(2023)
LINKS :
Soundcloud At the gallows task 2: https://on.soundcloud.com/9oXT3
Soundcloud At the gallows task 3: https://on.soundcloud.com/sUXgU
Soundcloud At the gallows instrumental: https://on.soundcloud.com/8ykqL
Soundcloud At the gallows acapella : https://on.soundcloud.com/V3qxu
Scorpions Rhythm of love task 2: https://on.soundcloud.com/LATtp
Scorpions Rhythm of love task 3: https://on.soundcloud.com/Jwc4P
Maidenance task 2: https://on.soundcloud.com/iffKz
Maidenance task 3: https://on.soundcloud.com/C1wNH
Maidenance instrumental: https://on.soundcloud.com/yNiW7
Maidenance acapella : https://on.soundcloud.com/8XD4V
All Links for my projects can be found at my Portofolio.
In the Ensemble Recording Linear Method course we were asked to perform three pieces of music, the first was to record an ensemble using a portable recorder, the second was to create a piece of music and record musicians in a studio and the third was a multi-channel recording of an ensemble in a studio / live condition. The tasks were divided into individual and group and there was both the overall cooperation and the best possible execution by each one as well as the individual effort by each one separately.
For the first task, which was the recording of a musical group using a portable recorder, it was chosen to record a cover track. The exercise was a group exercise and required cooperation and help from everyone. It was necessary to find musicians who are already in a band in order to perform the song more easily since there would be direct cooperation and understanding between them, so we contacted and found a band that performs various cover songs live. The band consisted of a classical and an acoustic guitar, a bass and a regular, and the singer who would perform the track. The song chosen to be performed was At The Gallows End by Candlemass. The original thought and goal was to record a rebetiko scheme in an outdoor space such as a park, but some of the original schemes that had agreed to help carry out the work eventually canceled and musicians had to be found again but there were again difficulties such as several were not in Athens due to tours or for personal reasons and other musicians who were present canceled at the last moment. This is how we ended up with the above format that plays ballad/rock songs live and also does covers. The recording was done outdoors since that was the purpose of the work, so we went to the Philosophical School in Zografou under a shed, set up the microphones, positioned the musicians and started recording. The voice was in the middle, from the left was the classical guitar and from the right was the acoustic and they had a relative distance between them, we were behind the voice also at a distance. The musicians sat in this way so that there was communication between them so that they would start at the same time and communicate.
4 microphones were used for this recording, which were connected to a portable Tascam recorder, but during our sound check we found that one microphone was not picking up a good signal and we agreed to remove it. So in the end the microphones used were the following:
TASCAM PortacaptureX8 | Room |
GOLDEN AGE FC3 MKII | Vocals |
AKG C480B | Acoustic Guitar (δεν χρησιμοποιήθηκε) |
SHURE SM58 | Acoustic Guitar |
AKG120 | Classsic Guitar |
Several takes were recorded and in the end we decided to keep more
TASK 2 :
After putting the channels into the DAW which was Reaper I cut and spliced where I thought they needed it because as Owsinski and David Gibson said even though the noises might not sound bad when all the tracks are played together when it starts the final stage which is mixing and mastering, it will show how dull the song was before. This cut all the extra recording time at the beginning and end of each track, regardless of whether it was recorded during the master or overdubs, and added a fade-in and fade-out to eliminate any processing noise. (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017), (Gibson & Petersen, The art of mixing: A visual guide to recording, engineering, and production 2008)
Then I added filters and did some basic processing like adding EQ to keep the channels from popping and to make the sound sound more natural and to cut out sounds that were unnecessary and made it difficult to hear the track smoothly because we were in outdoor space and during the recording there were interferences. As Gibson said EQ is a change in the volume of a certain frequency of a sound, and different sounds are processed differently depending on the type of music, the song, and even the people one is working with. (Gibson & Petersen, The art of mixing: A visual guide to recording, engineering, and production 2008)
Finally I added a compressor because I consider that the kick, snare and bass will usually need a compressor to modify the dynamic range of the track and reverb which is one of the main ways we can add artificial atmosphere to a track in a mix (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017).
TASK 3 :
Then I started to stabilize the volumes on each channel while at the same time making the volume automation to influence the volume of some channels higher or lower.
