Dear readers,
Here are the two songs we will be releasing as double A-sides.
Tale of the Liars
Magic
Our soundcloud profile : darkproject
Regards.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Mix it till you puke
Dear readers,
This is a live blog update on mixing a song that is codenamed "Indian".
Edit: This song got its release name - Tale of the Liars.
Step 0: Record and fix any problems.
In the tracks we had, I noticed that there was no sense of space in many places, especially the verses, bridge and solo. This fixture was easy. Overlaying tracks with feedback and swell based guitar layers helps. The stereo swell/flange/delay effects consume the space but the main guitar doesn't allow this guitar to be prominent unless someone is listening deliberately to peel off the layers of production.
The heavy riffs were played sloppily at places in the original recording. Matching patches is a difficult task. Although the equipment is the same, the sound card and A/D converter is not. The trick is to get an approximately identical sound and then use a gentle multiband compression to iron out any differences.
Step 1: Export all chunks as consolidated stems.
It is far easier to work with consolidated stems than a jigsaw puzzle of multiple tracks that look like patchwork. Most big-shot engineers have assistants and interns who do this for them. REAPER has an option to export to stems. Some sections can be easily exported in that fashion. For the rest, it is an act of mute/solo and export as a render. At this point the folder has 392 files and working with such humongous data is inhumane. The task is relatively simple but is time consuming.
Set the output to 0 db or to a level below that so that individual tracks don't clip. Export each instrument/layer/stem individually as mono (preferably, wherever possible) or stereo files (where inevitable) so that when time aligned, they will play in perfect sync. Also, the number of files and tracks will decrease. When in doubt whether to print the effects or not into the stems, repeat the process twice - once with the FX and once with FX bypassed.
After the process is over, I am left with 28 tracks in 28 files, 2 of which are "doubt prints" with FX. This is a far better number than 392. It's manageable, its comprehensive and above all - it's filtered knowledge, not noise laden information.
Step 2: Import all chunks and clean up.
Most tracks will have long stretches of silences. These must be cleaned to reduce hard disk usage. Also grouping the members makes track management easier. For this project I have grouped them as the people who played them. Also, I made three aux tracks related to ambiance - a long plate, a short plate and a BPM synced delay. The master track also has a visualization insert - Voxengo SPAN. This one is an indispensable tool.
This step is also the very starting point of mixing.
Step 3: Get the drum, bass and vocals balance.
This is a preliminary approach. The levels will no doubt change, the EQs will get tweaked but the first thing is to get the drum balanced and then feed in the bass. Then I like to bring in the vocals. The guitars often work around this space.
What eventually happens is that I get a relative tonality of elements in the mix that work together, but in the end the levels are all over the place. However, as a whole, the drum and bass still stand well (maybe a bit buried or a bit OTT) in the mix. Earlier, I used to mix the instrumental and bring in the vocals. In this approach, the vocals feel like an outside element. In the current approach of building the tonal instrumentation around vocals, the instruments can be tamed. Trust me when I say this, taming instrument is a far better idea than taming and killing the vibe of the vocals.
The BPM synced delay (earlier step) is engaged to create a sense of open space in the solos and an interesting slap-feedback effect in a particular section of the background vocals.
Step 4: Do nothing.
At this point the vibe of the song starts to build and you'll have a fair a idea what is working and what is not. Time to give the song few good listens and make mental notes. It is better not to touch anything. A fresh set of ears is needed to move forward. Also, time to grab a CD for referencing.
There are few specific things I have to address in the mix I am working. Certain volume of an instrument fits well in a section while it sounds so OTT in another. Time for splicing and creating approximately (minor difference) identical lanes. This is not the time for automation and riding the faders.
Step 5: Mix, re-mix, mix at lower volumes, mix loud, re-mix at lower volumes.
This is the main time to follow the vibe and guts. Pull out anything, absolutely anything out of your arsenal. But remember one rule. No automation, no riding the fader. If I start riding the faders now, I'll be in a mess of a situation with tons of automation lanes and there will be nothing left that can be called as "fine tuning". So far the general mix sounds how I approximately wanted it to be. There are a few places I want the vocals to be a bit louder than other places, but that is reserved for a later time.
Occasionally mixing quite is something I do post step 4. This is something that I picked up from Andy Wallace. It helps your ears judge relative volumes better. However, one must also have fresh ears before attempting to move from louder to quieter volumes.
Step 6: Shape up the track using references.
There are two references. One is human (band/client,etc.) the other is the reference CD you chose. In my case, since my bandmates are the ones who'll co-approve the track, I send a streak of mixes with minor modifications, ride the fader and adjust the mix to the comments they send me as feedback. Also, constant referencing with the recorded material (CD) keeps the overall tonality in check. It took me 3 versions to get to a point where nothing major can be done (unless you take a 180 degree turn and undo the whole mix - in that case go back to step 2).
