May Update

Published by boz at June 2, 2009 in mastering, projects, sound, studios and technology. 0 Comments

I’m gonna try to do a monthly update here, so I can at least keep people informed about what I’ve been up to from month to month. It’s hard for me to find the time to write decent blog articles with any regularity and I’d rather write something decent and informed than just posting small things here for the sake of it.

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Here’s so highlights of what’s been happening in May:

Acolytes, the film for which I produced the original score (written by J. David Franzke) has seen a limited release. Due to the financial vagaries of Australian film distribution, it’s not going to see a general release. The film had a limited run in Melbourne at ACMI. I went along to see it a couple of times and it sounded much better than when I saw it at the Forum for Melbourne International Film Festival in ‘08. It was at least as good as what I heard when we mixed it in Sydney – the ACMI cinemas really do have great sound. Anyhow, the film is now out through Madman – see here. Here’s a review by David & Margaret from At The Movies, and another by Juile Rigg from MovieTime.

Mr. Franzke and I have also begun work on another film for Acolytes director Jon Hewitt called darklovestory. We only just started and should be finished in about 6 weeks or so.

The Red Tree album, which has in a very on and off way taken 3 years to complete, is finally finished and into its release schedule. The album is epic in its scope and has been a real labour of love for both myself and the band. We’ve all been working really very hard to bring it too fulfilment and the band are going to be doing a bunch of shows around the country in support of the album. The first single “Ziah” is out now and the second single “Ivory and Gold” will be out shortly. Check their MySpace or homepage for details. The singles and LP will be are (or will be) available on iTunes. The launch show for “Ziah” is at the Northcote Social Club on 18 June.

Digital Primate was in the production room for a couple of days with dub versions of his last LP which were dubbed up byMad Professor who also mixed the LP. We added a few bits and pieces to the dubs to flesh them out prior to mastering – some additional bass lines, synth passes using the System 700 (see next), dogs barking and Tibetan Dongzhens. We mastered extra bass heavy (naturally!) and the LP should be out through Shock in the next couple of months. Here’s the DP homepage and MySpace.

I’m mid-way through writing music for the new Melbourne Planetarium show “Our Living Climate”. Nat Bates is taking care of the sound design and so far it’s going quite well. Once things get a little more settled with the score I’ll post up a little taster or two of some of the music.

There has also been the usual raft of various mastering, mixing and teaching jobs as well!

Albums: Give people a single 40 minute MP3.

Published by boz at April 2, 2009 in music, opinion and the biznez. 1 Comment

If you’re an album band or artist, why put your work on iTunes as separate tracks? Why not just put up a single 40-minute MP3 file and sell it for the price of an LP? If it’s all about the album, then why cut it into chunks and let the fans pick and choose? For artists who consider the album a complete statement, it’s a bit like taking the time to devise and cook an amazing meal yet allowing the people at your table to skip straight to dessert.

This thought as been rattling around my brain for a while and as it happens a post by Bob Lefsetz made me think it was time to give it some air. Bob (whose blog is top of my regular reads list) says,

If you’re making an album today, I’m laughing. Create one song that grabs my ear, leave me wanting more. It’s about bite-sized rather than humongous. It’s not so much about value as it is about special. It’s about music, not commerce.

When it comes to the majority of pop and rock music, I agree with what Bob is saying. Earlier in the post he also says,

There are artists who make album-length statements. There are some acts whose audience demands more material. But does it have to be delivered in the same old way?

To paraphrase, Bob thinks that artists should draw an audience out – release only the best songs over a longer period of time. If you’re just about songs and songs alone, this makes sense. However, there are artists and fans out there who want more than just the golden nuggets. For some digging for the prize is what makes the strike shine that much brighter.

I hate to be obvious, but think about “Money” by Pink Floyd. Most people think that it’s a great song in and of itself and no one seems to care that it’s 6 minutes long – you can still hear it on the radio! I’m certain that when many of us listen to that track it brings to mind the (well worn) emotional ride that people experience when listening to the whole of Dark Side of the Moon. “On The Run” would sound like rubbish to your average listener if they hit preview in iTunes. When heard in context of the whole album however, it’s one of the most dramatic parts of the listening experience. People who would never listen to an avant-garde electronic soundscape not only find this track acceptable to their tastes, but many also point to it as their favourite section of the album.

