so quiet, it's spooky...

To be filed under the “why the hell didn’t I think of this sooner?” category of studio management, it recently occurred to me that I might relocate my RAID and other hard drive enclosure to my closet, for the purpose of noise reduction. Of all the negative things I could say about Apple as a company, they have consistently striven for near silet to silent operation on their laptops and desktops. The iMac Pro I bought in April 2018 is no exception. Straight out of the box, there is no appreciable external noise. Maybe if you put your ear up against the chassis you might hear a little something, but background noise in our relatively quiet home is enough to cover it.

When I first bought it, I also purchased this Akitio Hard Drive enclosure with TB3. This allowed me a single device to put several of the internal HDDs and SSDs since the iMac doesn’t allow any expansion. There was some additional noise when the HDDs would be accessed, but for the most part it was pretty quiet and didn’t contribute any significant noise on its own. Fast forward to November of that year, and I was looking for a bigger storage solution. Storage needs for audio has had a slow and predictable curve over the years, but once I got into digital photography and filmmaking, especially at higher resolutions like 4K, the needs jumped exponentially.

I settled on a Promise Technology RAID array with six 4TB drives in a single enclosure. With a RAID 5 configuration I had a solution that offered redundancy as well as some increased speed. Although the redundancy requires some sacrifice of drive space, I still had 20TB of new storage space, which was massive at the time. What I also had, was a noisy new enclosure that required cooling fans to run constantly during operation. This was a stark change from what I had at baseline with the iMac, but I guess I just accepted it since I was happy to get so much new storage space. So much room for activities!

I reconciled myself with the option of shutting the unit off when I wanted to record with microphones. I have used that option a few times, and although a slight inconvenience, it wasn’t that big of a problem. The real issue is that I had this constant background noise in my studio when I would prefer as little noise as possible.

After awhile the noise became distracting enough that I decided to at least move it down behind my desk and shield it with a rectangle of cardboard in service of the bespoke aesthetic for which I’m known. Since it was originally sitting on the desk directly behind my monitor, just positioning it down below the desk made a difference and yes, even the custom cardboard remnant deflected a bit of sound.

I’m not sure it would have been an option back then, but for whatever reason it only occurred to me recently that I might reduce this sound even further by moving the enclosures into the adjacent closet. At present there are some relatively reasonable longer cable options for the higher speed TB cables, but that’s only up to 6.6 feet based on my exhaustive search of about five minutes. I saw longer cables, but they become prohibitively expensive at lengths beyond 6.6 feet. My first idea was the closet in my studio, but the problem is that’s also my vocal booth so I’d be setting myself up for the same issue when wanting to track vocals. I initially just got one longer cable for the RAID, but quickly realized I needed a longer TB-to-DisplayPort cable for my other monitor.

After making the initial change, there was definite improvement, but now I was hearing the Time Machine disk constantly reading from within the Akitio enclosure. I realized the best solution is to move both enclosures not to my vocal closet, but to the thankfully adjacent closet of my drum room. The distance required is essentially the same since the iMac sits in line with where the two closet abut each other on the other side of the wall. The only negative is that the drum room closet is also my amp closet, but I’m rarely recording the amp sound, and when I do it’s probably loud enough that any hard drive noise will be negligible, but if desired, I can always shut down the enclosures temporarily.

All that long-winded explanation (I feel like there’s a theme here) to say that is so, so quiet in my studio now. I really can’t detect those hard drive enclosures now. The only way sound could make it into this space from those drives is through a golf ball diameterish hole where the cables snake through. The noise level isn’t high enough to be heard through the wall, and I have enough cables going through that opening now that sound doesn’t seem to be getting through there either.

Now, when I sit here with nothing playing on the speakers, the only sound I hear is the fish tank running downstairs. At first I thought my ears were playing tricks because the sound of the pump at that distance was relatively similar to the hard drive enclosures, but after a few seconds I realized I was only hearing it over my left shoulder. It’s funny because now that I’ve removed the most offending noise source, I’m hearing the tank and the HVAC. These noise levels are probably not worth fretting over, although I’m likely to shut off the HVAC (temporarily) and I always shut the studio door when I record.

