Track 1 (Guitar-based band production)
‘Saint of mine’ by Misting.
Pre Production-
To find a suitable band that fits the ‘guitar based band’ narrative, I contacted a post hardcore band that specialised in rythmic and lead guitar usage with a heavier grunge tone.
The song they requested to perform and original song called ‘Saint of Mine’. The song featured mutliple layers of both rythmic and lead guitar, featuring heavier vocals and grungier tones.
| Drummer | Ryhs |
| Guitarist | Finn |
| Bassist | Alex |
| Vocalist | India |
We created a mic list before the recording.
| Kick in | Audix D6 | Reason – has a pre EQ’d low end |
| Kick out | Sontronics Dm1b | low frequency response |
| Snare top | Shure Sm57 | tight cordiod pattern |
| Snare Bottom | Shure sm57 | ^ |
| Rack Tom | Sennheiser Md421 | has a fuller low/mid response |
| Hi-hat | Neumann Km 184 | records brighter top end while limiting harshness |
| Floor Tom | Sennheiser Md421 | ^ |
| Overhead L | Akg C414 | Polar patterns, well balances cymbal capture |
| Overhead R | Akg C414 | ^ |
| Guitar amp | Delta 2 | focuses on midrange tone, rejects extra room bleed. |
| Bass | Di | provides a clear tone with no room bleed |
| Guitar | Di | ^ |
| Vocal | Rode k2 | polar patterns, warm sound, smooth vocals |
recording
The initial first recording took place on wednesday 22nd October in room 104 from 6.30 – 10.30pm. For this session we wanted to record the main instrumentation of the song, namley percussion, bass and rythmn guitar.
Since studio 104 is quite small we had limited space to work with. The drummer was placed in the live room taking up the bulk of the space to allow positioning for the drum microphones
The guitarist and Bassist were also placed in the Live room with their instruments. being recorded through a DI box. However we put the guitar amp in the isolation booth to prevent any noise bleed from the performance.
The vocalist performed guide vocals in the control room.
For this session myself, Shelby, George and Jamie set up the studio. Jamie controlled the protools recording session while me and Shelby monitered the desk and overall sound output.
The next session we recorded the vocals. This happened on Wednesday 5th November in room 104, 6.30-8.30pm.
For the positioning of this we placed the vocalist in the isolation booth to provide the best room acoustic needed. For this session we recorded multiple takes of the melodic vocals so that we could go through them in a different session to select takes. For the vocal screams we predecided we would likely want to layer the screams during mixng, therefor we got a minimum of three recordings for each take.
Me and Shelby set up the mic, took control of the desk while Jamie focused on the Logic session.
Our next session took place on wednesday 11th November in studio 114. We used this session to go through each vocal take, decide on any panning or volume automation.
Notable changes made were –
. volume automation on phrases 7/8
. screams layered panned hard left and right
The final session was on the 19th of november in 104. This was to record any guitar layers for the final mix, this included new rythmic guitar harmonys and lead guitar.
For this session Jamie and George set up the room, placing the guitarist in the performance room with a guitar DI connected to the pedal board. A guitar amp was also placed in the isolation booth to prevent noise bleed.
Mixing
My concept for this mix was to adhere to a commercially viable post-harcore track.
Panning –
I started with volume and panning adjustment. I decided to pan each rytmn guitar slightly differently, this gives width in the mix.
For the drums i had the kick and snare centre with the toms panned slightly left or right and the high hats very slightly left, making the drums feel dimensional.
Bass vocals and lead guitar were in the center of the mix to put them at the front of the mix.
By adding panning it caters towards a commercially viable track, as it will have more clarity in a wider range of speakers, being suited for streaming.
Tone-
To fit the heavier genre, I wanted the overall tone to be agressive.
I used an overdirve setting on the guitars and bass to give them more angst.
I also used eq to boost the high mids of the guitar however i took out the low end to leave room for the bass.
Regarding the sound of the drums, I felt they didnt feel strong enough for the track. For this i used drum replacment, i used a sample kick and snare to accompany the original ones, giving it an slightly louder boost.
To capture the sound of the genre, I listened to some reference tracks with similiar features.
