[editors note: This post was started yesterday.. and Matt is actually feeling a bit better today] 

I’m feeling so sick, or have been, that rolling over has been difficult.. and now I have to venture forth to get some food.. some liquids, and what not.. to help me kinda survive… what a mess I am..

In other news I just got through watching the latest Apple Keynote at MacWorld.. which always seems like a worth while topic to blog on..  This year’s MacWorld Keynote was… a strange one as it is apparently the last one.. from now on Apple will be presenting there new stuff on there own..  not at MacWorld, which gives them the advantage of not having to always have something to show off at that particular time of year.. so they now have more flexibility.. which might be a good thing.. but.. it strikes me as the end of something that was an very important element of the Apple experience.. for those of us rabid Mac people..

The other interesting point of this keynote is it was not presented by Steve Jobs.. For a long time now.. there’s been a lot of speculation about Steve’s health.. and issues of succession plans.. People feel like “what would Apple be without Steve?” On rummers of Steve’s declining health.. Apple’s stock price plummets.. and so I suppose not having Steve do the keynote.. was in part a way of saying.. Apple has a lot of good people.. and to start lessoning the feeling that Steve Jobs is Apple.

Still.. Steve Jobs is perhaps one of the worlds best presenters.. he’s legendary.. and without Steve giving the presentation.. Apple’s reality distortion field.. isn’t what it otherwise would be.. which I suppose is fine with me.. but.. I also suppose this will be reflected in my comments.

Apple’s new announcements were of updates of there iLife and iWork suits.. as well as a new 17″ MacBook Pro.

iLife 

iLife.. of course, is basically a set of media production tools for the none professional.. They come free with new Macs and are under $100 if bought on there own..  What they allow you do to, without spending a lot of money, and without burdening you with all kinds of crazy technical stuff to have to wrap your brain around, has always been pretty astonishing..

The problem, however.. is that for me, iLife is sorta… “well why would I use that stuff?” I’m someone trying to operate on the pro level… so instead of using iMovie I use Final Cut Studio.. and hopefully After Effects soon.. instead of using Garage Band I use Digital Performer and a whole lot of other groovy stuff… instead of using iPhoto I use Aperture…

So a part of me feels like.. well that I want Apple to give me reasons to care about iLife.. which pretty comes down to “give me some sort of unique tools,” which of course it doesn’t really do.. 

As a social media person.. I love encouraging people to explore the new landscape.. and iLife is a great set of tools to do that.. of the “any one can make media” type of thing. The trouble is.. if you are a serious social media person.. some of the iLife tools aren’t quite right… and I feel as if.. what Apple ought to do.. is make them quite right for this kind of application.. and so this is my other disappointments. 

New Features

iPhoto now uses facial recognition tools.. along with geo tag stuff.. to help organize photos.. It’s some pretty cool stuff.. but… it’s so consumer orientated… that I’m like “yeah, ok.”

GarageBand now lets you down load tutorials to learn how to play guitar and keyboard. This was a big yawner to me.. not to mention that all the tutorials seemed pretty well orientated towards total beginners… which I actually am when it comes to keyboards… but I’d rather not learn the “simplified version of the song.”

iMovie’s feature set’s depths are now a little more… flushed out.. which is good.

iWork

I’m not totally sure how I feel about iWork.. and so won’t say too much about it.. however, I am thinking of buying a copy as it does feature there keynote program.. which is really good for giving presentations.. and I’d really like to make some sorta presentation on Podcamp this year.

New 17″ MacBook Pro 

The long and the short of it is Apple’s saying the new 17″ MacBook Pro features up to 8 hours of battery life.. and they will last up to 1000 recharges.. which works out to about 5 years.. Of course Apple’s estimates of battery life are notoriously untrue.. so who knows..  but one still imagines it will be pretty groovy…  

Removing the battery pretty much takes a technician.. so.. that’s kind of an issue, though Apple says by not allowing you to remove the battery they can save space and make a better battery.. so, I guess its a trade off.. and if it does last 5 years.. the battery issue isn’t so bad.

Other interesting points is that it comes, by default, with 4GB of RAM, it’s processors are.. I wanna say 2.9 GHz… of its fastest processor option is.. though they do make you really pay for it..  making it a faster processor then what we find in my Mac Pro.. and finally we have option for both glossy and flat screens.

A few other things to note.

In working out how fast a computer is, it doesn’t all come down to speed of processors.. there’s many components to our computers, and it depends on all those components mixed with how the software we are using uses those components.. And.. the RAM speed of the new Mac Book Pros is now 1066 Mhz… SO-DIMM…  DDR3… which is very fast… So RAM intensive apps out to run extra groovy.

Another fun note is that Apple was sued.. not all that long ago… by photographers.. who were doing color critical work.. when Apple had said there laptop monitors gave you millions of colors when they did not… Now Apple is claiming there monitors have “a greater color range” so.. I suspect this is sorta an answer that bit of PR…  

Personally

If my studio didn’t mainly center around a Mac Pro.. if I had to be on a laptop.. the 17″ MacBook Pro is the one I’d go with… and there is a part of me that wishes I had gone with a MacBook Pro instead of a MacBook… for the simple reason of Firewire.. and the sorts of things I’d like to do with it.. but…  I also feel like.. given the kinds of things I’m trying to do with my Computers.. even the 17″ Mac Pro.. doesn’t quite have enough power… ( High end 3D graphics )

Why You’d want a 17″ MacBook Pro:

More screen space equals more productivity… this is made particularly true when it comes to pro apps that generally have a tun of pallets and what not.. that can take up much space. Further.. God forbid you ever do something like music production where.. on many a software’s box it list “2 monitors” under preferred system specs. Of course you can attach that second monitor to your MacBook while in your home office type situation…

Matt’s top Apps for Duel Monitors:

1. Flash: Having a timeline take up one monitor, and the stage another.. rocks.. 
2. Digital Performer: Having MIDI Editors and mixing windows on different monitors… or if you find your self messing with automation of an effect or synths parameters.. duel monitors is just the way to go
3. Final Cut Studio: Having your stage views on one monitor and time line / sequence bin on the other.. makes me happy when I’m feeling blue
4. After Effects: Again.. timeline on one monitor, stage view of other.

