Hug an Estonian Week

I found out today that Hug an Estonian Week is this week and it's nearly over.  But someone at work found out and alerted my colleagues, so I have been getting hugs today.

Boyer Lectures

This week I'm recording the Boyer Lectures, which are are an annual series of lectures given by a prominent Australian.  It's a major event on the Radio National calendar.  This year's guest lecturer is General Peter Cosgrove, the former chief of the Australian defence force.

He's a rather friendly chap.  So far we've recorded 4 of the 6 lectures.  I really liked what he had to say on leadership in his 3rd lecture.  Despite swallowing his words a lot like all good Aussies do, he does a pretty good job in the studio, for someone who is not a professional voice artist.  He can hear when he gets the emphasis of a sentence wrong, or stuffs something up, so we don't have to keep stopping him to make him do it again, he just stops himself and does it again.  The editing shouldn't be too hard.

Not like last year.  I had to edit Rupert Murdoch.  I spent days and days editing out all of his saliva noises and replacing horrible breaths.  He really did sound terrible before I got to him.

The benefits of offering rewards

I lost my work ID tag yesterday.  It drove me nuts because you can't move around the building very easily without it.    I checked all the most recent places I'd been to and couldn't find it.  So I sent out an email offering a reward for its return.  One minute later I got a phone call.  The thief had owned up and wanted their reward.  Of course it was an unconditional reward, so I still had to pay up despite the fact that they had stolen my tag, by mistake of course.

The reward - dried apricots.  It's amazing what people will do for a free feed.  I even had people emailing me pretending they had my card so they could collect the reward.

So the moral of the story - if you want anything, just offer a reward.

Lane Cove National Park

I went for a walk in the park a few weekends ago and got some pics.

Gould's

Have you been to Gould's Books in Newtown?  It's an experience.  2 storeys of shelf after shelf of second-hand books piled up.  How anyone finds anything they want I do not know.

ACO recording

Every house engineer now and then has to baby sit a studio for a hire without actually doing any engineering.  I've done that this week.  The Australian Chamber Orchestra are using our orchestral studio for a recording with the Swedish record company - BIS Records.  I'm the on call house engineer this week with nothing to do.  Well, I did help them set up and I turn up every day and make sure the lights and air conditioning are good.

I don't mind occasionally doing brainless work.  It's a nice mental break to not have to have anything to think about except be on call to help out if needed.  It's always good to see how other engineers work as well.  As a sound engineer I believe you never stop learning.  There is always a different way to do things.

The orchestra are recording a buch of flute concertos with a flautist whose name I don't know.  It's good to have details sorted out isn't it...  the ACO consists only of strings by the way, with a guest flute player.

1st violins, 2nd violins and viola sections each have 2 spot mics - Neumann KM143 which are a wide cardioid pattern.

The 3 cellos and 1 bass are spotted with KM140 which are a standard cardiod so have more rear rejection than the 143.

The flute is being mic'd with 2 KM143 on a stero bar just above the height of the flute, approx 3 feet from the flute, panned hard left and right.  I thought that was interesting to mic the solo instrument with a stereo pair.

Then there are 2 KM 130 omni mics as a wide stereo pair out front about 3m high pointing down to the centre of the orchestra.  But because the flute player is facing the orchestra for the recording, she has her back to theses mics, so there is another stereo pair in the midst of the orchestra, facing the front, pointing down at the flautist, and about 1.5 m apart.  These are DPA 4006 omnis.

Hot Fuzz

If you like British humour you should like this film.  It's a send up of English policeman officers.  A little bit too long, but I thought it was quite funny.  A policeman in London is promoted and sent to the country because he is too efficient and makes everyone else look bad.  In his new small town he tries to solve the mystery of the multiple deaths made to look like accidents, but he is convinced they are murders.  This is definitely brainless Friday night fun.

It's made by the same guys who made Shaun of the Dead.

Citizen Kane

I saw this film a few years ago when I wasn't very well and didn't appreciate it at all.  I decided I need to give it another go because so many people go on about how good it is.  So I watched it the other night when I wasn't feeling sick, and I'm really glad I did.  I must say it's not a "chill out and relax" type of film, but one that does require mental energy. 

I actually found it worthwhile to go back when it finished and watch the first 15 or so minutes again, to get a full appreciation of the significance of the opening scenes, which kind of tie the whole movie together.  I think this is one of those movies you can watch over and over again and gain something new from it every time.  It would be worth owning the DVD.

