Project 2 Task 2 - Meeting: Live Lounge Recording (Group 15)

"Rag'n'Bone Man - Human (Group 15 Cover)"

The plan for the recording session is that Lewis will take care of the mic placement, the communication with the band and the video-recording of the session. I will be responsible for the live tracking and recording of the session, this will include gain staging, eq'ing etc.

I attended two rehearsals of my live lounge recording band consisting of Jack and Max playing guitar, Kieran playing drums, Joey singing and Ryan playing bass. In the first one, I got to know all the band members and they talked about their song choice and what style they wanted to do. Eventually, they figured out that they wanted to do a metal cover of the song Human by Rag’n’Bone Man and in their band skills class, they rewrote the track to their liking. On Monday I joined one of their rehearsals and recorded the song to take note of the differences to the original. After this, I asked them where they wanted to be on the stage so that I could map out a stage plan and figure out a tech spec for the performance.

The rehearsals and the meetings went quite smooth and the band members are all very nice and it was no problem to talk to them.

A big issue though was and still is communication and punctuality. Two of the band members turned up an hour late to the first band meeting and on the second one again only three of five members were present at the previously agreed time, one of them showed up over an hour late and the other one didn’t come at all.

It is often very hard to schedule rehearsal times in the facebook chat that we set up because some people don’t read the messages or do not respond in a timely manner which makes communication very slow and painstaking. Unfortunately, the same thing was the case with Lewis, who did not show up to a single rehearsal nor did he communicate with me or the band. I have talked to him since and asked him why he hasn't turned up to the practice sessions or responded and he said that he will make it a priority from now on.

	Original by Rag’n’Bone Man	Cover by Max, Joey, Kieran, Ryan, Jack
Key Signature	B Minor	A minor
Genre/Style	Blues, Soul	Metal
Tempo (BPM)	75	155
Recording Date	2014-2015	2017
Release Date	21 July 2016	N/A
Producer	Two Inch Punch	Gregory Lester, Lewis Burchett
Arrangement/Structure	Intro: 4 Bars Verse 1: 4 Bars Refrain: 4 Bars Verse 2: 4 Bars Refrain: 4 Bars Chorus 1: 8 Bars Verse 3: 4 Bars Refrain: 4 Bars Chorus 2: 12 Bars Bridge: 4 Bars Silence: 1 Bar Chorus 3: 8 Bars	Intro: 8 Verse: 8 Refrain: 8 Pre-chorus: 8 Chorus: 16 Refrain: 16 Verse: 8 Refrain: 16 Verse: 16 Refrain 16 Halftime (about 70bpm): Verse: 8 Refrain: 8
Instrumentation	Lead vocal Background vocal Vocal effects like “yeah” in the background Bass guitar Acoustic kit Clap sample Tamburin Piano Strings	Lead Vocal Background Vocal Lead Guitar Rhythm Guitar Drums Bass
Time Signature	4/4	4/4
Run Length	3:17	About 5 minutes
Production	They sampled a voice saying “I’m only human” in the intro and utilized it in the same style as old school hip hop artists would by triggering the sample and using it as an instrument The producer makes deliberate use of silence to build tension and release and make it more intense when the instruments come in. Example: at the end of the bridge all instruments cut out for an entire bar and you can just hear the voice. It sounds like the voice of the lead singer has been pitched up an octave and layered with the main vocal in some parts of the verses	The lead vocals have a high dynamic range and thus will probably need to be compressed during the live recording The following effect pedals will be utilized by the lead guitar