Lucas Sharp MiS - Recording and Mixing: 4-Track CD @lucasmis2014 - Tumblr Blog

Entry #26 - A Bid Farewell to MiS

Posted 26/9/14

Finally, after the lengthy duration of this course, my MiS has drawn to a close and is ready assessment. Over these months I have come a long way, learning how to use a DAW program and carry that knowledge onto any other besides Studio One, and also learn to be a better songwriter and interpreter of music styles.

With my application of musicianship skills and learnt theory over the previous years at Darwin High School, taking Extension Music, to Stage 1 Music, to now the climax of Stage 2 Music was great experience that is reflected in my discussion of songs and styles.

The process of mixing and writing also taught not to be a perfectionist and that writing music takes time and thought into each process, a valuable lesson learnt over the last few months as the due date closed in. I also learnt to be more communicable to others in wanting feedback for my work, ideas, demos and drafts, which I gracefully received and worked on the the recent weeks.

I found this course to be very relevant to my future interests in being a musician, audio engineer, songwriter and mixer, teaching me the basics to the sophisticated details of producing music for others to enjoy and interpret themselves. I effectively reflected and evaluated my progressions over the year, stating my growing knowledge and understanding of the styles I took interest in, personally applying relevance from my own sources, and communicating with others as a means of confidence and constructive criticism.

The people who have heard my tracks, being Luke Kohler, Jordan Gibbs and John Byrne so far all enjoy different songs more than others. This makes me happy to see that there is no definable selectivity and that all of my tracks mean something different to those who listen, wether it is the funky vibes from track one, or the epilogue soundscape of track 4.

This photoshopped picture, courtesy of fellow MiS classmate John Byrne, portrays the euphoria and happiness of finishing this Music Individual Study and it will be the cover for the final product CD case.

This experience was one to remember and learn from and it is with a sigh of relief and feeling of accomplishment that I can now say my Music Individual Study and time as a working Grade 12 student in Stage 2 Music at Darwin High School, has come to an end.

#E R #K U #C

Entry #25 - Completed Songs; A look back on perceived Styles

Posted 25/9/14

With my final product ready to be burned onto a disc and placed into a folder for a hard copy, this blog is almost ready to draw to a close for now it is time to reflect on my tracks and analyse them in reference to the styles I pursued in them from early in the MiS.

Track 1 (Get The Funk in Here):

I'm proud to say how well this tracked turned out, using the twang settings on my amp to increase the treble in audio and layer several delay, wah and volume effects along with Luke's studio programmed drumming, I have been able to make a funky piece inspired by funk over the decades. This track stayed true to my influences and perceived styles in my own taste with the tremolo strumming in the first few seconds similar to "Get On Top" by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, to the controlled strumming and wah control in reference to contemporary jazz incorporated into funk. This continues with the influence of walking basslines present in general funk, all complimented by the low drive distortion that gave a fuzzy solo with the tremolo floating arm bridge like classic Jimi Hendrix, providing bends and harmonisation. The song was constantly moving forward in guitar parts besides the initial wah riff returning to towards the end of the song, showcasing similarities to "Get On Top" and more modern funk. I also took reference to playing barred and select note minor jazz chords to sensibly resolve into a G major bar chord when transitioning into a solo, bridge and the end of the song whilst switching into different time meters.

Track 2 (Ki Kangakki):

Staying true to the pentatonic mode and techniques used by YouTube user RokinGhostTown with the taiko drum setting and asian cymbal samples found by Luke and I, this track went great in my opinion. I was able to finger pick, pick strum and rake the pick along the tight tension right above the bridge of the guitar for this song, demonstrating my skills. With the base chord being an open C#/E 7th Sharp 9th, Suspended 4th and Sharp 5th, the Pentatonic "Yo" scale could melodically be played by an electric guitar with activated delay beside it. The synth before the introduction of raked strumming, consistent drums and percussion rattles is simply reversed audio by right clicking the track and selecting "reverse audio". This feature allowed a contemporary sound of my influence to be introduced and make the song truly my own along with the knocking on the wood of the acoustic to reference the various amounts of percussion in Traditional Japanese music. This song turned out the best in my opinion and I couldn't have done it without the help of this video I listen to as a study method to put me into a working mindset. Not all tracks should be listened in the video to understand the traditional and contemporary styles of Japanese music.

