For all of those who like Music, The Verve and Pictures of the Verve! These were taken from the front row of the gig and just shows even if you take a phone camera and you see something that you like -YOU CAN TAKE COOL IMAGES WITHOUT SPENDING LOADS ON A DIGITAL CAMERA!

NIGHT SCENE

Link: http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161013

HONEY ROSE

Link: http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161268

LIGHT BURST EFFECT

Link: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photoshop-text/text-effects/light-burst/

ADVANCE GLOW TEXT

Link: http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/advanced-glow-effects/

FUNKY PHONE

Link: http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161026

Over the last couple of weeks when Uni has just kicked in i have looked at a few Photoshop tutorials to keep my mouse warm and just to gain a bit more knowledge. So the next few posts are all what i have made with tutorials. I will also put the link on so anyone who likes any can easily find it!

A CUBED CHERRY

Link: http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161060

...New ideas for a new Forest Ground...

Our local football team Nottingham Forest are going to move to a new stadium and our local paper The Evening Post have asked readers to provide their insight and ideas into what they want the new ground to look like. I have supported Forest for a long time and i definitely wanted to take the opportunity to show my ideas - on 3D Studio max of course! Below are some images of the stadium i have created.

A distant shot of the stadium, as you can i have made the roof slant (not just for the cool look but for rain purposes too!) I also kept the red metal bars outside the stadium much the the City Ground but raised them higher.

The tram line. As a fair amount of cars cause traffic and pollution i created a tram that goes straight to the stadium.
The building on the right is for shops, restaurants, cinema, gyms so on for fans or even normal people to use whether it is match day or not. However the building does access the stadium via the overhead walkways.

The inside of the stadium (before the seats are in place). You can see the size of the arena, below the pitch with the billboards around and the goal on the far end. Above is a glass roof to keep out poor weather which we tend to get here in Nottingham!

Another distant shot of the stadium viewing the tram line car park and both buildings. You can see that the stadium is separated into two levels access to the seated tiers can be via stairs, elevators, escalators.

Outside again at night. One of my favorite features of the stadium is the windows (looking at Asian stadiums - particularly Chinese) they cover their arenas with glass. I decided to not use pure glass and leave some of the main structure showing.

The top of the stadium, i added the seats in to show what the new venue may look like, and hopefully in a few years time we ccn be back in the Premiership and replace Derby.

Another feature of the stadium that i wanted is a moving roof, in case of rain the two sides of the glass roof would come together and join in the middle. When closed, the Forest emblem can be seen from inside the stadium and also from above.

So thats my idea for the new Forest stadium. I hope to see it being used in the Premiership!

Conclusion

Overall I'm pretty chuffed at my first ever level - Unreal Editor was good fun to learn and i feel i can do the simple things well on the software. Actually creating the level i found it was a bit bare in places so sticking a few static meshes in a few places made it feel not like a big box. Also it gives the bots somewhere to hide when i shoot them. Also my favourite creation on the map is the bunker that is slightly in the ground but also is semi circular looking out at two rooms, an excellent defensive position for a team match.

There were a few problems when creating the level, the main issues were when subtracted/added objects that collided and made parts of the level black and transparent. Most likely i did not keep the grid and vertex snapping on - however opening scenes after working on them the day before objects move slightly and things go wrong! I would have had a look on some forums to see why this may have happened but i had no time so i didn't.

But overall I'm happy with the level :)

My finished level screenshots (2)

My finished level screenshots (1)

Level Making

Due to me booking a holiday when not know exactly when my year ends means i have two weeks less on this project than everyone else - but no worries i can work 12 hour shifts on my computer so lets crack on - before creating my level i needed to play Unreal Tournament a few times to get a jist of how things are layed out and how levels work - e.g space, order, lighting.

And much like my previous project (the card game) i started making drawings. This was my initial plan of the layout - knowing once this is done i can start creating in unrel Editor. Below are a few of my sketches and explanations.


