Sister Blog: Tobias

Fellow audio associate and friend Tobias Hoff has been keeping a blog similar to CanadaviD called Kanada. The link will take you to a translated version of the page, but should you want to see it in its original German, look here. Be sure to check it out as it offers a fresh perspective on Banff and some decent pictures as well.

Also, I've added a link section to the right, underneath the blog archive. If I find other Banff Blogs or other relevant content, I'll link to them there.

New Spot

I went walking today and found a very nice new spot not 15 minutes from the studios. The photos aren't up to my usual standard, but I really wanted to share something with you all today, so here they are.

At this spot you can find a tiny beach backed by 180 degrees of cliff, an up close and personal view of the Banff Springs Hotel, and a view of the Bow River falls which are really mere rapids. No photos of the 'falls' since the light was bad at that time of day. I'll be back sometime closer to sunrise when the light should be great.

Raindrop Prelude

Being here and listening to all of these great musicians has made me realize how much I miss playing music.

Consequently, I've been spending a lot of time at the piano. There's an excellent New York Steinway D in the main studio, and a totally different but equally excellent Hamburg Steinway D in the "concert hall". Not being too worthy of either of these, I've been spending many hours in one of the thirty or so practice huts - one in particular, that is - the one called 'Mendelssohn'. It has the best piano, a Yamaha cabinet grand that's reasonably in tune and with a complete set of working keys.

I've checked out a book of Chopin preludes and etudes from the library. Prelude #4 from Opus 28 is ready for performance, and #15 'Raindrop', also from Opus 28, is coming along nicely. If you don't know this piece, go find it. It's been nicknamed 'Raindrop' becuase of a soft and nearly constant repetition of a single note. Fitting then is that rain has fallen each day that I've worked on this piece.

Woah.

Featured in the additional images is fellow audio associate and real pianist Tobias Hoff of Berlin

Steve Bellamy

Our guest mentor for the weekend is Canadian engineer Steve Bellamy. Steve specializes in Jazz and Chamber music, having won two JUNO awards for his work, the Canadian equivalent of a GRAMMY. That's him out of focus in the blue shirt.

Well, what can I say? I've learned a handful of neat tricks from this guy that I'll for sure be able to apply to my own recordings.

Enjoy the rest of the pics, and so long for now.

xyxy,
- Studio Guy

Strange Items

Since I've been out of the GCE, I've acquired some strange new items.

In the upper left is my key assembly. In addition to my apartment key and seven studio keys is my pill case, which I've been using less frequently, and my knife which protects me from Canadians when they charge me with their hockey stick or whatever they have. I actually drew said knife last night as I walked past an assumedly very drunk man last night, who shirtless in the cold rain stood screaming at the top of his lungs about someone having ruined his life. I called the cops. It was cool.

Moving to the upper right we have my passport, featuring a portrait that I took myself. I'm pretty proud of that.

Below the keys we have some Monopoly money.

Under the fake money we have various cards. The white one gets me into my apartment building. It works by proximity rather than sliding, so I ned only pass my entire wallet near the sensor to gain entry. The door is locked at all times, and there is night security posted near the only entrance. It's a very safe building. The teal card is my Banff Centre Artist Card. It's nice to finally be at a place that views a recordiong engineer as an artist rather than some butt crack tech dork. In addition to getting me discounts here at The Centre, it also gets me locals pricing at some restaurants. Mmmm.. discount beer. Underneath the artist card we have my CIBC bank card. While it works in local stores, it will not work for online purchases. Finally, next to the bank card, we have my grocery store discount card. Wow. Isn't that exciting.

No additional pics this time, but click on the picture itself for a bigger version.

xoxo (sorry, couldn't resist)

dpsonics

Here's a logo I did for the company my friend and fellow audio associate Dan Porter is starting. I drew the speaker in Photoshop. This is my third logo, and everyone here has been blown away by it. Maybe I should quite the audio game and do this instead...

Nah, I might actually make some money.

Click the title for alternate/rejected designs.

Vintage Synths

Not much to say but, "Check out these cool-looking vintage synths!"

A guy came to the centre with these beasts, and he will be presenting them on Monday.

