Unit 49 - Brief 2 - Sequencing A Pop Song

How to set up a project

To sequence or create music you will need a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). A DAW is a music creation software that you can sequence or record music with. There are lots of different DAW's out there Cubase, Fruity Loops and Studio one are some that you can use.

To be able to use these DAW's though you will need a computer system of some sort. This can either be a Computer that s running windows 7,8 or 10. or a Mac that is running a form of OSX operating system on it.

I'm going to be talking about Cubase, thats I will be using on a Mac with OSX 10.7.5. I will also be using Cubase 6 to make a sequencing track of Clean Bandit Rather Be. To start with I will be launching Cubase by clicking on the logo in the DashBoard. After that you will have a loading screen come up with Cubase 6 on it. 

Then you will come to the New Project screen and on this screen any recent projects you have been working on will show up but if you want to create a new project you just go to the bottom and pick a place to save it and click create project. Then it will go to the next screen which is your project set up and ready to go.

Setting up a track with Hal Lion SE

Once you have the new Project set up and ready. You will be ready to set up the Hal Lion SE Midi track for this you will need to go to 'Project' then click on add track. You will need an instrument track to be able to use Hal Lion SE. Once you have set up this track you will be ready for sequencing.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is an interface that most DAW's work from. MIDI is a Protocol, Digital interface and connector that allows electronic instruments to be recorded through a DAW. It also allows the electronic instruments such as a MIDI keyboard to communicate with the computer and vise versa.

GM (General MIDI) is a standardized specification for music synthesizers that respond to MIDI messages.
Hal Lion SE is a software Synthesiser and you can use this to create music with a wide range of different instruments. Hal Lion SE can be used with a MIDI instrument such as a MIDI keyboard so that you can input the notes straight from a keyboard. 

Using Groove Agent for the drum track

For this you would set up a new track like normal but instead of clicking on Hal Lion SE you would click Drum - Groove agent one. This is the drum track you will use and when you have opened this new MIDI track you will have to go to the bar at the side and click the little keyboard. This will open up the Groove Agent one bay. To Open the media bay you need to go into the media drop down menu and then click media bay.

In the media bay you will search for the instruments that you will need for example a Hi-Hat. and then when you have found the sound that you like. You click and drag that sound onto one of the tiles in the groove agent. This will the give you a note that that sound corresponds to and then when you go into the MIDI Key Editor, this is the note that you will use to get that sound. 

Using the Key Editor to input notes

MIDI in Cubase is managed in 2 different ways, through the Key Editor and the MIDI Manager. The Key Editor is the main way to input notes and this is where on the MIDI track you use the Pencil tool to draw the out the part that you want to write notes on. Then when you have this double click it and the Key Editor will open. The Key Editor Is where you can input the notes and this is done by using the pensil tool and finding the corresponding note on the onscreen keyboard and using the pensil tool you will draw the notes in. The page is split into bars and in and you can position the notes that you want to input anywhere on these and have the lengths of the notes can be as long as you want. 

How to use the KeyStudio Keyboards to input notes

The KeyStudio keyboard is a physical keyboard that plugs into the computer via USB. This then can interact directly with the DAW and you can use it to record notes that you play on it. This is an alternative to inputting the notes with a mouse and keyboard and if you can play the keyboard it is easier to do it this way.

My Sequencing Task

Sequencing Task

Unit 49 - Brief 1 - Setting Up audio Equipment

Equipment List

Mixing Desk - Yamaha EMX 5016CF
CD Changer - Numark MP102
dB Technology ASX18
Power Amp - TA 1400
Bass Power Amp - TA2400
Bass Speakers - dB Technology Arena SW18 x2
Speakers - dB Technology Arena 12 x2
Microphone - Sure SM58
Cables - Speakon Cables x4
            - Jack leads x2
            - XLR lead
            - Power cables

