Recent Posts
What a great surprise! Hollywood Actor Martin Matulis called on May 2, 2012, and asked if he could shoot his audition tape for submission for a role in a LA series right here in our film studio. He is in town visiting Toronto and needed to do this up fast. Film Dept Head Kal… Szegvary has activated the Trebas Film team and he was put in the studio to do this during this morning’s directing workshop. Marti plays a part in the new
Men In Black 3 movie coming out soon!
Here I am, sitting in a swanky hotel room in Montreal. I’ve come a long way from the days of staying in motel rooms that had centipedes in the bathtub! I’m in a very different place in my life now than where I used to be 5 years ago.
I started singing in bars when I was 10 years old & since then, I was determined to be in this industry. I believe the in the power of positive thinking and if you truly believe in something, it WILL happen.
I’ve been blessed with being in both the music & television business. I wake up everyday thanking God for allowing me to have a job that is both my hobby and my income. I work with people that also enjoy their jobs and if you have a dream to work in the music or tv industry, I suggest you follow it.
I know it’s cheesy to say this but, never give up. I never wanted to do anything else in my life besides what I get to do now. I live a very happy life that I do not take for granted… and it all started with a dream, so follow your dreams!!
Tara Oram
(Country Music Singer/Songwriter)
www.taraoram.com
www.facebook.com/taraorammusic
www.twitter.com/taraora
A few things that have happened to me since starting at Trebas to make me see that I am officially a nerd (if there was any doubt):
- The joke “Hey, can someone turn on the phontom power on Kieran’s voice?” not only makes sense, but is really funny.
- I can no longer listen to Alanis Morisette’s album Jagged Little Pill without hearing every time she rustles her clothing or that one really bad punch that cuts off half her breath… (I won’t say the song, in case there are fans who would still like to enjoy it).
- I have plans to build my own ribbon mic.
- I was interested in a conference entitled Music Creator & Publisher Conference about the future of radio.
- While attending an interesting Music Creator & Publisher Conference with a panel of radio station presidents about the future of radio, I get distracted by the ringing in the room.
- I know what that means.
- The discovery that I am within 2 degrees of separation to prolific recording engineer and producer Terry Brown send me on a nerdy tirade about how awesome that is for way too long.
- I got excited when, during a ProTools lab, my cohort accidentally discoved that if you highlight a region and hit ‘E’, you can zoom in on this selected region.
If several of these things have happened to you and you are not already in the industry or studying to be, then perhaps you are on to something by reading the Trebas blog….
Victoria Elysse, Audio Engineering Student
@_VictoriaElysse
I have a 3G iPhone now because of the toolkit I could have in my hand when working on AV projects. For live sound gigs, it is very small and convenient to use and I now prefer it over my cumbersome laptop and hand held SPL meters.
Don’t get me wrong, I will always use my probe-mic ANSI IEC Type II SPL meter for paid consultations along with my Radio Shack analog meter for details, but when I set up a sound system, I usually try to identify gross fluctuations rather than fine details, so the iPhone app seems to give me my feedback problems and my ‘boxy’ frequencies to correct.
Method for ringing out feedback with RTA Lite:
1) With amplifiers turned up and balanced properly (unity gain or thereabouts), turn up the master volume fader of the mixer to unity (or ’0dB’ or about 75% up, depending on the mixer), turn up the mic channel fader to maximum setting (unity or +5dB, depending on how you handle your gain structure), then increase the mic channel trim pot slowly until mild feedback occurs (a slight ringing only!!).
2) Cup the bulb of the mic carefully to induce more feedback, but don’t allow spikes! With the RTA Lite app, see which frequency is reacting the most and cut by about 5dB.
3) For Low frequency resonance, be sure the high-pass filter for the mic channel is disengaged and say some low-toned words directly into the mic to see what is reacting ans cut those frequencies a bit just enough to stop the ‘trail’ of resonance. For ‘boxy’ sounds, say words like ‘walk’ and ‘dog’ to identify where to cut and what bandwidth of frequencies.
