MAR23084610 – Coursework & Project Context (MPR6C001R~001)

by

Martin,Brynley (STUDENT)

Project Proposal

Brynley Martin SS3 ProposalDownload

Production Project Files (80%) – 29:27

Singles:

SIXTEEN – 3:58Download
Light At The End – Single – 4:34Download

EP Tracklist:

Requiem Aeternam Dona Eis -1:36Download
BLakK BiLE – 5:20Download
52 – 4:23Download
An Intermission – 4:54Download
The Watchman – 4:42Download

Progress and Management Records (20%) – 1,608

Intro: 

This project, in essence, is meant to be a rollercoaster of different emotions and influences that are all tied together by a distinct sound within the production, songwriting, and lyrical themes. The song’s names and lyrical themes all tied into a lore which we’ve created around the band. References to the lore can be seen in the lyrical content and will also be implemented into the imagery in the EP cover and music videos. 

Influences: 

We first released two singles separate from the EP, each of which are contrasting styles. This is to provide our audience with some context before we release the actual EP. The idea of this is to show that our instrumental sound is everchanging and takes inspiration from different generic conventions. Our unique sound is held together by the harsh vocals and gritty singing which takes inspiration from bands such as Linkin Park and Architects. The distinct vocal style and lyrical themes help to keep our sound identifiable and helps homogenize the contrasting influences within the instrumentals. My main inspiration for this approach in songwriting and production are bands such as Bring Me the Horizon, Architects and Bad Omens as their discography spans a large range in terms of genre blending, without interrupting the natural progression of the songs. I wanted to take a similar approach which is why I made each song have its own distinct sound in the EP.  

Recording Process: 

I used no room mic for the drums as I wanted the drum recordings relatively minimal as I was going to be layering some of the drum takes with samples. I just used mics for the overheads, hi-hats, toms, snare top, snare bottom, kick in and kick out, making sure all the mics were pointing in the direction of the snare to avoid any phase issues. Layering the samples with the drums would have been easier if we had sample triggers to record with. To make up for this, we used a Solomon LoFReQ sub mic for the kick out as this had little amount of bleed since it’s designed to capture low end frequencies and reject off axis sounds. I placed the mic about an inch away from the kick head to direct the sound onto the attack of the kick. This helped give more distinction to the higher transients in the audio clip, which meant the sample triggering would be more accurate to what the kick is playing. This mic also simply blended nicely with the kick in as it has a frequency response of 25-3000hertz while the kick in mic captured all the higher clicky frequencies of the beater. I triggered samples using the audio clip by converting the recorded kick into midi in Ableton and used samples from Dan Braunstein’s drum sample pack. This producer has worked with Spirit box and Day seeker, meaning his drum sound has become the industry standard for metal. I used a mic with little bleed so that the transients in the audio clip could trigger the same rhythm being played on the kick without any bleed interfering with the pattern. For example, if there was heavy bleed from the snare in the kick recordings, then these would also trigger the kick samples, meaning that the rhythm of the samples would not be the same as the kick. We recorded the guitars and bass through a Quad Cortex amp modeler since we are a modern metal band, we wanted to keep the digital sound in the guitars as this is not only conventional of the sub genre but also makes blending the tones of the synths and samples easier. The clean DI signal from the amp modeler means we can get a good sound without needing a good quality amplifier or microphone. To create a thicker guitar sound, I quad tracked the guitars. I recorded two main guitar tracks and hard panned them left and right. I panned the other two guitar tracks the same and tuned them both down an octave and put a high pass filter at around 120 hertz. This technique adds a fuzzy mid-range texture to the guitar tracks that sound incomprehensible on their own but when layered with the main guitars, they add a subtle layer of noise which makes the guitars heavier. I took this technique from metal producers such as Buster Odeholm and Will Putney. These guitar takes were just recorded at my house through the Quad Cortex and into Ableton. This process was the most optimal as it had an amazing sound as well as being versatile and portable, which meant we weren’t tied down by room booking times, meaning we could record essentially all the takes in one all-day session. 

Post-production Techniques: 

The postproduction process was essential in elevating the sound of each song. All the synth layering and SFX is what helped give each song its own unique characteristic. For example, in the track “52”, I wanted this song to be synth heavy to create a futuristic, video game-like sound. In fact, my synths take a lot of inspiration from Mick Gordon, the composer of the soundtrack for the video game ‘DOOM’. I decided to keep the drums in “52” programmed as this is more appropriate for the synthetic sound of argent metal.

