Audio Geek Zine

A week worth of Twitter activity from @theaudiogeek

theaudiogeek

• I DEMAND SATISFACTION!! #futureshop #yousuck #iwantmymoneybitch
• FUTURE SHOP’s price matching policy is a fucking joke. I will henceforth never shop there and I urge my 1200 followers to as well.
• New AGZ post: Pro Tools Tip – Conflict with Melodyne & MP3 export http://cli.gs/sLJuE
• Honesty is the best policy….unless you’re dealing with a delusional psycho.
• “Honesty is the best policy, unless you’re the producer.” Words of wisdom from my friend @sydneygalbraith
• Never had to turn down work before. This time it was in my best interest not to participate.
• I finally found a worthy new avatar. BEHOLD!!
• New AGZ post: Pro Tools Tip – Don’t trust the timing accuracy of Audiosuite processing http://cli.gs/qvGXS
• About to brush my teeth and put pants on. That means it’s time to work.
• Indeed. RT @joeyismusic: – most awesome shirt ever
• white carpet & black sock fuzz. FML
• Some one wants a studio tour. I really need to vacuum!
• RT @joegilder: Hey folks. 2 more hrs to get a free copy of Understanding Pro Tools w/ your Production Club membership. http://bit.ly/1ntjkA
• Need a paperless contract? Make sure they get signed using this https://www.fillanypdf.com/
• @joegilder Chrome doesn’t work with a few sites for me, like gmail. Back button/backspace key does nothing.
• This chicken noodle soup has not even 1 noodle.
• @joegilder no man, this is some real lunch time shit going down. [in response to:

  @theaudiogeek is that a metaphor?] &[ @theaudiogeek Dude. You need to start a revolution or something. We the people have a right to have our noodles.]
• @sydneygalbraith no not really :( [in response to: @theaudiogeek loads of chicken though, right?]
• Tip for bands – budget for cables for your music videos, especially performance videos. It’s annoying to the engineers in the audience.
• Just got my first “First!” comment on my site. What a great day.
• New AGZ post: HSC Production Club – A 12 week Online course on music production http://cli.gs/MsQaM
• New AGZ post: Interview with Producer Engineer Nick DeToro http://cli.gs/mUHTb
• Did you catch the new Ronan’s Recording Show episode? http://trunc.it/5bfv9 Very cool and fun as always. Follow Ronan -> @RonanCMurphy
• Woke up early today because my arm was completely dead and after dealing with that I thought my clock was lying to me.
• I mixed this EP a couple months ago. To be released soon. RT @aniazmusic: EP sample of some songs at www.myspace.com/aniazmusic
• New Home Recording Show episode up now. Have a listen. http://homerecordingshow.com
• @allenwagner re: 40MPH -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRPJh-LJq1o [This was in response to:

  Did you know there's a dude that can run 27 MPH? Scientists say they think 40 MPH is possible! http://tinyurl.com/ye8ycb2]
• @chckn8r Oh NO! Not you too!!! http://www.theonion.com/content/video/final_season_of_lost_promises_to [This was in response to:

  is ready to get Lost tonight! Can't wait to get back into obsessive analysis of minute irrelevant details after every Tuesday evening...]
• A tip for bands that want a great recording: Don’t Suck! Take care of that and the rest is easy.
• New AGZ post: Favorite Albums Of The Decade http://cli.gs/t1HR7
• New AGZ post: Weekly Tweetdump 16 http://cli.gs/yMzX3

Just an FYI if you use Pro Tools and Melodyne and ever want to use the MP3 export function.

I came across this today (don’t I have the best luck?), isn’t it lovely. [click to embiggen]

It turns out there’s is a conflict with Melodyne Plugin & the MP3 Export for Pro Tools. The FAQ on Celemony’s website has this info to correct the situation.

Exporting audio as MP3 can lead to a crash with the error message: Set ENV Var KMP_Duplicate_Lib_ok = True. If this happens, proceed as follows:

• Right-click My computer and choose Properties.
• In the System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab and select Environment Variables.
• In the User Variables section, select New.
• Enter KMP_DUPLICATE_LIB_OK into the Variable Name field.
• Enter TRUE into the Variable Value field.
• Click OK to exit first the New User Variable, then Environment Variables, then System Properties windows.
• Restart Pro Tools

I can confirm this works.

Today I was mixing a song in Pro Tools and came across a big problem with the Pitch Shift and Time Shift Audiosuite plugins.

Here’s what happened:

I had a horn part that just didn’t sound as thick as I wanted.
I duplicated the track and processed the duplicate with Audiosuite Pitch Shift down one octave.
I played it back the notes were all way off in timing!
I tried it again with the TimeShift plugin and had similar results.
I had to manually pocket every phrase because it was just so badly off and inconsistently too. In the picture above that one note is 79ms later than the original.

Obviously this is annoying! It might have gone unnoticed had I been just replacing the part and not layering it.

PAY ATTENTION! DON’T TRUST AVID TO GET IT RIGHT!!!!

Of course if you think this is operator error let me know what I did wrong.

Joe Gilder’s Home Studio Corner Production Club is now accepting registration. This is a brilliant 12 week online course that Joe has done a fantastic job with. If you struggle with Home Recording, sign up for this! <–Tell em Jon @ AGZ sent you

What does HSC Production Club include?

