Week of 11.08.10

This week’s class was dedicated to the first of the partner research projects. The first presentation was on the MIDI protocol. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface is a binary based code that digital devices that create sound can use to playback music. It was created in 1981, demonstrated in 1983, and publically available by 1984. in 1991, the MIDI protocol was standardized so that all manufacturers of hardware and software would have compatible interfacing. While conceived for musical purposes, MIDI can be used as the control protocol for almost any base software, and is commonly used as the control protocol for advances and intelligent stage lighting. In music, the main function of MIDI is an interface protocol between hardware and software. For instance, midi files on a computer can be linked via midi cables to an outboard sound generating device like a synth that will generate sound based on the information in the midi file including pitches and durations and play back that information with a user settable sound. The midi file itself is a tiny code file that contain so sound on its own, but can instruct a sound generating device where when and what to play. Midi files can also be converted into traditional scores and sheet music via most notation software.
The second presentation was on the early electronic music studios that Schaeffer, Stockhausen, and Cage used in their time. Schaeffer did a great deal of work at RTF Studio starting in 1943. This studio had four turntables, a four channel mixer, a reverb chamber, filters, a portable recording unit, a disc cutting lathe, and a sound effects library. During his time here we worked on a lot of foley turntable recording and editing found sound projects. He later moved on to GRM Studio, which was the first electronic music studio with equipment dedicated to the craft. GRM had a three-track tape recorder, a ten head tape machine, a keyboard operated tape machine with Varispeed, and an elaborate loudspeaker system. It was at this studio that Stockhausen began his experiments with electronic music composition before we moved to his studio in Cologne where he composed and recorded Studie I and Studie II. In Cologne he had multiple oscillators, Varispeed tape decks, ring modulators, filters and a white noise generator. Across the pond Cage was working in the Barron’s studio which was one of the most advanced in the United States at the time. This studio included multiple tape recorders, custom loudspeakers and oscillators that produced sine, sawtooth, and square waves, filters, a spring reverb unit, and a sound effects library.
The next presentation was on Piezo pickup technology. The original concept was discovered in 1880 by the Curie brothers. The piezoelectric principle is that there are 20 classes of rock like quartz that can turn vibrations and physical stimulus into a readable electric current. This means that when harnessed correctly, a Piezo pickup will pick up and transmit the vibrations of sound on a surface to a electric current that can be manipulated like a microphone signal. When first developed, this technology was used for measurement of explosions and cumpustable engines, but by the 1960s was a common alternative to the open diaphragm microphone. Piezo pickups become practical for recording any sound with a vibrating surface, or utilizing a surface in close proximity to a sound source. These pickups are commonly found built into or added to string instruments such as violins, guitars, and harps, as well as pianos. They are also great for stage boundary recording, or as room mics for drum sets.
Cynthia Salazar and I gave the last presentation of the day on Magnetic Tape as a recording medium. I think overall the presentation went well. I was a little self conscious about my rambling and tendency to curse like a sailor when I get excited about what I’m talking about but I hope such vulgarities can be written off by solid content. I felt good about it.

On Friday we had John Vanderslice come out to give a master class lecture about his experiences as a studio owner and musician. Vanderslice opened Tiny Telephone Studio in San Francisco in 1997. When he started out it was a rehearsal space that he eventually developed into a recording studio. He funded the studio for the first seven years by waiting tables I restaurants while engineers he hired worked the days. His starting rate was 100 dollars a day, and is now 350 plus 200 for the engineer, which is very competitive in the Bay Area scene. John has a degree in Economics, which I’m sure was a great advantage when he was trying manage money and budget when they were getting the studio off the ground. Over time he upgraded his equipment and environment and acoustic treating to where he now feels he has a completely capable studio setup. He started with a Mackie board and made his way up to a sweet Neve setup. He runs his studio as a network of eleven engineers that take the different clients and rotate out based on the schedule, all working at the same fixed rate. When he can he tried to match up his engineers with the clients such that their workflow, style and approach compliment each other for better and more mutually productive sessions. He is very set in his system; the price will never change based on client, and now with a deposit system, if a day is booked than that is it, the date will not get moved to accommodate another session. Basically throughout his discussion he would give anecdotes that would lead to a solid salient point of knowledge or advice. For instance, he uses tape and provides tape for his clients that want to record to it, and maintains that investing in good analogue gear and having it around even when not used adds to the aesthetic of the environment and can be stimulating for clients. He also countered this by saying that when economics are tight it is important to be aware of what gear is being used, what gear is not, and what gear is needed so that decision can be made about selling unused gear to get something needed. He also discussed how trying to make it in this business can be like war, and that to truly get ahead one must “game the system” in ways that get your work noticed. For instance his angle with tape is great; providing free tape to clients that want to record on it and having a fully operational tape setup with all the necessary gear greatly reduced the number of studios that can compete with his service. The point he ultimately made with from this was that in order to survive you have to find a niche and provide something that few if any others can, so as to make what you bring to the table unique and sought after. He also discussed working his way into endorsements and advertisements with equipment companies. He pushed Millennia and Josephson into endorsing him by basically creating the advertisements himself and giving them to the manufacturers and asking them to use it. Now his adds run in Mix and Sound on Sound magazine.
I found his presentation to be rather inspirational and refreshing. It is always a little discouraging to hear just how brutally difficult it is to work in this industry but al the same time it is reassuring to hear from someone who has gone through it and seen how it was done. I will definitely try to get in contact with him for a tour of the studio and who knows.