Setup steps

• First of all you would take the boxes apart by Turning the butterfly clips so they release and then getting 2 people to take the lid off.
• Store these well away from where you are working as it is a health and safety risk to have the close. You could trip and fall over if you have them too close to where you are working.
• The next step is to move the mixing desk to where you want it. make sure thought that it is still behind the speakers you will be setting up later. When doing this as well make sure the mixing desk stays on top of the power supplies this will make it easy to set up later.
• When moving the mixing desk make sure there is 2 people doing it because the equipment is heavy and could hurt someone. also when the mixing desk is in its final resting place make sure the breaks are put on the wheels to stop the desk from moving.
• Then we need to pit the speakers in the correct place. There is the 2 bass speakers that we will move first. These speakers you will want to have set up on the left and right of the mixing desk or hall that you are in.
• Make sure you have 2 people to lift these speakers as they are very heavy and could cause damage you or other people. Also make sure you lift with you legs and not your back as to not injure yourself.
• Now we have to screw the pillars in so that we can add the other speakers on top of the bass speakers. These just screw in and make is so that the other speakers will just slot right on top of the poles.
• Make sure you screw these in tight so that nothing can fall apart.
• Next we add the main speakers on top of the bass speakers. you do this by picking the speakers up and slotting them on top of the poles that we added just before.
• Make sure once again that you lift with your legs and have 2 people lifting each speakers.
• Make sure everything is tight and secure.
• Next we add the speakon cables up. todo this take them out of the compartment by the mixing desk and aline the 2 notches on the connects up and once the cable is in twist it until you hear hit click thats when you know the cable is connected and do the same to the power amps.
• Make sure all of the cables are taped to the floor and also go behind the mixing desk first this is to minimise tripping hazards for health and safety purposes.
• Then we add 2 jack leads into the left and right outs on the mixing desk into the left and right inputs on the power amps for a balanced left and right sound.
• Make sure everything is connected properly and then plug the 2 plugs into the mains.
• Make sure everything is turned down to 0 for this as to now get feedback or buzzing when turning everything on.
• We connect and XLR lead to a microphone and into the mixing desk.
• Flat line the whole desk before turning the 3 switches on the desk and power amps on.
• this is 2 prevent bad and loud noise coming through the speakers and possibly damaging peoples hearing.
• Test the levels of the microphone and make sure everything is balanced and no too loud.

Unit 48 - Brief 4 - Ready for release? Mixing and Mastering

For this unit we had to mix and master one of the projects I had already done and another song called Stick Together. For the project i had already done i chose to do my sequencing task with was Clean Bandits Rather Be.

Stick together

Rather Be

I stared with Stick together because i had listen to both songs and i felt like this one was the one that needed the most about of mixing and mastering done to it. Then i moved on to Rather be. the different mixing techniques used I did on both tracks.

I started with laying out the track of the project in groups and colour coding them. I then went through and any place in the song where there was a 5/6 bar break i would cut that out to make the tracks look more organised and so i knew where everything was. I then added some FX channels and set them as different sends so i could add EQ and inserts to all of the vocal tracks at the sam time.

Mixing

First i started with EQ and this was something that was familiar to me as i had done some stuff with EQ before. EQ stands for Equaliser and this is what balances out the sound of the different tracks you hear. EQ means you can boost or cut different frequencies of the audio, For example I chose to cut the low end frequencies of the vocals using the vocal send FX channel and i boosted the high end frequencies.

Next i added some compression to the different tracks. compression makes the different levels within a track all the same. Basically it changes the volume and flattens out the waveforms of the tracks so that there is no peeks in the tracks and it all sounds he same.

I then added reverb to the guitar send, this was to make the guitars sound like they are in a room and if you dial in the reverb it means that the guitars will sound more natural. Reverb adds a delay to the tracks and i used a guitar synth to do this effect.

Gates get rid of unwanted sound like background noise and breathing on the vocal tracks. This is something I used for the vocal tracks. This got rid of the background noise of something happening in the studio and the breathing before she started singing.

