APRIL FOOL MUSIC LIST

I pity the fool that doesn’t have music for April Fools Day production!

With that in mind, here are some suggestions to get you started.

A Tribe Called Quest “Description of a Fool”
The Beatles “Fool on the hill”
Cinderella “Nobody’s Fool”
Deep Purple “You Fool No One”
Def Leppard “Foolin’”
Delfonics “Trying to make a fool of me”
The Doobie Brothers “What a fool believes”
Elvis Presley “Fool”
Foghat “Fool for the City”
Frank Sinatra “A day in the life of a fool”
Ludacris “Act a Fool”
Styx “Fooling Yourself”
Ween “You were the fool”
The Who “Won’t get fooled again”
World Party “Ship of Fools”

GOT A MATCH?

You are jamming to get your session finished and you are missing a certain "sound" to your project. You admit you are not an EQ guru and really don't have time to pull out your scalpel to do sonic surgery. You need a fix and you need it fast. Well, your EARS are the best tools to use of course, but in a jam, might we suggest an assist from a spectral analyzing or EQ matching plug-in.

If you don't know the ins and outs of equalization, you need to know some basics. What can we hear? Our ears only hear sounds in the range 20 Hertz to 20,000 KiloHertz (20 kHz), you may have seen or heard tech jabber like 20 to 20 or a 2 db (decibel) boost at 3500k etc. This all relates to the frequency range we hear and how we design, mix and edit our audio. In radio land we focus on 50Hz to 15kHz since broadcasters basically chop off the bottom and top of the spectral range when sending out the radio transmission. Only your dog will really miss the stuff above 15k anyway. With this very basic understanding you need to know that spectral analyzing or EQ matching is how certain software plug-ins can copy or mimic a preexisting EQ curve. The EQ curve is made up of points across the frequency range, 20Hz to 20kHz, that we can hear as it makes up a distinct sound or sonic effect. An example would be the sound coming from a small radio or earbuds. You recognize a nasal or thin sound that accompanies the small speaker output. Say the sound is more complicated or you need to match prerecorded tracks, spaces, sounds, and voice treatments etc. You should try the spectral / matching EQ solution for fast results. These can really save you time when trying to "dial in" the right EQ curves. You feed the plug-in the source that you would like to match and the software will generate a spectral/EQ analysis and apply that to your sound. Now you have a similar EQ curve at your disposal. Go ahead and apply the result to your sound or use it as a starting point to help you tailor your desired tone. Again, your ears and practicing with equalization are the sure fire way to achieve what you want. The matching EQ plug-ins are, however, very effective and can be a real time saver!

There are a few solutions out there. Some plug-ins are part of your DAW, like Match EQ in Apple's Logic Studio. Try the demos from iZotope: Ozone 4, Roger Nichols Digital: Frequal-izer, and Voxengo: CurveEQ.

These tools will really help you out of a jam. Remember, practice makes perfect.... always try your ears!

LINKS

http://www.apple.com/logicstudio

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone

http://www.rndigital.com/frequal-izer.html

http://www.voxengo.com/product/curveeq

KILLER BEATS

Ever wonder if that last drum or music loop you used in your last piece of production was legal? If you are throwing Acid loops into your projects and calling them your own, chances you are violating some copyright law or breeching a licensing contract/agreement of some kind. Don’t worry, we’re not here to rat you out, but we are going to do our best to keep you out of trouble and save you some time and your company some money. Using a little instrument in Ableton Live called Impulse may be the creative, simple and legal solution to beat processing you never knew you had.
Last April in this blog http://brownbagazine.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-05-08T11%3A44%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7) we showed you how to get your free copy of Ableton Live Lite. Now it’s time to get your money’s worth. With each free copy of Live comes the previously mentioned instrument, Impulse. It’s essentially a drum trigger that you populate with sounds/audio of your choosing. The Impulse module can be found in the browser window on the left side of the Ableton interface under “Live Devices”. Click on Impulse and right away you’ll see 8 empty boxes or slots surrounded by various parameters such as Decay, Volume, etc. All you do is drag a sample or audio file into any of the 8 empty boxes, adjust some volumes as needed and you’re pretty much ready to go. Record your midi info with a midi instrument or draw it yourself with the cursor. When you have your drum “kit” set up the way you like it, simply rename it and drag the module back into the browser under Impulse and all of your settings and sounds are saved for next time. If your company’s purse strings are so tight that they can’t even squeeze a Trigger Finger or a Korg Nano into the budget, don’t fret. Ableton Live lets you map almost anything that triggers midi, including the computer keyboard that’s under your fingers. Loops, software synths and midi triggers cost money. Everything mentioned in this article is free. Hashing out beats with Impulse is almost as fast as dropping an acid loop into your session once you have it set up. So we’d say your just about out of excuses.

