Music recording session planning

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How you planned the session

The initial steps commences with pre-recording preparation. The first step was ensuring that all items and instruments sounded good. This entailed turning of guitar, not only to recommended pitch, but also other instruments that were to be used in the recording. The other instruments that were tuned included basses, pianos. The checking also went on to list other tips for instance testing and replacing microphone heads, warming up the singer, checking amps for hum and buzz. The additional preparations included

Having the computer on and software to be used in recording ready

Setting up the mic stands and putting mics already and all power and sound cables properly plugged in.

The preparation also making sure the recording materials and software is site up to record the music kind needed.

The recording process entails

Basic tracks. The is the first step in recoding process whereby the chord instrument and rhythm are recorded. A great amount of time was spent setting up, optimizing quality of the sound of every instrument, adjusting microphones, replacing mike and preamps and other similar replacements. The final step in this stage was getting performance down to satisfy the artists.

Overdubs. This involved adding music components to basic tracks and this included harmony vocals, strings and percussion.

Mix down. After recording all parts, the mix down process blends each sound with others, messaging the sound into a compound stereo image.

Mastering. This is the final preparation for duplication. This stage entails putting the songs in the right timing and sequence, balancing the songs’ overall volumes, tones and dynamics so they flow from one song to another. The stage also involves putting the last “polish and spit” on the master. This is the final stage and can make a difference between high and low quality song product.

Pre-Production

For making this live recording, all rehearsals were made. The song was planned before stepping into the studio. Since the song recording was to be done by one person, there was no point of checking if the chorus were ready. Before the recording session, there was need setup tempos for the song to be recorded and getting accustom with playing. Different things were to be kept in mind for instance tracking session, as we wanted the song to have a touching feeling or groove. Some music sequencers do quantize all notes and taking away much of human feeling. Quantization literally means fixing the time of rhythms to the closest note. The sequences are normally adjustable for instance eighth or sixteenth note and the likes. This does not indicate that the song ought to be loose rather they ought to be tight and rhythmical and should maintain a given pattern and feel. This meant either loosening up on the quantize setting, or trying to play minus quantizing the song at all.

Some sequencers allow one to set the song to have human feelings without its quantization. They mostly assist add some life back to the song. The importance of using the sequencer is because it allowed the recorded to change the sound setting anytime. This gave the recorder the freedom to alter the sound of the drum and ability to switch it at virtual any time. It also enable switching sound from module and bringing in samples of something that sounded pleasing. This was useful in setting the designed feeling and tone based on the singer’s voice and designed tone.

The other point that was stressed is the significance of live instrument in a tracking which has been sequenced. Minute details for example crashes, and tom fills as well as percussion parts could cause a great difference in the final song feeling and tone. The parts could take what the music listener would brand a sound generated through computer and transforming it to be an actual performance. The other point that was considered is laying live bass and guitars to assist in sound control.

Setting microphones, mic and placements

Setting Guitars

This entailed adjusting and replacing strings and adjusting the sound before the actual recording sessions. This entailed working on vintage amp, stomp boxes prior to the actual recording session. Some experiments were carried out on the sound quality and type produced by the guitar in conjunction with singer’s voice. This helped in keeping the sound glued together. The turning of the guitar helped improving the performance and sound quality.

Setting keys

These were the easiest to set prior to the recording session. The keyboards were turned on based on the singer’s voice. Since there was an arsenal of modules, a mixer was used for feeding the engineer a stereo output. This was to ensure we had the intended sound, also in relieving the responsibility of communicating the sound verbally to the recorder. This saved time in the end. The challenge came when trying to produce the best possible product out of the singer. There was a great need in timing and sequencing everything to ensure the rhythm and flow. This does not indicate we had strict timing but big fluctuations were minimized. Once we had considered studio was set, we needed to think about what equipment we would use during the session and we started with microphones.

Microphone basic

In choosing a microphone, we considered its polar pickup patterns, frequency response whether it had a pad or roll off, its mic type and whether it needed phantom power. Some microphones were better suited, or at least more commonly used in the studio, for certain applications. Knowing this information helped in selecting the most appropriate one. It also ultimately assisted in recording better sounds. Microphone polar patterns range from Omni-directional to super-cardioids. The patterns indicate from what direction the mic receives audio signals.

An Omni-directional mic receives audio signals from all directions, whereas cardioids microphones receive the majority of their signal from one direction only. Bi-directional mics pick up audio signal from the front and back of the mic while rejecting sounds from the side. In addition, if you look at the specifications of any mic you own you will notice that the polar pattern is slightly altered at different frequencies. For example, all mics, even Omni-directional mics, tend to become more directional when picking up high frequencies.

Your role in the recording team

The Producer

The producer has the final responsibility for the recording and the production. It is the role of the producer to ensure the recording process is perfect and this entails creating direction and business features. A good producer ensure the song and production qualities are enhanced. The other role of the producer is to evaluate the progressing performance of record when referring to the way they fit together in creating the best, high standards product.

