Jeremiah Newcombe – S.I.D. 0211710

The aim of this assignment was to create a multi-track recording of a typical band line up using minimal post production techniques such as send effects, dynamic processing, automation and mastering thus placing emphasis on the quality of the techniques used during recording. For my project I have decided to record the band “Raised”, a local 3-piece rock band consisting of a drummer, a bass player and a guitar player who also sings (I use the term loosely)  the lead vocals.The session was originally recorded at the AMT studios in the Mellish Clark building on the ARU Cambridge campus and later mixed at the CMT Studios in the Helmore building on the same campus. 

Equipment List:

1x Logic Pro 8

1x Yamaha 01v Digital Mixer

1x TLA 5001 4-Channel Preamp

1x Behringer DI Box

1x Beyerdynamic DT990 Headphones

3x —– Headphones

2x SE4 Condenser Mics (Stereo Pair)

1x SE1A Condenser Mic

1x Audio Technica Drum Mic Kit (Kick, Snare and Toms)

1x Sure Beta58a

1x Sure SM57

1x Rode NTK

1x Neumann U87

1x AKG D112

1x Pop Shield

Plus,  Jack Leads, XLR Leads and Mic Stands

 

Setting Up and Recording:

The band themselves wanted to be able to lay down the bulk of the track as one performance rather than doing it as number of separate sessions. To accommodate this idea the drum kit was set up in the main recording booth while the guitar and bass amps where each placed in separate rooms, the bass player then joined the drummer in the booth to improve their communications while the guitarist/vocalist was set up in yet another room on his own. I then set up Sure Beta 58 for the vocalist so the others could hear the vocals during recording.

Drums

For the drums I chose to mic up everything and make my decisions about what to include at the mixing stage rather than leave something out that I might regret later. For the over-heads i used a pair of SE4 condensers, with cardioid heads, set up in a standard AB configuration angled slightly downward towards the kit. This produced  a solid image of the whole kit but lacked a little width overall so i tweaked the pair apart until i was satisfied with the sound. The next stage was to get the Audio Technica kit set up, i started with the kick by placing the mic almost inside the drum and drawing in back incrementally until i was satisfied with the sound. The tom microphones from the kit were the dynamic types with clip-on attachments and flexible goose necks. I then used an SM57 on the floor tom to try to maintain some continuity with the others toms. I was not altogether keen on using dynamic mics at all but despite the lack of quality they afforded one advantage I discovered was the limited amount of spill picked up from other parts of the kit and this combined with the lack of options available in the AMT store room pretty much decide the matter for me. For the snare drum I also used one of the Audio Technica clip-ons and opted not to use a second mic on the underside of the snare. This was mainly due to the lack of success I have had with the technique the past but if I had had access to another matched pair i would probably have used them to to capture both sides of the snare. With the hi-hat I tried several mics but eventually settled on an SE1A placed slightly above the hats and angled down towards the gap between the top and bottom half. The only problem i encountered  was the spill form the other drums but i managed to defeat most of it by angling the mic away from the rest of the kit and any residual spill problems could probably be delt with using EQ at the mixing stage. Once the microphones were arranged I used Logics “Sample Delay” plugin on each of the spot mics to resolve any phase issues between them and the overheads.

Bass

To record the bass guitar I decided to DI it straight into the mixer as well as placing a AKG D112 mic on the cab. The main reason for this was to give myself some options at the mixing stage but also because I was a little unhappy with either sound individually. The DI signal sounded a bit thin on its own and the amp had a bit of a rattle on it that which appeared as soon as the volume was cranked up to a reasonable level. Given this it seemed sensible to record both and aim to fix them by blending the two together and using EQ to solve the bulk of the problem. As with the drums I used the sample delay plugin on the DI signal to match its phase with that of the mic signal. I also experimented with the TLA 5001 inserted on each of the channels but ultimately decided to use it only on the mic as it had the most impact on the sound and I wanted to save the last 5001 slot for the main guitar.

Guitar

To record the guitar I opted to use a single condenser mic on the cab rather than use the amps built in DI as there were no problems with isolation, I also felt that using a multi-mic configuration would be likely to introduce unnecessary phase issues that would be more hassle than they were worth, so I stuck with just one and ran it through the last channel on the TLA 5001 to “juice” up the signal. Originally I tried using a Rode NTK but found that it produced a “boxy” sound that just didn’t feel right. After a lot of fafing with its position and angle I abandoned the NTK in favor of a Neumann U87 which produced a much fuller sound and a much sharper top end.

