Method 1 – Live Band/Ensemble Capture
For this method, we found 3 musicians from within the conservatoire for us to record. All 3 were interested in prog-rock/metal and agreed with us that they would prepare a piece in this style. We were unable to obtain a demo recording .
We asked the musicians to arrive 1 hour after the session started. This allowed us time to set up equipment and try different methods of recording to find what would work best. Once the musicians arrived, we doubled checked the volume levels of all the tracks, after having roughly set them during set-up, to make sure that the different playing styles of the musicians meant we still had an acceptable level of signal without clipping. We then gave the musicians some more time to practise and finalise the arrangement, before carrying a few test recordings and listened back to make sure everything was in order, and so that the recording was of required length.
MICS:
Drum Kit – For the snare drum microphone we chose to use a Shure SM-57, a common choice for multiple reasons. The frequency response has a natural boost in the upper mid frequencies, meaning the presence of the snare is increased, emphasising the attack or ‘crack’ of the snare which can help to cut through mixes. The cardioid polar pattern is particularly useful on the snare drum, as it can help to reject a lot of the bleed from the rest of the kit. The SM-57 also has a large dynamic range, meaning It can accurately capture the high SPL level of the snare drum. We experimented with placement for this microphone. We found the sound we liked best was with the microphone was placed with the capsule about 2 inches above the rim of the snare, pointing at the centre of the batter skin.
The kick was recorded with 2 microphones, in order to achieve a balanced, life-like sound of the kick drum. One microphone was placed inside the drum, pointed where the beater would strike the batter head to capture the attack of the bass drum.The Audix D-6 was chosen as it is a microphone we knew from past use was ideal fir this setting. The D-6 has frequency response which boosts around 60hz and 5k, both vital frequencies for capturing the ‘punch’ and attack on the bass drum. This microphone has a high dynamic range, Also allowing It to capture the large amounts of sound energy released by the kick drum. The AKD D112 was used to capture the resonant head of the kick drum, for the same reasons as the D6
For the Toms, Sennheiser MD421’s were used on the high and low toms. These were chosen as the fast transient response allows accurate capture of the stick-attack, while the frequency response allows accurate capture of the low end, which emphasises the ‘body’ of the toms. They can also handle high SPL levels, and the cardioid polar pattern rejects bleed from other cymbals, in particular the snare drum.
Small diaphragm condenser microphones were used for overheads due to their excellent transient response and relatively flat frequency response
Both the electric and bass guitars were recorded with through a DI as well as through amps.
The guitar amp was recorded with a sennheiser MD441. We experimented with microphone placements until we found a position which we liked the sound of. The microphone was placed about 2 inches from the amp cloth, pointed at the edge of the speaker cone. This particular microphone was chosen as its super-cardioid pattern, minimised the bleed from the bass amp, which was located in the same room during recording. The amp used was of tube-circuitry, meaning it created very high SPL levels, and the MD441 was able to deal with these without distorting. The frequency response and placement of the microphone resulted in a mid-heavy recording which complimented the DI recording of the electric guitar.
The bass amp was recorded using a Shure SM-57, which is an uncommon choice for recording bass amps due to its low frequency roll-off. However, the SM-57 captured a lot of the transients and high end information from the bass cabinet, and when blended with the DI signal, the recorded sound was a good mix of frequency response. The SM-57 was also chosen as its cardioid polar pattern rejected a lot of the bleed from the guitar amp.
The Grampian GRX ribbon microphone was selected to be the room mic. Ribbon mics are often chosen for room mics, as they naturally roll off high frequencies, meaning the room mic would pick up less of the harsh high frequencies created by the cymbals. The figure of 8 polar pattern means that the microphone would pick up initial sound from the kick but also the reflections from the back of the room
Room setup
We decided it would be important for all 3 musicians to be in the same room during the live performance, to enable easier communication and therefore a more successful performance. This did pose some problems in terms of microphone bleed as the 2 amplifiers would most likely interfere with the drum kit during the recording process. In order to get around this, We setup the 2 amplifiers in the vocal booth to create separation. DI signals were taken from both the electric guitar and the bass guitar into the wall box of the live room. These were then routed on the patch bay to go out of the tie lines in the vocal booth, and then into the amplifiers. The DI signals were also recorded in order to provide greater control post-recording, and so that the performance could be rerecorded at a later date if needed.
An aspect of the recording which we failed to prepare for was the guitarists use of amp modelling software. Having known the guitarist was to use this software would have somewhat streamlined the setup process. We have learned from this to in future always ask the performers the gear that they will be using in order to fully prepare for recording.
The mix for this project was straightforward, given that there is only 3 main instruments. The first process was to mix the drums. The overheads were hard panned left and right to create a stereo image of the kit, representing the layout of the drums as per the players perspective. The kick, snare and room mic were panned centrally. The volumes were set so that the kick and snare were the most prominent on order to solidify the beat of the song. The overhead microphone volumes were set so that the cymbals sat just below the kick and snare in volume, so not to overpower them. The room mic was then added in at a lower volume to give context of the space the recording was taken. The DI tone of both the bass and guitar sounded more pleasant without any processing, so we decided to have these louder in the mix than the recorded amps, which provided a strong balance of tone and frequency.
Method 2 – Overdub Production
The overdub production was completed over multiple sessions, often with musicians within the group carrying out the performances. Less planning went into this as we wanted to be experimental with the production to achieve the sound we were wanting. Carrying out the recordings over multiple sessions allowed us more time to do this. The song stemmed from an instrumental that a member of the group had composed, and a demo track was recorded, so we had a clear idea of how we wanted the song to sound.
The drum micing was similar in both projects. For this overdub project, we added microphones to the hi-hat and ride cymbals to give us greater control in the mixing stage. 2x Beyerdynamic M160s were chosen as they are very directional, minimising bleed, and the ribbon design can filter out lots of harsh high frequencies created by cymbals.
We experimented with using a sub-kick microphone on the resonant head of the kick drum. This microphone is effectively a speaker wired backwards, which is very effective at picking up low frequencies, a very important part of the kick drum’s sound.
We also added a microphone to the bottom of the snare drum, which captured more of the snare wire sound, and when blended with the snare top microphone, created a more natural and balanced tone, with extra high end ‘sizzle’ than just the single microphone used in the live recording. The MD441 was used for this, due to it being highly directional, as this microphone is situated very close to the beater of the kick drum, and the MD441 rejected a lot of the unnecessary bleed.
We chose a new micing technique for the guitar amps. We had recently learned a new tecnique of using 2 microphones on amps, with one pointed directly at the tweeter to capture the higher frequencies, and another off-axis pointed at the outer edge of the speaker cone to capture the lower frequencies. When blended together, the 2 microphones gave a more accurate representation of the amps sound compared to just one microphone. We failed to notice during recording that on 2 of the recordings, the microphones were out of phase, meaning this had to be rectified post-recording by flipping the phase of one of there microphones. This was also the case with the snare top and bottom microphones.
MIX
After having rectified the phase issues, the first stage of the mix was to pan the tracks. The drum overheads were again planned hard left and right, with the ride and hihat spot mics panned left and right to reinforce the stereo image. The toms were also panned to represent the drummers perspective. The kick drum, snare and room mics were all panned centrally. The guitar microphones were blended for each take, to a point where we liked the overall sound. These were then hard panned left and right and centrally in order to create a very wide and full sound. The picking parts during the post chorus were also mixed in the same way.
