Classical Guitar Recording & Processing

Date: 23/11/09
Total Duration: 5.5 hrs (2.5hr of recording & 3 hours of processing/mixing)


I first discussed with the musician and planned out the session before we started so I could set up everything before hand. He wanted to record a single track of guitar approx length 4 1/2 minutes long and he would like to play it beginning to end in single take rather than doing sections at a time and merging them together afterward.

Single take of this length is usually problematic because any major mistakes during the performance which cannot be rectified by audio manipulation equates to doing another take. I have had multiple experiences in the past with different artists who wanted to do similar things because they wanted to capture the 'live feel' of a performance. After hours of takes they or I weren't happy with, I convinced them to take it bite sizes at a time and eventually they were happy with the results.
This however weren't the case this time because of the level of accomplishment of the musician I was recording. I have recorded songs in the past with this musician and I was well aware of his capabilities and therefore I agreed to do the single take, no metronome guitar track.


Recording Classical Guitar

From past experiences I knew the best way to record classical guitar is with a condenser microphone. Because the acoustical output of such instrument is quite small compared with other instruments so it makes sense to use a more sensitive mic to pick up the widest range of dynamics as possible.
For this recording I am using a large diaphragm condenser mic with its pad turned off and bass roll off also off. I used generous amounts of gain/trim to set best possible level and started recording the piece. In total, we did 5 takes (with rests in between each take) and once we were happy with the result/take, the musician left and I was in charge of editing the track.



Editing/Processing Classical Guitar Track


The first thing I did was I went into automation. I listened back to the track spotting any unwanted/undesirable sounds (excessive string noises, pops, breathing etc). Once I was happy with that, I then turned my attention to the transients. Because this performance was very dynamic with high transients and low passages, I had to try to balance them out. I didn't drastically reduce transients because some could be tamed using the compressor afterward.


Compressing


For my choice of compressor I was using the Focusrite Liquid Mix 16. I used more vintage sounding compressor for this piece because it felt appropriate and it would eliminate (I hoped) of making it sound too 'modern'. I used the NEVE VR Console compressor with the 4 Band EQ of the NEVE 1073 desk.
I didn't compress heavily because I wanted to maintain the varied dynamic range of the piece.


Finishing Touches
To finish up, I added reverb to the piece to give it that spacious feel and for it to open up more (in terms of stereo) and I was more or less finished

Recording Jam session

Date of Jam: 18/11/09
Time: 12:30-15:00

Duration: 4 hrs

Setting up Drums

• I first began by miking up the drums. I used 7 microphones in total, 2 overheads, snare batter head, 3 tom heads and kick drum.

• I loaded up a drum recording template I created previously with all of its appropriate fx and routing set up to save time (having needed to leave the same day for classes).

• I set uniform gain by asking my friend to play drums and I adjusted the trim/gain to make sure the drum signal doesn't go into digital clipping.

Setting up Guitar

Because this was a jam session being performed live, miking up the guitar cab was going to be unnecessary difficult to control spill from the drums so I decided to record directly using the direct outs from the amp head (via simulated output) straight into the line input of the soundcard.
I asked my friend to play the guitar whilst I adjusted the level.





Recording/Bouncing the Jam

When all the levels were adjusted correctly I hit the record button. We did several takes to begin with and tweaked & fine tuned the trim controls. We practiced between takes and when we had any new ideas I made sure we captured it.
We did numerous takes (of varying lengths) and once we were happy we captured most of our ideas down, I went about bouncing the tracks so my friend can take them away with him and listen back to them for further ideas.

Tracking Guitar

Date: 7/11/09
Duration: 2 hrs

I recorded Guitar ideas down for my composition. I used a condenser microphone to pick up the sound from my guitar amplifier (Blackstar HT-5).










I initially tracked a rhythm guitar part down first over the drums (recorded previously) and then spent the other time playing lead over it finding the right sound. When I was pleased with the results, I selected the input channel my guitar signal was coming through and hit the record button.
Here is the clip:

Afterward I overdubbed extra guitars to thicken up the sound.