In his tracks, there are a lot of synth layers and SFX which I took inspiration from. For example, the distorted sawtooth synths that can be heard in the tracks, ‘Demo 52’ and ‘BLakK BiLE’, are inspired by tracks such as ‘BFG Division’ and ‘Artificial Suicide’. I sometimes even layered the guitar riffs with harsh staccato synths to alter the sonic quality in the guitars tone and give more digital game sound. If I was stuck for ideas for synths, I often sample my own voice and manipulate it with effects. For example, at the start of ‘52’, half of the sounds are just my voice reversed, which I’ve added heavy reverb and tremolo alongside some filtering on an EQ to remove harsh sibilance. I used a text-to-speech voice to introduce the live instruments with the word ‘execute’ as this was inspired by the game ‘Legend of Johnny’ where the robot would say ‘execute’ before he attacks. I automated all the effects to cut off to make complete silence before the drop. This made the voice clearer and gave the drop much more impact as there was no bleed from any reverb. My experimentation with vocals didn’t end there. In the track ‘Sixteen’ I sang through the pickups on my guitar during the clean ambient section. With heavy reverbs, I held the strings up to my neck, and the vibrations came through the pickups. In fact, that entire section was solely guitars and vocals. I played with percussive pick sounds and selective picking to emulate a sine synth arpeggio on the guitar and even recorded the sound of my guitar switch to emulate clock ticking. 

For the mastering process, I found that doing mid side EQ was very useful for bringing clarity in the low and high end. EQing the mids helped me tame the low end while EQing the mid/high end with a high pass on the sides helped clean out low/mid-range mud. This was needed as there was a lot of sound layering in the low-mid range which initially interfered with the whole mix. Even after EQing and side chaining the bass and kick, it was still slightly muddy. Mid-side EQ was something that really elevated the tracks stereo image and is now an essential part of my chain. 

Organization: 

I kept in contact with the band members through WhatsApp as I can send larger audio files and videos to them, making the teaching process easier. I would first create a demo of the song which displayed the instrumental. These demos were a building block to create the full songs. Me and the vocalist would use them to write lyrics and vocal melodies to accompany the music. Since we live in different cities, this made the creative process a lot smoother as we could video call and discuss ideas. All the videos and photos documenting the process were filmed by a friend and kept on a shared google drive. I kept them here not only for the assignment but also to be edited into promotional content for when we release the EP. Before recording any of the takes for the songs, I created some demo tracks so the band members could hear the ideas for the songs and learn them. I created tutorial videos for the guitars and bass so that the musicians could learn these parts in their own time. These would be ten-minute videos explaining each part of the bass and guitars. We used rehearsal time to cement these songs and get each part sounding tight and fluid before the recording process. I kept all the synths and SFX in the demos the same as I felt there was no need to change them. They served as a benchmark for recording the drums. The first parts we recorded were the drums since the rhythm section would hold everything together for the when we record the other instruments.  

In conclusion, I’m confident that the material I’ve made will serve as an appropriate first impression on our band’s sound. I’ve learned essential recording/production techniques which I will continue to use and develop as our band progresses. Along the way, I figured out what works and what doesn’t in terms of recording/production techniques. Things such as sampling the drums and quad tracking guitars are techniques that I will use in future and have helped define my production style  

Bibliography: 

  • Standardization in mixing metal music – Herbst, J.-P. and Mynett, M. (2021). Nail the Mix: Standardization in Mixing Metal Music? Popular Music and Society, pp.1–22. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2021.1957544. 

Drum Recordings/Processing:

Vocal Recording:

Guitar and Bass Tracking:

https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=6864d489-d504-4eaf-ab17-b4290102363b&start=0 https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=b6a5102b-f2a7-4377-81cf-b429010474fc&start=0

Drum Tracking Videos:

https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=f26ecd80-780c-4226-93bb-b42900f8fdb3&start=0 https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=687bf65e-06e2-4967-b647-b42900f965ff&start=0 https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=b6581950-f01e-4a48-a945-b42900fa0ba8&start=0

Promotional Reels:

https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=688a940c-401c-43a9-a43a-b42900faaed9&start=0 https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=bdd2762c-ef29-4c88-80a0-b42900ff1dec&start=0 https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=3d930718-e6ed-4caa-bca9-b42900ffcf68&start=0

Management Records:

Band Google Drive – All documentation was added here

Band Whatsapp – Where demos and video tutorials were sent

Band Instagram – Where songs are promoted

Kick Layering/Processing:

Snare Sample Layering:

Drum Bus:

Guitar Quad Tracking/Octave Layering:

Soundscape Layering/Impacts and Risers:

Vocal Chain: