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2021 Recording Unhinged Review

If you ever need a feel-good audio extravaganza, pick up a copy of Recording Unhinged: Creative & Unconventional Music Recording Techniques by Sylvia Massy with her partner Chris Johnson.  As cacophonous as its cover, illustrated by the renaissance woman herself, this title explores the rule-breaking philosophy behind many iconic albums.  The subtitle says it all.  Readers be warned this is no cookbook of precisely measured formulas of gear and settings.  Think of it as a grab bag of inspiration, a light for dark places when all other lights go out.  A tool to break out of the worst ruts.

Divided into chapters by instrument, similar to a session in your current DAW, Massy fills each chapter with audio legends telling audio lore.  Some of the stories are so fantastic, that they will never be attempted again, but many of the anecdotes are exercises in “why not?” and “I hope this works.”  Emphasis is placed on the latter, with many memories featuring antique one-of-a-kind microphones and synths one burnt fuse from the dumpster.  It becomes a running theme to embrace the problematic gear as a challenge to occupy the brain so that the heart is free to ace the take.  Mistakes are not the apocalypse, instead, they are the sources of epic sagas.  Here is your permission to try the weird and possibly wonderful.  On one hand, this reduces the anxiety of a perfect session for a star client, on the other hand, it could be a recipe for wasted time.  Sylvia Massy documents those moments too.  Sometimes even the pros are just making it up as they go.

The stories alone would be enough to pick up a copy, the icing on the cake is the candid stills, and illustrations drawn by Sylvia.  Behind the scenes polaroids, and photos of iconic music history make this a coffee table book of envy.  And each illustration is as wild as the stories.  I am not entirely sure, but the chapter plates might be a Where’s Waldo of audio memes.

While Recording Unhinged stands alone, it pairs well with the PBS documentary series Soundbreaking, which follows a similar format and shares some of the same cast of characters.  For those needing more of Sylvia’s illustrations: there are two companion coloring books.  The first with a showcase reel of drawings from Recording Unhinged and the other focusing on audio icons in a Catholic saint fashion.  My co-reviewer has finally figured out which end of the crayon to use and ate it up (still hasn’t kicked her paper habit).  I love these add-ons, they are perfect for musicians waiting between takes or for decorating dorm room studios.  One word of caution to the audio parent:  some illustrations include sex, drugs, and rock & roll, use your discretion.

Nerd, as I am, I could not put this book down.  And it deserves a re-read with a soundtrack to unpack each morsel.  I would not recommend this as the only book on recording, but as a supplement to your current library.  A secret weapon to get your mixing on the next level.  Maybe put it in your laptop bag to infuse its funk in your sessions.  You never know what might happen.

You can check out this book in The SoundGirls Lending Library

Frankenbass

 

Several years ago my husband was stationed in Afghanistan.  He rescued a sad, abandoned bass tagged with a stencil of his unit and brought it home to me, disassembled.   To the best of my abilities, I attached the neck to the body and checked it for signs of neglect.  Its pickups were not secured to the body of the bass at all, and shaking the bass caused the worst maraca sound.  I was afraid to even plug it into an amp.  Besides the electronics, it was in decent shape and was playable.  I decided that this bass would be my “frankenbass.”  A monster I would experiment with, and hopefully bring it inner peace.

When I finally gathered the courage to plug into the amp, it sounded muddy, but not broken.  A slight hum from unshielded electronics only became annoying when using the tone knob.  Still, I decided that the way forward was through shielding the cavity and pickguard and replacing the pickups.  The design of this Silvertone, serial number-less instrument was influenced by the Fender Precision Bass, and my musical style often intersects with Motown, therefore I opted for 60’s replica P-bass split pickups.  More specifically, a demo model to fit my budget.

Before shielding the bass, I cleaned the electronics with rubbing alcohol.  Fortunately, the routing within the cavity was not so rough that it needed much sanding.  I started with the back of the pickguard to warm up.  Applying the copper shielding reminded me of middle school, peeling the foil off of gum wrappers to cover folders and using an eraser to buff out the wrinkles.  Side note:  I was not much of a gum chewer in middle school.  Per some internet advice, I had an Exacto knife and a rubber bouncy ball to help me with cutting and buffing the shielding.  I also used a good portion of my vocabulary while peeling the backing off the copper, as it loves to curl on itself.  Good thing I started with the shielding because that was the hardest part.

