Monthly Archives: May 2012

How To Be A Music Producer: Intro to Physics of Sound (Consonance and Dissonance)

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Audio PhysicsThese are introductory notes into understanding the physics of sound.

Sound travels through the air in what we call, sound waves. These waves oscillate (Or vibrate) a certain number of times per second  (faster or slower) and our interpretation of these different oscillations or vibrations give us the perception of pitch in sound.

The number of times per second a wave vibrates, is also called ‘cycles per second’ or traditionally Hz (Hertz). When a waveform vibrates at 200 cycles per second or Hz, we can graph this and identify where on the audible sound spectrum it exists.

Sound waves are complex forms that are made up of ‘partial’ sounds, or better known as ‘harmonics’. These harmonics are embedded into the complete pitch and combined along with the ‘fundamental’ sound to create the characteristics of the complete sound.

In example, when the note C is pressed on a piano, the harmonics of note are also present in the note of C.

The harmonics of a sound are related to each other by the ‘harmonic series’. To calculate the harmonics, which define the particular fundamental sound, you would use the formula ‘n * f’ where ‘n’ is the number of the harmonic in the series (ie: 1st harmonic, 2nd harmonic, etc) and were ‘f’ is the fundamental sound or note, expressed in Hertz.

Example: Harmonics of fundamental 110hz:
2nd harmonic: 2 * 110 = 220 hz.
3rd harmonic: 3 * 110 = 330 hz

In the harmonic series, when a harmonic doubles the value of the fundamental (ie: f=110hz and h=220hz) it means this harmonic is an octave above the fundamental. These are special relationships in sound.

When creating music, it’s important to note that when two instruments occupy the same fundamental frequency, their harmonics are also occupying the same space in terms of harmonic series.

This also means, when an instrument is playing an octave above another instrument, and the frequency range of the instruments are the same, we are also dealing with the same harmonic series. The result is a smooth sound or a consonance sound in music.

However, if we play an instrument which does not occupy the same frequency range and also doesn’t occupy the same harmonic series, what we get is different oscillations or vibrations in the music that create a roughness or dissonant sound.

When we create music, and certain intervals are used, we must understand that we are not only playing the note itself, but also the harmonic series to create an intentional use of consonance and dissonance in music. Otherwise, we could be creating an unwanted perception of sound, which is music that is either out of key or distorted.

In popular music, there is very minimal use of dissonance and more use of consonance. This is true with most Top 40 music. Many of the instruments in the songs, are mapped to frequency ranges that would compliment the idea of consonance in music.

Artist Development: The Obession with Fame and Fortune

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Everybody FamousTop psychology studies state that there is a growing epidemic in today’s culture, everyone wants to be a celebrity.

I think they are wrong. I think that in today’s culture, everyone is celebrity. There is a reason why people pimp out their facebook profiles, update their twitter every 45 seconds, and add a billion friends they don’t really know; it has to do with mimicking celebrity (not the persons, but the status).

Why do people search for fame or celebrity? It’s due to our human nature and psychology. It’s human nature to want acceptance from 80% of the people we meet, it’s human nature to want to feel like what we say matters and it’s human nature to want to live in abundance and have lots of friends.This is the image of celebrity being pushed by media.

Our primal instincts tell us to achieve the ideas of celebrity as well. Apparently, when we were primates, we would watch the strongest members of our species to learn what they do for survival (monkey see, monkey do). We would mimic the behaviors of stronger primates in an attempt to become stronger ourselves. There was no physical difference between the ‘stronger’ primates and the ‘weaker’ primates, they both had the exact same physical attributes, it was all psychological. In a way, we have been pre-conditioned to want celebrity. It’s the very nature of the human being, we want absolute acceptance, we want strength, freedom, power for survival and we want to be on-top of the heard. We want to matter.

Now we know why people want it. But what is celebrity in reality?
Celebrity is nothing more than a psychological phenomenon that happens in the human mind. The problem is that celebrity is not a physical thing that can be experienced, nor is it typically something that can be earned through hard work or education. The majority of all celebrity is based on three factors, your marketability to sell, likeable personality/convertibility and chance. Chance is important because you need the chance or opportunity to meet someone who has connections with marketing dollars to push you through the media pipeline.

Take notice of one other thing. Talent is not part of the equation of celebrity. Talent is achieved by hard work and dedication. Celebrity is achieved through money exchanges between media companies who have vested interests.That’s right!

