MPR5C001R~003 24101306 Studio Portfolio 2 & Log Book

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Raph Smali-Maurel 24101306

MPR5C001R~003 24101306 Studio Portfolio 2 & Log Book

Commercial Pop Track

Pre Production:

  • Bella provided us with a demo for a track she had already written. After listening to the demo, we decided that no other instruments needed to be added to make it sound like a commercial pop track other than backing vocals.
  • We then got in contact with the band members and got dates in that they were available to record on.
  • The reference we were provided with was Let Alone The One You Love by Olivia Dean (Olivia Dean, 2025). We then made the decision that overdubbing would be the best way to achieve a similar polished sound of a pop ballad.

Recording:

  • The recording was done over 4 sessions: Drums & Bass on 11th March, Piano on 19th April, Guitar on 24th April and Vocals on 27th April.
  • Microphone choices:
    • Drums: We wanted to capture a tight, polished full sound of kit, so decided to close mic each part. (Appendix 1)
      • Kick: Beta 91A, Sontronics DM1-B, Solomon LoFreq
      • Snare: Km184 (Top), C414 (Bottom)
      • Hihats: Schoepps Cardioid
      • OHs: Pair of WA-87
    • Bass: Sans Amp DI alongside a regular DI to blend both a clean tone and add some amp-esque character. We decided on not amping to keep a clean signal between the bass and drums. (Appendix 1)
    • Piano: Sontronics Delta 2 spaced pair for room mics, Spaced pair of Schoepps cardioid close mics. We wanted to capture a natural sound while capturing some ambience from the room (Appendix 4)
    • Vocal: WA-87 used to capture a detailed vocal sound, similar to other pop vocals captured on U87s (Appendix 3)
    • Guitar: Guitar was recorded using a DI through a pedalboard. (Appendix 2)
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4

Mixing:

  • I decided to find 2 reference tracks to try and achieve that Pop Ballad sound, after discussing with Solomon, I decided on Chasing Pavements (Adele, 2008) and I’m Not The Only One (Sam Smith, 2014). In a similar fashion to the track we had recorded, these tracks had big choruses being carried by high energy vocals and big drums driving the tracks.
  • I started the mix by processing the vocals, as vocals are the main focus of commercial pop music and meant that I could build the rest of the track around them. (Tignor, 2021). (Appendix 5)
    • Prescence was added through EQ and harmonic saturation
    • Heavy compression to squash the dynamic range
    • Reverb and Delay automated through sends
UNMIXED VOCALS
MIXED VOCALS
  • I wanted the drums to be the driving force behind track: (Appendix 5)
    • To make them sound huge I used parallel compression on the drum buss
    • Used an analogue tape saturation plug-in to give it a gritty old school sound
    • Automated reverb for the choruses
UNMIXED DRUMS
MIXED DRUMS
  • Mixing the keys, piano and bass was mainly about getting levels right and some slight corrective EQing. I wanted to keep these melodic parts, especially the piano, with as much dynamic range as possible to carry over the emotion from the acoustic demo
  • Panning: Vocals, Kick, Snare and Bass central. Piano slightly right and guitar left to avoid clashing. Percussion and Rhodes super wide to fill out space.
  • Other than delay, reverb and saturation, minimal FX were used in this mix as the whole idea was to emulate that ‘ballad’ sound
Appendix 5

Drums, Vocal and BV chains.

MPR5C001R~003 24101306 POP MASTERDownload

Acoustic Track

Pre Production:

  • Max provided us with a demo of a track he had written that he already had in mind to do acoustically. Since he was going to be playing on the track we didn’t need to source any external musicians, other than the bass & drums which we decided would be best for the session players.
  • After another demo session, we decided that the song was lacking some character and agreed that we would add a resonator guitar and a reed organ, which would be played by solomon

Recording:

  • The recording was all overdubbed, and took place over 3 sessions: Drums & Bass on 16th Feb, Resonator and Organ on 9th Feb and Acoustic, 12 string and Vocals on 10th March
  • Microphone choices:
    • Drums – To get a stylistically suitable sound, Max suggested to use a 5 mic mono drum set-up. (Appendix 6)
      • Kick: RE-20 inside the kick to capture the body, DM-1B outside to capture transient.
      • Snare: SM57 on top
      • OH: WA-251 mono overhead
      • Room: C414 to capture the character of the 113 live room
    • Double Bass – C414 on the bridge (Appendix 7)
    • Acoustic Guitar & 12 String – Spaced pair of KM184s & a mono C414 (Appendix 8)
    • Resonator & Reed Organ – Sontronics Delta 2 (Appendix 9 & 10)
    • Vocal: Sontronics Orpheus to capture the detail of Max’s voice (Appendix 11)
Appendix 6
Appendix 7
Appendix 8
Appendix 9
Appendix 10
Appendix 11

Mixing:

On 16th March, we got together as a group to get the last edit of the multi-track together and used the SSL EQs in 115 to do some correction on the guitars. We also used the lexicon reverb to print of a warm analogue sounding vocal return.