And finally I did Fade In and Fade Out where needed to make the track sound better in the transition. Fade In I used to make sure nothing is interrupted too soon. Fade Out I used to fade out elements like vocals or double instruments to make sure the release is the same. (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017)
TASK 4 :
FINAL MIX :
In the final mix I didn't put many filters nor did I make many changes. I simply added reverb to the voice to make it sound forward and focused and give a sense of empty space. As said and reverb Reverb is one of the main ways we can add artificial atmosphere to a mix (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017).
Finally, I affected the volume levels from the Master Mix to make the final track sound smoother.
TASK 5 :
INSTRUMENTAL/STEMS/ACAPELLA :
For Instrumental, stems and acapella I didn't do any processing because the focus was on specific recordings such as guitar stem, instrumental and acapella
For the second task, which was the creation of a piece of music & recording of musicians in a studio, it was chosen to record a cover track. The exercise was individual and required personal integrity and knowledge for execution and success. It was necessary to find at least three musicians without necessarily being in a band already, so I contacted various musicians and found some people to perform the piece. The lineup consisted of three instruments, an electric guitar, bass and drums. At first the aim was to create a piece but there were problems in finding musicians to do the work, while I searched and asked all the musicians I knew unfortunately for personal reasons it was quite difficult to attend a studio that had been suggested, so I searched and ended up with above shape and we agreed to do a cover track of Scorpions' Rythm Of Love, without the voice, the arrangement was instrumental and due to lack of time it was decided to omit some tracks in relation to the original track. The recording was done in a professional studio that I discovered and found myself and told the musicians to be there at a certain time, except for the guitarist who was recorded separately and used as a backing track which was then sent to the rest of the musicians to use as a guide. Before the musicians came we went to the studio to set up microphones and set up the computer.
The equipment used was from the studio. So some of the microphones provided by the venue and used during the recording of the instruments were the following:
TOM 1 | Sennheiser e604 |
TOM 2 | Sennheiser e604 |
TOM 3 | Sennheiser e604 |
SNARE UNDER | Shure sm 57 |
SNARE SHURE | Shure sm 57 |
ROOM | Oktava mk 220 |
OVER R | Superlux S502 |
OVER L | Superlux S502 |
Kick In | Shure beta 91 |
The bass was connected to Direct Input (D.I).
Several takes were recorded and in the end we decided to keep more.
TASK 2 :
After putting the channels into the DAW which was Reaper I cut and spliced where I thought they needed it because as Owsinkski and Gibson mentioned even though the noises might not sound bad when all the tracks are played together when the final kicks in stage which is mixing and mastering, it will show how dull the song was before. This cut all the extra recording time at the beginning and end of each track, regardless of whether it was recorded during the master or overdubs, and added a fade-in and fade-out to eliminate any processing noise. (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017), (Gibson & Petersen, The art of mixing: A visual guide to recording, engineering, and production 2008).
Then I added filters and did some basic editing such as adding EQ to keep the channels from getting choppy and sounding more natural and adjusting the sounds to the track. As Gibson said EQ is a change in the volume of a certain frequency of a sound, and different sounds are processed differently depending on the type of music, the song, and even the people one is working with. (Gibson & Petersen, The art of mixing: A visual guide to recording, engineering, and production 2008)
TASK 3 :
Μετά ξεκίνησα να σταθεροποιώ τα volumes σε κάθε κανάλι ενώ παράλληλα έφτιαχνα το volume automation για να επιρρεάσω την ένταση κάποιον καναλιών ψηλώτερα ή χαμηλότερα και έβαλα compressor γιατι θεώρηση ότι το kick, το snare και το μπάσο θα χρειαστούν συνήθως έναν compressor για να τροποποιηθεί το δυναμικό εύρος του κομματιού (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017). ‘Επειτα έβαλα reverb που σύμφωνα με τον Owsinski είναι ένας από τους βασικούς τρόπους με τους οποίους μπορούμε να προσθέσουμε τεχνητή ατμόσφαιρα σε ένα κομμάτι σε μια μίξη (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017).
TASK 4 :
FINAL MIX :
Then I started to stabilize the volumes on each channel while at the same time setting up the volume automation to affect the volume of some channels higher or lower and put a compressor because I thought that the kick, snare and bass would usually need a compressor to modify the dynamic range of the track (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017). Then I applied reverb which according to Owsinski is one of the main ways we can add artificial atmosphere to a track in a mix (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017).