One of them is an early sampler that uses reels of tape to play back sounds when a key is depressed. All of them look as cool as the ninth layer of hell.

As always, click the title for more pics.

Joe Ferla

Our guest mentor for last weekend was New York engineer Joe Ferla. Joe is incredibly talented, having made so many great records, mostly jazz, all the way back from Aretha Franklin right up to John Mayer's Continuum, for which he won a Grammy last year. We were very lucky little audio associates to have him indeed.

Joe spent several days with us, overseeing everything that we recorded, and recording a session of his own with none other than Yosvany Terry and Afro-Cuban Roots. Watching him work was very educational. He never second guessed anything, used no EQ, compression, or effects other than reverb, and got a great sound on each instrument with nothing more than mic selection and placement. It was so simple, really. I'll try to remember that at my next session.

It was a fun night indeed. While the takes were going down, I hung out on the couch with the dancer Puppy (aka Felix Insua), taking my Spanish out for a much needed drive. Puppy is the most incredible guy. He's sesenta (60) years old and has an unreal amount energy and vitality. He's also one of the warmest, most genuine people I have ever met.

Notice

Added an image to Small Game.

October Trio

Last night was my first recording session.

It wasn't until noon the day of that I found out what I would be recording. At 2:30 I entered the studio and started setting up. I was then informed that I would be recording a different combo, luckily with the same instrumentation. This was stressful, but apparently I got off light. I'm told that sometimes we don't know what we're recording until they show up.

I was to record the October Trio, a combo of Jazz Workshop participants consisting of drums, bass, and sax. With that established, my assistant and I set up the necessary mics and placed gobos between the drums and the two other players.

The musicians arrived, and the bassist informed me that he needed to play back a track of spoken word from his laptop as part of one of the pieces. OK, not a problem. Then, the sax, which was supposed to be alto turned out to be alternately tenor and soprano. OK, different mics and placements, got it.

When we finally got around to recording, everything went smoothly, thanks in large part to my skilled assistant/ProTools operator, who often had things done before I could ask. At the end of the night, the musicians left happy, and no one got hurt.

I'll try to post some audio once I have mixes.

Lastly, I apologize for the low quality of the photos. I just took quick, sloppy shots as to not waste valuable studio time.

Meowface

MEOWFACE!!!

I saw this little sweetie on the way home two nights ago. When I saw her, I made some kissy noises, and she came right over to me and rubbed up against my leg. Then she left, and I pulled out the camera and took this horrible potshot. She looks mean in the photo, what with the glowing eyes and all, but she really was a very sweet, cute cat... the first cat I've seen in Banff.

I miss my cat :(

Afro-Cuban Roots

Yosvany Terry and Afro-Cuban Roots: The most profound musical experience of my life.

Monday was the first day at Banff for the musicians participating in the three week International Jazz Workshop. The Banff center brings in top-notch professional musicians, and the students interact with them through presentations, lectures, master classes, and jam sessions.

On Monday morning, all of us audio people attended the musician's orientation meeting in order to make our presence known. At the meeting, I picked up the musicians' week one schedule. It was just jam packed with the most fascinating sounding activities... things like Material for Single Line Jazz Improvisation, The Bass in the Rhythm Section, and Yosvany Terry and Afro-Cuban Roots: Explanation and Demonstration of Bata Drumming. I thought I'd sit in on that last one. I thought, "I like Latin rhythm... should be interesting." What I got was more akin to a religious experience.

The music they perform is a fusion between modern American jazz and Afro-Cuban traditional music, based on ancient Nigerian religious rites. These Nigerian traditions were brought to Cuba via the slave trade. The styles were blended in Cuba during the 1930's.

When I arrived at the workshop, it soon became apparent that it would be more of a concert that a demonstration. The men took the stage: a sax player, a pianist, a upright bassist, and three bata drum players, the one in the center singing lead. They began by setting up a basic rhythm in the three drums. Then came a brooding piano/bass ostinato. And then it happened. The singer cried out in an ancient Nigerian dialect, chilling me instantly. The rest of the band joined in the singing of the hypnotic chant as the rhythms became increasingly complex and intense, culminating with the addition of a high pitched shaker that gave me an utterly tangible sensation of of energy and strength thoughout my body and nearly left me in tears.

