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Dynamic Processing

The use of dynamic usually consists of corrective use, and this was it’s predominant use within my final mixes. There aren’t too many different dynamic processes that are in the mixes. Compression and gates are the two that were used, and gates weren’t used very often. I used compression to have alter the musicality of the playing depending on the musicianship of the performer. This could arguably be altered by the perfect take, but the perfect take doesn’t always exist and there are anomalies that need addressing. This is where small amounts of compression used. On the other hand, compression was used creatively. As mentioned previously, alternative rock consists of fairly heavy compression, and to represent this in my mixes, I would have to use heavy compression in places, and take it back in others - for example, I wouldn’t heavily compress the vocals as it would destroy the take. This was used primarily on the bass and drums (in places). The other uses of compression, on the vocals for example, were used more subtly, and were used creatively to enhance the sound of the recording. Parallel compression was used on the drums to bring them out in the mix and compete with the loud guitars in the mix. This is a technique where the dry drums signal is playing alongside a compressed drum signal, therefore pushing the drums further whilst compressing to improve the sound. This features on all the tracks.

For gating, it was rarely used. It was used on the overdubbed toms of “Interlude” to enhance the attack of the tom sound. The rest of the tracks didn’t need gating, as the bleed wasn’t intrusive and effecting the overall drum sound.

#postproduction #dynamicprocessing

Post-production Evaluation

I am happy with the final mixes of the tracks considering the time restrictions. A lot of time was dedicated to the mixes a few days before the deadline, and this was because of the manner in which production set back the project.

Given more time, I feel as if I could improve the clarity and the creative aspect of the mix (something which I plan on doing in my own time). Feedback when showing my peers was positive, which is lifting considering it was a little rushed.

Ideally, I would have preferred to mix the track with all segments of the tracks in place, but due to the restrictions with time, I was forced to mix as alongside production, otherwise I would have ran out of time and the tracks would have suffered as a result.

I believe there is a good level of reference in the tracks, and a good understanding of techniques to help me achieve the sound I achieved. It was the first time I mixed my own production, and it helped me see how I could have been more efficient in production. For examples, when there is excess audio on certain tracks, or when the gains are slightly different and need addressing in the mix to maintain there level.

I will be revisiting these mixes as I said, but to have created what I created for the submission, I was happy to submit what I submitted and I am happy to distribute this work for feedback and for potential work.

#postproduction #postproductionevaluation

Stereo Image

As previously stated, alternative rock is very wide. For my tracks to not replicate this would be bad referencing. In production, this was in my mind, especially when recording rhythm guitars. The rhythm guitars were taken multiple times and split either side of the stereo spectrum to give the tracks width. Stereo reverbs were used on all vocals, and lead guitar parts where the vocal wasn’t present. This gave the instruments more width and gave them more influence in the mix. Some lead guitar parts were also automated to switch location to keep the mix entertaining. The drums were spread conventionally, as were panned from the perspective of the drummer.

#postproduction #stereoimage

Production Evaluation

The production of this project was enjoyable and a great way to be creative in the studio environment. I learned something new for every instrument that was recorded, whether that was to do with the fundamental processes of studio work, or techniques in audio capture. I planned every session with two weeks notice around the participants availability, and came equipped with lists of the microphones and equipment I was going to be renting for efficiency and to rule out any mistakes.

I feel as if I took charge of the desk professionally as there were never really any issues with signal flow, feedback mixes, or any other requests the musician had. It became very routine and my knowledge of working the desk is solid. However, I do regret not using some outboard and exploring more creative dimensions. Desk EQ was used, but that was it. I had problems with the musicians turning up in a few sessions. This wasn’t due to a breakdown in communication, as I reminded them prior to the session a number of times. Things came up with the musicians that were deemed more important than the session, and my control over that aspect was poor. This really set me back, making it tough to get the studio time to make up for lost time. It forced my to record parts outside of the studio due to lack of availability and allocation. This could have been alleviated with starting production earlier, but as my ideas changed in January, this would have happened regardless. The project could have been as productive as it was in the latter stages, but working out times of availability was difficult due to other commitments. Overall, I am happy with the production of the project. As stated, I wish I could have been more creative with outboard and creating an aestethic to the production, but without that, the end result was my best to date. The whole experience was profitable to me as a producer, and I feel more settled in the studio than ever.

