Pan Automation (Logic)

 Today I did some research on how to use PAN (left & right) Automation on logic pro.

Before I started experimenting I asked for help from my tutors to try and understand the practical applications of this tool, I also went deeper and researched about automatic pan plug in that logic offers.

Researched this website to learn how to use tremolo plug in as an auto PAN/PULSE effect on the tracks.

"Return Home" Mixed and Mastered!

 We have now finished recording, mixing and mastering of our first song called "Return Home", this is now ready to release!

After finishing this Mastering, I noticed I had done a mistake by not bouncing the unmastered mix first and then use that 1 stem to master the whole project, allowing me to create multiple versions of mastering without affecting the main mixed track.

For this recording, we recorded both guitars through a Marshall dsl20 using a Sm57. Bass guitar was recorded straight from the bass amps DI out.

Drums were the most challenging for a couple of reasons:

1. Our Interface only has 1 mic and 1 line input
2. we only have 1 sm57 and 1 sm58

We therefore used the drummers Yamaha EAD 10 microphone/module to record and topped it up with 1 sm57 as an overhead/room mic.

None of us knew how to operate the Yamaha module so we spent some time going through the owners manual and some videos on YouTube,

https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/0/1133900/ead10_en_om_a0.pdf

overview how to set up the mic and module

https://youtu.be/dC0nXnBZrxw

Yamaha website demo

https://youtu.be/Ui7BsHsBTxM

Advice on mixing and recording with an EAD10

https://youtu.be/7V6Tlvh1ltc

During mixing and mastering, I head the help and support from Rob G. who assisted me during this process.

New Drummer & new Bassist

 After publishing and ad on Facebook looking for a drummer, we had a couple of replies within the first few hours it was up!

Matilda decided the project wasn't right for her, so we reached out to an old contact Billy and asked him to come and have a jam with us, he loved the vibe and said yes straight away.

We then had 2 drummer audition to our band and we were really impressed with Tyler's skills, he's 19 years old, and a former Heart of Worcestershire college UAL student, he's a left handed drummer who shares pretty much the same influences as us, here's a photo of the complete line up! Finally!

Mastering

 In recent recording session, and after bouncing the mixed tracks onto my phone so I could be able to play them in my car, Bluetooth speaker etc... I noticed that the volume of the track/tracks was considerably lower than other track that I listen to on Spotify/Apple Music, etc.

After a brief conversation with Rob G. I was told I was now facing an obstacle called Mastering, so naturally today I decided to research about this by watching a few YouTube videos, these as listed below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C863dVB_7vI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud0z4NlHcj4 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXStJgXpZKc

After this research and after some tips and tricks from Rob I understood the basis of mastering, which has its basis on,

1. COMPRESSING
2. EQ
3. LIMITER

Using a Multi Band Compressor will allow to dampen or give emphasis to different bands on the track, for example give more boost to middle frequencies on a guitar, or dampen the hi hat frequencies to make sure these are compressed so they are not to quiet but also do not exceed a set db (set by the limiter)

EQ allows to Taylor the sound to match your idea and also the give or take emphasis to certain frequencies  or interferences.

The Limiter is used to increase the overall voliume of your track and at the same time limit the waveforms to a set DB setting, for example you can increase the gain by +10.0 db but then limit the wave form to -0.1 db to ensure there is no clipping or distortion.

We are aiming to master all of our tracks to a loudness level of around -14db, to make sure they sound consistent with each other, and as Loud as other work already out.

Rehearsals, Drummers & New songs

 This week we focussed on rehearsing the songs that we had and explored ideas for new songs,

Myself and Keelan met twice last week to write some new songs and we managed to come out of those sessions with 1 new song "Make a Stand", which we have also started recording, in conjunction with the 3 that we had last week.

                               Recording "Make a Stand"

This session happened at my house where I have a little home studio set up with a small amp, midi controller and interface. In this recording session we recorder the 2 guitars (lead and rhythm), added a midi bass line to mimic our initial idea and allow the bassist to have an idea of what we wanted the track to sound, we also programmed a drum beat with 4 different sections. I had a hard time trying to program the drums so I asked for help from Rob G. with issues like tempo, turning the track from midi to audio and vice versa, we also brushed on things like how to "Pan" different instruments left and right to ensure the sound is not just being "forced" through 1 mono channel. Also learned more about the positioning of the microphone in front of the amp and how different approaches create slightly different sounds.

This week was also a week of disappointments as our drummer decided to leave the project after a few weeks, we were devastated but quickly realised we needed to find a new drummer.

Rock Dove Band ( The Process of creating a Rock Band and the recording and mastering of an EP)

 

As part of my development within Kidderminster College, I have formed a new Alternative rock Band Called Rock Dove, putting together an ensemble with 90% ex Kidderminster College students worked wonders.

The band composed by Myself(Lead Guitar), Keelan Pearman (Vocals & Rhythm guitar) , Matilda Jones (Bass Guitar) and Elliot Potts (Drums).

The idea for this band resulted in the unfortunate breakup of a covers/funtion band Myself and Keelan were apart of. After a few sessions the band agreed that they did not intend to become an Originals band and they wanted to continue as a functions band.

Keelan and Myself then decided that a change of scenery was needed and that's when we created Rock Dove.

In an attempt to make rehearsing/recording and general band business, I repurposed an old cellar that was being used for storage as our very own rehearsal/recording studio. We have so far acquired a Pearl Export 5 piece drum kit, an Ashdown 2x10 300watt bass amp, a Marshall DSL20 Valve amp, a condenser Mic and an Sm58, a behringer audio interface, a Midi keyboard and are using a Bose s1 Pro as our temporary Vocal PA system.

                Current studio looks

 

                               Keelan trying some new ideas

We have currently 3 songs written, and ready to record, "Enigma", "Return Home" and "Call to Adventure"

Looking to start recording these next week, we'll record these with Lead Guitar, Rhythm guitar, then send this off to Matilda to overdub her Bass like on to the track, and finally add some programmed drums until we can have the whole band at college to record the drums and make use of their resources.

See you next week!

Tried a new Song at the Marrs bar Wednesday night Jam

 

Tonight we played at the Marrs Bar jam night and tried a new song we had written ( Final Departure)

Seemed like the audience responded well to it!

After playing this song live we have noticed we need to make some adjustments to our insturments and also the way we play the song.

My guitar was a bit to loud and the rhythm guitar a bit to quiet, also we weren't 100% happy with the tone of the rhythm guitar, I sounded too muddy.

In the meantime we have changed strings, acquired a few guitar pedals to model the sound and we're sounding much better.

We worked on some album/EP covers and singles cover this week, see some of these below!