Audio Files
Ensemble Recording – Oh No ! I’ve Got That Feeling Again
Synopsis
This project involved me collaborating with a pop soul band, recording a track in an acoustically rich space adding depth to their music, helping to achieve the character that defines their style. My chosen environment was the Venue at Leeds Conservatoire, the high ceilings and reflective surfaces provide a long organic reverb that complements the band’s warm, expressive characteristics. I intended to utilise microphone placement techniques to accurately capture a clear representation of the instrumental parts, the natural room response and the overall energy the band portrays when performing, all of which are intended to enhance the authenticity of the live performance (see appendix 1).
Research
One of the primary stylistic influences for this group is the american pop/soul band Couch. With this in mind, I began analysing the group’s live performances, specifically their “Sweater Sessions” (see appendix 2). These sessions feature the full band performing simultaneously within a shared space, reflecting a recording situation I was trying to replicate (Couch, 2024). My main point of observation was the positioning of the musicians and how that influenced their interactions with each other. To support my research, I also watched live sessions of a similar styled ensemble, Lawrence, a prime example of how capturing live energy is essential in pop and soul music (Lawrence, 2024). “Music performance is inherently social” and therefore the outcome of an ensemble recording relies heavily on communication between musicians (Bishop, 2018). With no backing track or real-time monitoring, it is essential to provide a passage for silent communication amongst the band members, enabling synchronisation within tempo and expression (Keller et al. 2016). Implementing this information into my process, I ensured each band member has a clear path for eye contact, establishing consistent means of interaction. Throughout these examples, the performances also display the use of room acoustics to their advantage, not only utilising natural reverb, but treating noises and bleed as enhancements to authenticity rather than unwanted artefacts. I utilised this concept, prioritising the organic nature of the session as a whole, rather than sonic perfection.
Microphone choice required careful consideration with each manufacturer and model of microphone responding uniquely to the frequency spectrum, adding individual tonal qualities (Parsa et al.). Furthermore, factors such as sensitivity and sound pressure level had to be acknowledged, ensuring the microphone choice was suitable for capturing the output of the instrument, all while minimising unwanted noise (White, 2019). With this in mind, I chose the Neumann TLM 102 microphone to record the acoustic instruments. Amongst studying its frequency response graph (see appendix 3), I decided the mostly flat response would help provide transparency, maintaining detail within the capture, while the presence boost around 7 – 10 kHz would aid in providing presence giving clarity to the articulation of the piano and guitar (Neumann, 2018). In comparison to this, the low sensitivity of dynamic microphones helps prevent bleed, therefore, a Shure SM58 was the microphone of choice for the singer, ensuring a clear vocal recording (Luckhurst, 2016). With its noted ability to capture room ambience effectively due to a frequency response emphasising detail and high frequency clarity, the Sontronics Orpheus was my room microphone of choice, placed in a spaced pair capturing the full array of the stereo field (see appendix 4). When using multiple microphones for an ensemble recording, especially in a large space, phase relationship becomes a vital consideration with different sound arrival times across microphones posing issues regarding phase cancellation and a loss of clarity (Theriot, 2012). Therefore, careful attention was given to distancing when positioning microphones and audio response was monitored throughout setup ensuring no noticeable phase cancellation.
Human perception of stereo audio is dependent on interaural time and level differences and how the brain processes these (Messitte, 2024). To ensure a realistic capture of the stereo recording field, an XY placement technique was utilised, a strong choice as the coincident capsules experienced no timing difference in sound reception (see appendix 5). This allows the listener to perceive the natural spatial arrangement of instrumentation and sound reflection, again enhancing the authenticity of this live performance recording.
Although natural reverb was captured with ambient microphones, I deemed an impulse response was necessary to create my own convolution reverb, supporting those instruments that lacked organic reflections. Prior to this project I was unfamiliar with the concept of impulse responses, however, research into the topic showed me how they can be used not only to analyse a space, but in conjunction with digital reverb units to replicate reflections, enabling the natural acoustics of a recorded environment to be used creatively within a mix.