#production #productionevaluation

Submitted Tracks

The tracks that were submitted for the project are available digitally via the link here. It is important that digital versions of my work are available due to its accessibility and its reach. Having an online portfolio is a great way to distribute your work over a larger scale than physical distribution.

#tracks

Equalisation

When I mixed using EQ, it was mainly corrective EQ. A lot of creative EQ was used on the desk during production, so the sound was roughly how I desired. On the odd occasion, I used creative EQ with a plugin, but this was to accentuate a frequency range and push it forward in the mix. Correctively, I chopped away frequencies to create space in the mix for other instruments. For instance, I removed small amounts of 500Hz in the guitars to provide space for the bass, and removed the thick and muddy parts of the bass to make room for the kick drums. I opted to use the standard Logic EQ for the majority of the corrective EQ, but I used the Sonnox Oxford EQ for the creative EQ as I much preferred its colouration. The Oxford EQ wasn’t preferable for corrective as I thought it was pretty strong when removing frequencies, and the subtly of the Logic EQ gave me more control. I also EQ’d some of the stereo reverb, primarily in the higher registers, as the reverbs were causing resonance within the track. This consisted of correctively chopping out areas of resonance to tidy up the reverbs in the L/R channels.

#eq #postproduction

Mixing for Alternative Rock

After examining and researching different areas of the alternative rock, I have combined a list of characteristics that most share. These ideas will aid in the mixing phase, and will integrated into my work – similarly to the influence I will take from the reference tracks. Including these features will assist in achieving the fundamentals in an alternative rock sound, with additional techniques developing the tracks further. The list is below: o The use of heavy compression – alternative rock, especially grunge, contains a lot compression and lacks dynamic range. The compression assists in a large sound where the track is aggressive.

o Wide stereo image – the mixes are all very wide, where guitars are predominantly giving that width. Other aspects like backing vocals and reverbs also take up this space.

o Prominent guitars – although the vocals are the main centre of attention in most cases, the guitars rival that attention and push the mix to give it the drive that alternative rock has.

o Dynamic – The soft to loud dynamic that alternative rock, more importantly grunge, has, is accentuated in the mix. The mix dynamically builds up and falls down in relation to the dynamic of the playing. This is vital in having an interesting mix.

#postproduction #mixingforaltrock

Studio Session #7

5th April 2018

For the final, not-so studio session, the aim was to record the rest of the vocals. This was recorded in my bedroom instead of the studio because of multiple no shows from the band. I had a structured timetable to get through production, and after three no shows, this set the production back massively. All production was supposed to be finished before April, but these setbacks meant I had to use my sessions for post-production to record, and these weren’t even enough to complete as they didn’t show for one of those sessions either. Luckily, I had an SM7B at my disposal, the other choice of microphone to the u47 that was used in the previous session. I set the microphone up in the best conditions possible, and the results were pleasant. The recording of the vocal was surprisingly good given the circumstances. The room gave a nice natural reverb to the vocal, which I tried to utilise in certain takes – mainly on harmonies and other parts of the vocal other than the lead. Both vocals were recorded, signifying the end of production.

