Recording a pop song cover PART 2

Recording plan for Strings

• Role of personel for acoustic guitar recording:
  
  
  Ryan Hobin- Ryan will be in the control room operating the mixing desk and the recording software Cubase, he will also be using talk back to communicate to the people in the studio. Ryan will also assess the recording and if needed be ask the performer to do a retake. Ryan will need the skill of being able to work Cubase quickly and efficiently. He will be responsible for making sure the recording sound right and doesn't have to much gain or distortion.
  
  
  Hayden Bridgen- Hayden will be performing for the recording playing  an acoustic guitar, he will playing an arrangement of chords into a dynamic microphone.  Hayden will require the skill of being very fluid and accurate whilst performing.  He is responsible for making the performance have no mistake and to be to a good standard.
  
  
  Lewis Jones- I will be in the recording studio booth with the performer, I will be setting up the microphone and will be responsible for the mic to be the appropriate distance away from the recorder. I will require the skill of being able to listen and communicate with the studio so the best possible sound is recorded.
  
  
  The type of Microphone we will use is a AKG C1000S the Polar pattern is Hyper Cardioid. It will be placed around 20cm from the sound hole of the acoustic. we would use this mic because the guitar resonates high pressure levels of sound.
  
  
  Problems we might occur could consist of microphones not working properly, we would therefore need to replace this microphone to overcome this. if their is an unknown problem I would test and change each of the different components to find out what equipment was broken.

Glockenspiel recording:

Lewis Jones- Lewis will be in the control room of the studio operating the mixing desk and the recording software Cubase, he will also be using talk back to communicate to the people in the studio. I will also assess the recording and if needed be ask the performer to do a retake. I will need the skill of being able to work Cubase quickly and efficiently.I will be responsible for making sure the recording sound right and doesn't have to much gain or distortion.

Hayden Bridgen- Hayden will be performing for the recording playing  a glockenspiel, he will playing an arrangement of chords into a dynamic microphone.  Hayden will require the skill of being very fluid and accurate whilst performing.  He is responsible for making the performance have no mistake and to be to a good standard.

 Ryan Hobin: Ryan will be in the recording studio booth with the performer, Ryan will be setting up the microphone and will be responsible to put the microphone the appropriate distance away from the recorder. I will require the skill of being able to listen and communicate with the studio so the best possible sound is recorded.

• The type of Microphone we will use is a AKG C1000S the Polar pattern is Hyper Cardioid. It will be  placed around 20cm from the glockenspiel. We would use this mic because we wanted  to see the  sound difference between that and the Shure. He will also set up the SHURESM58 30cm above the  instrument. Ryan will need the skill of communication with the performer and 
• 
  
• Problems we might occur could consist of microphones not working properly, we would therefore need to replace this microphone to overcome this. if their is an unknown problem he would test and change each of the different components to find out what equipment was broken.

Electric Guitar recording:

Ryan Hobin- Ryan will be in the control room operating the mixing desk and the recording software, Cubase, he will also be using talk back to communicate to the people in the studio. Ryan will also assess the recording and if need be ask the performer to do a retake. Ryan will need the skill of being able to work Cubase quickly and efficiently. He will be responsible for making sure the recording sound right and doesn't have to much gain or distortion.

Hayden Bridgen- Hayden will be performing for the recording playing  an acoustic guitar, he will playing an arrangement of chords into a dynamic microphone.  Hayden will require the skill of being very fluid and accurate whilst performing.  He is responsible for making the performance have no mistake and to be to a good standard.

Lewis Jones- I will be in the recording studio booth with the performer, I will be setting up the microphone and will be responsible for the mic to be the appropriate distance away from the amplifier. I will require the skill of being able to listen and communicate with the studio so the best possible sound is recorded.

