MPR4C001R~001 25100001 Production Log Book 1

by

Max Lappin 25100001

For both of the recordings I was focused on choosing microphones and their positions which would give us the best source material since we were unable to EQ or use effects. I have written much more than this but realised I went over wordcount so I have to reduce this.

The Sonotronics DM1B kick mic.
A picture of the piano mics, the Schoeps small diaphragm condensers in XY pattern and the large diaphragm AKG C414 behind them. 

Jazz Band Recording

19th November | Room 113 | 19:00-23:00

Attended: Me, Alex, Jesse, Sam

For our live band recording we recorded a jazz quintet, consisting of: Pianist, bassist (electric bass), singer, drums, and saxophone. 

For our Jazz band recording, we used 12 mics:  

  • Sonotronics DM1b – kick mic just on the outside of the kick port hole. 
  • Sennheiser MD421 – top snare pointed to the middle of the head. 
  • Beyerdynamic M201 – bottom snare pointed upwards a couple inches away from the head. 
  • Neumann KM184 – spaced overhead mic 1, ~3 feet above the snare in the middle of the crash and hats pointed straight down. 
  • Neumann KM184 – spaced overhead mic 2, ~3 feet inches above floor tom pointed straight down 
  • Beyerdynamic M160 – mono overhead ~2 feet above the kick, pointed to the middle of the kit. 
This photo includes the spaced pair overheads (Neumann km184s), room mic/ mono overhead (Beyerdynamic M160) and snare top mic (Sennheiser MD421)  
  • JZ mics V67 – directly on bass cab pointed to the middle of the cone ~ 4 inches away in isolation booth. 
a close photo of the snare top and bottom.
  • Electrovoice RE20 – ~2 inches away from the singer pointed directly at mouth. 
  • T.Bone Ovid system – Clip on mic just outside the bell of the saxophone.  
  • Schoeps MK2 mic 1 – Piano XY coincident pair ~ 15 inches above the strings pointed left. 
  • Schoeps MK2 mic 2 – Piano XY coincident pair ~ 15 inches above the strings pointed right. 
  • AKG C414 XLII – pointed to the middle of the piano in cardioid polar pattern slightly behind the XY pair (~15 inches above the piano). 

Problem solving 

I chose the mics for both sessions, however, the mics for this session were not available, so I had to problem solve. I could only book out 1 c414 when I was going to book 4. I then chose to use km184s because they would work well in our session (XY and spaced pair overheads) but could only get 1 pair of those, so I used Schoeps small diaphragm condensers as well as they are clear and articulate microphones. Next time, I could make a backup list of microphones that would also work. 

Mic Technique / Choice and Mix Planning 

Because the assignment meant we could use no FX and EQ, I chose microphones based on their specific voicings and use cases; for example, I used the Sonotronics dm1b because it is designed to have a full-bodied kick sound without any EQ. I also chose to use an M160 ribbon as a mono overhead placed in front of the middle of the kit, although we had 2 small condensers (Neumann km184s) in a spaced pair which were then panned left and right, the central ribbon had a good balance of shell and cymbal sound because of its placement so I used that as the main sound of the drums. I chose to include this mic as I was concerned the 2 spaced pair overheads would not pick up enough toms, this was perfect for the m160 ribbon mic as it has a warm low end and treble roll off. For the spaced pair of km184s I placed them above each symbol equal distance to the snare drum, this ensured phasing issues would be kept to a minimum. I used a Sennheiser MD421 on snare top because it has more high end than a 57 (greater frequency response extension, 17khz >15khz) making it more snappy in my opinion. I placed it further away from the snare than I usually would so that it would have less proximity effect, giving it less bass and also, so that it would pick up some hihat, as we only had an overhead for this. I used a Beyerdynamic M201 on snare bottom as it has a bassier sound than a 57 (possibly due to the hypercardioid polar pattern making the proximity effect more prevalent), meaning the snare would have more “weight”. I used a JZ-V67 on bass because the mic is designed to sound warm like a tube mic, which worked perfectly for a rounded bass tone. I placed it in front of the bass speaker so that it would be warmer than a DI because the speaker naturally colours the sound: I also put the bass cab in the isolation booth to reduce overspill. I used the electrovoice-re20 for the vocals because it sounds clean while preventing proximity effect making it too bassy. Especially since the mic would need to be close to the singer for isolation (because it’s a live recording) and because we wouldn’t be able to fix that with eq or compression in post. I used a T.bone clip on mic for the saxophone as the player in our session moves around a lot and I was concerned that without compression that they might move too far from the mic for a consistent level. I used an AKG C414xlii on the piano as well as the Schoeps small condensers as I was concerned they would not pick up enough bass being small diaphragm (small diaphragm mics often have less bass extension in their frequency response than large diaphragm ones). 

