A quick preface - This review encompasses the show until the end of the Kyoto arc in Season 2, as well as the 4-part OVA "Trust & Betrayal."
Sometimes it can be fun to talk with people about their favourite shows from when they were kids. When it comes to anime, if you talk with people my age here in North America you will often hear people say they loved watching Pokemon, Dragonball Z, or Sailor Moon. Truth be told, I was among them - I would watch all three after getting home from school. But when I was having this talk with my SO (who is not from North America), she mentioned that she watched Rurouni Kenshin (RK) religiously at the same age. I had not heard of it, so I looked up more about it. Well... As it turned out, I actually had heard of it, but here in North America it was more commonly known as Samurai X. It never aired where I lived, but when I'd reached high school, I remember friends saying they had it on VHS. Fast forward to 2017, and I decided "well, let's give it a shot."
This is not my first time having watched a show which was recommended to me this way. The other experience I had with a nostalgia piece was when my friend recommended Yu Yu Hakusho to me. I gave that show an earnest shot, but I had only made it halfway through the Dark Tournament arc (second season, which is supposedly the best arc) before dropping it. It was not appealing to me - I found it boring, rote, and stupid; but my friend still insists it is a masterpiece. I was worried that maybe my SO would have the same rose tinted glasses with regards to RK; but decided to still move forward and see what it was about.
It should be noted, even before starting the show, I was warned to stop watching after the Kyoto arc since most fans consider it to be the end of the show (despite there being another couple dozen episodes after). To my knowledge, all that comes after are goofy filler episodes that are comedic, pithy, and with regards to the canon, not of any worth.
So what is the premise? In Japanese, "Rurouni" is a play on the word "Ronin," which translates in English to "Wandering Samurai," and Kenshin is the lead character's name. It is set in late 19th century Japan, and follows the titular character's journey. Kenshin is a silly, spry young man with bright red hair, a cross-shaped scar on his cheek, who carries a sword and has the determination not to kill. To be honest, at first, I was a little worried the show was going to be a bit too childish for me - there first several episodes have a lot of moments of slapstick humour, silly jokes, and eye-roll-inducing visual gags. Thankfully I stuck with it though. As is standard with a Shounen-style anime, there are many smaller arcs which are centered around battles. The first major battle is between Kenshin and a fellow named Sanosuke. Sanosuke wields a sword which would make FF7's Cloud nervous, as it is roughly the the length of the equivalent height of a two-story building. Kenshin and Sanosuke's battle is glorious, and sets the standard for the rest of the show. As is established from this first encounter, the battle scenes are beautifully animated, have a great attention to detail, and you can tell a lot of care went into their craft.
Suffice to say, by the end of Season one, I was invested in the characters and their motivations. The main cast revolves around four characters - Kenshin, Sanosuke, Kaoru and Yahiko. Admittedly, I am not a huge Yahiko fan; but the rest are great! Also, the worries I'd had at the start about the show being too kiddy? They were certainly assuaged by the time I'd reached the second season. RK does not beat around the bush with its violence. There is death, there is blood, and there are consequences to both. There's betrayal, there are political motivations, there are attempted assassinations, there are revolutions... The story goes places, and I think the tale it weaves is intricate and well-executed. Though the story is very good, it isn't the best part - that honour goes to the characters.
I could easily go on and on about every character, but to start, I'd like to talk about Kenshin. Though he starts as a silly, comedic character, it is gradually revealed that he is very much a changed man from who he once was. When he was a samurai, he was a ruthless killer who helped form the new government. He was considered one of the most fearsome murderers who helped form the current political landscape by carving it with his bloody sword. There are a lot of allusions to his past, and the heinous crimes he committed in the past, which have led him to his "I will not kill again" attitude that he carries with him. It's very intriguing, and I will return to him in a little. More impressively, I think some of the best characters in the show are actually the antagonists.
The norm with Shounen (at least those which I have seen) is that the bad guys tend to be stereotypes. They are pure evil, and should not exist, and you want them to die. Well... That isn't the case in RK. This show is the embodiment of "shades of grey." Every character's motivation makes complete sense, and you can respect their perspective (even the most evil ones). One of my personal favourite examples would be the monk character, Anji. He was once a peaceful monk who oversaw the care of several orphaned children. One day he came back to his home, and found it burnt to the ground, along with all of the kids. He wept, internalized his pain, and grew strong with the hopes of rebuilding society. This is obviously skipping over a ton of details (some of which I do not want to spoil if you watch the show, because they're beautiful), but even with that short summary, I can still understand and respect his motivations. I could give many more examples, but I believe it is safe to say that the characters are what set this show apart.
Now... The end of the Kyoto arc was good. It was satisfying, it wrapped things up in the way you'd want (without being too sappy), and I was glad I watched it. I'd say that by the end, it was a solid 4/5 show with some points taken off because there were enough eye-rolling, logic-defying moments that I thought "ehhhhhh." However, my thoughts changed upon watching the OVA "Trust & Betrayal."
Near the end of the Kyoto arc, there is a certain scene which goes unexplained involving Kenshin visiting a grave. I asked my SO about it, and her immediate reaction was "we need to watch the OVA." Now... For me, normally OVAs don't add much. From my perspective they're usually silly, cute, side-stories; but I firmly believe that the RK OVA is akin to a prequel movie, and is 100% necessary.
Trust & Betrayal is the tale of what happened to Kenshin before the show. It is his upbringing, his training, and his role in forming the new government. The art style is much different than that of the show - it is less exaggerated, and more realistic. It maintains the same voice actor(s), however, so the visual differences really make you feel like you're watching the same characters in a scenario with a completely different tone. It is also far more grizzly. The violence does not shy away from being extremely brutal, and there is a lot of it. I won't delve into any story details of the OVA, but I will say this: If you watch RK, it is not the complete experience until you see Trust & Betrayal. It will make you retroactively re-contextualize everything about Kenshin as a character. It is brilliant, and I cannot recommend it enough.
