It was a beautiful wedding and a great party, and the audio was of course awesome! ;)
MRF PRODUCTIONS - 2018
Monday, August 24, 2015
The Wedding
One of my closest friends got married last Saturday, and I got the honor to be responsible for the audio for speeches and the live acts. There were a total of five different bands playing during the night, and even I got to be on stage playing electric guitar! The last time I was on the same stage was in 1990 when I graduated from 9th grade! :)
It was a beautiful wedding and a great party, and the audio was of course awesome! ;)
It was a beautiful wedding and a great party, and the audio was of course awesome! ;)
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
I Wish I Was A Fish - "Emma"
Just released; the music video for I Wish I Was A Fish's "Emma"! Most parts of it was recorded at Studio Blue, and I got to be the assisting sound technician to Carin Hallin, who was the producer.
I can be spotted in this video at the beginning, and also when recording the hand claps!
Press play on tape below! :)
oh, almost forgot... Today is my 40th birthday! :)
I can be spotted in this video at the beginning, and also when recording the hand claps!
Press play on tape below! :)
oh, almost forgot... Today is my 40th birthday! :)
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
My music in Studio Blue's commercial clip!
It's all in Swedish though.
Ljudtekniker/Producentlinjen på Studio Blue. Kursstart 7 september. Ansök nu!
Posted by Studio Blue on den 21 juli 2015
The full version of Satisfied:
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Rapid Environment for Audio Production, Engineering and Recording a.k.a REAPER
At school (Studio Blue) we used Protools 10 & 11 for all our productions and tasks, but after two years of using it I still didn't like it that much and I didn't feel that it was worth buying for hundreds of dollars. It wasn't very stable and crashed several times(yep, on a Mac), as compared to Reason, my main DAW, which I don't think has crashed at all... ever (PC/Mac). Almost every time I used Protools there was always something that I was annoyed with that caused a bit of frustration.
As Reason has very limited features for audio editing, vertical zoom limitation being the most annoying thing (still not fixed in Reason 8), I started using Reaper as a complement. Reaper is fully functional even in demo mode so you can try it for as long as you like, although you should register after 60 days or so. The pricing is very attractive, just $60 for discounted license (non-commercial/Small Business) and $225 for full commercial license.
As I'm using Reaper more and more, the more I like it which was not the case with Protools. Reaper is very customizable, and basically it's like; if you want to change something, you can! Besides from native plugins found in Protools, as for today I do not know about anything I could do in Protools that I cannot do in Reaper... and Reaper actually make a lot of things better and easier than PT!
There are however a couple of things that I like to change to the default setup of Reaper, and I will share those settings here!
Preferences (Options->Preferences)
1. Audio -> Rendering => Tail length when rendering project or stems, or freezing tracks
This option is set to 2000 ms as default I think, and caused me a bit of a headache before I found it. I did some drums samples editing and when I rendered multiple hits to disk, some of the clips had more than I hit in them, but all my clip-edits were just containing one hit! This option added a tail to the clip which in certain cases also kept the next hit in the series. To keep your clips as long as you specify when making clips, set this option to 0 ms.
2. General -> Paths => Store all peak caches (.reapeaks) in alternate path
Repeaks are files that contain the actual waveform image you see on the screen, and by default these cache files are stored in your default project folder. There will be many .repeaks files, that are of no use outside of Reaper, so I keep them in a separate folder so I don't have to see them.
3. General => Create undo points for item/track selection
I unchecked this as I want the undo function to undo actual changes, instead of just selections.
Project Settings (File -> Project Settings)
Media tab => Path to save media files (can be relative, leave blank for same path as project file)
By default all recorded files are saved in the same folder as your project file. In Protools all audio files are saved in a folder called "Audio Files" which is a better and cleaner option. Just type in a folder name, i use Audio Files, and your project folder will be more organized.