At this point the overall tonality is established and a coherent song is obtained. The volume will be low (since it is unmastered and you don't want clipping).
A small trick that I picked up from George Martin's interview - when the system is overloaded, it is better to bounce stems and relieve the system off its complexity. That's how The Beatles got such textured multi-layered sound on 4 track recording machines. The same applies when the FX overloads.
Step 7: Prepare for mastering.
Leave some decent headroom and make sure that the mix is not tamed with some brickwall limiter. Charles Dye and Brad Blackwood have some wonderful tips to share.
Since we cannot afford a mastering engineer (ME), I have to "master" it (if it can be called mastering). I like to keep a replay gain of -5 to -6 dB with peak just falling short of 1.0000 (float). The modern records have an RG of around -10 to -14 dB. These are fatigue inducing and will kill the eardrums, not to mention the dynamics and transients. My advice is to take it to a genuine ME. A good ME can do wonders with a well mixed track.
Regards.
This is a live blog update on mixing a song that is codenamed "Indian".
Edit: This song got its release name - Tale of the Liars.
Step 0: Record and fix any problems.
In the tracks we had, I noticed that there was no sense of space in many places, especially the verses, bridge and solo. This fixture was easy. Overlaying tracks with feedback and swell based guitar layers helps. The stereo swell/flange/delay effects consume the space but the main guitar doesn't allow this guitar to be prominent unless someone is listening deliberately to peel off the layers of production.
The heavy riffs were played sloppily at places in the original recording. Matching patches is a difficult task. Although the equipment is the same, the sound card and A/D converter is not. The trick is to get an approximately identical sound and then use a gentle multiband compression to iron out any differences.
Step 1: Export all chunks as consolidated stems.
It is far easier to work with consolidated stems than a jigsaw puzzle of multiple tracks that look like patchwork. Most big-shot engineers have assistants and interns who do this for them. REAPER has an option to export to stems. Some sections can be easily exported in that fashion. For the rest, it is an act of mute/solo and export as a render. At this point the folder has 392 files and working with such humongous data is inhumane. The task is relatively simple but is time consuming.
Set the output to 0 db or to a level below that so that individual tracks don't clip. Export each instrument/layer/stem individually as mono (preferably, wherever possible) or stereo files (where inevitable) so that when time aligned, they will play in perfect sync. Also, the number of files and tracks will decrease. When in doubt whether to print the effects or not into the stems, repeat the process twice - once with the FX and once with FX bypassed.
After the process is over, I am left with 28 tracks in 28 files, 2 of which are "doubt prints" with FX. This is a far better number than 392. It's manageable, its comprehensive and above all - it's filtered knowledge, not noise laden information.
Step 2: Import all chunks and clean up.
Most tracks will have long stretches of silences. These must be cleaned to reduce hard disk usage. Also grouping the members makes track management easier. For this project I have grouped them as the people who played them. Also, I made three aux tracks related to ambiance - a long plate, a short plate and a BPM synced delay. The master track also has a visualization insert - Voxengo SPAN. This one is an indispensable tool.
This step is also the very starting point of mixing.
Step 3: Get the drum, bass and vocals balance.
This is a preliminary approach. The levels will no doubt change, the EQs will get tweaked but the first thing is to get the drum balanced and then feed in the bass. Then I like to bring in the vocals. The guitars often work around this space.
What eventually happens is that I get a relative tonality of elements in the mix that work together, but in the end the levels are all over the place. However, as a whole, the drum and bass still stand well (maybe a bit buried or a bit OTT) in the mix. Earlier, I used to mix the instrumental and bring in the vocals. In this approach, the vocals feel like an outside element. In the current approach of building the tonal instrumentation around vocals, the instruments can be tamed. Trust me when I say this, taming instrument is a far better idea than taming and killing the vibe of the vocals.
The BPM synced delay (earlier step) is engaged to create a sense of open space in the solos and an interesting slap-feedback effect in a particular section of the background vocals.
Step 4: Do nothing.
At this point the vibe of the song starts to build and you'll have a fair a idea what is working and what is not. Time to give the song few good listens and make mental notes. It is better not to touch anything. A fresh set of ears is needed to move forward. Also, time to grab a CD for referencing.
There are few specific things I have to address in the mix I am working. Certain volume of an instrument fits well in a section while it sounds so OTT in another. Time for splicing and creating approximately (minor difference) identical lanes. This is not the time for automation and riding the faders.
Step 5: Mix, re-mix, mix at lower volumes, mix loud, re-mix at lower volumes.
This is the main time to follow the vibe and guts. Pull out anything, absolutely anything out of your arsenal. But remember one rule. No automation, no riding the fader. If I start riding the faders now, I'll be in a mess of a situation with tons of automation lanes and there will be nothing left that can be called as "fine tuning". So far the general mix sounds how I approximately wanted it to be. There are a few places I want the vocals to be a bit louder than other places, but that is reserved for a later time.
