Multi channel recording

for this unit we used studio 1. This studio comprised of soundcards

to amps here is the gear we used to record our multichannel
recording.
Our base of our studio was a mac pro which runs logic 9 and logic
pro x
-We used Adam a77x studio monitors
- these monitors are near field meaning that they are designed
to be used in
close proximity to the user to achieve the
maximum potential these speakers has a flat frequency response
which are good to mix on because it does not give any coloured
sound like beats head phones where they over emphasise that bass.
If you were to mix on bass heavy speakers when you play your mix
on another set of speakers you will find indescrepencys between the
speakers making the mix sound un finished. There for using a flat
frequency response is key to getting a good mix. Fir this I would
recommend the Yamaha nx10 these are a studio essential because
they are widely know has the best speakers for mixing on with price
range incorporated because of it flat frequency response. Is you get
you mix sounding god on there when you transport them over to
other speakers they your mix will sound amazing.

-We also used a pre amp in recording you use this the same ad DI a
guitar or bass but using the foucsrite ISA 1 it gave a it more tone
and body to the sound. This preamp is a solid staed pre amp
meaning that it runs of transients not live a vale preamp which runs
of valves / tube to achieve tonal chartists

furthermore whilst recording we used an spl talk back monitor

which allowed us to talk between the player and the sound
engineer

the audio interface we used was 2 focousrite pro 40s which were
hooked up to the live sound boxes in the live room. These were
both firewire connection and have 8 preamps and were designed

for low latency.

2
10

3
6

5
9

1: screen/ monitor
2:krk rocket 5(s)
3: adam a77x studio monitors
4:e magic logic controller mixer
5: impulse midi keyboard

6:focousrie pro 40 audio interfaces

7: sphone headphone mixer
8: focousrite isa 1 (solid state pre amp)
9: spl talkback montor and talk back controller
10: keyboard and mouse
When micing up the drum kit we used a set of audix microphones
which we used to mix up the rack tom floor tom and the kick
drum.
We used 2 different microphones to mic up the snare drum on
the top skin we used an sm57 and for the bottom skin to capture
the snares we used an sm58 microphone because they are both
dynamic microphones and they transmit the sound needed also
both of these microphones are cardio pattern allowing the
microphone to capture the whole sound of the drum left and right
of 90 degrees.

http://mathforum.org/mathimages/index.php/Cardioid
micing up the kit what we used and why

kick drum- we used an audix f6 this mic has a hypercardioidpickup

patternthisstopsthemicfrompickingupanyotherdrum/ambientresonance
toacertaindegreewhichenablesittonotpickupanyothersoundbarwhat
youhavemicedituptodo.Wepositionedthemicsothatthecapusualwas
slightlyinsidetheskinofthedrumsothatwecouldgetamixtureofbothskins.
Howeverthewaywepositionedthisonmytrack(hotelCalifornia)Ithough
thebassdrumdidnotsoundgoodasifitwaslackingtoneandthinkingbackon
thisIknowwhy.WhenImicedupthekickdrumIaimedthemicatthecenter
ofthebacksninwherethekickwashittingthebackskin.Thisleadfora
snappysoundandnotdidnottranslatethetruetoneofthekickdrum.In
futureIwouldaimthemixtowardtheedgeofthebackskinsothatitwould
allowformoreofthetoneofthedrumtocomethoughraterthanthesnappy
tonewehadfromthekickdrum.InfutureIwouldanglethemictowardswhere
thebackdrumskinmeetsthemeatalbecausethatiswherethemaximumtone
willcomefrombecausethepedalhitinthecenteroftheskinthemaximum
tonecomesfromtheedgeofthedrum.

Post recording give life back to music

We used eq on all of our drums to create space in the mix so that
the mix did not have too much going on in it so that it would sound
muddy and flat.

