Commercial Pop Track
We recorded the vocals and guitar on Wednesday the 11th of February. My role for the session was to contribute creatively, working alongside Ben on songwriting and arrangement. Kai and Jack handled the mic setup while Flynn managed the computer roles in the studio. We went into the session with ideas that we had developed on Tuesday the 3rd of February where I had contributed to the harmonic ideas for the chorus. We used this to be able to make the artists vocal performance as easy as possible, so the studio session was time effective.
When going into the session I wanted to be able to identify song references in order to be able to guide our session and give our track more direction. I looked specifically at US and UK pop with artists such as Sombr and The 1975. These artists both have very distinct sounds in their work which gives their music a distinguishable character while also following mainstream pop structures and methods. Me and Ben discussed this as the session started in order to outline stylistically where we wanted the song to go.
While Jack and Kai were primarily on mic setup, I also contributed to the discussion of mic choices and positioning. When picking the vocal mic, there were two microphones up for debate, one was the WA-87 and the other was the Brauner Phantom C. I wanted the WA-87 as I felt it gave a warmer sound which suited the style of pop vocals which we aimed for with the reference tracks. The microphone was set inverted as it positions the mic closer to the artists mouth which creates more consistency across the vocal takes.
Most of my contributions throughout the sessions were when i was working with Ben on the arrangement of the track while he wasn’t doing takes. I suggested more vocal layers in the chorus to give it more impact, as at the time the pre chorus overshadowed it. We also talked about how adding synths would create a denser mix which is sought after in pop tracks.
When doing the postproduction and mixing, I used my references a lot as I wanted to be able to imitate the characteristics these mainstream pop producers are able to achieve. I made sure to model my mix on 12-12 by Sombr as the song had similar disco similarities. This meant having a dense mid-range. In order to try and create space and clarity in the mix, I made sure to EQ and pan the instruments such as synths and strings to be able to let the vocals breathe. I used a lot of panning in order to try and separate all the layers of this track. I wanted the mix to feel clean but full. I tried to accomplish this by keeping all the low to mid-range in the centre of the mix while panning more of the higher end instruments left and right to add more texture and stereo width.
Acoustic Track
We did the acoustic track session on Tuesday the 10th of September. My role during this session was to set up the mics which meant that all of the mic placement decisions were up to my judgement. Before going into this session, the artist had already shown us her work and which specific song we were going to record. This meant that for this studio session we were going to lay down scratch vocals and use an overdubbed recording method.
Before the session we knew which artists production styles suited the track. We chose to go with Lizzy McAlpine and Pheobe Bridgers as the main reference artists as both have very intimate and natural sounds. The vocals in particular are very raw.
During this session the artist was also going to be playing guitar, so there is potential to have some bleed in the vocal mic. We either had the choice of a sm7b or a WA-87. The sm-7b has a smaller polar pattern which would allow us to capture less bleed, but it may cost us some of the warmth we want to capture for this track. Instead, we opted for the WA-87 as its frequency response was a lot better for the intimate Pheobe Bridgers esc sound we wanted.
For the acoustic guitar I set us a spaced pair of Neumann KM184s. One was positioned at the sound hole to pick up the bulk of the instruments sound while the other was positioned at the fret board so we could capture the little fret noises which give tracks like Lizzy McAlpines a really intimate and raw feel. We out these two mics as a spaced pair as we wanted an even and full sound capture. We went on to record the overdubbing, firstly creating a scratch vocal and guitar track at the same time which allowed us to confirm the structure of the arrangement. Then we recorded the guitar and vocals separately to get better takes of it all.
We went on to record the string tracks on the 23rd of April using an AKG 414 to capture the violin as well as the cello. This allowed for a clean recording in order to add a folk esc flourish to the piece.
We also recorded a session musician to play Drums for the track on Monday the 16th of February. We had to make sure everything was prepared so we created a scratch drum beat to show the drummer in order to give him an idea of what we wanted stylistically from him. We then recorded multiple takes trying different styles of beats to find the best to mix and match for the final edit of the song.
When mixing the track, I wanted to keep a lot of its raw feel so I mostly only EQ’d and gain staged. I also compressed the vocals abit to create more consistency in the levels of the take. This minimal technique created a raw but consistent sound which I strived for. For the strings I panned them in order to create a wider stereo image while also compressing and EQ’ing them so they would sit nicely in the mix. For the drums, I wanted a clean sound that sat further back in the mix. I didn’t want them to be a man point of attention, I wanted them to more aid the track in its movement and progression.
Location Recording
The location recording presented a much different set of challenges to the other two tracks as it required a lot more preparation. This is due to the space not being treated. This gives us an interesting sound to capture, but it also means that we will have to manage and control certain characteristics of the space. We used a Brauner Phantom C for the vocals with an sm57, to try and create some separation to combat the bleed. We liked the Brauner Phantom C as it is quite warm and is able to pick up all the little breaths and intricacies that make the vocals so delicate. To pick up the acoustics of the room we used two Rode NT1 that were positioned I the corners. This meant that we could pick up all the reflections in the room to give a different aesthetic to the music.
On the day I was responsible for gain structure. This meant that i had to set the recording levels in order to protect against dynamic peaks live. I also checked all the cables in order to make sure there weren’t any issues or crackles from tech while performing. During the recording session we took 5 takes.
In my mix, I only wanted to go light as it was a very minimal recording. I EQ’ed the vocals and guitar to allow for the vocals to sit on top abit better and have more separation. I panned the guitar and tambourine in order to create more of a stereo image. I then compressed the vocals and guitar so they sound more sonically consistent.
