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Method 1 – Live Band/Ensemble Capture

Pre-production:

• For the first method, we decided to go with a jazz ensemble containing drums, vocals piano and bass. They had previously rehearsed with each other and brought two tracks for us to record, ‘Can’t we be friends’, and ‘Polka dots and Moonbeams’. Both tracks were covers.
• The vocalist, Elsie, requested that they were all to be recorded in the same room and we had to make accommodations for this, such as moving the unused equipment outside of the live room to make room for the whole band.
• We did a rehearsal in 422, testing out the sound of the live room and experimented with mic placements but to better availability, we ultimately decided to choose 104 to complete the final recording.
• We also communicated with the drummer about the choice of brushes and sticks as it would affect the microphone levels as the sticks produced a noticeably louder sound to the brushes.
• We used a baffle between the keys and the drummer to eliminate spill.
• We removed the toms from the drum kit as the drummer did not plan to use any toms and they created unnecessary resonance.
• The drummer also brought accessories such as fabric to mute the snare and beads used on the ride to create sizzle as well as his own snare drum.
• We made changes to the mic placement and setup compared to the first rehearsal, where we added a Shure SM58 to the outside of the kick drum to add depth to the sound and make it sound punchier.

Recording:

Input	Instrument	Mic	Notes
1	Kick	Sontronics DM-1B	Positioned edge of the porthole
2	Kick	Shure SM58	Positioned outside of the kick skin
3	Snare Top	Beyerdynamic M201	Facing down towards the kit, perpendicular to the rim
4	Snare Top	AKG C451-B	Perpendicular to the drum skin, placed above
5	Snare Bottom	Shure SM57	Placed mirroring the M201
6	Overhead Left	Neumann KM-184	Overheads were placed close together to have more control over the drum sound
7	Overhead Right	Neumann KM-184
8	Bass	LoFreq Sub-Kick	Placed pointing directly at the speaker cap edge on an axis
9	Bass	Sennheiser MD421	Placed pointing directly at the speaker cap on an axis
10	Keys Left	AKG C451-B	Used 3-1 rule
11	Keys Right	AKG C451-B	Used 3-1 rule
12	Vocals	RE-20	Used a pop shield and placed the mic close to the vocalist for better rejection in the room
13	Room	Rode K2	Positioned behind the piano but above the singer, about 6 feet high

Microphone Summary:

 

• We used two mics for the kick, a DM-1B and and experimented with the SM58. Due to the SM58s high SPL and low frequency response, we decided it would be suitable in order to add depth and more punch to the kick. 
• For Snare top we used the M201 due to its tight cardioid polar pattern meaning it was good at reducing spill from the hi-hats and could create an isolated snare sound in the mix. We used an SM57 on the snare bottom as it is very versatile. 
• For Bass we used both a LoFreq Sub-Kick to capture the impact of the bass and to have more control of the low end of the bass and then use the MD421 to capture the bass sound itself. 
• For Piano we used 2 AKG C451-Bs to create a balanced pair to reduce any phasing issues. 

Mixing:

• Overheads make up most of the drum sound compared to the rest of the drum mics while the kick and snare mics are mostly used for control of the mix
• The room mic added space to the drum sound as the overheads were positioned quite closely
• I normalised the track, cutting noise from the start and end. 
• For track one, “Can’t we be friends”, I decided to turn down the sub-bass as I thought that it blended in better with the rest of the instrumentation.
• I also turned up the vocals up to make them the main focus of the mix rather than the bass.
• For track two, “Polka dots and Moonbeams”, I turned the bass down significantly and boosted the drums and vocals since this track used brushes instead of sticks meaning that the drums were a lot quieter and needed to be brought up in the mix.  

 

 

Method 2 – Overdub Production

Pre-production :

• For method two we contacted two members of a indie pop band to record their original song. Between both of them, they played guitar, bass and drums.
• Again for the drums, we removed the toms from the kit as the drummer was not using them in the performance and they created unnecessary resonance.
• The only changes we made to the live room was to move the drum kit to a more central position, this was so that the drums had a fuller sound as it was very important for us to create space in the track
• For the overheads, we made sure to place them spaced far apart to create that bigger sound with more natural reverb from the room
• The guitarist also brought a pedal board with effects, we used a mix of distortion and reverb to create a gritty sound for the overdubbed guitars.