Track	Effects
Track 1 – Lead Vox
Track 2 – backing Vox 1
Track 3 – Backing Vox 2
Track 4 – Lead Guitar	VST Amp Simulator
Track 5 – Guitar Solo	VST Amp Simulator
Track 6 – Trombone	EQ, Compression
Track 7 – Trumpet	EQ, Compression
Track 8 – Cymbals	EQ, Compression
Track 9 – Hi Hat	EQ, Compression
Track 10 – Snare	EQ, Compression
Track 11 – Bass	EQ, Compression
Track 12 – Vocal Send	EQ, Compression
Track 13 – Guitar Send	EQ, Compression, Reverb

Mastering

There is 2 different ways to master a track, one way is to export the track as an audio mixdown and then re-import it into cubase as 1 track and master it from there. Another way you can do it is to add another send track that you will be mastering off. then you can link all of the track to this track and master this.

To master you would add a multiband compressor to the mastering send. this means that you can compress all of the different frequencies so you can get a really balanced sound. you would apply this the same way as you would add a normal compressor through the inserts but you would click multiband compressor.

Next you would add some EQ to the mastering track. You would do this just to get the sor of sound you are looking for. if you want a more bassy track then you would add more to the bass and if you dont vise versa.

Next you would make the levels of the mix balanced. for this all of the tracks can be turned up and down to make all of the instruments sound the same or you can boost one like the bass to make the track have a punch to it. When doing this however you need the master as close to 0dB as possible without getting any clipping to the track.

Unit 48 - Brief 3 - Recording A Pop Song Cover

Track list:	Instrument/part of instrument/mic or DI/name of possible performer:
Track 1	Electric Guitar - DI
Track 2	Rhythm Guitar - DI
Track 3	Bass Guitar – DI
Track 4	Drums – High Hat – Samson C02
Track 5	Drums – Snare – Samson DMC 100
Track 6	Drums – Left Tom – Samson DMC 100
Track 7	Drums – Right Tom – Samson DMC 100
Track 8	Drums – Floor Tom – Samson DMC 100
Track 9	Drums – Bass Drum – AKG D112
Track 10	Drums – Left Room – AKG C1000S
Track 11	Drums – Right Room – AKG C1000S
Track 12	Vocals – NTA3

Recording Schedule for Green Day - American Idiot

Session 1

Instrument –  Electric Guitar

Date – Thursday 12th November

Time – 11:20 - 2:00

Performer – Jack Bates

Crew – David Cuff

             Callum Hope

Session 2

Instrument – Rhythm Guitar
                     Bass Guitar

Date – Thursday 19th November

Time –11:20 - 2:00

Performer – Nathan Fisher
                    Callum Hope

Crew – David Cuff

             Callum Hope

Session 3

Instrument – Drums

Date – Monday 23rd November

Time – 8:30 - 10:50

Performer – Lachlan Hope

Crew – David Cuff

             Callum Hope

Session 4

Instrument – Vocals

Date – Thursday 26th November

Time – 11:20 - 2:00

Performer – Emily Twist

Crew – David Cuff

             Callum Hope

The Original Track

This is the Original Track From Green Day and it was released in 2004 as a sing and the song is composed of four chords, the I-IV-V-VII progression, while the chorus and solo share the IV-I-V-I progression. One of the recording techniques Green Day used was matching guitar tremolo swells to tempo maps

Green Day - American Idiot - Evaluation

Full Playlist

I chose to do a direct cover of Green Days American Idiot. I had chose this song because I knew people that could play it. I also felt that This would be a good song to record as it isn't that hard to play.

Break Down of the tracks

Bass Guitar

This is the bass guitar I recorded through DI. DI stands for Direct input and this is the way I have chosen to record the Bass Guitar. This was due to the fact that it is easier to record and produces a better quality sound. That Bass guitar in my recording Sounds a little bit quiet in the full recording so I will be making sure that when I mix and master the track to make sure that the Bass Guitar comes through.

Rhythm Guitar

The Rhythm guitar was also recorded through DI. I did this to get a cleaner sound from the guitar because I don't have to worry about the acoustics of the Recording studio to use a microphone I can just record it straight from the guitar. This also makes it faster and easier to record the track. Recording the track this way however it is very difficult to capture the reverb of the guitar unless you are very skilled and have the correct plugins.

