Week 5

• Practical 1 - Audio Arts - Stereo recording of String Quartet [1]

This class proved to be an unfortunate turn of events. Our initial plan was to record a live string quartet exploring different types of spaced microphone setups. This is what happened.

9:20 Discovered the portable flash memory recorder didn't have any memory card.

9:30 Replaced it with a Portable DAT recorder.

9:50 We discovered the DAT didn't have phantom power. This ruled out the NT4 and U89 Mikes. Then Adrian almost semi-saved the day when he revealed two AA batteries that we presumably thought we could use in the Stereo NT5, but unfortunately that didn't work for some reason.

9:53 We began recording the quartet using the undesirable Sony stereo mic that came with the DAT. We all decided that whilst stand up on a chair, it sounded the best, so David proceed to record them from a number of different positions around them using himself and a mic stand (couldn't clip the mic on a mic stand).

In the end we at least got "a" recording. It's unfortunate we weren't able to try the techniques we originally planning for, but technical difficulties are to be expected in a music technology course. Despite our original plans going under, it was an educational experience nonetheless. This was the first time we stepped out level 5 to record something, and for that I'm grateful enough.

• Practical 2 - Creative Computing - Supercollider (2) [2]

This week we mostly went throught formatting and commenting conventions, and the related radings were mostly revision (explaining the same sort of things in a different way), which was helpful I guess. I remember last year I didn't have a problem getting my head around Max/MSP, but I can't say the same about Supercollider. This week we mostly went through formatting and commenting conventions, and the related readings were mostly revision (explaining the same sort of things in a different way), which was helpful I guess. I remember last year I didn't have a problem getting my head around Max/MSP, but I can't say the same about Supercollider. This is probably largely due to the fact that I'm spending half the time on Supercollider this year as what I did with Max last year. Instead of reflecting on Supercollider every week, I think it would be more productive (for me at least) if I were given some programming tasks that needed to be solved and submitted every week. Something similar to the tasks we were set last year for Max. I find putting all the theory to practice really helps. Unfortunately so far it's (mostly) all been about learning the theory, and not the practice, which i'm hoping will change soon.

• Music Technology Forum - Presentation - Chris Williams [3]

This week we were blessed with the presence of Producer/Sound Engineer Chris Williams. He brought us through an insightful schedule of a radio drama he directed and engineered the sound of. In regard to the recording and sound engineering, he talked about the acoustics of the recording space at ABC, the mics he used, and the signal pathway from the mics in the recording space into the studio. Accompanying this, he also showed us some screenshots of the Pro Tools sessions he was using

This industry related presentation was a nice balance from the art presentations we've had previously, and I'm definatly looking forward to more industry related speakers.

• Music Technology Forum - Workshop - John Cage [4]

For this workshop we listened to John Cage's Music for Carillion (1954), William's Mix (1952), and 101 (1989). Each piece was quite diverse in instrumentation, and once again they reminded me of Cage's versatility as a composer. The one thing I admire about John Cage, is his ability to write experimental music that doesn’t just sound like an intellectual experiment, although I can't say this about all his pieces. Out of all three of the pieces, I would have to say "101" was my favourite. To me it wasn't just ambience, but ambience that contained a journey full on interest. It reminded me
of the ambience heard in the original Silent Hill for Playstation as the player character walked the misty streets of Silent Hill (check out the picture).

• References

[1] Grice, David. 2006. Stereo recording of a String Quartet. University of Adelaide, 28 March.

[2] Haines, Christian. 2006. Overview of Supercollider . University of Adelaide, 30 March.

[3] Williams, Chris. 2006. Presentation from ABC Producer and Engineer. University of Adelaide, March 30.

[4] Harris, David. 2006. Workshop on John Cage. University of Adelaide, March 30.