MPR4C001R-003 Production & Log Rax Marsh MAR21083190
Task 1 – WAV Mixes
Task 2 – Production Log Book
Track 1 (Genre Specific Emulation)
For our first track, we recreated Drive My Car by The Beatles from the 1965 album Rubber Soul. In our pre-production stage, we carefully analysed the song to help us decide on the performers and instrumentation we would need. I had worked previously with a drummer with a similar style to Ringo Starr’s, rehearsed the song with him, and as a group we decided he would be the right fit. For the other instruments, each group member learned different instrument parts; I learned the guitar and piano but didn’t play on the recording. Before we started recording, we made sure we had people to play each part and strategically planned the order, starting with drums, then layering the guitar, bass, piano, and the vocals.
When it came to recording, the microphones and instruments were the parts which were difficult to decide on, as we knew what mics the Beatles used but didn’t have access to them, so we had to pick what was the closest. I researched the microphones used and positions for the drums and found quite a useful diagram for the drum mics (Huart, 2018). It shows that there was a bidirectional microphone above the snare pointing downwards, and a kick microphone around 6 inches away from the skin at the top of the drum. For the microphone on the kick, we used an AT-4033a to substitute the STC 4033-A (n.a, 2025) which Norman Smith (the main engineer for Rubber Soul) used. I also suggested that we included an under-snare microphone which wasn’t on the diagram since it was based on the mics a bit before Rubber Soul, which did use an under-snare mic. We used an SM57 so we could capture the brightness of the snare wires as well as the punch from the snare which might’ve been missing from not having a dedicated snare mic. The overhead microphone was the Sontronics Delta2 since we didn’t have access to a Coles 4038 (n.a, 2025) ribbon microphone. I suggested this microphone since I’d used it before for drum overheads and knew it would work.
For the guitar, we settled on the Epiphone “Lucille”, as there weren’t any ES339’s available at the time of recording, like what would’ve been used by John Lennon, and used a Vox AC30, which is a smaller version of the AC100 which was what was used by the Beatles nearly exclusively around this era. We chose an AKG C414 and an SM57 to record the cab since they are quite flat frequency microphones which we could then manipulate to emulate the guitar tone. For the bass, I had researched and seen that “George Martin had one of his engineers wire a speaker cone backwards and use it as a mic” (McAlilly, n.a), and since we have access to a sub-kick microphone at the university, which is a microphone built to replicate this, I suggested we used this to record the re-amped, direct input signal of the bass, though I noted in the end that the direct input recording we had was already accurate and that we shouldn’t risk having a not as effective bass recording.
During mixing, we examined both channels of the original song individually and wrote down which instruments were in each speaker as all the instruments were hard-panned. As we were doing this, I noted that the reverb from the instruments in the right channel was in the left channel and vice versa. This was likely a way of having parts of each instrument in each ear as stereo recording was fairly unused in the mid-60’s so hard-panning instruments was the easiest method, especially when it came to tape recording. We then decided that we should mix both channels as two mono mixes which we panned left and right which allowed us to put the reverb on both channels and then pan those to the opposite side. We planned to mix the song using analogue gear, since this was accurate to the mixing techniques that George Martin would’ve used, and it allowed us to be more conservative with processing and to mix with our ears by listening to what we were mixing instead of mixing with our eyes by setting generic settings and adding too many plugins which would’ve ruined the mix as early Beatles songs don’t sound like they’ve had too much editing, and has a very raw kind of timbre.
Our preparation for this recording was very in depth, which allowed us to record with a high level of efficiency. I decided to take the more hands-on approach of this recording, doing research on most of the mics we used with help from the others in the group, setting up the microphones and instruments, arranging for the drummer to come in and to makes sure he was properly prepared, and making sure that it sounded accurate in the recording stage of the process. I also had quite a big hand in the mixing stage, but I knew that this was a weak point for me at the moment, so I left it up to others in the group. However, I did set the analogue compressors for the piano, tambourine, and cowbell, which was a very successful part of the mix.
Track 2 (Live In the Studio Stereo Recording)
For our trio recording, we found a clarinet trio, who already had a song prepared which they wanted to record. This meant we didn’t need a rehearsal, however we did get to hear the performance beforehand which helped us to figure out microphone choices and placements. We decided that the trio should be positioned all facing the main microphones, with one musician in the centre and two to the sides.
