music, noises and other stuff
David
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Posts by David
My Coolest Piece of Audio Gear
May 27th
I’m currently working on a number of projects which for various legal reasons can’t be posted here yet. In the meantime, lest you think I have vanished, I’d like to post about the coolest piece of audio gear I own.
It was built in the late 1990s by a good friend of mine (Hi RoverT!) as a dedicated interface for a piece of revolutionary software that was blowing all of our minds at the time: Propellerheads Rebirth. For those of you younger than a certain age, you have to appreciate that this app came out right at the dawn of the VST-engorged era we now live in. Rebirth is dead simple: it simulates a bunch of classic Roland gear: two TB-303 bassline synths, a TR-909 drum box, and an 808. It provides the same knobs and controls that the original synths had, and it was designed to be real-time controllable.
There was nothing else even remotely like it in 1997. In fact, I’d go as far as saying Rebirth kickstarted the virtual synth revolution. Sure, there were other synths around at the time – VAZ springs to mind (loved that) - but nothing else had ever been so accessible, so easy to use, and frankly, so AWESOME SOUNDING.
RoverT built a hardware interface for it, so that he could control it live without having to fiddle with a mouse. It was a prototype for a much more elaborate interface that he subsequently built for himself, which had a bunch of sliders instead of knobs. When he completed the next generation, he gifted the old prototype to me.
Check it out:
The Box
As shiny and cool as his new box was, I love this piece of gear more. The fact that it’s built into a cigar box ramps up the coolness factor for me by an order of magnitude.
This controller basically handles Rebirth’s two 303 synths only – one row of knobs per synth. The telephone keypad on the left maps to the pattern controllers for each synths (you had to pre-sequence your notes on the 303) – eight pattern buttons per synth.
The knobs control Filter Cutoff, Reso, Envelope Mod and Decay – pretty much everything you need to make the synth express.
Life progressed and we moved onto other things, but I kept using The Box. After all, it has gorgeous knobs – seriously, they’re far chunkier and solid than anything you find on a dedicated hardware interface today. And they send out standard (although hardware fixed) MIDI messages.
All I have to do is remap them on the software side to whatever DAW or synth function I want to control, and I get to carry on using this epic piece of kit. I cannot imagine my life without it. I will be heartbroken when it finally dies (although, touch wood, it is showing no signs of doing so).
Incidentally, Propellerheads now gives away Rebirth for free as something of a historical oddity. I totally recommend grabbing a copy, it’s an awesome synth.
Remix: Viltin ft Kitana – “Gyratory”
Apr 30th
UK-based DL40 Records commissioned this electro-flavoured remix from me. It’s by a new artist called Viltin, and features vocals by singer Kitana. You can hear the original version of this song on DL40’s Myspace page.
It’s been an interesting project to work on – Viltin’s a very dynamic character with a strong vision of where his brand is headed; I expect big things from him in the near future.
If the woman in the image looks familiar, it’s because Kitana is an alter-ego of Kimberly Dayle, the singer and live performer. She’s well known for her high end impersonations of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilerra and, more recently, Lady Gaga.
Take a listen.
Tutorial: How to record clean vocals at home
Apr 27th
Not everyone has access to professional recording studios – and with the sheer wealth of virtual synths available today, not everyone needs one. But when it comes time to lay down vocals, having a quiet space to record them in is indispensable. If you’re thinking about recording vocals at home, I’ve written a quick guide to give you some tips on the best way to go about it. It’s full of neat ideas to give you the best possible quality with the equipment you already have.
Just because you don’t have a pro vocal booth, doesn’t mean you can’t make good, clean recordings. All you need is a little bit of determination and some creativity.
Read the article here.
Remix: Jesta’s “Be Mine”
Mar 29th
Jesta is a talented singer and songwriter based in London, England. I have to say, off the bat, that her personal taste and style is a lot harder than this remix suggests – she’s a big fan of the dirtier, more experimental underground dancefloor beats.
