MPR5C001R~001 Studio Portfolio 1 & Log Book TEMPLATE
1500 words
Please use the sections below to evidence your personal contribution to the production for the portfolio. Please include details for all the tracks produced as a part of this portfolio.
Provide rationale for any of the production decisions that you made as a group. Include any multimedia (pictures, videos, audio recordings etc) evidence to the relevant sections.
Consider the following:
Pre-Production
- Rehearsals
- Track development
- Demo recording
- Arrangement decisions
- Session planning
Recording
- Microphone choices
- Room setup
- Musician management
Mixing
- Mix plan/concept
- Balance
- Pan
- Tone
- FX
Project Management
- Time management
- Planning
- Roles and responsibilities
- Structure and organisation
Track 1 (Guitar-based band production)
For the guitar-based band production, we couldn’t find a band we wanted to record so we decided to make our own. I had a loose song idea (played in drop C sharp) and showed it to the group on guitar, and then Callum took it and messed around with it until we had a structure we all liked. Callum wrote the lyrics for the song and played the guitar and bass. I played drums and Nate, Zayn and Nat used synthesisers and effects in Ableton to create some “ear candy” and build up the instrumental more. We all decided to bring the song in a shoegaze direction and took heavy inspiration from the song “sex tape” by Deftones. Nate suggested the idea of having a stripped back part in the song including guitar with heavy delay, like the intro to “sex tape”. We wanted a sound between Deftones and Smashing Pumpkins without sounding like a complete copy. When recording, we used a Fender Jazzmaster through, delay, chorus and fuzz pedals, into a fender twin reverb amp. We also recorded the guitar with a DI box in tandem, giving us a lot of options and versatility for tone and dynamics. To record the amp, we used a Sennheiser MD441, a few inches from the amp cone, angled towards the centre of it. This gave us a very warm tone that captured the punchy high end, as well as the booming low end. This also gave us a lot of versatility for EQing. From there we focused on the recording of the drums making use of a fairly stacked set up. For the kick we used a Shure Beta 91 for the kick in, a WA-251for the kick out place about 2 inches from the sound hole and a Sub kick microphone which is pressed again the skin of the kick drum. This slightly excessive kick setup resulted in a huge kick sound which we had lots of control over through the levels alone. We miked the snare up on the top and the side with the top mic being a Shure SM57 placed about 3-4 inches above the skin of the snare drum and the side mic, a Sennheiser MD441 pointed into the sound hole. I would normally have a microphone on the underside of the snare rather than by the sound hole which made this technique an interesting experiment which resulted in a very well recorded snare drum sound. We stayed simple for the toms, using e604’s on each tom. We did, however, take time to tune the drums which was a long but worthwhile process resulting in a much fuller sounding drum recording. For the overheads we used KM184s on the left and right as well as a mono microphone in the centre of the kit. To further add to the ambience of the drum recording we set up some room mics to create a bigger live sound to the kit which became extremely effective when mixed with reverb in the mixing process. We used a DI’d bass guitar and later overdubbed MOOG synth bass using Nate’s synth to create an extremely thick and dense bass sound which is very present within the final track. At the same time, we added some ambience and rises etc. using the MOOG which became a subtle but important part of the track. Finally, we got to recording vocals, in which we once again used the Warm Audio WA-251. The microphone is quite hot with too much gain input, which we decided to make use of to keep character within the track. We created a parallel to record the clean audio from the mic as well as a slightly boosted take which clipped in the sections where my singing got louder. Finally, we played the lead vocal track back out through a guitar pedal and into a Fender Twin Reverb, where we used an AKG C414 to capture the resulting sound. This created an interesting FX track for the vocals which gave them so much character when used tastefully within the mix. The mixing process for this track was simple and whilst we recorded it all on Ableton, I opted to mix on Logic Pro as it is a more familiar DAW to me. I made sure all tracks were gain staged EQ’d (to cut and highlight the frequencies that benefited each instrument). I then compressed the kick and snare, and also the drums as a whole in a group. I also compressed the vocals and added gentle reverb, delay and distortion. I added a compressor on the master bus to glue everything together.
Track 2 Live in the studio (jazz/folk ensemble)
For our jazz recording, we recorded a jazz 5-piece made up of a drummer, pianist, double bassist, saxophonist and singer. The track we recorded totalled to 5 minutes 15 seconds in length and captured well the essence of the song. We remained minimal across the microphone set ups, using 16 mics total. We used a Beta 91 for the kick in and an AKG C414 for the kick out, which resulted in a simple but nice subtle kick sound. For the top snare, we placed an SM57 about 2 inches above the skin of the snare and on the underside of the snare we used a Calrec pointed to the centre of the snare wires. C414s were used on the toms on a cardiod polar pattern. Finally, we made use of Beebs for the overheads, placed in an X/Y position to capture a more simple drum and room sound which fit with the jazz context of the recording. I spaced a match pair of omnis on either side of the piano pointed at the strings with a C414 in the centre acting as a mono microphone to capture the piano. I then put the piano cover over the top and edge of the piano to cover the gap from the lid, capturing a much clearer recording. The double bass was captured using a pencil microphone placed under the strings capturing the nasal tones, and a k2 pointed into the F hole. We also ran the DI from the double bass to add to the fullness of the sound. Finally, for both vocals and saxophone we used a Neumann U87 with the saxophonist set up in the vocal booth and vocalist behind a few panels. The mixing for this track was done entirely with analogue gear as a group in the studio. We started by compressing the drums and bass, trying to create a consistent rhythmic section throughout, before moving on to compressing the saxophone, vocals and piano. We used a range of hardware compressors in the mixing process of the track. Finally, we sent instruments to separate auxiliary channels as well as creating a reverb channel and a separate one for saxophone. This allowed us to ride the faders whilst recording the final mix of the track and introduced more piano or saxophone etc. for each instrument’s respective solos.
Track 3 Remix track
For the remix of “How Deep Is Your Love” I really hit a brick wall. I tried to make it into a Hip-Hop song, a House song, and a Jungle/DnB song. All of them failed. I decided that instead of doing something i usually do/know, I would reach outside of my comfort zone and experiment. I went down the orchestral route, as I’ve never tried it before in my life. I would’ve preferred to record live strings but wasn’t able to, so I had to settle for Logic’s stock strings. I built an orchestra with cello bass, a collection of violins and violas for the mid-range, and two harmonized violins for the lead parts. I also recorded an electric guitar through my amp using my phone microphone. Rather than using it as a lead part, I blended it into the orchestra, keeping the violins as a lead, but giving the final part of the song a thicker sound. I added a lot of reverb and delay to it. With the vocals I EQ’d, compressed them and added a lot of reverb and delay to make them feel psychedelic. For the drums I just used a kick drum for most of it, then two logic drum loops and percussion I recorded myself for the later parts. I recorded claps, taps and sounds from a box drum using my phone microphone. I compressed and EQ’d the drums and added reverb and a flanger. For the main instrumental i added a lot of experimental effects to make it sound interesting and weird (Freakshow Industries- Backmask, Cymatics Origin).
