CC2 - Week 1 - Cubase Video Setup

This exercise was to import a movie into Cubase SX and mark out the scenes. The only problem I faced was that sometimes I would click on the time of the new marker and it would change the time of the previous marker. This was frustrating and I still haven’t worked out how to stop this from happening.

After that I opened up Reason Adapted and Rewired it into Cubase. I have a screenshot of the process to demonstrate both the movie markers and also the process of Rewiring Reason into Cubase and getting a device, in this case the Subtractor, in Reason to sound in Cubase.

Week 1 - AA - Sans Analysis

0:00 | Piano | Non-Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Music | Old Fashioned Piano Music

0:00 | Big Chimney Blowing Smoke | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Chimney Noise

0:00 | Big Chimney Blowing Smoke | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:01 | Man Digging | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Digging Sound

0:01 | Man Digging | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:02 | Big Chimney Blowing Smoke | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Chimney Noise

0:02 | Big Chimney Blowing Smoke | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:03 | Man Digging | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Digging Sound

0:03 | Man Digging | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:03 | Voice Over | Non-Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Voice | Voice Commentary

0:05 | City Square with train and truck | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | City Noise

0:05 | City Square with train and truck | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Train Noise

0:05 | City Square with train and truck | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Truck Noise

0:05 | City Square with train and truck | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:11 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Chimney Noise

0:11 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Effect | Wind Noise

0:15 | Lever Pulled up | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Level Noise

0:15 | Lever Pulled up | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:17 | Circle Lever Turning | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Level Noise

0:17 | Circle Lever Turning | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:21 | Man Pulling Cable | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Cable Pulling Noise

0:21 | Man Pulling Cable | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:22 | Cable Spinning Cog | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Spinning Cog Noise

0:23 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Chimney Noise

0:23 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Effect | Wind Noise

0:25 | Woman Watching Spooling Machine | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Machine Noise

0:25 | Woman Watching Spooling Machine | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:29 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Chimney Noise

0:29 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:31 | Many Spinning Spools | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Spinning Spools

0:31 | Many Spinning Spools | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:34 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Chimney Noise

0:34 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Effect | Wind Noise

0:37 | Hand Pulling Lever | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Lever Noise

0:37 | Hand Pulling Lever | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Effect | Factory Noise Noise

0:39 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Chimney Noise

0:39 | Man Climbing Chimney | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Effect | Wind Noise

0:41 | Spinning Spools | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Spinning Spools

0:41 | Spinning Spools | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:44 | Climbing Man on Chimney Ladder | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Chimney Noise

0:44 | Climbing Man on Chimney Ladder | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Effect | Wind Noise

0:48 | City Square with train and truck | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | City Noise

0:48 | City Square with train and truck | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Train Noise

0:55 | Woman Sewing | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Sewing Machine

0:55 | Woman Sewing | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

0:59 | Man Climbing Ladder | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Ladder Noise

0:59 | Man Climbing Ladder | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

1:02 | Pistons | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Piston Noise

1:02 | Pistons | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

1:08 | Thierry Henry with Spanner | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Spinning Cogs

1:08 | Thierry Henry with Spanner | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

1:13 | Engine Spinning | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Engine Spinning

1:13 | Engine Spinning | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

1:18 | Side Angle Engine Spinning | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Engine Spinning

1:18 | Side Angle Engine Spinning | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

1:25 | Spinning Piston | Diegetic Sound | On Screen | Object | Piston Noise

1:25 | Spinning Piston | Diegetic Sound | Off Screen | Object | Factory Noise

1:30 | End

Audio Arts Major Assignment

My major assignment for Audio Arts was a band recording. The band is called The News and they have played at many venues around Adelaide. The bass player of this band is in my class at SAE.

I don’t like the recording much as there was a lot of material that I wish I edited out. The vocals and guitar definitely needed more takes.

Putting everything aside, I think the final product is ok but with more time I think I could do much better. Another difficulty came in the fact that the assignment was due the day after Australia played Croatia in the 2006 World Cup.

The News – She Walks Alone

Creative Computing Minor Assignment

My minor assignment was a musique concrete piece. This piece was put together in Pro Tools and used both recorded samples and also synthesised samples.

I mood I was trying to portray in the listener didn’t eventually work due to the time limit. Have a listen if you like. If you would like to read my program note then feel free also.

My Documentation

The Beach Nightmare

Week 13

In Audio Arts this week Christian went through mixing in more detail to prepare us for the final assignments. This was useful even though I have been showed how to mix before. Mixing is really hard and it is good to hear techniques from different perspectives. [1]

In Creative Computing we talked about sound and techniques in Pro Tools. Christian went through side-chaining. This is when a plugin or effect is triggered by another track. I haven’t actually done this before but I know that it can be very useful in triggering off effects.
[2] For electronic music, which is primarily what I produce, it would be useful to have a low frequency triggering off at each kick drum. This would add that pumping feeling that people enjoy in nightclubs. [3]

In Forum we listened to 5 songs. The first was Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint. I actually really liked this piece a lot.
[4] It was a simple piece but very effective. I thought it was nice to the scenes, if that makes sense. The guitarist for this piece was Pat Methany.

The second piece was Tristram Carey’s Soft Walls (1980). This piece was very synthesised and I would consider it as sound design. [5] It sounded ok but not much of a composition. I could hear some LFOs controlling pitch, filters and resonance. The instrument used was the synclavier.

The third piece was Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive (1966). This piece was very strange sounding and not like many of the Pink Floyd songs I’ve heard before (except in forum of course). The main sound was the guitar, and in fact I could hear many guitars. There were drums but no vocals. The structure of the piece was unusual and I could hear a lot of chromaticism. The key of the piece was very hard to pick and the cadences were different too. Overall this piece was ok.

The fourth piece was Steve Reich’s Different Trains (1988). This piece had a very nice sound to it. It was progressive, which I like in music. There were some nice violin sounds, with a build up of some nice background bass. This piece had an anticipation element to it, which was great.

The fifth piece was Tristram Carey’s Steam Music (1978). This piece consisted of train sounds, steam and thunder. It had an ambient sounding ending which was interesting. I liked the position of the sounds. [6]


[1] Christian Haines. "Audio Arts Lecture - Studio 2, Dead Room, EMU Space". Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 6th June 2006.

[2] Pro Tools screen shot, Audio Lab, University of Adelaide, 11th May 2006. http://www3.hddweb.com/69631/Pro_Tools_screenshot.jpg

[3] Christian Haines. "Creative Computing Lecture - Audio Lab". Lecture presented at the Audio Lab, University of Adelaide, 8th June 2006.

[4] ‘Steve Reich’, Wikipedia. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/Steve_reich.jpg (Accessed 20th August 2006)

[5] ‘Interstellar Overdrive;, Wikipedia. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f3/PinkFloyd-album-piperatthegatesofdawn.jpg/200px-PinkFloyd-album-piperatthegatesofdawn.jpg (Accessed 20th August 2006)

[6] David Harris. 'Music Technology Forum Presentation - EMU Space'. Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 8th June 2006.