I typically ask my clients to list some tracks that they like in the genre we’ll be producing, but beyond that, I’ve also begun asking for examples of music they listen to recreationally, for their own pleasure – it helps me understand their musical headspace.
Well, Jess schooled me. She sent me a list of some of the most interesting, cutting edge beats I have ever had the pleasure of working my way through. Some of them I knew, others were a complete discovery to me and had me bouncing around the studio. If nothing else, Jess has markedly improved the quality of my mp3-player’s playlist.
But “Be Mine” is a gentle ballad. Much as I tried to coax this song into a hardcore format, it refused. It would impishly roll its eyes at me, smirk, and point towards the Beach. I discussed this with Jess, and she was cool to head beach-ward, so I gave in, and followed where the song led, which was all the way to Ibiza. The result is this fluffy, uplifting mix.
Karoo: The Smackdown
Mar 25th
Today we locked off the soundtrack to Karoo, the film I’ve been working on for Kaugoomi. It’s been one of the more challenging projects I’ve been involved with in that I’ve spent most of my time on it wayyyy outside of my comfort zone, composing music that is largely unlike anything I’ve ever had to write before. This is less scary than it sounds, because it also means I’ve been pushing myself and having a lot of fun.
Instead of epic orchestral, I’ve been doing lots of dark atmospherics, using palettes that are largely limited to organic instruments, with a strong emphasis on mood rather than melody. Most of the work I’ve produced on it is designed to support and punctuate what’s happening on screen rather than taking centre stage itself, which is as it should be. It was hard to begin with, but the process began to flow when the various characters defined themselves – not with melodies, but with textures of sound and signature instruments.
For example, we’ve got a leather-clad villain who decided he was best represented as a metallic sounding bushman bow. We’ve got a mysterious protagonist who eventually revealed herself as a sound not unlike breathing air.
Karoo is an interesting movie, jam packed with stuff that makes for entertaining viewing: sex, death, drama, violence, and even a bit of humour. I’m sad it’s over – I love this kind of work.
The producers have given me permission to post some of the score here, so below is a cue entitled The Smackdown. In it, a very pissed off bad guy tracks down someone who’s stolen something from him, and dispenses a liberal amount of corrective treatment. Without dropping spoilers, the scene resolves with gory death for someone.
So freakin’ busy
Mar 10th
Hey, just a quick note to say that I’m alive and kicking. I haven’t updated this blog in a while, but that’s because I’m snowed under with work. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on a couple of projects, so hopefully I’ll be posting some new sounds to listen to here soon.
Currently putting in a lot of work on a movie score for Kaugoomi, which is a huge amount of fun. Shot on 35mm, the project is something of a hybrid between spine chilling ghost story and hard hitting crime tale. Not sure how much I can say about it at this stage, but you can expect snippets from the soundtrack once the movie comes out.
I’m also working with talented artists in the US and the UK, producing some kickass remixes which are sounding awesome, plus there are a couple of updates to the tutorial series I’ve been writing. In the coming weeks you can expect new articles on filter techniques, how to back up your data (from a muso’s perspective), and a new personal bugbear of mine: how to encrypt your data.
Remix: Slide’s “Dime Store Queer”
Jan 5th
Kicking 2010 off with a bang, here’s a kick ass remix of Slide’s new single, “Dime Store Queer.” This is the second remix I’ve produced for Slide, the electro rockers from the USA’s west coast, and follows on from the equally clubby “January (Feel Like Dancing)“, which recently garnered a Platinum Auddy award on uPlaya.com.
I’m really proud of how the Dime Store Queer remix came out – this one roars. There’s a lot I like about this song – not just the catchy chorus hook or the solidity of the bassline, but the fact that underneath its glitzy pop sensibilities it’s got a serious message: don’t let these bastards push you around.
Don’t let them hurt you, don’t buy into the vicious labels they attach to you. You won’t always be stuck where you are. Keep your head up and stay fabulous, because some day soon you’ll grow up, get ripped, and tear all their heads off. Kinda.
