Musical Maturity 05: Time (or) Meter

It's' been 5 and 1/2 months since my previous post in this series, (sorry) so I'll need some time to get back on track. Okay....(for my older blogs in this series, visit nkmaudio.weebly.com)

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What is Time?

In 9th grade, my physics teacher told me that time is something that could never be clearly defined. Wikipedia defines it as a measure in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future, and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals between them.....perhaps a bit confusing.

In music, time  refers to the time signature, or meter of a song. Despite the large number of time signatures in existence, there are only 2 meters: duple and triple.
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Duple: DOWN, up, DOWN, up
Triple: DOWN, up, up, DOWN, up upAll time signatures are derived from, or variations of, these 2 meters.

Time signatures define how many beats are in a measure (or taala), and the notational duration of each beat. In western music, it's represented as a fraction:

3/4

This time signature signifies that there are 3 beats per measure, where each beat has the duration of a quarter note. This is an example of triple meter.

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Why do we need it?

Time signatures do more than just indicate the structure of the song. Each time signature has certain rhythms associated with it. For example, 3/4 indicates waltz time. 6/8 is commonly used for fasterdance music. My point is, time and rhythm go hand in hand.

Listening to music and trying to identify the meter, time signature, and the rhythms are excellent ways of improving your sense of music. Later, think back and try to group certain rhythms with certain meters. You'll soon find patterns emerge, correlating these 3 elements. Unfortunately, this is something you need to experience for yourself. Listening to uncommon time signatures helps a lot. My personal favorite signature is 7/8

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How does this help compose?

Any rhythm that you play has to finally fit in your meter. Understanding how rhythm intertwines with time signatures can help you make "intelligent choices" in your music. For example, if you want your song to be interesting, the first thing you need is a catchy rhythm. Okay.........how do you get compose a catchy rhythm? Force yourself to use a catchy time signature, of course! 

For example, 5/4, 7/8, 11/8, 13/8, 15/16

I think you get the picture. Any signature with an odd number of beats, will easily churn out an interesting rhythm. Unfortunately, 3/4 can't make this category, because it's pretty much over used, and, a bit slow to form an intriguing rhythm. 

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Final Thoughts

I realize that this has been a rather ambiguous blog. There's really nothing here about how to come up with a complex rhythm. I'll delve into that a later time......hopefully. Until then, keep analyzing.

Visualizin Zigzag: Teeth

We've been talking about Zigzag a LOT, right? Well, we're not done! Have you noticed his teeth? Yes, they're perfectly straight, no, there's nothing wrong with them. So, why did I bring it up? Let me give you a lesson on human teeth, that will distract you so much, that you'll be staring at people's teeth instead of paying attention to what they're saying. Okay, here we go:

If you observe someones mouth when they talk, look at the position of their teeth, with reference to their lips. Most of the time, you'll find that you can predominantly see their top set of teeth, while the bottom set peeks out occasionally. In some cases, you'll find the opposite to be true. Although, from what I've seen, people always show their top teeth when smiling (even if they predominantly display their bottom teeth when talking).



Now, according to Richard Williams, Vincent Price (voice actor of Zigzag) inspired the teeth on this character. Apparently, when Price delivers his dialogues, you would sometimes see his top teeth, sometimes see his bottom teeth, and sometimes, you could see both sets of teeth at the same time! Personally, I am sorry to say that I haven't seen any of Vincent Prices's movies (he's actually an actor), but when I do, I'll be sure to keenly observe his teeth!

Coming back to the topic at hand, look at Zigzag's teeth. You can almost always see both sets of his teeth! .....That kind of creeps me out a little bit. Hey, he's an antagonist, so, the creepier the better! Haha.


-NKM

Visualizing Zigzag: Fingers

Okay, we've covered hands, but don't they still look kind of weird? Is there something you're missing? Take a closer look - not at the hands as a whole, but at the fingers individually...yes it's creepy, but why? Certainly not just because it's long.....(or that he has so much bling)

Let's look at bone joints shall we? Human fingers have a knuckle, and 2 more joints above it. Except for the thumb of course, which only has one middle joint. Now take a look at Zigzag's fingers.

He has 3 clearly defined joints, but an ambiguously positioned knuckle. Well, the knuckle isn't drawn in as a lumps, unlike the other 3 joints. But this kind of thing is not that uncommon among animated characters. Besides, let's think logically; the lowest ring on the finger is below the 1st joint. That would be physically impossible if that joint was a knuckle. So, clearly, there has to be a knuckle below it. You just cant see it. That's all. The thumb, as expected, has 2 joints above the knuckle, instead of just 1. This is clear in this image, (just look at the rings), but hard to see in other poses. You'd be hard pressed to spot it when the movie is playing. Take a look at Zigzag's model sheet to try and notice all this in the other poses. It's fun :D

As I've already mentioned, animating a character with 6 fingers on each hand is hard enough, but adding an extra joint on each finger is just insane! Sure enough, you never notice any of this stuff when watching the movie. It just goes to show that Richard Williams truly is a master animator. 

