1. CS4044 Final Mix Report
Gin n’ Juice -
Constellations
Group 18
Patrick Shanahan (10003406)
Killian Vigna (10129758)
Killian Stone (09005157)
2. Introduction
Before we could begin recording we first had to choose a band to record.
After a little confusion and losing one band due to poor communication we
finally landed ourselves a top class band. We had a drummer, a bass
player, two guitarists and an excellent vocalist. Our band were very eager
to record themselves in a real studio as opposed to recording in their
garden shed and so they were extremely helpful in the set-up and
recording process. We had each musician come in on a separate day,
except the two guitarist which we managed to record in one studio slot. As
we were dealing with musicians who often performed live gigs they had
much of the equipment we would require such as mics and amps prior to
entering the studio. This gave us a chance to decide what equipment
would suit best for the recording. In the end we mainly used the bands
personal equipment including a full drum kit with mic set-up. The band is
called ‘Gin n’ Juice’ and the song they decided to play for us was an
original track that they wrote themselves called “Constellations”.
Drum Recording
When it came to recording the drums our chosen drummer supplied his own
mic set-up. This was extremely beneficial to the quality of our track as our
drummer was able to tell us exactly how he felt it should sound and how the
mics should be set up. We faced the drum kit towards the Live end of the
recording studio and then we set up 3 small mics on the drum kit itself as well
as two overhead condenser mics pointing at opposites sides of the drum kit
which used phantom power. This set-up was to catch all of the noise coming
from the drums and allow us to adjust levels of certain pieces later in the
mixing stage. We then laid down a click track and began our recoding. As our
drummer was rather professional we ended up being very happy with the
second take.
3. Guitar Recording
The second instrument we decided to record was the guitar. As we had two
guitars in our track we had to record them separately but we were able to use
the same mic set up for each. We first set up a mic stand low down by the
amp, basically touching off the amp itself. We then connected the guitar
through a DI to the amp and finally placed the mics into the stand and
connected the cables. Once this was done we began to record. We found the
guitars the hardest to record, mainly due to minor mistakes being made by the
musician and having to re-record a few times in order to get the perfect take.
Once we had the first guitar recorded we repeated this entire process for the
second guitar.
Microphone setup
The mic stand was set up first and then the cable was laid. The mic was
placed on the stand and the cable ends were connected. A DI unit was
used to connect the guitar to the microphone input. The DI performs
level matching, balancing, and can also minimise noise and
distortion.
We listened to the amp and guitar combination on microphone-level -- that
is, where the microphone would be placed when recording being careful
not to place it too close to the amp as the low-end will be artificially
boosted with a microphone placed close to the source, something called
proximity effect. As we wanted a louder more treble filled sound we placed
the microphone towards the centre cone of the amp. The amp was
recorded at the highest possible level while still achieving our desired
sound.
A dynamic microphone was used to record the guitars because of its
ruggedness, it's ability to withstand high SPL volumes and not needing any
power to operate.
4. Bass Guitar Recording
Microphone setup
The mic stands were set up first and then the cables laid. The mics were
placed on the stands and the cable ends were connected. A DI unit was
used to connect the bass to the microphone input.
We followed the same rules for a good guitar amp mic setup: closer to the
center of the speakers themselves for more high end, and farther away to
the side for more lows. An ambient microphone was placed across the
room, far enough away from the sound source to capture more of the room
sound (the reverb and delay) and with placement being key we took time to
find to best location for the mic. Phantom power from the mixing room was
used for the ambient mic. We were aware that using two microphones can
cause phase issues and we kept the relationship among the mics correct;
otherwise we may have had problems with the phase of the recorded
waveforms.
Recording
The bass recording was straightforward with our musician playing the
whole track through twice. His first take was the cleanest and we used this
for our mix. The fact that the track was jointly written by the band members
helped in our recording as they were very familiar with the music and
professional in the studio set up.
5. Vocals Recording
The final piece we decided to record was the vocals. This was due to our
singer being kept rather busy by exams but we eventually got him into the
studio. We set up a mic stand and a pop filter approximately 30cm from the
mic, we then placed the mic in the stand and connected the cables. A large
diaphragm microphone, requiring phantom power, was used which helped
to give the vocalist a "deep" sound. The pop screen was used with
the condenser microphone for the vocals because they are sensitive to
transient noises that will cause distortion.
We sent what we had recorded so far through to the singers’ headphones so
that he could keep time in the song. In order to get a clean recording we had
to ask the singer to stop tapping his foot as we could hear it in the recording.
After the third take the singer was happy with the sound and we began
recording some backing vocals one octave down from the original vocals.
Once a few harmonies and backing vocals had been recorded we had all of
our tracks and were ready for the mixing stage.
Mixing Stage
Once all the tracks had been recorded it was time to edit and master the
tracks. We began by syncing up all the tracks and then trimming and fading
the tracks. Next we added level balance, gates and equalizers. Compressors
and limiters were then added to the tracks. Finally we began panning certain
parts of the tracks to particular areas which we felt added more depth to the
track. We then added some final FX and the track was finished. The editing
process itself did not turn out to be too difficult and we thank a good quality
band and recording for this.
Once the final mix had been completed using ‘Protools’, we burnt a CD of our
song and compiled this report to go alongside it.
