Most people don't know this but Pablo Picasso - the most famous abstract painter of the 20th century - could paint like Michael Angelo (The Sistine Chapel) by the age of 13. In fact his father, who was also a painter - was so struck by his son's talent that he gave young Pablo all of his brushes and paint and vowed never to paint again. That being the case then, why did this young prodogy of impressionist art decide to abandon the traditional calling to explore what most thought to be stick figures and portraits that could be made by children? 

 

I think the answer lies in that when one is a master at something, merely recreating that which has come before isn't enough. To attain a true masters level in any dicipline is to stand at the presipice and face two options: Either A) bask in the glory of your past achievements - knowing that you have accomplished that which so few will attain, and lean on that for the rest of your life - or B) have the courage to be a true artist and keep venturing forward in the search for the 'new'; Because if you can attain the truly new the game will be changed forever.

 

In audio we are faced with this same dilemma. Countless blog sites give opinions about recording gear that 'everyone must have' in order to be taken seriously in our field. Names like Neumann, Neve, Manley, API, Universal Audio, grace our studios to give our work petigree among other engineers old and new. I admit I have fallen to the knees of the same muse and have spent thousands upon thousands buying gear to attain 'that sound'. But lately I've been feeling restless in the simple professional fear that if all of us are using the same tools to achieve sounds how are we living up to the artistic merit of our craft? How are we having the courage to attain the 'original' & 'new'?

 

Enter Stuart and Whitby Abbey Analogue. I heard of Stuart through an audio friend who recently bought  a prototype channel strip off of him through Craigslist and he told me campfire like stories of this electronics genius restoring old consoles and making custom gear in a workshop up in Etobocoke. Being a Craigslist frequenter myself I had just picked up a 1979 Teac 5B - 8 channel console in the hopes of bringing our studio a new sonic palate than the traditional recording namesakes could offer. 

 

I brought Stuart my board and after a 4 hour conversation spanning the state of the music industry, studio culture, caps, op-amps, wiring, phantom modules, and schematics I quickly grew to trust him and decided to just let him have his way with it. After few more email conversations back and forth I returned to Stuart's workshop to find my previously neglected console transformed into something truly amazing: A Secret Weapon. 

 

Stuart had achieved that which only a master in the field of sonics could conjour. He knew how to look under the hood, consider what each resister and chip was doing, measure each parts limitation and value, and, with a master's touch, manipulate pure energy to give that which only a true artist can achieve: New Territory.

 

We are very excited to feature Stuart and Whitby Abbey Analogue's work at Oak Recording Studio. 

 

For more information on Stuart and what he does check out his site: http://www.envelopeaudio.com

 

Every day it's looking more and more like summer is on its way and with that comes the release of new records for the sunshine listening crowd. A great addition to your indie playlist for Summer 2012 is the first 5 song EP from Fade Chromatic. Recorded at Oak Recording Studio last fall by Producer / Engineer Justin Helle and mixed and mastered by Damon de Szegheo - Fade Chromatic mix the guitar sensibilities of U2 / Coldplay, the drums of Blink 182 and the vocals of LA pop to make a collection of tracks that are fun, emotive, and great for summer drives. Listen to the first single from "Fade Chromatic" below called "Waiting for the Edge" (an homage to the U2 guitarist of the same name. Hope you enjoy!

I don't know when it happened - but in music, somewhere along the line, the common contention fell to the now largely accepted 'fact' that no popular musician has to actually be talented anymore.

You know, you've heard it: "Oh, everything is just autotuned now" or, "you can fix everything with computers". Yes Autotune exists. But let me put it right, Autotune can't make a weak voice sound strong, it can only tune the voice you have. Kind of like, tuning a cheap acoustic guitar. Sure, it's in tune but it still sounds like plywood.

With that in mind, think of all the music you listen to where the obvious autotune isn't overpowering the vocal, take notice of how eclectic and compelling each voice is. All of those people CAN sing. If they hit a flat note but the passion and performance is there, the note gets tuned. That doesn't mean the computer did most of the work. The computer in fact is only a paint brush, the engineer made the decision to fix a flat note or two in order to use an otherwise awesome take. We tweak here and there but it is still the talent of the musican that makes great recorded music possible. Again, it's just like tuning a guitar, and no one has a problem with that.

I bring this up because I don't think the truly talented are getting their fair due. More than that I think the listening public is losing its faith in talent and the art that goes into recorded music and that's something that is really sad. 

Below is a track I had the pleasure of recording a few years back with Canadian natives' The Barenaked Ladies. It was for a short film series about Canadian Music called City Sonic and for this episode The Barenaked Ladies performed right on Queen West outside the now defunk'd Pages Books. Sure Ed Robertson messes up a lyric or two of their smash hit "One Week" but the joy of the song, the fun coming through the performance, as well as the precision of the musicans is all there in what is arguably the most distracting place to perform - a busy city street.

