Our assignment for the AUD4400 Module was to individually carry out a production from start to finish (from finding a band all the way to the pre-master stage). This blog is a fragment of my production logbook regarding the aspects of recording and editing my project.​

 

  Microphones and placements – finalised by July 4 (Initial list to be viewed in Week 5’s formative session plan)

 

            Drums – due to my restrictions of mics per session I chose to spot mic (as a kit comes with 6 microphones) and it gives me great control over mixing the kit.

 

• Kick – AKG D112 placed around halfway inside the kickdrum (with one open end) to obtain a balance of both the attack and body. Because the song’s more jazz and soulful, I didn’t want for a sharp attack. A blanket was used inside as well to dampen the sound.  

• Snare Top – Shure SM57 placed right above the snare almost parallel, angled down a little (with the diaphragm about 2 cm inward over the drum) as to get a tighter, dryer, less resonant sound and pointing to the rim of the drum to pick up the more quieter rim-click. 

• Snare Bottom – Shure Beta 57 aimed at the middle of the bottom springs to capture more sizzle (so I could blend both snares together).

• Hi-hat – SE1A placed right over the bell but angled to the outer part of the hat to get a thinner, crispier sound and to reject more of the snare (because of the cardioid pickup pattern).

• Floor tom – Audix D2 angled right at the middle to avoid resonant sound, but have dryer tom.

• Rack tom – Senheiser MD421 angled right at the middle to avoid resonant sound, but have dryer tom.

• Overheads – Pair of Shure KSM141’s placed in X/Y configuration above the front of the kit aiming directly at the cymbals pointing diagonally at a 45 degree angle.

• Reslo Ribbon black label– Borrowed from a friend (due to my limit) and used as a room mic. Placed 2.5 meters from the drums and right next to the bass acoustic baffle. 

 

            Bass –

• Recorded DI and then re-amped later to avoid leakage in any microphones during the session.

• Shure 52A placed 3 cm off the middle of the cone for more mid-freq punch.

• Neumann TLM103 placed halfway between the cone and the edge of the amp for lower frequencies.

 

            Guitar –

• DI to avoid leakage and have the option of re-amping later. Very nice clean signal.

• Shure SM57 placed in the middle of the cone very close to the amp. Pleasant drive and punch to the sound.

 

            Keys –

• Stereo DI using two channels as L and R.

 

            Tenor Saxophone –

• Neumann TLM103 placed on the right hand side of the player (15 cm from the valves) for more air and a woodier sound.

• SE1A placed 15 cm right in front of the bell of the saxophone to get a precise, sharp tone.

  

            Vocals –

• AKG C414 with a cardioid pickup pattern for a clean and clear balanced frequency signature.

• Electrovoice RE20 for a more gritty, robust sound.

• Both mics placed next to each other with an equal distance from the singer’s mouth (around 5 cm)

• Due to everyone being in the same room and having a condenser microphone on the voice, to minimise spill a reflection filter was used as a shield with both mics in the middle of it. This minimised the sound pickup from the sides of both cardioid microphones.

 

            Room –

• AM Spirit placed right in the middle of the live room with an omni-directional pattern set to pick up everything. 

 

  Setup – July 5

  

            Drum booth -

• The bassist was more than happy to be placed in the drum booth because as part the rhythm section, having him together with the drummer is better for communication and easier to feel the groove by being up close, not just through headphones.

• We recorded only DI, but used the bass amp for monitoring purposes (as the bassist is used to always hearing himself in acoustic spaces) but with the volume set as low as possible to not have any spill in the drum mics.

• Added an acoustic baffle to separate the bass amp and minimise leakage (and the previously mentioned room mic was placed right next to it on the drum side of the baffle).

• Drum mics were all set up as previously mentioned with the exception of the stereo overheads – these were first set up in ORTF configuration, but changed later on before recording (more details mentioned at the recording stage).

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            Live Room –

• The four remaining musicians were all placed in the live room in a rough circle facing each other, but with the drum booth being visible for everyone.

• Just like with the bass, the guitarist had an amp for monitoring (which also helped him set up his effect pedal), but volume was kept to as quite as possible but still for the musicians to be comfortable.

• Baffles were placed to close off the guitar amp and separate the saxophone from the main vocals.  

 

            Tracking, troubleshooting – July 5

 

• Roughly 10/15 minutes before recording the bassist accidentally hit the overhead mic stands (as they were placed about half a meter in front of the kit) and unfortunately we were running low on recording time as the guitarist and bassist had to leave earlier. So to not waste any time, the KSM’s were quickly reconfigured into an X/Y technique.

• The direct bass had a very noticeable level of white noise, after checking the di-box and its settings, the bassist assured me that the problem was with the instrument due to only one pickup on the bass actually working. The sound of the bass itself was very good however, and the issue wasn’t present when re-amping.

• During the first take, one of the guitarists’ strings broke. Luckily he had spares, but 15 minutes were lost while he changed it and let it set in as to not become out of tune while playing.

• What wasn’t taken into account regarding the room mic was that the saxophone baffle was placed only to minimise leakage in the vocal mics, which ended up having the saxophone bell pointed directly at the omni-directional room mic. This realisation only came during the middle of recording when the saxophone seemed too “phasey” at louder times. This could have been averted if during the soundcheck I had paid more attention to it and could have either placed it closer to the vocalist and guitarist (to get more level balance between the musicians) or by changing the polar pattern to cardioid and adjusting / replacing the mic elsewhere.

• Recording keys and vocals went just as planned, the only issue being the minor inconsistency regarding the distance the singer had from the microphones, but leakage was incredibly low.

• No click was used in the recording process, as to let the musicians only focus on their performance, groove and communication with each other.

• After the main takes the singer and saxophonist recorded multiple overdubs for more variety to work with. Having a second harmony for the saxophone, for example.

 

            Editing – throughout July

 

• At first one take was chosen to be as the main base for the mix. The one with the best structure, dynamics, transitions, groove and least mistakes was chosen.

• Next a tempo map was created. Since the musicians didn’t record with a click, I used Identify Beat to change the grid according to the tempo. I did at separate times attempt to use Beat Detective only for a bar or two (where the drummer is pulling too much back) but the constant fluctuation in tempo didn’t allow for a smooth connection with the next following bars.

• Because each take was free from a metronome, not many other alternative parts’ tempo lined up perfectly. Therefore there wasn’t too much comping to do, as keeping in mind, this was a live recorded session. Each vocal take performance was noticeably different in performance, because it is jazz and a more free, improvised performance, phrases are sometimes shorter or longer in alternate takes, words change or there are no words.

• Another issue is that there is still minimal leakage in every microphone from each take, so in instances comping a certain part wasn’t really possible to do without disturbing background noises and incompatibility. Nonetheless, phrases from other vocal takes did make the final comp, as well as some parts from the main saxophone.

• A new second saxophone track was created from the overdubs and harmonising takes to compensate the trumpet not being in the session.

• The original takes were all around 6 minutes long, so in the final edit a part between the guitar solo and third chorus was taken out (a break-like section with all the instruments playing syncopated rhythm). But elements of that part are still incorporated in the mix, played by the saxophones in the second part of the guitar solo. As well as the original ending of the song being exactly the same as the first break after the first chorus.

• A few bass runs from other takes were placed in the main one, as well as any mistakes made by the keys, saxophone or guitar.

• Using the clip gain I adjusted any clipping or noticeable audio peaks in the bass and every other element.

• Because this was a live session, I mostly preserved the original instrumental structure, (where one comes in or goes out) as to keep it sounding real and “performed”, as well as because it was their original song and their sought out structure.