Split Studio Session 14 (evening). First mix and master of 'Behind the Sun'

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

Produce a first mix and master of 'Behind the Sun'

What was achieved

We approached the mix by dropping all faders in Cubase. We then increased the fader for the drum track to zero to use as a starting point. We then faded up the bass, guitars, trumpets, whistle and effects one by one to achieve a balanced mix. We used the orchestral theme from 'Hang'em High' as a reference track to help achieve a good sounding mix. We found that we had to use volume automation to achieve a balanced mix because the song naturally builds in loudness as it progresses and the correct level for some instruments (such as guitars) for the crescendo were too loud at the start of the track. We also automated the panning to cause the gunshot and ricochet effects to bounce across the speakers. We also deleted some tracks which were masking other tracks and which were not adding anything to the mix themselves. We then mastered the track using the following plugins; Multi-band compressor, Studio Equaliser, Stereo Enhancer, Limiter and the UV22HR.

When listening to this master we all thought that the level of some parts of the guitar tracks was too high and the whistle was too low. We went back and remixed the song accordingly and remastered the song to a 16-bit 44.1 KHz wav file.

We were very happy with this new master file.

Next Steps

Listen critically to the 'Behind the Sun' master track over the next week and use the next split studio session to give the track a final polish if required.

Split Studio Session 13. Added an alternative bass line and an organ sound from an external synthesiser.

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

Finish the recording of new material for 'Behind the Sun'. We planned to record an alternative reggae bass line. We also planned to use an external hardware synthesiser (to show that we are able to use external MIDI hardware).

What was achieved

Mike recorded a new reggae bass line on a Yamaha bass guitar connected directly to cubase via a DI input. The new bass line fits much better as is more interesting than the previous bass line it replaced.

As part of the assessment we needed to show that we are able to connect and successfully use external hardware. We therefore connected MIDI keyboard to the Roland JV2080 synthesiser and connected its stereo outputs to cubase line inputs 3 and 4. We used a preset organ type sound to record a new stereo track which complements the existing guitar skanks. Lee had heard something similar on the Bob Marley track 'Is this Love?'.

We added some further guitar harmonies to the skanks towards the end of the song to add interest.

Next Steps

Perform a final mix and master of 'Behind the Sun'. 

Split Studio Session 12 (evening). Final mix and master of 'Children' Track

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

Perform final mix and master of the 'Children' remix.

What was achieved

Mike pitch shifted the delayed outro guitars up an octave and created a new Cubase track. This was done to add interest and some additional variation to the final outro section.

We all thought that the cymbal crashes were too loud and were distracting from the mix at times. Lee re-edited the drum track in reason to remove many of the cymbal hits to thin out and reduce the overall level of the cymbals.

We then exported the drum track from Reason as a 24-bit WAV file. We exported the main Cubase project (minus drums) as a 24-bit WAV file. These files together with a synth track that was created by Bob at home in Cubase 6.5 as a wav file were imported into a new 'pre-master' project in cubase and was mixed down to a single 24-bit WAV file.

This WAV file was then imported into a 'Final Master' project where the following plugins were used:

1. Multi-band compressor. A small amount of compression was used (ratio 2:1) and the low frequencies (under 100Hz) and high frequencies (over 10KHz) were attenuated slightly by 2 - 3 dB
2. Studio Equaliser. The frequencies around 150 Hz were boosted by 3dB to give a better definition to the kick. The frequencies around 6KHz were also boosted by about 3dB to help clarify the lead guitar.
3. Stereo Enhancer. A pre-set of 'Mastering - More Room' was used to widen the stereo  field.
4. Limiter. The limiter was used very sparingly and the threshold was set to only just prevent a few loud transients from clipping. Most of the time the limiter was not actual doing anything.
5. UV22HR. This was used to provide a random dither to the least significant bit of the output when mixing down from 24-bit to a 16-bit 44.1KHz WAV file.

The output from this process is our completed 'Children' track at CD quality (i.e. 16-bit 44.1 KHz WAV file).

Next Steps

Complete 'Behind the Sun' Remix. Bob to produce technical video of what we did to create our 'Children' track.

Split Studio Session 11 - Mixing 'Behind the Sun'

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

Start mixing 'Behind the Sun'

What was achieved

We first made some simple changes to the arrangement. We EQ'ed the gun shots to tone down the high frequencies to place them further back in the mix. We also EQ'ed the guitars. At this point Loz, our tutor, came into our room and we played him our rough mix. He liked our concept and arrangement of the track. However he wondered why we had toned down the reggae part of the track. We explained that it seemed to us that it did not fit well with the track. Loz thought that it could work really well but it conflicted with the style of the original drum track. He encouraged us to be bold and to embrace, and run, with our original concept.

