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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Method 1 – Live Band/Ensemble Capture

For our live band/ensemble recording, we reached out to a few bands that had been playing with each other a lot as we would be recording them live, ensuring that the performers would have great synergy with each other. Also, while choosing a date for when both parties would be free to record, we discussed which song would be the most appropriate for this assignment which provided no problem, as the song they chose was the desired length that we wanted.

Rehearsals, development, arrangement and session planning:

The performers rehearsed prior to our recording, so there were not any issues with any of the individual performances. The biggest issue when it came down to the band was the overall dynamics of the song; While the overall volume was satisfactory, we had to take a couple takes due to the difference in each of the players’ ideas of articulating their instruments throughout the song. Overall, the high amount of takes we did turned out to be beneficial, providing us with lots of different versions of the song to choose from. Choosing a date was quite easy to do, as our group started early, meaning we had lots of time to record it before the deadline. Also, the band we chose practiced this song a lot meaning they were ready to do it straight away. We had chosen to record in one session which was 5 hours in length, giving us enough time to set up the instruments, test it with the band and then get the right take to use for the final finished product. We ended up doing this all in studio 422 as we were all familiar with the design and sounds this room would provide us during the day.

For the first hour, we decided to just set up without the performers, as we could focus on getting everything set up the way we wanted to and to not waste the performers’ time. In the next hour we ended up testing the instruments to see if that was the sound we wanted and after that we ended up recording them multiple times.

Mics, room setup, musician management:

For the drum kit, we used a total of 6 mics;

Originally, we were going to use 7 mics as we had put a mic on each of the toms, but when talking to the drum player, he didn’t need to use the mid tom so we took that tom, and the mic out giving him more space to play. We used three Sennheiser MD 421’s as it is a versatile microphone which is best suited for recording drums. Using it on the high tom and the low tom made it so we could capture their tone more clearly, and also we chose to also use it on the snare drum as it had the right properties such as a large diaphragm, which helps it capture the rich sound from the snare that we wanted. For the 2 overhead mics, we ended up using a pair of Oktava MK-012 large diaphragm condenser pencil mics. This was so we could capture the sound from the whole drum kit. Finally, for the kick drum we ended up using the AKG D112 MKII. This is best used for capturing the powerful low end which was what we wanted to record in the kick drum.

For the vocals and electric guitar, we used a total of 3 mics;

We used one mic for the vocals, and two mics for the amp. We used both an SM57, and an AKG C414 for the amp. We chose to put them very close to the amp for the best quality sound, and we chose to put them away from the center of the amp to get more of a treble sound. By using another AKG C414 for the vocals, we ended up using the cardioid polar pattern as it was the pattern with the optimal range for the vocals. As the singer was also playing the electric guitar we ended up putting him in the vocal booth while running a cable from the vocal booth to the amp which was outside the booth into the main room which had the drums and bass. We also ended up using a sound dampener so the sound from the amp wouldn’t be too loud for the drummer and the bassist.

For the bassist, we used DI;

We were originally planning to use an amp for the bass and then mic it up, but we decided against that as we wanted to have a clean sound for the bass.

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Method 2 – Overdub Production

For our overdub recording, we reached out to a band who had a song they could perform, but we had to change bands as they kept asking for time to practice because they were not actually ready. We ended up working with a few musicians who were prepared to do an overdub recording. We ended up choosing a song that the singer had written which had lots of range of notes and dynamics.

Rehearsals, development, arrangement and session planning:

Most of the performers ended up practising their parts before we had planned to record them meaning it would not be a problem when trying to record. Since the instrumentalists wouldn’t be in the same room, the main issue was trying to remember the song’s structure. We ended up comping the session after they all took several takes to get the final shot. It wasn’t difficult finding the times of when each of the musicians could come as we could record it on different days which we ended up doing. We ended up recording a drum kit, guitar, pianist, singer and bassist. As the song changes tempo half way through, we found it difficult to get the musicians to switch tempos as we had them play to a click track through pro tools. We recorded the singing and piano in studio 422, and we recorded the drums, guitar and the bassist in studio 108.

Mics, room setup, musician management:

For the drum kit, we used a total of 6 mics;

We used an SM57 for the snare top to capture the crack-like noise it makes, while an AKG C451B was used to record the under snare. We used this mic as it could capture the snare wire noise which is very important in this song. We used two Sennheiser MD 421’s as it is a versatile microphone which is best suited for recording drums. Using it on the high tom and the low tom made it so we could capture their tone more clearly, also we chose to also use it on the snare drum as it had the right properties such as a large diaphragm, which helps it capture the ‘whole’ sound that we wanted. For the kick drum we ended up using the AKG D112 MKII. This is best used for capturing the powerful low end which was what we wanted to record in the kick drum.  For the 2 overhead mics, we ended up using a pair of Oktava MK-012 large diaphragm condenser pencil mics. This was so we could capture the sound from the whole drum kit.

For the bass and guitar, we used DI;

We used DI to capture both the bass and the guitar, this is because we wanted to have a clean sound for both instruments. We had to switch out the bassists multiple times due to them not learning the part up to the standard we wanted. Getting another bassist to play instead was easy as we had plenty of time to record. 

For the piano we used 2 mics;

We recorded an upright piano and we ended up using 2 Calrec CM1051c mics which are small diaphragm condensers. We used two microphones to capture both the low end sounds and the high end sounds. We also put them quite high and at an angle facing both the other mic and the strings of the piano for a ‘wispy’ effect.

For the vocals we used 1 mic;

We recorded the vocals using a JZ Vintage V67, which has a large diaphragm. We used this microphone because it makes the singer have a warm voice which is what we wanted for the recording.

We also helped to manage the musicians by giving them headphones for communication which came in handy in case they needed to inform us of anything or if we wanted to talk to them.

We chose to keep our eyes on the studio session calendar so we could book the studio as soon as it was free. We also made sure our schedules were free so we could have enough time to record and mix everything. We split our roles in each session. In the vocals and piano session. I set up the piano microphones and communicated with our pianist telling her when to play, and for the vocals I helped on the desk. Also in the drums, guitar and bass session I helped set up the DI and drum micing and also again communicated with the drummer telling him what to do.