Looking back on our time in the studio i feel proper organisation would have allowed us to make the most of our time. We started off with a structure of which weeks we would record which parts, however due to a lack of drummer during the 1st few weeks this quickly went out the window and ended up with recording sessions becoming abit of a free for all for us to record whatever we could at the time.
Many of these sessions i found my self producing and engineering whilst other people sat back, as much as i enjoyed this i feel it effected the quality of my work in the later dates, where i was competent with compression, mic placement, eq boosting and cutting on the desk and the use of the other outboard equipment nobody else seemed to be. This ment i would achieve a decent sound for everyone else, but when it came to me playing my parts, people had a that will do attitude. This then led to my decision to ask other people to record my parts so i could achieve a good sound, however other peoples laziness and lack of attendance let me down on this, as they couldnt be bothered to play or had no motivation other than to dick about. This wouldnt have bothered me if it wasnt the effort that i put into helping everyone else a decent quality recording, and when it came down to their sessions it was all action ( thats you mr kitching)
Overall i am extremly pleased with one of my recordings, i feel i achieved a nice guitar tone and an extremly clear and strong vocal sound. I would have liked to have used live drums, however i had to settle on making a loop from the samples i took earlier in the sessions. Also during mixing i noticed timing issues with my vocals which with more time i would have been able to re-recorded these parts until i was happy, but with the lack of time i had with the session musician i am very pleased and feel her voice totally suits the track. As for the guitars i believe a nice tube amp would have greatly improved the sound, as i feel line 6 have a very distinguishable digital sound.
As for the other track i feel it was abit of a rush job, the guitar tracking i cannot fault, apart from the fact i would have liked a nicer amp, but i cannot fault the playing nor the recording. As for the vocals i would have liked Dan to have had more time to warm up his vocals and have taken more comps. As for the gang shouts they were a spare of the moment thing, which i may not keep.
sorry for all the bitching
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Session musicians
This week we had session musicians in to lay down vocals. Knowing we had to be professional we made sure everything set up and working befor they arrived, this would allow us to come across professionally and maximise our time with the musicians. Knowing studio two had poor natural ambiance we knew we had to dampen the sound as much as possible, to do this we made a booth, in this booth we had a shure sm 58 set up as we felt the 414 had quite a boring sound, however we had one of these incase the dynamic microphone didnt do the job. After this i had Dan and Curtis make sure we had a signal through from the mic and had a nice headphone level to allow the singer to be able to hear the track and enough of their voice so they could pitch correctly. Once the musicians arrived we made sure to have a general conversation to build a comfort zone, we made sure they all had seats and felt comfortable in their surroundings. This then led into a conversation where we explained how we planned to record, the sound we wish to create, showing them similar tracks for them to A to B, then showing them the tracks. Once we all fully understanded what we wanted and after creative input from the musicians themselves we got onto work. The first vocals we layed down were harmonies for Dan's track, during this i played assistant, this led to me taking more of a back seat and letting Dan and Curtis develop their skills as producers and engineers as they are frequently in the live room, however occasionally i would step in to help with technical difficulties or creative input. After a few takes we realised the dynamic mic could not pick up a strong enough signal for us to use in track, so we quickly changed over to the 414. After recording Dans vocals we moved onto mine where i took on the role of producer and engineer. First of all i got Daniel to lay down a guide track as he had more of an understanding of the songs structure and as this track is a call and responce between male and female vocals it would allow my session musician to know where her vocals come in. Once i had the guide track down i decided on Flora to lay down the vocals, i chose her as she had a softer voice which i felt suited the track and also went with the message of the song. I asked her to go through the track a few times, this would allow her to practice and would also give me time to set up levels of compression and find a nice reverb sound from the lexicon reverb outboard. I chose the lexicom as i knew we took out all the natural reverb from the room and i feel the lexicom gives a far nicer and natural reverb than space designer, this may be due to lexicom being in the forfront of reverb units. Once we were ready to record i broke the recording into sections, verse 1, verse 2, chorus and breakdown. Having smaller parts to record would allow Flora to get the most out of her voice, instead of strainging to get a good take throughout the entire song. I recorded 3 or 4 comps for each part, this would allow me to take the best parts from each one to get the strongest vocals i could, then after i had her double them as i feel this gives a bigger and stronger vocal. We continued with this process and after every section i had her come back into the control room so she could listen to how everything sounded, may any necissary changes and have creative input into the track. She came across as being pretty excited on how everything sounded so i did a rough mix to let her hear how she would sound in the stereo mix and the rest of the track. During her takes of the track i kept letting her know how good she was sounding and where she made mistakes i made sure she felt comfortable to have another go and kept patient with her, this allowed her to relax and feel comfortable and every take her voice became stronger and full of confidance. Overall i am extremly happy with the vocals, they fit the song and its mood perfectly and are full of character.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Target Market research
This blog is to research into the target audiance who would be interested in my product, the purpose is to find a little out about the audiance so we can look at other products which are popular amongst them, anaylse why the product has been succesful and use this to design artwork and how to promote the product and so forth. Things i shall be looking into are;
Forms and fan groups
age - venues and gig similar artists play (underage)
view fan profiles on social networking sites
fashion and style
hobbies and interest
research producct releases/ promtional campaigns of other similar artists.