The story is loosely based on the life of newspaper man, William Randolph Hearst.  According to Wikipedia, he prohibited the mention of the film in any of his papers on its release.  The main character is played by Orsan Welles, who also directed.
I have developed a new interest in photography which I didn't have the first time I saw the film, so this time I was able to appreciate the technical and artistic way the film was shot - apparently quite innovative for it's time.  It is definitely worth watching for the visual artistry.

The final shot solves the mystery of the entire movie - what was the main character referring to on his deathbed in muttering the word - "Rosebud"? It's quite a significant way to tie up the movie as throughout the film we see a character being portrayed as a rich tyrant.

Definitely watch it, but not if you want brainless Friday night entertainment.

Dangerous Ideas BBC Forum

During the first weekend of October I spent the whole weekend at the Opera House recording several sessions of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas.  One of them was for the BBC program The Forum.  It was quite an interesting program about Australian stereotypes.

You can hear the program by clicking here.

Microphones used were the Neumann system made up of the KM100 phantom supply, with an AK40 cardioid head, with a gooseneck inserted between the 2.  These sounded really good.  Each person also wore a lapel mic for if they ever went off mic.  When mixing this I was constantly riding the levels of each person, so that only the person talking at the time was at full volume to eliminate as much echo as possible.  You have to be quick with the fingers doing this and sometimes you miss the start of a person's sentence, but it's the the risk you have to take.  If you leave everyone's mic up at full volume there is just not enough clarity in the voices.

You can hear one of the voices is quite echoey as the woman didn't have a very loud voice, meaning that the PA operator had to keep pushing her louder through the PA, causing her to not sound as direct as the others. It's one of the problems with doing these things.  If people don't speak up, as I have written about in a previous post, it makes things very difficult to mix.

How to defrost a fridge

My job is ever evolving.  I am now the friendly fridge defroster at work.  It's one of those things that everyone notices needs doing, but expects someone else to do.  I finally had enough.  Our poor little bar fridge where we put our lunch, had been taken over by ice so much that we had lost half of our storage capacity.  Something needed to be done.  So yesterday morning, I grabbed a trolley and with help, took the frozen fridge out to the balcony to thaw out.  To my horror it wasn't thawed by the end of the day, so I risked leaving it out over night (under cover).  To my horror, this morning when I went to collect, it still wasn't thawed!

Now, we are talking spring time in Australia here - not sub zero temperatures.  How can it not be thawed out?!?!?!?

Anyway the technique is rather technical - one must unplug the fridge from the power and take it to a place where dripping water won't ruin anything.  Here endeth the lesson.

Bee

This bee was pollenating the washing and I caught him at it!

Tallinn

This is a painting in my parents home.  It's a painting of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

This is a photo of the same place taken by my friend CP on our visit in 2005.  Slightly different angle, but you can see how close the painting is to the real thing.

Chick Bass Player - It's in My Blood!

Picture posted on Eeesti Stiil. Taken in 1968 in Estonia.  I'm probably not related to them, but you never know!  It's just cool to see female bass players, especially from 40 years ago.

My new pet fish

Do you like them?  If you use a reader you won't be able to see them.  Come on over to the real world and admire my fishies.

Chilli Tree

Microphone Technique

Every sound engineer's worst nightmare - people on stage who refuse to speak up. They think that as soon as they get a microphone put on them, they start speaking like they are only talking to someone right beside them. WRONG!!!!!  A microphone is not your voice, it is there to support it.  People on stage giving talks need to project if the microphone is going to do its job properly.

It is impossible to mix sound properly if the you don't speak up.  Why?  The quieter you speak, the more we have to turn the microphone up through the PA system, meaning more chance of feedback.

Feedback is that ringing sound you hear in the sound system.  It can be quite painful.  It is caused when the signal picked up by a microphone, is amplified and put out through a speaker, which is picked up by the microphone and amplified and put out through the speaker, which is picked up by the microphone and amplified and put out through the speaker, which is......

The best way to avoid feedback is by not turning the microphone up so much.  So if the person on stage talked louder, you wouldn't need to turn the microphone up so much, so you wouldn't get feedback.  Simple.

So if you ever have cause to be in front of a microphone please project your voice and the sound engineer will love you a lot.

Guy Swallowing a Microphone

This video has been around for years but I still laugh at it.

