SoundPunk - All Topics

What's your favourite track/album to listen to from a engineering/production perspective

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:45:32 +0000

Fairly self explanatory, tell me your favourite track or album that you like not because of the music, but because of the production and mix techniques used.

As an exercise in communication, first explain it like you were telling it to someone with no technical experience, and then explain using as much technical detail as you want.

Lately for me it has been the album In this Life, by a local Brissy band called Kooii. http://www.myspace.com/kooii to hear some tracks (mp3's only sorry!). Everything about the album is smooth, there are no sharp edges, and everything blends well.

I think the low end is really well controlled (kick and bass freq's, around the 50-250Hz range), there's no competing frequencies between the kick/bass. Compression used here (whether in the mix or the master) is very tasteful and keeps the low's consistent and up upfront on a range of playback systems. All instruments sit within a well defined frequency band, even in the midrange where everything lives, which gives clarity, something i look for in a mix. High mids and Highs are again nicely controlled, no listening fatigue here. Reverb is used fairly liberally, but without muddying up everything with the wash.

Oh, and also anything by The Black Keys, it just makes me think of hot tubes and tape .

FS: Melb: Moog Voyager & VX-351, Elektron MachineDrum, Korg MonoTron

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:59:46 +0000

Couple of bits of kit up for sale... open to offers. (Photos coming later)

Moog Voyager Black/Solar & VX-351 CV Expander : $3,300
Basically mint, boxed, manual, power etc

Elektron MachineDrum SPS-1 : $850
Great condition, boxed, manual, power etc

Korg MonoTron : $70
Mint condition, never been open/used

Located in Melbourne, but will ship anywhere at your expense.

Questions, offers, photo demands, etc, pm me.

Kontakt Assistance

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:02:03 +0000

So i have started using Kontakt - absolutely love it.

Problem I am having is routing when using the drum samples (eg studio drummer, abbey road etc etc). I know how to route using the kontakt mixer and how to use the macros and so on, however I want to be able to route the kick to a track, snare to track etc without having to load individual instances of a sample pack for each drum piece - does anyone know if there is a way to do it? I won't say I have exhaustively searched the interwebs but I have put in a fair bit of time researching and havent found anything as such- if any kontakt heads could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.

iPhone/Android music apps - serious potential or forever toys?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:35:14 +0000

We are probably all aware of the iband phenomenon:

Just wondering if anyone here has started using smart phone music apps as serious 'instruments' in recordings and/or gigs? I'm thinking of giving it a go...

Which stems from my original thought about how 'serious' are these apps getting these days? Have they reached the level of being truly worth using in serious production, or will they forever remain fun toys to play with in an idle moment?

I know apps for ipad are getting more serious for the studio geeks, and even Garageband is increasingly used in 'professional' production, but will the 'iband' become a serious live force or is it just a short-term novelty?

What are your thoughts on Music Piracy?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:02:55 +0000

So this is something that i've been thinking about a bit lately (with SOPA in the US and whatnot), and I think it would be interesting to hear some different opinions on the topic, especially if theres a contrast between age demographics.

I'll start.

I used to torrent a fair bit of music, but as of late have been making a conscience effort to purchase all my music, (Through Itunes or a good old fashioned CD) for a few reasons. In my head, it goes something like this, a) i'm a pretty honest guy and b ) it's a bit of respect to my fellow musos, though i'm sure most cd sales proceeds go to the labels, if they didn't want people paying for their stuff they'd be giving it away for free right. i'd want people to buy my bands cd .

So for any P2P users out there, let me know your reasons for downloading or if you don't, go nuts as well.

Help me get to 2500 posts please

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:21:10 +0000

Including this one, I think I'm sitting on 2392 posts. Only 108 to get to 2500 - so I'm asking for your help

- ask me any question

- ask me a joke - to which I can reply 'I don;t know, what did the polar bear say to the horse?'

- post a pic or a piece of trivia I'll comment on

- say something to wind me up

- point me to a thread that you think I should comment on

- do whatever gives me an excuse to post

My goal is to try getting to 2500 by the start of Feb at the latest, by the end of next week even better

Where Is Everyone?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:55:51 +0000

Seems to have gone a bit quiet here lately. Hope everyone is OK.

Best Compilations of 2011?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:53:26 +0000

Hey folks,

So if I was to looking to get back up to scratch with good representative tracks/songs of 2011 in one foul swoop, which compilations should I buy?

- mainstream top 40
- 'commercial' EDM any genre
- underground EDM/IDM any genre

Can be downloads or CD's, I still use old-school media a bit

Thoughts welcome cheers!

What Are Your Plans For 2012?

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:02:38 +0000

Just curious as to what everyone's plans are for 2012. What would you like to do or achieve? What piece of kit would you like to get your mitts on?

I plan to do a little traveling. Would like to join my best friend Gareth in his studio to do some tracks and would like to get an i,Pad.

Feel free to chime in...

