Reflective Journal

10th November

Folk Recording

On the 10th of November after trying to sort a date with one of my close friends bands Rhiannon Hope we finally managed to book in a slot with them, due to their busy schedules for our session we couldn’t record their entire band and had to miss out on bass for this session so we ended up recording

Drums – Ludo Ray

Violin – Nelson Barrow

Vocals / Acoustic Guitar – Rhiannon Hope

Micing up for this recording was very simple,our mic set up is evidenced here in our tracksheet

We kept our setup rather simple as to not over complicate anything.

For drums we used the drum kit at facilities and also rented out clip mics and an extra SM57 for hats, when placing mics we thought about Ludo’s drum playing to make sure they wouldn’t accidentally bump or move the mic both during and in between takes.

For violin we used a Sennh MKH30 as it is highly praised within Folk Music for being able to capture the natural ambience while simultaneously cancelling out other sounds in the room dueto it being a condenser mic. I think looking back it would have been nice to pair this with a separate mic to capture a stereo sound and more nuance in the violins strings, if I was to redo this and pair it with another mic I would use the MK 40 cardioid mic.

For guitar we used a C414 to capture the body and warmth, and a Schoeps CMC5U to capture more of the attack on the guitar. The cmc5u was placed to aim at the 12th fret to avoid the muddyness of the guitar hole and still pick up the metallic hit for the pick on the strings while the C414 was placed to aim at the lower bout to capture the body of the guitar.

For vocals we ended up using an SM7B in recording, after listening back through the recording I would have aimed this a lot closer to Rhiannon as we didn’t capture as much volume from her voice as we should have from the placement of the mic.

The session ended up running really smoothly as the band knew their songs well even though they were missing a member it didn’t seem to affect their performance at all really (Simon came in towards the end of the session and did note that during one of the takes the violin fell out of tune towards the end of the song I didnt realise this but I think its due to the fact I wasn’t listening out for this so I have noted it as something to watch for next time.)

15th December

Punk Band Recording

On the 15th of December I brought my band in with a drummer, usually we wouldn’t play with a drummer as I play the drum machine but all other options had fallen through so I was left with little choice. Surprisingly on the day Fakie already knew both songs we were playing quite well and we ended up getting a pretty tight take. I do wish we had practiced a little beforehand though as I think it would have made the session a lot more streamlined. On the day of the recording session our second guitarist told me he wouldn’t be able to make it all though this worked out rather well as we ended up just using his parts as overdubs for our main Guitarist George.

So on the day we ended up recording

Bass- Elise

Drums- Fakie

Guitar- George

Vocals- Freyja

In this session I had completely forgotten to make a tracksheet so ended up writing a rather simplified version out on my notes app while on the bus

Along with this we also rented out the extra mics that we did during the Folk recordings just to make sure we are covering all bases.

When micing guitar we aimed the mic closer to the edges of the cab speaker to avoid capturing too much of the harshness from George’s guitar as his tone on these songs is quite exclusive to just noise for these tracks and although interesting to much of this is painful.

For bass we did both Di and amp as Elise’s tone is quite electronic. So to keep that tone yet make it more punky we planned to blend both the amp and DI together to mash the two worlds.

For vocals we used just a C414 to keep it simple

And for drums we used the same setup as in the folk recording

After running a few takes of two different songs (Relay and Lousy Havoc) we decided to use Relay and record Alex’s parts as Georges overdubs. While recording guitar overdubs we also recorded vocal overdubs to double with the vocals. This ran quite smoothly as me and george know this song inside and out.

8th January

Outboard Mix

Today we finally began the outboard mix for the Folk track

This session we focused on mixing drums to the correct level and sound. We started by EQ’ing the channels and compressing them.

For the kick in and out we used the distressor as it’s perfect for getting a good drum sound.

We wanted to be able to record everything all at once together so we used multiple different compressors for each channel of the drum track.

I will say at first we quite struggled with getting everything working but it ended up being really simple. We just weren’t sending it into logic, which we figured out in the end but it did take a fair bit of time.

11th January

Outboard Mix

This session we planned to focus on trying to add reverb to parts of drums mainly hi hats crash and wherever else applicable really haha

I showed up to the session early and had everything running through correctly (later realised that again I hadn’t sent it into cuebase so when trying to record it wouldnt go through)

Once the others arrived I asked to see if they were able to get it recording, unfortunately this spiraled from here. We ended up asking someone from Facilities if they were able to help but somehow it just made things more complicated.

After he left I decided to reset everything on the mixing desk and try to run it through again. Doing this I realised I had completely forgotten to send it into Logic and when I hit the button and it started working I swear a tear rolled down my cheek.

Although it took a long time to get it working I feel like I really learnt something from it and I feel a lot more comfortable with using the gear now. We ended up recording EQ and reverb onto hi hats, crashes and snares.

(took this photo so i could reference it when trying to send into logic haha)

12th January

Outboard Mix

In this final mix session we mixed all the other parts of the track which we had not yet gotten too.

We added reverb and compression to both violin and guitar as well as EQ’ing and panning them.

We added some reverb to vocals as well as a very slight bit of EQ

13th January

Remix / Band Mixing

Today I have started my remix I’ve made of playlist of different inspo for what I want it to sound like

My mane inspirations are Kelela and Fka Twigs I think Arcas production value in both of there early work is absolutely beyond

I recently got FM-8 and since starting the track I’ve been trying out different chords and melodies underneath the vocals to see what works and what I like.

I’ve made parts quite droney leading up to this chord which I think really works

Chord Progression

I’ve begun working on the band track. Even though it’s a noise track I’m trying to think of it as if it’s an electronic noise track. I’ve side-chained the bass, guitars, and high hats all to the kick to emphasize the kick and make it louder. I feel it’s not loud enough.

14th January

Remix / Band Mixing

Today I finished the remixes structure from start to finish, I’ve added in vocal chops using the sampler instrument on cuebase

I plan to record percussion bass and backing vocals for rest of the track in coming days

Finished the band mix today, I think the only thing I’m not the happiest with is the main guitar tone. I made Georges guitar really wet to combat the shrillness of it as dry it was just too overpowering, I think when recording it might’ve been a good idea to have gotten the DI recording for George’s guitar as well for layering purposes.

20th January

Remix

Today I finally recorded the last bits of my remix.

I recorded

For my recordings today I took inspiration from Kelela, Fka Twigs and Madonna in songs like All The Way Down, Water Me, and Human Nature

With percussion I aimed to give the track more rhythm and beat to it as until now there is only kick in the track, I recorded shakers throughout (I later found the most in time section of playing and spread it across the track as my rhythm is definitely not fantastic).

For sticks I wanted to give an almost reggaeton feel.

For vocals I recorded whispering vocals to give this vibe like you’re at a spa or a yoga class very peaceful but sensual.

With bass I wanted to double the bass synth I already had just to fill it up more and make it more human

My recording session went well and I did everything I sought out to do. The only problem I really encountered was my rhythm with percussion but I’m gonna edit it anyway so I’m happy with what I did.