I choose recording because I really want to learn how to use the recording software Cubase and others, edit the recordings using the effects that make it sound better like auto tune, reverb, echo ext.. Also how to do the set up the whole studio. I would really like to learn how to fix problems on the computer and in the studio. I'm aiming to get a high grade and I'm willing to work hard to get it.
17th September Wednesday 2014
Today we were recording Vicky singing 'Stay With Me' By Sam Smith. Me, Jacob and Aaron also tried to do some singing with Vicky. Matt, Kristie and Ben were in the room with the computer. First we had to take the microphones (Dynamic and Condenser) out and put them on microphone stands then connect all the cabled to the wall to plug them in we used an omnidirectional microphone so it would pick all of us singing.
18th September Thursday 2014
We had a few problems in the recording studio we couldn't get the people from the sound proof studio/ room to hear the people in the computer room. We tried to fix it by re-doing the cables ect but we didn't sort it out before the end of the lesson but Ben and some other people managed to fix it by the next week.
24th September Wednesday 2014
Today we learned how to use the mixing desk a but, we had one person go into the sound proof studio and sing/talk into the dynamic microphone while the people outside were using the mixing deck to add effects like echo, reverb (Reverb changes the 'environment' that the sound sounds like it's in.) and Pitch Shift (shifts the sound up/ down a given amount) which can make someone's voice sounds like a chipmunk.
25th September Thursday 2014
We spent the lesson updating our blogs.
1st October Wednesday 2014
We got the piano into the sound proof room then plugged the cables into it and recorded one of the 6th form person playing Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me' on the piano using an omnidirectional microphone. Then we re-recorded Vicky singing 'Stay With Me' so we can out it together maybe with guitar and edit the song cover we made.
2nd October Thursday 2014
We recorded Matt playing the guitar and set up the studio, all the cables and headphones the mic and the mic stand, today we used an omnidirectional microphone to pick up the sound from the guitar clearly. Then we saved the recording onto the computer about half way through something happened that when we tried to play the recording nothing played, but we sorted it out in the end.
8th October Wednesday 2014
Today we re-recorded Matt on the guitar then we had another teacher come in and teach us short cuts on the Cubase like b - back, n- next and ctrl + z for reversing whatever we did. Ben also showed us how to play back a recording if it didnt work we have to just check if a red circle button that sometimes gets turned on it means mute so you have to un click it, it's usually on the left hand side.
9th October Thursday 2014
We spent the lesson updating our blogs and adding the equipment list onto the blog.
15th October Wednesday 2014
Last lesson we discussed our plan brief with Ben and after we drawn a spider diagram of a recording session for someone who plays the guitar. Then we recorded Ben in the studio playing the piano.
16th October Thursday 2014
We spent the lesson updating our blogs then going to the studio to practice setting up the studio and working on the computer.
22nd October Wednesday 2014
We went over the assessment brief then started doing the plan for our recording session. Then went onto Cubase to go over the basics like how to add buses and tracks to record the people next door.
23rd October Thursday 2014
We did our recording plans:
- I am recording Ben (Piano) Harry (Guitar) and James (Vocals) on Cubase they will be doing the song 'Kiss Me By Ed Sheeran'. I'm recording them on the 11th Wednesday of February.
- For that i'm using a condenser microphone for the guitar because it is omnidirectional, so it will pick up the sound from the guitar more clearly then a dynamic microphone that has only one diaphragm for, they will both need XLR cables. I'll place it in front and pointed at the side of the guitar just about in front of the guitar because if it was farther away it wouldn't pick up the sound as well and might come out quite quiet.
- Also I'm using the DI box to get a clearer signal i will need an jack cable and an XLR to XLR cable to plug it in the guitar.
- I'm using the condenser microphone also for the vocals because since it his omnidirectional it would pick up the sound coming from the form all around because it's omnidirectional so it picks up sound from around. I'll place the microphone just in front of the musicians mouth on a mic stand so they wont have to hold it, so when they sing the sound will get picked up.
- I will plug the digital piano into a DI Box using a jack cable, i will then use an XLR cable to plug this into the interface. The problem with this is that sometimes the DI box might not work.
- Headphones will be used because then the people in the recording studio will be able to hear the people on the other side in the office (me) and so they can hear what's being recorded.