There are apps that don’t seem to benefit from duel monitors.. Ableton Live is one of the first that comes to mind.. however.. should yo want to use Live in ReWire Mode.. which means its audio is being routed into another program, or another program’s audio is being routed into it.. having the two programs on two different monitors is always a nice thing… 

And if all that weren’t enough.. 

For us social media folks.. don’t we always want to have twitter up somewhere? Or how about our email program? A browser? Well that’s how I like to roll.. it’s sorta like having little conversations in the office while working…  

Notes on Matt’s Studio 

I bought my Mac Pro a year ago.. and I went with a Mac Pro.. not because it was so bad ass.. but because it had just been updated.. and I like to have the longest product life cycle possible before the new version comes out.. it’s kinda a get the most value idea.. I had actually wanted a 17″ MacBook Pro..

So of course I had to take advantage of what a Mac Pro has to offer.. which is why I decided to enter the wonderful world of 3D graphics.. I started out with 1 24″ HD display

But of course had to move on to a second 24 HD display.. of course you’ll take special note of how neat I am as a person..

I’m not even sure what was supposed to be in focus in that shot!

Back to why the 17″ MacBook Pro

Power 

Well.. the 17″ is the most powerful of the MacBook Pros.. and if you’re like me power means a lot.. My sense is that most people don’t really need a Mac Pro.. but on the level of the MacBook Pro.. well.. the benefits are probably more apparent right off the bat.. 

If you’re doing video, effects often have to render.. doing sound.. how many effects / instruments instances can you handle? More sophisticated instruments and effects often require more power.. If you’re just surfing the web.. power probably isn’t all that important..

Most modern computer.. are actually pretty powerful, even the budget ones..  so I think it’s more then reasonable to ask if paying close to $3000 for a computer is necessary.. Hell.. you could get a couple mid ranged computers for that! Further.. if you’re apps that need the power the most… can take advantage of a network of computers.. perhaps getting a couple mid range computers is actually the smarter way to go! Of course.. if you’re computing on the go, what good is that going to do you?

Matt’s Philosophy concerning this sorta thing:

For me.. I wanted a mobile studio option.. that’s why I got a laptop.. I got a MacBook.. and a mid range MacBook at that.. which is to say one that doesn’t really have that much power…  It has enough power to do whatever I’d want to do with it.. well.. mostly.. but perhaps not do it as well as might be ideal.. and seeing as it only has a 13″ screen.. the productivity isn’t really that great… but.. being a 13 inch-er does make it more portable.. and on a price versus performance level.. it maybe the sweet spot in the Mac laptop range.

Having the mobile studio… in conjunction with the home studio..  means anything I do while out and about.. can be brought home for more serious heavy lifting work.

Top Jobs for which a Laptop is the way to go (at least in the land of Matt)

1. Working with clients: Lets say I’m doing your web design.. being able to go hang out with my client at a Starbucks and show you the work I’m doing for you on the laptop.. well, that’s really the way to go.. and this is probably more or less true for any sorta work I might do for a client.
2. New Media stuff: I can go anywhere… shoot some video, do some audio work.. take some pictures and whatever.. and put it together on the go.. 
3. Recording: Not having firewire is an issue but.. I could go to any environment and record.. where the band is, or where there might be an interesting acoustic space.
4. I could be a live sound engineer: I could probably invest in a few more plugs but.. I can have all the audio ins from the band coming into the laptop.. have them recorded.. and mix them live.. adjust EQ live.. and all the rest of it.. and give the band the live mix..
5. I can play out: I play guitar.. and um, can at least press down the keys of a keyboard. On my computer are all my effects, and what not.. for my guitar playing… plus all my digital instruments.
6. I could DJ: DJ-ing is, apparently, a big part of electronic music culture. The music I normally make is a studio construction.. not really something I can do live.. but.. playing live is an important part of how the music industry works.. that’s how you promote you’re stuff.. so developing a live act.. where DJ-ing plays a roll.. could make a fair bit of sense.
7. Make art from nature: Artist who do a lot with sketchbooks are often drawing from nature.. but digital artists are usually stuck in the studio.. and the closest we get to working from nature is often working from photographs..  So this is sorta a big deal.
8. Get the vibe of the situation: When you’re out and about.. doing whatever.. there’s often a vibe, and energy.. and being able to work with that vibe and energy.. having that effect you’re creative flow.. is a very cool thing indeed.

 Ok.. so this post has probably gone on for too long.. so time to post!

If you’re into digital instruments, you’ve probably heard of Omnisphere… It’s a new software synthesizer put out by Spectralsonics… It came out this past September.. and it’s something a lot of people have been very excited about.. Because the music I make often has a very ambient quality to it.. and because Omnisphere is sorta like.. there older Atmosphere.. all be it on steroids.. and this being a truly wonderful instrument.. if you’re into making ambient music.. well, you can see why I’d be interested..

 Here’s a video to give you a better idea of what it’s like.

So far I’ve really only played with it for a couple of hours.. and I’ve watched all there instructional videos.. So.. I figure I have a pretty good overview of it.. enough to write a post on..  One that really won’t go beyond first impressions.

My current digital instrument library consists chiefly of Native Instruments Komplete… with Kore.. and then there’s Reason.. I say this because I think this is somehow coloring my perception. So far I’m sorta wandering around the application wondering what all the hype is about…. 

Basically.. out side of say Reaktor, I’d say this is probably the most powerful synth in my library now.. The modulation routing reminds me a bit of Massive, or even Reason’s Thor.. The envelopes are basically a take on Absynth.. taken some place else.. The patch browsing is like quite a bit like Kore.. I think I like Kore’s browsing better, but then I haven’t really adapted to Omniphere too much yet.. so maybe my feelings on that will change.

