LO1 – Processing vocals
Before starting this project I wanted to improve my processing specifically vocals as it is an element of my production that I feel less confident about. For our last project i improved my skills in the studio recording and using the software and Jake mixed more of the work so this time i wanted to challenge myself and try something new as i have not produced music like this before and i am new to some mix decisions being down to aesthetics. An example of this is the vocals on Superheaven and Code orange are a little lower in the mix compared to Pity sex and Title fight.
I mixed four of the tracks and Jake worked on the Superheaven song with my input primary on vocals and level balancing. Overall i am proud of the work i have done as i have found that the finished songs sound more professional and similar to a Will Yip production than my previous works. I now feel comfortable mixing songs and vocals and understand how to Master a song. I got the chance to experiment with different plug ins and find what works and find new ways of achieving my desired sound.
LO2 – Drum recording
I feel that i have vastly improved my drum recording skills. This is because i have had more time to develop different ideas and test them out to see if trying different microphones or having the mics in a different place affects the recording and gives me the sound i am aiming for. I found that using the Audix D4 on the Rack tom and th Audix D6 on the Low tom helps to bring out the bottom end and gives a nicer sound when mixing. I could notice a vast difference between recording our demos and recording our real pieces as it gave us time to practice recording and playing the songs so that by the time we came to recording the songs properly the songs were tighter and sounded better. If i have learned anything from this it is that in the future i will always create a demo track first and then go back a record again after trying out the ideas in the Demo so that i can accurately depict whether the changes i have made work well and i want to employ them or if i would prefer to try something new. Because we did multiple takes and spent a lot of time in Pre-Production i feel that that has really excelled our work and goes to show in our mixes. In the Title Fight Documentary they mention spending a lot of time with Will Yip working out the songs and ideas and that is what we have tried to replicate and i believe we have done this successfully.
Because I have worked more on mixing this time I have familiarised myself with the drum triggers that the university has installed and feel like i know how to accurately use them to achieve the sound I want.
LO3 – Project Management
Project management is one area that although i feel i have improved on i still feel that i have more to learn. This is Primarily because of using only DI tracks for the Bass in three of the songs due to lack of time and having less options on the equipment we could use. I feel that if i had planned the recordings better that it could have been possible for us to rent equipment from Playing Aloud and record bass and get a better sound to work with in the mix stage. I feel that this could have really excelled some of the songs as it would have given them a more live feeling and possibly more energy.
However i do think that i have improved with people managing and trying to get the best performance we can. I have found that to get a better recording the musician should feel as comfortable in the studio as possible. This is why when recording Title fight we made the end decision for Jake to sing the verse as Sam was struggling with the melody and this was starting to affect his performance for the rest of the song. I think overall the song would have sounded better with his vocals on the verse but i am happy with the end result and think that Jake did a good job to say that he is not used to singing.
LO4 – Creative imput
Although my creative musical input was not as much as i had hoped for i am still proud of the input i did make and i really enjoy the Pity Sex, Tittle Fight and Angel Dust songs. If i was to do this project again I would aim to possibly create an entire song myself, however i feel for this Jakes music input is what drove this project to success. He has more experience in writing songs of these genres due to other projects he has been in. That being said i do feel that the input i did have was productive and helped each track sound more like a song than a project piece. By changing some chords, tempos and keys of certain songs it does adapt from how it used it sounded.
Throughout this project we experienced some issues that impacted our ability to work on this project and what we were able to achieve. When recording drums we were unable to get the headphones to be loud enough so it was a struggle to stay in time which meant doing multiple takes which is tiring and can effect the performance. In the studio we experienced problems with ProTools crashing frequently which was not only stressful for us but for when we were recording other musicians as it meant they would have to do more takes. This also meant that it added more time to do the projects so we were often tired and in the studio until late at night/early in the morning.
