Cheesiest Stab Brass Contest!

Using any synthesizer you own, we dare you to record a Youtube video or Mp3 of yourself playing your very best original brass preset. A poll with decide who has the cheesiet and most fun sound. When creating yours you should keep in mind these criteria:

• Happiness Factor
• Sound Detail
• Playability
• Usability
• Originality

How to Enter:
Leave a youtube video, mp3 or a link of your entry in the comments. Make it a good musical demo of your preset’s style. Please enter ASAP, anytime before the end date.

Rules:

Mention “Chip Collection Stab Brass Contest” in your Youtube video description or Mp3 tag.
Copies of the “Final Countdown” Stab Brass presets will not be accepted but may be modified.
Do not use factory presets of any kind.
You may use effects.
Only one patch per person
No direct samples! Analog synthesis combined w/ a warped or extremely processed sample are OK (V-synth etc.)

Readers will vote on the best entry. Winner will receive recognition, an image and a link to their site if they choose. Sorry no physical prizes (unless someone wants to donate one). Contest Ends MAY 10th!

Here is a link to help you create a brass sound from an analog synthesizer.

Put your entry in the comments below!

Varying Arpeggio Triplets

Here is my first tutorial with actual sheet music. It is just a musical idea I thought I’d share.

Click image above for higher resolution version.

A nice way to make interesting synth arpeggios is to vary them. On the way down your fingers play all naturals. Two beats later, the arpeggio starts again, and instead of hitting a D, you vary just one note and play a C# instead. This keeps your music more lively, as small changes are noticed by the listener. Using Triplets in 4/4 time also feels slightly more interesting than normal.

Here is the Mp3 to listen to the arpeggio (550kb)
Note: Bassline slightly changed

This type of notation works great with strings and synth leads.

Enjoy!

Side Chaining In Logic & Cubase

If you have competing sounds in the same frequency space, maybe you need sidechaining compression!

Side Chaining in Logic Pro

What Does Sidechaining Do?

Sidechaining takes one sound and uses it to manipulate another sound. Most often you will see it on compressors, gates, limiters, and expanders. However, it can also be found on vocoders, synthesizers, and other effects. It is a really, really useful feature on compressors and gates because it allows you to place multiple instruments in the same frequency range without clashing. Or, more succinctly, it can make your mix sound really good.

Advanced EQ Ducking Technique in Logic Pro

Ever wanted to bring out a voice in your mix without using compression? Try this EQ ducking technique which subtracts frequencies from the offending audio. There are simpler way to do this, but this time we will use the Match EQ and Ducking using a side-chain bus for the most versatility later on.

So If you ever wondered just how they made a vocal track so crystal clear against a wall of distortion, take notice!

Scenario:
Track 5 contains distorted guitars that run the full spectrum but Track 8 contains a synthesizer that gets lost in the mix

The Setup: Audio 1 was our original guitar part, but we cut it, dragged it down into a new track below (audio 5) for processing when our synth line came in (audio 8).

1. Cut your track that you want processed. With the scissors tool, cut your lead sound (Track 5) during the duration that track 8 takes place and place it on a seperate track. Since the effect is temporary and not dynamic it is necessary to do this.

2. In the mixer window, set up your two tracks (5 & 8 in this situation) like below.

Explanation:
We are sent our guitar part to bus 1 and shutoff its output.
We also deleted the output of track 8.

3. Create a Match EQ and then a Duck EQ in that order on Bus 1

4. Put your Match EQ’s sidechain on Audio 8 (the synth or voice) in the upper right corner of the plugin. Hit learn and play your audio. The plugin is capturing the EQ balance of your synth. When you press match, and subtract with the apply slider, the guitar part will be properly processed for when the synth line plays and fills that frequency void.

5. The problem we have now is that the synth line is not playing. We can either reactivate it it’s original track, or using the Ducking plugin on Bus 1 if we want a further decrease in overall gain (like a compressor).

Confused? Copy the settings in the picture below.

On the left is the match EQ is sidechained which is applied to the guitar (Bus1). We have used moderate EQ subtraction and filtered out the extreme frequences, an option in match EQ.

On the Right we have the Ducking plugin which brings in our synth line on the same Bus1. Using Ducking we can bring down the audio level of the guitar dynamically as our synth line plays each note. You can copy these settings and modify to taste if you like.