• 12-Week Online Course – Videos/Articles Delivered Weekly
  • Week 1 – Pre-Production
  • Week 2 – Recording – The First Steps
  • Week 3 – Recording – Rhythm Section
  • Week 4 – MIDI
  • Week 5 – Recording – Leads, Extra Parts
  • Week 6 – Editing – Comps/Pocketing
  • Week 7 – Editing – Comps/Pocketing
  • Week 8 – Editing – Vocals/Tuning
  • Week 9 – Mixing – Drums/Bass
  • Week 10 – Mixing – Instruments
  • Week 11 – Mixing – Vocals & Automation
  • Week 12 – Final Mixdown/Mastering

• 14+ Hours of HD Videos – These are QuickTime files for you to download and keep…forever. :-)

• Members-Only Forums – Interact with your fellow Production Club Members, and ask me questions directly.

• Weekly Coaching Calls – Join me for live coaching calls every week, where we’ll discuss issues you’re dealing with as you work through the material.

A crazy amount of content at a great price.

Check out a replay of the Webinar Joe did last night for all the details in his own words.

Sign up here: http://www.homestudiocorner.com/production-club-order-page/

If you sign up for HSC Production Club, let Joe know Audio Geek Zine sent you.

This is a guest post from Geoffrey Granka of Fresh Produce Productions. Find him online at  www.freshaudio.ca and @gmgranka on twitter.

I’m a pretty big Sloan fan. In Canada at least, they’ve garnered their fair amount of respect. By pure chance, I happened to run into Nick DeToro, who co-produced their last two (and most impressive in a long while) albums, a month or so ago. We talked geek for a bit, before I realized it might be interesting to the readers of AGZ.

After finishing Never Hear the End of It and Parallel Play for Sloan, Nick is now working on Luke Doucet’s (an ex-guitar player for Sarah McLachlan) new album. Nick’s stuff sounds like that magical mix between off-the-cuff playing and all the mics just being in the right place at the right time. Feed back and room tone abound. Tonally, I see a similarity between rock production style and the live-off-the-floor style in Let It Be. Regardless what you compare it to, it isn’t commonplace in today’s world of cookie-cutter albums. I asked Nick a handful of questions about what he’s been up to lately.

How did the Sloan gig come about?
I’m am a live sound engineer as well. I had been mixing Sloan for a couple of years at the time. For fun on the road Chris (Murphy) would let me play producer and make suggestions about how we should record a song that he was working on.. I guess he trusted me enough to help him work on some demos. He used me to help him flesh out some ideas at their rehearsal space…we set up a Logic/MOTU rig…and recorded some demos. He liked what was going on and decided to suggest to the rest of the band that I record Sloan’s next record at their space. I guess the rest of the guys liked the idea, because that’s how we recorded “Never Hear The End Of It“.

What had you worked on prior to it?
All indie records before that…although one reggae record I worked on got a Juno nom[ination] and my own stuff… of course.

How did you learn the ropes? Did you go to a recording college?
I did go to a particular recording school in 1992 (ish). There was a severe recession at the time and not a lot of recording work for someone with no experience (other than your own demos). There was however, live work which consisted mostly of pushing gear. So that’s how I started. Waited for a chance to mix some live shows and continued to record with friends bands. Eventually someone let me mix a show and worked my way up from there. Many many challenging club shows later Gordie Johnson gave me a shot at mixing a few Big Sugar shows (I was doing monitors for them at the time) and that’s when I made a step up to mixing recording act level artists. Sloan came after that and I’ve stuck with them since (other notables that I’ve toured with are The Trews, Tom Cochrane, Bedouin Soundclash, The Watchmen)….and now here I am playing many many challenging club shows!!…but I also get to play around in arenas and stadiums from time to time… and make records with some great bands.

What’s your go-to recording set-up like?
I’m working on that… just bought a Symphony Rig. I’m using it for the new Luke Doucet record. I’ll have to report back on how it worked out.
Mostly I like to record through Great River, API and Neve pres..with some decent eq’s available… and I like to mix through a console with lots of channels and good character comps and good eq’s.

How important is equipment in getting a good sounding record?
It’s important… I would characterize it more like the three main elements are all important: the song, the delivery (and arrangement) and the production (which is partially gear….more how you use the gear).
All three have to be working.

Do you have any one particular piece of gear that you use all the time?
No, but you use what’s around. And there’s always a [Shure SM]57 around.

Is there one particular piece of gear you’re really lusting for?
Yeah…A vintage Neve console that is in perfect working condition, that doesn’t cost me anything, is shipped to and set up in my non existent fabulous studio that never has to be maintained and uses the sun as a power source.
Seriously…I’m fickle and it changes all the time.

What do you consider before deciding if you’re going to work on an album?
Since you are going to (or should be) completely immersed in fifteen or so songs for months…I think it should be music you are able to live with for a while..otherwise I think you are doing the music a disservice…I’m not talking good or bad (I like plenty of “bad” music)…I just mean something appropriate to your strengths..you gotta be able to bring something to the table.

Any dream gigs?
Sure…recording Frank Sinatra..recording Queen with George Michael singing… playing drums in Led Zeppelin.

What are you working on right now? Where are you doing it?
The new Luke Doucet record. We just finished last minute Bed Tracks the other day and we’re mixing it next week.
It’s being done in three places…most of the recording was done at “The Lincoln” in Liberty Village, last minute overdubs (and bed tracks!) at “The Woodshed” in Greektown and mixing at “The Rogue” in Trinity Bellwoods….all very fun places to work.

What’s your favourite part about your job?
When the band is rockin’.

Geoffrey Granka
Fresh Produce Productions
www.freshaudio.ca
@gmgranka