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Post by spacedog on Jul 16, 2020 12:18:12 GMT
Expansion One: Try a MOOCThere are many ways to improve your musical experience, or even expand the experience if you prefer. I'll start this thread off with something that starts today, and is free (well, under certain conditions). We are blessed with a lot of free (with some caveats) education available ti us via online teaching through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and one such course that starts today with Coursera is " The Art of Music Production". You can find the course here, and you have to sign up to Coursera. It can be tricky to spot how to do the course for free, and if you want to do that don't sign up for the heavily-signposted START FREE TRIAL, but rather click the less noticeable Audit Course. That gives you free access, but no recognition that you've participated. You also can't take part in the peer reviewed exercises, but if that appeals you can just do it here anyway  I've done quite a few of these courses, and also ones through other providers, and whilst it's a bit annoying that they really push you to pay for things that I don't think you need, there is still good, free learning to be had. You don't know what you don't know until you try...
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Post by admin on Jul 16, 2020 12:49:40 GMT
Hello spacedog, thanks for sharing this course it looks great and I've signed up for it right away. I'm not sure though how far I can make it through (I don't have a great track record with keeping engaged with these free courses). I've also shared a few of those courses in the past here on the forum, but as those get easily lost among the posts I have started a new Wiki page for the collection of these important resources. wiki.aemodular.com/pmwiki.php/AeMusic/FreeOnlineCoursesPlease let me know of any course that should be added to this list! |
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Post by spacedog on Jul 20, 2020 9:27:18 GMT
Expansion One: Try a MOOC[...] We are blessed with a lot of free (with some caveats) education available ti us via online teaching through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and one such course that starts today with Coursera is " The Art of Music Production". You can find the course here, and you have to sign up to Coursera. It can be tricky to spot how to do the course for free, and if you want to do that don't sign up for the heavily-signposted START FREE TRIAL, but rather click the less noticeable Audit Course. [...] Did anyone try it...? If you did, how did you get on...? I did sign up and quite enjoyed the first week of activities - I did them quite quickly as it was interesting. Then when I created three pieces of music this week, I considered how they evoked emotion in me. I'd be lying if I said that I started with a specific intention (I'm not that good). For me, a good response is moving my head and as much of the rest of my body as possible. Also, I did think about the pay-off, i.e. I rewarded myself for all that responsiveness with two solos that built upon each other. I did also (for fun) use something else to create the music, but I'll come on to that in another post. I didn't do the pay thing, so I'm not submitting anything to anyone. Should anyone be interested, here are the pieces of work that you were asked to complete in that first week. Some interesting thoughts. Obviously, you don't have to choose a song from their list for the final part, that's so that there is some tightening in the overall number of songs. Also, it likely forces you to listen to something out of your normal sphere of interest. Week 1
Identifying Emotions
Choose one of your favourite songs. Find a quiet place and listen to your song. As you listen, take notes and record the emotions you feel. Is this song effective at evoking specific emotions? Do different parts evoke different feelings or is there one prevailing emotion throughout the entire song. Write your thoughts below.
Letting Go Of Prejudice
What are some of your musical prejudices and where did they come from? Do you have any strategies for overcoming your musical prejudices? Share your thoughts and connect with your classmates by commenting on theirs.
Active Listening
Find a place where you will not be disturbed (unplug your phone, tell everyone you’re busy) so you can put your full attention on listening.
Choose a song to listen to from the list provided below. You can find the song on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or some other music service. Be prepared to take notes either on your computer or with a pencil and paper.
Before listening, clear your mind. Take a few deep breaths and let go of your prejudices.
Play the song and note your reactions to the song as you listen. When you notice an emotion that you feel, write it down. When you notice a kinesthetic response, write it down. Be sure to include even the most subtle of kinesthetic responses, and remember that even a negative reaction is an emotional response. Include how well the song keeps your attention, and if something “takes you out” of the record and distracts you, write that down.
Once you have listened to the song, look over your notes and write a two to three paragraph reflection on your experience as you listened to the song. Be sure to include your emotional and kinesthetic responses (no matter how subtle).