This reminds me of my class on noise and hearing conservation that I took for my Masters of Public Health. The three main approaches to noise control in order of preference are industrial, administrative, and PPE (personal protective equipment.) Industrial controls are typically built-in, permanent type solutions like enclosures built around noisy equipment as well as locating noisy equipment in separate rooms or floors of a building. Relocating the hard drives to another room (closet) is essentially an industrial control. I can also employ an administrative control of shutting off equipment when I need to record. Some might argue that’s a hybrid of both, but in any case I have options.

Why I didn’t think of this in the first place is probably a reflection of the tunnel vision I can sometimes get when enamored of a new piece of kit, in this case the big, new, shiny RAID array with so much more space. It’s a chronic bad habit of mine, but one I strive to overcome when the thought occurs. I often rush in on instinct when a slower and more deliberate planning and execution would serve me better. I endeavor to figure this shit out someday. Don’t wait up.

Sniffwhistles and snarkbottoms...

Don't ask, it just seemed appropriate. We're in the latter half of May, so just checking in. Not a lot new to report. I've taken this semester and intend to take next semester off from Berklee. A combination of feeling like I was falling behind on some areas I wanted to explore (in musicianship and writing in general), combined with a feeling that one of the courses I was taking still needed some work (Music Compo & Theory) sparked the decision. I've got enough eligibility remaining in my GI Bill (9 years) that I can afford to slow the pace a bit. I've grown a lot by taking up drums, bass, and vocals but I've made a decision to at least try and dive deeper into guitar and keys, which I consider my most important instruments. I'm trying to work more on fundamentals, theory, and improvisation, especially on the guitar. 

I've also started separating practice and composition, so that I try to focus on each on alternating days. I've also accepted that some days I just don't have the mental and/or physical energy to make any progress. I just give it a pass when those days happen.  I've made some decent progress with this new approach (considering I hadn't really written anything since the compo class). I've got one song that's almost fully written, and several that I've made progress on.  I've been trying to compose structures and rough arrangements when I have time at work, as I can essentially accomplish this on my laptop alone. I'm also slowly learning how to incorporate some of my theoretical knowledge in helping me structure these songs. I tend to get inspiration in a random fashion, sometimes as a melody, sometimes as a rhythm. It doesn't tend to come theoretically intact (although rules are totally made to be broken, they can help), unless it's a really simple tune in C. I'm trying to hone those skills so I can naturally fit something in a major or minor key without having to look it up. I'll learn more about this is future compo classes, but thus far we were writing to film cues and not necessarily in the way I would write a song for myself. 

I also started recording my cover of "Life On Mars" by David Bowie. I've been working on the piano part for years now. Rick Wakeman's playing is often deceptively simple sounding but ends up being a technical challenge when you try to reproduce it close to his version. It reminds me of Tommy Emmanuel's guitar parts in a sense. They both play songs & parts that are ostensibly fairly easy sounding as a listener, but they both have such manual dexterity and facility on their respective instruments so that "easy" sounding chords and fingerings are anything but. The biggest challenge for me was that I had been playing "Life On Mars" as just a solo piano piece without any reference point, and this meant I was playing it too fast for vocals to keep up. I had to start playing it with the song so that I would pause long enough for the vocals to fit. 

And when I say cover, I'm making a video of myself covering all the parts. The most important lesson I've learned in recording a video, is that you really need to ensure you can play the part without significant (noticeable) mistakes, because it's a huge pain in the ass to try and fix mistakes after the fact. This is true for audio, but exponentially worse with video. I performed a couple takes and got one that I was okay with, if not over the moon. I think I'll probably re-record the piano once I've recorded all the other parts. My biggest complaint with my performance is that I was following/reacting to the recording and this makes it sound a bit robotic and flat. "Life On Mars" is a good object lesson in recording a full band cover version because it has a variety of tempos and the various parts don't all come in at once. 

