Sound Recording - the WellMixed.com Blog

The blog has not been well-tended recently, but now it will be even less so, as the WellMixedStore.com takes over the NavBar link on the main website.

However, this means the beginning of a new era, where the microphones that you want to listen to are available at WellMixedStore.com

News about all thing related to home recording will be more constantly posted on a little microblogging platform that you may have heard about called Twitter. Be sure to Follow @WellMixed there.

I’ve been playing around with several online music generators over the last year. Mostly, they are simple timewasters to help me avoid being a productive member of society. But with the help of Audio HiJack Pro from rogueamoeba these browser sounds have made their ways into ProTools on occasion.

5. BALLDROPPINGS.com

I can’t believe that the domain name “balldroppings” wasn’t taken. They put it to the best possible use. I’ve spent way too much time trying to create the most ambient or most rhythmic sounds, and just as much time trying to get the balls to bounce exactly straight up and down or in a certain line.

4. The Indian Music Generator

This one might be a little bit racist, and not all sounds sync up in rhythm.
But in a pinch it’s a fun introduction to Indian musical elements. If you’re already familiar with Hindustani or Carnatic Music, you can go here for an online Tanpura,.

3. Tiny Drums

It looks like Q*bert would be at home using Tiny Drum 3.0 with its 3-D grid of 16 x 5 blocks.
The y-axis is a pentatonic scale for Versions 3-5. Version 1.0 and 2.0 use drum sounds.
The x-axis is a standard 16th note grid.
The tempo is adjustable, though there isn’t an option for swing or for accents. You can also save your patterns in a text file by copying the number commands (like 4369-0-21845-17681 )

2. Grotrian Piano

Similar to balldroppings, the Grotian Piano is auditory and as well as visual and relies on a gravity effect. It allows a good deal of control over 12 tones. Then it lets things get out of control in very delightful ways.
The “Grotian” setting also includes percussive piano knocks and taps.

1. Hobnox Audiotool

This one blows me away and is sure to only get better as Flash, browsers, and computers speed up. Recording is built in, the sound is amazing, and the possibilities are great. The only problem is that the learning curve is not for beginners. For musicians who want to spend some hours with Hobnox, the rewards might be something special.

Did I miss anything? Please Leave a comment!

Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is one of those medical mysteries whose cause is unknown to medical science. A common thread is loud noise, whether it be a single exposure to a jack hammer or constant traffic noise as one drives with the window down.

However it is caused, the resultant ringing is particularly troubling to musicians as it interferes with the enjoyment of music. Check out this CNN-produced video featuring Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Lars Ulrich.

Have you ever experienced a ringing in your ears? Leave a comment below and tell us about it.

Jacob Ganz hit many right notes on his NPR blog last week.

It got me thinking about how quickly things change.

Edison’s wax cylinders stored two to four minutes of music; that meant getting up and changing them over and over in order to enjoy one of the symphonies or operas that were the standard unit of music at that time.

By the time 78 rpm records replaced cylinders, a new manner of pop and jazz music had developed with individual songs of two to four minutes.

Can anyone be surprised that with today’s technology and artist overload, the three-minute track is giving way to the 20-second ringtone? Comments welcome!

NPR has just released a list of listener favorites. There is a lack of hip hop and country here. It is very …. NPR-like.

Regardless, most of it is pretty awesome. Check it out here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121103815

A technology that began as a DJ’s ideal solution for the digital age has ended in an out of court patent law settlement.

Digital Vinyl Systems are made by companies like Numark (and several other companies), and rely on modern technology to emulate the old.

[Via Create Digital Music]

The controversy over these digital vinyl systems developed when patent-holder N2IT filed a civil action complaint against provider M-Audio and its remarkably similar Torq technology. In its pursuit of monopolizing on its technology, some speculate that N2IT will also file suit against Serato.

The fallout from this legal settlement is sure to mean the demise of some popular digital vinyl systems that were found to be in violation of N2IT’s patent as well as higher prices for DJ’s who rely on digital vinyl technologies for their livelihood.

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Douglas Wolk contributed this piece to NPR.org’s Monitor Mix blog earlier this week. It is a concise discussion about the pros and cons of polishing recordings to death.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/2009/11/the_death_of_mistakes_means_th.html

One gem of the piece is this YouTube Video, that provides a great explanation of the “loudness wars” in mastering:

My major criticism of Wolk’s writing here is that his prime example of a sloppy recording, The Beatles “Rain,” is not really THAT sloppy. In fact it uses some well thought out reverse tape effects. The Beatles - with the help of George Martin - were very into forward thinking recording techniques.

Also, left out of the discussion is the ways in which most people listen to music versus the ways in which audiophiles listen to music, AND the ways in which record companies sell music and who is buying it.

Of course WellMixed does whatever the client wants, so we don’t have to be bothered with all of these aesthetic conundrums. But…. Sometimes it’s fun to think about!

What do you think? Please leave a comment!!

Personal hero Derek Sivers, has this little gem recently posted to his website:

http://sivers.org/livecd

In it he retells a story from band manager, Terry McBride. The un-named band in question was selling about $300 per night in CD’s at $15 per. Then they tried an experiment:

They asked the audience to pay what they want, while making clear that they were very proud of the CD and felt like everyone should listen to it.

According to McBride, the nightly sales shot up 400%.

Sivers is asking people to comment on their experience with this technique, so check it out.

Trent Reznor seems to be getting a lot of play on this blog, but perhaps that’s because the guy is so forward thinking about the music industry and likes to talk about it.

Reznor’s band, Nine Inch Nails, is on their “final” American tour this summer. They were through Kansas City a couple of weeks ago, and I scored a backstage pass.

We had a short Q&A session with Trent, during which he said, “[bands] can’t making money on record labels any more. Or if they do get paid, they have to sue the label.”

WellMixed was started because I had observed that artists are often just as well financially on their own without a label. Trent’s statement re-enforced that idea, and I did a quick Google search to see how many artists were suing their labels to get paid for their art. Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins, Hawthorne Heights, The Allman Brothers, and Bay City Rollers were all in the first couple pages of results.

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CD Baby founder Derek Sivers’ e-Book on Music Marketing (available HERE) has long been a favorite of entrepreneuring musicians.

I just came across this free e-book/blog by a gent in England named Andrew Dubber that focuses on promoting one’s music in the Web 2.0 era.

The blog version is more informative (or more distracting), as there are plenty of nice hyperlinked references.

Written about 2 years ago, it contains twenty still-fairly-relevant tips that aim to “help independent musicians and music businesses cope and thrive in a changing media environment.” It creates an excellent companion to the Sivers book.

Dubber lectures at the Birmingham School of Media at Birmingham City University so he knows a little bit about the subject. But as always, I advocate thinking for oneself and disagreeing where appropriate.