Tomorrow!

I start tracking tomorrow! I get to finally test Pro Tools out, and I'm super stoked on it. Joel Beckwith is coming over to track some guitars and possibly bass on a "hardcore" track. The 'doing it' part of my project is about to begin and I am ecstatic! More updates on that to come--

Opportunities

Dear Diary,

Today I got to do something really cool. I was asked to record the Superintendant, Dr. Brown, for the school musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Dr. Brown was reading for the "Book Voice." In the story, the main character leads his life off of a self-help book with the same title as the show. We thought it would be neat and funny to have the Superintendant read the part, and so today from 1-2:30 I sat in a practice room in Kulp with my recording gear, Mr. Winans (the director), and Dr. Brown, engineering the "session". There were a total of nine sections where there is narration, and we did about three takes for each monologue. After Dr. Brown left, Mr. Winans and I chose which take was the best for each one, and then proceeded in splicing and editing from there, if we didn't like the sound of a word or phrase. Tonight I am hoping to review those takes once again and do any final editing, before I "mix" them. My mixing will probably just consist of me boosting the low end, adding a bit of compression, and some reaverb in order to make it sound more God-like. After that, I will have to convert each .wav file into a high-quality .mp3 file, leave it uncompressed, and export them to an audio CD for the technicians to deal with during the show. I'm glad to be more than just an actor in this production, and it's cool that I got to use my skill set in this capacity. All for now.

<3 xoxo <3

St. John

Lapse

I haven't had much time to blog or work recently, because I've been very busy. Here's a little bit of reflection/updates in terms of my WISE project.

My band had two shows this weekend, which was cool. I liked that a lot, and it was nice to be able to compare one to the other. We have been writing so much music, and I can't wait to start recording the stuff for my project.

This week is going to be all about learning the ins and outs of PT 8 LE, so I can get moving ASAP. It's about time that I started working on something tangible, and there's no better time than the present.

I think I have some really cool ideas for my final presentation as well, so hopefully those work out. Much more to come, including real work, mentor meetings, and an increase in blog posts. Sorry Ms. Lord.

- St. John

Addicted.

I found this tutorial for Pro Tools LE 8 on YouTube and it is amazing to say the least. The guy knows what he's talking about for sure, and the good news is that my M-Powered version of Pro Tools is 8.0.3 which is really close to PT LE 8, which was the version that I had before that didn't work. Good news is, I already know some about it! I'm loving the format and the way everything is set up, it's no wonder this is the most famous and used recording software available. I know this will be meaningless to many viewers, but if you are at all interested, here is the link to part 1 of the tutorial that I plan on spending lots of time with on the upcoming days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU4rhBNlnHw More to come!

Software/Hardware Updates

Just a few days ago, I had made the decision to give up on Pro Tools and Reaper in order to learn Cubase. I was planning on doing my project with that format, but I wasn't exactly happy about it. The great news is that I just found the installation DVD for the M-Powered version of Pro Tools. It came with my Fastrack interface that I bought a couple of years ago, but I never got around to installing it and just used Reaper. It's weird that I just found it, but I'm stoked to go ahead with my project the way that it should be! After school activities were cancelled today which means no rehearsal for me. This will give me time to, after band practice, work on messing with the new software. I'm hoping to dive right in though, because it's high time that I started working with some musicians other than myself and really start getting some tracking done, so that I'll have a finished product to present! Super excited though

Gleaning From the Past

2-3 Gems of the project:
• The time spent doing self-reflections and personal improvements.
• The description of the mixing process.
• The honesty and self-reflection about halfway through.

2-3 Oops moments:
• Most of it was definitely the "Diary of a Cat" for a lot of the time.
• He was very opinionated and a lot of the stuff he talked about with singing was frustrating to hear for someone who knows a little bit about the subject, but it's all part of the learning process I suppose.
• He never put his name on anything! He signed his first entry, and Ms. Gergely referred to him as "Tae," so I am assuming that that is his first name.

2-3 Things to borrow:
• I'm going to borrow his honesty. He knew when he procrastinated and when he was being lazy. His early posts remind me of myself. I'm going to start blogging a lot more for sure.
• How much he met with other people. In a project such as this, it is great to go out into the field and meet with professionals and people who know about your topic. There is nothing more helpful, and I am now planning on doing a whole lot more of that.

(not so) Lazy Saturday

Today seems like a great day to stay home and write some songs. Just me, my notebooks, metronome, acoustic, and computer!

