Assignment #5: Modulated Short Delay Effects

Hi, I'm Lameez from Cape Town, South Africa. This week I have chosen to demonstrate two of the three types of modulated short delay effects (flanger, phaser, chorus). I will describe how those two function and what they are best used for, I will include description of the Delay Time, LFO, Feedback and Dry/Wet sections.

Before we begin it's important to understand the basic concepts of delay. Delay is time delay between input and output. Signals can be described as Dry or Wet. A dry signal is one without delay and a wet signal is one with delay. How much of the wet signal goes back into the effect is known as feedback. 

There are several audio effects based on short delay, delay being the amount of time delay between the input and output. A comb filter are short delays of the same signal that result in a series of notches throughout the frequency spectrum  These Modulated short delays are the idea of putting the comb filter into motion e.g. putting motion into a static sound. 

The effects making up the modulated short delays are flangers, phasers and choruses. The two I have chosen to focus on in this lesson are Flangers and Phasers. 

Flanger: comb filter or slight delay put in motion. This adds a changing short delay of a signal to itself. It's a comb filter moving under the control of a LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator). It's a strict comb filter with even notches across the spectrum.

Let's try and see this on a spectrogram and spectrograph. Introducing the white noise with a 0.10 ms delay

Increasing delay with a flanger, with the LFO off / not in motion, note the change in patterns when changing to 0.89 ms delay then 1.55 ms

Now let's see the change with the LFO on, you will see motion added (as there is only picture no video it can be seen as the introduction of colour or additional waves or peaks in the spectrograph...

...and waves in the spectrograph below)

Flangers gives it a swirly outer worldly vibe to the audio. It is usually done differently in the left and right speaker and gives a back and forth studio presence.

Phaser: deep notches in motion. This effect is also modulated by a LFO so the effect is similar to flanging. It sounds much like a flanger giving a swirly stereo effect. They're a series of notches that move differently in the left and right speaker. This splits the signal in two, one goes through an all-pass filter altering the phase of the signal. When the two signals mix, a series of notches are formed. Unlike the flanger, the phaser's notches are not even across the spectrum.

Let's see the effects. First, introducing the white noise

Now introducing the phaser, notice the notice the notches aren't evenly space as they were with the comb filter or flanger (flanger looked just like the comb filter)

Adjusting the frequency, moves differently to the comb filter i.e. no new / higher notches

With the phaser the number of notches can be changed and...

...how they are related to each other can also be adjusted

With the phaser we have more control over where we are going to emphasise.

Now let's see what it looks like when we put in motion i.e. introduction of colour or additional waves or peaks in the spectrograph and waves  / shapes in the spectrograph below

So like the flanger, there is a series of notches put in motion that are different in left and right, but it is not a comb filter despite basically the same sound. It is great for guitars and anything overwhelming in the mix. The phaser can notch out a portion of the frequency range to possibly leave room for other instruments to be introduced in the mix or make something sound wider by adjusting the sound in the left and right channel.

Chorus: Multiple detuned copies. Choruses are multiple signals delayed and their pitch modulated by an LFO. The signals are then mixed to create a chorus effect. I won't go into detail on this, as it is not required for the assignment. I have just included for completeness sake.

That's my lesson for today, I hope I covered everything as required. The subject matter was completely new to me so I hope I relayed what I have learned correctly. Please let me know if anything is missing. Thank you for taking the time to review my work. As always, I look forward to hearing your feedback.

References:Introduction to Music Production Video Lectures and Course Wiki:https://share.coursera.org/wiki/index.php/Musicproduction:Main#Delays

Distortion - the Musical and the Problematic

Hi, I'm Lameez from Cape Town, South Africa. For this week's assignment I have chosen to explain distortion and give examples where it can be both musical and problematic. So what is distortion exactly?

Distortion turns volume variations into timbre variations.  It is related to the signal itself, as you get louder the timbre of the sound will change. Distortion occurs at the amplitude at which gear starts reacting strangely. This will happen in the non linear range of the equipment.

