Wednesday, 20 May 2015

He a Pirate... Oooh-Aaarghhhhh

He's a Pirate

This recording is levelled really well and it had a professional sound to it. However, there a a few minor faults with it. At various parts of the track, there are screeches caused form finger movement. At 00:09 and 00:13 are examples off recording issues. To solve this problem, I would re-record the track but this time, use a noise-gate to cut off the low frequencies to stop any screeching sounds or background noises from coming through.
Clicks happen due to glitches, might be from too much information going through at once. I would use a better computer or use better data cables such as USB 3.0.

Music Listening Test

Music Listening Test

1.
a)    There are electricity signals that are disturbing one another. Also, the crash of electricity passing through the cable to the guitar and the cable being pulled out.
b)    You could DI box the guitar to avoid any feedback or background noise.

2.
a)    Close mic’ing a piano, you can hear then keys being played aggressively just under the sound of the notes/chords being played
b)    You can also DI box the piano recording eliminating any key playing sounds, reducing the loss of energy and getting a fuller sound.

3.
a)    There is feedback from the electric acoustic and the closely played microphone recording the sounds.
b)    Only use a normal acoustic guitar if close mic’ing, or DI box the recording.

4.
a)    The bass guitar is too loud meaning it sounds distorted and not very clean. It is a lot louder than the drums in which I cant really hear that well.
b)    Turn the gain down on the recording and or when recording the bass, make sure you are recording it at a volume not too loud as you can always turn it up when editing, but when turning it down from it being too loud, not losing the clean sound to it.

5.
a)    It alters in volume, it gets louder then quieter etc.
b)    When mic’ing the xylophone up, have multiple microphones lined up going down the instrument, therefore, picking up every sound being produced.


6.
a)    The bass drum and snare were very loud and over-powering the rest of the kit.
b)    To avoid this, you can turn the volume of the bass drum and snare track down when editing.

7.
a)    After the guitar had stopped, there were a couple of seconds of background noise where the musician had stopped playing and had moved and physically stopped the recording.
b)    To avoid this problem, when editing, cut the track from where the musician has stopped playing. Also, to save the effort of having to cut it as soon as the musician has stopped and started creating noise, when you have stopped playing the instrument in a recording, sit there for a couple of seconds in silence top reduce and costs of background noise.

8.
a)    The problem in this recording is the change in tempo on the drums. It starts with a quick beat then slowly fades into a basic drum pattern.
b)    To avoid this, listen to a metronome to keep in time to a beat.

9.
a)    During this recording, you can hear the squeak of a door opening and closing.
b)    To avoid a problem like this happening, there are many alternatives. Don’t let someone else in the studio with you, keep the door locked or put a sign on the door letting people know there is a recording happening.

10.
a)    With this recording, it sounds like the microphones that have been set up to record the drums have been placed badly, some parts of the kit sound as if the mic has been closer and some further away.
b)    To avoid this happening, ensure that all microphones have been placed the same way to get the most accurate and clean sounding drum kit.
11.
a)    The bass in this short track is really out of time to the drum kit. I also think the bass is a little too loud.
b)    To avoid these problems, the bass player should listen to the recorded drums to know when to come in and when to stay in time. Also, turn the bass recording down a bit.

12.
a)    In this guitar sequence, there are chords being played wrong making the recording sound terrible.
b)    To avoid this, rehearse the piece before recording to make sure you know the whole piece.

13.
a)    I THINK that in this drum fill, the snare was a lot louder than the rest of the kit, making the listeners main attraction, the snare.
b)    To avoid this, you should level every mic set up and drum before recording.

14.
a)    This recording is way too quiet.
b)    To avoid a problem like this happening, turn up the tracks gain when editing it. You could also make sure the musician is sitting closer to the mic when recording, or make sure the volume on the actual instrument is turned up. For example, the knob on an electric guitar.

15.
a)    In this recording, I think the amplifier is too loud.
b)    To avoid something like this happening, make sure the amp is at a good volume when recording it.

16.
a)    The bass in this track is far too loud, and you can hear the snare/cymbals of the drum kit rattling to the powerful volume of the bass.
b)    To stop this happening, you can record in a room that doesn’t have a drum kit in. If you are unavailable to do that, then you can record the bass via a DI box.
17.
a)    The edit of this recording has made it sound very tinny and almost unbearable to listen to.
b)    To stop this, when editing the drums, make sure when equalizing a track, you only do it to enhance the volume and/or to give it an intentional sound that listeners will appreciate. 

18.
a)    In this recording, you can hear the metronome in the background.
b)    To avoid in issue like this from occurring, make the performer wear headphones so only they can hear it and the risk of the metronome being picked up is miniscule

19.
a)    In this recording, the drum kit has been recorded on one, maybe two microphones.
b)    To avoid making the drum kit sound so powerless, close mic each section of the drum kit to get the best sounding kit that is powerful and bass’y.

20.
a)    This recording, there are a lot of wrong chords being played in the rhythm guitar section, taking the nice sounding lead guitar away.
b)    To avoid this, make sure the performer has learned the track before recording so he does not ruin the overall sound.

