From the start of the year, we have had recording lessons with Paul about more in depth ways of capturing live sound in the studio. Then we have also had Luke teaching us about it as well and also preparing us for doing it our selves. Below is a detailed blog on the journey that we embarked upon into our recording adventure.
We started the unit off being put into bands; My band consisted of Kane Carson, Cara Hughes, Jack Tyson and Kyle Petcher. We had to record an A side and a B side song so that when they were finished, we would take them into Studio One to mix and master them. When we were tasked with coming up with an A side, we decided to all write a song together, as it would be unique to us and easier to master since it would be out own creation. Kane came up with a basic chord structure from the verse, chorus and bridge and Jack, Kyle and I worked around it just being a basic rhythm section; Cara came up with all her own lyrics to suit the song as well. When the song was well practised, it was obviously time to record it and when it was our turn to record we had to capture it in a live setting (Somewhat). Jack and I recorded the drums at the same time in the recording booth as that was one of the parameters of the project. Kane and Kyle recorded at the same time with Cara, however Cara was outside of the recording booth in the actual studio with a condenser microphone. We got the song down in a few takes and it sounded very good, the tones on the guitars sounded nice and distorted as it was a rock song and the drums gave a nice kick to the sound as well since we used Jack’s breakables and snare (He’s already in a blues rock band).
We had to wait a while before recording the B side because other bands needed to record their songs as well, so we were put on the engineer/mixing desk jobs along with helping to mic up the amps and the drums along with the two other bands. This was helpful because I still struggle using the desk properly and Paul and Luke were very specific about the use of the pots and how to bring the rest of the band’s levels up or down in people’s cans if they needed it. I already knew how to use Studio One because of last year and I can set up sessions quite quickly when needed, however this was usually taken over by other people when they weren’t quite as in the know about it. Packing away the studio and the recording booth was another thing that was part of the whole process. Since people would usually leave to get to their next lesson it would only ever be a handful of people left to help pack away all the XLR and Jack leads used by the microphones and the guitars. This was bad because when some people that don’t usually do it stayed behind to help, their knowledge of bundling up cables was to wrap them around their elbows and hand in a circle, not knowing that doing that puts tension on certain parts of the inner wires and can lead to cable damage with no culprit.
When it was our turn again to record our B side, we decided again to write another song. This time it was a much heavier track without vocals. Heavily inspired by the musicians Kane looks up to, it was a riff that was unused by one of Kane’s current bands for being “Too heavy!”. So we took it upon ourselves to make sure the riff didn’t go unrecognised by making a full instrumental heavy rock track. Again, this was all Kane in the writing. There were a different set of parameters for this side, as in we had to record everything separate to one another and we had to do it to a click track. This was fine for Kane, Kyle and I because we’ve been in professional recording sessions before in both of our bands and everything needs to be tight for professional releases. With a few takes under our belt, it was time to record the drums. Jack is a very talented drummer, however he did have some trouble with playing to a click track. It was during the first verse when he kept slipping out of time to the metronome in his cans, we thought it was just a one off thing at first but we persevered. We had no idea what the problem was and we thought we might have to find a way around the issue; This was before we knew that he didn’t have enough bass in his cans. He recorded it it one take after the bass was turned up, it was then and there that we understood that Jack is a true rhythm section player at heart! With that, our B side was recorded (and still untitled…) and we could sit back and help the other bands with their recordings since Kane is basically already a sound engineer and I am good with Studio One.
Finally it was time to do the mix downs of our songs. We were given 4 weeks to complete our MIDI portfolios with Luke and also complete our mixes. The MIDI stuff was easy as it was just using techniques and samples built into Studio One: this includes using the Humanize and Quantize tool, using the Automation tool. Once that was done, it was time to start mixing. Luke instructed us that the most basic form of mixing was setting the stage gain with an insert called “Mixtool”, inserts are what you put onto certain tracks to add to it. For example, the Mixtool allows you to turn the gain structure of a track down without having to use the faders. Another one we were prompted to use was the “ProEQ” which is an insert that basically alters the low and high frequencies in the separate tracks. With these two you can alter how the raw wav files sound, you could boost the low end and give something more bass, or you could boost the high end and give something more clarity. Other things I used include a distortion insertc called “RedLightDist” which is a distortion module, I used it on the bass on the A side to make it stand out a bit more and to give it a punchier sound. I also used a bit of reverb on Cara’s vocals also on the A side to add a subtle room effect and it went nicely with the track. For my B side, I did not use the second track we recorded, simply because we were given the option not to. So I instead went with another bands track which was a cover of “We’re Gonna Groove” by Led Zeppelin. I chose this mainly because of the variety of the separate tracks. Lorna McCarthy’s voice is a very powerful one, so it was a good chance to use the ProEQ and the Mixtool to full effect to bring her vocals out a bit more. Also using the left and right panning on the drums and guitars to make the song feel a bit more real.
My A side files corrupted and i had to start all over again, I had no idea about the inserts that I had put on and I had very little time to make a new one from scratch. So, My A side sounds very sketchy and rough, but there was no way to recover the old files and the files that were there, were blank and useless. This should also be a lesson on backing up files and bringing in my own devices to store files incase of an emergency that would be beyond my control.
In conclusion, I have learned a lot about live sound and how it is done. I have been behind the desk first hand and using the software in which to capture music and then get to play the creative engineer for my own creations. I can say that this knowledge will come in handy when I eventually move up into the musical world in terms of my own creations, as I’ll be able to record and mix my own music and depending on the software, I’ll be able to use it.
Mark Kirby 