Jamie's Music Room

New Hardware, New Software

2011-12-08T12:20:00.001-08:00

Hi All,

Recently I acquired a new sound card, the RME HDSP 9652. I got it for a steal off ebay and it is definitely the highest quality piece of gear that I own. The main motivation I had for buying this card was to get several high quality input and output tracks into a GNU/Linux Environment.

A bit of history:

A few years ago I stopped using Linux OS distribution because I was unable to use mainstream firewire interfaces, particularly mine, the Focusrite Saffire due to lack of driver support. I really loved the available software, like Ardour, Rosegarden, and JACK, just to name a few. But the problem was that I had no solution to getting high quality analog signals into the system without spending an arm and a leg for something supported by ALSA, and this was in the early days of FFADO (Free Firewire Audio Drivers On linux). So as a result I was some ordinary Microsoft Windo$e user. But now I am back on track with an added twist.

Some Hardware:

In windows I was using the Focusrite Saffire PRO 40 as my interface. Decent Hardware. In linux I am using the RME card in combination with the Saffire as an A/D converter using ADAT. So far, the results are great!

Some Software:

I have settled quite comfortably into the world of Linux Pro Audio. I was somewhat disappointed by my return to UbuntuStudio, tried the Ubuntu patch KXStudio with some success, but ultimately settled on Tango Studio. Great O/S pretty well stocked out of the box with everything you need to get going.

I was also able to get my favourite VSTs working right away thanks to Festige, a great surprise to me. These include Amplitube, and Addictive Drums.

What about the future:

As I pound out the last round of my exams, I am looking forward to begin to record some new material over the holiday. Should be interesting and I look forward to documenting my findings.

Jamie

Reading Week

2010-02-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

Hello There,

Over the past few days I have been able to take a bit of a break from school and make some more music. First thing that I did was meet up with a pal to put some piano on my song, "It's Raining". Neither of us have nice keyboard gear so what we did was run a software synth for the piano track. The winner for that one was "4 Front piano". This is supposed to model an upright piano. I am not really a huge "purist" when it comes to things like guitar tone and sounding exactly like an original. I was looking for a something that sounded like a Grand, but I didn't have one handy so we found this free upright piano VST synth, that we subbed in to track with, so we would find something else later. After playing with it though, the sound really fit the mood of the song. The song is about staying inside with a loved one when its bad weather outside. To me an old creeky upright is right at home for this situation so it worked great. The song is now updated on the MySpace. You can also check out 4 Front Piano's website at http://www.yohng.com/piano.html.

Next up was my experimentation with some more software synths. I put together my attempt at Techno with two synths, Crystal and Synth1. I did the bass track with crystal and everything else with Synth1. I used nothing but presets, as unfortunately I have not been able to really delve into the enigma that is an FM synth. But I have posted the track that I made on MySpace of course. as always here is some screenshots of the process

First Guest Contribution

2010-02-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

Hey There,

So after chatting with a great pal of mine, Hannah Bock. She emailed me her song, 'Memory". Now I was lucky enough to get to lay down some acoustic guitar for her, on her demo track. Hannah's a great songwriter and I always love playing with her. One morning in the fall I got a call from her asking if I could play a song on a recording, and of course I was game. And the result, well that's my first guest contribution to my collection.

Unfortunately, it wasn't me who did the recording process, but either way it's great. We were lucky in that we managed to get the thing done in two takes (my fault on the first one too). Hope there is somebody out there to enjoy it! Check out the song "Memory" by Hannah on my Myspace page.

Cake Pan Amp

2010-02-01T09:50:00.000-08:00

Hey,

So today I managed to get down and dirty with an old amp that I made a year ago on spring break. Now this was my first amp build, so not everything went as planned, to say the least. I put it together in such a rush, that I went all night until I thought I was ready to turn it on. Now in this hasty process I made several mistakes wiring. One fatal one, I only discovered after a very displeasing burning smell. What happened was that I forgot to wire up the output transformer (something that uses quite a bit of the supplied current) so that when I turned on the amp, WAY too much current had to flow through the poor resistor sitting in between the power for the output transformer and the tubes. Now of course this lead to the baked resistor (unfortunately not as delicious as it sounds) that we described earlier. Now, I am glad it was the resistor that blew up and not say.... one of the tubes, but that was a really annoying loss.