Track 3 (Better This Way):

This track was probably the second hardest to mix, considering the extended time it for, relating to the long choruses and progressive lead guitar alongside the percussive and palm-muted open string heavy distorted guitar. I got to demonstrate my fade-in intro finished with a natural harmonic as I talked about previously with my volume pedal and delay knob on the amp while using the the saturated bass drops for A and C# I got off a YouTube link discussed before. I asked Luke to program a second drum kick into the high hat pedal, creating double kicks, a tool often heard in syncopation with the guitars in modern heavy music. It can be heard in the song that I played palm-muted triplets on the low open A E A strings alongside the triplets of bass kicks. I believe this track is similar to modern heavy music like "Afterglow" by In Hearts Wake due to tuning and chord progression but furthermore similar to the song I initially referenced this to, being "Via" by Volumes with similarities in extended choruses and pentatonic lead guitar. As primarily heard in 1:30, I took inspiration from modern heavy music known as a "breakdown", a reduction in tempo to increase the groove and perceived heaviness of a song, accompanied by programmed bass drops. I tracked the bass guitar in drop A playing bass notes and sometimes 5th above the C# to B to A progression in the clean guitar parts. This lead guitar is heard to be switching between minor and major scales in the key of B, using the technique of rapid pull-offs and hammer-ons and tremolo picking while the rhythm plays a step down in A. The "AM" Preset on my amp came to good use before using more bass drops and now, double tracked guitars (as I stated in the naming of the songs entry) at 4:45 in the song. This song was also had multiple electric acoustic interludes to build up the song, to which Luke and I figured to use the "Savannah" preset in the last outro of clean guitar to signify the end of the melody and rhythm.

Track 4 (Phantasmagoria):

This track was my most difficult to mix but I feel I succeeded greatly in creating a delayed reversed audio synth with the "Private Place" guitar preset on the amp, showing style relatable to the previously referenced band, Being As An Ocean. Using EQ and Compressors on the reversed synths with lowered bass, higher mid and lowered treble, it gave a unique sound to the audio files and had made it a soundscape that surrounds the listener, a factor I wanted present in this track as it is a conceptual track. The base chord of the song is an F minor descending in a minor chord scale with lead guitar doing the same but in single notes more freely and fluently sweeping up and down the scales on higher strings with delay and the use of the volume swells with the pedal and slight wah sound effects.

If I could change anything about these tracks it would be the time I allowed myself to mixing them and that I would dedicate much more time to making the songs sound tighter between the audio files in each mix. All together I am very happy with how the tracks turned out and how well my first time as a learning audio mixer and interpreter of musical styles into my own influence had turned out.

#E R #P A #K U

Entry #24 - Drum Tracking and Mixing

Posted 24/9/14

After the rush of the performance assessments and the MiS due date coming to a close, Today I have managed to be able to access the Roland Electric Drum Kit for Luke and I to track drums along my songs.

I had two leads to plug in for stereo tracking but found mono sounded much better and focused as opposed to the echo the stereo produced when both inputs were used. Here is a picture of the AudioBox 22VSL and the stereo input setting to which I removed the right input to track mono drums instead.

To rid of the clipping and getting maximum output from the kit at full volume, the bottom dial on the left represents the optimum volume I found for tracking drums at 0 decibels in the program with max volume being produced from the kit control panel.

For tracking Track 1 and 3 Luke I had prompted Luke to use the "Studio" preset on the kit sound bank which came back with a great direct sound in mono especially when put through the EQ and Compressor effects. For track 2 and 4 we had gone to choose a preset called "Savannah" which had interesting gong and cymbals showing influence of Traditional Taiko drumming from Traditional Japanese music in the far East.

Luke's drumming to these songs is impeccable and I am mixing the full tracks tonight and tomorrow in preparation for handing the blog in and the final product and I couldn't be happier with the drums we both worked on in this short time frame.

Here is the preset EQ and Compressor effect I'll be using for all drums in the final mix with a slight decrease in volume and increase in bass, slight decrease in mids and a reasonable reduction in the soundscape between the mids and the slightly increased treble.

#P A #C #K U #E R

Entry #23 - Learning How to Burn to CD-R

Originally 25/8/14

While completing these tracks I found it useful if I learnt how to burn to an audio disc for the final product. This link to an apple support forum helped me figure out how to easily burn any audio to a disc

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA38263

I had gone to Woolworth's shopping centre earlier today to see if I could find any multiple CD-R disc packs that I could burn to as samples. I was able to find a 10 pack TDK CD-R pack which I brought home and followed the steps on the apple forum by making a playlist of the demo tracks in itunes.