• 
  
  The type of Microphone we will use is a AKG C1000S the Polar pattern is Hyper Cardioid. It will be placed the other side of the room from the amplifier, this is to record the acoustic reflection form around the room. I will also set up a dynamic SHURESM58 next to the amplifier, we would use this microphone because the guitar resonates high pressure levels of sound.
  
  
  Problems we might occur could consist of microphones not working properly, we would therefore need to replace this microphone to overcome this. if their is an unknown problem I would test and change each of the different components to find out what equipment was broken. I will need the skill of communication with the performer and the sound engineer as this will ensure we get the best sound possible. 

Nevermind Album Article

    Nirvana- Nevermind

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the most notable one being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990. Despite releasing only three full-length studio albums in their seven-year career, Nirvana has come to be regarded as one of the most influential and important rock bands of the modern era. their most famous album being Nevermind. Grunge music with which it was associated became the most written about phenomenon in contemporary popular music since the birth of punk. 


Before its September 1991 release, Geffen Records were hoping to sell 250,000 copies of Nevermind. But Nirvana's second album went on to shift 100 times that amount. Nevermind was nirvana's second album following on from the album "Bleach". Bleach was well received by critics, but failed to chart in the U.S. upon its original release. Nevermind on the other hand was another story because even though there were low commercial expectations by the band and its record label, Nevermind became a surprise success in late 1991, largely due to the popularity of its first single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". By January 1992, it had replaced Michael Jackson's album Dangerous at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. , and the album has sold over 50 million copies worldwide. Nevermind was in part responsible for inventing the genre Grunge and bringing it to to a large mainstream audience,this was a big factor to its success. Because of this fame it has been ranked highly on lists of the greatest albums of all timee by publications such as Rolling Stone and Time.

 The Recording of the album was approached very much from the live perspective, with the drummer set up in the middle of the room and the bass and guitars isolated for separation. Nonetheless, the sound engineer Butch Vig, was determined to push the band in order to achieve the right results, and to this end he had Krist Novoselic redo some of his bass parts and Kurt Cobain performing quite a number of guitar overdubs. the band didn't want the album to have any of the instruments too washed out with reverb or echo,  they wanted everything to be fairly dry and in your face.

 Dave Grohl's kit used an AKG D12 and a FET 47 on the kick, they built a drum tunnel consisting of old drum shells attached to the bass drum and extended out about six feet. That way you can move a mic back three to four feet, by having the drum tunnel, the kick is isolated, so that you don't get all of the cymbal bleed, this means that the bass drum mic isn't picking up other drums in the recording, this will make the kick drum more defined in the album, this making the overall quality of sound improve. Using a Neumann U67 and an LA2A, most of Cobain's vocals were recorded in the small Studio B at Sound City and ran straight to tape. The results alternate between a smooth, compressed, phasey sound.The guitars were in some cases, so over driven that the end result bears little resemblance to the instrument that originated it. Cobain doubled a lot of the rhythm guitars, he also  overdubbed clean and distorted tracks in almost all of the little solo sections. The album also used a fair amount of compression on the vocals so that Cobain dynamics were controlled , Kurt also did some double-tracking, particularly on choruses, he did that quite a bit on the record such as Breed, there was also two tracks of harmony's performed by Dave Grohl on songs such as in Bloom.


Comparison to other Album:
The techniques utilised in the album Nevermind are similar and can be compared to the album "wasting light" by the Foo Fighters , this is because Dave Grohl, the former drummer of Nirvana, decided that Twenty years on from the landmark recording of Nevermind he would reunite with that album's producer, Butch Vig. He also decided to buy the the mixing desk used in Nevermind and set it up in his garage. this meant that the album was completely recorded with tape instead of computers. the tape made wasting light have a very raw and similar sound to what Nevermind had. The band believed an analogue project would help the band reclaim its artistic freedom. The album incorporated 3 guitar tracks which were sometimes very over-driven, this is similar to the Nirvana grunge sound. because the album used tape instead of computer, they were limited on what they could , the tape makes the album sound more like a live recording with slight imperfections, this can be compared to Nevermind as that was also recorded very much from the live perspective.

