Joy of Synths #4

A non-musician’s guide to creating sounds for podcasts, videos, and sampling for music using analog synthesizers.

Sep 01, 2023

Synthtember & Reptember

September is officially Synthtember, wherein one plays and records their synthesizer every day of the month. September is also the start of Fall and a string of months with holidays and occasions, starting with Labor Day and ending with Valentine’s Days, and/or Fat Tuesday.

Speaking easily of Fat Tuesday, September 1 marks the start of Reptember and my fitness journey. Yesterday I did 1 set of dumbbell exercise. Being so out of shape means that I am already undergoing muscular hypertrophy with 15 reps of what is admittedly a light weight.

I say hypertropy in jest, but a single set is a smart approach for zero levels of fitness. Your body needs time to adapt to the movements, lest your ego hyperextend your joints, ligaments, and nervous system. For reals, it’s easy to overdo it. Underdoing it (not a word) is one step of many steps towards multiple sets and pyramid rep schemes.

I write this to encourage others to pump up the fitness with a single set of one exercise this month, and pump out tracks by recording everyday. You can sort it out in Editember, not a real thing ever. Or call it OSCtober.

Joy of Synthember Workflow

Starting with the output backtracks you to the input. This is called workflow and its a thought exercise to examine bottlenecks at transitions of tasks. Then you put it to practice and adjust to fit. (Aside: Man’s plans answer G-d’s request for an improv scene suggestion. While likely not really funny, it is amusing to see how things flounder when so tightly rigid, as though deliberately clawing towards comedy.)

Sound Editing Software: Fairlight and DaVinci Resolve

Fairlight is a free option for editing sounds for your library. It is a “page” packaged within Davinci Resolve.

I earned the End User Certification for DaVinci Resolve Color page in late August ‘23. This in addition to the Introduction to DaVinci Resolve certification, which includes an intro to Fairlight.

Fairlight CMX was said to be the first computer based synth and sampler. Resolve’s Fairlight doesn’t support MIDI and software instruments. That’s okay because Synthember is about recording analog instruments with an external audio recorder not a laptop or other computer.

Fairlight will record direct to drive though I don’t care for that because I use a portable Zoom H4N audio recorder. Fairlight omits Digital Audio Workstation software features that frankly confuse the issue of audio editing. I mean, if you can’t keep time, maybe address that issue. Don’t spackle it with quantization.

To sum it up, Resolve’s Fairlight is stripped down and comes with all that is needed for film and video sound editing and mixing. (With Film sound, one masters in the mix, and generates different mixes per speaker set up. Mono is still a valid answer.)

Resolve & Fairlight

Resolve is an end to end post-production solution. There is no exporting a video track to start audio post-production. Nope. Simply click on the Fairlight tab and there you are! A small window displays the video, and you have the ability to reorder audio tracks and hide audio tracks like hiding layers in Adobe After Effects.

Which is all to say that Fairlight is a free option for editing sounds for your library.

SET-TEMBER

My Synthtember Post-production is addressed with Resolve’s Fairlight. What about production set up?

For consistent recording, it has to be easy to record. This means everything needs to be determined in advance. Instrument? Recording format and media? Time of day?

This includes a place to set everything down and set up shop for the month. It’s the tear down and set up that suck up time and can mean the difference between powering on the synth or allowing it to wither from neglect.

I have to remove the set up on demand, so I’m starting Synthember with a small setup of the surprisingly portable and storable Voltage Research Lab by Pittsburgh Module, which is out of production. The audio recorder is the Zoom H4N. Batteries are rechargeable.

Dang Insomnia

I’m writing this at 4am, as I awoke at 3am, unable to return to sleep. I loathe the idea of recording when I should be recovery sleeping. However, I’m attributing my sleeplessness in part to Reptember, as odd things are stored in fat and released into the bloodstream when fat is metabolized. Or not. You read a lot of dumb things in magazines. And if insomnia is a short-term cost for long-term fitness, then I’m fine.

Synth-Time-ber

Marking the time to record is important. I tried lunchtime recording in August ‘23. That was somewhat successful. Alternately, I can fit in recording before work, or clear out all chores in the morning so early evening is available for recording.

I suggest leaving time for further recording when scheduling. But consistency matters more than hoping for a second hour of inspiritation. Having recorded for hours at a time, it makes for a more engaging edit if the source material doesn’t take hours to review and cut down.

Synthtimbre & OSCtober

I’ll touch on Oscillators and timbre (tambrrr) in the next issue of Joy of Synths, to be released September 15, 2023. I prioritized Resolve End User Cert prep in August. To reward myself, I ordered the Tiptop Buchla Dual Oscillator on Labor Day sale at Perfect Circuit with LABOR10 discount code (not affiliated). HOWEVER, I am putting off obsessing about it until OSCtober. As I learned in July and August ‘23, there’s nothing like new gear to stop progress.

A progress report will also be included for Synthember, Reptember, Settember, and yes, Synthtimbre. Cheers!

End Note 8/31/2023

Joy #5 will arrive on 9/15/23 and focus on Oscillators and Frequencies. Joy #6 will ship on 10/1/23. This issue is sponsored by CoWolves. https://discogs.com/seller/cowolves.