This month started off working with Miami Horror in the studio to record their version of The Church’s “Under The Milky Way” for the Snickers Sessions project. The film clip (below) for the track was shot as we were working on the track in my studio at Electric Dreams.

I also had Mr. Luke Smiles in the studio working on mixes for a couple of pieces he’d written for Gabrielle Nankivell for her show, “I left my shoes on warm concrete and stood in the rain.” It was great to see Luke again after he’d been away for quite a long time with touring commitments overseas. Gabrielle’s show was on for a short season at Arts House in North Melbourne.

I also mixed sound for the documentary “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea” directed by David Schmidt for Liquid Creations. The score and sound design are by old student and good friend, Nick Van Cylenburg. It’s an amazing and gripping piece about people seeking asylum in Australia – told mostly by themselves. A couple of times during the mix, I had to walk out of the room as it was overwhelming to hear and see the stories of these people. Most have had family killed, some have lost their entire family, others are travelling with young children – all of them are seeking a better life, and all of them are trying to seek asylum legitimately. I hope the documentary does well and is seen by a lot of people, as these people deserve to be understood and heard.

I was also busy mixing a new LP for the Tolpuddle Martyrs which is an on-going project for local songwriter Peter Rechter. Peter has been going strong since the 1960′s when the Martyrs had an early hit with Time Will Come. He’s got a massive catalogue of really catchy classic songs and is long overdue for some recognition.

I was also busy mastering a debut LP for Perth based artist Lousie Love, and also has Matt Watson back in to add some additional material for his debut LP under the moniker Other Places – a smashing listen driven by great beats and the power of the EMS AKS.

I also started work on putting together some music and sound designs for this years Christmas and New Years Eve celebrations for the City of Melbourne. More details on that as we get closer to the time!

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Byron J. Scullin.
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Ambient Diary Podcast.

August 2011 Update

Greetings!

A quiet month this July. Being mid-year, I took the time to get out of town and have a break. Outside of that, here’s what else happened.

Oren Ambarchi came into the studio at Electric Dreams to do some recording and mix a track for the end titles of a film he has been scoring. It’s a new track featuring vocals by Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost. James Rushford arranged some string parts and he and Judith Hamann played them for the recording. The track should also be out at some stage on a new LP from Oren.

As Lukas Simonis was in town for Liquid Architecture, he and Dave Brown came down to Electric Dreams to do a little recording as well. Not sure where these recording will end up at this stage, but it was a productive session and great to have these guys in the studio.

I mastered the new single for Metals called Like/Unlike – check out the clip for it here. I also mastered an EP for Circuit Bent called Trenchfoot out on Omelette records.

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July 2011 Update

I had the pleasure of mastering the new Francis Plagne LP. Recorded and mixed by my good friend Joe Talia. It’s a great record and will be out sometime soon (on vinyl, naturally) via the good people at The Lost and Lonesome Recoding Co.

I also was fortunate to work with my old friend Matt Ridgeway on his new Winterpark LP. Winterpark has been an ongoing project of Matt’s for many years now, and continues to twist and evolve with Matt’s interests. As of writing this post the LP is out! You can listen to it. The record launch took place in a gallery where Matt asked some artist friends of his to create works that respond to the tracks. There are some pictures of the launch. And there’s always the Twitter for more Winterpark news.

Along with the guys at Electric Dreams, I worked on the music, sound design and dialogue for the Melbourne International Film Festival trailers. As usual, they are good fun! I think The Potato Peelers is my favourite of the two. Check them out for yourself below:

I got out to do some live mixing this month for Thymolphthalein, the monster ensemble lead by Anthony Pateras and featuring a superstar lineup of some fine avant and experimental musicians. Check out some of their form. We did two shows as part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, one feature night at the Melbourne Recital Centre in The Salon, and another supporting Kraut rock legends Faust at The Forum. Their LP on Editions Mego is a must have.

The 1st Semester of 2011 teaching at RMIT was wrapped up. I’m only taking a couple of subjects there this year – Audio Technology 1a in 1st semester and & Audio Technology 1b in 2nd semester. AT is a primer for working with sound and computers and is predominately focused on software as well as techniques relating to synthesis, sampling, sequencing and editing. We get into building tools as well later in AT1b, when we have a look a MAX.