This is a documentary about  how they recorded the song "something in the way", it talks about the harmony overdubbs of the melody and the recording techniques used.

 Evaluation of my own recordings:
 When recording our own instruments I recorded a electric Stratocaster into fender 20 watt amp using a Shure SM58 dynamic microphone and also an AKG C1000S condenser microphone. I decided on using these two microphones as I wanted to not only record right next to the amp but also pick up the acoustic reflection from around the room. I did this by placing the C1000S the other side of the studio and turned it the other way, by doing this the sound waves would have bounced against the walls before getting to the microphone meaning a more ambient sound. I chose the dynamic Shure SM58 as it could handle the high sound pressure levels resonated from the amplifier.  When both tracks are played together the recording has a natural reverb tone and also record more bassy tones which the Shure microphone didn't pick up as it was very close to the speaker. This electric guitar would have been similar to the way nirvana recorded their guitars on nevermind as i learned they also used two microphones on the amp. the overall sound quality of this recording was very crisp and in seemed to pick up the crunch tones on the amp without the mic becoming to over driven and distorted. To improve this recording I would say that the amp could have been put in a separate room than the performer, this would have meant that there were no background sounds of the plectrum strumming the strings and the amp would have been isolated. or if another room was not available the amp could have been turned up so the background noise could not be heard. It could also be improved by making sure the performers guitar was perfectly in tune as it sounds slightly out.  When recording the guitar there was the performer was in the booth with the guitar, I was operating the recording the software in the control room and we also had a person in the booth setting up the microphones making sure the instruments has a good quality sound. this is very similar to the the layout of where Nevermind was recorded as there was also two technicians . Constraints we came across when recording were factors such as cutting of the tracks too quickly instead of letting the note ring on and then edit later. We also experienced some feedback from the microphones when in certain positions, this was a problem as it could ruin the recording. We also were unable to add add effects such as a chorus pedal this meant the recording was a bit dry.



Acoustic Guitar
When I recorded a 12 string Guitar with two Condenser AKG C1000S, one 30cm in front of the sound hole and the other 20cm in front of the neck. This technique was incorporated so I was able to put both recordings together to capture all of the sound resonating from the guitar. And also to create a more ambient tone on the recording. As it was recorded in a completely sound proof studio there was no background noise. this made the guitar sound like a professional recording and would have been similar to how bands like Nirvana would have recorded an acoustic guitar. I also feel like as the quality of recording was to a good standard this meant the expression of the performance was captured and therefore involved the listener. Using the two mics instead of one increased the amount of tonal range on the recording and also picked all of the sound resonated from the hole of the guitar. this is similar to the way nirvana recorded the son 'something in the way' as they used similar techniques to record an acoustic guitar. The way that the recording could be improved is that occasionally throughout the recording there would be a tapping sound of the plectrum hitting the body of the guitar. to improve this the performer could adjust his technique so this did not occur, if he were to do this the recording would therefore improve.

bibliography of nevermind

Bibliography

I skimmed and scanned three secondary sources to find out more about the recording techniques and aspects of the nirvana album ‘Nevermind’. I annotated these articles and found out the following information. I found the techniques used on each instrument and what microphones were used and where they were placed in relation to the instrument. The purpose of my research is to find information about the sound production of the album so I can add it into my Blog.

Secondary source	Relevance to my project
Sound on Sound Article called “Nevermind the garbage”	Gave a detailed view on microphones, techniques used and production characteristics to record specific songs. Also gives examples of when overdub and effects are used. I used the information of the microphones used and the technique of micing up the drum kit in my blog.
Wikipeidia	Gave some detail on recording but also gave a background to how Nevermind came about. I used the background information as a starting point in my blog.
Burntout.com http://www.burntout.com/nirvana/articles/article5.html	Gave an insight to how Cobain wrote lyrics and the riffs. Also talked about the bands view of the album. I used the information and quotes of the producer, Butch Vig.
Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxUq64x3uA4	Gave an insight to the overdubbing of vocals in the song ‘in bloom’, I used this information of how there were four vocal tracks in the chorus.
Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfBVJ0JJCZc	Shows techniques used on ‘something in the way’  use of the oboe in the chorus and overdubbing of vocal melodies.

