DMAT Production Lab

I had booked 2 slots to record the different instruments and vocals for this week and I thought it went pretty smoothly as compared to the recording for demo 2. Not only that I managed to experiment with the different microphones and what sounded good to me and for the recording. During this period I used the AT 4021 for the cajon since in my mind it was like ' okay, this mic was used for drums so I guess it'll apply to other percussion instruments'. Though I had an issure where the snare of the cajon wasn't that audible and surprisingly enough I found that the AT-4081, which a fellow classmate had used, was able to clearly pick up the snare sound together with the bass which sent this vibration to the chest. I also ended up using the ribbon mic to record the male vocals because it was more clearer to me as compared to the MD 421-II and also the MD 421-II was too warm. Instead I used the MD 421-II for the guitar to attain that effect. Would have loved to use the AKG P42...

I spent majority of my time this week recording for other people while at the same time taking note of what I wanted in my recordings. I took the opportunity to hear the different microphones used and what effect it had on what was recorded. From what I saw the SM57 was pretty popular when it came to recording amps, most particularly to the electric guitar amps like the Marshall amp. Though once saw it used for the cajon. Other condenser microphones which were mostly used for vocals were the AKG Perception 420, Sennheiser MD 421-II, SM58. For the drums would be the AT 4021. I didn't get to experiment with these different microphones since it wasn't my session but at least I was able to take note of what my most likely options were. From what I heard all of them sounded pretty decent in recording but features like ' bright' , 'warm' , 'vinyl' all varied on what kind of equipment used so it gave me a general idea of what I could use for my recording.

Half of the morning session was focused on the giving of feedback because it was a continuation of last week's one but the other half was when our mission was given. This time it was a full demo where marks will be awarded. Best part was that we were given 2 weeks so there was no more excuse that there was no time to record a recording with quality. What I took back from this session was mostly when we had a chat with Tom because he introduced us to singers with exceptional talent at singing in both live performances and recordings. He compared the singers to our recordings and made us realise the gap between them and us. Advise was to control the dynamics of the singer so as to add more emotional connection and also make the piece more interesting and not stale. Also because he made us realise that some of the singers in the recording were according to him ' lazy ' and we could tell from that too . It was important for producers to correct them unless it was what they want...

It came to the presentation of the second demo and everyone presented an 'improved' and 'fuller' version of the song. What I took back from that day was mostly the recording quality mostly because the feedback given for the songs were mostly of aspects such as rhyming and also melody and whether or not it was good but of course that was up to the personal preference of people. So I zoomed in on the recording quality and things like recording of the drums came in. The placement of the mic were super important in order to capture the sound of the drum kit since our usual methods drowned out certain parts of the drum kit. For example the kick gets drowned out by the snare drum or perhaps the snare drum is inaudible.  That was when I realised I had to use the different mic techniques to properly record the different instruments. Not only that I listened on the advice given especially this one which rung out to me. " Strive for a good raw recording " because this ...

Woah, it sure was a mess recording demo#2. Well this was because there was a rush of time and also limited resources since everyone in my class had booked the rooms on Friday, Monday, And Tuesday. Thankful we agreed on a system to share the rooms to help record our separate recordings. One thing I realised was that it was far more harder than I thought it'd be because I came in with a set mindset of "One-take record" since my recording was mostly acoustic. However I came to realise that time has been underestimated. Why? Because everything was based on assumptions. Like me, I thought everyone knew their parts, well I accounted for the teaching time but it ended up being longer than I expected. Not only that, the set-up time took way longer than expected. Also, I found myself fiddling around with the song to fit the musicians I 'hired'. What I took back from this was that I had to know what I wanted from the get-go. Most especially since it was my song so that mean...

We came to the presentation eager to hear everyone's recordings and one thing I knew from the very first presentation was that the reviews that Tim and Leon were going to give were going to be straightforward and honest. Sure enough when Don came up, he was told that he was too reliant on the Logic Pro software and that he should be focused on recording a raw good recording . Right after that, we proceeded to the person up next and we focused in on the melody and the lyrics which were the bread and butter of a song. The foundation. The lyrics that were shown by each person definitely brought out their intended message but in this case it was a matter of the arrangement or even choice of words. One factor we zoomed in on was the use of ' Rhyme'.  Leon stated that the use of rhyming is a powerful tool to use because of its ability to evoke emotion and way of delivering a message. After this session, I decided to go home and edit the song and changed some lyrics.

Production lab is back in session and I'm rather excited because of all the new techniques and sage-like advices that our lecturers are going to give us. And sure enough Leon walked into the room to give us our very first production lab session of the new semester. Leon spoke of an analogy which is related to that of ' Woodcarving ' . Such as how a woodcarver would have the need to use certain tools and take steps to make the wood into a beautiful sculpture. Of course this proved relevant to me because it made sense that well for a start, they're tools for woodcarving, not metal omy glass carving or whatever else, so it further emphasises that a good song will still be a good song even without the tools. Anyways to further talk about the tools, it is said that it is necessary to use whatever tools that is appropriate for the situation, like if its minute details, I have to of course use a more precise tool and not something like a saw. If its large details I want to omi...