17/3/2026
Today my goal is learning how to set up microphones on a drum kit as I feel this will be every useful information. We will spend 1h and a half.
Specific
I want to know how to properly set the microphones up on a drum kit with correct wire management so its not all scruffy looking and to just generally have the skill. I feel it will be a very useful skill when I learn how to set it up properly.
Measurable
The measure of success will be clear as this tutorial will be led by the tutors which means we will have clear direction and lesson structure to be able to effectively learn what they are teaching.
Attainable
I know this will be challenging as I only know how to mic up guitar amps but I also know this will be achievable as again we are being taught by tutors who know what they are doing when it comes to drum mic set ups. We know it wont take to long to gain an understanding as it is not an incredibly hard task and should only take around 40 mins.
I feel this will be beneficial because we will not need to rely on other people and their knowledge/skills to be able to record our drums. This means we can save time and after doing it for a while we gain good experience which is valuable in the line of work which is composing, recording and being a songwriting band.
The photos shown is the set up we learnt and the finished product of our lesson
The videos show some of what we learnt and what we did with the teachings. Lewis showed us one kind of set up that we really liked because Led-Zeplin used it and The Rolling Stones. We also really liked the easy set up with such a great sound. We added one extra mic to pick up the toms a little better and to put our own little touch on a great famous microphone technique.
Mic Set-up
- Two overheads, one placed above the crash and hi-hat, directed at the closest half of the drum kit (snare, hi-hat, crash, toms), and the second overhead is positioned below and to the left of the ride, directed to the second half of the drums, the ride, the floor tom, etc.. – it’s good to note that we measured between the two overheads so we don’t have phasing problems when listening back to the recordings.
- A kick mic directed halfway between the drums skin and the inside of its body – this is to give the kick a full sound
- A dynamic microphone placed between the high tom and low tom, this gives us a balanced mix of the two toms
- A microphone for the snare, directed in the centre of the snare skin, this is to ensure we’re not having much bleeding from the other instruments, but also to create a fuller sound of the snare.
We set it up as: - Channel 1 and 2: Overhead 1+2
- Channel 3: Kick Microphone
- Channel 4: Snare Microphone
- Channel 5: Toms
We then recorded it in Ableton – however a big issue we had is that only channels that had sound coming through was 1,4,5 – we found that the problem to this was some of the XLR cables were broken, and that is why channels 2,3,4 had no signal coming through – we knew there was no signal coming through because on the Neve Preamps, the signal lights on those said channels did not light up at all.
19/3/2026
Today we plan spending the first 30 mins of the the lesson (after the 15 mins for SMA Targets) with Paul going over creating a band name and logo, basically going over graphics and possible styles for it and the band. The next 30 mins will be spent rehearsing and finishing up the chorus for Someone Call The Doctor, finding a melody and lyrics based on the theme of the verses and feel of the song. The last 30 mins we will spend with Morgan going over employability, performance and production skills to make sure we have a good idea of what we will be getting into outside of college with our band with gigs and distribution.
Specific
We want to focus on creating a name for ourselves, something simple but memorable. We are going to spend a good amount of time to be able to make this possible. The other thing we really need to finish up is the chorus for our song as that is the only thing that is left to do, the melody and lyrics then we have it finished.
Measurable
We will measure our success by getting multiple videos of the melody and lyrics we create today. To be able to make sure we have it down well and remembered we will spend the entire 30 min session on this and the videos will help with memory.
Attainable
I know that with the help of Paul we will get our name or at least an idea of who we want to be as a band which is a great start, I feel we have the best possible help with the graphics side of things so I think we will get it done.
As a band we have written lyrics, melody’s and chord progressions in quicker time before so I have confidence in our ability to find a melody and lyrics for the chorus section of this song.
I know these 2 little projects for today will be massively beneficial as we have needed a name/look for a while and this will speed up a lot of things like promotion, social media and something for people to look out for. I know that as soon as we have the chorus down we have have a complete song and it will allow us to move on and start working on starting to write other songs for the album.
Pauls session had its ups and downs. We started out with a empty sheet of paper and just got to work with finding and writing names that we like that are taken but the other lads weren’t really giving too much ideas and opinions today so I suggested a few names I like and we worked from the feel of those names. Chairmen of the Board, The Style Council, Jamiroquai and some others. I figured I liked most of those names because they talk of power titles like Council, Chairmen and things like that so we started coming up with different words with the same meaning and got ministry, committee and more. The session went on a lot longer than we expected having struggled with agreeing on a name we lost our rehearsal time because of it. This means we failed both goals which was getting a name and finishing the doctor song. The only thing I can say is that we are closer than ever to finding a name and once I got home a found a potential melody for the chorus.