Being a recording engineer Unit 48

Polar Patterns:
A polar pattern is a circular graph that shows how sensitive a microphone is in different directions. Each circular division represents 5dB of sensitivity, so you can see where the microphone picks up the strongest to the weakest sounds at different points.

Cardioid: 
Very popular for vocals at live events as doesn't pick up much background noise. Their unidirectional pick up makes for an effective isolation of unwanted ambient sound and high resistance to feedback

Supercardioid:           
Can be used for vocals at big live events as doesn't feedback very easily.

Omnidirectional:

Omnidirectional microphones are equally sensitive to sound arriving from all angles. Therefore, the microphone does not need to be aimed in any particular direction. This can be particularly useful when trying to capture a speakers voice, as the individual can move their head without affecting the sound.




Bidirectional:
It picks up the sound from in front of the microphone and from the rear but not the sides, this can be used for recording duets or interviews.






Shotgun: 
Very directional, can be used to pick up drums and cymbals.


Microphones:

Dynamic:A very thin diaphragm of Mylar or other material is attached to a coil of hair-thin copper wire. The coil is suspended in a magnetic field and, when sound vibrates the diaphragm, the coil moves up and down, creating a very small electrical current. Dynamic mics are usually used with high sound levels applications, like vocals or drums, as unlike condenser mics, they're less likely to overload when exposed to loud sounds.

Condenser Microphones
Another microphone type is a condenser mic, these work differently to dynamic microphones as they process the acoustic energy differently. In a condenser microphone, sound waves also strike a diaphragm causing it to vibrate, but, in this mic the diaphragm is in front of an electrically charged plate.




Evaluating Recordings
During our time in the recording studio we have experimented with recording several instruments using a variety of techniques. some of the techniques can be compared to the way Nevermind was recorded, as both of the recordings were made in a isolated studio. One obvious difference is that Nevermind was recorded in the 90's so was recorded on tape instead of on a computer.

Whilst planning our recording we had to consider many factors. First of all sound quality, this includes an accurate sound of the instrument. We ensured this by setting up the microphones in the correct position and that the right type of microphone was used. we also did a sound check before recording the glockenspiel, we decided that there was to much gain as it was distorted.

Acoustic reflection was another important aspect, because the studio was sound proofed this influences the acoustic reflection as sound is less likely to bounce back. another advantage of the studio is that it blocks out background noise, this ensures no unwanted sounds are in in the recording .


Glockenspiel:
While recording the Glockenspiel we used the handheld recorder, the polar patterns were 90 degrees, 120 degrees, two channel and four channel. the microphone was dynamic. We recorded the glockenspiel outside in a classroom and in a studio.

This recording of the glockenspiel was recorded with the handy recorder at 90 degrees an average recording, this is because the recording had quite a substantial amount of background noise such as wind, this is because it was recorded outside and not in a studio. however the glockenspiel was picked up and all of the notes are quite clear, the recording is also quite tinny. As the player was not great the expression and emotion was not very good. Compared to are other recordings, this is not as defined as the quality and background noise are not in our recording which was performed in the soundproof studio. There was also no Acoustic reflection unlike our electric guitar recording.
Recording of open air glockenspiel:
https://soundcloud.com/beatenyoualready/open-air-glockenspeil


2 channel open air recording with handheld recorder:
https://soundcloud.com/user-401119215/jth-2ch
This recording is very tinny and is very ambient. this makes it not a very good quality recording. It also features a slight amount of background noise.



