Ame one Loves You

Recently I have had the pleasure at getting annoyed with BMI. Before I get into it, let me provide some background to it.

At SIQ Records, we are asking all the artists to sign up with a Performance Right’s Organization (PRO). The reason is we are hoping to start licensing music out and for publishing. After reviewing the three main PRO’s, in America (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC), we recommended that the artists sign up with BMI. The main reason is because it is free to sign up with BMI. Some of the artists on SIQ are kind of in bad financial shape. It was felt that the free signup of BMI would be best and not be any financial burden to the most impoverished of artists. ASCAP requires a one time fee of $25 and SESAC is selective in who they choose to represent. Also from what I understand ASCAP and BMI are non-profit and have an agreement with the United States Government. BMI sounded like the best choice for a poor struggling musician.

Now, on with the story. After harassing many of the artists to sign with a PRO, I decided I needed to get off my butt and do it to so that I can say I did it. After all I am an SIQ artist and I also wanted to get it accomplished so that I could answer any questions that the artists might have when applying and registering their music.

On June 3, 2008, I applied online with BMI. When the application process is finished it displays a message saying please wait 3-5 business days to receive an email confirmation about your application. I wait for 5 days and nothing arrives in my email box from BMI.

June 8th, five days after initially applying, I decided that I should email BMI to find out what is going on with my application. Also, I was getting some questions, from SIQ artists who already joined BMI, about song registration. Two days later I get a response from BMI. It wasn’t quite the response I was looking for, but it didn’t bother me. It turns out I emailed the wrong department. I emailed the “Online Services Registration” department. I was not sure who to email because on the “contact us” page of BMI.com, in the list of choices there were email addresses for “Online Services Registration” and “Online Works Registration.” I made my choice on what I thought was relevant. The response I got on June 10th from the “Online Services Registration” was that I emailed the wrong department and that the were forwarding my message to the correct department which is the “Writer Administration” department. There was nothing on their contact page about that department nor was there any way to find it unless you went to the online application page.

Three days later I get a reply from Laura Smith from the “Writer Administration” department about my inquiry. She asks me to provide some information or my BMI account number and she will check on my application. There’s some irony, I don’t have a BMI account number because I never got my confirmation email with the BMI account number. At this point I’m pretty happy things seem to be moving along. I respond to her with the requested information.

After that email I was patient. I was thinking that BMI is a big organization membership wise, so they must be busy, so it might take a couple of days. So fast forward to June 27th, I decided to email Laura Smith again to see why there was no response. Once again no response.

Yesterday I decided to search about online application registration problems for BMI and somehow ended up on the online application page. They completely changed the look of that page. So I decided to try to apply again, maybe my application got messed up during the website change. After I fill out the form and press the submit button, it gives me a message saying that because I live in Japan, I have to download an application and mail it to them. They could have at least put a notice on the application web page somewhere saying that.

At this point in time I’m pretty irritated about BMI. Especially that this whole thing could of been taken care of a couple of weeks ago. Laura Smith could of responded to my email and said something along the lines of that because I’m in Japan I need to send in a paper application or that there was a problem with my application and a way to correct is by sending in a paper application.

Now, I’m questioning whether BMI is a good choice? Should I sign with them? Was it a good idea to recommend the SIQ artists to sign with them? I really don’t know the answer to those questions. However, I’m considering my other options for PRO representation. My choices are ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors & Composers) or JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers).

So in the end, I found BMI to be not very helpful.

Update: See BMI Part 2: Response From Smith for the next exciting chapter in this saga.

Today I started working on this remix of a Nomar Slevik song that I really like. Spent all day working on it. Well more like all day getting my drums and things organized for it. After creating this interesting intro, I realized that it’s just not going to work. The reason is simple. What I was doing and what the song is doing just doesn’t work together. I know exactly where the problem lies. I thought I could avoid it with some fancy drum editing, but it didn’t work. The failure lies in the fact that I’m trying to write a 174 bpm dnb track over a 58 bpm song. I realize now that you can’t just throw 3 measure of 174 in to 1 measure of 58. The triplets transposed over 4/4 just don’t jive in this case.