For estimating maximum SPL and headroom with Studio Six SPL Meter:
1) For live bands – set the meter to 100dB on the dial and sing very loudly (or shout, if you can’t sing). A very loud singer should be able to sing just over 100dB, A-weighted. The bass drum (or loudest low frequency transient sound) should be between 106-110dB, C-weighted. Anything louder than that and you’re on you’re own.
2) For speeches – set the meter to 60dB and speak into the main microphone at a distance of about two feet from the mic, to simulate the worst case scenario. You should be reaching conversational level throughout the room (between 55-65 dB, A-weighted). Anything quieter than that and people will complain (get the speaker to talk closer to the mic).
3) For media soundtrack playback – set the meter to 70dB, A-weighted and set the playback levels to about 60-65dB for dialogue. Switch to C-weighted and adjust low frequency EQ so it runs at about 65-70dB (depending on the soundtrack mix). Business presentation media will be as compressed as a TV commercial (around 5dB of dynamic range) and feature films will be as follows – 60dB for A-weighted dialogue and up 80dB C-weighted or more for the loudest sound effects.
The results you get will be fairly accurate and you should get great results for less than five dollars of iPhone apps.
One last note – do you need pink noise to ring out a sound system? The answer is: maybe, maybe not. Pink noise will help to EQ a system to a ‘flatter’ response, but flat doesn’t always mean it will be good-sounding. In fact, trust a reference song or pre-recorded speech when it comes to tuning for naturalness and clarity.
I’d want to tune a large concert system or a movie theatre with pink noise, but not necessarily a night club or conference room. I mainly aim for four areas of correction in this order: upper middle frequency feedback, boxy vocal sounds, low frequency resonance trails and proper SPL delivery, and the two apps I use help me do just that.
Buck Moore
Trebas Film and Audio Instructor
Montreal has given birth to some unique talent in the music industry. This brief story is of one such individual who went through the school of hard knocks and not only survived, but thrived, in the early days of the music business in Canada and the U.S.
Dave Leonard started Trebas Institute to offer budding musicians, songwriters, record producers and managers the necessary skills, knowledge and professionalism to develop successful careers in the music industry. For the last 33 years Trebas Institute has supplied the music business with trained professionals who have changed the face of the industry. His graduates have won over a dozen Grammys, his instructors are industry professionals, and his schools were, at one time, the only career colleges for the music business in North America.
How did Dave Leonard get there? My first question as always is…
MW: When did the music first hit you? Was it in the home or outside of the home?
DL: It was in the home. My first recollection, at age five, was listening to a classical piece on radio and asking my mother how did they get all those people in that little box. My parents sent me for piano lessons. I used to go to the Montreal Symphony, under Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier, at Montreal High School on Saturday mornings for the children’s program. I was always involved with music.
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Just a little taste of what you’re getting into….
Six months ago I started at Trebas completely fresh, all bright eyes and bushy tails. The first batch of theory courses introduced the concepts of sound and recording to a group of newbies. Whether we believed we knew more than we actually did or admitted to being blank slates, we all had our minds blown every week by Trevor’s ridiculously inspiring speeches and industry stories. I am sure everyone owes Vince at least one double-double for a button missed on the Amek at Sonic I. By the end of first term, the two classes that started together have bonded in very different ways, on many levels. Our instructors have even seen fit to throw those who are keen a bone or two. In my opinion, these are the moments that define the rest of our careers.
For instance, our department head sent us all an email about a small company out of Scarborough, RL Sound & Lighting, looking for students to work with them. I was privileged enough to have a few things going for me, not the least of which is the fact that I have my G license and am an excellent driver (if I do say so myself…and I do), so I got the job. Just last month on St Patrick’s Day, I was sent to Schomberg on my first official professional live sound gig. I assisted with the set up and live mixing for The Wheat Kings, a Tragically Hip tribute band made up of a talented group of musicians who have an original repertoire under the name of Cat House Dogs. You would not believe my excitement when I was dropped off at my apartment at 5am and handed pay for my day’s work. If I could have called my mom right then, I would have! (As it was I waited until 12 noon, after a good 6-hour rest. 
