On the whole, I think this week went surprisingly well because I have managed to get a lot of work done considering that I was ill and out of college for two days, as I still worked on the songs from home when I could. This week, I accomplished getting the vocals and lyrics recorded and even started to think about and record some ideas for the harmonic parts when we record the final takes for that next week. Lewis then went through mixing the track with me, and we did this in a professional process which meant I was learning a lot at the same time! At home, I worked on the lyrical and harmony tracks just to get some more ideas about how I want the outcome of the vocals to sound, and I also did some general admin work to make the song visually more beneficial in my DAW.
Progressions And Strengths
A major song milestone happened this week as I was able to record Lucy’s vocals; I feel like this changed the whole aura of the song and really developed it for the better! I asked her to come up with some lyrics and melodies last week and she showed me these on Monday before we recorded. When we recorded it, I used an sE Titan microphone after also trying the sE Ribbon microphone and it not sounding as great. Having lyrics now also means that I can start thinking of ideas for the song’s name as it has more of a meaning and theme now. Also, I asked another vocalist on the course, Meg, if she could record some harmonies over these lyrics. We had a very quick five minute recording session just to get some draft ideas down which I looked through and improved upon to see what other ideas I can come up with before we professionally record it on Monday. I really like the idea of having two vocalists as I can now experiment with different types of vocal timbre and how they can compliment eachother.
After recording the lyrics, I and Lewis decided that it would be beneficial if we made a draft mix of the song, so we can then incorporate the vocals relative to the rest of the track, the do a final mix later in the project when I am ready. We cleaned up some effects that were making the song too messy and muddy, for example taking the lower end off a lot of the instruments like the bongos, shaker, and vocals. We also added effects like a saturator (which adds a small amount of distortion to your instrument to get a tape/lo-fi effect) and a limiter to the vocals (which allows you to increase the volume of the track without it clipping). I added a delay to the vocal pieces for a little bit of ear candy! Unfortunately, we didn’t get onto panning however I plan to do this next week after recording the harmonies.
At home, I did some admin work as I mentioned I should last week as my workspace was becoming quite messy and overcrowded with tracks. I started by accumulating the different tracks into groups and then naming that group relative to what it contains (for example; the drums/percussion involves a drum kit, jazz brushes, a shaker and the bongos). I then went through each group and changed the name of the track itself as a lot of them were just called ‘Audio 19’ or Ableton’s own name for the sound I was using. I think this will really help when I am doing more work on mixing the song as my workflow will increase a lot; I can tell and find exactly what I am looking for a lot easier now. Also, grouping tracks means you can solo or mute everything in that group with one click which is also great for mixing. I was going to colour code all of these tracks as well but I found this to be a very, tedious, long process and eventually stopped. After all, I do think that just putting the tracks in groups is enough and will make a big difference!
Improvements
After recording the harmony drafts and making some edits on them, I now have some great ideas that I want to bring attention to in the recording studio next week. I want to create a chorus feel to the song on important lyrics by layering up different vocal harmonies, and I also want to re-record what we did this week but more professionally. These takes are just drafts, however, I realised when listening back to them that there was background noise from the air conditioning and the band playing in the live room. This couldn’t have been avoided but I think most people are doing written work on Monday morning so the practice and live rooms should be empty. I will also make sure the air conditioning is off in the control room when we record and that the door is closed so nobody walks in on us during a take.
On Friday, I sent an email to an amazing brass player that my tutor knows, and collaborating with him has been in the pipeline for many weeks now. The email is to the point, and I’ve never sent an email as professional as this before, so it is brilliant experience especially for musicians. He hasn’t got back to me yet so not sure if this is still on the cards, and it all depends on what he says. If he replies and says yes, I plan to work with him to get the best result. For example, if he asks for sheet music with the parts I want playing, I can absolutely do that. However, if he says that he won’t be able to, I can just do with the midi horn pattern I have in the song right now. This wouldn’t be a major problem, but it would great for me to collaborate with a professional musician of his standard and put his work into my track.
Next week, after recording and arranging the vocal harmonies, I need to work some more on mixing. This will include refining these harmonies and adding the necessary effects like an EQ and compressor to improve its sound, and also panning as I haven’t had a chance to use this on the song yet. Mixing the harmonies will be key for the track as the vocals need a little more depth to them, and I feel that the harmonies will do just that, especially during important lyrics, for example, the song’s title. Panning is a great way to also add depth to your song, so I could definitely experiment with panning the different voices left and right to give the harmonies a wider feeling. I should also pan the different instruments like the two chord tracks and perhaps even the horn section if I can obtain this.
Targets For Next Week
-Keep working on the harmony parts and mix them so they sound good with the main vocals.
-Get the horn tracks sent to me and embedded into the track if possible.
-Do some more work on mixing like refining the vocal harmonies and using panning.