MPR5C001R~003 Studio Portfolio 2 & Log Book

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Commercial Pop Track

Pre-Production

We Decided to write this track as a group as Ethan, one of our group members, already had a track we could develop to suit a commercial pop track. So that we knew what we needed to do to the track to suit the brief we started listening to the current top 10 pop songs to hear what was currently trending. The track we started with had an afro beat feel to it so we listened to songs such as “With You” by Davido and Omah Lay as well as the artist Tyla as she has had multiple chart hitting afro beats. After listening to these tracks we discovered that the backing track is generally very minimalist and the main part of these songs is the vocal top line and backing vocals.

As we were in the early stages of writing we decided to use AI to generate a vocal for the track to give us inspiration for how the track could sound as well as ideas for vocal melody’s. As non of us were vocalists we decided that we would find a vocalist to suit the track to help write and perform the vocals.

After listening to other afro beat songs we noticed that the baselines are often moving around a lot and are very important for the afro beat sound due to this we decided to use the bassist session player to record a real baseline on the track. Due to similar reasons we also thought it would be a good idea to use the drummer session player to play a afro beat drum part that we could then use and enhance with electronic samples later.

Recording

Roles;

Sam: setting up microphones

Rupert: setting up microphone

Oliver: Setting up the desk

Ethan: setting up logic

For the Majority of the track we decided to work in the box due to the style of music, meaning there wasn’t much recording of real instruments other than the drums and bass played by the session players.

During the session of the drums and bass we started with bass first and showed the session player the guide bass track we had. This was created using the Logic session bass player which we then told the bassist to use as a guide and play something similar with his own style.

For the drummer we told him to play us variations of afro beat drum lines over the structure of the song so we could comp different takes together to achieve one polished drum take of drum patterns we liked.

For the bass we took a DI and a microphone signal from the amp to give us choices in the mixing process. The Drums were recorded using a 9 mic setup.

With both instruments we were able to get multiple takes until either the performer or we were happy and had enough material to comp a final take.

Now we had a good backing track we organised a vocal session with a vocalist that had been writing lyrics and melodies for the track.

Due to not being in Leeds over part of easter I was not able to attend the vocal session but Ethan and Jaspur ran the session with the vocalist and managed to record a lead vocal line as well as backing vocals which worked really well with the style of the track and we got what we had in mind for the track. When recording the vocals they used a AKG C414 to capture the vocals which suited her voice.

Mixing

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Drums

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Bass

Acoustic Track

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Pre-Production

For the acoustic track we decided to do a folk ensemble as I knew an artist on folk that would suit the breif.

We decided to organise a session with Isaac (the vocalist and guitarist) to record the guitar part to allow the rest of the band to play over.

We then decided to record cello next due to when people were free and what would be easiest for the performer.

Recording

Roles during the session;

Jasper: Creating the logic session

Oliver and Ethan: setting up the desk

Rupert: setting up the microphones

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During the guitar session Isaac was able to play the whole guitar track without any reference tracks or guide vocals, this was a lot easier for us as we could just give him a click track and do takes until he was happy.

To record the guitar we had a pair of Schoeps omni’s in XY position offset from the sound hole of the guitar to capture a stereo image of the guitar which turned out really well and didn’t need much mixing to work in the track.

Recording the guitar didn’t take that long meaning we had time to record a scratch vocal to help the other musicians to know the structure when it came to them recording. In the end the vocal take was so good Isaac was happy to use that as the final take which helped us a lot in terms of time management because we didn’t need to book another studio session to record vocals.

Due to have not recorded cello before we decided to do some research about microphone choice and placement. We watched this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkn71si5lvQ) to work out what microphone to use and where to place it.

When recording the cello we decided to use a Warm audio WA-87 which was placed about a foot in front of the F hole. This mic position sounded really nice so we decided to get some takes. In the end we did two takes then got Buffy (the Cellist) to overdub specific sections to make it a clean take.

Overall the session went really well and only took an hour total to set up and record.

Mixing

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Vocal

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Guitar

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Chello

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Piano

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Location Recording

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Pre-Production

For the location recording we decided to try and record a live band at a music venue and try to capture the audience as they interact with the live band. To make this happen we needed to first find a band that is performing at a venue that would let us record the set. We then needed to find out what instruments were being played to then decide what equipment we needed to book out. As non of us have never recorded a live band at a venue before we needed to do some research about capturing the audience as well as the band with good separation between the two.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/recording-live-show

After getting the instrument list and working out how we will record everything we put together a microphone list.

The gig was going to be in the Snug at Hyde Park Book Club which is a small venue meaning we would need to consider microphone bleed. We also knew that it was going to be a relaxed gig meaning the band would be playing mainly acoustic instruments and at a low level.

Recording

Roles;

Ethan and Oliver: Microhpone placement

Rupert: setting up the interfaces and session

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When it came to the recording day we managed to get the equipment and travel to the venue with plenty of time before the gig started so we had lots of time to set up and sound check. The gig was in the Snug at Hyde Park Book Club which meant it was a small venue meaning all the instruments were close to each other. This meant that there would be bleed between some of the microphones, as we knew this would happen we already planned to use Logic’s stem splitter to take any instruments out of the vocal microphone.

The roles that we gave ourselves worked well as we all had different jobs.

In the end the recording could have been better as the drums lacked some clarity due to not have many microphones over the different shells meaning if we were to do it again we would add a snare microphone.

Mixing

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Drums

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Bass

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Guitar

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Piano

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Vocal

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Room mics

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Bibliogrpahy

Official Charts (2026) OfFicial single charts top 100 https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/ [Accessed 14th Arpil 2026]

Official Charts (2026) Official Afrobeats chart https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/afrobeats-chart/20260208/afrobeat/ [Accessed 14th April 2026]

Higher HZ (2021) How to Record a Cello: Mics Testing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkn71si5lvQ [Accessed 20th March 20206]

Bobby Owsinkski (2023) Capturing The Energy: Audience Mic Techniques To Enhance Live Recordings https://www.prosoundweb.com/capturing-the-energy-audience-mic-techniques-to-enhance-live-recordings/ [Accessed 13th April 2026]

Mat Houghton (2011) Record A Live Show https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/recording-live-show [Accessed 13th April 2026]