- Microphone stands will be needed to hold up the microphones so the person singing the song won't have to hold it and so i can record the instruments too.
- I will also use a Pop shield on the microphone that the vocals are being used for because then it will sound clearer as it removes p t and obstructive sounds, therefore the whole recording will be better because in the song there are no harsh 'p' and 't' sounds. Using a pop shield I need to think about how far the singer is away from the pop shield and microphone in case they are a bit quiet.
- I will brief the musicians that are being recorded to what would happen in case of any emergencies or fires ext like show them the exits and where the fire extinguisher is. There are no vents in the soundproof room so some equipment might overheat and cause a fire therefore the musicians have to be aware of that and the fire exits. Also i will make sure there are no trip hazards with the cables so it's safe for the musician being recorded to be able to walk in and out of the soundproof room. Amps in small spaces can sometimes reach a high air pressure levels that can lead to hearing damage. This is another reason why the musicians will be wearing headphones.
- When i edit the recordings i will use studio effects like the EQ so i can hear every part of the band clearly with the feel that i want for eg if i wanted to sound rock like i'd boost the base ext.
- I decided to record the musicians over two lunches 20 minutes of each lunch most likely to be on a Wednesday and Thursday some time within February.It will take me 10 minutes each day to set up the computer and all the equipment so i'll have the other 10 to record the musician. I will record the guitar first then the vocals and piano (separately) the next lunch.
- If there are some technical problems with the computer or anything else i will either try to fix them by checking various problems that have popped up before or if it's still not recording after that I will do them the next day in the other lunch.
Time Management:
I will manage my time efficiently because incase there is a problem i need time to fix it since we have only 40 minutes to set up and record 3 people. If I would manage my time badly and something went wrong it might take a while to fix the problem since we don't always know whats exactly wrong and you have to go through checking each thing that might not work. Therefor i have to plan to have a spare 10 minutes incase something like that happens.
12th November Wednesday 2014
Last lesson Ben showed us how to use a mixing desk and how to edit the track by changing things like the reverb ext.. We had to plug it in and find how to switch it on.
13th November Thursday 2014
We spent the lesson updating our blogs and recording plans. Then we went to the recording studio and continued working on learning to use the mixing desk.
19th November Wednesday 2014
We set up all the microphones and mic stands and plugged in all the cables like the jack cable and we recorded 2 year 9 boys and then had to sort out the microphones so that you could hear the vocals because one of them was quite quiet at singing in the end it sounded fine.
17th December Wednesday 2014
We spent the lesson updating our recording plans with Ben, he helped us correct the technical terms for describing how stuff works and he explained to us in detail everything like how microphones pick sound up for around (omnidirectional) ext.. However he didn't show us how to sort out problems with the computer in case the recording doesn't work like the last lesson we tried to record Matt and Aaron.
18th December Thursday 2014
We spent the lesson making an advert for our chosen job in the musical industry and what qualities you need for it like organisation being good with technology and knowing how to play instruments.
7th January Wednesday 2015
We tried recording Matt, Aaron and Jacob but there was a problem because the condenser microphone wouldn't pick up sound therefore we couldn't record anything on it. Ben showed us many ways of how we can fix this problem yet somehow it still didn't work so we worked out who in our group wants to record people in this class and which lesson we can do each recording in, so most of us can watch and see how it will work. Next Wednesday we will be recording Callum.
15th January Thursday 2015
We recorded some year 9 girls playing the piano and another girl doing vocals, on Cubase.
25 February Wednesday 2015
We improved our blogs and added the few missing details.
4th March Wednesday 2015
We filled in our sheets about recording.
13th May Wednesday 2015
We have started mixing our recordings on Reason so they sound 'polished'. We tried to use EQ, this adjusts frequency on different tracks. Reverb makes things also a bit more echo like, we can cut out the unneeded surrounding sounds which make the recording sound bad with reverb. Also we used the erase tools and the crop tools to cut out the parts of the recording with talking at the end and just parts we don't need like the long silence at the beginning. I will balance the panning so its equal on both left and right. Adding the compression will amplify quiet sounds by narrowing or 'compressing' the audio's signal dynamic range.