The drum track is pretty simple, especially for any capable recording or touring drummer. That being said, my recently intermittent practice schedule combined with my intermittent within intermittent practicing of the drum part meant my first attempt was pretty awful. It was mainly the kick drum parts, as there is this repeating lead in beat that's on the and of 4 (I think) and it's offset from an open hi-hat to the extent that I feel like I have to rock back and forth. I think I need to get a drum stool that raises higher because there are times when I think my knee angle is a bit too acute (I think it's typically around 100 degrees flexion, and 80-90 would probably be a bit more mechanically advantageous). I have started practicing drums daily since then with an emphasis on that song and it's improved quite a bit. I feel like I might give it another go this weekend. After all that, I think the bass, guitar, and maybe the vocals won't be too difficult. There are a couple of high parts "Sailors, fighting in the dance hall" for one, that I'll probably need to make several passes at. My normal approach would be to record multiple passes of each line, but I'm not sure how well that will work with recording a video. I'm more likely to try singing it straight through several times and picking the best single take.  I'll likely gain some more knowledge on the recording of vocals since this will be one of my first times trying to layer vocals as well as adding harmonies. The other nice aspect is that this will also be an object lesson both in song recording, but especially in combining multiple recordings into one music video. 

On the homefront the biggest events have been a hailstorm in March that will result in us replacing a big portion of the roof and several windows. With a 2% deductible, that means we're going to be out about $10K of our own cash. We were lucky that we inherited that amount from my mother's 401K when she passed. And when it rains it pours (no pun intended), because our previously reliable (not counting bulbs) front projector seems to be dying on us. The picture dimmed considerably and when I replaced the bulb it didn't make any difference. We made the choice just to replace it, and ended up choosing a JVC that can display 4K, although it's not a native 4K to the unit. It basically upscales/doubles the image faster than the eye can see, so it will accept 4K signals and it will make 1080p signals appear to be 4K. True 4K projectors are still prohibitively expensive, so we're hoping to get at least five years out of this one (the previous one almost made it that long), and by then 4K prices should have dropped to more reasonable levels. 

At the end of March we traveled to Toronto to see David Gilmour at Air Canada Center and then to Chicago a few days later where I flew solo for his show at the United Center. He exceeded all my expectations. My only complaint is that the time flew by so fast and the next thing I knew the show was over. I really hope he films a show or two from this tour, perhaps the planned shows from Pompeii this summer. His most recent album is probably his best, and his set list was probably more than half Pink Floyd tunes. He played Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Time, arguably my top two choices to see live so everything else was icing on the cake. 

More updates

They finished the roof for all practical purposes. We had to meet yesterday to do the pre-electrical walk through as well as meet with the A/V guy (Randy). During the electrical walkthrough we discovered that Ben was planning for a small countertop at the edge of the kitchen when we initially requested a regular size countertop. This is what we showed them in the pre-construction meeting, but for some reason that's not what the architect saw or put on the plans. Ben the builder was anticipating the smaller shelf size as well as a single level island (we wanted a two level) and that's actually what was on the blueprints. I'm learning the hard way how to interpret blueprints now.

We're meeting with him this afternoon to work out a compromise so we can get the layout we want without ruining the ergonomics and workflow of the kitchen. The A/V guy is apparently stuck sometime in the early 2000s and wanted to wire the house based on his needs and not ours. We're just going to get the standard package and then update as needed in the future, because this guy wants to charge about triple what we would need to do it ourselves and he's suggesting technology that is outdated right now, and we're trying to plan for 10-20 years in the future.

Our realtor is interceding with the builder and we've gotten promises of satisfaction, but we'll see what that means. We were on the fence about just absorbing the earnest money and moving on, but we've decided to see what RC does to rectify the problems. It's also not insignificant that the market conditions are not going to improve as the housing market in this part of the country, and even moreso in our specific little patch of southwest Fort Worth is only increasing in demand and value. If we pass on this house and rent another year, we may lose quite a bit of buying power.

All that being said, not everything or even most things are going poorly. The electrical contractor/owner actually came out after work hours to do the walkthrough with us since I can't get out of work until 4ish. He was very accommodating and he actually had some insight and suggestions related to the house/kitchen layout that were very inciteful, even if not directly related to the wiring. Ben the builder was feeling bad about the kitchen miscommunication and he was offering us some changes/upgrades in an attempt at damage control (I think). He gave us a vent in the media server closet as well as an extra light in the bonus room. We got separate circuits for the media room, bonus room, and the treadmill in the garage.