Decision Making

After messing around with both softwares for quite some time, I've decided to continue my project using Cubase LE 5. I found a very informative 6 part tutorial on YouTube that I have watched 2 parts of, and have already learned so much. I could easily have used Reaper, which I am already very comfortable with, but I wanted to challenge myself and get more out of my project. It's a busy time, but now that I'm all set up with my software and hardware, I think I can finally start getting musicians in to work! As far as different songs/genres/ideas, these are what I have so far:

• A 'hardcore' song that I co-wrote with the bassist from my band, Joel Beckwith. We'll get in another guitarist (Max Gaeta) and a singer (Zachary Dennis) for this track.
• An 'indie' acoustic song that is yet to be written, hopefully I'll have something to do with that, and performed by Allie Young and Vanessa Anderson 
• A 'folk-rock' or some kind of out there alternative progressive track to be written and recorded by myself and a good friend and excellent musician by the name of Parker Callister
• A 'pop dance jam' that I'm hoping to create with the singer of my band, Kristian Wood-Gaiger. This will most likely include some MIDI mapping, which I've never tried before, so that's cool.

I would also really like to try producing/engineering some Country, but I don't know anyone who plays it or could write a believable country tune. I'll be on the lookout though. I might try to track some other instruments that I'm not used to dealing with like banjo, ukelele, horns, piano, etc.

Finally getting actually moving on this thing!

Software/Hardware Issues

So I have run into some problems regarding my recording software/hardware situation. Pro Tools is owned by a company called Avid, which has very strict policies, etc. in terms of their products, and making sure that one "stays in the family" when using any given product. This means that Pro Tools only accepts interfaces that are made by Avid or Digidesign, a subset of Avid. There are versions of Pro Tools that come with interfaces, and starting at Pro Tools 9, many more types and brands of interfaces are accepted by the software. The two interfaces that I own are an M-Audio Fastrack, and a Tascam U-800. Unfortunately for me, PT LE 8 will not accept either of these. More unfortunate than that, PT LE 8 will not even run without having compatible hardware installed and hooked up. This means that I will not be able to use PT LE 8, because I really don't want to have to pay like $200 for a new interface. So this leaves me with a couple of other options:

1) Explore the possibility of getting PT 9 or higher, from another studio like On Point Productions. The only problem with that is that I don't really know their policies on it, and they may not go for it. I also don't really know how the licensing and stuff works, so it may not even be possible for me to install an already installed DVD of PT 9. I'm not sure how they did it at REP.

2) Use Cubase LE 5. When I purchased my Tascam interface, it came with the Cubase LE 5 software, and I have not really tried using that since I installed it and tried messing with it one day like a year ago. This is a viable and more easy solution, although I have heard rumors that Cubase is much better for MIDI rather than live tracking. I think it's still worth a shot though, especially since I'm sure everything will work with that one. If I choose this path, I'll just be learning the ropes of the software from YouTube most likely.

3) Continue using Reaper. The only problem with that, is that I would have had liked to, by the end of the project, not just be better and more knowledgable in terms of producing/engineering/recording as a whole, but I would also like to have something more tangible as evidence of work and effort over the next 3 months. This would best come in the way of the learning of a new recording software. Another problem is that with my new Reaper update, it's been acting kind of funky and didn't even run the other day (which scared me because ALL of my band's demos are on there). Luckily it started up yesterday after I joined the Cockos (the company that owns Reaper) forum to see what the problem was. I'm still being very cautious, and haven't even closed the program for a couple of days now.

Right now my thinking is that I will learn Cubase LE 5, because I already have the software and compatible hardware, and I would like to learn how to use a new software in general. If it's really not working out, I will probably have to resort to using Reaper, which wouldn't be the end of the world, but would be much more disappointing.

Pro Tools LE 8

Thanks to the help of Joon Park, and Nate at REP Studios, I am the proud new owner of some new recording software! After school today, I accompanied Joon to the studio to get Pro Tools installed on my computer. Nate ended up being in a meeting for most of the time, and so I didn't really get a chance to talk to him much. Nevertheless, the installation seemed to be successful. I haven't had a chance to properly test it out, as we had to leave the studio by 5, and then I had rehearsal at 7. Tomorrow will be the test run! Pro Tools requires hardware (a recording interface - in my case an M-Audio 2-channel USB powered interface that will hopefully be compatible with the software) to run, and so I'm hoping that that next step will go smoothly as well. If it doesn't turn out to work, then I have a few options. If the hardware is the problem, then I can simply buy a new interface that will be compatible. If the software is the problem, then I can either return to REP Studios to try again, or try to continue on with my project using a different software. Regardless of what happens on that front, I am meeting with one of my band's guitarists tomorrow to work on some new music and hopefully write, and possibly demo, for some songs that will be used for my project. Updates on all of this soon to come

Barnsong

Today in WISE class, we watched a film that incorporated two students' WISE projects in one. One boy's project was to erect a barn all on his own, and the other's was to document the process, creating a short documentary about what it was like building a barn from scratch. The following post is the assignment we were given in class following the viewing of the movie.

After viewing, what do you:

Better understand about a WISE project?
   That sometimes, they don't get finished. The barn was not finished in time for the WISE class to end.

Question or wonder about a WISE project?
   Is it too late to join forces with someone? Does it happen often that one does not achieve their intended goal?

Think about your project goals?
   I think that while its not as ambitious as building a barn, my project should still turn out well, and be fun. I'm also looking forward to and hoping that the presentation will be cool.