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Track 1 (Guitar-based band production)

PRE PRODUCTION

Due to the world of guitar based bands being my specialty, the group allocated me to lead on this aspect of the portfolio. I proposed producing a track for ‘Hilden Park’, an indie rock group I’m involved in, and played the group a demo of the track ‘Stone’. We discussed arrangement and production decisions, such as changing the key and re organising the guitar arrangements, and later discussed the best mic choices for the initial session.

I carefully considered using a project I perform on, as I aimed to avoid bias or reluctance to make significant production decisions. However, as my role in the band focuses on arrangement rather than primary songwriting, I felt I would be able to maintain an objective perspective. I treat the project as a professional production job and ensured all major decisions, such as the key change, were discussed and agreed upon by the group.

Generally, the additional arrangement was my responsibility, with a few additional parts added by the third guitarist, Max Morton.

RECORDING

Studio 113 was used, primarily for its drum sound being more muted, and the environment fitting the requirements for this recording.

Within the session, I primarily focussed on leading the groups creative decisions (Drum tunings, Amp tones etc), with the other members of the group engineering the session and building up an initial mix.

We recorded the Drums, Bass, Rhythm Guitar and guide Vocals simultaneously, with the musicians spread across studio 113. (Bass and Drums in Live room, Guitar and Vocals in Control Room).

Before recording, we had myself and the drummer (Matt) go through the kit to dampen and tune it to suit the style of the song, whilst the group set up the logic session and microphones. Below is our initial mic list made in the previous group session, as well as images of the live room and control room setup from the first recording session:

Mic List:

Drum kit	Mic	Input	Phantom power
Kick In	D6	1	NO
Kick Out	AKG 414 XLS	2	YES
Kick Sub	Sub kick mic	3	NO
Snare Top	MD441	4	NO
Snare bottom	SM57 // AKG C451 B	5
Rack tom	421	6	NO
Floor tom	421	7	NO
OH L	AKG 414	8	YES
OH R	AKG 414	9	YES
Hat	KM184	10	YES
Ride	KM184	11	YES
Dirt mic	Soup can	12	YES
Room L	Calrec 1050c	13	YES
Room R	Calrec 1050c	14	YES

(Live recording before tracking)  

Instrument	Mic	Input	Phantom power
Bass	DI	15	YES
Electric guitar	DI	16	YES
Vocals	SM7B	17	NO

DRUM SETUP

OTHER INITIAL SESSION IMAGES

In our following group lesson, we re amped the rhythm guitar, and used a fender hot rod with a clean tone, so as to provide options at the mix stage:

For additional guitar overdubs, I recorded and wrote them over numerous writing sessions with the songwriter, using my interface at home to allow for creativity without the pressure of studio time or setup. We aimed to layer interesting guitar parts without losing clarity around the core aspects of the song. I used this same process for the piano part, which was a Logic Piano manipulated and bounced, played live by myself during a writing session.

At the vocalists request, I ran the vocal overdub session one on one, as this made him more comfortable and would lead to a better performance. This environment allowed for creativity within the backing vocals, as our established rapport allowed us to communicate back and forth about vocal delivery and ideas. The Vocals were recorded with an SM7B, as I wanted the sessions focus to be on creativity, and the versatility and ease of this microphone would allow for a wide range of vocal effects and processing to fit comfortably on the performance.

POST PRODUCTION

As for mixing the project, I focused on cohesion, as well as balancing the layers of guitar parts with the vocal. This challenge was accentuated by the register of the lead vocal being lower and more chesty, which made balancing the vocalists clarity and artistic intentions a challenge. I overall believe that I achieved this aim, as well as contributing my own perspective on the track, focusing my mix on the more experimental aspects of the track, leaning into the unique aspects of the song which wouldn’t be present in other songs of the genre.

I automated various elements (Primarily guitars) around each other to re focus on melodic material where needed, as well as using Logic Amp sim to create custom tones for each part. The main guitar 2 part has a tape delay (A key aspect of the production), which I emphasised through hard panning the 2 elements opposite each other.