Musical Distortion:

Not all distortion is bad. Drive is a gain control before a distortion stage. Guitar players turn up the drive on purpose. Drive is a volume control purposefully going into distortion threshold. As the guitar player turns the drive up the sound of the guitar changes (gets brighter or grittier), and emphasizes the music dynamics or lets the instrument come through in the mix. 

Problematic Distortion:

Sometimes distortion is problematic. There are numerous places in your signal flow that you can get distortion. In other words you will need to avoid distortion at every point in your signal flow. You will want to avoid distortion if you want a clean vocal set for example. The microphone placement itself can create distortion, some examples

• If the microphone is too close the vocalist's mouth it could create microphone distortion, move it further away to eliminate distortion
• "P" and "B" sounds could create microphone distortion, using a pop filter (or moving the microphone further away) would help eliminate this

Another problematic distortion is digital distortion known as "clipping." It is important to apply careful gain staging to avoid distortion i.e. stay in the green at every point in the signal flow. In the DAW you will see clipping indicators (red light that comes up when you go over the digital maximum). Avoid these at all costs.

Displaying distortion in an oscilloscope:

1) Before distortion:

2) Entering Distortion:

You will notice the changes once entering the distortion threshold: introduction of upper partials, changing wave shape, peak level unchanged, and increase in apparent loudness

There are times you may want to use distortion musically and times you would want to avoid it completely. Be aware of it's existence. Take advantage of its uses in music production when it  is useful and know to avoid when it needs to be avoided.

Reflection:

All of this is new to me, I hope I have a good understanding of the topic. If there are any gaps in my knowledge I would like to know. I thank you for taking the time to review my assignment and look forward to any feedback.

Reference:

https://class.coursera.org/musicproduction-002/lecture/129

Introduction to Music Production: Assignment #2

Perform The Important Editing Tasks In Your DAW Including:Trim, Separate, Crossfade, Merge, Grid, Cycle, Markers, Zoom, Name And Color.

Hi, I'm Lameez from Cape Town South Africa. Today I have opted to teach you how to perform important editing tasks in your DAW. 

I will be using Logic Pro 9 to demonstrate.

When recording, an audio file is created on your hard drive and a region file is created in your DAW. The editing being done will be to the region file, not the actual audio file. This is called non-destructive editing. Your audio file will remain intact, editing regions is editing the audio file's reference data, so changes can always be undone.

Let's begin the editing process.

Trimming or edge editing: 

This feature adjusts the bounds or window size of the region. You can chose the beginning, middle or end, whatever region of the file you need to look at.

Move your pointer to the bottom right or bottom left corner of your file to trim your regions.

Notice I have trimmed the second half of the song off leaving the first half region visible in the DAW (first picture) and trimmed the first half of the song off (second picture) leaving the second half visible.

Play around and see how you are able to trim left or right or left and right to leave a middle region visible in your DAW

Separating: 

This will be used for separating and cutting, you will find this as the scissor tool.

Click wherever you like, big or small, as many times as you like. The file will now be split into chunks you can edit or cut or drag. 

Note, I am resetting the track to its original form between steps to illustrate the editing tools described. This is the beauty of non destructive editing, you can undo anything you have done to manipulate the track at any time.

Crossfading: 

When you cut there may be a pop or a click when playing back. Fading in or out at the edges of the region will hide that click or pop. To do this you will use your fade tool and drag across the region you would like to crossfade.

Notice how the first region dips down and the second comes up. This makes it seem seamless. You can also change the shape of the crossfade by dragging on the crossfade created (shown below).

 

The Grid: 

The grid is useful when moving different regions as it snaps to bar, if you choose. Or if you only want to move it slightly, you can choose that option under the snap menu.

For example, choosing bar will snap to a bar (first image) and choosing division will move the region slightly between bars (second image).

Cycling:

This is another useful tool as it will repeat a certain section over and over so you can really examine that area, edit and move on when you're done. The section can be highlighted choosing the bars where you would like the track to repeat or cycle. 

