Demonstration Track

Mastering Final Mix

Based on my research, mastering is all about balancing and matching tone, volume and timing. Mastering the final mix was done by using tools such as compressor, EQ and limiter. Compressed the signal first and then went through the EQ to balance the frequency band accordingly and the last chain was the limiter that limit the signal so it contained the peaks and avoid clipping. And also the more we increase the limiting the louder the sound become and also we can adjust the overall gain by adjusting the compressor output since the gain is coming from the compressor. Found out that with the slow attack result in punchy sound and with too fast of release time will distort the sound. The trick here is we can use a serial compression technique to achieve the smoothness since using the serial compression technique gives us more control over the dynamic.

Mixing Another seesion on Basement 2

Done another session on mixing at the basement 2 studio. Tried some techniques things like parallel compression and serial compression with outboard equipment that the basement 2 had but didn't like the way it sound so didn't even care to record that into the session. Not much of things getting done from this session only tried out the EQ. Just to solve the clashing instrument and mix down similar instruments together using boost or cuts on EQ. EQing on individual track and  then listen with the rest of the instruments sometime work from the first attempt but sometime don't. Mos different one is the Kick for me and always have a problem with the kick don't really why and working on it now.

Recording Vocal

We tried different microphone for the vocal and the U87 was the best one to suit his voice and therefore used that one. Just the recording itself without any EQ or Compressor recorded on it. Also tried in the live room as well but didn't like it so at last did in the booth. And also found out that without the reverb and compression go to the booth for the singer he simply didn't engage with the music. With the effect sent to him straight a way everything just changed and he was performed well and that made a lot different.  Recorded the whole session on the playlist properly about ten tape. The good thing about this playlist recording is that later on you have the option to choose whichever part you desire and put them into one track which is called playlist comping.

Mixing Planning

Have booked the studio for mixing the song in Basement 2. The plan was to start listening the song in the studio first and then gather the idea that how this song should sound or how is going to be mixed. What kind of treatment will need for a specific instrument? Also try to do more about the research on mixing specially R&B type of music. Already done some of the research on mixing at this moment and found out that most of the R&B mixing engineer mix the song start form low volume and continue work on that if it is necessary will increase a bit the reason for that is to left some headroom for mastering engineer. The research that done from previous assignment I've also found out that the engineering used a lot of analogue outboard equipment as well as a lot of digital plugs in and try to achieve the song of the early time back in the day. He also used a lot serial compression for treatment specially the vocal on that sound track that done for analysis from assignment 1. Also plan to try out the techniques on the vocal on this song.

Editing

The editing of the drum kit was done by using the beat detective as well as the elastic audio for the rest of the track. When using the beat detective extra care need to be take into account because sometime the beat detective can mess up the audio and sometime it is not really good and depend on what you want to achieve. Sometime can achieve good result and sometime don't. Or another method is to do it manually and repair the bit that we want but this time time to do it. And also notice that if it is doing right sometime the drum kit can sound more like electronic drum kit. This need a lot of skill to get the right drum sound with the beat detective unless you know what you are doing. If the beat detective doesn't work then we can do manually just to the horrible bit that should be fine. For this track the drum kit need to quantize a lot because a lot of them are not in time some of them are very late some are early.

Recording Bass and Electric Guitar

The bass guitar was recorded by using the D112 position at the center of the speaker cone and then used U87 to capture the whole amp as well as with the DI. The amp for the bass was the Backline 115 and sounded nice and warn. And also use the sontonics as a room microphone. Since captured two different type of microphone characteristic plugs the DI and this later will give more option when mixing. Can also create fattening effect by combing the all track which will give more chance to choose between them. Not really using a lot of outboard processing during tracking.

The electric guitar was recorded by using the Marshall amp with the MD421 and U87 as well as room microphone. Nothing special on the electric guitar since it only play a couple of chords. As can be seen in the photo the microphone was position to the center of the speaker cone. And made a mistake on this one because didn't check the actual speaker whether it has one or two speaker cone inside which is very silly. Lucky it didn't sound horrible.