Media companies made celebrities. You don’t think that the media companies wouldn’t leverage a basic human want?… That’s not unheard of, well actually, that is the business of media! Media companies leveraged the psychological behavior of our early primates and because celebrity is a form of advertisement in today’s culture, we blindly pay attention to celebrities because we see what we could possibly have/be like.

Media companies have created an expectation of what we should be like, and they switched gears. It used to be that you could only dream of becoming a celebrity(1960s – 1980s). Now, media companies endorse the idea that anybody can become a celebrity, even for doing nothing. This is far from the truth, seeing as they are the ones who select celebrities that are good for business

Are you sure this relates to Music and Artists?

Think Justin Bieber, a kid who can’t exactly sing, dance or rap well. Yet, media companies picked him up and pushed him through the media pipeline. What is the message? Anybody can become a celebrity, just keep posting vids about yourself singing online. What is the reality? Nobody cares about you singing, they are too busy posting a video of themselves singing. Having a million likes doesn’t bring home the bacon and it doesn’t mean anybody really cares about your music enough to buy it.

Think Jersey Shore, here’s a show that glamorize drinking non-stop, partying like animals and that lack of responsibility is cool. What is the message? Go out every night, get hammered and party till you drop and you’ll live the celebrity lifestyle. The reality? Alcoholism, STD’s, lack of financing, dead-end job, car accidents, early childbirth and brain/kidney damage.

Think twitter, here’s an application people use to follow (or stalk) their favorite celebrities. What is the message? Now you can get more personal with your favorite celebrities all the time and share information about them. The reality? A constant reinforcement of the importance of celebrity in your life. More influence for you to be like them, less like you. More exposure to media marketing messages. You will mimic their activity (add friends, post non-stop, etc) Not to mention, you will spend a total of 24 hours on twitter at some point in your life, that’s one full day, was it worth reading all that crap? Did you learn anything useful?

Think Facebook, an application that keeps you connected to people you know in real life, all the time. What’s the message? Connecting with friends, share and get your photo’s ‘liked’. The reality, The ‘Like” button in reality, is just a button.. It doesn’t mean they even watched your video, listened to your music or even read your status. Being on-demand all the time and allowing everyone access to you 24/7, even online, is an exhausting experience.

Think Kim Kardashin, here’s someone who got famous for a sex tape. What’s the message? Having sex is fashionable. The reality? STD’s, pregnancy, emptiness.

Celebrity today, is distortion from reality. It is fantasy, it is selfish desire. Celebrity when we were primates, was about showcasing a unique skill that could be useful for other’s survival.

Don’t chase celebrity, or money as an artist, rather chase your artistic freedom and expression and as Michael Jordan says “Let your game, be your marketing tool.”

Video: Documentary: CBC – The Passionate Eye – Episode – Teenage Paparazzo.

Learn How to Produce Music: Introduction Audio Compression Notes (Technical)

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audio compressor

Figure 1.0 – Before and After Compression and Boosted Gain.

Introduction to Audio Compression
Audio compression originated in the 1920s when an audio engineer for the Orchestra would anticipate when the orchestra would get louder in their live performance and he would then turn the gain down on the output so that the live performance would appear to be playing at a consistent level of volume. As technology improvements were made in the field of audio, a compressor was created to basically mimic the behavior of that audio engineer of the orchestra.

The main goal of a compressor the was to reduce peaks in audio so there is a consistent level of volume in the entire track. It does not push up the volume, it actually reduces the volume of the loudest part of a song. What pushes the volume up, is the gain knob, which is separate from compression. The result after compression is extra sonic space in the audio file as the peaks were normalized to a regular volume, this would allow for the volume of the entire audio file to be boosted closer to 0db without clipping (see Figure 1.0)

In vocal compression, anytime you use a compressor, you change the way the vocal sounds. In most cases, the vocal will usually sound more synthetic and less natural. This is because the compressor is processing all dynamics of the vocal, and not just the peaks that stand-out as loud parts that annoy you.

Depending on the vision for the track (if it’s an intimate natural song, or a heavy dance track) adding compression to the vocal may be out of taste with the artistic identity of the song and you may have to consider the alternative to compression.

The alternative to vocal compression is “Gain Riding”. This is a form of manual compression whereby you would (automation)  lower the fader/volume of a peak in the audio file to a consistent db level in contrast to the other peaks in that file..