We therefore stopped what we were doing and revisited the arrangement of the song. We found some reggae style drum loops in Reason. We exported these as wav files and imported them into our Cubase project to replace the original drum track where the reggae feel is introduced. Lee experimented with some new bass riffs using a virtual synth in Cubase. Having worked out a bass riff which works well we will need to re-record it using a bass guitar.

Next Steps

Bob to book the bass guitar for the evening session. Bob also booked out a fender guitar and a Shure SM57 mic in case we needed to re-record any other parts for 'Behind the Sun'.

Bob booked the Roland EF-303 effects processor for our evening session to allow pitch shifted delays to be added to the outro section of the 'Children' track. This will also let us demonstrate the use of external hardware processors.

Split Studio Session 10 (evening)

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

Improve final mix for 'Children'. Add recorded vocals and sound effects to 'Behind the Sun'.

What was achieved

After repeated listens to our first mastered version of 'Children'. The following shortcomings were noted:

1. The lead guitar part was panned slightly to the left of the mix. This gave the mix a slightly lop-sided feel.
2. The kick drum was not prominent in the mix.
3. The crash cymbals were over-powering.  

We spent the first hour of our evening sessions correcting these faults. We re-panned the lead guitar to the centre of the mix. Lee added another midi track to Reason containing a different kick drum sound. When mixed with the original kick drum this increased allowed the kick drum to be more prominent in the mix. This also had the effect of moving the cymbal crashes back in the mix. However when mastering, and a compressor and limiter was applied to the final stereo output, the cymbals again became too dominant in the mix. We decided to tackle this issue at a later date because we wanted to concentrate on 'Behind the Sun' for the remainder of our evening session.

We had booked out a selection of mics to record vocal sounds. We used a shure SM57 mic to record Lee whistling a spaghetti western style refrain. When a large reverb was added it created the evocative intro sound we wanted.

We used a D112 kick drum mic to record Lee creating a horse gallop rhythm by slapping his thighs. We used EQ to boost the bass frequencies to give a realistic horse galloping sound and rhythm. We also recorded Lee jangling some coins to create a horse bridle sound. We used the D112 to record Bob thumping the door to create a kick drum sound. We also used the D112 to record Bob, Lee and Mike individually shouting 'Hoos' and 'Haas'. When mixed together they  gave a great backing sound we could use. The D112 mic seemed to work well in this role as it rolls off the higher frequencies which automatically places these sound effects further back in the mix.

Bob had previously researched and downloaded the following sound samples from the internet: a horse whinny, a rattle snake's rattle, and a variety of gunshots with ricochets. These sounds fitted well in the mix and were all used.

We then performed a very rough mix to get a view on how it sounded so far. Various ideas were tried and experimented with. Some were kept and some were rejected. In particular, we decided to tone down the reggae feel, we kept the rhythm guitar skanks but removed the reggae bass riff. We have also dropped the idea giving the track a dub-step feel as we all thought that it would conflict with the overall feel of the song as it has developed so far.

We were all very pleased with our progress so far. The spaghetti western sound seems to really work for this song. 

Next Steps

Sort out the problem with the cymbals for the 'Children' mix.

Critically listen to our 'Behind the Sun' remix over the next week to decide if there are any more parts that could be added. Lee is going to try to produce a drum track to see if that adds anything to the song. We then need to mix the track.

Split Studio Session 9 - Adding instrumental tracks to 'Behind the Sun'

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

Add bass guitar, lead guitar and some MIDI sounds.

What was achieved

Mike recorded a couple of bass guitar tracks using a DI's bass guitar. Mike recorded a reggae style bass section as well as a simpler bass line. Mike then created a patch within the Zoom G2 guitar effects pedal to create a fender guitar sound with some moderate distortion. Playing low twangy sounding notes plus simple vibrato lead notes gives a distinctive spaghetti western sound. Lee found a tubular bell sound in a Reason soundbank which he then exported from Reason as a wav file, and then imported it into the Cubase project. This distinctive bell sound also gives the track a distinctive spaghetti western feel. Lee also used a trumpet sound from the Halion synthesiser in Cubase to add an evocative spaghetti western trumpet backing sound. Three trumpet tracks were added to create a trumpet harmony. Bob suggested that each trumpet track is offset by a few milliseconds to give a more natural feel to the overall trumpet harmony. 

