Verb Musings

This morning, my friend Sudara complained that he was loving Eos too much. (Hard to fault him, it's my absolute favourite reverb).

The conversation rambled towards convolution reverbs. I'm fairly ignorant about them beyond the layman's description that we're given to make us layman stop asking questions. This ignorance allows me to formulate all kinds of crazy bullshit.

See, we talked about recording sounds in small reverberant spaces like bathrooms. It occured to me that people like the sound of stuff in their bathrooms more because of the resonances of the room (the way certain frequencies are boosted) than any reverb.

That's a subjective statement for sure...  but bear with me.

Which led me to wonder, does convolution reverb capture the EQ/resonance of a room and is it able to impart it to the affected signal.

My initial guess was no.  But thinking more on it, the IR inherently has the EQ of the impulse (how can it not?) so unless the convolution black magic loses it somehow, the affected signal must have at least some of this EQ curve applied.

I can certainly imagine an experiment that could test this (at least subjectively) but it's so much easier to ask the Google of Mountain View.

And having asked, I learn that there are several methods of gathering impulse responses.  Some involve a sine sweep over the audible frequency spectrum and others involve some kind of digital noise burst.  So if the IRs you have in your convolution reverb are made with sine sweeps,  the implication is that every audible frequency is covered and would be applied to whatever you were running through it.

Sort of revealing my earlier assertion as the naive bullshit it was.

Which raises questions about the kinds of IRs I have kicking around...

And thus we learn.

/me is off to play with impulse responses

CC licensed photo by flickr user: Pulpolux !!!

Blog on Life Support

There is still minimal brain activity. Won't be pulling the plug just yet.

A busy summer has come to an end and with the change in season, I change from a wannabe athlete back into a musician.

Stay tuned...

CC licensed photo by: RambergMediaImages / Keith Ramsey

Sub-Bass! What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing!

Except perhaps annoying the crap out of everyone around you.

Yesterday I was driving in my car testing a mix when along comes a powerful low frequency rumble. Because I was listening carefully to my mix my first reaction was holy crap did I mess that up? Slowly I realized that must be from some joker with a subwoofer in a nearby car.

People have learned that some of us don't like having smoke blown in our faces. How hard is it for people to figure out that not all of us like the sound of your music, your Harley, your leaf blowers or the tinny techno beat leaking from your crappy ear buds when you're on the train beside me.

Your noise is just as much an encroachment on my personal space as your physical presence.

Grow some manners. Stop it.

The Craft

I have long viewed computer programming, which pays my bills, as a creative exercise. Those not in the field may not understand this but among my colleagues, this idea seems to resonate. Large programs are not made overnight, but rather built from many smaller pieces or ideas over a long period of time.

One of the things that initially (re)drew me into making music was the speed with which I could produce something.

That initial honeymoon period appears to be ending and I find myself wanting for higher quality output. I'll leave aside the discussion of what higher quality means but there is a general recognition that higher quality requires more time.

To date, most of my musical output is something that has been created in mere hours. Even if I recognize problems, I rarely go back and revisit these creations. The few times I've tried, I've found it quite difficult. And that difficulty kind of leaches all motivation and ... you know.

This morning, I had a brain flash and I asked myself, why is it that I can write software over many days or weeks but not create music over the same period.

Some immediate thoughts come to mind. One is simply skill. My career in technology is simply longer than my hobbying with music. If you accept, like Gladwell suggests, that time invested leads to results, skill, etc then the math is simple.

Making music, like making anything else, requires a collection of skills that are often called "the craft". With software, I am reasonably versed in the craft. With music, much much less so. My musical skill (knowing notes, scales, chords, etc) is akin to a young programmer that is simply fluent in a programming language (learn Java in 20 days) but otherwise unskilled in the art.

This got me thinking about what aspects of software craft might be transferable to music (as a way to avoid going to a Songwriting for Dummies seminar).

One thing I realize is that in programming (at least using textual languages, as opposed to a visual language like Max) the form seems to lead the programmer to be somewhat organized. We need to organize things into functional blocks that interface with other functional blocks. And if one piece doesn't fit, modifications are made.

There are similarities in music. Each block (verse, chorus, intro, bridge, etc) needs to connect with the others. Now while many of us work with these musical blocks to varying degrees... but when you get stuck, how willing are you to re-record an idea that you've already committed to "tape"? Speaking for myself, almost never. Hmmm. Difficult to improve the whole product if the components are not up to par.

Inability to re-record a block speaks to a bunch of problems. One is just "the sound, man". How many times have you dialed in a sound, wanted to do a little overdub later and not been able to match it? Or simply not remembering how to play a part because you never wrote anything down?

