Holidays
Back from Aus, Busy as Hell (and a little bit about psychoacoustics)
28/07/10 00:59 Filed under: Work
I left Matt over there for an additional 2 weeks and I rushed back slightly more burnt out than when I left, back home to a massive pile of projects that have been scheduled for, or put off until, the summer. Which is now. I love it, already I've reverted to vampire hours; I sit in my studio all night long growing paler and in the daytime I sleep while the sane people go out and enjoy sunshine, cavort in parklands, eat BBQ or whatever it is that they do. Take away my 9 to 5 responsibilities and this is what happens every time.
One of these summer projects is a mix and master for a band... something that on the surface seems a bit technical and prescribed, a diversion from all the PhD stuff I should be doing. But I'm finding it very useful as an opportunity to really look closely at timbre and texture in the context of a multitrack stereo mix.
So far the process feels a lot more like traditional music 'arrangement' - choosing colours, combinations of colours, manipulating the dynamics between them. Obviously there are limitations, chief of which is the genre of music and the expected commercial standards that are implied there. Another big one is obviously whatever the client wants. But even within the most rigid brief, there are still opportunities for creativity, I think. There is such an art to the 'act of combining things', after all the depth of a stereo field is just an auditory illusion - the mix engineer/producer is the magician who is conjuring it for the listener.
Moreover, I suspect the mix engineer can affect the listener on a different level to that which the composer (who is working with notes, harmonies and rhythms) can. Once again, these ideas throw back to (what Andrew Brown calls) the "modes of compositional engagement" - the director, the observer, the performer, the selector - basically the composer adopting various roles to facilitate the creativity in various contexts. It's an interesting idea. I certainly don't want to claim that all producers ARE composers (if we define a composer as the writer or AUTHOR of music, then that can't be true). But producers have influence over sound, there are creative choices to be made... in some cases these choices can affect the listener's experience profoundly.
I know that not everyone's ears and brain is like mine. There's even a few good reviews out there for this record where people praise the production. Are there any records out there where the SOUND of the mix affects you? If anyone reading this has the time to test the above record out on their own ears, I would love to know if you have a similar experience. In either case email me!
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You know I loves me some Philip Glass, but...
22/07/09 17:06 Filed under: Personal
It’s real basic composition tool-kit stuff..., but every time you use it people are inclined to go “oooh, you’re referencing Glass here”, or worse accuse you of plagiarism and then refer you to Glassworks or The Hours or his Metamorphosis suite for piano as proof. Rah!
Minor rant over. I forgive you, Phil. But only cos you’re so awesome.
The trip to Ireland with my mother was quite nice, if not a slight let down after the sheer beauty-blowout of the Swiss Alps experience. Maybe it was the constant rain than put a damper (or should I say dampness) on things. They call it “liquid sunshine” over there. Poor sods, I thought we had it bad in England. In summary: the Guiness was tasty, the grass was green, the wind was windy, the music was “diddly”. Some photos included on the ‘read more’ link below.
So now Mum has returned home to Australia and life for us goes back to normal. Alas her leaving means the end of our holidays for the summer. It was great to see her again, aside from jetting about Europe we enjoyed some fine meals, a great gig at the Jazz Cafe in London... and most impressively, she managed to watch all three seasons of Deadwood in almost as many days! I think she deserves some kind of trophy for that, a small statuette in the shape of Al Swearengen.
Now I’m back in the studio, cleaning the dust off the mixing desk, preparing it and myself for a new batch of projects. To begin the process in a calm way, I’ve been scrapbooking some of the ideas that have been clogging up my brainflow these past 2 months: colours, shapes, textures, words. It’s all very stimulating, and some of the finished collages ended up crazy surreal. I’ll post some examples once I get to writing and demo’ing these things out.
mmm... “tators”. Potatoes for every meal. I was blocked up for almost a week afterwards.
