SHR6E033F~001 NIC23085358 Practice Based Research Project.

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Ensemble Recording

Synopsis

For this part of the project, I travelled over to St George’s Hall in Bradford to record Yorkshire symphony orchestra, accompanied by Bradford Festival Choral Society (performing Haydn, The Creation). Totalling to around 150 performers. The layout of the performers allowed for some interesting opportunities when it came to recording. The orchestra were on the main stage, while the choir were on raised tiers behind the stage (see appendix 1). I felt a mixture of both confidence and apprehensive going into this recording as I had been involved in quite a few orchestra and choir recordings leading up to this would only be the second time I was leading the session.

Research

Leading up to this recording, I was involved in many classical recordings. Including both choirs and orchestras (both professional and amateur). The first notable recording that contributed to my research for this project was the recording of West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra in Chapel Allerton earlier on this year (See appendix 2). It was a 60 piece orchestra with a tuba solo. This recording gave me my first taste of planning in detail for a large scale project, having to consider everything from access to power sockets, being aware of where fire exits may be and where we would be able to get in with mics (without getting in the way of the orchestra and audience). Luckily, Dan was able to attend the venue for a site visit a few days before the concert, meaning we were able to be prepared for these sorts of things. The next recording I was involved in was assist Ollie in recording the choir at Leeds Minster as they performed their Thursday Evening Evensong. This was a smaller scale recording, only using a total of 6 mics. 4 on the choir and an XY pair for room mics. We encountered some issues here, with both some major phase issues and the organ not translating well in the recordings which resulted in it sounding a bit weak. A few months later I was part of the recording team for a concert which a fellow student had put on, it was in the venue at the Conservatoire and it was his own arrangements of Coldplay songs. This included a full orchestra, along with more contemporary instruments like drums and electric guitars. This recording gave me an idea of how long this can all take as we arrived at 7.30am and didn’t end up leaving till gone 11pm that night. Another recording session which contributed to my research was the recording of Curore orchestra at Howard Assembly Rooms, in early march (See Appendix 3). They are a professional orchestra who had got in touch with Si, looking to be recorded so he asked me and a few other students to do the job. We did a great job with the recording, receiving some high praise from the conductor, Will. This was down to a mixture of the sound of the room, our recording and the quality of their playing. The final recording which I used as research was the recording of Airedale Symphony Orchestra at Kings Hall in Ilkley (See Appendix 4). The reason this recording was so beneficial was because it was me leading it. Which meant I was responsible for everything including risk assessments.

Project Management

I felt confident going into this recording session. This is down to the extensive research I had done leading up to it. I was offered this recording by the conductor Ben of Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra (who wasn’t conducting on the day), Ben then put me in touch with the people who work in the venue and the conductor of the choir. I sent an email to everyone, introducing myself, announcing what I planned to do on the day and asking any questions I had about the day (See Appendix 5). I was mainly in conversation with Barry (See Appendix 6), who is the deputy head technician for Bradford Theatres. He was incredibly helpful both in the days leading up to the concert and on the actual day. Once this was all arranged, I met up with Ollie who was assisting me on the day. We discussed mic choices once I had told him about the limited amount of mics we were going to be able to use. As there was such limited space, we had to make do with a total of 6 microphones. We had an orchestra left and right, a choir left and right and then a stereo pair of KM184’s acting as room mics (these came to do a lot of the heavy lifting in the mixing stage as they had the most even blend of both the choir and orchestra). When we turned up, Barry had very kindly done a big part of our set up for us. He had set up where our control station was going to be (directly above a wall box) and he had patched the venue’s stage boxes to the wall box by us. This meant we didn’t have to do any cable runs as it was all going through the venues hard wired patch system. We plugged our mics into the stage boxes on the stage and then used male to male XLR’s (Which Barry also provided) to go from the wall box into the interface. I then carried out my risk assessment while Ollie taped down any wires which needed it. As there was such limited space on stage, I bought some G clamps so I could attach mics to the banisters on the balcony. These were our choir mics. Our orchestra mics were the only mics we had on stage. We were set up and ready within an hour and a half of our arrival. This gave me time to carry out my risk assessment (See Appendix 7), before the orchestra and choir arrived for rehearsal. During the rehearsal, I set all my levels and then we were ready to record. Once we had finished recording, I was very happy with the overall sound. This is until I listened back in detail and noticed a slight humming which was quite apparent in the quieter sections. I know this wasn’t the mics or the cables because we tested them before hand, it must have been some electrics inside the venue. I managed to tame the humming with a high pass filter on the master (See Appendix 8). Other than this, when mixing, I tried to keep It as stripped back as possible. Relying purely on: subtle subtractive EQ, light compression acting as “glue”, panning and reverb, which was an impulse response I captured of St Georges Hall on the day and dragged into space designer (See Appendix 9).