The song ‘Collar of Truth’ by Violent Vira, features a similiar softer guitar and vocals opening, which then opens up into a full track featuring melodic vocals with fry screams in the background, which is a feature ‘saint of mine’ has.
I noticed the intro guitar and vocals has heavier reverb, I followed this in my own mix by using a bus with a guitar or vocal specific reverb.
I also added some dynamics to the vocal by panning the second sentence of every line in the first verse hard left and right giving it slightly more reverb to emphasise the importance of those personal lyrics.
Overall I believe the mix does adhere to the commerciality of the genre, however I felt audibly the mix felt overwhelmed , to improve on this next time i would begin my mix earlier to gain advice and feedback from professionals and tutors.
managment
Overall i believe as a group our time managment went well as I found the band immediatly and our follow up recordings happened months before our assigment deadline giving us time to make changes as a group
Track 2 Live in the studio (jazz/folk ensemble)
We decided to choose a jazz band as often jazz is very dynamical, our band used guitar, piano, bass and percussion and since we were mixing it on the desk it meant we could avoid instruments that may require more processing such as vocals.
| drummer | nate |
| guitarist | julian |
| bassist | finn |
| pianist | guillermo |
| kick | sontronic-DM1B | emphasise low end |
| snare top | SM57 | transiant response, controls bleed |
| Snare bottom | SM57 | ^ |
| Overhead-L | AkgC451 | captures cybal clarity |
| Overhead-R | AkgC451 | |
| Guitar amp | Beyerdynamic-m160 | focuses mid range, smooth ribbon response |
| Bass | DI | no bleed |
| Piano-high | akgC414 | versatile and detailed condenser |
| Piano-bass | AkgC414 | ^ |
We used a space pair and A/B technique on the drums and piano as for a live performance it creates a wide stereo image and can also capture the natural acoustics of the room.
recording
This recording took place in 104, 6.30-11pm on 26/11/2025
For room placment, we had all musicians in the same room this is because for a jazz live performance they rely on body-language cues to signal different sections of the song.
We had the guitar amp placed in the isolation booth to avoid noise bleed.
Myself, Jamie and george set up the mics, me and george monitored desk levels while Jamie recorded through logic.
mixing
This session took place in 104, 6.30-8.30pm. we aimed to choose the best take, and mix accordingly through the hardware desk.
We adjusted the panning to add width in the mix.
I E’Qd everything to take out any unwanted signals
We noticed the overheads were particularly agressive so we used compression to balance it
We used compression to make the kick stand out more.
Reverb helped the piano and guitar sound brighter and wider.
managment
Overall, while I think the recording was timed well, the mixing of the track felt left until the week before we left for christmas therefore not giving us enough time for improvemts. in the future we should consider this and make time in advance.
Track 3 Remix track
For my remix I planned to remix the vocal stem into an EDM style mix.
This genre is synth based with MIDI drum patterns. Most tracks include a synth based instrumental beatdrop, with verses, and a bridge which i made sure to follow.
The nature of the original song is already ardent within the lyrics, and the sound also feels moody. I wanted to enhance this in my own remix so i used various ambient sounding synths. As well as this structurally the original song opens with a drumless ambient intro with just vocals, building up the original song. i Replicated this in my own mix.
For the drums, I wanted them to juxtapose the ambient synths to represent the complex nature of the lyrics, for this i used a drum midi pack sample with complex electronic drum beats and sampled them into my work, altering them when needed. These were important in building anticipation for example using a high pass filter automation in the first verse to muffle the drums then bring them out.
For my Live instruments I planned to use simple guitar notes and have backing vocals, both of which I processed heavily to blend in with the electronic sound.
I recorded my guitar through DI and my vocals with a Rode k2. For the guitar i added heavy delay and reverb to attempt to make it blend in with synths.
My backing vocals had autotune and heavy reverb to again give an electronic sound i also automated these panning hard left-right through the entire track.
overall, I am happy with the genral sound of my mix however i found it difficult to incorprate live instruments as I recorded these in after creating all the synths, to imrove next time I would base the synths around the live instruments.
