Projects Research
My presentation focused on the use of my remix project, sound design project, and surround sound project. In order to complete the projects and present them professionally) i had to undertake a large amount of research.
Remix project-
The remix stems themselves came from https://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/justine-skye-u-dont-know-remix-contest/details Most of the research was compiled into a written remixing report (available on my documentation page). I had to research using the DAW, Ableton. It was software i had never used before and through research and speaking with lecturers i managed to pick up the basics rather quickly. I used tips i found online written by other sound engineers, and took their advice in not listening too much on the original track as it would make it harder to make my own image of it. https://ask.audio/articles/remixing-tips-in-ableton-live-part-4 . I also of course took tips from the actual Ableton website in the first few times of using the software which taught me about the live play back options, and how to use audio effects, and plugins. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/learn-live/ in order to start my remix i used http://www.joshuacasper.com/ableton-tutorials/ableton-tutorial-tips-on-beginning-a-remix/ for advice on where to start since it felt difficult to find a starting point.
i researched using simpler- a primary sampling instrument in order to use it with time warping (one of the specifications in the brief.) i used it on the vocals, and on underlying piano parts to pull the tempo together globally -https://ask.audio/articles/remixing-tips-in-ableton-live-part-4 researching this article gave me background information on simpler, allowing me to use it and learn more about it through practice. I used https://ask.audio/articles/chop-it-up-remixing-in-ableton-live and took the advice on organisation, and used it to separate the parts of the stems i wanted to use and the ones i didn't, and the advice on 'chopping up parts' and rearranging- shown in what i did with the piano in the piece. i looked into the key signature for the piece too, (Bb Minor) which i used to add in my own midi, which i needed to be relevant to the key in question https://www.basicmusictheory.com/b-minor-key-signature kept me right with the notes.
Sound Design-
Website for the Tascam recorder - http://tascam.com/ My research began with looking into Foley technique ideas and advice starting with http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/18-expert-sound-design-tips-and-tricks-613516 advising that all sounds be recorded, even parts that do work so well, or talking/outside noise during a recording, since they can be edited later and you never know what sounds you might need in the end. i payed attention to this and in my sound design when i was recording staircase ambiance i kept the recording going while we walked around for footsteps, and while other people moved around incase any of the sounds would be viable later. i looked into http://exchange.designingsound.org/questions/question/foley-tips-tricks/ a forum for people to post tips and tricks in relation to sound design. some just gave tips on footsteps such as instead of actually walking, just using one foot and stepping in places close to and far away from the tascam recorder for localisation purposes, i listened to this and used it during my footstep recordings which i found made a difference. http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2014/10/02/sound-design-tips/ had advice for sound substitution, instead of setting out to record the exact sound you're trying to represent sometimes experimenting with other sounds or paying attention to them during the day to day then thinking of them as being useful, for example for smoking a cigarette i layered the sound of an actual cigarette being smoked over squeezing my hair between my fingers and moving slowly to create a similar sound. for the layering of effects (cigarettes, motorbike, helicopter) i payed attention to http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/12-sound-layering-tips-and-tricks-589568 and used their advice of less being more and usually only layered 2 sounds at a time, any more could have added too much extra sound and i felt it would have seemed distorted.
Surround sound.
The microphone placement i used was the spaced cardioid set up found on https://www.tonmeister.de/symposium/2005/np_pdf/A16.pdf which advised the distances between the mics, which i adhered to and advice on which polar pattern of mic to use. i used Neumann u87 as my front center microphone, and two Neumann KM184's the details for which can be found https://www.neumann.com/. i also used two Oktava MK-o12s http://www.oktava-shop.com/as the rear mics which were faced upwards to collect more room sound. I used http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/setting-pro-tools-surround-sound to make sure i was setting up the session correctly, and that all inputs/outputs were arranged properly. https://documentation.apple.com/en/soundtrackpro/usermanual/index.html#chapter=13%26section=5%26tasks=true has good advice on mixing sound to the left and the right equally creating a ghost central image, though i chose to go with an extra mic in the centre instead just for extra localisation in the centre, though the advice was for using soundtrack as opposed to protools. I looked into http://arqen.com/acoustics-101/room-setup-speaker-placement/ to ensure the monitor placement was correct and hadn't been moved by anyone else who had used the studio, and to ensure i was sitting in the right position to hear all of the surround sound audio equally.