Audio Engineering Ass3 (Band Recording)

8/18/2019 Audio Engineering Ass3 (Band Recording)

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Gareth Talbot 08029059

MO1S01 Assignment 3 –Band Recording and Mixdown

Report

Abstract

This report describes the techniques and processes used to fully record and mix

a song using Analogue Signal processing The trac! "as recorded using an

Audient AS#802$ mixing des! and %arious outboard e&ects and processing units

in '(20$ at the Atrium

Introduction

(efore a song could be recorded) the group had to *nd a band "ho "anted to

record some trac!s This came from a guitarist "ho is also studying this degree

approaching the group as!ing if his band could record The group thought this

"as a good idea and "ent ahead and boo!ed a day in the studio to get the

trac!s recorded

Recording Processes

+deally) the group "ould ha%e preferred to set ha%e the drummer arri%e *rst as

the drum !it tends to be "hat ta!es longer to set up and get sounding good

through the des! ,o"e%er) due to the drummer ha%ing to spend most of the day

in school this could not happen The *rst member of the band to arri%e "as one

of the guitarists The group decided that as they had a fair amount of time to

"or! "ith they "ould attempt to get the best possible guitar tone for the

recording This guitarist used an Atomic combo amp and a -ine . #/ e&ects

unit The group decided to use a Shure S15 microphone for this amp as it has a

suitable frequency range for recording guitar This microphone "as placed

to"ards the right hand side of the spea!er) at a right angle to the front of the




spea!er This "as "hat the group deemed to be the ideal microphone position for

this amp The group recorded the guitarist playing a short section of a song and

then he came into the control room to listen to his sound The guitarist felt that

the sound needed 3thic!ening4 To achie%e this) the group placed another S15

e%en closer to the right edge of the spea!er) but at roughly a $5 degree angle to

a%oid phase bet"een the t"o signals The guitarist "as happy "ith this sound

The second guitarist had an openbac!ed #ea%ey combo amp 6ollo"ing

ad%ice pic!ed up from a %ideo on 37outube4) one of the group members

suggested that a microphone placed at the bac! of the amp may produce a nice

tone Again) 2 Shure S154s "ere used) one at the front left hand side of the

spea!er and one at the bac! on the same side but a bit lo"er) and approximately

inches a"ay from the rear of the spea!er cone (oth the group and both

guitarists "ere pleased "ith this sound

To capture the sound of the bass guitar) it "as deemed unnecessary to use

an amp) as the group "anted to direct input +: the guitar any"ay The bassist

had an e&ects pedal "hich he plugged into and then the output of this unit "as

ta!en by ;-< cable to a + box "hich then led to the tie lines in the li%e room

The group applied equalisation =>: from the control room "hich the bassist

heard through his headphones until both parties "ere happy "ith the sound

6or the %ocals) the group decided to use a Shure S158 and a pop shield

An S158 has become a standard microphone used for capturing %ocals) and the

group thought it "or!ed "ell "ith this singer The pop shield "as added as a

precaution to reduce the e&ects of plosi%e sounds

#reparing the drum !it for recording "as the hardest part of the recording

process A %ariety of di&erent microphones and techniques "ere used to ensure

the best sound "ould be sent to the mixing des! The bass drum sound "as to




be captured using an A?G @@2 microphone This is a microphone built for

pic!ing up lo" frequencies so it "or!ed "ell for pic!ing up the sound of the bass

