Category Archives: Reflective Summary

Reflective Summary – Final Blog Post

In conclusion, the success of this project can be measured by the way that I have achieved my own learning outcomes. I enjoyed working with the client, thought it was a different kind of experience from the research-based project I did in semester A. While the research done for my learning outcomes has been extensive, the focal point of this module has been the client, which has given me valuable experience of industry-professionalism and of a more realistic type of project that audio producers work on. While there were some small dilemmas over the course of this project, I feel I overcame them successfully and all aspects, recording the band in particular, went smoothly.

The learning outcomes I set for myself are as follows:

  • Capture drums in a way that betters my own previous work and is comparable in production to tracks listed in my influence playlist (LO1)

I believe that I have drastically improved the sound of drums on my work by way of capturing. The clear evidence is by listening back to the drums I recorded on my project for semester A. There is a post on this blog which directly compares the two and while a drum sound is subjective, there can be no doubting that the drums on this project sound far cleaner, more balanced and rounder in tone. While I have recorded them on several different projects in the past, drums has never been a key focus for me in the capture stage, rather that I’d just set the microphones up how I’d been taught and record from there. But the research I accumulated over the course of this semester has shown me several different techniques for recording drums that I have used successfully, and influenced me to try different things from the norm in order to get the recording I wanted. I experimented with microphone choices on drums as well as placement and differing amounts of microphones. Due to better placement than in the last project, each microphone had less bleed and therefore was cleaner in the mixing process. As a result the kit sounds whole and natural and I didn’t need to use a lot of artificial reverbs or noise gates. Overall I feel that the drum recordings I have done over the course of this semester have been far better than those I have done before, thanks in part to the research I did on the subject. The research has influenced the drum sound on the EP to be comparable to the tracks listed in my influences playlist.

  • Mix drums in a way that betters my own previous work and is comparable in production to tracks listed in my influence playlist (LO2)

In a way the success of this learning outcome follows on from the capture of the drums which, as already mentioned, I felt was much better than in my previous work. The higher quality of capture meant that the drums were more flexible in terms of creative mixing choices. While I didn’t commit to anything drastically different from the industry standard, I did experiment with different techniques outlined in my research. Each individual part of the kit is balanced and easily audible within the final mixes of the tracks and the kick drum punches through the bass guitar without getting lost. Again, this is a contrast from the drums featured on my semester A project. The room microphone, while not heavily featured, is blended naturally throughout and is brought up in volume in quieter sections of tracks to add depth. The overheads sound crisp and lack in low end, allowing the kick drum and toms to come through naturally and the kit has been compressed in a way that isn’t obviously noticeable but balances the overall dynamic. The techniques found in my research which I have implemented in the mixing stage of this project have taught me a great deal about how to mix drums to sit naturally in a track and therefore I believe I have successfully completed this learning objective.

  • Capture and mix a multi-layered set of vocal recordings that add power and space to a piece of music. I aim to improve on vocal recordings I have done in the past and experiment with new techniques. (LO3)

I feel that this learning outcome has been largely successful due to the way that the vocals sound on the EP. The vocals sit more naturally and with greater presence than they have done in my previous work and this is due to me putting more care and attention into both the capture and mixing stages of the vocals. In the recording sessions with the band I repeatedly asked for the vocalist to record further takes so that when it came to the mixing stage, I could experiment with placement and processing to add space and power. The double tracking, featured centrally in some places and panned left and right in other, hopefully achieves these two goals, as well as the backing vocal takes. Vocals, like drums is something I have often done as a necessity, rather than something I wanted to experiment with, so it has been useful to focus on vocals as an important entity, with creative choices and techniques picked out by influential producers. I feel that I have certainly bettered my own vocal recordings on previous projects which, again is evident through listening to my semester A project. I previously had a tendency to undervalue and under-mix vocals, which I have not done in this project. This objective therefore has been successful and I have learned a great deal.

  • Liaise with the client in a professional and well-communicated manner, to ensure total client satisfaction. (LO4)

This learning outcome is the one that I am most confident that I have achieved, due to the feedback that I received from the artist themselves. As can be seen in my blog post ‘Client Feedback For Recording Sessions (LO4)‘, the band were really happy with how the session went. On the whole I felt that the communication I received from the band was good, however there were a few moments where I was a little frustrated by the lack of information. After waiting patiently though, I got everything I needed and really enjoyed working with the band in the studio. My communication with the band, which can be seen on this blog, remained professional throughout and therefore I feel that I have achieved my goal of liaising with the band in a well-communicated manner. As can be seen in the aforementioned post, the band seem to have been really satisfied about how our sessions went and as a result I can only think that this particular learning outcome has been achieved ideally.

