TwtrSymphony: Working through the Recording and Editing Process

By -

Musicians have been fast and furious getting their auditions to me - which also means I've been working overtime trying to get notes back to the musicians in regards to any problems in their tracks before the final process is complete.

Playing to a click-track is challenging. We have upped that challenge by throwing in a mix of different hardware platforms, file types, transmitting those files over the internet and then attempting to sync them up on the other end. TwtrSymphony has taken the recording process through the rabbit hole into a technical wonderland. The process would be different if the various musicians were recording their remote sessions in dedicated recording studios around the world. At least then we could make some sort of standard: exact file types and bit-rate we want to the files to be in when they get to the mixing studio. However, since we're dealing with musicians around the world using materials they have on hand we have more of a hodge-podge approach. Some work with Mac's, others on iPhones, some with zoom recorders, still others with PC laptops. The file types I've been receiving run the full gambit from Apple aiff, to Microsoft wave, from mp3's to ma4's. One person even recorded their track to a CD and send me the cda audio form file.

Since these are all digital formats, you might believe there is no degradation in sound quality. But, every time you move from one system to another, convert a file from one type to another there is some sound loss. In one particular case, there was a pretty dramatic tempo shift. The audition recording arrived in my inbox and I put it next to the original click track only to find the tempo of her audition was quite a bit slower than the click track. What ensued was a number of emails between the musician and myself and a fair number of hours trying to figure out why the problem occurred. She was convinced she played it at tempo. Was it the click-track on her end played slower? Was there a problem in translating the file from her zoom to the mp3 format she sent me? After a fair number of emails I eventually received the original zoom file and her performance matched up perfectly!

It is possible to adjust the timing of notes here and there, but the more accurate the original track is, the less time I have to spend editing the time and the more time I can spend on getting the final piece ready. Perhaps the TwtrSymphony needs to conquer these technical demons!


Moving Forward:
While I can handle a variety of different types of files, ma4, aiff and wave are the best quality. Recording at 44100 (CD quality) is the most common, but I can accept up to 192000. I can also work with 64 bit files, but 16 bit is standard CD quality. Let's establish a standard when possible:
Recording at 44100, 16 bit
Files in ma4 or aiff (if at all possible)
no click audible on the final recording

Obviously, I'll continue to try and incorporate what ever formats you can work with, but, there will be less hair-pulling for all of us if you aim for this standard.

Comments

ails64 said…
I have no idea what most of this means but I will investigate this evening and see if I can fix the problems with mine. Really wierd you have the click track as I can't hear it at all on my track but maybe I just have the metronome ticking permanently in my ear! I'm wondering if in ear plugs (connected to iphone) with proper headphones on top (but not switched on ) might cut the click track - fingers crossed! LOL
March 26, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more