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A service from 'The Serious Writers Guild' at MAKEHITS.COM Written by Dec Cluskey with a little bit opf help from his friends.
This Email first mailed to all Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' and
subscribers to 'One Minute With Dec' on
24.02.02
"Just flown off to
Berlin and Hamburg in the last week for meetings with studios and labels.
I've been offered a producing job for a new American artist from a Berlin
studio with a good track record.." Ian Wood [Serious Writers Guild Member
No: NET0477030W] =================================
"One Minute With Dec"
"My Emails are written in good humour, and should be read with a smile"
Nice lunch at the Eastbourne Sovereign Marina….how was your lunch?
When we were finishing off the Interactive Double CD for the ‘One Minute With Dec – The First Annual’ we were amazed at how much ‘professional lingo’ we naturally use in the writing/performing/producing Industry. What we take as normal language is gobble de gook to the ‘ordinaries’, as a pal of mine calls anyone outside Show Business.
So we included a section where I explain the various bits of technology ‘speak’….would you believe it, even the mastering engineer was saying: "I didn’t know that!".
Amazing!
So it was no wonder that I began to wonder about guys being just too embarrassed to ask…you know the deal? Afraid of being ridiculed…well - never be…it’s better to ask and get to know the stuff, so that you will then be a force to be reckoned with in the studio/theatre/stadium…wherever.
The same, of course, goes for computers and sequencers. If you are not in daily contact with the stuff then it can be a bit terrifying. One of the Members of ‘The Serious Writers Guild’ program Emailed me…and it really stuck out how ill informed he is….just read his Email and understand how mystifying the whole thing is if you don’t ask….maybe this might even help YOU understand. Or maybe you know already….well….you can learn twice!
Torbjorn is from Norway, by the way…we now have Program Members in twenty different countries…amazing! Check out the new pages on ‘Makehits’: www.makehits.co.uk/swgintro.htm
Torbjorn's Email:
"Time to bother you with some questions. No rush for you to reply - you are busy, I've been waiting for 48 years, so I can hang in there a little longer!
First let my say how much I enjoy your monthly delivery from the Serious Writers Guild. Just finished the fourth month of the Program, and as always it is fun, challenging and educational.
Even for "just" the laughs and the kick up the old behind I would gladly pay the cost of your "How To Make A £Million From Your Music" program.
You have written several places regarding sequencing, midi, sampling and the like. To be honest, this is a major obstacle, since it is mostly gibberish to me (guess the age is showing?).
You recommend an Atari computer for sequencing. I am sure I can get hold of one (or several) running windows NT. Will this do? As for Cubase, what version is possible/preferable?
How do you use your set up in conjunction with your VS (mine is VS-880) [VS stands for Virtual Studio - he has a Roland hard disc recorder called a VS880 – tracks with 8 virtual tracks on each],
and what do you recommend to use the Cubase (or any other software) for - strictly sequencing?When you have a sample, how do you import that into your system to work on it? Say that you have a great drum sound that you want to use in a sequenced drum track, how would that differ from sampling and using other sounds?
Could you use a drum machine (like a Roland) as part of your sequence/rhythm track?
I've been putting off this midi stuff too long so it's time to get a grips on it. A good start I guess would be to sync the 880 to the computer/Cubase - any pointers or recommended literature? Sincerely
T. Arntsen Oslo Norway [Member No: NET0538030W]"
My instant reply, well, the next morning really!
OK. Let's take it bit by bit..
First - 48? A mere chicken....I've been working on every type of machine right through from 2 track quarter inch tape [my first hits...just like The Beatles did]. Then four track, eight track, sixteen then the 24 track was standard for years…eventually ending up on 2" tape running at 30 IPS [inches per second] with Dolby SR. Then digital came along. The last attempts to match the digital power was made by linking up 24 track tape machines to make 48 track and even 72….expensive? Yep!
Now I use that many tracks on just the vocals!
You have the basic logic of Atari and sequencing a bit askew. Atari does not run PC software. It runs dedicated software [Cubase, Creator etc.] through a 'dongle', a security plug-in device supplied with the software. Never purchase any software without a dongle as they are always pirated and will be unstable. A used Atari [they are all used nowadays] will normally be sold with a 'dongle'. The best Atari is the 1040ST...do not entertain any other. The 540ST is very old and the 'Atari Falcon' was a hybrid which never really took off.
Atari T shirts are now on sale in the lanes of Brighton and are considered to be extremely 'cool'....hmmmmm!
The Monitor:
It is essential to have a compatible monitor...either Atari or Samsung or Viewtek...these are high resolution....the Atari will run on a normal TV but it will drive you mad....very grainy.
The Atari is a dedicated, ultra stable computer just to run Cubase/Creator, or whatever sequencer programme you wish, for midi only. It does not store when switched off...all the info is stored on floppy or external hard disc.