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Glasto & Swiss Holiday Roundup
Glasto was fabulous. Warm and sunny most of the time, the highlight of my weekend was Neil Young (I’m in love with another old man, what is wrong with me!), probably the best gig I have ever seen in my life. I’m not a person prone to making lists of things (my mate Liz is quite “high fidelity” like that) , but after witnessing that performance I would have to say my top three gigs of my life so far would be:
1.) Neil Young @ Glasto 2009,
2.) Morrissey @ Livid Festival 2002,
3.) Meshell Ndegeocello @ Jazz Cafe 2008.
Oooh after writing that I suddenly feel so... nerdy. Other awesome bits included a spine tingling set from Bon Iver, the always beautiful Bat for Lashes, Spinal Tap, Metric and of course the Boss.
It was strange hearing of Michael Jackson’s death while on the site - lots of whispers and rumours floating around on the Thursday evening left us wondering if it was really true. You feel so cut off from the real world while inside the festival. Once confirmed, it took me a few days for the news to sink in - I kept thinking it was an elaborate set-up - that Michael would pop up on the Pyramid stage as the secret special guest, wearing his zombie getup doing the Thriller dance, mending all our broken hearts in the process. And it has left me feeling philosophical about my small role in the tragedy as a ticket holder to his now-cancelled shows. I am sure there are plenty of blogs out there poring over the subject, discussing and dissecting if not just remembering and mourning therefore I will not attempt to add to the number. I would only want to comment that I am finding the whole thing immensely sad.
On the way back from Glasto we picked my Mum up from Heathrow. After our 6 days of camping in the muggy heat it must have been a pretty funky car ride back to Bedford for her. We decided as a present we’d take her to the Swiss Alps, and that’s where we’ve been for the last 5 days. The scenery over there is to die for.... I had been told about it and had seen pictures but I wasn’t really prepared for so much beauty on such a large scale. Click the “leave a comment” link to see some photos if you’re interested.
All photos here taken by Matt Roles (whom I think is getting pretty nifty with the camera these days... though with scenery this good I think it would be rather difficult to manage a shite photo!)
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Spring has Sprung? (wtf)...
... and I am a busy bee. Got a violin and double bass duet due by the 15th of March, followed closely by a chamber work for woodwinds in early April. Love it when things get busy like this.
Despite all the classical stuff, I am still looking for that special media project to sink my contextually moody teeth into. A short film, perhaps? Sound design? If the perfect project is out there, I would consider doing the work gratis (but it would have to be *perfect*, yeah?)
My winter sun trip to Mallorca was very nice indeed, thanks for asking. Since returning I seem to crave paella constantly, and I have had some old freckles come out of hiding to remind me of the old days under the Aussie sun ... (all this despite the fact I still look like Casper the Friendly Ghost’s sister in the pic below). Did you know the ‘black’ in a ‘black paella’ is squid ink? Did you also know it was delicious? Morrissey would be most displeased.
It was extra nice to return to a Spring-like UK; that warm pollen smell in the air leads me to fantasise about June/July, potting about in the garden, sunsets at 10pm, no students for three glorious months. Then I remember its only Feb and it all feels like a cruel joke!
Right, here’s a photographic summary of our winter sun sojourn:
We looked at some water...
We did some hiking along coastal cliffs in inappropriate footwear... 
We drank a lot of booze...
Rented bikes
Laughed at funny looking dogs...
... and we angered Morrissey by eating some tasty animals which we later paid money to see alive at Palma Aquarium (which is excellent, by the way!). 
Sunny Times Ahead
12/02/09 23:11 Filed under: Personal
How happy am I about my impending week in Mallorca? About as happy as any Australian who has just endured 2 weeks of snow and the freezing Russian winds; who found a cheap getaway to a regular British-package-holiday-type-island with significantly warmer climes. Yes I’m chuffed. I clearly lack the genetic disposition for walking to work on the ice. Snow? I’m over it! Deliver me to a beach, please.
Work wise, things are looking up. When I made this site and plugged it on a few websites I had no idea I would get such a positive response so quickly. The problem is everyone’s project sounds like fun.
Another problem is I have just initiated earnest discussions about cool sounding projects with cool creative people and I’m going away on holiday tomorrow. I’m going to have to find a way to be selective - especially since this is not really about the money for me, but rather exercise and experience.
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