Using Jasper’s ERA model(2013), I shall evaluate my work.
RECORDING
I am happy with the recording and how it turned out. I think Take Me Away sounds really nice with every track having a nice sound even before the mix. I would’ve liked to have tried more microphones to see which one fit Amy’s voice well, however the WA14 did sound good. I should’ve also asked Clarke to turn his amp down as it is very loud in the recording. There is one mistake in the 2nd chorus, it would’ve been good to have re recorded that bit again or, as that part is played more than once in the song, use a different version of it. There are a lot of mistakes in “Easy”, and that song should’ve been recorded a couple more times to get a better take. We were rushed due to time limitations, but still should’ve got a better take. Especially the guitar, and since that was recorded on a different day it should’ve been easier to get a correct take. There were a lot of setbacks with the recording process which made it a bit of fuss and very stressful, as well as taking a long time to get the recordings done. If I was in a studio which was mine or one that I knew better, or one that was a bit less complicated and specific, this wouldn’t have been such an issue. Take Me Away also took a very long time to record, this was due to my poor decision making and time management. I should’ve made sure the first time we recorded, that the takes were good and didn’t need another recording session. It then took a long time to get everyone free again, this slowed the process down a lot. If I was to record again, I would make sure every take was perfect in my eyes.
MIXING
The mixing process also went well, both tracks have a nice mix. However, they aren’t perfect and improvements can definitely be made. The process itself didn’t take me too long, but I wasn’t rushing it. And I understand the process even better than I did before, and if I were to do this again I would keep improving in how fast I am and the quality. In Take Me Away, it is a very loud recording so the track can sound a bit muddy when all instruments are playing. The vocals can be hard to hear in parts, especially the start of the second verse when everything is playing. Due to this they can be really loud in certain parts. The drums are also hard to hear in parts due to the inherent loudness of the track. The drums and vocals can peak at some points in the track, as I wanted them to be heard clearly. Compression was something I really need to improve upon, as what I did wasn’t great. It is better on Easy than Take Me Away, this is due to the loudness of Take Me Away. To make this better I could’ve used On Easy, one thing I could’ve done is made the EQ slightly different for each side of the piano. I just copied and pasted the EQ for both, however as they are the two different sides of the piano, they play different frequencies. So a different EQ for each side could’ve made it sound clearer. The “Heavenly Chorus” I used on the guitar on Easy doesn’t sound great. I should’ve tampered with the settings more or used a different chorus to get a better sound for it. I also could’ve used an amp or a pedalboard for authentic and better sounding effects.
MASTERING
The mastering went quite well as it made a difference and mostly made the tracks sound better. The process itself went quite well, however, it was quite a rush job. I should’ve spent more time on it. I also should’ve researched it a lot more, so I understand the process more and can make more of a difference. Instead of just doing it by ear, if I had more understanding, I could’ve had a guideline to work off so the final product was more industry standard. One mistake with the mastering is that I actually made the vocals in Take Me Away quieter in the master than it was in the mix. Otherwise, the mastering went very well.
PROJECT
I think this project as a whole went quite well. I completed my aim of recording, mixing and mastering two tracks. The end product was quite good, bar a few mistakes and things to improve upon. I learnt a lot about recording, mixing and mastering, which will help me if I ever want to do any of these again. Mastering was my least favourite, but recording and mixing is something I would like to keep doing and improving at. My time management skills were once again not the greatest as I fell behind due to the recording of Take Me Away taking much longer than expected. My research was also quite poor, even though there are quite a lot of sources, the quality of the sources aren’t great. More books and different kinds of websites would’ve been good. I also should’ve researched mastering. Vocals were an issue for me in Take Me Away, they are very quiet and I never found a way to make them louder and not too loud in the choruses. This is something I should research more as well as mastering if I were to do this again. Also, compression is something I need to improve upon, I can do this by researching and experimenting with it more. Another thing is to get a better compressor than the Logic stock compressor so it sounds better. This goes for all the effects and mixing tools, as they would sound better. Overall, I am happy with this project, as I completed the goal, had fun and learnt a lot. If I were to do this again, there are many improvements that I have stated, but I would like to do this again and improve upon the skills I have learnt from this project.