Vocals

Once the instrumental tracks had been successfully recorded the booth was emptied and the Rode NTK was set up for the vocals and routed through a slot on the TLA 5001. Having used the NTK for vocals many times I decided it would be the best choice for the task as the warmth and quality of the sound rarely need much in he way of EQ treatment at the mixing stage.  A pop shield was then setup 8cm from the mic diaphragm to prevent excessive sibilance and plosives from being recorded.

 

Mixing and Processing:

With the audio recorded I moved the project over to the CMT studios for the mixing stage to take advantage of the Genelec monitors which I believe to be superior to anything the CMT studios has to offer.  

Drums

Following convention I decided to start the mixing process with the drums. The first step was to audition the overheads, get a proper stereo image for them and locate the pan positions for each of the other drum tracks. To do this i started by panning the overheads hard left and hard right respectively then, using my headphones, I slowly brought them back towards the center until the snare and kick drums took on a definite position in the stereo field without sounding to spread out. I then began to bring in the other drum tracks while trying to match the pan positions to the image created by the overheads. The next stage was to deal with EQ, as previously mentioned I was tying to avoid a lot of processing so all really did here was apply some high-pass filters to control the spill from the kick and the floor tom to reduce the effects of excessive bass and phase cancellation. I also discovered an  in-harmonic booming on the floor tom  and decided to cut a few dB’s around 190 Hz. On the kick drum track I used Logics “Gain” plugin to reverse its phase and bring it in line with that of the overheads. On the snare drum track I decided to boost the EQ a little around 1200 Hz to give it a little more presence in the mix. Once I was satisfied with EQ’s and the pan positions I set the levels of the overheads and slowly brought it the rest of the tracks on at a time until I was happy with the overall sound and balance of the mix. i did use a bit of compression on the overheads to control a couple of enthusiastic cymbal hits. For this i used a ratio of 6.3:1 with a fast attack of 2.5 ms, a release of 43 ms and a hard knee.

Bass 

The next stage was to sort out the bass tracks. Fortunately my original concerns regarding the buzzing cab and the thin DI signal didn’t amount to much in the end but I still decided to blend the two tracks together as each had qualities I liked. First of all I used the “Gain” plugin to solve the phase cancelation problems then i used hi-pass filters to cut out the frequencies below 55 Hz on the DI track and 88 Hz on the mic track. I then balanced the signals against each other and created a sub-group by routed them both to an auxiliary channel.

Guitar

With the guitar track I used a hi-pass filter at 70 Hz to cut out anything that might interfere with the bass tracks I also cut a couple of dB’s 120 Hz to get rid of a bit of the resulting muddiness and boosted a few dB’s around 730 Hz to add a bit presence to the sound. The guitar track itself has captured a bit of reverb from the room which I think, while overlooked at the time, sounds reasonably good and as the guitar is the main presence in the mix it helps the whole thing sound a little less dry.

Vocals

For the vocals there really wasn’t a lot to do after the recording. I added a small EQ cut at 1200 Hz but really this was just me being picky. On the whole the vocalist’s style and tone place his voice in a fairly tight frequency range with a similarly restricted dynamic range which was helpful when placing it in the mix but while listening back to the track it became apparent that his mic technique could probably use some work. as an afterthought i added some compression to even out the overall level of the track. for this i used a modified version of the rock vocals preset with a ratio of 4:1, an attack of 9.5 ms, a release of 210 ms and a very soft knee.

Final Thoughts:

Bearing in mind the style and genre of the track it would probably have benefited from being compressed as “flat as a pancake”. In particular I feel that certain tracks, namely the vocals and some of the drums, could have used individual compression as well as some volume automation to control various spots where the performers have got a bit little carried away and either got too close to a mic or hit something too hard. However, by far the most important thing I am missing is a reverb send which would allow me to give some life to the drums and the vocals which defiantly sound to dry. This said, on the whole I am fairly satisfied with the outcome of the mix despite the lack of processing I would have liked to used I think the overall sound is good.