Programing sounds is a very modular sort of affair..  It sorta reminds you Kore in the sense that it’s as if you’re building a synth sound where in you could have multiple component synth sounds.. which is to say it’s sort of “super instrument esk”

 Omnisphere features a number of different synthesis types.. or should we say oscillator types..  which.. well they go deeper then an instrument like Thor.. there are places where I could see them going deeper.. 

I would say my over all feeling is that there’s a hell of a lot of marketing hype around Omnisphere.. and it’s not totally clear to me how it relates to it’s hype.. I think I’m going to have to take some time to really program sounds before I really get a feel for it… but… as critical as I sorta am of it, at this point, I could very easily see this becoming my favorite synth.. so..  We’ll just have to see… 

What I do really appreciate about it is some of the wild experimental approaches they’ve taken to develop of some there “psycho acoustic samples.”

Ok, well check out this video, right.. it’s like.. super “infomercial style” accept.. it’s like the coolest informercial I’ve ever seen.. I mean.. I mean it’s as if John Cage were a part of the informercial..

So.. I guess its sorta almost like.. on a philosophical level, that Omnisphere is so cool.. like a philosophy of sound design.. 

A little earlier tonight I sat through a number of motion graphics examples.. I was expecting to get a lot of eye candy wow-ness.. and while I got a bit of that.. I was left with a feeling of.. being utterly unimpressed with much of what I saw, which probably relates to the problems and issues I’ve been talking about, in my last 2 posts, on the subject of digital story telling. That said.. I did come away rather inspired.

I feel like.. as far as creative possibilities are concerned, the medium of 3D and motion graphics.. is powerful as all hell… The trouble, at least as near as I can tell.. is nobody is really doing it right..  Wow, what an arrogant statement.. well forgive me.. if you’re one of the folks doing it right.. I know.. it’s a little bit of an over statement.

But.. I’m also talking as a fine artist.. I’m also talking about the potential of the medium.. at least as I see it.. and anyway, I wanted to start to talk about some of what has me inspired.. talk about what I’m dreaming in this moment.. that kinda thing.

Dreams

The cost of the dreams 

It strikes me that anything is possible. In this simple statement.. in this feeling that anything is possible.. in there.. the god’s sing.. the music of the spheres.. just waiting for an artist to hear.. and there tail to be retold. Can you hear it?

When we talk about film making.. when the conversation turns to special effects, 3D graphics, motion graphics.. we often talk about how expensive it is. That expense would, at least in large measure, seem to be an effect of what the designers in this area are able to command salary wise.. even with a lot of work being outsourced to India.

Of all the art forms I’m interested in, there is no doubt that 3D and motion graphics is the most expensive areas. Cinema 4D, which I’m using.. retails for between $3 and $4K… After Effects is now going for around $1K, Final Cut Studio is around $1.3K, last I checked.. and there are many other tools.. plus one needs a super fast and powerful computer.. and having many computers to form a render farm.. is a nice idea..  If one is shooting video as a part of it.. pro cameras are several grand.. lighting rigs probably start at around a grand.. MoCap is more then I even want to start thinking about.. the gear to pull keys is more money… 

So just to get the tools to start learning the stuff is like.. prohibitively expensive..  or at the very least, investing in them takes a major commitment.. and then you’ll be faced with a ridiculously steep learning curve! So all of this “might” have something to do with why it’s as expensive as it is…

But lets just say you’re crazy like Matt.. and you’re like “screw it, I’ll invest in it cause I have a big dream,” now the economics are a little different. Now the economics are.. well once you’ve bought the equipment, the only real expense is the time you have to put into the work.. and arguably the regular expense of upgrades.

Of course Matt is even madder then all that! Cause I mean.. I’m also doing the sound studio stuff! The web design stuff? Yeah.. I have issues!

Ok, so implications of these here economics

So.. much like the lizard king, you can do anything..

A bit latter:

Anything seems like a worthwhile topic for meditation.. though anything might not be real. The topic of technical limitations comes to mind… limitations of skills.. as well as limitations of time… and there are still some limitations to my studio… but.. there is still, given all that, many vectors of limitlessness… 

There are lots of little ideas.. many of which have been formed over the course of.. well many years really. I have all sorts of “strategic communications” ideas… relative to the question of how to relate to the market place.. well, lets explore these..

A few days latter:

Little ideas

I think what I really want to do is create “audio visual experiences.” I put it this way because putting it any other way seem to have a certain amount of bagged to it.. it suggests certain things… that “audio visual experience” does not. 

I, of course, am a sound artist.. I kind of think being a sound artist is a huge advantage for a digital film maker.. type.. because you’re able to think holistically.. sound could be central, visual aesthetics could be central, the “art-ness” could be central, dialog could be central, a plot could be central.. and what is central, at any given moment, could shift.. and you really only have the ability to work this way if you are fluent in all these parts..

So audio wise I want to create an experience. There’s a lot of ideas I have that are unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, as a part of some sort of film.. so all these things must be explored.. along with.. just creating an amazing sonic experience.

3D

The impression I’m getting about 3D is that It’s really more about design then production. Every element.. it pays to do research for.. and its all about paying a serious amount of attention to detail.. and it might even be that I can get great results.. nearly coming out of the gate.. if I’m willing to put in the work on the research and design front.. along with a little exploration here and there…

Planning

It’s all about planning! My way of thinking about it is.. you start out with an idea and you develop the hell out of it… work everything out.. from how the sound might work, to how the plot works, the story…. all this stuff, and really refine it.. take it to an extreme.. but then, at that point.. well at a certain point.. be willing to just improvise and explore.. 

 Day latter:

 I’m thinking I need to just post this so I can go on to the next post.. I’m thinking this should be called memoirs of a meditation on digital story telling.. for the simple reason that it seems more like a record of a meditation then anything… 

I figure.. even if I’m totally consumed by other things.. I ought to try and at least get up a post a week or so.. so here goes

These posts might be getting repetitive on this point.. but allow me to describe for you the first track.. as it stands

Lyrics

It’s based on some lyrics I tweeted.. I don’t have them handy.. but I’ll probably post them in good time.. kind of surreal / dada-distic, so to speak.. a strange style of writing.. pretty out there.. extraordinarally deep.. though there depth lys in a place that makes them difficult to understand.. seems almost like gibberish in places.. 

