Track 1 (Guitar-based band production)

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Members & Roles:

Alican – Engineer

Ben – Engineer

Sophie – Engineer

Charlie – Engineer, Songwriter

Matt – Drummer

Ben (band) – Vocalist

We decided to develop a song Charlie and his band had written, allowing more time to get a good pre-mix. A demo was presented in our second session.

Reference Tracks:

Sam Fender – The Borders

Bruce Springsteen – Dancing in the Dark

ZZ Top – Gimme All Your Lovin’

Organising of Sessions:

• Drum Recording – Room 104, 28/10/25
• Acoustic Guitar Recording – Room 113, 30/10/25
• Synth Recording – Room 109a, 3/12/25
• Vocal Recording – Room 116a, 13/12/25
• Lead Guitar Recording – Room 116b, 16/12/25

Charlie recorded Rhythm Guitar and Bass in his own time.

Time in-between sessions was spent, planning goals in a private group chat, making notes, or discussing which equipment we may use.

Drum Recording

• Session took place during a Tuesday studio lecture. Extended time slot from two to four hours, ensuring a satisfactory result and enough time to set up.
• Me and Charlie both gathered the equipment.

Mic and Equipment List + Routing via Desk:

• Decided on mostly ‘cardioid’ mics as, considering the style of drums in our references, we wanted to capture the space of the room along with direct captures. An extra ‘Overhead Mono’ mic would help. Panning decided for drummers perspective to help visualise when listening back.

• Certain mics (SM57 etc.) were desirable due to their high frequency content synonymous with the drum sound we were looking for.

Room:

• 104 was familiar, allowing an advantage for time when setting up. Everyone assisted in mic placement and routing.

• Room reverberance wasn’t forgiving. Toms resonated heavily whenever the kick was played. Used a coat inside kick to dampen the effect.
• Dampened the snare, too present in cymbal mics.

• Recording was straightforward as Matt was a skilled drummer.

Acoustic Guitar Recording

Originally meant to use this session for the jazz recording until the band were no longer free. We used the time to record acoustics. I helped test mics and set levels for Ben and Charlie by playing the guitar in the live room.

Equipment used:

• 2x AKG 414 XLS (sides).
• Warm Audio 251 (mid).
• DI > Console.

• 251 possessed a smooth sound that was nice on acoustics.

• 414’s worked well as a stereo pair possessing customisable polar patterns, making them a solid choice for Mid/Side processing, which we used for mono and stereo compatibility.
• Used a cardioid and figure-8 configuration to capture a wide stereo field.

Room:

113 had better soundproofing, allowing us to capture the sound dry for any post-processing we desire after.

Since I was unable to stay for the whole session due to illness, I bought a pick so Charlie could record the guitars to ensure we get a solid capture.

• Post-processing in the session carried out by Charlie and Ben.

Lead Guitar Recording

Guitar + Equipment:

• Gibson ES333.
• DI Box > Neve 1073 > Amp Simulator.

Neve 1073 saturated the DI signal in a pleasing way, allowing a less ‘digital’ sound.

Synth Recording

• Juno-60 direct. This is a synth known for classic 80’s Rock, relative to our sonic references.
• Served as a layering effect.

Vocal Recording

• Since Ben (vocalist) felt more confident recording with just Charlie, the rest of us didn’t participate.

• Warm Audio 87 > Neve 1073.
• 1073 added some nice top end and presence to the vocals.

Mixing (Group)

EQ mostly done on console.

Drums

• I gave the idea of Gated Reverb on the Snare to fit the context of the song style relative to our reference tracks.
• Routed snare and overheads to a parallel compression channel to increase perceived size and intensity for a ‘stadium rock’ sound.
• Lexicon chamber reverb to snare and overheads to glue the drums and fit the reverb we heard in our references.
• Used samples from round-robin for layering. This helped the drums feel more sonically in-line with our vision.

• Multiband Compression on bus to glue and thicken.

Acoustics

• Cut mud.
• Exciter for ‘sparkle’.

Bass

• Heavy Compression added for consistency and controlled low end.

Charlie would do a pre-mix in his vision + add some elements for us to then mix. All panning was finished.

Mixing (Individual)

Due to the quality of our captures, I didn’t have to mix much. I had an idea of where it would go sonically. I mainly worked on trimming silences, compressing vocals, and balancing the overall frequency spectrum. Since this was inspired by Bruce Springsteen and Sam Fender, the mix was naturally very bright. Therefore I had to be careful boosting highs on vocals, guitars, and drums. Tape Saturation helped a lot whilst allowing me to glue the mix together a little more. I also utilised a small amount of Plate Reverb, as recommended by Ben, to give a sense of sense for the arrangement, enabling it to feel bigger in size. Overall, I was very satisfied with our work as a group and the results I achieved from it.

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

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Members & Roles:

Alican – Engineer

Ben – Engineer

Sophie – Trumpet, Engineer

Charlie – Engineer

Tom – Drums

Freddie – Bass (Squier Jazz)

Harry – Guitar (Gibson Hollowbody)

• Quartet arrangement of ‘Gentle Rain’ by George Benson (reference).

Organising Session:

• Challenging due to changes in arrangement and availability from the band.

