Studio

The tools are probably the least important part of the creative process. Just as having a word processor is not going to magically give you the ability to write best selling novels, having a top digital audio workstation isn’t going to mean you will be able to produce anything that anyone else might actually want to listen to. The positive side of the developments in technology is that anyone with talent and perhaps more importantly the willingness to put in the many hours of practice learning and developing their technique can produce release quality music with nothing much more than an Apple Mac or PC running a music creation and audio production software package. Whereas in the past it would have been necessary to spend a lot of money having the music recorded, produced and mixed in a professional studio. I think it is this development that makes the technology exciting.

Anyway that point aside, the following information may provide some insight into the technical side of the creative process of producing Penboa tracks.

The studio is based around an Apple PowerMac running Logic Pro music and audio production software controlled by a Mackie Control Universal controller. The 2 photographs below show the studio set-up from the front and the side. The desk was designed to allow equipment to be placed at 3 levels. The Apple Studio Display and speakers are standing on the highest unit at the back, in front of them is the main desk which houses a sliding shelf where a short 3 octave Korg Prophecy keyboard sits. To the right is a longer Yamaha CS6X keyboard, which has a breath controller attached. A microphone stand (not shown) is situated behind the Yamaha keyboard for recording vocals. The design of the studio is very compact and it is possible to reach almost everything from one sitting position.



Almost all the synthetic sounds are designed from scratch, usually for the piece under development. Although synthesisers tend to be a little limited expressively compared to traditional acoustic instruments they make up for this by nature of the fact that they can produce a huge range of sounds.

A breath controller is sometimes used, which allows a more realistic articulation of sounds than is possible from a keyboard alone. The breath controller uses breath pressure to control the volume and tone of the sound, whilst the keyboard controls the pitch.



Prior to mixing, all hardware synthesiser parts are recorded to hard disk in Logic Pro and the software synthesiser parts are bounced (rendered) to 24bit mono files to allow future mixes to be carried out without the risk of changes to the source sounds. Final mixes are produced in Logic Pro and are bounced (rendered) to 24 bit stereo files prior to mastering.

Mastering, the process where the stereo mix is optimised for the medium on which it is to be recorded, is also carried out in Logic Pro using the Waves mastering plug-ins. The mastering process involves the use of Waves LinEQ to adjust the frequency balance followed by mult-band compression and limiting, using the Waves LinMB and L3, to increase the perceived volume.

Charles Kirk
July 2005




Studio Equipment

Apple PowerMac Dual 867MHz G4 1024MB RAM	Studio Computer
Motu 828mkII	Audio Interface
Apple Logic Pro 6.4.3		Logic Pro has numerous inbuilt virtual instruments. The EVP88 Fender Rhodes emulation is excellent and get used on most tracks. ES2, an analogue modelling synthesizer, is used very extensively. Logic Pro has so many effects plugins it is impossible to list them!
Mackie Control Universal	Control Surface	Makes the virtual mixer in Logic become a real one and allows all sorts of other things to happen without needing to use a mouse.
Lexicon PCM91	Digital Reverberator	A classic digital reverberator.
TC Electronic R4000	Digital Reverberator	High end digital reverberator and room simulator. The Space Designer Reverb in Logic is often used to capture a reverb effect, freeing up the reverberator, which may then be used to create a different reverb effect, it’s almost as good as having several of them...
Waves Platinum Bundle	Audio Effects Plugins	Very high quality processors and effects. I use the LinEQ, LinMB (multi-band compressor) and L3 limiter for mastering. Sometimes I use the regular C1 compressor for mastering instead of the LinMB mult-band compressor.
Ohm Force: Predatohm, OhmBoyz, QuadFrohmage	Effects Plugins	Great plugins for distortion, delay and mad filtering.
Alesis Studio 32	Mixing Desk	Not used for mixing anymore, but it has good Mic Pre-Amps for recording vocals and acoustic instruments and makes a great volume control!
Waldorf Q Rack	Analogue Modelling Synthesizer	Makes everything from beautiful analogue string sounds to mysterious Wavetable leads.
Novation Supernova	Analogue Modelling Synthesizer	Liquid analogue sound, still used quite a lot, as it is so quick to create new sounds.
Native Instruments Absynth 2	Virtual Instrument	Organic evolving sounds and effects. Not the easiest synthesizer too program, but well worth the effort.
Native Instruments Pro-53	Virtual Instrument	An emulation of the famous Prophet 5 synthesizer, very easy to get beautiful organic analogue sounds. .
Native Instruments FM7	Virtual Instrument	Not used that much, as I find programming FM synthesizers rather frustrating and not that rewarding.
Native Instruments B4	Virtual Instrument	A Hammond Organ emulation.
Arturia CS-80V	Virtual Instrument	An emulation of a classic yamaha synthesizer used very extensively by composers such as Vangelis (Bladerunner, Chariots of Fire).
GmediaMusic The Oddity	Virtual Instrument	A software synthesizer, which models the famous Arp Oddysey, not used all that much, but it can be used to make some great bass sounds.
Yamaha FS1R	Synthesizer	An FM and Formant synthesizer with some unique sounds. Not used very much.