Compared with shielding, replacing the pickups was a breeze.  I clipped the wires of the old pickups (yellow for hot, black for ground), then soldered the new wires (white for hot, black for ground) in their place.  The new pickup covers did not match the pickguard cutouts, so I kept the old ones (which means I didn’t bother to get a pic of everything assembled, as it looks the same as the before photo).  Slap on some new strings and get to slapping.  When I plugged in the frankenbass, I heard a beautiful sound:  silence!  No hum!  The shielding worked.  After turning up the volume, I was greeted by the warm tone that I wanted.  Bright and clear, warm and round.  It’s alive!  It’s alive!  It’s ALIVE!  Best feeling ever.

What is a Crossover?

Crossovers are not the most glamorous or talked about gear in live sound, but they are an integral part of the signal chain.  Also known as frequency divider networks, these devices filter and route the signal based on frequency.  Without a crossover, the same signal gets fed to each driver in the system.  Imagine the tweeter, mids, and sub all playing the same song reading the same balance of frequencies.  The poor tweeter’s exerting just as much energy into sound waves exponentially larger than itself as its favorite treble tones, therefore reducing the overall output or worse.  And what about the sub, as graceful as a hippo, muddying the high end?  A crossover, at its core, is a collection of filters based on the needs of the system.  Depending on the scope of the system they can be a simple circuit, or be a highly customizable device.  However, every crossover has to address a crossover point and the frequency responses of the components within the system.

Every crossover contains at least one filter.  These filters determine the range of frequencies each speaker unit reproduces.  A high-pass filter allows high frequencies to be sent to a tweeter, a low-pass filter allows low frequencies, and a band-pass filter allows a range of frequencies.  The customization of the signal is the filter’s selectivity.  When these filters intersect, they have a crossover point.  In an ideal world these filters would be a brick wall, blocking any frequency beyond their cut-off point, the reality is that filters roll-off (a drop in decibels per distance from cut-off).  Depending on the makeup of the filter (how many filter circuits, whether it is passive or active or digital), the slope of the roll-off can be steep or gradual.  The order of the crossover refers to both the slope and the number of filter circuits required.  Most sound reinforcement crossovers are 2nd-order (12dB/octave slope) or 4th-order (24dB/octave).  Higher output systems rely on the steeper roll-off to protect high-frequency drivers from blowing out.

Knowing all of this about your crossover and about the optimal frequency ranges of the drivers or units in your system informs your choice of crossover point.  If you choose cut-off frequencies too close to each other, the crossover frequency will get a gain boost by both speakers, too far and you won’t hear that frequency at all.  If a driver is tasked with too wide of a frequency band, its power output will diminish and the signal might have other inaccuracies.  Manufacturers include recommended crossover frequencies with the signal response of their speakers and drivers to inform optimal performance.  When designing a speaker for studio use, where the system and location is consistent and stationary, this choice can be made permanent.  In Live Sound, tuning is done with each individual load-in, as the acoustics of the room can change the performance of the system.  Although not a rule by any means, these two situations describe the two basic types of crossovers:  passive and active.

Passive crossovers (aka high-level) crossovers are downstream from the power amplifiers in the signal flow.  They are often encountered as built-in circuitry in speaker enclosures, dividing frequencies between tweeters and woofers in full-range speakers.  They are economical, however, the crossover’s quality is key to the performance of the system.  Because of their location in the signal flow, they must have sufficient power handling capabilities, although too much focus on this can result in a bulky device.  Within a passive crossover is a network of resistors, capacitors, and inductors, these are known as “passive” components in electronics.  The more complicated the network, the steeper the roll-off, and the larger the components, the better power handling.  Due to the nature of a passive crossover, they are generally less efficient and not adjustable when compared to active crossovers.

Where passive crossovers are high-level, active crossovers are low-level.  They are implemented into the system at line level before the power amplifiers and are more efficient than passive crossovers.  Variable level controls for each frequency band are often available for active crossovers to compensate for devices further along the signal chain.  This is done with active components (op-amps and transistors) provide voltage gain, and resonant components (resistors, capacitors, and inductors) to select the frequencies.  Many systems use a combination of both passive and active crossovers, and even have an option of bypassing the passive portion for more control capabilities.  When used together the passive network is dedicated to the high-frequency horns and tweeters, and the active crossover covers the rest.

