The sounds of Unstoppable
The SoundWorks Collection team has published another of their great videos, this time about the sound of “Unstoppable”.
Unstoppable is an action thriller film directed by Tony Scott, written by Mark Bomback and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The film tells the story of a runaway train, and the two men (Washington and Pine) who attempt to stop it. Unstoppable is inspired by the “Crazy Eights” unmanned train incident in 2001.
In this exclusive sound for film profile we talk with Sound Re-Recording Mixer, Beau Borders, sound designer Alan Rankin, Supervising Sound Editor Mark Stoeckinger, Sound Designer Ann Scibelli, and Sound Designer Ken J. Johnson.
Cool introduction to Game Audio
How Games are Different from Anything You’ve Worked on Before
This session provides an introduction and exploration into the many ways in which video game music and sound design are fundamentally different from linear media such as television or film. It also covers what to expect when working on a game, and how being part of a game team is very different from being hired to score or do sound design for more traditional media.
Watch more videos at Soundworkscollection.com
Interview with Bernard Butler
UAD has posted this interview with Bernard Butler where he discusses music production
Bernard Butler, guitarist of Suede, McAlmont & Butler, and producer of numerous artists including Duffy and The Libertines is a user of the Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Card. We headed to Bernard’s little custom studio to talk about how he’s found working with UAD2, his musical processes, the music industry and the state of music, and how he wrote one of his greatest songs…
Comping Takes Together in Record
The prop guys delivers yet another high quality tutorial in music production
It’s nearly unimaginable to think about early music recording. Musicians had to record their songs in one take direct to wax/acetate records. 100 copies of an album meant recording 100 flawless takes for every musician playing together! Compare that to today and Record 1.5’s “Comp Editor.” You can cycle through recording, doing take after take after take, choosing the best parts of each, and stitching them together into one flawless performance. This week I’ll show you how.
Game Audio 101
Game Audio 101 is a new site created by Ben Long, composer, sound designer and audio director. The site has several articles form Ben and also interviews with sound professionals.
Music, Sound Design & Dialogue are the three main components of audio in a game. Each of these carries a unique set of challenges. Our creative, technical and career content comes directly from the top professionals working in the industry.
About Ben:
Our first ebook title is written by Ben Long, a composer, sound designer and audio director. Over the years, Ben’s sonic signature has become a secret weapon for game developers worldwide. His new book, “The Insiders Guide To Music & Sound for Mobile Games” covers today’s top mobile games including the official release of LodeRunner for mobile. Ben is featured in three game design textbooks and will be speaking at GDC China 2010. Learn more at www.noisebuffet.com
Visit: Game Audio 101
Stretch to tempo in Reason/Record
The Prop guys continues to deliver good tutorials on their gear, here´s the latest one featuring “stretch to tempo”
The new “stretch to tempo” feature in Record 1.5 (AUDIO+MIDI) and Reason 5 (MIDI only) means that it’s easier than ever to take a WAV loop off your hard drive and bring it into your session – quickly employing Record’s excellent stretch algorithm along the way. In case you’re new to waveform editing and sample stretching, this week I’ll show you how it’s done. It’s easier than you may think and the production possibilities become vast.
Exclusive interview with the Lightbringers – Covenant in the Studio
Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time with Eskil and Joakim from Covenant in their new refurbished studio. Covenant is definitely Sweden’s number one export in the electronic music scene, with numerous ground breaking synth/EBM albums behind them, i.e. Sequencer, Shyshaper, Northern Light to name but a few. However, although I was curious on their new EP coming out in a couple of weeks, titled Lightbringer, my main purpose were to explore their working methods and their gear.
My first impression when I entered the studio was overwhelming. The first thing that came to my mind is the old saying – “the one who has the most gear when you die, wins”. Look like the Covenant boys is aspiring for the final. Korgs, Prophets, Moogs, Viruses, Emus you name it, it´s all there stacked neatly on racks across the studio. Check out the pictures below to delve in to some pure synth porn.
The new album and the state of the Synth scene
Even before Lightbringer is released we know it will be something different, since collaborations with other artists is not something that we are not used to. Lightbringer actually came as an idea from Necro Facility, rather then from Covenant, with the intention to have Eskil to sing on it. However it turned out to be something more. Eskil tells me that we will experience a different melody build up, then we are used to and that it’s all about fear and loathing in Helsingborg, Sweden. I guess you cannot be more cryptic then that!
