Bishops West

Author: Russ

  • Happy International Artists Day!

    Happy International Artists Day! (Why does it have to be “International”? Why not just Artists Day?) Take a minute to admire a piece of art, or even better, to make a piece of art.

    And for my fellow music producers, here’s an idea: Choose a famous piece of art and let it inspire you. What’s the mood of the artwork? Can you match that mood with your music? And something even more fun: Can you create music that contrasts the mood of the artwork?

    For example, I’m going to use Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, but I’m going to try adding something haunting or spooky to see if I can change the whole story of the painting.

    Artist Georges-Pierre Seurat Year 1884–1886 Type Oil on canvas Subject People relaxing at la Grande Jatte, Paris Dimensions 207.6 cm × 308 cm (81.7 in × 121.25 in) Location Art Institute of Chicago[1] Public Domain — 04George

    Have fun, and enjoy the day!

  • Random Acts of Poetry Day

    So apparently there’s such a thing as the “Random Acts of Poetry Day.” Who knew? And yes, it’s today, October 4th.

    So, to celebrate, I thought I’d offer you some original poetry, by yours truly, to use as fodder for your musicking. Feel free to use it as is, or to mangle it beyond all recognition… take it wherever your inspiration leads you.

    Autumn Moon

    Round, plump, gorged on lovers’ dreams
    Bright fruit of a Summer’s debauchery
    Hazy with the stupor of indolence
    Shining with gluttonous pride

    Chang E’s courage and sorrow
    Reunion a balm given once a year
    But too short the night, alas! cruel fate
    Luminous exile remains

  • Bitwig’s New Transient Split Module

    About a year ago, I did a video talking about Bitwig’s Transient Control module. By splitting your audio into two chains, then inserting a transient control to isolate transients on one and a separate transient control to isolate the body on the second chain, you could approximate what Eventide’s SplitEQ does, but without limiting yourself to EQ. That method is still workable for a variety of DAWs, not just Bitwig Studio.

    But now, Bitwig has upped the ante with the new Transient Split module. Where the old Transient control module required the creation of chains to make this work, the Transient Split module makes the process waayyy easier by adding effects bins for the transients and the tones (body). Additionally, they’ve added several fine-tuning controls that just make sense.

    Obviously, I had to create a new video showing off the new capabilities; you can view the video here: https://youtu.be/Wsfqkg4CUKc

  • Not “Hockey.” “Hocket.”

    Apparently Google didn’t think I really meant “hocket” when I started researching this video. But I persisted so that I could bring you the finest video on using the Instrument Selector device in Bitwig Studio to implement the hocket technique that I’ve ever seen. 😎

    Be bold, be creative, and have fun!

    -Russ

  • Comping in Bitwig

    Today I was thinking about how I remember audio editing from when I was a kid, and how far we’ve come… We’re actually incredibly spoiled by the technology we have available for the price of a computer and a modern DAW.

    For a while, the church where my dad was a pastor produced a weekly radio show. I was probably around 10 years old, and I remember the big mixing desk, as well as watching the audio guy using a razor blade and scotch tape to splice different bits together.

    Fast forward to the late 1990s, and we had DAWs that allowed you to record multiple tracks, and in the early 2000s (2010 for Cakewalk), the concept of take lanes was introduced. This allowed the user to record multiple takes into one track, either for the entire track, or for a smaller length of time (aka, “punching in”). Then, by selecting (or compositing) the best bits of each take, the user could create the best possible version of the track.

    (By the way, if you’d like to read more about comping, here’s an interesting article I found: http://www.noelborthwick.com/cakewalk/2015/10/21/the-evolution-of-comping/)

    And now, as of version 4, we are able to using comping in Bitwig Studio. This is one of the last missing features that was holding me back from switching to Bitwig 100%, so in the video below, I’m excited to show you what it is, and how I use it. Hope you like it!

  • Did Bitwig and Soundspot Shake Hands and Play Nice

    A Follow-Up to My Review of Soundspot Plugins

    Introduction

    Over two years ago, I posted a short review of a couple plugins from Soundspot, Oracle and Nebula. I was generally positive about the plugins… with one huge caveat. Two years on, has anything changed? (Well obviously, or else why would I post a follow-up?) Let’s take a look.

    The history

    In my original video, I did a walkthrough of both Nebula and Oracle, showing the basic functionality of both. However, my biggest issue with both was the fact that the LFO in both plugins had a big problem: it would just stop working after a few bars. Super weird, and super annoying, since the LFO is a big part of what makes these plugins unique.

    But then this happened

  • This Week’s Project: The Old Rugged Cross

    I’m starting a new series of videos this week: Hymns. I’ll be taking several of my favorite hymns and adding some modern production techniques to see how they turn out.

    This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but I’ve never felt confident in my ability to pull it off. To start with, this is going to require singing, and I know that I’m not the best singer. Also, most of these hymns don’t follow modern arrangement conventions, so I won’t be able to depend on the arrangement tricks that today’s songwriters make use of. But really, this biggest thing is that each of these hymns means so much to so many people… I’m afraid of performing a disservice to the writers/composers and the many generations who have sung these songs.

