Task 1 – WAV Mixes
– Second track: Genre Specific Emulation
– Third track: Live In the Studio Stereo Recording
Task 2 – Production Log Book
Track 1 (Genre Specific Emulation) – “Love Like This” (Faith Evans, 1990s R&B)
Pre-Production
Rather than finding a song and then searching for a vocalist, we worked the other way around – we found our singer first, and then matched the song to her voice. I suggested “Love Like This” as I felt it suited her range and tone. Before recording, we researched the original production thoroughly, identifying the key, BPM, and the key contributors to the track’s sound, such as Nile Rodgers. We used a stem splitter to isolate each individual part of the original, which allowed us to study each element accurately before we began recording. In terms of responsibility, I volunteered to control the vocal recording whilst other members of the group each handled specific instruments.
Recording and Capture
I was personally responsible for recording all of the vocals, operating the desk in the studio and managing the session in Logic Pro. Rather than using the vocal booth, we set up a warm audio WA251 condenser, chosen for its warmth for capturing the R&B vocal style in the main live room of the studio, as our vocalist felt more comfortable there. I directed the session by listening back to the original recording and identifying the harmony notes by ear, instructing the vocalist on which notes to sing for each layer. I managed the punching in and out process, took multiple takes for each phrase, and built up a large stack of doubles and harmonies to replicate the vocal layering heard in the original. Elsewhere in the group, other members recorded bass, electric guitar, drums, and the piano chord heard throughout. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1umyFaFI4zWq-0bOWHfcQxRvs3kvXJRHv/view?usp=sharing
Mix
Our concept for the song was to replicate the warm character of the original as closely as we could, prioritising the vocal in the mix. To do this, we loaded the Faith Evans track into the same Logic session and switched between the two in real time, adjusting EQ, compression, and reverb parameters by ear until the two felt comparable. One notable characteristic of the original is its lo-fi quality, particularly on the kick, which required degradation achieved through distortion to reduce the cleanliness of the sound and match the warmth of the 90’s era.
During the mix, I also identified that a specific vocal harmony was missing from the stack. Rather than re-recording, I duplicated an existing vocal take and used Logic’s Flex Pitch to manually adjust the pitch to the correct notes. Additionally, our vocalist was unable to comfortably reach the lower octave parts of the vocal arrangement, so again I duplicated the vocal and used Logic’s Vocal Transformer plugin to pitch it down an octave and then adjusted the formant setting until the lower vocal blended naturally into the stack without sounding processed. In terms of panning, we kept the lead vocal central, but the harmonies and backing vocals panned left and right to create width. The kick and snare were also kept mono.
Track 2 (Live In the Studio Stereo Recording) – “Hard Times” (Folk Band)
Microphone Technique and Setup
For this recording we used two XY stereo pairs of Neumann’s and AKG’s to capture both the detail of the instruments and the natural ambience of the room. The first, closer pair was positioned near the instruments to capture their direct sound with clarity. The second pair was placed one metre behind the ensemble at around head height, capturing a more natural perspective of the room. The band was arranged in a semi-circle, which helped create a natural left to right spread across the stereo field.
I positioned Baffle boards behind the ensemble to reduce unwanted rear reflections from the room. I also directed the band to prioritise their instrumental playing over their vocals in terms of their projection, as I felt the instruments were the primary characteristic of the folk genre and needed to sit more clearly in the mix.
Depth of Field and Stereo Image
Before committing to the final recording, we carried out a phase check between the two pairs to ensure there were no cancellation issues, and ran several practice takes during which I suggested several adjustments to the layout. In particular, I noticed the bass male voice was overshadowing the tenor and female voices, so I recommended moving him slightly further back within the semi-circle, which made a real difference in the overall balance. These small positional changes significantly improved the stereo image.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pxgk1hVA2W9FJb-XZe-3ydCTNKgmNEaT/view?usp=sharing
Track 3 Remix track – UK Garage
Concept and Direction
I chose to take the vocals in a UK garage direction for several reasons. The genre is quite raw and percussive, which I felt would accommodate the found sounds brief naturally – garage’s aesthetic works well with the imperfection of non-conventional drum sounds. The vocal itself also pointed me toward this direction; producers like Sammy Virji regularly work with vocalists of a similar tone and style, and the soulful quality of the Faith Evans influenced vocal felt natural.