This track has no autotune, no editing, just 4 guys doing what they do best. Listen to it and renew your faith in recording that CAN be just about capturing a great moment. The truth is this happens a lot on records still. From Adele to Nickleback, people still have to be great musicans to make a great record. 

.. And the next time someone says "Everything is autotuned now" correct them and say "Really? Everything? Do you even KNOW how autotune works?! A lot of musicans still have to be able to sing and work hard on their craft! Give 'em a little credit!". :)

Damon

 

 

A lot has happened for Olaroks since finishing their first fuill length CD last summer. Shortly after receiving the master, the band broke up and Ola - lead singer / guitarist and brain child behind the band was left with a harsh decision in front of her. A) Find new players and make a new record or B) take what she had recorded in hand and forge ahead. We are glad she chose the latter. 

"Sombody's Girl" is not your typical indie record. It has plucky telecasters and nice raw little pop hooks to be sure, but there are also great elements of hip hop and dance on this 11 song album. Case in point check out the second single from "Sombody's Girl" called 'Dinner'. An overtly catchy track about getting into a scrap with those ever-too-drunk girls in the club. For a song that is essentially 1 note (and that note is E) it sticks with you as you strut down Queen West in your best American Apparel tapered Jeans.

Check out the new video for Olaroks 'Dinner' (I like your Bitches) below:

Purchase the full record from itunes here! Olaroks - Somebody's Girl

Visit www.olaroks.com

We are currently working on two mixes for the Alt country band The Maladies of Adam Stokes. Drummer Ted Turner and I sat down last week and talked Canadian rock gems including Joel Plaskett & The Constantines. The songs will prove to be a good mix of jangly guitar, slap back vintage spring reverb and the melodic melancholy this fairly new band is getting known for. Check out a crowd favourite - and one of the songs we are presently working on: 'City Of Trees' from a recent performance in Burlington, ON here:

 

 

 

If you read our twitter, you know we are big fans of the Toronto Music Industry Association - a recent and, in our opinion, long overdue essential in the Toronto music scene. Scott Honsberger and a team of cracker jack volunteers have been putting on some great panels with the mandate of spreading knowledge about the varied facetts of the industry to long time professionals and those looking to get their start.

 This coming month the topic of the panel will be "A Professional Recording Primer" and Scott has asked Oak Recording Studio's Damon de Szegheo to speak. Look below for all the details. Hope to see you there!

 The Toronto Music Industry Association presents:

 Get it Down: A Professional Recording Primer

 Wednesday, April 11th, 2012 - ING Cafe yonge & Queen Sts Toronto.

When it comes to commercial success in your career, industry pros don't always agree on how to get there. While you may have great songs, a talented singer, and skilled players, if your music isn't properly recorded, your career growth will be stunted.  So how do you make sure that the recording process goes smoothly?

If you're heading into the studio as a first timer, or you want to make sure your next recording goes smoother than the last, this event is for you. Our panel of experienced engineers and recording professionals will dish out the goods on what it takes to get your music recorded the right way. We'll talk about the process from start to finish, how to best prepare your songs to record, and what to expect out of the experience.

Of course, we'll also be including an artist on the panel to get their perspective. Everything from how they chose their recording team to what freaked them out the first time they put on the headphones.

Our panelists will include:

Noah Mintz, Mastering Engineer, Lacquer Channel Mastering

Ian Bodzasi, Freelance Recording Professional, Ian Bodzasi

Damon de Szegheo, Producer & Engineer, Oak Recording Studio

Jeff Pinto, Artist, Hands & Teeth

 

 

To register to attend this event, click here! 

 

Visit The Toronto Music Industry Association here

 

As much as we would like to think the world is a place that has overcome stereotypes and gender barriers, the truth is we are still for the most part struggling with a lot of these issues and popular music is no exception. Take for instance the origins of rock music. Sure, even hobby rock historians can tell you that rock music found its roots in southern blues and the slaves who worked on plantations around the Mississippi, but it took a white boy from Memphis TN named Elvis Presley to really bring rock and roll out of the cotton fields and on to northern US radio. Since then only a hand full of black artists enjoy the rock spotlight that was created by them. Odd if you think about it.

Today we are seeing somewhat the reverse of that in hip hop. A widely black dominated field, very very few people from other nationalities have broken into the genre in North America. We've all heard of Eminem and possibly Vanilla Ice but who else enjoys the credibility and success in a widely black dominated field? Being white is one thing but on top of that what about being a woman? That is why the freshman effort from Toronto Hip Hop artist Mizz Ivy is such a big deal.