    However, I still think it’s worth a try. For me, it’s going to be a way to meditate on each hymn’s lyrics and message, and the related Scripture. But additionally, each of these hymns have been a part of me, and I want to share them with my kids. Most of these songs aren’t used in church as much as they used to be, so this might be the only time they hear them. And finally, my hope is that they will be a blessing to you, and that by sharing them, they become a part of your life, too.

    The first hymn I’ll be working on is “The Old Rugged Cross” by George Bennard, written in 1913. I remember singing this in church growing up, but for whatever reason, I haven’t heard it sung in church in many years. Despite that, it’s a part of me, and every now and then it pops into my mind, so I’m going to record this one first.

    The challenge will be the time signature and the style. If you look it up on YouTube, it’s been a favorite of country singers, but… I’m not a country singer or musician. So I’ll be trying to put my spin on it while still sticking very close to the spirit of the original.

    This will be an interesting project. I truly hope that the process and end product will be meaningful to you.

    -Russ

  • Resilience

    My daughter is the smartest 12 year old I know. I mean, I did okay in school, but she’s amazing. She consistently scores in the 90th percentile or higher on her state standardized testing, and she’s in her school district’s gifted and talented program.

    So when she got selected as student of the month from all the band students, that was no surprise. And when she got selected to represent her class in the school spelling bee, again, no surprise.

    But…

    On the day of the spelling bee, the teachers gave the kids a practice round, and they all did great. But when they started the first round and she got up to the mic, my daughter did the unimaginable, the unthinkable, the impossible: she misspelled her word. And as soon as she had finished, she knew what she had done. The pain and disappointment were written across her face, and she had to fight back the tears until the round was finished and she could leave the front of the room. And when she was finally able to come sit with us, my shoulder was wet with her tears, and my father’s heart broke for her.

    Here’s the thing, though, that I hope she’ll take away from this: We all make mistakes. Heaven knows I’ve made some really stupid ones. What really counts is what happens after the mistake. Do we slink away and promise ourselves that we’ll never embarrass ourselves again, or do we try again until we get it right?

    When my daughter’s band teacher sent the email saying that she had been selected as student of the month, one of the character traits that she pointed out was resilience, that ability to bounce back. After the crying was finished, I showed that email to my daughter to encourage her to keep taking risks. And I know that she will, because that’s just who she is.

    Now, it’s my turn. where have I hidden myself away, afraid of what people may say if I screw up? Am I afraid of what my Facebook friends or family will think of this weird music I’m making? Maybe it’s time to exercise my “resilience muscle” and let go of imagined fears. Maybe this is the time to put myself out there and take more risks.

    What about you?

  • Happy (Really Late) New Year

    I’m really behind on my reading. Like, really behind. I have magazines and books that have been sitting in my bedroom for well over a year. One of these is Success magazine… and what’s sad is that it’s not even a monthly magazine any more – it arrives in my mailbox quarterly.

    So I’m not exactly proud to let you know that when I’m reading articles about how to make the new year better, they’re actually about 2019. Yeah, I’m a little bit behind.

    Anyway, one of those articles is about the importance of reputation. The authors, Rory and AJ Vaden, define reputation as “results + reach = reputation.” And as I was reflecting on that, I realized that those are the two things, results and reach, that I’m trying to achieve with Bishops West.

    Results: I think of this as very similar to (if not synonymous with) integrity. It’s making a commitment to do something, and then doing it. For us as musicians, it’s about actually making music, instead of just reading about it, talking about it, watching videos about it.

    Reach: To me, this means community and influence. How big is your community, and what are you doing to build each person in your community? How is your music influencing and serving your community?

    So, I’m going to take a little bit of a risk and put my commitments out into the world, knowing that doing so means I’ll be held accountable. Here are my commitments for 2020:

    First, I commit to making more music. I started using Bitwig Studio in part because I have very limited time, and Bitwig makes a lot of the process fast and easy, especially grouping tracks, routing effects, etc. In 2020 I’ll put the knowledge that I’ve gained over the past few months into practice to create more music. Will some of it be trash? Absolutely. But that’s the only way to get better. (I’ll be posting under the ArcaynWays moniker; feel free to follow my progress at https://soundcloud.com/user-351735435.)

    Second, I commit to expanding my reach. That sounds selfish and ambitious, but as I said above, my real aim is to build and serve a community. That means getting back to making YouTube videos, as well as blog posts, emails, and whatever other communication makes sense. I have a small group of people who have entrusted my with their email addresses, and 218 people who have subscribed to my YouTube channel; I owe it to all of you to continue supporting you in your music-making.

    Third and finally, I commit to doing this while maintaining balance with my ultimate goals, priorities, and responsibilities. For me, that means God, family, and health come first. Please hold me to that! 😊

    There you have it. This year has the potential to be amazing, far surpassing everything that has gone before… for all of us. I wish you the best in this New Year, and I invite you to join me in building something incredible.

    Sincerely,

    Russ

  • How To: Importing Remix Stems (Bitwig Tutorial)

    If you are fairly new to Bitwig Studio, there are a couple things to watch out for when importing audio files (stems) to create a remix. In this video, I show you how import stems and quickly get them ready for your remix.

    And by the way, don’t forget to download your free guide, “Accelerate Your Music Making in Bitwig Studio.” Go to www.bishopswest.com/bitwigsetup to get the link.