Week 3, Monday 15th of May
Goals:
Optimize workflow, continue working on the instrumental, practice sound design in serum and with the Korg Volca Bass, write notation for instruments to record
Resources:
DAW (FL Studio, Logic), instruments (guitar, piano, etc.), leads, mics,
Diary:
I completed 3 of the 4 goals I set myself this week, I practiced sound design and wrote a blog post about how I jammed with the Korg Volca Bass. I continued working on the instrumental and have nearly completed it now. I tested the mix in MIT 3 through the Genelec speakers and wrote down some things I need to focus on and change to make it cleaner.
I also restructured my room to create a more comfortable working environment, I moved my bed to the window to create more space to sit at the desk and removed equipment I don’t use to have more desk space. This really helped me optimize my workflow because I didn’t have things lying around and distracting me and additionally I could easily get to all the gear I needed like the Volca Bass or my audio interface.
Having that extra space behind the desk allows someone else to sit next to me so
I two people can work on a session and easily collaborate.
This is very beneficial to me as Lauren will join me for a writing session after half term and Jonny for a recording session.
Unfortunately, my Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 audio interface broke but luckily Lauren lent me hers. I am currently saving up to buy the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6, which is a very good quality audio interface.
Source: (Native-instruments.com, 2017)
Despite making great progress, I wasn’t able to write down the notation for the guitar that I’m going to record because I haven’t decided on a melody yet.
I will try to do this when I get back on the 3rd of June.
I also focused on continuing to work on a soundtrack inspired by the video game “Dying Light” which is a post-apocalyptic zombie first person shooter and the incredible soundtrack was written by Pawel Blasczcak. He used a lot of vintage analog synths like the Arp Odyssey to create a very atmospheric soundscape which fits the game perfectly.
I experimented a lot with Serum to create similar and also very different arpeggiated sounds to the original Dying Light soundtrack. I messed around a lot with the use of reverb on the insert of a channel instead of a parallel to achieve a very cloudy and washed out sound.
During my researching for Task 2 Part A, I watched an interview with Mick Gordon which inspired me to get more creative and try to think out of the box.
Source: (YouTube, 2017)
Source: (Gdcvault.com, 2017)
He also held a presentation at GDC 2017 where he talked about his workflow and how he made the DOOM 4 soundtrack and he repeatedly said “Change the process to change the outcome” (http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024068/-DOOM-Behind-the, GDC 2017) which can be interpretated as getting out of your comfort zone and breaking habits to create very unique sounds instead of always using the same templates, presets and samples.
Using the example of the DOOM soundtrack Mick experimented a lot with guitar pedals specifically distortion and compression pedals to simulate the “evil energy in hell” flowing through everything.
He sent sine waves through 4 different chains of guitar pedals:
- Chain 1: Four FX pedals and a splitter.
- Chain 2: Four FX pedals and a compressor.
- Chain 3: Tape Echo, FX pedal, AKAI, spring reverb, and a compressor.
- Chain 4: Mini amp, microphone, splitter, and a pair of compressors.
Each output was then run into a mixer, then into an EQ and compressor, before finally being entered into the Digital Audio Workstation. (New and New, 2017)
Source: (New and New, 2017)
The result was incredible, the distorted but very interesting and rhythmic sounds were a very accurate representation of what pure energy would sound like.
From then on he referred to this setup as his “DOOM instrument”
“Change the process, change the outcome. If you’re struggling to come up with something new, if you find yourself stuck in a rut, if you’re suffering from creative blocks, change the process. Change the way you’re doing things and you’ll end up with a different result.
“Not only that, have the courage to do so. I say courage, not confidence. Confidence comes from doing the same thing over and over again. It takes courage to change that.
“Finally, and most important,” concludes Gordon, “A team that encourages an environment where you feel comfortable in failure will enable you to thrive.” (New and New, 2017)
The presentation really inspired me to try techniques like this for myself and get out of my usual habits to create a unique workflow for each project to truly reflect what the game should sound like and get out of creative blocks.
It’s also a great way to learn new things like sound design and what you can achieve with different signal flows, recording techniques, effects etc. and finally to break boundaries and innovate.
Because Mick Gordon is such an inspirational figure to me from whom I have already learned so much I wanted to try to contact him to question him further about his production techniques and what advice he had about how I should approach creating a portfolio.
I direct messaged him on facebook and to my disbelief, he responded in a matter of hours which made me incredibly happy.
I included some screenshots of our conversations:
Bibliography:
Gdcvault.com. (2017). 'DOOM': Behind the Music. [online] Available at: http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024068/-DOOM-Behind-the [Accessed 25 May 2017].
Native-instruments.com. (2017). KOMPLETE AUDIO 6. [online] Available at: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/audio-interfaces/komplete-audio-6/ [Accessed 25 May 2017].
New, D. and New, D. (2017). Highway to Hell: How Mick Gordon crafted the Doom soundtrack - Thumbsticks. [online] Thumbsticks. Available at: http://www.thumbsticks.com/mick-gordon-crafted-doom-soundtrack/ [Accessed 25 May 2017].
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