-NKM

Visualizing Zigzag: Hands

Take a good look at Zigzag's hands. Notice anything? Well, aside from the fact that they're extremely long......Have you tried counting the fingers?

6 fingers!! Now let me tell you something: making fingers move believably is one of the most difficult parts of animating any character. Many cartoon characters only have 4 fingers, and dealing with 5 is hard enough, but 6! Man! What leaves me even more dumbstruck is that, I've seen the Thief and the Cobbler many times, over the past....well...15 years I'd say! In all these years, I never noticed this quirk. I only found out when I heard it in a documentary. 

Let's put things in perspective. Humans have 5 fingers. When we see a character with 4 fingers, we notice right away. It just slaps us in the face! Zigzag has 6 fingers.....and yet, he's animated so convincingly, that you don't for a second, doubt that he has anything other that 5 fingers! The thought never even crosses your mind!

Well that's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with something along the same lines of this same topic. Keep your eyes peeled!

-NKM

Visualizing Zigzag: Posture

I'm assuming you've seen the Thief and the Cobbler by now. I'll kick off my series starting with character designs and personalities. First up is my favorite character, Zigzag. Evident from the title, I'll discuss his posture. 

Take a moment to look at the above picture. Do you see anything unique, or....out of ordinary? To be honest, there are LOTS of weird quirks hidden in this character, and I'll walk you through them, one at a time. For now, lets start with the most obvious-the position of his head. Compared to the rest of his body, shouldn't the head be a bit higher up? 

Notice how his shoulders stretch way up. It's physically impossible for a human skeleton to position itself that way. Try it out! So why is it like that? Yes, I'm aware of the exaggeration principle of animation, but Richard Williams was trained by Ken Harris, who was known for his excruciatingly minimal use of exaggeration. [Ironically, he worked for Warner Bros.]

This posture isn't there by accident. Zigzag is designed this way to come across as a menacing foe. Take a closer look. Does he....resemble something familiar?

AHAA!!

His shoulders are actually the wings of a vulture! This gives Zigzag the look of a predator, waiting to devour a decaying carcass. But this is only one of his oh so many quirks. Stay tuned for the others, and until then, keep observing!

-NKM

The Thief and the Cobbler: The Greatest Animated Film Never Made

If you have heard of The Thief and the Cobbler, then I applaud you. Unfortunately, chances are, you haven't; and there are reasons for that. Personally, I feel that this movie deserves to be known. It was supposed to be Richard Williams's animated masterpiece, but sadly, never saw the light of day.

I'd like to mention upfront that in this blog, I'm not referring to the Miramax edition [the one with horrible songs], or Lionsgate's "Princess and the Cobbler". Both of those are horribly butchered versions of Williams's original intentions. I am referring to Garrett Gilchrist's fan-made restoration, the "Recobbled Cut". This happens to be the closest thing to the originally intended masterpiece.

Have you heard of Richard Williams? No? Have you heard of Who Framed Rodger Rabbit? Well, Williams was the director of animation of Rodger Rabbit, and won 2 academy awards for it. He also won an Oscar for his animated version of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". In fact, A Christmas Carol was actually a test of sorts to see if it would be possible to create such an impossible movie like Thief and the Cobbler.....have I sold it enough yet?

Now you might be wondering what makes this movie so special. Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, this film was in production for 28 years, only to be mercilessly grabbed out of the director's hand, sliced into an unrecognizable pulp, leading to an inevitable box office failure. I would like to spend the next several months going into details about all this history, and why I love this film. I promise to keep the blogs short, and to the point.

In 2012, director Kevin Schreck made a documentary about the tragic story behind this movie. Ironically, this documentary titled "Persistence of Vision", won many international awards and was screened at film festivals all over the world. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but would obviously love to!

DISCLAIMER: Thief and the Cobbler is not a movie for the fainthearted. If you are not a fan of animation, then this film will most certainly bore you. What you are seeing is an incomplete film.....just wanted to put that out there.


Trailer of Thief and the Cobbler (Recobbled Cut):

Persistence of Vision Trailer:

Thief and the Cobbler (Recobbled Cut): Full Movie:

#MacProblems

As any Mac owner knows, beyond the sleek design and performance, this piece of machinery comes with its baggage. I won't get into many issues, just one in particular: backward compatibility. It all started when I wanted to install Maya 2016 yesterday, but it required that I update my OS. After much hesitation and deliberation, I decided to go ahead and move up to Yosemite. This, as usual, led to a world of problems.

