Music Technology Forum: Week 11 - Student Mix Prestations

This week in Music Technology Forum, a select few members of the class presented a mix on their chosen song. The process of this mix started by choosing a ‘real world’ recording session from the EMU server. The sound files were put into a regions list, and a few of these samples were used to create a mix of the song. The use of automation and equalisation must be present in the mix.

Scott Philp chose the song ‘What You Are’ by Joi, which is an Alternate Dub/Dance song. He found the original song rather boring and repetitive, so he tried to create a shorter, more interesting version of the song. The biggest problem Scott faced was in the middle and end section of his song; he had trouble stopping he audio from clipping. He resolved this issue by removing some instruments from the mix.

Scott Herriman chose the song ‘If I Had My Way’ by Little Axe, which is a Country/Rock song. He listened to each sample, choosing which one would sound the best at the start of the mix. He chose to start the song with a drum intro and bass line. Once he had finish creating his mix, he looked at using Automation and Equalisation.

Stuart Johnston chose the song ‘My Secret Bliss’ by Afro Celts Sound System, which is a World Music song. He started by listening to each sample and gaining an analysis of which regions would go well with others. Stuart pretty much used all instruments in his mix, including Vocals, Guitars, Drums, Abstract Piano sounds and Whistle sounds.

Simon Kuchel chose the song ‘What You Are’ by Joi. He found the original mix very long, being nearly 6 minutes in length. He firstly imported all the tracks into Pro Tools. He slightly equalised some of the tracks being used in his mix, and added some normalisation and compression to the tracks needed. Simon copied and pasted each track to keep the repetitiveness of the song without the length.

Jake Taylor chose the song ‘My Secret Bliss’ by Afro Celts Sound System. Jake began the song with percussive sounds, as he thought the drums were an important part of the song. After importing most of the tracks he wanted, he began to utilise plugins, double tracking, eq, compression and reverb to bring out the fullness of the song.

References:
Steve Fieldhouse – University of Adelaide (2007)
Scott Philp – University of Adelaide (2007)
Scott Herriman – University of Adelaide (2007)
Stuart Johnston – University of Adelaide (2007)
Simon Kuchel – University of Adelaide (2007)
Jake Taylor – University of Adelaide (2007)