Other crossover styles available are digital or processor-controlled, and mechanical.  Digital crossovers offer greater flexibility than active and greater capability for brick-wall roll-offs.  Mechanical crossovers are more often found in speaker and driver designs in the form of domes, whizzer cones, and cabinet construction.  While they function differently than active or passive, the basic concept of filtering frequencies is similar to the more conventional crossovers.

SoundGirls Activity Pages

 

With each passing month, my little SoundGirl is growing by leaps and bounds.  This past month she started walking, and the month before that she figured out dancing.  Before long she should be able to hold a crayon without eating it first.  This is really exciting because there is an abundance of coloring pages for her to explore and learn from.  Taking a page from Sylvia Massy (check out the coloring books based on Recording Unhinged), I thought I would share some coloring and activity pages for SoundGirls of almost any age to enjoy.

The Perfect Bedtime Story

I like many of you, hit the “buy” button immediately once Women in Audio by Leslie Gaston-Bird was published.  A textbook about us, for us, and most importantly, by us!  Reading a textbook has never been this empowering. Well, given my other SoundGirls articles, it is in good company.  SoundGirls has an assortment of them in their lending library. However, I did not buy Women in Audio solely for myself, I also bought it for my daughter, Ripley.  Having an audio engineer as a mother should not be an anomaly. Audio engineering is akin to any other profession, dependent on skills, knowledge, and passion.  We are starting early! What better way to introduce her to the world of audio than with a bedtime story?

At eight months Ripley has a literal appetite for books, therefore we started by only reading the first chapter together.  We will get to the other chapters in time. In similar fashion to many textbooks, Gaston-Bird begins hers with the history of the subject at hand.  Naturally, Lady Ada is the first entry. Lady Ada is the matron saint of computer programming, but I was surprised to find out she suggested the congruence of music and technology.  No wonder she is also a staple when it comes to Women in STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) literature. It will not be Ripley’s last encounter with her.

Following chronologically is a variety of entries going beyond computers and music:  there are acousticians, entrepreneurs, engineers, and activists. By placing each side by side one can get an understanding of how society and technology pushed the industry forward.  Leslie Gaston-Bird is clear with the reader that Women in Audio only scratches the surface of women who influenced the audio industry.  In limiting how many to include, the reader wins by discovering audio pioneers from around the world.  What stood out to me was this invisible thread that seemed to connect some of the women together. Labels, bands, and engineers would move in and out of various circles and connect with one another.  Women supporting women.

In addition to the inspiring stories, the “Fun Facts” section added context and definitions to prepare me for future “why” tirades.  The eidophone caught my eye with its depictions of sound waves, and the Deliaphonica game sucked me in. “Not So Fun Facts” is just as important in bringing attention to the realities that many of us face.  Telling the whole story means having both sides. Reading those sections to Ripley was difficult, and though she will not understand for a while, I am not going to gloss over them. Gaston-Bird also highlighted the delicate balance of celebrating achievements without adding gender identity as a caveat to success.

Just after Ripley and I finished the section on motherhood (a topic that is currently resonating with me), I was surprised with a special treat.  I did not realize that in the UK Mother’s Day is in March! Leslie Gaston-Bird recorded a video of herself reading that section.

Currently, Ripley mainly enjoys the pictures, but that will change with time.  We are going to keep reading Women in Audio until the cover falls off.

 

Review of Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound

Recently there has been some press about how articles about female scientists are frequently deleted from Wikipedia, especially when compared to their male counterparts.  As a casual Wikipedia editor, my initial reaction was anger and betrayal. There had to be something I could do about it. One of the underlying reasons behind articles disappearing resides in Wikipedia’s strict resource guidelines.  Personal websites and aggregate websites are not accepted, and print media is preferred. Setting aside the fact that the male-dominated editor community enforces these guidelines with bias (that solution involves more women editors, which I have addressed in previous articles), there are rippling consequences for lack of representation.  Then what is our solution? Write about women and gender-fluid folk. Interview them. Write reviews of their work You are seeing that solution in action, here, at SoundGirls.

Dr. Tara Rodgers is also part of that solution with both Pinknoises.com and Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound.  I do not know exactly how this text came across my radar, possibly from stumping Amazon’s suggestion algorithm, but it called to me and my bottomless appetite for reading.  Pinknoises.com, when it was active in the early 2000’s, was a collection of interviews curated by Rodgers focusing on women in electronic music. The book is formatted similarly and is a highlight reel of the website.  It received the Pauline Alderman Book Award from the International Alliance for Women in Music in 2011.