You can stop and start the cycle using the cycle button on the bottom right of your DAW.

Markers: 

This is another useful tool as it acts as a "bookmark" so you don't have to back and look for certain points on the song, example you could create a marker for where the chorus starts, or where the vocals come in etc. Choose the spot you would like to mark, choose create marker. Marker 1 will be created, you can then rename that to e.g. vocals. This makes it easier to find that region again.

Naming and Coloring: 

The deeper you get into the editing process, the more complex things may become. It could be useful to name and color certain sections of the track to keep track of things. Use your text tool to rename tracks.
  

To edit colour, use the color wheel (located on the top right hand side of your DAW)

Zooming:

This is another useful feature because you can really dig into the region and examine under a microscope, edit and then zoom out when satisfied. Remember to select or choose the region you want to zoom into, or your DAW will zoom into an unspecified area and you will lose your place and have to find your way back to the section you actually wanted to zoom into.

Finally, Merging: 

This is a type of destructive editing. When you have many regions that have been edited and you have to move them all along together without choosing each individual region, merging or consolidating will create a new audit file merging all edited regions together. This can be done by the glue tool. 

Be sure that you are happy with all changes before merging. The new audio file will not have information beyond the bounds of that region.


There you have it, your important editing tasks explained. All of these tools should assist you a great deal when you reach the editing phase of music production. Remember, the better the performance recorded, the less editing you will need to do afterwards. The more messy the performance, the more editing you will have to do to try and fix the errors and create the perfect sound. 

I trust all these features I have taught you today will serve you well in your editing future.


Reflection:

I'm completely new to music production and the DAW. Everything presented, I have learned from the video lectures. I hope I was able to relay what I have learned in this assignment. I had to play around with my DAW, doing it myself for the first time! Then teach what I have learned. If I am missing anything I would like to hear what you may have identified after viewing my assignment. 



Thank you for taking the time to review my assignment. I look forward to your critique.

Introduction to Music Production: Assignment #1

Microphone Basics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN45arQyWtE

Work hard, play hard - back on the blogscene

It's been a long time since I've made the time to sit down with my blog. Not to mention I have been away (adding to time gap). Spent some time in Chicago, a special place. A musical city. I did not have enough to fully absorb all the music scene there has to offer. I shall return one day...

Anyone who loves music should spend some time there. I visited the House of Blues a couple of times. This felt surreal because I have seen so many live performance recordings at House of Blues venues, it was pretty stellar actually being there. Live. The city had much to offer musically and there was always something to do at night, not only on the music scene, some kitchens stay open until 2am!!! Good luck finding places that do that here in Cape Town. I am sure they exist but are few and far between.

Now why have I had time to go on holiday but not had the time to add any blog posts? Well, with a new role to perform and an old role to handover (and continually assist with), there is only so much one girl can do! Goodbye series... I have fallen behind on everything. No spoilers please! I'll get to them eventually.

And what else did I decide to do while already struggling to juggle it all? Sign up for courses!!! But not just any courses. I have decided to take my mind off accounting (my profession) and dedicate some of my time to something I love. *Music*.

While so many people I know are continually trying to study further to make themselves more marketable in the workplace, I have chosen courses to help me *stay sane.* There is only so much accounting I can stomach and these courses take my mind off things a bit.

So I am doing an Introduction to Music Production course as well as a Songwriting course. To my surprise, these courses actually require a lot of work! The reason I am telling you this, is you may see an assignment here or there being posted in this regard.

Luckily my blog is the "Rantings & Ravings of a Music Junkie" - so any assignments will be music related and they will be in lesson form so hopefully you will learn a thing or two as well!

I am completely new to all of this. While being an avid music fan for most of my life, I have never quite had the opportunity to study and try and create music my own. So I look forward to the journey and also sharing it with you.

I would like to hear from everyone else. If music means a great deal to you I would like to connect with you. Drop me a line. I love getting to know like minded people :)