Pictures:

Jeremiah Newcombe – S.I.D. 0211710

The aim of this assignment was to create several recordings of acoustic instruments using a variety of stereo microphone techniques. for my project i have decided to record Saxophone, Guitar, banjo tracks. each instrument will be recorded using an AB microphone setup followed by another two techniques for a total of 9 recordings and 7 separate techniques. The recordings were made in the CMT studios on the ARU Cambridge campus with a separate session for each instrument.

Equipment List:

1x Logic Pro 8

1x Pro Tools Digi 002 Rack

1x Bayerdynamic DT990 Headphones

2x SE4 Condenser Mic (Stereo Pair)

2x AKG C414 Condenser Mic (Stereo pair)

Plus, XLR Leads and Mic Stands  

Session 1 – Saxophone:  

Saxophone AB Setup:

for this first setup i used the cardioid heads and placed the mics parallel to each other, 30 cm apart, 1.2 m from the floor and about 1.3 m from the wall behind them pointing squarely across the room. i then had the performer play from a distance of 1 m and instructed him to back away in small increments until i was happy with EQ balance of the signal (around 2 m). I then tilted the mics upwards slightly to defeat excessive breath noise from the instrument.  

Saxophone XY Setup:

for the second setup i used the cardioid heads again and placed one mic tilted slightly upward and one tilted slightly downward but equally off parallel to the floor with an angle of 90 degrees between them. i used the same position as for the first (approx. 1.3 m from the back wall and 1.2 m from the floor) and instructed the performer to back away in the same manner as before until i was satisfied with the signal (at around 1.2 m).  there was still a bit too much breath noise so i angled the mic a little bit wider at around 110 degrees.

Saxophone DIN Setup:

for the third setup, still using the cardioid heads, i placed the mics 20 cm apart at an angle of 100 degrees to each other and about 1.5 m from the rear wall and 1.1 m from the floor. i positioned the performer using the same technique as before and settled on a distance of 1.6 m from the mic heads to the bowl of the saxophone. 

Session 2 – Guitar:  

Guitar AB Setup:

for the first guitar recording i placed the mics 32 cm apart angled slightly apart, 1.5 m from the floor and the back wall and used the cardioid heads. i started the performer at a distance of 1 m from the mic heads to the guitar’s sound hole and moved him back at increments of 20 cm eventualy settling on a playing distance of 2 m. i then tilted the mics slightly upward to lower the intensity of the plectrum noise. 

Guitar NOS Setup:

for the second guitar recording i used the cardioid heads again and placed the mics at a 90 degree angle with 30 cm separation between the heads. i kept the mics 1.5 m from the back wall but lowered them to 1 m from the floor and tilted them slightly upward towards the guitar’s sound hole. this time i decided to place the performer at a distance of 1 m from the mics using the previously described technique.  

Guitar ORTF Setup:

for the third guitar recording i placed the mics at 110 degrees with a 17 cm separation, parallel to the floor using the cardioid heads. i positioned the mics 1.2 m from the back wall and 1.1 m from the floor. using the same technique as before i positioned the performer at a distance of 1.5 m from the mic heads to the guitar’s sound hole.

Session 3 – Banjo:  

Banjo AB Setup:

for the first Banjo recording i placed the mics 36 cm apart and angled each of them apart by approximately 15 degrees from parallel, 1.75 m from the the back wall 1 m from, and parallel to, the floor using the cardioid heads. using the previously described technique i positioned the performer at a distance of 1.5 m from the mic heads. due to the lack of volume afforded by the Banjo when being picked i had to crank up the mic pre amps which unfortunately increased the noise floor of the recording.

Banjo Blumline Setup:

for the second Banjo recording i used the C414’s on the omni-directional setting and placed the mics 2 m from the back wall and 1.3 m from the floor. i then positioned the performer at a distance of 1.6 m from the mics using the perviously described technique. unfortunately the same low level signal problem was still present causing the high level noise floor

Banjo OCT Setup:

for the third Banjo recording i placed the SE4’s in line with each other with a distance of 56 cm between the heads using the hyper cardioid capsules. i then placed one of the C414’s in-between them about 10 cm further forward using the cardioid setting. the whole array was setup 1.3 m from the floor and 2 m from the back wall with the performer at a distance of 1.8 m from the array. as with the other banjo recordings the low volume of the banjo has prompted me to increase the pre-amp levels resulting in a greater amount of noise in the signal.