I composed the prototype theme for "Chapter 14: A Murder of Babblers and Clowns", the new chapter in my science fiction radio play series ("Extreme Gravity") . . .

THOUGHTS

I used an Addictive Drums 2 (XLN Audio) MULTI that I created recently for the drumkit and modified one of the recently created SampleTank 4 (IK Multimedia) Multi-Channel Instruments . . .

[NOTE: Addictive Drums 2 has a variety of drums, cymbals, and Latin percussion instruments; and there are many predefined drumkits, each of which actually is a Multi-Channel Instrument (a.k.a., "MULTI"). You can modify them and save the modifications as a new drumkit; but each one is a MULTI. It's a conceptual type of thing; and there is no specific reference to a MULTI; but each drumkit (factory preset or user-defined custom drumkit) in fact is a MULTI. This is different from SampleTank 4, Kontakt 6 (Native Instruments), and many other VSTi virtual instruments which can be (a) singletons (only one instrument) or (b) Multi-Channel Instruments depending on the way they are configured and used . . . ]





I like the Gibson EB-0 "Devil Bass" in MODO Bass 2 (IK Multimedia), so I used it as a VSTi virtual instrument singleton . . .



Having the Addictive Drums 2 and SampleTank 4 Multi-Channel Instruments (a.k.a., "MULTIS") already created and configured made getting started quick and easy, since most of the computer stuff already was done . . .

There was a tiny bit of configuring, of course; but after doing this several times recently, (a) I knew what to do and (b) I knew how to do it . . .

The work starting with having the concept; so creating it was intuitive and did not take a long time; and since a good bit of the musical concept mostly was unconscious, (a) it appeared rapidly and (b) the infrastructure existed, hence it was intuitive even though it was the first time I heard any of it as a coherent theme . . .

[NOTE: This is mixed specifically for listening with studio-quality headphones like SONY MDR-7506 headphones and Apple AirPods . . . ]



The drumkit pattern includes a shout-out to "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop" (Little Anthony & The Imperials), which is due to the epiphany about a decade ago that drums are musical--something that occurred soon after I got my first drumkit for which I made custom 22" drumsticks from 5/8" diameter oak dowels so I could reach everything without needing to lean, this being one of the many ergonometric aspects of the drumkit and included stacking cymbals to make it possible to play a series of cymbals in one motion, typically ending on a wood block, cowbell, or drum . . .

[NOTE: Around the same time, I had another epiphany, which is that a piano is like a drumkit where (a) the individual piano keys are drums, cymbals, and Latin percussion instruments and (b) fingers are drumsticks. This made playing pianos and synthesizers vastly more intuitive, since for practical purposes it separated (a) being musical, chordal, and all that music theory stuff from (b) actually playing. The musical, chordal, and music theory aspects are there; but it's done automagically by the unconscious mind; hence you only need to focus consciously on "playing the drums" . . . ]


The Really Bigger Drumkit ft. 22" Custom 5/8" Oak Drumsticks



I plan to add some Rammstein-style electric rhythm guitar and Realivox Blue (RealiTone), of course . . .

Lots of FUN!

Interesting work and nice use of S1. Seems that there is no panning of instruments or attempt to place them in a sonic field? Or is that done in the mixer of the multi?

michaelmyers1 wroteInteresting work and nice use of S1. Seems that there is no panning of instruments or attempt to place them in a sonic field? Or is that done in the mixer of the multi?

Glad you are enjoying it. I will do more audio-engineering and producing later, but I think it has intriguing possibilities for a theme for some type of show . . .

THOUGHTS

In this prototype version, I did not do any panning and special effects, other than using a handful of IK Multimedia VST effects plug-ins to add deep bass to the bass; "White 2A" compressor-limiter to set the volume level for a few instruments; and "Brickwall" limiter for the output and one instrument to keep the output level within bounds, and so forth . . .