If I were to try and put it in a sound bit.. its as if it’s blaming our current economic problem as an effect of extroversion in the modern situation..  but I’m not sure if that’s what it’s really doing.

Vocal Performance

The performance is to be realized via VirSyn’s Cantor.. which is a vocal synthesizer.  I’ve really only fiddled with Cantor thus far.. so I’m not entirely sure about.. well if I’m going to be able to get an acceptable performance out of it.. not sure how it’ll end up working.. not sure if the work flow I’m attempting is realistic.. so this remains the big question mark.

The way I’m working it is to write out a synth line.. that’s the vocal line.. a kind of stand in.. and to take that performance data.. and put it into Cantor.. and basically fine tune it from there.

The frequency space of Cantor, versus the synth that’s doing the mock up.. will be different.. so.. a part of the process will be trying to make Cantor intelligible with all the other stuff going on in the mix..  well its actually slightly more complex then even this.. Basically.. we have a tun of instruments.. that I’ve brought down into a few groups.. the plan is the put EQ and Compression on the different groups individually.. via Liquid Mix 16.. also put something on the master buss.. and kinda automate the EQs as needed.. 

I also expect that.. once the performance data gets brought into Cantor.. I might start messing around with it.. and possibly there’ll be stuff like backing vocals.. and who knows what.

The Music

The music is pretty insane actually.. I’d say it’s sorta Indra’s Net-esk.. only more so.. taken to a whole new level. 

What goes into it

So far the production features about 30 instruments.. and about 8 auxiliary effects.. We’re talking 2 instances of Digital Performer’s convolution reverb.. 2 delay orientated Guitar Rig Patches, one EVerb from Digital Performer.. 2 reverbs from Kore 2… and I’m not sure what else.. 

To appreciate the insanity of this.. For each instrument.. besides simply telling it what notes to play when, and how hard to play those notes.. you have the automation of Pan position, volume, 8 auxiliary sends.. very often pitch bend and modulation.. and some of the instruments have other performance parameters that I might play with over the course of a track. So.. that’s what..  12 times 30? So that’s 360 parameters you’re programing.. never mind the notes.. So the production is very time consuming.. And though I’ve put in a lot of labor.. it’s currently only about two thirds of the way through… and only a little more then 3 minutes long.

Results thus far

As I was saying before.. It reminds me quite a bit of my Indra’s Net stuff.. only more so. The things I felt critical of in Indra’s Net.. well.. it overcomes those problems and limitations.. There’s more instruments, more effects.. more advanced software, way more powerful computer.. What all this means to the music is… well I’m not really sure.. but I think it’s something kind of big.

While we’re at it, I might as well share with you one of the question marks it presents me with…  Because the amount of instruments, and what not, are so much higher.. things are way more complex. Structurally, my music is not big on repetition…  at least not in a conventional sense..  One of the reasons repetition is important to.. say pop music, is it assists the digestion of the music… it is, after all, “the hook.” When my music was a few order of magnitude less complex then the current project.. I think the simplicity made it easier to digest.. So one of the things I worry about is.. well.. how difficult it might be to appreciate / digest / whatever… So… that’s like a design consideration question.

If we just listen to the music and try and appreciate what it is..  

Well its like a first step into a new world. I think it might be some of the best stuff I’ve ever done. It is full of amazing moments.. flying between a kind of symphonic like aggression kind of LSD trip.. to adventures in ambient space.. where we feel the contraction of space its self.. beneath our feet.. Along the way we travel through so many different sonic spaces and environments.. experience so many different sonic phenomenon.. From classical to all out electronica..  I just think its amazing.

On Lyrics and Music

Now.. beyond all that.. the music is actually a kind of score to the lyrics.. so the music moves through space in such a way that.. it in some way comments on the lyrics.. There’s a line “to creep the reaper out” and we feel the darkening of the space around us…. 

It seems, in a certain way, that both my lyrics and my music are like “adventures in run on sentences.”  It’s all stream of consciousness stuff..  we can go anywhere at anytime.. for any reason.. but..

The spirit of the lyrics is playfully subversive.. seeking to express truths that.. are somehow how in our collective shadow.. My lyrics are very often dark.. living in the abyss.. some of there darkness has to do with there.. transcendence of conventional.. limitations.. which is it’s self an expression of freedom.. all be it free to give satan a bare hug, or something.. freedom  to be monstrous… 

The music is another matter.. A music that is programmed.. note by note… where we’re probably programing something like.. well how many parameters per note? A lot…  That’s a slow a methodical process… It’s not really free as the breeze in quite the same way the lyrics are.. It’s more “free to exert influence over the momentum of the flux in question.” 

So the free as a bird lyrics becomes the central axis point of the whole production.. It’s like a stream of consciousness construction that’s.. somehow taken to this very extreme point of being realized.. via a slow and methodical process? The slow and methodical process is stream of consciousness to.. just that it’s a stream that takes place for days.. as a pose to a couple of tweets on twitter.. 

Going Deeper Into It.

It may sound like I’m just throwing a lot of random inane facts at you… that’s because I’m fumbling in the dark to try and express something I’ve yet to articulate… ok.. read onward for the break through.. or stop here.

We have streams of consciousness that happen at different time scales, what does that mean? Look at your self..  at some point.. and try to become mindful of all the thoughts as they stream past your consciousness.. We could be talking about.. “lets smell this flower” to “I think I shall now turn my head to find out what that dog is barking about.” 

You can look at it in such a way so as to see many thoughts as being made up of smaller thoughts.. and.. if you could imagine your thoughts as grains.. that made this kind of gass.. that filled a space.. you could say “show me all the grains that correspond to this theme” and you would start to see patterns in how various smaller thoughts where components of multiple larger thoughts.. 