Project Management
The initial stage of this project involved pitching the idea to the band and hearing their thoughts and ideas on the concept (see appendix 6). Following confirmation from the group, the next step entailed an email conversation with timetabling to book the venue (see appendix 7). As this track was already an established feature in their live setlist, very minimal rehearsal time was required which allowed for a brief turnaround time between planning and recording. Once both the attendance of musicians and reservation of the performance space was confirmed, a comprehensive list of necessary equipment, choices of which were based on both primary research and previous personal experimentation, was submitted to the production resources team (see appendix 8). A formal risk assessment was undertaken prior to the session, evaluating potential health and safety risk, ensuring appropriate control measures were implemented (see appendix 9). Contingencies were put in place, providing assurance that in the event of an unplanned complication the flow of the session would not be interrupted. For example, a Zoom H5 handy recorder was positioned as a backup recording interface, providing a substitute in the event my MacBook was to suffer any issues during the recording. Also, when booking equipment, I made certain to request excessive cabling, eliminating time wasting retrieving additional cables were we to be given a faulty one. The session was constrained to a 3 hour time frame, requiring a tightly structured schedule, so to maximise efficiency, both equipment collection and musician arrival was scheduled 30 minutes before the planned start time. As shown, effective planning and time management was vital in ensuring the session ran as smoothly as possible.
Evaluation
Ultimately, the whole planning and recording process proceeded without any major issues, that being said, there are areas with room for improvement were I to complete this project again.
I believe the venue of choice suited the style of music very adequately, providing a warm ambience that created a sense of spatial depth within the recording without overpowering the musical performance. However, if I were to reattempt this session, I would have amplified the acoustic guitar and captured that signal. The output level of the acoustic guitar was significantly less than the other 3 instruments meaning there was a large amount of bleed in the recording leading to a lack of clarity. Furthermore, the quietness of the guitar meant the room mics captured little sound of the instrument, causing the guitar to sound dry in comparison to the rest of the ensemble, making it necessary to add reverb post recording. Furthermore, there was a substantial amount of breath noise captured by the guitar spot mic, something that would have been avoided had it been run through an amplifier.
Although the venue had facilities necessary to use a full mixing desk and studio speakers in an external room, I chose to use a focusrite portable interface, solely due to my personal lack of knowledge. This choice of equipment worked as intended but posed difficulties monitoring due to being in the same room as the musicians. Therefore, the session may have run smoother had I familiarised myself with necessary gear to monitor the recording elsewhere.
These possible improvements are a minority in comparison to the successful aspects of the session. The band performed the track seamlessly with minimal mistakes, leading to less stress regarding time management. Also, despite issues with the acoustic guitar, the microphone choice was effective in capturing clear recordings of the instrumentation and ambience. These factors contributed to a successful recording session capturing an authentic live performance, enhanced by the natural room of the environment
Audio Documentary – The Cost of Fitness
Synopsis
This audio documentary was designed to bring light to the negatives associated with exercise. In a world where social media taints people’s views on what is ‘healthy’, this production aims to spread awareness on these issues and explore the factors contributing towards them. This topic was explored in a way that involved field recordings from different environments associated with exercise combined with sound design and music composition curated to actively engage the listener, creating a serious but creatively stimulating experience. The story telling narration intends to be the focal point of the documentary, with background noises and sounds enhancing immersion providing a greater understanding and sense of connection to the topic.
