photo: Conno van Wijk

A lot of people are nostalgic about the past. Retro is popular and that feels kinda strange to me. I remember the past as not being so pretty and thinking all the time about what technology could offer in the future. Because the equipment I was using in the late 80′s and early 90′s wasn’t all that great.

The Tascam Porta 05 4-track cassette recorder I used at home sounded LOFI. Noise was an issue even with DBX noise control. And the high-frequency loss was serious. Drumcomputers at the time sounded crappy. But also in professional studios we had the same sort of issues. Tape was noisy. And when we were working on a mix we had to write all the levels down on the mixing board with a pencil. There was no way to store a mix. Doing a mix using an analog mixer is standing with 2 or 3 guys touching the faders and pots in real time. Mixing was a matter of live performance.

Once in a while, sometimes daily, the tape ran out of sync with the Atari 1040st computer caused by a dropout on the tape. When that happened the engineer needed to record a new SMPTE track for the whole tape in real time.

The old hardware always reacted a bit unexpectedly and random. But it also lacked sound quality. Never ever did we get a 100% true playback when we recorded something onto tape. There was always that hiss and high-end loss. Even the samplers at the time sounded not too perfect using 12-bit techniques.

I remember thinking “what if one day…”. Well that day came in the last decade. Thanks to computer power and smart software I can now do all the studio work in a rather small homestudio and it sounds better than ever before. And it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg. I never used a Fairlight. With a price-tag of $50.000,- that thing was a little over budget. Me and my friend, the engineer, were dreaming about these kind of devices. What if we would ever be able to purchase such a device? Well now we can.

Analog can sound great. Imperfect equipment in general can sound great. Including 12-bit samples. I love the way it can color the sound. So yes I am very glad being able to choose those effects using software. Just don’t call me nostalgic.

(two photos of the past are included with this post / early 90′s, me working at Studio BMG, Voorburg, The Netherlands)

photo: Conno van Wijk

The post When we dreamed of a better future appeared first on Melodiefabriek.

photo: M. Markus

This track is the result of a Combinator I’ve created in Reason using the Polar device. I’m freezing a live input of audio (coming from the NN19 device) and pitching it by using a keyboard for Polar’s Keyboard Input. I’m tweaking the frozen sample in real time by manipulating the length of the buffer and changing the position of the repeated/frozen part.

When you start manipulating samples in real time it takes practice, like playing any other instrument would do. I did this on my MacBook Pro using it’s keyboard and mousepad for the live manipulations. Hope you like it! You can download and buy it on Bandcamp.

The post New track: Remaining (and how I did it) appeared first on Melodiefabriek.

Bob Katz coined the term “parallel compression” and has described it as an implementation of “upward compression”, the increase in audibility of softer passages. Studio engineers in New York City became known for reliance on the technique, and it picked up the name “New York compression”.

(Wikipedia – Parallel compression)

In Reason 7 parallel channels were introduced. This means that in Reason any channel can have many digital copies for additional processing. This way you combine both the original channel with one or more parallel channels. For example you can compress the parallel channel with any compressor of choice and blend the two signals. This way you get that special parallel compression sound which leaves all the dynamics of the original sound but pushes the soft passage in volume thanks to the additional parallel channel.

This technique is simple to use but very effective for fixing and changing sound in general. You can also use it for EQ’s, reverbs, delays, overdrive, anything really. Create a parallel channel for a drumbeat which sounds a bit thin, add more lowend to it by using a lowpass filter using the standard mixer’s EQ, compress it, maybe even gate it to make it a little more punchy sounding, and listen to how it adds more lowend to the original sound when you blend both channels.

Those familiar with Photoshop know that by using layers you can make very precise color and image corrections. Using the original image together with a bunch of layers can totally change that image. Parallel channels works in the same way. Using this technique you will be able to add subtle EQ changes which are not possible when you would apply them onto the original channel. The magic trick is caused by that blend with the original channel, running channels in parallel.