However this failure has turned out to be a small success though. There are 2 reasons. 1st, I figured out what I should do with the song and how I should remix it. That occurred by chance I just happen to load up a piano because I wanted to see if I was playing the right chords and discovered that the piano fit it so well, that I decided that I should just do a downtempo kind of remix of it. The 2nd reason is I now have an intro to what seems to be a cool dnb tune. I just need to convert it from 58 to 174. That will take some work but should not be too hard. Just a matter of moving things around.

Which is the best dither? Truthfully I have no idea. There are several different types available. Before we tackle which is the best dither, let’s examine what dithering does.

In short dither is used during bit reduction i.e. 24bit to 16bit. What it essentially does is add noise shaping to smooth out the reduction. It is something that you use only once and it is placed at the very end when you are converting the bit rate. Because it causes degradation, do not use it more than once. That is dithering in a nutshell. For a more in depth description of what dither is and isn’t check out this Article by Bob Katz Explaining Dither.

There are several different types of dither algorithms that I always hear being mentioned when people talk about it. The most commons are POW-R, UV22 (Apogee), MBit + (Izotope), and the Waves dither found in the L2 limiters. I have used all but the Mbit +. I personally don’t have a preference. I try to use the one I feel is the best available in the program I’m using. If i’m using Cubase I use the UV22hr, if I am using Logic or ProTools I use the POW-R. You have probably heard a recording that has used eachone of these dither algorithms, except you just don’t know which one.

If you really want to know which is the best, don’t depend on me to tell you. What you should do is two things. First research the different dithers and how they work. Second try a blind dither test. I have done both of those. In the blind test I found that I prefered the Waves L2 dither.

Apparently this is a common problem. After upgrading Logic from 7 to 8, things get broken. During the upgrade things get moved around and because logic depends on a lot of garageband content, some of these files ended up missing. I looked for some way online to fix the problem. Most said to reinstall Logic or to use a program called pacifist to dig out the needed files from the Logic discs. I decided that if it is missing Garageband content, why don’t I just reinstall it. I uninstalled GarageBand recently because I don’t use it do reinstalling it was easy.

If you have missing EXS files in Logic Studio, try reinstalling GarageBand. That might fix it.

Apparently Logic Studio has some new presets. However, Apple also removed many presets that were in Logic Pro 7. I spent the morning moving presets around and installing new (old) ones. If you have any presets saved, you will most likely have to move them to the new installation. You can find them in MAC OSX/Library/Application Support/Previous Logic Settings/ The Logic Studio preset location is MAC OSX/Library/Application Support/Logic/

There is also a section of the Logic Pro Help Forum that is for uploads of presets, and channel strips. http://logicprohelp.com/index.php You can find all the old presets and others there.

Being that I don’t have negative hard disk space, I needed to find a way to install the Jam Packs and other audio content to an external drive. I figured that maybe all I would need to do is just put in the Jam pack discs and it would let me install. Wrong, all I got was a file that said use the Logic installer. Apparently the files on the disk are hidden. But doing a little search in google I found a help article on the apple site that explains everything I wanted to know.

Apples help article on how to install Logic content to a different location

Update: It took a little over 2 hours to install the extra content. However I was disappointed to find that there was no option to install the Jam Pack Instruments to a different location. So in the end I just ended up installing the Apple loops and the SoundTrack content.

Today I finally got around to picking up the Logic Studio Upgrade. It was a pretty good deal. I got it at Yodobashi Camera in Umeda. After using my point card, it came out to be about $28. That’s right $28. I had about $200 worth of points on my card.

First impression: That bad boy is heavy. Really, the box is heavy. It has 5 manuals in it and 8 discs. It weighs about as much as one of my Yamaha HSM50 monitors. I often thought about going with Logic Express 8 instead, but realized that if I got that and then felt the need to upgrade it would cost me more than actually purchasing the upgrade. If I did it that way the price would be Logic 8 express upgrade price + Logic studio upgrade price = about $100 more. Another reason why I considered the express version is that I was not convinced (and still not) that I really needed all the extra things that come with it. Off hand I can say that MainStage is pretty useless at this point in time. I guess I can use it if I decide to write music out on paper. However I could just open up Kontakt and a piano sample and get the same. As for all the additional Apple loops and jam packs, well I don’t think it could ever hurt to have that many extra samples available. With the addition of this new content, I know have more samples than I can shake a stick at.