Evaluation

Overall, I am happy with how this whole part of the project went. I feel I was ready going into it, in the first place. This is as a result of both in depth planning and research. I took into account everything I had learnt from the previous recording sessions I was involved in and was able to apply them to this one. There isn’t much I would change other than I could have listened in more detail before we started recording, in order to try and find out what that electronic buzzing was as there might have been something we or Barry could have done about it. Other than the electronic buzz, I feel the mix is strong. I was very limited with the amount of mics I was able to use so considering the lack of control I had, I think it sounds good. This is not to say that this kind of recording can’t be done with just a stereo pair capturing the room, which also sounded great solo’d but I would have liked a touch more detail.

Found Sounds Composition

Synopsis

The narrative for this track was all centred around riding my bike. I wanted to create as many sounds as possible out of my bike. I was trying to encapsulate the feeling of freedom I get when riding my bike. I intended to achieve this by creating an intricate and exciting groove. A mixture of the groove and the sound selection I used is what created this organic and natural groove.

Research

When starting this part of the assignment, I spent some time listening to artists like Katrynada, Four Tet and Burial. Taking inspiration from each of these artists individually. I spent some time listening to Katrynada’s album “99.9%”, more specifically tracks “TRACK UNO” and “YOU’RE THE ONE” (See Bib 1). I took inspiration from the bass groove and main pad sound from “TRACK UNO”, striving for that clean and saturated sound. The inspiration I took from “YOU’RE THE ONE”, was predominately the shaker groove. Katrynada excels in swung drums, even though they are programmed they feel live and natural. This gives a real sense of energy which is something I wanted to achieve in my composition. I had never listened to Four Tet before this project until he was recommended to me by a friend who said I could take some inspiration from Four Tet’s drum groove and sound. I listened to both “Baby”, and “Parallel 4” (See Bib 2). These tracks gave me inspiration when it came to implementing my pad sound and percussion groove. Finally, I listened to the album “Untrue”, by Burial (See Bib 3). Every single one of the tracks in this album contain foley / field recordings In one way or another. This is where I gathered the inspiration for my drum sound (sonically). I really enjoyed the organic sound that Burial achieves in his work.

Project Management

When starting this composition, I started by essentially creating myself a sample pack. Recording my sounds and putting them in a folder so I could pick and choose between them when necessary. I first recorded me spinning my bike wheel and recording the chain clicking. This gave me a few options, I knew I wanted to use this for my hi hat as soon as we were told about this assignment so I started with that. I had the song “Blinding Lights” by the Streets in my mind when it came to hi hats (See Bib 4). I chopped the audio file where the clicking started to slow down, flex timed it into a cool groove, added EQ and transient shaping and that is what gave me my hi hat (See Appendix 10). I also tried to create a bass sound out of the same recording but struggled massively so I decided to use a synth bass. I then recorded my gear shifting which I originally planned to turn into a snare but once I recorded it I was hearing it as more of a shaker. I started by cropping the audio and stretching it slightly. I then took everything out up until 5khz and then heavily saturated it (See Appendix 11). Once I had this part of the groove down I wanted to add some melodic elements in order to get more of an idea of where the track wants to go. I recorded my bike bell, which turned out to be almost a perfect C so after a touch of tuning I dragged it into the sampler in logic. I then did some subtle EQ to tame some harsh frequencies and then saturated it (See Appendix 12). After I had the sound I wanted I reversed it within the sampler and added a subtle fade to avoid the harsh attack in the sample. Next, I got a recording of my bike pump, originally in order to make it into a lead sound but instead I created a riser sound out of it. It was already close to sounding like a riser so all that I needed to do was: crop the audio, stretch it slightly and then faded it in. When making the claps, I just recorded myself clapping over and over again, stacking them all on top of each other to give an authentic effect, like there was a group of people clapping (See Appendix 13). I added a lead sound using the bell again, adding chorus, saturation and a subtle flanger which resulted in the brassy effect (See Appendix 14). I added a sample kick in and ended up using it because I tried multiple different ways of creating a kick and even though I was going for an organic sound, it just wouldn’t sit right. This was the same case for the bass. For my counter melody I opted to just use a stock logic synth as I wanted something super clean sounding.

See Appendix 15 for my mic set up on the bike(s) I used to record these sounds.

The slowed / modulated effect at the start of the track is caused by 2 instances of beat breaker, the first with the ‘instant triplet’ preset, giving it a 3/4 feel and the second beat breaker with the ‘half time’ preset (See Appendix 16). I automated these beat breaker plugins to be bypassed after 16 bars, instantly jumping into how the track is going to be, going forward.

I did light mixing as I went along, levelling, panning and EQ’ing accordingly as I added new elements. When I took this track to the class for feedback, Nathan recommended adding some over all saturation so I individually saturated some elements and added overdrive on the master which gave it a really nice feeling of crunch. I wanted to try and stick to the organic feeling when mixing this so I tried to be as reserved as possible when it came to my processing.

Evaluation

Overall I am happy with the final outcome of my found sounds composition. I think I created a cool and natural environment within the track. If I was to do this again, I would try and not use any pre made samples and only use sounds I had created. This would take me looking more into manipulating sounds, in order to create things like kick and bass samples. I would also like to experiment with other found sounds, not just recording different parts of my bike. I have been doing lots of field recording this year but mainly just capturing nature sounds like birds and foley. It would be good to incorporate some of these sounds in my work going forward. This part of the assignment is the part I struggled with the most because it is the area I would say I have the least motivation for. I much more enjoy the process of going out, capturing the sounds and mixing them into my other songs / productions which are more musical instrument lead.