Errors Ho!

As you can see above, the first problem I encountered was a driver problem for the GPU. The display started acting crazy. Luckily, a couple of updates fixed that issue. Next, I started running my most important apps to make sure they still work. This left me with 3 Java Update requirements, 3 OS incompatibilities, 3 damaged app errors, one configuration error and one plain old "can't be opened" error. Oh, and PTGui just keeps bouncing without doing anything else.

Here We Go...

Finale 2011

First thing I did, was install Java SE6 runtime. That fixed Illustrator and Flash, but Finale wasn't as lucky. It started running, but when I created a note, it displayed an error: "Unhandled Exception Caught" and closed. Next time, it just "quit unexpectedly". At first, I thought something was wrong with the Garritian Instruments plugin, but it crashed even when using the default SoftSynth instruments. Eventually, I was able to use it a bit, but it's still very unstable.

After Effects CS6

Next, I searched for an update for After Effects CS6. I found one on Adobe's website, and after installation, it started running smoothly. *Phew* That one was a bit scary. I can't imagine working without AE. I had to install newer versions of FCP and Compressor to get those working too. (OMG! Compressor looks completely different!)

Nuke Studio 9

Nuke, NukeX and Nuke Studio all refused to open, claiming that the app was "damaged or incomplete". A quick reinstallation took care of that. And I have to say, way to go on the non-commercial license! Thank you, The Foundry!

  

DaVinci Resolve Lite 11

DaVinci Resolve was kind of a weird fix. I uninstalled the current version and tried to reinstall it, but got an error saying 

"Mac OS X 10.6 or Later Required"....Um.....I'm running 10.10! 

Whatever.

Thankfully, the lite version of DaVinci is free, so I just downloaded and installed the latest version from Black Magic Design's website. 

(They have a linux version now?? Sweet!) I can't wait for them to launch a mac version of Fusion! I love professional grade freeware.

Logic Pro 9 running Kontakt 5

Something weird happened with Kontakt. When opened as a standalone software from applications, it gave me a blunt message saying "Can't be Opened". Interestingly, I can still load it as a plugin inside of Logic...Well, that's really the only way I'm going to use it, so, whatever. I'll just let it be.

While I was fixing all of this, I noticed something crop up on my Activity Monitor. I typically have a habit of keeping it open whenever I work, and for good reason. My CPU usage was suddenly sky rocketing for no apparent reason. A closer look revealed the cause to be a process initiated by HP? What? This useless process was eating up my resources much like a virus, and kept relaunching upon termination. A quick search online showed I wasn't alone. Apparently, this was caused by a printer driver.....so much for that update from apple! Removing it was an instant fix. 

Note to self: don't update drives unless necessary.

HP's custom made virus

Closing Thoughts

During the OS update, the installer displayed an error, saying that my Wacom driver will not be supported. Apparently it went ahead and automatically uninstalled it. I downloaded the latest driver and now, my pen tab seems to work fine. In the end, I could never get PTGui working. I guess I fixed everything other than that and Finale...oh well. Irritating as these issues may be, they all stem from one root cause - Mac is based on Unix. Unix has lousy backward compatibility. Like it or not, such issues have to be expected. Although, at the end of the day, I'd rather debug a Windows than a Mac.

P.S. - Red iTunes?? Seriously???

Portable Multimedia Suite II: To Studio, or Not to Studio

I previously blogged about carrying around a studio in your pocket. For those who'd like to get started with that, you can download the latest version of Ubuntu Studio here. To get it to run off of a pen drive,read my old article here. However, I'm now beginning to wonder whether Ubuntu Studio is appropriate for this task. Am I contradicting myself? Well, allow me to explain.

The Ironic Predicament

Ubuntu Studio comes packaged with a lot of wonderful multimedia tools. That's what makes it such a handy OS. Unfortunately, it comes with so many, that one might consider it bordering bloatware! Basically, it's a collection of all major multimedia software available for the OS, neatly bundled and ready to use, but honestly, no one is going to use every single one software. We all have our own tastes and preferences. Ordinarily, this shouldn't be such a big deal, but we need this solution to be portable, every bit counts! Anything that can be cut, should be cut. Now, we have 2 options:

• Install Ubuntu Studio and remove all software that you're not going to use, then add any additional apps you need (like VLC!)

• Install plain old Ubuntu and simply install the tools that you will use.

