wire to the ear

In about two weeks I start a string of live performances. Every weekend for a few months I will be in nightclubs or concert venues. I usually have to spend a long amount of time each night in the club and often near very loud speakers. I love the music and need to talk to people so I usually don’t wear earplugs.

I used to go to Sam Ash in NYC where they have a bin of free disposable earplugs you can grab from when you leave the store. But they were some sort of foam meets Play-Doh and completely muffled everything I heard.

Tinnitus can be a serious aliment and from everything I “hear” there is no reversing hearing damage. In fact, Pete Townsend said the only prescription for Tinnitus are anti-depressants! Yikes! I don’t have Tinnitus but certainly some high end bothers me. I also prefer eating in uncrowded restaurants. Surely these are signs I need to start protecting my ears.

These facts led me on a search for comfortable hearing protection. What I found was not only a comfy earplug but an earplug that lets some specific audio to enter the canal. This is great because it allows you to hear the music and conversations but blocks out the loudness.

Alpine MusicSafe Pro is supplied with three different exchangeable acoustic filter sets, that lower sound levels and prevent the user from excessive exposure, whilst keeping the frequency response of the music the same. The white filters offer the lowest level of attenuation i.e. for pubs, bars etc, the silver filters offer a medium attenuation i.e. for Live gigs, Musicians and Clubbers and the gold filters offer a high attenuation i.e. DJs. The filters are totally dependant on your listening enviroment select the filter you need to use carefully to ensure you get the right protection. - enhancedlistening.co.uk

Every now and then I will see someone in a club with toilet paper stuffed in their ears. I think these are a better choice.

One of the greatest things about working in modern DAWs is the ability to stretch or shrink audio with ease. Warp markers and the variables that go along with them are incredibly useful tools which should be looked at carefully. Here is an example how I used these features to perfect the timing of an analog synth I recorded.

Sometimes to make my first vocal in a song stand out I make an intro that pulls the ear away from center. Then when the first verse begins I bring the notes and sounds into a center space. I know this sounds a little abstract so listen to the audio sample below to know exactly what I mean:

The bright bell like synthesizer melody that plays before the vocals begin is my Electrocomp-101. What you don’t realize is that the last note before the vocal begins is actually only half as long. I used Ableton Live’s Warp Markers to stretch the that last note. This is something wonderfully easy to do. Inside the Clip View click the Warp button on. Once it’s lit yellow you can now double click on various places over the wave form to create Warp Makers. All you have to do now is drag the markers around to change the length of the individual areas. Use you ears to get the timing you like.

But most people stop there and that’s not using the full potential of this feature set. You can improve and tailor the sound of the Warping engine on a given clip by adjusting the Warp Mode. The following audio sample is the Electrocomp-101 melody Warped to fit my song but with the default Warp Mode “Beats” selected:

Do you hear that last note? Not smooth or natural sounding is it? Ableton can do better. To get there I clicked the Warp Mode drop down menu and selected Texture Mode. I also now experimented with the Grain Size and Flux setting until the last note sounded like it came from the Electrocomp directly at that length. Keep in mind that the last note was really only half as long. Take a listen now:

Most other sequencers now offer similar features. Of course you can get wild and mangle your audio on purpose. The next time you wish you held a note longer or screamed “GO!” for just a few more seconds select a Warp Marker!

I’ve been in a few studios where the main desk is set up so you stand instead of sit in front of it. Every time I asked why, I got the same response: I like to dance while I work! I can relate because although I sit when working you better believe when I get my song sounding good I crank it, stand up and dance my ass off. Besides reminding myself that I’m mentally ill the exercise gets my brain fresh for another editing session. I love this video. This is how they do it in Belgium! It gets good about 45 seconds in.

What do you think?

Each month on the first I make a top 10 music chart. Songs I am really into at the moment. There are a few good reasons to do this. If your a band or an artist, some of your fans will be interested in what your current tastes are. The fact that I know I need a chart each month forces me to discover and seek out new music. As a musician it’s important to be always listening to what’s out there and not get stuck completely in the past.

There are places you can post your chart other than your own website. Your MySpace, Facebook and Last.fm pages can host your chart. Slow news week but it has been a while since you sent an email newsletter? Make it look a little more meaty with a chart. If all the songs in your chart are on iTunes then turn your chart into an iMix. Likewise, if your music is entirely available on Beatport you can publish the chart on Beatportal.com. Anytime your interviewed include your current top 10 chart. If your known enough many magazines print DJ charts each month. Groove Magazine often prints my chart.

Should you put your own songs in your chart? Hell yes! If your own new material isn’t in your favorite new songs of the month then you shouldn’t be releasing it to the world! If you want to get fancy make the song titles click able links to a place where someone can hear and buy the song right away. Also consider including a photo of yourself or the album cover of the number one song on your chart. If you like you can even include a little description of your chart’s style. I add a disclaimer to my chart because I put everything on from Country to Minimal! Don’t forget to put your website next to your name and a little message somewhere saying “feel free to reprint this chart anywhere”.

With the onslaught of a million net labels charts have become an important tool to find hot songs. I like to read them and make them.

The Horrorist - Top 10 - February 2008*
www.myspace.com/oliverchesler

01 Electric Feel - MGMT
02 Washmachine - Workidz
03 Nietzche - Abstrackt Keal Agram
04 Story of an Artist - Daniel Johnston
05 You Should Tell Me So - Orilla Opry
06 13 Dobermans - The Horrorist
07 Bubbleblitzen - Miro Pajic
08 Beneath You - Mark Mendes
09 U Turn - Mark Ramsey
10 Stereos and Such - Popof

*The Horrorist chart is not your normal DJ Chart. The music here is not normal. These are songs Oliver Chesler is listening to now. If your weird and like great music then listen to these songs. If you are normal I am sorry this chart is not for you.

photo credit: phil_h.psd

Musikinstrumente & Design is a small vintage music instrument shop in Berlin. In fact, it’s directly three doors down from where I live. This means everyday I walk by and have to force myself not to buy anything! It’s a typical Berlin “Geschäft” meaning it opens “whenever” and there is usually three or four people just hanging around drinking and smoking cigarettes.

Please click here to view a small photo set from inside Musikinstrumente & Design. I’ve never seen some of these pieces so please feel free to comment or tag the photos in flickr. Please note I put a Creative Commons license on these images so feel free to use them as long as you link back to this article.

Some of you may have noticed errors when visiting Wire to the Ear. Usually at the top of the site you see “User has exceeded the ‘max_questions’. We are aware of the problem and are working on fixing it. I would like to mention it happens because the site has become very popular which I am really happy about. Thanks to everyone who is coming and visiting, it’s greatly appreciated!

We are going to install a Wordpress plug-in called WP-Cache which according to support will help the issue. If it doesn’t fix the problem then we will have to either switch to a virtual or dedicated Server or simply switch hosts.

If you have some knowledge of these kinds of things please leave some comments. Any advice is always appreciated.

photo credit: jaxmac