Week 9

This week in Audio Arts we recorded electric guitar instead of acoustic. The main different is that instead of placing the mic in front of the sound box of the acoustic guitar, the mic was placed in front of the speaker of the amplifier. We looked at the “proximity effect”. This is how the microphone responds to frequencies at varying distances from the sound source. E.g. High frequencies are much more directional than bass frequencies so that means that as the microphone is pulled further away from the sound source the recorded signal will be brighter because the lower frequencies are less prominent and so they are not recorded as much.

We also looked at moving the microphone on a different axis relative to the sound source. This provided our recording with different takes and we compared them in class. [1]

Creative Computing was on Pro Tools again. We spent time on Groups in both the edit and mix window. I have found in my previous experience I don’t use groups much at all. I tend to set my drums in a group but purely for organizational purposes. I don’t usually group tracks to use for automation. In the past I tried this and ended up stuffing up my mixes because I would increase the volume of say a Snare Drum and end up pulling other tracks up that I didn’t intend to. However, I can definitely see how it would be useful and perhaps in the future I may try this method of mixing. Obviously if you need to increase all your drum sounds relative to the rest of the mix, grouping would be a great option. [2]

In Forum David Harris played us three songs. The artists were Christian Marclay and Pink Floyd. Christian Marclay used 8 turntables and mixed up various classical songs. This blew my mind as to how well he was able to merge into the next song. Being a DJ myself, I could really relate to how he cued and mixed into the next song. I could also hear how he used scratching techniques to stop records that were playing. The two sets of mixes were songs by Johann Strauss and then Jimi Hendrix.

The next song we listened to was “Shine on your Crazy Diamond” by Pink Floyd. This was a great song with really nice sounding guitars and awesome chord progressions. The vocals were typical of a great band.[3] I really liked the saxophone and how its timing changed and then the song followed. The later parts had keyboards, and horn solos, which sounded great also.

The next two Christian Marclay songs were good but not as good as the previous ones. The artists used were John Cage and Mariah Callas. The John Cage “mix” sounded typical of Cage but there was a beat in the background that really added something to the piece. I think it would’ve sounded really good if Marclay picked samples from Cage’s work and repeated them in a set layout with the beat to create a structured into, main section, ending. I still thought the piece sounded okay even though it didn’t have this.

The next mixture of Mariah Callas songs was torturing to my ears. The high pitches sustained and resonated through my head. I felt like I was going deaf couldn’t wait for it to end. [4]

In the second hour we had two honour student speakers, Seb Tomczak and Darren Curtis. Seb talked about his new creation of a MIDI interface. I didn’t really understand much of his creation and this is probably due to lack of experience. Still, I found it interesting. [5]

Darren’s presentation I found very interesting. I had heard of “Sound Healing” prior to this talk but I really enjoyed learning about it in more detail. This is a field of study I would consider researching in the future as it allows me to use my studies to help people. [6]

Overall the music we listened to and the talks really interested me this week. This has been the best forum this year so far.

[1] Christian Haines. "Audio Arts Lecture - Studio 2, Dead Room, EMU Space". Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 9th May 2006.

[2] Christian Haines. "Creative Computing Lecture - Audio Lab". Lecture presented at the Audio Lab, University of Adelaide, 11th May 2006.

[3] ‘Pink Floyd’, Wikipedia. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/Pink_Floyd_1968.jpg (Accessed 15/05/2006)

[4] David Harris. "Music Technology Forum Lecture - EMU Space". Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 11th May 2006.

[5] Seb Tomczak. 'Music Technology Forum Presentation - EMU Space'. Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 11th May 2006.

[6] Darren Curtis. 'Music Technology Forum Presentation - EMU Space'. Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 11th May 2006.