what is going on in your musical life

Sat down to edit a note that was off by the duration of a 64th note

Reminds me of the time I re-rendered a track just to reduce the volume of one instrument by half a decibel.

do it right, guys :)

OTM, sadly.:(

Reminds me of the time I re-rendered a track just to reduce the volume of one instrument by half a decibel.

oh i do this all the time

That actually sounds like standard mixing procedure to me tbh.:P

1: reduce volume of closed hi hats
2: render track
3: listen to track and realise that closed hi hats are still too loud
4: repeat from step 1 about a hundred and trillion times
5: say "fudge it" and leave the track as it is
6: every time this track is played think "damn this sounds terrible"
7: remix entire album
8: repeat from step 1

closed hi-hats can be crazy, like looking at the meters they'll be the quietest thing in the track BY FAR, but they just cut through at any volume. like they can be almost subliminal and still do their job. loud hi-hats are cool too though.

Ah. Yeah, I get you. I spent a good amount of time this year remixing a piece from 2 years ago. Then uploaded it to Soundcloud where 128kbps streaming killed it anyway, ultimately taking it down anyway.

I just got back from a studio where I made an appointment to go over a mix with pro dudes. They basically thought it was fine and didn't need any real changes. I am feeling audio autodidact pride.

xpost

I used to be really anal about my mixes, these days I’m all about capturing raw energy, and the take is the take - live mix down, riding the faders, no going back afterwards.

Well, you guys can judge yourselves now.:P
https://soundcloud.com/sund4r-subramanian/locks-and-ripples-solo

I may revisit this but now it's time to move on with life.

you have to correct the 4 to an a but I got it, sounds good. What is doing the processing?

sounds dope! really nice man. sounds like future fripp at times.

i wouldn't worry about the timing at all, there's nothing with really hard transients keeping you honest so it's super forgiving, you know? any rubato-ness (of which there is very little) just sounds intentional.

and now i've stumbled into a world of academic guitar shredder soundclouds

Thanks, guys (and thanks for pointing out that correction, fgti)! Yeah, solo classical guitar performance (where all my guitar training has been since I was 14) tends to be pretty rubato-happy so it can actually sometimes be a challenge to play really straight and evenly when I do something more pop/rock-influenced. I figure if a jazz drummer tells me not to worry about the timing, I'm doing OK.

Fgti: I'll give an answer to that question when I have a little more time to write something more detailed.

cool music sund4r

Thanks, n/a!

What is doing the processing?

Wasn't sure how much detail you were looking for but:

It's a six-track Max for Live set. I control everything with a MIDI foot controller.

There's a Looper on every track, set to reverse on three tracks. One important effect was a 'Randomized Stutter' which plays back randomized grains of the input at randomized speeds, allowing the user to select maximum and minimum grain size and playback rate and whose output amplitude is scaled to the input amplitude. I can also control dry/wet levels with an expression pedal. On the first loop that you hear, it's set so that the playback rate 'glisses' between random values, using the "line" object in Max. On other tracks, this is turned off so that you have a choppier effect.

The main effect on the second loop you hear is an FFT-based convolution effect that's probably too complicated to explain right now tbh, again with levels controlled by an expression pedal. (The input is an E-bowed low D.)

The third loop is one chord split between two tracks and looped backwards, with just the stutter on one track and also with a couple of FFT-based effects on the other that are based on compressing and expanding the relative amplitudes of the different frequency bins, either with an expression pedal or according to a preset algorithm.

On top of that, there are, of course, Ableton Live EQs, choruses, reverbs, delays, stereo panning, etc.

very dope, i was wondering how much randomization there was, especially for the rhythmic (stutter & delay) effects.

compressing and expanding the relative amplitudes of the different frequency bins

i'm not sure i know what this means but it sounds cool.

Any sound wave can be broken down as the sum of a series of sine waves which all have different amplitudes, frequencies, and phase shifts, right? It is this particular frequency spectrum that defines the sound's timbre. The FFT actually breaks the sound down into these component frequencies. Some of them obviously have much greater amplitudes than others. Basically, you could think of this as like a really fine graphic EQ. What the effect does is it compresses and expands the differences in amplitudes between the component frequencies (makes the levels on the EQ more flatlined or more peaky). I've got two effects on there, one that does this according to how I rock an expression pedal, another that does this automatically that is controlled by a wave that is generated by FM synthesis according to various inputs.

