Vocal Recording Tips

If you are equipped with a professional recording studio, then this might not be for you. Then again, even professionals tend to miss a thing or two so hopefully this post benefits some or most people who read this. 

1- Keep track of your vocal provider's position. Make sure the position the provider provides vocals is the same each time he or she comes back from a break to continue recording. Ensure the vocals are coming from the same position each time.

2- Many vocalists sing better when they tilt their head back a little, as it opens up their vocal chords.

3- Have a clear idea of where a certain line is to be placed. Example, the word "love" in a verse has to hit right when the "snare" is heard.

4- Applying a chorus effect is ok, but the best way is to recird multiple takes of the vocal,mixing them together.

5- External sounds like coughing and ice knocking against the inner wall of a glass can sound cool when compressed, Try  it!

Yee Sang

Since the Chinese are celebrating Chinese New Year, this post will be about Yee Sang. Similar to Turkey on Thanks Giving and Ketupat and Rendang on Hari Raya Aidilfitri, it is a food of Chinese tradition nearing Chinese New Year.

It  is a Teochew style, raw fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish,usually salmon, mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients.Many believed that the Yee Sang seen today originated from China it self. Versions of it is thought to have existed in China, but the contemporary version is created and popularised in Singapore in the 1960s amongst the ethnic Chinese community and its consumption has been associated with Chinese New Year festivities in Singapore as well as here in Malaysia.

Fishermen along the coast of Guangzhou traditionally celebrated Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, by feasting on their catches. The practice of eating raw fish in thinly sliced strips can be traced back to ancient China.

The modern yusheng dish originated during the Lunar New Year in 1964 in Singapore's Lai Wah Restaurant and was invented by master chef Than Mui Kai (head chef of the restaurant) as a symbol of prosperity and good health amongst the Chinese.

Yee Sang contains fish (usually Salmon) served with daikon (white radish), carrots,red pepper (capsicum), turnips, red pickled ginger, sun-dried oranges, daun limau nipis (key lime leaves), Chinese parsley, chilli, jellyfish, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers (or fried dried shrimp), five spice powder and other ingredients, laced with a sauce using plum sauce, rice vinegar, kumquat paste and sesame oil, for a total of 27 ingredients.

Upon eating,all diners at the table will stand up and on cue, proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying various "auspicious wishes" out loud. It is believed that the height of the toss reflects the height of the diner's growth in fortunes, thus diners are expected to toss enthusiastically.

It is, today, not only enjoyed by Chinese but also the Malays, Indians and many other races.

Here is a video of how it is tossed before eating.

Music sampling

Music sampling has long been seen as unoriginal, lack of musical art and passion. Many beg to differ, as sampling is the art of using a complete song, usually from the 60's up to the 90's, and reimplementing it on a new song. This is not fraud or a breach of copyright as many of the original musician themselves approve the art of sampling. For example, the song Issabella which was originally by Search, was resampled by DJ Iman and later produced for the hip-hop song of the same title, but by Joe Flizzow. The song applied certain sections of the original song, looped during verses and featured the voice of Amy Search himself on the chorus. Other examples are Heart of the City by Jay-Z, Lonely by Akon and Oh Girl by Paul Wall.

9th Wonder, a music composer and producer, is famous for his sample based beats. The video below showcases his work.

Below is a sample of my work. This song was sampled from a song by Gloria Ganor.

M-Audio Axiom 49

The M-Audio® Axiom® 49 controller combines all the production power and performance you need to get the most from your music software and MIDI gear. More than just a “data entry” controller, the Axiom 49 features piano-style, semi-weighted keys for a musically satisfying playing experience. Large dynamic trigger pads make it easy to program beats and trigger one-shot samples—while the encoder knobs, faders, and buttons deliver complete real-time control over your software. DirectLink mode provides easy, automatic access to common DAW functions* including transport, mixer, track pan, and virtual instrument parameters—no complicated setup required. Axiom 49 even features a sleek, angled top panel for easy viewing in any environment. The Axiom 49 is a good companion, as an add on, to your DAW software. Based on my personal experience, this is a very good, high quality, sleek and user friendly midi keyboard. It could be purchased here in Malaysia at BURGERCIS MUSIC, 7th floor Berjaya Timesquare and also

SMX MUSIC STORE, also on the 7th floor of Berjaya Timesquare.

Greetings

Assalamualaikum to muslims and hello non-muslims. This is the first official post of this blog. Without procrastinating, lets get started. Today's post will be on digital audio workstations. Nowadays, there are many people who are into making music. Everyone knows that bands like Incubus, Three Doors Down, Kiss, etc. create songs by playing instruments such as the guitar, the bass guitar and drums. However, what many do not know is, how are techno, house, hip-hop and r&b songs created? How are they arranged? Why do the drums sound unique and not like any drum set in existence? Why do the instruments sound very different from live ones?

This is how, and this is why....

                                                                       FL STUDIO 9

                                                           CAKEWALK SONAR 8

    

                                       

                                                                SONY ACID PRO 7

  

These are known as Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), computer based audio creation softwares. With endless possibilities, all you need is imagination, a computer, a mouse, speakers,the will to self learn, and patience. There are several other DAW softwares such as Pro Tools, Reason, Dub Audio, and Cubase. These programs are meant to provide inspiring musicians, music creators who do not use live instruments. With the availability of these softwares, people who do not have the skills to play a live instrument could easily create the type of music of their liking. Award winning producers such as Timbaland, Kanye West, Swizz Beats, 9th Wonder and Pharrel, to name a few, have successfully created amazing songs by using these softwares. As easy as it sounds, it is not that simple. It requires skill, patience, preserverence and creativity. I will post up short tutorials of me, making a simple song,to guide anyone who want's to get started on making music using DAW's.