Once we had eq the track we would use compression. On the tracks

I have uploaded I heave used many different compressors one was
an external plugin which was a soft tube tube tech 18 and the other
was the compressor which comes along with logic. When using the
compressors I would not take more that 5 db off on a single track
because then I feel that the track looses its chartists and become to
compress which would stand out. On many of times I would of over
compressed a track and after taking a break I would revisit my tack
and find out that I have over used the compressor meaning that the
sound would become flat and cover compressed. On the track
give life back to music I had a problem with over using the
compressor however after a few days when I started to understand
how a compressor works more when wehad a tutorial on hw to use
compression in studio a I felt that I knew a lot more about how a
compressor works and how to use in on tracks. For the track give
life back to music I did not use any more effects apart from the EQ
tool and compressors because I felt after I had used these two the
drums were sitting good in the mix and they did not needed any
more doing to them.

The guitars on the track we used a combination if reverb

compression and eq for the intro guitars seen here.

and for the verse guitars we use al the same but we use logics amp
designer to achieve sa sound similar to the original track of give life
back to music. On this track I chose logics version of and fender. I
chose this because I felt the sound hat I wanted to achieve was a
more American sound amplifier rather that a British sounding on like
a vox or Marshall.

you can see I have placed the mic slightly off center to try and get a
less bassy tone and a more mellow sounds.
Hotel California
On this track we used a close mic placement already show earlier.
But here are some more close up thumb nails.

on the track hotel California we used eq all of the drums with

compresson on the snare drum in my opinion this drum sounded
really good I feel that the mic placement was good and we got a
good tone out of the snare. On all tracks we used an sm57 for the
top snare sin and a sm58 for the bootom which allowed us to
capture the snares. Once recoreded the kit first of we would use the
eq to eliminate all the hums and other sounds what the mic picked
up which was not needed.

here you can see that we have added a bass cut and a small top
endcut to eliminate resinatce you can also see that I have ephisised
300hz the reason why I have done this is to create a more fatter
and more pronounced sounding snare.

when using the eq for the bottom snare I have eq it in the same way
but have taken more of the high end out because I feel that it is nit
need. I also did a 1.5db boots around 4khz because I wanted
brighter sounds from my bottom skin snare.

When micing up the toms we angles the mics towards the centre of
the drum which then would pick up the true sound of the drum
we used two audix microphones.

To capture the symbols we used two matched pair of audix pencils

condensers microphones we used the pattern of spaced pair this is
when you have two condencer angles in at the snare drum and are
of equal distance apart from the snare. This here is key because if
they are different lengths you will run into fazing issues. One way to
doing this is taking an axr cable and measuring the diftance and
using the bottom of the xlr able as a pioot place the other mic so
that it mets the xlr cable exact then you will not run into problems.
Or you could measure this with a tape measure and make sure it
matches. The key to this is keeping the mics the same length away
from the snare.
Once the mics are in place we on connect them to the Daw we used
two stage boxes. These boxes where connected to the audio
interface the 1st stage box which was imidialy when you walked in
the room which used up inputs 1-8 on the audio interface. The vocal
boot used inputes 9-10 and the far stage box used up inputs 11-18.

Live room
Studio

Vocal booth

In addition to these two track we were also given another track just
to mix this was we used the same style of compression and eq on
the drum trakcs as seen abouve. However there were multiple
harmoneys so I used the eq on the main vocals and for the backing
vocals I eq them a bit different

1st of all I done a low cut to get rid of some resinance and guttural
tone because this is only going to make the mix sound dull. Also you
can see for the lead vocal I have done a high cut to get rid of some
of the sibilance. I have done this because you are eliminating
resinace. This high cut took out some of the sibilance luckily but in
case it didnt I would of used a do esser which would of worked just
as well. For the backing vocals I have increased the high cut to
78khz because the backing vocals do not need to be as promenade
in the mix. I also boosted around 2khz because it represents high
end valve mics. You can see the backing vocals have this 2khz bump
in them as well but I have put the backing vocals right on 2khz
because I didnt want those frequencys which I boosted in the main
vocals to get cramped with too much going on in those frequencys.

to conclude I feel that I have learned a lot about mixing and hope to
get as much practice as I can to further my knowledge about mixing
and using compression and eq.