I am sincerely glad I took the time to watch Rurouni Kenshin. It was a fulfilling, occasionally insightful, and always fascinating experience. It is not what I was expecting from a "kid" show from the 90s. It was violent, there were often sexual implications, there was death, politics, etc. RK stands up on its own merits, and its praise by my SO was not simply influenced by nostalgia. It is genuinely a great show, and I have no hesitation in recommending it for anyone who is interested in a beautiful, character-driven action tale. (Though maybe stop after the Kyoto arc)
I rate Rurouni Kenshin (including Trust & Betrayal): 5/5
There may be times when you come into a show with no sense of where it came from, nor where it will go. Perhaps it is a show whose story has been established for years via Manga or Visual Novels; but you don't have any particular attachment to the source material. That is how I came into Re:Zero, a show which is an adaptation of the first 9 light novels (of the same name) created by Tappei Nagatsuki. The show received a ton of praise online during its initial run in 2016, and I personally came to it after the zeitgeist had already passed and watched it all at once in late 2017.
The show starts on a fairly relaxed footing - Subaru, a simple Japanese boy, steps into a convenience store sometime in the evening, picking between what kind of snack foods he would like to bring home for his night of doing... Whatever. It's a grounded beginning; but that only lasts a total of about two minutes. As he leaves the store, after just a few blinks of his eye, he suddenly finds himself in a colourful, vibrant, medieval-style world full of many humanoid creatures who could hardly be described as human. Walking, talking lizards; bipedal, human-sized cats selling wares in shops; giants carrying massive clubs; et cetera. Subaru can hardly believe his eyes; but being a fan of video games, he quickly uses his game-sense and logic to determine the rules of the world. For example, everyone around him speaks Japanese, but the written language is something he's never seen before; there are users of magic, as well as spirits and swordsmen; there is no modern technology - everything is as one would expect from a medieval time.
As the episode continues, Subaru finds himself cornered in an alley by multiple assailants. At this point, he doesn't know if he has any special powers, and attempts to fight them in order to discover his abilities. At first he succeeds; but shortly thereafter, he fails spectacularly and receives a thorough beating because of it. As he is nearly on his deathbed, a girl comes to his aide. She heals him with her magic, and stays with him until he regains consciousness. They travel together, and he helps her with her quest. Fast forward to the end of the episode, and we are introduced to the main conceit of the series. As they are finishing her quest, Subaru finds himself exploring a seemingly abandoned shop in the dead of night. As he wanders, he finds the shop's owner dead, with blood spewing out of his face - a recent death. As he turns to make his escape, he finds himself facing the assailant, who quickly turns her blade onto our hapless protagonist, killing him. As Subaru takes his dying breaths, the scene goes black. And then we find ourselves back at an earlier scene, before he had even encountered the girl on the quest, but with Subaru retaining every memory from up until his death.
The show is about time travel. If Subaru dies, he gets reset back to some point in time before a critical decision - think of it like an autosave in a massive RPG. Unfortunately for him, he feels the pain in a very real way with every death, so it is a traumatizing experience if he is about to go back and try again. As the show unravels its story, it does so across tiny reveals that Subaru accrues during each individual lifetime. He uses this cumulative knowledge to stack the odds in his favour, and eventually overcome (what feels like) an inescapable fate. The show presents its stories in discrete arcs, where Subaru encounters a scenario he needs to get past, but sometimes doesn't have enough knowledge to solve the mystery of what is happening before he can enact any change. You, as the audience, see everything from his perspective, so you only know as much as he does. Honestly, the show handles this aspect fairly well, and throws some twists at you that would never otherwise have been expected. It keeps you guessing, which makes it appealing to continue to the next episode as soon as your current one ends.
The story of the show is ultimately pretty good. I would say that every arc has its appeal, but the final arc is the one which carries the most weight. It takes an extremely dark turn, and has moments which will leave your mouth hanging open with surprise revelations, and cruel scenarios for your favourite characters. It does not pull its punches, exposing the viewer to grizzly scenes which show no mercy. I personally appreciate this fact, and though there is some gory violence, it is never grotesque just for the sake of shock value. Every ounce of bloodshed carries weight, and every character's suffering is felt to the bone - even seemingly insignificant side-characters. The show also tackles some really heady topics such as racism, political structure, honour, and loss with appropriate attention given to each topic. Again, the story is pretty good in Re:Zero; but what is most worth talking about are the characters.
Re:Zero has a lot of characters. The main crew are a cast of 3 people, but there are dozens of side characters who you will get to know and adore. I honestly think the characters are the very best part of the show. You have Emilia, the love interest, who is powerful, smart, and dealing with discrimination on a regular basis. You have the twins Ram and Rem, the maids of Emilia and Emilia's keepers - these two are inarguably my favourite characters in the show, their backstory gets explored in a profoundly satisfying way. You have several Knights, there's potential heirs to the throne, assassins, demi-gods, cultists, you have other heroes, strong enemies... I could go on and on. Suffice to say, the characters are what carry this show. With one exception.
I loved this show quite a bit, but the biggest problem was the protagonist - Subaru. The main character is just the worst. He is arrogant, annoying, and without much self-awareness. In the final arc, Subaru acts in a way that is so beyond cringy that I very nearly dropped the show because I couldn't stand him. To be honest, I only continued because of my affection for Rem's character, and wanting to see her story through. There were points where I was celebrating Subaru's death because I'd felt he deserved it, despite how much the show is trying to make you feel sympathetic towards him. Truth be told, he does have a well crafted redemptive arc; but they made him such an unlikable pile of trash that it was hard to even make it to that point. In the end, I didn't despise Subaru; but I feel the show suffered quite a bit due to his terrible character.
Re:Zero is a show which is completely worth watching, though it has the caveat of an awful protagonist. It isn't until the last arc of the show where Subaru's character really becomes intolerable; but if you can make it past that, you are rewarded with a satisfying story and a cast of many other characters you will fall in love with. The themes of the show were not lost on me, and I think it handled some difficult topics in a mature way. The comedy of the show is cute, and the violence of the show is heavy. It strikes a unique balance between lighthearted and scarring, and though time travel is a trope so common to Japanese media that it is nearly a cliché, Re:Zero handles it in a way which leaves it in a class of its own.
