NDM Interview Blog Post

   For my Interview Blog Post, I chose to interview gospel jazz instrumentalist/recording artist/performer Jeff Majors. He has released 17 studio albums to date, with 6 of them charting on either the Billboard Magazine Gospel Albums chart, the Billboard Magazine R&B Albums chart, or both. He is also the host of “The Gospel of Music” television show on the TV One Network. I am currently working with Jeff, troubleshooting and upgrading his studio’s computer system, as well as mixing the tracks for his next studio album release. This gave me a chance to ask Jeff these 3 questions about business negotiations when making arrangements for stage performances.

1)   Q. How do you separate the people from the problem when you are negotiating? What tips do you have for new negotiators who are trying to do this?

      A. A very common salary negotiation error is focusing on what you feel you need or deserve rather than on your skill and the value you bring to the prospective employer. Employers don’t care that your salary won’t cover your mortgage or student loan payments or even your living expenses. If you plan to negotiate a job offer, do it based on solid research and a clear demonstration of your value to the organization. Don’t ever tell the employer that you need a certain salary.

2)   Q. How do you handle positional bargaining tactics?

      A. Settling for a lower salary than you are worth has some major negative financial consequences. Probably the biggest mistake you can make is simply deciding to settle and accept whatever offer you receive. You must be firm with the terms that you want included in the contract.

3)   Q. Can you give me an example of how you worked toward mutual benefit when you were negotiating a deal?

      A. Some employers will also ask what salary you’re looking for. In all these situations, you need to carefully decide how you’ll handle the situation. The earlier you give up this kind of information, the less room you’ll have for negotiating a better offer when the time arrives. Always try to remain as noncommittal as possible when asked about your salary requirements too early in the interview process.

http://brianirvingengineer.blogspot.com/2015/12/ndm-interview-blog-post.html 

The

Akai MPC Touch

Drum programmer/sampler

Brian Irving 10/31/15

http://brianirvingengineer.blogspot.com/

   Over the years, sampling and beatmaking has gotten easier for producers of Hip-Hop and EDM. No longer having to use dedicated hardware, the computer becomes the weapon of choice to make beats, paired with a software/drum pad controller solution. Producers now have choices like the Arturia SparkLE, at $250, the easiest way into beatmaking with your laptop.

 Arturia Spark LE

The most popular choice, and the originator of the drum pad controller/software concept is Native Instruments MASCHINE, whose flagship MASCHINE Studio 2.0 at $999, may be a bit pricey for some, but its features like emulating the sound of older 12 bit samplers, and its swing time functionality, makes it easy for the “old heads” using dedicated hardware drum machine/samplers to convert.

 Native Instruments MASCHINE Studio 2.0

Maybe a bit too late after the launch of MASCHINE, drum machine/sampler pioneer Akai debuts the MPC Studio at $399,

 Akai MPC Studio

and the MPC Renaissance at $699,

 Akai MPC Renaissance

aimed to get Akai users, as well as those who thought MASCHINE to be a bit confusing, onboard. When the new Akai products first reached the hands of consumers, right away there were complaints of system crashes and bugs in the software. Akai did what it could with updates to the MPC Studio and MPC Renaissance, but when the dust settled, it was the Native Instruments MASCHINE that won the fight…………………. Until now!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Akai has waited for everyone to work the bugs out, waited to see what the other manufacturers’ offerings would be, and took feedback from numerous producers & beatmakers. The result: what could possible win the war in beatmaking today, the new Akai MPC Touch.

 Akai MPC Touch

All the familiar controls are there for all past Akai MPC users, and then some. Features Akai MPC Studio owners may have asked for like a touchscreen, on board audio interface, and on board MIDI jacks have been added to the MPC Touch. It’s a new concept, a controller with a touchscreen that keeps you off the computer screen. At $799, it’s priced in the mid range of the drum pad controller/software market. The MPC Touch’s launch in November 2015 is perfect timing for Christmas and gift giving. Give your favorite beatmaker/producer an MPC Touch for Christmas!!!!

References

ARTURIA SPARK Creative Drum Machine. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vla5N6PUpRI

Native Instruments Maschine Studio Demo - Sweetwater Sound. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2015, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuAxO_aeb6Q

Akai MPC Studio Demo - Sweetwater Sound. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g_OTCbO2eU

Akai MPC Renaissance Groove Production Workstation Demo - Sweetwater Sound. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14oZDVLqefM

J.J. Abrams: The mystery box

  J.J. Abrams talked about his grandfather, and how it was a simpler time in his day. His box that he did not want to open during his talk was in honor of his grandfather’s era of mystery, when you may not have known exactly how something was done, but the end result would have you to think it was magic!!!

 A great example J.J. Abrams used was the clip he played to the audience from the “Mission Impossible” movie series, where the actor that portrays the villain in the scene is shoving a gun up the nose of Tom Cruise’s character.