Occasionally mixing quite is something I do post step 4. This is something that I picked up from Andy Wallace. It helps your ears judge relative volumes better. However, one must also have fresh ears before attempting to move from louder to quieter volumes.
Step 6: Shape up the track using references.
There are two references. One is human (band/client,etc.) the other is the reference CD you chose. In my case, since my bandmates are the ones who'll co-approve the track, I send a streak of mixes with minor modifications, ride the fader and adjust the mix to the comments they send me as feedback. Also, constant referencing with the recorded material (CD) keeps the overall tonality in check. It took me 3 versions to get to a point where nothing major can be done (unless you take a 180 degree turn and undo the whole mix - in that case go back to step 2).
At this point the overall tonality is established and a coherent song is obtained. The volume will be low (since it is unmastered and you don't want clipping).
A small trick that I picked up from George Martin's interview - when the system is overloaded, it is better to bounce stems and relieve the system off its complexity. That's how The Beatles got such textured multi-layered sound on 4 track recording machines. The same applies when the FX overloads.
Step 7: Prepare for mastering.
Leave some decent headroom and make sure that the mix is not tamed with some brickwall limiter. Charles Dye and Brad Blackwood have some wonderful tips to share.
Since we cannot afford a mastering engineer (ME), I have to "master" it (if it can be called mastering). I like to keep a replay gain of -5 to -6 dB with peak just falling short of 1.0000 (float). The modern records have an RG of around -10 to -14 dB. These are fatigue inducing and will kill the eardrums, not to mention the dynamics and transients. My advice is to take it to a genuine ME. A good ME can do wonders with a well mixed track.
Regards.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Progress on Thesis / Update 6
Dear readers,
The first draft looks promising. However, on close scrutiny, we have found a key analysis missing. Although it's a small portion but an important one nonetheless. I'll probably lock myself up in the coming two days.
Update: (14:18) - Finished two tables. Need to extract graphs. Also need to do a comparison of the coalescence modes.
Update: (21:26) - Finished generating data. Need to plot these things on graph(s).
Regards.
The first draft looks promising. However, on close scrutiny, we have found a key analysis missing. Although it's a small portion but an important one nonetheless. I'll probably lock myself up in the coming two days.
Update: (14:18) - Finished two tables. Need to extract graphs. Also need to do a comparison of the coalescence modes.
Update: (21:26) - Finished generating data. Need to plot these things on graph(s).
Regards.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Flowchart of the program I use in my PhD work
This is 2011 C.E., Saturday, 11th June of the Gregorian calender, 2352 hours IST (GMT+0550).
I have finished writing the first draft of my PhD thesis.
Figure B.1: Flowchart describing an overview of the solution procedure.
I have finished writing the first draft of my PhD thesis.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Minor update on PhD work
Dear readers,
As a whole documentation is the most tiring and frustrating experience. Since sections of my thesis were written at different times and with different targets in mind, there is a lot of discrepancy and non-uniformity. Polishing everything to a coherent whole is the final job. The direct contributory chapter - Results and Discussions - was the first piece that I sat down to revise yesterday. I am doing three things simultaneously.
So far I have finished 2 of 4 sections in this chapter.
There is also a conflicting symbol which denotes two important parameters. The symbol for one of them must be replaced with a unique one.
Regards.
As a whole documentation is the most tiring and frustrating experience. Since sections of my thesis were written at different times and with different targets in mind, there is a lot of discrepancy and non-uniformity. Polishing everything to a coherent whole is the final job. The direct contributory chapter - Results and Discussions - was the first piece that I sat down to revise yesterday. I am doing three things simultaneously.
- revision, copy-edits and spelling checks to eradicate errors.
- extracting important deductions and numbering them for the Conclusions chapter
- typesetting the document to avoid a bad visual experience.
So far I have finished 2 of 4 sections in this chapter.
There is also a conflicting symbol which denotes two important parameters. The symbol for one of them must be replaced with a unique one.
Regards.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Editing is tedious
Dear readers,
Editing is a tedious job. The tediousness of this process is compounded manyfold if the document is written by someone else. And, I have only gone through one section so far through a document I have written myself!!! The idea is to scan through the Results and Discussion chapter and extract conclusions. In the process, I will also check the coherency and accuracy of the interpretation.
Regards.
Editing is a tedious job. The tediousness of this process is compounded manyfold if the document is written by someone else. And, I have only gone through one section so far through a document I have written myself!!! The idea is to scan through the Results and Discussion chapter and extract conclusions. In the process, I will also check the coherency and accuracy of the interpretation.
Regards.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Our new band bio.
"A project aimed at the formation of the band" - Dark Project was always subscripted with this tagline in it's inception years (2002-2005); the years when Sauvik and Sudipto graduated from school and ventured out to discover their interest in making music. In 2005, the tagline lost the value because the project reached it's completion. A band was formed with 5 people in it. Meanwhile, the song, 'Walking Again' had gained quite a bit of a listener base.