21.
a)    The reverb on the snare in this recording is really unnecessary. It sounds silly and does not match the rest of the unedited kit.
b)    To avoid this, do not add reverb onto the snare without editing the rest of the kit. Or if you want reverb on only the snare, don’t use such a heavy reverb.

22.
a)    In this recording, the guitar hits the closely placed microphone creating a bang sound.
b)    To avoid this, make sure the microphone is placed close to the guitar but not too close leading to this error.

23.
a)    In this recording there is a lot of background noise before and after the track starts. You can hear the squeak of the stool that the performer is sitting on. You also hear his keys at the end of the track.
b)    To avoid this happening, make sure cut out any background noise when editing the track, also, when playing the recorded instrument, make sure you are sitting/standing still to reduce any sound of movement.

24.
a)    In this track the toms sounded very loud compared to the rest of the kit.
b)    To avoid this, level each mic to make sure each part of the kit is the same volume so it sound even
25.
a)    The strums of guitar alter volume, it starts loud then the strums get quieter at the end.
b)    To avoid this, make sure you use the same sort of technique and power each time you play a chord.

26.
a)    The track was not left to fade out when the drum fill was finished. The track had been cut short when edited.
b)    To avoid this, when editing, listen to the track until then end and make a note of how long it takes for the track to fade out, then cut the track after it has fully stopped.

27.
a)    In this recording, there are some notes that are missed/hit badly and also some background noise right before the guitar starts. It sounds as if the performer was moving heavily next to the microphone.

b)    To avoid this from happening, re-play the piece until the performer fully hits each note attempted. Also, do not move whilst recording to reduce background noise.

Tuesday, 19 May 2015

The Incredibles

The Incredibles




The Glory Days – Michael Giacchino

As the song starts, the music is being played at a walking pace, which is also known as ‘Andante’. At 10 seconds, the piece is of a ‘Vivace’ style, meaning the tempo is also lively. This is so the music can keep up with the fast paced action of the car chase scene in the film. The music changes once again at 18 seconds when the flute starts. The tempo sounds like it slows down, however it doesn’t, it just sounds this way due to the texture becoming thinner as the volume has decreased and the instruments are of higher pitch, meaning there is no bass, losing all power and energy in the audio.

He has made the pace fast and energetic to keep up with the action in the film.

Tonality – The piece is in a minor key. This is strange to hear because a piece in minor is not normally heard, as a minor tone is not normally used for an upbeat or fast paced piece of music. However, it suits the film due to it being an action film creating an unpredictable and mysterious vibe. This is due to the raised 5th in the minor key.

The texture in this piece of music alters rather a lot. A majority of the song, is polyphonic, however, it changes in various parts of the piece. It is polyphonic because there is more than one instrument being played at one time. Director, Giacchino, did this to create an exhilarating feel on his audience upon them watching the title sequence. When the radio comes on at 18 seconds, it then turns to monophonic. Here, there is a reoccurring theme where as soon as the scene changes from inside the car, to the car chase, the texture changes as well. This is to show the two different moods/atmospheres between the two events.

Dynamics in this sequence vary from forte to piano, determining on the dialogue of the sequence, where the music diminuendos when there is character speech, then crescendos back to the original dynamic of the sound.

The time signature of this piece is 4,4. That is the original time, this being because the car chase represents the pace.

In this piece by Giacchino, the melody of the piece changes throughout its duration, a lot like it’s other musical elements. The introduction is legato and is played by an orchestra, applying a smooth sound to the intro. After this, flute comes in for a Legato melody which then works with the Pizzicato of the violins offering a nice contrast of smooth and plucking sounds. Its melody lines consist of interesting rhythms, such as syncopation from the flute and xylophone. This creates an effect of progress in the car chasse scene and increases intensity through this part of the sequence.

This piece of music has a jazz style feel to it due to the heavy appearance of brass instruments that feature from start to finish. Also, the fact that there is a saxophone in the piece takes away any orchestral feel from the piece, as saxophones do not normally feature in an orchestra. There is no structure to the song, which also references the jazz style of music. It gives an almost improvised feel to the track. At 29 seconds, there is also a trumpet trill, heavily used and popular from the jazz era and style.
    

Before the film footage starts…
  • ·      French Horn – It is a very bold and capturing sound, drawing the audience in.
  • ·      Glockenspiel – High frequency cutting through the main texture of the melody in the French horn. I enjoy the contrast of these two sounds
  • ·      Flute/piccolo – High frequency cutting through the main texture of the melody in the French horn.
  • ·      Woodblock – Creating a drum roll effect using a trill to gradually increase the tempo. I feel that the composer does this to build tension and set the scene for the car chase.
  • ·      Trumpet – there is an increase in its pitch towards the end of the opening scene. This may have been done to build tension within the scene. To counteract this, there is a glissando going down in pitch and dynamic preparing you for the next scene.

Car chase starts…
  • ·      Drum Kit
  • ·      Double Bass
  • ·      Flute/Xylophone
  • ·      Trumpet
  • ·      Alto-Saxophone
  • ·      French Horn
  • ·      Woodblock