Task 1: Three Minute Song Production
Task 2: 1000 Word Write-Up
SHR4C004M~003 Contextual Studies Write Up:
For this submission, I collaborated with a pop band called The Sirens, producing their song ‘Bluff’ that was written by the lead singer, Jasmine Rose. The song was written about a relationship that she had at the beginning of university, and how he was ‘bluffing’ throughout the relationship. The song has two distinct parts; part one is a pop number featuring the full band, big drums and a guitar solo, then, in part two, the song dies down to just piano and vocals into a ballad with spoken words taken from the perspective of the other person in the relationship. This then leads back into the theme in part one, but with even bigger vocals.
When producing ‘Bluff’, I started by getting the drums recorded. I got the band together, and booked a studio so I could record the full band, then overdub the other parts. I did this so there was a more cohesive feeling within the drum recording as the drummer, Caleb Whittaker, had people to react within the session. I used a variety of microphones in this session; a Shure Beta91a for the inner kick, Audix D6 for the outer kick, Shure SM-57 on the snare top & bottom, Sennheiser MD-421s on toms, and Neumann KM184s for the overheads. I recorded the track to a click track to keep a basic form of time, but I wasn’t too worried about them being exactly in time. The song is quite complicated with lots of stops and triplets in the arrangement, so the click was more there to make sure that everyone came back in at the right time and did the correct rhythms.
I then overdubbed the guitar on top of the track using a Boss GT1000 pedalboard. The song has three different guitar parts; a main rhythm guitar which features in the verses and choruses of the song, an auxiliary guitar part that you can hear distinctively at the beginning, and at the beginning of the second part. I ran this guitar part through the Leslie Speaker in 113, miked up with two SM-57s and an Audix D6 for the bass frequencies, to get the slow movement in the tone of the part. I then also added some auto panning that would provide more movement in the mix, and make it stand out even more. The last guitar part is the main solo in the middle of the song. I used the Boss GT1000 again, but this time I had it running through a Vox AC30 that was miked up with an SM-57 and AKG C-414XLS. I used the amp to create the beefy tone you hear in the mix. I then added tape delay and reverbs to the track whilst mixing. Once the guitar was recorded, I moved on to recording the bass. I initially had a session with Alex (the bass player) where we improved on his part to make it fit the song, in certain sections, a bit more. I then recorded his full bass part into ProTools using a DI box and the Neve 1073 preamp in 116, and a little light compression from the Drawmer 1968 to lightly control any peaks. I would later add more heavy compression using the ‘BF-76’ (UAD 1176 copy) compressor in ProTools. I also re-amped the bass part using my Ashdown MAG Mk2 head and 15” cabinet miked up with an EV RE-20. Next, I recorded the piano part. For this I used a Nord Electro, then panned it all the way to the left-hand side in the mix with some light EQ and compression. Finally, I recorded the vocals using a Rode K2. I added some light compression to the main vocal track alongside some EQ, then I added some reverb and tape delay to the mix. I then sidechain compressed the tape delay to allow the main vocals to cut through a little more as the delay would duck down underneath the main vocals whilst she was singing, which enables better dictation in the song. I also asked her to double track parts of her vocals so I could add them over the top to emphasise certain parts of the lyrics.
For this submission, I also needed to sample a track in the song. For this I was stuck for quite a while trying to figure out what I would do. I eventually decided on two things, a supporting bass sample, and a kick drum sample. I took a portion of the vocals from the main vocal line (specifically the long high note at the beginning of the second part), I then added it to the quick sampler in logic, and elongated it so it would fit the length of the song. I then pitched it down 4 octaves so it would be in the sub level, and then sidechain gated it to the kick drum to add some low end to the mix. I then took the same sound, and replicated the bassline during the choruses to add some more depth. I used some EQ, and lots of gated reverb to smoothen the notes out before bringing it right down in the mix. I also considered properly sampling the spoken lyrics in the middle section of the song, but eventually decided against it as I didn’t think it would fit the brief as I wouldn’t be manipulating any sound within it.