This years Liquid Architecture festival stretches over the end of the month. In previous years festivals I’ve been pretty involved on the live mixing front, but this year I’m taking more a back seat with production duties and Marco Cher-Gibard is going to be mixing the shows in Melbourne and Sydney. Check the LA page for the list of artists for this years festival.

That is all for this month! Remember to follow me on Twitter for interesting stuff!

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Byron J. Scullin.
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June 2011 Update

And just look that this shiny new website will you? So nice, so fresh. Ahh, that new website smell. Big thanks to my grand old friend Mr. Pete Brundle esq. and his team of coding savants down at Nice Device for bringing my few general statements into a tight arrangement of pixels and appropriately tagged streams of data driven by arcane symbols. I wish for bottles of single malt whisky and electrifying insights into the nature of reality to rain down upon you when needed.

Seeing as it’s been a mere 21 months since my last update, strap in and get ready for an update blipvert.

• I became a Dad again. We had a little girl and her name is Esmeralda Iris Alma.
• I’m now working at Electric Dreams.
• I’ve been working on tons of different projects. Such as:
  • With J. David Franzke, did a whole bunch of sound design and music for a feature film.
  • Along with Lachlan Carrick, did a couple of live shows and a bunch of recordings for Speak Percussion at MONA FOMA.
  • Operated some sound and helped design a crazy sound system for Interior Design: Music for the Bionic Ear.
  • Some sound design for NICA and a few other little bits and pieces such as some sound for new works by Daniel Crooks.
  • A bunch of live sound and some production hussle for Liquid Architecture and What Is Music?
  • A whole bunch of mastering for lots of interesting music. Check the mastering page for details.
  • Mixing and recording for a few projects such as The Queens Head.
• I’m still teaching at RMIT, in the sound area at the School of Art.
• I’m still popping up from time to time on RRR FM to recklessly pundit over tech on Byte Into It.

Probably the most exciting thing in this list is my new place at Electric Dreams. It a music/sound writing and production studio located in South Melbourne. The above photo is a shot of my room at ED. It’s a great place to work and filled with awesome people. I feel really privileged to be working there! It’s home base to Qua (Cornel Wilczek), Clue To Kalo (Mark Mitchell), Magic Silver White (Jojo Petrina) and Super Melody (James Cecil).

More to come…

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Byron J. Scullin.
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Update, Update. (The update of neglect)

Daniel Crooks – still from Intersection #5

• A new music/sound work for Daniel Crooks. He’s installing a large work in a new building down in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct. See image above.
• Sound design and music for a new Australian feature film, again riding shotgun with Mr J. David Franzke.
• An album of soundtrack fused rock for post-pagan power rituals hosted by the power elite. David Thrussell has something to do with this as well – naturally.
• A live show with Mr. Jeremy Dower where I’ll be breaking out the MIDI sax to add some snuffly colour to what I can only describe as hi-fi down-tempo jazz for the 8-bit generation. Mr. James Cecil will also be taking a deck chair and MIDI hand-drum out onto the jazz patio with us.
• A return to contemporary dance land with the ladies and gentlemen of Chunky Move. Ben Frost will be hanging about bringing his experiences of making love to Icelandic glacial forms to bear on some sonic architectures for the dancers.
• A bit of a snazzy PA and live performance with Dr. Philip Brophy. He’s still a punk ass bitch and he’s opening a video installation next to a body of water in downtown Melbourne. It’s for a festival, don’t you know?
• A fair bit of live sound for the return of the What is Music? festival, in both Sydney and Melbourne.

And more besides….

C’mon daylight savings! I’m ready for you now.

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Byron J. Scullin.
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August Update

Panorama taken at the Melbourne Planetarium while Nat Bates and I were mixing Our Living Climate.

The show for Melbourne Planetarium is finally done! Nat Bates (sound design) and I are really happy with how it’s all turned out. Here is a little mix sample of some of the music for the show.