Detailed Proposal for Professional Practice

For my Professional Practices I chose to document my various forms of recordings & Processes. Primarily I will be documenting my personal composition and recordings as well as other artists and groups.

I will be recording variety of instruments for example, Guitar (acoustic & electric), Drums, piano, bass, keyboard, percussion etc. Each instrument poses different challenges in terms of obtaining the best possible recordings. I will combine my experience with additional research to get best results possible. I will also document/research new ways in which to process these recordings to further enhance them.

In the past I have recorded a album for Jazz/Classical guitar trio group (based in Derby), recorded backing tracks for a choir (based in London) for use in practice and performance and worked & recorded various artist with varying degree of experience on their instruments. I have contributed instrumentally to works of other artists.
I have on few occasions have engineered live performances but I am planning to move away from live settings and move into production more.

Currently I am concentrating on my personal composition & recording but also expanding my knowledge in post production. Learning different ways to mixing a song, processing audio, compression techniques etc.
I will be recording a EP for the Jazz trio and possibly another group in the near future, both of which I intend to document fully on this Blog explaining all the aspects of recording and post production.
Another possibility is also documenting live performances of a group I am part of. Although the band/group has been on hiatus since July, there are possibilities of live performances as well as recordings.

To evidence my activities, I plan to use different mediums such as pictures (stills) as well as video (screen capture). These will either be embedded to this blog or I will post links to other websites (possibly YouTube, flicker etc) to be viewed. I will also write detailed explanation for the activities (if necessary) on the blog to accompany the pictures and videos.

Drum recording and Mixing

Total Duration: 8 hours

Drum recording

Date recorded: 31/10/09
Duration: 4.5 hours

I recorded drums for a composition I am working on. The drums were recorded in sections varying in length (4-8 bars).
I set up 7 new audio tracks and I set the appropriate input for each channel. The first two channels are the overheads which I recorded with the X-Y configuration, 3rd channel is the snare, 4th rack tom, 5th first floor tom, 6th the second floor tom and the last channel was the kick drum (no microphone was used to record the underside of the snare).
I played to a click track at 140bpm throughout.



Mixing the drums

Date: 01/11/09
Duration: 3.5 hours

The first thing I did was to pan the overheads hard left and right. I placed the snare and kick drum dead centre and the toms were placed appropriately in the stereo field.

I used EQ primarily to cut/reduce any frequencies from a particular part of the drumkit. For example I reduced the amount of bass & lower-mid frequencies in the overheads mics so I am left with mostly high-mids and the highs. Separating drum parts by their frequencies lets them sit better altogether as a 'entire' kit but also when other instruments are added on top of it. During my corrective eq'ing, I discovered unpleasant noise/ring when the snare drum was struck.
I used a technique where by I use a bell EQ with very high Q at around 15dB gain. I slowly scroll through the frequency spectrum and listen out for any oddities (such as overly resonant frequencies).
When I discover the frequency/s responsible, I flip the gain from +15dB to -20dB. This will rid any problematic frequencies from the recording.

After reducing frequencies from various parts of the drumkit I went about adding/boosting frequencies. I added extra bass freq to kick drum, highs to overheads etc.

After EQ I decided to strip silence from recordings (other than the overheads) to control bleed. This will make the various parts of the drum kit sit better in the stereo field and allows for more greater control.
I added compression to the snare and kick drum making sure they were the loudest in the mix and their perceived loudness were about the same.

I Added small amounts of reverb to the snare and small amounts to the entire drumkit using a separate bus. I made sure the reverb were subtle and it did not make the mix sound 'muddy'.
Then I made sure each drum part's was appropriate using the faders and I went about bouncing the drums.
The drums were bounced in sections in the form of a 'loop' instead of a entire performance. These bounces were then transferred to my project were I will be adding other instruments.