Multi channel recording
for this unit we used studio 1. This studio comprised of
soundcards to amps here is the gear we used to record our
multichannel recording.
Our base of our sutio was a mac pro which runs logic 9 and logic
pro x
-We used Adam a77x studio monitors - these monitors are near
field meaning that they are designed to be used in close proximity
to the user to achieve the maximum potential these speakers has a
flat frequency response which are good to mix on because it does
not give any coloured sound like beats head phones where they over
emphasise that bass. If you were to mix on bass heavy speakers when
you play your mix on another set of speakers you will find
indescrepencys between the speaskiner making the mix sound un
finished. There for using a flat frequency response is key to
getting a good mix. Fir this I would recommend the Yamaha nx10
these are a studio essential because they are widely know has the
best speakers for mixing on with price range incorporated because
of it flat frequency response. Is you get you mix sounding god on
there when you transport them over to other speakers they your mix
will sound amazing.
-We also used a pre amp in recording you use this the same ad DI
a guitar or bass but using the foucsrite ISA 1 it gave a it more
tone and body to the sound. This preamp is a solid staed pre amp
meaning that it runs of transients not live a vale preamp which
runs of valves / tube to achieve tonal chartists
furthermore whilist recording we used an spl talk back monitor
which allowed us to communitce between the player and the sound
engineer
the audio interface we used was 2 focousrite pro 40s which were
hooked up to the live sound boxes in the live room. These were both
firewire connection and have 8 preamps and were designed for low
latency.
22
1331
54
8966
107
1: screen/ monitor 2:krk rocket 5(s)3: adam a77x studio monitors
4:e magic logic controller mixer 5: impulse midi keyboard
6:focousrie pro 40 audio interfaces 7: sphone headphone mixer8:
focousrite isa 1 (solid state pre amp) 9: spl talkback montor and
talk back controller 10: keyboard and mouse
When micing up the drum kit we used a set of audix microphones
which we used to mix up the rack tom floor tom and the kick drum.
We used 2 different microphones to mic up the snare drum on the top
skin we used an sm57 and for the bottom skin to capture the snares
we used an sm58 microphone because they are both dynamic
microphones and they transmit the sound needed also both of these
microphones are cardio pattern allowing the microphone to capture
the whole sound of the drum left and right of 90 degrees.
http://mathforum.org/mathimages/index.php/Cardioid
micing up the kit what we used and why
kick drum- we used an audix f6 this mic has a hyper cardioid
pick-up pattern this stops the mic from picking up any other drum/
ambient resonance to a certain degree which enables it to not pick
up any other sound bar what you have miced it up to do. We
positioned the mic so that the capusual was slightly inside the
skin of the drum so that we could get a mixture of both skins.
However the way we positioned this on my track ( hotel California)
I though the bass drum did not sound good as if it was lacking tone
and thinking back on this I know why. When I miced up the kick drum
I aimed the mic at the center of the back snin where the kick was
hitting the back skin. This lead for a snappy sound and not did not
translate the true tone of the kick drum. In future I would aim the
mix toward the edge of the back skin so that it would allow for
more of the tone of the drum to come though rater than the snappy
tone we had from the kick drum. In future I would angle the mic
towards where the back drum skin meets the meatal because that is
where the maximum tone will come from because the pedal hit in the
center of the skin the maximum tone comes from the edge of the
drum.
Post recording give life back to music
We used eq on all of our drums to create space in the mix so
that the mix did not have too much going on in it so that it would
sound muddy and flat.
Once we had eq the track we would use compression. On the tracks
I have uploaded I heave used many different compressors one was an
external plugin which was a soft tube tube tech 18 and the other
was the compressor which comes along with logic. When using the
compressors I would not take more that 5 db off on a single track
because then I feel that the track looses its chartists and become
to compress which would stand out. On many of times I would of over
compressed a track and after taking a break I would revisit my tack
and find out that I have over used the compressor meaning that the
sound would become flat and cover compressed. On the track give
life back to music I had a problem with over using the compressor
however after a few days when I started to understand how a
compressor works more when wehad a tutorial on hw to use
compression in studio a I felt that I knew a lot more about how a
compressor works and how to use in on tracks. For the track give
life back to music I did not use any more effects apart from the EQ
tool and compressors because I felt after I had used these two the
drums were sitting good in the mix and they did not needed any more
doing to them.
The guitars on the track we used a combination if reverb
compression and eq for the intro guitars seen here.
and for the verse guitars we use al the same but we use logics
amp designer to achieve sa sound similar to the original track of
give life back to music. On this track I chose logics version of
and fender. I chose this because I felt the sound hat I wanted to
achieve was a more American sound amplifier rather that a British
sounding on like a vox or Marshall.
you can see I have placed the mic slightly off center to try and
get a less bassy tone and a more mellow sounds.
Hotel California
On this track we used a close mic placement already show
earlier. But here are some more close up thumb nails.
on the track hotel California we used eq all of the drums with
compresson on the snare drum in my opinion this drum sounded really
good I feel that the mic placement was good and we got a good tone
out of the snare. On all tracks we used an sm57 for the top snare
sin and a sm58 for the bootom which allowed us to capture the
snares. Once recoreded the kit first of we would use the eq to
eliminate all the hums and other sounds what the mic picked up
which was not needed.
here you can see that we have added a bass cut and a small top
endcut to eliminate resinatce you can also see that I have
ephisised 300hz the reason why I have done this is to create a more
fatter and more pronounced sounding snare.
when using the eq for the bottom snare I have eq it in the same
way but have taken more of the high end out because I feel that it
is nit need. I also did a 1.5db boots around 4khz because I wanted
brighter sounds from my bottom skin snare.
When micing up the toms we angles the mics towards the centre of
the drum which then would pick up the true sound of the drum we
used two audix microphones.
To capture the symbols we used two matched pair of audix pencils
condensers microphones we used the pattern of spaced pair this is
when you have two condencer angles in at the snare drum and are of
equal distance apart from the snare. This here is key because if
they are different lengths you will run into fazing issues. One way
to doing this is taking an axr cable and measuring the diftance and
using the bottom of the xlr able as a pioot place the other mic so
that it mets the xlr cable exact then you will not run into
problems. Or you could measure this with a tape measure and make
sure it matches. The key to this is keeping the mics the same
length away from the snare.
Once the mics are in place we on connect them to the Daw we used
two stage boxes. These boxes where connected to the audio interface
the 1st stage box which was imidialy when you walked in the room
which used up inputs 1-8 on the audio interface. The vocal boot
used inputes 9-10 and the far stage box used up inputs 11-18.
Vocal booth Studio Live room
In addition to these two track we were also given another track
just to mix this was we used the same style of compression and eq
on the drum trakcs as seen abouve. However there were multiple
harmoneys so I used the eq on the main vocals and for the backing
vocals I eq them a bit different
1st of all I done a low cut to get rid of some resinance and
guttural tone because this is only going to make the mix sound
dull. Also you can see for the lead vocal I have done a high cut to
get rid of some of the sibilance. I have done this because you are
eliminating resinace. This high cut took out some of the sibilance
luckily but in case it didnt I would of used a do esser which would
of worked just as well. For the backing vocals I have increased the
high cut to 78khz because the backing vocals do not need to be as
promenade in the mix. I also boosted around 2khz because it
represents high end valve mics. You can see the backing vocals have
this 2khz bump in them as well but I have put the backing vocals
right on 2khz because I didnt want those frequencys which I boosted
in the main vocals to get cramped with too much going on in those
frequencys.
to conclude I feel that I have learned a lot about mixing and
hope to get as much practice as I can to further my knowledge about
mixing and using compression and eq.