I know all of this this may sound strange, but I do not exaggerate. This is powerful, powerful music.

Small Game

I've got honkfaces,
chirpfaces,
squawkfaces,
and barkfaces.

Sadly,
no meowfaces.

:(

From Tunnel Mountain

I set out this morning at 5:30 in search of light.

Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. Instead of learning how the land looks at sunrise, I learned how fickle the weather here can be. Finding nothing but thick clouds and fog, I decided to have myself a real breakfast instead of the single granola bar that I've become accustomed to. That was nice.

After breakfast, I found the clouds breaking. Just a bit. So, with hopes of favorable light, I decided to climb that damned mountain again. These four shots are the result.

The title shot shows my residence in the upper left of the frame. I took the shots from Finally, Landscapes from the field in the upper right. I cross the bridge over the Bow River to work each day, and I walk through the trees on the bottom.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the photos.

CanadaviD's Photo Lab

This is where all the photos are coming from... at least from now on.

In the basement of the building that houses the main stubasciadio is a room known as Room 003. It's basically a shared office for all of us audio workstudy types, but I have transformed it into my own little digital darkroom. Previously I had been struggling with the very poor LCD monitor on my laptop. I was bitching about my plight to my roommate Nathan as he typed on the other computer. He promptly said, "What about that thing?", and pointed to a beautiful large CRT monitor sitting in plain sight. "Awesome!", I exclaimed... or maybe I said something else. It's not really important, now is it? No, it is not.

On the desk you can see the monitor, my laptop folded back as a keyboard, my great little portable mouse, my 750 GB external hard drive, my John Deere hat (which I have now become famous for), and a Staff Caf Cafe Mocha.

I'll explain that last one in a future post.

Finally, Landscapes

Yesterday after my audio captors released me from the bonds of servitude (massive exaggeration), I found mysels with several free hours in a row, so I packed up each of my 20 pounds of gear and headed out to the open field behind my apartment building. Later that day, some fellow worstudys and I made the hike to the top of Tunnel Mountain... the one they call a 'hill' and the one that nearly killed me. My European friends practically jogged to the top, of course. Since this initial climbing was brief and in bad light, I'll have to save shots from the mountaintop for a future date. In the meantime, please enjoy these first attempts.

Notice

Added an image to It May Snow.

Props

Props Pub is the watering hole of choice for the audio associates, partly because it is small but not croweded and fun but not rowdy, but mainly because it is literally across the street from the studio! We're not even talking an actual road here... just a small service drive. After an exhausting recording session (the first of mine being this Monday) you can have a refreshing draft beer in your hands in a mere moment. There are big comfortable couches, american pop music, a big screen tv for catching a game, and a soothing view during daylight hours, which in August stay as late as 11:00 PM I'm told. It really is a great little spot. The only trouble is that a pint of beer will set you back $5 CAD. And it's not just here. Apparently this is par for the course in Banff and even other larger, less remote Canadian cities like Montreal. And the grogery store's no cheaper. This leads many of us to live on the free bread, soup, and fruit available to workstudys at the staff cafeteria, saving our money for more important things.

As always from now on, click the title for more pics.

EDIT: was there after midnight... forget everything I said about the atmosphere :0

It May Snow

Here in Banff, it may snow, even in the month of May.

All of this came as a complete surprise this morning when I got out of bed to find that Banff had been transformed overnight into Christmastown. And where were the mountains? The snow had rendered them completely invisible, just as the dark of the night. When I saw the dusted evergreens from my 3rd floor window view, I knew what I had to do... photograph. I stole some plastic wrap from one of my roommates and wrapped it around my camera; I bundled myself similarly and out I went. You can see more photos by clicking on the blog's title, located directly above the picture. I plan to post the extra pictures in this manner from now on, so be sure to always click the blog title from now on.

Bullshit in Paradise

In the middle of our otherwise picture perfect environment sits a giant hole.

