Recordings Made With My Setup

[dex Otaku]

Since I hardly use my web server for anything any more, here are some of my recordings.

http://dexotaku.ath.cx/sound-art / uid: mdcf / pw: mdcf

Folkfest and Soundscape:

These recordings are some that I've done around the area where I live, as well as tracks done at last year's local Folk Festival.

All of these were made with my NH700 in either PCM or HiSP mode, using SP-TFB2 in-ear binaural microphones. Gentle normalisation has been applied to some of the tracks, but in all cases I tried to do this while also preserving the original dynamic range. -12dB/oct cut applied at 145Hz to most tracks. [This filter lets things sound more 'normal' over speakers, because otherwise the bass is next to deafening - though on headphones things sound normal. Weird, aye?]

The Folkfest tracks are heavily normalised in parts. My apologies for this, as the FOH PA was rather inconsistent in how loud some instruments were, as well as when people were speaking.

Advice: try the long trainpass track. At the beginning there is a stretch of ambience in the railyard - turn up your system until the crickets and the whine of a hydraulic track switch seem "natural" to your ears. Then listen to how loud the train is when it comes [from the right]. Please don't blame me if you damage your playback equipment while playing this. It has been peak-normalised, but otherwise the original dynamic range represents as close to exactly what I heard as can be recorded with this equipment. [i.e. the dynamic range is probably about 100-500X that of most music recordings].

Backpedal:

a full FLAC image [with a cuesheet] and to the MP3s of that FLAC. This was a show recorded at a small local pub, a band playing through a PA. Also included are lots of tracks of before and after the show, wandering in the streets, &c. Parental advisory: Some of the recorded conversations in this lot involve mature themes such as recreational drug use. If you're opposed to or offended by this sort of thing, please don't listen to it.

The Backpedal show [see http://www.backpedal.ca] was also recorded with my NH700 and the SP-TFB2 microphones; manual levels during the show, AGC on for the street and ambient passages. All recorded in PCM, and again, a -12dB/oct cut applied at 145Hz for music parts.

The Bitter End is among the better music tracks in this one.

j.stanton:

Joshua Stanton [no website] is a sitar player from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His material is mainly hindustani classical or pieces he's written himself which could be viewed as also in that genre.

This particular piece [29 minutes long] was originally written for [but not used in] the Guy Madden film, Saddest Music in the World.

The recording was almost totally impromptu, is in mono, and was taken from the tape output of a Peavey XR-680 amp/mixer. I didn't expect much in terms of quality when I made this, since I had no control over balance between the sitar pickup, its mic, and the mic on the hand drum being used by Joshua's musical cohort for the night. I was rather surprised by how good it ended up.

8X stacked -24dB 1/3oct notch filter was applied at 60Hz as well as 120 and 240Hz to kill the louder harmonics of hum caused by the amp.

I have some more to add to this when I'm done editing.

Do not expect high-speed downloads. This is running on a residential DSL line [384kbps upstream] which is also being used by one filesharing service.

Your patience is appreciated.

Enjoy!

edit:

Added more tracks that I recorded in December to the Soundscapes folder. These include sounds from my father and I shooting pool, as well as two of the elevators [including the silly one that talks] at the Brandon Regional Health Centre.

Also: feel free to use the non-music recordings in edited pieces if you like. Just credit me as the source of the sounds. As far as the music recordings go, the folkfest ones should not be widely distributed, though the Backpedal recordings as well as that of Joshua Stanton may be distributed as you wish - once again, give the artists credit - i.e. leave the tags intact, if you please.

edit2:

Lastly, another addition.

I threw the folder of various versions of the 5.1-surround 'radio drama' I did for an art gallery installation in 2003 on there as well.

The only "accurate" version is the AC3 [Dolby Digital] one which is in full 5.1-surround and can be played standalone on a computer with software like VideoLAN Client or Foobar2000. If you have a surround-sound system with your 'puter, use these ones if you're interested. Users with DVD recorders can make a standard DVD with a blank video track and this for audio that should work on any player compatible with whichever format blanks you use.

The rest are stereo, dolby-stereo [for Prologic decoders, though I must admit that the encoding is often flaky], and mono [was mixed for playback on CBC radio 1]. These are all standard mp3s and will play on normal equipment, of course.

Note that the surround project was not recorded on my HiMD [of course]. Most of the sound effects were recorded using a MZ-R70 standard minidisc recorder and an MS-907 microphone. [other sound effects came from the BBC SFX library, ripped from CDs kept at the local university, yay!]