Thanks to a very anime-friendly relationship with my SO, over the past several months I've found myself getting back into anime in a way I hadn't since high school. I've been an anime watcher for probably about ten years now, and would consider myself a fan of the genre. Though I previously had never felt the need to sit down and write about it (apart from lackadaisically maintaining a MyAnimeList page - beware of future score spoilers for future reviews if you end up going there), I figured that it could be fun to jot down some thoughts about some of the anime I have watched to share with my favourite online community. I certainly do not claim to be an expert, but I hope by writing a bunch of detailed thoughts on some shows, other fans will be able to chime in and prompt a discussion - or maybe it could be a place for you to start your own anime-watching journey!
For your reference - with regards to my personal tastes, I tend to gravitate towards a certain style of anime. I don't particularly enjoy shows that are aimed towards children (Pompoko, Hamtaro, etc), nor do I really enjoy shows that are ridiculously fan service-y (High School of the Dead, Free, etc). I prefer shows that are more psychological, dark, or thought provoking with memorable characters, and fascinating storytelling. Without getting into any examples (we'll get there with the reviews), I would say the Western movie equivalents would be films like Se7en, The Game, or Silence of the Lambs. If those tend to be to your taste, then I hope you will find some of the recommendations helpful. Speaking of movies, these reviews won't just be for shows - we will be able to talk about films, too! We also won't be focusing on shows that came out this past year. We will reach back as far as the 80s to talk about influential examples of anime that stand the test of time.
I will also update this post with links to future reviews, so if you happen to show up to the party on Episode 7 and want to see what came before, please feel free to check out the list below!!
First and most importantly, I will - not - be linking to my Kickstarter page, nor will I be saying what the Product/Service was that got funded. I am not going to post an ad - I simply want to relay my experience from the side of a creator.
The reason I'm writing this is for those of you in the GB community who either want to know what to expect when creating their own Kickstarter, or for those who simply have a curiosity about what goes on when you put yourself and your dream out there.
The first thing to expect? Holy hell, do not neglect marketing.
I felt my idea was a very strong one, and I was extremely passionate. I took the time to create a ton of assets (videos, prototypes/examples, etc) and the passion was clearly visible to anyone who looked through my page (I later got messages to that effect). I carefully crafted the backer rewards with clever wording and good value, and gave many updates - even during the dry middle season between the start and end of the campaign. The thing is... It was a month-long campaign, and during the start, I spread it to one major group: My friends on social media, who I implored to share the campaign if they weren't able to financially support it. I felt that I had a deep enough friend pool on Facebook who could have a connection to the subject of my project (let's say ~800 people), and if even half of those people shared it with their respective friend lists, that could be a potential reach of ~10 000 people, roughly. If even 1% of those 10 000 people supported, that's 100 backers. Well, let me tell you, from that first week, I got exactly 10 backers - one of which was my dad, the others were a mish-mash of my best friends. There were no names I didn't recognize.
I am extremely grateful that my friends supported me like they did - truly, I phoned each of them to thank them personally. The problem was that I was almost two weeks in, had 10 backers, and 17% funding. At that rate, I wasn't going to make my goal, and that scared me - I'd already started putting my own money into the project, and was counting on the campaign being a success to recuperate those funds (for clarification, these were costs associated with the project, nothing personal like groceries or a wage). At this point I should note, I was the only person associated with this campaign and project - not even a partner, I had to take care of everything. I needed to to revamp. I took my focus away from the project for a few days, and fully dedicated myself to the campaign. I made a plan, and it was aggressive.
Marketing, marketing marketing. I reached out to potential investors, a few people I know who were experts in what my project was aimed at, and researched social media groups who could be interested in it. I beefed up my project's social media presence - legit facebook, twitter, and instagram pages. Made about 10 ads that I could send out which looked professional (and kind of cute), and treated it like an actual business. I spent some money on Facebook ads, with a very targeted group for my audience (~10 000 people again) and made it so if they came from those ads, I'd throw in some bonuses to their backer rewards (I also messaged all of my current backers at that point to know that their backer rewards would basically double for having been early supporters). All of this was the best thing I did, and I wish I did it from the start.
I talked with an investor who agreed to put in 40% of the project's goal. When people started seeing that the project was over halfway to being funded, it got a lot more interest. The Facebook ads were running, I was engaging with the social media page, posting on specialized communities on Reddit, and generally spending 80% of my time on the campaign. In the last week, it pulled through. We ended with over 100% funding, and 3/4 of the names of my backers are names I didn't know beforehand. That is a really, really cool feeling. Knowing that your work and passion actually caught some attention, and now these people who you don't even know are willing to support you? That made the whole thing worth it, and gave me 10x more drive to put my all into the project.
Alright. That was a lot of motivational crap, but guess what else you should expect. SPAM. Oh my god so much Spam.
I must have received over 200 emails over the course of the campaign which were boilerplate, generic, copy & pasted with a name replace junkspams from all over the place. These largely ended up in my email inbox, but also in Twitter DMs & Kickstarter DMs. I ended up trying one of them, a service which promised to share your campaign with millions of potential backers for a low-low fee (like 10 dollars). Yeah, they spammed it, and no-one payed attention to it. My only thought is to stay away from those, unless you get one from a reputable human. Research every name - company and individual. I found a few that were cool, and those were the ones that said things like "hey I saw that your project is almost there, nice! want to support my campaign for $1 and I'll do the same for you?" These were nice because having more backers gets you more attention from Kickstarter's popularity algorithms.
Also expect that the internet will be the internet, and some people will be rude and abrasive towards you for seemingly no reason. That's fine, I have a lot of patience and made sure to deal with any negativity like a hostage negotiation - peacefully, calmly, and never returning aggression. I can't say whether or not this did anything, but I felt like it represented the whole project in a better light knowing that negativity could be handled in a civil way.
Anyways, the biggest takeaway I have for people starting a Kickstarter is to not give up. If you don't find success in the first few days or weeks, keep on giving it your all. It isn't over until the clock ticks down to 0. Maybe your project will be the 0.1% that gets a huge amount of attention and gets 1000% funding; but, they can't all be that. If you're like me and just want it to succeed, I hope this has been at least a bit insightful =)
I hope this blog finds its way to someone who can get some use out of it =) I wish all of you the best of luck with your Kickstarters, Indiegogos, Gofundmes, or whatever you end up doing!!!
Thanks to everyone for all of the great feedback and interest in Part One!