I have been buying gear. gear gear gear.

me toooooo what did you buy

I'm doing a split cassette w/a false doom metal/drone band so I ordered a proco turborat and mxr blue box. and I decided I'm gonna buy an ebow too. I don't know how useful all of this will end up being but we'll see.

I bought a dual expression pedal which I'm hooking up to two pitchshifters. Single pitch -> microtonal clouds -> single pitch

Wow, that sounds v cool. You're using that to process your violin?

When we were first learning MaxMSP, with much frustration and without much sense of where it could ultimately lead, my friend and I had a running joke along the lines of "well, we spent two weeks programming ... in order to make a pitchshifter we could have bought from Guitar Center".

xp Yes. If the cloud is narrow and there's a plate on the treatment it is "instant orchestra" and if the cloud is wide and there is no plate it is "instant Hiroshima"

not actual explosions but Penderecki *cough*

"Plate" as in plate reverb?

i am going to a jam session organized by a 'middle aged hack' in my neighborhood. craigslist ad. the guy likes classic rock, funny writer, seemed to have a good attitude. other dudes showing up to this thing have suggested some pearl jam and 'sweet home chicago'. should be fun!

spent all day at work with headphones in listening to "Lost in the Stars" so I can have a hope of being half-memorized by Thursday; will repeat the process tomorrow

impulse bought an SG :X

!

also a RAT. i just went in for strap locks :/

many emotions :/ :X :G :D

rad!

i just thought, how am i tryin to be 33 and not owning the guitar i've wanted my entire life

nice. i used to have one, then one day (artists rendition of what happened)

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZ7wmptPwCNwEr67oqOmJKfuigsTeASEsZuJCsNoEZerOVGlI6sg

that makes sense sund4r, thanks for breaking that down.

i'm not complaining, but i had a review of a new track yesterday that said something about the rhythmic shifts being "unintentionally disorienting" -- oh i sure you, it was intentional. :)

xp

snap. i really need to knuckle down and learn more about instrument repair. which reminds me, i need to fix a crack in the body of my t-bird. it's such a weird shape, it will be hard to clamp.

i just thought, how am i tryin to be 33 and not owning the guitar i've wanted my entire life

OTM. I bought an ES-335 when I turned 34.

Congrats btw! That's great.

Exam in less than 2h.

<3 thx. and good luck!

Thanks! A couple of flubs but I think it went OK.

"Plate" as in plate reverb?

Yes.

Trial and error (and necessity) finally yielded an effective method of creating a "home orchestra" sound for the many clients who wanted, say, "the Dillard & Clark sound" or w/e but no budget for players. It involves five tracks of violin per part using two different mics.

The big problem with multi-tracking violins for "strings" is the phase issues that are created, as well as problem frequencies (for most violins, that annoying 2K). I found that if you do two takes with the Coles ribbon mic for the "tone" and two with a 414 for the "presence" (hi-pass all the way up to 2.5 or even 3K), hard pan each, then run the result through a plate, you get a perfect wet sound. Overdub a single, centred, dry violin take with both mics at once for definition and voila you've got "Why Not Your Baby".

Anyway, the pedalboard version of this setup, which I'm getting together for a client with money to burn, I just got going today and it is ridiculously expensive to look at (two Pitchfactors, two Strymon Blueskys, one Pigtronix dual expression pedal) but it sounds, well, it sounds like a million bucks.

I felt kind of excited reading that.

:) I'll make a little recording with it this week if I get a chance. It really does sound remarkable. Violinists are so fucked when it comes to live sound with our shitty piezo pickups and hideous looking electrics, it gives me great pleasure to fix a player up with a live sound

That rig sounds amazing! Otm re: shitty piezo electric violin, that is the worst fucking sound.

Got to do a jam with my band last night for the first time in too many weeks, and it was probably one of the best ones we've done. I'd had massive reservations about the drummer we've brought into the fold (we'd been using drum machines up til recently) but with him settled in and not bashing away at 23123mph anymore, and me now on keys so the guys can concentrate on the guitars, the whole thing has just levelled up, and we came up with like 3 or 4 completely new potential songs last night. So freaking stoked!

Now I need to think about maybe a few singing lessons, as I'm finding I need to revisit my ability to control my breathing and phrasing. Im sure smoking isnt helping.

just got off stage about an hour ago from singing excerpts from "Lost in the Stars" narrated by Governor Deval Patrick with a small solo by my wife

it was pretty fucking boss