If you decide to use compression on a vocal, it often helps to use a basic compressor rather than a multiband compressor. This is of course, by preference. Many engineers will use multi-band compressors to enhance and limit different frequency bands of a recording.

In terms of vocal compression, adding a compressor to the lower frequencies, will allow for higher band frequencies to shine through, which may be a desirable effect if you’re looking to cut the mids out of a vocal and increase the shine.

Multi-Band compressors are often used more on different instruments to add accents and highlights to the frequencies that define that instrument. For example, an acoustic guitar compressor may slam the mid low-end frequency bands cut out the mud and allow for the higher band frequencies to shine in the song to make it sound sweet.

Compression settings vary track to track and are really more defined by the vision of that particular song. Before any settings are touched on compressors/EQ, one should have a clear idea for the vision of the song. What are the defining characteristics of the song and how do you bring them out more in the mix via compression/EQ. What are the elements that are just horrid about the song and how can you use compression/EQ to limit or reduce their presence.

Compression is also a great mastering tool and can be used  to make audio sound the same on various different speakers and headphones. This is known as “Snapping Compression” and can be achieved by setting the compressor to a long attack and fast release rate. This allows for transients to come through first and then the body of the compressed sound will be smashed, creating an almost snapping effect, this is great for snare drums.

At the end of the day, compression, much like EQ has to do with taste. When you think of taste, think of food. Adding too much salt or pepper will ruin the meal, but just the right amount will bring out the flavours that you enjoy the most.

Artist Development: How to Truly Get Over Bad Relationships / Friendships

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Bad Relationship

To truly get over a bad relationship or friendship, it takes 3 parts acknowledgement and 2 parts action.

These 5 Steps will lead you through the process of eliminating the negativity in your life and get you back on track to being happy :)

 

But first: “How did I get myself in a bad relationship in the first place? I’m not stupid!”
You’re not stupid, you’re an artist and you will get into many relationships with people some significant, some not so much. It’s your job. We all generally believe that the more relationships we have, the better off we are; however, some relationships will cause you more bad than good.

The following five steps will get you outta, over and passed this bad relationship and on to the road to focusing on success and happiness!

The Five Steps to Truly Get Over a Bad Relationship:

1. Acknowledge that YOU are in a BAD Relationship:
Not all people are good, have you seen the news? There are bad people in this world and you have to accept the reality, that you probably have got into a relationship with a bad person. You can’t always beat the odds.

Relationships are about give and take, so ask yourself, how much has this person taken from you? How much have they given back?

Once, I thought I had a strong connection with this girl. For over two years, I surprised her with gifts, made her laugh, listened to all her problems and supported her in her goals. I was always there for her. One day, I let her know how I felt. She said she wasn’t ready for a relationship and needed to focus on herself and I respected that. Less than a month later, she got into a relationship with another guy. Basically, I had to cut contact, I felt like such a sucker for thinking I was anything more than bank/counsellor to this person.

What I’m trying to say is, this person had taken so much from me, (in time, money, advice, the things that matter) and hadn’t given anything back in appreciation.. nothing. All I really had was the hurt, and when someone leaves you with hurt – they aren’t leaving you with happy.These are what you call bad people in your life.

Until you acknowledge this fact and reality,that this person is bad, you cannot move on or get past this bad relationship;  you will keep justifying it’s existence. If you can accept it, move on to step two.

2. Acknowledge Your Feelings Unhappiness and Loss in this Bad Relationship:
Of course you’re going to feel unhappy and as if you lost-out, bigtime! You had put in a lot of time and effort into this bad relationship. What did you lose? You lost the investment of time, and that is something you cannot get back no matter how much you kick and scream. It’s so significant that it affects you subconsciously.

What did they lose? Not much.. They didn’t make the same investment you did; they may not even feel as if they lost anything but a number on a cell or a face on a facebook; as hard as it is, this is the reality, so don’t expect that they will come back to you out of some epiphany (feeling) they had at some late hour.  (plus this is about you, not them)

Because this loss affects you subconsciously, your conscious mind will get confused. You will look at this BAD relationship as if it was a GOOD relationship. You will remember times in the relationship when it was fun and good or focus on how ‘good’ of a person they are. Do not be fooled by this illusion. (good = happy, do they make you happy?)

What you are actually doing, is holding on to hurt and pain. These memories, physical objects or anything that reminds you them, has nothing to do with being happy, it has everything to do with pain and hurt and continuing to think of them will only lead to one thing, more pain and hurt.