So far we have talked about what it's like to write a song, as well as some general ideas of how to arrange one. For this tutorial, I chose to do an arrangement of Darren Korb's Setting Sail, Coming Home from the Bastion soundtrack. Rather than simply try to recreate the original, I opted to create an A Capella version (you can find the process, as well as some examples of the sheet music back on Part 1).
I would like to preface this tutorial by saying that I will be doing my best to use language that everyone can understand, and will avoid talking about things that get too technical. If you have specific questions, be them basic or complicated, feel free to ask them in the comments or send me a private message and I will do my best to give you a clear & simple answer =)
Now that we have an arrangement that's ready to hand to my players, let's do just that and get this thing recorded.
(You are probably curious why this is a "Special Edition." Well, read on and you'll find out =) But be prepared, this will be a very long post)
Recording & Initial Editing
As you might expect, when you're working with live instruments, you're more than likely going to want some kind of way to get that sound into your computer. Sure, MIDI is an option (and an amazing one, at that) but it'd be nearly impossible for me to do a completely vocal arrangement with MIDI. This means that I'm going to have to get my singers' voices onto my computer via an Interface and a Microphone.
The interface
Above is what I used for getting my signal from the microphone into my computer. It is an MBox Pro Firewire Interface. Interfaces are one of your best friends when it comes to making & producing music in your home studio. Interfaces act as hubs for absolutely everything. Every signal that is going into your computer is connected directly through the interface, and every signal that comes out goes straight back to the interface. As you can see with the picture above, on the right side there is a 1/4 inch cable plugged in - those are my monitor headphones. Around back, my monitors (speakers) are also plugged in. On the left is where my microphone is plugged in. Every raw bit of audio coming in or out is handled by the interface.
The MBox Pro is fairly expensive, but you can find USB/Firewire interfaces for very reasonable prices by searching around Amazon and similar sites =)
To the left is a picture of my general setup. Just so you're clear on my equipment: I am using a Macbook Pro 15" with Logic Express 9 (the simplest version of Logic) to record & mix everything. My monitors are Equator D5s. To the right is the microphone I used to record my own vocals. My other vocalists recorded with their own.
Now that equipment is out of the way, let's talk recording.
I'm going to let you guys in on a secret - I did not record any of this in a sound-proofed room.
That's right, it is not taboo to make recordings without having to invest thousands and thousands of dollars in sound proofing equipment. You can get recordings that sound just fine with a regular room! Would I release songs recorded here on an album and sell millions of copies? Probably not. Realistically, If I wanted to do that then I'd definitely go for a room with great isolation from sound so my mic is only picking up frequencies from the voice; but unfortunately I'm not quite selling millions of albums. For the purposes of a more grounded professional musician, I'm content to work in my bedroom if a studio isn't available.
As far as micing technique goes, that is completely up to you. I did not use a pop screen when recording because I'm a fairly dry singer, but I know one of my male singers did indeed use one. How far away from the mic the singer should be is dependent on how loud they sing, how much gain you are giving them, et cetera. For singers, mic technique is all about trial and error. If you're micing instruments, it's a very similar concept except you likely will not be using a condenser mic for amps - you'd be better off with a dynamic mic like an SM57 directed at the speakers (probably with a -10 or -20 dB pad set). This is because compressor mics are picking up everything in the room as well, but you will only want the amp's sound if you're recording a guitar (for example).
Alright, let's bring our singers into the project now. As previously mentioned, I'll be doing the entirety of this project in Logic Express 9, but all of the concepts I'm putting forth can translate to whatever DAW (Digital Audio Workplace) you are using. Common DAWs include Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase, Ableton, Reaper (Free!!), Digital Performer, among many others.
As you can see from image on the left, I'm not using a template when starting this all up so I can show you every step.
Now, the first thing you're going to want to do upon entering your DAW's workspace is create a track. Usually you'll be prompted to make one, in this case I've made a mono audio track (I'm not recording in stereo, so stereo would be superfluous for this track). As you can see, my input is not set (bottom left side where it says I/O [Input/Output], the spot for input is blank) - that is my next step, so I am able to actually start using the audio from my microphone.
Now my input has been set (notice it says Input 1 under the I/O now). You will notice that on my track, I have the little "R" and the little "I" selected. The "R" is having the track 'Record Enabled,' meaning that when I hit record that track will be the one recording. The little "I" is for 'Input Monitoring,' which means I can hear my own voice through my headphones since the program is sending the signal out for me.
I have also finished my recording of the first track with the image on the left. As you can see, the track is not all one long chunk of sound like you would expect, it is broken into smaller pieces. This is because I have gone back and chopped up my recording where there is total silence. (As an aside: when I cut away silence, I try my damnedest to never take away any breaths - breathing make it sound organic. Taking away the breathing will make your recording sound lifeless and synthetic.) This is a practice you'll see throughout this tutorial - I like to segment my audio into smaller portions so I have a visual aid that can help me easily identify the various sections of the song. This is important, you will see this come back at the end.
Next up, I recorded my next track of vocals & chopped away the silence accordingly. You'll probably notice that in the new track, Zia Lead, that there is a little section with some white curves. Those are fades. What happened there is that my female singer had different timing than my male, so in order to line them up I made a cut between two of her words, changed their positioning, and faded between them to make it sound smooth/natural. I used the 'Fade Tool' in Logic to do this. You can find the Fade tool by clicking the spot on the upper right side (under 'Notes' & 'Media') that has the little cursor macro and switch to the 'Fade Tool.' Then it is just a matter of dragging and adjusting the curve to your liking.
Another thing you'll notice about the previous picture is that I have added a bunch of empty tracks. Now that my leads are recorded and I'm happy with how they sound, I can ignore them for the time being. I'm now going to focus completely on my background vocals until they are completed, then I'll incorporate the leads again near the end.
Now, bear in mind, this is not a performance practice that I will always follow. If I were recording a song with full instrumentation, (bass, drums, guitar, et cetera) the rhythm section would be recorded before my leads. I would always want to lay down something for the lead instruments to work over top of, but since I am working with vocalists I approached this recording in a different way. What I did was create a 'Guide Track' (if you look at the first screenshot I took, you'll see that a previous track available was 'Setting Sail Guide') which is a piano recording of all of the parts for my vocalists to record along with, seeing as there is no support apart from other vocalists when recording begins.