To record the group, we used multiple microphone techniques, but the main microphones were a close X-Y setup of two Beyerdynamic M160 ribbon microphones to capture the performance of the three musicians. This was placed on top of a mid-side pair, which I suggested we used alongside the other microphones to widen the stereo image since they were sitting relatively close. The microphones chosen for this were the AKG C414 XLII for the bidirectional microphone and a Neumann KM184 as the middle microphone, pointed directly towards the performers. Two sets of stereo microphones were used to capture the room, firstly a pair of Neumann TLM102s, with Sontronic Orpheus placed behind. We originally tried SE X1Rs instead of the TLM102s, which didn’t work. However, I believe the TLM102s captured the harsher sound of the clarinets better than the X1Rs would’ve, since they are condensers, not ribbons, which capture more high end and sound more natural. Studio 113 was chosen for recording as the genre called for room sound which 113s concrete floors and brick walls compliment.
Track 3 Remix track
For the remix of Drive My Car, I chose the surf rock genre, mainly based on a slightly modernised version of The Beach Boys as it’s a look at what the song might’ve sounded like if a band of a different genre at the time would’ve recorded it instead. After listening to a variety of surf bands to decide what instruments are common in the genre, I decided to record organ, guitar, bass, drums, and I included the original backing vocals alongside the lead vocals, since I noticed there is usually vocal layering in surf rock. The organ sound I used was a preset on my keyboard, which I then added a rotary effect to which emulates a Leslie speaker. These are very commonly used for organ sounds in surf rock, notably by the Beach Boys. I wrote a new chord progression used in the pre-chorus and intro which worked very well with the style and instrumentation. On top of this, I added a synth part using the Logic Pro Retro Synth which plays the chords two octaves lower than the organ part during the choruses which compliments it well. I also decided to rearrange the structure so the post chorus of the original were removed and only included as part of the ending, which I decided would fit better with the genre instead of the original fade out. This gave the outro more impact and helped keep the song from sounding too repetitive. I also rewrote the solo to fit the style better, using a palm-muted phrasing to add to the bouncy style that surf rock has. I also made the chorus half-time as the genre seems to feature a smoother and slower sound. I recorded the guitar with a JZ V67, since this is a copy of the Neumann U67 used very often in 60s music. The drums were recorded using two microphones, a t.bone RM700 as the overhead and the Sontronics DM-1B on the kick. However, I placed the kick microphone too far from the kick which needed a lot of corrective editing in post to make the kick stand out. I included two found sounds to add onto the percussive layers; firstly the sound of me scraping a metal chain with a pen, and secondly a box full of rice. I scratched the chain in the pre-chorus sections to sound like a guiro, which is a unique instrument used surprisingly often in surf rock, and I shook the box of rice to mimic a shaker in the choruses.
In mixing I focused more on authenticity than corrective actions, making mainly creative edits such as a heavy compression to the singular drum overhead to make each drum stand out a bit more, as the drummer I recruited has a heavy playing style on the cymbals. Songs like Wouldn’t It Be Nice by the Beach Boys feature a very up front drum sound which I managed to recreate quite well. I hard panned every instrument and used the reverse reverb technique I learned from the original mix to help glue the channels together as well as rolling off the top end around 18kHz and adding a compressor to control the peaks.
References
Huart, W. (2018, July 10). Produce Like a Pro. Retrieved from Classic studio techniques – Getting that early Beatles drum sound: https://producelikeapro.com/blog/classic-studio-techniques-getting-that-early-beatles-drum-sound/
McAlilly, L. (n.a). Original Fuzz. Retrieved from The Secret to Paul’s Bass Sound on the Later Beatles Records: https://originalfuzz.com/blogs/magazine/the-secret-to-pauls-bass-sound-on-the-later-beatles-records#:~:text=Turner%20explains%20that%20George%20Martin,coming%20in%20or%20going%20out.
n.a. (2025, April 25). Guitar and Beyond. Retrieved from Beatles Microphones: https://www.guitarandbeyond.com/beatles-microphones/
