assessment 1 summary

The first half of the semester, we have learned to deal with all kinds of things regarding to recording in the studio whether is it hands-on or theoretical research. This assessment has prepared me as well as my group members to understand our equipments well and the correct/efficient way to carry on a recording session before we begin our real studio band recording.

Before I begin going through the results of experiments done by our fellow classmates and listing out my go-to setups, I would first go through a list of things which I have learned and should always be conscious/aware of when it comes to handling things in the studio:

1) Knowing our equipment well. This certainly includes knowing the models/names of the microphones that are accessible in our studio, its type (dynamic/large or small condensers/ribbon), its pick-up and reject patterns, frequency range, what the microphones are good for (specifically which type of instruments) and knowing the settings that are available on the microphones themselves (pad & low-cut filter & polar patterns). One of the mistakes and confusion we had in the beginning would be the pick up pattern of the Sennheiser MD421 as we used to think it picks up from the sides like a normal condenser mic would, turns out it does not and it picks up from the top.

2) Always have a plan/aim before a recording session. Knowing what you want to achieve and being organized in terms of what comes first and next would make the process easier and more efficient. The person in the control room should also be very attentive to the overall sounds that are being picked up in the live room, including ringing, buzzing, footsteps sound that should be get rid of before recording instead of relying on EQ to fix them. For instance, while recording the drums, we must make sure the drums are correctly tuned so that they either create a pleasant kit sound or have no excessive noise to it. Most ringings happened when there are harmonics overlaying on top of another, this is when tuning needs to be done more accurately in terms of getting the lugs turned in uniform. Snare buzzes can also happen when certain frequencies enter in the same range of where you snare is. Instead of de-tuning the lugs on your snare, just do a frequency shift by making sure the toms are not tuned the same range as your snare. Back to the aim of a recording session, knowing the sound that is ideal for a mix gets you to do adjustments real quick to either the mic placements (by considering the distance and axis) or to use the settings (pad/low cut filter) to help you. Lastly, giving out a track sheet/plan list to my group members also helped in conducting an experiment/recording session, this includes having a Logic recording template with inputs already set, pre-notifying the assistants in the live room which instruments go into which input or just simply set up a talk back mic for easy communication.

3) Being familiar with the mixer and knowing what goes in as input or line. At this stage, Mix 5-6 controls the headphone pre-amp inside the live room (where an XLR should be connected from the input of the headphone pre-amp to one of the line-in). Mix 7-8 controls the signals coming through the speakers in the live room, Mix 9-10 would be used for the Yamaha speakers and LR controls the Genelec speakers. Channel 31 and 32 both are outputs coming from Logic while signals from the inputs come from its respective channels. While doing recording, the volumes need to be balanced and almost uniform by adjusting the gain till it receives enough signals (-18dB to -12dB would be ideal). And....... always mute/turn off the signals/power before plugging out the cables.

Now comes to concluding our own personal default/go-to equipment and setups. For our experiments, my group has tried our best to go for experimenting setups that are less common and not generally used. This gave us more freedom to explore outside the "general techniques" with common names like AB, XY, ORTF, Blumlein, Glyn Jones and so on...... but at the same time, we are now able to look and hear the results of those common techniques from the other groups. However, I personally do have some favourites from my group's experiments and also a various more done by other groups that showed significant results in their comparison tests.

1) Acoustic guitar setups

- Starting off with acoustic guitar setups, my personal favourite (for a clear & mid-rangey sounding strumming sound) from my group's experiments would be the Mid-Side Configuration technique. For this setup, we basically used a LDC (C414) acting as the sides and a SDC (C451) as the centre positioned towards the 12th-14th fret area. I adore this setup mainly because it did not pick up a lot of the low-ends, which would make the recording overall sound muddy due to the low resonating frequencies, instead, this setup achieved the sound that is smooth and easy to deal with while mixing as a guitar strumming track will most likely be treated as a layering accompaniment in the mix and the low-freq would also be EQ off.