After the initial template has been created in Unreal Editor i can then start to add lights, meshes and then alter a level if necessary.

Images taken from my final project 2/2

Images taken from my final project 1/2

Adding Pavement & Roads

The final part of my Virtual Market Square project i had to add pavement and roads. Using a overhead map of the square i placed the buildings where they lie normally and then simply extruded slines that were outlined on the pavements. Afterwards textures were placed.

Vocal noise reduction - The Chris Bilewicz Way

A quick experiment I did was to reduce the background noise in a vocal track, I had some spill from drum in the recording process and I got rid of a lot of it by doing these steps…

Firstly I imported the audio file into Adobe Audition and then used the noise reduction processor to filter off all of the vocals and discard them so only the background noise I didn’t want is left. I then inverted the track and placed it into the multi-track view and brought in the same vocal track again and lined them up. Due to first track being inverted the peaks and troughs of the unwanted noise will cancel each other out leaving just the wanted vocals.

Mastering

All of my mastering was done in adobe audition, I bounced the tracks from Pro Tools and imported them in. The first thing that was done to the tracks once mixed was to clean up the beginning and the ends, some cases there were large amounts of banter and silence, I deleted time that was not needed and faded in/ out on some of the tracks this can be heard the best on Take Your Time.

To get the songs to CD volume I took two steps - the first was using a MultiBand Compressor which allowed me to define the crossover frequencies and compress them which will give me the option to raise the volume up slightly.

With that little bit more space to work with the second step was to fill it. I then used a hard limiter and depending on the track raise the volume of the track above a defined threshold but also taking care of any clipping that may occur.

Surround Sound

The surround sound mix for Glad You Could Make It was also done using Adobe Audition. I bounced a few tracks from the session from pro tools these were;

• Main Part of the song (drums, vocals and guitars)
• Outro Solo
• Backing Lead guitar for the choruses and
• Violins

These were then all sent in various directions with automated movement as the song went on. The lead guitars were split left and right forward whilst the violins were sent to the back and brought centre left and right.

The Songs

O.V.E.R

For this song I wanted it to be quite guitar driven so I put them straight to the front, using a high end equalizer on the amplifier the guitar cuts through the other instruments in the song. As this was quite harsh in the beginning I added a bit of reverb and also a delay to carry on the sound each time the strumming finishes. Following the pattern of the high-end guitars I also wanted the high hats and the snare to cut through - kind of like a punk song, the sex pistols collection cd's gave me this influence. So everything so far is in the top end of the audio spectrum, which didn’t leave too much space for the vocals. Luckily the vocalist had quite a deep voice so I could play about in the middle of the EQ range (around 2k) and then for that little bit of emphasis I gave a little high end around 16k for that definition I wanted.

For the low ends of the songs are as normal, the bass guitar and the kick drum. As the guitars are all mainly in the top end of the spectrum I decided to put a little room reverb at around 25% to swamp the sound to say. The kick drum took the 40-110 and a little bit on the 3k range on the EQ at +6 to give it that driving sound that I want - but not too much as the bass guitar will get crowded out.

Along side with the guitars, the snare is a driving part to this song. With it being miked from below and from the top gave me easy access to a tinny sound (increasing the top snare output) or a deeper thuddier sound (increasing the bottom snare output). Firstly I gated off the low-end frequencies such as the bass or tom drums that leaked in the recording process. The high hats were still visible but didn’t worry me too greatly. Once the gating was complete I compressed the snare, which then allowed me the comfort of increasing the volume without any clipping.

Let Me Hear You Say

This track slightly follows the way that the previous track O.V.E.R. does as they are quite similar in style. So remembering what I did in that session I used in this one thereabouts. RTAS plug-ins such as compression for the vocals & high hats to lift them up in volume and punch through the mix, light reverb for vocals and anything else that needed toning down that little bit as they were too bright for my liking.