At that point I had no spares so out came my pliers and off I went into old stereo amps looking for a 1k resistor that I could substitute. Unfortunately many of todays amps don't use the high voltage required in the land of antiquity vacuum tubes. So what I came up with was a 1.5k resistor that I had to use. Now It sounded all right, but a little bright for use everyday. But thats the way that thing stayed. Until today.

Today I made a trip all the way to the 5th floor of one the buildings at my school into the electronics lab. I got what I was looking for, and way more. I ended up walking out with a few LEDs and Hammond project boxes for an amp switcher I am working on too. All for a whopping cost of 0$. Any who so the resistor went in today. It warmed up the sound a bit, but it's still a bit harsh. I would really like to make that a go to amp for lap steel stuff. My plan for spring break is to mod it a bit for a warmer sound... and to finish a cabinet for it. Maybe then it won't look like a cake pan with a bunch of wires in it. Ahh we can all dream. Maybe I can get myself off the ski slopes for enough time.

Noise Gate!

2010-01-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

Hey There,

So with my foray into actually picking up an acoustic source with my new microphone. I encountered the situation where that thing picks up pretty well everything. My feet shuffling around, drunk people in the hall, etc etc. This isn't really a huge issue when I'm actually playing but well that's not all the time I'm recording. So what are we thinking here? Noise Gate! What this thing does is lets the sound pass when it hits a certain level, and blocks all else.

Anywho, There was a big difference in noise reduction and didn't make the attack on the vocals. The gate I used was a VST effect that came with the DAW that I use, Reaper. You can also see that I put Guitar Rig effects on the Vocal track as well. This was because, while Reaper may come with a gate, for some reason it doesn't come with reverb... figure that one out. So thats all for now, I have posted "It's Raining", on the MySpace so take a listen!

New Stuff!

2010-01-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hey There,

Today was a wicked day. I purchased myself a new microphone, for vocals. You know... those big ones you picture at radio stations and recording studios. It's freakin' awesome. I bought a Shure PG42. Now I went to the music store looking for a mic preamp, to go with my current interface. And I ended up discussing the options of using a tube preamp with large diaphragm condenser. And what do you know the recommendation is the Shure. Now I was skeptical because I ended up getting the USB version. I tend to shy away from things that are made to be ultra easy. However, this did solve the preamp and Mic issue all in one bundle. So I gave it a shot and brought it home. I am already in love with it. This mic has a feature on it where your headphones plug straight into the mic. It also has a pot right on it to control how much of the mix from your DAW gets to the headphones, and how much of the mic, and it also does hardware monitoring into your headphones. The very same pot, will bring more hardware monitoring as you turn down the computer mix, and less as you turn up the computer mix. This seems like its not a big deal, but its pretty nice not having to walk over to your computer around a tangle of wires to change how loud the mix is in the monitors. I now, can start putting some vocals onto my track "It's Raining".

This isn't the only new item I picked up. Today, I payed my first visit to the Joe Chithalen Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library. This is a really cool place where Kingston residents can borrow instruments... get this FOR FREE. What I picked up was an old guitar that had a nut riser put in to be converted in a way to a Dobro. I had a really neat chat with the guy there about people coming in. Most of them are just hobbyists who are looking for a particular sound for their home recordings. I am glad to enter a neat little community here in Kingston. I have posted a sample of my new mic and me just trying out what I could go with the guitar in open G on my MySpace page.

It's Cold Outside

2010-01-29T20:23:00.000-08:00

Hello There Again,

Cold has struck Kingston after a few balmy days of what seemed like Spring in January. My creative spark is still burning it seems too! While staying humbly in my warm room with a hot pot of coffee dripping, I managed to finally put some words to a chord progression that I always thought would be great for a jazzy song about staying inside for bad weather. I have called the song "It's Raining". It's about a busy guy who finds stormy weather to be an excuse to just stay and relax with his significant other. I have always liked songs about this. I guess "Banana Pancakes" is pretty well the same idea, in the same key too I guess. However, we're a little jazzier on this one.