• During the acoustic recording for Track 1, Me and Charlie negotiated a session with the band the next week, giving us time to plan.

When the band arrived, we made sure to have all equipment ready to set up to save time.

Mic and Equipment List + Routing via Desk:

• We only panned the Overheads and Orpheus’. Most panning was done later.
• Blumlein technique used to create a realistic sense of space in the room.

Room (422):

• Gobos used to minimise bleed from drums.
• I placed the Fender Guitar Amp off the floor, preventing rumble.
• Trumpet placed in isolation booth.

Drums:

• I placed Hi-Hat M160 off-axis to prevent bleed.
• I placed Snare Top and Bottom mics closer parallel to prevent phasing. Used vintage mics for vintage sound.
• I helped set up Overheads to capture ambience for our style of recording.
• I set the Ride Mic towards the bell for extra warmth.
• Rack Tom dampened with cloth for less resonance. Snare dampening also applied.

Guitar:

• I placed the SM57 45 degrees towards the cone to get less low end. That was the job of the AKG.
• Vibrato setting used for vintage reverb and extra high end. I let the guitarist create his tone so he plays comfortably.

Bass:

• Recorded DI.
• Patched into 1073 for warmth.

Outboard Mixing

• Distressor with heavy compression + saturation on the Bass for presence.
• Instruments put into buses.
• Digital Delay on Trumpet fed into Lexicon Reverb for dimension.
• Plate reverb on all instruments to tie them together. Reverb printed to two stereo faders, allowing us to manipulate it.
• Parallel Compressed everything to help with cohesiveness and tackle harsh transients.
• Panned everything left and right to make room for Trumpet.
• Drawmer Stereo Compressor to saturate drums.
• EQ’d all stems on console + compression.
• Sophie rode Reverb fader on Trumpet to bring it forward in its solo.
• Bounced everything down, listened to reference track.
• I added Neve EQ boosts where needed, then into Drawmer for levelling.
• Added VCA Console compression to help with fast peaks.
• Added Tape Saturation + Low and High bump on Audient Console.
• I lowered some guitar transients that poked out.
• Final product bounced.

Track 3 Remix track

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Genre:

Lofi Hip-Hop/Boom Bap

Reference Tracks:

• Shiki No Uta – MIMI
• Counting Stars – Nujabes

Equipment + Instruments

• Telecaster (live)
• Audient iD4
• Addictive Drums Hip Hop
• Audio Technica AT2035
• Logic Studio Piano
• Logic Slapped Bass
• Pepsi can (live)
• Required vocal sample

Songwriting:

• Improvised guitar parts over vocal.
• Wanted it slower (95BPM).
• Listened to reference tracks to pick up on what they had sonically.
• Addictive Drums kit was similar (roomy, saturated, warm, tape noise).
• Added simple Hi-Hat groove with shakers for texture + width.
• Recorded 2 bars of guitar over it.
• Added low slap bass as support.
• Added chopped up bright piano chords and counter melody for brightness.
• Considering my track inspiration is from a DJ, I treated it as such (repeated sections + variations, chops, filter automation done manually).
• Sampled a Pepsi can for transition effect.
• Vocal lines in low pass sections for tension. Not perfectly in time intentionally for swing feel.
• Extra guitars added for layering, lead lines and ambience.

Vocals:

• Used throughout the song via chopping, some panned slightly right.
• Subtle autotune.
• EQ removing lows + harshness.
• Serial Compression.
• Analog EQ for air and saturation inspired by references.

Bass:

• Parallel EQ to emphasise presence.
• EQ for rumble and clashing kick frequencies.
• Side-chained to Kick.
• ‘Archetype’ amp to saturate.
• Compression for levelling + thickness.
• ‘Pultec Trick’ for low and mid presence.

Drums + Shakers

• Most mixing done by preset.
• EQ lowering mids.
• Vinyl noise as stylistic choice.
• Shaker stereo spread for width, cut lows + mids to make space for reverb, saturated and compressed to tame harsh transients.

Guitars:

• DI to Audient iD4 for console preamps.
• All ‘Archetype’ instances.
• Heavy Compression.
• EQ lowering 4k, adding 8k for brightness.
• Some use Chorus + Delay + Reverb for ambience.
• Panned slightly left or right to make room for vocal.

Piano:

• Subtractive EQ to remove unwanted lows and honk.
• OTT for high boost and scoop.
• ‘Pultec Trick’ to add highs without harshness.

Pepsi:

• Recorded with AT2035.
• Slight Gating
• Filtered highs and lows.
• Saturation.

Reverb:

All Reverbs use ‘Abbey Road Curve’ to reduce mud.

• 1.7s Chamber Vocal Reverb.
  • Longer pre-delay to push vocal forward.
  • Side-chained to vocal, only need tail.
• 1.9s Plate Reverb.
  • Added slightly to each instrument to glue together.
  • Plate brightens track and adds to ‘vintage tape’ sound.

Mix and Master:

• SSL Strip on Instrument Bus to compress + add highs.
• Instrument Bus > Mix Bus.
• M/S Linear EQ, filter rumble and remove harshness from sides.
• SSL Glue Compression.
• Aggressive Tape Saturation at 15ips for stylistic effects, smooth levelling and desired warbling.
• Serial Limiters to push loudness.