Our Living Climate (soundtrack excerpts)

The show will be running at various times from August till November. Check this page for details. It’s also likely that the show will continue to run for sometime after that, as the Planetarium regularly rotate the various shows in the program. Also keep your eye out for Stories In The Stars another show that I made the music and sound design for with David Bridie. The show is about Indigenous Australian astronomy, specifically focused on the Boorong people of Central Victoria.

The Red Tree launched their LP, “I Am Not Bird” at the Evelyn on the 31st. Head to their MySpace to hear some tracks. They were also feature artists on JJJ Unearthed. They’re heading out on a national tour shortly, so check their web-site/myspace/twitter/etc…

Click the LP cover above to listen in iTunes.

July also saw local composer/musician/producer/engineer/spooker James “Wilkinsound” Wilkinson in the production room mixing and mastering music he’s just completed for a new computer game. The game is being made in Melbourne by Transmission Games, and is yet to be released, so I can’t tell you anything about it except that James’ music is an awesome collection of block rocking beats. For those of you that don’t know James’ work, his excellent record Post is available via Preservation Records.

James “Wilkinsound” Wilkinson listening to mixes in my room at Jack The Bear’s

Liquid Architecture was also on in July. For those of you that don’t know about Liquid Architecture, it’s a national festival dedicated to “Sound Arts”. This means it takes in and shows a broad range of work being made in both sound and music here in Australia, as well as featured work from overseas artists. Generally, L.A. shows feature artists who are taking a more experimental and avant-garde approach to music and sound. This year marked the 10th year that the festival has been running for and I’ve been involved with the live sound in Melbourne for the festival for 6 years. I also sit on the board for the festival since it became an incorporated body last year.

This years festival was an interesting one, but probably not one of my personal favourites. This may sound to some like it was a bad thing, but not necessarily. If you are going along to take in music and sound of this kind, you have to do so with an open mind – many times the work you hear is surprising and invigorating. Other times this is not so much the case, but when people are experimenting with sound and displaying this to an audience, it’s not uncommon to come away either loving or hating what you just hear. One of the great things about L.A. concerts and shows is that you rarely come away going, “Meh.” Anyhow, all of the concerts happened without any technical problems and all of the performers seemed satisfied with the sound system and the technical aspect of their performances.

In the mastering room Clare Bowditch came in to master her new single, mixed by Cornell “QUA” Wilczek at his awesome and fresh new studio Electric Dreams. Not sure when that one is hitting the streets in Australia, but keep your ears peeled!

That’s all for now!

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Byron J. Scullin.
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July Update

David Franzke and I have been spending most of our time working away on darklovestory, a film directed by Jon Hewitt and written by Jon with his wife actress Belinda McClory. A version of the film has just been shown in Perth at the Revelation Film Festival. Another short film that I mixed earlier in the year, Carrot was also shown at Revelation.

Dave and I are taking care of the entire soundtrack on this movie, which means plenty of work and quite a few interesting challenges. I spent quite a bit of time early on cleaning up dialogue. The film was shot entirely on location in Kings Cross on Super 16 film. We only have dialogue from the shoot and it was all pretty noisy as you could imagine – lots of traffic noise and unwanted room noise across most of the film. ADR is not an option, and I’m not a huge fan of re-recorded dialogue anyhow. I had to go looking for a tool I could use for cleaning up some of this stuff. I ended up using the amazing Izotope RX thanks to an awesome recommendation from Cornell Wilczek (aka Qua). I’ve used a bunch of different noise reduction tools in the past, but not recently. What this software package was able to do for the dialogue in this film is nothing short of amazing. It’s really changed the sound of the film for the better!

We’re continuing to work on the film over the next couple of months most likely. It’s possible that the next stop for the film will be overseas festivals in Korea and Canada. We’re both pretty happy with where it’s all heading. I’ll keep you posted in future updates as things develop.

Also this month I’ve been busy working further on music for the Melbourne Planetarium show The Living Climate. Nat Bates (who’s doing the sound design) and I are getting pretty close to finishing and the show will be completed by the end of July.

Also, semester one finished at RMIT, so I was busy dishing out the grades. For all my students reading this – don’t worry, you probably passed!

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June Update

If you want to keep up with my general web interests and small thoughts check or subscribe to both my Twitter and FriendFeed streams!