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Track 2 Live in the studio (jazz/folk ensemble)

PRE PRODUCTION

We started our process locating an ensemble with Louis placing an advertisement on Life, looking for a jazz ensemble.

We organised the session with the group for 24/11/25, and after some back and forth conversing, the Drummer (Felix) informed us that he had possession of various vintage microphones, of which we opted to use the matched pair of 1960s Calrec CM652Cs, as a stylistic decision. We felt confident choosing this, as they are very similar to a Calrec 1050c, a microphone individuals in the group had used for drum overheads / room mics before.

Being conscious of bleed across microphones, we strategically planned the musicians locations relative to each other in order to avoid bleed across the microphones.

RECORDING

We recorded three pieces in the session, and ultimately decided on ‘Moonlight in Vermont’, due to it fitting well with our brief, and requirements for the portfolio of work. We had the band record 2 versions of the piece, both of varying lengths so that we could choose the performance which fit best time wise within our portfolio.

Below is our mic list, which we prepared in advance in a group meeting on the 17th of November, as well as a table indicating responsibilities throughout the session. Our overall aims within the mic list was to create a stylistic yet tasteful balance, and to reduce the required corrective processing at the mix stage.

Date: 24th November

Studio/Room: 113

Personnel Present and initial roles for the session:

Ryan – Engineer (Primarily Desk / Initial Mix)

Daniel – Engineer (Primarily Microphones / Positioning)

Joss – Engineer (Primarily Microphones / Positioning)

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Session Aims/Objectives:  To achieve a clean Jazz recording with manageable bleed across the room

Mic List

Drums:

Instrument	Mic	Input	Other Info
Kick In	Audix D6	1
Kick out	DM1B	2
Snare Top	SM57	3
Snare Bottom	KM184	4
Rack Tom	MD421	5
Floor Tom	MD421	6
OH L	1960s Calrec CM652C	7
OH R	1960s CalrecCM652C	8
Room mic	Sontronics Orpheus	9

Other:

Instrument	Mic	Input	Phantom Power
Bass	DI	10
Bass Warmth	RE-20	11
Bass CONE	MD421	12
Guitar	AKG 414 XLS – Hyper cardoid	13
Guitar	SM 57	14
Saxophone	JZ-67	15
Vocals	K2	16

Our choices in microphones were ultimately done to contribute to our session aims, with some stylistic decisions, such as the use of the 1960s Calrecs. Below are images from the recording session, as well as supporting commentary where needed.

DRUMS

POST PRODUCTION

We ran 2 separate mix sessions, with the first involving all members of the group, and the second being myself and Joss. We did this in order to allow us room to leave the session and check the mix on various systems, and then rebuild the mix and make any adjustments where needed.

Throughout both mix sessions, our aim was to achieve a comfortable and natural balance across the range of instruments. We aimed to not make any drastic, stylistically inappropriate decisions, and kept our focus on emphasising the material in a sensitive way. Before mixing we listened to a variety of jazz standards and ballads on the same system we would be mixing on, focusing on picking out their use of space and processing. We then took this information to form the foundational mix, with some further details being added in the final mix. For example, in the final mix I lowered the fader of the sax in sections in which it overlapped with the vocal.

The main adjustments made in mix session 2 were correcting some panning decisions, adjusting the reverb, adjusting the compression on the kick and riding faders where needed.

MIX 1 PHOTOS

MIX 2 PHOTOS

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Track 3 Remix track

I started my process remixing this track by experimenting around the vocal in a variety of genres. With electronic music being quite foreign to the genres I’d usually work in, it took some research to find a genre I’d be comfortable to work in. I decided to approach the remix through the genre of Trip Hop, taking influence from bands such as Massive Attack and Tricky.

Naturally, the recording and post production elements of this track generally happened alongside each other.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Banks, P. (2023) Straight Outta Bristol: The Massive Story of Portishead. London: Sphere.

Messitte, N. (2022) 9 tips for mixing jazz. iZotope. Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/9-tips-for-mixing-jazz (Accessed: 2 November 2025).