As both my fmp tracks are covers, i started by looking at the artwork of both these bands, as the bands are fairly different in genres but would still appeal to a simlar audiance i thought of ways to combine both styles of art work.
As you can see one artist has used a bright and minimal art work where as the other has used a darker cartoon artwork, hopefully i will be able to blend these and draw influences from both.
Next i thought about age groups and believe my product will be aimed at the teens to early 20's and for this group i feel they will want a bright artwork which will stand out, which i feel both artists did, +44 have used bright colours which jump out and we are the ocean have used detailed graphics which would grab attention, where as if i was aiming towards an older audiance i would use far more minimal artwork.
I could also draw influences from other hobbies which the audiance enjoy, my first thought was the surf/skate culture which i have found several images i like.
Here are a couple billabong designs a well known surf brand, the first are several gothic font designs which are similar to the darker imagery of we are the ocean something i could incorporate and the second is a general image similar in design to the +44 artwork.
Now i have several artwork ideas i started to think about how i would promote my product, the obvious for any artist is an online lauch on sites such as myspace and reverb nation, however this would require some sort of promotion such as word of mouth, stickers, flyers etc, also having a connection to several local artists i could ask for them to put me in top friends so fans of their music could easily stumble across my product.
Forms and fan groups
age - venues and gig similar artists play (underage)
view fan profiles on social networking sites
fashion and style
hobbies and interest
research producct releases/ promtional campaigns of other similar artists.
As both my fmp tracks are covers, i started by looking at the artwork of both these bands, as the bands are fairly different in genres but would still appeal to a simlar audiance i thought of ways to combine both styles of art work.
As you can see one artist has used a bright and minimal art work where as the other has used a darker cartoon artwork, hopefully i will be able to blend these and draw influences from both.
Next i thought about age groups and believe my product will be aimed at the teens to early 20's and for this group i feel they will want a bright artwork which will stand out, which i feel both artists did, +44 have used bright colours which jump out and we are the ocean have used detailed graphics which would grab attention, where as if i was aiming towards an older audiance i would use far more minimal artwork.
I could also draw influences from other hobbies which the audiance enjoy, my first thought was the surf/skate culture which i have found several images i like.
Here are a couple billabong designs a well known surf brand, the first are several gothic font designs which are similar to the darker imagery of we are the ocean something i could incorporate and the second is a general image similar in design to the +44 artwork.
Now i have several artwork ideas i started to think about how i would promote my product, the obvious for any artist is an online lauch on sites such as myspace and reverb nation, however this would require some sort of promotion such as word of mouth, stickers, flyers etc, also having a connection to several local artists i could ask for them to put me in top friends so fans of their music could easily stumble across my product.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
studio session something
This week we layed down my acoustic guitar tracks. We started by creating a booth infront of the window and set up two groove tubes in xy position, the reason for this mic choice was i feel the GT's pick up a nice clear warm tone, far brighter and clearer than the c1000's and in the xy position it would pick the the strumming of the guitar, the movement on the fretboard and the entire range of sound, giving a complete stereo field. On top of this i used a shure sm-57 on the sound hole to pick up the warms and just the sound of the whole and then an Akg 414 to pick up more of an overall sound, we played around with the position of and polar patterns of the mic and eventually decided on a figure 8 pattern and this would pick up the sterofield and create a slight delay for a bigger sound. Once we had it patched through i started to mess around with compression, i started by compressing the 57 and 414 but eventually decided on compressing the groove tubes as this gave the whole overall sound a brigter feel. Having several free tracks i decided the patch through the reverb machine and record these onto track 7 and 8. However the 1st time we recorded, the channels with the reverb recorded the click leading to me needing the patch the reverb through on auxilery channels 3 and 4. I played around with several plates but eventually decided on a medium rich plate.
The actual recording of the track didnt take long at all as there are only 4 guitar parts throughout the track, this allowed me to record several takes to give me more to play around with during mixing, which will allow me to use alot of panning and different reverbs to give my mix a 3-D professional sound.
I feel i got a decent level of recording and with the compression and reverb i got a nice full sound and with more work and levelling during mixing i can get a nice sound however i feel let down by the cheaper acoustic guitars, although i like the tone of the guitar, when you begin to play it hard it creates a chuggy sound, and as im doing a rather soft song with female vocals im not sure how this will work. If time permits and i can get a nicer acoustic i would like to re-record the rhythm parts as these are the parts with the chugs but i am more than happy with the melodies.