Dark Project is an English band that composes music that can be classified as an approximate blend of Alternative and Progressive Rock. However, the band doesn't believe in this distinction while creating any of their stuff. The band found it's ground in the year 2007, when they came out with their first offering in the form of a 9 song album titled Chaos Sessions. It was aptly dedicated to the chaotic noises the band produced while jamming and making this record in the hostel corridors of Patel Hall of Residence, IIT Kharagpur. The band had already garnered interest and had started playing live.
Dark Project became one of the highest played Indian bands on CBS's last.fm in the year 2007-08. 'Cover Up', '50 ML', 'Mother' and 'Caterpillar/Butterfly' were notable numbers from Chaos Session that found an appreciator in the audience because of their thematic approach to each of the songs. The limited print of Chaos Sessions was sold off in months time. Also at this time, the band was struggling with the geographical boundaries as the band got split between Kolkata and Bangalore.
Amidst all the adversity, they did not want to stop the production mill and Dark Project came out with their second full length album titled as Liberty & Entropy in the year 2009. The plans were certainly bigger this time. The album was released on iTunes, Amazon and CD baby for the international audience and was available via VPP to the Indian audiences. The packaging of the album was an eye opener for many - something which was not done by any other band in India in the past. The single 'Streak Of Coldness' got played on multiple radio stations in India. The album was eventually reviewed by the Rolling Stone Magazine, Rock Street Journal, IndiarockMp3, Indiescion, etc. who published their polarising views about it.
The band played quite a few shows in the whole process and was also a part of the Pub Rock Fest in the year 2009 conducted by RSJ. Later in the year, Sudipto had to fly out of the country for his work commitments and the band decided to go on a hiatus. For the past 3 months, the band has been working to prepare themselves for another album cycle. Their geographical boundaries are sorted out after a long wait of 5 years as 4 of it's members are based out of a Bangalore now and Sauvik is planning to join in soon.
The story narrated above has more to it than just the words - Dark Project is not just a band, it's a relationship that has survived, struggled and bruised through the odds. While some of us who know the band might get a little swayed by the individual careers that the band members have under them, music is still the one thing that each and everyone of the band members consider as their thing to happiness in life. Even with a limited English music listener base in the country, Dark Project wants to inspire people through their work as they prepare themselves up for a comeback that only reads - Follow your dreams, no matter how bad the situations get, feel the 'Magic' that happens because of it.
Dark Project is an English band that composes music that can be classified as an approximate blend of Alternative and Progressive Rock. However, the band doesn't believe in this distinction while creating any of their stuff. The band found it's ground in the year 2007, when they came out with their first offering in the form of a 9 song album titled Chaos Sessions. It was aptly dedicated to the chaotic noises the band produced while jamming and making this record in the hostel corridors of Patel Hall of Residence, IIT Kharagpur. The band had already garnered interest and had started playing live.
Dark Project became one of the highest played Indian bands on CBS's last.fm in the year 2007-08. 'Cover Up', '50 ML', 'Mother' and 'Caterpillar/Butterfly' were notable numbers from Chaos Session that found an appreciator in the audience because of their thematic approach to each of the songs. The limited print of Chaos Sessions was sold off in months time. Also at this time, the band was struggling with the geographical boundaries as the band got split between Kolkata and Bangalore.
Amidst all the adversity, they did not want to stop the production mill and Dark Project came out with their second full length album titled as Liberty & Entropy in the year 2009. The plans were certainly bigger this time. The album was released on iTunes, Amazon and CD baby for the international audience and was available via VPP to the Indian audiences. The packaging of the album was an eye opener for many - something which was not done by any other band in India in the past. The single 'Streak Of Coldness' got played on multiple radio stations in India. The album was eventually reviewed by the Rolling Stone Magazine, Rock Street Journal, IndiarockMp3, Indiescion, etc. who published their polarising views about it.
The band played quite a few shows in the whole process and was also a part of the Pub Rock Fest in the year 2009 conducted by RSJ. Later in the year, Sudipto had to fly out of the country for his work commitments and the band decided to go on a hiatus. For the past 3 months, the band has been working to prepare themselves for another album cycle. Their geographical boundaries are sorted out after a long wait of 5 years as 4 of it's members are based out of a Bangalore now and Sauvik is planning to join in soon.