Roses

Bo Kaspers Orkester

This is one of my favourite bands.  They are Swedish and you have to order their CDs from Sweden.  I found out about them when I worked in Sweden for a month in 1998 on a magic show.   Their music ranges in styles from jazz, funk, pop and folk. They are a little bit confused, but I like them. This video is of a kind of chilled out jazz kind of song. Of course i have no idea what he is singing about. Hope it's not rude.

Big desks I work on

1. SSL Duality

2.SSL C200

3.SSL Gseries

audio language lesson 4

That's the obligatory "self portrait of me twiddling knobs on the biggest desk I could find" photo.

Today we are going to leave microphones alone for a while a talk about some audio terms which can get a little confusing.

The mixing desk is central to many audio set ups.  It's that thing with all the knobs on it.  And yes I do know what all those knobs do.  The mixing desk, also known as mixer, console, sound board, can also simply be called the desk.  Now we all know a desk as something that you sit at to do such studious things as reading and writing, so it can be a little confusing when the mixer is also called the desk, especially if there is a desk nearby.  So when someone says they left the tape on the desk, you might find yourself looking in the wrong place.

 Incidentally, the term "desk tape" refers to a recording made directly from the live mixing console.  eg. When a band performs a gig, the engineer can make a recording of the live mix, and that's called a desk tape.  Even if you burn a CD, it's called a desk tape.

Many recording studios are hard disk based these days, but it is still very common to hear people talking in terms of tape.  Even if there is no tape machine to be seen, you will hear phrases such as "let's put it to tape", and "rolling tape".

Another confusing, but important term in audio is "monitor".  Monitor can refer to computer screens.  It can also be the term given to studio speakers.  This can be confusing when you have computer screens right next to speakers, like in the photo.  And in live sound, monitors refer to the foldback speakers.  Foldback speakers are the speakers on stage pointing at the performers so they can hear themselves.  In larger PA setups it's common to have one person mixing the foldback and and a different person mixing the main sound for the audience.  If someone is "on monitors", it means they are mixing the foldback.

"Front of house" is the term given to the space in front of the stage ie where the audience is.  The front of house sound system is that which is pointing out to the audience.  So the person mixing this is the "front of house engineer".

The adventures of Basil the basil - 3 weeks on.

Basil was partying it up for my Birthday the other day and got attacked by some hot wax.  We'll have to wait and see if this wild lifestyle has any adverse effects.

Followcost

Before deciding to follow someone on Twitter, you should visit www.followcost.com first.  It will work out how annoying it will be for you.

Anzac Bridge

Finalist

A program I mixed, "Holding our Tongues" has been named a finalist in the 2009 United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Prize Awards, in the Best Radio chategory.

The program deals with the attempt to revive Aboriginal languages which are in danger of extinction.

Check out the Holding our Tongues website.  It's got an interactive map with stories in indigenous languages, and other interesting info.

Ladybug

Well the behind of it anyway. I just couldn't get it to turn around and face me.

Top 5 movies I watch over and over

1. Donnie Darko
2. Billy Elliot
3. Singin in the Rain
4. Napoleon Dynamite
5. Harold and Maude

Top 5 concerts I've been to

1. Dave Matthews Band 2007
2. Herbie Hancock 2007
3. Hothouse Flowers 2006
4. Sting 1993
5. Stevie Wonder 2008

Top 5 reasons I should stay in Sydney

1. Job
2. There are people here that I like
3. Better music scene
4.
5.

Sorry I can only think of 3.

Check everything before going live

Whether you are mixing a live show, church service, broadcast, doesn't matter what, check all your audio sources beforehand.

And this does not mean a few days before.  Check it immediately before.  Just because it worked on Tuesday doesn't mean it's working on Sunday.

How many times have you been somewhere and a video comes up on the screen and no audio?  This happens far more often than I am comfortable with.

Check it beforehand.  Are all the connections right?  Has someone unplugged something without you knowing?  Is the audio output on the computer set up properly?

Do you use radio mics?  Check them.  Are the batteries dead?  Is the receiver picking up the signal properly?

Do you need to play a CD in the show?  Have you checked the CD player actually reads the CD and audio is coming out?  Does it cue up properly so that when you push play there is not 5 seconds of silence first?

Check all mics to make sure they work and are coming in on the mixer where you are expecting them to.

Please people, no more gaps.