I have a kind of pscyho-philosophy that has explored the dynamics underlying how all this works.. Why we think of what when.. what drives our attention.. and how this related to our concepts of reality and life, and what not.. And as it turns out.. this psycho-philosophical blah blah blah.. underlies my thoughts on aesthetics.. and is a major part of my the conceptual framework I use in making my art and music.. 

The idea that we’d be, essentially.. scoring streams of consciousness.. with streams of consciousness.. in a rather operatic way.. The idea that its sorta all on a lark.. that we then become committed to.. if for no other reason then to.. see what might happen.. that in a sense the whole production is nothing but a little experiment to see where all these thoughts lead…

Well that’s my problem with trying to articulate something.. how do you articulate an intuition? 

Well I guess that’s all I’ll write about on that track for now…  lol, but wait.. there’s more.. there’s also a Reason project in the works

The Reason Project

I was starting to feel a little burned out on the huge sound project.. so I thought I’d go take a stroll through Reason..  This project had me starting out via programming a couple Thor patches.. 

I don’t think of myself as terribly talented in the field of sound synthesis.. but.. sound synthesis is.. well I’ll end up with something.. and that something will probably give me something unique to try and go explore as a part of the larger production.

This project also had me loading up REX files..  Ages ago I blogged about how I had invested in ReCycle.. and used cheese open source voice synths to realize some lyrics.. and how I’d processed the hell out of those lyrics.. and then chopped them up into REX files.  Well.. I decided to take one line from that project.

This gets into another whole set of ideas I was playing with.. at the current stage… The idea is that we could eventually put together a track that would be.. that whole song.. with all the lyrics to it.. but for now we have one sentence.. going into this new project.. or one sentence.. cut up.. distorted.. processed.. rendered FUBAR.. played for it’s textures.. not even meant to be recognized as the sentence it is..

Here the vocals become.. a strange texture explored.. we emphasize a few words.. out of context.. as it turns out.. the word we are emphasizing in this project is the word “context.”

In any event.. there will be more to be talked about latter.. I’m over tired here.. what I will say is there’s some very interesting things coming into play with how I’m starting to play with lyrics and how they relate to the structure of the music I’m making….  leave it at that…

NaSoAlMo: What it is and why we like it

This month, or November actually, I plan on participating in NaSoAlMo, other wise known as National Solo Album Month.. This is a thing where various musician / sound artistic types.. decided to participate in a challenge to create a solo album in a months time..  Basically.. it’s an excuse to get serious.. for a month.

Last year, as long times followers would know, I created ZarMattAThustra’s Deep Space Adventures.. for NaSoAlMo….  This, I must tell you, was one hell of an adventure. There’s nothing like working your ass off on something, if you want to grow by leaps and bounds… and at the end of last years National Solo Album Month’s thing..  I felt like I had made a giant jump in my music production / etc skills..  And so now, we embark on the next adventure…

On the Stategery and tactics of taking on such a challenge

Generally speaking.. if I’m working in my conventional ways.. and didn’t have a lot of other stuff to contend myself with.. was very focused.. I could maybe spit out about a track a week.. which might be around.. oh lets say an average of about 6 minutes a pop…. which comes out to what, like 24 minutes of music? Well.. the challenge is to make an album of at least 29:09 minutes.. so that’s not quite going to cut it.. and seeing as I have other things to deal with in life.. and seeing as last year I only found out about this about half way through the month… one must develop alternative strategies and tactics.. which is perhaps another interesting thing to deal with… 

So, lets take a look at last years strategies.. and this years strategies.

ZarMattAThustra’s Deep Space Adventures Production Strategy 

I found out, as I said before, about this challenge, about half way through the month.. but had already begun work on a few tracks.. so figured I could still make a go of it.. If I tried something radicle.

My radical process started with.. working with different types of sound generating type programs.. where you improvise via tweaking various parameters and record the results. This instantly creates a whole lot of music.. but then you have the question of “is this interesting music?” So the next challenge is “how do we make this interesting music?” This became the jumping off point for an experimental sonic adventure. For the most part, this involved the following approaches:

1. Lets Process the crap out of these audio files.
2. Lets mix stuff together different versions of processed audio into a kind of composite audio file.
3. Lets slice up the audio file into discreet loops n stuff
4. Lets sequence the loops
5. Lets integrate this with our usual way of working 

 Well, that’s the broad outline anyway.. 

Tools Used

1. Ableton Live
2. Arturia Storm
3. Native Instruments Komplete (mostly Reaktor)
4. A Wimpy G4 Mac
5. Reason
6. A guitar
7. A Zoom H4 field recorder 

Ok, so that’s the basic broad brush stroke outline of it.. You can read more of my writings related to this project here…  That would be the full list.. The writings where I wrote during the production are as follows: Off In Reaktor Land, Red Rum Re Drumed, and finally Gonzo adventures in music production.

Should you like to hear the album in it’s entirety, you can find it on over here at mattsearles.com/music. 

At the time I created it.. I wasn’t real sure of it.. but since then I’ve gotten a lot of good reviews from people.. and now figure.. well, it’s probably a pretty good album.

The New Production Adventure

Tools likely to be used:

1. The Bad Ass 8 Core Mac Pro
2. This here new MacBook (2GHz Due)
3. Komplete 5
4. Kore
5. Ableton Live
6. Reason
7. ReCycle
8. A Tascam 16 channel Mixer as a MIDI controller
9. An M-Audio DJ like MIDI controller
10. A Guitar
11. A Slide Bass
12. Digital Performer
13. Liquid Mix 16
14. Couple of budget Condenser Microphones
15. Zoom H4

In addition to all that madness..  I’m looking to add VirSyns Cantor Vocal Synth and… VirSyns “Take Five FX bundle” which includes Bark, Matrix, Reflect, TDesign, and VTape. Indulge me as I talk about these a little, won’t you?

