Specialist study music production group one – portfolio and production log
Method 1
Method 1 was to record a live studio band/ ensemble with no overdubs. For this task we recorded a five piece jazz band. To control this mixing of this session we were using the ASP 8024 mixing desk. This task was challenging as we had to organise the five people and structure them so that we could get the best possible sound recording that we could get in the limited time that we had.
Band list
Drums: Fabian
Bass: Finley
Vox: Emily
Saxophone: Jackson
Keys: Tom
Mic list:
Vocals: SM-7B, C414
Keys: DIz
Bass: DI, RE-20 and Beta 91
Saxophone: RE-20 and MD 441
Drums:
Kick in: Audix D6
Kick out: Sontronics DM-1B
Snare top and bottom: SM-57
Toms: Clips ons
Overhead: C414
Room:
Orpheus
Phantom V
Spirit
KM 183
Talkback: SM-57
Mic Set up
The band involved four pieces, vocals, drums, key, saxophone and bass. This was important to understand as these different instruments all require a different mic and mic placement in order to get the best sound. The microphones we decided to use for the vocals were the Sm-7B and the C414 as the singer’s voice was quite soft and delicate, so these microphones were chosen as they could easily pick up her sound. The Bass was covered using a DI box as well as a RE-20 and a Beta 91. The DI box was chosen because this stops any sort of bleed issues happening, the RE-20 was used as it has a warm and natural sound with a low frequency response and the Beta 91 has a built in pre-EQ tailored to enhance the low end clarity and attack. By combining these three microphones it provides an ideal set up to record the bass guitar. The microphones chosen to record the saxophone were the RE-20 and the MD 441. The RE-20 was chosen because it can minimise the harshness in the saxophones midrange and it can handle the saxophones dynamic playing with consistency, which is beneficial as the saxophone part for this song has varied levels of dynamics. The MD 441 was chosen because it can help to enhance the tones of the saxophone when it is being played. For the keys we just used a DI box because it is easy and means that there would be mic bleed.
There were five microphones used in the recording of the drums which consisted of a kick using the Audix D6 and then kick out using a Sontronics DM-1B. The Audix D6 was chosen for this specific song as it captures the energy of the kick well which is necessary for this song as the kick part could be quiets in some parts so it needs a mic that can capture all the sounds. For the kick out the Sontronics DM-1B was chosen because it is a large diaphragm condenser that can capture the full body and low frequency resonance of the kick drum. For the snare the SM-57 was used for the top and bottom as this mic is perfect for capturing the crisp sound of the snare, also because it is a dynamic microphone so it is less likely to be damaged if the drummer accidently hits it. For the tom drums only clip on microphones were used, this is because clip on mics are purposely designed to be used for tom drums and they can easily be attached to the specific tom and they try to limit bleed from other parts of the drum kit. For the overheads we used a set of AKG 414’s because these are an all round consistent microphone and you can change the polar pattern of this mic to suit the environment that you are recording. This microphone is also very good at picking up noise so it would capture the sound of the whole kit very well. To stop any phase cancellation from occurring in the overheads we used the 3 to 1 rule as a guide. This means that the second microphone that is set up should be at least three times away from the first mic then the first mic is from its source. By doing this we ensured that no phase cancellation would occur.
For the overhead mics we used four different mics each for a specific reason. The Sontronics Orpheus was used because it is a large diaphragm condenser mic and it is very good in its ability to handle the sound pressure levels which was beneficial to our recording as there would be a lot of noise being made. The electronics Phantom V was chosen because again it is a large diaphragm condenser mic and it is good at capturing the rooms acoustic qualities, so we thought this would help our project as it would record the sound of the band as well as the room which gave it an interesting tone. The third microphone we used was the Aston spirit, this was selected as it has an omnidirectional polar pattern which is ideal for capturing the whole essence of the room. The final room microphone that was used was the Neuman KM 183 again this has an omnidirectional polar pattern which can capture the whole sound of the room but also it also doesn’t suffer from proximity effect so it is excellent for picking up the qualities of the acoustic space.
