For our portfolio we settled on recording a jazz quartet for the live recording and a pop band piece for the overdubbed recording. We decided on using a band specialised in jazz for the liv recording as Jazz typically relies on the bands chemistry and improvisation to fit the jazz atmosphere, this also meant that the jazz piece likely had the intention to be played live rather than recorded in an overdub style like a pop song typically would be, therefore we felt that a jazz group would be most reliable in performing an up to standard and quality piece for a live recording.

Alternatively we selected a pop band for the overdub project as a pop song would typically include aspects of layering, such as, vocal harmonies. This would only be possible to achieve in an overdub project, moreover, pop often has a large emphasis on vocals which a jazz track may not have, typically recording a pop song may require multiple vocal takes to ensure they meeting the pop standard.

Live recording:

our Live recording was a Jazz piece.

I had the contribution of finding both bands for the projects, I found a jazz quartet which involved: drums, keyboard, saxophone and bass. The session took place on November 19th at 7pm until 11pm in the studio room 422.

Recording –

This section is intended to explain our microphone decisions, management of the session and room set up.

keyboard:

we decided that it would be more beneficial to use a keyboard with a stereo output and record with a DI. This is to ensure there would be no bleed from the drums being recorded in the same room, which may have been happened if we recorded a piano with a microphone.

bass:

We recorded the bass with a DI for the same reasonings as the keyboard.

Saxophone:

The two microphones used were: ElectroVoice RE20 and Brauner Phantom C.

We used the RE20 to capture the main lead sound of the saxophone, therefore placing it directly in front whereas the Phantom C was intended to be used as a room microphone, placing it further away.

The RE20 was used as it is able to handle the high sound levels that often come from saxophones without adding distortions and bringing focus to the higher frequencies as the variable-D effect prevents any unwanted bass boosting. The Phantom C was used as a room microphone to provide depth of the saxophone to the mix.

The saxophone microphones were patched from the vocal booth patch bays 1 and 2 to the microphone bays 13 and 14.

Drums:

We used 8 microphones to record the drums, this involving –

• Overhead Left and right – Oktava MK-012
• Snare top and bottom – Shure SM57
• Kick inner – Audio D6
• kick subkcik – Solomon Lofreq
• Rack and floor tom – Sennheiser MD421

The Solomon Lofreq is designed to capture low end sub frequencies that other microphones may not pick up, therefore making it more suitable to capture the low sound of a kick drum.

The Oktavo MK-012 microphones work well for overheads as they have a small diaphragm design and provide a bright and good transit response.

Shure SM57s are effective at capturing the sharp attack of the snare and can deal with loud frequencies without distorting them

The Sennheiser MD421 has a wide frequency response to capture the wide range of tom sounds

Room set up:

Since we wanted to best capture the atmosphere of a live jazz performance, it would be important that the band members were able to communicate with each other, especially since jazz typically involves improvisation. To do this we kept the bass, keys and drums in the same room, this was possible due to using a DI for both the bass and keys to prevent bleed.

We placed the saxophone in an isolated control booth as this would block out noise from the drums and capture a more clear saxophone lead.

Management :

Overall I believe the general management for the Live project was successful. The session was organised by me in a relatively timely manner before the winter break where everyone went home, this meant if anything went wrong with this recording we would have time to fix it.

We began the session at 7pm and set up in a timely manner. The Jazz band were a band before the recording, meaning they had already practiced the pieces they wanted to perform accordingly. We did multiple takes and let the band play different pieces as we adjusted the mix and once they had finished we selected the best recording.

Over-dubbed recording:

Our over-dubbed recording was using a pop band with the reference track – ‘Erase Me – Lizzie McAlphine’

I also organised the session for this band and contributed my own vocals as I had already performed with this band before hand. There were three sessions for this recording taking place on, December 4th in room 104 at 9.30am – 10.30am, December 5th in room 109 at 9.00am – 12am and December 7th in room 116b 12pm – 3pm.

Recording –

In this section I will go over our choice in microphones, each recording session, room set up and our general management.

session one-

In this session we aimed to get a drum recording first, while having the other musicians play as a guide.

drums:

we used 10 microphones including –

• Kick out – audix D6
• Kick in -AKG D112
• Subkick – Solomon Lofreq
• Snare top -Sennheiser MD441
• Snare bottom – Shure SM57
• Rack and Floor tom – Sennheiser E604
• Hi-Hats – Oktava MK-012
• Left and Right Overheads – Schoeps Cardioid CMC5U

We used the D6 for the kick as it has a cardioid pickup pattern that reduces external noise, it also focuses on the low frequencies rather than high making it suitable for a kick.

The MD441 was used for the supercardioid polar pattern which again isolates the snare from any external sounds.

The CMC5U’s were used for the overheads as it has a wide frequency response of 20Hz – 20 kHz, this means it’s good for capturing the full drum kit.

The E604’s were used on the toms for the low frequency for their low and mid range response.

vocals:

Since these vocals would not be the final take as we planned to use them as a guide for the other musicians we used a Shure SM78, which was changed for the actual vocal recording.

session two-

In this session we focused on recording the bass, guitar and primary vocals.

Bass –

For the Bass, we recorded this in through DI to prevent bleed and have a clean baseline.

Guitar-

We recorded a DI signal along with two microphones for the possibility of re-amping the takes

We used a Sonotronics Delta2 placed up to an amp to capture both the highs and lows as the guitarist was primarily playing chords.

We also used a Sennheiser MD441 as it has a supercardiod polar pattern and would pick up the sound of the guitar with clear clarity.

Vocals –

The microphones we used for the vocals were the Rode K2 as the frequency response is much wider than a standard dynamic mic, therefore a wider range of sound is recorded.

We also used the Beyerdynamic M160 for the figure 8-polar pattern which would capture the room ambience.

The DBX 580 microphone pre-amp as it has a sonically transparent gain, providing detail from the vocals.

Session three-

for this session, we re-recorded and finalised any of my vocals, while adding any potential harmonies.

We used the same microphones as session two however since it was a small room we had no mixing desk, therefore we used the Neve 1073DPA to pick up on the warm and clear sound of the vocals. since we were not able to use effects, preamps were beneficial for us.

Room setups –

For the setup in the first session, we had all the musicians in the same room, since we were only aiming to have the drums recording, bleed for the guitar and bass were less of an issue, so having them in the same room meant they could communicate better. We were also limited by room size. I (the vocalist) was placed in an isolated vocal booth as it is easier to hear yourself sing without the influence of loud instrumentation.

In the second session the vocals were recorded first with everyone else sat in the mixing room, the goal mics were set up near the window into the mixing room so I could communicate with my group. The bass and guitar were also recorded separately so they were placed around the centre of the room.

In the final session only vocals were recorded where I was in the vocal booth and one group member adjusted levels and recorded in the mixing room.

General management –

I believe the management of the overdub recording was not as successful as the live recording. One reason for this is we struggled to find a band willing to be recorded, eventually my band had a song ready so I volunteered them, however by this point many people were needing to leave for Christmas break, therefore the combined struggle of finding a band and booking practice rooms where everyones available resulted in us leaving it late and the project feeling rushed.

Along with this on session two, as I was the vocalist for the band, the only studio time we could book was during a mandatory rehearsal, therefore we had to show up at 10.30am rather than 9.00am, leaving less time for recording.

Furthermore, the group members account that the overdub recording on made a mistake in bouncing the stems, which we realised after we had all gone home for Christmas break. This meant we weren’t able to solve this problem, however next time we will be more aware to each keep a backup of the project to prevent this.