- For fingerstyle guitar piece, I really enjoy listening to this particular recording done by the group-- Hans, Bryan and Andy. Out of the many setups which they have tried: XY, Overshouder, with and without DI, I personally really like the one in XY setup (pair of SDC) with added layer of the recording did with a DI box. It has a stereo sound with a hint of spaciousness to it while the DI layer (with the clean tone of the guitar) brings in body to the overall sound making it stand out well on its own as it is supposed to be for a fingerstyle composition.

Go-to LDC & SDC: C414 & C451

Grand piano

- XY setup would be ideal for any percussive pop/rock sounding piece. This also applies to an ORTF technique as both can create a wide stereo sound, however, as performed by the other group, it is seen that setting up using that technique can be tricky and time-consuming as they needed to use masking tape in order to secure two SDC on a mic stand. Back to XY, this technique not only cover both the treble strings and bass strings, it also cancels out phasing issues which other techniques like AB would have.

- Another technique that works quite well that my group has tried would be a technique that we called the "Unparallel Spaced Pair" where a pair of LDC (either in omni or cardioid depending on the tone we want) will be placed separately one nearer to the keyboard for the treble keys while another one will be placed near the tail of the piano for the bass keys. The closer the distance of the mics towards the piano, the more detailed sound will be picked up.

Go-to mics: AKG C414 pair

Bass

- No doubt, a DI box will be my go-to setup recording bass as it records the cleanest tone of it and gives flexibility in the mix.

- However, another setup that I found from another group which does not use a DI box or a dynamic mic is using a LDC to mike up the bass amp. They used only a Neumann TLM103 mic for the amp and as a result, it sounded very natural as it picked up the sliding sound from the strings and also the subtle punch from the bass amp itself which the DI box sometimes lacks.

Drums

- For genre like Jazz, which my group has tried out, we personally think just a pair of overheads and an additional kick mic (not close miking) would work fine since the cymbals and the snare are our main targeted sounds to pick up.

- For my ultimate go-to setup for drums, it would definitely be close miking and mic placements which highly pick up concentrated sounds since we are most likely gonna be dealing with pop/rock genre of songs to record. Close miking will give us more flexibility and control while producing and mixing.

My go-to setup will contain: A pair of overheads (AKG C414 in wide cardioid/cardioid pattern) to pick up cymbals, an AKG P2 for kick drum (on axis close miking), an AKG C451 on the hi-hat (on-axis towards the other side above it), a SM57 on the snare (pointing towards the skin and off the rim, making its rejection area facing the cymbals), MD421 on toms (angled towards the centre).

Electric guitar

- I do not really have a favourite setup for electric guitar as it all varies and depends on the tone that the guitarist is opting for. For clean tones, I would go for on-axis facing towards the cone or slightly off-axis if needed. For crunchy/distorted tones, I would start off with off-axis angled towards the cone and start adjusting if needed. However when it comes to recording crunchy guitars, I have to bear in mind that recording the electric guitars with their preferred tones and settings on the amp set might give them the "feel" that it sounds right while playing, but it also brings a higher risk that we have absolute no control of changing the tone or trying to fix it if the recording ever gets too muddy from the effects (reverb, delay, distortions). Therefore, I would either choose to record clean directly into Logic through DI with plugin on (for more control in mix) or mike up the amp with very little effects on (maybe just an increase in gain from the amp for some crunch tones and that's it).

- Always check the tuning of the strings as well as the intonation

Vocals!

- Having a go-to microphone for vocalists would be a little interesting as the vocalists themselves would have their own favourite mic to use. However, after going through a few results done by other groups, I can conclude that Neumann TLM103 is a fairly good mic for female vocalist for both distinct voices like Hui Jing's and Sophia's. This mic is able to capture more of the mid-range and subtle low-freq (without going too close to the mic!) and create a very rich and smoothing sound. For male vocalist, using the same go-to mic, 103, would not be a bad choice either but perhaps using the Slate Digital mic can be more flexible sometimes in terms of trying out different emulations of top tier microphones with pre-amps and compressors ready.

- Of course, a default setup for recording vocals would be a mic stand, shock-mount, pop filter and a music stand in front (for looking at lyrics but still facing the mic as much as possible).