To create my final mix i made sure all 3 tracks were in time first. Then i went through all 3 tracks separately, i added things like pitch correction to make James sound more in tune, compression to cancel out the background noise, echo make the recording sound more full (to fill the empty quiet parts) similarly thats why i added reverb too, EQ to balance the track and make sure eerything was level, delay to give the track a more full kind of sound and multi'ing to pick out certain parts to stand out on the extra quitar track.
Well done Kinga for some excellent explanations of particular microphones you will use and placement of these. You must ensure you have explained the entire set up including leads and where the leads are plugged in and onto what the recording will go to. Look at the checklist below and check you have explained everything including the organisation of the session and relevant health and safety points. Don't forget to start your recording plan by explaining who you are recording and on what instruments as an introduction. If you break your plan up into subheadings that might help you to organise your ideas for your plan.
ReplyDeleteSuitable situations could include:
● solo musicians with or without accompaniment
● multi-tracked instrumentalists, with or without vocals
● live ensembles
● pop, rock, folk, jazz ensembles
● classical music.
Equipment
Learners should specify the equipment required for a multi-tracked audio recording.
Equipment may include:
● computer
● mixing desk
● microphones suitable for a range of instruments and voices
● auxiliary equipment, e.g. cables, stands, DI boxes
● audio interfaces
● monitors and amplifiers
● headphones
● the recording environment.
Sessions
Learners should specify how they would plan and organise the recording sessions.
This may include:
● scheduling
● availability of equipment that may need to be hired
● availability of musicians who may need to be hired (session musicians)
● technical resources, cables, mics and stands
● space
● line of sight if a conductor is being used
● headphones and monitoring
● noise, both in and outside the studio.
Health and safety
Learners should be aware of the health and safety issues that could arise during a recording
session and how to mitigate problems.
This may include:
● setting up a health and safety routine/checklist
● briefing session musicians and guests as to the rules and regulations
● being aware of fire and access/exit procedures.
Some good detail added here Kinga. You are missing a few elements - please go through the list below and add them to your plan to complete this:
ReplyDelete1) Can you justify why you are positioning your microphones in certain places? Also, where you have said you will put the microphone in front of a singer/ musician can you comment on how close or far away from the singers mouth/ instrument that will be?
2) You need to explain how you will timetable the recording process - remember you only have 40 minutes in total to record everyone. You could say that you will have a schedule for the performers and then make a table for this which shows how you will schedule the performers -make sure you build in gaps to allow you to set up for the next performer and include set up time for you at the start. Outline how long you will take to record each performer and the order in which you will record them.
3) Make sure you also explain how you will keep a track of the progress as the recording happens - you could have a column for this on your recording schedule sheet. What will you do if any problems arise - could you have a problems column, could you allow time for this?
4) You have missed out quite a few health and safety considerations that you will need to make - have a look at the following blog for ideas and add this into your recording plan:
https://danieljamesmitchell.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2013/11/21/health-safety/
5) Check the distinction criteria on the assignment brief when you have completed these points - how could you get your work to this? Make the necessary additions to reach this criteria.
CHECK THIS POINT AND EXPLAIN 'pt' - I will also use a Pop shield on the microphone that the vocals are being used for because then it will sound clearer as it removes p t and obstructive sounds, therefore the whole recording will be better.
4) Hint: I will be looking at this when seeing whether you have met the distinction criteria - check you have done this: 2A.D1 Learners need to analyse and state why certain equipment choices should be made, for instance weighing up the pros and cons of one microphone type over another, or making a recording with or without a pop shield. They should also demonstrate that they have analysed in their organisational planning the consequences of poor time management and how they would deal with issues that may arise.
DeleteTWO THINGS YOU MUST ADD NOW!
ReplyDelete1) To your plan - add a sub heading about 'Time Management' then describe the consequences of poor time management and explain what you will do if things do not go to plan. Also explain that you will be keeping a log sheet of the recordings to ensure that it is going to plan and that everything is recorded properly with you knowing the location of all tracks.
2) You should have two pages for the Recording unit. Please create these - this page should be called 'Unit 6 Learning Aim A', and a new page called 'Unit 6 Learning Aim B' On the learning aim B page you must keep your blog describing how your actual recording went and you will upload the track that you record and mix to this page.