Recording Session Continue

Recording the piano was done by using the X/Y stereo pair that placed the microphone near the hip of the piano to capture both the body and as well as the high end and the low. As in the previous analysis the engineer also used the X/Y stereo pair plug another microphone position near the piano so just to make it sound different as other track. For this project the piano was sounded a bit more ringing when we did the tracking was alright but some how after the session listened it individually noticed that sounded it ringing.  Since all the track in this project was recorded with playlist therefore had a lot option to choose later on. So according the research done from the previous assignment the reason the engineer used the microphone technique was to get a brighter sounding piano and he also placed another microphone under the piano so that made it sound like upright piano. For this project we used AKG 414 as main microphone and the Sontonics as room microphone. When this two different characteristic microphone put together I think they sound good for me.

Recording Session

 For the recording session we used close microphone techniques for the drum and stereo pair for other instruments such as piano. The microphone list is should be in the tracksheet  and all the microphone were from the university. For the drum we used close micing techniques plus two AKG condenser microphones for overhead just to pick up the whole kit as well as room ambiance. Also placed a Neumann 1m apart from the kit. So it could pick up the whole kit.  We did not place any microphone on the Hi-hat, cymbals because the two overheads and the room microphones would pick them up. The tom sounded a bit crap as well as the kick. Tried to move around the D112 but still struggling to get it right and always had a problem with Kick. With D112 combine with other microphone sounded not really bad. Tried M/S pair on the overhead since it was the first time tried out so was quite happy with it. After decoding the track found out that it was like a magic warn. Because you can really have between mono and stereo just by adjusting the fader and pan bots. Also made the mistake on the position of the microphone since the microphone were not on the right place and not really pointed toward the sound source as a result weren't capture the sound properly. 

Planning

Researches for the tracking were mostly done by previous production analysis assignment. And some of the techniques used in this project such as microphone placement and microphone selection and so on. Most microphone used from the analysis were vintage but some of them were commend one like D12, SM57/5, MD421 and U87 which the university got but some of them from the analysis were very expensive like the ribbon mic. Before doing the tracking the very first thing is to decide which microphone will be capture what and they characteristic that will suit the instrument and all this thing need to be consider beforehand. Also need to work around with the microphone that the university got so this even need more planning and researching. And also need to know what characteristic of sound that want to achieve this will save a lot of time. When we know what we want to achieve then we can pick the microphone that will suit a particular instrument. Since the different microphone has different characteristic so we really need to listen the microphone decide which one to use. From the analysis the engineer often use extra microphone to capture the sound source so later on when doing the mix this should give more option and depend on how creative the engineer is. For example, by using lots of microphone this can create fattening effect on the other hand this it similar to parallel compression. The different is the parallel compression has Dry or Wet signal and this can create fattening effect. Since the Wet signal can be the one with heavy compression and same time the Dry signal will retain the Dynamic combine this two signal it will create a fattening effect.

Before the session it is necessary to planning everything beforehand this can minimize unnecessary problems and also save a lot time since there is not much time so we need to be careful with our planning. Thing like set up the mixer the way we want to use also headphone mix and so on, all this without a plan it is overwhelming when working in the studio. Even though those professional people that from the analysis they planning for ever  single day start from the end of the project. Planning thing like the song choosing and the musician choosing etc. Basically, the planning is an very important part of the whole production process.

Introduction

The aim of this project is to do a record production for the assignment 2. The production process will involve recording, mixing and mastering. And also apply the research and techniques that learned from previous assignment. Since every record production require an excessive planning to achieve the objective. This project will be done at university so it is necessary to book the studio in advance and then decide what kind of music will be recorded and what song to be recorded. When everything is been decided and ready  then the next step will be start looking for a musician to record. For this project the song for the production will be R&B type of music and which is based on the research done from previous assignment. The song for this production is called YOUG HOMIE by Chris Rane.