SOCIAL NETWORK DISEASE

Social networking is a blast. For better or worse, millions are hooked on it and it ain't goin' away. With a radio production schedule, however, you may have to rethink how big a part it plays in your day. You may see it as a harmless interruption since it only takes a minute to update your FB status or peck out 140 characters of pure brilliance. Even if that's true, the real cost may be in the mental fissure it creates in your creative energy or concentration. When you're in the zone (or trying to be), intrusions can drain your momentum.

Remember The Shining? Jack was looking forward to isolation so he could focus on writing his book. Ok, not a great example because of the subsequent killing spree. You get the idea though right? Creativity and productivity require the right environment. You've probably heard stories of production directors locking the studio door sometimes to prevent productus interruptus. Great idea if you can get away with it. What good is that though if you allow yourself mucho barge-ins from tweets, IMs, texts, status updates, pokes and vampire bites?

Bottom line - productive people control interruptions. Social networking should be your slave, not the other way around.

IT'S SCIENCE

We spent St. Patrick's day doing some research on all things Irish. Most of our findings were predictable save one. After putting a four leaf clover under a microscope we found nothing unusual but, the three leaf version is another story. Fascinating captain.

VO RECORDING REFRESHER

The human voice is highly dynamic and care must be taken to make it intelligible over loud background sources. Assuming your station has made the mic choice and pre amp choice for you here’s some tips to help improve the quality of your VO recording without going to the PD for more cash.
If you don’t already have a pop filter you can always fashion one from a nylon stocking (preferably a new one) and a metal coat hanger. Another method in a pinch is to tape a pencil (or two) right over the center of the mic to disperse air around the capsule.
Try and deaden the sound around the mic. Move the mic into a corner of the room that has been deadened with packing blankets. You can also isolate the mic from the rest of the room by using a mic boom stand with blankets hanging over them to reduce reflections from bouncing back into the mic
Don’t over compress during recording, you can always add more during mixdown to get the VO above your mix. Make use of a 60hz high pass filter to remove rumble and reduce any pops that might sneak through. If you need to warm up the sound try adding a bump in the 200-500hz range and to increase intelligibility perhaps a little boost in the 7k area.
It’s always a safe bet to get a good full sound recorded, that way you can take the sound in any direction you want at mixdown. Above all make sure your message is being heard. It may be obvious to you because you know the script. Remember it’s going to go by the listener really fast, when balancing do so at a low level and make sure you can make out the dialog.

WHAT'S THE BPM KENNETH?

Here at The Bag, we always list the tempo of our beds and loops so you can easily toss them into Acid or whatever and get funky. But if you want to use a piece of popular music and edit accurately you’ll need to figure out the tempo on your own.

In Pro Tools, although the same method applies to all, you can usually start by editing a 2 bar phrase from the song. Then zoom in on the first downbeat and trim it up nice and tight. Next, cut just before the beginning of the 3rd measure. Place the start of the edited region on a downbeat in grid mode and then adjust the projects tempo so that the end of the edited region lines up with the bar markers. This usually means moving your edited section every time you make a change in tempo so that the beginning lines up on a downbeat, but if you keep it in Grid mode it will snap to it. Once you’ve found the tempo simply stretch the front and back of the region to include the whole song and edit away!

This is the ghetto method for those who don't have beat detective or something like it.

NEW VO FEATURE ON RIPPED

Users already know that Ripped offers free custom voice over. Now, we're taking it a step further. We're creating some imaging pieces that feature a vo track you can use as is. Literally just add your calls and you're done.

The tracks will be easy to find because they'll contain a green text box (pictured right). This new feature is just getting started so you'll see just a few cuts pop up this month. More coming. Every track that contains free and clear vo will be marked so, a quick glance is all you need. Fast, easy and free. Get Ripped!