Back to the recording.
While I was ranting about guide tracks & which order you should record in, I've magically finished recording all of the parts. Since we have all of the tracks, I have color coded each one so they're easy to differentiate at a quick glance. Again, this is very important and will come back at the end. You'll notice that there are some paired colors, that is because I recorded some parts (Bass, Baritone, Tenor) with two different singers to give a fuller sound. Notice I've also arranged them from lowest voice (Bass) at the bottom, to highest voice (Soprano) at the top. This is all for the sake of workflow and being able to have a clear visual representation of everything you're working with. I know I have mentioned it a few times already, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a clear and easy workflow, you'll see why later.
Gallery
With the above images, I have begun the next step in preparing my tracks. Similar to what I did with the lead vocals, I have listened to each track individually, making cuts where there was silence. I listen to each track in its entirety 2 times after I've finished my cuts just to make sure there are no artifacts (popping, buzzing, et cetera) and there is no distortion or noticeably bad breath noise. Then, I listen to each pairing of tracks (listen to both basses at the same time, listen to both baris, et cetera) to make sure they sound good together. You'll notice in the third picture that one of my bass parts has a whole lot of cuts, that's because I was fixing some entrance timings by chopping between words and moving them around to sync the two tracks up.
Now I noticed one little thing that needed fixing in one of my tracks. One of my Tenors hit a wrong note. That's okay, it is a quick fix. I used Logic's "Pitch Corrector" tool and loaded it onto the track (notice that in the 'Inserts' section on the left I have the Pitch Corrector set to my Tenor 2 track). I am now using the 'Automation' function of my DAW (Notice up on the top bar 'Automation' is selected').
Automation is something that you will want to use for the rest of your life in your DAW of choice.
Period.
What Automation does is, well, automate. You can tell it to do any function over any period of time, which means you won't physically have to worry about that function. Volume and panning are very common for automation, but in this case I will be automating my pitch corrector (you get to the automation of the inserts of your track by going to the automation state, clicking the little arrow on the bottom left of the track, and selecting whatever it is that you want to automate). Since my singer sang an E instead of an Eb, I will be telling my pitch corrector to change whatever note is being sung to an Eb once it hits a certain area (notice on the picture above and to the left that the automation has two states: on and off). Now that I've fixed that note, it will sound a little weird (Logic's pitch correct is not perfect). What I have done to compensate for that is brought the volume down at that note just a little bit so my other tenor's voice will make the area sound more natural (you can see the volume automation in the picture to the right).
The last thing I am going to do before moving on is to add some compression to some of my tracks. What compression does is, well, compress. If you have a track and the gain/volume of the track has parts that are really, really loud and parts that are really really quiet, it's going to be hard to work with that track as a whole because you'll have to alter the volume all over the place. What compression does is brings down those really loud parts to make them sound closer to those really soft parts, meaning the entire track is around the same volume. This is extremely useful for vocals, and is something you will need to learn how to use if you want to work with vocalists. I will not provide a tutorial on compressors right now; but if you have questions, feel free to ask.
Okay! Now the initial editing is done! Our tracks sound really great individually - there are no errors or artifacts, their volume is consistent and our paired parts sound good together. That means it is time to start mixing.
Mixing & Mastering
Ready to mix
Now is the time that I let you guys in on one of the reasons why this is a Special Edition. I want you guys to get the most out of this tutorial as possible, so I am going to do something a lot of audio engineers are uncomfortable publicly releasing and give you a raw file with absolutely no mixing or mastering. This is such an uncomfortable thing to do because there are still lots of errors that need to be fixed, some voices get drowned out, some are way too loud and it is generally misrepresentation of the final product. I wanted to provide this to you guys so you could have an idea of what this project sounds like at the time the above image was taken, compared to what the final product will sound like.
(I have another surprise for you guys at the end that makes this tutorial even more special =) You'll enjoy it)
Now we know what our song sounds like with no mixing. Thankfully it doesn't sound terrible, and that is thanks to one thing: My singers. I'm about to let you guys know one of the most important piece of advice I've received.
The secret to having a good recording is having good players.
Yes, pitch correction and audio editing has gotten to a point where we can manipulate what we're working on to sound 'right,' but 'right' doesn't always mean 'good.' For something to sound good, it needs presence and confidence. Good singers have both of these things, as well as a great sense of pitch. Editing too much makes your work sound unnatural. Just remember: Confidence and presence make for good players, and good players make for good recordings.
Alright, now let's get to mixing.
As you may have noticed by the image above, all of my tracks are muted. That is because there is a golden rule when it comes to mixing: START FROM SILENCE. This is a rule that a lot of new engineers & producers don't understand and think it is best to mix things based on where they sound in a full mix. If you are doing that, please stop - the way I am mixing may take a little longer but it will sound much better.
Gallery
Since I am starting from silence, I am mixing everything one track at a time. My first step is to mix my pairs together, to make sure both voices sound equal and to make sure they compliment each other rather than battle. I achieve this by volume automation between the two tracks.
Now, this is the point where things may start to get a little technical if you're new to this, but don't worry, it will all make sense. Now that I have mixed my paired voices, I am going to make it easier on myself for the final mixing process and make a new track that lets me control that new sub-mix (meaning I no longer have to change the individual tracks, I'll have one track that controls their combined output). This is a process called Bussing. Bussing has many purposes, including inserting a single effect to multiple tracks, routing tracks to external devices and signal flow (this one is what we're using Bussing for). Bussing is achieved by going to your mixer window and creating a new Auxiliary track, and using its I/O settings to control which Bus you will use. In the images above, you'll notice that I made a new track under each of my paired sections. If you look at the 'input' of each of these tracks, you'll see that its input (under the I/O section) is Bus (x).
Busses in mixer
Notice that in my mixer window, the Auxiliary tracks are labeled in Tan where my audio tracks are labeled in Blue. also notice that my various Bass, Bari & Tenor parts all have their 'output' section of their I/O set to a Bus. Ignore the highlighted track for now, it will be explained soon.
