MPR4C001R-003 Portfolio: Production & Log 2

Task 1 – WAV Mixes

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Task 2 – Production Log Book

Track one (Genre specific emulation)

Pre Production

A recreation of the Synth pop 1980s track ‘Kids in America’.

Rehearsals –

Harry rehearsed the drums, Charlie rehearsed the Bass and Rhys rehearsed rhythm guitar.

Track development –

We used stem splitting in logic to remove the vocals from the original backing track and recorded our singer over the original songs backing track. We aimed to have our singer recreate both the vocal lead and harmonies of the original song.

The drums and electric guitar were both recorded in 104.

The bass was recorded in Charlies room.

The synths were created using various programs such as: serum, korg minilogue, Logics retro synth. as shown below –

Demo recording –

We stem split the track so we could remove the original vocals to record our singers vocals over it, we also used midi drums and rough bass root notes to have an understanding of the tracks direction.

Arrangement decisions –

We followed the same arrangement as the original track to keep it as close as possible.

Session planning –

The vocals were done on the 22nd of February in 111 and the drums were recorded on the 4th of April in 104, the male backing vocals and rhythm guitar was also recorded in this session.

The synths and bass however were recorded as home projects rather than in the studio as we did not pre plan our studio time. This could be improved as the sessions were planned quite late meaning we felt the overall mix process was rushed.

Feedback was given the following week of recording by our tutor.

Recording

Microphone choices –

drums:

Guitar –

• Rode K2
• Sennheiser MD441

Vocal –

• Rode K2
• Beyerdynamic M160

Room setup –

For the drums the room was set up with harry in the recording room playing, and the rest of us recording and monitoring in the desk room. The guitar was then done after this in the mixing room with everyone else through DI.

Vocals were similar to drums where the vocalist performed in the vocal booth with the rest of us in the desk room.

Since I was not able to perform on any of these instruments I was primarily recording.

Mixing

Since the song was produced in the 80s, the song was likely mixed to be played through physical media such as CD’s or vinyl, and through the radio. This may be the reason that the original song has a lot of high end especially on the vocal, to replicate this we utilised eq to cut out low end and boost high end where necessary.

The synths and phasers were also playing throughout the entire track, we recreated these through various synth programs and tried to emulate sounds such as the reversed Hi-hat, by reversing a Hi-hat. Creating the phasers through white noise and applying automation and further effects. This was challenging as we didn’t have much available research on how Kids in America was produced.

For the drums we used analogue equipment and digital processing to try recreate the heavily processed drums of the original track.

Bass and Guitar processed –

evidence of mixing the session –

Project Management

Time management –

This chart shows which weeks we spent time on which sections.

Overall the synths and mixing took the most time.

I believe to improve we could’ve booked more studio time in advance and potentially had time to record the bass in the studio, leaving more time for mixing rather than leaving that for the last couple weeks.

Roles and responsibilities –

I spent most of my role on helping record and set up recordings

Rhys, Charlie and Harry played guitar and bass and drums.

Sophie and Harry aimed to recreate the synths

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Track 2 (Live In the Studio Stereo Recording)

Pre Production

Charlie arranged to play a duet with a guitarist and performed a cover of ‘Sound of silence – Simon and Garfunkel’

Rehearsals –

Charlie and the other guitarist both practiced the song until they were confident with it before the recording.

Arrangment decsions –

One guitarist aimed to follow the chord sequence of the song while the other would play the lead over it with a goal to not exceed the time limit of 3 minuets 30 seconds.

Session planning –

Recorded on the 24th April in one session.

Recording

Mic usage –

We used 2 AK0 C414 for the Blumein technique, 1x AK0 C414XLS, 1x Neuman KM184 for the Midside technique, 2x schoepes CMC6U used as an XY coincident pair.

Room setup –

The midside was the closest mic to the guitarist with the Blumein technique a bit further back, both the guitarists facing directly forward however we found that when recording like this, it didn’t feel as though there was enough clarity in the overall sound. Therefore the guitarists were moved closer together and facing each other which made the guitars have a better blend overall. This also helped with them giving each other visual cues and cues to the rest of us in the desk room. The XY pair was positioned above the guitarists.

Mixing

Overall the demo came out relatively well mixed already, we expanded on this by balancing the levels and applying EQ and compression to finalise it. The panning was aligned with the mic position. A Yamaha D6000 was used for a stereo snapback delay and recorded in parallel within the mix.

Time management

This was recorded in one session and the session was successful so we had a lot of time to make any minor mixing adjustments. We received feedback for this later on in a seminar session from our tutor.

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Track 3 Remix track

For my remix I chose to create an EDM based track.

To fit the brief I used found sounds to create my percussion. Since I was doing an EDM track I aimed to make my found sounds close to typical EDM drums.

Found sounds used –

• Kick – hitting an acoustic guitar
• Hi hat – spraying perfume
• cowbell – teaspoon hitting cup
• shaker – shaking bracelets
• snare – metal ring hitting table

I altered these with EQ, reverb, and some distortion plugins.

for example this is the kick with and without the effects.

I believe I achieved an overall good EDM like sounding kick as it sounds heavy and harsh compared to the original audio which had a lot of high end and felt very weak.

I used various synths created in Cubase’s retrologue aiming to still fit the 80s style of the original song. I also used automation and low pass filters to add dynamics to the song.

For the live recordings, I recorded bass and lead guitar. The Bass played consistently throughout the song and the lead guitar played at the end, these were primarily based around the root notes. I recorded these in through DI and used amp inserts through cubase to get the sound I wanted.

Overall I felt my Remix went relatively well as it achieved the needs of the brief and came across as an EDM track like I intended and I think I achieved a decent mix. I also felt I achieved a realistic EDM sound through the found sound percussion, though to improve this I could utilise the found sounds throughout the mix to give the percussion more diversity as I felt the track relied on the kick drum too much.

However to improve I would want to give the track more diversity and have it head in a new direction as I felt majority of the track seemed overly repetitive, to do this I could include chord changes, add new instrumentation or make the lead guitar more of a focus point.

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