Pre Production - Arranging Recording Date

I confirmed the date for the recording session for my honours project with all members of the band I intend to record. Here is a transcription of the conversation with the drummer, with whom it was necessary to pre arrange the recording as he lives out with Dundee. Please ignore his ridiculousness.

Me: are you free to record on... probably the 8th of february?

for my project

Drummer: Let me see....

Just checking my diary

.....

I have a pedicure on the 4th

a colonic on the 5th

Me: probs be a 10 hour session

Drummer: but I was really wanting to know what was going to happen on the 9thI could maybe shift my psychic reading to the 10th

Me: this is all going in my blog Ross

Drummer: Ach, I'll do it

Fate will just have to take its own course I guess...

Pre Production - Equipment List

I have decided that for my honours project recording, I will use the following recording setup:

• 1. Hi-hat Mic - AKG C1000
• 2. Snare mic Top - Shure SM58
• 3. Snare Mic Bottom - Shure SM57
• 4. Kick Drum Mic - AKG D112
• 5. Rack Tom Mic - Shure SM58
• 6. Floor Tom Mic - Shure SM 58
• 7. Overhead Right - Neumann U87
• 8. Overhead Left - Neumann U87
• 9. Guitar 1 Mic 1 - Shure SM57
• 10. Guitar 1 Mic 2 - AKG 414
• 11. Guitar 2 Mic 1 - Shure SM 57
• 12. Guitar 2 Mic 2 - AKG 414
• 13. Bass D.I. - XLR to wall box
• 14. Bass Mic - AKG D112

I have also considered that this means I require an extra 2 input on top of what is available in the studio, so have decided to record the bass tracks on an independent recording device, such as a laptop with recording software and external sound card.

This microphone arrangement and microphone selections I have made are based on practice based research (i.e. previous recording sessions I have been involved in), conversations with my peer (Daryl Robertson) and this e-book.

N.B. - These microphone choices are all best case scenario and ACTUAL mic choice may be dependant on availability as I do not have the money to buy or rent equipment.

Pre Production - Second Mix Jam 1

I have completed the second mix of Jam 1.

These are the revised settings for the drum compressor.

These are the revised settings for the Drum E.Q.

These are the revised settings for the bass Compression

These are the revised settings for the Bass EQ.

These are the revised settings for the guitar EQ

I also added some automation to the guitar track, to give it more impact when the other instruments kick in. I also boosted the level during the solo to make it stand out better for the rest of the mix.

I also added a master fade to the end of the track to cause the track to gradually fade out, giving it a neater ending than it initially had.

I also tried strip silencing the drums on the recording, however the spillage from the guitar and bass caused this to sound unnatural and cause dramatic rises and dips in volume.

Here is the new version of Jam 1

Pre Production - Second Mix jam 2

I began with Jam 2 as less work was needed on this one than was needed on Jam 1.

I initially attempted to strip silence the drum track as detailed in the previous post. However, as i had expected, the drum sounded overly unnatural. I then attempted to use a tighter noise gate but this had much the same effect, so I removed it from the session.

I then addressed the "tinny" cymbals, by finding the problem frequencies and pulling them down as much as possible within the E.Q. This proved relatively effective, although the cymbals are still a little to prominent in the high end of the audio spectrum than I am happy with.

I tried using a limiter to boost the drum rather than a compressor/limiter, however I decided this ultimately gave me less control and reverted to the original plug in.

I also generally boosted all the levels of the instruments, as can be seen on the digital PPM meters (the green and yellow bars) in this image. This was done to address the general quietness of the track, however I think once I am pleased with the mix I will attempt a basic master of the track which will aid in addressing this issue.

I then went through the track, adding a little automation, dropping the levels of the guitar when the drums and bass fall back in the recording, as I felt this provided a nice dynamic shift within the track and made it more pleasant to listen to on the whole.

Here is the second mix of Jam 2

Pre Production - Analytical Listening

I have began listening through the recordings of the tracks, listening for faults within the mix when compared to "The Insider", a track of the FoxBeef, Table For One E.P. as I said I would in the previous post.

