Recording session with Flew the Arrow

Preparing for Recording Sessions.

Musician checklist

⦁ New strings ⦁ Various plectrums with a variety of thickness and flexibility ⦁ Ensure instrument is in tune ⦁ Remove unnecessary clothing and accessories ⦁ Keep wiping strings and fret board from sweat/grease

Engineering checklist

⦁ Check room tone of each area of the room to find sweet spot ⦁ Bring rug for artist to play over to reduce reflections (if necessary) ⦁ Set up microphones ⦁ Set up Pro Tools session premade templates ⦁ Listen to artist play while checking the signal is clear and strong ⦁ Set levels in the mix ⦁ Practice take ⦁ Record multiple takes of each song ⦁ Power down.

Recording Process Songs: Can’t be nothing / Inner space / End of days.

Location/Studio: Ayrshire College, Ayr Campus Studio 3 Room G54 DAW: Pro Tools 11 Recorded at: 24-bit / 48 kHz Instruments: Acoustic Guitar + Vocals Hardware: Mac computer, GoldenAge Compressor – Guitar + Vocals, Mackie C 24, Microphones: Sontronics STC 3x, Sontronics 10, Golden Age FC4 (matched pair), Oktava MK 012 (matched pair), AKG C414 Cables & Mic stands: XLR-XLR x7, Jack TRS-Jack TRS x1, Mic stands with boom x5 Extras: Chair, Plectrums, Dry cloth, Pop filter

:: Setting up :::

By learning from my core units ‘Sound Production Theory’ and ‘Sound Production Practice’ I chose to take the approach of using multiple microphone techniques, not to use all of them in the mix but to have a variety to work with in the mix, although each song has the same style/theme to it and the same instruments being used I will be able to give each song a slightly different vibe to suit its needs. By working in ‘Digital Audio Workstations’ I’ve learned that it is wise to color code the tracks within the session to enable me to clearly navigate through my different mic placements to save any confusion. Before finalizing the decision of the microphone placements I used a set of headphones running into the computer (via the wallbox inputs) to find the sweet spot that I thought was best for the given topic. The speakers in studio 3 (G54) are set up in 5.1 and consist of 5 Mackie Speakers and a Tannoy TS 12 Subwoofer (LFE). The sub has a frequency response of between 50Hz - 150Hz, the Mackie 624 MK2 (Left + Right monitors) has a response of 45Hz to 20 kHz, the Mackie 626 (Centre monitor) has a response of 42 Hz to 20 kHz and the Mackie 824 (Left + Right Surround) response is 35 Hz to 20 kHz.

With the several approaches of mic placements that I gathered from my ‘Sound Production Theaory + Practice’ unit which collaborate with my education in ‘Acoustics’. Due to being in a studio with little acoustic treatment I am not aiming to capture the ambience of the environment nor am I attempting to capture the instruments directly, however by using arrays that I picked up in ‘SPT+SPP’ I am giving the guitar sound a chance to breathe to enhance an alive perception.

Microphone Techinques used:

GUITAR

⦁ Mid side – Sontronics STC 10 for the Mid (center) focusing between the hole and the 12th fret of the guitar, this microphone has a small capsule which is ideal for capturing the sound when close to the source. A Sontronics STC 3x set with the figure of eight polar pattern for the sides to capture the side of the room. The center mic is run though the Golden Age compressor and preamp before reaching the C24 because the center is the main focus in this technique therefore I want to achieve the strongest signal possible from it.

⦁ XY – Oktava MK 012 (matched pair). The wide, flat response from these microphones ensure that all the sounds are captured with accuracy. Carefully positioned above the mid-side placement with one mic facing toward the body of the guitar and the second mic facing toward the fret-board of the guitar ensuring that I get the best of both the high and low end frequencies.

⦁ Spaced pair (AB) – Golden Age FC4 (matched pair) one angled towards the neck nearer the nut of the guitar and the other angled behind the bridge. This gives me a mix of deeper bass sound from behind the bridge and clear, bright tone from the vibrations of the strings from the finger on the fret-board. This technique brings out the subtle details, overtones and characteristics rather than complementing them.

This set up leaves me with seven guitar tracks in the mix, 3 for the Mid-Side, 2 for the XY and 2 for the Spaced pair.

VOCALS

The Vocals were recorded through the Sontronics STC 3X with a pop filter attached about 6 inches from the microphone. I that placed an AKG C414 half a meter behind the STC for some ambience to liven up the vocals in the mix. These were both run through the GoldenAge Compressor and back into the C4 Desk.

Each song was recorded 3 times with vocals recorded twice for each. The guitar parts were all recorded before adding the overdubbed vocals. The recorded guitar takes were sent through headphones to the artist to sing along to. I applied slight reverb to the vocals track to send through the headphones for the artist to feel more comfortable hearing his own voice through the headset while performing.

:: Set up in the mix ::

The mid-side technique has one track for the center mic (STC 10) and two for the side to capture both sides, one track has the sample inverted to prevent cancelling the other out. Two tracks were set up for the XY technique, one for each mic, X was panned all the way to the right and Y set to all the way to the left.

For the spaced pair I chose to pan the left track 40% to the left and the same for the right. I felt that this gave strength in toward the center of the mix. The vocals stay center of the mix, they are the main focus of the song, my aim is to have them float over the guitar.

:: Mixing Process ::

Location: Home studio, Ayr. Equipment: Fujitsu ESPRIMO P42 E85, Scarlett 20i18, Yamaha HS7 near field monitors, AKG k 44 headphones, various plugins. The first thing to do was to make clear of the session so I ‘weeded’ the session, what I mean be that is that I cleaned up the tracks by selecting my start and ending parts of the clips, I used strip silence (ctrl + U on PC & Command + U Mac) on the vocal tracks for speed when striping away the unwanted noise when he was not singing.

After cleaning up the session I listened to the track while adjusting the faders to hear various styles sounds each track gave both individually and alongside others. I then played the song from the beginning with the faders all down for total silence to gradually bring up the faders of the guitar tracks to get a decent volume level between the tracks.