The story narrated above has more to it than just the words - Dark Project is not just a band, it's a relationship that has survived, struggled and bruised through the odds. While some of us who know the band might get a little swayed by the individual careers that the band members have under them, music is still the one thing that each and everyone of the band members consider as their thing to happiness in life. Even with a limited English music listener base in the country, Dark Project wants to inspire people through their work as they prepare themselves up for a comeback that only reads - Follow your dreams, no matter how bad the situations get, feel the 'Magic' that happens because of it.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Progress on Thesis / Update 5
Dear readers,
Nothing troubles me much more than a badly typeset document. My thesis is in that state at this point. $\LaTeX$ makes it bearable but still equations are all over the place. Today I was forced to replace this eyesore
with this
Blogger compression is not that good. I can see the compression artifacts here. The original is a vector image so I am not worried about scaling.
What's left?
The entire Conclusions chapter with
a) Summary of results
b) Scope of future work
An appendix (Appendix B) outlining the various parts of the code and a flowchart (optional).
List of notations and symbols in the frontmatter.
Regards.
Nothing troubles me much more than a badly typeset document. My thesis is in that state at this point. $\LaTeX$ makes it bearable but still equations are all over the place. Today I was forced to replace this eyesore
with this
Blogger compression is not that good. I can see the compression artifacts here. The original is a vector image so I am not worried about scaling.
What's left?
The entire Conclusions chapter with
a) Summary of results
b) Scope of future work
An appendix (Appendix B) outlining the various parts of the code and a flowchart (optional).
List of notations and symbols in the frontmatter.
Regards.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
On other's opinions of your artistic work
Dear readers,
Please stop taking in others opinions. I know you did not ask for it. Everybody loves some control and would love to see their influence reflected in someone else's work. When you ask people for opinions, they have an illusion that you are inviting them to be a part of the creation process and would love to impose their point of views on this. You gave them a song to listen. If they hated it, they can go back and listen to a downloaded crappy mp3 of their favourite artist. I would be more than happy to see that.
A fictional anecdote: A man walks into an exhibition and looks at a picture. He complains. "Dammit! There is too much blue and no red in this picture. Too much blue hurts my eyes. Doctor asked me not to look at blue. What crap is this? The artist couldn't even paint one smooth brushstroke. What a non-realistic depiction of a scene. What are these swirling vortices? I have never seen one like that in real life. This is shit, absolute shit." I am sorry. Van Gogh did not ask Mr. Complaint Box before he sat down to paint The Starry Night.
Steven Wilson puts up a question, "So I’m asking myself: Are these really reviews or just an endless noise of opinions—and is there a difference?"
So I thought about it. And then I realized! Oh! How much I would love a homogenised world. One rule and one dictum to bind every existential being and every creative output that has ever been regurgitated out of that mortal being's guts - dreaming this world up as fragments of an anthropocentric illusion, as if his creation would be perfect and immortal. But then it would be such a boring place. I do understand somewhere that tendency to homogenise is hard-wired in our genes and every Mr. Complaint Box's protein molecules synthesised by that gene could do with some less amount of blue in Van Gogh's Starry Nights.
Regards.
Please stop taking in others opinions. I know you did not ask for it. Everybody loves some control and would love to see their influence reflected in someone else's work. When you ask people for opinions, they have an illusion that you are inviting them to be a part of the creation process and would love to impose their point of views on this. You gave them a song to listen. If they hated it, they can go back and listen to a downloaded crappy mp3 of their favourite artist. I would be more than happy to see that.
A fictional anecdote: A man walks into an exhibition and looks at a picture. He complains. "Dammit! There is too much blue and no red in this picture. Too much blue hurts my eyes. Doctor asked me not to look at blue. What crap is this? The artist couldn't even paint one smooth brushstroke. What a non-realistic depiction of a scene. What are these swirling vortices? I have never seen one like that in real life. This is shit, absolute shit." I am sorry. Van Gogh did not ask Mr. Complaint Box before he sat down to paint The Starry Night.
Steven Wilson puts up a question, "So I’m asking myself: Are these really reviews or just an endless noise of opinions—and is there a difference?"
So I thought about it. And then I realized! Oh! How much I would love a homogenised world. One rule and one dictum to bind every existential being and every creative output that has ever been regurgitated out of that mortal being's guts - dreaming this world up as fragments of an anthropocentric illusion, as if his creation would be perfect and immortal. But then it would be such a boring place. I do understand somewhere that tendency to homogenise is hard-wired in our genes and every Mr. Complaint Box's protein molecules synthesised by that gene could do with some less amount of blue in Van Gogh's Starry Nights.
Regards.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Wrapping up the analysis
...and the first draft of my Results and Discussion chapter.
Dear readers,
I will take a break. There are specific areas in the thesis that require some major textual additions.
a) Yesterday's lecture gave me some important insight into other works in my field. Need to expand the Literature Review section with the newer details.
b) Write an objective. This would be my primary goal at this point of time. A rough sketch was written in the registration seminar report. The version in the thesis must be solid.
c) Future scope of work has to be written by me. My guide says he will sit down with me while jotting down Conclusion chapter.
d) Another appendix describing the salient features of the in-house code that was developed.
On another note, the promotion ready copy of DP's Magic was sent to the other guys.