“Pink noise” is a double entendre of sorts: referring to the association of pink and femininity paired with noise as a jarring a-musical sound, and pink noise as a broadband collection of frequencies with equal energy per octave.  Each artist Rodgers interviews is an iconoclast in her own right, noise to the established system, and each has their own musical philosophy. While Rodgers does devote at least one question per interview to address the lack of diversity in electronic music, not one interview is stuck on that issue. In fact, several of the artists bristle at the question, angered by its apparent necessity and inclusion.  The honesty is refreshing. These are artists who just happen to be women. Their work is what defines them, not their gender.

Before opening Pink Noises, I had not heard of any of the artists interviewed, but I recognized some of their male contemporaries.  Their accomplishments are too numerous, too awe-inspiring to be kept a secret. This book needed to be published.  From their hand’s synths were invented, software developed, movements revolutionized. And the interviews focus on the why and how.  “What drew you to music?” “How does a piece get realized?”

Rodgers guides the interviews with an anthropological lens. Although this book was published in 2010, the answers are timeless and not based on one software or operating system.  A reader from 2020 or even 2050 has something to gain here. What also gives Pink Noises depth is the diversity of artists picked for the collection.  From Pauline Oliveros to Riz Maslen (aka Neotropic), they traverse the history of electronic music as well as the breadth of its expressions.  They are from all over the world, there are both artists and engineers, and the work ranges from museum installations to nightclub sets. Rodgers bucks elitism and gatekeeping to archive what should never have been ignored in the first place.

Let this book inspire you to create your own masterpiece, but not just that.  Let it inspire you to collaborate, to write, to share. Be inspired to update “normal” to include the diversity we know is there.  Help others to make their works heard and seen, help them get recognition. We can and will cross the threshold of notability. This starts with us

 

Dear Ripley

Dear Ripley,

You were not born into an ideal world.  This one is full of bias and hate, and I would give almost anything to shield you from it.  What I must do instead is create small pockets influenced by tolerance and respect. And I will start by improving myself.  My little SoundGirl, this will not be an easy task, and I hope you will forgive my little mistakes, and correct my larger ones.

I do not look like you: my eyes are light, while yours are dark, my hair blonde, and yours black.  It was my history recorded in textbooks, not all of yours. You are lucky to have your father and grandparents here as connections to the past.  From them, I can evaluate and minimize my own biases. By listening to them I can better support you as you grow. When they share their culture I will learn with you.  When it is my chance to share, it is to teach you two languages, so that a third, your endangered mother tongue, might have a chance. By sharing, I will empower you. When you speak, my job is to hand you the megaphone, not be the translator.  I will not quiet your voice, but let you learn when and how to express it.

Audio engineering is the confluence of science and art, of precision and nebulousness.  The world is much the same. What I have learned in studying sound has morphed my worldview.  You will hear its echoes in what I share with you. From my own experience, I do not know what it is like to be of mixed race, but I know how to work as a woman when men are the majority.  My lessons will be on how to build confidence in the face of doubt. These tools are not perfect, but I will hone them with your guidance.

Your role models will not come from a cookie-cutter, as many were in my childhood. You will learn of trailblazers who look like you, and iconoclasts that do not. I will do my research to teach you what they persevered through and know that they were only human.

Though your dreams may surpass the stars, you will know that it is possible for you to break barriers and glass ceilings. And even if you fall short, you will learn to dust yourself off and try again.  It is in the pursuit of goals that we thrive. Your curiosity is your strength, and together we will leave no stone unturned. If you find that music is not your passion, its elements crossover into other mediums.  What you want out of life does not have to mirror me. I give you music so that you learn to flavor your environment.

Carve your own space, Ripley.  Use your whole past to support your dreams.  I will do my best to lay a solid foundation and reinforce it when cracks threaten to form.  It is my job to make a better world for you than the one I inherited, and that is my goal. And every day I see you grow into the person you will become.  I am and will always be proud of you.

Nicole

 

Sound Design in Another Medium

Sound Design is creating a world or character purely out of auditory vibrations.  We morph mood and meaning through music and sound effects. As showcased through pieces like Peter and the Wolf by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the aural medium can tell the story on its own.  More often than not, however, sound design is not a monolith and must integrate with visual mediums.  This opens the door for visual style elements to influence sound design.

