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Task 1 – WAV Mixes

Please add your uncompressed audio files to the block below

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Task 2 – 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:

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‘Killing Me Softly’ (Genre Specific Emulation)

Pre Production:

• Firstly, we contacted a band that mostly did covers from the 1970s, the lead singer, Beth, chose the song ‘Killing Me Softly’ by Roberta Flack to emulate 
• We attempted to do the track with overdubs, recording drums first and recording each instruments on top of them. However, since the song chosen changes tempo, we experienced a lot of  timing errors when trying to mix the overdubbed project, we had two options, use corrective techniques to fix the project or re-record the track live and we decided as a group to re-record.
• We then arranged one six hour session to do a live recording of most instruments, only overdubbing acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies

Recording:

Instrument	Mic	Notes
Kick In	RE20	Minimal mics used for drum recording as we wanted to get it as close to the original as possible – drums recorded in mono
Kick Out	Senheiser MD421-11
Mono OH	Rode K2
Percussion 1	Neumann KM184	Mics were placed above the player to get a wider sound
Percussion 2	Xaudia Beep
Keys 1	Xaudia GRX
Keys 2	Neumann KM184
Bass 1	Solomon LoFREQ
Bass 2	Sontronics Delta 2
Acoustic Guitar	Neumann KM184	Mono acoustic guitar
Vocals	NT1A
Vocal Harmonies	NT1A

Mixing:

• For effects, we listened to the original track and found that the main creative effects were reverb and delay
• During the recording process, we used hardware effects such as reverb and EQ which we patched in, the most reverb was on the vocals, similar to the original track. 
• During the mixing progress, not many creative effects were added, mostly corrective ones used to polish things up such as EQ and compression, as the the original track does not have a lot of effects and sounds fairly natural
• We also imported the percussion sounds that we used in the original overdubbed version and sampled them in our new live track and dragged them to the correct timing. 

‘About You’ (Live In the Studio Stereo Recording)

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Pre-Production:

• For this track, we struggled to find players who were available outside of the studio group. Therefore, we and Lorna decided to do the stereo recording ourselves, Lorna playing the piano and me playing the flute and vocals
• Me and Lorna rehearsed the morning before the recording as we had never played the song together before. We both learned the song separately. 
• During this rehearsal, we made arrangement decisions such as how long the intro was going to be and adding an outro to the song which we arranged ourselves which I played on the flute. 
• We also researched which stereo mic recordings we were going to use and tested these out in the studio during our lesson with Jason. We decided to use 3 stereo mic techniques for the final recording; Blumlein, Coincident pair and Mid-side. 

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Recording:

Technique	Mic	Notes
Blumlein	AKG 414 XLS	both mics placed diagonally on top of each other in a figure of eight polarity to capture a wider stereo image
	AKG 414 XLS
Coincident	Neumann KM184	Mics angled at 90 degrees to capture a realistic stereo image
	Neumann KM184
Mid-side	Rode K2	Figure of eight polarity, signal is duplicated and the polarity is flipped to capture the mids
	Aston spirit	Cardioid polarity to capture the sides

• We decided to put a baffle between me and Lorna to minimise spill from the piano so that the vocals and flute could still be heard
• When I was playing the flute I was turned sideways so that the flute sound hole was pointing towards the mid-side mics and when I was singing I turned towards the mics so that they would pick up my vocals
• We also added hardware reverb and compression

Mixing:

• During the recording, we added hardware reverb to the mid-side mics, so during the mixing process, we adjusted the levels of reverb
• There was a problem where my singing was a lot quieter than my flute playing, if we could have done it again, I would stand closer to the mic when I was singing and take a step back when playing the levels more consistent. To combat this, we used automation to adjust the levels accordingly and compressed the flute. 

Project Management (both projects):

• We used a mixture of run-throughs and section-by-section recordings which meant that we had a lot of material to work with which helped in the mixing stage when comping the tracks.​
• Time management –  We had one six hour session for the final product for each track rather than smaller sessions which meant that we did not have to set-up or pack down between sessions, saving us time.​
• Communication – As a group we had shared resources such as the use of One Drive and group chat where we all had access to files and could talk to each other before and after sessions.​
• Good organisation –  We managed to get all players in one session and found capable players that had the ability to perform the song well. For the stereo track both players were in the group which made organisation easier​
• Group distribution of work – everyone in the group attended the live session and helped with setup and recording of the track.  Since the track was shared online, we all could help mix it and make changes remotely
• Lack of rehearsals – for the emulation track, the first few takes of the recording were getting the band comfortable with playing together – recording would have went smoother with a rehearsal.​
• Song choice – the emulation track was a difficult song to emulate due to factors such as the complex effects, and vocal harmonies which made it a challenge. This meant this track was more time-consuming.​
• Song tempo – in the emulation track, a lot of tempo changes in the track made it difficult to overdub hence why we had to scrap the overdubbing progress we had made and do a live recording
• Pre-Production – for the stereo track, it would have been easier to plan the stereo field a bit more as last minute changes had to be added while recording, such as the use of a baffle

Track 3 Remix track

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Planning / Pre-Production:

• For this track, I knew I wanted to do a synth style remix, so I first decided on the BPM which I chose to be 120 bpm which is a lot faster than the original track
• For instrumentation, I knew I wanted to use a Q-Chord as it is my favourite synth to work with and it would be interesting to add to the remix
• For the drums I wanted to challenge myself by making a drum sound using objects around my room 

Recording:

• I started with manipulating the vocals from the track – this was quite difficult as in the original emulation, the vocals were not recorded to a click and the tempo changed throughout the track.
• I first tried to use flex-time and quantised them, however, they still sounded off and the timing between phrases was incorrect
• To combat this, I chopped the vocals up into phrases and flex-timed them by hand
• I then sampled objects around my room using my Sampson Mic, For the kick I slammed my door, for the snare I hit a book with a wooden spoon, for the hi-hat I sprayed a perfume bottle and for the bell sound I hit a glass with a wooden spoon
• I then booked 109 studio and recorded synths. I used the Q-chord and the Juno synth for the bass 
• I also used a granular synth for the main chords which I created on logic using alchemy

Mixing:

• For mixing, there was not a lot to do as the vocals were already processed and the live instruments were synths which do not need a lot of processing 
• I did have to do some corrective processing on the Q-Chord as there was a bit of latency when recording, so I used flex-time to allow for the chord changes to be a bit more on time 
• As the vocals were already processed with effects, I did not add anymore, I only added crossfades between the cut up phrases so that the transition between them would be smoother 
• Then, I added EQ to the synths and added some creative effects such as reverb and delay to help them gel into the song a bit more
• I also manipulated the one-shot samples for the drums, I added EQ to each component so they sounded more like their drum-kit counterpart, for example, adding more low end on the kick sample 

Evaluation:

• Overall, I am not very satisfied with the remix. This is because I struggled a lot with the manipulation of the vocals, it was a very tedious task and I don’t think the result met my expectations
• I had the same issue with the Q-Chord, as there was latency and I also recorded them alongside the vocals which made it very difficult 
• If I had to do this project again, I would add more synth layers and spend more time fine tuning the vocals to the exact tempo, but this was not achieved in this project due to time constraints