Think of all the possibilities! Maybe your microphone lacks a tiny bit of that high end sizzle. Maybe your kick needs a bit of oomph. Maybe your vocals need a more sweetened and compressed midrange. The “we’ll fix that in the mix” answer was never a popular one but nowadays we can fix things in the mix. Things you thought your mics were not capable of. And yeah, it feels like photoshopping. But better. Because we are working with sound.

Don’t forget to check out the great introduction video on using parallel channels in Reason by James Wiltshire. It might change your approach for mixing.

The post Like Photoshop for audio: parallel channels appeared first on Melodiefabriek.

I’m glad that the Propellerheads had a wake-up-call and decided to add MIDI Out to Reason. They have implemented it in a great manner in Reason 7. The new External MIDI Instrument device is tightly integrated in the rack design. And because of this your external MIDI equipment can be controlled from Reason and it’s output can be further processed by the Reason devices. This way Reason becomes the center of a modular system using both internal as well as external processing.

I decided to do a little experiment using my old Yamaha DX100. Dusty old I should say as you can see in the picture. The DX100 was my first electronic device. Many devices I have sold over the years when switching to software, but somehow I always kept my DX100. Although I hadn’t used it in years.

For this little experiment I used the following configuration in Reason:

• The External MIDI Instrument device controls the DX100 using my Nio interface
• I picked a patch switching for programs on the External MIDI Instrument device
• The Matrix is connected to the External MIDI Instrument and triggering notes
• The audio of the DX100 is processed using a few Reason rack devices

And that sounds like this:

It all feels very tightly integrated. The External MIDI Instrument has CV inputs for Gate and Note/Pitch values. But also the Pitch Bend and Modulation can be controlled by CV from the back of the device. And there’s an assignable CC parameter which can also be controlled by CV.

The post My old DX100 comes back to life appeared first on Melodiefabriek.

click for larger image

What sounded wrong in the past sounds perfectly normal today. Many years ago I disliked tape-noise, hum, overdrive but somehow I started to appreciatie it when I became more aware of the pros and cons of digital sound. To make a long story short: in the analogue domain things get lost, the sound is affected. High frequencies for example, so therefore we preferred to use open and bright sounding condenser microphones for the compensation of that loss. And the louder output of those condenser mics results in less noise.

In digital we don’t have much loss. Okay, we might introduce a bit of quantization noise when we’re recording at a very low level. But in general that should really never be an issue. And when we’re recording on a too loud level we might introduce clipped bits which sounds harsh and digital. But when we stay within safe limits our audio recordings will end up sounding very dynamic and will be a perfect source for further processing.

Dynamic and ribbon mics are nowadays sometimes a better choice for recording than ever before since they offer that natural high frequency roll-off.

These days we’re processing the files like how photographers are processing photos using tools like Photoshop or Instagram. Modern cameras are using the RAW-format which is like the AIF/WAV format for photos. An uncompressed format. Not like JPG which is a compressed format and can be compared to MP3.

Our source recordings are perfect for further processing. For example by adding lovely artifacts of the old days. This is where the new Propellerhead Rack Extension Audiomatic comes in handy. It’s a “Retro Transformer”, making your recordings sound like the were recorded through equipment which adds much colorization to the sound. You can download this Rack Extension for free when upgrading or buying Reason 7.

Like how Instagram adds and old layer to our pictures by applying filters to it, we sound people are doing the same thing. We apply artifacts as layers to our music and sounds. Because it sounds good. And what sounds good is good.

I’m using Audiomatic for some time now and love it. Thanks to it’s mix parameters it can be used as a subtle blend with the original signal. But you can also apply it 100% wet.

Listen to this track I’m working on which uses the VHS tape effect of Automatic. It adds some obvious compression and radical changes in the frequency range of the track. I applied it over the whole mix as a Master Insert.

For more information about Audiomatic: download the manual (English, PDF format). For the PDF in other languages and for additional information about Audiomatic check this page on the Propellerhead website.

The post Like Instagram for audio: Audiomatic Retro Transformer appeared first on Melodiefabriek.