 13
This evening, I've been enjoying the Weather Report box set "Forecast: Tomorrow." Depending on my mood, I like to listen to the stuff from the first two albums, which I was introduced to as a rock-weary high-school sophomore.
It is rather wonderful to be listening in the same room that I first played those albums...the room that is now the Talbot Sound control room.
I never heard those albums in stereo, at least not at first. I bought new copies in my college years, when I had my first really good playback system, but I think I only bought them for posterity; I don't recall ever actually listening to them after so much time had passed...the growth period from age fifteen to twenty-one is a very long one.
My console has a Mono switch in the monitor section, and I've found that I really like to engage it for the older material, to hear it as I heard it thirty-three years ago.
Monday, Feb 12
I spent the afternoon and evening mixing one of the MFG tunes.
After some work getting the bass guitar and djembe to sit together, I played a bit with percussion ambiences in the PCM91, and the vocal through the H8000. Toward the end of the process, I tried a certain "enhancer" patch in the H8000, for the acoustic guitar. It brought it very much to life, a little bigger and juicier, but applied subtly...just the ticket.
Of course the performance is key, and was definitely nailed.
I'm pretty pleased with the mix. No reports yet from the band though.
The evening's result, in 192kbps data-compressed splendor...
Saturday, Feb 10
Spent today tracking and overdubbing real music with a real band...that's right - in MY studio.
I've worked with these fellows twice in the past - once at the media production studio in '99, and then at Robb Earls' place in '04. And now, I've got it IN THE HOUSE - and I feel pretty good about it. I have a for-real, no BS recording studio here; besides a couple of small gaps that need filling and will happen with time and more money, everything works as it should, is clean and quiet, and sounds great.
It was a productive day, and the musicians were happy and performed well.
I'll post finished mixes in a couple of weeks, nothing before then.
Saturday, Feb 3
Boy, did I have some fun.
There's a YouTube video called "The Spirit of Truth", of a guy who's...umm, preaching the gospel, in a special way. If you're easily offended by a combination of religion and profanity, don't go there. If you're not, check it out.
I downloaded some of the audio, edited and played with it, and built a track around it.
So if you're not offended by the video, check out the track I made.
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