#production #session7

Artwork

This is not associated with music production, but for my product to look as professional as possible, I wanted to created covers for my CD - not only for my submission, but for my portfolio. As I look to expand my career in the music industry, having a professional product with quality recordings will enhance my chances for further employment rather than having a scrappy CD that isn’t named. Therefore, I took some time to create some cover art for my work. I am not great when it comes to photo editing software so I used my ability to craft something up that looks decent enough to display. I added my contact details to make myself accessible incase there are any enquiries relating to the work. The artwork is below:

FRONT:

INSIDE FRONT:

BACK:

#postproduction #artwork

Testing and Exporting

When a mix is complete, it is vital it is tested on a number of systems. This is because it is not consumed in the environment it is produced and mixed in. Testing on lower quality systems ensure there aren’t any hidden problems within the mix, and as music is consumed on such devices, the hidden problems cannot be present. My mixes are almost finished, therefore, I am played them on lower quality systems to make sure there are not any problems. They were ran through the most common devices:

o Conventional Headphones o Laptop o Television

As these devices lack low end frequencies, it may make high frequencies more apparent. When these were played through these systems, there were no problems to note. A good mix will sound good on any platform. Now, as this is the last step, it is time to export

Exporting music onto CD needs to be bounced correctly. If the sample and bit rates are wrong, the CD will not play back. Therefore I ensure all tracks were bounced as 44.1kHz and 24 bit.

#postproduction #testingandexporting

Pre-production Evaluation

I feel as if I have tackled the pre-production stage adequately, given the circumstances. As mentioned, I would have preferred to work off of demos, but I reacted to that situation by going to introduce myself to the band and listen to the live performances of the tracks I was recording. I made sure I was ready for production with templates of the project and the knowledge of what microphones I was going to use - which was made easier with the microphone testing. I familiarised myself with the studio environment by involving myself with extra studio sessions, such as the microphone testing sessions, which will also make the studio sessions run as smoothly as possible.

#preproduction #preproductionevaluation

Studio Session #6

3rd April 2018

This session was the penultimate session. The aim was to record the rest of the bass tracks and start vocal recordings. The vocalist’s insufficiency of learning his lines made this session less practical than intended. The aim was to record all vocals for all three tracks (“Interlude” does not have lyrics and is purely instrumental) in the remaining time after the bass was recorded, but the vocalist still had not written parts for two songs.

The bass was recorded identically to the bass in the previous session. I tried routing a DI box again, but as the bass guitar was the same as the last session the results were the same. I carried on to mic the bass guitar up the same way, but because I was in a different studio, I used a different amp. This amp was a 1x12 and wasn’t as desirable as the 4x12 Ashdown I used in the previous sessions, but due to time restraints and restricted studio time, I had to do my best with what was available to me. I decided to record the bass into a compressor and use desk EQ to improve the sound, which helped massively in getting a good sound.

For vocals, I was torn between using a Neumann U47 FET and a Shure SM7B. As the vocals contained shouting and aggression, I was unsure whether it would be wise to use the U47 FET as it was a condenser and it may be too fragile for such vocal augmentation, hence why the dynamic SM7B was the other option. However, I was advised by my project supervisor to use it as in his experience, it could handle it. Therefore, I got both microphones out and tried them. Both microphones were very good, but the U47 had that little more clarity and was preferred. I added a little desk EQ and the vocals were recorded.

As mentioned, the vocalist did not know half of his lyrics, so most of the session was a case of him remembering/writing vocals for the tracks. My naivety is shown as I presumed that after over a month of production the lyrics would be ready for the studio, but they were not. This meant only one track could be recorded, leaving the other two without vocals with no studio bookings left.

Luckily, I have a SM7B available to me. I am going to use the SM7B to record the remaining two tracks, but with no studio time left, they are going to be recorded at home. This is not ideal but I am left with no choice. I will do my best to acoustically treat the room so the environment is good enough for recording.

#production #session6

Track Referencing

During post-production, it is important to reference your work with industry-standard work to be able to compare the two. Therefore, the search for reference tracks began. Now that the production stage is well underway and most of the components of the song are down, I believe I have enough information to be able to compare. I have had these tracks in mind during production, and taken inspiration from them along the way. I am very familiar with each artist’s work, so this made it easier when making a decision based on references. Below is the reference track for each song with a link to access the reference track:

Track One = Deaf Havana - Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life

Track Two = Citizen - Roam the Room

Interlude = Casey - Teeth

My Faults = Basement - Pine

I will A/B compare these tracks as I mix my own tracks to ensure the quality is obtained.