Seems to me that these and other problems and strategies for dealing are all part of the craft. And I have much to learn.

Proud Papa

Woah.  Been awhile.  Oh well, can't be helped.  If you were holding your breath, I'm sorry but I know you're lying.

This weekend past, the fabulous T-Rox Music Academy (now defunct?) held its 2010 Summer Showtime and once again many kids and adults masquerading as kids performed.  I was one of the latter.

Performing for me is getting easier but...  it was warm and humid that day and with the nerves my hands were clammy.  My playing is questionable at the best of times but with clammy hands, laying down the main loop in my quasi-improvised affair was frought.  But I soldiered through.  The funny bit was after I got the finger picked loop into the looper, I realized I forgot my pick in my pocket.  So I had to stand up mid performance, smile stupidly and grab a pick.  Look ma no hands.  Doh.

But enough about me and just a little more about me.  My youngest child, J the drummer, decided to sign up to perform Come Together.  After signing up, I asked him who he was doing it with and he looked at me a little blankly (in that way that boys have) and he said, "uh, you?"  Figuring I could learn the bass part, I said sure.  What about the rest of the band...  Long story short, we roped in his older brother A to play guitar.  Of course, coordinating rehearsal times between all the various activities...  well not so much.  Finally, on the day before the show, we all got into the same room and worked it out.  It wasn't too bad but we still needed a singer to tie the whole thing together...  we arrived at the theatre and found J's drum instructor Ed and explained our plight.  He helped rope in the fabulous Kirt (a guitar teacher) to sing the song with us.  Awesome.

So, after my guitar performance, I got the bass ready and we waited for our slot.  My hands were still clammy.  And we're on.  Quick setup, intro, etc.  And go!  A bit of a shaky start but before long were were loping along like we'd been gigging for years.  It's hard to describe the little bubble you're in when you perform.  When you're solo, you're juggling stuff, you're busy.  But in a band, it's kind of a team thing and you get a chance to breathe, look around and really enjoy it.  And the thing that I thought about as we played?  Just how incredibly proud I was of my two sons.

Can't wait to do it again.

2023 Update: unfortunately the video evidence on youtube has been removed for unknown reasons

Drama Queen

This morning I went to the post office and mailed my latest CD Comfort Noodles to RPM HQ. Mission accomplished.

Behind the scenes, I came damn close to quitting. To explain I should probably start at the begining.

This was my second year participating in the RPM Challenge and I had plans. I was going to record enough material that I could pick and choose what made the CD. I was going to find some kind of thematic continuity. And most of all I would take another huge step toward closing the "taste gap" (see this video for what I mean).

I started well. I had a handful of decent ideas. And then... Excuses. I'm not a fan of excuses so I won't bore you with them. Suffice it to say that I stalled out. Then I started to procrastinate. Before I knew it I was running low on time, hating what I had already done and was rationalizing an exit.

Perhaps you've had these thoughts yourself.

• it sucks and I don't want to release anything but my best work, anything less than excellent will reinforce a reputation for producing mediocre work
• it sucks, everything sounds the same (wait didn't I want a theme?)
• it's all guitar stuff and I want to be an electronic artist, it's not me!
• it's not weird enough
• no time to properly mix
• no time for artwork
• eek no time!

During this year's RPM Challenge the beautiful city of Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics. As a Canadian, it was pretty hard to escape (broadcast on at least four channels) and as a wannabe inline speedskater I wasn't even trying. I watched and watched.

A luge athlete lost his life. A figure skater lost her mother and still skated (to a medal). A cross country skier broke several ribs, punctured a lung and still found a way to finish (again to a medal). I got pissed at athletes that I was disappointed in (not for their failure to achieve results but for what I felt to be a lack of heart).

Thinking hard about this over the weekend it became pretty clear to me that quitting was not an option. That my judgements of my material were coloured by my judgements of myself, not the music. That I'm just as much of a drama queen as anybody I judged guilty of that before.

In the end, I sucked it up and finished (aided by the pressure of a deadline). Now all the machinations seem silly and neurotic.  Entirely self created drama.

Which leaves me to introduce Comfort Noodles.  An ambient collection of mainly guitar noodles.  Another signpost on my journey.

RPM Progress Report

Well half the month is gone.  Eek!

At this point I have 4 demo tracks weighing in at a whopping 31 minutes.  So you could say almost there.  But here's the thing...

All the tracks so far are actually thematically consistent.  Which is what I wanted.  Except, I'm really not sure I like the theme!

Completely buggers my original ideas about album title, etc.  Good thing I haven't committed to any artwork...

For your listening pleasure, I offer the tracks thus far.