Using Logic Pro for Theatrical Sound Design

I was recently hired to do sound work for a play and, of course, they asked if I could provide some sound effects and music playback.  Of course, I agreed to do it, as I have built up a considerable sound effects library over the years.  Not to mention that sound design is one of those things that I do.

I took a look at my available tools.  In the past, I've brought in hardware samplers for playback of music & effects, but setup on my old E5000 is a bit cumbersome.  I started thinking that a software sampler would do better.  This, of course, led me to look at Logic's ESX24.

Laying out samples on the ESX24 is simple.  I really just needed one-shot sample playback for the most part.  It was just a matter of dragging the samples into Logic, opening the samples in the sample editor, and cleaning up the beginnings and ends.

Simple right?

It turned out that the spooky wind sample I used was shorter than what was needed for the particular scene.  I had never actually done any looping in ESX (I had yet to build any sampled instruments) so I was less than thrilled with what I initially saw as the method for setting loops.  In the edit window, it looked like the method was to set sample numbers for the start and end of the loop and gave rudimentary tools for editing crossfades.  I started doing trial and error.  Painful to say the least.

Now Logic has a fine sample editor window.  I thought, wouldn't it be nice if I could open the samples in the sample editor.  Lo and behold, a method was in there and it worked great!

Turns out there's a little drop-down menu for each sample.  It is accessed by the drop-down arrow just to the right of the sample name.  All I had to do was select the Open in Sample Editor menu item and Voila!  There it was, ready for graphic editing!

Tools were in place for setting loops easily.  I easily selected the area I wanted looped, made certain that search zero crossings was ticked in the edit menu to help avoid pops, and selected selection -> sample loop.  After that I selected Write sample loop to audio file.

So I went back to the ESX editor and it didn't work.  Once again a bit of user error.  You have to turn the loop on in the ESX editor to have your new loop take effect.

It worked beautifully.

By the way, I decided to just place the music for playback in the arrange window sequentially.  This way, I could set markers and skip between markers with a self set key command.

Works great!

I'm almost looking forward to trying to loop something musical!

The Return of Bent 6!

I'm happy to report that Bent 6 Audio is returning to service, better than ever!  Bent 6 is my own studio where I have been set up to do mixing and editing.  Bent 6 also houses my keyboards and guitars and is set up as happening little control room.

Now, Bent 6 has two decent sized recording booths coming up, a tech shop, and a comfortably-sized control room configured for 5.1 and stereo mixing.  Audio for picture work is one of Bent 6's new focuses and the rooms are being configured for ADR and foley work as well as traditional recording.

Pics coming soon!

Drum mic technique update: check your distances

Just wanted to give a few more thoughts on the previously mentioned drum micing technique. When doing this, it is very important to check the measurements from the snare drum to the omni mics. These need to be the same distances from the center of the snare. If not, the snare will be skewed to the closer mic - thanks of course, to Haas' Precedence Effect! (Drum roll for application of physics, please!)

If I were doing a two mic kit (just the omnis) I'd try to make certain the mics were equal distances from the center of the bass drum as well.  This, needless to say, will result in some rather strange mic placements and could be difficult to place in a way conducive to playing a drum kit!  In practice, I have found that using the 3rd mic (the kick mic) allows us to not be so fussy regarding mic placement.  As long as the distances are reasonably close.  The kick mic will serve to solidify the image and (once again, thanks to Haas) will sound before the kick sounds (at a much lower volume) in the omnis.  The low frequency wavelengths from the kick mean that the sound arriving at the omnis will be more or less in phase assuming we haven't done some incredibly crazy wide placement.

I'll continue to explore this.  It has worked out to be too good to leave alone.

Great Drum Micing Technique

Now this might not work for everyone, and certainly won't work in every situation; but I have begun using a 3 mic technique for a drum kit that I find absolutely stunning. It won't give you the "Toms of Doom" or anything unusual. It will give you a great natural sounding drum kit. This technique was first described to me by Gary Baldassari (who works for or quite closely with DPA Microphones) a number of years ago. You can find his description at http://www.dpamicrophones.com. Click the Applications Guide and select Drums-Jazz for his description.

My take on this utilized 2 AKG C451s with omni capsules and -10dB pads inline.  On the kick I was checking it with both an AKG D112 in the kick and an ElectroVoice RE20 outside and on axis a couple of inchs from the front head.  Placement of the 451s was a bit tricky.  On the hat side of the kit, the mic is placed in the middle of the snare, rack tom, and hat "triangle".  I found myself pulling it more towards the rack tom (away from the hat) and away from the snare a bit as well. The second mic comes in under the ride cymbal, between mid and floor toms.

In usage, the omni condenser tracks should be panned hard right and left (which one is which depends on going for player or audience perspective.  The kick is panned straight up the center. You will need to adjust positioning to get good blends of toms and cymbals and I highly recommend using a tape measure to make certain the condenser are equal distances from the snare.

Reactions? I was floored as was everyone else on the session. We had a great sounding drum kit with three mics! Less phase issues (and NO bleed issues!) to deal with than with multi-micing and smooth, even toms and cymbals! The snare had plenty of snap and body, with natural ring. The omni patterned mics gave a wonderfully realistic panorama as well!

Of course, there are drawbacks. You have to decide how you want the drums to sound while recording. Any processing you do to the hat side mic needs to be done to the ride side mic as well to maintain a good stereo perspective. And (of course) you need a good, consistant drummer. And, of course, a good room is really going to help the sound as well!

Give it a try and check Gary's DPA post as well for more info.

Thanks, Gary! I will use this!

The Hohner Clavinet

Figuring that this blog is named Clavinet, I felt I ought to give a bit of background and info about it.  The clavinet (often shortened to clav) is based on the clavichord, an instrument that began to show up around the late 14th and early 15th centuries.  The clavichord is often described as an unfretted keyboard instrument, as there is a separate string for each key.  The keys are on one end of an arm; at the other end is a small brass pyramid called a tangent.  The tangent strikes the string giving a very sharp attack to the sound.

I should point out that the following describes a Hohner Clavinet D6 model - other models should be similar, although they are outside my personal experience.  

The clavinet is similar as it also has a string per key.  The clavinet's keys have a hard rubber hammer underneath (which serves as it's tangent).  Past it's similarities with the clavichord, it really starts resembling an electric guitar with active electronics.  There are two pickups - the originals are single coils, replacement humbuckers are available from www.clavinet.com among others- and there are two pickup switches (controlling on/off for both pickups as well as in-phase & out-of-phase settings when both pickups are engaged) and 4 switches which control level and (to a certain extent) EQ.  There is also a string mute attached to a slider which allows varying levels of string damping.

The clavinet's electronics can be powered by a 9 Volt DC supply or via battery.

Stevie Wonder is probably the best known clavinet player, thanks to his ultra-groovy mega-hit "Superstition" among others.  I was lucky enough to see him on tour a month or so ago, and there were two (count 'em) clavinets on stage!  Stevie often ran his through what I believe was a Boss Auto-Wah pedal.

The clavinet is best known as a funk instrument but was ubiquitous throughout pop and rock hits of the 1970s and early 1980s.