INTRODUCTION
For our demo project my group like others decided to remake a song called “Distant Friend” written by Trinski Liwanag. This project has given us a great insight into the world of advanced studio production. It has also given us time to learn signal flow on the Neve hybrid console. Initially the group had a mixture of ideas and genres in mind for our remake. However during the first week of studio production we managed to narrow down the genres to Soul/R&B. In fact by playing around with the same chords from the original composition on the grand piano in the Neve band room, we managed to find and record our melody over a beat created in FL studio and imported it into Pro Tools. After deciding to set our tempo at 90 BPM, I felt inspired to come up with some vocal hooks, melodies and a song arrangement.
To work on the melodies and song arrangement I made sure I recorded any ideas I liked on my phone while in the studio with the group. These initial ideas inspired the rest of the vocal melodies for the Soul/R&B remake. After a busy weekend performing interstate I sat down with the lyrics and my phone recorded ideas so I could hear the beat and capture a vibe for the song. Having the words in front of me and making them fit in with the instrumentation instead of having to come up with the lyrics was an enjoyable challenge. I feel when writing or reworking any songs it is important to think about the message and try to convey it’s emotion. I managed to work out an arrangement idea for our song but didn’t manage to complete all the melodies for the lyrics before our second group studio production session. However I had ideas for an intro, a hook, first verse and chorus which was enough for us to build and edit our instrumentation as well as map out, preview, decide and fine tune the song arrangement.
DEMO PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT
Before our third group production in the Neve studio,the group booked studio time in in both the small and large Audient to further develop our song. This was very productive as we managed to record most of the vocals, bass guitar, add synth parts and record live drums using brushes. It also gave me the chance to rehearse some signal flow and trouble shooting exercises on the console. The third production session in the Neve was fantastic because it really gave us the opportunity to analyse, expand and experiment with more vocals, microphone techniques, synth parts, drum parts and recording techniques. The advice from our executive producer/ facilitator was brilliant showing us some valuable production techniques. Another real eye opener for me was the splitting of roles within the group which is an extremely effective way to work.
The following day our group had a booking in the mastering suite where we spent the day applying corrective eq and editing clips in Pro Tools ready for our creative eq and mixing session next Wednesday in the Neve studio. The group has worked exceptionally well together and we are in a great position to successfully complete the demo project next week.
One of the most pressing issues with this production was deciding what genre to focus on as a group and coming up with the initial idea. To begin with we struggled to make a start and find the perfect direction. However once we refined the idea we continued to make great progress. Other minor issue we faced were the occasional signal flow errors which is to be expected getting used to a new console and some latency during vocal recording which was resolved by turning off certain plugins while recording vocals. Although we had put in many hours recording our track before our third session in the Neve our remake was missing something. This made for great discussion and idea sharing with the group until we created the missing elements.
A great plugin called Vocalign was introduced to us during production. This powerful plugin is an amazing tool for lining up clips/vocals together. The quality of this editing is outstanding. I was so impressed I decided to do a little You Tube research.
HOW TO FIX VOCAL ALIGNMENT FAST (VOCALIGN)
HOW TO MIX HARMONIES AROUND LEAD VOCALS
HOW TO MIX THE LEAD VOCAL (R&B MASTER CLASS)
HOW TO MIX RAP VOCAL DOUBLES
REFERENCES
How to Mix Harmonies Around Lead Vocals – ModernMixing.com. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 13 August 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHzDxtpTUmc
How to Mix the Lead Vocal (R&B Master Series II). (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 13 August 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEvsqVlPEVY
Mixing Vocal Doubles ( Stacks) For Rap Vocals. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 13 August 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPe_bI-bv-M
Neve Genesys G128 Hybrid Console | Red Dog Music. (2016). Reddogmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2016, from http://www.reddogmusic.co.uk/catalog/product/001520/neve-genesys-g128
Pro Tools Vocal Editing: How To Fix Vocal Timing Fast With VocAlign. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 13 August 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPAMfu2qD1s
AUSTRAJAM PRODUCTIONS 2016
AustraJam Productions 