Track 1 (Guitar-based band production)
Pre Production & Track Choice:
Track 1 was mainly organised by Solomon, who got in touch with a band he was friends with. They were then able to send us over some of their demos so we could grasp the sound they wanted and what mics, amps etc would be needed. They then also sent dates they were available which allowed us to plan everything in good time.
Recording:
The recordings took place over three sessions:
- Drums & Bass – 30th October
- Guitar – 4th December
- Vocals – 8th December
Microphones:
| Mic | |
| Kick (All drums: Appendix 1) | – D6 to capture attack and punch – K2 to add body – Subkick to capture low end rumble |
| Snare | – SM57 on top capture midrange and transient – M201 on bottom for detail |
| Toms | – 414s on rack & floor for a full frequency response |
| Overheads | – WA87s for a detailed full image of the kit |
| Hi-hat & Ride | – KM184s for full clarity and articulation |
| Room | – XY pair of Calrec 1050c to capture natural ambience |
| Bass (Appendix 2) | – DI to provide a clean signal – Sontronics Halo on Ashdown Bass Amp to add harmonic character. The amp was placed in a separate booth to remove bleed from the drums. |
| Guitars (Appendix 3) | – RE20 on Vox amp to handle high SPL while also capture a rich character |
| Vocal (Appendix 5) | – WA87 to emulate the balance and detail of the Neumann U87 |
| Percussion (Appendix 4) | – The drum room mics to create a consistent space for the mix |
Individual Mix:
- My aim for the mix was a rock focused sound inspired by the bands that the band had told me they were influenced by (The Stone Roses, New Radicals.
Drums
- I gated close mics to reduce bleed and applied corrective EQs
- On the drum group, I used heavy VCA compressor with a 20:1 ratio to tighten the sound
- I used a De esser on the group alongside heavy parallel compression to enhance the punch and cohesion
Bass
- I grouper both Bass tracks and applied a sidechain to the kick to improve the clarity in the low end
- Added saturation with Little Radiator
- Boosted the fundamental at 130Hz and the low-mids around 500Hz
- I also added an 1176 Fet compressor with an 8:1 ratio to help achieve that classic rock sound
Guitars
- I EQ’d out around 1-2kHz to make more space for the vocal but added presence around 3-4kHz
- Light 4:1 ratio compression for dynamics
- Lightly sent to the drum reverb bus to sit better in the mix
Vocals
- I removed nasally frequencies around 650Hz, while boosting 1-3khz
- Heavy LA2A compression for the rock sound
- Sent to a plate reverb and 1/4 note delay which where then sidechained back to the dry vocal to avoid muddiness
Track 2 Live in the studio (jazz/folk ensemble)
Pre Production & Track Choice:
Track 2 was organised through Poppy, who got in touch with a Jazz Quartet who confirmed availability for the 24th October. The Quartet informed us that they’d be playing a Jazz standard they were familiar with and had been playing together for a while – Lotus Blossom. As a group we listened to the song to hear the tonalities of the instruments and understand how we could best capture it.
On the 20th October we then made a tracklist (Appendix 1) in preparation for the forthcoming session.
Recording:
Our priority with this recording was to limit bleed and to maximise sound isolation as possible.
| Microphone Choice | |
| Drums (Appendix 10 & 11) | – Shure Beta 57 for snare top and bottom due to it having better peripheral noise rejection in comparison to the regular 57. – 3 mic kick drum set up to capture distinct elements of the kick: Kick in mic for attack, Kick out for body, and sub mic for capturing low end rumble – 414s for overheads to capture a nice full body of the kit – Close mics on toms, hi-hat and ride to capture detail |
| Bass (Appendix 12) | – CMC 6 U stuck at the bridge using an elastic band to capture a natural, accurate sound – 414 placed slightly further away for a balanced frequency response – DI also used to capture a completely clean sound – this wasn’t originally intended as we were unsure whether the bass being used was going to have one |
| Piano (Appendix 13) | – Stereo Pair of warm audio 87s placed inside the piano to achieve a rich and warm sound |
| Trumpet (Appendix 14) | – M160 was used due to its ability to block out other noise and isolate the trumpet best as possible while also being able to tame the trumpets harshness due to being a ribbon |
| Room (Appendix 5) | – Pair of Sontronics Delta II to capture a natural sound |
We placed the drummer and pianist at opposite ends of the room to isolate the capture to our best ability. The piano was then covered as much as possible with the mics placed inside to further reduce the bleed
The bassist and trumpet were placed in the middle, again spaced enough apart from the others to reduce bleed. Panels were also used for the bass to contain the sound. (appendix 16)
Mix:
Our aim for the mix was to work together to create a mix that worked for classic jazz music using the outboard gear and mixing desk.