Research
My research process began with analysing examples of similar concepts. ‘Blind Landing’ is a documentary podcast exploring the negative aspects of elite sports, particularly subjects surrounding injury and pressure (Saperstein, 2021). Its arrangement emphasised the use of interviews to highlight personal experience and opinions, and being a project centred around topics aligning with my own, influenced my own work, leading to individual interviews becoming a crucial segment of my composition. ‘Believed’ is another documentary taking a similar approach, using personal testimonies regarding sensitive topics helping to create a resonance with the listener (Wells and Smith, 2018). I took inspiration from this example, utilising emotion within my interviews to evoke empathy amongst listeners. ‘Ear Hustle’ is a prison based documentary podcast that elevates its interviews with supporting environmental recordings to create an immersive experience (Woods and Rahsaan, 2017). This feature highlighted the importance of ambient sound design in narrative story telling to implement a sense of realism.
Upon exploring video and audio projects on similar topics, I stumbled upon a talk from Carolyn Rodriguez of Stanford University, explaining the transition from obsession to a disorder (Rodriguez, 2018). She provided a strong clarification on the topic, certain lines of which I chose to include certain lines into this documentary, offering academic proof justifying my statements.
Research into interview techniques and questioning methods underlined the vitality of open ended questions, encouraging detailed yet natural responses (Rosala, 2024). This is particularly relevant in context to sensitive topics, ensuring the subject feels comfortable to explore personal experiences. Exploration into speech recording methodology indicated how microphone placement was critical, with 6-12 inches from the sound source being the sweet spot (Irving, 2017). This will provide clarity while avoiding excessive low-mid frequency content, aiding in providing a clear distinction between human speech and background soundscapes (Albudaiwi, 2018).
In documentaries, environmental sound recordings play a key role in establishing context, helping the listener fully understand the topics of conversation and where they are taking place (Westerkamp, 2022). With this in mind, I utilised a variety of field recording techniques to capture soundscapes (football matches, gyms, parties etc) all of which played a vital part in providing contrast between topics of conversation, providing deeper understanding for listeners.
However, when using multiple layers of audio, I had to be certain the vocal line was at the forefront of the mix, with dialogue being central to storytelling, it required the use of mixing techniques to ensure clarity at all times (Byers, 2025). Automation allowed me to adjust levels throughout the duration of the documentary while effects such as equalisation and reverb provided control over spatial depth amongst recordings.
With this documentary being centred around sensitive topics, certain ethical considerations were required, contributors had to be treated with respect ensuring their views were not misinterpreted (Ofcom, 2020) An ethics form was filled out ensuring I was conforming to all regulations when involving other subjects (see appendix 10).
Project Management
The first step of planning for this project was to confirm a topic of subject for the documentary. I chose to focus on the area of exercise due to it being something both me and many of my close peers have strong links to. The narrative arc focusing on the negative areas of such a positive topic was a creative choice that not only provided a sense of story telling and interest to the production, but was also intended to aid in spreading awareness of the severity of the focused issues.
Once the focus point had been confirmed, a detailed plan was implemented. This provided structure to the recordings, allowing for a smooth process, only capturing necessary sounds and reducing time wasting. This also helped provide a timeline ensuring everything was completed safely before the deadline, allowing time for editing and changes.
Following the creation of a plan, I began reaching out to potential interview subjects and drafting questions that would provide insight into their views and experiences (see appendix 11).
Location recordings had to be coordinated in a way that would achieve the most accurate capture of the chosen atmosphere. When recording sounds of nature and general outdoor ambience I had to work around early and late times that offered minimal noise of pedestrians. As for recording football environments I planned around a 5 a side team, attending many of their matches to capture an organic soundscape, obviously obtaining their permission beforehand. Any recording sessions that took place in a gym required as much background noise as possible, therefore, were planned within the times of 4pm to 8pm, the proven busiest time of my chosen gym (see appendix 12). Because of the unorthodox times of field recordings, I chose to purchase my own Zoom H5 handy recorder. This allowed me full flexibility over where and when my recordings took place, avoiding constraints from loan terms and planning around borrowing schedules.