I simply put the first blank disc in the disc drive and the option to burn the audio to the disc was given when right clicking on the playlist. To see if the audio came out well I tested in the CD

#P A #E R #K U

Entry #22 - Meeting Deadlines Reflection

Posted 11/8/14

Over the course of this MiS, it has been my falter to meeting the interim report deadlines and especially on feedback in the last few week due to the tight schedule of other subjects and music assessments.

With the ideas elaborated and discussed in my communications table over time it was the fact that I wasn't sufficiently supplying the evidence and documentation I spoke of. I have talked to Alana Bryett at the last meeting to which she advised "You don't have to be perfectionist with this study, we appreciate evidenced work to add feedback on and help you excel."

In light of this reflection, I have been avid and devoted into completing my MiS in the last two months of the course and am upgrading previous posts in showing sufficient documentation for future feedback.

To avoid the distractions that also induce my lack of motivation, I have decided to cut down on watching T.V. and going on FaceBook as well as balancing my workload amongst grade 12 subjects, rather than exhausting myself from too much pressure in a continuous cycle that I have been through a number of times this year.

#E R #C

Entry #21 - Naming the Songs and Changes that Influenced them

Posted 29/7/14

I have felt the need to name my songs as it delivers the initial influence in the perceived styles.

Track 1 - I named track one Get The Funk In Here simply due to due to it being an "in your face" funky, melodic song that sports positive vibes and keep tradition to classic funk song names such as "Get the funk out of my face" by Brothers Johnson and modern funk song names like "Get On Top" by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, all prompting something to the listener with the title.

Track 2 - For this track I have translated wood string into Japanese, resulted in the words Ki Kangakki, a suitable title for my track that shows direct influence of sounds from Asian stringed instruments and percussion.

Track 3 - This track was named Better This Way because during quad tracking of the song, I had realised that double tracking was actually more beneficial to my desired sound and way less time consuming, hence naming the track because it was better that way. It also would be a song title that I would expect to be suited to the style of modern heavy music when the titles aren't a noun.

Track 4 - The final track was named easily for me and called Phantasmagoria as I made the song to be a melodic soundscape that may emotionally induce imagination and images that connect to that of a dream and or deeper thought as the word defines.

#E R #K U

Entry #20 - Advanced Demo for Track 2

Posted 20/7/14

I have finally been able to track with the Takamine Acoustic and make the 2nd track inspired by Japanese music with my own twist on it. With my knowledge of how to EQ and Compress tracks more than ever this is the best and last demo of this course which will be followed by the final mixes of the other tracks to show my progression in mixing and pursuing styles from the beginning.

I have yet to show influence from the "Yo" pentatonic mode scales I had previously mentioned.

#P A #K U #E R

Entry #19 - Reducing Problematic White Noise in the Tracks

Posted 18/7/14

Something that I have noticed in some of my tracks is the white noise when they play. I partially resolved this problem by simply trimming off the parts of the tracks that didn't have any actual audio besides white noise running but the problem somewhat persisted still in some specific tracks such as clean lead guitar.

Using the Pro EQ and Compressor helped reduce the issue furthermore but I found out that the bleeding through of audio was a definite possibility even without any recording through a mic. I had talked to Alana Bryett and Angus Ingram about my problem to which I concurred with saying that there was too many leads plugged into the same power board, possibly sapping the power focused into the amp and pedals.

To solve this problem I plugged the amp and pedal power chords into there own powerpoint at the wall and re-tracked the tracks that had white noise. To my advantage, this method and change in setup indeed helped my problem.

I also found that the placement of the audio box could have had a potential effect on my recorded audio as my audio box was usually placed on top of my amp. Removing the audio box from the top of the amp reduced the white noise even more, perhaps due to the box being placed on my solid bench above the amp and not being so close to the direct source of input.

#E R #K U #P A

Entry #18 - Return of the Acoustic

Posted 23/6/14

Great news and not so great news! The news is that I was able to get around a replacement of the same acoustic Takamine model I use, although the insurance company won't take responsibilities for the expenses, having more expenses come from my family unfortunately.

On the bright side nonetheless, I can now start tracking Track 2 and export a brief demo using the Pro EQ and Compressor settings preset for acoustic styles, making it the best sounding demo yet for volume and balance in audio. More to come.