The actual recording of the track didnt take long at all as there are only 4 guitar parts throughout the track, this allowed me to record several takes to give me more to play around with during mixing, which will allow me to use alot of panning and different reverbs to give my mix a 3-D professional sound.
I feel i got a decent level of recording and with the compression and reverb i got a nice full sound and with more work and levelling during mixing i can get a nice sound however i feel let down by the cheaper acoustic guitars, although i like the tone of the guitar, when you begin to play it hard it creates a chuggy sound, and as im doing a rather soft song with female vocals im not sure how this will work. If time permits and i can get a nicer acoustic i would like to re-record the rhythm parts as these are the parts with the chugs but i am more than happy with the melodies.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Studio session cinq
This week we had an extermly productive session nearly completing laying down an entire track. Once again we had a lack of a drummer so we got straight into guitar tracking. WE mic'd up the line 6 spider with a Shure Sm-57 front and back, i chose these mic's as i feel they capture the entire range and pick up the warmth of the track. The mic on the front picks up more of a general sound and the 57 on the back picks up a fairly bassy sound which gives the guitar tracks depth. We routed these through to channels 1 and 2 and patched the TLA compressor in. We allowed 3-5 gain reduction as this compresses the raw sound to give a more controlled and warmer sound but leaves enough raw material to use when mixing.
Whilst recording we had Dan sitting in the control room too make communication easier and allowed him to hear what we were hearing in the studio.
we managed to get all the guitars layed down and double tracked and were left with another session, Whilst Mary-Beth and reece set up mics and created a booth me and Dan Midi'd all the drum parts.
For the booth we used to fake walls either side the mic and had these positioned infront of the glass to allow for maximum communication during the vocals. We set up the booth to improve the room acoustics, this would lead to us getting a rawer vocal sound and not picking up too uch of the room reverb, this would allow us to be able to manipulate it later as you cant delete reverb, but you can add it later. We set up the AKG 414 with a cordioid polar pattern. The AKG was selected as it has a high sound pressure level capability and wide dynamic range to pick up the entire vocal range. The cordioid pattern was selected as it would pick up all the sound from the front of the mic but wouldnt pick up the reflection from the glass window behind it.
Whilst Dan was warming up his vocals we decided to make the most of the time and started laying down gang shouts. We surrounded the mic and layed down the shouts and started layering them up to pad them out and make them sound alot bigger.
Whilst recording we had Dan sitting in the control room too make communication easier and allowed him to hear what we were hearing in the studio.
we managed to get all the guitars layed down and double tracked and were left with another session, Whilst Mary-Beth and reece set up mics and created a booth me and Dan Midi'd all the drum parts.
For the booth we used to fake walls either side the mic and had these positioned infront of the glass to allow for maximum communication during the vocals. We set up the booth to improve the room acoustics, this would lead to us getting a rawer vocal sound and not picking up too uch of the room reverb, this would allow us to be able to manipulate it later as you cant delete reverb, but you can add it later. We set up the AKG 414 with a cordioid polar pattern. The AKG was selected as it has a high sound pressure level capability and wide dynamic range to pick up the entire vocal range. The cordioid pattern was selected as it would pick up all the sound from the front of the mic but wouldnt pick up the reflection from the glass window behind it.
Whilst Dan was warming up his vocals we decided to make the most of the time and started laying down gang shouts. We surrounded the mic and layed down the shouts and started layering them up to pad them out and make them sound alot bigger.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Studio session quattro
Guitar tracking time. With only Dan and I in attendance we got straight down to it. Dan took on the role of session musician/badass Mc/ Engineer, and i took on the role of producer/engineer. We mic'd up the line 6 spider, with two sm57's on the front on both speakers, the front 57 picked up the tone of the guitar and the back mic picked up a bassier tone which will thicken the sound on the recordings, we played around with a 414 on the front as well, and two 57's, one on the speaker, and one to the side, but this created phasing as we could not apply the 3-1 rule, so decided on the two mic's which gave us the better sound. These were then routed this through on channels one and two. After Dan found the tone he was looking for i found my signal strength then patched through the TLA compressor. Although i wasnt particually fond of the guitar tones Dan liked them and after a conversation and putting down my opinion of keeping all the guitar cleans he let me know it wasjust to pad the sound out and keep them low in the mix. We double tracked rhythm guitars and layed down lead lines on both of Dans track befor moving onto more clean parts.
We re-levelled and compressed and started laying down clean guitar for my tracks. The track is fairly intricut so it involved mainly laying down harmonies and melodies over the top. I chose Dan to play the parts instead of doing it myself as i feel Dan has his own style and would give the track a different feel which he came through with.
We re-levelled and compressed and started laying down clean guitar for my tracks. The track is fairly intricut so it involved mainly laying down harmonies and melodies over the top. I chose Dan to play the parts instead of doing it myself as i feel Dan has his own style and would give the track a different feel which he came through with.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)