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SHR4C004M-003 Song Production & Write Up Template

Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)

Task 2: 1000 Word Write-Up (30%)

Vocal Recording Methodology 

Used a Sennheiser e818 S II during the Verse and Pre-chorus for Mid-Focused sound with a bump at 4k for presence and to cut through the mix. Used an AKG C414 handheld, close to my mouth to utilise the proximity effect for a more intimate chorus, and to gain the extra high frequency fidelity from the condenser microphone. Sang long and slow vowels to contrast the complex instrumentation. 

Ran through a noise gate to reduce handling and room noise whilst recording. An initial compressor was used with a fast attack and release, and a high ratio and hard knee, to catch and tame transients, a secondary compressor was then used with a slower attack and release time, soft knee and subtler ratio, to even out the dynamics of the vocal and keep small details present within the mix. 

Then shaping EQ was added to cut out low frequency rumble with a low cut, add extra high end with a high shelf, and to boost around 1-2kHz for a sharper vocal to cut through the instrumentation. 

Tape simulation was used to add some colour through flutter, DC biasing to add grit, and Slew filtering to decrease some harshness. 

Added a large spacious reverb on a send to blend with the vocal and give it a sense of depth. Had to manually add some predelay. 

Used Flex Pitch to correct timing and pitch errors during recording. 

Strings/Piano/Sampling 

Found an Earthbound Soundfont containing single note samples of a string and piano sound. Used quick sampler to manipulate the pitch and volume envelope of the sounds. 

For Strings, added tape sim for warmth, subtle pitch shift for stereo width, stereo delay for a sense of space but also for interest and character, compression with slow attack and fast-ish release to make it overreact to transients and create noticable pumping, stereo EQ to cut some brightness, and mud, Mid/Centre EQ with a high shelf boost to help with mono-compatability. 

For Piano, added tape sim for interest and subtle chorus noise, stereo pitch shift for width, fully wet, noisy reverb to completely transform the sound into more of a pad, EQ to cut mud and harshness, saturation in chorus for extra bite, Stereo tremolo to add subtle movement and interest, subtle compression to reign in the sound, surgical EQ to remove very harsh resonance during random A note. 

Summed both tracks into a bus, sidechain compressed them both to the lead guitar during the bridge to make the guitar cut though better. Added some glue compression.

Resampled piano with extra distortion and added it subtly for the prechorus. 

Guitars 

Used “Strat Guitar” and “Funk Guitar” preset on my Roland AX edge. 

For the Strat Guitar, added tape sim for extra grit, compression to even out dynamics, EQ to remove mud and harshness from distortion. 

For the Funk Guitar, added a limiter to get rid of some of the extra peak-y transients, added chorus for extra stereo width and movement, added subtle amp sim for extra grit, and tone shaping, tape sim for extra warmth and to add a little bit of flutter, then I used some EQ to boost the mids to add some clarity. 

Both guitars then have a separate stereo tremolo applied to each of them individually, with all the same settings except their modulator waveforms are 180° out of phase with each other, meaning that they always appear at opposite ends of the stereo field, which means that they can both have their own space within the mix, whilst still having an interesting stereo effect. 

I then summed them down a mix bus, added a phaser effect that reacted to the transients of the signal, creating extra dynamic interest, compression with slow attack and release, to glue the guitars together, high shelf EQ to boost the presence of the guitars in the mix, a delay so they stand out within the mix. I then created a reverb send for the guitars. 

Drums 

I used the stock logic drum kit so I could have fine control over the exact drum sounds and to save time mixing and polishing every individual drum mic. I then added a plate reverb to add some additional room tone that I think the original drums lacked. I then added a limiter to control the transient peaks. I then added compression with a high ration, hard knee and slow attack time to add some punch into the drums, crucially after the reverb so it sounds like how live drums are processed. I then used a Multiband compressor to control some harshness from the cymbals between 1-3kHz. I then added some EQ to cut some of the infrasonic information from the kick and to add space for the kick, cut at 1kHz to give the harmonic instruments a chance to breathe, and a little high shelf boost the bring back some fidelity. 

Bass 

I first added a Bass Amp to add some grit and attitude, and to make small speaker playback more feasible, I then added compression to clamp down on the transients, a multiband compressor to further clamp down on the bite-y 1kHz+ transient, I then added some further saturation for extra colour, I then added some EQ to cut out the kick fundamental and 2^nd harmonic so they don’t interfere, a cut at 800Hz to get rid of some of the boxy-ness, and a 3kHz boost to bring it out in the mix. 

Market Research and Commercial Potential 

I examined the growing success of Anatole Muster’s new album “Hopecore”. It blends the extended open chord sounds of Midwest Emo with the unique tones he creates with his MIDI accordion, utilising synthesis with a typically acoustic/live recorded genre. He then also adds his own unique vocal spin onto the music, with themes reminiscent of 2000’s technological optimism and innovation blended with deep nostalgia. Muster sits at 50k monthly listeners on Spotify, a European tour in the works, a song sitting at 1.48M streams, and an Instagram page with 111k followers. Using some of his spins on typical Midwest emo music, my song could hope to emulate his successes. 

Muster’s Spotify

Muster’s Instagram