On a side note the headphones I am using for this MiS are Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones with an input jack screw to plug into phones, computers and the Audio Box and amps etc. These headphones are remarkable in picking up sounds and deliver studio quality audio that increases my ability to listen, track and mix.

#E R #C

Entry #17 - Ideas for Tracks; Drum Wise

Posted 21/6/14

I have recently contacted Luke Kohler to ask if he would be willing to track drums for my MiS to which he was happy to. The following weekend, we held at practice in my Dad's to evaluate the basic ideas of the drums I told him to expect from each track.

The following videos summarise the practice in reference to recording on the electric kit directly into the audiobox, allowing many effects to be manipulated of the custom electric drum kit selector.

#K U #P A #C

Entry #16 - Inspiring Moment and Communication

Posted 12/6/14

Today I was in awe to meet and spend the day with inspiring Byron Bay band In Hearts Wake whilst helping organise a gig Ben Masters had landed for them up here in Darwin. This band is essentially half the inspiration to my third track and I was able to talk to them about how go about recording certain guitar parts and such.

I talked to Ben Nairne (Man with the beard), one of the two guitarists who had told me that they track with mildly delayed clean acoustics usually and synths in the background of their choruses along with heavy tone seven string guitars in Drop A and G# with their MaxonOD808 and Boss NS-2 Noise Surpressor pedals set exactly like mine.

This experience was a great one and has motivated my inspirations for the styles set out in track 3.

This song by In Hearts Wake, called "Afterglow" is the best advocate for my inspiration from them.

#C #K U

Entry #15 - Recount of Developments and Accomplishments

Posted 24/5/14

This post is to signify the major achievements and developments I've made so far in the MiS and how much farther I have got to go to complete my final product.

I have researched 4 different styles of music and related my inspirations and aspirations to my own skills and tools.

I have purchased an Audio Box and DAW program.

Become more familiar with using a blog such as; hyperlinking YouTube Videos and Soundcloud audio.

I have uploaded and demoed three out of four of the pursued styles.

I have been able to become more fluent in my DAW program with mixing.

Evidenced my research on tracking guitar specifically

To mark this as the somewhat halfway point of my MiS, I have a list of things I wish to accomplish in the foreseeable as well to improve my development in mixing and writing.

Get replacement acoustic for demoing and eventually fully tracking 2nd track.

Approach Grade 10 drummer Luke Kohler in assistance for playing the drums for my tracks.

Track the drums.

Upload more videos of idea development.

Finish folio blog.

Export and finish mixing final product in the following days.

I hope I can follow these goals I have set out, which I shall reflect n at the end of the MiS.

#E R

Entry #14 - Basic Demo for Track 3

Posted 15/6/14

After a small stray from my MiS I have come back with the brief demo showing the "AM" sound effect, the fade in beginning and quad tracked guitars with a synth made with reverse delay effects on chords and single notes during the chorus. This demo is also finished off with an example of the tonal quality in double tracking specifically shown in the left stereo speaker. To keep true to the mixing used in the majority of modern heavy music, I also used a saturated "A" bass drop sample I found from youtube video with a download link, containing a sample of bass drops, containing drops from A at 55z(The tuning used in this song) To C# at 69hz.

The samples come in saturated, non-saturated and highly saturated tone, sticking out as the saturation increases, all dropping to around 25hz. My use of the bass drop being placed at the beginning of the quad tracked guitars after the AM sound effect showed some clipping so the bass drop track volume is naturally brought down a bit more than the others. This demo has poor editing track wise but the purpose was to display the use of effects.

I also used the Pro EQ and Compressor for all guitar and synth tracks, giving me and idea of how to mix them better when the final product is closer to being produced. This picture shows the 4 tracks that look similar, being the quad tracking I did by recording the same guitar part 4 different times, twice in the left speaker and twice in the right speaker. I also brought the volume down slightly for one of tracks on each side to engage in a rounder, more full sound.

#K U #E U

Entry #13 - Learning the EQ and Compression Business

Posted 3/6/14

It was earlier today that I learnt how to fully manipulate the EQ and Compressor settings for a track in Studio One, with the help of fellow MiS Students Angus Ingram and Jordan Gibbs who are also using DAW programs for their final products.