Recording:

Input	Instrument	Mic	Notes
1	Kick	Audix D6	Positioned pointing at the beater internally
2	Snare Top	Shure SM57	Positioned pointing about 75 degrees near the rim
3	Snare Bottom	Shure SM57	Positioned 45 degrees at the same place as the snare top but mirrored alongside
4	Hi-Hat	AKG C451-B	Positioned underneath hi-hat pointing up at it
5	Overhead Left	Neumann KM184	Overheads were further away from the kit to create more space
6	Overhead Right	Neumann KM184
7	Room	Rode K2	Figure of eight polarity, off axis in front of the kit, equidistant to both walls
8	Cymbals (Overdub)	AKG C414 XLS	Figure of eight polarity, placed in between the ride and the crash
9	Bass	LoFreq Sub-Kick	Placed pointing directly at the speaker cap edge on an axis
10	Bass	Sennheiser MD421	45 degrees off-axis positioned in the middle of the cone
11	Rhythm Guitar	Shure SM57	45 degrees off-axis positioned in the middle of the cone
12	Rhythm Guitar	Beyerdynamic M160	Positioned at the outer edge of the speaker cap, 0 degrees
13	Rhythm Guitar	Rode K2
14	Lead Guitar	AKG C414 XLS	Placed at the centre of the cone

Microphone Summary:

• Same bass mics used as the jazz recording, again to have more control of the lower frequencies in the track.
• We decided the mic up the hi-hats for this method, using the AKG C414 XLS, to have a fuller sounding drum kit, primarily for its high dynamic range and flat frequency response so that it can capture the higher frequencies of the hi hats without causing any distortion – figure of eight polarity also used to minimise spill from the snare. 
• M160 were used for the rhythm guitar due to its hyper-cardioid polarity making it efficient at capturing a precise and balanced sound, also providing warmth. 

Mixing:

• Personally, I did not like the balance of the overdubbed guitars at the end of the track, so I decided to only use 4 of them and muted 5 to make the mix sound less muddy and less noisy.
• I also turned the drum mix down as they were peaking at some points of the track. 
• I turned down the levels of the feedback tracks as the frequencies were unpleasant.
• We found it difficult to create a balance as the dynamic range changes dramatically from the start of the track to the end.
• I also panned everything accordingly such as the drum kit, guitars and any mics that were pairs.
• I also decided to keep the overheads throughout the whole track as they are the fundamental part of the drum kit and provided a clearer mix in comparison to the rest of the groups mix.

 

Project Management:

• Time management was something that we struggled with, especially for the overdubbing sessions. For the main jazz session, we booked a 6 hour studio slot, in which we found that we could setup, record a good few takes and pack down with enough time. For the overdubbing however, at first we only had a 3 hour slot in the studio where we were rushed to set up and could only get one or two takes of certain parts of the track and had to book another 3 hour studio slot to record the drums. Next time, I’d definitely book longer studio slots and try and get a lot of the overdubbing done in one session. 
• During planning, we contacted both groups asking if they had anything prepared and if we could record them about a week or two in advance. As a group, we discussed what microphones we were planning to use for each instrument and discussed how we were going to place them etc. The only planning issues we faced were finding studio availability, especially when all of the group and the bands were available too. Next time, I’d try and be quicker booking the studio and try and arrange a time with the group that we’d try and book beforehand. 
• For the project, we did not have any pre-planned roles. Lorna and Ollie reached out to the bands and arranged a day and time with them. Me, Ollie and Lorna set up mics while Timmy and Marz set up pro tools and the console in the control room. In the control room, me and Ollie would do a lot of the talkback while Lorna and Marz adjusted levels and Timmy would act as the technician, going into the live room to adjust mics when necessary. During the jazz recording, we had issues with the MD421 on the bass, I had changed out the cables however the microphone still would not pick up any sound. To fix this, I swapped the mic out with a different MD421 and reported the faulty mic. This is for both projects. 
• As a group, we had creative differences about the mix of the project. I decided to take the mix we did as a group and adjust it slightly, such as turning down the bass as a personal preference.