Regards.
Dear readers,
I will take a break. There are specific areas in the thesis that require some major textual additions.
a) Yesterday's lecture gave me some important insight into other works in my field. Need to expand the Literature Review section with the newer details.
b) Write an objective. This would be my primary goal at this point of time. A rough sketch was written in the registration seminar report. The version in the thesis must be solid.
c) Future scope of work has to be written by me. My guide says he will sit down with me while jotting down Conclusion chapter.
d) Another appendix describing the salient features of the in-house code that was developed.
On another note, the promotion ready copy of DP's Magic was sent to the other guys.
Regards.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Writing an analysis for the section
Dear readers,
I have been caught up in the last few weeks with the results. Now that I have my data, as well as the plots, it is time to write an analysis which can explain the plots that I have. Today's work would be just that.
Update : Just attended a seminar by Prof. C.S. Upadhyay. I'll need to do a lot of reading. Especially certain papers in my field and justify the existence of my work. At least I can say that the justification will not be that difficult. It is like finding a chair to sit on amidst this whole universe of work.
Update @ 14:00 : Post lunch, I have done only stupid things. I should get back to work. So far I have written only two paragraphs.
Update @ 15:15 : Processed and scrambled all the seven figures onto a $\LaTeX$ document and wrote all the captions. Writing interpretations and deduction is the toughest job of all.
Regards.
I have been caught up in the last few weeks with the results. Now that I have my data, as well as the plots, it is time to write an analysis which can explain the plots that I have. Today's work would be just that.
Update : Just attended a seminar by Prof. C.S. Upadhyay. I'll need to do a lot of reading. Especially certain papers in my field and justify the existence of my work. At least I can say that the justification will not be that difficult. It is like finding a chair to sit on amidst this whole universe of work.
Update @ 14:00 : Post lunch, I have done only stupid things. I should get back to work. So far I have written only two paragraphs.
Update @ 15:15 : Processed and scrambled all the seven figures onto a $\LaTeX$ document and wrote all the captions. Writing interpretations and deduction is the toughest job of all.
Regards.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
It is already June and...
Dear readers,
It is already June and I am knee deep in work. They say that the last few hundred meters of a summit are the hardest. For me it feels like a new mountain altogether. The damping formulation has driven me to my wits end. I hope nobody takes this up without proper background and time.
While plotting I found quite a lot of discrepancies in the plots. Hence I am back to square 2. Thankfully, it is not square 1 since I had split the program into individual subprograms. Fixing the plots also doesn't help much. Somehow my task is to get the six results onto graphs. And I must do this today
Update 15:53 - So far I have been able to get only 2 plots ready and a sectional plot of one of them. Analysis will be tough. The average shape looks promising but I have to work with very small amount of damping. As a consequence, getting awesome separation is near impossible. It is as if one corner of a parallelogram bed-sheet is pinned and you have to align two adjacent edges to a rectangular bed when you know very well that it can't be done.
Update 17:00 - 3 plots out of 6 possible essential plots + 1 subplot. Need a break. Should resume this in an hour.
Update 20:00 - All 7 plots are done. Tomorrow I must write the interpretation of these plots and other results pertaining to the plot.
Regards.
It is already June and I am knee deep in work. They say that the last few hundred meters of a summit are the hardest. For me it feels like a new mountain altogether. The damping formulation has driven me to my wits end. I hope nobody takes this up without proper background and time.
While plotting I found quite a lot of discrepancies in the plots. Hence I am back to square 2. Thankfully, it is not square 1 since I had split the program into individual subprograms. Fixing the plots also doesn't help much. Somehow my task is to get the six results onto graphs. And I must do this today
Update 15:53 - So far I have been able to get only 2 plots ready and a sectional plot of one of them. Analysis will be tough. The average shape looks promising but I have to work with very small amount of damping. As a consequence, getting awesome separation is near impossible. It is as if one corner of a parallelogram bed-sheet is pinned and you have to align two adjacent edges to a rectangular bed when you know very well that it can't be done.
Update 17:00 - 3 plots out of 6 possible essential plots + 1 subplot. Need a break. Should resume this in an hour.
Update 20:00 - All 7 plots are done. Tomorrow I must write the interpretation of these plots and other results pertaining to the plot.
Regards.
Monday, May 30, 2011
2 more days of isolation
...until I finish all the cases. This is the only site I will visit.
Update (30/5, 11:13): run-time error M6110: MATH - floating-point error: stack overflow http://bit.ly/ig7faQ. Seems like there is no direct way out. I will have to split the program.
Update (30/5, 12:52): Devised a bypass for the stack overflow problem. This is not robust at all. Need to get some outputs quick before the internal heap allocation algorithm behaves like crazy.
Update (30/5, 14:22): Had food. Getting ready with pen and paper. Need to jot down all cases I have to run.