It is in the effects folder on the right of the program that the desired effects can be found, namely the "Pro EQ" and "Compressor". There is no need for me to use a reverb effect as far as I see as I can manipulate all the reverb extensively from the amp. The process is as simple as dragging the desired effect onto whichever track it is needed for.

Furthermore what is great about these EQ's and Compressors is that they come with preset settings for an extensive range of guitars, from finger-picked acoustic, to lead electric. There is also EQ's and Compressor settings for Drums and Bass tones such as funk and jazz, all necessary tools for me to use in the future.

Here is the preset Equaliser setting for electric guitar being used in the third track, I think It does it job well, along with some personal preference changing the low end and mid range settings on the interface, this settings is well suited.

The EQ boosts the frequency within the choosable bass, mid range, and treble and adds gain to make sound seem more natural and balanced from the originally recorded audio into the mix. An EQ boosts the overall performance of a mix so I'll be operating the final mixing in the future without it (besides when recorded the remaining demos) until I have finished editing all the tracks, that way the sound will be straight forward and easier to judge from there as to what can be EQ'd to sound better.

As for adding compressors to the tracks, the same applies. There are also great presets with the compressor for all the previously mentioned instruments as well, raising the initial low volumes of the track and lowering high volumes to balance the output heard from the track. The Compressor compliments the Pro EQ for what they do in optimising the tracks in a mix. Here is the preset for an acoustic clean sound I tracked through my LTD electric, note how for example; the threshold is reduced to rid of loud noises from the acoustic, smoothing out the track, making it easier to listen to.

#E R #K U #C

Entry #12 - An Unexpected Turn of Events: More Problems

Originally Posted 22/5/4

With my Guitar finally back from the postage, repaired by Jeremy Clingan (Stated in Communications Table), I am unhappy to say that freight has reduced this guitar to a broken state again. As seen in the photos taken, Clingan did an excellent job of repairing the guitar, but to no avail when the box came, there was a dent in the box, most likely from parcel stacking that had pushed the bridge of the guitar into the wood, breaking the wood again through the case.

This has pushed back my demo tracking and progression with the second track and has given rise for my Dad and I to try and sort out the insurance. The picture below shows the points of breakage due to heavy weight being placed on the case via postage.

Entry #11 - Basic Guide to Studio One

Originally Posted 20/5/14

Over the weeks I have become much more familiar with my DAW program and found out the basic works of the program with the controls right in front of me.

I had first found out about clipping, where the audio can potentially clip and cut from the exporting or recording of the file. In the picture below I have set the two bottom left knobs, being the input for volume for input 1 and 2, as the maximum audio output before clipping on the acoustic guitar (Input 1) and the guitars tracked through the amp (input 2). This is relatable to the video I linked of Misha Mansoor's Guitar Recording Tips. The lights under the clip text flash red when there is clipping which allowed me to figure out where maximum audio could be input for these instruments. The other three knobs just manipulate the overall volume, the headphone volume and the volume between the direct inputs to the audio through the DAW program.

Now onwards onto the actual program, where clipping is evidenced by the red bar appearing on the overall volume on the far right of the program. This problem is solved by simply adjusting the volumes of each track to their maximum output before clipping occurs and creating a balance in the tracks with EQ's and compressors to increase the output and potential of the tracks in the mix.

I found out that you can normalize the audio, meaning that the audio file has its volume maxed out to its potential. This has helped my problems with exporting the tracks previously such as Track 1 Demo 1 and the audio being too quiet.

With the audio being managed much better, It is through the basic controls of moving the tracks around and clipping them to fit together without sounding too divided. The first two tools in the bar at the top of the mixing program have been of greater significance of course.

#P A #E R #K U

Entry #10 - Escalating Knowledge on Tracking

Originally Posted 10/5/14

While browsing YouTube I had found a video made by the guitarist known as Misha Mansoor from the American band Periphery. The band, specifically Misha are all very experienced and record in a master studio at their house. It is when I saw the recommended video in my YouTube feed that "Misha Mansoor's Guitar Recording Tips" caught my eye.

This video was very helpful and I am grateful that I was reminded and taught well about how double tracking electric guitars specifically makes the sound even better in the audio. Furthermore he explains Quad-Tracking, which In my case of knowledge, would be to record the guitar parts 4 times, twice in the left stereo input and twice in the right stereo input of the audiobox. I will upload a demo of my 3rd track in the future demonstrating this effect and perhaps accompanied by mixing effects such as the EQ and Compressor.

#K U #E R

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