This hole is the future home of some centre for Creativity and Innovation. Not sure what that means, but there you have it.
The dirt and the rerouted foot traffic are plenty annoying alright, but it's the noise that's really killing me and my audio crew. You my think that a professional studio would be safe, what with modern sound isolating construction techniques, but unfortunately, this is not the case. First, our main studio is located just to the left of the big red frame structure seen on the far left edge of the picture, so proximity is working against us. Then, since we live on a bunch of mountains, a giant fissuring machine (right of center in the picture) is being used to break the mountain down. Finally, the studio's floor is not a rigorously designed floating floor, so flanking noise pours right in through the vibrations in the rock. Pretty much nonstop from 9-5 we hear a rapid succession of dull knocking sounds. Naturally, this presents a problem for recording, meaning that most of our sessions will likely have to be done at night.

Oh well. As a friend once said, "Sleep is for the weak."

Apartment

Well, here it is: my new apartment. It's really quite nice for the money. There are three bedrooms... the singles and one double. Guess who's in the double :) My room-roommate is Francois, a French-speaking Belgian. He's not in audio, rather in "new media", whatever that means, and he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. I consider myself quite lucky to share a room with such a good guy, considering how bad it could be. Still, it's an odd situation for me. Before bed last night, we stayed up and talked for nearly an hour... the best conversation I've had here yet. He taught me some of the vagaries of the French language, and I helped him some of the trickier English pronunciations. That was fun. Then, we turned out the lights, settled a bit, and then... complete silence. I didn't want to move for fear of disturbing the balance of the air. Sonic tension is the term I choose to describe it. Laura knows exactly what I'm talking about I'm guessing. Anyway, I finally fell asleep, and all was good.

Blessed

I have safely arrived in Banff.














My day was truly blessed:

• I arrived at the Indianapolis airport with exactly enough time to, get through security, and almost immediately start boarding. This is in spite of having locked our keys in the car at a stop along the way and needing a friend to drive to our house, which we happened to have left unlocked, get my keys, and bring them to us.
  
• The security officers were friendly and efficient, and they did not search my rather complicated, gadget-filled carry-on.
• I did not sit next to any disgusting weirdos.
• Despite being a complete novice air traveler, I was able to find my next flight with ease and again arrived exactly on time and immediately boarded.
• Again, no weirdos. In fact, the seat next to me was left open so I had more room than those in first class.
• The immigration officer was tough, but everything went to plan and it was over in about 10 minutes.
• My bag was waiting for me the moment I came upon the carousel.
• I was able to move up my scheduled ride from Calgary to Banff. I only had to wait about 15 minutes before we hit the road.

All this sounds pretty amazing I know, but it's nothing compared to the best blessing of all: my wonderful Laura. She shopped for me the night before and came home with things that I had no idea I needed - completely saving my ass - and she forgave me, even after I was a majorly inconsiderate asshole on account of the stress. I'm very blessed to have you indeed.

OK, enough happiness... I got a nosebleed on the road to Banff and embarrassed myself in front of one of the other audio associates, damnit!

Here, have some more pictures, damnit.

Pills & Beer

Hello and welcome to CanadaviD, your online place for nearly up-to-the-day updates related to David's crazy Canadanadian escapades, eh? Eh!!! Our journey begins whist I am still Stateside. Right now, you're probably looking at that rather curious image, thirsting for an explanation, so here you go... Being my penultimate day in the Greatest Country on Earth (hereinafter known as GCE), partying of some manner seemed necessary, hence the absolutely excellent Heineken draughtkeg, which tastes every bit as good as a bar draft and is mechanically flawless. But I digress. I'm sipping some now! But I digress again. Ah, yes, the schload of pills. I recently and finally saw a doctor about my upper back pain, and she prescribed to me... Ibuprofen! 800 mg pills yes, but still, the very same substance as over-the-counter Advil. It has done wonders for my quality of life, as I am now 90% pain free, in stark contrast to the pre-pill era when I would be in significant discomfort at least 50% of the time. This has not come a moment too soon, as my job at The Banff Centre will require me to be out of the house more than I am in it, a feat which pain had previously rendered out of the question. What's that? Oh, the massive quantity? Well, you see, Canadian pharmacies apparently will not honor prescriptions written by GCEMDs (see above), so I had no choice but to bring a 90 day supply - quite a large volume considering the large pill size and the fact that I take three of them each day. Thankfully, my other prescription, the muscle relaxer Flexeril, is much smaller :)