Although I took precautions in planning and purchasing my own equipment, I still needed to implement contingencies. Multiple recordings were taken of each scenario, they were also captured on both the microphones of my phone and my headphones in addition to the field recorder. This offered backup in the event of an unsuccessful recording on the zoom as well as providing different recordings with different sonic characters. Furthermore, substitute interview subjects were taken into consideration were the chosen volunteers to become otherwise occupied.
Capturing a large amount of different short recordings left me with an excessive amount of audio files, therefore, to allow seamless editing and structuring, a specific file naming and organisation process was implemented. I also ensured to frequently create duplicate backup files on both external hard drives and cloud services, avoiding disruptions to work flow if files were to get lost.
Evaluation
Overall, this production provides an emotional insight into the negative aspects surrounding exercise and how easily the signs of unhealthy obsession with it can become disregarded. The use of effects and audio control throughout the mixing process helped create a cohesive and engaging documentation on the topic and audio sources were balanced allowing dialogue to remain the focal point of the composition. The recording quality remained clear throughout ensuring speech remained intelligible and environments distinguishable, displaying a sense of professionalism amongst the audio. The inclusion of interviews provided real world insight, offering personal perspectives that contribute to the authenticity of the piece, helping audiences to engage on an emotional level. This all contributed to successfully communicating a meaningful and thought provoking message that hopefully resonated with listeners and encouraged consideration to the negative aspects of exercise.
However, one limitation to the amount of detail included in this project was the limited timing restrictions. Had the assignment brief allowed for a longer audio documentary, it would have given me the opportunity to explore the topics in more depth, presenting a greater understanding on how these problems come to be. Furthermore, the piece could have benefited from a wider variety of sound sources, adding further excitement and ensuring a consistently engaging composition. This could have been achieved by visiting a wider range of locations when gathering audio, helping to create a greater sense of contrast and depth while broadening the representation of the exercise community. In addition to this, capturing sounds and individuals’ perspectives from a more diverse selection of sports would have increased relatability of the documentary, forcing it to resonate with a wider audience. Also, some interviews could have benefited from an improved approach to microphone usage. Although techniques were researched beforehand, lack of practice and pressure from time constraints led to a slight inconsistency of speech capture quality. In relation to this, a wider range of microphones could have enhanced the piece as a whole. Utilising directional characteristics and polar patterns would have allowed for greater control over reduction of unwanted noise providing a clearer representation of both dialogue and atmospheric sounds.
Composition – Fragments of Nature
Synopsis
This project aimed to explore the musical potential of sounds experienced when amongst nature. I attempted to utilise environmental noises, such as wind, water and wildlife, editing them in a way that created rhythmic content and formed harmonic ideas. By exploring digital processing techniques such as splicing, sampling and pitch and timing adjustments, I manipulated these sounds, reshaping them into a unique composition, blurring the line between soundscape and music.
Research
The nature of this form of music production stems from Pierre Schafer’s concept of ‘Musique Concrète’. This approach entailed the use of recorded, real world sounds as primary source material, focusing on manipulation to form audibly pleasing sonic textures (Schaeffer, 1966). This approach strongly influenced my production for this track, encouraging me to utilise found sounds as the basis for the composition.
Many field recording sessions took place in order for me to gather necessary audio files. This is a practice heavily influenced by composer R Murray Schafer, an idea considering how environmental sounds shape our hearing perception, encouraging active listening to truly realise the musical potential of everyday sound (R Murray Schafer, 1994). The majority of source materials used in this piece were captured from natural environments, then to be recontextualised with digital processing techniques. This aligned with the principles of soundscape composition, reiterating the connection between environment and musical expression.