Recording of glockenspiel in classroom (SM58) :
https://soundcloud.com/user-401119215/glock-task-0004-audio-shure?in=user-401119215/sets/ryan-hobin
this recording was a lot better quality as it had very little background noise. I used a dynamic Shure SM58 this has the cardioid polar pattern this was pointed straight at the glockenspiel from above. This made a good quality smooth sound unlike the open air recording where it was tinny and had a lot of background noise.








Recording of guitar in studio:
https://soundcloud.com/user-401119215/guitar-studio-0006-audio-audio
This is an earlier recording of the guitar in a studio, the quality of the recording is good and there is no background noise. however we didn't use 2 microphones unlike our finale recording. this made the recording have less acoustic reflection and some of the tone of the acoustic was lost as the sound hole is not the only place sound resonates from.


Recording of Glockenspiel in studio (AKG C1000S):
https://soundcloud.com/user-401119215/glock-task-0006-audio-akg-jth
this was recorded in a sound proof studio so there was no background noise, the microphone we used was AKG C1000S, this condenser microphone makes the glockenspiel sound a lot brighter than when recorded with the Shure dynamic SM58. the condenser mic also picks up more ambient sounds and acoustic reflection compared to the dynamic one.

Final evaluation of recordings:

Acoustic Guitar
I recorded a 12 string Guitar with two Condenser AKG C1000S, one 30cm in front of the sound hole and the other 20cm in front of the neck. This technique was incorporated so I was able to put both recordings together to capture all of the sound resonating from the guitar. And also to create a more ambient tone on the recording. As it was recorded in a completely sound proof studio there was no background noise. this made the guitar sound like a professional recording and would have been similar to how bands like Nirvana would have recorded an acoustic guitar. I also feel like as the quality of recording was to a good standard this meant the expression of the performance was captured and therefore involved the listener. Compared to the other acoustic guitar recording, I think that the overall quality of the recording was improved and all the notes were more defined. Using the two mics instead of one increased the amount of tonal range on the recording and also picked all of the sound resonated from the hole of the guitar. The way that the recording could be improved is that occasionally throughout the recording there would be a tapping sound of the plectrum hitting the body of the guitar. to improve this the performer could adjust his technique so this did not occur, if he were to do this the recording would therefore improve.


1st recording infront of sound hole.
https://soundcloud.com/beatenyoualready/1st-acoustic-final-recording

2nd recording in front of the neck.
https://soundcloud.com/beatenyoualready/1st-electric-recording-final-recording



Electric Guitar:
I recorded a electric Stratocaster into fender 20 watt amp using a Shure SM58 dynamic microphone and also an AKG C1000S condenser microphone. I decided on using these two microphones as I wanted to not only record right next to the amp but also pick up the acoustic reflection from around the room. I did this by placing the C1000S the other side of the studio and turned it the other way, by doing this the sound waves would have bounced against the walls before getting to the microphone meaning a more ambient sound.  When both tracks are played together the recording has a natural reverb tone and also record more bassy tones which the Shure microphone didn't pick up as it was very close to the speaker. This electric guitar would have been similar to the way nirvana recorded their guitars as they also used two microphones on the amp. the overall sound quality of this recording was very crisp and in seemed to pick up the crunch tones on the amp without the mic becoming to over driven and distorted. To improve this recording I would say that the amp could have been put in a separate room than the performer, this would have meant that there were no background sounds of the plectrum strumming the strings and the amp would have been isolated. or if another room was not available the amp could have been turned up so the background noise could not be heard. It could also be improved by making sure the performers guitar was perfectly in tune as it sounds slightly out.  Compared to other recordings this recording has a very ambient tone which has also got some reverb unlike the rest of the recordings.


electric guitar Shure SM58:
https://soundcloud.com/user-401119215/haydyn-recording-0002-audio-audio-02?in=user-401119215/sets/lewiscomehere


electric guitar AKG C1000S:
soundcloud.com/beatenyoualready/2nd-acoustic-final-recording