Throughout the project I feel that I have bettered myself as a producer, and not just through improving at recording and mixing drums and vocals, and working professionally with an artist. I also feel that the guitar and bass recordings better anything that I have previously done and that my time-management and organisation has been as good as it ever has. The research I’ve done for the project has been really influential in shaping the way that the EP sounds and has given valuable insight into the techniques used by industry professionals. Problems that I have overcome over the course of this project include only being able to have one and a half full sessions with the band. While initially I was worried that this wouldn’t be nearly enough time to record a full four-track EP, with experimentation added on for my research, the planning I did leading up the recording dates made the sessions run so smoothly that after we had finished recording, we still had time left over on the booking. The communication with the band on my part was professional and they seem to be satisfied with how the sessions went. On reflection, other than some time worries, there weren’t any major problems in the project and from the moment it started, the artist and I worked well together and I’m happy with what we’ve achieved.

To conclude, I have achieved all of my learning objectives on this project to a level that I am personally very satisfied with and I am happy with other aspects, such as time-management and organisation, that I have demonstrated over the course of this semester.

Comparison of drums from my semester A and B projects (LO1, LO2)

Throughout this semester’s audio project, two of my four main learning outcomes have been to improve the drums on music that I have recorded and mixed. I set these learning outcomes for myself because while I was satisfied with the overall capture and mix of my semester A project, I wasn’t especially content with the drum sound. I therefore wanted to focus on drums in this project to improve capturing and mixing, particularly as drums are a central part of much of the music that I enjoy recording and mixing.

I am very confident that, subjectively at very least, my drums in this project sound much better than in my previous project. With the research on recording drums which I’ve implemented from a range of different producers and artists, I’ve been able to use techniques which I feel have much improved the sound of my drums. While a small part of the improvement is due to the improved drum kit we recorded on, the key difference has been the capture and the fact that I focused heavily on drums during the mixing stage.

Objectively, the drums sound more prominent in the lower frequencies, emphasised by the kick drum, and also crisper in the high-end. The reverb is more controlled and the whole kit, as can be heard in the final mixes, cuts through the rest of the track much more successfully. Each drum is more refined, rather than blended heavily with a room mic, as was required in my semester A project, and the overheads are more withdraw in volume. Finally, the panning is more noticeable also, due to the stronger capture of each drum enabling me to pan them more naturally.

For comparison here are the isolated drum tracks (post-mix) for Lone Gazelle and 200% Gentleman, from the Your Cat is a Landmine EP.

And here are the isolated drum tracks (post-mix) for Antagonise and Fame from my semester A project.

While drum sound can be subjective I personally feel that I have bettered my own work and therefore have gone some way to achieving my first and second learning outcomes.

Client Liaison – Communication between me and the band (LO4)

Just as a follow-on from my last post about client liaison I’ll add here the communication between the band and I. While at times I was slightly frustrated with the relatively slow communication from the band, I think I may have been worrying a little too much as the sessions went perfectly as planned on Friday and Saturday. I assured them that I needed to record four tracks for the project despite their earlier thoughts on recording just three. Overall I think the communication was enough for the project in order for me to fully prepare and plan the sessions.

 

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Here’s the first email I can find from Alex where we’re discussing the format of the project. I had the idea of recording the band way back in November so I’ve had a long time to prepare for it.

 

 

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The original plan was to record in January but due to issues with availability that changed

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Finding out about instrumentation and demos

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Re-arrangement of recording dates

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I wanted to meet before recording to get a proper account of what the band wanted from the project

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Recording dates and meeting up

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Meeting

 

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Settling on recording dates

 

 

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Here’s a big delay on one of their replies which wasn’t significant in the end. I also tried to book the 15th with the band as a fallback but that wasn’t available either

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I checked the amount of songs we were recording and Alex mentioned that we’d be able to do some of the recording on the Friday night. I also checked whether Alex was bringing his own drum gear as the university’s isn’t fantastic. The same goes for amplifiers.