Audio Documentary

Synopsis

For this part of the assignment, I aimed to create an audio documentary based on the shared love for football that people have up and down the country. I talk about my own experience playing growing up, the experience going to a Harrogate Town game and the experience of going to a Whitehawk Fc game (which is a club in my hometown of Brighton). As well as making this documentary informative, I also wanted to make it interesting and almost story like. I aimed to do this by creating a sense of ambience and space by using sounds panned all over the place and at different volumes, supporting my constant, clear and central vocal.

Research

My research for this audio doc was primarily based off the radio 4 extra audio documentary “St James’ Park”. This documentary was recorded by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson. It captures the scene of a match day in Newcastle, starting off in the early hours of the morning, capturing the ambience of both the wildlife in Leazes Park. As well as this, the sound and behaviour of the final stragglers from the night before is also captured, creating a juxtaposition between the tranquil nature within the park, and the rowdy go-er outers. I especially enjoyed the crowd sounds used in this audio documentary. They are really wide sounding and make it feel like you are right there in the stadium. I attended a few low – ish level football games. Whitehawk vs Lewes back in December, over the Christmas holidays and I went to Harrogate town vs Notts County. This was with the intention of gathering information as to how different people relate to football. Aside from these games I went to in person I made a conscious effort to watch more games from the lower leagues of English football (on TV). This is because you feel closer connected to the fans than you would watching a premier league game. This is because there is much less of a focus on advertisement and it is more just about the football. Of course I still watched premier league games as I do this on a weekly basis anyway, and this still furthered my questioning as to how deeply football resonates with others around the country. My findings were absolutely as expected. No matter where someone is from, or what level the team that they support it, the passion is still the exact same.

Project Management

I began this audio documentary by creating a kind of story board. This consisted of deciding what the narrative for this documentary would be, then writing my script. I decided to start off by talking about how a usual Sunday would go for me. Having to wake up super early in order to travel to get to the game. I wanted to capture a slight comedic sense within this documentary while still keeping it informative. The recording stage came in phases over the course of this year. Starting at Christmas when I got my Tascam field recorder, I took it to the Whitehawk game and put It in the front pocket of my jacket for both the first and second half. Also recording some general ambience in and around the bar before the game and during half time. I did the same during the Harrogate Town game but sadly I realised at half time I hadn’t been recording any of it. Luckily, I had plenty of material from the Whitehawk game and I made 100% sure I was definitely recording for the second half of the Harrogate game (See Appendix 17 for Harrogate town game). I dragged wanted to format this documentary as a kind of story, this is what lead me to the decision of having an alarm at the start to create the sense of just having woken up for the game, early in the morning. I then implemented some rain sounds I captured of rain falling onto my skylight in my room. It was on a day where it was raining heavily so I just set up my Tascam on a tripod and left it for a while. I was recording this anyway, without the intention of using it for this assignment as I didn’t know what I would be doing for this assignment at that point. Once I had these sounds in, I needed to record some sound effects to create a sense of scenery. I recorded a football being kicked, a whistle being blown, footsteps running and multiple levels of ‘crown ambience’ which I stacked on top of each other to create the impression of a small crowd of parents on the side of the pitch at a Sunday league game (See Appendix 18). Once I had all of these recordings gathered, I dragged them into my project and began recording my monologue, arranging all my of recordings and sound effects accordingly as I recorded my vocal. As well as creating a sense of a story, I also wanted to create a sense of space. I aimed to achieve this by using a lot of panning and a very ambient reverb (See Appendix 19 for the reverb). I used a lot of volume and panning automation to create a sense of movement throughout the documentary, aiming to keep interest and the general atmosphere. I intentionally had nothing in the complete centre other than my vocal, this was in an attempt to create a real focus on my voice, as it was this which was mainly carrying the narrative. I also like the fact it is very clean sounding, compared to everything else. This is because I recorded it in a studio (which is a very controlled environment) using an SM7B. I used this mic purely because I wanted to get a ‘podcast’ level voice quality and this is the mic, as well as re20’s which you see most commonly on podcasts. When it came to mixing this, I kept it light on the processing. Only using EQ for the most part and some very subtle compression and side chaining when necessary. This is as well as the reverb I used. I was conscious of the fact I didnt want this to be a ‘polished’ production. I wanted it to feel raw and authentic, but still clear.

Evaluation

I am proud of this piece of work. This is definitely an area I could see myself pursuing, maybe not professionally but just as more of a hobby, creating audio documentaries on subjects I am interested in. I enjoyed the process of creating a bit of a story, using my words and also sound effects to accompany it. I like the idea of mixing both story telling and production into one, the use of words not necessarily in a musical sense. If I was to do this again, Instead of recording the sound effects like the ball kicking, running and the crowd ambience in my studio at home, I would have like to go out and record it on some grass in a park. I feel this would have given me a more realistic result.