As Lightbringer will be released as a limited edition we came to discuss how vibrant the Synth scene is today and happily enough I can conclude that, although still a niche scene, Covenant has not slowed down on touring (note: Eskil just came back from a Gothic Cruise in the Caribbean). They say that the globalization that has come as a result from a better infrastructure (read Internet) in markets like South America and Eastern Europe really has resulted in that bands like Covenant continuously finds a new audience, and adds that they really find it exotic with synth music, creating a foundation for new sub cultures in those countries.
Speaking of sub cultures it was logical for me to ask about their various side projects like Cement (Eskil’s noise project) and Joakim’s joint venture with Ronan Harris (VNV Nation) exploring classical music from an electronic perspective. Eskil tells me that Cement actually came about, apart from the fact that he really enjoys noise music, as a wish of entering (and travel to) the Japanese music scene, where noise is big. But also to somewhat alter the common public image of himself, showing that there are more sides then just Covenant. Although Joakim’s classical endeavor didn’t continue I am pleased to inform you that Cement is alive and kicking. Major noise inspirations are Brighter than death, White house and Geometric, of course.
Preview of the SONiVOX PULSE production instrument
SONiVOX Previews PULSE – Advanced Production Instrument
Innovative design coupled with an expansive feature set delivers an unrestricted music production workflow.
SONiVOX, Boston MA, based award-winning music software company today offered a pre-release preview complete with Video examples of their upcoming release, PULSE – Advanced Production Instrument.
PULSE combines the feature set highlights of today’s popular hardware music production units, along with the power and multidimensional capabilities afforded by the software paradigm. In doing so, PULSE is able to offer music producers expanded features & functionality as well as an unrestricted workflow, eliminating multiple menus, button clicks, memory limitations, and more.
PULSE – Advanced Production Instrument Features:
• Next-generation music production software for MAC and PC, combining MPC style editing and workflow.
• Imports most MPC file formats including MPC 60/II, MPC 3000, MPC 2000, MPC 2000XL, MPC 1000, MPC 2500, MPC 500, MPC 5000, as well as AIFF, WAV, Broadcast WAV, ACID & MP3 files.
• 8 User-assignable stereo outputs and 8 User-assignable effects busses, complete with tempo sync stereo delay, EQ, and reverb effects
• Onboard real-time sampling
• 64 user assignable pads with Infinite sample layering and multiple playback modes
• Per pad editing of LFO, volume, pitch, envelope, panning, and filter with ten user selectable filter types.
• User-assignable auto pitch map, velocity override (full), choke and one shot modes
• User adjustable input-quantize
• Over 400 premium instruments and drum kits
• Midi learn & save functionality, PULSE is instantly compatible with any MIDI keyboard or pad controller
• Pad-specific variable resolution note repeat
• Advanced multi-mode pattern and step sequencer which optionally locks to your DAW/host
• Works as a MAC or PC Standalone application or as a VST, AU, & RTAS plugin.
• And much more…
PULSE – Advanced Production Instrument is slated for a release date of November 1st 2010 with a MSRP of $199.99 and an estimated street price of $149.99. Select retailers will be offering PULSE at a special introductory price of $99.99 throughout the holiday season.
For video demos and purchasing information please visit www.sonivoxmi.com
Skale has arrived
A full-blown music production tool has been directly ported from the desktop to the browser using Flash, modeled with a tracker-style interface for fast, precise music editing. In fact, a tracker, thanks to speedy entry from a QWERTY keyboard, seems to me an ideal interface for browser music. The resulting tool comes with all the modules you’ll need, and it’s completely free to use. There’s even an included sample library.
Creator Ruben Ramos says this is the first tracker on the Web, and shares his development process with us:
The sourcecode of the application is the same than the desktop version, it’s C++. I used a research project from Adobe Labs to build my sources for the AVM2 (ActionScript Virtual Machine 2), which is the last virtual machine used in Flash. This way, I got a binary version as a .swf of my original desktop-based application.
I wrote some parts code for this version, but only a few. For example the graphic rendering: in the desktop version was using the graphic card acceleration; for this version I implemented a software renderer.
After it, I added some special features for this version. For example, I implemented a filesystem with remote access to allow the load of resources stored on the server. With this feature songs and samples can be loaded from the webserver, which is good to have a base sample library available on the server.
Try it here >>
http://www.skale.org/
Trifonic under the hood
Electronic music production tutorial by Brian Trifon of Trifonic
Sculpture, the physical modeling synth in Apple’s Logic Pro, is one of the most powerful and unique synths available. It’s also one of the most intimidating to use.
Thankfully, Brian has created a video in which he breaks down the mysteries of this complex and impressive tool, demonstrating how to use Sculpture’s multiple parameters to create strong, unique lead sounds.
DATAMASKIN
