Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

Music

30 albums I would bring with me if stranded on an island

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If ever I was stranded on an island (much smaller than Mauritius) but with electricity and my dream Hi-Fi setup, I would bring these albums with me and thoroughly enjoy life for at least a few days:

Aphex Twin
(1) Selected Ambient Works 85-92
(2) Selected Ambient Works Volume II
(3) Richard D. James Album

Autechre
(1) Amber
(2) Incunabula
(3) Tri Repetae

Björk
(1) Post
(2) Debut
(3) Homogenic

Boards of Canada
(1) Music Has the Right to Children
(2) The Campfire Headphase
(3) Geogaddi

Daft Punk
(1) Discovery
(2) Homework
(3) Random Access Memories

Depeche Mode
(1) Violator
(2) Black Celebration
(3) Some Great Reward

Kraftwerk
(1) The Man Machine
(2) Autobahn
(3) Trans-Europe Express

Massive Attack
(1) Mezzanine
(2) Heligoland
(3) Blue Lines

Portishead
(1) Dummy
(2) Third
(3) Portishead

Radiohead
(1) OK Computer
(2) Kid A
(3) Amnesiac

As a bonus and because I like my music, I would also bring my own albums:

Avinash Meetoo
(1) My Contribution to Art
(2) So Logical
(3) Turn Around

What about you?

Running Puddletag on Linux distributions with limited Python 2 support

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I am a big fan of Puddletag, an audio tag editor for Linux similar to the Mp3tag Windows program. As seen above, Puddletag uses a spreadsheet-like layout which makes it quite unique in the Linux world and matches 100% with how I like tagging to be. Puddletag and I are on the same wavelength and I have been using it for some years now to curate my extensive music collection.

Unfortunately, Puddletag was written in Python 2 and relies on a number of Python 2 libraries. When I upgraded to Fedora Linux 32 a few days ago, I lost a number of those libraries as well as Puddletag (as Python 2 reached its end of life (EOL) on 1st January 2020).

Fortunately, the Linux community came to the rescue and created a corresponding AppImage which works on all new Linux distributions like Fedora 32 or Ubuntu 20.04. Get the AppImage here courtesy of Patsim and have fun!

I’ve tested it in Fedora Linux 32 and it works great!

Nuggets of (mixing) wisdom from Chris Lord-Alge

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I have just finished watching an Open Mix Session with Chris Lord-Alge with Michael Pearson-Adams of Waves as interviewer.  I made some notes during the 1 hour long video which I would like to share with you:

  1. During COVID-19, rekindle relationships with people
  2. Clean list of plugins (and get rid of those which are not used)
  3. Multitracks (the Master) -> Mix (a mix is your opinion) -> Stems (different renders of the mix e.g. only vocals, only instruments, etc. for flexibility later)
  4. No need to “make space” for different instruments… there is space for everyone.
  5. On vocals (and synth), remove the low frequencies which contain rumble (up to say 150Hz)
  6. Drums: some in the middle, some on the hard right, some on the hard left (and the overheads will bring these to the middle anyway -> use overheads)
  7. Add samples to acoustic drums to increase excitement and punch
  8. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Use +15dB of EQ if it sounds good.
  9. Make it sound like a record.
  10. Be a painter. Use a bit of this analogue paint. Use a bit of that digital paint.
  11. Use free time to improve your setup, your choice of plugins, etc.
  12. The most important thing is your two ears (and your brain of course).
  13. Have a limited amount of things (plugins…)
  14. Engineer! (Me: Try. Build. Fail. Learn.)
  15. I know that a mix is finished when the client approves it (When I auto produce, who is the client?)
  16. There are no rules!
  17. Recording others: be well mannered and make people comfortable.
  18. Listen quietly (and the room will not matter).
  19. Take the records you like and use them as templates (reference tracks).
  20. Consider every tool that you buy as an investment in your future.
  21. It’s not a hobby. It’s your life.

Phew. There are some real nuggets of wisdom there.