[NOTE: The "FATT-1A" preset boosted to 6.5 dB adds deep bass to bass instruments and kick drums; but it has other uses, of course. The hardware unit was introduced in 1951 (Pultec® EQP-1A). AM Radio stations and Broadcast Television used these to keep the broadcast audio within FCC standards and regulations, and curiously it made everything sound better. As a general rule, I do not tweak everything. Instead I limit the changes I make to factory presets; and for boosting deep bass, I just increase the output level to 6.5 dB, although not always. I think it's amusing that getting 21st century deep bass maps to using an emulated version of a broadcast radio signal processor from 1951 that was used to keep broadcast radio signals within federal government standards designed (a) to avoid damaging or exploding radios and loudspeakers and (b) to avoid annoying listeners . . . ]



Vintage Vacuum-Tube Program Equalizer (IK Multimedia)



Brickwall Limiter (IK Multimedia)

Curiously, the IK Multimedia VST effects plug-ins I use are sophisticated emulations of vacuum-tube signal processors dating back to the 1950s, which at first were used to keep AM radio broadcasts within Federal Communication Commission (FCC) broadcast standards and regulations; but producers and audio-engineers soon discovered that these signal processors have melodic properties that make music and singing sound better; hence they started being used in recording studios . . .

IK Multimedia finds original vacuum-tube, and other flavors of these broadcast signal processors and does detailed examinations of the circuits and various behaviors to create precise software emulations, which IK Multimedia then packages and sells as VST and AU effects plug-ins in T-RackS and as add-ons . . .

Many of them used vacuum tube, but others used semiconductors, transistors, "op amps", and so forth--each of which has unique auditory behaviors and characteristics--where "op amps" change audio from electricity to light and then do various things that can be done with light but not electricity, followed by converting everything back to electricity . . .

There are other ways to enhance digital music via software emulation; and there are a few companies like FabFilter Software Instruments that create their own effects plug-ins using 21st century software technologies and ideas; but a lot of the work essentially is done with emulations of 1950s vacuum-tube and later optical broadcast signal processors . . .

Mostly, I left the instruments--including the drumkit--as they were panned by default, but I adjusted some of the volume levels . . .

Generally, I prefer to have the volume sliders pegged at 0dB; so I use the IK Multimedia "White 2A" compressor-limiter to adjust the volume levels . . .

[NOTE: This is easy to use, and I leave the center control as it is by default. The left control increases or decrease the input gain and the right control increases or decreases peak reduction. There is a button for compressor vs. limiter mode; but I usually leave it in limiter mode. With some instruments, the gain is too low and they cannot be heard; so I adjust them with the White 2A compressor-limiter. This way I can leave the Studio One Professional 6 slider in the Mixer pegged at 0dB, yet can adjust volume levels as needed . . . ]



White 2A Leveling Amplifier (IK Multimedia)

Panning locations and volume levels can be set in the VSTi and AUi (Mac-only) mixers; but I prefer to do it in the Studio One Professional 6 Mixer . . .

Panning and motion can be controlled by Automation, which is another way to cause sounds to "fly" from one side or location to another . . .

It's easy to hear but not so easy to see that most of the time I have two or three of everything in the drumkit--two kick drums, two snare drums, and so forth . . .

Sometimes I have three kick drums and three snare drums . . .

This way, one can be panned far-left; another panned top-center or middle; and the third panned far-right . . .

For the other drums, cymbals, and Latin percussion, it's usually enough to have two--one panned far-left and one panned far-right . . .

Yet for some Latin percussion instruments--primarily maracas and shakers--I have three and I move from one to another so the maracas and shakers are in motion . . .

Prior to focusing on Multi-Channel Instruments (MULTIS), I would have three VSTi virtual instrument singletons for the kick drums; three for the snare drums; and at least two for everything else . . .

[NOTE: This is the most elaborate producing and audio-engineering I have done on a song; and it has a virtual festival of instruments in motion, as well as some synthesized cat purring. It's best enjoyed when listening with studio-quality headphones or Apple AirPods . . . ]



Project: "Sweet Hour of Prayer" (PreSonus Notion Forum)

In the new MULTI strategy, I think the idea is to have three separate drumkit MULTIS to do advanced panning, along with some specialized MULTIS for Latin percussion, again one MULTI panned far-left and one panned far-right, perhaps with a third panned top-center (headphones) or center (stereo studio monitors) . . .

On the other hand, I only have one electric bass (currently a Gibson EB-0 "Devil Bass" via MODO Bass 2 [IK Multimedia]), and it's panned top-center or middle . . .

Most of the time I keep the kick drum at top-center unless it's doing something that benefits from emulating a double-kick or triple-kick setup . . .

