FMP 2021 (18th May) - Recording the Bands.

Last time we were in the large studio, we proceeded to record every band. First, we made the bands play through, using the aforementioned presets, that we had created during soundcheck, on every band - each requiring a specific preset, created for them. Once happy with how the bands sounded, we listened to all their pieces and covers that they had to play and decided upon any creative/additive production that we, or the bands, wanted. Creative production is essentially the act of adding to the fully functioning and nice sounding mix, in order to beef it up and make it sound appealing to the audience, as well as make individual aspects of the performance stand out. For example, we would put some reverbs on the vocals, we would do this by sending the vocal channel through a bus with the effect, on the mixing desk. This would make the singers sound more roomy and live and give the performance a more “live” feel, as if they are performing in a large concert hall. Similarly we would put some reverb on some of the drums; specifically the snares and the tom toms. This would give the drums more decay (decay being the body of a soundwave and the time of the initial falling off to the sustain level, (Phoenixgreen,2012)) as well as, a larger feel, making them seem larger and more powerful, simulating the acoustics of a large room or concert hall (Levine,2019).

We also occasionally implemented some delay on the vocals, in specific areas of the performance. Delay essentially makes a sound wave repeat itself, causing the sound to echo and repeat itself, depending on the settings on the delay, (as opposed to reverb, which makes the sound more roomy, and gives it a larger decay, but doesn't actually cause echo), (Soundbridge,2017). We implemented the delay in specific areas of the singers’ performance, this is in order to ensure that the delay does not cloud up the mix, as too much delay can cause the mix to become overcrowded and unclear, essentially sounding like a crowd of singers singing over each other, creating a dissonance that stops everything from being heard clearly. In order to avoid that, I was tasked with pressing the mute and unmute buttons, on the mixing desk, that would send the vocals to the delay bus, or shut them off from the delay (if muted). I would have to listen to the pieces and press the buttons in specific areas of the performance, where I thought that the delay would sound best. This was essentially like automation in logic pro, where an effect would come in during the piece at specific times. I found the task quite challenging, as it took me a couple of attempts to figure out where it would sound best, as well as timing the button pressing to the song (being a person who has very slow impulses and is very erratic, it was hard to keep pressing the buttons in time). Despite the many failed attempts, I managed to find a sweet spot where the delay would come in - at the end of verses and choruses, where there was a relatively large instrumental pause in the singers’ performance. This gave the delay room to echo away the singers last phrases, providing a more dramatic cadence to the singers’ lines, without actually getting in the way of the next verse or chorus. Once happy with the performance, we recorded the best pieces onto Logic Pro X, by connecting the desk to Dan’s Macbook. We were then tasked with mixing and mastering the tracks on Logic Pro X. The two pieces I’ve mixed were Fire, by rock band SIN (Silence In Numbers), and an untitled piece by the metal band, known as Blunt Force Trauma, as well as another piece by them, entitled Make It Count.

M,Levine. (2019). 6 Tips for Using Reverb on Drums in Your Mix. Available: https://www.waves.com/tips-for-using-reverb-on-drums-in-your-mix#:~:text=If%20the%20acoustics%20of%20your,it%20sounding%20natural%20and%20organic. Last accessed 18th May 2021.

Phoenixgreen. (2012). ADSR. Available: https://musictechstudent.co.uk/music-production-glossary/adsr/#:~:text=Decay%20is%20the%20time%20for,a%20note%20is%20let%20up. Last accessed 18th May 2021.

SoundBridge. (2017). Delay Effect Explained. Available: https://soundbridge.io/delay-explained/. Last accessed 18th May 2021