The installation process was pretty painless. It asked me for the usual things, name serial number, etc.. After that, came a the tough part. I had to choose what not to install. I don’t have enough disk space for all of the extra content. I’ll have to see if I can install it on one of my external hard disks. I skipped all the jam packs, loops and surround sound impulses. In short I just installed the programs.

After the install which took some time about 15 minutes I fired up Logic. First thing it does is do the Audio Unit validation. It was so much faster than the Logic Pro 7 au validator. What made it fast was that it would do 2 at a time. After doing a quick check to make sure it works, I closed it and fired up Logic Pro 7 to make sure that it was still working properly and loaded up the current track that I’m working on. After reading about some horror stories about loading Logic 7 tracks in Logic 8, I decided that I’m just going to finish up my Logic 7 songs in Logic and just start fresh in Logic 8. So be on the look out for some tips on Logic 8. I plan on documenting my adventures in Logic 8 land.

After being sure that all was cool, it was time to run the Apple updater and update Logic. That went smooth. The only thing that confused me a little was that it listed the Logic 8.01 and 8.02 updates. It made me wonder if I had to do the 8.01 before the 8.02. I figured that I didn’t need to, and if I did it would tell me when I try to install the 8.02 update. I remember that for some updates to Cubase SX 2 I actually had to install certain previous updates for it to work.

After updating, I opened up everything to make sure it all opens up nicely and no errors. Everything went well. It all works as far as I know. Maybe sometime this week I’ll start a new track in Logic Studio. Next thing I plan to do is see how I can install the additional content to another drive and to setup a new default template or 2 for Logic.

Yesterday I was walking around Umeda in the underground in the ekimae building area. I the basements of those buildings there are some used record stores. They actually have a lot of good stuff, but a little pricey. Records are sold at their value. I guess I’m just used to the days of going to Jelly’s and picking up records at a great bargain. Going to these records store, raised a question. What is the difference between downloading an mp3 and buying a used record/cd/tape?

If you buy a record from a used CD store, you are giving your money to the store. It’s not going to the artist because it was already purchased once. The used music market profits off of artists, but the artists don’t profit off it. All profit from a used album, belongs to the store.

Now what about downloading an MP3? If you buy it from an online digital music store, the artists gets some sort of money from it. If you download it through other means, then the artist is not getting anything. This is the part it gets fuzzy for me. I’m in no way advocating digital music piracy, but if you follow the logic, of the physical used music market, both are not contributing anything to the artist. That leaves the question what is the difference? Actually to me it sounds like buying used music is worse than downloading it. The main reason is that money going to the second purchase is going to someone other than the artist.

So now in this argument we are at a point where it appears the used physical music market sounds like more of a detriment to the artist. Is that really the case? Some questions about digital music piracy needs to be addressed before we can make a decision on which is worse for the artist. Is there money in digital music piracy? Are these pirate groups and individual profiting from it? Off hand I would say no. I have never heard of anyone making money off it. There is money in illegal physical duplication of music. It is probably the case that majority of the music in that arena is downloaded illegally. Although it’s a valid argument to use, I am ignoring it because it would require us to look in to black market economics.

The next question I have is, where does the music online come from. Do these groups acquire the product legally to begin with? Some probably do and some probably don’t. If they do acquire it legally, the artist is getting paid. If they stole it, physically stole the album, then the loss would be relegated to the normal loss of sales due to theft. This is another tricky point. Here’s a scenario I thought about. What if someone stole a CD from a music store. Then he made copies of the CD for his friends, and they in turn made copies for their friends, and so on. Does this sound familiar? It should, it is the same principle as peer to peer sharing and it is also the way file music sharing worked before everyone started having an internet connection. In this physical copying case the winner would be the bland CD-R manufactures. They are profiting off the artists music in this scenario. Now what if the person who stole the CD decided to sell it to a used CD store after making copies for friends and personal use? Now he is gaining from the artist and as previously stated the reseller of used music is profiting from someone else’s creativity.