My track took great influence from the genre of Ambient Music, a style described by its supposed founder Brian Eno to be “as ignorable as it is interesting” (Eno, 1978). This approach of music making often focuses on slow, layered sounds emphasising spatial depth (Henry, 2025). This genre is particularly applicable in the context of my piece as it relies heavily on developing textures rather than conventional melodies. These textures therefore often required a substantial amount of sculpting, reflecting the common practices of sound design. Techniques such as time stretching and pitch shifting were used to create new concepts. For example I loaded the sound of a gust of wind into a sampler, adjusting the pitch, tempo and ADSR envelope to create a bass synth (see appendix 13). Aphex Twin’s music is a prime example of this practice in action, with tracks such as ‘Windowlicker’ showcasing how far you can push the boundaries between ordinary everyday sounds and musical content, purely by digital manipulation. Within a one to one session with my lecturer, I was introduced to the technology of PaulStretch, a plugin allowing intense time stretching. After watching youtube videos on the usage and parameters of this VST, I used it to modify bird noises to create an array of different sounds to then be further processed (see appendix 14).
Project Management
With this section of the portfolio being a heavily creative and experimental project, there was significantly less planning implemented in the process. That being said, there was a clear order in which operations were executed. I began the songwriting process by recording a simple guitar chord progression (see appendix 15), this provided a vague sense of structure and harmonic content for me to expand upon, avoiding the initial phase of ‘writers block’. I then proceeded to capture a host of environmental, naturistic sounds with a field recorder. Other than a basic, mental list of possible sound sources, this process was primarily random, exploring the vast array of possible noises with musical potential. Similar to my documentary, the importance of organisation amongst audio file naming and sorting allowed for a significantly more seamless writing process. This avoided unnecessary time being wasted figuring out which file was which. Tracks within the DAW project were also colour coded and suitably named for this same reason. With the intent of capturing as much source material as possible, I had to consider the sounds associated with certain weather conditions and therefore study weather forecasts, planning field recording sessions in correspondence to that. As well as presenting interesting soundscapes, extreme weather conditions also posed risks to recording equipment, therefore, discussion had to take place over which gear would be used and how it could be utilised, prioritising both solid capture and protection of the technology.
Evaluation
This project displayed a strong knowledge of audio manipulation with extensive use of various techniques, and virtual studio technologies. The adaptation of found sounds into playable synthesisers provided a wide range of sounds giving the opportunity for creation of chord structure, atmospheric pads and lead parts. Furthermore, layering of percussive hits created full, punchy hits, providing a comprehensive set of percussion, mimicking that of an acoustic kit. I showed my ability in regards to audio capture, ensuring every recorded audio source was captured to a high quality, allowing for a polished, professional sounding product.
With all found sounds being recorded surrounding one singular theme, nature, it helps the listener understand the power of surrounding sounds in relation to musical content.
That being said, the authenticity of this project could have been expanded upon by using entirely found sounds. The use of acoustic guitar subtracts from the idea that there is a fine line between soundscape and music, suggesting real musical instruments are required to make an enjoyable piece of music.
I found that throughout this process, the limitation of using found sound limited my creativity. Although I had an abundance of ideas constantly throughout, my limited prior experience with found sound manipulation posed difficulty fabricating these concepts. Research and experimentation caused frequent disruptions to my work flow, hindering both productivity and motivation. That being said, the need to explore different, less conventional methods of music production present new ideas that I had not previously considered.
I feel as if I did not leave myself enough time to complete this task to my full potential, not taking into consideration the research and experimentation time required to familiarise with the necessary plugins and virtual instruments left me slightly rushing this project. If I were to attempt this project again, not only would I allocate a large time frame, but I would try to explore a wider range of technologies, enhancing my production capabilities. Furthermore, in the event of recompletion, I would use a different source and theme for the track. Although the idea of nature provided an abundance of potential for soundscape and ambient sounds, it lacked content for harmonic and melodic ideas. With the majority of sounds being abrupt and of a more percussive nature, I was forced to rely heavily on time stretching to create any form of sustained note.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Appendix 6
Appendix 7
Appendix 8
Appendix 9
Appendix 10
Appendix 11
Appendix 12
Appendix 13
Appendix 14
Appendix 15
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