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Welcome to the Blog on the blog page...
Exploring Creativity and the inner world
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Re-Introducing Non-Compulsory... the very-first songwriting by a much younger Cody Gene

3/28/2019

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⬇️

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Getting this 2012 album distributed to the places where music is available, figuring out the metadata, and getting over some deep-seeded fears. These have been my challenges the past couple days.
So this album will be available for consumption via streaming services. Great! now why should anyone care? 

I'm proud of this album. Even though it's not perfect, i has a certain raw charm to it, and it's also the first real songwriting I ever made. Cryptic songs about from young punk with catchy chord progressions. Guitar and vocals only. 

​It would mean A LOT if you'd click on the image and check it out.

And of course, stay tuned for more updates. I've got years worth of recordings that need updating.

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March 28th, 2019

3/28/2019

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To me, it's not about what gear you have, but instead your ears, your mind, and how you use them 

Some cliche hallmark engineer bs from Cody Gene

I tend to focus more on principles than on a specific "hey twist this knob this way to fix that thing problem you're hearing.  

Here are two principles that you can apply to your recordings today....

the Frequency spectrum and striking a balance.

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this is one of the early stages of mixing anything with more than a single track. Imagine that graph from 20 Hz to 20kHz which instruments fit into which areas? 
hint. these questions can be answered with the help of an equalizer.
  • Are there any useless frequencies in this instrument? 
  • Are there any frequencies in one instrument that overlap with another?


Sonic density and energy

This part usually becomes more of a concern towards the end of a mix. after everything is in balance. Imagine that bass guitar that is covering your kick drum. is there a way to make them not interfere down in the deep low end? Why do my vocals sound so Thin and tinny while my guitars sound big and full?

​yes. it is a question about frequency, density and energy.  Each track has its place along the frequency spectrum, sometimes there is overlap. the bottom end of your guitars overlapping with your vocal, the bass with the kick drum, guitars recorded using half-a-dozen tracks while the vocals used only an SM57 (microphone for all you total newbies reading this)

Now, there are two options as far as density is concerned, More or Less? that's it. Remember we're talking principles here, not gear. 

lets look at some STems

​Lets say you're recording some folk rock with a punk-rock influence...  you've got some Guitar Bass and Drums Are present but not overpowering but it has that dirty-rock feel of distortion and quite a lot going on sonically. ​​

Guitars

Guitars - these are the focal instrument of the song. notice the amount in power in the higher frequencies... That's where the distortion is living. ​
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bass

Bass - This bassline has quite a bit of 'density' compared to a lot of the other tracks but note how there is really nothing going on up in the higher frequencies (above 5kHz) It was purposefully removed, nothing useful up there.
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Vocals

  • Vocals - These are the central focus of the song. Mixed with density to sit on top of the mix.  There is not a lot of overlap in the Low-end between the vocal and the Bass-line. It can be a point of conflict in a mix so be careful.
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keys

  • Keys    - These are the 'glue' holding everything together. It's mixed quietly, to the point where it's only clearly audible when the other instruments leave room for the keys to show their true colours.
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Drums

Drums - a real drum-kit will be noticeable across the entire frequency spectrum. 
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These tracks were recorded and mixed to cut through where they needed to in order to sound clear and balanced.  common areas of conflict in drums are
  • between Kick drums and Bass-line, 
  • between cymbals and Vocals (cymbals and anything)
  • Snare and guitars (and anything)  snare drum can be easily buried when you start piling the other instruments on top. the trick is to either remove energy from the tracks interfering, or add energy to your snare drum
  • Toms (same as guitar)
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Sunday Update

3/24/2019

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with a quick sunday check-in from gene media studios

Topics include 
  • learning the basics of scripting to improve workflow (from 6 keystrokes down to 1)
  • recruiting session players for tracks (the stems have been sent, now we wait...)
  • having a listen to a track 
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Streaming live?

3/21/2019

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attempting this madness. Streaming Some songwriting/recording Live via Facebook (that's right, in the den of evil) 
  • structuring a quick and dirty outline of a track
  • Laying down a quick and dirty guide track
  • finding the groove, and building on it.
  • not perfect. not trying for perfection.

if you missed it, it will be uploaded on youtube . . .

part 1: testing
part 2: Structure
part 3: Touchups
part 4: review
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after mixing a kick drum

3/16/2019

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while searching for a perfect bass tone?