I have a few instruments that are predetermined; and are part of my current "Basic Rhythm Section"--primarily a simple drumkit, electric deep bass, two electric rhythm guitars, one Wurlitzer electric piano or Rhodes electric piano, a Hammond B-3X organ, and a synthesizer or two . . .

These do not change so often; and prior to the new MULTI strategy, each one was a VSTi virtual instrument singleton . . .

I have user-defined templates (Studio One Professional 6 ".song" files), so doing the initial configuration is reasonably fast; but now I am switching to using Multi-Channel Instruments, and th strategy is different but nevertheless the same . . .

Some of the Multi-Channel VSTi virtual instruments like Addictive Drums 2 are very elaborate and have over 12 different drums, cymbals, Latin percussion instruments, channels, overheads, room microphones, and effects, which is more than I usually need; so I am experimenting to determine the best and least complex way to create effective drumkits with MULTIS . . .

SUMMARY

This is a new adventure in digital music production; so I am developing and enhancing the Multi-Channel Instrument (MULTI) strategies . . .

As you observed, I did not do any panning other than the panning done by default; but this is something I am going to do . . .

My thinking at present is that instead of having eight separate and distinct VSTi virtual instrument singletons for the drumkit, I will have three Multi-Channel Instrument instances--each with its own MULTI--and then pan and adjust them specifically . . .

I think this will be more efficient in terms of computer resource usage; and it certainly allows considerable pre-packaging and advanced configuring, which when done in user-defined custom templates and presets should save time--making it similar conceptually to having a studio setup for the Lawrence Welk Show, except it's all virtual . . .

[NOTE: The audio most likely is run through one or more of the aforementioned physical signal processors (see above) . . . ]



Lots of FUN!

You outline an approach that is totally different from my own, which I find really interesting for a number of reasons, and I think it's worth a bit more discussion!

When I produce music I'm attempting to emulate analog instruments (strings, brass, winds, percussion, etc.) placed in a virtual space (usually a recording studio scoring stage or sometimes a larger concert hall venue). Here's a capture of my virtual venue emulation software, MIRPro showing 28 instruments for a project I'm currently working on, carefully placed in a virtual recording hall, the Vienna ORF Grosser Sendesaal:



At one time in the 19th century before Thomas Edison's Gramophone this is how all music was experienced, with a human set of ears connected to a human brain listening to human players making music on analog instruments (or with their non-amplified voices) in architecture. This is part of what fascinates me (being an architect) about classical/traditional non-electronic music; the instruments and the architecture of the space they are played in combine to create a unique and specific sonic experience (a guitar will sound very different played in your living room versus played in a 2,000 seat concert hall). For these reasons, I always start a music project by determining the size of the ensemble, the venue I want to perform it in, and the positioning of the players in that imaginary virtual sonic architecture. It's one of the first things I address in my workflow.

Fast forward to the early years of the 20th century and you get pioneers like Leopold Stokowski who started to realize the potential of electronic recording/broadcast of orchestras for/with radio and this evolved with folks like Alan Blumlein who invented the first practical stereo microphone setup in the 1930's. This developed into an ability to capture instruments in a sonic environment with amazingly high fidelity to the original sound in the original venue, resulting in some incredible recordings like those of the Mercury Living Presence Series (one of my regular references and an ideal that I try to duplicate in my own productions, with admittedly limited success).

Fast forward again ten to fifteen years and you get another generation of pioneers, guys like Les Paul and Adolph Rickenbacker who were perfecting electric versions of acoustical instruments and the four-track maestros like George Martin, who realized that the recorded electronic signal made in a studio environment could be isolated and manipulated instrument by instrument, sliced up, sometimes figuratively and sometimes quite literally, and recombined using magnetic tape recording in a controlled manner to satisfy both the artistic inclinations of the musicians or the producer (The Beatles, as talented as they were as singers, musicians and songwriters, would never have achieved the success they did without George Martin's production vision) and the commercial potential of mass recording distribution. The production techniques that you illustrate in this post reflect this appraoch.

So what I find fascinating is that although we're using the same Notion and Studio One tools, in some ways our approaches, mine and yours, mimic the last century or so of evolution in music recording and production, which is, as you say,

Fabulous!

Some of the strategies we use are nearly identical once a few curiously similar perspectives are understood . . .

THOUGHTS

As I was explaining to someone recently, I am not like most folks due to an early traumatic event that occurred when I was 18 months old and plugged a metal bobby pin into an energized electric socket . . .