In the recording stage (in the studio and at home) DI boxes were used alongside the microphones to pick up the guitar and bass twice. The DI was tapped off before the signal reaches the amp so that only the natural strumming can be heard (e.g. no gain or tone controls from the amp are in this individual audio track). With this track I used an RTAS plug-in called amplitube. Amplitube has varied amount of guitar sounds such as wah-wah and distortion with various amp models and cabinets. I chose a sound that was quite grungy but still tolerable with the actual guitar sound from the recorded amplifier in the live room. The band The Vines were an influence for me at the stage of mixing the song.

Take Your Time

This track is my experimental one for various amounts of reasons. When I was taught about Foley where everyday sounds can be recorded and placed with video I decided to record a few of my own sounds and place them within the track near the beginning. I recorded a jet engine and then edited it within Cool Edit Pro using effects such as phase sweeping and a hint of delay to create a completely different sound. I cheated by using a midi keyboard to create a Morse code sound, all of this was to see if I could try and entwine them into the song. Another experiment was grouping and bussing various instruments so that I can have more layers and also making volume adjusting a bit faster. My favorite experiment was the over compressed drums during the second half of the verses and the interlude of the song mid way, the drums were so far compressed that the hits of the kit started to slightly phase out, not only this but the attack and release times were groggy. I compensated for this with bussing of the overheads, high hats and snare drum. Overall I love the drum sound when all the instruments have kicked in and the song is in full flow. The final part of the song has reversed lead guitar that was processed with Adobe Audition.

Glad You Could Make It

I used a midi keyboard in this track alongside with Sample Tank. Using pop violins they were equalized to mainly the mids and highs, thus bringing them out that little bit more. The guitar then used the space on the audio spectrum where the violins were not so they wouldn’t get muddled together, placing +12 dB at 20k, a low lying mid range and then a slight boost in the bass at around 40-80. The bass then sits on top of the guitars low end and carries through into the mid range allowing the freedom of carrying the song through as the violins take control in the choruses. The drum kit for this track is pretty much none existent as it is quite a slow song (oasis-ish) the bass drum was dynamically compressed using the bass guitar default in pro tools and then I used a plate reverb at 15 percent to make the kick echo slightly. For the previous tracks I setup the snare to have a quick attack time and really punch through in the mix. However, in this track I wet the sound with 1/3 of hall reverb and also gave a 300ms pre-delay and a 4.5 second decay to smooth out the hits and also give the snare the feel of being in the background.

The vocals sound was quite good for the initial recording so not much had to be done, slight compression with a soft knee, a little bit of reverb( but not too much) and finally bringing out the high end and dropping the low end all together whilst equalizing. As the singer had quite a deep voice.

There was some automation in the other songs e.g. fade out of jet sound at the start of Take Your Time. In Glad You Could Make It I automated the violins to be more prominent in the choruses and the outro and then be quieter in the verses. Also automating the guitars on all of the tracks (mainly the choruses) and allowing them to roam free in the breaks as any other instrument is turned down slightly to make way.

The Drum Kit

Overheads

Probably the most natural sound that can be obtained is with a high-quality condenser mic positioned overhead and either in front of or behind the kit. As symbols radiate sound in a sort of figure of eight above and below the symbol plane whilst the hi hats radiate horizontally, so positing a microphone closer to this plane will reduce noise level. I chose to get a fair amount of symbol noise – as I can alter the sound if needed within Pro Tools. For the purpose of recording the band I used two Neumann U87(s) over head the drums and slightly in from of the kit – these were around 2 meters in the air.

Kick Drum

Due to the demanding pressure that the kick drum creates when in action only a few mics can actually work in this atmosphere. A moving coil microphone is preferred in this position, so I hooked up the kick drum with an AKG D112. This microphone is good for consistently picking up a low frequency response. For positioning purposes the front drum skin was taken off and the microphone positioned slightly off centre and closer to the bottom of the drum (just above the light padding). The padding is used to dampen any ringing within the drum and provide a more rock drive sound.

