I’ve gone back to school….

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Today I started at my first day on a new path, day one of completing my Audio Engineering Diploma, why ? I hear you ask, I must already know so much about music and audio….
Well truth be known that when it comes to things like movie sound, TV Audio, and recording bands, I know very little…. so for the next 12 months I plan to eat, live and breath this stuff.
And at the end of it come out a much better electronic musician. My comments on today is to say that it very refreshing, at the least! It’s strange sitting in a classroom full of computers and not actually
talking about some latest wiz-bang IT/Networking thing, IT was my previous vocation and I was completely sick and tired of it. Sitting down at a computer and starting ProTools to work on something is all the more
satisfying when you are there to ‘get a job done’. And that’s the other thing, Mac and Protools…errrr… that is something that I will have to get used to! Coming from PC/Cubase world I have found things
a little off-putting, not the least of is the missing right mouse button! That damn button..! Fortunately I was carrying a Logitech mouse for my PC Laptop and I quickly worked out that it worked on the Mac….
arrrr much better thank you.

Psycho Green remake

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So I threw myself a challenge, to remake Labworks techno slammer ‘Psycho Green‘. The idea came about because of a thread on facebook. Firstly it was suggested that a track like this could be done on an iPhone these days, then I threw it out there for someone to try and re-program it in Rebirth….. well I can’t stand re-birth, the sound of it is great but the interface sucks beyond all belief and dealing with pre-programmed patterns is a workload that my memory cortex cannot handle these days, so I did it in my weapon of choice, Cubase 6. Now I know it’s not perfect… far from it… the 303 does not sound right and the hats are not programmed right in a few spots, but after spending ages trying to get it to sound perfect I realised that the track I was referencing from was firstly recorded off record, then compressed into a video, then converted to youtube FLV (ie: rubbish!), then ripped down as an mp3 by me…. ummm… yeah, so much for sonic quality….. but I’ve spent all the time I’m prepared to on this. To be honest I think it sounds better but not as dirty, which was exactly the problem I was faced with….. the sounds where far too bright and clear, more like 2011 sounds and less like 1993 sounds…… I found myself knocking the top off a lot of the sounds to get it right, thus the not-so-dirty 303, but I did use a bit-crusher and tube to overdirve it a bit. Anyway take a listen and you can download the high quality version HERE

Reaver EP#2

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We move on…. following the ‘massive’ success of the re-release of Reaver EP#1, I’ve decieded to do the same with EP#2…. yeah!  I hear you all scream….. anyway this is the first track off the EP, the only track on the A side, ‘Reavers Choice’, a cheesy rip off of an old rave track called ‘Ravers Voice’, which for some strange reason I cannot seem to find on youtube.



Carillon Mofos

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No that’s not a swear, thats really what they are called, I swear!

These badboys are basically foam blocks that sit under your monitor speakers and isolate the speaker housing from the furniture to prevent any unwanted resonance and vibrations through the funiture itself. I orginally had ordered these before I built my studio thinking  ‘sure, I’m gonna need these‘, but as it turned out the Genelec 8040A’s that I purchased to replace my aging Alesis Monitor One’s, have rubber pads built in that serve the same purpose. Nevermind, The Mofos worked out perfect for my DJ monitors, which are now my old reference monitors, they give a little more hight so the speakers are closer to your ears and they provide a perfect 5 degree tilt, so when I am standing at the decks the speakers are pointing directly at my head….!   arrrr volume, we all love it !!

These foam pads seemed a little better than others I looked at because they have a backing plate that gives extra stability, which I hope stops the speaker bouncing around and falling off……

Reaver Ep#1 – Dance Around

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Well here it is, as promised, the last track off my first EP Release, Dance Around. I re-recorded this using an Amiga emulator and Octamed… wow that was a flashback! I was able to loop the audio through my Focusrite Audio card and record it directly into Wavelab, this meant that there was no noisy analogue loop in the recording like the other tracks. I mastered this in my new studio as well and I think the results speak for themselves, much, much clearer and punchier.  Take a listen…..

Sorry for the delay

Posted on by Steve Reaver
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Well, sorry for the lack of updates, but I have been rather busy…. building my new studio…!  woot!   yes, it’s finally done, floor, painting, sound proofing all finished, and the results are fantastic. After 20 years of having odd rooms and small spaces to put all my gear I finally have a purpose buildt room, that didn’t take very long did it !….  Anyway in the photos below you see the DJ setup which is using my old Alesis Monitor-1 speakers and the new DDM4000 mixer I told you about a few weeks ago, the time code system is still Dj Decks,  I have created a DJ table loosely based on the plans from HERE, however instead of making a ‘box’ thing as the top shelf I simply used some stainless legs that are intended for a kitchen, this created a nice open space to put all the cables into…. Ikea hacking at it’s best….!

In this photo you see my music production space. I am using the Carillon Producer Workstation which worked out to be the perfect width to fit between the bass traps in either corner and just deep enough to give enough space for the DJ table to the left (off shot). The speakers are new, Genelec 8040A’s… nice, nice, nice.  Very clear, I’m hearing things like I have never heard before.

I’m yet to sit down and write anything yet…. but I did go through a few old project and compare what I had before to this set up, also worked out a few work flow things and ironed out a few bugs in the process. Expect some music very soon……!

Flyers

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Finally got my advertising flyers in the post, this is one of the first services I was to give from my studio, converting tapes and vinyl to mp3 for mums and dads…. yes it’s boring tedious work, and it does not pay very much, but I think it will be a good start to my entry into the world of small business. I’ve got 1000 of these things to hand out so I better get cracking…!

It’s Mental

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Time for some HARDCORE!  This is the next track off Reaver EP#1, Mental Orgasm. Don’t ask me what I was thinking when I wrote this, I think it was around the time of the rise of Hardcore in Sydney. Makes sense I guess…..

Studio build

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So the studio build continues, the electrics are in and the sound absorbent insulation is in, 22 bags of the stuff, it was a full day of work. I feel like all I have done is spend money! $1000 for this $2000 for that… damn it’s all starting to add up. I also had to buy myself a new laptop as well. And to think I have been at this music thing for 20 years so I already have most of the stuff I need, I could only imagine the cost if I had to get everything new. The image below is what will eventually be the mix position, where I will be sitting when working in the studio, still seems a long way off…..