Here’s so highlights of what’s been happening in May:

Acolytes, the film for which I produced the original score (written by J. David Franzke) has seen a limited release. Due to the financial vagaries of Australian film distribution, it’s not going to see a general release. The film had a limited run in Melbourne at ACMI. I went along to see it a couple of times and it sounded much better than when I saw it at the Forum for Melbourne International Film Festival in ’08. It was at least as good as what I heard when we mixed it in Sydney – the ACMI cinemas really do have great sound. Anyhow, the film is now out through Madman – see here. Here’s a review by David & Margaret from At The Movies, and another by Juile Rigg from MovieTime.

Mr. Franzke and I have also begun work on another film for Acolytes director Jon Hewitt called darklovestory. We only just started and should be finished in about 6 weeks or so.

The Red Tree album, which has in a very on and off way taken 3 years to complete, is finally finished and into its release schedule. The album is epic in its scope and has been a real labour of love for both myself and the band. We’ve all been working really very hard to bring it too fulfilment and the band are going to be doing a bunch of shows around the country in support of the album. The first single “Ziah” is out now and the second single “Ivory and Gold” will be out shortly. Check their MySpace or homepage for details. The singles and LP will be are (or will be) available on iTunes. The launch show for “Ziah” is at the Northcote Social Club on 18 June.

Digital Primate was in the production room for a couple of days with dub versions of his last LP which were dubbed up byMad Professor who also mixed the LP. We added a few bits and pieces to the dubs to flesh them out prior to mastering – some additional bass lines, synth passes using the System 700 (see next), dogs barking and Tibetan Dongzhens. We mastered extra bass heavy (naturally!) and the LP should be out through Shock in the next couple of months. Here’s the DP homepage and MySpace.

I’m mid-way through writing music for the new Melbourne Planetarium show “Our Living Climate”. Nat Bates is taking care of the sound design and so far it’s going quite well. Once things get a little more settled with the score I’ll post up a little taster or two of some of the music.

There has also been the usual raft of various mastering, mixing and teaching jobs as well!

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Byron J. Scullin.
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May Update

This thought as been rattling around my brain for a while and as it happens a post by Bob Lefsetz made me think it was time to give it some air. Bob (whose blog is top of my regular reads list) says,

If you’re making an album today, I’m laughing. Create one song that grabs my ear, leave me wanting more. It’s about bite-sized rather than humongous. It’s not so much about value as it is about special. It’s about music, not commerce.

When it comes to the majority of pop and rock music, I agree with what Bob is saying. Earlier in the post he also says,

There are artists who make album-length statements. There are some acts whose audience demands more material. But does it have to be delivered in the same old way?

To paraphrase, Bob thinks that artists should draw an audience out – release only the best songs over a longer period of time. If you’re just about songs and songs alone, this makes sense. However, there are artists and fans out there who want more than just the golden nuggets. For some digging for the prize is what makes the strike shine that much brighter.

I hate to be obvious, but think about “Money” by Pink Floyd. Most people think that it’s a great song in and of itself and no one seems to care that it’s 6 minutes long – you can still hear it on the radio! I’m certain that when many of us listen to that track it brings to mind the (well worn) emotional ride that people experience when listening to the whole of Dark Side of the Moon. “On The Run” would sound like rubbish to your average listener if they hit preview in iTunes. When heard in context of the whole album however, it’s one of the most dramatic parts of the listening experience. People who would never listen to an avant-garde electronic soundscape not only find this track acceptable to their tastes, but many also point to it as their favourite section of the album.

In this way the lengthy listening experience of an album is a chance for artists to expand their range; expanding people’s listening tastes and introducing them to new sounds and ideas they might normally cast aside. Getting people to take a risk with their ears is an important aspect of an artists growth, it’s also important to the fans that really care – sometimes they want to be challenged. Artists need to gain the trust of listeners to do this, and this trust takes time. Again from Bob Lefsetz,

A true fan wants more and more music by his favorite artist. But he doesn’t want it dropped like a bomb all on one day, he wants it released spread out over time. It’s like a relationship is collapsed to a week, with not only kissing and intercourse, but babies and divorce all at the same time. Whereas real life is an endless stream of small moments. Musicians should realize this, understand it’s a changed world.

