Not really a rant. Hermes delivery has serious problems.
Space and Finding Place
An almost interesting side note after the last dreary entry. I’ve narrowed my focus (or ‘depth of field’ if you will) to working with spatial movement in the sources I’ve already got in the mix. I’ve been pushing some sounds to the rear of the soundstage and see how others move forward and back. It’s shaping up better. I didn’t realise I was anywhere near ready for that, but it sounds like it’s the only way forward.
Much nicer day
Paper Progress
It’s not quite what it sounds like. It’s not a paper, but it’s a piece made with paper samples. Also, it hasn’t really progressed in a while. That said, I just ran across some beautiful little spectral manipulations I made a long time ago using the butcher paper, Cecilia5 and ixiQuarks. I think they’ll be replacing some of the high frequency content near the start. There are quite a few spots there that I’m not happy with, starting with the transitions from the low, thunderous rolling sounds to when the chirps and wide-band pulse clusters (crunchy things) start accumulating.
Final? Website update
As far as design goes, I think I’ve settled. Tweaking colours will happen forever, and of course, or at least I hope, continuous additions of music. One day the integration with the music pages via BandCamp will have to be improved, but I’m hoping that means being able to adjust the Bandcamp side.
I like the frame. At first I was disappointed that it makes it more like other pages, but in the end it serves to mesh better with the average pages out there. There is also the added benefit of leaving the colour rotation relegated to the background and stabilising the page’s main cell. The colour shift is much slower and it makes the central frame seem to change, but it’s the effect of “local colour” and how it shifts perception.
SO!
Illusory upgrades
I was really excited that the new Mastering Audio course included some precision converters and finally some proper art-music quality monitors; a pair of ATC 110.
I had two orientations to the new kit, one quicky, and then a more in-depth one today and found out that the upgrades I was most excited about wouldn’t be available for anything I was doing (yet). The supposedly (and really, they are) god-like digital to audio converters wouldn’t be accessible to any of my composition software. I’d be shoving bits through the ProTool/AVID system. The hardware EQ and compressors won’t be routed from there, so I’m left with the only real upgrade being the speakers. Those monitors are nothing to sneeze at but I have a pair of ATC at home and they’re in the same ballgame as the new ones, and my converters are easily better than the PT/Avid. The room is, of course better than mine but it’s not enough reason to relocate the work I’m doing.
It’s still a significant step forward for the department. I think everyone is pretty excited overall. The mastering course still stands out as a great leap forward. I’ll be auditing that, as will at least two of my colleagues. We’re getting a shiny new skillset.
When the composition is done and the stems are ready, then I’ll move it into the new system.
Hurrah! Still working from home!