 After repeated takes, the actor portraying the villain was making Tom Cruise’s nose hurt. After J.J. Abrams tells the audience the story of how Tom Cruise’s hand was tinted to look like the hand of the villain, and that it is Tom Cruise shoving a gun up his own nose, you watch the clip again with different eyes. It is a simple example of some early Hollywood “Movie Magic”. In J.J. Abram’s grandfather’s time, it was simple things like this that would get the job done, something simple done behind the scenes that would be “movie magic” in front of the camera.

  This TED speaker inspires me because like myself, he comes from humble beginnings, did not have much to work with, but had vision and imagination. He also has a good sense of humor, which is needed in the face of adversity sometimes. He spoke about the tight schedule during the filming of the hit TV series “Lost”. There was no time to do anything a second or third time, decisions had to be made on the spot, on location, and it gave an edge to the overall look of the final product.

http://www.ted.com/talks/j_j_abrams_mystery_box

 MODIFIED MICROPHONES 

   I once asked Bruce Swedien about modified microphones, and what did he think of them. He waved his hand as if to wave off the question, and he can afford to. His collection of 106 microphones (now 105, one was stolen from him) contains at least 2 of every classic vintage microphone you could think of, purchased new by Swedien many, many, many years ago. For most engineers, the Holy Grail of microphones is the legendary Neumann U47 tube microphone. From The Beatles to The Beach Boys, Lady Gaga to Jay-Z, this microphone winds up in front of the lead vocalist on many legendary recordings. Frank Sinatra even had his own U47 that he used on his recordings!!! This classic microphone, designed in 1947, has been copied over the years by various manufacturers, but they never quite “got it”. Pictured below are a few of the many U47 “clones” and microphones that were inspired by the Neumann U47

      Only 5000 original U47s were ever made, and a good working vintage unit today can cost you between $10.000 and $15.000. The U47 is now being reissued by Telefunken, who was the distributor for the original Neumann U47. This is as close as you’re going get to a vintage U47 without breaking the bank, if you can call $8500 not breaking the bank. For those who want the mojo of a vintage mic without the vintage mic budget, a modified microphone is the way to go for “the rest of us”

   There are a number of people who offer microphone modification services today, taking cheap Chinese condenser microphones and turning them into boutique mics.   

   My favorite is Michael Joly at Oktavamod in Cape Cod, Mass. For $399, he will take a MXL v250 microphone, remove all inferior parts & wiring, replaces it with top notch components, and the result is a microphone with the sonic signature of the $3600 Neumann U87 condenser microphone. Bruce Swedien may not be a fan of modded mics, but for us without a 100+ vintage mic collection, this will do!!!       

"nothing is impossible. what makes things impossible is you subconsciously telling yourself you can't do it, you can't have it.......... GO FOR IT!!!" - Brian B-Nyce Irving

Endless Analog C.L.A.S.P

(closed loop analog signal processor)

   For decades, there’s been the argument of analog vs digital. In the early years of digital audio, the converters were a bit “brittle” sounding, and the technology was expensive, and out of the reach of a mid sized or project studio. The early digital tape machines like the Mitsubishi X80 and the Sony 3324 were six-figure, big ticket items in their day, and over the years they fell out of favor with the major studios as they switched to Pro Tools once the computers & software could handle 24 tracks or better. But the argument raged on…….. analog vs digital. Of course, some studios stuck with analog tape machines, refusing to buy into digital technology. Famed mixing engineer Chris Lord-Alge stuck with the Sony 3348 digital tape machine, transferring analog tape & Pro Tools projects to this machine and preferring to mix from there, loving the workflow and the sound of its converters. He then bought up all the remaining tape stock, and did all he could to hang onto the format, but in recent years has switched to mixing directly from a Pro Tools HD rig to his SSL 4000E console through Focusrite RedNet converters. Others went for a hybrid approach, recording first to an analog tape machine for the basic tracks, then transferring to Pro Tools for overdubs & editing. Nashville producer/inventor Chris Estes was doing the same thing to bring the warmth of analog to his Pro Tools projects. With a father that ran a lab that did missile testing for the Department of Defense, Estes learned about writing computer code and building electronics. He bought a 2 inch Studer analog tape machine, and began to develop C.L.A.S.P, a system that would allow you to record the input signal onto an analog tape machine, pass it on to Pro Tools to be recorded to hard disk with the sound of the analog tape machine, and overdub additional tracks, all with sample accurate monitoring & recording, and true zero latency. One of the first clients was analog gearhead/rocker Lenny Kravitz, who quickly interfaced C.L.A.S.P with Pro Tools and his vintage Studer J37 1 inch 4 track analog tape machine that he purchased from the famed Abbey Road Studios in London that was used to record the Beatles’ legendary “Sgt Pepper” album. Perhaps the most well-known C.L.A.S.P users are the rock band Areosmith, whose long career involved a lot of analog recording. With the High Definition digital converters of today reaching even closer to the resolution of analog tape, and C.L.A.S.P to merge the sound of true analog tape seamlessly into the Pro Tools workflow, perhaps the “analog vs digital” debate can be finally laid to rest.