A couple of weeks ago I recorded a small ensemble of brass players for two of the tracks that will be on 'City of My Mind', the album I'm working on - and part of my MSc portfolio.
The ensemble was formed by three trumpets, four saxes and one trombone. Every two instruments were mic'ed using AKG C414s and U87s.
The arrangement was written in Logic using sample instruments and then exported as a score.
Here is a video from the session, the chorus of 'If Silence':
Sunday 31 July 2016
Thursday 28 July 2016
Drum Recording
Today I recorded drums in Studio 1 at UH for 'If Only You Were Real' and 'Falling Star', two tracks that I'll be submitting for my Final Project.
I used less microphones than I would normally do, partly because there were not enough mic stands available, partly because lately I've changed my mindset in the sense that I'm trying to not use more mics when less will do the job.
Mic list:
Overheads: AKG C414 spaced pair
Kick: AKG D112
Snare: Shure SM57
Toms: Sennheiser MD421 x 3
Usually, to this I would have added a snare bottom, a kick out, a hi-hat spot and a pair of room mics.
Another thing I did differently to last time I recorded in Studio 1 is that I recorded onto Logic (I normally record in Pro Tools). However, the rest of my project is in Logic, so it made sense to keep everything in the same DAW. Now onto editing!
I used less microphones than I would normally do, partly because there were not enough mic stands available, partly because lately I've changed my mindset in the sense that I'm trying to not use more mics when less will do the job.
Mic list:
Overheads: AKG C414 spaced pair
Kick: AKG D112
Snare: Shure SM57
Toms: Sennheiser MD421 x 3
Usually, to this I would have added a snare bottom, a kick out, a hi-hat spot and a pair of room mics.
Another thing I did differently to last time I recorded in Studio 1 is that I recorded onto Logic (I normally record in Pro Tools). However, the rest of my project is in Logic, so it made sense to keep everything in the same DAW. Now onto editing!
Tuesday 26 July 2016
Recording piano in B01
Today I recorded some piano for three tracks, one ('City of My Mind') is part of my project, two tracks will be just acoustic versions on which I'll overdub vocals later on and film videos for them to post on my Youtube channel.
The piano was recorded with a pair of Neumann KM184s placed under the hood of the piano and spaced out, to pick up the two main “clusters” of strings (the thinner strings for the high notes, located at the widest part of the piano, and the thick, low strings which reach to the end of the tail). These microphones provide a detailed, close, brilliant sound when placed here. I used anoter pair of KM184s with omnidirectional capsules, pointed at the tail end of the piano facing in. This combination really brings out the low end, and also provides a more ambient perspective. On its own, it’s actually quite muddy, but when mixed in a little can add body to the sound. Lastly, a pair of AKG C414s set to cardioid were used as room mics. These were placed in a near-coincident configuration (ORTF) to provide an accurate image of the piano. They were placed around three meters from the piano, and when mixed in gave control over the front-back perspective by introducing the natural reverb of the room.
The piano was recorded with a pair of Neumann KM184s placed under the hood of the piano and spaced out, to pick up the two main “clusters” of strings (the thinner strings for the high notes, located at the widest part of the piano, and the thick, low strings which reach to the end of the tail). These microphones provide a detailed, close, brilliant sound when placed here. I used anoter pair of KM184s with omnidirectional capsules, pointed at the tail end of the piano facing in. This combination really brings out the low end, and also provides a more ambient perspective. On its own, it’s actually quite muddy, but when mixed in a little can add body to the sound. Lastly, a pair of AKG C414s set to cardioid were used as room mics. These were placed in a near-coincident configuration (ORTF) to provide an accurate image of the piano. They were placed around three meters from the piano, and when mixed in gave control over the front-back perspective by introducing the natural reverb of the room.
Friday 15 July 2016
'City of My Mind' Percussion
Today was dedicated to editing the percussion I tracked a while ago for my song 'City of My Mind' and bringing everything into Logic.
Different DAWs ultimately serve the same purpose, but the functionality of some makes them, in my opinion, more fit for certain tasks; for this reason some of my projects go through several DAWs before everything comes together in one single project.
For example, this song was arranged and written in Logic 9; the piano and the percussion were recorded and edited in Pro Tools; the ‘strings’ (one violin recorded many times changing microphone positions to recreate the sound of an ensemble) was recorded in Reaper. Everything was then bounced as stems and brought together in a Logic X project to be mixed. The reason behind this was that I find Logic better for working with MIDI and composing, Pro Tools commands faster for editing and Reaper, as a free software, is very handy for recording on other computers or for transferring projects and stems from one computer to another, which is what happened when I recorded the strings.
This is a video from the recording session with Kohi, an amazing percussionist. I had fun recording him and also producing, which is apparent from the video.
Different DAWs ultimately serve the same purpose, but the functionality of some makes them, in my opinion, more fit for certain tasks; for this reason some of my projects go through several DAWs before everything comes together in one single project.
For example, this song was arranged and written in Logic 9; the piano and the percussion were recorded and edited in Pro Tools; the ‘strings’ (one violin recorded many times changing microphone positions to recreate the sound of an ensemble) was recorded in Reaper. Everything was then bounced as stems and brought together in a Logic X project to be mixed. The reason behind this was that I find Logic better for working with MIDI and composing, Pro Tools commands faster for editing and Reaper, as a free software, is very handy for recording on other computers or for transferring projects and stems from one computer to another, which is what happened when I recorded the strings.
This is a video from the recording session with Kohi, an amazing percussionist. I had fun recording him and also producing, which is apparent from the video.
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