MPR5C001R~003 Studio Portfolio 2 & Log Book
Commercial Pop Track
Pre-production:
For this track, Oliver brought in a songwriter to record a guide vocal and guitar, which we would then be able to build upon. This track suited this part of the assignment as it was lyrically typical of the pop genre and had a catchy hook.
Recording:
We had recorded this vocalist before and was aware of his dynamic performances and so I suggested running it through a compressor to tame the peaks before mixing.
The guitar track we recorded had a bit more of an edge to it than maybe you would expect from a commercial pop track. So to achieve a more commercial sound we primarily added different layers of synth to build up the majority of the track. We used Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” (Carpenter, 2025) as a reference track and this informed our composing as a group, especially the addition of soundbites like wind chimes and crashes, which are everywhere in modern pop music, keeping the modern listener engaged.
We wanted to emphasise the catchy hook in the song, so created a lead line that followed the same melody, adding repetition, another key feature of commercial pop.
Mixing:
To try align the track further, from a sonics perspective, I used a gated reverb on the snare, which although is a nod back to the 1980s, is suited to the genre and brings life into the snare, by adding a longer tail to what would be a fast transient on its own.
I used further serial compression on the vocal, with a FET compressor with a fast attack and release to catch the transients, and slower LA-2A tube compressor, to level out the signal as it one of the slower compressors.
Overall, we could could have managed this part of the project more effectively, as we did not leave ourselves ample to time to be critical of our recordings, for example, the bass felt a little uncontrolled and with more time I feel we would have had a cleaner outcome.
Acoustic Track
Pre-Production:
The song we used for the acoustic track, was one of my original songs, which was fully written with a structure chords and lyrics, so this seemed like a good option for this part of the assignment. I sent the group a rough acoustic demo and we decided it would work.
In the first session we laid down a guide acoustic guitar and vocal, to get the structure down so we could build around the guide. This is where we decided to take the first verse vocal down an octave to try and add more of a dynamic shift as the song went on, particularly as the song was somewhat lengthy, so we would want to keep the listener engaged. In this session we made the decision to alter the structure, as we felt there was not a clear journey, where there would be room for dynamic contrasts. As a result, we added a second verse and cut out any extra instrumental breaks that made the song sluggish.
In preparation for recording the session musicians I prepared chord and lyric sheets, which would hopefully help the musicians grasp the song as quickly as possible, as time was going to be limited.
Recording Sessions:
Session Musicians –
We recorded drums first, and so I setup the logic session and gave the musicians the structure sheets, while the others began setting up the drum microphones. We used the drum microphones provided in order to save time, plus we had used similar setups in the past, so had faith from practice-based research that this setup would be suitable and give us plenty of control at the mixing stage.
The drummer was quick to get the structure of the song, and recorded takes quickly. I felt we communicated well with the session musician to get what we wanted from the session, for example, I felt the building section should involve a closed hi-hat instead of a ride, in order to get the sense of release in the bridge section when other cymbals come in.
When recording double bass, which was new to me and I feel I should have done more research because of this, we knew we wanted some bowed bass for the latter end of the track, which would lay the foundations down for a potential string section and add greater dynamic contrast from plucking the double bass earlier in the track.
Mixing stage:
Initially, I felt a general issue that needed solving on this mix was bringing all the different tracks into the same context, as they were recorded over a longer stretch of time in different sessions. I tried using a room reverb on nearly all tracks to try and bring everything into the same space, to add a band feel and also using corrective EQ, to thin out sounds, for example, on the 12 string guitar, which I felt had a lot of unnecessary mud. Maybe this could have been corrected at an earlier stage.
It became clear at this stage, that the double bass needed controlling, more so in the low end than anything. After some research, I used a multiband compressor to tame any boomy sounds, while not unnecessarily getting rid of the dynamics in the mids. (Senior, 2020)
The strings were slightly out of tune at times, so running these through pitch correction helped tighten them up.
I feel that the snare gets a little out of control at the outro section, where the track hits its dynamic climax. I have tried to reduce this through automation, however if we had realised at the recording stage we could have communicated this to the musician, or ran the snare mic through some light compression just to tame the peaks, if the drummer is playing particularly hard.
Overall, I feel we managed this part of the project well, in that we were well prepared for the session musicians, and as result got a decent recording out of them, which really add to the track. However, I feel we could have managed our time better, in terms of focussing on the main elements of the track and getting strong performances. This is particularly clear with the vocal, which could be more controlled and emotive, which would have added to the emotional journey we have attempted to create.
Location Recording
Pre-production:
For this recording, Oliver sourced the performers and venue to record in. We were to record a duet including a vocal, guitar and mandolin. At this point, I had never recorded mandolin before, so I was not sure how to approach this. After some research, I posed the idea that we should use a small diaphragm condenser, as it would be better for capturing the detail in the fast transients. (Lewitt, 2025)
Recording session:
For the mandolin, which was close miked we moved the mic to be further up the neck of the mandolin as I felt it had too body which I did not feel we needed, as we would get that element from the guitar and even the room itself. I made this decision as a result of practice-based research on miking acoustic guitars and using the same principles of placement.
Our XR1 ambient microphones were posing an issue as we did not realise they were passive microphones so with only an interface, we had to push the gain high to get a decent level, which also meant bringing up some noise.
The singer performed a very dynamic vocal, which was important to the tracks structure, however dealing with this was tricky as it made it harder to get a level that would suit the whole recording. This issue may come back to our organisation as a group to get the most suitable performance, as in this situation may be another track or group of performers would have been more appropriate.
Mixing stage:
There was a certain issues to deal with when it came to this recording. The first being the acoustic guitar got quite boomy at higher volumes where the musician was playing at his hardest. This could have been corrected at recoding stage potentially, although at the time we felt we had a good sound, with the mic over the 12 fret. In hindsight, we could have potentially moved it further back to maybe reduce that sort of proximity like effect, that might have added to the boomy low end. To help reduce this I tried using a multiband compressor, to deal with these peaks in the lower end, however I do not feel this fully solved the problem.
The mandolin felt like it was on its own and so up close, as apposed to the other tracks, which felt more roomy and contextualised. To help with this I ran it through plenty of room reverb and then sent to other tracks to the same one too, to bring them all together.
On our orpheus ambient mic, which was at the back of the room, I added a very short stereo delay, only using the right side of it, making the recording feel like its in a wider space than it actually was.
Overall, this project was well managed in that, we had ample time in the session to get strong takes from the performers. Despite this, we could have got a more controlled performance from the vocalist perhaps, which may have given us better balance at the mixing stage. Potentially by suggested certain mic techniques, or riding the levels as the performance takes place.
Bibliography:
Carpenter, S. (2025) Manchild. Man’s Best Friend [vinyl]. Island Records.
Lewitt (2025) A guide to Lewitt small diaphragm condenser microphones. Available online: https://www.lewitt-audio.com/blog/a-guide-to-lewitt-small-diaphragm-condenser-microphones [19/4/26]
Senior, M. (2020) How and When To Use Multiband Compression. Available online: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/how-and-when-use-multiband-compression [Accessed 28/4/26]