Micro Studio

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:02:06 +0000

So, I’m in a situation. I’ve moved to a tiny flat on the other side of the world, my previous spacious apartment with separate studio room in Sydney is a distant memory, I now can’t even manage a computer desk in a corner with the space I’ve got.

I want to get back into my production, but its not easy. Iv no room for gear really, maybe a small keyboard. I own an iPad and a high powered Macbook Pro, I also sent over my Trigger finger. Im toying with the idea of Ableton with touchable in iPad as my interface and resorting to only soft synths. My beloved Virus TI will have to stay in her box back in Sydney.

So … Here’s my question, what are your suggestions for a Micro Studio?

Im interested in hardware, software, small tables, lap tables etc, Being musical creative in the smallest possible space. Its partly a challenge to see if I can actually make something half descent with about a 1/8th of the space.

Korn - Narcissistic Cannibal (Cheyne Wallace Edit)

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:55:53 +0000

My own re-edit of Korns Narcissistic Cannibal. Reworked with a heavier arrangement and more aggressive flow. Minus the boring bits. Making a fat song even fatter.

Trying to get my music juices flowing again by working on a few small scale projects, basically doing some minor remixes and edits with a few tweaks. Cutting out the junk etc.

Listen on Soundcloud.com

Recording Non-Conventional Acoustic Guitar

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:56:49 +0000

I've got a self thought guitarist who plays with his thumb and does this:

If he were to do something thought out that's not messing around, what would be the best setup to do a studio version of this style without having the microphone explode? What would be able to properly record "beating the shit out of a guitar with your thumb" articulately?

80 free multitrack downloads for mixing practice!

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:30:08 +0000

Someone mentioned here about getting 10000 hours practice, but as far as mixing is concerned the problem for a lot of noobs is that there's a shortage of freely downloadable multitrack projects on the net to use for mixing practice. Yes, I’ve seen the NineInchNails/Radiohead multitracks, the Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix files, the Real World downloads, and various other well-publicised sources of multitrack projects, but I’ve noticed that the files usually suffer from one of three problems:
- they’re actually processed/effected stems, which means you can't properly work from scratch.
- they’re low-quality or data-compressed audio, which doesn’t respond well to further processing.
- they’re actually ‘remix packs’, in other words chunks of the multitrack which can’t properly be reassembled into a time-line.
- you can't tell what the song sounds like before you download it.

So I've decided to do something about it, and over the past few months I've been building up an online library of more than 80 downloadable multitrack projects in a variety of different musical styles. These are provided as simple ZIP archives containing unprocessed WAV files at 24-bit/44.1kHz resolution, and there's an MP3 preview for each so that you can quickly browse through to find something that suits your tastes. And everything is free to download and use for mixing-practice purposes. Here's the link:

Library of Multitrack Downloads for Mixing Practice

I'm continuing to add further projects on a rolling basis, so contributions are always welcome -- if you're interested in donating something to the library, then just contact me via the site.

First Production Software?

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:36:19 +0000

Whats the first thing I should download to help me start making beats? I know I'll have to spread into hardware eventually, but as a starting point i'd just like to dabble in software. If anyone can recommend one free and one paid program it'd be great. Maybe even some tutorials on the basics of music making/music theory.

New Topic Tags

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:25:37 +0000

One of the new cool features with SoundPunk v4 is topic tags.

I think this could be a really great tool for finding content in the future, let me explain.

When you create a new thread (or edit an existing one using the 'Full Editor') you will see a new box labeled "Topic Tags" underneath the topic title.

Its here you can add tags that help categorize your post, simply type key words in here separated by commas. For example, say if you wrote a post regarding mixing in ableton, you might put in something like:

Quote

Ableton, Mixing

This then adds two tags "ableton" and "mixing", these tags will be visible elsewhere, such as the "popular tags" box on the forum index, people can then simply click on the Ableton tag and see all threads that have been tagged ableton.

But .. we have forum categories?...

Yes, but thats a single category.. In the previous example, this thread would of most likely been posted in the ableton category, but people looking for help on the same topic might have looked in the Mixing and Mastering section. Because this thread was tagged "Mixing" it will show up to anyone looking at the "Mixing" tag.

I hope this makes sense.

Of course, the tags are completely open and free for you to type in what ever you want, but try to use the existing tags where possible so the threads get grouped properly ... If your posting a question about your new iPhone 4S, you can just tag it iPhone and it will show up under an iphone tag. The beauty of this is that we dont need to have a specific forum for iPhones, but the tag makes it easier to find threads about iPhones.

Your free to go back and tag your previous thread, just simply edit your original thread post and click "FULL EDITOR", you'll then be able to update the tags for that thread.

As this is a new feature, we dont have any tags yet, im encouraging everyone to please tag any new posts they make or to tag any previous posts they may have made that they think should have them (ie, a thread that got lots of replies or about a hot topic)

The idea behind this all is simply to make content easier to find, its always been the problem with communities, good threads come and go and are lost, but tags should make them easier to find again.

Any questions, just ask here!