Stop the pain and the hurt! You do this by first removing anything that reminds you of them. The memories will come, it’s subconscious, but at least now you are aware of where they will lead, stop them in their tracks!

After acknowledging this bad relationship and understanding your feelings of loss, the next step is turn this bad relationship into something of real value, not just a life lesson.

3. The Importance Getting Something of Value out of a Bad Relationship:
I don’t mean a life lesson or a physical object. If you’re trying to get over a bad relationship, you’re feeling the way you do because you didn’t get anything out of the relationship itself.

When you think of the other person, they sure as hell did. For me, the girl got my time, money, advice and support for the two years while she needed it. What did I get? Diddly squat.. How do you reconcile that?

You do that by doing what I’ve done here, you create something of value from the experience of the bad relationship. This way you at least get SOMETHING from the bad relationship that has value.

For me, I wrote this article and created a resource for other people who may be going through the same thing. You don’t have to write an article, or make a movie about it, but you do have to create something of value from this bad relationship that can be shared with others, this is because your feeling of loss will never be reconciled otherwise.

This process does two things.
First, it gives you back ownership of the investment you made in that bad relationship and gives you back something of value that you can take away from it, something real that made it somewhat worth your effort.

Second, it rids you of the responsiblity of being the sole person burdened with the pain of this bad relationship. Once it’s in the world, it’s shared by everyone - literally!

Once you’ve released yourself, you will feel relieved! You won’t be happy but now you can focus on becoming happy!

4. Getting Happy – Why It Isn’t an Overnight Thing:
Anyone who tells you that happiness is a choice, or simply giving it time is the cure, is either a complete crock, and is in denial. If this were true, you wouldn’t be reading this and I wouldn’t be writing this.

I am convinced that you don’t get to be happy just like that;  it’s a struggle, a fight just to be happy and has been for centuries. You need to understand something, you lost something so significant in this relationship, forget the person, you lost time and you’re not getting it back, and in return for that time, you got nothing. So now your struggle for happiness is even harder!

Acknowledge the substantial loss that this is and you’ll understand why it is so difficult to move on and do the things that make you happy. Giving yourself time doesn’t help the feeling of loss and distracting yourself doesn’t handle the pain, it just masks it.

The only way to truly become happy again, is by dealing with the loss in a different way (next step) and stopping the pain by making the conscious effort to catch any subconscious thoughts, memories that occur and shutting them down immediately.

The next step is how happiness is really attained after the loss of a bad relationship.

5. The Real Path to Happiness
It’s time to take action! This is gonna take hard work and tons of effort! You need to rebuild your level of happiness, one inch at a time and in the beginning it’s going to suck, bigtime!

I compare gaining happiness, a lot like going to the gym. In order to get the body you want, you’re going to have to force yourself to hit the gym and train hard even when it hurts and you don’t want to do it. But at the end of all the hard work - YOU WILL get the result you’re looking for. You’ll love the way you look and so will other people.

Gaining happiness is the same way, you gotta start a routine and be consistent! Do one thing each day that ‘should’ make you happy (even if it doesn’t), You’re not looking to get happy right then, you’re looking for the end result of happiness. As long as you keep working on gaining happiness, inch by inch, at the end of all the hard work –  YOU WILL get the result you’re looking for. You’ll love the way you feel and so will other people.

If you follow these steps, exactly.. YOU WILL get over any bad relationship and back to making great music and connecting with valuable people again!

The Lesson:
“Never make the foolish mistake to invest time in people who do not understand what your time is worth.”

Music Industry News: Before the Music Dies Documentary

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For anyone considering entering the music industry as a breakout artist, this is probably one of the most important videos you should watch.

I don’t suggest anyone watch this documentary with the mindset to take this information to know how to enter the industry, but to understand how the industry actually works in terms of the business of generating revenue and building brands. To understand how an artist actually generates a 1.2  million dollar record and then drop suddenly off the map (think, how does that really happen?)

My recommendation is to take this information, to gain a better prospective of what is happening in your music environment, to know the reality and re-evaluate your trust in certain myths of the industry. I would suggest, watching this video to gain better knowledge of what the standards in this industry and then develop a plan on how to deviate away from these standards are, to ensure you don’t feed into the ‘machine’ and develop new open ground that will, and has, historically speaking - created timeless music and long-lasting music careers.