Recording Write Up

Hummingbird:

This is the first song that we started to record in the studio. The first thing we had to do to record this song was set up a click track, which was difficult due to the differing tempos and time signatures. We managed to do this using the cubase click track, which allowed us to set the time signature for each bar and add in tempo changes.

Once we had set up the click track, we recorded the drums along with guide guitar and keyboard tracks. After several takes we had a drum track down which we were happy with. We recorded the drums in the live room with dynamic SM57 microphones on the snare, rack tom and floor tom, a 52a microphone on the bass drum and a condenser overhead mic to capture the cymbals and hi hat.

After we had recorded our drum track, we recorded another take for the keys. We recorded the keys in stereo using the stereo output on the keyboard and going straight into the desk in two channels which we then panned hard left and hard right. We did this to give the song a fuller sound in the recording, and it also meant we could have independent control over the high end and low end frequencies. We used an electric piano sound on the keyboard after we had tried MIDI synths on cubase but didn’t like the sound.

The next part we tried to record was the guitar. I had some difficulty recording the guitar part and took many takes and tried lots of different sounds. I tried recording the guitar through a Line 6 rack mount amp module, but didn’t like the tones and found it was generating too much noise. I then tried recording straight into the desk which I found had a much better tone. I experimented with amp presets, but in the end chose to keep the signal clean and add reverb. I tried playing the chords in several different positions to see which one sounded best before deciding on a final take. Several weeks later, I revisited the guitar part and decided to try an acoustic guitar for the chorus, which sounded much better. I then recorded and double tracked acoustic guitar parts for both choruses and deleted the old electric guitar parts for this section. I recorded the acoustic guitar straight into the desk and added reverb, as well as panning the double tracks hard left and hard right. We also added a lot of guitar overdubs on the last chorus to give a thicker texture which included imitating the vocal melody.

We recorded the vocals next which we did in the live room using a condenser microphone with a pop shield which blocks out unwanted sibilance. The condenser microphone allowed us to capture the finer details of the vocal parts and was especially responsive to dynamic changes.The vocalists used headphones for monitoring and recorded their parts one at a time, before recording harmony overdubs.

We also decided to add in an electric bass guitar, which we have never used in a live version of the song. We recorded this straight into the desk, and used an amp simulator in cubase to get the tone.

One of the hardest parts to record was the outro, as this is just an instrumental jam it was hard to go back and record along with the drum track and get the changes right, although we managed to do this in the end after more takes.

7:

We had a similar issue with the click track for this song, as it also includes several different time signatures. The time signature changes are more frequent in this song, so we had to run through the song counting the bars so we knew when exactly to put the changes on the click track.

We used the same recording setup for the drums on this track, and recorded them first along with a bass guide track. This took quite a lot of takes due to the rhythmic complexity of the song, and the drums and bass being so reliant on each other.

We did another couple of run throughs for the bass to get a final track. Similar to Hummingbird, we recorded the bass straight into the desk and used a cubase amp simulator for the bass as this gave us more of a classic funk tone that we wanted for the bass.

The next part we recorded was the guitar. The guitar part to this song is a lot more simple and has a less expansive sound than the one in Hummingbird which made it a lot easier to record. Again, we recorded the guitar straight into the desk, but this time we used an amp simulator. I chose an amp simulator as it allowed me to get a crunchier guitar sound with more bite. I spent quite a lot of time playing with the different settings on the amp simulator to try and get the guitar tone I wanted.

The final part we recorded was the vocals, which we recorded in the same way to Hummingbird. Both vocalists recorded their parts in turn through a condenser mic with a pop shield in the live room, and added some harmony overdubs afterwards. We added some reverb to the vocals to make them sound a little less dry.

During the process of mixing, we came up with the idea to incorporate some effects on to the drums. We put on a phaser effect on to the drums and bass in the breaks between the chorus and the verse, as we felt this just made the song a bit more sonically interesting. We also added a lot of effects to the final verse which we wanted to sound a lot more ambient and spacious.

Untitled:

As with our other songs, the first thing we recorded was the drums with the same microphone setup. Along with the drums we recorded two guide guitars. This only took a few takes.

The next part we recorded was a proper take for my guitar part. I tried using the Line 6 rack module but didn’t like the tones again, so I switched to straight into the desk. I didn’t use an amp simulator on this track, and instead I achieved my guitar tone through reverb and EQ on cubase. After a few takes I had a take I was happy with and decided to keep. However, later on in the recording process I discovered that I had played my part in the key change section wrong, so we went back and re recorded it.

Jo’s guitar was also re recorded after mine. We originally tried recording it through his pedals and into the desk. We thought this would be the best way to capture his sound, however it didn’t really work in practice for several reasons, particularly issues with getting the right level. We tried a recording through the desk which sounded better, but we had to go back and re record it after noticing that the guitar was slightly out of tune.

The next part we had to add was the bassline. This was a bit more difficult as the bassline was on a midi synth created by a mac, which was difficult to get onto a windows computer. We recorded the bassline on the mac and then exported it as an mp3 file and then imported it into cubase. This worked, but we accidentally exported the click track as well as the bassline so had to export it again without the click track.

The last thing to be recorded was the vocals, which we recorded in the live room. We did this again through a condenser mic and a pop shield. We added a lot of reverb to the vocals to try and add some atmosphere to the track. There was only one vocal part in this song, and no harmonies so we didn’t have to do any extra vocal takes after we got the final one.

In Words:

This was perhaps the easiest song we recorded. It only had one time signature which made it easier to make the click track. We used the same method of recording for this track, by recording bass drums and guitar together. We had a final drum take within a few tries, and then re recorded the guide tracks for bass and guitar.

The bass was recorded straight into the desk, and through a cubase amp simulator, much like it was in 7. The guitar was also recorded straight into the desk and made use of a cubase amp simulator as well as some light reverb.

There were two vocals on this song, similar to other songs which we recorded. We used the same method of recording, with both vocalists doing their main vocal parts and then adding harmony overdubs on top.

This accounted for most of the song, but we then had to add two additional new sections to the recording. The first new section was a quiet dropout section of just guitar and vocals which was easy to record. We recorded it live as this section isn’t ruled by a strict pulse and features only guitar and vocals. The next new section we recorded was the instrumental outro featuring guitar, bass and drums. We recorded this with a click track running from a build up chord until the end. It took a few takes to get right.

The very last thing we did was add a lead guitar overdub part played by Sam, and join the three recordings together as seamlessly as possible.

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