Production Diary

cornbb

As one of the electronic music junkies around here I haven't had a huge amount of experience in acoustic/live music recording or production (i.e. stuff involving microphones ), apart from one or two projects in college. I imagine I would fall somewhere in the vast space between the noobs who wander looking in here looking for advice on how to get started with the absolute basics, and the seasoned veteran engineers in here who spend every waking hour immersed in Pro Tools - you all know who you are!

So I'm starting a simple recording project this weekend and I figure I'll post some sort of production diary in here. Why? Because 1) those of you with vastly more recording/production experience than me might be able to give me some pointers and 2) those of you with little or no experience might learn something useful if I document my own experiences thoroughly.

As soon as I get the time I'll write a "pre-production" post detailing my equipment and software list, "studio" (i.e. bedroom) environment, a plan for the session and details of the music and instrumentation. After that I'll write up a detailed post before or after each stage of the production process, maybe even with audio clips/screenshots/photos if I have the time and inclination.

So lads, is this a good idea or not?

TelePaul

sounds like an excellent idea.

Paligulus

Nice one Cornbb. That would be great!!!! Won't be able to help out much on the heavy technical side of things but I'll offer suggestions where possible. Should be interesting anyway.

Dave

Niall - Dahlia

I was planning on doing the exact same thing at the end of next month when I record a friends band with some decent rented gear, so I'm looking forward to reading your diary!

cornbb

Excellent so, I'll have something up late tonight or tomorrow - I'd encourage anyone else interested to do the same, we might get another nice sticky going here.

cornbb

Right, here goes so. This is my pre-production entry.

The Music
I will be recording a vocalist/acoustic guitarist. I may add a bassline myself after the initial session. The songs are of a pop/ballad type. We plan on recording two of these due to time constraints - several mixes/variations will be worked on later, given my obsession with electronic stuff.

The Equipment
- A matched pair of cheap-as-chips small diaphragm condenser mics from Thomann, plus shockmounts and stereo bar.
- A large diaphragm condenser mic (Audiotechnica, I think) + shockmount that I should be able to borrow from a mate.
- A crappy SM57 lookalike dynamic mic that I can use for vocals should the AT mic fall through...
- E-Mu 1616 interface - providing 2 mic inputs with phantom power plus a dose of other inputs that may come in handy (another input with phantom power would be handy but I'll get by with 2)
- Dell Laptop running Cubase SX 3 and E-Mu's Patchmix routing/effects application. (I'll publish a more complete list of software when post-production time comes).
- Tapco S5 5" active monitors.
- Sennheiser closed headphones (HD280 Pros)
- One mic stand
- Mic leads
- A popshield made from tights and a wire hanger (haven't gotten around to making this yet )

The Recording Environment
A large high-ceilinged carpeted bedroom with plenty of soft furnishings. Some traffic noise might unfortunately seep in through the windows from outside. Will treat the room and position the mics as best I can bearing in mind Carrigsound's advice in the Tips and Pointers thread (thanks for that).

Now.

Can anyone offer me advice with regard to how I should go about doing the actual tracking? Is a click track vital, considering that I'll likely be adding MIDI-based stuff later? Should I be recording "safety" tracks in case there's been a screwup I don't hear til later? Any particular mic positioning I should be thinking about?

Niall - Dahlia

Hey corn,

How does the vocalist want to be recorded? Or are you calling all the shots?

What I'm getting at is does the performer feel more comfortable playing and singing at the same time, or laying down the guitar first before recording vocals seperately? I ask because juding by your interface (I could be wrong though) you only have 2 inputs, which wouldn't allow you to record the guitar in stereo while also recording vocals.

That mightn't be a problem, but personally I like stereo acoustic guitar to fill out the stereo image a little, especially when recording a single guitarist/vocalist.

If it were up to me I'd find out what the performer is looking for; if he wants a very natural, "singer & his guitar" recording, I'd go with a single stereo guitar. If he wants a more produced sound, double tracked and panned is the way to go.

cornbb wrote:

Should I be recording "safety" tracks in case there's been a screwup I don't hear til later?

Not quite sure what you mean by this...all I'll say is: Keep everything that you record! Even if there's a small mistake in a take and the performer wants to redo it, keep it. It could save you later on in the mixing stage. Pro Tools is great in this regard (I'm sure Cubase is too, just haven't used it much), everything you record is kept and easily retrievable.

Is a click track vital, considering that I'll likely be adding MIDI-based stuff later?

Personally I'd never use a click track with this type of recording. I was once recording something similar and the guy was planning on having a drummer lay drums over the track at a later date. We still decided against the click. Not sure if the drummer will be happy about it but there you go!

cornbb wrote:

Any particular mic positioning I should be thinking about?

Again, my personal preference would be XY stereo miking on the acoustic with the matched SDCs. Although that depends on just how cheap them Thomann mics are! I see you have a stereo bar like myself which makes it easy to setup the XY and then position the stand while monitoring to find a good sound. Distance will definitely depend on room acoustics. Avoid boominess from the soundhole and just use your ears as they say!