Song List:
• Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
• Scarlet Town - Gillian Welch
• Walkin' After Midnight - Patsy Cline
• Happy - Pharrell Williams
• Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
• Badlands - Bruce Springsteen
• Sangria - Blake Shelton
• Adele - Hello
Review criteria:
Music has the ability to elicit a wide array of emotional and kinesthetic responses - the same song can make different people feel different ways and not everyone experiences the same song in the same way. Grading for this assignment will not be based on the responses you had, rather it will be based on completion and the overall quality and depth of your reflection.
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Post by rodney on Jul 21, 2020 0:57:43 GMT
Expansion 2 - Acoustic Ecology -
Indigenous Australians call it "Listening to Country"
My friend, Garth Paine, is a serious modular-head and teaches composition and a few other things at Arizona State University. His Acoustic Ecology work is fantastic. Here's a curated playlist on acoustic ecology:
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Post by spacedog on Jul 21, 2020 9:41:58 GMT
Expansion 2 - Acoustic Ecology -
Indigenous Australians call it "Listening to Country"
My friend, Garth Paine, is a serious modular-head and teaches composition and a few other things at Arizona State University. His Acoustic Ecology work is fantastic. Here's a curated playlist on acoustic ecology:
![]() Thanks, rodney, that was an interesting video that quickly lead me to the work of Bernie Krause and the "Biophonic Orchestra", or "The Great Animal Orchestra". This has given me even greater incentive to get out and use my field recorder that mainly gets used straight off my mixer feed. I did record a great thunderstorm recently, and even some birdsong that I gently dropped into the start of one of my issued tracks. The other thing that a field recorder is great at doing is detecting incredibly low wind speeds, some would say imperceptible. When I first used it, I couldn't detect any wind at all, but that field recorder quite happily found it and played it back for me with what seemed like smug delight at my stupidity at not buying a windscreen... a couple of days later my "dead kitten" arrived. and that stopped that behaviour |
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Post by admin on Jul 21, 2020 10:02:53 GMT
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Lugia
Wiki Editors
Ridiculously busy...ish.
Posts: 556 
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Post by Lugia on Jul 21, 2020 22:49:19 GMT
Love doing field recordings...I made a number of them while in Japan during 2005, using a portable MD recorder with either a hydrophone (mono) or a binaural pair of omni mics that I clipped to my glasses' earpieces. Those were from these guys: www.microphonemadness.com/ and their little omnis are top-shelf stuff. |
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Post by rodney on Jul 22, 2020 23:07:58 GMT
On the subject of field recording:
I have got to know a guy in India who makes his own very good value-for-money ambisonic mic arrays. One of his products is a modified Zoom H2N where he takes out the mic cartridges and replaces them with four nicer ones in a tetrahedral array (about $700USD with the zoom). Normally, the H2N can do ambisonics on the horizontal plane using the x/y pair and mid-side pair together. Uma hijacks this feature and provides calibration files to filter everything properly when you import the recording into your DAW etc.
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cpruby
Junior Member
Posts: 73
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Post by cpruby on Jul 24, 2020 5:07:57 GMT
On the subject of field recording:
I have got to know a guy in India who makes his own very good value-for-money ambisonic mic arrays. One of his products is a modified Zoom H2N where he takes out the mic cartridges and replaces them with four nicer ones in a tetrahedral array (about $700USD with the zoom). Normally, the H2N can do ambisonics on the horizontal plane using the x/y pair and mid-side pair together. Uma hijacks this feature and provides calibration files to filter everything properly when you import the recording into your DAW etc. Wouldn't it be easier to just get this 4-capsule VR reocrder from Zoom themselves? |
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Post by rodney on Jul 24, 2020 19:11:50 GMT
Where's the fun in that?
I agree, the Zoom VR mic looks pretty good value for money.
What I'll probably end up doing is 3D print the parts, buy the cartridges, assemble it all, THEN send it to Uma in India for calibration, just because ...
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