Update (30/5, 15:26): Took almost an hour but I have raw data of all the four essential cases. Will compare them and run two more additional cases if things appear fine.
Update (30/5, 15:47): Finished all essential and additional cases. Need some sleep. Will return to the problem as soon as I regain consciousness.
Update (30/5, 18:11): Working on the appendix - two methods to analyze dynamic systems, Have already written one of the methods.
Update(31/5, 12:04): Finished the Appendix (both sections).
Update (30/5, 11:13): run-time error M6110: MATH - floating-point error: stack overflow http://bit.ly/ig7faQ. Seems like there is no direct way out. I will have to split the program.
Update (30/5, 12:52): Devised a bypass for the stack overflow problem. This is not robust at all. Need to get some outputs quick before the internal heap allocation algorithm behaves like crazy.
Update (30/5, 14:22): Had food. Getting ready with pen and paper. Need to jot down all cases I have to run.
Update (30/5, 15:26): Took almost an hour but I have raw data of all the four essential cases. Will compare them and run two more additional cases if things appear fine.
Update (30/5, 15:47): Finished all essential and additional cases. Need some sleep. Will return to the problem as soon as I regain consciousness.
Update (30/5, 18:11): Working on the appendix - two methods to analyze dynamic systems, Have already written one of the methods.
Update(31/5, 12:04): Finished the Appendix (both sections).
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Further micro-level completion plans
Dear readers/myself,
Today's job.
a) Complete the four schematics.
b) Run at least 4-5 cases.
Regards.
Today's job.
a) Complete the four schematics.
b) Run at least 4-5 cases.
Regards.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
2 days of isolation
I'll give myself two days of isolation - no phones, no connection, no internet ^except this blog , no distraction - just lab, food and night sleep. And skim through the code to see what in the fucking segment is going so wrong. After many futile half-hearted attempts, this appears to be the only way out.
Update (26/5, 13:19): I have obtained a decent bifurcation width for second order cases. The undamped values appear fine but the damped values are off.
Update (26/5, 13:29): Although it is not mentioned anywhere but are these values to be computed using largest possible bifurcation? Each order has two roots and there are two roots in each order. Also at higher orders, the offset errors will diminish.
Update (26/5, 13:52): Test plot looks great. The damped values are still a bit off.
Update (26/5, 14:42): Detected a small error in coding. This factor has very little contribution to the overall effects. The damped values are still off. Must check original formulation by Deolasi.
Update (26/5, 16:00): No sign of improvement. No sign of my guide either. Nothing will work out unless I meet him.
Update (27/5, 10:30): Met my guide. He is fine with whatever results I am obtaining as long as it is legit. Getting back to writing a few crucial pages about the general nature of instability.
Update (26/5, 13:19): I have obtained a decent bifurcation width for second order cases. The undamped values appear fine but the damped values are off.
Update (26/5, 13:29): Although it is not mentioned anywhere but are these values to be computed using largest possible bifurcation? Each order has two roots and there are two roots in each order. Also at higher orders, the offset errors will diminish.
Update (26/5, 13:52): Test plot looks great. The damped values are still a bit off.
Update (26/5, 14:42): Detected a small error in coding. This factor has very little contribution to the overall effects. The damped values are still off. Must check original formulation by Deolasi.
Update (26/5, 16:00): No sign of improvement. No sign of my guide either. Nothing will work out unless I meet him.
Update (27/5, 10:30): Met my guide. He is fine with whatever results I am obtaining as long as it is legit. Getting back to writing a few crucial pages about the general nature of instability.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Working for Dark Project
Dear readers,
While I have been encountering failures after failures for my thesis, things are looking up bright for the work going on for my band, DP.
Yesterday, I sent across a non-automated mixdown of our forthcoming single that made most people happy. Let me shed some light on the thing. For the last one week I have been trying hard to mix the track. I don't use the best gear in the world but I know my gear and their fallacies fairly well - a knowledge indispensable to the mixing engineer. I have been trying hard to implement Michael H. Brauer's ABCD technique using plugins. Sadly I landed up with two versions of crap. Even a frequency analyzer *showed* me how off I was. The low end was suppressed to the point that the mix started sounding tinny. I would have pushed forward even more had I not come across a statement by MHB himself about using his ABCD trick for mixing in-the-box - "For those who think it can be done, do it. But I'm telling you, I've tried what mike is talking about and it works in only one application but not in combination. I'm not going to get into a debate on this issue. As some of the other guys are realizing,my complete multibuss concept was designed to work in the analog world. The feel that i'm looking for get's blurred and the tones get distorted when in the box. Because it is necessary to fully combine the techniques of multibuss compression, parallel compression and the use of send/return compression, the routing in the digital domain causes issues that ADC can't compensate for and causes undesirable results. Meaning it ain't f*cking musical."
