Month: November 2014

This week we looked at adding multiple instruments to the project to give us more diversity in what we could do with the piece. The instruments we decided to add were a harp, an extra guitar and keys.

The harp was very interesting as we had never got to mic up one before. We decided to use a 414 and the harps DI to record with. The 414 was placed about 10cm away from the harp pointing at the register that she would use. This was so that we could pick up the clearest possible sounds from the harp. We chose a 414 as we were using a high registry on the harp and the 414’s high frequency clarity helped. The harps DI added more pluck sound and the mix of the two worked very well.

We decided to add another guitar to add an intro and a solo section to the song. We used the vox in the studio as this would provide the tone we wanted. We decided to have a SM57 just off centre of the cone and a 414 as a room mic. After recording one track we decided to change the tone as it really didn’t fit with the rest of the song. We added more gain and cut some treble to make it fit easier within the mix.

We also tracked keys as we thought they would add an extra layer to the song and this would allow us more diversity within our mixing process. The piano was DI’ed directly into the desk as this was convenient. We also moved the output in protools so we could control the monitor mix easier. While the piano was plugged in we decided to put it on a string setting to add another aspect to the piece.

Over all i think the recording of these sections went very well and will allow us to have a good amount of experimentation with the mixing process.

 

This week we recorded the vocals for the track.  We first spoke about how to go about getting the best recording from being in a comfortable environment to how the singer needed to deliver. We would need to take a few things into account when recording vocals from the pitch of the vocalist, the room and the choice of microphone. We chose to do vocals in the dead room as there would be very little reverberation which would allow for a much clearer recording. We decided to chose between three microphones to see which one suited the vocalist best. 

The microphones we tested were:

Electro Voice – RE20 – With additional desk EQ to cut the low end – we chose this mic

SM57 – Very good for mic’ing up guitars

Akg – 414 – good vocal microphone as well as good for overheads.

We set them up with pop filters to help control the plosives and we were ready to adjust the angles to help with sibilance.

We began recording the vocals with the vocalist wearing headphones. We sent the track to her using fold back B on the desk so that we could set the levels on pro tools. We got one good recording all the way through the song which we were all fairly happy with. We planned to double track  the vocals to keep in with the style of the original artist, but due to time constraints we did not get round to doing this.

This week we recorded acoustic guitars for the piece. We decided to record both guitars at once in slightly different methods to give us good experience in tracking guitars. We decided to record using an amp as well as a room microphone and a DI line from the guitar. We tuned the guitars and both guitarists decided on a strumming pattern that would fit with the songs. One guitarist was in the live room where we used the SM57 and the room microphone. The other guitarist was in the dead room with the guitar directly input into the desk.

We used the fold back feature on the desk to send the track via headphones to both guitarists. No desk EQ was used to help us get a rawer sound to mix.

We had a run through of the song and recorded it with a few problems. We rerecorded some of the sections using the pre role setting in pro tools which meant we could get a very clean take.

Overall we got a very good set of takes which allows us to have a good amount of leeway when we mix the piece.

This week we recorded bass guitar. We decided we would record the bass guitar using a DI (Direct Input) box as well as mic’ing up the amp. We decided to use this method as we thought it would give a good mix of bass sounds. The amp allows us to keep a lot of the plucking sound where as the DI keeps a lot more of the bass tone. Mixing these sounds together provides a very clear bass tone that will fit well into a mix.

Methods of Recording

D112 – This is a kick drum meaning it is very good for picking up low frequencies and sounds brilliant on bass amps

AKG 414 – this is primarily a vocal microphone but ended up working quite well for picking up some aspects of the bass

DI box – This captures exactly what the pickups output which works very well for mixing

We had a few problems with sorting the tuning out on the bass as the intonation on the bass was slightly out. We rectified this by detuning the guitar to make sure the notes were in tune. As the bassist was sitting in the control room we didn’t need to send the mix to him through headphones. This made the recording process faster. To end we got a good bass recording that will fit very well within the mix.

For this week i was playing the role of the drummer which meant i had a good hands on experience with the position of the microphones and their placement in regards to the kit.

Microphone list and Positioning:

AKG D112 – We used this for the kick drum as it can take a high amount of SPL and has a good frequency response for bass heavy instruments. The polar pattern for this microphone is cardioid meaning it works brilliant for a single sound source. We placed the microphone in the middle of the kick drum to give a kick sound that was both boomy and click.

Sm57 – We used this for the snare because it has a very good frequency response for low mid heavy instruments like a snare. We had the mic pointing directly t the middle of the snare where i would hit it to give the most prominent sound.

Audix i5 – We used this to mic up the bottom of the snare to get the rattle for mixing purposes

Audix D2 – We used these to record the tom’s with as they are very very easy to use being clip on mics. These also have a very good frequency response for toms

C414’s – We used these as overheads because they have a very good treble response and there position helps with giving a very good stereo response. We had them positioned equal distance from the snare to do this.

Audix ADX 51 – We used this as a room mic to help with mixing the drum kit together. It was positioned behind me to get more of a drummers perspective sound.

Over all drum recording went pretty well and we got a full run-through we could use.