This week we recorded any extra parts that we needed. For us that included backing vocals, a keyboard part and the guitar solo. To record the backing vocals, we used an AKG C414 (as we did with the main vocals), and set the polar pattern to omni-directional. We did this because we had three people singing the backing vocals at once, so setting the microphone to pick up less of a direct sound would pick up the three vocalists more. It was my job to talk to be in control of the talkback microphone this week, meaning I would be talking to the people that were recording. We didn’t have enough headphones for all three vocalists, so it was hard to communicate via the talkback intercom. All-in-all the recording went well, and the vocalists managed to hit the correct pitch.

When recording the keyboard, we had to attempt to remember back to our first assessment in order to try and use the patch-bay. We used two jack leads to set the keyboard up as a stereo input, and had to turn the piano volume up high with a low gain on the desk, in order to prevent a buzzing sound that occurred when they gain was high. It is likely that the piano will be low in the mix, and will just be there to add to the overall timbre of the song.

We also recorded the guitar solo which Danny had written. We had a high gain on the amplifier, and used a Shure SM57 and an Electro Voice RE20 to mic up the amplifier. We also used an AKG C414 as a room microphone. The gain on the desk had to be turned up to full on all three tracks as the sound source was relatively quiet. We also re-recorded the overdubbed guitar that is in the track because we didn’t like the first recording of it. We added more distortion to it and tuned the guitar to Drop D, rather than Drop C.

On Monday we recorded the vocals for our song. Before recording, we first talked about the problems that we may encounter when recording the vocals, and how we can prevent them. Some things that we talked about included: Plosives, which can be avoided by using a pop-shield; sibilance, which can be avoided by using certain microphones and by placing the microphone off-axis; and also, the Close Proximity Effect, which is caused when the sound source is close to the microphone and creates louder low frequencies. We also spoke about potential problems with performance, the vocalist needs to ensure that they deliver a performance with enough emotion, intelligibility and at the correct pitch. It is also important to make sure that the vocalist is comfortable.

We spent quite a while deciding which microphone we wanted to use. We set up an Electro Voice RE20 (a large diaphragm dynamic microphone with a flat frequency response, no proximity effect, and can roll off low frequencies – which we used. We put the pop-shield close to the microphone.), a Shure SM57 (a small diaphragm dynamic microphone with a strong proximity effect, reduces low frequencies and peaks high frequencies which could cause sibilance. We placed the pop-shield 10cm away from the microphone to reduce proximity effect.) and finally, an AKG C414 (a large diaphragm condenser microphone, which has lots of detail. Cardioid polar pattern was use and a bass roll off of 160 Hz. The pop-shield was placed 15cm away from the microphone.).

We got Panashé to sing into each microphone so that we could decide which one to use. We pretty much ruled out the SM57, and initially decided to go with the RE20. However, we then got Panashé to sing whilst playing the track, and decided that the 414 sounded better because it sat in the track more. After the first take we realised that the microphone made Panashé’s voice sound slightly nasally, so we tilted the microphone downward slightly for the second take in an attempt to cancel out this effect. Overall the vocal recording went OK, however the pitch problem is rather annoying, and it is harder to edit a piece of music if you don’t like parts of it!

Today we recorded our guitar tracks. We had a lot to get through. To record our guitar we used a Vox modelling amplifier, which has a smaller speaker, giving it more of a sort of intense sound. It was set to “UK Metal” distortion with no bass, some treble and middle, and a high gain.

Shure SM57s

My job (along with Sam) this week was to set up the microphones to record the guitar. Sam and I set up two Shure SM57s to capture the full sound of the amplifier. We put one in the middle of the amplifier, and one toward the edge of the speaker inside the amplifier. Both microphones were very close to the grate of the amplifier. We also set up an sE2200a II (a large diaphragm condenser microphone) to use as a room microphone, and set the polar pattern to omni-directional.

After setting the microphones up, we got our guitarist (Danny) to play along to the track in order to roughly place the guitars at the correct level in the mix. One thing that I noticed immediately was that the guitar sound had a lot of bass to it which I didn’t like, and in order to rectify this I will probably put a High Pass Filter on the guitars to get rid of at least a bit of the bass.

On the desk we used EQ to cut out any low frequencies below 50Hz. We then recorded our first guitar part which went well enough with only a few minor mistakes. Because the rhythm guitar is so repetitive, it is possible to copy a part from another section of the song and paste it into the part which was played wrong. We then panned the part that we had recorded hard-left, and set up a new track for the double-tracked guitar that we were going to record next. We panned this to the right and then recorded it. Finally we recorded a separate guitar part which comes in and out throughout the song, and placed it in the middle of the mix. In order to be able to differentiate between the rhythm guitar and overdubbed guitar, I will probably EQ the overdubbed guitar quite a bit, otherwise it just sounds like one big mess.

Straight from the off we had a lot to think about when recording bass guitar. The bass guitar is a rather quiet instruments, however it can have rather big transients, and some notes can be played a lot louder than others… especially when played with fingers instead of a plectrum. Therefore we considered using a compressor on the way in in order to reduce the dynamic range of the bass so that there were no huge peaks. In the end we decided not to use a compressor on the way in, as it can cause the recording to lose some of its life and sound more mechanical. The bass part of the isn’t particularly twangy anyway, so even though Danny finger-picked, there were no big peaks. Another problem that we had was the hiss of the bass amp that we used. The tweeter in the amp was slightly broken, and hissed when the treble was turned up. This meant we had to have a slightly duller bass sound, with less boosted high frequencies. This week I was in charge of the mixing desk, meaning that I had to get the signal of each microphone (and DI) into Pro Tools. I had to remember to turn on Phantom Power for the condenser microphone and then get the signal level to the desk right, and then send the signal into Pro Tools using the short faders. Then I used the long faders to hear the bass guitar back.

AKG C414 (Left), AKG D112 (Right)

We had Danny sitting in the control room, whilst the amp set up in the Dead Room of the studio, which allowed us to capture the sound of the bass with hardly any reverberation. We used an AKG D112 (dynamic) and an AKG C414 (condenser), as well as using a DI so that we could test the different sounds. Both microphones were placed close to the grill of the amp and slightly off centre, in order to capture both high and low frequencies. Both microphones were set to a cardioid polar pattern, however we immediately noticed that the Signal-to-Noise Ratio was not very good, especially on the D112, presumably because it was close to the tweeter (which was in the right-hand corner of the amplifier). For the DI we used a DI Box to split the signal to both the Audient Desk and to the amplifier. In the end we decided to use the AKG C414 because it sounded better, and also is more sensitive and had a better Signal-to-Noise Ratio.

We recorded the bass within two takes, and created a playlist for each take so that we could switch between both takes when deciding which one to use whilst editing.