Month: November 2015

What we did this week!

This week we recorded the bass for our Stevie Wonder song. In a way it was also a bit of a recap of some of the tasks we had to do last week. We had to set up the desk checking the levels and labeling the desk correctly. Our next job was to set up everything in the live room, the bass amp, the microphone and the DI connection and get there imputs running through the desk into Pro-Tools. We also set up a talkback mic so Anson (who was playing the bass for us this week) could also communticate with us in the studio. Finally we gave Anson a set of headphones so he could hear the playback and the talkback. Once our levels were correct we began to record Anson. On of the problems we knew we were going to face was the fact that Anson propably wouldn’t be able to record in just one take, or might be doing a good job but then make a mistake near the end. Thats were the punch tool on Pro-Tools come in. Punch works by being able to record over the mistake you’ve made so you don’t have to record the entire bass part again, its also an alternative to using the playlist on Pro-Tools.

Learning about DI and why we record it aswell as the bass amp!

Setting up the DI was simple. Using the DI box ables you to but the bass as an imput through the box and XLR out into the dext and it also sends a signal to the bass amp.

Using the DI helps great a cleaner and simple version of the bass guitar. Mixng both the DI and the guitar amp together gives the bass a real but accurate sound of a bass. It can also be quite useful if your wanting to re-amp or use a plug in.

Overall What We Learnt!

• How do mic up a bass guitar
• Using the puch function in Pro-Tools
• Learning how the DI box works and why
• Applying some of the tone shapes on the audio by using the boards EQ.

Thats it for this week! come back next week for recording Guitar!

 

Week 1 Of Recording!

This week was our first week and the most important week, as we were recording all of the guides and then recording the drums.

What we recoreded!

• Drum mic placement- insuring you have the best sounding drums and creates the sound that would be ideal for the piece.
• Putting into practice signal and rooting recording
• using they foldback across three of the rooms in the multitrack
• we had a very quick look at ProTools playlist system- we didn’t actually use it but its good to learn about this so you can pick the best bits if the take and them into your overall song.

Drum Microphones!

We used several different Microphones today (as you’ll find when I start to list them)

• For the snare bottom we used the Sure sm57, we used this mic in particular because of its Frequency Response which is 40 to 15,000 Hz it also has a brilliant cardiod pick up which reduces unwanted backround sound and any feedback.
• When recording the snare top we used the Audix D2 which works on 30Hz- down 26Hz. Its polar pattern is a  hypercardioid and it has a frequancy responce of 68Hz-18Hz. Its another mic which is mostly used fir recording Snare floor toms and rack toms. As I failed to mention above both the sure sm57 and the audix D2 are dynamic mics which are perfect for resistance to damage.
• With the kick we only used 1 mic as we felt two would have been a bit much for the song we are recording. The microphine we used on the kick was the AKG D112 which again was a dinamic mic with a low frequancy responce which means it is able to hold on to powerful and solid low frequancys which are below 100Hz, which is what you need when recoreding something a bassy as a kick drum. This is also a dynamic microphone which again is mostly used for the kick drum (or usually place nearer the inside of the kick drum.) And just to throw a fact in here (so to speak) this mic has actually become discontinued!
• For the floor tom we used the Audix D4 which is a dynamic microphine with a frequancy responce of  40Hz-18Hz. This mic also had hypercardioid polar pattern, the reason why we used this mic was beucase it can pick up low frequancys but not low and as bassy as AKG D112 but still recomended for toms and bassy drums.
• For the rack tom we used the Audix D2 which we also used for the snare top.
• While recording the Hi-Hats and Overheads we used a pair of ADX51 which are condenser microphones, or if you wanted to be really specific then you would refer to this microphne as a pre-polarized condenser. The polar pattern on this microphone is a cardioid and has a frequancy responce of 40Hz-18Hz.

We had a lot to take in this week, but I think we all worked together really well to create a really good quality recording of our drums. Don’t forget to come back next week and find out great mic and postions for recording a Bass!