Weighing the Options

The latter seems to be an ideal choice, only it's more work than meets the eye. You see, you can't just install your apps and expect them to work; you also have to install whatever packages are needed to support your app. For example, if you need to edit a video, you have to install an editor, and the codec required to make the editor support your video. Ubuntu Studio offers all of that functionality right out of the box. Not to mention, the interface of Ubuntu Studio was designed for artists. It's just so much better! Fortunately, you can install a theme that provides that same interface for Ubuntu.

Unfortunately, the problem with the former is that we are running a live cd version, so uninstalling apps is a problem. Removing software from a cd image seems counterintuitive. I've tried, and, well, it seems to have been removed, but I didn't see a decrease in file size, so I guess it's entry was just deleted......

The Not-So-Elegant Solution

There exists an app called the Ubuntu Customization Kit which claims to let you create a customized version of Ubuntu, and create an installation disk for it. Basically, you can make whatever changes you want, install or uninstall whatever software you want, and make a live cd version of the OS at that state, providing you with your own custom flavor of Ubuntu. Unfortunately, it involves coding, and I don't know the first thing about Unix. Honestly, it would be a lot easier to just get a pen drive with a couple gigs of extra space, but.......well, what's the fun in that?

Cleaning Browser Redirect Virus

How many times has this happened: You're on google, click on some search result, which initiates a chain of web page redirections to various malicious websites? Well, you're not alone. There are a lot of articles explaining how to clear such issues on Windows or a Mac, but come on people! We're one and a half decades into the 21st century! Most people are now surfing on their smartphones and tablets, which means iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry must be taken into account! I'll cover the 1st  two here, but the same concept should work on any device.

STEP 1: Clear Browsing Data

That's right. Start with the basics. Clear ALL browsing data: history, cache, cookies, everything. Pretty standard stuff.

STEP 2: Change Your DNS

OpenDNS is built on four cornerstones: safety/security, speed, intelligence and reliability.

Okay, I don't know why this works, but it just does! When you surf the web, your device connects to the internet through a DNS server. The default server is provided by your service provider, but by all means can be changed if necessary. We are going to switch to OpenDNS.  I'm going to assume you're browsing through wifi. With that said, here's what you do:

iOS:

Go to Settings > Wifi and edit the network you're connected to. Change the DNS to 208.67.222.222. You should be fine now.

Android OS:

Go to Settings > Wifi, long click the network you're connected to and select Modify Network Config. Enable Show Advanced Options. For some reason, Android doesn't let you modify your DNS unless you use a static IP Address.....whatever. Go ahead and switch the IP Setting from DHCP to Static. Scroll down to DNS 1 and change it to 208.67.222.222.

That's All Folks

OpenDNS seems to offer much better security than my service provider. This fix has worked in most cases I've seen. I'd love to hear your results in the comments. Enjoy!

-Niranjan

Portable Multimedia Suite - I: Introduction

Are you an artist? If so, you know the hardships of having to ready your computer by installing a plethora of software before you can use it properly. Well, at least that's your computer, so it's just a one time process. On the flip side, when you're on someone else's computer, and your creativity strikes, what do you do? Obviously, since they don't have the required software, there's really not much that you can do! Have you ever felt this handicap before? Don't you ever wish you could do something about it? If so, you're not alone.

For many years now, it has been my dream to establish a portable multimedia solution. Essentially, something that would let me work on any computer, without having to depend on them installing any software. The obvious solution that came to mind was to do something with a pen drive....but what? Initially, I tried using portable versions of various software, but, if you've tried this, you know exactly how irritating it is. Most of the time, it doesn't even work! Now what?

Along this journey, I have tried out using several different distributions of Linux to find an ideal version to store on a bootable pen drive, for emergency situations (for instance, accessing data from a PC that won't boot). Eventually, I decided to use Puppy Linux for that particular cause (you can read further in my older blog). That's fine for basic tasks, but you can't exactly use it for creating media. So, a few months ago, I ended up installing Ubuntu Studio to get a hang of using it. At the time, my basic goal was to avoid using Microsoft as much as possible :P

After using Ubuntu for the past 6 months, I finally have the urge to see how far I can push this OS; not in terms of software, or portability, but both! I want to create a pen drive containing a bootable version of Ubuntu Studio, that has all the apps you need to create and edit media. This particular distro of Ubuntu comes with many such apps preinstalled, but there are still a lot you need to add manually. For example, it lacks a decent video editing software. I heard Cinelerra was a good one...haven't tried it out though.

Anyways, think about how great it would be to just carry around a pen drive, that lets you use ANY COMPUTER to complete your work! Editing? Photography? Composing? Writing? You name it! And the beauty of it is, if you don't have the right app for something, you can always install it!