Have a listen to the radio edit:
Remix – UT’s “Music”
Nov 19th
Terry Pinana (aka Uncle Terry) is one of the most prolific producers I know – this guy literally eats, drinks and breathes music. Reading over his discography is like checking out a list the players in the local music industry. He’s done work with Osunlade, TKzee, KB, Guffy, Gug Shezi, Dantai – the list goes on, and that’s not even touching his work for film and TV. He’s like a musical ninja – you don’t see him, but you feel the effects of his passing.
The track we’re talking about today is something he recorded for his self-titled solo album. Ultimately, it didn’t make the cut (you can only fit so many songs on a 70 minute CD), but the vocal was compelling, and I got a shot at remixing it.
I struggled with this track for a long time. Lyrically, it was uplifting, but in stark contrast to the melody, which was minor key and very dark. It kept dragging me to places I didn’t want to go. In the end, I was inspired by another UT track where he used Melodyne software to completely change the melody of a difficult vocal.
So that’s what I did. I completely tossed the minor key melody and wrote a new tune that went with the lyrical content. Then I used Melodyne to shift the individual notes of the vocal performance to follow my new melody. This is the result. It makes me happy, and I’m hoping it does the same for you.
Music (Mdavisto’s Mix) by mdavisto
Note: I’m experimenting with embedding SoundCloud’s music player widget because Feedburner’s been stripping my player code out. If you’re reading this via RSS or email, would you mind getting in touch and letting me know if you can see/hear the track above this text? Cheers.
Perfect Backpedal
Nov 14th
So, a week ago I wrote about this page on The Session getting pulled off Google because of a DMCA complaint lodged against their site. The company in question, who I still won’t link to, has discovered the Streissand Effect.
I received an email from them, as I am sure everyone else who contributed to this effort did, offering a thousand apologies for their actions, and assuring me that it was all a big misunderstanding. Jeremy Keith has since accepted their explanation for events, and although I’m not so sure I do, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
According to their mail, they periodically do a google search for the name of their product plus the term “torrent“.They then submit the resulting list to Google claiming a DMCA violation, as these sites must obviously be hosting illegal copies of their software. So it was a case of attempting to stem piracy, not to remove a site containing many instances of the term “perfect pitch” from the Google index.
As plausible as this explanation is, I have a problem with it. It seems clear that nobody is checking to see if the sites that turn up in the search results are actually infringing or not. For example, by including the phrase “boucherle pitch torrents“, there’s an excellent chance that they will launch a DMCA complaint against me. No one will be checking to see if I’m actually hosting any torrents, or if torrents are even being discussed.
Which brings me to my next point. The page on The Session that was pulled contains the following statement:
The David Lucas Burge one is available as a torrent.
That’s it. In the entirety of the discussion on the page, that’s the whole reference. It doesn’t encourage people to download it, it does not mention where one might find such a torrent, nor does it even debate the relative merits and morality of downloading torrents. It just says, plain and simple, “a torrent exists”. Which is probably a fact.
How is simply discussing torrents an illegal activity? And even if someone did link to a torrent in the comments (which they did not), the jury is still out on whether this constitutes an infringement. If there ever is a ruling to that effect, Google themselves will get sued into the ground. How many references to illegal torrents do you think exist in the Google Cache?
To give an analogy, it’s like the mere act of giving someone directions to a house of ill repute makes you responsible for what goes on there. In this case, no directions were given. Someone merely stated that the house exists. See why this is ridiculous?
Now, it could be – as they argue in their letter – that the employees of this company are merely hideously incompetent, and not actually evil. I am, in fact, inclined to believe that this is true. Which means they’re using the DMCA in an entirely cavalier manner on all sites that contain elements of their key search terms, without first checking to see whether their targets deserve the legal broadside they’re receiving.
But it also means that my original charge against them still sticks: if you accept their explanation as true, the boost they receive in Google rankings is an unintended (yet hugely beneficial) side-effect of their fight against piracy. And the fact that the tone of the discussion on The Session was largely uncomplimentary towards their product didn’t come into it at all.