I chose "The Insider" as it was initially written as a jam, and roughly recorded, which I felt made it the most fitting to the types of recording I have done.

Jam 1

• To quiet by comparison
• Cymbals very "tinny", needs high end pulled out of the E.Q.
• Drums generally to quiet
• Bass slightly to thin, E.Q. need to be altered
• Guitar also to think, although to a lesser extent

From here: I intend to alter the E.Q. on all instruments to try and remedy the faults I have highlighted. I also intend to increase the compression on the drum track to try and make the kit (particularly the kick and snare) more prominent within the mix. I am also going to experiment with more fully strip silencing the drum track, which may sound a little unnatural but I feel this may actually improve the sound of the track as a whole given the style of music which has been recorded.

Jam 2

• To quiet by comparison
• Cymbals very "tinny", needs high end pulled out of the E.Q.
• Drums generally to quiet
• Bass sounds good, full and rich, sits well within the mix
• Guitar also sound well rounded

From here: I intend to make the noted corrections to the drums. I am also going to experiment with strip silencing the drums more fully, by which I mean trying to isolate every individual hit. I expect that this will sound unnatural given the manner in which the drums were recorded as well as the style of music, however it could alternatively give a much tighter drum sound which is always desirable.  

Pre Production - General Planning

The next step in my pre production process will be to listen to my recording analytically, to highlight obvious shortcoming which I must rectify within the mixes.

To do this, it will be beneficial to compare the mixes to pre-existing music in a similar genre. In the case of my mixes, I intend to use tracks from the FoxBeef, Table for One EP.
I have chosen this band and these recordings as:

• This is the band I will be recording for my honour project in February
• Members of this band are present in these practice recordings I am mixing.
• Stylistically, their are many similarities between this band and the practice recordings I have made.

I will makes notes based upon this analytical listening which will be posted on this blog, before carrying out further mixing on the tracks until I am happy with the results.

Pre Production - First Mix Jam 2

I have completed a first mix of the second clip from the session I have chosen. The following images detail the process.

First I selected the audio which I intended to mix as my second track.

I then made the mono drum tracks inactive as I intended to use the stereo version of the same audio and having both would have been pointless.

I then strip silenced the drums as I did in the previous session. Generally, when strip silencing drums, each hit is isolated to prevent spillage from other parts of the kit and make the drums sound much tighter. However, as all of the drums were being recording simultaneously this would have made the drums sound jerky and unnatural, although I am likely to fully strip silence the drums when I do my full recordings for my honours project.

I then added compression to the drums, as they were relatively quiet within the mix as this provided me with greater control over their volume.

I also added EQ, to reduce the harshness of the cymbals (which sounded slightly tinny) and to fatten up the sound of the kick drum and snare, as these are the key elements of the drum kit.

Finally, I added a noise gate, which did more or less the same job as the strip silencing but was able to do it digitally and to a much finer degree than I was able to do manually.

I then moved onto the bass, where I added a compressor to give me better control over the volume of the track.

I also added an EQ to the bass track, allowing me to reduce the "boominess" and fret click and buzz of the instrument, whilst boosting the bass where its sound was richest in order to give it  a warmer tone.

I then moved onto the guitar, where once again I used compression to boost the overall volume of the track. I did not do this in the previous session as the distortion on the guitar made it unnecessary by boosting the volume of the guitar considerably.

I then applied an EQ to the guitar track, cutting away a lot of its low end frequencies on order to prevent it from competing with the bass, as well as pulling down many of the mid frequencies to improve the clarity of the instrument, as well as giving the guitar a "twang" type tone which I felt complimented the style of music being played.

I then topped and tailed the guitar and bass tracks. This means I removed any additional noise from the beginning and ends of the tracks, such and fret clicks, finger noise or amp hum. I also added short fades to prevent "clicks" in the session where the tracks started.

Here is a link to the first mix of Jam 2