Options menu => Trim content behind media items when editing
One thing I got used to in Protools was when pasting a clip over another clip, the 'background clip' was automatically trimmed, and there was only one layer of clips. By default in Reaper, when you paste a clip onto another there are two layers, and the background clip remains intact. To change this, just select the option "Trim content behind media items when editing" from the Options menu. To make this selection permanent in all new projects, go to File -> Project Settings and click "Save as default project settings".
Besides from the above settings I also made my own shortcuts, which now is a combination of Reason and Protools shortcuts. You can change any shortcut to your liking, and even import / export them.
I'm also using the RADO V4 theme which I think looks great!
Don't forget to install the SWS Extension which adds more great features to Reaper, like a loudness analyzer...
...and the great Snapshot function where you can compare different mixer settings.
I hope you found this helpful! :)
As Reason has very limited features for audio editing, vertical zoom limitation being the most annoying thing (still not fixed in Reason 8), I started using Reaper as a complement. Reaper is fully functional even in demo mode so you can try it for as long as you like, although you should register after 60 days or so. The pricing is very attractive, just $60 for discounted license (non-commercial/Small Business) and $225 for full commercial license.
As I'm using Reaper more and more, the more I like it which was not the case with Protools. Reaper is very customizable, and basically it's like; if you want to change something, you can! Besides from native plugins found in Protools, as for today I do not know about anything I could do in Protools that I cannot do in Reaper... and Reaper actually make a lot of things better and easier than PT!
There are however a couple of things that I like to change to the default setup of Reaper, and I will share those settings here!
Preferences (Options->Preferences)
1. Audio -> Rendering => Tail length when rendering project or stems, or freezing tracks
This option is set to 2000 ms as default I think, and caused me a bit of a headache before I found it. I did some drums samples editing and when I rendered multiple hits to disk, some of the clips had more than I hit in them, but all my clip-edits were just containing one hit! This option added a tail to the clip which in certain cases also kept the next hit in the series. To keep your clips as long as you specify when making clips, set this option to 0 ms.
2. General -> Paths => Store all peak caches (.reapeaks) in alternate path
Repeaks are files that contain the actual waveform image you see on the screen, and by default these cache files are stored in your default project folder. There will be many .repeaks files, that are of no use outside of Reaper, so I keep them in a separate folder so I don't have to see them.
3. General => Create undo points for item/track selection
I unchecked this as I want the undo function to undo actual changes, instead of just selections.
Project Settings (File -> Project Settings)
Media tab => Path to save media files (can be relative, leave blank for same path as project file)
By default all recorded files are saved in the same folder as your project file. In Protools all audio files are saved in a folder called "Audio Files" which is a better and cleaner option. Just type in a folder name, i use Audio Files, and your project folder will be more organized.
Options menu => Trim content behind media items when editing
One thing I got used to in Protools was when pasting a clip over another clip, the 'background clip' was automatically trimmed, and there was only one layer of clips. By default in Reaper, when you paste a clip onto another there are two layers, and the background clip remains intact. To change this, just select the option "Trim content behind media items when editing" from the Options menu. To make this selection permanent in all new projects, go to File -> Project Settings and click "Save as default project settings".
Besides from the above settings I also made my own shortcuts, which now is a combination of Reason and Protools shortcuts. You can change any shortcut to your liking, and even import / export them.
I'm also using the RADO V4 theme which I think looks great!
Don't forget to install the SWS Extension which adds more great features to Reaper, like a loudness analyzer...
...and the great Snapshot function where you can compare different mixer settings.
I hope you found this helpful! :)
Friday, June 12, 2015
"Satisfied" is now available on Soundcloud!
During the second year at Studio Blue we all had a music production project to manage from start to finish. My project was to record and produce my song "Satisfied", that I made for a Propellerhead competition at the end of the summer 2014.
This is the final result can be heard here, enjoy! :)
This is the final result can be heard here, enjoy! :)
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
School's Out!
My time as a student at Studio Blue is over! Last Friday was the final day, and just like last year we went on a boat trip with all current students, teachers and some of all lecturers, out to Stockholms' archipelago.