Cheers

Your knowledge of Mastering

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:55:58 +0000

Hello everyone,

My name is Alexia Clarkson and I am an undergrad currently finishing a research project for my Bachelor of Recording Arts.

My research topic is on the misunderstandings of Mastering and ways to nurture education in this area.

I have crafted a questionnaire designed to help shed light on the basic understanding of Mastering of those working and studying in our industry, with hopes of developing a website that can efficiently provide ongoing support and education. I am particularly interested in the answers and opinions of those new to the industry, but would appreciate input from all levels.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFBUZWkyU2xuX2F6Tk5Kdy04eWNjNFE6MQ

The questionnaire is short, comprising of 15 questions, and should only take up to 10 minutes to complete. Your answers to the questions will be kept confidential (used only for the purposes of research for this project).

If you have any experience or knowledge in Mastering, your participation in my research would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Alexia Clarkson

SoundPunk V4 Coming

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 09:55:53 +0000

Hey guys, just a heads up that iv begun planning SoundPunk v4.

Our current version of the software being used to drive the website has dropped behind, and we need to upgrade, the problem is that the current design iv made wont translate to the new version (parts will) but not all, so there will be some level of redesign, but ill try keep a similar theme.

Some changes will be:

* Cutting back the site a bit, less features, cleaner interface. We have a lot of features on the site right now that just arent being used, but they are consuming resources. Each time you load a page, theres a lot of data being crunched in the background and markup being sent to your browsers that isnt being used, im looking to trim this back, remove the things we dont use and keep the site running lean.

* For the first phase of v4 , the front page will most likely disappear and we will directed straight to the forum instead of a front page. Our front page now seems a little stale, and theres a few problems with it, i want to re-write it , but im just not quite sure how I want to do it yet.

* Revamped articles system, same sort of thing as what we have now, but more polished.

* Since moving to the UK, iv noticed the site doesnt perform anywhere near as well as it does in Australia. Its quite slow actually, I think this is hurting our overall exposure to the world and so id like to work on it. Im considering using a CDN to host our files (content delivery network) which basically stores the site files all over the world and delivers content from your nearest location instead of one single point. Ill need to work out how much this is going to cost.

* General improvements, better input UI's etc. The latest version of our forum software has many new improvements, for both the end users and the admnistrators, these will just come with the update

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for enhancements (or cut backs) and ill take them into consideration.

Cheers guys

Cheyne

Iron Keys - Oooft!

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:42:43 +0000

Listen on Soundcloud.com

Just seeking feedback on the beat in general and any suggestions for it and the mix.

Much appreciated.

Juno 60 tuning

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 05:50:58 +0000

Hey all,
I've noticed my Juno 60 is no longer in tune, or close enough that using the external tuning knob is sufficient to get her into range. I read the Juno 106 topic from a couple years ago, it was the closest thing I could find to explicit instructions, but I could not locate the VR33 pot in the service manual or keyboard itself http://manuals.fdiskc.com/tree/Roland/Roland%20Juno-60%20Service%20Manual.pdf
Anyone have any suggestions? I'd love to have her in proper tune for the show on Saturday night.

Nokia Ringtone Composition Comp @ AudioDraft

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:49:26 +0000

The Nokia Tune is one of world's most recognized audio brand assets and is estimated to be heard over one billion times a day. Nokia is launching a global crowdsourcing campaign to find a fresh version of the Nokia Tune. This is the first time Nokia is inviting people to work with the iconic tune with the winning tune to be placed next to the standard Nokia Tune in a selection of the company’s 2012 product portfolio. In this unique crowdsourcing competition Nokia challenges you to create your own Nokia Tune using elements of the popular original.

Entry criteria:
Tunes entered must be a maximum of 30 seconds.

How to enter:
The competition opens on 5th September 2011, after which entrants have 4 weeks to enter their compositions.
In the reference files you can find the Nokia Tune Remix Kit containing all the past versions of Nokia Tune, however, this is not simply a remix competition. You are welcome to create a truly new and unique version. Boy choirs, ukuleles, trash cans, opera singers, steel drums, finger pianos, dusty synthesizers... anything and everything can be used to create an interesting version of the Nokia Tune.

Ten finalists will be selected on 5th October 2011. Five finalists will be selected by public votes ("Likes") and five finalists will be selected by a Nokia and AudioDraft professional jury. The winning tune will be selected by the jury featuring some of the most respected names in the audio branding industry. An overall winner and five runner-ups will be selected on 7th October 2011.

Judging criteria:
Nokia is looking for a tune that is fresh, expressive, original, and creative yet distinctively a Nokia Tune. In the spirit of “Connecting People” - all collaborations are encouraged.

Prizes:
The five runner-ups will be awarded a prize of $1,000 US dollars with their work available for download in Ovi Store. The winner will be awarded a prize of $10,000 US dollars and will be featured in Nokia's Brand Book. The winner’s work will be included in over 100 million Nokia devices and also be available as a free download in Ovi Store.

If you're interested check out the AudioDraft site HERE