Client Feedback For Recording Sessions (LO4)

This morning I was sent feedback for my sessions with Your Cat is a Landmine on Friday and Saturday of last week an am really happy to say that they were very satisfied. Here’s a screenshot of the email from the drummer, Alex, which was forwarded to me by Dave McSherry.

I’m really pleased with this and hopefully this shows that I have been successful in my fourth learning outcome (liaise with the client in a professional and well-communicated manner, to ensure total client satisfaction.)

yebwoi

Recording Sessions – Reflection

On reflection my recording sessions with Your Cat Is a Landmine went incredibly well. I was worried about not having enough time to get everything done but we actually managed to finish and pack away early. A large part of this is due to the fact that Ben, the bassist/vocalist was able to come to the session on the 31st so all of the drums and bass were recorded on the evening before the session.

In this session I managed to fulfil all five of the recording techniques identified in my post “Recording Session Checklist.”

First of all, I mic’d the hi-hats and ride cymbal with SM57s. In a previous post I said I’d probably mic these with AKG C1000s, but in soundcheck I decided there was just a little too much high-end, and that an SM57 would get a slightly less harsh tone from these cymbals, while also being more suited to cope with the high volumes. I am going to use both of these microphones in the mixing stage because I’m happy with how they turned out. The mics can be seen in the images at the bottom of this entry.

As theorised in the mentioned post, I used a C414 on the rack tom and was very happy with how that turned out. I had to use the pad to make sure the noise from the kit at such close proximity didn’t affect the sound quality but this condenser mic picked up tone from the rack tom that would be more difficult to capture with a dynamic mic. I used a D112 on both the kick drum and floor tom. The floor tom in the recordings sounds extremely powerful as a result. Due to the nature of the band, being a three-piece, I wanted the drums to have a prominent sound and using both of these mics will make this more possible in the mixing stage. Again, these techniques can be seen in the photos. As I said I would, I used SM57s to record the top and the bottom of the snare drum. I had planned to use more C414s than can be seen in the images below but unfortunately one of the stereo pair of C414s used as overheads didn’t work. I therefore substituted them for the pair of C1000s that I didn’t use on hi-hats and ride cymbal. I was pleasantly surprised by this forced changed and really like the overhead sound captured by the C1000s. Much of the low end of the kit has been filtered out without any EQ due to this and allows more space for the kick, snare, and toms.

I also managed to use all of the vocal techniques identified. I used an SM58 for the vocals on two of the tracks which feature vocals. The third, I used a C414 due to the acoustic nature of the song which meant I wanted to capture every nuance of Ben, the vocalist’s, voice I could to add depth to a stripped back line-up. The SM58 picked up the intense nature of the vocal tracks for the other two tracks really well and I’m happy with the choice of mic. I managed to double track several of the chorus lead vocal parts of the tracks, taking influence from Butch Vig on Nevermind. We also recorded several different backing vocal takes for each song, so that I have enough content to mix the vocals into something really powerful. The vocal mics can be seen at the bottom of this entry.

I recorded bass with a combination of an SM57 on Ben’s bass cab and with D/I straight into Pro Tools. For guitar I used two SM57s. One pointing directly at the speaker cone and one off-axis in the corner of the speaker.

I did not know, perhaps due to a slight lack of communication from the band on their part, that of the tracks they wanted to record, one of them, Mineral, was an instrumental, and one, Kingfishers, was acoustic. This means that there are only three tracks for each of my first three learning outcomes. Hopefully this will not be an issue in the long run and I still have a lot of content to mix in the project.

In terms of client liaison, I think the band were really happy with how the session went. Mike, the guitarist was surprised to hear when he arrived for the second session on the Saturday that all of the drums and bass had been done. The band reassured me that the session was painless and easy-going and there were no real technical issues to slow us down. I had time to experiment with all of the techniques I wanted to and still had time to spare at the end. While I haven’t had the best communication from the band, my client management has been something I’m very happy with throughout the project.

 

Full kit mic setup

Full kit mic setup

Hi-Hat with SM57

Hi-Hat with SM57

Rack tom with C414

Rack tom with C414

Ride with SM57

Ride with SM57

Kick drum with D112

Kick drum with D112

Snare with 2 SM57s

Snare with 2 SM57s

Floor tom with D112

Floor tom with D112

Room microphone

Room microphone

Bass amp with SM57 and D/I out

Bass amp with SM57 and D/I out

SM58 and C414 for recording vocals

SM58 and C414 for recording vocals