Next Steps

In the evening session (when it is quieter in the split studios) we plan to record some vocal sound effects. Bob booked a selection of mics to try out. We may include other sound effects (e.g. a horse whinny, rattle snake etc).  We also plan to use some outboard MIDI hardware to create some further sound effects. Bob booked the Roland JV 2080 and Waldorf Blofeld MIDI synthesisers for the evening session. 

Split Studio Session 8 (evening) - Mixing and mastering 'Children'

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

Improve drum sounds. Add Bob's intro and outro parts. Mix and master the track.

What was achieved

Lee routed the snare drum to its own reverb unit in Reason to thicken the snare sound. Lee also added some new big sounding outro drums (with lots of reverb to push them back in the mix). Lee also changed the MIDI velocity on some of the rides and toms to give a more organic and human feel to the drums. Mike deleted the delayed guitar part on the first section of the song. This gave the song more room to build as it progresses. Mike also deleted the lead guitar to feature the bass guitar solo in the middle of the song. Again this added more interest and variety to the song. Bob added low synthesiser sweep sound plus a stuttery synth sound to the start of the track. This stuttery synth slowly fades out and the delayed guitar rhythm slowly fades in. This builds tension up to the point where Mike's lead guitar kicks in. The same stuttery synth sound was also added to the song's outro section which together with Lee's drums gives a big industrial style sound. The synth sounds were slowly faded down and abruptly finish with a long reverb tail to give a sense of poignancy.

Next Steps

Critically listen to track over next few weeks to see how well the mix stands to repeated listening with fresh ears. Show it to other people to get critical feedback. Review feedback obtained and re-mix and re-master if required.

Split Studio Session 7 - Planning and recording for 'Behind the Sun'

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

Start remix of 'Behind the Sun' by Hhymn. Record electric and bass guitar. Explore further musical ideas.

What was achieved

The basic idea that we had come up with previously was to remix 'Behind the Sun' with a spaghetti western feel with reggae and dub step elements.

Mike played 'skank' style chords using a clean electric guitar sound which was DI'd to create simple reggae feel. Mike also played some harmonised chords using the guitar's tremolo arm to add a characteristic sound associated with old style western film sound tracks.

The bass guitar was not available to us to use in this session so we listened to some classic Ennio Morricone western sound tracks to get some more ideas. We identified several classic sounds and effects as follows: Vocal "Ahh's" and "Ha's", whistling, church bells, whip cracks, horses galloping, horse bridles shaking, castanets, shaker (rattle snake sound), jangly de-tuned electric guitar sounds.

The sound of a brass trumpet is also very characteristic in spaghetti westerns. We found a good solo trumpet sound in the Cubase Halion synthesiser presets which we could use.

Next Steps

Mike to create a patch for his guitar effects peddle to re-create a thin, distorted sound similar to that used in spaghetti western films.

Bob to book split studio every Thursday night until further notice to give us time to record and mix 'Behind the Sun'.

Bob to book synthesisers for next Thursday's lesson: JV2080 and Waldorf Pulse. We want to use these synths to create dub-step bass sounds.

Bob to book mics for next Thursday evening: SM57, D112, E602 and 2 x AKG C414.

Bob to try and obtain samples to use as sound effects (e.g. whip cracks etc). 

Split Studio Session 6 - Recording bass and clean rhythm guitar

Team members present: Mike, Lee and Bob

What was planned

To record bass guitar and a clean sounding rhythm guitar. Add eq, compression and reverb/chorus effects to these tracks.

What was achieved

Bob played his idea for the intro to Mike and Lee and they both liked it. As it was created using Cubase 6.5, Bob will need to export the new intro sound from his computer as a wav file to be incorporated intro our Cubase 5.5 project at Confetti.

Mike's guitar was connected directly to Cubase via a DI box. Clean (i.e. undistorted) guitar chords were played. This new guitar track was then EQ'ed with a high pass filter and some top end frequencies were boosted to brighten the sound to stop it being smothered in the mix. As the input signal was very dry, reverb was added as a send effect in Cubase to make it sound more natural.

Mike also used a bass guitar to record a bass track. Again this was DI'd directly into Cubase. Compression was added to smooth out the bass sound. The threshold was set fairly low and a ratio of around 4 to 1 applied to ensure that some louder bass notes were pulled back to give an even and punchy sound. Chorus was added as a send effect to thicken the sound and add definition. The bass was also EQ'd with a high pass filter to remove frequencies below 40Hz. A low pass filter was also applied to remove high frequencies. This was done to keep the bass guitar sound from conflicting with the distorted guitar sound, i.e. to help keep the bass well defined in the mix.

Next Steps

Incorporate Bob's new intro into the Cubase 5.5 project.
Perform final mix and master the track.
Start work on 'Behind the Sun' remix.