Now that we have set up our busses, it is time for us to start mixing individual sections. Since I have my Basses, Baris and Tenors bussed, I will no longer be mixing their individual tracks but their Auxiliary tracks through automation. I start one at a time in an additive way. First I begin by mixing my Basses and Baris, (shown in picture on left) making sure they blend well. After that is complete, I add my Tenors (shown in picture on right) and mix until I feel they completely blend.
Once I am happy with that mix, I create another bus (that is where the highlighted track in the above picture I asked you to ignore comes in). Since these are all mixed well together, I can now mix them as a unit by routing them all to a new bus that is specific to their section (Male Backgrounds). The routing for these busses is shown in the picture to the left, my apologies for having cut off the track labels - but hopefully you'll see that it is still the Male BGs (male backgrounds) track that is selected and that its input is now Bus 4, and all of our bussed male sections have their output set to Bus 4 as well.
Gallery
Now that we have our male section ready, I go through the exact same process with my female section. I first mix my female background parts together (thankfully there are only two of them this time around) and then create a bus for their section once I am happy with their mix. The next thing I do is mix my two background sections together, and then add my lead parts to get a general idea of how I want everything to balance. The above pictures document that process.
Now, I'm nearing the end. Since I'm adding my lead vocals, I am doing very minimal amounts of movement with my individual tracks anymore, it is almost entirely mixed with volume automation from my busses. After a while, I finally have a final mix.
Mixing Completed
Now I hope you can see why I stress having very clear workflow habits (color coding, order of tracks, et cetera). Without any order, the above picture would make absolutely no sense; but since I have my sections split up, my tracks colored and have them in the proper order, I can clearly see exactly what I'm working with. Get into the habit of practicing good workflow habits from the very start, that way you won't be tripping over yourself when you're nearing the end of your project.
Gallery
Now that I am happy with how the general mix is, I will apply some mastering effects. These include Reverb, Equalization, Saturation and Stereo Imaging. I have provided a quick screenshot of most of the effects I used above. For the 4 images on the left, pay attention to what is at the top of the little window the effect is in, these are new busses I've created solely for mastering. They are the Mastering Lead bus and Mastering Background bus. These both go straight to my output, which mas my final mastering effects (seen in the right two pictures) which include a final EQ, Stereo Imaging, Multiband Dynamics, Loudness Maximizer and a Harmonic Exciter.
This is what a track looks like before its file hits your ears
This brings us to the end of this tutorial.
One thing that is worth knowing is that this entire process took somewhere around 40 hours to complete between transcription, arrangement, recording, editing, mixing and mastering. To make a professional-sounding recording takes a lot of work, as well trial & error when you're learning the process; but I hope you agree that the product is worth it.
Thank you for reading along and, again, if you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer whatever ones you may have! Feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment about anything and I will get back to you within a day (usually).
Now, remember I mentioned there is another reason this is a special tutorial for you guys? Here is why. I have not only provided a recording of this song for you, but I have provided the stems as well.
Stems are those colored tracks you see above rendered as audio files. There are 10 individual audio tracks so you can bring them into your DAW and experiment with them yourself =) They have all of the effects applied from my mastering tools, so they may be strange to work with; but it should give you an idea of how you can alter the volume, panning and various other elements of each track to change the sound of the entire project.
Thank you for taking the time to read this tutorial and I hope it has been helpful to you. Again, if you need any help, have any questions, feedback, criticism or generally want to chat, get a hold of me any time.
You guys have probably seen me posting around Giant Bomb for a few years now - posting about things like having depression, driving a zamboni, as well as posting some music I composed for the Global Game Jam and, more recently, posting a symphonic song I did.
I adore the Giant Bomb community and wanted to give back to you guys by providing an interactive tutorial. I'll lift the curtains and let you guys come behind the scenes of a working musician, giving you my interpretation of what a professional musician does when he/she is working with a piece of music. I'll take you through the entire process - from writing & transcribing what's in your mind to finally having a product that you feel comfortable releasing to the world.
This post is meant for anyone & everyone who is interested in writing & recording music, so I'll try my best to use language that be understood by people of all skill levels. For the purpose of brevity, I will be skipping over some very essential skills such as Music Theory, and basic functionality of DAWs (Digital Audio Workplaces, like Garage Band, Logic, Ableton Live, Cubase, Pro Tools and the like). If you have any basic, specific or technical questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send me a direct message. I will be more than happy to address any queries you may have.
Let's us begins
The First Few Steps - Composing & Arranging Your Song
Everyone's musical process starts in a different way. Some people like to sit at a piano and plunk out notes until something they like comes out, others like to figure it all out with nothing but a piece of paper & a pencil, where someone else may like composing entirely within a program on their computer (using something like Finale, Guitar Pro, et cetera). Personally, I do all of the above. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to write a piece of music as long as you're happy with what comes out in the end.
For the purpose of this post, I will not be composing/writing an original, but rather doing an arrangement of a song composed by someone else. I have chosen to do the song Setting Sail, Coming Home by Darren Korb (from the Bastion soundtrack).
The way I approach transcription is to start by having an instrument handy (piano, guitar or bass are my personal go tos) and play along with the recording's melody a few times. As I do this I'll jot down what I'm playing into Finale, until the melody is completely transcribed.
Zulf's MelodyZia's Melody
On either side of this text is an example of what my initial transcription of both melody/vocal parts looks like. (just give them a click & they'll expand)
Once I'm convinced what I have on the page is correct, that's when I start to flush everything out. My next step is to transcribe all of the chords that are happening underneath. I have included all of the transcriptions, including the one with chords & guitar solo, in the download link below.
Now that we have all of these components, it's time to actually start arranging this tune to make it into something more than just recreating the original.
I have decided to go in a completely different direction with this song and am making it A Capella (done solely with voices, no instruments).
NOTE: Bear in mind that I am going to be doing a fairly elaborate arrangement here. If you're writing an original tune with a band you are already writing/playing with them all the time this whole process may not even be necessary. Since I am only one person and I want a full vocal arrangement, I need something that I can to hand to players that is easy to read/understand so they can perform & record the song with little issue. You may not need to do this in your situation, but it is an extremely valuable skill to have.