Bibliography

Basement (2012) Pine, Basement. Run for Cover Records.

Casey (2015) Teeth, Casey. Hassle Records.

Citizen (2013) Roam the Room, Citizen. Run for Cover Records.

Deaf Havana (2009) Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life, Deaf Havana. Wolf At Your Door Records.

#postproduction #trackreferencing

Studio Session #5

29th March 2018

For this session, the aim was to complete guitars for the two remaining tracks (“Interlude and “My Faults”). This would consist of both rhythm and lead parts. The ability of the guitarist made this session very straight forward as he was consistent throughout recording and he was also equipped with everything he needed to obtain his tone. He brought along a pedal board which altered my approach slightly. One of the pedals were reverb, and it was crucial to his tone. Therefore, I retracted the AKG C414 microphone, as used in the previous guitar recording sessions, as the reverb would clash with the room mic’s purpose. Therefore, I used only the MD421 and the M160 to record guitars in this session.

The distorted rhythm guitar was recorded through Marshall 4x12 cab as this was the guitarist’s preference, a preference which is was happy to follow. I mimicked the technique of recording two different guitars, this time a Telecaster and a Vintage SG, to sit the guitars either side of the stereo image. The difference in guitars and mic blends offered subtle changes which improved the track’s sound and complexity. The same guitar and blend does not offer the same sound, and could be seen as boring to listen to. The guitars were the same guitars as the guitarist’s used live, so I was happy to keep that consistency.

I switched up the amplifier for the clean distorted tone to a 1x12 Vox as the high-mids cut through against the distorted tone. It was trialed with a 1x12 Fender, and the existing Marshall 4x12, but the Vox had the best results. The clean tone only featured on the track “Interlude”. Initially, I recorded this track once as I thought it only had relevance when most guitars were absent but as more guitar tracks were laid, I thought the clean guitar should have prominence in the song. There are a lot of guitars in this track that create a lot of noise, but I wanted to drive the track with this hypnotic clean rhythm. Therefore, the first and last track that was recorded was the clean rhythm. Giving this stereo presence would allow me to push this in the mix and not get drowned out by the rest of the guitars.

For the lead guitar, the Telecaster was chosen, but I added EQ on the desk to brighten it slightly. There are a lot of guitars on both tracks, which is vital in alternative rock, so it is important that they don’t get clustered and take up each other’s space. The same Vox amp and microphone technique was used as the lead does not clash with any clean rhythm parts, but sound slightly different to the guitar choice and the addition of EQ. During the last verse of “Interlude”, there is fast paced strumming which was initially going through the reverb pedal to create some ambience. I thought the amount of reverb was not enough to create the sound the guitarist was going for, so instead of changing the setting on his pedal, I asked him to completely remove the reverb. With half an hour left of the session, I would have usually sent this through a reverb unit, but because time was not on our side, the removal of the reverb would allow me to address this in post-production and find the right reverb this way.

#production #session5

Studio Session #4

21st March 2018

The aim of this session was to finish off the guitars from session #3, and to also track the bass guitar for two tracks. This was a relatively short session in production terms, therefore to utilise the time, I was to stay back after production to finish off any editing and come up with ideas to do with the mix now most of the track is recorded. As I missed out on doing clean guitar in the previous session, this was the first port of call. The clean guitar in the tracks had very different feel to the rest of the guitars, and were very isolated in terms of their position of the track. Their timbre was polarised, so the miking of the amp needed to be different. We ran a telecaster through a 1x12 Line 6 amp, using an MD421 and a C414. I brought the microphones away from the cone (around 4 inches) to remove the bassier tones from the proximity effect. I kept the microphones on-axis because positioning two microphones that are off-axis would need a lot more attention as their phase relationship would be a lot more difficult to achieve. The on-axis approach still brought the high-mids of the clean tone out very well, so this option was preferred. I positioned a Sennheiser MD421 in the centre of the woofer, and an AKG C414 parallel to the tweeter. These two microphones were blended to create the clean sound.