One good thing that happed was Morgan gave us a little half hour course on employment and ways to get by in the industry. We covered the ins and outs of Distrokid and how all that works to do with the money, distribution, advertisement and platforms to release on other than the obvious. I feel more confident in that aspect now and am grateful for the lesson.
23/3/2026
Today we plan to use me, Jacob and Ben in the rehearsal rooms to get lyrics and a melody for the chorus of Doctor as we were supposed to already have this done last session. Lewis will focus will focus on creating a band email and social pages online for a place for us to distribute videos, pictures, song teasers and all we will need on the promotional side of things.
Specific
I want to have the chorus finished for our song by the end of today, this means finished lyrics, melody’s and little details before we think about recording.
The aim is to have all social media accounts finished and ready for a profile picture and posts by today. Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, X, Facebook and The band email sorted and ready so we all can use it freely.
Measurable
I know we will have lyrics done soon because if we don’t get it done in this rehearsal today then I will dedicate the rest of the day on at my house on finding all the things we need to finish of the song and catch up with schedule. I will provide videos and pictures of lyrics and melody to properly document and evaluate.
Attainable
Like I said above if it doesn’t get finished in rehearsal I will go home and finish it up so it doesn’t take any more time as we already failed once. I trust Lewis when he says it will be completed today so it will.
I am happy to say we have got the lyrics and melody for Someone Call The Doctor it didn’t take us too long when we actually targeted what we needed to do. The Lyrics are just the same sentence repeated the same amount as the chords do. “I’m sorry I thought being cocky’d make you like me”. In the session we had enough time to write the part and rehearse to get it into the song and our minds. The melody is G,F#,Ex2 C#,B C#,E,F#,E.
EVDIDENCE
24/3/2026
Today the plan is creating bass parts, lyrics and melody’s for the Summer Tune as this is the next closest song to being finished. Lewis will do rebranding of emails and socials since we changed our name yesterday to a more unheard of name.
Specific
I want to have bass parts for the verse and bridge as that is all the song needs from the bass now then the bass will be finished.
We already have some lyrical ideas and notes for the summer tune so it would make sense to try get some more down for a catchy chorus or just a verse either way we need them. Wheres there is lyrics there is melody so we can make a start on this as well.
Measurable
We will take videos and pictures to show our progress in this session. I can take screenshots if lyrics are written on phone or computer to show the work.
Attainable
I know I should be able to write a simple bass part for the verse as I have already written the chorus so I have something to go off. I know we can make a start and look at maybe finishing a verse melody and lyrics or any section of the song. If we do it in sections it wont be too overwhelming and we will see what we will get through.
In today’s session we managed get a melody for the chorus and a feel for the verse with a few lyrics to give us a start. The chorus lyrics are “If there was a way
to get back the time
Id spent it with yous
to remind my self of where I belong
Its been written in the pages of this song
all along.”
proof
26/3/2o26
Today we plan to go over our name and logo redesign for our band as this will help build our band image and help make our socials look more professional, we plan to do this in the first half. For the second half we plan to rehearse for our gig tomorrow as we haven’t had much time to rehearse the songs.
Specific
We plan to really focus on getting a start to our logo, branding and for our socials as this would give us a boost and get us ready for advertising and promotion through content online as thats what every one likes now.
Measurable
We will record the session with Paul on a phone as this is the best way to note all the info. I will take photos of our brand ideas. We will also record our rehearsal of the songs.
Attainable
I feel we can make good progress because we have worked with Paul before and we already have a name sorted so we wont waste time on brainstorming for an hour. Rehearsal should be fine as we are just practicing cover songs which we are all comfortable with.
We now have a confirmed name and logo for our band and I am really impressed with it. It took us the entire first session but after messing around with some ideas of branding and art ideas from games and comics we came up with standard logo thats simple but hits.
The Princeples
We found a basic font that we all liked typed up our name and started thinking of ideas. We said that because its spelt prince Ben should add some regal colours, so the best ones we found were like a gold yellow and burgundy and we thought it would look great together and it did, but something was missing. We had a little talk and talked about and things we like and I spoke of art from The Walking Dead games and the logo for Borderlands the game and so we wanted to find a way to make the yellow look a little more rough and textured so Paul googled sandstone and some how copied the texture of the image into the words on Photo Shop or Illustrator and it looked ace, we decided to do the same for “the” and it looked great so we stuck with it.
Photos and videos of logo process
The kit is just a cool little Idea that will look great for Lewis’s kit while gigging