The Atari works perfectly with VS880 [I did a mountain of work on VS880 and now use VS1880 of choice]
The timecode is set up on Atari first, making sure that any ralls [slow downs] and tempo changes are ‘etched in stone’ before you commit the time code to the hard disc recorder. It is then downloaded onto the Roland VS880 [a simple procedure] and the VS880 acts as the master time controller for the entire midi set up. The Atari works as a slave unit.
The midi set up would normally include a main music keyboard to act as mother keyboard and then as many sound modules as you want [I currently use eleven]. Of course other midi keyboards will work, in the set up, just like sound modules. So any broken keyboards make extremely inexpensive sound modules.
The Roland Drum module would just be another midi sound module and would be controlled by the Atari via the timecode from the Roland VS880 [hard disc recorder].
I currently use a plug in expander on the back of the Atari to give me 'A' midi and 'B' midi...this way I get 32 midi channels. You can have up to 64 with a Unitor plug in. This is where PC gets left behind.
Samples are treated as 'proper' samples and accessed through a proper sampler. Akai have been Industry studio standard since sampling was invented. I use two. The ubiquitous S950 favoured by Norman Cook AND ME! See my article at
www.makehits.co.uk/art007.htm. I also use a massively powerful Akai S2000 stereo sampler...user unfriendly, but very useful. Similar samplers have dropped dramatically in price over the past few years…so you get massive sampling power, very reasonably.All the sounds from the modules, plus the samplers, plus the Roland then go to a proper studio analogue or digital mixer [I use Soundcraft like Norman]. My recommendation is to use two 16 channel rather than a standard 24 channel. That way you get 32 channels plus 8 or more auxiliaries for effects. Much better than a 24 channel with probably 4 or 6 auxs.
What is my set up?
Of choice, I use a 24 into 8 into two [gives me 64 available channels] with a 16 into two as a sub mixer for drums, percussion and samples, running off B Midi. That gives me four independent auxiliary busses, on the sub mixer, for effects available on the 16 channels. I can also strap compressors etc. over that complete sub mix and use individual effects, compressors on each channel…so I find that very flexible. It MAKES MONEY! So it must be right [grin]
Of course the main mixer has a full complement of insert points, stereo returns, lots of auxiliary sends etc., so the whole system is very user friendly, great quality and very powerful.
That completes the studio set up. Of course I have a mass of effects units and compressor/limiters. The effects can also be midi accessed through the Atari program, so that they can be changed during playback and are silent when ‘off’ [extremely important for ‘quiet’ mixes].
To round off my set-up
The microphones I use are Stagg MC7-7 condenser for vocals and live instruments and SM58 and AKG D880 plus a heap of Shure SM57’s…all Industry Standard although the Stagg is a personal choice. Those, together with a Behringer Ultrafex Pro for end of line enhancement, give me dynamite mixes.
Mastering and manufacture?
The final products then go to ICC for mastering and/or editing on 'Sadie' digital mastering equipment [never even think of mastering yourself...it's a dedicated art for experts]. And that is the final product for mass manufacture in Switzerland or Sony in Austria, although some UK CD Production facilities are matching the prices..
So there you have it. All that equipment is readily available [a lot of it through readers ads, if you wish]. It is always best to reference the prices in Studiospares professional catalogue. The ‘Sound on Sound’ readers ads on the Internet are currently providing an affordable resource for gear. Usually because the guys out there just don’t know how powerful equipment can be, in the right hands, and think a new bit of equipment will miraculously give them a HIT….NOPE!
And literature on Midi?
As regards literature for Torbjorn to learn about midi, I would suggest the hands on approach, whilst studying the manuals, is the best way.
I was lucky that I had a good education and relished the challenge of new equipment when it came along [I read Civil Engineering at Dublin]. So I always advise guys to get stuck in and just ‘do it’…BUT….and it’s a big BUT…always consider how much more you can get out of the equipment by RTFM...’read the f****** manual’. An old cliché but so true…always think of those guys selling off their gear on the Internet! Sad….they don’t realise that they are selling hit making equipment!
"Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at
a time."
"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you
desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you
will."
TIP OF THE WEEK : With R&B think dynamics, the verse dead silent and the chorus exploding. A good sense of dynamics is one of the things that seems to separate a mature professional artist from a novice; it seems to be one of the hardest skills to master.
=================================
One Moment with Stuart Goldsmith
"We seem to have got ourselves into the strange position in which a £200 game console and, say, £300 worth of games is a ‘necessity’ for the average teenager. In other words, they are somewhat disadvantaged, sad or poor if they do not have this."
the website of my good friend - Stuart Goldsmith
=================================
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A: 13 - one to do it, and twelve to stand around and
say, "Phhhwt!
I can do that!"
Please stop
sending me guitar jokes! I’m a guitar player too…you know! [grin]
=================================
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