thewhippinpost's blog

There's a few ways to determine the key of a song, each of which depends on the assets you have available - The most powerful of which, your ears!

Tone Deaf

All things being equal, the key of a song can usually be figured out quite easily if you can distinguish between sound pitches (whether a note is higher or lower than another). Some people can't but that doesn't necessarily mean your music-making days are over - Beethoven was deaf remember! It just means you need to rely on other cues like sheet music, software, etc...

So you made it to the last tip, well done. You'll be pleased to know, though, it's all been a load of bollocks! I know - mad aren't I. I bet you are too now.

Ah, just kidding.

So, mixing with headphones? Don't! Do never test!

There are some frequencies in the mix that are basically redundant and do nothing more than steal speaker-power - If we can reclaim this resource-hog, the speaker can concentrate all of its energies onto the important frequencies, and thereby give us more headroom, ie... more volume!

Propellerhead have declared their software to be ready for use within Microsoft's upcoming new operating system, Vista - Seems all the major music software vendors are clamouring to be ready in time now.

If you have a website, blog, or even a MySpace profile containing links to copyrighted MP3's, watch out:

Record industry lawyers have been given the go-ahead to pursue you by the Australian courts.

A court ruling has given the recording industry the green light to go after individuals who link to material from their websites, blogs or MySpace pages that is protected by copyright.

Unseen Video Footage

Mark King shouldn't need any introduction, but just in case he does... well, let's put it this way: if you like bass, Mark King owns bass! And the band he fronted - Level 42 - also owned the arena back in the day too.

But here, in this hitherto secret and previously unseen rare video footage, shot exclusively in my Mega-Bowl Arena - back in the day - I show Mark who has the Title Deeds, in this moving, and thought-provoking slappin' and jammin' session.

In a bid, I daresay, to stay ahead of the pack, MOTO shipped early beta releases of Vista-compatible drivers for all their MOTO Firewire, PCI and USB hardware interface products - OLD NEWS

(Noise) Gating is useful for cutting unwanted low-volume noise between the gaps of sounds (amongst other tricks we can cover another day). But gating can also be un-useful  if employed without thought.

Effects, hmmm... effects. Such a big subject, but fortunately easily dealt with for the purposes of our sound mixing tips.

Why? Simple really: effects are fun to play with but can quickly mess-up your mix; Reverbs and delays for instance, can result in instruments "over-staying" their welcome, thus "crowding the mix" - particularly if there's plenty going on anyway. It's very easy to lose definition and clarity if we're not careful.

Podcasting, in case you didn't know, is now experiencing explosive growth across the internet... and where there's entertainment, there's cash!

I used to make jingles for two or three online radio shows a few years back but it was more for fun than anything else. However, over the last few months or so I've been getting enquiries - completely out-of-the-blue - from people who remembered I used to do it back in the day. These people are either in the process of starting their own podcasts, or have begun already and realise they need some flash-whizz-bang intro with their show-ident thrown-in.