My father was an electrical engineer ("EE"), and he told me there were two outcomes depending on which side of the bobby pin went into which side of the energized outlet first . . .

It was a variation of the famous Schrödinger's Cat thought exercise which Erwin Schrödinger devised to demonstrate the absurdity of one of the premises of quantum mechanics--something he, Albert Einstein, and a few other noted realists thought was beyond goofy . . .

In one scenario, I would be dead; but in the other scenario my finger would be burned and I would be frightened by the white hot bobby pin . . .

I have a verified memory of it, but it's a primarily visual and tactile memory without words or other more mature descriptors, which in context is quite logical since toddlers at 18 months-old do not have well-developed vocabularies and associated mental apparatus . . .

I explain it generally is a matter of seeing the light and for a few milliseconds literally being the light . . .

As best as I can determine, one of the most profound consequences of this event is tending to have a nearly complete timeline of memories from that point forward; and this is what I think makes me a bit different from most other people . . .

Some folks claim they never dream, and other folks claim they have no memories of being children; but this is not the case here in the sound isolation studio . . .

If I am physically exhausted, then I do not have so much control over my dreams; but most of the time I start thinking about something before I fall asleep and then upon awakening I have good ideas or perhaps a specific solution to an otherwise puzzling problem, which might be the type of synthesizer to use in a song or anything else that needs a solution . . .

After a bit of reading and studying psychology--in particular Freudian psychoanalysis--I discovered something I call "directed dreaming", where the strategy is to ponder and often solve vastly complex problems by dreaming about them, where the "directed" aspect becomes possible by intent when dreams become more than something which happens when you are sleeping or perhaps day-dreaming, with the idea being that you take control of the way you dream and then use dreaming productively . . .

One of my hypotheses in this regard is that directed-dreaming is a strategy which makes it possible to use the brain as a quantum computer of sorts that is not limited to linear, sequential, logical thinking . . .

Presenting hypotheses and ideas like this in some discussions tends to map to folks suggesting, "Dude, just say 'No!' to drugs"; but I am not the only person who knows about directed-dreaming and uses it to determine brilliant solutions to otherwise puzzling problems . . .

I probably think about it more than most folks; and I have given it a specific name and developed a few useful rules; but as John Lennon sang, "I'm not the only one" . . .





In conversations with software engineers over the years, I have found that it's not unusual to mention solving complex problems in a dream; and while I am not certain all software engineers do this to the extent I have refined it, it's certainly not an unusual event when it occurs; and I think this also applies to other fields and activities including architecture, where at some time or another you solved a complex architectural problem after awakening from a dream where the solution appeared in the same way that composers and lyricists occasionally report that a song and corresponding lyrics "just appeared" over a few minutes, complete from start to finish . . .

Related to this, when I was teaching myself how to play lead guitar I did a lot of things over-and-over for hours at a time, since this is the way one develops neural pathways and what colloquially is called "muscle memory" . . .

Years later, I discovered that while the Auditory Cortex (Brodmann Arreas 41 and 42) has a response time of approximately 65 milliseconds for elaborate sonic textures and so forth, the truly rapid response time for sounds occurs in the Frontal Eye Fields (Brodmann Area 8) at 24 milliseconds, which is sufficiently fast to identify or perform 40 events per second . . .

Connecting a few dots, part of the reason for doing things over-and-over when learning an instrument is to engage the Frontal Eye Fields; and this leads to the oftentimes response by Jazz musicians when asked how they composed and played a particularly amazing solo in real-time on the fly, which is that "Oh, I just played it off the top of my head" . . .

Not so curiously, the Frontal Eye Fields region of the brain literally is located at the top of the brain . . .


Frontal Eye Fields (Wikipedia)

Traveling part and parcel with this is my firm hypothesis that the unconscious mind ("id" in Freudian terminology) is a virtual warehouse of information and knows a lot more than most folks imagine . . .

It's a different type of memory, and much of it is not so easily recalled by the conscious mind ("ego" in Freudian terminology); yet when you learn how to trust the "id", it provides some amazing capabilities, all of which is an aspect of what at first is a frightening activity . . .

One of my projects or experiments in this regard was focused on teaching myself to play grand piano simply by thinking about it and directed-dreaming, which I did over 20 years with surprising results . . .