Lead Guitar

DI was also used to record this track as well, this is because it is an electric Guitar so I could use DI to record this instrument. It meant that it was fast to record. It is just one cable that goes from the instrument to the mixing desk so that means that there is less things that can go wrong when recording through DI because you don't have a microphone or more cables that could be broken or defective.

Hi-Hat

For the Hi-Hat I used the Samson C02 which is in the drum kit specific microphone set for the studio and it is specifically for recording the Hi-Hat.

Unit 48 - Brief 2 - Being A Recording Engineer

Glockenspiel Task

Glockenspiel Recordings

AKG D112 (Egg)

• Position/Distance - 20cm above the Glockenspiel pointing at the keys
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 20 - 17,000 Hz

We used this microphone to record the glockenspiel. We recorded this in a studio and that meant there was no background audio and that the instrument was isolated. This sort of microphone is not supposed to be used for this, it is microphone is more used for bass instruments like a kick drum on a drum kit. this is why the recording didn't sound as good because it only really picks up the bass end of the Glockenspiel rather than the whole range.

Shure SM58

• Position/Distance - 20cm Above the glockenspiel Pointing at the keys
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar Pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 50 to 15,000 Hz

We used this microphone for recording the glockenspiel. We recorded this in a studio and this mean that there was no background noise or wind to contend with. This meant that the recording sounded good because we had no other noise to contend with. The Shure Microphone sounded okay for recording the Glockenspiel but we got clipping so it ruined the recording.

AKG C1000

• Position/Distance - 20cm above the Glockenspiel Pointing at the keys
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar Pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 

We used this microphone in the studio for recording the Glockenspiel, doing it in the studio meant that the recordings sounded the best because there is no wind in the studio and it is completely isolated so we could only hear the instrument. The microphone we used here was the best microphone for the job but we have the microphone too close to the glockenspiel so we had some clipping going on and this made the recordings not sound as good as they could.

Guitar Task

Guitar Recordings

Studio

Studio Recording

• Microphone - AKG C1000S
• Position/Distance - 20cm away from the sound hole of the guitar
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar Pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

In the Studio we used one AKG C1000S to record an Acoustic Guitar in the recording studio. We positioned the microphone about 20cm away from the sound hole of the guitar and this meant that the sound was clear coming from the guitar but we didn't get any clipping or any plectrum noise on the strings. Also we did this recording in a studio so that meant that there is no background noise because the studio is an isolated room with sound dampening foam in there so that any background noise there would normally be there isn't.

Room

Room recording

• Microphone - AKG C1000S
• Position/Distance - 20cm away from the sound hole of the guitar
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar Pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

We also used an AKG C1000S for recording the guitar for the room recording as well. We had the same set up with the microphone 20cm away from the sound hole to make sure we didn't have any clipping or plectrum problems. For the room recordings we used a potable mixing desk (Zorg D888) so that we could record with the AKG C1000S as it uses an XLR lead so we cant just record strain onto a computer.

Planning for my Final Recording

Location - Studio

Time - 8:30am - 10:50am

Date - 09/10/15

People - David Cuff, Maisie Goodman and Georgia Tomson

Roles for each person

David Cuff - David will be setting up the microphones for the 3 recordings that we will be doing as a group. He will set up the microphones for the Drums, the Guitar and vocals.David will need good listening skills to be able to listen to what Maisie is saying and diagnose the problem. He will also need good technical knowledge to be able to know what microphones to use and how to set them up.

Maisie Goodman - Maisie will be the one that sets up cubase and sorting out the gain for the microphones. Maisie will need good communication skills to be able to diagnose and tell David what is wrong if anything with the microphones so david will be able to sort it out. She will also need good technical knowledge to be able to diagnose the problems with Cubase.

Georgia Tomson - Georgia will be doing the sound checks for the the 3 different instruments. she will be making sure that the instruments sound as good as they can before we start recording. Georgia will need good communication skills to do then because she will be making sure the performer knows what they have to do. She will also need good listening skills and musical knowledge tomake sure the the instruments sound as good as they can. 

What could go wrong 

There are lots of things that could go wrong when doing our recordings. One thing that could go wrong is that Cubase could Crash and this could cause lose of recordings or set ups. if this happens we will have to restart the Mac and restart Cubase and if we have lost the recordings do them again or reset up Cubase. 

