Pushing

It’s been a while since I got round to a writing a KDMC blog post. I’d been meaning to since the release of Ableton Push 2. The improved visual display on the Push 2 and the ability to manually enter slice points makes the need for a third party script (Native Kontrol PXT) less of a requirement. Its also far more intuitive from a beginners perspective giving the user the option to nudge the start point of each slice without having to use a mouse or switch over to a laptop. Price wise the unit is abit high for a student but I’m planning on keeping the tutorials within the limits of the included cut-down version of Ableton Live 9 so there wont be a need to purchase extra software. That said, ideally, with each tutorial it should be possible to replicate the workflow on another DAW or hardware sampler.

From a course content point of view I’ve been fine tuning the notes I’ve taken from the various courses/books I studied over the past six years to try and whittle the info down to the key points. I’ve also been going thru the latest edition of Bob Katz’s excellent Mastering Audio. Although the paper quality has gone downhill since the first edition the extra chapters are a great addition. His definition of compression and expansion (‘un-compression’) are very straightforward and easier to grasp, I thought, than in Roey Izhaki’s book Mixing Audio. I’m finding there is alot of cross-over between orchestration and sound engineering particularly with regards balancing the frequency spectrum (e.g on the one side making sure an EQ is’nt too harsh sounding on a mix and on the other that an arrangement in the high section of an instruments range is’nt too fatiguing – they both effect the overall balance of the piece). There’s also alot of similarities in the use and control of macro and microdynamics (long term and short term loudness). I’m very interested at the prospect of coming up with ways of teaching the basics of orchestration and sound engineering in tandem.