3/14/2019

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setup and preparation

signal flow
I set out to capture a specific bass-guitar tone. The goal was to create a preset that could be recalled at the touch of a few buttons. 

so I grabbed a bunch of mics and sampled the sound of the room (see the impulse response post)

after that, I quickly mapped out how the signal flow might look. 

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After that, i began modelling the room. grab a handful of mics, set them up, untangle tangle the cables, load the session template set gain staging, and capture the sound... I chose to use a bunch of different variations, all placed at cone-centre on the amplifier (being unsure which one would be ideal), with a single omni-directional at listener positron, and sort them out later. 

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​the mic set-up spreadsheet in case I need to remember it later...

Testing and fine-tuning

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Now that the impulse has been recorded, It's new session for testing. I grabbed the song (currently in its very early stages) tuned the bass, and warmed up a bit. Recorded it, and started to sculpt the tone.

the whole process took a couple hours to set up, but now, after saving the whole thing, The sound can be recalled in seconds.

as it turns out, some adjustments had to be made. an overdrive and a Metal distortion had 'the sound'  after some serious EQ on the distortion bus tracks.  

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A spectral analysis of the bass (and guitar from a practice session) 

yep, its a deep warm sound, with a some nice punchy tone. 

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Impulse responses the what and how - more questions than answers

3/6/2019

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To me the idea of taking an audio sample and using it to add space and character to a mix is a very cool concept. Obviously, I've used reverb and amp simulation plug-ins, there are a so many to choose from, but how do they work? I believe it might be possible to create impulse responses for reverb, cabinet modelling, and maybe even amp-modelling, so I'm setting off in search of answers... 

heres what i know

I know that an impulse response is an audio clip that, when loaded through certain plugins in a process called "convolution" (yes really)  are able to simulate either a room or a speaker. 

It starts to get 'convoluted' here though, because when you capture your Impulse, you also capture the properties of each other thing you use to capture the sound. like the microphones you chose, their placement. your pre-amps and any other things that might colour your sound along your signal chain.  I'm not too concerned about this part yet, first I have to figure out how to do it.

and what i don't know

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So far i have more questions than answers, What kind of impulse do i send to the room or amp/cab? how long or short of pulse? a 30 second sine sweep? pink noise? Musical tones?  Natural sounds?  

Is it possible to model the sound of the amp? how is the process different than taking the sound of the room or the cabinet?

My guess is that 'it depends' and I'm not sure on what, so it's time to do some more digging.

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As it turns out there are two methods to create impulse responses. the sine-sweep method is more accurate, but requires special tools to process the signal (a sine sweep) into an impulse. this is a technique I've yet to try for myself.


The Dirac pulse method, which is the one i chose to use. It's far less accurate but saves the extra step of having to convert the sweep into an impulse. Instead, routing the impulse directly through the source we want to emulate. In the video below it was a very nice fender twin positioned in a way that was sounding very nice! check out the video below to watch my first attempt at IR sampling

i don't **** know but lets make some

link below to download the test files

also check out the video

download the test files

Read More
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Finishing songs

3/4/2019

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and the glorious days of D.I.y.

When i was younger, playing in rock bands, I knew I wanted to do it all on my own. Writing my own material, recording it, and releasing it. All DIY. I figured it wasn't wise to ask anyone for help from outside because 'why would i want to do that? it seems like a waste if I'm more than capable of doing it myself right?'
​

fast forward, a few years to when I learn a valuable lesson about how to spend your time and energy effectively. Take my advice on this one, if your goal is to be a musician, or to be a songwriter, or to be an engineer or a producer, then pay attention to how you use your time. I spent years learning everything I could from song-writing and performing, all the way through mixing, mastering and launching an album with no focus. and it added years because I had no idea how the **** to actually do it properly.




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 Gene Media's Creative Studio is located in the heart of British Columbia.
Exploring  ideas, creative inspiration, personal & professional development 
​ for Growth at all levels.

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  • Home
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