December 4, 2011

Trick #54: Recording a party where there is none

Need a royalty-free party sound with real room ambience — and without holding a party?

Record yourself having imaginary conversations. Do different voice impressions. Tweak the voices by speeding them up or slowing them down. You will likely feel very silly while doing this.

Put all of the conversations onto multiple CDs or mp3 players. Set up a bunch of stereo speakers in the dining room (or wherever you might have a party), each of them playing a different looped recording of a different length. Press the play buttons on everything. Instant party.

It’s especially eerie if you’re in another room of the house. Set up two mics and record the result.

I did this for the party noise on “Cocktails”:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

December 3, 2011

Trick #53: Adjusting the sensitivity of an insensitive wah-wah pedal

If you have a wah-wah pedal that has no adjustment for sensitivity (like the original Jim Dunlop Crybaby pedal), try this:

  1. Put a piece of Velcro against the base of the wah-wah pedal — the spot where the pedal touches down.
  2. Cut a small, relatively thin (1/4″) piece of wood. Put the complimentary piece of Velcro on it.
  3. Shove the wood into where the pedal touches down, connecting the Velcro that’s on the base of the pedal.

Now the pedal cannot move the entire way down and you have a more limited range with which to sweep. Your wah-wah pedal now sounds darker as a result.

Use pieces of wood with different thicknesses to change the sensitivity.

December 1, 2011

Trick #52: You are an onion

“The writing has been an exercise [in] trying to work my way toward clarity. Get out the pen, and face the beast yourself. And what’s bothering you. And write. Well, that’s not exactly it. Y’know, OK, let’s go a little bit deeper. Well, that’s not exactly it. [It's] very hard peeling the layers off your own onion. When you get to the truth, y’know, do I want to say that in public?” -Joni Mitchell

November 29, 2011

Trick #51: Is it true?

So much of creating is doing something with the critical mind turned off, then checking the next morning and asking yourself, “is it true?”

“True” means, is there a basic human truth that’s being communicated somewhere in the work?

Not, “did this situation really happen?”

And not “is this historically accurate?”

You can play fast and loose with the facts, if you’re basing the work on something that happened to you.

The real test is to ask yourself if you’re communicating something that rings true with what you know about people, about the world, about the way you view things.

People love to see themselves in other peoples’ art. They love to experience things that resonate as “true” to them. It’s the nature of how our brains function.

If you aren’t communicating a human truth on some level, you may find it difficult to find humans who are interested in your work.

November 27, 2011

Trick #50: Microcassette vocal mic

Use a microcassette recorder as a “vocal” mic.

The built-in compression on these devices is usually so crazy that it lends an interesting character to whatever you record into it.

I used this sound for the scratchy response vocal in the chorus of “Really Really Weird“:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Record onto the cassette, then play the tape into your DAW and line things up at the proper place in the mix.

Or, for a slightly cleaner sound, put the recorder into record mode and connect the headphone out jack into your DAW input. Then you can truly use the microcassette recorder as a real-time “mic.”

November 26, 2011

Trick #49: Editing demos for maximum progressive rock-ness

Progressive rock trick: the band Yes used to edit together their demos and learn the songs that way. Then they would record it for real.

November 24, 2011

Trick #48: Another use for microcassettes

Use a microcassette recorder as a source for lo-fi beatbox loops.

Record a beat by tapping directly on the recorder. Play back the result into your DAW, then mangle the sound to your ear’s delight.

November 22, 2011

Trick #47: Be clueless

Find an instrument you that have no idea how to play.

Try writing a song on it.

November 20, 2011

Trick #46: Not all conceptual worlds are created equal

Ted Orland says, “Not all conceptual worlds are created equal.”

This goes for song concepts as well.

Or album concepts.

While it’s great when you’ve hit the mark and finished something that matched your initial concept, the end result can never be any greater than the maximum potential that the concept holds.

My favorite example of this is the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music.

It’s an absolutely top notch work on every technical and artistic level. But the original movie that the show is based on doesn’t particularly move me on an emotional level, and neither does the show.

It’s meant to be a light comedy romp, and it succeeds at that, but nothing more.

That’s as much as that particular concept could hold, when executed at the highest possible level.

If you’re going to pursue an idea that’s going to take a lot of time, effort, or expense, make sure the concept has enough potential to make it worth your while.

November 19, 2011

Trick #45: Working quickly through presets

If you wish to work quickly and spontaneously, find or make preset sounds and stick with them.

This doesn’t just apply for things that traditionally have presets, like synthesizers and effects units. This can apply for things like the knobs on a bass preamp.

Have the knobs always be set to a standard sound — “your sound.”

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »