Sound engineering studio: My career as a producer of renown begins here!

Recording Documentation Lisa Lane-Collins ________________________________________________________ 18/5, 25/5, 1/6, 8/6 ________________________________________________________ Ponytails ________________________________________________________ Format Sampling Rate 44 100 Bit Depth 16 Duration 2’06 Total Time Spent on Recording 7 Hours 15 Minutes Notes/Issues/Commentary on Recording (Minimum 300 words) Recording with inferior instruments when superior ones are available is an outright waste of time. Need to allow a good hour to perfect the levels of the drum micing. In one session, I had the tracks for the snare and the first tom mixed up. The result of which was a peak nightmare. Was very careful with my mic cables after. Towards the end, lost a few files through Protools refusing to save new recordings to the audio folder. (At the beginning, lost an entire session through selecting unused files and deleting them. I’ll never make that mistake again) Drummer unable to work to a click track. Got the guitarist to play in the control room (being recorded onto a track in the protools session which was deleted later on when it came time to record guitar). The drummer could now hear the guitar part through the headphones with (in theory) no spill into the drum mics. In practice, there was found to be spill with the drum tracks containing guitar but it was quiet enough to not pose a problem. Time was an issue. Time taken to set up and more significantly, time taken to save progress at the end of each session. A portable hardrive would have made the whole process infinitely easier. USB drives stuffing up was also an issue until I started bringing a windows based laptop into each recording session (for use formatting broken USB drives and additional storage space). Used a combination of Mic, amp and DI to record both the basses. The clean base was easy to record (it had hidden pick ups too which meant that was no risk of the bassist slapping the pickups). The distorted bass however, had to be treated more like a second guitar. Used a mic and DI for the guitar. Vocals were recorded through a Neumann using the Avalon for a preamp. After my early nightmare losing an entire song through clearing unused files, I invested a lot of time between each song/instrument, cleaning up my results, removing from the disk unwanted takes and giving wanted takes easily identifiable and sortable names. After one recording session I had to create an entirely new protools session and import all my audio from the old session because protools was not saving my recordings to the audio folder. (The upside of which was, I had no more work to do when I finished the last vocal take save for mixing and mastering). Track Information Track Instrument Performer Name 1 Kick drum Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 52 cardioid dynamic Attempted close mic with the b52 inside the kick drum Notes Fairly straight forward, place the mic in facing approximately where the beater hits (impossible to tell for sure as the skin was not clear). Had problems with the mic stand not holding the weight of the mic and drooping until it rested on the pillow. Didn’t notice this to effect the sound terribly. Track Instrument Performer Name 2 Snare Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 58 cardioid dynamic Closed miced facing snare skin Notes Seemed to work well enough, Had a pretty nice snare sound I thought Track Instrument Performer Name 3 Tom 1 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid dynamic Close miced directly facing skin Notes Had to use 57s on the first two toms. There were four toms in total, 3 56s available for use, I wanted to reserve the two 56s for the lower toms and I wanted there to be a consistency between the 57 miced toms (tom 1 and 2) nd the 56 miced toms (3 and the floor tom). Using the 57 on two toms I thought would stop it from being obvious that it was a different mic to usual. Had lots of spill from other parts of the kit. Also, the mic stand kept drooping. In the end had to coun ter balance it with a bag. Track Instrument Performer Name 4 Tom 2 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid dynamic Closed miced directly facing skin Notes As above. Track Instrument Performer Name 5 Tom 3 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 56 cardioid dynamic As above Notes Suffered from spill and drooping (and was thusly counter balanced with a bag also) Track Instrument Performer Name 6 Floor tom Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 56 cardioid dynamic As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 7 Hi Hat and Crash Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique NT 5 Omni Condenser Attempting to use rule of thirds, placed above and over the hi hat and crash cymbal Notes Can’t escape spill, use it to your advantage Track Instrument Performer Name 8 Assorted other 3 cymbals Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 9 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique 414 cardioid, condenser Close miced on angle facing amp Notes Works well Track Instrument Performer Name 10 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Amplifier DI N/A Notes Also works well Track Instrument Performer Name 11 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Combining the output from the DI and the two tracks previous allows for a nice/full bass sound Track Instrument Performer Name 12 Guitar Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid, dynamic Close miced on angle to amp Notes No fear of peaks, amount of distortion that the player used however could strip your insides Track Instrument Performer Name 13 Guitar Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Slightly fuller sound with a little bit less edge, combined with mic gives good results Track Instrument Performer Name 14 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique 414 cardioid condenser As with the last bass Notes Same as other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 15 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Amp DI N/A Notes Same as other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 16 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes As with other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 17 Lead vocals Todd (a different Todd) Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Neumann cardioid, condenser Relatively close miced with popper stopper Notes Tended to droop, ran it through the Avalon for better, louder sound Track Instrument Performer Name 18 Backing vocals 1 Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As Above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 19 Backing vocals 2 Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 20 Backing vocals 3 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes As above. Missing from final mix thanks to protools’ lack of saving of audio files Link to MP3 mixdown will go here as soon as it is uploaded to the web Recording Documentation Lisa Lane-Collins ________________________________________________________ 18/5, 25/5, 1/6, 8/6 ________________________________________________________ CIA ________________________________________________________ Format Sampling Rate 44 100 Bit Depth 16 Duration 1’59 Total Time Spent on Recording 6 Hours 30 Minutes Notes/Issues/Commentary on Recording (Minimum 300 words) Essentially, this song progressed at the same rate as Ponytails. For example, drums would be recorded for Pony Tails and then, before packing the kit up, drums would be recorded for CIA. As all the setting up would be completed by time Ponytails was finished, recording CIA tracks was always an easier experience. The notes/issues and commentary are essentially the same as they are for Ponytails as CIA was recorded at the same time. Ways in which CIA differs are the Clean bass which uses a phasing effect for the verses (meaning the gain needed to be turned down a little bit and the bass had to be automated to be louder in the chorus or it disappeared) and the backing vocals, there are less (only because by the end no one could be bothered to record them). That and, the distorted bass now plays with breaks under my advice (attempting to insert some contrast into the band’s music). Track Information Track Instrument Performer Name 1 Kick drum Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 52 cardioid dynamic Attempted close mic with the b52 inside the kick drum Notes Fairly straight forward, place the mic in facing approximately where the beater hits (impossible to tell for sure as the skin was not clear). Had problems with the mic stand not holding the weight of the mic and drooping until it rested on the pillow. Didn’t notice this to effect the sound terribly. Track Instrument Performer Name 2 Snare Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 58 cardioid dynamic Closed miced facing snare skin Notes Seemed to work well enough, Had a pretty nice snare sound I thought Track Instrument Performer Name 3 Tom 1 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid dynamic Close miced directly facing skin Notes Had to use 57s on the first two toms. There were four toms in total, 3 56s available for use, I wanted to reserve the two 56s for the lower toms and I wanted there to be a consistency between the 57 miced toms (tom 1 and 2) nd the 56 miced toms (3 and the floor tom). Using the 57 on two toms I thought would stop it from being obvious that it was a different mic to usual. Had lots of spill from other parts of the kit. Also, the mic stand kept drooping. In the end had to coun ter balance it with a bag. Track Instrument Performer Name 4 Tom 2 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid dynamic Closed miced directly facing skin Notes As above. Track Instrument Performer Name 5 Tom 3 Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 56 cardioid dynamic As above Notes Suffered from spill and drooping (and was thusly counter balanced with a bag also) Track Instrument Performer Name 6 Floor tom Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique B 56 cardioid dynamic As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 7 Hi Hat and Crash Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique NT 5 Omni Condenser Attempting to use rule of thirds, placed above and over the hi hat and crash cymbal Notes Can’t escape spill, use it to your advantage Track Instrument Performer Name 8 Assorted other 3 cymbals Todd Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 9 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique 414 cardioid, condenser Close miced on angle facing amp Notes Works well Track Instrument Performer Name 10 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Amplifier DI N/A Notes Also works well Track Instrument Performer Name 11 Bass Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Combining the output from the DI and the two tracks previous allows for a nice/full bass sound Track Instrument Performer Name 12 Guitar Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique SM 57 cardioid, dynamic Close miced on angle to amp Notes No fear of peaks, amount of distortion that the player used however could strip your insides Track Instrument Performer Name 13 Guitar Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Slightly fuller sound with a little bit less edge, combined with mic gives good results Track Instrument Performer Name 14 Lead vocals Todd (a different Todd) Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Neumann cardioid, condenser Relatively close miced with popper stopper Notes Tended to droop, ran it through the Avalon for better, louder sound Track Instrument Performer Name 15 Backing vocals 1 Vark Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As Above Notes As above Track Instrument Performer Name 16 Backing vocals 2 Todd, Todd, Vark and Doink Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique As above As above Notes This track is more for fun than for the music, every band member present crowded around the mic and at certain points, screamed backing vocals. Track Instrument Performer Name 17 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique 414 cardioid condenser As with the last bass Notes Same as other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 18 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique Amp DI N/A Notes Same as other bass Track Instrument Performer Name 19 Bass 2 Gavin Microphone Brand/Model/Pattern Placement technique DI N/A Notes Wave form is a solid rectangle, didn’t end up using this track at all, too abrasive Link to MP3 mixdown will go here