In this way the lengthy listening experience of an album is a chance for artists to expand their range; expanding people’s listening tastes and introducing them to new sounds and ideas they might normally cast aside. Getting people to take a risk with their ears is an important aspect of an artists growth, it’s also important to the fans that really care – sometimes they want to be challenged. Artists need to gain the trust of listeners to do this, and this trust takes time. Again from Bob Lefsetz,

A true fan wants more and more music by his favorite artist. But he doesn’t want it dropped like a bomb all on one day, he wants it released spread out over time. It’s like a relationship is collapsed to a week, with not only kissing and intercourse, but babies and divorce all at the same time. Whereas real life is an endless stream of small moments. Musicians should realize this, understand it’s a changed world.

Looking over the time-span of a career this makes sense. Draw the fans out and keep them keen. Don’t give them the second rate material as filler. From a creative point of view however, I’m not so sure. We do have a tradition of listening to longer forms of music. The A.D.H.D. “shuffle” listening experience that the iPod can provide is not all pervasive. It’s no-ones place to say that this is how we will listen to music from now on and it’s reasonable to assume that it’s going to change again in the future. Think of symphonic works, musicals or film soundtracks – they just aren’t built to be broken up. Sure you can play the 1st movement from Beethoven’s 5th symphony, “Bring Him Home” from Les Mis or the “Imperial March” from Star Wars and they work on their own. These musical quotations (songs or not) also call to mind the numerous aspects of what those larger works entail. It’s about a series of emotions and feelings that are drawn out in larger arcs of time. The time period Bob’s suggesting (weeks between small releases) is too long for the album experience to happen. It’s too fragmentary for some artists and listeners. It’s a quick healthy meal for people who want to sit down at a dinner party. Have you ever listened to an album and being slightly nonplussed on first listen only to have the richness of the music unfold over subsequent repeated listens? I fell in love with most of my favourite music this way. To pick up on the relationship metaphor, it’s a little like copping a mind-blowing lay for 3 or 4 minutes every few weeks from someone you adore. It’s one way of making love for sure. Getting laid slowly over an hour however is a whole other thing entirely, and the two just don’t bare comparison.

When it come to the bulk of albums out there today I think Bob is spot on. Most albums are rubbish – many artists don’t have the depth to pull off a solid 40 minutes of cohesive musical ideas and many more again don’t care. It’s hard to make, a massive commitment and creatively risky. We all know of endless records where the 2 or 3 good tracks are surrounded by 6 average ones. Many of these were made by record companies, not artists. Most artists still persist with the album out of some beleaguered sense of tradition to a format, to a package, all the while ignoring the creative and musical aspects of what makes the great albums great. For artists who are smart enough to understand that albums don’t matter to them, then Bob’s advice is solid. However, the album still has a place and I think Bob’s a little too caught up in his own heat to see that it’s what some artists want – it’s how they need to express themselves. It’s also what some listeners want as well – they like giving 40 minutes of their ears to someone they trust. There is no doubt that these people are in the minority, but we all know that one great album can revolutionise the minds of artists and listeners alike. It’s possible that the mass market phenomenon of records like Dark Side of the Moon will not reoccur, but what does this have to do with the one-to-one relationship between creator and audience? Nothing. If this new musical marketplace is all about giving the artists more options and opportunities for them to make great work, then it goes that all cards are on the table and this includes albums. I trust Bob when he says again and again, “Make amazing music, the best you can, and if it’s truly good the fans will follow”. So if this means albums, and you really are serious about the album then maybe you should think about the 40 minute MP3 file.

If you’re an artist or in a band that considers itself “an album act”, you ought to think about what it means if you were to relinquish the option for people to buy only what they think they want. Have a look at this TED talk by Malcolm Gladwell – one of the great revolutions in product marketing and manufacture was the realisation that sometimes people don’t know what they want. Could you release your album as a single track? 1 MP3 file – 40 minutes long – no single tracks for sale? Take the lot or not at all. I made this as an album, so buy it as an album. It’s a bold move for sure, but then again isn’t that why we love music and the people who make it? They dare to express bold emotions for us all.

Why going to an audio engineering school is generally a waste of your time and money.

Published by boz at March 30, 2009 in opinion, technology and the biznez. 1 Comment

I regularly get asked the question, “Where should I go to learn Audio Engineering?”. The question I usually ask in response is, “Why?”

The answers to “Why?” mostly they boil down to people who are looking towards a professional career in the audio industry. If you have to ask about where to learn audio engineering/production/creation, then you’re probably already heading in the wrong direction. Here’s why.