As I have read previously, in some article about music piracy (I read a ton of thing on digital music marketing and such), downloads of music need to be accepted as another avenue of loss. In the end it really comes down to the person. Some people will always download music, some will download some music and purchase some music, and some will just purchase and never download. Then there is the last category, although rare, some people will never buy or illegally download music. These people would be the ones content on listening to radio/ internet radio and just downloading free legal MP3s.

Every where I look these days online I always see people touting Waves SSL, API and Neve collections. In addition to that there is a constant barrage of people saying URS vintage effects are great. The truth is I don’t really know what to make of all these vintage emulations. I have tried a few and they seem cool and all but I never really came to a solid conclusion.

Maybe I’m just old fashioned and don’t want to try these new old things. I think another factor for me not using them is the price. They are pretty expensive and I can’t really afford them at the moment. In the end regardless of price, because there are ways to get a hold of them, I just don’t see the hype. I think that really is my personal opinion on them. They are hyped up more than they need to be and they are pricey. I never used any actual SSL, API, or Neve stuff.
I really don’t know how these things sound. From what I read about online, they do sound pretty close.

Now that I think about it, I’m not really interested in these products. I’m pretty happy with what I got. Of all those effects, the only that kind of entices me is the Waves SSL G-Buss Compress and G EQ. Thats about it. The two compressors I love the most and don’t have access to any more is the Waves Renaissance Compressor and the L2. There was just something about the Ren Comp that I liked. It always seemed to be the go to compressor. It was simple and has its own character. Although I am happy with the effects I have now, I just wish I had those or a good replacement for it.

To conclude this post I’ll just say that I think in the end, and for the moment, I am happy with what I have. It would be nice to go out and get all those high end expensive plugins. Maybe that’s another reason why I don’t bother because of their price. I think I would prefer to spend my money on other things. Perhaps I’ve finally reached the point where the tools don’t matter anymore and all that counts is the music and my confidence that I can pull a good sound out of any tool I have available.

Recently I finally got around finishing the mixes for John B’s Hair and the Trumpet Song. I was pretty surprised at the way they came out. I did the mixes a bit different this time. I mixed them using headphones. I always hear and do subscribe to the idea that you should avoid mixing with headphones. The key word here is avoid.

So what made this experience different from my other mixing experiences? Simple answer is I used a pair of AKG 240s headphones. Picked them up last month at Miki Gakki. They were on sale cause the new versions are out. Only set me back about a little over $100 or ¥12,000. I find that I really like the way they sound. I did compare them to the AKG 271s but found that that the 271 was weak on the low end and a little harsh in the highs. Also the 271 are closed back headphones. Over all I really liked the way they sound and they are so comfortable.

Due to my current living situation, I no longer have the luxury of having my Yamaha HS50 monitors setup all the time. Because of that I was forced to use the headphones. I was worried that they would translate terrible to the Yamaha monitors, but I was wrong. I was quite surprised that I had to make very little adjustments to the mixes when I did listen on the monitors.

The things that needed to be adjusted were in the mid hi range in both songs and the bass in Trumpet Song. The adjustments were very small. When I mixed using the AKG’s I was very conscious of keeping the listening levels at nice volume, in fact I even found that at times I would actually turn the volume down some. The only problem seems to be that these headphones are just a little bit bright in the mid hi range. I mean just a little bit. The problem with the bass in the Trumpet Song is more of a using an effect badly. I tried something that I thought might give the bass more presence on small speakers, but it turned out to sound awful when I heard it on the monitors. This problem is because I was in love with the idea I had and didn’t evaluate it thorough enough to determine if it was bad idea.

After I made the final adjustments using the monitors, I burned a cd and started to listen to the test mixes on different headphones and speakers. I have to say that it sounds good. I am really happy with it. The only concern I really have at the moment is the ride cymbal in the Trumpet Song. I’m never sure how I should mix the ride. I think because I am a drummer and have a background in jazz, I like to have a good dominant ride sound.

Here’s a couple of good articles on mixing with headphones and ways to compensate.

Also check out http://www.headphone.com/ for frequency analysis of many popular headphones.