Multi Track

The Bass guitar sometimes gets overlooked in a song but never the less its a vital part. It carries the rhythm and adds the low ends that guitars can’t. We used the dead room to record the Bass as it provides a dry recording allowing to mix more freely.We decided as a Group to use a Microphone on the Bass amplifier and a DI Box to record the Bass guitar. This is a pretty common way of recording a bass as the DI records a clean signal and the microphone picks up the bass features on the amplifier. We tested two microphones for the amp which were the AKG D112 and the AKG C414. The D112 is perfect for picking up low frequencies as it is used on Kick drums so it fits perfectly for a bass guitar. The 414 however has a broader frequency range so it could give the bass more colour. After a considerably amount of time we decided to go with the D112 as it had much more character and it boosted the rich frequencies of the bass amplifier.

Before we started recording we had one problem with the tuning of the bass guitar, none of had a proper bass tuner so had to resort to a mobile phone application. Problem with this is that it is not a accurate as a proper tuner.

There was one issue with the DI box as it made a fuzzy background noise but was simply over come by turning the “ground lift” switch on. The recording went really smoothly apart front one note at the end which was simply recorded over using the “pre roll” feature on pro tools which basically is an easier way to record over a recorded piece as it counts however many beats of the song before you start recording.

The drums are a massively important part of the recording. We recording them first in the Drum booth. This gave it an isolated and quite dry recording which made it a clean recording. We used an array of microphones on the drums:

Kick- AKG D112 Microphone was used and placed a drum sticks width from the sound hole of the kick drum. We used this dynamic microphone as it has a high SPL resistance so it wont distort the signal.

Snare- we used a Sure SM57 Microphone on the top of the snare drum, this gave it a direct pick up of the centre of the snare and a fuller sound. We used an Audix 5 for the bottom of the snare as it captures the snare springs giving it that “snap”.

Overheads- We used the AKG C141B’s as they have high frequency responses and as crash and ride symbols have high frequencies we thought they would produce a great sound.

Tom- We used Audix D2’s for both high tom and floor tom.

Room- we used the Audix ADX51 for its small diaphragm for picking up quieter sounds.

The protools inputs we used were C1 to 8.

We decided not to work to a click track and instead to a guide track which we would record the drums whilst I played the guitar and Abigail sang. That meant we had to mic my guitar and Abigail’s vocals. We used a Sure SM57 on the guitar and a SE-X1 for the vocals. We sent the guide track signals to Callum’s (the drummer) headphones in the Drum booth so he could hear the guitar and the vocals whilst we recorded the drums.It took a few attempts but by the end of it we had a decent recording for the drum kit and also a guide track for sessions in the future. One thing would change would be the microphone placement on the kick drum, I would of personally put the microphone just when the air coming from the kick drum when hit stops, I have done this from previous recording sessions and it sounds more heavier and thicker.

Welcome to University of Lincoln Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!