Week 1 – The first recording session was conducted in studio 2, due to this we had a lack of equipment such as: microphones & microphone stands. As we have had little to none experience within studio 2 we struggled to create a headphone mix for the session, amongst these problems a member of the band turned up half way through the session, giving us less time to record the track, because of these issues we managed only drum tracks.
Week 2 – The second recording session was conducted in studio 1, as my group was familiar with the set up in studio 1, the session was easier to set up for. We managed to record three guitar tracks for ‘pray for the day’ & we managed to record all the drums for ‘council of the gods’. I feel like improvement upon week one was due to being a more comfortable environment as we have used this facility before.
Week 3 – The third recording session was conducted in studio 1, complications began to arise immediately as the main guitarist was sick on this day, the drummer could not carry on recording the drum track without the guitarist present as this is how they normally record tracks. As a result of this we decided to spend the rest of the session mixing and mastering the recordings from week one.
Week 4 – The forth recording session was conducted in studio 2, we managed to record all vocals takes completed for ‘pray for the day’ & all drum tracks recorded for ‘council of the gods’ I feel like this has been a massive improvement upon last week as there was a lot of frustration from myself and my group for the lack of band members turning up int the previous week.
Week 5 – The fifth recording session was conducted in studio 2, as we had completed all drum and guitar recordings sessions, all that was left was to record the final vocal takes and add ‘adlibs’ to the track to create the bands overall sound, by end of this session all recordings were completed for both ‘pray for the day’ & ‘Council of the gods’
General Comments – Throughout all recording sessions the bassist in the band failed to turn up to every single session making all the recording sessions more difficult as we had no choice, but to cut the bass from the track, this then creates a disruption in the sonic balance of the track, as the kick is the only leading bass presence throughout, making the rhythmic session of the track sparse.
Adding to the comments above two out of the three guitarists didn’t turn up to any sessions, forcing the solo guitarist to improvise to recreate the other guitar takes, using ‘in the box’ plugins in order to recreate variation within the track
Overall – Overall the completion of the two tracks was a difficult and long winded process, this is down to multiple complication from both engineers & band members, there was issues with routing processes in studio two which wasted a lot of session time, however using the combined knowledge of the group we troubleshooted and managed to resolve all technical issues.
Band members not turning up to sessions wasted further time and contributed to complications in the project, these issues include: lack of bass guitar recordings in both tracks and repetitive guitar takes as one of the three guitarists showed up to any of the sessions, I feel like myself as individual have put a lot of time & effort into this project to produce two tracks I am presenting. I understand that assignment brief requires three tracks, but due to the amount of time wasted; especially on the bands side we have regretfully only been able to produce two tracks.
If I were given the task a second time round, I would wish for a more positive mind set from the band given, this in turn would make the band more dedicated to session time slots and overall the project would of achieved a more positive outcome from both engineers & band. As my first larger scale recording project I feel like there have been more negative moments than positive, this has had a major effect on myself and individuals in group which I believe has affected their performance in a negative manor.
The drummer from the band has been exceptionally professional as has turned up to every session without fail myself and my group could not have been more pleased about this, this has made the process in making the tracks easier, but overall the project has been a very difficult and eye opening experience of how communication in the recording environment can make such a massive difference to the outcome, this task has taught me that it is important to communicate with your band, as there is a certain level of respect required from both band & engineer to achieve a well recorded track.
As an individual I feel like in future projects I should move away from the mixing desk in order to expand my knowledge of microphone placement & techniques to improve my knowledge of the setting up of a session, which would lead to less time wasting in further projects. My communication skills with artists of bands in future could improve, as I need to come out of my comfort zone in this area and speak to members of the band and artists so that they know what I require from every member of the band to make the most out every session.
Harry Cook 