Any who, the song lyrics are below. My plan is to start working on this tomorrow. However, right now I lack a mic preamp in my setup. I mean any mic preamp, So it might be a while for some serious recording.

Verse

It’s a busy day, there’s lots to do

But here I am, just sitting with you

There’s a storm outside, and I can’t even dream

Of working right now when it’s just you and me

Chorus

It’s howling wind, Pouring rain

The trees are a dancin’ across the plains

There’s no other place I’d rather be

So I might as well stay, just my baby and me

When it’s raining, Oh It’s raining

Verse 2

Now there’s things to do, bills to pay

But they’re just gonna have to wait today

For its much to calm, much too warm

Just sitting with you, watching the storm

Chorus

Bridge

When the weather gets better, we’ll go out side

Do all the things we had in mind

But for now, let’s stay inside

Chorus

I Might As Well Face It, I'm Addicted to Drums

2010-01-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

Hi There,

Today I began my foray into adding the drum tracks for my piece, "Midnight on The Water". Now, I was planning on using a very minimalist approach and going analog with a small kit, but today in a search for how to loop audio in Reaper, my DAW of choice, I came across a program called, "Addictive Drums". This is simply a drum machine VST instrument like "Groove Agent" or what I see most often these days is "EZ drummer". So I gave this one a shot and to me it turned out pretty great.

My biggest difficulties came from not being a drummer. I really have no clue what to do when it comes to arranging drum music. Thankfully there is about a million beats and fills that you can drag and drop into your track as a MIDI file. That being said, I find out of the box never really quite works for me. The biggest example I found was getting a beat to match the second part of my piece. I ended up pulling a Jazz beat from the menu. Given that this part of the piece was pretty ambient I ended up removing much what was being played to suit the song. The little ride cymbal mostly.

For all you drummers out there. Please try not to hunt me down for such an immoral crime. But please remember, while would love to have a sweet set of AKG drum mics and an 8 mic preamp interface... I don't. So in the meantime, I was incredibly pleased how Addictive drums doesn't sound like a drum machine, granted that I am a pretty amateur user. Who knows, maybe someday I will be the next great YouTube keyboard drummer!

As Always, feel free to stop by my MySpace page to check out the newest version of the peice.

Jamie

Guitar and Bass!

2010-01-26T16:44:00.001-08:00

Hey There,

I have completed the guitar and bass for my first piece "Midnight on the Water" or even "Minuit sur l'eau" if you like the French title. This piece was the result of a very tranquil walk along the Lake Ontario waterfront. What I saw was calm water with glass like ice flows. So this little tune that is now the last little bit of the piece came into my head and this is my attempt at making something of it. In the future, I would like to add some Piano and Percussion to it, but that's not my department and it looks like a busy week ahead.

I ended up using tons of guitar effects for this song. The effects really drove the creation on this one, rather than the music. Some folks may scoff, but tell that to the Edge. Rather than going good old analog, I used the program Guitar Rig 3 and the interface that comes with it. It's a pretty solid interface to boot, and the program sounds great. The nice thing is that the only source of noise comes from the 10 feet of instrument cable that runs to my guitars.

Please check out the MP3 on my Myspace page if you're interested. It's at myspace.com/jamiesmusicroom . As well, I've included a screenshot of the "Rig" I used for one of the echo sounds in the second half of the piece.

2010-01-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hey There,

This is the first post of the blog that I intend to use for documenting the making of some hobby projects with music and friends. My intent is to keep my ideas organized, and actually accomplish something rather than just fiddling and never finishing anything.

When I have time, in between Electrical Engineering, running and life, I will be posting some tidbits of whats playing in my head. Hopefully I will end up collaborating with some musical friends.

I'll be talking about the process, and creativity somewhat too!

Jamie