Panning:
Drums: We decided to pan the drums from the drummers perspective to help create a more natural feel to the playing
Bass: Kept central to keep the low end in the middle
Trumpet: Kept central, as this was the focal point of the quartet and we wanted it to then be the focal point for the listener
Piano: Each mic was hard panned left and right to create a wide piano sound and add natural space to the mix
EQ’s:
As a group we decided to keep the EQs mostly corrective to remove any blemishes, enhance any fundamental frequencies and avoid any over processing.
HPF’s were used on multiple channels to remove any muddiness.
We used the EQ’s more in depth on the drums to create a clean drum sound in the mix, due to there naturally being a lot of bleed on the recording on the snares and toms. (appendix 17 & 18)
Reverb:
We used the lexicon 92 for its realistic presets to meld the tracks together. We decided on a small plate and turned up the pre delay slightly while also turning down the decay. (appendix 19)
Each instrument was group on the desks sub groups and we sent different levels of the reverb accordingly. The trumpet was not sent much originally due to its abrasive nature, but as a group we reconsidered this after an initial mix and then sent more reverb as we believed it sounded better with more. The piano and drums were given some reverb to add slightly more cohesion and body to the mix while the bass was not given any to keep the low end clear.
Distressor:
The distressor was used on the double bass to help add some analogue character and harmonic saturation to the recording. (Appendix 20)
Finally, we added bus compression and saturation on the desk to glue everything together and add some harmonic richness. (Appendix 21)
One thing we forgot to consider when doing the outboard mix was the final LUFS value, in retrospect we should’ve been referring back to the brief and not missed this out.
Track 3 Remix track
Pre Production:
- Upon hearing the vocals, I wanted to make a song paying homage to UK soundsystem culture by taking influence from 2 step garage, UK dubstep and jungle.
- I then found some tracks I would use as a reference for my arrangement and mix, mainly using ‘Fool Me Twice’ (Bakey, 2025)
Recording & Production:
Bass:
- Recorded a Bass using DI to get a clean signal, which I then manipulated using a chain of audio effects:
Using multiband saturation and distortion, a virtual resonator and vinyl distortion I created a powerful UK garage bass. (Appendix 22)
I then created a few other classic UK style basses for fills and variation using Serum 2’s wavetable options
Drums:
- Recorded a drum kit with a minimal set up (2 C414 overheads) at home to create a raw breakbeat feel. Got my dad to play any beats and fills at 100bpm and recorded him jamming that I would then speed up and find multiple 4/8 bar sections which worked
- After speeding up the drums to 143bpm I processed them with a flanger, resonator and saturator to give them a gritty and old school feel to layer up with the rest of the drums which were one shot samples
- Then layered this with the rest of the drums to capture that garage and jungle feel of a swung drum machine with a real breakbeat layered in the back
Synths:
- I chose synths using Serum 2 and I wanted to create lucious and wide sounds that juxtaposed the dark feeling of the basses in the drop. (appendix 23)
Vocals:
- Put the vocals into Simpler on ableton to chop it up
- Layered this with the original Vocals
- Heavy reverb and delay on vocals to match the vibe of the genre and allow it to fit in the song
Mix:
- Heavy sidechain on the basses to get a pulsing kick – fast attack and release to still allow the bass to have body. (appendix 23)
- Reverb sends: Drum reverb – small room 850ms decay, Vocal reverb – small hall 1 sec decay, Medium reverb to tie everything together – medium room 1.2 second decay
- Panning – Kick, Bass and Vocals centered, Synths panned around to add width, Vocal reverb widened to add depth to the vocal
- Automation – Reverb sends turned up in build ups to create tension, volume automation on vocals around build ups and breakdowns, filter automation on drums for variety and tension
Bibliography:
Bakey (2025). Fool Me Twice. [Song] Warehouse Project Records. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/7JClWYi1C90K4OmS9TyJ6V?si=bdd88afd99474595 . [Accessed: 7/01/2026]