Overall we precicely subtracted some EQ out of one track when another track was playing and took priority.

This is a slightly advanced technique, while not quite easy or dynamic, it got the job done and did not screwing with perceived volume, which is often very noticeable. If you listen to your favourite recordings you just might hear something similiar as different melodies come and go throughout the mix, especially in heavy, full, music.

Full Orchestra Re-creation Tips

Some people want to orchestrate an entire symphony from their computer or keyboard. ROM voices or even sampled instruments don’t cut it by themselves, but you can use them to get a useable sound TV style sound ala Stargate or half of the stuff on TV. Here are some tips not everyone will tell you.

Here is an example of what you can do with plain “rom” or GM voices and alot of time tweaking.
MP3: http://www.chipcollection.com/orchestratest.mp3

Time for the tips

1. Use lots of Reverb on every instrument. They are supposed to be all in the same space.
2. When layering, respect the dynamic range of each instrument and research each instrument. For instance a violin cannot go all the way to C1.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_(music) <— Check this link
4. Use the correct panning of where each instrument lies in the orchestra.
5. Sometimes your workstation won’t have enough power to play 12 violin voices at the same time. Try to fake it with a chorus filter or by using a patch that includes an entire section of the orchestra (violin and cello, double bass reeds)

Tutorial: Pitch Correction in Adobe Audtion

Check out Transit of Venus to learn about pitch correction in adobe audion and get tips. Included are audio examples.

A link to how to do pitch correction on her blog.

She has a great voice! (if thats really her singing).
And that may have been the first time using a smiley on this blog.

Updated: Yes its really her!

Crack iTunes Protected Music

This instructable will show you how to remove the DRM from music bought from iTunes store.

Music was a huge part of society in the past, but with technology it is bigger than ever! The fastest, and easiest way to get music these days is via the Internet

Apple should not be selling copy-protected music or movies anymore. Leaving them in the dust is Amazon. The best thing you can do is boycott DRM technologies. They are pointless, obtrusive, and crazy in the computer world. Companies need to embrace the fact that the user has all the power over their content.

Link to the Instructable to learn how to get DRM-less songs.

The Declining Quality of Apple, Synthmania 4 Year Anniversary

Many laptop-based Mac OS X users are experiencing significant audio issues on Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. On Tiger, the culprit appears to be the AirPort Extreme Update 2008-001 released earlier this spring. One workaround on Tiger is to simply turn off AirPort.

From CDM

Do you think that Apple’s software and hardware quality have gone way down?? Every update they release seems untested nowadays. Programs also seem to crash more often, even with an increased overall stability of the system. Airport giving audio problems is insane, and evidence that they aren’t paying attention.

Link From Emusic

Beat Bearing!!!

Controlling a TR-808 with ball bearings! Looks like alot of people saw this one already. Eh, I’m slow.

Keytars and Controllerism From Lx7

Come Celebrate Synthmania’s 4 year anniversary with a Visit to their page on the Electrix Filter Factory!!
Mp3 Demo

Do you need a kick start in your garden?

Features 5 encoders (with button), an additional button and a display. Software is customizable (by me, hahahaha)…..But I use it to command my machinedrum effects over sysex

RuinWesen Midi Command Link @ EM411

Resources: Making a Living Online as a Musician

There are some people who probably wish they could make a living online as a musician. Here are some resources to look at to get some ideas. Alot of people don’t take the steps to put their music out there.

Sometimes its as simple as putting a shopping cart on your site, or taking better myspace pictures.

Links:

Online Musicians
Making a Living online as a Musician

Selling your Music Online
A Comparison of Online Music Stores to Sell at
Online Store Guide
Mega List

Marketing:
A nice article about myspace from
Stephan Spencer Article******

Attracting Labels (popups):
http://public-relations.bestmanagementarticles.com/Article.aspx?id=9897

Check out EndPop for an example. Link

Subwoofer Calibration HowTo

The purpose of a subwoofer is to fill in the bottom octaves below the capabilities of the mains speakers. So, most subwoofers provide methods for calibrating their output in order to tune them to blend perfectly with the main speakers. These controls often include a level control, a crossover frequency control and a phase switch.

Link on how to calibrate your subwoofer from sound and vision magazine forum

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