I also watched videos of a few piano players (Chico Marx, Liberace, Floyd Cramer, and John Lennon) where the focus was on body motions rather than on anything associated with music theory, melody, harmony, counterpoint, bass lines, chords, and so forth . . .

I alluded to this in a recent post; and while I made some progress over the years, there were two key discoveries or epiphanies that marked significant leaps of progress:

(1) The first epiphany occurred as the consequence of misunderstanding something an audio engineer told me in the mid-1970s, which was the "Paul McCartney did everything on the first or second take", which I took to apply to everything and thought it was simply amazing; hence I decided to do it . . .

Even though by that time I made the decision to give it a try I had designed and built the sound isolation studio--a room within a room within room on a floated floor of rubber mats made from ground truck tires where the innermost room was not physically attached to anything and was separated from the outermost rooms via air spaces, insulation, and so forth in all directions based on the fact that when sound is personified, all it needs is a single nail to escape or to enter, which is the corollary to the rule that sound is annoyed by being forced to travel through diverse materials, where for example when the goal is to annoy sound, a layer of 1/2" sheetrock atop a layer of 5/8" sheetrock is vastly more annoying than two identical thickness layers of sheetrock--the idea of playing lead guitar spontaneously was frightening, which I later realized was silly, but not at the time . . .

I would try to be completely and totally spontaneous late at night when nobody was in the house and all the doors were locked . . .

The sound isolation studio is so soundproof that in an experiment I had a friend run a Stihl gasoline-powered chain saw perhaps 30 feet away in the kitchen, and I heard nothing but felt some vibrations through the floated floor . . .

There could be police cars outside the house with sirens blaring, and I would not hear it inside the sound isolation studio when all the doors were closed and I was listening to music while wearing studio-quality headphones . . .

Yet in the early months of trying to be like Paul McCartney--composing and playing lead guitar solos in real-time on the fly--I was terrified that there would be a loud knock on the door and there would be two FBI Special Agents who were sent by the government to tell me that being musically spontaneous was not allowed in America and that I should "cease and desist", especially when having Jazz thoughts . . .

Was this enough?

No . . .

I made it even more terrifying by imagining that I was teleported onto a stage with my Stratocaster, effects pedal rig, and Marshall stack during an Elvis Presley concert where a spotlight shone on me as Elvis looked my way and said "Take it, Surf!", directing me to play a lead guitar solo for a song which at most I had heard only a few bars . . .

If this actually happened, I think most folks would wet their pants; but while it was terrifying, I endured and started playing whatever appeared in my mind . . .

It took a few months to get over the sheer terror; but after a while I realized it was silly and then embraced it vigorously, at which point I started to become skilled in composing and performing lead guitar solos in real-time on the fly on the first or second take . . .

Skip forward to a few years ago, and I read somewhere that like George Harrison, Paul McCartney would do things in the recording studio over-and-over to the point of being a bit absurd; and this was something Elvis did back in the days when songs were performed live in the one-track or two-track recording studios, where for some of the hit songs he was not satisfied for 20 or 30 different takes, which more than anything says he had an "ear" and knew intuitively when everything was "good" . . .

Was the audio-engineer being candid?

Yes, but he was telling me about Paul McCartney doing vocal harmony overdubs on one or two songs on the "R.A.M." album, not on everything . . .

(2) The second big event occurred when I got my first drumkit and worked on embellishing and improving it for about a year--adding more percussion instruments and focusing on ergonomics--which coincided with the epiphany that drums are melodic that led to realizing that a grand piano is like a drumkit where (a) the individual 88 keys are drums, cymbals, and Latin percussion instruments and (b) fingers are drumsticks . . .

As noted in a previous post, this made it possible to relegate all the melodic, chordal, and music theory stuff to my unconscious mind and then to focus in an unhindered way in my conscious mind on "playing the drumkit" . . .

This does not map to being able to play piano from sheet music; but it definitely maps to being able to play piano that fits and is compatible with already recorded drums, bass, rhythm guitar, and so forth . . .

And if there is a third epiphany, then this is it:

(3) If you play enough notes sufficiently rapidly, then at least some of them will sound "good"; hence when in doubt, do drum rolls.