TASK 5 :
INSTRUMENTAL/STEMS/ACAPELLA :
For Instrumental, stems and acapella I did not do any processing because the focus was on specific recordings such as stems (bass, guitar, drums), instrumental and acapella
For the third task, which was a multi-channel recording of a musical group in a studio / live condition, it was chosen to record a cover track. The exercise was a group exercise and required cooperation and help from everyone. It was necessary to find musicians who are already in a band to perform the song more easily since there would be direct collaboration and consultation with the musicians with each other, so we contacted and found a band called Maidenance who specialize in playing Maidance cover songs . The band consisted of the drums, the bass, two guitars and the voice, that is, the singer who would perform the piece. The song chosen was Fly Of Ikarus by Maidance. Finding the band was not difficult in this work because this band was recommended to us and the communication with them was immediate and timely both from our side and from the side of the musicians. The recording took place in a professional studio that we searched for and found together and told the musicians to be there at a certain time, to record live together, but the musicians could not attend the venue at the same time, so it was decided to record each instrument separately , first the drums with the bass, then the first guitar, then the voice and finally the second guitar. Before the musicians came we went to the studio to set up microphones and set up the computer.
The equipment used was from the studio. So some of the microphones provided by the venue were the following microphones that were used:
KICK IN | Shure 91 beta |
KICK OUT | Shure 52 beta |
SNARE TOP | Shure sm 57 |
SNARE BOTTOM | Shure sm 58 |
HI-HAT | Sm3 line audio |
TOMS | Shure 98 beta |
OVERHEADS | AKG C414 |
ROOM | Omni geffel |
Guitar and bass connected to Direct Input (D.I)
TASK 2 :
After putting the channels into the DAW which was Reaper I cut and spliced where I thought they needed it because even though the noises might not sound bad when all the tracks are played together, when the final stage starts which is the mix and the master, it will show how dull the song was before. This cut all the extra recording time at the beginning and end of each track, regardless of whether it was recorded during the master or overdubs, and added a fade-in and fade-out to eliminate any processing noise. (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017)
Then I added filters and did some basic editing such as adding EQ to keep the channels from getting choppy. As Gibson said EQ is a change in the volume of a certain frequency of a sound, and different sounds are processed differently depending on the type of music, the song, and even the people one is working with. (Gibson & Petersen, The art of mixing: A visual guide to recording, engineering, and production 2008)
Finally I added a compressor because as Owsiknski and Gibson mention that the kick, snare and bass will usually need a compressor to modify the dynamic range of the track (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017), (Gibson & Petersen, The art of mixing: A visual guide to recording, engineering, and production 2008) and reverb which Owsinski argued is one of the main ways we can add artificial atmosphere to a track in a mix (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017).
TASK 3 :
Then I started to stabilize the volumes on each channel while at the same time making the volume automation to influence the volume of some channels higher or lower. Finally I did Fade In Fade Out where needed to make the track sound better in the transition. Fade In I used to make sure nothing is interrupted too soon. Fade Out I used to fade out elements like vocals or double instruments to make sure the release is the same. (OWSINSKI, Mixing engineer's handbook: Fourth edition 2017)
TASK 4 :
FINAL MIX :
In the final mix I didn't put many filters nor did I make many changes. I simply added reverb to the voice to make it sound forward and focused and give a sense of empty space. Finally, I affected the volume levels from the Master Mix to make the final track sound smoother.
TASK 5 :
INSTRUMENTAL/STEMS/ACAPELLA :
For Instrumental, stems and acapella I didn't do any processing because the focus was on specific recordings such as guitar stem, instrumental and acapella
In conclusion, there were several technical difficulties in the execution of the works but they managed to be completed. But through these difficulties we learned new knowledge in relation to how to approach different arrangements of tracks, we learned how to send microphones and we took the role of the producer for the first time and through the mistakes that were made we understood better how to correct them in the future, but most importantly we learned how to cooperate with each other which is a very useful skill for our chosen field. I think the mixing and approach of the tracks compared to the original track could be better by using more and better plugins and practicing to create a better final mix.
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