Another thing that could go wrong is that the microphone doesn't work, in this case we will troubleshoot the problem to see if it is XLR lead or the morphophonemic that doesnt work. if this is the case we will change the equipment that is broken and then make sure that it works by testing it again.

Drums

Overhead microphones

• Mircrophone - 2x AKG C1000S
• Position/Distance - 1m above the Cymbals, 1 to the left about the 16 inch crash cymbal, 1 to the right between the 18 inch crash and the ride cymbals
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar Pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

These will be used for the over head microphones because they will be able to pick up the full range of sound that comes from the cymbals.

Kick Drum

• Microphone - AKG D112
• Position/Distance - 10cm away from the hole on the Kick Drum.
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 20 - 17,000 Hz

I will use this microphone because the frequency response will pick up the lows that the Kick Drum will give out.

Toms/Snare

• Microphone - 4x Samson DMC 100
• Position/Distance - 5cm above the 3 toms and the snare
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar Pattern - Super Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 50 - 16,000Hz

These Microphones are specifically made and used for these parts of the drum kit.

Hi Hat

• Microphone - Samson C02
• Position/Distance - 15cm above the Hi Hat
• Type of Microphone - Condenser 
• Polar Pattern - Super Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

This microphone is made specifically for using for Hi Hats because of the Type of Microphone and the Frequency Response of the microphone.

Guitar

• Microphone - 2x AKG C1000S
• Position/Distance - 1 microphone 20cm away from the sound hole of the guitar, 1 microphone 20cm away from the neck of the guitar.
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar Pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

We will use these microphones because they are good for recording acoustic because they are Dynamic Microphone and because of the frequency Response they will pick up the full range of sound of the guitar.

Vocals

• Microphone - AKG C1000S
• Position/Distance - We will have the microphone 10cm away from the mouth of the singer. 
• Type of Microphone - Dynamic
• Polar Pattern - Cardioid
• Frequency Response - 50 - 20,000Hz

We will position the microphone 10cm away from with a pop shield infront of the in between the microphone and the singer. This is to limit the amount of air that will get to make the microphone to make sure you dont get wind noise in the microphone. 

What techniques will I use based on my research? 

For recording the guitar I will be using 2 microphones as this is one of the ways that The Beatles recorded their acoustic guitar. They had 1 microphone on the sound hole of the guitar and 1 on the neck to get some of the string sounds. The Drums are set up to record modernly, this is to show the difference between the recording techniques from 1969 to now.

Evaluating My Final Recordings

Drums

Final Recording - Drums

The drums were record in the studio, therefore there was no background noise. All of the microphones where correctly positioned and they where the correct microphones to be used for recording a drum kit and because they where correctly positioned there was no chance that the drummer was going to hit the microphone and ruin the recording. In the recording of the drums there was no problems that we came into apart from the Cubase on the Mac wouldn't launch. That was a case of just restarting the Mac it is fixed the problem. The Drums sound good in the recording and there is no clipping on any of the microphones and this made the recording quality very good. The bass Drum Emits a high SPL (Sound Pressure Level) So we uses an AKG D112. We used this because it is a Moving Coil Microphone and this is best suited to the task of recording the bass drum.

Vocals

Final Recording - Vocals

For this recording I did this in a room not the studio and this meant that there was some background noise due to the fact that there was no sound dampening foam on the walls to absorb the sound. despite this the recording is still very good and sounds good. We recorded this using an AKG C1000S and this is a good microphone to do vocals with because it has a very wide frequency response range so it will pick up the vocals very well. We also had a pop shield in between the singers mouth and the microphone and this limited the amount of breath that got to the microphone making the quality of the recording even better. For this recording there was acoustic Reflection in the room we

Guitar

Final Recording - Guitar

We did this recording in a room like the vocals and we once again used an AKG C1000S for the recording and because it was done in a room not a studio there was some background noise and echoing because there was no sound dampening foam on the walls. The microphone was close enough for the recording to sound good but it wasn't too close so that you hear the plectrum on the strings and this means that the recording was very good.