EARLY LISTENING AND CURRENT LISTENING

With this in mind, my early listening experiences were either (a) via radio, 78 RPM record player, or television played through one monaural, small loudspeaker or (b) in a cathedral or auditorium where liturgical or ballet music was played in real-time by humans using analog instruments or singing . . .

During this time, the big event was "Great Balls of Fire" (Jerry Lee Lewis) and it's truly fantastic "slapback echoes" . . . .

It was a monaural record, but the echoes gave it spatial dimension . . .

[NOTE: This is monaural, and it's best enjoyed with listening with studio-quality headphones and Apple AirPods . . . ]



This was the start of my love affair with reverberation and echoes; and it was a mind-changing event . . .

Perhaps curiously, due to the larger format of 78 RPM records, they were surprisingly accurate and high-frequency . . .

Fast-forward a few years, and the big event was "Walk Don't Run" (The Ventures); and next in line was "She Loves You" (Beatles), both of which were monaural recordings . . .





Skip forward a few more years, and headphones began appearing--slowly at first but more recently becoming ubiquitous, at least as ear buds and Apple AirPods . . .

Although few people listened initially to Beatles albums while wearing studio-quality headphones--which at the time were the only type--one of the more surprising things was that Beatles albums were mixed for headphone listening . . .

"Stereo" was new in the early-Beatles years; but George Martin produced headphone mixes rather than the more artificial "stereo" types of mixes, where in some European versions, the singing was on one side and the instruments were on the other side, which was strange and not my cup of tea, at all . . .

The "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album virtually demanded at least some amount of headphone listening; and this set a new standard for listening, as well as composing, arranging, producing, and audio-engineering, which today is my primary focus, although I always consider real performances and listen to music played through a calibrated full-range studio monitor system with a flat equal-loudness curve running from 20-Hz to 20,000-Hz at 85 or 90 dB SPL measured with a dBC weighting . . .

George Martin said in an interview that anything over 17kHz was there to entertain dogs; but I am more practical here in the sound isolation studio and for the most part set 10kHz as the practical upper limit, at least for everyone except babies whose parents have not taken them to a KISS, Metallica, Rammstein, Justin Bieber, or Miley Cyrus concert and sat near the loudspeakers . . .

STUDIO MONITOR SYSTEM LISTENING

For what you are doing, you need to listen to the music played through a studio monitor system--as described--and (a) the listening room needs to be sonically neutral and (b) the studio monitor system needs to be calibrated to the room . . .

For reference, calibration can correct some types of listening room problems; but as a general rule, equalizing is best kept under +/- 3dB to avoid introducing equalizer distortion . . .

When there is a gnarly low-frequency standing wave, this can be corrected by putting some number of rolls of fiberglass insulation and cubes of compressed cellulose insulation in the corners or the room and wherever else proves effective . . .

[NOTE: Overall there are approximately 10 rolls of fiberglass of varying sizes and 5 cubes of compressed cellulose insulation in the sound isolation studio. I kept adding this type of sound-absorbing insulation until when calibrated the room sounded neutral and crisp. I used a Behringer equalizer to do the calibration and checked it with the ARC System (IK Multimedia) but only used the ARC System for checking, not all the time . . . ]

ARC System 3 (IK Multimedia)



It's not so visually appealing, but you can cover them with cloth for a more visually appealing treatment . . .

I put Helmholtz resonators in the walls and ceiling of the sound isolation studio, but whether it actually does anything is another matter, although the aforementioned insulation treatments cured the primary room problems and equalizing corrected everything else . . .

[NOTE: The Romans embedded large ceramic wine bottles in the walls of their theaters and filled them with varying quantities of sand to adjust the room acoustics to the type of presentation--singing, speaking, and so forth. The general concept is observed when you blow across the top of an empty soda pop or water bottle. The resulting pitch is the pitch or range that the Helmholtz resonator absorbs and by doing so controls in a room treatment . . . ]

In this regard, I like to use "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson) to set stereo center for the studio monitor system after calibrating and to verify that everything is sonically neutral and crisp . . .

[NOTE: This version has the best sound other than the purchased, high-quality version . . . ]



Both the producer and audio-engineer (Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien, respectively) are synesthetes and see colors when they listen to music; so it's no random occurrence that the arrangement, instrumentation, vocal production, and mix for this song are so perfect . . .

It's also fascinating to study this song when listening with studio-quality headphones or Apple AirPods, where there are instruments and vocals at far-left and far-right, as well as top-center, of course . . .