It has been a really great time and two very educational years with complete strangers that now are my good friends! :) I even managed to get 100% attendance during these two years, no late arrivals and no days being sick or away! Hardcore! \m/ :D
My school project 'Satisfied' will be released soon...(waaaaaait for it!) but in the meantime you can listen to some of my classmate's productions:
Daniel Christensen's "Something Lost"
Billy the Fox's "Du är så vacker när du hatar"
So, what's next?
Well, I just teamed up with artist Mia Österdal a.k.a "MiA Y Mio" who was looking for a producer, and we started working on her Swedish song "Upp i drömmarna", which is developing quickly into a both catchy and powerful song!
Checkout her Soundcloud-page and her Twitter-page!
It has been a really great time and two very educational years with complete strangers that now are my good friends! :) I even managed to get 100% attendance during these two years, no late arrivals and no days being sick or away! Hardcore! \m/ :D
 |
| The place where the audio theory was inserted into our brains |
My school project 'Satisfied' will be released soon...(waaaaaait for it!) but in the meantime you can listen to some of my classmate's productions:
Daniel Christensen's "Something Lost"
Billy the Fox's "Du är så vacker när du hatar"
So, what's next?
Well, I just teamed up with artist Mia Österdal a.k.a "MiA Y Mio" who was looking for a producer, and we started working on her Swedish song "Upp i drömmarna", which is developing quickly into a both catchy and powerful song!
 |
| MiA Y Mio |
Checkout her Soundcloud-page and her Twitter-page!
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Music Production Project @Studio Blue
My education at Studio Blue is soon coming to an end, and last Monday it was time to turn in the final mix for the music production project, a project that I've been working on the whole second year! (although not full time!)
The purpose of the project was to manage a complete music production from start to end, with the following deadlines:
In my case I wrote a song called "Satisfied" for a competition hosted by Propellerhead in August 2014, just before the school started, and that song was a good choice for this project as it contained several acoustic recordings (electric guitars, bass, vocals, drums and an acoustic guitar). This was also the first time I wrote a song in the metal genre, so it was fun to try something new!
It can seem that one school year is a very long time to produce just one song, but we were only allowed to do recordings for our projects during the 'recording classes', and editing was done during the 'mixing classes', along with other tasks and exercises. We also had to use ProTools 11, which I do not have access to at home so I could only work during school hours. All students in my group also shared the studio time for all their recordings, so the schedule was pretty tight.
The project went along just fine, with no major hassles, though I had to re-record the bass, and also change vocalist during the progress, but as I had added some extra time to the time-plan it was no problem!
The song will be released soon, but if I haven't released it in a week, just wait longer! ;)
The purpose of the project was to manage a complete music production from start to end, with the following deadlines:
- Turn in a demo of the song you will produce
- Make a chord sheet for the whole song
- Write music scores for melody and bass, both handwritten and computer made
- Make a plan for all musicians rehearsing
- Make a plan for how long the recordings, rehearsing, mixing etc. should take
- Make a plan on how you will record the different instruments / vocals
- Make a plan for how you will do the mixing
- and finally turn in a final mix of the produced song
 |
| Handwritten bass score (That was a lot of eights... ) |
In my case I wrote a song called "Satisfied" for a competition hosted by Propellerhead in August 2014, just before the school started, and that song was a good choice for this project as it contained several acoustic recordings (electric guitars, bass, vocals, drums and an acoustic guitar). This was also the first time I wrote a song in the metal genre, so it was fun to try something new!
It can seem that one school year is a very long time to produce just one song, but we were only allowed to do recordings for our projects during the 'recording classes', and editing was done during the 'mixing classes', along with other tasks and exercises. We also had to use ProTools 11, which I do not have access to at home so I could only work during school hours. All students in my group also shared the studio time for all their recordings, so the schedule was pretty tight.
The project went along just fine, with no major hassles, though I had to re-record the bass, and also change vocalist during the progress, but as I had added some extra time to the time-plan it was no problem!
The song will be released soon, but if I haven't released it in a week, just wait longer! ;)
 |
| The Master mix on Audio CD, and ProTools project folder on DVD. |
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