This week has been busy with work. I have been working both on upgrading my setup, audio for an animation and the music therapy session. I also had another class with Alex Mills for recording.
For the animation for Ella I have done research into sea shanties (chanties is the 1800s spelling) and minuets, polonaises, and waltzes. I started with research into sea shanties as I am more familiar with the other song types, due to piano exams which were painfully boring. Sea shanties are a type of folksong from the 1800s as they were first noted in the 1880s (Gregory, 2010). There are a few different types of sea shanties all for different jobs ranging from windlass, outward-bound, hauling and bilging (Whates, 1937). The songs were not whimsical as we like to imagine and had no jollity (Whates, 1937). They were more melancholy than other folk songs and were usually in the minor key (Whates, 1937). The songs spread from the changing in crews and had small changes between countries, Welsh were more musical, and some had influences from Africa (Whates, 1937). For the dance music research, I looked more at the history of them. Minuets and polonaises had the same job in society (McKee, 2012). They were the first song at a ball that was used to determine social class (McKee, 2012). The polonaise is a Polish dance which was considered freer than the French minuet which was considered more elegant (McKee, 2012). I listened to works from Bach, Mozart, and Chopin. I spent more time on Chopin. Slightly for nostalgia as when I lived in Warsaw you could find benches that played his music, as well as so many places named after him (including the airport). I also focused on Chopin as due to him being Polish he composed all three styles of music meaning I could send examples of the styles to Ella so she could decide what one she wanted. We both agreed that the Waltz felt more intimate. I started with the ambience which I used the ocean recordings from the weekend before (this was annoying as I only have one screen but since then I have got a second one). I then search for creaking wood sounds and the winding of a music box and decided on using CC0 (waive all copyright to fullest extent). I went this route as the creaking sounds, I had been too short and the wrong sound for the situation; and I have no idea where my music box is. The main focus for this animation is the music so I went into Ableton and made a simple ‘bass’ line in E natural minor. I then just played around until I found something I enjoyed and then I did play capture which shows what you played with out recording. I sent through a rough video mix to Ella and she was super happy as it placed her in the ship and the slower music allowed for the ringing sound of a music box.
For the music therapy we spent another session recording. I used the same microphones and set up a map of the sound field to figure out where to place the gongs to fill the space. Once we determined this, we setup the placement.
It was interesting as I was in a different studio. I remembered not enjoying the sound of the console as much as the Neve Custom 75. Once it was recorded though it was so bland in comparison. I had already foreseen this, so I have a session in the Neve to change them to the Neve sound.
For the session with Alex Mills it was a VOX tracking session. We used the Rode K2 (which is variable polar patterns). I love the Rode mics for several reasons. Firstly, they are so affordable. Secondly, the NTK and K2 have really low noise floors and sound great on vocals. Lastly, I really like their frequency spectrums.
It was an interesting session. First getting the stems took some time as it was warping in timing from Logic to Pro Tools. We then bounced out a master rough mix, but the Bass was missing. We bounced out the Bass as well and then the session was ready. This definitely had an impact on Alex. You could tell he was annoyed due to the problems, and it was an extremely difficult VOX as he went from falsetto to head voice to chest voice right next to each other. Once he started getting it right you could tell he was more comfortable with the session. He then had a good VOX take time and then he started pushing too hard. Thankfully, we stopped for the recording day as it was painful seeing someone struggling and beating themselves down. He knew he could do it, but I believe the problems from the start affected his work. I’ve observed this in live sound and thankfully I usually resolve these problems during a practice leaving the performance okay.
I sometimes don’t realise how much work I’ve done until later. I think this sometimes happens as I struggle to reflect on my daily work. I also find that if I’m enjoying my work it goes quickly. I have been really enjoying the work with the people I’ve been working with as they have all been open to the suggestions I have. With Ella’s work I added ocean sounds which she didn’t ask for initially but made it better. I have enjoyed these recording sessions and now I am moving into a more mixing job. By this time next week, I hope to finalise the music for Ella, have a rough arrangement of the music therapy and maybe practice master some tracks.
References
Gregory, E. (2010). The Late Victorian Folksong Revival. Scarecrow Press.
Harold Whates. (1937). The Background of Sea Shanties. Music & Letters, 18(3), 259-264. Retrieved November 9, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/727760
McKee, E. (2012). Decorum of the Minuet, Delirium of the Waltz. Indiana University Press.
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