Vocal Treatment
The vocal was heavily compressed to suit the more electronic, upfront nature of the garage mix. I applied Slate Digital’s Fresh Air plugin for high-frequency presence, alongside surgical EQ’s to clean up the frequency range. Auto-Tune was added to give the vocal a contemporary feel consistent with the genre. I also chopped and resampled sections of the vocal, pitching individual words and syllables to create a melodic hook that appears in the intro and recurs throughout the track, turning parts of the original performance into something completely new
Found Sounds Drum Track
For the clap, I walked around my room clapping in different positions to capture a variety of tonal responses and create the impression of multiple people clapping simultaneously. These were imported into FL Studio, layered into a single one-shot sample, and processed by removing the low end, applying a soft clipper to control peaks, and shaping the tone with shelf and surgical EQ cuts. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qHpy70TO5VpOYxCawwbKa0oEHxn2zfUI/view?usp=sharing
The remaining percussive elements were recorded from an old toy drum kit. Individual hits were sliced into short one-shot samples – for example, the closed hi-hat heard on the offbeat of each bar was taken from the toy kit’s hi-hat, then pitched up three semitones and shortened to give it a tighter and more electronic feel. I put these into a drum machine and added swing.
For the kick, I recorded the sound of punching a pillow, then imported the audio into Serum 2. Within Serum, I used the oscillator section to layer a sub sine wave beneath the transient of the recorded hit, tightened the decay and release to give it a punchy, short tail, and shortened the attack to sharpen the impact.
Live Recorded Elements
I recorded a grand piano using a spaced stereo pair of condenser microphones positioned approximately eight inches above the strings. I performed the chord progression myself, then in FL Studio reversed the entire recording and chopped it beat by beat to retain the original movement. I removed the muddy low end using a high-pass EQ and added reverb and delay to create an ethereal sound.
For the second live element, a friend performed guitar harmonics, recorded using a small diaphragm condenser microphone placed seven inches from the 12th fret. The natural sustain and shimmer of the harmonics suited the ethereal tone I was building. In the mix, I applied a large stereo ping-pong delay which gave the guitar line a sense of bounce and rhythmic movement that the original guitar recording didn’t have, making it into a more complex melody.
Arrangement, Synths and Mix
The synths were designed in Serum, including a Rhodes-style pluck with a rounded, bloopy character, which was heavily inspired by Sammy Virji’s signature chord stabs.
The bass line was programmed with significant movement in MIDI via the same technique and side-chained to the kick to create the pumping low-end feel typical of the genre.
The track is two minutes and thirty seconds, a decision I made to keep the total portfolio within the ten-minute brief. For this remix, I aimed to achieve a loud, club-ready sound. The kick, bass, snare and vocals sit the loudest in the mix, and the thumping 4 on the floor side-chain adds bounce.
Conclusion and Project management
Communication across the group was managed through an Instagram group chat for quick decisions, and Google Drive was used to share session files and stems between the group. This combination worked effectively for our workflow, allowing files to be accessed remotely between studio sessions for each of us individually, allowing us all to listen back after various studio sessions and then talk about what we needed to change or add.
The project required careful time management across all three tracks. Scheduling the vocalist for Track 1 early gave us sufficient time for multiple takes and the additional harmony work that became necessary during mixing. For the folk recording, running practice takes before committing to the final recording proved to be an important decision because the layout changes made during those runs genuinely improved the final result.
For the remix, working independently allowed me to move quickly and experiment freely, however I started the remix before we had finished recording the other two tracks, meaning that at a later stage I had to adjust the arrangement in order to fit the brief time of 10 minutes.