Looking over the time-span of a career this makes sense. Draw the fans out and keep them keen. Don’t give them the second rate material as filler. From a creative point of view however, I’m not so sure. We do have a tradition of listening to longer forms of music. The A.D.H.D. “shuffle” listening experience that the iPod can provide is not all pervasive. It’s no-ones place to say that this is how we will listen to music from now on and it’s reasonable to assume that it’s going to change again in the future. Think of symphonic works, musicals or film soundtracks – they just aren’t built to be broken up. Sure you can play the 1st movement from Beethoven’s 5th symphony, “Bring Him Home” from Les Mis or the “Imperial March” from Star Wars and they work on their own. These musical quotations (songs or not) also call to mind the numerous aspects of what those larger works entail. It’s about a series of emotions and feelings that are drawn out in larger arcs of time. The time period Bob’s suggesting (weeks between small releases) is too long for the album experience to happen. It’s too fragmentary for some artists and listeners. It’s a quick healthy meal for people who want to sit down at a dinner party. Have you ever listened to an album and being slightly nonplussed on first listen only to have the richness of the music unfold over subsequent repeated listens? I fell in love with most of my favourite music this way. To pick up on the relationship metaphor, it’s a little like copping a mind-blowing lay for 3 or 4 minutes every few weeks from someone you adore. It’s one way of making love for sure. Getting laid slowly over an hour however is a whole other thing entirely, and the two just don’t bare comparison.

When it come to the bulk of albums out there today I think Bob is spot on. Most albums are rubbish – many artists don’t have the depth to pull off a solid 40 minutes of cohesive musical ideas and many more again don’t care. It’s hard to make, a massive commitment and creatively risky. We all know of endless records where the 2 or 3 good tracks are surrounded by 6 average ones. Many of these were made by record companies, not artists. Most artists still persist with the album out of some beleaguered sense of tradition to a format, to a package, all the while ignoring the creative and musical aspects of what makes the great albums great. For artists who are smart enough to understand that albums don’t matter to them, then Bob’s advice is solid. However, the album still has a place and I think Bob’s a little too caught up in his own heat to see that it’s what some artists want – it’s how they need to express themselves. It’s also what some listeners want as well – they like giving 40 minutes of their ears to someone they trust. There is no doubt that these people are in the minority, but we all know that one great album can revolutionise the minds of artists and listeners alike. It’s possible that the mass market phenomenon of records like Dark Side of the Moon will not reoccur, but what does this have to do with the one-to-one relationship between creator and audience? Nothing. If this new musical marketplace is all about giving the artists more options and opportunities for them to make great work, then it goes that all cards are on the table and this includes albums. I trust Bob when he says again and again, “Make amazing music, the best you can, and if it’s truly good the fans will follow”. So if this means albums, and you really are serious about the album then maybe you should think about the 40 minute MP3 file.

If you’re an artist or in a band that considers itself “an album act”, you ought to think about what it means if you were to relinquish the option for people to buy only what they think they want. Have a look at this TED talk by Malcolm Gladwell – one of the great revolutions in product marketing and manufacture was the realisation that sometimes people don’t know what they want. Could you release your album as a single track? 1 MP3 file – 40 minutes long – no single tracks for sale? Take the lot or not at all. I made this as an album, so buy it as an album. It’s a bold move for sure, but then again isn’t that why we love music and the people who make it? They dare to express bold emotions for us all.

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Byron J. Scullin.
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Albums: Give people a single 40 minute MP3.

The answers to “Why?” mostly they boil down to people who are looking towards a professional career in the audio industry. If you have to ask about where to learn audio engineering/production/creation, then you’re probably already heading in the wrong direction. Here’s why.

In the past, a few lucky people were able to get a full-time job as an assistant in a big studio or large broadcast company (T.V., radio, etc.). From here they’d work under experienced mentors slowly building up the experience and knowledge needed to become professionals and experts in their own right. This world was a small one with limited spaces, and often these people ended up working at the studio or company for many many years. Today, apart from a few extremely scarce places, this apprenticeship system doesn’t really exist any more. What we have now is a broader network of peers, that exist in places like good music and audio colleges, internet forums, magazines and ‘out there’ in your local music community.

