Pics required

I'm only using the blog on myspace now, but cannot import pictures without importing them here first.

Fairground

New track

I've written a new track called 'Fairground', composed using the Sonic Washing Machine. I think I might need to take the Michael Andrews CD out of the player.

Sonic Racing Car Video

Finished an edit of the Sonic Racing Car footage from Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham during Gamecity 2007. Thanks to Stephen & Lindsay Jelly for the source material, to all those who agreed to be filmed and also Iain Finlay for camera work.

All sounds recorded from Donington Racecourse during a F3 Race trial.

Update

Haven't written anything on this blog for a while. Been working on multiple sonic machine projects and need to tie up some loose ends.

Sonic Washing Machine
Still not 100% finished the refill. Produced some more patches. Reason had been updated to version 4 and I'm attempting to develop a version that will utilize the new devices. I'd like to finish it soon as it would be nice for it to be one of the first refills released for this version.

Will be exhibiting the live show again soon with a few tweaks.


Sonic Racing Car
I've been playing with the sounds and I'm looking to test it at an exhibition soon. Rather than develop a custom controller I'm using a joystick to trigger sounds and control parameters.

Vinyl (Working title)
This is a new piece which will use the sounds of multiple record players. It's looking at 'unwanted noice' that occurs when using turntables. This time I'm focusing more on developing work for exhibition purposes rather than to create more refills.

'Jaws' theme tune

I thought I'd explore another way of generating music from the sonic washing machine by using it to play pre-made MIDI files. I was very impressed by the singing tesla coil on youtube and especially like the way it handled the theme tune to the movie 'Jaws' by John Williams.

I searched for a MIDI file of the piece and soon found a copy which had be sequenced by someone called JThor. Using Reason I was easily able to import the MIDI file and then chose some suitable samples to fit the material. Importing pre-made sequenced material is obviously easier than recording or programming it yourself. I suppose I could have produced something more homemade, but felt no desire to re-invent the wheel. It did take a very long time to tweak the samples to get the desired result, so I kind of feel justified in my actions.

I did not attempt to re-create all the orchestral instruments, as I wanted some of the washing machine's personality to shine through. I did however want it to be recognisable so modelled some sounds to be similar such as using a high pitched tone for the flute and low rumbles for the bass strings.

This mini project throws up some interesting questions. I'd like to be able to add it to my myspace site, but as I am not John Williams the original composer, or JThor who sequenced the MIDI file then do I have any rights as the 'samples re-mixer' (if that can even be a phrase). I have contacted the MCPS-PRS (which exists to collect and pay royalties to musicians when their music is used) in order to find out.

Sonic Washing Drum Machine

I have created a drum machine as part of the forthcoming Sonic Washing Machine refill. It uses the Redrum device to map selected samples, which can then be used to produce drum patterns. It's very quick to produce beats so I've made a quick track called 'Washing Drum Machine' which can be heard on my myspace http://www.myspace.com/sonicmachines.

Some of the sounds are a bit quiet, but running it through a compressor sorts that out.

I've also produced another skin called 'SWM Lighting' (above pic) to give it an indivudal look. It's inspired by the recent weather which is forcing me to stay in and work on Reason, instead of going outside to play in my vegetable patch.

Sonic skins!

I've nearly finished the SWM refill. I've built new patches, written demo tracks and generally tidied things up a bit so it looks more organised. I've also finished 2 'skins' ('original' and 'retro green' for the Combinator backdrops (see pic).

Although the skins are entirely cosmetic, I think the instrument benefits from having an individual look that reflects it's physical characteristics, whilst demonstrating a creative side. The display panel is extracted from a photograph of the Hotpoint WDM73, the text is recreated from logos and displays on the machine.

This is how it will appear to anyone using it in Propellerheads Reason 3. You can also see in the picture the controls for using the multiple mic patches.

Propellerheads release Abbey Road Keyboards refill

I'm very much in awe of a recent release by Propellerheads. While I've been busy recording washing machines and racing cars, the masters of hypersampling have been working on a refill called Abbey Road Keyboards. It contains 7 classic instruments from Abbey Road Studios including the legendary 'Mrs. Mills' piano and the 'Challen Studio Piano'.

The results sound amazing and some demo tracks as well as individual instruments can be heard on the Propellerheads site here.

I think what makes this collection so special is they have captured the sound of such unique instruments that have incredible personality and are so recognisable. The demo of the Mellotron flute sounds warm and faithful, it's just waiting to burst into 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. It seems strange that a tape based sampler has been transformed into a digital instrument, but the result is incredible. My personal favourite is the 'Schiedmayer Celeste' which sounds very distinct and would definately stand out in a mix.

Included in the guide are some excellent diagrams of how they made the recordings which show mic models, positions and distances. Very useful.

Click to enlarge

The Producers Conference

Had an excellent experience last week when Propellerheads came to town to deliver 'The Producers Conference' at Confetti Studios in Nottingham.

Starting the event Danny McMillan showed the crowd that you need to think 'big' in order to get a big sound. Racing through the Redrum machine he quickly laid down simple drum patterns, added EQ units, then produced multiple duplications on individual channels to create a thick blend of percussive hits. Some of the copies were laden with distortion, creating the option of a dry/wet mix. After a bit of tweaking he had a very respectable result with numerous options of adjustment.

Second on was James Bernard who clearly demonstrated that we didn't need to all sit twiddling our thumbs waiting for Reason 4. A man clearly obsessed with multi-band processing, he impressed the crowd using his box of tricks including a homemade 8 band compressor which gave staggering results in a before/after test. James proves that if Reason doesn't already have it, you can always make it yourself. I say 'thank God James has already done it so we don't have to'.

Last but not least Kurt "Peff" Kurasaki gave an impressive talk on synthesizer technology and how musicians can get more out of Reason by understanding 'how things work'. Of most interest to myself was his demonstrations using CV control. At one point Peff was using the LFO on a Subtractor synth to modulate a volume fader on a mixer. This is the kind of technique that will really help me to develop my instruments, as I previously thought I was restricted to only using samplers and the effects units. I was quite inspired.

Overall it was a very useful experience. I'm a big Reason fan and was looking forward to the event, although expecting a masterclass in dance music creation. I was really pleasantly suprised when all 3 speakers took such an experimental approach and demonstrated some really innovative approaches and techniques to using Reason which I can use to develop this project.