Recording and mixing
The placement of each member of the band was crucial in the recording of this song. It was a Jazz song we knew we had to divide the room into different sections and have each member of the band in the different section. The drums were situated in the back of the room as they would be the loudest. The keys and bass were positioned in the middle of the room but to the side of the room. This wouldn’t matter too much as the keys were recorded using a DI and the bass was recorded using a DI and a microphone but that was positioned in the vocal booth so that it wouldn’t bleed into the live room. The saxophone and vocals were both recorded in the corners of the room and they were sectioned off from one another to stop the noise from bleeding into the microphone next to them.
To mix it we created a pro tools session and added each track, there were 20 in total. We then used panning and volume adjustments to mix the track to our desired sound.
OverDub
Mic list
Bass: DI
Drums: Sontronics drum pack
Vocals: C414
Gutar: DI out of the Boss ME-90
The song that was recorded was ‘Little Mosnter’ by Royal blood. The vocals for the overdub session were recorded in a vocal booth using the AKG 414. The vocal booth was used because this ensures that there will be no sound bleed from other rooms as the vocal booth is fully sound insulated so there will be a clean recording of the vocals. We decided to use the AKG 414 because it is a very precise microphone to use and it has exceptional clarity when recording, this was beneficial to our recording as it meant the vocals will have the best recording as they possibly can, as they are arguably the most important aspect of the song. Another reason we used the AKG 414 for recording vocals is that it has excellent sound pressure level handling which we needed for this song as our vocal singing had a loud powerful voice, so this microphone suited the singing style of our singer. To record the bass we used digital injection. We did this because it meant that the bass would be recorded in the cleanest quality possible, as opposed to when you record a bass with an amp it could result in unwanted noises. We recorded the guitar via digital injection but we also used the Boss ME-90 effect pedal to record the guitar through. We used this pedal to create the desired sound and by using digital injection it meant that the guitar was recorded cleanly. The drums were recorded first in this project and they were played to a metronome of 96bpm which is the tempo of the song we were doing a cover of. To record the drums we used the Sontronics drum pack. This was used because the pack contains everything that is needed to get a clean recording of the drums. This pack contained four microphones. The microphones used for the kick drum was the Sontronics DM-1B and this was used for the kick in, this is because it can easily handle low end frequencies and can record the kick drum without distortion. This was very important to getting a clean sounding kick for the recording. For the snare drum we used the Sontronics DM-1S that was positioned above the snare angled towards the snare head, because we needed a punchy snare sound to match the sound of the snare in the song. This microphone was used because it captures the sharp nature of the snare which helps us create our desired sound. The Sontronics DM-1T was used to record the toms for this, and they were placed above the tom and angled towards the centre of the tom. We chose to use this mic for the toms as again it can handle the loud sounds of the drums in the song without the sound distorting. To record the hi hats we used the STC-10. These helped capture the nature of the hi hat patterns which were complex in some parts of the song. The last microphones used in the song were the Sontronics STC-10 overheads and these were positioned in front of the drum kit to capture the whole sound.
Recording and mixing
As this was an overdub recording practice each instrumental part of the song had to be recorded separately. Firstly we got the band together in the recording room and they played the song as a group but only the drums were recorded. We did around five takes of the drum and then took the best of each of the recordings. The bass and guitar were both recorded using DI after the recording session. These parts each took a few recordings to get right but the best parts of each recording was taken and arranged into the final mix of the song to get the best take possible. The Vocals were recording in a vocal booth using the AKG 414. These were done last and we did around five takes of the vocal recordings and then arranged them to make the best take we possibly could. This whole song was recorded straight into Pro tools and each track was mixed until the desired sound was achieved. In some parts of the song the guitar was louder than the rest of the other parts so we had to automate the volume to raise and lower it to even out the sound of the song. By doing this we made sure every part of the track sounded even and consistent within the son.