The truth is that many people working as professionals today fall into their career as audio engineers. Increasingly just being an audio engineer alone is not enough to sustain an interesting and fruitful career (think about being an audio engineer at 55!). Another truth is that 99% of people who pay out their (or their parents) money to attend privately held “Big Dollars Audio School” will not end up working as professionals or even skilled amateurs. They will give up as they lack one thing.

What they lack is passion. It seems none of the peers who I admire set out to be “audio engineers”, instead they set out with a desire to make. A lot of these people don’t even call themselves audio engineers, there’s a whole range of titles for what they do; composers, producers, artists and so on. What binds them together however, is that they are obsessed with the process of making sound and music using whatever electronic tools that come to hand. Most of these people stay the hell away from “Big Dollars” and if they do study, they’ll sniff out a good course at an established university or technical college that’s oriented towards creativity rather than vocation.

They all recall with fondness what they did with that first radio, cassette recorder, record player, synthesiser, effect pedal – the point where their obsession first took flight. From this they begin to gather 2 essential things – knowledge and experience. Like any obsessive they do this using any means at their disposal; endlessly listening to records, getting a band together to make music, recording any sound they can, mixing the live sound for other bands, consuming any web-page, blog, book or magazine that has information, saving up to buy equipment, asking questions of anyone who seems they might know something. This process never stops. They live it and are on a constant quest to make better and better work, no matter what part of the process they are involved in. Sometimes this drive means that many other aspects of their life will come second to this need. All of this effort however, feeds back into their knowledge and adds to their experience.

One thing I often tell people is that there are no secrets in making music & sound with technology. If you have ears and know how to listen, you can figure most sounds out. It is not a black art. It’s not as Kevin “The Caveman” Shirley says in this interview, rocket science. Anyone who makes you think or feel this way is probably trying to sell you something and should be avoided. If a student, client or friend asks me a question I will try and answer by telling them everything I know about the subject, hopefully in a way that helps them out. Probably so much so that sometimes I’m kind of annoying, and maybe they wished they hadn’t asked. People who avoid questions, the kind that hold onto their knowledge like it’s a secret, are douchebags and should also be avoided. As useful as words and knowledge are, they are nothing without experience. The time it takes to gather experience and fold that into your working method. It is time served and the wisdom you gain that sets you apart. Knowledge alone is not enough.

People who are looking to go to “Big Dollars Audio School” have been duped into thinking the only way to get direct access to knowledge and experience is to pay large piles of hot, wet, stinking cash for the privilege. What they get mostly is a very diluted version of both which is usually taught by some unfortunate creature(s) who have minus passion for what they do. Many teachers at “Big Dollars” are conflicted about the fact that they’re having to teach what they’d rather be doing for a living. You might get very lucky, but I doubt that “Big Dollars” is the kind of place that’s going to attract a good teacher – ie. a seasoned professional with good communication and enthusiasm for teaching. In the end drained of cash, dreams and time, most “Big Dollars” graduates get their gold embossed diploma receipt and in no time head straight back into the loving arms of the bank, call centre or cafe. It’s a depressing thing for anyone to endure, and there is a way to avoid this pitfall.

Here’s what I suggest to most people heading down the path of handing out their money to one of these schools – take that same amount of cash you were going to give to “Big Dollars” and buy some gear, learn how to read a manual, how to use google, and get to work. Record your band, find a band and do a free demo for them – anything! Just get your hands dirty and give yourself problems to solve, things to learn. You’ll become a better sound engineer faster. The other bonus is you’ll have your own set-up to build upon – you can’t record much sound with a piece of paper! If you don’t have truly have the passion, this probably sounds like a risk. It is a risk. If it’s too big a risk or you don’t think you can get your own small studio together sorry, but you’re not going to make a career out of audio and music – face it and move on. If you’re obsessed however, it’s a risk you’ll gladly take. You’ve probably already taken it.

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Byron J. Scullin.
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Why going to an audio engineering school is generally a waste of your time and money.