Method 1 – Live Band/Ensemble Capture
Both tracks featured in this project have been written and recorded by local three-piece indie band ‘Jeanine’. We considered them to be a perfect fit for the criteria of the project, having exactly four individual elements to each of their tracks, being Vocals, Guitar, Drums and Bass. The lack of additional elements allowed us to concentrate our efforts and gave us more of a chance to refine the sound, as a shorter setup time resulted in more opportunities for multiple takes, which proved useful in the live recording. Given that for many of us, it was also our first opportunity to record in a professional studio environment, it also limited complexity, and gave us more time to troubleshoot, and use this as a learning experience.
The first track is ‘Crocodile Tears’, and was recorded as a live session. While my primary role was mix engineer, I offered help (as and where necessary) in other parts of the process, especially artist communication. This was critical to maintain a relaxed environment and positive workflow during troubleshooting, which unfortunately cost us around half of our allocated studio time. At any given point, if something were to go wrong, I would communicate this immediately with the affected musician(s), as I felt that transparency was more professional than ‘saving face’ so-to-speak. This also helped us resolve issues with the band themselves, as we could ask for their perspectives on certain queries, i.e. were the headphone volume levels comfortable? The overall atmosphere as a result felt very friendly and fluent.
For the recording setup, we placed the drummer and bassist together in the live room, and the vocalist and his guitar amp/pedalboard in the vocal booth. Creating separate headphone mixes between live and vocal rooms allowed for clear communication between the band, aiding efficiency. We used a pop-shielded Shure SM57 for the vocal mic, and an AKG C414 set to cardioid for the guitar amp (Roland Jazz Chorus). The guitar itself ran through the guitarists own effects pedalboard prior to amplification. Retrospectively, the mix would’ve benefitted from sending the amp out through a DI box, rather than mic-ing the amp, due to the Vocal and Guitar elements bleeding into one another heavily. This was partially eliminated through the cardioid setting on the C414. While we believed the dynamic vocal mic choice would eliminate bleed due to its very acute angle of capture and reduced sensitivity compared to a condenser, we didnt factor in the close-quarters environment of a vocal booth. One other option would have been to use an input gate on the vocal to leave some additional space.
The bass ran through a multi-fx unit, which in itself featured amp simulation, and since the bassist had a preset specifically designed for this song, it made the most sense to run the jack output of the multi-fx directly into the desk, for a cleaner sound and more efficient process. Interestingly, we encountered a very high gain input on the bass channel (pre-fade), which was unaffected by tweaking the level output on the multi-fx unit. Thankfully we could still control the level of the bass using the faders, but it left us very little room for gain staging, and may have caused occasional clipping.
The drums, as expected, had the most complex mic setup, and as a result were the main focus of the mix process. We utilised a kick in/out (Audix D6/AKG D112) system, which allowed us to capture the transient attack of the beater and blend it with the lowest frequencies, creating a fuller sound. The toms were mic’d with Sennheiser e604’s, as they were seldom used in this track (other than for fills), and as such, clip-on tom mics suited the ergonomics of the setup better, allowing room for other mic stands while still providing a sufficient sound quality. We used an SM57 for the snare top, but I argued against using a snare bottom mic with this specific snare (Yamaha Recording Custom Brass), as previous experience had lead me to find a very sharp and tinny resonant sound that often bled over any meaningful snare wire sound. Given more time, we perhaps would’ve found a solution for this, but we did not find it necessary for this recording. Having a spaced stereo pair of overhead mics (Oktava MK-012), alongside specific microphones for the hi-hats and the drummer’s own additional ‘clap-stack’ (Sennheiser MD-421) resulted in a sharper sound, specifically for the hi-hats, as the overlapping bleed from each mic only served to amplify the hi-hats further. We spent a fair amount of time balancing this to the best of our abilities when we initially set levels for the drum mics.
Many of our issues were related to signal chain, which we resolved via process of elimination, paying attention to at which point in the chain the failure was occuring (i.e. being able to recognise the issue as software-based as we could see the active input on the desk and interface respectively. Additionally, the previous users of the studio had not correctly zero’d the desk, resulting in incorrect bus routing that we didn’t previously consider. In one instance, one of the lines from the vocal booth was incorrectly patched into the desk, which I eventually caught and resolved. Most, if not all of these minor issues arised through inexperience, but unusual and unique circumstances such as these serve as learning moments, and help to consolidate my confidence in problem solving in a studio environment.
For the mix, we aimed for a crisp, and mostly dry sound to compliment the intimate nature of the lyrics, and the indie styling of the track itself. As previously mentioned, the guitarist and bassist both used pedalboards to offer a sound consistent with their creative vision. As primary mix engineer, I suggested (after discussion and reflection on our initial takes) that we balanced the drum mics in favour of the kick and snare, to highlight the tight, punchy ‘pocket’ in the drummers performance, and to provide a rhythmic constant. This further benefitted the presence of the vocalist in the mix, as by reducing the overall gain on the higher frequency elements of the drum kit (cymbals), room was left for the sibilance of the vocal and the attack of the guitar. I then raised the overall gain on the vocal mic by about 2-3 decibels, as I felt that it sat too comfortably in the mix, and needed to be brought forward. Finally, I conferred with the vocalist/guitarist, suggesting his guitar was too muddy, and that he should increase the treble on the amp itself. This resulted in a final product which we all felt was a reflection of our best efforts at this point in our learning process.
Method 2 – Overdub Production
The second track recorded is ‘Wonder Kid’, and was recorded using overdub techniques.
The basic track was recorded at the end of our first session. As we had some time left over, we agreed with the band to record the core band elements during that session, with a follow-up session planned for percussion and additional rhythmic textures.
Due to issues pertaining to my chronic illness, I had to leave the second session just after the setup process concluded. As a result, I had significantly less of an input on the direction of the session, and therefore have significantly less to comment on, but I did observe and discuss with the group via WhatsApp video call.
The overdubbing for the second track was comprised of various percussion elements, alongside vocal, piano, keys and saxophone harmonies. I suggested experimenting with mic placement, primarily to try to simulate some ‘space’ in the mix, and add subtle natural room reverb. We used a spaced stereo pair of AKG C414 mics for some of the percussion, as we argued that recording each element in stereo offered more natural sounding recordings, and gave us more room to experiment with panning. However, for many tracks, we used a single microphone. We considered the positioning of each piece of percussion relative to the microphones, to give us the aforementioned ‘room’ mic effect without having to apply any effects in post. Whereas the live track required very little editing post-session, we took some time to make sure we could offer appropriate panning and dynamic range to highlight the variety of instruments, and to offer depth and distance in the mix.
(1430 Words)