Played through a calibrated studio monitor system, you should hear things at far-left and far-right, which is not the case with every song and is one of the reasons this song is excellent for fine-tuning a "stereo" studio monitor system . . .

Another simple and very useful test is to stand in the center of a listening room and clap your hands one time . . .

The desired result is the room is dry with no room-induced reverberation and short echoes . . .

I mention this because one of the neighbors knows I focus on music and asked me to give an opinion on his home theater room, which I did . . .

I did the "single-clap" test and said the room sounded very good and offered some additional opinions . . .

He told me about some of the things he had done, including adding another layer of various material in back of the walls and ceiling; creating air spaces; and doing various types of damping and insulating; and it was very effective and similar to what I did when building the sound isolation studio . . .

He said, "These might look like walls, but there is a lot more to them than just being simple walls" . . .

The primary reason the sound isolation studio is 6 ft. wide by 7 ft. tall, and 12 ft. long is that by the time the innermost room within a room within a room was built, there was less available space, which is fine with me . . .

It started as an empty room with a 9 ft. high ceiling--and there was plenty of room to the sides--but the "room inside a room inside a room sitting on 5/8" rubber mats" used about two feet of the floor and ceiling height . . .

Perhaps curiously, in a dry and sonically neutral listening room you will be able to appreciate elaborate reverberation schemes, which I mention for other folks who might read this . . .

For reference, as you know, the Taj Mahal is the worst listening room on this planet, and an anechoic chamber is the driest listening room; but for syrupy lead guitar reverb and fascinating echoes, I like the Taj Mahal or an Olympic-size swimming pool in a non-insulated metal building with lots of big glass windows, where the reverberation and echoes are so intense you have to shout to be heard when having a conversation just a few away from someone . . .

Curiously, "reverb chambers" in the early days of recording where ceramic-tiled bathrooms, showers, steam rooms, or saunas with water-filled tubs or pools where music was played through a loudspeaker and then captured by a microphone some feet away, which often could be moved via an electric motor and rope or cable on a trolley to increase or decrease the reverberation, where the closer the microphone to the loudspeaker the more dry and the farther away the more reverberation and even echoes . . .

HEADPHONE PERSPECTIVE

My forum moniker is (1) of three perspectives I use to describe headphone listening; and it's the perspective where you are inside your mind looking forward . . .

The other two perspectives are (2) in a helicopter looking downward and (3) looking from the side . . .



With all this in mind, I have another way of diagramming the sonic spaces of songs that is more focused on producing, arranging, and audio-engineering, where this is the map for "Blue Ain't Your Color" (Keith Urban), which (a) is his signature song and (b) is a personal favorite for overall sound, composition, arranging, instrumenting, vocal production, and audio-engineering:


"Blue Ain't Your Color" (Keith Urban) ~ Basic Producing Map ~ Headphone Perspective

[NOTE: This is best enjoyed when listening with studio-quality headphones or Apple AirPods, since it matches the Basic Producing Map . . . ]



Of the three perspectives (see above)--(1) inside looking forward, (2) overhead in a helicopter looking downward, and (3) outside looking at the side--the top-half of (1) is the most practical, with perhaps a tiny bit of the bottom-half for bass, kick drum, and droning deep synths . . .

The other perspectives are difficult or perhaps impossible with headphones . . .

There is a panoramic effect from Wave Arts that can do this in a limited way; but the rules for headphones are not easy to realize for complex music . . .


Panorama 7 (Wave Arts)

When you have your soundstage configured, Panorama 7 might be useful to have a solo violinist walk onstage and then stand in a specific location to start playing or something similar . . .

Regarding reverberation in Beatles songs, "Recording the Beatles" (Curvebender Publishing) suggests that George Martin had the audio-engineers filter out everything below 500-Hz and everything above 10kHz based on the view that frequencies below 500-Hz made the reverb muddy and frequencies above 10kHz mostly just added annoying high-frequency noise; but remember this was primarily for vocals and the dry vocals were present, so the reverberation was enhancing not replacing . . .

Once you have the various instruments recorded to Audio Tracks in Studio One, it's possible to duplicate the tracks and send them as a group to the soundstage while doing something else with what essentially are the dry versions . . .