I have my share of methods - things that are time tested and work wonders (provided you have well recorded tracks to begin with). This time I used Anesthetize by Porcupine Tree as a frequency and leveling benchmark even if these songs couldn't be more apart stylistically. Also for the first time, I have mixed using REAPER as my primary DAW.
On another side, I have to re-design the official website, too. Yesterday, I submitted a prototype skin to Sudipto. He liked it. The biggest hurdle will be to author the media player. I have my eye on the flowplayer. However, reconstructing the skin will be a difficult job to do. The artwork for the album cycle needs to be as organic as the music itself. In short, I will have to meticulously hand draw them.
I should take a break for a few hours and get back to my PhD problem - one that's giving me the most amount of headaches.
Regards.
P.S. Thanks to Steven Wilson and the journalists who interviewed him and put his mind out in the public.
While I have been encountering failures after failures for my thesis, things are looking up bright for the work going on for my band, DP.
Yesterday, I sent across a non-automated mixdown of our forthcoming single that made most people happy. Let me shed some light on the thing. For the last one week I have been trying hard to mix the track. I don't use the best gear in the world but I know my gear and their fallacies fairly well - a knowledge indispensable to the mixing engineer. I have been trying hard to implement Michael H. Brauer's ABCD technique using plugins. Sadly I landed up with two versions of crap. Even a frequency analyzer *showed* me how off I was. The low end was suppressed to the point that the mix started sounding tinny. I would have pushed forward even more had I not come across a statement by MHB himself about using his ABCD trick for mixing in-the-box - "For those who think it can be done, do it. But I'm telling you, I've tried what mike is talking about and it works in only one application but not in combination. I'm not going to get into a debate on this issue. As some of the other guys are realizing,my complete multibuss concept was designed to work in the analog world. The feel that i'm looking for get's blurred and the tones get distorted when in the box. Because it is necessary to fully combine the techniques of multibuss compression, parallel compression and the use of send/return compression, the routing in the digital domain causes issues that ADC can't compensate for and causes undesirable results. Meaning it ain't f*cking musical."
I have my share of methods - things that are time tested and work wonders (provided you have well recorded tracks to begin with). This time I used Anesthetize by Porcupine Tree as a frequency and leveling benchmark even if these songs couldn't be more apart stylistically. Also for the first time, I have mixed using REAPER as my primary DAW.
On another side, I have to re-design the official website, too. Yesterday, I submitted a prototype skin to Sudipto. He liked it. The biggest hurdle will be to author the media player. I have my eye on the flowplayer. However, reconstructing the skin will be a difficult job to do. The artwork for the album cycle needs to be as organic as the music itself. In short, I will have to meticulously hand draw them.
I should take a break for a few hours and get back to my PhD problem - one that's giving me the most amount of headaches.
Regards.
P.S. Thanks to Steven Wilson and the journalists who interviewed him and put his mind out in the public.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Failures of the n-th order.
Dear readers,
I have been facing failures of the n-th order. The mixes I make are pathetic. The speakers I have are inaccurate and the output doesn't translate well to other systems.
Also, recently caught a bug in the program. Sets me back by a week or so. Here I am, trying to come up with a feasible completion strategy.
Regards.
I have been facing failures of the n-th order. The mixes I make are pathetic. The speakers I have are inaccurate and the output doesn't translate well to other systems.
Also, recently caught a bug in the program. Sets me back by a week or so. Here I am, trying to come up with a feasible completion strategy.
Regards.
Monday, May 9, 2011
In Bangalore
Dear readers,
I have safely reached Bangalore today. HWH-YPR Duronto ran pretty well and reached before time - something unimaginable in India. Today is a day of rest, to get rid of the buzz that arises due to imbalance in ampullary cupula - lack of proprioception.
There is also a herculean task of setting up Sudipto's computer with all the necessary software for recording.
Regards.
I have safely reached Bangalore today. HWH-YPR Duronto ran pretty well and reached before time - something unimaginable in India. Today is a day of rest, to get rid of the buzz that arises due to imbalance in ampullary cupula - lack of proprioception.
There is also a herculean task of setting up Sudipto's computer with all the necessary software for recording.
Regards.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
List of things to carry to Bangalore.
- Instruments/Equipments
Guitar+Picks+Extra StringsPOD+ControllerPedalsCablesNetbook (charged) (+charger)Backup DVDsPhone (charged) (+charger)- Softwares
REAPERezDrummerWaves PluginAmplitube / Ampeg VSTVoxengo SPAN, Overtone EQ, SaturatorNuendo (as a backup)Production audio tracks- Clothes
2x Trousers (+Tech Market)1x Cargo track.5x TeeBermudasTowelWash clothes.- Get books from Mehta + Firoze
Not a very productive day on my part, but....
... got a lot of things straightened out with my guide. Now all I need is a micro strategy and a list of possible cases to iterate on. That should do the job. I only have four more days to finish this part before leaving for the recording session.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)