The assessment as a whole went very well, the band's performance exceeded all my expectations and they were very confident and having a lot of fun on stage which carried over to the crowd who enthusiastically clapped and cheered when they finished.
After mixing and syncing the track to the video I feel like the end product is of a high-quality standard and could be used as a demo for the band which they would be able to send to labels, music blog's and magazines or even to agents and managers. This is due to the fact that even though the recording is not the highest quality the visuals really add a lot of energy to the whole thing.
I encountered some problems along the way which ranged from people not turning up to rehearsals to the dynamic range of the vocal being very high and thus having difficulties in the mixing stage.
Using my Gantt chart I tried to get a good overview of when I wanted to finish and hand in all my tasks because I prefer to get things done early so I have a buffer built in if something goes wrong and also not stress myself which leads to a worse product since I wouldn't spend enough time on it.
I used the Gantt chart as a guide and help for the planning process but I did not follow it very closely, despite this, I stuck to the big deadlines for when I wanted to have the tasks finished.
I then went ahead and checked who the people in my band were and if I knew any of them, which coincidently I did, this was quite practical since I could ask Max who was the guitarist if he had already spoken with the band and he added me to their facebook group chat.
I introduced myself and arranged a rehearsal with them at the 21st of January in which we talked about their song choice, in what direction they wanted to go with rewriting the cover of the track and what my role as a producer would be in the project.
Unfortunately, two of the band members showed up one hour late to this initial meeting which was very inconvenient since we had to go over everything a second time.
The band then proceeded to evolve the initial ideas they attained from the first session and build upon them to form a full cover song. They often rehearsed in band skills which unfortunately I could not attend since I have lectures simultaneously but together we scheduled a rehearsal on Monday the 27th of February where I was able to listen to the final product, inform them about how the assessment day would unfold and what the timeslot was and most importantly discuss the tech spec and stage plan.
I asked them where they wanted to stand on stage at the day of the performance and together we modeled a stage plan.
Stage plan:
- Joey was in the front center of the stage since he is the lead vocalist and the main focus of the band
- Jack stood stage right and a bit behind Joey since he played the lead guitar part and I wanted to give him a little bit more space
- Max played the rhythm guitar and thus was on the stage left next to Ryan
- Ryan was standing next to Joey and Max on the stage left because his bass amp was situated there and he was playing more of a support role to the song
- Kieran was at the back center of the stage because he had a supporting role but at the same time was the core of the of the whole band so center back was the perfect position for him
After this, I took them through the mic choices I had in mind and explained to them why I wanted to use them.
The tech spec:
Instrument
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Mic choice
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Reason
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Lead vocal
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Dynamic: SM58
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It’s a classic vocal mic which is very robust and allows a clean vocal sound without too much bleed from the other instruments
|
Lead Guitar
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Dynamic: SM57
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The SM57 is can handle the intense output of an amp and is ideal to pick up the strong and gritty midrange of an electric guitar
|
Rhythm Guitar
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Dynamic: SM57
|
The SM57 is can handle the intense output of an amp and is ideal to pick up the strong and gritty midrange of an electric guitar
|
Bass
|
D.I.
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It’s easier and you are able to get a cleaner sound with no bleed
|
Drums: Overheads 2x
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Condenser: AKG 414
|
They are very versatile mics and are ideal for capturing the high end of the cymbals and hihats
|
Drums: Kick
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Dynamic: AKG D112
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It’s natural pickup pattern captures the low end of the kick yet still picks up the clickiness of the upper mids and lower high end, the result is a well balanced clean kick sound
|
Drums: Snare
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Dynamic: SM57
|
Go to snare mic because it can handle extremely loud frequencies and it captures the punch of the snare
|
Additional gear:
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Fuzz pedal on the lead guitar
Double kick pedal
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To have a grittier sound
Because in Metal it is quite usual to utilize one
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Day of the performance:
Everyone was on time and prepared and I talked them through the performance and set up again.
When it was their time to go on everything went very smooth, the band members made themselves comfortable on stage and we did a short soundcheck. I then adjusted the levels accordingly so that no channel was clipping and counted them in.
Their performance was spectacular and very energetic you could tell that they were having a lot of fun and they managed to work for the crowd and got a big applause after they were done.
Mixing day:
I went to Pro Control and Charlie Morland was there to assist me in my mixing task. The first thing I did was create a new project, rename it, drag the video and audio files in and sync them.
The next step was to organize the audio files, name them properly, create a group for the drums, duplicate both the guitars, pan them left and right and create another two main groups for the guitars so I would have an easy time adjusting the overall levels through the main faders of the groups. I then started doing an overall rough level mix starting with the drums. After this, I used bus sends to get a little bit of spring reverb and compression on the vocals and the overheads. I used a noise gate on the kick and snare to get rid of any excess bleed. Because the vocal has a very high dynamic range I automated the volume to get a little bit more consistency. I also used parallel compression on the drums, the guitars and the vocal to make them a bit tighter.
After all of this, I relistened with my eyes closed to see if I was happy with the work I did.
What went well:
The performance
The re-writing of the cover
The mixing phase
Time management and sticking to deadlines
What could have gone better:
More and better communication (people replying in a more timely manner in the group chat)
Band members being more reliable and turning up for rehearsals
Having a final rehearsal with the entire band in a similar scenario of how the assessment would be
What I’ve learned:
How to do a detailed tech spec and stage plan
How to communicate well with a band and organize rehearsals
Live tracking a band and getting the best out of the live recording by duplicating guitars and panning them left and right to make them sound more intense and full, etc.
All in all, I’m very happy with how the Live Lounge Video turned out and I believe that I have greatly benefitted from the experience I gained throughout the whole process. It was also very enjoyable to watch my fellow students perform and cheer them on.
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