Engineer’s roles

During production, an engineer’s responsibilities are about preparation and this include setup, equipment setup, and track assignments. Studio setup involves decisions about where instruments will be placed and where the players will be situated in the recording space. Equipment setup includes choosing microphones, amps, headphones, and effects, and checking that the equipments is in good working order. Track assignments refers to determining how many tracks one is going to record and how one wants then recorded. The number of tracks may be limited by the number of mics one has, the number of physical inputs, or the number of tracks one can use.

In the recording studio, the producer normally have at least one engineer, and possibly multiple assistant engineers, working during the session. The communication between the engineer and producer is extremely important for a successful session. The producer needs to be clear with his ideas and requests. This means being explicit and confident about what one needs, including the type of sound one wants on a track, how much pre-roll to give the artists, and where to punch in and out of tracks. Normally, it is also good to keep the mood tight by joking around with the engineer.

The communication is a two-way tracking. It is good for artists to be confident, check his or her ego at the door. Good engineers are normally a great source of information on recording techniques, the latest sounds, and new styles. The task of the recording engineer is to operate the equipment that captures and, in some instances, creates the sounds that the artist and producer want on the recording. To that end the recording enegineer is more of a technician that an engineer on the sense that the term is used in other professions. In addition to a thorough understanding of the specific equipment that they operate, most engineers find useful a basic level of knowledge in the areas of electronics, acoustics and sound, and music. Recoding engineers must also possess the ability to work with and get along with people, some of whom will have quite capable of discerning often subtle difference in sounds and an understanding of how those differences will contribute to or detract from the overall sound which the artists producer are trying to create. Engineers must also be capable of making creative decisions. The producer or artist may not be a every recording session for a particular project. The engineer may then have to decide what is the best sound for the purpose. Even when the producer or artist is present, they will often ask the engineer what they thing about a particular track or sound. Sometimes they want real advice, sometimes they only want their egos stroked. For all of those reasons, being an audio engineer is one of the more common paths to becoming a producer.

The role of an engineer can best be described as an interpreter in a techno-artist field. The engineer must be able to express the artist’s music and the producer’s concepts and intent through the medium of recording technology. The work of engineer can be best described as a techno-art form, because both music and recording are totally subjective and artists in nature and rely on the tastes, experience and feelings of those involved. In summary, a recording session, one or more engineers can be used on a project to:

Conceptualize the best technological approach for capturing a performance or music experience

Translate the needs and desires of the artists and producer into technological approach to capturing the music

Document the process for other engineers or future production use

Place the artists in the desired studio positions

Choose and place the microphones or pickup connections

Set levels and balance on the recording console or DAW mixing interface

Capture the performance in the best way possible

Overdub additional musical parts into the session that might be needed at a later time

Mix the project into a final master recording in any number of media formats

Help in meeting the needs for archiving and storing the project

In short, engineers use their talent and artful knowledge of recording media technology to convey the best possible finished sound for the intended media, the client and the buying public. Among the qualities and strengths needed for a recording engineer include strong technical skills, good communicator, patience, ability to work well with a variety of people, excellent troubleshooting skills and an outgoing personality.

In the recording engineer’s work is to operate the sound board and all the other electrical equipments necessary when making a recording. Prior to a recording session, one of the engineers prepares the studio before the act arrives. As according time is booked by the hour, no one wants to waste time waiting for the instruments to be set up or mikes to be placed, turned on, and checked. The recording engineer must discuss with the act and or his or her producer how they want the end result to b. it then becomes the engineer’s responsibility to make the record into the sound image the act wants. The record engineer the music.

Studio setup

The first step when preparing for the recording session as to plan how I would use the studio space. Some of the questions that helped in setting the scene included asking what instrumentation of the session is, whether we needed sound preparation, isolation, or buffing of some sort. This helped in setting sketching diagrams of possible setups to help us visualize.

Sound preparation

In multi-track recording, we usually try to isolate sounds as best we can to have more control over the mix. That is, if the guitar is isolated from the drums, we can put effects on the guitar track without changing the drum sound. But if there’s a lot of leakage from the drums into the guitar track, then whatever effect we put on the guitar will show up to some degree on the drums. The first technique was microphone placement aiming mics at only one source. The second technique was physical separation of the instruments from each other, which provided greater isolation for their tracks. In our recording as presented din the figure below where we placed guitar amp in the closets. This physically separated the loud amp so its mics picked up far less of the other instruments, and vice versa.

Figur1: this is shows how the recording room was set with the guitar placed closest to the amp, the standup in the hallway, the drum in one corner, and the keys/vocals in the adjacent corner. This setup facilitated enough sound separation to record treat tracks.

While performing signal processing, the engineer focused on the component parts of the sound qualities of the sound sources. Small, precise changes in sound quality are possible with signal processing, requiring the recorder to listen at the lowest levels or perspective, and to continually shift focus between the various artistic elements being altered. These changes are often subtle, and can be barely noticeable to untrained listeners. In the beginning we were not able to detect low levels of processing. This is a skill that had to be developed.

The signal processing involved critical listening. The sound source is considered for its timbral qualities out of context and as a separate entity. In this way, we could shape the sound to the precise sound qualities desired by the recorder, without the distractions of context.

References

Franz, D., 2004. Recording and Producing in the Home Studio: A Complete Guide. Publisher Berklee Press.