Aggressively exploring the darker side of being a lone soldier that knows she is fighting uphill for her right to exist, Ivy is staking her claim to hip hop and demanding we listen. Over the span of 16 tracks we hear many sides to this deep feeling artist without an ounce of apology or apprehension. We go through pain, suffering and the decision to not let that pain consume her. A great first effort from a Toronto artist that hopefully will prove to be the start of real change for women in the hip hop community as well as a barier breaker for the race lines that unfortunately still exist in music.

Download 'Mizz Ivy: Never Forget Mixtape Vol I' at http://www.mizzivy.com

 

This past Sunday John Palubski, his lovely lady Nicole, and a rotating band of great musicians came to Oak to record 3 songs that spoke of love, soul and days gone by.

Look above for shots of the sessions. It was recorded mainly live off the floor with a 3 piece horn section coming later in the day to add a little jovial sparkle. Too much coffee and cookies were consumed and fun was had by all.

PS: If you are wondering, in the 8th photo Chris is holding up the Oak letters rearranged to spell "A-Ok".

Here is a little video of the session as well to give you a taste:

Yesterday on twitter we posted a tip about the sonic quality of stereo interleaved vs. split stereo audio files stating that:

"Two separate L & R files on two different tracks will sound wider in the stereo field than 1 stereo interleaved track."

Interleaved and Split Stereo Explained

The difference basically it's this. An interleaved file is 1 file that has both left and right in it, allowing you to hear the full stereo image of the recorded material in say an ipod or from a CD. Split stereo on the other hand, is two files, one for the left side and one for the right - allowing you to work with them together or separately in a recording program.

Thought to be The Same

Traditionally the belief is that there is no difference in audio fidelity between the two. Stereo is stereo whether bundled into 1 file or 2 files. This proved to be a powerful notion that when challenged brought a storm of negative responses ranging from the polite disagreement to the colourful expletive riddled 'you are $%^& stupid!'.

Wow, I like how passionate young engineers are about audio but is this really such a heated topic that it inspires brackish outbursts. Taking that in stride we did further investigation and found other seasoned engineers who also noticed the difference.

Ray staff, a mastering engineer at Air Studios in the UK who has worked with the likes of Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones noticed the difference as well and stated in a video on the dark arts of mastering that 'consistently non interleaved files sound better. More detail. More stereo image to them. They sound much better.'

Ok, if that is true, why? what causes the difference?

I dug for a while and due to an unlikely tip came across a new deeper level to the mystery: 'header data'.

In a nutshell header data is the information that tells your computer what type of file it's reading, what sample rate it has, what bit depth and how the internal raw audio is related in the one file (ie. interleaved, 5.1 etc).

Upon reading an article in sound on sound, we found the answer:

"Most uncompressed audio file formats store the actual audio signal as raw data, but with an initial header block describing the sample rate, channel count and bit depth of what’s about to follow. Without that information ..Incorrect, incomplete or just plain missing header information.., DP and other audio applications may reject the file [partially or] completely. If the header information happens to be incorrect, playback will be at the wrong speed, or afflicted with other glitches."

Less Stereo Sounding

Those glitches in an audio file can end up as the computer reading any bit or sample as corrupted and thus will silence it or skip it.

Whenever exactly the same thing happens in the left and right side of an audio file - like in skipping something - what you basically have is mono. Thus, small discrepancies like this over a whole file can result in nano second mono pulses making an interleaved file sound less wide - in turn, sound like it has less stereo fidelity.

How To Correct This

What Ray Staff and we stumbled on is something that shouldn't happen. But unfortunately computers aren't perfect, and glitches happen even with the best gear just through file transfer, your computer being over taxed through multitasking, or a number of different variables.

So, the simplest answer on how to remove those glitches is either to repair the header data or, split the file into split stereo (again, 2 files: one for the left one for the right) which will remove the interleaved header data resulting in the raw audio information being reproduced in it's more true state.

Confused?

Basically it breaks down like this.

Think about looking through two separate windows at the same painting. One is dirty and has spots and dirt on it, the other is crystal clear. The painting is the same (as the raw audio is the same in both files) but the viewing (or in this case listening) is degraded resulting in a different experience.

And there you have it. There is a case for split stereo sounding wider with more fidelity, or rather, the case is for interleaved to possibly sound less stereo than desired.

 

Watch Ray Staff discuss the same phenomenon:

http://www.looptv.net/archives/1027

Read the full sound on sound article here:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar09/articles/dpworkshop_0309.htm

Recently Australian folk/rock band Blue Spoon were in working 3 tracks and there was some discussion about song tempo.

Although the debate was really over 1-2 BPM, the difference in the final is huge for flow and feel. Where, in this case, 94 beats per minute felt rushed, a decrease of 2 BPM can add weight, and pocket to a song.

Fun little look into the early stages of the recording process.

http://www.bluespoonlive.com
http://www.oakrecordingstudio.com