1. Bark is a pretty interesting looking  27 band filter / EQ and compressor
2. VTape is a set of analog tape emulation plugs that emulate tape based saturation, delay, and flange. I’m very much in need of a tape delay type effect.. and very much wanting some sort of analog tape emulation warmth.. 
3. Reflect is an Algorithmic Convolution Reverb. Even in the current version of Digital Performer, I’m not feeling like my reverb bases are covered quite enough.. and I expect Reflect to really help out along these lines.. and the integration of Algorithmic and Convolution technologies into a single reverb unit is a quite attractive thing.
4. TDesign is a Transient former.. I don’t know too much about this sorta effect.. but it does give you control over your dynamics / transience.. and there are quite a few production folks out there whom are very into such things
5. Matrix is a Vocoder, and according to a recent issue of Sound On Sound, a very impressive Vocoder.

 So… as you can no doubt see.. We’re talking about a massive upgrade from last year’s project.. studio wise anyway, so, what of the plan off attack?

Plan of Attack

I have lots of music ideas, and I’m pretty sure this project isn’t going to be able to explore them all.. but, we’ll certainly see how far we can make it.

• The first thing I want to do is.. See if I can’t jam out some stuff using Kore to control various Reaktor beatboxes, sequenced instruments, and sound generators..  This will effectively create one box full of building blocks.
• Next I want to experiment with a somewhat traditional-ish approach to sequencing.. where you play around on a keyboard, quantize stuff, and put together stuff that way..
• I want to use ReCycle to create REX files out of some of the results.. to use as building blocks that way.
• A rather central thing I want to explore is.. vocals. These vocals will probably be ether.. me speaking into microphones and vocoding the hell out of it.. / Melodying the hell of it.. or Cantor stuff.. somehow creatively mixed into the music.
• I’m actually thinking of the possibility that this album project could feature some sort of a narrative / lyrical whatever.. that might sit at the center of the album.. which would be a really huge jump for me to take.
• I see a part in the process where I jam away on guitar and bass to construct.. well… something or other.
• I imagine a part of the process where I have all kinds of content loaded up into Ableton Live.. and use the MIDI controllers / Mixers to kinda improvise out something…

 Of course, in the end, all this stuff must me integrated into one giant process… so, wish me luck…

[Editors note: This was written yesterday.. and seeing as Matt bought the MacBook, its likely he may start posting endlessly on the subject, and thus asks me to apologize on his behalf.] 

I’m sitting here thinking “hmm, I wonder if they’re in stores yet?” Should I race out and buy one? I’m so frightened.. yet in a rather Mark Hanser-ish way, tingly…. Ok.. so let this be an entry to help rationalize the damage I’m about to do to my fiscal situation…I don’t know if I can rationalize it, really.  Do I even need a laptop? I mean.. hell yeah, I want one, but do I need it?

I have a crapy laptop.. the sort a self respecting person refuses to take out in public.. Plus it has no hard disk space… and I can’t really do anything with it. Right now it rests by my bed side as a DVD player.. and even for that it sucks.. cause of the screen.. depending on the angle of view.. you can’t see things.. and you certainly can’t do design work on it.. plus it’s a PC so half my software won’t run on the damn thing.

Yeah.. there’s lots of reasons to want a new laptop…  and yes.. I do believe in the notion of having both a laptop and a desktop.. ether that or just a really powerful laptop.. but seeing as I have a monster of a desktop.. the laptop need seems less.. is it just for computing when I’m not sitting in this chair? 

I wonder how such a laptop could change my life. When I got the cheesy laptop.. I thought “oh cool, I’ll be able to work anywhere,” and I fantasized about the meaning and implications of this. But the reality was.. I was lucky if I got 2 hours of battery life out of it.. you could barely watch a whole movie on battery.. I certainly couldn’t do design work on it.. and lets face it.. it’s a pc, and who likes PCs? And there was the issue that it was rather heavy to have to lug around.

It did become my main computer for a time… My G4 PowerMac was so much more wimpy.. all it had going for it was hard drive space.. 

Latter that night, having picked up a new MacBook

Yup, I got the MacBook. How is it? It’s pretty awesome.. I have a video review I hope to put together..

There’s some technical issues.. I’m planing on replacing the hard drive.. which means I can’t really install any software that’s copy protection scheme ties it to the disk.. So.. so far about all I got on there is DP and Reason.. none of the Native Instruments stuff, Liquid Mix can’t run on it cause it has no hard drive..  

I suppose I could put some of that stuff on there in demo mode but.. thing is it literally takes about a day to install all my software.. and I’m not even sure that it would all totally fit.. and what if, in the interest in disk space.. if I should want to not put certain types of stuff on the laptop.. how should I divide my stuff up?

So yeah.. long story short.. I have limited software on there for now.. as I wait for a new drive to arrive.. once I get around to buying the thing…

I will say that battery life is way better then my old Dell… it’s also lighter, better constructed, less bulky, better designed, better OS, significantly more power all around… better features.. and.. well, costs a good deal more. (The old one was free after all) 

So.. I’m already feeling like the experience will be substantially different then what my experience was before.. We’ll see. 

After quite a hassle.. Digital Performer 6 is finally running on my system. The first thing you noticed about DP6, versus 5, is you got a new interface.. This new interface has 3 main implications:

1. How do you make a wheel again?: You have a new interface to learn… you must learn new ways of doing whatever it was you were doing before.. 
2. There is a Psycho Acoustic principle via which software with new shiny interfaces always sounds better then the old ugly ones: More then anyone ever wants to admit.. our perception of audio is influenced by suggestion.. and so it is that if the software you’re using looks pretty.. well you think it sounds a whole lot better. From the point of view of someone producing music.. this is a nice feature.. as it inspires you on your adventure..
3. Stuff is Streamlines, or at least that’s what MOTU would have you believe: For the period in which you can’t figure out how to do what you used to take for granted.. stuff isn’t streamlined…. But I must say.. there’s a lot of stuff about Digital Performer that I really thought was.. well ways in which DP wasn’t exactly making sense in a modern production context.. and what do you know.. they’ve worked out much of that.

Beyond this grooviness.. we got other new grooviness.. but none of this is what’s really striking me at the moment.

Matt, what is really striking you? 

