Unit 8 – Practical Skills

I made 2 tracks  for the band Screaming Walls which where roughly around 3-5 minutes each, I feel like with the techniques and skills that I have learnt I can really make the 2 tracks sound much better

As you can see in the video I am recording Screaming walls before recording them I added the Amp plugin I don’t this because of the guitarist asking for a distorted sound.

For my amp choices I used a Laney because that was the preferred choice by the guitarist I used a microphone at the back of the amp and at the front so that it boosted the volume and made the guitars hit harder, I Used 2 SM57s because they are an industry standard microphone that are specifically tailored to pick up the mid range much better then most microphones and can take the intensity of amplifier.

The mics we used throughout the session were:

1. Kick – Shure PG52
2. Snare – SM57
3. Top Tom – Shure PG56
4. Bott Tom – Shure PG56
5. OverHead L – Shure PG81
6. OverHead R – Shure PG81
7. Guitar – SM57
8. Vocals – RODE NT1-A

 

As you can see that this is my set up of drum kit I decided to use the X and Y technique to assure that my hats would be heard a lot better in the mix as heavy metal use a lot of hats in there songs

Here is the guitar amp mic I decided to use the SM57 the reason why is because of how much more effective it is for picking up the midrange sound but not only did I choose this I decided to choose the laney amp because the laney having an overdrive function which makes the guitars sound more heavy.

In the band there was supposed to be a Bassist but they never actually turned up to our recording sessions but in our recording group we worked with what we were given and it was successful anyway

There was some sort of worry when using the RODE NT1-A due to how fragile it is but as I set it up correctly there was no issues.

As you can see this is me using a technique called doubling drum tracks its where it creates a Midi and it makes your drums much more effective in the mix it made the drums in the track much more enjoyable and it really brings the drums together.

Here are the two tracks that I create here they are before being mixed and mastered

As you can you hear the tracks sound awful due to not being mixed and mastered yet the track pray for the day its self you can hear the vocals dominate the mix and you cannot really hear the drums and guitars at all due to this.

Above you can see my unmixed and mastered track the drums can not really be heard and the vocals just sound like that he’s shouting into the mic rather than screaming and the vocals just completely dominate the track making that the only thing that can be really heard.

 

As you can hear above this is the un mixed version of the song belly ache as you can hear the drums can’t really be heard and the vocals drown the mix but the guitars and vocals fit nicely and as you can see the Soundcloud wave it isn’t really clean where as in comparison to the mixed track you can see that the wave formation is a lot more together.

 

 

As you can hear in the above track it sounds absolutely great the the drums are perfectly in the mix while the guitars are along the the drums sound perfect as they have the heavy metal guitar sound, also the vocals sound much better compared to the un mixed version of pray for the day.Also you can see the Soundcloud waves and if you compare them you can see that the mixed version is so much fuller and the level of the waves aren’t al over the place and also the arrangement looks different.

As you can hear in the track above that the intro sounds so much better and it comes in so much smoother than the unmixed track above also the guitars and drums connect together nicely by forming a outstanding sound not only this but the vocals sound perfect in the mix creating a punchier sound.

Above you can hear the mixed and mastered version of the track belly ache the guitars and the drums sound great together in the mix and the vocals are placed on top just perfectly and I added a slight reverb to vocals to make it sound great in the mix.

 

Create an original composition

As you can hear in the track above that it is un mixed I think the track sounds great  I really enjoy how the hi hats bring in suspension to build up a drop also I enjoy the triangle sound in the mix as you can see in the Sound cloud waves that the track clearly needs mixing and mixing due to the gaps inside of the track.

As you can see and hear this is the mixed and mastered finished track of my final unit 8 project as you can see the sound waves are so much more together than the other unmixed version and as you can also hear that the drums are much more punchy and the 808s hit a lot harder and the chords sound so much better together.

Also you can see that I have uploaded on to my Soundcloud profile “HC Beats”