The only down side is, you have to learn a whole new set of tools, and more often than not, they won't be as sophisticated as your professional software packages. On the bright side, it's always better than nothing. After all, you don't really need Avid Media Composer for editing you home videos, now do you?

In the long run, I want this to be part of a larger set of tools used to trouble shoot a computer. Clearly, all that'll have to wait. Over the next few weeks, I'll delve in to my experience of creating this Portable Solution. One step at a time!

-Niranjan

Neutron Player

For the past few months, I've been on a hunt for the ideal music app for android. What I primarily look for is:

Out of the box sound quality
Gapless playback
Good Interface
Decent EQ
Battery life

The first app I tried (after some searching online) was Neutron Player. Aaaah, neutron player! I still get shivers thinking about it! Amazing sound quality!! Drastic improvement transitioning from Samsung's player! True gapless playback! According to their specs, it analyzes your audio files to find out the exact SAMPLE at which the music ends! There's literally no way to detect the transition unless you're staring directly at your phone!

Regarding it's interface, I've read many people complaining about it's unintuitive complexity. In fact, a friend of mine actually asked me how to get it to play your music! Personally, I just love it! Yes, it's different, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Different people have different tastes; this just so happens to be mine.

Neutrons equalizer comes with a built in preamp, which is always useful for those pesky songs with low volume. Bonus points for displaying the sound spectrum of the file! It's not just for looks-it'll help you eq your song. I read a review on Google play, complaining that there's no option to apply separate eqs to the left and right channels! Apparently it's needed by those with a hearing problem.....I can honestly say I never even imagined such a feature.

This app comes with quite a few effects, but I prefer listening to music the way the composer intended. In fact, that's the only reason I eq my songs in the first place. But where this app shines is with its ability to enable 64-bit processing and dithering for higher quality output. Apart from that, I don't use any feature, nor do I intend to. 

The lock screen widget is very handy! When I'm sitting at work with with my headphones plugged in, a lot of the time, I just need to change something in my music app. Most apps these days have a lock screen widget, but none this efficient.  You can access the ENTIRE app without unlocking! So you can go in, change the song, EQ and other settings, all while your phone is locked!

A very important thing to note-Neutron guzzles up battery like a dense neuron star after its supernova (a.k.a: a black hole). Perhaps that's where it gets its name from :D Jokes aside, if you plan to use this app full time, be prepared to carry a power bank, or some other charging source.

Sadly, the trial app had a usage time limit, after which it prevents you from playing anything. But then again,  no one would buy the full version of it didn't.  Mine timed out over a month ago, so everything I've written is from my recollection of using it. On the bright side, they didn't lock out any features just because you're using a trial version. You have access to the entire app, throughout the trial.

As of now, I have to say my search isn't really to find a ideal app, but rather an app that compares to neutron player. That's how much I enjoyed the experience! *sigh* ....Well, gotta keep lookin!

Get Neutron Player

Price as of May 2015:   Rs.379

Hunt for the Ideal Music App

Alright, let's get straight to the point. For the past couple of months, I've been looking for the ideal music app on android. So far, I've used Neutron, DeadBeef, Jet Audio, Noozy, and now trying out n7. For the longest time, I was sticking to Samsung's default music app, until one day, it suddenly hit me! OMG! Why have I not tried other apps???

Sure enough, changing players provided superior audio quality. Surprisingly, many people don't know this! So here's how it works. The quality of your audio is determined by the following:

• Source File
• Sound Circuit & Amp
• Media Player
• Speakers

They say that the net quality is tied to the weakest of these 4. In my case, I simply want to ensure that it's not the music app. Personally, I use my Samsung android phone (and the in-ear buds that it came with) for music all the time. However, being an audiophile, I store 90% of my music in FLAC format. I've reached a point where even a 320kbps MP3 feels audibly low in quality. Trust me, it's a curse! So for those of you affected with this same curse, stick around while I explore and provide my personal thoughts on the "top of the line" music apps, as stated by people on the web.

-NKM: Your Audio Consultant

Hi There!

Okay, how about a little introduction. Hi there! I'm Niranjan Kalyanasundaram, a multimedia proffesional, techie, and an audiophile. Currently woking as a 3D Modeler, I graduated with a degree in animation. I'm hosting 2 websites at the moment:

www.nkmultimedia.weebly.com for my portfolio, and
www.nkmaudio.weebly.com for downloading royalty free audio.

I have blog pages on both of those sites, but I can't quite find time to sit down and blog. Switching to blogger, I can just blog on the go. Anyways, to know more, just visit my websites. Bye!