What’s really striking me is a sense of Awe of what I’m able to do in my studio now. On the sonic software side of things we got Digital Performer 6, Ableton Live, Reason, Native Instruments Komplete, Kore 2, and Liquid Mix 16… plus a couple other odds and ends. There are gaps that still need filling, which I could go on about ad nauseam… some of which I’m looking to rectify in the short term, others more long term.. but however you want to slice it.. there’s a lot of power under the hood.

Why are you struck by this now?

This is a complex topic but.. There is this sense that “software tools are not as good as hardware tools,” or at least that would be a simple way of putting it. It’s quite a bit like some people feeling that vinyl records are better then CDs… That vinyl is somehow “warmer” then CDs. This is a complex topic that can go into subjects of sample rates, ramifications of particular mastering issues for vinyl… and on and on and on. In the world of music production technology the topic is even more complex as that the technology of production is much less static then the issues of Vinyl and CDs.. which, lets face it.. people are choosing low quality MP3s anyway…  so what does it really matter?

My production tools acquisition process has always been one where issues of “price versus performance” plays the key roll.. If hardware tools are 1o% better then software tools, but cost 40% more.. I’m probably going with the software.. But in the world of serious sound engineering.. it’s the finally 10 or 5 percent that separates the men from the boys.. Most of what makes a good record are the people making it, not the tools.. but tools are very important.. and if you don’t have the right tools.. you’re probably not going to get there.. 

All of this talk is somewhat abstract.. until you actually start listening to the gear… In the last few months I’ve been going through a few years of Sound on Sound magazine.. reading reviews, interviews, and whatever.. trying to get a better picture of what gear is out there.. production techniques.. and all sorts of related things.. as well as scouring the internet.. and listening to all kinds of samples of all sorts of tools.

Somewhere in this process I began to think “hmm, maybe my tools aren’t so great?” But then DP6’s new look and feel came to the rescue.. and I started to perceive differently.. and started to discover how amazing some of the tools I have really are.

So I mean it was a kind of subjective shift that brought a new perspective.

Where the Artist Plays

As I tried to get to before.. the most important thing is not your tools.. it’s you. And it’s not even really your skills so much as your spirit.. for it is, after all, the spirit who employs said skills.. and even said tools!

There is something to be said for habit.. I find myself approaching my music making in more or less the same way as I always have.. In the last 9 months or so.. I’ve gone on all manner of fun little experimental adventures.. exploration of process alternatives.. and what not… But even with all that.. as I approach the music making today.. I do so in the hum drum of habit.

Habit?

For many, habit is a state inside of which growth doesn’t really happen. However.. if there is sufficient anarchy in your habits.. that anarchy is always going to be putting you in varying positions which you will have to wrestle your way out of.. and that’s often where the interest in my work comes. Or that’s one way of putting it.

Still.. I’m not without desire to get out of my usual habits.. it’s just that.. such ambitions are not really the most important thing.. the most important thing is getting the damn ball rolling.. and if that means playing to your preexistent strengths, so bit it. 

Getting the ball rolling? 

Yeah.. getting the ball rolling is the most important thing. As we speak the ball is in motion.. Wether I’m working a way on music, screwing around with photography, working with video, computer graphics, web design, whatever.. at the very least.. each day.. I do something.

The end goal is to have as much of your energy as possible pouring into this work.  The more of you you can put into it.. the better the work will be… By which I don’t necessarily mean that you should “be in your work” but.. well thats complicated.

Next Day Sometime

My work is a strange beast!  In someways, going about what I’m going about.. I feel like I’m working on Indra’s Net version 2.. Indra’s Net was a project I worked on sometime in 2004… and at the time the laptop I was using.. well the screen was freaking small.. which effected things in a number of ways.. the processor, even for the time.. was very much on the budget side.. I never had enough RAM.. some of my software wouldn’t even run! And we didn’t even have enough hard disk room to save what we were doing in anything other then MP3 files!

Now of course.. we’re using 2 24″ HD displays.. We only have about 2GB of RAM but that hasn’t been a real issue in the music production department.. We have software that’s 2 generations beyond what I was using on Indra’s Net.. We have ridiculous amounts of processing power…  and we have more disk space then we’d ever use for music production. Finally, instead of Cubase we are now using Digital Performer.

Beyond all that we are 4 years in the future.. 4 Years more mature.. whatever I’ve learned about music production since then.. and 4 years evolution in my work. 

So.. The implications of all this.. are actually kind of big.

Implications on habit

I don’t think I spoke elegantly about this last night.. and now that I’m a little further along in my production.. new things are growing clear.

Habit, in a certain way.. is like a path you’re walking down.. habit being an act that keeps you on that path.. and so it is that we see our selves evolving further down a path.. There are certain things we add to our bag of tricks.. certain things that change things a little bit.. lets explore in the context of the current production.

New to the new studio.. is a lot of new Reverbs. Digital Performer gives us a convolution Reverb.. and Kore 2 gives us a whole number of other sorts of new reverbs.. besides new reverbs there is, for me.. new ways of thinking about how to use reverbs.. varying .. and how I might EQ them… all of which has to do with creating a sense of space inside of which our music is happening.

My music, of course, is about space.. moving through space.. more psychic space then real space.. and music production in general.. creating a sense of space is important..

project specifics 

I think of the music as something like a buddhist meditation.. it is something like thoughts flowing through consciousness.. consciousness is our stage.

The use of Reverb and delay, and how I’m mixing stuff.. can transform.. or contextualize something that would normally be thought of as aggressive or rocking.. into something more ambient.. something we don’t think of as aggressive or rocking.. and in a fluid sorta evolving mix.. with respect to our sense of space.. the context can give us different shades.. where the aggressive bits can be more like textures.. to being.. something to rock out to.

This production is very much like this.. about this..  We have this rather industrial type percussion.. which rises in intensity over several measures.. and also moves from very far away to closer.. It repeats.. with gaps between repeats.. and it isn’t until it’s second repeat that it ever gets close enough to us that we feel it as heavy in anyway.

