Documenting Diabetes - Magazine Research (Adam Fine)

During my downtime from work I have been reading quite a lot. Every month I get my Balance magazine which tells me about the latest thoughts on Diabetes. In the February edition there was a little article about independent producer Adam Fine, who is looking for volunteers with diabetes to feature in a documentary about ‘how people deal with diabetes both psychologically and physically during different life stages. The documentary will also look at the impact of recent developments in diabetes care and technology.’

A few years ago I made a film about my experiences with diabetes, filming my consultant, Dr H. Baumer. You can catch my two part film on Youtube.

Living with Diabetes Part 1
Living with Diabetes Part 2

I look at lot younger in my film and my filming technique has improved since then, but the film was used by the diabetic nurse team at Derriford hospital to show teenagers with type 1 diabetes how we sometimes feel with this condition.
I thought that I might e mail Adam to find out a bit more about his project.

I have not yet seen any of the trilogy but am excited to get my hands on them as soon as they are released (and when I have a job to buy them! )

Check out his website here

A Day spent with Music Producer - Kam

February 21st 2012

I made contact with this music producer through a close friend. This producer has created his own record label and works as a freelancer. He works out of his own studio in Slough.

I was interested in meeting him as I am driven to raise the standard of my music production to a professional standard. I really wanted to know about developing sound quality and use of different frequencies.

I travelled to slough and met with Kam, professionally known as Romay, in his home TDK approved studio. He there introduced me to his equipment and music. I am in the process of developing a track with a friend which Kam agreed to listen to and give me some feedback. After comparing our track to the drum and bass giants releasing music today, I was taken aback by what I was hearing. The intricacies of each sound mixed so delicately with another amazed me. What I didn't really appreciate before I went to see Kam is how precise you have to be when mixing your sounds and not only what your chosen sounds are. I knew that certain choice frequencies had to be assigned predominantly to each different sound element, but I wasn't aware of how the further processing of each sound such as limiting, cutoffs for basses, adding reverb etc is important when it comes to making the music stomp out the speakers. I also learnt that by using as many tools available in the software as I could appropriately, it would give the track the right amount of space for each sound being heard in the final mix.

Spacing, amoung other things, was a feature that Kam was serious about in production and I found this very interesting. Mixing the track which is what is required before mastering, gives each sound element room to breathe within the whole mix. Spectrum analysers are also important in aiding me as a producer, to see what sounds are hitting each frequency. As I am new to the whole technical side of producing music, he stated the importance in viewing other similar genres and styles of music through the spectrum analyser, for producing the right sounds in each frequency. By referencing the newest and best electronic music out, we can then use it to see how it looks within the analyser.

Choosing the right sounds in the first place when making a track is just as important as mixing them properly. For example, using a snappy sounding snare and eq-ing it at 220Hz (which is at the top end of lower frequencies) is going to make the sound a lot flatter than an already beefy, round sounding snare sample that is inherently hitting the lower end of the spectrum already. Technically, drum and bass is the most challenging genre to make. As there is so much going on in the mix at one time that you have to constantly fight for space within the mix. That is why panning, processing, limiting, cut offs and a whole load of other effects are so important if you want that punchy, full sound when listening to the high energy music.



Notably, RAM RECORDS have been relishing in the artists that pay close attention to their production. With the likes of artists such as Sub Focus, Cyantific, Delta Heavy, Hamilton, DC Breaks and Wilkinson its hard to find something that, listened to on the right equipment, can't amaze. There is such clarity amongst a cluttered frequency environment within the Drum and Bass tradition. I find Ram Records artists work both complex, exciting and admirable as they master their technical allowances to the full, pushing sound as far as it can go and striving to be the best engineers of music production.

Check out Ram Records Here\
Check out Romay Here