Metal Band Overdub Recording

November 13th | Room 104 | 19:00-23:00

Attended: Me, Alex, Flynn, Sam, Jesse, Elliot

Mic List 

For our overdub metal recording we used 14 mics and one DI 

  • Solomon SubKick LoFreq – outer kick mic on the resonant kick drum head 
  • Audix d6 – Inner kick mic pointed at the beater. 
  • Shure SM57 – Snare top pointed toward centre of snare. 
  • Beyerdynamic M201 – snare bottom pointed roughly to the same place as top mic. 
  • AKG C451B – Hihat pointed toward the bottom of the hihat directly underneath ~8 inches below 
  • AKG C414 XLS – Overhead mic 1 left placed ~3 feet above low tom, crash, and ride facing downward 
  • AKG C414 XLS – Overhead mic 2 right placed ~3 feet above right crash and high rack tom facing downward. 

(Both overheads were measured to be the same distance from the snare to avoid phasing issues. 

  • Sennheiser MD421 – (1) high rack tom placed ~2 inches above the rim pointing towards the centre.  
  • Sennheiser MD421 – (2) mid rack tom placed ~3 inches above the rim pointing towards the centre. 
  • Sennheiser MD421 – (3) floor tom placed ~3 inches above the rim pointing slightly off centre. 
  • Beyerdynamic M160 – guitar amp in centre of cone ~5 inches away. 
  • AKG C414 XLII – guitar amp side of cone ~5 inches away. 
  • Orange terror bass (amp) DI – amp: medium tube overdrive and gain, bass boosted, pedals: 1176 medium compression fast attack, low tone fuzz switched on in recording. All EQ and compression were on the amp / pedals and before the recording stage. 
the frequency response of the Beyerdynamic M160 ribbon mic: we can see the high end rolloff starts at 10k which means it sounds less harsh than other mics with higher extensions. we can also see that there is a bump in the response around ~200Hz which means the mic has a nice low mid sound because it’s louder here than ~1KHz giving it a scooped mid sound which is perfect for this application on metal drums.

We didn’t have time in the session itself to record bass so I did this out of studio, I used the same pedals and amp I was going to use with DI into my soundcard, I tried cab recording but it didn’t sound how I wanted for the style and mix. 

  

Mic technique 

For the overdub session I chose a selection of mics for drums, guitar and bass, although we didn’t end up recording bass in this session.

For the guitar I chose to put 2 mics on the amp, the Beyerdynamic M160 and the AKG C414 XLII. I used these mics specifically because the m160 is a ribbon mic which has a smooth high end, which means that it wouldn’t be harsh pointed at the middle of the cone. The mic also has a low mid boosted frequency response to capture a “fat” tone, and the c414 which has a further extended low response, so that I could add more bass to the guitars without eq. You can see on the left on the photos that the m160 doesn’t continue past 50Hz without dropping off, but the 414 carries on until 30Hz before dropping off. For the drums: I chose 2 AKG C414 XLS mics as overheads, as they are less harsh sounding compared to the XLII. I placed the Audix d6 inside the kick drum pointed at the beater, and the Solomons LoFreq mic outside the kick on the resonant head so I had a mix of a mid-scooped, attack heavy sound and a warm full bassy sound. I used Sm57 on top snare and Beyerdynamic m201 on bottom snare, so I had a full snare sound. The 201 works particularly well on snare bottom as it has more bass because of its exaggerated proximity effect: polar patterns have different proximity effect. The sm57 is cardioid, while the 201 is hypercardioid, which can affect how proximity effect works with close mics. I used the AKG c451 on the hihat so I could balance this on the mix outside of the overhead mics. 

The frequency response of the AKG C414 XLII. the red line displays the mic with the same setup we used.

Appendix.