I will skip over the detailed process of actually arranging all of this because that would be an entire tutorial in and of itself, but here is the basic thought process that I go through:
I listen to what parts of the original song I want to influence my arrangement, and picture in my head how I want it to sound in the end. Do I want a voice emulating the drums? No. Now, since there is no percussion, how will I compensate for that? Well, I'll need movement in the accompanying voices so it doesn't sound stale. What's my solution? I'll have the accompanying voices emulating the guitar, as well as harmonizing with the melody to provide a flowing and thick feel. But how many voices do I need? Well I want the bass to be doing its own thing to provide a solid foundation for everything else, I want a male doing one melody part and a female doing the other melody part like the original - the middle voices will flush out the rest of the spectrum with a female Alto and Soprano, and then a male Tenor and Baritone since my Bass is doing something completely unrelated. How about an intro? Well, it'd be boring to just start with a bunch of voices doing that guitar intro so let's just be simple and have it start with one voice and then build from there. Remember, simple is better. How about that guitar solo section? I'll completely change the accompaniment there, have everyone doing completely different things that cascade & flow, and then have everyone in rhythmic unison at the end. Okay, this sounds good, let's actually get to it now.
That is just an example of the madness that was going through my head when making the arrangement. The skills necessary for arranging, as well as being able to write specifically for vocalists, is a little idiosyncratic. If anyone is interested I can touch further on that process, but for now I will simply provide the final version of my arrangement.
Below are a few pages from the arrangement just to give you an idea of what I hand to the singers. (Link to the entire PDF here)
Gallery
Now we are getting somewhere.
The arranging process can sometimes be the step that takes the longest (if you're doing an elaborate arrangement like I did here). It involves a lot of trial and error, a lot of experimentation and a lot of failure. Don't be discouraged though! I have failed innumerable times, but you learn from each and every one of those failures and your arrangements get better and better.
If you're simply writing a song with a band in your garage, maybe you don't even need to write it down like this; but, as previously stated, this is a skill that is invaluable if you want to make a career/make this whole process easier on musicians you're inviting in.
Now that we have an arrangement, we are ready to begin the next step.
I will continue this tutorial in another post in the very near future, providing screenshots of my work process within my DAW of choice, how I go about mixing all of the vocals and what I do to make everything sound professional for a final product. In the end, I will also provide you guys with a recording of the song, complete with 5 vocalists.
Stay tuned, and if you find these posts interesting I would be more than happy to do more!
I'm a fairly frugal person, but this Holiday season I decided to go against my nature and spend a little of my hard-earned cash on Boxing Day sales.
I purchased a new PS3 Slim to take the place of my PS3 fat that's on its way out (and is also across the continent while I'm back home from school) and figured, "well, the Playstation TV is on sale and I could use a new personal gaming monitor... Also, it could be cool to experience 3D gaming." With that, I bit the bullet and purchased one on sale for $299.
First off, I'd like to say the PS3 slims are amazing! Quieter than my fat ever was and extremely light, making it easy to transport - I'll probably take it back to school with me, as I'm almost certain the old one is going to explode within the year. (I'll miss that PS2 backwards compatibility, though...) I highly recommend the PS3 slim if you guys are ever in the market for a new console, I played it for 5 hours straight between watching a film and playing Rayman: Origins, and the thing stayed nigh silent the whole time and kept itself very cool.
Anyways, the TV - I'll try to keep this short so you aren't facing a wall of text
My initial thought upon opening the box was how sleek Sony has gotten with their packaging. Everything fits together really tidily and looks appealing upon first opening. It is a subtle touch, but one that's very appreciated. Everything that is included seems to be of very high quality. The stand feels sturdy, the HDMI cable doesn't feel flimsy like most stock connection cables and the 3D glasses seem like they can take a beating.
The screen itself isn't extremely large, it is 24" - a fair size but definitely not meant to be the main screen in your living room. It works remarkably well on a desk, and does a superb job doubling as a PC monitor. The contrast between lights and darks on the Playstation TV is some of the best I've ever seen, regardless of the size of the screen. The whites are bright and the darks don't have that blueish tinge that is notable with lower quality screens.
Don't let the angle fool you, the screen is actually smaller than it appears
The connections are simple, the TV has 2 HDMI ins and one Component in. I'm using the HDMI cable provided and running the sound from the back of the TV to a small set of speakers and subwoofer via the 1/8th inch stereo out. I have yet to encounter any issues with connections (they all feel as though the components are strong and not likely to weaken over time) but will update if that changes.
There is one issue you should be aware of if you plan to use the Playstation TV as an actual TV, though. It does not come with a remote control. This is fine for me as I'm using it more as a monitor, but if you require a remote control you should be able to use the Playstation remote, or any universal remote.
Cell phone picture does not capture it, but the 1080p resolution is gorgeous
Now... 3D Gaming.
I'd never experienced an active 3D system before. I'd previously used those great old red/blue 3D glasses, as well as the more recent RealD glasses that most modern movie theatres employ, and have never been a fan. Maybe you'll think it was a bad idea for someone who has a predisposition against 3D to purchase a 3D TV, but as I'm making my way into the gaming industry (I'm a composer and studio/sound engineer) I figured I should know as much about what innovations are happening in gaming as possible.
I like 3D gaming.
I really like 3D gaming.
This realization totally caught me off guard. My first experience with 3D gaming was with Wipeout HD. I first played a few rounds in standard 2D, and then moved to 3D. There were a few things that I noticed almost immediately: the HUD pops out at you and the sense of speed is much more dramatic. I really enjoy the HUD aspect. For some reason I'd forever associated HUDs as just being a part of a screen, but when it pops out at you you truly get a different perspective on the entire game you're playing. I actually prefer it.
I haven't had any problems using the glasses, either. Sometimes you can notice the flickering if you look at another screen (cell phones, et cetera) but overall their active nature isn't too noticeable. It does wash out the colors a bit, but it isn't extremely dramatic. I also have yet to encounter any issues with becoming dizzy with the 3D, even after 2 hours of play.
I haven't tried any other games with 3D yet, but I do own Uncharted 3 and will be playing that on Friday - I'll update with my thoughts on that after playing. I will also update with my thoughts on SimulView (2 players seeing different images on the same screen) technology when my best friend and I play with that a bit.
My thoughts on the Playstation TV are extremely positive after having used it for 3 days now. I recommend it wholeheartedly for anyone who is looking for a very high quality experience for an extremely reasonable price-point (especially on sale).