)
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Ralph Murphy
As a singer/songwriter I left Canada and went to England to get a record deal. I found a wonderful successful writer/ producer who signed me to a record deal with a major label, and we started to work toward a first recording and, of course, a single release.
At the same time I was gigging. I was one of several singer/songwriters playing the then fashionable Kings Road club scene and most nights I’d be playing out and trying out new songs and finding a very inviting audience. They really were into what I was doing!
After I felt I really had a handle of who I was artistically and what my “message” was, I got together with my producer to look at songs to record for a “single” release. I learned a major life lesson that has allowed me to be successful in multiple genres for my entire professional life. As I played him song after song his comments were basically the same, song after song….”they don’t work”! I wanted a “hit record” and even though he had had a lot of “hit records”, I felt that he was wrong and I was right. It turned out he was right! I was unceremoniously introduced to the world of “What does the listener want?”
I love Zydeco Music. When I’m in New Orleans I always try to find the hottest Zydeco band and party the night away. At the end of the night I always buy a cd. When I get home….I almost never play it again. When the consumer goes dancing they want 110 to 135 Beats Per Minute (BPM). At drive time you want local news, local weather, local traffic and a familiar song. You don’t go seeking new music at 7am! When you check your emails the music you use most is 60 to 70 BPM.
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Paul Williams
“The key to your success is authenticity. We don’t need another version of someone else who has come before. Give us the gift of you… your heart!”
Paul Williams Composer & President of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers)
David with Milton Berle
David Leonard, founder and President of Trebas Institute, was a pivotal force in the Canadian music industry for several decades. He produced a number of records including a popular single “The Beatles Are Coming” for the London label, during his early days as a production prodigy working out of his makeshift home studio (in which he recorded over 100 bands) and produced/engineered records for the Columbia label and Bell Records (in the U.S.A.). He would later travel to New York in search of more experience and knowledge, eventually working as a professional recording engineer at the prestigious Beltone Recording Studios, learning recording , editing, and mastering techniques (with major artists including Chet Atkins, Tina Turner, Otis Redding, Phil Spector, and Dee Dee Warwick) that would prove to be years ahead of their time. He developed and operated the first multitrack recording studio in Canada (in Toronto), in 1966.
Always looking for new challenges, and eager for the knowledge and the chance to share it, David created TREBAS INSTITUTE, (in 1979), a private career college which offered the first digital audio course and one of the first comprehensive programs in North America on the art, technology, and business of music. For this accomplishment, David was honored by being elected President of the Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA) of the U.S.A. (in Nashville), as well as being a founding member and Director of the Association since its founding in 1979. As a result of this, David has been invited as a consultant to many American universities and colleges to help them develop their own Music Business and Recording Arts academic programs, at the graduate as well as the undergraduate levels.
I could go on at length about David’s accomplishments, but suffice it to say that his impact on the music industry gave him the opportunity to make friends and develop relationships with performers and industry professionals from the 50s through today. David introduced me (Arlene Mahood, Campus Director) to a few of his contacts at last week’s Canadian Music Week 2012, and they were eager to share some of their wisdom with our students about how to enter and succeed in the entertainment industry. And that’s what started our Celebrity Pro Tips. Stay tuned as we post tips…
Tavish MacDonald graduated from the Audio Engineering program in 2002. He works at New Space Technologies as an audio video systems technician and home automation design engineer. New Space handles a wide array of AV systems in custom commercial and residential real estate, movie theaters and lighting and blind control systems. Tavish says, “Many aspects and tools that I learned in audio school at TREBAS have been a big part of that.”
Good work, Tavish!
