MPR5C001R~001 Studio Portfolio 1 & Log Book TEMPLATE
Project Management
Project management
Before the recording, the group had a clear understanding of what material we should record and how we could approach it. Chalire proposed to use his band’s track “Old Perfume.” We reviewed the rough demo recordings together and had a group discussion to identify appropriate stylistic references, with early reference points including Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen and The Borders by Sam Fender. While specific roles were not formally assigned, we had a general understanding of who was capable of supporting particular recording tasks, which allowed sessions to remain flexible.
Most sessions take place in 104, which is the studio in our two-hour class slot, with additional external sessions lasting between three to four hours. Time management was handled through scheduling discussions with musicians and creating backup plans in case of delays. For example, during a planned jazz ensemble session, a few musicians were unavailable at short notice. Instead of cancelling the session, we redirected the time into recording guitar parts and carrying out first-stage mixing tasks for the other track, ensuring that studio time was still used productively.
Group responsibilities remained flexible; everyone contributed to both technical and organisational decisions. I regularly contributed to planning discussions by offering suggestions regarding microphone placement, instrument positioning, and room acoustics, and helped plan recording setups before the recordings. Several problems occurred throughout the project. During the early stages of guitar recording sessions, files were lost, requiring us to reschedule and re-record the material. During the jazz ensemble sessions, last-minute musician availability changes required us to redesign the ensemble setup, initially planning for a trio and then reverting to the original quartet setup when the guitarist arrived unexpectedly. These situations required fast decision-making and communication within the group.
Track 1 (Guitar-based band production)
Track1 recording
The primary intention for track 1 was to record that energetic drum sound inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s rock production style. Rather than treating the recording as a simple documentation of the drums, we approached the drum recording as the main aim to shape the style of the track.
Initially, the drum kit was positioned near the corner of the room, then it was repositioned from a corner to the wider section of the studio to increase spatial openness and improve width and depth within the recording. A puffer jacket was placed inside the kick drum to reduce low-frequency resonance and to create a drier, forward kick tone. A shirt was applied to the snare drum to dampen it. The drummer was also encouraged to change their playing style by performing the snare with greater physical intensity and maintaining consistent dynamics throughout the performance to create that Springsteen style of snare presence. Gated reverb and snare sample reinforcement were applied after to further enhance the Springsteen style of drums.
I personally contributed by proposing the repositioning of the drum kit within the room, suggesting physical damping methods for the kick drum, and ensuring the additional drum samples were recorded for future layering or further use during post-production.
postproduction
After receiving the recording and first-stage mixing files, I felt the track was overly dense, with only a little bit of contrast between sections, due to four layered guitars were playing constantly throughout the whole song creating limited dynamic variation. In order to solve this issue, cutting and rearranging is needed.
In the second chorus, one of the rhythm electric guitars was removed, and string elements were added to shift the texture and energy. I restructure verse three into a bridge section to create a transitional function leading into the final chorus. Within this bridge, the bass was removed for the first four bars, and drums were replaced with one-shot samples to create a contrasting groove.The intro was reworked to better align with the reference tracks. Inspired by the intro of the borders by Sam Fender, I created a new intro using EQ and reverb automation and a pad layer with guitar layers taken from the original intro to create a smoother build into the song. Additional automation was also applied across sections to create loudness and dynamic contrast.
One drawback during this stage was the loss of the one-shot files of the drums; it could have improved the bridge section better by having the same room and mic setting compared to using other one shots.
Processing and mixing
Lexicon chamber reverb was applied to the overheads and lightly to the snare to extend room depth. The snare and overheads were routed through a Distressor in parallel to reinforce transient impact. Gated reverb was applied to the snare using Space Designer to support the arena rock aesthetic.
During individual post-production, multiband compression and transient shaper were used to maintain that consistent snare presence throughout the mix. Vocals were refined using plate reverb to align the sonic character with reference tracks.
To achieve the short-term LUFS value of -10LUFS, I used a mastering chain of a few essential plugins that helped this process. A high-pass filter that only filters the mid, removing the sub energy that doesn’t transmit on most speakers, another cut around 50Hz, only cutting the side to help maintain the mono low frequency of the track. The plugin Little Radiator helped add analog color and also added loudness.
Managment
Group decisions were made collaboratively through control room listening and informal discussion. My primary role involved offering recording and mixing advice and operating the desk during sessions. During guitar re-recording, I assisted in recalling the original microphone setup using a mid-side pair and a WA251. A desk panning issue caused by PFL mode was identified and resolved by me, allowing the session to continue.
Evaluation
The final version achieves the intended arena rock character sonically, especially in the drums. In future sessions, I would try recording drums in a larger studio space would possibly further enhance the depth.
Track 2 Live in the studio (jazz/folk ensemble)
Track 2 was a jazz session that we recorded in Studio 422, a medium-sized live room.
The use of space was the biggest challenge; to manage bleed while maintaining visual communication between performers, the room was divided using acoustic panels. Drums were positioned on one side of the room, with the guitar amp, including the bass and guitar player, placed on the opposite side of the room.
The bass was DI through the wall box to control blend, and the trumpet was isolated in a vocal booth. As both guitar and bass were electric, this gave us more control of the sound and room. This setup ensured the guitar and drums mics don’t bleed too much, because the mics are facing behind each other. I proposed using acoustic panels to isolate the guitar and drum sounds, and positioning microphones, with the Sontronics Orpheus microphone placed as a room mic using the Blumlein mic technique to capture the depth of the environment, which is important to jazz recording.
A multi-microphone system was employed to capture the ensemble. Drums were recorded using a combination of dynamic, condenser, and ribbon microphones, including RE20 and Rode K2 on kick, SM545SD on snare, Beyerdynamic M160 on cymbals, and Neumann KM184 as overheads, Sontronics Orpheus as a stereo pair, as mentioned, and Bass was captured through DI into a Neve 1073 preamp.
Before the recording, due to scheduling and timing conflicts among musicians, the setup was temporarily changed from a quartet to a piano trio, which required a rapid redesign of the room layout and microphone choice. On the day of recording, the guitarist arrived unexpectedly, meaning the session changed back to the originally planned quartet configuration. This required immediate adjustments to signal routing and microphone placement without delaying the recording schedule.
I contributed primarily to room design, acoustic treatment placement, microphone planning, and early-stage mixing. One problem that accrued after the recording was that the DI bass didn’t sit in the mix. We tried using compression and light distortion on the distresser, but it still didn’t work. This problem was resolved during the final stage of outboard mixing by using Neve EQ and Drawmer Tube Comp for the harmonic group.
Initial mixes applied shared reverbs across the ensemble, light parallel compression, and plate reverb on bass to maintain cohesion. In future sessions, recording within a larger room and keeping the trumpet and bass amp within the same space would further enhance the sound.
Track 3 Remix track
Track 3
The remix was approached as a vocal-led composition rather than a remix. When first hearing the vocals, I had the decision of developing the track as an electronic track, but was unsure on which specific route to go with. I tried using pads and a spacey synthesizer, but it didn’t fit with the energy that the vocal was giving; that’s when I finally decided this track to be a hyperpop and dance track that could be played in clubs.
The two recorded instruments are an upright piano and a synth bass; the upright was recorded using a c414, the mid a pair of KM184s to capture the stereo width. The synth bass was played on a Minilogue XD, and both instruments were played during the verse section. I aimed to create a house style verse, but the use of recording a real piano failed to achieve my aim. It doesn’t have the same attack and the cut-up texture that a midi has. I tried using a transient shaper and slicing the recording, but it still lacked the texture I wanted.