These are just a few ideas, and whether they might be useful is another matter, although conceptually I am intrigued by the idea that working with dry and wet flavors might provide something useful--perhaps not for every instrument but for a few instruments that might use enhanced focus . . .

More so over the past year or so, you have done some mixes that I consider to be exquisite when I listen with studio-quality headphones (SONY MDR-7506 headphones, a personal favorite since they are sonically neutral but have good deep-bass response) . . .

All of this is fascinating, and I enjoy writing about it while listening to music . . .

Lots of FUN!

I added a second Addictive Drums 2 (XLN Audio) MULTI and a Hammond B-3X organ and Leslie rotating loudspeaker cabinet (IK Multimedia) . . .

THOUGHTS

It took a while to add the second Addictive Drums 2 MULTI, in part because I had to rename everything to indicate panning for the two Multi-Channel Instruments (far-left and far-right, respectively) . . .

Along the way, I added an LP Rock cowbell . . .

Now there is a pair for each drum and cymbal, for example ("L. Kick" and "R. Kick") . . .

The dual-drumkit should sound similar, since the combination of the same drum panned far-left and far-right maps to top-center; but I made some additional changes and altered the tom-tom and cowbell patterns . . .

The Hammond B-3X chord patterns are new; and I made a few changes to the Tremolo Stratocaster . . .

[NOTE: This is mixed for listening with studio-quality headphones and Apple AirPods . . . ]



Lots of FUN!

I added Latin percussion instruments via EW ComposerCloud X and a hypnotic synth . . .

THOUGHTS

Latin percussion is good, and I found a hypnotic synth in EW ComposerCloud X . . .

I the Opus VSTi virtual music instrument that comes with EW ComposerCloudX; and it uses "performances" instead of "MULTI", but they appear to be the same things, more or less . . .

There is one five instrument Latin percussion "performance", but while adding more instruments was possible, none of them sent output to Studio One Professional 6.2 . . .

I found a hypnotic synth and after trying to get it to work with the five-instrument "performance" with no success, I loaded another instance of Opus and currently am running as a singleton . . .

On the good side, I expect to be able to add four more instruments to the second instance of Opus . . .

[NOTE: This is mixed specifically for listening with studio-quality headphones and Apple AirPods . . . ]



I plan to record some real electric rhythm guitar playing a Rammstein-style chord pattern now that the MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid external digital audio and MIDI processor is working . . .

It's easier to play it on a real electric guitar than to try to do it with syncopated music notion and a virtual electric guitar . . .

LYRICS

I have a sketch for lyrics inspired by "Du Hast" (Rammstein), and I am going to see if they fit the music . . .

Du
Du bist
Du bist schön
Ich möchte deine Fantasie sein

You
You are
You are beautiful
I want to be your fantasy

©2023 RAE Mulltimedia. All Rights Reserved.

The current version of the song has a series of four-measure sections and one three-measure section; so the plan it to lengthen them and adjust everything once I hear how the electric guitar sounds . . .

If there is a vocal melody, then it will be baritone . . .

Lots of FUN!

I like to use automagic synth presets to play musical phrases . . .

THOUGHTS

When I was updating the theme for "A Murder of Babblers and Clowns", I found an intriguing synth preset--EW Hypnotica from EW ComposerCloud X--and decided to use it to add some hypnotic pizzazz in one of the sections . . .

Nearly the instant I heard it, I recognized it would be an easy way to add a bit of fluidity to one of the sections; and after adding a compressor-limiter to control the volume level and deciding on the pattern of {half-rest, half-note} which allows the other instruments to lead for part of the the measure, everything was very nice and certainly was not something that would have been easier to do by composing all the notes (as contrasted to letting the preset do the work) . . .

This is the EW Hypnotica preset doing its work:



If one is a purist and must compose every note and rest, then I suppose this might be antithetical; but my perspective is that composing includes using presets and other things which occur (a) automagically via serendipity rather than (b) intentionally by design . . .

Here in the sound isolation studio, it's no different from using a real effects plug-in for electric guitar or using a preset for a real synthesizer that later becomes a standard sound in a hit song . . .

[NOTE: This is a Farfisa Compact Organ . . . ]



[NOTE: This is a VOX Continental Organ, so it's different from the Farfisa Compact Organ used in Wooly Bully, but the idea is the same . . . ]



[NOTE: This is a VOX Continental Organ, too . . . ]



Lots of FUN!