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Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Creating backing track for a choir + Recording vocals




Date of recording: 11th & 12th Jan 2010
Date of mixing: 13th Jan 2010
Total Duration: 10 hours


I have previously recorded backing music for a choir based in London and was approached by the same choir coordinator to record a another backing track. All members of the choir is Japanese and me being able to speak the language helped in the recording process. The original idea was just to record the backing track but after having finished it, we decided to add vocals (Soprano & Alto) thereby creating 2 version. One with and another without vocals.
Having recently acquired couple of new outboard gear (Focusrite Twin Track Pro & Lexicon MX300), I decided to make the most it. All instruments (Piano, Violin etc) were recorded using MIDI using the EXS24 inside Logic 8.
The vocals was recorded using AKG C214 microphone through the twin track pro into the MOTU soundcard. NO de-essing or compression was added during the recording (everything was done on the mixing stage).










After all the material was recorded, I moved into the mixing stage. One of the difficulties in this project was working with 2 sets of vocals. I have some experience in dealing with vocals but never with simultaneous vocal lines (2 vocals lines sang through the whole song). Finding the balance between the soprano style vocals and alto lines was not as easy as I originally though and a lot of work went into making them sound the best they could. I have read articles in magazines such as Sound on Sound specifically about vocal processing so I dug through my collection of magazines to find the specific article and read though it couple more times to digest everything.
I also did research online to find out which particular compressor for example are favored by the professionals. I found few that were constantly mentioned and luckily I have access to these compressors through the Focusrite Liquid Mix 16 which gives me the emulations of the originals. I could at least achieve similar results if settings were dialed in right. 











Optical compressors were recommended by many experienced engineers and producers alike specific models such as Electronix LA-2A are a favourite and I used it for one of the vocal lines.
In the process of mixing, I was finding it harder to make each instrument or vocal line stand out from the mix. Certain part of the song required a build up which wasn't coming through properly. I had to use automation to correct balances and pan each voicing so they can be heard more clearly on the track.
All compression was handled using the DSP on the Liquid Mix 16 and reverbs & delays by the Lexicon MX300. I ended up with 2 separate mixes which I eventually discarded one and to my best of ability finished the other.






Initial reaction of the choir coordinator was positive and I gave her the hard copy of the tracks to her to take with her. She will be in contact soon as she has played it in front of the choir in London and has practiced with it so it may be further improved or embellished.




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