[dex Otaku]

Notes on the radio drama:

The story was written by playwright Dale Lakevold.

Music was ripped from various sources, most of which are Canadian.

The basic story is that of the flagmaker, an artist in the making, and how he became the flagmaker.

Most of it revolves around various points of interest in Canadian history as well as bits about where he goes on his travels.

The subwoofer track is messed up because of the system that was used for monitoring. All the bass from music tracks had to be filtered off to a separate mono file to be played on the sub track, to enable proper panning of stereo channels around the quad soundscape without the bass phasing in and out completely. Chances are, it will have to be turned up to be listened to properly.

Blame the logitech z680s.

To those of you are aren't Canadian [almost all of you, I'm sure] most of the historical and geographical references will be meaningless. Still, you might find the piece [56 minutes total] interesting at least.

[lfymozart]

I cant enter the web......

[dex Otaku]

I cant enter the web......

←

Note that you have to use the user id and password I supplied above [right beside the URI, in fact].

If you're having problems seeing my end at all, I'm not sure what to suggest. Other than the simple password security, there's nothing odd about how I run my webserver. Unless your end isn't catching the DynDNS address correctly.

[Christopher]

Track #5 @ Backpedal '04 reminds me of of, say, about two days ago. But yeah, there is some great stuff here guys, I'm really inspired by your work Dex. I'll check more out later, perhaps post some impressions..

So expect me to rape your server when I'm at work with my 10mbps fiber connection.

I dunno if we can host you on the new server, you'll probably fill 'er up in a day.

[dex Otaku]

Track #5 @ Backpedal '04 reminds me of of, say, about two days ago. But yeah, there is some great stuff here guys, I'm really inspired by your work Dex. I'll check more out later, perhaps post some impressions..

So expect me to rape your server when I'm at work with my 10mbps fiber connection.

I dunno if we can host you on the new server, you'll probably fill 'er up in a day.

←

Heh, I think not. What's available there is actually my *full* collection of "prepared" recordings, i.e. the stuff I've already edited et al.

There are other recordings.. Such as another of Joshua Stanton, done with the binaurals but ruined by the fact that he used a micro guitar amp for his sitar, which simply sounded like crud.. And a couple of poetry readings, one of which takes almost 2 full CDDA discs, the other being about 35 mins long, but not containing much that anyone else but those who were present would have any interest in.

I tend to avoid recording live shows, actually. Unless it can be done 100% acoustically, i.e. with no amplification, or with balanced individual instrument amps in an acostically-controlled environment, I don't see much point in the effort. The results simply aren't what I want them to be. Basically, I'm not so interested in doing bootleg-type recordings. The Backpedal show [also featuring two other bands, one from Edmonton] was my one real foray into seeing how well it could do, given the horrible space it was recorded in and the fairly minimal PA that was used.

I'm more interested in recording things that sound natural, and do so, well.. naturally.

Ideally, what I'd like to get are some recordings of folk musicians sitting around a campfire or something. All acoustic instruments [guitar, mandolin, standup bass, fiddle, hand-drums, voices..] with some minor arranging as to placement around the mics for balance.. much more like most of the jazz recordings done before the late 1960s or so.

I'd also love to do some jazz recordings. There is a top-notch jazz department at the conservatory here [The Queen Elizabeth II School of Music, to be precise, part of the Brandon University campus] and I've known -many- of the players who've gone through their programmes over the years.

Unfortunately, I've gotten old and out of touch, as well as cranky and unmotivated.

At any rate, those are pretty much the extent of the recordings I'd bother to let anyone else hear.

[Christopher]

Ideally, what I'd like to get are some recordings of folk musicians sitting around a campfire or something.  All acoustic instruments [guitar, mandolin, standup bass, fiddle, hand-drums, voices..] with some minor arranging as to placement around the mics for balance..  much more like most of the jazz recordings done before the late 1960s or so.

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That would be nice. Campfire cracklin' in the background, and the cool midsummer breeze to accent the soundstage. Sometimes words can take you there, my man.

Any new adventures on the horizon? And what's this about you getting old?

p.s. I've commenced "the raping".

[streaml1ne]

dex: The train passing sounds really good. I just rattled the entire house with it. The punch in the beginning (train cars mating?) reminds me of the scene in Apollo 13 where they mate the sections of the Saturn V together. Same background noise followed by a punchy thud. Nice stuff.

[dex Otaku]

Any other comments from those who have listened? Constructive criticism is welcome.