When I took Sound Design as a course in college our main textbook was Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud.  McCloud boils comics down to its essence, choosing to focus on the assembly of narrative and representation rather than technique.  The philosophy behind choosing what to include and not is similar between the visual and the aural. Elements of design (rhythm, focus, contrast, form, movement) are also shared.  Using McCloud as a guide, take a look in the graphic novel section of the library as research for your next project. But why stop at visual, where else can we find inspiration?

The human body was gifted with several senses, and all of them can be used to evoke emotional responses.  Taste is an experience that occurs over time but is remembered as a static moment, much like a song. That particular meal has a temperature, different flavors competing and complimenting, and overall texture.  A song has dynamics, different instruments with melodies and harmonies, and an overall mood. Maybe the character in that particular film has a favorite meal that defines them. How should the accompanying theme add to the character development?  Think of Pippin singing to Denethor in Return of the King from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a greasy meal, tomatoes popping and gristle squishing contrasted with Pippen’s haunting ode to his comrades in arms.

Another sense, smell, also shares similarities to sound.  While perfume is just as manufactured as a pop tune, it has the opportunity to provide insight into character design.  Imagine a femme fatale adorned with a power suit, her chosen scent is bound to be as bold as she is. Like sound, it also transforms through time.  When she first enters the scene, her interactions with those around her, and what happens in the wake of her absence correspond to the “top,” “middle,” and “base” portions of the bouquet.  Film cannot capture scent, yet, but the sound design can pick up on the “notes” of her cologne.

I recently have had the opportunity to try my hand at mixing mediums.  In August, I gave birth to a new little SoundGirl, and I wanted to share with her one of my favorite stories:  Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkein.  I want her to follow along with me but also was have the story available if she was babysat by grandparents.  In my copy, the publishers thoughtfully included prints of Tolkein’s illustrations, and I used those as a guide for a fabric book and a radio play.  The mood and style permeate through the scene designs done in felt, while the narrative and characterizations are explored through sound effects, voice, and music.  Together the confluence is grander than the sum of its parts and makes me a better sound designer.

 

Radioactivity and Sound

With Halloween just around the corner, I wanted to explore the spooky ambience of radioactivity.  Nuclear radiation is a common mysterious force in science fiction and horror films. Its manifestations are generally physical sensations, like heat, or mutations rather than sonic phenomena.  However, there are fascinating sounds and ambiences that are connected with nuclear radiation.

Nuclear reactors are inherently spacious concrete buildings.  It takes concrete walls several feet thick to block the most penetrable of nuclear radiation from escaping to the outside world.  These make for excellent reverberation chambers. At the decommissioned B-Reactor in Hanford, Washington, a local vocal group, has taken advantage of that.  They have created a concert showcase about the Hanford Site and the Manhattan Project (of which the B-Reactor was initially built for), and are performing inside the building.  Nuclear Dreams is composed by Reginald Unterseher, performed by Mid-Columbia Mastersingers, and was commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the B-Reactor.

Isolation and silence also surround nuclear sites.  They are built away from busy urban centers, and often the wildlife reclaim the nearby land.  Irradiated animals inside nuclear tanks do not decay, and their sunken remains haunt silently.  Above ground, the radiation does little to change their regular habits. Humans interacting with the radiation often are enveloped in silence, either by their limited viewing capabilities via closed-circuit monitors or even by way of the radiation itself.  Journalist Igor Kostin of Novosti Agency, who was first on the scene at Chernobyl, recounted that when he opened the helicopter window to get a better camera shot, he heard nothing. Not helicopter rotors, not wind, just nothing. In his words, “deafening silence.”  It is possible that what happened was a physiological response, similar to what brain cancer patients experience during chemotherapy.

Then there is an eerie sense one feels at not being able to perceive the danger that they know exists at the nuclear sites.  The Chernobyl television series encapsulates this with its score.  Quiet drones pulse in time to sirens and are accented with distorted static.  Hildur Guðnadóttir’s compositions accent the tension and the panic of the unfolding disaster and subsequent cover-up.  The muted dynamics of the score allows the magnitude of the visuals to hit with more power. It is only disaster itself that causes the noise.  Wailing sirens and alarms, and the static of Geiger counters create a constant cacophony that follows explosions. Beeps from monitoring machines and sparse clicking of dosimeters are the soundtrack to a normal functioning reactor, not of a meltdown.

When building up the sound design of your nuclear-centric haunted house (or is that just me) remember the reverb, silence, and eeriness of the real thing.  The trick-or-treaters will feel isolated and on-edge. Have a Happy Halloween.

 

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