Pro Tools Session Files [.zip folders]

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MPR4C001R-001 Production Log Book

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:

Method 1 – Live Band/Ensemble Capture

Method 1 – Live Band/Ensemble Capture

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For our live band recording, one of our production team members (Dan) had reached out to the big band he plays for called ‘Blue Sun City’. For the recording, they played ‘Dolphin Shoals’ – a song featured in the game ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’ – which had room for soloing and happened to reach a final length that was over half of the total time required in the assignment specifications.

Rehearsals, development, arrangement and session planning:

The big band had already been rehearsing prior to our arrangements for the recording, so not much preparation was needed. They simply required a warm up, and a few takes before getting a final great recording. The band was originally bigger and had a guitarist, however due to the difficulties of finding availability of all band members, as well as lack of space in the studio and concerns about sound-bleeding, we decided to record a smaller ensemble to ensure a successful recording (drums, bass, piano, saxophone, and trombone). The form of the song is simple, but features 4 solos (one for each player, excluding bass), with the drum solo leading to the outro of the song. We had arranged to record in studio 113, where we were most familiar with, and knew the live room would be big enough for the band and our equipment.

Mics, room setup, musician management:

For this session, we used 7 drum mics;

We used an SM57 for the snare batter head to get more of a ‘crack’ sound and greater presence, while an MD421 was used on the snare resonance head to capture the tone of the drum and the snare wire more distinctly, allowing us to blend the two mics in the mix. We used two MD421’s for the high and low toms, allowing us to capture their tones more accurately. The inner bass drum mic was an Audix D6, chosen for it’s great low frequency response and we could easily manoeuvre it once placed inside the bass drum. Lastly we used two MK-012’s as overhead mics for the whole drum kit.

We miked up the bass amp using the D112 and used the DI track – getting a punchy low end but retaining some higher tones to help add body to the sound.

To mic both frontline instruments (trombone and sax) we used two KM 184’s as it can maintain a clear authentic sound without added characteristics.

To mic the inside of the piano, we used a pair of C414’s, using as XY pattern.

For the room setup, we positioned panels to avoid bleeding between instruments – primarily drums. We tested their effectiveness when checking each mic from the desk, and changed the panel positions accordingly, though we could not isolate instruments completely. We had to consider each musician’s view – especially the view of the drummer, as he directed the band. We had to allocate panels with windows to specific positions in order to maintain each musician’s eyesight. Additionally, the bass amp was stored inside the vocal booth to isolate it from other microphones.

We all helped to manage musicians by arranging the positions of band members, directing them on how to play into microphones effectively, and we communicated when to play and when to be silent through the talkback mic.

Time management, planning, roles and responsibilities, and structure and organisation:

We successfully managed our time by booking studios for recording sessions as soon as we had the availability and confirmation from the band. We also utilised our timetabled sessions to automate volume over our finished recording, try different miking techniques, and try different microphones and instruments out in order to have a greater understanding of what to use for our final recording. We recorded the band in one session, having enough time to record due to setting up microphones before and during the musician’s arrivals. Due to us finishing our final recordings in timetabled sessions, we managed to complete this stage of the assignment before we all left for the Christmas holiday break.

We had planned to get equipment before starting our booked session, so we could set up immediately – though we did have to return to collect the occasional item. We made a list of microphones to collect for whoever arrived first to the session.

We split our roles in the session in order to allow us to set up equipment while routing the patch bay and testing different mic levels and inputs as musicians arrived. I myself focused on setting up drum mic stands, attaching mics to those stands and positioning them, and routing the cables to Wall Box B. Then I set up headphones, made adjustments to mics, set up panelling, helped troubleshoot if things weren’t right in the desk room (such as turning off the ‘line’ button to allow a drum mic to show signal), and helped to balance the instruments once we had finished setting up everything else.

Method 2 – Overdub Production

Method 2 – Overdub Production

For our overdub recording, we reached out to a few musicians who we knew had been playing with each other recently. For the recording, they chose a song that they had played together which had room for soloing and could reach the desired length.

Rehearsals, development, arrangement and session planning:

The musicians rehearsed prior to our recording, so while there wasn’t much preparation needed, they needed to remember the song’s form as they wouldn’t be in the room together. They all took a few takes in our sessions in order to capture the final take, but we ended up comping too. There weren’t any difficulties finding the availability of the musicians, as we could easily record on different days – which we did. The form of the song is simple, but features 2 solos (one for piano and one for guitar), though timing the intro correctly proved to be difficult. We recorded drums in studio 113, piano and guitar in studio 104, and bass in studio 422.

Mics, room setup, musician management:

For the drum session, we used 10 mics;

We used an SM57 for the snare batter head to get more of a ‘crack’ sound and greater presence, while an MD421 was used on the snare resonance head to capture the tone of the drum and the snare wire more distinctly, allowing us to blend the two mics in the mix. We also used an SM57 for the hi-hat to get more attack and crispness. We used two MD421’s for the high and low toms, allowing us to capture their tones more clearly. The inner bass drum mic was an Audix D6, chosen for it’s great low frequency response and we could easily manoeuvre it once placed inside the bass drum. The outer bass drum mic was a DM-1B, chosen for it’s high sensitivity, able to capture the more detailed qualities of the bass drum – useful for stylistic jazz mixing. We used two MK-012’s as overhead mics for the whole drum kit. Finally, we used a Delta 2 as a room mic to capture the natural reverb and resonance of the room. Due to the final recording only having 4 instruments, we thought that this mic could help fill out empty space in the recording with natural reverb.

For the piano and guitar session, we used 6 mics;

We miked up the guitar amp using a C414 positioned between the edge and centre of the left speaker head, an SM57 positioned between the two speaker heads, and we used the DI track – adding some slight fuzz. To mic the piano, we used a pair of C414’s underneath the piano using an AB pattern, capturing more low-end, and we used a pair of MK-012’s inside the piano using an XY pattern to achieve more bite.

For the bass session, we used 2 mics;

We had an Audix D6 positioned just between the two speaker heads, and an SM57 positioned to the edge of the left speaker head to capture the brighter tones from the amp along with the DI channel.

For the drum room setup, the room mic was centred in the middle of the room.

For the piano and guitar room setup, mics were both inside and underneath the piano, and in front of the guitar amp.

For the bass room setup, we put panels in front of the drum kit to avoid any resonance from the drums picking up through the mics facing the bass amp.

We helped to manage musicians by communicating when to play and when to be silent through the talkback mic. We also had more active communication about drum levels coming through in the foldback mix.

Time management, planning, roles and responsibilities, and structure and organisation:

We successfully managed our time by booking studios as soon as we had the availability of musicians. We also utilised our timetabled sessions to automate volume over our finished recording, and we recorded the drums in a timetabled session. We managed to complete the recordings before we all left for the Christmas holiday break.

We had planned to get equipment before starting our booked session, so we could set up immediately – though we did have to return to collect the occasional item. We made a list of microphones to collect for whoever arrived first to the session.

We split our roles in the session. In the drum session I focused on setting up mic stands, attaching mics and positioning them, and routing the cables to Wall Box B. In the piano and guitar session i set up the mics underneath the piano. In the bass session I helped set up bass mics and the panelling. Then in general I set up headphones, made adjustments to mics, , helped troubleshoot if things weren’t right in the desk room such as fetching another pair of headphones for our bassist, and helped to balance the instruments once we had finished setting up everything else.