  • After analysing ‘To The Sandals’ (Dove Ellis, 2025) and ‘Cancer of The Skull’ (Cameron Winter, 2024), I decided that in this modern folky style of music, there is lots of room for modulation and untraditional creative processing in the mix.
  • Something that felt important to me when approaching this mix was making sure it didn’t sound too polished, as I felt this would take away from the style and general emotion of the song. Especially when compared to the Cameron Winter reference, which at times feels quite raw.
  • Modulation:
    • Since the acoustic guitar and drums don’t really change throughout the second half of the song, I used modulation on the instrumental break to create some unconventional textures and build more tension into the chorus rather than automating volume and/or reverb. I automated a flanger on the drums and modulation delay on the acoustic guitar. (Appendix 12)
Instrumental NO MODULATION
Instrumental MODULATED

Appendix 12
  • Panning:
    • Reed Organ – Far Left & Resonator Guitar – Far Right, these 2 elements were each quite recognisable sonically in the mix so the way I panned them was to avoid clashes and create a textural soundscape
    • Acoustic Guitar – Slightly Left & 12 String – Slight Right, to create a natural spread in the mid-range and avoid any muddiness.
    • Vocal Reverbs – Doubled & hard panned left and right to add wideness and depth to the vocal without moving the lead.
    • Drums, Bass, Lead Vox – Central to keep the track grounded and driven by these core elements.

Project Management:

Appendix 13
MPR5C001R~003 24101306 ACOUSTIC MASTER

Location Recording

Pre-production:

As Juliana is part of the big band, she got in contact with the band leader if we could record them during a band practice. After some deliberation, we managed to get the venue booked for the 16th April. The Venue was our ideal location as we believed that its natural sound would go hand in hand with the big band.

Once the venue had been arranged, we worked out how the band would be laid out, so we could start on getting a mic list done so we wouldn’t have to stress on the day. We made sure to book all the equipment out in advance just incase something wasn’t available on the day.

Part of the pre production for this recording was deciding what interface was most suitable for the capture, we trialled the Allen & Heath Qu24, which we were not familiar with, but eventually decided that we would use two Focusrite 8 channel interfaces and link them due to it being the safer option as we were familiar with the interfaces. This decision was made to make the recording process as simple and efficient as possible and allow for as little problems as possible.

Recording:

  • The idea behind the recording was to capture an accurate image of the band, while also using the ambience of the venue to our advantage. To do this we close miced each instrument section and also used a room pair and a conductor mic.
  • Mic choices:
    • Drums: Kick – Beta 91A inside, Overheads – Schoepps Cardioid pair (Appendix 14)
    • Bass: DI through an amp to isolate the signal
    • Guitar: SM57 on amp (Appendix 15)
    • Piano: Spaced pair of KM184s (Appendix 16)
    • Saxes & Trombones: Spaced pair of C414s (Appendix 18)
    • Trumpets: Sontronics Orpheus pair (Appendix 18)
    • Room: WA87 in each corner of the room (Appendix 18)
    • Conductor: WA251 (Appendix 18)
Appendix 14
Appendix 17
Appendix 15
Appendix 18
Appendix 16

Mixing:

  • Balance and Pan: The main goal for this mix was to maintain the natural sound of the band and room. To do this required minimal processing, with the majority of the mix happening in the level balance. (Rayden M, 2023)
  • EQ: The majority of the processing came in the form of corrective EQing. I mainly just used low cuts on all the sections in front of the bass amp, which were getting bleed.
  • Pan: To enhance the natural sound, I decided to pan from the conductors perspective:
    • Drums, Bass and Saxaphones central
    • Trumpets and Piano slightly left
    • Trombones and Guitar slightly right
  • Tone: While I did want to leave the natural tone, it worked out nicely to add a little bit of vintage warmth on the mix bus, using a bit of tube channel strip.
MPR5C001R~003 24101306 LOCATION MASTER

Bibliography

Adele (2008). Chasing Pavements. XL Recordings. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/0Z5ok0QLLttAKsujOZYOXf?si=5897c2b3e574407e [Accessed 6 May 2026].

Cameron Winter (2024). Cancer of The Skull. Partisan Records. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/1RkuN09alt0DLZ9PlplUcc?si=5fd09b170c514eef [Accessed 6 May 2026].

Dove Ellis (2025). To The Sandals. Black Butter. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/0o1TOuRqbAP2RspbKZmq7P?si=9bd4b7f140e04dc5 [Accessed 6 May 2026].

Olivia Dean (2025). Let Alone The One You Love. A Capitol Records. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/3Vd4fHzwS6pBS3muymjiDi?si=b8f150a86cf245c2 [Accessed 6 May 2026].

Rayden, M. (2023). 10 Tips for Mixing Jazz Music | Tips and Tricks from Jazz Mixing Engineer. [online] Major Mixing. Available at: https://majormixing.com/10-tips-for-mixing-jazz-music/ [Accessed 7 May 2026].

Sam Smith (2014). I’m Not The Only One. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/track/7795WJLVKJoAyVoOtCWqXN?si=57d3c1db889b4cfb [Accessed 6 May 2026].

Tignor, C. (2021). 10 Tips for Mixing Pop Music. [online] Izotope.com. Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/10-tips-for-mixing-pop-music?srsltid=AfmBOoozrxDNd3vNiOHajPciDHNoC37BB43QlRNb7LzzxE77Fum9TP1Q [Accessed 6 May 2026].