Written by Houston Haynes on June 30th, 2009
I wanted to create a cue that had both percussive “heft” as well as an off-kilter feel. So I went to an odd meter (7/4) and toyed with several types of “split” of the bar, with the 4+3 split emerging as the base. Various textures move through to keep the novelty of the odd meter from wearing off too quickly (at least I hope so). There’s also a bit of extra grit, using some subtle and not-so-subtle distortion on many instruments across the mix.
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Written by Houston Haynes on June 30th, 2009
This cue is about turning a dulcimer instrument into something more other-worldly. I was playing with the Yamaha REV-X Reverb that comes built into the MR816CSX interface, which I’m still taking through its paces. I really like the ability to not only use the reverb for standard “room” emulation, but also as a transformational effect. It’s a double-bonus to have all the control of a plug-in, but the reverb is processed with a DSP chip inside the audio interface – freeing up the computer for other forms of audio mayhem. Fun stuff.
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Written by Houston Haynes on June 30th, 2009
This cue is the result of a range of sonic experiments with a variety of synthesizers that I have in the arsenal. One of the really nice surprises was the ability of the bundled Steinberg instruments to hold their own with the third-party and hardware synths that I consider to be “go-to” instruments.
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Written by Houston Haynes on June 30th, 2009
This little cue was tremendous fun to put together. The idea was to take an energetic rhythm section and put it with some Americana-influenced lead and rhythm elements that span the beat and the bar. The final result was an “All aboard!” train-has-left-the-station vibe with broad interweaving leads moving in and around the rhythmic hubbub.
Props go to Chris Franz, who provided the rhythm guitar as well as the slide and ’slow hand’ electric guitar solo.
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Written by Houston Haynes on May 28th, 2009
As many of you know, I fit somewhere in the human sub-category commonly referred to as “gear dork”. If that’s not obvious from the blog on this site, you’re either new here or simply not paying attention. Anyway, this past week I was working on some cues that called for shaping “traditional” instrument sounds into something a bit other-worldly. Right as I was getting into the teeth of this work, I got an email from Tone2 about their updated Warmverb plugin.
From the name – you’d think that this was just another reverb processor – not so! This little gem has a slew of effects that can radically alter the quality of the sound you pump through it. I pulled down the demo and gave it a try, and 10 minutes later I was paying for the full license. (and at $80US it’s a steal)
Aside from the amazing array of great-sounding FX, there’s also the ability to do some acoustic gymnastics by re-routing the effected output back into the front of the chain. This opens up some pretty staggering possibilities. It reminds me of the Moog Modular synthesizer, with a relatively open architecture that will even let you get into a bit of trouble. Audio feedback often spins out of control rather quickly, as anyone who’s done a live gig with misplaced monitors can atest. In this plugin it’s used as a way to re-shape the effect in a controlled manner (sporting both a gain control and a time delay) – but also notice that there’s a danger! label on the clip indicator – not to be taken lightly. I put a signal limiter right after Warmverb to make sure that I don’t damage speakers or my hearing while designing a new sound.
So now that I’m done with the specific project that called for this whacky plugin, I’m going to do a bit more work, to audition all the effects as well as work up some of my own custom presets. I’ll be putting up some new sound cues over the next week when there’s a sonic experiment worth sharing.
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