Hey guys, I thought I'd throw out a blog post that shows off some really, really awesome products out there that I'd personally love to try or at least have around.
How awesome is that?! No more guessing about when the temperature is just right when you're stepping into the shower. Also, I think it'd be pretty awesome to have a shower in the dark with glowing water =)
Think 'Advent Calendar,' but it lasts all year - and is like bubble wrap... But a calendar... I know that I'd probably lose control about halfway through the year and just start popping all of them.
You like getting involved in things during betas, right? Well why not join the beta for the Hover Bike?
Yes, you can buy one of these prototypes =) Personally, I'd be much too terrified to give one of these a shot right now; but the idea is fantastic!
Ever been to the beach? Ever brought a towel to the beach and then suffered the frustration of getting sand everywhere after the fact? Well, no more with the Sandless Beach Mat!
Maybe if you turn the thing upside-down, you can find your way to china!
Like having random information on the fly? Why not carry Wikipedia around with you always with the Pandigital WikiReader - No internet connection required!
As it says in its description, it's like having 1000 editions of an Encyclopaedia with you at all times =) And it has a 'random' button!!!
That's what I've got for you guys for now, if you'd like to see these and more, check out the 'Shut up and take my money' subreddit here.
If you guys like this, I'll try making another one in the near future!
First off, I'd really like to thank everyone who read my previous blog post, it was incredibly interesting to read how many different people have been affected by depression in some way and the support was so very appreciated. Thank you.
If you've been to any event that's taken place at an arena (save for Curling), you've likely seen one. (Or an Olympia, another brand of Ice Resurfacer) They are big, they are cute and they are mesmerizing. Seeing dirty, white ice transform into clean, reflective ice has a hypnotic quality to it.
As a Canadian, it wasn't uncommon when you were a kid to sit around at your local rink during a minor league hockey game and spend the intermissions pressing your face against the glass to watch the whole procedure - it seemed magical. As an Olympic level Speed Skater (short story: qualified for Olympic trials, didn't want to give up 150% of my free time), I'd even spend some of my warm-up and down time watching the thing. I think it's safe to say that anyone who's experienced this euphoric effect has wanted the opportunity to drive one of these mythical mechanical beasts.
I've spent the past year (and a bit) working in order to help afford my education for fall 2011 onward. I ended up getting a job working for the city I live in as a maintenance person as well as 'manager' of the local outdoor stage they own. (I have lots of sound/music background, that's what I'm continuing my education in) This was a pretty cool gig! I spent my whole summer outdoors working with musicians (and some actors for a while, but we don't speak of thespians) and enjoying the fresh air. Below this text was a picture of where I was working.
It was picturesque, beautiful and a perfect job for summer.
But... Being Canadian....
So much for the cushy, outdoor stage job.
Seeing as the stage is not heated and that it wasn't going to be used for the 10 months of winter we have, (exaggeration, just so you know. Barely...) I had to be relocated until next season. I was scared of ending up doing too much outdoor work now! Thankfully, it finally got decided (plus, you already know where I'm going with this) - I was to be 'stationed' in the arenas until the grass came back out.
At first it didn't settle in. "arenas, huh? Cool, so I'll be picking up garbage after games, cleaning dressing rooms..." "Ready for your training on the machine?" "Machine? What?
Oh....
Hell yes"
It took about an afternoon's worth of learning to get the basics, but I could essentially start driving a Zamboni! I let loose with the thing in the empty arena, got it up to top speed and felt the cool air running through my hair (it can go pretty quick!) before turning in for my first few practice floods. Sure, my ice didn't look perfect the first few times; but after a few weeks it was starting to get consistent! Now, having done it for around a year, I can do pretty good ice fairly consistently (not perfect though, it takes a ton of experience to nail it every time - I'll touch on that in a second) but the controls are no longer an issue; it's simply the gauging of how much water to leave, how much ice to take off, etc.
Let's talk about how a Zamboni works.
People see these machines all the time, but unless you play these sports or are maintaining the ice, you rarely think about what the thing is actually doing. The Zamboni is essentially performing two tasks:
1) Slicing off a thin layer of ice with an extremely (read: EXTREMELY, ARM SEVERINGLY) sharp blade, and the snow that is produced is taken via a horizontal and then vertical auger into the hopper (The big blue part in the picture provided earlier [our machine's hopper was white]).
2) Spreading water behind it with a skirt which acts as a giant squeegee.
This is simplifying it to its extremes, but these are the basic principles of the Zamboni.
There is also a very specific path which is followed, I have attempted to draw it out. (Sorry I suck at drawing)
As you can see, we start with the edges then work to the middle, then start a series of loops which are the exact same size around whilst overlapping at the ends. The tricky part comes from knowing how to balance your water at the ends (if you don't leave enough, it'll look dry and crappy. If you use too much, it'll build up and start melting that ice [we use hot water]) as well as adjusting your blade (you're going over the same spot over and over again, if you leave your blade down you'll wear it down).
You do get used to that though, haha. Allow me to show you the controls =)
This is taken from the seat of the Zamboni. From right to left:
1) This is the control for the blade. It controls the incline as well as the height, so it is not just a simple up-and-down motion. 2) This controls the water. When away from you (as it is here) the water is off, and towards you the water is fully on. 3) This controls the smaller water tank (see the number 708? It's located on that tank) that is used for, well, more water. 4) The plunger. That helps clear up the bottom of the vertical auger in case ice/snow is building up.
All the while, this is being controlled via a hydrostatic (constant RPM) motor. The significance of this motor means that the auger is constantly moving at the same speed and you can go as fast or as slow as you want - your speed will have no effect on the auger. (The aforementioned Olympia machines run on a regular motor, so you have to watch your RPMs in the corners)
This thing also runs on natural gas, in case you were interested. That's why we can run it indoors for a long time with minimal amounts of ventilation, seeing as natural gas burns fairly clean =)
Lastly, I'd like to show a view from behind the driver's seat during a flood.
This was during my last flood of the season, 2 weeks ago, before the ice came out =)
We're now doing summer maintenance in this arena, and my first time back at the stage will be this Sunday! Hoorah =)
Feel free to ask any questions! I'd love to take some.
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