From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #141 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Thursday, May 13 1999 Volume 04 : Number 141 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: Production Talk ["Keith Stansell" ] Alloy: Attention BDay3 participants ["Stephen M. Tilson" ] Re: Alloy: Flattery Earth [Robyn Moore ] Re: Alloy: yee-ha. [Robyn Moore ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 23:54:38 -0600 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Production Talk Ok, me next. My previous musical experience only consisted of singing in the mixed ensemble in my high school, mainly because my best friend's mom was the music teacher, so I sort of had to. But I did enjoy it, don't get me wrong. I was inspired by last years project and thought, even if I sing accapella, I want to try to do something. So last year around this time, I purchased a no-name MIDI keyboard bundled with Midisoft software. When I say no-name I mean literally no-name. The keyboard says "MK-4902 Keyboard for Computer Music" on the front. No brand name at all. The keyboard is not too bad though, full size, velocity sensitive, pitch bend and modulation controls. The keyboard only has a MIDI out, and makes no sound on it's on. I can't play the keyboard "real time" very well, so recording my song took a lot of "getting close" and working out the notes, and then editing with the mouse to get them right. This explains why there is a bit of a problem with my timing. Mulu was recorded using an 124 Mhz Aptiva with a Sound Blaster AWE 64 Value card and Cakewalk Pro Audio v6.0. All of the instruments in the song are from the Sound Blaster sound bank. The crickets chirp is the general midi whistle sound and the whoosh effect is the applause sound. Everything was recorded into the Cakewalk, both audio and MIDI tracks. I used a simple Realistic reverb unit borrowed from Dennis Alexander and a inexpensive karioki microphone to record the vocals. The "Talk to me Mulu" effect was done by first recording around 10 seperate vocal tracks into Cakewalk and then saving them to a wave file. I then took the wave file and reversed it using the SoundBlaster Wave Studio software. I then recorded the reversed "Talk to me Mulu" to an 8MM PCM audio tape. I then played back the reversed track through Dennis' reverb unit into my computer as a new wave file. I then reversed the new file, thus putting it back as it was, but this time with a reverse reverb - sort of a pre-echo. So, unlike what Thomas said, I don't think the technology for my effect is anything new, but effective. I then inserted the new wave file in place of the original vocals for that part. Once all the tracks were "completed" - by completed, I mean I just couldn't work on it anymore, I recorded one more audio track into the Cakewalk pro. I used the midi out as my record input source for the audio track, effectively making Cakewalk record it's own midi tracks to an audio track in the same file. I then used saved all the wave files to a single wave file which I put on a CD and sent to Stephen. Stephen did a great job of improving the quality of the audio for the final product. The file I sent was a bit low in volume. One last note, the birds sound that runs throughout the song is a loop of birds sounds from the IMAX film "Tropical Rainforest". The singing at the end are of a rainforest tribe in the film "Baraka". Both were recorded from a laserdisc. That's it, hope that didn't run too long. - -Keith (Talk to me Mulu) Stansell ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 05:05:46 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Attention BDay3 participants /\lloy, Those of you who might wish to attend the festivities of BDay3 shall please visit the following site and follow the link to the new "BDay Project Background and FAQ" generously published by Russ and Michelle Milliner on their BDay webpage: http://www.iag.net/~milliner/tmdr/signup.html This document clarifies the history of the project, the basic requirements of participation, deadlines, submission procedures, and other information to guide you through the process. While at the Milliner's site you may, in addition to other interesting things, also view the current DIBBS ("View Current Signup List" link), place a dib of your own, suggest a title, or link to the RealPlayer versions of our last two efforts. Soon Russ will add an additional enhancement which allows your audio greetings to be uploaded and stored for that part of the project. Way to go, Russ and Michelle!!! NOW, I loath announcing this, but THERE ARE ONLY ELEVEN WEEKS before the song submission deadline under our current plan. There is even less time to get a greeting in. See the FAQ. I know this is a very short period of time. Maybe we need to re-think things this year, but in any event . . . Of the all the tasks which must be completed to accomplish our goal we have, so far, two volunteers. Peter Fitzpatrick has come forward as this year's Mastering Engineer, and Lem Bingley would like a crack at Graphics Production. Peter and I have fully discussed his role and I am more than confident he will offer us services commensurate with, and likely better than, my own. Seems he's had a bit more experience at this than I. Lem? Well, it seems we've a heretofore hidden talent in our midst. Recently I had the distinct pleasure of viewing some items in Lem's portfolio. Let me just say that we are lucky to have him on board. If you noodle around Lem's website you might find some of his work . . . That leaves three main tasks unaccounted for: 1) Greetings compilation and mixdown 2) Media duplication 3) Distribution With deadlines already looming we need *you* to come forward and claim one of these for yourself without delay! Me? I'll handle communications for the nonce, and act as backup to the producers if necessary. Beyond that, I feel others here should have a chance to learn the ropes. Sorry to go on so, /\/\iles PS I was going to post invoices for TFeryE tonight, but felt that I should get the ball rolling for BDay3 as, if you'll pardon the expression, time is short from HELL. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 11:28:50 GMT From: jacksonhome@home.com (Lee Jackson) Subject: Re: Alloy: Production Talk Oh, is it my turn? Sorry, I was miles away. Dissidents was done in my studio at the office, during "in-between-project" time. I had a lot of things get in the way, including a few stays in the hospital and other med trouble, which prevented me from working on it as much as I wanted to. When I was able to work on it, I wound up spending much more time playing with and tweaking the music than I did on the recording, mainly because I was never satisfied with the composition. In fact, the entire recording and mastering session took place in one frantic beat-the-deadline night. I was the last holdout, and regardless of physical condition or the state of the composition, I simply had to get the piece done. I'm not entirely happy with how it came out, but at least it came out. First, about 99% of the project was "performed" by Cakewalk Pro Audio 7. True to form as a composer rather than a performer, I wrote the arrangement in Cakewalk's piano rolls, event lists, and staff views, and let the CPUs handle the rough stuff. The only part that I actually played with my own hands was the piano at the end of the piece, after the brass fades out. Stephen says he spotted this bit as soon as he heard it. Even then, the final version of this part of the song was still realized by Cakewalk - rather than do an audio recording of my playing, I recorded the performance onto a MIDI track and made one or two tweaks to it afterward. Instruments. I fired up the Kurzweil K2500RS, and threw in generous helpings of Kawai K5000R and Roland SC-88. I also let my Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! card have a go at things, using a few custom SoundFonts. The SBLive parts were recorded digitally via the S/PDIF port at 48KHz, mixed down, and resampled to 44.1KHz for inclusion in the final mix. I used a couple of samples from Digital Kitchen's "Mind Control" collection during the section containing the trombone solo. These were played back via the K2500RS. IQS Software's SAW Pro handled all recording duties on a second audio-only computer. I set up Cakewalk to slave off of SMPTE sync generated by SAW Pro (which involved a Music Quest 2Port/SE and 8Port/SE talking to each other via 30ND SMPTE timecode - it's quicker and easier than it sounds, once you've done it a few times). Everything was recorded one instrument (or group) at a time, with instrument referring to the actual patches programmed rather than the sampler or sound units themselves. This involved muting every track in Cakewalk to begin, then selectively unmuting tracks or groups of tracks and recording them to a stereo track in SAW Pro's multitrack view. On the way into SAW Pro, everything passed through a Mackie CR1604-VLZ mixer. No external hardware effects units were used - only internal effects on the samplers and sound units, plus plug-ins in SAW Pro. Mastering began inside SAW Pro, with plug-ins used for EQ, compression/limiting, reverb, and delay. A bit of tape saturation simulation came in on some tracks. Once things sounded workable, the tracks were mixed down to a stereo track and loaded into Sound Forge 4.5. Final mastering took place here, using plug-ins from TC Works and Waves. There, everything documented for poster(ior)ity. I think I might want to do something simpler for BDayIII - maybe a polka. ;-) // Lee Jackson (jacksonhome@home.com) // http://gameaudio.3dportal.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 15:57:13 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: BDay3: the_copse takes a stand /\lloy, Tim "the_copse" Dunn has offered to take on Greetings compilation and mixdown duties for the BDay3 effort! Hot Damn! and the best of luck to you, Tim. In short order, Tim or I will make an announcement regarding the wherewithal of this process for those of us who wish to have an audio greeting for Thomas included in the next /\lloy Tribute. Cheers, /\/\iles PS We still need someone(s) to duplicate and distribute our work. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 15:57:11 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Kathleen's request for TFeryE . . . Kathleen Truelove McClelland asked: > How can I get a copy of the Bday project CD?? I'll even pay money > for it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to contribute to this > masterpiece, but after hearing the rave reviews, I'm insatiably > curious as to how it sounds. I am sorry, Kathleen, but the BDay CDs are only available to those who contributed to the project. Sorry, but that's the rules - they aren't for sale because we don't own the rights to the material, or have permission to use it commercially. Consequently, we only produce copies for those who contribute. All the more reason for you to participate in *this* year's endeavor! The good news is you *can* hear our work as RealAudio files on Keith's website: http://Keith.Stansell.com/flattery.htm Reluctantly, /\/\iles PS Of course, one of the Flattery Earthlings might make a copy on cassette for you . . . privately. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 16:22:44 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Kathleen's request for TFeryE . . . In error I wrote: > http://Keith.Stansell.com/flattery.htm The correct URL is: http://www.keith.stansell.com/flattery.htm Sorry, /\/\ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 13:39:43 -0700 From: Kathleen Truelove Subject: Re: Alloy: Kathleen's request for TFeryE . . . Stephen, No problem! I've already signed up for the next bday project. I've also gone to the Flattery Earth site and listened to some of the scores. I was quite impressed. I was just asking if the CD was available. I totally understand the rules. Kate;-) Stephen M. Tilson wrote: > Kathleen Truelove McClelland asked: > > > How can I get a copy of the Bday project CD?? I'll even pay money > > for it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to contribute to this > > masterpiece, but after hearing the rave reviews, I'm insatiably > > curious as to how it sounds. > > I am sorry, Kathleen, but the BDay CDs are only available to those > who contributed to the project. Sorry, but that's the rules - they > aren't for sale because we don't own the rights to the material, or > have permission to use it commercially. Consequently, we only > produce copies for those who contribute. All the more reason for you > to participate in *this* year's endeavor! > > The good news is you *can* hear our work as RealAudio files on > Keith's website: > > http://Keith.Stansell.com/flattery.htm > > Reluctantly, > /\/\iles > > PS Of course, one of the Flattery Earthlings might make a copy on > cassette for you . . . privately. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 16:53:58 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Kathleen's request for TFeryE . . . Kathleen wrote: > No problem! I've already signed up for the next bday project. WooHoo! Fresh blood! Welcome aboard! /\/\ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 14:45:42 -0700 From: Kathleen Truelove Subject: Re: Alloy: Kathleen's request for TFeryE . . . Sounds like someone is familiar with the Simpsons you know. Like, totally..... Is there a date that all material should be done by???? I gotta know which night to do crunch time on. Just kidding.:) Pax Aye, Kate;-) I'm a Val, I know. Like totally, freak me out! Stephen M. Tilson wrote: > Kathleen wrote: > > > No problem! I've already signed up for the next bday project. > > WooHoo! Fresh blood! Welcome aboard! > > /\/\ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 20:24:36 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Kathleen's request for TFeryE . . . Kate the Val wrote: > Sounds like someone is familiar with the Simpsons you know. Like, > totally..... Is there a date that all material should be done > by???? I gotta know which night to do crunch time on. Just > kidding.:) > > Pax Aye, > Kate;-) I'm a Val, I know. Like totally, freak me out! Uh, wow! Am I, like, gonna have to spell this out, and stuff? Bag your face and visit the BDay homepage where you can view the like totally bitchin FAQ recently posted there: http://www.iag.net/~milliner/tmdr/signup.html I am SO sure. Lord God Bu-Fu, /\/\ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 19:00:28 -0600 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Kathleen's request for TFeryE . . . Actually, either will work. And if you are feeling really adventuresome, try: http://www.stansell.com/keith/flattery.htm - ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen M. Tilson > In error I wrote: > > > http://Keith.Stansell.com/flattery.htm > > > The correct URL is: > > http://www.keith.stansell.com/flattery.htm > > Sorry, > /\/\ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 19:40:46 -0700 From: Robyn Moore Subject: Re: Alloy: Guess who.... At 11:58 AM 5/10/99 , you wrote: > >Hello People, > >It's me---Ian! > >I am back. WooHoo! How incredibly super to see you again! How's every little thing? Welcome back in spades :) Robyn M @ Robyn Moore @ http://www.alveus.com/kbrm/robyn.html @ You knew the job was dangerous when you took it. - S.C. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 19:49:10 -0700 From: Robyn Moore Subject: Re: Alloy: Flattery Earth At 09:52 PM 5/10/99 , you wrote: > > Is it the pictures? It's the pictures, right? The pictures!? > > > CRACKERS > (Anticipation from hell!!!!) > Are you sure that shouldn't ought to be One-Track-Mind from hell? Although if you ever -do- get those pix, I'm definitely on the 'show 'em to me too' list. ;) Robyn M @ Robyn Moore @ http://www.alveus.com/kbrm/robyn.html @ You knew the job was dangerous when you took it. - S.C. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 20:22:44 -0700 From: Robyn Moore Subject: Re: Alloy: yee-ha. At 01:43 AM 5/11/99 , you wrote: >OK then folks, the Adam and Joe Show pics can be found on my site (new URL) >here: >http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Lot/8142/music/tmdr.html - just >follow the link. I hope y'all enjoy my little effort! I can get to your website, but the Adam and Joe link goes to a GeoCities "We can't find this" page. Is there a problem? Robyn M @ Robyn Moore @ http://www.alveus.com/kbrm/robyn.html @ You knew the job was dangerous when you took it. - S.C. ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #141 ***************************