Once the cleans were recorded, I turned to recording bass. Initially, I wanted to capture an amplified signal and a DI signal so I could have the option to blend. However, once the DI was routed, the signal was weak. Once the gain was a necessary level, the signal was covered in noise. I think the reasoning behind this was the passive pickups within the bass not offering enough power to send to the DI. Therefore, the DI box was ditched. This meant that the sound had to be perfect when recording the bass. A Sennheiser MD421 was placed in the centre of a bass cab, around 4 inches from the centre. After miking up one of the cones of the 4x10 Ashdown cab, the sound was too bright for my liking, and it was clashing a lot with the guitars. Miking the bass amp in the center brought more warmth to the sound, and with the mic being 4 inches away from the cab, the sound was not too muddy.

The bass is very important in every track, as it gives the track feeling. At first, when the bassist was recording in the live room, that feeling wasn’t being captured as the dynamism in his playing was static. I brought the bassist into the live room, via the video ties routing, to record through the monitors instead of the headphones so he could respond to the track better. This improved the bass take substantially, and the timing and dynamism of the musicianship was much improved.

#production #session4

Introductions and Expectations

9th February 2018

Before production, I was hoping to work all the tracks off of demos. I received two demos off of Matty (solo project), but Hinges did not have demos for their tracks. The aim was to get a live recording set up so I could use the demos to plan the track out, logistically and creatively. However, due to schedules and opening times of the studio, this was not possible as the band worked conflicting hours, both on weekdays and weekends. This resulted in a less organised approach. They had an upcoming show which I attended to listen to the tracks I was recording, and to introduce myself before production. This would save time during production as ideas were discussed and introductions were made (with a few beers being drunk).

#preproduction #introductionandexpectation

Drum Augmentation

After guidance from the learning sets, I began to look further into techniques of drum augmentation. Essentially this is the process in which the drum kit is layered, primarily with one shots – i.e. kick drum snare and toms. I researched into this subject to understand the concept further. Upon this, I read into a sound on sound article, written by Bazil (2012). This article reinforced my knowledge, but also developed the technique with additional ideas. I started to use this, and using Logic samples to add to the places where my drum kit lacked. I then EQ’d the samples to solely focus on the aspect of the hit that I wanted to alter, therefore it was not changing the original recording, but developing the sound. These would then be blended and sent to their own channel so I could alter the overall sound of the kit when I was happy with the blend.

Also, when mixing “My Faults”, the toms weren’t cutting through the mix enough for my liking. They had no life, and as they were important to the drum part, they needed to be addressed. Firstly, I tried the technique above to initially layer them or replace them but the Logic samples only had resonant toms that sounded out of place. I tried gating them but this made the toms sound artificial. Therefore I created a sample of the tom overdubs used in “Interlude”. As these were dampened to my preference and recorded well, the sample could replace the existing tom sound without sounding out of place with the rest of the kit. With a little sample manipulation, the sample was loaded into a sampler and used to replace the existing tom sound. The velocity could then be adjusted in the MIDI to integrate the human feel in the drums. The tutorial I used to assist me in this technique is available here.

Bibliography

Bazil, E. (2012) Layers of Complexity [Online]. Sound on Sound. Available from: <https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/layers-complexity> [Accessed 6 March 2018].

MusicTechHelpGuy (2016) Logic Pro X - Pop/Rock Mixing - PART 6 - Drum Replacement/Doubling [Online video], 10 October. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j739LfLoeI&t=287s> [Accessed 6 March 2018].

#postproduction #drumaugmentation

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