Regardless, the apology letter is rather marred by a ham-fisted attempt to sell more copies of their training course at the end of the letter – at a discount, of course, because they feel bad about the terrible misunderstanding. Tacky, chaps.
In the interest of fairness, the full letter is quoted below, with links removed. I’m prepared to let them have their say, but not to use my site as a sales platform.
Here at [URL redacted] we made a big mistake.
We instructed Google to block a blog site [actually, The Session is not a blog] managed by Jeremy Keith, citing that they were in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyrights Act (DMCA). As per our request, Google did indeed remove this page from their search listings.
We wish to formally apologize to Mr. Keith and his bloggers for this mistake, for which we are deeply regretful.
Please understand that we had no intention whatsoever to suppress the speech on Mr. Keith’s page. Please know that we are ardent supporters and advocates of free speech for everyone.
We recognize this was a careless error, and there is really no excuse for this. Nevertheless, please permit us a moment to explain.
Here’s what happened:
We were actually submitting to Google a list of sites that were illegally distributing copies of our copyrighted intellectual property. We of course have every right to request that Google have these sites removed from their search engine results because we believe these sites violate the DMCA, which prohibits the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials over the internet.
To our shock and horror, an employee of ours mistakenly included Mr. Keith’s site in our list, merely because it made a reference to illegal copies of our course[not in the way you're implying]. Naturally, this is not grounds for removal of this page at Google. Our intention was only to remove actual pages where the course is being illegally distributed, and not any pages of free speech, such as Mr. Keith’s blog [The Session is not a blog]. This was a misjudgment and error on our employee’s side, and on behalf of our company, we sincerely apologize.
This event has never happened to us before when reporting illegal distribution of our materials. Please rest assured that we will redouble our efforts to ensure this never happens again.
We have requested that Google immediately reinstate this page in their search results, along with our apology to Google as well.
If we have offended any potential musicians who wished to purchase our best-selling, university verified ear training methods, again, we sincerely apologize. To make it up to you, we would invite you to try our courses at a substantial discount not offered to the general public, valid until the end of this month. Please go here to retrieve your special offer with our apologies:
[spam URL redacted]
Again, please accept our sincere regrets for this goof.
Happy blogging, everyone.
Sincerely yours,
Gary Boucherle
[URL redacted]
Perfect Pitch
Nov 6th
I’m posting this because I want to do my bit to help out with a particularly sleazy issue that has just come to my attention.
The American DMCA is a piece of law designed to protect intellectual property, but its increasingly being used by slimeball companies to get a boost in Google rankings: as a search engine optimisation (SEO) technique.
Here’s what you do: do a Google search for your company, and if other companies are ranked higher than you, use the terms of the DMCA to allege a copyright infringement.
Google will de-reference the supposedly offending content for however long the DMCA process takes to run its course, and you’ll probably lose, but in the interim, your real objective will have been achieved: you’re one step higher up the Google rankings. Rinse and repeat: SEO gold.
Today I read a post on Adactio about just such a scummy attempt that is being made against The Session, a website about traditional Irish music. Now, they just happened to have a forum post where people were discussion perfect pitch – being able to detect absolute pitch with just your ears.
It’s a fairly innocuous post, with people chiming in with their own experiences, and arguing about whether perfect pitch even exists based on the fact that the tuning A=440 is pretty arbitrary when you think about it.
But because the page contains the term “perfect pitch” so many times, it’s crawled higher in search engine rankings than the web page of a company (who I will not link to) that offers a course that purports to teach everyone’s ears how to detect perfect pitch. Whether or not they are snakeoil salesmen will not be discussed here. I’m sure you don’t need perfect pitch to detect which company I’m talking about, though.
This company has launched a copyright infringement claim under the DMCA against The Session, causing the page to be dereferenced from Google for the duration … and in so doing, pushing up the company’s search engine ranking.
As an experiment, Jeremy Keith has asked that people post blogs titled “perfect pitch”, just to see what happens. Since I think any company that would genuinely use the DMCA in this way are scum, I’m doing my part.