Snare Drum & Hi-hats

My favourite microphone that I have used so far for the hi-hats is the trusty pencil like condenser microphone AKG C451. Previously I used to use a Shure SM57 but know tend to use them hand-in-hand with the 58’s on the toms. I have found that the C451 microphone gives the snare sound a little bit more top end, I do like a tinny snare! The mic was positioned at around a 45 degree angle above the head and quite close to the edge – two reasons for this, one hopefully the drummer will not hit it! The second is to give maximum attack as the drumsticks hit fairly close to the mic. I tend to also use a C451 or SM57 at the bottom of the snare drum, this to give me more of my tiny sound that I admire so much.
Again the use of a C451 (I feel like I am marketing this microphone a lot) and an acute angle is used for the hi hats - as talked about before the sound of the sound comes at a horizontal plane unlike the symbols. The main thing here is not to place the mic too close as it can pick up chuff of air each time the hats open and close. The mic is around 10 centimetres on the far side of the drums so the amount of spillage from the kit is at a minimal.

Toms

In a rock oriented drum sound (which is what I am after) all the toms will be miked up. As the kit has a fair few mics recording it the use of a gate will reinstate some sort of separation between each drum. For the recording session I used Shure 58’s for all the toms, trying to keep them around an inch away from the top head and very near to the side. Again for the drummer not to hit them but also toms give a few more harmonics at the rim which will give the toms an overall warmer sound when playing back. I try and position them facing away from the symbols if possible again for spillage reasons.

Just a quick summary of my mic positions…

1 & 2) NEUMANN U87 to record overheads and will be panned slightly left and right during mixing for a stereo drum mix.

3,4 & 5) SHURE 58 to record toms closely, facing them away to avoid a little bit of spillage.

6) AKG C451 or SHURE 57 to record the top of snare, the closer the better for a quick attack time.

7 & 8) AKG C451 to record the bottom snare (the thick sound) also the hi hats – making sure to face slightly away from kit and not completely horizontal to the plane of air coming from the close.

9) AKG D112 with or without the kick drum skin placed off centre where the pressure is the most and above any padding. This mic picks up low frequencies like a charm.

Setting up

The songs that I am recording/mixing this year are from the band that I am in called ‘The Giveaways’. As I could not get any time in the University sound studio in the Bonnington building we went to Confetti Studios that are located in Nottingham City Centre. So for the recording…
As the drum kit was used in the same room as the rest of the band (in a couple of songs) some acoustic screens were used to try and reduce the leakage from the kit going into the other instrument and vocal mics. We all set up everything ourselves and I even learned how a drum kit goes together! We put the kit into the mixing desk tracks as follows….

Kick Drum	1
Overhead left	2
Overhead left	3
High Hat	4
Snare Top	5
Snare Bottom	6
High Tom	7
Low Tom	8
Floor Tom	9

The Guitar amps used were Marshall MG 200&250 series and a Peavey TKO 115. For the guitars a Shure 58 was placed around two inches away and facing the bottom edge of the cone this is so that the mic does not pick up every single low end possible otherwise the guitars will sound pants. The bass amp was miked in the same manner but using AKG D112. All the guitars were also hooked up with a DI box to patch into the guitars sound before it gets to the amp. This is quite useful as later in the mixing process I can use amplitube process in Pro Tools to give a different sound. The further tracks to the mixer..

Tom Guitar	10
Tom DI	11
Chris Guitar	12
Chris DI	13
Alex Bass	14
Alex DI	15

The vocals also used a Shure 58 to record them so this was track 16 on the mixer. Whilst we were playing our songs we asked (stole) a friend Chris Baines to watch the levels – this was good practice for him as this is his first year at Confetti. Anyway all the tracks were recorded into one session and then saved onto an external hard drive for me to mix/master at home. This was a lot easier than doing multiple sessions as it saved time and hassle on the day. The tracks obviously were split down later and saved accordingly. A few things needed to be re recorded such as vocals & backing and also little lead guitar bits and eventually some midi. These were done in our mini studio in my shed, using the same mics as we did on the day to keep some sort of consistency even if the natural rooms reverb was slightly different.