drum

The snare drum "as mi!ed using an Audix i5 microphone +nitially) the

microphone "as placed belo" the drum pointing up but this produced an

unsatisfactory sound This "as largely due to the bad quality of the snare drum

To rectify this) the microphone "as mo%ed so it "as abo%e the snare drum This

impro%ed the sound but there "as still too much ring from the drum after it had

been struc! To counteract this a 2p coin "as stuc! do"n using duct tape to

dampen the sound Although the sound "as still imperfect) it got it to a place

"here it could be 3*xed in the mix4 using => and %arious processing systems

An A?G '$0 microphone "as used on the hihats The microphone "as

placed belo" the bottom hihat This "as a technique used the last time the

group recorded) "ith pleasing results) so they decided to use it again This

technique retains the short 3clic!4 sound produced by the stic! stri!ing the top

cymbal but also pic!s up the mid range frequencies better) "hich is handy for

recording a metal band as the cymbals "ill more often be used open rather than

closed

Shure S154s "ere used for the toms @ "as placed in bet"een the t"o

rac! toms and one "as placed close to the edge of the oor tom The group tried

to face the oor tom microphone a"ay from the bass drum slightly to a%oid

pic!ing up any signal from the bass drum This is because of the oor tom and

bass drum being in similar frequency ranges) so if too much bass drum "as

pic!ed up in this microphone it "ould be almost impossible to get rid of

6inally) a matched pair of Audix S';25a microphones "ere used as

o%erheads They "ere placed %ery high approx ft o& the ground: to ma!e the




"hole drum set feel bigger and "ider "ithout ha%ing to pan them too far out at

later stages ,o"e%er) due to the "ide cardioid polar pattern for these

microphones) they ended up pic!ing up far too much of the room4s sound) and

also pic!ed up far too much of the crash cymbals) especially as they "ere being

played %ery loud on the recording <ichard SalB of =lectronic 1usician magaBine

is quoted as saying of these microphones CAs an o%erhead drum microphone) it

pro%ides a transparent and full sounding presentation that is up there "ith the

bestD The group did not *nd that this "as the case "ith these microphones and

next time they record a band "ill endea%our to *nd a better pair to use

/ther techniques used included placing the t"o guitar amps close

together in the li%e room This came from some ad%ice gi%en by the band4s

guitarist) Glyn) "ho suggested that this "ould help reduce spill bet"een the t"o

sets of microphones as the spea!ers "ere not facing each other

1ixdo"n

(y the time the group "ent into the studio to mix the trac!) they already

had a good idea of "hat they "ould need to do This "as due to the band4s

guitarist) Glyn) ha%ing already mixed the trac! and telling the group of the

problem areas These areas included the terrible sounding bass drum and snare

drum) and also the harshness of the cymbal sound

The group also felt that the band did not *t in to a studio en%ironment

%ery "ell) and opted to try to ma!e the mix sound as much li!e a li%e

performance as possible) hoping to ma!e the trac! sound as if it "as recorded in

front of a huge audience This meant that minimal use of dynamic processing

and e&ects "as needed to enhance the trac!




The group started by listening through the trac! a fe" times "ith all the

channel faders set to 0d( +t immediately became apparent that the

performances of the drummer and bassist "ere quite poor compared to those of

the guitarists and %ocalist This meant that the guitars and %ocals "ould ha%e to

be more prominent in the mix than other parts

To begin the mixing process) the group decided to solo each trac!) starting

at trac! @) and ma!e it sound as good and natural as possible on it4s o"n before

combining it "ith other sounds The *rst channel "as the bass drum The group

had noticed that the bass drum could hardly be heard "hen all the other

channels "ere playing so ob%iously something had to be done to boost the signal

"ithout creating un"anted noise The group came to the conclusion that the

reason for the lac! of bass drum sound in the mix "as due to bad placement of

the microphone -istened to in the li%e room) the bass drum "as the best

sounding part of the !it) so it "as a pity that this great sound "as "asted

To impro%e the sound of the bass drum) hea%y => "as needed ,o"e%er)

boosting the signal so much using => meant that "hen the trac! "as brought to

the desirable %olume) the signal "as clipping uncontrollably The group tried

using a ra"mer compression unit to help this) but to no a%ail

/n top of this =>) a anger "as used This is not common practice but

made the bass drum sound good enough to *ll its place in the mix This e&ect

"as set using the T' =lectronics unit

After ha%ing spent so much time on the bass drum) the group decided to

mix the rest of the drum !it as a "hole (alancing the trac!s "as hard as the

playing "as %ery cymbal hea%y) and as mentioned abo%e) the o%erhead

microphones used did not ma!e the cymbals sound %ery good "hen played in




this manner As a result of this the cymbals ha%e ended up %ery lo" do"n in the

mix

The group used => settings on the hi hats and snare drum to impro%e their

sound quality This included boosting both the high mid frequencies and lo" mid

frequencies on the snare drum This "as to hide the fact that the snare drum "as

%ery badly played on the recording) "ith inconsistent force used) ma!ing it

impossible to put it at a le%el "hich "as satisfactory

The group applied noise gate settings on the Shure S15 that "as

capturing the sound of the oor tom This "as to reduce the sound of the ride

cymbal "hich had been pic!ed up by this microphone They used a ra"mer $0$

Eoise Gate "ith the follo"ing settingsF

-6 ,6 Threshold <elease55,B 00,B @0d( 25

sing these settings reduced the e&ects of the cymbal spill on this microphone

and left the group happy "ith the "ay the drums "ere mixed

The group had no" spent a %ery long time mixing the drum !it) and "ere

left "ith little time left to mix the rest of the song +t "as understood that this

"as mostly their fault for not spending enough time altering microphone

placements for the !it -uc!ily the rest of the band had been recorded "ell and

needed %ery little changing

The => settings applied to the remaining trac!s "ere %ery normal and can

be read from the trac! sheet enclosed




Apart from these => settings) a compressor "as used on the %ocal trac! to

impro%e the dynamic range an a%oid clipping The group used the ra"mer $$@

compressor and the follo"ing settingsF

A -exicon re%erb "as used at the end of the song on the %ocal trac! This

"as an idea that a group member had as he thought the %ocals sounded a bit

3dead at this point

'onclusion

All of the group members are happy "ith the outcome of the mix) and it has

been played to the band "ho "ere all happy "ith the quality

There are quite a fe" things "hich could be impro%ed for future proHects

These include spending a lot more time setting up the sound of the drums) as

drums are %ery important in hea%y metal music and because of the bad standard

of recording they "eren4t gi%en a chance to shine through on this trac!

The group has a lot of "or! planned in the studios o%er the summer brea!)

and hope to be able to use this time to their ad%antage to learn from the

mista!es they made "hile underta!ing this "or! and ma!e the "or! they do in

the future of a much higher standard

<eferences

"""audixusacom for <ichard SalB4 quote about the Audix S';25a

"""youtubecom for ad%ice on open bac! amp mi!ing

Threshold d( <atio Gain -e%el@5 F@ @ 0




Documents

Audio Engineering Ass3 (Band Recording)