In the past, a few lucky people were able to get a full-time job as an assistant in a big studio or large broadcast company (T.V., radio, etc.). From here they’d work under experienced mentors slowly building up the experience and knowledge needed to become professionals and experts in their own right. This world was a small one with limited spaces, and often these people ended up working at the studio or company for many many years. Today, apart from a few extremely scarce places, this apprenticeship system doesn’t really exist any more. What we have now is a broader network of peers, that exist in places like good music and audio colleges, internet forums, magazines and ‘out there’ in your local music community.

The truth is that many people working as professionals today fall into their career as audio engineers. Increasingly just being an audio engineer alone is not enough to sustain an interesting and fruitful career (think about being an audio engineer at 55!). Another truth is that 99% of people who pay out their (or their parents) money to attend privately held “Big Dollars Audio School” will not end up working as professionals or even skilled amateurs. They will give up as they lack one thing.

What they lack is passion. It seems none of the peers who I admire set out to be “audio engineers”, instead they set out with a desire to make. A lot of these people don’t even call themselves audio engineers, there’s a whole range of titles for what they do; composers, producers, artists and so on. What binds them together however, is that they are obsessed with the process of making sound and music using whatever electronic tools that come to hand. Most of these people stay the hell away from “Big Dollars” and if they do study, they’ll sniff out a good course at an established university or technical college that’s oriented towards creativity rather than vocation.

They all recall with fondness what they did with that first radio, cassette recorder, record player, synthesiser, effect pedal – the point where their obsession first took flight. From this they begin to gather 2 essential things – knowledge and experience. Like any obsessive they do this using any means at their disposal; endlessly listening to records, getting a band together to make music, recording any sound they can, mixing the live sound for other bands, consuming any web-page, blog, book or magazine that has information, saving up to buy equipment, asking questions of anyone who seems they might know something. This process never stops. They live it and are on a constant quest to make better and better work, no matter what part of the process they are involved in. Sometimes this drive means that many other aspects of their life will come second to this need. All of this effort however, feeds back into their knowledge and adds to their experience.

One thing I often tell people is that there are no secrets in making music & sound with technology. If you have ears and know how to listen, you can figure most sounds out. It is not a black art. It’s not as Kevin “The Caveman” Shirley says in this interview, rocket science. Anyone who makes you think or feel this way is probably trying to sell you something and should be avoided. If a student, client or friend asks me a question I will try and answer by telling them everything I know about the subject, hopefully in a way that helps them out. Probably so much so that sometimes I’m kind of annoying, and maybe they wished they hadn’t asked. People who avoid questions, the kind that hold onto their knowledge like it’s a secret, are douchebags and should also be avoided. As useful as words and knowledge are, they are nothing without experience. The time it takes to gather experience and fold that into your working method. It is time served and the wisdom you gain that sets you apart. Knowledge alone is not enough.

People who are looking to go to “Big Dollars Audio School” have been duped into thinking the only way to get direct access to knowledge and experience is to pay large piles of hot, wet, stinking cash for the privilege. What they get mostly is a very diluted version of both which is usually taught by some unfortunate creature(s) who have minus passion for what they do. Many teachers at “Big Dollars” are conflicted about the fact that they’re having to teach what they’d rather be doing for a living. You might get very lucky, but I doubt that “Big Dollars” is the kind of place that’s going to attract a good teacher – ie. a seasoned professional with good communication and enthusiasm for teaching. In the end drained of cash, dreams and time, most “Big Dollars” graduates get their gold embossed diploma receipt and in no time head straight back into the loving arms of the bank, call centre or cafe. It’s a depressing think for anyone to endure, and there is a way to avoid this pitfall.

Here’s what I suggest to most people heading down the path of handing out their money to one of these schools – take that same amount of cash you were going to give to “Big Dollars” and buy some gear, learn how to read a manual, how to use google, and get to work. Record your band, find a band and do a free demo for them – anything! Just get your hands dirty and give yourself problems to solve, things to learn. You’ll become a better sound engineer faster. The other bonus is you’ll have your own set-up to build upon – you can’t record much sound with a piece of paper! If you don’t have truly have the passion, this probably sounds like a risk. It is a risk. If it’s too big a risk or you don’t think you can get your own small studio together sorry, but you’re not going to make a career out of audio and music – face it and move on. If you’re obsessed however, it’s a risk you’ll gladly take. You’ve probably already taken it.