NEW COLUMNS

Good morning children, today we will learn how to recreate columns to go onto my scene as the poly count on the previous ones were far to great and i was getting irritated at the length i had to wait to open my scene. Thats 30 seconds of my day wasted each time !!!

Firstly i froze the original column and then simply made a spline outline that in turn was lathed to create the shape for the bottom of the column. Then changing this shape into an editable poly, the magic can then begin.

Due to the overwhelming amount of ploys that are really not needed for a scene like this, i cleaned it up by collapsing multiple vertex points but still trying to keep the shape as i originally planned.


Once this was complete i mirrored the shape (for the top part of the column) and made multiple cylinders for the middle part and then textured it.



I then simply removed the columns that were in place at the beginning and replaced them with my brand new (and better) columns. Below is the before and after shot. The original poly count was 97,352 and now it is 51,280. Not bad for a mornings work!

Recording a band

Setting up the Drums

The songs that I am recording/mixing this year are from the band that I am in called ‘The Giveaways’. As I could not get any time in the University sound studio in the Bonnington building we went to Confetti Studios that are located in Nottingham City Centre. So for the recording…

This blog post will be all about recording drums, the kit that we used consists of kick drum, snare, a couple of tom-toms mounted on stalks from the kick drum, a floor tom, a hi-hat, and a couple of cymbals (crash and ride) .

As the drum kit was used in the same room as the rest of the band (in a couple of songs) some acoustic screens were used to try and reduce the leakage from the kit going into the other instrument and vocal mics.

Overheads

Probably the most natural sound that can be obtained is with a high-quality condenser mic positioned overhead and either in front of or behind the kit.

As symbols radiate sound in a sort of figure of eight above and below the symbol plane whilst the hi hats radiate horizontally, so positing a microphone closer to this plane will reduce noise level. I chose to get a fair amount of symbol noise – as I can alter the sound if needed within Pro Tools. For the purpose of recording the band I used two Neumann U87(s) over head the drums and slightly in from of the kit – these were around 2 meters in the air.

Kick Drum

Due to the demanding pressure that the kick drum creates when in action only a few mics can actually work in this atmosphere. A moving coil microphone is preferred in this position, so I hooked up the kick drum with an AKG D112. This microphone is good for consistently picking up a low frequency response. For positioning purposes the front drum skin was taken off and the microphone positioned slightly off centre and closer to the bottom of the drum (just above the light padding). The padding is used to dampen any ringing within the drum and provide a more rock drive sound.

Snare Drum & Hi-hats

My favourite microphone that I have used so far for the hi-hats is the trusty pencil like condenser microphone AKG C451. Previously I used to use a Shure SM57 but know tend to use them hand-in-hand with the 58’s on the toms. I have found that the C451 microphone gives the snare sound a little bit more top end; I do like a tinny snare! The mic was positioned at around a 45 degree angle above the head and quite close to the edge – two reasons for this, one hopefully the drummer will not hit it! The second is to give maximum attack as the drumsticks hit fairly close to the mic. I tend to also use a C451 or SM57 at the bottom of the snare drum, this to give me more of my tiny sound that I admire so much.

Again the use of a C451 (I feel like I am marketing this microphone a lot) and an acute angle is used for the hi hats - as talked about before the sound of the sound comes at a horizontal plane unlike the symbols. The main thing here is not to place the mic too close as it can pick up chuff of air each time the hats open and close. The mic is around 10 centimetres on the far side of the drums so the amount of spillage from the kit is at a minimal.

Toms

In a rock oriented drum sound (which is what I am after) all the toms will be miked up. As the kit has a fair few mics recording it the use of a gate will reinstate some sort of separation between each drum. For the recording session I used Shure 58’s for all the toms, trying to keep them around an inch away from the top head and very near to the side. Again for the drummer not to hit them but also toms give a few more harmonics at the rim which will give the toms an overall warmer sound when playing back. I try and position them facing away from the symbols if possible again for spillage reasons.