Also there's nothing worse than a crap acoustic guitar on a recording where it is so prominent. Get the best one you can!

Looking forward to hearing how it goes anyway, best of luck with it man.

TelePaul

cornbb wrote:

Is a click track vital, considering that I'll likely be adding MIDI-based stuff later? Any particular mic positioning I should be thinking about?

Yes, a click track is pretty vital. Try a mic at the 12th and a mic at the bridge 12-14' out.

squibs

Agree - if you are laying down midi after, click is a must. I would actually listen to the song and program a basic drum beat (rather than a click) that fits the song and swings with the guitar - just as a guide.

cornbb

Guys, thanks for all the replies, they were all read and were most useful. The session went ahead yesterday and went well. When I have more time I'll write a more detailed post.

sei046

I would also advise doing the drum track first and letting the guitarist play to that instead of a click track. You might find that the timing seems a little off in particular where there are accents when you put a drum track on top of a clip that was recorded to a click. Might be too late though! If its basic enough though it may not cause a problem

cornbb

Right, time for an update.

Thanks again for all the hints. The session went ahead on saturday, due to time constraints we decided to scrap the idea of adding electronic after-the-fact stuff so a click track wasn't used.

The room was treated by hanging duvets directly behind the mics and behind the musician, as was suggested to me. A little traffic noise leaked in through my closed curtains and double glazing, which was a real pain in the arse, but I don't think its audible in the recording.

The song consists of a single guitar part, a vocal part and some harmonies, all by the same musician, so in terms of instrumentation it's nice and simple. I still have the opportunity to easily add a bassline myself, so watch this space.

The guitar part was recorded with the stereo condensers, one on the bridge and one on the 12th fret, in about 2 takes. I felt the sound here turned out a little "boxy" but no matter.

The vocals were recorded with an extremely cheap SM57 lookalike as I didn't manage to borrow that LDC I was on about. But I felt they turned out quite nicely, thanks to the talent of the singer. We did about 4 takes of the main vocal part and did a quick harmony part too.

Anyways, here's the first cut:

http://www.box.net/shared/3r7ih06bkc

I've spent a few hours at it. The vocals are double tracked in a few places. I've done some basic editing, added a little send reverb, compression and EQ on all tracks. Should I post screenshots of the settings or does anyone care?

Anyway, plenty of work remains, there are no master effects or compression yet and I need to balance the levels a little better.

Feedback at this point would be most welcome!

sei046

good singer.

just check tuning at some notes. I would I would give the vocals a lot more depth as they are the song. A lot of people are afraid to give vocal tracks much bottom end and its true some people end up gettin it very very muddy but i would suggest trying it here. If it was recorded right it should be possible.

With the double tracks i would watch for phase problems. Its coming across very washy possible to do with your panning or lack of.

Dont hear as many bad reflections as one might expect so kudos on that.

Guitar has very little life but no amount of EQ will fick that really.

For what your working with you seem to be doing it justice!

Niall - Dahlia

Vocals came out very nicely considering the situation with the microphone.

The guitar though sounds lifeless as sei said, it's very dull and boring, both in the actual playing and the sound itself. It does have a boxy sound as you mentioned yourself...did you use blankets around the guitarist to try and deaden the sound like you did with the vocals? I find that acoustic guitar always benefits from doing the opposite, natural reflections and reverb really brighten up the sound.

The guitar swims about a little in the stereo image too, like for example at 2:06, so you might want to check phase and panning on the stereo mics as sei suggested.

Nice tune, the voice certainly came out well.

sei046

Ima ll for trying to get a bit more life into the guitar but i am not sure what niall said will work considering the room your in. He is most certainly right under different situations, even when they are not perfect but I think you said this was a bedroom so i am not sure it will help. but...EXPERIMENT!

The vocals are clear which i think is what niall is referring to, and also the tuning is quite good bar a few spots but just try a mix with a little more depth to them and A/B them. Just for kicks at least

Niall - Dahlia

True enough, and chances are the bedroom is carpeted too! But if there was any rooms with wooden floors in the place it would have been worth the effort. Even placing hardwood sheets around the room if they were available could have brightened things up. But sure, if the bedroom was the only option then there was little that could have been done.

ogy

for the guitar i would have used an AB stereo pair away well away from the guitar and up pretty high then just stick the 57 style mic somewhere inbetween the 12th fret and soundhole. Then id pan the stereo pair left right in the mix so the vocals could sit nicely in the middle. The 57 guitar track could be used to give the guitar some body that the sdcs lacked.
With the double tracked vocals id tuck them in under the main vocal to support it rather then keep them up around the same level which produces a washy phasy type effect which personally i don't think is desirable. Usually id bring the supporting track up until i could just about heard that phasey effect then knock about 3db off it.

sei046

im not too sure how them "cheap as chip" ab mics would have done though ogy. And does he have the space in the room to make sure he is not going to get phasing? Because there is plenty as it is