The sound elements that start off far away, and move in closer to us.. are all simply repeating the same lines.. no variations at this point.. accept in how they play against the other repeating parts.. and with respect to there location in the mix.

Everything has this ambient like feeling to it.. Until part way through.. We have a rather lead synth sound.. it repeats twice.. but then.. when it might repeat.. in comes a church organ.. which though it does start of a little ways away from us.. it doesn’t start off in audible.. and it’s repetitions are variations.. and it becomes as if the repetitions of the different instruments are now kind of.. playing against each other in a new kind of way.

It’s during this stage of the music’s evolution that I’m now bringing in a string section. The string section will not be playing a repetitive part.. but will instead be playing in ways the plays off the harmonic ecology of the mix.. repetitions we do find in it.. will be to echo other instruments.. and to create a move clear coherence.. in the material.

For now the music is moving into a place where it could be quite a bit more aggressive.. to be heavy and rocking.. but where we are at now is still a bit of a dream. 

How this Compares to Indra’s Net 

What I failed to mention about the Indra’s Net Project was that.. I had just bought Komplete 2.. (5 is my current version).. and I was really just started to explore the tools.. and a new version of Cubase.. Now I actually know the tools..

What we are seeing now is subtleties.. between the new reverbs, the larger sound pallets… and the mix has a much greater kind of.. quality to it.

I’ve spoken about the subject of sound software running on your computer versus on accelerator cards else where in this blog.. and my general view about the subject… and the faster computers have gotten, the less the value of the accelerator cards.

A few years back, when Universal Audio first came out with there UAD cards.. there cards where many times more powerful then the computers you’d put them in.. This allowed for effects plugs, and what not, to be of a substantially higher quality then what you could other wise get.. thus rise of UAD… but now our computers are many times more powerful then the cards…  

So.. finally.. Universal Audio releases the UAD 2 cards… which makes the cards now a whole lot more powerful.. which is nice…. they have a trailer that explains the cards here. So this is kind of big news…  

Matt’s Reservations

Theoretically one ought to buy a new computer every 2 years or so.. and when you do this.. software that runs off that computer gets an upgrade every two years.. I think the sort of person who’s attracted to UAD cards.. is often the sort of person who upgrades there computer less frequently…. you see this among a lot of music production folks.. people running Protools rigs and what not.. but for me.. I have a lot of other things that I do on my computer that demand power, out side of music production.. so at least for me I think it makes less sense.

Software that runs on a UAD.. the development cost associated with this, versus running of your computer.. makes UAD type software more expensive.

If you buy a UAD.. the software needs that UAD card to run.. so.. if you have both a desktop and a laptop… wherever you might use the laptop.. for me as a part of an out bound type studio.. well you loose much of your studio.

I’m not sure of this, but it seems like there might be some latency issues relative to UAD. 

UAD 2 cards are now  runing anywhere between $500 and $2000…  You can get a UAD  card.. for $700.. that comes with the Neve console sound, so to speak, of which you can run 32 instances off the card.. This and it comes with what we might call the UAD bread and butter stuff.

I think if you look at the market in general, this is actually a quite reasonable price.. particularly as you get a voucher towards more effects..

I already have good emulations of the Neve compressors and EQs.. via liquid mix.. although I could benefit from more instances.. If I were to invest in more EQs and compressors.. I tend to want to make sure they could run on my out board studio… and I’d very much like to not have the problem limited instances.

So.. I mean if I where to drop $700 on something like UAD2 Nirvana 32… what I really want is to come out the other end with a well rounded studio..  

So… for anyone whom works in some sorta studio.. and perhaps particularly for the electronic sound artist, planning out your studio is a pretty important thing.. and has a huge effect on what sorta work you produce.. and for this reason, perhaps among others, I find myself forever obsessing over this sorta thing….

The latest refinements to my thoughts on the studio thing is..   well complicated, but I don’t want to get into that complexity here.. To sorta keep it simple: I’m now thinking short and long term. The short term is.. within the next 2 years, the long term is 2 or more years out.. These time frames are subject to change.. and kinda sorta represent a way of thinking about both my economic and creative situation.. and kinda sorta.. where I think I ought to be going.

As regular readers would know.. I’ve been thinking of investing a good deal of money into sound studio tools.. I’m not sure what the last figures I was thinking of… where they stood..  but it was fairly substantial…  now I’ve decided to limit myself to two programs… and anything beyond that is like… well if I discover I need to go that route…  

The Tools in Question

Breverb

There’s a reasonably good review on the online edition of EQ magazine..  of Breverb that you can find here. 

Breverb is an algorithmic reverb plug in.. The advantage of algorithmic reverbs, relative to convolution reverbs, mainly comes down to tweak ability… Algorithmic reverb is to convolution reverb what a synthesizer is to a sampler.. 

Reverb effects are super important to me in the style of music I find myself trying to invent: They are important in creating a sense of space inside of which sounds inhabit.. Space, in my work, is something that dynamically evolves as the sounds move through space.. and algorithmic reverb’s “tweak ability” has important advantages over convolution for this kind of thing…

The final note is that Breverb is, as these sorts of things go, not all that expensive at around $370 

Cantor

Here we is talking about a vocal synthesizer… I’ve talked about both Breverb and Cantor in previous entries.. Cantor in the larger subject of bringing vocals / words to my projects.. The approach of using a vocal synth.. has certain drawbacks relative to using an actual human.. but.. to really get the actual singing.. particularly if I’m doing the singing.. and of course I can’t sing.. requires a pretty substantial investment in software and hardware.. 

Beyond the tool investment issue with real human vocals, we have the issue of work flow.. with respect to composition and production… and with this various other issues and challenges. While these are all things I’m excited to take on.. there is a feeling that.. there is probably an optimal challenge level to be taken on at anyone point: If you do the same old same old too much.. it’s boring.. and if you push the challenges too hard.. things get frustrating.. so you want to find the sweet spot.. and given all I’m trying to do right now.. I think it makes sense to not go too far out there.. at least in the short term.

So that’s about it…